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It had been a long time, too long, since you had seen your friend Toast. You had spent many months worth of mornings chatting with him over breakfast in the mess before he had been abruptly reassigned to the prison's crematorium. Apparently one of his brothers thought someone was still alive in one of the pods and fainted, busting his head on the console. That left an opening for a technician in the small room, and as it had traditionally been staffed with the some of the newest troopers Toast was picked for the job.
He had been working a strange rotating shift, and so far none of his off-duty time coincided with your own days off. His break and meal times weren't standard anymore either, but you waited in the mess anyway, watching the doors hoping that he would walk through with the bright smile he always had on his face. The main problem was the security procedures that were required for his new post. Standard operating procedure for the crematorium required that at least 2 troopers be on duty at all times, and breaks and meal times must be staggered, to help prevent security incidents. All these things together simply meant that you hadn't seen him in a while, and there was no way to plan any time together.
That didn't mean you didn't still get to talk on occasion, though. Toast didn't have a private comm, but he had your private comm information and he could sneak a comm to you every now and then to catch up, at least for a couple of minutes. He was also able to write you short notes on scraps of flimsi he could get other troopers to carry to you, and he sent you small gifts when he could, mostly cute little loth-cat doodles and folded flimsi trinkets made from the same scraps as the notes he sent.
He was sweet, and he held a special place in your heart.
You missed him terribly.
You were leaving the prison after a particularly long and stressful string of shifts, grateful for having a few days off, when one of the troopers Toast was closest with came to you just as you stepped outside the doors with another small scrap of flimsi. He didn't stop to chat, continuing on his way as you stood and read the scrap. There never was much room on these scraps for many words, but this was the shortest note you had ever received. 'Talk to Ether' was scrawled in Toast's neat, tiny handwriting, and a tiny loth-cat face was smiling in the corner. You couldn't go home now, you absolutely had to talk to Ether. Excitement bloomed in your heart, and you quickly turned on your heel and told the guards you needed to return to your work locker as an excuse to go back in the prison.
You hoped beyond hope that you could find Ether easily. He wasn't your favorite person, but he loved his brothers and was committed to keeping up morale by helping his brothers in any small way he could. You walked down hallway after hallway, peeking in doors and getting quizzical looks from many of the troopers working. There were many places troopers, off duty and on, congregated, so your first stop was the communications room. You opened the door and looked in, but Ether wasn't with this group of brothers. “Hey, has anyone seen Ether? I need to talk to him before I leave.” One trooper out of the group looked up from his work and responded “Yeah, he was here about an hour ago, he was headed to the training room, last I knew.”
As you weaved through the corridors of the prison you were hopeful that Ether had good news to tell you. Most news you heard wasn't, but you were thankful Toast was in a job that less dangerous than working on the floor. At least you hoped it was.
You walked for what felt like hours, in reality only a few minutes, when you reached the door of the training room. You could hear something heavy hit the ground, and the muffled cheers of troopers whose voices you've come to recognize over all others. Opening the door you saw two troopers grappling in the middle of the room, Ether and Happy, a boisterous trooper who was always smacking his brothers on the back and pulling them in to huge bear hugs. Happy had Ether in a bear hug at that moment, but it was not a hug given in love. Suddenly Happy crouched low and picked Ether up with ease, planting him on his back, hard, on the mat. Ether struggled to catch the breath that was knocked out of him as his brothers cheered Happy's win.
With the sparring match over, troopers started filing out of the training room. Ether laid in the middle of the floor for a few moments before he rolled over and stood up, then he walked over to you with an easy smile on his face. “Toast will be off duty in 5 hours and is off all day tomorrow. He'll meet you in the mess.” He followed his brothers out the door, leaving you alone in the room.
It was an easy decision to stay, so you headed to the mess. It was quiet when you arrived, most troopers had a set schedule and it was nearing time for one of the sleep cycles to begin, so you would be unbothered while you waited until he was off duty, and you decided to lay your head down on a table and close your eyes, just to rest for a moment.
You didn't think you had fallen asleep until you were jolted awake by a gentle shake to your shoulder, and you looked up to see the smiling face of the trooper who didn't know he held your heart.
“I'm so sorry I haven't been able to have breakfast with you in a while, cyar'ika. My schedule is a mess, but it's supposed to get a bit better.” Toast promised you. “And I'm sorry I couldn't tell you in a note. It's not safe to write down things like that.” You looked up at him and returned his sweet smile. “It's OK,” you said,”you've got a tough job. I'm just glad we can spend some time together again. Let's go get some breakfast now. My treat!”
You left the prison in the early morning hours happy, walking to the greasy spoon down the street with your favorite person. You'll ask him what cyar'ika means later.