Morning of day 206, the teams changed. With more people, they could finish faster. Steffi, who had recently lost his shift partner, was working alone.
About an hour late, Monica approached him. "Hi. I'm your new work partner."
"Why? you had a problem with charlotte?"
"She's with Egon."
He led her to the section where they were working that day. A piece of paper was pinned to a wall of containers. A list of items to focus on for the next few days. Today, the primary focus was guns and ammunition.
"If you spot any other items on the list, remember where. Searching takes the most time."
The additional items on the list included wine, cigarettes, condoms, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, nail clippers, tweezers, and floss.
After three hours, Monica sat to rest. Steffi noticed her and walked over, saying, "Bit early for a break. It's not even 10."
"I'll be back in a minute."
Steffi Sensed that something was off and got closer to her, "Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm just a little tired,"
"You don't look just tired. There's more to it." he sat next to her. "Are you okay?"
She hesitated. "I got some bad news."
"Bad news are a very common thing recently. My roommate just died, if you hadn't noticed."
"Were you two close?" she asked.
"As close as you can get in a day," he answered. "He was very expressive, and shared a lot."(complimenting other men ia a sign of confidence. He was trying to smash.)
"Really?"
"Yeah. It kinda sad. He deserved a peaceful ending. Anyway, who'd you lose?" he asked.
"My mom."
"Sad."
"But it wasn't peaceful." she added quietly.
"More sad."
"Don't be," Monica followed. "She deserved it."
"A lot of complex layers there." He said jokingly. "Better keep it vague. It adds mystery to the backstory."
Monica laughed.
"You know," He said quietly. "maybe you can give her a peaceful ending yourself."
"It's kinda late now. don't you think?"
"Give her a proper funeral. Say what you need to say. It still means something, even if she already died off-screen or, like... off-page."
"That's kinda far-fetched." she said "I doubt that my dad would let me."
"What's stopping you?"
"I can't drive."
"I can help you with that."
"Why would you?" she asked.
"It's not like I have anything going on right now, except this of course. Once we finish loading, I am free."
"That sounds suspiciously sincere," she remarked.
He laughed. A shy look crossed his face for a second before he locked eyes with her.
She looked away awkwardly. "Maybe" she said "After the mission."
"I'll take a maybe." he stood up. "come on. Let's get back to work. The quicker we finish, the quicker we get inside."