#Church is very beginning of being in Jimmy so everything's all sideways right now

[xadoheandterra]

Mimneskesthai - Misrecollect - Amnesia pt 3

Series:  Mimneskesthai Title: Misrecollect Chapter: Amnesia pt 3 (1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | AO3) (Hypomnesia) Fandom: Red vs Blue Characters: Agent Florida/Butch Flowers, Tucker, Alpha AI, Church Story Summary: Church blamed his faulty memory on the head injury. Everything was all mixed up. He’s pretty sure he’s got the most important bits down now; if only Captain Flowers would stop asking. Honestly it’s like Agent Florida—Flowers—Florida?—thought Church would give him away.

Oh.

Oh.

Well this explained a lot.

.

Wherein Alpha’s memories are even more of a mess than previously thought.

a·mnesia – n. modern latin               1. loss of a large block of interrelated memories; complete or partial loss of memory caused by brain injury, shock, etc.               2. loss of memory from –               a- – prefix; latin                             1. Not               -mnesia – suffix; latin                             1. (condition or type of) memory               from –                             a·mnesia – n. greek                                           1. forgetfulness

 Florida looked to Private Tucker hunched over a bowl of cereal and noted the apparent absence of Alpha from the commons. He took a second to parse that information before he released the catch of his helmet—the subtle hiss a comfort—and carefully set it down on the table. With a soft sigh he headed over to the cabinets, pulled out a mug, some earl grey tea, and began to boil water.

“Where has Private Church gotten off to, Private Tucker?” Florida asked lightly with a soft smile pressed against his lips. The teakettle began to whistle softly as the water heated.

Tucker swallowed his bite of cereal and rubbed the back of his hand over his mouth. “Migraine. Went to lay down.” Tucker tilted his head back to regard Florida. “Shouldn’t we, you know, call in a medic now Captain?”

Florida tsked. “I told you, Private Tucker, call me Cappy. Or Cap, if that’s your flavor.” He turned and gave Tucker a wide smile. “I’d really hate for all this command structure to get between our team.”

Tucker stared, and said slowly, “You call me and Church Private, dude.”

“Mm,” Florida hummed lightly and pulled the kettle off the stove. “How bad is the poor things head this time?” he said instead of addressing Tucker’s carefully worded, and correct, reply.

Tucker breathed out heavily through his nose and turned back toward his cereal while Florida made his way over to the table. “I gave him some aspirin, he went to lay down.”

“And how did he appear?” Florida asked lightly. Tucker frowned, and Florida watched how he gripped the spoon tight. Perhaps he should try to mitigate attachment. It wouldn’t do to have Alpha fracture while in a host.

“Slow,” Tucker said carefully. “Confused. Tired. Same as fucking usual.” Tucker shoved more cereal into his mouth and it took all of Florida’s willpower not to grimace at the display. “I still think we should call in a medic. Something’s seriously fucking wrong.”

Florida hummed, sipped at his tea, and set the mug down. “I hear your concerns, Private Tucker. I don’t think we need a medic at this time, but I have forwarded the issue to Command.”

Tucker looked up, almost relieved. “So we’re getting a medic?”

“No,” Florida told him flatly. “Don’t you worry about it, Private Tucker. Just let me know if you see any changes, alright?” Florida gave him a bland sort of smile. “Enjoy your breakfast.” With grace Florida got up from his seat, mug in hand, and headed out of the commons. He left his helmet behind—it didn’t matter if he was in armor right now. It was nap time after all.

Right on schedule, Florida mused as he headed down the hall of the base and pushed open Alpha’s door. Consistent; and a cause for concern. Hopefully the Director pulls through. This ploy wouldn’t work if Alpha slept far too much after all. While Florida understood the AI being tired—having whole pieces of yourself forcefully twisted away in the manner that it’d been had to be tiring—this entire ruse depended upon some level of activity. Private Tucker would expect nothing less, and if Alpha didn’t improve the boy might just go and try to contact V.I.C.

Agent Florida hummed softly as he settled down onto the edge of Alpha’s bed. He sipped his tea with one hand, the other curled into the dark locks of hair on Alpha’s host’s head. They really chose well with Private Jimmy, Florida mused. Dark hair, lighter eyes—a slightly oval face and not-quite-prominent cheekbones. The only discrepancy that Florida could see were the freckles, and the exact shade of pale of Private Jimmy’s skin. All in all the similarities worked in their favor. It’d do no good to have Alpha go through periods of intense dysphoria because of something as simple as appearance.

With a soft hum Florida tugged his hand through the host’s hair, Kevlar and armor covered fingers digging lightly into the scalp.

“Private Church,” Florida said softly. “Are you there?” He watched as the brow furrowed and the faint groan came from Alpha. Florida frowned, and cautiously whispered, “…Alpha?” That garnered a slightly louder groan, this one with some sort of question as Alpha’s head turned.

Wonderful, Florida thought with a grimace. Oh, well, it worked in his favor for now.

“Program; system status check,” Florida said, and made sure to keep his voice low. He leaned over the host body and kept his face close to Alpha’s ear. It wouldn’t do for Private Tucker to hear him address the AI.

Alpha moaned, but this close Florida could see the way the host’s eyes fluttered and shifted. For a second there was no response, and then Alpha began to mumbled in the sleep hazed and distant way that Florida did not expect.

“Men-ntal scarring, damaged neu-neur-neural net and implannnnt site electrical b-b-burns. M-M-Memory malfunction with ddddata chip.” Alpha shifted as Florida dug his fingers into the host’s hair with a sharp grimace, entirely not pleased with what he could hear or how he could hear it. “A-A-Agent Fffflorida?” Alpha slurred. “Where—”

“Go back to sleep, Private Church,” Florida murmured. He relaxed his fingers and leaned in close to almost press his lips against Alpha’s forehead. “These headaches will go away soon.”

“Fffflor-flor-flowers?” Alpha mumbled, brow furrowed from both pain and confusion.

“That’s right,” Florida said gently. “Cappy’s here. He’s got you, Private. Go back to sleep and everything will be okay.” Florida waited for any further response, and then sighed when Alpha finally drifted back off.

With a scowl Florida got back to his feet and stared down at the AI stuck in a host body. He shook his head and mumbled a short curse before Florida plastered back on his genial smile and slipped out of Private Church’s room. He headed back to his own and contemplated how to phrase this in a report, and even if he honestly should. The fact that Alpha could still manifest and follow an obvious command perhaps could be considered a good sign—or a bad one, depending on how far the Director desired to follow through with this ruse.

Florida wondered if the time came that they finally stopped Agent Maine and the AI fragments that had fallen into full blown rampancy if they’d call this mess finished and return Alpha to whatever the Director desired to have the AI settled into. If that was indeed the overall plan then perhaps the subtle signs that Alpha still presided as a consciousness beside what they wanted Alpha to be—in this case ‘Private Church’ as the designation the AI gave—was in fact a good thing. Florida shook his head. It wouldn’t do to contemplate this for now. There was plenty more to focus on for the time being.

Such as nap time. If there was one thing Florida appreciated it was that Alpha gave him the perfect excuse for nap time. Infiltration and information gathering could be so tiring after all. Florida shed his armor, set his mug of tea down on the bedside table, and flopped over with a pleased sigh. There was only one thing missing from the bed, but Florida could deal with that easily enough. With a pleased hum the Freelancer settled down for his own nap.

#rvb #red vs blue #alpha church #agent florida #lavernius tucker #leonard church #fanfic #fic: amnesia #fic: misrecollect #Florida is a fucking creep okay #Church is very beginning of being in Jimmy so everything's all sideways right now #he's a bit more Alpha than Church atm but that'll change #referenced past trauma #fic: mimneskesthai