Desert Treasure

[t0l]

Tal shoveled another spoonful of turkey-flavored synth gel into his mouth, having decided to take part in an impromptu Thanksgiving celebration with all of his favorite nameless, faceless comrades. To be fair, it was about as good as a Thanksgiving celebration could get this far out in the sticks, minus the lingering taste of depression and homesickness.

They had Paladin Nova Hawken to thank for the fact that none of them were currently at home with their families. Perhaps she was bitter that she didn't have anybody to go home to, or perhaps somebody had gone and pissed in her coffee, but all Boogieman 2 knew was that all of their leave requests had been collectively denied. Even poor old Tal had filed for Thanksgiving leave, lacking a family or any known relatives to go home to but still seeking respite from all the sand that sought to enter everything imaginable. They'd tried so hard, and got so far, but alas, in the end, it didn't even matter.

"Deal with it," Hawken had remarked during an earlier meeting.

At least they were all dealing with it together.

"Hey, what are you thankful for, Ryan?"

Tal looked up from his colorless bowl of silly putty to find that somebody had tried to stir up conversation two tables away, to which the entire room gradually began to open up. Suddenly, he felt a sharp jab in his side, and he looked over to find that the guy sitting next to him had just elbowed him in the side.

"What are you thankful for, Tal?" he had asked, with an oddly happy smile on his face.

He looked back down into the bowl of translucent goop for a few seconds, stirring it around aimlessly with his brown plastic spoon as if it were going to make his meal any more appealing to the eye. Meanwhile, "I don't know" was all that he could utter in response, eliciting a blank look from the mercenary who started to turn back around to talk to somebody who was probably a bit more interesting than Tal "Might as well be a brick" Ravis.

"What are you thankful for?" he had managed to say, captivating the attention of his squadmate by actually saying something. The man proceeded to stop and think for a bit, placing his finger and thumb in the shape of an L and resting his chin on the curve, although it was clear that he was just putting on a show at this point.

"Hmmm...I'd have to say tits. Definitely tits."

Tal had expected as much, suddenly remembering why he didn't talk to people around these parts.

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