Poppy had been just sitting down when Francis entered the dining hall. She didn't look as if she had gotten a lot of sleep. She wore a deep red shirt, but the bright color didn't match her posture as she rested her head on her hand sleepily.
She smiled, her eyes still closed. "You could say that. I didn't know..." She opened her eyes and saw the bruise and froze. "What happened to you?!" she asked, trying to keep her voice down, but her face extremely concerned.
She frowned and inhaled, looking up at the ceiling. "Damn it. I knew I should have stayed." She looked back down at him, an amused look on her face. "I don't suppose you remember anything about last night, do you?"
"A lot of things," she said, rubbing her temple. "I got a short video before you told me to turn it off." She pressed a few buttons on her watch, and the unstrapped it to her wrist. "See?" A small hologram emitted from the watch, showing Poppy kneeling on the floor next to a loopy Francis. "Okay, Francis. We're going to get you up off the ground, okay?" The Francis in the video slapped her hand. "Nnno! Turn off your stupid tehno-gadgety and only then shall I accompany you on your quest."
She grinned before returning her watch to her wrist. "I consider it payment. Francis, I had to bet you that I would go to sleep first in order to even get you to try to go to sleep. I gave you a glass of water and you poured it on your head. You made a pillow fort. Let me have this."
"Thank you," she said, nodding with satisfaction. She wrapped her cold fingers around her mug of tea and examined his face. "That looks pretty harsh," she said worriedly. "You must have really fallen badly."
She frowned, and sat back, her expression unconvinced. "If you say so." She fiddled with the hem of her shirt before she remembered. "Oh! Supposedly you and I need to go down to the Planning Room. I guess we have another mission or something?"
"No idea," she said flatly. "You'd think they have other agents to send on missions, but..." She trailed off and smiled mischievously at him. "I guess we're just too good at our jobs."
"Damn it," she said, sighing. "I guess we're just going to have to do really badly on this next one. It's the only way."
"You never know if civil life depends on it, though, so we must do it for the greater good," he sighed, feigning sadness.
