#strtravels [ed southgate]

[earthdcfended]

"You-- You can't--"

He's shaking. Unsteady on his feet. But Howie is doing everything in his power to prevent entry into the room behind him. Nobody is getting in there. After everything the Auctioneers have put them through, he is not stepping down now just because reinforcements have arrived. They have pushed him to the limits of what the artron energy in his body can handle. They pushed Choe further than that, and in a latch ditch effort - the nuclear option - she had paid the ultimate price.

Protect her body. Treat her with dignity. It's what she deserves.

The gun isn't his. But he is doing his damndest to make it seem like it is, because these people - whoever they are - are not getting past him. Part of him thinks he recognises those uniforms, but... no. The recognition doesn't quite shift into understanding. He squares his shoulders, gun raised.

"You can't have her."

@ventureheart and @strtravels should be prepared for the pain

[atunit]

EDIT OF ED SOUTHGATE AND KATE STEWART For @strtravels & @unitlead

[earthdcfended]

Ed was just trying so hard to make him feel better. Trying to make him understand that, despite being gone for so long, he was still part of something. Still being considered for family events, still in his cousin's thoughts. Ed was trying to make it seem like he'd never left. Howie could understand that, and maybe one day, he might even be able to appreciate it. Maybe...

He wasn't being fair. Ed was only trying to help, after all, and while Howie didn't want to be back to normal right this second - while he wanted someone to see something bad had happened and to let him just feel it for a while, there was Eileen's voice at the back of his mind telling him that wouldn't help anyone. So he had to engage with Ed's attempts to cheer him up. "Yeah, if, like, we catch Josh when he comes home from training, we can make a weekend of it." He tried to mean it. For Ed.

Finally, they had their food. With his one radio request granted and the absurdity of the Archers playing through the car's speakers, there was finally something else to focus on other than what had been missed, or what they were going to do next. Howie could just eat those greasy chicken nuggets, limp fries and too-thick milkshake; it wasn't even disappointing to him at this point. It was welcomed.

They could go home, now. After the Archers, they could find another radio programme. They could keep distracting each other from the inevitable for as long as it took to get home. Things wouldn't get easy quickly. But they would get easier. Howie still had family. That would never change.

Had to switch back into gear when the car in front of them moved – the little red Corsa crawling forward to the next open window, with a dark-haired, young man sitting behind him, reminding Ed a little of the dark-haired man sitting next to him. Same age. A very different expression in the dark eyes staring at him in expectation of his order. And he ordered. The things Howie wanted. A shake and some chips for himself, because he wasn’t actually too hungry, either. Long day. Too many thoughts on his mind, that kept him from anything else. WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO HOWIE? It was the question always coming back to haunt and taunt him, because in the end, he should know something at least, right? But they hadn’t had anything strange appear on the scans and radars the day that Howie had vanished. A few spikes here and there, but that was daily business. So… It had been something they really didn’t know.

Took his wallet out to pay for their late lunch – handing the money over, before he was told to drive to the next window. The classic procedure he had been through with the kids a few times, even if there was no screaming, crying, complaining or disappointed sighing now. Howie was so quiet in the passenger seat. Sure, he had never been the type to talk your ear off, but…

“I think we’re just gonna do white walls. So we just need two coats of that. – I think she’s just got enough of the baby pink she wanted when she was four. The whole princess phase seems to be over. At least it doesn’t have to be all Barbie themed any more… We’ll leave the detailing to her or Kate. ‘ got the feeling we’d just do it wrong.” A little amused chuckle following his words again. Yes, he was trying to humour Howie, but there was nothing else that he could do now. Interrogate him, while they were sitting in the car on the way home? No. Just sit there, silent, while they both got lost in their thoughts? It seemed like that was a too dangerous game to play.

“ – I’ll drag Josh in as well. I’ll pay you two and Gordy in pizza, alright? Least I can offer.”

[leschanceux]

@strtravels didn't ask but gets this! -

A mug in one hand, two in the other and a packet of biscuits poking out of the pocket of his trousers, Gordon carefully makes his way down the hallway toward the office of Major Southgate: head of personnel for UNIT and his step-father. It's become something of a routine, this tea and a chat break, and Gordy often finds himself looking forward to the half an hour while he's working to archive the paperwork that passes his desk.

He has no free hands to knock with, but thankfully, Ed's secretary is there to do it for him, and he thanks her with a smile before passing her one of the mugs when she opens the door ( he's gotten into the habit of bringing her a drink too, because why shouldn't he? ). "---Got five minutes?" He asks of the man inside the office, holding up his remaining mugs in indication of his intentions.

[mattellaneous]

@strtravels (Ed) asked: i think we can set aside our differences for two minutes and work this out.

Jacqui has faced aliens, CEO's of major corporations with a bone to pick and even the Prime Minister being less than thrilled about one of her articles. None of which has caused her more stress than being stuck in a small room with Edward Southgate, head of HR for UNIT and a mysterious object that has been beeping ominously for the past 20 minutes. While her relationship with UNIT has improved somewhat with the years, her relationship with Ed has remained frosty at best. Press her on it and Jacqui will admit that she's the cause of most of the hostility but she has her reasons. Reasons which make it challenging to be stuck in a room with him without wanting to tear his throat out.

Deep breath, McGee.

She closes her eyes and lets out a very deep sigh. Set aside differences for two minutes and figure it out. Get out of this room and back to her life. Chin to her chest, deep breath in... She opens her eyes and looks at Ed. Lips pursed, she shakes her head lightly. She cannot believe she's about to say this. "Fine, two minutes. What do you need me to do?"

[earthdcfended]

The return of Ed has sent shockwaves throughout the Human Resistance. For so long, the question of whether or not Ed was even alive was contested throughout UNIT's temporary headquarters. It's more than relief, though. For Howie, it's the confirmation that his bomb, while it had clearly injured Ed (and quite significantly, too), it had not killed him. Howie's body count has not gained any human statistics, though from what he knows, Ed came close.

Though, before they can go back for Jimmy and Osgood, Howie needs to be sure that Ed will be able to handle himself, should he accompany them. Should he go against the advice of the resistance's medics, which he undoubtedly will. And while Howie wants more than anything to make sure Ed doesn't get recaptured, it just wouldn't do for Ed to go unarmed.

"We don't have access to our old arms locker at the moment, I'm afraid," Howie takes a key and inserts it into the bike lock that he's been using to keep their weapons stash out of civilian reach, especially after that one incident with the time grenade... "But we've managed to get a good handful of Vulpreen weaponry, especially since our infiltration of the prison camps, so how do you feel about learning to use a Vulpreen gun?"

@strtravels

[earthdcfended]

“And here I was thinking the firearms proficiency training was last Thursday.” Either he got the date wrong, or he'd purposefully been given the wrong date so that if he had tried to avoid it, he'd end up calling in sick on the wrong day. It had to be the latter - Howie had checked his calendar this morning and there was nothing about firearms proficiency training on it. Oh, Ed was crafty.

“I know how to use a gun. Kind of. Do I really need a piece of paper saying so? I'm a tech - we don't really use guns. And I don't even think Major Langley is n today, so-- so I couldn't do it today, anyway.”

@strtravels liked for a starter

[earthdcfended]

@strtravels gets a thing because I said so

"I'd rather stand, if that's all the same to you." There's a sharp edge to Howie's tone - it's one that very rarely comes out, and it's one that certainly hasn't been directed at Ed, before. But where there's Ed, there's Kate, and Howie had made his feelings about Kate and her part in Jacqui's disappearance very clear, less than an hour ago. That has to be what this is about, and even if it isn't, he is in no mood to be dressed down by management for his conduct.

"So, can we just get this over with so that we can both get on with our days?"

[earthdcfended]

@strtravels | you asked for this

It would have been nice to say that things had calmed down in the days following Howie's outburst. It would have been nice to say that he had apologised to those he had lost his temper with and that he had accepted his removal from active duty in stride. But that would be optimistic, and during times such as these, optimism was just wishful thinking. Jacqui was still missing. The arch was still dormant. The Eleven was still refusing the co-operate, by all accounts.

At least, there was one person Howie knew he could make amends with, and with Ed is was usually easy enough to make amends. They'd crossed paths a few times in recent days - just never in a social capacity. They had only crossed paths as the head of personnel and an employee referred to occupational health. Best to leave a calling card, first.

That calling card consisted of a bottle of Jonnie Walker and a hand-written note. Sorry for being an arse. Ed would know. Howie knew he would.

[earthdcfended]

@strtravels put a gun to my head so that I would write this

With how quickly everything had gone so utterly wrong, it was no wonder that Howie was on edge. He had discovered that his wife was a sleeper agent for the very species that she had been trapped with for months. She had tried to kill Osgood - tried to kill him. Kate had vanished from Woolwich for ten minutes and emerged having speet much longer on the other side of her arch. The Vulpreen and temporal displacement had a hell of a lot to answer for, and even over a week later, Howie couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to come. Imminently.

Kate was still herself. Or, she was on the outside. Every second he had spent in that room, Howie had found himself watching her closely. Searching her movements and mannerisms for signs of Vulpreen intervention. He'd found none, of course, but he hadn't seen any in Jacqui at first. Jacqui hadn't come home and immediately started acting in the service of Lord Varliss, unto eternity. It had started slowly, and if they had dug their claws into a civilian like that, who knows what they had done to Kate on the other side of that temporal displacement...

Ed had to know what could be in store. Howie had to warn him. Couldn't do it out of nowhere, though... had to do it with a peace offering, first. The coffee in the UNIT medical centre was surprisingly good for hospital coffee - not quite Ed's Starbucks, but it would do.

"Have you, er--?" No. He couldn't start it with a question. There was no easing into this. "Listen. Before you go in there... there's something you need to know about... about Kate. I might be wrong. I really hope I am. But you need to be aware in case I'm right. I'm not a hundred per cent sure that Kate is herself."

[earthdcfended]

There's a spring in Howie's step that's been missing as of late. Part of it has something to do with finally convincing his aunt and uncle to let him take over the Christmas lights display this year (in exchange for volunteering to take on a few extra late night shifts on the front desk, of course). The other part, he doesn't quite want to admit. Not yet. After all, the new guest at the Jolly Holly Hotel isn't there out of choice. She's there out of... well, a Christmas tragedy.

That spring in his step has become a full on dance as the radio in the foyer picks up quite a beat. He starts dancing down the stairs. Miscounts his steps, though, and just as he sees Ed enter from the ground floor sitting room, Howie plumets down the stairs head first.

"... I'm okay."

@strtravels liked for a Hallmark arc starter

[earthdcfended]

@strtravels (Ed) said: ⭐⭐

Lauri knows Ed's Starbucks order by heart and will usually bring it in for him if she's been there.

Lauri calls him a Dirty Scouser. Ed calls her a Filthy Manc. They're terms of endearment.

[earthdcfended]

@strtravels [Ed] said: “calling it coffee helps.”

Howie stares at the cup of what he can only describe as murky sadness. Ditching the real stuff had definitely been the hardest part of the last four and a half years spent in hiding. No more energy drinks. No more coffee. At least there's herbal tea, and... whatever the hell this decaf crap is.

"It really doesn't. You're just getting the worst parts of drinking black coffee. How can you drink this stuff without, like, a metric ton of sugar?"

[earthdcfended]

@strtravels (Ed) said: ☎️

NAME: Ed Southgate

RINGTONE: Sky Takes the Soul by the Proclaimers

PICTURE: 

LAST TEXT RECEIVED: Does Maureen need anything specific for her birthday?

LAST TEXT SENT: She's really into ferrets at the moment. Go wild. Don't actually go wild - we already have an actual ferret. We don't need another.