Nutrition Override

"Local Cuisine" à la Skeleton Key words! 
Date/Timing: 16 January 2019
Setting: DriftSci Central, The Icebox; Anchorage, AK, United States
.
Yancy knocks—
The door to DriftSci opens—
—stops himself from bopping Chuck-with-the-hair in the nose. 
"Doctor Lightcap's not here."
"I—"
The door slams shut. 
Yancy asks the ceiling for patience. 
The bolt slides home. 
Yancy calls, "I brought your lunch."
""Doctor Lightcap's bringing me lunch.""
"Doctor Lightcap's on patrol."
""I'm not hungry."" 
"Doctor Lightcap says you need the calories." 
""It's disgusting!""
"It's good for you!"
""Go away!"" 
Yancy asks for more patience. "Chuck, please take your lunch so I don't get flayed alive?"
""Good riddance!"" 
"C'mon, Chuck!" 
No answer. 
"Chuck?"
No answer. 
"AGNIS, will you open the door, please?"
""Officer Darling has asked me to inform you she has left the area.""
"Left—this is the only door!" 
""Officer Darling has asked me to inform you she is too busy to indulge your maternal instincts."" 
"Someone needs to make sure she takes care of herself!" 
""Officer Darling has asked me to inform you she hopes you die in an avalanche."" 
Yancy rolls his—"AGNIS, request override 'stop throwing a tantrum and eat, dammit'." 
""Override authorized."" 
The door unlocks. 
Yancy pushes it open, calls, "Chuck?"
No answer.
He sets the warmer on a vacant desk. "Chuck, I know you're in here."
No answer.
Drags the desk in front of the door. "Do we have to go through this every single time?"
""Then fuck off and don't come back!""
Yancy sighs, tiptoes over to Lightcap's office. "Chuck?"
""Shove off,"" replies the desk.
Yancy peers underneath—narrowly avoids flattening his nose on Chuck's crown.
She stomps out.
He pursues. "Will you /please eat your lunch?"
"Didn't AGNIS tell you I'm busy?" She smacks a terminal awake, dumps herself in a swivel chair.
""I did,"" says the terminal. 
The screen goes black.
"I needed that!"
Yancy straightens, plug in hand. "Not as much as you need lunch."
Chuck crosses her arms and [glares] for all she's worth.
Yancy runs a hand through his hair. "Are we really going to do this?" 
Chuck scowls. 
"Okay." Deep breath. "I'm gonna say 'I'm pretty sure it tastes worse cold', you're gonna say 'if I'm so worried about it, I should eat it'—"
Chuck's mouth clicks shut.
"And then I'll say, 'because it's /your lunch and I'm not /that much of an asshole'."
"If you're not that much of an asshole, why are you still here?"
"Following orders," Yancy says cheerily.
Chuck scoffs.
Yancy rolls—"Hey, is this new?"—picks up—
[Chuck shoves her chair over, yanks the plush drop bear out of his hand and tucks it under her arm, and wheels to the far side of the computer bank.]
"Gift from someone special back home, then?"
She sneers.
"Oooookaaaay, I'll take that as a 'no'."
Nothing but a bland look.
Yancy sighs, "If you eat your lunch, I'll leave."
Chuck scowls, 'anything to be rid of you', holds out her hands.
Yancy grins, stretches, extracts the dish from the warmer, and presents it with a deep bow. "Bon appétit, [Madam." >l'Academie Francais decreed that 'mademoiselle' was archaic and struck it from the dictionary<]
She [rolls her eyes] harder than he thought humanly possible, but accepts the offering with nigh-regal disdain.
Something niggles at the back of Yancy's brain.
"Whuff?"
Yancy shakes his head clear. "You reminded me of someone for a second there—"
Chuck sniffs, shovels in another mouthful.
"—but I can't quite remember who."
She pushes the empty dish into his hands. "Leave."
He tucks it back in the warmer, moves the desk away from the door. "'til next time, Officer."
No Chuck, but rattling from beneath her workstation.
Yancy sighs and heads out.
Category:Ficlet
Category:Anchorage Shatterdome (setting)
Category:Drift Science (setting)
Category:Chuck D
Category:Chuck D (ficlet)
Category:Yancy
Category:Yancy's POV
Category:Yancy (ficlet)
Category:Caitlin (mention)
Category:Chuck D is a Driftern
Category:AGNIS
Category:AGNIS (ficlet)
Category:Ficlets with images