[ Parker's making zero progress with the projector, but at least she hasn't permanently broken anything. Probably.
Eliot might have been able to identify Hardison by his sneeze, but she's not quite up to his level yet. She'd snapped her head up at the first sound of the door opening from below, instantly on alert, so by the time Hardison declares his nonthreatening position, there actually is someone waiting around the corner, ready to stab if necessary. Ghosts can't open doors, she's trying to tell herself, ghosts can't open doors, so it's not a ghost, it's okay, it's just an axe murderer, probably, or an assassin, she can take those, she just -
And then he speaks and she forgets all about the ghosts and axe murderers and assassins. ]
Hardison?
[ She doesn't peek around the corner to see him. She can't, because...because then whatever she sees, it'll be the truth. Maybe it's him, or maybe it's not. Maybe there's no one there at all and she's making things up, missing him so hard and feeling so lost and alone that she's hearing things just because she wants to hear them more than she wants anything else.
She squeezes her eyes shut, then opens them again, staring straight ahead into the dark. ]
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Eliot might have been able to identify Hardison by his sneeze, but she's not quite up to his level yet. She'd snapped her head up at the first sound of the door opening from below, instantly on alert, so by the time Hardison declares his nonthreatening position, there actually is someone waiting around the corner, ready to stab if necessary. Ghosts can't open doors, she's trying to tell herself, ghosts can't open doors, so it's not a ghost, it's okay, it's just an axe murderer, probably, or an assassin, she can take those, she just -
And then he speaks and she forgets all about the ghosts and axe murderers and assassins. ]
Hardison?
[ She doesn't peek around the corner to see him. She can't, because...because then whatever she sees, it'll be the truth. Maybe it's him, or maybe it's not. Maybe there's no one there at all and she's making things up, missing him so hard and feeling so lost and alone that she's hearing things just because she wants to hear them more than she wants anything else.
She squeezes her eyes shut, then opens them again, staring straight ahead into the dark. ]
Hardison, is that - is that you?