#v: unit

[youwiththefxce-blog]

@exbenignitas

Lieutenant Edward Southgate, Howie was warned, is not a man to be trifled with. At least, that’s what Captain Carter said. “He’s a bit like a headteacher,” Josh had said. “Stay on his good side and you’re in for an easy time of it.”

Howie has always been on the good side of his teachers and headmasters. And, really, isn’t the next year or so basically just an on-the-job training sort of thing while he finishes up his PhD? Yeah, he’s sure he’ll be fine.

Until, of course, he’s not. It’s his first official day on the job, and his first order of business is to visit the head of personnel. The very same Lieutenant Edward Southgate. And all of a sudden, he’s feeling a little bit sick. Because, sure, Lieutenant Southgate might be a nice guy - easy to get along with. But, if what Josh has told him is true, he could also be a complete DEMON HEADMASTER. He should have asked Eleanor, shouldn’t he? She’d know these things. She’s the CMO of this place, for God’s sake. She should know the head of personnel...

Before knocking on the door, he sends Eleanor a text. She’s probably not going to receive it until her break, but it’s worth a shot.

[TO: Eleanor Marsden] About to meet the head of personnel. If I die, investigate.

He takes a deep breath and knocks.

[youwiththefxce-blog]

@musthaveloved | Continued from Here

Howie didn’t want to believe it. He didn’t want to believe that Psi really was there because if he wasn’t real, it would just be worse when he disappeared. So, he backed away from the hacker. But then his arms were around him, and Howie had the overwhelming sense that he could never have been anything else, if not real.

The UNIT recon team was deafeningly loud as personnel were rescued and rushed to safety. The corporal from the third cell needed medical attention. But for Howie, all of that fell on deaf ears. He was stuck in the moment of Psi hugging him, asking him if he was okay. Was he okay? Was he really okay? He didn’t know. He really didn’t know. 

Oh, God, he was crying now, wasn’t he?

“You came for us... I didn’t think you’d come...” The tears turned into fully formed sobs, and Howie pulled Psi into another hug. He clung in desperation - just to reassure himself that his friend really was there. 

“I’m okay... I’m okay...” Who was he trying to convince, really?

[youwiththefxce-blog]

greyhoundsandeyewitnesses:

It had been… a day for Jacqui. Her favourite hacker turned UNIT informant became her one-night stand, before she realised that she had feelings for him. It was a foreign concept but she was willing to roll with it. Then, Howie wanted to talk to her over a pint. She wasn’t willing to listen to UNIT glorifying propaganda from Howie, but he managed to convince her to not run away and break off all contact.

Which is how they got here. A rather large man was harassing her about the fact that she’s ‘crazy’ and ‘how it’s sad that it’s always the hot ones that are the craziest.’ Jacqui knew how to handle this, ever since her ‘breakdown’ on national television, she had a lot of people come up to her and laugh at her as if she was a circus freak there for their enjoyment. Generally ignoring and shrugging discourages them.

She shook her head when Howie wanted to defend her though. “Leave it be, Howie. It’s not worth it.” Her heart skipped a beat when he decided that the best course of action was to throw a pint in the face of the bear-like pub patron.

And thus the fight started. Jacqui tried to pull the man away from Howie but it didn’t work. He simply pushed her aside and continued to pummel Howie until an exceptionally loud whistle sounded throughout the pub

Everything stopped with the arrival of Sam Bishop and his impressively loud whistle and, honestly, Howie was grateful for it. The hulking bear of a pub patron stood, seemingly frozen, as he stared at Sam with his fist still raised, mid-blow. Not that Sam cared about that - no, as far as he was concerned, he’d come from UNIT at the end of his shift to have a drink only to find his colleague and mate being beaten to a pulp.

“If I were you I’d think twice about that, mate,” Sam didn’t even have to try to pull him off Howie. After all, what was an overweight football fan against a millitary-trained lieutenant? Nah. The guy was out of there, half-convinced by Sam and half-convinced by his mates, within the next two minutes. In fact, with the order of the pub landlord, everyone was out, though not without complaint. Now, the only people left behind wre Jacqui, Sam, the landlord, and Howie, who… wasn’t exactly in the best state at the moment.

All the scientist could really do was squint up and look from Jacqui to Sam with clear confusion on his face. “Y… You can whistle really loud, you… you know that?”

[youwiththefxce-blog]

@greyhoundsandeyewitnesses | Continued

"Yeah... ssshe st-st-stopped at Subway for me on her own lu-lunch break..." That goofy smile didn't falter as Howie stared after Jacqui. How did she know just what to do to brighten up his day? Josh's remark,,though, snapped him out of it. "Oi - ssshe ha-hasn't c-c-c-caused an incident in wwwweeks, I'll have you know!"

[youwiththefxce-blog]

"I've got you."

He was tired.

Howie hadn't slept much over the last few days - barely at all, in fact. How could he sleep when there was so much to be done? So much to work out, so much to... fix? He didn't see an issue with it. People pulled double shifts all the time, just because there was so much to her done. That was the thing about quite a lot of the people who worked here - they were dedicated to the job, so much that they were willing to stay way beyond the call of duty. Staying later than they were contractually obligated to stay. Double shifts were commonplace.

But a triple shift was really pushing it.

The lack of sleep was getting to him, and towards the end of his third consecutive shift, Howie was losing focus. In fact, he was focusing so much more on staying upright that Kate didn't even clock on his radar. He just needed some caffeine - just something to perk him up a bit. Just--

He would have hit the floor with a thud - may have even cracked his head on the side of the desk, had Kate not caught him.

"Oh-- um... hi?"

Ah. Bad move. Momentarily passing out in front of the boss was a... very bad move.

[youwiththefxce-blog]

@exbenignitas | Continued

“Josh ate it, last time. I thought you were better than that.”