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“You still following, viejito?” Sombra asked, glancing over her shoulder to make sure the man with her was in fact still there and hadn’t wandered off, idlying fidgeting with the device in her hands. “Can’t give you your gift if you disappear on me.”
“Hmm? No I’m still here…” Came the reply as Sigma, who
had
started to get distracted and wander off a little, came back to her side. His eyes went to the large box in his hands then and the various bottles of paint contained within, then back to her with confusion. “Did you not already give me this…? Or… am I misremembering…?”
“No I gave you that, you remembered right.” She assured, not making too much of a fuss over his confusion so as not to upset him any. “But that was only
part
of the gift. Gotta give the rest of it for you to really enjoy it.”
“There’s more? Akande seemed displeased enough with this part.” He replied, though a moment later, a chuckle bubbled up and a small smile graced his face. “Though that may be because he is still upset about the door.”
Sombra was less reserved in her amusement about it, as she almost immediately started laughing. “Hah! Well Jefe can
keep
being salty about it. He’s a stick in the mud anyway. That door had never looked better!”
“You think so? I thought it was rather pleasing but then I noticed later he had Gabriel cleaning it off…”
“Yeeeah and Gabe was none to happy about doing the bitch work. Nevermind that I’m pretty sure
he
liked the way it looked too.” She hummed. “But! If Jefe was going to have a problem with anything I got you, he should have made sure that there was no way I could have ended up with your name in his little ‘team building exercise’. But he didn’t, so he can deal with it.”
“I just don’t want you to get in trouble, Sombra…”
“I won’t, I won’t.” She waved her hand dismissively as she paused in front of a door, grinning up at him. “This room wasn’t being used anyway. I didn’t say
why
I wanted it of course, but I did…. Ugh, I can’t believe I’m about to say this… I went through all the
proper
channels to make sure I could use this room for something personal and do what I wanted with it without it being a big issue. Jefe approved it. I have it in writing with his signature and everything. Don’t worry about it.”
“Alright, if you are sure. I take it you hid the rest of the gift in here then? Hoping it wouldn’t be disturbed?”
“Mm… Something like that.” She chuckled, turning then to unlock the door and walk in. What purpose the room was originally supposed to serve, she had no idea. Nor did she care really. However, the large, empty gallery-type room with its lightly grey walls and high skylight ceiling made the perfect place for this little plan of hers. Of course, it didn’t look it right now, because it was completely empty except for the large sheet of plastic on the floor… but this room
was
the gift. Just needed one more touch. “What do you think~?”
Sigma wandered in and looked around interested but unsure what exactly he was supposed to be looking for or at. He looked back to her to ask… only to pause when he saw that grin. She only ever made that face when there was more to what she was saying. Alright… maybe he could just… play along? “Hmm… high ceilings, walls are…” He paused, stepping closer to look more carefully… “... Primer?”
“Aaaah look at you. Putting those observation skills to work.” She teased. “Why do you think I did that?”
“You are going to have the room repainted?” He asked. When she kind of made this sort of hand motion, he hummed, looking down for a moment… only to have his eyes fall on the box in his arms. Hmm… “You gave me paint and lead me to a room where the walls have already been given a coat of primer… if these things aren’t just simply coincidences that happened to occur in strangely perfect happenstance… You… want me to paint it?”
“Mmhm. But! More specifically…” She trotted over to the center of the room and sat the device in her hand down on a clearly marked spot of the floor and turned it on. A specifically constructed projection flared to life, perfectly aligned to every corner, wall, ceiling and skylight panel. “I want you to paint this.”
“I…” He quickly sat the box down so he wouldn’t drop it, then slowly stood back up right and looked around. It was like he was standing in space… out amongst the stars themselves… yet… something was different. There were sweeping expanses of color and movement (despite this being a still picture) that weren’t quite true to life, but it resonated with him in a way he couldn’t quite explain. It almost felt like… like the melody in his head. Abstract, hard to explain or portray… and yet this… this looked just like that felt. He was in awe. “Sombra, this is…”
“You like it?” She asked, walking over to stand next to him. “Took a loooot of work to put this together, viejito. Had to steal a bunch of medical scans and tests out of Moira’s systems, piece them together, construct some kind of image from abstract concepts and data…”
“You… built this image from… from
my
records…” He half whispered, understanding why now this all felt so familiar, why if felt like someone had pulled it all out his head laid it out on the walls. Because Sombra did, quite literally, just that. This was a visual representation of his own mind and the melody within mixed into the deep expanse of space.
“Mmhm. I wanted to have it done by your birthday but it uh… took me longer than I really want to talk about. Converting all of that into this was a
pain
.” She sighed and shook her head, then looked up at the ceiling. “But… once the painting is done and I drag in all the cool furniture I bought on Jefe’s dime, I… thought maybe this could be our little hang out. You know… for when we want to get away from all the work and the ‘team’ and all of that. Just you and me, here where none of them will mess with you or bother me. Just a space where the both of us can just… be. You know. If you even
want
to hang out with me~.”
“I would love that…” He answered almost offhandedly and quite quickly, stepping over to one of the walls to brush his hand over part of the ‘music’. “Thank you. This… this is beautiful, Sombra…”
“Yeah. Don’t mention it…” Of course, she’d never say out loud that the fact that his reaction was thanks enough. Nor did she mention that all of this was her best attempt to give him peace while embracing who he was now and his experiences. She couldn't stop Moira and Akande from fucking with him and using him… not in any way that would last. At least this way, maybe Sigma would have a place to go afterward when he needed a break from it all. “So. Ready to get painting?”
“Yes! That sounds delightful!” He chimed, going over to his box of paints to find what he wanted to start with. “Oh… but what are you going to do?”
“Don’t worry about me, big guy. I’m gonna go grab some snacks and my bean bag, then sit right over here and watch you while I fuck with Mauga’s phone. He pissed me off earlier and I plan to get payback.”
“Oh…” He chuckled softly, a smile coming to his face that caused the corner of his eyes to crinkle. “Enjoy yourself then. Should you need me, just get my attention.”
“Uh huh. Will do.” She hummed, watching him as he took the box closer to the wall and started humming. A soft laugh fell from her lips as he headed to the door, speaking much softer as she left, knowing that he wouldn’t hear her. “That smile… That’s all I really needed, Cariño. Merry Christmas…”