thisavrou | video; 01/04

[It's basically the middle of the night cycle when you might notice - or be woken up by - the sound of the engines starting to fade down to almost nothing. Machinery usually powerful enough to reverberate - albeit very softly - throughout the ship goes still. It's just about completely silent when the MID broadcast goes out.

Tali's isn't a face - or mask, right now - that's seen on the network much, but here she is anyway. There's a slight air to her of having prepared this in her head.]

If you just noticed the engines shutting down, don't be alarmed. They're just in standby so I can do some maintenance. [Her eyes are only just visible as glowing points behind the opaque visor, but her whole head moves to pay attention to something below the MID - and there's the sound of her keying in commands one-handed.] I'd like to tell you it's routine maintenance, but tiny bots eating into the manifolds isn't routine in most places I've been.

It'll be done in a couple of hours. [...Pause.] I don't think I need to tell you that life support's still running... Do I?

[Well, she just did. She's about to sign off when--] Oh! Almost forgot.

I asked the captains a while back if I could start doing some research into the Ingress. How it works, what's wrong with it... Anything we can use, anything that might help us repair it, or...or something. [This is clearly not rehearsed.]

It'll be slower work on my own, so I'd really appreciate some help looking into it - and anybody who works with the Ingress probably knows it better than I do right now, too.

Let me know.

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[She visibly perks up, and definitely sounds pleased to see him. He looks somewhat different - mostly his hair - but it doesn't occur to her to think it's much more than a haircut and a month passing by.] Hey! I'd say it's good to be back, but I woke up to a robot eating my stasis pod.

[Well, it's good to have not been eaten by said robot, at least.]

I could use some help with the engines if you don't mind... Are you sure, though? I didn't realise you were just in cryo.

Ah, the... right, I vaguely remember those.

[ He didn't get too involved in that, if he remembers well. He'd been catching up on some very needed rest and spent most of those days either sleeping or reorganizing the science department, and he was lucky enough that neither were too affected by the infestation. ]

Yes, that's no problem. I climbed out of there earlier today. It's been a little complicated, as I was gone for over a year. I went back home— even though technically I was only in cryo for three days. But I'm alright now, just slowly settling back in.

Scraplets, I think they were called? [She shrugs. She didn't pay as much attention to the name as she did to the giant terrifying teeth and skittery legs.]

...Ah--I've heard about that happening to people - going into cryo and having... [She tilts her head and gestures with the non-MID hand.] I don't even know what to call it. A system update for your brain? [She hisses in a thoughtful breath through her teeth.] I won't keep calling it that. Anyway, a year? Did you remember everything when you came back? I mean, do you feel like you've been gone a whole year?

Something like that, probably. [ He's been catching up but he hasn't gotten there yet. Mostly he's been refreshing his memory on the things he really was involved in, leaving the rest for later. ]

Sounds like an apt description, though. [ The corner of his lips quirks a little and he lifts a shoulder. Better than worrying about whether they might all be just some advanced clones, somehow mentally connected to the originals. ]

I feel it now, but I didn't remember any of this back home. Everything just... came back, after I woke up. But yes, it sure feels like I've been gone all this while. Complete with missing people and all.

You didn't remember a thing... [She parrots his own words faintly, and for a moment she's not looking at the MID so much as at something beyond it, though that's unlikely to be visible to Bruce unless he really looks closely. She's heard this before, but hearing it from someone she knows is the first time she's properly thought about it.] I wonder if that's going to be true for everyone when they go home eventually as well - for good, I mean.

They'll just go back to the same point in time-space and it'll be like none of this ever happened.

[She sounds immediately really troubled about that.]

I'd considered that hypothesis before, actually. Seemed like the most plausible one too, even if it was mostly a theory back then.

[ Now, it almost feels like he has proof— not just proof, but also personal experience. It wasn't the most pleasant thing, actually, for all the people he cared about and befriended while he was here, but most of all for the one person he got particularly close to. He and Trish might be from the same world, and close enough in points in time even, but that still meant nothing at all in the end. He went home and forgot every single memory he had of her, something that leaves a bitter taste in his mouth and probably will for a while. ]

Comforting, isn't it? [ That's sarcasm, by the way. ] Anyway, I'm back now. Apparently this place wasn't done with me yet. [ In part, he's kind of glad for that. ]

How've you been, by the way? We didn't even talk between you coming out of stasis, and me going in. Not that I remember, at least.

Well, I hope it's not done with you for a while yet. [She's trying to grin, but it's not quite coming off well. She doesn't want to forget, as much as a lot of what's happened to her - and what she's done - since leaving home has been nothing but awful. It feels like such a huge part of who she is now that if it were taken away, she wouldn't be her anymore.

And what's happening universes away, what people are being made to do to whole civilisations, shouldn't just be wiped out like that.]

Me? I'm... [Part of her immediately just wants to say 'fine', but she's never been that person - if someone doesn't want to actually know, they wouldn't ask.] I got woken up out of stasis by a robot with giant teeth, so it's only getting better from there.

[Optimism!] I don't know, though. Same as always - I just try to stay busy. It helps stop me thinking too much, you know? Or... Thinking too much about the wrong things, I mean.

[ Bruce can't lie to himself, some memories of his time in the Moira he could've gone without. But if he could choose between keeping them all or none whatsoever, he would gladly go with the former. He's lived with plenty awful memories so far, he'll keep on doing the same now. Even if that means waking up from a nightmare about people screaming and running, visions of blood and imploding planets that keep him from falling back asleep. So long as it comes with the good things too, he'll manage. ]

There's plenty of ways it could go worse. [ Wow Bruce, optimistic to the last. ] But I know what you mean. On both counts. Nothing wrong with thinking about things, but sometimes you just need to tune off.

[ Bruce understands that better than anyone, really. As she likely knows at this point. ]

I try not to think about all the specific ways. [That's a lie.]... Too much.

I wish I could just zone out and...do something that wasn't working and sleeping, though. My whole life feels like it's just...putting a bad patch over a hull breach and hoping for the best.

[For a moment, she sounds exhausted, then shakes her head.] Sorry. I don't mean to keep unloading everything on you. [She grins, forcing it into her voice.] I don't plan this, I promise.

No, it's fine. [ He smiles and shakes his head. ] It's a good way to put it. Putting a bad patch over a hull breach. I can relate to that, believe me.

[ She knows, he's pretty sure of that. And he doesn't mind the topic, doesn't mind if she unloads everything on him. If it makes her feel better, then it's something. Even if he's not really a therapist, so there's only so much he can do to help. (And at least she's not as long-winded as Tony, so there's that.) ]

Why don't you take up a hobby? I know there's only so much you can choose from on board this ship, but you should have a few options. And you can always pick up new things from planets we visit. Like games, that sort of thing.

video; 01/04

No formatting, I'm afraid! Phone tagsss

No problem! :>b

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