video;

[deal]

[Cassandra glances over before focusing on her wind up music box, and begins slowly turning the handle. Music starts to play, a tune that may be familiar to people from Earth. She's not doing this to play music for everyone though, so she stops after a handful of seconds, looking thoughtful.]

It's funny. You hate home until you've been gone from it long enough, and then you get homesick and home is all you can think about. No matter how shitty it is, you forget about all of the bad things and only care about the people you left behind.

[The music box is picked up and clinched in her hand.]

Do you think it's possible to get a message back to someone? Has anyone tried communicating outside the ship yet? If things like this - [She drops the music box in her hand on the table she's sitting at.] can come through the Ingress to us, we have to be able to send things back through it.

Comments

[deal]

So who did you spend all your time with?

[She can't imagine spending that much time cooped up in an office. She gets that he was running an entire department on another ship, which probably means a lot of work. It could also explain the paleness, now that she thinks about it. He was trapped in an office all the time.]

[ryuuzaki]

[Cassandra doesn't know the half of it.]

Hackers, spies, politicians, and college students who had some kind of aptitude. There was a teenage boy named Robin for a while, and an inventor who had worked for military intelligence in London. An American senator, and also a senator from the same universe as Leia Organa. A girl named Darcy who had previously been the assistant of a scientist named Jane Foster.

Jane didn't work for us, however. To be honest, we drew people in with the coffee maker and the promise that they'd have time to pursue their own projects, but the nature of the ship itself meant that we had a high turnover.

[deal]

[While he talks, she shifts to rest her elbow on the table and leans to place her chin in the palm of her hand. She nods as he explains, and she finds herself wondering something. Feeling comfortable enough around him to pry, she smiles.]

It sounds like you had a group there. Even if there was a high turnover. That's important. Which ship do you like better though? This one, or the one you were on before?

[ryuuzaki]

[Something in his expression goes entirely flat and veiled, but there's no other sign that he might be rattled by the question.]

In some ways, they're similar. I had a private room there; I preferred that. There were dozens of swimming pools, hologrammatic entertainment rooms, that sort of thing. There was a garden that wasn't unlike the garden here. There were a number of differences, too: the ship itself was nearly empty, and it rarely stopped.

But I have to say this is a better place to be.

No... it strikes me as a safer place to be. But I could be wrong.

[He doesn't like what Loki has told him.]

[kidjoy]

[It's a little scary, but it's more fascinating. The boys had always told her about old horror stories, used them as an escape from the horror they already lived in. Half the desert had homages to old movie monsters in their imagery, painted on buildings and used in masks. To hear about something real only tugged at her curiosity.]

So you really got zombies to deal with. How? I've heard of 'em but just as stories. Are the real slow and got some kind of a virus? Do ya really have to shoot the brain to keep 'em down?

[whatdidisay]

Yes?

( that laugh is not very comforting. ivan shrugs, however, at the comment. )

It'd be a lot easier if it wouldn't do that to me in the first place. The Imperial Service Academy doesn't cover stuff like this, just normal military stuff.

( he doesn't want to have to fend for himself! that is the exact opposite of what he wants to do! )

[pushed]

Only if we get caught.

[Famous last words.]

[deal]

We won't get caught.

[She's used to sneaking around and having to do things quietly.]

Meet me outside the galley in ten minutes?

[deal]

[She feels a little bad for the people here who are so far out of their element that the things that happen leave a lasting impact of fear. She was afraid back in the prison, but it was short lived and forgotten about quickly.]

I haven't been here that long, but it feels like crazy things happening is gonna be a pretty common thing. Do you need help learning to fight or something?

[Maybe that would make him feel safe.]

[deal]

I think that's something that only time will tell.

[She's very curious about the ship he was on before, and wants to ask more about it, but she knows she wouldn't appreciate a lot of questions about where she was last. So she keeps them in for now, and makes a mental note to ask him more about the other ship he was on when they've become better friends.]

Safe is always good. It gives you time to regain your strength, so you're ready when the next bad thing happens.

[whatdidisay]

Oh no, I got the standard three year military academy experience. And the not-so standard biyearly ImpSec personal training course. ( just in case someone got any smart ideas about offing a potential claimant to the entire barrayaran empire. minor details. ) Fighting's not the problem, it's just that I'm allergic to people trying to kill me.

[whoami]

Time gets kind of screwy in space. But I think it's gonna be 4 months soon?

[anarchos]

[Bellamy Blake: gives little fucks about what most people (strangers) think of him. He'll take that flash of amusement as a pseudo victory.]

Did anyone actually try, with bad results? There's people I'd like to get word back to too.

JUST IGNORE THE WRONG JOURNAL I USED

[deal]

Not that I've heard of.

[But the fact that he wants to get a message to people too reassures her that she's doing the right thing. She admires Bellamy from a sensible judgement standpoint. If she had to pick someone to be a leader here, it would be him. So if he wants to do something, then in her mind, it's likely the right thing to do. So she smiles a little and nods, confirming that it's a good idea for them to give it a try.]

We should meet at the galley. We can make plans there.

[Because talking over the network about this probably isn't a good idea.]

[ryuuzaki]

Mm.

[It's a soft noise of noncommittal agreement.

He sets his fork on the plate as a delicate frown develops on his face.]

Ideally, that's true... unless there isn't enough time between bad things. One thing I haven't yet been able to determine here -- is it significantly safer to stay on the ship as much as possible? It seems like that might be the case.

[deal]

Maybe. But what's the point in being here if you're not going to take advantage of getting to see new places?

[She didn't want to come across as lecturing, so she gave his foot a nudge under the table, smirking a little as she did.]

If you start staying here all the time, this place will turn into a prison.

[ryuuzaki]

[He shifts a little in surprise when she nudges his foot, and the frown is replaced by the hint of a smile.]

Yes. And to be honest, I think staying on the ship really won't help anyone stay well-informed. This universe is our home for now -- we need to know about it, particularly if something that happened in one port affects events we encounter later in another.

[deal]

Next time we dock somewhere, you should go explore the planet with me.

[The fact that he's smiling after the foot nudge means he'll be pretty likely to take her up on the offer, she thinks.]

[ryuuzaki]

[The look he gives her isn't skeptical, but while his expression remains pleasant, his eyes narrow a little: he's weighing the idea. After a beat, he gives a single firm nod.]

All right. Then... [his eyes go wide, and he looks very innocent and serious]... we'll both have a group.

[She's not wrong about that. While he's worked alone in the past, most of the situations he's been in on the Tranquility, and most of the situations he might have gotten into here, either were or all would have been better in the company of reasonably competent associates.]

[deal]

[She wonders if he knows how important having a group is to her. Belonging is something she craves, and to find people who get her and like her for who she is means so much to her. So for him to say that they'd both have a group makes her fall into a stunned silence, and she looks completely awestruck.]

I won't let anything happen to you. If you're worried about getting hurt.

[She knows that's what some of the others worry about, and he looks like he may need her to keep anything like the zombie prisoners she encountered on Del Pascia away from him. So she reassures him that she has her value beyond just good conversation.]

[ryuuzaki]

[He suspects it's important, but he hadn't really expected this response to his slight impishness. He watches her for a moment, then half-smiles again, more of a general brightening and softening of his expression than anything.]

Then we'll be sure nothing happens to either of us.

[He says it as if they're making a deal. Then, with more casual interest,]

What sort of skills do you have in that direction?

[He's not carrying the Walther P99 today, although now that he has the belt holster back, he may choose to do so once in a while. Without it, there's little indication that he knows how to defend himself at all.]

[deal]

[She doesn't really get some of what he's saying, but she understands the general sentiment. He knows how to fight, he just has a fear of death.]

Everyone has to die sometime.

[It's pointed out in almost a teasing sort of way, but she means it. She's accepted her own impending death, so her attitude toward dying is eerily relaxed at best.]

Have you thought about just...staying on the ship? That's working out pretty well for a friend.

[pushed]

I'm in. I'll be there.

LMFAO IT'S FINE

[anarchos]

[He's not surprised by the suggestion to meet in person above continued communication here; he doesn't trust it much, because he is Bellamy Blake and he is forever paranoid. He thinks Cassandra can relate.]

Works for me. Today?

[He should probably figure out where she's staying, if he's going to stick after her for the time being - but that might not be a question she wants asked over the network either.]

[deal]

Now is good.

[She's not about to give out her room location, but she'll tell him in person. It makes sense for him to know where she stays, to make it easier to communicate so they don't have to rely on using a device that could end with others overhearing things they shouldn't.]

Unless you're busy?