voice | ❝ all the bad you've got ❞

[avicula]

( this isn’t subtle, exactly, but sometimes the direct approach is the most effective. her tone, when dutch addresses the network at large, is crisp, pointed. ) I got the welcome speech loud and clear, but here's two questions for you anyway:

One, who here has heard of the J, the Quad, the Company, or Reclamation Agents? ( if they were telling the truth, the answer should be no one, or hardly anyone. dutch isn’t sure what outcome she’s hoping for: that they were telling the truth, or that this is a slaver ship or one of khlyen’s schemes. no, that’s a lie. she knows exactly which outcome she’s hoping for, but it’s a grim kind of hope. ) Two, I’m going to assume some of you know how to fight. I’m looking for sparring partners, so who’s ready to get their arse kicked?

( dutch has some frustration to work off, and there’s only so much a punching bag can do. )

Oh, and lastly? ( it’s a long shot, but still her tone shifts, something chiding that can’t hide the affection underlying her words. ) Johnnyboy, if you’re here, stop drooling over new tech and find me.

Comments

voice;

[tearsinajar]

If upcoming surgery wasn't in my day planner I would take you up on the offer of sparring.

Maybe you can consider this a raincheck?

[avicula]

You're a doctor. ( it's not a question, precisely, but dutch would still like to have confirmation. )

It looks like I'm not going anywhere any time soon. Just tell me when you're free.

[tearsinajar]

I got skills but not those kind of skills. I'm actually the patient, in this case.

[avicula]

( ah. that's also an explanation. )

What kind of surgery?

[tearsinajar]

Shrapnel removal.

[ She ain't gonna lie. ]

[avicula]

Recent injury?

( how often do people end up with sharpnel inside them around here, is what dutch really wants to know. )

[tearsinajar]

Ah, no. Not really. It's from a few years back. The gravity between going from ship to planet, that's what's causing the pieces inside to shift.

[ A small pause. ]

And become a high risk of puncturing a vital organ or two or three.

[avicula]

Sounds fun. ( somewhere underneath the glibness of dutch's tone, there's sympathy. )

[tearsinajar]

If that's your idea of fun, sure. No judging here. Though, in a way, you're kind of lucky you arrived now and not last month.

You really dodged a bullet.

[avicula]

What happened last month?

[tearsinajar]

The ship was boarded. There was a fight. A lot of people, myself included, experienced what it was like to have glass body parts.

Things were pretty fragile.

[avicula]

Glass body parts? How?

[tearsinajar]

Something to do with the Ingress malfunctioning. My entire left arm was glass as well as my left eye.

I'm glad it was only temporary.

[avicula]

Does that thing malfunction often?

[tearsinajar]

Mm, hard to say. I've only been here for two months. It's been messed up only the once in my time on the ship.

[avicula]

Let's hope that was the exception and not the rule.

[tearsinajar]

I wouldn't go hoping for too much, not with how unstable a lot of things are here.

[avicula]

( dutch is more of a realist than an optimist, anyway. )

Yeah, I figured.

[tearsinajar]

So, who's Johnnyboy? Friend of yours from home?

[avicula]

Johnny's my partner.

( in the platonic sense. )

[tearsinajar]

Partner as in... friends? Hus...band...?

[avicula]

As in work.

( and as in best friend. )

[tearsinajar]

Sorry. That probably came out wrong.

[avicula]

You're not the first one to make that mistake.