IC Inbox

[oddswerebad]

[There's just a brief click.]

Comments

[ninefox]

[Text, backdated to around nine on Friday, shortly after Rip's arrival.]

I want you to investigate something for me.

[Try to help, Nico had said, and at the time Jedao hadn't needed anything. Answer questions. Now he has questions.]

[oddswerebad]

[Nico had spent several moment unable to put his words in the right order and a lot longer than that even closer to panic than usual, terrified that long term effects from the experiments had finally hit in.

In it's way, the text is calming. Gathering information, putting it together, it's what he's good at. What he can give people.]

Who/What?

Skill Car Keys | Video

[ifoundthem]

Hello? I, ah, I'm meant to give you a lesson. It is Nico, yes?

Skill Car Keys | Video

[oddswerebad]

Um. Yeah, I'm Nico. Uh, what sort of thing?

[Newt's definitely not the worst person he could've gotten but Nico's still deeply unsure around animals. He hopes that's not what Newt is planning on teaching.]

video

[tetractys]

KID. YOU SEE MY POST ABOUT THIS THING?

[Bill looks more serious than he's been in a long time, and waves his Alan-made ring for the camera.]

video

[oddswerebad]

Yeah?

[He may had been hiding under a bed at the time but he keeps up with the network.]

Voice, wibbly time post-flood

[ninefox]

Nika, just because I've been deadish doesn't mean I didn't notice you squirreling away.

[Gently. For the record.]

Voice, wibbly time post-flood

[oddswerebad]

[It's not that he thought Jedao wouldn't notice (mostly, apart from the part that assumes he'll just be forgotten), it was just that he figured he could vanish for a bit.]

I was just...in a cabin. [He can't deny the hiding part. As for the bit that does make him feel guilty;] How are you, uh, feeling?

[text, locked]

[routemistress]

hey Nico

I'm glad Missy got you

I can't see exactly how it's going to work but it is going to work

please, if anything I can ever do can help

please let me know

[text, locked]

[oddswerebad]

[He turns the text over in his head for a while, going through patterns of interaction and new context and the importance of connections.]

I will.

You know the Doctor. Do you know the one she does?

[stormandwind]

Hello Nico.

I don't know if you've seen yet, but there was a woman on the network who was particularly concerned with people under eighteen. She seems benign at first glance, but I know she's planning on knocking on doors.

I wanted to warn you, in case you want to avoid opening yours to anyone who hasn't called to tell you they're coming.

[oddswerebad]

[He'd seen the woman talking, he keeps an even closer eye on the network than usual during floods, and he's usually pretty focused, but he still appreciates the warning.

The idea is worrying enough for him to actually lock his door, for once, even though part of him still doesn't believe that'll do anything to stop someone.]

Thanks. You okay?

Revival

[ninefox]

Nico is not in his cell cabin, and not in the infirmary. He's in a bed. He can hear the soft constant wind chime Tris gave Jedao, and the low burble of his aquarium filter. The humidity is higher than usual, and the air is scented faintly with lemon and ginger. Jedao has been simmering the aromatics on the stove for the last few hours. Nico died of chest shots; if the toll affects his breathing, steam will ease the difficulty at least a little.

Jedao is breathing next to him, with the steadiness of long patience, the tell-tale familiar texture of callouses and half-gloves where he has one of Nico's hands clasped gently in both of his.

Revival

[oddswerebad]

Nico's never died before (the dream-memories of vines ripping him apart - the flashes that keep him away from the greenhouse - don't count, he hadn't been able to die, then, and the pain hadn't come until later), he hadn't expected it to feel so... familiar. He's back where he started from (it's hard to think of a life before the labs, they are the beginning and the eventual end), woken up from dreams of a world free from the never ending pain.

A never ending room filled with books, running a wolf, a loving family, the kindness of strangers - a far stranger dream than most, he wonders if they've been trying out experimental drugs again. He feels sick enough for it. That's familiar. That feels real. The exhaustion, the headache, the pain in his chest - that's real. He can believe in that. He knows what to do, he knows that there's nothing he can do.

But that's not true, either. He's hallucinated before, lost in his mind or senses confused after a 'treatment' that leaves him smelling or feeling things that aren't there. But they're not like this. The feeling of the bed; the soft, unfamiliar sounds; the warm air easing his breathing; and the strange-familiar hands around his. All the elements tie together, all the facts fitting his memories.

He knows what happened. He remembers Teddy. The shots to the chest and the pain before he'd lost consciousness. He knows where he is. He knows who's with him. His hand tightens convulsively a moment, gasping.

"Sorry."

[ninefox]

The thing I warned you about. I'm doing it today.

[He thought about telling Nico yesterday, when he set the time, but figured he'd give Nico less time to fret.]

I'll tell Jean to tell you the score as soon as she knows.

[oddswerebad]

Okay.

[He can fit a lot of fretting into a short amount of time, but at least text lets him seem calm.]

If you need anything I can help with, I'll do what I can.

[He knows his own limitations, but that doesn't mean he can't try. He leaves his other promise - to serve as another check of Jedao's state of mind - unwritten; after all, he doesn't want to leave warnings hanging around.]

[private text]

[routemistress]

re: Missy

what are your feelings on what weapons and tools she should have?

specifically, can I make her a sonic probe and/or a staser

[private text]

[oddswerebad]

[He considers the question a moment, but it's not hard to get weapons on the barge, and so much can be used to cause pain, if someone wants.

Better to have something known, that can be accounted for.]

Sure.

It can be good to get that sort of stuff from people you care about.

[vampere]

[Text, backdated to shortly after this post]

I heard you were interested in a key to the engine room?

text

[oddswerebad]

I am.

Post marriage, chatting up the new step son ;)

[callmefives]

Fives makes his way to Nico's version of the Roci at a time of day when he hopes he'll be there, then goes looking for him in the kitchen. He's optimistic enough that he has two mugs of tea with him.

as you do

[oddswerebad]

Nico is concentrating on carefully folding pastry. As always, he twitches slightly at the arrival of a person to adjust to, but it's Fives so he doesn't retreat or fall deeper into discomfort.

"Hi. Uh, thanks?"

after port

[tetractys]

HEY KID

Re: after port

[oddswerebad]

Bill?

(after the pairing announcement)

[routemistress]

hey darling.

1. mission accomplished. the barge has never let me find a lost inmate before but I think the strain may have been a bit much. best not to say anything in case she notices.

2. mystique may be a rough one. she used to knock around with my Vic. we've kinda sorta made friends, a bit? as in she didn't murder me when I accidentally got in her cabin and she did put me down when I caught the Slaughter in the library.

this probably counts as bosom friendship for her. pls let me know if I can be any use with her.

(after the pairing announcement)

[oddswerebad]

The barge has been through a hard time recently.

[He's generally on the side of the importance of not saying anything that could be caught.]

She's been running around in different bodies, right. We usually don't get that many here and gone inmates all at once. [He pays very careful attention to these things.]

Do you know where she falls on the mutants/humans opinion line?

TEXT

[tetractys]

HAVEN'T SEEN YOU AROUND

HOW'D THE BREACH GO?

TEXT

[oddswerebad]

it was fine. different person, not a problem.

how was it for you?

[stormandwind]

Would you mind stopping by the library or my cabin at some point today? Or I could meet you at yours, if you'd prefer.

[oddswerebad]

I can meet you at the library.

private [cw utilitarian discussion of terrible injuries]

[magician_king]

Hey so do you know Elijah? He basically invented the field of cybernetics in his timeline, and he's interested in helping us develop a resource-plan to focus on veteran care in a nascent society. It's weirdly shockingly easy since all clones will have arms & legs basically same size.

Anyways he's got some very interesting propositions re; 3d printers and questions re; available local materials that get into deeper theory/philosophy re; local production of synthetic compounds. Kind of big picture social structure stuff I want to talk over with you before I give him hard go aheads.

Want to come over & go through it, and possibly later meet him? He's just graduated but is sticking around for a bit so we have the resource of his brain a little while longer. Honestly he's the kind of specialized nerd who's poured so much dedicated time into this one area that we really ought to use him for the resource he is while we have him, because it's taken him a lifetime (and would take anyone else a second lifetime) to get to where he is now.

private [cw utilitarian discussion of terrible injuries]

[oddswerebad]

[Nico knows Elijah through the network and his usual practice of observation, which haven't made a great impression. But he's worked with worse people, especially if they know how to focus.]

That sounds good, I've been looking at what I've been able to find on the cybernetics that seem to be commonly available there & there seems a lot of room for improvement. We should use someone who actually specializes in it. Also done some new economic models wanted to discuss with you, the specific issues of the first generation or so looked at long term with post-war footing.

Trade Federation was a real problem for a reason, and while we have plenty of options, non-military ones are preferred on my end.

[He's pretty sure Quentin is more in agreement with him on certain positions than Jedao is.]

This afternoon?

private

[ukan]

[So this is a conversation he would normally try to have in person, except...well. He's confident there's nothing that could get him to lash out at Nico now but a little safe distance can't hurt for encouraging Nico to talk to him at all.

That being said, he also can't just ease his way into it because there's a good chance Nico will just ignore him.]

I need to apologize.

[The words aren't easy to say but that's because he's not lying.]

Re: private

[oddswerebad]

[Those aren't words Nico hears often. Apologies are not a large part of his life. But it's not so unfamiliar he doesn't know the response.]

It's okay, you don't have to.

[He means it, too. He could've done with simple avoidance, but he supposes since Lark's on board, maybe it is better to get what he wants over with immediately.]

[stormandwind]

Hello, Nico. Can we talk? I'll make tea, if you drink it.

[oddswerebad]

Do you want to talk now? [He'd not doing anything time sensitive.] I drink tea.

voice; shortly after pairing announcements

[brokenallthelaws]

So. I hear you're the guy to talk to if there's something I was looking to get back.

[Since it's not like he's going to be able to make requests of the Admiral himself, or at least, not without it going exactly nowhere if he did.]

Re: voice; shortly after pairing announcements

[oddswerebad]

I can ask.

audio

[tetractys]

I GOT A CONFESSION TO MAKE! I GAVE SOMEONE THE MEMORY-STORING PIN YOU WORKED ON. THEY REALLY NEEDED IT!

audio

[oddswerebad]

That's okay.

[It had been a gift, that means Bill can give it to anyone he wants.]

I've been working on a better one.

audio

[sears]

Who are you, and why do I have notes about you in my cabin?

private

[ninefox]

I'm considering Spock as a potential fourth for our and Quentin's bughouse rotation.

[But he wouldn't surprise Nico with a new person. Hence: floating the idea.]

private

[oddswerebad]

He seems like a good choice.

[As long as he has prior warning, Nico has no objections about playing Spock. He seems like he wouldn't necessarily assume socialization along with a game, and Nico trusts Jedao not to bring in a bad loser - or winner.]

A good player?

[A question more about character than skill. He relies on his own observations, but being able to trust someone else's is nice.]

TEXT

[madaboutit]

Saw the list was up and figured I should be checking in for whatever it is that we're meant to be doing.

TEXT

[oddswerebad]

Would you like to talk in person?

[dog_eat_dog]

You know, it's funny. I thought maybe you were someone cooked up by the Barge, because I've been here a year now and thought for sure I'd met pretty much everyone, especially new people. But then there's you. I'd seen your name around, but then the Admiral goes and makes you my kid.

Who are you?

[oddswerebad]

I'm Nico.

[He doesn't exactly want to do this, and he generally much prefers text to most other forms of communication, but the breach still has it's mark. Or maybe it's weight. He's not that boy. He's never had a mother. There's something, even if he couldn't say what it is.]

Would you like to meet?

[In person]

[deuceoftears]

[After he sees the signs of someone poking at the Engine Room, Jedao comes to knock on Nico's door.]

Re: [In person]

[oddswerebad]

[It's Jedao - even if not the Jedao he trusts - so Nico opens the door without going beyond his normal level of paranoia.]

Hi. [What's next:] Do you want to come in? [If Jedao didn't need something, why would he be there? So that question isn't necessary.]