ataraxion | ( 04 ) text ♧ go ask alice i think she'll know

[ solitude is an easy leap for a guy who likes to throw around dostoyevsky quotes like it ain't no thing, and men who go looking for secrets often find them. as such: have the very first non-video caffrey post, tranquility. fuck smiling, this shit ain't right. ]

"Try not to die".

This ship really is the most user friendly around, isn't it? And helpful.

Anyone who isn't used to computers, ask Tony Stark what I mean.

[ he'd say he's sorry, tony... but he isn't. ]

L O C K E D ( listmates )

Normally I'd make an English lesson out of this one, but forget it. "Solitude" is the password you want, if you like feeling special, not to mention uncomfortably singled out.

I don't know about the rest of you, but this is a list I could stand not to be on-- and I don't feel particularly giving, especially not towards our smiling friend.

Any thoughts from the other esteemed honorees?

/ L O C K E D ( listmates )

L O C K E D ( wardnik )

I need a word. And you two need better PR, so let's help each other out here.

/ L O C K E D ( wardnik )

L O C K E D ( our smiling friend)

I'm flattered, but I like to exchange names before I commit to anything. How about a quick sitdown? Strictly off the record.

/ L O C K E D ( our smiling friend )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Flattery will get you even nicer filters.

[ the flirtation rings half-hearted, and there's a slight 'whoof' sound as neal sits down heavily on the bed, following by thwacking as he starts tossing an improvised baseball (balled up socks) from hand to hand to help him think. ]

It's not exactly low profile, no. How long do you think before the whole ship knows?

Word travels fast. Even faster with these devices. I imagine a few hours, and that's a generous estimation.

[ there's a pause. irene's skirts are rustling. her methods aren't holmes, but she does keep a little map of her own, marked on the wall of her room with interesting or important figures noted. that's what she looks at now, fingers tapping against names. ]

You're worried, aren't you?

I'd like to say I disagree, but I can't. If the list isn't public by dinnertime somebody really fell down on the Nancy Drew-ing.

[ sighing, neal stays quiet for a long moment. ]

Let's just say the last few times I was a featured player on somebody's list, it didn't end well.

People aboard are terrible gossips. But it may not necessarily be a bad thing.

[ for a moment there's nothing but the sound of irene's fingers tapping the wall. ]

There's no reason things have to end poorly this time.

If public opinion is for those of us on the list? You're right, it's an asset. If somebody throws forward a hypothesis that paints us all in a less savory light, it's going to be an issue.

[ and neal's steady thwack, thwack, thwack of cloth against palm will provide counterbalance. ]

Resnik's worried. Worried enough to be somewhat informative, which makes me very worried.

It's a curious thing, this group of names. I can't recall certain names doing anything to be cast in negative light, but others...

[ and the scratch of pencil against the wall. a note, to herself. examine this more closely. ]

You won't do anything rash? I did tell you I'd be put out if you were unavailable to converse with.

We have the blue guy who keeps yelling he's a villain. I'm a thief, not a comic book character. I don't actually even like the word villain. Too... polarizing. Not to mention, black and white.

[ megamind is tacky tacky tacky okay. neal objects on prissy principle. ]

And deny myself the pleasure of your company? Never.

...I might take a few extra precautions, though. Just in case.

The blue creature is a fool, trumpeting such things for all to hear. People who call themselves villians hardly ever live up to the task.

[ irene had met villians. she'd sat with them and drank the poisoned tea they'd served, and known them to be a force of such utter evil it had nearly stolen her breath.

a blue thing with an overlarge head could hardly compare to that. ]

What sort of precautions?

You know, the best villain I ever met called himself a businessman? That seems to be the preferred term these days.

[ vincent adler smiled and charmed and treated neal like the son he never had, and when neal betrayed him adler burned down everything neal loved and salted the ground where it lay.

yeah, he knows villains. ]

Move rooms, forgo any patterns. [ find a gun, and steal it. ]

Ah, the best I'd met called himself a professor. And he was, after a fashion, but that was not...

[ a professor whose ambitions lay in war, who poisoned a woman and left her crumpled on a restaurant floor like a doll, stepped over her like trash in a gutter.

but she isn't here to speak of that. ]

Would you like to borrow my bludgeon?

He had your last name. It's a good thing I like you so much, Ms. Adler.

[ neal has a habit of handing out little truths like they're presents, far nicer than any trinket he's picked up and doled out along the way.

irene's kith and kin, or as near as neal allows himself to have: she'll read the echoes under simple truth, pain and desperation and the utter surety this is one leap he won't land gently on.

but he's not here to speak of that, either. ]

I might, if it comes down to it. For now, I think it's time to pay an anonymous visit to one of our more... explosively prepared friends onboard.

[ homeboy's looking to steal himself a gun. ]

What an unfortunate coincidence. I can only hope he didn't marr my good reputation too badly.

[ she makes light of it because irene knows the worth of such little tidbits, those little truths that lay the groundwork for a lifetime of lies. and it means something, although she doesn't know quite how much, not just yet. ]

Explosives. Be careful with those.

[ neal and guns. this is srs bsns ]

With two of you aboard? Doubly impossible.

[ he slips back into easy flattery without a skipped beat: irene, darling, you are the soultwin he never knew he had, and if alex ever arrives you're never allowed to speak to each other. ]

Would I ever be anything but?

[ guns are stupid and neal hates them-- now if you'll excuse him he's going to go try and suss out where best to mock up a firing range away from anyone who could stumble over it. ]

( 04 ) text ♧ go ask alice i think she'll know

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