video + voice | make me a beast half as brave i'd be the same

[amethysts]

[private to jesse pinkman and miles edgesworth | not encrypted | video]

[The Libby--and it's just Libby, even if her face is clean and her hair is gently washed and flowing smooth and purely blonde--who appears in the video is relieved. Not drunk, not jittery with tension, not panicked or cornered or twisted by anger. Just relieved, smiling with an old, recently missing quirk to it, wrapped up in an oversized black jacket and smoking with a hand that shakes but only slightly.]

Hey, guys. Guess who I can't find? Um--do you want to like. Watch a stupid future movie or whatev, some time? I've got--I've got a lot of free time. So. You know. Or anything.

And, um--maybe we should all check in. Every morning and tonight. Your girls too, Jesse. I just ydon't want--well. A lot of people have been going missing. [She ruffles her hair with her free hand, but still. For the first time since she got here she can breathe.] But yeah. Anything you want.

[private to james rogers | not encrypted | voice]

Um. Hey.

[Nervous, but that's fine, right? Everything is fine today.]

[public | voice]

Loki's gone. I don't know who of you care, but unless he shows up and calls me an idiot on this thing--he's gone. So. Tally that up, I figure.

[A quiet, disbelieving laugh, her voice mellow and soft, and Libby falls back on her bed.]

Comments

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[amethysts]

You know what this means, right?

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[jurisimpudent]

...I do not.

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[amethysts]

You have to teach me how to lawyer. So I can crack the case.

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[jurisimpudent]

[He clears his throat.]

Well. Lawyers are not technically investigators...

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[amethysts]

But you investigate stuff all the time.

[W h a t.]

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[jurisimpudent]

Indeed. But in one's home jurisdiction, one relies upon detectives so that one might concentrate on one's case. It's simply necessity because of the lack of resources here.

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[amethysts]

...I could be your detective?

I mean, I'm not working for Loki anymore, and I'm only on night shift in Engineering. I get bored if I don't have stuff to do in the daytime.

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[jurisimpudent]

[He's torn between being touched by the offer and being worried by it.]

Well. Detective work does take extensive training.

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[amethysts]

[As well he should be.]

Pfft. I train like a--like wicked hard, you know I'm smart. And I already have computer investigating down. I'd study every freaking day, I swear.

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[jurisimpudent]

[He clears his throat.]

Well, there is no one here to train you.

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[amethysts]

[Teenage girl siiigh.]

Then how do you investigate stuff?

And we have the whole freaking SEC team.

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[jurisimpudent]

We do, but none of them really know what they're doing.

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[amethysts]

[That gets a laugh.]

Well, yeah. That's why you need me. I'm wicked smarter than them and I bet we've got books I can read. I do some interning with like, a Sherlock, bam. Set. I can have two jobs, it'd be fun.

[So when do you...eat or sleep or have a life--oh right, all of those don't matter.]

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[jurisimpudent]

[But he still hesitates, and finally gives the real reason - ]

It would be very dangerous, Libby.

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[amethysts]

[...instead of scoffing, like she used to, she considers that. (These past weeks put the fear of gods into her.)]

I'd be careful. Nobody can touch me anyway, I just turn to water. You do it and you don't even have a power.

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[jurisimpudent]

I do it because it's what I've committed my life to doing. I have no obligations save that.

[As for being untouchable...Well. He remembers Strela.]

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[amethysts]

Me either. I just want to do something good. Helping you out--I mean, I want to. None of those jerks support you.

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[jurisimpudent]

That is their prerogative. If they think what I am doing is wrong, or wrong-headed, it's their right to oppose it.

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[amethysts]

Well, fuck them. Maybe if they didn't suck at their jobs we wouldn't have a pile of dead bodies everywhere.

[A beat.] I--sorry. Cursing.

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[jurisimpudent]

[He hesitates - then reassures her:]

No, it's fine. Just better not to curse where children can hear; that is all. And...I think that's unfair. They're doing the best they can, just as we all are. The fact that they're largely unequipped to deal with enemies not already shooting at them is not exactly their fault.

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[amethysts]

But they act like they are. You don't see me acting like I know anything about piloting the shuttles or working on the large mechanics. I'm learning engines, but I'm a computer engineer. That's what I know right now.

I mean, you're one of the only ones who knows what he's doing, actually. But like--how old is Tyke? What does she know about anything? As far as I can tell she can just fight. And that's good, we need fighters. But should she be in charge? I sure as fuck shouldn't be in charge of Engineering.

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[jurisimpudent]

She has...taken authority upon herself. Which is...It is commendable that someone has.

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[amethysts]

Why?

[There's a reason that sometimes (often) Libby is as blunt and obnoxious as Miles. They honestly don't understand people taking offense--Miles believes in perfect truth and Libby believes in flawless data, and all of the messy human complication is an error to be eliminated. Libby doesn't get that this is disrespectful. She just sees that Tyke is less qualified than she should be, on paper. And that doesn't make sense.]

Why don't we have votes? Nothing else here runs like a ship. They say we have to act like it, but nothing else works like that. I think the people who say that are just afraid we wouldn't give them power after.

[And there is nothing she hates more than arbitrary authority.]

I think--I think we count. We should have a say. It's not fair.

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[jurisimpudent]

[He considers this a moment.]

You know the phrase, of course, "decisions are made by those who show up."

[ voice | private | unencrypted ]

[amethysts]

No?

[But she can get the idea.]

I just--I want to have hierarchy. I want to know who I answer to. This is stupid.