ataraxion | 008; Voice

[Welcome back to another exciting adventure in the world of Topher Brink. There's a methodical clanking of tools and, once again, it seems Topher has turned his communicator on with the purpose of saying something, and then gotten distracted. Luckily, you're not stuck with ten minutes of dead silence with the actual sounds of someone working. In fact, it's only a few seconds before he starts talking.]

Sometimes I really think I'm the only one who doesn't spend an hour of every... relative day, I guess, thinking how bad I wanna go home. Don't get me wrong. I didn't get possessed by demons or nearly assimilated into a hive mind or chewed on by hellbeasts back home, and all of those things suck, but... It's not that bad. Everyone dies eventually, right? Why not die in space. ...Okay, so it's a touch cynical and I know- I'm terrifying the children. Cover their ears, ban that last bit from future broadcasts, whatever... The point is...

[There's a pause, followed by a pained noise, because genius here probably pinched his fingers or something.] The point is, uh... [Oh, did he have a point? He totally had one.]

... I don't remember what the point is, but I'll tell you something else. Hayley's post got me thinking about the whole... lack of dates thing. And I know it doesn't mean much to most of you, but it was, like... Late May or something when I showed up here and I've been here for eight months now, which means if time in space weren't so kerflooey, it'd be late January. So that means I'm 28 years old now, which... Yeah, that means exactly what I'm implying.

And this is not some big extravagant plea for gifts or attention or anything. I was just thinking about how this time last year, my birthday went by unnoticed and most of the time... Yeah, let's just say I've never had many people to celebrate it with. But here... If I said I wanted to gather some of my buddies up and sit in a common room and... I dunno, raid the library for something watchable and eat cake... It could happen. Not that I'm suggesting that either, because I have my doubts about whether the library has the best kind of bad science fiction when we're living the best kind of bad science fiction, but I could do it. And that means a lot to me.

Ah, I found my way back to the point. With all the bad stuff that happens here and the imminent badness continuing to loom over us and the fact that we miss the people we left behind back home... We can't forget that for some of us... This stupid ship has actually given us something. Fresh starts, the families we never knew we needed, friends, whatever. And that's a good thing.

[There's a thoughtful sigh.] I dunno. It does kinda make a guy wonder what happens if we do all go home. Sure, we lose all the bad things, but what about the stuff we actually wanna remember?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What'd you have in mind? ['Cause there's no laser tag. There's not even a decent chess set. Or vidja games. But still. His curiosity's piqued.]

Well...[ she pauses at that, letting a faint hum in thought escape her. there really isn't much to do on this damn ship, but she is willing to make up things if it helps. ] Is there anything in particular you might be up for?

I mean, we could always go mess around with the holodecks if you want?

Do you think they have anything urban?

I wouldn't know why they wouldn't. They do have the fight club whatever after all.

[ a small sound of thought escaped her, asking almost hesitantly: ] Would you like to see if we could try something?

[Despite a certain degree of awkwardness and a pained wariness in the back of his head saying ABORT ABORT, the smile in Topher's voice is unmistakable.] I'd like that.

[He exhales a little and he's back to his more casual tone.] I actually miss skyscrapers. I miss... having a view if I wanted to have one. [He may have spent a ton of time underground, but Adelle's office had a great view and he could go see it any time he wanted.]

[ She honestly does ponder the possibility of getting a hold of the PASIV to let him tinker around with for a moment. But she figures it might be best if she just waits and sees how it's working with Eames first. So her thought of mentioning it stops short, just glad they have something else for an option. ]

After the jump then? [ assuming that would be enough time for her to try and put something together for him. (basically talk to wheatley) ]

Sure. [At the mention of the jump, he whistles.] Coming up on the big zero-ten, huh? That's... Unnerving. I mean, not in a bad way, just in a... Wow kinda way.

[He's babbling. He's babbling because he's awkward. It's a THING.]

[ she does smile at that (even if he can't see it) because it is sort of neat that they can do something like that. and she honestly wants to do something with him that doesn't always deal with; how much this ship sucks - even if it is just a lot of awkwardness.

the amount of time does get a low sound in understanding. ] Yeah...ten months and always a joy. [ sarcasm: she is clearly trying to use it. ]

I can at least say; I've known you nine months now. [ which is something, right? ] Though it would be nice if we could finally figure out how time actually worked here, you know?

I dunno. I mean, I hate having to guess, but wouldn't it suck if we've actually been here for, like, hundreds of years and the ship is just really good at keeping us looking young and fit. Some mysteries are better left unsolved.

[ wow, that actually has her frowning slightly. because she seriously was just getting past the idea of it not being a dream - now she is just going to wonder how time works here. ]

I guess 2010 seems like a good year right now for me. [ she sighs though, clearly thinking it over some more. ] We missed a lot of holidays I'm guessing.

It's the year we made contact. [God, it's gonna be awkward if she's not a Clarke fan and doesn't get that and thinks it's a come-on or something.] We really need to figure out a way to make Space Christmas happen... Or a nondenominational winter holiday involving cheesy TV specials and too much food.

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