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[thenormalsquint]

[It's late at night when the transmission comes across and it's coming from one of the many kitchens where Angela's seated at a table, a small plastic tupperware container in front of her. The lid's been popped off and every so often, she reaches inside for one of the miniature Reese's peanut butter cups and unwraps it before popping it into her mouth. She's clearly been here for a while with the number of empty wrappers strewn around her, but she doesn't seem likely to go back to her room any time soon. At least not before she turns to the device and whispers into it.]

Most of you guys are probably sleeping or something. Who knows what time it is here, but I'm assuming you won't hear this until later. Either way, question mostly for the people who've been here for more than a couple jumps: do you get homesick? Or are you too busy dealing with the bullshit from the ship?

[Angela pauses to finish chewing the candy, following it up with another one that she swallows as she chooses her next words carefully.]

It's not like I've never been away from home. I've lived all over the world, some places only for a week or so, but at least I had a phone or the internet. Everybody I knew was never more than just a phone call away. I'm good for picking up and going because it's Tuesday, but I never stopped checking in.

[Another candy goes down before she lifts the wrapper in mock salute.]

Thanks for the candy, Isaac.

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[theheretic]

[ Contemplatively: ] All over the world. [And then, more directly:] So how did you figure out which one was 'home'? [ It's half because 'all over the world' intrigues him--in almost 200 years, he hasn't seen much more than the area around Boston--but it's also half because he knows that talking about something fondly makes the absence of it ache a little less. ]

[thenormalsquint]

Home was wherever I stayed the longest, to be honest. At this point, it's been D.C. I've been there five years now.

[theheretic]

Why do you stay? [ If she likes travel so much, that is. ]

[thenormalsquint]

I got a job there, firstly. For a while, I wanted to leave, but then I made friends and those friends turned into family. So I stayed. I'm happy there.

[She still travels, takes a grand vacation twice a year, but she always comes back home. Always keeps in touch.]

[theheretic]

[ There's a few seconds of pause as he imagines the life she's talking about (nothing's quite so simple, for him), and then, with a little bit of a smile: ] You'll make it back, someday.

And hey, I'd even wager a pretty solid bet that it going to happen a long time before your rules call this ship 'home'. [ Five years, right? Nobody stays for five years. Five months even sounds like a stretch, the way he hears it. ]

[thenormalsquint]

[Some of the first wavers are still here. It'll almost be a year for them. Four more and it'll be the five year mark. Angela does not want that to be her.]

It'll never be home. It's all cold steel and darkness. Also way too creepy. Nope, never.

[theheretic]

[ He chuckles a little. ] I feel that way about Boston sometimes. That's... where I'm from. It's changed a lot since I was young.

[thenormalsquint]

I've been there a few times I have feelings about Boston. [She pauses and then there's a laugh in her tone.] None of them good so I'll keep them to myself.

[theheretic]

No, it's okay. Mine aren't so great either, anymore. I stay because of my job and my family, but it's also because I remember how it was.

I guess you could say I was homesick before I ever really left. [ But his tone's casual enough, so it's most definitely not a sympathy grab. ]

[thenormalsquint]

[Even if it was, it's okay. Everybody deserves some in their life.]

I tried this thing when I first got here where I would pretend it was an all-expenses paid vacation and it would only be for a week or two. I would have fun, probably have sex with a handful of strangers I'd never see again, maybe pickup some of the local lingo, and then get to go back.

[It was a coping mechanism that never got off the ground far enough to work.]

[theheretic]

Except then you saw them again, and unfortunately enough, it looks like they speak English too.

[thenormalsquint]

Actually, none of that happened. I didn't have sex, didn't pick up any lingo, and I didn't get to go back. I got to go to a party, though, so there was that much.

[theheretic]

A space party. [ He's not sure if that makes it better or worse. ]

[thenormalsquint]

A birthday party for one of the guys here. Not that anybody's sure of the date, but a birthday's a birthday.

[theheretic]

Doesn't sound too horrible.

[thenormalsquint]

I never said it was.

[theheretic]

No, but I was definitely skeptical.

[thenormalsquint]

That's a common problem around here. That and paranoia.

[theheretic]

From what I've heard, though, I can't exactly blame them.

[thenormalsquint]

Neither do I, to be honest, but it makes sticking together through the hard times... hard.

[theheretic]

I guess you just have to figure out who you can trust.

[thenormalsquint]

Or who's willing to trust me.

[theheretic]

There are definitely less trustworthy people on this ship.

[thenormalsquint]

I'm taking that as a compliment and running with it.

[theheretic]

[ Of the two ways it could've been meant (a compliment or a warning), 'compliment' is the one he was aiming for, so good on that.

After a pause, he offers: ]

I'm Aidan.