VIDEO ☢ OO3。

[anomalies]

Hey. [ HELLO, TRANQUILITY. someone appears to have found a razor since their last post. someone also appears to have not slept in the past... well, sleeping's overrated. connor's eyes are droopy and dark, and if the communicator could communicate smell, it'd probably be producing a intense odor of coffee. which is pretty much all he's been drinking lately.

off the side of the feed, there appears to be some kind of shifting, golden light—it's throwing cheerful, twinkly shapes against the walls of his room, lending a pleasant atmosphere to the feed, despite connor's obvious discomfort. the source of this light remains offscreen, but the mask is there nonetheless, sat innocently on connor's bed. despite telling abby he would... he hasn't yet locked it away. he can't seem to make himself do it. (it's got to be there for a reason, right?)

anyway. not the point. ]

Right. Couple of things. I'll try to be quick.
Jenna mentioned a headcount system last month, so Tony and I put our heads together and whipped up something to keep track of what numbers are in use at any given time. It's completely anonymous, so no names associated with the numbers—just that they're being used, which gives us a pretty solid count of how many passengers are onboard and using their comms, which comms are active, that sorta thing. It's obviously not gonna work on life-forms who aren't using the communicators, but this is a pretty good springboard. I heard— [ stalked ] —Communications was working on something a bit more refined?

If you guys need an extra pair of hands on that, I'd be happy to help.

And trust me, if there was some way of knowing what else is lurking on this big hunk of metal with us, I'd be all over it, but right now, this is the best I've got. [ he offers a small shrug, rubbing his hands together. ] We can work on triangulating organic life forms next, I suppose, but that might take a bit more doing.

Anyway, it's been up and running for a while—but I finally hooked up a VDT from the science department in medical to display the actual number, so you can check to see if it's fluctuated at all before or after this jump. No disrespect to the dead or missing, but this might... make it a bit easier to figure out if someone's gone right off the bat. There's also a subnetwork version if you'd rather check in on the go. I'm putting it up now. [ he reaches forward to tap a few keys, and a text link pops up. ]

» HEADCOUNT

[ right, onto the next thing. ]

I've been thinking. [ more like debating various distractions from all the crap that's been happening lately, but: ] If anyone were interested, we could start up a sort of... lecture series. There's a lot of people what are really well-read in their respective fields, and it'd be nice to spread the wealth. So to speak. So—the idea is, pick a topic you're particularly specialised in, and we can set up something in one of the conference rooms, or maybe a rec room. Broadcast it to the network. Myself, I've got experience in computer science, mechanical engineering, physics, and palaeontology, but I know quite a lot of other people've got experience in some of the same stuff—it'd be good to give everyone a chance to present what they'd like. Y'know. Variety.

I've typed up a rudimentary electronic sign-up sheet, so if there's enough interest, maybe we can make it happen. [ or something. ]

LECTURE SIGN-UPS (NAME, SUBJECT) 1. Connor Temple, Palaeontology OR Temporal Physics 2. Chapel Hill, Nanotechnology OR Basketball 3. Mike Ross, Literature 4. Topher Brink, Computational Neuroscience 5. Leoben Conoy, Yoga

Right, that's it from me.

—One last thing, though. Stay safe, everyone, alright? I know weird stuff on this ship's pretty much a given, but... [ he sighs. ] It's been a bit weirder than usual. Let's try to keep our wits about us.

[ connor out. ]

Comments

video;

[fraud]

I'm good at... law. I dunno, if you wanna dude who does that or something.

[ a nonchalant shrug and he kind of runs a hand through his hair. he's sitting on his bed in his raggedy hoodie and jeans, stubbled all up and hair kind of messy as fuck. he looks kind of gaunt too, like he hasn't slept in ages. yeah, he's totally good at law. ]

voice;

[growling]

I bet you write a stellar resume too.

[ seriously though, way to sell yourself bro. ]

voice;

[fraud]

Ha ha, thanks.

[ rolls his eyes, sarcasm bro ]

I can write a fine resume. I don't really want to teach or anything though, I just... know a lot of shit.

voice;

[growling]

Ah, so the mediocre self-review definitely isn't due to modesty, then.

Must be nice to know a lot of "shit".

voice;

[fraud]

No, I'm not--

[ fuck that word, man. fuck the word "genius". he's not a genius. ]

I just... it's in my head and I might as well use it for something.

voice;

[growling]

No, I get it. That's very generous of you. Definitely getting why you're not into the idea of actually teaching, though.

[ see: man you look like a mess and are impossible to speak to, sort your life out. not that josh is... any better. but shhh. ]

voice;

[fraud]

[ he is a pitiful being sometimes, okay. ]

... Is that sarcasm?

[ IT'S BEEN A WEIRD FEW DAYS OKAY ]

voice;

[growling]

[ TRY TURNING INTO A WOLF in a freezing ship and breaking up with all of your friends man

josh knows weird days ]

You know, only half. I do actually get you. I wouldn't really be game for teaching anything up here either. [ ... except maybe camping. ]

voice;

[fraud]

[ whoops ]

Yeah, I'm -- not. I just know a lot, doesn't mean I'm any good at it.

[ wait ]

Not saying I'm a bad lawyer! I just... couldn't teach you how to be one, y'know? Harvey does most of the really flashy stuff, I just read. A lot.

[ everything ]

voice;

[growling]

You mean you read legal textbooks? And legal paperwork? Sounds like an extremely soul-crushing lifestyle. I thought lawyers only did that to earn the right to look and act like total douchebags.

[ and he actually means that as a compliment, if a completely backwards one - because clearly Mike's forfeited the 'dress and act like a rich asshole' payoff. and a pause, because hang on- ]

You keep saying you know things - just law things, or... ?

voice;

[fraud]

No, it's -- Hm.

[ how to explain this ]

Once I read something, I understand it -- and once I understand it, I can never forget it. Not just law, but -- everything. Whatever I've read. Or seen, sometimes. It just stays.

voice;

[growling]

[ hey he's got this bro ]

Eidetic memory? [ there's some skepticism in his voice, but it's actually polite (for once). ] I always figured it was a medical unicorn, but - have you had your memory tested?

voice;

[fraud]

Yeah, pretty much.

[ there is a laugh at that ]

I use it to pick up chicks, I think I know it pretty well at this point. But you can ask me, if you want. Any book, whatever you want, I'll recite the first page and you can tell me if I'm wrong.

video;

[anomalies]

[ ... wow, okay, sudden flashbacks to duncan and his cave of slightly horrifying conspiracy discoveries. connor's eyebrows go up—judgmentally—but he shrugs, because hey, if you're good at something... you're good at something. ]

Sure. [ er. ] Any specific law... area?

video;

[fraud]

Anything.

[ he shrugs and waves a hand dismissively ]

I'm pretty versatile. I just sort of need something to do -- I can write it? I mean, if you need it. I'm not fit for speaking or anything.

[ teeeextbooks ]

video;

[anomalies]

[ yes mike he can see that ]

Well, I've no idea about law, but I suppose written presentations could work.

[ m... a... ybe? ]

video;

[fraud]

[ H-HAHAHAHA SOB ]

Doesn't need to be just law. Like, dude, if you need a copy of -- I dunno, 1984 or some shit, I'm your guy.

[ HE WANTS TO BE USEFUL ]

video;

[anomalies]

[ THAT'S ALMOST ENDEARING you kind of remind him of... himself... a bit, actually... ]

You want to talk about 1984. Here. On this ship.

[ he's not entirely sure he's following you rn ]

video;

[fraud]

[ the sudden look of realization ]

Shit -- oh.

[ NO ]

Just an example, oh my god.

video;

[anomalies]

That's what I thought. [ just making sure okay BECAUSE THAT COULD ONLY END IN DISASTER, LBR. ]

So—um. What exactly am I putting you down for? Just anything?

[ literally not getting the fact that mike has eidetic memory powers yet because this is pre-fustercluck just go with it ]

video;

[fraud]

Yeah, anything I've read, I got it. And I read a lot so, yeah, anything.

[ a shrug ALSO HAHA AWFUL ]

video;

[anomalies]

Cool.

[ puts him doWAIT A SECOND. ]

—You what.

video;

[fraud]

[ THE MOST SURPRISED LOOK ]

-- What?

video;

[anomalies]

Anything you read?

video;

[fraud]

Yeah. Sometimes what I see too. Eidetic memory.