[ it is a fitting juxtaposition, and as he reaches for it, as he lifts her message through layers upon layers of code the echo is impossible to ignore. she is attempting to unravel his text- to test her capabilities. she is attempting to unravel him. and to what end he is uncertain.
Spock finds himself typing in return, piecing together particularly difficult encryptions for no purpose save their difficulty- and his voice meets the air in place of a smile. in place of the flicker of confusion that tugs gently on his features. ]
[ It's an exercise, one that she's done in the past with Cambridge to shore up whatever gaps she might have in her technological arsenal. There's no real reason for it at the end of the day; she's Aberdeen, not Cambridge, and so her responsibilities fall under a different communications umbrella altogether. But she grew up much smarter than the other children with school and with the impulse to take things apart, break them down into their constituent parts to under stand them, optimize them, and then put them back together again. It's an impulse she's never learned to curb and had no desire to.
What Spock sends back is something she rarely finds: a challenge. She almost flushes at the thought.
Almost.
In response, more scattered code: ]
that makes two of us. but expectations change.
[ There is a lag in follow-up, but one eventually follows. The language, oddly sentimental. ]
[ her scattered code, is, to his eyes- anything but. there is order in it's chaos. carefully constructed symbolism in blankness. poetry in mathematics.
the pause that follows is negligible, but present nonetheless. space enough for him to send a particularly unique piece in her direction, and the beat of hesitation is his own allowance. encryption was not a skill he was required to hone within Starfleet, and while he is certainly capable of holding his own against a true technopath- the act hardly flows naturally. ]
[ More code. It's fluid now, now that she's found her groove. He's right: things change, all things, especially her. With her mercurial moods and her jump-start obsessions, even though that all happens beneath a surface of ratcheted calm. He'd wondered the first time he'd come across her whether she was the manifestation of pure self-control or self-abandonment and maybe it's begun to reveal itself now. Little by little, morsel by morsel, tucked in the spaces between those bits of code: it's the later. Self-abandonment that leads to self-realization. And that's what Aberdeen is. Wholly realized.
There's that urge again; that twist that makes her want to crawl into his head, to get under his skin and deconstruct him like so much loose code. (How do you work, Spock?) Most of the time she doesn't ask, she just looks; she listens and peels away the layers herself to reveal what lies underneath. But Aberdeen likes Spock — in so much as she is capable of 'liking' anyone. Which is why he's afforded the luxury of another question. ]
[ his answer comes easily, as any statement of fact might- and yet he is in part, dissatisfied by the answer. it lacks. it lacks intricacies he has not considered. an acknowledgement of his own evolution. and yet they both remain so wholly separated from himself that Spock can only observe and conjecture.
who and what he had been when first enlisting has already changed so immensely that the two subjects are barely recognizable. who he would now become- after Nero's involvement, after Kirk's, after the Tranquility- are all shrouded in mystery too raw to yet touch.
his words come as a murmur. low against the measure of his heartbeat, while his code betrays nothing. ]
What I will become, I do not yet know.
I have yet to determine that. But you are unquestionably compelling.
[ Aberdeen's mind works best in construction and deconstruction, whether it be a language or a program or a series of sounds, but she is not wholly defined nor shaped by things like logic and science the way so many others are. She is a creature of appetite and instinct, but even those tendencies defy both connotation and denotation. Spock's biology is key in creating the limitations and potentials with which he can operate, but that is only one part of the equation.
What Aberdeen would like to see is how that intersects with his own curiosities, his desires and impulses (and she knows that he has them; every one does, no matter how singular). She can hear it in his voice, the way it betrays the simplicity of the messages he provides.
There's a contradiction there, a conflict. She wants to curl her hands into it, wrist deep, and then watch him intellectualize his way through the rest. ]
[ it is all he can offer in the moment, and it feels unsatisfactory. incomplete and rudimentary. the words fall short, they pale in comparison, and yet he cannot imagine saying nothing. who would be more dissatisfied in it's absence, he cannot guess and does not care to examine.
the rest, he surrenders to encryption. code winding it's way through her device as though it belongs there. ]
[ The variable is suddenly found embedded over a dozen times in the data stream, nestled where it will be most obvious to the discerning eye and yet still sit seamless with the rest of Spock's code. φ. The golden ratio. An expression of mathematical beauty, the base logarithm to the organic expression of mathematics.
For a long stretch, Aberdeen falls silent, the Spock's code untouched for a minute, then two, then: ]
i'm highly attracted to you. both mentally and physically.
i have no intentions of stopping. will this be a problem?
[ he tucks back- tidy, as much out of place as within it, and perhaps the only reply he could offer to such a response. infinity. limitless possibilities for both a and b. potential, uncharted and undetermined- coupled with man's desperate need to define it.
her words do, however, grind his mentality to a halt.
it is, certainly, the first time such a subject has ever come up regarding his person, and his reply comes with an audible hesitancy. unfamiliar territory. ]
I do not perceive objectionable consequence at the present time.
However, I must inquire, is it your intention to pursue a physical interaction with my person?
[ Aberdeen does not pretend to be an expert on other people. In fact, when it comes down to it, she is hardly an expert in herself. She knows what she wants and how to acquire it, but there is no digging nor deeply-laid self-reflection beyond that. Things are what they are and are embraced for what they are. Period, end of sentence, new paragraph. Simplicity in thought and action; self-realized with a kind of ignorance that is self-realized as well. Aberdeen is not potential, Aberdeen is actual, and she does not wonder what it means that she might desire a man who would define himself through potentialities. Limitlessness.
She is not an expert on other people but she has been taught how to recognize inflections in voice — modulations, like outliers plotted against an otherwise even line. ]
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( action )
Spock finds himself typing in return, piecing together particularly difficult encryptions for no purpose save their difficulty- and his voice meets the air in place of a smile. in place of the flicker of confusion that tugs gently on his features. ]
I was unaware that you desired a demonstration.
( action )
What Spock sends back is something she rarely finds: a challenge. She almost flushes at the thought.
Almost.
In response, more scattered code: ]
that makes two of us.
but expectations change.
[ There is a lag in follow-up, but one eventually follows. The language, oddly sentimental. ]
i like your code.
( action )
By necessity or design.
[ her scattered code, is, to his eyes- anything but. there is order in it's chaos. carefully constructed symbolism in blankness. poetry in mathematics.
the pause that follows is negligible, but present nonetheless. space enough for him to send a particularly unique piece in her direction, and the beat of hesitation is his own allowance. encryption was not a skill he was required to hone within Starfleet, and while he is certainly capable of holding his own against a true technopath- the act hardly flows naturally. ]
I also find you stimulating.
( action )
[ More code. It's fluid now, now that she's found her groove. He's right: things change, all things, especially her. With her mercurial moods and her jump-start obsessions, even though that all happens beneath a surface of ratcheted calm. He'd wondered the first time he'd come across her whether she was the manifestation of pure self-control or self-abandonment and maybe it's begun to reveal itself now. Little by little, morsel by morsel, tucked in the spaces between those bits of code: it's the later. Self-abandonment that leads to self-realization. And that's what Aberdeen is. Wholly realized.
There's that urge again; that twist that makes her want to crawl into his head, to get under his skin and deconstruct him like so much loose code. (How do you work, Spock?) Most of the time she doesn't ask, she just looks; she listens and peels away the layers herself to reveal what lies underneath. But Aberdeen likes Spock — in so much as she is capable of 'liking' anyone. Which is why he's afforded the luxury of another question. ]
why?
( action )
[ his answer comes easily, as any statement of fact might- and yet he is in part, dissatisfied by the answer. it lacks. it lacks intricacies he has not considered. an acknowledgement of his own evolution. and yet they both remain so wholly separated from himself that Spock can only observe and conjecture.
who and what he had been when first enlisting has already changed so immensely that the two subjects are barely recognizable. who he would now become- after Nero's involvement, after Kirk's, after the Tranquility- are all shrouded in mystery too raw to yet touch.
his words come as a murmur. low against the measure of his heartbeat, while his code betrays nothing. ]
What I will become, I do not yet know.
I have yet to determine that. But you are unquestionably compelling.
( action )
[ Aberdeen's mind works best in construction and deconstruction, whether it be a language or a program or a series of sounds, but she is not wholly defined nor shaped by things like logic and science the way so many others are. She is a creature of appetite and instinct, but even those tendencies defy both connotation and denotation. Spock's biology is key in creating the limitations and potentials with which he can operate, but that is only one part of the equation.
What Aberdeen would like to see is how that intersects with his own curiosities, his desires and impulses (and she knows that he has them; every one does, no matter how singular). She can hear it in his voice, the way it betrays the simplicity of the messages he provides.
There's a contradiction there, a conflict. She wants to curl her hands into it, wrist deep, and then watch him intellectualize his way through the rest. ]
when you decide, tell me.
( action )
[ it is all he can offer in the moment, and it feels unsatisfactory. incomplete and rudimentary. the words fall short, they pale in comparison, and yet he cannot imagine saying nothing. who would be more dissatisfied in it's absence, he cannot guess and does not care to examine.
the rest, he surrenders to encryption. code winding it's way through her device as though it belongs there. ]
I shall keep you informed of my progress.
( action )
[ The variable is suddenly found embedded over a dozen times in the data stream, nestled where it will be most obvious to the discerning eye and yet still sit seamless with the rest of Spock's code. φ. The golden ratio. An expression of mathematical beauty, the base logarithm to the organic expression of mathematics.
For a long stretch, Aberdeen falls silent, the Spock's code untouched for a minute, then two, then: ]
i'm highly attracted to you.
both mentally and physically.
i have no intentions of stopping.
will this be a problem?
( action )
[ he tucks back- tidy, as much out of place as within it, and perhaps the only reply he could offer to such a response. infinity. limitless possibilities for both a and b. potential, uncharted and undetermined- coupled with man's desperate need to define it.
her words do, however, grind his mentality to a halt.
it is, certainly, the first time such a subject has ever come up regarding his person, and his reply comes with an audible hesitancy. unfamiliar territory. ]
I do not perceive objectionable consequence at the present time.
However, I must inquire, is it your intention to pursue a physical interaction with my person?
( action )
She is not an expert on other people but she has been taught how to recognize inflections in voice — modulations, like outliers plotted against an otherwise even line. ]
if you want to.
otherwise, no.
this is enough.