ataraxion | NINE: video

[The room Taylor's sat in is dark, unidentifiable from the wall behind her, but soft, blue-tinged light from another source washes over her face intermittently. It highlights how drawn she looks, pale, tired. She's a mess, really. Even by Tranquility standards.]

It's January, right? Been counting on the jumps since I got here. [She isn't slurring as she speaks, but the lack of focus in her expression and sluggishness to her movements makes it clear she's inebriated to anyone who knows what to look for.] Guess it doesn't matter though. Just start calling them by numbers. I was meant to turn twenty in December. Be an instructor back at the Academy. [She frowns for a moment, taking a drink out of an unlabelled bottle.] Or maybe they'd have terminated me.

[Another pause, and she shifts off to the side for a moment, putting the bottle down. When she comes back into view she’s holding something else – a mask. Her mask, an mongrel canine face, beaten, bruised and bloody. She holds it up, hanging off the fingers of one hand.]

Turns out these show you ghosts. Hallucinations. Whatever. If that isn't fucked up enough to get you thinking don't touch them, you're a fucking idiot. [Very evidently angry, suddenly, half a snarl on her mouth. She looks at the mask again, then drops it to one side.] Didn't want to see my old man the little he was around, sure as fuck didn't want to see him here. Thing I've been thinking, though - what do you see, you wear someone else's?

[She doesn't hold the second mask up for the camera, but it's there in her hands, looks like a modern military gas mask. She's quiet for a long while, like she maybe forgot she even had the comms running, all of the anger and energy drained out of her again.]

Tommy's gone. Gone last jump. Told him he would, cause everyone goes. [A thin smile, strained, sad, and then gone again.] Guess I didn't wanna be right.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ He won't hold it against her. In fact, he'll be sadistically glad it's there, that she hasn't swept it under the rug and forgiven him because he sure as hell hasn't forgiven himself. He's just good at hiding it. So while he hears the tone, Mason doesn't acknowledge it, except in his decision to keep the conversation brief. ]

Just be careful, boss. [ Not Tyke right now, not with the edge in her voice and the subject of her broadcast. ] That's all I'm saying.

[He says boss and she pauses, frowns. Because she isn't acting as Head of SEC right now, really doubts from some of the responses she's had that she'll get to again. She's made a mess, but she's making no attempt to clear it back up again. Might as well just make it worse.]

I'll keep it in mind.

[ She definitely hasn't, but he's honestly surprised she's made it as long as she has without some kind of... whatever this is. So long as it doesn't last, he figures people should let it slide. And it's not like its his place to call her on it or check in, make sure she's doing okay. ]

Good. [ He lets the silence hang, figuring she'll either say something else or end the feed. ]

[She lets the silence hang for a moment or two. Other people are being way more insistent, about the masks, about her needing company or whatever. She shouldn't be surprised that Mason was just going with it, that was what he was like, but she still asks,]

That it?

[ He's not the type to pry, not unless he feels he really needs to. Tyke's got enough people watching her back that he doesn't think it's necessary for him to do so as well, though he'll try to keep an eye on her without hovering too much. ]

Yeah, that's it. [ Unless she wants to acknowledge the messages he sent her that she didn't respond to, but he won't bring it up. ]

[She doesn't know about the messages yet. Hasn't touched her device until this. Her reaction might be different if she knew, but instead she just says,]

Right.

[And cuts the feed.]

NINE: video

voice;

voice;

voice;

voice;

voice;

voice;