ataraxion | video;

[ the feed begins in audio, and on the opposite end of the communicator, hayley chews on her bottom lip. the pause only lengthens after she clears her throat, and discovers that she's managed to find the video function. the lens remains pointed at her knee for one beat, then another- before the image is righted, and she turns an apologetic smile to the feed. ]

Sorry. I'm not really used to the. You know, [ cue the demonstrative finger wiggles ] future stuff yet.

[ a small crease appears in her brow, but softens as soon as the communicator is set on the table, so she can settle down to look into the feed directly. her shoulders hunch, and she plays with her fingers anxiously as she begins again. ]

Anyway um, so I know I should be really freaked out about the dimension hopping spaceship thing, and the mutiny thing, and I will be. Once it like, processes. And I don't mean to sound super insensitive or anything? But um, I don't suppose anybody's managed to find like, some books or anything just hanging around, have they?

I'm pretty desperate for anything at this point, especially since it's only a matter of time before we get back into the jell-o baths, you know? And I know that all you super cool space heroes are like, up to your eyeballs in shenanigans, but there's just not a whole lot of stuff for- kids around here.

The whole, no tv, no internet, no ipods thing is kindof like, [ a sheepish laugh ] hell on earth for a teenager. Or. Not earth. Since we're in. Space now.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Things can be replaced. A chopstick breaks and you fish out a new one. A television wire frays and you replace the television. A weapon is rendered asunder and you keep a backup in case the first fails you so completely.

[ He shakes his head, jerkily. ]

They're just things. Some of them aren't even necessary.

Maybe not.

But some things become favorite things. And I mean, if you're really going to look at it that way, then the truth is that nothing is really necessary, because nobody is really necessary.

Say there was a bomb strapped to a man's chest, that could take out an entire city block. Say something that dangerous existed. Would you like it to?

Yoite.

Bombs are going to exist whether I want them to or not.

But if you could stop it from existing, and you could save lives. A lot of lives. Wouldn't you?

Maybe.

Would you stop it from existing if it was a person, not a bomb?

Yes.

No.

Yes.

It depends on the damage inflicted.

How so?

Who have they killed? Why have they killed? Were they willing or not? How dangerous are they? Can they be rehabilitated? There are too many factors with human beings.

But things are just things. They have one function.

Things can be used. By anyone.

Until they're gone.

Until they were never there.

I dunno...

[ her head tilts back, one hand lifting as her thumb scratches the bridge of her nose. ]

Objects can't think for themselves. They're at the mercy of whoever uses them. They can do all kinds of terrible things.

[ There's the ghost of a wince on Yoite's face, but he doesn't answer right away. ]

That's probably why it's important to get rid of them. Humans aren't ever what they say they are. They say, "I'll help," and then they never specify the price. They promise things and then they don't follow through. Humans are unpredictable factors.

Yeah so if humans are the unpredictable ones, then aren't they the things to get rid of? Objects don't do things like that on their own.

Sometimes they do! [ His voice is a bit above its usual decibel level, sharp and scathing. ] Sometimes they can't help it and it just happens but it does happen!

[ her head shakes, confusion. ]

But objects can't think. They just are, because they were made that way. There's nothing wrong with them, they don't mean to do anything.

It's the people who use them that're wrong.

This isn't what I wanted --

[ And whether it's the conversation or the subject of the conversation, he doesn't say, he just squeezes his eyes shut and breathes deeply. ]

I have to fix something. And it's the only way to do it.

[ His eyes open. They're hardened, and narrowed. ]

And that's final.

[ she is, as always, unflinching on the opposite end of the feed. ]

Okay.

You can only keep talking to me if you promise not to try to talk me out of it anymore. Because it's just annoying. And it won't work.

[ one brow arches, and it's a beat, then another, before her arms fold over her chest and she settles back into her chair. ]

Alright for one, you were the one who started talking to me this time.

And for two, I'm not trying to talk you out of anything. We were talking about getting rid of objects. Which I get was like, a thinly veiled metaphor for making it that you never existed, but still.

[ her head cants to the side, and it's perhaps the most candid she's ever been with him before. the most candid she's been with anyone, in a long time. ]

Look, when all this is over, you're gonna go back to your world, and I'll go back to mine and we'll both finish doing what we started. Unless we die first or something. You're gonna do what you want, and so am I. But in the meantime it's pretty much my right as your friend to make selfish comments about wanting to be around you.

[ He looks torn - halfway through incredulity at her laying ground rules down, halfway anger for her even attempting to instate some sort of management over him. He has ten rebuttals, though he only ever says one, clipped and short, and he has each one prepared, is about to speak - ]

[ It's incredible how one word can freeze time, can stop him in place and let something entirely opposite bleed into his expression. It's something so heart-stoppingly childlike, lost, and he doesn't even say the word aloud, though he mouths it, once, quickly: "Friend?" ]

[ He casts his gaze off, and just as soon as it's there, it's gone, contorted half-heartedly into a frown. ] It's your own plan. I won't stop you. You're just going to make this more difficult.

[ her shoulders drop off, set the traces of tension, still coiling at the base of her neck, into gradually softening lines. her head lifts, a half of a nod in his direction. ]

More difficult for who?

[ Cryptically, he doesn't answer. Not quite as much, he bites his lip, almost hard enough to draw blood. ]

Good luck with your books.

[ And he cuts the feed. ]

[ LONG SUFFERING EYEROLL.

she does, however, send the text less than a minute later. ]

our books.

[ RUDE ]

[ WHATEVER ]

[ NOT RESPONDING ]

video;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

private;

text;

text;