2.21 - Voice + Spam

[breakingmyheart]

[Library & Kitchen Filters]

I've been unpaired from Jesse. I still plan on keeping both my jobs. If that's alright.

[Even though she kind of hates both of them, it's marginally better than having nothing to do all day.]

[Private to Megamind]

...I can help. With the project you were talking about.

[Open Spam - Deck]

[So it's been a fortnight. The breach was - well - things happened. She's been through her most grotesquely violent death toll to date. And then she got off the Barge in LA and stole from a cashpoint for the express purpose of buying drugs, which - didn't happen, in the end.

Small mercies. She might not have been feeling any worse for having succeeded but deep down she knows the better would be very, very fleeting.

And then the Admiral separated her from Jesse. Or Jesse asked to be unpaired. She doesn't know. He said he didn't, she'd like to believe him, but she wouldn't really blame him for spotting a lost cause either. Megamind called her a model Inmate not so long ago but it doesn't feel like she was modelling anything except peaceful noncompliance.

She doesn't often break the library -> kitchen -> (gym) -> shower -> sleep cycle but she needs some time and fresh air to decompress and so after the dinner shift she's out on deck, sitting on a bench and somewhat reading a book but not really paying attention to it.]

Comments

Private

[breakingmyheart]

We'll catch up tomorrow. You have a good night.

Tell Edward I said hello.

[Aaand then she's gone.]

[fridgetothefire]

No, not nearly.

Have you got a favorite flavor? My warden keeps her kitchen pretty stocked these days.

[tolaywaste]

I thought if you knew anything about it you could give me some pointers. But since I don't really know that much about you, it was kind of a shot in the dark. Worth a try though, right?

You could tell me what you want to talk about, though, if you'd rather not listen to me fumble awkwardly for a while longer.

[breakingmyheart]

Oat and raisin. [You know, the kind everyone else hates because they expect chocolate chips and then feel betrayed.] Who is your Warden?

[It feels like something she used to know.]

[breakingmyheart]

[She gives him a bit of a look. Why are you doing this, dude.]

...all I really remember about hockey is the bruised shins. Sorry.

[fridgetothefire]

We could do that.

Oh! Lua Klein.

[breakingmyheart]

Oh. I...I suppose you already know I was her Warden for a week or two.

[tolaywaste]

Well, crap. Bruised shins it is, then. At least I know what to look forward to.

[He shrugs easily, like he doesn't see the look. He totally does, he just isn't going to bring it up if she won't.]

The other guy who's going to be on my team is kind of unbelievably fast so. Maybe I'll only bruise one shin.

[breakingmyheart]

Do..you mind me asking why you volunteered for this if you've never played?

[tolaywaste]

Because Sokolov was trashing baseball.

[Which is totally unacceptable.]

Anyway, it sounded fun. Some people have been floating the idea of starting up sports teams, so why not?

[breakingmyheart]

I suppose that makes as much sense as anything else.

[Baseball has always struck her as being kind of stupid-looking but it's not an opinion she's nearly invested in enough to actually articulate.]

[tolaywaste]

Why not can be a good reason sometimes. Not always, but sometimes.

That and I like Sokolov and he could probably stand to think less. Hence hitting me in the shins with stuff.

[Sound reasoning.]

[breakingmyheart]

Well, best of luck with that. To your shins, mostly.

[tolaywaste]

[It sounds like a pretty sound dismissal. Alex shrugs.]

Thanks. I'm gonna need it.

I have to go make sure Oliver's not waving his bow in anybody's face, but before I go, can I ask you something?

[breakingmyheart]

[She has to go over that sentence in her head again to recognise the word 'bow' rather than...well...almost anything else, really.]

Yes?

[tolaywaste]

[It's totally not a euphemism. (Or is it.)]

On a scale of - I don't know, one to ten, how bad are you at asking for help when you need it?

[breakingmyheart]

[One? 0.5? Would he accept a negative number?]

If we're assuming zero is worst and five is the average, then...I don't know. Four, four and a half?

[tolaywaste]

Really.

[Just this look like you are the most full of it.]

[youwill]

[Hannibal didn't really know what to make of the Barge when he first arrived. The network was incredibly helpful, and he's spent days reading silently in his cabin, taking in the lives of the people he is now surrounded by.

For a rather relative definition of 'life,' in any case.

He's mused on that, too, certain he heard a gunshot before standing abruptly in this poor version of his kitchen. Could Will have shot him? He's asked himself that question precisely once: there is only one conclusion. He planned too well to misjudge. Which means this is the Admiral's doing, and little else - something he finds unsettling, given the unreachable status of their questionable leader.

He doesn't like being unsettled.

And he doesn't like the idea of hiding, either. He takes in the setting before introducing himself - inspiration has already struck, but it needs time to take root. Aside from an early run in with a very angry man who quickly mistook him for another (proof enough for Hannibal that his name should, for the moment, remain a mystery), he hasn't paused to interact with anyone.

It's the deck and its view he's interested in, when he pauses beside the bench, not Tosh. He keeps a respectable distance, hands held at his side, and he looks at the view not with wonder or befuddlement, but a certain reserved curiosity. Eventually, though, he looks down at her and speaks.]

I hope I am not distracting you. [Though it's obvious enough to him that she wasn't paying attention long before he arrived.]

[breakingmyheart]

[She more registered another person's presence than really noticed it, and the urge to stay invisible means she doesn't address him until he speaks. It's only then she realises that she can't place his voice, or - she looks up - his face.]

No. Not at all.

[A beat.]

You're new here, aren't you? You must think I was being rude. I'm sorry - not intentional.

[breakingmyheart]

What? I don't need to ask anyone for help. I have a Warden, that's his -

[A beat, and she rubs the bridge of her nose.]

Had. Had a Warden. But my point stands.

[tolaywaste]

You never need help from anybody? Is that your point? Or am I misunderstanding?

[breakingmyheart]

You're misunderstanding. [Might as well just say it.] My point is that when I do need help I know who I can ask.

[tolaywaste]

Good. I'm glad.

[He really, really is. It's something he's worried about, off and on. And even though he's not totally convinced, he's going to assume she knows at least part of what she's doing.]

[A nod, and he turns to go, like he promised he would.]

Okay. I'll stop hassling you now. I, uh. I hope you find a more interesting book.

[breakingmyheart]

[She smiles faintly.]

Thanks. Try not to get hurt distracting Sokolov.