trans_9 | Far below the rolling tide [Open]

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Far below the rolling tide [Open]

Strangely enough, even after the events of the past few days, Zouichi had not developed an aversion to the ocean. Or axes! Or giant squid! It helped that he, unlike some of the other crew, hadn't been in imminent danger of drowning. He was, however, busying himself with preparing some of the food they'd bought on shore leave, as well as supplies salvaged from the Deepstar 7. No sense letting it go to waste, right?

He'd started work in the early morning, and gotten so absorbed in what he was doing that he didn't quite notice that he was making more than was absolutely necessary. What? Cooking was relaxing. And anyway, he thought as he waited to pull a piece of battered shrimp out of its cooking oil, someone would probably eat it all. For the people living in the inn, he was careful to set aside boxes of prepared food. But there was an increasing amount left over...

Stop by, enjoy your ridiculously overprepared lunch. Or just a simple one, if you're an acquaintance. The front door's open!

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"You're totally going to be her stay-at-home husband." Howard gathers his other cat up off where it's trying to get attention back on the floor. "I can't wait until you're getting your space elf kids their first motortrike."

Zouichi pressed part of his face against Emergency Rations' fur, so that his expression was not clearly visible. "There's nothing wrong with doing things for the person you care for." Seeing Ildraniath happy -- well, pleased -- made him glad as well. That was the way it was supposed to work, right?

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I doubt we're compatible in that fashion. Although if you ever adopt, I'll be sure to get your kid their first cat."

"I didn't say there was. I mean, that's what it means to care about someone, right?" Actually hiding your expression, Zou? Does that mean you actually let your face move out of its lineface for once?

"Dude, you know me. The day I adopt a kid is the day someone vacuums out my brain and replaces it with a, I don't know, starfish or something."

No, of course not. He just had a sudden urge to inhale allergens, that was all. And excuse you, Howard, Zouichi had been linefacing less lately. In fact, sometimes he'd even go out to water the plants and just sort of... smile, while he was doing it. While no one was watching, of course. "It's one part of it, I think."

He raised an eyebrow. "A starfish? Well, maybe you can be someone's eccentric uncle."

If Howard doesn't see it, it doesn't count. He is the recordkeeper of all your facial expressions, Zouichi.

"I don't know, starfish have baby starfish, right?" His face falls a little. "I'm not eccentric."

He's trying so hard to be relatively normal you don't even know, Zou.

"Okay, I'll be the eccentric uncle." Zouichi was trying to figure out what starfish had to do with anything. Humans had baby humans, right? Why starfish?

He pet Emergency Rations a little longer before setting her paws down on the floor. "You can be the enthusiastic aunt. Aren't they supposed to give you socks every New Year's?" Or was that Christmas? Well, it would make more sense for it to be Christmas, right? What did people in California do on New Year's?

Edited 2012-01-30 17:07 (UTC)

"Weird to think we might have whole generations on this ship. Like, for all we know it ends tomorrow. Or it ends in a hundred years after we're all dead and it's our kids' kids' kids. Well, you know. Other people's kids' kids' kids." Who would they play eccentric uncles to, anyway? "I mean, the fact that Stacy jacks us full of birth control all the time makes me think she's planning short term, but this war's been going on years, so maybe she's just an idiot."

He shakes his head. "How about I stay away from other people's kids altogether? No need to waste money on socks on Christmas."

"Maybe, maybe not. I'm sure what it really wants is to keep people invested in the war. To make sure no one develops priorities that favor, say, their children, rather than the cause. And besides, children take up valuable hours that could be spent working." Zouichi was still drinking that haterade, obviously.

"But if you don't pay attention to anyone else's kids, they won't listen to your cat stories. It's equivalent trade." Was he joking? WHO KNEW.

"Right, because no one's developed priorities in not fighting this dumb war. If Stacy thinks the only reason people would defect is their kids she's got a really bad handle on psychology."

He drums his fingers on the table. "Oh, yeah. We work real hard. What with the no pay and the total lack of motivation beyond occasional threats of death. It's a miracle most of it get up in the morning."

People love his cat stories, Zou.

Well, Zouichi did do some work. Although for him, it was incredibly... well, it didn't take much out of him.

"Priorities or not, we're all still here, aren't we?" His tone was dry; while he could understand why he was still on this ship, the same was not necessarily true of everyone else. Did they stay here out of determination? Fear? Apathy?

Or maybe just a sense of familiarity and an unwillingness to leave the ship to face the nebulous threat of giant psychic space bugs on their own. "Anyway, I thought Medical got up to shower the world with your sparkling good cheer."

Edited 2012-01-30 22:02 (UTC)

"Those of us who aren't dead!" For Howard it's mostly a matter of practicality, finding a world he can pop off to where he can make his way for himself and take care of Orc. Before he was staying for Orc, but now...

"Yeah, that's us. Sparkles and rainbows over in medical. Did I tell you we dissected an Ohm, and it turned out to still be kind of alive?"

And honestly? Zouichi would see him off with a smile. Not because he wouldn't miss Howard, but because Howard, whatever he did back in the FAYZ, didn't deserve to die fighting this war. He should find a nice planet, start up a salvage business or something. Buy some island out in the middle of nowhere and grow fruit trees on it.

He raised an eyebrow. "No. But I wouldn't be terribly surprised. It was a drone, wasn't it? I'd expect it to be connected at some level to the whole. That's what the drones back home were like."

And hire an awesome therapist.

"I don't know. Drone-ish. It was still receiving signals from like, a mother broadcaster or something. You know how weird it is to be cutting into a dead something's brain and then realize it's still sort of alive? Super weird."

The best therapist!

"If it was still connected to that mother broadcaster, I don't suppose it was in a way that would actually help us?" Because of course that would be asking too much.

Howard shrugs. "We gave it to neuropathy and science. There's only so much we medical people can do, especially since they sluffed the whole deal off on us underlings."

Not like Howard expects it to be useful either.

Zouichi frowned a little. "Well, I hope they do something with it and it isn't just relegated to a cold storage drawer somewhere."

At Toua, it would have been dissected, poked, and prodded until all research opportunities had been exhausted. And then any weapons applications would be thoroughly reviewed. Another reminder of how different things were here. "So what did it do? Try to mind-control someone?"

~~Peaaccceee... no peaaaaccce...~~

"I got no idea what science and neuropathy do in their spare time. Hopefully they're poking it. Maybe trying to reverse engineer the signal."

Howard makes a grumpy face. "That's the way it goes, too. Me and Sakura get to research all the junk until we find something cool, and then it gets whisked off for the adults to use. Like, good job kid, here's a cookie, now go and play while the grown-ups do the actual science stuff. That's why I haven't told nobody about my spaceship yet."

"And then we'll be the ones with the unstoppable space insect army. Ha. Ha." Can you hear that sarcasm in his voice, Howard?

"I haven't heard from Science in months. Or Neuropathy, for that matter. You'd think any information they might have gained would be disseminated throughout the ship, though." But no.

"Don't scare me like that, Zou." Howard winks, but yeah, he wouldn't exactly be thrilled to have the Council and-slash-or Command in charge of an insect army either.

"They're either working on something super secretive, or they've installed a hot tub in the science department. My bets are on the latter."

If you thought they were insufferable now...

"Why not both? Maybe they've got a time machine in there, and they've figured out how to combine the two." Yeah. He could totally see that. "But as long as they stay away from virus work, I guess they can fiddle with whatever it as as long as they want."

Because he wouldn't trust most people with viruses as far as he could throw them. Okay, bad example.

"A Hot Tub Time Machine? That's dumb. Why would you want to travel through time in swimming trunks?"

Howard shakes his head. "Or they could actually give Medical a heads up every once in a while. I mean, we've still got all those Galilee machines sitting around as coatracks and coffee tables. It's not like there isn't stuff to do."

"After all the trouble we went to get those things?" That was a distinct scowl Zouichi was wearing. "Right. So much for the Important Medical Technology that we should obviously throw billions of clones onto the train tracks to obtain."

"And I don't know. Maybe you don't fill it with water when you're using it to time travel."

Howard's going to be very careful how he phrases anything regarding clones around Zouichi. "Yeah. Hell of a lot of use it's doing anyone now."

"It just doesn't seem like an aerodynamic design. A hot tub." You know Howard's now considering how to turn a jacuzzi into a vehicle, Zouichi. Thanks for that.

For whatever reason, this time Zouichi didn't even really react to the mention of clones.

"Well, I suppose it doesn't fly. Just travel through time. It's a stationary time machine." You know. Like in the movie adaptation!

~~You mean you were going to invent a portable bath, Howard?~~

Which is good! Howard doesn't want to deal with another handful of awkward.

"What if it travels through time, but in the future someone but a brick wall where it's supposed to materialize?"

~~He's concocting blueprints in his brain.~~

Far below the rolling tide [Open]

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