ic inbox ( the last voyages )

[superstringtheory]

hey what's up, it's jolyne! i'm doing other stuff. like probably YOUR MOM ohhh. anyway leave a message.

( text | voice | video | action )

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[garbagepilot]

[After the Admiral announcement, there will be a package sitting outside your door.

In it, there are five packages of rations and two metal canisters of water, along with a handwritten note.]

One of these packets is one meal, to be eaten once a day. That's five days, if the food dries up. The green pieces are a replacement protein that's better cooked, but you can eat it uncooked. The powder is mixed with water, it becomes bread. Use a third of the water in the canister for each serving of bread, just mix the powder in and stir it a little and it does the rest.

My room is my ship from home. There are beds, enough for a handful of people, and the Admiral suggests keeping people we care about close. I don't have many. It won't be crowded. If it's clear things are going to be terrible, please come here. I'm in cabin 5-5.

I have more rations, the Falcon came stocked with enough food to last in space if something happened to the ship, but not enough for the entire barge. If there is someone you cannot bear to see suffer I can give you a share for them, but please think carefully about who that person is.

I've already given the same package to Rohan.


Rey.

after the admiral announcement /vague hand gestures

[nibs]

Don't do anything stupid.

[superstringtheory]

What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

[nibs]

You know damn well what that means.

The Admiral practically announces a crisis situation may be on the horizon. I know you. So, I'm telling you not to do anything stupid.

[superstringtheory]

What stupid thing do you think I'm gonna do?

[nibs]

Old habits die hard, Jolyne. Don't start putting yourself at risk unnecessarily.

[He knows she'll do it, she'll still put herself right in the middle of trouble. That's why he says "unnecessarily." If she has a reason to do it, it better be a good one. It better not just be continuing the family tradition of being a self-sacrificing moron.]

[superstringtheory]

I'm not stupid.

[nibs]

I didn't say you were.

[superstringtheory]

Might as well have.

[nibs]

No. If I was going to call you stupid, I simply would.

[Which is not entirely what he actually means to say, but it's what is said anyway.]

[superstringtheory]

[That's . . . weirdly reassuring, in its way. It wouldn't be from anybody else. But Rohan is just Rohan. And he's being honest.]

[Was he before, though?]

Instead of bossing me around, you could have just said you're worried about me.

[nibs]

I'm not worried about you. [Objectively true, but not the whole of it. So because this is text, it's easier to say the whole of it.] I'm telling you not to give me a reason to be.

[superstringtheory]

I won't.

This is something I know how to do.

[nibs]

Okay.

[He trusts her, so there's no need to say anything more than just that.]

[superstringtheory]

[She doesn't respond for a while. Then:]

You either. Right?

[nibs]

[Hm? Oh. Okay.]

When have I ever given you any reason to worry?

[superstringtheory]

You haven't yet. So don't. Cuz I need you to be okay.

[nibs]

I've always been able to manage on my own before. [And he's not now. On his own. He's definitely not on his own here anymore.] I'll be fine.

[superstringtheory]

Good. No pressure but you're my favorite here, so you gotta breeze through this so you can show everybody else how it's done.

[nibs]

Jolyne, I don't remember the last time I felt pressure to succeed.

[superstringtheory]

Not even for me?

[nibs]

I'd like to think I exceed your expectations.

[superstringtheory]

Yeah. I feel pressure to exceed yours, though. I like catching you off guard like that.

[nibs]

Should I start raising my expectations even higher then?

[superstringtheory]

They can get higher than they are right now?

[nibs]

I can be completely unreasonable when I want to be.

[superstringtheory]

Doesn't matter. I can do any kind of impossible bullshit to prove a point. I'm stubborn like that.

[. . .]

Especially if it's for you.

[nibs]

I know you are. That's why you're still here.

[superstringtheory]

You think so?

[nibs]

You're not surprised, are you?

[superstringtheory]

I guess not? Maybe surprised to have somebody actually say it.

But you always say what you mean, huh.

[nibs]

Whether anyone wants to listen to it or not.

[superstringtheory]

I do. I want to.

[nibs]

I know. You listen better than most.

[superstringtheory]

You deserve to have people listen to you.

I mean, like. Really listen. And think about what you're saying, because you're smart and you're usually right, and because

that's just something you deserve. So I want to hear cuz I want to hear it, but also cuz I want to be someone who listens to you.

I don't know if that even makes sense.

[nibs]

[At first, Rohan doesn't know why what she's said gives him pause. It's not as though he's not perfectly aware of the objective truth she's speaking of. He's highly intelligent and he is more often than that not right. He's also not particularly caught up in the sentiment of wanting to be someone who listens to him. As far as he's concerned, that's Jolyne showing her own intelligence. But after he reads it again, it's the word deserve that jumps out to him because that's not the way he thinks of it. When he thinks of it, people should listen to him because he's intelligent and because he's right to the point it's aggravating to other people at times. But she's ascribing something there using that word, something that he doesn't know how to respond to. Deserve. For a long moment, he doesn't. He even almost thinks to just leave it there altogether.]

I don't make it a habit to put up with people who don't listen.

[So...]

[...So.]