[video]

[velocette]

[Not much bothers him, and he doesn't seem distraught now either...but some of the "amused behind the glass" aspect has vanished.]

Bleu is in a coma. I don't know if she has any friends. Or enemies, or anyone else who'd care, on board--but if she does, you have a right to know.

If she does have enemies, well, she's not being left unguarded, so no one do anything heroic or stupid.



[Private to Harvey]

Where are you?

Comments

[private]

[halftheman]

If I coma you should leave me in my room, and give my dogs to Iris to watch over for the mean time.

[ how hard is this really ]

Re: [private]

[velocette]

You don't think Iris has enough dogs to worry about?

[A smile starts to crack his expression. Maybe, possibly, he's teasing; it's just as likely that he's not.]

What happened to your guns after that flood?

[private]

[halftheman]

She knows them. They know her. If not her, then Mira.

[ So there ]

[ The reminder of his weapons, though-- that makes him twitch ]

I was busy worrying about having an alien heart in my chest. I'll have to shake down Powers for the pair he has. You got one, didn't you?

[private]

[velocette]

Yeah. I like my knife a little better, which probably means something deeply psychological, huh?

Is Powers likely to give them up?

[private]

[halftheman]

He will if he knows what's good for him.

Re: [private]

[velocette]

Use diplomacy.

[It's an offer, a dare maybe; he's not sure Powers responds to anything that can't be classified as force.]

[private]

[halftheman]

What? Why? It isn't his, there was a flood, he should cough them up.

[private]

[velocette]

Yeah and if he gives you guff I'll see if there's a Warden clause I can use to make him.

I just have this picture in my head, like a contest or a challenge, of thinking circles around someone with a gun. Making them bend without raising a hand. I've never had to try it and you've probably done something like it before, so... [a shrug; it'd be no sweat for Harvey to outsmart someone that way]

It's been thug haven around here too long.

[private]

[halftheman]

It's a prison ship, not a corporate cruise, Boy.

That's sort of how it-- rolls. Floats. [ He's not up on the slang, so sue him. ]

[private]

[velocette]

[He is, as always, a little amused.]

It's not like the prisons I've been to, though. Compared to County it is more like a cruise, isn't it? Anyway, just because everyone comes from rough circumstances doesn't mean we all have to keep running in the same circles.

[private]

[halftheman]

Hrumph.

I'll see what I can do.

[private]

[velocette]

Thanks. I know it takes you out of your way, but a radioactive firefly like him isn't worth the hassle if people just refuse to see things your way. We've got bigger battles.

[private]

[halftheman]

If you say so.

[private]

[velocette]

Hey. [One of his many topic changes; rather than having a direct point, he seems relaxed now, more philosophical. More 'him', so to speak.]

What do you get up for nowadays?

[private]

[halftheman]

Daily grind. You need routine in this place, or you go mad.

More mad.

[private]

[velocette]

Are you going to keep up a routine when you go home?

[private]

[halftheman]

No. I'm not going home.

[private]

[velocette]

What's your plan?

[private]

[halftheman]

Do I look like a man with a plan?

[private]

[velocette]

You look like a man afraid to plan, but you still made a decision. [Even if it is just a decision not to go home, not to even try to get home.] That's the most crucial part of anything.

[private]

[halftheman]

Our choice is no choice. There's no choice. We can't go back, we have no where to go.

[ Death, however, is not as great an option as it used to be. ]

[private]

[velocette]

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality.

Heroes are a dangerous ideal, worse when the people idolized are more than just ink on paper. But you do remind me of Lao Tzu.

[private]

[halftheman]

Why's that?

[ This is a twist he did not expect ]

[private]

[velocette]

Because you already seem to know a lot of his theories--as if you've lived them, used them, even if you only put them to use in very small areas of your life.

But unlike him, I think you faced more setbacks and more defeats than you would have if you were from some other time or some other world. I think that you're too smart to keep living by theories that only brought you loss, so you abandoned them with a lot of other ideals. [A lot. Not all.]

And I don't think you've had any compelling reason to replace them--so it's left you stuck here.

[private]

[halftheman]

I'm fine with being stuck here.

[ For a reasonable level of 'fine' anyway. ]

Here is not a terrible place. There have been worse places.