ablativeholopleather | IC Contact/Inbox/HMD

...So at some point, from wherever you've gone back to earth, there's going to be a little Wayne. That's a rather straightforward way about it.

[and functionally, she thinks, a kind of immortality. much in the same way some people think about bloodlines, but more exact. it would eliminate people fussing over needing to have heirs and such, which is always a problem in these historical fiction books she's reading where no one seems to figure out who's going to be doing what after they die.

of course, things like children are probably more on the mind when you haven't been in a resurrection loop for the past however long and then moved to a pocket dimension. right now, the most she can muster up is that children definitely exist.]

It is you, but it isn't you, but it still is, depending on the perspective. No, I might be overthinking this.

It's always going to be a Wayne, even if it's not strictly me. I don't think it'll be exactly me because like, our experiences make us into individuals, but it's conservation of matter in like the most basic form, right? I die now, my matter becomes a couple of new larvae that will be new people in a few cycles. I die after I metamorphose, I get to go on and become even more. Lots of available matter in an Old Wayne.

[Which he can't really accurately describe for her when size is likely harder to parse when you don't have a visual representation in the first place.]

[her eyes widen at the word metamorphose, and even though she's taking a bite of ice cream, the fact that she thinks this is utterly cool is written across her face.]

What'll it be like, when you're Old Wayne?

[will they still know each other, then?]

[There are mixed reviews when he mentions Old Wayne, but at least by and large they've been mostly positive or simply fascinated. He's got another spoonful in his mouth as he tries to decide how to describe it.]

I'll be way bigger. More eyes, more hands, more powerful gestures. Not as much capability of movement though. When you get that large you become kind of cumbersome. But then that's why Old Waynes settle into advisory or guardianship positions.

I talked a little about it with Pratt, what might happen if I were to reach that age before I left this place... If I stay here for too long, will I still physically mature far enough to need to go to ground, or if I'll just adhere to a corner and become a very small Old Wayne because of the complete lack of material besides what my own body provides? The logistics are not in my favor.

If that time approaches, then you'll have me and your other friends around to help you figure out a solution. There's magic on this ship that gives people wings and makes them transform into other things entirely and creating whole new places. I think we could sort something out that would help you become more of you.

[it's a complete unknown, but that's what lets her be optimistic about it. if this ship can do things like help Ava control her power, return the dead that were in another realm altogether, create something from seemingly nothing...then the idea of Wayne somehow becoming Old Wayne working out isn't the most farfetched thing.]

But that all implies we won't figure out a new place to live before that day dawns. Call it silly, but I'm not so resigned to that yet. Regardless, wherever you metamorphose, we'll have to figure out how to celebrate it.

I've been trying to kind of work out the math between what's normal for my world versus yours in the royal sense. How long is it going to be before I get to that point, you know? Klaus posits that perhaps it won't be until you are all old humans. Then if it does, I can protect you since you get very small and fragile.

[He may already have this idea of gathering all of them into what would essentially be a retirement home, when it comes right down to it. Gotta protect your friends when they can't necessarily protect themselves after all.]

That's plenty of time for us to solve the material problem. We'll have it all figured out far before it even has to truly dawn on you, and then we'll be ready to welcome you into your new form.

[a pause, as she eats a strawberry slice.]

If I get smaller when I get older, I'm going to be terribly displeased...

[He can't help but chuckle at that. She is very much on the smaller end of the spectrum of people he's met so far.]

One day you might even be so small that you'd fit right in in New Muldul.

How small is that?!

[no. she asks every day to be taller. she can't do this.]

Oh, only about hip height.

[She's already only about three apples high and now he's imagining that being knocked down to two!]

Absolutely not! I refuse to shrink!

[she says this as a declaration, and then eats a spoon of ice cream so fast it makes her pause - ugh. cold headache...]

[He fakes a thoughtful sort of hum, tapping his spoon against his chin briefly.]

Yeah you're probably better off, we might lose you somewhere and that'd suck.

If you lose me, I'm going to find you, and then I'm going to...

[she pauses.]

I don't have a very good punishment in mind for that.

So we'll do our best not to lose you.

[A good compromise, he feels. He takes a larger bite of his own ice cream at that, and just the same as she had, he ends up with that spike of pain right up behind his eyes. It is the certifiable worst.]

I'll tell Security you lost me. No, wait, that sounds childish...

[there's no good answer to this! meanwhile she's oblivious to Wayne's current set of problems.]

[Lucky for him that she can't see the way that he pauses and frowns at that. So now he feels bad and has a mild headache.]

I feel like that'd just make it like me even less, to be honest...

...Why do you think it doesn't like you?

[how does everyone not like Wayne, is more the question in her mind.]

It was kind of uh. Really offended when I called it the same way I do basically everyone. And it didn't like listening to me trying to stay optimistic about the situation when I only just got here. It only tolerated me when I checked in when it got sick.

[Though, he'd ended up staying there quietly hanging out for a while watching its tv show until it had dozed off to make sure it was okay and it was generally polite when that happened, so...progress?]

[so it had been in a more touchy mood that day. hm. she takes the last bite of her ice cream, and leans back a little in her chair.]

Would it surprise you if I said that none of that is actually an indication that it doesn't like you, and more a reflection on it instead?

[call her hopeful, but she'd like her friend and her...companion to get along if possible. she can't fix people's relationships, and nor will she try to force people to hold hands, but give someone a few years in your past, and you know a few more things about them than you did.]

[Wayne's spoon scrapes around the inside of his bowl as he thinks.]

It seems very...dour, I guess. Maybe it's not personal, but it feels bad I can't really do anything about it any more than I can get myself out of here. I can't trust dying to potentially get me home, like you said, and it was saying that potentially finding port somewhere to explore and maybe find answers was a useless endeavor, but I'm just not so sure about that. I know it's been here a lot longer than I have but having no more hope's kind of a sad life to lead.

[she's very, very quiet for a second, tilting her head side to side as if she's straining to hear something, and then nodding.]

Okay, I know it doesn't have a drone nearby, so I can be a little more frank. Security is...a very certain type of person. Do you want me to elaborate?

[When she starts listening really hard, he can't help but glance around, as if he might spot whatever she's searching for. He looks back to her when she speaks up again.]

Drone?

Oh...uh, sure. I mean if it makes things easier to navigate I'd appreciate the help.

[she folds her hands under her chin, and there's a definite note of fondness in her voice when she speaks - not conscious, but there all the same.]

It is...not the best person to be greeting new people. Security is something of a pessimist even on the best of days, though it might call itself "realistic" instead. It's rather blunt, because it doesn't always see the need to be as careful with its words as you or I might. Certain things that seem obvious to us as...organic people, they aren't when viewed through Security's mind.

Calling things like making port "useless" - something to understand about it is that it is focused on the present as opposed to the future. It wants to keep people safe, and right now, the best way to do so is to focus on what's right here. Not thinking about what could be, but what is. Ideas for the future, like landing somewhere...a better way to say it would be that currently, it's not as important as surviving the current moment.

That doesn't mean it's without hope. Just that it's not Security's priority at the time to express it. What it wants for the future, what it dreams about...if those things have to get placed further down on the list, they will be. All of this is not to say it was correct to be so sour, though. Just that I'm not surprised to know it happened. Tell me, what happened when you checked on it when it was ill?

[which she's grateful for. she couldn't play nursemaid 24/7, and knowing he was checking in only makes her fonder of Wayne.]

[Wayne listens quietly, turning it all over in his mind as he finishes off the last of his ice cream, then dragging his thumb around the bowl of the spoon with half a thought given to the chill of it. The way that Helena talks, he knows she must care about Security very much, taking into account both the rough parts and the positives of it.]

It seemed to kinda dwell on the bad things that have happened, like there's nothing good to be found, but like...I guess it's just worried. [It makes sense, in these circumstances. He's heard a few horror stories as he's gotten to know people, but as she had said, most of them were by and large pretty careful about the way they talk about it, or at least how they approach others about it.

He cracks a soft smile at the question.]

I was going down the hall from my cabin asking if anyone needed anything, since I didn't come down with anything and didn't seem to be a carrier. It looked miserable but it let me in so I could kind of tidy up around the place, make sure it was hydrated, then got it some tea. It seemed confused that I'd do something like that, but like, why not? I have the ability to help and there's no reason not to.

It invited me to hang out and watch tv for a while 'til it went to sleep. I left it some more tea, since it seemed to feel better with it.

[it's time for her to smile back, a little more truly.]

Thank you for that. It was still kind of you to do. And I hope you realize, if it didn't like you at all, you wouldn't have been allowed past the door.

[even running at a lower performance reliability, it would have simply shut the door and remained away from Wayne. in fact, even more so, considering its state.]

Which show did you watch?

[it's relevant to the point she's building up to.]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject