Did you see the contract? [Cause they didn't. They saw that there was a wish involved and a vague explanation, but that's...still a lot of questions.]
But yeah. I hope they are all doing well. And that their wedding is awesome and they don't miss me too much. [Unaware of the fact that this is just a branching off. They are gonna drink hot chocolate about it.] This is actually pretty good. [They glance up at Ari.] We didn't have phones where I was from. So the phones were totally new. Well, the cell phones. Not the landlines.
[She gives him a slightly uncertain look.] I didn't see it, not directly. But if there's one thing I know, it's contracts. I know what I'd push for ordinarily, and I know what unfavorable conditions I'd be willing to accept in a very desperate situation. I also know what I'd never concede. [So no murders, no mind control.]
You're right, the hot chocolate is good! I should have it more often. I hope they have an amazing wedding. They deserve it. They care so much for one another. [Even Ari, who makes a point of ignoring feelings, could see that much.]
We didn't have phones where I'm from either. For different reasons. It does bother me that the communications technology is so advanced here and yet they haven't figured out proper plumbing. Although there are probably books about it. the library is so big!
[Klaus decides not to point out that they weren't really that aware of the signing of contracts and just because she wouldn't sign something with unfavorable conditions doesn't mean it didn't happen. There is no point in ruining a good hot chocolate outing.]
Yeah. They're super cute. Sometimes we can hear them thro- Ha. Nevermind. [It isn't like Klaus was listening ON PURPOSE...it just happened. They lived next to each other.] But I'm supposed to be there and now I'm here. Bummer.
Yeah. Plumbing would be pretty nice, right? I'm kind of hoping we can find a way to figure that out. Maybe there's something like the Erda here that will make it so if we wish for things, we get them! [Klaus hopes so anyway. Cause that's gonna be a time otherwise.]
Probably. I'll leave you and Nobunaga to the library, though. I'm not meant for libraries. Unless they have like some weird erotica for fun.
[She's not worried, because she knows what she'd never agree to, never sign. If she had been forced to sign something? The contract wouldn't be valid. All very logical in her mind. She does laugh at the mention of hearing the couple! Ari had been fortunate, really. All the way down the corridor, only Eridan to worry about and he was harmless.]
I never thought I'd be trying to work on plumbing, of all things. It can't be that difficult!
Have you seen the giant crystal yet? It's used to spy on us. I read out a list of what I wanted to it, and when I went back indoors, my gun was on the table.
[Other people will give him explanations involving making wishes, but not her. She thinks that if wishing, if intention did anything at all, she'd be home now. So she deals in contracts instead.
Fortunately the dark thoughts are interrupted by Klaus' next remark, making her grin.]
In that library? It wouldn't surprise me! Depends on what counts as weird, of course...
[Klaus will just live here in this knowledge alone.]
You're working on plumbing? I mean, I guess that's fair. I don't know much of anything about that kind of stuff and I'm definitely not smart enough or well equipped enough to manage.
[Somewhere in the world Pratt's cop voice sensors are going off and he doesn't know why]
Oh. Nope. I didn't see it. Is it like around a lot of the time or just some of the time? [That seems useful.] Sounds like the Erda. Not in the spying part, but like the making wishes come true stuff.
Hmmmm.....I dunno. I don't think I could get into tentacle stuff. That's like...Ben. Weird. But there's probably some funny things you could find. Things I can read to Nobunaga somewhat against his will. For fun. [There's a beat before he adds] I mean obviously I'll stop if he says to.
I guess 'working on' is giving me too much credit. I'm staring at diagrams in books and at the well on the edge of my property and thinking oh, there must be some way. This is just proof that I'd have been a dreadful frontier colonist.
The crystal is there all the time! We can walk over later, I'll show you. It's huge. [She shrugs.] I'm not making wishes though, I'm just telling Vaeros or whoever to give back what he stole from me. Anything else I want, I can buy.
[When Klaus mentions tentacles though, Tayrey starts laughing. She knows she shouldn't really, but she can't help it. She has to put down the hot chocolate!]
If you find anything with tentacles, read it to Nobunaga? Especially if they're... skeleton tentacles. [More giggles.] Not if you actually want him to be in the mood, obviously, but we... did he ever tell you? About the tentacles?
Well, if it makes you feel better, I wouldn't have done that well myself. I'd have survived it, though.
[Somehow. Mostly to the sheer frustration of whoever was saddled with them.]
Ohhh. Cool. That sounds like fun. I'm definitely going to make wishses. Hoping I can get my powers back. I was just getting so good at my powers. I could levitate in the air and catch and throw things all on my own. This is a bummer.
[The laughter is confusing at this point.] Skeleton tentacles? If there's something with tentacles, I'll probably skip it, though. Ben's the one with the eldritch creature. And I really hope it wouldn't put him in the mood. That would get weird fast.
You know, there was a time I'd have said that I'd never have survived being stuck out on the frontier. Now? I might not be good at it, but I'd get by. I've been through far worse, right? I'd just run the damn frontier militia and pay someone to sort out the plumbing. It'd be fine. I'd get to sign the founding Charter and they'd put my name in obscure history texts.
[It's not going to happen, but she doesn't worry about stuff like that any longer.]
See, I'd say that your powers were taken from you and you should absolutely demand them back.
But Oda didn't tell you? [She has to tell him now. She couldn't before; she'd had to seem hyper-professional, but that's so much less necessary here.] He and I used to... speculate. About whether Skulduggery had secret tentacles and that was how... you know. And then! [More laughing.] I was worried at one point that people would think I was with Oda, and gossip about it. [Obviously she never was, but she doesn't even feel the need to say that to Klaus, thinking he has to trust the both of them that far already.] So we decided that if anyone said anything to me about it, I'd tell them I was impressed by the tentacles. Just that, all serious spacer, and refuse to say anything else.
I don't know what I'd do in some frontier thing. I guess I can gather shit and carry shit. Can't farm or anything, but it can't be that hard, can it?
[It seems like a lot and Klaus is pretty sure they don't have to worry about it anyway.]
It's like the second time. Cause Dad made them go away the first time and now this? Then again, only the not dying for keeps is probably useful here. I doubt there's ghosts around. I hope there's not ghosts around.
[Klaus listens to the conversation about the tentacles and blinks a few times.] So you think maybe Skulduggery had secret skeleton tentacles to fuck the Captain with? [There's a slight frown and a nose wrinkle. They really hope not. They don't even want to think about it.] He has hands. You can do a lot with hands.
There would be something you could do for sure! On the real frontier, they need everyone they can get. [After a pause.] Not that either of us are going to be sent to a frontier planet. This is as close as it gets.
If there were ghosts wouldn't you have seen them by now? That means there probably aren't.
[She's trying to be reassuring, but she's unsure if it'll help. Then she looks faintly troubled, faintly embarrassed when he speaks about Skulduggery. The answer is yes, but also... not?
It's probably one of those things where you had to be there at the time to see the humor.]
We speculated on it. It was... just a joke we had. [A way to poke fun at their captor. Nobunaga had always thought Ari gave him too much power in head. Ridiculous ideas like that helped, somehow.]
That's probably for the best, honestly. [Cause Klaus doesn't really want to contend with that stuff.]
I would if I had my powers still, so probably not? Unless they show themselves to like...everyone or whatever.
Oh. [Normally Klaus is on the hilarious joke train, but it's almost certainly the uncomfortable parallels which has made his brain remember that hentai is real.] I guess...uhh...everyone has something.
I guess I don't know how ghosts work, exactly. [She doesn't usually sound so uncertain, but this is an area where Klaus is by far the one with the most expertise. Unfortunately for him.] Maybe you don't have to worry even if there are some, because it's not like you'll want that particular power back.
[His comment on the tentacles just earns a shrug.] Right. I guess it's one of those things where you had to be there. The joke, not the... [Ari shakes her head. Better to drop it there, she decides.]
Yeah. It's just the...'how you died' thing. No one wants to see people all mangled and shit. Who knows what happened here?
[They don't have tentacles, right? Forgive them as they squint even more as if trying to find out of there's hidden tentacles somewhere.] Yeah. Probably.
[That gets him an emphatic nod. She remembers how the ghosts in that mausoleum had looked, and even without that - Ari Tayrey has seen people die violently; she knows how it can look. Nobody wants to see that, for sure.]
Exactly. Even if they can't help it, it's not something you want to see.
[But this is getting a little grim. She's going to make an effort not to fall into that sort of spiral.] You want to see something cool? Not a ghost, word by contract!
[Ari smiles, and then holds up a hand, thumb and fingers apart. She concentrates, and there's a little spark from her hand, before a small arc of electricity starts leaping from one finger to another.]
From that strange liquid. I'm still trying to work out how to do anything useful with it, and to understand how it works, but I hope I will. I've taken a lot of observations. I'm hoping I can make batteries someday! That would help a lot, wouldn't it?
Oh coool. [Klaus holds their hand out and there's just the tiniest bit of water forming in the palm of their hand.] And you already know Nobunaga. So we just need like wind and earth to round us out??? I guess? [The batteries thing does sound useful.] Yeah! Maybe you just gotta practice a lot!
[She laughs.] He suggested nuclear power, but I don't think it's a good idea to let anyone loose with that!
You're right. I'm going to practice, I have a- [is Azula actually a friend? Ari likes her. Close enough.] -friend who already had an ability like that back home, and she helped me to be able to control it. I'm sure I can make it useful somehow.
It doesn't sound like a good idea. [Feels like a problem in the making.]
Oh! Cool! I don't think I know anyone that can do the like...water thing? Or maybe they can and I just don't know. But it'll be great to like be able to fill a bath without the well.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2023-07-06 02:58 am (UTC)But yeah. I hope they are all doing well. And that their wedding is awesome and they don't miss me too much. [Unaware of the fact that this is just a branching off. They are gonna drink hot chocolate about it.] This is actually pretty good. [They glance up at Ari.] We didn't have phones where I was from. So the phones were totally new. Well, the cell phones. Not the landlines.
no subject
Date: 2023-07-06 01:57 pm (UTC)You're right, the hot chocolate is good! I should have it more often. I hope they have an amazing wedding. They deserve it. They care so much for one another. [Even Ari, who makes a point of ignoring feelings, could see that much.]
We didn't have phones where I'm from either. For different reasons. It does bother me that the communications technology is so advanced here and yet they haven't figured out proper plumbing. Although there are probably books about it. the library is so big!
no subject
Date: 2023-07-06 06:50 pm (UTC)Yeah. They're super cute. Sometimes we can hear them thro- Ha. Nevermind. [It isn't like Klaus was listening ON PURPOSE...it just happened. They lived next to each other.] But I'm supposed to be there and now I'm here. Bummer.
Yeah. Plumbing would be pretty nice, right? I'm kind of hoping we can find a way to figure that out. Maybe there's something like the Erda here that will make it so if we wish for things, we get them! [Klaus hopes so anyway. Cause that's gonna be a time otherwise.]
Probably. I'll leave you and Nobunaga to the library, though. I'm not meant for libraries. Unless they have like some weird erotica for fun.
no subject
Date: 2023-07-14 08:06 pm (UTC)I never thought I'd be trying to work on plumbing, of all things. It can't be that difficult!
Have you seen the giant crystal yet? It's used to spy on us. I read out a list of what I wanted to it, and when I went back indoors, my gun was on the table.
[Other people will give him explanations involving making wishes, but not her. She thinks that if wishing, if intention did anything at all, she'd be home now. So she deals in contracts instead.
Fortunately the dark thoughts are interrupted by Klaus' next remark, making her grin.]
In that library? It wouldn't surprise me! Depends on what counts as weird, of course...
no subject
Date: 2023-07-15 06:04 am (UTC)You're working on plumbing? I mean, I guess that's fair. I don't know much of anything about that kind of stuff and I'm definitely not smart enough or well equipped enough to manage.
[Somewhere in the world Pratt's cop voice sensors are going off and he doesn't know why]
Oh. Nope. I didn't see it. Is it like around a lot of the time or just some of the time? [That seems useful.] Sounds like the Erda. Not in the spying part, but like the making wishes come true stuff.
Hmmmm.....I dunno. I don't think I could get into tentacle stuff. That's like...Ben. Weird. But there's probably some funny things you could find. Things I can read to Nobunaga somewhat against his will. For fun. [There's a beat before he adds] I mean obviously I'll stop if he says to.
no subject
Date: 2023-07-15 06:11 pm (UTC)The crystal is there all the time! We can walk over later, I'll show you. It's huge. [She shrugs.] I'm not making wishes though, I'm just telling Vaeros or whoever to give back what he stole from me. Anything else I want, I can buy.
[When Klaus mentions tentacles though, Tayrey starts laughing. She knows she shouldn't really, but she can't help it. She has to put down the hot chocolate!]
If you find anything with tentacles, read it to Nobunaga? Especially if they're... skeleton tentacles. [More giggles.] Not if you actually want him to be in the mood, obviously, but we... did he ever tell you? About the tentacles?
no subject
Date: 2023-07-16 05:23 am (UTC)[Somehow. Mostly to the sheer frustration of whoever was saddled with them.]
Ohhh. Cool. That sounds like fun. I'm definitely going to make wishses. Hoping I can get my powers back. I was just getting so good at my powers. I could levitate in the air and catch and throw things all on my own. This is a bummer.
[The laughter is confusing at this point.] Skeleton tentacles? If there's something with tentacles, I'll probably skip it, though. Ben's the one with the eldritch creature. And I really hope it wouldn't put him in the mood. That would get weird fast.
[But the confusion continues] I don't believe so?
no subject
Date: 2023-07-16 06:38 pm (UTC)[It's not going to happen, but she doesn't worry about stuff like that any longer.]
See, I'd say that your powers were taken from you and you should absolutely demand them back.
But Oda didn't tell you? [She has to tell him now. She couldn't before; she'd had to seem hyper-professional, but that's so much less necessary here.] He and I used to... speculate. About whether Skulduggery had secret tentacles and that was how... you know. And then! [More laughing.] I was worried at one point that people would think I was with Oda, and gossip about it. [Obviously she never was, but she doesn't even feel the need to say that to Klaus, thinking he has to trust the both of them that far already.] So we decided that if anyone said anything to me about it, I'd tell them I was impressed by the tentacles. Just that, all serious spacer, and refuse to say anything else.
Now I almost wish someone had made a remark.
no subject
Date: 2023-07-16 10:10 pm (UTC)[It seems like a lot and Klaus is pretty sure they don't have to worry about it anyway.]
It's like the second time. Cause Dad made them go away the first time and now this? Then again, only the not dying for keeps is probably useful here. I doubt there's ghosts around. I hope there's not ghosts around.
[Klaus listens to the conversation about the tentacles and blinks a few times.] So you think maybe Skulduggery had secret skeleton tentacles to fuck the Captain with? [There's a slight frown and a nose wrinkle. They really hope not. They don't even want to think about it.] He has hands. You can do a lot with hands.
no subject
Date: 2023-07-26 09:47 pm (UTC)If there were ghosts wouldn't you have seen them by now? That means there probably aren't.
[She's trying to be reassuring, but she's unsure if it'll help. Then she looks faintly troubled, faintly embarrassed when he speaks about Skulduggery. The answer is yes, but also... not?
It's probably one of those things where you had to be there at the time to see the humor.]
We speculated on it. It was... just a joke we had. [A way to poke fun at their captor. Nobunaga had always thought Ari gave him too much power in head. Ridiculous ideas like that helped, somehow.]
no subject
Date: 2023-07-27 01:40 am (UTC)I would if I had my powers still, so probably not? Unless they show themselves to like...everyone or whatever.
Oh. [Normally Klaus is on the hilarious joke train, but it's almost certainly the uncomfortable parallels which has made his brain remember that hentai is real.] I guess...uhh...everyone has something.
no subject
Date: 2023-08-07 09:16 pm (UTC)[His comment on the tentacles just earns a shrug.] Right. I guess it's one of those things where you had to be there. The joke, not the... [Ari shakes her head. Better to drop it there, she decides.]
no subject
Date: 2023-08-08 08:31 am (UTC)[They don't have tentacles, right? Forgive them as they squint even more as if trying to find out of there's hidden tentacles somewhere.] Yeah. Probably.
no subject
Date: 2023-08-08 04:46 pm (UTC)Exactly. Even if they can't help it, it's not something you want to see.
[But this is getting a little grim. She's going to make an effort not to fall into that sort of spiral.] You want to see something cool? Not a ghost, word by contract!
no subject
Date: 2023-08-09 05:55 am (UTC)[There's another squint at that.] Yeah. Okay. I think it'd be hard to show me a ghost right now anyway.
no subject
Date: 2023-08-25 10:51 pm (UTC)Isn't that the strangest thing?!
no subject
Date: 2023-08-27 12:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-08-27 04:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-08-28 02:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-08-28 12:12 pm (UTC)You're right. I'm going to practice, I have a- [is Azula actually a friend? Ari likes her. Close enough.] -friend who already had an ability like that back home, and she helped me to be able to control it. I'm sure I can make it useful somehow.
no subject
Date: 2023-08-29 02:12 am (UTC)Oh! Cool! I don't think I know anyone that can do the like...water thing? Or maybe they can and I just don't know. But it'll be great to like be able to fill a bath without the well.
no subject
Date: 2023-08-30 05:14 pm (UTC)I am getting so tired of having to carry water from that well all the time. I'd pay you for instant water services!
no subject
Date: 2023-09-01 02:49 am (UTC)That's fair. I am also tired, but Nobunaga tends to do it for me. Aw! I hope I get stronger, then. I'll fill up your buckets!