the sky was made of amethyst ( & open )

[willrevile]

Who: James Tiberius Fullname (willrevile) & other excellent individuals
What: a catch-all for june! also some in-betweeny thesa stuff in response to info in the plotting post!
When: june, some backdated may stuff too. time is a flat circle.
Where: various locations / thesa station
Warning(s): tba. i've put a dancing cupcake beneath the cut.

Comments

[motivation]

( it's been a little while since dutch has been on thesa. the last time had been after the kidnappings, checking up on johnny, on d'avin, on alvis and on pree. reminding herself that they're there, that they're all right even if they're still and in stasis and not with her.

after the vision of johnny dying, she'd needed to see him in particular, but seeing him so still hadn't really helped. doesn't help. easier to pretend he's off on a mission, that he's out there finding himself or some bullshit like that again. like she'd never called shotgun if he wanted to run... but that's a whole other can of worms. she just. she hasn't been back in a little while, is all.

she's here now and the place reminds her of the drifting red 17 ship. not a good association. which explains why the first thing she says to jim when she spots him is - ) If I see any nanite clouds, I'll hate you forever. ( because that totally makes sense out of context. )

[willrevile]

What about other nanite weather formations? [ is volleyed back like it makes perfect sense. Jim extends the coffee cup towards her, full of hot liquid. ] No nanites to be found, doesn't seem like the Natha's style.

[ Overrated little bugs, anyway, in Jim's opinion. Helpful only when their programming is severely limited, otherwise there's too much that can go wrong. Anyhoo, ]

Thanks for coming. [ He's sincere about it. Maybe Dutch doesn't give a shit about any of this, but somehow, he's ended up closer to her than anyone else here. (That probably says something about him, and his inability to get close to people, but whatever.) And he doesn't have to teach her about how space works. ]

[motivation]

Any nanites.

( the nanites of red 17 had been programmed to torture and heal in turn. break down a person before reconstructing them, over and over and over again until they got the answers needed. dutch still remembers the pain of it. the horror of seeing d'avin admit things he'd never want to admit, too. )

Yeah, sure.

[willrevile]

Noted.

[ See, like that. Total bullshit, nanites are nothing but drama. ]

I'm serious, I appreciate it. Accept my gratitude, it's better than my coffee. [ He just pushes the button. At least he knows how to use the ones up here; it's all Wyverbucks all the time, dirtside. ]

There's no real heavy-duty repairs, as far as I know. If we come across any I'm sure I can figure it out.

[motivation]

( nanites are shit and dutch doesn't like them. )

What if I want the coffee, too, though.

( a beat. )

I used to have a ship, you know. I'm just not a nerd. ( it's not derogatory. she can punch her way out of nearly anything, but she knows there's stuff violence can't, doesn't solve. you need nerds for that. )

[willrevile]

[ Jim grunts, hands her the full coffee mug, goes to refill another for himself. She can have the coffee, too. ]

I know, [ he says. ] You've mentioned it.

[ Good memory, this one. ]

[motivation]

( what a good boy. man. friend? )

I miss having Lucy around. She's whip this station into shape in no time.

[willrevile]

[ That sounds very sexy (no it doesn't), Dutch's manfriend. ]

Is Lucy your ship, or an engineer?

[ Jim, personally, would love it if Scotty would wake the fuck up right now. ]

[motivation]

She's the ship. My engineer is Johnny, and he does more than engineering.

( but johnny's in stasis. alive but asleep. far too still for her liking. )

[willrevile]

So Lucy has an AI.

[ Since ships aren't typically sentient. Starfleet's certainly aren't; Jim'll pass on that particular disaster waiting to happen, thanks. ]

My engineer is from Scotland, named Montgomery Scott, and everyone calls him Scotty. [ Serenely, ] He's nuts.

[motivation]

Lucy is the AI. And if she ever tells you that means she doesn't play favourites, she's lying.

( lucy is absolutely sentient, or at least gives a good impression of it. )

How nuts? And I don't know Scotland.

[willrevile]

Artificially intelligences that lie unnerve me, [ Jim says wryly, sipping his coffee. ] Mm, super nuts. Mad genius nuts. Invented a way to beam people to and from ships during warp nuts. It's great.

And if Lucy and Scotty were here, I bet we'd have a better solution than going from spot to spot fixing overloaded wiring, but here we are.

[motivation]

She knows she's lying, too.

( there's no concern there for dutch; she trusts lucy implicitly. and that's after having been subjected to the nanites she so hates not just at the hands of a guy gone insane, but a faulty ai, too.

what's the difference between an ai and a person, anyway, except maybe the body? )

I understood none of what you just said, by the way. Speak grunt with me, not nerd.

[willrevile]

[ The ease of reprogramming, Jim would say. People, at least, take time to be brainwashed.

Anyway - he laughs a little. ]

Fixes the unfixable every time. Fortunately, all we have to do is patch some electricity blowouts. Not anywhere near impossible.

[motivation]

I can win an impossible fight, but I can't fix unfixable shit.

( it takes all kinds to win a war. dutch knows that. the grin she throws in jim's direction is a little impish. )