lastdecember | IC Inbox

This is the after hours contact for Nicholas Wolfwood, Logistics. If this is an emergency, stop wasting everyone's time and page me.

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From:

plantussy

Really? Now I have to try it.

[ Vash still doesn't get why people think Wolfwood's an asshole, he's perfectly pleasant to talk random dumb things with! ]

What are you working on?

From:

lastdecember

[ Amazing what happens when you ask a guy about food instead of yelling at him for trying to do his job! ]

I'm halfway through replacing all the optical emitter crystals in the holodeck. A couple of them were smudged and it's easier to replace them all with new crystals than to try and recalibrate the old ones to work with the new ones.

From:

plantussy

[ Vash is just chronically unable to think the worst of people... and so far he's been right. ]

Twenty years without service wears on everything. I've barely even been in the holodeck since the turbulence.

Do you think you can hand me one or two of the smudged ones? They're decent weights to stabilize the cables while I solder them. I'm replacing some for Sheryl.

From:

lastdecember

[ One of the things Wolfwood likes best about Saverem: the guy's a recycler! ]

Sure. I don't have any other use for them right now. I can bring them by later.

[ Oh, wait. Didn't this conversation start with a request from Vash? ]

I could bring them to coffee?

From:

plantussy

[ Hey, that's important in any situations, and emergencies the most! ]

That would be great! Would you like a sandwich or anything with the coffee?

From:

lastdecember

I could eat. Maybe I'll get one, sure.

[ Why, exactly, is Saverem asking? It's not like he's still locked up -- he can get his own sandwiches. ]

From:

plantussy

Great, then it's a coffee break and lunch in one.

[ So he can not feel guilty about eating alone! ]

From:

lastdecember

[ That's a thing? That's weird. Having a friend is so weird. ]

I guess so. I'll see you in the mess hall in an hour.

From:

plantussy

You got it!

[ It's great having a friend, Vash thinks as he plops his ass on a chair an hour later in the mess hall and puts the freshly-made coffees down - one black coffee and a latte with a bit of whipped cream on top. One doughnut and a sandwich for him is also put down next to his coffee, as he figures Wolfwood will synthesize whatever food he wants.

Her stretches a bit and takes out the CL-10 to go over some of the power generator readings while he waits. ]

From:

lastdecember

[ Wolfwood shows up scowling about ten minutes later, freshly scrubbed and hair still damp. He doesn't bother with the synthesizer, instead just dropping into the seat across from Vash and downing half his (now room temperature) coffee in one go. He can't drink on the clock, but there's no rules about caffeine limits. ]

Why the hell is there a holodeck program that rains food?!

[ Hi Saverem. ]

From:

plantussy

I'm sorry, what?

[ Vash replies, briefly looking very confused. Then he glances at his half-eaten donut, and okay, he could see the fantasy. If he wasn't sweeted-out from L3TH3's shtick, the idea of baked goods falling from the sky straight into his mouth is something he's definitely dreamed of in his sleep. ]

I guess surrealist things are good to relax with. No need to worry about work when there's food raining from the sky.

From:

lastdecember

What's relaxin' about getting meatballs bombed at you?

[ Here, by the way. From his pocket Wolfwood pulls out a case with four optical crystals, and slides it across the table. ]

I figured leavin' the safe-for-work setting on to test the damn thing would be enough, but no, some asshole has a program in there where it's rainin' spaghetti.

[ It was not relaxing. Plus, it totally ruined his appetite for the moment. ]

Stupid.

From:

plantussy

I don't know. That sounds messier than what I thought of.

[ Really messy. Just pasta sauce and noodles everywhere, meatballs bouncing off of people's heads? Less fun than floating pastries.

Instead Vash reaches out to take the crystals, inspecting one. They're just the right cut and weight for him to use with the cables, so he smiles. ]

Thank you, Wolfwood. These are perfect.

From:

lastdecember

[ The crystals have also been washed off. The sauce really did get everywhere. ]

Lemme know if you need more. I've got the rest of that lot in a crate downstairs, just takin' up space in storage.

[ It takes a lot of crystals to manipulate hard light into a fully immersive environment! He'd never spent much time in a holodeck, much less looked behind the panels, and he's amazed at how complicated the arrangement in the emitter was... and a little surprised that he was able to replace all those crystals without getting even one out of alignment. Anybody else would be proud of their work, but Wolfwood's just happy he didn't fuck it up. ]

Guess I could recalibrate 'em if I had to, but that kind of work is really above my pay grade.

From:

plantussy

I will! These will last for a while, but you never know.

[ It's a work of marvel, the holodecks, and must be hell to maintain. Still, they're important for crew leisure and mental health. It's the only place they'll see trees and blue skies for probably the remainder of their time on the Mnemosyne. ]

As long as it all works, fine-tuning it can be left to automatic modes. No need to worry.

From:

lastdecember

[ He really should have tested the emitters with a program for trees and blue skies, but it's already hard enough being stuck on this ship. If he started pretending like he could go outside and breathe fresh air, he might never leave the holodeck. It's a real worry.

And speaking of worries... Wolfwood glances over at Vash, then quickly downs the rest of his cold coffee. ]

Yeah.

[ Non-sequitor incoming, just as soon as he can work up the nerve! There's nobody around to overhear, so any second now...

Deep breath, okay. ]

Are you rememberin' stuff that's not real too?

[ Smooth. Very smooth. ]

From:

plantussy

[ Vash is happily eating his sandwich while waiting for Wolfwood to continue whatever he obviously had on his mind, but the bite is quickly coughed up when the nerve is reached and his friend asks that. ]

Y-you too?

From:

lastdecember

[ He'd been hoping that Vash would look at him like he was nuts. No such luck, huh? Wolfwood nods, and wishes that there was something stronger in his cup than just the dregs of black coffee. ]

It might be all of us. Hilbert said somethin about memory insertion the other day, and I'm sure this is what he was talking about.

[ It's not like he asked Hilbert what he was talking about. Fuck Hilbert. ]

Somethin' happened, when we were in cryo. The damn AI put somebody else's memories in our heads. I didn't even think that was possible.

[ He's keeping his voice low even though there's nobody around to overhear, but it's no less intense for being quiet. He's freaked out. ]

From:

plantussy

That might explain why the pods threw us out...

[ Vash muses, hands tightening around his own coffee cup. Someone else's memories, though? ]

I saw myself as a kid. It wasn't someone else... but also definitely wasn't something I've even done.

[ Should he tell...? Well, if Wolfwood knows about the memories, he deserves to know how weird it can get. Plus it might change the suspect. L3TH3 could fuck up their minds, but she couldn't change bodies.

...right?

Reaching for his tool belt, Vash takes out a pen light. ]

It wasn't just memories, though. Look at my eyes.

[ He leans forward and shines the light in his eyes. The odd lines that appear in them are somehow a mix of circuitry and something more natural. ]

That wasn't there before!

From:

lastdecember

[ Wolfwood's about to explain that his memory couldn't have been him, because there's no way he could have fought the monster he remembers fighting -- he's strong, but he's not that strong! -- but then Saverem pulls out a pen light and shines it on himself. Wolfwood leans forward, curious, then jolts back when he sees what Vash is talking about. ]

What the hell is that?!

[ There's lines in his eyes! Over the sclera and iris both, lines, like somebody took a light pen and traced circuits there. It'd be pretty if it wasn't so wrong ]

How the hell are there lines in your eyes?!

From:

plantussy

I don't know! I just showed up a few weeks ago!

[ He turns the pen-light off with a bit of an uncomfortable look on his face. ]

Dr. Hilbert doesn't know what it is, either. Aside from the lines, my eyes are perfectly normal. Just like they've always been.

From:

lastdecember

[ Memories are one thing -- they could have been shuffled around when everyone was in cryo and they're only being noticed now -- but something like eyes? Something clearly new?

He's not going to stop freaking out anytime soon, sorry. ]

He's lying. It was either him or Doc Jiaoqiu, unless L3TH3 did it. Somebody did that to you.

[ Somebody injected shit into his eyes. That's weird in a way Wolfwood would never have imagined! ]

Shit like that doesn't just happen.

From:

plantussy

[ That's fine, they can freak out about it together. Vash isn't exactly happy about about these new lines, but at least they didn't affect his vision - and the fact that she had them as well made it less frightening. ]

It wasn't Jiaoqui, it happened long after he went back to cryo. I don't think it was Dr. Hilbert either, he seemed genuinely frustrated that he couldn't tell me what it was.

[ Vash glances down at his food and then pushes it to the side. He's not eating after this. ]

I think it had something to do with the memory I got. I was myself but as a kid, looking at this... woman floating in a tank. She was ethereal, like an alien, and full of these lines that glowed brightly. Not just in her eyes, but all over her face and body.

[ He felt to safe with her. Even as that little boy. ]

If that memory was implanted, maybe the eyes are a side effect.

From:

lastdecember

[ Wolfwood just shakes his head, trying hard not to wonder if Saverem's got those lines anywhere else. ]

You said they just showed up one day, right? Remembering stuff, real or not, wouldn't make your eyes change.

[ Only people -- or machines -- can do that. Somebody did this to Vash, and they're going to find out who. ]

What day was it? When you first noticed 'em?

From:

plantussy

That's true. It's just... weird that they match what I was remembering. That can't be a coincidence.

[ There's a bit of a pause as he goes over the timeline. ]

I think it was around the fourth that I noticed it, and I saw Dr. Hilbert about it on the sixth. The memory came earlier, a day or so after the big alien left.