Alice Quinn (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
niffin) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thisavrou_log2016-04-13 08:58 pm
niffin) wrote in thisavrou_log2016-04-13 08:58 pm
Entry tags:
cool motive, still murder
Who: Alice Quinn (
niffin), Alan Bradley (alan_1), and youWhen: 17th - 22nd-ish.
Where: The Hold, where you hold stuff.
What: Post-trial. Alice is hanging out in the hold, because apparently convincing minors to arm disastrous deadly traps is frowned upon outside of Jumanji.
Warnings: Probable discussion of character death and violence
[ If you'd like a specific starter, just let me know OOC. ]
c.
no subject
Her arms cross, as she tries to resist the urge to pace. Fear's been grappling with fury all morning, and she doesn't quite know what to do now with the interruption. When she speaks, it's too quickly.
"There's a story," Because of course there is. There's always a story, that's how she always handles this. "A famous one on my world. Biologists go to capture alien lifeforms to bring back to Earth. Only, they start looking at the animals, and they all look like they should be from different places? And their ship won't start back up."
Alice lapses into silence, watching as he unfolds the chair. She doesn't finish the story, she's pretty sure he can work it out. She's pretty sure the story isn't what he came by for.
no subject
Placing his hands atop the back of the chair, he watches the young woman as she talks, quiet for a long moment afterwards.
"Alice," he says, pushing warmth and something like apology into his tones. "How are you holding up?"
Because it doesn't look good from this end of things.
no subject
She wants to ask, itches to divert the point. Alice likes Nihlus, she respects his judgment... but she doesn't trust him, and she doesn't trust this. Not when he's speaking like Van der Weghe, like Mayakovsky, half a lifetime ago.
"I'm — I'm."
What? She doesn't know how to lie right now, not after two straight months of it. There's no point to it, anyway — neither of them's that dim. Shifting uncomfortably, she finally looks away.
"I've been worse." It's not an answer, but it's not a lie. "What about you?"
no subject
He pauses after that. There are questions he wants to ask, so many of them, kicking around in his mind, whispered around memories of a handfuls of blood, the surreal glass crunch of solidified code.
But it will pass. Nihlus has been in worse nightmares, has arrived too late too many times before, has watched too many children and teenagers and undeserving people die. The feelings had been an open scab during the trials and blinded him to a lot of facts, but the roiling, directionless anger was just numbness now.
Watching Alice in the cell, he quietly wonders if he should have voted at all.
"How likely do you think the Captains are going to say 'yes' to me wanting to fix the temperature problem in here?" he asks, settling down in the chair.
no subject
"I get the impression it's intentional." It's been difficult to tell: This close to the engine rooms, on a ship as shoddily-repaired as the Moira often seems to be — it's anyone's guess. "But it could just be bad wiring."
"Until...recently," She starts slow, tries to piece together what she wants to offer, what she doesn't. "They've been running on a skeleton crew. No personnel to fix it. No need to."
She pushes the soggy bangs from her eyes, restless. It'd be easy enough to lower her own cell's temperature, but without a good look at the ventilation systems, she's not about to try it. Alice doesn't want to risk the chance of cooling Rinzler.
If Nihlus does, he can carry his own weight. It's the only reason she can think of for him to fret over it: Anyone spending time in the Hold is familiar with its quirks, and she can't picture those keeping vigil as being overly concerned with comfort.
"How's he doing?"
She doesn't specify.
no subject
Not to mention just how appalling this place was.
The hesitation draws the Spectre's attention, although he doesn't give any outward indication of the fact. Why was Alice was withholding information about the previous state of the Moira's crew?
Again, however, Nihlus doesn't pursue. For the time being.
"Peter is physically fine. The medi-gel application worked as intended and Yewll and her team did the rest."
He doesn't elaborate on Rinzler.
no subject
She turns away, paces into the cell a few steps, turns again. Sitting still right now is an imposition.
"No one's been telling me anything." It's something of an outburst, unexpectedly loud, angry. It almost seems to startle her. A hand gestures up, drops loose, the wordless symbol of: Don't, I get it. It's maybe the only part of the system that feels like an effective deterrent. "On the video, I didn't. I wasn't sure."
They wouldn't try a dead crewmember. She's not so sure about a dying one.
"...When you take it to them. Get crew support first." Her voice stills. Alice isn't about to help, but she feels like she owes him a little, after that. "They've listened to it before. If it doesn't impact the ploiatos, they have no practical reason to deny you. They won't want the conflict."
no subject
How should he tell her about J? The res failed, after all. Alice didn't need more guilt haunting her while she was in this cell, but she also deserved to know the truth.
"I can try to answer any questions you have," Nihlus continues, tones even, opting to wait and see if she'd ask for the time being. "Asides from the trials and growing tensions, things have been proceeding as... well, about normal for this ship as far as I can garner. Mind you, I have only been here for a little over a month, so my context is a bit lacking."
The Spectre listens to Alice's advice, wondering just how much context he was lacking.
"The ploiatos?" he asks quietly.
no subject
Alice tips her head to the side a little.
"You've been in here before. Have you ever heard that, um. That. Chime?"
Faint, soft as a bell. She'd call it her imagination if it weren't for the rest.
"Maybe that's it. Or maybe it's something else. But the point is, it's not just current crew that are in here. Decisions like temperature affect them — it — too."
A beat.
"Can you," Pause. "Can you tell me if any of them came back?"
no subject
"I did," Nihlus says when she mentions the sound, expression curious. "It seems to happen a lot just before I nod off. The hold's temperature is very comfortable for me and I, well, tend to get a bit drowsy during visits."
Come to think of it, Alice didn't see Shepard carry him out that one time, did she? Bit embarrassing, that.
Then she asks that question and Nihlus takes in a slow, deep breath.
"... The res attempts have not been successful with either Spearfall or Austen."
she has absolutely seen shepard carry out sleepy cockatiel
As decisions go, it's not her best. She recoils immediately, swearing, and flexes her fingers experimentally. Bruised, but good enough. Good enough for now.
She has a feeling she's going to need them again soon.
Alice presses her arm out again, this time to steady herself, and turns away. She doesn't want him to see the way her expression crumples.
"Thank you." It's quiet. She coughs her way around something wet and heavy. "Someone needs to tell Peter. Later."
LMFAO
"I'll tell him. If no one else has by then."
If nothing else, he's had a lot of practice breaking bad news to people. Spirits, poor Peter. He can't imagine the news will go over well in any manner of speaking, but he had to know.
"... Would you like me to call one of the clinic staff?"
no subject
The last thing she can imagine doing right now is dragging in medical, they've got enough on their plate with this mess.
"Listen. It's not that — I appreciate this, but I'm probably not great conversation right now."