IC contact for lastvoyages

[littlebattles]

[If I don't have an active post up, feel free to use this post to have your character call, videochat, text, or knock on June's door.]

Comments

[fork_off]

How nice of you.

[He'll show up at her door at the appointed time.]

[littlebattles]

[She is, in actual fact, sitting on the only hammock in the room, the picture of casualness: one leg swung over the other, with a book in hand. Only she knows that she's been staring vacantly at the same page for the last thirty minutes.]

Hi. Hungry? I hear we're making something with pasta tonight.

[fork_off]

Not yet. I am looking forward to dinner.

[He looks at the cover of her book.]

What are you reading?

[littlebattles]

In Cold Blood.

[She lifts it up, showing him the cover.]

From a little after your time, I think.

[It's from over a hundred years after his time, but considering she's from over a hundred years after In Cold Blood's time and history isn't her strongest subject, this is her best guess.]

[fork_off]

It sounds like a broadsheet. Something lurid.

[Some terrible tale of murder or intrigue.]

[littlebattles]

It is. I'm not surprised it was in the library here.

[fork_off]

The library has many, many things.

[He's realized that he's not getting the hammock, so he's looking for somewhere to sit.]

What else do you like to read about?

[littlebattles]

[While there are plenty of her makeshift decorations on the walls - oragami animals, strings of lights - the room is still just as bereft of furniture as it was a few months ago, and the only "chairs" are empty supply crates. June certainly doesn't complain if he sits on one, though.]

It's been a while since I had much choice in reading material. I read what I can borrow from other people.

[Before the Barge, that had generally always meant Penny Robinson, though she doesn't say so; staying vague is, she hopes, the best way to keep him from trying to talk about her past.]

Have you ever read any Russian literature?

[fork_off]

[He sits on one of the crates, as it's the closest thing to a chair.]

No, I've read a few translations from French, but no Russian. Do you like it?

[He'll start with light questions, before asking about more important things.]

[littlebattles]

They're long and depressing. But I do.

[fork_off]

Hm. Well, I suppose it takes all sorts. Didn't think people could like depressing books.

[The ones he reads are more "tale of adventure" type of narratives.]

[littlebattles]

You don't see why someone would want to read something depressing to make them feel better about their own life?

[fork_off]

I suppose I can see why someone would do that. It seems... cruel, though.

[littlebattles]

[June's smile here is dry.]

Not that I don't appreciate your compassionate spirit, but I don't think the people in the book will be bothered.

[fork_off]

[He shifts on his seat, awkwardly.]

Well, no, they wouldn't. They're not real, after all.

[littlebattles]

They actually are in this one.

[She admits, wiggling the book.]

But I still don't think they care.

[fork_off]

Not unless you found a way to communicate with them, no.

[He pauses for a moment.]

As interesting as this is, I didn't come to talk about books.

[littlebattles]

I figured.

[She sits up a little more in her hammock, her expression going blank.]

What did you come here to talk about?

[fork_off]

I've been reading over your file and... why is it, that you seem to think that there are only two ways to live?

[littlebattles]

Can't say I know what you mean, boss.

[fork_off]

Well, perhaps that isn't the best way to state it. But... you have made a fresh start several times, and each time you hide your true self from others. You don't seem to think you can just be yourself, you're either you and alone or someone else and not. Do you see?

[littlebattles]

[She sees, and she pauses for a moment, swallowing.]

To make a real fresh start, I can't have anything holding me back. If I'm myself, and I'm open about my past - you get how that would hold me back, right? It has held me back, every time anybody has ever found out more about me. It's better--

[Easier.]

-- to just be somebody less complicated, without any baggage.

[fork_off]

[Easier is not always better. He chooses his words carefully.]

But the deception adds another layer of difficulty, as well. When you're found out, bad things happen.

[littlebattles]

So I go somewhere where it'll be impossible to find me out. After I graduate, I'll go to another world.

[There's a pitch of excitement in her voice just at the thought of it - at the idea of completely severing herself from that baggage, yes, but also at the idea of striking out into the unknown. Like Blanky, she has something of an explorer's heart.]

[fork_off]

[He likes that about her, her desire to see new worlds. If only it wasn't wrapped up in her need to erase everything else.]

Ah, but you have to graduate, first. And I doubt that denying your true self will help with that.