reach the residents

[ximilian]

● ● ● REACH THE RESIDENTS

For any questions you want to ask Viveca or Degar and receive an IC response, please direct them here. Please indicate in the subject line who you are trying to contact.

// VIVECA

Hi, what can I help you with?

// DEGAR

Today was gonna be the day, but they'll never throw it back to you. And by now, you should've somehow realized what you're not to do.

▶ NAV

Comments

[vivecai]

Hi, Alina.

[ there's a touch of amusement to her tone — yes, clearly she knew that already, but alina's introduction is somewhat endearing. ]

... sure. I do like to reflect the seasons on the station, so if you want snow, then you'll get snow.

Would you like an actual present for the feast, too?

[peasant]

Really? [ hm. those likely aren't the right manners. she tempers the giddy excitement in her voice and amends, softer, ] Thank you.

The snow would be enough. You don't have to get me anything. [ it's instinctive, to shyly edge around it, inexperienced as she is with any gesture of kindness. haltingly, she pauses, a little rueful when she pipes up again. ] But I wouldn't say no, if you wanted to. We can exchange gifts. How's that?

[vivecai]

What I can do for you during missions is limited, so I try my best while you're on the station.

[ and switching the sunlight room to a wintery view is really the least she can do. ]

Exchanging gifts, is it? Hmm... not a bad idea. Not that I need much, either.

[peasant]

Food is out of the question for you, I'm assuming.

[ alina's voice colors itself wry in its gentle teasing. still: what gifts could possibly serve as useful to an AI? she hums, contemplative and low in her throat. ]

I was hoping to finish my murals this month. Maybe I could paint one for you as your gift. Is there anything you want to see? Something nice to look at while we're away on missions?

[vivecai]

Surprisingly.

[ said with the dryest tone imaginable. ]

... that does sound nice. Bringing a little colour to the station wouldn't go amiss.

[ a little while later, she sends alina a photograph of a world — very modern but colourful, bright neons of blue and pink and purple mixing together, orange holograms of goldfish swimming in the air above the streets. ]

If you can sneak this in somewhere, I'd be happy to see that. But if not... I'm sure whatever your mural includes is lovely, Alina.

[peasant]

[ under other circumstances, she would sidestep that compliment, unable to find the steps to accepting flattery with any grace — but the warm smile radiates from her voice when she mumbles, a little abashed: ]

Thank you. I'll find somewhere to include it on the station, promise.

[ and though she could leave it there, curiosity pricks at her, a nagging thorn she can't ignore. ]

Is that place special to you? I've never seen anywhere quite so full of color.

[vivecai]

[ after a pause, viveca's voice comes through again, quiet but heartfelt: ] Thank you.

[ then, a little more wryly, ]

It's quite the sight, isn't it? Quite different from your home. Even after I've been exposed to so many different worlds through everyone in the team, seeing the worlds in my database... I really like the look of that one.

[peasant]

[ alina's surprised little exhale crackles through, before it settles into a wry: ]

Sometimes I forget how much you know about each of us. Who we are. Where we came from.

[ calling it unnerving would be doing it a disservice, after the invasion of her privacy in the little palace — after kirigan's deceit and genya's spying, but ... she presses past the small worry, lodging itself in her chest. ]

How did that one appear in your database? From one of the others here?

[vivecai]

... sorry. I know it must be uncomfortable.

[ but she can't exactly help it — the information about each and every member of the team is in her system, and she knows it all without even trying. ]

But I'd rather be forthright about knowing what I do, than try and conceal it.

[ that seems even more uncomfortable to her. but as for alina's question — ]

No. It was already in my database before any of you. It was the home of one member from the previous team.

[peasant]

It's — [ okay? she can't bring herself to blubber out that lie. ] It takes some getting used to. I prefer things to be out in the open, anyway.

[ and not swept into the darkness to be hidden from her, as secrets often are. ]

Did they get to return to it? After everything was said and done?

[vivecai]

Yes... you do seem the type.

[ honest, not someone liking subterfuge and lies. she likes that about alina.

there's a long pause before she answers, quiet and matter-of-fact, ]

No. Their world will have to keep turning without them.

[peasant]

[ alina's surprise stretches into silence, a sinking weight plunging her stomach out from beneath her. a shaky breath crackles on the other end of the earpiece's feed, sifting through her dread before she quietly hazards, ]

They died, didn't they. [ why else would viveca sound so soft, so somber, like speaking of it might disturb a resting memory? ] Because of these missions?

[ really, she had always known it was a possibility, didn't she? but it stirs her insides into a roiling, churning mess of realization all the same — as though only finally, finally feeling the full crushing pressure of what is at stake. ]

[vivecai]

... I'm sorry.

[ the tired apology is confirmation of everything and nothing at the same time — as her words often are, carefully chosen, yet always meaning in full. ]

I didn't mean to — [ to do what? remind alina of the danger they're all in, every time they leave the station? to speak of someone from the previous team? to reveal any of what she's just revealed at all? maybe all three at once. ]

... I wish I could say your safe return is always guaranteed, but — I guess the saying "high risk, high reward" holds true, here. You have much to gain... but just as much to lose.