mental link - :018

[circumspector]

[ There's a crackle of static, of a radio station getting tuned in and a deep breath. Not a loud one, this one, just tentative brush at whatever is closest. ]

( ... Aoba? Petre? )

[ Well, someone's awake. Tired sounding, but awake and she tries to clear her mind to focus enough to reach out broaden to whoever might be nearby. More direct, a little more present. Nervous always, when she feels disconnected from others. ]

( ... Hello? Anyone nearby? )

[ and for anyone looking for her, she's around the Bearings as she catches up on what she's missed out on, getting herself cleaned up from her extended nap time, and plugging herself back into the nest of machines in the common area. ]

Comments

[circumspector]

[ It's here and - not here, but there's the feeling of looking up and around, at this carved space. ]

( Thank-you. Guess you could say I really put my mind too it. ) [ haha, she's so funny. ] ( Guess you've seen it all before, in some form or another? )

[dbag]

[ Haha. Cute. She has a very calming demeanor to her; she's probably the only person who would get a "haha, cute" reaction to her words from him, most everyone else is very much... not "haha, cute." She's right, he has seen it, at least in a way. It's less solid, less real, but he knows it. He's been here. ]

( Have you ever actually been to Helios? )

[ This seems like it would be an automatic 'no' considering what he knows of her life, but she has it down so well. ]

[circumspector]

[ Shakes her head, no - hasn't really seen any of it herself so much. But that's a given. ]

( I know every corner of it, I was integrated into thousands of its systems. The same with Pandora and Elpis. There was very little I wasn't, in the end. But I've never actually set foot on any of it, so to speak. )

[ Which is a horrifying amount of power, when thought about. In her mind, it's felt rather than said. She had been powerful, one thought of hers, one flick of her powers - and millions of people stopped having air to breath. ]

[dbag]

[ He wonders, idly, if she was ever "there" while he was actually there. Probably — it's somewhat disconcerting to know there was something happening right under all of their noses and no one suspected a thing. He could say he's sorry her dad locked her up like that, but there's no good way to say that. Well, there is, he just can't think of one.

Instead: ] ( God, what an asshole. Jack, Jack's the asshole I'm referring to. Not that you were really missing out on anything on Pandora, that's a trash-heap. Helios, though, it's pretty much a crime that he kept you away from the tacos in the cafeteria. ) [ He's trying to be lighthearted about it! The only other option is to actually seriously express things, and he'd rather not do that ever. ] ( It was actually pretty nice up there. I mean, now... not so much, but. Before. )

[circumspector]

[ What on Pandora had happened to Helios that it wouldn't be nice anymore? Well - she'd ask another time. Giggles then, ducking her head because - probably isn't comfortable, knowing she was there. ]

( Do the people from accounting still fight over who gets to be first in line? )

[dbag]

( Um. ) [ This is awkward. She can probably feel his hesitance to answer. He briefly wonders if he should lie, be like, they sure do!!!, but she'd probably be able to tell. Noncommittally: ] ( Not... really? )

[circumspector]

( Oh... )

[ and she seems to deflate with it. Sad, and out of touch in a way that prickles like vertigo. She had known every inch of Helios, all their little habits, odd little quirks. Maybe not as well as Pandora, or at least not as long. But still...

( well, I guess things can't stay the same forever. )