a day in the life. sort of.

[to_be_caprican]

Who: Gaius Baltar et Toi
Where: Around and about, but specifically: the labs (closedish), the library, cafeteria (late at night), and then wherever your heart desires.
When: Probably spread out over more than just a day. Hazy vagueness go.
Warnings: Will update but probably nada

Comments

the labs. capa!

[to_be_caprican]

"Holy frak."

Is a rather understated reaction to what happens next. Sitting at a station in the laboratory, Gaius holds two pieces of his communicator in his hands, and really, taking the thing apart had been the bit of his little project that was to be the easiest part. But rather than see the innards of the device as expected, a skittering of hard candy spilling across the work bench followed, multicoloured and resembling, well, M&Ms. The casing is otherwise empty of anything, Gaius sitting frozen in some disbelief before setting the pieces back down.

Where no one else but Gaius can hear, there's delighted, feminine laughter, husky and genuinely amused. "I'm so glad you're enjoying yourself," Gaius tells thin air just across from him, his brow gone taut as if wrinkled with a drawstring. Tentatively, he starts to gather the little pieces of delicious candy into a pile on the bench, before ducking underneath to find any that's skittered off elsewhere. "You could at least help me look."

Re: the labs. capa!

[ourlastbesthope]

Capa pulled his chair underneath him as he sat at the desk, scribbling a few notes into his notebook. He was completely in his own zone at the moment, forgetting where he was. His mind was filled with math equations and formulas, and his lips moved as the pencil scribbled across the page. He didn't even notice that Gaius spoke until the candy spilled out, a strange sound in the lab. Startled, the physicist blinked, walking over to pluck one of the candies from the table.

He missed the first statement, but as he added the candy he had to the pile Gaius made, he frowned. "What exactly do you want me to help you do?"

[to_be_caprican]

Thump.

Remembrance of company as well as said company right there has Gaius jumping and head knocking against the underside of his work station, having expected the dulcet tones of the Cylon and getting instead, well. Capa. The impact is light, but enough for some of the little pebbles of hard sugar and chocolate to vibrate at the tremor, and a muffled ow following.

"Sorry?"

Appearing at the other edge of the table, Gaius blinks uncomprehending at the other man, as if unsure of what was heard and what was-- not.

[ourlastbesthope]

"Were you talking to me?" He tilted his head to the side and pushed his hair back from his face. Hm. He tied it back idly and knelt down in front of him. "You said something about helping you."

Capa reached up to stop the candies from falling to the floor. "What happened anyway?"

[to_be_caprican]

"Oh, I was-- just talking to myself, actually. Sorry." He just does that, Robert.

Gathering chocolate pieces into a pile on the work bench, Gaius huffs out a sigh as he reclaims his nerves. "That day when the network opened up to different channels-- thought I might. Look into things. But as soon as I took apart the communicator, this happened." A vague gesture at the coloured pieces, and then also the journal's casing.

A hand lays across his own forehead, the heel of his palm grinding away a headache. "Probably shouldn't eat them."

[ourlastbesthope]

"Yeah, that's fine. You alright?" he asked as he stood back up, gathering the pieces in his hands and going to search for something to store them in. In retrospect, he knew he should have done that first but...the damage had already been done. He found a bowl and dumped them in it.

"And I had no inclination to eat them. This place is weird but not that weird." He returned, putting the bowl down on the desk. He was a little out of it that day more than normal, his obsession with his work stemming from Arthur's disappearance.

[to_be_caprican]

Dragging back the stool he was sitting on to re-perch, Gaius tugs the bowl closer to observe the contents, shaking it absently with musical clicks and clacks of hard sugar. "Far be it from me to actually conduct a little research," he says, although who knows - all things considered, the failure to even get a look inside might say more of his intentions, for all that it matters naught, now.

"I'm alright. Wondering how the frak you're supposed to do anything in here if they just change the rules on you."

[ourlastbesthope]

"Barge physics," Capa remarked flippantly, practically rolling his eyes at the statement. He hated that idea and tried to banish it from his vocabulary, but things just kept happening. He was constantly frustrated by it, but there was no end In sight.

"Which means...I have no clue." A pause and it dawned on him. "Is that yours? How...are you putting it back together?"

[to_be_caprican]

"Barge physics." His tone is flat, irritated, but not necessarily at the scientist opposite him. It is what it is.

Hands folding under his chin, Gaius deals a glance sideways, passed Capa's right shoulder, holding it there before dropping it again on his work bench. "It's mine. Absurdly, I'm inclined to just pour them back in and close it up again and pray to the gods, which. I will say, isn't any sort of IT maintenance I've done in the past."

[ourlastbesthope]

"...I wouldn't," he said with a shake of his head. "I doubt that they're supposed to be there." He stood up and pulled over his own chair to sit. He needed a break from the equations, which didn't help him at the moment. "You might have to ask the Admiral for a new one."

Which he didn't trust, but that wasn't going to change.

[to_be_caprican]

And yeah, all his plans of what to do next are exhausted save for 'ask the Admiral'. "I'll get Sarah to put in a message," he mutters, rubbing his hands over his face, before one drops to rattle the bowl again before pushing it aside. "Along with a public service announcement about how your communicator might become delicious if you try to do anything with it."

[ourlastbesthope]

"Delicious?" Capa couldn't help but laugh at that, but it was laced with annoyance at the situation. "Are you going to tell her what you did to it?" He leaned down from his chair, under his own desk, and picked up the water bottle there. He always had at least one around.

"Anr telling the barge something like that? It...might not be good."

[to_be_caprican]

"Really?"

Gaius looks bewildered, but-- otherwise inclined to listen, brow crinkling. "Well. I'll have to tell Sarah, at least, but I suppose mum's the word when it comes to the Barge." His chin settles in his palm, skirting a glance towards the work station that Robert came from. "I hardly remembered you were even in here, you know. Are you always this quiet?

"I mean. Quieter."

[ourlastbesthope]

"They don't take kindly to news like that. It's either going to be ignored or you'll have people taking them apart for amusement." Screwing the lid back on the bottle, he answered the question first with a shrug.

"I didn't know I was. I'm not used to working in here with anyone other than Crane. Sometimes Rex. And Crane just sat and did paperwork. Rex did his own thing." Capa looked up to the ceiling for a moment before continuing. "I sometimes talk to Icarus." He held up the comm that rested on a lanyard around his neck.

"But not around people. I don't like the looks."

[to_be_caprican]

On the topic of what the Barge will do in reaction, Gaius simply rolls his eyes. He won't be doing that, then.

His focus narrows on the comms device as Capa holds it up, curious and benign puzzlement in Gaius' expression. He keeps his hands to himself, however, not that curious, and casts a somewhat inquisitive glance to Capa's face in case he meant anything by that. But this seems not to be the case. "'ll take it you've not named your journal for no reason."

[ourlastbesthope]

"It's not a journal," he explained, slipping it off of his head. "It's my item here, I guess. It's what unlocks all the warden areas. But...back on the ship, it was the link to the ship's...pretty primitive AI. Primitive compared to what I've seen here, at least. For some reason, she still works here. Somewhat." He paused, setting it on the table.

"Icarus."

"Yes, Capa?" a cool, feminine voice answered back. Capa looked up to Gaius to sense his reaction.

"She answers questions for me. Better than any computer or calculator."