*Marco is sitting on the edge, feet hanging out over it and head and arms resting on the railing. He's feeling rather depressive lately. He's been having trouble sleeping, and is fighting to keep his mind from straying to certain troubles...only tonight its moved him on to other ones. She can probably tell he's got a good buzz going, but is still mostly in control of himself. He doesn't notice her probing, but does look up for a moment as he hears her approach. She doesn't look familiar, but he's pretty sure he heard her talk to Van on the network before. Relatively new, and not very talkative. He shrugs.*
Days often seem longer because I have nothing much to do. But they blur together easier like that. When things are calm, almost every day is the same.
*He takes a swig of his rum bottle and puts it down near her, in case she wants to share.*
A job, a goal I don't know I can ever achieve...I'll miss the possibility of...hn. Of possibly getting that, but I'm not sure about the job. I don't know if I could go back to it after things here. I've changed, but I doubt I'll be sure how much without actually going back. But I have no family to go back to, and no friends who I can't move away from. I moved around too much to have many ties.
[commentlog]thequeensownOctober 1 2010, 21:41:49 UTC
[Talia listens to Marco as he speaks, his tone sad and a bit slurred if one knew what to listen for; Talia, with her work amongst the people of Valdemar, knew what to look for. She 'mms' softly, holding onto the railing as she lowers herself to sit next to him, legs hanging out over the edge as she nearly mirrors his position.]
It was like that a good amount of the time when I was on my Circuit .. days of riding after more days of riding. Stopping long enough to relieve ourselves before continuing on .. Another village and still, the same thing.
[She pauses to look up at the starless sky, expression displeased before she shakes her head once and looks back at Marco.]
It seems much of the same here with some exceptions .. a 'rinse and repeat' pattern, if you will. [She doesn't appear judgmental in the least, seeming only curious. She takes the proffered bottle as he sets it down in between and lifts it to her mouth. She hasn't any intention of drinking herself stupid, but she can't deny that a drink is quite welcome. She takes a deep pull from the bottle, swallowing it down around the telltale alcoholic burn before setting it back down in the middle. She eases her shields back now that she is certain they are alone, allowing her to read his emotions without prying.]
And what would you leave here, if you were to return home? Friends? A position of some kind?
[Her gaze is curious, his depression so clearly at the fore of his emotions. She hadn't tried any sort of mind healing since coming to the ship, as she had found her Gifts were muted at best. However, here was someone in need and she wouldn't sit idly by if there was even a chance she could help; even if there were some risk to herself. It's what Heralds did and so she would if she could.]
Traveling between cities or villages was much faster in my world. It rarely took more than a few hours, though I never traveled across the oceans.
*He pauses at her question, gaze straying to the ocean instead of the sky. He'd be leaving behind friends, the only friends he's had in years--possibly more than that. Marco doesn't doubt he could adapt to being shut off from everyone again, he just doubts he'll want to. Well, he usually doesn't doubt it. He's not sure what he'd do without Anna, anymore, and to a lesser extent Remy. Perhaps the idea of having the luxury of making his own decisions about who to work with and what to work on. For the first time in a long time, Marco actually had his own life. Even if it was so limited here.*
Friends, yes. More freedom than I'm used to back home in some ways, but less in others.
*He sighs and takes a swig from the bottle. If it weren't for the alcohol, he'd be less depressed right now. But alcohol was like another friend here; a crutch he'd been using for quite some time. He didn't even recognize when it did more harm than good anymore.*
[commentlog] SEE! Warmth and goodness! *HUGS HIM*thequeensownOctober 2 2010, 21:00:35 UTC
[Talia snorts softly at his reply, lips quirked in a half smile.]
Traveling between cities and towns for us meant days to weeks on horseback. I can imagine things might have been far less imposing if we could have traveled so quickly. Let alone that there would have been less saddle sores ..
[She falls silent as he seems to grow introspective, feeling the tone of his thoughts shift. She can only read emotions, not thoughts, so though she can't get specific faces or names she gets the feelings. If she were around him when he saw Anna, for example, she'd be able to make the connection that she was whom the 'warm thoughts' were about. She tilts her head slightly as he replies, nodding once. She had picked up the fact that there were those he cared for (friends) almost as soon as she'd mentioned them.]
But more freedom doesn't particularly help when it's still, in essence, a limited freedom. [Oh, she had her opinion of Redd, believe me, and his 'saving' people from their worlds.] A prison by any other name ..
[And as she was most recently held captive on her own world, she wasn't particularly fond of having it happen again. He takes a swig from the bottle and she takes it gently from his hand as he lowers it again, a deeper pull this time as the glass touches her lips. No, thinking about her own imprisonment wasn't going to help her mindset at all. She swallows, pushing the thoughts aside as she glances down at the bottle in her hand. Like a blanket, her own thoughts move toward his, not saying anything specific, but perhaps helping him realize that she knows what he means and understands it on a level many wouldn't. With that understanding and empathy is warmth .. a comforting hope that there was always something worth fighting for.]
I've a feeling that there are those here that would miss you were you to leave. [She'd seen how active he was on the comms and people did, genuinely, seem to like the man.] Though I've a feeling that the same could be said for your home world, even if you think not. No matter how much you've changed in your stay here .. it's inevitable that this place would change you. [Silence as she sets passes the bottle back to the deck between them and then her eyes are to him again.] What have you left behind that worries you so?
[commentlog] ...okay, but don't tell anybodyntjstapwnOctober 2 2010, 21:10:19 UTC
*Marco chuckles a bit at the mention of saddle sores. Cars and planes were certainly much faster and smoother, though people still complained of being sore after long rides.*
Exactly. No matter how nice it is, its still a prison.
*He takes the bottle back after she's done with it and takes a swig. He hopes his friends here would miss him, but he's sure they'd get over it with time.*
I'm sure they would. At least the ones here, back home...*He sighs* Work; I've left behind work, and if time has passed back home without me, it will create a lot of trouble.
*That wasn't the entire truth, but he has no desire to fill in the rest of it. Part of it was he was afraid of what would happen if he went back. Even if no time had passed, things would be harder. When things were calm here he got lazy, and was afraid he'd gotten careless...if he returned home without fixing that, it could be the end of him. Of course, leaving at all could be the end of him. Marco wasn't sure what to think about the worlds being destroyed story, but he was apt to believe that those who left died.*
[commentlog] I shall keep this secret! :3thequeensownOctober 2 2010, 21:49:18 UTC
[Talia offers a soft smile as he seems to relax enough to chuckle at her attempt at light-hearted humor. She makes a soft 'mm' of agreement.]
I'm not terribly fond of prisons of any sort, truth told. I've had my share of it and wasn't particularly looking to find a more lavish attempt at one while I was being 'saved'.
[Havens, but this man was a bit of an emotional wreck. She wasn't going to force thoughts out of him and knew the rest would come with time, if he endeavored to share with her. That he was holding back would have likely been obvious even to someone not Gifted with empathy. His thoughts turned heavy when he began speaking of his home and she was certain it was directly related to his current emotional state.]
Mmm.. [She's got the bottle again, a comfortable warmth beginning to spread through her stomach outward as she takes another drink, telling herself to sloooow doooown as she lowers it, tracing the glass with her fingers. She hadn't gotten drunk since her night drinking with Kevas, and it wasn't something she did terribly often. It wasn't so much that she didn't enjoy it, but her abilities were profusely dampened if she drank; let alone that she could lose control of her own shields.]
Perhaps if you found something to keep yourself busy, in mind and body? I know our circumstances are different than most others, but a .. hobby?
[Again she soothes her mind along his, brushing away at the tension and doubts that linger there. His mind is muddied within the alcohol and her own thoughts of calm and comfort touch his again. Alcohol not only tended to effect people poorly, but the dependence many grew on it was alarming and more harm than good.]
There are a few things I do. I tend bar at Sergei's, that helps. I've been studying some. And then... *He cants his head, then nods to the patch of sky without stars.* ...that. But there's nothing yet. Just a lot of dead ends and too many questions.
*He hated that. Aside from being stuck in the first place, being unable to find the answers to the questions this place brought up was the worst part of the ship. The rest he could deal with, but being helpless and unable to do anything about it...It drove him up the wall. When things we calmer it was easier to ignore, but after what happened the other night and the fact that nothing had happened since... He sighs and takes another drink, calming slightly at her mental touch. Sadly, (or perhaps not, as Marco would be very irate finding her 'in his head') he'd probably see it as a result of the drink. There were very few times Marco was completely sober on the ship. He spent most of the day with a low level buzz, and then increased it at night when less was going on. It was more than plain he was hiding behind the bottle. There were things here that were good, though, and he let his mind drift towards them. Her touch was helping a bit, but not much.*
[commentlog] Talia ~politely~ pokes around brains. :3thequeensownOctober 3 2010, 00:04:14 UTC
[Talia listens with interest, her own nerves gently eased with the assistance of the alcohol seated between the two of them. He wasn't one of the most receptive to her gentle mental coaxing and she thought she might need to prod a bit harder. First, though, she would do what she knew she did well enough .. talk. She keeps her mind open to him, though, continuing the mental coaxing of 'it's okay, things will be fine' as she looks upward at the sky.]
It is .. perturbing .. to say the least. That not only the stars were gone, but the .. other things. [Being an empath certainly led to picking up strange things after the starless night began. The voices that some had heard .. She shivers, glad that she had not experienced it herself. On the other hand, she almost wished that she had experienced it.]
The lack of answers .. it is never easy to deal with such, no matter what it is you are questioning. When you add the fact that it's happening on this ship .. it can be a bit .. frustrating. It seems we often have more questions than answers here.
[Her gaze drops from the sky and moves to him again and she tilts her head slightly to one side.]
It seems an awfully big boat to offer so little .. [She muses this and then moves to something he mentioned.] What do you study?
The whispers are what worry me the most. What they came from, what they meant and how they knew what to say. It has to mean something, and I doubt its something good.
*He's pessimistic enough about the ship and the events on it to resist the 'things will be fine' coaxing while on the subject. Things were not 'fine' with Jennifer, and even after she was recaged trouble still remained. They should have just left well enough alone but...He still feels guilty about that. Too many things he could have done differently between finding the necklace and letting Sully stick the coin in the corkboard outside the theater. At least they were able to end it, even if it took so long. That proved that the passengers weren't entirely helpless.*
It offers so much and so little. Its frustrating.
*He sighs again and takes another swig from the bottle, then lets his mind move onto other things. It was easier than it would be without her coaxing, but he didn't fully recognize that.*
Languages. I was studying coding, but I've moved on to the languages I hear on the ship sometimes. You can use the comms to translate things, but that doesn't help if someone's not talking over the network. Mostly, though, it gives me something to do.
*He started because he wanted to learn Anna's language, really. Hers was a complicated mix of many, however, which made learning it harder. For now he was working on studying the components one at a time. Shifting subjects made him feel a bit less depressed, and he stopped pushing against the 'its okay' feeling he kept getting. Not everything was okay, of course, but maybe enough was. It was calm for now, and while fully relaxing wasn't the best of ideas, staying constantly on edge was probably doing more harm than good. He just wasn't sure how to relax anymore. The alcohol was what he usually used for that. His friends to a lesser extent, but with the possible trouble coming up that didn't always work. He worried about them.*
[commentlog]thequeensownOctober 3 2010, 01:53:14 UTC
[Talia mentally sighs with relief as Marco finally moves away from the topic of the negative things on the ship. She knows it's hard enough to do so, but with all the prompting she's been doing, it's no small success. She feels as his emotions shift and he finally accepts the gentle prodding, a soft smile touching her lips.
His thoughts warm as he begins talking about learning other languages and she encourages it silently.]
I think it a perfectly worthwhile endeavor, truthfully. To be knowledgeable in other languages on a vessel that has so many would be a great help. I think you would find that new arrivals would be more than a little grateful for such.
[And there was that extra trace of warmth when he spoke about languages and Talia wondered whom it was he was thinking about. She could feel him relax, though, and that was the important part. She continues the gentle coaxing on the lines of 'today's okay .. one day at a time' and 'I'm helping .. maybe she's right' .. a gentle sort of mental guidance.]
What language are you becoming the most adept at?
[Hey, if she sounds genuinely interested, it's because she is. She is also intent on helping him lose interest in the alcohol for the evening.]
I guess they would be. Some people have a lot of trouble adjusting when almost no one speaks their language.
*Though he was really only learning them for personal benefit. The 'i'm helping' coaxing for that, then, fell on deaf ears...so to speak. Aside from wanting to learn Anna's language, it was pure selfishness that prompted him to not have to translate things to text or to want to understand people in the halls speaking other languages. The other line of coaxing was working a bit better. He wasn't cheering up all that much, but he was moving to a more even keel instead of being depressed.*
I'm studying German right now. I'm not very good at it yet.
*He returns to the alcohol, though, taking another swig. The habit of doing so was so ingrained by now, it may take conscious effort to stop with an open bottle just right there.*
[commentlog]thequeensownOctober 3 2010, 19:08:24 UTC
[She 'mms' softly, nodding once.]
Not everyone takes to languages as well as others, it's true. Whether we want to be grateful or not, it's a good thing the communicators translate as much as they do.
[She felt the depression ease in his mind as her own blanket of calm helped, feeling him far more receptive to those thoughts than the idea of helping. She wouldn't make him accept the thoughts, though she'd been capable of such things in her own world. She had only ever done so to a man that needed a punishment equal to his crime, locking him into a loop of emotions directly taken from the mind of his victim. Though this would be a helpful alternative to the punishment, she still did not prefer to force thoughts on anyone.]
German? I can't say I know it at all, so you are already far more versed in it than I.
[She offers him a smile at that, taking the bottle again as he finishes his swig. It doesn't burn anymore going down, and now there is a steady warmth having spread through her body. She knew why people turned to alcohol for relief, and had seen more than her fair share of it in the past; whether other Heralds or citizens of Valdemar. It was risky business, trying to halt someone from drinking, particularly when she had just gotten him calmed down enough to talk. She wasn't sure what he was like when he drank, so it was best to play it safe.
On the positive side, the bottle was on its way to being finished; by both of them. In the end, she would stay sober enough to bring him back to his room if needed. ]
It is. It makes things a lot easier for everyone...well. Everyone who can read.
Mm...I hear it on the network with some regularity, so I figured I'd try it. I'm not sure how long it will take me to get it down.
*He takes another swig from the bottle then rests his head against the railing. He was calming down, so he was starting to get sleepy again. But the idea of sleeping sent another wave of fear, and thus another wave of depression, through him. He sighed, trying to move his train of thought onto something more pleasant.*
Yeah. Nice to meet you. You're...Vanyel's friend? Or from his world?
[commentlog] I R FAILthequeensownOctober 6 2010, 17:30:07 UTC
[Talia nods as she listens to him speak, glad that he has finally begun to really relax. She feels the drowsiness moving through his mind as he leans his head against the rail and then the surprising jolt of fear/depression. She frowns ever so slightly, shifting her own thoughts to ease and brush at the fear. She soothes over it once more, pressing the thought that he is not alone right now and there is no sense fearing the unknown until it is known. She continues her calm supportive thoughts as he responds to her inquiry, nodding once with a gentle smile.]
Yes, I am .. and we are, though at different points in its history. It was .. interesting .. meeting him in person when I've only ever read of him in history texts.
[commentlog] pfft. you're finentjstapwnOctober 6 2010, 18:59:21 UTC
*Its not fearing the unknown; he knows he will have nightmares. That he'll wake up wondering if he's been dreaming the past few weeks and he's still 'sick,' or that he died and returned after all and, yes, this time his eyes have gone black. Marco really does not want to sleep, but sometimes just passing out keeps the dreams away. He sits up and takes another swig of the alcohol, calming a bit but perhaps not how she had intended.*
I bet it must be. No one from my world is here, but some of the settings--hell, this whole place, really--are similar to ones I'd find in fiction back home.
[commentlog]thequeensownOctober 7 2010, 20:59:36 UTC
[She can feel his almost physical pushing away of the drowsiness and is able to make the correlation to sleep, although she doesn't understand the connection. In truth, unless she probed deeply, she would not be able to know the connection. That would be the only way she could tap into any of the memories that have been altered or locked away.
However, unless his life was at risk she would do no such thing without permission. Not everyone took kindly to empaths or their ability to do things to the mind. In truth, very few people were at all accepting of those with such Gifts.
She nods, though, a smile quirking her lips before falling back into a neutral expression.]
What sort of a world do you come from? [Her tone is curious as she looks at him. She is not meaning to spiral him into a depression again, but is merely curious. She hopes that it's a broad enough range that he feels free to speak about anything he chooses and not cornered to speak about what he doesn't.]
She doesn't look familiar, but he's pretty sure he heard her talk to Van on the network before. Relatively new, and not very talkative. He shrugs.*
Days often seem longer because I have nothing much to do. But they blur together easier like that. When things are calm, almost every day is the same.
*He takes a swig of his rum bottle and puts it down near her, in case she wants to share.*
A job, a goal I don't know I can ever achieve...I'll miss the possibility of...hn. Of possibly getting that, but I'm not sure about the job. I don't know if I could go back to it after things here. I've changed, but I doubt I'll be sure how much without actually going back.
But I have no family to go back to, and no friends who I can't move away from. I moved around too much to have many ties.
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It was like that a good amount of the time when I was on my Circuit .. days of riding after more days of riding. Stopping long enough to relieve ourselves before continuing on .. Another village and still, the same thing.
[She pauses to look up at the starless sky, expression displeased before she shakes her head once and looks back at Marco.]
It seems much of the same here with some exceptions .. a 'rinse and repeat' pattern, if you will. [She doesn't appear judgmental in the least, seeming only curious. She takes the proffered bottle as he sets it down in between and lifts it to her mouth. She hasn't any intention of drinking herself stupid, but she can't deny that a drink is quite welcome. She takes a deep pull from the bottle, swallowing it down around the telltale alcoholic burn before setting it back down in the middle. She eases her shields back now that she is certain they are alone, allowing her to read his emotions without prying.]
And what would you leave here, if you were to return home? Friends? A position of some kind?
[Her gaze is curious, his depression so clearly at the fore of his emotions. She hadn't tried any sort of mind healing since coming to the ship, as she had found her Gifts were muted at best. However, here was someone in need and she wouldn't sit idly by if there was even a chance she could help; even if there were some risk to herself. It's what Heralds did and so she would if she could.]
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*He pauses at her question, gaze straying to the ocean instead of the sky. He'd be leaving behind friends, the only friends he's had in years--possibly more than that. Marco doesn't doubt he could adapt to being shut off from everyone again, he just doubts he'll want to.
Well, he usually doesn't doubt it. He's not sure what he'd do without Anna, anymore, and to a lesser extent Remy.
Perhaps the idea of having the luxury of making his own decisions about who to work with and what to work on. For the first time in a long time, Marco actually had his own life. Even if it was so limited here.*
Friends, yes. More freedom than I'm used to back home in some ways, but less in others.
*He sighs and takes a swig from the bottle. If it weren't for the alcohol, he'd be less depressed right now. But alcohol was like another friend here; a crutch he'd been using for quite some time. He didn't even recognize when it did more harm than good anymore.*
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Traveling between cities and towns for us meant days to weeks on horseback. I can imagine things might have been far less imposing if we could have traveled so quickly. Let alone that there would have been less saddle sores ..
[She falls silent as he seems to grow introspective, feeling the tone of his thoughts shift. She can only read emotions, not thoughts, so though she can't get specific faces or names she gets the feelings. If she were around him when he saw Anna, for example, she'd be able to make the connection that she was whom the 'warm thoughts' were about. She tilts her head slightly as he replies, nodding once. She had picked up the fact that there were those he cared for (friends) almost as soon as she'd mentioned them.]
But more freedom doesn't particularly help when it's still, in essence, a limited freedom. [Oh, she had her opinion of Redd, believe me, and his 'saving' people from their worlds.] A prison by any other name ..
[And as she was most recently held captive on her own world, she wasn't particularly fond of having it happen again. He takes a swig from the bottle and she takes it gently from his hand as he lowers it again, a deeper pull this time as the glass touches her lips. No, thinking about her own imprisonment wasn't going to help her mindset at all. She swallows, pushing the thoughts aside as she glances down at the bottle in her hand. Like a blanket, her own thoughts move toward his, not saying anything specific, but perhaps helping him realize that she knows what he means and understands it on a level many wouldn't. With that understanding and empathy is warmth .. a comforting hope that there was always something worth fighting for.]
I've a feeling that there are those here that would miss you were you to leave. [She'd seen how active he was on the comms and people did, genuinely, seem to like the man.] Though I've a feeling that the same could be said for your home world, even if you think not. No matter how much you've changed in your stay here .. it's inevitable that this place would change you. [Silence as she sets passes the bottle back to the deck between them and then her eyes are to him again.] What have you left behind that worries you so?
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Exactly. No matter how nice it is, its still a prison.
*He takes the bottle back after she's done with it and takes a swig. He hopes his friends here would miss him, but he's sure they'd get over it with time.*
I'm sure they would. At least the ones here, back home...*He sighs* Work; I've left behind work, and if time has passed back home without me, it will create a lot of trouble.
*That wasn't the entire truth, but he has no desire to fill in the rest of it. Part of it was he was afraid of what would happen if he went back. Even if no time had passed, things would be harder. When things were calm here he got lazy, and was afraid he'd gotten careless...if he returned home without fixing that, it could be the end of him.
Of course, leaving at all could be the end of him. Marco wasn't sure what to think about the worlds being destroyed story, but he was apt to believe that those who left died.*
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I'm not terribly fond of prisons of any sort, truth told. I've had my share of it and wasn't particularly looking to find a more lavish attempt at one while I was being 'saved'.
[Havens, but this man was a bit of an emotional wreck. She wasn't going to force thoughts out of him and knew the rest would come with time, if he endeavored to share with her. That he was holding back would have likely been obvious even to someone not Gifted with empathy. His thoughts turned heavy when he began speaking of his home and she was certain it was directly related to his current emotional state.]
Mmm.. [She's got the bottle again, a comfortable warmth beginning to spread through her stomach outward as she takes another drink, telling herself to sloooow doooown as she lowers it, tracing the glass with her fingers. She hadn't gotten drunk since her night drinking with Kevas, and it wasn't something she did terribly often. It wasn't so much that she didn't enjoy it, but her abilities were profusely dampened if she drank; let alone that she could lose control of her own shields.]
Perhaps if you found something to keep yourself busy, in mind and body? I know our circumstances are different than most others, but a .. hobby?
[Again she soothes her mind along his, brushing away at the tension and doubts that linger there. His mind is muddied within the alcohol and her own thoughts of calm and comfort touch his again. Alcohol not only tended to effect people poorly, but the dependence many grew on it was alarming and more harm than good.]
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*He hated that. Aside from being stuck in the first place, being unable to find the answers to the questions this place brought up was the worst part of the ship. The rest he could deal with, but being helpless and unable to do anything about it...It drove him up the wall. When things we calmer it was easier to ignore, but after what happened the other night and the fact that nothing had happened since...
He sighs and takes another drink, calming slightly at her mental touch. Sadly, (or perhaps not, as Marco would be very irate finding her 'in his head') he'd probably see it as a result of the drink. There were very few times Marco was completely sober on the ship. He spent most of the day with a low level buzz, and then increased it at night when less was going on. It was more than plain he was hiding behind the bottle.
There were things here that were good, though, and he let his mind drift towards them. Her touch was helping a bit, but not much.*
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It is .. perturbing .. to say the least. That not only the stars were gone, but the .. other things. [Being an empath certainly led to picking up strange things after the starless night began. The voices that some had heard .. She shivers, glad that she had not experienced it herself. On the other hand, she almost wished that she had experienced it.]
The lack of answers .. it is never easy to deal with such, no matter what it is you are questioning. When you add the fact that it's happening on this ship .. it can be a bit .. frustrating. It seems we often have more questions than answers here.
[Her gaze drops from the sky and moves to him again and she tilts her head slightly to one side.]
It seems an awfully big boat to offer so little .. [She muses this and then moves to something he mentioned.] What do you study?
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*He's pessimistic enough about the ship and the events on it to resist the 'things will be fine' coaxing while on the subject. Things were not 'fine' with Jennifer, and even after she was recaged trouble still remained. They should have just left well enough alone but...He still feels guilty about that. Too many things he could have done differently between finding the necklace and letting Sully stick the coin in the corkboard outside the theater. At least they were able to end it, even if it took so long. That proved that the passengers weren't entirely helpless.*
It offers so much and so little. Its frustrating.
*He sighs again and takes another swig from the bottle, then lets his mind move onto other things. It was easier than it would be without her coaxing, but he didn't fully recognize that.*
Languages. I was studying coding, but I've moved on to the languages I hear on the ship sometimes. You can use the comms to translate things, but that doesn't help if someone's not talking over the network.
Mostly, though, it gives me something to do.
*He started because he wanted to learn Anna's language, really. Hers was a complicated mix of many, however, which made learning it harder. For now he was working on studying the components one at a time.
Shifting subjects made him feel a bit less depressed, and he stopped pushing against the 'its okay' feeling he kept getting. Not everything was okay, of course, but maybe enough was. It was calm for now, and while fully relaxing wasn't the best of ideas, staying constantly on edge was probably doing more harm than good.
He just wasn't sure how to relax anymore. The alcohol was what he usually used for that. His friends to a lesser extent, but with the possible trouble coming up that didn't always work. He worried about them.*
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His thoughts warm as he begins talking about learning other languages and she encourages it silently.]
I think it a perfectly worthwhile endeavor, truthfully. To be knowledgeable in other languages on a vessel that has so many would be a great help. I think you would find that new arrivals would be more than a little grateful for such.
[And there was that extra trace of warmth when he spoke about languages and Talia wondered whom it was he was thinking about. She could feel him relax, though, and that was the important part. She continues the gentle coaxing on the lines of 'today's okay .. one day at a time' and 'I'm helping .. maybe she's right' .. a gentle sort of mental guidance.]
What language are you becoming the most adept at?
[Hey, if she sounds genuinely interested, it's because she is. She is also intent on helping him lose interest in the alcohol for the evening.]
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*Though he was really only learning them for personal benefit. The 'i'm helping' coaxing for that, then, fell on deaf ears...so to speak. Aside from wanting to learn Anna's language, it was pure selfishness that prompted him to not have to translate things to text or to want to understand people in the halls speaking other languages.
The other line of coaxing was working a bit better. He wasn't cheering up all that much, but he was moving to a more even keel instead of being depressed.*
I'm studying German right now. I'm not very good at it yet.
*He returns to the alcohol, though, taking another swig. The habit of doing so was so ingrained by now, it may take conscious effort to stop with an open bottle just right there.*
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Not everyone takes to languages as well as others, it's true. Whether we want to be grateful or not, it's a good thing the communicators translate as much as they do.
[She felt the depression ease in his mind as her own blanket of calm helped, feeling him far more receptive to those thoughts than the idea of helping. She wouldn't make him accept the thoughts, though she'd been capable of such things in her own world. She had only ever done so to a man that needed a punishment equal to his crime, locking him into a loop of emotions directly taken from the mind of his victim. Though this would be a helpful alternative to the punishment, she still did not prefer to force thoughts on anyone.]
German? I can't say I know it at all, so you are already far more versed in it than I.
[She offers him a smile at that, taking the bottle again as he finishes his swig. It doesn't burn anymore going down, and now there is a steady warmth having spread through her body. She knew why people turned to alcohol for relief, and had seen more than her fair share of it in the past; whether other Heralds or citizens of Valdemar. It was risky business, trying to halt someone from drinking, particularly when she had just gotten him calmed down enough to talk. She wasn't sure what he was like when he drank, so it was best to play it safe.
On the positive side, the bottle was on its way to being finished; by both of them. In the end, she would stay sober enough to bring him back to his room if needed. ]
I'm Talia. You're ... Marco, yes?
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Mm...I hear it on the network with some regularity, so I figured I'd try it. I'm not sure how long it will take me to get it down.
*He takes another swig from the bottle then rests his head against the railing. He was calming down, so he was starting to get sleepy again. But the idea of sleeping sent another wave of fear, and thus another wave of depression, through him. He sighed, trying to move his train of thought onto something more pleasant.*
Yeah. Nice to meet you. You're...Vanyel's friend? Or from his world?
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Yes, I am .. and we are, though at different points in its history. It was .. interesting .. meeting him in person when I've only ever read of him in history texts.
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Marco really does not want to sleep, but sometimes just passing out keeps the dreams away. He sits up and takes another swig of the alcohol, calming a bit but perhaps not how she had intended.*
I bet it must be. No one from my world is here, but some of the settings--hell, this whole place, really--are similar to ones I'd find in fiction back home.
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However, unless his life was at risk she would do no such thing without permission. Not everyone took kindly to empaths or their ability to do things to the mind. In truth, very few people were at all accepting of those with such Gifts.
She nods, though, a smile quirking her lips before falling back into a neutral expression.]
What sort of a world do you come from? [Her tone is curious as she looks at him. She is not meaning to spiral him into a depression again, but is merely curious. She hopes that it's a broad enough range that he feels free to speak about anything he chooses and not cornered to speak about what he doesn't.]
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