[text/video] un: @skull

[ryuji]

[A few days after gravity is restored to the station, Ryuji returns to the mess hall from Haru's garden to find a small robot flipped upside down, panicking through a series of morse beeps and boops, which- okay, that's kind of cool, and quickly figures out that the paneling and suction entrances of the little guy means it's probably meant for filtration and cleaning.

Looks pretty study, looks... waterproof, maybe? He lends a hand to get him right side up and it starts slowly moving forward. Ryuji takes out his communicator and immediately films this as it happens, because, why not?

He posts two videos on the network- the roomba moving down the hall and one, a few hours later in the fitness center as it crawls from the edge, and dives right in.]

Oh shit! Are you supposed to do that?

Whoa, whoa- I don't know how to fix you if you--- WHOA, COOL.




Hey, sup?

Just lettin you guys know the pool looks crystal clear now. All thanks to this little dude.

I figure I should give 'em a name but uh

Everything that comes to mind is kinda lame

Anyway, I think it's good? Anyone wanna give it the first try?

[Complete with file0033.png - a picture of crystal clear water.]

Comments

[ryuji]

I mean, it also makes you wonder where the hell it's been for the past month, but I'm not gonna start doubtin' how awesome it is just because it's a little late to the party.

[donkeyballs]

There's been a lot of weird shit suddenly showin' up. Bobbie just had her armour appear in her room out of nowhere.

[ryuji]

It just... popped out of nowhere, huh?

I found ramen and energy drinks stickin' outta my toilet.

But that's all stuff from home, I guess it kinda makes sense?

I definitely didn't have Simba back in Tokyo.

[donkeyballs]

Yeah. Came back to her room and it was just laid out on her bed.

I had somethin' turn up in my underwear drawer.


... Simba?

[ Did you name it, kid? ]

[ryuji]

Man, I wish I were lucky enough to have my shit reappear in a place that's nearly as convenient as my bed. But no, I had to go and piss off the toilet space ghosts.

Which is BULLSHIT.

Whatcha find in your undie drawer?

Wait, nevermind.

I don't wanna know.

And yeah, I think I'm gonna settle on naming it Simba. Do you think I'm lion?

[STOP.]

[donkeyballs]

Yeah, I don't want to find anything in a toilet, I'll admit.

It was just a photograph, kid.

[ There's a pause.




A long pause.

Finally: ]

Uh? No?

[He's 300 years too young for that joke, friend.]

[ryuji]

Somethin' back home, huh? If it fits the pattern. Hopefully it was something worth having there to begin with.

[Seems kind of funny now, how much he would do to get a picture of something like him and his mom, something normal in the face of all this messed up chaos.]

I'm guessin' the Lion King wasn't something in your world, huh

Oh well, Hakuna Matata, my dude.

[donkeyballs]

... It is. Yeah. Was pretty disturbed, when it wasn't on me to begin with. Not sure if findin' it a month in is better or worse.

Uh - no. Hell, I ain't ever even seen a lion, save in pictures.

[ryuji]

If that's the case... you think the station's inner... uh aliveness.. is feeding offa our emotions or some shit like that?

Whooaaaa really? Well... I mean I haven't either unless it was that one time we took a field trip to the zoo back in like... 5th grade

[donkeyballs]

[ Christ. Do not give him nightmare fuel, kid. ]

You think the station is literally alive and feeding on us? That's a new one.

Yeah, ain't exactly a place for lions on Mars.

[ryuji]

[It's just a theory. More and more shit was showing up from home, at almost the exact moment that he wouldn't want it to. There's no way there wasn't some sort of weird design behind this.






But everything else doesn't matter because---]

Holy shit wait you're a martian?

[donkeyballs]

Uh, yeah.

It ain't exactly all that special, back home - there's millions of us. But judgin' by that reaction I'm gonna go ahead and assume like everyone else on this station you come from a version of Earth where Mars ain't ever been colonized, right?

[ryuji]

Only in like.. sci-fi movies and stuff.

What's it like?

Sorry you've probably got asked this question a million times and are bored as hell of it

[donkeyballs]

[ He sighs to himself. He would give a hell of a lot for someone to know about Mars. But that said: ]

I ain't ever gonna get tired of talkin' about it, don't you worry.

It's a big red ball o' dust. We've been workin' on terraformin' projects for over a hundred years, now, but things with Earth have been so tense in that time that most of the budget goes to the military. So Mars won't see a breathable atmosphere until after I'm well dead.

We live in domes, for the most part. Got trees and grass and all that, and some pretty decently sized parks, but no open sky.

[ryuji]

[There were a few movies that he's seen that play with the same idea, though. That's pretty cool, Ryuji has to admit. Mars, huh? It's really been colonized.]

Tense with Earth? So like... the two planets don't get along or something in your home?

[donkeyballs]

You can say that.

[ There's a longer pause as he considers leaving it there, but: ]

Earth didn't take it too kindly when Mars declared independence. We've been in a cold war for over a hundred years.

Or we were, anyway.

The real war broke out just before I got here.

But before you ask, I ain't got any grudge with anyone from Earth. The war ain't even one that should be being fought, right now. I ain't have any interest in bringing old fights here.

[ryuji]

Huh? I didn't assume that even as you said it. Even if shit was all sorts of out of whack back where you're from... we oughta be working together here anyway.

Sucks about the state of stuff there though

At least the wars we're fightin' here are pretty much just internal ones at the moment

[donkeyballs]

Sorry. Force of habit. People sometime get a little jumpy.

You're absolutely right. We're all in this together and we need to work together to get outta here.

And I sure as hell hope there ain't gonna be any wars, internal or not.

Why, is there somethin' you're worried about?

[ryuji]

Hey old man, you're startin' to get all soft and sappy on me.

[It's a fond kind of tease, though, and without any sort of bite behind it. Internally, of course he agrees, but he's not about to vocalize that right away when it's easier to mess with someone instead of fessing up to his feelings.]

Just go on 'n grab a flower right outta Haru's garden and shove a daisy in a shotgun why dontcha

Nah, I'm not worried. The station can keep throwing shit at us, but we're all resilient as hell people, right? The problems I'm talkin' about are just... dumb teenager stuff.

And just so you don't ask for more freshly planted deets on that, it's just workin' through baggage that came with me from home. I'm sure everyone's got that, right? So having a break from being back to where we came from ain't all that if it's givin' us time to work through stuff.