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[littletonoidea]

"This is the audio log of Communications Officer Doug Eiffel of the-- previously of the U.S.S Hephaestus, leave a message and I'll see if I can bear to drag myself away from whatever utterly engaging task I must be doing to not notice my comms--"

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[littletonoidea]

Thirty four years of practice, darling. All the good, the bad and the ethical nitty gritty.

[He takes a deep breath, blowing out the cigarette smoke slowly.]

...I'm not... I'm not happy Hilbert died. You're allowed to hate him, I'm not gonna stop you, but. He's dead because of me. Because my plan went wrong.

[junoit]

[A pause, then, softly:] Oh, Eiffel…

[There a silence, the sound of movement, and then the audio shuts off a few moments later. His door opens immediately after, and she stops when she sees him floating.

Hera wants to be comforting, that’s her primary goal, but her expression lights up at the prospect of physically experiencing zero gravity. She comes inside, very cautiously, and tugs the door shut behind her. Then she pushes off the floor very, very carefully to try and drift over to him.

It’s still a little too fast.]

[littletonoidea]

[Eiffel's head jerks up in surprise when his door opens, and he smiles broadly at the way Hera's face shines with the realisation of zero gravity.

And then he's grabbing the ceiling with one hand and stretching the other wide so he can catch her wayward momentum with a short oof as the breath gets bumped out of him.]

Not as easy as we make it look, is it?

[Like he didn't spend most of the first month on the Hephaestus crashing into things and threatening to vomit from turbulence.]

[junoit]

[She's giggling, which feels, like so many things, weird, but not bad.] You never made it look easy.

[littletonoidea]

[And Eiffel snickers as well, using his hand gripping a ceiling beam to orient them a little, and shifts his grip to push her away a little, so she's free-floating next to him, the only tether his hand in hers.]

So. How's it feel?

[junoit]

[The look of absolute delight on her face gives that particular answer away as 'pretty good.']

I have no idea. [She feels... Well, weightless, duh, but...] It's... peaceful?

[littletonoidea]

[Eiffel just beams back at her, and with a gentle push he lets go of the ceiling so they're floating together.]

I know I used to complain a lot about it, but. I kinda like the whole no gravity thing now. Makes it feel like home, here.

[No gravity meant the Hephaestus, meant Hera, and even if the rest of why he was in space was a fucking nightmare, at least he had her.]

Kinda makes it feel like time's stopped. Like life's just coasting by and you're letting it wash over you.

[junoit]

[She closes her eyes, hanging beside him, feeling the strange nothing of weightlessness. Her tone is thoughtful.]

It’s different, though. I couldn’t… feel, the Hephaestus, couldn’t feel the way it moved in space the way you can feel things, but. It’s so much quieter.

[Hera opens her eyes, smiling again as soon as she sees Eiffel.] Maybe it’s just that I feel quieter.

[littletonoidea]

Well, you're short a few thousand microprocessors, right? It's gotta be a pretty wild adjustment.

[The smoke from his cigarette doesn't fill the air in the usual visible lines gravity enforces, but the smell lingers, adding an acrid, faintly stale tang to the air immediately around Eiffel.]

[junoit]

Yeah. I thought I would mind it more than I do. I mean, it’s strange, and the change in available sensory data is wild, but. I’m not aching all the time. That’s maybe the strangest thing.

[She reaches up to touch the ceiling, grins a little, then looks at her fingertips and raises her eyebrows.] When was the last time you dusted up here?

[littletonoidea]

[That - I'm not aching all the time - gets a pained look on Eiffel's face, sympathetic and hurt all at once.

Luckily it's gone again when she asks about dusting, and he scoffs.]

Dust goes down, Hera. It doesn't stick to the ceiling.

[junoit]

She gives him a look of amused and exaggerated patience. “Officer Eiffel, what is it that we are doing right now?”