littletonoidea | IC Inbox

Kujen doesn't announce himself immediately. Eiffel might find himself a little less coordinated than usual, but Kujen's muscle memory is less obtrustive than Jedao's, and his anchoring is more subtle. There are signs: Eiffel's, shadow, now, is the swarm of the the Kaleidoscope Moth. And his internal monologue - if he manages to make any of it internal - will sound in his head in a different voice, Kujen's voice.

Until Eiffel notices, though, Kujen will watch and see what he does first.

Oh, to pick the one person who predominantly externalises his internal monologue.

He rolls over to grab his communicator first, checking the time. "Well, probably a little too early to go say hi," he mumbles. "Maybe there's someone crazy bastard in the kitchens already for breakfast."

Honestly, most of his internal monologue is actually music. It doesn't necessarily line up with the words he's singing, as he goes through the motions of a shower, of trimming his beard back down to manageable stubble, but there's a lot instrumentals he's flicking through completely randomly. At the very least, there's no indication whatsoever he's aware of Kujen; even his stumbling co-ordination is easily attributed to the early hour, not a fucking space ghost.

Soon enough, posts start coming through on the communicator: Glenn for Rosita, Octavia for Stolas. Some kind of exotic effect? People summoned by connection. And Jedao is here - and the man he'd woken up with had known Kujen's name, and cared more for destroying him than trying to use him. Jedao has certainly been busy.

Um, hello? He sounds shy, even sweet. A little lost, maybe.

He makes a face at the communicator, actually. This isn't the first time he's seen random people arriving on the ship. "God, is it time for a flood already?"

Eiffel goes to put his communicator away - and then he hears the voice, in his head. And his immediate instinct is to look around for the cause of it. "Uhhh..." His mouth opens, presses shut briefly, and he swallows uncertainly. "Okay, I know I've heard voices in my head before but you're a new one."

I'm Kel Esfarel. A safe name to use; he's sure the revenant Jedao doesn't remember it. I'm kind of a ghost? I don't know how I got here.

Kujen will definitely feel how 'Kel' makes Eiffel's stomach do a complicated but sinking twist.

A flicker of memory passes through his mind, automatic recall, of watching Kujen through Jedao's eyes for the first time - Kel uniform, Kel soldiers, Kel upstarts.

"Ohhh, uhh..." He sucks in air through his teeth, awkward and apologetic. "It, uh. It sounds like you might be here 'cos, uh. Someone you might know was here first, and you've kinda... tapped out with him instead?"

Everyone I know is back on the Revenant. Or...I thought they were.

Jedao's ship, although Eiffel probably doesn't know the name.

What is this place?

"Well-" He swings his arms out in a broad gesture. "Welcome to the Barge. Jail redemption cruise ship in a galaxy beyond space and time, giving all the good boys and girls their wildest dreams and and the naughty kids a second chance to be a good person."

He slips his hands into his jean pockets, pulling out a packet of cigarettes. "You're replacing one of the guys that're kinda-sorta-not-really in charge? He's a warden, like me."

Who? How do you know?

Laying it on a little thick, perhaps. But it's not like he wasn't clueless and disoriented the first time around.

"Because he's the only guy I know who calls people Kel?" he comments, slightly apologetically. "Sorry, his name's Jedao. Only I think he's got a pretty bad rep for it back home, so, uh. I dunno how happy he'll be to see a lot of people from his world? Or to know they swung by."

...you really know the General? Kujen asks, a little nervous, a little starstruck.

He's...I know he was bad before. But when an assassin was after him, he carried his aide to Medical on his back and sounded the alarm, he saved the whole ship!

A deeply mangled retelling of Cheris's assassination attempt. And Jedao had dragged Dhanneth through the halls like a small dog with a giant branch, which had been very funny on the surveillance. And he certainly hadn't saved the ship from Cheris, who had already escaped, at that point. Still, it's an excuse to have the fake visitor like Jedao, and since the anchor also likes Jedao, it'll probably make him more amenable to suggestions.

Eiffel hasn't heard that story before. But something about it pings as so surreally untrue that he actually stops mid-step to frown about it.

Not that he doubts Jedao would have done all of that, if he'd been able to. If the situation had allowed for it. But Jedao had this way of explaining things where even if he did a good thing, the entire situation never sounded like it improved for it. So, saving his friend? Sure. Sounding the alarm? Literally the most basic requirement. Saving everyone...

"Yeah, I mean. He doesn't like being called the general, he's a pretty chill guy once you get to know him. Really big on knit sweaters - wait, do you guys even have wool in the Hexatron?"

You mean...like, from real animals?

Once a farmboy, always a farmboy, apparently. Jedao and his geese and his sheep. Kujen is pretty sure he wouldn't understand the appeal even if he did still have a heart.

"Yeah, exactly. We've got a couple of 'em on deck, some goats and crap. Nothing that actually makes wool but there's probably someone upstairs who can actually tell you more about what they're actually good for? I am not a farm boy, my interest in 'em starts and ends at the dinner table."

It's some good quality rambling, filled with lots of interesting nothingness, which gives him time to use his hands to pull his communicator out instead, typing with both hands to write up a quick message to Hakkai.

hey ive got someone who knows ur man riding shotgun in my head atm 1 to 10 what panic station i should be at

Damn. Apparently he overshot it. Oh well.

Eiffel's hands delete the message before it can be sent.

No, you won't be doing that.

The starstruck saccharine edge is gone. Kujen doesn't sound angry, now, just bored.

What hey no he didn't do that--

The panic slams in like a jackhammer at the sudden realisation he has no idea what anyone from Jedao's world is capable of except for the part where involuntary mind surgery is very very real.

"Gloves are off, huh?" His voice is surprisingly steady, even to himself. "Sounds like you don't want Hakkai finding out. Didn't do so hot in round one?"

I can control your body without having to feel its pain Kujen informs him mildly. He doesn't actually force Eiffel to stop talking, though. It's useful, for instance, to know the name of the man Jedao lives with.

Well that sucks. So Eiffel just laughs, a bit pitch from fear but a genuine attempt at scorn.

"Yeah, so what? You think I haven't? What the hell do you think you can do to try and kill me that won't just make me stronger? Jedao isn't even here for you to screw with, you half-rate earworm!"

I could kill you very easily, in fact.

He's never actually had an anchor who was anything other than human, and he isn't connected to the body enough to realize it. He also doesn't know about the toll; he left to find new hands before it happened to Mahar.

Jedao's unfortunate choices aside, I do actually have other priorities. Tell me more about this place.

He starts moving around Eiffel's cabin - comfortable in the low gravity - gathering bits of mechanical flotsam.

The sensation of his body moving outside of his control is more than a bit distressing, and he's trying to fight it as hard as he fucking can.

"Yeah? Two thirteen-year-olds nearly beat you to it, jackass." His teeth are gritted with what is mostly psychosomatic effort. "And then you have to find another body, right? I guarantee you've found the easiest target right now."

"Have I?" He says out loud, in Eiffel's voice, although his tone is remote, bored. His hands flip through Eiffel's communicator. He reads messages from Jedao and Hakkai, as well as explanations from good samaritans to other visitors, and then new arrivals before them, scrolling through it all at a pace that suggests prodigious but not strictly superhuman speed-reading.

"How convenient."

H-HEY-?!

Well that's a new phobia unlocked, apparently. Or perhaps an old one reinforced - either way Kujen gets to feel his new body gag as Eiffel tries to scream through the control forced on him.

Alright, this stopped being funny like, ten minutes ago! Who the hell are you?!

Oh, can't you guess? Is it that Jedao doesn't confide in you, or that you don't listen?

There's only one ghost in his life, after all.

It takes almost a minute of scrolling back to find the Admiral's announcement of Jedao's pairing with Shen Wei. Kujen files that away.

Perhaps he'd just been hoping for the possibility of it being literally anyone else.

Because the conclusion he comes to makes his blood run cold.

Kujen...?

Eiffel is not a man of particularly defensive mental faculties. He's only human, after all. But now he's throwing every bit of effort he can find into shoving against the parts of himself he can feel out of his control, trying to claim something back.

Don't you even think about touching a hair on Shen Wei's goddamn head or I swear-!!

Kujen has a thousand years of experience. And he has constructed the math to favor him. When he chooses to exert it, control over the body is his. He pockets the communicator and begins rifling around the room.

If you prove useful, I won't need to bother anyone else.

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