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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--"

BZZZZZZZ

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[voice, while going through Blackalley]

[reformedsinner]

We might want to pause any self-defense classes until the lights come back on.

[with the impound messages starting to fade, he's actually feeling better about that prospect! More or less.]

[littletonoidea]

What, you don't think I could learn to be a secret shadow ninja like you guys?

[It's nice, admittedly, having Gonou just be normal with him after everything.]

You don't know me, maybe I could kick ass!

[reformedsinner]

[There has been a lot... but Gonou doesn't think it's meaningfully Eiffel's fault that they're currently pulling desperate last-minute escape maneuvers. He just made a mistake with more serious consequences than most.]

Think of your poor nose. It's only just healing.

... Anyway, I don't have very good night vision, either. [Someday, possibly, he will admit that he should be wearing glasses: that day is not today, because there continue to be more serious problems to worry about.] Xie Lian might be a shadow warrior if he wanted to.

[littletonoidea]

Oh yeah, no, if Xie Lian wants to go ghost he's taking the freakin' gold. Or, y'know, the white. Does he ever were anything else?

...God, there's like- so many people who could qualify for the title of Spookiest Barge Ninja, it's insane.

[reformedsinner]

Dyed cloth is more expensive, so if you're dressing in that many layers...

[Gonou huffs, amused.]

... What is a ninja, anyway?

[He's assuming from context it's some kind of warrior, but it's failed to come up via movie nights.]

[littletonoidea]

...okay next movie night I'm gonna see if the library has any series of American Ninja Warrior we can borrow. If the power holds out.

Okay so it's like, a bad-ass Japanese assassin? They're like an actual real thing but they're way cooler in pop culture because they can teleport and hide in shadows and kill people without leaving a trace, crap like that. They're like- the ultimate power-houses.

[reformedsinner]

Teleportation would be a hard ability to defend against....

[--hiding in shadows and killing people without leaving a trace are both just a matter of skill.]

Ha ha, after the power is reliable again, perhaps we can watch some of that.

[He's imagining some kind of martial arts fantasia story. More gently:]

-- I don't like to speak too soon, but things look as though they're improving a little!

[littletonoidea]

I mean, fingers crossed, right? Doesn't seem like the engine's straining as hard now, you can barely hear the tree trying to shatter in that common room. She looked pretty bad that first day.

[reformedsinner]

I could hear it from the--

[Stairwell, but. Wait.]

... weren't you banned from the engine room?

[littletonoidea]

Ah- well-- aheh, so the, uh, y'know, the thing is--

[Yes.]

--the Admiral only took my key away, but! Since Jedao was gonna have a look anyway- becauseItoldhimtherewassomethingwrong-- I- figured I should give him a hand. The guy was hungover, who knows if he might have missed something important!

[reformedsinner]

[The mention of the hangover does successfully distract him -- he'd woken up the next morning with a splitting headache himself, but some water had handled it perfectly well--]

-- that was the day after the party, wasn't it?

[Ahem.]

Ah, well, if he's all right with it--!

[littletonoidea]

Oh he was alright with something, for sure.

[It's a dry, amused mutter, mostly to himself.]

Well- unless there was another time he went drinking with his buddies and got so sauced that he got his first ever hangover.

[reformedsinner]

[Gonou is going to interpret that as: he seemed pleased with himself.

-- And, in fact, that brightens his own mood considerably.]

Not so far as I know. It was a nice party...

Ah -- you said the engine is sounding much better now?

[littletonoidea]

Ehh. [You can practically hear the hand wobble that goes with the sound.] Better is relative. Just based on sound quality alone I'd say we've gone from "women and children first" to just "hit the deck".

[reformedsinner]

Good! Because I haven't heard anything encouraging about the last time everyone had to use the lifeboats.

I, ah. Is there anything a person can do who's never been close to a spaceship engine before?

[This situation is making him very anxious. He would like to help....]

[littletonoidea]

Put your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye? Phone home and tell your wife you love her one last time before you go?

[They're obviously rhetorical, but not spitefully so. His tone is actually sympathetic.]

Engines are hard, man. I didn't know what I was playing with half the time, and I honestly don't know how much better J-dog is when half the space is like someone stripped Diagon Alley for parts. We're way out of our element.

[reformedsinner]

[Gonou's laugh is arid. Phone home and--]

Ah, that's a shame. I was hoping you'd say, 'Yes, we're coddling enormous numbers of metal frogs, another pair of hands would be perfect--'

[The Barge is just weird enough that there's a possibility what she needs isn't technical assistance.]

There aren't any kinds of manuals?

[littletonoidea]

If there were, who knows if they'd even be in English. Or at least the dummy's version of English, I'm not good with all that technical crap.

[He absorbs it, sure, but he doesn't use it himself. Too complicated.]

Look, if we find anything where we need a super cool assassin-man to give us a hand? You're first on my list. Or, hey, if you wanna give us a hand with the engine, I can run you through Space Repairs for Dummies. I've named all the pieces at this point.

[reformedsinner]

[Gonou clears his throat.]

... Jacobi's teaching me basic computer programming and Shen Wei has been catching me up with modern physics and mathematics?

[He has skills that aren't murder. He does, damn it.]

But I, ah, don't really know anything about mechanical repairs.

I wouldn't mind learning.

... especially since I think we've made all of the travel food we can possibly carry, by now.

[littletonoidea]

Yeah, that sounds about right. I can grab a toolkit from the maintenance closet, we can dismantle some stuff in my room? It's basically the mess hall from the Hephaestus, so there's plenty of modern-age techno bullshit for us to screw around with without hurting anyone else.

[reformedsinner]

[Immediately] Yes -- please. If you don't mind?