![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Oh, I'm so proud.
[ He shoots right back with faux sincerity, giving one last glance to the door above him. As many times as he's gone underground in some form or another, he's never been a fan of having one exit.
Light shifts from a couple corners away and Nate follows the trail, wandering into the medical room and immediately distracted by the images on the wall. He's no doctor, but it looks like CT scan stuff, just considerably more intense and detailed. Some three-dimensional, with color-coded areas. A lot of lingo he couldn't even begin to parse.
Nate hums and sets the bottle on the table next to Stephen, hands on his hips. ]
Light reading?
[ He shoots right back with faux sincerity, giving one last glance to the door above him. As many times as he's gone underground in some form or another, he's never been a fan of having one exit.
Light shifts from a couple corners away and Nate follows the trail, wandering into the medical room and immediately distracted by the images on the wall. He's no doctor, but it looks like CT scan stuff, just considerably more intense and detailed. Some three-dimensional, with color-coded areas. A lot of lingo he couldn't even begin to parse.
Nate hums and sets the bottle on the table next to Stephen, hands on his hips. ]
Light reading?
yeah, i can do that
what century is it? 6th or 7th? what area?
what century is it? 6th or 7th? what area?
i don't think any of us meant to be here.
i'm okay. had a brief trip back home before i got here, but i can't say it was a good one. shit happens.
i'm okay. had a brief trip back home before i got here, but i can't say it was a good one. shit happens.
Eh, intermediate.
[ It's a wall of beyond PhD-level neuroscientific research and he finds himself hilarious.
Stephen turns briefly away and before you know it there are two glass beakers set down on the table beside the bottle. Could he go to the kitchen? Sure. But why waste the time when company and alcohol are both right here?
He talks as he pours out a couple of measures. ]
Procrastinating.
[ Sometimes you just need to take a break from management bureaucracy to do a little theoretical study of your almost comically apt power. ]
[ It's a wall of beyond PhD-level neuroscientific research and he finds himself hilarious.
Stephen turns briefly away and before you know it there are two glass beakers set down on the table beside the bottle. Could he go to the kitchen? Sure. But why waste the time when company and alcohol are both right here?
He talks as he pours out a couple of measures. ]
Procrastinating.
[ Sometimes you just need to take a break from management bureaucracy to do a little theoretical study of your almost comically apt power. ]
It is believed to be a poem composed by Sappho, though the identity of the author is divined solely by contextual clues and the specifics of the dialect and poetic meter, that being elegiac. It was found at Oxyrhynchus several centuries ago carved into a potsherd. Its veracity has been debated for some time, but the private collector who has come into its ownership most recently only wants a new translation and does not care to authenticate its origins.
Smartass.
[ Nate quips, pulling one of the beakers toward him and examining the interior of the glass for a moment as if anticipating some sort of corrosive residue. There's none in there besides the alcohol, of which he takes a very healthy sip.
He lets the moment settle and his eyes glaze over a little at the content on the screen, none of which is of salient interest to him, hip resting on the table's edge. ]
When's the last time you got out of the city?
[ Nate quips, pulling one of the beakers toward him and examining the interior of the glass for a moment as if anticipating some sort of corrosive residue. There's none in there besides the alcohol, of which he takes a very healthy sip.
He lets the moment settle and his eyes glaze over a little at the content on the screen, none of which is of salient interest to him, hip resting on the table's edge. ]
When's the last time you got out of the city?
[ It takes an extraordinary amount of self control to not make a smartass comment about being a smartass, but there's alcohol in his beaker and it's distraction enough. In the time Nate drinks and drifts, Stephen wheels out his swivel chair and takes a seat.
The question is met with no small amount of skepticism. ]
Is this you getting ready to invite me on a minibreak? It's a little soon. We haven't even been for dinner yet.
[ Let him live, Nate? He's been busy. But to spare them both the rigmarole of maneuvering around his blatant deflection: ]
I was in New Beijing a couple of months back.
[ Or perhaps instead we'll go with deflection 2.0, "I left the city to go to another city to try to make sure as few people as possible died at the hands of the UNA." Willful ignorance is holding onto the very slim possibility that he's being asked out of idle curiosity and not as the beginnings of a point that makes itself. ]
The question is met with no small amount of skepticism. ]
Is this you getting ready to invite me on a minibreak? It's a little soon. We haven't even been for dinner yet.
[ Let him live, Nate? He's been busy. But to spare them both the rigmarole of maneuvering around his blatant deflection: ]
I was in New Beijing a couple of months back.
[ Or perhaps instead we'll go with deflection 2.0, "I left the city to go to another city to try to make sure as few people as possible died at the hands of the UNA." Willful ignorance is holding onto the very slim possibility that he's being asked out of idle curiosity and not as the beginnings of a point that makes itself. ]
Edited (needed.... more wheelies) 2020-03-09 22:35 (UTC)
[ He doesn't want to talk about it. He really, really doesn't want to talk about it. But more than that, Nate knows that shoving it all down into his chest every time it threatens to spill out is more dangerous than offering the slightest bit of information, and while Drake doesn't know him well, they have enough of a frame of reference between them that he can probably stand to share something. ]
yeah, we can catch up. you been to the red wings bar yet?
yeah, we can catch up. you been to the red wings bar yet?
[ Wow. A lot of big, fancy academic words there. ]
i can help out, just be forewarned that i'm not an actual poetic scholar or anything. i'm pretty much just self taught.
i can help out, just be forewarned that i'm not an actual poetic scholar or anything. i'm pretty much just self taught.
Those who are self taught often have a greater and more focused passion than those who are not, Mr. Drake, not to mention greater discipline. It is not a point of weakness, but one of differing and valuable perspective.
[ A very adamant defense of self-taught education from a source Nate wasn't expecting. ]
i didn't say it was a weakness, just that i'm not professionally trained. i know i'm good.
i didn't say it was a weakness, just that i'm not professionally trained. i know i'm good.
As you say.
( confidence is always refreshing in a human.)
If you are free on Sunday, I can show you my progress thus far. The file is digital, but I am working with wax tablets for ease of familiarity.
( he could probably afford paper, but he'd sooner not make such a gross expenditure until he is more certain of his security here. on the earth of his reckoning, he had made investments that ensured he had wealth such as few others could dream of. here, he must again take care. )
( confidence is always refreshing in a human.)
If you are free on Sunday, I can show you my progress thus far. The file is digital, but I am working with wax tablets for ease of familiarity.
( he could probably afford paper, but he'd sooner not make such a gross expenditure until he is more certain of his security here. on the earth of his reckoning, he had made investments that ensured he had wealth such as few others could dream of. here, he must again take care. )
Don't get ahead of yourself, you haven't even bought me flowers.
[ Nate points out with his beaker, eyebrows raised.
(He doesn't know if it was an offer, or a simple question. Things are weird, moving from one world wherein he possessed a robust friend group, to another where he has been forced to start from scratch. Even asking somebody to hang out feels presumptuous in New Amsterdam, and he hates that.)
What Stephen defers to is something with which Nate isn't all that familiar, which blessedly gives him the opportunity to sidestep the subject. ]
I'm just- feeling cramped, I guess.
[ Nate points out with his beaker, eyebrows raised.
(He doesn't know if it was an offer, or a simple question. Things are weird, moving from one world wherein he possessed a robust friend group, to another where he has been forced to start from scratch. Even asking somebody to hang out feels presumptuous in New Amsterdam, and he hates that.)
What Stephen defers to is something with which Nate isn't all that familiar, which blessedly gives him the opportunity to sidestep the subject. ]
I'm just- feeling cramped, I guess.
[ Ha. A tilt of his head, concession to the point. He'll add it to his to-do.
As for the rest - tell him about it. Though he's felt the strain of staying in one place a lot less the longer he's been here. The worst of the trapped feeling has gone, just in time for him to have all but limitless access to the world in an approximation of the way he once did.
Nate's admission still begs a question. ]
A frequent flier?
[ Is it travel, or just wide open spaces that he misses? ]
As for the rest - tell him about it. Though he's felt the strain of staying in one place a lot less the longer he's been here. The worst of the trapped feeling has gone, just in time for him to have all but limitless access to the world in an approximation of the way he once did.
Nate's admission still begs a question. ]
A frequent flier?
[ Is it travel, or just wide open spaces that he misses? ]
Something like that.
[ Less so, these days. With his work largely home-bound to New Orleans, the opportunities for getting away are few and far between, particularly when he made the conscious decision to be as legitimate as possible with business arrangements. It took Nate a long time to get out of less-than-legal acquisitions.
None of that really applies here, he supposes. ]
Used to be out of the states more often than I was in them. You?
[ Less so, these days. With his work largely home-bound to New Orleans, the opportunities for getting away are few and far between, particularly when he made the conscious decision to be as legitimate as possible with business arrangements. It took Nate a long time to get out of less-than-legal acquisitions.
None of that really applies here, he supposes. ]
Used to be out of the states more often than I was in them. You?
[ Wax tablets. Damn. Nate hadn't thought any of those might still exist in this world. ]
yeah, i can come over or meet you somewhere. where are you settling in with this stuff?
yeah, i can come over or meet you somewhere. where are you settling in with this stuff?
I have an apartment. We will need only to take care not to disturb my houseguests, Mr. Coldwater and his partner, Mr. Waugh.
( he sends nate a ping for his place. it's in one of the nicer buildings in town, and he has one of the suites with roof access. he may not be willing to spend his funds on paper, but he has spent enough of his life living in abysmal situations and would prefer not to tolerate it any longer than he has to. )
( he sends nate a ping for his place. it's in one of the nicer buildings in town, and he has one of the suites with roof access. he may not be willing to spend his funds on paper, but he has spent enough of his life living in abysmal situations and would prefer not to tolerate it any longer than he has to. )
[ Drake heads straight there, orders a cheap beer at the bar and waits at it -- he's easy for Nate to spot considering he looks almost exactly the same, minus some hair length on top. And he raises his glass when he sees Nate enter.
There's an empty barstool next to him. ]
Hey. You're a sight for kidnapped eyes.
There's an empty barstool next to him. ]
Hey. You're a sight for kidnapped eyes.
[ Nate raises his eyebrows over his drink, taking a long, pointed sip. ]
That's both vague and ominous, thank you.
That's both vague and ominous, thank you.
[ He raises that eyebrow raise a tip of his drink in Nate's direction, a chipper little smile. When your entire life is an inside joke with yourself, many things are funny. ]
Any time. [ Sip, and an immediate change of subject. ] Where will you go next?
Any time. [ Sip, and an immediate change of subject. ] Where will you go next?
[ The disparity is addressed, the challenge assessed, and the subject abruptly averted. Nate doesn't bother pointing it out because he's fairly certain they're both operating on a very high level of keeping personal things personal. ]
I dunno. Central or South America, maybe? I grew up around there.
[ Mostly. ]
I dunno. Central or South America, maybe? I grew up around there.
[ Mostly. ]
Page 4 of 49