ximilialog | open 🗡october catch all

Entry tags:

open 🗡october catch all

CHARACTERS: andy + you
LOCATION: various places on board ximilia
DATE: post braccia mission!
CONTENT: andy's day to day et all
WARNINGS: none atm, will update as needed

01 🗡 SUNLIGHT ROOM

[ andy claimed a bed in the dorms, but it doesn't mean she always uses it. she prefers napping and sleeping in the sunlight room, because even if she knows it probably isn't real, it feels real enough to trick her for a little while. it's definitely her favorite and most frequented spot on board. she's got a supply of blankets and booze tucked near her tree, which is all she really needs. ]

[ sometimes she is sleeping, sometimes she's just laying there in the grass, staring up at the sky. her labrys is always nearby, whether she's with her blanket nest near one of the trees she's claimed for herself or hanging out with her feet in the stream. sometimes she just... wanders, wishing it was bigger. ]

[ she sits by the brook, munching on a big bowl of cereal while the water swims by her feet. there's a sealed bottle of what she hopes is close enough to vodka in the grass by her shoes, and her pants are rolled up to her knees. ] It's not that cold, in case you're wondering.

[ or maybe you just... find her in her blanket burrito, dead asleep. one of the nice things about being immortal is she doesn't have to worry about anyone killing her while she's resting. she has no wounds to heal from via braccia, she's just very tired. all the time. ]

02 🗡 KITCHEN GREMLIN

[ just because andy is rather old doesn't mean she's got any sort of finesse in the kitchen. she knows how to cook, of course, but she doesn't really... care to most of the time. especially when she's had a millennium of nicky's food and nicky's cooking and he enjoys taking over there. so when she eats on ximilia, she eats more like a goblin. ]

[ it's not like there's a sun cycle, and her body is struggling a little bit to get into a set schedule when she can't follow a nature based pattern. so she ends up in the kitchen scrounging for food at all hours of the day and night, running into all sorts of people. ]

[ catch her sitting on the countertop eating pasta - but it's just the plain noodles, freshly boiled, still in the pot which she is holding one handed with an oven mitt, the other hand making use of her fork. it looks close enough to spaghetti that she deemed it acceptable and she probably made a little too much for one person, but again: she is simply eating it out of the pot. it might not be shareable. ]

[ there's very little that isn't acceptable to her for food at this point. andromache the scythian will eat anything, and they don't have what she needs to make good baklava. ]

03 🗡 TRAINING ROOM

[ andy isn't in here training. she doesn't need any training. but she is here to watch and check out what other people are capable of, to see how and where they'll all be useful the next time around. she already knows there are quite a few skilled people aboard, but she's curious about the variety. she carries no weapons on her here, not worried about needing any. plenty of people have already offered their services to the whole group, and she hasn't quite decided if she intends to be among those numbers. ]

[ still, she knows some people have seen what she can do by now, whether via the fighting rings or via the heist itself. mostly she is munching on what she thinks are some kind of potato chips with a half empty bottle of presumably wine beside, idly observing the people who come in and out like some kind of weirdo. she has to get her entertainment somehow. ]

[ but she will clap if she is particularly impressed by something! cheers. ]

04 🗡 WILDCARD

[ wild card!! hit me up to plot for something more specific if you want, on disco @ romanitas#5368 or communism! pls hit me up for some event follow up and after math stuff!! c: ]

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Teamwork makes the dreamwork. [ it's something joe had started saying some time ago, much to booker's annoyance and nicky's amusement. ]

[ it's hard to describe the story of it when most of it comes down to what she decided to do with her immortality versus why it happened in the first place. she takes another swig of her vodka before coming back to kovac's line of questioning. ]

The trigger is I get hurt and then it fixes itself. Doesn't matter the injury. It doesn't turn off. [ there's an expiration, eventually, but there's no rhyme or reason for that either. she's not sure she wants to talk about that part. ] You could shoot me in the head right now and in five seconds I could return the favor. It's been that way for a long time.

[ if it were someone else (i.e. someone he didn't actually like), he might actually considering testing out the theory. if someone else were bragging about coming back to life after a gunshot wound to the head, he'd pull out his gun right now and take them up on it.

but he's already seen it for himself anyway, remembering the way blood spilled from her neck, how lifeless she'd been when she'd fallen to the ground, eyes completely void of any sign of life. what he'd seen that day, what he'd felt in his own arms, there was no faking it. ]

What's ... a long time? [ his eyes squint a bit as he considers this, counts all the time she's used the words "old man", and realizes there's a question now of just how long she's been around if she just keeps coming back. ]

[ the way she talks about dying and returning is almost careless, and only because kovacs has seen it happen already. maybe his own longevity makes it easier too. ]

A very long time. [ sometimes she wishes she did know the exact answer. she has a general idea, but part of that comes from the knowledge in retrospect, of the way history can date events she lived through. can vaguely date the nomads culture she came from. ]

I don't know. A few thousand years.

— the fuck?

[ it's more an instinctive reflexive response than an actual question directed at her, honestly not even meaning to be vocal about it. because he knows people can live a long life, seen plenty reaching centuries old aside from him, people that were awake in that entire span of time — usually switching through sleeves to avoid the wear and tear — but it's never come to exist in the thousands, on account that it hasn't even been that long since stack technology had even been invented.

there's a lot of consideration on what several thousand years of life could mean too. he's lived hundreds and he already feels the weight of too much, of knowing he shouldn't be alive. he knows there's a whole other question on what it means to add plenty more hundreds to that.

so he focuses in on keeping it late. ]

And you were jabbing at me about being an old man, huh?

[ she can't help the flicker of amusement at his very dramatic reaction. maybe that's one thing they're all missing out on, when they keep their ages a secret. the absolute 'what the fuck' about it is so rare. ] Give or take a few decades.

[ she knows she is somewhere in the six thousand range, but she can't pinpoint it. maybe archaeology will discover some of her original things one day and radiocarbon date them. ]

You made it so easy, especially with the way you hobble around. [ his taking it lightly on the outside, even if she's positive he isn't internally, makes it easier for her to do the same and continue talking about it. she's a few millennia old, no big deal!! ]

I don't hobble. This body's gone to shit. I gotta work with what I got.

[ unlike some people whose bones and skin can just self-repair. it's an interesting change from what he knows, and even more interesting to observe in someone who doesn't wear age the way he's known pseudo rich immortals to do.

as if to punctuate how much he hates the maintenance he has to do on this body, he reaches into his coat for a carton of cigarettes, pulling one out to place between his lips. ]

Guess I'll start watching my mouth around you. Respect my elders and all that.

[ she looks pointedly at his cigarette. ] Yeah, I can tell you're really taking care of it. At least I don't look a day over 40 or something.

[ her body has been the same for centuries. she's not sure how old she was when she first died. mid thirties? forty? forty-one?? they usually put her age around there on her fake IDs. it's not like the years and the months were counted the same as they are now. ]

I know you're being a little shit, but I've heard more variety in swears than years you've been alive. [ she can and will out curse you, takeshi kovacs. ]

Gotta keep some flaws on this pretty boy body.

[ it's not like he chose this body, after all. and from what he's heard, it seems like ryker really was dumb and pretty. also an addict on more than just cigarettes, so honestly, kovacs is surprised the body's in as decent shape as it is.

even if he knows her body heals on its own, it's still impressive to see how good she's looking without the aid of sleeve switching or cloning. ]

Well, shit, now that you'll have to teach me. Been thinking about expanding my vocabulary. [ he gives a light chuckle, reaching into his bag for the lighter. ] Is it only you?

It's all right. I've seen better.

[ she's half teasing, but joe is one of the most handsome men to exist and he's one of andy's favorite people, so the bar for men is very high. ]

Gimme a language and I'll give you a new one today for free. [ even if she's not particularly fluent in something, she probably knows all the swears because those are the most fun parts. ] No. There's a handful of us, of varying ages. One of them's about as young as you.

[ and coping the worst out of all of them. ]

Edited 2021-12-04 20:15 (UTC)

What's your best Japanese?

[ probably isn't a fair one for him to bring up, considering he's fluent, but he's at least curious enough about her range.

most interesting than swears, though, is the fact that she isn't alone, that this wasn't just one random anomaly, but enough to be in a sporadic few. ]

Young as me, huh? [ guess if anyone's going to consider him young around here — ] That the one that looks better than me?

Aren't you Japanese? That feels like cheating. [ she's 99% sure takeshi is a japanese name. ] Besides, those are more useful when you're using the whole language itself, with all those politeness rules. [ a beat. ] Though I'm a fan of the classic kuso kurae.

[ eat shit, a favorite in any language. ]

No, that's Joe. He's got a couple centuries on you too and keeps in far better shape, so maybe you should work on that. [ it's... easier talking about this kind of stuff with kovacs not taking it so gravely, knowing he's about as old as booker. she will praise joe here and now but the next time she sees him make fun of his beard. that's love bitch. ]

Edited 2021-12-08 05:44 (UTC)

Definitely a classic. But sure gotta love traditional politeness. [ he knows it well for the culture, and it's the sort of thing his mother made sure to influence into him while growing up — even if the environment they'd lived in, particularly with a certain male figure in the house, didn't always allow for that to come through. ] Least the Hungarian half of me keeps me from having to abide it all the time.

[ not that he likes where the hungarian half comes from, but —

he's more intrigued about her fellow friends, especially since she's willing to share it, surprising considering how tight-lipped she'd been about it before. ]

Bet he's a lot more charming too, huh? [ he smirks a bit with a tease in a huffed chuckle. ] And you know 'em all for that long?

I'm not polite. I've offended people without even trying in Japan. [ japanese is not her favorite, but she could handle the proper cultural politeness if she really needed to. usually joe would sweep in to smooth things over. ] You speak Hungarian too?

[ it's also on her list. so many are on her list. ]

He's a poet too. What do you think? [ she thinks joe is a goober and a sappy moron sometimes, but he is objectively charming. she can't deny it. ] No. Joe hasn't even hit a thousand yet. And he's the oldest after me, though I've known them all most of their lives.

[ technically quynh is second oldest. but. andy is not going there! ]

Not as much. [ not because he doesn't know it, but because it carries a bit of extra weight for him. the language reminds him of angry nights listening to his father rant and rave about their cabin, of insults that carry much more harshness than just a matter of being impolite. ]

And I'm a plenty good poet.

[ despite appearances, he knows a thing or two about pretty words.

but it's curious that despite being the same as andy, this guy's that much younger. ] So, all that time before Joe, you thought you were the only one like you?

Do you do multi-lingual poetry? Because he still might have you beat. Very little tops Arabic prose. [ that shit is beautiful, even andy can't argue there. ]

[ it could be easy to doubt kovacs as a poet, but for some reason she just doesn't. ]

[ there's a pause, at his next question. she was being way too flippant and open and it accidentally invited more questions, ugh. ] For a long time I was the only one, but not the whole time. [ andy that's not helpful either. ] I don't recommend it. But Joe comes with Nicky and we have Booker too, so that's what matters now.

[ and soon to be nile, poor fresh-faced nile thrown into the pity party. at least joe and nicky will be warmer with her. ]

Edited 2021-12-26 20:19 (UTC)

I can definitely pull out some Japanese, but it probably can't hold against Arabic.

[ he might not speak the language, but he's heard it spoken enough to know that poetry in it is definitely going to surpass whatever he does in any language, considering he doesn't actually consider himself that much of a talent.

for a moment, he isn't even sure if she'll say more; it's a bit more of a personal ask than the kind of things they've discussed, but he listens when she carries more names in her words, suggesting that maybe she wasn't as lonely as she sometimes seems here, in times where she stands quietly by herself with a mystery in her smile.

but it doesn't account for the time that she apparently was on her own. now that feels like a territory that shouldn't be touched. ]

Sounds like a family. [ he knows the feeling. like-minded individuals connected by something solely their own. ] Nothing beats that.

Any other languages up your sleeve? [ it's been a while since she's been around someone so multilingual. ] No pun intended.

[ she's listened to joe cite both his own and other poetry in arabic often enough to definitely feel it's among the most beautiful. if she had to pick, it's that one, though she will never tell joe that either. can't let it go to his head. ]

[ there's another pause, one that stretches long enough to almost seem like andy isn't going to reply at all. she was alone longer than she's had joe and nicky, longer than she had quynh and lykon, and it's not a feeling she likes to dwell much on. ] They are. We are one.

[ and she misses them here, but it isn't even the longest they've been apart, so andy is coping fairly well on that front. ]

[ kovacs can feel the weight of those words, honest but with some degree of what likely isn't being said, recognizable by his own feelings for the envoys — familial, yes, but not without the heavy history that comes with it, things that he's not so likely to talk about freely.

so he doesn't ask further, not unless it's something she freely wants to share; he knows the limits. ]

German. [ he circles back to something simpler, languages that spell out the kind of lives they live, the places they go, the worlds they intertwine with. ] I know a few others loosely, but ... well, this guy who raised me for nearly three decades, he taught me enough that I probably know it just as well as Japanese. Bit more of an aggressive one.

[ nicky and joe are coming up on one thousand sooner rather than later, and andy still has centuries on them. she might be exhausted by the general trajectory of humanity, but she never really wants to repeat that loneliness of before quynh. ]

German's not my favorite either, but we used it a lot last century. [ what with the second world war followed immediately by the cold war. ] If you want practice with some of the others, I could probably help.

[ she knows so many. so many. doesn't even ask what they might be, just assumes she's got them. ]

Always proves useful. Got plenty of time to kill too.

[ with all this occasional downtime they have between missions, times in which he's always itching to be doing something because settling down has never really been in the cards. even training feels too empty sometimes without having an actual target he wants to take down. ]

What was your first? [ language. ]

There's only so many chips to eat between missions. [ it is both so much time and so little time between the missions. she was gone from her boys a year recently, a whole year away from her own missions, so andy isn't unused to breaks, but usually she has more room to move around. here she's just stuck on a ship. ]

[ she hums thoughtfully. ] It didn't have a name. Not like they do now. I don't think I could carry on a conversation in it anymore either. There's a lot of dead languages out there.

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