Jan 05 21:15:10 106 PA

From Chronicles

The current game time is: Tue Jan 05 21:15:10 106 PA.

      Well, the room is as sparse as it ever was. The lack of decoration makes the walls bare, and the light reflecting from the oddly-glowing TW lamps causing a steady stream of light make the room seem almost monochromatic. There is little noise, and its so quiet, you can hear the hum of the various machines at work in the room. Renos, only a tiny bit tired, is behind his workdesk, looking at a full scale drawing. His armor, weapons, and other gadgets are hanging up on hooks.

Outside his door, someone has been pacing for a few minutes, nervously, before pausing outside it. She stares at the door for a few moments before lifting a hand and knocking, possibly louder out of nerves. She steps back, shoving hands into her coat pockets, jiggling the coins in her pocket nervously, her foot tapping.

There is a bit of a pause as the pencil is held lightly against the paper. He stares at the door a few minutes, noting the odd occasion where someone is actully coming to visit him, savoring the unexpected unknown quality of it, before saying, a bit loudly. "Come in!"

Hesitation before the door opens cautiously. "Renos?" Caliopa's voice, and her head poking in through the gap. "Uh, I figure I owed you an apology." Speaking even as she brings the rest of herself through the doorway, closing it behind her. "It was right rude to walk off when you came after me, 'n' you were right, sittin' in there was right stupid." One breath, all of that, and she stops abruptly, cheeks red.

"Not only for the reasons you think either." He says, a little tired in the eyes, but seemingly more alive than he has been in months. "Come in, have a sit, help yourself to whatever you want." He then looks around at the bare room, with parts and pieces all over the place, but with little notes on them, saying what they should do.

She glances around the room, noting the things and parts with approval showing briefly in her face at the ordered disorder. She sits, but on the floor, leaving them undisturbed, untouched. "Gettin' back ain't normally a problem for me, I ain't never got lost." She speaks quietly, crossing her legs and resting elbows on her knees.

"I doubt you ever wanted to be so badly lost. You know the dangers of disorientation inside a machine as well as I. But thats not what Iw as talking about." He then stops and looks at her directly. "Guilt, sadness, despiar, they are as much monsters as demons are, and will eat you up form the inside if you let them. They focus you on yourself, and you stop caring about those that care for you."

Caliopa hadn't even let her mind wander in that direction, hadn't thought of the effect of her guilt on those around her, or on herself. She listens, her face falling slightly, and she looks down at her hands. "I guess. I kinda went, talked to Zaphod, told him the botherin' on my head." She lifts a hand, absently nipping at a fingernail. "Was that what happened to you?" Blurted out, thoughtlessly.

"Yes, more or less." He says quietly, toying with his pencil. "I stopped caring because I thought no one really did care. Even now, I am not really too sure. BUt it hurt too much to care." He says quietly, speaking softly. "A few days ago, we did something, well, rather stupid just thinking about it. It ws the right thing to do, but it still was stupid. And it made me sort of realize that I could be worse off."

"I guess..." She starts a thought, and stops abruptly, lifting her chin to speak. "See, if I didn't care over your opinion, I'd not come and apologise, 'n' if you didn't care, you'd not come after me into that machine." She stops biting her nail, putting her hand back into her lap. "I guess, when I thought Eliza dyin' was my fault, because I'm distractin' like Sebastien said, I couldn't see myself how to get past it, 'n' get to ..." She waves a hand, indicating a pllace.

"There is no such thing as a distraction, unless you were trying to be. You weren't useful then. But then, you can't be as useful as you'd like to be all the time." He then nods softly. "You are right, I did care. I was lying to myself, and hurting othres that cared about me until they didn't want to be around me."

She nods slowly, giving him a considering look, her eyes narrowing. Then she blurts out words, suddenly, "Renos, do you reckon I'm distractin' because of being beautiful?" Her cheeks turn a brilliant shade of red, her eyes skittering anywhere but him, utterly mortified by the question she asked.

There is a bit of a considering look to her as he then looks at his own hand. "I don't think so." He says quietly. "Surely, you are, but thats not it." He then seems to ponder it. "Most professions have their own jargon, way of talking, code of conduct, unwritten rules, and so forth. I think he meant more that you were not trained as a warrior, and hence, didn't know how to properly protect yourself."

"Zaphod... Carl said it weren't. He said it was that Sebastien ain't able to keep his mind on the job, 'n' off my..." She hesitates, blushing more deeply over the word he used, stopping abruptly. "Uh, me. Body." She stumbles over the words, furiously red.

"Well, Zaphod surely has his own preference. Sebestian certainly has his bad quialities. I thought for a while that he was a crazy. Now...I don't know what he is." He then frowns, as if pondering something. "Anyway...you'd have had to ask a psionic to know whats going on in someone's head." He then rises and walks over to the couch to sit. "But i don't think Sebestian is like that."

She looks up, following him with her eyes, her forehead wrinkling. "You know what? I ain't spent much time with folks before Kat 'n' me met, mostly machines. I ain't great with folks, 'n' I don't understand them neither. 'n' then when I begin to reckon I might, they behave without any sense, 'n' logic. Reckon I'd best stick with machines. They don't care over things like looks, 'n' clothin' n' all." She shakes her head.

"You and me both, cali. You and me both." He then smiles a little. "We are both tech people at heart. And trust machiens much mroe than people. They are just too random for their own good." He then pauses. "Can I get you something?"

She hesitates before shaking her head slowly, giving him a small smile. "I jus' came by to be apologisin'. Best be gettin' back, Atti gets his knickers in a twist." She scrambles to her feet, shrugging her jacket back into place. "Ta for the talk, Renos."

"Its all right cali, I think that I understand." There is a brief look of...something that passes from his face. "You should treasure the monents you have. You will never be sure when they won't be your last."

She gives him a look of, if not empathy, understanding. "Yes." She hesitates before nodding again, turning back to the door.

Tags: caliopa, renos