stationmaster: (03)
ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴀɴᴅᴇʀ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ, ᴍʀ ᴅᴇɢᴀʀ ([personal profile] stationmaster) wrote2022-07-21 08:08 pm

(no subject)

CHARACTERS: degar, viveca
LOCATION: the north wing (old team living quarters)
DATE: post-fox and the hare mission
CONTENT: viveca gets an upgrade
WARNINGS: cavities!!!!

[ some time after itachi leaves and the call-line slows to a halt for the night, degar sets to work. he starts all of the preparations with next to no expectation that they'll accomplish more than maybe a chat about the body tonight, but viveca seems renewed in her interest (ready, even) for something that looks a little more like who she really is: the person beyond that screen, with legs and hair and proper fingers. he has no idea how advanced this android is supposed to be, doesn't really know any more about the tech on her world beyond what she's told him, but he knows how important it is for her to feel just that much more like herself when they're so far away from e-23b. (again.)

with viv's help, and maybe after a little bit of reassurance that he knows what he's doing, he's not the same clueless idiot that stepped onto this station all those missions ago, they download her programming from the large screen-with-arms and upload it to the new android body.

and then nothing happens.

nothing happens for so long, while a small blinking light at the base of viv's neck goes from red to blue, and time stretches on and on until degar goes from pacing the room to strumming his lute, to snacking on something he must have picked up from the mess hall some time earlier, leaving crumbs all over the rough fabric of one of their old crewmates' blankets.

and then suddenly the blue light blinks green and he can hear a shifting over where viveca's body lies.
]

You know, I was this close to reciting one of my new songs just to force you awake.

[ he puts his instrument down immediately and all but dashes back to viveca's side. ]

How are you feeling?

vivecai: (59)

[personal profile] vivecai 2022-07-22 03:03 pm (UTC)(link)
[ it would have been a lie to say she had never considered it; getting an android body, using the HOLO-tech education she started at the archway and then finished on her own years later to transfer her consciousness between the station and the body.

but it had never been a priority, her time was always better spent doing something else, and the benefits of her having a body for the entire team? minimal. it was selfish, and so she never pursued it beyond an errant thought.

but her mother had wanted her to have this. the team had gone to so much trouble just to make sure the android wasn't in the wrong hands. now... it would be selfish to decline it.

the preparations take time, and so does the process itself — the android itself is programmed to receive a consciousness, but the challenge is getting the station to cooperate. but in the end, they do it. and after what feels like eons, viveca wakes up in an actual body.
]

That — [ she coughs, getting used to the artificial vocal chords ] — that wouldn't have been a bad way to wake up.

[ she moves slowly, experimentally, trying to push herself up to a half-sitting position. ]

It's... weird? I know that it's not my real body, but... [ but it feels eerily similar. ]
vivecai: (63a)

[personal profile] vivecai 2022-07-22 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)
[ there's a half-laugh breathed at that, his usual brand of humour, along with her deciding to actually look up the genre — out of morbid curiosity rather than any real desire to listen, though.

it's comforting — the way he talks to fill in the spaces between her thoughts, just like he always used to. it's something that's not changed in all this time.

with a blooming smile, she takes his hand.
]

Of course I can. Back home, androids are like humans, except — well, not alive or made of flesh and blood. But androids can feel just like humans can. I can smell everything, too... what I can't do is eat. I'd taste everything, I think, but the food itself would mess up my system.
vivecai: (51)

[personal profile] vivecai 2022-07-24 03:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Oysters and kimchi —

[ she starts, exclaims, like she can't quite believe the horror of it; but then she stops, laughs. quiets.

slowly, she moves her other hand so it rests on his, blanketing his hand.
]

Degar... thanks. For all of it. I don't think I had time to say it, back then. [ with everything that had happened, and the station suddenly their responsibility... they hadn't had the time. and since then, they both had done their best to not talk about it all — it had hurt too much. he hid himself to his magic, his jokes and songs, while she'd done her best to forget she'd ever been a human at all.

but maybe they've both done enough hiding.

she sighs, looking down.
]

I hate that you've done so much... and no one's ever going to know.
vivecai: (74a)

[personal profile] vivecai 2022-07-27 09:50 pm (UTC)(link)
I told you back then, didn't I? We're a team. We do this together, or not at all. [ the two of them — even before it had quite literally been only them left, they'd been close. watched each others' backs, stuck together no matter what happened.

and he knows just how far she'd been willing to go, to make sure he wasn't left to do this alone.

his comparison is — unique, as ever for him, but also makes a terrible amount of sense. she sighs.
]

How is it you know of all these Earth traditions, while the girl who's actually from an Earth doesn't?

[ not that birthday cakes and wishes were a thing in e-23b. she gives him a half-smile. ] ... but I know what you mean. It's better this way, isn't it?

[ it isn't like there's a chance of a repeat of what happened. sharing everything that happened would just worry the team needlessly. ]
vivecai: (15)

[personal profile] vivecai 2022-09-06 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
You should, [ she says, easily, because his songs mean a lot &mdash, not just because that's what he used to do, before all this, but also because... well. she remembers the time, not all so long ago in the grand scheme of it all, when he would barely touch his instruments.

that he's making songs again is a relief.

as long as you know, he says, and she smiles at him, finally letting go of his hand as she stands up, slowly. relearning something she should have ingrained in her.
]

I'll talk to them, [ comes the response, though she looks somewhere at the wall. ] Eventually. I... As soon as I don't feel like a stranger in what should be my body. I'll go see them, then.
vivecai: (79a)

[personal profile] vivecai 2022-09-28 03:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[ she nods and smiles at him in thanks; even that little action is exciting, to be able to convey thoughts not in words but in small gestures like this. ]

I've missed hiding out here. [ she takes a moment to look at it all, the little mementos they still have left of everyone. she has missed this; the feeling of standing here, a tangible part of the team once more. the knowledge she can stand by degar's side when there is need. i've missed hiding out here with you, she doesn't say, because she doesn't need to.

she looks back at him, raises her brow.
]

I may not need to eat, but you do. I'll make you something. Will you come with me?

[ she's lain in bed for long enough. ]
vivecai: (75a)

[personal profile] vivecai 2022-11-14 07:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Would I lie?

[ it doesn't require an answer; he knows she doesn't. it's a personal vow she keeps to as much as she can, and doesn't break unless it's crucial. she's only lied to him once throughout the time they've known each other —

with a nod, she turns around, starts to walk out of the room. though she stops, as they make it to the door, turns towards him again, looks up at him; there's a strange comfort in once more having the same difference between them, her head tilted upwards to meet his eyes.

it's within one blink and the next that she takes a step closer to throw her arms around his neck, hug him as tight as she can, and then step away again swiftly.
]

I read about a one-pan meatball pasta recipe, it should be fairly quick. It sounded good — I think it was invented by a famous chef or something...

[ her tone is conversational as she walks through the door, not looking back at him even once. ]
vivecai: (46)

[personal profile] vivecai 2022-12-08 03:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[ it's all the better for him, then, the way she faces forward with what can almost be called deliberate determination.

her answer comes, just as casual,
] No, Jamie something, I think —

[ and then what he said seems to catch up with her, and she stops, turns to him; once more, there's laughter in her tone as she exclaims, ]

No! How — how do you come up with these things? I can't believe you don't remember half the stories or abilities of our crew here, but then you've read about a brand of canned pasta... [ but instead of it being a reproach, her eyes are strangely bright as she looks at him, stifling her giggles pressing her fingers against her mouth.

(she remembers it, still — half a year into being in the team, serious and focused as she had been, then; she'd had little cause to laugh or joke, even before all that, back home. even her smiles had been rare. and then degar, with just one off-hand remark, had made her burst into full, embarrassing giggles.

she'd never been more astonished than realising she'd forgotten how to laugh.)
]