This isn't exactly an ideal way for temporary pairings to meet, but seeing as you've had a rude welcome to the Barge and the next few days will be unpleasant, there's no time like the present to make introductions. Shall I come see you or do you prefer no visitors?
Chase walks the poor possibly-undead guy out of the dining hall once he gets Ellie all settled with her actual temporary warden. "So. Sorry you had to get almost stabbed by my previous kindof-inmate like that."
R is, probably understandably, not really thrilled with the entire thing. He stays quiet as he follows beside Chase and glances at him when he speaks, shrugging a little in response.
"I mean, if you want to be technical about it, keeping my inmate from attacking other inmates is kind of part of my job," Chase counters, but it's casually. He's not blaming himself too badly, here. "I'm probably more sorry that you're stuck with me for the rest of the week."
There's just another small shrug to that. R doesn't think it was Chase's fault that Ellie flipped out, but he sure doesn't have the speech ability to start debating with him about it.
"Mmh." The fact R isn't much of a talker due to obvious speech impediments has probably made itself clear by now. "That's okay."
And Chase is going to keep nudging him to talk, too. Sorry, dude. "What's your cabin like?" he asks. "Mine's basically a bedroom with attached bathroom. We're going to have to keep to one or the other until this flood's over." He has no idea what a thinking-type zombie's cabin would look like. Does he sleep?
Chase can, unfortunately, be a bit likely to stick with his own thoughts until he's corrected. At least he's not judging R's character for it? There are vampires and werewolves and witches, he can be friendly with other forms of undead, no problem. Or as friendly as he ever gets.
"Do you need to get anything from yours? We should swing by at least." And he can see if the place is horrible and offer to fix it, if it is.
It doesn't look like he's intending to head in that direction either, with that stated. The cabin is... fine. Fit enough for purpose. R really doesn't need all that much.
"Eating it is, then." He's gonna see that cabin eventually, buddy.
Still, food. Which means... stopping. Because they had just left the dining hall. He doesn't have any food squirreled away in his own cabin right now, so that's the only real place to go. "So can I ask what exactly... happened to you? To make Ellie think you're going to start biting people." He pauses, as he's turning back, and adds, "You can say no, if you want. You don't owe me anything."
There is a very good chance he will not, in fact, see the cabin... though mostly because R doesn't really have any feelings about it.
The question, such as it is, is a fair one and is answered with a small shrug.
"I was... Dead, f-for a while." He's still not sure exactly how long. About ten years, by what he's been able to work out. "Some people... they can s-see it." A sigh. "I'm not Dead now."
"That's awesome. Not being dead is great." He still looks kind of dead, so it's not really "some people", but maybe that kind of thing lingers. He opens the door to the dining hall, which has thankfully cleared out some now in the wake of the Admiral's announcement. "I'll make sure Ellie knows to leave you alone," he adds, holding the door for R. "I'm guessing she's got people who are dead in her world who're dangerous."
Only a little dead! More like 'death warmed over' than an actual walking corpse, though people more sensitive to the possibilities of the walking dead might not really note the difference.
"'S fine." Another shrug. He does do a lot of that. "I'm not... angry at her."
Technically, Chase's magic leans as much into necromancy as it does into telekinetics, maybe that's why it seems so obvious to him.
"Then you're a way better person than me, because I'd be angry," Chase comments. "Sitting there doing nothing and random kid lunges at me with a knife? Then you got thrown into the air by some weirdo? I'd be pissed off."
He isn't ignorant of the fact that said weirdo is currently talking with him and he's going to be stuck with the guy for the next few days. That could be interesting, for sure...
"Already h-happened. So... why be angry." Shrug. "S-she was scared."
"Like I said, better person than me. And I've been scared before and didn't immediately launch into stabbing a guy." Of course, that was a long time ago. Maybe he'd be different now. If he was scared of anything.
He turns to the counter and the food options. "So what are you thinking? I already had lunch, while I was waiting for the announcement, but I can definitely have dessert."
Generally speaking, R is not fussy about food. It's not because he doesn't need it - he does, as much as any living person does - but because he can't really taste it all that much and so it's really only a matter of eating because it's necessary to do so.
He casts his eyes over what's available and just picks up a plain sandwich.
He wasn't honestly expecting any brain requirements. R seemed pretty adamant about not hurting people. He considers the sandwich without much judgement, but he does grab a pair of cupcakes from one of Steve Rogers' many baking blitzes. One for each of them. "And dessert," he says, satisfied. "Let's find somewhere to sit. Maybe you can tell me a little about yourself, besides the formerly-dead part."
As much as there's not really much to tell, given his complete lack of memory about much of anything before he met Julie. He... supposes he could talk about her. Chase seems like the sort of person who would love to hear about a girl back home.
Once they're seated, he doesn't immediately start to eat.
"I don't know. What you like to do, where you're from, how long you've been here, that sort of thing. Or I guess you could tell me how you went from formerly-dead to what you are now," he muses. Chase would definitely like to know that sort of thing, but he doubts it would really help with his dead parent problem. He's just curious.
He takes a breath. Okay. Though, he can't really say if anything he's got to tell Chase will be enough to satisfy him.
"Haven't been here long." If he's quiet, if he concentrates, the words are easier. He looks at the table.
"The enclave is in... South Cascadia." Washington, or thereabouts. State lines don't really matter that much anymore. But the rest of it... He frowns a little bit.
"We don't know why the... the cure happened. It just... did."
Chase has no idea where South Cascadia is. Is it related to the Cascades? Or maybe it's from a whole different world than Earth. He supposes it doesn't really matter. "What was it like?" he asks curiously. "Going from being dead to not-dead." That might tell them something about the "cure" or it might just be a way to get to know R better. Or, really, both.
He trails off, not because he runs out of energy to speak but because he doesn't know how to explain it to someone who hasn't had the experience. How does he even put it into words?
Yeah, that's not particularly helpful. Maybe it was some kind of external effort, something someone else did to him. "Are you the only one? Who came back from being dead? Or are there other people, too?"
He thinks. He's pretty sure he was the first one, because if he wasn't then who else? But the spread of it, for sure, started with him and Julie.
"But there's more. It doesn't... always work." A pause. He muses on how to explain for a moment. "While I was d-dead I... wasn't injured. I was still i-in one piece? Some Dead aren't."
"Damn, yeah, that'd do it," Chase can guess. He remembers clearly the Dead from that one port where he was a necromancer banishing them. They were pretty gross sometimes. "Harder to wake up whatever life is left in you if you'd wind up with a gaping wound or being down an arm or leg."
Still doesn't really explain how it happened, but. "I bet it freaked people out, with you being the first one."
He shakes his head, though not at the comment about freaking people out - because it definitely did. The one before it, about 'waking up'.
"Any Dead can come back," he says, quietly. It seems like his stammer is easier to manage with less people, when he's less stressed, and when he's not raising his voice. "But... the Gleam, it doesn't h-heal the damage."
So... when they come back, with gaping wounds or missing limbs... Chase can probably put it together from that.
Now that's interesting. It does sound more like magic, when described like that. He wonders whether it's more like the sparks in a witch's eyes when he starts using magic, or the purely defensive light he'd summoned when Caleb attacked him... but he's probably interrogated the poor guy long enough. Ugh.
"Wish I could see it," he muses instead, and pushes the second cupcake over to R to try. "But that'd mean having more dead people on board-- like, Dead-dead, I mean, since technically most of us are dead, but not the same way. And then Ellie would probably have a heart attack or something."
Because to see it, the way that people end up Dead like they do on R's world would have to be here, and he's not sure if he could even fix any of it by himself, without Julie. He doesn't think it would work without both of them - or without her, where he's sure the cure came from to begin with.
"I mean, given this place, probably most of us would go on the immediate offensive, and the walking dead would get destroyed or locked up in spare cabins or something," Chase says, waving that concern off. "Maybe a couple people would panic, but there's so many super-violent people and magical people and superheroes around here that would definitely deal with any thread pretty quickly. There's even a few gods living here."
Weird topic of conversation. Uncomfortable, really, given the ten or so years he'd spent as one of the 'walking dead'. He trails off into silence and looks down at his hands, not really interested in the cake but wondering if he should just try eating it to be polite...
Yeah, even Chase can tell he's stepped in it. Oh, well. He's never claimed to be great with people. "Eat your cupcake," he says instead. "They're good, I promise. Then maybe we can go head back to the library. You work there, too, right?"
[He doesn't know what that is. He'll ask Chase before he asks the admiral in case it's dangerous.]
I'll see if I can do that. Alright, last of these. If something goes badly and you're injured or killed, how would you like me to handle that? Revive you in the infirmary, your room, with a friend?
Infirmary is usually simplest, though they can't help much with death tolls. Alright, those are the questions I have to ask. After this, you're free to ignore me if you want, but I'd like to talk if that doesn't bother you.
[Textures are fine. In fact he tends to rely on them more, which makes it even more tragic when Julie doesn't manage to pick all the shell out when she breaks an egg badly.]
[R is something of a purist when it comes to music. Digital recordings simply won't do... especially if he's going to be introducing someone to the genre!]
[He can come down right now, so he does that, bringing the record player along with a few choice records stacked on top.
His knock is quiet, mostly because he doesn't have a free hand and the angle is a bit awkward, and he doesn't want to kick the door.
In person, R is a tall, slim man of vaguely indeterminate age - he could be in his mid twenties, or his thirties - with a somewhat death-warmed-up pallor marked with the occasional dark vein. He dresses semi-smartly, in slacks and a shirt, and always with the same red tie.]
[Thrawn opens the door, which slides to the side instead of opening up in a more traditional manner. He too is tall, with glowing red eyes, prominent forehead ridges, and pale blue skin. He nods when he sees R at his door, and steps aside to let him into his combination office/cabin/art collection.]
[Why he's surprised when he was the one who came to the door is anyone's guess. He hugs the record player a little closer to his chest and steps inside when Thrawn moves.]
H-hi.
[Then he has a curious look around at what he can immediately see.]
[Thrawn gestures to allow entrance. His cabin is one of three rooms and a hallway leading out to the main ship. On one side is his dojo, a white paneled affair behind a glass viewing wall, where weaponry and heavy-looking killer robots rest. The other side leads to his office and sleeping quarters. All of it is in the sleek gunmetal gray of the ISD Chimaera, his true home.
It is into the office that Thrawn leads them. He has his art on plinths and in frames around it all, with a viewport open to reveal a nebula being orbited, a view reflected back up on deck. The office is dark, lit up in neon around the extremes of the room, casting eerie shadows about the room. There is an exceptionally large desk shaped like a half circle, on which Thrawn sets his fingers.]
[A little nod. He carries the record player through and puts it down near the edge of the desk, comfortably enough that it won't fall off.
R is self-conscious about many things about himself but when it come to his taste in music, that hesitation doesn't come into play. Thrawn himself clearly has his own preferences when it comes to art and so on - something he doesn't fail to notice.
He is trying not to be intimidated on a general level.]
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timeasmymeasure
audio a little after R's revival;
Date: 2025-04-19 08:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-04-19 08:55 pm (UTC)Oh, right. This part of things. He clears his throat before answering.]
You can come. It's... not that bad, really.
[Sure, he's sore and uncomfortable and his head is pounding, amongst other things, but he's definitely felt worse.]
no subject
Date: 2025-04-20 04:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-04-27 08:20 pm (UTC)I like records.
[R is a bit of a purist when it comes to music. Records, in his opinion, just sound better.]
I d-don't have a... a player, though.
Private | Voice (after pairing announcements)
Date: 2025-05-20 05:59 am (UTC)Hello, I'm Ulla. The Admiral has paired us for the month. Would you mind meeting me to talk? You're welcome in my cabin, or I can come meet you.
no subject
Date: 2025-05-20 03:12 pm (UTC)Talk? [His voice is soft, a little breathy.] About what?
no subject
Date: 2025-05-20 03:19 pm (UTC)If there's anything you need, whether you're settling into the Barge alright.
I've been here five years, half of that as an inmate. So if you have any questions, I want to answer those, too.
no subject
Date: 2025-05-20 03:21 pm (UTC)[Given it's been over a month now he thinks he's got a decent handle on things.]
No questions. I'm... doing okay.
Post-Ellie
Date: 2025-06-26 09:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-26 11:36 pm (UTC)"Wasn't y-your fault."
no subject
Date: 2025-06-27 12:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-27 12:48 am (UTC)"Mmh." The fact R isn't much of a talker due to obvious speech impediments has probably made itself clear by now. "That's okay."
Feeling more sorry for you, honestly, buddy.
no subject
Date: 2025-06-27 01:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-27 01:12 am (UTC)"N-nothing s... special."
And Chase is going to have to shake off the idea that he's a zombie pretty quick, too... Along with a few other people, it seems like.
He's not particularly attached to his cabin as of yet. There isn't much in there to make it his. He does sleep, though.
"Yours is fine."
no subject
Date: 2025-06-27 01:16 am (UTC)"Do you need to get anything from yours? We should swing by at least." And he can see if the place is horrible and offer to fix it, if it is.
no subject
Date: 2025-06-27 01:25 am (UTC)"No, nothing."
It doesn't look like he's intending to head in that direction either, with that stated. The cabin is... fine. Fit enough for purpose. R really doesn't need all that much.
Sigh...
"I could eat."
Might be a little hungry, actually.
no subject
Date: 2025-06-27 02:07 am (UTC)Still, food. Which means... stopping. Because they had just left the dining hall. He doesn't have any food squirreled away in his own cabin right now, so that's the only real place to go. "So can I ask what exactly... happened to you? To make Ellie think you're going to start biting people." He pauses, as he's turning back, and adds, "You can say no, if you want. You don't owe me anything."
no subject
Date: 2025-06-28 06:49 pm (UTC)The question, such as it is, is a fair one and is answered with a small shrug.
"I was... Dead, f-for a while." He's still not sure exactly how long. About ten years, by what he's been able to work out. "Some people... they can s-see it." A sigh. "I'm not Dead now."
no subject
Date: 2025-06-28 07:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-29 08:14 pm (UTC)"'S fine." Another shrug. He does do a lot of that. "I'm not... angry at her."
no subject
Date: 2025-06-30 04:46 am (UTC)"Then you're a way better person than me, because I'd be angry," Chase comments. "Sitting there doing nothing and random kid lunges at me with a knife? Then you got thrown into the air by some weirdo? I'd be pissed off."
no subject
Date: 2025-06-30 05:04 pm (UTC)He isn't ignorant of the fact that said weirdo is currently talking with him and he's going to be stuck with the guy for the next few days. That could be interesting, for sure...
"Already h-happened. So... why be angry." Shrug. "S-she was scared."
no subject
Date: 2025-07-01 09:08 pm (UTC)He turns to the counter and the food options. "So what are you thinking? I already had lunch, while I was waiting for the announcement, but I can definitely have dessert."
no subject
Date: 2025-07-09 07:00 pm (UTC)He casts his eyes over what's available and just picks up a plain sandwich.
"This is fine."
No brains or cannibalism necessary.
no subject
Date: 2025-07-10 02:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-07-17 01:34 pm (UTC)As much as there's not really much to tell, given his complete lack of memory about much of anything before he met Julie. He... supposes he could talk about her. Chase seems like the sort of person who would love to hear about a girl back home.
Once they're seated, he doesn't immediately start to eat.
"Wh... what d-do you want... to know?"
no subject
Date: 2025-07-20 04:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-07-24 07:41 am (UTC)"Haven't been here long." If he's quiet, if he concentrates, the words are easier. He looks at the table.
"The enclave is in... South Cascadia." Washington, or thereabouts. State lines don't really matter that much anymore. But the rest of it... He frowns a little bit.
"We don't know why the... the cure happened. It just... did."
no subject
Date: 2025-07-25 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-07-25 09:45 am (UTC)He trails off, not because he runs out of energy to speak but because he doesn't know how to explain it to someone who hasn't had the experience. How does he even put it into words?
"Like... Like turning on a light."
no subject
Date: 2025-07-27 08:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-07-31 12:17 pm (UTC)He thinks. He's pretty sure he was the first one, because if he wasn't then who else? But the spread of it, for sure, started with him and Julie.
"But there's more. It doesn't... always work." A pause. He muses on how to explain for a moment. "While I was d-dead I... wasn't injured. I was still i-in one piece? Some Dead aren't."
no subject
Date: 2025-08-01 03:03 am (UTC)Still doesn't really explain how it happened, but. "I bet it freaked people out, with you being the first one."
no subject
Date: 2025-08-04 09:41 pm (UTC)"Any Dead can come back," he says, quietly. It seems like his stammer is easier to manage with less people, when he's less stressed, and when he's not raising his voice. "But... the Gleam, it doesn't h-heal the damage."
So... when they come back, with gaping wounds or missing limbs... Chase can probably put it together from that.
no subject
Date: 2025-08-05 02:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-08-05 02:59 am (UTC)Oh, he did, didn't he.
"The... the people trying t-to help, in- in the infirmary. They call it that. Because it--"
He pauses, making a vague gesture.
"You can see it. L-like a... gold flash."
no subject
Date: 2025-08-05 04:32 am (UTC)"Wish I could see it," he muses instead, and pushes the second cupcake over to R to try. "But that'd mean having more dead people on board-- like, Dead-dead, I mean, since technically most of us are dead, but not the same way. And then Ellie would probably have a heart attack or something."
no subject
Date: 2025-08-08 03:11 pm (UTC)Because to see it, the way that people end up Dead like they do on R's world would have to be here, and he's not sure if he could even fix any of it by himself, without Julie. He doesn't think it would work without both of them - or without her, where he's sure the cure came from to begin with.
He doesn't touch the cupcake.
"People would... panic."
no subject
Date: 2025-08-09 03:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-08-10 05:57 pm (UTC)Weird topic of conversation. Uncomfortable, really, given the ten or so years he'd spent as one of the 'walking dead'. He trails off into silence and looks down at his hands, not really interested in the cake but wondering if he should just try eating it to be polite...
no subject
Date: 2025-08-11 05:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-07-15 10:45 pm (UTC)You might have seen I'm your temp for this month. First, is there anything immediately the matter that needs seeing to?
[Hopefully not, but he's known some stubborn inmates, and some too guarded to take any of the easily accessible help.]
no subject
Date: 2025-07-15 10:50 pm (UTC)No, um... I-I'm okay.
[Quiet. R doesn't really need much, and what he has needed so far he already managed to access.]
no subject
Date: 2025-07-15 10:52 pm (UTC)[Nothing's bleeding or on fire.]
Next, anything you'd like to change? Your cabin, anything inconvenient with meals, anyone you need help dealing with?
no subject
Date: 2025-07-15 10:55 pm (UTC)Cabin is f-fine. [A beat.] I'd... like a r-record player.
[Hmm...]
No o-other... problems...
no subject
Date: 2025-07-15 10:56 pm (UTC)I'll see if I can do that. Alright, last of these. If something goes badly and you're injured or killed, how would you like me to handle that? Revive you in the infirmary, your room, with a friend?
no subject
Date: 2025-07-15 10:59 pm (UTC)I don't mind.
[He doesn't really have any friends here.]
You can do... what's easiest.
no subject
Date: 2025-07-15 11:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-07-15 11:03 pm (UTC)[So long as Wen Ning doesn't mind his halting speech patterns.]
I-if you want.
no subject
Date: 2025-07-15 11:15 pm (UTC)WOW this tag sure went missing I'm sorry
Date: 2025-08-16 04:49 am (UTC)[Hmm. Actually. He shrugs.]
Yeah. Wh-why not.
[Just make it a whole thing.]
no worries, happens
Date: 2025-08-18 12:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-08-19 01:49 am (UTC)[Not what he meant! The offer or difficulty isn't the problem.]
I can't really... taste things yet.
[So it would be more for Wen Ning than himself.]
no subject
Date: 2025-08-23 03:48 pm (UTC)[He doesn't actually eat. Cooking at people is a technique he relies on, and he will not be so easily deterred.]
no subject
Date: 2025-08-24 09:19 pm (UTC)I can do that.
[Textures are fine. In fact he tends to rely on them more, which makes it even more tragic when Julie doesn't manage to pick all the shell out when she breaks an egg badly.]
no subject
Date: 2025-08-31 04:04 pm (UTC)[Variety seems key. Some interesting pickles, maybe, some filled sweets--he always tries to keep those handy as bribes--maybe something frozen. Fun!]
no subject
Date: 2025-09-04 11:42 pm (UTC)Okay then. [Nodnod.] When?
no subject
Date: 2025-09-06 04:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-11 07:39 pm (UTC)Yeah. I work in the... the mornings mostly.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-13 10:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-16 05:38 pm (UTC)Okay, see you there.
no subject
Date: 2025-08-16 04:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-08-16 04:47 am (UTC)[Great, 'cause he was never getting that full name out. R's voice is quiet and even, with a slight stammer.]
Thanks... I-I think.
no subject
Date: 2025-08-16 04:50 am (UTC)Are you well?
no subject
Date: 2025-08-16 04:53 am (UTC)[He's pretty sure this guy is a new warden, right..?]
... This is the p-part where you... ask if I need anything.
[Wry.]
no subject
Date: 2025-08-16 04:58 am (UTC)Do you enjoy art, R?
no subject
Date: 2025-08-16 05:02 am (UTC)More into music. [A beat.] Jazz. I have records.
no subject
Date: 2025-08-16 01:33 pm (UTC)May I listen with you?
no subject
Date: 2025-08-17 04:17 am (UTC)[Unexpected! But not unwelcome.]
Yeah. If you want to.
no subject
Date: 2025-08-18 03:39 am (UTC)My office was recently restored to me in full. I find the acoustics excellent.
no subject
Date: 2025-08-19 09:03 pm (UTC)[Hang on.]
Do you have a... record player?
[R is something of a purist when it comes to music. Digital recordings simply won't do... especially if he's going to be introducing someone to the genre!]
no subject
Date: 2025-08-20 12:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-08-20 09:56 pm (UTC)[It's not huge, because it had to fit in the cabin, so it's no problem.]
no subject
Date: 2025-08-20 10:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-08-20 10:57 pm (UTC)[He can come down right now, so he does that, bringing the record player along with a few choice records stacked on top.
His knock is quiet, mostly because he doesn't have a free hand and the angle is a bit awkward, and he doesn't want to kick the door.
In person, R is a tall, slim man of vaguely indeterminate age - he could be in his mid twenties, or his thirties - with a somewhat death-warmed-up pallor marked with the occasional dark vein. He dresses semi-smartly, in slacks and a shirt, and always with the same red tie.]
no subject
Date: 2025-08-24 04:57 pm (UTC)Good day, R.
no subject
Date: 2025-08-24 09:35 pm (UTC)[Why he's surprised when he was the one who came to the door is anyone's guess. He hugs the record player a little closer to his chest and steps inside when Thrawn moves.]
H-hi.
[Then he has a curious look around at what he can immediately see.]
no subject
Date: 2025-08-27 11:49 pm (UTC)[Thrawn gestures to allow entrance. His cabin is one of three rooms and a hallway leading out to the main ship. On one side is his dojo, a white paneled affair behind a glass viewing wall, where weaponry and heavy-looking killer robots rest. The other side leads to his office and sleeping quarters. All of it is in the sleek gunmetal gray of the ISD Chimaera, his true home.
It is into the office that Thrawn leads them. He has his art on plinths and in frames around it all, with a viewport open to reveal a nebula being orbited, a view reflected back up on deck. The office is dark, lit up in neon around the extremes of the room, casting eerie shadows about the room. There is an exceptionally large desk shaped like a half circle, on which Thrawn sets his fingers.]
Over here.
no subject
Date: 2025-08-29 10:56 pm (UTC)R is self-conscious about many things about himself but when it come to his taste in music, that hesitation doesn't come into play. Thrawn himself clearly has his own preferences when it comes to art and so on - something he doesn't fail to notice.
He is trying not to be intimidated on a general level.]
Shall I... pick one?
[He did bring a few options.]