Fifth Unused Utility Belt | Video and Spam, backdated to late last night

[hellofist]

[It's late, it's been dark for hours and she's pretty sure everyone else is sleeping, but Cass can't. It's not really a new thing, since generally crime fighters are out all night anyway, but the events of the port haven't helped much.

She's in her room when she turns the feed on, dressed in her Batgirl costume except for the cowl and gloves. She feels more like herself, dressed this way.]

What are... tips, for sleeping? Or... to do, to make tired? Don't say reading.

Is anyone else... even up?



[He said she could visit when she wanted. She even told him it might be at night and he said it was okay. That's why Cass is at Merlin's door in the middle of the night, not knocking before she just goes right in. The door was unlocked, so maybe he remembered she said she'd visit. She doesn't look around before she closes the door behind her because she's not really sneaking, so getting caught isn't exactly on her mind.

It's dark inside, which is good. It means he's sleeping instead of staying up all night doing magic things, or whatever it is Merlins do in their spare time. She makes her way to his bed, then climbs onto it to sit beside him and poke him in the shoulder.]

Hi, Merlin.

Comments

[looksfine]

[This was the first time Aya had dared acknowledge the Network since their departure from Overlook. But she'd recognized Cass' voice. Interested that one would be posting at such an hour, when most organic beings had already retired to their sleep cycles.]

I...do not sleep.

[hellofist]

[Really, that makes more sense than it doesn't.]

What do you do? To... not be bored?

[looksfine]

I have a variety of scheduled activities. Including monitoring patient statuses at the infirmary, continuing research in the library, and occasionally patrolling the hallways.

[hellofist]

Research? What kind?

[looksfine]

[Aya's face remains passive, her default expression. Whenever that happens, it is usually because her words are more difficult to say than logic would dictate.]

Things...I do not always understand. Expressions or phrases encountered that I may have previously not recognized.

[hellofist]

[Aya's lucky she can just look things up. Cass is stuck asking for explanations, which is fine when it's someone who knows her well that she's asking. Most of the time, it's awkward and only makes her feel more out of the loop.]

Oh... Learn anything... good, lately?

[looksfine]

Yes.

I now have a better comprehension of how to interpret "metaphors"

[hellofist]

What's a metaphors?

[Oops, that's probably supposed to be singular, isn't it?]

[looksfine]

It is a literary figure of speech that describes a subject through a comparative association with an otherwise unrelated object.

The means of comparisons are often unique to cultural individualities, which is why I did not understand Tim's initial reference. Now I do.

[hellofist]

[She'll have to go back and rethink all of that in a minute. For now, the important part is what she's interested in.]

What'd Tim say?

[looksfine]

[Having a eidetic memory, Aya recites the entire speech precisely as Tim had spoken it.]

"I hate the snow. Just reminds me of the times Gotham almost froze over. Kind of reminds me of Gotham in general, I guess. There's all this pure, untouched snow - and then you walk, or drive through it, and it gets ruined, mixes with dirt, turns to slush and soaks through your clothes until all you can feel is cold."

[hellofist]

[She can almost picture it, from the repeated description, and now she's just even more homesick.]

It's not... all bad. There's good parts, in Gotham.

[Sometimes. Now that it's on it's feet more it's a lot nicer than it used to be.]

[looksfine]

What is your "Gotham" like?

[hellofist]

Big, big city. It was... broken, in earthquake, but it's better. Mostly.

[looksfine]

Were its original settlers aware that it had been built along a fault line?


[Again, taking the "broken" at its most literal, and interpreting the data accordingly.]

[hellofist]

Don't know. Probably not. What's fault line?

[looksfine]

It is a line on or beneath the surface of the Earth where two tectonic plates meet. Earthquakes are most common on or around fault lines.

[hellofist]

Oh. Still don't know.

[She hasn't exactly been having history lessons, you understand.]

[looksfine]

Are their any other noticeable qualities aside from geographical inconvenience?

[hellofist]

.... What?

[She knows the meanings behind most of those words, but in that order? She's got nothin'.]

[looksfine]

[Rephrasing:]

What else can you tell me about your home?

[hellofist]

Oh. Lots of crime. Violence. Weird people, in costumes.

Normal Gotham things.

[looksfine]

These are all considered "normal"?

[hellofist]

For Gotham. Not other places. Gotham is special.

[looksfine]

Given the increasingly high probability of residents appearing aboard this vessel, I am inclined to agree.