Trooper Station, Friday

[firstofitskind]

Do you know what was super helpful when you were fighting off a lingering migraine?

Carol of the Bells playing nearly goddamn everywhere, that's what.

The Troopers had decided to combat this by singing any other Christmas carol that involved the word "bell" or "bells".

"I hate all of this," Liam decided with a sigh.

Comments

[okteiviakom]

Octavia had meant to check up on Liam after his slight oddness at the party, and to ask about some stuff she hadn't felt like asking about while he'd been acting a little off.

So, even though she didn't feel entirely comfortable at the station, here she was, dropping by.

Kind of mildly scowling. "I'm sick of that song."

[firstofitskind]

As if on cue, Ralph walked past the door to Liam's office, humming Jingle Bells.

Liam just rolled his eyes and gave Octavia a long-suffering look. "I swear to god if I hear the word 'bell' again after today in any context it'll be too soon."

A little overdramatic, maybe, but he'd already lost yesterday to one kind of headache, it was irritating to lose today to another.

[okteiviakom]

"Fair," Octavia replied, a little heavy on the rasp. "I should've known something like this was coming. Yesterday was too quiet."

Figuratively speaking. She had been just fine with its level of quiet, otherwise.

[firstofitskind]

“Speak for yourself,” Liam said dryly. “The mice were alternately pleased and upset with yesterday’s nonsense.”

Food was very important to them, of course they had Opinions about the state of bread in the apartment.

[okteiviakom]

"So there was nonsense yesterday?"

Look, she wasn't much of a bread person.

[firstofitskind]

“All of the bread was flatbread,” Liam explained. “Fairly harmless as far as nonsense goes, in the greater scheme of things. Unless you’re an Aeslin mouse. Or live with Aeslin mice.”

[okteiviakom]

"Yeah, I didn't notice any of that." Yes, Octavia, you'd probably already made that clear before. But, she shrugged. "Still better than a boozy shower, at least."

[firstofitskind]

"Huh," Liam said thoughtfully. "I got the mulled-whatever in the taps thing the other day, but it definitely wasn't boozy. At least, not for me."

If Verity wasn't currently a flying squirrel, of course, that might have gone down differently.

“Anyway,” he added after a moment, “I’m sure you didn’t come by to talk about Fandom’s weird way of counting down to Christmas...”

[okteiviakom]

"Not exactly," Octavia replied a little dryly. "Even if it seems like kind of an endless subject." Because every day it was something new, and varying levels of annoying. "Anyway. How are you?"

[firstofitskind]

"Pretty good," Liam said. Monday had been... kind of hellish, but sparring with Beau had helped rather a lot there. "Aside from Fandom being weird, and Verity being a flying squirrel, I guess."

[okteiviakom]

Well, it wasn't Fandom if you didn't get distracted from asking about weird things by getting the urge to ask about other, unrelated weird things.

"... How long has Verity been a squirrel?"

[firstofitskind]

"Since about halfway through our class last Thursday," Liam explained. "Near as I can tell, she's having fun, at least? Lots of stuff to jump off of around here."

[okteiviakom]

"Well, as long as she's fine with it..."

Octavia had been a raccoon twice, so her take on animal transformations was a pretty practical one.

She shrugged a little. "You were kind of off the last time I saw you, though."

[firstofitskind]

“Was I?” Liam asked, his eyes wide.

Yes, Liam, you absolutely had been.

[okteiviakom]

"Yes," said Octavia, kind of dryly. Because it had just been that obvious to her. "What happened on your trip?"

[firstofitskind]

"We found a ship," Liam explained. "A Repository Ship, specifically. My father's people built them to house their knowledge, preserve it for those who would come seeking it and prove themselves worthy."

[okteiviakom]

"And?" Octavia prompted.

She had theories.

[firstofitskind]

"I proved myself worthy," Liam said, a hint of a smile ghosting across his face. "Everything those who built the ship knew, millions of years of experiences and research... they're my memories now, too."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was going to raise her eyebrows now.

Just a little. "... Yeah, guess that would make a person act a little off."

[firstofitskind]

It was probably for the best that she hadn't seen him right after- there had been a couple of days where he’d been unable to keep track of where he was, who he was.

"That's why I decided to go to the party," Liam admitted. "Thought being around people from Fandom- that it might help ground me. I'm sorry if I worried you," he added apologetically.

[okteiviakom]

"It was just weird." Maybe 'worried' was too strong a term, or maybe Octavia just wasn't very comfortable applying that word to herself when it wasn't a life-or-death situation. "Seems it's worn off, anyway."

[firstofitskind]

“Yeah,” Liam nodded. “Aside from the memory intrusions, but I’ve had those all my life anyway, I’m used to that much.”

[okteiviakom]

"How does that feel like, anyway?" Octavia asked. "Can't imagine it."

She had a lot of memories that got in her way on the regular, but at least they were all genuinely hers.

[firstofitskind]

“How does it feel to learn to walk, to speak, to read?” Liam asked with a shrug. He didn’t know what any of that was like, he’d just needed the knowledge and it was there. “Things happen sometimes and I have an understanding of them I wasn’t expecting; or events will trigger a memory and it’s like I’m living the moment all over again. It’s- I’m remembering something that I don’t even know I know.”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was quiet for a moment, watching him as she mulled that over.

(Silences had never really bothered her.)

"Kind of like there's a... back room in your brain, and you don't know what all is there?"