Trooper Station, Friday

[firstofitskind]

Okay, okay, maybe people had a point about the whole talking thing, because Liam did feel marginally better today.

Though he was still gonna do his best to keep busy by working on gathering materials for that handbook Jesse had suggested might be a good idea.

So if anyone needed Liam today, he'd be in his office, surrounded by stacks of paper files that he'd dragged out of the cabinets.

Comments

[bookbeltof_love]

It was, like, totally around noonish that Nina bounced into the Station, and not at all much later in the day! That would be silly!

“Liiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Hi, Liam, your fake-daughter was here to see you!

[firstofitskind]

Of course it was totally around noonish. What other time would it be?

Liam glanced up from where he was sorting Invasion Reports based on a five-point scale of some handwavey sort. There was only one person he knew of that used that many punctuation marks was that enthusiastic.

"Hey, Nina," he said with a smile for said fake-daughter. "What brings you by?"

[bookbeltof_love]

She beamed at him, cheerfully taking a gander at all the papers he had.

“I just wanted to see you, mostly,” she admitted. “Though I can come up with a reason or five if I really have to???????????”

Or even if she didn’t have to!

[firstofitskind]

Don't think he didn't notice that gandering, Nina.

"Well, you realize now I want to hear what reasons you'll come up with?" he pointed out. Although 'just because' was honestly a pretty great reason.

[bookbeltof_love]

It wasn’t like she was hiding it!

So sue her, Nina loved paperwork. It was just so useful...

Nina giggled. “Okaaaaaaay,” she said, tapping one finger to her cheek as she pretended to think about it. “Hm, let’s see...........”

[firstofitskind]

Well, right now it was mostly just being used for mindless busywork. Which was useful in its own way, as a way to stay occupied.

Liam raised an eyebrow, leaning back in his chair.

[bookbeltof_love]

“I could remind you about that lexicon you said you’d try to make for me,” she said lightly. “And that is still like your help with the whole fire thing.........”

Though Nina wasn’t in as much of a rush as she probably should be for that one.

“And then, like, barring that I need to make a quick trip to my world, buuuuuut I don’t want to go alone,” especially if she hadn’t worked out the fire issues, “and then I guess I could ask when Miss Verity’S birthday is and also if you’re any good at the art behind combining science and magic and.........

“That’s five!!!!!!!!!!!”

But she could go on.

[firstofitskind]

"All right, all right," Liam laughed. "I'm impressed. That's a good list." And he could even help with all but, honestly, the last thing. Magic wasn't his strong point.

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina’s smile was maaaybe a little smug.

“I really did just want to see you though,” she added, not wanting him to think she’d come only for things he could do for her. “Like, all of that is just....... stuff?????”

Some of it was important and all but...

[firstofitskind]

He knew. And it was nice, that she'd just wanted to come by for no particular reason other than to see him.

"Honestly, I'm glad you stopped by; I could use some good company," he admitted. Ralph and Calvin and the rest were... not exactly great conversationalists.

[bookbeltof_love]

"Glad I can help, then!!!!!!!!

"You look busy though," she said, and while she would eye the papers, Nina wasn't going to reach for them unless he said she could.

Manners and all. If she really wanted to know what they were she could always break in later!

[firstofitskind]

NINA LIBRIS ARGENTUM. DO NOT BREAK IN TO THE TROOPER STATION.

A half shrug. "Not so busy I can't take a break for a visit from my favorite fake-daughter," he said. Yes, he'd noticed the eyeing. Nothing about them was confidential, though, so he didn't move them out of her line of sight.

Really, all they were were just... reports. Specifically ones regarding to the invasions that seemed to occur on average every four months or so.

[bookbeltof_love]

But, but it would be fun!

Nina beamed at him, taking a seat primly. "Do you have any other fake daughters???????" she inquired. "Just so, like, I know my competition??????"

[firstofitskind]

"Okay, you've got me there," Liam admitted. "But you're incomparable in any case."

[bookbeltof_love]

"Then that's all that's important!!!!!!!!!!"

Nina was rather glad she didn't have to worry about not being his favourite.

"What are you working on?????????" she asked. "Anything I can help with??????"

[firstofitskind]

"I'm compiling a sort of... handbook, I guess? On Fandom," Liam told her. "Right now, I'm focusing on past invasions. Categorizing them based on the type of threat they posed. If you want to help, you can take that stack of files over there," he indicated one at random that he hadn't yet had a chance to go through, "and start sorting." It wasn't terribly exciting, but it was something to focus on.

[bookbeltof_love]

Exciting or not Nina was still going to grab a pile eagerly.

“Why are we doing this????????”

[firstofitskind]

Because he needed a project to keep his mind off the anxiety the US election apparently inspired in him.

“Jesse asked if we had one. We don’t, but it’s a solid idea.”

[bookbeltof_love]

“We have the radio archives,” Nina said, already reading a report. “They might be pretty handy for this sort of thing??????”

They were perfect for snooping into the past!

[firstofitskind]

“That’s an excellent idea,” Liam said with an approving nod. “We can take the dates on here and cross reference with the radio archives.”

[bookbeltof_love]

"Some of the past broadcasts are, like, way weird," she shared, since of course Nina had at least looked through some of them by now.

[firstofitskind]

“Weird because of the content, or weird because of whoever was reading the notes?” Liam had to ask.

[bookbeltof_love]

"Both," she said thoughtfully, flipping to the next page in the report. "It might also be worth looking into the way the population here has declined compared to, like, a decade ago???????"

[firstofitskind]

Because we we're all old and tired now

"For the handbook, or because you're curious?" Liam wondered.

[bookbeltof_love]

Sad but true!

"I mean, like, both????????" Nina mused, smiling at him. "Like, if there's someone actually in charge of the island then........ are they slowly drawing their net tighter????????"