001 ★ video

[nextlineis]

Who: Joseph & (God help) you
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Marsiva, yo!!
When: nao

[For a little while, there is not steady broadcast. It cuts in and out long enough to show a face, a shoulder, ceilings, and maybe a wall or two, obscured by fingers covering parts of the camera. Once a while it's just audio, a few curses or other mutterings cut short. And sometimes, yes. You get incoherent keysmashes likejhdsakfhsdh and jdkl;ffnfffff.]

[Finally, it does turn on and manages to stay on, but its user seems perfectly unaware as,]

Oh, forget it!

[And down, down the communicator goes as its tossed over his shoulder. At least you can tell he's wearing nice boots before he kicks it away for good measure and sends it spinning across the floor.]

Comments

[nextlineis]

Pilot.

[Joseph doesn't actually know this for sure, but there's nothing in his tone or overall demeanor that would suggest otherwise. Fortunately for him, he's also actually right.]

[ino]

-- What?! Then why were you asking me if there were pilots? Of course there are if you're one of them!

[nextlineis]

[There is maybe two seconds of silence that pass because she raises a good point that pokes a slight hole in his confidence, but Joseph smooths it over.]

How am I supposed to know how common it is if this ship flies itself, huh? For all I know, I got stuck here without anything to do at all.

[ino]

[ She just sighs ]

Whatever ... the point is, you're going to have to do some work as the pilot. Especially if we run into enemy ships again, your ship will be counting on you to fly them out of harm's way.

[nextlineis]

And I will. They've got nothing to worry about.

[...They should probably be a little worried.]

[ino]

[ Muttering: ]

I'm already pretty worried ...

[nextlineis]

I don't expect you to believe me, but I got a lot of experience getting out of bad situations.

[ino]

Oh yeah? By yourself or with a team?

[nextlineis]

Both actually. But I work better when I've got someone else on my side.

[Okay, he's a boastful little shit, but he'd never really discredit the help he's had along the way.]

I'm sure that's nothing unique though. [He shrugs a little.] Most people are probably the same.

[ino]

Not really. There are a lot of civilians here, too.

[ Based on what he's saying, anyways, she's going to guess he's some sort of warrior ]

[nextlineis]

[He's not too sure what she means by "civilian" for a moment, but manages to piece it together.]

I wouldn't count them out. They might not have the technical know-how, training, or even the right skills for it, but people can surprise you.

[Which doesn't mean that Joseph has the expectation that they'd step up or something like that. Quite the opposite. His impulse is to keep them far out of the line of fire. At the same time though, he's not about to assume they can't still find a way to contribute or won't at least try.]

[ino]

I'm not saying that they couldn't -- just that they don't have the same training, and I wouldn't expect them to feel like they needed to fight.

[nextlineis]

Of course not. I'd prefer they leave it up to people like you and me, if I'm honest. It doesn't always work out like that, but that's how I'd have it.

[ino]

Hmm.

[ She smiles ]

You remind me a little bit of someone I know at home.

[nextlineis]

Yeah? [He grins crookedly.] Hopefully I'm more handsome.

[ino]

[ Yes. Yes you are.

She just grins ]

I wouldn't be so cocky. The guy's a total idiot.

[nextlineis]

Ah, but you're not denying it, are you? [His grin just widens.] You think I'm handsome.

[He can actually completely live with being thought of as an idiot if that's the case. Which it appears to be, so today's going to be considered a win for him.]

[ino]

Ehh--? You're okay with being an idiot?

And besides, I have a boyfriend, you know!

[nextlineis]

If that was going to bother me, it would have a long time ago and I'd probably have a really damaged self-esteem.

[And besides, if people underestimate him, he can always exploit that to pull a fast one. As for the boyfriend thing? Joseph shrugs a little.]

He might need to start worrying then.

[He is largely not at all serious about this. He is a dickhead sometimes, but he's not that kind of dickhead.]

[ino]

Ugh ... !

No, he doesn't need to do anything like that!

[nextlineis]

[He laughs.]

Well, I'll do you a favor and try to be a little less charming, but I can't do anything about my face.

[ino]

[ He's lucky he's all the way over on the Marsiva, or he might have gotten a punch to the arm by now ]

You're not my type.

[nextlineis]

[And he'd both know he deserved and fully accept said punch.]

You say that now, but we'll just have to see about that.

[ino]

[ She rolls her eyes. ]

Uh-huh. Have fun on the Marsiva, Jojo.

[ And she switches off the feed. SHE WILL NOT GIVE IN TO YOUR CUTE FACE. ]