(no subject)

[bluediligence]

Who: Aoko Nakamori and you.
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: S.S. Wonderduck
When: Now

[ After having been forced to play through tens of dozens of quote-unquote games — to say nothing of living through not just one, but two counts of interdimensional kidnapping — Aoko's more than used to suddenly finding herself in an unfamiliar place. It's just, you know, one of those things that happens. ]

[ The confetti's kinda new. So's the pudding. ]

Wow, uhm … [ Aoko grins sheepishly into the screen, parked on her butt on the S.S. Wonderduck's bridge with confetti all up in her short, fluffy mop of hair. It looks like she's been trying to desperately brush it out with her fingers – or maybe it's just naturally a mess? Mysteries abound. (Spoilers: it's naturally a mess.) ]

[ The silence drags for one beat. Two beats. And then — ]

Knock, knock.

Comments

[bluediligence]

Hi, Jennifer! [ She takes her hand for a firm, friendly shake. Don't mind the rough patches of scarring and calluses littering her palm and fingers. ] It really is nice to meet you. I usually use honorifics, but ... do you want me to, or is just Jennifer okay?

And you're a medical officer …! That's so cool! I helped run a clinic back – back where I used to be.

[forsometimenow]

[That definitely did make Jennifer curious- but she wasn't going to pry.]

Just Jennifer is fine- I only really expect to be called "doctor" when I'm in the infirmary. I like being more informal outside of it, though. Helps me relate to people better.

[She then brightened visibly at that.]

Oh, did you? Do you have any medical training?

[bluediligence]

Got it! [ Without missing a beat, Aoko slips from the handshake into a dorky little salute. ]

[ She doesn't hold it for longer than a second or two, though, and when she drops her hand, it's to clasp both of hers behind her back. ]

Mmm! A little. I had first aid training when I was younger, and then recently I got some, uhm, crash courses in field medicine. [ Many of the hurts people'd suffered in Kyriakos had been mended by healing magic, but Aoko'd been loath to rely on that alone. ] Does that count?

[forsometimenow]

[Jennifer grinned at the salute, but then she nodded and turned serious.]

It does, and if you're interested in brushing up on your skills or learning more, I can teach you. We're a little short on doctors and healers here, so every bit helps, I think.

[bluediligence]

Count me in!

[ It's an immediate, heartfelt response; Aoko's always eager to learn new ways to help others. ]

I'll do whatever it takes to help out around here. If I still had my pendant … [ A brief regret shadows her expression, there and gone again in a second. ] … I'd be able to do more, but still. It's nice to be able to help people without having to rely on magic.

[forsometimenow]

[Jennifer brightened.]

Great... I'm glad you're eager to learn, despite not having use of magic. [She shook her head slightly, looking amused.] Magic is pretty handy, but I'm always happy to teach people the old-fashioned way, too, as I never had any supernatural abilities myself. You never know when Atroma might decide to mess with magical abilities, and I believe magic and science can work well hand and hand.

[bluediligence]

[ She laughs, scraping her hand back through her hair. ]

I never did either, before a couple of months ago. And even those weren't native to me – they were a gift, to help me do my job. [ If the "work" her team did even counted as a job, anyway. ]

[forsometimenow]

Really? [Jennifer looks interested in that.] I wouldn't mind getting a gift like that myself, but... I like how I am now, too. How did you get the gift, if you don't mind me asking?

[bluediligence]

I don't mind at all! It's … uhm, it's kind of a long story, but I was dragged into a – I guess you could call it a peacekeeping force. [ That had been one of the original intentions behind the Cat team, at least. Things had ended up pretty different in practice. ]

Our leader gave us those pendants so we'd be able to keep up with everything going on.

[forsometimenow]

Hunh. That's pretty extraordinary. Well, not the part where you got dragged along, but... who'd have thought a pendant would have so much power?

[bluediligence]

Right?! It looks like any ordinary pendant you could buy in a jewellery store, and yet it let us do all sorts of cool things, like healing people and teleporting and creating shields out of thin air!

[ Magic is so, so cool. The absolute coolest. ]

[forsometimenow]

So it does a little bit of everything, huh? Do you think it will still be functional here...? Lots of others have magic or supernatural powers that still function perfectly well.