<> <> (Yeah, AFK for just a sec starting now. It's Rochelle's game now anyway.) <> <> <> (YAYE HAIL) (You are so weird.) * Vera glances around. "Nice place." She lights up a cigarette. (What?) * Threnody waves distractedly at Rochelle's mother. "Hello." Beam. ^_______^ * Rochelle just sort of stands there, in the middle of the room. At least she's not in the doorway. "Hi Mom. This is Vera and Thren." She looks to Vera. "Can you give her one of those bands?" * Vera flips open the bag and tosses one in the air, catching it on the way down. She twirls it around her finger like a frisbee. "Here ya go." * Vera holds it out to Roch. * Threnody gives Vera a brief look, then scans the apartment idly in both a figurative and literal sense. <> "What are you doing here? When did you ... I .." * Rochelle takes the thing and walks over to her mother, holding it out. "'bout a half hour ago. You're gonna want to put this on." <> "What? What is this?" ("It stops the orbital mind control lasers from making you watch 'Mama's Family'.") Stops you from going crazy. <> "Too late, honey... but how do you mean?" * Vera so totally smokes, yo. ( Vera gains one cancer point. ) * Threnody pipes up cheerfully, "It keeps interdimensional aliens from controlling your brain and causing you to walk the streets like a zombified Space Mormon." Big Totoro smile. * Rochelle pauses for a moment, then says, "Yeah, you know how people've been going nuts and talking in other languages and stuff." "... oh." <> "How do you wear it?" (I didn't realize we had space mormons. Thren has clearly lost his mind.) (We do, actually. They're in an asteroid.) * Rochelle taps at her own. "Just put it on your head." (Not his first ref to Space MOrmons either. Read your logs.) (Heh.) (I was just thinking of Segev's bitching.) <> "Kind of tingles." <> "It's so good to see you, Rochelle. <> * Threnody actually recoils a step. Someone hugged Roch! She may explode! * Vera leans downward, tipping her hat over her eyes. * Rochelle blinks as her mother hugs her. She doesn't explode! She does just stand there for a while before kind of awkwardly putting her arms around her mother. (And now to do something truly moronic.) * Threnody knits his brow and uses the awkward moment to look around the apartment, searching for something. "Didn't you say your brother was here too...?" ( Way to go, Thren! ) <> "Oh, he's ... uh, out." (I live to serve.) * Threnody stops looking, confused. "...oh." * Rochelle doesn't seem to have much of a clue what to do, but she pats her mom on the back a little. "He comin' back soon?" <> "I think so. He doesn't spend long out these days... he's with a new group of people." <> "Oh. I'm Elaine. I'm Rochelle's mother, but you probably knew that." Didn't, actually. I'm Vera Aliyeva. * Threnody gives a tiny waist bow. "So we guessed. It's a pleasure to meet y--" He stops short. * Rochelle lets her mom let go without a fight. "New group?" <> "Oh, after the purple ones started taking over. Some new kids, some of them sleeked and a few spliced. Some neither." Uh... they're not purple, right? <> "No. I wouldn't let him in the house if he was." * Threnody blinks, momentarily distracted from whatever it was that preoccupied him and watching Roch's mother, knitting his brow and trying to figure out her weird verbs. ( AFK a bit ) (Keep going. I can't run for too much longer, because I am a wuss. (Well, Roch and Thren are telepathizing.) * Rochelle nods. "Yeah, okay. You know where he's hanging out?" "No. He doesn't tell me. He says it's for my own good, but I think he just doesn't want me to worry." < * Rochelle shifts. "Yeah, okay." She pauses, then asks, "Is it okay if they stay here for a while? I mean, 'till Zak gets back, at least." * Threnody blinks. "Wait, what do you mean 'they'?" * Rochelle looks at Thren. "You and Vera." * Threnody knits his brow. "I know *that*. I'm asking why you'd go off alone! The whole point of us coming was to protect you because it's not safe!" (Never mind that it's not safe for US either.) <> * Rochelle blinks. I'm not goin' anywhere. But I figured Mom wasn't going to kick me out. * Threnody blinks back. ...oh. * Threnody rubs the back of his neck and looks at the floor. "I'm used to dealing with Kat at this point," he says quietly. "Force of habit." * Rochelle nods. She doesn't look surprised. "... I don't think I have much for beds. Maybe we can get a few mattresses from empty apartments. But any friends of yours are welcome here, Rochelle." <> * Threnody smiles sheepishly at Elaine. "Thank you. We'll be fine without beds." * Threnody then puts his hand to his chin as she watches the soap. "Like mother, like daughter, I guess." * Rochelle nods. "Cool." ( Back ) "There's my room and Zak's room. Roch's room is still empty, and then there's ... " <> "Oh space jesus, Rochelle. Your father, he's ... he died. Months back, now." (That's okay! She knew!) * Threnody opens his mouth, then immediately shuts it, deciding now is a good time to look around. * Rochelle blinks. She looks at her mom blankly for a moment (she's good at that!), then just nods. "How?" * Vera keeps a-smokin' "He took a very large hit of some bad KraKow. I told him he should have stuck to Zak's Clarity, but he just kept saying he didn't need to see all that, he just wanted to get blasted..." <> * Threnody glances around, then sets his jaw and walks over toward Vera, facing slightly away from her and speaking very quietly. "Your last name... it's really Aliyeva?" * Rochelle nods again. "Yeah, it..." She stops a second, then just says, "It happens." * Vera chuckles. "Why? You think I wouldn't know? Not that I'd blame you. But yeah, that's my name. It's about the only thing I know for sure." * Threnody just... eyes Vera, dumbstruck. "But you don't..." He pauses, then turns more toward her, expressionless. "You don't know any of your family or past. But you're an Aliyeva." <> "Zak ought to be back any minute now. Your room... we didn't change anything, you know." Why not? ( "Because we're sentimental." ) "Just in case." Hey, I never said I didn't know my past. * Threnody blinks, tilting his head. "Vera... you really don't know the significance of that name?" * Rochelle rubs at the back of her neck. "Uh, thanks." * Vera looks down. "Just that some parts are missing." She finishes her cigarette and lights up another, and quietly adds, "And what's there might not be right." * Vera glances at Thren and shrugs. "'S Russian." * Threnody opens his mouth, then shuts it again and only speaks after a momentary pause. "Yes. It's... Russian." * Threnody turns away slightly again. "There are clinics that can help with that, you know. Experienced telepaths with training in psychology. If you wanted to know." Don't take it the wrong way, Thren, but that won't do any good. They can't help me. * Threnody raises an eyebrow. "You've tried?" Probably. <> "I think we've got some of the good nanopaste in the secret cupboard." * Threnody blinks in confusion. "...'probably'?" * Rochelle smiles a little. "Feel like splurging, Mom?" Like I said... don't know much of anything for sure. "Well, we haven't had company in a long time." * Threnody closes his eyes for a moment, then opens them again. "Do you remember any family?" No. I don't have a mom or a dad or a brother to go save. * Threnody breathes out, then looks away. "I guess that answers my follow-up question." * Rochelle nods. "Okay." She looks over at Thren and Vera for a while, then... walks over and sits down on another chair, facing the 'net. "What's on?" Hm? What's that? (You just know Elaine watches Repeating Yak.) "Century of the Unwashed. You remember. My favorite soap." * Threnody sighs and finds... something to sit on. Somewhere. "Doesn't it bother you? Not knowing, the gaps?" * Vera folds her arms and looks down. "Well... That's why I came on this little adventure." (The more I think about that title, the funnier it gets.) 'Course, now I think Anders was feeding me crap all along * Threnody pauses, then the light dawns and it shows in his face. "Demetreia... she mentioned you were both shorted by Anders. He promised to tell you... am I right?" (Okay. The sad thing?) * Vera nods. * Rochelle settles down and watches. "Thing'sve been okay, right? I mean, besides... uh, Dad dying." (For a good minute, I'd forgotten Deme's name.) Wonder what happened to her, anyhow? * Threnody nods. He looks up at the ceiling a moment. "I suspect she's in the best care at ATC." <> "And the purple people. But that means a lot of people left, and Zak's brought home some good scavenged stuff." <> "This is new." * Vera nods. "That's good... I guess." * Threnody glances around. "It's in Ronnie's programming to care for people. She just gets foul-mouthed when she can't resolve the conflict between what Vernon and Tim told her she was built for and the world as she sees it around her." He pauses. "At least, that's my guess." So she said. Hey, cool. * Rochelle pauses a moment, then asks, "When'd the purples show up?" "Slowly at first, but a lot after about three months ago." * Threnody taps his fingers together a moment, fighting some internal battle, before turning back to Vera. "I might... be able to give you a clue. Somewhere to start." A pause. "It's a longshot, though. I may very well be wrong." * Vera raises an eyebrow. * Threnody stands back up. "It's your decision. I won't say a word if you don't want me to." You haven't told me what it is you plan to do yet. Nothing, except let you in on a fact you might not know about. * Vera shrugs. "Couldn't hurt. Lay it on me." * Rochelle nods at her mother's words. She watches the 'net. * Threnody pauses, then takes a deep breath, not bothering to keep his voice down, probably out of nerves. "The basic history thinks of the Europa team as 6 people: Chako, Isis, Tim, Vernon, Charlie, and Taluun'tzo." * Vera nods. "Yeah. Had a buncha tatoos about it in another lifetime." * Threnody blinks. "Tattoo... never mind." He flexes his fingers a bit. "But the truth of the matter is that there's a seventh member that's not talked about. She was a scientist... the historical data says she died in a raid early in the mission. Her name was Illyana Aliyeva." * Vera blinks. "Hm... That is a longshot." * Threnody shakes his head. "I'm not done." * Rochelle looks over at the conversation now, but she doesn't leave her seat. <> * Threnody pauses, rubbing his temples. "Illyana didn't die in a raid. She... was the first and only human being to ever try the AllDrug, and an example of why no human being should ever USE the AllDrug." Oh. Why? * Threnody makes a face. "She didn't really... 'die'. I'm not 100% sure on the details. She took it to cure her paralyzed legs, but it ended up... I just have a lingering sense of..." He pauses. "Anyhow, Mother didn't talk about her much. But that's why I recognized the name Aliyeva. You might be better off asking Ronnie or Vernon." * Vera nods. After a second, she asks, "What did she look like?" (You tell me. :P) (Illy was blonde, wasn't she? I don't remember any other details.) ( Thren probably wouldn't know ^^; ) * Threnody shrugs his shoulders. "I never met her. It all happened before I was born and..." He sits down, a little green around the gills. "Anyhow, you're better off asking someone on the original team." * Vera nods. "Probably won't do much though * Threnody shrugs faintly. "That's up to you. I told you what I could." Yeah. Thanks anyway. Maybe it will. (Alright. Wrap up for tonight. z_z) ( I'm done ) (Is good!) (Done.) <>