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THE EXPANSE: Whispers From Above (Expanse/Flying Circus AU quest)

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[X] Write in. Try to play it cool. We can't have JAMES HOLDEN thinking we're weird. (Utterly flub being cool. Aren might have to save us.)

Updating my vote:
--[X] You chromatophore freckles are flashing RGB? Oh, that's... that's totally normal. Don't worry about it.
--[X] No, no, my gills are fine. The vibrating gills are fine. I just have an allergy to... air.
--[X] Arren. Arren why are you laughing. Arren stop. You're a terrible boyfriend, Arren.
--[X] Keep that jacket zipped up! All you've got underneath is a Remember the Cant! shirt with Holden's face all over the front.
--[X][Arren] Tell Isa to show him the shirt.
 
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[X] you get so excited, Fisher Stims Happen, your gills do the humming trilling thing, your chromatophoric freckles go RGB, flapping arms, the whole nine yards. And in front of James Holden! Embarrassing!
 
DragonCobolt said:
"Your mom's a great programmer," Alex pipes up. "Never seen a sysop she can't crack."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

*silently connects the dots between Fillip and Wolfe's backgrounds*

Oh Isa is going to-

"James…fucking…Holden," you whisper, slowly.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

-combust.

[X] Try to play it cool.
-[X] Fail miserably.
--[X] You chromatophore freckles are flashing RGB? Oh, that's... that's totally normal. Don't worry about it.
--[X] No, no, my gills are fine. The vibrating gills are fine. I just have an allergy to... air.
--[X] Arren. Arren why are you laughing. Arren stop. You're a terrible boyfriend, Arren.
--[X] Keep that jacket zipped up! All you've got underneath is a Remember the Cant! shirt with Holden's face all over the front.
--[X][Arren] Tell Isa to show him the shirt.

Just combining a few votes that I think go well together. :V
 
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[X] Try to play it cool.
-[X] Fail miserably.
--[X] You chromatophore freckles are flashing RGB? Oh, that's... that's totally normal. Don't worry about it.
--[X] No, no, my gills are fine. The vibrating gills are fine. I just have an allergy to... air.
--[X] Arren. Arren why are you laughing. Arren stop. You're a terrible boyfriend, Arren.
--[X] Keep that jacket zipped up! All you've got underneath is a Remember the Cant! shirt with Holden's face all over the front.
--[X][Arren] Tell Isa to show him the shirt.
 
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[X] Try to play it cool.
-[X] Fail miserably.
--[X] You chromatophore freckles are flashing RGB? Oh, that's... that's totally normal. Don't worry about it.
--[X] No, no, my gills are fine. The vibrating gills are fine. I just have an allergy to... air.
--[X] Arren. Arren why are you laughing. Arren stop. You're a terrible boyfriend, Arren.
--[X] Keep that jacket zipped up! All you've got underneath is a Remember the Cant! shirt with Holden's face all over the front.
--[X][Arren] Tell Isa to show him the shirt.
 
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[X] Explain how you saved his daughter's life. He has to like you after that, right? And hey, if she protests, surely Amos, Arren and Minna will back up your version of the story?
 
[X] Try to play it cool

[x][Arren] Tell Isa to show him the shirt.

Definitely show him the shirt! 🤣🤣🤣
 
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1.0: War Stories
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    • You had to keep your cool. You had. To. Keep. Your cool.

    The first thing that happens is that your chromes start glowing bright red and green, flickering in a cheery pattern. James Freaking Holden looks concerned. "Are you okay?"

    "ThaaaaaAAAtttt's normal!" you squeak as your gills flick open and begin to buzz as you feel completely and utterly mortified. ARren puts his hand over his mouth, his shoulders shaking so hard that you're shocked the entire station isn't quivering with him. "Normal! Fine!" You clap one hand over your left gills, so your right keep buzzing as you breathe out of them in excitement.

    "Are your gills all right?" Holden asks.

    "I'm just allergic!" you say, hurriedly. "To, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, air!"

    Holden gives you a look. A look of concern and worry. A look of genuine actual concern. For you. For your stupid head. You realize that your jacket if half unzipped, and as you try and stop your chromatophores flashing and your gillz buzzing, Arren is saying: "Show him the shirt."

    "Uh, what shirt?"

    "Ooh, yeah, show him the shirt, Co-Captain," Wulfe says, her voice filled with malicious intent.

    "Do you need a vac suit or…" James Freaking Holden stops as Wulfe bounds forward, then jerks the zipper down on your jacket and she and your vicious, evil, horrible, awful, most worst ex boyfriend forever (ex boyfriend for a million years) work together to pull your jacket apart to show James Freaking Holden, the actual James Holden…

    "Huh," he says. "I look really doofy don't I?"

    You're…

    You're wearing your Remember the Cant shirt. It wasn't just your favorite shirt, it was also your most comfortable one. Holden's heroic features look out from it, identical to the man standing across from you, save that he's looking amused and not solemnly heroic. Your brow furrows and confusion actually cuts across your embarrassment and excitement.

    James Holden…doesn't just look like his face on your shirt. He looks identical.

    Like.

    Not a day older.

    "Wulfe, baby!"

    A new voice joins the fray. An older woman - a belter, with hair that was streaked here and there with gray - steps out and sweeps Wulf into her arms and away from you (good, because you were going to strangle her), drawing her in close and squeezing her. Wulfe squirms.

    "Mom!"

    "Hah! You owe me five dollars, Jim!" The belter says, pointing at James Freaking Holden, who laughs.

    "What?" Wulfe asks.

    "I was sure you'd stick to Nagata," Holden says, casually.

    "I knew you'd-"

    "Lemmi go, Nagata!"

    Naomi Nagata pinches Wulfe's cheek, tugging on it.

    —​

    The cubbyhole apartment that James Holden and Naomi Nagata share is the coziest place you've ever seen. The walls have a few stills and images from Erde and other scenic spots around the solar system, and a few photos that look like they're from Holden's life. Seven people, all different, posing around a young child. James in his LNN uniform, cheerful and smiling. An autographed copy of The Rings of Geirskögul, which looks like it was signed by the actual author of the whole series, Monica Stuart.

    The food's amazing too.

    You…

    You want to cry, kind of?

    Arren has his arm around you (you've decided to rescind him being an ex-boyfriend for a little bit, as a treat) and you try and hide how emotional you're feeling. It's not…just that you're meeting James Holden, the guy who literally saved the solar system…

    It's just…

    You'd never expected to see a family that was just so effortlessly, easily in love with each other.

    "So, anyway, Wulfe got into the air duct system of our little freighter, the Chetsmoka," James was saying.

    "Daaaaaaaaad!" Wulfe groaned, covering her arms over her head. "I was, like, a baby!"

    "You were fourteen, Wulfe," Naomi said, and the entire table erupted into laughter. Minna, proving she was still very Herjan, was drinking an almost Erder of beer. Erders drank to such ludicrous excess compared to Belters, it wasn't even funny. This meant that Minna was a bit tipsy, and she was showing her laughter more - and then hastily trying to hide it. Wulfe huffed and scoffed, and Arren, shaking his head as he dug his fork into his red kibble, asked.

    "So, like…how…did all this happen?" he paused, then flushed. "I mean…if it's not prying."

    Naomi sighed, then glanced at James and Wulf. Eee! James! You were thinking of him with his first name sometimes! James nods, and Wulf sighs. "She's…okay."

    You kick her under the table.

    "Mostly," Wulfe says.

    Your eyes lock.

    Shivery squirmy feelings shoot along your spine, straight to your belly. Your gills clamp in tight and Arren, not noticing, leans in a bit.

    "Well," James says. "It was the war. You…you've read the Last Flight of the Canterbury?"

    You nod hastily. Then try and turn that nod into something less so…so…obviously nerdy. Playing it cool as a cucumber, you say: "Yeah, uh…is it accurate?"

    "Surprisingly so," James says, dryly. "Me in an aging LNN heavy cruiser against an entire Free Navy battlegroup, lead by Admiral Ashford himself. The guy had completely lost it by this point." You nod hurriedly, leaning in with Arren. "The rest of the Navy had gone into hiding, but he was leading his last six ships in a run on the agricultural orbital around Skathi. It was one of the last surviving really big agricultural centers that weren't on Erde. Without it…" He shakes his head. "Well. I didn't have the exact math, but it would be bad."

    You nod. "T-They say without it, the entire inner and outer system would have hit a total foodchain collapse. Each colony didn't have enough…basic complicated biologicals and stuff to, uh, to make sure their enclosed ecosystems don't go into runaway collapse and stuff!" You blush as James nods at you.

    "Exactly," he says. "I tried to talk him down."

    Your eyes shine. "Even after the massacres?"

    "What can I say, I'm an optimist," James says. "But…yeah, the battle…went pretty much how Monica wrote it down in the book. Enough people filmed it."

    "W-Were you scared?" you ask.

    …Isa.

    Isa.

    Isa.

    Isa. What kind of STUPID QUESTION WAS-

    "No, actually," James says, shaking his head. "We were all pretty sure we were going to die. So, we just wanted to make sure we at least took Ashford down with us. And, you know, hopefully save the solar system."

    "Wow," you whisper.

    "...how did you survive?" Minna asks. "The Canterbury was hit by three atomic warheads at the same time your final PDC salvo ripped Asford's frigate in half."

    James sighs, slowly. "To this day…I don't know. During the final maneuvers, I blacked out. Extended high G and all that. When I woke up, I was in a spacesuit, drifting in space. If I wasn't found by Naomi…" He glanced at her and she nodded, solemnly. "Well. We got to know eachother and haven't been apart sense."

    "Awww!" You can't keep it in.

    "And Wulfe?" Arren asks.

    "She's my daughter," Naomi says, firmly. Wulf blushes and looks away.

    —
    …and, uh…
    [ ] Ask about Inaros
    [ ] "So, why haven't you told everyone you're alive!?"
    [ ] "So, like…you're…remarkably…like…it was fifteen years ago and you don't look like you've aged a day!" (realize you sound like you're hitting on him) "Not that I'm hitting on you!"
    [ ] Write In
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] "So that mean's Wulf has at least 9 grandparents right? Was she this cute as a baby? Lots of cheek pinching?"
     
    [X] "So that mean's Wulf has at least 9 grandparents right? Was she this cute as a baby? Lots of cheek pinching?"

    Open mouth, insert foot, Ms. Morganthau. After we've dredged up the Inaros information that's sure to come, we can pivot to:

    [X] So, like…you're…remarkably…like…it was fifteen years ago and you don't look like you've aged a day!" (realize you sound like you're hitting on him) "Not that I'm hitting on you!"
     
    [X] So, like…you're…remarkably…like…it was fifteen years ago and you don't look like you've aged a day!" (realize you sound like you're hitting on him) "Not that I'm hitting on you!"

    There's a mystery afoot and I want to know more!
     
    [X] So, like…you're…remarkably…like…it was fifteen years ago and you don't look like you've aged a day!" (realize you sound like you're hitting on him) "Not that I'm hitting on you!"
     
    1.1: Teef
  • Threadmarks
    • You and Arren speak at the same time. "So, Wulfe has like, NINE grandpar-"

    "You're looking remarkably-"

    "-parents-"

    "-Preserved-"

    Your two sentences crash into one another like a high speed asteroidal collision, and provoke a warm chuckle from James. "One question at a time," he says, standing to walk over to the coffee machine. "But, uh…right, Monica got all my family in the books, didn't she?"

    You blush. "They're, uh, mentioned." You feel awkward all of a sudden.

    "...they, uh…they're gone," James says, softly.

    "Oh." You squirm. "Sorry."

    James walks back, then sits next to Naomi. "It's okay, it's been a long time," he says, but he still looks sad. Wulfe punches his shoulder, then grins at you.

    "What was it your boyfriend was saying?"

    "Oh, uh…" Arren coughs. "Nevermind, it's nothing."

    "Something about preserved?" Wulfe asks.

    "He did mention something about that," Minna said, nodding.

    Arren's gills tighten against his neck and he coughs, and you leap in immediately. "Well, like…you're remarkably…I mean…it was fifteen years ago and you don't look like you've aged a day! You look…great! Like, for your age!" You realize, with a lurch like deceleration, that it sounds like you're hitting on James freaking Holden, with his wife right freaking there, right next to him, watching you, right there. Your cheeks flash as your chromatophores start glittering green and you throw out: "Not that I'm hitting on you!"

    Naomi laughs into her hand while James smiles at you - but it's such a Dad smile that it makes you want to stick your head between your thighs and curl into a ball until you CEASE to EXIST.

    "I guess I just got good genes," he says. "Must be from all the times I got exposed to radiation." He pauses. "Oh, uh, Arren. Make sure you two have backups." He nods. "Take it from me, even if you two end up breaking up, you both will want to have storage on, uh…you know. That kind of thing."

    Arren smiles. "Actually, uh, way ahead of you, uh, Mr. Holden."

    This is dangerously close to 'no, it's fine, my boyfriend doesn't need a condom, his sperm is banked and he's snipped' for an evening dinner conversation with your former kidnapper's adoptive parents, so you hastily yank things around by saying: "So, uh, wanna hear about our new spaceship?"

    James and Naomi's face start to shift as you tell the story. Naomi leans her head forward, hiding her face behind her hair. James breathes in, then breathes out again, and then shakes his head a bit once you're done.

    "Goths," he says. "I hate those guys."

    "Yeah," Wulfe says. "Now…it's not all bad news. I have a new ship now!"

    "It sounds like you have a new ship," James says.

    "I mean…" Wulfe glances over at Arren and you. "I guess. Yeah. We do."

    "What's your plan?" Naomi asks from behind her curtain of hair.

    "Uh, track down the original person who owned the ship that Minna was flying," Wulfe says, jerking her thumb at Minna. "Then we start asking questions - like, say, what the fuck would get an entire Gothic battleship out to find them."

    James nods. "That…sounds like a good plan," he says, after only a faint hesitation.

    Minna frowns. "Excuse me…forgive me if this is a rude question: But why, exactly, are you two so willing to allow your daughter to rush into deadly dangerous combat, while remaining behind, when you are one of the most decorated LNN officers in the history of the solar system and you are apparently a renowned OPA hacker?"

    Everyone looks at Minna.

    Minna pauses. "...was that…a rude question?"

    "No, it's…" James opens his mouth, searches for a way to say it. "I…can't…do these kinds of things anymore." He shifts and you can tell, under the table, he and Naomi are holding hands. Tight. "Not after Skathi."

    Silence.

    James sighs, then stands up. "I, uh…you guys can stay here, and Naomi will work up a new IFF transponder code thingy for you." He nods and you all nod, and then Naomi and he are off, Naomi walking with him, murmuring quietly.

    You hear, just before she leaves: "Don't worry, I got the…"

    And then they're out of the room.

    "So, like, your dad's pretty cool," Arren says.

    "He's way better than Marco," Wulfe says, shrugging one shoulder.

    "If that's the case, why did you fly as Captain Inaros, Wulfe?" you ask, your brow furrowing.

    Wulfe flashes a grin, her ears perking up. Her one good eye gleams.

    "Because it…really fucking pisses Marco off."

    —​

    Wulfe shows you to the bathroom while Arren gets the bed in the guest room comfy - he's going to have to find room for you and Minna. Wulfe points. "Mirror, sink, toilet…" she says.

    "I know how bathrooms work," you say.

    "Just checking," Wulfe says.

    You notice that, above the mirror, is a placard.

    EVERYTHING IS FINE

    "...that's mildly unsettling," you say.

    "It helps Dad," Wulfe says, distracted, reaching up to rub her finger along the strap of her eyepatch. "Back up, I call dibs on brushing my teeth." She steps into the room and you stay in the doorway, watching her. Wulfe tugs her eyepatch off without a care - and you see that her eye really is a snarl of ugly, ingrown flesh. Tight. Scarred. Knotted. Its like someone tried to put an eye in there but all they got out was cancer. Wulfe doesn't see you staring - but she still says: "By the time Marco got baby me back to port, the eye was gone. And since there was a war on…" She splashes water against her face, sighing. "No good regrowth gels or cybernetic replacements. The doc said they had to scoop it out but…Marco, ever the optimist, was sure his little Phillip…" She spits the name out as she slathers toothpaste on her toothbrush. "...could pull through."

    "Oh," you say. Not sure what else to add.

    Wulfe brushes her teeth, then spits into the sink. "He was a dick," she says, then looks at you, grinning, her teeth all white and sudsy with the toothpaste forth. "...do, you gonna stick around while I shower, or you gonna join me?"

    Your chromatophores immediately go off.

    "Eyy! Gotcha!" Wulfe laughs.

    "I have a boyfriend!" You squeak. Instead of fleeing. Which is what you should be doing.

    "Then why do you keep staring, Morganthau?" Wulfe asks, then rinses her mouth. She slips past you, with a mischievous grin, leaving you flushing and trembling.

    She's such a jerk.

    And hot.

    And cute.

    And funny.

    And a jerk.

    And her parents are famous and…

    She's a jerk.

    And hot.

    You realize you've been running that loop long enough that the corridor has become dark and quiet - and you can hear the faint sounds of conversation from the bedroom nearest to the kitchen. The door is cracked just open enough to let a thin line through…and you recognize Naomi's voice.

    Hmm…

    —
    …it is right there…
    [ ] Listen, listen, listen, listen! Hope you don't get caught!
    [ ] No. You are a good guest. You are going to brush your teeth, crawl into bed with your boyfriend, and not fantasize about your host's daughter.
    [ ] Write In
     
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