6am | Ryslig inbox

Well I'm glad you're right about something.

[There's another, thoughtful pause.]

I can't promise anything about changing.

But I'll promise that the next time I do something stupid I contact you first, okay? If it will make you feel better.

uh, check yourself, peep the username, i am ALWAYS right.

[She pauses too.]

okay. and next time before i commit to a deathmatch i'll contact you so you can talk me down from being too hotheaded for my own good.

Oh yes and usernames are always correct. Every single "Chad69"s out there are just as hunky as their name suggests.

... Hey, back on the fight thing, this isn't important but do you know when you're having this fight to the death anyway? Beyond "when you finish monster puberty"?

do you think people would do that? just go on the internet and lie???

oh yeah. uh....they say it takes three months. january? early january? whenever the fog rolls in then and i grow another head or six arms or something

[There is another noticable pause, only about five minutes this time, but it's long enough for Mariner to notice something's up.]

Mariner.

You better not die during this death match.

That is cutting it really fucking close to Groundhog Day.

[hmmmm shit fuck dammit she didn't realize that.

There's a long pause before she responds.]

I don't plan on dying, Phil. I can more than handle myself in a fight. And the only thing these monster changes are gonna be good for is helping with that.

I can't back down from her, either. I'm the one who threw down the gauntlet. If I try and explain that I need to help you if that loop happens again, she won't believe me, and she'll think I'm a coward.

She might believe you, but I wouldn't ask you to explain the situation.

I do want to fight her, but I promised you that I'd be here for you if it happens again.

I'm not going to die, Phil. [She has to be confident about that.] But in the meantime, I'm going to get the information that I can together for you. In case the worst happens.
Which it won't.
But it never hurts to plan for contingencies.

Edited 2021-11-12 04:17 (UTC)

Really inspiring confidence in me there.

Look, I don't mind talking to her about it. Can't you just, I don't know, push the killing back one month? She gave me 500 dollars I think she's okay with me enough that I can convince her to push it back.

Even if you can't find a way out I would like to have people I care about with me if I'm trapped in another time loop.

I have total confidence in you.

[She means it.]

If you want to talk to her about it, then go for it. I just wouldn't want to press you to explain the whole, you know. Thing. I don't know how much she knows about the loop and how bad it was and how worried you are about it repeating.

[There's a pause for six solid minutes.]

You care about me?

Don't worry about it. I don't mind talking about the time loop I was in at all. And if I was I should have put more thought into it before I decided to tell a bunch of children how I shot my brains out as a result of the time loop day 1 of being here. And then tell the whole story to the entire network.

[Oh.

He genuinely didn't expect to read that.]

Of course I do; I can't have the person who's going to stop this hell die on me, can I?

[...]

And

I already get the feeling that the time loop is going to be a lot more lonely if you're not there.

[Oh. She genuinely didn't expect to read that.]

Hey, no guarantees, but I'll do my best. There's enough temporal fuckery in Starfleet history that something's got to match up.

...thanks.

Not many people would say something like that to me.

[God, she misses her close circle of friends on the Cerritos. They'd stuck with her, never let her push them away, and Tendi had even gotten her to admit why she kept people at arm's length. It was easier when you didn't let yourself get too close. People were inevitably reassigned, or ranked up, or died, and she'd finally grown tired of making friendships when they were just going to end. She'd grown up a Starfleet brat, she knows the score, but that doesn't mean she has to like it.

Sometimes people are so determined to be friends with you that you can't help but be their friend back. She'd done that with Boimler - at least, with unilaterally declaring herself his mentor - and she guesses she's done that with Phil.

She wonders if that means she's accepted that she'll be here a while.]

Well those people are terrible for not realizing how cool you are.

Or, as cool as someone who doesn't think I'm hot can be.

[Your standards are trash, Mariner.]

But if it makes you feel better.

I can't remember the last time someone genuinely called me their friend, even before the time loop.

[Not that he blames people for not wanting to be his friend. He has an ego problem and was extremely difficult to work with. It's not like he didn't know that.

... God

It really sucks how vague his memories from prior to the time loop are now. It feels like an eternity ago. Does he even remember what his boss looks like? His other coworkers? Anyone outside Punxsutawney?]

I know I'm a huge pain in the ass so I'm not surprised people can't get past that to deal with my utter awesomeness

[Immediate response that she knows she does, that she'd called her holo-double out for: making a sarcastic quip to deflect. It helps that it's couched in the truth. She is a huge pain in the ass, and anyone who can get past that deserves - or "deserves" - to see the Mariner behind the Mariner. The person, not the façade. She can count those people on one hand.

Phil's joining that group. She might have to move it to two hands soon.]

well, you're my friend now, so suck it up and deal with it

in fact
by my authority as a starfleet officer
and the leader of beta shift
i declare you an honorary lower decker

(that's a good and cool thing)

You and me both! All the time people tell me "you act like a prick to everyone for no reason", "complain about every minor inconvenience that ever happens to you", "you need to put on some freaking pants already Phil, we can't have you half naked on television", but they don't recognize that they're my lovable quirks!

[Half joking, but he thinks she might get a kick out of the implication that he often didn't wear pants during the time loop.]

It better be a cool thing! I don't think I could respect you if this was some lame club.

I don't really have anything to offer you like that. I guess you can be the honor of the first woman who's able to put up with outside of time loop/sex reasons.

[She does not blame him one bit for pantslessness. If she was stuck in a timeloop and nothing mattered, she'd be likely to be free from the tyranny of pants, too.]

we're the scrappy underdogs, doing kickflips, making fun of senior officers, that kind of thing
and we stick together

i'll take that honor. see? you're not so bad. i don't put up with just anyone. if you were a total dick i would have judo flipped you into a brick wall by now.

Oh so the rebels of the group who stick it to the man, huh?

Can't say I've ever hung in those groups but I'll make an exception because I like you. ;)

[But, hm, that second part.]

You wouldn't be saying that if you knew me a few hundred or so loops in. Rita was way more patient than you are and she slapped me more times than I can count.

that's right!

[She's not sure if it'd be better or worse if he knew "the man" in this case was also her mom. Either way, she's not going to bring it up.]

so that's, what, a few hundred days in? if we're still here in a year, then we'll see.

I better still be here in a year, but it's going to be a miracle if you don't punch me once during that time.

hey now i never said i wouldn't punch you eventually

BUT i havent done that yet and you havent tried to hit me yet
so your first impression is at least a little better than a lot of others i've had

I should be scared to ask how could a first impression could be worse than gushing about how you're new, manically asking you what day it is, then telling a bunch of children how I committed suicide, but instead I'm just annoyed that someone took my place of "worst first impression"

well, you didn't try and kill me

but you are definitely in the top five if that helps your ego any

Damn, okay that's pretty hard to beat. Do you get mugged often or what?

And it helps my ego immensely, thanks. I'm still amazed you didn't punch me when I started acting like a maniac.

i mean if we're just talking about here mukuro did decide to deathmatch me after talking to me for ten minutes so that would probably be the worst

it's not that i get mugged or anything, it's just that sometimes i end up in situations where, and i stress this, DUE TO NO FAULT OF MY OWN, aliens get hostile all of a sudden and someone gets stabbed and i have to kung fu them away for a minute and then oops i'm surrounded by guys with spears

Okay I'll admit it our first impression is still better than your first interaction with Mukuro. You got me there.

But "no fault of your own"? I don't know, you seem like someone who'd start a lot of bar fights.

don't get me wrong i can and do start bar fights but at work i can be very professional. i do not start shit unless anyone else starts shit first. at that point you take your life into your own hands.

I am very glad to hear that, because I was just lamenting the fact that I haven't participated in a good bar fight in a long time.
Don't think we would be friends if you weren't down for a good brawl.

<AlwaysRight>

starfleetashell - 2021-11-15 04:16 (UTC) - Expand

<goodweather>

6am - 2021-12-04 02:31 (UTC) - Expand

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, PHIL CONNORS. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 020.22.473.65 * goodweather has joined 020.22.473.65 <goodweather> You have reached the chatroom of Ryslig's favorite weatherman, Phil Connors <goodweather> If you're contacting me for business deals offer me a price first <goodweather>** But if you're looking for a more "fun" time, I'm all ears. ;)

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