OT 038 Xho NIDKY

February 5, 2021

[7:44 PM] USS Adventure: @Xho Meet in here?

[7:45 PM] Xho: ((You bet!))

[7:47 PM] USS Adventure: So, your time has come.  You head down to the newly designed brig to meet with Nidky.  Upon entering, you see an engineering tech manning the station.  A halfling fellow you haven't really interacted with before.  Mir is also in his cell and there is a security officer in position.

[7:48 PM] Xho: waves to Mir.

[7:48 PM] USS Adventure: Mir smiles and nods.  There's an odd respect in his manner, now.

[7:49 PM] Xho: is not sure what to make of this, and makes a note to ask later.

[7:49 PM] USS Adventure: The tech hooks you up and you find yourself back in the high school.  It's...packed...but frozen.  Everyone's halted in place.

[7:49 PM] Xho: frowns.

[7:50 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Don't you hate lag?"

[7:50 PM] Xho: What... is lag?

[7:50 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky shoves two of the frozen people aside as she approaches.  "Actually, I did this.  Wanted some peace."

[7:50 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "...you sticking to just the basic uniform?"

[7:53 PM] Xho: Ah. I am both concerned that you can manipulate the environment to this extent, but also glad that you can get some peace.

[7:53 PM] Xho: looks at her outfit.

[7:54 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "I'm the only resident here.  I should get some control, shouldn't I?"

[7:54 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "And don't take my comment too seriously.  It's just...do you always want to conform?  Do what's preprogrammed for you?  Sounds so...boring."

[7:54 PM] Xho: Yes.

[7:55 PM] Xho: And not particularly, no.

[7:55 PM] Xho: I make careful choices about what I am willing to sacrifice and what I am not.

[7:56 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky, for the record, is wearing a more chic version of the outfit, with her hair tied back in a red scrunchie.

[7:56 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Is that this week's lesson, teach?"

[7:58 PM] Xho: I do not really have a lesson in mind.

[7:58 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Ah.  So less a teacher than a babysitter.  Good to know."

[7:59 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Ok...what do you want to do?"

[7:59 PM] Xho: I do not feel you qualify as a baby.

[8:00 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Good.  I don't either."

[8:00 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "...how's Grax?"

[8:00 PM] Xho: Why do you ask?

[8:01 PM] Xho: ... I feel you are somewhat like me, in that you occupy a liminal space, primarily characterized by being neither one thing, nor quite the other. I am not sure this environment is helpful or ethical. And I am curious as to what, and how, you think.

[8:02 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "...you're not like me."

[8:02 PM] Xho: Not in kind, no.

[8:03 PM] Xho: In a liminal existence.

[8:03 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "What's that word?"

[8:04 PM] Xho: Liminal. It means... borderline. On the edges. Something... or someone... between.

[8:04 PM] Xho: Why did you ask about Grax?

[8:05 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "...what do you mean you're borderline?"

[8:05 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Grax is my goal.  I want to know he's safe."

[8:07 PM] Xho: I am neither alive, nor dead. I am neither a proper woman nor a proper man. My loyalties are divided between Planefleet and my House. I am always between, and never quite one thing or another.

[8:07 PM] Xho: Grax is safe.

[8:08 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "...you look like a woman to me.  ...you waiting on a surgery or something, cause that doesn't mean shit.  Your bodies are just meat."

[8:09 PM] Xho: "Woman" is a gender role one plays, not a physical state, for us. The way I am a woman does not necessarily meet with the approval of my own people.

[8:09 PM] Xho: I thought perhaps someone had given you information about Grax.

[8:10 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Not yet they hadn't."

[8:10 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "So...this like...an observation thing?  If you want, we've got a dissection table in the other room.  Might be fun to be on the other side of that."

[8:11 PM] USS Adventure: She smiles at you, clearly out to get a reaction of some kind.

[8:12 PM] Xho: Which side is the "other side"? I have been poked and prodded rather more than most people already.

[8:13 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "I mean I'd let you hold the knife, this time.  Interested?"

[8:14 PM] Xho: Not particularly.

[8:14 PM] Xho: I really do not have anything specific in mind.

[8:17 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "...ok...well...wanna grab some lunch?"

[8:17 PM] Xho: If you like. I suppose I am curious as to who you are.

[8:18 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Everyone keeps asking that.  I'm a killer.  It's really starting to feel redundant to keep on it."(edited)

[8:18 PM] Xho: That is a what, not a who.

[8:18 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Well, then I'm Nidky."

[8:19 PM] Xho: What does it mean to be Nidky?

[8:21 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "It mean, No I Don't Know You.  Grax ever tell you about my cousin, Have We Ever Met?"

[8:21 PM] Xho: He has not. I am curious, if you would care to tell me.

[8:22 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "What's the best way to make sure your son's not out causing trouble?  Give him a nice chaperone.  One he doesn't even know is supposed to be one."

[8:23 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "His disappointment was palpable."

[8:23 PM] Xho: How did it happen?

[8:28 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Hwem blended into the crowd.  They met up after one of the gatherings.  "Oh, I also like basketball".  "That's also my favorite band".  "Yes, this is strawberry lip gloss".  He was 13, my cousin got in easy.  She latched onto him.  Made sure he didn't get too cozy with the riff-raff.  Unbefitting of a god, you know.  Then she made a mistake.  Said something a little...too true.  Something she shouldn't know.  ...got him thinking.  Got him wondering.  ...sad, really."

[8:29 PM] Xho: What was sad about it?

[8:30 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Oh, he didn't make any more friends there after that.  Paranoia really set in.  And he also killed her.  Think maybe he didn't know he could do that."

[8:32 PM] Xho: Likely not. Still, impressive.

[8:33 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "You ever worried what he could do to you if he ever got anxious?"

[8:35 PM] Xho: Not particularly, no. ... I am not sure if it would be considered a dissection or a vivisection, as I am technically not alive but may well be capable of retaining consciousness if dismembered. Which would, obviously, be quite painful.

[8:36 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "...you're very frustrating."

[8:36 PM] Xho: I apologize; that is not my intent.

[8:36 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "From the sounds of it, you don't have much of an intent."

[8:38 PM] Xho: I intended to talk, that is really all. ... I will be truthful here; I would like you to do the same, though of course I cannot force that.

[8:38 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "I feel like I've been talking plenty."

[8:38 PM] Xho: ... as I understand it, you were not there when Have We Ever Met was killed.

[8:39 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "I wasn't, no."

[8:39 PM] Xho: You have. I have appreciated it; you are an unusual individual.

[8:40 PM] Xho: Does Incara give each of you all the aggregate memories of previous beings like yourself, or... how did you learn of Have We Ever Met's death?

[8:41 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Was told after the fact."

[8:41 PM] Xho: By whom?

[8:41 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "By him."

[8:42 PM] Xho: To put you in your place, or for some other purpose?

[8:42 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "He was gloating.  He was proud."

[8:43 PM] Xho: He was attempting to ensure it would not happen again.

[8:43 PM] Xho: It must have been extremely frustrating.

[8:44 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "For whom?"

[8:47 PM] Xho: ... all parties concerned, but particularly for you and the others like you. From an objective standpoint, you are the superior creation. You are far more adaptable, more capable, more intelligent, wiser, stronger, hardier and in every way more able than a humanoid child. A mortal child at that, composed entirely of bone, sinew, skin and meat. ... also a great deal of fairly disgusting fluids.

[8:48 PM] Xho: But he was permitted to kill one of you with no repercussions and then boasted of it afterward. And then turned tail rather than fulfill his appointed position.

[8:49 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: ".......hm...nothing you've said is inaccurate."

[8:49 PM] Xho: ... it does not seem particularly fair to me, that is all.

[8:51 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "He is the dark messiah, the beacon and the gate, the beginning and the end.  Well...sort of.  Point is, he has privileges."

[8:52 PM] Xho: He was a small boy, and likely an arrogant, disobedient one at that.

[8:53 PM] Xho: The fact that he was set above you and the others in that manner cannot have endeared him to you.

[8:54 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "...heh...hehehehehe."

[8:54 PM] USS Adventure: She starts snickering some more.

[8:54 PM] Xho: What is so funny?

[8:55 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "You are like me.  All that talk, that analysis.  Those questions that aren't really questions.  You're good at this.  I was not aware drow were so well-trained."

[8:56 PM] Xho: We are. However, it is a double-edged sword, and one you will be able to use to hurt me if you wish.

[8:57 PM] Xho: ... because what I have said is the truth, to the best of my ability to tell it.

[8:58 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "...you're wrong on one point.  ...we were enamored with him."

[8:58 PM] Xho: ... that makes all of it much worse.

[8:59 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "I know, doesn't it?"

[9:00 PM] Xho: ... particularly that he killed her.

[9:01 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "...that's partly why we were.  ...he could kill us.  Incara was the only other one who could.  It was...captivating."

[9:02 PM] Xho: A strange form of masochism. ... though not entirely alien.

[9:02 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky smiles.

[9:02 PM] Xho: Would he ever have had one of you on your own terms?

[9:03 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Ooooh, have us?  You've got a dirty mind."

[9:04 PM] Xho: Possibly, but I had meant in any capacity. As a friend, a lover, a sister, a mentor. Anything.

[9:05 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "After Have We Ever Met?  No.  We're not...we're not really people, Jhael.  You can't trust anything I say.  It's not...motivated like you're used to."

[9:06 PM] Xho: I am aware of that.

[9:07 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "As is he.  So, he wouldn't want to have us at all.  Not in any capacity."

[9:07 PM] Xho: ... even you do not believe you are a person.

[9:08 PM] Xho: I would like to convince you that you are wrong.

[9:08 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Do you know I am?"

[9:09 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "You know there's an actual thought in here, and not just numbers?  Do you know how to determine when someone's really there...or just...acting like they are?"

[9:11 PM] Xho: Do you know that I am. Do you know if there is actual thought in here, and not just an inanimate, dead brain? Do you know how to determine when someone's really there, or just a collection of corpse meat held together with necromantic energies?

[9:11 PM] Xho: I feel that is the wrong question to ask.

[9:12 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Ugh, I hope I'm not a person.  You all seem so...self-involved.  Everyone's problems are your problems.  Everything you do has some meaning.  Being nothing is such a load off one's mind."

[9:13 PM] Xho: It is easier, yes. Though many people are not so introspective.

[9:13 PM] Xho: And your use of the first portion of my name only did not escape me.

[9:15 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Is that not how you people work?"

[9:15 PM] Xho: Drow, yes.

[9:15 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "No.  I meant people."

[9:16 PM] Xho: It depends upon one's culture. Some use only one name, others multiple all the time and still others, different portions at different socially-appropriate times.

[9:17 PM] Xho: And the answer to your previous question is yes.

[9:18 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "...which question?"

[9:18 PM] Xho: I can tell if there is actual thought in there, and not just numbers.

[9:18 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky tilts her head, quizzically.(edited)

[9:18 PM] Xho: Do you wish to know?

[9:19 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "...sure, I'm game."

[9:22 PM] USS Adventure: Xho You reach through and you feel a thought.  A thought of fear.  A doubt in who she is and who those around her are.  ...you also see she's wondering what Grax looks like naked. :)

[9:23 PM] Xho: ... yes, there is actual thought in there. And there are no numbers.

[9:24 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "...huh...well...that's something."

[9:24 PM] Xho: Also, his uniform is tight enough that most likely, your imagination is correct.

[9:24 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "......what."

[9:25 PM] Xho: You were wondering what the captain looks like naked.

[9:26 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "......no."

[9:28 PM] Xho: No?

[9:28 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: ".......I would not do that."

[9:29 PM] Xho: He is only your adoptive sibling, after all. And not a god of any kind, whatever Incara may have indicated.

[9:30 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "...I think we're done here."

[9:30 PM] Xho: Oh? You have no questions for me?

[9:31 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "...I don't know.  You bring up being dead a lot."

[9:31 PM] Xho: It has been on my mind a great deal lately.

[9:32 PM] Xho: In ordinary life it does not really come up all that often.

[9:32 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Then why do you care?"

[9:33 PM] Xho: It affects people's perceptions of me, and causes me some uncertainty as to the future.

[9:34 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Oh?"

[9:35 PM] Xho: Yes. It is possible that I will eventually lose my mind, or fall under the control of a necromancer, as I am not sure what the parameters of my existence are. Thus, uncertainty.

[9:35 PM] Xho: Why have you not asked how I relate to Grax?

[9:36 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "How do you?"

[9:36 PM] Xho: I thought perhaps you already knew.

[9:37 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "I did.  But say it."

[9:38 PM] Xho: We are partners. I am curious as to how.

[9:39 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "When you first came, you looked at his avatar the most."

[9:41 PM] Xho: He is the captain of the ship. One might expect someone to be a bit disconcerted to see such a person as an empty-headed teenager.

[9:42 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Your other officer didn't.  I read reactions.  It's literally my whole purpose."

[9:43 PM] Xho: That must be a burdensome gift at times.

[9:43 PM] Xho: ... your family dynamic is complicated, particularly with the captain, but you do not seem to be particularly angry with me.

[9:44 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "...no.  I'm not."

[9:44 PM] Xho: Why not?

[9:45 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "...I'm just...not.  I don't have the power to care about it."

[9:46 PM] Xho: ... you do have the power to care about other things, however.

[9:47 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "Man, I miss killing people."

[9:47 PM] Xho: Deflection. Now who is being tedious.

[9:47 PM] Xho: makes a silly face at Nidky.

[9:48 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "What exactly do you want to know."

[9:49 PM] Xho: ... you are really disturbingly like him at times. I want to know you.

[9:50 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky seems really taken aback by the comparison.  "Well...good luck, cause I only just learned there is a me."

[9:50 PM] USS Adventure: The other students start moving again.,

[9:52 PM] Xho: Fair.

[9:52 PM] Xho: ... I feel I prefer your uniform over this one.

[9:52 PM] USS Adventure: As you say that, your uniform changes to match hers.

[9:53 PM] Xho: Better.

[9:54 PM] USS Adventure: Nidky: "...others have worn it worse."

[9:55 PM] Xho: smiles.

[9:55 PM] USS Adventure: ((This seems a good stopping point, if you're ok with that.))

[9:55 PM] Xho: ((Yep!))