veilbreak | 🧭 dflores 001

Of course, how could I confuse the two?

niko.
We had two proclamations about your personal weaknesses at last count, how much will they damage your public image?

My public image has endured worse indignities. Besides, it's not every day that one of my favorites returns to the ship in a more permanent capacity.

According to the grapevine, Bishop couldn't find a Secret Santa gift for you until he settled on my reassignment.

Edited 2026-01-17 05:47 (UTC)

Personally, I am delighted by this turn of events. But how are you feeling about it?

I would have preferred a new city to a new desk, company notwithstanding, but who am I to make demands in the face of a global resistance?

Edited 2026-01-17 06:10 (UTC)

Domingo. I know from firsthand experience how difficult that particular transition can be.

Edited 2026-01-17 13:34 (UTC)

[...] Of course. You're right. How long did you take to adjust once you'd been deemed fit for duty? My Romanian network disbanded and I've still been reaching for my phone like it's a nervous tic.

It's hard to say. Our circumstances aren't quite comparable. I had to reinvent myself in a completely new field. But you will adjust, and who knows? Perhaps a desk job will slow the graying a little — not that it doesn’t suit you.

One of my jobs was a desk job.

Edited 2026-01-17 15:15 (UTC)

A stationary desk job. One that allows ~~you to be moni~~ me to keep an eye on you. And the others, I suppose, but that is less important.

And why would you need to keep an eye on me? I haven't tried to join a band since 2003.

B Y I need to see at least six faces of a certain degree of handsomeness per day, or I risk wilting into nothingness. Your good looks sustain me.

Is it terminal?

The prognosis improves dramatically with regular exposure.

"Medical accommodation" isn't the new phase of friendship I expected. I'll find some way to adapt.

[...] The other reason I'd like to keep an eye on you is because I know there have been issues with your chip.

[...] Do you, now?

Yes. All the department heads are aware.

Edited 2026-01-17 20:43 (UTC)

Of course they do. You do, because you had to go and have yourself promoted. [...] Did they use one of my nicer head shots in the debrief slideshow?

I did have to go and get myself promoted. There’s no privacy on this ship, and I wanted an office.

There was a collective gasp when your photo popped up. We were all quite struck by your beauty. Someone even fainted, if I recall correctly.

Have you tried moving in eight years later than you did? I've a room all to myself, at least until they realize their clerical error.

I tend to have that effect on upper management.

I can't imagine that will last long.

Why upper management, specifically?

Edited 2026-01-17 21:48 (UTC)

I'm willing the universe to allow me one weekend of relative freedom before shackling me with some 26-year-old who doesn't understand how to make their bed.

Working through lunch tends to lower the blood sugar. [...] I'm not your responsibility, Nikola.

I hope you're looking forward to being "sexiled."

Of course you aren't. But you are my friend, and I worry about you. I won't sit here and pretend I am not relieved to have you aboard.

No. Where does one even go?

I always expected some degree of [...] anger if I confessed I'd been lying to you for the better part of twenty years.

Edited 2026-01-17 23:42 (UTC)

no subject

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