veilbreak | 🧭 dflores 001

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)

I have a hammock in my office. Now you understand why am I a department head.

Would you like to hear about all the yelling I did at your headshot?

And I suddenly regret the demotion more than I thought possible.

Please.

dominiko.

dominiko.

dominiko.

dominiko.

dominiko.

dominiko.

dominiko.

Dominiko.

Dominiko.

Dominiko.

Dominiko.

Dominiko.

Dominiko.

Dominiko.

Dominiko.

Dominiko.

Dominiko.

Dominiko.

Dominiko.

Dominiko.

Dominiko.

Dominiko.

Dominiko.

Dominiko.

Dominiko.