🧭 dflores 001

[loculus]

Did the Mnemo get smaller while I was away?

Comments

Dominiko.

[oneirophrenic]

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.

Dominiko.

[loculus]

Is it terminal?

Dominiko.

[oneirophrenic]

The prognosis improves dramatically with regular exposure.

Dominiko.

[loculus]

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

Dominiko.

[oneirophrenic]

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

Dominiko.

[loculus]

[...] Do you, now?

Dominiko.

[oneirophrenic]

Yes. All the department heads are aware.

Dominiko.

[loculus]

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?

Dominiko.

[oneirophrenic]

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.

Dominiko.

[loculus]

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.

Dominiko.

[oneirophrenic]

I can't imagine that will last long.

Why upper management, specifically?

Dominiko.

[loculus]

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.

Dominiko.

[oneirophrenic]

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.

Dominiko.

[loculus]

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.

Dominiko.

[oneirophrenic]

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?

Dominiko.

[loculus]

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

Please.

Dominiko.

[oneirophrenic]

I would suggest you kill Ishaan and take his place, but I've grown quite fond of him.

Oh, it was a very passionate scene. Feelings of betrayal I have not tapped into since 1996, when I -- as Adrian Kovac, naturally -- discovered that my longtime girlfriend, Victoria Kane, was sleeping with my archrival's twin brother. There was a lot of "how could you have done something so stupid, Domingo?" A fair amount of, "You could have told me. I should not have had to find out this way." A sprinkling of, "Why did you think you needed to hide this from me?"

Dominiko.

[loculus]

He's giving me the grand tour tomorrow, I'm not above petty murder.

It's only a summary and yet I already feel compelled to award you a Daytime Emmy. You would have moved me to tears.

Dominiko.

[oneirophrenic]

Is he? You could protest. You're not some fresh recruit.

I will happily present the acceptance speech I wrote back in 1995. It is not as much has changed.

Dominiko.

[loculus]

I had a premonition that I should save my battles for a rainy day.

Again: tears. And in return I'll give you mine for the AIA Gold, which I'll never even be nominated for but I do like to write in the shower. It starts with "I'm sorry" and reaches a narrative climax somewhere around "Taryn would have ordered me out of the field indefinitely."

Dominiko.

[oneirophrenic]

And would that have been so terrible? There are other ways to be useful to this cause, Domingo.

Dominiko.

[loculus]

Yes. While I understand this is resistance on a global scale, the only tangible impact I felt I could have was on an individual one that I could see. I don't care how that makes me self-involved.

Dominiko.

[oneirophrenic]

If you'll excuse me, I have to go yell at your headshot again.

Dominiko.

[loculus]

Given that the breifing's over, do you keep one framed by your bedside?

Dominiko.

[oneirophrenic]

It's under my pillow, actually. For safekeeping.