[ Those hands on his face slide down, as if the act of rubbing his cheeks and jaw can shake out how fucking tired he feels, far too self absorbed to pick up on the little shift. Nico looks about the same as he does: tired. And now the important, ground breaking shit is out of the way. ]
[ Alan's voice is light, not at all upset or accusatory, just curious. ]
Considering I just admitted one of the reasons I'm probably here, I figured a bit of a background on my new warden wouldn't be out of pocket to ask for.
[ He'll lead the witness, though. Start with something simple. ]
You look about as tired as me.
cw epidemic that targeted children; not directly stated child abuse (as medicial experiment)
[It's a simple question, but the answer goes back to the start.]
More than a decade ago... in, uh, my universe and according to my personal timeline, the United States was hit by a... disease that they call now IAAN. Out of children between the ages of eight and fourteen, only two percent survived. I believe the percentage has continued for the next group of kids who turned eight.
[He can say that much at one remove. He tugs at a loose thread on his cuff.]
The government wanted to figure out what caused the disease. I spent a lot of my life in labs.
[ Well. Alan asked. He watches the other carefully as he speaks, though it's a little hard to hide the shock on his face at everything being said.
Maybe, he thinks, Nico deserves more than a nap. But it explains the haunted look and the haggard ideals from someone that Alan still very much views as a kid, 20 or not. ]
I'm sorry.
[ What else are you supposed to say? Alan's reeling, taken aback. ]
[Nico wraps his hands around his now cool cup again. His words are almost neutral, because how could he capture it all in tone. He lived through it, and he saw the people who didn't. He knows what was done to the kids that lived.
He half-shrugs.]
Now you have one of the reasons I'm here.
[He doesn't think it's a fair exchange to have put this on Alan, but Nico's not sure he could answer the smaller question without the wider context.]
That’s really admirable. [ He genuinely means it. ]
Hopefully you get to sooner, rather than later. Do you have to graduate a person specifically, or does it all accumulate? What are the economics of this sort of thing, anyway?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[ Those hands on his face slide down, as if the act of rubbing his cheeks and jaw can shake out how fucking tired he feels, far too self absorbed to pick up on the little shift. Nico looks about the same as he does: tired. And now the important, ground breaking shit is out of the way. ]
So. What about you?
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[He's not trying to avoid the question. It's just that there's a lot of... stuff that could go under the question.]
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Considering I just admitted one of the reasons I'm probably here, I figured a bit of a background on my new warden wouldn't be out of pocket to ask for.
[ He'll lead the witness, though. Start with something simple. ]
You look about as tired as me.
cw epidemic that targeted children; not directly stated child abuse (as medicial experiment)
More than a decade ago... in, uh, my universe and according to my personal timeline, the United States was hit by a... disease that they call now IAAN. Out of children between the ages of eight and fourteen, only two percent survived. I believe the percentage has continued for the next group of kids who turned eight.
[He can say that much at one remove. He tugs at a loose thread on his cuff.]
The government wanted to figure out what caused the disease. I spent a lot of my life in labs.
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Maybe, he thinks, Nico deserves more than a nap. But it explains the haunted look and the haggard ideals from someone that Alan still very much views as a kid, 20 or not. ]
I'm sorry.
[ What else are you supposed to say? Alan's reeling, taken aback. ]
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He half-shrugs.]
Now you have one of the reasons I'm here.
[He doesn't think it's a fair exchange to have put this on Alan, but Nico's not sure he could answer the smaller question without the wider context.]
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Part of your deal with the warden to fix it?
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I want to bring them back.
[It's a lot more complicated than that in practice, but that's the driving force.]
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Hopefully you get to sooner, rather than later. Do you have to graduate a person specifically, or does it all accumulate? What are the economics of this sort of thing, anyway?
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It's a direct exchange, but there's still... incentive to helping others, because that can contribute to your 'goal'.
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[ Alan is thinking way too hard about this. ]
Do you know how much you need to do?
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[He'd really prefer it if there were.]
You have to figure out what works for whoever you're dealing with, and you don't know if you're right or wrong until... the end, I guess.
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He pauses a moment, but this is a chance to practice his conversation.] Why did you decide to be a writer?
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I can't really imagine doing anything else. I've always had a vivid imagination and I've always been drawn to stories, it just felt natural.
[ A beat. He's hoping this doesn't come across as egotistical as it probably will: ] I'm good at it, too.
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That's good. It's nice to do something you're good at.
[He doesn't consider it an egotistical thing to say. After all, he can say precisely what he's good at.]
I don't read a lot, but I think writing books is very impressive.
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What do you do as a hobby?
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I like strategy games.
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Board or video?
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Relative to me.
[It's difficult to find strategy games that he can't immediately beat.]
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