inbox;

[nonfictional]

Comments

[nonfictional]

[ He can venture a guess, and so he does: ]

Part of your deal with the warden to fix it?

[oddswerebad]

[He nods.]

I want to bring them back.

[It's a lot more complicated than that in practice, but that's the driving force.]

[nonfictional]

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?

[oddswerebad]

The person you're, uh, paired with has to graduate. [He shrugs.]

It's a direct exchange, but there's still... incentive to helping others, because that can contribute to your 'goal'.

[nonfictional]

Huh. So it's like helping points or something. A determined system.

[ Alan is thinking way too hard about this. ]

Do you know how much you need to do?

[oddswerebad]

Not really. There's no set points or list of stuff to be dealt with.

[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.

[nonfictional]

That's a lot of uncertainty. But trusting in the process--that's half of anything, I think

[oddswerebad]

I know that people... graduate, and the Admiral fulfills his deals. [So he trusts the system far more than he's ever trusted another.

He pauses a moment, but this is a chance to practice his conversation.] Why did you decide to be a writer?

[nonfictional]

Kind of bullshit that you guys are in the dark, too. [ He's just saying. ]

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.

[oddswerebad]

[It's not as if Nico disagrees.]

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.

[nonfictional]

It's a lot. It's also worth it.

What do you do as a hobby?

[oddswerebad]

[He thinks about that for a moment. He doesn't have a lot of what he'd call 'hobbies'.]

I like strategy games.

[nonfictional]

[ Why is he not surprised it's the nerdiest type. ]

Board or video?

[oddswerebad]

Board games. Video games are interesting too.

[nonfictional]

You ever check out the ones in the common rooms?

[oddswerebad]

Uh. Not often. I have some on a tablet that I picked up when we visited a... future port.

Relative to me.

[It's difficult to find strategy games that he can't immediately beat.]

[nonfictional]

Relative to you, meaning?

[oddswerebad]

Uh. It was in the 24th century. In that... specific universe.