considering ataraxion | canon is Rule of Rose

[pinnedup]

An airship? Like the one... No. Not if I forget again.

I don't want to. They're not safe - the airships, I mean.

I'm sorry.

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[pike]

[ He laughs and then smiles at her. It's an odd smile. ]

I'm one of the doctors. In a sense.

[pinnedup]

So then... You don't really know how to keep a ship up there.

[pike]

I've been reassured it's quite difficult for it to drop out of the sky. Given that — in space — there isn't really an up to drop out of.

[pinnedup]

All the way up there? I can't imagine being so high.

And the stars? How do they look, up close?

[pike]

I haven't the slightest idea, unfortunately. [ A pause. ] No windows.

[pinnedup]

Then how do you know where you really are? Where you're going? It sounds terrible.

[pike]

The machines tell us. A bit of good faith, really. But we haven't much choice in the matter. [ A beat as he stares like a staring thing. ]

As for our destination — that's not really for us to know. Much to some people's frustration. Though— it could be considerably worse.

[pinnedup]

I suppose if you're in space...

Yes. It could.

[pike]

What were you doing on an airship?

[pinnedup]

I was on holiday with my family.

[pike]

Brothers and sisters?

[pinnedup]

I don't remember... I was very young.

[pike]

That must very strange. Being unable to remember your own siblings.

[pinnedup]

I don't know. How can you be sad over something you don't know is there?

[pike]

The human mind is a complicated place. It has ways of knowing, even when you don't. Ways of reminding you of things you'd rather let lie. [ A pause. ] Perhaps you're sad and you don't even realize it.

Or perhaps you never had siblings at all.

[pinnedup]

Even if I did, I was the only survivor.

Maybe the things we can't change are the things better left alone.

[pike]

[ Nigel exhales a laugh. ] Perhaps.

So now, here you are. A lone survivor, who once took a ride in an airship that fell out of the sky. Quite possibly bound for the stars.

Are you frightened?

[pinnedup]

No.

Brown would want me to be brave.

[pike]

And who is Brown?

[pinnedup]

He was my dog.

I loved him very much.

[pike]

[ That actually gets Nigel to smile in a bonafide un-creepy and genuine way. ]

Lovely creatures, dogs. [ They're about the only thing that Nigel won't take a knife to with enthusiasm. ]

[pinnedup]

They're very cute. Do you have a dog?

[ Nigel you've got to stop with the whole genuine human emotion type thing. ]

[pike]

[ Occasionally, he's capable of them. ]

They'd never allow one at school. Though my neighbors had one named Luther. He wasn't cute, per say, but terribly friendly.

[pinnedup]

It's more about the way a dog is than his looks, I think. That's what makes them cute.

[pike]

Oh, he could be a fright, no doubt about it. He just happened to like me, for some reason or another.