006 :: Text

[hulkbusted]

Kevin Ford's NV is offline and Mimsy is gone.

I seem to be living alone now.

At the same time, two people I know from home are in the Port. Strange how things work here.

Comments

[hulkbusted]

I try. Sometimes it even works.

I'd appreciate her number. This boy doesn't have anyone to really look out for him and I've been doing what I can, but he's a unique kid in a unique situation and I don't want to see the system steamroll him.

[beenwaitinglong]

It's all for the sake of those times, isn't it?

[He provides a phone number.] You've already spoken to her once, though not with regards to business.

[hulkbusted]

If you say so. I'd take a good vacation myself.

[Oh look, it's already in his phone records.] She's not going to be mad at me for that last phone call I hope.

[beenwaitinglong]

Ha...! No, no... You helped me out. You're going to get a handshake and a cup of tea.

She was definitely mad at me for it, though. Rightfully so, I have to add.

[hulkbusted]

Good, I don't need people mad at me, especially not someone I'm going to ask for help.

Did you two get that straightened out?

[beenwaitinglong]

She'd help you regardless. In any case, no, you're her personal hero of the month.

Ms. Fey and I are a complicated pair. But we did straighten everything out.

[hulkbusted]

I hope she's less likely to make me feel awkwardly "aw shucks" about it. Honestly, right place, right time, that's all.

I'm glad. I've had my share of complicated, and I like when people get things worked out.

[beenwaitinglong]

Sorry, amigo. Can't help you there. She's got this happy look that'll turn your legs into jelly. [Or maybe it only works on him. Unlikely, but possible.]

Me too. Even if it's like pulling teeth to get the work out of me.

[hulkbusted]

[Someone's got it bad. Bruce is just a wee bit jealous.]

Most people are like that when it's their own complicated they need to fix.

[beenwaitinglong]

[Mia brings out the utterly cheesiest in him. And that's saying something.]

I plead the Fifth on that one.

[hulkbusted]

It's okay, I won't tell. I'll be working on my own complicated from now 'til the trump of doom and there will always be more.

[beenwaitinglong]

Isn't that just life in a nutshell? Echoes upon complicated echoes, twisting together until it all seems so disturbingly normal. Uneventful even.

It's like a bitter aftertaste that never really settles.

[... what?]

[hulkbusted]

[Someone needs one of those beer helmets, only with coffee.]

You missed your first calling as a poet to go into law.

[beenwaitinglong]

[Someone... possibly already has one. It is a mystery.]

Ha...! I've been told that before, you know. No reason why I can't do both as far as I see it.

So you're a doctor, then?

[hulkbusted]

No reason you can't combine passions, no.

I [awkward...] was working in Calcutta as a doctor before I came here. These days I'm teaching physics and biochemistry at SPU.

[beenwaitinglong]

After all, lawyers are supposed to be able to talk their way out of anything.

[He certainly doesn't notice any awkward.] Ah, so a doctor in more sense than one? That's impressive.

I didn't have the patience for anything past law school, much less a doctorate.

[hulkbusted]

Does it really work?

We gravitate to where our strengths lie, right? I like science - laws of nature are less mutable than laws of man.

[beenwaitinglong]

Worked well enough for me when I was a defense attorney. Works well enough now, too.

I've got to give you that one. Science tends to be more stable... yet somehow the interpretation of a hideous, shape-shifting behemoth of a concept appeals to me.

[He has no idea what a bad descriptor that was to use.]

[hulkbusted]

[Uh... Bruce takes a moment to wonder whether that was pointed or accidental before going on.]

It's... usually stable. It's kind of put the test around here. I've been spending a lot more time studying quantum mechanics than I ever expected to.

[beenwaitinglong]

[Sorry, bro. :c]

Hm. Is there a lot of application for that here? Or have you been poking at the Core like everyone else?

[hulkbusted]

I'd like to poke at the Core, but there's that whole problem with it being off limits.

Quantum mechanics helps to describe what we're living here, or at least starts to describe it. It's a discipline that really blurs the lines of hard science and science fiction.

[beenwaitinglong]

Ha...! Lost me at the bakery, amigo. It's all Greek to me.

But I'm glad there are competent people keeping an eye on that kind of thing for the rest of us.

[hulkbusted]

Imagine how my students feel.

I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere, but the more things I have to fill my time, the better.

[beenwaitinglong]

Poor bastards.

I know the feeling. There's nothing worse than sitting idle waiting for things to happen around you. At least prosecution keeps me plenty busy.

[hulkbusted]

There's nothing quite like looking up from setting up a simulation to see a room full of glazed eyes.

What happens to the people you prosecute? What's the justice system really like here? I hear so many things, and no offense, most of them aren't good.