cannulalingus | HOX-A1 || VIDEO

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[ V I D E O ]

[ There's a dreadlocked face on the screen, pushing thick cat eye glasses up to the bridge of her nose as she smiles a crooked smile and introduces herself with a small wave. There's a cannula directly attached, looping around her ears and threading somewhere offscreen, but she doesn't seem to pay too much mind to it. ]

Hey, guys and gals. Name's Cosima. Or, I guess, Doctor Niehaus if you're feeling frisky. [ A beat, as she shakes her head minutely. ] Don't feel frisky. I'm not used to being titular.

It's, ehm, well, see, it's come to my attention - obviously, quickly, and incredibly jarringly - that there are a number of differences out and about the ship! Specifically, I'm looking at you all of a different species, or - dare I say as a budding comic book geek with an embarrassingly large collection - superpowers?

[ She bites her lip, eyebrows raising a bit hopefully with her voice in octave as she gets a bit shyer about it, but none the less curious. ]

This is so not one of those automatic, mandatory kind of things, mind, because how douchey would that be? Ten minutes here and making demands. Let's call it an opt-in instead of an opt-out, and if anyone would like to spend a little time talking [ and she coyly cups a hand about her mouth ] or, let's be honest, bragging [ okay the hand is gone ] about what they can do and what their specific abilities might be? That would be -- flipping fantastic.

Thanks, folks.

[ With a thumbs up and a mild clearing of her throat, she cuts the feed. ]

[ S P A M ]

[ Care is the watchword, or at least taking it. Wandering this place should be and is probably quite dangerous, but look at her wandering regardless. She doesn't quite need her cane to walk for the time being, but there is an oxygen tank in hand that she drags nonchalantly behind her, tying not to pay much mind to or to really acknowledge it.

There's a music room on this level, and she full intends to take full advantage of it. That's if she doesn't get over to the art one first. Either way, she'll be toying around with instruments, browsing what music selection they have, anything she can get her hands on. The real fun will come when it gets to getting up to the medical level and seeing inside their infirmary - their lab, perhaps? Where she might be working? That's an exciting concept.

She's heard tale of something else around here, some kind of hologram-initiating system that she's certainly going to want to try out. It's a lot of wandering, but a lot of breaks in between. Leaning against walls, settling herself onto seats - it's tough to get around, but like hell is she not going to explore.

Basically, feel free to meet her anywhere. ]

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I'm going to pretend you said none of those awfully offensive things and just told me you're honored to meet me.

[Also who the fuck is Anna Paquin.]

Born, yes. Not bitten. We try not to do that anymore. People are much more interesting when they're people than when they're thirsting for ze darkest wine.

[ Cosima can't help the immediate shit-eating grin, tongue caught between her teeth for a moment. It wanes quickly, but still quirks up at the corners. ]

Sorry. Sorry. You can never be too sure. How's that work out for you here anyway? Ze darkest wine, I assume, is easy to come by, but, uh - How do I say this, do you still have to partake?

Not me. Not to my taste anymore. [She flinches, delicately and handsomely.] There's another one here that does, though.

There is? How do they keep from attacking the other passengers?

And your dietary needs, how have they fluctuated? Do you consume actual food now, do you have no need to consume at all? Is this weird? Totally giving you like the twelfth degree, not even the third?

There's blood substitute. In the dining hall. No necks required.

[Mal grins.] On the contrary. I love talking about myself. I can eat human food, but don't need to. I subsist on a substitute addiction. Used to be coffee. Now it's--

[How to put parse this efficiently.]

Science. Technological advances, specifically. I come from a country that I believe most people here would consider-- medieval?

[ Tru Blood. She likes it.

It's definitely a huge benefit that Mal's up and talking about herself, and the excitement reads in Cosima's expression as she goes, face brightening. ]

So you're - old school vampire, that's why you've been able to evolve the way you have, digestively speaking.

[ God, can she just look at your intestines some time, can she. ]

And so what have you learned from this here our bright new world?

More an exercise of willpower than evolution, technically speaking. If they're coming after you with torches and pitchforks, you have to adapt quickly, not over the course of centuries.

[It's sort of adorable. Mal tips her chin up, allowing herself to be studied, because really, who wouldn't want to study her, she's fantastic.]

I've learned how a record player and an electric guitar work. I've discovered electric lighting and learned how to manufacture functioning alternating and direct currents. I've discovered CAT scans and PET scans and television and French press coffee pots.

[A brief flicker in expression here; she misses her French press coffee pots, and the person who brought her one, but that's neither here nor there.]

Then again, some of the things I've learned have more to do with faster-than-light travel than with what you might consider the basic necessities of day-to-day living. It's all very - eclectic.

Nature beat out by nurture - though, in this case, a lack thereof.

[ Which is possibly even more interesting. Makes her sound a bit more akin to a heroin addict who was able to talk herself down from even the best high, though she knows it's an off-colored remark to say so. ]

It would come to you in bursts and different exposures, different subjects all varying as they come at you; no two people have the same views of what's 'important' to know, after all. Though FTL's nothing to sneeze at, I'll say.

What a remarkable life you must have lived.

Mm. So to speak.

[It's not a terribly inaccurate comparison, and for what it's worth, she wouldn't be offended by it. She has an astonishingly frank understanding of her own greatest weakness, an addiction that might be understood as encoded in her genetic material, and has relatively few qualms discussing it.]

[After all, that's what she's got people standing by to kill her for.]

It's been long and loud and interesting. I hope it will be longer and louder and more interesting still.

What do you think is important to know, then? Besides all about me.

Interesting a specimen that you are -

[ That sounds clinical. But it definitely sounds like a compliment. ]

I think it's important to know what I'm dealing with here, most of all. I mean, I can make up my own conjecture about what'll be here, expect the unexpected, but it's better to know what I'm expecting. Better to be prepared than be surprised by the inevitable.

That being said, from what information I got, [ tch, and she gives a short shake of her head, ] nooooot exactly easy to do here.

[Mal cocks her head to one side, a bit like a bird who's caught sight of an interesting worm.]

Let me tell you what I know: you will either die or see people die. It's inevitable. You'll argue a lot, no matter how nice you are. You'll have your motives questioned. Your motives will change. Some of your best friends will be murderers, because sometimes murderers are the best friends to have.

People will leave. But you'll be fascinated all the same. You're already fascinated, Cosima Niehaus, and it doesn't get any less interesting.

[ Cosima takes a careful breath, inhales deep the oxygen from her cannula before she actively replies. ]

I've changed an awful lot in the past year. [ Trust broken. Stakes heightened. Blah, blah. Like, buy a shovel. ] I can't imagine this place being any different.

It's that unpredictable element, it's always going to keep me guessing. I know murderers. [ Sort of. Does it count if they come back to life?

Rachel. Rachel probably counts. She could be sure of it. ]

I know some bad people, but not like here. I'd call it the thrilling danger element, but danger's not too fun until it's in retrospect. Maybe you're right. So long as I keep the most of moi?

[ Her hands gesture, fluttering to her chest with an easy smile. ]

Who knows? Maybe I'll change for the better.

You don't seem like the sort of person whose self is easy to shake.

[Meaning that Mal is pleased by this answer, the entirety of it, the depth of it, the dry humor of it. She's pleased by the new addition, not that her opinion means much to anyone but her; she is not, exactly, important here. She is not, exactly, important anywhere, except in her own mind and as a second-in-command. She isn't important, except when suddenly she is.]

[She believes that Cosima might be important.]

What kind of bad people do you know?

I've got a lot of self. [ Sort of. It's split apart, stretched across a good twelve different 'selves' sometimes. ] When you have to be sure what you are first, kinda gives you some cool insight into who you are.

[ Her lips purse at the question, a slow kind of consideration taking over her features as she parses out just how much she wants to tell her. Dyad oughtn't be a secret, and maybe here it doesn't have to be, but it's not something you get used to being mum about with the wrong people.

She doesn't trust Mal. But she does like Mal. ]

The scary, powerful kind. Murderers, torturers, definitely likely. The kind that'll black bag you and wipe you off the face of the planet if they want it to be within their power. The kind that own human beings and think they have every right to do so.

You know. The real party people.

[That's the thing about Mal: she's very likeable, if you like a certain type of smugness, a certain self-aggrandizement, if you like people who are clever and know it. She's clever and knows it, but she's not practical and knows that, too. That's why she surrounds herself with people like Polly. People like Aeryn.]

[People like Cosima, who address kidnapping as though it's just another fact of life, who give it the due it deserves without giving it too much of her fear, too much power. Mal's eyes narrow in satisfaction, pleasure.]

Do I get to know what you are? Or am I, do you think, likely to join the party?

[ Her smile reveals very little, a coy bit of a hidden thing that's not sure what side to place Mal on. She's been open about herself so far, maybe a mistake in a place like this where weaknesses and strengths should be played close to the chest.

What's impossible is hiding these things when her weaknesses are so openly revealed, the cannula curled around her chin that she plucks idly at before she speaks. ]

Have you met a woman named Helena here?

Met? No.

[She considers Cosima, with her weakness out in the open and her very familiar face, and smiles sharply.]

But I've seen her. I know that she has something of yours, more or less.

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