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[forensicks]

[Walter has recorded a video message from the point of view of someone who has just come through the door into his cabin and sees Walter at his desk in the chair turned around to face the viewer. He gives a little salute-wave.]

Didn't get me. But nice try.

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(frozen comment) Starter Archive

[forensicks]

[FOR POSTERITY.]

Spam

[skitter]

Taylor takes a day or two after the dreams seem to settle down, before she goes looking for Walter, with Scraps the magic ferretipede riding on her shoulder.

[forensicks]

Walter is pretty easy to find since he's working fairly substantial shifts in the library, though rather than the circulation desk he's a good section or two deep inside, using a table to sort through books from a large cart.

"Oh! You must be Taylor."

[skitter]

She raises a hand in greeting, and has to smile. It's been a while since she got an inmate who wasn't furious to meet a temp.

"That's me. Taylor Kiryu. I just wanted to put a face on the name, and see if you're interested in having lunch and a chat?"

[forensicks]

He raises an eyebrow, obviously wondering where the "Kiryu" comes from but not impolite enough to ask out loud.

"Lunch is great. I'm a big lunch fan, once I found out how the shifts actually worked." He waves his hand over the books. "Just let me finish shelving these. I'm not keen to get booted back to Custodial."

[skitter]

"Yeah, don't blame you. Library's a big improvement." She picks up a few books, and starts looking for where they go too.

"I've been here for a few years. I've never worked in here, but one of my best friends ran it for a while."

[forensicks]

Walter is getting to know the library pretty well! The books are separated nicely for which shelf they'll go to.

"You didn't know Una by any chance, did you? She said she'd first arrived here a long time ago." He's staying engaged. What a good and committed inmate, clearly.

[skitter]

"Only in passing. I'd recognize her face, but I can't say we've talked." She shrugs. "There are usually between seventy and a hundred people on board. You won't know everyone."

[forensicks]

"Yeah, really running up against Dunbar's number." Walter faces away towards the table to pick up more books as he says: "I've actually been thinking about asking for some stuff to help me keep up with it, but I don't want to be a bother."

[skitter]

"If it's ordinary stuff, getting it is as simple as sending a text," she says noncommittally. "Usually. Depends on whatever the Admiral's got going on at the time."

[forensicks]

"Splendid! Yeah, I'm not asking for powers back or anything. I'm just some guy. Okay, I'm almost done," he says, being almost done.

[skitter]

She lets him get the last ones, then, and lets Scraps investigate the cart for a moment.

"For the record, I do have powers. You okay with that?"

[forensicks]

"Hey, don't track anything in there, keeping it clean is also part of my job!"

He leans down to look at the creature with friendly indignation, then gets back up.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat the question?"

[skitter]

Scraps makes an indignant sound, holding up her little paws - six of the eight of them - to show him. She is very clean!

"I've got powers. Reformed supervillain." She gives him a bit of grin, but she's quite serious. "I control bugs, and I use them a lot on board, so I prefer people to know."

[forensicks]

Okay, Scraps...

"I see. But no powers that would definitely affect me like reading my mind all the time? Or - should I watch out for stepping on your bugs...?"

[skitter]

"No, I don't read minds. And I don't care if they get stepped on, I've got lots. And I don't have a reason to, well, bug you."

[forensicks]

"G-Great..."

With his stride reassured, he'll start to walk out of the library with her.

"Is that something you can do? Heck, it might even be what a warden *would* do."

[skitter]

She taps her fingers against her shoulder, and Scraps hops back up, curling limply around the back of her neck as they head out.

"I can, definitely. I used to do it here a lot. I dial it way back these days. Grew out of my Big Brother phase around the first time I graduated. Cafeteria food okay? Or I have the makings for grilled cheese and soup at my cabin."

[forensicks]

"You'd think it would be the other way around..."

Well, not necessarily. Walter is the surveiling type of inmate, not that he has any intention of letting Taylor know that. ...the first time? What a hellish cycle that sounds like.

"Cafeteria's great. Maybe I can bring some stuff to your kitchen next time. All wardens really have them?"

[skitter]

"Yeah. It's a perk. You cook?"

[forensicks]

"I feel bad saying that when I still ate out a lot, but yeah. Not having that control anymore is," and how does he say that while still sounding like an inmate who is super chill, "kind of a big change."

[skitter]

"Yeah, I bet.

"What'd you do before here?" she asks, trying to pitch it in a 'generic small talk' way, not a 'so, why an inmate?' way.

cw medical

[forensicks]

It's immediately obvious that Walter has decided to make this a spiel said many times: "I've tried a few things. Stocks, personal shopping, artisanal goat cheese. But a few years ago I got my skull injured in an accident, and so I didn't have to work anymore."

He taps against the area where the surgically embedded metal plate would be.

"That's what snuck up on me again in the end, though. Win some lose some."

Library spam

[ukan]

And true to Lark's word he does seek Walter out the next day.

"So. You know me. I'm Lark, hi. Welcome aboard."

[forensicks]

"Hi, I'm Walter."

He is acting professional and trying very, very hard to not look like he's just met a celebrity. Yeah. Facade success.

"I've been talking with Emet-Selch and he's rather laissez-faire as long as the work gets done. Would you say you agree with that, yourself?"