ic inbox

[reviewstarlight]

"Hi there! You've reached Nana Daiba. I can't come to the phone right now, but leave a message or text me and I'll get back to you."

Comments

[heyboss]

It's fine, Nana.

[He laughs a little.]

You know, you might have more room if you didn't have this extra furniture.

[reviewstarlight]

Mmm, I don't mind the lack of space!

[ It is actively inconveniencing. ]

Besides, this is my dorm room. It's supposed to have the extra furniture—I had a roommate back home.

[heyboss]

Oh yeah? What was she like?

[He walks over to the little enclosure and peers inside through the glass to the frog.

Damn. He's pretty cute.]

[reviewstarlight]

She's the reason why I've been reading philosophy! Her name's Junna. She's smart and she's possibly the most determined person I've ever met. I'm nowhere near her level when it comes to brains.

[heyboss]

Ah! The infamous Junna. Yes, you told me about her in the library.

[He looks over his shoulder.]

I wonder what she would think of you keeping this furniture when you don't need it!

[reviewstarlight]

[ Oh Sheehan. Nana wasn't born yesterday. She looks over at Sheehan and lightly teases, ]

She'd want me to keep it, of course. After all, if she knew about this situation, she'd be here on the Barge to begin with!

[heyboss]

Ah, but she's not. What side would she be on? Inmate or warden?

[He doesn't always ask questions this brazen, but he's doing it now. For her.]

[reviewstarlight]

Probably inmate. After all, she's guilty of the same things I am.

[ she sure as fuck is not. But at this moment, at this place in time, Nana's not entirely sure what she's guilty of in the first place. ]

[heyboss]

Oh? And what things are that?

[He's not playing tricks today. Just curious.]

[reviewstarlight]

We're hungry. We're selfish. We'll fight and claw our way to our final stage, our stage of dreams by any means necessary.

[ There's a pause before, ]

I think the Admiral views selfishness as my crime. But it's not. It's foolish to punish someone for being selfish. That's a stage girl's very soul.

[heyboss]

Do you think that's why you're here?

[He isn't entirely certain that's what she's meaning here.]

[reviewstarlight]

It's got to be. I can't think of anything else!

[heyboss]

Well, whoever you're paired with will get a file. That might help.

[reviewstarlight]

How useful are those files? How much will it say about me?

[heyboss]

It goes over your whole life.

[He peers into the enclosure again.]

Every detail, anything you tried to hide.

[reviewstarlight]

[ Lettuce stares up at Sheehan with a blank frog stare that Nana would say is cute and everybody else would say 'yep, that's a frog.' ]

In that case, it's a good thing that I'm not hiding anything!

[heyboss]

That's quite a claim. Everyone hides something for many reasons, Nana.

And, I should point out, you were hiding your very status on this ship when you arrived.

[reviewstarlight]

In that case, how about a deal? I'll tell you what I'm hiding if you tell me what you're hiding.

[ It's said in a bright and cheery tone of voice. Because frankly? Nana doesn't think Sheehan will take the challenge. This whole conversation feels like both of them talking about her. Only her. Well if he's her temp, she'll need to know about him as well, won't she? Why are they just focused on her?

Besides, she can let one or two secrets spill and keep the big ones hidden away safe. ]

[heyboss]

[Unfortunately for Nana, this is not 'fresh off canon' Sheehan. This is Sheehan who has been on the Barge for a while.]

Alright. You first.

[reviewstarlight]

[ Fuck. There's a small moment of surprise on Nana's face before she settles on, ]

I've told you that I work in production as well as an actress, right? I joined the production class because I had a specific idea of what this year's 'Starlight' should be. And the best way to make sure your ideas happen is to be there when the product's created.

[heyboss]

What does that entail? I'm- not really familiar with theater.

[He's not stalling, either. He's simply trying to actually understand.]

[reviewstarlight]

It means I help with the script, the direction, making the sets, things like that. Usually, actors aren't involved with behind the scenes work like that. But I wanted to make sure our performance went exactly the way I wanted it to go.

[heyboss]

[So she wanted control. That's an easy enough impulse to understand, but he knows there's more. Still, a deal's a deal.]

I created an elaborate setup for a patient, once. To help him live out his delusion in the hope that it would help him.

[reviewstarlight]

[ That is intensely interesting. ]

What was that set-up like? What did you do?

[heyboss]

I let him think what he needed to think. I simply gave him the props that he needed to make his own perception reality. We had people playing parts, helping him out, all with the goal to keep him from surgery.