Voicemail (IC Contact Post) OLD - at capcha

[abrightboy]

 This is Bright. Leave a message.

Comments

[cactusy]

Nope. Why'd you guess that?

[abrightboy]

A phone. Law enforcement. I’m sure you’re not a 911 operator…

[cactusy]

Yeah, can you imagine?

[lol]

We communicate via payphones, sometimes.

[Sure, that's one way of putting it.]

Doctors have a symbol, the Marines have a slogan, the ISA has a couple--

[She lifts one forearm, showing him her older tattoos (a Rod of Asclepius, and the letters U.S.M.C.), as well as a newer one (the words SEND ME written in an arc above the others). ]

But we're not really an organization, we're just us. Had to get creative.

[abrightboy]

What did Steve do for you?

[cactusy]

He did the payphone, 'cause I can't draw. I did the ISA slogan.

[She taps SEND ME. Yes, the ISA had tried to kill her; yes, they had killed her partner. Yes, the work she'd done had been suspect on multiple levels. But it had still been a part of her life, and she wouldn't have gotten to where she is now without it.]

I also did these.

[She leans forward a little, twisting her arms this way and that to show him all new nice new decorations: INDIGO FIVE BETA written on the inside of an elbow, Morse Code lettering ....- .- ..-. wrapped like a bracelet around one wrist, a forward slash mark / written on both the back and underside of her other wrist. She's been busy. She's also not sure that she's done.]

[abrightboy]

[Malcolm examines the Morse code.]

I’m rusty. Does that say 4… A… F?

[cactusy]

Mmmhm. Doesn't seem like much, but it saved my life once.

[abrightboy]

What does it mean?

[cactusy]

I can't say.

[Samaritan knows the acronym, but they don't know what it stands for. And whether Samaritan is watching or not, that's still hers, and no one else's. No one else alive, anyway.]

[abrightboy]

As in ‘it’s too personal’ or as in ‘if I told you, I’d have to kill you’?

[cactusy]

As in I don't want it to get back to the wrong people, who won't really care, but who might try to use it to drive me insane.

[Which is is aware sounds insane in and of itself; she raises an eyebrow in wry acknowledgement of this.]

[abrightboy]

[It doesn't sound crazy coming from someone who may have been conditioned to assassinate people against her will.]

It's a kind of journaling. Your tattoos.

[cactusy]

B suggested writing things down, but, uh... I told him I couldn't.

[But this is different. She runs a thumb down the line of one of the forward slashes on her wrist.]

This one's a computer thing; it symbolizes the root directory of a filing system. I don't know if you know what that is.

[abrightboy]

[He smiles a little.] But you are.

[He looks at the symbols.] Kind of. So. Is it symbolic of where you come from?

[cactusy]

Computers are, I guess. I basically work for one. But, uh-- a root user is like a superuser, who can access everything other people can't. And a root directory is the top-most directory; everything else on the system is inside of it. Root means... the origin of everything.

[It also means complete power, which she suspects is closer to the real reason that Root had chosen it as a moniker. Shaw can take something different from it, though.]

[abrightboy]

But what does it mean to you?

[cactusy]

It means my files are all jumbled up, without anything holding them together and keeping them organized. No root directory for me.

[She smooths her thumb over the symbol again.]

Just this.

[abrightboy]

There are ways to learn how to order them.

[cactusy]

Yeah. Working on it. That's why I'm here, right?

[abrightboy]

Well. I know it's not for my sparkling personality. [Teasing. But also kind of true.] When you look at that symbol, what does it make you think? [He intentionally doesn't say 'feel', even though she's clearly having feelings about it right now. He thinks framing thoughts will be easier for her than framing emotions that she doesn't have the tools to recognize and describe yet.]

[cactusy]

[She recognizes the choice of wording, and appreciates it, giving him a little nod before saying--]

Safety. Security.

[abrightboy]

Why does acknowledging your rootlessness make you feel safe?

[cactusy]

But this doesn't acknowledge my rootlessness. It...

[She pauses, trying to decide how to phrase it.]

It gives it back to me, a little bit. It's the symbol for a root directory, not the symbol for a deleted root directory.

[abrightboy]

So it's a hopeful symbol.

[cactusy]

I guess so.

["Hopeful" isn't the word she would have grabbed for herself, but now that she thinks about it, it does fit.]

Sure.