[........Jade sighs, a (half-)mock put-upon thing. In the process, he's also resisting the sudden and very powerful urge to just turn around and leave and take this ridiculous bar of pens with him--]
Of course you'd answer like that. [In immediate retrospect: probably shouldn't have expected anything else...] Surely you do realize how it all sounds, though. With a vagueness like this, one has to wonder if this entire affair isn't actually some kind of elaborate trap after all...
[Trailing off at that point, for a beat, Jade peers speculatively at the captain's features for a long moment.]
Why did you choose Skulduggery to take up this task for you?
[Oh yeah that's totally how it works, a foolproof tactic.....except Jade has been hearing just enough--from Skulduggery himself, mind you--that an admission like that is notable in itself, even despite the joke framing.
The speculative look remains on Jade's features. He's also letting another slight pause fall, just to really let that not-joke fall limp, before speaking once more.]
That would track, wouldn't it? It's a rather surprising concept, though. I hadn't thought you a sort of person capable of liking much of anything, particularly.
[Much less another person. Much less a passenger. And yet, and yet...]
Have you ever let any other passenger into the bridge, before? I've been wondering if Skulduggery's actually the first...
Not so unusual, and yet you're only willing to cite Friday... [Sure is literally not the question asked at all, no!! Which, in some ways, is even more telling than some sort of limited admission could have been. A slight smirk falling upon his features, Jade tilts his head slightly to one side.] So Skulduggery is the first passenger you've ever permitted into the bridge, isn't he?
Oh, of course, I suppose you wouldn't. Far too concerned with other far more important matters us insects couldn't possibly understand, no doubt.
[Just, slathered in sarcasm at this point, with an equal amount of airiness. ...Well, tempting as it might be to push further...Jade's not sure he could get any more direct in questioning if he tried, at this point, and the captain seems utterly determined to avoid actually answering the question no matter how extremely obvious the dodging might be.
That's fine, though. As far as Jade's concerned, the consistent dodging is just as good as confirmation anyhow. Which...makes for interesting implications, all told. If Skulduggery Pleasant is indeed the first passenger to ever witness the inside of the captain's bridge by active permission...just what was it, that earned him the privilege? What does the captain see in him, that he's never seen in any of the countless thousands of other souls sifted through the engines of this ship?
...Is it truly a good or a bad thing, this distinct favoring?
Questions he'll have to mull over on his own, probably; Jade doubts the captain would want to answer any of those, either. So...it's a bit of an impasse from here, isn't it? Not much else to be said. There's a slight pause, in which Jade idly weighs the pen sword in his hand, looking as if he's just about to offer it over--but at the last second, another final question occurs to him unbidden. Unrelated to anything else spoken of so far, here...well, sort of unrelated, anyway. And it's coming out as soon as thought turns to it, before he can quite stop himself--]
--Speaking of Skulduggery, though. As I'm sure you're aware, his body scattered on impact back there on the excursion...yet even upon his revival a day afterward, those bones persisted. Did you have...some sort of existing bone stockpile, that you pulled from to piece him back together? [--Don't need to know, really don't need to know, don't ask, why are you--] If so, does such a stockpile exist for generally fleshier sorts of bodies too, when you resurrect them?
[It's about what he'd already guessed anyway, though the validation is...hm. Only leads to more questions, really. How are the materials preserved? How does he manage to piece together anatomies from countless different worlds? And for that matter, most pressingly of all, how does the resurrection--
No. He told himself he wouldn't pursue this, and he's not going to, regardless of the way there's something intent and unpleasantly familiar rearing up in the back of thought just at this little bit of information already.
It's another beat of hesitation, as if he's about to say something else...but Jade's expression simply flattens into neutrality, after a second or so. With no further pretense, he actually does hold out the ridiculous bundle of taped pens for the captain to take this time.]
Well, here you go, then. Per our agreement. [.......] Honestly, I haven't the faintest idea what you're going to do with this thing.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Of course you'd answer like that. [In immediate retrospect: probably shouldn't have expected anything else...] Surely you do realize how it all sounds, though. With a vagueness like this, one has to wonder if this entire affair isn't actually some kind of elaborate trap after all...
[Trailing off at that point, for a beat, Jade peers speculatively at the captain's features for a long moment.]
Why did you choose Skulduggery to take up this task for you?
no subject
[if you say it like it's a joke then it's not true right.]
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The speculative look remains on Jade's features. He's also letting another slight pause fall, just to really let that not-joke fall limp, before speaking once more.]
That would track, wouldn't it? It's a rather surprising concept, though. I hadn't thought you a sort of person capable of liking much of anything, particularly.
[Much less another person. Much less a passenger. And yet, and yet...]
Have you ever let any other passenger into the bridge, before? I've been wondering if Skulduggery's actually the first...
no subject
[which is literally not the question asked at all.]
no subject
no subject
no subject
[Just, slathered in sarcasm at this point, with an equal amount of airiness. ...Well, tempting as it might be to push further...Jade's not sure he could get any more direct in questioning if he tried, at this point, and the captain seems utterly determined to avoid actually answering the question no matter how extremely obvious the dodging might be.
That's fine, though. As far as Jade's concerned, the consistent dodging is just as good as confirmation anyhow. Which...makes for interesting implications, all told. If Skulduggery Pleasant is indeed the first passenger to ever witness the inside of the captain's bridge by active permission...just what was it, that earned him the privilege? What does the captain see in him, that he's never seen in any of the countless thousands of other souls sifted through the engines of this ship?
...Is it truly a good or a bad thing, this distinct favoring?
Questions he'll have to mull over on his own, probably; Jade doubts the captain would want to answer any of those, either. So...it's a bit of an impasse from here, isn't it? Not much else to be said. There's a slight pause, in which Jade idly weighs the pen sword in his hand, looking as if he's just about to offer it over--but at the last second, another final question occurs to him unbidden. Unrelated to anything else spoken of so far, here...well, sort of unrelated, anyway. And it's coming out as soon as thought turns to it, before he can quite stop himself--]
--Speaking of Skulduggery, though. As I'm sure you're aware, his body scattered on impact back there on the excursion...yet even upon his revival a day afterward, those bones persisted. Did you have...some sort of existing bone stockpile, that you pulled from to piece him back together? [--Don't need to know, really don't need to know, don't ask, why are you--] If so, does such a stockpile exist for generally fleshier sorts of bodies too, when you resurrect them?
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It's always good to have spares.
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[It's about what he'd already guessed anyway, though the validation is...hm. Only leads to more questions, really. How are the materials preserved? How does he manage to piece together anatomies from countless different worlds? And for that matter, most pressingly of all, how does the resurrection--
No. He told himself he wouldn't pursue this, and he's not going to, regardless of the way there's something intent and unpleasantly familiar rearing up in the back of thought just at this little bit of information already.
It's another beat of hesitation, as if he's about to say something else...but Jade's expression simply flattens into neutrality, after a second or so. With no further pretense, he actually does hold out the ridiculous bundle of taped pens for the captain to take this time.]
Well, here you go, then. Per our agreement. [.......] Honestly, I haven't the faintest idea what you're going to do with this thing.
no subject
I'm going to have it, of course. [said with a certain amount of "duh" in the inflection.]