Mortis: Death's Sweet Smile

Recorder on.

A rare view of Mortis' living quarters is visible; spartan, but comfortable enough in typical Caldari style. Mortis himself is replacing a glass into a cabinet to be washed and stored.

Kimochi came around.

He smiles, shaking his head in a mixture of annoyance and amusement.

I get the feeling that Elysa put her up to it, or at least implied that it might be a good idea to check up on me. Nobody's allowed to even breathe on the Embrace without the delicate Miss Varbolt's permission, so having Kimmy walk into my quarters, cool as you please...

He laughs shortly.

I suppose I should be grateful, though. The visit livened me up a little, made me engage parts of my brain not to do with cybernetics and dissection of vacuum-frozen corpses. She listened very sympathetically, and mentioned that she's had a nightmare or two herself...

It was a nice, quiet chat. She made me promise to go to the Last Gate again, though. Not a prospect I look forward to.

He sits thoughtfully.

VETO are good pilots, and I've worked with them successfully a few times since coming down to Goinard, my lack of concentration notwithstanding. But their idea of a bar is rather too loud for my tastes. The Skyhook appealed to me, with its quiet and refined nature, the Gate, less so...

Still. I'll manage. I've been to worse in the past.

C just sent me a report that she's received the funds, and has made the appropriate enquiries regarding my other project. I'm hoping that it'll all come together within a month, maybe a month and a half at most. Accidents notwithstanding, the nightmares should have cleared by then, and I can be a useful member of the Ghosts again... it'll be nice to jack into the Predator again without feeling jittery.

And when the Nex is complete...

He smiles slowly, broadly.

Well, then... maybe I'll find peace. Maybe even move off the Embrace. It's all to look forward to.

But I've got to continue my work on cybernetics research first. I'm sure I'm close to cracking the interlink of the microcircuitry in Sansha implants with that of normal brain tissue. In theory, I might even be able to adapt black market Sansha implants for my own use; I've heard stories about the effectiveness of such modified technology. Some old colleagues from Twisted have already dabbled in such things.

All to look forward to. Maybe the future is brighter than I thought.

That's the funny thing about Kimochi. She's got such a sweet temperament, it's hard to stay cynical and gloomy... I'm looking forward to her story tomorrow.

I'm tired.

He sighs.

I guess it's back to the nightmare.

Oh, note to self... find out what reason Inara has to shelter Reppy... find out why Reppy needs sheltering at all... and if necessary... deal with the problem.

He glowers.

Both problems.

He reaches out and flips a switch.

Recorder off.