[Video] -"We're back!" a dinosaur story.

[expectremorse]

[Have a very bleary looking Hoffman barge, scratching his neck in the infirmary barge. He hit the video button by accident, as evidenced by the state of disarray of his hair and outfit.]

...I can only assume that-

[cough, pause, cough. Hey look at that he sounds almost normal. There's still a little bit of a rough edge but it's not crippling

Comments

[strangehstorian]

Your last entry on the network was twelve days, twenty-one hours and twenty-seven minutes ago.

[expectremorse]

...twelve days.

[Bleary eye rub]

what'd I miss? The barge doesn't look like something out of a horror movie anymore.

[strangehstorian]

Closer to thirteen. We had a very nice port.

[expectremorse]

[Hoffman looks a little lost] port?

[Right. Those things that people go to.] ...where'd we go?

[onefullmoony]

Nearly two weeks.

[expectremorse]

[mute nod] ...How'd I get from my room to the infirmary?

[He shifts the camera around then sets it down] Did I miss a party? It looks like everything had gone normal.

[onefullmoony]

I found you in your room and bought you down there, Mark.

[expectremorse]

[Hoffman smiles. One instinctive fluid movement.] Thanks.

Did I miss anything?

[most_feared]

So you're up. [He's going to be curt. He's happy, really, but his hackles are all raised like a dog going home after the furniture's been switched around and the floor is vacuumed.]

[expectremorse]

[blink] yeah. Twice as beautiful and all that. [Stildyne must be rubbing off on him.]

[Private]

[most_feared]

...So I got some bad news.

I'm upset over it too. Might wanna talk about it in person.

[Private]

[expectremorse]

[Hoffman frowns. This...could be anything. He could be leaving. Something could have happened. Amanda could have graduated. (It's bad news in his current mindset).

He switches to audio]

...Like...Do I have time to shower first?

after everyone's filled him in

[der_umgekehrte]

...sorry you missed port. Got you a few things, Lupin says you can have them. Stop by my quarters when you're free.

Ah, the sad. [spam]

[expectremorse]

[Hoffman doesn't acknowledge the response, but late at night-about an hour or two after he's done talking to Kay there is a knock on Stildyne's door.

Then it becomes more insistent.]

[der_umgekehrte]

All right, all right-- ah, you. Thought you weren't coming.

[expectremorse]

[Hoffman looks bleary-eyed and tired]

...It's...been a long day.