Jess wrote:
When Nico steps back, she follows suit, straightening herself and her clothes unnecessarily, clearing her throat and letting her voice drop in register. ”Right. Can’t be musty,” she says, trying for gruff bro-speak, giving Nico the thumbs up. ”No one wants to be musty.” Ahhh, what’s the use? She can’t pull it off. With a laugh, she reaches out and bomps her fist against his arm. ”Shut up. I have gone way too long without a hug from you and I don’t care if you smell like you’ve been bathing in onions.”
As Jess' fist made contact, Nico took an exaggerated, staggered step to the side, clutching the spot where she'd "hit" him with his free hand.
"GAAAH! JE SUIS MORT!" He sustained a look of mortal agony for about two seconds before breaking back into a sheepish smile.
"Yeah, alright. But some kind of advisory system wouldn't be out of the question in these cases. Make sure your nostrils are ready." Taking a huge bite out of his burrito, he let out a satisfied sigh before continuing, mouth full.
"Maybur sumping wiff... *gulp*... flags."
The two continued to fawn over the fantastic options available at the truck until Jess' burrito came. Nico silently watched her bite into it, smiling and nodding with serene vindication at her positive reaction.
Jess wrote:
She takes a moment to swallow and catch her breath. ”Summer was okay, I guess. Dad’s good. Mom’s… fine.” Enthusiasm is definitely lacking. But she changes the subject. ”So why the musty closet odor? Does Priyah have you digging around for salvageable equipment again? I told you her that stuff from the ‘70s is going to take work to get it up and running again. Do you need some help? I’m free after my 2 pm class…”
Jess trails off, realizing that if she’s asking questions, she has to let the other person actually answer them.
Nico knew that brief cloud passing over an otherwise unbroken ray of sunshine. Summer break had its advantages and disadvantages for all of them. In Jess' case, its meant spending more time with her dad. On the other hand, it also meant spending more time with her mom, who had no doubt been needling the poor girl over what she probably considered a waste of potential.
As far as Nico was concerned, the only wasted potential in that house was her mother’s apparently superhuman ability to overlook how extraordinary her daughter already was. When it came to the artistic pursuits that actually made her happy, Jess seemed to have an almost effortless talent for creative expression. He gave Jess’ shoulder a gentle squeeze as they walked, letting her question barrage run its course. She was back now. Time, distance, and a steady regimen of immature hijinks would begin flushing the maternal toxicity from her system soon enough.
Nico smiled placidly as she went on. He had missed this. Jess’ energy, her enthusiasm, the way every thought arrived with three related thoughts clinging to it. Everything became intolerably ordinary when she wasn’t around. Mundane. Soporific, even.
When the subject turned back around to his unbecoming amount of stank and what brought it about however, Nico just groaned. pinching the bridge of his nose. The tired smile remained, but it wasn't quite making it up to his furrowed brow.
"I wish it was just haunted seventies hardware. No, this is a whole new species of suck. The university is finally renovating the communications building. New equipment! Functional infrastructure! Perhaps even cables manufactured during this century! Yaaaaay." He half-heartedly pumped his fist into the air.
"Unfortunately, the contractors need the station cleared without interrupting normal operations. Facilities promised us professional movers. Facilities lied." He began counting on his fingers.
“So Priyah and I spent the weekend building a temporary booth out of a glorified broom closet two floors down. Alex helped when he could.. Priyah’s been pulling doubles to keep us on air, and I’ve spent three days carrying everything else up and down the stairs. Result.”
He gestured to himself with a little flourish of his wrist.
"Anyway, we're pretty much good for now. More of the comm majors have arrived and we've got our usual little crew filtering in soon. We'll have plenty of hands on deck once we get our booths back.
Falling silent for a moment, the furrow gradually returned to Nico's brow. It wasn't exasperation this time though... he was suddenly reminded of another fly in the ointment.
"Actually... there is something you could help me with. I was trying to track down the source of some signal issues we've been having. I thought maybe it was just some damaged equipment or interference from something kind of construction-related barrier. I put together a record of the times our signal was dropping though... and there's one common variable: Priyah." He flowed, looking to Jess with a hint of concern.
"For some reason, it starts dropping when she arrives in the station, and it comes back fully functional when she leaves. It's... really weird. Possibly even... "our" kind of weird?"
Nico didn't really want to say more; partially he thought he was probably just being a little paranoid... and partially he was maybe afraid of speaking any hocus pocus curses or supernatural involvement into existence.
