Well, I'll mind enough for both of us then.

( then launching back into the laundry list of questions: )

Now that it's all over, why don't you just put Sparkles back where you were holding it?

( well, damn. if she ever needed further confirmation that the captain was a jinn... )

Really? Not even if you reinforced the bottle? Added some more sigils, stuff like that?

( another day, in another headspace... )

Not really. And I'm not trying to criticize, Friday. I just want to understand.

Isn't Sparkles a vector ghost? Doesn't it make up the backbone of this whole place, and wouldn't shoving it back down into the bowels of the ship fix some of the issues around here?

Oh.

( allow 0.7 seconds to recalibrate her understanding here, then )

Does it still pose a threat to us if just allowed to roam about freely?

Generally? ( because specifically she was thinking about another round in the labyrinth of horrors. but those ellipse built into friday's response dangle like fish hooks and clarke smells bait. and palamedes is gone, but he was here for long enough that cadence, mannerisms, and general librarian nerdiness to rub off, so )

"A statement of an intention to inflict pain, injury, damage, or other hostile action on someone in retribution for something done or not done."

( or in clarke's own personal layman's terms: )

Something we should worry about.

( a muscle under her right eye twitches but it's fine, it's nothing, the dissociation vibes still strong and this is still just a casual conversation yanno? )

Aaaaand you're not going to do anything about that?

Sure, because you and the Captain were spared from the horrors last time, right?

But it could still drop the rest of us into personalized hellscapes if it wanted to, right?

Great. Great. That's just... super. ( and this bit slips a little into critical. ) The level of care you have for your charges is truly paramount, Friday.

( but then clarke sighs, and leans her forearms on the desk. )

How does someone manage to cut out a whole part of themselves and never really acknowledge it again? How'd the Captain do it?

( ha ha ha

clarke barely restrains an eyeroll, and bites her tongue against arguing that she wasn't going to try. )

You're really powerful. We all saw it at the Halloween party, and seen what the absence of that power means for the ship when you're gone. So... If not back into the ship bones, why not at least put it back in the Captain?

( a pause on this end, too. and audible huh. )

Really? It's that simple?

( ... )

Does the bubble we currently reside in pop if they do?

I kinda figured you would. You know them better than most of us.

( by virtue of being eternally tormented and also tortured. momentarily set aside the affections of fio and skulduggery pleasant, she wants to dig more at their nature.

and gnawing on a piece of thought jerky supplied by valdis some time ago: )

Do you think it would fundamentally change the Captain if they were reunited?

( clarke quietly hmmm's, like she's really thinking on the definition of self. she's more or less cast sparkles and the captain as two parts of the same whole; one his anger, the other his apathy. which is probably not entirely correct, but does beg the question: )

Are there any more pieces of his soul floating around, by the way?