"Come in." The door's partway open, anyway; Holden tends to keep it like that, just because he wants to be approachable. He's not really sure how to make that happen, especially with this really bizarre group of people that now lives on a facsimile of his ship, but he wants it.
He doesn't look up from the interface reader in front of him on the desk for a long moment, because he's pretty sure it's Jedao or Fives, and they both know that it takes his brain a second to disconnect from the shit he reads about Jedao.
He glances up, and a look of total surprise crosses his face.
"Oh, uh," he says. "Hi." His brain hunts around for something to say next, and comes up with "I don't need any sandwiches," a sentiment that is so totally helpful. "I mean, come in."
Nico stands in the doorway, though he doesn't quite make it beyond that. He waits quietly for Holden to look up, slightly relieved to have a few more seconds to try to pick out the correct words.
In his own way, Nico's very expressive, it's just that some range of fear/worry/anxiety tend to overlay everything else so it's hard to read anything under that. He makes it a step in once Holden recognizes who's there.
"Hi." He tugs at the cuff of his jacket. He was the one who came here, he should say something. It's an even harder barrier to pass than Holden's door. "Um."
A beat of silence, and Holden decides to give the kid a hand.
"Okay, let's narrow it down," he says. "Something's wrong, you have a question, you need something, or there's something I need to know. One of those four?" He's sort of assuming that Nico isn't here just to socialize, and that there isn't a compliment on Holden's great shipkeeping in the works. It would be a nice surprise if this was just Nico saying hey, I like your kitchen, let's make pancakes, but -- unlikely.
"Yeah," he says, then, immediately, "No," realizing that Nico might mean like like, not just like. (And a little of the rapidity of the response comes from the fact that, yeah, he's lonely, she's sharp and intriguing in all kinds of dangerous ways, and if he were completely unattached he may have considered it, despite the warden/inmate thing and the definitely a murderer thing. Hey, Amos has probably done some shit, and he's still someone Holden trusts beyond reason -- and wow this train of thought has far enough.)
"Not in the -- I have someone in my life already." Which is the most simple explanation, and the one best suited for not continuing to embarrass himself. "But mostly yes." A beat, and he contemplates the fact that knowing the reason for the question would go a long way towards clarifying the question. "Why do you ask?"
Nico's expression grows ever more dubious during Holden's back and forth answer. He's seen them talk and it didn't seem bad so he had figured that there was a decent enough probability that the answer wouldn't be 'no'. That his question might be interpreted as meaning anything other than 'as a person' accomplishes the rare feat of a possibilities that hadn't really crossed his mind. Now it definitely has, a thought which he would've been fine avoiding.
"Uh. Okay. I, uh, was just wondering - her cabin was kind of destroyed. And it'll probably take a bit to fix up and everything, with the Admiral, and I figured she's more used to spaceships and stuff..." He doesn't manage to quite get to the question but he's inched a little closer.
Luckily for Nico, in this instance, for once, Holden is pretty quick on the uptake. "She's welcome to a bunk," he says, immediately. "Hell, I didn't know, or I would have offered already." He knows it's the sort of thing that could be really condescending, but he would have offered regardless.
"I'll go ahead and give her access privileges," he says. "I don't mind her getting in here anyway." Thus making it not a thing conditioned on her accepting the offer, but a new circumstance set in place that --
Oh, huh. That's weird. Someone altered the access privileges. For Horseriver? Holden pauses, with a frown, staring down at the network device. It must have been Jedao, Jedao's the only one who steals Holden's network access. But it's not about physical access, so why...?
He thinks that Missy is living in the cell where she'd been alone for decades is a problem, whatever the state of it, but luckily destruction offers a reason that doesn't require offering that sort of information and which can be used as a logical reason for going someplace where there's always a degree of company, even if you stay out of the way.
"Thanks." He appreciates not having to have asked fully and he's not sure how much appreciation she would show, "Sometimes it's easier when it's not, uh, offered like that." Pride is a tricky thing and not something he can call on his own experience to understand.
"And, uh, thanks for letting me stay here." It's hard to say, there's a reason he tries his best to avoid any notice, acknowledgement is a step away from being told to leave. But he's trying.
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He doesn't look up from the interface reader in front of him on the desk for a long moment, because he's pretty sure it's Jedao or Fives, and they both know that it takes his brain a second to disconnect from the shit he reads about Jedao.
He glances up, and a look of total surprise crosses his face.
"Oh, uh," he says. "Hi." His brain hunts around for something to say next, and comes up with "I don't need any sandwiches," a sentiment that is so totally helpful. "I mean, come in."
no subject
In his own way, Nico's very expressive, it's just that some range of fear/worry/anxiety tend to overlay everything else so it's hard to read anything under that. He makes it a step in once Holden recognizes who's there.
"Hi." He tugs at the cuff of his jacket. He was the one who came here, he should say something. It's an even harder barrier to pass than Holden's door. "Um."
no subject
"Okay, let's narrow it down," he says. "Something's wrong, you have a question, you need something, or there's something I need to know. One of those four?" He's sort of assuming that Nico isn't here just to socialize, and that there isn't a compliment on Holden's great shipkeeping in the works. It would be a nice surprise if this was just Nico saying hey, I like your kitchen, let's make pancakes, but -- unlikely.
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"Do you like Missy?"
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"Not in the -- I have someone in my life already." Which is the most simple explanation, and the one best suited for not continuing to embarrass himself. "But mostly yes." A beat, and he contemplates the fact that knowing the reason for the question would go a long way towards clarifying the question. "Why do you ask?"
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"Uh. Okay. I, uh, was just wondering - her cabin was kind of destroyed. And it'll probably take a bit to fix up and everything, with the Admiral, and I figured she's more used to spaceships and stuff..." He doesn't manage to quite get to the question but he's inched a little closer.
no subject
Luckily for Nico, in this instance, for once, Holden is pretty quick on the uptake. "She's welcome to a bunk," he says, immediately. "Hell, I didn't know, or I would have offered already." He knows it's the sort of thing that could be really condescending, but he would have offered regardless.
"I'll go ahead and give her access privileges," he says. "I don't mind her getting in here anyway." Thus making it not a thing conditioned on her accepting the offer, but a new circumstance set in place that --
Oh, huh. That's weird. Someone altered the access privileges. For Horseriver? Holden pauses, with a frown, staring down at the network device. It must have been Jedao, Jedao's the only one who steals Holden's network access. But it's not about physical access, so why...?
no subject
"Thanks." He appreciates not having to have asked fully and he's not sure how much appreciation she would show, "Sometimes it's easier when it's not, uh, offered like that." Pride is a tricky thing and not something he can call on his own experience to understand.
"And, uh, thanks for letting me stay here." It's hard to say, there's a reason he tries his best to avoid any notice, acknowledgement is a step away from being told to leave. But he's trying.