@rulesbent / plotted !! ( lister & rimmer )
“lister, what are you on about?” rimmer’s voice is a perfect blend of annoyance and defensiveness, raised a little too loud, pitched a little too high, he’s not even sure how they ended up in a shouting match --- his parents never argued about things like this. he’s not even sure what the big deal is. the kid --- boe --- has just run off, crying about... something rimmer said, apparently, and locked themself in kryten’s room with the older mechanoid. and somehow, this is his fault.
the hologram rounds on lister now, anger directed at the only person left standing in front of him. “i was trying to focus! i’m a very busy man, lister, and i have an exam to study for! boe knew that! it’s incredibly important that i become an officer, you know. now that we have a child on board, i can’t have them thinking i’m some sort of...... pathetic failure.” he crosses his arms. “they have to respect me, lister, or they’ll never learn proper discipline. if they didn’t want me to shout, they shouldn’t have been bothering me, distracting me, while i was studying!”
in reality, he’d been meticulously shading the lettering on the first row of his new and improved revision timetable --- which he’s had to edit now that there are childcare duties to account for. boe had come in, trying to get his attention, trying to show him something they’d made, and he’d lost his temper. perfectly reasonable, in rimmer’s eyes. a child’s arts and crafts project is hardly important compared to the astronavigation exam.
“how long are they going to stay holed up with kryten, anyway? they really ought to apologize. god! i can hear them crying from here.”




















