stop pressing buttons dammit!

[realitymods]

[There is a rather unassuming man on the Plane. His hair is curly, messy in a boyish way. He looks like he hasn't slept for some time, and the wrinkled state of his vaguely Victorian suit shows as much.

He's frantically pressing buttons on what seems to be a floating HUD of some sort, not seen for a while around these parts. Anyone close enough ought to see the equivalent of a lot of charts in a different language, arcane-like runes bouncing and graphs flashing frantically.]

No, no, no! Don't sass me, you post-Cedural piece of—

[Oh, so it's the British... sounding fellow from earlier. Eventually the whole thing goes red, and he's forced to close it with a swipe of his hand.]

Well, I guess that's that. Ah, how do I put this... hello, nice to meet you all. Oh, and-- I'm sorry. Very sorry. It's nothing bad. I tried to do something, and it did something else. The intended effect ought to happen still, but... er, it has a side-effect. A mild side-effect. Very mild. Totally not dangerous, just a minor annoyance, like having to spend time with your in-laws.

Again. I'm sorry.

Comments

[lamb_of_gold]

What did you do?

[Hello, meet a guy who is almost completely fed up with this place and it's shenanigans.]

[realitymods]

[He takes a step back.]

I thought I'd try to make things a li'l easier. I put a wish matrix into the code and it, uh, it's goin' to make some of you stick together. Not permanently-- I'm working on a cure for that-- but you might be able to break it before I can finish the reversal.

[punkblaze]

[Eithan hears the fuss, makes his way over just in time for him to say hello and then immediately apologize. And you know, given the shit the Plane keeps pulling, he can't help but to squint at him, more than a little bit suspicious.

But then the next thing out of his mouth is a joke about in-laws, and of course Eithan has to snicker at that, shake his head with a roll of his shoulders.]

I dunno, man. My future in-laws are, uh... a little more than just a minor annoyance. [He says it pretty fondly, though. But then, he gets more seroius.] What happened, though? What's goin' on?

[realitymods]

I hope your in-laws aren't life-threatening. It's bad for the marriage.

[The man, really not much older than Eithan himself, manages a half-smile before trying to be professional again.]

Well, it's like this. I was trying to make it so you all could have something you wanted, like a present. And the Machine somehow interpreted that as 'you have to be present'. You might end up stuck to someone else, as it were.

I'm quite sorry.

[lamb_of_gold]

[...]

Define stick together, please. You understand that the last several months has been considerably less than pleasant, and I'd rather this trend not continue.

[realitymods]

I'm not entirely sure of the ramifications, but you might be spending time in someone else's world. Or someone might be spending time in yours.

[grip_on_reality]

[Menzies strides over to him, arms crossed, looking him up and down] Hello and I'm sorry? That's a new one. I suppose we should be grateful. [her voice is dripping with sarcasm]

[punkblaze]

[Snort!] Nah. Just... real tough customers.

[He runs a hand through his hair before crossing his arms. That doesn't sound too awful! But he's still wary and a little bit nervous.]

Well, uh. At least you tried? [beat] Wait stuck how, exactly?

[realitymods]

[Despite being a couple inches taller than Menzies, he still feels a bit like he's being interrogated. He holds his palms up in a gesture of surrender.]

That's, uh, look-- I didn't ask for a thank-you. I don't want one. I mucked it up rather thoroughly anyway. [He runs a hand through his hair.] Look, I'm sorry. I'm trying, but the technology on my world is half broken, so I'm still getting used to this.

[realitymods]

[Not that he blames Eithan.]

Not literally, but you'll prolly feel a hard tug if you try to run away from them.

[punkblaze]

[... he wiiiinces anyway.]

Maaaan. Do I wanna know who I'm stuck to...?

[desertdaggers]

[this is definitely something that inspires a desire to investigate.]

Nice to meet you too I hope. Did it not like what you were trying?

[dododo]

[ Oh wow look at that. ]

Do any of you actually know what you're doing around here?

[grip_on_reality]

[she wasn't expecting that reaction, to say the least. to his credit, he's caused her expression to become slightly less accusatory and slightly more curious] Right. So what's got you mucking about with the Plane in the first place? You don't seem the usual type, ah... [and she leaves an expectant pause, waiting for his name]

[caelus]

[jim watches the man from a distance, the floating hud is at least more sophisticated than a lot of things he has seen so far on the plane, but then he hasn't really been around all that much to do a proper survey. he also has no idea of the shenanigans that the people running the joint get up to.

but he knows that displays going red like that normally don't mean good things.]

I'm sorry, but what, exactly, are you apologizing for? Was there some sort of malfunction with your equipment?

[but then he's mentioning side-effects, he blanches a bit. this is a guy that's allergic to probably half of the known universe. ask bones, he keeps a list.]

---wait, wait, wait. Did you say side-effect? What kind of side-effect?

[realitymods]

A malfunction, yeah. Like a-- a glitch, really.

[He makes a worried face, mirroring Kirk's own.]

From what I gathered, there's a chance you'll have to stick around someone else. Maybe in your own world. Rough estimates say the maximum distance is going to be around a meter, but don't quote me on that.

No one told me the Machine takes things this literally.

[realitymods]

[His shoulders slump.]

I do! Most of the time. If I was completely inept I wouldn't have made it this far, but I... look, I'm sorry. I'm just trying to make things better for you and I mean this honestly.

Nothing I do will make up for what the people before me did, and I understand that. I'm just asking for a chance.

[realitymods]

[He nods, runs a hand through his messy hair.]

A bit. I'm trying to place one command and it says the syntax is wrong, even though it works the same with similar commands. It's just stubborn. Stubborn like it has a life of its own.

[realitymods]

Wolfgang Albrecht. How do you do.

[He sucks on his bottom lip for a moment, thinking.]

The usual type? If you're talking about how I'm skinnier than that Kross guy, I suppose that's accurate. He could probably wipe the shop with me. But anyway. I'm here for a reason, though I'm not sure I'm supposed to really... talk about that kind of stuff with you guys.

The rules are a bit vague in my opinion though.

[realitymods]

Your guess is as good as mine. It'll be someone who can access the Plane, at least. For good or ill.

[lamb_of_gold]

[Mu seems surprised by the forthcoming information and who can blame him?, and his demeanour lightens somewhat.]

Lovely. I suppose the next logical question would be how long you expect this to last, but I get the impression that you can't answer it.

[realitymods]

Heh, well, about that. It'll take at least three days for me to get any sort of progress on a reversal code. But that might mean longer for you, since time flows differently on the Plane.

[He scratches behind an ear.]

You guys are insightful though. You might beat me to it. Ah, but that'd be embarrassing...

For sure, I'll make the thing I wanted to happen, uh, happen. I wanted to give you all something, try to-- make it easier on you, for a li'l while.

[desertdaggers]

Do you think it does, then? What kind of thing were you trying to tell it to do?

[grip_on_reality]

DI Patricia Menzies.

[she snorts at his comparison to Kross since, of course, that's not what she meant at all. but at his last comment, she hmmms in interest] So what can you say?

[punkblaze]

Yeah, that could be anywhere from a breeze to a nightmare.

[SIGH.]

Eh. You tried, anyway. Yeah?