✘ o9 ;;

[decrypts]

[ if there's one person that has something of a habit of making grand entrances to the plane, it's this guy. first, it was hitting the ground running from an angry orange alien, and this time, he'll just be rolling in on a desk chair at a pretty high velocity, probably close to toppling ass over teacup the moment he loses any semblance of his balance, and it will be just one more instance of falling on his ass in this place that he can add to the list.

at least he's in his armor. that oughta soften the blow a little.

and anything is better than floating around in space after having nearly been blown the fuck up just because someone had neglected to tell him that the director had his own course of action should he not be able to take care of a little security bypass. that hadn't been giving him any trouble. at all. thank you, delta.

who is, of course, already bombarding him with questions in the back of his mind, and could somebody get york an aspirin, or something? he feels one hell of a headache coming on.

his chair slowly rolls to a stop, and he slumps over, elbows braced on his knees as he silently takes stock of himself. nothing hurts, his armor is intact, there's an annoying buzzing inside his head that is still finding ways to explain why it hadn't felt the need to let a certain somebody in on the fact that the director had a giant fucking laser pointed at his location for the entire duration of his mission … eh, par for the course. ]

Agent York, are you listening?

Tryin' not to, D … haven't quite worked on tunin' you out yet. Gimme a bit, and I'll have it down pat.

[ oi. ]

( ooc: this would be york's canon bump! which means he now has a certain cockbite of an ai with him, and we pre-emptively apologize for him. in entirety. )

Comments

[desertdaggers]

[absolutely.]

Excellent. Should we go for some sort of theme, or would we be better mixing things if everyone brings something?

[themystery]

[ Sissel doesn't mind at all. It's kind of nice when people decide to stay in the Realm of the Dead to talk to him rather than speak aloud. Like being on even footing. ]

Really? What other ways have you shown up?

[grip_on_reality]

[believe it or not, York is still not doing a terribly good job of convincing her] And how long are you expecting they will leave you out there?

[she hmmms in interest at his talk about AIs, though] They must think a lot of you for you to be first. I suppose that means you're better at 'andling your usual enemies than you are the Tabbalac. [she smirks]

[and as he describes the future plan, she nods. she's thinking of North, of course--not that she thinks there's any need to hide that fact. and so, she asks curiously:] Are they all like your green friend? Sort of...logical but alive?

[it's a completely valid description; in her experience, logic and life only rarely go together]

[decrypts]

[ of course to start a little bit of trouble. asdklh you.

she's talking, and york's jaw is practically dropped through the floor, and delta … delta is just going right along with everything like it's no big deal at all. it isn't, for him, he supposes, jesus. ]

What was the purpose of such an experiment?

[decrypts]

[ he cannot believe he is having this conversation right now. ]

Might be able to implement a little bit of feng shui if everyone brings in somethin' of their own.

[vengefulagent]

[...Well, that answers his question.] Yeah...I'm not North. Uh, I think I need to get you to a medic... Your eyes must be going. [Short pause.] And your head.

Actually, take your helmet off. I need to see if you hit your head or something, buddy.

[decrypts]

[ at this point, he's really just … interested in seeing where this is going. this isn't exactly at the top of the list of weird shit he's seen and been through in this place, but it's at least proving to be entertaining.

for the time being.

he snorts. ]

Well, I hit the ground running full-force one time. But in my defense, I was bein' chased by an angry orange alien.

[decrypts]

[ everyone has their bad days, okay? just let him have this one and continue thinking he's just the slightest bit important. ] I … honestly don't have a clue. [ eheh. heh. hush.

and excuse you! he wasn't ready for the tabbalac! ] Hey! That was a special case! Though I guess if I ever come up against some giant, orange insurrectionists, I can put two and two together and get a head start on 'em. [ yeah. see? nyah.

he thinks about her question, and honestly doesn't know how to answer it. ] If they're all gonna end up bein' like Delta, I feel for the agents that get 'em. [ snort. ] But I really don't know? They didn't tell me much about my own until after I got him. Honestly, I'm feelin' kinda like a guinea pig with all of this.

[desertdaggers]

Feng shui? [he grins, a little crookedly, and holds out his hands] You'll have to explain that to me.

[grip_on_reality]

[she's still not terribly happy with that response, but since York seems to prefer to let his world handle it, she isn't going to interfere] Well, if it gets to be too long, just radio me, all right? I've got a teleporter that might be able to do something about it.

[she's still smirking, just as amused by his defensive declarations] I'm sure that makes you an asset to your team! [her tone is dry. York will have to decide whether she meant that sarcastically or not~]

[her expression is wry, and she gives a short, rather humourless chuckle] Believe it or not, Agent Manhattan, you probably are. I mean, especially if you're the first. Not sure how else experiments get tested. [this isn't helping her feel less nervous about the AIs, but from the little she saw of Delta, he didn't seem like a danger to York, so she figures she'll focus on that for now] But if he's working all right so far, that's a good sign. [because despite York's complaining, she didn't get the impression that he dislikes Delta]

[fallbythesword]

I never figured it out. Maybe it was to see how much they could agitate me, but if that's what they were trying, you'd think they would have kept changing their size, or doing other things to me. It ended when Christopher brought me some pills, which also appeared to be completely unrelated.

[That part still bothers her - the inconsistency of it, anyway. djfakl wtf, Astral Plane. Seriously.

But she sees that York's jaw is dropped, and she doesn't even bother hiding her smirk.]

Problem?

[decrypts]

[ wow what the absolute fuck was i thinking in that tag I'M NOT STUPID I SWEAR. fuck i'm so embarrassed.

but well excuse for york to be out of his gourd for the moment, sure. not like we ever really needed one before.

he does take his helmet off, though, shakes his head for effect. ] I'm fine ... uh. [ so he might have a concussion. maybe. who the hell knows. ] No medic necessary.

[ don't believe him. really. he's concussed. ]

[decrypts]

S'just a way of arranging things, like furniture, to your personal tastes. It's supposed to have somethin' to do with the flow of positive energy or some shit, too, I think.

[ york how do you know this stuff. ]

[desertdaggers]

Is that right? And… would that ever entail putting something in the way of someone getting through? [since, well, if that ever catches on, maybe he should watch out for it.]

Who came up with this idea?

[decrypts]

… You do? [ do you think that would even work?

he guesses it couldn't hurt to try, push come to shove, but he still has faith that they'll come get him eventually.

his eyes narrow at her next response, and he's just short of sticking his tongue out at her for it. he knows you're being sarcastic, you big meanie. he really is important, okay. but if you take into consideration the crap he's been through, from the grenade incident to being implanted with the biggest green artificial cockbite known to man, he likes to think he's exempt from too much judgement on that front.

he groans a bit, rubs at his eyes. ] I probably am … yeah. Great. Thanks, Director – [ you'll learn to love the little guy, and you know it~ ] – but he's doin' his job, and I only get headaches sometimes, so I guess it could be worse.

[decrypts]

It seems rather pointless to me for such an experiment to take place, and not have any sort of recognizable resolution.

[ YES THANK YOU DELTA. JESUS CHRIST YOU'RE JUST MAKING IT WORSE AND YOU KNOW IT.

meanwhile, york tries to pick his jaw up off the floor, put it back where it belongs and act like nothing at all is troubling him. ]

Me? Problem? 'Course not.

[ :| ]

[decrypts]

Don't think so. [ at least, he's pretty sure it wouldn't ever be something like that. ]

Now that, I don't have a clue about. Probably some Chinese guy way back in the past or somethin'. [ it sounds chinese, anyway, so he's going with it. ]

[fallbythesword]

I agree. Unfortunately, unless I can find the being responsible, I'll just have to figure it out myself. [Beat.] Except, I have more pressing things to do.

[Poor, poor York. ♥ She reaches over and pats him on the head.]

[grip_on_reality]

[she nods] Yeah, I got it from this place. So if you want a ride back to your ship, you can 'ave it for a bit. Ah, it's not cursed--I've tested it. [she feels this is important to add because you never can trust objects you get from the Plane, after all]

[she knows you're important, York! but hopefully you're not expecting her to say it~]

He gives you headaches? [she frowns at that, still not really understanding how this process works. concerned, she adds:] Are they monitoring that?

[decrypts]

[ and before delta can open his coded-and-meddling mouth, york reaches up and grabs for the hand patting his head, looking up at her with a nearly desperate expression. ]

… Please stop talkin' to him. The next time we're on our own I'm gonna have to pull him just so he doesn't ask me questions about your experiments.

[ plural.

because.

y'know.

boobs. ]

I don't want him thinkin' about those.

[ that last part is practically whispered.

because conspiracy!! ]

[decrypts]

[ true enough about that, eesh. there's nothing that he's gotten from this place – even for a small amount of time – that he thinks he could trust farther than he could throw it.

no matter what it is or how far he could throw it. ] If I end up needin' it, I'll come find you. [ his smile is genuine, not that it ever isn't where she's concerned, but still, it merits noting.

and he isn't expecting her to say a damn thing. psh, he doesn't need anyone else to tell him he's important~ ] I've told 'em about it, but they don't seem all that concerned. Gotta be because it's all new, right? [ he's not above speculation, and he's no stranger to headaches, especially since the grenade incident. ]

[fallbythesword]

[Yes. Boobs. she knows. Plural. Very plural, she remembers, because they were very large and in her goddamn way ugh.

She blinks, caught a little off-guard by the sudden desperation and emphasis...

... but then, she's smirking, and she shrugs her shoulders. She leaves her hand in his, rests the other on her hip.]

He seems too analytical to be anything to worry about. But okay. We won't talk about that anymore.

[They'll find other things to talk about, she's sure.]

[grip_on_reality]

Good. [she smirks back, accepting that answer because she trusts from that smile that he means it]

I suppose so. [her tone is uncertain because she has to admit, she's completely out of her depth with this topic] Can't say I know 'ow it works--or how it's meant to. But if they 'aven't taken 'im away yet, I'm betting that's a good sign.

[not that she really understands that Delta is literally implanted. not yet, anyway]

[decrypts]

[ he's sorry, okay? kinda. but that had also been how he'd met you for the first time and if that particular instance is rather firmly planted in his memory, he dares you to blame him.

he squints at her a bit, just because when she sounds like that, she ends up either plotting something or unintentionally saying something else that makes his life difficult. and while he'll never trade her for anything in the world, woman, good grief. ]

Thank you. … You're already thinkin' of somethin' else to talk about, aren't you?

[ he knows you.

meanwhile – ] Agent York, I must insist that I hold no interest in the female anatomy, much less that of what appears to be your … significant other.

[ beat. ]

I am sure you will think of her at a later time and I will have all the information I could ever need.

Delta – !!

[ FOR THE LOVE OF ACTUAL FUCK YOU LITTLE GREEN PIECE OF SHIT ASDLKHG ]

[decrypts]

[ of course he means it! he really doesn't want to be stuck in space forever. and if it comes to that … well, it'll be useful, naturally.

they're both a bit out of their depth where all of this is concerned, because it's just as new to him as he's pretty sure it is to her. hell, once he'd heard that he would be in the first implant group, he'd been a bit alarmed – not that he would ever admit as much, because that would be something like … admitting that he was nervous about it. and he's never nervous about anything.

and he's a goddamned liar. ] Hell if I can say the same thing, I don't know how any of this stuff works. [ there might be a bit of an underlying tone of i wish i did, and it bothers me that i don't, but it's there and gone just as quickly. ] If all I ever have to deal with are headaches, though, I can handle it. I get those already.