driftfleet | (no subject)

Who: Tekhetsio
Broadcast: Network | Open
Action: SS Pathstone
When: November 15

[he doesn't turn the video feed on because he looks like shit. he can't even keep his mask properly in place, so the rest of the Fleet does not need to see him looking so inhuman and a little cadaverous. the fact that he can't even hide from his crew is bad enough.]

...This is getting absurd.

[his voice is sharp and quite stressed. he has completely run out of patience.]

Has no one come up with an answer for this thing yet? Honestly? ...Isn't anyone the least bit concerned with how... ugh...

[and his voice then trails off as he backs a step away from the receiver.

the entire fleet is then treated to the distinct sound of sickened retching... followed by a few clatters... and something small, wet, and heavy hitting the floor.

anyone aboard the SS Pathstone and happening by the network station that Tek is using will have it a little worse, however. he has puked up a little bit of a mess--mostly consisting of oily black liquid, a couple of half-digested coins... and a shiny red gem.

oops.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yes, well...

[ Trails off, kind of studying what is on the ground. ]

Is this your normal diet?

Ugh...

[he's just going to lean here pathetically for a minute, not daring to try and move just yet. he doesn't even turn to face her.

his voice just sharpens up to a clipped, completely-out-of-patience tone.]

...With all the time you spend in that lab, haven't you come up with anything helpful yet?

You assume I've been trying.

[ Totally flat in tone. ]

Edited 2014-11-17 23:21 (UTC)

[he finally turns to just... look at her over his shoulder.

and he can't keep his mask up, so he has the misfortune of looking a little monstrous. his skin has grayed out to the wrong color for something living, his teeth are sharp. little ridges of bone have warped the bridge of his nose and his eyes are glowing more than they should.

and oh the deadeyed look he fixes on her.]

...Isn't that your job? Isn't that the entire reason you're here?

[ Well, isn't that interesting. ]

The entire reason I'm here is that someone else willed it. I didn't have any intention of being here, and I certainly don't have any intention of playing at being part of this farce.

Don't act like you expect me to care.

You're useless, then.

[ugh he's so mad and has no energy to hide it]

...Aren't you sick too?

And you're bitter and irritating.

[ Like she isn't just as bad. ]

It doesn't seem that way.

...You're not?

[oh if he had the energy to throw a proper tantrum right now.]

[ When he gets better, first thing he'll do is just like. Bust into the sickbay and break shit and go THAT'S WHAT YOU GET while she's like "wat," right.

Also don't make her make him regret giving her back that knife. ]

I'm certainly no worse than you are.

[everything but the potatoes will be jettisoned into space]

So let me just... get this straight...

[working so very hard to keep his temper down, because even this level of anger is exhausting]

You feel bad when you snap and hurt someone... but with all of us suffering and you having having the means to possibly figure out an answer for it... you couldn't be bothered to try?

[ Yeah, it's almost like they've given the job to someone really unstable...

Oh. ]

I don't have the means. Is that what you wanted to hear?

All I have is medicine I don't know enough about and a ship full of childish idiots who spend all of their time laying about and then whining when nothing gets done.

[ SORRY...................... ]

[oh yes, the inhuman growling has officially started now.]

I am trying. And this is what happens when I do.

[gesturing to the network station and the mess that is now in front of it.]

I would love to be able to fix this. But I can't. I cause disease, not cure it.

[and with the fist-clench that goes with the words, a weak shiver of some kind of energy crawls in the form of light up his arm. some part of him is considering just giving her the plague so she can be miserable with the rest of them.]

That's what you and the chip in your head is for!

[ She smiles, and it's totally not because she's being friendly. ]

You're asking a few years too late for that.

[ Somewhere between self-destructive and just plain destructive, she's not even bothering to try to talk him down. ]

Too bad, I'm useless to you.

[the smile triggers a chain reaction in his head, and it's probably not a good one.

so, he smiles back--all of the odd fondness he'd shown now gone.]

I suppose you are.

And that is unfortunate. Very disappointing.

[ She's not so much wary about the fact that he might kill her or something, because the brat's got a death wish, but she doesn't like not knowing what's going on in someone's head. ]

You've only become disappointed in me now?

[ Basically on the verge of laughter because while this isn't entirely funny, the whole situation up to now is just so abnormal that it's basically the only way she can react, without even thinking about it. ]

Yes. As a matter of fact.

[and he does mean it, as strange as it is.]

I'd thought rather highly of you.

You shouldn't have.

[ It sounds like the kind of thing someone says when trying to be modest, but she means it. ]

[and that rubs him wrong in just such a way that he snaps at her again]

Oh, stop being pathetic.

If you're going to refuse to act, at least own up to it.

It isn't a refusal, it's that I can't do what you want me to do.

As I said, if I was a few years younger, there wouldn't be a problem.

["can't" is different than "don't care," so he calms down the bare minimum needed to question this a little.

he doesn't sound any kinder for it, though.]

What do you mean, "you can't?"

[ It's a long story, but maybe the very basic form of it will get him to drop it...probably not. Worth a shot though! ]

I'm sick. Not like you are, but it's why I can't properly work.