driftfleet | In like a Tourist, out like a lamb

I'm not asking if you would have or not - I'm asking because I'm worried Atroma did not take kindly to your experiment and might be retaliating against you and anyone else involved. From the stories I've heard, that's a very real concern, and if it is we should get you to a medic.

_{[ See? He actually was worried for you, Kitty. He knows something of creatures who run on vengeance, and he doesn't think it's out of the realm of possibility for Atroma to do something like that, however subtle. He's all for being bold, but there are a lot of factors to consider, least of all the seemingly very far reaching and even god-like powers of their captor.

He chooses not to address the other part, because frankly he could have told her that. Messing with something embedded in someone's brain without proper medics around or even a good understanding of how it's connected screamed of being a bad idea to him. But that would be rubbing salt in the wound, and he's not cruel. ]}

[Well, that does make more sense.] I feel normal for me. Of course that's assuming we'd even be able to tell if they were changing us.

What have you heard?

[It never seemed like a good idea. Just a necessary one. She had to try phasing through it. The other part? The cutting? She could have skipped that. She figures it's been done before since anyone could do it even if not everyone could do it on a person with a healing ability. But how many other people have the power to disrupt electronics? She's not the only one, but maybe she's the first here or the first to try it. She had to give it a shot. Maybe they should have stopped there, but that wasn't her call to make. And she figured Laura cutting on Logan would at least prevent Laura cutting on herself the way she'd wanted to immediately after learning about the augment.]

Besides the fact that Atroma managed to kidnap all of us from times and dimensions and perform surgery on us? I heard about something that you could call a Callibration. It messed with the minds of everyone in the Fleet, sorted through and exposed memories. It keeps people from using their power to simply leave. I don't know if this is actually all Atroma's doing, but it's a safe bet it is involved somehow.

If it can mess with our minds - and it definitely can to some degree because I know things about this ship right off that I shouldn't, it makes me think that the augments are most definitely connected directly to our brains somehow.

_{[ He's not against exploring what the augment actually does, but he would feel better with more controlled conditions and a bonifide doctor on hand to see to it the physical health of the person being experimented on. Recklessly messing with someone so closely attacked to the brain (or at least as he suspected it to be) was not an endeavor to be taken lightly or done hastily, and certainly not without some extensive medical knowledge in his opinion. He didn't like it in his head any more than anyone else probably did. In fact he had Beverley immediately check him once he got off the Marsiva.

Shorting out something potentially so embedded in the brain seemed far to risky a thing to do, even with a healing ability. ]}

A calibration? Sounds like something that would have happened to us at the prison. [Which is the first she's heard of anything like that here. She's not surprised. She expected the place to show a darker side as time passed.]

But nothing retaliatory? It could be they were happy we experimented. Probably brought in viewers. [Not that she ever would have done it for that.]

I'm not sure what the calibration was for, but it could have been.

And while that's true, there's no telling if Atroma might. It could be that by messing with the Augment, you've broken some unspoken rule and it would want to make an example. It might not. No one knows enough about Atroma to say what it will and will not do. There's not even a guarantee we're on a show, after all.

_{[ Paranoid? ABSOLUTELY. This screams of something fishy and he's waiting for the shoe to drop - hard. ]}

[She looks up at him.] There's no guarantees in any of this, Kirk. Mess with the augment. Don't mess with the augment. Get ratings. Don't get ratings. Do your jobs. Ignore your jobs. We're all just guessing. [It's a frustrating, helpless sort of feeling that she had at the prison too, but there you got feedback. You didn't know if they were lies or the truth, but here there's just silence.]

No one else should have gotten hurt and that's on me. [Probably no reason that should be on her specifically, but she's still taking the responsibility.] I'm not planning to go for it again.

_{[ He sighs. ]}

Believe me, I know that. It's frustrating. And I'm not saying that I disagree with learning what it is the augments actually are. I'm not. We should definitely try and figure out what it is that's been put it is. All I'm saying is that maybe next time let's do things like this with a medical professional. I'd hate for something to happen to you that's made worse because you couldn't get medical attention in time. Plan for the things that could go wrong, as best you can, and then try.

It's all we can do.

_{[ Essentially, caution and prudence. He's learned a hell of a lot about in the past year. He got a major wake up call when he walked right into a trap and he should have seen all the warning signs long before then. Scotty, Spock, and Bones had, and it was by the barest margin things had not gone even worse than they had. Only a few of his crew dead - and himself - instead of his whole ship lost. He was not skittish, but he at least had begun to understand that simply running head long wasn't always the best option, and the consequences could ripple out in unexpected ways.

He looks to her and nods, accepting what she's said. He understand that weight. He'll live with his own guilt for the rest of his life - the death of Pike, those crew that died in Marcus' assault and the ship falling towards Earth, even to some degree Vulcan though that had been somewhat out of his hands. It was not an easy thing. ]}

[The problem with advice you don't ask for is that you usually don't want it no matter how well intentioned or salient. Not that this ever really stops her from getting unsolicited advice.]

I'm not a child and I don't lack experience. [She actually manages to say this without sounding petulant. Her words are measured and calm.] I don't need anyone to hold my hand through making decisions or dealing with the consequences of them. [When she needed it most there was no one there. Not at first at least.]

It's not holding your hand - it's that life advice I promised you. From someone who understands what you're going through.

_{[ He shrug his shoulders, pushing up from his bed and going to his door, opening it. ]}

Probably would have sounded better coming from Pike, honestly. I'm not used to this life-advice thing yet. So, you know, give me time to work through the learning curve.

[She gets up too, assuming she's being kicked out by the way he goes to the door. She does try to let the tension this conversation drop off. He's also bringing up Pike which she knows isn't the easiest thing for him.] In that case it needs to be sassier next time. Or we could just go back to the love interest thing.

_{[ He laughs, waiting for her to go past before following her himself. He's just hungry, really, not kicking her out. He's not good with being still either, and he didn't think she'd enjoy his pacing, so he would give himself something else to do instead. ]}

Dually noted. Hmm, I was giving that some thought. I think I'm the friend that judges your boyfriends - or girlfriends - and encourages bad behavior from time to time.

Trust me, that doesn't need to be encouraged. It happens just fine on its own. [Oh, okay, so not a fight. Just a walk. Good.]

These are the things you think about when left to your own devices?

Well, to be fair, the usual things that I occupy my mind with are moot now. I'm not exactly a Captain at the moment. Well, I am, but this is definitely not the Enterprise. It tends to come up as a topic of thought late at night, if that eases your concerns.

Just brand new concerns now. [She manages a smile though.] I know what you mean though. Having less going on is a lot to get used to somehow. Too much time to think is its own kind of problem.

_{[ He nodded. ]}

It's why I took up running. It helps me find my zen, you could say - my calm place. But damn what I wouldn't do for a mission right now or a planet to explore.

The augments were my mission. I guess I'll try for one with less stabbing. I already do a lot of training. [She'd kept the habit up all through the prison time too.]

Less stabbing is always a good thing. And maybe we can spar some time, if you want. It would help to have someone else to work with - makes things less monotonous.

You think you could handle me? [She raises an eyebrow.]

That sounds like a challenge, Miss Pryde.

_{[ He smirks at her, those blue eyes sparking at the suggestion. ]}

Or a warning. I think this might be the time we should have medical personnel around just in case.

_{[ He stretched his arms and cracked his knuckles. ]}

Don't you worry. I'm tougher than I look.

_{[ Which was now actually fairly true, thanks to his augmented blood.
He wasn't super human, but he could take more punishment than the average
person now too. ]}

[She still figures she'll have to play no powers, but it's not like her fighting skills are superhuman. Just really well trained and practiced.] You're on. Another time. Since you just took a shower and I'd hate for you to have to do all that again.

_{[ Well that would only be fair. It's hard to have a good match when you can't even get your hands on the person. Now, when they're in a fire fight he would encourage the hell out of it. But sparring it would just be mean. ]}

Hah, it would put something on my schedule, at least. Unless you're worried you'll lose?

_{[ He arched a brow at her, smirking. ]}

Not especially. Pryde's in the name, but I can handle losing. Not that it will happen, but I could handle it.

Oh, there it is - I can see it now. But you're on, Miss Pryde. I could do with a new challenge.

In like a Tourist, out like a lamb

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