Chapter Twelve [Video]

[thebestseller]

Who: Richard Castle and you
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Windrose, if desired
When: February 11th

[When Castle flicks on the video, he's projecting a veneer of calm... very badly, because one can hear an edge of panic in his voice.]

Ha, ha, ha! I don't mean to alarm anybody, but I bought myself one of those spiffy augment upgrades. I picked fire, because who doesn't want to be red hot, am I right? But, enhh... [He holds up his left palm, which has a small but persistent flame on the center.] I can't seem to turn it off. Does anybody here have experience with fire powers? And should it really be this powerful when I've only bought the first level...?

Comments

video;

[noprophecies]

[. . . she cannot believe this is a post she is seeing with her own eyes but here she is]

I have experience with fire magic. [ha ha, understatement] What sort of power is it? Is it magic or something else?

video;

[thebestseller]

Well, it was an upgrade to my augment, so... magic? Technology? I'm not sure what to call it.

video;

[noprophecies]

[a sigh]

Ridiculous. No offense to you, of course.

[she purses her lips in thought]

Focus on the power in your hand and command it to stop. No matter where the poewr came from, it is yours. It will listen to you.

video;

[thebestseller]

[Castle does so, staring intently at his burning palm, his tongue sticking out slightly.]

Off. Off! [But nothing happens.] ... it doesn't hurt, at least.

video;

[noprophecies]

[she wants so badly to roll her eyes. But she knows it isn't his fault, per say]

That is a good thing, I suppose. Though yelling at it to turn off like a lightswitch will not work, as it is not a lightswitch.

Action

[passingthrough]

[It's quiet at first, getting louder as she walks through the ship toward him after seeing the post.] Why, why, why, why, why, WHY?

[Gesturing at him in annoyance.]

Why this? Why any of this? [She hates the augments so much. She can't fathom choosing one. Not to mention having powers back home makes you an outcast so again why?]

(OOC: I wasn't going to tag him again with another current thread, but she had a lot of feelings about this.)

Action

[thebestseller]

I don't know! I wouldn't have picked this up if I'd have known it was going to go haywire so soon afterward!

Action

[passingthrough]

You actually asked them, no paid them to reprogram you. What did you think was going to happen? [So much judging even though they could do this to them whenever they want without permission too and it's not like she doesn't make the most of some Atroma offerings.]

Does it hurt?

Action

[thebestseller]

No, it doesn't hurt.

[Castle... definitely wasn't expecting this sort of reaction, and he looks a bit like a whipped puppy as he responds:]

... After that last raider attack... I... I just thought it might be nice if I wasn't so damn useless compared to the rest of you. That's all.

Action

[passingthrough]

[And that reasoning just deflates all her righteous outrage. Her expression shifts from disapproving to a blend of touched and regretful. It takes a moment before she speaks again but when she does her words are much softer than before.]

Oh, Castle...

You've never been useless. [And she has so little to back this up because in that sort of fight he was a liability in her mind, but it didn't matter. He was their liability! Yeah, that's not going to make him feel better. But that fight was a portion of a day and he's been important those other days. The ship wouldn't be the same without him and after losing Vision and Wrath and even Misty in a different way she doesn't want to think about anyone else going. How can he be useless if he's that necessary?]

How am I supposed to hug you while you're on fire?

[therewerefifty]

[.....

.....well, that sure is a hand on fire.]

What happens if you smother the flame?

[thebestseller]

Why didn't I think of that?! [And it's but the work of a moment before Castle's in the kitchen, dipping his hand in the flour. And voila- no flame.]

[therewerefifty]

[That was simple. Though still disturbing.] What is a 'spiffy augment upgrade'? You can now set yourself on fire whenever you like?

[THIS DOESN'T SEEM VERY HELPFUL...]

[thebestseller]

The idea was that it would give me some sort of fire-based powers, I think. I would hope it would start small, though, like... not being able to do more than light a match or something. Or heat a plate of food.

[therewerefifty]

Yes... it's not much use if you can't control it. But perhaps it's like any other skill and you merely need time to practice.

video;

[ahappylie]

[Oh hey, look, it's his babysitting buddy from awhile ago. And he's...on fire.

Huh. That's a bit of a predicament.]

Is there no water nearby?

video;

[thebestseller]

I'm kind of scared of setting something alight on the way to the sink, but I may have no choice. To the kitchen! [The video begins to shake as he travels.]

video;

[ahappylie]

[Well, this makes him a little sick. He wasn't expecting the video to start jumping around so much.]

Thankfully, I think most of the ship is made of metal, yes? You shouldn't have too many close calls.

[Except maybe his hair or his clothes. Please don't burn off your clothes, Castle.]

video;

[thebestseller]

Thankfully. It'd be a disaster if this ship was made of, like, marshmallows or something.

video;

[ahappylie]

...

[There's a very obvious pause there as he tries to think of what marshmallows could be.

Then he laughs and nods.]

Yeeeeesssss, it certainly would be.

[Said in the "if I knew what that was" tone.]

Is it difficult to walk with the fire in your hand?

video;

[universal_charm]

On the bright side, you're now a smoker's wet dream.

video;

[thebestseller]

Or a cook's. Hey, if the power ever goes out, I can function as a human stove. Best superpower ever.

video;

[universal_charm]

Hah, I'll have to keep that in mind. You'll make to make special rounds, or maybe Crowley will install you in his bar and charge surge-pricing.

video;

[thebestseller]

... that sounds like him. Like Uber, but with food and alcohol.

Re: video;

[universal_charm]

What's Uber?