driftfleet | Chapter Twelve [Video]

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Chapter Twelve [Video]

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...?

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[. . . 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?

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

[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.)

[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.

[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.

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!

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?

[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.

[.....

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

What happens if you smother the flame?

Point taken. [And then, as soon as he stops focusing, the flame poofs out.] ... well, shoot. So I guess I just had to stop paying attention to it and it went out.

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.

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.]

[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...]

But that . . . makes no sense.

[why are augments so weird???]

[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?

[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?

[Castle smiles sadly, and at that moment, the fire went out. He looks away, remembering the veritable bloodbath that had ensued during the raid. Not that he would have happily participated in the killing- he's not THAT big on getting a piece of the action- but still. It would have been nice to have known they didn't need to think about protecting him in all the chaos.]

You all had to protect me during that fight. ANY TIME we get in a fight, I hide in the closet with my cleaning bots. That sounds pretty useless.

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.

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.]

"That makes no sense" really ought to be the Fleet's motto at this point. Of course, maybe they offered these upgrades hoping some schmuck like me would take the bait.

[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.]

It seems a bit unfair to you, especially if they are offering it with no explanation as to how to use it.

[...]

What is a schmuck?

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.

It's one of the first times anything like that has happened since I've been here. [Her very first raid, but she's also gotten into it with a glitched Bucky—Winter at the time—and a glitched Sascha. But that's still so peaceful and calm compared to life back home.] Needing help one day out of a year doesn't make someone useless. We all need help sometimes.

[She sees the fire out, but still doesn't move to hug him, feeling bad that she yelled at him when he's been hurting. She could almost imagine Winn doing something like this.]

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

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Chapter Twelve [Video]

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