video.

[rebuildyourruins]

Who: Thor and you
Broadcast: fleetwide
Action: on the Blue Fish if you want him
When: today

[Thor has obviously stuck his communicator on the desk in his room, because the video opens with him in profile, sitting on his bed. For a few moments all he does is toss a small rubber ball out of the frame, then catch it when it rebounds off the opposite wall with a thud back towards him. He does this a couple of times before he speaks.]

When I arrived in the Fleet, I was told a lot of things and given several warnings. All of them with good purpose. What I remember most though is being told not to try and take out the augment. More than one person told me this.

[A sidelong glance at the communicator, before he throws the ball into the wall again. Thud. Catch.]

No one said why exactly, other than the obvious part where it's stuck in our heads. Still, I would ask what exactly we know about these augments. What's been tried to get them out, what happens when you do? And have they been known to do anything else besides give us information about our ship roles.

If I had heard more about it earlier, I probably wouldn't have-- [Hold that thought: Thor misses the next rebound on the ball and it smacks him in the head, making him jump and drop out of frame for a moment.] --shit.

[Okay, he’s back up, with the offending ball tossed away into a corner. He rubs at his face before continuing, faintly annoyed. Everything is out to spite him today.]

Anyway. If you know something about them, I'd like to hear it. Or even if you have an opinion on them. Those are good too.

[One day he'll make a network post when he's in a cheerful mood. Maybe.]

Comments

video

[rebuildyourruins]

I have gotten that impression, yes.

[Part of the problem with not having been told about that pain in the beginning is that he wasn't deterred from messing with it when his frustration got high enough. Now he knows better.]

Maybe not. [A small smile.] If you'd rather talk in person though, I'd be happy to.

video

[outstandingbalance]

Could be more secure. [Though that's a pretty big could be. There's no way of knowing for sure they're not still being monitored.]

You okay?

video

[rebuildyourruins]

I'm annoyed.

[From clocking himself in the head to other reasons that might have prompted this whole broadcast in the first place.]

Let's go to the Iskaulit.

video

[outstandingbalance]

Fair enough. You can fill me in more in person.

I'll meet you there in half an hour?

video > action

[rebuildyourruins]

Sure - I'll see you over there.

[When the time rolls around, Thor heads to the Iskaulit and loiters around the shuttle dock until Natasha gets there.]

action

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha shows up right on time, docking her shuttle and heading up to Thor, arms crossed over her chest.]

Not taking out away from getting other information, am I?

[rebuildyourruins]

Not so far - just some tales about how bad it's been when people have tried getting the augments out.

[He scratches at his neck, lifting one shoulder in a shrug.]

Though that's useful to know in its own way.

[outstandingbalance]

I would have thought someone would mention that earlier. Sorry if I dropped the ball on that one.

[rebuildyourruins]

They didn't, but we were on Lato'li at the time, so there were more pressing matters. As I said, the warning not to try it was given several times.

[Thor of course is not the most cautious of people, so there's only so much a warning will do to dissuade him from something if he sets his mind to it.]

I also did not really ask until now.

[outstandingbalance]

I hope that the omission didn't get you in any trouble?

[Because she can easily see how it could have. Knowing Thor.]

[rebuildyourruins]

Oh, no, no trouble. I do know what one of those defense mechanisms everyone mentioned feels like now though.

[Zero sense of guilt at having tested it, this one. He sets off at a walk out of the shuttle dock, not really in the mood to stand in one place.]

You must have heard some things about it in your time here as well.

[outstandingbalance]

I have. Seen some things, too. Be careful, all right? Sometimes other people end up in the crosshairs.

[She falls into step behind him.]

Still, you seem to have come out all right.

[rebuildyourruins]

I don't intend on being reckless. [By his standards.] Nor on others getting caught up in anything.

[Thor shrugs, not all that bothered by the memory of what he'd tried. If nothing else it put him more firmly in the 'wait and see' camp.]

That's because in the end I didn't do anything. That sensation the augment gives you when you make an attempt to get it out was enough to stop me.

[outstandingbalance]

It's not always as simple as that. Glitches can turn allies into enemies. I'd rather not have to take you down in a fight.

[Because she wouldn't be able to. But she has friends.]

[rebuildyourruins]

[Thor does pause at that. No one's mentioned that kind of glitch before.]

They've had that kind of effect?

[outstandingbalance]

They have. Not often. But I can verify it's happened at least once. People got hurt in the process.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Hrrrmrm. That's a problem. One that becomes exponentially worse depending on the person afflicted, as Natasha implied.]

The range of things they can do is just as troubling as their location. [Thor sighs, rolling his shoulders back.] I don't like how little we can do about it.

[outstandingbalance]

Believe me, none of us do. I don't like being the one to tell you not to dig that thing out, or fry it, or whatever else you're thinking of doing.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Thor huffs out a laugh, because of course she's part of the way to calling him out already.]

Maybe you don't like it, but you don't hesitate either.

[outstandingbalance]

Maybe not. [Look. Look.] But someone has to look after you. All of you.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Unfortunately that's a tall order, considering the personalities involved.]

I did miss that part of teamwork. Having someone watching your back for you.

[Goodness knows he could have used it a couple of times in his years away. He will never admit it, though.]

I don't intend to try removing the thing. But I do think there must be a way to at least disable them. That's what I want to find. And if I can find methods others haven't tried, then all the better.

[outstandingbalance]

Disable them. Yeah, that'd be good. [Cracking a smile. The fact Thor is so durable is only half reassuring.]

But you do have some methods of your own in mind, I take it.

[rebuildyourruins]

If they work like the obedience discs I've encountered in the past, there could easily be an external control somewhere that switches them off.

[He tips his head towards Natasha.]

Someone did mention that no one's tried a lightning strike.

[Of course no one has. Yet.]

[outstandingbalance]

Now looking for something like that, a control, that I would support.

[Which is to say, she doesn't support the other suggestions.]

I imagine no one has tried lightning because they didn't want to get hit by lightning themselves.

[rebuildyourruins]

Yes, that would make sense. I'll try it though.

[This is the unfortunate but natural conclusion to this whole conversation.]