006; Video; Is this a storm warning or has someone just cut the power?

[andblockbuster]

[HELLO, TRANQUILITY.

Topher looks... well, the phrase "like hell" would be apt. He just arrived in medbay roughly ten minutes ago and after making sure his supply of the cure was properly handed out to the staff to resupply, he has retreated to some dark corner to scream at the network. He hasn't showered or bothered to get much of the horrible combination of blood, vomit, and various other terrible substances off of him, so he... Looks quite a lot like this. This is not a happy Topher. Happy Tophers go shower immediately and fuck the fact that there's probably forty people down there getting their showers on.

It takes him a minute to get past teeth-baring, heavy-breathing, nerd-rage, and when he does, it's very clear he had to put the communicator up on top of something so everyone can see his wild, frustrated gesturing.]

I think- I really think we need to sit down and have a little lunchtime poll, Tranquility. I don't... I don't even know if it's lunchtime, because my sense of time is a little shot to complete hell, but for this particular argument's sake, let's pretend it's lunchtime.

Now here's your poll question- and remember, there are no stupid questions, so don't just immediately write this off as me just babbling like a crazy person, 'cause that's not what this is at all.

Okay. You're building a big spaceship for God only knows what purpose. What do you put in it? Kitchens? Holodecks? A really fancy bridge that has that one button and a couple levers that seem to do everything? Those are reasonable answers. I commend you for having those answers. Good for you. You're a sane person. Gold stars for the sane people on the ship.

But if you answered black holes and terrifying hellbeasts, then you have brought me to my next question as well as proved any and all points I might have about who the real insane people are.

So Captain, my freakin' psycho Captain and his little engineer too. What the hell is wrong with this ship? 'Cause a bunch of us just nearly died to fix something that went wrong with your systems and then nearly got eaten by something that got loose in your labs- labs we didn't know even know existed until now, because no one tells us anything. I think we deserve a lot more than a pat on the head and a bunch of vague answers.

But maybe that's just me. I mean, it's not like me and a bunch of other people didn't just risk our lives to save our friends or anything. It's not like they deserve to know what they nearly died of.

Comments

Not Here; Tell Me Moar

[pocketfulofsouls]

What is this? Is this here? No. It's not.

[andblockbuster]

video.

[imadoctor]

Amen, kid.

[ What else can he add, really? ]

video.

[andblockbuster]

[Absolutely nothing. Topher slumps against the wall and... realizes his communicator was still up on top of something and has to sort of fumble for it before he sinks to the floor.]

How is it on your end? I didn't ask before I... Yeah. [Because he's pretty sure he's a walking health hazard right now and does not need to be in med bay until he's gotten his bearings.]

Not Here

[excessivehubris]

[Were he not in the middle of hell beasts and attempting to gather up what data he can get his hands on in that doomed department, Charles would totally be listening in on this!]

ALSO NOT HERE.

[andblockbuster]

[FIGHT THE POWER, CHARLES.]

[audio]

[testgasm]

[TOPHER COME ON this is totally embarrassing mostly because Wheatley knows that mess is at least 80% his blood and vomit and he doesn't really feel like being reminded that he can puke and bleed and ooze strange blue fluid. GO SHOWER.]

I am sorry. For vomiting on you so many times. It is considered rude, I'm aware of that. But, uh, I do think maybe you should...clean it off.

[audio]

[andblockbuster]

[Wheatley. There are moments when Topher really, really has to seriously remind himself why he wants to be your friend.

This is one of those moments. Unfortunately, because you almost died and it was kinda his fault (the hellbeast part), he only mimes THE STRANGLING FINGERS OF FRUSTRATION ONCE (which you can't see, because he turned the video off for your benefit- YOU'RE WELCOME, PRINCESS) and then twenty minutes later, comes back to respond, now clean.]

It's not really considered rude when you have death plague. They give you a free pass for that. [It's a "dammit, Otto, you have lupus" situation.] But hey, if you don't go near controlled substances, we won't ever have to have this conversation again.

text; stark encryption 100%

[starked]

[ tony's actual thought process right now. ]

i feel like i should be patting you on the back for this impressive manliness you seem to want to show.

also. IT WAS WHEATLEY WHO VOMITED ON YOU?

text; stark encryption 100%

[andblockbuster]

it's been a really bad week. someone had to say it.

[skjdfskl GOD, TONY. DON'T BE A DOUCHE.]

it's not like he has rabies or anything.

voice;

[jilt]

[ irene is literally curled up on her bed watching this oh topher. ]

Oh my, aren't you attracting attention to yourself.

voice;

[andblockbuster]

[See this, Irene? This is the end of Topher's rope. It had a good run. For a rope.] What's anyone gonna do? Lock me in a room next jump or put me on a creepy list? If that's what it takes to get answers out of these people, I'm kinda okay with that. People are dying. That's usually the part when the games have to stop.

[theyalldieforme]

What happened to the system?

[andblockbuster]

No one's gotten sick like this before and considering we all turned blue, my money's on it having something to do with the sticky blue elephant in the room- namely, that crap in the grav-couches.

video;

[anthropos]

Interstellar travel is not without its inherent dangers.

video;

[andblockbuster]

[WELL.

NO DUH, DATA.]

Really? [Be nice, Topher...] Look, it's not the danger that bugs me. It's the not knowing why and being lied to about it that does.

[agent_k]

Can anyone tell if those things used to be some of the crew? [Because this has been bothering him since he saw them.]

[andblockbuster]

[...Yeah, that's Topher dropping his communicator.]

I... The what? [HE NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT.]

audio;

[cutsofftheirlimbs]

...Hellbeasts, you say.

[RELEVANT TO HIS INTERESTS.]

audio;

[andblockbuster]

That's... Wheatley's term. I'm going with it, though. Seems appropriate for eyeless, ravenous monsters.

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

I'm also quite curious about these questions.

[voice]

[andblockbuster]

I'm surprised you didn't ask why I didn't bring back the head of one of them to prove my story's good.

text;

[pitied]

There are labs?

[Ignoring Topher's exaggerations.]

voice;

[andblockbuster]

[IT IS NOT AN EXAGGERATION... This time.]

Labs that we couldn't get to until that maze turned up.

VIDEO

[archimedeia]

[ his little engineer too? oh topher. don't even.

there are fat streaks of—blood?—across resnik's face and chest, and she looks tired and pissed and all the things she doesn't want to be. son, she is so not in the mood to be playing these little games with you. (miraculously, she manages to keep her tone sounding even and controlled, if a tad sharp around the edges.) ]

Captain Ward can't come to the phone right now. [ on account of being half-dead, and recovering slowly. ]

There are only so many answers we can give you, Brink. I've been asking myself the same questions. I know that's not what you—or anyone—wants to hear, but it's the best we can do.

VIDEO

[andblockbuster]

[OH SHIT.

...Maybe

this was a terrible idea. And Topher's so exhausted at this point, all his badass has dissolved into a terribly upset tone. SAD NERD IN SNOW. But don't think that doesn't mean he hasn't noticed you, Bloody Ressy.]

How do you not know what's on the ship? That's the only question I have. Our little Smiley friend? Glitch in the system. Easily explained by any number of things- still creepy, but not as bad as misplacing an entire wing of the ship, complete with mutated things.

[audio]

[sammyskeleton]

They won't give you answers.

I'm beginning to think that they're absolute idiots with no answers to give. Even if they wanted to, they probably have no idea what's going on, and no idea how to fix it. They're just very stupid people.

[no he doesn't believe that, but it doesn't mean he can't say it and try and goad some answers out of people!!!
or just try to reassure topher in some way. ...it's not a very good way, but it's a way nonetheless.]

[audio]

[andblockbuster]

No doubting that part. [Even if they do know what they're doing, they're stupid if they think it's going to fly with everyone here. There's only so long they can keep this up before someone tears down the curtain.]

[text]

[insufferableprick]

hey topher you look like shit
is anyone planning to go check out the labs a little more after the hungry hungry hellhounds have been cleared out
btw this is dave

voice forever;

[andblockbuster]

[SADDEST PUPPY LAUGH] I actually didn't notice.

[He hesitates a bit.] I'm sure... someone's probably thinking about it. I mean, the R&D lab alone was worth a better look.

[He squints at the text.] Yeah, for a second there, I thought Smiley became eighty-five percent less pretentious. Hope you don't mind sharing font colors.

text;

[puppydogeyes]

Black holes and hellbeasts make sense.
Kind of.
Can't figure out the nothing rooms.

text;

[andblockbuster]

It's all just one big amorphous blob of W-T-F to me.

VIDEO | PRIVATE | what is an encryption.

[wont]

[ A sick girl, lying in a sickbed, recuperating. (At least bits of her aren't black and blue anymore and she's well enough to have made the effort to look somewhat decent.) Alayne has been listening and watching and saying nothing, until now.

Though what she has to say isn't particularly enlightening. Just a wan little smile (genuine but tired) and a: ]

Hello.

VIDEO | PRIVATE | 80% encrypted

[andblockbuster]

[Well, he's showered now. And sort of emotionally spent thanks to Hurricane Claire and everything else that's happened, but he still manages an exhausted smile.]

Hey. You made it out of the woods.

voice

[handelaar]

[All of that... and:]

Y'sound surprised.

[Understatement, but he's already pigeonholed Topher into "spazzy American" - he's sort of mocking, here.]

voice

[andblockbuster]

I knew the ship was evil. What I didn't know was that the evil craved the flesh of the living.

text;

[entrapments]

ugh, you look like i feel :(

text;

[andblockbuster]

the worst part is i wasn't even sick.

at least everyone's getting better.

NOT HERE;

[widowing]

[ but natasha is here applauding your ballsiness, topher. ]

[syllogism]

Good luck getting any worthwhile answers.
It's not like we haven't seen this back and forth play out before.
Alright. You still get bonus points for trying anyway.

[andblockbuster]

i deserve a gold star for sorta... halfway threatening Resnik, anyway.

[realslimstrider]

good luck on that venture
answers never come out because you demand them even if you happen to be yelling at the sky filled with horror
this is davesprite by the way not dirk
winged wonder with my feathers and dislike of loveboat

[andblockbuster]

..that's not gonna throw me off or anything. you people with your weird text colors.

it was worth a shot though.