un: jaycetalis | video

[hexcope]

[If anyone hasn’t seen Jayce within the past few months, he looks quite a bit different. His hair is longer, he has a beard, and doesn’t seem quite as full of energy as he might have in the past. He’s also not dressing as uptight as he used to— a lack of vest and tie, exchanged for just a simple button up shirt. The background is once again S.T.A.R. labs, although he’s not trying to hide it this time.]

Hey, Etrayans. For those new to this whole thing, welcome. I’m Jayce Talis. For those who came from Pollux, also welcome. I can say with full confidence Aurora’s better at this than Castor is.

[Aurora probably won’t appreciate that comment, but whatever. He stands by it. But that aside…]

I’m putting out a call for fellow scientists to come together and work collaboratively on research involving what we know about Etraya, and more importantly, what we don’t know. This could also include strategizing developments to improve our lives here, and solving problems with our understanding in our respective fields. 


Something that we have here that we lack in our own worlds is the variety of perspectives. In my world, some of our greatest achievements are beyond what’s possible in other worlds, but we don’t have plastics or microwaves. Think of this as an opportunity for all of us to better ourselves, in this… transient existence we’re all stuck in.

Meetings would be here, in S.T.A.R. labs, every Thursday morning. No requirements if you want to participate other than an open mind, and a good attitude. No shooting down suggestions without hearing things out, and if you happen to have some sort of grudge against any of the participants here, you leave it at the door when you come in, or you’re not coming in.

[OOC: Feel free to threadjack around if you'd like!]

Comments

[rudelanguage]

[well, as long as SOMEone is being disgusting around this friendship...]

Yeah yeahyeahyeahyeah... Wait, so that's why you were so fuhh--fussed up? Not washin'? That didn't look like just a bathing problem, I gotta say.

[hexcope]

No, not really. But not having clean water to wash in didn't help.

Take out that magic detection device you have.

[rudelanguage]

[she frowns, wary. last time she had that thing out, he was in Sliepnir's company and she got fuckin' flashbanged.]

I, uh, take it you already know what I'll see? [she has to fish through a couple layers folded over, but procures the planchette partway, hesitating still.]

[hexcope]

All I know is it's not going to look good.

[She probably won't be flashbanged, but compared to what he had on him before (a complete coating of magic radiation, but faint), what he has now is magic running within his veins, with his calf being the most concentrated part. The magic, as it had appeared before, was blue, clear, and "pure" looking, and now any bit of magic in him gives the sensation of corruption and rot, puce and sickly green colors.]

[rudelanguage]

[she eyes him for a beat longer, and while she knows not to expect a "just kidding," she can't help but hold space for the chance. y'know. to be nice.

no?

okay. well. great!

she takes a peep, lips curling back in a snarly little grimace as she does so, fur floofing. after a nose wiggle, she withdraws it.]

Long-Term, whatever that is...isn't because you missed a bath or three, guy. It's like you, like...like you got in a fight with a necromancer and kept souvenirs.

[hexcope]

I know. It's an infection. Benign, for now. Lune helped stabilize it.

[He rubs at his bracelet, eyes distant.]

I was sent to an apocalyptic future. All sentient life dead. Broke my leg and fell into a deep ravine. Everywhere was tinged with wild runes, consequences of magic pushed beyond it's limits. The ground, the air, the water, and the few animals left. So I had to eat and drink it. I don't know if there's longer consequences of that.

I can say it's not necromancy, at least. That looks different.

[rudelanguage]

[oh, Knife just...hates learning that. especially when they put it into the context they found Jayce in, when he--he almost killed them as a stranger. when he hugged Antigone as if hugging her would help at all.

Antigone looks queasy, feels...queasy.

she hesitates. saying sorry means nothing. so.]

...That, um. That's kind of different. Than not having a bath here. Jayce. I'm kinda riding high by comparison?

[hexcope]

If I had clean water, it probably wouldn't have been that bad, but fine. Inaccurate comparison. You still could get sick from the environment you're in. Dirt in the cup, unclean water source, bacteria growth build-up. All of it are factors.

Do you get that now?

[rudelanguage]

[one ear flattens back while the other remains perked up.]

I mean. If...If I was gonna get poisoned by the stuff in the river, I'd be keeled over dead by now. I'm kinda...kinda long-terming here myself now, y'know? Probably means either it's okay, or...I guess it don't affect my body like it does yours. [she shrugs with one shoulder, gesturing at all of him.] There's...more of you to affect, big guy. Bein' all tall and...rectangly like that.

But I'll gank a different cup now n' then if it makes you happy, I suppose. [since he's going to have all these big fuckin' feelings about it. carin' n shit. getting his care germs on her.]

[hexcope]

You think I'm overreacting, don't you?

[He sighs, exhausted, running a hand through his hair to try and shake it off.]

Maybe I am. Maybe it's time I finally get Robert to give me something for anxiety.

[rudelanguage]

[the other ear goes back.]

Iiiiiiiif...if something like me says you're overracting, is it, uh. I mean, I guess it'd seem insane, yeah?

[but the abject fear of everything this place stands for is in contention with refusing to do as they're told; it's the shittiest tug-of-war to ever tug and it's Knife's alone!]

[hexcope]

[He's quiet for a second.]

I think we'd actually make a pretty good team of seeing each other's blind spots. Your concerns versus my own. There's balance in having a second opinion. And if we both decide something's off, then we'd be a lot more sure of it.

[rudelanguage]

Heheh... So I get to be the dirty wise hermit in the wilderness you trek to for advice?

[hexcope]

I'm not trekking out here in the cold more than I already have today, so you'll see me in the summer time if you're going to insist I visit you.

[rudelanguage]

Wow! [she feigns insult, injury, clutching at her chest.] So much for my valuable input! The heck am I supposed to do? Trek around on these little legs? [leggy wiggle.] Even if I did, I don't know where you haunt, so I'd be at risk to hooligans!

Hooligans, Jayce.

[hexcope]

You're the closest thing we have to a hooligan, Short-stack.

And you could just, you know. Ask where I go. I have a schedule.

[rudelanguage]

[against her will, the tail wags. a little.]

I'm not gonna get crap for askin'?

[hexcope]

Why would I give you a hard time about that?

[rudelanguage]

I, I dunno! You got like, thirteen Viktors and a zillion friends, right? Busy, smart, fixit kinda guy here!

[hexcope]

I have ten friends, and you're one of them. There's only two Viktors, and one is barely on speaking terms with me. Ask away.

[rudelanguage]

[wag, wag.]

Ten? That's like a thousand in ghost town terms, ain't it? There's only like thirty people in this joint, yeah?

[hexcope]

Closer to fifty or sixty, I think.

Are you waiting for me to just tell you? Squirming out of asking yourself?

[rudelanguage]

Look, even if you told me I wouldn't really get it. 'Cuz that's just a name and not a place in my head! [and it's not about the illiteracy!!] Just send me pictures of it! That's easier, yeah? Do that!

[hexcope]

Give me a pen and paper. I'll draw it.

[rudelanguage]

[Antigone half-squints at him for a beat, juuuust in case he was kidding. which he wasn't, but. conditioning, okay?

she climbs to her feet and tromps through the frost into her tent, rummaging a bit and returning with a hardcover book, some loose sheets of mostly-blank paper, and coloring markers. the partly-not-blank parts are some slapdash little etchings of...something. shapes. squiggles. doodles.

she sets all that on his lap.] Could prolly just have the ghost take pictures of it, right? I mean, she did that for the bar... But drawing's fine, too. [albeit surprising; it's the kinda low-tech approach she expects to be offering, rather than being offered.]