mental link, day 32

[headinjuries]

[ Sam crashed hard after the vigil, because between all the lies making him feel like he was going to puke and trying to pick them apart giving him one mother of a headache, staying awake felt like something you only do if you really hate yourself.

Do all newfound psychic powers suck this bad? He was fine with just flying and blowing things up, thanks. ]

( By the way, just figured everybody should know: Seong-Hye Ngazi is full of crap, the Public Safety Commission isn't half as gung-ho about bringing the bomber to justice as she makes it sound, and I'm like ninety percent she actually knows who did it, but that part I'm not quite positive about.

So, you know. In case anybody wanted to break into her office or stalk her or something. I hear some of you guys are actually good at the cloak and dagger stuff.

You're welcome. )

[ He can be found in the common area of the Bearings, scrolling through news reports and radiating pure frustration, if anyone would rather comment to his face instead of over the link. ]

Comments

[headinjuries]

( Do you mean Pidge? Because yeah, we've talked. But like I said, I dunno the specifics about what's made these systems so hard to deal with. )

[shiro2hero]

(Pidge, yeah. She's the best I've ever seen.)

(I'm better with piloting ships than computers, but if I can help at all, I will.)

[headinjuries]

( It's all been stealth stuff since I got here. I wish we'd get something as straightforward as flying and shooting at stuff. )

[shiro2hero]

(Wouldn't that be nice. How long have you been here?)

[headinjuries]

( A few weeks. )

[shiro2hero]

(And you all have been on this planet that long?)

[headinjuries]

( Most people got here in the - week? two weeks? something like that - before I did.

Then it was pretty quiet for a couple weeks and then we got a bunch more. )

[shiro2hero]

(Does everyone always show up in clusters like that?)

(Sorry, I don't mean to sound like this is an interrogation...)

[headinjuries]

( It's cool, I had a zillion questions when I got here too. )

[ Way to make it sound old hat when it hasn't even been a month yet, Sam. ]

( Far as I've seen, it looks like we usually get a few people at a time? But I woke up alone. )

[shiro2hero]

( At least it's not just me, then.)

(All by yourself? No one from your ... world... showed up with you?)

[headinjuries]

( Yeah, it's...just me. )

[ In a weird roundabout sense, given that he knows Steve and Sam, except they definitely don't recognize him, which he at first thought was different points in time, but Sam seems more chill here than he was back home? So maybe it's another reality altogether, which is not exactly a new idea to him, since he used to hang out with the Watcher and all, but -

- shit's complicated. ]

[shiro2hero]

(... I'm sorry.)

[Because what else do you say? At least he's not just saying it. There's genuine sympathy there. He almost extends an offer of if there's anything I can do, but he ends up pulling it back before he can really say so.]

(Thank you, though. For telling me all this.)

[headinjuries]

( No big deal. )

[ More to the thank you, although he's trying to sound nonchalant enough that it could apply to the sorry, too.

Mental links are harder to fake it till you make it on, though. ]

[shiro2hero]

[They really are. But why hammer on that? It doesn't help.]

[So instead, he goes a different route.]

(I'm Shiro, by the way. You?)

[headinjuries]

( Sam. Sam Alexander, since we've got a lot of those running around. )

[shiro2hero]

(Yeah, I heard. Weird how that works out...)

[That was an attempt at small talk.]

(It's nice meeting you.)

[headinjuries]

( Nice to meet you too. I mean, circumstances kinda suck, but. )

[ But what can you do. ]

[shiro2hero]

(That's putting it mildly. Even without all this... spy drama.)

[headinjuries]

( Spy drama's getting pretty old. I wish we could just figure out who to punch and get this all over with. )

[shiro2hero]

( Boy, I hear that. I'm more used to that approach, anyway, if I'm being honest. )

[headinjuries]

( That's kinda cool to hear? Because I was starting to think like everyone is some kind of super spy ninja except for me. )

[shiro2hero]

(No, you're not alone. Trust me. I've never done this kind of thing in my life.)

[headinjuries]

( Cool. I mean, not that you can't do something, but you know. )

[ No offense, he just likes not being the only failboat??? ]

[shiro2hero]

(No, no I get what you mean. It's all right.)

[headinjuries]

( You know, maybe that is one perk of this whole weird mental link thing. It's a lot harder for people to jump to the worst possible interpretation of whatever you're saying. )