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

[nirsighted]

[He takes his hand back, unbothered.]

That's still really useful. I bet when your connection with your symbiote gets stronger, you'll be able to move. When I first started out I was just harder to notice. Now I can stand right in front of a person and they'll forget me.

[Git gud, Pidge.]

[greentech]

Huh. That's... interesting. I wonder how long it takes to get better...

[ Now she's curious. Does she just have to practice? Or is there more to it? ]

[nirsighted]

It depends on how much you use the symbiote. The more you do things like talking with your brain and sharing memories and experiences and stuff with your brood or other hosts, the stronger your link gets and the more developed your ability is. Basically right now it's kind of like you've got a lot of static on the line so you can only hear a couple of words, right? The more you practice, the more words you get. Same thing with your ability. Right now you can only use a little bit of it, but that doesn't mean the rest of it isn't inside you already.

[He touches his hand to his chest; it's a gesture strangely reminiscent of one the woman Cathaway is fond of.]

[greentech]

Right...

[ That makes sense to her. She's just not sure how comfortable she is with getting "better" at the whole creepy hivemind thing. Of course, she already is. The mental conversations are starting to become easier and more natural.

But what else is she supposed to do? ]

It'd be useful if I could actually do something besides sit still, though. It'd make sneaking around way easier. Oh-

[ A thought occurs to her. ]

Do you want to help me test it out? I want to see if it's just the visible light spectrum or if it blocks other methods of detection. Like... infrared. Or thermal.

[nirsighted]

[He blinks - straightens - and brightens considerably. There's an immediate, unfettered pulse of delight that washes across the link between them. It's bright like a summer's day: warm and pleasant and fully, completely joyous in its simplicity.]

Sure. I can help you. Anything you want, I can do it.

[Nirad's a people pleaser, text it.]

[greentech]

Great!

[ She seems excited at the prospect and she's already ticking off equipment they're going to need. His joy is a bit infectious, too. ]

We're going to need a camera, some kind of thermal imager, something that can see in infrared, probably a motion detector too, just to make sure we have everything covered. Uh - what do you think? Maybe I should see what happens if I get water dumped on me.

[nirsighted]

Oh! I have a motion detector. [He swings away and clambers over the bed rather than navigating the junk heap around the edge of it to get t the other side. Nirad starts to displace pieces from one pile of stuff to the next, rummaging through components as he talks.]

I know where we can get a thermal imager, but we might have to use your card. [He hit his limit for large purchases. Oops.] I can buy a bucket though if we need one though I guess we could just make you stand in the shower, huh?

[He laughs, then raises a what looks like a small plastic square out of the heap. He clips it on to the chunky looking watch on his arm, then flips it up. When upright, the opaque shape of the square goes briefly translucent before it starts providing thermal feedback.]

Ta-da.

[greentech]

Nice!

[ Pidge looks pleased as punch at that Nirad is being so cooperative and enthusiastic. Truth be told, she's pretty happy to find someone who shares her passion for finding out why things work the way they do. She picks her way over to join him and gives the weird little imager a look. ]

I can definitely buy something later. For now let's give this a shot...

[ She glances back towards the door. ]

Maybe we should do this somewhere with more space.

[nirsighted]

[Wow, it's almost like you think his room is a disaster zone Pidge. Nirad nods, cheerful enough about picking his way through the stacks of assorted tech (and junk) toward the door.]

The common room maybe. Or, oh, there's a roof garden. We could go up there. It's nice. Besides, maybe you still cast a shadow. It might be good to know how you react in the sun and stuff.

[greentech]

[ She's seen worse. She leads the way out and pauses in the hallway, stroking her chin in thought. They're both decent options. ]

The roof garden sounds great, actually. We can see if sunlight works. I don't think it will, but that's just a guess.

[ Only one way to find out! ]

[nirsighted]

[Which is how the two of them end up on the rooftop of the Bearings building. It's in keeping with the rest of the building's aesthetic - sleek, sensible, with just a faint amount of wear around the edges that naturally comes from any place with long term rentals. But the plants here seem well loved and provide a pleasant amount of color in a view that might otherwise be steel, concrete and glass.

It's very sunny.

Nirad takes a moment to calibrate the heat sensor on his wrist device, chewing absently on his lower lip while he does so. Finally:]

There, okay. Ready when you are.

[greentech]

OK. Uh, take notes, because I'm not going to have a chance-

[Deep breath and she closes her eyes. For a moment nothing happens and then - pop - she's apparently gone. There's no shadow or a sign of her, at least on the visible spectrum. The device is apparently still picking up her heat signature, though - it's clear as day. ]

[nirsighted]

Oh uh-- [He clicks something on the side of the heavy wrist device.] Got it.

[He's recording this now. Writing is for suckers. The feed doesn't automatically integrate with the thermal detector, but whatever. He can verbal that information, right? Speaking of:]

Light's passing through you. So there's no shadow. But I can definitely still see your heat and stuff.

[greentech]

Weird.

[ He can't see it, but she's trying to get a look at herself. ]

So it's just the light spectrum visible to the naked eye? That probably means infrared isn't going to be fooled either, huh?

[nirsighted]

[He strafes a step in one direction, then over to the other while keeping the thermal imager directed at the shifting blob of Pidge's heat. It's too vague to make out any details, but he gets the sense that she's moving around.]

Probably not. But I don't know if most places here use that kind of stuff. I mean the really tight security does but I think most people just go with the ID stuff and facial recognition.

[greentech]

True.

[ Pidge tries a slow step. So far, so good. She's not reappearing yet. ]

So I guess it'd be handy for just getting into places I'm not supposed to be without being seen. Problem is the higher end stuff.

[nirsighted]

Well... [He frowns, his head tipping thoughtfully to the side.]

I mean it's making your clothes invisible too, right? Maybe you could wear something that blocked your heat signature and stuff. They probably make things like that. Or you could adapt something. Like run liquid coolant over the fabric somehow. Like, um... clothes made out of a plastic bag with cold stuff between the layers.

[He grins brilliantly.]

Then you'd just look like a weird floating head.

[greentech]

Huh, that might actually work. I think I could actually build something like that, too. It'd have to be super light-weight and I'd have to find the right material, but it's probably doable...

[ Now she's actually trying to design it in her head. Look what you've done, Nirad. ]

Maybe even a helmet. To avoid the floating head thing.

[nirsighted]

[Look, he's just trying to be helpful.

--And is nodding along with what she's saying, tapping a few things on the chunky piece of tech on his wrist. A small holographic screen pops up; it's hard to see in the daylight, so he shuffles his body around and stoops over it to block the sun. Through the back of the screen, it's easy to see he's looking at space!ebay.]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. [He sounds excited. This is cool.] I bet you can repurpose a bunch of junk for this and no one would know because like-- I mean the tech monitoring here is really strict, right? But mostly for things that are produced by companies. You can rip the signatures out of something you build in your basement or whatever. You'd be pretty invisible.

[Literally and figuratively.]

[greentech]

That'd be kinda cool, actually. Maybe I should try that-!

[ She seems genuinely excited by the idea. She tries to speed up a little, but once she goes past a slow walk, she ripples back into a view and she pauses to look down at herself again. ]

...huh. That answers that question, I guess.

[nirsighted]

[Nirad makes a small, disappointed clucking noise then grins:]

I guess you'll have to be a really slow secret spy.

[greentech]

[ Pidge groans. ]

I already have short legs. I'm never gonna get anywhere...

[nirsighted]

[If it's possible, his grin widens - goes more brilliant by a degree. But maybe that's just the flash of delight along their mental link augmenting it, the pervasive hum of his mind undulating like notes in a song.]

Maybe you should get some shoes with wheels on them or something.

[greentech]

What, like roller-skates?

[ Pidge snorts and dusts herself off. ]

I'm pretty sure that wouldn't help be stealthy at all.

[nirsighted]

[He laughs, reaching out to her to straighten her clothes - and then ruffling her hair for good measure. He isn't so much older than she is, really. It a friendly, companionable kind of touch.]

Okay, maybe not. But maybe if you work with it more, you'll get better at it. Practice is, uh, a good thing.

[Right?]