mental link | day: 36

[wrackful]

[Exhaustion buzzes dimly, resignation a bitter aftertaste. It's a clear sensation that Murphy doesn't want to be doing this, but that somehow, he's ended up feeling it's his best option.]

( I need a ride to the station. Someone who can fly the shuttle. )

[The request is in his tone, even if he doesn't extend a please. And before his teammates can weigh in:]

( It'll be a round trip. Can't miss stage three of the alien crazy death show, can we. )

[The last is absolutely dry as a bone.]

Comments

[sistershoggoth]

( Famous last words. Why the fuck even bother? )

[wrackful]

( Coming back? I don't know, maybe so I can avoid you being a pain in the ass and never letting me forget that time I bailed on you.

And don't try and tell me you wouldn't do that. I won't believe you. )

[sistershoggoth]

( Uh! Excuse you, when have I ever been a pain in the ass. )

[ Besides, you know, always. Her amusement is large, loud, toothy, reverberating in the immense space of her Inside. ]

( And I mean why go in the first place, don't be a fuckin' obtuse ass chimp. )

[wrackful]

( You mean outside of right now? )

[He'd be offended over the obtuse, if he wasn't actually being evasive. And now he needs to lie.

Unfortunately he's never been a great liar.]

( I just remembered I left something up there. )

[sistershoggoth]

( Bullshit! )

[wrackful]

[It'd be really good to be able to get angry right now. Get cruel. But he doesn't have the energy, and he can't blame Annie for being how she is. And he suspects it probably wouldn't even work to get her off his case.]

( Look, sometimes the whole brain bug experience isn't all happy sharing rainbows. So I'm going to the station, but I'll be back. Alright? )

[sistershoggoth]

[ The intensity of her attention is unpleasant. Like a tongue running over the words he's sent to her, tasting them for falsehood, hair raising and wet. But it fades as she accepts what he says. ]

( Is that what you do? )

[ Because fuck knows she and the brain bug are going to have problems. She maybe needs this info for the future. ]

[wrackful]

[His walls are usually better. They don't remove the sensation of Annie's mind, but they're usually steady against it. Steady enough as to be practically unnoticeable. Now, her attention rakes over him and bristles rise in its wake, like a hand stroking against the grain. For a moment he is all over spikes, thorns, broken edges and sharpness - and then, as if with a shake, they settle again. Disappear.]

( It's what I do. ) [Emphasis him. Other people use the pods, he knows that, but he doesn't know of anyone else rendered quite as much of a useless mess as he had been. He might have to use them, but he isn't going to guide anyone else that way.] ( The big expert on the subject didn't really offer me any other options. )

[sistershoggoth]

( Cathaway's only gonna tell you what she wants to hear. )

[ Annie doesn't like the bitch. ]

[wrackful]

( Yeah, if there's enough of Cathaway left in there to know what Cathaway would want to hear. )

[sistershoggoth]

[ She's pulsing with something. It's a muddy emotion: nostalgia, anger, despair. ]

( Fuck her. It's obvious enough: play the game, drink the koolaid. So why the fuck are you going. )

[ Why was someone like John goddamn Murphy letting himself be holed in like that. ]

[wrackful]

( What, like you're not playing the game down here? Or is it different when it's following orders. )

[sistershoggoth]

( Eat shit, you scumsucker. It's different when there's nothing better to be fuckin' doing. What was I gonna do, fuckin' sulk somewhere? Needed recon on all you assholes anyway, what better way than this beautiful fuckin' team building mission. )

[wrackful]

( Yeah, we all do what we have to. )

[sistershoggoth]

( Don't be a fuckin' smartass. )

[ Pot?? Kettle?? ]

[wrackful]

( Seventeen years too late on that one. )

[sistershoggoth]

( Oh my god is that how old you are. God I can't even sleep with you. )

[wrackful]

( Wouldn't have been on the table anyway. Sorry, I know it makes the disappointment even more crushing. )

[sistershoggoth]

( Yeah, well, more like I mostly fuck chicks but. Same difference, you'da counted, cutie. )

[wrackful]

[He's honestly not sure if that was a compliment or not.]

( Thanks. I think. )