station72 | mental link

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mental link | day: 36

[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.]

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[ 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. ]

[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. )

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

[ Annie doesn't like the bitch. ]

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

[ 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. ]

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

( 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. )