exsilium | video; a work in progress

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video; a work in progress

( Audio picks up the sound of industrial construction, either things familiar in woodshop, car garages, or anywhere of a similar sort. When the feed goes live, Collette is framed to one side, looking forward and away from the camera. She's clearly resting on her arms, and given the angle of the ground on the screen, she's probably lying on her stomach in order to do this. She glances over her shoulder, eyes going to something behind the tablet being used for recording, then smiles as her eyes drop down to the tablet itself. For all intents and purposes, the camera is positioned to make the viewing audience seem like they're side by side with Collette, wherever it is she is, keeping a low profile in this industrialized looking area. Concrete floor that she's resting on, packing boxes ahead of her, bundles of cables and chains glimpsed somewhere past her head. )

Guys! ( She keeps her voice low, not a whisper (they carry further, and can't be heard about the ambient noise), but low to avoid excessive attention. ) Anyone else catch where they dragged the ship off to with that giant crane after the crash? I wondered about that. But I've got news!

( She makes a waving motion at the camera, and it shifts, jarringly, to leave Collette off screen and show something covered in plastic and wiring and cables, a few Initiative workers using welding guns, others wheeling parts away or calling out shouts of questions over the sounds of construction. )

They say the spaceship's salvageable!

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[ The tug on his hair gets him to turn his head, giving him an eyeful of owl fluff, so close he could see his breath ruffling feathers. ]

Is that what you're worried about? [ It seems like a ridiculous thing to fret over, to him, but in retrospect? If he thought about it from her point of view? He had felt that way, for a bit, during the body switch fiasco. ] I know a lot of people worry about whether you can take care of yourself or not...

[ Which was all the more obvious thanks to Kate's message before their big trip. ]

But I don't. Your recklessness, sure, but that's a different problem. You know the original reason I teamed up with you, right?

( Her head tilts to the side, wide eyes blinking slowly. First one, then the other, as she listens. She hops back instead of answering straight away, even while brimming with curiosity. )

< Not exactly. > ( She admits that much right off the bat. ) < Outside of my charm and wit, obviously! >

( It's an easy, silly joke. She doesn't even mind making it at her expense, since she does figure she hass some sort of charm, and yes, she can sometimes be witty. Turning around, she walks purposefully off at a perpendicular angle. )

< I'm demorphing. Keep your eyes safe! >

( That counts as a warning in her mind. Close his eyes, look away, or watch the disturbing process -- he'd feel her weight returning as she'll cause his mattress to sink down with it, but rustling fabric is otherwise the extent of actual noise generated. )

[ He opts to close his eyes, not caring for the view demorphing gives even one bit. ]

Because you were useful, even before I knew about the morphing and the fighting. You had contacts all over the transports and the city already in place, without even trying. [ Considering she doesn't even think of her network of friends in that way, it obviously wasn't on purpose. ] I told you that before and I still mean it, it's a more powerful resource than you think it is.

That's hardly something a burden would have.

( As he speaks, she ends up overbalancing to one side, catching herself with an out-thrust hand. It still moves the bed, though she's glad between owl and girl she managed to stay sitting instead of having to collect herself from an awkward position after the fact. )

Hah!

( She allows her amusement to come through in her voice, shifting his way. Collette figures he'll probably open his eyes again -- well, unless he decides now's a wonderful time to nap.

One never could be entirely sure. )

It's not the people you know, it's the people they know, huh?

( She's close enough she can lean over him a little; she does, examining his face. Her lips are barely turned up at the corners. It's a soft smile, almost a placeholder for whatever she's thinking. )

That's practically sweet of you to say.

( Not using practically as an adjective; it was a practical sort of sweetness. For someone who might take "you're useful" to be something good, as Collette does, it's warming. She moves to plant one hand above his shoulder, the one further away from her, using that arm as support when she leans that way. Her free hand tugs gently at his hair again. )

Makes it seem like it almost wouldn't matter if I couldn't morph at all.

[ He does open his eyes again. Dropping off into a nap mid-conversation is a poor habit to nurture, so he tries not to. Though that means opening his eyes to a girl leaning over him. Worse, it's in a way he immediately notes would make him sitting back up somewhat difficult.

Clearly this means it's time to change to a much less complimentary subject. ]

Uh, yeah, well, the morphing... helps, but... So, what was the deal with pot-dropping guy again?

( Her lips twitch up into a smile, though she holds where she is, idly rubbing some of his hair between her thumb and forefinger. Dean. Nice topic shift. )

He hunts the supernatural is what I get. Only back when Isaac was here -- Isaac is a werewolf, and was a roommate before he left at the end of November -- he'd been threatening to hurt Isaac and his friends. I told him to knock it off because Isaac was scared enough to tell me not to talk to him, and it was all stupid, and I might have shown up as a crocodile in his bed once.

( She looks markedly pleased recalling this encounter. )

I apologized for it later, but it doesn't really matter. He's sure I'm evil incarnate, so he tries to hurt me when he thinks he can get away with it.

( She shrugs one shoulder, letting his hair drop out from between her fingers. Collette looks less and less self assured as she goes on. )

So when I was caught under rubble for a while, he shoved the plant over the railing. It's no big deal. It was only a minor concussion. I was more stunned than anything else. Plus Blue was there, he'd have pulled me out if I'd really been in danger!

( She doesn't look like she's convinced any of this sounds reassuring. If anything, she's watching Caesar to see if he finds any of it reassuring. )

[ Unfortunately for Collette, he does not. She gets the opposite of reassuring looks, an extremely skeptical one. ]

So he threatened the life of your roommate, thinks that you're an evil monster, will try to hurt you when he has the chance, and you seem to think giving someone a minor concussion isn't something to worry about.

[ He groans and lets his head loll over to one side against the bed for a moment. Maybe this wasn't a good topic change after all, considering this is suddenly very stupid.

After a second of looking woefully exasperated, he looks back up at her again. ]

See, this is the downside to you being so friendly. If he ever gets a chance to kill you, I imagine he'll take it, and you won't even see it coming.

No someone -- ( she protests, it's about the first thing she can protest ) -- just me. As long as I'm mostly coherent, I can think clearly enough to morph. Then it's a moot point! It's if I'm out cold that you need to start worrying, or, you know, out of my head for some other reason.

( That part's matter of fact. She shivers, not even for show; the thought she has is that personally disturbing. )

Being unconscious and still in morph... eugh! No thanks!

( Here she pauses... and then she shakes her head. )

He won't. He's dumb, but not that dumb. If he really wanted me dead, I'd be dead. I'm not infallible. But I think you're right, about that whole friends network thing. I guess I get it better now, but people aren't going to be okay if they know what he's doing. Sollux even started sparking at the eyes. What's really annoying is having to lie to save his sorry butt from the people who'd kick it looking for an outlet!

( She rolls her eyes ceiling-ward, then tucks her chin in to look back down at Caesar. )

It's not a downside to being friendly. It's a downside to not enjoying pointless violence.

[ If they're going to be eyerolling here, fine then, he'll do it right back. ]

It's a downside to both, then. You're so nice and non-violent that you'd rather just put up with someone harassing you than let them get what's coming to them.

[ She's just lucky he's too rational to decide to fix the problem for her. It'd be too vindictive and far too meddlesome even for his tastes. ]

But at least you're getting that part, finally. [ He idly crosses his arms across his chest and looks, not so mildly, a bit smug. Told-you-so smug. ] You might be fine with just morphing damage away, but what you think and what everyone else thinks don't quite match up.

Only because I can afford to! I don't like it, but what's the benefit to telling the people who want to beat him up that they should, hmm? There's got to be a way to make him stop being such a jerk that doesn't make him more stubborn than ever.

( His smug expression has her wrinkling her nose, amused and mildly feather ruffled all at once. Geez, he just makes her feel silly! It's weird to get used to, but maybe it was how things worked when you were taken so far out of your element. You started really caring for people you probably wouldn' have in normal life -- or people you shouldn't have. )

You're looking awfully smug. Makes me want to... ( She leans down a little, hair spilling from over her shoulders. Her expression's positively impish. ) ... kiss it right off you!

( Fishing for reactions, half honest, and half wanting to not linger on the fact he was right about this big weird something she doesn't know what to do with! )

[ And the reaction is a disbelieving snort (and perhaps some worry, somewhere, in his expression). Really, Collette? ]

If that's what it makes you want to do, life must be difficult for you when you're around me, since I'm always smugly correct. [ And therefore looking smug about things a lot! ] You're only trying to change the subject.

[ Back in a direction he'd been trying to turn it away from! That's the worst! ]

( Always, Caesar. Just to varying degrees of seriousness! )

Mmm, it would be if that's how I felt all the time! But it's really more of a right now thing.

( She leans down further. She wonders if she'll get a hand to the face again, 'agreement' nonewithstanding. Or if he'll gain some motivation and slither out, or just plain try sitting up.

It's an amusing series of 'what ifs' running through her mind. )

Only a little. We can get back on topic anytime. Honest.

( Her lips quirk into a lopsided grin, eyes dropping down to his lips for a moment, mostly as a visual tease. Is that what it counts as? She's not sure. )

[ All the same 'what ifs' play out in his own head, but, to the misfortune of both, he does settle on one of the escapes. This time it's a sigh and him moving to sit up. It's all a joke to Collette, but with her leaning in that close? Elza came back to mind almost immediately and he just can't play along.

She'll have to lean aside if she doesn't want to knock their skulls together. ]

Was there anything else we were going to talk about or was it just the ship and that one guy?

( Collette pulls her head back, though she doesn't do more than shift a bit back to give him a little more moving room at first. She doesn't catch her sigh before it's out. It's her only outward indication of disappointment.

Right after, she makes herself smile, shrugging. A moment more and she uses her supporting arm to push off the bed and twist herself away from Caesar. )

No, pretty sure we've already covered the rest.

[ He wonders if he should apologize, if only for a brief second or two, but no. He's not prone to apologies and he'd have to explain what he was apologizing for, which... Well, speaking of dangerous people Collette should stay away from, right? ]

I... guess that's all, then.

[ Yep. Yeah. That's a lame way to wrap things up and he knows it, from the way he looks off elsewhere, suddenly seeming disinterested. ]

( She looks at him sideways, wondering about the elephant standing in the room. When it's related to this, her own thoughts have a certain inevitabe rounding back to a few weeks prior. That in mind, she curls her fingers into a fist, remembering how damn scary it'd been, and how he'd joked (but not, in her mind) about trying not to panic and mess this up.

On some level it'd be normal enough, she worries she'll mess all kinds of things up if she slows down and gets caught up in what-ifs, but...

Collette slaps his upper arm with the back of her hand, hard enough to be attention drawing, but not actually painful. )

We're going to have to talk about her sooner or later.

[ He wasn't expecting that! Which shows in how he turns to give her a startled look. It covers up the sudden dread he feels. Talk about her? He thinks back, to that very same time weeks ago.

Had he said anything?

He can't quite remember. A lot of it has faded into a blur of pain and fever dreams, up until the point he'd woken up, recovering, in the hospital. ]

Talk about who?

Your killer kisser. Ms. Nobody!

( She's almost amused at his surprise. But she's serious, which mitigates some of that amusement. )

The reason why you were sick. I know it can't be anything you caught, we were all in the same place the whole two weeks earlier, and there's no way your immune system's worse than mine. So it's not even an illness.

( And she's been thinking... and not liking the spy movie action thriller thoughts she's been having. )

[ So he had. Miss Nobody, huh? ]

I also thought I was back in the Grasslands being bothered by a basket dog. I'm sure that was only another delusion, Collette.

( She gives him a bland smile. )

No bullshit, please. ( Collette blinks, coloring slightly -- she's surprised at her own language, though she feels she shouldn't be. ) You were out of it at first, but you knew what you were talking about enough to try to lie about it even when you were burning up with fever.

( It's still scary, remembering Scary agian because if it's not an illness, if it's caused by a someone -- and now, she really thinks it was -- then it has that potential of happening again. )

Look, it just isn't anything you need to know about, okay?

[ It was just business. A contract. A horrible, terrifying one that nearly killed him, sure, and maybe he'll truly convince himself of that one day if he keeps thinking that. ]

( She makes a noise of frustration, narrowing her eyes at him and pursing her lips. And he's the one saying she doesn't get it! )

Nuh-uh, you don't get to lecture me about this, then turn around and say that!

( Collette reaches out for him, tugging him toward her with no respect for personal boundaries. This is important to her, and he's being -- he's being stubborn and stupid and even if she might get why someone would be, she doesn't appreciate it one whit! )

It's not that I don't need to know, it's that you don't want to tell me. Remember what happened the last time you decided I didn't need to know something because it was easier for you not to say? "It was supposed to be okay, you were never supposed to follow her!" It's important to me. And I think it's more important than you want to admit to yourself, too, to not keep it all locked up inside you like that actually makes it totally okay. 'Cause it does for a while, but not for forever.

( People are supposed to have those they trust around them. She won't ask for everything -- she doesn't want it -- but a measure of trust and an understanding of why seems important to her. She doesn't want to see it happen again. )

Even if you really wished it did.

It's completely different!

[ Elza isn't actively wishing death upon him!

He makes an irritated sound when she pulls him closer and he leans away, though hardly with enough effort to fight it. It's like a lazy cat that doesn't want to sit still in someone's lap before it decides to on its own, really. He's mostly annoyed that she had to bring up her own encounter with the very same assassin. There's logic to it. She'll figure it out on her own eventually, with only so many potential options for it.

Then what? Then he keeps leaving her in the dark so she has to go confront Elza? He knows how that would end. Which begs the question, considering who she brought up all on her own, if she has... ]

Though I have to wonder if you already know the answer anyway. At least part of it.

[ He refuses to look at her throughout this, glumly glowering at the far wall instead. ]

( She tugs more insistently, ignoring the sound of irritation. The only thing that makes her pause is his statement she might already know the answer. At least part of it. But she didn't, did she? Collette racked her brain, going over their turn in conversation. What could he mean?

With him resolutly glaring at the far wall, he might not see her perplexed look slowly shift toward dawning understanding. Or more like dawning dread, given how unsettled Elza makes her feel. )

Elza?

( Couldn't have been Clive; he'd been back in the UE still at the time. There's no one she can think of with a motive to attack Caesar like that -- heck, even Elza doesn't make sense. Hence her wide eyed demand, tamping down on the surge of adrenaline through her system that coursed through, right along with the concern and sharp tang of fear. )

If it was her, why did she...? How -- ! No, sorry, I get the how, but -- but why?

Got it in one. See? You really can use your brain.

[ This prrrrobably isn't a good time to poke fun at her, Caesar. Oh well, he'll do it anyway, trying to make this all seem that much less serious. At least he gives up fighting the tugging, either too lazy to keep at it or simply seeing no point in being difficult now that the culprit has been guessed. ]

Don't get too jealous, though. She's an awful kisser, just like I said. [ When poison is involved. ] She decided me leaving Clive behind called for a new contract to be opened. That if he wasn't back within a few days after the crash, she would kill me. I didn't realize that I had been poisoned until I started feeling it hours later.

Edited 2013-05-25 14:26 (UTC)

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