[voice]

[alittlesweptup]

[The voice on the network may not technically be shouting, but there's a distinctly hard edge to the words that easily translates into 'Oh my god I can't even believe this right now.']

Oi! Anyone using fire to deal with this nonsense had better knock it right off! I don't care if your fire's made of magic, Harry Potter, it's still probably burning up oxygen when you use it to light these bastards up-- and I don't know if you've noticed, but we're in bloody space.

[There's a beat, a sharp intake of breath as Charlie wills himself to not flip the nearest table. Finally, in a low steely tone:] We need oxygen for other things. Like, oh, breathing. Figure out a different way of doing things.

Comments

[hotdate]

[Loooooooooooooooooooooooong pause. Heath is not the sharpest tool in the box]

I don't get it.

[alittlesweptup]

Meaning: six of one, half a dozen of the other? [A beat.] Same shit?

[hotdate]

Oh... okay. I guess everyone is on uhhh equal terms here, I guess. It's kinda nice.

[alittlesweptup]

[Charlie makes a low noise, not quite agreement but not exactly anything else either.] That's a word for it.

[A beat then:] In any case, I don't think you've anything to worry about.

[hotdate]

That's good, then. Because me? I like a life with way less worry than I've been having lately.

[alittlesweptup]

You and me both, mate. [There's a distinct humorlessness to his voice.]

[hotdate]

But it's gotta clam down eventually, stop being so insane, right? And then we'll be back on Earth and things'll be way better again.

[Oh you precious little idiot]

[alittlesweptup]

[Oh for--]

Nothing's going to change if everyone insists on sitting on their heels and doing jack all about fixing it.

[hotdate]

And that's what all this uh...time travel stuff is for, right? To go to a place to make it so it never happened. They've gotta have a history book or something to help figure out the right time and place, right?

[Because in Heath-Land it's just that easy]

[alittlesweptup]

[8|]

I don't think it's so easy as all that, mate.

[hotdate]

It's...not? Because in the movies it's super easy. Maybe it's because they didn't make their time machine out of a car.

[alittlesweptup]

[No, no he's not going to take the time to wax poetic about Back to the Future. He's got things to do, goddammit.]

See if the AI has a copy of Ray Bradbury's A Sound of Thunder while you're asking it about your...-- condition.

[hotdate]

...

That sounds suspiciously like a school book.

[You don't want him to LEARN, do you, Charlie? Because that's just rude]

[alittlesweptup]

It's a short story.

[Now stop complaining and do your homework!]

[hotdate]

[So cruel]

Fine, fine, I'll read the book.

[He so will not read the book]

--> disconnect

[alittlesweptup]

Good.

[And then he cuts the feed before the kid manages to drag him down another rabbit hole. Sorry for being a such a prick, Heath.]