[Mostly Open] So we'll press, and press 'til you can't take it anymore!

[groupiedrifter]

CHARACTERS: Precursors and you. And Eventually Newton. Hopefully!
LOCATION: A holding room in Ximilia Station.
DATE: Est. two days post-mission, after the kaiju is defeated and the orb is retrieved.
CONTENT: The precursors are revealed — and are finally removed from Newt's mind.
WARNINGS: Possession and the bodily autonomy issues that come with that. More will be added if necessary!

Closed and opened starters will be added as I go, which will be announced on plurk! But if you don't use plurk or would rather keep an eye out by email/tracking, feel free to use the tracking option and mark to receive notifs any new top level comments posted to this log! The log will involve an open starter to visit the precursors where they're cuffed/contained in the room, so stay tuned.

Also no rush once the open starters are posted!

Feel free to focus on the player plot log first and come back to this later.

CLOSED STARTER | THE DOCTOR
DARKLING'S TOP LEVEL | WHILE NEWT WAS SLEEPING...
OPEN STARTER | THE PRECURSORS, REVEALED
CLOSED FINAL CONCLUSION | THE PRECURSORS, REMOVED
OPEN PROMPTS | NEWTON GEISZLER'S RETURN

Comments

infirmaryyyyy

[homeostatic]

( The days following their return to the station are always busy for him, and getting away from the infirmary for a breather typically meant getting right back. Feeling fresher after a shower, if not yet well rested, McCoy leaves off his immediate return when Kirigan passes him out in the corridor. )

Hey, Kirigan. ( He glances to the darkness at his feet, because it's impossible to miss: an inky stain against the white flooring, seething and roiling like an angry sea. It puts McCoy in mind of something caged, throwing itself against its cell in a mad frenzy, and his gaze snaps back up to the man's face. )

You alright there? ( No, of course not, they're none of them 'alright', or fine, not after that, so he moves right on, gesturing back toward the infirmary. )

You look fit to be tied. Something I can help you with?

[cruelyethuman]

I'm fine.

[The writhing mass of shadows at their feet make a liar out of him almost immediately. A near-solid wall of darkness that rises behind him, like a snake raising its head at a threat.]

Fit to be what? [There's a slow blink, the lights in the hallway dimming like the sun setting.] No, but do explain yourself.

[homeostatic]

( The Hell you are makes it to the tip of his tongue and he immediately chokes on it, coughing once into his elbow. )

It means you look pissed. On the verge of a dyin' duck fit, as my grandma used to say.

[cruelyethuman]

Well... [A deceptively casual sound as his eyes seek out Bones', holding it through the dark.] Aren't you? How could this happen, and no one knew.

[homeostatic]

( The very notion that he might not be upset is a perfect outrage to him, as McCoy's tone shifts to righteous anger. )

Of course I am! Just because I'm not wearin' it on my sleeve doesn't mean I'm not.

I don't know how it happened, ( and oh, his scowl is tremendous, focused away from the other man, as if the shadows themselves hold the answers he seeks, ) But I mean to find out.

( McCoy turns his gaze back to Kirigan, eyes narrowing as he points out, )

That doesn't mean the rest of us are ticking time bombs, either. Anyone startin' down that road is better off asking Viveca and Degar for the next ticket home.

[cruelyethuman]

Is that how you see me. Curious.

[Out of sorts, angry. Furious and resenting Kovach - impotent fury at being denied, well, anything but mostly the danger this puts someone in. The risk that she might not survive a second attack, and he can do nothing to prevent it.

It had looked so easy.

More fool him, since nothing was ever simple on this station. The bonds that was forged in battle, growing stronger with each passing months.]

How would you know if any of us were. No one saw this coming, and we almost lost this fight. How do you know he was the only one, or that he won't try again.

[homeostatic]

With Newt? Now I know what I'm looking for.

( That, at least, he's confident about, still smarting underneath it all from the way those bastards hid from him for months. He's a neurosurgeon, for God's sake, he wasn't going to miss the signs ever again. )

As for the rest of you... ( McCoy wets his lips, and shakes his head. ) Hell, Kirigan, I don't know if tomorrow a singularity is gonna open up in space next to us and drag the station into another universe. We could be swimming in the kill zone of a supernova fifty light years away and never know until we're pulled apart by the blast.

( Bones that is... not helping. )

What I mean is, the only thing we can control for sure are ourselves, and how we choose to respond to crisis.

[cruelyethuman]

And how do we respond to crisis, doctor?

[Because the Darkling deals with it by snuffing it, by removing it. Scrubbing it from the world, scorching it out of existence.

All the fancy and pretty euphemisms for murder.

There had been threats before, knife and guns and fire, other risks that placed someone in danger, but mostly it was herself. But not this time.

Eyes flashing, he tilts his head.]

You think that we're already balancing on the edge of disaster, so why be bothered about this one. That is a bold statement.

[The shadows swirl, sinking in to the more natural ones they both cast against the white walls.]