(open)

[tinkerhell]

Who: Reaper and YOU
When: End of October
Where: See prompts
What: Catch all for miniplot (and possibly beyond)
Warnings: None...yet

ooc: feel free to wildcard, or plurk/pm if you want to do something different

[He'd never been much of a music man. There was always too much to do, not enough time to discover and search. His soundtrack of choice hadn't changed much since he was a young man, and it didn't do much for him these days anyway. That said, having new and unfamiliar mixes of music available was doing wonders for his focus.

Recent goings on had made it difficult to concentrate in complete silence -- his mind would wander to things he could have done differently, things he might have forgotten, maybe a twitching in a muscle that he couldn't consciously stop. He was going crazy, crazier than he already was, just sitting still.

He'd been given a lot to think about recently.

At any time of the day, Reaper can be found sitting with a datapad, a croissant in some various state of consumption, and a nearly full glass of some kind of alcohol. The old TAB sits uselessly on the table beside the datapad, half dissected with most of its parts still in tact in spite of the fact that its guts have been pulled from its shell.

He doesn't look up when there are footsteps until they cross some invisible line, and then he pauses exactly what he's doing to look up and stare silently, waiting for some sort of introduction. If the person doesn't take the silence, Reaper will speak up himself:]

Enjoying the scenery switch? Not like we've been here for more than a few days. Probably. Who can tell when you're in space?

Comments

[magneticfields]

[ Since his conversation with Widowmaker, Erik has been doing some research on her friends. He still is learning how to use the computer system, and certainly couldn't bypass any security. But at least the names of her roommates were listed in the directory. It seemed a sensible place to start if he were to learn more about the organization she was a member of.

The man's name was listed simply as "Reaper", and Erik doesn't quite know what to expect as he approaches. He tries to take in as much as he can before he gets close enough to speak. He notes the exits and catalogues the metal in the room as a force of habit. There is something extremely odd about Reaper, something Erik can't quite place. As if the edges of him are somehow undefined and shifting. Or Erik's eyesight is not what it once was. An unpleasant thought. ]

Are you taking it apart or putting it together? [ His tone is reserved but genial enough as he gestures toward the pile of parts and takes a seat opposite Reaper. ]

[tinkerhell]

Took it apart before I came here.

[His voice is a horrible sound, a tired and old grizzled growl that echoes off the wall. The mask turns sideways to look at the open device. Some part of him had been hoping to find something salvagable, but it wasnt really his area of expertise. Sombra was far better at using technology than he was, but asking her to assist carried the risk of needing to trade a favor for later.

He wasnt in a position to be in debt at the present.

And then he turns his head back to his holotablet, finishing whatever note he was making before setting the pen aside.]

Not like they’re much use these days. Just like the MIDs

[squadgoals]

[It's the croissant that catches her eye, first. The disarray of the dissected TAB, the parts strewn about--no.

Where the hell did he find a croissant?

She doesn't say anything as she watches him, tapping away at the datapad, until he speaks up himself.]

It's been about a Sol standard month. Give or take.

[She's been keeping track.]

There a bakery on board we didn't know about?

[wallride]

It's more like what I'm used to, man.

[commented calmly. lúcio remembers reaper and the, uh. shenannigans. the guy doesn't seems as hostile this time, though, so he's willing to not immediately boop him off the deck and run away.]

I don't know how time works in space. Maybe we've only been here a month but technically it's a year? I'm no scientist.

[magneticfields]

[ Erik nods and pours himself a two fingers of whatever it is that Reaper is drinking. ] Yes, the engineering team is working on a replacement gadget for the replacement gadget. Maybe next time they will construct it in such a way that it continues to function after circumstances change.

[ He wasn't an expert on this particular technology, yet. But he's fairly certain there has to be some way. Perhaps he will take that project on as he learns more about it. ]

I'm Magneto, by the way. I arrived only recently. I take it you have been away from home for some time?

[tinkerhell]

Noted.

[He's watched Shepard make posts on the network before -- if anyone might be familiar with space time conversion, he imagined it might have been her.

When she asks about the croissant, there's a sound that comes from behind the mask -- its short, sounds a bit like a throaty growl, but judging by the way his shoulders move it is in fact a chuckle.

Or something close to it.]

Colleague brought them back to the room. You'll have to talk to her.

[He closes the notebook in favor of giving Shepard his full attention.]

Or, if you're desperate, I might be convinced to part with mine.

[Bitten into, and probably a little cold. How thoughtful.]

[tinkerhell]

The music? Or space?

[He remembers Lúcio's disappearance more keenly than he remembered other's. Now that he's settled into the crew more than he cares to admit, he finds that aggression doesn't get the results he's typically accustomed to.

It isn't exactly being nice, but its definitely a tone switch.]

[tinkerhell]

I'm not gonna hold my breath.

[Ironic, because he doesn't really have any -- not the way he used to. But that was neither here nor there.

The name pings his memory. Widowmaker had mentioned him, and thus Reaper had immediately gone digging as much as the current situation would allow (which was much less than he would have liked).

He decides to play it by ear.]

Long enough. Hard to tell with all the space travel.

[sleepdarts]

( she doesn't answer his question at first, making herself comfortable in one of the other chairs. she'd keep pushing, tiptoeing over the unspoken line that had started moving between them. whilst this was new, and things unclear, she'd take what she could get, and try and push for something of what they used to have.

she wasn't a fool, and as much as ana might reminisce about how things used to be she knew it would never be quite the same. it shouldn't be, either. she'd always seen the cracks, but if she can pull them closer a little-- )

I've slept a few nights. ( "nights". she had some ways of marking the hours but she'd have to ask shepard for a little more information on how to figure it out. though it wasn't high on the priority list )

But I preferred having my feet on the ground.

( and despite the retirement of the situation part of it had been nice. a chance to rlax, let certain things dvelop, and there'd still been things to do. is that what a normal life was supposed to be? )

[wallride]

Either or.

[he stays nearby, clearly interested in striking up a conversation; that doesn't mean he mistakes reaper's lack of outward aggression as friendliness.]

You seem different, man.

of course they're all mutants. it's the only logical explanation!

[magneticfields]

I wouldn't recommend it, no.

[ Although as far as Erik can tell, Reaper doesn't exactly breathe so much as seethe smokily. He's curious about the nature of the man's mutations but isn't sure if Reaper and Widowmaker even use the same terminology for such things. ]

That's an unusually honest answer. Most I've spoken to have been able to give a figure in months or years, but then describe events which would not be quantifiable in such measurements.

[tinkerhell]

Not much difference anymore, if you ask me.

[And she was, of course, asking him by nature of being there trying to talk to him. Reaper has since accepted that Ana wouldn't give up trying to get through to him, though there was nothing to really 'get through' to anymore. He'd surrendered the possibility on following through on his promise to eliminate the surviving Overwatch agents, and they could live peacefully at a distance so long as they didn't try to interrupt him anymore.

But this time, Reaper actually has something to ask of his old colleague. He sets aside his task for the moment and folds his arms, leaning back to better appraise her.]

Is this about Widowmaker?

[She hadn't told him about their conversation, but there was zero chance that Widowmaker hadn't already found her wandering around.]

[tinkerhell]

Didn't take you for the astronaut type.

[He doesn't plan to discuss the nuances of his mental breakdown. Its definitely not friendliness.]

A year in space will do that to you, I'm told.

[tinkerhell]

[To this, Reaper shrugs nonchalantly.]

I know what I'm good at, and it isn't telling time in space.

[He might also consider himself a rather honest man, if not for all the lying by omission that he did.]

No sense in being cute about it.

[mylawn]

[It's been some time since the deal with Sombra--since she vanished with his visor and returned it intact a few days later. Jack can't fully trust that she kept to her word, so he isn't wearing it any more than he usually would since he learned it was compromised, and he certainly isn't wearing it now, chasing after Reaper. He knows he should be keeping his distance after their conversation at the bar, but Jack has never been particularly good at leaving well enough alone.

Approaching directly is likely a mistake, but just circling Reaper's orbit will be enough to make his presence known.

It also gives him the opportunity to make sure he isn't followed, or that they aren't being watched. Sombra's monitoring might be impossible to find, but at the very least he can avoid Widowmaker. Jack gets the feeling Reaper might want that too, and he only approaches once he confirms that they're alone--or as alone as they can be, given the fact that Reaper has posted up in public.]

I try not to think about it.

[How long it's been. Jack sounds a little detached, like this means less to him than it actually does. He kind of wants to know where that croissant came from.]

[tinkerhell]

'Course you do, because you can't stop thinking about it.

[Reaper wasn't about to pretend he didn't know exactly what Jack was thinking. A few months ago, he hadn't been too far off from it himself. But those days were starting to slip through his fingers like sand -- a life here seemed simpler, less of a confusing chore.

But then again, that was the consequence of owing a lot of debts, on top of everything else wrong with the world.

He doesn't look up right away, peeling back a wire with one careful claw while scribbling notes blindly with his other hand. This thing was all but useless, at least in his hands. He hadn't wanted to admit it.]

You should probably start getting used to the idea that we're not leaving.

[He was almost starting to believe it himself, after all -- even if his plans to stay had only been vocalized to Sombra, it was hard not to think that there might not have been a choice when it came right down to it.]

[squadgoals]

I'll pass. Think I've still got half a nutrition cube on me somewhere.

[Hard, green, nutritious. What more could you possibly need?? She was aware of the bias, one that she publicly shared—although if she was being completely honest with herself, didn't mind them that much at all. Food was food, and there was a kind of comfort in knowing that you could have it all in one compact block.

Still, variety was the spice of life—and a great morale booster.]

Wouldn't mind learning how she's making them, though. I'm sure there's people on board who would cry at the sight of food that's not a cornerstone of geometry.

[Her eyes flit over the scene again (minus invested croissant interest), circling back around to the mask, and its owner.]

Don't think we've met before. Feel like I'd remember the face.

[ha ha ha]

[tinkerhell]

I wouldn’t get too excited. My sense of taste isn’t what it used to be.

[So they could be great, or they could be awful. He still isn’t sure where she got them — he simply assumed that they came from the same phenomenon that gave Sombra her teddy bear.

When Shepard asks the inevitable question, Reaper gives her another amused sound, and braces himself. Morrison was more personable than he was, and while that wasn’t saying much, he’d already had a fair share of people meet him with an opinion already formed.

Reaper extends his clawed gauntlet with the intent of offering a handshake.]

Reaper.

[sleepdarts]

It wasn't.

( she actually found his perspective refreshing after all of the years, especially in their more jaded years. grumbling as two old people would--

though ana actually had something for him, some other part of the past, though perhaps this wasn't the moment for it )

But I do know she's here. We've spoken.

( been threatened, sassed back. as you do )

[tinkerhell]

[There is a change of expression on his grizzled, cut up face. He looks her over for new injuries, for any sign that Widowmaker had made an attempt to finish the job she had failed and found nothing.

It doesn’t quite add up to what he expected. ‘Speaking’ was never something he attributed to Amélie.

It isnt quite concern, but there is definitely something defensive about it.]

Hm.

[He settles back down, still unseated by the lack of conflict. What did that say about him, who spent a year tryig to rip out his once best-friend’s throat? That Widowmaker, a preprogrammed weapon, was more capable of rational decision making.

Feels bad.]

[mylawn]

[He laughs a little, more of a huffed sound through his nose as he folds his arms and leans against the wall. He takes care to keep a bubble of space between himself and Reaper, trying to infringe on it as little as possible, like it's going to give them both some plausible deniability if Widowmaker walks down the hallway and wants to know what's going on. Reyes is, of course, spot-on in his assessment like always--Jack very rarely stops thinking about it and the mission he's left behind. It comes up practically every time they try to talk to each other, so he might as well stop acting like he doesn't.

Still, he won't accept being stuck as an answer, even if the more logical part of him knows that if they haven't found a way home by now, it's likely they never will. The chances are even worse now that the Ingress is ostensibly destroyed.

But Jack doesn't want to admit that outright to Gabriel, so he tries to turn it around, instead.]

Why, have you?

[It's difficult not to recall what Sombra said to him. At the time, he'd taken it as her trying to mess with him, but now he wonders if there isn't some truth in it. If Gabriel isn't so interested in the things going on back home.]

[sleepdarts]

She wanted me to know she was coming.

( look she knows you're thinking about it even if you haven't actually said anything. ana probably should have been more concerned than she was but, even if the tech didn't bring her back anymore, she wasn't alone. and even if gabriel wasn't 'on their side' she wanted to have hope that he'd set amelie straight about her plans )

Not that it's anything unexpected.

( amelie had also expressed something over ana being alive. maybe it had felt a little good to hah at that. a sniper who doesn't make sure her kills are dead... )

[tinkerhell]

[He hadn’t quite been prepared to talk about it so frankly — but then again, he probably should have thought of that before bringing it up.

What he had said to Sombra was said in a moment of weakness that he never should have indulged. After a year’s work was invalidated in 24 hours, it was hard to consider any other option. Even if there was still something going on at home, did it really matter? If the world kept on turning without them, wpuld somekne else step up and fix the problem?

Reaper’s reply is slow to come. He had made a lot of mistakes over the years, and many of them were too late to correct back home. The self-correcting method wasn’t yielding the results he had once hoped for, and now he was in debt up to his ears.

But here, none of that existed.]

Thought about it.

[He keeps it noncommital.]

[tinkerhell]

She could have shot you. Poisoned you. Snapped your neck.

[She didn't, and that was unexpected, even if Ana didn’t share his views on the matter. He would have to...figure that out later, on his own, without actively bringing it up. The last thing he needed was Widowmaker stalking his activities.

Talon: always up in everyone’s business.]

If not her, then what?

[sleepdarts]

( she knows this gabe. ana knows. though doing it there and then... what would the effect have been.

but that wasn't the point. as nonchalant as ana is being about this she knows that it could have been a lot worse, that she didn't know amelie as she was now and couldn't predict what she would do, or what talon would have made her do.

instead she answers his other question. there's no words, ana simply reaching inside her coat to take out a photo. it was one that he should recognise from decades previous, the three of them as they had been. she hands it across, watching his reactions )