Team Bonding, AMA

[the_civilian]

[ Tadashi is reclining in a bed in medical, wearing the beatific smile of the enlightened and the well and truly stoned. ]

I love biology. Well, no, I'm enthusiastic about biology, I don't love it. I love programming and engineering and my family and helping people. Not in that order. Maybe in that order in regards to science. Except programming and engineering are the tools I use to help people, but I do love them too.

[ He stares off into space for a moment, then shakes himself and focuses back on the camera again. ]

But, you know, the thing about biology that's so cool is that we don't understand it all the way. Sometimes biological interactions happen unexpectedly. Like, these painkillers. I don't have an example of them to show you; they're already in my system and the medical staff won't give me more of them because they make me really loopy. Which is cool, because it's not an allergic reaction or a result of a miscalculated dose, it's just a reaction that happens sometimes to some people. Which is cool! Even almost a thousand years in the future of an alternate universe -- which has seriously weird rules, oh my god you guys I wish I loved biology and philosophy and physics more so I could study how weird this place is, I could write so many papers -- people still don't really know how our bodies work and why they react to certain things the way they do. Reality is amazing and I am so happy it exists!

[ He beams at the camera, but his smile eventually fades into confusion. Then he gasps in apparent surprise. ]

Oh yeah! Anyway, I'm super bored right now and I can't concentrate enough to read anything longer than a few sentences. And I've kind of been focused on dealing with my own stuff and not lighting things on fire when I shouldn't to get to know people, so I was thinking I should get off my ass and do that. Metaphorically, not literally, because the medical staff has confined to this bed until I metabolize the painkillers.

I was thinking we could do a...thingy. That thing people sometimes-- AMA! Ask Me Anything, that thing! We could do that, but just for Legionnaires. Not that I don't love the staffers here, I do, but I was thinking it could be a team bonding thing and some people here are more private than others. But I'd need one of the scary computer ladies to lock it down for me, because I can't figure out how to do that right now.

[ His eyes widen suddenly. ]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean that like "scary computers who are women", that would be rude, I meant it like "scary women who are good with computers". Computer programming has a long history of ignoring the contributions of the women who are it's backbone, and we have a lot of women here who area really good at what they do and they deserve to be afforded all the respect due to them as people and as badasses. The patriarchy sucks like the vacuum abhorred by nature.

...I think this got away from me. What was I talking about?

Comments

[ordinarily]

[ This escalated quickly and Danny's trying very hard to not have a panic attack. ]

O-Okay look! I... had an accident last year. With my parents' ghost portal. I got electrocuted with ectoplasm.

I went to the hospital, my parents checked me out, I'm fine, but... now I keep setting off their ghost-hunting gear, so that's... a thing.

But it's been a year, and I've been fine, really.

[ He half-assed this. God, did he half-ass this. But it was enough, right? God, he hoped so. ]

[gonebyebye]

That can't be right. If my readings are right, you would've had to have enough ectoplasm channeled through you to create a Class IV ghost. It should've done something.

...how long have you had your powers?

[ordinarily]

I got them here.

[ No, he's not gonna get tripped up again. Wash was enough. ]

[gonebyebye]

Danny.

[Ray's already knows Danny's lying yo him. If it had been as simple as Danny claimed, he wouldn't have tried so hard to cover it up. Something had to have happened, the numbers didn't add up to anything else. Which meant Danny didn't trust him for some reason.]

Let's say, purely hypothetically, you did get powers from the accident. What do you honestly think I'd do if that were the case?

[ordinarily]

I dunno, put me on a dissection table and rip me apart molecule by molecule because science?

You know. Hypothetically.

[ He's playing it off really blase, but really, it's goddamn terrifying to him. ]

[gonebyebye]

...put you on a dissection table and rip you apart- what kind of unethical lunatic do you think I am?!

Look, I won't lie and say I've never vaporised a ghost for scientific reasons, but the ghost in question was barely smarter than a tuna fish and it was with the foreknowledge that it would reconstitute itself in a matter of hours. I certainly wouldn't have done it otherwise, and I'd definitely wouldn't do that to you no matter what the circumstances were.

[ordinarily]

[ ... That was not the reaction he was expecting. Specifically, the part where Ray actually got mad at his implication. Danny was so used to that being the norm with ghost hunters-- the whole dissection table thing-- that he just... hadn't considered the idea that maybe not all ghost hunters want to dissect ghosts. ]

Um... right. Okay.

... But we're still talking hypothetically.

[ Yeah, he didn't put all his energy into that one. He's still kind of stunned. ]

[gonebyebye]

Actually, that part was me lying to figure out why you don't want me to know what's going on.

I've pretty much worked out what happened already anyways. What I don't know is the extent of the changes, which I'd like to if only for my own peace of mind. We can work out where to go forward from there, if you decide you want to do anything at all.

[ordinarily]

[ Really, his first instinct is to just say no, and go about his business. It's not like they can force him in the first place, especially given his powers. But at the same time... there's something to be said about the fact that Ray had enough common sense to piece everything together. That Danny didn't have to say much, and Ray still kind of figured it out. It was impressive, in its own weird way.

Impressive enough that maybe Danny should throw him a bone. ]

... Alright, look. You... if I tell you this, you don't tell anyone, okay? And you don't experiment on me, or anything. This is just... this is so we're clear. Okay? Can you promise that?

[gonebyebye]

Scout's honor. And before you ask, yes, I was a scout.

[ordinarily]

I'm half ghost.

[gonebyebye]

Huh. Not the terminology I would have chosen. It sort of implies a different form of hybridization than what you went through.

I'm guessing you're more powerful back home?

[ordinarily]

[ He sighs at that. ]

Yeah, these are really just some of my powers. Can't even transform here either, which kind of sucks, but whatever.

[gonebyebye]

Anybody else know about this?

[ordinarily]

Rich does. And I guess Wash too.

[ He may have a negative bias when it comes to Wash now. ]