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Post by Perceptor on May 7, 2011 17:00:49 GMT -5
Month 1, Week 2, Day 3. Private thread. ---------------
Perceptor finds himself adopting an unfamiliar role, for once; he isn't used to being the hunter, after all. He isn't even really used to being prey. Everyone knows where to find him, because if he isn't in the lab when someone comes looking, all they have to do is wait. He'll be there soon enough.
But his quarry has not come calling yet, and there is still something that needs to be sorted out between the two of them. In fact, as hard as it has been to find this individual, Perceptor can only guess that he is being intentionally scarce. Not too scarce, or else Perceptor would never stand a chance at tracking the spy down, but scarce enough that the normal chance encounters that Perceptor had been used to occurring have not been occurring, and that takes more than simple random chance.
Mirage has been hiding from him.
He refuses to break down and resort to simply calling the spy on the radio, though. No, this needs a more delicate, personal touch than that. Fortunately, Mirage is apparently not expecting Perceptor to actually come seeking him out, or else he probably would have found a better hiding spot than this. Success at last.
Pausing at the threshold, Perceptor crosses his arms over his chest and leans against the door frame. "Curious," he muses. "I would not have pegged you for a, ahem, chicken."
Colloquialism 101, now in session.
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Post by Mirage on May 7, 2011 18:43:33 GMT -5
Mirage does not consider practicing moves learned from Oracle in one of the more out of the way training rooms to be hiding. Perhaps he has not been bothering Perceptor as much for random tidbits of finer foods as much as was his previous wont, but then, Mirage rather thinks Perceptor would sooner speak to a turborat than the spy right now.
He doesn't flinch at that quiet voice behind him, nor does it interrupt the flow of his movements. The final drop and leg sweep in the set leaves Mirage facing the scientist, unplanned, but perhaps for the best. The spy's face is schooled to its normal careful neutrality tinged with arrogance.
"Perceptor," he says, "I would not take you for one to cast such aspersions, knowing them to not be true." After all, Perceptor knows quite well that Mirage is not a coward. The scientist has patched up Mirage from his scuffles enough times all ready.
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Post by Perceptor on May 7, 2011 18:49:21 GMT -5
"Then you deny that you've been... avoiding me?" Perceptor asks calmly, arching a single brow ridge with what could be either amusement, irritation, or disbelief.
And, perhaps a few days ago, a turborat would have been more welcome, but Perceptor is nothing, if not forgiving. Mirage will probably say "too much so,", but Perceptor does not care. He would rather forgive than hate.
Not that he plans on letting Mirage off the hook without a little sweating, though.
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Post by Mirage on May 7, 2011 19:47:15 GMT -5
"I do," the spy says, arching a browridge to match Perceptor's, "The ship is large. I often go days without seeing some people."
"However," Mirage continues, "I was under the impression that I was not someone you wished to see, so your accusation and presence here puzzles me."
A hint of a smirk, "Especially as our last communication included a threat upon my person, a thing I tend to take seriously."
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Post by Perceptor on May 7, 2011 20:18:35 GMT -5
"Not so large as that, Mirage," Perceptor replies with a thin sniff. "And, no, I was not precisely... thrilled... at the prospect of discussing your most recent visit to me, no. But it is better to have such unpleasantness out in the open, rather than festering quietly, would you not agree?"
He tips his head back a bit, staring down his nasal ridge at Mirage as he continues, "And had you been within reach before now, I might well have attempted to make good on that threat of bodily harm." He frowns sullenly. "Not everyone is as appreciative of your sense of humor, and your timing for that particular incident could not have been more atrocious. I really am quite angry at you, you know."
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Post by Mirage on May 7, 2011 21:19:27 GMT -5
"Ah. So we're doing that now then," Mirage says with a sigh and a slight shrug. Some of the stiffness goes out of the spy with the movement. He strides over to one of the benches and sits down, leaning forward, his elbows on his knees and he hands clasped together as he looks up at Perceptor.
"Are you angry because of what I said then, or what I said later?"
Or yes?
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Post by Perceptor on May 7, 2011 21:30:38 GMT -5
Contrary to his words, Perceptor ambles over and has a seat on the bench beside Mirage, leaning back against the wall to stare up at the ceiling. "I... overreacted to your response," he admits quietly. "In my defense, I was rather frazzled at the time, however... I know now that you did not mean what I assumed you had meant."
He sighs loudly, though, and turns a frustrated frown upon Mirage. "However, what possible reason could you have imagined that intruding upon the intake exam of a new arrival just to tease me would have been a good idea?" Perceptor is very cross, but... oddly calmer than Mirage is probably expecting.
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Post by Mirage on May 7, 2011 21:59:28 GMT -5
"Perceptor, dear, I didn't intrude just to tease you," Mirage says with a slightly dramatic sigh, "I know you have to have looked at the data I gave you. With this... alien technology in me now, I really did want to bring the issues to your attention as quickly as possible. With the subjects you two were discussing, there was no delicate way for me to break in. I thought making a small joke of things would take the mech's mind off the fact that I may have heard some of his more intimate secrets. That you each seemed to appreciate the aesthetics of the other was obvious, after all."
Note that Mirage does not say what he heard, if anything.
"I erred. And I am sorry."
"Bambi's been helping me with things in the interim, by the way," he adds.
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Post by Perceptor on May 7, 2011 22:16:12 GMT -5
"If I'd had anything useful to offer, I would have come to you sooner," Perceptor says quietly, and it hurts him sore to have to admit that he doesn't really have anything better to offer. He does not like failing at a problem, but especially not at one that affects someone he cares about.
"You could have radioed, you know," he adds, but, somehow, complaining about anything he went through pales in comparison to Mirage's Quintesson problem. Especially since Mirage could not have been there long, or else he would have known just what Perceptor had had to deal with to get Drift to even that slightly relaxed state.
"What do you mean, 'we each'?" Drift? Harboring anything for him? Don't be absurd, Mirage. Wait, he's getting off track again. "Nevermind. Just... I forgive you, of course. And Kup did not send me to the brig after all was said and done."
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Post by Mirage on May 7, 2011 22:45:03 GMT -5
Mirage snorts, "Perceptor, you said you were going to murder me in the same tone you might use to wish me good day. I was not about to take any chances until I was sure of your temper. If you chose, you could certainly be more deadly to me than most anyone here."
He leans back against the wall, arms going up so he can cradle the back of his head in his hands.
"Of course you forgive me. It is your nature. It will be some time before I forgive myself, however. I wonder again if perhaps everyone would be better off if I simply stayed invisible and interacted with no one. I seem to have a talent for angering people with my words, when anger was farthest from what I intended."
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Post by Perceptor on May 7, 2011 22:56:56 GMT -5
Perceptor heaves a sigh and leans forward over his knees. "Do you have any idea what I went through over the course of two days just to get him to speak with me? Much less confide anything! Of course I wanted to murder you! In ten seconds, you managed to undo everything I had accomplished, and then some."
That... is probably not doing much to fix things. Shut UP Perceptor.
"But," he adds carefully, "that has passed, and I have calmed down, and you are safe from me for the near future." He snorts and leans back again. "As if I could really pose a threat anyway. Thank you, but there is no need to lie to inflate my ego on that score."
"And yes it is my nature, and I will not be ashamed of that," he snaps. It was Mirage who had said that Perceptor cheapens trust by offering it so freely, after all, and that still stings. Not enough, though, to allow Mirage to vanish for good.
"That is the coward's way out, and you said yourself that you are no coward. So have you changed your mind, then?"
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Post by Mirage on May 7, 2011 23:33:45 GMT -5
Mirage tilts his head so he can examine Perceptor. "And why did you feel the need to make him confide in you in the first place? Are you to add ship's counselor to your list of duties now?"
His optics narrow as Perceptor snaps at him, "I have not changed my mind, and I am no coward. Something you might mention to Drift if you speak to him. I got the impression from our conversation that he seems to think me... lacking in skill." That last is said a bit dryly.
He sighs again, expression and body relaxing again. "At least I manged a conversation with him without him striking me. Barely. Am I really such a trial to be around, Perceptor?"
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Post by Perceptor on May 8, 2011 15:43:49 GMT -5
Perceptor has to pause and think about that for a moment before he finally answers, "Because everyone needs a friend."
Oddly, the rest just makes Perceptor smile, a curiously fond lilt to the expression. "I am not certain that anyone measures up to his standards, Mirage. No more than anyone measures up to Swerve's standards for himself. We all have our foibles."
"And, no, you are not a trial." He reaches over to lightly rest a hand upon Mirage's knee. "But you do have your own rigorous standards that those around you feel that they must live up to, as well."
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Post by Mirage on May 8, 2011 20:22:40 GMT -5
Mirage's lips quirk in a half-smile as he covers Perceptor's hand with one of his own. "Oh my dear Perceptor, how have you managed to stay so innocent and unassuming even in the middle of a war?" He tilts his head so that he can look over at the scientist. Mirage's expression, for once, seems to lack the guardedness that is so much a part of the spy's normal carriage.
"Will you be the needed friend to all the arrogant, stubborn, undeserving killers who arrive here? You seem to be collecting us, after all."
"Or are we your self-inflicted penance a wrongdoing of your own?"
When Perceptor speaks of standards, the spy's optics close for a moment, and Mirage says, "Hmpf. I can be a bit of an aft, can't I? But my rigorous standards, as you call them, are all that keep me from becoming that which we were faced with not that long ago."
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Post by Perceptor on May 8, 2011 22:45:16 GMT -5
Perceptor quirks up a brow ridge and smirks. "And how do you know that it is not just all an act? I'm not certain I've been called 'innocent' in quite a long time."
His humor fades, though, and the smirk becomes a cross scowl. "You aren't," he snaps, affronted for Mirage, and for Drift, too. "And neither is he. Even for self-deprecation, that lacked humor. And yes, you can be an aft sometimes. I submit just then as exhibit A."
"If I required penance, I would go back to the morgue again," he adds as he pulls his hand away and crosses his arms, still frowning, though it's more of a sulk than a scowl now. He looks away, definitely sulking now.
"It... bothers me... to hear you refer to yourself in such a manner. Him too. You'll say you were jesting, but you really weren't. Not in regards to yourself. I know. Everyone has their moments of... of arrogance and stubbornness. But who has the right to declare anyone more or less deserving than anyone else? And you are not the only one who has killed, Mirage. I'm not as innocent as you think me."
"Just... Don't call yourself that again. Ever."
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