knowhere | hologram.

Got a question.

[There's a very casual way about the way he's sitting in his bed, legs stretched out in front of him. There's very little to show off right now, but he doesn't mind announcing himself.]

And honestly, the sample base seems like it's mostly gonna be robots, but I'm not counting you out. See, I don't doubt that we can all be pulled from our worlds and even from different times. The science works out, but I want to make sure that there's more cases of it.

See, there's a pickle here, and it's in the shape of someone claiming he knows me. I want to make sure he knows me, and not just some other-Earth version of me.

I think we all know that there's no telling these things for sure. Of course there isn't. But I'd like to start lining up the cases.

[There's a pause where he shrugs in an almost dramatic fashion, as if he's trying to make it seem like it's no big deal and just a thing he wants to know. He doesn't have that big of a stake in answers, except for the part where he has too much of a stake. The contempt in Robin's voice was almost too telling.

Jason doesn't like it.

He does go on after a moment:]

For those of you who don't know about that, or don't give a damn, I'd like your take on this. C'mon, let it out. Vent a little. I think we could all use it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hate to break it to you, but space stations are pretty common.

Just in case this happens again. I don't want you expecting the rules of physics to be broken for no reason and all.

[She makes a face.] I hate to break it to you, but maybe my world doesn't have the same technologic level of livable space stations. But A+ condescending assumption.

Well, hate to break it to you again, but senses of humor exist. Try it out. Take it for a spin. Don't worry: they're often used, but they don't lose that new ... car smell.

Fully aware of how they work, actually, though it sounds like yours might've been in a bad accident.

Yeah, the mechanics didn't fix it up. You know how they rip people off. Sorry to say, this is what everyone's stuck with.

That just means they saw you as an easy target, or maybe a lost cause. So it might be more useful in the junkyard.

Good thing it's not your choice to make.

Yeah, 'cause I'd make a better one. [She is extra prickly, and thus, extra haughty, apparently.]

Harsh.

[His impression of her is largely that she's ruthless ... so far.]

You treat everyone like this from the go?

[Not entirely inaccurate!]

Only if they bring it on themselves.

You don't believe in a three strike system, do you?

Depends on the person. Some people leave chronically bad first impressions, but they do see improvement.

Yeah? Well, I'm not gonna stop being a smartass, so I don't see improvement happen.

At least I'm not deluding myself on that front.

Far be it from me to take that away from you.

[From one smartass to another.]

Yeah? But see, if I keep it up, I piss you off.

But hey, at least you let me be myself while I'm irritating the shit out of you. That's a good step.

That's making the assumption I let you get a rise of out of me in continuation.

Should I be flattered I've left such a strong impression as an apparent target?