network: voice

[madginger]

Did you know you could still get kidnapped within getting kidnapped? [ Max might sound sarcastic about that, but not entirely displeased. ] Thought that would be overkill, but it happened anyway. I was in a good mood about it, too - so it must've been nice - but then I come back to this mess. [ Look, the tension on the Agrii ship has on her edge because it reminds her of her home life before her step-dad took off, so she's not comfortable right now, and trying to stay out of snappish territory over it. ]

I would ask for an explanation, but I don't think I want to hear the answer right now. [ This is when her annoyance and displeasure enter her voice. ]

If someone could let me know when the adults want to act like adults, I'd appreciate it. [ She means the adult Agrii, not her fellow He Rows. She does care about this sort of thing, though, so Max will look into it and get details at some point, but she's annoyed her pleasant feeling from whatever happened on her unplanned vacation is already fading. ]

If other pilots wanna give me a rundown on what we're doing, let's discuss that, instead of this.

In the meantime, Hawkins, check-in. [ She sounds commanding and expectant on this request. ] Means you, too, Billy Hargrove.

Comments

[cactusy]

Really? 'Cause I thought I heard you say you don't even remember what happened.

[madginger]

I don't.... Which, I should have been more concerned about? But I felt abnormally good when I woke up.

[cactusy]

Abnormally. That's...

[... Probably not something she should be scaring a kid over, even if it does sound highly suspicious to her. She makes a small, dissatisfied noise in the back of her throat, but just says--]

Anyway. It definitely sounds like it could've been worse, yeah.

[madginger]

[ Except Max catches that, and she can't herself. She sounds concerned and curious. ]

That's what?

And yeah. Besides, I came back to a mess.

[cactusy]

Nothing, don't worry about it. I'm probably just, uh, borrowing trouble. Or whatever.

[#NailedIt]

[madginger]

You might not be, though. And I was just too blissed out when I got back to consider this.

I should have been the first person suspicious of that.

[cactusy]

You gonna freak out now?

[madginger]

No. [ The eye-roll she gives that might be heard in her tone. ] I've dealt with creepier.

What are you thinking?

[cactusy]

That it sounds like weird mind-control-y crap. How much weirder have you dealt with?

[madginger]

So far everything that makes me me is still in place. Not saying they didn't brainwash me, but not sure what they would feel a need to brainwash into me.

Well. Inter-dimensional serial killer that targets your mind?

[cactusy]

[But if something is missing, how would you know?

She doesn't say it out loud, but the pause is pregnant enough that Max might be able to tell that she's thinking it, or something like it.

And then on to other things.]

Inter-dimen-- wait, seriously? How the hell did you get mixed up in that?

[madginger]

[ The pause, at the least, opens up room for Max to question things herself. Cue another reason she just wanted to make flippant comments about the situation, then ignore everything for a bit. Because now her mind is going..... ]

[ She wouldn't know the holes were there, would she? Or if they altered memories? ]

Seriously. Not being sarcastic on that one.

And...he was targeting teenagers with trauma and problems. Pretty sure he had a whole buffet going on. Might've been a larger target because he targeted my brother as a proxy not long before he went after me and three others. Gave him some special insight, that way.

[cactusy]

That sucks.

[Which is an understatement!]

Is the guy still at large?

[madginger]

Considering I got pulled here in the middle of all of that, yeah. Luckily, he's not here. Or unluckily. I'm really not sure how to feel about that.

[cactusy]

You mean because if he were here, at least he wouldn't be messing with the people at home?

[madginger]

Yeah. Exactly that. It's hard not knowing what's happening back there.

[cactusy]

There's some kind of... weird time relativity going on, though, right? I don't know how that stuff works, but people have seemed pretty sure that time moves differently here versus where we come from.

[madginger]

Yeah. I do know everyone I know from home, we're mostly from different times. So it has to be something like that.