Etraya Inbox

[hexcope]

𝐓𝐄𝐗𝐓 | 𝐕𝐎𝐈𝐂𝐄 | 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎 | 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

Comments

general kenobi

[querulus]

[Yep, definitely different. This voice is nasally and dripping in irony. But hey, at least he understands your fancy math??]

/Oh, what did she not—ugh, figures. Quentin Quire. Telepath. Superhero. Genius./

[Yeah, that's clearly all the information Jayce needs. Right? Right.]

/So? Equations? What's it mean, dude? Does it mean anything, or were you playing "bully the cheerleader with nerd shit"? Because I'm down either way, I'm just wondering./

[hexcope]

/I'd say nice to meet you if I didn't instead want to say: get the fuck out of my head.

She seemed the type to be scared of big equations, and I want to be left alone. It would have worked, if she didn't send you. The numbers mean nothing./

[He's pacing now, forgetting the possibility that this could be seen through his eyes. He's in the Library, the blinds and curtains all drawn, and at a table a short distance away is another man, frail-looking with brown hair.]

/Since you just got here, I'll be a little nicer. Leave in ten seconds, and I won't do the most annoying shit I can possibly think of./

[sophielicious]

/Rude. I'm not scared, I'm disgusted. Gross, just fucking gross./

[hexcope]

/You're still here?

Great, was hoping you'd come back. Mind if I just...

/

[sophielicious]

(BRAIN DAMAGE

She's lightheaded. She hates this so much.)

/Ew, abhorrent, cripes, ew. You're making me think twice about my life choices.

And I didn't send him, for your information, but you know? He needs enrichment.

Good luck./

(Is the life choice not doing this? Absolutely not, the life choice is that this is nice for her standards, okay?)

[hexcope]

/Bye bye now./

[querulus]

[Look. Quentin highly doubts this dude will be able to do anything that could possibly annoy him. Other than be boring. Which is what he's currently doing. So he's not so much worried about the threat wrecking him the way his formulas and shit are giving Sophie a migraine, but he does believe mystery man is going to get more boring than he's worth in 10 seconds. Which means... commence bargaining.]

/I'll show you how to kick her out of your head. Like for real, not just with scary math./

[hexcope]

/I'm listening./

[querulus]

/See, I knew you could be reasonable./

[Do you regret this yet, Jayce? You should.]

/Right, so. It's been ages since I talked to someone smart. All himbos and beauty queens over here, plus a couple feral kids and... whatever the fuck Deadpool is. And they're cute and all, don't get me wrong, just not, you know. Intellectually stimulating. Anyway, my brain is a-tro-phy-ing. It's true agony.

Here's the deal: tell me something interesting, and I'll teach you how to beef up those mental defenses of yours. How's that sound?/

[hexcope]

[He doesn't. Yet.]

/Depends on what you think is interesting. I'm just a scientist. Math, 𝑚̥̊⃝𝑎̥̊⃝𝑔̥̊⃝𝑖̥̊⃝𝑐̥̊⃝, physics, metallurgy?/

[querulus]

/What was that second thing?/

[Bruh.]

[hexcope]

[Immediate panic.]

/Physics?/

[He's clearly trying very hard to not think about it.]

[querulus]

[SUS.]

/Bro, are you seriously trying to lie to someone who can read your mind?/

[hexcope]

/Yes.

No.

...Yes.

I've had a rough day, and you're already starting off on the wrong foot by, one, being in my mind unasked for, and two, identifying as a superhero. Pick a topic from the THREE I've listed./

[querulus]

/Uh, yeah, and I'm also the guy who's offering to help you with your whole brain security problem. So how about you calm your tits and quit bein' shady?

Tell me what the second thing was, and I'll ask about one of the other three. Deal?/

[hexcope]

[Feeling the equivalent of this.]

/Magic./

[querulus]

/Now, see, doesn't it feel better to get it off your chest? Trust a little? Sure, it does.

Also, yuck, magic fucking sucks. I'd also be embarrassed to call myself a scientist if I did magic bullshit./

[Yes, he knows "embarrassment" isn't what made Jayce lie about that. Look, just take the freebie, okay?]

/Fine, uhhhh, sure. Metallurgy. Why not./

[hexcope]

[NOW he's regretting this.]

/You're an idiot, actually./

[Is the first thought out of his mind the second Quentin says magic sucks. He doesn't have a brain filter at all.]

/I mean. I didn't mean that./

[Yes, he did. He's going to pretend he didn't, now.]

/The metals here have a different melting point than the metals of my world. Which means their chemical composition is different, if just slightly. We're breathing the same air, we're drinking the same water, but this means that somehow, the chemicals are bonded differently, or maybe contain different elements than I'm expecting. That's pretty interesting./

[querulus]

[The fuck was that??]

/Look, man, I can leave you to Regina George over here if you want. She'll figure out how to get around your math shit eventually, and then good fucking luck to you. She's not as nice as I am./

1/2

[hexcope]

/I thought her name was Sophie?

Oh, that's a joke./

[hexcope]

/I don't know what you want from me. You're in my head and you're expecting there to not be stream-of-conscious thought?

You keep insisting you're the nice one, but all I'm hearing is someone with just as much of an attitude problem and less honesty about it./

[querulus]

/Hm, touché. Fine. I'll let it slide, 'cause you're a newbie.

But also counterpoint: I said I was nice-r, not nice. You think anyone can hear other people's thoughts and end up a nice person? Pfft.

Whatever. Okay, weird metals or whatever. How do you know the air and water's the same?/

[hexcope]

/Sophie implied she could turn it off, and is choosing not to. At that point, whatever you hear and react to is on you, not the person you're snooping on.

I don't, but we're not being poisoned by it, as far as we can tell, so it either means the metal in my world is weird, or this one's is. Something I'd follow up on, if I didn't have twelve other projects more important./

[querulus]

/Unless we're just being poisoned really, really slowly. Not like we'd be able to tell.

Oh, and no, it doesn't "turn off." Do you turn off your ears when you don't want to listen to something? No. Same thing./

[hexcope]

/Technically we're being poisoned really, really slowly by air itself even in our ideal environments./

[☝️🤓]

/Fine. Tell me how to make it so she can't hear my thoughts, and that will solve both our problems./