eachdraidh | Video: Open: Unseelie & Seelie

About a week ago. [House doesn't exactly keep tabs on people either but he does notice when people he knows suddenly change their patterns of behavior.]

I wouldn't think much of it but as far as I can tell, he hasn't been out to take care of his cleg and that's not like him.

[After all that trouble with the cleg, no, it was not like him to ignore the beast.]

Where was it you last saw him? And do you know where he kept his quarters?

[They were going to have to start somewhere.]

With the cleg actually. I was out to check on its injured wing and he was there.

[Gee, thanks, Javik--House would never have thought to snoop around Daud's quarters.] I do, and he hasn't been there in a couple of days at least. Nothing appears to have been touched anyway.

[Human intelligence was questionable, he had to ask.]

Tell me where it is. I will look myself.

[House is shocked, simply shocked that Javik doesn't trust his observational skills.]

It's on the second level by the.... Screw it. Meet me by the café and I'll take you to his room.

[Two eyes, four eyes; no sensory ability, sensory ability. Humans could do math, right?]

Very well.

[Javik shut the locket and headed for the cafe. House might notice he had a brand new sword strapped to his back, but he'd left the crossbow behind. He still couldn't work it well enough to be confident he could fight with it.]

[It's the new math, Javik.

House tucks his locket away and ambles back into the station. Unlike Javik, he doesn't have his sword with him. However, his pimped out cane has a handy little blade hidden inside so he's not completely unarmed. Frankly, even inside the Station, he doesn't think it's a wise idea to ever leave himself defenseless.]

Yo, Jiminy Cricket. [He tilts his head slightly as he approaches, trying to get a better look at the blade secured to Javik's back.] Well, someone's got a new toy. Where did you pick that up?

[Javik turned to face him when he saw him, glancing over his shoulder briefly at the sword hilt. The nickname he didn't comment on - either it would stick, or it wouldn't. He didn't care either way.]

I asked for weapons as a 'boon', and this is what they saw fit to give me.

[A nice present for someone who hadn't been shooting fairies and imps for any noble cause. He wasn't going to complain about it, though.]

Nice. Is it magical or something? [The sword is very shiny but really, there are swords available in a number of places. House hopes Javik didn't waste a boon request on something he could've gotten for himself.]

It is sharp, and it will kill.

[So, good enough for him. The crossbow was the real prize, if he could teach himself the intricacies of firing it. It was no rifle, that was for certain.]

Take me to Daud's quarters.

Point taken. Though not literally I hope. [Honestly, he figures if Javik was going to stab him, he would've done it on their trip. House had certainly found enough ways to provoke him. Javik, however, seems to have an extremely high degree of self-control.

House gives Javik a mocking little salute and heads for the entrance to the underground living quarters.] I'm still not sure what you think you'll find that I missed.

[Having served aboard a human ship, Javik was quite familiar with how their military salutes worked, and that wasn't it in the least. He wondered if he should be offended on Shepard's behalf, then decided he didn't care. When House started walking, he kept pace at his side.]

Humans do not have the senses that protheans do. You forget that I can read the smallest detail in the environment with one touch.

Yeah, yeah, you and your superior alien biology.

[House may be slightly jealous. He's already an extremely observant man but just imagine what he could do with Javik's abilities. For one, he could be far more annoying.

He marches down the stairs, using the handrail for support instead of his cane.]

Seriously, though, exactly what do you sense? Is it just a more powerful version of the sense we all have, like sight and taste and touch, or do you sense things in addition to those?

Edited 2014-07-08 03:44 (UTC)

Both.

[He didn't have four eyes and six nostrils because they made him look pretty. The rest of the sensory pits on his face made him that much sharper, too. Javik followed, keeping his hands off the rails.]

Every living thing leaves its mark behind, and in turn, they are marked by what they experience. I can read these things, as well as transfer my own memories to another. Daud came through this stairway many times, as you and I have, but his presence is faded, as well as confused with everyone else that has passed this way.

[Despite what he said, he kept his hands to himself. There was only so much he wanted to absorb in one day, when he could help it.]

[House has seen Javik and his powers in action so he knows they're legit. He can't help but want to dismiss the whole super sense thing, though. It sounds too much like new agey mumbo jumbo and sometimes it's hard for him to take it seriously.

But okay, fine--Javik can tell Daud was here and maybe when he was here. But you know what would be really helpful? Tell House where Daud is now.]

Possibly a stupid question but...why would you want to transfer your memories to someone else? Or maybe more to the point, why would someone else want your memories?

[It was actually a fair question, considering his species. Shepard had called the experience a 'hell of a flashback', but she'd seen the merits in the exchange.]

It allows us to share complex ideas instantly. Instead of trying to describe something, I could show it to you, and you would know it as I have. It made our technology intuitive - I had only to pick up a rifle to know how to fire it.

[Of course, practical experience still trumped all. Even if he learned how to reset a bone from reading House, that didn't mean he'd do a perfect job. Enough to get it done, at least. And to answer his question:]

No one would want my memories.

I can see how that would come in handy. It would certainly cut down on the training period in some situations. [Of course he sees a huge difference between simply learning to handle a tool and using it well. There's no substitute for experience not to mention the creative ability to think of new ways of doing an old task.

He reaches the landing and opens the door to the hallway that runs by the living quarters.]

I certainly wouldn't but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want mine either. I mean, who would? Sharing data is one thing but a lot of memories are personal and emotional and there really is such a thing as TMI.

['Handy', 'very useful' - aliens really didn't know the half of it, and there were times he really resented how his people had been reduced a marvelous curiosity. Considering they'd been dead for fifty thousand years, it wasn't all that surprising. He reminded himself to be thankful Shepard didn't take him on missions just to use him as a hound.]

Our memories and the information we exchange are often one in the same. That does not make the experience less painful, in certain cases, but it was necessary.

[Javik followed behind House, but slowed his pace, anticipating that they were close. Daud's presence still lingered here, slowly fading with time, but it would be stronger in his room. Hopefully he'd get some sort of sense of what happened.]

I would've gotten through medical school faster with a trick like that but I also probably would've gone crazy dealing with all the associated mental baggage. I think it's best I did it the human way. [Of course, he also would've gotten through medical school a lot faster if he hadn't kept getting himself expelled, but then he wouldn't be him.

He stops in front of a door exactly like all the others. He turns the doorknob and pushes the door open before stepping back to allow Javik to enter first. For all he knows, going in first will disturb the scent or the aura or whatever.

...though it's not like this is the first time he's been snooping in Daud's room.]

Like I said, there's not much left. It's mostly just a few things he picked up at the castle.

Of course you would do it the human way. That is only way you are capable of doing anything. I do not expect you to understand and accept how my people communicated.

[He sounded more than a little snippy about it, but by then House was opening the door, so he ended his short tirade. While he wasn't really interested in Daud's things, who or what they'd been handled by might be useful. He stepped inside, standing in the center of the room, simply breathing the air for a moment. As he'd thought, Daud's presence was still strong here, and he could tell the doctor had been through here before. Recently, of course, otherwise he wouldn't have been so convinced the man was gone.

After a few moments he walked the room, sliding his fingers over the walls and furniture, and what sparse possessions he'd had. He did that three more times, looking more and more annoyed, until he forced himself to stop, wiping his hands off on his thighs.]

He was here, and then he was not. [He made an agitated noise, knowing how stupid that sounded.] And I do not mean he got up and left the room. He simply stopped being here. That is all I can sense.

We're not really going to get into that particular pissing contest, are we?

[House stands by the door, watching. He's not particularly interested in getting into the 'my species is better than your species' pissing contest himself, mostly because he doesn't have any illusions about where humans rank on the intergalactic scale of sentient beings. He does enjoy a good argument, however, so if Javik had pushed the subject, he might've pushed back.

Instead, he leans against the doorjamb and waits for Javik to finish his psychic reading. And he rolls his eyes at the first comment.]

So if he didn't leave the room, then what? He just vanished into thin air?

[A pissing contest sounded exactly like something primitives would do: marking their territory in obscene, inefficient ways. The Normandy's recycled air had been absolutely polluted with pheromones, and people wondered why he wanted to wash his hands all of the time.

Javik crossed his arms over his chest, looking sullen. He hated not knowing things, and this world was just made to vex him.]

Yes. Not even my people had unlocked the secret of teleportation, but I can think of no other possibility. I cannot even explain how we arrived here.

[Excluding the part where he'd been stuffed in a damn bag and dragged away. Just being reminded of that made his scowl set up permanent camp on his face.]

[House wasn't primitive enough to actually mark his territory in such a crude way...but he'd been tempted a few times. Honestly, under the right circumstances, he might just do it if only to see the shocked and horrified reaction.]

Well, Daud could teleport, at least for short distances. Doesn't explain why he'd teleport out of his room, though, or why he hasn't come back.

[He moved into the room, gazing about thoughtfully.] Can you tell if any imps or fairies have been in here? Or anyone else who could've teleported him away?

This is not the same as when he would teleport.

[Over those short distances, Javik would be able to track him. Unless he'd somehow learned go farther, and lost his way, but that was doubtful. He'd have his locket, and the monarch didn't like losing their precious shardholders if they could help it. Well, the real concern was for the shard, but still.]

Only you. No others, save those who used this room before Daud ever claimed it. [He gave an aggravated sigh.] I have no answer as to what became of him.

[House had no real choice but to accept Javik's assessment. He didn't want to but unfortunately, it jived with what his allegedly inferior abilities had already told him--Daud was simply gone.]

I have no idea where he is either but it's pretty obvious at this point that he's no longer gracing fairy land with his cheerful demeanor. And if he'd found a way out, he would've told someone so I think it's equally obvious he didn't leave of his own volition.

[House rubbed his hand over his face. He wasn't the sentimental type but it was hard to not connect to the people he'd spent time with learning to survive this strange land. And now one of those connections was broken.]

Well. That sucks.

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