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starsficDo you know what I forgot to say last time? The puppy is all sgpr_fan's idea! ::love:: Thank you so much for being fabulous and visionary! And for sharing your inspiration!
For previous entries tagged "straight up,"
click and scroll down (reverse chronology).
unified biofield
It had taken them all morning to get her to admit it, but finally she said the words: "It's possible that the Series Black technology is drawing a disproportionate amount of bioenergetic current through the interdimensional portals."
Dillon knew better than to say thank you loudly or sarcastically or at all. He did wave a hand in her direction, though, and the gesture might have looked equivalent to one of those. Possibly all of them, if the way she narrowed her eyes at him was any indication.
"Hey, look, I think the puppy understands you better than I do!" Ziggy exclaimed. He was sitting on the floor of the training room, alternately trying to convince the puppy to climb on him or to eat something. "Not that it would be hard."
"So the wolf spirits are affected first," Casey said. "When you morph, people like RJ are most likely to notice."
She frowned. "Theoretically."
"Except she wouldn't have used those words," Dillon put in, and she pressed her lips together. He didn't know why he kept prodding her, trying to make her react, except that she'd barely spoken to him since last night.
"I don't recognize the spiritual connection you claim to non-human elements of the biofield," she said, fingers flying across the keyboard in front of her. "But if the way you operate your Ranger technology is similar to the way we operate ours, it's conceivable that our actions could affect your ability to do the same."
"It's less a question of Ranger ability," RJ remarked, "and more a question of... being in balance with the world around us."
She shook her head and pulled a face, still typing.
"Doc's not really into balance," Dillon said, watching her watch the screen.
"I balance what's real now with what could be real in the future," she said sharply. "I have no interest in debating abstract concepts like spirituality."
"Or hope?" he said.
The look she gave him was almost betrayed, and he had no idea why. What was wrong with hope? She'd been okay with it the night before. And it wasn't like her science never got wildly abstract. So these guys called them spirits instead of conduits; who cared?
"Excuse me," Flynn said, "but it seems to me that if what we're doing is causing them problems, we need to find a way to do it differently."
"Look, we want to help your planet," Casey said. "I just want to even it out a little. There must be something we can do to make sure people like RJ aren't carrying more than their share of the burden."
"Oh, yeah," Ziggy said from the floor. The puppy was lolling against one of his arms, chewing on a finger while he told Casey, "Dr. K can totally do that. I mean, that's the kind of thing she does. Right, Dr. K?"
"I've only nominally accepted that it's happening at all," she said. "I'm not ready to say I can change it yet."
"How many people are we talking about here?" Scott wanted to know. "How many Rangers do you guys have, anyway? I'm assuming RJ isn't the only wolf--" He glanced at Dr. K. "Uh, person with a wolf affinity."
"And if you could have this conversation somewhere else," she continued without looking up. As though she hadn't paused. "I could more effectively assess the possibility of assisting you."
It was a "go away," plain and simple. Luckily, one of the only good things about the entire team betting on them was that no one tried to drag him out of the training room with them. They took Casey and RJ, and the puppy, and she didn't even wait until they'd cleared the doors to say, "I suppose you'd like to exploit my uncertainty some more."
He had no idea what that meant. "I was going to offer to help," he said, eyeing her. "I thought we agreed I wasn't stupid."
She snapped one of the keys with a deliberate flourish, giving the monitor an irritated look that he assumed was meant for him. "And I thought we agreed that hope was an acceptable, even desirable commodity, one that might be spread and shared--yet this morning, you're taking it back."
Dillon frowned, bracing his arms on the back of her computer frame as he leaned forward. "What are you talking about?"
"Just now," she said, stabbing at the keys again, "you indicated that I had no interest in it."
"I said you did," he countered, "so why not try the spirit thing too? Hope worked, right? Why not weird spirit animals?"
She stopped typing--she went so far as to put her hands in her lap--and stared up at him. "You want me to accept that they have some sort of direct metaphysical connection to the unified biofield."
"Isn't that the nature of a unified biofield?" he asked. "That all our individual biofields are unified?"
She didn't look impressed, but she didn't look so thoroughly disappointed in him anymore either. "I fail to see why an ecological fact has to have spiritual ramifications."
"I fail to see why you're fighting over words," he told her. "What does it matter what they call it? At the end of the day, it does the same thing."
"I couldn't care less what words they use," she said, and the look she gave him was so pitying he almost interrupted her right then. "I care what words you use. I thought I'd made that clear."
He had several seconds to decide whether he was going to take that as a compliment or condescension. It was almost too long. "You saying you care what I think?" he asked at last.
"I'm considering someone else's opinion," she informed him. "If you think it's something I do regularly, you're mistaken."
"Yeah, well." He was unaccountably self-conscious about this revelation. "Ditto the math help."
She gave the monitors beside her a pointed look. "Which I'm not currently getting."
Dillon's mouth quirked, and he pushed away from the frame long enough to walk around it. He might have offered more than just a backup brain if he'd had any reason to think she would take it. As it was, he settled for sharing the space and the work.
She settled for not insulting him again, so maybe they both won.
sgpr_fan's idea! ::love:: Thank you so much for being fabulous and visionary! And for sharing your inspiration!For previous entries tagged "straight up,"
click and scroll down (reverse chronology).
It had taken them all morning to get her to admit it, but finally she said the words: "It's possible that the Series Black technology is drawing a disproportionate amount of bioenergetic current through the interdimensional portals."
Dillon knew better than to say thank you loudly or sarcastically or at all. He did wave a hand in her direction, though, and the gesture might have looked equivalent to one of those. Possibly all of them, if the way she narrowed her eyes at him was any indication.
"Hey, look, I think the puppy understands you better than I do!" Ziggy exclaimed. He was sitting on the floor of the training room, alternately trying to convince the puppy to climb on him or to eat something. "Not that it would be hard."
"So the wolf spirits are affected first," Casey said. "When you morph, people like RJ are most likely to notice."
She frowned. "Theoretically."
"Except she wouldn't have used those words," Dillon put in, and she pressed her lips together. He didn't know why he kept prodding her, trying to make her react, except that she'd barely spoken to him since last night.
"I don't recognize the spiritual connection you claim to non-human elements of the biofield," she said, fingers flying across the keyboard in front of her. "But if the way you operate your Ranger technology is similar to the way we operate ours, it's conceivable that our actions could affect your ability to do the same."
"It's less a question of Ranger ability," RJ remarked, "and more a question of... being in balance with the world around us."
She shook her head and pulled a face, still typing.
"Doc's not really into balance," Dillon said, watching her watch the screen.
"I balance what's real now with what could be real in the future," she said sharply. "I have no interest in debating abstract concepts like spirituality."
"Or hope?" he said.
The look she gave him was almost betrayed, and he had no idea why. What was wrong with hope? She'd been okay with it the night before. And it wasn't like her science never got wildly abstract. So these guys called them spirits instead of conduits; who cared?
"Excuse me," Flynn said, "but it seems to me that if what we're doing is causing them problems, we need to find a way to do it differently."
"Look, we want to help your planet," Casey said. "I just want to even it out a little. There must be something we can do to make sure people like RJ aren't carrying more than their share of the burden."
"Oh, yeah," Ziggy said from the floor. The puppy was lolling against one of his arms, chewing on a finger while he told Casey, "Dr. K can totally do that. I mean, that's the kind of thing she does. Right, Dr. K?"
"I've only nominally accepted that it's happening at all," she said. "I'm not ready to say I can change it yet."
"How many people are we talking about here?" Scott wanted to know. "How many Rangers do you guys have, anyway? I'm assuming RJ isn't the only wolf--" He glanced at Dr. K. "Uh, person with a wolf affinity."
"And if you could have this conversation somewhere else," she continued without looking up. As though she hadn't paused. "I could more effectively assess the possibility of assisting you."
It was a "go away," plain and simple. Luckily, one of the only good things about the entire team betting on them was that no one tried to drag him out of the training room with them. They took Casey and RJ, and the puppy, and she didn't even wait until they'd cleared the doors to say, "I suppose you'd like to exploit my uncertainty some more."
He had no idea what that meant. "I was going to offer to help," he said, eyeing her. "I thought we agreed I wasn't stupid."
She snapped one of the keys with a deliberate flourish, giving the monitor an irritated look that he assumed was meant for him. "And I thought we agreed that hope was an acceptable, even desirable commodity, one that might be spread and shared--yet this morning, you're taking it back."
Dillon frowned, bracing his arms on the back of her computer frame as he leaned forward. "What are you talking about?"
"Just now," she said, stabbing at the keys again, "you indicated that I had no interest in it."
"I said you did," he countered, "so why not try the spirit thing too? Hope worked, right? Why not weird spirit animals?"
She stopped typing--she went so far as to put her hands in her lap--and stared up at him. "You want me to accept that they have some sort of direct metaphysical connection to the unified biofield."
"Isn't that the nature of a unified biofield?" he asked. "That all our individual biofields are unified?"
She didn't look impressed, but she didn't look so thoroughly disappointed in him anymore either. "I fail to see why an ecological fact has to have spiritual ramifications."
"I fail to see why you're fighting over words," he told her. "What does it matter what they call it? At the end of the day, it does the same thing."
"I couldn't care less what words they use," she said, and the look she gave him was so pitying he almost interrupted her right then. "I care what words you use. I thought I'd made that clear."
He had several seconds to decide whether he was going to take that as a compliment or condescension. It was almost too long. "You saying you care what I think?" he asked at last.
"I'm considering someone else's opinion," she informed him. "If you think it's something I do regularly, you're mistaken."
"Yeah, well." He was unaccountably self-conscious about this revelation. "Ditto the math help."
She gave the monitors beside her a pointed look. "Which I'm not currently getting."
Dillon's mouth quirked, and he pushed away from the frame long enough to walk around it. He might have offered more than just a backup brain if he'd had any reason to think she would take it. As it was, he settled for sharing the space and the work.
She settled for not insulting him again, so maybe they both won.