ataraxionlogs | ( open ) show me how to lie

CHARACTERS: severus snape & a variety of people patient* enough to put up with his ass. (*maybe)
LOCATION: various.
WARNINGS: tba.
SUMMARY: open log for april.
NOTES: if you want to do something but can't think of an opener, feel free to send me a pm, i don't mind writing starters!

Maybe, Severus reflects as he stares down at his arm in the privacy of his small quarters, the whole department thing was a bad idea. SCI » 028 » 084. It inspires a kind of tired bitterness in him thinking about the advances muggles have made in science while wizardkind have hidden away and gotten very good at hovering in place. He remembers the American venture of Apollo 11, remembers the terror and wonder of it, nine years old and imagining if that's what these slow and dull creatures can do just think, just think, what's waiting for him in the world his mother comes from.

SCI. SEC. OPR. He imagines arrangements in three letters for other headings. For gravity management or temporal repair, for mysteries and healing. Science is such a lifeless word and here he is with it stamped next to another, older brand, both self-chosen in one way or another. Xenobiology is a joke and he knows it but his interest is real, and his determination is true - if he has to crowbar magic into this place with stubborn viciousness and arguments then so be it. He won't be trapped here otherwise and damn everyone who disbelieves or shrugs it off or rolls their eyes. They are incomplete people. They have to build machines to see just a fraction what he breathes and touches and manipulates. And he will not hide from them.

He works, both in the "safe" laboratory they've been shuffled to in accordance to security's fussing, and also up in the burned-out attic space of the forsaken genetics rooms. He senses the instability, but doesn't fear it. He cooks meals and occasionally tolerates company, he visits the gardens - for royalty or for his own version of hunting; he considers trying to plant things, has little aborted fantasies of potion-brewing, but doesn't go anywhere with it. He contemplates a dozen projects and, hell, maybe he'll do all of them. It's not like he's going anywhere anytime soon.

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Slowly, she tilts her head back in Severus' direction to stare at him. Or at least the side of his head. As if she isn't quite sure what to make of his disdain. What an ass.

Odessa likes him already.

"Well, I'm sure it's all wonderfully fascinating and terribly tedious." So go fuck yourself, maybe. "We can't seriously be expected to believe that the ship does all of this itself." She doesn't expect that he believes it either. It's a ship. "There's always somebody pulling the strings."

"Go read up on 'Smiley'." The airquotes are audible. Severus will not go fuck himself, thanks, but Odessa is welcome to catch up on the collective conspiracy theories of the passengers. And that's all he's going to say about it, because tracking down who or what is in charge of the ship is not a part of his agenda. All evidence of personal investigation into that area points to nothing more than people being killed or driven mad. Let those who wish to be heroes and martyrs take that path. He will focus on more practical applications.

"Tell me, what do you hope to get out of this venture?"

Smiley is filed away mentally to be checked up on later. It's a name she'd spotted once or twice, but hadn't looked into. She'll be remedying that in short order.

"You mean joining this department?" Just in case she's gotten lost enough in her own thoughts to have missed the train. "I'd say it's a slice of normalcy, but there's nothing normal, is there? The study of genetics is what I did back home, so I see no reason not to pursue it here. Call it an anchor, if you desire more rationalization." Odessa's terribly casual about the whole thing, even though there's a slight admission that choosing to apply herself here might be a means of coping with her sudden relocation. It's just a minor annoyance. She'll get over it.

It makes sense. Severus thinks she's lucky to have what's familiar to her so readily accessible, but doesn't say so. He himself is trying to force familiarity into this place. Not that he thinks anyone will thank him for it; people of magic are inclined to be solitary, no matter what. That barely anyone's come out to participate isn't surprising but-- whether or not anyone likes him, it'll be here.

"I don't know anything about genetics in practice." He shrugs. Knock yourself out. "You'll have free range. Professor Xavier's projects are his own."

Whether it will be as familiar as she hopes is truly up in the air yet. She's out of her element, and worries (quietly, secretly) that without clearly defined goals set for her by whatever nebulous organization she's chosen to give her allegiance to at the time, she'll be drifting.

"Any idea what those projects are?" Not that Odessa's planning to stick her nose in, but she at least needs to assess whether or not it's worth planning to stick her nose in.

"He's a telepath," Severus tells her with a verbal shrug. It's not a secret - and as much as he respects Charles (sort of), it's Something People Should Know, especially considering how lax the other man is with his mental manners. "He's interested primarily in people who are evolved in some form or another."

He pauses, picks up his device. A moment later Odessa will find her own linked to this broadcast record. "I don't do much in the way of PR."

Wonder why.

The breath catches in Odessa's throat. It's a silent thing, rather than a gasp and a choke, but it's there, and she has to remind herself to draw in the rest of that breath, and push it out of her lungs again. A telepath.

Having something to stare at on her device gives her a convenient excuse to half-lid her gaze and be silent for a few moments. "I see." And she notes how Charles Xavier conveniently (in the World According to Odessa) neglects to mention what his own ability is while recruiting others. "This is very illuminating." She looks up at him again and smiles. It doesn't reach her eyes. "Thank you."

Severus doesn't even bother pretending to have missed her reaction. He watches her, and if he wasn't already suspicious, he surely is now - but not in a terribly hostile way. Maybe it's because he thinks so little of muggle science, but he hasn't been able to bring himself to worry too much about other people and their potential threats, lately.

"If you ask him not to look he probably won't," he drawls, though honestly Severus has no idea if this is actually true or not. "Unless you ask while you're standing over a body holding a knife, I assume."

Oddly unconcerned about telepaths, Severus is.

A brief note of laughter bubbles up at the absurdity of Odessa standing over a body, holding a knife. Because that is totally absurd and not at all likely. It's just one hah! and then she's back to that complacent smile. "I'm sure we won't have any trouble, then." Right.

"Have you had to ask him not to look?" That should be a decent litmus test, shouldn't it?

"No."

Sometimes, Severs wonders if that's a factor in why Charles keeps talking to him - the novelty of having to try and figure someone out the hard way. Mostly, though, he's just glad he's an Occlumens now more than ever. No matter what he thinks of Xavier, or Nuala, or anyone, his mind is his own business and his only truly personal domain. He can't fathom why any witch or wizard given the opportunity to do the same wouldn't.

That fosters a false belief that this bodes well for her, and puts Odessa a little more at ease. But not completely.

"Well!" Her smile widens more genuinely. "I should leave you to it, I suppose. Thank you for the brief overview. If you're in need of any assistance, please let me know. I'm happy to help. I'd be interested to see real magic in action." Which is said with just a touch of childlike wonder. She's allowed to get excited about this, damn it.

She doesn't ask why. Severus decides she is either foolish or faking it.

Perhaps both.

"I'm sure you'll see enough of it as time goes on." From him, or someone else on the ship. He's aware that the two other wizards from his world are prone to whimsical demonstrations that he sees no point in. Magic is wonderful, but it isn't science. He tires of trying to explain it in those terms.

Not bad guesses, all things considered.

"I look forward to it." With a brief nod, Odessa begins to withdraw, stepping backward and away from Severus' work space and into the rest of the laboratory at large. She's not keen on lingering any longer. With this new information, she needs to reassess her options, and she's not going to do that here. "I'll see you around," she offers in parting.

Severus watches her leave, wordless. Forceful at first, then skittish, he wonders if Odessa Knutson's tentative pulling at authority figures is a simple reaction to the sudden change in reality or if she is wired that way.

He also wonders if he's scared her off.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter.

( open ) show me how to lie

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