( mostly closed ) when we were young the future was so bright

[darkart]

CHARACTERS: severus snape & others.
LOCATION: various.
WARNINGS: violence in the thread with edgeworth, possibly uncomfortable subject matter in the thread with william but nothing explicit.
SUMMARY: threads for people who've been arranging stuff with me or who have new stuff from the cr meme; covers this entire month/jump.
NOTES: i don't have the brainpower for making open starters this month but if you'd like to do anything send me a message and we'll get something up! come at me bros etc



see.

Comments

lizzie ( downstairs xeno gen labs )

[darkart]

The only person as skeptical about this whole ordeal as Elizabeth is, probably, Severus. Nuala's explained the situation and Severus was frank in his assessment: he thinks this will go badly. He's not going to use kid gloves with a grown woman when he won't with eleven-year-old children, no matter what title they hold. He doesn't expect to be liked. He does, however, expect to be heeded, and he has his doubts.

He waits in his section of the clean-and-safe, SEC-approved labs, his worktable tidy but housing a number of objects that might be science related, but probably aren't.

"You are invited here with me as a courtesy to Queen Nuala," Professor Snape tells her when she arrives. "I will not hold you against your will, nor will I permit you to continue to be here if you aren't going to be serious about the proceedings. Do you understand?"

[skjalf]

She does not wish to be here. While Nuala has befriended her, she has done this thing—and arranged all this without either her consent or her knowledge. The fact that she has done so hurts in a sharp, stinging fashion which she will not forget any time soon. But by the look upon her face, none of this might be read. Elizabeth is cold and rigid as stone, standing there in silence before this professor.

Never before has she seen a laboratory. Nor been afforded even the slightest opportunity to learn about science. She knows full-well that she has been lured here partly under that pretense. And she is angry.

"As clear as crystal shines." She cares not if she utilizes her sarcasm here, for she does so in her polite tone of voice and without any malice writ upon her face. "I understand little about this entire situation. Like, for example, what you stand to gain from examining me."

"But I do understand that I must do this to remain under Her Grace's patronage. Thus, it matters not what I think or feel on the matter, and you are best to have this done with quickly."

As she does not want to deal with her magic. Ever. Test her, examine her, whatever he might like within the bounds of propriety is fine. It has to be. She is no fool and knows that she has been effectively strong-armed between a rock and a hard place by Nuala. She cannot leave. Or do any other than cooperate. Though she doubts this will work.

And the quicker this is done with, the better. Elizabeth is doing a good job of hiding her terror, but hit will not be restrained forever.

[darkart]

"Sit down," he tells her, that little explosion of venom doing nothing to ruffle him. There are chairs and stools around the tables - obviously, he means one of the ones near his workspace. Severus picks up a ream of notes (numbers, sigils, his own shorthand scratched in pencil and ink) and moves it to another table, and then begins placing several small containers onto the table, inspecting each one as he does.

"Since you're going to be a child about it, you can sit there quietly for an hour while I work." Thunk. One particularly, inexplicably heavy container is set down, about the size of a teacup. "Perhaps, if you're feeling inspired, you can explain to me why you think you're better than Queen Nuala and myself. Otherwise, please be quiet."

He flips open the top of one tin.

[skjalf]

If he feels that coldness on her behalf is venom, woe be unto him should her anger ever be provoked to showing itself. She hides it well because she refuses to give this man the satisfaction of causing her to explode. He is presumptuous and disrespectful, and she bites the inside of her cheek hard enough that she tastes blood on her tongue to prevent herself from making any more scathing remarks. Oh how tempting it is to make them.

In that, she succeeds. But she is not a servant to be directed by him. She is a princess of his homeland, and she will not sit at his order. It is perhaps insult enough that he is seated while ordering her about like his dog. Elizabeth thus remains defiantly upright, standing in poised silence until he has the gall to tell her to be quiet.

To that, she merely effects as sweet and genuine a smile as she can. "I fear the only one making a sound is you. Perhaps you might take your own advice."

As the smile vanishes, it leaves behind a look of quiet imperiousness in its wake. "Respect is earned, and not commanded. I would think a commoner might be appreciative of the notion."

hi

[jurisimpudent]

[Edgeworth ought to have shown up late himself. He realizes that after he's been waiting a good ten minutes, looking up every time he hears footsteps and seeing that it's not that damned bastard Snape. He should have known the man would be late; he should have known that there was a significant chance he wouldn't show up at all; after all, Sirius had warned him that Snape was a bastard, and this simply serves to confirm that once again.

Damn it all.

He had started out waiting for Snape standing, stiff-backed, proud, official-looking; by minute five, he'd taken a seat, and by minute ten, he'd started to slouch in that seat. By minute thirteen his glare towards the door to the lounge has turned baleful - but he will be damned before he texts the man, like a friend checking up on a friend.]

8)

[darkart]

[ Almost silently, Severus appears.

Most wizards - perhaps Sirius, he hasn't paid enough attention to the worthless waste of oxygen to tell - make a rather loud noise when they Apparate. Sometimes Severus does, too, but Apparating is a skill like anything else, and he can make adjustments. Today he intentionally ensures his arrival is quiet, so that when he blinks half-turning into existence, it's not as immediately startling as when he actually says something into the silence. ]

My apologies for tardiness, [ says a smooth, deep voice that's never been heard on the network, from the back of the lounge. ] My schedule has been busier than usual this jump.

[ Severus is black-clad, unattractive, shorter than Sirius. He stands with his hands behind his back, watching Edgeworth with an unreadable expression on his face. For the supervillain of ages of complaining, he's a little on the slight side. ]

[jurisimpudent]

[Edgeworth is usually steely-nerved - or at least puts forth the appearance of having steely nerves. He's trained himself assiduously over the course of several years to be controlled, composed, firm - but he's found lately, in the past few weeks, that he's lost a lot of that control. So he reacts more strongly than is his wont, tensing and leaning forward and turning towards the man with thin lips - ready to go on the defensive, or on the attack.

After a moment, he forces himself to calm down; it's nearly a visible effort. But once he is calm, he pushes himself to his feet, and once standing he at least cuts a fairly impressive figure: tall, handsome, broad-shouldered, with a truly impressive and venomous and near-constant glare. A few years younger than Snape, though, and with something nervous about the way he stands and folds his arms.]

Of course. You do such vital work.

[That's said with an acid twist of sarcasm - a very unfair twist of sarcasm, truth be told. Edgeworth hasn't any idea what they actually do in Snape's department; Tyke had handled all dealings with them, and Sirius had thoroughly convinced him that any endeavor of Snape's wasn't really worth looking into.]

I would have appreciated a message warning me of your lateness. That would have only been polite.

nill ( passenger floor 28 )

[darkart]

It's taken him a little longer than he'd like to get everything set up to begin, but Severus would rather be thorough and accurate than rushed and incomplete. He picks a lounge area for them to meet in, deciding that not even the intact general science labs where xenogen has set up camp would be appropriate. He still doesn't know exactly what's going on with that, but is in no hurry to unduly traumatize anyone. (Well, he's not in a hurry to unduly traumatize Nill. There are some other people he wouldn't mind.)

On a table, he's set out many sheets of paper covered in sketches and a few charts of things he's remembered. He's been messing around a little with attempted translation person to person, but it hasn't yielded any results. This is going to be a headache, but so long as Nill is dedicated, he imagines they'll make perfectly fine progress as time goes on.

[culver]

Even though she knows that Severus is involved with the recreation of the genetics department, even though Heine hates the idea of her meeting with him alone, Nill can't help but be excited. She's going to learn to speak, and that overrides any fear or hesitation she has. There are many words that could be used to describe Nill, and "determined" is very close to the top of the list.

She gives a gentle knock on the door frame to the lounge before poking her head inside to make sure he's there. Once she sees him, her wings perk and she enters the room fully, raising a hand in greeting. She can't hide the smile on her face.

[darkart]

Severus told Heine he's welcome to sit in on their lessons and he wonders if (when?) he'll show up to one; he can only imagine based on one exchange how that will go. Merlin. Some people.

He nods at Nill in response, and sits up in his chair to sort a few things while she comes in and takes a seat. "I've done up charts of what I remember," he says, and slides papers across to her. The Roman alphabet, numbers, simple greetings, yes and no - the absolute basics, listed in neat rows with small drawings of hands. They aren't perfectly photo-realistic, but they're clear. Severus had to record himself making the motions with his communication device, then play it back and pause it to get the renderings right. He's not an artist, but inventing potions has left him with an ability to sketch detail just fine. It's close enough to drawing out different plants and substances for reference.

"It might be best to try and find other passengers who know sign language, British or American. In all likelihood this is going to end up its own dialect, if you will, but that's expected in small communities anyway."

Sera (hiatus? WHAT HIATUS - let me know if this works)

[majestyofthethrone]

[She's been in the gardens for a while now, and she's found this spot - it's shady and secluded, in a way, but in another, it's very easy to spot her. It's at the base of a hilly mound, under a tree, and she has all her papers - reams and reams of math equations, set out around her, and some of them not even real math but the kind of math that Sirius tried to show her (arithmancy, magic math that makes no sense at all). All the papers are held down by rocks, the damp soaking into the paper but she doesn't seem to care as she scribbles notes on her slate in chalk and erases them.

It's relaxing, to do this kind of work, to do this kind of mental work, because it clears everything out. There's nothing but math and there's no worry in it, there's no emotion in it. It's clearer than music, more effective by far.]

works great bb!

[darkart]

[ Seraphim is not the only nerd carting paper through the gardens today; Severus is making his way up a suitable excuse for a path, three sizable books under one arm and a satchel over the other shoulder. He doesn't look like he's made to be hiking about in the outdoors (or even the 'outdoors' as this is) and he's really not. Still, he endures. For learning, and all that.

He catches sight of the young woman and remembers her from when he first arrived. Since then, he's seen her name around here and there, but as it's been connected to someone he'd rather not deal with anymore, ever, he's not bothered to say anything. The path takes him near her though, and so when he's close enough, he greets her quietly. ]

Hello.

Re: works great bb!

[majestyofthethrone]

[He only surprises her a little bit, and she looks up. She met him once, and she didn't connect the two - Severus and Snape - because really, how could she? He has his books, though, and that catches her attention. Books on board aren't completely unheard of, but they're rare enough that it's a point of interest.

She erases the math on her slate and waves a bit first, so he knows she returns the sentiment.]

What are you reading?

netherlands ( oxygen gadens )

[darkart]

Departing from normal passenger motivations, Severus has a nearly impossible time forgetting he's on a space ship while in the gardens. The climate is nothing like home, and can't even pass as an overlarge greenhouse. His mind won't completely let himself fall into the fantasy except for tiny moments, but it's always ruined a heartbeat later when his brain goes When the hell did I get to the bloody tropics.

Today he's feeling particularly grudging against the temperature. It's led him to charm a little shade device overhead, a sheet hovering obediently six feet in the air over where he's sitting. Occasionally he absently raises his right hand and it moves or folds or grows more opaque, though he doesn't look up. Certainly not the oddest sight seen on this ship of horrors, but not very normal, either.

YEEEE

[handelaar]

Certainly nothing that the likes of Netherlands has seen, no. It's not his fault, really, that he's quite a few centimeters over the standard American six-foot mark. Not his fault when he's distracted and walks forehead-first into the barrier that is certainly not overhead -

instead he curses

in Dutch.

It involves a lot of diseases and a lot of dickheads and, more than anything, a general sense of YOU ASSWIPE. The words in particular are a mix of swears and economical flailing.

alarmed noises

[darkart]

It is completely, utterly, one hundred percent his fault for walking into something sitting nearly in level with his nose, in Severus's opinion. His opinion that is clear as he stares at the display happening a few feet away.

A thing that also exists: the covering has decided that Netherlands is now its reference point of stability, and is attempting to wrap itself around his head. It's only trying to help.

Severus deals with the important bit first - sending his work neatly packing itself away from the stumble-range of this person - and then, graciously, points at the struggle. "Finite incantatem."

The shade flops down, lifeless.

xeno

[sorrycharles]

[ Security-approved lab space is crossed like the lobby it is, nonchalant onward at a business clip into the darker reaches of Severus’s territory. Erik is freshly-showered and clean-shaven, wearing a flat cap and a leather jacket that cuts sharp lines across his shoulders and provides a comfortable buffer for the specimen jar seated in the crook of his arm.

Inside: a stick, several leaves, five beetles, two butterflies and one furious bee to keep things interesting.

The bee thwaks against the glass in sets of threes and fours before bumbling dazed into the greenery littered at the jar’s bottom. It takes a few seconds to recover.

Then it starts again. ]

Anyone home?

[ His voice carries like a bullhorn through old catwalks and arched rafters. ]

[darkart]

Fortunate those doors aren't connected to the ship's grid anymore, [ Severus says from the workspace he's occupying towards the back of the main area, not entirely in shadow but neither properly illuminated. His element. ] We'd have to get you a visitor's pass.

[ Since this is A Restricted Area, and all. The vaguely passive-aggressive sign charmed to stick for eternity on the hallway leading to the ruined labs is the last remaining sentinel of SEC's concerns, bestowed out of courtesy. (Severus will eat somebody's hat if anyone ever reads it and turns away.)

Meanwhile, whatever Severus was working on, he sets aside. In display rarely seen by other people, his hair is pulled back out of his face - it makes the unpleasant lines even more defined and striking, and in a way seems almost defiant. But he slides the elastic from it soon enough, movement unhurried.

What's brought you back to his lair, Erik? ]

[sorrycharles]

[ Erik looks back at the doors in question, so indifferent to their existence as to have failed to register them (and the sign) as a potential problem entirely. When he zeroes back in upon Severus, his expression hasn’t changed -- a silent if you say so, guest starring a glass jar. ]

We spoke about the teleportation of live organisms, [ he says.

Thwak. Thwak.

Thwak. ]

I thought these might go over better as a start than culling wayward humans.

peter ( medbay )

[darkart]

[ By the time Severus has left Edgeworth and made his way down to the medbay (carefully avoiding anyone in person - he doesn't trust that wretch not to try something else and he's beyond out of patience), he's hit that edgy, sharp-visioned second wind of stress-induced exhaustion. He has to handle talking to a few different people on the walk there (he doesn't trust himself to Apparate again), and ends up adding 'help Darcy with anonymous werewolf' to his dance card.

Today, man. What the hell.

Quiet footsteps precede him into the area. Severus holds himself carefully and his eyes are ringed in head-injury bruising. ]

Hello.

[ .. Look he can't. Think of anything else to say. He couldn't think of anything else to say to Claire, either, who he doesn't mean to jerk around about this but who he can't seem to articulate anything to properly while he's in the middle of settling it. He needs to stop juggling so he can proceed. ]

[askedtobe]

[ Peter'd gotten down to the medbay as fast as his legs could carry him, which wasn't that fast considering the lifts weren't ever as quick as you wanted them to be. But he'd at least beaten Severus down there which was important to him as one of the medic's on board - if he made the other man wait it would just be another layer of cruelty and nobody wanted that.

Waiting with his back against one of the cots, Peter had his arms folded across his chest, apprehensive and ready to face whatever it was that had gone wrong. And when Severus did show himself, Peter almost had to cringe for him. He looked worse than worse for wear but he kept his feelings to himself, nodding toward the cot he stood by by walking over to see if Severus needed help to make the distance. ]

What happened to you?

[ It's a question that Peter doesn't know if he should expect an answer or not; a question that matters as much as it doesn't. He can ascertain better the injuries he might be dealing with if he knows... well, what he's dealing with. But he doesn't expect Severus to be all too forthcoming, either.

Not when he seems just that miserable. ]

[darkart]

Miles Edgeworth assaulted me. Apparently he's a telekinetic.

[ Some surprises (like that) suck. Some surprises, like Severus immediately and flatly copping to exactly what happened, are at least useful. ] I'd like my injuries to be looked at and documented, but I'm going to ask that you keep it in confidence until I've decided how to handle it.

[ Covering his ass, basically. Severus is holding himself carefully but he can walk and stand upright without wobbling, and he can communicate. Whether this is because his injuries aren't that bad or because he's just used to forcing himself into functionality despite extreme conditions, who knows. Well actually-- Peter might know, just a little, considering he's already seen Severus sit calmly through nearly splinching his arm off. Whatever. ]

I was thrown into a wall with a solid force and hit it back-first. I'm having difficulty breathing without pain and it's focused here, [ Severus recites this information in a dull tone, pointing out where he expects bruised or fractured ribs to be. ] I also hit the back of my hard enough to have left me disoriented for about two and a half minutes immediately after.

Closed | Backdated to Team Hastings' Return

[dogbane]

[William knocks on the door marked 084 on the floor marked 028. He does this as gently as physically possible; when he'd dropped his bag off in his own room, he'd done so very carelessly and the sound rang recursive in his ears for what felt like ten minutes.

After that, he thought to be very gentle. With his tread, the placement of one foot before the next; when he was turning on taps to wash his hands, and even then the millimeter thread of water made his bones feel arthritically brittle before it screamed into exhilerating refreshment; also with dragging the zipper along his pack to dig the medkit out, the separation of metal teeth singing off like an off-key lovely xylophone; now, tapping on Snape's door. Tap. Tap.

William has the uprooted medkit under one arm. He can feel the raised edge biting through the fabric of his clothes, which is remarkable, profoundly distracting.

He was high like this almost once. It was more fun then, but he's back from his mission, intact with his teammates, banged up, filthy, exhausted, cheerful in the way people get when they're grateful for baseline. He sways on his feet. Watches the halos forming iridescent across the number of the door.]

[darkart]

[ Severus checked in when the teams began to trickle back - long enough to assure nobody was dead and herd people into filing reports, his own already finished and orderly and shoved at Shepard, before whirling back away into his own world. He's busy, and also, he's got a phenomenal headache.

Tap. Tap.

Black eyes slit open in the near-darkness. The door to 084 remains stationary for a long moment, but eventually, it opens. A pale, tired-looking wizard is revealed. The dark circles under his eyes that William glimpsed over distorted enchanted mirrors have faded from 'startling' to 'just tired', and it's not like Severus ever looks great anyway. His white shirt is undone at the top, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing more pallid skin, the beginning of an undershirt, and the ever-present bandage on his left forearm. Disheveled is a word. He may have been asleep. ]

What is it?

[dogbane]

Hello mate, [William says, unnecessarily, not minding it. The sudden darkness behind Severus' door is separately startling. The neon movement that the hallway light had cast over his eyes turns into a slimy nebula unwinding around Severus, only partially clears after he blinks a few times.

Takes in Severus' appearance, maps it onto the state of his room. A reasonable effort at self-preservation, given what little William knows of the latest plague. Sensory overload used to be as good for torture as for recreational use, and while Severus' eyes look better, he hasn't heretofore presented himself as the sort of person who would enjoy-- this sort of thing.] I've got a friend plans to sleep through this shite. Brought you some sedatives, [he says.]

And, [but he lapses into pause, more distractible now than ever. He shifts the medkit out from under his arm, already fumbling for the latch, forgetting to wait for Severus' actual opt-in.]