02 ▒ EVENT: STASIS SICKNESS ▒ MAZE

[ataraxites]

CHARACTERS: Ensemble production!
LOCATION: The mysterious maze.
WARNINGS: Sickness, body horror, encounters, etc.
SUMMARY: Dying slowly, getting into trouble, adventures in exploration.
NOTES: Open to all!

The corridor stretches on before you. THIS WAY ☺, the farthest wall says, before turning into a darkness you haven't explored before. Perhaps now's a good time to consult that map.

Comments

[51stcentury]

[Jack turns to meet the other man's eyes. If this is the game that he wants to play, then so be it. Jack will give him his answer. Maybe not in the way that Sherlock wants to receive it, but he'll definitely give it to him. Isn't that what it's about, with people like him? Finding the answer? How much is it going to bug him when the answer is just fact, that there's no rhyme or reason to any of it, Jack wonders, idly.]

I don't. [No limits. No boundaries. Even death can't stop him, the very fact that he's a fact himself just brings him right back to what he was]

[consulting]

[ of course he wants to play. Nothing's transpired yet and that makes Sherlock tense. It makes him irritable and suspicious of everything. He can deal with mysteries on one end of this event, not on both. If it had bothered the doctor, it sets Sherlock right off. He needs things to be logical, things to be aligned. For Jack to simply be, grates on him. ]

- Which is why you're asking if we are alright?

[ he's trying to assess. ]

[51stcentury]

[SIGH] Yes. Which is why I'm asking.

[The truth of the matter is that Jack doesn't remember what it's like to be ill. He remembers what it's like to feel pain, he remembers what it's like to suffer and to feel weak, because those are things that still apply to him. But illness and the fear for his own mortality, those things just don't factor in anymore]

Look, is it really that intrusive a question? 'How are you doing'?

[consulting]

[ For all that Sherlock wants to deny, Sherlock does know he is moral. That he has his limits and how he feels like that hinders him. But Jack, Jack has always made him curious. Ianto is one of the few people on this ship he openly tolerates so everything he knows about Jack is linked to Ianto. ]

Every question is intrusive. Clearly the state of us is a mixed bag of scenarios, we can observe that the cold - perhaps, plague is more apt - affects you more so depending on how low your number is. You and I are both from the same jump. Yet, you're absolutely peachy. It's suspicious and which is why I'm asking.

[51stcentury]

[Jack knows that Ianto has spoken with Sherlock on more than one occasion, he knows that Ianto trusts him in some way or another. But Jack isn't so open with his abilities. Jim knows, but that was out of his control. The wraith knows, but that was out of his control as well, all things considered. He isn't quick to reveal to people just anything and everything about his condition. But he knows he has to give Sherlock something...]

I don't get sick.

[consulting]

[ Sherlock is a man who barrels through other people's secrets. Not because he cares, but because it's a crippling urge. A need to know everything about everyone. He's put Magneto's sordid life story on display once on the network, deduced from the way he carried himself on video, he's most recently made a summation of how he views a certain Lietunenant's psyche. He rips through crew member pathologies likes a cold knife, sharp and piercing. Jack is no exception, Jack although has been a fixture. An anomaly in a good coat. ]

[ Jack is perfectly right to question Sherlock's incentives. ]

Why?

[ He pulls out a scarf, rolled up from his coat and wraps it around his neck. ]

[51stcentury]

[He meets the other man's eyes squarely, his jaw set firm as he answers:] I just don't.

[He knows that Sherlock wants answers. That he needs more than that, more of a response than that to make him happy. And maybe he'll let him know at some point. What he is, it doesn't make sense. It shouldn't be, it's wrong, the Doctor said. It isn't going to show up on tests, it's not something to be isolated and made into a vaccine or a cure. It isn't logical, it just is. Even if he tells the other man, he's not sure that he'll believe him. Not until he's poked and prodded and found it all out for himself, and he really doesn't have the time or patience for that right now.]

[consulting]

Just don't [ Sherlock answers squarely. There's a breath air, an almost tinge of mockery to that statement. ]

[ Sherlock is a man who thrives on his explanations. Who needs answers before the questions are asked. It's a need more than a want and the fact he cannot figure out why Jack is that way goes against most of his axioms. Jack is an impossibility, and even Sherlock can discern that. But Jack is a variable, he cannot be eliminated like all the other impossible things and that frustrates Sherlock to no end. Sherlock does want to poke and prod. ]

Everyone gets sick. Bodies have weaknesses, limits.

[51stcentury]

I don't. Get sick. It's pretty simple of a concept. I'm not claiming that I don't have weaknesses. Do you see me bench-pressing shuttlecraft? No. I just don't get sick. I can't.

[Jack half thinks that maybe he should try and sell it off as a 51st century human biology thing, except for everyone seems to be getting effected. Everyone but him, that is. He realizes how that looks. He also realizes that there's nothing he can do about it.]

[consulting]

[ Sherlock doesn't care about powers, he could do away with any and all off them. It wouldn't matter. But this isn't a power, it's just resilience and it's raw and fascinating and Sherlock wants to know what makes him tick. How far Jack can reach his limits. Chart everything he does. ]

It opens the doors for further inquiry. What else do you 'not' do? [ rubbing his hands together as he watches Jack. ]

[51stcentury]

[Oh, let's see. Doesn't get sick, doesn't age, doesn't stay dead. Recovers from anything (physically at least). Isn't he going to be a fun puzzle for you to crack sometime or another, Sherlock?]

Wouldn't you like to know? [His eyes narrow] Why does it matter to you?

[ooc: just coming back from a month's hiatus, trying to get all my old tags out of my inbox. i'm perfectly fine with dropping this thread if it's too old for you i just wanted to give it the chance in case you wanted to continue <3]

GURL I WILL BACKTAG SOMETHING UNTIL THE END OF TIME.

[consulting]

[ There are a number of motivators for Sherlock's curiosity in this case. You will be Jack. He's mostly jealous of that resilience. He'd love the opportunity to do what you can. Be limitless. ]

It doesn't matter, but it's interesting.

{ it's a word sherlock doesn't use often. ]

[ Perhaps, now - more than ever because he's still sick. Jack's immunity should be brought into his attention. ]

OKAY GOOD BC SO WILL I ;;

[51stcentury]

[Jack's gaze is solid, and he gives nothing away as he watches the other man. There is no secret to what he is. He just is. Maybe someday Sherlock will understand that. Maybe he will spend the rest of the time that he has trying to figure out how. This desire for knowledge, it unnerves him a little. Especially with the curiosity entirely focused in his direction.]

Less so than you might think, believe me.