h2no | IC contact

Yeah...although to be fair, my people did want to take over the world even before humans had movies.

[So, at least in his universe, it wasn't entirely unfair.]

The whole thing was just...the people working on the station were given an incentive to be the first one to figure out how to give natives powers without Imports. Which lead to a lot of extreme experiments and sabotaging each other, experimenting on animals...one guy experimented on himself. The whole station was just a big, toxic mess.

[Then, remembering what happened to some of the people who went there with him, he added,]

In more ways than one.

Hmm. Were the movies based off your invasion, maybe?

[he frowns.]

That's fucked up. What do imPorts have to do with giving powers? They don't think we pick our own powers or whatever, right? [maybe they did. they were insane enough to fire a nuke at the planet.

he... doesn't ask if they saved the animals. he feels like he knows the answer, and that his weird priorities wouldn't be appreciated.] I heard about the radiation.

[He shrugs.]

Yeah, could be. And I don't know. I just figured there was some imPort that was able to give natives powers at some point. But yeah, the radiation was...bad. The whole place was bad. And apparently this isn't the only branch of the OTO, but it sounds like this is probably the most extreme branch. At least, I'm hoping.

Edited 2018-10-09 02:51 (UTC)

That makes sense. Wonder if they're still around.

[he shakes the thought off, giving jonathan's shoulder a squeeze.]

Even if they're not, you guys still stopped them doing what they were doing. That's something.

[The shoulder squeeze is comforting, but it's the words that really help bring things into focus.]

Yes. [He agrees adamantly.] It definitely is something. And it's a big something. Before we went out there, they had a base that was ready to fire nuclear missiles at a moment's notice. No matter what the OTO still has, that's gone. And that's huge.

[he shouldn't be surprised that they had more, but he is, and he can't quite stomp down the sudden surge of anxiety in his chest. he's never encountered evil like the OTO before, and he simply doesn't know how to handle it.

archie doesn't want to upset jon, though. he's already been through enough.]

You guys saved a lot of lives. It's too bad it had to come to this, but... you guys did what needed to be done.

[...]

I'm proud of you. For what it's worth.

Thanks! That's worth a lot, actually. What you think means a lot to me, because you're the most awesome guy I know.

[Said with plenty of upbeat enthusiasm as well as complete and utter honesty.]

[he snorts, laughing. jon is never any less endearing.]

You know I think the world of you too.

[there's an unspoken but hanging there, that he's not quite brave enough to follow up on. useless.]

Aww, really? You're so nice.

[And yet...he can't help but feel like there's more to this that he wants to hear.]

It's nice, though. Being a part of a group that helped save Earth. I just hope I can pull it off again when I go back to my own Earth.

I don't doubt for a minute that you could.

[he seems to have come pretty far, and fair enough he'll forget it, but archie sees it even happening in one universe as proof that the potential is there.

he takes a drink, then sighs a little.]

Jon, we should probably talk about the Fanport thing.

Jonathan shakes his head.

"No, it's cool. You're not interested, I get it." Then he thinks of how Archie blushed when he kissed him. "I think."

Okay, he doesn't quite get why Archie went from reacting like he did to the flirting in Artist's Alley to be trying to divert his advances at the rave but...whatever. It's fine.

He ducks his head in a not-quite-nod. It's a bit weird to know he has at least one emotionally competent friend?

"I'm not lying when I say you mean the world to me," he says, smiling lightly, though it's tinged with sadness. "And I'm sorry it had to happen like that right before Mars."

"It's just... not something I can do, and that fact isn't on you. I hope this doesn't ruin anything between us. I certainly don't want to leave you behind."

Edited 2018-10-12 23:57 (UTC)

"Archie," Jonathan says, tone completely serious. "I'm more comfortable around you than anyone else I know. With my real face, with knowing what I've done...with everything. I'm not going to give that up just because you don't want to have sex with me."

Jonathan wanted to have sex with Archie because he likes being close to Archie. He didn't get close to Archie because he wanted to have sex with him. As far as Jonathan's concerned, he has so much with Archie already, it makes no sense to throw it all out just because of the one thing he can't have.

He nods, assuming a romantic relationship falls under that purview.

"Alright. I'm glad this ain't gonna change anything, then." He smiles a little more genuinely, picking up his glass. "You wanna toast to fuckin' up the OTO and their plans?"

"No worries. It was silly. When I kissed you I just misread the whole thing and thought you were into it. It's better to have that whole awkwardness out of the way. So yeah, let's toast to fucking up the OTO," he says, raising his glass and going along with the change of topic, "And to fucking them up even more in the future!"

He nods a little stiffly. Yeah. Not into it, that's certainly what he was. No point being upset about it-- he's convinced himself it's better this way.

Archie pushes it away and laughs, clinking it then throwing back his drink.

"Arceus, I hope so."

Jonathan takes a large chug of his drink as well.

"And you know what, things went pretty well. I mean, sure, there was the radiation poisoning thing, but at least no one was stranded out there. That was honestly what I was afraid of before the mission. That we'd be killed too far from Earth for the nanites to revive us. But it seems kind of dumb to be that worried about that. I mean, back home I'm always just one step ahead of being caught by the Alliance, and nanites don't even exist in my universe."

"That seems to be something that was on everyone's mind," he says, a little glumly. You can't blame them, really... Archie was afraid of it and he wasn't even going on the mission.

"There's no point getting caught up in what-ifs, right?"

"You know what? You're right. We all got out of there, and even if worse things could have happened, they didn't. We should be celebrating."

He takes another drink.

"And I mean it, too. We should do something extra special to celebrate. On top of going out for drinks. Like...ordering jalapeño poppers. Or going on a boating trip."

"Is the crew not having a get together when 622 and Jacob are out of the hospital?" he asks, glancing over curiously.

"We can get jalapeño poppers, if you want. Not sure if I got any time for a boating trip with all this Aegis stuff comin' up, though."

"Well, yeah. There is that. I guess we'll just order jalapeno poppers for now."

Wait, did Archie just say Aegis?

"Aegis? You're involved with Aegis now?" It's not something he has any issues with, Aegis seems like a good idea to him, he's just surprised.

He nods, feeling a little relieved. Maybe doing something like that isn't a good idea when there's all these horrible feelings muddling between them. It's a choice he'd made to make it easier on himself, too, though he's not so sure if that makes him selfish or not.

Instead of thinking too hard about it, he just downs his drink. Focus on the question at hand.

"Yeah-- I asked if it was alright for me to apply just before the Mars thing," he says with a shrug. "I was startin' to feel a bit..." Hmmm. "...Useless."

"You have never been useless."

And he meant that. Archie had helped him so much, both by healing him and by being there as a friend who understood why someone might be a part of something horrible, even though common sense should have told him he was doing the wrong thing.

"But yeah, Aegis is a great idea. I'm sure you'll do a lot of good with them."

"Ah... thanks," Archie says with a weak little smile, though he's not sure he believes it. It's hard for him to see any good he does when he feels like the bad is so overwhelming. Maybe he will eventually.

"I hope so. Are you not part of it? You went to space..."

He doesn't realise Alke and Aegis are different. The green is blinding.

"Yeah, I did. I signed on for the space mission, but I'm not actually part of Aegis. I wanted to help out, but I don't know if I'm ready yet to sign on for a whole long term thing."

But maybe he would at some point. He just knew he could do space.

"Besides, I'm good at space. Besides, isn't there like...an ethics test or something for Aegis? I'm not sure I'd pass that."

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