[Open] For the greater good.

[geniusmanchild]

WHO Topher and YOU!
WHAT OMG it's Compulsion week and right now Topher is compelled to wipe out the entire rodent population at the CGM
WHERE Random CGM corridor.
WHEN Wed night, 15th June.
NOTES Expect many compulsion filled shenanigans!
WARNINGS Possible derpy weirdness. It's Topher, what did you expect

Comments

[glassesonachain]

Bennett had been in a relatively good mood all day. Well, good mood probably wasn't the best way to describe it. Less cranky was probably better. That was about to change though.

"Mr. Brink. What a coincidence," Bennett greets him with a sarcastic smile. She looms over him, unable to pass up the opportunity to antagonize him in some way. "Though I must inquire, what on Earth are you doing?"

[geniusmanchild]

Topher jumped a little, spilling a few pellets, but when he saw who it was, he settled back on his heels for a moment.

"Well, hey, if it isn't Miss Buzzkill."

Okay maybe that was a tad on the meanspirited side, but she'd started it first with all the pettiness.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm playing god. Smiting from on high. We have a rodent infestation and I'm taking care of it. Because, gee, I have all of this time on my hands to do mundane crap like exterminate vermin before they- aeeeegh!"

Topher felt something brush past his leg and that was enough to set him off. He scrambled to his feet and grabbed onto Bennett's dead arm, trying to use her as a shield.

"Did you see it? It was huge! I told you. We have to kill them all before we get nibbled to death in our sleep by their tiny rodent teeth."

[glassesonachain]

Bennett narrowed her eyes, giving him a glare as he called her a buzzkill. Even if she was completely aware of the fact that it was true. She did have a nasty habit of sucking the fun out of everything.

There had been a tiny voice in the back of her head that had been telling her to try to play nice with him but then any chances of her actually listening went out the window the second he touched her left arm. That was just one of those things that you did not do. Ever. Bennett shot a look of daggers at him before she growled, smacked his hand away from her arm and then wiggled out of his grasp completely.

"I didn't see a rat, Mr. Brink. But I doubt you have to worry about one nibbling you to death. I imagine even rats would have better taste than that," Bennett sneered.

[geniusmanchild]

Topher still tried to maneuver behind Bennett. As if somehow she could ward off the evil vermin better than he could. But then her comment hit home and he bristled. Why did she keep riding his ass so much? She was the one who'd stolen his job. He was the one who had a frigging grievance.

He wracked his brain for an insult to toss back at her. One popped into his head and he ran with it. He forced himself to laugh derisively and shrug.

"Like you'd notice if they started gnawing on you. It's not just your arm that's totally devoid of feeling."

[quietandgeeky]

"Er." Tosh stops in the corridor, looking down at the man on the floor, who seems to be engaged in some sort of bizarre rodent extermination. She can't help but wonder if Ianto knows what he's gotten her into - but, on the other hand, maybe this is the most normal place in the entire city. It's not often that being a hermit turns out to be justified.

"Have you tried serenading them with a flute yet?" she asks, mostly rhetorically. Drowning them would probably do unspeakable things to the water supply, and then they'd end up without food or water, which would be mildly inconvenient for everybody concerned.

[geniusmanchild]

"I'm not exactly a wind instrument kinda guy." Topher throws back over his shoulder, still watching the hole for signs of the pesky little vermin. But then he actually realizes he's being spoken to by a real live person and so he stands up again.

"Oh. Hey. That's cute with the flute thing." He gives a nervous laugh, feeling awkward because she's, well, a girl. And she's pretty, and kinda got that hot shy librarian vibe thing going on.

"You're new, right? Welcome to Sin City. I'm Mr. Brink. I mean Topher. Topher Brink." He goes to hold out his hand, notices he has been handling rat poison and oh great, clamminess up the wazoo, so he hastily pulls his hand back again and wipes it on his pants leg instead. "Yeah, uh, raincheck?"

[quietandgeeky]

"You could always try violin. I'd stay away from Spanish guitar, though, they certainly don't need to start doing the tango." Tosh's jokes: hypothetical rat overpopulation. Next up: teeny tiny rat condoms. If you work for Torchwood long enough (or maybe just work with Jack), your mind ends up firmly lodged in the gutter, even if you're a geek like Tosh.

"Just moved in the other day - Ianto brought me here. He's a friend of mine from back home." Her slight wince at the rat poison-y hand turns into a small amused smile when he wipes it on his pants leg, because it's...sort of endearing, in a weird way. "Toshiko Sato - Tosh, for short."

[geniusmanchild]

"I'm not really musically inclined. Unless you count air-guitar. Which I do happen to rock at. But thanks for the tip. I suppose I could try some recorded elevator music. Kill them with banality."

He gives her a sheepish smile.

"Hi, Tosh. I've been here a few weeks myself. Still getting used to being yanked from my old life and tossed into this crazy madhouse."

[mr_chekov]

Putting rat pellets down would have been utterly fine and sensible, if rats were the only animals inhabiting the mansion. But the plain and simple fact was that they were not. No, there was also a young cocker spaniel that spent most of it's time begging for treats and being a nuisance to McCoy and the name given to him by his mistress was Shchenok, a very unoriginal name, quite plainly meaning 'puppy'.

As it was, the bright green things had caught the puppy's attention completely and he was sniffing at them very curiously, or at least he had been when Pasha had collared him, yanking him away from them. That was the very reason that there was a very irritated and very short navigator seeking the person that had placed the pellets down. "You!" She snapped at the young man in the hall way, puppy in her arms and thunder in her tone. "Are you the person putting down the rat poisons?"

[geniusmanchild]

Topher hears the angry tone and jumps up, defensively clutching the box of rat poison to his chest. Oh, it's the Russian gal. Ohmygod, she's even more gorgeous in real life. And she's got GRRR face. So, of course Topher's suddenly feeling queasy and caught like a deer in headlights.

"I am that person. Hey there." He squeaks, since he can't deny it with the evidence in his hand. He gives a little hand-wave.

[mr_chekov]

That was most definitely her GRRR face, her puppy was her closet friend in this city and if he got sick then she would be less than a happy little Russain.

"If you are intending on attempting to kill the wermin, it would hawe been considerate of you to warm the other people in the household. Shchenok almost ate one of them. He could hawe died." She snapped, tucking the dog against her chest and rubbing her thumbs over his ears. "He is an animal, he does not know any better, but as a humanoid you should hawe the intellect to hawe known better!" She announced, criticism was something she rarely dished out but she felt the need to get it off her chest for once.

[geniusmanchild]

Topher's face kinda crumples at her ranting speech. He can't seem to do anything right since he got here. He nearly killed a cute puppy because of his quest to do something vaguely productive? Great, Topher. Just great.

"I didn't even think of that. No-one told me there were any pets in the place. I'm sorry."

He gets back down on his hands and knees and starts grabbing the pellets up again and shoving them back in the mouth of the box.

"I'll- I'll get rid of them all. Find some other way to- a mechanical trap or something."

[myheartglows]

"What are you looking for?"

The voice comes from behind him: Tony, with Uhura farther away, stands in the corridor with a curious, blank face.

He's not supposed to listen to Topher, but they can still be friends. Topher's nice, anyway.

[geniusmanchild]

"A rat. A nasty rat. If you see one, don't let it bite you. If it does, go see Doctor Saunders, she'll make sure it doesn't get infected."

Not that he's seen her. Which may well be a good thing since he can't be sure how she'll react to him. Topher pauses in his pellet laying and turns to face the guy properly.

"And how are you today, Tony?"

[myheartglows]

He shrinks a little, head ducking--if he gets hurt, he needs to see Dr. McCoy or Dr. Halverson. He's not supposed to listen to Topher. "I finished eating my dinner," he says, then lowers his eyes to the pellets. Asks, "What does a rat look like?"

[geniusmanchild]

"Good for you. What did you have? I'm kinda hungry now myself." He follows Tony's gaze and then looks back at him again. "You haven't seen a rat? Well, I guess I could see if I can find a picture of one to show you. There's a really cool story about rats, actually. Called the Pied Piper. You might like that one."

[all_myheart]

Mellie has honestly been steering pretty clear of Topher, mostly out of a certain skittishness. Well, the only others here who knew about her non-reality were either not real themselves or had greeted her before she had a chance to run and hide. And he's the one who designed her, too. (She sort of wants to ask him why he designed someone so self-loathing and needy, but she also doesn't want to know the answer, exactly.)

But she happens to be walking through the corridor just as he's -- attempting to kill rats? Politeness and who knows what else demands she offers an awkward little "Hi."

[geniusmanchild]

Topher jumps up, more nervous now since a lot of people keep interrupting him. "Hi, uh, I'm just-" He stops his explanation and stares at her. "November? Why did no-one tell me you were here? How are you? But wait, we already sent you home. Are you...Madeline again? Oh, this is so confusing. Timeline brain freeze."

His hands gesture around his head and he laughs at the absurdity of the situation.

"But, really, how are you?"

[all_myheart]

She just blinks at him for a second. November. Madeline. At least she's heard other people throw those names around here before, she's not having to add a new theoretical identity to the crisis in her head. A shrug. "I sort of keep to myself a lot," she says with that smile at her own expense.

"I'm fine. And. Uhm, I'm -- Mellie." Probably 'timeline brain freeze' would be a good way to put it.