okay so funny story [closed]

[reunified]

who ; reunified & cousinisdeeeead
what ; Altman is apartment hunting. Alejandro is tagging along. ALL ALTMAN PUNCHING ALL THE TIME?
where ; Hawking (Residential Zone 02)
when ; nnnowish
warning(s) ; Language because Alejandro cusses like a 14-year-old boy, violence later.

Comments

[cousinisdeeeead]

[Eventually, Alejandro comes along, rubbing the back of his neck and grumbling.]

I am not going to get used to those fucking teleporters.

[And there's that. Guy. He knows. What'shisname.]

Hey! [He raises his robotic limb.] You look nervous. What's up?

aaah sorry this is late

[reunified]

[ Altman tenses and looks up sharply, then relaxes when he recognizes who it is. ]

Hey. I'm just [ There's a brief pause, and when he continues it's a pretty obvious excuse. ] not used to all the robots running around the place. It's a little creepy.

[ SUBJECT CHANGE. ]

You ready to go?

[cousinisdeeeead]

There were fucking zombies just a few days ago, and it's the robots that creep you out. Priorities, man.

[He knows it's an excuse. But they both had a hell of a time, so he isn't going to pester Nameless Guy about it. Alejandro nods.]

Just lead the way.

[reunified]

Hey, I'm used to zombies. Robots are new. [ He appreciates not being bothered about it. It's the sort of thing he'd rather not dwell on, at least not right now. ]

The place I'm looking at is just a couple blocks south--not too far from the library. [ Not that he's a huge book geek or anything, but at this point he wants to know as much as possible about... well, everything. He indicates the direction and starts walking. ]

[cousinisdeeeead]

You serious? Where the hell are you from, man?

Sounds real fucking cozy. Anyone else volunteer to be your roomie?

[reunified]

To be honest? It looks like I'm a few hundred years behind on the technological power curve. Most of this stuff is way beyond what I'm used to. [ At least the comms are close enough to what he's used before. ]

There was one woman quizzing me, but it didn't go anywhere. She started asking if I was going to shank her in her sleep. [ He's trying to make a joke of it and, ahah, kind of massively failing. ]

[cousinisdeeeead]

Time difference. Sure, why the fuck not? We got everything else here. Before you know it, there'll be talkin' ponies.

[IF ONLY HE KNEW BETTER.]

Yeah, sounds like a real fuckin' winner, that one. You're a real people person, aren't you?

[If it helps, he says it with some humor.]

[reunified]

I'd take talking ponies over another zombie monster outbreak any day. [ That he manages to joke about without slipping up. ]

I've got to admit, I seem to attract some strange people. [ Like religious whackjobs, for example. ] At least the weirdos here seem relatively tame.

[ So far. ]

[cousinisdeeeead]

Fuck, you and me both. No more crazy-ass religious statues, that'd be nice.

Oh, you say that now, give it time.

[Then it occurs to him again. What the hell.]

...This is awkward as hell, but I don't think I ever got your name, man.

[reunified]

--Oh, right. Sorry. [ Altman stops and turns, a little sheepishly. ]

I wasn't big on giving out my name for a while there. Never know who's on the network, right?

[ He offers his hand. ]

I'm Michael Altman.

[cousinisdeeeead]

[That takes a moment to really sink in. Didn't this guy say that he's out of the loop on technology for about two hundred years?

Knew a lot about the Marker. Michael Altman. The Michael Altman.]

You--

[Oh, he does grab onto Michael's hand, but he's quick to try and twist the man's arm around to his back.]

You son of a bitch!

[reunified]

What are you--

[ He hisses as his arm is twisted back. For a brief moment he fights back, but when it becomes apparent that it hurts more than it does any good he goes as still as he can.

Great. It's that shit with Clarke all over again. ]

I'm not who you think I am!

[cousinisdeeeead]

Then who the fuck are you?! Michael Altman, the guy who discovered the Marker, then all of this. This shit happened and--

[Alejandro can't even convey everything he wants to say. He had no way of expecting that he'd have the man responsible in front of him. The only steady part of him is his robotic arm; the rest of the engineer is trembling out of sheer rage.]

Noah fucking died because of the Marker. Because of those fucking crazy Unitologists. Go ahead. Go the fuck ahead and tell me that you're not who I think you are, Altman!

[reunified]

[ He nearly starts babbling out an explanation, but he catches himself at the last second and just. Breathes for a moment. Calms himself down as best he can. Then he speaks, although his tone is low and tight. ]

I'm not a Unitologist. I never was. I wasn't even willingly part of the fucking project. Everything they said about me being some kind of prophet is bullshit.

[ Pauses. Breathes. ]

Let me go and I'll explain everything.

[cousinisdeeeead]

[There's an enormous temptation to ignore Altman and just. Off him right now. Snap his neck or something.

Despite everything, though, Alejandro can't. He can't just kill this guy.]

Fuck.

[He lets go.]

Make it good, Altman.

[reunified]

[ Altman goes quiet for a moment, gathering his thoughts, then starts. His voice is flat, although the more he talks the more it tightens. ]

I was working on the peninsula when we started getting weird readings from the crater. I... I poked into things too much, asked too many questions, and the next thing I knew Ada--my girlfriend--and I, and a bunch of other scientists, were being hauled off to some facility. They were trying to bring up the Marker, but... well, you know what it does to people. When people started worshiping the damn thing they thought I was chosen or something since I was the only one who'd come into direct contact with it and not gone totally crazy and offed myself.

[ He doesn't want to talk about this, but he has to. Even if Alejandro doesn't believe him, he needs to tell someone the truth. Altman swallows dryly, then continues. ]Long story short, I tried to warn people about the Marker and the guys in charge didn't like it. They wanted to use the Marker and the people who worshiped it and--fuck, I don't know.