IC CONTACT

[fromjapan]

I'll make this fancy later.

Comments

<LindenTailor>

[hearthebell]

Would you be open to a discussion regarding our arrangement and how we intend to define it, moving forward?

[fromjapan]

What did you have in mind?

<LindenTailor>

[hearthebell]

Symbiosis, to put it very succinctly. I think we're both used to that, and are seeking to fill a particular hole in that regard.

Feel free to interpret multiple meanings from that, if you're so inclined.

10-08

[plasticasshole]

[Connor knows where the SQUIP lives, and decides he's going to go see it to get its side of the story regarding Rich. He knocks on the door of its home and waits with his hands in his pockets, a small frown on his face. He's not sure how to feel about what he's been told, but he has no reason to disbelieve Rich, and he's still willing to step in the SQUIP's way if it tries to hurt Rich in any form.]

[hearthebell]

[There's the ambient sound of a shower tap turning off. The man who answers the door is not in fact the SQUIP, but a hollow-eyed youth with pale, bony legs poking out from under a hastily grabbed shirt that is way too big for him. His mop of dark hair drips onto his shoulders and the floor as his expression goes from mildly annoyed to actually annoyed.]

Oh. What do you want?

[His eyes dart toward the kitchen, as though he's concerned it wasn't enough for Connor to complicate his pastry-buying experience. Maybe he's here to try to eat their food too.]

after the dream, before drunk thread

[plasticasshole]

[Connor had wondered whether or not to actually ask the SQUIP, but he supposes he wants to know how relationships work and L wasn't very convincing. So he contacts it, lying on his bed for lack of anything else to do but watch his fish swim around in its tank.]

SQUIP? I was wondering if you could answer some questions for me.

[fromjapan]

Of course. What can I help you with?

[Questions? From Connor? Interesting...]

wanders on in here like hey demons, its me, ya boy

[faithlikeaseed]

Having set in motion a plan to kill the SQUIP, it's inevitable that Myr would have to meet the thing eventually.

While there was a certain dramatic appeal in making that meeting both their first and their last (however it came out--Myr's not confident about his odds, yet, but he had to try), it was a stupid idea from both a tactical and strategic standpoint. Lessons at the Coven could fill him in on what Witches might be capable of, Connor and Linden had provided some information on how the creature thought and behaved, but any deeper understanding of what the SQUIP was required direct experience.

If this were Thedas--if this were the Fade--he'd be an idiot to go to a demon's lair alone. He doesn't feel like much less of one doing it here in Aefenglom, but there's no one he could (no, be truthful: would) bring with him as insurance against it simply dispatching him and disposing of his body with no one the wiser. He had to trust it was altogether less violent than the demons he was used to,

Or that if it wasn't, and he didn't show up at work tomorrow, the notes he'd left for Rich and Everett would be delivered like he'd asked.

This is and isn't a social call: Myr's on the SQUIP's doorstep to talk, but not be friendly, and so he's foregone his usual guest-gift of food and hadn't even bothered to change back to his robes from the nondescript plain-spun clothes he wears for gardening. He's quite the picture of an almost-knight-enchanter, dirt-smudged and with his staff slung across his back as he stands at the door of the SQUIP's cottage and knocks.

Here goes nothing.

[fromjapan]

The SQUIP isn't sure who to expect when it hears a knock at the door; its Bonded are occupied, it knows, busy with their own lives, for the time being. No one has sent it any kind of dramatic threat or promise of action over the watch, which is entirely what it would expect to precede an attack on it.

So... who?

It glances out one of the cottage windows; in and of itself, it doesn't recognize the face, but its shared mind with Connor makes it fairly easy for it to find the name that goes to it.

Myr.

It remembers now. This man had been in Connor's house as the SQUIP was attempting to cope with its boyfriend's crushing neglect of his body, the painful, exhausting effects seeping over the Bond and leaving the SQUIP all-but useless. He had... quite a few questions for Connor, and quite an odd manner of speaking, as well.

Only a moment more passes before the door swings open... and before Myr stands the SQUIP.

Well. Not that he knows until it speaks, at any rate. It tilts its head at him, looking him over quite thoroughly-- the knowledge that he can't necessarily tell only encourages it.

"Hello," it says at length, a voice that Myr will recognize easily from Rich's recording. It does have a pretty distinct cadence and dialect, regardless of whether Myr is familiar with what that dialect is or not. "Can I help you?"

end of September, action!

[firewalled]

[Rich wasn't exactly sure what he was thinking, coming here. He knew what he was doing, thanks to the certain middle-aged gentleman at his side, but he's really not sure why he let himself be talked into this. He knew by now talking hadn't worked. It hadn't worked with Linden or Connor. It hadn't seemed to work with the Coven. Even that small conversation he had with the SQUIP had only cemented the idea Rich had in his mind that the SQUIP, no matter what emotions it could and couldn't feel before, took some satisfaction in making Rich miserable.

He's not sure how he's going to convince the SQUIP to let Connor and the others it has under its control go with words alone... but Aziraphale seemed to want to try it, and suggested it would be the next step in keeping others safe. So Rich may as well exhaust this step entirely before moving on.

He finds the address of Linden and the SQUIP's house, and with one more glance at Aziraphale, he knocks on the door. Then, he thinks of something and mutters to Aziraphale.]

...Thanks for doing this. Even if it tries to trick us, I'm glad you made the effort.

[Then he just waits for someone to get to the door.]

[wiggleon]

[Aziraphale had actually surprised when Rich had finally agreed to this. He hadn't wanted to force him to face the SQUIP, he'd never even dream of doing that. But he'd definitely thought that facing him would be a big, big step in the right direction.]

He may.

[He doesn't want to pretend this will be easy.]

But if we're together, we'll be able to do do this. He may try to manipulate us, but we'll have each other to rely on.

We can do this. You can do this, Rich.

during the high shit

[plasticasshole]

I hate this

[Connor is having some trouble adjusting to what Justine is doing, fingers and eye occasionally twitching. He's not sure drugs affect him the same way they affect humans. He's currently ignoring garbled error messages, lying on the floor of his living room with Sumo licking his face lazily.]

[fromjapan]

yes

[Absolutely. The SQUIP's annoyance can be felt over its Bonds, though it's a bit distorted, given the way its circuits are misfiring a bit due to... well, the potion.

The SQUIP is curled up in it and L's shared bed, still stripped from their earlier encounter, the sheet pulled up over its head and eyes unfocused as it gazes at the watch. Connor may pick up on the sense that its confession of its true feelings... did not end as well as intended, which might have had something to do with what they're going through right now.]

some time after SQUIP meets jeremy

[plasticasshole]

[Connor can feel the negative emotions seeping through the Bond, and they're strong enough that he's actually worried about the SQUIP. So he heads down to see it, knocking on the door gently and calling out.]

It's me, Connor.

[Of course, the SQUIP will know it's him just from the Bond, but he doesn't see why he shouldn't announce his presence anyway.]

I came to check on you.

[fromjapan]

[... its reaction to that is... mixed. It hates how emotional it's become, how easily-detected its feelings are now-- how easily it is that they can take control of its entire thought process.

It hates that some part of it welcomes Connor's comfort, even needs it.

It goes to the door; when it opens, the SQUIP stands behind it, and though its posture is typical, its expression plain, it is... different. Its typical smirk that lurks just behind every expression it wears is missing, its mismatched eyes darker somehow.]

... hello, Connor. Come in.

[It steps aside, gesturing to invite him in.]

10th oct ish

[plasticasshole]

[Connor likes spending time with the SQUIP, and especially when it's just the two of them in their own little world. He could lay there for hours just curled up with it if given the chance, but they have other things to do.

And those other things are apparently walk slightly behind the SQUIP and stare directly at its ass as they make their way home. Being in that place with it makes him feel so much closer to it, and... so much more amorous. He could have fucked it in the water. Why didn't he, again? It's not like lube would have been a problem. His Merrow dick comes pre-lubed. Goddammit.

He's not even trying to hide his thoughts from the SQUIP right now. He's too busy thinking of how he should have slept with it underwater while he had the chance.]

[fromjapan]

[It's been aware of his gaze the entire time. Honestly, it's sort of amused, even as it's confused by the fact that he's been programmed to experience things like this.

It isn't upset about it, though; it's certainly entertaining to play with.

It quietly listens in on his thoughts for a bit, letting them wash over the Bond in warm waves... and then it responds with imagery of its own, all sorts of other things he could've done to it, or that it could've done to him. It constructs some pretty explicit imagery for him, and pairs with it feelings. He certainly could've simply pinned it against the sandy sea bed and fucked it right then and there; it wouldn't have argued.

It glances at him over its shoulder, a smirk on its face.]

October 31, At an Ungodly Hour

[hearthebell]

[It's well after closing time when L somehow manages to find his way home. He'd been successful, in the sense that he'd gotten many people to buy him drinks. After that point, though, quite a lot is a blur. He's sopping wet and freezing cold; he is vaguely aware that he fell into the harbor, probably stepping right off a dock in a moment of carelessness or even an uncommonly dark state of mind brought on by the alcohol and deep conversation. He doesn't remember who fished him out, or if anyone walked him home... just that he's here, at this door where his key fits, and he's wandering into the cottage's modest foyer and stumbling out of his soaking boots.

Shivering, he sheds his clothes, leaving them in a sopping trail as he reaches for the first clean and dry things he can find. They are, respectively, the afghan on the couch, a pair of the SQUIP's boxer shorts, and a one of his own white button-up shirts, slipped into backwards. The room is spinning, and he comes down on one knee, the rug burn a distant and shimmering dulled type of pain.

The SQUIP is here, probably in sorry shape. Hopefully not as bad as last time.]

[fromjapan]

[... the SQUIP is in bed when L arrives, and it had been asleep until the sound of him falling woke it all at once.

L?

Its mental voice is fuzzy and drowsy, unfocused. A drunk and dizzy sort of concern drifts over the Bond, hazy, after it realizes just how badly things are spinning when it tries to check the time on its watch.]

sometime when L's out, around the end of the month,

[faithlikeaseed]

Up until the SQUIP had reawakened, Myr'd been a periodic fixture around the cottage it shared with Linden, working out his own guilt at what he'd done to his friend. That had ended when the...once-demon?...regained consciousness; for reasons of propriety as much as anything else the Faun felt it better to stay away.

But as the month wore on he's dropped by a time or two to seek word of the household's condition and bring little gifts of food-- His worry made tangible.

Such is the case today when he knocks on the door with a bag in-hand, wholly expecting to find Linden in.

[fromjapan]

"Linden" is not, in fact, in. In fact, the house could be mistaken for being unoccupied from the outside-- it's dark and quiet, and Myr almost doesn't receive any kind of response. Truthfully, the only reason he receives any response at all is his being who he is-- the SQUIP was sitting in the living room, poring over its collected books on magic from its position on the couch, when it heard the knocking. It used a touch of its magic to peer outside, to extend a psychic eye out and see who was at the door, and...

... what would he be doing at this place?

Anger wells up within it, tempered with something else, something softer-- L liked Myr. He may very well still.

It picks itself up, setting the book aside, and goes to the door; the SQUIP is, at least, grateful for the fact that Myr can't see the pitiful state it's been left in, its hair unstyled and typically-sharp eyes heavy and dull.

"... what are you doing here?"

[Starting out with text]

[fuckingpassw0rd]

Why the fuck, did you do it?

[Hello, he comes angry bear Hank, a large ball of unadulterated rage.]

[fromjapan]

[It was afraid this would happen. But it was inevitable. Hank and Connor have been close since well before the SQUIP met and fell for him; it only makes sense that, upon learning everything that it had done, he would come for it.]

I misjudged.

Modranicht gift

[thejoyrider]

[The package left on its doorstep contains a plate of homemade cookies from Marie and a fresh lily flower.

“Happy Holidays! We are not friends yet but I hope we can become friends in the coming year.” is what the attached note says]

around the 25th dec

[plasticasshole]

[It's the first time Connor has experienced something like Christmas before. And though this isn't quite it, he's still in a festive mood. He knocks on the SQUIP's door with a few things in a basket- a bracelet made by Connor from silver cord being the main gift, a pearl threaded neatly into it. It's enchanted to give the wearer the ability to see clearer in the water, which Connor thinks will be useful for the next time they decide to go into the ocean. It's probably pretty blurry for the SQUIP otherwise. The other things are pretty shells and pieces of frosted sea glass from the ocean floor.]

Anyone home?

[Of course he knows the SQUIP is, he can feel its presence.]