maskormenacelogs | OCTOBER CATCH-ALL

[ Flatly, a smile tugging just slightly at the corner of his mouth. ]

Wow. You two are cute.

[Jaime eyes Robin a little warily, pushing off of Khaji to stand on his own two feet again, though this time, Khaji's lurking a little too close to Jaime for comfort. Somehow, it doesn't seem to bother him. You get used to a guy being inside your spine and living in your head for a year or so, and personal space suddenly isn't as important anymore.]

If you're still saying that, then it couldn't have gone that bad. Seriously, we -- I appreciate you coming in here to try and figure all this out. Did you guys find anything while I was...

[His eyes narrow.]

In the real world?

[God, this is weird. Their lives are so weird. What are they doing?]

Nothing of use was discovered. He has discovered no more than I was able to.

[Jaime waits for Robin's answer anyway, with the disinterested air of someone who's already heard all of Khaji's objections already.]

[ He gives Khaji a considering look, wondering if this is really it, or if there's still more hidden away out of view. How can the pair of them be capable of this much, when Jaime seems like one of the most harmless people he's ever known?

No wonder Jaime doesn't like it. After a moment, he sighs, too, resting his hands on his hips. ]

He's right. I hate to admit it, but it's kind of like looking for a needle in a haystack when I've never seen a neeedle or hay before. I'm happy to keep looking, though, and I could probably turn some things off, like you said, if you still want...

[ God, he hates admitting defeat. ]

[He frowns.] Well, we're in here, right? There's gotta be something. Some kind of clue, or a hint in the programming, or... I dunno, this place is huge. There's gotta be at least twenty rooms in here.

[Jaime takes a couple steps forward, running his hands across one of the shelves before freezing up, seeing precisely what Robin had been seeing, and stiffly retracts his hands. On the monitors around the room, different images begin to play across them, though they all seem to riff on the same realities; the wasteland that Bart has seen, the Negotiator, the Reach's ship, Reach blueprints, but they're not in the cold, clinical view of Khaji. They're all seen from a first-person perspective.

Jaime glances up at them and clears his throat with a quiet,] Oh. Well that's gonna be fun.

[He'd been hoping that his mental space wouldn't work in the same way as Peacemaker's, but evidently it's just built into the Scarab -- probably because it was supposed to control his mind in the first place.]

So, um... if you can't, I definitely won't say no to turning things off. Like maybe this entire room.

[ Sorry, Jaime, but he ignores that last thought for the moment. Robin can't help but stare at the monitors, going wide-eyed behind his dark glasses. His mouth drops open — somehow, that's a different kind of shocking than seeing it for himself. It feels so much more like an invasion of privacy. ]

Is that— uh, Jaime-vision?

[Jaime sighs, then looks up at the monitors.]

Yep. That's Jaime-vision.

[Now that he's not actively thinking about what all of the powers in the room mean, they shut back off simultaneously, abrupt as anything. He's speaking what's on his mind, so there's no need for them to be on anymore.]

A friend of mine who got a Scarab had them too, so I had a hunch I might have them. I was hoping that it'd be a Scarab-to-Scarab thing, though, and not just a general thing.

[He's going to have to try not to think of anything too weird. For a moment, he concentrates on thinking about nothing at all, about something innocuous, about...

Suddenly, they flash back on again and play a little commercial jingle for some cereal back home - sweetness, wheatness, if you wanna grab them from me, you better use discreteness! - and Jaime just groans underneath his breath. He hasn't heard that commercial for years, but it still gets stuck in his head, and honestly, he could really go for a bowl of that cereal right now.]

[ This is the guy who could destroy half a planet? This is the guy who's worried about going nuclear? This day is just getting weirder and weirder, though he'll take this over awkward scarab conversations.

Either way, this pause is stunned. Meaningful. Possibly bordering on pregnant, as the chipper little jingle plays inside their shared psychic space, and Robin stares at the screens, nigh on slackjawed. ]

Jaime. [ take this seriously take this seriously take this seriously ] ... is there something you want to talk about?

[ He failed. ]

[Jaime's just trying not to look Robin in the eye. Or in the sunglasses, he supposes. This is downright embarrassing. Couldn't he have big, dramatic things hooked up to the TV again? At least that gave him the impression of having some sort of respectability.

Or the monitors can show the sandwich Jaime has waiting for him in the fridge. That's cool too. He places one hand on his stomach.]

...I didn't eat before we did all this. Just, uh. Ignore them.

[ No, no. He likes the sandwich better than the large-scale global destruction. ]

Well, now I'm hungry too. Thanks a lot.

[ This kind of thing never happens with M'gann's mind link, darn it! ]

You're welcome. If you want food after we're done here, it's all yours. I keep it well stocked anyway. You know, in case of speedsters.

[It was actually a habit born from Bart, not Wally, mostly because Bart was a lot more likely to just go in and eat all his food without even asking.]

But isn't there anywhere else we can search? C'mon, Khaji, there's gotta be something.

Yes.

[Khaji doesn't gesture for them to follow him, but instead of rudely appearing and disappearing like he did for Robin, he actually walks down the end of the hallway... though he does seem to tilt his head meaningfully towards Robin before he does so.]

[ What does that mean?

And what's next, after that? He's a little worried about what could possibly be worse, since it seems to be a sort of escalating exploration... but honestly, that brief interlude with the cereal jingle put him back at ease. He's Robin. He's the Boy Wonder. He's seen weirder. Right?

So, he follows, hands in his pockets. ]

I don't think Khaji and I are going to be pen pals after this.

Correct. I do not wish to be < pen pals > with you.

[Jaime reaches out to swat Khaji to chide him, but there's nothing but a clunk of knuckles against hard armour, and he's left shaking his hand out, an expression of disbelief on his face, though it's not directed at anything Khaji said.

Rather, it's because it's confounded him for over a year now why everyone decides to hit a suit of armour, and now he did the exact same thing. Still rubbing his knuckles, he says,] Don't take it personally. He's only actually pen pals with one person.

[Which gets back into that messy territory of why Khaji's so openly hostile towards Robin, even if Jaime had missed that lingering stare.]

We'll just see if you can take away a few things, and leave it there.

[Khaji doesn't turn around, but he responds, voice as crisp and clean as ever:] I do not trust him.

[Jaime has a hard time faulting Khaji for that - they hardly know Robin, really - but he really wishes he wouldn't go spouting at the mouth about that again in front of the guy.]

[ That only stings a little. After all, it isn't as if it's unfair. And Robin would rather earn his own reputation than sink or swim by what someone else says about him, whether it's good or bad. And he's been in this world long enough to know that his name doesn't carry the weight that it does back home.

... Still. ]

Fair enough. But I hope I can earn your trust one day.

[ Both of them, though he suspects that one's going to be an awful lot harder. ]

If I didn't trust you even a little, you wouldn't be in here. You've been nothing but a good guy, you know -- and anyway, I trust Wally's judgment.

Human logic is unreliable. Wally West forgives easily.

[That's probably wrong, for one thing, and number two? It hits a little too close to their previous arguments. As they continue to talk, Khaji freezes in place, but Jaime walks briskly past them, evidently more keen on finding his own path than relying on someone who's busy working himself up into a snit. A little angrily, he says,] Stop. We're not going through this again. When Wally's mad at me, you just get mad at him. You can't just side with whoever you like mo--

That is different. Jaime Reyes is my priority. Wally West is not. Wally West is one of your priorities. Robin is not. Emotional distress inflicted upon him would logically be your priority.

You wanna complain at me, do it later. Right now we're... whoa.

[Jaime stops, stock still, in the doorway of a new room. Once Robin catches up (if he's not too intensely discomforted by the spirited debate involving him which has evidently been going on for some time), he'll see why.

It's a new room, but in this room, there are shelves upon shelves upon shelves. They aren't parallel to each other like last time, but rather assembled in something of a labyrinth, with files messily strewn on top of each other on all of the shelves. Jaime goes mute, too consumed with wonder to continue the argument.

If Robin ventures forward before Jaime does, he'll see what this room is, and why it's so big. It's Khaji Da's memorybank, though it's somewhat out of order; everything is here from their current conversation to centuries spent in the oppressive darkness of the pyramids. The history inside is immense, almost incomprehensible to the human mind.]

[ Robin, ever-curious, strides forward first. The room is huge, dizzyingly so, not unlike looking up at the clear night sky for too long. It's big enough that Jaime and Khaji's debate is forgotten temporarily, rendered suddenly inconsequential by comparison. How much is he storing in here? How long has he been— alive? Active? What does he know?

Robin just... feels incredibly small. ]

It'd take me a while to get through all this...

[ It's half a joke, but it's hard to tell with the low, awed tone with which he says it. ]

I don't think I even want to go inside. Looks like we could get lost for days in there.

[Not that Khaji would let them get lost for that long, but still. Jaime inches forward, tentatively reaching out to touch one of the files for himself, and sees only black, dust mites floating in the air in front of him, and... is that the quiet sound of stone grating against stone? It's an eerie, oppressive memory, one that would be awful for anyone suffering from claustrophobia, and he's quick to retract his hand as if stung.]

What is this place?

My database.

Holy crap. All this? [Jaime turns to Robin, shaking his head.] We're not gonna find anything here. Ancient Egyptians thought Khaji was an artifact and wound up shoving him in one of their pyramids. He's that old.

[Robin's welcome to look more, of course; neither Jaime nor Khaji seem like they're keen on stopping him.]

And he remembers all of it?

[ Robin can't imagine. He thinks he once read something somewhere about how humans need to forget some things, need certain memories to grow hazy with time, in order to function. It'd be too much otherwise. If Khaji Da remembers everything that happened to him over thousands of years with perfect computer efficiency...

... what must that be like?

He reaches out, almost touching one of the files... but he draws his hand back at the last second. He doesn't know if he's ready to have that in his head. ]

Remembering that kind of thing's his job.

[Jaime watches Robin carefully, curious about what he's going to do, but he nods as he draws away from it all. He only saw a single image, but the idea of wading through everything that Khaji's seen in his life is a terrifying prospect. He'd been there, waiting and watching, for years and years in the darkness of the pyramids. He's been around for Dan, and for Ted. He's been around for the Reach, listening to their conversations as they prepared to send him to the next planet for conquest.]

...yeah. I'm not sure how much of this stuff that humans are really meant to see. This is never too much for you? [He asks Khaji, turning towards him.

There's silence for a moment, as Khaji attempts to parse the question, but he can't understand it on a human's terms.]

It is as it is.

[It's a non-answer, but it's the best that they're going to get. For Khaji, this is all that there's ever been, and all he's been programmed for. Scarabs aren't seen as people. They were meant to wait and watch for as long as necessary, and they were meant to do it in isolation.]

I don't think we're gonna find much else, Robin, not unless we wanna get lost for the nest week. You wanna call it quits here? I appreciate you giving this a shot, but... we knew this was a long shot anyway.

Yeah. I guess so.

[ Robin hates to admit defeat, and this feels an awful lot like defeat. Aren't long shots supposed to be his thing? He's learned a lot, but that just feels like he's invaded someone's privacy without giving anything of himself in return, and for nothing. It leaves him a little cold.

He blows out a breath through his nose, hands stuffed in his pockets. He's sure he's overstayed his welcome, and Khaji Da will be glad to have him gone. ]

Sorry, dude. I don't know what I expected, but I really hoped...

Don't be. Look... this tech's been around for about a gazillion years, made by people who've probably had to deal with people trying this kind of stunt before. It's fine.

[It's not totally fine, but hey, Jaime's not about to blame Dick for the fact that the Scarab contains a labyrinth that's nigh impossible to navigate. If they can't even figure out where to begin, then how on earth would they be able to affect any real change without potentially messing up Khaji or Jaime himself? Khaji has power over all of his vitals. You mess up something in there, and things start to go really wrong.]

Let's just go back out now. Uh... however it is that you do that.

Sure. Um— okay, I've never done this with another person involved before, so I really hope this doesn't get weird.

[ He's not sure if it matters, or how Jaime spelunking in his own tech even works, but he still puts a hand on Jaime's shoulder before he concentrates as hard as he can on— god he needs a better mental term for this than ejecting, but that's what it is. Like making sure everything's in order before he yanks out the USB drive that is his brain.

Aaand when he opens his eyes again, he's back in the living room, fairly certain that everything's still working. ]

OCTOBER CATCH-ALL

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