Mass Effect RP 2

"I am curious."

Using his robotic hand, he peeled back the salarian's eyelid, checking for any signs of a concussion. His bionic eyes gave him the ability to scan for neural damage, but sometimes the old ways were the best. Von Geist liked to be thorough.

"You like her, ja?"

Marik flinched. How could he know?

With a chuckle, he shakily replied, "Of course I like her, didn't you hear what I just said? Then again, I like pretty much everyone on this ship."

Isaac struggled against the biotic barrier, apparently either slightly crazy or very very stupid with rage. The turian only smiled, a mocking sort of leer. "Ok, you two." Una could already guess what roughly had gone down, but she needed to have the details. "How about you two tell me what just happened here. You first." She pointed at the turian, who merely shrugged. "Not much to say Ms. T'Davi." He said. "I just shared some relaxing times with my friends here..." he nodded towards a small group of humans and turians who made up the half-circle behind him. "And then this guy just comes along and starts a fight. I had to defend myself."

Isaac's reaction was measured and apropriate, of course. "YOU LYING DINOSAUR-FACED PILE OF ELCOR DROPPINGS, I'LL..." He threw himself at the shield again, but, luckily for him, a stern glance from Una was enough to stop him for now. "Let's try that again." Una felt her headache coming on again. "With less species-based profanities... or less profanities in general, please." Mazzy was far from calm, but when he spoke, he at least sounded earnest. "I, Uh, Ivas here said things about Ala, and me, things that ain't true." Una arched an eyebrow. "Ala?" Mazzy nodded. "Uh, my... girlfriend, I suppose. She's Quarian. Works in navigation." Una suppressed a sigh. This was going to take some straightening out, and she was not in a straightening stuff out-sort of mood at this point.

"Yeah, i'll visit him later on, i suppose. I'm not sure, this doesn't sound like something worth his time. We'll manage until then." Standing up, Lucas left the mess.

Danari spoke up. "If I recall correctly, Herr Doctor, Cerberus has been declared a terrorist organization, yes?" There was no mockery in his voice. Somehow, the fact that the others disliked him reminded him a little too much of his first minutes aboard the ship.

edited 6th Jun '11 3:40:53 PM by Dragon573

It would have been reasonable for Von Geist to assume he wasn't part of the "pretty much everyone" that Marik had mentioned. He didn't take it personally. He didn't much take it at all, in fact. The wonderful thing about having a low opinion in regards to nonhumans? He was rarely shaken if a nonhuman possessed a low opinion of him.

His reaction was obvious. Von Geist didn't read aliens as well as he'd like, but the flinch and the stutter were universal signs of awkwardness. He had struck a nerve. What had been almost idle speculation and perhaps an opportunity to tease had found real bearing. Ironic.

"Of course."

Still dealing with the salarian, Von Geist didn't turn his head when he heard the voice of another turian speaking to him. That may have been because he was too busy in his work or... just didn't think the alien was worth the respect of recognition. It could go either way.

"If they weren't effective, they'd be called "activists" or something equally mundane. "Terrorists" get results."

"Trust me, I know that particularly well..." he chuckled, remembering that... event...

"So, would it be safe to say that some of your 'experiments' weren't... legal, to say the least?" he asked. He was smiling inwardly.

"Right..." Una said. "So, did you have any degoratory comments directed at this Ala?" Ivas shook his head. "I did no such thing." Una nodded, but it was clear from her expression that she was not convinced. "And if I check the cameras..." she nodded towards the closest one. "I won't find any such thing?" Una knew the cameras didn't have a sound feed, but she knew she planned to add it, and that she was pretty much the only one who knew all the limits of the surveillance equipment on this boat. Ivas cleared his throat, or did the turian equivalent. "I may have made some comments to the effect that their relationship strikes me as meaningless, what with the protein thing and all, and, that they were both wasting their time." He explained. "He called her a Flotilla Sex Toy." Isaac protested, his rage having calmed down in expressed intensity if not in suppressed intensity. "Right. Everyone back to their posts, or whatever the hell you were doing." Una said, lowering the biotic shield. "Ivas, you get off with a warning, I don't want any agitation or shit from you. Mazzy, walk with me please?" She motioned down the hall towards the engineering hub. Isaac obliged.

Deimos nodded in farewell, and returned to drinking his Tupari. He couldn't help thinking that the crew had gone batshit insane as of late. Yeah, stress was definitely getting to them. He wondered if Lucas was going to be okay. The conversation they'd had was... strange, to say the least, but he resolved to keep his thoughts to himself for the time being. Throwing away the bottle, he headed out into the hall to catch the elevator.

Von Geist stiffled a chuckled, "What's "legality" in the face of science?"

Raising a finger and waving it in the air to punctuate his next point, "Trust me, if men of genius had let little things like "morality" and "ethics" stand in the way of progress, then we would be having this conversation in a mud hut somewhere, and not a vessel capable of interstellar flight."

"All good ideas offend some weak-willed concept of criminality."

"Ok, Isaac." Una said as they had gotten a ways down the corridor. "Yeah?" Isaac replied, he had the defensive, detached tone of someone who expected a stern talking-to. "I won't say I wouldn't have done the same in your situation." She said. "But... well, you can't go around punching all the stupid people all the time." Isaac turned his head, he seemed surprised. "Huh?" "Listen, that Ivas fellow had no right to say those things, but you can't let those kind of morons get to you. You got to be better than that. The ship kind of relies on everyone keeping their most destructive tendencies in check." Una felt the slight taste of hypocritical statements in her mouth, but she had been good lately. "I'm sorry I guess." Isaac said after a while. "I just get so mad when people... she didn't do nobody nothing, you know?" Una nodded. "I understand, but... try to keep it cool, ok? For her if nothing else." Isaac nodded, and Una followed the motion of his head, noticing for the first time that his hands were bleeding quite profusely. "Isaac?" "Yes?" "Your hands are bleeding." Isaac looked down. "Oh, yeah... they are. Must've happened when I punched that guy." Una rolled her eyes, of course, fistfighting a turian was a pretty stupid thing to do. "Right... well, let's get you to the med-bay" And meadbay-wards they went.

Marik kept working. "It's when reasonable productivity stops being the expected outcome that it becomes a problem. Wanton, pointless cruelty is never justifiable."

"Just a question." he replied, typing something into his omni tool. "I'm going to see what I can find out about that fight. If someone pissed Kat off, there'll be hell to pay." he said, walking in the general direction she'd gone.

In an hour, the delayed message he'd typed would be sent to the Doctor. Attached would be a portion of Danari's file... specifically several 'surgeries' he'd undergone, a small message, and a short clip from the game Bioshock's launch trailer.

You say that some of your experiments weren't exactly... ethical.

Every man has a choice. I chose... the impossible. I built a city where the artist would not fear the censor. Where the great would not be constrained by the small. Where the scientist would not be be bound by petty morality.

Show me.

"No, I suppose not. Cruelty should always have a point."

For the first time in years, Von Geist was alone in a room with aliens and he didn't detest them all. Oh, yes, he held their genetics against them and recognized them as lower beings, but he did not dislike them on a personal level. Marik, at least, had a brain. That went a long way.

Waving over his shoulder as Danari left the room, Von Geist glanced over at Marik, noting that the turian hadn't stopped working for a second. Every time he checked to see what he was doing, he was busy. Commendable, that. Good work ethic. Dedicated.

"What made you decide to become a Doctor?"

Talking shop. Swaping stories. There was something Von Geist missed. It was far from the excited exchanges of formulas and theroums that he would engage in with his fellow academics when he was still working for Cerberus, but it was better than nothing.

Marik sighed. "Back when I was training at the Academy, I found out that I was really no good with firearms. That, along with my skills in biotics, put me in the "support" designation. I took that a few steps further and looked into the medical field. I did all that so that I could support others with my knowledge in technology and medicine, as well as my biotic powers. Basically, I wanted to help people."

The turian sighed again. "But I'm guessing that's not why you pursued the career, correct?"

edited 6th Jun '11 6:40:22 PM by Firebert

Despite the conversation going nowhere, Lucas couldn't help but feel that it... helped, just to talk things out a bit. Keeping it all bottled up wasn't helping him one bit, and although he didn't get down to the important details it had... cleared the haze up a bit. Just enough for him to think clearly and begin to identify the roots of the problem. Despite the help, it was hard to keep focused on the problem still. Luckily, he knew exactly where he could go to start to dig deeper: The sim room.

The end result of his thoughts and searching was something that crossed the lines of mere conscious purpose. He found hinself standing on a platform, practically a box of lines alone, the surface blending in perfectly with the white... nothingness around him. Horizontal and vertical lines decorated the space like a grid, moving up and down in a slow and hypnotizing fashion. Platforms similar to the one he was standing on were scattered throughout, moving in random directions in the same hypnotizing pattern as everything else, save for the platform he was standing on, which seemed to be perfectly still.

Lucas peered over the edge, staring into the bottomless abyss before him. Then, without warning, he walked off, falling headfirst down into the white void.

Time to see if i can tie up most of the loose ends... this will definately take a while.

edited 6th Jun '11 7:39:50 PM by InfiniteParagon

At that point, Una entered the med bay with Isaac by her side. "Doc, I've got some work for you." Isaac's wounds weren't particularly deep, but some of them bled a lot.

-Jeko followed Una in to the med bay-

Well, thats nice.

Jake had been cleaning his desk during Deimos and Lucan conversation. He overheard it all and smirked to himself. "All right! I'm closing this place in 5 minutes, eat up and leave!" He calls out to the crew members currently eating

Marik smiled at the new arrivals. "Hey there, Una, Isaac." He noticed the human's hands. "Wow, did you punch the walls or something? Let me see what I can do for you." He began work on Isaac's hands. "How's Ala? Did my advice help?"

He noticed Jeko enter and said, without looking up from his work, "Hi there, Cap. Nice of you to grace my lab with your presence."

"Hello to you to, Marik"

-Jeko coughs up again and sighs-

"Crap, now lets deal with the bleeding fellow"

"She's doing fine, thanks doc." Isaac said, nodding to the captain. "I hope you don't mind me not saluting sir. My hands are kind of tied up at the moment." Una rolled her eyes. "Isaac here got himself in a punch-out with a turian, and we have now all learned why that's an absolutely shit idea." She explained.

Marik smiled at Isaac's reply. "That's good to hear." At Una's comment, he chuckled. "Yeah, we're kind of metallic. That's kind of not good to punch, but I'm sure it's a long story."

Jeko's sudden coughing, however, disturbed him. "Are you okay, Cap?" Bandaging up the human's hands, he said, "Perhaps you need a check-up as well."

"Your fine Issac, get taken care of, and Marik, i think your right"

-Jeko sighed and sat in a chair-

Marik finished treating Isaac and smiled. "There, you're dismissed, Isaac. Don't go punching turians again or anything like that for a while, or you'll re-open the wounds. Give my regards to Ala; I hope my advice continues to help you two enjoy yourselves."

He then walked over to the salarian. "Mind if I take a quick scan of you, Cap? Also, how long have you been coughing like this? Any other symptoms?"

edited 7th Jun '11 10:09:20 AM by Firebert