rehandle | saltburnt inbox

Lacks persuasive power over text, you'll have to try a real reason.

That wasn't a persuasion, that was a 'don't play stupid, it doesn't suit you.'

Also doesn't convey over text.

I'm being careful, I'm documenting my results, and I'm not hurting anyone. Why stop?

Because you don't know that for a fact. There's no way to be appropriately careful with unknown substances whose risks you don't yet understand, and just because you can't see the damage now doesn't mean there isn't any.

Probably should have thought of that before I started. Bit late now.

You often put your hand on something boiling, realise it's hot, then leave it there because it's a bit late now?

Stop using the moisturizer.

Find me a lab and I'll move on to theoretical study.

This isn't a negotiation.

And yet I'm negotiating.

Ok. Stop using the moisturizer or I'll sneak in and swap it with self tan when you least expect it.

You overestimate the amount I'm applying. This is an experiment, not a skincare routine.

And it's a necessary experiment why? Boredom isn't an adequate answer.

You don't think we should find out about what they're trying to drug us with?

Not by drugging ourselves with it, no.

Good thought, but I don't gave the facilities to hold captives. And as I may have mentioned, I can't find a laboratory.

[ Uhm? Moving on. ]

You forgot to mention you're a scientist.

[ Said because he's fairly sure he's not. ]

Not professionally. But I have a passing interest.

So you're a hobbyist.

Stop.

No.

Why?

Because I don't take orders from you.

Disappointing that I can't count on your assistance, but not particularly surprising.

You didn't ask for my help. You told me to find you a lab under threat of continued self-experimentation. Pass.

[ Leaving Stephen on read because his feelings got hurt. ]

[ It's maybe an hour later. Ten minutes to wait for a response that isn't coming, forty minutes of his phone launched onto his bed so he can throw himself into an angry bout of drills, then a shower, then another five or so to drip all over his bedroom floor, dampening the sheets as he huffs down onto his bed, picks up his phone, reads back through the conversation from its beginning. ]

You don't get a lot of pushback, do you?

Edited 2025-01-17 06:55 (UTC)

My whole life has been "pushback".

[ It's why this conversation is half trauma response. It's why it's disappointing but unsurprising, that his brief vision of solving this together was killed so quickly. He has always done the hard and necessary things alone. ]

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