what_wings_dare | 🅧 Please explain to me the scientific nature of 'the whammy'

Mulder's more than imagined. There's already a cardboard box - or the local equivalent, whatever, but it's shockingly easy to drop in the Earth equivalent mentally - that he's shoved in the corner of his closet, just in case. Considering how suddenly they were abducted, he doubts he'll get a chance to go to Alien Customs, let alone plead the case for taking artifacts back with him...but he's going to try. The collection started about two days ago.

"Another probing already?" he jokes, but it's not actually funny, so he goes on without pause. "Sure. You can take me to your Thai place."

And he can look into a job. If there is something out there that won't bore the life out of him, he'll take that over starting fresh as a gigolo. When their order's called, he goes to get it, handing her a cup with a little thread of steam leaking out the top.

Scully, mostly, has been keeping her observations and her data on a little alien flash drive, nearly always on her person if it's not locked away in her apartment. Rationally it doesn't make sense to imagine she could take it with her, but who knows? They have to try.

"Sounds good," she says, with a small smile as she takes the cup.

"What are the chances you stay out of trouble?" she teases, taking a deep breath of the steam before trying a careful little sip.

"Depends on how we're defining trouble." He takes a swig of his coffee, and it goes hot down the back of his throat. "You might have to be a little more specific."

Inevitably, Scully's definition encompasses far more than anything Mulder could come up with.

If they were at home she might rephrase and tell him not to have too much fun, but in fairness here having too much fun might be a sound financial decision.

"I don't have enough to bail you out of jail." It's not nearly as funny, alas.

She takes a deeper sip of the coffee, and makes a small noise of surprise at the tingle of spice. So, if it's an alien allergy it's at least a shared one.

"So I won't get arrested." Evenly, good-humored, with the kind of confidence they both know he probably shouldn't use to make promises. "Unless they haul me in for looking for work."

Of course, it always starts out simple - but he's already expecting to be turned away from anything interesting, and he doesn't know the place well enough yet to know what he isn't being told. Job-hunting is simple reconnaissance at most.

In the meanwhile, Scully doesn't say this isn't burning my tongue, Mulder, so he's probably not experiencing anaphylactic shock. Always good to know.

"This isn't bad," she muses, looking at the cup. "You know, they grow this fruit-- I've only seen it in Marilla-- like a banana, but spicy like a pepper." It's not entirely a fond memory since she was, you know, stranded on a deserted volcanic island when she had it, but it reminds her a bit of this.

She looks up at him, considering. All in all she does trust him; it doesn't hurt that barring anything truly unreasonable, the Gembonded get a lot of slack. That doesn't mean she wants to leave him on his own, though.

"Sounds like a good start for you."

"Sounds interesting." Hard to picture, for that matter - bananas are so bland that he can't quite marry the tastes. Maybe it just curves the same way.

Scully's looking at him, and they might as well be touching, with the way her gaze penetrates. For a moment, he's tempted to reach for her hand, or bump his foot against hers under the table. He doesn't, but he thinks about it for a moment while her blue eyes weigh and measure him for reasons unknown.

"It might be." With a shrug, he adds, "I get the feeling I don't qualify for top-secret clearance here, if they're confining you to the tedious stuff."

This is going to be the problem for them: not achieving synchrony, but staying in control of it. She's not sure whether it's possible without touching, but when they do it feels so natural, so normal; easy to slip into without meaning to.

It'll be good for their bank accounts at least, but maybe less so for their boundaries.

She shrugs.

"It takes a while to earn their trust. It's not like they could call my references when I applied."

Mulder's sense of the borders between Do This and Don't Do That is well-developed, if something he ignores frequently. More and more, it might end up feeling like the opposite, though: a desire to keep those lines intact with no idea where they've gone.

For the moment, at least, he's blissfully unaware of just how complicated life is going to get.

"At least a lab tech can borrow the equipment after-hours." He's more amused than annoyed. Scully having an in at the labs benefits them both, and the fact that she's found something worthy of her time is a good thing. If anything, he's jealous. "If the options are police dispatch or beat cop, I might as well pick up juggling and join the circus."

Working with Mulder is at least one third keeping him out of trouble, and keeping Mulder out of trouble is a variable mixture of reverse psychology, regular psychology, out-stubborning him, and knowing him well enough to give the vague impression of precognition.

"You could be a sideshow act here," she remarks, sipping her coffee. The heat and the spice make her lips tingle a little.

"Well, find me some nails, and I'll let you be my geek." Simply existing wouldn't be enough here, not after so many humans have come through. "On second thought, I don't know if I love the idea of clearing out my sinuses with a hammer. Maybe I can join the lab."

They're equally (un)serious possibilities to him, delivered with a smile.

"Well, keep your nose clean a while-- preferably without hitting the hardware store-- and maybe the Noctian government will find a use for your talents."

Really, whatever he ends up doing-- if he does anything-- it's going to be for his own sanity and amusement, she's not worried about his paying the bills. Even if he doesn't end up embracing the local culture, which she definitely isn't going to think about or wonder about or secretly agonize about when they're apart. It's Fine.

"Come on, let's find your frying pan."

[ n a m e ; ]	Dana Katherine Scully
[ c a n o n ; ]	The X-Files
[ g a m e ; ]	spicy times in noctiumrp

🅧 Please explain to me the scientific nature of 'the whammy'

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