Room 307, Thursday Evening

[dollpocalypse]

Fact: Research sucked.

But here Topher was, doing it anyway. Because Peter had told him to, and that was enough, most of the time, to get him to do things. Sad but true.

And... maybe Topher was a little bit more inclined to do as Peter said this week in particular for another reason too. Which would be the need to appease him in light of the terrifying possibility that maybe, just maybe, Karla had blabbed the contents of their conversation the other day and now Peter wanted to kill him and get a new tech person and not be his friend anymore and and and --

Anyway.

Researching.

It was hard, with the siren call of meta for Skyrim beckoning to him, but Topher was managing.

[[open door, open post]]

Comments

[dollpocalypse]

"Wh-- wh-- "

Topher scrambled in the least coordinated possible way to get off the floor, then pointed up at the ceiling. "Boyfriend?!"

But -- but Tony had said -- but --!

[glacial_queen]

"I didn't say that," Karla said immediately.

Mostly because she hadn't finished the word.

"No, his name is Tony Stark."

Be obtuse, Karla. Just keep being obtuse. Maybe his attention would get caught by something else?

[dollpocalypse]

"I know that!" Topher exclaimed, flailing like a crazy person. "But -- he -- you said -- bhuh?!"

Articulate as always, Topher.

[glacial_queen]

"Those weren't even words," Karla scolded, which made for an excellent reason not to respond to them. "What are you working on?" She made a curious face at the computer. "Better not be more spying on Ender!"

And any one of those things he wanted to fixate on was all right with Karla.

[dollpocalypse]

"Shhhhhhhhh!" Topher hissed, scrambling to shut the door. The last thing he needed was Peter hearing that Karla knew about this.

Well, no. The last thing he needed was probably to be Nothinged. But before that.

"Dude!" he admonished her once the door had been closed and all squirrels shooed away. "You don't just say things like that! There are -- people! And squirrels!"

Both things he feared, yes.

[glacial_queen]

Score!

"That was actually supposed to be the time when you assured me that spying on Ender--" and yes, she raised her voice a little on that, just to freak him out "--was the last thing on your mind that that you'd never, ever do something like that."

She leaned against his wall and called in a nail file, rounding off the tip of her ring finger nail. No reason. La. "Topher, I thought you were a genius. No reason for me to have to have yet another talk with you, is there?"

[dollpocalypse]

Topher let out a desperate little whimpering noise and kicked the ground. Because he was four.

"No!" he insisted, not whining at all except that he totally was. "I haven't done anything! I'm just -- researching! That's it!"

It was the truth, but the desperation in his voice might make it sound a little questionable.

[glacial_queen]

"Researching what, pray tell?" Karla asked, eyebrow almost to her hairline. "Because if the answer is at all Ender-related, I'm heading upstairs to have a little chat with your monomaniacal best friend."

[dollpocalypse]

SHE WAS SO SCARY.

"It's not!" Topher spazflailed insisted, pointing at the decidedly not-Ender-related science charts on his computer screen. "No Ender at all! So... there's no reason to tell Peter anything, thank you!"

His voice cracked on the word "thank." Yeah. Real subtle about his fears, this one.

[glacial_queen]

"Fine," Karla said smoothly, picking up on that not-so nascent panic. "I won't say anything about our previous talk with either Wiggin and neither will you--unless I'm given reason to."

Which would nicely keep her from getting in trouble from Ender hearing about threatening Topher with her snake-tooth.

"What's all that?" she asked, pointing at his screen.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher crossed his arms over his chest, not sure if he was agreeable to those terms but certainly unwilling to let her back out and tell Peter anyway.

"How do I know you won't tell?" he checked, ignoring her question.

[glacial_queen]

Karla shrugged, playing it cool. "You don't. Guess you'll just have to trust me."

And her self-preservation instincts. Don't worry, Topher. The Nothing hadn't gotten those yet!

[dollpocalypse]

"But I don't," Topher pointed out. "You threatened to kill me with poison."

[glacial_queen]

"What does that have to do with anything?"

[dollpocalypse]

Really, Karla?

"...it makes it sorta difficult to trust you."

[glacial_queen]

"Technically, I only threatened you with poison. I'm not about to kill you," Karla corrected. "There are laws against murder in this world."

Not her own, though. Fear, Topher. Fear.

"But surely that stands as excellent testimony that I will do what I say. And I've said I won't tell either Wiggin so long as you don't give me a reason to do so. You can trust in that as much as you do that I can poison you if you give me just cause."

See? PERFECTLY REASONABLE.

[dollpocalypse]

"I don't care if you tell Ender," Topher grumbled, because he really felt like throwing all his dignity in a hole today. "I just don't want you to blame Peter for it, 'cause..." Hmm. "'Cause it was just me."

Topher was a bit surprised by that himself, and it showed on his face for an instant before he gave a decisive little nod. Yes. It was totally all his fault.

Such a loyal minion, this one. Even if this was a terrible lie.

[glacial_queen]

The lie was obvious even without mind-reading skills, but the fact that Topher tried meant...something. Probably that Peter had the poor male twisted up in a knot, but still. She was shocked Topher would put that much effort into protecting someone who wasn't hanging above his bed.

"If Ender finds out about this, Peter probably will to," she said, just so Topher didn't get any stupid ideas. "He's really put you through the wringer, hasn't he?"

She was regarding him with new thoughtfulness in her eyes.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher squinted at Karla. Something in her expression had changed, and there was that weird question...

"What do you mean?" he asked, suddenly feeling oddly self-conscious. It wasn't something he felt very often -- well, apart from when he was actively seeking praise -- and he wasn't at all sure it was on his list of favorite emotions.

[glacial_queen]

Karla shook her head. "Nothing," she said. "Never mind."

She had a feeling that explaining it to Topher wouldn't do much good. But she remembered how insistent he was that he'd understood Ender's isolation...

"Look, I'm just not gonna tell, all right? Right now, there are whole worlds vanishing without a trace. Give me some credit for having priorities. And by the time we fix this, it'll be too long since it happened for me to run and tattle. So as long as it doesn't happen again, I won't tell."

The Wiggins.

[dollpocalypse]

"Fine," Topher said, eyeing her carefully. "It was a while ago, anyway," he finally conceded. "And I'm not that interested."

That wasn't quite true; after the Bonzo footage, he actually was quite interested. But not enough to get in trouble with Peter or risk getting poisoned. So.

"Is that it?" he asked, finally unfolding his arms from his chest and letting them swing at his sides.

[glacial_queen]

Karla raised an amused brow at that. "Depends," she said evenly. "Have you found anything useful?"

[dollpocalypse]

Topher paused.

Then jabbed a finger up at the Tony picture on the ceiling.

[glacial_queen]

Karla glanced up at the picture and then back to Topher. "Just how is that helpful?" she demanded.

Sorry, Topher. She meant in regards to the bigger picture, not your libido.

[dollpocalypse]

"First tell me what you meant by boyfriend."

Sure. Now he decided to be stubborn.