oh NOW you're questioning my telepathic expertise?? what happened to "oh quentin you're so amazing and impressive, you're the coolest, and i respect you like a PROFESSOR" etc etc etc
i can spy on you manually and waste my valuable time listening to all your thoughts and shit OR i patch you in and let the part of my brain that makes sure my heart's beating keep a metaphorical eye on yours too. your choice.
who said anything about worship? i have a few quintillion minds in my head all the time. sophie doesn't. with that in mind (pun intended) let's review. i can:
a. NOT spy on you at all and have to scan through all the other minds to find you. pros: i'm not in your head. cons: i might miss something that happens to you b. keep a mental eyeball on you at all times. pros: won't miss anything. cons: i gotta listen to your brain constantly?? no thanks c. install telepathic subroutine. pros: i can keep track of you and don't have to listen to your surface thoughts. cons: ?????? there are none
and yes i can remove it but again it's literally just a shortcut for what i can already do all the time
I trust you or I wouldn't agree to this at all! It's just... you know. Messy up there.
[He doesn't know how else to explain it. Installing something implies finding a place to put it, and what if that opens a door to some of his worst thoughts possible? What if it shows Quentin a memory he's tried to bury? What if it shows every imperfection he's tried to hide?]
buddy i've been waltzing through brains since i was prepubescent. why the hell do you think i'm such an asshole? people sucks and their brains suck. i'm sure yours sucks the regular amount.
Quentin generously gives Jayce a full 15 minutes to reply before just using telepathy. He was already humoring the guy by texting him in the first place, and this is precisely why he prefers thoughts. That's 15 valuable minutes of his life wasted!]
(Remember when you gave her shit for going ALL YOUR BRAIN ARE BELONG TO US? Well, this brain asked her to watch him, so she is. Because she somehow, against her own mentality, likes the dumb flastcan. So, naturally, another presence in the brain she has pinned comes through, and...
... Okay.)
/... Ugh. I was here first, you know./
(She's gonna have to scan so much to find this Topside asshole again, but fine. Jayce left Quentin on read? So, all things considered, from her vast experience, Quentin most likely stepped on something Jayce doesn't want to talk about. Jayce did that thing where he ignores it or redirects it, and now Quentin is going to squeeze him for it.
Fun. Good. He needs enrichment. She'll get the tea later, maybe.)
/Just patch me through when whatever the fuck ends./
[He doesn't respond to the thought on purpose, too. Like trying to play dead, except the person in your head knows you're alive and could respond, just choosing not to. He's focusing really hard on thinking absolutely nothing at all, which is much harder than it sounds, because his mind often wanders- but then Sophie's voice-]
/Sophie, wait, come back-/
[And she's gone again. Dammit. Fine. He's giving it up.
He doesn't say yes, still. He just thinks of that kid's face, the look of shock as he spits out blood from the force of Jayce's electric cannon, and the way his body limply falls down and down and down until there's a sickening crunch. The way the child still didn't die from the impact, but only once Jayce was there kneeling next to him did light leave that kid's eyes. Like he wanted to make sure that Jayce knew he did this.
Jayce still doesn't answer, even as that memory replays in his head, as vivid as if it happened yesterday.]
[Man, it's so nice dealing with people who have shit psychic defenses. They just show you stuff without you even having to dig around in their mental sock drawers, which always just feels so... bleh. Distasteful. Anyway.
Quentin ignores Sophie for now and watches the memory. At first he just views it through Jayce's eyes—the kid coughing, falling, wheezing out his final breaths—but when it reaches its conclusion he pauses the scenario, smoothly inserting himself into it and taking the place of... uh, some butch lady with big robot gloves and basically the same haircut as him?? Huh. Okay. Whatever. Quentin crams his hands into his pockets and approaches Jayce as he's kneeling on the floor and looks down at the kid with a sombre sort of detachment.]
/What happened?/
[He doesn't sound judgmental or horrified, at least. More just... tired.]
[It sounds like he wants to be more biting about this than he actually does.]
/This is.../
[He gestures around. Other bodies show up, the chemtanks he fought alongside Vi. They liter the ground behind him, about a dozen of them. The purple glow from the Shimmer tank to their right makes the shadows cast look strange.]
/What happens when Hextech is used wrong./
[His mind's an open book right now. This is one of the only things he tries to keep buried- there's only one other memory that he'd fight hard to stop Quentin from seeing. He remains kneeling in front of the kid and closes their eyes, as he did before.]
[Quentin inspects the scene around him as Jayce helpfully populates it with more dead bodies, these wearing some sort of armor. He makes a noncommittal noise at Jayce's rhetorical question, but that "explanation"? That gets an eye roll.]
/I didn't ask for an ethics lesson. I asked what happened./
[You don't mind him taking a stroll around your traumatic memory doing some CSI shit, do you Jayce? Sure you don't. Moreover, what are you going to do about it? That's right, jack shit.]
/Let's see... Big hammer. Lady with the big fancy robo-fists. Bunch of dead guys, and... I'm assuming the kid wasn't your target, so that means there was collateral damage./
[He pauses briefly, just to see what reaction that "collateral damage" comment gets.]
/Lemme be more specific. If the kid wasn't the target, why was he here?/
["Collateral damage" gets a flinch out of him, as another memory flashes to life within this one, like a four-times-speed projection along a wall. It's of Renni, whispering in his ear:
Awful, isn't it? Losing a loved one.
It sputters out of existence after that line echos throughout the room.]
/He worked here./
[Jayce looks up now, and looking down at both him and Quentin are about three dozen children, mixed in with the adult factory workers.]
[Oh? Skeevy-sounding mystery woman? Interesting. Considering it doesn't seem this kid was anyone Jayce knew... Hm. Well, that's for later. If ever. Depends on what kind of answers Jayce gives Quentin here.
He looks up when Jayce does to see all the workers. Damn it, why's there always a whole gaggle of kids in the way when this kinda shit happens? Every fucking time. Ugh. Okay, so the kid being here wasn't an accident. Quentin walks over to the tank of what could conceivably be the same shit as what's in those armor things, and his nose crinkles in a brief sneer.]
/Kids don't sign up to work at the ominous glowing goo factory because it's a fun weekend. Somebody put these kids here. Who was it?/
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okay well i was being sarcastic but you know what i'll take it. as long as we can agree that i'm amazing.
so am i installing this subroutine in your brain or what
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[His distaste for Quentin's manners is entirely separate for his appreciation of his skill.
...Wait, what?]
I didn't know I needed to have anything put in me.
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[Yes, he realizes Jayce very likely has never seen Alien. Does he care? Nope.]
how the hell did you think i was going to passively monitor you? i gotta patch you into my network
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Sophie can find me without doing that.
[You can practically hear the pouting.]
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i can spy on you manually and waste my valuable time listening to all your thoughts and shit OR i patch you in and let the part of my brain that makes sure my heart's beating keep a metaphorical eye on yours too. your choice.
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Can you remove it? Once this is over?
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a. NOT spy on you at all and have to scan through all the other minds to find you. pros: i'm not in your head. cons: i might miss something that happens to you
b. keep a mental eyeball on you at all times. pros: won't miss anything. cons: i gotta listen to your brain constantly?? no thanks
c. install telepathic subroutine. pros: i can keep track of you and don't have to listen to your surface thoughts. cons: ?????? there are none
and yes i can remove it but again it's literally just a shortcut for what i can already do all the time
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[Look, Jayce, you hurt his feelings!! Don't you feel bad???]
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[He doesn't know how else to explain it. Installing something implies finding a place to put it, and what if that opens a door to some of his worst thoughts possible? What if it shows Quentin a memory he's tried to bury? What if it shows every imperfection he's tried to hide?]
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buddy i've been waltzing through brains since i was prepubescent. why the hell do you think i'm such an asshole? people sucks and their brains suck. i'm sure yours sucks the regular amount.
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Don't get nosy. That's all.
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you ever hurt any kids?
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What makes you say that?
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you gonna answer the question or not?
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Quentin generously gives Jayce a full 15 minutes to reply before just using telepathy. He was already humoring the guy by texting him in the first place, and this is precisely why he prefers thoughts. That's 15 valuable minutes of his life wasted!]
/Word of advice: don't leave a telepath on read./
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... Okay.)
/... Ugh. I was here first, you know./
(She's gonna have to scan so much to find this Topside asshole again, but fine. Jayce left Quentin on read? So, all things considered, from her vast experience, Quentin most likely stepped on something Jayce doesn't want to talk about. Jayce did that thing where he ignores it or redirects it, and now Quentin is going to squeeze him for it.
Fun. Good. He needs enrichment. She'll get the tea later, maybe.)
/Just patch me through when whatever the fuck ends./
cw: child murder
/Sophie, wait, come back-/
[And she's gone again. Dammit. Fine. He's giving it up.
He doesn't say yes, still. He just thinks of that kid's face, the look of shock as he spits out blood from the force of Jayce's electric cannon, and the way his body limply falls down and down and down until there's a sickening crunch. The way the child still didn't die from the impact, but only once Jayce was there kneeling next to him did light leave that kid's eyes. Like he wanted to make sure that Jayce knew he did this.
Jayce still doesn't answer, even as that memory replays in his head, as vivid as if it happened yesterday.]
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Quentin ignores Sophie for now and watches the memory. At first he just views it through Jayce's eyes—the kid coughing, falling, wheezing out his final breaths—but when it reaches its conclusion he pauses the scenario, smoothly inserting himself into it and taking the place of... uh, some butch lady with big robot gloves and basically the same haircut as him?? Huh. Okay. Whatever. Quentin crams his hands into his pockets and approaches Jayce as he's kneeling on the floor and looks down at the kid with a sombre sort of detachment.]
/What happened?/
[He doesn't sound judgmental or horrified, at least. More just... tired.]
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[It sounds like he wants to be more biting about this than he actually does.]
/This is.../
[He gestures around. Other bodies show up, the chemtanks he fought alongside Vi. They liter the ground behind him, about a dozen of them. The purple glow from the Shimmer tank to their right makes the shadows cast look strange.]
/What happens when Hextech is used wrong./
[His mind's an open book right now. This is one of the only things he tries to keep buried- there's only one other memory that he'd fight hard to stop Quentin from seeing. He remains kneeling in front of the kid and closes their eyes, as he did before.]
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/I didn't ask for an ethics lesson. I asked what happened./
[You don't mind him taking a stroll around your traumatic memory doing some CSI shit, do you Jayce? Sure you don't. Moreover, what are you going to do about it? That's right, jack shit.]
/Let's see... Big hammer. Lady with the big fancy robo-fists. Bunch of dead guys, and... I'm assuming the kid wasn't your target, so that means there was collateral damage./
[He pauses briefly, just to see what reaction that "collateral damage" comment gets.]
/Lemme be more specific. If the kid wasn't the target, why was he here?/
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Awful, isn't it? Losing a loved one.
It sputters out of existence after that line echos throughout the room.]
/He worked here./
[Jayce looks up now, and looking down at both him and Quentin are about three dozen children, mixed in with the adult factory workers.]
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He looks up when Jayce does to see all the workers. Damn it, why's there always a whole gaggle of kids in the way when this kinda shit happens? Every fucking time. Ugh. Okay, so the kid being here wasn't an accident. Quentin walks over to the tank of what could conceivably be the same shit as what's in those armor things, and his nose crinkles in a brief sneer.]
/Kids don't sign up to work at the ominous glowing goo factory because it's a fun weekend. Somebody put these kids here. Who was it?/
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