[ Hardison follows along at his deepest level of general obedience. Pays attention to the little "hold up" hand signals and everything. Everyone gets an authority freebie now and then.
Plus if Eliot takes point, it gives him more room to keep running the mental circuit of the whole situation, brow furrowed, despite the fact that it never comes out right. ]
I think we both know that what you call "serviceable" [ Yes, he gets his hands back out to do the air quotes really quick ] is still eighty percent better than everyone else's standard. And a hundred percent better than nothin'.
[ Hardison cracked the code on translating Parker and Eliot a long time ago, now. It's less psychology than practicality, both ways. Seeing where they are, what they do, and meeting them there on it. Intention over delivery. Electrical tape on some old, janky exposed wires, to conduct the spirit of the current.
There are parts he doesn't get. Can't get, maybe. Sees it pass between just the two of them in wordless looks and nods. But for the most part, he has his methods. If any form of love was reliant on total understanding, well, his Nana wouldn't have sat there and listened to him go on about coding and Ninja Turtles and transporter continuity at the dinner table night after night without losing it.
What he translates between the words and the extra vigilance is, this is already complicated. Nice and complicated and none too good. More and worse things to think about than the issue of getting dropped here in itself. Eliot might be outright worried. ]
You weren't missing. [ There it is. Finished in the queue, up to the plate. The part that, above all else, makes the least sense. It's Eliot. They'd have noticed. ] You said it's been a few days, but you were with us before I woke up here.
[ Wouldn't be a bad time to have a mastermind turning the pieces over right about now. ]
no subject
Plus if Eliot takes point, it gives him more room to keep running the mental circuit of the whole situation, brow furrowed, despite the fact that it never comes out right. ]
I think we both know that what you call "serviceable" [ Yes, he gets his hands back out to do the air quotes really quick ] is still eighty percent better than everyone else's standard. And a hundred percent better than nothin'.
[ Hardison cracked the code on translating Parker and Eliot a long time ago, now. It's less psychology than practicality, both ways. Seeing where they are, what they do, and meeting them there on it. Intention over delivery. Electrical tape on some old, janky exposed wires, to conduct the spirit of the current.
There are parts he doesn't get. Can't get, maybe. Sees it pass between just the two of them in wordless looks and nods. But for the most part, he has his methods. If any form of love was reliant on total understanding, well, his Nana wouldn't have sat there and listened to him go on about coding and Ninja Turtles and transporter continuity at the dinner table night after night without losing it.
What he translates between the words and the extra vigilance is, this is already complicated. Nice and complicated and none too good. More and worse things to think about than the issue of getting dropped here in itself. Eliot might be outright worried. ]
You weren't missing. [ There it is. Finished in the queue, up to the plate. The part that, above all else, makes the least sense. It's Eliot. They'd have noticed. ] You said it's been a few days, but you were with us before I woke up here.
[ Wouldn't be a bad time to have a mastermind turning the pieces over right about now. ]
This whole setup is hinky.