[RL with Birkin]

[screwloose]

This time Birkin was coming to him, and that suited Stein just fine. He knew on some level that leaving his world for a bit would do him good, but he was involved in some new projects and still trying to work out how to deliver his last one to Medusa. It wasn't a good time to leave.

But a little company was always welcome, especially if it was like-minded company.

He'd taken a little trip to the store earlier in the day and bought an array of liquors - some bourbon, some gin, some tequila, and some rum. He didn't really know what Birkin liked, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to have a variety on hand.

And now he was at the computer, poking his nose around and waiting.

Comments

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

Birkin nodded slowly, absorbing the information. "Must be fun playing God like that. Wesker would be jealous." He chuckled a bit, staring at the body. Stein had talent with this sort of thing evidently. Must come with the name. "What happens to Medusa if it doesn't work?"

[screwloose]

Stein smirked. "Well, it might depend on how it happened," he said, pushing up his glasses a little higher on his nose. "If the body dies suddenly, it's possible Medusa could die with it. But that's unlikely. More likely she'll scatter her soul again and wind up having to choose another host. It's not her body... her soul won't be as firmly embedded inside it as it was when she was alive."

He reached for Birkin and curled his fingers around his arm, tugging him closer as he pushed the body up onto its side, facing away from them. "But look at this. I added a little surprise for her."

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

"Shame that might not work... Don't you ever worry she might choose you as her next host? If I was in your position, that would be the first thing I'd worry about with this little exchange." Birkin stared at Stein for a minute; he was rather protective of his labcoat and didn't usually let other people touch it. Though he seriously doubted the other scientist would even bother listening. He sighed softly and rolled his eyes, but that was all he said on the matter.

Birkin leaned in a bit, narrowing his eyes. "What am I supposed to be looking at?"

[screwloose]

Stein's own labcoat was stitched together from different coats of slightly different fabrics. He wasn't concerned with that, but just wanted Birkin to see what he had to show him.

"I'm really not worried about that," he said, settling the body on its side. "If she could possess me, I'm sure she'd have done it when I first killed her. I think she needs a weak host - an animal, child, or a vegetable like this one. My own soul is far too strong for her to dominate so completely."

He let go of Birkin and parted the girl's long hair with his fingers, revealing a very tiny incision right below the hairline. "Paralysis agent," he said smugly. "I can trigger it remotely."

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

Birkin looked Stein up and down. "Perhaps it's just because I can't see your soul, but you don't look that strong to me." He shrugged. "I mean, anyone who has a bolt sticking out of their head can't be that formidable. No offense."

He looked at the girl's back, then turned to Stein. Birkin opened his mouth, then shut it, trying to gather his thoughts. He leaned in towards the other man a bit and settled on "You're a genius! She'll never see it coming." He smirked a bit. "Planning on turning it on and cutting her down immediately, or are you actually going to give her a little bit of a head start first?"

[screwloose]

Stein blinked at him in utter amazement. "You do know that I'm the most formidable fighter that Shinigami has ever trained, right?" he asked. "And what does the bolt have to do with it?"

Only the fact that he was pretty sure Birkin would drop like a little girl if he flicked him with a finger stopped him from actually bothering to prove it. Though he might beat him up later, just for fun.

Besides, being called a genius mollified him slightly. "I doubt she'll really give me the opportunity to do it. No, I think I'll wait until she does something to piss me off, like attack me, and then we'll see what she does."

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

"No, I didn't know that. But if someone were to grab a hold of it," Birkin reached up and grabbed said bolt, "I assume they'd be able to damage you quite well. It's a bit of a hazard, wouldn't you say?" And Birkin would, indeed, drop like a little girl and start crying if Stein did anything. But he's not always the brightest virologist in the lab when it comes to human interaction. "Besides, that's really not saying much considering the others I've met are kids."

Birkin chuckled a bit. "I doubt she'd be able to do much of anything after that."

[screwloose]

The only reason that Birkin managed to grab a hold of the bolt was because Stein let him. He stood still, grinning at the other man in a decidedly dangerous way.

"My kids have killed," he informed Birkin. "Killed serial killers with powers you can't even imagine. Maka and Soul alone have taken down over a hundred together."

His grin widened. "And they couldn't even touch me."

He grabbed Birkin by the sides of the head, moving so fast the other man didn't have a chance to react. And then he attacked his soul directly, right through the palms of his hands.

It felt - and looked - like Stein had just electrocuted Birkin. There was screaming, and then Birkin fell unconscious, bleeding from the nose, ears, eyes and mouth.

((If you don't like this I can edit and back up. I was going to ask you first, but you vanished and I wanted to post it so I wouldn't forget. ^_^ There'll be no permanent damage, but it hurt like a BITCH, and when Birkin wakes up he's strapped to an operating table :| ))

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

The first thing he noticed was that his head hurt. A lot. Worst hangover of his life. Birkin tried to lift his hand to rub his aching head, then realizing he couldn't move it. At all. Oh, right. Stein electrocuted him somehow or another. His head hurt far to much to focus on the particulars.

Birkin cracked an eye open, noticing that he was still in the lab, which was a bit of a relief but... The fact that he couldn't move and a quick glance around the room revealed that he must have been on one of the operating tables sort of damaged his calm. "I am never drinking again..." Birkin mumbled to himself. He started trying to move to test the limits of those damn straps. He couldn't help but notice how ironic this all was. All those test subjects of his that ended up in this same position with some psycho smiling down on them... He understood why they started screaming when they woke up now.

[screwloose]

And here was the psycho, smiling down on Birkin. "Ah, you're awake."

Stein leaned over Birkin thoughtfully, stroking light fingers down his chest. "I thought about dissecting you, but I did promise. How's your head?"

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

Birkin resisted the urge to scream in terror, and settled on a completely unamused glare. "Thank you. You're all heart. I can't imagine why anyone would diagnose you as a sociopath. " He gasped slightly at the contact, but just glared harder. "And it hurts terribly. What did you do to me?"

[screwloose]

"I attacked your soul directly with my own," Stein explained cheerfully. "Dominated it, you might say." If you were Vanessa.

He ran light fingers down Birkin's chest, hooking the fingers in his tie and undoing it deftly, letting it fall away. "You're not much of a fighter, are you? More focused on the science, I suppose."

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

He was in no mood for Stein's cheerful attitude at the moment. "If you ever even think of doing that again, I swear I'll..." He knew there was no threat he could actually sling that would phase the other scientist in the slightest. Damn it. He contemplated using Wesker, but Birkin really didn't feel like being beaten up again once Wesker found out. And Wesker could always find out. The sentence probably sounded better unfinished, anyway.

Birkin practically snarled as his tie was undone. "Get. Your hands. Away from me." Hell, if he could move far enough, he would have gladly tried to gnaw through his bonds or even tried to bite his oh, so gracious host. But he couldn't and the best he could accomplish was a killer glare and some feeble struggles. "Okay, wonderful. You are stronger than I am. Now, let me go; there's no reason to keep me here."

[screwloose]

Stein was terribly fascinated by how pissed off Birkin was. It was almost animalistic.

"You're the one who grabbed onto something that's embedded in my skull, to prove a point that it was a weak-point in battle," Stein pointed out with bemusement. "And now you're upset that I retaliated?"

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

Birkin took a few shaky breaths, trying his hardest to calm himself down. Not that it worked, exactly. In reality, his eyes were darting around the room, looking for... He didn't know what, exactly. Help in some form or other.

"If I'd decided to twist that ridiculous thing, I doubt you'd be so smug right now. I was proving a point; not trying to hurt you. And I'm not upset." In a massive amount of pain and scared to death was a bit closer to the truth. Birkin swallowed hard, eyes still darting along the walls. He was going to get himself killed in this stupid place wasn't he? A fitting end, he supposed. "Someone's going to come looking for me, Stein." Though the scientist figured if anyone even noticed his absence, their reaction would be more jubilant than worried.

[screwloose]

Stein laughed. "If I'd thought for one moment that you would actually try to hurt me, you wouldn't have gotten within two feet of that 'ridiculous thing'," he informed Birkin. "But I had to prove a point, too."

He pulled out a cigarette and lit up, laughing again. "Who'll come looking for you - Vanessa? You claim Wesker is dead, and so far as I know you don't have any other friends. Vanessa isn't exactly a threat. I'm pretty sure she'd enjoy you right here, anyway."

He lowered the cigarette, blowing a cloud of smoke towards the ceiling. "Funny thing that," he added. "I'm pretty sure you've been lying to me about Wesker."

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

Well, that plane just crashed into a mountain. Call off the search; there are no survivors. He sighed. "Thank you for reminding me that I'm unanimously hated and if you killed me right now, no one would care. That's... Comforting." Birkin doubted even Wesker would come looking for him right now. "Why would I lie to you about that? You've shown no loyalty to anyone in my world other than me." And at the moment, that loyalty was shaky at best. "Is that what this is all about? You just want me to admit Wesker's alive?"

[screwloose]

Stein gave him another penetrating look, attempting to give the impression that he already knew all of Birkin's secrets and was just waiting for him to admit it. If Wesker really were dead, he would probably feel quite foolish later, but he thought the odds were low.

"Why, is it going to work?" he asked, smirking widely. "I really have no idea why you're lying to me about it. I won't tell anyone if he really is alive, and I don't actually care about your little tif with the other people from your world. If I were to help anyone, it would be you, so why don't you just tell me the truth and see if it helps?"

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

Birkin looked off to the side. Stein's looks were just... Creepy. Besides, the way that question was phrased sounded like a thinly veiled threat and if it got him home in one piece... He closed his eyes, he hated to do this but... Wesker could go to hell, quite frankly. "He's alive, alright? Now, untie me and let me go!"

After a few seconds he chuckled to himself. "If this is what you did with Vanessa, it's no small wonder she likes you so much." It made perfect sense now.

[screwloose]

Stein smirked. "I thought so."

But the thrill of victory was short-lived. Birkin was reacting to him the same way Spirit always had, and while the sadistic part of Stein enjoyed every minute of it, he wondered if he were losing the friendship at the same time. He mourned that Birkin, perhaps, didn't understand him as well as he wanted him to - or maybe understood him too well.

But he wasn't going to kill Birkin, and he wished Birkin understood that.

"I didn't tie Vanessa up," Stein said thoughtfully. "Though I think you're right that she'd enjoy it."

He stroked his fingers down Birkin's arm to the restraint. "Are you really that scared?" With a flick of his fingers, he released the catch, freeing Birkin's right arm. "Are you going to run away from me, now? Or should we go back and sit down, and enjoy the rest of our evening?"

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

Birkin raised his arm to his face, wiping most of the blood onto his sleeve. Yet another stain to add to his "collection". He thought about Stein's question for a second. "If you're releasing me of your own choosing, there's no reason for me to run. Besides, I need a few drinks after that." He smirked.

What was Stein's secret? He'd never had any test subject react so quickly and succumb to their fears without even an incision... But then, he knew what the other scientist was capable of and the sorts of things he'd be more than willing to do. But with one arm free, Birkin's confidence came back with a vengeance.

[screwloose]

Stein brightened considerably, his own confidence beginning to return. As he'd said before, relationships were difficult for him, and he hadn't been certain of this once he'd done it. But perhaps Birkin understood better than he'd feared.

He was also somewhat pleased that he hadn't had to make any incisions to get the truth out of his friend. That might have been even more awkward afterwards.

"No reason not to enjoy ourselves," he said cheerfully, moving around the table and releasing Birkin's legs and his other arm. He wasn't worried about retaliation. "And the headache should fade quickly, though you might experience a bit of weakness. I gave you quite a jolt." He offered his hand to help Birkin down from the table.

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

Birkin sat up, ignoring the rush of dizziness that hit him. Whether it was Stein's fault or because he'd been drinking, the scientist didn't really know, but he wasn't sure he actually cared. He stared Stein's hand warily for a moment, then back up at his cheerful face before figuring he could touch it without getting another shock. He swung his legs over the side of the table and grabbed Stein's hand, hoisting himself to the floor.

"Can you... Kill someone by doing that?" Birkin leaned heavily on his companion, clutching onto his arm, far too exhausted to actually bother holding himself up. A moment later, he straightened himself a bit and began walking, albeit shakily, back to the living room with a bit of a smirk on his face. "And just so you know, I've learned my lesson and will never make fun of your bolt again."

[screwloose]

Stein laughed. "Good, good," he said, letting go of Birkin's hand but keeping an eye on him as they walked back, past the room with the living corpse on its table, and out to the living room. He immediately refilled the beakers of rum and sat down on the couch where they'd been before.

"I could probably kill someone with repeated jolts," he said. "But I haven't actually tried it, yet."

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

Birkin immediately collapsed on the couch and took a gulp of rum. If he remembered any of this in the morning, it certainly wasn't from lack of trying. "You said you've killed serial killers though. Or do you just do that the old fashioned way?" He sat in silence for a few minutes, toying with the notion of asking Stein how long he was unconscious or if he really would have cut him open if not for that promise, but he firmly decided he didn't want to know. "Before I leave, I should probably shower or something. If I go back looking like this, someone's bound to notice. You don't mind, do you?"