InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "You're so obvious"

matt holt (encrypting) wrote in thedisplaced,
@ 2018-04-08 20:09:00

Entry tags:

!network post, asami sato, furiosa, lance, matt holt, pidge gunderson, princess allura, takashi shirogane / shiro, tony stark / iron man (904913)

TEAM VOLTRON + FRIENDS

So [...] my friends at the military are dead. And my lab is gone, like it never existed.

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	Same Filter ohgoodirony 2018-04-09 04:11 am UTC (link)
	I'm sorry, Matt. This isn't what usually happens when we jump back here. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	Same Filter encrypting 2018-04-09 04:12 am UTC (link)
	No. I think Pidge is right that it's a different timeline. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Same Filter ohgoodirony 2018-04-09 04:21 am UTC (link)
	~~Which makes me wonder if that's the case what happened to the versions of us that should be- nope not helping~~ That's a good possibility. The power grid here is more massive than it was before. I haven't investigated more, but it's definitely... louder than the last Tumbleweed we were in. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	same filter. encrypting 2018-04-09 04:31 am UTC (link)
	I'd like to investigate the timeline thing and the other changes in the town. But first I need to help with the identification and arrangements for the dead. They might not have known me here, but they were still my friends. [...] And then I guess I'll need to figure out researching the portal again or something if we're going to be here for longer. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	same filter. ohgoodirony 2018-04-09 04:58 am UTC (link)
	Hey, hey, don't worry about it. I'll see what I can get together that we can start on once everything has quieted down, ok? And we can figure that out too. I can gather together whatever files I have from when I was working with my dad on this and readings that got logged from TAD. We'll get that all back on its feet again. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	same filter. encrypting 2018-04-09 05:06 am UTC (link)
	Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Let me know if you need any help with that. Swann makes the file gathering thing go MUCH faster. She's helping me right now but I can send her to you, or have her do something for you from here. Did all of your stuff come through? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	same filter. ohgoodirony 2018-04-10 06:15 am UTC (link)
	I should not be thinking about a processing race with a Pokemon right now... Keep her with you for now. I should be fine. As far as I can tell, everything came through. Or at least the key stuff. Everything in the apartment looks good too, plus the litter box isn't a lethal mess, so that's always a good thing... (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	same filter. encrypting 2018-04-10 06:22 am UTC (link)
	Heh. I'm sure that will happen eventually. What about your projects and your business and everything? Is everything okay there? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

same filter.

ohgoodirony
2018-04-10 06:31 am UTC (link)

Oh, it's going to happen. And I'm not sure whether winning or losing would be more shameful.

Oddly... all okay... which being gone for three months, you'd think I'd have a bunch of angry companies banging down my door because I neglected to deliver their products. Or email them. Or contact them at all.

Ok, ok, and even weirder, the amount of emails in my work account is normal. I was expecting to get a migraine opening it from how many there'd be, but nope. Normal amounts...

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encrypting
2018-04-10 06:36 am UTC (link)

Well, there's definitely no shame in losing to a Pokemon-shaped computer. And I'd think there'd only be pride in winning. So neither?

Wow. That's weird. But - those companies are still here? Contactable by email? Expecting their products? As if your company was already here in this timeline? [...] Huh. I don't know how to explain that.

I'm glad one of us still has a lab, though. Even if it doesn't entirely make sense.

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ohgoodirony
2018-04-10 06:45 am UTC (link)

But even if it's a Pokemon-shaped computer, I feel like winning might be like kicking puppy. I don't know.

The companies still exist and so do the contracts it looks like, except... It's strange... Time passed, but the emails I'm skimming through are as if we hadn't left at all. It's standard next day from the last day I sent emails stuff. This is weird.

Yeah, I'm really sorry about that, Matt. Been there, done that, although... not like this... Kinda... And you know you and Pidge can use my lab space if you need it. Open door offer there.

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encrypting
2018-04-10 06:54 am UTC (link)

You're feeling pretty confident, aren't you? Pokemon enjoy competition, you know.

Maybe [...] you know how places from home show up, and no one around seemed to notice? Maybe it's kind of that? So even if the contracts didn't necessarily exist here before, the moment they showed up, people are just accepting their existence? The only other alternative I can think of is that for some reason I was just never in this timeline, but you were. Or I was, but never worked at the military for some reason.

Which, to be fair, after everything I learned about the Garrison at home, I wasn't entirely sure about keeping my job there. But I was already researching the portal and didn't want to stop. There's still a portal to research, and it almost feels more important now, but [...] I don't know.

Either way, I will definitely be coming by to bug you at the lab.

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same filter.

ohgoodirony
2018-04-10 07:09 am UTC (link)

Oh, you haven't seen a Stark when we get going. I'm not proud of it, but there was a rant about the rules of dodgeball because I got out too quickly. It wasn't pretty.

From what Natasha wrote, it could be the latter. It sounds like the military just wouldn't have been around to work for. The portal does odd things. When we came back from space, time had continued, but it was as if we had never left. Work got done, contracts got made, new people got met. All of that still happened. Some people had even changed jobs. We were all left scrambling to play catch up of what we'd been doing in Tumbleweed even while all we remembered was spending months in space.

Maybe the portal is warping reality again somehow... which is mildly disturbing. But, ok... facts, we all ended up here in Tumbleweed. There seem to be differences to the town, the main one being that the military hasn't been here for a long time. However, our residences are still here. The companies we had are still here. And the paperwork we all needed for that are still here. Which means somehow that was still all taken care of pre-cruise timeline. And then whatever function of the portal was providing residences to those brought through the portal still looks to be functioning to some capacity. I wonder how the government knew when they showed up or which belonged to who... a google search would work for some for identification, but others wouldn't... Not to mention if they either had some sort of frequency detection to pick up shifts in the environment or just had surveillance of the town that severe....

Um... anyways, yeah, we need to keep researching this. Er... you need to keep researching this and my lab space is open when things aren't so... hectic...

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encrypting
2018-04-10 07:19 am UTC (link)

This I have to see.

Yeah. There are a lot of possibilities. I think I might find some answers about the military once I get into their files. Maybe I could use their database to try to search for myself once I get it up and running again. And find out if there's anyone else like me who has [...] parts of their timeline changed or missing. And then eventually figure out what I'm doing in this timeline.

One step at a time. Or [...] multiple steps at a time but related to the same general thing. I'm going to start with figuring out what happened to the military, and then work on the other stuff.

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ohgoodirony
2018-04-10 07:35 am UTC (link)

Oh no, really, you don't. Pepper didn't speak to me for a week thanks to that.

It might be creepier if you do show up in their databases. Or any of us do if it's been... that long... Unless... I don't know, maybe there was a time bubble... Or something happened that we don't remember yet. When we went back to the 1950s, we ended up affecting things in the present day... We don't even know how much. Maybe something we did back then too longer to ripple through than the others...

Hey, so... weird question... November 30? That your birthday?

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encrypting
2018-04-10 07:38 am UTC (link)

No, I really do. I've seen Pidge get competitive, trust me, you won't scare me off.

It might be, yeah. But at least it would be a clue, another piece of the puzzle. All the theorizing I'm doing right now - about the timeline, about our place in it, about monsters with big teeth - is making me feel a little crazy. It'd be nice to have some solid facts to latch onto.

[...] Yes. Why?

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ohgoodirony
2018-04-10 07:47 am UTC (link)

Aw come on, you can't use Pidge against me. Not when I told Rhodey there's no way he could out intimidate her.

Welcome to the story of my dimension traveling life. And sadly monsters with big teeth have too many possibilities. Also when we went back in time, a bunch of big bads followed us there. Some with long lifespans. So, too many possibilities...

Trying to narrow down the probability of there being two Matt Holts with the same birthday who also happen to have a file in my employee database...

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encrypting
2018-04-10 07:58 am UTC (link)

Ha. You told him that? I mean, it's true. She's terrifying. And I mean that very lovingly.

[...] Well, Matt Holt is not a rare name. But the number of Matt Holts in Tumbleweed with that birthday is probably... one.

So I guess that explains what I was doing in this timeline. ~~Which I guess also means we~~ But I probably [...] shouldn't keep doing that? Since [...] you know. Generally it's not recommended to make out with your boss. And it would be even more awkward if we stopped doing that that for me to work for you.

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ohgoodirony
2018-04-10 08:07 am UTC (link)

He was trying to do that best friend/bro thing about scoping out the new boyfriend thing. I was just doing my duty as best bro to warn him he was so out of his league in that whole situation.

[....] Matt... You know that girlfirend I mentioned? Also worked for my company. Before and after starting the dating thing. So, I know how to separate work and that sort of play. So I can work with both if it doesn't bother you. If it does, I get it, so whatever you're comfortable with.

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tony+matt

encrypting
2018-04-10 08:19 am UTC (link)

[...] Okay. Firstly, that's really adorable. Both that he wanted to intimidate me and that you warned him he probably couldn't, which is [...] accurate.

Secondly [...] I've never been in this situation before. I'm trying to think it through. I'm definitely not going to decide anything right now. But [...] I guess my main concern is, you know, if she shows up, or if we get into a fight, or if we break up for a reason that isn't your girlfriend/fiance showing up and there's bad feelings, or if she shows up and doesn't like having me around even as just your friend... there's just a lot of ways for this to go badly. Also if it made your other employees feel weird? I'm fairly certain I can prove I didn't just get the job by sleeping with you, but on the other hand, if I get a cool project and they're jealous, that could feed into it. Even if you try really hard to hand out projects equally. There are a lot of reasons why workplaces usually have rules about this.

And why relationships usually work better for people with separate jobs. Although we do work really well together and have a lot of fun so I'm less worried about that part.

And I really like you, and I'd like to still be your friend even if we break up, if that's possible for you and for your girlfriend, and I'd also be willing to work for you in that situation, but I just don't want to accidentally ruin all of that. [...] If that makes sense.

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tony+matt

ohgoodirony
2018-04-11 07:25 pm UTC (link)

Ok, so, I have no shame, but I need a moment because I just realized that was all still to all your friends and family. So this is what embarrassment feels like.

First off, all valid worries. Even if I'm having a hard time picturing you and bad feelings. But I get it. I can't say things always went smoothly with Pepper, so I understand how that sort of awkward thing can happen.

I don't think the other employees would be a problem, but then there's bias going on there too. Most of these guys I worked with in other universes, even if they don't remember, so they've got some pull with me there even if it's not intentional. The projects should be easy to manage. Most of it is more collaborative and I can keep a close eye on the personal project fundings to make sure they stay equal does it doesn't look like you're getting special treatment.

Which I guess is me saying that I'm willing to work on whatever happens. At least I still want you as a friend and, ok, let's be real, if you weren't working at the company but we were still seeing each other, you'd likely be unofficially consulting anyways. I don't think you'll mess things up whichever way it goes.

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tony+matt

encrypting
2018-04-11 07:44 pm UTC (link)

Ha. Yes. Yes, it was.

I also don't think bad feelings are really very likely. But also, workplaces can add stress, I think, and [...] yeah. So I have to acknowledge that it's a possibility.

And it's true I'd probably be there and consulting anyway, because I like working with you. [...] Let me think about it some more? I also need to figure out what, if any, part I want to have in the ongoing research for the military. I know they don't have any funding for me to do that right now and I'd have to start some things over, not completely from scratch, and I want to see what kind of organization it's really going to be, since [...] apparently the military organization I worked for back home wasn't as great as I thought it was. So I'm a little more wary.

But it sounds like at least maybe something part-time at your company could potentially work. And [...] we'll figure out work boundaries, if that happens.

Also, ~~now that I'm done overthinking everything~~ ~~hopefully~~ [...] boyfriend? That's a word you're comfortable using?

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