John could feel himself being measured, weighed in the wake of his almost flippant response. He had almost expected violence in reply – given the situation thus far, it certainly wouldn’t have been unexpected – but instead he was subjected to a focused, almost predatory gaze for several long, tense moments. The other man replied, then, rattling off facts and assumptions, reaching out to tug John’s I.D. circles free and inspect them before he finished his mindboggling assertion and topped it off with what sounded like an earnest, if misplaced greeting.
It was through sheer force of will that John didn’t jerk away this time; he knew it wouldn’t help, would likely overbalance him before freeing his chain, but it still took effort to hold himself still. Shaking his head instead, once, sharply, John pitched his voice lower, taking on an almost conspiring tone. “Listen, what are you playing at? This can’t-“ He paused, shaking his head once more; there’s almost no way this was some kind of contrived plot – he simply doesn’t have any information that would be useful enough to bother, he wasn’t that kind of officer – and even if he were, had been mistaken for one, he can’t see how this would be effective in any useful capacity. Certainly, it could throw someone off balance through sheer confusion – it had done for him – and that was a recognized tactic, but John couldn’t see how any useful information could be parleyed from this particular scenario; it was entirely too absurd. No, as far as he could tell he hadn’t been captured in the traditional sense, but what that left was… far stranger, more disturbing.
“Either you’re mad”, he continued after a moment, thoughtfully, as if he was only just now truly considering the possibility, “I’m mad, or…” his eyes started to flicker down towards his shoulder – where he’s almost certain he had been shot, but didn’t feel as if it bore obvious signs of recent trauma, now – but he stopped himself before he could complete the motion. Meeting the captain’s eyes again, instead, he finished with an almost imperceptibly more subdued tone, “The last doesn’t bear consideration.”
Lady Karasu 