Piper 90: Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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goneawaymemes2020-09-09 08:52 pm
goneawaymod) wrote in goneawaymemes2020-09-09 08:52 pm
Entry tags:
TDM #2
![](https://i.imgur.com/iLcTJtA.png")
TEST DRIVE #1
So it's your first day at your new job! Welcome to the Jorgmund Family™! It's time to settle into your new workplace on the Piper 90 rig, the coziest place of employment this side of the Livable Zone. A leader in its industry, Jorgmund is excited to have you join them in enthusiastically envisioneering team-driven paradigms.
The Piper 90 rig's mission is not only an impressive undertaking in terms of impactful customer-oriented deliverables, it's providing a vital backbone to the Livable Zone by creating a safe region for citizens to live, work, and play. Jorgmund's "outside the box" thinking means they understand the importance of wisely investing in their human capital - you! You'll soon find that you'll take pride in this vital work - and the benefits can't be beat.
Rest assured, Jorgmund's multidisciplinary approach to our world's period of recovery means we know how to keep it real when facing this opportunity for restructuring and growth. Jorgmund: Even if most of the world has gone away, we can make a world of difference!
Synergy!
USEFUL LINKS
It is recommended you check out the following links first for info on the rig, rig conditions, game mechanics, and the intro and slideshow your characters would have to endure that takes place chronologically before the Test Drive Meme:
SCENARIO #1 - MOVE-IN?! MOVE OUT!
Well, hell, that was fast. Basically as soon as orientation's over, everyone gets shuffled into armored vehicles and a few boxes of gear are tossed in after them. Motion detectors, flimsy medical face masks, and... guns. Guns with flamethrowers. Even for the old hands at this, that's a new attachment, but the boxes all of the gear is in has electronic locks that refuse to open.
Before anyone gets any ideas, the doors are closing. The last view they get inside the Rig is a pair of medical workers dragging someone out of the 'interview' room, a tall muscular man in mismatched combat fatigues. Even without the twitching, the way he hangs limply in their arms leaves little doubt that whoever he was, he won't be joining them for cake. One of them carries his removed helmet, the other carries a removed body armor. On the chestplate a skull and crossbones can be seen, on the backplate are the words "contents under pressure."
When one of them sees them staring, she says, "Epilepsy, it seems, no doubt aggravated by Stuff exposure. We'll be taking good care of him."
Right, because the military lets epileptics in all the time, don't they.
They will never see him again. If asked about him later, they'll say he was transported to the Livable Zone, for the very best care in a proper hospital. Of course they wouldn't hire someome with health issues for a potentially stressful job like theirs, they aren't monsters.
The truth is he will get more coherent later and start complaining of a stomach ache, scans will verify something alarming, and he will be quietly killed with sedatives and quickly incinerated.
Before it's too late.
a) TAKEN FOR A RIDE
They're left to get to know each other, with the driver (in a separate compartment) informing them that they'll be at their destination in about four hours.
Meanwhile, for their viewing pleasure, there's a marathon of The Nutshack. Working media in the Gone-Away World is sometimes...lacking.
b) A LATE EASTER
...Blissfully, it's interrupted some three hours later. The boxes all click, allowing the unfortunates to grab the gear, and the Nutshack ends abruptly as the face of a harried middle manager takes up the screen, people walking back and forth behind her with the faked urgency of people who know the boss is watching. "All right, New Hires. I know some of you have just been hired, but we here in Jorgmund like our people to be able to hit the ground running." She smiles blandly, in that corporate way where no muscle above her nose so much as twitches. "This mission should be a milk run for you, though, a good way to stretch your legs and show what you're made of. It's just a bit of a delivery job, that's all. You'll be making your way to the old Pilton town, recently the site of an Incursion. To go with the milk, you're grabbing us some eggs."
Suddenly, her image contracts to the lower left corner of the screen. The main screen is filled with a single image, rotating slowly. "Our resident biology experts think that the life forms that hatch from these will be very useful in advancing various areas of science, plus they might be able to resist Stuff storms. We want an unhatched egg, drone footage shows that there's a good number of them are already empty."
Another image, this time of some kind of glowing box. "The engineers say that this will keep the eggs, and their cargo, in a kind of stasis. Just get one in there and it's mission accomplished. Easy, right? Makes me wonder why we even hauled you guys out of orientation for it." She shrugs, tossing a folder aside and glancing at a paper someone's just passed her. "Oh, right. Pilton's a write-off. They rejected our offers of help with this whole mess when it started up, so they're probably all infected with Stuff or some shit anyway, so safeties off and fire is free. Don't kill each other but anyone else is fair game. You're probably doing them a favor somehow anyway, we don't need mutants mucking up the place."
She sets everything down and leans in, filling the screen again. "Yeah, and just so you newbies know the drill, don't run. You remember what it felt like during orientation." They've already felt the first bite of the nanochains. "We got trackers in you and we don't appreciate it when our boys go AWOL after we go through all of the trouble of saving their lives from the Wilds." The transmission ends and all that's left is a map of Pilton displaying, with the cartoon's audio still playing in the background.
The vehicles all clank to a stop and open the doors. Pilton looks to be a mid-sized town, might've been home to a few tens of thousands of people once. Curiously, a tall, thick wall surrounds much of it, but something's knocked holes in it. It's in front of one of these gaps that the trucks have stopped. Inside, a thick mist obscures all but the tallest buildings, half-ruined by some disaster. Lots of shorter, squatter buildings just barely poke over the top. But some of them seem to have some sort of newer additions, a black, shiny, organic support for a few buildings. Hard to see details, though, because of heavy mist obscuring vision. The map suggests that there's a subway system... or possibly just an oversized sewer. It's hard to tell, but the way the drivers honk, so they can leave, they're not giving any more time to decide.
Motion detectors on? Locked and loaded? It's time to go. Just ignore the feeling that you're being watched.
c) THIS WAY FOR SENSITIVITY TRAINING
Well, it turns out that those eggs? They hatch sometimes! If you're lucky, this side will be all that you see. If not, well...
The radios crackle and the manager's voice comes back on, for everyone. "We're seeing some funky bio readings. Yeah, the Science department thought that one or two of you might get jumped. It's fine, just don't lose whoever that is. Pop your stasis box around them, it'll expand, and drag them back to the trucks. You can try pulling them off, I guess, but they want to see what happens when someone gets up close and personal."
There's a pause.
"Oh, uh. Don't try to pull them off. Got a report from another crew that it'll tear and dribble acid over everything. Well, we at Jorgmund appreciate the lengths you all are willing to go for the company and it'll reflect in your quarterly performance reviews." That's small comfort for anyone who's at risk of being down a man.
Then again, at the noise, there are moans from the walls and ceilings. There's a few people stuck in there, some with those creepy things wrapped tight around their necks and faces... some with with them lying dead at their feet. Some of them aren't making so much noise on account of the massive, gaping hole in their chests.
Something's hissing and writhing around your ankles, by the way.
About to spring.
d) YOU DONE KNOCKED OVER THE ANT HILL
Did you get lost? Not to worry, if those motion detector pings are anything to judge by, you're about to have lots of company! They're big! They're fast! They're black, shiny, and can climb on the walls!
Oh, and these guys bleed acid too.
The manager's voice on the radio blares out loudly. Too loudly. "By the way, it sounds like you guys have company! Did we mention that Jorgmund has excellent medical benefits and a highly trained staff with the latest equipment? Don't be afraid to get into a bit of a scrap! And remember, teamwork makes the dream work! So fire up those flamethrowers and show them how Jorgmund takes care of the competition!"
As bad as everything is, at least you can hide from them for a bit. And, hey, that civilian stickied to the wall who got all chummy with the alien babies? The one you might not have managed to seal into the box correctly? They're waking up now! An extra hand to fight these guys off will be handy! Especially since the monsters seem to be trying to guide you away from the exits, pushing you further into the hive.
e) MEET THE NEW BOSS, SAME AS THE OLD BOSS
So, a heartless, soulless, people-eating monster who doesn't care who suffers as long as the numbers go up? Boy, that sure sounds familiar.
Whether it was a tactical withdrawal, a blind rush, went in to rescue a pal, or you were dragged into a lower chamber after being snatched up by a batch of drones, you're now in a vast chamber filled with eggs. And there's the Queen hissing her displeasure at your company. And you thought the regular guys were huge.
She's lounging on the wall, attached to a pulsating ovipositor that stretches the length of this massive room, surrounded by smaller drones caring for her and the eggs surrounding her. But, luckily, it looks like before the bugs... adapted this whole mess to suit themselves, it was a construction site, and the hive resin hasn't quite covered some of the equipment.
Or some of the barrels with explosive warnings written on them.
Whatever you're going to do, think fast. This lady's no pushover, and she's the kind of boss who likes to get her hands dirty to show the troops that she still has what it takes.
Due to Stuff shenanigans reality will glitch, making this fight one that must be accomplished possibly quite a few times before reality allows her to be dead.
Because she doesn't believe she would die that easily.
Every time she dies, she'll come just a little closer to being gone for good.
f) HOMECOMING KING
Maybe you were there for all that. Maybe you missed it. Maybe you actually did your job. Somebody must have, because you're out there in the open air. The wind is sweeping through the ruins of Pilton, a refreshing rain washing away all of the evil that's been committed there. Even the manager's voice, congratulating everyone on a successful mission complete, ordering everyone back to the armored vehicles, seems upbeat and chipper.
Gather your wounded. Pick up your trophies. Usher civilians you may have saved against orders into the transports. It's time to go home. Your team's about halfway there when thunder booms menacingly in the background. Seems to be a messy storm coming, so it'll be a relief to be inside.
...Funny, that thunder just now. Thunder's supposed to come after lightning not-ah. There it is. Maybe it was an echo of a flash you didn't notice.
But don't echoes get quieter?
That's when a big fella comes around the corner. It turns its head, looking dead at your group, and the hiss it makes is a nightmarish mingling of a bull crocodile and one of the drones from inside. And then it roars, charging towards your group, massive tail smashing part of a building to rubble as it goes.
Bullets aren't going to be enough for this tyrant.
Even worse: the ground suddenly shudders even more, rumbling and shaking in a great cacophonous outpouring of sound...
And you see that the smaller version of the creatures aren't the only ones that travel in packs.
g) ON THE ROAD AGAIN
That was awful. But it's over now. The ride home is quiet, with the dulcet tones of Bob Ross filling the air on the way back. Rest, relax, drink some water, have some rations, and check up on your friends. Because after an experience like that, what else can they be?
If any New Hires have saved a civilian against orders, hopefully you're not in one of the unlucky trucks where they're starting to groan and clutch at their chest, face contorting in agony. Hopefully that's not a fellow passenger for you, and you can just ride home.
They're left to get to know each other, with the driver (in a separate compartment) informing them that they'll be at their destination in about four hours.
Meanwhile, for their viewing pleasure, there's a marathon of The Nutshack. Working media in the Gone-Away World is sometimes...lacking.
b) A LATE EASTER
...Blissfully, it's interrupted some three hours later. The boxes all click, allowing the unfortunates to grab the gear, and the Nutshack ends abruptly as the face of a harried middle manager takes up the screen, people walking back and forth behind her with the faked urgency of people who know the boss is watching. "All right, New Hires. I know some of you have just been hired, but we here in Jorgmund like our people to be able to hit the ground running." She smiles blandly, in that corporate way where no muscle above her nose so much as twitches. "This mission should be a milk run for you, though, a good way to stretch your legs and show what you're made of. It's just a bit of a delivery job, that's all. You'll be making your way to the old Pilton town, recently the site of an Incursion. To go with the milk, you're grabbing us some eggs."
Suddenly, her image contracts to the lower left corner of the screen. The main screen is filled with a single image, rotating slowly. "Our resident biology experts think that the life forms that hatch from these will be very useful in advancing various areas of science, plus they might be able to resist Stuff storms. We want an unhatched egg, drone footage shows that there's a good number of them are already empty."
Another image, this time of some kind of glowing box. "The engineers say that this will keep the eggs, and their cargo, in a kind of stasis. Just get one in there and it's mission accomplished. Easy, right? Makes me wonder why we even hauled you guys out of orientation for it." She shrugs, tossing a folder aside and glancing at a paper someone's just passed her. "Oh, right. Pilton's a write-off. They rejected our offers of help with this whole mess when it started up, so they're probably all infected with Stuff or some shit anyway, so safeties off and fire is free. Don't kill each other but anyone else is fair game. You're probably doing them a favor somehow anyway, we don't need mutants mucking up the place."
She sets everything down and leans in, filling the screen again. "Yeah, and just so you newbies know the drill, don't run. You remember what it felt like during orientation." They've already felt the first bite of the nanochains. "We got trackers in you and we don't appreciate it when our boys go AWOL after we go through all of the trouble of saving their lives from the Wilds." The transmission ends and all that's left is a map of Pilton displaying, with the cartoon's audio still playing in the background.
The vehicles all clank to a stop and open the doors. Pilton looks to be a mid-sized town, might've been home to a few tens of thousands of people once. Curiously, a tall, thick wall surrounds much of it, but something's knocked holes in it. It's in front of one of these gaps that the trucks have stopped. Inside, a thick mist obscures all but the tallest buildings, half-ruined by some disaster. Lots of shorter, squatter buildings just barely poke over the top. But some of them seem to have some sort of newer additions, a black, shiny, organic support for a few buildings. Hard to see details, though, because of heavy mist obscuring vision. The map suggests that there's a subway system... or possibly just an oversized sewer. It's hard to tell, but the way the drivers honk, so they can leave, they're not giving any more time to decide.
Motion detectors on? Locked and loaded? It's time to go. Just ignore the feeling that you're being watched.
c) THIS WAY FOR SENSITIVITY TRAINING
Well, it turns out that those eggs? They hatch sometimes! If you're lucky, this side will be all that you see. If not, well...
The radios crackle and the manager's voice comes back on, for everyone. "We're seeing some funky bio readings. Yeah, the Science department thought that one or two of you might get jumped. It's fine, just don't lose whoever that is. Pop your stasis box around them, it'll expand, and drag them back to the trucks. You can try pulling them off, I guess, but they want to see what happens when someone gets up close and personal."
There's a pause.
"Oh, uh. Don't try to pull them off. Got a report from another crew that it'll tear and dribble acid over everything. Well, we at Jorgmund appreciate the lengths you all are willing to go for the company and it'll reflect in your quarterly performance reviews." That's small comfort for anyone who's at risk of being down a man.
Then again, at the noise, there are moans from the walls and ceilings. There's a few people stuck in there, some with those creepy things wrapped tight around their necks and faces... some with with them lying dead at their feet. Some of them aren't making so much noise on account of the massive, gaping hole in their chests.
Something's hissing and writhing around your ankles, by the way.
About to spring.
d) YOU DONE KNOCKED OVER THE ANT HILL
Did you get lost? Not to worry, if those motion detector pings are anything to judge by, you're about to have lots of company! They're big! They're fast! They're black, shiny, and can climb on the walls!
Oh, and these guys bleed acid too.
The manager's voice on the radio blares out loudly. Too loudly. "By the way, it sounds like you guys have company! Did we mention that Jorgmund has excellent medical benefits and a highly trained staff with the latest equipment? Don't be afraid to get into a bit of a scrap! And remember, teamwork makes the dream work! So fire up those flamethrowers and show them how Jorgmund takes care of the competition!"
As bad as everything is, at least you can hide from them for a bit. And, hey, that civilian stickied to the wall who got all chummy with the alien babies? The one you might not have managed to seal into the box correctly? They're waking up now! An extra hand to fight these guys off will be handy! Especially since the monsters seem to be trying to guide you away from the exits, pushing you further into the hive.
e) MEET THE NEW BOSS, SAME AS THE OLD BOSS
So, a heartless, soulless, people-eating monster who doesn't care who suffers as long as the numbers go up? Boy, that sure sounds familiar.
Whether it was a tactical withdrawal, a blind rush, went in to rescue a pal, or you were dragged into a lower chamber after being snatched up by a batch of drones, you're now in a vast chamber filled with eggs. And there's the Queen hissing her displeasure at your company. And you thought the regular guys were huge.
She's lounging on the wall, attached to a pulsating ovipositor that stretches the length of this massive room, surrounded by smaller drones caring for her and the eggs surrounding her. But, luckily, it looks like before the bugs... adapted this whole mess to suit themselves, it was a construction site, and the hive resin hasn't quite covered some of the equipment.
Or some of the barrels with explosive warnings written on them.
Whatever you're going to do, think fast. This lady's no pushover, and she's the kind of boss who likes to get her hands dirty to show the troops that she still has what it takes.
Due to Stuff shenanigans reality will glitch, making this fight one that must be accomplished possibly quite a few times before reality allows her to be dead.
Because she doesn't believe she would die that easily.
Every time she dies, she'll come just a little closer to being gone for good.
f) HOMECOMING KING
Maybe you were there for all that. Maybe you missed it. Maybe you actually did your job. Somebody must have, because you're out there in the open air. The wind is sweeping through the ruins of Pilton, a refreshing rain washing away all of the evil that's been committed there. Even the manager's voice, congratulating everyone on a successful mission complete, ordering everyone back to the armored vehicles, seems upbeat and chipper.
Gather your wounded. Pick up your trophies. Usher civilians you may have saved against orders into the transports. It's time to go home. Your team's about halfway there when thunder booms menacingly in the background. Seems to be a messy storm coming, so it'll be a relief to be inside.
...Funny, that thunder just now. Thunder's supposed to come after lightning not-ah. There it is. Maybe it was an echo of a flash you didn't notice.
But don't echoes get quieter?
That's when a big fella comes around the corner. It turns its head, looking dead at your group, and the hiss it makes is a nightmarish mingling of a bull crocodile and one of the drones from inside. And then it roars, charging towards your group, massive tail smashing part of a building to rubble as it goes.
Bullets aren't going to be enough for this tyrant.
Even worse: the ground suddenly shudders even more, rumbling and shaking in a great cacophonous outpouring of sound...
And you see that the smaller version of the creatures aren't the only ones that travel in packs.
g) ON THE ROAD AGAIN
That was awful. But it's over now. The ride home is quiet, with the dulcet tones of Bob Ross filling the air on the way back. Rest, relax, drink some water, have some rations, and check up on your friends. Because after an experience like that, what else can they be?
If any New Hires have saved a civilian against orders, hopefully you're not in one of the unlucky trucks where they're starting to groan and clutch at their chest, face contorting in agony. Hopefully that's not a fellow passenger for you, and you can just ride home.
➤ Feel free to play around with powers. If your character has powers from canon you want to play around with, go for it. If you'd like to test out possibilities for game powers, also go for it. Feel free to change it up from thread to thread if you need to. This can be handwaved as exposure to Stuff making characters' powers shift a few times before settling.
➤ Potential players may use test drive threads as their log samples. However, at least one post in their thread must fit the requirements for apps, both in length (200 words) and in quality. If you do plan on using a thread as a sample, please make sure the writing throughout your threads is a good example of your writing skills and has some solid examples of the character's voice.
➤ Players can eventually count TDMs towards AC. They can only count towards comment-based AC proofs.
➤ Potential players can opt to keep these threads as game canon when they app in, or start over fresh, based on preference. The Stuff bringing them to the game universe can fog their memories, if players don't want their character to remember TDM threads when introing into the game.
➤ The game is invite-only. Players without invites are allowed to tdm since some of them may know someone in game to ask for one, and since some people enjoy TDMs just for fun in games they don't plan to app into. But an invite is required during the apping process.
➤ The game is at a starting cap at 30 players. Apps are rolling apps that have a wait queue if the cap has been exceeded. Currently the cap is 23 of 30 players.
no subject
[It's a statement, not a question. Not prying. But the glance he shoots the man is curious, and he's clearly purposefully leaving the opening there if it's wanted.
It's very tactful of him, really. He's proud of himself.]
no subject
[Or more like it turns on and gushes chilly water everywhere, as he suddenly gets closed off and cold.]
One I don't intend to share.
[It's not necessarily said harshly, and yes he's the one that brought it up, but there are places Wash will stop at and refuse to go farther.]
no subject
[It's dry, in the way that says hey you brought it up without actually speaking the words, but he lets it go. God knows there's shit he doesn't want to talk about either.
But he's also gotta endure the rest of the drive in this company, so. Subject change.]
Did anyone even manage to snag any eggs? I lost track of the actual mission at some point in all the running for our lives.
no subject
[His voice is bitter, like maybe he's annoyed at failure in general, or maybe he's bitter because it was all that trouble for nothing in the end.]
[There is nothing about his tone that suggests he's glad they didn't make it. Or...that he was the one that sabotaged them. This is because Wash is used to lying to very bad people that would've tried to kill him much, much sooner than they had, had they known he was secretly working to destroy what they'd built.]
[And they figured out he was working against them just a moment too late.]
[Wash is a little more beaten down these days - he'd never expected to get scapegoated after what he'd done partly because he'd expected to just die... And almost had. So he'd made his deal to get out of prison.]
[And made another one here.]
[So he's not planning on any widescale rebellion. But there are still lines in the sand. Subtle ones. As long as he can pretend he's ignoring them and can make Jorgmund buy it.]
At least nobody on the team died.
[Townspeople had - they were eviscerated. But hopefully in the wild escape filled with Queen-killing and explosions, none of the creatures had survived.]
I've been on worse missions.
[Considering his last job was recovering Freelancer tech from the bodies of all his dead friends this was almost an upgrade. Maybe if the nanochain and threat of giving him brain damage wasn't a thing. Wash isn't sure he would've actually said no if asked to volunteer. The idea of freedom is tempting but he wouldn't know what else to be.]
no subject
He huffs a breath that's almost a laugh, dropping his head back against the side of the truck.]
So glad we spent hours running around out there nearly getting killed. That's so awesome.
[He shakes his head and rubs a palm over his face. His sigil rings are cold in the desert's evening chill, and the cool bite of the metal is bracing.]
...Maybe it's for the best. I don't think I'd sleep very well knowing one of those things was on that junker somewhere. Seems like it'd be tempting fate.
no subject
[His voice thaws just a little. He appreciates that someone else has the "nuke it from orbit" sentiment. He likes that he's not the only one. It makes it feel a little better to hear he's not alone, as he sits here with a gut roiling in anxiety over if what he did will screw him over. Even if it does, he's not sure he could've lived with the potential consequences of chestbursters getting loose on a rig with children. It's not the same as shooting those Red Team soldiers.]
[And after Freelancer fell and he went to jail despite - because of - effectively doing the right thing in the end, he's not used to anything ever...vindicating him. Ever.]
[He holds out a very calloused hand across the transport aisle, the one least-burned by acid.]
Washington. But I usually just go by Wash.
no subject
Rune.
[He leaves the last name off. Whatever the current state of the world, this still seemed like it was once a familiar one. And his is a well-known naming scheme, even if he specifically manages to fly under the radar. For now, he'd rather keep that under wraps.
After a beat, he inclines his head towards the sippy cup.]
You still want to fight with that, or do you want some help?
no subject
[But he at least explains.]
Jorgmund shoving things in my body while I was unconscious means I'm really not that inclined towards letting any strangers near my water and food.
[And that's partly because he got more than the nanochain even.]
[Nonconsensual brain surgery is the kind of thing that puts a guy on edge.]
[He knows he's being unnecessarily paranoid, over a thing he usually doesn't get that control freak-ey over. But it is the only thing he actually can be control freak-ey over right now.]
Nothing personal.
[It's really not.]
The water and food is coming from Jorgmund in the first place, so it's - I don't even know what it is.
[It's more about control than actually thinking anyone else would do anything.]
no subject
That's alright.
[The tone is minutely softer too – not too much, he doesn't want to sound pitying or anything (god knows he would hate that) – but the aloof edge of dealing with a stranger drops off a bit.
But he leaves it at that. He's still a stranger, mutual kidnapping and forced labor be damned, so it's probably not his place to comment on this guy's issues. So he just nods again and peeks inside the bin the water bottles had come from.]
Speaking of food, did they see fit to leave us anything to eat? Near-death experiences make me hungry.
[This is usually the point of the missing where they're just getting home and Queenie has a batch of cookies waiting, and Brand lets him snack a bit without complaint for once–
No. Bad idea. No thinking about things that will wreck him until they're 100% safe and he can find a bit of privacy.]
no subject
[His voice is dry.]
I hope you like protein bars that can break your teeth and taste like caulk.
I've had worse but not by much.
[Their rations when they'd crashed on Chorus hadn't been stellar, since they got close to the end of them in the time they'd been there. Also...prison food. That really was the most extreme "worse but not by much."]
In the military we call these Iron Rations. [He chose "military" because he'd been...in an unusual position as far as military branches went, technically space marine, technically not.]
[Wash picksa new bar out of the container and knocked it against a metal partition nearby. It clonkslike it's rock solid.]
That would be why. They'd probably be less terrible warmed up, but [He raises his voice so the driver will hear] somebody won't even turn the heat on.
[The driver just grunts in response.]
[He really misses Four Seven Niner. She actually gave a shit about anyone she was transporting.]
no subject
I don't have that much faith in the dental care here.
[He wrinkles his nose at the bar and tosses it back into the bin before glancing back up at Wash.]
Where did you serve?
no subject
[Wash wants to be more secretive but he knows he's going to have to work with these people. Earn their trust. Make sure they succeed at their missions.]
[And make sure people trust him enough to not suspect that he'll be occasionally slipping off to ruin their chances of going against mission objectives or their chances of rebellion.]
I originally served as a soldier with the UNSC. [A pause.] The United Nations Space Command. But I got involved in a special ops project that... wasn't exactly on the up and up, even though all its agents were told it was.
Fortunately, it's defunct now.
[What he doesn't say is he was its very last agent, doing a particularly morbid job of picking over the corpses of his friends to salvage Project Freelancer technology. Or he was partly responsible for destroying the project due to a long-game plan of revenge. Or that he went to jail for essentially doing the right thing, because of military politics. Or that he made a deal to get out of jail that involved him shooting several innocent soldiers and menacing the rest.]
[Or that he made a similar deal with Jorgmund that will make it easier for him to survive intact.]
In my world, we were at war with aliens that were trying to wipe humanity off the map. For over 20 years. Luckily, it ended without our species going extinct.
no subject
Like he's doing, right now, attempting to be a normal socially competent person.]
Space.
[He frowns, brows knitting together. The whole "alternate worlds" thing still hasn't quite sunk in yet. He can accept some kind of magic time fuckery, wildly illegal as that would be. Whatever all this really is remains to be seen, and frankly humans going to space and having a space army doesn't really lend weight to either option. They're probably manage that sooner or later.
He sighs.]
Humans should probably stop warring with other species. They've got a bad track record with that.
no subject
[There's a little bit of a glint in his eyes that's slightly fierce but also slightly amused at how much that sounds like the excuse a sibling would give for slapping another sibling.]
[But it is the truth.]
It's not like we could just sit back and let them keep glassing planets. [It occurs to him that if the other world thing actually is true, Rune might not get what the term means.] Wiping them out, that is.
What did you do back home? They said things about alternate worlds and if we hadn't just fought those aliens I'm not sure I'd believe it.
[He's curious about what it's like back home for everyone else. Whether this alternate world thing really is real.]
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(Also: aliens. Huh. There's probably something hypocritical about him being stunned by the revelation of other life out there in the universe, but there it is.)
Shaking his head, he tries to just roll with the punches for now. Grapple with all the weird shit later.]
Up until recently I did private investigations and mercenary work. Now...I'm not really sure. I'm sort of in between jobs at the moment.
[That's a very understated way to say "I suddenly have money and a court again and don't have to take odd jobs to survive for the first time in almost two decades". But, y'know. Strangers. He's quick to deflect attention back away from himself.]
Do you really believe the whole "alternate worlds" thing? I mean, I've never seen anything like those monsters before, but I'm self-aware enough to recognize there's probably shit out there I know nothing about. How do you really tell the difference between an alternate world and aspects of the world you just never knew about before?
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I'm starting to believe it.
For instance, did you recognize the Aliens back there? Because it seems like a few people didn't.
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I thought I might have seen a movie like that once...
[Maybe he wasn't imagining that after all. Huh.]
That doesn't necessarily disprove my point, though. Someone could have had an encounter with something they didn't understand and used it as inspiration. I mean, humans thought vampires were just stories until the 1960s.
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See, I was going to point out that not everyone recognized them as from the movies, which suggests they don't have the movies in their world.
[He points at Rune.]
But you sort of just proved my point.
Vampires?
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...Alright, maybe there is some merit to the "alternate worlds" thing.
[Either that or they're really out of the loop out in space.]
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Vampires?
[Explain.]
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...Among other things.