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Entry tags:
- annie westwind [original],
- asuka langley sohryu [evangelion],
- bellamy blake [the 100],
- clint barton [mcu],
- commander shepard [mass effect],
- gildor helyanwe [original],
- john murphy [the 100],
- lexa [the 100],
- matrim cauthon [wheel of time],
- misato katsuragi [evangelion],
- rust cohle [true detective],
- ryohji kaji [evangelion],
- sam wilson [mcu]
mental link; it's a catbus!
[ It's an ungodly hour of the night as these things go, with both Misato and Gildor's minds flickering to announce their presence to all. Forceful and unapologetic, for her part, while urgent and unsettling, for his part. They insist on your attention. ]
( Everyone. We found something out there beyond the barrier. It was too dark for us to see much-- )
(Or anything, for some of us, but-- )
( But it's massive-- )
(Big as the shuttles that brought us-- )
( And predatory. At least, it seemed pretty clear that it wanted to take a chunk out of us. Some of you found tracks the other day, right? Let's talk. )
( Everyone. We found something out there beyond the barrier. It was too dark for us to see much-- )
(Or anything, for some of us, but-- )
( But it's massive-- )
(Big as the shuttles that brought us-- )
( And predatory. At least, it seemed pretty clear that it wanted to take a chunk out of us. Some of you found tracks the other day, right? Let's talk. )
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[ Likewise, Gildor has been running through his repertoire of spells since making it back to camp - spells he hasn't had to think of using in years. He's assisted in slaying many a monster, and while this is another area of expertise, bard magic is anything but quiet. ]
( I certainly hope not. If that barrier comes down, we will all in a great deal of danger. )
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[Well, now that someone used the word "if" to guarantee that this is absolutely happening... Shepard's just going to have to laugh.]
( So, let's think about our worst-case scenario. Say the barrier comes down. What's our priority? Because I can kill it, no problem. Cathaway and Prince might not see it my way if we blow cover and scuttle the mission goal. )
[Whatever that even is, honestly.]
( ...Assuming we have a favorite faction among all these jackasses yet, I mean. )
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[ There are probably nicer, more diplomatic ways of conveying the same, but why bother? ]
( Our hosts are keeping it away from us, we don't need to do their job for them. I'm more interested in finding out what it is and what it's meant for. )
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[Killing is almost never the point, unless you're a psychopath. Things get killed for reasons. Sometimes, those reasons are stupid, but... Sometimes, they aren't.]
Prepareness is the purpose of the question. Allow me to rephrase: I wanna know how many of us have to die before it's a non-option, in a worst-case scenario. Ballpark it.[She says it slowly, laying out the logic explicitly where normal procedure called for a certain amount of euphemism. People don't generally like it when you straight-up tell them that you had to choose someone, and you chose someone else.] You're bringing a threat to our attention, so the next logical step is planning for if we have to meet that threat, and the limitations it represents. Was discussion about that problem not the purpose of this?
Speaking of which, what makes you think this isn't just native wildlife that's hoping to take advantage of a herd of migrating snacks? Did it do anything except try to kill you?
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[ The argument goes back to the same starting point, assuming the beast is nothing but a threat and dismissing possibility of it being anything else. That is, a clue, an opportunity, an open door rather than the deterrent. ]
( Do you have anything else to say? )
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[She is genuinely concerned, now. They snip at one another plenty, but this is business... And Misato is riding her own conclusions so hard she won't even engage.]
( What is our priority, as a unit for coping with a catastrophic fail-state? What makes you think this is more than an animal? You obviously do. So why? )
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The problem is, if we have to fight and kill that thing, do you honestly think our cover as not a pack of invading aliens from The Nest is going to hold up? Unless you think we're going to do the job with the little boot-knives Rahn gave us, the weaponry alone will give us away, to the Enemy if nothing else. )
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( Please, please! I'm sure you will both be very adept in murdering this beast should it come to that. )
[ His 'if' statement had merely been that - if. So far they have no reason to believe this technomagical wall should come down unexpectedly, but he'd also like to be prepared if it should.
And contrary to Shepard's idea, weapons outside of their cover are not on his mind. ]
( Should the worst happen, I don't think we'll be alone in defending ourselves, and we have more at our disposal than little boot knives. Miss Katsuragi isn't the only one who's been practicing with the Rabadocean spears. Is is so impossible to believe we can maintain cover? How have you faired with the weaponry here, Miss... Shepard, was it? )
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( If I didn't have to worry about anyone else? I'd be fine. )
[Even if that were true, that's not how this population is structured. This isn't a unit of soldiers, people trained to fight alongside and trust one another. And not everyone is going to agree to keep it to knives and spears and bows and whatever else passes for acceptable, when it comes to that. Some people will react as they're used to, regardless of intentions, when presented with mortal danger. With magic and weaponry and symbiote abilities all on the table, there are a lot of ways to be alien.]
( Fighting a large target on foot is always chaotic. They knock things over and throw people around. There's a real long list of ways things could go wrong and they only really have to go wrong once for it to matter. I just want to make sure everybody's on the same page, about fighting, running, or dying. And of course this is all assuming that's it's an animal, and that the native presence might be willing to use it tactically. ) [Yes, she's still on that, thanks.] ( Neither of you have explained why you think it's more than opportunistic wildlife, or what else you might think it is aside from that. If it's relevant, then put it out in the open. I'm trying to give you a chance to explain yourselves. )
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[ The amusement is clear, wry as it is, birthed from the same intolerance she holds for bureaucracy, for anyone she sees as standing in her way. ]
( We're telling you what we saw, as limited as that is, so we can figure it out. Maybe it was an opportunistic wildlife, maybe it's something more. I think it's the reason the barrier was set up so that holds implication, you can disagree, but we'll work together to find out and we might even get a leg up if we play our cards right.
And you're just fretting. I already told you I'm confident we can deal with it. )
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[Why did you spend so long resisting giving up that opinion when it was so-- for fuck's sake, Misato.]
( I'm not fretting, I'm being realistic. ) [I'm being a spacer] ( You just watch, someone's going to get themselves in trouble, and if we're not the first ones to the corpse, we'll have to explain a dead alien in our faction's clothing. )
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[ Both on the fretting and on being the deterrent against anyone coming forward with incomplete information. All their information is incomplete at this stage. ]
( You can help us find out more or shut me down like you do, Shepard. One is more useful than the other. )
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[C'mon, Katsuragi. Help her out, here. You found out about the predator, and that's real and valuable data, but a partial conclusion can be as dangerous as no conclusion at all. You found something, good for you. Stop trying to make it important just because it's true.]
( You can't make a tactical point to me by trying to belittle my self esteem, or by being stubborn. I need actual intel, based on real observations, or at least some kind of explainable logic, before I'm gonna pat you on the ass about it. )
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[ Shepard's expectations are clear to her, like a narrow path laid out for which she must contort herself to fit through. She sees absolutely no reason to play along, when her approval is worth naught. ]
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[Shepard offers Misato the lift of a hand, the sensation of exasperated confusion. The microaggressions are getting not just old, but weird. "Not the one waiting for a pat on the ass?" What the hell, Misato, to whom are you referring? Shepard doesn't care about Misato's opinion of her-- is she drunk? High?
Misato are you experiencing blood-loss?]
( You should get checked out, you might have a concussion. )
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[ This questioning of her sanity, only one step removed from calling a woman hysterical. ]
( I'm looking to find out what it is and what it means for us and this mission. We can kill it, I'm not worried about that. But it might mean more than just fodder for your violence. Now, do you get what I'm saying? ]
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[ Still shaken up, but fine. Having this playing out to one side of his head isn't helping, but he'd rather keep the attention off himself now. He and Misato have informed the Nest of their find - there isn't much left they can do tonight but hope the barrier holds as it always has. Lakshmi already helped put that much into perspective. ]
( Contributing any more to the argument this discussion has kindled into will be unproductive at best and damaging to the moral of the party at most. )
[ And just a little bit damaging to his blood pressure, but again, it's fine. ]