[OPEN]

[dontpatr0nizeme]

Who: The Freelancers and anyone else
What: Nightmares
When: Through the Nightmare plot
Where: The Mother of Invention
Rating: TBD, potential warning for torture or other really bad things, as RvB Freelancer era isn't very nice

This is the Frigate Mother of Invention. The home base of the UNSC's top secret Project Freelancer. As much as the frigate might have been lively before, now it's full of eerily empty echoing halls, windows into the empty blackness of space, and alarms that seem to be going off all too frequent. The training areas have grown a darker, more sinister air. As for the medical areas and the research labs? You really don't want to go there.

[OOC: Okay, there will be specific nightmare threads within this that I'll be linking on the main post and I will put warnings if any of those might be too bad. If you'd like to join in from outside cast, either hit one of those or start a new thread. We'll be tagging around, and I'll link any new threads you might set up.]

Locker Room (York)  |  Ranking Board (South)  |  Implantation Room (Washington) (Warning, not sure how bad this might be)  |  The Director (Carolina)

Comments

[encryptedlock]

Whoa, whoa, calm down. Plenty of people would notice, or else why would you care at all? [Really, he didn't see what the big fuss was - but then, York had never had a problem getting his rank back up whenever it had failed. All he had to do was be his usual self.]

Beats me. You know I never saw her before.

[encryptedlock]

Wash! No!

[Yeah, this is York pounding on the door to try to get in, being very surprised when it isn't locked and he actually manages to get in. Ignoring the Director's furious orders, he rushes over to Wash.]

Hey man! Just breathe. It's okay. I've got you.

[dontpatr0nizeme]

[Washington can't even hear York over the sounds of the memories. Of the memories of a strange woman... Saying goodbye. Of his own screaming in agony as he drops from the table on the floor. But he knows the pain and screaming isn't just him, not that he understands how. Or why Epsilon brought this with him...

The personnel are trying to contain Washington at the Director's orders, trying to get him to the table again.]

[encryptedlock]

Someone get me a sedative now. [Because he's sure as hell not surrendering his friend to these medics, not like this.]

Washington, I need you to listen to me. Listen to my voice. You're here on the Mother of Invention, okay? Wash! Breathe, goddammit!

[dontpatr0nizeme]

[The personnel are trying to work around him, but the York's insistence on handling this has them hesitating, in spite of the continued yelled orders from the Director. York shouldn't be in there...

Washington is hearing York's voice, but it's mixed with others, making it hard to listen. And the woman... Allison... Telling him not to say goodbye. That she hates goodbyes. It's hard to think enough to breathe. To do anything... He's still struggling to get away from the pain. Even if moving away won't stop pain in his head.]

[i_got_this]

[South's not sure how she ended up in Recovery One, looking at Wash's procedure through the observation window; curiosity, maybe? Although there's a bitter burn that it's not her in there. She'd somehow fallen off the board completely. It hurt.]

[She's still been unable to put on her armor, standing in a loose t-shirt and sweats while she crosses her arms over her chest and pulls in on herself, watching Washington with a building burn of jealousy.]

[youfallback]

[Nothing's alright, really, that much she can see and feel for herself. She can't quiet the urge to just go and move and do something other than stand around and chat.]

Yeah. I need to. [But she's somehow still standing here, watching him.] York, what're you doing with those?

[She gestures with her head to those pistols sitting next to him.]

[encryptedlock]

[Those incompetent little fucks. Can't they see things aren't going well?]

Sedative! Wash--Epsilon--calm down. I'm here, Delta's here, and you're gonna be okay. But you gotta breathe. Open your eyes. Try to see where you are now.

[encryptedlock]

[He hesitates for a long moment, unsure of how much to share with her. But she's Carolina; she deserves to know it all. Doesn't she?]

Wondering how we can keep the live ammo out on the field where it belongs. The rebels already want to kill us - why should we have to worry about our own people, too?

[youfallback]

[Carolina flicks her gaze a little over to South, watching the white blur of names reflect across the other woman''s face. The admission of 'didn't fit' surprises her as she turns her gaze back to the board. They're moving too fast, she can't see her name anymore as it suddenly dives from the board.]

It always fit before.

[Her voice is distant as she stares at the board, a distinct hollow feeling settling deep in her chest.]

[youfallback]

We can't. [Carolina answers, pessimism eating into her. Not if the Di--- No, the Director wouldn't do that to them, no matter what CT said. He wouldn't give them live ammunition to use on the training floor.] It'd mean keeping us unarmed 24/7.

[Which is something she's definitely not comfortable with.]

[i_got_this]

[She lets out a huff and glances away. Of course it would seem that easy for him.] Nevermind. You wouldn't understand.

[She looks at the two pistols, just quietly thinking for a moment.] Were you at all mad when she shot you?

[She had originally thought Texas had more sinister intent, incapacitating him further, perhaps.]

[i_got_this]

Yeah well, it got bigger. [Or rather, it felt like she got smaller. She wasn't looking away from the board at all now, desperate to see her name up there. She couldn't focus on who else was there, who else was on top, but just that she wasn't there.

And the longer it went on like this, the smaller she felt.]

[dontpatr0nizeme]

[One of them is holding a sedative, but they're still uncertain at the Freelancer that is interfering in the procedure.

Washington cries out again, but this time... It's a name. Not one he knows... But one Epsilon is very aware of.] Allison!

[dontpatr0nizeme]

[The prep and the beginning of the surgery go well... Up until the moment when they insert Epsilon. Then the screaming and the thrashing around begins.]

[i_got_this]

Shit -- shit! [South had no idea what to expect, but this was about the last thing she would have imagine happening. She's backing up, staring with wide eyes, unable to look away. As much as she'd like to turn and flee she's frozen on the spot.]

[dontpatr0nizeme]

[Washington wasn't sure what was going on or how he'd gotten here... And he's fairly sure he wasn't supposed to me hearing this...]

[dontpatr0nizeme]

[Yea. This is what South was jealous of. Washington is struggling, screaming in agony, as the personnel try to get him under control. The Director is yelling orders as they work.]

[i_got_this]

[South doesn't know what to do, but she sure as hell isn't going in. Last thing she wants is to get anywhere near that.]

[dontpatr0nizeme]

[He's grabbing at his head as the personnel try to get him back on the table to sedate him. The implantation is obviously more painful than they'd ever been told...]

[encryptedlock]

And that's not acceptable. I know.

[He sighs, setting the pistol down again.]

But I'd settle for keeping it out of exercises they tell us aren't with live ammo.

[encryptedlock]

[Well, that causes a sharp pain in his own mind--though it's not nearly as bad as when the Director yelled--so if the medics are trying to get York out of the way this is their chance.]

No, Wash. It's me. York. You're not--wherever you think you are.

[encryptedlock]

[He really doesn't see what the big deal is, it's true. Sure, it's nice to be near the top all the time, but it's not life or death for him.]

I'd already been hit by her about ten times before that, remember? I didn't really notice what was going on until the grenade went off, and then I was too busy passing out to think of anything else.

[i_got_this]

[She's still watching, back from the far end of the room, but she can't leave, she can't move she can't fucking blink. No, this is not at all what she'd imagined when they told her about it.]

[i_got_this]

[For South, it is. It's a coveted sense of individual worth that she can't convince herself she has without the visual recognition.]

Sucks, man.