paradisalogs | UNSC + SOLDIERs meet-and-greet

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UNSC + SOLDIERs meet-and-greet

Who: UNSC (NOBLEs Two and, Six; Freelancers Washington, South, York, and Carolina; Lance Corporal Dante/Rookie) + SOLDIERs (Zack + Angeal) + Hard Hunter [a yet unnamed alliance/coalition]
What: Meet-and-greet/mingle/badassery.
When: Mondayish evening
Where: The Hangar!
Rating: Maybe PG-13

[Honestly, Carolina's a little nervous about everyone being under the same roof for a meet-and-greet. Not because of any real fear of fighting or danger, but more that it's been a while since she's had this many strong-willed people in the same room. Sure, there's the teleporter to the Danger Room on one side of the garage and an assortment of vehicles, but she expects most of the action to happen in the kitchen where she expects they'll spend most of their time. She'd sent out brief notifications to all interested parties earlier in the day, so hopefully everyone would come and be ready to chat about plans for this potential alliance.]

(ooc: This is mostly a mingle post! I'll put up a couple different areas in the hangar and please tag anyone/everyone! ICly, everyone's meant to meet everyone. Backtagging is very welcome but you can also just leave a comment saying what your character would agree to/wouldn't if it gets too busy/full!)

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Fast wheels always come in handy, one way or another.

Yeah? I was always in infiltration, back home. [More of the lockpicking type than the stealth type, but they do go hand in hand.]

Some times more than others!

Infiltration, huh? [Brb leaning against the Warthog again.] SOLDIER's a little more generalized, but a lot of it falls into the jobs where you need an army, but can only send one or two guys.

[York nods. The concept is definitely familiar to him.]

More like our Spartans. You'll meet Kat and Six here. They say one Spartan blew up an entire fleet once, when our ships are lucky to get one of theirs with a three-to-one advantage.

Freelancers like me were a bit more of the normal guys, but we had some of the same equipment.

Lemme guess: not as many of them because of how expensive the program is, but you don't need as many of them because of what they can do. [In other news, Halo is FFVII with more modern weapons and fewer long-haired megalomaniacs giving everyone despair.]

Heh. For just being the normal guys, you got a pretty nice deal going on here.

Pretty much. [You just have aliens giving everyone despair instead.]

Not bad, is it? I mean, we're awesome normal guys, so that's gotta count for something.

[Y e p.]

More than just something, I'd say. Your boss was pretty damn quick to organize things on that expedition, I can admire that. I'd rather a comrade with a head on his shoulders than one with fancy enhancements and little brain to use them.

[He does puff up a little. The compliment to her is a compliment to their team, really.]

Got that right. We at least try to react to everything here in a decent amount of time.

[It is a team deserving of compliments!]

As much as situation allows, I'm sure. The Castle can't be pleased that we meddle with it all the time, or so it must seem.

Ha! Well, to be fair, we don't seem too pleased when it meddles with us all the time, either. Doesn't seem to stop it any.

It also seems just a bit more powerful than us. I mean, if it's got the ability to bring us here and mess with us, somehow I don't think it would choose someone -- or a group of someones -- who would be a threat to it.

As an individual? I think you're right. As a group? I don;t think it could contain us if it tried.

[York tilts his head to one side.]

Anyone ever tell you about the time we blew up the castle because it finally crossed a line?

You know, in my... [brb, counting] ...six months here, somehow no one has thought to mention what I'm sure is going to be a gem of a story. Do tell.

It was...oh, a couple years ago now. The castle for some reason stopped pulling people in or sending anyone home for a couple of weeks, which was pretty weird to begin with. And then it kept heaping us with gifts, trying to make us feel like this was a place we could be comfortable with forever.

And then about six weeks into it, nearly half of us woke up and just moved into town, thinking we'd always lived there. Acting like our real homes weren't important to us. Forgetting who we really were and becoming the kind of faceless people you see in the town now.

[Yep, York had been one of the affected ones.]

Everyone else freaked out, did everything they could think of to bring us back to ourselves. Some of us got dragged to the Dead Zone, and there we remembered everything - but if we entered the powered zone again, whatever it was would come right back. Nobody knew what to do.

...And then Moonbay, old friend of mine, fired a rocket at a castle tower in frustration. Every bit they tore down, someone else would start to regain their personality. By nightfall, with everyone's combined powered, it was just a pile of rubble and everyone was back to normal.

And then at exactly midnight, everything "reset" itself to how it had been two weeks before. We were in the same place we had been that night, all our rooms were restored to normal, and it hasn't tried anything like that since.

That is... [What is that story even.] That is awesome and really freaky all at once.

[It makes a person wonder: how powerful is the Castle, really? What could it do, if it tried again? If the residents really could threaten it, why did it keep them around? Was its own need so desperate to put up with what could be a very real threat to it? They are not comfortable questions, but they're ones Zack keeps to himself. He doubts the answers will be easily provided; secrets upon secrets this place seems, and assumptions could be more than dangerous.]

'Couple years' makes you sound like some kind of Castle war vet or something though. Guess we really don't age in here?

Freaky castle. Awesome friends.

[Which...pretty much sums up his whole life here, really. Sure, it's a pain in the ass and a real danger some times, but his friends are what make it worthwhile, always. If it wasn't for them, he'd be out in the Dead Zone already.]

Ha! Yeah, at least it seems that way. I've been here almost four years, and there are a couple who are going on six. Not so bad when you're a middle-aged guy like me, but it kinda sucks for the kids.

Sounds like.

[There are days where the Dead Zone seems pretty appealing, Zack has to admit!]

Four years can be a long time. [Four years is about what he spent trapped in a Mako tube... but four years could also mean an almost-life for a man who can't go back home.] I see what you mean. Status quo isn't so bad, but to never grow up? That's a little weird.

[It certainly has its advantages - and disadvantages, which is why they have a base like this still within the powered zone.]

Right? Think about it - being emotionally an adult, but stuck in a kid's body. That's the part that would suck. For someone like me? Not so bad. I don't mind staying at a pretty good physical level.

[And thankfully the Dead Zone has a dedicated boundary, and not one that fluctuates...]

Damn that would suck. [Because really, York has a point: being permanently physically fit, at the height of one's skill, is a definite perk of being here.] With the only hope for aging being sent home, and that at the Castle's whim? No thanks.

[It had changed once, but been stable ever since then. York's willing to accept for now that it's stable.]

Exactly. Well, that or a temporary loss. People seem to get stuck on those a lot, whether it makes them older or younger. Something to keep an eye out for.

[Zack is okay with this assumption!]

Huh. I'll keep that in mind. [A pause.] I don't even know what my own loss is supposed to be.

Most of the time if you're not sure, that means it's a memory that hasn't been triggered yet. I didn't figure mine out until the guy I forgot showed up here.

Yeah, I've got no clue. I was thinking that it's got to be something I don't remember. [There's a pause. Zack's honestly glad that it's not something that's affected him physically or anything-- like his ability to fight, or to defend someone.] I guess there's little enough sense in dwelling on it.

Yeah. I mean, it's important--losses always are--but if you're lucky, it's something you can live with pretty easily.

I figure, 'long as I still got what I need to be a SOLDIER, I'm good with it.

Good philosophy - and here's hoping, man.

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bustered - 2012-12-17 05:12 (UTC) - Expand

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encryptedlock - 2012-12-17 05:13 (UTC) - Expand

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