<> <> <> <> * Robin is now known as Anders <> <> (Suddenly, we exlpode.) <> (AFK, phone) (Anyone with us?) (no.) <> <> (And they took your guns.) * Rochelle taps at the armor. Tap tap tap. This is followed by her looking up into the mirror and blinking a couple times. * Ian stares at the mirror. "...this is just getting too strange. I'm not sure I can handle this." * Katherine gets shoved in a room! She brushes her face with clawless hands and then says, with a faint chuckle, "Well, she sure had a much different life." * Threnody tilts his head at the mirror curiously. "I guess I was in some sort of accident." He doesn't seem very concerned about the burns, and tilts his head to the other side. "Of course, maybe it's related to the last place we were and the fire? Who can tell?" * Vera peers at the mirror. She looks down her sleeves, then down the neck of the thing. "Ew. God, I'm covered in bad art." * Fitzroy adjusts his TSM jack and paces back and forth a little. (I wish I knew I was human earlier, so I could properly lose my balance...) (You don't, actually.) (Sense of balance perfectly calibrated.) (I'd think your 'real' body would be attu... right.) (Really? I thought that'd be more of a mental thing. Oh well.) * Ian looks in the mirror again, and then feels - "Huh. I have a TSM." * Leopoldo glances at the mirrior. "No kidding. I have... skin." Huh. So do I. * Leopoldo looks behind him. "And my tail's missing and I'm not falling on my face." * Rochelle stops staring in the mirror and runs her hand across the back of her head. "Huh." She lets it drop and looks around at the others. * Fitzroy checks the mirror also. * Threnody frowns and feels the back of his nec. "...so do I." He sounds about as displeased at "discovered has TSM jack" as he would at "discovered he lacks limbs". * Katherine smirks thinly and turns towards peoples. "Well, at least, whoever the other us-es are, they weren't scared of TSM jacks." She rubs hers. "Different make though." She sits on a pallet. * Leopoldo feels where the TSM would be, and blinks. "I think I can feel things better, too. I can feel things a lot more... vividly." * Threnody also goes and has a seat, closing his eyes a second. "Well, some things don't change. I can still sense other people." * Vera sighs and leans back on a bed. "I need a drink." * Ian nods. "So do I. That has also not changed." Bet they think bugs are going to burst out of us or something. Like in one of those movies. Today's date hasn't changed. It's the same day, but it looks like we've been fighting the bugs for years. I've got battle data in my computer from quite some time ago. * Katherine rubs her head and mutters, "Fucking noise. Count me out." * Leopoldo sits down. "It is one of those movies, I think." * Threnody opens his eyes, then tilts his head and bounces on the pallet a bit, frowning. He puts a finger to his forehead and pushes a little, then huhs curiously. "Can't feel a thing. I guess the burns are worse than they looked." * Rochelle goes back to poking at her armor. <> * Ian leans back and sighs, staring at the wall. * Threnody hmmms and closes his eyes. "Maybe I should keep trying Rochelle's suggestion. Perhaps with practice I can figure something out." What, thinkin' to yourself? * Ian prods his knee. "Huh, something's different." * Rochelle tilts her head at the ripple and pokes in a different place. Yeah, if anyone would know what to do, it's Roch. * Threnody nods. "Well... maybe just seeing my own memories. Really, they're all just neural pathways, so I *should* be able to access them, you'd think... but..." * Threnody he opens one eye and smiles wearily. "It would be nice to know why this other me is in such a state." Nah, I just know Anders is gonna be here in a little while. * Fitzroy sits down on one of the pallets. <> 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Rochelle (2d6-2) and gets 7. (DR1) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Rochelle (2d6-2) and gets 4. * Ian gets up and stretches his legs. (Made!) * Threnody closes his eye again and hmms. "I wonder if it's possible to self-induce a fugue state." He actually sounds scientific and knowledgeable! Fascinating. * Leopoldo idly fiddles his hands along the sheets of the bed. * Rochelle tilts her head, then glances up and around the room, then back down at her armor. "The hell?" * Katherine shifts and lies down on her pallet. "Dunno." She rubs her head. "I'm trying to figure out why we, uh, suddenly ended up here. You know. We were nowhere near that teleporter room--uh?" What's up? 'Cause Vernon's an idiot. * Rochelle rubs at her arm, where a blue armband is. "Looks like I'm a criminal in this universe, or something." * Threnody looks at Rochelle, then blinks, then looks at his own armband. Criminals? Yeah. * Katherine is lying down and can't see Rock! "How do you know?" (Roch. >_>) <> * Rochelle taps at her nameplate. Right below her name, if you look closely enough, is CONVICT WARRIOR #256725. "It says so." * Vera checks herself. "Not me. Hm." * Katherine sits up again with a nnh, looks at Roch, then stands up and walks over to the mirror to check out her own suit. * Threnody blinks. "So it does. I suppose it's not surprising. I'm not sure even an alternate-dimension me would be big on the military." Yeah. Too much getting shot at. * Ian looks at himself, and shrugs. * Katherine examines her suit. "Normally, I'd agree with you, but... jesus, with that many bugs..." * Rochelle looks herself over again, then walks over to one of the pallets and sits down. * Fitzroy hmms "Looks like convict warriors are usually nasty criminals. I wonder what you guys did." * Threnody nods at Katherine numbly, then BLINKS, and looks at Roy. "Can you... look something up for me?" Roch probably predicted victory over the bugs or something. * Vera sits up and mutters, "God damn, where do they keep the alcohol?" Sure. I'll try. I dunno if the other me could've predicted anything. * Threnody bites his lip. "I want to know if there's some public record... about my mother." * Ian flexes his legs a bit, and then tries jumping in place. * Rochelle blinks, looking over at Roy. "Yeah. Why am I a convict, anyway?" * Threnody looks around distractedly. "I guess it's not preposterous to think this is just a world where the Europa Team never went to Sleythin, but..." I have to wonder what made my other self... Well, nevermind. What's going on? All I'm hearing are military command codes. ah. Ok. < Ow! Jesus Christ! * Threnody is snapped out of his reverie by that. "...oh, my." * Leopoldo winces and looks over at Ian. "You okay?" * Rochelle doesn't even blink. * Vera watches "Jeez, man." <> * Ian is now in a heap on the floor, rubbing his jaw. "...g...gah. I, uh...think so. Nothing broken. What the HELL was that?" You tell me. * Katherine whips her head around at the noise, "Damn, man." * Ian slowly collects himself, and starts rolling up his right pants leg. <> ...well. That would certainly go some distance towards explaining things. * Katherine then eyes Ian and chuckles. "Nice legs." Shiny. ... Yeah. * Leopoldo snickers. * Vera rolls up her left sleeve and looks at her arm. * Ian sits down painfully, still rubbing his head. "Remind me not to kick anything unless I really mean it." <> * Rochelle leans forward, putting her elbows on her legs and propping her head up. (I swear to god I'm doing stuff. >_< Lots of msg) (Ehe.) * Katherine frowns and starts to pace a little. * Threnody closes his eyes and uses the quiet to get in touch with his inner brane. * Vera then checks the other arm. <> * Leopoldo just waits. And waits. And waits. * Ian stretches, closes his eyes, and drums his fingers. (He's writing in his head.) * Katherine gets a glance at Vera's arms while pacing, "Damn, Vera, those are impressive arms." * Leopoldo idly keeps his hand's facination with the bedding though. * Fitzroy cough-gasps, then whistles. * Threnody opens one eye and trains it on Roy curiously. Yeah, tell me about it. Well, as for the Europa Team.. I found a seriously long ballad about it. It's titled 'Sacrifice Of The Europa Team', however. * Leopoldo looks over, then back at Roy. "That sounds... unfortunate." And, as for the criminal status of you two?..... um, I'd say you deserve it. * Vera rolls up her sleeves. * Rochelle snaps out of it, looking at Roy. "What happened?" * Ian raises an eyebrow. * Threnody pauses, then opens his other eye and looks at Roy with a sort of blank expression, then an embarassed one. "Do you mind if I...?" * Katherine says, obviously surprised, "Sacrifice?" Yeah, they lost. * Fitzroy turns on the holodisplay of his comp to show the group the title. "Yep. Sacrifice." What'd they do? * Katherine glares over at Vera. "But..." She turns towards the holodisplay and looks! I can't really tell what happened to them. This thing is so very long. * Threnody tilts his head, but isn't looking at the holoscreen. "Goodness, that *IS* long. And... sort of pointless." There aren't really any concrete events either. At least that I could find. I didn't read the whole thing. * Threnody frowns. "Maybe skip to the end?" * Ian hmms. Well, lefty says the lizards were already dead when they got there. Righty says the invasion started before they got back. * Threnody turns and *looks* at Vera. "..." Who? * Vera shakes her arms. Righty and le... Your... arms are talking to you? * Ian blinks. Idiot. It's the tatoos. * Katherine gives Vera the eye too, then says, "The tattoos. You, er, other you, got the tattoos as a STORY?" * Rochelle looks over at Vera, noticing the tattoos for the first time. Yeah. Don't ask me why. Huh, interesting. * Threnody frowns. "But if they died so long ago, how was I ever born? I can't be Isis Tsukitomi's son if she's dead." They look all right. I mean, if you don't wanna be flesh-colored anymore. (You were inspired by the beauty of stanza 457, which extolls the glory of THE TRESSES, LO THE TRESSES.) * Leopoldo breathes in deeply, then turns a harsh glare to Vera. "Do not call me an idiot again." (What about soulful eyes?) (That's stanza 512.) (And the BethanyBot!) ("And yea, on the bridal night did the maiden reveal herself to be a bird, and lo, the tresses flared in holy wrath...") (Kersnort.) ( That is wrong on so many levels. ) (Yup.) <> There's your drink. Awesome! (MRE?) * Vera gets up and grabs it. "Awesome." (Meals Ready to Eat.) (Meals Ready to Eat. Imagine TV dinners made to last three years in all weather conditions.) (Ugh.) (Standard military fare.) ( Robert would love it. ) * Vera drinks and eats. "Free alcohol, at least. Can't complain about that." (About .5 Chams better than k-rations, which isn't saying much.) <> * Rochelle gets up, grabs an MRE, reclaims her old seat, and starts eating. The girl must be hungry, because she doesn't give any indication that it's disgusting. * Ian does likewise, but eats more and more slowly. "...an abject and unfortunate culinary failure." * Leopoldo grabs it and eats it, trying his best to ignore the taste/texture. * Katherine grabs herself a Beef and eats. "Oh, come on, they're not meant to be culinary masterpieces." (DId Roy say what we criminals did, and I missed it?) (He did not.) (Only that you deserved it.) (And I asked what they did, and he didn't answer...) * Threnody glances at Roy, passing on food for the moment. "What exactly is it Rochelle and I did?" (Not yet) ( You ruined an actor's concrete block ;_; ) (These MREs are concrete blocks!) * Fitzroy gets up to grab an mre. "Well, Rochelle did some major bank robbing." In person.. With guns. Did I kill anybody? Not exactly. Nobody died. Maimed, but not dead. * Threnody tilts his head. "That doesn't sound terribly conscription-worthy, though." * Katherine seems amused, which is a feat considering that she's eating 'Beef'. "Maybe they're really needy. If this has been going on for 25 years..." (Beeph.) Threnody, though. You got those burns when you accidently set fire to a building.. while trying to burn a body.. that you slowly and methodicly killed. * Ian winces. Ouch. * Leopoldo cuts another bit and gulps it down. While you're at it, could you look up on the rest of us? * Threnody tilts his head, then says with a vacant expression, "It's not exactly good news, but I'd be lying if I said I was surprised to hear it." * Fitzroy hmms. * Katherine shakes her head and says, "No thanks. I really... really don't need to know why she's here." * Rochelle takes another bite of ration, chews, and swallows. "Sounds like they're desperate." <> Hey Anders. * Fitzroy nods. * Ian waves to Anders. Uhm, hi, guys. One thing does bother me, though... Oh, hi Anders. Well, there really isn't any info on the rest of us, Leo. Figures. * Rochelle looks over at Anders. "What's going on?" * Anders is wearing average street clothes as he walks in, carrying a multicolored speak-n-spell with circuitboards and aluminum boxes on all the sides, and a bunch of plenum cables leading up and fading into the air. "Well, you're in a different universe." Nice of you to notice. * Threnody ehes at Leo. "That does seem to be in the realm of the obvious." No, really, I wasn't being sarcastic. It is nice for someone to notice. * Ian nods. * Katherine snickers, then says, "Seriously, man. Give us something useful. Like when the fuck we're getting out of this." * Anders reddens slightly. "Uhm, Vernon sent me to keep you guys updated. I'm gonna do my best!" About a day. It's the how that's got me wondering... Why'd he send you? Er, bad news first. Vernon doesn't know how to get you back. Ms. Levinworth's really angry at him, and so she's taken all his anime. * Rochelle rolls her eyes. Her normal eyes. * Ian sighs. That should get him working on it, shouldn't it? * Katherine rolls her eyes too. "No. That just means he'll get drunk twice as often." * Threnody rubs the back of his neck. "I think it was a symbolic gesture more than actual punishment." I dunno why they sent me. Vernon said something about... was it 'half-impression'? Or something. But for now, you're just gonna have to ride this out, it seems. There's an awful lot of bugs in this universe. You're probably going to have to deal with them. A lot. Wonderful. So, how are you here? Did Vernon get the thing working? Oh, great. * Katherine mutters, "Yes, that's why we're in the military, Anders," She finishes off her MRE. I'm not sure. He put a collander on my head and-- oh! Very important. You need to not let on that you're not yourselves here. I mean, not let them know that you're not your alternate selves? Wait, that can't be right... * Leopoldo downs the rest of his MRE too. We're not to let other people know we're interdimensional travelers, right? Yeah, that's about right. Thing is, we know next to nothing about ourselves here. * Rochelle polishes off her MRE. And half of us can't even shoot. Which makes it hard to be in the military. * Vera shrugs. "Whatever. Let's go hang out on some far-flung rock until this all blows over." Well, that's what I'm here for! To tell you, and stuff. Then start talking. * Threnody sighs. "No matter how hard I try I can't seem to get into my own head. It's very frustrating." Ms. Levinworth is digging up info on you and I'm here to relay it... * Anders punches a few buttons on his speak-n-spell. You're communicating through _that_ thing? * Katherine snickers. ("Finding the frequency was easy, but making it capable of interdimensional transmission was quite a challenge." ) ... Why am I not surprised? Please, tell me. * Katherine sighs noisily as she waits for Anders to give magical information bits! Yummy. * Anders punches more buttons on his speak-n-spell. "Just a second..." * Rochelle speaks up suddenly: "Why do ya sound so different?" Well, it all starts with the Europa Team. And-- wait, what? I'm just wondering. You're talking different from the last times I heard you. Oh. I'm... just used to knowing everything, is all. Being without it's left me kinda... uhm, Europa team went to Sleythin, found all the Sleythins dead. * Ian blinks. * Rochelle nods. Okay. Bugs invaded earth, succesfully. They then invaded Mars. * Katherine leans back on her pallet and chuckles a little. "Remind me to hug the next Slaythin I meet." (Universal Hug a Sleythin Day!) The battle with the two Beans lasted a full week. Eventually, the Europa team sacrificed itself trying to save the planet. While the bugs aren't gone, the planet's not completely conquered, yet. * Threnody tilts his head, though he looks just shy of physically struck at that news. "Then how is it I exist at all?" * Threnody pauses. "Well, 'this' me, anyway." Any clue on the space colonies? * Anders punches a few more keys. "I have no idea, Threnody. I'd say 'coincidence' but I don't believe in it." He shakes his head as though to clear it. <> The colonies are gone. This is pretty much the last stand of humanity, here. Every living human being left alive is under this mountain. * Katherine sighs and rubs her hands together. "Well. How do-- wow." ...crap. The Pyramid has all but won the great game, here. * Rochelle nods. She's sort of zoning out again. Damn, that really sucks. * Fitzroy nods at Leo. Er, that thought should guide you, really. You'll probably notice that everyone here has the mentality of a cornered animal. * Katherine sudenly rubs her head. "Ugh. Fucking..." she looks up at Anders. "So what, we just sit here for a day, like Roch said, and then we're gone? If the bugs are this close, who knows if we'll even last the day." * Threnody knits his brow. "One wonders what happens if we, er... 'die'." Well, it's more likely you'll be pressed into service. Nope. We've got to... * Rochelle keeps looking into the distance. "We've got to do something first." She blinks, shaking her head. "Something important." Drink a lot of booze. Yeah, that too. * Katherine grabs the chest of her armor/clothes and tries to shake it at Anders. "We're ALREADY in service." * Anders nods at Rochelle. "No, you're right. Well, 94% chance of it. But you're probably right." * Anders shies away from Kat. "Er. I meant you'd have to fight?" <> "C-A-T spellz CAT" * Anders doesn't seem to have a response formulated for that. Ahh, ATC. Technology at its best. * Ian grins. * Rochelle snickers despite herself. * Katherine stands up. "You betcha. Three cheers for ATC." She starts pacing again. "Okay, we can do that just as soon as they don't think we're out of our damn minds. Well, we can try." She glances at some of the noncombatants. (*wobbles* I dunno how much more awakeness I have.) (I think Thren's going to catch nanite flu and I sleep.) <> "Med scans check out. You're all fine, so even talking at thin air ain't gonna save you from bein' back on the front lines again tonight." (I'm ending soon. I'm also dying.) * Rochelle looks at him for a moment, then gets to her feet. Uhm... right. I'll try not to distract you all, I guess. <> "You've got two hours rest time till your shift starts. I suggest you make use of it at the range." (Or just sit there. >>) * Katherine turns towards the man and nods. "Sounds like a good idea." She looks back towards everyone. * Leopoldo gets up. "Yeah. Let's get moving." * Vera gets up and heads out. "Find something, at least. Maybe more alcohol." * Ian nods. "Just hope I'll pick this up quickly. I'd like to avoid dying." (Bad Ian! No making comments like that around the commander.) * Threnody frowns to himself, muttering, "I don't know *how* to act like a murderous psychopath on purpose." * Rochelle just heads out the door. ( Clearly, Thren has never met Maggie. ) <>