username: ens_porter [video]

[ens_porter]

[The young man is looking... understandably nervous as he faces the camera. He makes an effort to smooth his hair down and then flashes a winning (?!) smile. Is that a piece of broccoli in his teeth? Crap! He scrubs the cuff of his shirt against it and then coughs to cover the embarrassment, before diving into his totally-not-rehearsed-like-sixty-times speech.]

So.

Uh.

Hello. Hi. I-is this thing on? Joking, I'm kidding, I know it's on. Annnnd that's the punchline ruined, great, I'm amazing at this.

D-disastrous introductions aside, I'm Ashley. You may remember me from such greatest hits as 'that guy who tripped into the Chrysalis and brought us all here somehow' and, uh, 'that nervous dude who handed me a towel in the shower once' and you would be right, uh, that is, correct on both counts. I'm really sorry, by the way. For the... you know, the... thing. The first thing. Not the towels. Towels are great. I love towels.

Captain Childe asked me like a month ago to do some work with, uh, getting everyone in and settled and doing what we can to make you guys comfortable as much as we can actually help with. We know that you guys don't want to be here any more than we do. Ethyraia! Not exactly a fun time at Grandma's, right? Right.

Anyway, if you have any questions, or... you know, anything, or you just want to chat, come say hi. Introduce yourself? I know I'm kind of setting myself up to be the basecamp whipping boy over here but please don't yell at me I don't do well with that kind of attention.

Or you could just... I don't know, tell me something about yourself? We're still figuring each other out, right? Iiiiiiiiiii am a Scorpio, and I'm afraid of cats. N-not big cats. Lions are fine? I mean... like, normal housecats. So there you go, that's the fun fact of the week.


[ooc note: Tags on this post will be boomeranged when possible over the next 4-5 days, but no tags will be done after August 1st.]

Comments

video | @s.wilson

[unclesam]

[ The backdrop of the video is, strangely enough, just the sky, no structures of vegetation. Sam seems to be sitting somewhere, though, goggles over his eyes and wearing his wingsuit. There's a bit of background noise, but not the busy camp; just wind.

Someone's hanging out high up on the dragon wing right now. He looks somewhere between exasperated and amused. ]

We got yolked through time and space 'cause you clumsy.

[ Excuse him while he rubs over his face in a moment of disbelief. At least he can assume the guy's not lying - that's way too shitty a story. ]

Right. So you gonna be our community outreach rep now?

[ens_porter]

[Hello, Mr. Flying Man, he has seen you around and hopes you appreciate his restraint in not losing his absolute shit about how cool you are. Thanks.]

Uh... yeah, a-actually, that about sums it up. More or less.

That would have been simpler. I should have lead with that.

correct reaction, Alina! Also, brief cw: GoT awfulness

[northerndragon]

They are creatures of ice who raise the dead to march as their army. The army kills more, it swells its ranks. Their wights are hard to kill, and the White Walkers themselves are stronger and harder. Their leader is the Night King.

[There are other things, but he doesn’t understand how Craster’s sons fit into it, or what use infant boys are to the Night King — only that the White Walkers had taken them, too.]

[unclesam]

[ Restraint duly noted. Although Sam would for sure start showing off a little more just to amuse Porter if he realized. ​]

No, no, I think 'Hey I tripped and fell' is a much more unique introduction. Important to stay personable, y'know? Plus, now we all have something we can laugh about.

[ If only it were funny... ]

Sam, by the way. Sam Wilson. So, other than finding unique ways to bring tourist traffic way out here, what is it you do around these parts?

[sunmon]

I see.

[ it's hard not to think of the volcra, of the fact that they had been real, living people once before they were turned into monsters by the black heretic, by the darkling, by kirigan. alina cannot compare him to the night king. not when he is here, and she needs him to believe she is harmless.

so she leaves it at that. i see. jon's north seems as much like ravka as natasha's russia does. ]

[lifetothefullest]

[This is beyond a surprise and just into being a bit of a shock--in a good way--now, because he'd gotten so incredibly used to people being terrible to him in the last world he was in. It shows on his face just briefly, but is soon replaced with a smile that's a bit warmer than his usual polite one.]

I would really appreciate that; thank you, Ashley.

There are a few of us who have been really interested in working on maps, so they might be willing to helping out. And not just that, but I think a lot of us are interested in contributing whatever we can, we just don't know what's been done or where we're needed other than in everyday work around basecamp.

voice | un: zhongli

[lapideity]

But... Ah. What is a Scorpio, exactly?

[dissemblance]

😘

[ens_porter]

i appreciate you defending my honor but it's okay!! really

i know that some people are going to be mad

it makes sense

[ens_porter]

it's actually quite useful when it comes to the classification and taxonomy of -

you know, that's a whole other subject. irrelevant!

you sound proud of that!! you should be tbh

[northerndragon]

If there is pride, it’s more that the Andals never conquered us. They were just ordinary warriors. It is why we do not keep to their gods as many of the other kingdoms do. We keep to the Old Gods. The godswood, not the sept.

One of my ancestors bent the knee to the last dragonlord, long after the Doom of Valyria, so that our people would not suffer under the kind of conquest that might be done with dragons. So that none of them would burn. But I am no maester to be teaching you history.

Why are you afraid of housecats?

[ens_porter]

[Terrifying, thank you!!]

O-okay, well, the acid rain i-is caused by, um, by nitrogen o-oxide and sulfur dioxide having a chemical reaction in the air. We don't h-have the resources for cookies? Our stores are limited and they are going to need to last us years s-so we can't be, um, we can't be frivolous with our nutritional needs.

Sorry, your Majesty.

[ens_porter]

W-well, from our perspective, you are all... you know, you're civilians. We don't feel it's fair to... well, to put you to work like you're one of our own. Having h-help is nice, but there's no reason that you should... I mean, we aren't exactly a military force, we're more, um, exploratory peacekeepers, you know? But we all volunteered for this mission, and you guys didn't g-get that choice, so... it just isn't fair to expect a-all hands on deck.

[he sort of fusses at his hair, which is almost long enough to be in need of a cut.]

N-not that we'd refuse the help, I'm just trying to give our perspective on the matter.

[ens_porter]

It's a zodiac sign! There are twelve of them where I come from. They, um, they're constellations that are said to govern your life and basic personality traits.

I'm, you know, I-I'm a scientist of sorts so I don't know if I actually believe it all but it's fun to speculate.

[ens_porter]

Nice to meet you, Sam. I've, uh, I've seen you around. You know, flying.

[He sort of waves one hand around like he's trying to mimic said flight with it. The fact he doesn't add a nyooom as he does it is really a testament to that enduring restraint.]

Iiiiiii... [drawing it out to figure out how to phrase I Do Nothing] I really don't have a specialty that, um, that applies here. I'm an astro-navigator, and, well, uh, we are... on the ground.

[He speaks haltingly, as if he's uncertain about admitting the fact he takes up space without being much help in the Basecamp.]

[ens_porter]

i can send you some books!!

i have a few.

[skagzz]

[ Tina slams her hands down on the table, coming into the desk light she has, which just blows out the camera and makes her look frightening. She's not even trying at this point she just really likes cookies okay? ]

Well then STOP putting all the nitroglycerin dioxide in the AIR and use all that ENERGY to grow COOKIE TRIES, the FOUNDATION OF THE FOOD PYRAMID.

Your queen commands it.

[ens_porter]

[That sure is a lot of information Ashley has no context for. What a friendly, faintly terrifying man he is!]

i had a bad experience as a kid.

cats can be mean

[northerndragon]

Aye, they can be.

Was it the biting or the scratching?

[ens_porter]

both...?

both.

[capt_childe]

No.

[Just that. And then she's done.

Stop terrorizing her ensign, Tina, it's rude!]

[northerndragon]

Heard they don’t like to be held.

Did your people have hounds? Most cats don’t like great hunting dogs.

[northerndragon]

It’s hard to get southroners to believe it. It doesn’t matter if anyone here does, so long as no White Walkers have found their way here.

[skagzz]

[ Tina links a video of fart noises but she is otherwise done.

That said if she runs into Ashley around base she is absolutely going to start harassing him about cookies again. ]

[annoyware]

Of course not! I just obviously have never made anyone hate me for something I didn't mean to do! It must be hard. Do you need to talk about it?