raianet | username: ens

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soldier: 76

username: ens_porter [video]

[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.]

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[ Her brow furrows for a brief moment, because what she means is that correlation does not equal causation, but there's no point in pressing that if no one has any saints-damned clue as to what really happened and no one is going to go tripping into the Chrysalis to find out again anyway.

But then she smiles brightly. ]

I have been told I'm somewhat memorable. I choose to take it as a compliment. And I can't help but think you might be taking on too much of the blame here - after all, unless someone bumps into it again and more people show up, it's hard to know what actually happened.

[O-oh. Well. Nina has just earned his esteem and undying loyalty all at the same time so, there's that.]

W-Well, I... suppose that's a pragmatic way of looking at it. Thank you. I do appreciate it, you know. I'd send you all home i-if I could.

[ Unintentional points get? She meant what she said, but she was really was just trying to figure out if anyone was going to try to poke the Chrysalis again. The vibe she's getting is no.

A kind, if somewhat wry smile is offered in response his 'if only.' ]

I appreciate the thought. I understood from Captain Childe that was rather low on the list of priorities. [ She does not sound mad about it, just matter-of-fact, and a little empathetic, really. ] I'm sure the sinkholes have pushed it even lower, but.. do you know if there is anyone working on how this all happened?

Ah... n-not at the moment. We- I know that's not the answer you want to hear, but we just don't have the resources right now, with everything going on. Most of our scientists and researchers who could have even hoped to know something about, um... quantum... mechanics? Behind bringing people from alternate dimensions and realities? They didn't survive the crash.

[He looks away as he says that. The crash is still fresh in everyone's minds, and they all lost friends.]

[ Right. It wasn't the answer she'd hoped to hear, but it was more or less what she expected. Everyone has their own sorrows, and it's a natural thing for those sorrows to take precedence. It's just a bit disconcerting that -- well, no, maybe she'll just say that bit.

Quietly: ]

I'm sorry. [ A brief, respectful pause before: ] I myself couldn't define quantum mechanics if you asked, and I know absolutely nothing about alternate dimensions and realities besides the fact that they, apparently, exist. It's just that I find it a bit disconcerting that apparently it happened again, except this time there were a lot less people who came through, and as far as I know - no one tripped into it. It makes me wonder if the door or - whatever it was that caused this to happen - is somehow growing smaller.

[ Which means less of chance of return for those who want to go back. And that's not even to get into the weirdness of people vanishing, because oh, she has Concerns there as well. ]

Well, I, uh, I've been thinking about it like... the Chrysalis is still, you know, it's still active. Glowy and all that. It wasn't before, it was just - like, uh, it was a big... orb? And that was it. I mentioned to someone else that we couldn't scan it at all, it just scrambles our equipment with some sort of interference.

So I think that maybe whatever I did, um, maybe it... activated it? And now there's no way to turn it off. But maybe there are power surges that make it more or less... portal-y?

[He is the best at explaining things. Absolute top-shelf. Yes indeed.]

[ This sounds like similar dissatisfying speculation that she's participated in before, and unless she wants to take the Thessyx's word for them being 'chosen' and 'children of the leviathan', which she does not, they really need to find a way to come up with some better information or one of these days she is just going to frustration scream.

That day is not today, and she gives him a little wry smile. ]

Has anyone tried tripping into it again?

Uh... n-no, but before you even ask I'm not going anywhere near the Chrysalis ever again unless Captain Childe orders me to but, you know, it's not really — it's kind of traumatic bringing dozens of people into another world?

[Honestly he doesn't recommend it. Not fun. He feels so guilty.]

[ She'd been mostly joking but clearly it was Too Soon. ]

If that's what caused it, then yes, I can see why you wouldn't want to repeat it. Right, [ Nina claps her hands and rubs them together. Change of subject into something more concrete before they both lose their minds, yes, good. ] So what are the first five things that pop into your head about Adament-people culture that you think those of us who are not from any version of Earth should know?

[It's such a tonal shift he's left speechless, mouth gawping uselessly as he tries to shift mental gears.]

Um... I... I don't, I'm not, um, I'm not really the g-guy to ask about that sort of thing? I d-don't know enough about your world to definitively s-say what's different or not so I'd probably just tell you a l-lot of useless things that don't really matter...

Sorry, I know I'm not much help at all this.

[ Psh, this poor guy.

You are going to need to get so drunk, Ashley. She hopes you knows someone in maintenance.

She gives him a smile. ]

I didn't really mean to ask about what's different - just what the first couple of things are that come to your head when you think about your culture. So if I were to do so with Ravka, I'd think something like - cold, war, king, Fold, and waffles. [ That's six, Nina, but she doesn't care - it's an imprecise science. ] There, see? Your turn.

[He flattens his hair out nervously from where the heat and humidity has licked it into waves just starting to curl. If he could disappear altogether he would.]

Um... I... I think most o-of ours would be depressing.

[The ones that all immediately spring to mind: acid, death, tomb, starvation, sickness.]

I g-guess I like when t-the, um, when the religious leaders from each notable sect we h-have here put on feasts and, um, they share with everyone else and i-it's very nice and open and n-nonjudgmental? W-we're good at coming together when people need it. I-in a crisis or, um, just in normal times too.

[ She leans in as if telling him a secret. over video. on an open channel. ] Most of mine were depressing too.

[ She leans back. ]

Those are good thoughts about this place. In my experience, it's a rare thing for people of different religions to be nonjudgmental. And you've all been dealing with so much... I have to add in that I appreciate that you didn't just turn us out into the rain.

There, um, there was some discussion of it at first. N-not from Captain Childe.

[Is it throwing Rémi to the wolves to admit that? Maybe. It's fine, Ashley doesn't like him much anyway.]

E-even knowing it would eat into our resources, we recognized you were p-people that didn't ask to be here any more than we did. We like to think someone else would have done the same for us.

[Even though the Thessyx didn't. They knew they were here for years, apparently, but never tried to help until their 'Hatchlings' arrived. He's trying not to be bitter about it.]

[ Saints.

Her expression softens minutely, but she is only frank - sincere, really. It's a luxury she can have here, even while pursuing an agenda, and she wallows in it. ]

Well, I can understand the security and resources standpoint as well as the... sense of responsibility, I suppose, that I'd be feeling if something this completely insane had happened at home. I hope that we've proved to be contributors, for the most part. [ She's certainly healed her fair share of NPCs at the Aid Station, worked her shifts at the theatre, and she knows many people who've done the same. ] This is the sort of situation where working together is best so we can all survive, and then hopefully focus on getting people home.

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username: ens_porter [video]

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...where did Grisha go from my list and how did it disappear?

I will pretend you said it and together we will thwart dreamwidth!

You're the best! ;;