MISSION: GRAB THE EYEBALLTAUR

[initiates]

Date & Time: March 7th, 1994
Location: The MICA campus: Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Characters: Everyone
Summary: All transports are shipped back to 1994 to steal art from art students. Also, some of them arrive bodyswapped.

The Initiative has timed the incoming waves of Transports to the MICA campus for Freshmen Orientation, but even so, the flood of newcomers gets a few surprised glances. Looks like MICA's up for a major boom in attendance next year, wow. But do some of those freshman look a little old to you? …And do some of them seem to be freaking out a lot more than usual about being in Baltimore?

The cloaking devices, with holograms visible only to the natives, will be blending everyone in with the native 90s fashion senses, and all non-humans will find themselves getting much more tame curious glances than they might back on Exsilium, as they project a human appearance to natives around them. So at least there's that. Just try not to get arrested, hit by cars, or challenged to any break dance competitions as you grab and run off with bizarre works of art, alright? The weirder it looks, the more likely it probably is to be the power source the Initiative needs for the Transporter.

Oh, yeah, and sorry about the body-swap-around. Just deal with that as best you can, because the mission really must go on. Any harried and worried Initiative employee along on the mission that you might be able to find will just sputter a hasty not-really-explanative explanation and hurry away, trading frantic messages with the headquarters in Exsilium. They'll get this all sorted out by the time you get back, don't worry.

Comments

[implying]

[ For, like, five minutes, Vanadi has decided to give the actual mission part of this mission a shot. Sure, why not, as long as he's here. He just happens to poke his head into a classroom that Steph is currently in, and — oh, what luck. He smiles, stepping more fully into the doorway. ]

Do I have the pleasure of addressing a one Stephanie, or is this merely someone that looks as gorgeously as she usually does?

[controlledvariable]

[His question is probably answered when Steph rolls her eyes at him]

If someone else was in my body, they'd currently be tied up somewhere so they couldn't break anything.

[The idea of someone in her body is horrifying but it hasn't happened, so she's just going to joke about it instead of freaking out.]

[implying]

Lovely! [ He invites himself into the room, slipping in to glance around with interest. ]

Not, of course, that I would object to meeting someone new, but I'm rather fond of you as you.

[controlledvariable]

[She slips her phone back into her pocket, because Vanadi doesn't need to see her fancy Bat-tech, and just hops up to sit on one of the desks. She doesn't think there's anything here worth taking back to the Initiative.]

I'm flattered. [a hand to her chest, just to demonstrate exactly how flattered she is] That's two compliments in as many minutes, so at least I know for sure it's you in there, too.

[Not that she wouldn't be able to pick someone in the wrong body, but still, it's a little reasurring that Vanadi is still himself.]

[implying]

Why, then we're in agreement! We'd probably best stick close together then, as nearly the only two transports in our own, proper bodies.

[ That definitely as more of a flirty edge to it than usual. Look, alright, being in a good mood and having just pushed his relationship to 'open relationship' status will do wonders to alleviate a guy's younger-self-based guilt. ]

[controlledvariable]

[She doesn't miss that extra flirtiness, and raises an eyebrow]

Or maybe we should split up so we can keep an eye on everyone and make sure nothing disasterous happens.

[She doesn't really mean it, since she doesn't mind Vanadi's company, and, well, she know he's not nearly alturistic enough to want to keep an eye out for a bunch of strangers.]

[implying]

Oh, please, have you seen the lot of them? [ He waves a dismissive hand. ] They're having a ball, every last one.

[controlledvariable]

I'm not sure 'having a ball' is how I'd described it. 'Freaking out' might be a bit more applicable.

[Which is the most reasonable reaction, in her opinion.]

[implying]

[ That gets a low laugh, a little more genuine than the grins and the jokes. ]

A bit more apt, yes. It's rather nice to be in the minority, in this case.

[controlledvariable]

I've managed to get so lucky so far, I haven't had to deal with any of this crap.

[And she's just going to casually rap her knuckles against the wooden table because sometimes it's okay to be a little superstitious.]

[implying]

I suppose a success rate of fifty-fifty isn't all so bad...

[ He finds himself a chair, spins it around to lounge in it backward, and takes to studying a particularly awful painting. ]

Gods, but this is terrible. [ A beat. ] How have you been, my dear?

[controlledvariable]

I think you got the better deal, too, if you had to have one or the other.

[At least a younger version of themselves is still themselves.

His criticism of the painting gets a huff of a laugh, before she shrugs for the question.] Busy playing babysitter.

[She may be a little frustrated by the fact she's had to clean up Ellie's whole mess with Fi.]

[implying]

Oh?

[ That sounds like juicy gossip, and he's happy to abandon his study of the painting to tip the nose of the mask toward her, interested. ]

How so?

[controlledvariable]

[She sighs a little, pausing while she tries to think how to explain the situation without feeling like she's betraying Ellie's confidence.]

There was a-- [vague handwave] Falling out and I had to deal with the aftermath, which meant taking care of a newbie who was kind of freaked out about the whole multiversal travel thing.

[It's harder when people aren't from worlds where that shit happens regularly.]

[implying]

Lovely, isn't that?

[ There's sympathy in his voice, translated to the downturn of his mouth below the mask. It's sort of a sad and detail-less story, but he won't actually press if she doesn't seem willing to share. ]

I was in a world once where all newcomers ended up hospitalized. That was charming, believe you me!

[controlledvariable]

She's a sweet girl, but the whole thing is just a mess.

[Ellie is going to get yelled at when she slinks back into Steph's presence.]

Christ. [Exsilium suddenly doesn't seem so terrible] Why the hell would they do that?

[At least the Initiative makes sense.]

[implying]

Oh, well. [ He shrugs. ] I suppose...

[ A pause, where he realizes how totally crazy this sounds. Well, too late to back up now. ]

...That having your soul ripped out and made into an animal will do that. It wasn't all so bad, when the nausea had passed.

oh no anything but my soup

[controlledvariable]

[That.... does sound kind of crazy, but it isn't the craziest thing she's heard.

Probably somewhere in the top ten, though.]

Okay, I'm never gonna complain about Exsilium again. At least they leave my soul where it's supposed to be.

[a beat] What kind of animal? [She can be slightly freaked out and curious at the same time.]

[implying]

[ He hesitates for a second. This is strange. He hadn't even told Collette about his own dæmon, after realizing she'd been lying about being from Cittágazze. He clears his throat, sounding a little embarrassed. ]

A hummingbird.

[ He lifts a gloved finger in a lazy point, gesturing to the empty air somewhere between them. ]

She's there, although, ah, you can't see her.

[controlledvariable]

Oh. [Her expression softens, as she looks at the empty air, and while she isn't entirely sure she understands the whole thing, she can tell he's a little embarrassed about it.

Gently:] Does she have a name?

[There are other things she's wondering about it, but they seem too much like prying.]

[implying]

[ And if Steph could see the aforementioned hummingbird, she'd see her dart back into her usual hiding spot under Vanadi's mask. Even invisible, he's got himself a timid little bird-soul. ]

Aliva— a kitrite name from home. [ welp yep this is just too weird. He stands up, making a pretense of moving on to examine more art. ] I suppose you'd have yourself something more like a mountain lion.

[controlledvariable]

It's a pretty name. [That seems like a fairly safe response, and she smiles for the mountain lion comment.]

They're not random, then? [A hummingbird seems to fit Vanadi] I'm not sure if that's a compliment or an insult.

pretend that was Aleva, GOSH I CAN'T BE EXPECTED TO REMEMBER MY CHARACTER'S OWN SOUL JEEZ

[implying]

Well, I'm hardly the expert on... animals as souls, but it didn't seem as if they were.

[ He tosses a grin back over his shoulder. ]

It only means you could very likely and very thoroughly trump me, is all.

WE ASK SO MUCH OF YOU

[controlledvariable]

[She considers pointing out that he handled himself pretty well when he was younger, but they are supposed to be 'starting over', as it were, so she leaves it be.]

I thought you might be saying I was vicious.

[She grins right back, figuring he wants to move on from the particulars of his soul]

[implying]

Vicious, no! [ He turns more fully to face her, head cocking and grin back in place. The subject change is welcome and appreciated. ]

Lithe, graceful, beautiful, potentially dangerous... all of those, certainly. But as you haven't mauled me yet, I wouldn't peg you with vicious.