(no subject)

[initiatesnpc]

Date & Time: Jan 12th to Jan 19th (real time), July 11th to July 18th (historical time), 1884
Location: Black Rock, New Mexico, USA
Characters: All transports
Summary: Fearing UE reprisal, the Initiative corrals all transports and shoos them onto a mission back to the Wild West, to vote Gerald "Moony" Jackson in as Mayor of Black Rock. Transports are encouraged to used all their wiles to encourage townsfolk to vote in favor of him, too. Other than that, they're free to roam as they will for 7 whole days! Good luck finding food and shelter, masses. (See the OOC post for more information.)

The Initiative had been terse and rushed as they gathered the transports into the Transporter room, and anyone unwilling to participate will have been forcibly hurried along. The Initiative employees had seemed distracted and worried, and unwilling to stand around and debate. It was time to move. The teleportation had gone off without a hitch, and a roomful of transports have been treated, quite suddenly, to a broad and sunny blue sky, and especially to the heat of mid July in the American West.

Enjoy your weeklong stay in Black Rock, New Mexico! The town is small and sleepy, with just 3 good saloons and one questionable (but considerably cheaper) one. There are a few inns, but these inns aren't quite prepared to room a sudden influx of over 300 travelers, and some people might have to bunk up or get creative with their sleeping arrangements. If you sleep in an inn at all, of course. There's plenty of unexplored wilderness out there to sleep in instead, isn't there? Just make sure to check your boots for scorpions in the morning.

The only instructions are "vote for Gerald "Moony" Jackson for Mayor, and try to convince others to do the same", and you've been given just enough money to cover a very sparse room and board for 7 days, if you don't spend it in anything else.

So, how do you spend your time?

Edit: Overflow log!

Comments

[frorn]

[ He has no idea what 'Fire Bomber' is, but just watching her talk about her older brother is amusing. Possibly doubly so because he was one. ]

Ah, but that's what big brothers are for, aren't they? To make fun of their little siblings.

1/2

[ex_symbioses706]

( she just haves a huge, super-dramatic sigh!!!! as she flops on the ground for a moment. )

He does plenty of that!

[ex_symbioses706]

( and from down there, she reflects: )

I'm sure he'd be really worried if he knew about this place.

[frorn]

[ It kind of reminds him of the exasperation his sister had occasionally shown about his antics and of course, the memory is tainted with sadness, but more than that there's fondness too.

What Ranka says next is sobering though. If the other Guardians knew about this place, or rather this future, then worry might be putting it lightly. ]

I think a lot of people would be. [ He takes two bites contemplatively before holding the spoon above her face. ]

They're throwing us into a war after all.

[ex_symbioses706]

That's true.

( she starts to sit up and then realizes that would bring her face in a direct collision course with the spoon, and instead reaches up to take it and then sit up properly, crossing her legs.

her brother had been the main person to oppose her involvement in the war back in frontier, but she realizes now that had been a very different scenario, with brera and kanaria there to protect her and the government itself keeping her as a trump card against the vajra.

she takes a bite of the ice cream, considering this. with what sheryl had told her, she has a much more complete picture of what was really happening and what would result from it, giving her simultaneous feelings of homesickness and dread. )

But this mission isn't so bad - I mean, the heat is pretty bad! - but it's kind of fun...and not that dangerous.

[frorn]

[ It was far from fun for Jack, really. He was more or less incapacitated until nightfall and that, frankly, was a huge pain in the ass. But he doesn't comment on it, because even though it's not fun for him, it could still be fun for others.

And what with it being a war, he realizes it could be far worse. ]

Yeah, at least there's no fighting. You've been here a while, right? How were the other missions?

[ex_symbioses706]

There was only one other mandatory one while I was here, and that was months ago. The rest were just if you want to, I think, so I didn't go on those.

( she takes a fortifying bite of ice cream and passes the spoon back before going on, looking troubled. )

But the other one was a really big battle, for days.

[frorn]

[ Jack's expression turns equally troubled at hearing that. If it had been mandatory like this one, then even the kids they'd brought would have been there too. His grip on the spoon tightens, unconsciously causing it to frost over. ]

I'm sorry, that must have been hard. [ He hesitates for a beat. ] How did it go?

[ex_symbioses706]

( she'd stayed away from the battle lines that time, safely in the camp and singing or doing what she could to help. even after, with the unintended consequences, she hadn't strayed outside of the safe zones. but that didn't mean there was never any fear or threats. )

We - but saying 'we' is wrong, right? - the people who were fighting, they were able to do what the Initiative wanted us to do. ( get rid of the army there already, poison the earth... ) But there was a mistake, so when we got back, the city was really different - there were monsters everywhere, that I think they said the United Earth had sent. But! ( and she puts more emphasis on this one optimistic part ) They were able to fix whatever went wrong, and get rid of everything. Then everything was back to normal.

[frorn]

[ It's a good thing she emphasizes the optimistic part, although that didn't make the skepticism that had taken root as Ranka told him the story disappear. Did this Initiative really know what they were doing? He takes a good spoonful of ice cream to stop himself from blurting out anything unkind, but ... ]

Can they really afford mistakes like that? This whole messing with time thing doesn't sound like the best idea to start with and to bring in people, kids, like they do ... [ The next bite is an angry one before he passes the cold spoon over. ]

[ex_symbioses706]

( she fumbles the spoon after reaching to take it, since it was colder than expected. but she doesn't drop it at least, and taps it against the lip of the bowl once or twice as she considers an answer. )

I don't know. ( she's never been good at this; conflicts and motivations and less than pure reasonings ) They've been saying they're very desperate. And when the people you're fighting are very powerful...

( if something like this had been an option on frontier, would someone have taken it? not grace or her allies surely, but with all of the attacks and deaths, getting so desperate as to try to take their planet by force, wouldn't someone...? but that kind of thought leaves a bitter aftertaste, so she takes both bites of ice cream before going on. )

...then doing weird things like that seem like a better idea.

( like singing for the destruction of the vajra, when she was just being used all along in some greater schemes, when they weren't even the true enemy at all. )

[frorn]

I get that they're desperate, but ... [ That doesn't make it right. Not that Jack would know what to do in that situation, so maybe he's not one to talk.

The way Ranka said it also made it sound like she was talking from experience and Jack frowns in concern, but doesn't pursue it. That hardly seemed like something someone would want to talk about. Perhaps it was time to just drop the subject. The weather was enough to be grumpy and miserable about and just sitting here feeling helpless and angry at the Initiative wasn't going to help anything.

So, he takes a deep breath and lets it go. It only takes a very brief internal struggle before he's reaching out and setting his cool hand down on Ranka's head. ]

Well, there's nothing we can do about it now. We just gotta make the best of it, right?

[ex_symbioses706]

( the touch is surprising enough that she looks up in askance as she listens; but at his question, she nods with some measure of determination )

Right!

( if this is the right thing to do or not - now's not the time to consider it, right? and after a beat, she starts and hands the spoon back. )

I almost forgot, sorry!

[frorn]

[ He keeps the touch to a brief, reassuring pat on the head, before retracting his arm. He smiles encouragingly and nods along. ]

That's fine. [ He takes the spoon and scrapes all the remaining ice cream together, taking one bite before handing the bowl with the spoon to her, leaving her with the last bite. ]

I'd say we go and have some fun, but ... [ Jack glances up at the sky, scowling at it. ] Not much I can do in this.

[ex_symbioses706]

( she almost protests his one bite before realizing there's only one left anyway and taking it herself. she continues to hold onto the bowl after; it's cool, and there's no point in handing it back now anyway. at the reminder of his predicament, she frowns. )

There must be something. Maybe it'll be a cooler indoors?

( but she doesn't sound very confident about that, because it's only so much cooler if at all, and...the insides of the saloons are really kind of scary )

[frorn]

[ This time it's Jack's turn to flop onto his back with a defeated sigh. ]

I dunno, it's probably gonna be crowded and that won't really help.

[ex_symbioses706]

That's true...

( she looks around as if hoping to find inspiration - maybe she could find a deck of cards? but she's terrible at most games - and starts to hum idly, that same song she sang when they first met. there also may or may not be a lizard stealthily starting to climb up her shoe. )

[frorn]

[ The humming would have been enough for Jack, really. It's nice and it gives him something to focus on instead of his misery. He's about to close his eyes and enjoy it when he notices the lizard from the corner of his eye. He tilts his head so he can see it better and— he should say something about it, shouldn't he?

... But where was the fun in that? Jack, instead of saying something, sends the lizard a sudden small, but hard breeze of cold wind to hopefully startle it into scuttling up faster. ]

[ex_symbioses706]

( the sky is distracting, here; so big and bright and blue and unlike anything she's ever seen. the sky in exsilium is always gray and clouded over, and even russia was nothing like this. it reminds her of alto, makes her think of how he'd love it if he could fly in a sky like that. there's a lot he'd hate about exsilium, but he'd really enjoy the sky...

...meanwhile the lizard tenses and freezes up briefly, but hurrying on up her shoe and crawling over the laces. it pauses just short of her leg as it a little uncertain. )

[frorn]

[ Jack glances back up to Ranka to quickly check if she wasn't watching and finds her keeping her gaze up at the sky which was good. That meant he could very slowly and carefully move his staff close to the lizard to urge it up the last bit. ]

[ex_symbioses706]

( gosh! the lizard doesn't like the look of that thing, so it scurries on up her leg, making ranka break off and look down, frowning. it tickles! but then she sees the lizard

and


shrieks really loudly, moving to stand and shaking her leg out to get it off.

the poor lizard hangs on for dear life. )

[frorn]

[ Oh man, he has to cover his ears at that shriek, but it's worth it. It's a reaction similar to when someone unceremoniously gets snow shoved down their neck and Jack just has to laugh.

However, he does take mercy on Ranka and the poor lizard pretty soon enough, sitting up and making a grab for her foot in the hope of stopping all the shaking. All the while still snickering. ]

Wait, wait, hold still!

[ex_symbioses706]

( it's a moment of harried flailing before she calms down enough to let jack get a hold of her leg )

Hurry!

[frorn]

[ He gets his own snickering under control as he gets a hold of Ranka's leg and keeps a steady grip while he gently pries the poor lizard off with his other hand. ]

You know, he's more afraid of you than you of him.

[ex_symbioses706]

( SHE DON'T BUY THAT, FROST )

Even if you say that, that doesn't make it less creepy!

( /whines )