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

[redheadcarrier]

Asuka's in very much the same boat when it comes to "fuck this mission and fuck this body swap". Fortunately, she's avoided switching bodies with anyone, but it's still an irritant she could do without. The only plus side is that people here are relatively normal, even if they all look at her funny when she speaks in accented English.

She can't really agree about the nineties, though because her series is basically the nineties only in the future with giant robots. It's a vague era she's only read about, considering that this entire place is basically her world, only pre-Apocalypse/giant asteroid impact. Plus it's a chance to do some shopping - mostly small things, but she's tempted to get some clothes while she's here.

She's cutting across campus for the umpteenth time when she spots a familiar face (well, kind of familiar). She hadn't talked to the other girl since Black Rock, but it's someone to harass or reminisce with, so she alters course and breezes over to Steph with a little wave.

"Heeeey - Stephanie, right? Long time no see!"

She's actually being charming for once instead of a giant sourpuss.

[controlledvariable]

Steph slows her pace when she spots Asuka, greeting her with a smile, "That's me," Which could be a casual confirmation that Asuka has her name right, but consider recent events, it's also a way to tell her that she's currently in her right body.

She's going to Asuka is still - herself, considering the fact she's moving the same way she was when they last met, "How've you been?"

[redheadcarrier]

"OK, I guess," Asuka shrugs and falls in next to the older girl. These she can do - the superficial chit-chat gives a sense of normalcy.

"Dealing with being stuck here, you know how it goes. What about you? Punch out any more creeps?"

[controlledvariable]

Steph, on the other hand, tends to struggle a bit with chit-chat, because talking to people outside of a vigilante context is hard, but she'll make an effort.

"Not recently," That is, of course, a complete lie, considering punching out creeps is essentially what she does for a living. She's just trying to be a little more careful with the whole secret identity thing, especially considering she's now accepted the fact she might be in this for the long haul, "I've been checking out the Outlands a little, but there's not a whole lot out there."

And no one was surprised.

[redheadcarrier]

"Doesn't sound like it," Asuka scoffs, "More like a barren wasteland... I wouldn't waste my time with it, but if you want to..."

Asuka trails off with a shrug. She's not judging (she's totally judging).

[controlledvariable]

She hears that slight judgement, but it doesn't really bother her, "I'd rather know what's out there than just take people's word for it, and there can be some interesting stuff."

There's also a few locations out there that might make viable safe houses, with a little bit of work, just in case anything ever happens to the city.

[redheadcarrier]

"Like radiated wasteland and mutated rats?" Asuka's joking (mostly). She's kind of used to the whole "everything beyond the safe zone is dead", though. It's what she grew up with. She runs a hand through her hair, looking thoughtful.

"Maybe I'll check it out someday. It'd be a change from sitting around inside that wreck of a city, anyway."

[controlledvariable]

"I think I saw a mutated cow, too," She'll roll with the joke, even if there is a fair bit of truth in it; some of the creatures out there aren't exactly friendly.

"Well, it's a lot worse than they city, but yeah, as long as you're careful it can't hurt to take a look," She can't imagine not investigating, in all honesty.

(She's already considering the possibility of investigating United Earth territory, but that's a long term plan.)

[redheadcarrier]

"Why am I not surprised?" Asuka sighs, "Everything is mutated here. Probably."

Nuclear winter, what a wonderful thing. She shoves her hands into her pockets and glances out over the campus as they walk.

"I just wouldn't want to get eaten or anything. I like being alive, thanks very much."

[controlledvariable]

"I've seen some fairly normal looking cats," If she had to pick an animal that'd survive what Britain's had thrown at it, cats would have been second on the list after roaches. And at least cats are cuture.

She huffs a laugh, sounding a little wry, "The Initiative would bring you back, at least, maybe it's a good opportunity to find out what it's like to get eaten."

Why would anyone want to find that out.

[redheadcarrier]

"Cats...? Huh. Wonder how they made it through."

Asuka isn't really sure cats would be the best suited to surviving the apocalypse, but she supposes it's as good of an animal to survive the end of the world as any. The mention of death and coming back make her pull a face and a bit of color drains out of her cheeks.

"Ugh. No, thanks. I don't feel like testing their system first-hand! Who wants to die, anyway?"

[controlledvariable]

"Stubbornness, if I had to guess," She hasn't had the best experiences with cats, between Kara's and Klarion's cats, she's gotten mauled one to many times.

While she's personally fairly blase about death, she doesn't miss Asuka's reaction, and files it away as a potentially sensitive topic, "I could probably answer that question, but it might be a bit depressing."

[redheadcarrier]

"I never thought of cats of all that stubborn," Asuka arches a brow, "More lazy..."

Asuka scowls at Steph's reply, "People who think like that just aren't worth anything, anyway. If they want to die, let them!"

She might be reading too much into Stephanie's answer, but Asuka always tends to jump to conclusions.

[controlledvariable]

"You've never seen a cat decide that it absolutely has to sit in the most inconvenient place in the room, have you?" More than once, Kara's cat decided to use Steph as a pillow and resisted any and all attempts to move it.

Her expression closes off a little, "It's never as simple as that." It hadn't been quite what she meant, but she's talked enough suicidal people down from rooftops to feel defensive of them.

[redheadcarrier]

"I've never owned one," Asuka shrugs. She slips her hands into her pockets and glances up at Stephanie. Well, no one agrees on everything, even if Asuka thinks certain opinions are silly. After all, the world doesn't revolve around her (much to her disappointment).

"Sometimes it is," she counters, "You can't force people to live for themselves if they don't want to!"

Which is kind of ironic, considering Asuka's issues, but she's not that self-aware.

sorry for the delay

[controlledvariable]

There's something like frustr5ation in her expression, as she exhales sharply, almost but not quite a sigh; this isn't really a conversation she feels like having.

"I don't think it's ever really about not wanting to live," Because she remembers what people said about Batman, after Jason died, and she doesn't think it was that he didn't want to live, he just didn't know how to stop hurting.

Likewise. :x

[redheadcarrier]

"Sometimes it is," Asuka retorts with a shrug. That's her experience anyway (and her own shame that she went through a rather terrible phase where she would've preferred nothing else but to stop existing).

"I mean, it's kinda tragic, I guess. But sometimes you can't really stop people."