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

[controlledvariable]

"Codename is generally what we call it, and I'm sure we could come up with something," A grin and a shrug, "And I could teach you to speak without the accent."

That last part would be the more difficult one, mostly because Steph is fine at teaching physical skills, but the other stuff is a little more difficult.

She makes sure to look mock indignant, "I'd make a great housewife," No, she probably wouldn't, and she can't keep up the look before she laughs, "And sure, I can do a decent roast dinner."

This conversation is strange, and she lets Ellie lean against her for a moment before jostling her gently, "It's why we make a good pair."

[akillingfrost]

Ellie grins. "Possumgirl? The Platypus?" These are amazing suggestions. "Mmm. That'd be fun, actually. It could even be helpful for other missions the Initiative sends us on." Not that she's committed to helping them, not yet. Not ever, could be. "I'm a good learner."

Unfortunately, she is not terribly good at containing her laughter. "I bet. You'd just love cooking and cleaning all day. It;d suit you."

Hmph. Don't jostle, she's comfortable. "You're really cheesy."

[controlledvariable]

"I'm a shit teacher, though," Not for the first time, she wishes Babs were here, "But I'll give it a shot, and I am gonna get you some body armor." Just informing Ellie of that small fact.

Ellie's laughter just makes Steph laugh more, "As long as I can still go out at night," It seems a fair compromise.

"And you aren't?" Really, Ellie, Steph's heard you talk, "And hey, don't get comfy, you've got a body to find and then we've got sightseeing to do."

[akillingfrost]

Excuse her, Steph, she's just bumping shoulders gently. "Oh, sweetheart. Careful, people might think you care." And, a moment: "You're not shit. Now I know how to punch people properly." And the world will thank you, Stephanie.

"Only with my permission. And no reading, that sorta stuff does things to a woman's mind. Perversion, and that." Sad thing was there were still a few people in Wirrawee who were really pretty backwards.

"Nu uh." What was that incoherent sound of protest? "I'm tired." Even so, she straightens up rubbing her (Snow's? This was still weird, it felt wrong under her fingers) face. "Al right."

[controlledvariable]

"That's different," Punching people and faking accents are entirely, though there's something like pride in her tone over the fact that Ellie can punch people properly now. It'd be alarming, when Steph had realized how often Ellie relied on luck to get her out of scrapes, "And of course I care."

She just laughs, shaking her head at that, because she can imagine it all too well. Not from Ellie, of course, but still.

"That's just in your head," She imagines it is, too, since she'd put good money on Snow's body getting more rest than Ellie's body does. Which is why Steph stands, offering a hand to Ellie to help her up.

[akillingfrost]

She likes when Steph's voice has that proudness to it. It sounds better than when she sounds tired or sad or self-deprecating. Steph's like a wild cat, and wild cats were never meant to be sad. (Sometimes, Ellie wondered if her thoughts would make more sense if she wasn't so tired. Others, she rather liked their strange turns.) "You're getting sentimental on me." She liked it. Sentimental was good.

"Mental fatigue is as real as real as muscle fatigue," she drones in the manner of someone who has been lectured repeatedly. Did therapy count as lecturing? No, mostly it was listening, but there were some things Andrea really loved to hard on about. And never mind that she just admitted to her general state of fatigue, probably not helped by all the energy she burned wrestling with things in her mind. "Hey, you don't think-- no, that'd make no sense," she adds in a quiet mutter. It'd make zero sense for Snow to get caught up with her nightmares, but she worries at her lip with her teeth. "Christ. It's a worry." She's grateful for the hand helping her up, even if she'd have liked to just tug Steph back down to the ground with her.

[controlledvariable]

"I'm always sentimental," That's something of an exaggeration, said with amusement, though there's some truth in it, too. For all that she's generally kept herself distant from people here, once someone gets under her skin she does get sentimental. She might not show it all the time, but she cares deeply about Ellie.

"Even if it's not even your brain?" It's meant to be a bit of a joke, but comes out more like speculation. She's never been particularly religious, but she comes from a world where gods and resurrection are common things, she's not sure how she feels about things like souls. Did the transporter switch peple's souls, or change the imprint, the impulses in the brain that make up a person. Or was it something else entirely? It's hard to think about.

Which is why, once Ellie is up, Steph takes the distraction in the form asking, "What's a worry?"

[akillingfrost]

"Yeah, yeah." Please. If she's really honest, she enjoys the sentimentality, and being able to indulge her own around Steph. If she were being honest... which is is, most of the time, but not when she's enjoying being contrary.

"Just, uh. I mean, obviously my mind is over here, but you know there's always that stuff about muscle memory and reflexes and stuff like that." There's certain things she doesn't talk about, much; none of them do. She's not sure she even really has a word for them. She just tries to ignore they happen. "The terrors. If she smells plastic burning, or something." On a bad day, that can be enough to send her into shut down. "Nevermind. That wouldn't make any sense."

Perhaps not that far from the things Steph had found hard to think about, after all.