EVENT: HERE THERE BE MONSTERS

[initiatesnpc]

Date & Time: October 24 - October 31
Location: Throughout Exsilium
Characters: ALL; tag yourselves in
Summary: The Transports return from their mission to find the island crawling with monsters.
Warnings: Violence, possibly injuries (notify a mod if there's cause to add a particular warning!)

The Transports return from their mission to Medieval Russia, but the Initiative Hold is eerily deserted. Normally, their would be a number of Initiative personnel prepared to meet the Transports at the end of their mission for debriefing.

Instead, there is only silence.

That is, until a distant thumping sound can be heard. It is growing closer, and suddenly the beast is bursting into the room. It lets out a roar and charges. Within minutes, it is easily defeated, but damage has already been done -- it collided with the Transporter machine, which is now making a low fizzling sound and lets off a couple sparks. The commotion is enough to draw the attention of the few remaining Initiative personnel who still inhabit the Hold, who arrive immediately afterwards. They are able to tell the Transports two things: that the machine is broken and currently unable to sent anyone back in time, and that the island has been overrun with aggressive, mutated beasts sent by the United Earth. They have been under siege for months, with the island's population reduced to a mere fraction of what it had once been.

Comments

[implying]

[ ...Well, nothing too terrible has happened yet. Vanadi steps a little nearer, resting his weight against the back of the couch as he watches Adam. ]

It doesn't look as if it's nothing.

[ Try as he might, he just can't will the friendly, upbeat tone of usual into his voice for speaking with Adam. It's apparently stuck on hesitant and nearly preemptively reproachful. ]

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Adam blinks once the reboot is done--and rolls his eyes at Vanadi's remark, unseen. He can guess the guy won't leave him alone until he's upfront about what's 'wrong', similar to how Adam hadn't stopped bothering him before during BOMBS. ]

Just a glitch.

[implying]

[ He doesn't press it— but he does plan on sticking around a little longer to see if it resurfaces. He settles his weight a little more firmly into a lean against the back of the couch, arms folded over his chest. He could be watching Adam, or be might be staring uncomfortably at nothing in particular. Difficult to tell with the mask. ]

Aside from that, how have you been?

[ With all the fighting, and the monsters, and whatnot. He'd been wondering, and it seems like a good opportunity to ask. ]

[neveraskedforthis]

[ If you want to sum Adam's current thoughts up in one word, it would be unsure. He's gotten used to being bothered when he doesn't want to be bothered and usually he doesn't even mind, but with this guy... Adam's never sure.

But the way he talks to him is different from before, so as long as it stays that way, Adam will forget about what had happened that one time. He doesn't want to hold a grudge over something that's no longer an issue.

Well, now that everything seems to be working again, maybe he should try and clean this mess up and fix his tablet... or just ask for a new one. He's not sure if he can be bothered right now trying to salvage it. ]

Well enough.

[ He gets up, without really looking at Vanadi, to go and fetch himself some tissues or a towel or something. ]

Considering the circumstances.

[implying]

[ Vanadi doesn't follow, but, after a thoughtful moment, invites himself to a seat on the couch. Opposite of where Adam had been seated, though, of course. The boundaries are painfully obvious to Vanadi, and he feels sure he's crossed some just by doing this much. ]

Glad to hear it, m— [ "My dear" is terribly instinctive, but he manages to cut it off and ends the sentence on just a slightly awkward note. After a brief pause, he nods toward the tablet. ] Well done, with the tablet. I wonder if you're the first one to break his, hmm?

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Yeah good thing Vanadi cut himself off there, because it would be reason enough for Adam to end the conversation early. He really hates any and all endearing pet names, especially when they come from someone he doesn't want to hear them from. James does that, too, and it's fucking irritating.

There are some he tolerates, of course, but the context in which they're said has to be different.

As he returns, he's wiping his hands clean first, since he got some booze over them, as well. ]

Doubt it. Pretty sure there are people here who are worse and more clumsy with any kind of tech than me. They must have spares lying around.

[implying]

Did you truly fry it?

[ He's leaning forward, falling just a little more comfortably into the role of pretending that he's perfectly fine with Adam. He reaches out a hand for the tablet where it lays, but pauses and glances up at Adam. ]

May I?

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Adam just shrugs. Vanadi can mess with that thing as much as he likes as far as Adam is concerned; it's not like he had any important data on it, he just uses it sometimes if he wants to go for text replies. Knock yourself out. ]

[implying]

[ Hey, at least he actually asked, even if it wasn't particularly important. Progress! He plucks up the tablet, wipes the face of it off carefully with a stray cushion, and spends a few seconds examining it. ]

...Mm. It does look rather thoroughly done in.

[neveraskedforthis]

That's the effect booze has on most things.

[ Especially him, haha. Adam's sitting again, picking up his smoke after cleaning most of the mess up... maybe he should just finish his sandwich and go see about blasting some mutant heads off. ]

Is your leg still bothering you?

[ Whoa, abrupt topic change. ]

[implying]

[ Meanwhile Vanadi just takes that as a dig at how HORRIBLY HE RUINED EVERYTHING BETWEEN THEM and is all prepared to lapse back into a full blown mope—when the question catches him a little off-guard. Off-guard enough to actually answer it honestly, even. ]

I've had a friend agree to fix it.

[neveraskedforthis]

Was it the mechanical one? I don't quite remember.

[ He honestly doesn't, but if there's someone around who can FIX IT... ]

If that's the case, mind telling me who's working on it.

[implying]

Yes, that one. [ That comes out a little stiffly, because man, Adam, how can you just be so nonchalant about that?? And he really doesn't want to give a name, he'd rather keep all related business as private as possible, but... what if Adam ever needs a similar service?

After a pause: ] Equius, one of the trolls here.

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Because.

And yeah, that's basically why he's asking. He's not going to go around bothering people without a good reason, but he feels more comfortable having a list on hand of people that might know a thing or two about cybernetics, if worse comes to worse. It's strange--it's not like normal human limbs can't fail you either when damaged, but he's a lot more conscious about it now... given exposure to some electricity can already render him an invalid.

He drums his fingers rhythmically against the surface of the table, thinking. Can't believe it hasn't activated yet... ]

Well, if he knows what he's doing.

[implying]

[ He glances around, growing more and more uncomfortable with this conversation, but... well, there's no one nearby to overhear it. So, that's a little better. ...But not much.

Reluctantly, he adds: ] He managed to clean my vents of the toxin build-up, after the bombings. I would say he's at least competent.

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Oh just get used to talking about your cyborg bits Vanadi. ]

How do you ask people?

[ Knowing FULL WELL you are usually uncomfortable. Only fair to address that, now, given Vanadi already knows what makes him uncomfortable. ]

[implying]

With care.

[ Yeah, he remembers your post about it, Adam. So non-secretive, so unclassy. ]

I lead the conversation into it, if they've given me reason to think they may be able to help. For his part, Equius had given us a view of his room, and all the robotic parts therein. It was no great piece of deduction.

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Yeah well, Adam's just upfront about things. And not sneaky like certain other people. ]

Did you ever consider just straight up asking for what you want or need? Instead of just schmoozing about -- [ shit no one really cares about, he wants to say, but that's harsh ] things that don't really matter. Would be a lot less misleading, probably.

[implying]

[ Is he being nagged? Ugh, Adam. Why you gotta be like this. ]

Lovely advice. I'll be sure to take it into consideration.

[neveraskedforthis]

[ You know. Just in case.

Also his way of saying, if you want something right now, better spit it out. ]

And dismiss it, ultimately.

[implying]

It's a possibility.

[ Oh yeah, he's totally worn out his welcome here. He stands himself up from the couch, smoothing out his pants and shirt as he does. ]

You've your methods, and I suppose I have mine.

[neveraskedforthis]

[ He waves ta-ta for now as Vanadi gets up. He's not at all surprised he would rather run away from a serious discussion about serious things! ]

Naturally. Each person is different.

[ And, as such, will respond to certain approaches differently than others. ]

[implying]

[ He's retreated again to stand behind the couch and, feeling a little better with a physical barrier between them, pauses there with hands rested on the back. ]

Adam, I... [ ...not sure where he's really going with this. He drops his gaze to the couch, nose of the mask dipping down. ] I'm sorry it's ended up like this, between us.

[ Not that he expects Adam to even listen to that— or at least to have no kind of real reaction— but it feels necessary to say. ]

[neveraskedforthis]

Jensen.

[ He corrects, just to make a point. It's funny how most people around here don't even ask before they start to call him by his first name, like it should be a given. ]

And why are you sorry? Because you feel like you need to be friends with everyone?

[ Like he just said, people are different. And Adam's an introvert, just like Vanadi's an extreme extrovert... that's not going to work out in the long run. ]

At least make it easier for yourself and drop that kind of mindset. The rest will happen on its own, be it good or bad, and nobody will have wasted any time or energy.

[ In other words, stop trying so hard and just let things happen organically. Geez. ]

[implying]

[ The first instinct is to just agree, apologize, and make a quick getaway, but Vanadi stops himself. It goes against his nature, but dammit, he's annoyed. This philosophy of his is about all he has going for himself. One hand tightens on the back of the couch, but he doesn't look up again. ]

And who are you to say so, Jensen?