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Voting closed: April 07, 2013, 10:34:35 am

[kisame12794]

"Dammit. Hey Steve? What's behind this door?"

Ask.

[Tiruin]

"Enough about my screw-ups. You sound like you have a lot on your mind... want to talk about it?"

"Yes, I would."

Spoiler: In which a wall of text is unloaded about Feyri's past (click to show/hide)

"So it all begins with my philosophy and upbringing -- a good one, formal education and steadfast parents. Me and my sister were raised to be the hope of our downtrodden family, working firstly in...differing courses through our lives -- mostly in the fields of engineering and medicine. My sister found her niche in the former, while I tried both and failed, miserably, deciding to take in a more action-oriented field of training." She took a bite of cake to relieve her nerves with all it's sugary glory. "I applied for a Mercenary Corporation which was enlisting recruits by the handfuls ; what I learned by failure before that was applied well in my duty as a Merc: cauterizing wounds by laser, utilizing improvised weaponry and keeping the squad's spirits up until our sector was ravaged by aliens. I was joined later by my sister, and mostly everyone else who survived regardless of social status in the Corps. The Mercenaries worked as our militia force, as there was no formal military to protect our plot of space."

"Now the Merc band was renamed the Crimson Ire, due to our common hatred of the dictatorship which left us alone without any support after repeated requests (we were on the latter parts of their control anyway), and the aliens who attacked us with impunity. We sworn revenge and plotted the downfall of the local officials who had any connection with the dictatorship, starting with the local Magistrate. He wasn't a bad man in all, but he had the common qualities that people in allegedly corrupt positions usually have. Stuff happened during the phyrric victories made to ensure the plot succeeded, and for the love of fate, I ended up with the mantle of leadership in my squad.

"So this leads me to 'Jaywalking'. I screwed up the end-game plan in the best way possible, forgetting protocol and the basic training in explosives handling. I was dressed in civilian wear as I carried out the operation to sabotage the Magistrate's personal office, where all records of incriminating information are kept -- we were outlaws at the time. After planting the bombs in the building and setting the timer, I was caught.

"Caught, not by the security, or any armed personnel but by the sympathy to a little boy of this height and age," she gestured at hip level followed by a flash of several fingers, "a cripple, from the left arm going down." Feyri looked away for the moment before regaining composure and continuing. "I took pity on him and decided to help him with whatever time I had left, instantly forgetting the operation. The thing is, he reminded me so much of my people back home. He was persistent, stubborn and willing to seek help, said something about helping him return to Father, would only take a few minutes.

"What I didn't know, was that he was the Magistrate's own son. I returned him safely into the hands of one of his officers in the building and quickly exited the area, hoping that taking the safer route didn't use too much time. For once something went right, but it was the only time I wished it would go wrong. The explosion. The building came up in flames with the roaring heat of a burning sun as the improvised bombs detonated together, purging the floor from all life. I don't think anyone came out alive from the inferno."

The mercenary blinked away tears, taking a moment of silence, her food left untouched at her side. "Then worse news came in. That building was the one adjacent to where our target was. Meaning, I killed hundreds innocents without even ensuring our target's end."

After finishing her story, Feyri turned her gaze to her feet, unable to look Jim in the eye.

"...So I gave myself up and was somehow "lucky" enough to be moved here under a weak case. Having been classified as an accidental gas leak. My memory isn't the sharpest out there, and I guess I'm just not trying enough." She shrugged as she pointed out what happened upon her revival precluding the seventh mission, including the scar that roped around her body like a tree as well as relating the event in which a Tesla Sabre makes a brand addition to a metallic tree.

"Shows what I know."

[Caellath]

Milno wasn't exactly shocked, but he wondered if the armory master had been born a warrior, ready to face whatever life and the HMRC threw at her.

School...Milno had been given a bit of education, but as a farmhand he wasn't enrolled into a school. That was a privilege reserved for the people who lived in the ~5% of the planet dominated by the technological region, and much of what he knew was learned after he was captured and brought in.

He wondered how it was...Sure, he had already read about it afterwards, but it was not like the experience in itself. Although none of it mattered, he supposed.

"Oh, so you went to school. How was it?" he asked, a bit absently-minded, before realizing he was making useless small-talk and promptly frowning.

"How many times did you lead a team into combat? he proceeded to ask, moving on to the things that really mattered.

Ask.

[SeriousConcentrate]

Jim blinked. That wasn't what he had been expecting at all. He was silent for a few moments more as he finished his sandwich and thought it over. "So it was a guilty conscience, then..." he said quietly. He wasn't sure how to comfort the woman. He wasn't trained for it; his first instinct had been to say 'yeah, but you got out alive, didn't you?' and he felt that hardly was appropriate. Instead he decided to deconstruct her motivations and figure out what to do from there. "Then metaphorically this - the HMRC - is Purgatory for you, if I have my mythology right. A self-inflicted punishment, following a symbolic 'suicide' - turning oneself into the authorities knowing the result would be a death sentence. By surviving ten missions, you can be 'reincarnated' into a new life... but if you don't make it to ten, then you'll fade away, and that's a just punishment too, isn't it?"

He tilted his head to the side. "...So that's what compelled you to carry my remains around on our first mission, despite knowing nothing of me beyond my name." With a sigh, he reached behind his head and unfastened a few key straps. After a moment's hesitation, he removed the mask and held it between his hands, just in front of his chest, blue eyes squinting for a moment as they got used to the light. "I'm showing you my face because I want you to look at me and listen carefully. The most important thing - the only important thing - for you now is surviving. No matter what. Who you were, who I was, who Milno and Faith and Ivan were before that pod was lucky enough to hit the ground not so long ago, all of that doesn't matter anymore."

He pointed at the scars she showed him. "Both of us have died once, but we were lucky enough to have someone who could bring us back. We might not always be that lucky, Fey." He was quiet a few moments. "Listen, why don't we make a deal, here and now? We both finish ten missions, and we get out of here - together, or not at all. I'm completely serious. If you accept and you die later on, I'm going to be staying with the HMRC until my brain rots in that robotic body encasing it. And for my part, I'm going to be doing my damnedest to live through every mission I'm going on, because I sure as hell don't want to die and I'm not going to be responsible for chaining you here if I can help it."

It was all he could do to give her a reason to live, although he wasn't sure he could convince her.  He was sure that people - real people, who had progressed through infancy, youth, and matured over time - needed people... to depend on, to be depended on, to talk to, to share things with. As a manufactured sentient, he wasn't sure that he would ever be fully 'human' - or what he personally defined as human - but he was willing to give it a shot.

[TCM]

Upgrade to Archprincess of Debaucherous Sodomy.

[IronyOwl]

((Late approval for the proposed dynamic bonus method. Though, this does seem to imply that getting a dynamic bonus always or almost always requires spending a turn prepping the action, doesn't it?))


Faith bit her lip, troubled by both the prospect of wagering against her teammates and the risk of losing. She took a sharp breath.

"...guess I'll go all in. That's, what, 14 tokens?" she asked nervously. She reaaaaally didn't want to lose those... and also it felt a bit... off, to be wagering on her teammates all dying. But it wasn't like she was making them fail, she was just... wagering on the obvious, and then... kind of really hoping it happened but only so she could get more money.

That... wasn't too bad, right?

And as for the odds... well, surely half the completely new team being maimed was about as safe a bet as they came, right? Had there ever been a mission where that hadn't happened? She was tempted to "just" wager 10, but that felt like cowardice; either she thought it was going to happen or she didn't, and wagering some of her tokens wasn't either.

All in.

[Azthor]

((Are Psychokinetic overshots within the VR still dangerous?))

Head towards the VR machines.

[Spinal_Taper]

"Harken, my princess! The demon legions approach! This is no time for fun and games! Have at ye, fluffy spectres of the Bubblegum Barricade!"
Thomas utilizes his kung-fu mastery to defeat his foes with the energy of the gods themselves.

[IronyOwl]

((Are Psychokinetic overshots within the VR still dangerous?))

((As far as we're aware, no; everything is completely simulated, so there's no actual danger from mental overload/fatigue/etc.

You can also skip right to selecting what you want to burn/try, if you want. Generically accessing VR is really only handy for letting PW tell you your options.

Which, if you're curious, is mainly setting up any scenario you want or using a specific preset scenario. And tinkering with and generally examining stuff, but that seems less like what you were after here.

Oh and finally, remember that by default custom situations tend to assume you rolling auto 5s, just to see what would happen/if it's feasible. You can specify real rolls for more realistic simulations, and they're obviously default on the preset scenarios.))

[Tiruin]

[...]I sure as hell don't want to die and I'm not going to be responsible for chaining you here if I can help it."

"I brought you along with because I didn't want to lose anyone else who I knew, anymore."

As Jim took off his mask -- the very thing that he said reminded him of his past, she couldn't help but give in to her emotions. Tears fell freely from her eyes as he spoke without the mask, his wisdom showing her what was there to truly live for. Redemption was sort of the idea on why she came here, but instead of expecting the harsh treatment usually ascribed to a penal workforce, she met people despite the lack of people, if the idiom had any worth here.

With a sniff, she wiped them off with her elbow as Jim finished speaking. "I promise, Jim. We do this together, or we die together. Thanks...for showing me how a real man thinks."

With that, she fell upon the Transhuman Jim in a hug, uncaring of how the situation looked, but glad to be in the arms of a trusted ally.

VR Scene - shift to sunset!

[Yoink]

Faith bit her lip, troubled by both the prospect of wagering against her teammates and the risk of losing. She took a sharp breath.

"...guess I'll go all in. That's, what, 14 tokens?" she asked nervously. She reaaaaally didn't want to lose those... and also it felt a bit... off, to be wagering on her teammates all dying. But it wasn't like she was making them fail, she was just... wagering on the obvious, and then... kind of really hoping it happened but only so she could get more money.

That... wasn't too bad, right?

And as for the odds... well, surely half the completely new team being maimed was about as safe a bet as they came, right? Had there ever been a mission where that hadn't happened? She was tempted to "just" wager 10, but that felt like cowardice; either she thought it was going to happen or she didn't, and wagering some of her tokens wasn't either.

All in.

((Oh my gods this is simultaneously awesome and hilarious. ))

[Tiruin]

((Oh my gods this is simultaneously awesome and hilarious. ))

((I told you bets would come in soon. 

On that note, we've a good trope to link in the TvTropes folder for this sort of behavior. Go IronyOwl!))

[SeriousConcentrate]

Jim found himself tackled and pinned to the grass by a crying Feyri, his mask rolling away across the ground and causing a moment of slight internal panic. After a few moments to still his heart and calm down, he got his arms free and got them both to a sitting position, returning her hug. He was silent for a while, letting her cry and get it out, then reached up and wiped the tears away. "...I'm not going to lie to you and say it's going to be OK, Feyri. This is the HMRC; we don't know what the future holds. But I'll be here for you as long as I can be, for whatever you need me for. That's a promise I can keep." After all, I'm just a weapon of war. I hate lying to her about any possibility of a future for me, but I don't know how long I even have to live. Would it be more cost effective to give us normal lifespans, or longer ones so the longer we survived in battle the more effective we could continue to be, or very short ones so they could continually sell new soldiers?

The sun was low in the sky, painting it all manner of red, orange and purple hues. Jim shifted the pair of them around until they were sitting side by side, facing it, with an arm around Feyri's shoulders. "...I didn't know that could happen, but I've never paid much attention to the sky before. Before I came to the HMRC, we were kept in an underground facility, and put in stasis from when we left to when the five of us were briefed aboard this ship for that first mission. I don't remember glancing at the sky once during the mission where I killed Eric or the failed one to find the serial killer. On the moon, there was only space above us, and all of us were preoccupied with other things..." He was quiet for a few moments, thinking. "You mentioned your sister. Were you close?" he asked, turning from the sky to look at her.

[Tiruin]

"Very." Fey replied as the sky grew into the twilight shades. "She was the only semblance of family I had left, and she was the younger of us two."

Letting go of bottled emotions did the body well, and Feyri felt better afterwards. On how real this was now, she couldn't tell. It was like hours had passed where minutes once were, and the rays of the Sun felt like a lively touch from days long gone.

"But now, I do wish she is doing fine. Remembering the fourteen years passed for the anomaly, including all the other missions...I just wish I had the chance to tell her goodbye, and that I loved her...

"Somehow, something's still telling me there is hope in this bleak universe we live in, and...I believe I've found part of it here." She smiled, thankful for this moment born out of accident and tension. "They say peace can be found in the midst of hell itself, if one knows where to look.

"You think Steve has feelings for us, or does he just stereotype us all like...tools?"

[SeriousConcentrate]

Jim didn't hesitate for a second. "Tools, definitely. The number of people who have awoken on this ship and either died or moved on... no one has the capacity to care about that many people, especially when the window of time he would know them is relatively so short. A person would go crazy trying to remember them all. No, I think he only thinks about us as entertainment; something to watch on his endless journey in space. He might be disappointed when a particularly entertaining character leaves the cast, so to speak, but I doubt he cares about us too much one way or the other." Jim shook his head. "Honestly, I don't envy his position. He doesn't get to leave after he does a tour of duty, and I don't think anyone really thinks of him as a person. He'll probably die someday, the HMRC will install a different brain in the ship... and no one will even think twice about them replacing the 'AI.'"

He pushed her hair back out of her eyes with his free hand. "About what you said earlier... there's always 'hope,' Fey. Even if it's just to see what happens tomorrow, there's always a reason to fight and stay alive just a little longer. That's what I believe, anyway." He looked at her curiously. "What about you? What are you thinking about, right now?"