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come_sailaway2022-08-05 11:14 am
sixthdeadliest) wrote in come_sailaway2022-08-05 11:14 am
[OPEN] Newcomer Getting His Sea Legs
Who: Six, OPEN
What: August catch-all
Where: All over the ship
When: All of August
Warnings: Six is a former mercenary assassin who only recently quit the business from his own perspective thanks to losing six years of his memory. He's also never had a vacation before and has quickly decided that they're overrated.
[Wandering Around]
The best thing to do in unfamiliar territory is to scope out the situation. There really aren't many places to stalk around here (surprisingly enough) but things are so spaced out that he isn't sure if there just aren't that many people on board overall or if the ship's even larger than he'd originally thought. Or both.
He eyed each new place warily, eyes darting about the space behind the sunglasses. He didn't trust any of this nonsense right now, to be honest.
[Gathering Necessities]
He wasn't sure if he should be insulted that the tacky clothing shop had so many green suits in his size. However, with no way of getting his combat armor back that he could see, the slightly-familiar suits would do.
With a couple of extra suits in hand, time to gather the rest of what he absolutely needed.
[People-Watching]
In trying to learn more about the ship itself, it was equally important to learn about who was on the ship.
Six could sometimes be found on the outer fringes of an occupied open area, watching people coming and going. It was probably a bit creepy...not that Six would be bothered by such a thing.
[Meeting the Roommate (Private to Prisoner Number 6)]
The doors to the cabins were heavy. It made sense given if water had flooded the room, the space would need to be sealed off before flooding the rest of the ship. At least it'd be easier to tell if someone was trying to break in.
He looked around the space, seeing no one else but clearly seeing evidence that he wasn't going to be alone now that he wasn't being more or less dragged about to the safety drills.
What: August catch-all
Where: All over the ship
When: All of August
Warnings: Six is a former mercenary assassin who only recently quit the business from his own perspective thanks to losing six years of his memory. He's also never had a vacation before and has quickly decided that they're overrated.
[Wandering Around]
The best thing to do in unfamiliar territory is to scope out the situation. There really aren't many places to stalk around here (surprisingly enough) but things are so spaced out that he isn't sure if there just aren't that many people on board overall or if the ship's even larger than he'd originally thought. Or both.
He eyed each new place warily, eyes darting about the space behind the sunglasses. He didn't trust any of this nonsense right now, to be honest.
[Gathering Necessities]
He wasn't sure if he should be insulted that the tacky clothing shop had so many green suits in his size. However, with no way of getting his combat armor back that he could see, the slightly-familiar suits would do.
With a couple of extra suits in hand, time to gather the rest of what he absolutely needed.
[People-Watching]
In trying to learn more about the ship itself, it was equally important to learn about who was on the ship.
Six could sometimes be found on the outer fringes of an occupied open area, watching people coming and going. It was probably a bit creepy...not that Six would be bothered by such a thing.
[Meeting the Roommate (Private to Prisoner Number 6)]
The doors to the cabins were heavy. It made sense given if water had flooded the room, the space would need to be sealed off before flooding the rest of the ship. At least it'd be easier to tell if someone was trying to break in.
He looked around the space, seeing no one else but clearly seeing evidence that he wasn't going to be alone now that he wasn't being more or less dragged about to the safety drills.
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... he's as bad as Rex.
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Honestly, Hollywood was the worst PR for his...former...profession.
"If things worked like they did in the movies, the entire 'industry' would've been shut down long, long ago. The entire shadow network it runs off of has to put up a legitimate front, look as uninteresting and normal as possible."
He gestured at the pub around them. "If you were looking to hire me, ideally this place would be filled with people. We would just be two men meeting up to talk to one another. Could be business, could be just two old friends catching up, whatever the people around us decide and dismiss us as social white noise. The trick, César, is to be ignored."
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".... point taken."
César realizes that all he had to do to get Six to talk was to say something clueless regarding a subject Six knew intimately. Heh.
Quietly, he listens, nodding along to points because they all make sense.
"All of that makes perfect sense. ... I'm even doing some of that unconsciously back home. Turning myself into a boring nearly neurotypical passing worker bee has made me look like furniture to the Consortium. I don't stand out."
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He ate one of the fried potatoes that came with his fish.
"But we're off-topic. We're here to trade notes on our current situation here, not the one back home."
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César nods in agreement, puts down his drink, wipes off his right hand and drops it to the table, palm up. "So the Captain doesn't overhear."
Captain already knows everything Six knows, sweetie.
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"You could've told me that trick from the beginning."
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He's irritated half with himself and half with everyone else, oops.
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He's going to start eating the shepherd's pie, taking a bite with a fork. Letting it get cold is rude!
"Ooo, this is tasty!"
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"We're dealing with a shapeshifter of incredible power that doesn't remember what exactly it is. It wants to achieve godhood so that it can't be controlled by anyone else though what might be able to challenge it, I haven't found out. Everything that's 'off' about this world -- the lack of parts inside of technology, the lack of kitchens, things fixing themselves when we turn our backs, the lack of even distant landmasses and seabirds -- are likely all to conserve power for its goals. As long as something passes surface-level muster, there's no need to waste energy filling in the details. Plus having anything damaged 'reset' when no one is around would be easier than having to keep track of what's broken and what isn't.
"As for why we're being dragged here, it's because the Captain is slowly using us as batteries for the ascension rituals it's attempting, and it's very likely it'll use up every scrap of energy we have to achieve its goals. The reason we're resurrected rather than simply grabbing more people from the outside is most likely because it's cheaper to keep bringing us back than to drag new people here. Probably because we might be, in essence, copies of our original selves rather than the originals themselves. Which explains why you haven't vanished from our world: You technically never left, and neither did I. And there's no telling what 'going home' will do: we could end up taking over our original selves, forget all about this place and re-merge with ourselves, or cease to exist altogether."
Six stopped talking to take a sip of his beer. Then he opened his eyes to look at César.
"So what am I missing in all this?"
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Most of the second part is new in a way. Horrifyingly new. When Six opens his eyes, César's gone pale.
"I-I had some idea we could be copies, but to hear we are being used up...."
The existential crisis he can handle. Who cares if there's two of him? Neither of him would care, and both of him would find that absolutely fascinating. Especially if their souls had somehow been copied.
César has grown close to multiple people here. "And to know that the 'me' back home is still alone... I suppose there's nothing to be done. We can only figure out what to do now."
Then, very quietly. "... I believe I may have also been brought here because of the Dominion Code. Perhaps I could have a missing piece he needs."
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"It's possible. Though by discussing the Dominion Code before, we both effectively told the Captain where one piece of it is."
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Extracting the nanite from Rex is complex. He doubts the Captain's magic could do it. César spends a moment pouring himself a glass of water and focuses on it. Watching the glass fill up and hearing how the sound changes is one way to calm himself a bit. Ignore that his hand is shaking a bit.
"I don't want to even think of what will happen to us the longer we're here, even if we're just complete copies... I have people I don't want to see suffer like that."
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Instead, he asked, "What's the longest someone has been here?"
How fast did the Captain go through its "batteries"?
I suddenly went "oh no OH NO" aloud as I typed this tag. Oh no
"I started here on the 8th of March. People arrived only shortly before that. Before that, the ship was supposedly empty. Both John and Johnny were some of the first passengers. They're the ones I got that information from."
He hmms. "If only the Pirate Jenny Storm visits us again, we could ask. At the time she visited, there were too many other revelations about this place that we didn't even think to ask...."
César's eyes turn to his right hand that now has a tiny little scar in the palm. Not that Six wouldn't have noticed there wasn't one before. But....
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The name "Jenny Storm" was new. "Did she give you that scar?"
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César remembers what Six told him, and his voice is very quiet. "... she picked up a piece of a broken wine bottle and bid me kill her to prove that people came back from the dead. I cut myself in the process."
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If the Captain was always listening, it wouldn't have been a wise idea to reveal the secret without potentially getting forced back onto the ship.
Six tilted his head to one side. "Why did you?"
César wasn't like Six. Oh, Six wouldn't have just killed the woman without a reason for it, but César was even less inclined to bloody his hands. (That way, at least.)
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He's quiet for a long moment. "... a mix of toxic masculinity, respecting our elders, and to prevent anyone else from having to do it in order to discover it was true."
Well, those are definitely different reasons. "Only Watson and Johnny know. And now you." He takes in a half breath before adding. "And only Watson knows about the control collars. Telling Johnny and Rich would only break them, even if I do wish to tell them. And the same for too many passengers."
Time to take a bite to distract him from that sudden rush of anxiety. He's really leaning on Six for trust. Six could go around and ruin his entire life here if he wanted.
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Seriously, what the hell?
Six waited for a long moment to study César. Not intending to be mean (well...not completely at least) but more just to understand the situation.
He took a sip of his beer. "César, the knowledge that death isn't permanent could've been obtained anywhere. I could've witnessed it personally or heard it secondhand from someone else who had. Revealing the exact details of how you learned it and passed that knowledge on to me would be my word against yours, and unless you've made a lot of enemies around here, people will be more inclined to listen to you than me. You could deny killing someone, and they'd likely buy it and think I was just trying to cause trouble.
"As for the control collars, there's no reason to share that here. And, again, it'd be my word against yours, and you've gained the trust of the people around you. If you claimed I was lying, they'd believe you. The only reason I'd be likely to point someone in your direction regarding them was if the collars appeared here someway outside your control and only as a technology expert, not as their creator. I'd leave you the choice to keep silent or tell the truth.
"The only reasons I told Rich about your machine wiping some of my memories was because he asked the right questions and I had no reason to hold it back. Even then he didn't believe me.
"However..."
He took another sip of his beer before setting the glass down with a heavy thunk. Though his expression didn't change, he relaxed his tight grip on the aura of danger he knew he gave off to let César catch a glimpse of the assassin Rex had fought in Jaggistan.
"...if you attempt to build either of those devices here, I will shout your dirty little secrets from the smokestacks until people start hounding you for answers to shut me up. Do you understand?"
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Relief. So much relief as Six keeps talking, César swallowing his bite about halfway through. He starts a bit when Six threatens him at first, but even that just makes his shoulders sag even more with relief. César's smile is quite pained and sad, but it's quite real.
"I'd rather die than build either of those machines again, Six." César states quietly. "Creating the control system was the worst decision I ever had to make. And the memory device cost you everything that mattered."
He glances down at his fish. "... Pirate Jenny happened before revival was common knowledge. Everyone knew after the Battle Royale. John was so cold...."
César trails off, eyes unfocusing for a moment before he shakes his head, his eyes focusing on Six's face for a moment before taking a drink. "You can see why I'm working alone at Providence. But I believe we should get back on track."
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