T
E
S
T
D
R
I
V
E
|
ABOARD THE MOIRA
Whether adjusting to space travel has been difficult or not, there is always something to be done. From working to leisure, the Moira offers a multitude of opportunities to get to know your crewmates a bit better. Exploration of the ship is highly encouraged, but as another planet grows closer to being docked, things start to get a little hectic. You'll notice a slight change in the artificial gravity as the Moira is pulled into a gravitational field; however, more noticeable changes can be found in the overall morale as you prepare to descend.
☄ on your ownThere are plenty of other communal areas on the ship to explore! Pick a place, and see where it takes you. ( These scenarios can be used as in-game canon. ) C R O M I AWhile exhibits or museums exist to commemorate people or objects, planets like this are designed as a memoriam for certain eras across the universe. Welcome to Cromia—a one-of-a-kind place set in medieval times. Sort of. Most technology on Cromia isn’t particularly advanced, and the fashion leaves little to be desired. However, one thing is very noticeable about this planet once you decide to explore: there are no organic people anywhere to be found. Cromia is inhabited by a race of intelligent, humanoid robots who tend to and care for the environment as well as live peacefully with one another. Yet, some have been programmed to show a certain disdain for those who are, in some way, living, and their hostility ranges between hurling insults and vegetables to reporting trespassers to the authorities. Besides that, all seems well and prosperous on Cromia.
☄ the emperor’s new servosThe Royal Family of Cromia has extended an invitation to join them for festivities, food, and drink beginning when the first sun sets. This night is a way to relax and perhaps romance that special someone in your life with a little song and dance. For those who sample certain drinks, they might find themselves doing just that without being able to help themselves. Or perhaps that delicious wine you've heard so much about is actually a very oily concoction meant for the robots of Cromia. For others, a little cheese or venison might instill the need for fisticuffs. Could the desserts hold the same sort of enchantment? Do you dare to find out? ☄ catch-a-riiiideThe fastest way to get around is via carriage in the city, and each city is pulled by a large insectoid cyborg. Their handlers assure you they’re quite tame, especially since their silly organic minds have been implanted with a control chip. They’ll take you to whatever destination you program in without a hiccup! What could go wrong? Except on the way, that ever-so-important control chip happens to malfunction. Your once docile bug-stallion is now running amok down the streets. Do you jump out before you meet a sticky end? Or do you take control and force it to stop? Either way, you aren’t likely to be getting your deposit back from this. ☄ taste the rainbowArchery. Bugback riding. Jousting. These are the typical leisure activities suiting the time period you now find yourself in, which is what you might assume when you see the banners denoting a competition. Anyone can enter. Anyone can win the prizes. When you ask what sport you’ll have to play, they just say one word: skittles. Similar to bowling, this sport is played on a long, flattened field, and the point of it is to use the wooden ball to knock over the "skittles" that are set up in increasingly complex patterns for each round. These skittles are also made of wood, exactly ten feet high each, and the balls used vary from the size of a golf ball to a canon ball (dealer’s choice on ball size). People are usually split into teams, but for the sake of the competition, everyone plays alone. Whoever gets the most points moves forward in the competition, and hope that there are no accidents mid-throw!
|
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hownkai) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thisavrou_ooc2016-04-11 01:44 am
paz ortega andrade ☮ metal gear solid
[It's one thing to be told you're in space, and quite another to be staring out at the vastness of it yourself. Surely even Cipher would struggle to turn its all-seeing eye from the observation of a single planet to this.
Paz stands alone, momentarily delayed on her journey to make a thorough exploration of the ship by this near-incomprehensible sight. She makes a lonely figure, slight and dwarfed by the ill-fitting uniform bestowed upon her - she couldn't not wear it, arriving here in nothing but swimwear.]
I was hoping to be picked up by a ship, but really, this is not what I had in mind!
[The exclamation is made to herself. As distracted by the view as she is, she is uncharacteristically ignorant of anyone approaching her.]
cromia ☄ system bugs
[Really, as if controlling an organic creature with a micro-chip was a sensible way of doing things! Paz had been skeptical despite the handler's reassurances (after all, there were far easier ways to control living things) and as such, was not completely caught unawares when the thing bolted from its predicted route.]
Yah!
[Is that a teenage girl making a solid attempt at charioteering an out-of-control bug through the streets with nothing but the length of paracord she'd been belting her uniform with? That's sure what it looks like.]
wildcard
[Your choice!]
Re: observation deck;
....Paz?
[She was dead. She had died. Blown up just before the crash with a second bomb in her abdomen. Snake swallowed dryly and tried to focus, as he approached her softly.]
She's called the Moira.
[He was standing right next to her and she looked the same. But she had all of her hair like she did before Cipher had taken her. Before she betrayed everyone. Venom didn't even know what else to say or think. His mind was at a loss right now.]
no subject
Someone who knew her by Paz.
And that voice, it sounded like--]
Snake?!
[Spinning on her heel before she even checks the reflection in the glass, she wheels around to face him head on, hands pressed against the glass behind her.]
...is that you?
[Because he looks terrible. While to him she seems miraculously healthy, to her he is haggard, wounded, damaged in so many ways. To speak so softly to her, after all that had happened...]
What happened to you?
[Naturally, she's terrified. But overriding the fear, the need to run from this man, to lash out and attack him, to get away - overriding all of that is the scorching heat of curiosity.]
no subject
[Would she realise he was a different man to Big Boss? Probably not. He was in the helicopter crash when she-]
It's complicated. [Yeah, you could say that, Snake. That's only half of it. Right now he didn't really want to go through his life story with her. He wanted to know if she was really there or if he was hallucinating again. That or the ship was messing with him.]
Didn't expect to see you here. [Alive. Snake moved closer and pressed a hand to her shoulder. He had to know. It felt real. She felt real.]
Sorry, it's just....you're alive and well. It's good to see you, Paz.
no subject
[Suppressing a flinch, she stares up at him, scrutinizing his expression. It all seems completely sincere, if not entirely explicable. What, the famous Big Boss had regrets about hurting a little girl?
Maybe he's still in shock. Everything had escalated pretty quickly - and he'd been so worried for her safety.
But still, how long had she been out? Snake looks older, and like the times have been hard on him. Instead of trying to read what he's thinking, she shifts to trying to decode the scars on his face, the shrapnel in his skull.]
Where is here? You say this is the Moira, but is she yours? And where is Earth? They explained some things to me, but I don't really understand.
[The pity, the regret in his face... If there's even a chance at safety, she has to take it.]
I don't know how I got here, Snake. All I remember is water. Did I fall? From Mother Base?
no subject
No, she isn't my ship. She doesn't belong to Diamond Dogs. She's......I don't know who she belongs to. The captains own her. [Yeah. It was hard. He was trying not to think about her blowing up in front of him. The helicopter crash.....Kaz....everything.]
We're far from the Earth. Not sure where. [He looked at her. How could she even be here, dammit? It didn't make sense!]
Yeah. You fell and there was a helicopter crash.....we were under attack. Cipher's men came and destroyed the base. I can't remember much from the crash either. [The coma. He didn't even remember anything after that.]
no subject
But what he was saying didn't make any sense. Cipher had come for the base straight away? Just like that? They had been watching that closely, to mop up the mess after she'd failed to "convince" Big Boss to bring the MSF under Cipher's wing?
When she thinks about the way she had tried to delay the attack, just for Peace Day...
Had they known all along? Was there someone else in MSF watching all of them? And they had the power to just barge in at any time, wipe all of them out? If it was that easy for them to find MSF and destroy them, why bother with her in the first place? Sweat beads on her skin despite how clammy she suddenly feels, and she shakes her head to try and dislodge the sensation of nausea.
None of it makes sense. And yet the first thing out of her mouth on reflex is:]
What happened to the others?
no subject
The others? Kaz is here on board. As for everyone at MSF....most died when the platform exploded and fell into the ocean. [Yeah. Kaz took it harder than him but Snake still had nightmares about seeing the men too. The blood was on his hands too.]
What was the last thing you remember? [Because he heard her say about falling into the ocean. How much else could she remember?]
no subject
Falling into the sea, seeing Mother Base going away from me...
[She shakes her head, like it's too hard to make out the rest.]
We were getting ready for Peace Day. It was going to be fun.
no subject
Yeah. Peace Day. I remember that. Or some of it. [How could he even begin to explain to her that he wasn't the real Big Boss? That he used to be a medic for MSF then got altered to slide into the role of Big Boss. He didn't want to blow her mind. Not now.]
Welcome aboard the Moira, Paz. You're bound to have questions about being here so I'll try to answer. I'm not that great at explaining though.
no subject
Still, best to play it safe, and follow his lead.]
Is anyone else here? Chico? Amanda? Did they--
[--even survive whatever slaughter Cipher had committed? She blinks up at him, wide-eyed.]
Are we safe here?
no subject
Yeah, we're safe. Don't worry, Paz. I won't let anything happen to you. [He offered her a warm smile and squeezed her shoulder. Cipher weren't here, so couldn't touch any of them. Kaz and Paz were both safe now aboard the Moira. He wouldn't let anything happen to either of them.]
Lots of things have happened since Cipher destroyed MSF. It's complicated but I'm here to protect you if you need protection. [Because that's what he did. He was a soldier but also felt like a guardian. The medic inside of him telling him to do what is right.]
no subject
And he knows she means safe from Cipher. He knows she fears Cipher as much as she fought for it. For him.
She doesn't understand at all.]
What things?
(no subject)
no subject
[Skeptical with good reason to be. With such a singular sound, the voice isn't immediately recognizable. Miller had already encountered people having a bad time with these things. He's quick to follow the tone. Lucky for him, he was talked into prosthetics on board the ship- it took a couple of months. Makes it so he can run, catch up.]
[He waves down the thing with both arms (the real and the fake, both hands covered with gloves to hide the artificial one), veering it into a tangle of fencing. At least it'll give this girl a chance to get off, now that he can see her.]
[Wait. That's not any girl...]
Paz?
[He remembers the last time he saw her, other than in pictures retrieved from the old soldiers dragged back to motherbase. His hands on her, screaming, wanting to strangle her for contributing to her home being taken away. The anger ebbed that very night, unlike it has for many things with him. The moment she threw herself from that helicopter. One last act of contrition. Miller had paid his own penance in his very limbs. Hard to make up for mistakes of the past.]
You- Wait. Here. I'll give you a hand. [He comes closer to offer her help in getting down, while the bug is preoccupied.]
[Miller is obviously older, not bad for his years but obviously wearier, carrying plenty of his own punishment from the world. He's wearing a uniform with a custom overcoat. One that he uses to cover his right side when his arm prosthetic isn't active. Still aviators, but a newer pair. He's never stopped wearing the glasses. His hair is a little more of a mess, tempered by a beret with a Daimond Dogs emblem. And he's grown a considerable amount of scruff.]
[He's guessing a lot of people get to show up here.]
no subject
Squinting down, she tries to make out her rescuer. It's presumably someone she's already met on the ship, if they know her by name, but she can't really tell because of the...
...sunglasses. Oh.]
Miller? It is you, isn't it?
[He doesn't look his peacock-pretty self, but that is definitely Kazuhira Miller, no doubt about it. And yet he's here, willing to help her despite everything. Paz cautiously takes up the offer and steps closer, reaching out to him. Far too glad to get away from that stupid bug.]
no subject
If you're still pretending to be a student, you can drop the act. We know. It's been a long time.
[But he gives that warbling, scrambling bug trying to right itself an uncomfortable glance.]
Come on, let's get away from this thing. [Who knew what they'd do next. Probably eat them. Or tear them apart. Or assimilate them. Or call reinforcements. Kaz is getting a little exhausted with being swarmed by things. It happens more than he'd like.]
no subject
Paz's own face drops from a mischievous, curious smile to little more than a canvas. Best to reflect that intentionally bland look right back at him - a life spent in fear gives one ways of avoiding exacerbation of a situation.
She nods in silence, and follows him away from the creature. The sensation she has been captured rather than rescued begins to prickle, however, and the desire to break the tension is too high.]
You look... different.
[Well, it was more polite than "you look old" or "you look like you've had a tough time". Still, why was he so much older? And what had happened to knock the shine out of him?]
no subject
[A decoy. A labor of love that means nothing. Or... well, maybe a memorial, the last honor he could give to the first place he really felt at home. That's all, though. It's not what he wanted it to be.] And building it came with a few expenses. Cost me an arm and a leg.
[He pulls off his right glove. Lifts his hand. There's a prosthetic there, partially transparent, some collection of lights and barriers like those that make up the training simulation room. But still unrefined. At least someone finally talked him into getting the damn thing.]
[He puts the glove back on over it.]
It's been years. Nearly a decade. Skull Face... or Zero, when was the last that you heard from either of them? [Zero is nearly irrelevant in his time. Just a will being transplanted into a box. But to her, he's still very much valid. The serious question though is interrupted by the bug getting loose and then careening off with its carriage, creating screams of shock and surprise from bystanders as it turns a corner and disappears from sight.]
[He looks after it, shakes his head, and lets his hands fall to his sides. Sure. Alright. So that's how this conversation was going to go.]
no subject
But a deterrence is nothing if you don't go through with all that you've promised. MSF had martyred itself on the world stage, then, reinforcing Cipher's stranglehold.]
Diamond... Dogs?
[That's a little on the nose, isn't it? But then when had Miller ever been subtle?
Speaking of subtlety - the way he just whips that prosthetic out. Paz barely realizes what she's looking at before the glove is back on, and even so, she wouldn't know what to say. What he says makes it seem like it didn't happen in the initial loss of the base, but even so, everything is relative. If MSF hadn't been lost, then nothing that followed would have occurred.
She has no apology to give, however. What's happened has happened, and everything that did happen is as much their fault as hers. They had the opportunity to accept her offer. They didn't. It is done.
And from the sounds of it, as far as Miller is concerned, it's been done a long time. Paz still can't get her head around just how the the Moira (or particularly the Ingress) functions. Why does she come from 1974, when others come from some ten years later? Or later still? Or earlier? Or from somewhere else entirely?
Wait, what did he say?]
Skull Face? Who is--
[The bug! Ah, there it goes. She has no real interest in chasing after it. Let someone else deal with the problem. Turning back to Miller, Paz looks up into the cold reflection of those aviators.]
Who is Skull Face?
no subject
[Truly, though, the name seemed like an obvious choice to him. Diamonds, in his mind a symbol of strength and loyalty. Commitment and honor. Dogs... well... basically what they all are. Dogs of war. It made perfect sense.]
[Paz's voice still holds the youth that's been sapped out of his own, her face still as bright as a china doll's. The impossibly pretty Angel of Peace on motherbase. The fact she doesn't recognize Skull Face's name, though... How much was she aware of? Didn't know. Her tapes only exposed so much. Her feelings at the time. A bit of it did stick with him, the knowledge that the efforts to treat soldiers as people is what helped draw the humanity out of someone who has spent their life deprived of it. Being able to do that is the one hope he has left for... anything, now.]
So you don't know. [His brow tenses up over his glasses, blond eyebrows steeped. He actually believes her, and there's surprisingly little questioning doubtfulness to those words. No reason for her to hide, so telling her to cut the crap does no good. He makes a sound in the back of his throat and rubs his mouth.]
[Seems like a bad time to tell her everything. No. Going to hold off on that. There's other stuff to take care of.] Where do they have you staying. We can talk there. [Away from rampaging bugs and uncertain foods.] I don't know if Big Boss will be too happy to be seeing you around. What's the last thing you remember?
no subject
They gave me a room back on the ship, but...
[But why do we need to talk there? she was going to ask, peering at him. Something about his face makes the question seem pointless, however. Whoever this Skull Face was, it couldn't be good news. And yet Miller had mentioned them in the same breath as Cipher. No, Zero. Then was Skull Face a part of Cipher? A part she didn't yet know about?
There was no point trying to guess, Miller seemed to be prepared to explain everything soon enough. Her hands open in a gesture of her own explanation.]
I remember falling into the Caribbean Sea. Everything else is... hazy.
[An easier way to smooth over their differences than saying The last thing I remember is Snake trying to fire rockets at me, and you encouraging him! by far. Thrown from ZEKE, she had plummeted into the sea, into the depths. And then, she had arrived onboard the Moira.
And yet, she had already discarded any pretense of still being that little schoolgirl. The acknowledgement that Paz was not "Paz" was clear from earlier, but the actual violence involved in that revelation is being intentionally glossed over. Here lies the opportunity to redeem themselves.]
And I think I have already seen him. Big Boss, I mean. He looked terrible.
[She touches her head, thinking of the piercing shrapnel she'd seen.]
no subject
[So he starts out simple, leans in, and speaks quietly.] That's not Big Boss.
[Then he tips away again, standing straight and to his full height.] Not the one you knew, anyway. [He gestures.] You lead the way. I'll follow.
no subject
He said that he was Snake! Are you telling me he--
[Lied? She catches the stupidity, the hypocrisy of her words before they're fully out of her mouth. Of course he lied. That's what Miller's telling her, right now. And it's a lie he knows well, to correct her so easily.]
But he knew me. He...
He was happy to see me.
no subject
A medic. You probably saw him around our base. Back when he looked different. Turns out Zero wanted Snake enough he was willing to take him from me when he was in a coma [he's not going to deny that choice of wording at all] and cook up a double to hand back. Brainwashed, and surgically altered.
[There's still anger that Big Boss went along with this. Even if things have been explained somewhat, with Big Boss assuring Kaz that he thought the man knew of the master plan, Miller still resents that this happened to that man.]
Even if he's aware now, he doesn't know how to be anything other than Big Boss.
[And that's a tragedy. The man that's under there has died, he knows that know. Died, because Ahab is all he can be, and all that remains of him are shreds of kindness that the real Big Boss never had.]
It's very complicated. [This time he puts his hand around her forearm to urge her to walk with him.] It's fine. He is worried about you. That much is true. But he's not the man you knew.
no subject
But she doesn't want to. She wants to hear what Miller has to say, wants him to explain what he means. Because while the information is going in, it's not forming anything that sounds like sense.]
Two Snakes...? Then the real one, the real Big Boss, he...
[He might very well want retribution for her part in MSF's destruction.
She allows herself to be led through the streets of Cromia, trying to slide Miller's grip on her arm into something more natural looking to passers-by. Tries to hold his hand, instead.
To have a man like Big Boss out for your blood - Paz couldn't decide what was worse, that, or Cipher. Cipher did not pursue: it was omniscient, omnipotent. Capable of crushing someone with a single action or destroying them piece by piece, Cipher was great and terrible. But Big Boss...
It was like being hunted by a predator. Singularly determined to ensnare his prey, to subjugate it to his will. That was a very different type of fear, one that thrummed in the animalistic part of her.
Best to be prepared.]
What will he do to me?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)