T E S T
D R I V E
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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. ) ERIS — 6578
Welcome to one of the sister Eris planets. This one, unlike many of its counterparts, is incredibly high dollar. For visiting individuals, it is mandatory to wear clothes befitting of such a status. For those aboard the Moira, it means discarding work attire for the formal wear they have been provided. Characters will find the temperature moderately cold, a late fall to early winter feel, and their outwear must reflect the prestige Eris—6578 is universally known for. Any sort of trading is strictly done through computers and electronic orders--nothing hands-on as it's considered beneath the inhabitants to indulge in such outdated means of interaction. Unlike most systems, money is needed to purchase things on Eris. The captains have given the crew unlimited credits; with each transaction, simply "pay" with the MID. ( These scenarios can be used as in-game canon. )
☄ lavish livingFine dining? The movies? Or perhaps gambling? Whatever your tastes, Eris caters to everyone and everything—the more expensive, the better. There is no limit to what can be done when one has the money to spend, and this lifestyle reflects in the people and surroundings. Even sex is a very ornate process held to the highest discretion. Feel free to indulge, but know that it isn't without its consequences.
☄ takenIn its underbelly, Eris—6578's main function is the trade and trafficking of bodies for one of two purposes: to be placed in a situation where you are made to kill for another's enjoyment or are tortured and killed based on the client's personal tastes. Each scenario is designed to fit the paying customer's predilections and is often carried out in places secured and private. Remember, money is no object. Therefore, the extent of what they do or make you do has no boundaries either.
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Snake has no clue why this guy is invested in him, but he sure as hell isn't going to rely on him. He's busy mapping out an escape method for himself while also making sure that no one around him gets too close (they've all been stripped down, but for all he knows someone's smuggled a knife in) when the stranger returns.
The more that he hears the man talk, the more familiar that his voice seems, but it's loud in this place (some kind of converted warehouse?) and he can't place it. The stranger is trying to give him a fighting chance for whatever reason, but there's one thing he didn't consider. ]
I'm not fighting just because I'm told to. [ He glares up at the man and shakes his head. These other people are probably in the same situation as him, dragged into this mess with no say of their own, and so harming any of them is out of the question.
The loadout can still be used, though. The second he has his hands on a weapon, he can force his way out. So long as he only targets people who are trying to prevent him from escaping, that is. It's just a matter of not getting strongarmed into the ring. ]
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[He sounds pretty confident about that last bit, anyway. But the words do make him wonder- it doesn't set right with him. He can't figure it out. Maybe his judgement is all mixed up; a reminder of the friend who hurt him, now in a state where he isn't even met Miller yet.]
[He'll just have to go wait for him.]
I'm going to wait by the back entrance to collect my winnings. [Best way he could to let Snake know where he was going to be. And he hopes that Snake doesn't immediately try to kill him... he wants a chance to explain. He's fully expecting an interrogation, but he doesn't know if, given the stressful situation, if he'd slow down. At least if he doesn't intend to give him the dignity of questions in the strained situation, Miller knows what moves to expect out of him. He's hindered now, but not incapable. He could defend himself long enough to speak.]
[He doesn't even go to the area where the match is set to be. He just excuses himself and leaves the vicinity, finding his way to where he said he would. And then he paces, scanning the surrounding with paranoid eyes but also sure that Snake would find his way out of there. Before the fight, or during.]
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Unfortunately, it doesn't go quite as smoothly as he would have liked, but Snake is also used to things going belly-up on him. They don't actually give him the ordered loadout until he's been forced (by three armored men) into the ring.
His opponent is a kid who looks like he's in his twenties and judging from his stance (or lack thereof), he doesn't have any combat training. The referee pauses in front of Snake to remove his cuffs, which makes the urge to punch him out right then and there almost too strong, but Snake restrains himself.
Next he's handed the knife, the gloves, and the taser. It's not a bad loadout and he could do plenty of damage with these weapons in hand, but it's the taser that interests him the most. The worst he plans to do here is stun.
The fight begins and he moves in close, feinting with a punch so that he can speak to his so-called opponent under his breath. ] I don't know about you, but I'm getting out of here. [ The man gives him a wide-eyed stare, but nods. As Snake had guessed, he doesn't want anything to do with this either. ]
Follow me if you can. [ With that Snake pivots on his heel and runs for the caged bars surrounding the ring. It takes some effort, but he climbs his way up the bars -- it's a little bit like rappelling in reverse. Once he makes it to the cage's ceiling, he hangs from the bars at the top and uses them like monkey bars until he reaches a hatch in the center. The gloves he'd been given allow him the grip and traction that he needs to hold on.
By then there's gasps of amazement and outraged yells coming from outside the ring, but Snake focuses on swinging himself forward until he can kick at the hatch, flinging it open. He pulls himself out and then leaps down from the top of the cage, rolling as he falls and then springing to his feet.
From there on out, he's acting on instinct, running like a bat out of hell and striking out with a punch or a zap from the taser to take down anyone who actively tries to block his way. It takes some time to navigate the mess of hallways, but eventually he finds the back entrance that his supporter had indicated. ]
We need to get the hell out of here! [ Snake yells to the man as he books it down the corridor. The guy doesn't look like he's much for running, but if they can just get out of the building and around a few corners, they should be in the clear. ]
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[He can manage the speed of a slow jog, which is pretty impressive, but not quite fast enough. He's at the first corner when he feels a hand grab his shoulder- the shoulder that leads into no arm. Miller has to let go of the crutch and twist to grab the person, wring his hand into their shirt and throw them down. Doing so is an accomplishment, but not a complete one. He loses his balance and winds up on the ground because he threw his weight into it. He can't brace himself the way he instinctively wants to.]
[Other guy is about to get up. Other guy has another thing that looks like a taser. Miller grabs it and wrenches it from his grip. Other guy squirms to half-lunge from his mostly-laying position, but Miller shoves himself away with his foot and shocks him unconscious.]
[Okay, more will be coming.]
[He grabs his crutch and grunts as he pulls himself back up. Snake's right. Gotta get out as quickly as possible.]
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Had Snake been on his own, it would have been one thing. He'd have been able to find a hiding spot, to blend into the shadows until his pursuers lost interest. But the guy he's got with him can't exactly run, and Snake's distracted from his own escape attempts by the sound of a scuffle behind him. Letting out a breath that's half frustration, he skids to a stop and turns around.
The guy does a decent job of fending off the person who'd caught up to him, but there are more on the way and they don't have time. Snake has to make a snap decision -- good thing that he's used to doing that.
Does he owe this man anything? Probably not. But he'd secured him the weapons he'd used to get out, and more than that, he'd recognized him. There's something more to this, and Snake would rather they both survive long enough to figure it out.
So he races back over, not asking for permission before he seizes the stranger's good arm to help him up. ] This'll go a lot easier if I carry you. [ It's not a question, but a statement of fact. All the same, Snake waits for a response before he does anything more. ]
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Not the first time. [He said, briefly indicating they'd been in the situation before, at least of a sort. Well. He guessed Venom didn't count- didn't matter. Not really. They had to rush. Other than having to juggle the crutch to a position where he wouldn't lose it, he let himself ragdoll pretty easy to be carried.]
My name's Miller. [He debated using given or surname. He went with surname. Less personal that way.] You don't know me yet. [He manages to get out, anyway. Talking while being hauled isn't easy.]
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The name, though, that does all the work for him. You don't know me yet. Those words don't make any sense, if this is who Snake thinks it is, and at this point he's positive of it. Sure, he'd already established that the Ingress could draw people in from different times, but he didn't think it would work like this.
But it all fits. The aviators, the voice, the missing limbs that Snake had only ever seen as sturdy prosthetics. Master had always been rock-solid, tough as a piece of tanned leather despite what he'd lost. The Hellmaster, as some of the other recruits had called him. To see him like this is bizarre, to say the least.
You don't know me yet. Just who does Miller think he is? Snake already has a guess, and it makes his stomach turn. ]
You've got the wrong guy. [ All the same, Snake pitches down so that he can grab for Miller and heave him up onto his shoulders in a fireman carry. ] We can talk about this later. [ For now, Snake's more invested in getting back to the Moira. When he hears clopping footsteps from the one side of the alley, he takes off in the other direction, running at an impressive pace despite the added weight.
Never in his life did he think he'd be carrying his old mentor on his shoulders and running away from aliens, but here they are. ]
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[He was that kind of man before, long before the MSF. When he had confidence, before he let himself fall into Big Boss's shadow as so many before did, following him as if he truly was a legend. He knew this wasn't that legend, it wasn't the man that fought for his loyalty, that demanded Miller at his side, and then threw him away. The man answered to "Snake", yes. But "wrong guy"? That doesn't make any sense either.] They won't go beyond their personal grounds. It's too much of a risk. If you exfiltrate the area then they have to cut off the pursuit or risk being cornered as a danger to the public or other business properties.
[He at least looked into it before he took on his risky mission of helping people out. He didn't expect to end up some Miller-shaped stole again though. It's also hard to think when he's bobbing up and down, making loose attempts to think up ways to slow the enemy or speed them up.]
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Despite the fact that it's dark and he's only vaguely familiar with his surroundings, Snake had made sure to get his bearings even before his capture, having studied a map of the city prior to the Moira docking. So he has an idea of what direction to head.
So he runs, keeping his hold on Miller firm the whole time, and doesn't slow down until he's certain that they're no longer being followed. Once he gets to that point, he circles around to the back of a closed shopfront, confirming that no one else is within earshot before he sets Miller down against the wall. ]
I need to bring up a map on my MID, figure out the safest path back to the ship. [ He's all business too, but he can't help but steal some glances down at Miller's face now that he has the chance.
It's really him. Master Miller, before he'd actually earned that title. Snake turns his attention back to the device mounted to his wrist, swiping through menus to pull up the map. ] ... You think I'm Big Boss, don't you? [ He shouldn't go there, not yet, but it's not like he can just ignore it either. ]
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I did. But I know he's not the only one.
[There were clones, and there was V. "V has awoken." A man tricked into thinking he's also the boss, his equal, but Miller knows the poor man is just another decoy. As important as one of those balloons with sound. This one is just flesh and blood, and never chose his role.]
[This is a Snake. But maybe not the one he knows.]
What's your name? Your real one?
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It does sting a little, though, to realize that Miller had known all that time and yet had never actually told Snake the truth. No, he'd been forced to learn that from Liquid.
Even now, Snake finds himself reluctant to give out his name. He's pulled up the map by now, and for a moment he focuses on that, picking out the route back to the Moira as he considers what he should do. Master had always been good to him, and had taught him well. He'd even been there to back him up as he'd gone after Big Boss during the Zanzibar Land Incident. Snake never got the full story about what happened there, and for all he knows, whatever falling out hasn't even happened yet for Miller.
Miller's going to learn his name one way or another, and despite everything, Snake trusts him. With a sigh, he drops his arm back to his side, gaze somewhere on the ground as he speaks. ] David.
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[He gets up to his feet on his own, but his legs are unsteady. He's not bad at what he does, but he's still new to this. Years down the road he will have given up his foolish pride- he's not too far from doing it now. Knowing that he lost everything. That he can't just build for Boss, anymore, he has to build for himself.]
[But he's still not sure what will make him feel whole. No use cramming things he's not sure of onto himself permanently.]
Good work in getting out of there. Performance like that, you could have been trained by the Boss herself. [He means it as a sincere compliment. She was an exceptional woman. A legend in the business. He never knew the history there, just that she helped train Naked Snake.]
[Hopefully one of Big Boss's copies actually did her memory justice.]
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Snake wonders how much he'd managed that during his training under Master Miller. How often had Miller looked at him and seen a person, rather than one of Big Boss' sons? Well, that's not a question he can expect an answer to now.
The compliment is unnecessary, and Snake doesn't know what to do with the praise. He's heard of the Boss, of course, aware of the sordid history between her and Big Boss, but she may as well be some distant story to him. ]
Actually, I was trained by you. [ He says it casually, not wanting to make a whole thing out of it, and then starts to move out into the road. He looks over his shoulder at Miller, slightly skeptical. The fact that he's running around without any kind of workable prosthetic is downright impractical. ] You gonna be able to walk the whole way back?
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[But if he trained him, if "David" isn't pulling his
onlyleg, then maybe he got lucky.]Yeah. I'll be fine. [A little unsteady, but he's determined with it anyway. If he trains this man, maybe that means he's better off later.] I'm still getting used to it. [He's just been carried out of a bad situation. He guesses he should explain himself with that much, but now he's giving this young man a much more scrutinizing look.]
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But when Snake compares the Miller he knows, who'd had complete control and been comfortable with his artificial limbs, to this...
Well, he has to say something.
Doing what he can to keep his pace on the slow side, Snake glances over at Miller and his hobbling gait a few times before he speaks up. ] It's not gonna do you any good, trying to get around like that. You should see if someone on the ship can set you up with some replacements. [ It's not that hard for Snake to fall back into old habits with Miller, even if it is a younger version of him. He's already opened up a lot more than he ever would have with some random stranger, that's for sure. ]
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[It's as good an excuse for now as any. But they still hurt. He doesn't know if the limbs would help. If they would matter. If they would make him feel better in the long run, or like some sort of Frankenstein's creature, feeding off the advantages of complacency as Huey did.]
[It's hard to accept help anymore. Help can come with so many mistakes.]
I'll keep looking at options, though. [Keep looking. As if he has been looking.]
Did you have a good childhood? [An odd question. But to Miller... well, in recent times it's become significantly more important.] With good parents? Or at least people that acted decently enough?
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[ Snake realizes that Miller must come from sometime in the 80's, which means that he's not as familiar with what kind of technological advances would be available to him here. That's why he wants to be clear on this: he could probably switch out his prosthetics from day to day if he felt like it, and if he had someone to help him.
Not so comfortable with where the conversation goes next, Snake unconsciously starts to walk faster, as if he can escape the unpleasant line of questioning that way. ]
I didn't really have parents, I was brought up in the military system. I was treated well enough.
[ He's definitely aware of others who'd had it much worse. Raiden, for instance, though the list goes on. ]
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[Just the simplest, disappointed noise, because that's how they chose to raise one of them. Stupid. There really was no chance at a normal life for them.]
Sorry. [And Miller picks up his own pace. It requires longer strides, but he can keep up. The situation is awkward, yes. But now that he's here- It makes him feel a little less alone.] It hurts, too. [He returns to the subject of potential prosthetics.] I'm not sure what will help or hinder that. If still feeling my fingers will change anything. Will you tell me what I end up doing.
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At the end of the day, Big Boss had just been another person. Snake had proved that for certain when he'd managed to take his life.
(Miller had supported him on that mission, but what would he think if Snake told him now?)
It's easier to discuss what Miller does about his missing limbs, than to get anywhere near the subject of what happens to Big Boss. Snake probably shouldn't be sharing anyone's future with them, but he can't bring himself to refuse his master. ]
By the time I met you, you had prosthetics on your arm and your leg. You were comfortable with them, too. They didn't slow you down for a second. You trained not just me, but plenty of other FOXHOUND recruits. Got a bit of a reputation, actually.
[ Somehow, the memory is still a fond one. While Snake doesn't outright smile, there's a hint of it in his eyes. ]
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[His father was a drill sergeant. For all that war, life, it all crushed him, he admired the way that his father's students always remembered him as a teacher. He can see how he might go back to that, from what feels now like disrespect and thanklessness.]
[He's pleased to see that expression, though. It does seem different, even if it's just a younger version of the Boss's face. It's that respect he's not seen in so long.] You'll have to show me more of what you can do. [Which is a little ominous because it's a given that he will critique when he does.]
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He had a better idea of why that was now. Snake couldn't hold Miller's secrets against him because he had plenty of his own.
It's surreal to realize that he might once again have the judging eyes of Master Miller on him. Snake doubts that his younger age will mean that his harshness is tempered any. He grunts out a laugh and shrugs. ] Sure... but if you find anything lacking, you should blame it on yourself. [ It's a joke, even if he delivers it with a straight face. He'll have to see if Miller can pick up on that. ]