acatalepsy_rpg | video, after the caverns

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video, after the caverns

So, correct me if I'm wrong about this.

[Hank doesn't bother with an intro, just starts right on in. The angle he's holding his wrist shows both his face and the stick he's dragging along the wall behind him, which has been in a fire at some point in the recent past and leaves a long black trail of ash over the wall as he walks.]

But when all you heroes trooped into the haunted caves under the mysterious freaky lake the communication plan was along the lines of, 'gee, if someone gets their feet ate off by some freaky bullshit I sure do hope they yell real loud so I can get there before they bleed out' right? I mean, I trust you guys know to make a post letting us all know if you need backup, but what if this- [Here the screen shakes as Hank wiggles his wrist, indicating the watch] -gets busted, or stolen, or whatever?

I don't know, I was just thinking, next time a bunch of us, or just anyone, goes into something that might get bad there should be some kind of post stuck to the top of our feed that we could all check, just something like this-

[He stops walking, still talking as he starts to scratch a little list in ash onto the wall beside him.]

Hey, I wonder how little Suzy's doing. Oh, she checked in an hour ago, she's probably fine.

[He writes Suzy on the wall, and a checkmark next to her name.]

How about JimBob the Murder Bot? Oh, he hasn't checked in for about seven hours, I should take someone to go look for him.

[Next to JimBob the Murder Bot he doodles a little skull. Sorry Jimbo, it's hard out there for a figurative probably-dead robot. Better luck next time.]

Or maybe you guys would rather do some kinda daily role call like in school or, hell, maybe it's just more fun to lone wolf your way through all this world saving shit, what do I know. Decide amongst yourselves. I might be around, I might not. Just thought I'd throw this out there. I'm gonna go eat.

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There's no need to apologise. It is a good idea.

[ Everyone had been so scattered... Lucina had been lucky in keeping the few she cares about close by.

She, uh, doesn't fight with bows either though, and adds - ]

I'm sure if we put our heads together, we can come up with a practical method of keeping count that everyone can understand.

[He pulls a crooked smile, looking doubtful. It was stupid, probably, he hadn't thought about people like her or, say, Arenvald and whoever else, even a little bit when he made the post, he'd been thinking too hard about trying not to think too hard about making the suggestion at all. This whole 'being expected to save worlds' thing is still weird as hell and he shouldn't be invested in helping all these hero-wannabes get better at it.

But, whatever, she says it's doable and that's nice of her. Hank might as well go along with it. What the hell, she might turn out to be right.]

Sure, let's put our heads together. So in your uh, your home, what would someone do if they were running some dangerous operation and wanted to keep up with everyone? Is there something we can do that wouldn't even need all this fancy tech to work?

Edited (oops skipped a word) 2018-10-15 00:54 (UTC)

[ Lucina doesn't turn out to be right that often, especially in instances like this, when she's without the copy of the script that she held so tightly in her own canon. No, rather, she's simply blithely determined and possessing an incredible tunnel vision when it comes to achieving her own goals - and, presently adrift without a goal, she's eagerly latching herself to whatever might come along next. For at least the next five minutes, it's this conundrum. ]

Well, the temples had trained doves to carry messages among themselves... but that was a practice they guarded quite fiercely.

[ And her family, the Exalt's line, had never breached that trust. ]

Some of our mages could travel great distance in the forms of beasts or birds to relay warnings.

[ also not helpful, Lucina ]

We did have a complicated network of spies and informants in our employ, and they could pass secrets along at quite a clip - but they largely kept their own counsel.

[ and that's three for three in useless pieces of information :D
did she help
did she
did she ]

[He thinks about it.]

Uh, I guess we might have some people here that can turn into, uh. Things. That could be a thing, if we get that list all made up of what everyone can do. I can't believe I'm considering that, but I guess we could keep it in mind. Funny, isn't it- magic's just like tech, in a way. It's like- back home, we have shit like these watches, can talk to each other in seconds, unless someone forgot to charge their shit. But I couldn't tell you how any of it works. I couldn't tell anyone how to recreate any of that shit if I wanted to.

[He smiles a little, still looking a little low, kind of down on himself for just straight up leaving people like her out of his initial idea, but looking sympathetic, too. It's not her fault she can't tell him how any of those suggestions would actually work.]

[ She... she can't quite put a finger on what has his expression teetering between cowed and kindly, but it does catch her attention. Lucina certainly doesn't want him to empathise with her own ignorance, because that certainly isn't his fault - it's just the way things are. ]

I suppose there are common denominators across our varied worlds.

[ Smiling a little herself, Lucina adds - ]

I have broken my watch quite a few times. It's difficult to be careful with something quite so - small. Have you found that?

Oh yeah, that's totally a thing back home. They keep acting like smaller is better, but like - some of us got big dumb fingers, and we've got to be able to use all this teeny shit too.

[Hank wiggles those big dumb fingers he mentioned in front of the camera briefly, starting to perk up as he gets a little bitching in.]

Holographic keyboards are the only feature that saves shit like this, I'd never be able to use any of it otherwise. I haven't broke this thing yet, though, no. How'd you manage that? Did it just start working again afterward?

[ Holographic keyboard? - You know what, maybe it's better if she doesn't ask what that is. There are some mysteries that she'll never understand. ]

The first time, I dropped it in water and it would not turn on again. Connor showed me that storing it in rice can help absorb the moisture.

[ Are you tired of having him namedropped at you, Hank? Well... Too bad.

Lucina continues, ] The second time, an ill-advised swing meant I shattered the glass screen with my blade. [ how does that even happen ] It still functions, but the cracks are difficult to see around.

[ She tries to figure out how to show him, much like a person temporarily believing they can take a picture of their phone with their phone.

...

She is unsuccessful. ]

Motherfuck, has Connor made friends with everyone in this fuckin place?

[He leans back, grimacing, running his tongue over his teeth. When he goes on, he sounds a little deflated.]

Look, uh... Maybe that witch lady can fix the glass for you. She made these things, right? Or maybe someone can fiddle with the settings and make your whole display into a hologram so you don't have to worry about the glass at all. It'll be a lot easier to figure out how to use the thing if you can actually see what you're doing.

[ A
long
pause.

She processed all of that but his little outburst from the beginning is what has the entirety of her attention. ]

If I said something that offends, sir, I apologise.

[ Internally it's more like, seriously, what and then copious question marks ???? ]

Your suggestion is well put. I may do that.

What? No.

[Hank frowns at the screen, looking confused.]

It's just... Connor. The guy's everywhere, you know? Look, everything offends me, it's a thing. Did my offense offend you?

[It's kind of a genuine question, kind of an ironic one. He shrugs, not even sure himself what percentage of this is him being sarcastic and what percent is him actually trying to be polite.]

If so, uh... sorry...?

[ At its bluntest, the fact is that Lucina is unused to being spoken to with such cavalier disrespect. It may not offend her sensibilities but it definitely ruffles them, catching her attention at the quick and making her wonder if she's done something wrong. When he explains that the issue is not her, but Connor, well - she hardly wants more drama from one (1) inexplicable android in her life. But that's fine. It's fine. She's going to have to just cope with this headache for a little longer.

There's... something else, too. A friction to Hank that she's yet to see from Connor, except for very briefly - that moment at the lake - and she guesses they're from the same world but quite - quite different. Hank feels liable to ignite into sparks at a single provocation. By comparison, Connor feels as unflappable as still water. (Most of the time.)

She could be wrong, though. She usually is. With that humbling little thought, she responds. ]

I am not used to such casual acerbity, that's all. But I would not have you put on airs just for me. Please, continue to speak as you normally would.

[ Count down to her asking about the definition of motherfuck in 4, 3, 2... ]

Edited (whoops) 2018-10-17 23:41 (UTC)

You know, I'm not sure I could put on airs if I wanted to. I mean I could try, that'd probably be pretty funny.

[He thinks about her for a second, the 'not used to cursing' thing reminding him of something he noticed about her phrasing earlier.]

You're pretty high class aren't you, back home?

[ And she had been hiding it so well! ]

Ah, yes. My father is the head of the ruling house of Ylisse - my home - as was his sister before him.

[ If Hank is at all eagle-eared about the finicky little details of medieval stewardship, he may be able to pick out that she's the daughter of a king, so a princess - although not specifically titled as much. It's not a word she's ever used to describe herself. The fondness for titles had stopped with Lady Emmeryn.

Also, Lucina was temporally disinherited. It's a thing. She's not about to announce it. Time travel is at least as much of a headache as a medieval trying to understand what an android is. ]

Is it truly so obvious?

Well, the cursing thing was a big clue. No one says 'shit' around rich people. And when you made those suggestions earlier you said 'we' a lot when you were talking about that spy network or whatever. Which coulda meant you just worked for someone high up on the food chain, but with that medieval fantasy-land shit that's usually the same thing, isn't it? Your father's the head of the house, so you are too, I guess? And it sounds like that involves more than just, like, hosting house parties.

House parties?

[ You know what, she's going to move past that. ]

Our responsibilities were more administrating the nation fairly and ensuring the borders were well defended.

[ parties sound really boring compared to that tbh
but maybe she'd get to wear dresses? ]

The nation?

[He sits back, raising his eyebrows with a little grin.]

Fuck. Did I just cuss at, like, the president's daughter or some shit? That sounds like something they used to throw guys in prison for.

[ Adding to her list of questions to ask soneone from The Future: "what is a president?" ]

Please, there's no need to be concerned. I am no different than anyone else here.

[ she's just weird tbh ]

Yeah. [He shrugs.] Still weird though.

So. Did you say you hit your watch with, uh... a sword? Does that mean you've seen combat or is it a sports thing, like fantasy fencing or whatever?

[ It takes her a moment to parse that, but then - ]

Ah, both, actually.

[ A slight smile. ]

I served as a soldier for a time but it is - pardon, it was not uncommon for us to spar among ourselves. Like a sport, I suppose.

[He nods.]

So, what’d you do while you were doing the soldier thing? Did you take orders or did you give em, sit back and strategize, and whatever else the head honcho does in the military?

[He’d be really surprised if she was just a soldier, you know, considering the whole in charge of a nation thing. And if she does have some experience with command, and strategy, she just might be a good person to tap next time they all get into some crazy shit and need someone organizing people on short notice.

Not that Hank plans on taking charge of who does what, like, ever. But, you know. Just in case.]

[ Her identity as a soldier is quite important to her - but he's right, it isn't all she is. Giving orders, though? She did that. Once. It had hardly worked. She isn't eager to do so again and certainly hopes he isn't looking for someone to defer to. ]

Front line deployment, brief skirmishes, occasional guerrilla warfare... My father held a small company for his efforts. We were more effective than a large army. I held no more importance than any other, though.

[ Or so she likes to believe. It's contrary to the way she bristles lightly here when her commands go ignored. ]

It was a very purposed life. Here, we don't have quite the same expectations upon us. [ A brief pause, then - ] Did you have any sort of duty back home? [ Connor called, or calls, him lieutenant, but she bites down on revealing the observation. ]

Uh - I don't know. I wouldn't call it duty.

[He runs his tongue over his teeth, looking away as he tries to think of a way to answer. At home it'd been easier; everyone knew why he didn't bother to do try to do a real lieutenant's job anymore, so he never had to figure out how to talk around it. Avoiding the answer pretty much completely, that's a way to talk around it. That counts as answering, right? Sure. Let's go with that. ]

Or I wouldn't of back home. Here - shit, any kind of routine would probably count as a 'purposed life'. Are you having trouble with that too? Cause uh, I wouldn't say I miss going to work but it'd be nice to have something.

But yeah, I led a couple teams and stuff, so uh, theoretically I could pick that up here if you guys really need it that bad. Pretty sure you don't, but- [He shrugs.] It's all civilian stuff though, the stuff I used to do. Could be pretty useful to have someone who knows how to figure real fights, military operations, or whatever. But you said you weren't really in command, right? Just one of the guys? Is that normal where you're from, for royalty to be low on the totem pole like that?

[ Chafing at the absence of routine, a goal... her, no. There's many reason she doesn't intend to return to Ylisse. She's fine here, or - or wherever. She does think of Ephraim, though. He's expressed a similar sentiment to her in the recent past, craving clear action.

But Hank's words, continuing as they are, snap her attention back to where it ought to be. ]

"One of the guys" is perhaps not quite how I would put it.

[ The idea - the sheer casualness of it - does make her smile, though, in a way that leaves faint crinkles around her eyes. ]

I wouldn't dare to presume my life is worth more than anyone fighting alongside me, and my tactical abilities are merely functional. I am not clever, nor do I inspire the same sort of blithe fealty that my father can. There's no reason for me to position myself up at the top.

[ Not - not now, not after what happened in her timeline. The victory that only occurred because Chrom's kindness pervaded good sense is not hers to claim. It's fine. ]

So you wouldn't want to be in charge here either, got it. [He nods. Message received.] But if I need someone to swing a sword at something delicate, then I'll call you, right?

[He quirks up a little smile, teasing.]

Precisely.

[ His smile is infectious, even as hers tempers down from the mirth of a moment ago. ]

You can even, um, text me! And I'll respond.

[ Disclaimer: This is not a come on. She's just very, very excited about knowing the word text in this context and being able to use it properly. Her eagerness, such as it is, is merely quite awkward. (...Hank can draw whatever conclusions he likes, though.) ]

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fuck1ngusernam3 - 2018-10-25 23:59 (UTC) - Expand

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