Eastbound Inbox

[sergeant_slick]

[fancy formatting will be here eventually]

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un: skyguy | text

[chosenfordarkness]

Hey. We need to talk.

[ The text comes unprompted sometime after their first meeting and without any kind of aplomb. Because why would it? ]

[sergeant_slick]

No, we don't. [Because fuck you, that's why.]

[chosenfordarkness]

There's more going on here and we can help each other without having to interact much.

[sergeant_slick]

You must think I'm an idiot. Or brain damaged enough to forget why I tried to kill you.

I don't want to help you. Deal with it.

[chosenfordarkness]

No, I'm just willing to look past it.

We're not wherever home is from here, and your friend Fox suggested sucking it up and dealing with it. So.

Figured we could do a temporary truce, share information.

[sergeant_slick]

That's really fucking magnanimous of you.

Have you given up on owning slaves yet? Otherwise we're not talking.

[chosenfordarkness]

You do realize I have no actual power in that, right? If I could have, I would.

un: moonage daydream (text), sent as soon as she's able to send messages post xeno

[lancifolium]

Slick answer me are you alright?

un:Senth; text

[sergeant_slick]

[Fuck, writing hurts right now. His finger joints don't feel right. So he's keeping to military terseness for now.]

Slick here, back in one piece.

Identify and status report.

[lancifolium]

It's Lily. I'm in a basement.

What happened?

[ She's too tired to go beyond that. ]

[sergeant_slick]

[She's one ahead of him. He's got no idea where the hell he is.]

We were captured.

Unidentified blood on me. Bad sign.

switching to voice

[lancifolium]

[ Holding the pendant up even for a short time was enough to sap what energy she had. It didn't help that every move she made, made her feel like her bones were full of hot, sharp, glass.

So instead she kind of - drops the pendant on her face and just starts speaking. ]

If I didn't know how badly everything could hurt I would think I was dying.

Slick tell me where you are. I'm with some of the others, They can come find you.

voice;

[sergeant_slick]

[Thank fuck. His voice is a wreck, though.]

's a bad one, isn't it? [He's had shells land near him that hurt less than this.]

Unknown location. Dark as hell. I'm inside somewhere.

[He could feel wood underneath him. That was also a problem.]

My armor's gone. Lost it back at the tower.

un: Black Prince; text

[blackscales]

I have a question.

Do you also find you miss conversational nuance or social cues seemingly better understood by those who aged at a less accelerated pace?

[ Did being aged up fuck him up, or is he just fucked up? Please advise. ]

un: Senth; text

[sergeant_slick]

Not better. Different, sure. Natborns and civvies don't see things the same way as us.

What've they done this time? [Give him the gory details, mate.]

[blackscales]

[ Titans, where to start. ]

I seem to have developed a talent for evoking emotionally charged responses.

[ Making people cry, or you know. Making people hit him. ]

The conversational topic this time centred around taking risks and advising people of those plans.

[sergeant_slick]

Ah. Yeah. I got that kind of response back before we left Taravast. [Not everybody was fond of that.]

Risk assessments aren't a normal thing for most of them. Especially when there's no convenient solution. What kind of stuff are we talking about here, or does it not matter?

[blackscales]

The triggering event was the use of the door within the tower. I had assessed that it appeared to do no permanent damage to most who went within and might provide useful information so used it. It rendered me incoherent for an hour but did me no physical harm. I believe seeing the impact on me was frightening.

[ To put it mildly. ]

I was asked to advise this person of future plans so they could help, but I did not agree as I did not believe I could keep my word on something so broad. They would naturally dissuade me from anything risky, despite the risk being less to me than it is to them.

[sergeant_slick]

Oh, that thing. Yeah, I get it. I haven't messed about with it, just since I haven't figured out what to do with it. [Best course of action when you can't think of a tactically advantageous use for something is to just not fuck with it. But what Wrathion did? That doesn't sound that bad.]

That just sounds like it magically knocked you on the head. As long as you haven't had any other episodes since then, it's probably fine. Just watch for headaches, slurring, short-term memory loss or uncoordinated movement. [Head trauma was common enough in the army that every soldier knew what it looked like.]

You thinking of doing it again, then?

un: Black Prince; text

[blackscales]

Do you have the time to meet somewhere private?

[ Then, realising he may need to clarify: ]

This is not about social cues.

un: Senth; text

[sergeant_slick]

Yeah, sure. Name the place. [Even if it was about social stuff, he'd be there.]

[blackscales]

The poppy fields around the farmhouse? Coverage and quiet without the inconvenient illusions of the forest.

[sergeant_slick]

Is that what those are called? Alright. [He starts making his way over. Hopefully he's thinking of the right farmhouse...]

[blackscales]

Red flowers.

[ An immediate follow-up, no judgement or questions. He doesn't know what plenty of things are, he cannot throw stones.

Still, he's waiting on the edge of the field, gives Slick a nod as soon as he draws close and turns to begin walking out along the edge.

Fields are wide and open, allowing them a decent view so they aren't snuck up on too easy, but do have little hidey places they can tuck themselves into along the edges. He walks a little before beginning a quiet, but very leading inquiry: ]

You were in Taravast while it was under siege?

[sergeant_slick]

[They can pretend the detour was on purpose.

It's a decent spot. Good sightlines. Yet another reason to like Wrathion: he appreciates the important stuff.

And it's good they're out here, because he wouldn't be talking about this around the locals.]

Yeah, but I don't remember much. I got nabbed by some of the creatures while trying to defend an objective.