Mcmolly

Plague-Hunters 2

Yes, I'll be dropping this. Best of luck with the continuation, apologies for the past delays caused on my end.

NCQ — Season I: Favors for Favors

ELI

Simulation Room, New Anchorage

---

The voice telling her to go to her room was still loud, and still right, but she ignored it all the same. The Commander would be expecting productivity, and if she just vanished after they'd gotten the outline for their test, well, it likely wouldn't have looked good no matter how she performed.

Eli had wasted little time in leaving the hangar as soon as they were released. The firearms portion of the upcoming test was undeniably concerning. There really wasn't any other way to put it: she had no experience. They didn't have the money for guns, they had wooden planks and a carpenter friend of the family to whittle them into swords. With a blade it was simple, over time it became an extension of her arm, but she didn't know how to handle recoil, she didn't know how to aim properly, what stance to take or how to breath.

She arrived, alone. It didn't surprise her that Vera had decided to remain behind, Eli assured her she was alright, though she hadn't apologized for snapping. Later, she promised herself. All of it can wait, all of it has to wait.

Hands still shoved into her jacket to hide the trembling, Eli set her sights immediately on the simulation pods.

"Lofgren," she said, a cursory glance shot towards the doctor.

“Eli. It’s been a few days.” The voice of Doctor James Lofgren came from the behind her desk, her eyes glued to the monitor. “Is there something I could help you with?”

"Put a simulation on loop. Which pod?"

“That would require me to know what kind of simulation you need to practice with. VR? NC pod's? What kind of situation?”

Eli instinctively wanted to ask for the NC simulation, perhaps in an effort to redeem herself, despite the fact that perhaps three people were aware of the last run. But then, the opportunity to knock out two birds with one stone was both tempting and objectively the smarter choice. She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, once, twice. "Start with VR."

“Scenario? Difficulty?”

"Invasion, defense, surprise me." A twinge of regret sparked through her when she said it, but it was too late to back out. She didn't need a handholding, she needed to pass the test without humiliating herself.

There was a few strokes of the blue-haired woman’s mechanical keyboard as Eli told her the variables she wanted— though given the last time she “surprised” Eli it ended up pretty poorly for her. She didn’t protest the pilot’s pseudo-masochism in choosing Lofgren’s own need to test the mental brink of her subjects. “Prefrence for your starting equipment?”

"Kukri, make the blade forearm length, a serrated bowie, and..." Eli's brow went low, she tried to run through the list of firearms she knew off the top of her head, and found it disappointingly short. "A SAP...handgun. Fourteen."

“I’ll warm up the VR room, I’ll sync your neural plug into the program.” More strokes on the keyboard, “Ever been in VR before?”

"Does it matter?"

“Interesting. VR is very vivid, but you’ve been in pods so you might adapt well enough. Much more organic— feels like you are actually moving. The injuries sustained are recieved at a threshold that is double your sync rate; as the pain receptors go directly to your central neural plug to simulate real-time. Commaner Graham nearly spent half of his personal cashflow into New Anchorage to make it up to date. It makes our NC pods seems two-hundred years old. Which... well, they are. But that is besides my point,, Eli.”

She paused for a moment as she looked away from the computer to Eli. “In short, it will hurt like hell.”

Eli matched eyes with the doctor, clicked her tongue again. She hadn't forgotten their last exchange, the doctor's snide remarks were fresh in her mind, alongside every justifiable criticism she'd ever recieved. "If I get hit."

“Indeed.” She looked back down at her computer, “It is ready— large door at the back of the lab. You can’t miss it. Good luck.”

Good luck, Eli didn't need luck, she didn't want luck, luck wouldn't protect the people in New Anchorage. Luck was a handicap for the untrained, if she succeeded, it would not be at the hand of some cosmic fluke. Her victories were hers, earned, taken.

With that, Eli shed her coat and scarf, pushing her hands into her pockets and making her way into the room.

NCQ — Season I: Favors for Favors

ELI and VERA

Mess Hall, New Anchorage

---

Unacceptable.

Eli’s stony surface could endure a myriad of traumas and remain unscathed, she could glare through torture if need be, but such a flagrant display of insubordination was enough to force her eyes wide. Not in anger –at least not at first– but genuine shock and deniable fear, fear for New Anchorage. In her mind she could almost see it, the settlement a fiery ruin and their fractured team powerless to help. She swallowed hard, her throat constricted in protest.

She saw them dead, all of them in flashes. The Papa Mike torn in two, Stein hanging limp from the bullet-riddled cockpit of the Little Dragon, Swarm and Goldenspur smoldering wrecks, and Blur impaled upon its own sword.

She dragged her bloody, broken body across the snow, clawing her way towards the horrific sounds rising from the fresh ashes of New Anchorage. Over the raging fire and artillery she could hear screams, every dying citizen, everyone she’d never met and everyone she’d ever known. Desperate, indignant, futile, only to die coughing up her lungs a mile off with nothing to mark any of their graves but the blizzard turning their NC’s into massive dunes of frost.

Her skin went cold, like her bones had turned to ice. The chilled air condensed in her throat, and she felt as though she were drowning from the inside out. Was this what it was like to die? Perhaps that was why her chest was heavy, and she couldn’t breathe, this must have been it.

Small fingers clutched her wrist, and it was all Eli could do not to shout. Reality took hold once again, and at the same time that she realized this, an involuntary gasp filled her neglected lungs. Slight but sure, her hands were trembling from fingertip to wrist, and she shoved them into her jacket pockets. A far more potent embarrassment overshadowed her terror.

”Lizzy…”

Eli’s attention shot to the side, where Vera was still holding her wrist. She nearly gave the younger girl a hard look for breaking attention during a meeting, but quickly realized the mess hall was more or less empty now that Graham was making his way for the hangar.

Vera didn’t say anything else, the question was asked well enough by the concern in her eyes. Eli shook her head, quick and doubtful, and started after the others.

The anger began setting in, her eyes fell to the floor. Weeks, she’d gone weeks without incident. She’d gotten through successful and failed missions, Sophia’s desertion, and even the humiliating defeat in the simulation only a short time prior, and yet now after a small spat that didn’t even involve her, she was on a timer.

Every heartbeat sent a dull throb through the palms of her hands, and despite the warm clothing she could feel chills spreading like icy fingers from her spine. The outward signs were minimal, and she was convinced no one would notice, or at least be able to infer anything from the spacey breathing and balling of fists, but that didn’t help the shame. Her mother could spot the incidents a mile away, and Eli would have been confined the moment her focus had faltered. Vera could see them coming too, part from experience and part from the girl’s sheer attentiveness to people.

Eli could only pray that the tour would conclude quickly. The faster she could get confined, the better, then she could give more attention to the alarms going off in the back of her mind.

”Lizzy," This time Vera's tone was more assertive. She rounded up in front, barring the way with more than just her body, but the assurance in her eyes. ”S'gonna be okay, whatever happens. Promise."

The words Eli wanted to say were soft and kind, that she believed in her, that she'd never let Graham or anyone put her in harm's way. But those words were stuck in her throat, and in her silence she realized it wasn't simple assurance in Vera's eyes, but fearless determination. Suddenly Eli wanted to tell her to leave, to go to their room like Ana had, and lock the door and never come out again.

Instead, "We're falling behind," was all she could muster, before pushing on after the rest of the group, cold as the world outside.

She didn't hear Vera's footsteps following along for a few moments after.

NCQ — Season I: Favors for Favors

ELI and VERA

Mess Hall , New Anchorage

---

No sooner did Commander Graham enter the mess hall with the recruits in tow, did Eli bolt upright, yanking her hood back from her head and coming to a rigid salute. Her attention went to him — the "new blood" more periphery than anything— as he settled his business with who she could only imagine was some form of glorified secretary.

Beside her, she heard Vera scramble into the same uniform attention, and Eli might have smiled with pride had she the will to break formation. At least she wasn't alone, Stein reliably went to attention, as did Van Gent of all people, so at the very least they wouldn't be coming off as sloppy or unorganized. Graham asked for their introductions, and Eli did not pull the hand from her head, but she did glance over the unfamiliar faces. A range of ages, from those who looked young as herself, to the middle ground where she figured Percy and Jan stood, to the...well, she'd spent too much time around her mother to have low expectations of the elderly, so she went with considering the aged woman as "weathered". Then of course there was the familiar face of John Strange, one she did not expect to see again, but was inwardly relieved nonetheless, since she at least knew he could pilot well.

Ana spoke out of turn not too far from them, and though Eli could feel no disappointment in her, she felt a swell of pride for Vera. The two had gone over regulation numerous times, especially regarding what was and absolutely was not acceptable in front of Commander Graham. Beside her, the younger girl was quiet as the grave, ushanka pulled down and held behind her back with the stern, alert expression Eli had taught her. No smiling, no laughing, no breaking. A quiet honesty in the back of her mind mourned the loss of Vera's joviality, even if it was only temporary, but it was a necesasry sacrafice to ensure she was not seen as a nuisance.

When it was her turn, Eli stepped forward, tugging the scarf down just enough so as not to muffle her voice, though it still remained high up her chin.

”I pilot Unit 03, Blur. My name is Eli, and this,” she gestured to Vera, who remained still as a statue. ”Is my assistant, Vera Voloshyna.”

For a moment, brief as it was, Eli silently scanned across the recruits, meeting cold, harsh eyes with any that she could, as if a dare to question Vera's presence, or her status. A preemptive indignance grew within her, something she knew later she'd feel guilty over, but she would not be doubted by recruits, she would not be doubted by anyone without the authority to act on their doubts.

Then, fluidly as if there had been no pause at all, she concluded. ”The people of New Anchorage are depending on us, do not let them down."

NCQ — Season I: Favors for Favors

Why do I get the feeling the phrase "Damn it, Van Gent" is gonna become pretty staple to the RP? xD

NCQ — Season I: Favors for Favors

Someone please snatch the synth cig out of Graham's mouth and be like:

NCQ — Season I: Favors for Favors

@NuttsnBolts

DID SOMEONE SAY

Whoops that's a bit big have a hider

NCQ — Season I: Favors for Favors

I feel like Jan being the first in the mess hall less than a minute before the meeting might be a bit unrealistic xD

Plague-Hunters 2

Tuesdays are still a very busy day for me, and that's a very early morning slot. I'm fine with tonight, or Wednesday (before the evening) but tomorrow would likely not work for me.

EDIT:

for Tuesday I would be available between 1PM-3PM Central, but that's about it until late into the evening (around 10) barring sudden schedule changes.

NCQ — Season I: Favors for Favors

*Reads line* Ouch.

@Voltus_Ventus

Yeeah, a bit blunt, but y'know she means it like he's some kinda superhero xD