[Plot] What Could Have Been

[tearmeanewone]

Who: The Entire Moira
When: Mid September 22nd - 25th
Where: All over the ship
What: Holes in reality, holes in reality everywhere.
Warnings: None so far, please mark your content!


Hey, what's that sound? It sounds like a sharp whine of white noise and moving air, and quiet. And it's coming from a glowing crack that appears to be... floating in midair inside the ship. Surely that can't be good, right? How come they're appearing all over the Moira? And why do they show such bizarre images when you get close enough...?


((OOC: Plot details are here, feel free to use this post or make new ones! :D Any questions, feel free to hit me up at kouject, otherwise GO NUTS GUYS, AU SHENANIGANS~))

Comments

Elizabeth

[tearmeanewone]

[CLOSED]

How had she not noticed? How could she have gone an entire year and never thought about him? She had wondered, occasionally, where Ivan was and if he wanted to sneak off somewhere, but the call of food, drink, and dancing had always pushed the thought away. And now his name is ringed in red and even though she knows what she's going to find when she gets to his room, she keeps hoping, praying despite everything, that it's a mistake. That the Moira and her systems are just malfunctioning. That Ivan will flash that smile that tells her she's worried over nothing, that he's there to comfort her because she's worked herself up into a tizzy again.

There's no Ivan, no smile, there's nothing in the room. And when she closes the door behind her it's dark, and when she starts screaming it echoes.

The room disappears, replaced with chunks of open space lined in glowing blue, and Elizabeth is her own light source as tears show her everything and anything her mind grabs onto-- space, an oncoming car, water dripping from the ceiling, piles of lingerie, banquet tables, a child being dragged by his ear by his mother, and them.

Everthing else disappears when Elizabeth sees that image. The bed is exactly where his used to be, and she's sitting on top of him. They're both naked, talking after sleeping together, and Elizabeth can see even in the fuzzy image that she's glowing. She's so happy, and he looks so sincere that it physically hurts Elizabeth to know he might never look at her like that again. She sits down against the wall and watches her own romance like it's a film, numb, and trying to remember how she felt during those moments. It's impossible, the feelings and the memory won't come.


[OPEN - September 25th]

When the door opens again, it's clear that the room is the source of the tears-- they're everywhere like some creepy room with multiple projectors running movies of the same people at different moments. And Elizabeth's in the center, unresponsive and staring through one of them. Her greatest secrets are laid completely bare right now, and she can't bring herself to care that someone is in there with her, seeing everything. Her powers, her heart, what made her feel like she had a life after Rapture and Columbia.

25th

[seeingscarlet]

[Ivan's not the only one missing. Once Wanda's had the 'cure' and removed herself from the psychic chaos of the party, it becomes immediately clear that once again her twin is gone.

The jungle now sports a new clearing thanks to Wanda's rage at the entire situation.

She has also isolated herself pretty intensely, but even in her solitude it's difficult to miss the tears. She can see Sokovia, both damaged and whole, her parents, her brother, the Avengers...

Sometimes they are good alternates, but sometimes it's so awful Wanda has to look away. There are timelines where Steve can't come for them, where she sits caged and bound until Ross needs a weapon. Sometimes she is the only one to survive the experiments. And sometimes she can see her brother in what she can only assume is some sort of Avengers getup with the others. Crossbones never had a chance against the twins, never gets to do more than think about the bomb before they've disarmed him. The images mean nothing to her although she feels a pit of sick dread in her stomach that seems like more than it ought to be.

The energy signature isn't subtle and it's only a matter of time before Wanda traces it back to the source and goes to crouch beside her friend.]

Elizabeth?

[tearmeanewone]

[Well, at least Wanda knew already, Elizabeth thinks dimly as her friend walks through the sad sack show of Elizabeth's first relationship. Some of the images don't have Ivan in them, though-- a couple of them have another man. Older, cynical-looking from his expression, armed, stubble. From the way he's interacting with Elizabeth though, it's obvious who he is.]

I'm always the one saying goodbye. [Her voice is quiet and rough, she hasn't used it in days.] I thought I wouldn't have to this time. He promised to take me with him.

Agent Texas | Closed to Ryuuzaki

[a_shadow]

It turns out it's exhausting being in a body that's recovering from a year-long coma. It's not like Tex is doing much, and she really isn't suffering the cognitive effects that people who have been in a coma have to deal with, but she's still sleeping a lot. She spent most of the afternoon dozing off and on here in the medbay. But she's not without her visitors, and after dinner Ryuuzaki had arrived to spend a portion of the evening reading to her. She appreciates this, since as of now she's too weak to hold a book for very long.

She watches him settle in with the book, taking in his usual appearance, thinking how easily she might have discounted him as being odd until their time on the planet where they had crashed. He's constantly touching his mouth with his fingers in a thoughtful manner, sitting with his legs drawn up in the chair, and though she knows he's athletic, he often slouches, as though he wishes her were shorter. She had never really given him a second glance until they had danced at that party.

She's engaging with the story as he begins, but she's also thinking about them and their relationship. Not that this is a relationship, as that word is used colloquially. They're just...casually together now, in some capacity, or at least he doesn't feel compelled to abandon her to her own devices until she's well again. He probably knows he'd never sleep with her again if he did that. Yet she had tried to prevent him from seeing her this way at first, so it's not like he wouldn't have had an excuse never to show up. But he's made it quite clear he's invested in her in more than a obligatory way. He'd brought her cards and spent time sitting with her and talking with her. He'd brought her cookies, the cutest little koala cookies she'd ever seen. It's enough to make her wonder if that year—that time they'd spent together on that planet that hadn't felt anything close to being a year—had been long enough for him to develop real feelings for her.

In any case, the man's voice is really pleasant to listen to. He's got a smooth baritone voice, with an English accent, and it's a nice way to frame the story. He's about ten minutes into his reading when Tex starts to realize she's probably dozed off again. The dream is strange, though, seemingly separated by her awareness of the rest of the room by a glowing, pulsating, jagged line in midair. She lazily yawns and tries to open her eyes, only to realize she has them open. She narrows them slightly, blinking in confusion, straining to look closer.

"Wait, Daniel—" She raises her hand slightly, to signal to him to pause in his reading. "Do you see that?"

[ryuuzaki]

What's a real feeling? It's something he's asked himself a few times since his return to clarity.

He'd liked Allison well enough until recently, in the distant, passive way that he ever likes anyone, which is more of a general lack of objection to their presence. Now his interest in and regard for her feels strange to him because it's more active. He'd had this kind of feeling towards Darcy on the Tranquility, but it had been both more and less intense: more because the things they'd gone through and the time they'd spent working together resulted in greater intimacy and emotional attachment, less because that attachment hadn't been consummated in any way. With Allison, it's that he's discovered something, something at which his existing emotions hadn't even hinted, and he now wants to investigate the nature of his discovery in greater depth.

One thing that's clear is that once her body has recovered from a year of inactivity, she probably won't need his protection or help. That's interesting. It's also interesting to test his own reaction to her return to the way she'd looked when he'd first met her -- the way the same expressions play out over a different face.

So he visits her to read to her and amuse her for a little while every day, driven by his curiosity and, if he's honest, his desire to eventually continue their sexual relationship. He's not sure that either of those things could exist without the other.

He's ten minutes into the fifth chapter of a book about guerrilla fighters on a desert planet when she interrupts him. He glances up in response to her query.

What is that? His first guess is that something is happening to the ship again, but what, he's not sure. It doesn't look related to the jellyfish-like creatures that had been everywhere a while ago... but it's rough in a way that suggests action and incident, not something happening smoothly or as the result of someone's direct intention.

His expression is both intrigued and slightly appalled.

"I do. If we need to get out of here quickly... how fast do you think you can move? I'll carry you if I have to."

If there are visible cracks in the atmosphere, hanging there, and if the truth about many of the things he's encountered in space matches up mostly to what he'd otherwise call wild suspicions, then the idea that this crack may open and things may come through it isn't far-fetched. It's not the only thing that could happen, though. What else should he prepare himself for?

Pharah | OTA

[justice_from_above]

[In the wake of spending essentially a year partying, Pharah is combating the embarrassment and guilt of having been caught up in it by throwing herself back into what she knows best. As a messanger on the ship, some of her time is devoted to her work assignment. The rest is spent patrolling the hallways, kitted out, and maintaining as close to a strict regimen as she could keep in this place.]

[The little glowing cracks, of course, demand inspection, and she can be found staring deep into any one she witnesses. There is very little she can glean from the actual phenomenon - science was not her specialty - but the images within are hard to ignore.]

Good End

This is the first one she sees, taken in and standing to watch it unfold. It's a few years before the Swiss Headquarters blew up, and while there is some hesitance, her mother relents and Pharah is allowed to join Overwatch.

Here, in this reality, she flourishes. There are complications, there is tension, but because she was allowed into the organization, she's able to be there and help sort things out. The destruction of the Swiss Headquarters never happens. She maintains a close and healthy relationship with her mother. She watches as good friends retire, happy. Healthy.

She'll be smiling brightly for this one.

Bad End

But, when there are infinite alternate realities, not all of them can be the good kind. It starts out similarly enough that for a while Pharah thinks she's watching the same thing, but then once admitted into Overwatch, she fails to help keep it going. The Swiss Headquarters still explodes, but this time there are civilians involved. Jack is gone, her mother is gone, Talon grows more powerful and Pharah's forced to join the underground, giving up pride and dignity and fighting purely for survival. She can't save anyone,in this iteration.

She can't even save herself.

Wildcard

Have an alternate reality she should see? Or should she happen in on someone else's?

good end

[mylawn]

It takes 76 a few long moments to realize what he's looking at, and he doesn't announce his presence until he's sure. He's still wrapping his mind around what happened no the planet, to say nothing of whatever's going on with this. He supposes he should consider himself lucky, because if these strange windows are giving people glimpses into possible futures, he can only imagine his would be full of things he has no interest in seeing--not to mention the fact that they might instantly out him, depending on who wanders by.

So he knows he shouldn't spend too much time around them, much less with someone like Fareeha, of all people, in the event that it decides to stop showing her alternate universe and makes up one for him, instead. If that's even what's happening here. Judging from what he's seeing, perhaps it's just an indication of a scenario the target wished was the case. He knows it wouldn't have played out this way, even if she had been allowed to join.

76 is a bit too jaded even for this. There's only so much he can watch, so he speaks up.

"Dwelling on something?"

bad end

[flashbanging]

[ McCree shakes his head as he observes Pharah on the run. ]

Sure am glad you never had to live like that, sweetheart.

Agent Texas | Closed to Elena

[a_shadow]

After seeing the crack in space the day before with Ryuuzaki, Tex isn't surprised when more of them open up and show various things in the space of the next day. During Ryuuzaki's visit today, they had made a concerted effort to ignore them, even though they're so disruptive. He had brought her several gifts on this day on particular though, including some jaffa cakes and tea bags, as well as a few more library books. They kept themselves from paying attention to the visions by socializing in a more directed manner, reading her book together and eating the cakes.

Tex is doing a bit better than before and can reach over to grab the items off the side table with some effort. So after Ryuuzaki leaves, Tex reaches over and grabs another cake. Elena has been cleaning nearby all the while and Tex calls over to her.

"You want one?"

[tearsinajar]

It's been good to see Tex again, to have her nearby and know that things are going to be okay for her. Elena's kept out of their hair, giving Tex and Ryuuzaki all the privacy they need and want, as she feels both would do the same for her and Nate if either one of them was to end up in Medbay for a long period of time. Being confined to a bed for this long, it can't be the most comfortable, but Tex has been making steady progress in getting better which in turn has made Elena relieved.

What's not so relieving are the cracks in space that have been unexpectedly appearing. As tempting as they are to look at, there have been some things she'd glimpsed that left her numb and wanting to stick closer to Nate than usual.

"You talking to me?" Her head peeks into the room before her body appears, a box tucked under her arm while a rag drapes over her shoulder. "Of course you are, there's no one else in."

Smiling she enters, the box set aside on a low table closest to the door.

"You're looking better. Have a good time with Ryuuzaki?"

Jack

[orplasmic]

The tear appears for Jack when he's walking down the hall, heading for the library to see if Elizabeth is around. The sharp whine and the sound of displaced air makes him freeze and that's when he notices the glowing line like a rip in movie footage. He tentatively steps closer to it and it widens out and shows a scene he never lived in this reality.

In the tear is a version of himself, one who wears anger on his face like armor as he stares down Elizabeth with a pistol in his hand. She's staring him down calmly in spite of the weapon in her face.

"Say that again!"

"I'm telling you that Atlas-"

"SHUT UP!" Gun fire rings out sharp and deafening, the shot passing just past her head in warning. "You don't know shit! You can't just go saying things like that!"

"Please, calm down. Just think about things. Isn't it strange that you ended up exactly where you were needed?" Her hands come up in an attempt to placate him. "Jack, would you kindly-"

Another gunshot rings out and then she collapses in a heap as the alternate Jack stands over her with a smoking gun. The tear closes at the same time the real Jack throws an electro-bolt through the image, leaving a singe mark on the wall. He stares at the place where the nightmare image stood and tries to understand what he just saw.

Angela "Mercy" Ziegler ( OPEN )

[cadeuces]

[ At first glance, the tear that Angela's found may seem boring to most. She's curled up in one of the observation windows and alternates between watching it and watching the stars when the scene almost grows to be too much, which may seem silly considering the contents.

It's some sort of political hearing. There's a blond man with a receding hairline and a strong voice in semi-formal military attire, and he's speaking on behalf of and against someone for war crimes committed. It's clear at a glance that he's used to public speaking and he goes about it in a straightforward and earnest manner, stating the facts without embellishing, remaining impartial. The placard in front of him simply reads "MORRISON". The man on trial is "REYES". Angela herself is off to the side with other familiar faces who are aboard the Moira, and they're all rather somber as they listen and there's occasional discourse between those present and the press, but it is largely a very matter-of-fact settling of crimes committed and punishments to be handed out. It seems to be a battle to keep the handling of Reyes' crimes within Overwatch and allow them to handle their own.


There's a cold cup of coffee curled in her hands and for once, there's no smile on her face. But she's been here for over two hours and she shows no signs of leaving any time soon.

After all, it's her dear friends who have since been lost to her, alive and well and growing old, and she gets to hear Jack's voice. She may very well fall asleep here and be found dozing in old company. ]

[gainedlove]

[When Angela wakes from a brief doze, she'll find herself no longer alone. Frisk had wandered in a short while previous, curious and looking for a distraction from the confusion of the changes around them, both in their body and of those around them. It's not so much that they don't realize time has passed, but that the effects of it have occurred at all.]

[When you're so used to things staying forever the same, it's hard when that constant is suddenly taken away.]

[Frisk sits next to her, their tiny legs dangling off the side of the windowseat. Watching the events unfold within the tear, they have an unusually somber and attentive expression. As if they're paying attention to every word, and understand the meaning perfectly. (They don't, not quite, but only because of the vocabulary being used. The gist of the content isn't too hard to understand for them.) When Angela stirs the child turns to look at her, waiting until they're sure she's actually awake before putting one small hand on her knee.]

...'re you okay?

[alterplex]

[ It's so often that people pry into the business of others expecting their lives to be an endless scrapbook of clear-cut, sequential events that contribute to some arbitrary and overarching narrative. Cut someone apart, and what people look for are the easily-digestible montages set to sweeping music. Fists raised in victory, pillows dampened with tears.

The reality is that most moments of importance float, drift, like the one Angela seems to be absorbed in. They assert their importance through their measured silences, through the things that aren't said, the emotions that are kept closed and burning. In Angela's projected reality or daydream (sometimes the line between those are irrelevant), a man kindly condemns another man to the justice of his peers. Venom has no input to give about the goings-on, and he isn't interested in finding out where Angela's allegiances lie; that's for her to know, and him to stay out of.

Two hours later, and his opinion doesn't change. But she's still there, still listening to the rhythmic rise and fall of the blond man's cadence, so what Venom does change about his situation is what he comes back with, ten minutes after he crosses paths with Angela for the second time of the day.

Hot coffee in tow, he approaches her from her range of vision, and offers a blood-red prosthetic to remove the burden of her stale cup.

No 'hello's, no 'are you alright's. He's not a man for platitudes, and he won't tell her to 'snap out of it and stop watching', no.

But if she's going to stay, she might as well keep warm. His expression betrays nothing of what he's thinking, and he keeps his offer extended until she chooses to confirm or deny that she needs it. ]

[flashbanging]

[ Jesse knows exactly what's going on here, and while he'd never claim to know Angela's mind, he's got a pretty good idea about how she might be feeling just now. Which is to say: probably not great.

He hangs back for a while as she sleeps, watching the tear for himself. The sigh of Reyes and Morrison as they once were stirs up an eddy of memories--some warm, some ice cold. He listens with particular interest to the allegations laid against Reyes, comparing them mentally to what he knows of what truly happened, to the man Reyes was, the man he became.

After a short while, he just shakes his head. He comes up beside Angela, unwraps his serape from his neck. He murmurs as he leans over her, draping the serape around her shoulders. ]

Ain't that somethin'.

[mylawn]

[By now, he's figured out what these things are, though he's no closer to discovering what's causing them or how to get them to stop. 76 treads carefully through the halls because of it, not wanting to accidentally happen upon one of his own. It'd be too easy for him to get compromised this way. Even with all of his willpower, however, some of them are difficult to pass up.

He understands what this is--somehow, the attack on HQ was prevented, but it doesn't stop the dismantling of Overwatch. 76 doesn't even have to imagine himself at this hearing, because he can watch it, instead. Not that he can stomach much, seeing Jack Morrison play politician so deftly, even if it won't prevent this from ending in prison sentences. No wonder Gabriel came to hate him.

Angela posted up in the window alcove is something of a curious sight, and he watches her listen to the proceedings, forgotten cup of coffee in her hands. 76 knows he should leave it alone, but he can't even manage that.]

How long have you been here?

Frisk | Undertale | OTA (cw for child death)

[gainedlove]

[The funny thing about alternate universes? They don't have to exist anymore to be seen. And they don't have to be so unfamiliar in order to be 'different'.]

[Within the tear, the scene is set in darkness. Not just darkness, but a void, one that some members of the crew might even recognize. But rather than a diminutive skeleton, the resident is a huge, hulking monstrosity, seemingly without end. And between the claws of this creatures stands the tiny figure of Frisk, their red SOUL glowing bright in defiance of the cruel laughter that spews from it's horrible maw. And around them--]

[Bullets. Explosions. Thorned vines lashing and lancing at and through Frisk, blood pouring from their wounds and splattering on the ground of the ill defined space. They dart and dash, trying their best to escape the relentless barrage of attacks, but--]

[It ends suddenly. Their body falls limp, and their SOUL shatters--]
[Something C̶̶̢̺̓͆̏H̷̶̶̄᷅̚͡A̶̵̶̵̮̳͗N̶̶̺͖᷾̈͘G̶̰̽ͭE̶̶̹̫̓̊̂S̶̴̶̷͙̝̋--]
[And it begins again. Each time, though, the events play out just slightly differently. As if the creature knows how Frisk will react, as if Frisk themself remembers the deaths that had been shown moments previous. And yet they keep going, keep fighting to stay alive as long as they can, crying out for help over and over...]

[But nobody came.]

[And with every death, the horrible creature cackles and laughs all the more, mocking the small child with one simple phrase:]

"Don't you have anything better to do?"

[On this side of reality, Frisk stands silent. Unmoving. For all the world they could be a statue, if not for the slight tremble of clenched fists, or the quiet hitching of breath with each strike and kill. But they don't look scared. Merely...resigned? Resolute?]

[Determined?]

[cadeuces]

[ Angela doesn't need long to observe when she sees Frisk before one of the tears; she isn't sure what she's seeing, not at all, but she recognizes the little one in the image, dying over and over, never giving up.

So when she comes up close behind them, one hand goes to rest on top of their head as a buffer for her chin resting in top of her own knuckles, the other hand coming to rest on their shoulder. Frisk had helped her earlier, and after multiple visits, Angela had been persuaded out of the window to seek out something to eat.

Now Frisk needed that chance. ]

What is this?

[notyetsore]

[Ginko stops in his tracks when he catches sight of the tear a ways down the hallway - and Frisk standing in front of it. And then, as what he's seeing starts to sink in, he nearly stops breathing.

After a few seconds, he takes a step forward. His voice trembles a little as he speaks up.]

...Frisk?

jesse mccree | OTA

[flashbanging]

[ He's just trying to fix himself a decent cup of coffee when he notices it. A tear, right near the cafe bar. He's seen a few of them around the ship at this point, and none of them showed him anything familiar, so he hasn't paid the situation much mind. But he recognizes the face in the scene playing out here.

McCree stirs a few drops of cream into his otherwise black coffee. Maybe a little sugar, too. Feels like he might need it, just now.

He approaches the tear to get a better look, to confirm what he thinks he's seeing. ]

God damn.

[ It's his own self, reflected back, but not quite the same. This Jesse McCree is lean, hungry. Vicious. He's stalking someone over a bridge, shouting across a gorge. He moves swiftly, with ruthless purpose. There's no serape fluttering from his neck, no easy smile on his face.

He's still got the hat, though. Its brim casts a sinister shade over his sharp-toothed grin; he has the look of a coyote, something cunning and wild. Both of his arms are intact, both inked dark with skull tattoos; he wears a leather jacket with spikes in the collar; his pistol belt holds up acid-washed jeans.

Jesse takes a sip from his coffee as he watches this unpleasant movie play out. The bad kind of spaghetti Western; the kind where the bad guy wins. The role he never actually wanted to play.

He hears his own voice shouting, sees other men come into view. Gunfire rings out over the gorge, harsh and echoing, a thunder that calls down death itself. McCree-as-gang-member stands over corpses, gun smoking in his hand, his grin turned to a sneer. He's a hateful man, an angry man.

Jesse in the present moment sits down on the floor with his coffee. He rubs the side of his face. He ought to walk away from this, but he won't. He's going to wait it out. He's going to see how this film ends. ]

[justice_from_above]

[Pharah wanders in looking for a comforting herbal tea after her confrontation with 76, specifically, and the wretched week in general for everyone. She's still bearing her armor, helmet tucked under her arm as she gathers mug and teabag and hot water. She doesn't notice Jesse at first, involved in her own thoughts, but eventually she hears that familiar voice - though perhaps uncharacteristically animalistic. She walks over to the tear, watching quietly for a moment before taking a knee next to Jesse.]

Do you mind some company?

[So far, this is turning out to be an entirely different beast than the vision she saw, and she hopes just being there for Jesse will help.]

[cadeuces]

[ It took some time for Angela to finally peel herself away from the window, no thanks to the company she'd kept and being able to talk about everything she'd felt the need to get off her chest, but eventually her refreshed coffee had also gone cold and sitting in the window for so long had given her a chill.

She doesn't expect to find Jesse here on the floor, nor did she expect to find... is this him in the Deadlock gang? Her cup doesn't get any fancy treatment nor does she take the time to pull an espresso, so she just tops up from the carafe and adds a splash of cream and she goes right to him to take a seat at his side, leaning right against him with her legs curled up to the side. No shame in the instant comfort she provides him as her eyes turn to the tear to watch.

Jesse's always been someone she could describe as "wolfish" with the way he grinned, always scruffy, but he had never been a vicious man.

The one here was everything Jesse was not. Lanky, lacking the finesse of military training, the bulk built up over time and good diet. It hurts her to see him like this; the what-if Gabriel had never taken him in. A Jesse McCree that had never known Overwatch. Ruthless and savage and barbarous— not a single word she'd ever apply to the man at her side.

He fires his gun and men drop to the dusty ground, and McCree sneers at their corpses. She idly wonders what they'd done and if he had any purpose for killing them. And she won't say anything; her presence alone invites him to speak if he wishes to. ]

venom snake | ota!

[alterplex]

[ Venom knows why he's seeing what he's seeing— it's because of what he's gotten in the mail, a stack of cassettes about the truth of a girl that he'd so long known as an Angel of Peace.

Without getting into the details, what he knows is this: that whatever he's seeing right now in the rip of the space-time continuum is Not Real. He's crossed this bridge ages ago, back in his own world and back in a dimly-lit room of his imagination's own making, in a hospital ward that never existed, in a wing that led right into the ocean. He knows that the girl he's seeing never made it, he knows that he failed to extract the second bomb that killed her and took 9 years of his life (of His life)—

—but he watches anyway, through this rift situated in the gardens among leaves and greenery. She keeps her gaze cast down to dogeared pages, a heavy-set textbook that she reads from with her gentle soprano and her lilting South American accent.

Snake, are you listening? This next chapter, it is all about the possibility of peace through deterrence.

Her blue eyes are the only things that seem alive in the sterility of the rest of the room. Venom finds himself smiling despite himself, and mutters a low 'yeah, I'm listening'.

He doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon: the gardens will fill with the soft cadence of a false angel, talking about her faith in a misguided unity. ]

[cadeuces]

[ Angela may not afford him two hours of privacy the way he'd had for her— if only because she recognizes easily how caught in this scene he is, to the point of replying verbally, answering the girl's question. "Snake" she calls him. Yet the book she reads from is lovely, and while the pacifist in Angie yearns to listen to more, the realist in her that has spent twenty years in war zones knows better, knows how pretty the words were and how they couldn't always work, but it is nice to hear all the same. That there are others, in other worlds, who share the same kind thoughts for their whens. Is that what Ahab listens to, or is it simply the sound of this girl's voice? She's gorgeous and he's watching so fondly. She must have been important to him. Precious. It shows in his eyes and the way he smiles and the rapt attention he pays this image in homage to the real thing.

She takes his flesh and blood hand and shoulders up under his arm when no amount of standing at his side gains his acknowledgement. He's sinking his fangs into this vision and he isn't letting up. Angela leans her weight on him gently and waits, watching with him as her fingers knead his hand, thumb tracing swirls in his palm as her nails drag carefully over his skin, feeling strong veins beneath her touch. ]

Cue some msf nostalgia

[warandpeace]

[Kaz likes to play his guitar in the gardens. Just sit under the giant, ridiculous tree and whittle away at notes. He has it slung over his back as he comes to the gardens this day, prepared to resume his spot and rest his weight back against the wood and really take some rare time to himself. Nursing something that adds nothing to himself, really, nothing of long term value. But it is something stolen from him, and that makes it worth keeping and protecting.]

[He's about to settle in when he hears a recognizable voice. Paz. The Cipher spy that artfully wielded a lie in the Caribbean and eventually led to the ruin of the MSF. The young woman who had disappeared during the Cadacun invasion; he didn't know if she died there, but knowing what was in store for her at home he hoped she did. Part of him still held ire for her, but he's not so far gone in his hatred for Cipher that he doesn't remember her last act. How she gave them that last little bit of valuable space for them to survive. Some of them, anyway.]

[It sounds more like that manufactured personality of hers. The response of, "Yeah, I'm listening" in a familiar rumble worries him slightly. Venom Snake's feelings towards Paz were much more positive than Big Boss's had been.]

[He follows the sounds until he sees Snake, standing there, staring towards a rift. Whatever the hell is happening, no one's warned Kaz. He does know what he sees isn't normal. Enough to be wary of. So when he approaches, he speaks before reaching him, warning before he gently takes the man's artificial limb in his own false hand and gives him a gentle pull.]

Boss?

[It seems a shame almost to pull him out of that reverie. It's not often that Snake smiles, looks so content. Why is that? He knows what she did. John had firmer suspicions than Kaz's own towards her. Why does Venom look like this? But they're not the same man, he knows. There's something different happening here. Miller really wishes that he didn't have to drag him back to earth away from that angel.] That's not normal. We should give it some space and send someone in to check it out. [A utilitarian answer. Grounded. As far as he knows that's not Paz. Not really.]