thisavrou_log | ( april event log )

Entry tags:

( april event log )

Who: Everyone
When: April 14th and on
Where: The Moira + Del Pascia
What: The prison isn't all that contained after all.
Warnings: For the (sort of) undead, possible violence, and nudity. Please label your content!

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revive the risk
"Big things have small beginnings."

Things have been going relatively well for the crew of the Moira thus far despite their current circumstances. With D-E-L’s help, many supplies have already been gathered, and those with the necessary components have begun making much needed repairs. Yet, things aren’t as peaceful on Del Pascia as they might have seemed.

The resident facility AI has slowly started growing more and more unresponsive to questions, often answering in rather irritated tones and short, snippy answers. Still, no system glitches appear across the prison except for one minor detail: random doors and hallways suddenly lock and close for no reason and don’t open again for varying amounts of time—ranging from minutes to hours. Does this have anything to do with the unsettling feeling some crew members have experienced since stepping foot onto Del Pascia? Or is there a simple explanation that can be easily chalked up to as an accident?

☄ DECONTAMINATION #2 ( 04.14 - 04.17 )

On the Moira, crew come and go without much hassle. They take a transporter to planets and moons and back again without any fuss... Until today. All crew that try to reboard the Moira coming back from Del Pascia will be denied access, a warning flashing on their MID - Decontamination Required for Entry. It’s a protocol that hasn’t been enacted before, and the MID offers no explanation as to why it is now. The transporter will seal and then be permitted to dock in the Cargo Bay, where the procedure will begin. All crew on the transporter have to dispose of their clothing by placing it inside hazardous waste bags located in a compartment near the front of the craft. After all clothing is stored, a gas-like substance will fill the transporter, breathable yet tasteless, and once it dissipates, crew will be free to go.

Other crew members will be waiting in the cargo bay with clothing and blankets, per the captain’s instruction, but no clear explanation will be given for this sudden new protocol aside from “potential health risks”.

☄ D.ON'T E.VER L.EAVE ( 04.18 - 04.23 )

After the decontamination procedures for the Moira go off, the captains issue a ship-wide alert to let the crew know that the ship is picking up on something inside each person that boarded the space station. It is speculated that the crew came in contact with an unknown biological contaminant either during the station’s decontamination procedure or sometime after. At this point, they aren’t aware of what will happen to those that are carrying the contaminant, and the captains ask for anybody with experience to head to the Medbay to begin testing. Crew don’t appear to be in any danger, so they are allowed to continue gathering materials and supplies on board the space station at their discretion. (Every time they come and go, they will be made to go through the procedure described above).

Any crew remaining on Del Pascia will find that D-E-L is more vocal than ever before. It is answering questions, as well as trying to convince crew members to abandon the Moira and take up permanent residence aboard the space station.

☄ FEAR ME, LOVE ME, DO AS I SAY ( 04.24 - 04.28 )

Like most unfortunate things, it seems everything happens all at once.The noises you heard, a step falling moments after yours or a rattle coming from the vents, become louder. You can’t place where they are coming from at first. You turn, you follow, but the search yields no results. And then, without any warning, it’s crystal clear as “they” begin to creep and move from within the shadows and ruined sections of Del Pascia: the prisoners and workers said to have been relocated by D-E-L. Their voice is one, regardless of how many gather, and they tell you, “You can be happy here” and “I can make you better” shortly after.

Worse than the way they speak in unison is the way they look. Mutated and deformed, their prison uniforms are in tatters and covered in various levels of the same blood that the crew has experienced during their time on Del Pascia while visiting the prison blocks. They don’t attack to kill; they only try to detain, to drag crew members further into the station and are methodical and precise in how they do this as if they’re being controlled by something greater and much smarter than them.

To those that fight, D-E-L’s voice will call out, telling the Moiran not to struggle, to stay here and be safe, be better. The AI explains that life there on Del Pascia is easy, peaceful, and nobody will cause you pain. Suffering is a thing of the past and loneliness is something you’ll never know again. The prisoners follow the command of the AI, its voice falling from their lips. D-E-L claims they feel no pain, no hunger. They are united in one purpose and are therefore free of all strife. Wouldn’t it be nice to be free like that?

As always, fearing for the safety of the crew (and despite the disrepair of the Moira from events prior), the captains ask for all those capable to assist with extracting those aboard Del Pascia as quickly as possible before D-E-L tries to lock them inside. Running, after all, is better than dying, and it’s certainly something everyone aboard the Moira has gotten quite good at.

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[Ocelot raises an eyebrow at the observation. Guess Miller's new eyes are pretty damn good. Another person might've missed the marks.]

I can't blame these on her.

[Though it would probably be easier to do so, Ocelot isn't going to suggest he slept with someone he hasn't. Not that he'd turn her down. She was a fine looking woman.]

Better not to ask. You might not want to know.

[But by saying that, maybe Miller can already figure it out. Were it not someone of consequence, Ocelot wouldn't be so evasive about it, and there are few people in this world that mean something to the both of them.]

[It's one or the other, Kaz knows almost immediately. Big Boss or his phantom. Ishmael, or Ahab. It's obvious for a moment that he still wants to ask.]

...I want to know.

[Better to know. So he doesn't make any stupid mistakes, say the wrong thing. He pulls the extra towel a little more snug around his shoulder.]

[It's not as though Ocelot would give Kaz a hard time if he guessed wrong. It's how he'll react that Ocelot isn't sure of. He knows Kaz must have feelings, in a way, for both men.]

What would knowing do? Neither of them belongs to me.

[It's not as though Ocelot was in a 'relationship'. But he'll give Miller a break and stop being evasive for a change.]

Ahab was grateful for getting DD back and wanted to thank me.

[Biting his neck was a hell of a thanks.]

[Miller sits there and rolls his eyes to the side, as if Ocelot's cryptic words about not being in a relationship matter terribly much.]

Yeah. Not really men you put a label on. Already know that.

[But then he comes clean, and Miller... well, he doesn't know if he's relieved or not. He fulfilled a longstanding dream with one, but on the other there was a closeness there he's deprived of. There's something a little sad about it. Another reminder, if faint, that when he does leave, they will belong to Ocelot. And he knows it.]

Well... [It wasn't as if he had any significant part to play in his life anyway. Just the person tricked into helping him act like Big Boss. Ahab's his friend. He is. But Kaz has no idea where that friendship comes from. Not when it's based off memories of him with Big Boss... and that friendship, he knows fully well, comes from a darker place than just being saved.]

...I guess it really isn't any of my business. [He knows it's not. He thinks about adding in what he did, but in the long run, does that matter either? Aw. Hell. He wishes he had his sunglasses. He realizes in that moment the usual shield against his emotions isn't there. He can see that not of conflicted disappointment, of vague loneliness, and then suddenly being a bit irritated with that final realization of being exposed. He tries to cover it by rubbing between his eyes, just a motion to cover them.]

Edited 2016-04-20 17:05 (UTC)

[Perhaps it isn't his business, but he did want to know anyway. Now Miller looks hurt over the information, which Ocelot expected might happen. For all his gruff exterior at times when barking orders as XO, Ocelot knows the man has a tender heart. A bit too much of a romantic, in Ocelot's opinion, but there was no changing that.]

You know you mean something to him. It's not as if that's gone because of one night.

[One really hot and spectacular night, granted, but he's not gonna brag. For once.]

Or is he not good enough because he's not the 'real' Big Boss?

No. It's not about being good enough. It's something else.

And I know I still do. [He doesn't argue the point that he means something. He knows that he does. Even after learning the truth in his time, he still stood by Ahab. Even if he wasn't quite as close, because he knew that the life and risks they took together at one distant time didn't matter because they weren't real. He's had to work on a disconnect, separate the comforts of history to the confusion of the here and now. Ahab is the man that saved him, and isn't the man that fought to keep him and as far as he knows at least partially rejected him.]

[But if he's going to leave, be just another person that abandons someone, becoming that close to someone and then walking away would be inordinately cruel. He isn't ready to tell Ocelot he's discussed leaving. He's not ready to discuss what he knows is due to happen with them. Ishmael will be unhappy but accept it. Kaz means less in the greater scheme of things. Ahab already lost Quiet. Kaz always distrusted her, hated her, but he knows losing her and her closeness wounded his friend.]

[Will he be much easier to cope with when he goes? How much harder would it be if he's any closer than he is now?]

[Maybe part of him is jealous. Again, probably not in the way one would expect. Ocelot is an enabler, a yes man, someone who has earned the trust of their duel leaders by completely standing behind whatever ideas the greater legend of "Big Boss" promotes. Miller has always fought back. In the MSF, even if he slipped, even if he thought his dealings with Cipher would actually give them a better place than give them a home to be destroyed, he felt as if his role still meant something.]

[It's been a while since he's felt that. Just a guy good with paperwork and checkbook, someone to watch out for when the men are sad, to play cheerleader, to give out morale boosting speeches. He lost everything because of a mistake. Everything. And in that learned that hanging onto things that looked like home isn't going to give him back his past.]

[Complicated excuse upon complicated excuse. Maybe he just doesn't know what his own head is anymore. He just managed to move past his intense hatred with one, come to terms with the idea that he doesn't want the real Big Boss dead. Wanting to keep Ocelot in his right mind because he finally got to see that there's a man buried under all surgically precise goal-driven exterior. Save Ahab because he deserves to be more than a fleshy decoy so that Ishmael might live.] It's not like that. I want him to be happy. He's a good man. You told me once, in the end... there can only be one Big Boss. What are you going to do when there's only one?

[It's clear that Miller has a lot on his mind. He's got that reflective look about him. For Ocelot, it's not as complicated because he's accepted what is and what will be, so when Miller asks him what he's going to do when there's only one Big Boss, Ocelot lifts his brow as though he's surprised by the question. Isn't the answer obvious?]

The same thing I always do.

[Support him. To the bitter end.]

I've picked my side. Held onto my cards. I'll play it through until I'm tapped out.

[The gunman reclines in his chair a little and rubs the back of his neck with one hand.]

This mission.. this.. vision he has. I believe in it. Whatever it takes, Miller. Don't think I'm fool enough to believe I'm not headin' for a bad end. There is no riding off into the sunset for guys like me. At least my life can have meaning, serving something, someone greater than myself. Even if he wouldn't call himself great, but that's just what makes it so.

And I have orders from The Boss.

[Twenty years ago, when Volgin told Ocelot to shoot John, Ocelot refused because of her, and Ocelot is still following those orders.

Maybe he over-simplifies it all, but for Ocelot it's not even complicated. He just proceeds to the next move; plays the game. He's good at games and strategy; Ocelot was born for this kind of work.]

[There's a part of him that finds the idea stubborn and ignorant. Of believing in someone, and then slowly having to cope with the idea that those dreams, the happiness you've invested in something, someone, not even being there anymore in relation to seeing that dream through. How can he? Especially now that he knows the world as it becomes is nothing like the world that he wanted to happen.]

[Someone can't even say "good intentions" in this case. They're just... Intentions. To make something happen. To roll forward endlessly.]

They're still men. Very different ones, even if they wear the same face.

[He squints off towards the other side of the room.] I think I'm starting to understand something. About the original that is. [Knowing Liquid impersonates him, he realizes, means that Big Boss has had to somehow adapt to having someone impersonate him all the time. It was either kill Ahab or make sure that forced resemblance followed actual ideals rather than something Zero manufactured. Miller still despises little things he did, he has (the blond hair, the sunglasses, the carefully nuetral accent) made it easier to have his image stolen to hurt someone he'll one day care about.]

[He sure the fuck wishes people would stop doing that to him.]

[Kaz crosses his arms in front of himself, for half a moment, before the towel around his shoulders starts to slip and he pins it into place.] He got really excited to have that dog back didn't he? [He just says it with an incredulous tone, like he's more amused by it now. He can't hold onto any slights he feels (oh he wants to, he very much wants to). And at least here he's realized, the only way to get to Ocelot is to chip away at Big Boss. Not here, though. It has to wait.]

What did you understand?

[He's curious to know if Miller's perception of Big Boss has changed any since they've been on the ship together.]

Big Boss said you two may have... come to terms?

[John didn't give anything away about how that happened, but he seemed to indicate things might be better between the two of them now. As for Ahab and how 'thankful' he was, Ocelot smirks, which is almost a bit bashful.]

Jealous you didn't think of it first?

[Bringing DD here, he means. If he had, Miller might've been the one being thanked. The cowboy gets up from his seat and walks over to Miller, regarding him a moment, then reaching for that towel Miller is using to cover his shoulder. He tries to gently pull the fabric off of him.]

You don't need it.

He said he thought I'd known. And he listened to me about Ahab. [Even if it required throwing a punching fit at him.] He told me he doesn't look at me any differently from back then. [Which said something, and after a little defensive tug, is ultimately the reason he lets Ocelot take it. Even if immediately he feels just as exposed as without his glasses, and his hand looks poised to cover it again. He'll have to get used to it at some point, though.]

But that's not what did it. I got angry when I was on my own. I almost broke something important to me. [His MSF guitar, almost smashed against the tree in the gardens. All he's ever done is break everything important to him, or fail at holding it together, even if he doesn't break it directly.] So I decided to talk to him.

[But he's not asked about his plans, his secrets, his ideas. He's just talked to him as a person. Perhaps the fact he hasn't will eventually raise some sort of skepticism. But right now, he knows all that he needs to know.] Anyway, I realized that to accept Ahab, he needed him to think with his agendas or he would have put him down. But still... He could stand being his own man while he's here. I'm glad he has the dog. Big Boss never had one. Never had the time to spend on one. I'll probably give him one of the pups, though.

[Since Miller is going to trust John with one of the puppies, it must mean things are a little better between them.]

That's kind of you. I know he'll appreciate it.

[Having DD has been good for Ahab, so having a dog will probably be good for Big Boss, as well. Since they're all trapped on this station, maybe it's their only chance at living a semi-normal life for awhile.

The towel is folded and set over his own shoulder. Not that he has anything he needs to cover up.]

Liquid wanted one too.

I ended up saying yes.

[If nothing else, to bring the humanity out in the other man. Though he does remember to call him Liquid- not so much because the younger man can't stand the name Eli, but "Liquid" is the only name Solid really truly knows him by.]

Figure it shouldn't be too hard to find homes for them.

[The transition from prosthetic-to-phantom-arm is pretty seamless. The generator in the cap is glowing faintly at the bottom, not terribly bright. Just enough to show it's functioning. It keeps the shape of his shoulder, too, cupped over it. Once it's flesh toned, finalized, it'll barely be odd at all. Right now it's just a little bizarre.]

[Ocelot is glad Miller has used the technology of this place to his own benefit. Maybe he'll feel different when he's 'whole' again. He'll certainly be a bit more useful with a working arm and leg, since they might need every capable fighter. Who knows what they'll run in to next.]

If you need any help with some training, just let me know.

Yeah, I'm keeping it in mind. [There are a few people in mind, but one? He's not been mentioning if he can help it. And the other? Secretly a spy. Emphasis on "secret".]

[Makes it hard to bring up names.]

Mama's staying a civilian, though. Other than some basic training. Figured if I have a normal life one day, she'll be my practice run.

[As normal as he can manage.]

[Ocelot nods in understanding. That dog was meant to be a companion, not a field partner.]

Basic training is fine if that's what you want.

[Ocelot enjoys working with dogs, so he'll be pleased just to teach her to sit and roll over.]

With the pups, training will go a long way. Especially since this ship relies mostly on salvage. The dogs could provide some warning and the ability to locate both supplies and dangers.

[Plus, as far as sled dogs go, Huskies are on the smaller side.]

[And the dogs are easier to think about than any other complication. Miller turning his mind to practical things.]

It won't work in the training simulation room, though. No smell. Technology in there only goes so far.

[Unfortunately.]

The cargo bay might make a good training ground.

[Plenty of places to train those noses.]

Where did you learn to train dogs?

[He guesses that, on some morbid level, it's probably not that different from what he does with people.]

[Miller is right about that.]

I was stationed at a base for a year that had a large kennel. I took up the hobby there and found I enjoyed it.

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( april event log )

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