redshiftlogs | Jacob Frye Catch-All

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Jacob Frye Catch-All

Who: Jacob Frye + OPEN
What: Various: causing trouble, planning trouble, generally trouble
When: March? March. March is good!
Where: Anchor, different spots here and there.

Sequence 1: Take a Leap of Faith - OPEN

If you could ask Jacob Frye what the best thing about being an assassin was, he wouldn't even have to think about the answer.

For a start, there is very little about being an assassin that he very much likes. The fighting is fun, but you don't need to be an assassin to get into a fight club, or a gang for that matter. Assassins don't generally fight if they can help it either, they're meant to sneak in, find their target, dispatch them, leave. The weapons? They're fun, the gauntlet is one of his dearest possessions. But it doesn't come close to the thrill of free falling.

Breath snatched from your lungs, heart beating against your ribs, adrenaline filling every inch of you as the wind whistles past.

It's dangerous, he knows that. One tiny miscalculation can kill you, and when you're leaping from such high points there is no room for error. Maybe that's another part of the excitement. Cheating death.

He'd done it in the City, of course he had. But somehow in Anchor, that central cavernous space above the park calls to him. So much open space between one side and the other, so little to get in your way.

Even just stood here, on the ledge of one of the many levels, he feels his heartbeat begin to race. He's picking his spot, working out the landing and simply enjoying the anticipation of it. Anyone passing by might be very concerned to see a man stood there on the very edge, so high from the ground.

But those watching from below might be surprised to see him fall: arms outstretched and wind whipping at his coat, free-falling and then turning, landing on his back in a pile of leaves the little robotic gardens have been collecting from the green space and helpfully left laying around.

They might be more surprised to see him get out with a huge grin, and no visible injuries, then pull his hat from his pocket and put it back on.

Sequence 2: A Moonshiner Mission - CLOSED TO ANGEL

He's been toying with the idea for a few days. He's not a brewer, just a drinker, but it can't be too hard. People do it at home in their kitchens out in the countryside. They should be able to do it here, and that way he can actually drink something that isn't either piss or a tequila sunrise.

Not that he can complain about the tequila, it's not that bad and besides, Angel likes them.

The boys are out, and Jacob's flicking through the binder of information she made them absently, without really taking in anything new. There's diagrams and explanations of complicated scientific terms and chemical reactions. Evie would have loved it.

"You know a lot about science, right?" He asks her, testing the water.

Sequence 3: All is Complicated in Love and War: CLOSED TO LEN SNART (and backdated)

Cold doesn't seem the worst for wear, considering he was almost drowned. Jacob has survived a number of things he shouldn't have, he can appreciate that afterwards you normally want a stiff drink. He certainly needs one, after the freezing water and that fight.

He has questions. A lot of questions, and he's not sure Cold is going to give him any answers. He seems the sort to keep a lot of things close to his chest. Maybe a drink, the offer of a friendly chat will relax the tension. Jacob hopes so, he likes the guy even if he is rather cold and detached. Ha, Cold.

He sets a drink down in front of him as he takes a swallow from his own. It's alcoholic, which is good.

"You and that guy have history." He prompts, as he takes his seat.

Sequence 4: Pick Your Own Adventure - OPEN

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Jacob also happens to be a dramatic show off, which is not a good trait for a super secret assassin.

"No, but it's probably good that they put up a little bit of resistance." Enough to cushion his landing at any rate. The leaves weren't doing anything else useful, having been swept up by the robots tending the park. He should make use of them.

Genji lights up which is also not a great trait for a super secret ninja. They are kindred spirits.

"The other piles of leaves will shiver in terror." Poor leaves, they did nothing wrong. "The next person who tries it will splatter."

Though considering the people he's met, Peter, Carlisle, or Angel... they could probably all survive jumping off the roof. Carlisle might end up in pieces but he'd still be 'alive.' Was everyone here incredibly skilled in some way? He'd never thought about it before but ..

"I take it you did that a lot back home?"

No one is perfect, right?

"You think? There's still a bit of cushioning there." He looks at the pile, which has spread out a little bit with the force of the impact, And kicks some of the stray leaves back towards the rest. Not that it makes much difference.

He'd been told, back when he lived in the City, that Leaps like that weren't possible. Something about breaking necks or damaging spinal columns and ribs and velocity. All he knows is that he can do, so could his father, and his sister, and all the other assassin's he knows.

"That? Lots. Occupational necessity. And it's fun. The closest to flying I think we'll ever get."

"Flying sounds very freeing. I cannot do it, but it would be nice. I suppose all we have is jumping and freefalling then." Mercy and Echo can fly, and both Zenyatta and Sigma float, but all Genji gets is double jumps. It's something he supposes.

"I wonder if we can use the VR room for that? To pretend to fly?"

The answer to all of life's problems is video games.

"You mean the hallucination room? Can it do that? I thought it could only pull things out of our heads."

Jacob has no idea what VR means, but he does know what the strange armour-clad man must be referring to. It would be fun to try, if it works that way.

"For the meantime, there's this. Even if you don't jump from very high, as long as you roll on landing, you'll be okay. Probably." He grins again, unable to hide his excitement. "I'm Jacob. Should have said so earlier."

"Certainly, but I have been flying. So I should be able to replicate it." Granted someone was carrying him, he wasn't doing it himself, but same basic principle right?

"My name is Genji. Do not worry, I would be fine, if I break my legs, I can simply repair them." With the mask it's hard to see the grin, but he certainly sounds like he's joking. "Let us see."

He looks up at where Jacob had jumped from, then abruptly jumps up to grab the railing, bouncing off and doing a flip to grab onto the next floor up and pulling himself onto it. Why use stairs when you can just jump and wall run up to the top level? Once he's up there he crouches on the railing like a metal light up gargoyle, taking in the view and the silence up here away from everyone.

Tranquil.

Standing up he clasps his hands together in front of his face, two fingers pressed together in a meditative salute before he pitches forward. There's only a few unnecessary flips (such restraint) before he lands in a very dramatic crouch with one palm pressed against the floor.

That probably should have shattered his knees.

If he had knees anymore.

Jacob has a question, one that he doesn't get the chance to ask before the armour-clad man is bounding upward. He's an assassin, he can do some things that most people can't do, because he's trained every day since he was six years old to do them. But there are some things that he can't do, things that are impossible, things that human biology just won't allow.

Genji has just demonstrated a lot of them in what? Less than a minute?

Jacob forced his mouth shut. He hadn't realised it was open as he'd watched, hadn't realised that he was staring as the man ran up the wall and then calmly sat up on the railing, and then fell earthwards. That landing...

"Bloody hell."

He's impressed. He's clearly impressed. Being lost for words isn't a common thing for him, but Genji's done it, and with relative ease and a lot of grace. Jacob can leap off buildings, he can do it with some elegance, but that was a league all of it's own.

He gathers himself, his thoughts, and shakes his head. "What... what was that about your knees?"

Little does anyone know that the mask is only there to prevent people from seeing his big goofy grin when he does impressive stuff. So he still looks like a stoic badass even though he's absolutely delighted by Jacob's reaction.

"I think they are going to be fine." He springs back up, bouncing a few times and giving one of his legs a shake to make sure he didn't actually damage anything. "Yes, they are okay, but that's probably the tallest thing I have jumped from. You are right about the sensation of flying! We should try the VR room."

He is very excite.

"...That isn't what I meant." Jacob manages, but it is glad to know that nothing seems broken. He just... well. How do you ask someone if they're human? How do you phrase such a delicate question, without causing offence? How do you ask that of a complete stranger? Without implying that somehow, robotic life is lesser than humans, without suggesting that robots are just computers with legs?

"Are you a robot?"

Apparently you ask like that.

At least Genji has been here long enough to be asked that question by literally every person he's encountered except Angel. So he's less offended than he would have been, but still a little annoyed.

"No! I am not a robot." But to be fair, there's absolutely nothing about what he looks like to lead anyone to believe otherwise. "Would it help if I wore more clothes? I have a jacket.."

Because obviously it's the lack of clothes and not the metal body that is confusing people.

"What?" Jacob frowns, and then shakes his head. "You don't have to wear anything. I mean... more than the armour. I just... I've never seen anyone land like that and walk around afterwards."

Because yes Genji, your legs should be broken.

"And when you said you'd repair your legs if you needed to... well. I assumed... I was wrong. Sorry. I didn't mean anything." Certainly he wasn't trying to offend the man.

"That was an incredible jump though. You'll have to show me how you pulled off that landing. After flying."

He looks down at himself, kicking one of his legs out and flexing his foot. "They're metal. My legs are. So I am not going to break them jumping from really high. Well probably, I guess I still could, I've broken them before but not in that way."

Which he should be a bit more careful of here since he might not be able to get the necessary components to repair them.

Reaching up he put his hands to the back of his helmet, pushing a set of hidden switches there to release the visor, pulling it free and then sliding the rest of his helmet off. His bright green hair is a little smushed from being in there and he scruffs it up to try and get it to spike properly, to no avail.

"I am not a robot though." He gives a small smile, the scarred skin across his face crinkling up from the expression. The upper half anyway, his jaw is black carbon fiber, going up to his temples where it's bolted into his skull.

"Do you want to try the VR room?"

"I've seen people with wooden legs. Metal seems a lot better." Jacob remarks. Most people with wooden legs hobble around using sticks for support, at least in his time. They're not anything more than pegs. This? These legs that bend and flex better than real flesh and bone? They're fantastic.

And then the helmet comes off, the shocking green hair revealed, the strange black jaw, the scars. And the bright eyes that shine a little with his smile. It's not frightening, or unpleasant, it doesn't make this man any less cool for executing that jump.

"Clearly not a robot," Jacob agrees. Far too fun to be a robot.

He reaches out, patting the man on the back, his own grin still wide, before walking with him towards said VR room. "Of course! Who wouldn't want to experience flying? The Leaps? They're fun, but it's not the same. Tell me about it, when you did it. Flying, I mean."

Genji is someone who smiles with his whole face, and he's doing a lot of that right now. Tucking the helmet under his arm he heads towards the VR room next to Jacob. This is gonna be great.

"Angela, Dr. Ziegler, she has a suit that allows her to fly, she was carrying me, but it was still flying. She can only go for short distances though because it is just a modified sort of a .. hm."

He pauses trying to figure out how to say this, "Jet-pack? There's only so much power in it before it recharges. Too bad I can't do that, little rockets in my feet or some such. But then I guess I would be really heavy, and have to put fuel in my legs."

"... I think I've met her." Jacob says, recalling the blonde woman from the City of Sin. She'd patched him up after he'd been in the Coliseum and they'd talked for a while. She'd seemed smart, capable, but he'd not known she could fly. He's almost disappointed he didn't learn that at the time.

"What's a jet-pack?" Jets, after all, aren't something that really exists in his time. Unless you mean jets of water, or jet-black, but neither of those things really make much sense in context. He's sure no jet of water could be strong enough to make people fly. Besides, you'd need a really big supply of water, and that stuff is heavy. Then something clicks in his head. "You mean like fireworks? Those sorts of rockets? With gunpowder?"

Sounds mad. Like you'd risk blowing your legs off instead of taking off.

"You too? Qubit said he had met her as well. These timelines are odd." He still doesn't really get it, and Qubit's explanation had involved quantum physics which might as well have been him speaking a foreign language.

"Gunpowder?" Now they're getting into territory he really doesn't understand. He uses a sword. It's simple. It slices things. It doesn't need to be reloaded and it never runs out of ammo. "Is that how fireworks work? I think jet-packs take petrol? Or .. rocket fuel? I don't know, I am not a scientist. It's different than gunpowder though. It's not little black balls of.. whatever that is made of."

His only experience with gunpowder being helping McCree count out grains of gunpowder to make ammo because he was bored and needed something to take his mind off the fact his legs weren't attached. Beyond that he really doesn't know how it all works.

"You're telling me. My best friend is from two thousand years in the future, her beau is from 100 years before me." At least he and Charles are from the same century. "It hurts too much to try and explain it. We're here, that's what matters."

How and why? Someone who understands that stuff can try work it out. It's not what Jacob cares about.

Jacob grins. "Saltpeter, charcoal and sulphur. I guess it's probably different. You can't get a sustained blast from gunpowder. I guess it's more like combustion engines then?" Something only just invested in his time. He has no real understanding of how they work, only that it makes things go faster than horses.

"When are you from? I'm guessing the future, considering everything."

"You have a former teammate to thank for me even knowing what it is. I use swords." And the fact that McCree favored a hundred year old technology over hard light or lasers or any of the future tech they have.

"2070. I think that is far in the past for here? Perhaps? We do not have VR rooms. But we do have nanite technology, and the colony on the moon has a similar setup to this dome." With how ridiculous some people dress back home he'd just assumed this guy was a little eccentric, not that he might be from hundreds of years in the past. "That is your future yes? If you do not know what a rocket is. What's a combustion engine?"

Too far in the future to know how old timey cars work.

"Swords?" Jacob frowns, because swords to him aren't futuristic. He uses them- albeit cane swords- on a daily basis back home.

But any further comments about swords is lost when the man mentions that date. While Jacob knows Angel is from thousands of years in the future, it's so distant that it's actually impossible for him to comprehend. A few hundred? That's easier.

"That's about two hundred years after my time." He explains, a little perturbed. So long after everything he knows stops being relevant. That's frightening. But then again... who knows when or where they are here.

He takes a breath. "I don't know exactly. It's only just been invented. Something about causing little explosions in a small space and changes in pressure... something about pistons. A bit like a steam engine but I suppose you don't have those either? What do you use? Horses?"

"No, for knowing about guns. I do not use them." He probably could, he's just never tried, much to McCree's displeasure.

"Steam engine? No we use cars. They're not powered by explosions. Or pistons. I am a little unsure how exactly they work, I'm not a mechanic. But they float a few inches off the ground normally. Are you talking about the ones with tires? The rubber things?" He holds his hands out approximating the shape of a tire.

"Two hundred years does not seem like much time between us but we seem to be so divergent. Technology moves far faster than I realized."

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Jacob Frye Catch-All

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