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redshiftlogs2019-10-05 10:00 pm
modblob) wrote in redshiftlogs2019-10-05 10:00 pm
october 2019. welcome to the void.
Who: Everyone in Anchor.
What: Fourth Introductory Mingle
When: The Month of October 2019
Where: Around and outside the city.
Warnings: Please add any warnings in the subject lines.
What: Fourth Introductory Mingle
When: The Month of October 2019
Where: Around and outside the city.
Warnings: Please add any warnings in the subject lines.
Redshift: Welcome to the v͖͕̺̲̘̱̜͎o̴̦̣̠̦̘̹͞i̯̖d̛̪̬͈̱̦̝͍̕.
Click here to read what characters will experience when arriving in Anchor.
a. sini express delivery service.
There's something odd rolling through Anchor. Whether they wake with it next to their beds or find it sitting neatly in some corridor as if placed there just for them, characters will start finding items that are distinct and unique enough that they have to belong to someone. But where are they coming from? And whose are they?
The easiest way to find out is probably to walk around with the item held high yelling "Does this belong to you?" but that's not a good way to cover a lot of ground.
Don't worry, though! There's someone (something?) to help you. Chiming in periodically from communicators or intercoms across Anchor comes a voice that might sound a little familiar to anyone who made it as far as that spaceship wreckage in the wasteland. Softly laughing and humming, this some-one-thing will cheerfully coax characters in the right direction, giving tips and offering little clues to anyone who might be confused about whose item they have.
Characters struggling with identifying whose item they got might hear a helpful voice whispering out of their device as they move around the city - "Warmer, waaaaarmer...oh no! COLD!" They might hear a laughing voice coming out of a nearby speaker, giving tips or riddles about the person the item belongs to - "Her eyes are grey!" or "What kind of spider is sweet as pie?" Sometimes, it'll just be amused giggling at the efforts of those trying to find their object's owner. That bubbly voice is everywhere, encouraging residents to solve the riddle because "It'll be wooooorth it. Pinky swear!"
And no matter what, it can't be turned off or muted, and it doesn't respond to any direct attempts to communicate in return.
The easiest way to find out is probably to walk around with the item held high yelling "Does this belong to you?" but that's not a good way to cover a lot of ground.
Don't worry, though! There's someone (something?) to help you. Chiming in periodically from communicators or intercoms across Anchor comes a voice that might sound a little familiar to anyone who made it as far as that spaceship wreckage in the wasteland. Softly laughing and humming, this some-one-thing will cheerfully coax characters in the right direction, giving tips and offering little clues to anyone who might be confused about whose item they have.
Characters struggling with identifying whose item they got might hear a helpful voice whispering out of their device as they move around the city - "Warmer, waaaaarmer...oh no! COLD!" They might hear a laughing voice coming out of a nearby speaker, giving tips or riddles about the person the item belongs to - "Her eyes are grey!" or "What kind of spider is sweet as pie?" Sometimes, it'll just be amused giggling at the efforts of those trying to find their object's owner. That bubbly voice is everywhere, encouraging residents to solve the riddle because "It'll be wooooorth it. Pinky swear!"
And no matter what, it can't be turned off or muted, and it doesn't respond to any direct attempts to communicate in return.
b. flu season.
No one probably takes special notice, at first. It's a sniffle here, a cough or chill there. 'Tis the season in some universe, after all, and even the advanced decontamination process isn't completely flawless. But what starts as a tickle in the throat gets a little worse over the span of a week, or in some cases a lot worse.
Whether laid up for a few days or longer, afflicted characters can expect to feel a few consistent symptoms. Dizziness, lightheadedness, chills and fever, coughing and sneezing (that kind of sneezing that comes in annoyingly long bursts and makes you feel like you've shot your brain out of your nose).
Oh, and hallucinations. Mild ones! Nothing to write home about! (If you even could, anyway.) Hallucinations are the last stage of this mild interuniversal flu, an annoyance more than anything...
And it leaves some people immune, and some people even more susceptible to what might follow.
Whether laid up for a few days or longer, afflicted characters can expect to feel a few consistent symptoms. Dizziness, lightheadedness, chills and fever, coughing and sneezing (that kind of sneezing that comes in annoyingly long bursts and makes you feel like you've shot your brain out of your nose).
Oh, and hallucinations. Mild ones! Nothing to write home about! (If you even could, anyway.) Hallucinations are the last stage of this mild interuniversal flu, an annoyance more than anything...
And it leaves some people immune, and some people even more susceptible to what might follow.
c. harvestival festival.
Something good is happening in the agricultural sector. Weird, right?
But lo, the whole place has started to bloom seemingly overnight. Tiny fruits become noticeable, then large. Edible vegetation is flourishing, and you can tell which vegetation is edible thanks to the flocks, gangs, and small herds of creatures that have emerged from the still-wild depths of the sector. None of these creatures are aggressive except as a means to protect themselves when scared. Unused to strangers as they are, they'll probably let you get pretty close! Which means you could hunt them, I guess, or try to lasso and bring home some critters to the farm and fenced areas.
The food varies wildly. From electric pink berries the size of a pinkie to giant purple melons nestled in beds of vines. The tastes are as exotic and strange as the fruits themselves. A few people might even recognize some kinds of fruit from home. The root vegetables, squash, and edible vegetation is as colorful as the fruit, though a little more weirdly shaped. Why does that carrot-seeming thing look like a coiled spring? Who knows? You can't judge its life.
The culinarily inclined can take harvested goods to the kitchen areas and start experimenting, but beware! Even plants that look like they could be from Earth or other areas that the residents of Anchor know probably taste a little weirder or more intense than normal. Your best bet for a good recipe is to taste a little bit of everything before you get started. The spicy, the melony, the crunchy, salty, and sweet. There are no available records of what any of these things are, so you'll have to make it up as you go! The only consistent thing across all the agricultural sector's bounty is that NONE of it is poisonous. And none of it will get you high, Klaus and Kabal, so don't get your hopes up.
But lo, the whole place has started to bloom seemingly overnight. Tiny fruits become noticeable, then large. Edible vegetation is flourishing, and you can tell which vegetation is edible thanks to the flocks, gangs, and small herds of creatures that have emerged from the still-wild depths of the sector. None of these creatures are aggressive except as a means to protect themselves when scared. Unused to strangers as they are, they'll probably let you get pretty close! Which means you could hunt them, I guess, or try to lasso and bring home some critters to the farm and fenced areas.
The food varies wildly. From electric pink berries the size of a pinkie to giant purple melons nestled in beds of vines. The tastes are as exotic and strange as the fruits themselves. A few people might even recognize some kinds of fruit from home. The root vegetables, squash, and edible vegetation is as colorful as the fruit, though a little more weirdly shaped. Why does that carrot-seeming thing look like a coiled spring? Who knows? You can't judge its life.
The culinarily inclined can take harvested goods to the kitchen areas and start experimenting, but beware! Even plants that look like they could be from Earth or other areas that the residents of Anchor know probably taste a little weirder or more intense than normal. Your best bet for a good recipe is to taste a little bit of everything before you get started. The spicy, the melony, the crunchy, salty, and sweet. There are no available records of what any of these things are, so you'll have to make it up as you go! The only consistent thing across all the agricultural sector's bounty is that NONE of it is poisonous. And none of it will get you high, Klaus and Kabal, so don't get your hopes up.
Ben Hargreeves | Mostly OTA
B. THE CURE TO THE FLU IS REFUSING TO ACKNOWLEDGE YOU HAVE IT
no subject
Those aren't yours so give them back, or else there'll be an octopus attack!
Find someone who used to be masked, they won't show off their powers so don't even ask!]
They were in my room yesterday morning when I came back from getting something to eat. I don't know why someone was in my room and left their things there..
[Not to mention the super annoying voice that appeared at the same time.]
no subject
And when Genji mentions someone being in his room, that's a whole new level of complication, after what Peter and Ben had seen on that surveillance footage, of someone breaking into Peter's room. Had there been more break-ins? Was that whip not Klaus's, after all...? ]
They were just there?
[ His thoughts are all jumbled, his confusion and upset clear even as he tries to conceal them. Ben finally manages to look Genji in the face - or where he assumes his face is under the mask anyway. ]
I - found something that wasn't mine in my room yesterday morning, too.
[ That can't be a coincidence. And it can't be a coincidence that the mysterious item Genji had woken up to is something with so much personal significance to two people in this place. Ben holds out a finger, pointing at the stack of comics, and says: ]
Those are - about my family.
[ He has gotten too used to the relative anonymity he's enjoyed in this place. No one here apart from him and Klaus came from their world; no one knows the name Hargreeves, no one had grown up on news stories about the Academy, on the media sensation around his death, around all the legends and lies about his father and what a great man he was. Being confronted with all that, out of the blue, is jarring. His voice is tight as he asks: ]
Did you- read them?
no subject
[Ben finding something in his room that isn't his is a bit concerning. Is someone breaking in to leave their stuff all over the place? What would be the purpose of that? he was annoyed enough that someone had been in there, the only thing keeping him from destroying what he'd found was that they were comics. And somewhere in there Genji is forever a teenager reading comics at the arcade when he ran out of coins for the machine.]
Yes, I .. wait. This is real? The story in these is not made up?
[Because -- egaads that's one hell of a thing. He looks down at the books and then holds them out to Ben.]
Do you want them? They seem to be yours, more than anyone else's.
no subject
Besides... it isn't really fair to this guy. So Ben just shrugs, mouth quirked to the side as he admits: ]
It's not made up. They're... um, a little sanitized, but yeah.
[ He gives a small wave, trying for a smile, though maybe it's just a little brittle at the edges. ]
I'm Number Six.
[ It's the first time he's introduced himself to someone in this place for the first time using his number. Not... a great feeling. When Genji holds out the stack to him, asking if he wants them, Ben actually has to stop himself from recoiling.
Carefully, as if it were a snake that might bite him, he slid the top comic off and looked it over.
The formatting is actually different than the one he had seen most often, that first edition that was framed back in the mansion. The back cover, when he flips it over, announces it as a commemorative edition. It boasts, in bold and overenthusiastic letters, to be a limited re-release paying tribute to the heroically departed... well, him. Complete with a collectable poster inside, in memory of Ben Hargreeves, aka The Horror.
Aaaaand so much for answering Genji's question, like he'd meant to a moment ago. He just kind of stares at the words, ears ringing, feeling strangely hollow and still and numb. ]
no subject
[Realization dawns on him why the singsongy voice in his helmet kept making octopus references and he frowns behind the mask, that's in poor taste and he's not amused. He waits while Ben looks over the issue. It can't be comfortable seeing your own memorium. Granted Ben is here and looks very much not-dead, but still...
Genji can relate to having everyone think you're dead, but he's sure he wasn't missed by many. There wouldn't have been a memorial. He can't imagine what it's like to see your own obituary, especially one that's trying to profit by selling tacky commemorative plates with your likeness.]
You don't have to take them. I can get rid of them?
no subject
He knows he ought to talk right now, to not be weird about the whole thing, but the reminder of how the world had gone on without him, of all those years unheard, unseen, forgotten or distorted in people's memories, of fading, have left him entirely without words. Swallowing, Ben takes the next comic from Genji, flipping it open to a random page. Allison, rumoring a terrorist into giving up the location of a bomb hidden somewhere in the train station.
God, he misses Allison. ]
I should take them. They might've showed up for a reason, and it's not your responsibility to deal with.
[ Ben lets out a slightly uneven sigh, closing the comics and offering to take the rest small stack that Genji is carrying. He manages to force a wan smile and says: ]
Thank you. Sorry, I- am being really rude, it was just... a shock.
[ Then, even though it's superfluous, even though Genji had doubtless read those intro pages with all their names and aliases and powers, a few notes on their "personalities", Ben offers a hand for Genji to shake and introduces himself: ]
Ben Hargreeves. It's nice to meet you.
[ Not Number Six. Not The Horror. Just Ben. He gets to decide who he is, and he is not going to be somebody who is a dick to strangers just because they happen to have stumbled upon some reminders of his mostly unpleasant past. ]
Klaus is here too, somewhere 'round the place.
no subject
Idly he wonders if there's comics about Blackwatch or Overwatch and if he's in them. They would not be kind in retelling his tale of tragedy, and he wouldn't want to read them. But... Maybe he's an action figure!]
I would not have read them, had I known they told the story of someone living, who was here.
My name is Genji. I'm sorry we are meeting under such unfortunate circumstances.
[He shakes his hand, grip light for being completely encased in metal armor.]
no subject
[ It hadn't been necessary, Genji saying that, but Ben is glad he did nonetheless. He'd grown up surrounded on all sides by so much curiosity. Over the years, the media and the fans and random strangers had always acted so entitled, to his life, to his thoughts, to him. Some of his siblings had thrived on that attention: Luther and Allison, Klaus in his own way, Diego, too. But to Ben, it had never been welcome, had always been at least mildly distressing. So it means something, that Genji reassures him he'd believed it was a fictional story. ]
You didn't have any way of knowing - don't worry about it. Besides, these - [ He waves the stack of comics: ] - leave out all of the worst bits. Which is kind of shitty in a different way, but that's a whole other thing.
[ Considering some of the stuff shown in those comics - superheroes who are 13 years old fighting murderers and evil corporations and supervillains, well, big yikes.
If Ben is at all surprised by that distinctly metal handshake, he doesn't show any sign of it. Oh, sure, he's curious about the whole ensemble, and about Genji's voice and his whole situation, but he's not going to just ask. Especially not when Genji was so polite about accidentally invading Ben's own privacy. ]
I say it's only unfortunate if we let it be. So let's not let it. Are you new here, I feel like I haven't seen you around much, do you want to get a coffee or something?
[ Okay so it's not like they can go to a café but Ben's doing his best here and his experience at like, Social Interactions and meeting new people and making friends are still somewhat... limited. He's trying. This is an improvement, believe it or not. ]
no subject
[He's more than familiar with the way stories get sanitized and sensationalized for public consumption.]
That is a good outlook.
Yes, I arrived a few weeks ago, I have not been trying to be hidden, but it's a force of habit.
[Sometimes he forgets he's doing ninja things. It's his default state of being: stealthy, quiet, unseen. But he's not on a mission and there's no reason to avoid people. Especially since everyone he's met has been welcoming.
But Ben is the first one to invite him to get food. He hesitates because eating with another person will involve taking his visor off and he really doesn't want to do that. He doesn't like taking it off in front of his teammates, or even Doctor Ziegler who made him a cyborg in the first place. He'll have to eventually, he won't be able to avoid eating in front of people forever, but he's not ready to do so just yet.]
Thank you, but I'm not hungry right now. But where are you getting coffee? I have not seen any.
no subject
Exactly.
[ And he is pointedly not asking about the armor and mask and voice and all of it, because Genji has done him the courtesy of not asking about his powers or any of the fucked up stuff he'd seen in the comic, and Ben appreciates that a great deal.
He can't help but blink in surprise at the honesty of Genji's response when he says staying hidden is a force of habit. Ben can relate to that, to some degree. Always shrinking to the back of group photos with the Academy, sitting tucked away in corners reading, making himself small and unnoticed when he could. ]
Hmm. Interesting habit. For survival, or out of preference?
[ Okay maybe he is prying a little. But he can't help being curious about Genji and he's the one who had volunteered that information already.
Ben doesn't seem bothered that he doesn't accept the invitation. He gives a small shrug, hugging the comics to his chest as he explains: ]
Oh, I've got a bunch stashed away. Well, my brother does, technically, but I'm sure he won't mind if you want to take some. There's... like, a bougie grocery store that showed up just outside this facility, and I went in there a couple times to raid some supplies, including a whole lot of coffee. It's, like, full of zombies, but... well. You said you read them. So... yeah. I can take care of myself.
[ The comics might be sanitized but they were still based on real, factual events. And there are a not insignificant number of real, factual people that Ben had killed during his time at the Academy. So, Genji might not know what Ben's interests are or what kind of music he likes or his favorite color, or anything normal like that, but he does presumably know now that he's been a killer since he was barely 13, so. Starting off this relationship on a weird footing. ]
no subject
[In his youth he hadn't enjoyed the training. He wanted to go to the arcade and throw parties and get laid and do anything but learn about the clan's dealings and train to be a warrior to destroy their enemies. He'd left that to his brother for the most part. But he couldn't deny he was glad he'd had such training later in life. It had facilitated his entry into Blackwatch and later Overwatch.
And ultimately let him destroy what was left of the Shimada clan.]
Ah. Yes. I saw the store but I didn't go into it. There was a truck full of twinkies as well, surrounded by zombies. Many fell to my blade but they seem to be never ending. However; there are only so many twinkies I can eat before I make myself sick.
Is that a sign of getting older? If so I hate it.
no subject
Wow. That's... awesome. I've never met a real-life ninja before.
[ Said the real-life superhero with powers that let him summon giant eldritch murder monstrosities from another dimension. But all that is just his life. Just boring or awful. Ninjas? Ninjas are cool. They use cleverness and skill and precision. Even when they are forced to kill, it is quick and so very clean.
Ripping people limb from limb with giant tentacles is a very messy business. It is not quiet, or skilled, or neat. So yeah, Ben's geeking out a bit. ]
I don't know. Maybe? I sort of got to 16, died, kicked around as a ghost for a decade and a half and showed up here just sort of... 30 and alive again. It's so weird having a pulse after that long that anything else that's changed is small by comparison, y'know?
[ No point in hiding the whole dying thing now. Might as well answer what Genji was probably already wondering about and explain how he is alive now. ]
Would you like some coffee beans to take home? As a thank you, for returning this?
no subject
Usually meeting a ninja is the last thing you do.
[It's generally a very bad thing if you're meeting a ninja, often followed by having a sword skewered through parts where most people don't want swords. But behind the mask Genji is grinning and Ben's smile is nice, it's been a long time since a smile was directed at him and Genji realizes how much he's enjoying this place so far. Nearly everyone he's met has either been impressed or delighted to meet him, and even the one person who'd been afraid had quickly come around.
What a difference from back home where he was viewed with pity for the most part. And if not that, then fear. Either of what he'd become or who he was - it didn't matter the reason, it did little for his sense of self worth and any small hope of normalcy.]
It's a rare gift to be pulled back from death and have a second chance at life. I suppose everything pales in comparison to that.
[He'd do well to focus on the good things rather than the bad, because Ben is right. Everything else is small compared to being alive.]
If you can spare them I would love some. It's odd to wake up without having coffee. It had been my routine for so long and now it's strange to be without.
no subject
[ Surely Genji meets plenty of people, going about his day to day life. They might not realize he is a ninja at the time, but despite his job, he's just a person like anybody else, right? Ben wonders if that is the reason for the armor: that it helps him to be super stealthy or super deadly or something of that sort.
When Genji says being given life again is a rare opportunity, his smile turns a little rueful around the edges. ]
You've got no idea.
[ Or at least, so Ben assumes... ]
Just trust me on this. Dying? Sucks. Being a ghost? Sucks.
[ And he nods for Genji to follow him, turning his steps in the direction of the quarters he shares with Klaus. They have plenty of coffee to spare, especially for someone who is still adjusting to living in this place. As they walk, he keeps talking: ]
It could've been worse I guess. You - saw in these about my brother, Klaus. Number Four. He can talk to the dead, so it's not like I was totally alone. I had him. But everyone else... everything else...
[ Ben breaks off, shaking his head. Words can't begin to capture it, and if he tries for too long and thinks about it too much he's only going to depress himself. He doesn't want that. So instead he merely finishes: ]
Anyway it's... you're right. About second chances. We can't let them go to waste.
[ They reach the door, and Ben unlocks it, gesturing Genji to head on in. The space is a little messier than Ben would like - hurricane Klaus strikes again - but he leads Genji to the little kitchen area and starts rifling around the cupboards looking for coffee. ]
Are you adjusting okay, other than the shortage of cofffee?
no subject
[He's been there. Granted he didn't die, but he was mere moments away from it. If he hadn't been rescued when he had, he would have quickly bled out all over the floor of their family's temple. As it was he'd barely been conscious for most of that, blood loss and pain causing him to woozily ping-pong between coherency and screaming and struggling to get away because he had no idea what was going on.]
I'm glad you weren't alone. Being by yourself is no way to live - it seems fine until you realize that there is no outlet for anything and all you are doing is bottling everything up inside you. It's unhealthy.
[He's likely talking about himself more than Ben. He steps inside the room, not noticing the mess as this is someone who last made his bed when he was a child and his father scolded him into doing it. ]
I think so. I have found a room, and where the food comes from. The robots forced me into some ridiculous clothes, so I have that as well. I forgot how inconvenient it is to not have pockets.
[He gestures to himself and his skintight armor with no room to store anything.]
no subject
[ Ben can do this; talk about it if it's obliquely, abstractly, making broad statements, most of them half-jokes. It's a little strange, though. Talking about it. For so many years it had just been him and Klaus, and Ben's death had been so deeply traumatic for his brother. Even if he had wanted to talk about it (he hadn't), it would've hurt Klaus a great deal. So they just... didn't ever talk about it, apart from the occasional crack about him being a ghost or kicking the bucket.
He picks up on the specificity of Genji's statements about being alone. Not hard to guess... ]
You're speaking from experience?
[ Being alone, Ben knows - and it sounds like Genji knows too - can be wonderful, but only if it's an optional retreat. When there's no other choice, when it is forced isolation, that silence can start to claw you apart from the inside.
He brightens a little when Genji mentions the robots giving him clothes. ]
Oh yeah, you don't need to worry about them. I know some people who show up are kinda nervous around robots in general but I've been here for months and they're totally harmless. There was sort of an incident with some nanites but that's a whole other kettle of fish.
[ He unearths the bags of coffee grounds and selects a big one, pulling it down from the shelf and holding it out for Genji to take. The mention of pockets, the gesture... it's not exactly and invitation, but Ben seizes it nonetheless. ]
I was... kind of wondering about the outfit choice but I wasn't really sure how to ask without coming across like a dick. That's the thing with this place. Everyone is from such different worlds... Like for all I know for you the... armor? Is like, hot off the runway, New York fashion week couture or whatever.
no subject
[Probably because he was treated like an unstable science experiment in Blackwatch. He takes the coffee, he can't smell it yet, but rest assured when he's back in his room he will be stuffing his face in it and huffing.]
Nanites? As in the tiny robotic technology? We have that here?
[Well that could be terrible. Or positive, there are two sides to every outcome as Zenyatta would say.]
It is not fashion, it is armor. A carbon fiber alloy so I am very light and mobile for fighting.
And it looks cool.
[He would normally show off by doing backflips, but as they're indoors he'll settle for brightening all his lights before dimming them.]
no subject
[ For Ben, that feeling had been profound when he was young; any time he would see regular kids his own age, they were like another species to him. He desperately wanted to be like them, to be normal. But he could never imagine it. It felt like such a gulf. And sometimes, that gulf spread between himself and his siblings, too. Adrift was a good word for it.
Ben wonders what it was that had set Genji adrift in a sea of other people. His profession? Or was that a result rather than a cause? He doesn't really know how one gets into the ninja profession. Had he even had a choice, or was he raised into it?
There's just no way to ask that sort of question to someone you've just met, though. Even if it would help to even out the disparity between how much Genji now knows about him, thanks to the comics, and how much he knows about Genji. But that's just the way it goes.
Instead he focuses on answering the questions Genji asks. ]
'Have' isn't exactly the word I'd use. We weren't controlling them. There were nanites around. They went haywire and started lurking in the shadows, reading people's minds and then assuming the form of their worst nightmares. So that sure was a fun week.
[ He says it with wry humor, since obviously, it was terrible from start to finish. ]
Nothing like just trying to walk down a corridor and coming face to face with your deep-seated trauma or whatever. Also they attacked anybody who didn't run like hell, so that was a whole... thing.
[ Ben sticks to describing the experience of running into the nanites rather than even trying to explain the science behind why they acted that way or how they did it. Peter is the guy who understands all that, not him. ]
Hell yeah, it looks cool.
[ He still kind of wonders why walk around in armor all the time, but Genji had said it was for fighting. Maybe he's used to living in such peril that it's just normal for him now. Plus that light trick is rad. Ben doesn't really blame him. Honestly, if there were some socially acceptable way for him to go around with a mask over his face constantly, so no one could see his expressions.... he might go for it. As he was so acutely reminded recently, the whole concept of being watched and looked at... not really a fan sometimes. ]
Is it bulletproof?
[ Ben just asks out of curiosity, but then laughs a moment later at his own eagerness. ]
Wow, super didn't mean that to sound so much like I was going to pull out a gun if you said no, oops.
no subject
[Nope, he doesn't like that at all. Something to do with nanobiotechnology and nanites are what likely created Reaper out of Commander Reyes. But also might be the source of Moira's healing abilities. He's conflicted, he doesn't know enough about it to be anything more than deeply concerned. Should he be frightened?]
They created hallucinations of fears? I revoke my previous statement, that is the most unsettling thing.
[He's glad to change the subject to how cool he looks because he'd rather not imagine what that would even show him. He's basically living his worst fears all the time. And short of making his legs and arm non-functional there's not a lot that he's really scared of. ]
It is not. But it does not need to be. If you did pull out a gun and shoot me I could simply deflect the bullets.
But in such a close space they would likely hit you via ricochet so you should not do that.
[He doesn't even sound smug about his abilities, merely stating a fact. ]
no subject
[ He wants to reassure Genji, but give him realistic expectations. And there's always fucking something going wrong, isn't there? It was just that, for Ben at least, those nanites had stood out as a particularly unpleasant experience. Maybe whatever comes next would be even worse.
Wouldn't that be just awful. ]Deflect them how?
[ Ben would've changed the subject if Genji sounded unwilling to talk about his combat abilities, but - perhaps unsurprisingly, since the guy is a freaking ninja and all - he doesn't seem alarmed at all by the line of questioning. And Ben is awfully curious what he means. Does he had some kind of forcefield or...? ]
Good to know, though - if anybody starts shooting at you, I'll make sure to get well clear.
no subject
I could show you if you'd like, but not here. I do not want to leave sword gouges in your ceiling. Perhaps another day? I could use the practice in any case. Being here will likely cause me to not want to train and become complacent and lazy.
[There is an arcade. Who wants to meditate and do seventy-thousand squats a day when there's an ARCADE?]
no subject
[ Ben assumes this demonstration is not going to involve deflecting actual bullet, he's not insane, but all the same, an offer of a demonstration of sweet sword tricks has him grinning, his glee barely suppressed to conversationally-acceptable levels. ]
That would be - so. Cool.
[ It's only be sheer force of will that Ben holds himself back from suggesting that a good way for Genji to train would be to teach him some cool sword tricks. Not that Ben would ever want to use them on another person - he has some perfectly good otherdimension eldritch horrors in his tummy for that. But it's... well, fun. And awesome. He'd never learned a skill that was just frivolous. Just for the joy of it.
And this is his second chance at life. He should be seizing opportunities wherever he can. ]
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Absolutely. You do not have to actually shoot at me, unless you'd like to. I've not been here long enough to know if there are even guns and ammo.
Conversely, I do not know how to shoot a gun. Someone on my team offered to teach me once, but we never got a chance to do it.
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[ And Ben takes that opportunity to drop the stack of comics onto the table. Should give Klaus a laugh, when he found them. Maybe he and Ben can look at them together, later. Talk about the bits that were left out. ]
...but I'm not actually super big on violence.
[ Yes, in his brain, shooting a gun at Genji to facilitate sword tricks would be violence, but just the sword tricks themselves are not. It makes sense! Sort of!
Something Genji said, however, sparks Ben's interest. After everything Genji said about isolation, he is surprised to hear he worked in a group. Then again, hadn't he said something about feeling even more alone around other people? ]
You had a team?
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