007: AMAs, Third Round

[tarnishedavenger]

So, we've got a load of new people, and that means it's time for me to do the only thing it feels like I get on these comms to do anymore: AMAs.

For you new people, I find it helps when we get together and explain a little bit about ourselves, any powers we have, and our skillsets. That way we know what we're starting with and what we can build off of. So, please, come and introduce yourselves and be willing to answer questions.

Comments

video; Theta appearance and dialog in purple

[bothbarrels]

Hi, everyone. You can call me North, which is an old codename of mine, or you can call me by my actual name, Andrew. No nicknames, though, please. I am not "Andy" or "Drew".

Now, I guess you all have become a lot more familiar with Project Freelancer than you were the last time we had one of these, so if you have any questions about my role in that, you can ask away. Though I will tell you up front I was a team sniper and stealth agent, could bench 400 kilos while wearing my armor, and made for an unstoppable team with my twin sister, South. She's here, too.

And courtesy of Project Freelancer, I also have a friend who came with me, an AI named Theta.

[ Theta projects his hologram next to North. In appearance, he seems to be in some kind of armor, but he also has the proportions of a child of about 10. His colors are magenta and purple. ]

Hi, there. You can ask me questions if you want, too. I won't bite.

[zerg_rush]

How good's your on-board camo? [Since obviously they have that, right?] I'm not used to having a marine along, but it could be handy.

[bothbarrels]

My armor doesn't have that mod. I have a bubble shield.

Wait, do you have onboard camo?

[zerg_rush]

Yeah? I'd be a terrible ghost if everyone could see me.

[Kerrigan, you're the only one who knows what that means.]

Oh, uh. "Ghost" is what we call our elite stealth operatives.

[bothbarrels]

We all had different mods in Freelancer. It was an experimental program, so they were testing a lot of different mods with different people.

[zerg_rush]

Ghost stealthing isn't experimental. [Kerrigan shakes her head.] Doesn't matter anyway. You'd give me away, so scratch the marine backup idea.

[bothbarrels]

[ North chuckles. He's not offended. ]

Yeah, you didn't even know the armor was purple before you said that.

[zerg_rush]

Could be brown and khaki and you'd still give me away.

[Shrug.

She's not trying to offend him--it's just that no one's stealthier than a ghost.]

[bothbarrels]

It's fine, I'm a sniper anyway. I'm usually a ways away from the action.

[ At least, he was until Freelancer kept sending him into the fray more and more. But that's beside the point. ]

[zerg_rush]

Oh yeah? What caliber?

[It's not a challenge, it's shop talk. Kerrigan is also a sniper, because it turns out the thing ghosts get used for the most is assassinations.]

[ownperson]

One of these days, I'm gonna introduce you as my twin brother and nothing else. See how you feel.

[ She actually sounds like she's genuinely joking with him, though North knows her well enough to know there's a little note of annoyance in it. Only a little, though. ]

[bothbarrels]

Hey, I could do your introductions for you, but something tells me you wouldn't like that any better.

[ It's experience. That's what's telling him that. ]

[ownperson]

At least say my name before the sister part next time.

[ Not angry, but not a joke; it's an actual request. It's the little things! ]

[bothbarrels]

I can do that.

Got any other requests?

[ownperson]

...no, that's it.

[ Locked to North ]

Actually, can we like... talk? Stuff's... happened, since last time. If you're not ready then... whatever, it can wait [ it can't ] but. Yeah.

[bothbarrels]

Yeah. You at our room?

[ Still calling it that, despite the fact that he has begun to sleep at York's the grand majority of the time. ]

[ownperson]

Yeah. I'm there. Come whenever.

[ She sets her comm aside and takes a deep breath, then sits herself up and waits for him to arrive. ]

video;

[fuckingaqua]

Okay, dude, two things.

One, it fucking sucks that even the AI fragments didn't get to take a hard pass on getting stuck in this bullshit company with us.

[ His feelings w/r/t the AI thing are maybe kinda Complicated, but that opinion would stand regardless. That AI fragment is a baby. Jesus. Literally how is that even from the Church zone? ]

Two, what's 400 kilos in English numbers?

[bothbarrels]

It's about 800 pounds, I think. There's a conversion formula but I just know it's about double.

Also, I'm glad Theta's with me because apparently his fate back where we came from was worse.

[fuckingaqua]

Oh, riiight. Sorry, my bad. I kinda wasn't around for the whole Church 1.0 endgame.

800 pounds, though. I bitch about squats on leg day. 800 pound deadlifting sounds fucking miserable.

[bothbarrels]

In my armor, I said. It enhances our abilities, you know.

[ The name Tucker said takes a moment to register. Theta knows right away, though, of course, and that helps. ]

Church, right, that was the Alpha's name. You knew him? Wash told us a little about him, but mainly just that he was an asshole.

[fuckingaqua]

[ Tucker, who probably heard about that w/r/t bearing heavy loads at some point and then managed to immediately forget it, files said info away for later examination.

It explains... some things about Caboose.

The back half actually pulls a short, sharp laugh out of him. ]

Oh, Church was totally an asshole. We were friends so I got that front and center.

Like, he wouldn't let anyone else use the sniper rifle even though he couldn't aim for shit. He'd eat all the good snacks and drink right out of the carton. He'd talk about how annoying we all were all the time, but then if something happened to you he'd get all worked up about it. Total dick. He'd argue about anything. He put together the plans we used to try to get stuff done, only he never figured out how to account for the fact that stuff he didn't plan could happen, so it always went off the rails.

And he was always trying to get me to give him piggyback rides "for science"! Dude, just admit you don't wanna walk somewhere. It's more respectable.

[ It is, as it turns out, possible to say all of that with measures of both petulance and genuine fondness. Church was always Church, Alpha or Epsilon or whatever, as far as Tucker is concerned, but there was kind of... a different vibe from one brand to the next. ]

He was the best at making big speeches and getting us all to work together, though. Kinda sucked when we got reassigned.

[bothbarrels]

[ North looks to Theta as Tucker talks about Alpha. Theta is excited to learn more. His hologram bounces at Tucker's explanation. But then he stops when he explains they'd been assigned to separate outposts. ]

Oh. Did you miss him?

[fuckingaqua]

[ His expression hovers a little bit in a complicated bummed-out zone for a couple of seconds. Just on the Church-missing principle. He's cooler about it than he used to be, though. ]

... I guess, yeah. You get used to people. The Reds were like our weird frenemies back then because we were around them all the time. But I guess that's how you roll in any army. Even a stupid training sim army. Reassignments happen.

[ It be like that sometimes. ]

Me and Junior got to travel around doing alien-ambassador Indiana Jones shit after Blood Gulch, though, and some of that was pretty cool. So it wasn't too bad.

[bothbarrels]

That sounds really cool! Too bad Alpha couldn't go with you. I bet he would have liked doing that, too.