001: Group Introductions - TEXT

[tarnishedavenger]

[During a lull in the party, Armstrong taps out a quick message to the network. Not that private one, he doesn't trust it. They can answer whenever they like, so long as he gets an answer. The trick would be wording it.]

So, we're all in this for now. You've had your welcome cake, but you can't meet everyone in a party, no matter how hard you try. But, since we've all been encouraged to sign up with Jorgmund, I figured now would be a good time to get some introductions done. Talk about any specialties we might have.

Share information that we feel comfortable sharing. This isn't to pressure anyone or to force out any dark secrets.

[Not where watchful eyes can see, at least.]

Besides, I prefer doing this to making a cute information sharing game.

So, please, make your own threads within this post to keep everything organized.

Comments

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[heterochrocatic]

Oh yeah, Just humanity.

I see how it is.

[ Catra is gonna sit here and be a smug so-and-so. Though come to think of it, she's not really sure what counts as human and what doesn't. ]

[greatlyexaggerated]

Indeed. [Cain is as curt as he possibly can get here, but he tries to look unaffected.] To defend humans from xenos who seek to do us harm.

[heterochrocatic]

Can't believe you're breaking this into an 'us' and 'them' thing. It's depressing. Back on Etheria we all just got along no matter what we looked like.

[ She examines her claws. Yawn. ]

You ever think about not being such a jerk?

[greatlyexaggerated]

It wasn't humanity that caused this rift.

Have you ever thought about not attacking people and disturbing the peace exactly as your kind is wont to do?

[heterochrocatic]

I mean, we were getting along fine until you started throwing around insults, soooo whose fault is it really?

Since I understand that you're a little slow, the answer is you.

[greatlyexaggerated]

[He draws himself up, indignant.]

I was simply explaining to you the concept of machine spirits when you took offence to being called as a fact what you are - alien - and viciously attacked me. I wouldn't bloody well claw your eyes out for calling me 'human', would I?

[heterochrocatic]

Uh, what if you're the alien? From my point of view, you are! You're not from Etheria, that's for sure!

[ She scowls. She's had just about enough of this guy--! ]

[tarnishedavenger]

For the purposes of Jorgmund, we're all aliens to this reality.

There's better ways to focus this energy.

[Cain, you especially ought to know better.]

[heterochrocatic]

Yeah? Tell him that. He's the one all about "bleh bleh xenos!" not me.

[greatlyexaggerated]

You're the one proven to be an evident danger to the well-being of those on this rig. As proven by the further alteration just now?

[He's talking about the little kerfuffle during the party. But it's difficult not to feel like a couple of squabbling juves in the face of Armstrong's intervention, and he recognises it for the discreet advisement that it is. So he lets out a slow breath, composes his face, clasps his hands behind his back, and magnanimously offers with a kind smile;]

But I'll be the better party in this instance [implied: as you refuse to be] and forgive your assault on my person. In the interests of team unity, as Armstrong says.

[heterochrocatic]

I wouldn't have to get in anyone's face if people would stop treating me like I'm beneath them somehow.

You're the one acting all superior because of what you look like! You're not better than me. You're washed up and work out. Old. Broken. I've seen someone like you before. It's pathetic, really. I get why you're lashing out but you should know better.

[ Catra? Let something go? Okay it's happened but that was her ex-bestie. ]

[tarnishedavenger]

[Oh. That's what this reminds him of. It's like being home whenever some idiot decides to call the entire Dragon Branch together and crams more than thirty supervillains into a single room.

He's going to need to find a reliable bar if this keeps up during their entire stay.]

[greatlyexaggerated]

Excuse me - I’m only in my thirties!

[of all the things to defend first - but he catches himself. He looks a little bit taken aback by the sudden spewage of verbal assault but composes himself quickly.]

The only one I see lashing out here is you.

[heterochrocatic]

You're the one starting in on calling people inferior and weird because I'm not exactly like you.

[bringinghopewithme]

[not for one second did Bunny think 'xenos' meant anything pertaining to him, but maybe now's the time to start asking questions.]

Y'wanna define a 'xeno' for the rest of us, mate?

[greatlyexaggerated]

[Oh goodness. He's being accosted by a particularly unfortunate xenos (mutant?) with a speech impediment.]

I believe it translates to "alien". [He forces a smile.] It seems my usage of the term isn't the most communicative, so I'll switch if it clarifies things.

[bringinghopewithme]

[He'd have so many arguments to make if Cain had voiced any one of those thoughts but as it is he just notes the forcedness of the smile and refuses to smile back. Not because anything Cain's said bothers him, but because that body language does.]

"Alien" meaning "everything born offplanet," or is that a specific species?

[greatlyexaggerated]

Everything other than humanity. Off-planet doesn't mean much when people are spread out over the galaxy, and there are quite a few alien species.

[bringinghopewithme]

Quite a few, you say. Who knew.

[If he remembered that one of his best friends is an actual alien, this would sound even more off. As it is -]

And every single one of them is antagonistic to humans?

[greatlyexaggerated]

I can't claim that we've met every single alien race in the galaxy. But the ones we have - yes. Indubitably so.

Some are a little more approachable to diplomacy than most, I'll admit, but the Imperium has lost entire swathes of star systems to xenos antagonism. I've seen it first hand, countless times.

[bringinghopewithme]

Huh. Why d'you think they do it?

[greatlyexaggerated]

If you're suggesting that they have a reasonable cause for doing so, Tyranids have this truly unfortunate habit of devouring anything for the biomass, regardless for its status as 'animate'. The Eldar have a sense of superiority and entitlement to planets they abandoned millennia ago. And Orks are quite literally spawned to fight.

And so on.

[bringinghopewithme]

I'm suggesting nothing. I'm asking questions.

Who spawned the Orks?

[greatlyexaggerated]

They’re self-spawning. They reproduce through fungal spores that are released on death, which makes infestations last for decades if you’re not bloody careful.

The running theory is that they were genetically engineered, considering that every single aspect of their brutish culture, society, and biology rely on violence.

[He’s picked up a few things from Amberley, and the Valhallans.]