piper90 | Entries tagged with washington

This is encrypted new hires only. If that still works. I have a feeling it's not going to matter for too much longer.

[ Carolina looks focused. She has a mission. She's about as close as she gets to happy around here, and depending on who you are and how much you've seen of her? That might be sort of concerning. ]

In case you missed the confrontation I just had with Washburn: He's invited me to talk with him in person.

I'm going.

[ No hesitation. She doesn't appear to be looking for advice. ]

In the meantime, the rest of you need to start making some real decisions about what we're about to do. I don't think things can get much worse. We're at a breaking point with management. We're at a breaking point with this mission. Brainy left us with data on the collars. I'm not a tech person. I can't help you guys figure out if we have enough to break loose and fight.

But I can see if this buys us another chance.

[ She squares up. ]

If I don't come back or the next time you see me is on another broadcast...

[ She shrugs. It's a stunningly casual motion for someone who knows she's possibly facing her death. Stunningly casual considering how tense her shoulders are.]

[ Carolina will be available to talk back for a bit before her encounter, but she's already made her choice. ]

wheyoftheadept

[nb: if you are not trapped in the hell town, you can't see this, per mods]

[Saturday's image, when you open the video feed, is faintly green-tinted. This lends a yellowy look to the bright-red stripes on her short-sleeved shirt. She's also wearing jeans overalls, with shorts that end above the knee. It looks like a ten year old's outfit - because it is]

Hi. Hello? Is anyone else out there? I'm with three of us - besides me there's Loken, Kerrigan, and, uh, Guts.

[The camera pans over to the meanst sonuvabitch-looking three-legged junkyard dog you ever saw. Its eyes are unnervingly human.]

Guts is. Not quite himself at the moment. He's still in there, just - did anything like this happen to anyone else? If there is anyone else? Something more then this place dressin' us up funny an' trynna make us read off a script.

And does anyone remember how we got here?

parannoyed

In the spirit of sharing information that we found while monster-hunting [and on a separate post because like hell is he going to purposefully comment to Price] we also need to share what we found on one of the laptops while snooping around.

Apparently the company is worried about outside threats, someone called The Bey and some pirates, and a group called the Ryecatchers. They don't seem to think the pirates are much of a threat other than The Bey - maybe their leader? The person writing the memo thought the Ryecatchers were a worse threat.

Information about Jorgmund's enemies seems useful to know.

piper90npcs

[That horrible alert sound goes off on all their communicators, and after three minutes, Richard Washburn shows up on the screen. He clearly hasn’t sleep, although he’s just as clearly doing his best to hide that fact.]

Good early morning, hires. Unfortunately, it seems like there’s been very little forward progress on identifying which of you is the shapeshifter, and just as little progress finding the body of whomever it’s impersonating. We’ve spoken with some of our foremost scientists and they believe with a significant degree of certainty that this Stuff creature can only impersonate child-friendly figures.

Some of you have petitioned me and have made compelling cases that no child would ever want anything to do with you, and as such I’m clearing you for release for an internal mission to find the body of the person who was replaced by the impersonator. The following people are cleared to leave…Mr. Price, Mr. Winchester, Agent South Dakota, Agent Washington, Ms. Burnham, Ms. Kerrigan, Alia, Agent Tucker, Mr. Loken, Ms. Haynes, Guts, and…Mr. McDonald.

Hopefully they’ll be alive still.

For the rest of you, it’s been pointed out to me that there are ways you may be able to examine each other and determine who among you is a shapeshifter, and that you may need to demonstrate powers or look at each other in person. As such, while the living quarters as a whole remain locked, you are all released from your dorms and may mingle with each other.

The higher-ups have gotten impatient with this entire thing, so if you haven’t identified the imposter in the next…[he checks his watch]…two hours, my hand may be forced and I may need to utilize your collars to see if we can use discomfort to force the creature to reveal itself.

Please continue to keep me updated.

myagents

- trigger warning for: mentions of psychological torture, war crimes, and self-harm/suicide -

[Alright, so...Apology video it is. No one ever bothered to ask him his perspective, and sure he tried to tell York but he wasn't really listening. Washington and South didn't even give him the time to say anything, really, and just attacked him physically. This video is for the freelancers too, but he figures this is going to be useful to get the sympathies of other hires who have nothing to do with the events and are now being warned about him as if he's some kind of monster or someone who everyone is too good to talk to. That is just unfair.

So here he is, making a video, wearing a white shirt he would use to sleep rather than his uniform because wearing white helps the viewers perceive him as more innocent than usual. He's trying to look unkempt, to give off a more genuine vibe, but being perfectly shaven and looking fresh as a rose doesn't help much - people should get their priorities straight and ask him to drop his skincare routine instead of being upset over petty matters. Oh well, time to start. He forces himself to give the screen a slightly pained expression as he commences.]

( Apology video )

parannoyed

[Important intel on he and Dave's attacker has been shared, important theories have been theorized. And after Wash rested and then nearly collapsed in pain the few times today he tried to move (to get a little healthy movement going to keep the swelling down or go to the bathroom instead of dealing with the indignity of using a bedpan), Wash has been forced to take on a slightly higher dosage of pain killers, alongside being given a little alien tech device on his temple to help manage it.]

[Now after sleeping most of the day, he's awake. And loopy from the combination of tech and pain killers.]

[He's managed to get his comm on and in float mode.]

[And now he's whispering to it.]

Hey. Hi. Hey little buddy, wake up. So I can say hi to other...buddies.

[Special K, the nurse who's a better doctor than Dr. Glotfelty, is teaching a newer nurse and she smiles when she sees Wash whispering to his comm. She urges the timid-looking student nurse closer. "Don't worry, Judy. Only like two percent of the big scarred tough-looking guys on the rig are Plankers. The others like Wash here melt like buttah the second you're a tiny bit nice to them. Like buttah. Don't they, Washing Machine?"]

[Wash gasps dramatically and flings out a hand for a high five.]

It's my favorite nurse. Up top! Hit your hand on my hand. Hit my hand! Do it!

["He likes high fiving a lot when he's juiced." Special K's smile is sweet and genuine as she gives him a little high five. Then she adjusts his bed to help him sit up better. His torso is a scarred mess in the places where the bandages don't cover.]

Special K. Hey. Hey. Heeeey.

["Heey. I'm here, Wash, what do you need?"]

Hey. Can I have an extra pudding?

["What are the magic words?" she asks.]

Nurses are underpaid and undervalued.

["See why I like this one?" Special K asks the student nurse, as she gets a pudding out of a nearby fridge and a spoon, and opens it for him. "Looks like only chocolate right now, Washing Machine."]

That's fiiiine. It's all good in the hospital hood. I am unto the chocolate like the...the Mayans who were all about the - the chocolate.

["Alright, have your treat, I'll see if we can get you some late lunch since you slept through breakfast, okay? And then we're taking a crack at changing your bandages and your surgical drain."]

[Wash breathes out a low whisper.] Noooo.

[Special K whispers back, "Yeeeesss.">]

[Wash whispers back.] Nooooooooo.

["You've got a half hour of whispering to your friends on your little buddy, okay?" Special K says, with a sisterly tousling of Wash's hair. He leans into it despite himself, clearly grateful for the basic kindness from someone.]

[Wash is still whispering.] Fiiiiine.

[He turns to his comm, eating his pudding.]

Heyooo.

The nurses are so nice here. But you know, I've been in sooo many Medbays and they're usually kind of nice? Nicer? Than other...people. They were even almost nice in the Medbay in prison and nobody was really nice there.

[There are a few secrets, a few things locked up in the vault of his mind even while high as a kite, but he's definitely a little more loose lipped than usual.]

Hey. Hey, can you guys - can you see these guys floating around? [Wash swats at the air with his spoon.]

["What guys, Wash?" asks Special K.]

There's shadow people in the air, like...floating?

["Mild hallucinations are sometimes a side effect at your dose of morphine and the setting on the cortical stimulator," Special K says, showing something to Judy on his chart. "What are the shadow people doing, bud?"]

They're just like...all up in my grill. [Wash turns to the comm, to the rest of his rigmates, his voice filled with mild outrage.] Are you guys - are you guys seeing this? Rude.

wheyoftheadept

[Saturday is rubbing sleep from her face as she talks, hair disheveled and her bunk in the background. The sounds is slightly unsynced, just enough to be annoying, and the image is tinted purple. Still, it's coherent]

Hey, crew. We've all had a real fucking night an' I'm sorry to add more, but this might be useful. I think I just a clue from like, some kinda supernatural dream-traveling hint-dispenser? Called themselves Cain and Abel, gave me a choice between a secret and a mystery, I picked mystery 'cause it meant I could tell you guys about it.

Man, I hope this sounds familiar to someone.

It was Cain I talked to, he told me a story about two brothers who uh - fuckin' hell - one killed the other because they were both in love with some invisible chick named Bell but she hadn't picked him. Their parents thought the one brother just flipped out and did murder for some fuckin' reason, because they thought Belle was fictional? Someone who knows what they're doing, start asking me some questions because I don't know how this is supposed to be relevant, but the dude said it was and he was for real. I got some experience an' I know when the dream I'm having didn't come outta my own head.

turntex

[The post that pops up in the feed in the middle of the night doesn't appear to be made with Dave's comm device, but it's Dave that pops up on the screen anyway, and he looks like hell. A split lip, a bruise blossoming along the jaw, nose bloodied, and...there appears to be a dirty sock caught on the collar of his uniform?

Honestly, the weirdest part is probably that it's a video post in the first place. He doesn't have time to sit around messing with this too much, though. Even as practiced at typing as he is, it's harder to do while moving and judging by the background, he's definitely on the move.]

Rise and shine, [PROFANITY CENSORED]. Elevator closest to the infirmary. I know y'all are functionally a bunch of temporally helpless infants, all shaky legged, eyes barely open and all that, but I need you to get your [PROFANITY CENSORED] down here yesterday regardless.

[He's not even trying to dance around the vulgarity filter. It's real bad.]

Found our baddie. Tall lady, redhead, red tattoos. She originally had on a suit and a blonde wig and some kinda mask but no idea if she's sticking with all that. Crazy strong and fast. Pretty sure she can heal herself up, so that's awesome. Lots of ninja weapons, like this [PROFANITY CENSORED] not only ripped off Tenten's skin but also her whole schtick, it's pretty insulting honestly. The skin thing's probably still a bigger deal but hey, I'd be pissed.

[He's babbling a little, half mumbling by the end there, but his expression remains flat and unreadable the whole time. Finally he seems to get where he's going and he pauses, swinging the camera around to the scene in question. Blood everywhere, dents and furrows in the metal walls, smoke still pouring out from the elevator shaft.

The camera spins back to him, and he somehow only looks more tense.]

She got Wash. Probably someone else too, judging by the blood she already had on her when we ran into her, but [PROFANITY CENSORED] if I know who or where.

[He leaves it at that.

For anyone actually sleeping like a normal person at this time, someone comes running through the dorm area soon afterward to bang on walls and make sure people wake up. Seems like Dave sent over the people that had been on watch outside the infirmary.]

bringinghopewithme

Stacia, Armstrong, I need to see both of you in person. On the double. Five minutes ago. Anyone else with a real good sense of smell, you come see me too.

[On the camera, underneath his oak tree in the garden, Bunny has a little bit of that dead-eyed stare that comes from being reminded how thoroughly shackled they all are to the most banal form of evil. Mostly, this is just businesslike, direct. Calmly urgent, after his furious meltdown in the Executive wing got him nowhere good.]

Everyone else: Sam and Dan and I tracked what attacked Tenten and Setsuna into the Executive wing. I smelled it there recently before the suits caught us and kicked us out.

[There's no real reason to bring up their Punishment. It happened, it hurt, he hates that he dragged Dan and Sam into it, but they all knew it was likely to happen. And if anything they learned can help prevent any further damage to the kids, it'll have absolutely been worth it.]

I couldn't identify the species, but it's supernatural, and old. Older than me. Some variety of predator. Given we tracked it into areas we're not allowed to go, and it spent a lot of time wandering around there all leisurely, it either looks enough like a suit that they gave it a pass, or it can walk through walls. If I had money, I'd put it on walking through walls. I'm not ruling out both, though.

But don't worry. Jorgmund's bringing in - [he scoffs, and rolls his eyes hugely] dogs to finish tracking it.

I'm still racking my brains to see if any memory of what it could be falls out, but if any of that rings any bells for all you, I'm all ears.

pasthole

Alright. I'm back.

Don't ask me where I went. I'll save us all a lot of time by saying I have no fucking idea? I would be more disconcerted, but shit just happening for no reason is a wheelhouse with which I am passing familiar so I'm ready to move on.

What I do know is they processed me as a new hire, again, and any system communication referring to "Karkat 2" is in fact about the same long-suffering asshole you have already come to know.

Please don't send shit to my old inbox because I won't be able to access it.

Actually wait. Do send your shit to my old inbox. A fertile plot of soil conditioning can grow from everyone's unwanted inane comments. We can use it to feed our anemic and spineless earth vegetables. God knows they don't bite hard enough to get any protein.

tarnishedavenger

[Armstrong hates to do this after so many people have introduced themselves in locked channels, but they at least need to put on a show of meeting for Jorgmund's sake.]

So, we've got a few new people here since the last time we did something like this. Time to get introductions done and over with. Just list your name, powers, if any, relevant facts, and, if you feel like it, answer reasonable questions that people have. We'll be able to function together more effectively if we know more about each other. Keep it sensible and try not to wheedle out any dark secrets.

Or, you know, old people can tell people why Taco Tuesday is the best.

parannoyed

[Wash is quickly learning that Jorgmund isn't the hardest to lie to. One of the benefits of working with middle management in a corporation instead of army leadership, he supposes. They bought that the egg stasis containers Wash tampered with were hit by acid spray during battle, and they even bought his excuse for why they failed the mission objective, why he hadn't acted as a "corrector."]

[Nobody died, after all. Wash pointed out that he'd gone into a conflict where they hadn't even assigned a field leader and walked out with everyone alive. And aren't the New Hires a very expensive and difficult to replace asset, as well? Or else they wouldn't have the shock collars to ensure their compliance.]

[Jorgmund had agreed with his assessment and told him his performance was adequate, and that his assessment of the situation was correct.]

[Then they'd shocked him, told him they expected better than "adequate" in the future and that he wasn't supposed to follow through on a correct tactical assessment unless they told him to.]

[Wash can tell they're trying to soften all they're doing with faux benevolence and nice words with everyone else - why call them "New Hires" if not to make what they're doing seem normal and reasonable? He wonders if they're dispensing with that faux softness with him because they know he's competent enough to see right through it - and because they have an extra bit of leverage to ensure his total obedience regardless of what they do to him. It's a daunting prospect, having to work with people that think there's nothing he'll say no to and who know there's more of chance he'll never fight back than some of the other New Hires.]

[But for now, at the very least he gets to keep both his life and the implant, and now he has to focus on continuing to keep them. To do that, he needs this group to be able to meet their mission objectives (and he doesn't dare risk sabotaging that again). And to do that they need to get their act together. It's not their fault that last mission was disorganized and sloppy, it was Jorgmund's for sending a bunch of brand new agents out there with the regulars, with unfamiliar equipment, and having not even met yet.]

[But it's still a problem that needs to be resolved.]

[It'll also be a lot easier to perform to expectations when they're not randomly getting almost-murdered.]

[After the self-executing encrypted code executes (something he won't tell Jorgmund about on the off chance the resistance here is effective enough to actually get them all out, but will keep in his back pocket if needs it) he gathers intel first, quietly lurking and reading.]

[Then he introduces himself like someone who's used to walking into different situations and immediately bossing everyone around, as ones does (if you're a Freelancer, at least). His voice is clipped and a little stiff, but occasionally dips into dry and sardonic.]

I'm Agent Washington. I may have run into some of you on that mission with the aliens...

[A pause.]

From Aliens.

But otherwise I'm new here. I need a sitrep and an overview of your defense plans so I can recommended improvements.

Also, who's in charge here? I know Jorgmund hasn't appointed anyone formally - because I asked - but you had to have made some kind of decision informally.

[Because the alternative is total anarchy and who lives like that??]

Then again, that mission in Pilton was a disaster, so if you haven't chosen a leader internally, why not?

[Look at Judge Judy all up in here.]