Arrival Log & A Network Transmission

[theirondragon]

WHO: The Iron Bull (theirondragon) and you
WHERE: The Fountain
WHAT: Arrival
WHEN: Saturday - Afternoon
WARNINGS: Bull is Bull, will warn as necessary.


The disorientation wore off faster than he would have thought possible. Looking around the place, it was kind of a shit hole, truth be told, but a vaguely familiar one. He couldn't quite put his finger on it as he stood, casting an intimidating shadow of muscles and horns, but the place just felt like he'd seen it before. It was like a dream, though, fleeting and dodgy any time he tried to focus on it. Instead, he followed his gut, which was telling him to touch that shiny thing over there. It was a weird dichotomy, honestly. His gut said to touch it, and his instinct told him it was probably magic or some other technological weird crap and that it would probably do something to him.

He touched it. His instincts were right. Agrii sounded familiar, too, and in that weird, half-dream sense as much as what the orb shoved into his head. That wasn't weird. That had happened a lot, he was pretty sure of it, but the big guy still shook his head, a hand on his forehead.

"Shit."

It was a lot, alright?


\\NETWORK - later\\

[The video feed comes on to show a grey-skinned man with sharp features, dark stubble, a scarred face with a fetching leather eyepatch (well, it at fetching according to at least one person who mattered), and what looked to be some hefty horns coming off his head. It was hard to tell their size from the feed, but they were definitely there.

He grins at the feed before he speaks, but it's a casual, good-natured thing. His voice is deep, too, earthy and rough. He speaks slowly like he has all the time in the world.]

Hey, folks. I just showed up, but I get the idea that's happened to a lot of you guys. I'm The Iron Bull. Any tips for the new guy? I'm open to all of it. Why don't we start with where to get a drink?

((OOC: For those of you continuing his TDM threads, responses are below from the latest tag!))

Comments

[demjiin]

Kaz mirrored that sentiment about the Datapoints, but there was a slight sneer of disgust instead of a smirk on his lips.

"Yeah. All the Datapoints download information straight into your brain. You'll find that other Datapoints will delete any knowledge you gained from one Datapoint and trying to use another. Meaning whether you like it or not, you are limited to one Datapoint at a time."

Kaz shrugged.

"I'm not a fan of them at all and resisted using them for a while. Eventually, I had to take one just to try and make sense of the alien tech around here. But you've already learned of the reason we're supposed to be brought here, but what it doesn't mention is that the Agrii were invaded and conquered a long time ago. Now there's a question of whether or not this is even the planet they started out on, or if the conquering species, the Atroma, transplanted them here along with a third species, the Graq."

And now Kaz's eyes, which are dark brown, pin Bull with a look that's as flat and black as a shark.

"But don't mention that on the Network. In fact, just assume that anything you say on the Network is being seen by whatever species is holding us all captive. If you don't want them to see it, then say it face to face or not at all."

[theirondragon]

"Yeah, I've heard of something like that before." But it wasn't a shiny ball. It was something inside of him. Of them. That sounded right in his head, felt right, but it was a distant, half-remembered memory.

"Sometimes you got to take a risk to get good information. I feel that." It was uncomfortable, having information just planted in your head like that, but if it was an emergency, it might be worth it.

He grinned. "You know, this might surprise you, but I'm real good at playing big and dumb. I think I can handle it."

[demjiin]

"Good."

And Kaz had the same wolfish grin that Bull had. Though on him it looked more aggressive, like a baring of teeth.

"Whether on the Network or in real life, always make sure you're underestimated."

And that's a statement that Kaz lives by. People always discounted a cripple, which suited Kaz just fine. They discounted a seventeen-year-old similarly and the two together meant that usually, no one saw him coming and were always surprised by the level of ferocity in the violence Kaz was capable of.

[theirondragon]

"Ha! I know, right?" It was pretty much exactly how the Bull operated, a giant in a land of humans. Something about Kaz caught his attention, though, kept the Bull on his guard. This was one to watch, certainly, but Kaz didn't need to know Bull knew that.

"Any other tips for the fresh meat?"

[demjiin]

Bull would not be the only one to notice that Kaz was someone to watch. Even the biggest and strongest of his friends, Matthias Helvar, had known instantly that Kaz had spent too long in dark places so now something of that darkness had crawled out with him.

"All I've got is that things in Temba have a bad habit of going sideways on us. At its worst, it can mess with your mind so that you don't know who you are anymore. Don't be blindsided by that, and if it happens to you, don't spend too long being hard on yourself. Accept it and move on without guilt. Guilt just slows us captives from thinking."

[theirondragon]

Another person who viewed them as captives rather than residents. That felt right, alright, and he knew something about people bringing darkness back with them. He'd had to put some of those people down. It was never pretty, but sometimes Death was the answer.

"Great. That's just what I needed." He'd been places that messed with your head before. Never good. The Bull preferred when his feet knew which way was forward and his back knew what was behind him.