10 | But when I start to try to tell you that's when you have to tell me

[sinistral]

WHO: the Soldier (sinistral) and you
WHERE: the Agrii ship
WHAT: when stuff breaks, it's time to get to work
WHEN: during the first phase of the Problems with Portals event; as for what actual order things are going on, we get a little handwavey vague in these parts
WARNINGS: n/a in top levels; will update if that changes in threads

---

AGRII SHIP
→ Core Room Access;

Explosion in space? Not the first time the Soldier had seen one, though having it happen on the Agrii ship brought its own level of stress to things. Still, explosions usually meant crisis situations, and the Soldier had been inside (and caused) quite a few of them that keeping calm was natural. It didn't take him long at all to make his way to the Engineering section of the ship — the general distress marked the path quite plainly — and from there it took very little to assess the jammed door taking the attention of a number of the aliens.

Clearly something or someone was trapped behind that door. And clearly, it would take more strength (and possibly some coordinated effort) than the Agrii currently brought to bear to get the portal open. The Soldier didn't hesitate.

"Brace that side of it!" He didn't really look to see if the distressed Agrii had taken the instruction, instead turning to the person next to him. "Help me lead by example. We need to get this at least somewhat pried open."

→ Secondary Force Field;

With immediate danger seemingly mitigated the Soldier decided he'd be of the most use on the lower levels. He considered himself pretty indestructible — or at least very hard to damage — such that crawling around in unfamiliar and possibly dangerous areas would probably be easier for him than for someone more fragile.

What interested him was the extent of this lower area. The sheer amount of equipment down here almost made the deck above seem laughable, and raised questions in the back of the Soldier's mind as to who really ran the ship after all. Perhaps he was just being paranoid, but he couldn't help the feeling that something deeper was going on.

He slipped by a bank of equipment, moving quietly, a hand never far from one of the combat knives about his person. The air ahead seemed to shimmer with the red distortion of some kind of force field, and he wanted to get a closer look.

→ Wildcard;

Have another idea? Come at me here, plot with me here, or hit me up at sometimesamuse or via PM. Want a more specific starter for your character? Let me know, I got you. Want to handwave something? I'm fine with that as well, let's hash it out. And while I write starters in prose I'm happy to match brackets if that's your preference.

Comments

Lemme tell you the things we research for rp...

[sinistral]

Billy could push back all he wanted if they could get the door open. Right now at least they were both focused on a common goal; everything else could wait — including introductions. He'd seen the guy around but considering the Soldier kept to himself that didn't mean much.

The Soldier did at least bring his appreciation at the swing: decent form, gave the kid a good amount of power behind the stroke. Might even be fun to go against the guy outside an emergency situation; the Soldier hadn't often faced that kind of weaponry. Might be good for a training exercise.

"Good," he grunted as the guy started to apply force to the axe. They didn't have a ton of room to work close as they were but he set his feet as best he could to add his own pull to the metal. "Little more—"

Just a gap. Just enough to slip fingers into the gap, to get a firm grip around the edge of the door. Metal scraped on metal as he forced his hand into the space. He'd pay for that later surely but it was a problem for the future, not a concern when they still had a door to pry open.

"C'mon, c'mon..." Not that the door could appreciate verbal encouragement, or the muttered curses that followed. But with a lurch and the protesting squeal of metal the thing started to move.

I'm so sorry, my inbox ate the notif for this tag! ; A;

[playingtough]

With the metal blade wedged in - if it got damaged hopefully Gladio wouldn't be mad about - Billy works with his muscle and weight to leverage it. They could do this. They could get this damn door open.

He hears the scrape of metal, and almost loses his momentum seeing Soldier pushing his hand into the space. Wouldn't that hurt? Did he have any nerves in there? This was a lot to think about, so better to just focus on the current task.

The door may not appreciate verbal encouragement, but Billy was as he pushes harder. He can feel sweat beading, but he keeps going until the door finally, finally gives under them. He breathes out hard, sucks in another breath, and goes again as the door creaks open under their combined strength. Billy twists the axe to help Soldier in keeping it open.

No worries! Clearly it was hungry for this delicious budding CR!

[sinistral]

Best to not think about the metal arm, honestly. Billy could certainly ask questions — after they got the door open — but thinking about it too closely might be more disturbing than anything else.

The important thing was that the door moved under their combined efforts. A little at first, fighting them for every inch, but as the gap between door and frame grew so too did the momentum of their movement. The Soldier kept muttering encouragements — though if the words were meant for the door, for his companion, or for himself wasn't clear. Regardless he was glad the teen was there, and glad the musculature he could see wasn't just for show.

After what felt like forever the last of the resistance in the door finally gave and the portal slid open with a long metallic screech. The Soldier himself was breathing hard and deliberately avoiding looking at his own hand to see if he'd done himself damage; he needed a minute before he could mentally prepare himself for that possibility. Instead he used his flesh-and-blood hand to clap the teen in the shoulder, just once. "Good job. You're a lifesaver."

Possibility quite literally, as Agrii trapped behind the door were starting to escape through the opening they'd made.

Apparently! Now that you're done with S3, I am definitely hungry for it hahaha

[playingtough]

Billy wants to just wrench the door off its hinges in frustration, even as it comes open from their efforts. Boy is he glad he kept up with working out after he healed enough. He winces at the screech of metal as it finally gives and opens fully for them and he relaxes with a gasp.

The clap to his shoulder gets him to flinch. Hard. He wasn't expecting it from the guy, and he looks almost ready to fight, but then he stops himself just as a hand closes around the handle of the axe.

"Actually, I'm a lifeguard. Was. Whatever. I was a lifeguard back home."

He steps aside to let the Agrii through as they ran out, glad to be saved. "We should check to make sure there isn't anyone hurt in there."

Yesssss

[sinistral]

As soon as he felt that flinch the hand fell away. The Soldier figured he'd touched on a bruise or strain. Or judging from his expression maybe the guy just didn't like to be touched; he felt the same way himself more often than not.

"Lifeguard and lifesaver," he said instead. "Another title you'll have three of a kind, we can call it a poker hand." Which made very little sense but whatever. The point was more to draw attention away from that moment of touch.

"Yeah," he agreed to the suggestion, also shifting back a little to make room. "Probably faster to check it out ourselves than ask these Agrii." Language barrier plus crisis? No thank you; he didn't sign up for that.

He pulled out one of the combat knives sheathed on his hip, just in case. "Eyes open, let's check it out. We still don't know if this was an attack."

[playingtough]

One of those answers was right, and Billy wasn't going to mention the flinch at all. He did the same thing with Gladio. Dark haired, older men were... not heroes in his head. They made up the monsters that hid in the shadows outside of the public view.

The remark about a poker hand gets him to focus on that at least, instead of the unwanted touch. In fact, Billy gives the guy a look like he's crazy, but is nice enough to not mention it. Out loud. This time.

"Yeah, I don't have communications or whatever the datapoint is. I have the piloting one." The axe gets shifted in his grip. "You first, I'll follow."

The guy had a metal arm and probably more knives hidden somewhere. There's no way Billy was going to have the jump on him.

[sinistral]

The Soldier at least knew he was crazy. Or close enough to it, with how HYDRA had wiped him over and over again. One or two funny looks wouldn't offend him, especially not when the guy stuck around to continue helping. He seemed competent, and the Soldier respected that.

"Probably wouldn't have helped us anyway." Not an insult to the guy, but more a statement about the Agrii. Communications didn't seem to help the people who did have it, when trying to speak to their alien hosts.

"You let me know if you see anything weird." Especially since he'd be at the Soldier's back, and hopefully not too jumpy if he had to make a sudden movement. "I don't think we're going to be attacked but stay sharp."

[playingtough]

Billy was pretty competent when it came to fighting. He had been doing it for far longer in his life than he should have. The blond follows after, listening and keeping his gaze moving like he would in a lifeguard situation.

"Does the guy with the metal arm count as weird?" Because it does in Billy's book. And that's coming from a guy that got possessed and brought a literal monster to his world. "If not, I'm guessing it'll be the alien part that's weird."

Which was also weird.

"So what kind of world are you from? Not Hawkins or San Diego I'm guessing."

[sinistral]

It was a small miracle that the guy had showed up, the Soldier figured. An extra set of hands and an extra pursuit of eyes, and he didn't argue. It was a nice change.

"Ha!" Dude didn't know the half of it but he got a half a smile out of the Soldier. Not a lot of people came right out and called the prosthesis weird, and he had to respect that level of frankness. "With the Agrii, how can you tell what's weird and what's normal? But I meant the kind of weird that'll try killing us. Or anything that seems particularly out of place."

At least the guy listed one place the Soldier recognized. If he knew San Diego then he probably had a frame of reference for other major geography.

"New York," he answered eventually. "And I guess Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia."

[playingtough]

The metal arm was the weird part to Billy, even after the shit he had experienced in Hawkins. When it all came down to it, that shiny arm was probably pretty fucking normal now that the blond thinks about it.

"Yeah, the 'killing us' kind of weird is what I'll look out for." He hears and sees something move, but its just a piece of the ship finally falling from where it was once fastened.

"Nazi Germany huh? Makes you a guy from the early, mid-1940s, right? Probably born in what, the 1920s or some shit then, right? At least I'm not the only 'vintage' guy here then. It's 1985 where I'm from." It's clear Billy pays attention in his history classes at least. Whether that's willingly out of interest or because he had to keep his grades up because of Neil is a different question.

[sinistral]

Probably best not to think to closely about the metal arm, how it moved just as well as a real arm, how it was part of the Soldier. How he couldn't have been born with it; how it had to have been done to him.

"Good." Hopefully they wouldn't come upon anything openly malicious but the Soldier distrusted everything. It was possible that their current situation resulted from sabotage, which meant that attack could follow. He probably shouldn't be leading a kid into that kind of situation, but the guy proved capable thus far. Wasn't a bad thing to have capability at one's back.

"Close. 1917." He shrugged. "Probably as vintage as it's gotten, here."