01 | All lies and jests; still a man hears what he wants to hear

[sinistral]

WHO: the Winter Soldier (sinistral) and you
WHERE: Calibrations waiting room, calibration room, and network
WHAT: midway through the Calibrations cycle, the Agrii decided they needed another victim "he row"
WHEN: 06/28 through 07/10
WARNINGS: Literally every calibration room prompt will have elements of violence and torture (physical and mental).

---

SECRET TUNNEL
→ Waiting Room;

This is complete bullshit. Complete. Bullshit. The Soldier has strong feelings as it is about waking up in a place entirely different from where he'd gone to sleep. It had happened far too much in his life and invariably makes him tense and irritable; between HYDRA and the Atroma — and apparently these Agrii now — he's just done.

The tunnel looks nothing like the Marsiva or the other ships of the Fleet but has him on guard regardless. He's pretty sure they'd escaped that imprisonment, won their way free of the Atroma. Certainly he's seen no evidence of them in the year since. But perhaps they'd gotten too lax in their freedom, in the rush of exploration and enjoyment of each other's company.

It's possible anyway.

Still, he can't focus on that right now, and certainly attempting to break out hadn't worked. Had the impact of a metal fist against the wall woken anyone? Potentially not, if this really is like the Calibrations he remembers, the way sleepers couldn't be woken once they'd drifted off. Or perhaps people will hear it and come looking. Doesn't much matter to him and he gives it up quickly enough when he sees that it's not doing any good anyway.

Well, whatever.

After a last glare at the tunnel he returns to the interior chamber and proceeds to go over every inch of it. Under the Atroma, it was impossible to escape the Calibrations area until those beings decided their time was up. If this really is modeled after that there'll be no escape, but he still intends to make sure. Perhaps some detail has been overlooked.

→ Calibrations Room;

The room itself is plain, utilitarian. The walls might be grey, or a grimy institutional beige. The only furnishings are a large glass-and-metal tubular chamber in the corner and a metal table in the center of the room with a single lightbulb hanging above it; an old incandescent bulb sheds yellowy light on the surface of the table and not much further.

On the table rests a sniper rifle, a combat knife, and a mouthguard. There appears to be no one in residence.

NETWORK
→ Text;

The Drift Fleet. Atroma. Calibrations. If you know what I'm talking about, speak up.

[That's it that's the message.]

WILDCARD
→ Elsewhere;

Want something else? Have an idea? Hit me up at sometimesamuse or via PM. Open to wherever, whatever, and though I write starters in prose I'm more than happy to switch to brackets if it's your preference.

Comments

[sinistral]

Of a sort.

[Soldier, spy, assassin: the toolbox is varied and not necessarily something he wants to reveal right away. Though if this truly is Calibrations the way he knew them, those facts may reveal themselves.]

[backoff]

Okay.



Did the Atroma use any elemental spells?

[ Cloud can be stupid with giving certain information away. But in his world of living he was a mercenary for hire for a bit until his destiny took him in a completely different direction. He's been a lot of things himself. And yes, he's going back to Atroma questions. ]

[sinistral]

Not that I observed. Too hands on, in my opinion.

[backoff]

Don't blame you for not. It would be nice to know. Were you mostly on ships or on a planet full time?

[ The Atroma could be pulling from a completely different source. Cloud's trying to figure out if this planet's energy could be used in the same matter besides for charging rods. ]

[sinistral]

No, I mean they could control us at their whims. Chips in our heads. Why would they have to get their own hands dirty when they could just use one of us?

The Fleet was ship-based. We probably spent as much time drifting as planetside, but in my time there, we never re-visited a planet. Each stop was new.

[Well now that's a worthy line of research, isn't it?]

[backoff]

I don't know what the Agrii are capable of. If the Atroma can do that with chips. I would not enjoy knowing I could be controlled. The Agrii might have a way themselves.

I haven't been here long enough. But from what I've heard from others. They have been on this planet for a while. But some have been off this planet and came back to this planet. Your previous experience is the opposite.

[sinistral]

[However Cloud might feel about the idea of control likely pales in comparison to how the Soldier feels, at least from his point of view. Then again, he could be controlled without the chip implant, a fact he's not keen to advertise.]

They very well might. Or they might rely on other avenues of control. Not all compliance need be forced.

Interesting. Imitation in approximation, not exactness. And does lend some credit to their claim to needing help restoring this place.

[Not that he believes it yet. Who's 100% distrustful of their hosts? This guy right here.]

[backoff]

[ Cloud gets controlled in a different sense because of the cells running within his body. If Sephiroth were to make an appearance would he be able to control him here? Would the Agrii be able to if they knew of a way to tap into the cells? ]

They aren't exactly speaking to us right now. They gave a warning that said a storm could kill us. Told us to come here and then took away the exit. It is going to piss off a bunch of people. Maybe that's what they were going for. Whose to say?

If anything it seems to be testing mental will to me. If they wanted to hurt us, they could have by now. But we're living barely, that still has to mean something.

It doesn't mean I trust them. [ He adds it knowing that he could sound as if he's defending them. Cloud's not actually meaning to. He's pointing out the things he has seen. ]

[sinistral]

[Clearly someone needs to app Sephiroth so we can find out. /Steeples fingers.]

Social experiment. Or a series of social experiments, apparently. Joy.

They could be using this to learn more about us, unseen observers in the calibration dreams. I don't know how they would accomplish it, but I believe the Atroma were able to do so as well.

Smart.

[It's appreciated, someone who can attempt to see several sides of the situation. Tempting as it can be to rail against the unfairness of it all, it won't solve anything. Perhaps trying to understand the motivations of their captors will lead somewhere useful.]

[backoff]

[ Get on it! ]

It feels that way.

We can't see if there's cameras. We don't know how the door even got sealed away. They could be observing our actions. If this is a true experiment someone has to be.

[ He doesn't want to think of it as an experiment. He had been thinking it as a mental training exercise. Maybe to keep his mind from racing towards something worse. But he didn't leave those possibilities out. ]

[sinistral]

[That means like redoing icons and that's effort.]

There probably are. If they can observe this planet enough to warn people into their underground shelter, chances are very good that the underground shelter can also be observed, whether it be cameras or something else.

Might not even be an experiment. This could just be for shits and giggles, as the saying goes.

[E X P E R I M E N T. Totally an experiment. And the Agrii are totally assholes.]

[backoff]

[ Finding icons took effort but I did it. we could do terrible things. ]

The question I keep finding myself asking is; why did they do this?

We can keep guessing. We can keep getting mad over it. But we're still stuck here at the end of the day. What did we accomplish?

How do we find a way out of this?

For shits and giggles. There has to be something to go along with it.

[ It's a big pile of stinky bullshit. ]

[sinistral]

[All his account stuff is on the Computer That Died, whose hard drive I haven't attempted to access because ugh. One of these days.]

If they are aping the Atroma, the answer may be "because the Atroma did it." Which does not lend itself to a great confidence in their organization of this whole thing, Calibrations and the rest of it.

Does there truly have to be a deep reason? Or are they just being assholes because they have all the power to do so?

[Yes. Yes it is.]

[backoff]

I have dealt with my fair share of assholes with power. There's nothing you can really do. You can choose to give up or keep going.

No, there doesn't have to be a deeper reasoning. But they always seem to have one.

[sinistral]

Or fight back. Which is admittedly easier when there's a physical manifestation of some sort, not a removed presence only felt when they exert some kind of control.

Saying that all we have to do is find it seems an oversimplification.

[backoff]

They're creating fear one way or another. We're making up theories at best. Anything we think of can be seen as that.

It's better then seeing that we may be out of options. We could fight back but you still want to wait for the right moment to do so.

[ A somewhat plan would be better then not having one at all. They could put too many at risk and that wouldn't be smart either. Cloud would probably gauge the situation first before doing any actions. ]

[sinistral]

Are you afraid?

[The Soldier isn't, at least not for the traditional meaning of terror. The fear of a lack of privacy for one's own mind is one to which he became accustomed a while ago and while annoying, isn't as sharp and biting as it once was.]

You're never out of options until you die. Choosing to live is an option, and sometimes a fight in itself.

Have you an idea of this moment?

[backoff]

Not really. I'm going to protect as many people as I can.

My situation on death is a bit different at the moment. But I will continue on living. I already came to that decision before coming here.

No. My luck is not good with timing and being in places. Might be too much at risk. I still want to fall back on keeping everyone safe.

[sinistral]

And if you become compromised?

Could be why they brought you here. But there's not enough information to say for sure.

That may be a harder task than it seems. But I don't know what our hosts really have planned, and I don't entirely trust the little they've shared.

[backoff]

My friends would know if I am. I would form these plans with someone that's not me. I'll go where I'm needed.

[ Are you trying to get him to ask if there's a deeper meaning behind all of this? Cloud won't do it. He won't even ask if that's Soldier's plan. That's a trap. ]

Yeah, it's a plan that you want to consider the options and weigh the risks. I don't know anything about our hosts and I don't trust them. But what are we doing exactly??

Let's try passing the time without having to talk more on theories.

[sinistral]

Probably smart. I imagine these devices and conversations are monitored and recorded anyway. Not really sure there'd be a way to get around that either.

[backoff]

In person interaction for certain information would be better and normally is depending on what's being given. There might be ways around it.

[sinistral]

I've used ciphers based on a blend of languages before. It's an option.

[backoff]

Do you rotate the dish so that one side doesn't become too hot?

[sinistral]

No...? That's just crazy.