futurology | VIDEO. UN: LOKI

VIDEO. UN: LOKI

[ the sound of the wind storm hollows dully against the cave walls. Loki's squidge, Bacon, can half be seen crawling in the confines of his tacky green jacket and over his knee from where he sits, sometimes ducking and squeaking when a particularly large gust hits. to keep it from screaming, Loki offers his fingers absently, which the little squidge pulls on with its pudgy arms before ducking low again. ]

Hello there, it seems like we'll be waiting this out for some time considering the weather-type circumstances. While we're all rotting away, etcetera etcetera, I thought we could amuse ourselves with a game. A little bit of team bonding funtimes, so to say. [ he twists a dark nailed hand in the air, gesturing. ]

Soo—oo ... it's called Two Truths and a Lie. How do you play? Glad you asked, it's simple! Give two true statements about yourself and add a lie to the mix, shake it up then toss it out there and see if your team members know you well enough to spot the lie.

Usually this is done with copious amounts of alcohol, but we're lacking at the moment. [ pause. ] But—ah—you could always enjoy the satisfaction of being right. It's not like we're doing much else.

NOTE | Feel free to threadjack if that's your thing!! :****

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hmmm....

The first one's got too much detail to be properly a lie, although don't think I'm going to walk away without you explaining what you mean by maintenance droids. [He grins fit to wrinkle his nose.]

I'm going to guess the last one. Everyone knows at least some of the lyrics to the songs they heard growing up.

[ She holds a straight face as long as she can before a grin breaks out and she claps her hands together, jostling Squidge in her lap. It's an odd thing to be so jubilant about, for it reflects a certain bleakness in her life growing up, but it also means she's won. Much of her joy is a result of taking a look at Achilles' efforts and attempting to apply them—effectively, it would seem. ]

Wrong. I never heard any, or if I did, not often enough to know the words. Believe me: I tried my best to remember when I was told singing was the best way to calm the squidges down. So I'm happy to tell you all you want to know about maintenance droids, but ... I wasn't raised by them.

[Her grin is infectious enough that, having lost or not, he grins back. She may have tweaked on his nerdly proclivities by suggesting her world has synthetic creatures at least sentient enough to have feasibly raised a human child.]

Oh, if you're hard up for music, you should talk to Kojuro. He's got a flute and doesn't seem particularly shy about playing a few bars for a fidgety squidge.

But you know, I'm a little disappointed? I was looking forward to getting the details of getting raised by, er, droids, although I suppose I'll settle for whatever else you have to tell me about them. So are you from a future Earth? [He leans in eagerly, apparently excited by the prospect.] There's only one other person I've talked to here who seems to be from any point further along than 2040 or so.

I'll try to find him.

[ Mostly, she's just waiting to see if Olivia gets tired of her, or convinced that Rey is only asking her to sing because she wants to make her feel needed when really it's just Rey selfishly wanting to hear music. ]

But I'd never actually heard of Earth until I got here, so ... probably not. [ Hard to say. The year 2040 doesn't mean a lot to her, especially with nothing to measure against, but she thinks she'd have at least heard of the planet. ] I'm from Jakku. It's part of the Inner Rim, in the Western Reaches. Most of the droids we see there are maintenance droids; any others mostly get scrapped because they're worth more in parts. There are other kinds too, though—protocol droids, they're mostly in the Core doing errands and answering people's questions; then there's astromech droids, that help chart hyperspace pathways and operate ships; I heard there even used to be battle droids, but I've never seen any.

[His eyes get a little round when she reveals her background: if anything he seems all the more interested for her lack of knowledge of Earth.]

So you're not even from... oh, that's excellent. You're human, though? That's so strange, I mean, in the best way -- anyways, I guess that's another topic altogether. [He grins, sheepish but not at all chagrined for the derailing he's done to himself.] Droids!

Droid, is that short for, for android? Are they human-shaped, then? Are they all sentient? How do they get scrapped, then, wouldn't that be tantamount to murder?

[Sorry, Rey, you've activated the full-on interrogation mode.]

It would be. [ At least, in Rey's view. The Droids Rights Activists would be on her side as well. ] But not everyone in the galaxy feels that way, since they're built from parts; but they've got minds and language, like any of us, even if some of them aren't as well-versed in Basic. Not any of them are made to look human, but they've all got feelings and opinions and personalities like we do. They're as varied as humans are—even more varied than some species.

[Evan pulls a little grimace.] That's not surprising. Humans aren't always all that good at empathy. Whoever designs droids should give them big eyes and fur; I bet that'd net them better treatment by most people, at least.

[But maybe this isn't something he should be jokey about. Evan shakes his head.] I mean, that's a salient point, too. Who builds droids? You'd think they'd know they're making sentient creatures, at least, and have some sort of proper-usage guidelines.

Some people build their own. Some are made in factories, for purchase. Like any technology, I suppose. [ Some people build their own speeders vs buying them too. She'd refurbished hers. ]

People actually make their own? [He seems lightly mystified by that, and then all the more fired up.] Honestly? The technology is that available, that unregulated? But then, I suppose, having babies is unregulated too.

[But he's frowning, both with conflict and with interest in the subject. He fixes her with a firm, curious look through the network.] I don't suppose you know how to make a droid?

No. Repairs, sure, but I don't know enough about the programming. They're more than just hardware, which is the part I'm good with.

Well, the hardware's somewhere to start. Lord, if only we could call in people from worlds we selected on purpose -- I mean, I program back home, but it's far from AI-level programming. What I wouldn't give to learn!

[He sounds both emphatic and cheerful about that -- but then, grinning, sits back a little from the interface.]

God, here I am quizzing you about high-level programming skills and I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Evan, from Earth, and I suppose the details of that don't matter as much if you're not from Earth too.

I'm Rey. From Jakku, though I won't be surprised if it doesn't mean anything to you. [ She crinkles her nose like she's grown used to it. ] I don't think I'd like it if we could recruit whoever we wanted, though. What if they didn't want to come, and then they were stuck because we haven't got the energy for anything else?

Well, I mean, ideally it would be the recruitment of volunteers. We all had the dubious luck of stumbling in through a tear in reality, but ostensibly ALASTAIR used to be an organization purely made up of volunteers.

Honestly, I can think of at least a couple of people from back home who'd probably come along if given the chance. [He offers a half-grin, sincere but wry.] For all the shit we put up with, I don't think anyone can claim that this isn't a fascinating organization to be a part of for a while.

Are you joking? It's fantastic! [ Pure, unreserved joy comes through in that. Being on Zeta-12 has been amazing, and that doesn't even begin to touch on Oska, or any other places they might still go. Rey wanted to see the galaxy from the minute she broke atmo on Takodana. Here, she has the chance to see every galaxy.

Still. Her joy deflates. ] But ... We all come from worlds with their own set of problems. The same people who'd want to help ALASTAIR are also the ones who could do the most good where they belong.

[Her joy is infectious, not least of which because he feels much the same way. Except he has intel that perhaps she doesn't. He goes from grinning along with her, to grinning a rather slyer grin when her mood takes a downturn.]

You know, you say that, but when we get sent back home, apparently we get sent back to the moment we were taken. So, really, why not spend a couple of years exploring the multiverse, learning a thing or two? There's no loss there, and hell, there might even be gains. I know I've learned a lot as part of this team.

[About himself as much as in terms of practical skills, although he keeps that part to himself.]

Wait. [ Flummoxed, she deflates and shakes her head quickly, trying to make sense of it. ] How do you know that? Have people actually been sent home?

Well, yeah. I can think of one in specific that I know was sent home, and a few that I've anecdotally heard were. I mean, that's the endgame here, isn't it? I think most of us want to be sent home eventually, and ALASTAIR is trading us time spend in service for transport home, when they've got the extra energy for it.

[He bobs his head, equivocating for the sake of completeness.] Although, conversely, I've heard of people who asked to stay here for good. I suppose this place was better than wherever they called home, one way or another.

I just didn't realize they had the energy for it right now!

[Evan bobs his head, again equivocating.] Well, not enough energy for all of us, to be sure. I think they do it rather piecemeal, one person at a time when they've got the resources. It seems loosely based on seniority, and maybe taking into consideration who's most desperate to make it home.

I thought most of us were desperate. But maybe ... [ Apparently some people wanted to stay. Rey had to admit that she wouldn't be leaving until she found Finn and left with him, but ... that certainly couldn't be so common, could it? ]

I think their alchemy on what counts as desperate enough is different than any of ours. I know there's at least one fellow here who's going to have to resume trying to literally save his world when he goes back home. I imagine for some people this almost feels like a holiday. [His tone is wry, amused except for the somewhat grim implications of the places his friends will be going back to.]

[ While she hadn't really considered the full weight of the task, it occurs to Rey in that moment that hunting down Luke Skywalker, returning him to the Resistance to join the fight against Kylo Ren and Snoke, might very well be what it takes to save their world—or at least get the agent of that rescue to the right place. It's a task that she cannot overestimate in importance, but she has a feeling that Evan doesn't need to hear such self-aggrandizing remarks, regardless of how objective they may be. ]

I think the people who put themselves in positions like that probably aren't the sort to relax on holiday.

[That doubt makes him grin.]

You might be surprised. Have you talked to Meallan at all? Redhead, facial tattoos, missing an arm? I mean, he's told me in so many words that he has to basically deal with world-saving tasks back home, but -- hell, the first time I met him here was at a party. He was flirting up a storm. [with Evan, no less, but that's still embarrassing enough that he isn't going to bring it up as such.]

I think sometimes the people with the most stress are the ones who let loose the most, you know? Not all the time, but sometimes.

[ Meallan. She marks the name, sure she knows who he means from the description. She has a hard time imagining him flirting, but then ... She gets thoroughly distracted from thinking about the Audentes by realizing that Finn had indeed found time for it while they were juggling life and death.

She flushes. ]

Sometimes. [ She says it like she's conceding the point instead of wholeheartedly agreeing still though. ] And you? What awaits you back home?

[He recognizes equivocation when he hears it, and so he does not pry, although she earns from him a curious look.

Oh, but she asked about home. He grins and shrugs, conceding metaphorical defeat to her higher stakes.] Not much. School. A semester I'm probably going to have to re-do; I wandered through the rift just after midterms, infuriatingly. Don't get me wrong, I'll be happy enough to be home, but... for me it's not exactly life or death.

I'll probably be here a while.

VIDEO. UN: LOKI

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