video; un: white_lotus

[pummelling]

[With the chaos of the fire over and the smoke cleared (literally and figuratively, really), Jin's settled into hanging around the Audentes campsite. He's helping teammates set up and maintain their camps, aiding townspeople in rebuilding, eavesdropping on all of your gossip, brainstorming wildly on how to deal with the Yeerks Taraxa, the like.

He's got a way more important thing to share with the 'net today, though.]

Um.

[Jin's sitting somewhere in the camp in front of someone's tent, looking a little sheepish-- and holding a mess of dark, unruly hair out of his face.

Help.]

Can I borrow a hair tie? None of the ones the Qorral sell are strong enough. [pause.] I've still got a lot of the ALASTAIR stipend, I'll pay you back with something from the trading post-- I just need something.

[#thickhairproblems]

Comments

[slushfund]

I always have a point, people simply don't listen when they should.

(and polnareff should just be ashamed of himself........ but the real reason he approached this is, of course, "stipends".)

Does ALASTAIR pay well? I got here three days ago and I've been poring over most of the boring details, but I want an opinion from someone in our position.

[pummelling]

[...

bitch are you forreal]

You've been dragged into an alternate universe and you're worrying about the stipend? You sure have your ducks in a row. [snort.] That said, they give you what you need.

[slushfund]

Buying things is essential, even here where there's little to buy. Warmer clothing, shelter, weaponry...

(fingers together, looking smug.)

Money is a universal constant, headgear.

[pummelling]

Money's a means to survival and we've got enough for it. We're here to help the people on this planet-- not to make a profit off them. Or did you want to join the Qorral mining this planet hollow?

[narrows eyes.]

My name's Jin.

1/3...

[slushfund]

You want the half-baked, friendly, kiss-ass lie, or my actual answer?

(it doesn't matter, you're getting the actual answer anyway.)

2/3

[slushfund]

Well, Jin, here's my two cents.

We're here to investigate the fundamentalists, stop all mining efforts, and clean up the records of ALASTAIR's fuck up — right? None of those mission directives involve helping Qorral themselves; they're actually who we're here to stop. We're opposing them in order to preserve the valuable natural resources and so we are, in fact, making a profit off of them. You may care and that's nice of you, but do you really think our bosses give a fuck about what happens to these people?

Newsflash: Did they give a shit when the Reverend was decapitated? Pretty sure the file Abbott and Costello sent out with the transcribed conversation had with our team's Taraxa member had "oops... that sucks!" written all over it. Will they care if more of this population is killed? Would they care if someone shot up this whole backwater city?

No.

They wanna put a stopper in the impending threat to the timeline and aaall the rest of us are expendable, so is there any problem with the added cushion of having some money set aside for when they decide that beaming us home is a waste of precious resources? I don't fucking think so.

3/3

[slushfund]

I'm Hiruma, by the way.

[pummelling]

[asshole.]

You mistake me for someone who's here to play along like a good little soldier. Truth is, ALASTAIR's been full of shit from the start. You've figured that much out, Sherlock: welcome to the club.

If you're in this to line your pockets, be my guest. But I care about what happens to these people-- threats from the inside and all-- and if they're stupid enough to keep trying to destroy themselves, and whoever gets stuck on this ball of rock and death once they've decided it's been mined dry, then I still think it's worthwhile to keep at it. Whether it goes with ALASTAIR's agenda or not. This mission, it happens that it does, so I'll play along while I do what I think is right.

By the way, did you forget you're part of this timeline too? Whatcha gonna do with that cash once the timeline's all screwy, hunh?

[slushfund]

And that's why you stick to mission directives and don't get emotionally involved, kids.

(leaning onto the back of a hand, impassive.)

The timeline's getting protected if proper protocol is followed, so protecting the people whose main fucking goal is to mine the planet dry — which, consequently, will screw the timeline up — is a great idea. I'm not saying there's nothing stopping you from doing the heroic thing and martyring yourself for a race that probably should've already died out with their own planet, but you can't expect everyone else to.

I'm just providing facts, since you sound so opposed to someone covering their own ass.

Really, getting forced into signing up for this shit is really un-fucking-palatable, but having your entire brown-nosing team scrabble for "what's right", when there's no way anyone's ever gonna agree on one definition, is really throwing a wrench in my plans to get home alive.

(a shrug of a shoulder.)

Money's simply the language most people speak after negotiations fail.