Podpop

[cityship]

[Instructions: Post your character with one post establishing them as being podpopped. Tag each other in groups of 2's, 3's, and 4's, to get some interaction to start with. If a thread doesn't already have 2 or 3 people tagged in, tag it with your character's podpop popping near the other people, rather than making a new subthread. If you would

Comments

[hatesautodocs]

To be honest, Christine hadn't remembered ever being so relaxed, not in a long time. She'd been so wound up for so long that there hadn't been a minute to just sleep for sleep's sake. The voice went in one ear and out the other, and just so fast...sploosh, she fell awkwardly on her side, a tangle of limbs and slime.

Humidity wasn't common in the Mojave, even if heat was- it was the damp wetness that threw her through a loop. She tried to quickly gain her footing, grab for the gun that wasn't there, but in the end she realized this was nothing like the Madre. Her nudity didn't bother her as much as it probably should have, in lieu her lacking a weapon in a strange place.

The only comforting thought she had was that this couldn't be Elijah's doing.

[first_of_steel]

There was another pop nearby.

"... you know," said the older man who emerged, "I'm naked and covered in slime. I'm at least thirty years past the point where I would've had an excuse for that."

[hatesautodocs]

Christine whipped her head around, making a squicked out face when a string of slime that had clung to her ear whirled around to smack her in the chin. She wiped her face, running her hands over the back of her head before finally responding.

"I'm at least thirty years past when this is okay." And she was still in her twenties. Christine was methodical with getting the slime off her hands, regarding the man without much sense of bodyshyness.

[first_of_steel]

Roger dragged a hand over his face and let out a sigh. "Weirdest briefing I've ever had," he muttered. "Are you hearing it too?"

He'd worry about the naked part later. When everyone was in the same circumstances, it didn't really count.

[hatesautodocs]

Christine blinked, furrowing her brows in slight frustration. She hadn't heard a woman's voice since the courier left, so she had assumed it was just another dream. She shook her head, trying hard to focus on what had been said. "...something about a purpose." Been a while since she had one of those. "I already have one, but I'm guessing there's no front desk in this mess."

[first_of_steel]

"Doubt it," said Roger sourly. "Can't hurt to look, but I suspect it'll be a waste of time. Frankly, I want my damned armor back first."

He'd settle for lesser clothing, but in a completely unfamiliar situation like this, armor would be more reassuring than any alien machine headvoice's love.

[hatesautodocs]

"Same." Christine held her hand out, formality in her motions. "Christine Royce, knight with the Circle of Steel." It was the best introduction she could give, under the circumstances. "Just gotta hope they got an armory around here."

[first_of_steel]

"Circle of-"

Well, that wasn't something he'd expected to hear. There'd been similar names proposed before he'd finally rammed the Brotherhood name down his followers' throats, though, and there'd been that one bunch who insisted on peeling off; you never knew...

"Roger Maxson," he said, careful and formal. "High Elder. Brotherhood of Steel."

And waited.

[hatesautodocs]

...there weren't proper words in her vernacular to express the exact feeling that overcame Christine as the man spoke his name, rank, and...it was all just incomprehensible. She stood there in awe for a minute, not so much as blinking, arm drooping at her sides.

This wasn't the time to be slack-jawed, this was- this was Maxson. She was standing in some strange squishy place with Roger Maxson.

And she was naked.

"...this...feels like a nightmare I had when I was young." She looked like she was trying to figure out what to do with herself, but finally settled on- "It's- it's an honor." Stranger things had happened in the Mojave. But this...this was just all luck.

[first_of_steel]

If it was any consolation, so was he. And he looked sufficiently annoyed about that fact to be studiously ignoring everything else about the situation.

"You've got my sympathies, Knight Royce, if your nightmares were ever anything like this," he said. "And thank you. Tempted as I am to keep up this line of discussion, I'm thinking it might be the kind of thing that can wait until we've tracked down some clothing. Any ideas?"

[hatesautodocs]

"Right...sir." It felt strange to address someone as even sir, but most of her formalities had fallen away over the past few years. "Sadly, I wouldn't know. Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for this." She scanned the area, before spotting the higher-up catwalk, and indicating it.

"That might be an idea. Seems like a trek to make without any sort of clothes, though."

[first_of_steel]

"What I wouldn't give for Orson right now," Roger muttered. "That blasted robot might not've had his cogitator unit properly seated, but he could run errands like a champ."

Nevertheless, he nodded. "It'll have to do," he said. "I don't see an alternative, and it's not like we're not all int he same boat."

[hatesautodocs]

"At least it's direct." Purely sarcasm; the walkway seemed to snake and spiral around the entire cavern. "Nice of them having everyone trek around cold and slimy. At least they have handrails."

Which was a tantalizing prospect, as Christine didn't seem to be doing so well on the "not staggering" front. It was sort of hard to adjust to the feeling of the ground pulsing under your bare feet.

[first_of_steel]

"I have to wonder if this is some alien race's idea of courtesy," Roger muttered. "Coming from a human, this would be nothing but a sick joke."

Which it probably was anyway, all things considered.

"I'd say it could be worse, but I don't like the idea of tempting fate."

[hatesautodocs]

"Courtesy isn't something I've had in a while. Even if it's alien, I'll take it." At least the glowing lights seemed to be a safe indication of the direction to go in. Christine eventually got her gait steadier, trying not to focus on the fact that she was naked on some alien ship with the Brotherhood's founder. It sounded too much like a prewar comic book.

"Least we're not being shot at."

[first_of_steel]

Roger nodded. He himself was... well, he didn't really want to admit it, but this felt a little too solid to be a bad dream. So he was mostly keeping his thoughts firmly locked on I am somewhere I am really not supposed to be, and it is revolting, and somewhere up ahead I will get some clothes and maybe some answers. It beat thinking about the full implications, at least just at the moment. Those... would come later. You could never hold that kind of thing off forever.

And anyway, all the questions he could think of asking at the moment were probably the sort of thing best asked with clothing on. He'd seen the look on the woman's face. Obviously his name meant something by now- whenever 'now' was. Definitely best to at least try to look respectable before pressing further...

"It's been a long time since I've seen anywhere this... organic," he offered. "At least nothing's trying to bite us, either."