( broadcast ) stand up and be counted

[mmnpcs]

[ At 8 PM, a gruff, nicotine-hardened voice can be heard broadcasting over the intercom system hung up a little halfhazardly -- clearly meant as a temporary function -- around downtown.

It's a man's voice, not one imPorts have yet been subject to. ]

Attention imPorts. My name is Captain Holiday. I've been assigned to be your liaison for matters of communication between you and the government; you need something, you come to me and I'll see about making it happen.

You probably have a lot of questions. [ There's a pause as he takes an unseen but possibly heard puff on his cigarette. ] And we want to do our best to answer them. If you'll allow us to escort you to the seashore we'll get started and then you can all go on to your new homes and sleep in your new beds. Been through a lot, we know. We won't keep you long.

[ And at 8:30 PM, at the Canaveral National Seashore, imPorts will see them: a stern looking man leaning on a cane and smoking a cigarette, and the soldier -- Lt. Ananke -- who drove them here. Holiday puts out his cigarette and immediately lights another. ]

This won't take long. We know you're all probably tired. Don't want to hear a lot of bullshit, am I right? Me either. Luckily this is pretty simple.

We know what you've been through. We want to help you. And we'd like it if you'd help us, too. It's not easy being displaced in another world and another time -- hell no. In exchange for helping us keep the peace around here -- there's trouble wherever you go, figure I don't even have to tell you that -- we're offering you all free housing, healthcare, and job placement. If you don't like your job you can come to us and we'll give you another one, we can't get it right all the time. Same with your house. We've got plenty of places to put you.

This ain't a draft, and you don't have to put on a costume to work with us as a hero. People serve their country in all kinds of ways, you don't have to be a fighter. Help us out when we ask you to, we'll help you out, it's that simple. If you don't like it, you don't have to take it, but you'll have to forgive us for not putting you up in that case. The benefits have conditions like benefits always do, but we're not asking you anything unreasonable.

Think about it. Are you with us?

( NOTE: This post will default to action for the sake of ease. Captain Holiday will reply to all questions, but other NPCs will also be tagging around at random unless a player requests one in specific in their subject header. Please do so if you'd like! Please also note REGISTERED or UNSETTLED in your subject line to indicate your character's choice, or UNDECIDED if they're still mulling it over. If the latter, they will be contacted by Holiday within the week for a decision if they don't contact him first. )

Comments

UNSETTLED

[boobwindow]

[ She had been hoping for more information in light of recent events. Instead, Power Girl, still with the angry cat in her arms, stands there looking severely irked and unimpressed. None of this sits right with her. ]

Thanks but no thanks.

[mmnpcs]

[ She raises her eyebrow. ]

Go figure. But I guess there's one in every crowd. Plenty of hotel rooms downtown if ya need a place to sleep.

[boobwindow]

[ Well, she hadn't expected that. ]

Fortunately all I need is some good Florida sun.

How do we know there isn't a catch?

[mmnpcs]

What's the catch but asking ya to help out with something ya'd be doing already? Seems like a good deal if ya ask me but there's no pleasing everybody.

[boobwindow]

You had information that not everybody is privy to. Information about us. Sorry if I don't buy into your oh so generous offers after narrowly escaping another dying world and then being told the US government needs our "help", but we have to work under their thumb.

I never did like getting caught up in politics.

[mmnpcs]

Ya got a funny way of hearing things, sister. Ya got a problem with working you're gonna have problems everywhere, fact o' the matter is we can't afford to house, protect and vouch for people who come from different universes and got superpowers that can't spare the courtesy to prove they're worth trusting. Government never worked that way, hon, nothing does.

Your machine gave us the information. Lachesis.

[boobwindow]

It's Power Girl.

I don't have a problem doing what I do. I've done this for a long time.

But I don't like this registration business.

[mmnpcs]

Not for any good reason, seems like. If your hair's ruffled over it that's your business, but ya don't have social security numbers or even identities in this world far as the law is concerned, and I bet ya have both of those where ya come from.

Don't want it, don't take it. That's your business like I told ya, but if ya don't mind I got other people to help in that case.

[boobwindow]

[ She takes off into the air, cat in her arms and glowering down at Moira. ]

Good luck roping in this crowd.

[ Obviously not sincere. RUDE!! ]

[mmnpcs]

I can't congratulate you enough on the right choice, Ms. -- ?

[boobwindow]

Power Girl.

And who are you supposed to be?

[ She's still rather defensive. Even her cat's ears are pressed back as he stares at a new face. ]

[mmnpcs]

Peter Narga. I run the Líf Foundation, it's a charity for helping the underprivileged.

[boobwindow]

[ She reaches up, rubbing the back of her head. ]

What... is a guy like you doing at an... whatever this is. Orientation?

[mmnpcs]

I'm giving people another side of the story. None of you have to subscribe to the bootstrap option.

[boobwindow]

[ She pauses, eyeing him a touch skeptically, but willing to hear him out. ]

I'm listening.

[mmnpcs]

You tell them you'll be sitting fine under the category Unsettled -- don't mind the name, that's just their marketing ploy -- and you're declaring yourself apart from the mass. It isn't without sacrifice, yeah, Holiday offers a lot of creature comforts with the promise of your fealty. [He cocks his head to the side, frowning.]

But comfort ain't got nothing on independence.

[boobwindow]

What happens with those who choose to register?

Besides... [ She flicks her wrist, revealing the tattoo. ] I've got the sense some of my independence has already been compromised.

[mmnpcs]

You get some perks, yeah, that much is undeniable. But if you register, you're signing your life with an infrastructure that won't honor your personal ideals.

[boobwindow]

But if I don't, let me guess: the authorities are more than willing to chase me down?