CHAPTER ONE

[perturbator]

[The video comes in rather unfocused at first, until some noisy fiddling brings a pair of 80s style Air Jordans into view.]

There's probably other things I should be asking first, but I only have two questions right now. One: How's the weather in California this time of year?

[If this place really is different, the forecast won't be nuclear fallout. People will be there again. America might be whole again.

Quickly, the camera shifts to a small coffee table with several different newspapers strewn all over it, but with a DVD copy of Terminator 2 on top.]

Two: How the fuck do you rewind this thing?

Comments

ACTION

[huntergames]

[ Sasha actually changes her attire before heading over to the Porter. Though the weather in Maurtia Falls is unlike Heropa's at this time of the year, Sasha still puts on a light hoodie over her crop top and has stuck to jeans rather than shorts. She uses her power to get as close to the destination as she can, but having never been there, eventually she has to stop using up her power and walk the remainder of the way. Some locals point her in the right direction and after some time Sasha enters the pizza place, sniffing the air enthusiastically. Something smells good. ]

[perturbator]

[As if his nervous vibe had been infectious, the shop workers quickly got the pizza to his table, eager to empty out the dining area again. To their dismay, he doesn't start eating. As tempting as it is, he should wait. Instead, he drums his fingers anxiously on the side of his soda cup, carefully watching people pass outside. Despite people's comments about him being from the past, everything here looked like it came from a nuclear family catalogue. It didn't sit right with him; he preferred the honesty of grit.

Where was the graffiti? The broken condom wrappers and empty dimebags on the sidewalks? Did he have anything before that?

Before he can answer, he sees his new acquaintance finally arrive. From the look on her face, he knows he won't have to call her over. She'll sniff him out. Still, he should try and be personable.]

Hey.

[huntergames]

Ah, there you are.

[ Sasha zips toward the table without any hesitation, hands behind her back until she's slid into a seat across from him and laid her hands on the table. She's already eyeing the pizza, but she quickly remembers her priorities and focuses on the man's face now that she can see it properly in better lighting. ]

I'm so sorry, I didn't get your name before. I'm Sasha.

[perturbator]

[He sits up straight and squares his shoulders when Sasha joins him. An attempt at a welcoming smile results in only the barest quirk of his lips.

Sasha. He nods. She still doesn't look like a soldier, but then again, he sure as fuck doesn't anymore. Most of the veterans that congregated in the cesspool Miami had become didn't.

As for his name, he stops as he rips two slices away from the pie. Static buzzes in his head, and his old exit wounds burn. A name, he struggles to remember, the mask weighing heavily against him again. Richard.]

It's okay. I'm Rich.

[huntergames]

Rich... like short for Richard?

[ She reaches over for a slice, grabbing with both hands a little greedily and taking a massive bite without waiting for a response. She looks amused about something, giggling with a mouth full of food. Where are your manners, girly? ]

[perturbator]

[He doesn't bat an eyelid when Sasha takes her slice. Table manners are for people who can afford tables.]

Yeah. [His brow furrows when she laughs, then he just snorts.] Like Dick, yeah.

[His assumptions lean towards lowbrow. Either way, he starts his own piece, guaranteeing they'll both be talking around the food in their mouths.]

1/2

[huntergames]

[ She snorts, trying to mask her giggling to no avail. ]

Heh... Dick. That's so...

2/2

[huntergames]

[ She swallows her food, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand rather than using the napkin right in front of them. She takes another bite without a moment's hesitation. ]

I don't really get it. How does Richard become "Dick"? Rich makes more sense.

[perturbator]

[He fights with a particularly springy string of cheese, so it's not as if he has any sort of high ground. If he even sees the napkins, he hasn't touched them yet.]

Dunno. Same way they get Jack out of John, I guess.

[He pauses. Sasha. That's a nicer name, for sure.]

How long have you been here?

[huntergames]

Mmm...

[ As she pulls the pizza away, she winds up with a long string of cheese herself. She wraps it around her finger, not allowing a drop of it to go to waste. ]

Since last May, so over a year. I lost around nearly a month once so I don't know if that counts or doesn't.

[perturbator]

[Lost a month? That brings him back to his coma, the source of the visions that had been far too prescient. Even now his head throbs from time to time. With a mission, he hadn't noticed as much as he does now.]

You get hurt or something?

[huntergames]

[ She sets down her pizza a little so she can look at him properly. ]

This is going to sound weird, but it happens a lot here. Sometimes the Porter -- glitches is the word, I think -- and it sends you back home for a little bit before bringing you back here. I went home for a couple of weeks and when I came back most of July had passed.

[perturbator]

[As if his perception of reality needed to become more warped. He narrows his eyes at this new information. People could take vacations from this place? Switching dimensions sounded pretty final when he arrived. Maybe that had been wishful thinking.]

Glitches or fucks with us?

[A glitch happened on his secondhand NES cartridges. This was more than a few steps above that.]

[huntergames]

[ The thing is, Sasha hasn't decided after all this time if she's bought the whole "sentient machine" explanation. She screws up her face at first, pensive. ]

I don't think the Porter does it purposely. Wouldn't it try to keep us here if that were it?

[ Because this world "needs" heroes or so the soldiers on the base have said. Why send imPorts back to their world when it risks them never returning to this one? ]

[perturbator]

[No one seemed to know much about this thing, but honestly, should he really be looking a gift horse in the mouth? Of course, whether this is a gift at all remains to be seen.]

If it's so powerful, why doesn't it fix its own problems?

[And leave him the fuck out of it.]

[huntergames]

[ She can only shake her head. ]

I dunno... maybe it's not that powerful?

[perturbator]

Hm.

[Dimensional travel isn't a thing where he's from, so he can't really agree.]

Just dunno why the commies are a problem if we have something like that.

[He continues to eat his pizza, though now staring blankly out the window. Conversation has never been his strong suit.]

[huntergames]

I don't understand why they're a problem at all.

[ She'll admit that much, even if she can recall coming face-to-face with one of the spies who sabotaged that shuttle from last summer and how he had drawn a gun on her with zero hesitation. He was more than willing to blow her brains out -- kind of a scary thought. ]

[perturbator]

They want us all dead just because of what our country stands for. Even if you aren't in the army, they're taught to resent anyone from the West, because we stand united and they can barely keep the countries they've taken over together with masking tape.

[A bitter fervor enters his voice, that he quickly swallows down with the soda he ordered.]

All that, and they can barely keep their own people alive.

[huntergames]

[ Nobody has ever put it like that before. This is clearly brand new information to Sasha, who chews on the crust of her pizza quietly before setting it down on her plate and wiping her mouth with her knuckles. ]

Is that what this is all about?

[ She leaves a mental note for herself to pay better attention in her history class in school if she wants to understand why this Cold War has been going on for years and years. ]

I didn't know they were taking over other people's lands.

[perturbator]

[He just nods and takes another slice of pizza, which he found preferable over political discourse.]

There's a Hawaii here, right? ...That's where I fought them.

[huntergames]

[ She nods again, picking up her pizza and devouring as much of the crust in one go as she can. ]

They came onto American soil?

[ Though she doesn't sound too surprised considering the spies who have been here before. ]

[perturbator]

Yeah. Still don't know why.

[Hawaii wasn't exactly a strategic lynchpin. Either way, the thought of the islands still fill his nose with smoke and blood.]

[huntergames]

They've been here before.

[ In spite of Rich being from a different world, it's possible some events that occurred might happen here. That's worrisome. ]

They sabotaged a shuttle last year.

[perturbator]

[If he looked tense before, he's practically rigid in his seat now. He sets down his drink and wrings his hands.]

Fuckers-- [He mumbles, more to himself. What sort of wing clipping did the reds have in mind for America in this world? And could he take the same measures to stop it?]

What for?