maskormenace

[The boy who appears on camera could be no more than sixteen, if one were to judge by physical appearance alone. At best, the sober expression and conservative haircut might cautiously elevate him to as old as twenty. It’s the eyes that reveal the lie in that assumption. The eyes and perhaps a quality to his presence, something still and weary and aged that he makes no effort to conceal.]

My name is Godric, and I am newly arrived here.

I do not doubt that many of you have heard every possible question that could be asked in regard to our arrival, so I will be brief.

[A faintly wry expression crosses his face as he says it, as if in apology. But it passes as he pauses for a few heartbeats, unhurried, taking the time to consider his words.]

I am not altogether comfortable being proclaimed a hero, nor am I necessarily comfortable with the hand the military has taken in all this. For those of you who chose to register, if you had doubts, what swayed your opinion? For those of you who chose to abstain, or indeed took any other path, what convinced you it was for the best?

[His eyes wander back to the camera then, his gaze steady, focused wholly at whoever he may be addressing on the other end.]

They say the Porter is sentient, but I wonder over the nature of its intelligence. Do you believe our presence here is as deliberate as they imagine? If so, is it punishment or providence? Or is all this merely chance?

[Another pause and he shifts, eyes going distant and unfocused, considering whether to ask more. Deciding against it, he smiles politely. There’s no real happiness in it.]

Thank you for your time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ The grey woman has a distinctly nonhuman quality to her, but the large fangs poking out from between her lips may stand out. Not as close together or as retractable, but definitely vampire fangs. ]

When I first arrived, it was from a great upheaval. I'd just lost everything I'd worked so hard to achieve, and didn't have the energy to start again just yet. The support the government offered at that time was vital to my recovery, so I accepted it. It's been over three years since, and I've seen no real reason to break away from them in that time.

The thing no one really mentions about registration is it doesn't make as much difference as we want to think it does. It isn't really enlisting in the army, any more than declining to register opts one out of military involvement. The military very rarely asks for our intervention, and the times they have were volunteer missions that didn't take our registration status into account at all.

The only thing registration actually does is guarantee you housing, employment, and healthcare, and it makes the government worry about you less. Possibly far less than they ought to, really.

[There is very little that's new in Godric's world. Even through the haze of depression, between the impossible situation and the incredible variety of people among the imPorts, he's feeling a little spoiled. His expression betrays his fascination with her appearance, but he doesn't ask invasive questions right off the bat.]

That they seem to demand so little of us in exchange for so much is part of what concerns me. Multiple people have assured me that military missions are purely voluntary, that we gain legitimacy whether or not or choose to participate. I can assume some of the government's reasons for allowing this, but I also wonder how long such generosity can last.

Have you been here long?

[ She's met any number of different varieties of vampires among humans, and if there's one thing they all have in common, it's that you're never going to know them until they admit it. She doesn't have an inkling of the kind of man he really is, at least not yet. ]

From the very beginning, at least as far as this world is concerned. But the military missions not only tend to be voluntary, they're also incredibly rare. There have been only two instances where imPorts were involved in a military offensive alongside the Americans, and only one was initiated by them.

Frankly, I would imagine that registration would only come to mean less if their generosity were to expire. Were they to force conscription, I don't they would stop with the registered.

It all makes a little more sense, I think, once you realize that they're just as stuck with us as we are stuck with them.

[Oh perfect, she's been here forever. Settle in for some serious questions about the Porter.]

Yes, I had considered that. From what I can tell, many of their decisions regarding us seem to be motivated by public relations considerations rather than military ones.

I'm also told there are certain... unusual incidences that happen here, perhaps as a result of our presence?

[ Kanaya tends to field these sort of questions a lot, because of the people who've been around five years or longer, she's the only one who really talks about it. If only Ms. Exposition was a paying job. ]

Well, you have the incidents that are started by imPorts, and you have events that are a response to imPorts. It's not common that events aren't one of the two, but I suppose they happen.

They'd just be likely to happen much differently if we weren't a factor.

Would they happen at all if we weren't a factor? The incidents described to me seem highly abnormal. The recent apparitions, for example. Were they not caused by our presence here?

[It was totally the Porter, right?]

[ The Porter is such a safe bet that it tends to become a scapegoat for stuff like this. Who even knows? ]

Probably. To be fair, I tend to assume anything that happens is our fault until someone else takes responsibility for it. Who's to say what this world would look like if imPorts never had an influence on it?

I understand the Cold War is usually long ended on most other Earths. Maybe even that is connected to us. Well, not us specifically, but the ones that came in the 80s. None of their survivors are here any longer, we can't really ask for their take on history.

A point of convergence. That could be. As you say, the Cold War is long over in my Earth as well. And so it all comes back to the Porter, which I can confidently say is technology we didn't have.

Assuming it even qualifies as technology. I'm never sure quite what makes the Porter work, whether its solely its mechanisms or primarily the goddess who abides in it.

Goddess? You've spoken to her?

[Excuse him, he's super eager about this.]

[ Oh buddy, there are so many goddesses that have been through here. No vampire progenitors though. Not yet. ]

It's been a very long time since she's spoken to anyone, honestly. There has been some doubt that the one I knew is no longer the resident controlling the Porter, but until there's something to confirm who is, I can't rule out that she's just being silent due to numerous factors changing for her, when we first came to this world.

Edited 2017-04-28 04:45 (UTC)

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