( 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

[centurybaby]

[ she does have a light-- in a manner of speaking. jenny snaps her fingers, bringing a blue spark to life that comes to rest as a tiny flame at the tip of her thumb. she offers it to him. ]

Bad habit. [ she says on an exhale of grey wisps. ] You'll probably die of cancer.

[mmnpcs]

Eh. [Whipping out a slim cigarette, he leaned in to suck in the heat.] Something's gotta give, might as well be partially on my terms.

What do you think about all this?

[centurybaby]

That depends. Who the fuck do you report to?

[mmnpcs]

The people. I'm Peter Narga, charity worker by trade. Or nonprofit trade, if you like oxymorons. Someone's bound to think it's funny, right?

[centurybaby]

Ha ha. In that case, I don't trust anybody. But I don't have my giant fucking spaceship anymore, and I haven't tried my powers out for real in a while.

If nobody's trying to force me to choose right the fuck now, then I'm not gonna.

[mmnpcs]

Good choice. But these people don't work like that, they won't let you remain neutral for long. [A beat.] Sorry about your spaceship.

[centurybaby]

She was a nice fucking spaceship.

[ she pauses for another drag off her cigarette. ]

Either way, I don't like being told what the fuck to do. So I'm trying to decide if playing nice is the lesser evil.

[mmnpcs]

There are more options than they're pitching. They downplay it, they give it foul connotations -- but if you pick "unsettled hero"? It's declaring that you're going to play by your own rules, and you don't want to be someone's lapdog.

[centurybaby]

I don't really identify with the term "hero." Period.

[mmnpcs]

What about just "unsettled" then? Because people who disagree with Holiday usually get that attached to their file in some form.

[centurybaby]

Cute.

But maybe I just don't feel like playing ball.

[mmnpcs]

You could always opt out.

[centurybaby]

Does that involve declaring myself an "enemy of the state?"

[mmnpcs]

It involves going into hiding, and whether or not they can hunt you depends on your skills in resistance. And, I'd say, the quality of your imPort friends.

[centurybaby]

I recently spent a lot of fucking time on the run. It wasn't exactly a party.

[mmnpcs]

But at least you weren't used like a power generator.

Unless you were, while on the run, then please accept my sorrys.

[centurybaby]

No.

[ pause ]

Is that something that actually fucking happens?

[mmnpcs]

Those vigilantes underground seem to think so.

[centurybaby]

Fuck that.

[mmnpcs]

Agreed. More the reason to stick it to 'em.