1. Video

[psychicpsycho]

[He's sitting at his desk in his currently rather barren bedroom, wearing a fleece blanket around his shoulders like a cape.]

Did I do this right? Okay. Yeah.

Okay.

Hi. [A small, brisk wave at the camera.] I'm Austin and I wanna ask this for anyone who knows the answer. Swearing in. What's the catch?

So, like, I know we do assignments and we do work, I'm gonna train be some kind of shrink which is fucking hilarious-- but anyway, it completely does not add up. I have a radioactive tattoo on my wrist and you're telling me nobody's keeping any kind of tabs on me? I get free housing, free healthcare, a guaranteed job that I'm guaranteed to be shit at, and all they want is some elementary school pledge of allegiance and a few man-hours? No. Nuh-uh. I want the dirt.

[A pause as he picks up his e-cigarette and takes a drag.]

Tell me how you've been mistreated. Tell me if there've been experiments. Tell me what they're really after. Meet me in person if you're uncomfortable telling me over the network. I need to know.

[Another brief pause.]

Okay. That's it.

[He turns off the camera.]

((OOC: Hi! New kid on the block! This is Austin, this is his character info, and this is his permissions post.))

Comments

video;

[youbastard]

[If there's one really distinct thing about Ellie it's probably the fact that she has two different colored eyes: one blue and one green. When she speaks she has a vaguely British sounding accent.]

They're definitely keeping tabs on us. I think that much has been made clear. There isn't too much in the way of dirt to give. At least not that I know of. I've never been directly mistreated by the government.

[psychicpsycho]

Huh. Do you know how the tattoos work? That's what's really fucking with me at the moment. The idea that they're obviously able to broadcast some kind of signal to them but they claim they can't know where we are.

[He scowls.] I have half a mind to tear my skin off if I knew it'd help.

[youbastard]

It wouldn't help. I'm pretty sure there have been some people that have tried. [She sighs just a tiny bit.]

I don't really know the details of how they work. I wish I did.

[psychicpsycho]

There's gotta be a way. [Examining his wrist with a thoughtful frown.] I'll look into it. Or would that make me unsettled?

Wonder if you can bargain with them about the terms of your swearing in. Like, say you won't do it unless they do X things for you. Has anyone had any luck with that?

audio

[boobwindow]

[ ID reads Karen Starr. ]

For one, you can't leave the country.

[psychicpsycho]

Did they give a reason why that is? They afraid we'll change allegiance?

[boobwindow]

Possibly. It's a concern about "national security", though they did let some people travel out of the US recently.

They haven't treated those of Russian descent properly recently either. Backgrounds checks and the like.

[ video ]

[hostage]

[He's too pissed off to even be careful about what he says anymore, so here it goes:]

They're racist against Russians, so don't be Russian. They know where you are all the time and you can't leave the country - but somebody already covered that. Swearing in don't make much of a difference either way, it's just you get to keep your free room if you register and show up to your job. The only reason you don't wanna go to any party the government's throwing is 'cause somebody out there's literally trying to kill us every time - but it probably ain't the government itself... Probably.

[psychicpsycho]

So basically they're assholes but right now they're not a threat so it's better to just take the free stuff, right? Do you know the reason people are targeting us? Is it just more Cold War shit, or villains, or what?

God. It's bizarre. That shit ended 20 years ago where I come from.

((OOC: sl;sdgfsgi Jesseee! My favorite BB character!))

♥

[hostage]

Right, yeah. You can probably guess why they're coming after us, yo. We're walking WMDs, like to the max. And some of us are batshit crazy. Probably they're thinking they oughta come after us before we come after them.

audio

[attractedtodarkness]

They might be keeping tabs on us but don't expect to be protected when shit hits the fan. There was a mass kidnapping recently and the government didn't do anything. [not in her point of view] Half the government events are guaranteed to go wrong due to mysterious parties.

[psychicpsycho]

A mass kidnapping. [Violet can probably hear the quote marks in his voice.] Were the people found?

Wouldn't be surprised if it's some kind of culling thing. They wanna make it seem like we're all free, so they don't show us the ones they make disappear. Might seem like a conspiracy here, but just wait. My world was chock full of that shit. No reason this one wouldn't be.

Is there a pattern with the people getting taken down? Too weak? Too strong? Valuable for being experimented on?

[attractedtodarkness]

Yeah. We were rescued. [she sounds sullen]

It was a mix of imPorts and regular kids. Everyone who attended this summer camp were taken.

permavid

[demonspawn]

No experiments. Yet.

[psychicpsycho]

You mean no known experiments. Or do you have inside information?

[demonspawn]

Okay, putting aside the fact that I actually read minds, I'm pretty sure that if someone was experimented on, we would've heard about it. This isn't exactly a huge community.

( video )

[abadidea]

No, uh, experiments, but...did they say they're not keeping tabs on you? [Because if so, they lied, man. They lied a lot.]

[psychicpsycho]

They said they can't monitor my location. I say as long as they have something transmitting a signal to my wrist, I'll assume they can. And are.

[abadidea]

They can monitor your location from your cell phone, ether or not they can by your wrist.

[A beat. He can manners. Really.] Oh, uh. I'm Isaac Clarke, by the way.

[video]

[freetobe]

[ Have a man in a trench coat standing on a rooftop. His name is Castiel, and he's wearing a thoughtful frown. This is his default expression, and not indicative of anger per se. ]

They don't like us crossing borders without previously obtained explicit permission.

[psychicpsycho]

Oh yeah, I've heard about that. Something about associating with foreign governments and changing allegiances, right? They afraid we'll be offered something they can't give us?

[freetobe]

I believe they're more concerned with humanity's predisposition for starting wars at the slightest perceived provocation.

[ Over beautiful women, differences in language, culture and skin color, on one occasion a misplaced royal scepter... ]

video

[foreshadower]

They sent me a sternly written letter, when I left the country.

It was quite rude.

[psychicpsycho]

What did they say was the reason for not wanting you to leave? Did they do anything else besides the letter?

[foreshadower]

[ He dramatically cleared his throat, and from the side, waved his hand, before he pulled a letter from the side.

From the back, it looks like it's written in cursive. He transcribed the message they sent him. (He has a lot of free time) ]

Due to the threat of hostile intervention, imPorts are required to inform the government before leaving the country. It is not safe or recommended to travel abroad without government knowledge. Please note that your status will designate AWOL if travel without governmental knowledge becomes habitual. As this is the first instance, you will not be reprimanded for your actions. However, this is your first and only warning regarding the matter.

Honestly, they even used my name, it was quite rude.