ataraxion | [003: Video]

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[003: Video]

[When the video feed starts up, Laughing Beauty looks to the camera nervously, still unsure if making this kind of request was the best to do publicly. But what choice did she have? LB knew she couldn't do this herself.]

Hey, uh -- heheheh -- hi.

[Yes, this was already getting off to a smooth start. LB gives the camera an awkward smile, before continuing.]

There's a lot of people here who can fix things... right? So, if anyone had any spare time, I was wondering if they wanted to try to fix-- [She swivels her communicator around, in a blur, until it focuses on a broken down, unoccupied Octopus Suit. With it occasionally sparking and one of it's tentacles broken apart, it's certainly seen better days, to say the least.]

I, uh... [The camera focuses on her face, deep in thought as she tries to think of a convincing lie as to how her suit got broken in the first place. After a while, however, she glances away from the camera.] Ah, fuck it, I broke it in a fight. But it's okay! Heehee! I... don't think I'll have to worry about that person anymore.

[Which is her roundabout way of saying that she hadn't seen Zer0, since after the fight, and she was pretty sure she killed him (even if that wasn't actually the case). It was a little sad, because he seemed like someone she could be friends with, but it seemed that wasn't the case. Regardless, she's not admitting to anything.

As she scratches her head and generally looks uncomfortable, it might be easy to tell that she's possibly hiding something.]

A-anyway, I'm not sure what I can offer anyone in return, but I guess we can discuss that later.

[After that, she had intended to turn her communicator off, but there was another burning question on her mind, lately. For this inquiry, she hesitates even longer, before finally spitting it out.]

Also... does anyone know if the masks give you any power or benefits? Hahaha? For a while, I had a bad feeling about them, but lately? I've been wondering if maybe I've been thinking of things in the wrong way.

[LB positions her deceptively cute mask next to her face, mimicking the expression with a smile.]

Besides, I'm no stranger to wearing things that are unsettling.

But - ah - that's all, I guess. Eeheeheeheehee... thanks in advance.

[[I've got it planned out for Peter Parker to fix the suit, but people are still welcome to inquire about it!]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's a hell of a suit. Where'd you come across a thing like that?

It is, isn't it? [She smiles briefly, cocking her head to the side.] It was given to me by the R&D department of Outer Heaven -- hahaha -- that is, the company I worked for, back in the world I originated from.

It's one of a kind, but I had a couple of other unitmates that had similar suits.

What's it do? Any special stats or anything?

Stats? I don't know about that, but it can camouflage into the environment, has some shapeshifting abilities -- eeheehee -- and on top of that, it has some nice weaponry like homing bombs and tentacles that can pierce through people's stomachs, heeheehee!

[Yes, she looks entirely too proud of that fact. But after a couple of moments, her face sobers as she remembers that not everyone is gung-ho about killing people here.]

But - uh - only if it's necessary, of course.

[He chuckles, completely understanding.] Oh, of course. Sounds like some real nice equipment. Shame it got broken. Didn't think fights like that broke out around here all that often, though.

Yeah, it is a shame, eheheh. [Because she was far more confident in defending herself that way, but she wasn't about to say so.]

And as far as I know, fights usually don't break out here too often, but -- heheheh -- that guy attacked me first, so I wasn't left with much choice.

Attacked you? What was his problem? [Or, you know, what did she do to provoke someone to attack her, but he tried to be more tactful when asking strangers with specialized killing equipment those sorts of questions. Usually saved him some ammo.]

I don't know! Eheh! [LB gives an exaggerated shrug, positioning both hands out to her sides. She was still beyond confused at the incident.] I was just crawling around the ceilings of this place and he just shot me, out of the blue!

[Granted, she probably looked a little creepier and imposing than she intended to. Either way, she heaves a heavy sigh, before continuing.]

The funny thing is that the first time we met, we seemed to get along just fine. Eehee -- I thought maybe we could be friends. Ha. I even tried to figure out how to do haikus as eloquently as he did.

... Haikus, huh? [Yeah okay that explains a lot. It's been a little while since he ran into Zer0 here, but the guy keeps to himself anyway. Kid's an idiot though sometimes and really should've known better.]

Y'know, you probably shouldn't crawl on ceilings, that tends to make a few of us trigger-happy types think you're somethin' that shouldn't be here.

The guy that attacked you, he didn't happen to have some ninja thing going on, did he? Blue sword, black mask an' all that?

[Flustered at his suggestion, she nervously scratches near her collar, as she responds.] I was just looking for people I knew, while that blackout was going on. Heehee -- well, that and killing time.

[Her scratching comes to a sudden halt, though, as Mordecai perfectly describes the man she found herself in a fight with. Oh boy, if he was an ally of his, things could get messy for her.]

Y-yeah, that's the guy. Hahaha... so you - ah - knew Zer0, I take it?

Yeah. Weird kid, but helpful. Never quite figured what his deal is. I talked to him right when I got here just after the jump, but I haven't seen 'im since. Guess he's lurking around somewhere.

[He frowns.] Wait, a blackout? On the ship? What caused that? [Because the ship is basically a big floating life support container compared to what's out there, and he dislikes spaceflight enough as it is.]

Yeah, there was some power outage, sometime during the cycle of the last jump -- heeheehee -- I'm not sure exactly what happened, but there was some audio transmission of screams, during it, and then about the time the power came back on, there were masks in front of the door.

[Her brows then furrow as she thinks back on the first thing he said.]

But wait, you said you saw him during this jump? [Her expression relaxes a little, realizing that she couldn't have killed him, if that was the case.] Ha! I guess he survived after all.

What, you thought you killed him? [He laughs a little.] Not doubting you or anything, but he's tougher than that.

[Her face flushes a little, now a little embarrassed she jumped to such conclusions so hastily.]

Well... yeah. Haha -- I hadn't seen him since then, so I could only assume. Obviously, we were sort of an equal match, so I didn't stick around long enough to see what his fate was.

Aren't too many people that're an equal match to us vault hunters. What's your name?

They called me Laughing Beauty, where I came from. But most people here call me LB -- hahaha -- doesn't matter to me which name you choose.

How about you? And ah what are "vault hunters"?

LB it is, good to meetcha.

Name's Mordecai. As for bein' a vault hunter, well. I guess I shouldn't say we're all that good, 'cause there's always new kids comin' in to try and make a name for themselves, and dyin' left and right. But me and Lilith and Zer0 and a few others actually know what we're doing. These aliens, the Eridians, lived a long time ago, and on a buncha planets they sealed up these huge monsters for some reason. We still don't know why these things are out there in the universe in the first place, but the prisons the Eridians made, we call Vaults. Lotta times, there's other good stuff hidden away in there as well. So we go around, tracking these things down, find ways into 'em, then kill whatever alien freak is lurking inside. For profit.

It's nice to meet you too, Mordecai.

[She flashes a brief smile, before staring at him quizzically as he explained his story to her. Wow, that was a lot to take in.]

It's kind of like the soldiers and PMCs, from my world. There really isn't any "good" or "bad" side anywhere.

But, heheh, you guys are more or less treasure hunters? It sounds exciting, at the very least.

Treasure hunters, bounty hunters, mercenaries for hire... It all comes with the job. [He grins.] That, plus we've spent a lotta time defending some of the towns on Pandora, which is the planet we all met on. So throw in a dash of celebrity on toppa everything else.

Damn... that sounds like a lot to do, all at once. Hahaha -- I was just more or less a mercenary of war for hire, specializing in guerrilla warfare. But because I was kind of the face of that particular PMC, I suppose I was a sort of celebrity too. [Had an entire magazine dedicated to her unit, even.] But from the sounds of it, your fame was probably a little more well deserved.

Eh, well. Some people'd disagree. But when you're in that kinda business, you'll always make a few enemies.

It's only natural in anything that requires any degree of fighting, I suppose. Heheheh -- so what kind of treasures did you guys manage to obtain anyway?

[She pauses, remembering a word she learned from a troll she spoke to earlier.] Was it "swag"?

Heh, well, not what I'd call it. Lotta guns, lotta cash, from less-fortunate explorers that get eaten by stuff we've killed. But in the case of the vaults themselves, it's been a little different from what we expected. First one gave us jack shit, or so we thought, but it turned out the aftereffects took a while to show up. Uh, an' explaining all that'd take ages, though I can do that if you're really that interested.

Second vault, though, that one gave us a map from the Eridians to other vaults around the universe. Ends up they went everywhere, locking things up. So now the question is how many can we get to before we get too old? [He laughs, shaking his head.] I'll prob'ly be doing this 'til it kills me, but at least it's more exciting than anything else I could be doing.

Well, guns are always nice, in our kind of work, I suppose. Eeheeheehee -- and I'd like to hear it someday, though I won't press you about it now. [a beat passes.] I always find that other worlds are more appealing, or at least more interesting than the one I came from anyway.

But, from my understanding, all of these "vaults" just had tools to defeating other enemies, yes? Hahaha? If so, why dedicate your entire life to it?

Well, the payoff is huge, since a lotta the guns we get I don't want, but they sell real well to gun dealers. An'... I dunno, I kinda like the thought that I'm making the universe better, I guess. Eridians locked away these monster things a long time ago. Maybe they couldn't get rid of 'em for good for some reason, but we can. Better than waiting for them to find a way out so they can kill everyone.

The challenge is the main thing, though. I'm sure you know about the thrill you get from killing a challenging opponent. The skill that's involved, an' all that. There's nothing like it. [He smiles, though he is seriously disappointed at the lack of opportunities for such a thing here, and it's audible in his voice. Going around killing shipmates for fun wouldn't exactly be taken well by most everyone.]

[003: Video]

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