ataraxion | [001] Video

[The feed flickers to life, leaving a fairly weathered face ~~yes he has a face~~ staring into it, appearing rather unimpressed. It's the first time he's used the network for his own transmission, though he's viewed enough at this point to get the general idea - this is how people around here communicate for near any purpose. Now that he's getting at least a little more used to things, he figured he might as well give it a shot.

Plus, it leaves him with at least a chance of seeing if what he'd heard from a certain source is right, if there really are people here that he already knows - people from his "universe."]

Guess I've been here for about two weeks now, so I might as well make myself known, or something. [Considering he's been keeping to himself since he arrived, and since his encounter with Epsilon. He's not exactly the outgoing type, but he figures he at least might learn more about the place if he talks to some of the people who've been here for god only knows how long.]

I'm Agent-- [A pause, in which he purses his lips and releases a breath.] ...I'm Washington. If it really matters to anyone. As I said, I've been here about two weeks, so I guess that makes me one of the new guys. I've been looking around on my own since I got here, and at this point I'm fairly certain I've at least got the basics on the place. Even if the whole thing still seems entirely impossible. I've done space, but I've never been kidnapped to another universe and trapped on a spaceship with no memory of actually arriving. [He deadpans, then shakes his head and wonders again why he's doing this. As much as he doesn't want to admit it, even to himself, he...might be a little starved for some conversation. Though he's already certain he's going to regret this decision.]

Anyway. I'm here, that's about all I wanted to say.

[He scoffs at himself, realizing this was even more pointless than he'd originally expected it to be, and swiftly cuts the feed.]

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Oh. Yeah, I'd only heard about that incident from North and South. [But he supposes York knows he'd been unconscious during the whole thing, otherwise he wouldn't be explaining...] Makes more sense now, knowing it was Maine. Not really a surprise that they hid that from us, too.

[There's a bitter tone in his voice now, and Wash shakes his head, just sort of letting that bit of new information settle. It's not really a surprise, but it is kind of a piss-off that he's only learning it all now.

The next question though, it causes him to pause for a moment, to lift his gaze back to York and just sort of stare at him quietly.]

He didn't die, if that's what you're wondering. I didn't kill him, I just...drew him inside the facility and set off the failsafe. ...The EMP. Shut all of his equipment down, rendered all of his armor enhancements useless, but also subsequently... [He pauses tentatively, honestly feeling a little bad, having to tell York what happened to Delta in the end.] ...It erased all the AIs he'd collected. It was the only way to stop him.

[He looks a little resigned here, and releases a slow breath.]

...Sorry. I tried to keep Delta safe, but I guess I made one too many mistakes with him.

[ He took the news in quietly, but a shadow passed over his face when he was told what Delta's fate had been. He took a breath and sighed it out, reaching to grip Wash's shoulder. It's a gesture of solidarity; they'd both ended up losing a lot, it seemed. ]

I know you must have done everything that you could.

[He gets a faint sinking feeling in his stomach, seeing that look cross York's face, knowing it would be hard on the guy to hear what happened to Delta. He'd never managed to understand himself what the bond between the freelancer and AI was like, but he did know that they'd cared for each other. ...Or, they still do, given they're both here now, but whatever the case, he figures it's still probably a hard thing to hear.

A sideways glance is cast to the hand on his shoulder, and when he looks back to meet York's gaze, Wash purses his lips. He must have done everything he could? Well, no. Not exactly. He could have implanted Delta himself instead of giving him to Caboose to look after. If he had, the AI may have remained safe. But he hadn't. ...He couldn't.

Except, he's not really sure he wants to tell York that.]

...Yeah. Or, I tried.

[ He releases Wash, steps away a bit, and sits down on the edge of the bed with him. ] Look, you can't blame yourself for anything. Not if you did what you could with the information you had at the time. And I don't blame you either, just so you know. Everyone's time comes to an end somehow or another.

Yeah. I guess.

[He doesn't sound entirely convinced, but he's not really looking to play the "poor me" card here. Just getting off the topic of everything that happened after the Project sounds good right about now.]

So, what about this place? What's happened here? I've already heard a few ridiculous things, mentions of pirates, and I wouldn't mind being filled in a bit more.

Damn, man, where to start. Yeah, there were pirates. They evidently knew about this ship and said something about how it was lost thirty years ago. That's the first piece of information anyone here had gotten about this thing.

The rest of it? [ He seems to hold back a moment. ] Okay, it sounds crazy, but I'm not the only one it happened to. The hallways here? They shift. Change. I think there's a rampant AI in charge of the systems and it can move the walls. I got lost for a long time before I finally made my way back. So did a lot of people.

[He just listens in silence as York speaks, and though he's heard about the pirates, the thing about the ship being lost thirty years ago is news. ...The thing about the hallways throws him a little too, but the mention of thought toward the cause being a rampant AI? That grabs his attention over anything else.]

An AI. You think there's a rampant AI running the place? [He doesn't sound skeptical; if anything, he's concerned, but hiding it.] You have any proof, or is it really just speculation?

[And after everything else that's happened here - namely, being here - he mostly believes the fact that the hallways can change, so don't worry about that. He doesn't think you're crazy.]

[ He sort of half-snickers, half-scoffs at that remark. ]

Not like we have anything better to do around here than sit around and speculate. Yeah, no one really knows anything except the fact red smiley faces show up on the walls every time something goes down. Oh, and there are a couple people who claim to have met it, whatever it is. But I think they're blowing smoke up everybody's asses.

Hm.

[There's a nod, just to show acknowledgement, but he's far from please to hear any of this. Not that this is a varied reaction from any that he's had toward everything that apparently goes on here.]

All the more reason to love this place, huh. [Tone dry, Wash just scoffs and shakes his head.] Great.

Yeah. Best piece of advice I can give you is don't go wandering off into the deeper parts of the ship by yourself. There are...uh, yeah. Weird stuff out there. Dangerous stuff.

[Okay, that gets his attention. Brow furrowing, Wash looks over at York almost questioningly.]

Dangerous? [He wants to ask more. And he almost does, but...] ...I probably shouldn't even be surprised at this point, right? Tch. Alright, thanks. Noted. Don't go too far without supervision.

[He huffs a little and shakes his head.]

Are there any good things about this place? [At least, other than the fact that one of his friends is alive again.]

Sure, I mean, there's always a bright side, right? People are pretty nice here, most of 'em. There's community dinners and a fight club and other chances to socialize. Lots of work to do around here, too. I work in the shuttle bay.

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