ataraxion | [005: Video]

[No Octopus suit for you this time, Tranquility. Instead, LB is in her typical silver plug suit looking down at the communicator, set on her bed. Hell yes, she was bored, but at this point, she was smart enough to not explore very far without supervision -- and supervision would make it all pointless anyway.

But hey, it's been a while since she's said anything on the network anyway -- odd, considering she felt more at ease on the network than dealing directly with people -- might as well have a little fun with it.]

Heheheh... so I've been here probably about a year? [Because with everyone apparently missing a jump, who knows how much time had really passed.] But I still never really get used to how peaceful this place is, compared to where I came from.

[Yes, really.]

That got me thinking, though. In my world, nearly every soldier was named after an animal their superiors felt represented them. Like -- eheheh -- someone who was swift and efficient might be called "Eagle" or someone who eats a lot would be called "Pig". Or if you were a really useful, sometimes they'd add something you're famous for before your title. Like, uh, Sniper Wolf and Vulcan Raven were legendary soldiers, were I was from. And me? I somehow got two with Laughing Octopus and Laughing Beauty.

[Her shoulders raise up in a shrug.] Don't ask me why they thought the second name was necessary -- eeheehee -- I'm not really sure myself.

But, anyway! If you had to choose your own name, what do you think they'd choose for you?

[LB sometimes liked to think of names for other people she knew, but she might as well open the floor to everyone else; get to know more people in the process.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Lil's already got the hawk thing covered, though. An' eagles seem better for the lone wandering type, but maybe that's just those old stories.

[Oh LB don't make him roll his eyes at you. You can practically hear it through the voice post.]

Sniping, of course.

Really? [She actually hasn't heard that one yet; something to ask her about later.]

So then, you'd be Sniper Eagle -- eheheh -- but then you'd have to compete with the legend of Sniper Wolf. Big shoes to follow, you know.

[smugly:] Yeah, damn right he does.

Woman, actually. Heeheehee -- legend says that she could stay in one spot for weeks, without food and water, just waiting for her target.

Haha -- still think you could take her?

You bet I could. Hell, why stand in one place like that for so long? Waste of time, if it takes that long just to collect on one bounty.

Well, stories said that she was straight up obsessed with all of her targets -- haha -- to the point of being infatuated with every man she had to kill.

Of course, I don't know how much of that was added in for dramatic purposes.

[Even if it was all true. This is MGS; everything in reality was over-dramatic.]

Prob'ly a lot of it, if she was any good. Sounds like a waste of effort. Knowin' your target's useful, obviously, but that's takin' it a little too far if you actually wanna be effective. I mean, it just kinda seems reasonable to have a good amount of emotional distance from the whole thing.

She was before my time, so I can't really say for sure. Heeheehee -- but she must have been really skilled, if she was one of the members my unit was partially named after.

[Even if all of the animals associated with the B&B Corps were horribly appropriate for all of them, the irony that there were a previous FOXHOUND group that had the names of all of their animal names didn't escape LB.]

In the end, though, she ran into an unfortunate match for her. I guess a real match up for you would be the one they call "Snake", heheh!

Yeah? What's he like? Or she?

Snake? [She pauses, wondering how much she should say about her encounter with him.]

It's not like I knew him personally, or anything, but he's beat quite a few legendary soldiers on his own and has a way of messing up different plans of both government and terrorist organizations. He really has a fondness for boxes, though, I know that much at least.

[Hell, a box disguise was one of the many tricks up her sleeve.]

So my group -- the Beauty and the Beast Corps -- were formed mostly for the sole purpose of taking him down. Can't tell you how that went, though.

[Mostly because she was pretty sure she had failed in her mission, being brought from the middle of her fight with him.]

[A fondness for... no, he's just going to let that one slide.]

Got taken here before you found out, huh? Damn. Well, I can't do much more for you than wish you luck when you get back there, but good luck anyway.

Heheh... thanks. That's if I get back there.

Though I don't think I wouldn't mind if I wasn't brought back there.

Nah, you're right. No guarantees of that. Still, I'd like to hope, I guess. For me, anyway. For you... Well, hell, you'd prob'ly do pretty damn well in my world, by the sound of it. Long as you don't turn into competition.

I guess from my own experiences I would be -- heheheh -- but I guess I wouldn't really know what to do with myself where you're from.

Same thing all the rest of us do, I guess. Take bounties, deal in weapons, track down vaults an' cross your fingers that the next one's got somethin' valuable in it. An' if the law decides it's time to crack down on you, you just move on to a different planet. It's not a bad life.

I mean, all of that would be easy enough for me to do -- heeheehee -- but you guys don't really have much of an ultimate goal in mind, right? I just don't know how long I could do that without knowing what I really want.

[Because even if her work was pretty morally wrong, she was at least working toward an impossible promise.]

But I guess it would still be better than where I came from, for the most part.

Hey, I got a goal. Just so happens that it's best satisfied by doin' what I do. Make more money, get better guns, maybe someday find a place to stay put for more than a couple years. No hurry there, though. Anyway, it's all speculation at this point. Who knows how we're ever gonna get control of that jump drive.

I'm not judging you, or anything, for the record. Heheheh -- but you're right; we're probably going to be here for a while.

Not that I really mind.

Makes you one a' the lucky few, amiga.