[let loose before it tears you apart] - OTA!

[kestreldawn]

WHO: Jyn Erso + YOU!
WHERE: De Chima Laser Tag (idk if it doesn't exist, just make it up)
WHEN: June 3rd
WHAT: LAAAAAAAAASER TAAAAAAAAG pew pew pew.
WARNINGS: None that I can think of, but will update as needed.

[The morning of June 3rd, everyone receives an invitation. It looks something like this:



When the actual time rolls around, Jyn is standing just inside the facility, arranging the last-minute details with the owners/managers of the place. Having already talked it over with Revan before, they will each be commanding separate, opposing teams for the first round - and further, if voted to do so. But the purpose of the outing isn't to make teams or "us" vs. "them" situations. It's to blow off some steam, do something physically active and mentally stimulating but also enjoyable, and (if Jyn is to be honest, which she won't be about this), to keep her marksmanship skills on the up and up.

As you arrive, she approaches you and greets you with as warm a welcome that she can muster. This includes a twitch of a smile and some version of the words, "You made it."]

Comments

[darkpants_warmfeeling]

Jacob nods, and straightens his posture out of long-ingrained reflex. "Yeah. I was a Marine back home for two years. Here, I work with RISE- which is somewhere in between the military and law enforcement."

It's kind of a gray area, and one that Jacob and his colleagues often have to navigate. Their team is tasked with apprehending criminals, but is also expected to respond to larger-scale aggression as well.

[kestreldawn]

"I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with the term 'Marine' outside of an aquatic reference," Jyn replies with a slight furrow in her brow. She imagines it's some breed of soldier, perhaps ones that go on more water-based missions than others, but she doesn't really have enough of an understanding to figure it out for certain. "Paramilitary myself," she says in return. Easiest way to explain the insurgency she'd been raised with through no fault or choice of her own. "RISE. I've not heard of it, I don't think."

[darkpants_warmfeeling]

"A Marine used to be a soldier that travelled in ships and fought away from home," Jacob supplies with a helpful air. "In my world, the ships go through space instead of the sea... But the job description is still pretty much the same. Go far away, get shot at, and hope it's for a good reason."

The cynicism in Jacob's words isn't feigned, but it belies the deep sense of pride and professionalism he has in his identity as a soldier, and his service as a Marine. He's someone who is well acquainted with how ugly, useless and painful his chosen career can be, and is all the more dedicated for it.

"RISE is a government-funded team," he adds. "We're supposed to help take down rogue imPorts... But in practice, we respond to pretty much all the crap that pops up around here. It can be a tough job."

[kestreldawn]

"Really?" Jyn asks, a bit of surprise in her voice. "Likewise, about the ships. Not many people here seem to have that same understanding; most that I've spoken to outside of my galaxy only know of ships that go in or on the water, which .. we didn't have, I don't think," she explains.

She lets his information stew in her mind for a few moments, landing on particular aspects with more focus than others.

Government-funded. Rogue imPorts.

"How bad do things get here? Still haven't seen much in my short time to suggest it's as terrible as it was back home."

[darkpants_warmfeeling]

Jacob shrugs and spreads his hands. "I don't know how terrible your home is. But things can get pretty bad here. I've been around a while, and I've seen a lot. Gas attacks, invasions, brainwashing, bombings... I fought killer butterflies last month. And that's something the Marines definitely did not train me for."

He really hopes he doesn't have to do something like that again. Beside how painful the bites of the butterflies had been and how much of the fight had been scrambling improvisation, the fact that he had been fighting butterflies was just kind of embarrassing.

[kestreldawn]

"Depends on which part of the galaxy you were in, but overall .. it was pretty bad," Jyn replies with a slightly rueful smile. She nods a bit with each listed incident with growing concern. Apparently peace wasn't a thing attainable in any part of the universe - this galaxy or the next. But the mention of hiller butterflies has her raising both brows with a disbelieving sort of snort. "Killer butterflies? Butterflies are those - winged things, right? Colorful?"

[darkpants_warmfeeling]

"Sorry to hear that," Jacob says. "My galaxy isn't exactly at peace either." A good chunk of the Mass Effect galaxy is lawless space, overrun with pirates and mercenaries, which is just a sideshow compared to the massive invasion of genocidal machine-gods that Jacob and his allies are expecting.

When Jyn snorts, Jacob touches one of his shoulders. There's a bit there under his shirt, still healing. "Colourful, yeah. But these ones were bigger- and a lot meaner. Some kind of cloning experiment that went wrong at a Swear-In. I don't know the details."

[kestreldawn]

"Seems galaxies can't get it right no matter where they are, eh? You'd figure we would've learnt something at some point in time. Suppose we have to hope for the future."

Her eyes flicker over to the shoulder he touches, before slowly trailing their way back to his face.

"Do - those sorts of things, cloning experiments gone wrong, otherwise innocuous creatures going mental, happen often here?"

[darkpants_warmfeeling]

"Oh yeah." Jacob sighs, and rolls his eyes. "All the time. But usually it isn't an accident. The animals here are never going to be half as bad as some of the people."

Gangs, mobs, supervillains, Soviet schemes, terrorist groups, mercenary factions... Jacob has seen a lot of the worst people have to offer at this point. In his own world as well as his life as an imPort.

[kestreldawn]

"I find that's consistent the universe over; it seems that with self-awareness and a supposedly higher level of intelligence comes with stupidity that doesn't seem to taint other species that are always touted as "less" than humans," she says thoughtfully, mirroring the rolling of his eyes with a similar motion of her own.