text, un: nevercrywolf

[starmark]

i've been trying to figure out what people even use this "internet" thing for and it seems like most people just write whatever they want on it, right? that's what it seems like. i saw a bunch of questions and some ads and some introductions.

there's an observatory here apparently. they let you go there and look at the stars at night if you want to. i guess the stars would be different here than they would on earth or wherever else. they have different constellations too which i guess makes sense. different star patterns and different cultural basis for deciding what shapes they look like to begin with.

every place is different. they all do things differently. around here you're supposed to hold hands or hug or fuck and maybe here that's no different than taking your shoes off when you go in the house or saying itadakimasu before you eat. i guess you're supposed to just get used to that. living here means that's just what you're stuck with.

i ran out of cigarettes.

so is that what people do when they decide they need money? just go on here and write "hey i'm out of cash anybody want to moonlace"? like it's a fucking bathroom wall or something.

yeah, i know, or get a job. last i checked you can't get a job in the middle of the night on no notice.

cigarettes. candles. incense. maybe someone who knows how to do calligraphy or draw. guess that's a shopping list that'll have to wait until morning.


[OOC: Please assume that this was posted at some utterly stupid hour in the middle of the night!]

Comments

[starmark]

[And then after a minute or three.]

i can come to your work

that's fine

so long as they're not going to try to salon me or something

1/2

[torsion]

[ Hey, she can feel that. ]

No knives, then. :)

Alright.
They won't. It's a cafe, French-style, so it's sweets and drinks.
No manicures, I promise.
One sec.

2/2, video.

[torsion]

[ Shoulder-level, dark hair in a ponytail slung over her shoulder, and a friendly smile. Her age is nebulous unless you get in close and really notice the wrinkles under her eyes.]

Hey. [ She raises a hand and waves on screen. ] Now you can recognize me.

video.

[starmark]

[It's slow, and it takes time, but eventually a return video flickers into view, starting first with a shot of the night sky as viewed from below, and then gradually bringing Jotaro into frame as he seems to work out by trial and error where the camera is and how to navigate the boundaries of the field it views.

He looks tired and worn out; even with the help of the Prismals, there are still scars fading on his face, and dark circles under his eyes. Maybe that's for the best. He doesn't look seventeen when he's carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.]

Hi.

[torsion]

[ She shows faint surprise when he pops up on her screen, but her smile widens and gently hits her eyes. Earnest.

He seems to be in his twenties or so and feels familiar, though she can't figure out why. Had she seen a picture of him somewhere? She's meeting way too many people lately. ]

You didn't have to do that, you know. If you know what I look like, you can just approach me. But I appreciate it.

[starmark]

I know, that's what I've been doing.

[Truth be told, he doesn't even know why he did it, really. It just seemed like the thing to do. Forcing himself out of his paranoia and into something else, like he's got to prove to himself that it'll be all right if he does.]

And you said you're Jill. Valentine, right? The name you were using is "j. valentine".

[Good job, Columbo, you did it.]

[torsion]

[ Because he's a secret softie. Or maybe that. ]

Yeah. Worried some people might think I'm trying to be cute or somethin' with the holiday or whatever, but it's my last name, yeah. Anything else you want to know about me? Won't tell you my life story, but I never mind offering credentials. I'm used to it.

[ Sherlock Jolmes. ]

[starmark]

Yeah, I can see how that would get pretty annoying. Some girls came up with a stupid nickname from my last name, too, back home. I hate it when they follow me around calling me that.

[There is a shortlist of people who are allowed to call him Jojo and teen girls ARE NOT ON IT!!!!!!]

...What's the most people you've fought at one time and won? Group melee.

[torsion]

Try being a woman with the last name "Valentine". It's like an open pickup line, ugh. ]

[ If only she knew this mysterious young man's name! She'd probably give him an unrelated nickname. That's just how she does, after all. ]

People? Not usually people I fight. They used to be people, sometimes. Monsters, often. But hundreds. Before I came here I fought through hoards of what had to be upwards of a thousand to escape an oil refinery... I'm an anti-bioterrorism special operations agent, by the way.

[starmark]

...Oh. I can imagine how that would go, yeah.

[Hell, he'd thought of one in approximately two seconds after the notion was put into his head, and he's not even interested in her. Good grief.]

You fight...monsters.

[And apparently very well, too.]

You're American? Your accent sounds American.

[torsion]

French-Japanese, but born and raised in the states. Currently living in Canada -- well, sort of. It's complicated in regard to my work.

[ She makes a small sound; something like choked laughter that quickly becomes clear when she chuckles further. ]

Ha, yeah. It's... well, think of the flu and how it can be weaponized. Rather than making people sick, in my work, viruses that kill and transform humans and other creatures alike are weaponized. I'm a founding member of the Biohazard Security Assessment Alliance -- BSAA -- and both investigate and combat the threats prior to, as occurring, and after they make themselves known. Guess you could call me a "good guy," but it's not the same here. What I am is up to other people.

[starmark]

So it's like a mutation. The virus rewrites some part of the DNA in some cell somewhere and now instead of thinking it's an arm cell or an eye cell, it thinks it's a monster cell. And if it's a virus then it's got to have some way of spreading itself, so probably something like blood or fluid contact — maybe the monster bites someone who isn't infected, and then they get it too.

[Jotaro you ABSOLUTE GIGANTIC NERD, you.]

Which means the scientists making the viruses are making them as weapons, probably to sell to people who shouldn't have them. Right? There's no scientific purpose. It's just blood profit.

[torsion]

There's different derivatives, but for the most part, you'd be right. Glad you already get it instead of asking me for the more serious details without understanding it. Most people don't understand how it works, whether it's fluid contact, through water or food sources, or the air. Zombies can be an easy way to explain it but it's not just bodies rapidly going through necrosis and still being animated.

[ She wishes it could be that specified, that easy. Taking that down would be a real treat. ]

Pretty much, yes. Why pay for a military when you can have a disposable soldier or creature that you don't have to worry about? They hire soldiers or mercenaries, treat them as test subjects, then when they mutate they set them loose. It wasn't always like this.

[starmark]

It's not like it's that hard to figure out. It's just science.

[JOTARO.]

So how do you stop things like that, when they've got so many advantages on you? This BSAA must've come up with something for itself, right?

[torsion]

Good. I'll give you a call whenever someone presses me to explain it, Professor.

[ JOTARO, indeed. He dug himself a grave. ]

Big guns. [ She shrugs a little. ] Bigger muscles. 'bout all we got.

[starmark]

Tell them to read a book.

[Jotaro that's not the sick burn you think it is. It's not even moderately ill. It's not even lukewarm.]

...I guess that's how it is. Mess up something's brain and that's pretty much it for it, monster or not.

[torsion]

Too late. You're the expert now.

[ Microwaved, at best. She laughs, leaning in slightly but not quite awkwardly so. ]

Pretty much. If we're lucky there won't be additional mutations and can out-smart it before it becomes too unruly. Depends on what else is afoot, really.