snowblindrpg | [log] Party in house 43! [closed]

[Kunsel's luck hasn't been nearly so good in his search, finding only two hangers in a closet in the bedroom. Still, he can think of potential uses for those hangers, so he's on his way back to where he's set his things when one of the others comes up from the basement.

It's Steve. Even in the dim light provided by their tablets, Kunsel can tell it's not Zack or one of the girls, and his build is too large, his gait completely different, to be Beckett. Kunsel nods in greeting, then stops and blinks. Is that...?]

Okay, I'll bite. What are you going to do with that?

[Though there's a hint of amusement in the SOLDIER Second's voice, there's also a good deal of curiosity. What is Steve going to do with a ball?]

Kain, hi.

Steve's doing that thing where when you've just met someone you use their name as often as possible so you don't forget it. Steve is a dork. But a dork who remembers people's names!

He glances down at the basketball, then drops it to one hand and spins it on one finger briefly, grinning.]

Pick-up game?

[He laughs to himself, tucking the ball against his side again.]

Nahhhh... it depends. Maybe nothing. Maybe something, if I can get my hands on a knife. Know anybody in your group with a sharp knife I could borrow?

[That's okay. Kunsel doesn't mind Steve being a dork at him. He's fine with taking the friendly greeting at face value, though his eyes do track the motion of the ball for a moment, noting the coordination involved.

Isn't this the guy who introduced himself as a Captain on the network...?

Tucking the question and the observation aside for a moment, Kunsel tilts his head in response.]

If you had a knife, what would you do with it?

[A knife and a ball... He's trying to find the connection.]

Cut the outer skin off. There's a rubber bladder on the inside, that's what holds the air. Cut the valve off the bladder to make a little hole—voilà, water bottle. I mean I'll have to come up with some kind of watertight plug for the hole, but it's a start.

[Kunsel's expression brightens with the explanation.]

That's clever. I might have to try that myself, if my group finds a ball. We've found ways to carry extra food, but water's another story.

[But with that explanation, he's willing enough to slip a cutlet knife from his pocket, which he hold out hilt first to the other man.]

Here. Go ahead and borrow mine.

[Steve perks up when Kain offers the knife.]

Oh hey, thanks! That's perfect!

[With a nod of thanks, Steve accepts the knife awkwardly with the arm that's hugging the basketball, holding the blade up to the light of his tablet and inspecting it carefully, pressing his thumb lightly against the edge to test it. He smiles, satisfied.]

Oh yeah, this'll work great. Uh... c'mon, dining room.

[He jerks his head in that direction and strides off, just assuming Kain will want to follow him and keep an eye on his knife. He juggles a few things so he can snag his packs from where he left them in the hall and hauls everything into the dining room, dropping his packs next to the table and pulling out a chair with his foot so he can plop down into it. He keeps chattering while doing all this, talking to Kain over his shoulder.]

You might try the athletic shed by the school. Found a football in there; one of the guys I bunked with let me borrow his knife so I gave it the same treatment. There might be some other balls hidden away in there. Or something like this—

[He pulls the plastic baseball bat from where it's sticking out of one of his packs, demonstrating how he's cut the end of the handle off and crushed it slightly where it's cut so it now fits snugly into the end of the hollow bat. He grins, pleased with himself.]

Pretty good, eh? So long as I keep it upright. It'll be better if I can get some wax on that plug, seal it up tighter.

[Kunsel follows Steve willingly, and not just to keep an eye on his knife. Friendly, conversational, and he's offering useful tips. That's plenty of reason to keep this conversation up. No offense to Zack or Tifa, but it's refreshing getting to talk to someone new face to face.]

Huh. I'll have to keep that in mind. Zack and I were originally headed that way, before something came up, and now we're headed somewhere else, but maybe we'll end up back that way at some point.

[In which case, he's definitely interested in taking a closer look at that bat to see what Steve did with it. Reaching out for it, he looks over the mangled end as he sits down to join Steve at the table.]

You know, I picked up a candle a couple days back. There should be more than enough wax to seal something like this.

Edited 2015-11-12 23:49 (UTC)

It's convenient to the school cafeteria, so I'm sure you'll be by there again at some point, unless you plan to be more in the neighborhood of that convenience store I heard about.

[Steve perks up again. Wow, this guy has all the good stuff.]

Really? And you... you wouldn't mind if I used some of that? [Hopeful face.]

Probably more around the convenience store.

[He's just going to keep his answer a little vague. No offense, but he doesn't really know you, Steve. Nowhere near well enough to be honest about his plans. His paranoia's been cranked up a notch ever since he found out Sephiroth was here, regardless of what the man remembers and what he doesn't.

Besides, they've got something else on hand he can focus on instead.]

Anyway, sure. It'll be worth it to see if the wax is good enough to work as a seal. Besides, I'm not that stingy. Hang on a second while I go get it.

[He hands the bat back before heading to his pack. It's not long before he returns with a pillar candle. Really, he hadn't been kidding that there was more than enough wax to share.]

Sure thing, Kain, thank you so much!

[What a nice fella! While Kain is gone, Steve gets to work using a couple of books from his pack to prop up his tablet so he can have some hands-free light. He's inspecting the valve on the basketball when Kain comes back with a gigantic candle.]

Holy cow, jackpot, that thing is massive! Nice find, I was definitely picturing a much smaller candle.

Edited 2015-11-13 02:25 (UTC)

Thanks. Finding it was as much luck as anything else, but I figured it would be worth it to keep it, even heavy as it is.

[It still feels strange to consider even a pillar candle heavy, but without his enhancements, and with the weight of everything else he's carrying, it adds up.]

But you learn to make use of things when you've got limited resources. [He nods at the basketball. Case and point.] Like that. Where'd you pick up the idea to use the bladder?

Yeah, I'd think any sort of candle would be worth keeping.

[Steve shrugs, picking up the knife and holding it along the back of the blade, near the tip, like an exacto-knife. He digs it in a little and starts making a shallow cut next to the air valve.]

I dunno, just came to me I guess. There's not a lot in that shed that seems useful at first glance, but if you stare at things long enough you start to see the possibilities. I've always been pretty good at making do. And if it holds air, it holds water, right?

[Once he's got a small cut, he starts picking at it with his fingernails, after a little bit he frowns and scoots closer to the light, looking closer.]

...Huh. This is different from the football. The skin doesn't seem to be separate from the bladder, the layers are all fused together. ...Well, that's easy then.

[Steve just straight up stabs the basketball next to the valve, air escaping from the ball with a hiss. He cuts a little hole around the valve, a little bigger than a quarter, then drops the valve and surrounding circle of rubber onto the table.]

There we go. Water bottle. Now I just need a plug for it. ...I'm thinking I can whittle a plug from some wood. Maybe when I have time I can go digging around in a rubble pile for some scrap wood.

[He looks around.]

...Or I could start breaking furniture, I guess.

Edited 2015-11-13 07:16 (UTC)

Not sure I'd trust anything from the rubble around my drinking water. [Kunsel offers that bit of caution while holding his tablet in a position to help Steve see better.] We don't know what destroyed the buildings around here, or what kind of contamination might be left behind. I'd go for the furniture, or something else from inside a house.

[Though that would mean Steve would need access to a knife for longer than just this task. Kunsel's mouth forms a line as he considers the man, propping an elbow on the table while he rests his chin on his hand. The pillar candle is left in easy reach for Steve. He can get to it when he's done with the ball.]

I saw your post on the network. You're army?

[Technically, there's more than one post he could be referring to, but he figures it doesn't matter which in this case.]

Edited 2015-11-13 12:57 (UTC)

...Hmmm. I hadn't thought of that. Thank you, I'll take that under advisement. [Furniture, then. Hmm. Probably easiest to break off a chair leg.

Steve'll worry about that later. Whittling takes time, who knows if Kain will let him use the knife that long, or dull it that bad. Easy stuff first. He snags the top off his makeshift plastic bat bottle and turns it over in his hand, pondering how best to make a seal with wax.

When Kain speaks again, he glances up, raising his eyebrows and smiling a little.]

That's right. Or, I was, I'm retired. Captain Rogers, U.S. Army. Hooah.

[He gives Kain a thoughtful, considering look, then quirks an eyebrow.]

You and Zack?

[Considering the helmet that Kunsel had been wearing earlier, it's not hard to guess how Steven drew that conclusion. His mouth tugs up at the corner even as he offers a two-fingered salute.]

Yeah. We're both in a special ops division, so I'm not sure our ranks would translate. I'm a Second Class, and he's a First - or, well, he was. [He hums for a moment, trying to figure out how to avoid outright saying that Zack technically hasn't been part of SOLDIER since ShinRa reported that he was dead.] I guess you could say he retired, too.

U.S. Army, though. Government or private?

[Probably the first big clue that Steve will get that Kunsel's not from any part of his world.]

[Steve takes that as, 'whatever happened, he definitely didn't retire,' but doesn't ask. It's none of his business, really.

He laughs a little at Kain's question. This multiple worlds thing is so weird.]

Government. U.S. is short for U.S.A., which stands for the United States of America. It's the country I'm from.

[Steve would be right, and if Kunsel knew he'd guessed as much, he'd be grateful that the man didn't press it. It's not really something he wants to go into.]

Ah. America. That's the country that Norfinbury's supposed to be part of, right?

[He remembers that post from about two weeks back where someone had explained what they could about Alaska.]

I'm from Midgar, Eastern Continent, in a world called Gaia. [Weird as it is to have to explain which continent Midgar is on, it's doubly so having to specify which world.] I'm private army, technically, but the company I work for deals with a lot of the government and administrative needs of the cities anyway, so it might not be long before I'm officially government.

Yep. Alaska, forty-ninth of fifty states. Wish I could tell you something useful about it, but I've never been to Alaska before. All I know about it is... uh, bears. And gold. And moose. And it's very very cold, which I'm sure you've noticed. Also Alaska is huge and full of wilderness, so we could be... very far from anywhere else.

There's a few of you from Gaia, right? I know Tifa said she was from there.

Huh. Interesting. Is there a national army as well that your company works with?

[Bears and moose. Those might have been throw away comments Steve made, but Kunsel still notes them anyway. Not that they've seen any sign of wildlife here, outside of the monsters, but it never hurts to know what could be here.

But in answer to Steve's first question, he nods.]

There's six of us here from my world, that I know of. Tifa's one of them. Technically, there's more than one Gaia, though, so if you're asking about any Gaia, there's more, and I don't have an accurate count there. I imagine it'd be the same story if I asked about you and other people from Earth.

[He's quickly picked up on the fact that there's more than one Earth represented here.]

But anyway, as for a national army, the Eastern Continent pretty much relies on us for all of that. The southern islands and the Northern Continent, too. Some towns have something of a local militia, but no one's ever bothered with building an army when there's one that's already there that they can call on.

[Steve can probably see the picture that Kunsel is painting at this point, of a private company with enough influence and sprawling power that the majority of the world defers to them for most things. From there, he can probably see why Kunsel thinks it might not be long before he is with the government. What's the difference at this point, really?

Just in technicalities.]

The Western Continent's really the only place that has their own army, but it's been decimated by a recent war.

Yeah, I've already established that not all Earths are the same Earth. Steph's from a city that doesn't even exist on my Earth.

[Steve's quiet for a few seconds, thinking all of this over, a small, thoughtful frown on his face.]

OK, three questions, and I apologize if they're weird. One: if you work for a corporation that provides military services, do... people pay your company when they need military protection or... how does that work? Two: is Gaia your home planet for all of the history of everything or did you colonize it? Three, or two b, really................ are you human?

...OK four questions actually, you wanna help me with this candle? I think I need melted wax for this to work, in which case I need someone to hold the candle and drip wax while I do the molding. ...Do you have a lighter, by any chance? ...I have matches, just. Only a few of them.

[Kunsel blinks, and in that moment turns too-bright eyes to really look at Steve. He hasn't had anyone question his humanity in... well, months? Maybe years? It's not something he particularly tries to keep track of, and usually only comes from the worst SOLDIER-haters.

As much as he searches, though, he can't find any hint of anything negative in Steve's expression. Just open curiosity and genuine interest.

Huh.

Kunsel leans back, scratching the back of his neck.]

Who pays and how much partly depends on what the job is. Standard clearing out of monsters in places where we're already stationed? That's as much in the company's interest to deal with as anyone else's, so that often comes from the company's pockets. Maybe from city taxes. Exactly how they draw the line is something you'd have to ask someone in the financial department, but there's no one from that department here, so... [He shrugs.] Anyway, most of what we do falls under that category. Anything above and beyond, and the cost of the mission starts falling on someone else, though my company's been known to work out deals. They're usually pretty reasonable, from what I understand.

[He tilts his head, because now he can't resist his own questions. Amused curiosity paints itself across his face.]

What would make you think Gaia's not my home world? And yes, I'm human. What makes you think I'm not?

[Is it just the eyes, or something else?

But in answer to Steve's last question, Kunsel reaches into his pocket and pulls a lighter out, which he holds up so Steve can see. He doesn't immediately offer it, though.]

Let me get something else to burn. I'm trying not to waste the lighter fluid.

[ooc: So many guesses as to how exactly ShinRa works...]

...Huh. 'Clearing out monsters'... so, mostly domestic stuff, like the National Guard might do, more than mercenary stuff, getting paid to go off and fight people's wars for them.

Ah, see, this is why it was a two-part question. I didn't think you weren't human, necessarily; I didn't really think about it until just now. I assumed you were, but I needed to ask, because my friend Thor is physically indistinguishable from a human—or, on the outside, anyway, I don't actually know what his organs look like—he looks human but he's not human, is the point, he's Asgardian, and that's not just semantics, he's not from my planet, he's stronger and longer-lived than a human. So. I needed to ask.

And I needed to ask about colonizing Gaia because there's people like Commander Shepard, OK, she's human but she was born "spaceside" and has rarely ever been to Earth, although it's definitely where her ancestors were from.

So. If you're human, and I'm human, and I'm from Earth, and you're from Gaia... how the heck does that work??

[Steve raises his eyebrows at Kain. He maybe got a little manic there because THIS MULTIPLE WORLDS THING IS SO WEIRD.]

Or, are 'Gaia' and 'Earth' just two different names for the same planet? ...What can you tell me about your solar system?

[Steve blinks at the lighter.]

Oh—no, I was thinking, light the candle, tip it, let it melt itself, drip wax on the plug thing. I'd only need one second's worth of lighter fluid.

Oh, right, of course. [Kunsel shakes his head, ruefully embarrassed.] Sorry, that should have been obvious. Too busy thinking about... all this, I guess.

[Because, to be fair, Steve has an excellent point that's more than a little mindboggling the more he thinks about it. Even as Kunsel leans forward and flicks the lighter on, holding it out to the wick of the candle, he's still trying to wrap his mind around the ramifications.]

Either they're the same planet, and they just developed differently in each universe, or it's possible humans migrated to one or the other at some point and the details got lost in the past. We already have proof right here and now that travel between universes is possible.

But as for my world, Gaia is the third planet from the sun, with nine planets that we know of in all. What about Earth?

Huh. Hadn't thought of that. [Oh good, even MORE mind boggling possibilities.

He raises his eyebrows at the description of the solar system.]

Well that sounds really familiar, actually. Or, we had nine planets, but Pluto got downgraded to a dwarf planet recently, although people are still arguing about it. Honestly, I don't understand the fuss. ...I suppose the real test would be to compare the continents. I could draw a map of Earth, see if it looks familiar.

[First things first, though. Steve smiles gratefully when Kain lights the candle.]

Thank you. Here, do you mind? [He picks up the candle, holding it out for Kain to take, then holds up the bit of formerly plastic bat.] If you just kinda... drip it on the crumpled part...

Downgraded? [Kunsel lifts an eyebrow.] Did something happen to it?

[He takes the candle, tilting it obligingly to let it drip as it melts. Nothing's keeping them from talking, though, and this is interesting, especially with the similarities Steve just struck.]

A map's a good idea. [But it can wait for the moment.] Here, turn it as the candle drips. Right- yeah, like that.

[The wax is slowly filling up the twisted cracks in vaguely even line around the top.]

[ooc: Oh wow, I completely screwed up my geography when Kunsel was telling Steve which continent had any kind of army separate from ShinRa. Not the Western continent at all, but the large island to the west of it. Pretend that's what Kunsel really said?]

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starsandtights - 2015-12-08 22:37 (UTC) - Expand

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deus_ex_phs - 2015-12-09 01:26 (UTC) - Expand

[log] Party in house 43! [closed]

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does kunsel even know what bears and moose are

Probably not, but my tag already had teal deer. The bear and the moose might have been too much.

Ha ha you were saying about teal deer

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