vatheon | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: 008/Pyunma and anyone!
When: His arrival
Where: The Plaza
Style: Starting brackets, but I'll follow you.
Status: Open!

[Being wet isn't any surprise, not after Pyunma had just been out in the ocean dragging the others out of the water. What he doesn't expect is to suddenly not be in their little craft with the rest of his teammates. A flash of movement above catches his attention, and when he looks up, he sees a shark swimming in the water beyond the dome. It takes a few moments of staring to take in.]

Yomi? But...

[That should be impossible. They still had such a distance to travel. Unless he was teleported, but why only him?]

001? [He stands still as the moments stretch on, but there's no voice echoing through his head. Even if his fellow cyborg sent him here, he must not be able to contact him. Pyunma is about to find somewhere not so... public when he notices the brochure next to him. It's a quick read, but in the end, it doesn't explain the one thing he really wants to know. He's still unsure about this place, but there's information he needs to have. So, with one hand at his hip, he approaches the next passerby he sees.]

Excuse me. Have you seen anyone wearing a uniform like mine?

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[Well, that's certainly an explanation. Pyunma could ask a few more questions about it, but instead he just nods. There are more important things to find out.

And Karkat is good at giving the important information. Pyunma listens without interrupting, but he frowns when Karkat mentions the scientists and experiments.]

What is this group of scientists called?

[Well isn't that a question. Karkat sighs and tosses up his hands.]

Hell if I know! Do you think I'd just be calling them "the scientists" if I knew what they're called? I know the name of their country, but not their group, and that sure as fuck doesn't help me. And to be honest, what they're called hardly matters next to the fact of them keeping us in a city to run experiments on with no say or choice in the matter whatsoever. Have you heard of a thing called priorities? They're what tell you what's actually important to worry about, instead of stupid things like that.

[This boy (alien?) just might be the angriest person Pyunma has ever met. It's probably a good thing he doesn't get irritated easily. He doesn't even look irritated at Karkat's outburst, though he's still pretty pensive.]

I am familiar with a group which does similar things. If they were the same, I might have experience to contribute in stopping their plans. Without knowing the name, it's hard to be certain.

[Karkat by contrast frowns deeper, and his eyes narrow as well.]

Dipshit, this isn't even in the same universe as wherever you're from. Unrelated, totally, completely, and unless you've miraculously heard of a place called Fasest before, this is wholly a coincidence and you would do me a favor to shut up about it. I've been here two and a half earth years, understand? I don't know everything, but I know a lot more than some stonepanned newbie who thinks things sound a little similar to something from someplace else.

I have no way to test which universe is or is not mine, but I understand I am at a disadvantage. Fasest is not a name I'm familiar with.

[Still staying reasonable.]

Trust me, bulgewhiffer, this is not your universe. It has generally not been the universe of anyone else here. They haul in people from different places and the only ones actually from here are the natives and the scientists themselves, and more often than not neither one is going to give you answers. That's why you shut your ignorant trap when someone who knows what he's talking about is handing out information.

[He jabs a finger at him, as a gesture rather than any real intent to poke.]

Can you follow that basic concept, or should I give up on the conversation right here and now?

I understand.

[Can't give up a good information source so early on.]

If they have taken you back from your own world, is there no way to permanently avoid their attention? Why would they go through the trouble of sending you back and taking your memories, if only to bring you here once more? Just for experiments?

[At least he's not arguing, but Karkat's frustration doesn't die off completely. He folds his arms.]

Remember what I said about not remembering anything about this place when you go back? That means you can't do anything intentional to avoid their attention. Even if you did remember and it somehow didn't fuck up the timelines and doom you and everyone you know, that would take knowing exactly what they look for when they drag us here. The people from my world that they've brought are all interlinked in some way, but that doesn't tell me why they brought people from other worlds instead of whoever else is on the street. It's not a matter of importance, because even if some of us have done big shit, they've also brought random people with no special powers or destinies in their worlds or anything.

Why they send us back and forth, I don't know. Some of us have been back and forth so many times I lose count, others appear for maybe a month and never come back, some stay here for years at a time without disappearing at all.

[It's maybe difficult to deal with, but Pyunma is getting the impression that Karkat's irritation rarely dies off completely.]

And there is no way of telling which will happen.

[It's more a statement than a question, but he's still looking to Karkat for confirmation.]

Exactly. The less expectations you build up about this place, the less disappointed you'll be when things inevitably fail to happen the way you wanted. You will lose people, you will get hit with curses you don't like, and sometimes you'll be forced into fights because whatever wacky monster it is this time decided it was a grand idea to come harass a bunch of people in a bubble. Or up on the island, but it's the same difference in the end.

Thank you for the forewarning.

[He doesn't like any of the information presented, but he isn't about to shoot the messenger.]

Monster attacks? How often are they?

[It still sounds a lot like Black Ghost to him, but he doesn't bring it up.]

[A wise decision, because he is totally wrong and Karkat wouldn't be kind in correcting him.]

It varies, but they're not as common as the curses. The most I've seen is four in an earth year, the least is one in a year. Some are more serious than others, but like the curses themselves, you can't tell what it's going to be until it happens. I've seen pirate ghosts, dinosaurs, rotting fish monsters, a kraken, and a transforming orb of darkness, though I've heard of at least one other attack before I showed up in this place.

[That's definitely more variety than Pyunma has faced in fights before, but as strange as each of those sound, he doesn't question them. He's had it proved to him several times, not only here but in his own world, that just because things seem impossible doesn't mean they are.

Instead, he nods, and offers a hand for a handshake.]

Thank you for answering my questions. Do you mind if I ask your name?

Edited 2013-07-04 21:33 (UTC)

[Karkat eyes the hand a second, then takes it and gives it a shake. A couple dumb thoughts aside, this guy doesn't seem too bad, so far.]

Karkat Vantas. What's yours?

[In a more normal circumstance, after meeting someone being so helpful, Pyunma wouldn't hesitate to give his name. But in a place still unfamiliar to him, he doesn't go with that.]

I'm 008.

[Karkat stares for a good, solid moment.]

What the fuck kind of name is 008?

It goes with the uniform.

[Which is true enough, but if Karkat is insistent, he can probably get Pyunma's real name from him.]

[Karkat's lower right eyelid twitches once.]

And what, exactly, does that orange and red affront to the senses determine about a dipshit name made of numbers? What's it a uniform for, or is it so stupid that it's better you don't tell me?

It means I was the eighth to be made a member of the group. The answer is a long story.

[Not to mention a complicated and pretty personal one, so he opts for compromise.]

If you'd rather, you can call me Pyunma instead.

Consider it filed under Shit I Don't Care About. It's a stupid name either way, so I will gratefully stick with Pyunma, which sounds a lot less awful than half the other names I hear around this place.

[A proper six-letter name, even!]

[It tends to be considered weird next to the names of his comrades, but six-letter names are apparently a trend where he's from. Muamba, Kabore, Mamado, Unbaba, and so on.]

In any case, thank you for your help, Karkat Vantas.

[He waves his hand.]

Whatever. You are far from the first newbie I've schoolfed on this place, and I highly doubt you're going to be the last. Just don't be an idiot about it, and I won't come to regret wasting my time on an empty-lobed dipshit.

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