0006: NEW ARRIVAL BRIEFING

[crux_npcs]

Who: New Arrivals, Graham Baker
Where: Briefing Room
When: Late afternoon, Aprilo 1st
Warnings: None

When awakening, the immediate surroundings are swarming with activity. The people in the medical ward are polite and understanding, but firmly refuse to answer questions until the briefing. They move with a practiced efficiency, already veterans of this kind of thing. The same goes for the robots in the hangars. Either given hospital outfits resembling very comfortable pajamas, drone bodies, or their own bodies, they are escorted by polite, unyielding people in red and black uniforms to the briefing room.

The Briefing room is large. Not enough to accommodate a giant, but spacious enough for several dozen people. The tiles are black and featureless while the walls are nice, soothing colors. The chairs are high-backed and well-cushioned, more like comforting eggs floating a foot or so off the ground than anything else. Set into the ceiling and floor near the front is a large holographic projector. The floor in front of each seat also has a smaller projector, allowing people to see what the bigger device is showing without having to angle for a view. As of now, it merely displays a rotating pyramid.

Three Security personnel, dressed in their red and black uniforms, stand at ease in the rooms in strategic areas. One man stands at the head. Graham Baker, a middle-aged man showing the first signs of balding and wearing a wrinkled business suit, clasps his hands behind his back and smiles.

[Questions to the NPCs will go in the briefing thread. The rest of the post is there for people to mill about and do whatever with. The mods will not be doing hangar/medical awakenings unless it's specifically asked for.]

Comments

[cyphered]

"Not that I know of," he echoes, folding his hands behind his back. "Which means they probably have their ways. Hasn't meant a thing so far -- but I haven't dipped my hand into anything military related, so I can't imagine anyone is too interested in following me around yet."

Nate turns around and starts to walk backwards, offering Charlie an easy grin. "Though I'll bet they'll love to see a big fella like you playing security."

[alittlesweptup]

Charlie grimaces, a hand flying up half in protest and half in self-defense. "Yeah, yeah." The 'piss off' is implied. "What've they got you at? Judging from the efficiency of our alien overlords, it's something that utilizes your skill set yeah? Bagging greens at the corner market maybe."

[cyphered]

"Very funny," he replies, nearly tripping over a crack in the road. He takes it as a cue to wait until Charlie catches up, at which point he'll shoulder him. "Dont stress too much. They leave you to your business for a few weeks. I've been brushing up on space history in the mean time."

Its accented with a shrug. "Not much to it, or anything else they're trying to shove in my head really. Don't know how long I'm going to keep up with it, seeing that I learn faster on my own."

[alittlesweptup]

"Yes darling, you're very clever and pretty. Everyone's rather impressed." Another jab with the elbow, Charlie still fiddling with the comm device. "Forward me any notes you've got, would you?" Getting a jump on things wouldn't hurt and fumbling with new tech, new rules, new people made for a good distraction.

Not that he's thinking about needing one. Nate, all lame wisecracks and brief points of contact, walking at a clip along the lane is really all he needs. So long as he doesn't think too much (hard to do), so long as he doesn't let himself settle into his own skin too quickly, there'll be nothing to fuss over.

Really.

[cyphered]

"Common knowledge, mate. Hard to hide when its all in plain sight," Nate adds smoothly, abruptly looping his arm with Charlie's the next time he tries to jab him, patting one broad shoulder. At the request for knowledge, some of the humor in his expression dies.

"I can send you what I've got, but this place isn't much like Exsilium in that respect. They don't have much set up for the new folks beyond what you got a few minutes ago," he sighs, not bothering to unloop his arm as he reaches over to tap a few buttons on his own communicator. In a few short moments, Charlie will be pinged by a small text file.

"I haven't been here long, but I managed to gather some stuff." He takes a moment to tap his pocket where his journal sits -- where the majority of his notes sit.

[alittlesweptup]

"Figures. We're on a bloody space fleet and they still can't put together a half respectable crib sheet." He doesn't bother unlinking their arms as he accesses the file, bringing it up and thumbing through the contents - skimming, not really taking much of it in.

[cyphered]

"Tell me about it," he adds unhelpfully. "Though by the looks of things, we're some of the first arrivals they've had to deal with. Could be a work in progress."

He lifts his head from his watch, letting his other hand fall to his side while Charlie skims and Nate continues to lead until they approach the apartments. "Besides, you've got me. That's like the next best thing, right?"

[alittlesweptup]

Charlie shoots him a sidelong glance, snorting for effect. "You're good mate, but you're not that good."

But there are indeed worse things in the world. Or universe-- whatever you like. He could make a list enumerating those points, but it'd be god awful long and dull on top of everything else (or depressing, and he's not thinking about that; he has his arm linked with Nate's and they're meandering down the damned space promenade instead).

As they approach the structure, Charlie gives it a nod. "I take it this is the place?"

[cyphered]

"You got it, chief," he confirms, stuffing his other hand in his pocket and subconsciously unlinking their arms. Not that he wasn't happy to keep going along merrily down the road, but one couldn't be too careful. "They'll let you hang around in there for free as long as you contribute to their little conglomerate somehow."

Something seems to dawn on Nate and he turns just enough to throw Charlie a knowing smirk. "Speaking of conglomerates, there's at least one building in this dump I know you'll appreciate," he adds, nodding off in another direction. He only knew because he had spent a lot of time there himself the passed two weeks instead of doing work for Lazarevic.

[alittlesweptup]

"Well now you've got my curiosity piqued." Charlie goes so far as to shoot a glance in the same direction as if he half expects said building to be lit up for his convenience. "If it's not a proper pub, I'm not sure I want to hear about it."

[cyphered]

"Sorry, mate," he concedes, turning and walking in said direction. So much for the apartments. "Haven't locked on any of those yet. Kind of insane, when you think about it." Judging by the light switch in tone, this is actually a cause of annoyance for him. He could have very much used a good drink or two the passed month.

"When's the last time you've read anything that wasn't a how-to guide or shitty UE propaganda, Charlie?"

[alittlesweptup]

Which prompts a painfully suspicious sidelong look to be thrown in Nate's direction. Technically speaking, prior to the nuclear attack Exsilium had been in a possession of a if not thorough at least semi-respectable library. But as far as he'd been able to tell, it hadn't survived the transition. He hadn't read anything but AI datapacks for something like eight months.

"You had better not be having one over on me, Drake."

[cyphered]

"That'd be cruel even for me, Charlie."

He nods his head off in said direction and starts to walk, stuffing his hands in his pockets stiffly until the pistol in his bicep starts to bother him, at which point he will relax. He hasn't eaten a damn thing all day due to nerves -- Charlie's arrival hadn't helped.

There were so many things he wanted to say. To warn Charlie of Lazarevic, to try and convince Charlie to help him get Chloe out of dodge...but the reality of it was that neither desire outweighed the desire to keep Charlie from running face first into death.

He'd have to figure something else out.

"Don't tell me you don't trust me."

[alittlesweptup]

He follows by instinct. Say what you like about the bastard, Nate has a way of inspiring that in people. Or he's got nothing better to do and there's some kind of needling at the metaphorical periphery that suggests he really ought to keep walking, keep moving, keep doing something that isn't sitting down and thinking about where he is and what that means - one of the two.

"It's not that I don't trust you. It's that I've become a bit bitter and jaded; you know. The usual suspects and all that."

[cyphered]

"Yeesh Charlie," Nate comments, turning to walk backwards again. "You're too young for that attitude." A dig or a compliment? Hard to say. Sully used that line on him a lot the first few years they kept company.

Too bad Sully wasn't here. His cynicism, at least, was something Nate expected.

"Don't worry, mate. I wouldn't do that to you."

[alittlesweptup]

"It was a joke, you daft bastard." It had been. Charlie goes so far as to roll his eyes and throw a punch to Nate's shoulder, all good-natured horseplay. Anyway, Nate won't have been the first person he's known telling him off for being a wet blanket.

"Now come on, you can't tell me there's a library and you haven't got a whole list of reference material yet. What have you been doing all day, having a go at it over a few old nat geos?"

[cyphered]

"Don't kid yourself. I've read a book or two," Nate comes back, deflecting the punch when he sees it coming. He was never sure of what to expect from Charlie. Sure, he had shared company with him for four months or so, but it has been a few years prior since he had seen him.

"There's also a whole district dedicated to religions from all over the damn place," he points out with a certain proud note to his voice. No no. Nathan Drake has definitely been busy.

[alittlesweptup]

"So you've been having a go of it over some temples. Classy. Sure the locals are all over that, mate." He punctuates it with a suggestive eyebrow quirk and a lopsided pull at the corner of his mouth.

Walking at a clip, it shouldn't take long for them to reach wherever Nate's leading. "Met any aliens yet? Native, I mean. Not like us."

[cyphered]

"I'm telling you Charlie, it's fascinating." His grin is all teeth, not unlike an overexcited puppy. If his expression was any more doglike, his tongue would be hanging out of his mouth. "Even the fanatical sects keep it tame in public. Called the Street of Gods. Should take a look sometime."

Because Nate isn't about to embarrass himself by leading Charlie over there.

Rounding the corner brings the library in view. "Not yet. Been kind of quiet so far, for a Fleet on the run."

[alittlesweptup]

There's a simple kind of pleasure to be derived in egging Nate on - suggesting an avenue and then loosing him down it. It means he doesn't have to think about much except to follow what's coming out of Nate's mouth and right now, that's exactly what Charlie wants to be doing. "Street of Gods. Right. I'll mark it on my to-do list, mate."

The library, when it comes into view, is kind of painfully obvious - looks exactly like the sort of building that ought to be housing a bunch of books or data files or whatever they've got their information on. God only knows (though Charlie's secretly hoping it's the former; he's had enough with diamond drives and all that rubbish).

"Makes sense. Still a bit of a let down, yeah?"

[cyphered]

"I haven't decided yet."

The idea of meeting aliens was cool in theory, but with some of the strangeness he had been confronted with in Exsilium, part of him wants to keep it strictly between humans for a while. Maybe like a month maximum. That was reasonable.

"From the sound of it, most of the aliens around here are hostile, and everyone they've got to fight for them is drafted from whoever they pull in. But you knew that, didn't you?"

He reaches over to tenderly squeeze the other man's bicep as they walk. Charlie looks like too much of a brute for a military recruiter to pass up, after all. "You gonna take them up on that?"

[alittlesweptup]

"Think they were a bit distracted by the amazon woman." Not that it had stopped a few less than covert offers being thrown in his direction. There was something pleasantly simple about being courted for his proper profession of lugging about, beating the tar out of people (aliens? whatever you like) but--

"Don't think I'm the military type, darling. Bad performance record in the family history, you know." He's being facetious, lame jokes from all corners. "So that gives me, what, a few months to get things sorted and find something workable before they leave me on an asteroid somewhere. --You? Angling for military?"

Charlie gives Nate an exaggerated up-down for effect.

[cyphered]

Nate does a nice job of stopping so Charlie can get the full scope of his up-and-down, shrugging for effect. "Family history? They let me in here, didn't they?"

If Charlie wants to go on talking about 'bad family history'. Its a one-off joke -- Nate isn't really interested in talking about it. Hasn't been since he was a kid.

"Wasn't. They consider education to be a workable affair around here," he comments, putting his hands to his hips. "But to tell you the truth, I'm not the biggest fan of the pacing. Military's starting to look more attractive." At least that way, he could get out and explore a bit.

Most of him is joking -- he's not the 'shoot first, ask questions later' kind of guy, much as he runs around pegging suits for standing in his path.

[alittlesweptup]

"You? In the military? Sorry, I think I need you to go over that one again, mate." It does seem a little far-fetched, doesn't it? He can't imagine Nathan Drake in a clean shirt, much less a bloody uniform.

"You do realize that means taking orders from other people, don't you? I hear they're big on that sort of thing. Also getting up early and running drills, I expect."

[cyphered]

"Dunno Charlie. Sounds like my style. You don't think so?"

He throws him a curious raise of his eyebrow and he looks serious for all of two seconds before a playful smirk places itself on his face. He never was a good liar.

"Looks like I'm doomed to some remote planet, in that case. Maybe I can build a vacation house."