VOICE (9/20, Pre-total-antidote-dispersal and... other-her's post!)

[squadgoals]

Hi everyone, Shepard here.

Just wanted to make sure everyone's aware: the crew has managed to secure an incredibly rare drink from the hosts, and is passing it out amongst ourselves. Trust me, you're going to want to make room for this one! In a word? Life-changing.

[Wait. That was two words. There's the briefest of pauses before she continues, undaunted:]

If you see one of us with the bottle, just flag us down. We're very happy to share! [Insistent, even.

There's a beat, and then with just a hint of a smile:]

And to anyone who's already had a chance to sip this miracle nectar: Nate's probably not going to say anything, but you might find that he already did.

Over and out.

[OOC: Shep is cajoling people into antidote drinking over HERE at the event log!]

Comments

action;

[sketchycharacter]

[Conveniently, Nate's been standing here with Shep the whole time with a :| expression.]

You know, it's probably not fair to say "I told you so." They were drugged. We all were.

[squadgoals]

True. Nobody really had a lot of choice, there — but I'm detecting a "but"?

[sketchycharacter]

[How perceptive.]

But some of them were real assholes when I tried to talk them down, and I don't know if that can be blamed on the drug.

[squadgoals]

[She nods as he speaks, shrugging sympathetically.]

I wouldn't take it personally.

Think of it as if you tried to take a bottle from a baby. They can't help if they have an emotional outburst — their field of focus is currently narrow, and you're trying to take it from them.

[sketchycharacter]

[That actually gets him to crack a smile.]

Oh, wow, that's a good burn. I'm kind of disappointed none of them heard you say it. [All right, so he's still taking it a tiny bit personally.] I just hope we can get this stuff distributed fast and get the fuck out of here.

[squadgoals]

[Nate's reaction in turn prompts a voiceless chuckle out of Shep, and the barest shake of her head.]

You and me both. I don't know what our hosts have been playing at, but I'm not interested in sticking around any longer than we already have to find out. [Here, she taps at her MID's date function — a sharp and irritated gesture — which continues displaying the year exactly one later than it aught to be.] To hell with this place.

[sketchycharacter]

Agreed.

[He likes a good time, but this place is the very definition of too much.]

Wish I knew how the hell we didn't notice the time passing once we got clearheaded. But I'm glad we came out of it at all.

[squadgoals]

Maybe it started passing normally when we came out, and we never checked. We sure as hell didn't notice the rest of the time — how would we pick up on the difference?

[sketchycharacter]

Maybe, but shouldn't it be the same for everyone on the planet? Ugh, this makes my head hurt.

[Agh. He rubs at his forehead.]

Well, whatever. It'll be done soon. Why do you think some of us stop being affected, anyway?

[squadgoals]

I wouldn't even know where to start. Could be anything, from "planetary time dilation" on down to "more Ingress trouble". The sooner we're out of here, the better, though — if it is something to do with the planet itself, I want to be out of here before it picks up for round two.

[She breaths in and out through her nose, rocking back on her heels, and stares up at the Moira herself.]

Not sure. Could be a metabolism thing, or could just be that we gained an immunity. We were certainly subject to it for the first while — so maybe, like a disease, our bodies just slowly fought it off.

[sketchycharacter]

Maybe.

[He frowns, considering.]

You know...I was drugged twice in the week before I came through the Ingress. Pretty severe stuff. Maybe that gave me some kind of resistance.

[He leads an interesting life, Shep.]

[squadgoals]

Resistance? Definitely could have something to do with it. Had my fair share of drugs in me at one point or another. I metabolize things a lot faster, too, so I tend to need higher doses of most medicines.

[Doses that would pretty much kill other people. Details.

But she casts an eye over Nate instead, eyeing him sympathetically.]

Sounds like neither encounter was by choice. Not exactly a walk in the park. You come out of it okay?

[sketchycharacter]

[Well, that could explain the two of them, but not Asriel. Maybe the biology of goat kids worked to his advantage.]

They weren't. Both times were a lot of hell while they lasted, but I came out of it eventually.

A tip, though? If you ever find yourself in a fabled lost city, even if you just got out of the desert, don't automatically drink the water.

[squadgoals]

I... won't. [SHE NEVER WOULD BUT HEY. WHAT THE HELL NATE.]

You must've been pretty thirsty.

[sketchycharacter]

I'd recently spent three days wandering the largest desert on Earth without water, so yeah.

[After surviving a plane crash. Though maybe that doesn't count, since he had a parachute.]

Pretty thirsty.

[squadgoals]

[Largest desert...] The Sahara? Lucky you made it out of that with just a trip.

[Wait, backtrack a second.]

Did you say "fabled lost city" in the middle of a desert? What, did you stumble across El Dorado?

[sketchycharacter]

Nah—it was the Rub' al Khali. That's the largest contiguous desert, the Sahara's got nothing on it.

[Even now, he is a nerd lord.]

And it was Iram of the Pillars, Ubar, the Atlantis of the Sands. Had a lot of names. El Dorado was a few years back, and I didn't stumble across it, I tracked it down.

voice

[prorenataa]

He can enjoy his 'I told you so.'

voice /jacks

[sketchycharacter]

I'm not.

[prorenataa]

[ There is a long period of silence.

He is so many levels of furious, Adrien honestly doesn't know if he's up, down or sideways. It's been a long while since he's been this angry and back then it had taken firm orders from his Captain to rein him in.

In the small, reasonable corner of his mind, he is very much aware that Nate is not the target of that anger; really he's not. Nate had every right to his 'I told you so'.

But reason and emotion just aren't connecting real well at the moment, and Shepherd's words landed in the middle of a whole knot of badness. The best Adrien can manage at the moment, the closest he can get to an apology (both for then and now) is to grit his teeth and shut down the connection. ]

VOICE

[squadgoals]

Nobody's enjoying this.

voice;

[otiosity]

What a shocking turn of events!

[Says someone who doesn't sound very shocked. Actually, she sounds like she needs a nap.]

VOICE

[squadgoals]

The surprised tone could use a little work.

[otiosity]

What?

I'm shocked so-[A huge yawn] completely shocked. Can't you hear my shock?

[squadgoals]

I can hear your exhaustion. Staying up for a year straight finally getting to you?