[ TEXT + PHOTO ]

[alterplex]

[ Brevity is a virtue of Venom's: he doesn't mince words when he throws his very concise, very curt statement up onto the network, staying pragmatic for the sake of time. It's a bit of a deviation from his standard to rely on text for communication, but he's in a bit of a bind right now. ]

Don't wander near West Leslie’s Fish Market and Creatatorium. It's one tourist trap you're gonna want to avoid.

[ He's absolutely not going to say that something fishy is going on because that pun is terrible, but it's implied. Heavily.

Actually, you know what, a picture is worth a thousand words: he sends a photo attachment approximating the area he's stumbled into, which he figures should speak for itself. A dim room with people strapped onto a bed, hooked up to suspicious-looking fluids; not exactly a vote of confidence cast in favor of this colony. ]

Try to exercise discretion.


(( OOC: this is a post to let people know about this plot right here! feel free to ask him about deets (he's still there, in this weird fishroom, texting and trying to figure out a gameplan), and feel free to drop in here to give him backup!

if you want to plot anything, go ahead and PM me or PP me at deuil as well! depending on what happens here, i'll be setting up a starter on the event log post— hit me up with anything and everything, peeps, i'm def here for all your input! ♥ ))

Comments

[procedures]

[ How far a little dose of social conscience goes - it's been one long year of questions without answers that he appreciates not having to be the one to ask first. ]

God help me, yeah, my imagination's good on that front.

Was it natural or artificial?

[ Could they be saved? Probably not. Someone should try, though. ]

[alterplex]

[ The concern for the prone 'patients' stretched out on grimy beds comes as a relief— his correspondences have tended to lean on the more aggressive side of things thus far, so this is a good change of pace. ]

I'm guessing artificial. They've been pumped full of something— can't say what.

I'm gonna need a professional pair of eyes on this.

[procedures]

I'll come along if you'll have me. Are you expecting to get hurt, or for me to be attending?

[ Tending to broken things - it's familiar, old work. Mending the soft and the meek had been distasteful work to those they'd served back home, and it's a job that's been passed to him like a dirty rag. Alva doesn't think of it that way.

Sparing another what little pain he could— ]

Different purposes would need different tools.

[alterplex]

[ "Are you expecting to get hurt". How funny— no one's ever asked him this before. ]

I'll be the least of your concerns.

[ A dry promise, difficult to gauge over text. ]

I'm getting these patients out of here, first. Once I have them extracted to a safer location, I'll call you in.

You're a medic?

[procedures]

I'm a nurse with an engineering background. I was assigned as physician coming on board the Moira.

[ Alva's many things, but lacking compassion for others is not one of them. No one goes into nursing for the money, or the glory. And he's had a better run at helping people on this ship than he has in the last six years he's been forced to work for Gloriana. This is the least he could do. ]

I'm Alva, by the way. Is it safe to assume you can fight? There's an interestingly high ratio of soldiers on the ship's crew that I've noticed.

[alterplex]

[ A nurse. It's a respectable title; after all, soldiers rely on the patient eye of a medic to get them back home in one piece. ]

Ahab. Your offer's appreciated.

[ His name, followed by an easy indication of gratitude. He's aware that these tasks can be thankless. ]

And you'd be assuming right. I've noticed the high ratio of military personnel, but in this case, it seems like an advantage.

[procedures]

[ Ahab - why does it ring familiarly? ]

Like the guy in that novel about a whale? Dick something? [ It's 3400+ where he's from, it's quite literally ancient text back home. ] I've only read quotes and a summary about that book. Were you named after it?

Sorry, that was digressing.

Military and medical personnel makes sense on a ship like this, that's true. It doesn't explain the distinctly non-combative part of the population, though.

I saw we have children on board. [ He has feelings about that. ]

[alterplex]

[ He smiles wryly to himself at the beginning of this text; what a digression, but it's not inaccurate. It's also obvious to anyone from his time (and thereafter, he supposes), so he has this to say about the observation: ]

'Moby Dick'.

It's a heavy-handed namesake.

[ That's not exactly a "don't read the book" (if Alva can even find a copy), and simultaneously an incredibly obtuse way to answer a simple yes or no question, but let it never be said that Venom isn't roundabout when he needs to be. With that out of the way— ]

Right. The children are the ones that need to be kept away from here.

It's that or teach them self-defense. Not too keen on the latter.

[procedures]

I'll take your word for it. [ What kind of name is Moby? ] And neither am I, actually. About kids having to fight.

[ It's... he hesitates to call it refreshing, considering the situation involves facing possible death. Being able to defend oneself is commendable, true, and it definitely couldn't hurt, but when the context necessitates for it— when the context means fighting when one is too young—

Self-defense is the pragmatic, practical choice. As a father himself, it's not the choice Alva would like to make. ]

The kids here shouldn't have to fight at all.

[alterplex]

[ Children are impressionable. Put something in their hands, and their innate curiosity molds them to the learning process; they're coerced into bearing arms the way some kids take to sports. "Line up your shot, then go for it" can just as easily be a description for sniping as much as it can be for something as innocuous as basketball, after all.

Venom is aware, because he's seen children who barely reach his hip reach for rifle magazines in the same way they would to a snack, a book. Their lives are that cheap: roughly the worth of a few bullets.

He's not fond of it. ]

Which is why this should be taken care of.

One less thing for the kids to worry about.