(no subject)

[notyourrookie]

[Wash appears on the screen, grudgingly out of armour, his face drawn and pinched around the mouth. He looks exhausted, eyes sunken and dark with exhaustion. Arriving here is just one more thing that seems specifically designed to fuck up his life.]

My name is Ag- [No, he's not Agent Washington anymore is he? He's not with the UNSC. He's not with project Freelancer. He's not anything.] My name is Washington.

They said that- [He can't believe he's saying this. His life is a fucking joke and his death will probably be the punchline. Until then, he is stuck dealing with this shit. Assuming he hasn't snapped altogether. That's also a possibility.]

They said that I have been sucked in through some kind of bullshit dimension hopping. [Yes, his teeth are gritted as he says it.] I'm looking for anyone who knows what the UNSC is.

[It's not that he wants to find anyone from home. There's no-one he cares for left alive and even then... well, he tries not to think about them too much. But he just needs someone to remind him that that wasn't all fictional.]

Comments

video;

[startpoint]

[ Seeing Wash on the network is enough of a relief that Carolina doesn't even think about what version of her friend she might be looking at. So of course she sends out a reply as quickly as she can. ]

Wash, it's good to see you're alright. Where are you?

video;

[notyourrookie]

[Wash just stares at her for a long moment, shock on his face, before he carefully, deliberately, switches off the camera and audio.

Well, that answers that question. This is not real. hunting down Epsilon has finally got to him and he just... he can't. He isn't doing this again. He's not talking to ghosts.]

video;

[startpoint]

[ Well that was unexpected. But now she's remembering how she reacted to seeing York and what she's been told about the Ingress's bad habit of pulling people in from various points in time. Time for take two. ]

Washington, please answer me. I promise you aren't hallucinating. Just... tell me the last time you saw me.

action;

[infailtration]

[ Wash isn't the first one to contact Carolina, York is. Because he went through the rest of the public replies and saw Wash basically blame her for their deaths -- and that's unacceptable. Friend or not, Wash is getting punched in the fucking face when York sees him again.

He knocks on Carolina's door hoping she's still there. ]

'Lina? It's me.

action;

[startpoint]

[ York's timing is impeccable for once. What Wash said had hurt because it wasn't anything she hadn't thought at some point. She'd failed their entire team too many times to count because she hadn't been objective enough to see what was really happening.

When York knocks she's in the middle of getting ready to go for a run. It feels slightly less self destructive than punching the walk. Again. She was going to have a find way to fix that dent. She's tempted to stay quiet, pretend she isn't there except she knows he'll start trying her TAB. ]

Come in if you want.

text

[nishizono]

i'm guessing that's not the united nations security council

text

[notyourrookie]

United Nations Space Command.

[nishizono]

well that one i've never heard of yet
what's it for?

text;

[ventifact]

looks like that dimension hopping hit you harder than most
your first time?

text;

[notyourrookie]

What? I mean, I've been in slipspace before. I don't feel too bad.

[Sorry Rey, he just looks dreadful generally.]

text;

[ventifact]

slipspace? like hyperspace?
the nausea wears off eventually
just maybe don't eat right away

video;

[infailtration]

[ It's a surprise to see a post from Wash on the network. He's been here before, according to Tex, but like with Carolina it seems he doesn't remember that now. And he looks... a wreck, really. It makes York wonder what's happened to him, and when he's from. Is he going to think he's seeing a ghost if York replies?

He can't not message his friend, though. ]

Hey, Wash. Long time no see... we should talk about that bullshit dimension hopping.

video;

[notyourrookie]

[Why this? Why now? He'd been getting better! Not great. He doesn't think he'll ever be great again. But better. Maybe Alpha knocked something loose in his head.]

You're dead. I already told her I'm not going this again.

Re: video;

[infailtration]

[ Her? He could mean either Tex or Carolina, really, but it doesn't matter. At least Wash answered him, even if he thinks he's going crazy. And there's the guilt -- that he wasn't there for his friend after Epsilon drove him mad, that he brought down the Project without going back for Wash. He has so much to apologize for that he needs to do in person.

It isn't easy to confront his death again, like he has to do every time someone shows. York sets his jaw and breathes out, then nods. ]

Tex told me, yeah... but I'm not dead here. We all come from different times and I'm not dead yet. So get your ass down to the Ingress Complex and let me prove it.

[notglitching]

UNSC: referenced by prior imports.

Query. No previous memory of "bullshit dimension hopping"?

[That is. A familiar ID.]

[notyourrookie]

[What the hell?]

What else should I call it? I got dragged here supposedly to another dimension. The whole situation is bullshit.

text; (as I obviously definitely didn't forget to put before)

[notglitching]

Not the query.

[...even if he's increasingly sure of the answer.]

Familiarity of terms: Ingress, Moira?

Video

[beautifulspaceraptor]

I know of UNSC.

[ Hello, yes, it's another person who's met a version of you. ]

I'm thinking you don't remember me, though.

[ Different face, too. Looks like another case of Multiple Shepards. ]

Re: Video

[notyourrookie]

[Well, that's someone at least, but not any alien species Wash has ever seen.]

Can't say that I do.

video;

[tearsinajar]

[ Excuse her while she appears on screen as she's chuckling, a quiet little wheezing sound. Realizing the TAB is live, Elena straightens up where she's bundled in her blanket on the couch. ]

S-sorry— that's just the first time I've heard of it described as 'bullshit dimension hopping'. I gotta ask though, what's UNSC stand for?

video;

[notyourrookie]

I'm not sure what else I would call it.

United Nations Space Command.

[video]

[soldiergenes]

[ Well then. It seems like this is something that Snake has to get used to happening from time to time -- people coming back, that is. First Big Boss, now Wash, although in this case he doesn't seem to remember his time here.

That, or he doesn't realize that this is the same crap, different setting. Last time Wash had been caught up in all this, they'd still been on the Moira.

Well, there's only one way to find out, and Snake doesn't have the same reservations here as he did with Ocelot. He sends a video message. ]

Wash? This is probably a long shot, but do you remember me?

[ They were roommates once, and they'd gotten along as well as two people like them could. ]

[video]

[notyourrookie]

[Another one. Well, today has already been full of surprises and that uncomfortable feeling that everyone else knows more than you do. What's one more?]

No. I don't.

voice; for reasons, obviously.

[shadowblends]

Washington? Like the state or the president?

[He could go on, but those examples seem to be enough.] I've never heard of the 'UNSC' and I'm sorry to have to confirm this, but it's not nonsense at all-- you've really been pulled through the Ingress and are now on an alien planet.

Not exactly what I had in mind when I imagined 'space travel' myself. It's been an ... interesting ride so far, though.

Re: voice; for reasons, obviously.

[notyourrookie]

The State.

I didn't say it was nonsense. I said it was bullshit.

[There is a difference. Real things can be bullshit.]

Space travel isn't that interesting anyway.