thisavrou | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

☄ Audio

[Niko has had a little bit of a confusing week. He didn't expect to be asked along on a diplomatic mission; usually not anything he's good at (in his mind). But he came along, figuring he was there as bodyguard more than anything else.]

[But now he's returned, and he wants to check in.]

Hey, ah.... So I just got back. I had to go with Thán for a mission and now he has a new boyfriend for peace purposes I guess. I am not really sure what happened there. Sort of like an arranged marriage? [He's actually kind of suspicious of this whole-matchmaking thing now. He's always disliked match-making on some level, but there is something deeply unsettling about it here. Just how mandatory and committing it seems.]

[He doesn't hate the match he was given, not at all. But he knows there might be people they're even better suited to.]

Look, I am a little nervous about this big business here. Capitalism is shit, government is shit, and is bad enough when taking advantage of lonely people. But I think we are going to have to be sure to be good to the new guy because we saw what happened the last time we fucked up diplomacy.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Shit, I knew there was something fishy about this place. That survey...the mandatoryness of it? Considering we haven't paid them anything, I'm not sure what their angle is...but I don't like it.

[Ratchet comes from a world where big business was the de facto driving force of the socio-economy. He knows how to be suspicious of anything with logo attached to it. He hesitates for the briefest of moments.]

What happened at the meeting? Are you allowed to talk about it?

Nothing very dramatic. Just that Thán was matched but other captains were not. [He's still curious about that.] To prove the match is good, and show they have faith in this [bullshit] system, they send this man. This man is the son of Frederick Link, person who is company owner.

Basically we will have financial royalty on board.

[And it's very dubious to him.]

Right. Fantastic.

[Ratchet rolls his eyes; maybe Link'd Inc. was on the up and up. Something like this seemed so blatantly suspicious that it almost seemed impossible that anyone would do it on purpose and not realise their actions would be suspect.]

And we're supposed to trust this man? Let him onto our ship without knowing anything about him?

It is this or we give them personal information about those that have access to the Ingress, to those who fly the ship.

[He can see where this was the slightly better option.]

Sounds like blackmail, not goodwill.

[A pause.]

But I guess we don't have much of a choice either way. Did you meet him? The guy they're sending, I mean. Frederick Link.

[Which sounds made up.]

Eh. You are not from a country where arranged marriages are a common thing. Even in modern times, people will marry off their children so that they go to new homes, new places.

This is the son of Frederick Link. Youngest, actually. Raised and bred for leadership. You know those special children their company can make? He is one. They had trouble with him in their match system, though, and Thán has been their first chance.

[Despite the explanation that made it all seem commonplace and even potentially advantageous (at least in some cultures), Ratchet wasn't sure he liked it. Things distantly resembling this kind of romantic match-making certainly existed in his universe, but, strictly as an elective. The compulsory nature of Emiri's main business, this idea of finding your one match...was all distinctly, and uncomfortably alien.]

Right. The son of Frederick Link. The - genetically engineered - son of Frederick Link is being sent away from his home...to what? To see other places? This place is technologically advanced...they can't need him to be matched just to travel.

What kind of trouble did they have with matching him?

[Considering the completely irreverant disregard he had treated his own survey with, (and yet it somehow still spat a match at him) Ratchet has a hard time seeing the system having trouble with someone for no good reason. And equally suspicious that it suddenly didn't, when a stranger going on a long journey appears.]

I'm not sure.

I do know that these are wealthy, powerful people, though. If we treat their son like shit, or hurt him? this will be yet another planet with bad rap for us.

[He's not a huge fan of arranged marriage, but he does know that it has its place. This technically isn't one, but it's close enough. Than took this guy with him.]

I am not sure what trouble. They did not say.

Yeah. [Ratchet shakes his head, not liking it. Not liking how they didn't seem to have any choice or say in any of this at all. Not that that was anything new.] I mean, I don't think we should treat him like shit, it's just...I think we need to be careful. This guy could be here just to get information about us. About the captains.

About this ship.

[By now a lot of them knew the ship was unique, after all. Whether that was valuable information to someone, somewhere, was worth considering.]

I agree with you and am thinking the same.

But I am also thinking of diplomacy first this time. [He's seen a lot of bosses start gang wars by accident. It isn't pretty. And he really doesn't want a repeat of the last planet.]

You are in good position to watch for anything strange?

As good as any. [Unseen, he drags a hand down his face. The last thing he wanted was another disastrous PR incident. They had to handle things better this time...assuming it came to that, that is.] Diplomacy I agree with. I just worry the captains don't. They didn't handle that last one so hot.

But...yeah. I'll keep a look out, even if I have...no idea what I'm looking for anymore.

To be honest at this rate I do not either. We have so much strange shit that I never know what to be prepared for. If man takes over ship I guess someone will figure it out soon enough.

Probably a bad idea with some of the people on board.

...Actually sending him with us is a big risk. Assassins? People who are strong enough to break buildings? Bounty Hunters? Gods? Thieves? Murderers? Pirates? And then creepy things in locked rooms? What is wrong with his parents?

I hope his parents aren't just trying to get rid of him.

Well. I guess to be honest it did not seem diplomatic to mention all of those things on board. But ah... people gave a lot of personal information anyway. They can look it up.

Aha, right...personal information. [Ratchet would like to think that people on board had been smart enough to not just pour their heart and soul into those surveys but...well. It wasn't fair to assume they all came from cultures that might take advantage of that kind of thing, either.] What's your read on all that...do they really seem like they believe in this matchmaking that Link'd Inc. does?

I don't don't if this is just a cultural gap, or what, but I can't get my head around how an entire planet's worth of people could put their faith in a glorified dating site.

They are sending him to prove they believe in it.

But I do not.

A person is who they are for today. Tomorrow, they will not be exactly the same. Nor the day after. Two people who have all things in common may not connect in emotions, and someone who connects in emotions may be just too fucked up to handle a relationship with someone else.

Or nothing in common at all, and all the right feelings. They're trying to turn something really insubstantial into a commodity...pretty messed up if you ask me.

I like your thinking, but I bet Link'd Inc doesn't. That kind of thinking can't fit into their system very well. [He frowns.] I wonder what they do if someone doesn't like who they pick.

I don't know what it means for them. For us, this will end when we go.

But as with any place with arranged relationships, it is more of a complicated subject than to just say it is wrong. To those sorts of places, people are expected to learn to love each other. It is obligation, and it is this obligation and common interest that lets them fall in love.

Is sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. If they act like they believe it hard enough, if people think they believe it. Then the two people who hope and want can find love for each other.

But then sometimes you end up with some asshole who ends up beating the shit out of his wife. [Like his father.] And it makes you a bad guy to leave so she must do what is necessary to make it work.

Well, if I wasn't sold on the idea before...

[He frowns, hopes Niko doesn't take his sarcasm as dismissive.]

Seriously, though. Complex or not, it's hard to ignore a ship full of people who feel like they're being strong-armed into something they don't want to do. [He thinks of Jacky messaging him, near hysterical when she'd gotten the news. Sure it wasn't life or death, it wasn't being forced with a gun to your head or being told to murder people, but...well, nobody liked being forced to do something they didn't want to do.]

Yes.

I guess we know a lot about what that's like, don't we?

[Sort of sad about that.]

Yeah. I guess we do.

[Way too much, really.]

I can't decide if that puts us at an advantage or not.

I have been through a lot of shit in my life. As long as I can remember. I think if it did not put me at some advantage, I would have nothing.

[At least experience is something.]

Hm. That's one way of looking at it. Not a bad way, really. [Ratchet pauses, curiosity pushing a question forward, although he's uncertain if he should ask it.]

Niko... [He hesitates.] What did you do before you came here?

[It's not a loaded question. Niko's comments, on top of of others he's made in the past, have made Ratchet realise he doesn't know much about him, and that clearly, there's a lot to know.]

Do you really want to know?

[He asks, knowing Ratchet is not a fan of certain behaviors. And despite what Ratchet has read publicly, maybe he wouldn't actually want to hear about it.]

Yes. Of course.

[It does give him pause though, but at this point, he'd rather know then not know.]

audio;

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject