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[When Liquid posts things, he's usually on video, often looking pretty damn smug or something. Today, he is not. He doesn't sound so good, either. In fact, he sort of sounds weak. The FOXDIE cure apparently has a few side-effects here, but hey, at least he's not kicking the bucket out of nowhere like his father. In the background can be heard some barking, and some music. Some pretty loud music. Sorry, roommates.]

Ugh. What a great time to still be ill.

First, I want to throw my opinion down on the pile that this splitting into hastily-chosen teams thing is bloody stupid. There's no point in splitting up if we're not going to actually involve things people specialize in. But even if I'm supposed to be bedridden I want to make it clear I am not down for the count. I'm available for whatever I can manage. That just... probably won't include any actual combat. Beyond that, I have plenty of leadership experience and if you need some advice, or just want me to tell you what to do, I'm your man.

[He pauses for a moment because of a coughing fit.]

Second, whoever sent the music, I really appreciate it right now. Can't believe I've never heard of this "Slash Monkey" before.

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The strongest man to ever live once said, "Human strength lies in the ability to change yourself." It is through adversity and challenge that human beings are capable of changing and adapting, and becoming powerful. This was the lesson my Sensei taught me when I first became his disciple. It is effectively a draft, and a draft is indiscriminate - this is efficient in this situation due to the severe limit on time, as every moment that would be spent on organizing people based on skill is better spent preparing our strategies instead and having the people within those groups fall into the different subsections of strategy as they see fit.

This is a trying time. People are in situations that are unfamiliar to them. They are tasked with things that they have never had to endure before. However, this means that they will be faced with hardship and will go stronger for it. This decision is not made of wisdom, but of haste and necessity, and necessity is a more important factor than picking the wisest possible move. We are, after all, not playing a game of chess where each player may ponder at length over the strength of each individual piece - we are encountering a direct threat that will bear down on us the moment they are able to catch up and make contact. We must act fast and complaints should be put to the wayside and instead, those who have been drafted to different teams must work on fitting themselves into the strategy in a way that only they can--

[This guy just likes to hear himself talk, apparently, because there's no indication he's stopping after all this rambling]

[New rule: no one can ever say Liquid talks too much. Ever.]

No.

[Even at his worst, he's pretty sure he's never given a speech like this one. He coughs, then speaks.]

It's not like we've got to bloody test people on their aptitude. Trying to organize people like this is just going to make everyone run around like chickens with their heads cut off and even the people in charge have no clue what they're doing.

My point is that it's not an aptitude test, but a hardship to be overcome. We cannot sit idly by and wish that the situation was more favorable, and time wasted on trying to organize people based on skill after the fact is a waste of time. People will learn to adapt despite what they might "specialize" in, and they may be able to provide unconventional support.

If you wanted the crew organized based on skill, then you should have advocated it be done before a crisis situation. The leadership is lacking the organization in that regard, but your complaints are ultimately useless at this point in time.

You're ultimately useless.

[He's sick, and 'better comebacks' are not a symptom.]

It's not organized at all. They just chopped everyone up into smaller chunks and it does nothing except make the captains feel like they're doing something. Should have just forgone that entirely.

We're being given a few supposed-to-be-seperate options and being told to choose one when the real answer is a little of each.

[And then he starts coughing again.]

[ Snake keeps his response to audio, much for the same reason. While he's done a decent job of keeping himself together despite the urge to hurl every few hours, he definitely doesn't look or feel his best at the moment. ]

So, you got the shot too?

[ As convoluted as this whole team setup might be, the one upside is that Snake doesn't have to pretend to coordinate with Liquid on anything. ]

[Snake sounds about as good as he feels.]

No, actually, I decided I'd try the holistic method because I've forgotten how dying feels and I'd like to try it again.

Or, ugh, that's what it feels like. Like it's all just drawn out.

[Or he's just being dramatic.]

I don't think I've even been this ill in my life.

[ It's surprising that the FOXDIE hadn't taken effect with Liquid already. It had clearly still been active, judging from what happened to Big Boss. Maybe Liquid is immune to it seeing that it already claimed his life once, but Snake can't necessarily blame him for not wanting to take any chances. ]

I have, a few times, but that doesn't make it any more pleasant this time.

[ And those other times had all been due to drinking way too much for his own good, which he doesn't need to share with Liquid. ]

Doc said it shouldn't last more than a week, at least.

[ Which, if he's being honest, feels like an eternity right now. ]

[Liquid's just as surprised as Snake is, really. From his own experience with the virus (and the fact that his body seemed no different to how it was when he died), he should have been dead within hours of coming onto the ship. So far, his best guess is something with the checkup when he got on must have stalled it or something.

But he's no scientist.]

Really? Hm.

[Well, at least he doesn't ask for details, right? He doesn't want details. When he's being all sick he doesn't need to hear stories of being all sick. Bleh.]

Huh. She told me two weeks. Suppose it's not like they've got some kind of benchmark to test it against, though.

[It might be even worse.]

She was pretty vague about it.

[ Meaning they don't know for certain when they'll start to feel better, which is... great, really. Just wonderful.

Normally Snake wouldn't bother talking to Liquid about something like this, but his twin happens to be the only one who has any clue of what he's suffering through right now, and at least the conversation takes his mind off of how awful he feels. ]

If getting rid of FOXDIE is like this, you've gotta wonder what it's gonna be like when she rewrites our genes or... whatever.

[ Look, he's not a scientist either. ]

Probably because she doesn't even know. We're always going to be bloody experiments.

[Not that this particularly bothers him, beyond how it feels in the moment. He jumped at the chance to get the cure in the first place. But, obviously, he's not in anything resembling a good mood right now.

He's not exactly keen on talking to Snake about the ordeal either, but at least there's something nice in commiseration. And he likes complaining.]

...Ugh, I don't even want to think about it. Of course the end result's ideal, but who knows what it's going to take to get there?

[Right now, it seems like it could be the worst thing in the universe. Even all the torture he's gone through in the past, who knows if it'll compare? This is already pretty bad, and that's just for one virus.]

[ Snake generally isn't one to complain. Normally he would suffer in silence, but at least he knows that there's someone else going through as much hell as he is, and it's someone he doesn't particularly like.

Just let him be petty about this.

We're always going to be bloody experiments. Well, Snake really can't argue with that. It leaves a bad taste in his mouth, but it's true all the same. ]

Yeah, better than sticking with the expiration date they gave us. I just hope the doc knows what she's doing.

[ It had been difficult to trust her, but desperation had pushed Snake in that direction. Now he just had to hope he wouldn't regret it, as he had so many other things. ]

She sounds like she does. And if she doesn't? We die like we're meant to and all that's changed is we were getting sick everywhere for a bit.

[Not very optimistic, and he'd rather not think in those terms, but it's a distinct possibility. And optimism's hard to maintain, in this condition or otherwise.

He starts retching and turns the audio off for a moment before switching it back on.]

She's the only hope we've got for now, and I'm willing to take the chance.

[He was finished with dying the first time.]

[ They would die like they were meant to. Snake dwells on that for only a few moments. He's already accepted that they were created with a very specific purpose in mind, that they were fashioned as tools rather than people. He's been made to feel that way enough times in his life to know how true it is.

While Liquid cuts the audio before he starts outright vomiting, that retching sound is still enough to set off a chain reaction. Snake quickly moves to the bathroom and goes through another round of unsatisfying dry heaving.

Yeah, this is pretty awful, even for him.

Eventually he sends a reply, still voice-only and somewhat strained. ] Yeah, not like we've got much of a choice. [ Story of his life, it seems. ]

[Has Liquid ever actually puked this much? If at all? He's not sure if he has. He's pretty sure he'd remember if he'd felt like this before. Probably had a pretty damn good immune system. Even dying wasn't this bad, except for the fact that it was dying.

Now that's something to think about.]

It's our best shot. It's nice even having a shot.

[Better than taking up residence in an old man's body.]

...But I can still complain about it because right now it's bloody terrible.

[ It's true that they could just as easily have been left with no options, no way to get rid of FOXDIE or repair their genes. Snake is very aware of how lucky they are, and he has to wonder if he'll be that lucky back home.

Whatever gets undone here, will it last when he returns? Some of the people here seem to think that it won't, but he may as well at least try. ]

I'm more annoyed by the timing. It looks like this mess with the Caducans is going to turn into a fight.

[ It's in his nature to be pessimistic. ]

[As far as Liquid knows (or cares), he's got nothing to lose. Either he goes back to being dead and things work out just like they would have otherwise, except he's had a little time to be alive again, or he'll come back alive and can pick up where he left off.]

Yeah, if it doesn't turn out that way I'd be bloody surprised. Not to say I've never been surprised, but it's pretty unlikely it won't.

[He pauses, tries unsuccessfully to hold down a cough.]

I really don't want to miss all the action.

[ Well, those are two points that the two of them can miraculously agree on, not that Snake is going to admit to it. They might be in the same sorry state right now, but that has everything to do with their genes and nothing to do with any compatibility as siblings. ]

Guess you'll just have to try and sleep this off, then.

[ That's Snake's plan, at least.

Suffice to say he's glad that they're not on the same planning teams. He'd hate to have to acknowledge that Liquid can be a good strategist when he wants to be. ]

Guess so. Let's hope it helps as much as it should.

[He doesn't want to sleep and potentially miss everything from the planning stage to the actual battle, but it's not like he has much of a choice either way. At least this way he'll probably have a better chance at getting better in time to actually assist with the fighting.

Maybe.]

Actually... it's probably a good idea. I think all this retching tired me out. Or just. Life in general.

[He's never sounded so... almost defeated.]

[ Life in general has a way of doing that, but Snake isn't feeling much better. His plan is to sleep when he can, but keep an eye on any planning that crops up. He isn't the leader type anyway, so he'll wait for that position to be assigned and then wait for the ball to get rolling. ]

Vomiting has a way of doing that.

[ You know, with the dehydration and all. ]

I'm gonna give this whole rest thing a shot.

[ Saying goodbye like a normal person apparently isn't possible when he's speaking to Liquid. It's because Snake would rather not imply any level of common courtesy between them. ]

Yeah, me too.

[Generally he's more inclined to say goodbye when he feels like he's got some kind of upper hand, and he doesn't feel like he has anything of the sort right now.

Sick and tired, that's him. He just hangs up.]

Solid Snake told me that you'd be sick after being inoculated.

Did he. Well, he's right. I feel like rubbish but at least I'm not dying.

Small favors, huh.

I talked down Ocelot, by the way. Kept him occupied.

Yeah.

Good. The last thing I'd want to do is deal with him in this condition. Any news on fa-- Ishmael?

No. None.

I'm starting to think he's not going to wake up.

[Again.]

[And he's also not sure that he should. That it sounds like all that's ahead of him is disaster if he's not kept in check. And Ocelot sure isn't going to be anything other than a manipulative yes-man.]

[Selfishly, he hopes he does, though.]

So do you need anything from the Mess? I have nothing to do.

[And it's driving him crazy because he's a workaholic.]

Don't give up on him just yet. They shoved my brother into the freezer for a good few weeks and he wasn't even dead.

[Liquid might hate his father and everything, but he also knows what it's like when someone you care about dies. It sucks. It sucks even more when you die not too long after them, but still. This ship still has a chance for something like hope.

Disgustingly optimistic, but a possibility nonetheless.]

I've mostly been eating toast, crackers, bland stuff. I'm not going to say no to having some stuff brought over. I really don't want to get out of bed right now. Maybe some pretzels? Thanks.

I'll bring you by some crackers and I can make some pho.

One of the better things to keep you hydrated while you're sick.

[And something he's pretty sure he wouldn't have a problem holding down.]

Getting the royal treatment here, am I?

[That sounds pretty damn good, even to his upset stomach.]

I... appreciate it. Really. Thank you.

My mother used to make me soup when I was sick. Before I started having to take care of her.

I got pretty good at the recipe.

I'll see what bowls they have in the kitchens and when I'm done with kitchen duty I'll bring it by.

I don't think I've really ever been ill enough to need soup. Not that I can remember, anyway.

[Never had a motherly type to make it for him either if he had.]

Sounds like a good skill to have. Thanks.

[As much as he resists the identity of "motherly type" he's a man that brings people soup when they're sick and throws birthday parties and makes sure his soldiers get to play sports or at least get told they're doing a good job.]

[He's very much a mother.]

Give me about a half hour.

[Liquid can't really be all that picky on the 'substitute mother' front. This is fine.]

Take your time. I'm clearly not going anywhere.

[Not at the moment, anyway. Occasionally he's felt better enough to go out on his own, but this is not one of those times.]

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