03 ▒ EVENT: STRELA OUTPOST ▒ ASSIMILATION

[ataraxites]

CHARACTERS: Ensemble production!
LOCATION: Strela Outpost.
WARNINGS: Mind horror, hivemindery, etc.
SUMMARY: Communal brainwashing.
NOTES: Divided by locations; players are free to indicate which day/stage, and to begin new subthreads wherever they'd like!

Looks like the authorities have apprehended you and have brought you in for processing. After being forced to wait in the waiting room, you're brought to the assimilation room - a terrible white cell, where you're trapped for hours, sentenced to be slowly stripped of your individuality.

Comments

Locked to Riddick

[suddenlycaptain]

[ Her head is pounding with every beat of her heart but Carolyn has to keep moving. Really, she's one of the lucky ones; she'd struggled but hadn't been deemed enough of a threat for the people who took her away to be cruel with their cattle prods, only leaving stinging taps instead of letting them rest on her skin and burning. She'd gone for her belt, for the claw tucked away within it, and they'd whacked a prod down onto her hand -- she needs her hands to fly and they aren't covered by the black jumpsuits the Tranquility provides, and so her hands had become their target and Carolyn had quickly learned to walk quietly.

Not so anymore. She isn't sure how those red words came across the white (endless white, like papers she would see in the office between trips, like the light at the end of the tunnel that she doesn't remember seeing, like light she hopes burned every last one of those fucking things on that fucking planet). She'll think about it later. For now she has three miles of space station to get across to get back to the shuttles (don't you dare try to leave me again, she thinks, disoriented) and the station residents have noticed that something's wrong. That claw is clutched tight in her hand now, her only real weapon other than the judo moves she's begun to learn. At least she can fight back against these, might stand a chance. Might, but she's dizzy and stumbles, her empty hand going to support herself on the wall. There are some shadows and she forces herself to move into them, that hand coming up to rub at her forehead while she leans against the wall. She should be safe enough to take a breather here in the dark, just for a little bit. ]

[20mentholkools]

[In his months on the Tranquility, Riddick hasn't had need to fight much. He knows enough from his various dealings with mercs and bounty hunters - sometimes letting them think they've got you and slipping away when their backs are turned is quicker and easier than fighting them at the start. And there was no one hunting him here, enough shadows to keep him hidden, and picking some unnecessary fight was just a quick way to get yourself more noticed than you wanted.

He'd stuck with that when he'd been caught out in the docking yard. Tucked his device away to keep what information he'd found safe and held his hands out, open and empty, like a good little prisoner. They hadn't needed to hit him with one of those cattleprods once, and he'd been able to keep his attention on where they were taking him, and the way back.

But he hadn't expected the room he'd ended up in. The pressure in his head - in his mind - and it was all too familiar, the probing cold of the quasi-deads searching for his name, his past, his heritage. This hadn't wanted to know him, though. It had wanted to break him, to wipe him clean and collar him. He'd fought the quasi-deads and he'd fought that white room, every bit of energy he had, until finally it cracked, until there was red writing and a door. He didn't have time to question it. He took an escape when he saw it.

He had no intention of seeing if it would happen like that again. Worked his way back to the shuttles carefully, sticking to the shadows, but these people were everywhere now, hunting, and he's had to take out a couple as he's moved through. He hasn't got the time or the inclination to keep an eye out for anyone else that might not be capable of doing the same, keeping their own skin safe, but he'd been telling them that on the network for months.

Dirty blonde hair, though, that catches his eye, and Carolyn's moving like she's injured. A weapon in her hand, but she isn't paying attention, and her attempt to hide in the shadows is too little too late. The guy attempting to follow her only makes it four steps away, though, before Riddick's forced a shiv up through the base of his skull. He drops to the floor, limp and heavy, and Riddick crouches down to pull the blade free before looking over at Carolyn.]

Keep moving.

[suddenlycaptain]

[ She hears the sound, blades through flesh and bone, and while she turns her free hand covers her scars. It's a sound she hasn't wanted to relive, not so soon, but here it is anyway -- but it's not her being impaled this time. She watches as the man falls to the ground, watches the bloody shiv as it's pulled out of the back of his head, hand dropping back down to her side. Riddick. Either the pain or the shock has her blink at him once before she nods, adjusts her grip on the claw. ]

You're coming with.

[ No "thank you" because that's not how they work; in all honesty, gratitude still makes her a little queasy. But just as she doesn't want to be left behind, Carolyn doesn't want to leave him behind, either. If he wants her to keep moving, he'll have to come with.

Alayne had called Riddick Lone Wolf and she had been amused, perhaps more than she should have been. It fits; snapping jaws and an intimidating voice, a pack animal who doesn't trust any pack. He doesn't have to trust her, though. He doesn't have to heel, to listen to any orders she barks out; she knows better than to expect either. Right now though, he either follows or she ignores his own order. She doesn't know what she is, if Riddick's a lone wolf, but she knows she has a better chance at getting back to the shuttles if she's with him. Better him than anyone else. Better alone than anyone else, unless anyone else kills that efficiently. She can't do much more than direct others past her in the right direction now, not with her lack of combat experience, and people are panicked -- she doesn't know if they'll even listen.

She's not, she reflects, has firmly pushed the decision back in his hands. She's not going to start leaving him behind now, doesn't want to head back because she heard him shouting, doesn't want to find him covered in his own blood and definitely, absolutely does not want to die for him again. No, this time they stick together. This time neither of them gets pulled away. ]

[20mentholkools]

[Five years ago, they'd been like this together, running from a mass threat. Less than a year ago, Riddick had been like this with Kyra, running from the heat of Crematoria's sun across the craggy surface of the planet. But these people are not that hellfire, not those beautiful predators. Something like drones, working together to a central cause, but still just people. And Riddick was very good at killing people.

He wipes the shiv off on the fabric of the dead guy's shirt, then stands, head turning away slightly to look back the way they'd come.]

Gonna slow me down, Carolyn.

[She'd come back for him, once, a long time ago. Died for the effort, and that hadn't been right, it wasn't meant to be for him. He doesn't want that again, but he isn't going to repay the favour, isn't going to die because he had dead weight dragging him back.]

[suddenlycaptain]

I didn't say wait for me.

[ It's snapped out, the pain and the stress making her irritable. She had said "come with", don't stay behind, keep moving so she doesn't have to go back and find you again. She knows better than to expect him to wait, to drag her along to the shuttles. She knows better than to think that he'll make sure she's there before leaving.

Honestly, she's not even sure why he stepped in to keep that person from killing her, but he did. It doesn't make up for what she did for him, because that's not the same "sacrifice", but she notes it. Appreciates it, even as she glares at him. Then she pushes herself off the wall, readjusts her grip on the claw (it feels foreign in her hand, not like it's part of her; she needs to learn how to really use something like it effectively) and starts moving. ] You coming?

[20mentholkools]

[Strong survival instinct. He'd told her he admired that, once. It hadn't been strong enough, though, had it. Needed skill and sense to back it up. She had enough of the former, but the latter had gotten lost somewhere in the moment when she decided to come back for him - for him.

He isn't interested in repaying that favour, and she can make it out of this one without him, he thinks. But he isn't interested in seeing her die again, either.

He doesn't answer. The shiv is tucked back in his clothes, and he follows.]