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

[soothing]

If Betty were herself, she would worry more about whoever would miss her than herself. Bruce would... well, Bruce wasn't someone anyone wanted to upset. He had been left back on the ship and after this, maybe she won't be going off on her own anytime soon. It'll be bad enough when he finds out what happened. Then there are the others -- Frodo, Bran, Nill. Strider, Gwen, Pepper, even Tony -- people she cares about, people she worries for. Would they be able to handle it?

But Betty's not herself. At long last, Elizabeth Ross is something like the soldier her father always wanted, following orders without question.

The prods are swept to the side and she's moving to pick them up again when John grabs her again. Once again she tries to pull herself free, eyes narrowing, paying the phaser no attention. If he doesn't hurry, more will arrive for him soon.

[theblogger]

This time, he's not letting go. He gets that they need to move. Maybe if he can get back to the shuttles... maybe he can get a few people together and come back. Because if she's like this, how many others are? ...What if Sherlock's one of them? Thinking of seeing his friend like this...

No, buck up, Watson. Keep calm.

John's a soldier, but he's no one's but his own at the moment. She leans down and he wrenches her up, stepping toward the exit and, yes, dragging her with him. It's clear she's not going to cooperate with him, but how well is she going to fight? If he has to, he'll shoot her and carry her. Stunned is better than fighting him every step of the way.

[soothing]

Even as part of the hive, Betty's strength has always been her mind and her emotions, not her physicality. Still, she tries -- John drags and she struggles, tries to punch him in the face with her other hand. It's a well-formed punch, at least, with surprising strength behind it, but the angle of her arm is all wrong.

If she can slow him down, the hive will come. He will be assimilated and join them, and he will understand why she had to do it.

You may want to just stun her, John.