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

[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.]