Open Post 002

[2020mod]

• Step one: start a thread in this post!
• Step two: specify who the thread is for (or open) in this post!
• Step three: make people reply to this post!
• AND THAT'S THE WAY YOU DO IT.


And don't forget, there's still the ooc discussion post! And nothing needs to be contained to this post! Create new logs to your heart's content! This AU is yours, so have at it!


musebox • rules • character list

Comments

so open

[motherofnemesis]

a. the resistance fighter.

She's traveled far and wide over the past decade, through most of the states and occasionally out into the world beyond, up and down and once she took a vacation and lost herself somewhere in Southeast Asia for almost four months, out of all contact. That had been after her first brief stint with capture. She'd needed the space.

But The City always calls her back again (and that's how she thinks of it in her head, always - The City, all capitals and stark sternness, architect of her character as it shaped her over the years, dark alleys and bright skyscrapers and all the lies she's ever told in it). She thinks they all come back, in the end, even the ones who proclaim themselves safe and well away. It's hard not to.

Mostly she comes here on business, these days. It's too dangerous to wander back for no reason. It's even more dangerous to stay here, as she's done for a fair part of the past six months, but there were things that had to be done, that still have to be done. Most of her time is spent working, hidden away in either her own base or with someone else in theirs, a mix of trying to crack through security from afar and going out on missions to crack through it in person. Right now information is what's needed, and she'll find it if she can.

Some of those bases aren't particularly easy to get into, but her own - Max remains as easily accessible as she can to other resistance fighters, trying to help maintain connections. It puts her more at risk for discovery, but someone has to be easy to find for those who don't know how to find the others yet. And if you start looking for the revolutionary who goes by Nyx, she'll find you.

b. and the undefined.

There's other places she can be found. Sometimes at night, she goes out and does a little vigilante work. No costume, nothing that can be traced, just trying to repay a little of everything else she's done over the years. A few good deeds don't wash out the blood, but they make it easier to bear. She doesn't talk to people about that. It's better if they think she never has doubts, never wavers, never believes less than wholeheartedly that they are doing the right thing, using the right methods. Doubt is easier to communicate than belief. She won't let herself weaken anything.

There are groceries that need to be gotten, trips out of The City that have to be taken. Life can't happen entirely in closed dark places with passwords and locked doors, however safer that feels. People must be met.

Time marches on. Life keeps moving. She just wishes she didn't feel like she was being left so behind.

[ plotting comment for convenience. open to anything! also you are totally welcome to reply in either prose or brackets i'll match whichever. ]

option a, being as vague as possible yeah

[bangbang]

The arrangements are always, always made far in advance. These sorts of things always take a lot of planning, which was something Rikku had learned over the years. It had been a difficult lesson to pick up, but a few scars and near-death experiences had let her learn it deep down.

She's got Chavvi slung on her back; the girl's still just a baby, hardly over a year, and as much as she trusts Santo, she isn't yet comfortable leaving her baby girl alone. There had been many assurances, many arguments about it, but in the end, Rikku had won. And so here she stands on this crisp spring City evening with her firstborn on her back, waiting for one of her best friends.

She just hopes the plans are all still in place. She's done her part, and now it's up to Max to see her side through.

helloooo aw yeah

[motherofnemesis]

It's been a little while since she's had the time to see Rikku. She has mixed feelings about that - Rikku has been one of her best friends for years now, but sometimes when Max sees Rikku she feels like she's just standing still, trapped in a war that she can't escape but that Rikku's somehow managed to be happy regardless of. She finds herself wondering what she did wrong.

But today she's just glad to see her, to see the baby she only saw once for a brief space of time when she was a few months old, and when she arrives to meet them at the fountain at the park she strides forward and hugs Rikku first thing, holding on a little tightly but careful that she's not disturbing Chavvi.

"I'm so glad you made it here safely," she says, and there's more warmth in her voice and more of a smile to her face than there almost ever is these days. "How are you? How's Santo?"

[bangbang]

If she brought that up, Rikku would just laugh. She'd pretty much lived through two wars back home--a third one was just pushing it. Getting her life together and actually having a family? That's something she's making time to do. Otherwise, she might never get the chance. And better to raise a kid (or two) during war so they'd be prepared for it later in life than raise them in peace and have them totally off guard. At least, that's what she tells herself.

Chavvi is fast asleep, and only gurgles a little at the hug. But Rikku's grip on Max is just as tight, and she gives a low laugh into her friend's ear. Not for any particular reason--it's just so good to see her. Laughter is how she deals with anxiety, with her sadness. And it had been way too long since she'd seen a friend.

"Likewise. It was quite a trip, and the little one gave me some trouble, but she's settled down." Chavvi was definitely going to grow up to be a spitfire, just like her parents. "I'm good, Santo's good, we're all good. How're you?" She pulls back to peer into Max's face, spiraled eyes curious as they ever are.

[motherofnemesis]

It's not that she resents Rikku's choice, because frankly by now - by now she's pretty sure it was the right one, and probably the only sane one. She feels selfish dragging her back into it at all, but it's really good to see her as well.

"She's grown so much bigger since I saw her last." Pulling back as well. There's a hint of a smile around the corners of her mouth, stronger in her eyes. It's been far too long since she last saw Rikku. "I'm as good as it gets. Nothing's really changed, you know how it is. Are you staying with me for the night or did you make other arrangements?

[bangbang]

Sane is a strange and very relative term. She knows that Santo gets restless, penned up in the desert. He's a hero, he wants so badly to be out there fighting crime and punching bad guys in the face. More than one argument has spawned from his desire to have things be the way they used to. But both of them knew that it was impossible for him to do those things, at least without the projector Rikku had made him. It hid his rock form, so long as he kept himself a decent size.

Being married to an immortal rock-man with a hard-on for crime-fighting is hard work.

"She keeps getting taller. Soon I won't be able to carry her like this!" Probably not true, but this was sort of the only safe way to go about it. Rikku didn't trust anyone in the City enough to watch her daughter while she gallivants around blowing up government buildings (except Max, but she's with her right now so the point is moot).

"If you've got the room, we wouldn't mind." She thinks it'd be good for Chavvi to spend some quality time with Aunt Max anyway. "So, you ready to go?"

some kind of option a

[glowsferatu]

It was almost always at night when Kanaya did her work, after her daytime life could be put to rest, when she could move without those same eyes on her. Managing movement in and out of The City required maintaining connections, other people along the chain of the cause. Jaime was the expert on outside affairs, but in The City itself, you needed someone with an insider's perspective. You needed someone like Nyx.

They would meet maybe once a week, unless circumstances called for something more more often than that, exchange info, pass along names of people who would need the other's help. With everything needing to be pre-planned, coordinated so closely, meets like this were vital. A chance to set an agenda for coming days.

This time it was in one of Kanaya's safehouses, various small apartments she had throughout The City, all situated in places where her powers weren't jammed, kept to house migratory imPorts until their itinerary was secured and as her base of operations. Access to them from the outside was always limited, her system was designed to depend on her portals. Her way of keeping them secure against outside threats. The only problem is that it depended heavily on her, and it would collapse if her position was compromised. Her job was one no one else could quite do, there was no getting around that.

Nyx would have known a time and a location, her appointment to keep. When that time hit, there would be a portal open for her. Kanaya would be at the table with a pot of tea waiting.

rolls in a week late

[motherofnemesis]

The portal system always bothered her a little bit. Not in whether she could trust Kanaya - she'd seen enough of her work over the years and spent long enough trading help with her to have about as much trust as she obtained in anyone. It was just always a little nerve wracking to step through an empty space and land somewhere out of her control.

Still, the result in this case tended to be very worth it, so today she was at the appointed place, insignificant and casually dressed, and when the time came she took the step forward without a backwards glance.

On the other side she took a slightly deeper than normal breath, offered Kanaya a nod and stepped forward to the table. Tea, of course. "How are you?" Pleasantries always seemed so trivial, but the trivial things helped.

[glowsferatu]

She was going over some papers while she waited, but one benefit of determining the timing is that she always had the chance to be at full attention when a guest arrived. She poured a cup for Max and passed it to her side of the table, sugar and cream were in the center.

"About as could be expected. Alive, or at least as undead as I was the day before." Lonely, tired, a bit overwhelmed sometimes, but she's not going to say any of that. The thing about pleasantries is they have to be kept pleasant. "And you?"

[motherofnemesis]

In general, she preferred coffee, generally black in an attempt to get as much down as possible. But she'd found over time spent working with Kanaya that tea with sugar and a little cream was not only good but could be quite calming, so she stirred in her sugar, listened to Kanaya speak.

"Nothing's really changed." Nothing, she sometimes starts to think, ever will. "Things have been quiet this week. Nygma's still working to become more involved." Choosing to report on the business side of things, because at this point her personal life is never much fun to discuss. "I think Jack Bauer may have come out of hiding."

[glowsferatu]

Even the face of tea has changed in these years. Kanaya no longer puts blood in hers, there simply weren't regular quantities for her to do so with. Her feedings have to be more direct now that she's lost her prescription, it's one of the opportunity she's glad this work has afforded her.

Nygma's one she had never been particularly fond of. Not enough to have any qualms against his being involved, but she'd let Nyx handle that herself. She didn't want any of it. The other name caught her attention. "Do we know where his sympathies fall? He could be an effective ally." Or, as she left unspoken, a frightening enemy. Just like someone else she knows. "Have you heard the rumors of Soldier Blue being sighted?"

[motherofnemesis]

"With us. I went and found him a few months ago - he'd been living a quiet life. I believe I managed to convince him he was needed back with us." There's a touch of pride in her eyes at that. It had taken some effort. Jack had been at best reluctant to come into a fight that could so easily compromise his moral stance, but in the end she'd made him see how much he was needed.

And that name in return catches her attention, setting her cup down for a moment. "A whisper a few weeks back, nothing more. I'll admit I was hoping you'd have more."

[glowsferatu]

"Then you've done us all a great service," she said, though there was a certain sobriety in her acknowledgement. More for a bullet evaded than one now resting in their chamber. "He will likely be more familiar with these sort of scenarios. With his experience, we may make some sort of progress."

Thinking of Blue, of course, only made her more somber. His gentleness had been rather inspirational when she was younger, and she almost fears that it could never last in a world like this. Or worse, maybe it had, and the way she's had to change to meet her own circumstances won't measure up. "I've caught flickers at best. Nothing clear or certain, nothing I can zero in on. I may have to disappear for a few days to find somewhere I can properly focus on it."

Nyx had done her part, after all. She'd brought in heavy-hitters of her own. While there's no denying the usefulness Soldier Blue could lend to their cause, Kanaya was already apprehensive about approaching him. She could never force him to join them, and wasn't entirely sure she wanted to give him the burden of such an option. More than anything, she just wanted to see him again, whatever it could mean to the resistance being entirely moot.

[motherofnemesis]

"He's quite familiar, and plenty capable. I'd be most concerned as to whether he'd let moral qualms stand in his way, but I think once he's committed." A gesture with her hand that seems to say 'that's that'. It will be interesting to see which way the coin flips in the end - Jack, she rather thinks, is due for either a heroic sacrifice in defense of his morals or he will prove alarmingly good at ignoring them in pursuit of the goal. She doesn't think there will be much of an inbetween ground.

As for Blue, Max didn't remember him very well. Quiet and soft spoken, but she's heard rumors of his power, enough to make her certain he would be good to have on their side. "Let me know if there's some way I can help." For now at least it will have to remain a hypothetical. But perhaps soon.

"Are you set for supplies for now?"

[glowsferatu]

"Which moral qualms would those be, exactly?" There were so many on Earth that simply never existed when she was growing up. She had grown more familiar with them after a while, nine years would do that to anyone, especially when they start carrying a rosary wherever they go, but there was so much that could still fall under that term. Jack had somewhat of a reputation, after all.

"I think I'm the one who should be asking you about supplies, actually." She flipped through a few papers in front of her, then slid a stapled inventory list toward her. "I have a shipment coming in on Thursday. Getting it into the right hands is, of course, everything, so I'll need to know if you need anything off of it. It may be the last for a while, if I'll be out of commission."

Closing the datebook in front of her, she leaned an elbow on the table, cradling her chin. "If all goes well, it shouldn't be longer than a week. If it doesn't, I'll...make sure the proper channels are informed somehow."

[motherofnemesis]

"Civilians getting hurt, mostly. In a fight as grey as this, it's bound to happen." Somehow through everything he'd done and everyone he'd tortured or hurt, Jack had maintained some boundaries. But war was never kind to boundaries.

She took the inventory list with interest, started reading it over carefully and thoroughly. "I wouldn't mind getting my C4 stockpile a little higher. Beyond that, the only thing I'm really running low on is medical supplies. Ah. Yes, I'm going to need some of these antibiotics and heavier painkillers, I'm almost out."

She kept reading, but glanced up at that last bit. "How long would you guess it will take?"

A

[out_of_time]

It's because of Nyx that Jack is here. She's the one who sought him out, digging through his aliases and false trails, tracking him down to recruit him into the struggle. She convinced him to cross lines he had sworn never to cross. It was inevitable that once he was committed, she would be among the first Jack would track down to recruit in turn.

When Jack finds her base, he approaches cautiously, making sure nothing is trailing or tracking him. He's been out of the game a while, and if he makes any slip-ups here it's over for everyone. He doesn't knock until he's sure it's safe. He's older and he has a scruffy, graying beard, but it's still very clearly Jack Bauer at the door of Nyx.

i am so sorry for how late this is

[motherofnemesis]

She can't say that she hasn't been expecting him, sooner or later. Convincing him had taken effort. Effort leaves impressions, and also leaves her as one of the few people he knows for certain can be found.

So when he shows up she runs her scans, looks over her security sweeps, and then opens a door and waves at him like she's just greeting a casual friend. "Hey, come on in." It's a small house, nondescript, and she'll probably be out of here soon. A risk or two can afford to be taken.

<3

[out_of_time]

"Thank you." He speaks quietly and steps inside. He looks around the room out of ingrained habit, charting possible escape routes and likely avenues of ambush. It's good that she has a house instead of having to hide in a small apartment or a hotel or someplace on the streets. Houses offer more privacy, more storage space, more discretion.

"You're doing okay?" He asks more as a formality than anything else.

<3 :)

[motherofnemesis]

"Of course." Houses or warehouses tend to be her preference, both for the ease of modification and the larger space. She needs privacy in this profession, and the ability to make sure that there's no way for someone else to spy on her. Even if it wasn't for practical reasons, it would simply be for her own peace of mind.

That brings a slight amused quirk to the edge of her mouth, heading into the kitchen. "As well as can be expected. Tea? Coffee?" Keeping it light, casual for the moment. There aren't too many reasons he would be coming here, and whatever it is she'd like to let him start that conversation himself.

[out_of_time]

Jack follows Max into the kitchen, giving the room the same habitual once-over when he enters. "Coffee would be great, thanks." It's been a while since Jack was able to accept a drink from someone in the reasonable expectation that it wouldn't be poisoned or drugged or loaded with tracking nanomachines or something.

Restoring a world where that isn't the case is one of the reasons he's here. Jack follows With that in mind, Jack gets down to it.

"I'm here to talk to you about a mission."

[motherofnemesis]

She puts the coffee on, pulls down mugs and waits for him to talk. She's good at waiting tactics, these days, and she wants to know how he'll open. What he thinks will sell whatever pitch he's making.

A pitch she wasn't entirely expecting, really. That he had decided on a mission already - it indicated that he felt strongly about what he was doing now. That was good. Strong feelings meant more loyalty. "Okay." Turning to lean back against the counter and give him her full attention. "Shoot."

oh god why is there a typo in that last tag...

[out_of_time]

"Somewhere the government has a list of all known ImPorts, all known powers, who's registered, who isn't," Jack stays. "I want that list. I want to know what they know about us, or what they think they know. I want to know what they don't know."

He took a step forward, his voice low and earnest. "I have reason to believe I can get that list from a building here, in the City. And I think I've got a way to get at it. But I'm going to need help."

typos go on the offensive with alarming regularity it's ok i know how it goes

[motherofnemesis]

If this were ten years ago she might have whistled long and low to show that she's impressed. As is, her eyebrows rise a little bit and she tilts her head to watch him. "You never did pull your punches."

And then a short, decisive nod as she turns to start pouring the coffee. "First tell me where your intel's from. I'll see if I can confirm it."

[out_of_time]

"If we're going to make a change, it's going to have to be something big. This is a good place to start." Jack's face doesn't change as he talks, but inwardly he's pleased with Max's reaction. It shows he hasn't been wasting his time coming up with something minor.

"I broke into a federal building in Newark on my way over here," he says matter-of-factly. "I spent some time with their records and one of their agents. The list wasn't there, but what I did find pointed to the Homeland Security Office in Manhattan's Civic Centre."