(text, un: dante)

[durante]

Good afternoon, Ximilia Station.

By now I've had some time to get accustomed to the situation here and what we're expected to be doing, but there's still a lot left unanswered. However, I don't want to wear someone out with too many questions, so I've decided to try something different. Anyone who responds to this post, I'll ask one question I have about life here, our missions, or our purpose.

Thank you in advance for helping out.

Comments

[durante]

I suppose I'm just trying to figure out how much of those traits I can bring out without putting my foot in it. Where they can apply, without coming off as trying to push my expertise on people who don't need or want it.

[inevitably, there's going to be clashes. but when some people have years here and Dante arrived last week, there has to be some lines drawn.]

[coordination]

People can get bristly if they feel like they're being told what to do - or like someone is speaking as though what they feel we should do is the only correct decision. Even on an actual structured team, a good leader would at least take other opinions into consideration. And, in the midst of a mission where the outcome is such an unknown, it's natural that emotions get heated because we all wish to succeed and our ideas are with that intent.

I think being self aware of how you come off when you do that already puts you in a position where it won't be nearly as bad as you're afraid of.

[durante]

Fortunately, I was already told that this place moves more towards democracy. The last thing I want is to run headfirst into a mission and end up irritating everyone I'm supposed to be working with.

Thank you, though, for your words. I appreciate them. You sound like you've been at this for quite some time.

[there's more they could say, but with how much can be read on the network, they want to hold back. keep the impression people might be forming of them as capable.]

[coordination]

Irritation is bound to happen. But we deal well enough with not holding grudges and acting like petulant children about it.

You are right, though, I've been here since the first of this team was brought on board. That was over two years ago, now.

And if you have any additional questions, I'm always perfectly fine with being contacted or sought out.

[durante]

I'll certainly take you up on that. Perhaps in person, though, next time.

[to ask the things they don't necessarily want in the public eye.]

[coordination]

That's fine.

My room is [ 2-person room, x door down on the left here whatever ROOM LOCATION, GIVEN. ] But I've been spending a lot of my time, including today, in the training room.

[durante]

I'll probably come see you later, then.

[it's only after they've gotten off the network that they realize they forgot to ask what this person looks like, or how to know it's them. you know what. they're just going to go to the training room in an hour and hope for the best. at the very least, someone in there might be able to point the right direction.]

action~!

[coordination]

[ Sure enough, Yzak is still in the training room. Though the training he's doing isn't very intense - what he's mainly doing is a mix of exercises while his newly-set prosthetic right arm is healing. As well as getting a feel how some general actions feel with it: a pistol that he lifts, wrist rotating back and forth a few times, lowers back down to his side, and repeats. A slow swing of the arm backward as it handles a sword, and then a small swing forward.

He is very focused on what he's doing, so much so that he easily notices the sound of the door to the room sliding open. He pauses in his actions, glances over his shoulder to see who just entered, and—



Uh.


He's staring sorry. ]

[durante]

[they know they're being stared at, even as they're trying to act normal. and for a minute, they're just glancing around the room, feeling nerves rising in their stomach, trying to act casual before they form more proper words.]

< Excuse me... >

[the voice isn't a voice at all. the clock ticks, though the hands don't move. and the meaning is there, as surely as if there were words spoken, registered and placed directly into Yzak's mind.]

< I'm looking for Major Yzak Jule. >

[the network name. perhaps this person knows where to find them?

[coordination]

[ The unexpected flabbergast doubles when Yzak hears that voice in his mind, unique in that way that differs just the slightest bit from the earpieces. But it's something he'd grown accustomed to on his time with the Ximilia through Blue and his psionic abilities. Something so familiar yet he realizes upon hearing, feeling it like this now, it's been so long since he has.

Now there's a squeeze, brief but full, to his heart thrown into the mix, his expression nearly frozen in that state of confusion as the rest of that inquiry comes through to thankfully yank his focus to it so he can push the rest of it back rather than allowing it to stew.

Right. The network. The dante he'd just been speaking to.

He just wasn't expecting to come face to face with ... the face of a clock. And he makes an effort, does try to force away the stare he's giving them, it's obvious that even he's just become self-aware of it. ]

That's me.

[ He straightens himself up and properly turns to face them. ]

So you're ... Dante, then. Assuming the username is just your real one.

[durante]

[it's appreciated, the trying to look away, but Dante by now has resigned to the fact that people are going to look, going to comment. no one else on this station that they've so far seen has as drastic of alterations - even the prosthetic arm before them isn't as striking. but they nod at the implied question, and try desperately to be normal.]

< Yes. It's nice to meet you in person. >

[should the username not be their name? things to worry about later, but it had just seemed easier to make it simple...

tucking a hand in their pocket, they want to come off as casual, like they do this every day.]

< Thank you for being willing to answer some of my questions.]

[coordination]

Likewise. [ There's a small nod of his head, practiced and professional, as if trying to make up for the initial faux pas of gawking at them. ] I'd prefer it over these earpieces, to be honest. I'd like to know who my new teammates are before being thrown down on a mission where I won't recognize half of them.

As for the questions, it's not a problem. It's what any ally should do for new recruits.

[durante]

< You say that, but I'm more used to being thrown into the middle of things without a lot of explanation. >

[or any at all, given the circumstances. it really grinds their gears, but that's not Yzak's problem to handle. really, it just leaves them working harder to figure anything out...]

< It's why my first move after arrival was to find the station roster and keep it easily accessible. Having at least some names and basic information helped to get my bearings, obvious as it sounds. >

[coordination]

Then you're more than adequately prepared to be here. Our mission briefings are always a great help, but like any situation, you're never truly prepared for what awaits us when we're actually down there.

But you said you were the manager of some retrieval team prior to your arrival? What sort of team? What sort of retrievals?

[durante]

< It'd be easiest to sum it up as going after powerful and volatile artifacts. >

[easier than trudging through the muck of explaining that they don't actually know what the Boughs are for, that their own lack of memory makes it simple to point them at a target and say go, that no one is explaining anything but in drops and cryptic sentences. what a headache.

still, they remember. remember the landscape Kromer made, the way they had to fight for every step forward. only a fool would disagree that keeping them out of the hands of people like that would be the wrong path.]

< There's the Before team, who scouts for information and the general lay of the land, to let us know what we're likely to face, and the After team, who handles cleanup and what needs addressing once the mission is over, but mine was the team that specifically went into the fray. We took on the most risk - the infiltration, combat, and handling anything unexpected, to be able to secure the artifact. >

[coordination]

An After team, huh. The nature of the missions we go on don't require one of those. And it's Degar and Viveca who essentially take the role that Before does. Only without the physical excursion onto the planet.

[ He moves to the weapons rack to properly place the sword he was handling back. The pistol returns to its holster that's hidden beneath the long jacket of his uniform. ]

Are the artifacts you sought out magical in nature? Weapons? Sentient in any way? What did they do?

[durante]

< It's hard to say if they're magic or really advanced technology. Both are capable of extraordinary things. But in the wrong hands, they could be weapons. >

[and it's hard to explain something they don't know enough about.]

< They sort of...reflect the depths of your own mind, is the simplest way to put it. I know that doesn't make a ton of sense, but it's the best explanation I have right now. >

[the joys of not having the security clearance to force answers out.]

[coordination]

I'm not sure I've met a teammate that has something so eerily close to these orbs in their own reality.

[ A beat. ]

You were the one who had the questions, and yet now somehow I'm the one asking them all.

[durante]

< I don't mind, though. It's not as though we're running out of time to talk about it. >

[and it's a relief, to get to say these things openly. not having words pushed aside for the next mission, not getting vague and cryptic replies to what should be straightforward questions. it helps in ways that Dante might not admit but are true all the same.]

< Honestly, if these orbs are any closer to the artifacts I was searching for, understanding one is understanding the other. >