January/Summer catch-all

[feralheart]

WHO: M-21 and anyone
WHAT: Open + catchall
WHEN: All summer
WHERE: All over the island
WARNINGS: none, TBA if needed. Plotting here!


i. message in a bottle (beginning of month)

[ M-21 can be found at the memo board leaving his incredibly compelling self-advertisement-slash-transparent attempt at cheating. He's also lingering a little over the response to another one before he takes it with him. Catch him in the act, or take him up on his proposition!

Threads using the "compelled to speak the truth" event happen before Jan 7. ]

ii. rain on the beach (Jan 10)

[ Possibly M-21 did not understand the assignment to exercise with a partner. Possibly he's just getting in his laps industriously, proving why he counts for the "works out five times a week" scavenger hunt option. Either way, a little rain isn't going to slow him down any. He's jogging contentedly along the beach with absolutely no regard to how annoying running in sand is, or the rain that should be soaking him.

Probably because there's a localized sunbeam around just him. The smugger he gets about this, the brighter it seems to shine. Does this mean the goddess made up with him? He has no idea, but he's going to bask in it while it lasts. Anyone approaching will get a relatively good-natured nod. ]

You coming?

iii. wildcard

[ Catch me on my planning/PM/discord if you want a starter! ]

Comments

[yourlenore]

( The sound M-21 makes surprises him - in part that he would care, really, about a tale of human callousness. It's refreshing, to see how people refuse to take that sort of thing in stride, here. )

Ah, so someone was sympathetic enough to come to your rescue?

( Still, that concluding earns a slight frown from Mishka, rare as it is. It's not surprising, of course, that humans would self-sabotage in pursuit of the impossible, but... It is dismal, to know of a world where vampires are kept separate, and there are those who would seek to undo it. )

Hmmm... So, then, what did they intend to do with you? Use you as a soldier? I can't imagine a werewolf is the ideal pet for anyone but a fascination with the exotic.

( He knows they exist, but, you know. )

[feralheart]

[ His expression, as stoic as it is, is going on a bit of a journey. Frankenstein? "Sympathetic"? That's a complicated one. His mouth quirks wryly but the look in his eyes softens. ]

Something like that. They ended up in the organization's crosshairs, but they took me in after.

[ It was messy and a long story, in other words. He recoils a tiny bit at the word "pet," looking affronted for a moment. People really keep comparing him to a dog... ]

Raw materials. Trash. They threw us at jobs they wouldn't waste an expensive experiment on. [ There's a brief pause. ] What happened to the survivor you found? The one who was turning.

[yourlenore]

All that trouble just to throw you away? Really. If they would use you as fodder, I cannot imagine the sort of creatures they've made that they consider their Ace.

( The question, though, is met with a beat delay. Mishka shrugs. His expression is a little more ambiguous. )

My unit is to operate precisely, and werewolves are difficult to control. The order was to contain and forward him to an alternate branch for, I believe, sale - whether trafficking or skinning, I was not privy.

I did not think he would be fond of either outcome, so I chose death for him instead, before he'd been fully altered. They were not pleased with me for that.

( Did he ask this man what he wanted? Unclear, but signs point to... )

[feralheart]

Bigger. Uglier.

[ That's all M-21 has to say about that. Fucking RIP, Kranz.

He folds his arms over his chest as he listens a little less than impassively. "Trafficking or skinning"? After the lab, he wouldn't have thought he was squeamish. But that still manages to get a look of disgust out of him. ]

Tch. And I thought the Union already had a monopoly on sick hobbies. Your higher-ups are real pieces of work. They treat all your people like that?

[ As for how Mishka treats his own people... He needs to think that one over a little more. ]

[yourlenore]

( Bigger and uglier certainly paints an effective picture, and his expression seems, at least, to indicate that.

On his own matters - Mishka considers it a mercy kill, but one's mercies can be colored by bias. A corner of Mishka's lips curl up in half a grin. )

We are disposable, and it is only those who prove themselves too useful who become a little less disposable. Still, we are not a good peoples - perhaps not worth your sympathy. That which my employers would do to him, they do to all people, and we are their tools toward this end.

It is perhaps merely fair that our organization may cannibalize us, in turn.

[feralheart]

It's not like my hands are clean. There's not much most people wouldn't do to survive. If you're always disposable, you see other lives the same way.

[ It's not really an excuse, but he knows full well he doesn't have a lot of room to judge, either. He gives a little grimace for that.

He's really got no idea how to read someone like Mishka, or what to make of that smile. Flippancy? Survival technique? Both? ]

...Maybe guys like us should stick to "dare" with these kind of games. At least if we're sober.

[yourlenore]

I suppose I can't really disagree.

( The empathy surprises him; he has met his fair share of moralizers and hypocrites, and he would not have thought much less of M-21 if he had been one. The blood on the hands of another is often within plain sight, and easy to judge; that on your own hands is often much harder to notice, and accept.

The remark does earn a laugh, though. )

And I can't disagree with that, either. Ah, you were looking for someone for your scavenger hunt, yes? We can trade numbers, to end on a bit of a lighter note.

[feralheart]

[ Fortunately for M-21's peace of mind, nothing in this town has really felt the need to test his nebulous sense of right and wrong in the absence of his vampire moral compass. When Mishka laughs, he lets out a grudging snort of his own.

Awkward. But there were definitely more awkward people to have unintentionally spilled all that to. He'll chalk it up as another minor grudge against the goddess to go on her tab. ]

Right. Good idea. The exercising one, for me.

[ Luckily he was just looking at this while putting up his memo, or he would've long since forgotten. ]

Siblings, only if the other M-series count. I don't know how picky the goddess is being. What about you?

[yourlenore]

( Though he's no longer fresh-faced to this town, it's hard to come to terms with the fact that the people here are— more decent than what he's used to; if not by choice, than by lack of necessity.

This land does not have the tension Ostoya does. Were he home, he might consider M-21 a danger to be dealt with; or killed, and granted mercy. But here there is no need. It's hard to reconcile that. )

The exercising one likewise, and the one pertaining to languages. Though I never traveled beyond my continent, it was a useful thing to speak to merchants from other lands.

( And then, because he's curious: )

Do you exercise because you hope to remain capable of combat, or simply for pleasure?

[feralheart]

I'd be capable of fighting whether I did that or not. The claws and the reflexes don't go away.

[ ...Probably. He's never really tested that. But sometimes you just need to run, okay. He wouldn't have called it a hobby or anything like that before being asked, just something he did. ]

Why'd you ask? Staying sharp for combat?

[ It's only fair to be curious in return now that Mishka's put the question in his head. A guy prepared to do mercy kills on werewolves probably needed to keep his training up a little more, he thinks, without noting any alarming implications for his own prospects here. ]