outer_divide | [VIDEO, shifting to ACTION potentially

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character: kaidan alenko

[VIDEO, shifting to ACTION potentially | 001: Arrival]

[By the background, Kaidan, outwardly a normal-looking dark haired man in his mid-30s, is still on the ship. Still beside the pod that's disgorged him even, as a blurry nameplate can be made out behind him if you squint. His own communicator has come to him in the form of a datapad, which he's currently holding out in from of him with the slight abstracted furrow to his brow commonly seen amongst iPad users as they try to make sure the camera's focusing. Some things carry down across centuries, apparently.]

Look. I don't know where the hell I am, but this sure as hell isn't the shuttle down to Vancouver. Everything's saying 'ship', but I'm not hearing engine noise and what little I've seen says this thing is way too big to be stealthed.

And there's another thing--

[He turns the datapad to let its camera pickup take in the pods along the corridor.]

That's not normal cryostasis like I'd call it. It looks more like prothean tech. So if anyone's picking up on this frequency, I could use a few answers.

[After a moment more, he stares at the camera and awkwardly rubs at the back of his neck with one hand as he's recalled to manners and lets the irritated command slide out of his voice.]

Uh. Please?

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[Wing laughs.]

Cybertronian. Many of your kind have never encountered mine.

Or the reverse, as well.

I believe some are working on trying to stabilize the ship: I've been working on external defenses. [He sounds a bit apologetic that he doesn't know more.]

Ah, right. Guess... you're not from where I am. Or, uh, when I am, maybe. We don't really have any true machine intelligences that are, uh, friendly when it comes to organics.

[One hand lifts, Kaidan scrubbing only slightly awkwardly at the back of his neck with it.]

I'll have to see if I can get in touch with them... and defenses are good. What are we defending against, here?

No, very few of us are from the same place. It is confusing because there are many from Earth, but...not the same Earth, apparently.

[Confusing for Wing, at any rate.]

Unfortunately, from the Authorities. They attacked us before, unprovoked. They seem to think we are part of their war.

...right.

[Cue a puzzled but grim-faced Kaidan at that.]

I think I need the version with helpfiles, Mr.--

[Do you even call a robot mister? He scrubs the back of his neck again.]

Who are the Authorities, and what's this war?

[Wing laughs again. ]

I told you it was confusing!

[He ducks his head, apologetically.] Wing. Just Wing.

And the Authorities are those who live in the City domes. They are apparently at war. And we--this ship--is a relic. We were brought here for a reason, but no one seems to know why.

Just once I'd like the messages pointing me at some big bad to be something other than cryptic...

[The mutter is sotto voce, probably more for Kaidan's own musing than for other ears. (Or aural sensory apparatus.) He gives a brisk nod, soldierly.]

What do our resources look like?

I'm...sorry? [He's not quite sure what he's done wrong, but it never hurts to apologize.]

Right now, Loki is attempting to create a bridge back home--and there is trading in the Old City for food and supplies, should you be willing to assist them.

Enough to survive, but not enough to feel...comfortable.

What? Oh-- that wasn't to your address.

[He's reassuring an apologetic robot in some far-future or other-reality or something environment. His life, man. Kaidan lifts a hand and massages his temples again.]

This all just seems... really familiar, in some ways. That's all.

Oh. I'm sorry. [For...being sorry. Welcome to Wing's world.]

Oh? This has happened to you before? Did you find your way home?

[Kaidan's from the part of the North American amalgamation that used to be Canada. Excessive amounts of 'sorry' are not unfamiliar territory.]

Not... the dimensional stuff, exactly. But ancient relics, mysterious purposes, getting tipped headlong into a conflict I wasn't expecting? Done that before.

[A taste of home!]

You've certainly got an advantage on me.

[Wing tilts his head, grinning.] I died where I was from. I thought this was...what happened after death.

Wars, domes and crashed spaceships?

[Kaidan shakes his head, and the bemusing sight of a robot grinning isn't enough to keep a wry grin of his own from his face.]

Got to say, Wing, the Cybertronian idea of an afterlife kind've makes ones like the Norse one sound like lazing on a beach somewhere-- wait, you died?

It was....not what I'd expected, no. It was almost a relief to discover it was not the afterlife.

[Almost. The smile flickers.]

[He nods.] I did. I was defending my City. And my friend.

[A soldier's gravely undertanding respect stills Kaidan's expression at that, giving hints about his occupation in case the uniform somehow didn't. He gives Wing a small nod.]

Nobody really wants to clock out, even when you're signed up to put your life on the line for people. But that... that sounds like a good death.

Although-- how's that work out to ending up here? Unless there was a shuttle crash I missed out on entirely, I'm still alive.

It was. My only regret is that I still worry for those I left.

[He shrugs.]

I was among the first to wake up, and we have no real theories for that. But I was--clearly--repaired before arriving.

[It's only fair to ask, right?]

What do you remember last of your world?

You and me both...

[Although at least two of them are here... but on the other hand, Shepard here might mean Shepard not where she's needed most... Kaidan's abstracted look snaps back into focus after a moment, thoughts pushed away before they can niggle any deeper.]

I remember the shuttle. The roar as you break atmo, the way the heat flickers off the shielding. I'd picked out the shape of the coast, could see False Creek. I was, uh, actually trying to see if I could see my parents' house -- took the civilian shuttle down because it gives you the better view on approach.

[There's a hint of sheepishness in that admission -- Kaidan feels he's probably far too old to get away with being pressed nose-to-the-viewport to see his childhood home.]

I don't even remember what happened after that. Next blink, I'm waking up in the stasis pod.

You were going home.

[It's not a genius-level guess, really.]

There's something about the sight of home from the air that makes it...more real, somehow.

[He is a jet, after all. And he's several million years old, so...childish? Perhaps not.]

I imagine it must be difficult, to be so close to what you'd wanted...and be here instead.

It's all right. I wasn't really going home home, not on leave. HQ for the Systems Alliance is in Vancouver as well, and I'd been recalled--

[He falls silent, refraining from discussing Shepard's trial, still flying low on the public radar, on a probably-monitored link.]

Well, in any case it doesn't really feel real yet. This might just be a really weird dream.

[His tone does not suggest he believes that nice and straightforward excuse.]

Edited 2012-05-25 17:53 (UTC)

Home is still home, friend. I have not seen our home planet in...too long.

[And never shall, now, he realizes.]

[But he pulls himself out of that particular tailspin with a shrug and a smile.]

If it is a dream, I have a better imagination than I'd thought.

I'd never seen any of your kind before.

I'm sorry.

[It's a 'sorry' in the Canadian mode of extending sympathy, rather some ridiculous attempt at claiming guilt for a situation he has nothing to do with.]

Guess we'll just have to sort out what's going on here, so we can all leave this planet and get back to our own ones-- but, uh, 'my kind' as in human, or my kind as in organic?

[Wing entirely understands that kind of 'I'm sorry'.]

Yes, however, answers are hard to come by.

[He grins.] We have seen organics before, but not from Earth.

I hope our war never does cross paths with your kind. [For your sake.]

Yeah. We, uh, have enough on our plates with the wars we've got already. Pretty sure I wouldn't want to have to fight your kind, if you're an example.

[Hello large intelligent robot-dude. Kaidan's lips quirk a little.]

Although you seem pretty peaceful right now, so that's a good sign.

Edited 2012-05-26 20:32 (UTC)

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[VIDEO, shifting to ACTION potentially | 001: Arrival]

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