This One Just Became a Leadership Conversation

[prettycoolguy]

This is Spartan One-One-Seven broadcasting on an unknown communications array.

[ A few members of the team have seen the Master Chief around, but he hasn't made major contact before now. For most of the group, it's the first time they've seen this scarred face. And for one of them, it's far from the first. ]

I understand that this is a different world than the one I come from, and we have no way to return until we accomplish an... objective.

[ An objective that they all have only vaguely heard about from a weird hallucination. He doesn't have to say that part. They already know. ]

This being the case, I'm offering my skills.

I have significant experience leading teams on a variety of ops. I can work longterm on terrain like this. You can count on me in a fight.

But first of all, I do need to know who's in charge of this outfit.

[ Bless his entire heart. ]

Comments

[ragefeathers]

Stop calling me a 'supernatural.' I'm not fucking Bigfoot.

And I wouldn't trust a cop to pour water out of a boot with instructions written on the fucking heel.

[hallelujahjunction]

Right, they'd probably just throw the boot at some homeless person's head.

[Dan tries not to "us vs. them" anyone, but it's hard when he sees people as an extension of a system that's always worked against him. He takes a breath. He's letting the worst and most wounded parts of his psyche call all the shots here, and he needs to stop. Police are people too, deserving of the same dignity, but Dan's feeling fragile.]

Sorry, bad history with the fuzz.

cw: alcohol abuse

[ragefeathers]

Sheriff never helped my dad stop drinking, they just put him the drunk tank every weekend like fucking clockwork. At least they didn't blow his head off by "accident."

[ SHRUG. ]

Not gonna tell you that you're wrong, man.

[cw: police abuse]

[hallelujahjunction]

I been arrested thirty, forty times? I lost count after about twenty. Most of the time I was just minding my own business like sleeping in my car or selling art on the sidewalk, which I guess you need a permit for these days and which I guess nets you a cavity search and having all your stuff confiscated. Never once did I get treated like a human being.

[Dan's also been arrested for plenty of other things - usually related to hunting monsters, sometimes just the consequences of being an impulsive alcoholic and habitual drug user. But due to all the little things, he's come to believe that his very existence is incompatible with the police, that no matter what he does he'll be victimized.]

Has the drunk tank ever worked for anyone? [It sure hasn't for Dan!]

Re: [cw: police abuse]

[ragefeathers]

I've never been arrested but mostly because uh. Werewolf reasons.

[ She sighs. ]

I mean it stopped him from wandering off the road and freezing to death in the winter, I guess. But it never helped him kick the habit.

[hallelujahjunction]

I'm glad. It ain't fun. [It's violating, degrading and terrifying, and when they're done with you your life is in shambles again.]

I know I always drank even more when I got out of jail.

[ragefeathers]

Dad did too.

[ SHe's quiet for a minute. ]

Fuck. This is shitty. I don't wanna talk about it anymore.

[hallelujahjunction]

Yeah. [Dan sighs.] We ain't changing hearts and minds anyway.

[the_hit_list]

In my world, we’d use metahuman as the all-encompassing term, but given some of the stances on humanity in the group, I thought it might be more appropriate.

[ Tim is doing his best; Stacia gets along with more than just the werewolves so he doesn’t want to exclude anyone. ]

Hey. Respect has to be earned but we’re all working against stereotypes.

[ragefeathers]

I mean, good call because I'm not really human, meta or otherwise. But supernaturals makes us sound like some shitty TV documentary about hunting fucking Mothman. If there's even an 'us' in question.

[ SHRUG. Again. ]

I'm just talking from experience.

[the_hit_list]

I'll try to come up with something that blanket covers the whole camp without calling us "campers". If you have any suggestions...?

[ He trails off and gives the mirror a small smile. ]

I think his name is actually Killer Moth, and you don't look anything like him. If it's the same supervillain.

[ragefeathers]

I dunno, I kinda like campers. "Good morning campers, welcome to day fifty-seven of being trapped in this extra-dimensional hell we call home!"

[ She laughs. ]

Supervillain? What, no. I'm talking about mothman. The cryptid in New Jersey or whatever.

[the_hit_list]

Stop, you’re going to make me like campers.

[ But he’s almost giggling. ]

If you make campers happen, everyone’s going to be even more annoyed at me.

And yeah, that’s Killer Moth. Supervillain out of Gotham City, New Jersey.

[ He doesn’t point out it’s a guy in a suit. A lot of villains are mistaken for metahuman hybrids. ]

[ragefeathers]

I'm gonna do it. We're gonna be campers.

[ GRIN. ]

What, for real? Fuck, Mothman isn't even real where I come from. The fuck?

[the_hit_list]

[ His head just hangs. Maybe it’s defeat, or maybe he’s trying to hide how much he’s amused. ]

Campers. In the woods. Wasn’t someone talking about 80s slasher films already?

[ This handcart is going straight to hell. ]

Oh, yeah. Why would I lie about something crazy like that? Are … are there not supervillains in your world?

[ Tim says it with a faint incredulity. You have to understand, some Gothamites believe that there is an entire species of crocodiles living in the sewers. There’s not - it’s mostly Killer Croc and sometimes Solomon Grundy, but this is all just low key normal for him, even pretending to be the average joe. ]

[ragefeathers]

Uh, no. We just having boring normal villains like corporations and the spiritual manifestation of entropy.

[ Incredulous. Supervillains? Are you kidding? ]

[the_hit_list]

That sounds… like a really nice place to live.

[ Wistful? Yes. Envious? Yeah, a little. There’s so much of his life that would be better in a world like that. ]

[ragefeathers]

It's really fucking not. We got vampires. Did I mention the manifestation of entropy has gone mad and wants to just burn the world down?

[ Annoyance that someone doesn't get it. But how could he get it? She's been nothing but vague. ]

[the_hit_list]

No, you left that bit out.

[ And that changes things somewhat. Things that just want to burn the world down... they're chaotic and don't care how many people they hurt. Or they do care, because it's a feature and not a bug. ]

Let's call it even. I don't want to figure out if the manifestation of entropy is better or worse than hot air balloons full of Joker gas.