#1

[rank1]

Passengers: Travis Touchdown and youuuu
Location: Various, but initially the loading bay.
Date: Jan 24th
Summary: Arrival.
Warnings: we shall seeeee




Travis arrives in a cool fury.

Who can blame him, really? He'd come to on the transport ship as it pulled into the loading bay, and while the various systems that be went through various protocols and whatever-the-fucks that happened with the arrival of a new inmate, he'd watched the inmate orientation with a steadily ticking frustration. What, a fucking tutorial video? Were they going to explain how to move, too? Of course he knows what he did –– he was fucking there. He was already arrested for it. He was released. Dressing it up like a video game doesn't make it any more tedious to dredge up.

What a pain in the ass.

He strolls off the transport. He walks like he's ready to run, shoulders set in a hard line, near vibrating with anticipation. He is glad that he is wearing a more or less fresh change of clothes after the last marathon –– in this case, ratty jeans and a t-shirt that say... well, whatever you interpret this to be communicating. You tell me. The important part is that he looks cool, even unarmed.

"Every prison level has some bullshit bit where you have to get your gear back," he says as he walks out of the loading bay. "Gotta find a guard, maybe fight a miniboss..." He flexes as he goes, lacing his fingers and stretching his hands out in front of him until his wrists pop. He rolls his neck dramatically, sighs when it cracks. "Unless it's a goddamn stealth mission... that shit is boring as hell."

Travis dips into a low lunge suddenly, first one leg, then the other. A grimace slides across his face. Oof. It gets harder and harder to let his gaming jags run through to four A.M. every year.

"But if it's a fight... fuck, I better not be out of shape."

Doing this without a beam katana is going to fucking suck.

Comments

[saklas]

So they decorated the van, but differently to the props in the garage.

"You're the first new arrival in a month. That means there might be more, which means that door has to open again. Was there a driver you could see?"

Oh, right. Volk waves carelessly.

"You're trapped, by the way. We all are."

[rank1]

"Like hell I am," Travis replies, flippant. It doesn't sink in easy. "Security can't be that good if I'm just walking around."

He gestures around them broadly before returning his thumbs to his pockets.

"I didn't see one. Maybe he was in the back taking a dump or something."

[saklas]

"Okay. Nobody to overpower, just a self-driving or remote access hookup we need to get into."

He doesn't know how to do that, at all. What can he do. What can he do with what he has?

"...I'll make you a bet. I bet you can't punch your way out of this place."

Volk still has his hands in his pockets, staring at where the door was open a second ago like he's trying to drill through it with his eyes.

[rank1]

"Punch my way out of this place?" Travis repeats, momentarily confused. What is this, a novelty Nintendo game? It's bullshit that they charge seventy fucking dollars for something with so few features. Win by punching! Cool. "Do you mean punch through the door, or punch a warden until they let us in? I was just thinking I'd find whoever was in charge and kill them."

[saklas]

Dial the impatience back. Sound sad.

"I meant just using violence, yes. I just don't think it's possible. You'll get yourself killed."

Sure, fuck it, that sounds enough like a stock phrase a compassionate person would use.

[rank1]

"Killed? Never," Travis scoffs.

But this guy seems pathetic. Travis almost feels a little bad for him; he can't take an elbow to the face, how is he supposed to get out of here okay? He sighs in a needlessly exaggerated way.

"If you don't think it's possible, what do you want me to do? Kick this door down for you?" he offers. "'Cause I'm gonna go kill whoever gets in my way anyway, but your doubt is a total buzzkill."

[saklas]

"No. If whatever you're going to try doesn't work, I want you to help me camp out this door and wait for it to open again. I can't sit here twenty-four seven ... but three or four people could."

Or more.

He's doing the math, now. Seven wardens. Six inmates. Still not enough if the wardens started using those sidearms ... but enough to work together to actually get something done.

[rank1]

"You want me to sit by a door for hours on end just in case someone comes in or out?" he repeats, skeptically. That sounds incredibly fucking boring, even with four people. "Dude, we could take a warden hostage and make them open the door."

It works in movies.

[saklas]

"In case somebody comes in a vehicle we can escape with."

Just as a reminder. Because. They probably will need the fucking van. That's a step he might need to get Rhys to do something about.

"Trust me, there's nothing to do around here. Try the hostage thing too, if you want."

Volk will... not participate in that. He schools his face into neutrality about it, still facing the door.

"I get the feeling that the people at the top would rather let us shoot the wardens than open this, but you just got here. Get a feel for yourself and see if you believe me."

Especially since he suspects that the division is arbitrary. The lunatics are running the asylum in the most literal sense he can imagine.

[rank1]

"I'll scope it out," he replies. He's not agreeing to a watch. He'll work like a dog at a lot of things, but sitting on his ass looking at a door sounds like it'd bore him to tears, and if there's anything Travis Touchdown refuses to be, it's bored. "Hey. Before I take off, what's your name?"

[saklas]

"Volkhov."

He doesn't ask directly, just turns his head. You?

[rank1]

Haha. That's Russian, isn't it? And they're in space. That reminds Travis of those old space race propaganda posters. Shit, they had some real good graphic designers back then. Oops, digression.

"Travis Touchdown."

[saklas]

Stage name. Sure, whatever. He works on the Isle of Joy, you'll get that. Volk turns his head back to the door.

"Good luck."

[rank1]

"Thanks. Good luck, if I make it out of here before you."

Spoiler: he does not, in fact, make it anywhere.