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[Forward dated to the Truth Event]

[THE WHOLE BARGE]

[Cain patrols, half out of anxious habit and half because he enjoys the routine. But it puts him in the halls, the Warden-only areas, the deck, the library, the art room. Feel free to chat; he has no idea he's under the influence of the Barge.]

[THE GYM]

[But he spends most of his time here, practicing and training, and lately taking on new students. This is where you're most likely to find him.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Man from my unit. Goes by Reaper.

[The flood compels honesty, not elaboration, so he cuts off there, although there's an extra line of tension in his stance now. Bad blood, or maybe something not so bad; "risk" can mean a lot of things.]

Seems a sudden topic change.

It was. [Sudden, a deliberate change of topic.] Guys like you--like us--tend to go one of two ways. Either everything's a threat, period, or we get real analytical. I'm glad you're not one of the paranoid breed.

He still in your unit back home?

[He laughs, the sound more a short bark than anything else. Yeah. He's not paranoid. Maybe now, but that doesn't make it a permanent condition.]

Can't get through work like we do without coming out the other side a little paranoid, I've found. Key's recognizing when it's useful and when it isn't.

[He nods at the question.]

That's my guess. Was last I knew, but who knows if he had the stomach anymore after the shit we dealt with.

[It's not unusual for people to quit after rough battles, but something about the way Sarge words it pricks at his curiosity.]

Was it particularly bad shit, or had he just been getting burned out with it all?

[There's a long pause. The team's close-knit, it's ingrained to protect one another. To have their backs even when they aren't around; that's what gets you to the other side, if you can't trust them with your life there's no point. It seems a betrayal to give on the point, to expose weakness; it's one thing to rag on each other, another to leave it open for someone else. He frowns, body language tensing up.]

Bad game. Scrub job. Left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths.

...Yeah. I've seen that happen.

[He says, to-the-point to help bridge them from this topic to the next.]

Any room for mercenary work where you're from?

Sure. Outfit I worked for was one step above 'em if we really want to be accurate. Room for mercenary work everywhere. Why d'you ask?

Just makes it easier to find common ground is all. Mercenary work was my specialty; most people think that just means I'm a greedy bastard.

Good reason for that; most of 'em are.

Our branch, reputation tends to be criminals more than greedy.

That's a step up from sanctimonious bastards, like they are in my world.

Ideals aren't a big thing for your world, huh?

Oh, got those too. Just more grunts where I am.

Not when everything's run by a corporation that likes to diversify and fund research.

[He hisses through his teeth.]

'Research' where I'm from? Just another word for corruption and human experiments. Can't begin to tell you the psychos that come out of that.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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