Don't dress like an Olympian, change your makeup, and wear a hat? [ It's not like they've got FaceSpacebook facial recognition software scanning everyone on the street, and there's a distinct lack of celebrity culture. ] Too bad you don't have a doppelganger. Everyone just thinks I'm Steve Trevor when I fence-hop.
I don't think I fancy the idea of having a lookalike.
[ What a nightmare. Helpful, but still. She knows how to disappear when she has to, that won't be too difficult. Not that anyone in her life is aware of how comfortable she is with that sort of thing. ]
We'll see when I can manage to get away. If anything, it may be slightly easier now that the hostilities have died down a little. [ A pause. ] Although I may have spoken too soon. But thank you for the offer, and for answering my questions. The shamans have always been something of a mystery to me and I knew asking any native Olympian would yield unsurprisingly biased results.
That's not ominous or anything. [ P e g g y. ] If I ask you what's with the very specific questions, which I have graciously answered and would regardless, will you tell me or is it topic change time?
[ His casual tone is sincere; this isn't an interrogation, and he's not annoyed. ]
I'm trying to get a better grasp of who's running things in either city, officials aside.
[ Not... a lie. Really. But changing the topic outright would be too telling. ]
It's no secret that the Institute is engaging in some unsavoury activities behind closed doors and I figured the shamans in Wyver would be their closest equivalent. And you're just as curious as I am about these things — I don't think anyone else I could have asked would have answered with the same level of detail.
[ It's not the first time she's done that - say something indicative of having information about future events. Though the last time she told him deliberately, and a little more obviously shifted away when he pressed. So Jim decides to roll with the appearance of letting it go, because he'd rather she continue to speak to him. Mysterious information is better than no information. He's a flexible guy. ]
The Institute employs a bunch of refugees over there, though, doesn't it? I've heard that a couple refugees do work up at the Altar, but I've never caught anyone in a robe passing out mutant juice.
[ She's reading the room, Jim. "The room" being... this entire damn mess. If something goes south, she'd rather her friends were ahead of it, and she's working to ensure that — even if it means dipping her toes into some murky, murky waters. ]
Let me know if you do. They're bound to know more about that place than any of us on the outside. [ Then - ] The Institute was one of the first places to offer positions to the new arrivals, along with the Sanctuary and the Guard. And all three places were guilty of holding people captive — whether the people working there were aware of it or not, I can't say. But it doesn't bode well for the bastions of Olympian and Wyvern society to be tangled up in that sort of thing.
Huh. In Wyver, they were all taken to remote locations. None in any kind of institution.
[ An interesting cultural note to reflect on, perhaps, that the terrorists felt they could successfully hide among everyone in Olympia, but not Wyver. ]
If that happens again, one of the kids with the giant robots is going to flatten half a city, probably.
[ There are two things she'd like to unpack in what he's just said, but the first takes priority over the mention of giant robots. For now. ]
Yes, in my time here, most incidents seem to happen within Olympia's walls. My patrol route takes me to the outskirts and that's often where I am when something happens inside.
[ You can imagine her frustration in being helpless to stop most things. ]
Not precisely the picture-perfect society touted in the Natha's brochures, is it? If it wasn't for the weather, I'd say I'd almost prefer Wyver for how cut and dried it seems to be in most proceedings.
Then again, a government unwilling to engage in total transparency with its citizens is nothing new. I knew Olympia felt familiar but that's a little too close to home.
[ Though he thinks of Dutch, from a world with tech like his, who lives in space like he does, living in Wyver and saying it's because Olympia isn't free. Maybe all revolutions start with peasants. ]
That's always the way, with government. Even the Federation's had ups and downs.
In my time, countries have their hands full and many can't quite manage. With more than one planet under its jurisdiction, I can only imagine how your Federation must operate.
Most planets out there aren't anywhere near as population-dense as Earth was in the twenty-first century.
[ ... Earth included. ]
And most humans are split up between Earth, Luna, deep space, a few other colonies. Living as offworlders on other planets. It helps that everyone's deeply committed to making it work. War with other planets, with self-styled empires, is beyond nightmarish. Nobody wants it.
[ EXCEPT KLINGONS, like, calm down, m8. Anyway. ]
I have to hope most of the people of these cities don't want war. They have families, futures.
[ Twentieth, she thinks idly, but doesn't bother correcting. What are centuries, really? But she sounds about as old as one when she says, ]
War is rarely a unanimous decision, nor one made lightly.
[ She thinks of America's reluctance to enter the war in Europe until they were forced by Pearl Harbour. She thinks of how they never meant for it to happen again, how the Great War was meant to be the war to end all wars, but then Germany took to marching on her neighbours and they ignored it until they couldn't.
No. Not everyone wants war. But war has so many factors beyond their control, no matter how hard they try. ]
[ He meant 21st, because it's going to peak, then expand and peak again, and play a huge role in the Eugenics Wars and the following nuclear holocaust of the planet. But uh. That's a story for another day; offhand habit, referring to that century. ]
And sometimes it's an inevitability. [ Agreement. Jim is not ignorant of war. ] But we can't treat it like that.
Not for this long specifically, for me. [ Going to other planets, trying to Make Shit Work - that's basically the job description, for Starfleet explorers. But there was the assumption of his crew and the universe not ending. ]
There was a time when I - [ a brief pause. Should he bother saying crap like this, who knows. ] When I thought I wanted the stability of being in one place, but even then, it was going to be in on a starbase on the edge of explored territory. I came to my senses, though. Stayed out there.
[ Engaged to be married to a respectable officer who worked at the Home Office, ready to settle down for a quiet life with a family like any proper young woman of her age. But then she was recruited by the SOE and then her brother was killed in the line of duty — there was no other way her life could have gone after that but to charge forward in his stead. ]
I've never been in one place for very long, not these past few years. I didn't mind it much. But settling here... [ A second chance with Steve, the life they never got to live in 1945. ] Well, I can't speak for everyone, but I think we do have a responsibility to keep things from getting worse.
[ It must be different for people with dedicated partners-- but then, Jim thinks that about people at home, too. He doesn't understand Spock and Uhura in that way, he doesn't understand Hikaru. Jim doesn't have anything to leverage within himself like that, and he doubts he ever will. ]
Oh — [ In a tone of voice that all but says, Look at the time! ] I should get dinner sorted. Thank you for answering my questions, captain. I truly appreciate your insight.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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I may take you up on that. But it would have to be discreet. For better or worse, I am still part of the Royal Guard.
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FaceSpacebook facial recognition software scanning everyone on the street, and there's a distinct lack of celebrity culture. ] Too bad you don't have a doppelganger. Everyone just thinks I'm Steve Trevor when I fence-hop.no subject
[ What a nightmare. Helpful, but still. She knows how to disappear when she has to, that won't be too difficult. Not that anyone in her life is aware of how comfortable she is with that sort of thing. ]
We'll see when I can manage to get away. If anything, it may be slightly easier now that the hostilities have died down a little. [ A pause. ] Although I may have spoken too soon. But thank you for the offer, and for answering my questions. The shamans have always been something of a mystery to me and I knew asking any native Olympian would yield unsurprisingly biased results.
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[ His casual tone is sincere; this isn't an interrogation, and he's not annoyed. ]
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[ Not... a lie. Really. But changing the topic outright would be too telling. ]
It's no secret that the Institute is engaging in some unsavoury activities behind closed doors and I figured the shamans in Wyver would be their closest equivalent. And you're just as curious as I am about these things — I don't think anyone else I could have asked would have answered with the same level of detail.
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The Institute employs a bunch of refugees over there, though, doesn't it? I've heard that a couple refugees do work up at the Altar, but I've never caught anyone in a robe passing out mutant juice.
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Let me know if you do. They're bound to know more about that place than any of us on the outside. [ Then - ] The Institute was one of the first places to offer positions to the new arrivals, along with the Sanctuary and the Guard. And all three places were guilty of holding people captive — whether the people working there were aware of it or not, I can't say. But it doesn't bode well for the bastions of Olympian and Wyvern society to be tangled up in that sort of thing.
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[ Hm. ]
Holding people captive - like, in the recent kidnappings, or something else?
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[ She'd get bored of a holiday but sometimes she sure would like one. ]
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[ An interesting cultural note to reflect on, perhaps, that the terrorists felt they could successfully hide among everyone in Olympia, but not Wyver. ]
If that happens again, one of the kids with the giant robots is going to flatten half a city, probably.
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Yes, in my time here, most incidents seem to happen within Olympia's walls. My patrol route takes me to the outskirts and that's often where I am when something happens inside.
[ You can imagine her frustration in being helpless to stop most things. ]
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[ Said in a wry tone of voice that clearly illustrates he knows she knows that. ]
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The call is coming from inside the house.]Not precisely the picture-perfect society touted in the Natha's brochures, is it? If it wasn't for the weather, I'd say I'd almost prefer Wyver for how cut and dried it seems to be in most proceedings.
Then again, a government unwilling to engage in total transparency with its citizens is nothing new. I knew Olympia felt familiar but that's a little too close to home.
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[ Though he thinks of Dutch, from a world with tech like his, who lives in space like he does, living in Wyver and saying it's because Olympia isn't free. Maybe all revolutions start with peasants. ]
That's always the way, with government. Even the Federation's had ups and downs.
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[ ... Earth included. ]
And most humans are split up between Earth, Luna, deep space, a few other colonies. Living as offworlders on other planets. It helps that everyone's deeply committed to making it work. War with other planets, with self-styled empires, is beyond nightmarish. Nobody wants it.
[ EXCEPT KLINGONS, like, calm down, m8. Anyway. ]
I have to hope most of the people of these cities don't want war. They have families, futures.
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War is rarely a unanimous decision, nor one made lightly.
[ She thinks of America's reluctance to enter the war in Europe until they were forced by Pearl Harbour. She thinks of how they never meant for it to happen again, how the Great War was meant to be the war to end all wars, but then Germany took to marching on her neighbours and they ignored it until they couldn't.
No. Not everyone wants war. But war has so many factors beyond their control, no matter how hard they try. ]
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And sometimes it's an inevitability. [ Agreement. Jim is not ignorant of war. ] But we can't treat it like that.
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Mm. [ Almost amused, if it weren't so serious. ] We would be in the wrong business if we did.
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[ Something like humor. Everyone else is opening shops and moving on with their lives. ]
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Someone has to. [ Something like humour in return. ] Although I don't think either of us thought this is what it would lead to when we started.
[ At home, she means. She joined the war effort to end the war, uphold democracy. She never once imagined it would mean doing so on another planet. ]
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Not for this long specifically, for me. [ Going to other planets, trying to Make Shit Work - that's basically the job description, for Starfleet explorers. But there was the assumption of his crew and the universe not ending. ]
There was a time when I - [ a brief pause. Should he bother saying crap like this, who knows. ] When I thought I wanted the stability of being in one place, but even then, it was going to be in on a starbase on the edge of explored territory. I came to my senses, though. Stayed out there.
[ So this is weird. ]
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[ Engaged to be married to a respectable officer who worked at the Home Office, ready to settle down for a quiet life with a family like any proper young woman of her age. But then she was recruited by the SOE and then her brother was killed in the line of duty — there was no other way her life could have gone after that but to charge forward in his stead. ]
I've never been in one place for very long, not these past few years. I didn't mind it much. But settling here... [ A second chance with Steve, the life they never got to live in 1945. ] Well, I can't speak for everyone, but I think we do have a responsibility to keep things from getting worse.
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We do. [ That much he knows. ] No matter what.
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[ But she already knew that. ]
Oh — [ In a tone of voice that all but says, Look at the time! ] I should get dinner sorted. Thank you for answering my questions, captain. I truly appreciate your insight.
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