Gama OOC [Open] Episode Two in progress

[Monfrox]

Well aside from having to get up a 0800 after staying up til 0515, today was a good day.

[Kassaran]

Just going to point out how I love how Claire is all like,'Woops, he got blinded and hit nothing, better watch out for him.' about Joshua.

Next move he knocks out Tick-Tock.

[Monfrox]

Momma's home from dogsitting.

You know what that means!

[Kassaran]

Momma's home from dogsitting.

You know what that means!

I think Xing said it best:

Shit mommie's home! Scatter!
(Image)

[Monfrox]

Can't wait to ste- I mean borrow ideas from this

>inb4 CoD

[Xing]

Momma's home from dogsitting.

You know what that means!

I think Xing said it best:

Shit mommie's home! Scatter!
(Image)

This is going to be a thing now isn't it? Is this going to be a thing now?

Can't wait to ste- I mean borrow ideas from this

>inb4 CoD

[Monfrox]

Okay for such a "hollywood michael bay spunk gargle wee-wee" franchise, they do have some cool ideas and concepts.

[United Kingdom of Poland]

Okay for such a "hollywood michael bay spunk gargle wee-wee" franchise, they do have some cool ideas and concepts.

lets also be honest, "hollywood michael bay spunk gargle wee-wee" can basically be used to describe every FPS franchise out there. Its just that call of duty was first franchise to turn into that.

[Monfrox]

Okay for such a "hollywood michael bay spunk gargle wee-wee" franchise, they do have some cool ideas and concepts.

lets also be honest, "hollywood michael bay spunk gargle wee-wee" can basically be used to describe every FPS franchise out there. Its just that call of duty was first franchise to turn into that.

Yeah.

Also, for the record, I was planning to change Allison's theme to Paint it Black before this trailer came out.

[Vancon]

lets also be honest, "hollywood michael bay spunk gargle wee-wee" can basically be used to describe every FPS franchise out there. Its just that call of duty was first franchise to turn into that.

Yeah.

Also, for the record, I was planning to change Allison's theme to Paint it Black before this trailer came out.

Oh really now.

[Monfrox]

Yeah.

Also, for the record, I was planning to change Allison's theme to Paint it Black before this trailer came out.

Oh really now.

Yeah, but I'm still kicking ideas around.

[The Warriors of the Sun]

My impatience is getting to me. Bloodborne can only distract me for so long. I like this NSG RPing too much Waiting is killing me.

Trying to decide what language I should attempt to learn and though about of week of thought I have decided I want to learn something Asian. Asia seems pretty "exotic", but still fairly "1st worldly" to myself and I would like to visit somewhere there at least once. Plus all the international students from China and Korea I meet are some of the best people I have met at my school so far.

So...does anyone have any thoughts on which would be a good language to learn out of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean?

[Vancon]

My impatience is getting to me. Bloodborne can only distract me for so long. I like this NSG RPing too much Waiting is killing me.

Trying to decide what language I should attempt to learn and though about of week of thought I have decided I want to learn something Asian. Asia seems pretty "exotic", but still fairly "1st worldly" to myself and I would like to visit somewhere there at least once. Plus all the international students from China and Korea I meet are some of the best people I have met at my school so far.

So...does anyone have any thoughts on which would be a good language to learn out of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean?

Chinese would probably be more beneficial.
Japanese I hear is taught and picked up at a much younger age.
Korea has the best babes in the region.

[Monfrox]

Chinese is very hard to learn. Each character means something different.

[The Warriors of the Sun]

Chinese would probably be more beneficial.
Japanese I hear is taught and picked up at a much younger age.
Korea has the best babes in the region.

Can't disagree with you on the Korean thing, but not sure if I should base my language choosing skills based upon that alone, it would certainly be a fine secondary reason

Chinese is very hard to learn. Each character means something different.

I have heard this, plus it has four different tones which seems pretty difficult. Originally it wasn't on the list, but a group of Chinese students I met this weekend convinced me to reconsider (plus it would be nice if in a few years I can have the slightest idea of what they are saying when they are talking amongst themselves around me...)

[Xing]

My impatience is getting to me. Bloodborne can only distract me for so long. I like this NSG RPing too much Waiting is killing me.

Trying to decide what language I should attempt to learn and though about of week of thought I have decided I want to learn something Asian. Asia seems pretty "exotic", but still fairly "1st worldly" to myself and I would like to visit somewhere there at least once. Plus all the international students from China and Korea I meet are some of the best people I have met at my school so far.

So...does anyone have any thoughts on which would be a good language to learn out of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean?

As someone with a year of college japanese classes under his belt I can say that as far as japanese goes the only thing that really makes it kind of difficult is the sheer number of conjugations they have for verbs. Each verb has so many different variations based on the context of what its being used for. Oh and Kanji. Kanji are a bitch.

[Kassaran]

I am currently looking to learn French, Spanish, German, and Japanese... from a certain lady-friend I met last Tuesday. :3

Koreans got nothing on her.

[Monfrox]

Also, this is your momentary reprieve. Take this opportunity to strategize or just run off and hunt down the last guy in Alpha.

[Kassaran]

Also, this is your momentary reprieve. Take this opportunity to strategize or just run off and hunt down the last guy in Alpha.

That's my problem, too few. I doubt four men would be sent against the VALKyries. That's pitting too low of an expectation against GAMA's flagship units.

[United Kingdom of Poland]

Also, this is your momentary reprieve. Take this opportunity to strategize or just run off and hunt down the last guy in Alpha.

That's my problem, too few. I doubt four men would be sent against the VALKyries. That's pitting too low of an expectation against GAMA's flagship units.

mon already said there were eight operatives (two teams of four), now to see who's smart and who isn't

[Kassaran]

That's my problem, too few. I doubt four men would be sent against the VALKyries. That's pitting too low of an expectation against GAMA's flagship units.

mon already said there were eight operatives (two teams of four), now to see who's smart and who isn't

Yeah, I know. It's just I doubt people would run off to hunt down last guy. Unless they really are tactically helpless. This time we're in for it because it's guerilla fighting.

[Monfrox]

Also, this is your momentary reprieve. Take this opportunity to strategize or just run off and hunt down the last guy in Alpha.

That's my problem, too few. I doubt four men would be sent against the VALKyries. That's pitting too low of an expectation against GAMA's flagship units.

Well you guys are meant for VALK combat. Out-of-VALK combat is one of those things that when it happens, you need to be ready for it. If not, well, I don't think I need to go into great detail. Still, it's only part of preliminary training. It's advised, but not enforced, that you work on your combat skills on your free-time.

[United Kingdom of Poland]

That's my problem, too few. I doubt four men would be sent against the VALKyries. That's pitting too low of an expectation against GAMA's flagship units.

Well you guys are meant for VALK combat. Out-of-VALK combat is one of those things that when it happens, you need to be ready for it. If not, well, I don't think I need to go into great detail. Still, it's only part of preliminary training. It's advised, but not enforced, that you work on your combat skills on your free-time.

their also facing people who can turn invisible and see them in any weather condition and even through walls if they want to....and also use the likes of Delta force and DEVGRU as their recruit pool. its not all that one sided.

[Occupied Deutschland]

Written as an excuse to play around with Cat and get a better handle on her personality:

“To valkyries.”

Cat joined her bottle with the other two held above the center of the table for a heartbeat. As the moment of silence passed, she began rhythmically knocking her other arm, the prosthetic one, against the top of the table. The others quickly joined with their own hands and the three beer bottles began to bounce up and down slightly in tune with the impromptu music that had been part of the tradition in their group since she’d been a young teenager and learned some history about Valkyries.

“Dumb-du-dum-dumb-dumb! Dumb-du-dum-dumb-dumb! Dumb-du-dum-dumb-dumb! We’re Dumb-du-dumb-dumb!” At the last vocalization of the most famous part of Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ Cat brought her beer back and took a long drink from it. She had to suppress a slight wince at the taste. Beer seemed to taste worse every year. But it wasn’t about the beer so much as who she was drinking it with, and who she couldn’t drink it with anymore. The latter was, sadly, a much longer list than the former.

Their ‘song’ had sounded much better when there were more people singing it, too. With seven or eight people joining in, it sounded proud and impressive. With just the three of them they just sounded like a few drunken schlemiels trying to hold on to their younger years.

The bartender didn’t seem fazed in any way. But the half-dozen others in the bar were looking at them with clear annoyance. The three easily ignored them. They’d explained the tradition to the bartender the first time they’d done it, Wagner still not being all that popular a composer in what was left of Israel. Since they had though, he’d put up with it getting bellowed out once a month when they met despite what had to be the occasional customer complaint. One of the few advantages of being a former Valkyrie, people let you do some shit they wouldn’t let others get away with.

Cat grimaced. All the benefits of being allowed to sing obnoxiously in bars could be yours for the low, low price of undergoing experimental surgery and becoming a child soldier fighting the legions of the undead and their cultist worshippers! Once again, Cat realized she had not come out on the upper end of that exchange. Most worrisome of all, she was volunteering to go back to it! Maybe she was still just as kooky in the head as the shrinks had said she was years before after they drummed her out on ‘medical’.

“What’s the personnel report look like?” Jacob, the man directly beside Cat, asked.

“We’re running low on people to make reports and even lower on people to report on.” Cat replied quickly. The line got another respectful moment of silence and raise of the beers from all three of them. Those words were truer now than they had been when the group had been eight people instead of three. “Remsov is still the same as he was, constant pain and the like but still just barely keeping it together with the drugs. Last I heard he was getting sent down to South Africa with a squadron there. Needed somebody to serve as the ‘voice of experience’, I guess. Miwa’s still in and out of the hospital in the Phillipines. Always something different going wrong with her just like she was back in the day. If it isn't one thing it's another with that girl. You both heard Francisco cashed out last week? Had a stroke after the things moved into his brain and then decided to eat a hole in a blood vessel up there for some reason…”

The things. Never ‘nanites’ or 'nanomachines'. It was always ‘the things’ to them. Spoken with the same kind of cold, rational hatred as an Israeli would normally talk about 'the Nazis' or 'The S-S' with.

Both Jacob and Ben nodded, and all three of them took a drink from their beers as if it were part of the ritual. In a way, it was. Francisco would never have a chance to, after all.

“Him and Lynch are probably raising some hell and chasing tail together in the afterlife.” Ben said, shaking his head. “You couldn’t separate those two when they were alive, I guess it shouldn’t surprise me they’d follow each other out the door.”

Cat started slightly, “When did Marie go?” She hadn’t known Lynch had passed away.

Ben cocked his head, “You didn’t hear? It was…almost two weeks ago, now. They convinced the things to not go after her lungs like they were doing. You remember how she was wheezing and had to be on oxygen all the time? I guess they tried to reprogram them to prioritize fat in her stomach region instead of the lungs. Apparently some of them got their ones and zeroes crossed or something, and they ended up chewing a hole in her important parts instead of just fatty tissue, and stomach acid got at things it shouldn’t get at.” Ben half-shrugged, half-shuddered, a sentiment Cat shared completely. At least a stroke was relatively quick.

There was a silence as the three shared another drink. At first it was respectful. But it quickly got downright depressing.

“Remember when her and Francisco got on that competitive streak in Prague?”

Cat snorted out a laugh at the memory, “And I thought my cat jokes were bad. At the end of that week I was in physical pain every time anybody said ‘check’ or ‘Czech’, and I think I even punched Francisco once or twice over it. I don’t know how that local Captain they were tormenting never caught on to their shit.”

“I don’t think his English was that good. Plus, I remember him telling me he was pretty ‘checked out’ on the whole matter.”

Cat and Ben shared a long groan, but Jacob held up his hand. “No, it’s not a joke, I’m serious. That’s what he told me!”

Cat’s jaw dropped, “You mean he knew the whole time?” Ben looked similarly amazed at the prospect.

“Yeah, he did. Not only that but I’m pretty sure he was the one who was actually behind the cake.”

“The one we got on her birthday? Didn’t Lynch think—“

“Yeah, she did. Hell, I thought it was Francisco too! It explains why he was always so cagey about it when people asked him. I always thought he’d stolen the flour from somewhere and that’s why he was always avoiding questions. Guess it turns out he didn’t know either.”

Cat raised her eyes to the ceiling, “You prick, always taking credit for stuff you didn’t do. No wonder you and Marie got along so well.”

“That they did.” Ben agreed to fill the space.

Jacob leaned forward and rested his chin on a fist. “Joeri’s still kicking around, for a bit of good news. From what I hear the new chemical cocktail they’ve got him taking is keeping him fully functional for day-to-day activities, and actually even helping with the dementia. I talked to him for a little while a bit ago and it was like having the old Joeri back, always spouting out those long German words when nobody wants him to and going off on tangents that take forever and don’t have a point.” Jacob smiled, then went on, “They think they might even be able to mess with the things enough to let him use his legs again.”

“No shit?” Ben seemed to brighten slightly. As did Cat. There was far too little of such good news. Cat’s acceptance back into active-duty status had been the only other good news in the small group since the beginning of the year, and whether that really qualified as ‘good’ was debatable. It was nice to hear of some success, even if moderate and temporary, in their fellows.

“No shit. If you get the chance when you’re over in Germany you should go see him, kitty-Cat.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Cat said. She did intend to keep it in mind, but wasn’t sure if she’d carry through with it. Her and Joeri had never gotten along even before everything had happened. Hell, even when she had been a stick up the ass ‘emotionless’ teenager just like him, her and the humorless German had always butted heads. He just had a different perspective on things that clashed with Cat’s. Always droning on about ‘service’ and ‘honor’ and shit. Still, it was good to hear he was doing better.

“When are you shipping out anyways?” Jacob asked.

“Next week sometime. They still haven’t gotten back to me on the exact date. You remember how Gama is? ‘Hurry up! Now wait. Hurry up! Now wait.’ ad infinity. Heck, I’m still halfway worried they’re going to push it back again for some stupid reason.”

“We’re the redheaded step-children, don’t you remember? They don’t like showing us off to too many people because then they get those awkward questions at all the parties. ‘Mister Gama, why is your child injecting themselves with hormone-chemical cocktails?’”, Ben grinned and changed his voice into a terribly stereotypical German-accented mad scientist voice, “Because if ‘zey don’t ‘ze experimental technology I implanted in ‘zem vood eat ‘zem alive from ‘ze inside-out. Or cause ozer very messy health probe-lems.” Ben’s grin grew wider, “Not a very good P-R move there. They’ll come up with some reason for you to stay tucked away nice and out-of-the-way where you are. Either that or they’ll make a point of mentioning the psych counseling you’ve had and such to make sure nobody pays any attention to the ‘nutjob’ who has the gall to call them on their evil.”

Jacob sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes with two fingers, “Ben, you’re being unfair about Gama again.”

Ben raised a critical eyebrow, “Am I really?”, he seemed to be on the verge of saying more but let it go after another glare from Jacob.

“Well, in any case, they’ll do what they do. That’s all in the future. What say we take this opportunity to be loud and obnoxious in the present? My liver still works great, and in people of our advanced age that’s something to celebrate with a drink.” The humor of the line was somewhat strained by its disturbing reality. ‘Advanced age’ for all of them was ‘only’ twenty-six, but considering the vast majority of Valkyries that age were dead, just as often from organ failure or other health problems as deaths in action, it put things in perspective. It didn’t help that all three of them were dying as well. They were just lucky enough to be going a bit slower than their fellows.

But then again, that wasn’t all that different from everyone else was it? Everyone else was just dying a little slower than the three of them. Heck, if she wanted to really put things in perspective all of humanity was slowly dying just like them, just going a little slower.

But fuck putting things in that perspective, anyways! “Ooh, does that offer mean you’re buying?” Cat asked, eyes dancing with the possibilities.

“For myself, yeah. Maybe I’ll buy one drink for both you because I’m just that much of a nice guy.”

Ben grinned as he stood and finished the beer he had, “You do remember who you’re talking to, don’t you Jacob?” Ben leaned in conspiratorially and put a hand up to cover his mouth from Cat, though she could still hear him perfectly, “The animal-eared freak over here might prefer you buy her some catnip.”

Cat acted offended and huffed, sticking her nose into the air, “I heard that. Despite the ears and the name, I’ll have you two know I don’t actually—Ooh a dangling string!” Cat twisted towards a nearby light with a pull-cord switch and brought both hands up to her chest, fingers downwards. Suppressing a giggle, she batted one hand against the cord and let herself smile in pure ecstasy as she tracked the cord with her eyes as if it were a meal.

“Well, she’s entertained for the next hour-and-a-half.” Jacob said with a chuckle.

---

“—so Marie throws open the door, glares down at me, and just goes ‘If you’re goin’ to feckin’ be here anyways, then you can come in and HELP, kitten!” Cat slightly slurred the words so they ran together.

Jacob and Ben roared in laughter anyways, attracting a few rude looks from the other customers. Cat let out a giggle of her own at the memory, and drained the last of her eleventh—or was it the twelfth—beer.

“I’m surprised she didn’t just grab you and drag you in to help.” Ben muttered, his words running together slightly as well. “You and her were always the ones to pull that kind of stuff.”

Cat giggled again, “She tried, believe me, she tried. But lil’ ol’ Cat was too slippery for her!”

“In memory of Francisco, ‘tell us more about how you were too slippery for her, little miss kitty-Cat, me-owww’.” Jacob said, twisting to toss his and Cat’s empty bottles into a nearby garbage can. The phrase, in multiple different iterations, had been a staple of Francisco’s whenever Cat had phrased something so it sounded sexual instead of how she’d actually meant it. Cat slapped a palm against Jacob’s shoulder, though her grin betrayed her own appreciation of the old joke.

“Hey, don’t hit me! That’s just what he would’ve said!”

“Yeah, and that’s just how I would have hit him for saying it.” Cat stood and slapped at Jacob again, returning his shit-eating grin. But he darted out of the way before it could connect.

“Then why are you slapping at me again?” Jacob protested.

“Because Marie would’ve slapped Francisco for that one too!”

Ben snorted at this one and shook his head as Jacob jumped behind his chair to keep it between Cat and him. “She’s got you there. Don’t worry though, you can still get out of this. I hear the best way to calm down an angry animal is to give it a beer.”

Cat grinned, “Who are you calling an ani-meow.” She said, stretching out the ‘meow’ and flicking her ears as she pronounced it.

“Probably the nutty one always making all the corny cat jokes about herself.” Jacob muttered, walking off towards the bar in pursuit of another round of drinks in fake anger.

Cat began to protest, but was cut-off by Ben before she could, “So help me, Cat, if you say your cat jokes are always ‘purrfect’ or some other such nonsense, I will slap you.”

Cat pouted. That had been exactly what she’d been about to say, and by the look of triumph in Ben’s eyes it was clear he knew it too.

“We’re going to miss you, Cat. Even if Jacob doesn’t admit it...Are you sure you want to go back?”

Cat choked on the flippant response she’d almost spoken and glanced down at the table, surprised at the sudden earnestness in Ben’s voice. It didn’t help he was giving voice to a thought she’d had herself a number of times.

“What about that school you’re volunteering at? It seemed like you enjoy that more than what we were doing.” Ben continued. Cat’s stare at the table got even more intense and she bit a lip. The truth was she did like that more than piloting a VALK, a lot more, in fact. At the same time, every moment she was playing with the kids and helping them with problems, she knew it was a…substitute for something she could never have.

“I do—did. I don’t know, Ben. I mean, if I’m there…that’s one less pilot—kid—they need from somewhere else, right?” Cat coughed heavily, the beer seeming to have clogged her throat slightly with phlegm. “That’s one less they have to take out of some orphanage somewhere…or one less they have to make…”

Cat shuddered slightly, “I still despise them and their cardboard ‘principles’. That hasn’t changed just because I’m going back to work for them. I just want to keep them from hurting someone else in my place.”

“Wasn’t saying anything about why you’re doing it. Just wanted to make sure it’s what you really wanted. Just make sure you come back.” Ben let the words hang in the air as he took a drink, “I need you to be a witness in the case I’m building against them.” He continued, the seriousness decidedly toned down.

Cat smirked, “Hey, you still need to finish coloring-in my tattoos, so neither one of us can check out until you do that.” It was a silly superstition, but one that had worked for the pair ever since Ben had first doodled on Cat’s arm with a tattoo gun. Even from the days when what he drew on had been flesh-and-bone instead of polymer-and-whatever.

Jacob finally arrived back and set a new drink in front of Ben. “Yeah, and both of you owe me for always providing the drinks.”

“You know, in Ancient Egypt they’d offer tubs of milk and wine to cats because they were considered holy. And they wouldn’t bitch about how much it cost, either.” Cat needled the man, secure in the knowledge his jibe about being owed wasn’t earnest.

“Well, we’re not in Ancient Egypt, are we? Besides, you’re not actually a cat as you like to remind people.”

Cat raised an eyebrow and took a quiet and very heavy breath, with the benefit of years of practice she then belted out the longest and most obnoxiously loud ‘meow’ the small bar had probably ever heard. She raised her drink towards the bartender in silent apology, and then took a smug drink as Jacob and Ben glared at her. “I can be a very convincing cat when I want to be.”

Jacob shook his head and finally turned his gaze on Ben, “You know, this has only gotten worse since she got those stupid ears. Remember those glorious days when she only made the occasional joke because her nickname was ‘Cat’?”

Ben tilted his head back and forth, “I think you’re being a bit too nostalgic. Her jokes were just as bad then, too. You could just ignore them easier because she didn’t have those ridiculous ears staring you in the face and wiggling every time she told one.”

“Meow that’s not very mice to say.” Cat complained, ears flicking in delight as both Ben and Jacob looked at her, looked back at each other, and simultaneously took aggravated drinks from their beers.

“Round of drinks says she’ll end up getting hit by one of the other Valkyries before even seeing combat again.” Jacob proposed.

Ben shook his head, “Not a chance. I’m not stupid enough to take that bet.”

Cat leaned back contentedly in her chair as the conversation shifted back to lighter things and happier memories of the valkyries they had all known. Another six hours passed by just as quickly as the first few, and Cat eventually left the bar with a personal apology to the bartender that was waved off as 'unnecessary'.

[Kassaran]

I like it. I like it a lot. Mon might complain, but then again he might not. It's all on how he feels when he wakes up. Anyways, I like it a lot. It'll be interesting to find out how Cat feels about Cooper when she learns his father deals extensively with the things and Joshua himself is absolutely riddled with them.