video/action » un:millerlite

[pampa]

[ miller got with the program... quick. he wakes up near the observation deck and snaps up the communicator that won't stop chirping at him and julie's necklace that's also within his grasp - he rubs his fingers over the beads before pocketing it. jumpsuit... magboots. back to square one. god, he hates space. in his fugue at first he thinks it's julie's voice, but it's not. and just as quickly he pieces together that this isn't eros. he sneers at the foreign insignia on the wall and starts scrolling through menus until the stupid recording stops. he logs in after a few different username kickbacks and pulls up a video feed. no time like the present to figure this shit out, right?

a surly-looking man with a (fake) mohawk appears on the network, the giant window of space his backdrop. he hasn't actually looked through said window yet though. ]

You tried to save the world? Yeah, okay. I was just risking my neck to save the whole goddamn Solar System, but I guess. You know, fine, that's great, I can always take a detour. [ he does not look like it's fine OR great okay. ] So what is this? Dusters, Earthers... I know this is an Inner operation. No way Belters are in the kidnapping people business. Unless it's profitable. And let me tell you right now, I'm about as useless a pickup as they come.

[ miller scrubs a hand over his mouth and turns, finally, to the bay window. concern flickers over his face, maybe fear too. but when he turns back to the video his expression is clear. he can't let this distract him, he has a job to finish. ]

Can I get a headcount at least? I'm sure I'm the only Belter on this rust-bucket too. [ he smooths two fingers along the seam of the window, making a little huffing sound when it comes back dirty. ] Well, here's something that might interest you Earthers: Eros is on a collision course for your precious blue globe, so hook me up with an escape pod. A frickin' catapult, I don't care. I was busy, you don't get to just take grand gestures like that away from a guy. [ okay this is edging towards counterproductive so he just groans and shakes his head, ending the feed after a terse: ] Miller out.

[ if anyone comes by the deck, he'll be just as grumpy, looking over the stars and wondering why he doesn't recognize a single one. miller rubs at his eyes, his free hand reaching into his pocket to touch the necklace - oddly the only thing they didn't take from him. and yet it was the only thing of value he was carrying other than a vac suit and a goddamn nuke. when you get close enough, you'll probably hear him muttering nonsense to himself but the gist of it is: ] I hate space.

Comments

[subplot]

[She glances his way before looking back out at the expanse of space.] There isn't anything like that where I come from. Are terminals like this the same as the ports that you're used to?

[It's asked with a lot of hope, because she desperately wants to understand more about this place and where they are. She's far from home, and she knows that, but that isn't enough. If he's familiar with the layout and the way things here work, then maybe she stands a chance of getting herself and Frank home.]

[pampa]

[ oh, earthers, so cute and clueless. he affects a patient expression for her benefit, but he's definitely not feeling up to tourguide of space at the moment. ]

This [ he gestures big, speaking slow as if to a child. ] is space. I live on a rock. Couldn't be more different.

[ okAY miller but that's not completely honest. he sighs, scrubbing a hand over his freshly short hair and then his face. ]

I was in space, when I got pulled here. My first ever spacewalk - what a joke, huh? [ wait wait wait he's just processing what she said. ] Did you say there's no Ceres in your system?

[ because that's... weird. and also terrifying. ceres might be a shithole but it's HIS shithole. not so different from hell's kitchen really. ]

[subplot]

No, there is. It's just inhabitable.

[Because it's a rock in the form of a dwarf planet that Karen actually knows nothing about. Which means that he's either full of shit or there's alien life out there that she should get info on so she can report on it as soon as she's back home. Which is the single most laughable thought she's had since arriving here, and she turns her head to fix him with a skeptical look.]

What were you doing out in space?

[pampa]

So you do know it. [ joookes ]

I was blowing up another asteroid. Eros. It's a long story, but it got infected. 100,000 Belters lost. It was headed straight for Earth so me and Fred Johnson - yeah, that Fred Johnson, of the OPA - commandeered that Mormon ship. The Nauvoo. [ wow has he lost you yet. he makes spooky hand motions around the name of the ship. whatever. ] We're gonna launch it like a slingshot and push Eros off course, but first I was there to nuke the docks so no one could get there and get infected with that shit, too.

[subplot]

[That...is a lot to take in. Typically she'd be all over it and would memorize every detail, but with her lack of food and gravity making her sick all the time she's a little off her game. ]

That sounds like a suicide mission.

[It's said with a warmth of understanding. She's been on a few of those herself, but has made it through just fine because someone managed to save her in the end. It's not hard to guess that probably isn't the case for him. Not everyone has a Frank Castle there to take bullets for them.]

[pampa]

Yeah. So I've been told.

[ it's bland, his jaw working while he thinks up a response to that - one that isn't laced with self-destructive rhetoric. ]

I'd really like to get back to it anyway. [ oh well, he Tried ]

[subplot]

[Something about that makes her smile. She understands what that feeling is like. The need to get back to something important because it's more important than caring about yourself and your own safety.]

You will.

[It sounds ridiculous to promise him that, but she feels like it's important.]

There's things back home I need to get back to.

[pampa]

[ he doesn't expect her to smile at that, it makes him curious about her. enough to lean in a fraction. ]

You've got your own deathwish, huh? What've you got going on planetside?