UN: Twilight Sparkles | @Everyone

[thegreatexperiment]

[Sam's taken to using the voice setting. Less obnoxious than text. And anyway, vampires don't show up in video. So her lovely, Midwestern voice rings out over the network.]

So, just wondering. Is anyone else in this clown rodeo as skeeved out by this "Secret Santa" missive as I am? I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm bored as fuck. I'm gonna do it. Way more entertaining than counting the cracks in my ceiling. But seriously...what the hell are the Overlords going for here?

[She will never call them "Observers."]

A shitty morale boost? What the actual?

Or is it just me? Am I the only one being bombarded with this crap?

...just wondering.

[A pause.]

And, I mean, if people are jonesing to do Etsy nonsense, my birthday is January 8. Just saying.

((ooc: This post will not reveal who Sam got. Please warn in your header if your muse is revealing who they got, in case anyone wants to be surprised.))

Comments

[thegreatexperiment]

Oh, so you're a space man? Cool.

You got a name?

[skyward_eyes]

Not a space man.

[And since he hasn't turned video off, there is definitely a flash of disappointment on his face at that statement. He wanted to go to space.]

I'm Nida. And you? Or should I call you "Miss Birthday On The Eight"? Because that doesn't roll of the tongue.

[thegreatexperiment]

It also may not be my actual birthday. So let's go with "Sam."

[She's long since given up on trying to figure out a surname. The whole situation is just too messy.]

[skyward_eyes]

Alright, Sam. I can respect it's not your actual birthday. Never really understood the fuss over them.

Granted they weren't something we did much back where I was.

[thegreatexperiment]

I was adopted. You spend the first nine years of your life in foster care, you desperately need things like birthdays.

Anything to feel special, for a little while.

[And the joke is on her, really. She's more special than she ever cared to be.]

So tell me about your planet. Are there flying cars? Please tell me there are flying cars.

Voice: UN - FormerPilot

[skyward_eyes]

[Adopted. Yeah, Nida's expression was one of pain before he fumbled for the video button to return it to voice. Last thing he wanted to do was to clearly show his jealousy.]

What do you want for your birthday? I don't have a lot of skills, but I'm learning to carve wood. But, you know, people like us need to stick together, right?

[Another pause but he's got to say it.]

People who lost their parents and all that. I hope your adopted family was great.

[Yeah, maybe there is a touch of jealousy in his voice. Sorry. You know what, he's just going to move on to the other question.]

Only Esthar City has flying cars. But I was the primary pilot for a flying building.

[thegreatexperiment]

[Whoa. She didn't mean to stumble into someone's weird area. But, of course, Sam has a natural gift for being obnoxious and disliked. It's only that, for once, she wasn't doing it on purpose.

So she decides to let most of that go. Was her adoptive family great? Yes. They were. But that's all past tense now. And as for her birthday, she mostly just wants impossible things.

Stick with the best part of it all...]

A flying building? You're gonna have to back up and explain that one.

[skyward_eyes]

[You never know when you're going to trip over an orphan. Sorry.]

The place I went to school, such as it was, was built from the ruins of a shelter from another civilization. The Centran people. They had some really interesting tech, we don't entirely understand how it works. What I do know is that the structure compartmentalized well, was mostly water proof and partially buoyant, and had anti-grav and propulsion rings.

So basically the whole building could fly a bit. Well, more like hover because it couldn't get very high off the ground. To fly you've really got to look at the Ragnarok. It was good in atmo and in space.

[thegreatexperiment]

I have no idea what that means, but I loved every word of that last bit.

[She laughs again.]

Sorry. It's just that we don't have any tech nearly that fucking cool back home. Or at all, really, any more.

[skyward_eyes]

Yeah. A whole military school that can more or less fly. It's pretty intensively cool.

[thegreatexperiment]

Military school? So does that make you a soldier?

[skyward_eyes]

Not... exactly. Paramilitary is more accurate. Mercenary.

[thegreatexperiment]

Mercenary.

[She honestly can't decide if that's better or worse. Hunters are mercenaries, after all. But he's from another planet. What are the odds that he's into killing vampires, really?

Who knows...]

How'd you come into that line of work?

[skyward_eyes]

[And there, a sigh. Because there's no real way to explain it past the truth.]

Not everyone gets adopted. Or fostered. There were three of these places built after a major war. And kids end up in them. Some go on to the elite parts of the merc program. Some graduate out and go to militaries or the real world.

[thegreatexperiment]

Oh.

[Good job, Samantha. She cringes a little.]

Sorry.

[skyward_eyes]

[Hey, it's a bit more than that, okay? It's not a problem.]

It's okay. You get used to it. My parents died when I was eight. More than half my life ago. So it's fine.

[thegreatexperiment]

I didn't really know mine.

[Which, all things considered, was probably a good thing.]

I mean, I met them once but...

[She clears her throat. So, so, so not thinking about that.]

So, I guess you like being a pilot?

[skyward_eyes]

It was my purpose during the latest war. How I could help. And it's freeing. So I miss it.

[thegreatexperiment]

I can understand that.

Missing it, I mean.

[skyward_eyes]

Well, you adjust. If nothing else there are a lot of trees to climb and tasks to be done. Busy is how I keep.

[thegreatexperiment]

If you're ever looking for something to fill the time, swing by the kitchen at the Inn, sometime. I brew a couple batches of vodka every morning.

Can always use an extra hand or two.

[skyward_eyes]

[Well now he sounds flustered.]

Uh, I'm under drinking age where I'm from.

And while I can clean and chop wood and all of that, I'm not the greatest cook if I'm not with a camp fire. You probably don't want me there.

[thegreatexperiment]

Dude, I think it's safe to say that "drinking age" went out the window here.

But seriously, there's always chopping involved.

[skyward_eyes]

Chopping I can do. I suppose I could find some way to help out. I do benefit from the food.

[thegreatexperiment]

Great. You can help me chop potatoes.