Time to Make the Donuts

[sockhopsolly]

THE ON-DUTY MEME



We're all used to playing our characters in special circumstances--sharing a bath, AUed into a robot, in the rain, lost in the ball pit (well that's one way to get your extra hour)...but how often do we get to actually play our characters doing their day jobs?

This meme is for just that.

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Write a starter about your character going about their day at work, wherever that may be.

If your character is a doctor, write them checking in on a patient, or having a meal in the hospital cafeteria. If they're a lawyer, write them at court. If they're a professional ghost-hunter? Yeah, that'd be a pretty neat starter too!

Be sure to include some sort of hook that allows other characters to join in the action, even if your character works alone. Maybe they brought their pile of research out to a cafe? Maybe they need help with something?

2. Respond to other characters' starters. Please tag out if you put a starter up. I know I can't enforce this, but no meme goes anywhere if people don't engage.

3. Thread. Have a good day at work, or perhaps an awful day at work.

Comments

Sorry about the wait! Main computer's undergoing a memory check.

[megazero_to_superhero]

[David takes a second to think on how to respond to the elf that's got him pinned down. Answer directly and honestly, or play coy?]

Got you away from yer target, dinnit?

[He grins. Yeah, he'll lead with coy. Gives him time on how to explain the real reason he's here in Dawnstar.]

No problem!

[mammothcheese]

In a crowd like this, they're all marks. The drunker they are, the easier to separate from their purses. But at least I'm not skulking around cloaked in some sort of camouflage spell, mm?

[She hasn't let him go yet, though it's casual at this point, holding on like counting coup, not holding on like trying to completely restrict movement.]

[megazero_to_superhero]

[And there it is, the moment where David realizes this wild goose chase stems from something a little less dire than an assassination. It's plain to see on his face, obscured though half of it is from that visor on his helm.]

Wait—you're tellin' me you weren't about to shank somebody?

[Not that he's going to feel bad about having prevented a robbery, but it's a little harder to justify that as the reason why his recon mission went pear-shaped, compared to stopping a murder.]

[mammothcheese]

Other than you? No, no I wasn't. [She sighs heavily.] Hircine give me strength, did you take me for a member of the Dark Brotherhood? In this outfit? Killing isn't worth the pay, when I already have other work that's more lucrative.

[megazero_to_superhero]

[There's a subtle look of confusion on David's face at the mention of the Dark Brotherhood. Definitely not a name he'd know from Primal Earth. Maybe some small-time villain supergroup goes by that name, but the doesn't think it very likely there'd be anyone from Primal Earth operating out here, aside from himself.]

Yeah, well, wouldn't be da first time somebody dresses like dat when tryin' ta be stealthy.

[Subtly referring to himself, there, given how his armor normally looks without active camouflage. Though really, there's enough nominally-stealthy heroes (and villains) with the same sort of fashion sense to start a support group.]

[mammothcheese]

Right, now that you know what I'm doing here, you might as well start talking.

[She presses him down with her body a little. That said, she's an pretty light elf, this isn't a solid threat.]

[megazero_to_superhero]

[It helps that David's not looking for a fight, especially now that he knows he's dealing with a thief and not an assassin. Otherwise, well—that power armor lets him throw a stiff swing if needs to, albeit nothing like what a Scrapper or a Tanker can do.

However, he's not supposed to be making a scene, and there's been quite a scene made already ... so he's willing to oblige Thiirien and not resist her pressing down on his body. That might change if the city guard shows up, though.]

I'm tryin' ta protect my home from somebody who might take yours as a shortcut.

[He can't ... really think of a better way to put it that might be easily understood.]

[mammothcheese]

[See, the idea of different realms isn't entirely foreign to anyone in Skyrim who reads. Between the Daedric Princes and their realms of Oblivion and some really esoteric lore about geography and time (and that's before we get into discussing KINMUNE), people sometimes just come into this world from places that aren't this world. It happens.

That isn't to say Thiirien has a perfect understanding, but she takes that answer seriously, at least, and isn't too confused about the core concept of him coming from elsewhere.]

And where is your home, exactly?

[megazero_to_superhero]

[Well—if she's going to press, he'll start being more forthright about it and see how far he gets. Portal Corp knows almost nothing about this dimension, so he's about to find out how much the locals understand about alternate realities.]

Nowhere near here, dat's fer sure. I'm from another place entirely.

[mammothcheese]

Right, I'd gotten that--your armor's definitely not local. Nor is that...instrument? Weapon?

[A gesture at his rifle, and then a curious look.]

It'd make an odd club, so I assume it's meant to be more than that. Enchanted, perhaps? No, it doesn't have the gleam of magicka on it. So what is it?

Last tag from me for tonight, but I'll be back for more tomorrow!

[megazero_to_superhero]

[Thiirien pointing out his rifle causes David to glance down at it as well. After she inquires what it might be, with the barest shrug of his shoulders he says,]

S'a rifle. Kind of a ranged weapon, see. Don't use arrows, though, it fires bullets.

[He'd gesture to the bandolier of rifle cartridges across his chest if he could—they're not just for show!]

An' nah, it ain't enchanted. Better off enchantin' da ammo instead.

Sleep sweet, friend!

[mammothcheese]

[He definitely has the freedom of movement to do that. Given how she grabbed him, she's kind of mostly laying across his legs. She looks at the bandolier, and then at the rifle, and nods.]

Like a crossbow, but using something other than tension to move the...bullet?

[The trigger mechanism even looks like crossbows and ballistae she's seen.]

Not really the point. I'm getting distracted, sorry. What plane do you hail from, and what exactly are you trying to do here?

[megazero_to_superhero]

[Since Thiirien caught herself drifting away from the intent of her interrogation, David doesn't offer anything further on the general points of firearms—for now at least. By this point, he figures any attempt at resuming a low profile is pointless. Might as well establish a rapport with the locals. If the IDF were to come knocking, they'd at least be aware and maybe even ready.

Besides, the fact she's outright asking which plane he's from causes David to realize that the people of this dimension might not be strangers to interdimensional travel. Can't mean anything else, he figures—if she's never seen a rifle, it's quite likely they don't have airplanes here. Which means people here probably haven't been anywhere near a dimension with a high-tech civilization. Nevertheless—]

You ever hear of a plane called Primal Earth?

[mammothcheese]

[She thinks for a moment before answering.]

No, I haven't. Does that realm belong to some Daedric Demiprince?

[Most of the alternate planes Thiirien's aware of are ruled over by the Daedra--godlike entities. Though Primal Earth definitely isn't one of the major realms of Oblivion that the well-known Daedric Princes claim, so she's stumped.]

[megazero_to_superhero]

[Though David's never heard of anything by the name "Daedric Demiprince" before, it certainly sounds menacing, which makes him assume—]

Wha—y'mean like demons?

[David shakes his head a bit in emphasis.]

Naw, no way. 'Sa world more like dis. We're all human dere. Or, uh—mostly human.

[mammothcheese]

A world without mer? I'm sure you understand why that would be a nightmare to me.

[Even if he hasn't caught the translation of 'mer', she gestures at her ears in a way that probably makes it obvious.]

[megazero_to_superhero]

[If it weren't for his visor obstructing his eyes, Thiirien would be able to see David furrowing his brow in mild confusion.]

'Zat like elves? 'Cause I've seen a few where I live. Just, you guys ain't common. I'm guessin' most of 'em come from somewhere else.

[mammothcheese]

Yes, elves, that's the word men tend to use. Translating into your terms--Altmer, high elves; Dunmer, dark elves; Bosmer...[here, she gestures at herself demonstratively]...wood elves.

[megazero_to_superhero]

[There's only a glimmer of understanding when she mentions "dark elves," as David's certainly met some that would fit the notion—but he's never met an elf who went by "high elf" or "wood elf." He figured most elves have a thing for forests, anyway.]

First time I've ever met a wood elf, den. But uh —s'kinda far from a forest, here, ain't it? Notta whole lotta trees.

[Of course, David's used to thinking of places like Perez Park, Salamanca, or Woodvale when he thinks "forest." Places where the trees are so thick you can quite literally walk around on the treetops without any trouble.]

[mammothcheese]

South of the city, the Pale is very woodsy. Though no, this isn't where Bosmer originate from. It's just where I've ended up.

[Thiirien grew up in the woods many miles away, in the southeast end of the province. But that's still not the same as the beauty of Valenwood.]

[megazero_to_superhero]

[David grins again, a bit lopsided—and exaggerated by that cigar that's never left his mouth from the moment the wood elf first sighted him.]

I bet da elves I've seen in Paragon City've got a similar story.

[And let's be honest—that's probably true of most of Paragon's non-human population. The majority of which, in turn, are either heroes or villains, owing to their superhuman natures.]