meadowlarklogs | (no subject)

Sniper's apartment is neat space, mostly by virtue of not having much stuff in it. There are a few hand weights, a rumpled blanket on the couch, a discarded sleep shirt on the floor. Sniper had sacrificed space for sunlight, and the apartment seems even smaller trying to contain their frantic energy. Ever since the meeting with Durcell, Sniper has been wired, thrumming with the promise of a plan and the sense of the world shifting more and more towards cataclysm, with the virus disaster barely resolved.

Sniper had every confidence they'd be able to deliver what Durcell needed. The only problem was pulling it all together in time to put Durcell in the governor seat. It was likely Sniper would have to get sloppy, and people were going to figure out exactly who burned them in the aftermath. It wouldn't be enough to make Durcell win; Sniper would have to make themself a vital part of their future plans.

That, at least, wouldn't be very hard.

It's with this in mind they pour Alex a glass of water, and gesture her to sit on the couch.

"I can't thank you enough, seriously. This was exactly the in I needed."

[ Sniper might be thanking Alex for a service, but it's Alex who feels like the one that should be thanking them. Anytime she's allowed into someone's space, to see their things, a glimpse into their personal lives, it's always feels like a large statement of trust. Even if it's not anything that meaningful. After all, sitting in a room with some scrunched up nightshirts sometimes just means sitting in a room with scrunched up nightshirts. It doesn't have to be that deep.

Alex accepts the water, wishing she had thought to bake something to bring. Is that rude not to have? ]

Oh, no. It was my pleasure. I didn't think something so small could be that important.

[ The question of whether they're good people to have taken advantage of such tragedy to further their goals is a hard one to ask. So Alex doesn't. ]

She's not what I imagined. Do you think we [ you ] can help her in the way she wants?

I've been angling for an in like this since I got here.

[A small thing, but it allowed Sniper to bring months of preparation and positioning to bear. The question of morality doesn't even cross Sniper's mind: In the aftermath of the Pyramid fiasco and the meeting with Ball with the revelations that brought, Sniper's mind is all on the big picture. Putting Durcell in office will, in some ways, be a good for this world. How good will depend on how events unfold.

Alex is, in fact, the first person Sniper has invited over. Beyond the size being inhospitable, they have far too many weapons stashed around the place to want people wandering around. But they'll have to move, soon, and Alex they know has no interest at all in their guns.]

We can. It'll be tight, but we can do it—If you want to help. [As they settle , perching on the arm of the couch, they temper their expression to be a shade more serious.] Playing games like this can get dangerous.

[ since they got here? Alex isn’t sure what to make of that, mostly because it really drives home the fact that sniper and Alex are two very different people. Ending up in a new reality and the first thought is to gain political leverage is a type of savvy Alex has seen in very few people.

She starts playing with her thumbnail, thinking over Sniper’s words. She managed to escape ergastulum, broke free of that violent, dangerous life. Is she ready to dive back into a situation like that again so willingly? ]

Yes, I thought it might. [ but there’s a spectrum of danger, isn’t there? Danger as in jail time or something as simple as someone emerging from the shadows to send a bullet into their back. ]

Mr. Parker, the Displaced who posted about the initial leak…. He mentioned that this sort of thing can turn out badly in certain circumstances. [ ‘bloody’ was a word used if she recalls correctly ]

Do you think the chance of that is very high?

Edited 2019-08-05 20:32 (UTC)

I'd call it about about fifty-fifty. If I were in their position I'd leave you alone, but they might panic.

[Sniper would assume competence, but power had been stable for a long while. Jovavich's backers might have fallen into complacency. Idly, they blow a strand of their own hair out of their face, unsatisfied with their own lack of accuracy. They'll have a better idea of how the big three act when everything is said and done, but that left them with too many unknowns right now.]

Killing us would be pretty difficult to pull off—Not to mention a bad idea. But it's possible you'll be put in situations that are frightening and dangerous.

[They could say the situation would be too dangerous with no qualifiers, and that would be a correct assessment, but Sniper believed in choices. Alex could make her own.

[ Alex folds her hands together, just in case they end up shaking more than necessary. It's not that it's a particularly surprising answer. She's had a gun pointed at her more than once, but it had always been done as a form of intimidation or a lazy threat. Trouble always chased after her and she is well use to that idea, but this is the first time she's ever tried to make herself be known on a radar. To ask for a fight. ]

I'm all right with that. I am.

[ Ojiro can probably guess the types of things Alex's seen just by the vague mentions of her past. ]

My power might help, but... It's very weak. And I'm not sure where to buy firearms here, although I can use one.

[ zero to a hundred real fast ]

[Zero to a hundred real fast. Sniper's not in the business of telling people what's good for them, so they just nod.]

Once you get more familiar on Petrov territory, there may be someone you can ask about it. It's doubtful anything will happen before the election. [Unless Sniper screwed up, which was unlikely.]

What is it that your power can do, exactly?

[ now that’s a question. Alex still isn’t sure how to describe it without it sound like.... hysterics. Or something equally impotent. The truth of the matter is it is the most power she’s ever had— in every sense. ]

It’s a scream, that can break things. Or shatter them? [ fidgeting because even saying that with a straight face is ridiculous. ]

During our dreams, I killed a monster with it.

[Sniper considers this, and nods approvingly.]

That's pretty good. It suits you.

Do you really think so? People have always said...

[ well, it’s probably very obvious what people say. She isn’t exactly the most assertive of people. To distract herself from that fact Alex asks the first thing that comes to her mind ]

What is you power? I don’t think I have ever seen you use it.... have I?

Sniper chooses a bar to meet at not far from the relief center. The clientele is mostly hot, tired, and accordingly incurious. Just off their own volunteer shift, covered in dirt and sweat, Sniper fits right in.

They feel good, despite the grime. The sense of things moving—the world and the Displaced—is a rush of relief to Sniper after the slog of the last few months, with the stuttering bursts of progress that never kept momentum. They weren't entirely sure how Damian's new endeavor would slot in, but it would mean the Displaced fielding their presence and causing even more shake-up, and that was exactly what Sniper wanted.

When Damian enters they wave him over with a smile.

For the next meet, at a different point in time, Sniper's playing to Loki's sensibilities, so they pick a dark, comfortable bar with inventive cocktails and physical menus made out of thin, pressed metal.

They really needed to get an office. Sniper's not a paranoid person, but they are a thorough person, and all this public meeting was going to get sloppy.

Edited 2019-07-22 18:13 (UTC)

[ just to be a defiant little shit, Loki orders the top shelf whisky, but there's some interesting way that the ice cubes are produced, and a fog rolls over his glass and dissipates over the table. one dark nail taps against the metal, his chin resting on his palm and his fingers coiled inward. there's a slight tilt to his head toward Sniper, who called this meeting. ]

So.

[ he begins, twisting the glass between his fingers. ]

I'm sorry about Thor.

[Sniper doesn't like Loki all of the time but they wouldn't wish being parted from a sibling on anyone. They let that statement settle like the fog in Loki's glass, and then move on:]

Also, I told you so.

[This is perhaps an overly casual way to refer to the time Sniper went crazy and nearly killed Loki because they blamed god, any god, for this debacle.]

[ the mention of Thor makes him want to get up, and Sniper's added comment makes him want to follow it through and leave. there's a dull look that's cast toward the door as he debates it, not entirely sold on staying. he hasn't done nearly enough running away lately.

he doesn't comment on Thor. ]

You're assuming to fit your agenda.

[ he brings the drink up to his lips—Odin's beard, he needs a drink. ]

You think Ball's wrong about a god being involved?

[It makes perfect sense to Sniper, but of course that's why they suspected divine involvement from the start. ]

[ the drink sets down on the table. ]

No, but I doubt that the situation is so straight-forward in its simplicity. There are mortal hands in this.

[ he's certain of that, as well. ]

Edited 2019-08-02 21:26 (UTC)

[Sniper makes a vague gesture—the details aren't important, right now. Their own drink has been precisely reduced by one third. Sniper doesn't care about getting drunk to avoid it or seek it out. Another reason they need an office.]

What do you think about the god? I don't suppose it's tried to talk to you, has it?

[ hm.

Diana had asked him the same thing. ]

No, but that's assuming it can. Not all gods in all realities follow the same rules. We're at a lack for those may mean right now.

[ a pause. ]

Does it bother you, even if it's of an unknown nature?

The god can communicate somehow. [Sniper gestures to their chest, the center of the blue glow.] The way our powers develop, it knows about us.

[Sniper's power was a tool calibrated with precision to suit Sniper's needs and methods, as familiar and comfortable as their own sword. This god had no right to that kind of intimacy with them, and Sniper was coldly conscious of how much evidence they had seen of god and god-adjacent beings changing the people around to suit them, without even meaning to. Bridger had morphed a toy soldier into the unparalleled Achilles. This god had changed the androids into humans. What else could it change, and leave Sniper with no knowledge of the difference?

Sniper gives Loki a frank look.]

It stole me from my world and is doing weird things to my body. Of course it bothers me. It doesn't bother you?

[ there's a lift of Loki's chest as he sighs. ]

You sound so sure of so many things without a lick of even ... ontological evidence. [ it's less combative and more straight-forward. ] Are we certain it's the divine that stole us away? I've found other means of moving between realities. No god needed!

[ there's a tilt of his head. ]

Some gods may only have power in the reality in that which they hail, their source of power within that world. We could've been brought here by something else before we were touched, so to speak. [ a pause, a drink. there's a tired wave of his fingers. ] Our powers could be a message—but of what? I lack ability more than I've gained. That seems like a loophole.

As someone who is at the crux of continuous pointy fingers, whether or not I did it, there should be a better case before we run ourselves into a corner with assumptions. First, we need these gate dealies.

[ his nails thrum. ]

You mean like whoever stole us injected us with god juice? That still leaves the question of how they took us, and divine power's still the most likely candidate. Not to mention why they'd do that to us and not themselves. I know you like to be vague but if you thought the other means were a serious candidate, you would have said something by now.

[Or not. Nothing worked right in this world, the people especially.]

I don't know what our powers mean. [But as they say it, something occurs to them. About Jehovah, of course, who claimed to be a god from another universe brought to Sniper's own in order to converse with whatever god presided. Jehovah had been given immense political power by his ba'pas to make up for the loss of his omnipotenence—that was the story, anyway.

And then there was Bridger, the child for whom changing reality was only a matter of thought]

Maybe it's just normal for gods to express power. Or maybe it's an apology.

I'm not being vague. [ Loki corrects wryly, then drinks. ] I'm being pragmatic.

[ there's a tug of a frown on his lips as he rests his chin on his wrist, and his elbow on the tabletop. ]

The drugs were not divine. The vans were not divine. That nurse that died certainly wasn't divine. If you ask me, I'd say that the divine is being used as a tool. Just because the ability may lean you into that assumption doesn't mean that we're part of some divine plan. What may be god to them may not be god at all—the use of this power? It's sloppy.

[ it didn't feel godly—especially not to him. it felt like godly power being wielded, but from what he can tell, he isn't certain of how. mortals had a knack for getting themselves into trouble, for yearning for power that they could not have without debating the consequence. ]

And the rest of it seems more mortal than not. Everything comes with a price, and I doubt that it was thought out.

[ dark lashes fall over bright eyes. ]

As much as you want to blame a god.

Obviously it's not just the god, but that doesn't mean it's totally passive in all this, whatever it is. The thing in us that can do stuff that would normally only be attributed to a divine power. I don't care what you call it.

[Sniper takes a drink. Talking to Loki always puts them in a bad mood. That could be for a lot of reasons, so Sniper doesn't really bother to examine it.]

None of that's the reason I wanted to talk to you, anyway.

[ always finding new ways to point the finger. ]

Ah, then what exactly did you want to talk to me about? Do I need a fresh drink for it? A blade? Perhaps some explosives?

[The corner of their mouth quirks slightly. At least Loki could be relied upon to be interested in a good time.]

I'll leave the means up to you. I need something really good on your bosses. I'm going to put the underdog in charge of the city.

[ look, he gets bored. usually he's bored, when he's not bored, there's generally something nevarious going on. right now he's ordering another drink. ]

You'll need to be more specific—what do you mean really good, and just how does this gear fit into the greater scheme?

Something they can't bounce back from if it gets out. That good. [A tall order, for an organization that had been the seat of power for so long.]

This is it for the scheme right now; I just to shake things up and see what happens. [Which is even true. Sniper wants a close connection to Durcell because they think it will give them a line on what the people in space are up to. And they want to see how the corporations jump. They don't have enough insider information to plan for much beyond that.] I thought you were in to that sort of thing.

[ a very tall order, and one that seems like, well—a favor. ]

Oh, I am, but I've got my own ambitions. [ everyone's thinking it, he may as well just say it. Loki's bright eyes drift across Sniper. ] And I'm generally more amiable if I know that they don't cross.

Somehow I doubt shake it up is at the core of yours. Call it a hunch.

[ but he's amused. ]

I can't tell exactly what's going to happen in the future. Besides giving me way better access to information—Tensions keep rising between the colonies and Earth. This will give us a direct connection to space if we need it.

[ Loki doesn't look entirely sold. ]

For what?

Information, escape, manufacturing. Take your pick. If conflict breaks out, we need to be in a position to pick a side.

[ there's a twist of his wrist. ]

More so—what are you going to do with this dirty dirt on one of my bosses? Specifics!

Edited 2019-09-09 00:42 (UTC)

I'm not going to do anything but hand it over to my boss, and whether they want to release it or use it for black mail really comes down to what the information is.

Look, if you don't want to risk your neck, whatever, I'll find something else. I came to you because you talk a big game about change, so I thought you'd be in to doing something about the crusty political system in this city.

I'm all for shaking the status quo, but if I'm going to risk my position I'd like some clarity, at least in the scheme. You seem to have a broad idea of what you want, but not the connections.

[ there's a tilt of his head.

there's a lot at stake there for a maybe. ]

It's not as if I don't have my own plans in motion for the same.

Edited 2019-09-09 01:02 (UTC)

Sorry, I'm not running the show, I'm just a lackey at this point. You'll just have to trust me.

So how are you going to stop them from slotting in another governor of their choice?

[ there's something in those words that surprises him, and he pauses just before he takes another sip. ]

Wait—this isn't your plan?

[ before they get into anything else. ]

I didn't pin you as the type to do anyone's bidding.

[Sniper cocks their head, an obscure smile lighting their features.]

It's not like I'm some loose canon. I'm working for the campaign. I'm good, but not good enough to walk in off the street and have an experienced politician trust me just like that. Right now I'm doing what I'm told so they know I'm good for it. I haven't decided if I'm doing extra yet.

[That would depend on how all the pieces fell in to place, but the timeline was tight as it was.]

So, I'd be doing this for you to gain leverage.

[ a pause, a curious tilt of his head. ]

Why not do it myself?

Edited 2019-09-26 00:10 (UTC)

Do you want to? Politics is a lot of work. And risky to be directly involved.

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