Please speak softly for they will hear us [OPEN]

[liesdontfindyou]

Who: CT (liesdontfindyou) & you!
What: Catch-All for CT
When: Late September through October
Where: Various places around town
Warnings: Trust issues up the wazoo, nudity in the hot springs prompt, more specific warnings in headers whenever they come up



1. And they'll find out why we don't trust them [enforcer's office]

CT has always been a bit of a workaholic, but over the last few weeks those tendencies have escalated until those working at the Enforcer's office will find they encounter her there at all hours of the day—whether she's strictly meant to be on shift or not. She always gets her actual duties done, but outside of those she's spending a lot of time reading up on anything accessible (sometimes files, sometimes things she's checked out from the library) about the Leeds, the Pine Devil, the Demons, and refreshing her notes on the Cult of Nyarlathotep. She rarely remembers to eat and only seems to drink coffee with any regularity—though the keen eyed might notice her nose crinkling when she does, as if she doesn't really like it—which probably says something about her sleeping habits, too.

It's also impossible not to notice how... chilly, things can be when CT and Cerrit have unavoidable reasons to be in the same room. She avoids his office in a way she didn't used to and all essential communication is run through a third party. By the start of October, many otherworlders on the force will probably have an inkling as to why.

2. Speak up, dear, 'cause I cannot hear you [northwest hollow/around]

Part of CT's daily routine is a run, usually in the morning before she heads into work. It's grounding, a holdover from her life before, and it means she stays familiar with the area. The weather taking a turn for the cooler hasn't changed this whatsoever, nor does the early morning fog.

Even the sudden onsets of rain don't seem to deter her. In fact, more often than not, when the skies open she stops only to turn her face to the heavens and let the rain fall on her for a while.

3. I need to know why we don't trust them [hot springs]

Even CT can't keep going forever—if not for lack of trying. Occasionally, aware of an encroaching crash in a way that's less healthy and more treating herself like a faulty machine that needs troubleshooting measures, she has to take a break of some kind.

One way she does this is taking a trip out to the hot springs. There, she strips out of her practical clothes completely, makes sure they're actually put aside safely, and slips into the water. This is true regardless of if she arrives to an empty spring, or is joining someone in the water—a little nudity means nothing to her after years of co-ed military locker rooms and, though she does keep one knife in grabbing distance just in case, she's as close to relaxed as you'll ever see her as she lets the water warm her.

4. Where can I turn? 'Cause I need something more [oak & iron]

The second way she institutes her begrudgingly obligatory breaks is by going for drinks, on the rare nights that she actually leaves work on time. She favours sitting at the bar, where you can always sit beside her and she'll smile or nod an acknowledgement, but if the bar seats are full and your table isn't she might ask if the seat's free.

The atmosphere is good for her, in short bursts like this—reminiscent of a simpler time, of station bars. She dresses down for comfort and she's got a good handle on her own limits, drinking only enough to loosen up and maybe be just a little bit tipsy but no more. It's during these nights you're most likely to catch an unguarded smile, or a laugh, or a genuine conversation with less of a mask up.

5. Surrounded by uncertainty, I'm so unsure [Wildcard]

She can easily be found on patrols or in the library, too. Hit me or find me in the discord to plot/if you want a custom starter for anything.

Comments

3.

[imjustaman]

Sephiroth is already in the water, his long hair tied up behind him to keep it dry. He is wearing swim trunks. He quirks an eyebrow when CT comes in, but doesn't watch her disrobe and just folds his arms as he politely looks in another direction.

"Hello," he greets when she enters the water.

[liesdontfindyou]

CT can't help a little bit of amusement, when she notices the averted gaze. She settles comfortably in the water before answering, "Hi. Sorry, I've spent so much time in locker rooms I honestly forget anyone cares."

And she doesn't see any point in spending money on special clothes she's not going to use often.

[imjustaman]

Sephiroth would find it rude or worse to watch. But he just nods. "It's fine.

"Have you been in this world long? I arrived only recently. I'm still meeting everyone."

[liesdontfindyou]

"Five months or so, give or take. Definitely not as long as some, I'm sure some people have been here over a year by now, but long enough."

Long enough to have a routine and know the place fairly well, even if she struggles to call herself settled.

[imjustaman]

"Do you like it here?" Sephiroth does so far, basically, although he is not thrilled with the dangers to people from the various monster attacks.

[liesdontfindyou]

"I don't... dislike it. It's a nice enough town and I'm grateful for the chance it's given me, and any otherworlder, but I am used to a rather more technologically advanced society. So it's an adjustment."

She'd rather have been stuck somewhere with all the advances she's used to, but beggars can't be choosers and the town is still a nice small town despite all its... quirks, most of the time.

[imjustaman]

Sephiroth nods. "I feel the same. I would prefer more technology, although I suppose it could be worse. I was surprised by what technology they have." Even microphones now, of all things.

He also appreciates the indoor plumbing, but probably isn't going to discuss that.

"The monster attacks are concerning."

To say the least.

[liesdontfindyou]

"They are, though after coming from a galaxy at war they're... nothing I'm not used to, in a way. More magical and strange, maybe, but..." she shrugs, loosely, "a fight is a fight. At least most things still don't like it when you stab them."

[imjustaman]

He nods. "It's very familiar to me. Back home we also have monster attacks, although not quite like these." And he smirks a bit. "I'd be concerned if something did like being stabbed."

[liesdontfindyou]

CT gives a laugh. "Well, I'm sure there's some monster out there that's a masochist. Though I'm more worried about things that aren't bothered either way, if a good knife wound doesn't do much I'm rather out of luck."

[imjustaman]

Sephiroth nods. "Some monsters are unfortunately too powerful to be that bothered. Back home, we usually have to fight those kind with magic."

[liesdontfindyou]

"In mine we'd just have to invent bigger guns. Which is a rather glib way to refer to advancements in military technology, but..." she shrugs. It's not an inaccurate one, as far as she's concerned.

[imjustaman]

He smirks a bit. "We've done that too. There's a giant cannon our military invented that was used on one of the strongest monsters. That ... didn't work as they intended."

[liesdontfindyou]

CT cocks her head a touch. "Didn't work as in backfired, or didn't work as in didn't actually stop the thing?"

[imjustaman]

"It eventually managed to destroy two of the monsters, but some of it was destroyed in the process and one of the monsters retaliated before dying and left more destruction in its wake," Sephiroth remembers.

[liesdontfindyou]

CT winces sympathetically. "Ah. That'd do it. Collateral is always a risk with things like that."

[imjustaman]

"Indeed."

And he could also volunteer that he himself was created to be the military's strongest weapon but certainly didn't work as intended after he learned the full extent of everything they did to him.

He says instead, "They were also experimenting with making the perfect soldiers to be weapons for them. That never seemed to work for them either. The soldiers had a habit of rebelling and leaving when they found out everything that had been done to them."

That information applies to Angeal Hewley and Genesis Rhapsodos as well as himself.

[liesdontfindyou]

"Supersoldiers," CT says, with a nod of recognition. "Yeah, they tried that in my world too, though it seemed to work better for them. The Spartans have been very effective, at least if you believe the propaganda and stories."

And Project Freelancer was meant to be similar, the practical effect of supersoldiers without the augmentations, just technology. But she's not going to touch that part.

[imjustaman]

"Propaganda is usually exaggerated at best and often outright false," Sephiroth says in a tone that says he knows a lot about propaganda. Shinra had built him up as a larger-than-life hero, and although he really had done some incredible things for them, they had exaggerated it to the point that he had become almost a mythological figure capable of just about anything. It had become a lot of pressure to live up to.

[liesdontfindyou]

"Usually," she agrees. She has very little love for her military government or authority in general, and has seen it at work around her home planet and beyond. "But they seem to make enough of a difference that without them humanity would be much worse off in the war. Though we're not faring so well regardless."

[imjustaman]

Sephiroth isn't sure Shinra's propaganda had any real positive effects. It had certainly led to many joining SOLDIER, but after finding out just how evil the company truly was, Sephiroth can't think that was a good thing.

"I suppose it buoys the public up and gives them hope, even if false," he remarks.

And he pauses. "You said your entire galaxy is at war?" It's difficult to imagine a war on such a wide scale. It was hard enough fighting on one planet.

[liesdontfindyou]

"Mmhm," CT confirms with a nod. "Has been for a couple decades now, so most of my life. Humanity is fighting against a collective of alien species and every planet we've populated is caught in the crossfire somehow."

[imjustaman]

"That sounds exhausting and overwhelming," Sephiroth says. "There is no visible end in sight?" He had negotiated the end of his planet's longest war at last, but it had been an uphill struggle for years to get to that point.

[liesdontfindyou]

"It is, and there isn't. At least, not an end that isn't humanity losing."

It's very hard to be optimistic about their odds when billions of people are already dead and most Outer Colonies are already gone, while the Covenant show no signs of slowing down.

[imjustaman]

Sephiroth nods, frowning. "I'm sorry you're in such a situation. The aliens refuse to negotiate?"