milliways_bar | (no subject)

Shephard's gonna be in Poland, or what used to be Poland, real damn soon. He's got a helicopter to fly and then a lot of hell to raise (once he gets past the throwing up part, which has unfortunately become pretty much ritual for him whenever he touches down successfully). He's just tidying up a thing or two before heading out, and by 'a thing or two' we mean 'the hide of a yerik that he managed to take during his visit to Pandora with Tsu'tey'. The hide's upstairs. He spoke with Tsu'tey at some length and came up with a chemical bath that he figures should do the trick for turning it into the equivalent of a buckskin. That's gonna take a few days, though, so right now he's not touching it. He's going over the one other thing he took from the yerik instead- the animal's largest teeth. Elk on Earth have big damn canines that make for nice carved ivory objects, and yerik teeth look to be about the same.

Oh, don't look at him like that. Tsu'tey's people got the meat.

Anyway, feel free to bother the fellow in military fatigues who's currently meticulously cleaning the rather large teeth of an animal found nowhere on Earth. Or don't. Up to you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"He's the alien equivalent of a sixteen-year-old boy, and we get along well enough. I'm not sure he thinks ahead that much."

Not outside of a hunt, anyway. She'd (mostly) trust him in a hunt.

Shephard nods. "Well, it ain't likely to happen again," he says. "I saw the place, and it is a fine place, let me tell you. Not that I'd mind seein' it again but I got other places I got to risk my ass a whole bunch first."

"Yeah, it's pretty. But reason I had the riflen, y'know?"

With rounds that explode on impact, thank you very much.

"And I get paid for it."

"Sure, sure," says Shephard. "I don't blame you none. You go someplace like that regular, you fuckin' well bring enough gun. I was goin' as a guest, is all, so all's I brought with me was what Tsu'tey said'd be all right."

"That's sensible."

Pause.

"Mo'at and Eytukan let you in?"

Just wondering if the boy went through the official channels.

"Said he got permission, yeah," Shephard says. "Took me to see a bunch of Hometree first, too."

He didn't ask who Tsu'tey got permission from. Kind of assumed it was the appropriate authorities, though.

"...consider yourself honoured."

She still can't tell if this is good or not. She thinks good.

"Believe me, Chacon, I well and truly do," he says. "It means a fuck of a lot when folks who ain't got so much as a reason to be polite to you let you onto their land back home. Reckon it ain't much different here."

"Given the other humans they know are technically invaders? Yeah. Not so different."

Shephard cocks an eyebrow at that, but nods. Sometimes it's best not to ask too many questions about wording.

"Tell you the truth, I wasn't expecting him t'let me hunt nothin'," he says. "I just wanted to git a bowshot in to say I let one loose on another planet, y'know?"

Chacon is very, very grateful he doesn't call her out on her wording, all things considered.

"You're a friend, I guess. Friends have different rules." Then she grins. "So how'd that feel, bein' on another planet?"

Oh, look, subject change!

"Hell of a lot saner than bein' in another dimension," Shephard says. "I been teleported to a place called Xen that just ain't fit for man nor beast. Pandora's fuckin' weird but it makes more goddamn sense than that place."

"See, that'd actually make more damn sense to me. Pandora's like old, old, ancient Earth, just with an extra set of legs and poison in the air."

Shephard nods. "Xen's got one thing in common with Pandora," he says, "other'n the fuckin' wildlife all tryin' to kill you, anyways. Land floats. I mean, all the land floats. There ain't no actual planet I saw when I was there. Just big fuckin' floatin' islands all over the goddamn place. You fall there, you fall forever, far as I c'n tell- least Pandora's got solid goddamn ground even under those weird-shit mountains."

"...now that'd be fun to fly."

"It'd beat jumpin' from floatin' rock to floatin' rock, that's for hell ass balls sure."

Shephard does not want to ever go rock-hopping in Xen again. This is something he wants even less than having to get into a helicopter and fly it.

"Now that I leave to the natives."

Shephard nods. "Ain't real sure there are Xen natives, not intelligent ones, anyways," he says. "Used to think the Vortigaunts were. 'Bout yea high, brown'n green, got three arms'n five eyes, hoofed feet- you'd know 'em if you saw 'em. Turns out they're from somewheres else, they just got forced into Xen a long while back."

"...huh. Why'd you go there, then?"

"Accident. Black Mesa eggheads'd built a displacer cannon'n I used it the wrong way," Shephard admits. "Blew myself the fuck into Xen for a while. Had to use it on purpose a couple times after that, didn't make shit of a difference. The whole place was still batfuck bugnuts."

"Displacer cannon? That'd be somethin' you use to jump between worlds?"

"Reckon it was," says Shephard, "but there ain't one left no more. Black Mesa's nothin' but glass now. Far as I know that was the only one, too. We got us a teleporter system instead that'll punt your ass into another dimension if you got enough power, but it ain't man-portable."

"....how does that even work?"

Sorry, Shephard. Chacon is, let's face it, a bit of a geek.

"Fuck me if I know. You want Dr. Freeman or Ms. Vance for that," Shephard says. "Freeman's a physicist, 'n Vance's an engineer. They know the shit better'n me."