FULL FRONTAL. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
frontality) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
apocalypsehowcomm2021-07-26 01:21 am
frontality) wrote in apocalypsehowcomm2021-07-26 01:21 am
[OPEN LOG] who's gonna take you home?
Who: Full Frontal and YOU.
When: Throughout late July
Where: ADI headquarters and ADI housing
Summary: Adjusting to life in ADI is a difficult feat... aka, the log where I put intro-y prompts.
Warnings: None as of yet!
I. HQ Canteen
When: Throughout late July
Where: ADI headquarters and ADI housing
Summary: Adjusting to life in ADI is a difficult feat... aka, the log where I put intro-y prompts.
Warnings: None as of yet!
I. HQ Canteen
- [ Out of the recent arrivals to ADI's ranks, Frontal likely looks like one of the stranger ones if only for the metal mask with the red eyes that he has yet to take off even once. For a few days now, he's been a fixture in the headquarters. Striking in appearance but quiet, only observing. When he's standing in a corner, unmoving, it might be easy to mistake him for a mannequin.
Today, however, he seems to have made up his mind to stop being an extraordinarily unsettling potted plant and instead actually interact with somebody else. Are you about to settle down with your food? So is Frontal and you'll find him approaching with a polite nod. ]
Would you mind a bit of company? I've gotten the impression that you're new as well.
- [ If you're by the docks sometime during the day, you might find Full Frontal (still masked, still unnaturally still in the way he is standing) staring out at the ships. Being one of the few who did not participate in the hunt for the Kelpies, he's not yet sick of looking at the water at least.
He seems to recognize you as you pass by, having memorized your appearance during his time examining the headquarters. There aren't many others around, so he feels comfortable striking up a conversation: ]
Good afternoon. Would you say these ships roughly correspond to your definition of 'modern'?
- [ And finally, you can find the masked man facing a rather mundane problem. Though usually his lieutenant Angelo is the one who does the laundry for him and Angelo is still very fortunately by his side... today, Frontal has decided to pull his weight around the household. Different times call for different measures.
The only problem is, he does appear to be reading the entire backs of several different detergent bottles, struggling to decide what would be most appropriate to use. Please help... ]
closed to ANGELO
And still, it is unsettling. Frontal is used to quiet inside his mind. He is the void, the end of times, an abyss... but it's still too silent now. The hum of Angelo at the side of his mind is missing. The constant surge of anger and affection, the up and down of emotions far beyond what Frontal could ever experience... there is nothing now.
Being incapable of feeling Angelo even if he tries is like losing an additional sense that he had become more reliant on than he'd thought. He doesn't like it.
He also doesn't like that he can't anticipate Angelo coming home, that he has to listen to the turn of the key in the lock, that he doesn't know how the mission went---
It feels like he is ordinary. And ordinary is too close to human.
Frontal exits his room to welcome Angelo home. ]
How did you fare?
no subject
[ how does he even describe the events of the day. angelo's brow furrows as he thinks back. he can't deny that he smells awful. everything from the swamp to the surroundings were filthy and he hates the inconvenience traveling by land and by water presents.
but these are the circumstances they've been handed. what can he do about it? absolutely nothing. ]
This world is certainly full of strange creatures. I'm not happy about it, but the tasks they've presented so far aren't ... impossible.
[ that's probably the best way to put it. he'll give it this final assessment: ] It's certainly nothing for you to be concerned with.
no subject
I disagree.
[ He lets that hang in the air for a moment, knowing the weight such a simple statement carries. ]
Right now, right here, I hold no authority whatsoever. Should I continue to remain idle and rely on you to deal with the tasks set before us, they could cast me out of their living arrangements which would subsequently cut me off from their research resources as well. It would be a substantial roadblock in our quest to return home.
I will be your mission partner before long.
no subject
[ angelo frowns. he can't exactly say no to him even if he disagrees. the two of them aren't connected in ways they usually are, so he can't exactly feel him, or let him know, why he disagrees with him disagreeing in the first place.
right. words. ]
... I see your point, but it is - worrying. [ a pause, and then he adds, ] There is the possibility of physical transformation beyond what we can control or predict. So far the effects don't seem permanent, but I don't think anyone has a full picture of how it affects them afterwards.
I won't stop you, and I'll be honored to work with you, of course, but please be careful.
[ angelo says this as if full frontal can't kill people in his own right, let alone fight, but you know, he takes his duties as his bodyguard and attack dog very seriously. ]
no subject
Am I ever not careful?
[ A bemused question, not really expecting an answer. ]
I'll let you shower and change your clothes before your full report. Would you like a tea to go with it?
[ This cohabitation might as well be a space to explore new dynamics, just a little. ]
no subject
[ and he'll let that trail off because it's not really a question to be answered seriously. that being said, the offer of tea is surprising to him; angelo's eyes widen. ]
Oh, but I can -
[ - belatedly, it occurs to him that perhaps this is something his captain wanted to do, learned how to do for the sake of doing, and angelo doesn't want to encroach on his independence. shouldn't, anyway; he's sure that this experience is new to full frontal too. isn't adapting a skill? isn't adapting part of survival?
angelo wrings his hands for a moment and just nods. ]
- I would love to have tea with you, Captain.
I'll be back in no time at all.
[ as if it ever takes him a long time to shower and clean up. but he does smell awful. the mission was a mess. angelo rushes towards the shower, excited for something as mundane as tea time. ]
no subject
Brewing tea can be surprisingly easy to mess up, but Frontal has tried it for himself once or twice now and produces a very simple but very decent little can of black tea for the two of them.
Angelo will return to Frontal pouring him a cup and sliding it over the little sitting room table. He'd wondered if they should move to one of their rooms, but it is more comfortable here and Aelwyn is not likely to return home just yet - he hopes, anyway. ]
Do you feel better?
no subject
A lot more clean.
The mission was rather ... involved. [ that's as best of a way he can put it short of saying he felt dirty, rolling in the mud and exposing himself to guts and grime.
in any case the captain seems to have mastered tea-making. it's such a simple task. the others would take turns making it for them, but angelo in particular enjoys doing it for him even if frontal doesn't really have a requirement for tea. or a proclivity for it. and his .... known original of ill-repute was more an alcoholic than anything else, thankfully the captain hasn't picked up that bad habit at all.
angelo settles in the seat feeling awkward that he's the one serving him, but it feels nice to watch his captain do this. he takes the cup and quietly relishes the aroma of it before taking a sip. ]
... thank you, Captain.
no subject
For a moment, Frontal is merely quiet and observes his lieutenant while he sips on his own cup of tea. He also finds it satisfactory. ]
You mentioned transformations. Please elaborate.
no subject
angelo sets the teacup down, fingers lightly holding onto the china as he thinks back to the mission itself and how it'd come to pass in the night. ]
The creatures they called kelpies were torturing the humans for sport, sliding them into ... seals, which they then spend the evening inhabiting as if it were their own bodies.
We saved some of them by gutting the seals open in order to let the humans out of their skin. It was quite the bizarre situation. The humans were still alive once they came out, though terrified, of course. They said they were constantly trying to communicate to us even as seals, though none of that was coming through. To us, they were just animals.
no subject
... I see.
Being stuck in a body that is not yours must be quite mortifying. [ He can imagine how it might feel better than most. Just not... the seal part. ] I am not certain what the kelpies were trying to accomplish though. The goals of enemies we deal with here appear to be... of a different caliber than usual.
no subject
And to be a lowly animal too ... I've no idea if seals possess some intelligence but it certainly wasn't dignified to see them slithering around like .... overfed slugs.
[ how else would he describe them. ] At least there is something familiar in a human body had it been with another body instead.
The objective seemed to be just pointless cruelty. Whatever the goal is, we are nowhere near anything close to unraveling it at all.
no subject
[ There is some genuine weight behind those words. To see Angelo in such a pitiful state, even temporarily... No, thanks. The poor boy looked pitiful enough even just being damp from sea water. ]
Based on the initial briefing we were given, we are likely to encounter a number of such seemingly unmotivated creatures. Troubling.
[ And with another sip of tea: ] I've never seen a seal in person before.
no subject
[ angelo says primly as he drinks his tea. ] Not to mention the smell.
That being said, the people I've met so far hesitated little when it came to the actual work of freeing others from the animals. Perhaps I was just lucky, but that made for - at the very least - a decent work day.
[ it'd be more difficult if everyone were whining about the humanity of it all. but it seemed for once that everyone was capable, even if they dealt with the situation in strange ways. ]
no subject
Cutting into a living being is a fairly regular thing to have compunctions about, however misplaced. People are rather squeamish.
[ He pauses briefly, considering Angelo's face again, thinking about the way his nose wrinkles a little as he complains of smell... ]
The next dirty mission will be mine. That is only fair.
no subject
... but with assistance, surely.
[ surely? or does he want this by himself. angelo tries not to fret, like full frontal can't just kill people by himself or something. it's easy to forget. ]
no subject
I assume ADI will send out teams, yes.
[ He does not see the problem Angelo is having here. ]
no subject
so instead, he nods and take another sip of his tea, which is nice and warm and comforting and - most importantly - made by his captain. ]
I'm sure it'll be quite the experience, Captain.
[ he looks at him curiously. ] Have you met anyone interesting so far ...?