Log: A (dusty) new arrival

[punched_hitler]

Who: Steve Rogers and OTA (including roomies in apartment B4)
When: March 14th-ish, upon arrival
Where: ADI and ADI housing
Summary: Steve arrives at ADI, bangs around in an air duct and collects lots of dust, then gets briefed and takes a look around, ultimately making it to his new living quarters
Warnings: None yet, will update/warn in threads if needed.


Arrival via air duct
Steve Rogers is not a complete stranger to suddenly finding himself in places he hadn't expected to be.

But it's always unsettling, and this time maybe even more so than any others. He'd been in Asgard one minute, and the next — Well. It's a good thing he doesn't have asthma anymore. Because wherever he is, it's dark, cramped, and full of dust.

He also feels… kind of like shit. Weak. Disoriented. Actually, a lot like the old asthma attacks, just with (fortunately) less gasping and choking. Okay, some minor gasping and choking. It's really dusty in here.

Where he'd normally just consider breaking through the damn side of the duct — because yeah, okay, this is an air duct, he's pretty sure — he both feels unsteady enough not to try and unsure enough of where he is that he… probably shouldn't? Not until he knows more. Which has him crawling forward, Mjolnir's strap looped around one wrist, until he spots a vent up ahead. Plan A, then: Kick it in and get the hell out of here. And hope for the best.

(Hope he fits through the vent, in the first place.)




Looking around, settling in
Steve Rogers is also not unaccustomed to the idea of preventing the apocalypse. What he is unaccustomed to is the idea that using any of the abilities the serum grants him requires terrorizing and murdering people. That's just —

Well. He's lived more of his life without superhuman abilities than not. He'll just… not use them, for now.

It is frustrating. He was in the middle of mission. It was, you know, kind of important. But he's still got the soul stone tucked safely away, even if his quantum suit seems to have disappeared (collapsed into the watch, he has to assume, but he can't reactivate it), and if he's needed here, then he supposes he can afford the pit stop. Technically, he's got all the time in the world. Right?

So, he decides to take a look around ADI, still in his dusty Captain America uniform as he walks the halls and pokes his head into offices, the gym, the canteen, and the library. He maybe pokes around for something to eat in the canteen (he's... very hungry) and then stops to study the local maps and directories in the library, committing them to memory.

He finally makes it to the apartments. By the time he shows up at the right door — B4 — he's at least wearing jeans and a hoodie, although his hair is a still bit dusty and there's still that hefty warhammer in one hand. He figures he might as well knock instead of just walking in. It might be his place, now, but it seems like a little politeness is the safer option when meeting potentially apocalypse-averting teammates.

Comments

[punched_hitler]

He is not actually accustomed to that, no. (In his experience, the only holograms he's seen have generally been extremely displeased with him. And things just went downhill from there.)

"Fresh from the air ducts," he admits, returning her smile with a wry one of his own. "I get the feeling the new ones aren't hard to spot, though, either way."

It's not a small operation, but it does seem fairly intimate. People get to know the look of their "coworkers."

"Steve Rogers," he offers, and doesn't ask, but is admittedly curious why she's projecting herself from somewhere else. But, hey. She must have a reason.

[failedpromise]

You don't understand, Steve: the hologram is her actual body. The closest thing to a 'projection point' she has is the thumb drive on a string around her neck.

...This is also the only clothing she's wearing. Fortunately, things are mostly censored by dark markings and streams of data.

"Usually, yes. Especially when you can't forget a face." AI have perfect memories, after all, unless something is deeply wrong with them.

"Cortana." She stops and offers her hand to shake. "Nice to meet you, Steve."

[punched_hitler]

He'll catch on eventually (probably), don't worry.

He also figures he can't really speak to anyone else's fashion choices - or lack thereof. That's their business, after all, right? She doesn't seem bothered, which is really what matters.

He does smile a bit when she mentions not forgetting faces - he can't really do that either, so he gets it. And he does indeed reach out to take her hand, assuming she must be solid enough to touch or she wouldn't offer. "You, too - under the circumstances," he admits. He can, after all, be pleasant while still not loving exactly what's happened to him - or happening around him. "Which are pretty unique, I'm learning."

And he will never turn down an opportunity for more information. "Have you been here long?"

[failedpromise]

On the one hand, she appreciates that people are respectful. On the other, she's disappointed by the consistent lack of reactions she's getting. Come on, she spent a lot of effort designing this thing! You'd think she'd at least get some kind of response.

She's definitely solid, though perhaps a bit cooler and smoother to the touch than he's used to.

"Definitely not every day someone winds up in a different universe." She smirks as she gently shakes his hand.

As for how long she's been here...

"Just over a month, give or take. I work in IT and research." She could count the exact days, hours, minutes, seconds since she's first arrived here, but it hardly matters: she's stuck here, likely for the rest of her life. However long that ends up being.

[punched_hitler]

It is very... a lot (by way of being very little). Steve just figures he shouldn't call attention to it, that would be more rude.

"Not every day," he agrees, taking note. "Although it must be at least a little common, around here, if half the people who work here aren't from here."

And it seems like she must be from someplace very different. "How's ADI treating you?"

He means it both as a casual question, and as a serious, information-gathering one.

[failedpromise]

"The same as any other employee, actually." The tone of her voice suggests that being treated the same as everyone else is very odd. She'd rarely been bothered by what was essentially her enslavement to Humanity-she was programmed to find her work fulfilling, and John had always been good to her-but the change was interesting.

"Pay is a little low, but they do provide free housing. Speaking of, you settled in yet?"

[punched_hitler]

Steve does somehow get that she thinks that's odd. And he's curious, but first, she asked him a question.

"Getting there. I hear I've got an apartment, so that's a start." With roommates, but he certainly doesn't mind those. He's lived in communal settings most of his life. In fact, he does much better in them than he does on his own. "It seems like the basics are at least covered, so I'll manage." It's not so different from the Army... even if he had at least volunteered for that. Plenty of fellas hadn't.

"And how does ADI treat their employees? Can't complain abut the help, but - is it so people won't complain?"

[failedpromise]

"Probably. If nothing else, it helps keep us in one place and provides incentive to join them over the enemy." They say they didn't kidnap them, but all they really have is their word, and the situation doesn't look good. Providing food and housing at least makes people less likely to rebel. Not that Cortana minds too badly: being here is better than dying.

"Treatment is fair enough." They're far from abusive to their employees, if that's what he's wondering.

[punched_hitler]

That is what he's wondering, although treating people well and abusing them does leave a lot of space in between.

"Are there protections in place? Against... what's happening? These entities? I guess I don't even know if that's possible. I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything that seems to happen around here."

He does, fortunately, have experience dealing with things that should just seem crazy. But it somehow doesn't necessarily get easier, in some ways. "I've been told that things can mess with your mind, your perceptions. That doesn't sound great."

[failedpromise]

"There appears to be some protection in staying together, but other than that..." They've managed to contain a few things and combat others, but their war with these entities doesn't seem to be going much better than the war between the UNSC and the Covenant before the latter fractured.

"Considering they made everyone think we were snowed in for days on end, resulting in isolation and food shortages while the headquarters were attacked in our absence? Yeah. I'd say so."