musicdied: (distant)
Yelena Belova ([personal profile] musicdied) wrote in [community profile] apocalypsehowcomm2021-08-24 01:56 am

Open Log

Who: Yelena Belova and anyone
When: Mid-August up to just before the event
Where: ADI housing and the surrounding neighbourhood, the railyard
Summary: Getting the lay of the land, and investigating the phantom crash.
Warnings: fire, destruction of home, mention of insects, mention of potential death and corpses, paranoia


ADI Housing - C2

It's a solid few hours between when Yelena is first deposited in one of the maintenance ducts in ADI headquarters, and when she turns up at the apartment - shared, she's been warned, and while that's less than ideal, she's dealt with less privacy before - she's been assigned to. This once, she takes no pains to be silent, though neither is she overly loud.

If there's no one immediately in evidence in the common area of the apartment, she'll set about exploring, committing the layout and location of various useful items to memory. If one of the apartment's other residents is in evidence, or else when they make an appearance, she greets them with a small smile and a, "Hello. I think we're to be roommates."

(And, ok, maybe only half of the other residents of the apartment will think she's harmless for even a second, but half is better than none.)

ADI Housing - General

After she's acquainted - or reacquainted - herself with her roommates and washed the cobwebs and dust from her hair, Yelena sets out to acquaint herself with the grounds of the housing complex and the area just beyond. The first evening, she's concerned mainly with the major landmarks: the apartment blocks, the fitness and laundry facilities, the gate and the bus stops, the nearby grocery store. The next few evenings, she can be found wandering the grounds and the nearby neighbourhood with less apparent intent - just stretching her legs, if asked. (Just cataloging the surveillance equipment; she's seen high-security facilities with far fewer cameras.)

Over the course of the first two weeks she's there, she establishes something of a routine, alternating running and swimming in the early mornings, visiting the gym at night. Occasionally, after curfew, she might be found up on the roof of one of the buildings. It's not against the rules - she's checked.

Railyard - August 21-24

It doesn't take any convincing to get Yelena down to the railyard after the crash that has, apparently, gone unnoticed or ignored by the majority of the town. Including, apparently, the people who work in that selfsame railyard. After the third repetition of "I just started here", she abandons questioning to those less physically adventurous in favour of inspecting the rusting tracks and decaying train car. She slips in through the half-fused door, the beam of her heavily-weighted flashlight bobbing as she scrambles over detritus best left unidentified, and struggles not to cough at the haze of dust and ash in the air. That the burnt-out hulk is ancient is clear enough. So too is the fact that it was once a sleeper car, and she supposes it's fortunate that some long-ago rescue crew has already removed the bodies, even if no one's bothered to haul the car away.

(Or would it not have been here yesterday, if anyone had taken it into their heads to explore the railyard without the impetus of the crash?)

She runs a finger carefully along the lip of the washbasin, then turns her attention to the walls, squinting at the ruined posters. After a moment, she pulls her phone out of her pocket, and starts recording. Most of posters and playbills are destroyed beyond any use, but some few might yield more information on closer inspection, somewhere that feels less like a tomb and doesn't force her to take shallow breaths.

It doesn't take long for the theme to become apparent even in the few posters that remain.

Something - maybe the creak of fire-and-rot weakened flooring, maybe the scuttling or chittering of disturbed vermin, maybe just a shift in the air - alerts her to another person's presence, and she glances sharply over. She relaxes only a little when she spies another person, and not anything particularly sinister.

"It's strange, isn't it?" she says. "This still being here."

Wildcard

Hit me with something, or pm me/pp me at [plurk.com profile] quantumvelvet if you have an idea you want to chat about.
worthallthis: (told you so)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2021-09-05 06:16 am (UTC)(link)
Not a saying he's heard before. He gives Yelena a look that skews skeptical. Does misery love company? Are they miserable here? He's not sure what miserable feels like. "Reasonable subject," he allows. "Since we work for them. Most of us."

He's not sure if Yelena agreed or not, but he's reasonably sure nobody gets to stay in their official housing without taking their orders.

Somewhere between surprise, relief, and a tiny grain of pleasure (not misery), he finds himself adding, "And you did not almost fall on me. I knew exactly where you were."
bossyboiler: ((coral) 13)

[personal profile] bossyboiler 2021-09-09 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
"We all do work for them but what do we think of them so far?"

'And you did not almost fall on me. I knew exactly where you were.' If they looked similar she might have suspected them of being related. But they don't and with that line, Kate's suspicions grow that they used to date or something.

"Nearly falling on someone does make a better story, sorry Winter." Her tone is almost apologetic. "It's dramatic and funny. People like a funny story."
worthallthis: (good work soldat)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2021-09-09 05:41 am (UTC)(link)
Not for the first time, he wonders if he just doesn't understand what counts as "funny", because someone falling on someone else from a ceiling vent does not seem all that funny to him. But he's not going to argue about it, either. Instead he settles into a comfortable parade rest for the conversation in the entryway from living room to kitchen.

"ADI does not function like HYDRA, my previous handlers. They allow--" Require, even. "--much more freedom. There are fewer missions, and the ones assigned so far have supernatural elements. But they do not provide thorough documentation for their missions, so we are going in without all the relevant details. Unclear whether ADI handlers have thorough intel to start with."

Look, you ask for an opinion, and you get a report. That's probably more words than Kate has ever heard him say at once.
bossyboiler: ((black) 2)

[personal profile] bossyboiler 2021-09-12 08:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Indeed. Winter had just spoken more words than Kate has ever heard him say. She would have thought it progress had he not given what sounded like a military report. What had been done to him?

She also has this weird feeling that she's not meant to know about HYDRA. Kate thinks he doesn't mean the mythological beast. Perhaps it is best not to comment on that now. Based on what Winter just had said, it sounded like they didn't give him freedom of choice. It sounded like they were secretive. What did they do?

While they talk, Kate continues to cook dinner. She gets a pot of water on the stove to boil. She gets a pan out to start cooking the rest of the items. "We're expendable." Kate says simply.

"We arrive in this world with no documentation. We are almost at ADI's mercy." She says almost because she didn't have to work for ADI. She could have gone to live in a flophouse. "It could all be a test." She chops up garlic and vegetables. "What do they have to lose by sending us in? I'm not sure which option I like better. They know nothing and need help or they know everything and we're a bunch of green shirts." A reference that is sure to go over their heads because Space Trails nor any of its spinoffs exist in this universe.
worthallthis: (but i did it)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2021-09-13 07:01 am (UTC)(link)
"There is very little in the ADI operation that shows desperation or a desire to recruit many outsiders," he says, shaking his head. "It is more likely. That they do not trust us. They know very little about us or how we arrive. But we have no support structures except what they offer us. They could put us to use while keeping us under their control."

Says the guy who fell immediately into the situation without actually caring that he's being controlled. That's familiar. Anyone who offered structure would probably be first on his list to sign up with, and ADI just got him first.
bossyboiler: ((green eyes) 1)

[personal profile] bossyboiler 2021-09-16 01:10 am (UTC)(link)
"You two sound like you know what you're talking about. Have you seen this kind of organization before?" Don't mind her as she drains the artichokes to get them ready to cook.
worthallthis: (Default)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2021-09-16 07:53 pm (UTC)(link)
He considers a moment, then says firmly, "Worse." ADI might not be very transparent, but he's used to that. They haven't even suggested maintenance or cryo, haven't sent him on any missions explicitly to kill anyone, haven't given him any unpleasant orders, and haven't hurt him pretty much at all. So ADI is automatically several orders of magnitude better than HYDRA or the Red Room-- and he doesn't even know about all of what happened to Yelena.
bossyboiler: ((coral) 21)

[personal profile] bossyboiler 2021-09-26 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
"There is?" Kate can't help but hide the surprise in her voice. No group on her world is considered expendable. Then again, everyone on her Earth has an ability. "Nevermind, forget I said that." She tacks on quickly. "Of course, there are people who think that way." She reaches up to touch the bridge of her nose.

Kate is reminded of her part in finding specials and having them conscripted into service whether they wanted to or not. Is that what happened to Winter? Oh, Gods. What if it is? What had she been doing? What had she been contributing too. She lowers her hand and snakes her head. No, she's just jumping to conclusions.

"So, shady organization that we can barely trust. Where do we go from that point?"