voidtreckernet | [ Audio + Brief Video ] Domino Day Eighteen

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[ Audio + Brief Video ] Domino Day Eighteen

I know there's a lot of this going around lately, but I promise to try and make this quick.

There are people on board this train that are good with technology, right? Computers and things like that? Everyone knows the name Tony Stark--it's hard not to hear someone talking about him--or him talking about himself... So I'm going to ask where he is right now. If it's the Quiet Carriage, he won't hear this but maybe someone will let me know they saw him there recently.

But if anyone else is as good or better with tech than he is I'd like to know. I've got a few things to share. On one condition: make something useful with it.

[The feed switches off and then a video turns on in it's place a second later. No one is visible except for a black hand with sharp claws that holds what basically looks like a foreign cellphone in it's grasp. It's rotated slightly one way and then another before the video feed shuts off abruptly. An audio-only starts again.]

That's what you have to work with. We could use a better device than these things. [He does not miss Ryslig but gods does he miss the communicator devices from there.] For lots of reasons. [Someone is paranoid.] Any takers?

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[Tony looked at him a moment.]

Just seeing if that had changed.

[He gave Garret an odd look.]

What? Are you wanting us to set up shifts? Of course I'll be working with some of them on this project. Feanor and I have already made some progress with the SCA.

[Though obviously not as much as he would've liked or he wouldn't be standing in front of Mr. Creeps-A-Lot.]

Is there anything else you want before I take these with me?

[Garrett shook his head though if anything he looked amused.]

Just checking. If you're working with them it means less work for me. And a quicker solution. Especially if anything tries to work against it...

[The train didn't seem to react too negatively to its passengers when they got up to things. Ryslig had scarred him in more ways than one though. He couldn't help but think of the worst case scenarios rather than the best.

He shrugged.]

Let me know if you need more. Or anything else to work on them. I can always pick up better supplies next mission if it's as accommodating as the last.

[He set the item he had been looking at down and sighed.]

As helpful as this is for us, I find it very questionable that you're stealing from the people we're saving. I realize this is a gray area but may I get your word you won't take something that a family there clearly needs? Like cell phones and stuff, I get it, these can be replaced and aren't essential, but something that might harm them if they don't have.

You'll have to be more specific. Where I'm from the only thing you need to survive is food in your stomach. That makes everything else free game.

Besides, I'm not worried about them; I'm more worried about us. They get to stay in their comfy homes and all the better for it after we pass through and save them as you put it, while we get kidnapped and run around in this death-trap waiting to spring. And maybe it's been fine for you people so far but in my experience random kidnappings to other worlds don't typically end all that well.

Really? That's the only thing you need to survive?

[He folds his arms in front of his chest and gives Garrett a glare.]

Their comfy homes that just got ruined. These are people- innocent people. They don't have anything to do with us being trapped here. I don't care if this place turns out to be a death-trap. It's not right to help these people only to turn around and abuse them.

[His eyes narrow.]

And what kind of experience is that?

When you grow up on the street it is.

[Don't give him that look, Tony. He can glare, too, you privileged prick. He wasn't born a noble, he was an orphan who stole his food and learned to survive on his own merit.]

They'll survive. Where I came from we still have to vie with things like plague and sloop. [And he's not sure which is worse--having the plague or having nothing to eat but sloop soup. It ain't tasty.]

This. [He spread his arms and limbs wide to show off all his arachnid glory.] You think I was born this way? No. Somewhere I'm sure that's a thing, but I wasn't. I was human. Then a god decided to kidnap me and a whole bunch of others for her war and turned us into monsters. And the natives? They weren't exactly enthusiastic to have us around. Why would they? Just look at me. I know you feel repulsed. No one likes a monster in their midst.

You make one wrong move and the people you're trying to save? Will just damn you to hell.

[This is why he hated dealing with people. This was why he remained unseen, unheard. Being a thief just made it that much more applicable to his life.]

So we're ignoring the fact that you might also need a planet that's not on fire or one that's in an eternal blizzard making you freeze to death. Those aren't necessities too? Because last I checked, most people have more needs- even 'on the street' ones.

[He obviously doesn't know what sloop is but he didn't want to find out. He also looked at Garrett's uh.. extra bits with disdain.]

Sounds to me like you're making a bunch of damn excuses for getting to abuse people just because that's what happened to you. That's a pretty pathetic rational for leaving people to not have what they need to survive.

I'm flattered you think I can steal an entire world. [The smirk doesn't last long but it's there before it slips back into the serious face.] Your words just reveal the fact that you've never lived on the street before. It's pretty straight forward actually: stay away from people larger than you and procure just enough food to stay alive without gaining the attention of people who will beat you to death for simply filling your aching stomach. Which, by the way, is pretty much everyone.

For the record? I'm not abusing anyone. I don't hurt anyone, I don't even get noticed. I'm not a highwayman that beats their victims half to death or a burglar that smashes their way through a robbery. And I don't approve of those sorts.

But people can survive without their pretty little trinkets and baubles just fine. You even said yourself they don't need these devices. What, then, could I possibly take that would ensure their death? Please, tell me. Because I honestly can't think of anything small enough for a sneak thief to take that would leave a person for dead. Take your time contemplating your answer. You know where to find me. In the meantime... [Garrett rose from his seat.] ...you have what you need. And if you need more I'm the best bet to procure it seeing as the shop has limited options. Just keep that in mind.

[With that, he turned to leave.]

Wait, Garrett. You misunderstand me. I'm questioning your logic and principle, but not what you've done so far. I'm not as sheltered by my ivory tower as you seem to think. I get it. We're at war and we have to live in the gray to survive. And I can understand that you've been through a ton of shit- especially looking like that or even before. I'm not familiar with a 'sneak thief' so help me get a better idea of what you're about.

Let's speak hypothetically here, okay? If, say, you ran across a portable power generator that was being used to give people the warmth they need for their homes. Would you steal that? We could certainly use it but I wouldn't want to put those people in a vulnerable state by taking something like that. Another example are the guns from not this past mission but the one before. I know there are people on our train who took the guns we used. However, if we'd taken all of them, we would've left those people facing a new world without a way to defend themselves. So I'd argue we could take a few but not all of them. Where would you fall on that scale?

[Garrett stopped in the doorway but his shoulders were tense and his spider-y limbs twitched irritably. He didn't turn back to face Tony as he listened.

He almost still left. There were still obvious insults thrown at him and it didn't make for a very happy thief. He still refused to turn around instead turning his head to answer over his shoulder.]

Only if I was about to die and they weren't there to use it. I don't typically steal from the poor either unless they're crooks, thieves, or hiding something they shouldn't. [Garrett wasn't even sure what something like that would look like or how portable it really was for one person. The concept wasn't one he was familiar with. Electricity was made in great big factories, wasn't it? He wasn't even aware of how they worked to be honest. They were relatively new in his world and he hadn't gone looking in Bavan either where something like that might or might not have been more common.] It's easier for me to steal something I recognize. A piece of jewelry, a small tool set, small electronics like those. Wiring, paintings, silverware. Scrap metal. A book. Or food if I'm hungry.

[He glanced at Tony briefly.] If someone requested something like what you just named I'd have to ask for a description. But if all you're asking is 'would I steal from a poor family?' The answer is no.

[They had Darth Vader on board. Tony didn't think he was so out of line asking these questions. He truly meant them as questions and not insults, though he certainly didn't know the man well enough to have an idea how to phrase them better. He really didn't have an idea what Garrett was about and where his moral lines were drawn.]

If that's the case, then you have my apologies. I shouldn't have assumed otherwise.

[He was willing to make that concession and own that he'd been in error here.]

[Garrett hesitated. He glanced over his shoulder again to take in all of Tony's form and assess the over-all demeanor of the man. Garrett made a living on his observations; he considered himself fairly good at reading people as well as his surroundings. Garrett didn't know Tony hardly at all beyond what he heard but the man seemed genuine right now. Maybe it was play-acting but Garrett decided to take it for face value.

Reluctantly, he half turned. He wasn't quite facing Tony but he was no longer facing the exit either. He nodded once.]

Accepted.

[His reply was quiet yet firm, decisive.

Then he shifted awkwardly, not knowing where the conversation would go from there. He wasn't very good at this even on the best of days never mind the worst of them.]

[Tony met his gaze and gave a nod.]

Thank you. I won't keep you any longer.

[He was going to discuss this with the council too- not Garrett specifically but what they were going to do if there were other with less morals when looting.]

[Oh good, they were done for certain this time. Garrett would take the semi-amiable exit rather than storming off any day. It was anticlimactic, sure, but it left the rest of the day easier. Even if he was a little wary of future interactions. Usually he didn't have to worry about people knowing where to find him--they didn't know where he lived and he had a whole city to hide in anyway--but the train made that pretty much impossible. Oh well.

Still, when he turned to leave it was with a lighter step than before.]

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[ Audio + Brief Video ] Domino Day Eighteen

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