Log: Settling In

[notyourrookie]

Who: Agent Washington (OU)+open!
What: Adjusting to life in Gulch
Where: Scoping out the city (Shopping District, Park, a cafe)
When: Between October 26th and 30th
Warnings: None



York's safe house really had turned out to be a good choice. The security was good and it does make him feel better knowing that it was there. Lets him sleep more easily, when he actually manages anyway. It's better than staying in the casino with the constant noise of people outside leaving him on edge.

Getting to grips with the city is a top priority though, and has him heading out . Exploring. Scoping out is probably more accurate, treating it like he would a mission.

The shopping district seems the best place to start, busiest at least, and a good place to figure out what's normal here. The helmet store has a wide variety of them in the window, and he scans a catalogue showing enhancements and mods that are available. Some of those would be pretty useful if he's honest with himself. There's weapons shops too; nothing as heavy as the weaponry he's used to having at his disposal, but it's a start. There's a nice set of knives in there too. Now that is something he's going to have to get hold of.

He spends lunches in the park. It's a little surreal to see the covered ceiling up above and know that the sky outside could kill him, but it's nice to take off his helmet for a while. The place is climate controlled, and considering the last places he'd been at home had been a desert, an icy wasteland and a humid pit of a canyon, he's not complaining.

There's a little cafe a few minutes walk from the safehouse that stays open all night, and it's a better option to be there than sitting awake and twitchy in the safe house when he can't sleep.

Comments

[notyourrookie]

"Fine, yes. It was a code name. Field agents got states, support got Greek letters. Happy?"

[alphawho]

"Okay, jesus, thank you." Apparently it's a name here, and he's still going to be a little bitter about it, but...fine. Yes. Okay. Good.

[notyourrookie]

Eventually he is probably going to have to tell the truth. He'd kept what he knew secret for so long, but he hadn't had Alpha himself being a dick about it until recently. "You really hate being called Alpha don't you?"

[alphawho]

"It's not my name," he grumbles, though looks away. "It's not the one I know or recognize, no matter what the others say."

[notyourrookie]

He lets out a slow breath. "I guess I can understand that. It would be pretty weird if anyone started calling me by my given name after all this time." The name that had been discarded, blacked out on his files when he joined the Project.

[alphawho]

"Yeah but you...still recognize it as your name. Like, it was yours once." Church shrugs. "So." Topic change! "Meet anyone else along the way you remember-but-differently?"

[notyourrookie]

That is an easy enough question to answer and he shakes his head. "No. Not yet. York mentioned enough of them though. It's weird."

[alphawho]

"You got a place to stay, y'know, having been dropped out of the ether like nothing and suddenly existing here? I assume York offered."

[notyourrookie]

"Yeah, I do," Wash says. "And I took him up on the offer, because it was a hell of a lot better than the casino. Just need to work out what I do from here."

[alphawho]

"Start small. Odd jobs. Alliances, even if they're temporary." He says it with certainty, as if he'd been in a situation like that before. "Build yourself up. You'll need credentials, not sure if the government is looking to provide you with something, but if not, something passable will do, doesn't have to be perfect."

[notyourrookie]

"What kind of credentials? Because I didn't exactly arrive with ID." And even if he had, there's someone here who already has that identity. "What do you know about getting set up as a merc?" he asks bluntly.

[alphawho]

"Depends on the kind of jobs you get and how closely they want to look. Eventually you'll have to get something more permanent--you can petition a judge, or get something set up with a guy in a less than entirely legal way."

At the blunt question, Church blinks. "You'd have to ask a merc. You sure you want to jump straight into that? Makes sense, you have skills, and they probably won't give a fuck about ID."

[notyourrookie]

"I'm not sure 'I got dumped here from an alternate reality' is really going to swing it with a judge." He wasn't sure how common this was, or if there was a legal precedent. That was a lot of uncertainty.

He shrugs at the question. "I've been a soldier my entire adult life. I'm good at it. It seems the best way to get set up on my own in the least amount of time." Something that he'd like to do. He appreciated York's help, but he didn't want to rely on anyone for too long.

[alphawho]

"All I'm saying is, if you need something with like, a name and a birthday or something, I might be able to point you in a direction." Which is all he'll say about that right now.

"Might be weird for the For Hires, y'know. Having two Washingtons."

[notyourrookie]

Huh. "That could be useful. I might take you up on that." He could at least feel like he had some chance here.

"I'm sure they'll cope," he says. "Not that I have to work with them anyway." Good as it had been to speak to York, he wasn't sure if he could work with them again. He didn't think he could work with another partner.

[alphawho]

"Well, no, I guess you don't, but it'd be useful. You already kinda sorta know them and how they work; that's gotta be an advantage."

[notyourrookie]

He gives Church a flat, almost vicious look. "I don't do teams."

[alphawho]

"You did. What, you afraid they're all gonna shoot you? Most people don't do that, you know."

[notyourrookie]

"I've been lied to, manipulated, betrayed and left for dead by everyone I once trusted. No. I don't do teams."

[alphawho]

"...Everyone? Seriously, or an exaggeration...?"

[notyourrookie]

"Well, a couple of them died before they got the chance. So there is that."He doesn't know why he's telling Church this, except that he's tired and hurting and weirdly, Alpha was just about the one person who hadn't fucked him over in the end.

[alphawho]

Church sits back, shaking his head. "What the fuck was your life, Wash. Seriously. Sounds like a lotta bullshit."

[notyourrookie]

He gives a hoarse laugh, and a mirthless smile. "You don't even know half of it."

[alphawho]

"Apparently." That is not a good laugh. "As a bartender, I am the kinda guy you can always come to to spill your troubles to so long as I'm not in the weeds. So...y'know, you ever wanna head down when it's not busy and spill your story..."

[notyourrookie]

He shakes his head. "Can't. You would- I can't." That would mean explaining what had happened to Alpha when he's standing right there in front of them.