(IC) Lost In Dreams [Peter]

[the_matrix_walker]

Originally Posted by ericthered

"So you're a citizen of a United States of America, but not our united states of america. And you have a way to travel that doesn't involve portals. And you somehow convinced one of the more aggressive cities on the other side of all of this to the point that they stopped attacking us."

"It should be a whole network of cities, but I don't have a way to police it."

Originally Posted by ericthered

"Do these very special circumstances require us giving you a solid gold nugget or letting you out of holding or something else convenient for you? Sounds like the best way to verify your story is to show us how you travel without the portals."

"Yeah, I can't just do it, it's unpredictable, and you can't reproduce it, so it's pretty pointless. I don't really care about you verifying my story... If you don't want my help, that's fine then."

Originally Posted by ericthered

"And can anybody do this? or just some people? do you know of anyone other than you?"

"My guess is you need to have a talent, so you may need to figure out how to identify those who have it."

Originally Posted by ericthered

"I got to do due diligence kid. I'll send you to the debriefing site and see if I can verify your story. I'll see you later. How I see you will depend on if the story is true or not."

With the people who came through before and the talk about a council and arranging trade, Peter is starting to assume this guy just doesn't have clearance to know what's going on.

With the reaction here and the revelation of how far things need to go to fix things here, Peter realizes he has pretty much done what he can, and these worlds are just going to have to figure out how to get along.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

"Yeah, I can't just do it, it's unpredictable, and you can't reproduce it, so it's pretty pointless. I don't really care about you verifying my story... If you don't want my help, that's fine then."

I mean, that's kind of a lie about not being predictable... but its a soft lie.

"My guess is you need to have a talent, so you may need to figure out how to identify those who have it."

Sarge: "We'll see if we can get you to demonstrate it. That would make searching for the talent a lot easier."

With the reaction here and the revelation of how far things need to go to fix things here, Peter realizes he has pretty much done what he can, and these worlds are just going to have to figure out how to get along.

Peter is put in the back of a military truck and sent to the "Debriefing Area". He's not restrained, but there are three soldiers in the back of the truck with him, and they have weapons. They ask him if he's from "That City that released all the prisoners." and add "They've sure been keeping us busy."


They offer him food and ask what kind of music he likes.

[the_matrix_walker]

Originally Posted by ericthered

I mean, that's kind of a lie about not being predictable... but its a soft lie.

Peter is not above the occasional falsehood, but it's only the very slightests of stretches...

Originally Posted by ericthered

Sarge: "We'll see if we can get you to demonstrate it. That would make searching for the talent a lot easier."

Whenever they are ready!

Originally Posted by ericthered

Peter is put in the back of a military truck and sent to the "Debriefing Area". He's not restrained, but there are three soldiers in the back of the truck with him, and they have weapons. They ask him if he's from "That City that released all the prisoners." and add "They've sure been keeping us busy."

"I came here from over there this afternoon, but I'm from New England."

Peter will milk them for all the details he can as casually as possible... keeping it conversational. He also interspaces questions about the people returned, and tries to find out if they are being detained or sent home (and if so, are they are under some kind of gag order).

"What do they have you doing? Has it been tough? What's the hardest..."

Originally Posted by ericthered

They offer him food and ask what kind of music he likes.

This will send Peter of a tangent talking about all kinds of popular music, and how he loves the "oldies" like Pearl Jam. Peter takes the opportunity to sing a few bars of something they discuss, as he indulges his pride showcasing his singing chops.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

Whenever they are ready!

They insist on using a different portal than the one he came from. They set up cameras, and tell him to go for it. They've got copies of the instructions on doing so that he wrote and are holding them.

"I came here from over there this afternoon, but I'm from New England."

"Yeah, geography is crazy for them. The weird thing is the portals seem to mostly target North America."

Peter will milk them for all the details he can as casually as possible... keeping it conversational. He also interspaces questions about the people returned, and tries to find out if they are being detained or sent home (and if so, are they are under some kind of gag order).

They're mostly still at the debriefing site. Those who were released have gag orders and collateral. Some people have even had their families join them at the site. The number of people at the site seems to have doubled recently "A lot of prisoners were released by the enemy all at once."

"What do they have you doing? Has it been tough? What's the hardest..."

"The hardest part is watching people die." They don't really want to say more than that about the very hardest parts.


"Most of what we do is staking out the gate sites so that anything else that comes through gets intercepted. Sometimes we hunt down clockwork raiders."

This will send Peter of a tangent talking about all kinds of popular music, and how he loves the "oldies" like Pearl Jam. Peter takes the opportunity to sing a few bars of something they discuss, as he indulges his pride showcasing his singing chops.

The singing goes over well with the squad, as does the music talk.

[the_matrix_walker]

Originally Posted by ericthered

They insist on using a different portal than the one he came from. They set up cameras, and tell him to go for it. They've got copies of the instructions on doing so that he wrote and are holding them.

Peter demonstrates.

He recommends they try and take the ingredients he described and attempt making their own incenses to see if Peter can do it with the local materials so they can determine if they are dependent on clockwork world materials to make this work.

He starts toying with them as he demonstrates.

"Okay, so we should talk pricing for portal opening, closing and detection... I'm thinking a cool mil a pop... and I don't want to be paying no taxes. Diplomatic or religious exemption for the Emissary, yo!"

Originally Posted by ericthered

"The hardest part is watching people die." They don't really want to say more than that about the very hardest parts.

This quiets Peter, as he feels the scope of the situation.

"Is there anything you would want to tell the people in that other place? Or a question you would ask if you could?" Peter asks, ever the emissary.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

Peter demonstrates.

He recommends they try and take the ingredients he described and attempt making their own incenses to see if Peter can do it with the local materials so they can determine if they are dependent on clockwork world materials to make this work.

He starts toying with them as he demonstrates.

"Okay, so we should talk pricing for portal opening, closing and detection... I'm thinking a cool mil a pop... and I don't want to be paying no taxes. Diplomatic or religious exemption for the Emissary, yo!"

Sarge: "Surely you joke. A million a year, more likely. Two million once we pay your taxes."

This quiets Peter, as he feels the scope of the situation.

"Is there anything you would want to tell the people in that other place? Or a question you would ask if you could?" Peter asks, ever the emissary.

"I'd tell them to <bleep!>."


"I'd tell them they're messing with the US Army and as soon as we get through those gates they're going to have a rough time."



"I'd ask them what exactly they're trying to get out of all this."


"I'd tell them only idiots take slaves."

[the_matrix_walker]

Peter plays ball and hopes Goliath is being well treated.

He will lead them to other portals he senses if asked, demonstrate Clockwork World magic, and brainstorm with them on ideas for finding magically sensitive people.

Sarge: "Surely you joke. A million a year, more likely. Two million once we pay your taxes."

"What was the going rate before I got here? Maybe I need an agent."

Peter continues to joke while doing his best to teach them to do this for themselves. Maybe they have a top secret wizard in the US, or a spy from the other side they converted who can do it...

He will ask about Goliath's well being at an average of every 107 minutes.

[ericthered]

After he opens the gate, a few soliders poke through, and everyone looks impressed.

"Going rate? Son, where's your patriotism? We'll make you wealthy, you open gates for us, but don't get too greedy. An agent isn't a bad idea. You'll need one who is in on the operation and the crisis. Maybe at the debriefing site you can find somebody."

He's reunited with Goliath after he opens the gate: the dog is muzzled, but seems to be in good shape.

They make it to the debriefing site: an army training base in Missouri: Fort Leonard wood. The place is huge, and mostly wooded. Peter is set off in the middle of a small town surrounded by concrete walls. They will try and finger-print him and take a mug shot, and give him military ID. "Its equivalent of saying you're a foreign national with trust from the US army. Can't do more without your citizenship"

Peter is met by Dr. Cauldwell and Mr. Patterson as he gets out of the truck.

Dr. Cauldwell: "Hey! didn't think we'd see you in here!"
Mayor Patterson speaks to the lieutenant dropping him off. "Yeah, you've got the right kid."

[the_matrix_walker]

Originally Posted by ericthered

"Going rate? Son, where's your patriotism? We'll make you wealthy, you open gates for us, but don't get too greedy. An agent isn't a bad idea. You'll need one who is in on the operation and the crisis. Maybe at the debriefing site you can find somebody."

"Patriotism? What's more American than capitalism? I'm just cracking wise Sarge. Just treat me and Goliath with respect, and if we have clothes and food and a roof while we're here, you can donate anything the government wants to pay for my services to the Boy Scouts of America."

Originally Posted by ericthered

He's reunited with Goliath after he opens the gate: the dog is muzzled, but seems to be in good shape.

"Is this necessary? He's super well behaved."
Peter will remove the muzzle if they allow it.

Originally Posted by ericthered

They make it to the debriefing site: an army training base in Missouri: Fort Leonard wood. The place is huge, and mostly wooded. Peter is set off in the middle of a small town surrounded by concrete walls. They will try and finger-print him and take a mug shot, and give him military ID. "Its equivalent of saying you're a foreign national with trust from the US army. Can't do more without your citizenship"

Peter is met by Dr. Cauldwell and Mr. Patterson as he gets out of the truck.

Dr. Cauldwell: "Hey! didn't think we'd see you in here!"
Mayor Patterson speaks to the lieutenant dropping him off. "Yeah, you've got the right kid."

"Hey guys! How's it going? I came over to see how I could help from this side."

Peter is happy to see some familiar faces and gets caught up with the gentlemen.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

"Is this necessary? He's super well behaved."
Peter will remove the muzzle if they allow it.

"Its a muzzle or a crate. Which do you want? Sorry, we have to be careful."

"Hey guys! How's it going? I came over to see how I could help from this side."

Cauldwell: "And of course the first thing that happens is you get swept up and put in this place! or did you intentionally seek incarceration out so you could locate us?"


"We haven't gotten too much done yet, what with the walls a secrecy."


Patterson: "Nothing direct, but its a good place to set some of this up. We've got people from all over the states, and they all know about the secret. We'll need a bunch of civilians, and this is most of our recruiting pool."


Cauldwell: "But you'd rather be out actually setting things up."


Patterson: "Well yes, of course."