faintly considering Paradisa (possible Halo: Glasslands spoilers)

[parangosky_jr]

[Captain Serin Osman has her arms crossed, leaning casually against some crate or desk or something in the odd nethersphere of headspace. Her expression is hard to place, but at the very least it's calculating.]

I see you've got two Spartan-IIIs and one Spartan-II to your credit, as well as a couple of those miscreant Freelancers.

So, what makes you think you can play a Spook?

Comments

[daisy023]

[Her current icon is rather accurate expression-wise. Even she hesitates when replying.]

Sometimes they don't think about that.

[There's something that makes her different from Naomi and many other Spartans. Daisy thought a lot about the washouts.]


Serin...?

[parangosky_jr]

She'll find out soon enough it's more work then she thinks.

[Maintaining her position, watching Daisy carefully, waiting for that recognition ... ah, there it is. She's not surprised Daisy remembered her better then some of the others. She'd almost gotten out, certainly the indoctrination hadn't been as deeply ingrained.]

[Serin nods.] Daisy. It's been a while.

[daisy023]

We never knew what happened to you. It's been too long.

[Most importantly, Serin is alright. What Halsey did to her was undone.

Serin will see clearly as water her relief and happiness, then concern about her being a spook. She's not part of those that like Halsey, but ONI is just as evil.]

ONI took care of you, didn't they? You were brilliant.

[parangosky_jr]

ONI patched me up alright. They gave me a life and a purpose after Halsey failed. [She makes it no secret where her loyalties lie. What Halsey did -- kidnap her from her family, brainwash her, and nearly kill her with augmentations -- could never fully be undone, and isn't something Serin will ever forget.]

[Maybe it's the spook in her, but she keeps her expression carefully blank.] So, your mundane have you anywhere?

[daisy023]

[Those things hit too close home. While she and her group were not part of the washouts, the experience was enough to feel feel those things ripped away from her. And that was before encountering her clone.

Daisy may not like ONI, but for all it matters, Serin is alright... For good or ill, has a purpose.]

Luceti. I've just made a year in there without UNSC Support.

[Nor Covenant, nor Insurrectionist, nor UEG. And either surprisingly or not, she was socially re-adapted... For the most part.]

Paradisa has Jorge, an ODST, and a Three. Chances are less you'd go nuts in there.

[parangosky_jr]

Luceti? That's the one with the wings, right? [She may not have BB with her here, but that didn't mean she was helpless as far as gathering intel went. It just took her a bit longer.]

Not sure how they'd take it, and I wouldn't have the driving factor of need to work so closely with them as I did with my crew on the Port Stanley. Me and my spookish ways would probably keep things close, for a while, at least.

[daisy023]

Delicate ones at it.

[She's still not fond of the symbolism.]

Sometimes you need that more than you'd think. Even we need someone to talk to.

[Especially so when they don't have eachother. Otherwise, she would not have made alliances, nor family, where she is now.]

You can also make alliances with other worlds.

[parangosky_jr]

Well, that's inconvenient. How's that work with your Mjolnir?

OH, I can form working relationships easy enough. Plus, my time in the Officer's program and working with ONI will have given me better social skills then what you Spartans received. [One more thing Halsey can add to her list of transgressions.] I'm just not likely to immediately gutspill like I did on Naomi and the rest.

[daisy023]

I have to work outside it from time to time.

[Tone of bitterness. She has to do that lest she gets another bout of mental instability.

She frowns with the mention of her former lack of social skills, but bitterly agrees. Fates after the S-II Project aside, Daisy despises Halsey just as much as Serin does. But...]

Gutspill?

[Strangely, moreso for a Spartan... The tone is neither accusing nor angry.]

[parangosky_jr]

[She shrugs.] End of the Covenant, all the dirty laundry coming out to air, I felt it was best to let my crew knew some of my own history before they got it from the News ViDocs. Naomi didn't much appreciate it, but I think she understood well enough when they released Halsey's journal.

[daisy023]

The war ends?

[How alien that sounds. She knows from this place that Reach would fall, but it baffles Daisy on what would the rest of her group do when the war ends. She hates having mixed emotions.

And the reveals. She doesn't have the right to call Serin out on it. Daisy told the truth to a close friend of hers in Luceti.]

There's a lot of risk in that. Not just for ONI, but for the UNSC.

[Not that it may be within Serin's power. The end of the war may mean the end of the emergency military government... and of ONI's current reign.]

But now that I think about it... Two Spartan projects. She's going to get the love she deserves, won't she?

[By which she means, Halsey will be actually treated like a war criminal. And right now envies the lack of canon knowledge she has currently in Luceti. Far too many bad things happen after she's gone.]

[parangosky_jr]

[Serin cocks her eyebrows.] Ends isn't exactly the word I would use. The fighting has stopped, for now, but tensions are still high. The insurrectionists are already striking back, and things with the Sanghelli aren't much better.

[It's her job to make sure the Sanghelli turn their aggression inwards, stoke the fire between the rifts, there's little stopping them from doing the same to the humans.]

She's only responsible for the Spartan-IIs. The Spartan-IIIs belong to Ackerson. [She's not going to mention the Spartan-IV project, recently greenlit, which was sure to be far more ethically sound then its predecessors.]

And yes, she's getting exactly what she deserves. She'd been declared dead, and publicly she'll stay that way. An eye for an eye, ferried away to work for ONI and the UNSC, dead to the world.

Just like we had been.

[daisy023]

They still need her... So spooks have a sense of humor. Funny she was hated enough to let him lead the third project.

[There's no sympathy in her voice towards either figure, but Daisy doesn't know if she would have preferred a firing squad for Halsey. Now she can't help but remember she evaded the same fate after her escape for a reason.]

I thought even the Innies would forget the war for a moment. [Alas.] What about the squids?

/late, hope it's okay.

[noblefive]

So, we got another wanting to enter the castle.

I dunno weither that's a good thing, or a bad thing.

[parangosky_jr]

At least he didn't steal kids and replace them with cheap copies.

If any this is the perfect moment for the Innies to attack. Relays down, whole worlds Comm Dark, the UNSC stretched thin. [She's had to deal with this persinally, with the incident at Venezia.]

is okay!

[parangosky_jr]

Let's be clear about one thing; I don't want this. I've got my mission, and my team.

[And a small, calculated pause.] I doubt you'd want me there, if you knew what I knew, Jorge.

/is totally enabling joining Para, btw

[noblefive]

You think I don't have anything important to do back on Reach? My mun took me from destroying a Corvette.

And that depends. What don't you think I don't want to know?

we'll see, I have to let some dust settle, first.

[parangosky_jr]

I know. [She was ONI. She knew everything.]

[She's quiet, watching him.] You don't recognize me at all, do you? [She wasn't surprised, really.]

Well, whenever you want! I'll be playing Jorge there for as long as possible

[noblefive]

'fraid not. All I know is that you're ONI.

:3

[parangosky_jr]

[She nods, expression blank for a moment. Maybe this would jog his memeory.]

Serin-019. [She had learned from Naomi-010 that Halsey informed the rest she had died when the augmentation process failed for her. She nearly had. Thankfully, ONI was there to pick up the pieces.]

[noblefive]

S...

[A pause.]

Serin? [He knew she sounded familiar, but... It was so long ago.]

Y...You're alive?

[parangosky_jr]

I am.

And I know more about the Spartan program then you and Noble Six put together, and not any of it is pleasant.

[daisy023]

[She turns her sight down. It's a point she cannot argue. However, while the use of clones is one of many things Daisy wanted to kill Halsey for, she felt more pity and compassion towards her copy, rather than hatred she wanted to feel at that time.]

"Another such victory, and we are undone." [It even seems hard to call it a victory by Serin's judgement.] They'll still need Spartans, then.

[And for their actual intended purpose, no less.]

... How's Naomi?

[parangosky_jr]

[Serin nods.] We still need Spartans. Admiral Parangosky's greenlit a Spartan-IV program. Mjolnir project is up to Mark VII.

There'll probably always be a need for heavy weaponry like yourself. [She can't help a small note of trpidation in there. In a few years she'd most likely be heading ONI, once Parangosky stepped down, and she'd be heading a much larger portion of the stakes.]

[She's quiet for a moment.] Well enough. In one piece. Trying to deal with the truth of Halsey's actions. She hasn't read her case file, yet, although I believe she had one of the ODSTs check it out.

[daisy023]

[Another Project. She assumes it will involve, again, children volunteers. The mention of a new version of the MJOLNIR, however, makes her feel hopeful -- and envyous.

The change in tone is not lost on Daisy, but she does not understand why. It's possibly the fact that humanity will still have a hard time after the Great War.]

It's going to be hard for her. [It was for Daisy when she learned the same.] Just be there for Naomi when she needs it... Same for the helljumpers. It's going to shake more than just her trust on that woman.

[More concern. That Naomi is pretty much going through the same is worrying to Daisy.]

[noblefive]

...It doesn't matter. What's done is done.

[He's had 30 years to get over what had been done to him. He never accepted it, truly, but he did accept the fact of why. At least, the 'why' he had peiced together]

Besides, even if you got into the castle, my loss might deaden the blow of such information.

[parangosky_jr]

[Osman can't say for sure, but at the very least they'd be volunteers.]

I will. I got my crew's back, no matter what.

[daisy023]

Thank you, Serin.

[Not that she expects anything less. Either as a ranking officer or someone growing up with them.]

It's good to see you after so long.

[Spook or no spook.]