[OOC] Round 4 Private Collaboration

[Qiksilv]

I was hoping David would pounce on it and shoot sam tonight for backing up the aliens

[Qiksilv]

Without landing gear would parking at the ship or the dirt be more successful? Does the ship have some sort of tractor beam that could aid or a docking port where gear wouldn't be needed?

Sam is inclined to land in the dirt so as not to need to take the risk of a vacuum but is willing to explore other options.

[Bhelogan]

Either option is bumpy but doable

[Qiksilv]

I think I need input from monkey before I plan too much. David is too much of a gambit.

[squirmonkey]

If I had had to author how I most wanted today's posts to go without seeing today's update, I'd have written something like:

David asks Sam to kill Mraak, Sam refuses
David kills Issa, and then yells at Sam a bunch for backing up the aliens
David charges at Sam with the glass shard
Sam is forced to kill David.

But that scenario makes less sense given how things went.

Given how Perez and Worrell are talking, David would definitely prefer going to the ship over going back to the colony. I need more time to think about it though. I'm haven't decided if finding out Worrell is on his side is enough to snap David out of his madness yet.

[squirmonkey]

Overall though, I'd like to find an ending to this scene that's satisfying from both our ends.

Landing gear aside, does Sam have any strong opinions on what's going on around him politically?

[Qiksilv]

Sam was not fond of being on the short end of the stick for corporate support on Earth but sees the benefit of having benefactors. He is not in favor of granting them full control over his life but is far from being a 'zealot' so I would say seeing how David is acting currently would push him away from the anti-corporate mindset, at least in this situation.

Hearing that Grissy's downfall may have been orchestrated by the man who ought to have been looking out for his patient would concern him, especially since he probably knew that Wally had talked to 'the counselor' a couple of times about his own issues. Would Wally try something similar now? Just how much influence did David have among his patients?

So I'd say no; no strong political opinions, but all of the ones he has are against David's actions.

Sam will likely continue to try and talk David down and ask Mraak to pilot us. I was leaning toward the ship but I think he reeeally wants to spend some time working on this ship and would be opposed to dropping it off upstairs. Though, he will likely go to whichever place david presses so that this situation can be resolved as bloodlessly as possible.

What are you thinking for David?

[squirmonkey]

Honestly I'm mostly thinking I just want David to rant a bunch. And then either kill or not kill Issa depending on what makes the scene work out better.

And yeah, Anti-David is a pretty reasonable way to be feeling at the moment... Here's the ultra-rough draft of the ranting I've thought up so far in case that helps. I expect there to be more.

 

To Perez -> "Oh please. I showed Sergeant Starlight what was at stake, and she made her own choice about what had to be done. It doesn't take a so-called zealot to want a world free from corporate oppression. But apparently you've been so busy worrying about my politics it never occurred to you to consider how SHE might have felt about the issue. And yes, I let her out of your prison. You had no right to put her there in the first place. Leaving aside that your authority is illegitimate (I certainly didn't vote for you), Grissy hadn't done anything wrong. She had committed no crime, hadn't been tried or convicted or even arrested! You detained her to forward your own agenda. So don't try to pretend you have the moral high ground over me. I gave Starlight her chance to be free! To choose for herself instead of being the slave you and the corporations tried to make her. What have you done to fight for our freedom?"

To Sam -> "Every tree needs someone to prune the blighted branches, or the whole garden will go to seed. Not everyone is cut out for the job, you're certainly not, and that's okay. That's why I was sent to do it for you. " (Rant at sam a whole bunch and blame him for all my problems while accusing him of blaming me for all his problems)

...

"But Samuel, I understand now that all of this is because of how lost you've become. You've lost sight of your humanity locked away in that suit all the time. I've seen it a hundred times before. I can help you." (something something rant about how technology is the problem, maybe kill Issa cuz she's "supposed to be dead")

[squirmonkey]

Idk... I keep trying to think of a way to end things with a bang, and nothing great is coming to mind so far. But we have some extra time for this one, so I guess that's okay.

As I think more about the ranting, I feel like that makes more sense in a version of the story where Sam is inclined to get more hostile towards David. If he's more into trying to talk David down, maybe it works better to let David be talked down, and turn the rant into more mournful resignation?

Lots to think about.

[Bhelogan]

If there is anything you would like to have adjusted in the narrative from my end, to create the ideal ending to the scenario, I am happy to retcon. Just let me know.

[squirmonkey]

Thanks! I don't think that should be necessary though. But maybe Qiksilv will disagree. I'm not super sure on what they would most like to see in an ending to the scenario. (They'd mentioned a race for the gun, so if they still like that idea a lot, maybe we could look into something like that).

[Qiksilv]

Think its funny that monkey would have written that San kills David but that I would have written that David kills Sam. Seems we were both hoping our characters would die by the other's hands

No need to recon for me. How it ends is how it ends .

[squirmonkey]

Originally Posted by Qiksilv

Think its funny that monkey would have written that San kills David but that I would have written that David kills Sam. Seems we were both hoping our characters would die by the other's hands

No need to recon for me. How it ends is how it ends .

I agree that's funny. Any thoughts so far on what you might like to see in an ending? Any thematics that you want to help wrap up Sam's story?

[squirmonkey]

Here's an idea I had. Let me know if it seems more in line with what you see Sam wanting in this situation and/or the kinds of endings you might be interested in giving him.

• David says he wants to go to the ship so he and Worrell can continue to work his ideology without Perez arresting him
• Sam is pretty anti-David right now, so he'd prefer David be arrested, but he doesn't want to risk David killing Issa. I'm imagining that the Exodus II is kinda right above the dome in orbit, so that they're closeby. So Sam puts the ship on a course that seems to be towards the ship. We're moving along the ground towards the dome, but also slowly upwards into orbit. This buys time for Issa to get unparalyzed.
• David is placated, and maybe rants a little
• At the last minute, before docking with the ship, Sam changes the course, and the ship starts plummeting towards the ground. He's going to land at the dome after all, so David will get his just desserts (and so he can study the alien spaceship). They're falling so fast that it makes the inside of the ship zero-g, like those airplanes they use to train astronauts.
• David realizes the betrayal, casts Issa aside, and zero-g lunges at Sam with the glass shard.
• Issa's un-paralyzed now and dive-tackles David in mid-air, knocking him off course and knocking the glass shard out of his hand (I realize this takes some liberties with an NPC I'm not allowed to act as, so we'd have to run it through Bhel to make sure we're in a version of events where the NPCs are acting in character. Sam could also do this part, if you wanted).
• The two struggle in the air for a moment (I imagine Issa's about ready to kill David at this point) before the ship suddenly decelerates for a landing. Everyone is knocked down, Issa and David hit the ground hard and probably both break some bones.
• Perez's marines storm the ship and arrest... probably everybody except Sam.
• And then the aftermath is David stands trial for his crimes and has to reckon with the idea that he went too far, and Sam returns to the colony a hero (and with a couple new aliens and a spaceship to show off to Piper) but occasionally wonders if some of what David said was right.

[Bhelogan]

You can take some liberties with the NPCs for this last round of posts. I'll make sure the judges know.