06 △ VIDEO

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Video--coming from Adam's tablet for once, and not his retinal enhancements. it shows him, obviously in his messy apartment, and obviously... different from what one might be used to. he's neither properly dressed nor his usual stoic, composed, monotone self.

but most notably, the lenses of his shades--which are mounted to his head--are retracted. his eyes are visibly artificial. here's the usual gravely voice: ]

...And they keep dragging more and more people here. Or is that the machine malfunctioning again? Can't be sure anymore.

Anyway, hello. My name's Adam Jensen and I'm -- [ insert vague, dismissive gesture here--his hand, too, is artificial and looks like it's made out of black metal. ] ... who the fuck even cares. I'm the local oversized can opener. Hi.

[ if it wasn't obvious before that he's drunk, it's sure as hell now. ]

Given the uh, premise under which you all arrived here as well as the popularity of thought-provoking surveys lately, let's talk about a topic each of you surely can contribute to with a story or two. Since I couldn't help but notice that we're quite a miserable bunch of misfits. Exceptions prove the rule by the way.

[ pause, during which he reaches off screen... for his smoke. ]

So, broken dreams. There's a pretty catchy song on them by Green Day which I can only recommend. But before you scurry off to find it, why don't we share with the class why we're all so damn bitter, and not only since we ended up in this shithole. Though I guess the shithole made it worse, in some cases. I don't know. Getting it off your chest might have a soothing effect, or something.

[ another pause, and he seems pensive for a moment. he might be able to offer alternative treatment methods for your troubles which may involve punching ahem. ]

Here, I'll start. I was planning to get married not too long ago, start a family. I had the perfect girl, a decent job I liked and paid well, and then--then science happened.

[ a dry, humorless chuckle. ]

Gotta love science. Your turn.

Comments

[raisedbybirds]

[It's certainly not impressive, but she wouldn't be eating it if she didn't like it to some degree.

She nods as he leaves for the shower, finishes eating and deposits the dishes in the sink.

After she hears the water come on it slowly dawns on her that hadn't really expected to stay this long. Then again she wasn't exactly sure what she was expecting coming over to a drunk man's home.

Naturally, she's drawn back to his workbench and hovers over it. The projects he seems to have going on are a little more archaic than his own technology. She has a similair fondness and interest in mechanical tinkery, though hers was born more out of necessity and then over time grew into something more resembling of a hobby (for whatever free time she actually managed in-between missions). It was fun trying to figure things how things worked, and why; machines had clear cut purpose and intentions. They could be modified, refurbished, rebuilt, repaired, redesigned...

People weren't like that at all, and consequently much more difficult to figure out...]

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Being augmented does have a few perks. For example, he can keep tracks of Samus' movements and even outright watch her while he is standing in the shower. Somehow, it doesn't feel wrong at all to do it if she's not in the bathroom herself.

He stops anyway, after a bit. It's not like there's anything interesting or too revealing for her to find, anyway, and he should concentrate on washing the smell of booze off his own body.

And get a clear head.

After about fifteen minutes, he's done and emerges out of the bathroom--unfortunately not much more dressed than before, seems like he's comfortable walking around like this in his own home even when he got Samus as a visitor now. He's only got an added towel around his neck now, much like she did before, and is still pretty... wet. ]

I thought you would have gone home by now.

[raisedbybirds]

[She twists around, eyes flitting over his wet, bare form very briefly. She seems to catch herself doing it too and averts her eyes, responding with a quick quip.]

That was hardly a long shower, Jensen.

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Look at all that shiny, wet black metal. ]

It was, for a guy.

[ Though he wonders if he caught her in the act with something because that question seems kind of odd. ]

Adam is fine.

[ Wow, that's the first time he offers someone the first name basis. Everyone else just calls him Adam without asking! (And yes it usually bothers him.) ]

[raisedbybirds]

[Right. For a guy. Uh huh.]

...Adam.

[She tries the name out, and it unsurprisingly rolls off her tongue with ease, and for that very reason she frowns. Using someone's last name was a convention of sorts for her to remain impersonal. Professional. Distant. If you read between those subtle lines, you could usually tell how close Samus was to someone by what name she called them by. She assumed this was a typical convention of anyone with a background similair to her own, and finds this offering of his first name... warm.]

My former commanding officer's name was Adam.

[She offers as an explanation for the frown, sure he wouldn't miss it, or that past-tense. His was a name she referred to closely.

In spite of that she doesn't seem to let it affect her too long, managing eye contact and with a sort of bittersweet reprieve in her voice.]

It's a good name.

[neveraskedforthis]

[ ... Oh. Well. That certainly explains the frown, though there's no way he could have known... but from the sound of it, Samus seems to have been on good terms with her commander, so maybe it's nothing to worry about. ]

Glad you think so, though I hope you're not mentallly comparing me to him.

[ Now he frowns. There was something about the way she said it. ]

You liked him?

[ Saying this, he wanders past Samus to pick up his pack of smokes--hope Samus doesn't mind. ]

[raisedbybirds]

[She scrunches her nose, expression twisted into something unreadable, but very marked in response.]

...Adam Malkovich was a gruff, harsh, man with a brilliant military mind, and was relentless in criticism... but he was not a machine obsessed with duty. He was... almost like a father figure.

[There's definite begrudging respect in the way she speaks of him.]

I ultimately defected from his unit to pursue a more flexible career. One where I wasn't constricted by orders or rules.

[neveraskedforthis]

That doesn't answer my question, you know.

[ But he'll let it be. He can tell she thought about this a lot though, if the guy wasn't somehow important, she wouldn't have brought him up to begin with. A name was just a name, after all, and Adam isn't a particularly uncommon one given some people's obsession with religious themes. ]

Can't blame you, anyway. Sometimes rules just get in the way of what really matters.

[ He pulls a cigarette out of his pack, to place it between his lips and light it. ]

[raisedbybirds]

[He would know all about that too, wouldn't he?

She's going to cross her arms and favor being vague and mysterious with a subject that heavy, for now. She lets her eyes drift over his body very briefly again, though her eyes settle on his cigarette. Alcohol was her vice of choice, and that tended to come with hazy smoke-filled bars so she didn't mind it, but it was kind of, you know, unhealthy. Adam.]

That doesn't tar up your augs?

[neveraskedforthis]

Hm?

[ It's one of the only small pleasures he's got left... although there's nothing much pleasurable about it since it's not even harmful. No fun in self-destruction. ]

Apparently not. Does it bother you?

[ ... It's his place, so he didn't think to ask. ]

[raisedbybirds]

[A shrug. Honest to god indifference.]

I'm used to it. Besides, it's your home.

[neveraskedforthis]

...Used to it?

[ what does that even mean. he raises a brow. ]

Do you smoke? No offense, but I can't see you being around someone regularly enough to be considered a passive smoker.

[raisedbybirds]

[She shakes her head. She doesn't--might have experimented in her rebellious youth but currently, she doesn't.]

Things aren't different in space. Hazy bars are some of the best places to pick up intel and rumors on a mark. The seedier the sector, the better.

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Oh okay, that makes more sense. Though he chucklegrunts. ]

So you'd consider me and my place seedy? And I just took a shower.

[ TURNS AROUND TO LAZILY FLOP DOWN ON THE COUCH with legs wide spread and all like a manly man. ]

[raisedbybirds]

[Ha ha okay she even finds that funny and will certainly run with it. She smirks then goes back up the stairs into the kitchen.]

Yes, your place is very seedy. There's smokes... liquor everywhere. Sometimes this place harbors homeless drunks and women.

[She emerges with her glass of scotch refilled. Indeed, she's making herself quite at home in his seedy place.]

Or half naked guys who don't know how to keep their legs closed.

[She says this very nonchalantly.]

[neveraskedforthis]

Looks like it. Good thing you're a dirty woman who is used to seedy places, so you're hardly bothered.

[ YEP KEEPING HIS LEGS WIDE SPREAD AND PUFFING ON HIS SMOKE, just because. ]

Be glad I keep my pants on.

[ is it a joke? IS IT??? he probably only started putting on pants at home when he couldn't stand looking at his own legs anymore. ]

[raisedbybirds]

[She squints at him a little though the wry little amused expression on her face doesn't waver. She decides he should be knocked down a peg for that comment and that it will be fun to use her towel to do so.

There's a flash of a slightly damp towel smacking him in the face from where she's standing. It's hardly an angry smack, playful if anything.]

I hope I'm not making that a difficult affair.

[neveraskedforthis]

[ It's sudden for him to lose his still smoldering cigarette anyway, and he hisses. There's a nice burn mark now, but at least the couch isn't on fire.

He reaches for his own towel. ]

As a matter of fact...

[ --She is, the longer this goes on, and at this point he can't even tell if that's her intention and if it is, how serious she is about it.

But right now he's too busy being a child by sitting on the couch in the wrong way around so he can towelwhip her back, viciously. ]

[raisedbybirds]

[GOODBYE FAIR CIGARETTE. All's fair in banter and towel fights.

If there's anything that'll get her motor running, it's a fight--even a playful one, though his retaliation is stronger than she was expecting. Something that'd probably hurt if she didn't take it a little more seriously. Samus reacts appropriately. Automatically. Instinctively.

Without putting a second thought into it she manages to grab the incoming towel and wraps her wrist around it to secure the new weapon he'd just given her, and gives it a firm, quick tug. She was expecting the towel to slip away from him and she'd be duel wielding two very DANGEROUS AND DEADLY weapons...]

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Only that Adam's grip is augmented. Unfortunately though, the couch isn't, which causes the piece of furniture to topple over quickly, with Adam still right on it.

You'd think he would've let go of the towel by the point he hits the floor with a grunt, but no. Because now it's his turn to follow suit and give a tug and there is probably way more force behind it than Samus is expecting...]

[raisedbybirds]

[Her abnormal strength pitted against his abnormal strength spelled certain doom for the couch. Samus wasn't standing far behind, but just enough to avoid being crushed by it as it fell. She couldn't easily avoid the man that followed, however, even avoiding his body she was pulled down to the floor by the towel that connected them so.

And from there it would be difficult avoid his body any further as she rather comically and very easily slides across the floor towards him as he tugs. It results in a spectacular face-plant with his hip, thankful that isn't augmented or she's sure it would have hurt more. Samus groans, and makes use of limbs that aren't encumbered or tangled in towels.

Adam's jaw would be met with her knee--again, not hard, but she is quite firmly pushing his face away in effort to subdue him.]

[neveraskedforthis]

[ He also groans--certainly didn't plan for that, it's just that he hadn't at all been willing to give up on that towel or let her get away with smacking him in his own home with his own towel. He's still got some dignity left.

Thank god in the heat of the moment he doesn't have much time to realize the weight of another body sitting on him right now, because that would be enough to make him pause and consider it in ways that are hardly appropriate.

Doesn't change the fact that he's getting a faceful of Samus' butt right now when he cranes his head, though. Not even two seconds later, however, her knee connects with his jaw, which results in another disgrunted sound. But he doesn't let go of the towel, stubborn as he is, and even attempts to grab the other towel as well and then roll over together with her to reverse positions. And get that knee out of his face. ]

You keep doing that and I will lose my pants in no time.

[ It's growled out. Indeed, he's not wearing a belt, so they do slip a little ... ]

[raisedbybirds]

[ With the positions switched she gets an eyeful of his crotch, duly noting his loosening waist band. Even covered as they are, such intimate parts of his anatomy are a little too close for comfort to her face and she presses herself against the flooring as flat as she can, lips pulled tight. ]

.......I can see that.

[ Said dry and monotone, but she's not ready to give in the towel just yet. Not ready to give up both of them, in fact, and knows that if he wishes to maintain his grip on the other ends that means his hands will be kept occupied. So are hers, but she's quite aware of that and makes use of her long legs again.

Her ankles clamp on both sides of his head like a vice grip. Were she seriously trying to hurt him she'd give his neck a good twist until it snapped, but all he gets is a little tug tug on the towels. Come on Adam. ]

You should let go, and I might give one of them back.

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Your own fault, Samus, you started it. ]

Just one? These are my towels, you know. I consider that theft.

[ He tries to sound unimpressed, but her feet at his head do bother him, in fact, and everything he says is growled out.

And he can be mean too, by SHIIING sliding out both of his blades until they are stopped by the floor with a dull THUD, but not without making sure first that the angle is relatively harmless and she won't be hurt--provides she doesn't move around too much now. However the sharp edges of the blades might be cutting into the towels now, so that combined with the force applied might cause them to rip before long... ]

[raisedbybirds]

[ She admittedly kind of forgot about those and tenses, then catches wind of what he's doing. Clever boy. ]

You'd ruin not one but two of your own towels.

[ Unbeknownst to Samus, he's cutting more than just the towel. In short time she feels a sudden draft right at her hip, right across where some of her belt loops are. The moment she realizes this immediately lets go of both towels, and his face. ]

Adam!

[ There's an obvious urgency in her tone; a demand to stop immediately. ]