the_campus | Have a car thief with no cars

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Have a car thief with no cars

[Do you know what happens when you put a confused Serb Yugoslavian expatriate in the middle of a strange building in a strange place while he's in the possession of his favorite carbine rifle? He skulks through a hallway quietly, looking for a way out.

Niko nears a window with his back to the wall. And off in the distance? That jungle? That sure wasn't Middle Park. Not long before he heard something that sounded like the most fucked up war-zone he's ever been near. More rushing fire, less bullets. So he's just playing it careful until he finds some sort of damned map.

First he finds a soda machine, though. And that soda machine is not a Sprunk soda machine. He ventures closer, pokes it with the gun as if that's going to help anything, and moves to look behind it as if he's searching for the mechanism for a bomb in an obviously fake piece of inexplicable equipment. Surveillance maybe?

He's pretty sure he's not in Liberty State, anymore.]

Oh, here we go. [Traces of his Balkan accent in those sarcastic sounding words he goes back around to the front of the soda machine, not creeping along for the time being and with his rifle lowered at his side. He's ready to hop behind that thing defensively though.]

((OOC: New person, new character. Niko Bellic from GTA IV. Snarky bastard but pretty friendly and easy to reason down.))

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[That sense that he's not exactly alone kicks in finally after he nudges the vending machine with his foot (because obviously that will reveal any secret machinations), and he looks over his shoulder at Boone. Takes a couple of steps back.

That doesn't look like a Venezuelan insignia. Or British, even if he has some Middle East level wear and tear on him. Or Russian, that's for certain.]

After working his lower jaw for a moment?]

Одакле сте? Which country? [Maybe independent militia? That is a damn strange gun, sir.]

Edited 2014-02-07 02:52 (UTC)

[Boone takes his time answering. He has no idea what the guy said first, and after mulling it over (and deciding he's never going to figure it out) he speaks.]

What did you say first?

[He'll answer right after this guy does.]

[Sounds American. Sort of a soft-spoken American. Soft-spoken in Niko's realm of experience.]

"Where are you from?" You have a red beret. But I don't recognize the-

[He motions to where the insignia would be if he were wearing one.]

[Soft-spoken, but he still wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet in this guy's eye if he turned his gun on him. He's very obviously untrusting of him, body tensed and ready to act fast if he needs to.

But, to be fair, he doesn't trust anyone in this place.]

America.

[He's... not really used to people who are unfamiliar with a First Recon beret. This is different.]

You?

[Niko's giving his clothes another good glance over now. Because they... don't seem to match what he's expecting here. He can easily think militia but that level of weathered doesn't belong in a nice new building like this.

But there's the question, and he stops himself from saying "Yugoslavia" because it's not that anymore.] Balkans.

[Well, if he's not asking? Maybe he knows, even if he doesn't match. So Niko's going to ask.] Do you know where this is?

[And Boone has been silently wondering at the state of this building for a while now. It's so clean, no crumbling walls or various papers littering the floor. Niko fits in that way. His clothes are clean, at least. He doesn't look like he just crawled in from a desert.

And yet, he doesn't know where he is either.]

No. Just woke up here.

[He tilts his head a little.]

Happened to you too?

I think so. Unless you were expecting a jungle outside.

[He glances over Boone again, sizing him up, before again he taps where the insignia would be.]

I still don't know this.

I've been a lot of places. I don't know this.

[He motions to the vending machine.] And those brands are strange.

[Yeah, that jungle outside... he's seen trees, but this is different. It doesn't feel like the Mojave, inside or outside.

He doesn't quite get what Niko is saying at first. Then he reaches up and touches the patch on his beret.]

Oh. Guess you wouldn't know who First Recon are, huh?

[Slowly, he dares to move closer so he can see the vending machine better. He doesn't recognise those brands either. He sees Coca Cola, but not Nuka Cola. He sees lots of other different brands, but there's no Sunset Sarsaparilla.]

I don't recognise them either. Closest I can find is the Coca Cola. We have Nuka Cola back home, not... this.

[Drinking it would probably surprise Boone. The Nuka Cola back home is flat, irradiated and warm, on account of it being 200 years old.]

Okay. I am going to try it.

[He oozes up. Raises his gun as he's putting a few quarters that are the right size but the wrong image into the machine. They go through. Then he steps back, pushes a Coke button with the tip of the barrel.

Then he takes a few more steps back, tensed like he might have to quickly balk away or something if it's rigged.

Nope. Can of soda.

He gives Boone a sidelong look. Reaches the gun out. Touches it. Touches again. And then grunts a tad as he finally slings his rifle.] I have never heard of Nuka Cola either. Hear of Sprunk?

[He picks up the can, opens it, and then hands it to Boone. You try.]

[Boone frowns at the coins and pulls out a handful of caps from his pocket. Uh... somehow, he doesn't think caps are gonna fit in there. What Niko used... those looked more like Legion coins.

He backs away when Niko does- he's never seen a rigged soda machine, but maybe this guy has. All the tension in the air means he jumps very slightly when the can clatters down to the bottom of the machine.

It must have been an amusing sight, really. Two guys with guns prodding and backing away from a soda machine as if they'd never seen one before. He takes the can when it's offered to him, but doesn't really look too keen to drink it. He can hear something in the can, a strange... hissing or bubbling sound.]

Sprunk? No.

[He's seen all kinds of things rigged to blow. It's sad, really. He's even done it himself.]

It is ah... more citrus. Pretends to be citrus, anyway. That is darker.

[And he watches Boone's reaction, which to him is totally understandable. Only he doesn't know that it's because of the noise.] What's wrong?

[Boone isn't so great with explosives, really. He knows how to use a grenade but as far as most explosives go he's pretty clueless. He shakes his head and puts his ear to the side of the can.]

It's... hissing.

[He holds the can back out to Niko. Nuka Cola may be irradiated but it sure as hell doesn't hiss at anyone trying to drink it.]

[That gets a little bit of a smile out of Niko. Coming from the countryside? He'd not be surprised if someone had never had carbonated soda before.]

It's not flat. It's fizzy. After it's old, it goes flat. This is fresh. [He takes the can, this time a little more confident about trying a drink. Nope. Not a brand he knows.] Definitely not Sprunk.

[And he offers it back again.] But it doesn't have bite. Hold your ear against it. You can hear the little bubbles.

[He grunts to himself as he takes the can back.]

Guess it makes sense. Maybe Nuka Cola would have been like this too. Too bad all the bottles are over 200 years old now.

[He finally takes a sip, and makes a face. He wasn't really sure what to expect, but he doesn't like the feel of it on his tongue. Tastes a little like Nuka Cola, though. Only... sweeter. He holds the can back out.]

You can have it.

[He takes the can now that they've positively identified it as not being a grenade. He gets a hard blink.]

200 years old. [Surely that completely lack of joke face is making some sarcasm there, the way that people exaggerate ages.] What is First Recon?

[He's just going to finish off the soda. He prefers vodka or water, but he doesn't want it to go to waste.]

Yeah. Left around since before the War. They're still good, so long as you don't drink too many at once.

[Nope, not joking at all.]

First Recon is a sniper battalion. Part of the NCR.

[He taps the patch on his beret.]

You see someone walking around wearing a red beret, they're First Recon. Says so on the patch, along with the motto.

[He lowers his hand and digs around in his pocket for a packet of cigarettes. As he takes one out and lights it, he glances up at Niko.]

Never got your name.

No you didn't. [His name that is. But Niko isn't a complete dick. He's pretty good about giving his name- it means "nobody" anyway.] Niko.

[Important question.] Before which war?

[He holds out his hand.] Can I see some of those bottlecaps you were holding. [Wait! He reaches into his pocket and fishes out a few coins, and then presents them in exchange. They're bland, with his universe's contemporaries to ours. But there are not just American ones with dates- he's got three there from different places in Europe.]

Red beret is usually places in South America to me. Or it is sometimes Russian or British. With how you were dressed, I thought maybe British stationed in Middle East.

[Niko? Strange name, but he supposes he's heard stranger.]

Boone.

[Well, Niko didn't ask but if Boone knows his name, he may as well offer his own in return. He pauses halfway through shoving his lighter back in his pocket, though. Which war? Is he... joking? He doesn't look like he's joking.]

...The Great War. The one that happened around 200 years ago.

[You know, the one that turned the entire planet to rubble and radiation. That war.

He pulls out a few caps and holds them out, taking the coins from Niko in return. There are several Nuka Cola caps, and a few Sunset Sarsaparilla ones. He turns the coins over in his hands curiously. Huh... these aren't Legion coins after all. He doesn't recognise them at all, actually.]

[There's the longest pause as he looks at the bottle caps in his hands. They're old, and drinks he doesn't recognize either. It's deeply disturbing. More so than the building. It would be like waking up and finding every vehicle and house on the street you lived a different color from what it was when you went to sleep, but otherwise the same.]

The only 'Great War' I know of is World War I. I was born during a war, but this one ended just a few years ago in countries split. Not in no more drinks.

[He offers the caps back after a moment with fingerless-gloved hands.]

If this is a dream it's better than my usual dreams. [He motions off to the side as he just seems to give up trying to understand, then starts to down the soda. Might as well empty out the can to get rid of it.]

[He swaps the caps back for the strange-looking coins, very obviously confused. When he'd woken up here, it had been confusing enough. He was in a strange place with strange people. He'd read the whiteboard in the clinic he'd woke up in, and gathered that he and Elle had somehow been kidnapped and brought to this... college on an island. The board hadn't said a thing about people being taken from all times and worlds, so he wasn't expecting to meet someone who didn't know about the war. It wouldn't matter where he was from... it had affected the entire world.

Eventually, after apparently being lost in his thoughts for a few moments, he speaks again.]

What year is it?

[He just... he has a feeling there's something majorly wrong here, but he can't figure out what it is. There's something different about the places they were living in before they were brought here.]

[He pulls out his cell phone to see if there's any chance for service again. And he looks at Boone like an alien just climbed out of his ear.]

2008.

[He wants to say "bullshit", but he just about manages to keep that to himself. The look on his face is pretty much saying the same thing, though.]

2281.

[2008? That's over half a century before the Great War. What does this guy think he's playing at?]

[There's no service on his phone, and he's frowning at it. But when he looks up and sees Boone's expression, he turns it to show the time it still has as it's been keeping power.

OCT. 24, 2008

The phone is a pretty strange thing, itself. It's a touch screen with a bunch of apps.]

[Boone squints at it. It's not the time that baffles him anymore, it's the phone itself.]

The hell is this?

[It's so... tiny.]

It is a cellular phone. [He looks at it.] But it is not working all the way. A phone has to have an antenna somewhere and this says there is none close.

[He pulls up the camera with a few quick clicks where Boone can see it, and there is Boone's image on the screen, until he clicks the picture button and there's Boone's face.]

It does a lot of things. This is strange, you don't know any of this. I don't know about this war, you don't know about my war. It was talked about much a few years ago.

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