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(no subject)

Who: Aaron
Broadcast: Network - OTA
Action: Anywhere aboard the SS Bloodsport
When: Saturday

ACTION » SS BLOODSPORT

[The new arrival on the bridge makes a quick getaway, out of the lights and the sounds of the area and into the corridor, slipping as best he can with his 6'1" frame into the shadows just on the other side of the doorway (but not before pocketing a couple of those pudding cups, one can never be too greedy when it comes to sources of food).]

This can't be real.

[The words are uttered just above a whisper before he reaches to his belt, where an empty knife case hangs, and his slightly uneasy disbelief is quickly replaced with panic as he pats his pockets (however unlikely it is that he absentmindedly slipped a big knife into a pocket instead of his holster). He takes a steadying breath, eyes darting about before heading forward warily, slipping into the kitchen/galley area. Seeing no one else around after checking several hiding places, anyone who investigates the sounds of opening drawers will find a man with curly, dirty blood hair rifling through the utensil drawers looking for...something.

Once he's found a steak knife (which is better than nothing, thanks), he's going to continue exploring every door he can open on this ship, so the odds of him stumbling upon another crew member are pretty high. No matter what state he finds them in, he raises his hands to show he means no harm.]

I don't want any trouble. I just need some answers. My name is Aaron.

NETWORK BROADCAST » AUDIO

[Later, once he's gotten his bearings more he makes the following broadcast, careful and diplomatic in his wording. He still doesn't know what to make of this place or the people in it, and he doesn't blindly trust people the way he used to.]

Hello. I've only just arrived recently, and I'm under the impression many of you have been here for much longer. If you can offer me any sort of insight into this setup, I'd really appreciate it. To start things off slow and hopefully on the right foot, my name's Aaron, and I've been assigned as a Communications Officer on the SS Bloodsport.

Also, if the following names sound familiar, or you happen to own any of them, I'd be happy to hear from you:

Rick Grimes. Daryl Dixon. Glenn Rhee. Maggie Greene. Abraham Ford. Rosita Espinosa. Michonne. Carl Grimes. Sasha Williams.

[He lets a moment pass before ending his broadcast.]

Thank you for time and any help you can offer.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well, they're the reasons I was a recruiter for our community. Maybe we have something in common, Kitty.

[He laughs.]

Oh, if you let me keep talking, I'm sure we'll get around to it.

Could be. How did the recruitment process work? Did you have a post zombie apocalypse football team?

[He grins, offering her a shake of his head.]

Dance troop. They were some pretty serious auditions, too.

[She raises and eyebrow, half wondering if he had somehow done his research on her mid-conversation. Dancing is her thing. Well, fighting and walking through walls are also her thing, but dancing is in there too!]

Don't tease a girl about dancing, Aaron. It's not nice.

[He chuckles.] I would never.

[He takes a breath, before continuing.] But honestly, the way it worked was simple. In Alexandria, we understood that in order to keep the Community strong, people were needed. I'm a pretty good judge of character, I have a background in politics and negotiation, plus my partner and I have weapons training, so we were natural choices to scout out survivors and bring them home. After that, Deanna, she was our leader, would talk to them, see what skills they possessed, and help them get integrated, if it seemed like they could be team players. That's...why I say "audition". There really isn't a better word for it.

[He puts a hand on his chest.] My job was to present the idea of Alexandria to those I found, convince them to come back with us. I...guess I was sort of a real estate salesman of the apocalypse.

[She listens with interest. It's a little different than some of the other things she's heard from people of that world. Certainly more community based.] Did you turn away people with skill sets you didn't need? And what was the idea of Alexandria?

No, not based on skill sets. [And he shook his head.] I never turned anybody away, not after I got them back. Alexandria was meant to be a place where we could rebuild together. Some people didn't want to work with those of us already there, others...tried and didn't work out. Deanna had...to exile a few who endangered the community once. It's harsh, I know.

[And he frowns.]

But...sometimes things are necessary to assure the survival of the community, right? We understand people are necessary to survive, but that only works if we work together. If we take more than our share from the pantry, or we hide resources that the community at large could benefit from, that works against that.

I'm not usually in the judging business. [Okay, sometimes she is. She can give a pretty impassioned lecture too when she's motivated. But usually she's pretty understanding of, "shit was shit and we had choices and they were all bad." She hasn't appreciated outside judging for her sins. She's hard enough on herself and she gets a feeling maybe Aaron is too.]

Things were bad at home too. You had to be able to trust people with rations. If you can't trust then what's left?

Nothing...sadly. We're trying to rebuild the world. That doesn't work if we don't work together.

Rebuild it with them still there? The dead are still a problem, aren't they?

[Something in his gaze darkens a bit at that, and he nods.]

Of course, they are. They always will be, Kitty. [He doesn't say anything for a moment.]

...have the others not told you? It...wasn't just an event. It was a worldwide infection of...whatever it is. Whether we die from a bite, or natural causes, something entirely unrelated to the plague...we all come back.

[None of them had been generous with that particular bit of information to her.] Well, that would...explain some things. [One thing in particular. The outbreak on the station. It was easy enough to write off as the Atroma playing around but from Carol and Daryl's reactions it felt like maybe they expected something beyond that.]

An infection that affected everyone? You've never seen it not happen to someone who died?

[He shakes his head.]

Not yet. Unless we...take the precautions necessary to keep the dead from rising.

Destroying the brain? [She has some practice with that part now.]

Yeah, it's...just a thing you do, now.

No judgment. I know about things you do under circumstances.

[He doesn't say anything for a moment, but nods.]

Yeah. That's alright. [And he forces a smile until it settles more comfortably on his face.] At least we're not all infected here, right?

[Right? Somebody thought to check on that, right?]

[She looks at him thoughtfully and then switches the feed to private.]

Has anyone mentioned what happened on the space station to you?

[His brows lower in wary concern.]

No. What happened on the space station, Kitty?

I don't know all the details, but I was there. One minute everything's fine. Normal space station. Then next thing I know it's going on lock down and I start seeing people attacking and biting other people. It spread fast. Carol was here then and she recognized it. Daryl too. Carol seemed pretty sure one of them had died to set it off. I don't know if that was the case or not. But it's the only time I've heard of it happening.

And as an extra wrinkle? No one stays dead here. You die. You disappear for a week or two and then you're back like nothing happened. I've never seen that happen with the biting part before. But I don't think anyone has died since the station either. [She's not sure about that. You'd think it would be the kind of thing you'd never forget but after awhile even the truly bizarre and unbelievable can feel routine.]

...you have to die to turn. If...what you're describing happened, it sounds like the Walker...infection for lack of a better term, to me, but...that doesn't make sense. I can't imagine a mugger would get the better of Daryl...or Carol. Or Glenn or Maggie for that matter.

[He scoffs.]

I'm not proud of admitting it, but the most likely person to be killed buying eggs, at least from back home, is me...so...what happened...?

Well, I know it wasn't Daryl or Carol. I was fighting alongside them. They couldn't have started it. Glenn wasn't around yet. I'm not sure which people were around who were definitely from the same world though. [Maggie like he said probably. And Carl? Were there others? Rick had already vanished. But it's not like everyone you meet gives you enough detail to pinpoint where they're from that well.]

It's entirely possible the Atroma were behind it, and Carol was just assuming it was like home because it reminded her of it.

It also could have been something worse than a mugging. We've run across pirates and slavers out here. I don't remember any threats like that in the area, but I'm usually prepared just in case anyway. [Understatement.]

Honestly, I never followed up with any of them. [It feels like a tragic lack of curiosity now in retrospect.] Carol left and Daryl never seemed like much of a talker, but they might have more information on it.

[He doesn't say anything for a moment. Carl has been in the fleet the longest from what he was told, but if Daryl was involved, he most likely had more information than he was letting on. Maybe she was right. Maybe this didn't have anything to do with the burden they all brought from home. Maybe it was all just a tragic coincidence. In his experience, though, there were desperately few coincidences. After a moment, he simply nods.]

Maybe you're right and this doesn't have anything to do with us. I hope not, but I'll look into it. If...this infection has spread...we all need to be prepared.

[She nods.] Let me know what you find. We have doctors who might be able to do something about it. At least learn if it's spread to all of us or if it's contained to your group...or just the humans. [She's not really counting herself out of that group as she says it. She knows biologically speaking she's mostly human herself.] It's something we should know anyway so we can be prepared.

[Prepared for what they may need to do to the next person who doesn't make it. He wonders if most of the people here could.]

I don't know if it can be detected or not, but...it's worth a shot.

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