you and i are friends of empty graves

[assembles]

Who: Steve Rogers & OPEN 
When: Throughout September 
Where: Farhill Mining Camp; the Horizon 
What: Following his decision to perform some light sabotage on a military base, Steve has to do some jail time out at the mining camp.  
Warnings: Mention of child labor; will edit to add if anything else comes up! 

[ Open starters can be found below! Reach out to me on plurk at demonology or discord at demonology if you have any questions! ] 

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[judgmentbolts]

[ Cid sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. ] Right, I suppose I ought to re-read those after a few hundred years...

[ Should have done it sooner, in all honesty. With everything that's been happening lately, it feels like he hasn't had much time to breathe, let alone catch up on his reading.

Thankfully, Steve makes short work of setting him straight.

Cid crosses his legs and leans back in the chair, one arm hooked over the back while he gestures with the other. ] I'll consult with Viktor to be sure, but I can't be certain of anything myself. I will say that if you asked me to place a bet, the smart money would be on they can do whatever they bloody want. Their scientists are good. They've been commandeering resources for months, and they have public sympathy besides.

I suspect that they won't have the time to improve upon the design, at the very least. If a certain someone is aware of any weaknesses, it'd still be useful to share that information with our friends across the way — if you haven't already.

[ Cid drums his fingers against his thigh. ] Is that why you got yourself mixed up in all of this? Hoping to head off some of the carnage?

[assembles]

[ Steve doesn't think Cid should beat himself up too much about not knowing all the details from a time before he arrived, especially when he does have those hundreds of years of memories further confusing everything. They can always fill each other in, and Istredd has definitely done a lot of work in that sense.

Everything that Cid says makes sense, though, and Steve agrees that they should prepare for the worst. Keeping any potential weaknesses in mind is also a good idea, and he's happy to pass that information on to the Summoned in Thorne to work it from their end if it comes to that.

He gives a quick shake of his head. ] I haven't yet, but that isn't a bad idea. Not that I'm an expert, but they came up with the disc launchers based on a machine that came here through the rifts — the same way that morbol did. [ Since from what he remembers based on messages sent over the network, Cid is particularly familiar with that monster. ] Geralt and I destroyed it, but we weren't able to stop the military from swooping in to drag its carcass into the mountains. So... I guess you could say doing something about this was kind of personal.

[ As in, he felt in some way responsible. ]

[judgmentbolts]

[ He meets Steve's gaze and gives him a small nod, understanding. ] If I'm honest, I felt the same about the morbol. Wasn't my unfinished business, but...

[ He makes a vague gesture.

Clive's, maybe.

It's true that it could have come from Himeka or Thancred's world, but after hearing about Clive and Jill fighting one, it had just seemed right to make it his business, now that the two of them are gone. A way to honour their memory, when little else has been left to him. In truth, he doesn't know if the military will drag the charred carcass away for further experimentation, but he's done the best that he can.

Cid shakes his head. ] There's naught else you could have done, or you would have done it then. This isn't your burden to carry... but I know that won't stop you carrying it. [ He worries at his lower lip, still thinking. ] If it came through the rifts, someone else ought to be familiar with it. Any leads on that?

[assembles]

[ This wouldn't be the first time that someone has tried to tell Steve that a burden wasn't for him to carry. Even as far back as being told that he was exempt from joining the war effort, he's taken that kind of thing personally.

Cid seems to understand that much, maybe from what he remembers of scattered false memories, so Steve only gives him a wry smile and leaves it at that.

At the question, he nods. ]

Yeah. I don't know if you've met Aloy, she's in Solvunn, but the Thunderjaw is from her version of Earth. I was in close contact with her while I figured out how to overclock the manufacturing line in the base.

[ Allowing for some contained explosions. Thankfully it doesn't seem like there was much in the way of casualties. ]

What happened with the morbol, anyway? Is it still around?

[ Seeing how that's an oddly parallel version of this story. Hopefully the military didn't also take notes from the morbol to make some sort of poison gas... ]

wrapping? 🎁

[judgmentbolts]

Thunderjaw? Now that's a name. [ He can't help commenting on it, bemused. ] I've not met Aloy, no. I'll have a chat with her... but I think between the two of you, you ought to be able to scrounge up the insight to disable anything they manage to put out.

[ Perhaps not the answer Steve is looking for, but it's the best one he can offer at the moment. It's entirely possible that the Free Cities won't be able to produce anything like that at all before the Dimming, and while Cid is all for getting ahead of the game, there's something to be said for not over-planning.

As for the morbol, Cid waves a hand. ]

The cage was made of conductive materials, so. [ He snaps his fingers. He thinks Steve understands enough of his abilities to guess what he did. ] I put it out of its misery as soon as it seemed safe to do it. Haven't heard any word of it reappearing since, but there wasn't much I could do to prevent any scavengers from picking at the charred remains.

[ Cid inclines his head. ] So keep the place tidy for me, eh? If the military comes up with a new poison gas in a few months, it might be that I'll be here next.

[ He probably ought to get going soon if he wants to see Jesper before visiting hours are over. ]