Weekend Entertainment #2 - April Test Drive Meme

[havetubawilltravel]

It's app_this_plz weekend! Belly up to the Bar and come test with us!


H O W T O P L A Y:

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--> Have fun! Post is open until Monday's DE and/or until the next Test Drive Meme!

Comments

[cassiefuckingcage]

"Yeah," Cassie says. "Can't say I'd regret it."

Of course, Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn are dead now. But if Quan Chi or Mileena walk through that door? Yeah, she'll take her oath to protect Earthrealm over the house rules of the bar that abducted her, thank you very much.

She pats her bag. "At least I'll have one sidearm. Not loaded, but I'd feel naked spending that much time without my gun."

[lt_blade]

"What're you training for in the army?" She may start out as part of one branch, but she might go for another. "You may be put into a situation where you've no weapons except what you can improvise with."

One of the reasons Sonya pushed herself to learn all sorts of weaponry: she didn't want to be stuck in a situation where she couldn't use what she was given. "I've adopted a brother here who's been teaching me to use a sword and shield-he's a 12th century knight if you could believe it. Name's Olivier."

One good part about this place, a chance to pick up new skills.

[cassiefuckingcage]

"I've been outgunned and outnumbered in another realm before," Cassie says. "Improvising's a strength of mine. So's CQC. But it sure feels better to know I've got a firearm."

[lt_blade]

Once more, Sonya couldn't blame her logic. "All of my weapons were taken. Not here, but where I was before."

There's some hesitation. Timelines or not, Cassie was still, in some universe, her daughter. Clearly she knew of Outworld and the Neatherrealm and would know of the tournaments, but has she been told of her time in Outworld? She wasn't sure she could bring that up.

[cassiefuckingcage]

"You mean...in Outworld?"

Cassie's face falls. This had been awkward enough as it was.

"Is that...when you came in from?"

[lt_blade]

Sonya nodded. "I managed to find a door on my..third..escape attempt." Honestly, at some point she lost count. All that mattered was trying to escape, not the number. "Like I said...leave of Health in this place."

She tried to smile for her benefit. "Received an mp3 player for Christmas. Listening to jazz standards at night helps."

[cassiefuckingcage]

"Yeah, I guess it would be."

She takes a drink. Mom didn't like to talk much about this part of her life. She's never been the sort to be open about ugly shit.

"Look, you're probably gonna need to get out again, right?"

She rummages in her bag and pulls out the pistol.

"You'll need this more than I will."

[lt_blade]

For a moment, Sonya could just stare at the pistol, before setting her mug down. When was the last time she'd shot one of those-not since before the tournament. A sidearm wasn't the strongest of firearms, but in a pinch.

She took it from her, her grip careful, holding it like it was a sort of treasure instead of a military-issue. She heard herself choke, inwardly unable to bring herself to tell Cass that she may not be allowed to bring it through her. After all, she didn't hold a weapon when she came through here.

Her vision started to blur and she quickly shut her eyes to clear them. Stupid of her to get emotional over a weapon.

"I'd need some target practice." She forced herself to remain composed. "Been over a year since I shot one."

[cassiefuckingcage]

"You've been here that long?"

Cassie had seen her mother in a great many moods, good though she may be at hiding them. Stern and frustrated, mostly. Happy, occasionally, in her most cherished moments. But never vulnerable like this. She's looking at this gun the way a starving man looks at a five-course meal.

Christ. And to think five minutes ago, she was coming out of PT. Now she's talking to her mother as she faces down one of the darkest moments of her life, across twenty years and one ugly divorce worth of distance. Cassie has slightly less than no idea how to react to this.

A gentle smile and a glib remark seems to work in most situations. Why not go with that?

"Well, there's a way to fix that. They hand out ammunition here?"

Maybe getting her back in the saddle would help?

[lt_blade]

She nodded. "Roughly speaking, combine Milliways and Outworld."

That was as far as she could say. Time didn't feel the same as it did in Outworld: she'd been told that a year had passed in Earthrealm, but the thought of being away for that long made her physically ill and not something she wanted to tell even a future daughter.

While Cassie's mother may or may've not had a different reaction, the Sonya she's facing tries (emphasis on try) to smile for her benefit. "They do, but only the non-lethal slugs." She knew that from before she was bound.

"Ms. Bar, round of rubber bullets, please." One single magazine round appears in front of them. "We'll have to go out back, there are targets already set up."

[cassiefuckingcage]

"Alright. Lead the way."

If Sonya wants to pretend to smile, Cassie's more than capable of pretending to smile back at her.

There's a deep, pit-of-her-stomach dread inside her as she approaches the firing range. Something about this feels wrong. Even beyond the obvious.

Mom had never told her she'd been here. Raiden had never given any indication this place even existed. She certainly hadn't recalled her being imprisoned there for an entire year - though she never did ask for those kinds of specifics.

What the hell is going on here?

[lt_blade]

Sonya lead her towards the targets, going through a different door than the one she came out from. One of the doors they pass by is the kitchen-one that is indeed staffed by 2-3 foot rats. Outside is the green house and garden, looking normal, for all intents and purposes.

A quarter of a mile are the targets, made to accomidate just just fire arm rounds, but also bolts or arrows.

Walking with her to the first target, Sonya did keep glancing back at Cassie, gauging her reaction. By now she was fairly used to the place, but even she knew it could be jarring for new comers.

Still felt damn good to hold a firearm once more, even if she was just borrowing it.

[cassiefuckingcage]

Cassie is keeping a brave face on, though her eyes do raise a bit at the vermin waitstaff. No, the wonders of Milliways aren't the problem. This is magic - it's not supposed to make sense.

It just would have been nice if she'd known about this place before. It sure would've been nice if Cassie had been sucked up here back when she was a prisoner in Outworld.

Hell, she almost says it out loud.

Instead she nods downrange. "Well, let's see how much you remember."

[lt_blade]

Sonya made sure the clip was in place before taking aim. Truth be told, it felt like a part of her arm was missing before, now it felt complete: she wondered how it would feel once she had her hands on a rifle.

Lining her sight up, she shot a few rounds into the target. The first was a little off and she'd forgotten the feel of the recoil, but the send and thirds were closer to the target.

If the smile on her face was a front before, it was genuine now. "Lord, forgot how good it felt to shoot one of these. Really does feel like having your whole arm again."

[cassiefuckingcage]

"I thought you might appreciate it."

Cassie squints downrange at the spread and keeps looking. Seems as good a place as any to set her eyes right now.

"There a reason I don't know about this place?"

[lt_blade]

Sonya handed her back the pistol, not wanting to take all the shots. The question was a good one. She wasn't sure she had the answer..just the thought of being a parent was enough to scare her.

"This place has people from all timelines and universes. One of my close friends here is from the 8th century." Alright, so she and Athelstan were more friends with benefits, but that detail wasn't necessary. "What if..there are other realities as well, just like realms. Maybe you don't know about this place because it never appeared to me either."

She would've certainly told her if she did..if she was from her future. Milliways was where she went to actually get away from work and not feel guilty, definitely a place to mention to her family.

[cassiefuckingcage]

Cassie takes the pistol.

"Yeah, maybe," she says. "Or maybe this Bar's changing the flow of time as it happened and the universe hasn't caught up yet. Like Back to the Future."

She peers downrange and fires the few remaining rounds. Truth be told, shooting some shit feels pretty good for her right now, too.

[lt_blade]

Sonya shook her head. "Time freezes up once you get through the door, remember. I mean, things are affected, depending on your experiences in Bar, but those are conscious changes. I've had the Door show in place of the women's barracks-no one on the outside mentioned anything at all."

And a bar in one of the few 'all female' areas of the army, bound to get a few looks otherwise.

[cassiefuckingcage]

The gun is smoking. Cassie flips the safety back on.

"Your guess is probably a little better than mine. But whatever's happening, it's the kind of news that needs to get passed up to the Big Hat."

[lt_blade]

"Big Hat..." She laughed. "Suppose there could be worse nicknames." Though maybe Johnny took all of them. "Seriously though, god with his experience in realms, he would've known about this place and I've never seen him here. I see him wanting to keep this place to himself, but less out of concern and more because..well, we're not the easiest to deal with."

She says this with a smirk, recalling the quips they all gave to him at the start.

[cassiefuckingcage]

"Well, whatever he knows, we should find out," Cassie says. "Might get us closer to finding out what the hell this place's deal is."

Awkward silence.

"So, um...how's it been? In here, I mean?"

[lt_blade]

"To my knowledge, this place is like a rest-stop. If the door appears, especially if it's a surprise, she usually feels you need to take a breather." She turns to look in the direction of the tavern.

"Honest answer...when I could come and go as I pleased, this place was a god-send at times. Now..it's still nice, but...each day it's mixed feelings going to the main bar and not seeing my door. I know what awaits me as soon as I go through, and it's about as fun as waiting to go into combat."

She knew it had to happen, that it was going to be painful, but she also knew it was inevitable.

"But..I've met some interesting people and some people I could call family, so it's not all bad."

Small bright spots, that was the main focus.

[cassiefuckingcage]

"Even if he doesn't know any more than we do, he should know I've been there," Cassie says. "Seems the kind of thing we ought to bring to a god's attention."

She caresses her sidearm.

"God, I wish we could find some real ammo for this thing. I don't want you to go back out there without a working piece."

She smiles. "I mean, I'm pretty sure my C.O. back home wouldn't mind if you took this with you."

[lt_blade]

"Do you really want to test out a god's alchohol tolerance?" She had a feeling that if Raiden found this place, he'd try to drink himself under the table.

She didn't want to go either, but, brave face. "I've survived there so far, I can deal a little longer." She would make it, Cassie there was proof-she hoped.

"So who's your C.O.?" She wondered if she knew them.

[cassiefuckingcage]

"Hadn't thought about it," Cassie says.

Then, with a cockeyed grin on her face: "Might be fun to find out. I was thinking more for intel purposes, though."

She shakes her head. "...Not sure if I should be giving out anything that specific."

She could say "you," or she could say "Dad." Either one would be more information than she'd be comfortable giving out.