[OPEN] there's always more, I wanna know more

[vata]

Who| Sombra and you
What| getting acclimated to her new home— and all the perks that come with it
Where| it's an assortment
When| post scheming
Warnings/Notes| NA


VIDEO CALL: FOR GABRIEL

It's fun, getting sworn in. All the pomp, the prestige, the overwhelming sense of duty— little things you don't get when you sign up as a either child-criminal or a terrorist. She'd said with a smirk that she could get used to this as they pressed the ring against her palm, but in reality, she couldn't: like a too-tight suit it already digs against the high point of her collar, hearing the lengthy list of commandments playing back in her thoughts as a reminder of all the adjustments she'll need to make from here on out.

Not forever, of course, but still.

In the meanwhile, she's done herself the favor of swapping out one false identity for another. The Legion might've done the majority of the footwork for her with a new uniform and an officially documented alias as codename Azúcar, but there's still the matter of getting into character.

And more importantly, making sure her ally knows she's done her part to get established. The omnicom's already been synced to her hardware (and the usual violet paneling that comes flickering to life with a wave of her claws swapped over— as you'd expect— to a matching shade of blue).

"¿Qué tal?."

What's up, Gabe. Hope you're not too busy for a little FaceTime because if you are, she doesn't care.

MISSION MONITOR ROOM

Next stop on the list after getting her stripes? The mission monitor room. Filled to the brim with scrolling feeds, displays, and chattering lines, it's everything she'd expected to find based on a general directory search. Plus there's hardly a need for her to mask the way her eyes wander from screen to screen in appreciation for how cleanly it all functions, not to mention the sheer volume of data being processed at once.

She's a single soul in a sea of bustling activity, tracing her nails along sleek, metallic contours as she passes by - touching only the consoles that are currently left unmanned. Tempting as it might be to tap into them, Sombra's lived through her own mistakes enough to know better than to jump at every open opportunity.

Eventually her pacing slows, squaring off her shoulders at an obviously occupied space and leaning forward just far enough to leave her hovering over her fellow legionnaire's shoulder. "What are you doing?"

Whoever said you can't get information by just asking has a lot to learn about humanity.

SCIENCE LABS

Familiar, sort of. Reminds her of the labs Volskaya prided themselves on keeping ever so close to their collective chest, which means she's treated to a perverse sort of delight in slipping in and pressing clawed hands to the glass barrier keeping her from an unidentifiable hunk of metal housed near the entrance, chassis punctured by glowing, important-looking ports.

Because oh, she could stay here if they'd let her. Wait out the slower seconds by mentally archiving every device, every scientist and which projects they favor. Maybe even swap a few minor details in exchange for either gratitude or respect enough to grant more open access. Still, she's tempered by her own task list, drawing away from the case to set up shop at one of the farther corners against the wall; throwing her translocator a few times and flickering in and out of sight— out of existence— as a test of functionality and endurance. Azure blue streaks of digitized light flitting back and forth with displaced energy. If anything's changed in how her equipment functions, she'd rather know now.

After all, she isn't Gabriel or Amélie - if trouble finds her (which it shouldn't any time soon) putting faith in tech that's been altered could be catastrophic. She doesn't have genetic modification, no super strength or regenerative properties slowing the blood in her veins.

Expect this to take some time: testing only broken by intermittent pauses where Sombra draws up a few digital interfaces that track each set of results for her, letting her manually recalibrate seemingly endless rows of numbers. Also like halfway through she takes a break to wolf down chips and a sort of intergalactic soda, so if you're hoping to take up her spot, you're going to be waiting for a while, compadre.

OBSERVATION DECK

Eventually all the major footwork is done: mapping the Legion's false world, understanding the major landmarks, players and figures - even her abilities are all exactly where they should be, and there's enough security in that to give Sombra a certain amount of freedom. Time to herself, to be herself. If she regrets that— floating a few feet off the ground with her hands folded neatly behind her head, eyes shut, legs crossed in front of an ocean of stars as though she's sunbathing via all the light left in the galaxy— it doesn't show.

"So this is what it's like."

Flight. Maybe not what Reaper exercised in actuality, but she always wondered what it felt like to dart in and out of reality on a whim.

Well— at least until she got her hands on chronal accelerator technology, and even then, it's not the same thing. Not by a long shot.

"Only thing missing now is a nice cold chela."

WILDCARD

[ooc: feel free to riff off of prior prompts if they don't exactly work for you, or make up your own! Sombra's just going to be snooping around for a good while anyway, so it wouldn't take much at all to get her attention.

Besides, getting rid of it's the hard part.]

Comments

※ video

[fantasmaniac]

The omnicom beeps at him urgently, and when he flips the device open, he's greeted with her blue visage. He isn't busy per se, leisurely on his way to create a certain insulting and possibly traumatizing jab at Jack (they're over it, it'll probably just make him really mad) in the form of a habitat.

The cosmetic change wasn't necessary, but he doesn't say anything about it. As long as her name is kept safe, that's all he cares about.

"Finished?"

[vata]

To her? It matters. Who she was as a child was different than who she was within the ranks of Los Muertos, just like Talon, just like now. A vain habit, maybe, but an important one.

And one that'll make an eventual swap out all the more relevant.

"Azúcar reporting in." In lieu of a salute, this time she tips her head with a rolling little wave of her fingertips; one step forward, two steps back.

"You should have been there, chavo. You missed out on a beautiful ceremony."

[fantasmaniac]

On his end, the rhythmic up and down of the screen indicates he's walking and doesn't plan on stopping. He snorts, the roll of his eyes almost evident in the sound.

"They all start looking the same after one too many."

Azúcar. A good choice, he thinks. Deceivingly innocent, though he wonders how quickly people will catch on that she's anything but.

[vata]

At first she assumes he means the Legion, but it doesn't take more than a second of consideration to realize just how many rites of initiation he's endured over the years. For the most part— content to take tactical reins— Sombra's used to guiding his hand to a certain extent; moments like these are quick to remind her that his life began (and ended) before her time.

"Yeah well, not to me." It isn't a dig, and it isn't obstinate or tinged with malice: the little girl that used to code in the dark and hide on streetcorners alongside phosphorescent guardians never stood a chance of knowing that kind of pageantry. It'll be a long while before the novelty wears off completely, even if it's nothing more than a cheap laugh.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry? ¿Estás saliendo con alguien?"

The latter comment punctuated by her lifting a finger and tracing out a few pale lines across the display, leaving a floating, entirely shitty little ':)' in the middle of the screen.

observation deck!

[spacesharks]

"What, the flying thing or the space thing?"

It had to be one or the other that was intriguing her, he figured, considering where they were. Kyle wasn't new to either of these himself, but of course, he knew that wasn't the case for everyone. Even superheroes could still be new to these things, after all.

(This was probably kind of a weird thing to talk about if she wasn't familiar with them, but he was still relatively new here, too, so he'd take whatever conversation starters he could get.)

[vata]

Like this, company was the last thing she expected to find. Something about the vastness of space compared to the view from a cramped skyline - or floating across ocean waves on a hidden section of shoreline usually reserved for paying politicians: conceptually it just seems unlikely, no matter what logic might otherwise tell her.

Rolling over in midair to give him the full weight of her attention, Sombra makes a bid at resting her chin on her forearms. "Both?"

Isn't it obvious? No, probably not. For most everyone around here it all seems routine, which is just...crazy. "Not every day you get the whole erase-all-the-shitty-parts-of-living-on-earth view. You know, the one they put on postcards."

[spacesharks]

"Tell me about it," he smirks, amused. That was a pretty apt description, honestly. "When I first saw it, I didn't have a lot of time to appreciate it. But it's really something, isn't it? Stuff like this, you never think you'll see it firsthand."

Or, well, most normal people probably didn't. He used to think that he was as normal as it got, but that probably wasn't true anymore. Still, for all the things this view could be—beautiful, terrifying, overwhelming—he thought there was definitely something incredible about it.

"Are you new here, then?"

[vata]

"About as new as it gets."

With time enough to appreciate the little details like this, however much that's worth. The way he talks about it makes it sound significant enough at least - an idea that sparks her curiosity. "Still trying to figure out exactly what 'here' is. Back home, people were too busy fighting each other to do anything more than dream about building planets."

Her eyes narrow just slightly as she flicks one more thoughtful glance upwards— outwards. "You guys make it look easy."

monitor room

[turntex]

Unfortunately, the shoulder Sombra leans over does not belong to a staff member with lots of convenient knowledge of the inner workings of the ship's systems or anything useful like that. No, that shoulder belongs to a blond teen who is for some reason wearing shades and a cape, who doesn't even glance away from the console he's making use of as he answers.

"Helping a friend out with the hopefully-viral telling of his tragic backstory before the local spacemedia can get their gossipy hands on it and fuck with his reputation."

It kinda looks like he's making a music video.

[vata]

Weird getup. Then again, there are murals of people wearing capes and no pants plastered all over the place. So you know what, never mind. He fits right in.

"Good to know some things never change no matter where you are." Said with as much wry sarcasm as she can muster. Looks like even here in the middle of an interstellar hub, the media's just a sea of biased, money-fueled pirañas hunting for anything that might draw attention.

Her head tilts to one side just slightly as she watches, eyes narrowing by degrees in an effort to make sense of the display. "You want some help?"

[turntex]

That gets him to pause, at least. Dave glanced backwards, giving the strange woman a brief once-over behind the cover of his shades. A complete stranger, but that doesn't really mean much. He's still new enough here that he keeps stumbling across more people he somehow hadn't met yet.

"Help like what?" He arches an eyebrow, the gesture only just visible over the rim of his shades. "Don't get me wrong, normally I'd be all for accepting some random asshole's contributions blindly. But given this is for a bro and it means a whole fuckin' lot to him, I thought I should actually try to make something decent for once."

[vata]

His critical stare doesn't phase or offend her in the slightest - smart kids always know to ask questions. To question everything in the first place. If she hadn't, there's a lot about her life that would be different, and not for the better.

"Listen, I fought the government and their lacayos for years. People are like babies— they don't care about the truth or justice or anything unless you give them a reason to. Something flashy usually grabs their attention."

She lifts her fingers, hand squaring off to level her palm against the virtual display without directly hacking it, creating a sort of digital overlay instead that limns his work in pale blue. "Your friend, what's he like?"

mmmmonitor room

[mylawn]

It is probably not a secret that one Soldier: 76 does not exactly trust the UP--or the Legion, for that matter. He knows how organizations like this are run, having done it himself (though not on an intergalactic scale, or whatever), which means that even months in, he hasn't stopped bracing for disaster. Murderworld hasn't exactly put his mind at ease, as far as basically any of this is concerned.

Ana prepared a dossier for him when he'd first arrived, mostly to prove to him that all of this was real. Now, however, he's doing his own research, or as much as they'll let him.

He knows better than to dig around for anything suspicious in a public place, so he tries to keep his research fairly innocuous--public reports, media articles, aggregate data. An untrained individual might not be able to surmise much, but he knows what to look for, and at the moment he's currently engrossed. It's enough for Sombra to creep up behind him, though she doesn't exactly go unnoticed.

"Wasn't aware it was any of your business."

76 doesn't even look up from the screens, growling the admonition from behind his mask.

[vata]

"We're all on the same team, aren't we?" Nothing slips through in how she responds (voice even, expression level as anything), but somewhere beneath the surface there's the temptation to pat her own back for a joke made without context— not that anyone else would care.

For a moment her eyes trace over whatever innocuous data's still left on screen, something akin to a wayward glance. Strange, being so close to the man himself. No enmity, no direct threat. She'd seen the kind of damage he could do, given half a chance. Eventually Sombra pulls back - opting instead to lean against the console beside him, rather than against the chair Jack's currently occupying. "Isn't that what getting sworn in means?"

[mylawn]

76 doesn’t know her on sight, of course. Despite a substantial amount of time in Dorado, tangling with Los Muertos and trying to dig up the true intentions of LumériCo, he’d never physically crossed paths with the entity known as Sombra. He’s heard of her, sure—you’d be hard pressed to run dig into either of those factions without stumbling upon the name and the technological fingerprint, but a good hacker is found only when they want to be. 76 has never quite nailed down the who or what. A protocol? A hacker collective? All likely.

The woman leaning against the console next to his, with no visual similarity to the gang he chased through Mexico? Not so much.

But he’s been interrupted either way, so he’s quick to close the windows he was scanning, turning slightly to face her. If she wants his attention, she has it—for now.

“You want something?”

He’ll get to the point, ignoring all of the talk about the team, which isn’t something he cares to comment on, apparently.

[vata]

She's long since retired her old phosphorescent colors out of necessity. Doesn't mean she doesn't look out for her old gang from time to time— a couple anonymous fund transfers here, a few wayward arms shipments there— when you've got more than enough drifting under your fingertips by proxy, it's no sweat off her brow to spare a little. But Sombra was never one to mistake fondness for loyalty: the rule of thumb is herself, and no one else, first.

If Los Muertos buckled tomorrow, you wouldn't find her compromising her identity on the front lines.

"I want to know what kind of people I'm working with." Sombra lifts a hand, jerking her thumb casually towards the rest of the room and its bustling occupants. "And whether or not I can help."

That raised hand is seamlessly extended forward in an offered greeting. "Azúcar."

She doesn't expect him to take it.

Observation Deck

[blue_flame]

While still somewhat shaken up from recent events, Azula was beginning to feel more like herself again. She still liked to come out to the observation deck for a bit of time alone, even if often enough she wasn't actually alone there.

Today was, unfortunately, one of those days when her attempts towards solitude didn't quite work out. She didn't recognize the woman and decided to go introduce herself, in case the newcomer turned out to be worth knowing.

"What's a chela?"

[vata]

"Beer, linda." Craning her head back, Sombra shifts to fold her arms behind her neck, only furthering the lounging imagery. Given the circumstances, the location and everything else that's ahead of her, the idea of 'fake it till you make it' never really seemed so relevant before. "Best way to unwind when reality decides to screw you over."

[blue_flame]

That might not be a bad idea, though Azula had a feeling that the Legion probably wouldn't look fondly on someone her age drinking. "I'm sure they have some in the mess hall."

[vata]

"If I make a trip down there, are you gonna come with me?"

Because there's something about this place that's hard to leave behind. Maybe not as beautiful as a night spent back home, her city filled with light— provided by the people themselves, not the corruptos— but beautiful all the same.

slides in here fashionably late

[good_bamf_ugly]

The observation deck was a place McCree liked to fancy. Finding places where he could smoke in peace were touch and go around here--McCree tended to do it anyway until someone waggled their fingers at him and he'd just take it elsewhere--but all the nicer if he couldn't be bothered in the first place. Somewhere nice and private with a great view.

Sombra will be able to hear him coming loud and clear. Each boot spur jingles with an easy saunter.

"Careful now. Might find yourself lost in all those stars." He's not here to sneak up on anyone.

"Once you start realizing how big the universe really is." He's not speaking with explicit experience as he's still coming to terms with the idea. It's easy to see-saw between feeling lost and lighting up a cigar and reminding himself it doesn't really matter, especially against a canvas of all those stars.

He tips the brim of his hat up in a more formal greeting lest he prattle on any more uninvited. "Didn't mean to interrupt 'mam."

how incredibly in character of you

[vata]

"I always knew it was big." There's an absent sort of reverence there, arms still tucked behind her head. Maybe they're both feeling a little contemplative; it's hard not to be when you've been displaced from everyone and everything— then given a full, unhindered view of it from on high. "I just didn't think I'd ever see it like this."

Still, she weathers it like she weathers everything else in her life: without fear, adapting under the edge of a grin. One she flashes his way when she drops her arms to tip her attention backwards, like staring at someone from the arm rest of an old sofa.

"No hay problema, vaquero." She knows his face; it takes her a moment. "Wasn't doing anything anyway."

Getting settled, exploring the Legion proper, tracking information and scouting out sources— she'd never admit it, but even she gets tired enough to need a break.

[good_bamf_ugly]

He's quiet for a few moments, soaking in what she's said and some of how she says it before letting himself more into the room. He settles near one of the large open windows a respectable distance away and decides to light up. He seems to be looking out at the stars but it also affords him a clean reflection of her in it.

"Es latino americano español, mm?" He half-grunts with a convincing accent, all exhaled with a breath of smoke. It's a lazy pry, but one that caught his ears. He's not unfamiliar, after all.

Labs

[wherenoonegoes]

Hiccup might have been a little behind on 31st century science, but he certainly did know how to forge metal weapons. The only advancements he needed to be aware of on that front were materials and techniques, and he had managed to pick up that new knowledge fairly quickly.

"What do you think bud?" Hiccup asked Toothless, after putting the finishing touches on the shield. Toothless sniffed at it and shrugged.

"...why do I even ask?"

if this is too late feel free to disregard! RL and plot have kept me bogged down...

[vata]

Okay, she's seen a lot of things — a lot of weird things, specifically— since joining the Legion, but this? This is up there.

Halfway between teleporting back and forth across the distance, Sombra stops at the sight of something so large nearby. Another Legionnaire maybe— no, two. And where sensibility should keep her in her own figurative lane, there's no helping the curiosity that's come bubbling to the surface, leaving her to creep over with all the practiced subtlety of a cat slinking on its belly through long grass. Glowing little claws curling over the nearest tech station as she peers overtop, watching in wide-eyed wonder as the two go back and forth: one talking, the other...well, not.

Reminds her of Reaper, actually.