meet-and-greet | January 2016

[governors]

The Governors do this, sometimes; they hold a meet-and-greet for the new arrivals to help them get acclimated, and also to distract them from destroying their rooms. A message goes out to all the new arrivals informing them of a party with free food. Everyone likes free food, right?

In one of the recreation areas - sadly, not one of the ones accessible by slide - there are some chips, dip, some sodas and Solo cups, several large pizzas, and a surprising amount of Oreos.

Party.

Comments

[accipiterrible]

Daniel peered at the dragon-shaped mark before high-fiving Casey with his own unmarked palm. "Lucky you," he said. "They only kidnapped me for my sparkling conversational skills and my encyclopedic knowledge of MacGyver trivia." Meaning: He's a Sentinel.

[dragonaught]

Valiantly, Casey did not flinch. They stared for a moment but didn't pull away from the high five, merely pulling their hand back when Daniel was done. This one was certainly enthusiastic enough even without alcohol.

"Yeah, because being here until who knows when is way better than only a year," they said, head tilted and brows raised. Someone was obviously not okay with the idea of the different tenures. "MacGyver?"

[accipiterrible]

Daniel blinked. "What, they don't have Richard Dean Anderson where you're from?" Then he shrugged. "It's all the same to me, anyway; I mean, I'm going to miss Jake, and I'm pissed as hell I'm taken from home, but at least you don't have to spend your time going through the same shit I did in high school gym class all day for a solid year."

Daniel, where the hell did you go to school?

[dragonaught]

"No," Casey said slowly, obviously confused by the reference. That was just going to be one of those things, they could already tell, but it was still something that would take getting used to. Just little things everyone took for granted. How much was Casey going to say that no one else understood?

Their head tilted at the comment, brow furrowing. "You mean... the training?"

[accipiterrible]

Daniel nodded. "Yeah, the training. Same old, same old, for me. Most of it, I guess. Though there might be some new stuff. They don't really seem to be keen on sharing the syllabus."

[dragonaught]

"Same old?" Well, that was curious. It was probably for everyone's betterment that Casey wasn't a sentinel — although if they hadn't been "chosen" as one of the marked, likely they wouldn't have anything to do with this at all — because fighting, even in protection of another, was a laughable idea. They weren't the sort. "What did you do before?"

[accipiterrible]

There was a little smirk that played about Daniel's lips. "Nothing too exciting." Lie. "I'm just used to fighting. I've been fighting ever since I was in grade school. So at least now I'm fighting to protect someone, and not over string cheese."

[dragonaught]

Shaking their head, Casey allowed a small, rueful smile. Things were still hard to really understand and make enough sense of, but they knew the type. Who didn't? At least this guy was more into the idea of using it constructively and not rallying against it. "You'll probably be a good sentinel," they said honestly.

[accipiterrible]

That made Daniel actually grin. "Aw, shucks," he said. "I've never been a good anything before. But yeah, maybe I won't totally suck at this, you know?"

[dragonaught]

"Especially not if you do it for whoever you match up with," Casey said, sincere in that belief. That was also what made it hard to imagine pairing up with anyone else. Not that it was impossible for Casey to make friends or be nice and lack their usual anxiety in the comfort of friends, but being so close as to make someone defend Casey... there was only one person Casey could currently think of where it wouldn't feel like making themselves a burden, and Gabriel was nowhere to be found.

"Um. My name is Casey, by the way."

[accipiterrible]

"Daniel," Kinney said. "Here's to hoping you end up with a decent Sentinel. You seem like a good kid. And if we're not assigned together...hell, I'll look out for you, if you want." And he shrugged, almost indifferently. Don't let anyone catch you being kind, Daniel.

[dragonaught]

"Don't worry about it," Casey said easily. Taking care of themself wasn't the issue; they'd been doing that ever since they were fourteen years old. It was the part where their independence seemed to be predicated on having a bodyguard that really irked them. How was that supposed to be any way to live? "But thanks."

[accipiterrible]

"Offer's open," Daniel said easily, and shrugged again. "Seriously, where the hell do you come from that they don't even have MacGyver?"

[dragonaught]

Casey took note of the offer, but gladly let it slide for now. Whether Daniel was sensing their reticence or was actually just that offended that Casey had no idea what he was talking about was up in the air. They shrugged largely in response. "I don't even know what that's supposed to be," they said.

[accipiterrible]

Daniel squinted at them. "Where are you from? Even in the FSU they've heard of MacGyver." That's 'former Soviet Union', for those of you playing at home.

[dragonaught]

"What's the FSU?" That question probably didn't help their case, but it was worth asking anyway. "I mean... I'm just from a regular city."

[accipiterrible]

"Former Soviet Union," Daniel says, being kind to the smol who doesn't know jargon. "What kind of regular city? Do they have TV there?"