- Pronouns
- He/Him
Something something the cult of heroic death something something, fascism such and such
WARHAMMER 40,000: SPOTTER (Longshot Fix It Quest)
- Thread starter DragonCobolt
- Start date
- What if? Mature Sci-Fi Romance
Something something the cult of heroic death something something, fascism such and such
[X] Shit. Shit. You broke her. Do the Tau have, like, emotional ordnance technicians? ...That's probably her job, isn't it? Shit. Okay you can do this.
-[X] "Shit, I didn't mean- I don't want to die, I was- Fuck."
--[X] You can't do this. Okay, what does she like? Hugs and...drones? Shove her drone at her to hug.
-[X] "Shit, I didn't mean- I don't want to die, I was- Fuck."
--[X] You can't do this. Okay, what does she like? Hugs and...drones? Shove her drone at her to hug.
- Location
- Soviet Canuckistan
[X] Shit. Shit. You broke her. Do the Tau have, like, emotional ordnance technicians? ...That's probably her job, isn't it? Shit. Okay you can do this.
-[X] "Shit, I didn't mean- I don't want to die, I was- Fuck."
--[X] You can't do this. Okay, what does she like? Hugs and...drones? Shove her drone at her to hug.
-[X] "Shit, I didn't mean- I don't want to die, I was- Fuck."
--[X] You can't do this. Okay, what does she like? Hugs and...drones? Shove her drone at her to hug.
Words (0.9)
- Location
- Ottawa
- Pronouns
- She/Her/Whatever
"Shit, I didn't mean- I don't want to die, I was- Fuck," she muttered; she stepped right up close but then stopped just at the edge of your vision - tear streaked and snotty as it was. She lifted her hand, then dropped it, then lifted it again. Her fingers flexed. You wiped, frantically, at your face and nose, trying to get the tears to stop, you were better than this.
"S-Suh…s…suh…su…suh…suhh…shorrrryyyyyyyy!" you wailed, finally getting the word out.
That was when she seemed to decide that there was no safe way to interact with you personally. She turned and grabbed Lem'ra by the rim, awkwardly shoving the drone into your arms as it beeped in confusion. The impact was almost enough to knock you off your hooves - but you wrapped your arm around Lem'ra, holding her against your body - feeling the warmth of her hover-engine thrumming against your chest. You mashed your face against hard metal and plasteel, sniffling.
"Was… uh, is… are you okay?" Darya asked, standing stock still, almost at attention, her absolute emotional confusion stark. It was so intensely, terribly awkward, so awful, such a perfect summary of the absolute disaster you'd found yours tears turning unbidden into a kind of pained laughter, half pained at the sheer compounding fucked-up-ness of the situation and half genuinely losing it at Darya's charming emotional ineptitude. "... Did I say something wrong?"
You couldn't tell her. You couldn't tell her because you couldn't give up, you couldn't simply say that your orders were your orders and you needed to press on with your mission. The Greater Good might demand Darya's services, but a promise from an Ethereal, even a dead one, changed things.
You hoped it would change things.
You just…
You just had to say something. You opened your mouth and tried to choke something out - but it died on your throat again. Lem'ra let out a tiny warbling bleep - and buzzed against your chest. You screwed up your eyes.
"It's… it's just so awful," you managed finally. It was interesting, here in this moment, how different your thoughts and feelings felt, how they almost felt like two different things, happening to you on two different channels. It was certainly not a way you'd experienced things before, a heightened intellectual awareness even as you fell apart.
It wasn't just the sudden, horrible crash of your mission against Darya's desires, the contradiction too big for you to resolve, though that had certainly been the catalyst. It was everything; this awful place, the refugees and the bodies, the burnt-out buildings and endless field of artillery barrels. You'd lived your life in a peaceful place where things were built, where year on year life got easier, which progressed, and while you knew intellectually that was not the state of the universe, you'd never seen it before.
It felt wrong, standing in front of a person who had been so broken by war, to say that your experience today of a tiny slice of its aftermath was traumatic. But that's what it was, and you'd never had to deal with it before. It was catching up with you.
Darya was staring, the way she stared when she was thinking hard about what to say, how she'd stay in that silence for seconds, minutes, probably hours if she couldn't figure it out. A sniper's instinct to hold her fire. You could see on her face, in minute expressions, in tiny involuntary muscle movements whose meanings had been ingrained into your brain by engrams, the emotions there. She was scared that having hope had upset you; there was a part of her that made the absurd connection between that dreaded feeling and hurt. She was angry she wasn't better able to help. She was confused why she cared.
You also realized she completely lacked that awareness about you. The expressions on your face meant little to her, or read incorrectly. You shared a few broad ones, in a way that was evolutionarily inexplicable without resorting to unscientific tripe about psychic powers, but the specifics would all slip past her. She might think you were scared because your brows would raise and eyes would widen but that was just because you were breathing hard between laughter and sobs and the geometry of your face…
Why did all these thoughts happen now, all at once? You briefly envied the emotional stupidity of your past self, before the neurological changes which had done this. Then you felt an equally brief flash of embarrassment that you were probably only capable of that envy through this roiling sea of stupid emotions because of those same changes.
"Hey. Do you want to talk about it?" Darya said finally. You wished you had a watch so you could have timed how long it took her to come to that conclusion. You then mentally berated yourself for the unthinking cruelty of that thought. Then you agreed, because maybe if you calmed down your brain would dislodge itself from this odd emotional hyper-awareness.
Maybe this was why you couldn't watch action holos anymore, if this was an engineered stress reaction then anytime something exciting happened you'd probably start trying to-
You hugged Lem'ra tighter and just tried really really hard not to think.
"I don't know," you managed. Darya nodded and sat back down; she could work with uncertainty.
"Um…" Darya shifted on the rock. "Start with, uh, the beginning? Like, why…you…" She trailed off. "Frak."
You blushed and laughed. "I, uh, well, I was born on T'au. The homeworld. Uh, in the city of Shi'ca. W-we're right on the edge of the plains before the Ethereal Mountains, where the first Etherials came down and helped to bring peace between the tribes. Though, that is just a legend. It's a good legend. I like it. There was this animated film about…it, a-anyway, uh, when I was a child, I went to the Shergat Memorial Creche-"
"Shergat? Odd name for a T'au," Darya said, noticing the detail.
"Well, no, it was named for a Gue'rua soldier who saved the life of the son of the school board during the…t-third…no, the second…" You rubbed your chin. "One of the wars, I forget which."
"Gue'rua? I've heard the term Gue'vesa but…" Darya asked. Explaining language! Much easier than explaining your life.
"How much of our language do you know?" you asked, and she shrugged.
"I know the names of some of your weapons, your ranks, and what it sounds like when you call for a medic," she summarized. You… didn't want to dwell on that last one.
"Okay… so, wait, this'll be easy if you speak High Gothic. Dicis Vetus Gothica?" you asked.
"Even less. I only know my prayers by rote," she replied. You sighed; you were rapidly learning that one of the strangest things about being an expert on Imperial humans was how much more you know about Imperial humans than the average human did.
"Okay. So, the language we're speaking now is the universalized Trade Gothic, which is used by the Imperial military, trade services, and so forth. It's a poorly standardized fusional language because sound shifts have removed most of the root meanings of the sounds. But it is descended from High Gothic, which is a language much like T'au, polysynthetic constructed languages where every sound has a meaning, and in combination they refer to specific things," you explained, speaking perhaps a little bit too quickly. Darya nodded seriously; you always got the impression she'd be taking notes if she had paper to hand.
"So, 'Gue' is human, and 'vesa' means… assistent, helper. A drone is Kor'vesa; 'Kor' is flying, air, lift, hover, as in the Air Caste, so flying helper. It's the term we use for human auxiliaries; the human forces who fought for us on this planet were Gue'vesa," you laid out. She nodded.
"Okay, that makes a lot of sense. So… Gue'rua means human… something else," she said slowly.
"Yes! 'Rua' means team, group, squadron; a classroom of students is Por'Qan'Rau, which… means 'word-knower-group' if translated really literally. But it also means friend or comrade. So humans that are integrated into the systems of the Empire are Gue'rua. Human teammate. Human friend," you explained, feeling very good about yourself as you reached the end of the explanation. She smiled, just for a second, and the sight of it lightened your spirit enough that you felt at risk of becoming S'wei'Kor.
Darya cocked her head, slightly. Her smile grew…whimsical.
"...so, your creche?" she asked. "What is a creche?"
Your cheeks darkened. "R-Right. Uh, it's like a school but all the time and you live there and they raise you."
"So, like… an orphanage?" she asked.
"OH! No, no, um… my life didn't have…I… my parents are still alive? It's just… does your culture have the human thing, uh, Godparents?"
"Yep."
"Our biological parents are more like that to us. My parents and siblings are all okay! T-The only person I know who has ever died, in my family, well, I mean, in my personal family? And, like, not of being old? One of my uncles, a fire warrior."
"... did we do that?" she asked. You briefly marveled; she thought so very, very hard about everything she ever said, which meant she put a lot of work into putting her hoof in her mouth with that one.
Foot. Foothoof thing. To translate the term literally, leg'hands.
"He fell out of a Devilfish during an exercise," you said. She tried very, very hard not to laugh, which you appreciated. "B-but that's what I mean! You defaulted to 'oh all your family must be dead' but that's so rare! That's what life is in the T'au, not the technology or the city, but the life. Being alive. Having your loved ones. Being around them." You drew a sharp breath. "You have lost so many people in your life - and I want you to not have to lose anyone else."
Darya bit her lip. "T-There's just some things I don't, I don't…quite…get. Yet. Worried."
"Ask away! I can tell you about anything, like, my creche, or my friends, or being chosen for the Water Caste, or the hormones!" You said, perking up eagerly.
Darya considered.
---
"S-Suh…s…suh…su…suh…suhh…shorrrryyyyyyyy!" you wailed, finally getting the word out.
That was when she seemed to decide that there was no safe way to interact with you personally. She turned and grabbed Lem'ra by the rim, awkwardly shoving the drone into your arms as it beeped in confusion. The impact was almost enough to knock you off your hooves - but you wrapped your arm around Lem'ra, holding her against your body - feeling the warmth of her hover-engine thrumming against your chest. You mashed your face against hard metal and plasteel, sniffling.
"Was… uh, is… are you okay?" Darya asked, standing stock still, almost at attention, her absolute emotional confusion stark. It was so intensely, terribly awkward, so awful, such a perfect summary of the absolute disaster you'd found yours tears turning unbidden into a kind of pained laughter, half pained at the sheer compounding fucked-up-ness of the situation and half genuinely losing it at Darya's charming emotional ineptitude. "... Did I say something wrong?"
You couldn't tell her. You couldn't tell her because you couldn't give up, you couldn't simply say that your orders were your orders and you needed to press on with your mission. The Greater Good might demand Darya's services, but a promise from an Ethereal, even a dead one, changed things.
You hoped it would change things.
You just…
You just had to say something. You opened your mouth and tried to choke something out - but it died on your throat again. Lem'ra let out a tiny warbling bleep - and buzzed against your chest. You screwed up your eyes.
"It's… it's just so awful," you managed finally. It was interesting, here in this moment, how different your thoughts and feelings felt, how they almost felt like two different things, happening to you on two different channels. It was certainly not a way you'd experienced things before, a heightened intellectual awareness even as you fell apart.
It wasn't just the sudden, horrible crash of your mission against Darya's desires, the contradiction too big for you to resolve, though that had certainly been the catalyst. It was everything; this awful place, the refugees and the bodies, the burnt-out buildings and endless field of artillery barrels. You'd lived your life in a peaceful place where things were built, where year on year life got easier, which progressed, and while you knew intellectually that was not the state of the universe, you'd never seen it before.
It felt wrong, standing in front of a person who had been so broken by war, to say that your experience today of a tiny slice of its aftermath was traumatic. But that's what it was, and you'd never had to deal with it before. It was catching up with you.
Darya was staring, the way she stared when she was thinking hard about what to say, how she'd stay in that silence for seconds, minutes, probably hours if she couldn't figure it out. A sniper's instinct to hold her fire. You could see on her face, in minute expressions, in tiny involuntary muscle movements whose meanings had been ingrained into your brain by engrams, the emotions there. She was scared that having hope had upset you; there was a part of her that made the absurd connection between that dreaded feeling and hurt. She was angry she wasn't better able to help. She was confused why she cared.
You also realized she completely lacked that awareness about you. The expressions on your face meant little to her, or read incorrectly. You shared a few broad ones, in a way that was evolutionarily inexplicable without resorting to unscientific tripe about psychic powers, but the specifics would all slip past her. She might think you were scared because your brows would raise and eyes would widen but that was just because you were breathing hard between laughter and sobs and the geometry of your face…
Why did all these thoughts happen now, all at once? You briefly envied the emotional stupidity of your past self, before the neurological changes which had done this. Then you felt an equally brief flash of embarrassment that you were probably only capable of that envy through this roiling sea of stupid emotions because of those same changes.
"Hey. Do you want to talk about it?" Darya said finally. You wished you had a watch so you could have timed how long it took her to come to that conclusion. You then mentally berated yourself for the unthinking cruelty of that thought. Then you agreed, because maybe if you calmed down your brain would dislodge itself from this odd emotional hyper-awareness.
Maybe this was why you couldn't watch action holos anymore, if this was an engineered stress reaction then anytime something exciting happened you'd probably start trying to-
You hugged Lem'ra tighter and just tried really really hard not to think.
"I don't know," you managed. Darya nodded and sat back down; she could work with uncertainty.
"Um…" Darya shifted on the rock. "Start with, uh, the beginning? Like, why…you…" She trailed off. "Frak."
You blushed and laughed. "I, uh, well, I was born on T'au. The homeworld. Uh, in the city of Shi'ca. W-we're right on the edge of the plains before the Ethereal Mountains, where the first Etherials came down and helped to bring peace between the tribes. Though, that is just a legend. It's a good legend. I like it. There was this animated film about…it, a-anyway, uh, when I was a child, I went to the Shergat Memorial Creche-"
"Shergat? Odd name for a T'au," Darya said, noticing the detail.
"Well, no, it was named for a Gue'rua soldier who saved the life of the son of the school board during the…t-third…no, the second…" You rubbed your chin. "One of the wars, I forget which."
"Gue'rua? I've heard the term Gue'vesa but…" Darya asked. Explaining language! Much easier than explaining your life.
"How much of our language do you know?" you asked, and she shrugged.
"I know the names of some of your weapons, your ranks, and what it sounds like when you call for a medic," she summarized. You… didn't want to dwell on that last one.
"Okay… so, wait, this'll be easy if you speak High Gothic. Dicis Vetus Gothica?" you asked.
"Even less. I only know my prayers by rote," she replied. You sighed; you were rapidly learning that one of the strangest things about being an expert on Imperial humans was how much more you know about Imperial humans than the average human did.
"Okay. So, the language we're speaking now is the universalized Trade Gothic, which is used by the Imperial military, trade services, and so forth. It's a poorly standardized fusional language because sound shifts have removed most of the root meanings of the sounds. But it is descended from High Gothic, which is a language much like T'au, polysynthetic constructed languages where every sound has a meaning, and in combination they refer to specific things," you explained, speaking perhaps a little bit too quickly. Darya nodded seriously; you always got the impression she'd be taking notes if she had paper to hand.
"So, 'Gue' is human, and 'vesa' means… assistent, helper. A drone is Kor'vesa; 'Kor' is flying, air, lift, hover, as in the Air Caste, so flying helper. It's the term we use for human auxiliaries; the human forces who fought for us on this planet were Gue'vesa," you laid out. She nodded.
"Okay, that makes a lot of sense. So… Gue'rua means human… something else," she said slowly.
"Yes! 'Rua' means team, group, squadron; a classroom of students is Por'Qan'Rau, which… means 'word-knower-group' if translated really literally. But it also means friend or comrade. So humans that are integrated into the systems of the Empire are Gue'rua. Human teammate. Human friend," you explained, feeling very good about yourself as you reached the end of the explanation. She smiled, just for a second, and the sight of it lightened your spirit enough that you felt at risk of becoming S'wei'Kor.
Darya cocked her head, slightly. Her smile grew…whimsical.
"...so, your creche?" she asked. "What is a creche?"
Your cheeks darkened. "R-Right. Uh, it's like a school but all the time and you live there and they raise you."
"So, like… an orphanage?" she asked.
"OH! No, no, um… my life didn't have…I… my parents are still alive? It's just… does your culture have the human thing, uh, Godparents?"
"Yep."
"Our biological parents are more like that to us. My parents and siblings are all okay! T-The only person I know who has ever died, in my family, well, I mean, in my personal family? And, like, not of being old? One of my uncles, a fire warrior."
"... did we do that?" she asked. You briefly marveled; she thought so very, very hard about everything she ever said, which meant she put a lot of work into putting her hoof in her mouth with that one.
Foot. Foothoof thing. To translate the term literally, leg'hands.
"He fell out of a Devilfish during an exercise," you said. She tried very, very hard not to laugh, which you appreciated. "B-but that's what I mean! You defaulted to 'oh all your family must be dead' but that's so rare! That's what life is in the T'au, not the technology or the city, but the life. Being alive. Having your loved ones. Being around them." You drew a sharp breath. "You have lost so many people in your life - and I want you to not have to lose anyone else."
Darya bit her lip. "T-There's just some things I don't, I don't…quite…get. Yet. Worried."
"Ask away! I can tell you about anything, like, my creche, or my friends, or being chosen for the Water Caste, or the hormones!" You said, perking up eagerly.
Darya considered.
---
What does she ask?
[x] "Do I need to worship something? Or… can I worship something?"
[x] "Um… how common are the… the drones. For regular people."
[x] "Why weren't you raised by your parents?"
[ ] Write In
HEY. LET'S DO SOME WORLDBUILDING.
- Location
- Somewhere in the stacks
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] "How much time do you get away from work to see your family?"
Undead-Spaceman
Skeleton Supreme
- Location
- Somewhere in Orbit
[X] "You were... chosen for the Water caste?"
Darya is learning a lot about how the Empire is different from just about everything she knows. I feel like the mention of 'being chosen' for a lifelong career probably gels with what she's familiar with. Of course, how the Imperium 'chooses' for people and how the Tau choose for people are likely very different things. Granted, I never read Longshot so I don't actually know anything about Darya background so I might be making connections that aren't there. OOC, I just want to learn about @open_sketch/ @DragonCobolt headcanons for Tau Society and how the Castes work.
Darya is learning a lot about how the Empire is different from just about everything she knows. I feel like the mention of 'being chosen' for a lifelong career probably gels with what she's familiar with. Of course, how the Imperium 'chooses' for people and how the Tau choose for people are likely very different things. Granted, I never read Longshot so I don't actually know anything about Darya background so I might be making connections that aren't there. OOC, I just want to learn about @open_sketch/ @DragonCobolt headcanons for Tau Society and how the Castes work.
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- Location
- East of Sun, West of Moon
[X] "You were... chosen for the Water caste?"
[X] "How many generations does it take for a family to become Gue'rua?"
[X] "So you don't have T'au dying in your wars. Is that what we're for?"
[X] "What is 'the Greater Good' actually?"
[X] "Why did they pick you to be my - assistant?"
This is a good one, and nice to see this continue!
[X] "How many generations does it take for a family to become Gue'rua?"
[X] "So you don't have T'au dying in your wars. Is that what we're for?"
[X] "What is 'the Greater Good' actually?"
[X] "Why did they pick you to be my - assistant?"
This is a good one, and nice to see this continue!
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- Location
- Ottawa
- Pronouns
- She/Her/Whatever
heads up! we're gonna answer any fun question you ask because its fun, so feel free to think of others; you won't prevent other questions by voting for a new one!
- Pronouns
- She/Her/It/Its
[x] "Do I? Or do humans in general, have to join a caste and take hormones?"
10ebbor10
DON'T PANIC
- Location
- Present
[x] "Um… how common are the… the drones. For regular people."
[x] It does for you what you try to do for me? Does that mean, well... Like a servo-skull, you know. Did you know him, or her?
[X] Your friends? What are they like? What are they doing now?
[X] The Ethereals came from the stars? Are they not T'au?
[X] You have family in the army, and none of them died? In combat, that is? Do the T'au not have other enemies
(Like, with hte way 40K is, having an army that's unemployed is probably an unicum. Even planetary garrison forces often need to fight against wild orks, local rebellions, chaos, and so on...)
Not sure "chosen for the water cast" works, since we already got that explanation.
[x] It does for you what you try to do for me? Does that mean, well... Like a servo-skull, you know. Did you know him, or her?
[X] Your friends? What are they like? What are they doing now?
[X] The Ethereals came from the stars? Are they not T'au?
[X] You have family in the army, and none of them died? In combat, that is? Do the T'au not have other enemies
(Like, with hte way 40K is, having an army that's unemployed is probably an unicum. Even planetary garrison forces often need to fight against wild orks, local rebellions, chaos, and so on...)
Not sure "chosen for the water cast" works, since we already got that explanation.
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Torgamous
Aspiring Gynoid
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[x] "Why weren't you raised by your parents?"
[X] "Earlier you said you chose to be in the Water Caste."
[X] "How many generations does it take for a family to become Gue'rua?"
[X] "So you don't have T'au dying in your wars. Is that what we're for?"
[X] "Earlier you said you chose to be in the Water Caste."
[X] "How many generations does it take for a family to become Gue'rua?"
[X] "So you don't have T'au dying in your wars. Is that what we're for?"
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x] "Why weren't you raised by your parents?"
[X] "Earlier you said you chose to be in the Water Caste."
[X] "How many generations does it take for a family to become Gue'rua?"
[X] "So you don't have T'au dying in your wars. Is that what we're for?"
Hey, the sniper with PTSD quest continue
[X] "Earlier you said you chose to be in the Water Caste."
[X] "How many generations does it take for a family to become Gue'rua?"
[X] "So you don't have T'au dying in your wars. Is that what we're for?"
Hey, the sniper with PTSD quest continue
10ebbor10
DON'T PANIC
- Location
- Present
[X] So, what'd you call me? Gue is human, and Shas* is soldier but you can't combine those. it's two first parts.
*Well, technically, fire caste.
(Actually, looking at the a dictionary you totally can. Spacemarines are Gue'ron'sha , for example, but Darya hasn't gotten any grammar lessons.)
*Well, technically, fire caste.
(Actually, looking at the a dictionary you totally can. Spacemarines are Gue'ron'sha , for example, but Darya hasn't gotten any grammar lessons.)
[X] "You were... chosen for the Water caste?"
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] "Do I need to worship something? Or… can I worship something?"
I wanna ask this personally. Partly cause I'm curious if the QM will have any mention of Goddess Tau'va, partly cause I want to hear about the 'official' T'au stance on religion.
I wanna ask this personally. Partly cause I'm curious if the QM will have any mention of Goddess Tau'va, partly cause I want to hear about the 'official' T'au stance on religion.
- Location
- Yes
[x] You said you're a Por'saal? What rank is that? Is it the same as a Shas'ui with a different name, like the Navy does?
Might as well rip this bandaid off while we're at it. Also, hooray, cool Tau stuff! If you want an exercise in futility, try to work out their calendar.
Might as well rip this bandaid off while we're at it. Also, hooray, cool Tau stuff! If you want an exercise in futility, try to work out their calendar.