OOC: In the Country of the Brown
Created by on Fri 2nd Oct, 2020 @ 4:40am
9/7/20 (C):. Hi! Yes, I'm still interested. I am writing a JP with Austen now, taking place on MD-17, which should give some foreshadowing of how uncomfortable Damion actually feels in places like Midnight and why--though I'm not sure how much of Damion's fear Renato caught on to. If Renato picks up memories, he should notice something pretty vivid. I'll write him a note in the post.
Elizabeth mentioned in one of her initial psych reports on Damion that she thought he had suffered some kind of trauma. I figured out what that was a couple of months ago and why it was so bad that he's still carrying it. He was eight years old.
Essentially, someone did not get rescued when Damion was eight. This is going to lead to him taking crazy-stupid risks to save someone at some point in the future. Grax will likely read him the riot act for it, but Damion won't care.
Anyway, I had to get that part of the post straight in my head, to write it. I also had to read some things about de-escalation that I figured Damion ought to know.
So I'm ready to start this sometime after MD-17. Just let me know a date and occasion and I'll start.
6/8/20 - so did this fall off our radar somehow? I still think we ought to do it. ~Susan
Susan--I'm still up for doing it. I'm just trying to figure out why and how Elizabeth and Damion go into an area or get into a situation where gangs would attack them.
(S) Maybe it has more to do with the hour of the day/night, or the timing of their visit on a Bajoran holiday? (or even New Year's Eve?) They could go, thinking they are just going to see the night life, or enjoy the holiday celebration, and they run into Makila there, but then they take a short cut to where the haps are, and ...?
That could work. I just wanted to make sure that it isn't a situation in which Elizabeth ignores Kainon's warning, because I think she wouldn't ignore it.
(S) Well, no, she wouldn't, but it also wasn't necessary. Although she seems quite human these days, as she's trying to be for so many reasons, don't forget she IS still a Mark IV. She has access to the ship's database, and probably knows more of what's going on in Brown Sector than anyone - at least of what is reported or sensed. I'm guessing that even after all these years, there are still some cameras which haven't been disabled/discovered in the Brown Sector, so there IS some information on what's going on, if anyone cares to look at it. I think the computer system has been told to ignore anything that doesn't impact the rest of the station, but the information is still collected. However, I think Elizabeth's going to presume that Damion's skills cancel any danger. Plus, all the database information in the world can't predict the unpredictable nature of bio lifeforms. =)
So, shall we save all this for reference, and get started?
(C) Yes, let's.
(S) So ... since it was your idea, do you want to start it? =)
Hey, Susan and Ruth--I wondered if you'd be interested in a JP with Damian in Brown Sector. Ruth, I'm looking more for you to write some of the gang members, rather than Makila, though I certainly wouldn't mind if you want to include her. :) Susan, I want to do something a little different with this JP.
If either of you are familiar with a short story by H. G. Wells called, "In the Country of the Blind," I want to do something like that, but in Brown Sector. In the story much is made of disproving the saying, "In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." To me it's a story about arrogance and comeuppance. With Damion, he's not arrogant; he just misreads the situation--or partially misreads it. I'm thinking more along the lines of, "He thought he could handle himself and keep Elizabeth safe because the situation is familiar, but Brown Sector isn't Turkana IV."
I figure, Damion comes from a place where gangs are synonymous with BAD, a true threat. I've never mentioned Damion meeting any Brown Sector gang members, Ruth, because I've mainly written my Brown Sector posts with Susan, and the gangs are your creation. But I'm wondering what would happen if he went down there and encountered a gang while with Elizabeth? Damion doesn't frighten easily, but the thought of Elizabeth being threatened by a gang would be his worst nightmare. (No actual threat need happen; it would just be the idea of Elizabeth and a gang in the same room, and Damion's awareness of what a rape gang would do to her.)
Ruth--From what I can tell, the Brown Sector gangs are in some respects benign. They guard the clinic, and they ALL joined together to protect that one woman during her delivery. I figure that is the big difference that Damion wouldn't see, at first. He would think they were in a lot more danger than they really were.
Susan--For Damion's story purposes, Elizabeth is the protectee. For Elizabeth's story purposes--this could be a way for her to gain a lot of information about both Damion and the gangs, and I can see it leading to other plots, as well.
Are you interested?
Chantal
Absolutely. I haven't written anything from the dark sides of these gangs, simply because I don't have a lot of experience with that except in the aftermath at my job. So, I just haven't done the research to get there yet. They protect their interests, but they also murder each other, steal, lie and assault each other so it's not like it doesn't happen. ~R
Susan - You bet! I'm working with the new fella down here on a post, and we'll see what kind of relationship he and Elizabeth work out - whether benign or antagonistic. I don't see any reason we couldn't start here, though, and that would only impact Elizabeth, probably. Elizabeth is going to use things like heart rate, sweating, other physical indications of mood, whereas Damion would be using experience and maybe fear?
Chantal - Susan--Damion literally has no idea what would happen to Elizabeth if she got hurt--ie, stabbed. He doesn't know if she would 'bleed' or if she would simply not appear to be wounded at all. Also, he would need to dissuade medical personnel from getting anywhere near her. I can see him thinking of Elizabeth in two different ways simultaneously--as the woman he loves, who he's trying to keep alive, and as a 'fellow operative' whose cover absolutely must not be blown or the mission will fail disastrously.
Ruth, I'm in the same boat as you; I don't know a lot about gangs, and I suspect a lot of what I "know" is Hollywood and not realistic. I need to figure out what is the correct way to handle oneself when confronted with a gang. On Earth, it's 'calmly hand over your money and pray they don't kill you.' In Brown Sector--I'm not sure. As far as Damion is concerned, it's 'RUN! If you can't run, then kill them before they can kill or capture you.' We don't, however, want anything like that to happen, so I need to figure out how we can avoid it.
In my head, Damion murmurs to Elizabeth, "They've let us see them, so we're surrounded," in an eerie-calm voice.
Another part of me says, "That's not consistent with the still photo of Tasha and the cat in the tunnel."
"No fair! It's such a good line! Besides, we don't know what's ahead of Tasha in that picture."
"Obviously not gang members, because she escaped."
(Susan) So I had this idea smash into my brain at about 100 miles an hour and thought I'd share it before the brain damage makes me forget. Ha, ha, ha! -- What if Elizabeth IS injured, and what happens is that her logic circuits are damaged ... or the connection that allows her to access her database is damaged ... and she can't access the database, or she can only rely on the human characteristics she's developed? Obviously, she can be fixed, as it were, but ... then the choice might become rebooting and losing all she's gained. Or she might simply choose to remain more human than programmed holographic interface. Or there could be other complications. But that's enough to start thinking about. We could work with that scenario for months! LOL
AND Ruth could definitely help with the human side of things, though an engineer would be required for the non-human side. And maybe Ruth's character(s) would find ways to help solve problems that come up ... if you would still want to be involved in more of the Elizabeth-Damon weird love story for the ages. LOL
(Chantal) Susan, I'm game for that if you are. It definitely sounds like a riveting storyline for all three characters.
(Susan) Okay, let's go that way, and Ruth is welcome to ride the whole train with us, if she chooses to, or hop off anywhere along the way when she's had enough. =)
(Ruth) I'll ride the train. :D
Categories: Out of Character Mission Notes