video; un: maine

[slaughterous]

[ The video opens on a close-up of a truly kick-ass vehicle. It's tough! It's rugged! It's got hooks on the front that look like tusks! Truly, this is one bad-ass—

The video zooms out. The vehicle is tiny. A child could ride in it, maybe. But certainly not an adult.

An extremely gruff male voice mutters, ]

What the fuck.

[ Then a woman's laughter rises in the background. "What, Maine, compensating for something?"

The man grumbles, and the feed clicks off. ]

Comments

[castaside]

Don't you ever train just for training? Just to get good at something?

[ Look at him, he probably did. ]

There's a reason I'm so good at many kinds of magic, and it's that I worked for it. I was only born with shadow powers and the hearing, all the rest of it I earned.

[slaughterous]

[ That earns a searching look. Maine trains his ass off, but it's never been solely to get good at something. He's always had a greater goal in mind. A greater purpose. Even here, knowing the war has ended, he's still working toward something bigger than himself.

After a pause, he shakes his head. Sorry, can't relate. ]

[castaside]

That's a shame. It's worthwhile.

Hell, I even learned the Winter shadow magic even though my own is way more versatile. And there's a reason I have a stack of textbooks in my room at all times.

--Well, that's also so I can catch up on all the shit I missed while I was dead, but mostly because it's fun. [ Also because he's a mushy idiot who likes to know things that are important to the people he loves but we're not saying that out loud. ]

[slaughterous]

[ Whatever Maine might say about training multiple forms of magic (which makes sense to him) or having a stack of books (which also makes sense; Maine reads plenty, though rarely for pleasure) is put to the side. ]

Dead.

[ What. ]

[castaside]

As a doornail. Killed by the one I love, the one of the very few beings more powerful than me, truly a tragedy. [ Yep, still seems amused by this. ]

Then I was resurrected under the thumb of a heinous bitch who wanted me to do her bidding. [ Less amused, now. ] Blah blah something about destroying the world. But she got hers in the end.

[slaughterous]

[ Maine blinks. Blinks again. ]

Huh.

[ Not a question. More a statement of, Well, that's wild.

Because that's what Maine is thinking! It's also real weird. But so are many other things he's encountered, so he's less nonplussed than he might otherwise be. ]

[castaside]

That about sums it up.

My life gets wild the more you dig into the details. There was also a rebellion against Heaven and I had to burn the heinous bitch out of me with a fire that burns reality. She's still trapped in my soul somewhere which sucks but it's not worth another Heart Game to root her out.

[ Maybe Maine should learn about heart games since Wash is due for one in like ten minutes. ]

[slaughterous]

[ Frankly, it sounds like nonsense to Maine. To the point where—thanks to not knowing Macaque well—he's not sure if Macaque is being honest or fucking with him. Either could be the case. ]

Pretty wild.

[castaside]

[ He's not fucking with Maine. He wouldn't do that to Wash. (If not for Wash, even money either way.) ]

Said the man in a war with an alien species where people sometimes get AIs implanted into them. That's pretty wild by a lot of standards.

[slaughterous]

[ Maine's brows furrow, his head tilting in confusion. ]

AIs…?

[ He knows what they are, of course. But why would they be implanted into someone? They're meant to help with huge things—ships and cities and whatnot. ]

[castaside]

[ Did he not know that? Ah well. Macaque has a great poker face so it's impossible even for an agent to know that he's thrown a little by that. ]

I might be getting my future-stories confused. I've met a lot of people who said tech things that are over my head.

[slaughterous]

[ Maine gives a noncommittal hum. ]

Must be.

[ But it strikes him as odd that Macaque would mix up a detail of his boyfriend's world. Maybe he'll ask Wash or Carolina about it. ]

[castaside]

[ He definitely had no idea that those were not a regular thing for like, a while, or he wouldn't have said anything. The way Wash talked it was just a normal part of the military. And the player had no idea that wasn't true which was the bigger problem oops lol Welp, time to text Wash and warn him as soon as he leaves this stable. ]

Wash is ahead of you, right? Maybe the technology increased a bit. [ He shrugs. ] To say it's not my area would be an understatement. Windmills were the pinnacle of tech when I went under.

[slaughterous]

[ Maine shrugs. ]

AI exist. Used for ships. Cities. Overseeing training.

[ He can't even begin to imagine why they'd be implanted in an individual soldier.

But he recalls Carolina mentioning an AI who ran her armor enhancements. Could that have been implanted in her, rather than running the enhancements remotely? ]

[castaside]

[ Not Macaque being nervous now. He can see Maine's gears turning. Fuck. ]

I'm in no position to explain AI's or even understand them. Haven't gotten to that textbook yet.

[slaughterous]

[ Maine hums again, those gears indeed turning. But he's good at letting gears turn in the background, so that's what he does. ]

Right. Windmills.

[ The most advanced tech Macaque knew. ]

[castaside]

In my defense I'm pretty good at engines now. Fixing and modding them, I mean. And coding, just not AIs.

Have to keep up with the interests of people close to me.

[ He fully expects Maine to ask Wash and/or Carolina about the AI thing later, so warning Wash is priority one once he gets out of here. ]

[slaughterous]

[ Maine considers that for a moment. Considers how much Wash likes this guy. ]

Wanna see?

[ Said with a gesture to the Warthog. If Macaque wants, Maine will pop the hood and show off the engine. ]

[castaside]

[ Subject changed, for now. ]

Sure. I've never seen an engine from your era. [ Red Son would want to take it apart and do all sorts of things to it. He swears sometimes that demon is engine-sexual. ]

[slaughterous]

[ Maine goes over and pops the hood on the Warthog, showing off the hydrogen-injected internal combustion engine. Which looks nothing like anything in Ellipsa.

In his gruff, growly voice, he starts pointing out parts and briefly explaining what they do. It's immediately evident that he knows this vehicle inside and out. ]

[castaside]

Macaque leans over the engine and pays rapt attention, asking intelligent questions here and there about how it relates to a normal combustion engine.

[slaughterous]

[ Unfortunately, being from so far in the future, Maine doesn't know much about regular combustion engines. But between the two of them, they likely both achieve a greater understanding. ]

[castaside]

[ Fortunately, Macaque is a quick study. He's smarter than he hides behind his overt casualness. (And also a complete softie once you get to know him but that's not the case here, though it is probably why Wash likes him.) ]

I wonder if they have any books on this in the library. Maybe I can get ahead of the person in my life who worships engines with that information. [ That would get him so laid it's not even funny. ] And allegedly they have all kinds of books even though this is a world run on magic and not tech.

[slaughterous]

Maybe, [ Maine says, going ahead and closing up the hood once they're finished. ] UNSC tech. Might be manuals.

[castaside]

I'll look for one.

Or I can bribe Wash to request the good shit from home, I suppose. I've been perfecting my strawberry shortcake.

--We can do that, by the way. There are items they sell in the stores to request stuff from your home. If there's anything you have a burning need for.

[ Hopefully not a textbook on the history of AI implantation. ]