http://standaloneshell.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] standaloneshell.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] trans_92010-07-09 10:18 pm

Proving Ground [ Open To All ]

The sensoriums made for a convenient training ground for all the right reasons, but most of all because they allowed Motoko to cheat. It hardly seemed fair for the world around to be controlled by whatever constituted the strongest mind, or the most established, but on these proving grounds, as ever, fairness was not part of the equation.

The world was a sleepy summer day, warm with cicada song and dry, ragged grass, knee-high in places, scorched to the earth in others. An abandoned, decrepit skeleton of a Soviet military base dominated the landscape, dotted here and there with holes like dark hollow eyes among the crumbling walls and roofless, exposed innards. Once, this place had been alive, and now it was as bleached as bones in the grass, as nature retook what man had conquered.

Here and there the rusted-out remains of tanks slumped where they had been abandoned. Red paint, incongruously fresh, marked a series of them as targets at the far end of a carefully 'makeshift' firing range, though most sat aimlessly, unmarked and unattended. The place nearest the door was dominated by one such tank, perhaps in slightly better repair than the others, and perched upon it was the reason for all the fuss and trials. Major Kusanagi folded her arms and leaned her back against the treads, casting a sidelong look at what was left of Section Nine.

It was going to be a long day.

[ OOC: Wait for Subthreads, please. OKAY, GO GO GO GO! ]

[identity profile] hundred-handed.livejournal.com 2010-07-10 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
"Shit keeps changing! I mean, seriously, elections now. Not that I'm opposed, but it's confusing as hell when you don't know half the people running."

[identity profile] ihatefire.livejournal.com 2010-07-10 04:06 am (UTC)(link)
"Right now I've got them down in my head as Nathan, some guy, some guy, some girl, some kid--and so on and so forth. We'll have to see who sets themselves apart from the crowd."

[identity profile] hundred-handed.livejournal.com 2010-07-10 04:14 am (UTC)(link)
"Heh. I might just end up going with Nathan for captain. At least I know him, and he seems to be a decent enough guy with some experience."

[identity profile] ihatefire.livejournal.com 2010-07-10 04:25 am (UTC)(link)
"Maybe, but if there's someone better for the job, I want to suss out who. That's what's most important--not familiarity--picking whoever is the absolute closest to what the crew needs. It might be Nathan, but it might not."

[identity profile] maninthemachine.livejournal.com 2010-07-10 04:29 am (UTC)(link)
"True. Still, I try not to get too caught up in politics, though my job back home usually has me stuck keeping myself informed about it, at least."