[meme] RvB & Halo AU Meme

[rp_help]

Ever wonder what your Freelancer would do if they were able to fight in the war, or how the Spartans would behave if they were recruited as Freelancers? Here's your chance to find out!

How to play:

• Post a top-level with your RvB or Halo character


• List preferences and ideas, or write a starter


• Tag around! It doesn't have to be strictly characters from the other setting, either. Put two Freelancers in the ODST, or put Master Chief and Cortana in Project Freelancer. Let your imagination be your guide!


• Have fun!

Comments

[oplourgia]

[You rang?]

going to go ahead with a set-up here if you're still inclined to play this out!

[determinist]

(( going with a backstory here based on the backstory fic I wrote about the Director—rather than flash-cloning an AI, he has pioneered a method to create an AI from a holographic scan of a brain. his pioneering of this tech is the reason he was able to obtain funding for PFL. ))

One of the things Leonard Church has always anticipated is meeting his greatest rival, Dr. Catherine Halsey. He's not entirely sure if she's kept up-to-date with his work or his accomplishments, but this is a moment he's looked forward to for many years. She's not the only one doing important work with AIs, and although he's been forced to bow to a government he doesn't trust to gain the ability to do this, he's sure his body of work speaks for itself.

The occasion is a meeting of department heads for the various paramilitaries the UNSC has funded in the frenzied rush of the last five years or so, when creating such projects became a priority for the government entity. There is a catered dinner afterward, and subdued conversation between the various directors who are also competitors of a sort is expected.

Leonard had kept a studied eye on Halsey through the meeting. Unlike many of these others, Leonard included, Halsey's project is being funded directly by the UNSC, so she has a seat at the head of the room along with the various generals and other leaders who will be speaking. He observes her manner, her demeanor, and when the long meeting adjourns for the dinner, he is careful not to accost her right away. She appears to be popular among the various attendees as someone to touch base with, although Leonard knows for a fact that his is one of the only other groups working with smart AI.

The caterers man the tables where the attendees are free to grab plates and hors d'oeurves and glasses of wine. Finally, he sees an opening to speak to her as she stands at one of the small, round, high tables where everyone converges to eat. By whatever chance of fate, he's standing nearby when the general she's speaking with leaves to grab another plate, and Leonard approaches and sets his things down.

"Hello," he says, speaking, as always, in a genteel Southern drawl. "Good evening, Dr. Halsey. I expect this spot is free?"

[oplourgia]

Halsey spends most of the meeting silent and impassive, watching the presentations over an old-fashioned pair of reading glasses and jotting the occasional note in an equally old-fashioned paper journal. Her primary purpose here, as Vice Admiral Danforth so charmingly put it before the conference started, is to "spot the bullshit," and she likes the man too much to point out that any time you put more than one flag officer in a room, bullshit inevitably ensues. Add a pack of "deniable" projects, and the surprise is when anyone tells the unmassaged truth. So far, she hasn't been surprised.

As the "friendly" face of the military, she spends more of the cocktail hour fending off various project directors with transparent motives than she does sampling the canapes. At least most of the military attendees just want her to improve their guns or ships and they make no bones about it. She finds non-ONI officers refreshingly direct, really. It's almost like they remember everyone is on the same side.

As the general departs, Halsey lets her friendly social smile fade. Blasted waste of her time, all of this. She could be on Reach accomplishing things right now instead of chatting--and of course in the middle of that thought, someone else shows up to chat.

Civilian. Glasses, strong US Southern accent. Vaguely familiar, but she's been staring at these people's faces all day, so that means nothing. Halsey sighs internally and switches the smile back on, though the expression doesn't quite make it to her icy blue eyes.

"Of course, Director...?" She trails off, politely fishing for a name.

[determinist]

Ah. She doesn't recognize him. Well, she can't be expected to keep up with all the minutia of who her competition is, he supposes, or at least not what they look like, if they've never met.

"Leonard Church," he fills in smoothly. He takes a sip of champagne, then sets the glass down. "I must say, these proceedings are wearying on my patience. So much talk of military might—one might wonder why we researchers even needed to show up."