forum I- god dammit. 0X0 with whisper 😭

Started April 03, 2023 by @Nyx-is-with-frost health_and_safety brightness_7

tune

(Ak! Sorry I took an un intentional break 😭)

Nick shook his head before clearing his throat "oh nothing, sir. " he said with another small chuckle as he made his way over to the Lieutenant, "are you ready to head to the barracks or are you still working on your coffee?" He asked crossing his arms feeling a bit more tired than he had originally felt.

(Nah you’re good! Just bumped it in case you lost it :3)

Quint still looked a tad confused but then swigged the last of his coffee and crumpled the cup in his hands. He stood up and gestured for Nick to follow him, tossing the cup he crumpled like a piece of paper intk a nearby trashcan. “No, I am now fully caffeinated. Come, let’s get you to the barracks and into bed. Don’t want you falling asleep in your post tomorrow.” And led the way out. Once they were outside and walking towards the barracks in the growing dark, the Lieutenant asked curiously, “Are you an introvert by chance?”

Nick laughed a bit "alright, that sounds mighty fine to me, Lieutenant. " he said with a smile before stretching, he looked around once they got outside satisfied with his view and smiled to himself "ah- me and introvert? Um.. I would say I kinda am but not entirely? Why do you ask sir?"

“I’ve noticed you do not often stay in the vicinity of others voluntarily. And in group trainings you tend to stay on the outskirts or against walls and don’t talk to others very much?? Or am I just catching you at the wrong times?” The Lieutenant tilted his head gazing at Nick with a mix of concern and curiosity. “I just want to make sure that everyone is doing well. I understand that being torn from your homes can be incredibly stressful and disturbing, especially for war, even if we’re lucky enough to stay in our homelands.”

Nick rolled his eyes at the mention of the other people there with him, "well. . I wouldn't say that I'm introverted, the people here are just very irritating. And yes I know I'm not in high school anymore and that I chose to do this by enlisting myself, I just expected the men here to be a little.. I don't know responsible?" He sighed and shook his head "I respect them.. But not as much as I should, everyone is hard on me but I always prevail, that's how I was in high school as well. But these guys don't care if I'm good at what I do, because I'm the little guy, I'm not seeing as their equal and that's fine, because if their equal is some dumb brute than I don't want to be like them. And before you ask no I don't want you to do anything about it I'm not going to be the guy that ran to the lieutenant for help, I'm going to deal with it how I always do," he now regretted ranting but he couldn't take it back now, his face was a slight shade of red but it was barely noticeable unless you looked closely.

Quint’s eyes went wide. “Wait, you enlisted? Like, voluntarily?” He turned his eyes to the ground, brow furrowed. “No wonder you don’t get along with the rest…” He turned almost haunted eyes to the other man, halting his footsteps. “Nicklaus, the rest of these men are all drafted. They didn’t get a choice in coming here. They consider themselves practically enslaved, they were torn from their homes and families without choice. Shit, no wonder you guys don’t get along. ..um, pardon my french-“ He sighed and told Nick straight, “I think you may be one of the few who voluntarily did this if I understood you correctly. I wasn’t even a volunteer. I was drafted, but I got my position because I decided to make the best of it by working hard and was in the middle of finishing my college degree.”

Nick nodded his head and net the lieutenants gaze "yes I enlisted myself into the army I wanted to join ever since I was a child.. And I knew we would have a draft so I thought I would just save them the trouble of sending me a draft notice. " he spoke simply he understood why they didn't want to be there but they had to be, they wouldn't be there if it wasn't important. He chuckled a bit at quints Statment, "military life isn't for everyone but for those of us that chose to be here, you'd think he would get a sliver of respect from anyone. " but you still stayed her thought right I mean it that an impact on your life to the point that you didn't leave when you were able. "

Quint shook his head. “The problem is, you don’t have to believe in a war to be drafted. A lot of these people that got drafted are angry there’s a war at all, or the ideologies behind the war are against their beliefs. But it was be drafted or be sent to prison or worse a psych ward if they slipped up and said their ideologies were against the reasons we’re at war. It was easier for them to submit, which broke much of their pride.” Quint tilted his head again as he told Nick, “They may scorn you for buying into the war. Have you ever discussed your views with them before? Did you say something that revealed you went into this willingly?”

Nick shrugged and looked down at the ground as they walked, he listened thoughtfully as the lieutenant spoke and he nodded "well like I said, I haven't really socialized with the other men so nobody really knows how I got here and they haven't bothered to ask so I assume that they don't care. " she said with another shrug of his shoulders "we're all allowed to have our own beliefs,"

(Sorry that looks a little weird I'm in a study hall rn and I'm working on some missing work.)

Bro take your time, I’m kinda slow anyways, don’t cut into your schoolwork for this! It’s alright!)

Quint nodded to Nick’s words before asking, “Do you get lonely at all? Being isolated like that?” Quint then tilted his head up to the darkening sky. “I personally get lonely quite a bit here. Being a lieutenant means most people either look down on me because I’m their subordinate or resent me because I’m their superior. My days are mostly filled with paperwork when I’m not with you and the others doing our drills…”

(Don't worry I got it done! 😂)

Nick paused for a minute thinking to himself he never really recalled a moment he was ever lonely especially while he was away from home. "Um.. I don't think so I've kinda liked being alone and isolated, but I don't have any issues with crowds, so I would suggest that I may be an introverted extrovert." She added the last sentence with a laugh and a slight shake of his head. "I definitely won't try and lie.. War is a horrible thing it's lonely and nobody wins ever, no matter what the military say's. I hate war, it's dumb and should have no place here or anywhere for that matter. "

The lieutenant glanced over at Nick and grinned. "Well, we all aren't so different in our thinking after all huh?" He gently bumped shoulders with the shorter man, trying to be friendly. "I won't bother you again after tonight though if you'd rather be left alone. Just please find a buddy to go with you from building to building. There's been rumors of civilians being kidnapped off base and there's worry that it's going to start spreading to on base too, especially since we're a pop up unit, we don't have the same defense as a regular military base."

Nick laughed a little and nudged quint back a little bit "bah, I don't really have a problem with talking to you.. Your more tolerable than any other person here, so I wouldn't mind continuing to talk to you if that's alright? " nick's face instantly went serious "have we gotten any information on it yet? "

Quint looked a bit surprised when Nick asked if he could continue talking to him and nodded slowly with the smallest smile. “I… would like that. Very much.” Then he also grew serious in turn, replying, “Well, it turns out there was a civilian who tried coming to the police, having gathered evidence that these kidnappings were correlated, but when he tried to present his evidence at a meeting, the authorities wouldn’t let him get a word out.” He scowled. “I’m trying to get in contact with him between my own duties to try and escalate this to people who will listen.”

(Ive been stressed with school I'm sorry 😭)

Nick smiled a little and nodded "good, I'm glad."
He quickly became as serious as quint when the conversation changed his expression when hearing about something as bad as this made him look older and stressed, he'd heard here and there about what was happening but barely enough to make him believe it. But it was happening, he and fellow men were in danger this was serious. "You haven't heard anything from him? Did he work with anyone that you could get ahold of, or maybe meet up with? '

Hey you’re good! Honestly, same. Finals are a bitch)

“No, he’s currently working alone because most people have labeled him as a lunatic and a conspiracy theorist because of how the police treated him. Unfortunately I can only do so much as a Lieutenant.” Quint then looked over and saw the worried and quickly smiled. “Don’t worry, as long as we stick together, we all should be safe. So far they’ve only targeted civilians, as unfortunate as it is… Don’t worry about it too much, but I can keep you updated if you’re interested.”

(Thanks tons ♡⃛⃛)

Nick nodded and scratched his chin before looking back over at quint before shrugging "I mean, it's not me I'm worried about I know how to hold my own, I'm worried about the others along with the civilians being taken… This world is going to fucking hell, excuse my language sir.. But what exactly are we doing out here? It's been weeks and nothing has happened, we haven't been doing anything but standing guard, I don't mean to sound rude.. But why are we here?'

Quint looked like he drooped before he answered in a tone that was close to a whisper, “We’re potential sleeper cells. This base is a hold, keeping troops together for when they decide what to do with us. They’ve been sorting through several of the bases like ours, looking for the best ones to send into enemy territory to hold a silent position in the communities.”