Second floor common room, Monday afternoon

[can_be_more]

Aeryn likes to be left alone when she's in a bad mood, but at times like this she's slightly annoyed by the quiet. Even she can only spend so much time in the gym when she's bored, so Aeryn camps out in front of the television, watching the occasional court show and lowering her opinion of the human race in general.

At one point, she goes back to her room to retrieve the Nerf gun. Shooting at stupid people on TV actually helps.


((Open to anyone who might be around.))

Comments

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Maximum damage, baby." He belatedly realises what he just said, clears his throat and goes for a faraway sprig.

[can_be_more]

Aeryn hears but doesn't acknowledge the comment. She sends the plane after every second sprig in a row. "I need a Prowler," she decides.

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Do they have those in mini format that you can fly around?" Cameron asks. "I wouldn't mind seeing one of your prowlers."

[can_be_more]

"I doubt it," she answers. "They definitely don't have anything like it here, as far as I've been able to find. If I can find anything, you'll see it."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Cool," Cameron grins and makes some somersaults with his plane. "You already flew a prowler?"

[can_be_more]

Aeryn nods. "About a third of a cycle in flight school, plus some time in combat," she answers. "I didn't get to do much before coming here."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"It's still a whole lot more than I've done," Cameron replies. "Does it fly solely in space or in the atmosphere too?"

[can_be_more]

"It can fly in atmosphere. It's meant for space, though, and I definitely prefer that," she says. "I can fly in either."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Cool," Cameron sighs. "I wish we had something like that on Earth. I don't suppose they'd need candidates?" He might be just a little bit serious.

[can_be_more]

"Peacekeepers? No," she says. "It isn't exactly volunteer work."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Conscription or draft?" Cameron frowns and brings his plane in a level course as he considers what Aeryn just told him.

[can_be_more]

"Most of us are born into it," she answers. "Occasionally there are conscriptions, but they tend to be children and always Sebacean."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Children?" Cameron's attention is now fully on Aeryn. "So you don't get a choice in this? What if you don't want to be in the military?"

[can_be_more]

She shrugs, bringing the plane in for a landing on a table. "You deal with it," she replies. "Whether you want to is not up for questioning."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

His plane nearly hits the wall, but he just in time manages to turn it and puts it down for a nearly crash landing. "So no one ever actually asked you what you wanted to do? No one gets a choice?" He asked in disbelief.

[can_be_more]

The reaction surprises her a little. "It's what we do. This goes for probably the majority of my species. I was born a Peacekeeper, and I love it. II wouldn't have chosen differently if I could have."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"But you never actively chose it. I mean, you're lucky if this is truly what you want to do..." Cameron frowns. "Did you ever consider being something else?"

[can_be_more]

She stiffens a little, because she did consider it, for about five minutes before knowing it couldn't happen. "I don't know what else I would do," she says. "It's really not worth considering."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

Because you've got no choice. The words are on the tip of his tongue, but he swallows them only just.

"What if it were?" He asks and motions around him, because this is Fandom and there's so many different universes coming together here that there seems to be no end to the choices that are laid open here.

[can_be_more]

"It's not," she insists. "And even if it were... I still wouldn't know what to do."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Not a lot of people do, but we generally get a lifetime to make up our minds." Cameron replies and rubs the back of his neck. "As long as I can remember, I've wanted to be a fighter pilot. I get that, but it's also my choice. If I want to be a firefighter, I know that I can. What if you really don't want to be a Peacekeeper? What happens then?"

[can_be_more]

"I haven't had a lot of experience with people who didn't want to be there," she says, thinking back. "You're brought up that way, and you do what you're supposed to. It's honorable and you're doing what needs to be done."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"But you're not free," he says softly, part of the ethics debate about slavery coming back to him. "It's honorable because someone tells you it is. That's..." What exactly? Aeryn doesn't strike him as brainwashed, but he can't imagine growing up somewhere without your parents and being told that this is what you have to do.

He shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry. This is just... a whole lot to take in."

[can_be_more]

"It's very different than it is here," she says. "But that doesn't mean it doesn't work."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Of course it works if you can force an entire generation to fight for you," he closes his eyes as the words slip out.