If this is the frontline...

[Incendiary Aftermath]

We'd be self sufficient if BLI didn't hog everything for themselves and their agenda. We can only survive if we take what we need, and BLI takes everything we need. I mean... I don't know, really. It's just nice to talk to someone who isn't trying to kill me. *I notice Vico fidgeting under the table, and try to get a better view. I can barely see the end of a small rope dangling.* You should try this lifestyle sometime. You realize really quick that the whole... higher living... thing is pretty weak. Out here... it's a wasteland, and you can do whatever you want. You start to forget what it was like to have a paycheck and a job, and that feeling of personal security? Forget about it! You survive out here on your own merit, and let me tell you, Vico, you never get bored. Yeah, it's harsh, and fuck yeah, it isn't easy, but I can honestly say I'd rather be fighting for my life than have it handed to me. *I shrug again lean back into the chair.* But that's just me. We all have our vices. Like you and that rope you got there.

[Alexander Ludovico]

Politics. *I make a face* I try to avoid them, in general. And thanks, but no thanks. I lived rough for a few months when I was younger, but I like my comforts too much. You think this is a vice? *I hold the rope up, now in a neat celtic heart knot, and contemplate it* I suppose so. I think of it more as a habit than anything else. And it surely comes in handy during fights. I should probably say I'm sorry for earlier, in the city. *I incline my head towards the doorway Volume had disappeared through* Though come to think of it, I'm really not.

[Incendiary Aftermath]

Yes, because I'm sure it's exhilarating for you to be here right now. *I shake my head* If you hate politics so much, why work for the politicians? Seems almost hypocritical, really. I think you'd make a perfect Killjoy. BLI seems to be going downhill, anyways. Might as well prevent the inevitable. *I shrug*

[Alexander Ludovico]

I think you must have missed the part about pay grade and standard of living. To refresh your memory - killjoys don't have them. I'd rather pick my food off a shelf in a grocery than out of a dumpster or from the back of a stolen - *but I catch myself. There's no point in my being here if I'm just going to argue about the merits of living in the city. I mean, there's hardly a point at all, but if I'm going to get any information at all I have to give them a chance. I sigh.*

But you do have a point. Not of BLI going downhill, mind you, I see no evidence of that - but the conflict itself is rather pathetic. It was such a big deal at the beginning, when people started going rogue and fighting against the patrols. That's when killjoys got their bad name, of course, from the ones who went looking for fights and made statements using civilians if there weren't any dracs nearby. Not many left like that, thankfully. But now it's just dragging, and neither side really has a chance.

[Incendiary Aftermath]

I wouldn't say so. BLI is a government, and within a government, once it gets large enough mind you, there will be a split. Now, this split will seem small at first. Two people will disagree on how to run things, or what the next step should be. Then, *I smirk* then, it gets interesting. Then, one person will have back up on his ideas, and the other will too. Some people will try to remain neutral, but that won't last long. I saw it during the Viper attacks. The disagreement within ranks, the way people act around each other. There is something going on in the Zones that is more dangerous to BLI than the Killjoys will ever be, and it's your egos. You sit pretty, thinking you're safe inside city walls, thinking that your little... grocery shopping days will last forever. They won't. You do everything you can to protect yourselves from us Killjoys, when your greatest threat are the people inside that tower. *I lean forward, placing my elbows on the table and pointing to myself.* See, us Killjoys won't have that problem. We don't have leaders, we don't have ranking. We aren't a military, we're a family, and we're survivors. Long after BLI crumbles, and it will... long after the comfort and luxuries of city life fade away into rubble and smoke, we will still stand strong, as we always have, and rub the dirt in our wounds as the remnants of BLI search for a band-aid.

[Alexander Ludovico]

*I clap twice when he finishes, grinning* Did you rehearse that? Very nice. But I still think you're wrong. BLI's not a government, it's a company. And maybe they'll be bought out someday, but there will be someone there to replace them. Hopefully with good insurance policies and healthy year-end bonuses. But speaking of rubbing dirt in wounds, that's one thing I was wondering - medical supplies. How do you get them? I mean, expired medications can't be healthy, and most of the operational hospitals are in the city. Do you have hospital-raiding parties? Meet at 2 by the shot-out road sign, leaving for the doc-shop at 2:15, I'll bring the tea if you bring the biscuits?

[Incendiary Aftermath]

*I smirk* Companies ARE governments. History has proven that rather well. As for medical supplies, that comes down to good ol' ingenuity. Medicine can be made just as it has been for hundreds upon thousands of years. We don't /need/ BLI to function. We can do things on our own. Do we raid your hospitals from time to time? Yeah, but that's your fault for having such awful security. I mean... really, what's up with that? Do you know how many times I've been in the City? Just walked right in, really. Left with a whole turkey and several bottles of aspirin in my shirt.

[Alexander Ludovico]

*I shrug, unconcerned by the security comment* Not my division. But you make your own medicine? Using what? In a radioactive desert like this, that's pretty damn resourceful, I'll give you that.

[Incendiary Aftermath]

Radiation was often used to sterilize water or other foods. In minor doses it's actually useful. The left over rads keep us healthy, believe it or not. Undoubtedly some of us will see some form of cancer in the next few decades, but we're doing just fine right now. Hell, we even get free chemo. The radiation even boosted some of the healing properties of some native plants. Well... the ones that survived, anyways. *I shrug* The cancer thing doesn't concern me, though. Most people died from complications due to the treatments rather than from actual cancer itself. BLI folks can pretend to be healthier in that city, but between you and I, the rads are a bit higher over the fence. Ignorance is bliss, i suppose. *I shake my head at that statement, as I am sure it is the tenth time I have said that to a BLI employee.*

[Alexander Ludovico]

*I raise an eyebrow* More radiation in the city? Why do you think so? *I make a mental note to ask Riley about it when I get back to the city. He'll know if it's true or not, and I'm reasonably confident I'll be able to tell if he's lying. I haven't seen any reports of it in my digital wanderings, which makes me think the killjoy is exaggerating - but then again, I wasn't looking for it either.*

[Incendiary Aftermath]

Think about it, man. The bombs fell everywhere. You've got those big city walls made of metal and concrete, thinking you're keeping the radiation out. Well, you are, but it works both ways. Radiation is energy. It isn't something solid, or gaseous, it isn't lighter than air, either. You've got pure radioactive energy contained in a battery, no pun intended. *It totally was* It's bouncing around inside that city accumulating and concentrating itself. Out here, the radiation disperses. *I scratch my chin for a bit and think of an example.* Think of it like... the Central Valley here in California. The air quality was awful because of factories. The pollution hung over it like a grim reaper. It was worse there in the valley, though. Why? Because it was surrounded by mountains. Think of the mountains like BC's wall, and think of the pollution as radiation. It had nowhere to go. And even worse, the pollution from all of California would go up those mountains and get stuck inside the bowl that was the valley. Battery City is just a smaller version of that scenario. Smaller means more concentrated.

[Alexander Ludovico]

Hm. *I tug on my cord to undo my current knot, but a loop catches and I have to untangle it. What he's saying makes sense, but I've never been one for science so I can't really judge the merits. It's worth considering, in any case, even if I don't plan on running away to the Zones.* You have a point. Maybe I'll be volunteering for more patrols after this. *I smile as I pull my cord straight again, and immediately start a new knot*

You mentioned that killjoys are like family. There are an awful lot of you, though. You can't all agree on everything - in fact, I know you don't. A couple weeks ago I was flipping channels in Zone 3 and overheard a rather heated argument. Pretty sure lasers were flying by the end of it. Is that common? I mean, leader or no, a crowd is bound to form factions eventually, especially with resources as limited as they are out here. Perhaps not as extreme as with the Vipers, but to some extent at least.

[Incendiary Aftermath]

We don't have room for factions. We survive, Vico. We don't have the time to care much about disagreeing. Infighting happens, as with any family, but it dissolves quickly. We're humans, and war is in our nature. We have a common cause, however. There's no laws out here, there are no leaders, but the younger ones will always look to the veterans in any case. The veterans have seen the world crumble and fall before them, we have an advantage because of that. We understand the threat that lies out there. We have seen what happens when we divide ourselves. When we take sides. It's not pretty, the aftermath of petty bickering. *I sit back again and cross my arms* I was in the military, Vico. I was a marine, too. We differed in opinion and views, but when there's bullets flying over your head, and you're being dragged to safety by someone you would normally hate, you start to realize really quick that it doesn't matter who the Hell he voted for last year.

[Alexander Ludovico]

*I don't answer right away. What he's saying is interesting, but not particularly useful; I'm evenly split between wanting to take Volume up on her offer to return me to the city, and wanting to stay until I have something worth bringing back.* No, I suppose it wouldn't matter much at all. At least not while you have a common enemy shooting at you.

I have to say, I'm not sure what I expected, but it wasn't a discussion on the morals and motivation of Zone life. Either you're a gem, or most killjoys significantly dumb down their transmissions. I'll admit I'm not sure where this leaves us.

[Incendiary Aftermath]

Killjoys aren't stupid. We're smart enough to survive every day out here in this wasteland. You can't judge someone by their words. Some of us are eloquent, and some of us are workers. *I rest my arms on the table and yawn a bit.* Most of us were artists. At least, most of the pre-war kids were. The newbies have more... cruel upbringings. *Sharing so much with a stranger from BLI is unsettling, but it's nice discussing something intelligent with someone. It was nice talking to someone I knew I wouldn't see again.* I was a film-maker, and political activist before the bombs fell. That might explain my silver tongue; you had to have one if you were a part a party so... extreme. *I smirk, remembering the pre-war days on campus. Protesting, canvasing, it was nice.* I was a socialist.