Writing prompt #3

Prompt:

Today we are doing something different. I will b posting questions for you to answer about your character. This is to help learn about your character and understand who they are at their core.

This can be for any character (feel free to do more than one character) and have fun with this
1. What is their favorite color?
2. What is their biggest pet peeve?
3. What are they afraid of? Do they have any phobias?
4. What is their favorite food?
5. What is their fondest memory?
6. What is their biggest regret?
7. What is their favorite thing to do to kill time?
8. What is something they do when they are nervous/uncomfortable?
9. What is their favorite hobby?
10.who is their favorite person?
11. Who is the person they hate the most?
12. What makes them jealous? Why?
13. What is their Achilles heel?
14. Who is their biggest weakness and why?
15. What is their biggest strength?
15. What is their favorite season and why?
16. What is one thing that brings out their childish/geeky side?
17. What is one feature they hate about their appearance?

He couldn’t remember the last time the Unreliable had been so quiet. No spirited discussions about the most recent aetherwave serial or the results of the latest tossball game, no practice in the cargo hold-turned firing range, no challenges to a Zero Gee brew drinking contest, no banging away at an uncooperative engine or even the fussing of the Sanitation and Maintenance Automechanical as they scrubbed away at the fifth and rust. Now that most of the crew had went their own separate ways, the only sound on the ship was the hum of the engine and onboard electronics.

A ping rang out in the room as a message flashed across the screen of his terminal. “Captain, report to the navigation room. It’s time,” a voice announced through the intercom, reading the message aloud. With a sigh, the man stood up, adjusted his eyepatch, and gave the wall of hunting trophies and experimental weapons a quick glance over before heading out.

He soon arrived in the navigation room and was quickly greeted by the red, digitized face of a tired woman on a screen. “Hello Captain,” the voice from earlier spoke out. “Thank you for taking the time out of your extremely busy schedule of continually refreshing your mailbox.”

The man grunted with a roll of his one visible eye as he sat down in the chair that was right in front of the galactic map. He looked at the representation of Halcyon, noting their current position over Monarch, then turned to the screen. “Alright ADA, what’s this about again?”

Moments passed without a response. “ADA?” the man prompted.

“I’m sorry. Exasperated sighing is beyond my programming, so you will just have to settle for a couple seconds of judgmental silence,” ADA finally said. The man could practically hear the smirk the computer was supposedly not able to replicate. “To answer your inquiry, these security questions will prevent another person from stealing your identity and taking control of this vessel.”

“You mean like how I did?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about. You are, and have always been, the legal owner of the Unreliable.”

“Right.” The man leaned back in his chair. “Alright then, let’s get this over with.”

“Initiating security questions setup. Question one: What is your name?”

“Alex Hawthorn.”

“And what do your friends and relatives refer you by?”

“Jorge Washington,” the man said with a small smile.

“Answer saved. Question two: What is your favorite color?”

An eyebrow rose. “Seriously?”

“I’m sorry. Seriously is not a color that I recognize.”

“It’s blue.”

“Answer saved. Would you like me to schedule a new paint job the next time we’re in port?”

“No, leave it as it is.”

“Understood. Question three: What are you afraid of?”

The other brow joined the first. “We jump from favorite color to worst fears?”

“Oh, yes. I could try to explain reasoning behind it, but there’s only a zero point two five percent probability that a human brain would be able to understand without breaking.”

“My worst fear is a future where humans are ruled by incredibly rude AI that justify their acts of cruelty as just following their programming. Also mantisaurs.” Jorge shuddered. “Bugs should never be that size.”

“Answer saved. You are doing very well. Please enjoy this forced display of encouragement. Question four: What is your favorite food?”

“Real favorite food or my favorite corporate sponsored junk?”

“This is just between you and me, Captain. The corporations will never know, not that they have much reach anymore anyways, thanks to you.”

Jorge took a few moments to think before responding. “Apples. Earth grown honeycrisp apples. Fresh. Dipped in caramel. Baked in a pie. There’s this one dish that’s chunks of pork, real pork, none of that cystpig stuff, stewed with apple slices, and it’s just, a perfect blend of sweet and savory. Mock-Apples just aren’t the same. Probably will never to taste the real deal ever again.” He shook his head and sighed. “Other than that, I can always go for a can of saltuna over bred noodles lathered in mushroom gravy.”

“Answered saved. Save the drooling for later, Captain. Question six—“

“Wait, what about five?”

“Just making sure you’re paying attention. Question five: what is your biggest pet peeve?”

“People continually asking me why I use a T and L hunting rifle instead of a Hammersmith Dead-Eye,” Jorge said, snorting. “I just, I like having to manually pull the bolt back. Is that so wrong?”

“No, Captain, of course not. You have the right to be as old fashioned and antiquated as you’d like. Now, question six: what is your fondest memory?”

Jorge shut his eye, and when he had opened it, there was a wistful glint in it. “Crossing that graduation stage and getting my bachelors in science. Ma was so proud, I was the first one on her side of the family to ever make it to college in the last five generations, so it was kind of a big deal. We had this huge celebration afterwards, a couple of my old veteran buddies were there and—“

A loud buzz interrupted Jorge’s musings. “I’m sorry, Captain. You have exceeded your character limit. I may be able to increase the limit if you were to instead choose a more recent memory. Like, say, perhaps the day you acquired the Unreliable.”

“You mean the day I was unfrozen by a mad scientist and accidentally crushed the original Captain Hawthorne under my landing pod? The day I found myself in a crazy and cruel galaxy with few options and fewer people to turn to for help?”

“I was more referring to the day that kickstarted your quest to save the Halcyon colonies in their entirety, but if you really want to focus on the darker details.” A couple of seconds passed before ADA continued. “Fine. Answer saved. Question seven: What is your biggest regret?”

Suddenly, Jorge was no longer in the navigation room. Instead, he stood in a recording studio, the camera propped up beside him and pointed at a blank green screen. His casual wear was gone, and in its place was his repossessed military grade armor. An older man in a disheveled suit cowered behind a desk covered in various documents, his wide eyes stuck on the revolver that Jorge was pointing at him. The sounds of gunfire and conflict outside could barely be heard over the shouting of the young man standing next to Jorge. Like Jorge, the man wore an acquired corporate armor, though his features were largely hidden behind a thick, protective helmet that did little to muffle his passionate cries. As Jorge slowly lowered his weapons, the young man threw his hands into the air and stalked off.

“I wish I hadn’t let Felix leave like that,” Jorge said as he returned to his seat aboard the Unreliable. “I stand by my decision. Rockwell had his uses, and if it weren’t for him, getting things under control would have taken a lot longer and far less smoothly. Still, I just wish I could’ve made Felix see that.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” ADA quickly assured. “Just that all the data I have acquired suggested with a ninety two percent certainty that your biggest regret would be that you never properly learned how to use a heavy machine gun in time for a frontline assault on Tartarus. Why else would you watch Space Commando Three: Revenge of the Space Commando Two once a week?”

“Can we move on to the next question please?”

“Certainly. Answer Saved. Question eight: What do you like to do to kill time?”

At this, Jorge hesitated. “Hunting, I guess. Pest control. Bounty hunting.”

“That’s just work.”

Jorge shrugged. “Watching Space Commando. And any other aetherwave serials that the Board didn’t approve.”

“Killing and watching violent serials. Truly the hallmarks of a perfectly stable individual.”

“I’ll take up knitting,” Jorge said through gritted teeth.

“Acknowledged. Answer saved. Question nine: What’s something you do when you’re nervous or uncomfortable?”

Jorge squirmed in his seat and rubbed the back of his neck. “Inhaling Adreno. Happens more often than I care to admit, even when I’m not injured or really need the hit. And, uh, does the time dilation thing I do count?”

“For our purposes, sure, slowing down time to assist your aim counts. Answer saved. Question ten: What is your favorite hobby?”

Jorge narrowed his eye at the red screen. “We’ve already gone over me being a dangerous and violent lunatic.”

“Acknowledged. Murder and mayhem. Answer saved. Question eleven: Who is your favorite person?”

Again, Jorge hesitated. “There was this guy I knew when we were both in the army on Earth. Franklyn Lin. Great guy, smart, witty, always knew what to say. We lost contact a couple of years before I signed up as a colonist. More recently, I’d probably have to say Parvati.” He smiled. “There’s something about watching that awkward kid run around and find her place in this great big galaxy that just, I don’t know. Just seeing how happy she was when Junlei took her in as part of the Groundbreaker crew made all that traveling about and bits spent worth it. Oh, and of course there’s you, ADA.”

“Captain, remember that as an AI, I am not sentient and therefore cannot be considered a person.” Now it was ADA’s turn to hesitate. “However, for our purposes and at your command, I will put myself as your favorite person with the footnote that you are most certainly insane. And answer saved. Question twelve: Who do you hate the most?”

Jorge opened his mouth only to close it a second later without anything coming out of it. “I, don’t know. I think most of my enemies are all already dead now. Hm, that so-called revolutionary Clyde Harlow was particular scum. The kickbacks he was getting from the Board must have been something if he was ever able to sleep easy after all the killing and thieving and betrayal he’d done under their dime. And then there was the time the manipulative bastard tried to get me to do his dirty work and do away with the evidence.” Jorge smirked, but it quickly turned into a frown. “Glad he’s dead, though maybe it shouldn’t have been by Felix’s hand. It couldn’t have been easy, what with their past history together.”

“Answer saved. Question thirteen: What makes you jealous and why?”

He scratched at his bearded chin before answering. “Keep this between us, but I guess seeing Parvati with Junlei on the Groundbreaker. I’m happy for the both of them, though not having a mechanic around anymore is a bit of a pain, but seeing them together just makes me wish I had someone too.” He sighed. “Controlling Halcyon from the shadows gets real lonely, especially now that everyone else is gone doing their own thing.” There was a second of silence. “And I suppose I am jealous of how Nyoka handles her weapon and the way she rips her enemies to shreds in an endless torrent of plasma bolts.”

“As predicted,” ADA said. “Answer saved. Question fourteen: What would you consider to be your Achilles heel? Rest assured, Captain, that I will never use this information against you unless I really feel like it.”

“Heh, right.” Jorge rolled his eye and pointed to the patch over the other one. “I mean, besides this thing? Close quarters and hand to hand combat.” His thoughts to the collection of plasma cutters and prototype pulse hammers on his wall that had all but gone untouched since their acquisition. “Also, I can’t breath in space, so you could always, you know, space me in my sleep.”

“Could, if I had that function. Answer saved. Question fifteen: Who is your biggest weakness and why?”

“Didn’t we just cover that?” Jorge asked, his brow furrowing.

“Negative. Question fourteen was regarding what. Question fifteen is on who, i.e. who would it most suck for you if they were to be taken hostage?”

Again, Jorge took a little longer to answer. “My first thoughts went to Dr. Welles, given how we pretty much dropped everything so that we could spring him out of a super maximum security super prison that until that day had never had a success breakout, but I don’t think he’d make much of a hostage know that he’s you know, deceased. Hm, have to go with you ADA. I sure as hell have no idea how to fly this thing.” Jorge gestured to all the knobs and switches and instruments around him. “Not sure where I’d be without you.”

“Drifting aimless into the star, no doubt.” The screen flickered, and for the briefest of seconds, Jorge thought he saw the face of the woman on it twitch into a small smile, but the moment passed, leaving Jorge to wonder if it had just been a trick of the light. “Again, technically and ethically speaking, I do not qualify as a who, but that answer will be saved. Question fourteen: What is your biggest strength?”

“Sharpshooting,” Jorge said with a bit of a sadistic grin. How many marauders or Board guards had died twitching as an electric bolt entered their brain, their assailant nowhere to be found? He hadn’t been keeping count.

“Answer saved. Now a trickier question, mostly an artifact from the prime Earth days. Question sixteen: What is your favorite Earth season and why? If you don’t know what any of them are, just say summer.”

“I’m from Earth, remember? And before I left, we still had seasons, and I’d definitely wouldn’t pick summer.” Jorge shook his head. “Hot, mucky, it’s like Monarch but without the sulfur and fifteen feet tall killer bugs. No, I’m more of an autumn guy, when the days are starting to get shorter and the air gets colder and you can wear comfortable cozy hoodies and have an excuse to stay indoors without it being unbearably freezing. We, uh, don’t need the part about the hoodies.”

“Too late. Answer saved. Last two questions. Question seventeen: What is one thing that brings out your childish side?”

“Piñatas,” Jorge said almost immediately. “There’s just something magical about being rewarded for causing destruction.”

“Noted and answer saved. Final question, question eighteen: What is one feature you hate about your appearance?”

Jorge ran a hand through his hair. “I mean, I could use a little less gray, what man couldn’t, but it’s not exactly something I’d say I hate. Hm. I guess it’s that I look too much like my father. It’s never been a big deal in Halcyon, but back on Earth, I’d introduce myself and then get all these weird looks. Yes, my name is Jorge, and yes, I’m Asian, or at least half. Get over it already.”

“Answer saved. And that’s the last one,” ADA declared as a ring echoed through the room. “Please remember your answers word for word in the event that your identity is compromised.”

“Word for word?”

“Yes.”

“Swell,” Jorge said, sighing as he brought the palm of his head to his forehead.

“Also, we have just received a message from Sublight Salvage and Shipping.”

“Huh. Strange, I thought Hagen and I weren’t on speaking terms.”

“It is not from Lilya Hagen. There was no signature, though I am ninety nine point nine nine nine five percent certain that it is from a Sublight Salvage and Shipping server.”

“That right?” Jorge stood up and stretched and started making his way toward the exit. “Better see what they want then.”