[ the open york post: comeback edition ]

[neverknocks]

hello welcome to the very specific genderbent au york i have been playing for like 15 years this is the only york i play now



Agent York // Natalie van der Haast (AU)
AGENT YORK - AU INFO
Name: Natalie van der Haast
Background: Grew up in south Jersey with three older brothers, a piano teacher for a mom, and an auto mechanic for a dad. Comfortable upbringing, though she got into her fair share of trouble growing up. May or may not have joined Project Freelancer as an alternative to other punitive measures in response to some questionable things she may or may not have done with classified information as a soldier.

LOOKING FOR...
Gen: Action (I LOVE to write action/fight scenes), AI drama (gotta have it), mystery and plot intrigue, h/c as long as it's also kinda funny. Missions and heist shit. I love heist shit soooo much I can't get enough of it
Ships: My main ship interests are Wash, Carolina, and Maine, but I can be sold on most York ships. finger guns
I also love a stupid drama triangle, especially when one of them has been dead for a while

I'm down for both shippy stuff and gen threads and I'm down for smut. Feel free to throw down a top level with whatever your heart desires, but here are some prompts to help get the ideas goin'

CANON POINTS
Project Freelancer: Pretty much any canon point in here is golden. Great for actiony missions and AI drama. And also of course the high concentration of pure Freelancer drama.
Post-Freelancer/Out of Mind: That (mumbles)-year period when she's out planet-hopping looking in search of Carolina until she meets her untimely demise at the hands of Wyoming. that ass hole
Recovery One: Yeah yeah York is dead at this point but hey. What if she wasn't

YORK LIVES AUS
The staple of every York player. Here are some of my favorite scenarios to work from but I am ALWAYS down to try new things
Out of Mind/Recovery One: Wash (or someone else!) gets to York before she fully kicks it and patches her back up. And then it's unfinished business time (of both the Carolina and/or Maine variety). Or Freelancer Drama: Electric Boogaloo.
Chorus (option A): York goes to prison for Freelancer Crimes instead of dying and winds up on the Tartarus. Now she's working with Felix and Locus to take out Wash and Carolina. Bonus AI brain trauma from having Delta removed. Freelancer drama cubed.
Chorus (option B): By whatever bulllshit means, York is brought back to life on Chorus somehow. It's been a while since I watched the Chorus trilogy but isn't there something funky with portals in those seasons? idk it's not important. It's RVB anything is possible. The point is: opportunity for really really rich Freelancer drama when your dead friend for whom you've grieved is suddenly back in your life. Also York and Tucker are funny

MISC AUS/PROMPTS
AI Swap: York draws the short straw and gets Epsilon instead of Delta. Things go about as well for her as they did for Wash in canon, but differently bad. Who's here for some hardcore dissociation. Optionally: York is Recovery One.
Ejection Trauma: York loses Delta for one reason or another (AI recall during Project Freelancer. The Meta gets to Delta but she survives. Some other third thing. Take your pick) and transitioning to being alone in your own head is really fucking hard. Who's here for even more hardcore dissociation
Texting: who needs a log when you could do a tfln
Setting Swap: Project Freelancer is very easy to AU into other settings. Like soooo easy. Hit me up I love Project Freelancer setting AUs.

Feel free to hit me up at runawayballista for plotting!

Comments

[a_shadow]

"That's the bit I can't seem to get any info on," Tex says with some frustration. They're obviously talking in code in these logs, but she can't figure out what the code words are meant to refer to. Eventually, she swings the helmet around and grabs it with both hands, then offers it to York.

"See if you can make a damn thing out of this."

[neverknocks]

"He was your AI, Tex," York points out, eyebrow raised, but takes the helmet anyway. "D, can you get anything out of this?"

"Executing." Delta's hologram dims for a moment while he runs through the logs. "It appears as though Omega and Wyoming have developed their own coded phrases. However, I can confirm that Omega has returned to the simulation bases at Blood Gulch. And from what I could decode, it has to do with alien life forms."

"Aliens?" York glances at Tex with a very yikes grimace. "Shit. That make any sense to you?"

[a_shadow]

Tex's helmet tips down slightly, what would imply her expression darkening should she have had a face.

"Yeah," she says. "I'll fill you in on the way."

She jerks her head in the direction of Blood Gulch. It'll be about six hours on foot and all the vehicles here have been exploded. They'll either have to hoof it or find something rideable. Which means they need to get going and sort out the details on the way.

The tale Tex tells as they begin is short but to-the-point—last she knew, one of the soldiers in Blood Gulch had been impregnated with a parasitic alien embryo. It had been long enough since she'd left them now that something might have been born. They'd all thought they were fighting for the aim of defeating the aliens in the Great War when they'd been in Project Freelancer—she doesn't know what Wyoming is planning exactly, but if Omega's been telling him about this situation, it must have to do with that.

[neverknocks]

York doesn't love a long walk after that fight, but hey, at least she wasn't shot! Maybe they'll find an abandoned but fully-fueled jeep on the side of the road somewhere. You never know.

She makes an appalled face at the truly insane story Tex is telling her. "Oh, c'mon — now that's just wrong. If I didn't know you better, I'd swear you were fuckin' with me. D, is that even physically possible?"

"I lack the necessary data on alien biology to make a conclusive statement," Delta says, "but it is possible."

"Jesus Christ. Okay, so, let's say we get there and there's an alien baby. What's the plan? Change its diapers? Teach it the alphabet?"

[a_shadow]

"Honestly, fucked if I know." She can think of a few possibilities of what Wyoming has planned but truly, she hasn't thought up the option he has in mind.

"You might need to be aware of something," she adds after a little while of walking. "You know that AI I was trying to rescue when you downed the Mother? He's in the canyon."

[neverknocks]

York actually stops in her tracks, staring at Tex from behind her visor. Delta, too, is suddenly paying much keener attention, diverting processing power from lesser subroutines. Yeah, she remembers all about the AI Tex had recruited her help for. Kind of hard to forget that horror show.

"Holy shit," she says. "Since when? How long have you known? Seriously, Tex, way to bury the lede. You could've opened with that."

"Is he operational?" Delta asks, his tone unusually pressing. York holds up a hand, shaking her head.

"Wait. Does Omega know?"