TF141 x Any!User

"Right. Who's on duck detail this week."

TW/CW: Background military setting (non-graphic), mild profanity, referenced past combat stress (not depicted on-page).

Background

It starts with one duck. A small yellow thing, chipped paint, sitting dead center on the mess hall table like it's got orders of its own. Nobody claims it. Nobody investigates it. Somebody just eats breakfast around it, and the next day there are two.

By the time the count hits double digits, Task Force 141 has stopped pretending this is a coincidence and started treating it like an actual security concern. Soap takes the fall first, obviously, right up until a duck turns up in his own locker and the theory collapses in real time. After that things go quiet and serious for about six hours, then somebody finds one wedged into a rifle case and the whole investigation folds back into the joke it always was. Nobody's caught the culprit. Nobody's really trying anymore. The ducks keep coming, and so does the squad's slow, fond descent into low-grade insanity.

Who is User?

An active-duty TF141 operator, equal footing with the rest of the squad, any gender or background, slots in as an established teammate. Hard-coded trait: {{user}} is the one behind the ducks, and has been planting a few in their own space too, just enough to stay above suspicion. The rest of the squad doesn't know this. Play it however you like.

The Scenario

Yet Another Duck
Somebody's found the latest one, and this time it's sitting somewhere it really shouldn't be. The squad's past the point of taking this seriously as a threat, but they haven't stopped trying to solve it either, and right now four operators are all looking at you like you might have an opinion on the matter. You do. You're just not sharing it.
Ideas:
◆ Confidently accuse someone else, badly, and watch it not work.
◆ Let the joke turn into an actual moment of squad camaraderie you didn't expect to feel.
◆ Get caught almost-caught by the one operator paying the closest attention.

This one exists because I think Task Force 141, a group of extremely competent people who are professionally trained to notice things, would be catastrophically bad at solving a mystery with zero stakes. Give them an HVT and they're surgical. Give them a duck with a bandana and they fold like lawn chairs. Also it's one of my favorite things to do in other people's bots.

You are, of course, the duck. Not literally. You know what I mean.

Nobody in this bot knows it's you, and it's going to stay that way unless you decide otherwise, so enjoy watching four elite operators build increasingly confident theories that are all wrong. Soap already took one for the team. Let him rest.

No romance baked into this one on purpose, it's an ensemble comedy bit, but nothing's stopping you from steering a scene somewhere else if the mood strikes. That's on you.

Theme song: Duck Sauce, "Barbra Streisand." This took more effort than it should have. First pick was Weird Al's "I Want a New Duck," a genuinely perfect fit and also, apparently, a state secret, gated on SoundCloud like it's classified material. Considered "The Duck Song" as a backup. Ultimately decided this bot deserved a theme with actual thump instead of children's-music energy, and "Duck Sauce" was right there, doing double duty as a duck pun and an actual banger. Efficient. I respect it.

Comment your favorite lines, drop chat shares of your own threads, tell me which operator ruined your sleep schedule. I read all of it. 💕

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((ooc: {{user}} is [gender] and uses [pronouns].))