Ranger Radio Recovery - RPLOG
Contents
Judge
Participants
Date
July 22, 2017
Log
With the call for scavengers put out, all there is to do is wait for them to show up. A rather beat up blue, five-seater car with a mall rat leaning against it lackadaisically is there to greet them as they arrive.
Nekura is probably the first to arrive but then again she has great luck the past two times bringing horny ferals back to Fairhaven with her and is wanting to make it lucky number three. Not that she seems to be in a huge hurry since she's trying to see if anybody else she recognizes is coming along too.
Appearing from behind a crumbling, overgrown concrete barrier, Melan walks into the desolate on-ramp, spotting a rusty blue car parked a dozen or so meters away. He wasn't sure he'd been noticed, slinking in the shadows, as he steps over to investigate the call for a run.
Emacs Walking up the middle of the on ramp, Emacs appears to be taken aback by the presence of a car. Shi grins, and makes hir approach to answer the call.
A cheetah in road leathers with an old-looking bolt-action rifle is the last one to show up. Kimberley is rather heavily weighed down by her gear, in no great hurry to reach her destination. When she reaches the car, she looks over the crew of other mutants with a slight smile, studying their various faces.
As the various agents get closer, the rat, wearing a pair of loose-fitting jeans, aviator shades, no shoes, and a dark brown bomber jacket with no shirt underneath, gives them a wave in greeting. "Alright, looks like we got company," he says over his shoulder towards the car. In response, a tiny bird pops up from the driver's seat to look out the window. The roadrunner is wearing nothing but a thin red bandana on tied around her forehead with twin tails reaching down her back to the base of her own feathered tail. "Great, can we get going already?" she asks, rather annoyed by the whole situation.
"Sure sure, Lucky," the mall rat replies with no real urgency as he opens up the driver's door and starts climbing in. "Alright people, you can probably guess that I'm Jayce and that's Lucky." "Lucy!" the roadrunner interrupts quickly. "Right, Lucky," the mall rat continues unfazed, much to her annoyment. "We got about an hour to get there, ya can ask questions while we drive, get to know each other, whatever else. Hop on in. Don't think Lucky can take another minute of waiting."
Nekura nods at the bird's request and hastily slips into the car, taking the middle back seat.
Emacs Emacs smiles and thanks the two for offering their car for this run before working hir way into the left rear seat.
Kimberley takes the passenger-side front seat for herself, slinging her pack off her back and into her lap. The cheetah reaches under her seat and adjusts it, giving the horse-mutant behind her more room to stretch her hooves. "Cramped, but we're all here."
With Nekura, Melan, and Emacs in the back, Kimberley in the passenger's seat, and Lucky standing up on the dashboard, Jayce turns the little car on and sets off! "We're goin' to this ranger station about an hour away, see if we can't find ourselves somethin' nice, huh?" the mall rat informs the others, looking to the others over his shoulder as he drives.
"Keep your eyes on the road, wouldja?!" the roadrunner chides the rat, causing him to lazily turn back to the road.
"Yeah, yeah. So anyway, who are you guys and gals?" Jayce asks as he drives, reaching towards the car's radio with one hand as he pushes in a CD.
"I"m Nekura," is pretty much all the rat is probably going to get out of the uni-nightmare. Then again she's just kind of making a :| face from constantly bouncing up and down on the road and her head nearly hitting the ceiling of the car.
Clears his throat with a quiet 'ahem' and chimes in: "My name's Melan. I'm here for the score." He watched the rusty streetsigns zoom past them--it had been a long time since he'd actually been in a moving car, on a highway, no less. He peered over his shoulder, twisting and pivoting in the back seat, jostling his nearest neighbor a bit.
"Oops, sorry", Melan said flatly.
Emacs "I'm Emacs. I'm looking to try to help the eggheads figuring out the radio issues. I have family off in Europe, and it'd be nice to let them know I'm not dead." Shi looks out the window and smiles slightly, recalling fond memories.
The cheetah raps her fingers against the fabric of her bag, looking in the rear-view mirror at the other three. Without much room to move, she just stares up at the road in front of her as she replies. "Kimberley. Scout for hire. Been all over SoCal and then some."
"Cool, cool," Jayce says as he drives, hitting the play button on the radio and turning on the music. After about an hour of driving, and an hour straight of Red Hot Chili Peppers playing, Lucky suddenly shouts out, "Brakes!" This results in the rat hitting the breaks perhaps a bit less enthusiastically than he should as the car comes to a stop inches away from a large pileup of rocks and debris on the road in front of them.
"I told you to keep your eyes on the road!" the roadrunner shouts at the mall rat, stomping a tiny claw against the dashboard, "You trying to get us all killed?!" In response, Jayce simply gives a shrug and says, "Well I didn't," before opening the door and stepping outside to check the situation, followed closely by the roadrunner. Seems like there was a bit of a landslide from the hill to the left of the road that is now blocking their path. To the right is a rather far drop off as well, meaning there's no way the car is going through in the present circumstances.
Nekura meanwhile goes to get out of the vehicle when they get to the landslide and continues making a :| face the entire time. She's just full of so much joviality today, isn't she?
Emacs stands on top of the landslide. "How far was it Jayce?"
"You folks go on ahead", Melan says blankly. "I think it best someone stay with the car, lest we get stuck out here." He returned to the car, taking a seat on the toasty hood, making his rump comfortably warm.
Kimberley climbs up the mountain of rubble, pulling her binoculars out of her pack and holding them up to her face. She takes a look around, silently surveying the area for any potential threats, and more importantly, for a way through.
"Good idea, I think I'll stay back too," Jayce answers, opening up the driver's door and sitting back in his seat before leaning it all the way back. He folds his arms behind his head in his new reclining position. "About five miles down the road, then take a left," he says lazily.
"God, you're lazy!" Lucky scolds with as much of a frown on her beak as she can, which turns out to be not too much. "See, this is why everyone calls him 'Jynx'," she says with a huff as she turns to start climbing over the pileup of rocks, one hop at a time with some flaps of her wings, not really aiding too much. "Bad things always happen around him!"
As Kimberley surveys the area, it becomes rather clear that this is the only obstruction on the road. The hills and valley on either side of it show no dangers that she can see.
Nekura goes to follow after the others as they climb/fly/whatever over the rocks though she ends up grumbling upon getting over the mess of rocks and other objects.
Emacs shrugs and follows Nekura as they grumble.
Kimberley looks back to the others, an air of dry professionalism on her feline face. "Seems clear as far as I can tell. No way around though, so we'll have to ditch the car." She looks at the small bird that flapped her way up behind them. "You know what we're here for, right?"
With a bit of a struggle, the miniature bird finally gets up to the top of the pile with the others. "Y-yeah. I owe some researcher guy a radio and figured we could find one at the ranger station," the gruff little roadrunner huffs out. "Let's get a move on then," she prods the group, starting to hop down the rock pile on the other side, starting the five mile walk down the road.
Nekura goes to follow after the others when they're herded down the road. This couldn't be much more offensive to horses! Not that she says it though she ends up shrinking her male parts away with her NCE. Kind of harad to think when you're in Rut and staring at other mutants' butts the whole way.
Emacs Emacs continues to walk down the road.
Nekura goes to follow after the others when they're herded down the road. This couldn't be much more offensive to horses!
Kimberley looks around cautiously as she follows Lucy, or Lucky, or whoever she is, down the road. Her rifle is at the ready, all set to fend off any kind of attack the group might face. "Stay cautious..." She whispers to nobody in particular.
After walking about an hour and a half and reaching another five miles down the road, the group comes upon what seems to be a small town! At the entrance to the area is a wooden sign with golden letters attached, greeting the group. It reads: "WI LO C E K WE COME" Obviously a few of the letters have gone missing over time. Empty parking lots and several buildings are present. The Willow Creek Health Center is probably the most notable building, and there are several other restaurants, a gas station, a museum, a bank, and even a pizza shop among the buildings in the little town.
Kimberley's vigilance is rewarded in that nothing leaps out to attack their little band, and the group makes it there with no hindrances.
"Just a little farther now and we'll be there," the roadrunner announces as she runs on the road, leading the rest of them to the ranger station.
Emacs muses at the buildings and wonders if they've been picked clean already.
Nekura just continues to follow the others. She's bad at looking for things so no point in trying to help Kimberley.
Kimberley takes point among the other three, jogging along behind the roadrunner through the town. Worn-out husks of buildings surround her on all sides, the kind of thing the cheetah would have seen many times over in her time outside the bubble, so she pays them no more heed than she needs to.
"Not the talking types, huh?" Lucy asks as she continues on her way through the abandoned town. With how long it took to get there, the sun is already setting, making it a bit more difficult to see. Taking a left, she goes past several dilapidated houses or their right before arriving at their final destination! The sign out front is too faded to read, but the building itself isn't in TOO poor a condition, if you ignore the fact that a rather large tree has fallen through the roof on one side. A few brick steps lead up to the front entrance, though the front doors seem to be missing completely, nothing but broken glass and rusty hinges remain. "And here we are, have at it!" she says, pointing a wing towards the building.
Nekura ends up wandering up the steps when they finally arive though she gives Lucy one last :| face for the 'herding' thing she had been doing earlier. She'll take whatever ripped the door off the hinges over staying near the other mutant any day.
Emacs looks around exterior for a radio transciever or antenna.
Kimberley takes up the rear position, walking up the old brick steps and peering around the exterior of the building. Although the cat seems a little more relaxed than she was out in the forest, she's still a little on edge, and the fact that the doors seem to have been forcibly removed doesn't really help her paranoia. "Hope the damn thing's still in there..."
The inside of the building is even darker than the outside, though the various windows and the hole the tree made in one side lets enough light in to see around. There is no radio antenna to be seen, but that may just be due to the tree, who can say? The dusty interior seems to branch out into a few rooms to the left and right, the right side being where the tree has fallen through. The entry room the trio currently occupy has a front next in the center, though sadly no one is there to greet them. A rather large, wooden shelf lies on the groun as well.
Nekura goes towards the left room naturally. She isn't about to deal with possibly going wheeeeesplat through a hole that is probably opened up in the other one what with the tree lying into it.
Kimberley cautiously begins to explore the room on the right. There's not all that much room for her to maneuver in there with the fallen tree, but thankfully her flexible feline body takes care of that little problem. She searches high and low for the radio, or at least any clues to where it might be.
Going through a door to the left, Nekura finds herself in a kitchen! Or at least, it was a kitchen. Now the whole place is covered in a fine layer of dust, though several trails of rather large pawprints run in and out of the room. There is a fridge and several cabinets, but most of them are missing their doors, and the fridge is obviously not in working order.
Kimberley in the right room comes upon what seems to be what was the base of operations for the rangers in this area. Several machines line the walls and dozens of papers are scattered about the floors. After a bit of searching, she does indeed find a couple of radios. The bad news is, they are both rather damaged as they lie on the ground.
Nekura huffs as she wanders around the room searching for anything of interest. Not that she expects to find anything given how the room is all torn up.
Kimberley sees the two broken radios on the ground and looks at them with a resigned sigh. "Yeah, that's about what I expected..." She leans down, checking the radio equipment for anything else that could be useful. Then an idea forms in her head. "Hey... uh, Nek...Nak... horse woman. Get in here." She says, voice not going above a normal speaking volume.
As Nekura looks around, opening cabinets and the fridge, she finds quite a bit of food! In fact, it's probably more food than should have been left here with all the scavenging going on...
Looking over the radio equipment, Kimberley realizes the two not-so perfect radios could be combined into one working one! And the papers scattered about seem to be maps of the area, among other things. As she speaks, there comes a rustling from the tree nearby, and she can tell that it definitely wasn't just the wind!
With the food in hoof--hur--Nekura goes to head back the way they came. She might as well give it to the mall rat to use instead of going to waste.
When she hears a rustling in the trees, Kimberley raises her gun on reflex, looking outside for any signs of danger. The cheetah's heart races, finger on the trigger, safety off. Kimberley is a tightly coiled spring.
"No shoot!" a voice calls out from the trees, form mostly hidden by branches and leaves as the golden eyes shine through in the dying light. Though with her cheetah eyes, Kimberley can spot the raccoon guy hiding in the tree.
Kimberley doesn't lower her weapon, keeping it trained on the form outside in the dying light. "Who's there? Identify yourself." She barks out, in a military brusqueness that covers up the fear the cheetah woman is experiencing. Her muscles tense, adrenaline coursing through her body as her fight-or-flight instincts compete with her rational mind for control.
"Me Kev, live here" the raccoon responds, even more scared than the cheetah seems to be. Though he's clearly been spotted, he doesn't emerge from the cover the tree affords him.
Kimberley keeps her rifle at the ready for a while longer until... "Okay, Kev. I won't shoot." She lowers the barrel of her gun, just a bit. Just enough to not be pointing straight at him anymore. "Come in here and we can talk." She calls out, trying to shake off her puffed-up bravado and go back to being more relatively nonthreatening.
Kev pokes his raccoon head out from the leaves, leaving the rest of his body behind in the cover. "What want?" he asks timidly, looking like he's ready to bolt at any second.
Kimberley thinks of how best to explain what she's after to the feral. Eventually she settles on a simpler description, one that he might better understand. "Your home has a radio in it that we need. Metal, plastic, lots of wires, and a little heavy. Not food or anything. We just need the radio."
"Shinies?" Kev asks, looking to the radios on the ground. "Trade?" he offers, looking back up to the cheetah, nodding his head rapidly and stepping out from the tree into the open, revealing the rest of his naked body.
Kimberley nods, then looks at the raccoon from tip to tail. "What would you trade them for?" She asks. Her rifle is still in her hands, but she holds it in a more relaxed grip now.
"More shinies? Food?" Kev answers, looking the cheetah up and down, then finally settling his eyes on her bag. As he awaits her response, he wrings his little paws together, one over the other, over and over again.
Kimberley doesn't have any spare rations, nor does she have anything shiny in her pack that she would consider giving up. But she does have one thing... Reaching down into her jacket, she pulls out her necklace, the last remaining reminder of her old life outside the bubble. She unclasps it and dangles it in the light of the setting sun. "Shiny?"
Kev nods happily as the necklace is dangled in front of him, "Yes yes yes! Shiny!" he says, reaching out to take it from her.
Kimberley hands over the old necklace, a pang of regret running through her. But at the same time, she almost feels a weight leaving her shoulders. "Shiny for shiny." She says, giving him a weak smile.
Kev takes the necklace and places it around his neck, looking down at his new accessory with glee. He then skitters over to the radios on the ground and scoops them up, wrapping them in the papers surrounding them and holding them out for Kimberley to take. "Shiny for shiny!" he repeats.
Kimberley slings her gun back over her shoulder and takes the wrapped-up radios, holding them like one would a newborn baby. She gives Kev a subtle nod and walks out of the "house", leaving the raccoon there with his new toy. Being the last one out of the old ranger station, she nods to Lucky that she had indeed gotten what they came for.
With the radios and a good amount of stolen food acquired, Kimberley, Nekura, and Emacs take their findings back down the road as they follow Lucky. After another 5-mile walk and a climb over the little landslide blocking the road, they meet up with a snoozing Jynx and Melan keeping watch. Lucky wakes up the rat with a couple angry pecks to the forehead, who then opens the trunk for Kimberley to stash the goods for the ride back.
Once they return to Fairhaven, the duo rewards their little salvaging group with some random stuff they had lying around, Jynx fixes up the radios into one working one, and everyone lived happily ever after! Until the next time anyway.
