Reading in Paradise - RPLOG
Participants
Date
10/6/2017
Log
As everyone reaches the start of the highway, there is a human male in overalls standing next to his partially-nanite-eaten blue truck, wearing a Promethian illuminated helmet. "Hello everyone. For those of you I haven't met yet I'm Smithson, and I'm going to be driving you out to some place called..." He checks a note for a second, "...Paradise. We are going out to pick up any books that might be there. Any questions?"
Xzentia checks her equipment, adjusting the guns into easily-accessible spots and the melee tools into affixed positions as she nods in assent, 'Sounds like a wonderful place. Expect irony?" The cyberscorp's lips poise into a sassy smirk, shouldering a satchel with the rest of ehr gear and provisions.
Ebreus walks up to the meeting spot, when he sees the familiar blue truck and human Prmethean he smiles. His flamethrower strung about his waist he ballances a pole-axe acrost his shoulders. "I remember Paradice from before P-Day. It was nice. Hopefully it faired better than Fairhaven." he says. He walks up to the truck and leans against it, by the back, as he awaits the arrival of the rest of the group.
Garbed in his typical combat attire, one coyote was out on the prowl for something to do, for adventure, for danger! He'd learned of another expedition outside the bubble, and oh but aren't those just the most fun ever? The answer? Not particularly... Leaving the server often left one with a bad taste in their mouth among other things. Still, these diversions were always welcome given how hard it was for Otto to find exciting work these days. Checking on his vast array of equipment, the coyote ensures that EVERYTHING was in its place. Everything had a place, and every thing in it's place, after all! Firearms locked and loaded, blades sharp and ready, armor hard and fastened tight, he was as ready as one could be.
Approaching the meeting point with a kick in his step and a smile on his face, Otto looks around the gathered crowd, greets each and every one of them with a polite hello, a fistbump here, a wave there... he took a deep breath and greeted Smithson once more. That is... if it was the same human from before. It was getting hard to tell them apart these days... "Paradise, huh? Here's hoping it lives up to the name, though I highly doubt that..." he remarks with a quiet snerk as he shakes Smithson's hand. Leaning against the truck, the canine awaits for further instruction, or the order to depart.
Narwen tilts his head. "Any word on locals who might, like, understandably want to keep their library? Other than that, not really. Gonna assume you've got a plan for having the books 'n stuff not get chewed up once they're back here." The large skunk beast takes one look at the cab, chuffs, and pads around the back, putting a cautious forepaw on the lowered tailgate. The truck neither tips over nor explodes, so he jump-flops up into the back and settles down, saddlebags clinking. "Probably shoulda brought shades."
Melvy shook her head, either too nervous to ask any questions or wanting to head out immediately. She checked her sword and adjusted her vest, then stared at the bed of the truck.
Parthenia runs un to the group, huffing and puffing she bends over. hands on her knees as she is trying to catch her breath like some sort of character from a video game who has depleted their stamina completely and now was going through this phase of being unable to do any action at all till the animation ends. Finally though she manages to raise a hand with a finger extended. "Oh... Uh... Uhhhh... Sorry. Am I late? What did I miss?"
Smithson says "you didn't miss anything. We were about to leave. Everyone aboad." With everything set, Smithson gets everyone into the truck and they set out to Paradise, quickly reaching the end of the Fairhaven bubble on the highway out.
Hopping up into the truck's bed, Xzen makes sure to give a good amount of space ofr others, her sextet of segmented tails coilt in a bundle behind her for space-saving. She starts pointing at the various folks, "Alright, skills, talents, assets you can offer to this. Let's get to know each other, alright? I'm a fair shot, myself, and I do have Regulation Nanomagic available to help those who need it. I've got others, like the Illusion program and more, but, if we have no access to others with regulation, that's pretty moot." She spies Parthy, recognizing her and winking towards the woman before nodding to Narwen, "Hey, good to see you on a mission."
Ebreus smiles and greats his fellow agents as they arrive a polite 'hello' to everyone whom he has not met and to Otto he says, "Hi Otto. Glad to see you're on this contract as well." When Narwen mentions wanting sunglasses he activates his Nanomagic and begins to construct a pair of sunglasses, made of a tourmaline-plastic blend, over the course of a few minutes while everyone arrives and readies themselves. When Parthenia runs up he smiles and says, "Hello Parth, you haven't missed anything." He climbs aboard the truck and passes the glasses to Narwen, "You asked for sunglasses." he says.
When asked of his skills he says, "I'm a decent nanomage, I can run a mini-bubble as well. I'm a proficient negotiator and I'm reasonably good with computers. In battle I brawl, electricute and freeze things."
Otto spends a few moments petting over the skunk beast's side. He was just so fluffy! Who could resist petting a skunk beast? Well... Otto couldn't at the very least. He nods at Ebreus and shrugs idly. "It's a job. A coyote's gotta make a living, right? Ain't gonna sit at home all day and twiddle my thumbs, eh?" He then flashes a bright smile at Parthenia and opens his maw to tell her that she'd basically missed nothing, but dag nabbit, Smithson beat him to it. The coyote shrugs and gestures towards the truck, then raises one hand and calls out "SHOTGUN!" The honorable way to claim the front seat!
As he places his paws on the truck door, he is promptly zapped by the buildup of static charge from petting Narwen. Otto shakes the paw and licks his finger, then idly shrugs it off, hops up and slides into the front seat through the open window! His paw strikes the door as he calls out "Let's go, folks! We have a job to do!" And go they did. The canine listens to the conversation being had, and once Ebreus finishes speaking, he chymes in "I'm good at a lot of things, but heavy lifting, combat and computers are my specialties! Also I got all this armor for a reason!" his fist strikes the heavy metal plating protecting his chest. "I'll be your front-liner if things get sticky. Hopefully they won't." But that was definitely not what the coyote was hoping for. Ahh, that gut-wrenching feeling of leaving the bubble. It was something the coyote had long since gotten used to, and by now it only meant the promise of finding and exploring something new!
Narwen balances the glasses on his muzzle and flashes a grin. "Thanks, fella. Me? I look good in black." He waits a beat. "What, you want more? Fine, fine. I know my way 'round a library, figure I'll help pick out what we most need. And ferry it back, if you guys can load me up. I ain't a taxi, though," he adds, stretching out. He rumbles, pleased, at the petting, then rambles on once Otto is up front. "Guess I know some tech, bit of medical stuff, but I can't see we'll be needing it. Oh, and I can hit things. And smell bad. But ditto."
Melvy took a seat in the corner of the truck bed, leaning herself against the cab. The moth girl sits in a scrunched up position, and she presses her chin between her knees, studying their appearances in silence. On being asked about her skills, she starts off softly, "Um, I'm pretty decent at first-aid, and I know a bit about medicine." she paused for a second to think, "Oh, and I also have a bit of experience with libaries." As she finished, the moth girl went back to looking around at everyone in the truck.
"Alright," Parthenia huffs finally straightening her back. A hand still on her chest as she is struggling to catch her breath. "Good to know." She nodded and offered a small wave to the gathering. Some were getting in the truck and already figured out what good for what. A few mages and a familiar dog with a tendency to not be nonlethal. A nice bunch to go with on a dangerous mission. The only thing that was missing was a tiny pony. That thing seemed to be to be everywhere! But not today it seems. Otto gets a wink before the woman gets in the truck and catches a few weird looks. She glances down to nice... Rivers of pearly white fluids upon her armored chest. "W-was out fighting, it.. Ah, got... Exciting for some." She explained rubbing her thick brow. "As for my skills, I an O.K. shot, and can hold my own in close combat." She offers a shy shrug. "That's about it." Her brows furrow ever so slightly as she catches a wink addressed to her as well... She wait... Waits... And winks back.
Smithson replies to Xzentia: "I can drive and fix this truck, which has made me invaluable on excursions like this." He then laughs a bit. "But more seriously, I can survive out of the bubble more than many people these days, and I do know my way around roads."
After just a few hours the truck pulls into Paradise, Smithson directing the truck to the depository. As the building can be seen a few blocks down the road, Smithson stops and pulls out binoculars from under his seat. As he looks down the road he points and says "There looks to be a bunch of skunk beasts laying in the front parking lot of the building. I think I can count about 17 of them just sleeping there in the open. I'll just park the truck here for now."
Nodding her assent as folks list off skills, talents, jokes, and more, Xzen cracks a smile of her own, "Alrightly, then... let's get some books, huh? Oh, and don't die..." before glancing at Parthenia and wrinkling her nose, "Don't joke about that thing! It might appear or something... wretched nuisance of a critter."
Ebreus takes a look down the road toward the depository, without binoculars, trying to count the Sunk Beasts. As the stares at the beasts he says, "Shall I put up a mini-bubble or are you going to miss..." he trails off not having caught the arthropod girls name. After a few moments of counting the Skunk Beasts he says, "We may be best served going the long way 'round. From here there appears to be seventeen Sunk Beasts in the huddle by the front entrence."
"Ah, sweet, skunk beasts! They'll be the local rotary club, I guess. This is gonna be a cake-- why is everyone looking at me?" Narwen sighs. "Okay. In favour of long way 'round. Also in favour of asking questions before shooting, for the record. Also, stupidly, in favour of me going first, on account of I might even blend in. Who knows?"
Otto hisses under his breath and squints once he hears about the skunk beasts. "Yeeeeah... probably be a good idea to not disturb them, sneak by if we can? I'm a bad sneak, but if we can get around them, that'd be great." he borrows Smithson's binoculars, leans out the open truck window and looks around, scanning for another way inside the building that would permit them to get inside without bothering the ferals. "I'm seeing... five...six...eight...twelve...fifteen...eight, no...seventeen of the beasts." he proclaims, then returns the man's binocs with a nod and a quiet thanks. "ALRIGHT!" the canine hops out of the truck and clasps his paws loudly to get everyone's attention "My guess is that we can either risk moving around them over the edge, OR... we could find a back door. Building so big has to have a rear entrance, right? I can't see it from here, but it's worth a shot if you folks have the jitters about crawling around all sneaky-beaky near those ferals." he shrugs and pulls out a flask from his pocket, then takes a quick drink from it, and re-pockets it. The bitter liquid burns his throat and forces a wince out of him. "Bleh... ANYWAY! What'll it be? I hear a vote to sneak by? Right? Is... is that what you mean, fuzzywuzzy? Yes? Okay. Any other opinions? Ideas? Thoughts?"
Melvy slowly makes her way off the truck. Listening to the exchange, she decided to meekly chip in, "Well.. I can't fight that well, so I'd like to avoid them if I can." The moth girl walked over to Narwen to give him a pet on the head, trying to distract herself from the potential danger.
Just a few hours was enough for Parthenia to catch her breath. She wasn't too chatty during the trip, hardly having any small talk. Seems like she was more interested in making sure all her gear works. Checking over her sniper rifle and magnum. The sword was left to hang where it was for the time being. "If anything, I think we should send in out own Skunk in. See what happens from safe distance and go from there. Perhaps he can convince them to have a smell off of some kind in the further region. Or.. Maybe he can just convince them to load the truck with books?" She crinkles her nose. "Sneaking by them... Sounds a little dangerous. I'd prefer to keep some distance."
Smithson waves his hand for everyone to get doing. "I'll keep an eye on the truck. This is far enough away and downwind of the ferals so they won't come for me. If you want me to bring the truck any closer once you get the books, you'll have to clear them out later."
"Alright, so, if it's going to inconvenient... what about negotiations, first? We're out of the bubble.. that means the ferals won't have their signals being all conditioned in... they could even be more human now than in-bubble," Xzentia says and looks over towards Narwen and then Ebreus, "Negotiations first? Military action if negotiations fall apart?"
Ebreus nods in agreement with Ottos assesment of the situation and reccomendation that they find the rear entrence. When Parth suggests Narwen dupe them the grins and says, "Well if Narwen wants to try to dupe them I'd love to see a horde of Skunk Beasts working for us as opposed to fighting us once we wake them up." When he gets no reply from Xzenita he sighs and puts up a Regulation Bubble. "I preffer to have my other nanomagics available to me but I'll keep the bubble up as long as we need it. Should stretch to eighty feet." he says.
Otto shoots Xzentia a sideways glance, then looks over at the ferals. He squints and he ponders, he rubs his chin and he wonders... his gaze then shifts over to Narwen as an idea forms in his head. The skunk beast had had a great idea a moment ago. He could easily approach them and see what they were like, be they feral beasts or sentient beings... "Hmmm... you, Narwen, right? I like the cut of your jib!" he flashes a smile "Ready to risk it for the team! That's a grand idea. We have a skunk beast right here!" his finger waves over towards Xzentia "Like she pointed out, we could check to see if they're friendly. I mean, the mall rats are technically ferals... but then again feral skunk beasts were pretty beastly around Fairhaven. Those poor skunk girls..." Otto recalls his work with the lovely ladies inhabiting the Fairhaven Library. He turns towards Ebreus, takes a few steps and slings one arm around the fox, "There's the call of opportunity when you need it! Haha! Right, I'm all for that plan if our luxuriously fluffy and quite charismatic skunk friend is willing to go and try it! We'll be on stand-by if things go to hell, ready to rush in at a moment's notice! If we can't go that way..." Otto wobbles one paw and shrugs "We go in through the rear, assuming there is one!"
Narwen makes a rumbling, purring noise as Melvy pets him. "Skunk beasts approve of head pettings. If you see one of them coming, you just do that. Or, er, fly away," he says, then glances back at himself. Lanyard, saddlebags, barding, a kevlar undercoat, and, most incriminating of all, shorts. "Still gonna look like a bit of a tourist like this. Not super keen on being outnumbered and buck naked, though." He shrugs one shoulder. "But if they're out front they're probably gonna be inside too, so we'll have to deal with 'em sooner or later. And I'd rather find out sooner rather'n later if they're aggressive. We can always come back another time; the books will keep. Not worth killing people over. But, uh, if I come running back, give me some cover? Please? And don't shoot the skunk with shades?"
Melvy smiled at Narwen's response, removing her hands shortly after. She momentarily fluttered her wings and looked over at the rest of the party. "So, what kind of books should we be looking for in the library? Just get whatever looks interesting?" The moth girl asked, glancing back over at the library.
Parthenia was kicked from the truck, so very rudely. Oh well! No more sitting around. She smirks, seems like everyone was up for the idea of having the skunk best go in first. A noble sacrifice would be made today! At least she hoped it would be. "You aren't even -that- butt naked. Go, check them out, and before waking them up, do try to look the part, huh?" Her armored hand gestures at Narwen. "Drop the shorts..." She pulls her rifle from the shoulder and gently pats it on the side. "I've got your back, skunk. If the head pettings don't work, there will be head shootings. You trust me, heh, right?"
Zophah speaks up for a second at Melvy's question: "Anything that looks like it still has words in it is fine, but I'm sure we should focus on the non-fiction literature first. Like history books or technical manuals." He doesn't say any more, but definintely raises an eyebrow at everyone's plan.
Seeing how sparsely equipped Melvy is, Xzen takes out a few items from her satchel, tossing them to the moff, "Here you go... we bugs gotta stick together, eh?" with explanation for the generosity. Looking back at the rest, she inhales and then exhales before checking her gun, making sure it's read yto fire. She has her Nanite Manufacturing set up, pushing out to an eighty foot radius as well, and she comments over towards the truck driver, "So, Smithson... how /are/ we going to transport the books? You got a glass-lined container or something to deter them from gettin' nommed? Anything we can use so our nanites don't nom them, too?"
Ebreus smiles and drops his nanobubble, "Thanks. Now Narwen with her runnin' the bubble instead of me I can suport you with lightning strikes if this doesn't work." He then turns his attention back to Xzentia, "I'm pretty sure these nanomagic-induced bubbles have a low enough nanite density that book-nomming won't be a problem." he says. He cracks a few joints throughout his body, and hefts his flamethrower, "Oh, and I can also support you with flaming caustic goo if things go south." he says to Narwen. He looks to the group and says, "Well this isn't a nightmare-fuel fog, just a few possibly feral Sunk Beasts, lets get moving."
"Nobody shoot the cool skunk." Otto chymes and retrieves his trusty chainsword from his back with a satisfying *shhhink* "Me? I'm getting up close and personal with the filthy ferals if it comes to that." the canine grins and spins the sword in his paw once, leans it over his shoulder and moves two steps towards the entrance to the building, overlooking the large battalion of feral skunk beasts. He turns towards Narwen and states, "The second things go to hell, come running back, we'll charge in and massacre those ferals if need be! You're a brave beast, lad. Thank you for taking this risk."
"I know I ain't butt naked, and I want to stay that way. 'Sides, we're in California. Rainbow shorts are essential to blending in," Narwen says. "Although... this _is_ Gold Country. May not go over quite so well. Fine, fine. Just... geez, folks, if it starts to go south, try not to kill 'em, yeah? Scare 'em off, shoot to wound if you have to. I am so going to regret saying that," he adds, ripping the velcro of his shorts open and wriggling out of them. After a moment's thought, the lanyard and badge follow them onto the ground. "Grab those if we have to make a sharp exit? Sentimental value. And fer crying out loud, no flamethrower. Especially when I'm standing over there. Dammit, here goes nothing." And with that he saunters as casually as he can over towards the library, tail raised high.
Melvy nodded, smiling at the other bug-woman as she was given some equipment. "Thanks, hopefully I won't have to use it.." she equipped herself and went to pet Narwen before he went off to face the horde. "I wonder if this is really a good idea," the moth girl said, commenting on the plan. "Oh, is it possible to shift right now? I could go with him."
