Between a Roc and a hard place-Part II - RPLOG

Participants

• Cameron
• Edel
• Myung
• Phosphorus
• Redd
• Rorne

Date

2/7/2016

Log

Considering the helipad is blocked, and the huge bird's assistance would probably be needed to remove the semi trailer from the pad, Mike is understandably nervous about the situation. "Alright, the briefing report's in your seats, go ahead and board, I want to get back to my normal flights as soon as possible, can't do that till the trailer's off the pad." The gryphon is visibly shaken a bit, clearly something about this has him on edge.

Edel brushes her hair back as she shuffles up, pulling it back into a bun and pinning it up. "Thought we had this kind of thing settled last time," she says, rolling her shoulders and climbing into the helicopter to get strapped in for the flight. "Well. Maybe this time it WILL be settled."

With a sigh, Rorne shakes her head a little. If things aren't completely settled, then someone's not doing their part in some way. Either way, something needs to be done. She looks to Mike, giving him a nod, "Things'll get settled," she mutters, climbing into the helicopter herself. Hopefully this will still be peaceful...

"Can't we just... y'know, pull it off with a different semi truck? I mean, if possible, I'd rather avoid, uh... 'disturbing', such a large creature." Phosphorus gestures to the trailer, before shrugging and clambering into the chopper herself. No action is worse than a bad action, after all.

Myung casts a sidelong glance over her shoulder back at the rooftop and scratches her head, the gryphon's nervousness not doing much to reassure her. "I feel like removing the note slipped under our door might send the wrong message, and I don't really wanna piss off whatever did... that." She boards the metal bird and claims a seat, idly flipping through the report with furrowed brow. "Not-it for doing the talking, speaking of which."

Cameron had come padding to the meeting point with a bulging pack on her back. Her usual attire replaced by a skin tight leather outfit with plates of steel carefully afix to the front of her chest, her shoulders and arms and her shins. She glanced about at the others present and wondered what they were getting themselves into. She too soon followed the others into the copter.

As people board the helicopter and strap themselves in, most will notice a scent from the back of the copter, the smell of various meats, none cooks, and only marginally chilled. "Once we land, I'll need help unloading the boxes from the cargo area. If you're not familiar with the roc already, do read the report, it's short, but probably helpful. Maybe. Gives you something to do during the flight at least." As the aircraft takes off, one of the boxes in the back falls over, a few raw steaks and bits of hamburger spill out. "Damnit, and they didn't even tie that shit down." The flight is blessedly short, and as the roc had requested last time, Mike cautiously lands in the empty nest. "I think maybe I'll stay in the helicopter... clean up the mess in the back. Ya'll can bring the food out, right?"

Edel closes her eyes, remaining quiet during the flight. But only for the duration of the flight. Once they've landed, she replies to Mike's question while adjusting her glasses. "Certainly. Though I can't believe we've bothered to make deals with this thing," she says, lifting her shoulders in a small shrug. "Ah well. I suppose it can't be helped now."

Rorne can't help but chuckle a little, shaking her head. No reading the report, either, the previous events still rather fresh in her mind. Still, when they do land, and they're asked to carry the food out, Rorne does certainly oblige! "I don't mind," Rorne mutters to Edel. "Personally, I would never mind more birds! Though I do understand, politically, it'd be better to have him as an ally than an enemy."

In contrast to the other two, Phosphorus does bother to read the report. Well, read the report again. For the third time. Overpreperation never hurt anybody before.... ah, well. As the chopper lands, the panda quietly slips out to assist in the unloading of the helicopter calmly, as if unloading a rather large amount of meat for a giant bird was an everyday occurrence, whistling a song to herself all the while.

Myung wrinkles her nose after a few seconds of reading and sniffles involuntarily. She... might have also salivated just a little, but hastily wipes it away from her cheek and spends the duration of the flight trying not to look hungry. When they land, she flips the report closed and drops it in her seat, hopping to. "Roger. Something something take it to our leader, or the other way around... and uh, it wants food. Mm... food." She turns and sets on the task of unloading the cargo one crate after the other, stomach growling audibly.

Cameron gives a small nod to the pilot as she picks up a copy of the report and briefly scans through it. Once she was finished she was silent as they made an approach to the gigantic nest to land. She gives the pilot another small nod as she readies to disembark. "Sure." She then moves to the back to clean up the spilt meat, and then helping to off load the food they had brought with them.

The meats are almost all unloaded as the Roc appears... carrying a lone boxcar from a train. "Oh good, I was worried you didn't get the message." The boxcar drops, landing with a noticable thud amongst the trees. As the bird lands, the nest shifts slightly. "And you brought food this time! Here I thought you'd forgotten our agreement." The Roc peers at the various agents for a minute, as if considering something. "I see two familiar persons here. Where's that gal who wanted to fly?"

Edel rolls her eyes as she pats her hands off, having finished helping unload the meat. "Yeah. It's here. Think you could get that thing off the helipad now?" She asks, straight and to the point before glancing around at the others in case they wished to be more verbose about it.

Rorne shakes her head at the Roc at first with the message. "It was kind of blatant and obvious," Rorne states flatly, "leaving something as large and heavy as that on top of the building. Either way," she sighs, looking up. "The one who was vocal about wanting to fly is not here, though to say she was alone in that desire would be inaccurate." She looks to the others, and then back to the Roc.

Myung turns away from the boxes as the shadow of the enormous bird falls on them, eyes widening a little at the sight. This was her first encounter with the Roc, and... it was a little more than she was expecting. As was the sound of the boxcar hitting the trees, eliciting a yelp from the vixen. She clears her throat and takes a moment to collect herself before responding with a nod. "Uh, yeah... tribute, as it were. I don't imagine you have any contenders when it comes to the skies out here..." She gives the nearest crate a nudge with her foot and takes a step back, looking up at the bird with lingering wonder and giving an impressed whistle.

Cameron would dust her hands off once the last of the boxes was unloaded from the chopper. She then looked way up at the massive bird they had come to met. Her crystalline wings folding up for now. Thankfully they would at least let her fall safely to the ground should things go badly with the Roc. She figured she should stay quiet for now and let one of the two familiar faces to the Roc speak.

"I figure that was better than taking your metal birds. In any case, you were supposed to be back in a week or two. It's been more than three." The Roc's feathers flare out, "You humans were much more reliable back in the day. You know that? At least back then you didn't hunt everything worth eating till it was gone." The bird scoops up a box of meat on a giant feather, looking closely at it. "I suppose I won't be getting live tributes at this rate, will I?"

"Times have changed," Edel says, setting her hands on her hips. "It's a different place now. Different people, different values, different belief. Different methods." She lifts her shoulders in a shrug, tail flicking. "We have more important things to do these days."

"On top of that," Rorne continues, first looking to Edel, "it's difficult to deal with live tributes at the moment." She looks up at the Roc, tilting her head. "As for the time, that is, well, not sure other than simply agreeing with Edel." Looking at the crates of meat, she adds, "At the very least, non-live tributes are better than no tributes at all."

Myung hangs her head a bit and grits her teeth... quite the demanding supernatural. She spreads her arms wide and gestures to the world around them helplessly. "Yeah, agriculture is a little difficult these days, live tribute is a tall order. Sorry. Livestock are at a bit of a premium. Hopefully we can negotiate something a little more... practical for both parties here?" She clears her throat and adds in an even, diplomatic tone. "You probably don't like having to fly out and drop trailers on us any more than we like having them dropped on us, I'm sure."

"Live... tribute? If you wouldn't mind, please don't eat any of us, thank you. I can assure you we're not very tasty." Phosphorus seems startled, already about one or two steps back to the helicopter, trying to get there before the others (figuring closest target's first, eh?), the panda already quite wide-eyed and twitchy. Perhaps she should lay off those combat stimulants for a while. "I mean, our clothes would probably get all caught in your beak, too, and, yeah..."

Cameron frowned over to the others of the group. Seemed it was someone in the chain of command was forgetting important things. She the looked up at the Roc and gave a small nod in agreement with the two who had spoken first to the large bird. For now she stood to the back of their group and away from the meat crates, her wings flexing as she watched and waited.

"Haha. You humans don't have enough meat on your bones to be worth eating. No, I mean cows, pigs, those sorts of things." The Roc laughs, and picks up Myung with a wing. "You know, if I had just dropped it on that building, you'd have a pile of rubble. No, I set it down softly. Where's that blue gryphon always hanging out by your metal birds, anyways?"

Edel jerks a thumb towards the helicopter. "That one?" she asks, looking towards Rorne and nodding. "And it is as she said. With how buggered things have become, it's rather difficult to make such tributes anyway. We barely have enough for our own use."

Rorne nods to Edel, glancing to Myung as well, before looking back to the Roc. "He's in the helicopter at the moment. Given your initial reaction to the 'metal bird,' his current situation is understandable." She looks to the crates, the helicopter, and then back to the Roc. "It'd probably be best if we actually tried to reach some sort of understanding on everything and reach some sort of mutual agreement."

"I agree with Miss..." Phosphorus looks over Rorne, having absolutely no idea who they are. Introductions seem to be severely lacking with this one. "Eventually, in maybe a decade or so, I can see our society being 'wealthy' enough to spare a few dozen cows for you, but.. I do hope what we brought suffices. We mean no disrespect if it doesn't meet your, er... standards."

Myung froze up as the titanic bird scooped her up, choking back a whine. "G-ghgl! Mlph! A-and that care was appreciated, yes - but it is a bit of a trip, isn't it? Much easier if you don't have to worry about sending those sorts of messages in the future." She looks down to the feline and smaller avian below, nodding in agreement. "We just... can't support that sort of tribute weekly right now, you see. Much as we'd like to."

Cameron shook her head a moment and stepped forward a pace. "Real meat is hard to come by and what live stock we have is treasured. Especially considering the world, at least for humans anyway very nearly ended several years ago. So we are still recovering. Had we not been so lucky, there woouldn't be anyone to pay you tribute." With her own piece said she went silent once more. Her eyes glancing from the Roc to the others and frowning when she took note of the panda moving away and to safety so easily.

The Roc stares off into the distance for a moment. It takes a moment, but it becomes apparent the bird is staring towards the city again. "Fine, one hog every two weeks, or equivalent... Fuck, Bring fish or something. You've got plenty of places to get them, far as I can see." The bird sighs. "Can't exactly catch fish at this size, you know. Younger rocs can, but not at my age."

"Fish? That might be doable," Edel says, frowning. "And what do we get out of this deal, again? This is to be a trade, after all. Not extortion, I hope," she comments, brow raising. "But I suppose it is true that there isn't much commercial fishing these days. That might be agreeable, yes."

Rorne nods to the others, looking to the Roc. "As much as it'd be nice to be able to please you, given that would mean we were well enough off to spare some, it's sadly not doable." She does, though, fluff up a bit. "However, fish, and perhaps some other meat every now and again when we can spare is definitely doable. Edel's question does stand: What would we get out of it, save not having to worry about you getting angry at us?"

Myung's ears perk, and she looks back up at the Roc. "Oh yeah, a hog's worth of fish every two weeks should be quite doable. I practically subsist on fish I catch myself..." She gives Edel a nervous look at the use of the word 'extortion', nodding very slightly in agreement - but she certainly wasn't going to agree out loud given the circumstances, and looks back to the large bird. "And... as an addendum, it'd also probably be best if there were some means of contacting us that didn't involve blocking the helipad. It... impedes the use of our 'metal birds' to actually get out here and deliver your tribute, y'see."

Cameron hmmed to herself in thought and gave a small nod. That seemed like a fair enough trade, though she wasn't sure what they would get in return besides not being a snack. She then decided to take a step back so that she wasn't in the others' way. She decided to study the large bird curiously, wondering if it was another supernatural entity or just someone really lucky with the nanites and cosplaying.

"Fish? Like the others said, yeah, fish is abundant. It's delicious, too! More tasty than beef or pork, in my opinion... and sacrificing a chicken would just be rude." Phosphorus nods, warming up to this whole 'negotiation' thing, and shimmying back away from the helicopter. "As for messages... do you have control over any younger Rocs? If so, you could maybe have them carry a marked stone or something in their beak, drop it in a basket that we can set out..."

"There are no other rocs in your world. Not yet, anyways." The Roc stares wistfully into the distance. "Last time I was in your world, right before I left, some human sailors raided my nest, cracked most my eggs, carried off the one they didn't break. I've always wondered what happened to it." The bird suddenly realizes that it is still holding Myung, and places her down. "But yes, fish would be nice. Need to be fairly big though, trout aren't gonna cut it."

"I am not sure if we have fish big enough for you, anymore," Edel says, furrowing her brow. "But those concerns are for people other than me. That still leaves my question unanswered though, if you'd be so kind as to indulge?" She lets the statement hang, ears perking.

Rorne listens to the Roc's statements, and she visibly clenches one of her hands at the notion of cracking and stealing eggs. If anyone tried that with her, there'd be hell to pay, almost literally. She does catch herself a moment later, relaxing one of her wing-arms back to her side, shaking her head. "If I knew where to start looking, I'd look into what happened to that egg of yours. I haven't had my nest raided as such, but... I can imagine how it feels." She sighs, shaking her head once more. "But... yes. Edel's question stands, and instead of a small amount of large fish, would more smaller fish suffice?"

"Sailors? We must be talking about something at least pre-nineteeth century, then... everything after that had too much crew to fade calmly away into history. It's either cracked or been hatched, over a century, then." Phosphorus tilts her watch towards her, giving it a few prods to make it reveal the date. "Yeah. Either way, our rivers should be fuller of larger fish, at least downstream and out of the bubble. Humans are an immense stressor on the environment.. as, I'm sure you've lamented many times. You know, do you have a name other than 'Roc'?" The panda waves an arm towards the giant bird, which was probably unnecessary, but was done anyways. "Saying 'that bird' seems a little rude."

Myung promptly snaps her jaws shut, deciding it best not to push the subject of concessions on the Roc's part when the subject of humans stealing and breaking eggs comes up. She lets out an audible sigh of relief on being set down and brushes herself off, scampering off to rejoin the others. Her expression then sours a bit, looking between the others and the Roc. "Yeah, uhm... the whaling industry is pretty well nonexistent. Hopefully we're not talking you-sized fish, because that might be even harder than livestock."

Cameron was silent as she regarded the Roc and frowned at the news about the eggs. It was likely much too late to find out about the egg. She gave a small sigh as their fellow agent was set back down safely once more. She hummed to herself a moment, deep in thought at the turn of events.

"You have tuna off the coast. Too much smaller than that and I can't grab them." The Roc makes a shrugging motion with its wings. "If I had landed in what you called the far east, I'd have elephants to hunt. We rocs only can really catch fish from rivers for the first century of our lives, after that, our talons are far too big to grab normal fish... That and I don't like fishing over open ocean because those frigatebirds are assholes." The avian turns directly towards Edel. "When I made my pact all those centuries ago, I offered protection from invading armies if they approached the capital. The last king got himself killed marching against lands to their west. Doubtful you'd be interested in that, considering there's nobody nearby who gives a damn about territorial expansion. Rather, nobody your kind can't deal with."

"Tuna..." Edel considers that before nodding. "Not for me to decide, but that is possible. While we are renegotiating the terms of the arrangement... Yes, as you say, there are few military presences to worry about... Now, at least. So if we resume the tradition of tribute, we must find something to gain in return!"

Rorne, shaking her head, she looks up to the Roc once more. "Invading forces are definitely not something we worry about. For the most part, enemies are within the borders of the city." She shrugs, pondering for a few moments. She can only think of a couple possibilities, but doesn't think it'd really be her place to offer or request at this point! Either way, she looks about, thinking, wracking her mind on just how to ask... this really isn't her strong suit.

"It's mainly just us versus the environment at this point," Phosphorus remarks, rummaging around in her pack for a rather untasty MRE to nibble at. The panda seems rather reluctant to throw her two cents in about what the factions should be getting in return, because speaking for them and getting it wrong could end very badly. So, she eats her food. Probably the best course of action.

Myung can't help but crack a silly grin at the Roc's crotchety grumbling about seabirds. "They are pests. Filch my bait all the time, don't get me started..." she clears her throat and takes on a businesslike tone again. "Tuna are plentiful enough, certainly." She folds her arms and huffs, shrugging a little at the standstill they'd reached in negotiations. "Well, none of us are really in a position to negotiate military alliances anyway, and it's sure as hell not a job I want either." The vixen slumps a little, tails flicking to and fro thoughtfully. "I mean... in the short term, mind moving the trailer off our roof?" she offers hopefully.

Cameron hummed in thought for a moment before stepping forward to speak. "Perhaps take some under your wing to teach your powers, or maybe make some rocs? I am sure we can think of something else if thoses aren't agreeable either." She then flexed her crystalline wings out in case the Roc got angry at her suggestions. Getting ready to dodge if need be.

"I'll go move the trailer. And you all come back here in two weeks with fish. Lots of them. After that, we'll discuss more specifics." The Roc rather suddenly takes flight, heading towards the city. Seems there's not much left to do here but pile back into the helicopter and head home.

Edel watches the roc take flight, watching intently before giving herself a mental pat on the back. "Good work folks," she says, turning and moving back towards the helicopter. She had fishing enough to do for her tea house. She'd leave the rest to... Whoever else. Wasn't her problem anyway, as an Unaffiliate.

Well, this'll be... interesting. Finding ways to get enough food for the hungry Roc to keep him from putting more trailers or trail cars on Zephyr or other things. Either way, Rorne watches him take flight and leave, at least until she can't see him anymore. "Well, don't think that could've gone much better than that. Though it'll be... fun, getting that much fish together." She shrugs, making her way back to the helicopter as well.

"I suspect the market on rope will spike marginally higher than when it was declared city bondage day." Phosphorus notes, to nobody in particular, as she turns heel-face and climbs back up onto the helicopter, buckling in and dedicating her effort to finishing that processed gunk that was her meal. Ah, well.

Myung blinks and watches as the Roc abruptly takes off, left scratching her head. "Oh... well. Mission accomplished. Hope we didn't offend the big bird." She moves back towards the helicopter and waves to Mike on the way by. "Consider your trailer problem solved. Bad news is I think you're gonna be making regular trips out here. On the upswing, my fishing talents might've just gotten more valuable." She stifles a wheezy snicker and climbs aboard.

Cameron gave a small shrug at that. Oh well, at least they would get some time to think on what to recieve in return at least. "I think that went better the expected. Plus no one got eaten." She then shook her head and headed back to the chopper and quickly hopping inside to take a ride back.