Rolling Fields
It's a gorgeous sight, even in the dark of night, the brilliant yellows and greens of tall grasses waving in the chill wind, rolling hills stretching off as far as the eye can see. Pure, white stars shine in the breaks of the thick, dark cloud cover above, bringing a mild, yet still chilled, warmth to the vast expanse of land.
As you reach the peak of one of the highest hills, you are able to survey the land as the scent of life washes over you. Almost ninety degrees from the hill with the huge, gaping hole, and far off into the distance there is a massive forest, several deer darting into the trees as you spot it, as if sensing your discerning eye. Immediately opposite it is a large body of water, from which the cave stream flows. Ninety degrees from it, directly opposite the cavern entrance, there rests Novus Valnastium, a large stone complex resting atop another hill, one lone tower stretching into the sky above.
A little off to the northeast (assuming Novus is north), a small, metallic-bowl structure sits. Long tethers sometimes stretch into the sky from beyond it, connecting to a marvelous airship docked above the bowl. The slender curves and high-tech metals used on the small building are a stark contrast to the ruins just fifty yards away, and it easily gives away who is responsible for such a building.
NIGHTZONE
Contents:
Alyx
Dave the Monkey
Pobble
Chase
Obvious exits:
Cadence wanders out of Novus Valnastium in the distance, slowly closing ground until she has arrived in the heart of the fields.
Cadence has arrived.
Compton sloshes out of the cave. His heavy winter boots waterlogged by his interdimensional splunkering... and he look thrilled for it too.
Alyx has disconnected.
Cadence walks out quickly, scratching at her shoulder. She seems to be in a hurry, glancing around her, but moving intently toward her destination.
Chase is standing near Dave the monkey and senior Pobble. And despite being located somewhere near Mars at the moment, he looks rather confused by the sight of a talking monkey. A camera is slung about his neck as it flashes a tiny green light, one associated with lowlight functions. Square jaws flexing on gum, trying to crush every last sugary morsel from it.
*Pop*
Cadence heads down the hill and up the other, disappearing into the cavern's darkness.
Cadence has left.
Pobble stands with Dave near Chase, staring off into the void with a smoking blue tube between his lips. Dr Steve looks sad and unhealthy in the sickly light of the glowstick that is attached to his lapel.
"You're fackin weird, I'd heard great things about you, but I don't see it.." says Dave. The monkey looks up at Pobble. "Oi." it says, but Pobble doesn't respond. He seems to have developed an attention lock on the void. Ash falls from his smoke down over the white fur.
Compton trudges down the hill. His boots making audible squishing noises the entire way. He unzips his parka now that it isn't needed here in the artificial warmth of a black hole shining down on everyone. A large bottle falls out of the loosened coat as he marches. Stopping briefly to stoop with a grunt and snatch it from the grass. Yanking the cork out with his teeth he takes a belt as he approaches Pobble & Co.
That prompts Chase to smile. Stained teeth shinning back at the monkey in brilliant shades of dulled yellows and caffeine browns. "Well, I supposed i've been accused of worse things than looking weird." Taking a moment from his eternal behind the ear scratching, Chase points a callused finger at the monkey. "Nice ta meetcha, just the same." And back to Pobble, who seems perhaps distracted. "Right then. Who the fuck are you two again?" As if he forgot to ask. But it's an understandable distraction, a talking monkey.
You two, meaning Pobble and Dave, as Chase hasn't registered the old dude yet.
Pobble holds the smoking blue at Chase, "Pobble." he says in almost a whisper. Palest blue eyes hold the void in their depths, as if the doctor's soul is being sucked away.
"Dave," says the monkey. "Dave Monkey." Taking the giant cigar in tiny hand he offers the other mitt to Chase for shaking.
"Pobs, ya dumb shit. Ya fergot yer key again." Compton announces when he gets there. Holding out a key with a large dangly keychain with a 1 7 4 printed on it. "Hi Dave..." and a less familiar "Hey" to Chase.
Attention still on Dave Monkey, Chase bends a tad at the knees to shake his hand. His thin lips still skewed in a modest boyish grin, finally he looks up from the speaking simian. "Pobble. Right, Penny says yer a 'fuckin' genius' to quote the broad." To Compton, his square jaw still in flex mode as it destroys his chewing gum further. "Oi." Yes, he recognizes Compton from one of the meetings, though he's never met him proper like. "'M Chase."
"Geni.." murmers the man. Apparently a lost cause. One hand, stained black in patches in the light and glistening slightly still holds the blue smoker at Chase, as if he'd forgotten he was proffering it. The end seems slightly stained with black against the blue.
"You will ave to excuse Dr Steve, e's a bit out of 'imself of late. He's lost something important." says Dave gesticulating at his companion. A solemn toke on the cigar follows, and the Monkey reaches into the immaculate suit pocket and retrives a crumpled ball of something. "Oi, Chase. I 'eard Penso talk about you. She wanted to give you a present." The monkey, with its bluest blue eyes, winks and offers the bundle.
Compton nods once, obviously fronting in front of the rather extreme personage of Chase, "Compton. Invisible College." and as if to prove his point, flicks out his pinky and thumb and circles them in the air a few times. Hang Loose. Then taps his left breast with his fore and index finger before passing a whole pack of smokes to Pobble, if he's with it enough to reciprocate.
"Eh?" Chase, distracted by the present offering monkey, again finds it impossible to pay attention to anything else. And duly, he reaches down to take the bundle and unbundle it. "What's this." It's a rhetorical question, because clearly he'll have figured it out by the time Dave can answer. That is, if by opening the bundle he'll have solved the enigma of Pen's present. While callused fingers go about opening the gift, he continues speaking. "Oi Compton. I'd thought you guys tried ta stay outta the 5th dimension, no?"
Compton frowns, and hangs his head slightly. Obviously shamed. "Yeah. Usually. Dip shit here forgot his keys again. We're trying to move and nobody's there. Peachy sent me to make sure god-boy doesn't freeze in an alley... I hate being in la-la land." funny Compton of all people should say that. But to totally undermine the point, takes a belt of his hooch.
The 'Gift' is apparently a pair of underwears. Used female underwears. The monkey grins, showing its teeth and then begins to stroll off towards the wall, waddling slightly and waving its cigar about.
Pobble ignores the proffered cigarettes, and maintains position on the burning down boomer. He says nothing.
Like the pincers claws belonging to salad tongs, Chase plucks the panties and allows the bundle to fall. Eyes squint, and look for the joke. A slight stain is all they find, no? For the span of 6.7 seconds, Chase, locked in a look of confusion, dangles the underwear before his eyes. Then, "What the shit..." Looking to Dave, then Pobs, then Compton, "What the shit..."
"They smell great don't they?" says Dave, nearing the wall. The tiny ape comes up to its base and knocks at it with his little knuckles. Sucking in more smoke, he blows it at the surface, watching it dissapate.
Compton looks at Pobble for another few seconds, as if to gauge what to do with him, only to be distracted by Chase and his prize. The brows go up, and the forehead crinkles, the mouth slackens and the eyes boggle. "Oh shit.... Dave? What *have* you done?" and quickly the bottle makes its way back to his lips and an extended draining ensues. *wheeze* "She'll fucking kill you Dave... she'll fucking kill all off us." is his frank assessment of the situation the tiny primate has landed us in. But, not to be thoughtless, Compton digs inside his big coat and pulls out a can of Coors. Rare to see up in these parts, and passes it to Chase. "Here man. Was nice knowing ya."
"I... yeeeeeah." Chase says, then suddenly, the SILVER BULLET! Ohhhh, Compton knows the back route to Chase's heart. Quickly, and still clutching the panties, the squat man reaches out for the beer. "Nice." He says with a good degree of thanks. It's snapped open and tilted into his lips. Must taste great with the synthetic watermelon flavored gum. A few healthy gulps, his mouth smacks when done. "Fuckin' tits man, how'd you know?" He's forgotten about panties and monkeys for the moment.
Chase says, "Listen, I gotta... I gotta go see this chica that's supposed ta come round my digs. You fuckers wanna join us? Got weed, got blow..."
Pobble still holds out the strange smelling smoke in Chase's direction. He hasn't moved, and while the stick has burned down its still longer than a regular cigarette. The man is glued to the void, tears rolling down his cheeks and a look of intense sadness on his face.
The monkey however, has grown bored with the wall. "I like tits me." he says, waddling back over. "Yeah, Chase. Penny was saying how she'd love it if you jumped her, made a move. Got stuck in. She's real shy yanno." Monkey makes an obscene gesture than seems even dirtier comming from the tiny critter. Dave seems to be doing the good thing, and also ignoring Dr Steve.
Not to be rude, Chase ohs and finally sees the smoke Pobble's offering him. Along with the panties, beer, and offers of Penny's cha-cha, Chase doesn't know what to do. Though smoking some of Pobble's shit does seem on the list. It's plucked from him and dragged upon before anyone can say anything.
"I didn't." deadpans the big guy. "It's just the cheap stuff the indians smuggle up." Comtpon then peers at Pobble, then answers for him, "Yeah, me and Rainman are in I guess." and then gloares at the monkey, "You *really* don't wanna live do ya?"
Dave L. Monkey points at the blue smoke, its grin widening. Afterall, Dr Steve only had one pull on the beast before passing it on and look at him. "Crack, smack and PCP. Don't let him drive." says the simian. "Wanker." he adds, probably to Chase.
Dave hops over to Pobble and pulls at the fur coat. "Steve you twat. Wake up."
Inside a barreled chest, Pobble's smoke lingers. Chase can take hits like nobody's business, and he doesn't say anything right away. No, he just allows the smoke (of whatever variety) to do it's magic inside his lungs. A nod to all three, monkey included, and he waves the trio along with callused hands. FInally, after the smoke's expelled, he speaks. "'S in Chinatown. I cin drive..."
Dave the Monkey has left.
Pobble takes Dave the Monkey.
**Pause for station identification**
Derlict House - Kitchen
Beneath two stories, lies a basement with all the common amenities. However, it's been converted into a semi living space.
In one corner, a boiler and heater stand, though only function down here. The fuse box is also configured to power the subterranean portion of this structure. A washer drier are next, and a small makeshift sink. All four walls have been padded with heavy insulating material and wires run down from key holes in the ceiling. A few bundle are strapped together, feeding into a video network system. Four screens sit at a small square table, flashing camera feeds from strategic points outside and inside the house above. A reclining chair, made of brown leather, encircled with ashes and empty beer bottles on the hard cement floor. A TV sits atop another broken TV, it's wires arranged to split off the block's main cable system.
To the far wall, a long table has been set up, stacked with a variety of chemical compounds and mixing material. Everything from begin base liquids, to corrosive acids stored in chem-hazard tanks. A myriad mix of beakers, vials, and test-tubes line the shelves above. Gloves, goggles, tongs, all things a junior mad scientist would need to conquer the world. Some larger steel drums of chemicals are stored under the table, and some electronic chem-analysis equipment blinks an occasional red flash.
And finally, set along the length of the large basement, seems to be a make-shift firing range. Shell casings litter the floor at one end, opposite from a large reinforced steel door dimpled with a thousand bullet dents. The remains of a tattered paper target hang on the door. Over it, a picture of Ronald McDonald.
Contents:
Chase
Pobble comes down the stairs.
Pobble has arrived.
It's not a long drive in the Mustang, but it's punctuated by long bouts of silence under the blaring Cramps that Chase's system booms. That's where the money went.
With a small digital remote, the door's unlocked and alarm disabled. Chase is the first downstairs, the TV, stereo, and video feed react to his presence and light up. His thick frame meandering over to the fridge next to the lab table, he's still clutching the empty Coors can. "Whisky? Doritos?" He looks over his shoulder.
Compton peers around, clutching his security plunk, "Homey" the big guy deadpans.
"Wot he means to say is, that this place is a shithole." says Dave looking about. The monkey scampers past the three of you over to the chemicals and equipment for a gander. Dr Steve only moves when pushed in the right direction. His bloody hands now rest at his sides, and his face is slack as if he'd suffered a recent stroke on both sides, but his cheeks are still wet from crying.
Hepzibah comes down the stairs.
Hepzibah has arrived.
A blinking red light above one of the video feeds heralds her arrival, Chase stiffens in reaction. He's standing by the fridge, holding a bottle of Bushmills and bag of Doritos looking at the feed. "She's on time, I like that."
Compton perks up and shuffles over towards Chase, "Whiskey." he says with the ernestness of a drowning sailor. "Got any coke for dopey?" he says jerking his thumb over his shoulder at Pobble, and turns to look at him, but sees Hepzibah and falls silent. He gets that caught look on his face and demeanour.
"Banannas?" asks Dave quietly, scampering about the gear. Dr Pobble stands by the door, facing a wall and apparently thoroughly engaged by it.
Hepzibah arrives at the bottom of the stairs and pauses to take in the room. Her hands are crammed in her pockets and she's chewing furiously on a wad of gum. She stares a bit. Eventually, she stops chewing and tucks the gum in her cheek. "So's this the right place, then?" she asks the room at large.
A Dorito is crunched up between Chase's stained teeth. They smile as Hep arrives in an inviting manner. Even if the speaking monkey and talk of blow doesn't seem so homey. "No bananas, sorry. Potassium extract though, in powdered form if ya dig..." Tiny bits of chips fly out his mouth as he says this, wiping his callused hands on his pants and approaching Hep. The bottle's handed to Compton. "Oi, Hepz..." Apparently, Chase forgot (or never knew) how to pronounce her name. "Hep, right? From Bob's crew? 'M
Dave monkey spins to look at Chase, "You saying I want Banannas? Fackin' insulting that. Takin' me for some kind of ape. I should fackin' eat your fackin' balls you twat." he seems quite miffed.
Hepzibah gives her gum a couple more half-hearted chomps, then spits it out. She holds it between her fingers gingerly and looks around, possibly for a suitably polite place to deposit the sticky mass. "Hepzibah. Hepsy. Hep. Depends on how much you like to hear yourself talk. Um.." She can't help but trail off and stare at the talking monkey. "Um...." she tries again.
Dave the Monkey points his cigar at the new arrival and says "Whotchoo looking at slag. Fack off issit?"
"That's Dave. 'N yeah, he's a talkin' monkey." Chase confirms and takes Hep's gum. It's flicked into the corner haphazardly. "Had the same reaction myself." A look back to the ape in question, Chase tries to be the good host. "Well what can I get you then, eh?" With that, he starts towards the lab table and reaches for a metal canister on one of the shelves. Before getting an answer back from the monkey, he continues to do his best at welcoming the new face. "You cin set up wherever... got a bed from upstairs I'll move down for ya."
"Move down. Good term, haveta remember that one.." says Dave turning to examine the setup once more.
Pobble stands near the door, watching paint dry. His hands twitch a little, and blood drips from a fingertip to splat down onto the floor.
Compton unscrews the cap of the bottle and sticks it in his pie whole. HE's trying to be inconspicuous, but his glum demeanour and size just make him look sinister standing there drinking 6 month old wiskey from the bottle.
Hepzibah takes an unconscious step back as the somewhat threatening monkey points the cigar at her. "Um, yes, I guess." she agrees vaguely. She stares some more in spite of this probably not being in her best interest. "Well, it's just..." she begins, then frowns. She's entirely forgotten about the gum. "I'm sorry. It's um... yes. Well."
"Eh, don't fret." Chase says back to Heps. "He won't..." Well then, how well does Chase know this monkey? Not very, it seems. "He -better- not fuck with yas." Bloodshot eyes squint a tad at the menacing ape as he opens the top of a metal canister. Some pink powder's poured onto the lab table. "Oi, Dave. How's about some nice tranq, eh? Scored it from a janitor that works at the city zoo. 'S what they use to calm the big cats down when too many gooks get in the park and start snapping away." Chase makes some gesture that could ether be associated with a camera, or a tank mounted 60 mm.
"Cheers mate, but no ta. I only take whats provided by the Doctor." The monkey indicates the coma victim in the corner. "S'the law." he adds, not even looking over at Chase, but still cataloguing the man's stuff.
Pobble turns away from the wall, eyes full of tears and heads over to find somewhere to sit. One finger seems to be clawing at his palms, causing a faint trail of blood droplets to form in his wake.
"Suit yerself." And Chase bends over to do a line of the offered traq. Rising again, he pinches his nostrils and is blinking manically. Though through it all, he spots the video feed again. Sounding funny and nasally, he says "Pen's 'ere." And with that, again hits his digital remote. Duly, there's a clinked sound at the top of the stairs and Chase approaches Hep again. "Heard about the place with the bomb 'n that. Nasty."
Chase shouts, "Come on down."
Penny comes down the stairs.
Penny has arrived.
With the pre-emptive warning of the impending female arrival, the Monkey runs off behind the canisters as fast as its little legs will carry it. The cigar is dropped along the way and the monkey dissapears into the shadows.
Clump, clump.
Clump. klack-klack-klack.
Quietly then "..fuck, Chase" and Penny's on her ass a few steps from the bottom, the stairs proving too difficult for her feet to navigate. She makes a big deal out of checking the soles of her sneakers, unwinding some odd variety of a/v cable from her ankles. With her other hand she pushed off the headphones that are still blaring some drum&bass.
She hasn't noticed Dave.
Pobble stands aimlessly in the middle of the space, one finger digging at his palm, dripping blood onto the floor. He's crying, staring straight ahead with a face otherwise void of expression.
Compton's head cranes around when Penny ‘walks in’. His eyes go real wide and his forehead crinkles up. He looks surprised; no scared. Next he gives a quick side long glance at the gansta monkey and then back and you can visibly see his adam's apple move up and down as he gulps. Yeah. Real cool under fire.
Hepzibah nods and pushes up her sleeve a bit to show a slightly pink patch near the wrist. "Yeah. I'm doing ridiculously well, considering it's only been a week and a half. Whatever they gave me for the burns and stuff worked wonders." She paces around the room inspecting the occupants and the paraphanalia with about equal interest. "They're not pissed at me, are they, Chase?"
"They must be, sent ya ta me, after all." The monkey's scampering feet draw Chase's attention back from the stairs and Hep. He walks towards the large plush leather chair and opens the flaps of his long jacket. Like a twisted Mr. Rogers, he goes about the task of disarming himself and getting a tad more comfy. Two Colts are plopped on the lab table, each banging slightly as metal meets metal. An eye to Pobble, then back to Compton. "Is he... is he cool?"
Compton takes his eyes off Penny for a second and glances at Chase, then to Pobble. He relaxes a little realizing how tense he was. "No, actually. He's fuckered." he answers. "The monkey says he's depressed about loosing god. Got any happy pills?"
Hepzibah seems genuinely concerned about this possibility. "Well it seems that way. I just wish they'd tell me what it's about. I mean, no offense to you or anything. I don't know you, right?" She comes to a stop a few feet away from Pobble. "Um, you alright there?" she asks hesitantly. "Your aura's wobbly."
She also hasn't gotten up but makes a peace sign at the stricken-looking pair of Pobble and Compton then alternately checking the inside of her coat. "Smoke me, who's she?"
Pobble's head snaps around in an unlikely motion. He fixes Hepzibah with a cold stare, and opens his mouth. It seems as tho he's bitten his tongue or cheek as blood begins to run over his lip and down onto his t-shirt. Face remaining slack except for a look of apparent hatred in his eyes. Its as if he goes to speak, but gurgles on the blood instead before turning away and slumping down into a chair, face first. Crying.
"Does the Pope shit in the woods?" Chase quips back to Compton and pulls out a small orange prescription pill bottle from one of his many pockets. A small yellow capsule is fingered out and held up for inspection. It features a painstakingly real bee painted in water soluble pigment. The cries get his attention again. Chase doesn't know what the fuck to make of them, but the pill's handed to Compton. "You feed 'm." Eyes up to Penny. "Right then. Intros. Penny.." a finger's pointed at her, "Hep. Compton. Pobble." And yes, they each get a point.
Well, Pobble is apparently not okay, but Hepsy seems a bit at a loss as to what to do about it. "Right then." She says, and continues her wandering, which takes her over in the general direction of Penny. "Hi. I'm Hepsy. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing here, but I expect it will all make sense shortly." she explains optimistically.
Compton nods and gives a very gruff "Hey" in response to Chase's name gaming. The stark fear he had a moment before tucked down deep inside again. He plods over and collects the Killer Bee from Chase and moves on to Pobble. "Hey Steveo," he says attempting to sound calming. He fails. It comes out more like someone trying to talk like 'Papa Bear'. "Got something for ya."
Penny's fingers wave and twitch over the offered pack. It takes an unusually long time for them to settle around a filter and after that, to pull it out and not break it in half. She slumps to the wall, gravity and habit doing the rest. Cig to lip and waits, lipping it to the corner of her mouth "Got a light, Hep?"
It can be said she has the same demeanor as Pobble; some unmoving, unflinching way of looking.
Still waiting for a light, she starts studying faces. Chase to Compton. Compton to Pobble. Pobble to Hepzibah. "The fuck is going on here, someone sell us out again?"
The sound of that voice stirs the crying Doctor. Pushing up from the chair, the blood and tears have made his face a mess and he fixes his gaze on Penny. The offering is taken from Compton without even looking at him and he dry swallows it before saying, "I need it back." Yes. A true Junkie.
What -is- going on here? Well, the monkey lurking in the shadows is gonna owe Chase, for one thing. As his 'gift' isn't going to be mentioned any time soon. Chase turns again to Hep, with high hopes for Pobble. Yellow-jackets don't usually let him down. "Give 'r a light then, girl." Eyes are fixed on her redder than red hair, he's in appraisal mode. "So then, i'll give you a tactical briefing later. In the meantime, hungry, thirsty? Want some a that zoomorphic traq?" Fingers reach up to rub harshly against one nostril, the pink powder still tickling the inside of his nasal cavity.
Hepzibah fishes around in a coat pocket. There's a fair bit of plastic and paper crinkling before she comes up with a lighter and tosses it to Penny. Good aim is not her strong suit, so hopefully Penny's good at catching things. "Um.. never had that before." She eyes the powder indecisively. "Normally I take valium, but.. looks interesting." she ventures.
"Good for what ailes ya toots." Compton deadpans as he plods back from where Pobble is sitting "Never look a gift drug in the mouth." Perhaps not the most inspiring rolemodel, there is a distinct feeling that there is a universal truth to his statements.
Hepzibah’s Desc
She obviously wants attention. Nobody who wants to blend in would dye her long, poker-straight hair bright, unnatural fire engine red and wear lipstick to match. The colour makes her pale complexion and blue-grey eyes look washed out like a faded photograph. Sizewise and shapewise, she looks pretty unremarkable.
She's wearing her heart on her sleeve, or at least her politics. Various patches and slogans decorate her scruffy army surplus coat, including a prominently displayed white-on-black anarchy symbol on the back. Her faded bluejeans look like they've been put through the dryer with a rabid mongoose, and her running shoes are partly held together with duct tape.
+view available
Penny says, in Enochian, "I can't, stuck to my synapses" the subtext 'shouldn't' and 'has reservations' ringing clear. She catches the lighter but it's obvious she was expecting to be lit. Obvious because her eyes roll and she snorts out, shaking the last of the audio cables off her feet. So guarded, speaking around the inhale and exhale "we're sharing, remember?" Penny shoots Pobble a look, a faraway not-in-front-of-these-fucking-people because she really can't get into it look. "Saw him in a dream. S'got designs on Jesse, next. Likes his digs, that place y'know."
Pobble screams, spraying a fine mist of blood into the air before storming past Penny and heading for the door and out. "Die fuckers, die." he calls as he slams the door behind him.
Penny looks up the stairs after Pobble.
"It was something I said."
Compton frowns as Pobble tears outta here. "Aww shit. Peachy's gonna have a bird..." Habitually he raises the bottle of Whiskey to his lips twice more before finishing with. "Fuck it." More to himself than anyone else. Audibly admitting his retirement from Pobble sitting.
"Eh, you'll dig it then. 'S valium to ...." About here is where Pobble screams and interrupts Chase's train of thought. Eyes rise and follow the abruptly leaving Pobble. Unsure. What the shit to make of him, but I'm hoping he didn't leave the monkey. "Ya. Umm... 's like valium." Chase explains and points towards the pink lines on his lab table which includes a snorting straw. He turns to the video feed to watch Pobble run off in horror. A small shake of his head. "I gotta piss." As he starts towards the reinforced door, he barrows the bottle from Compton for a swig. And gives it back of course.
Hepzibah tries to look like she knows what she's doing. She picks up the straw, aims it at some pink powder and inhales. The powder goes into the straw. So far so good. But she's a little thrown off by the way it feels in the back of her throat and starts coughing. She quickly turns her head away from the table and covers her mouth. Her eyes water as she tries to stifle it.
Compton grins like a wolf, "Good shit eh?" he asks the girl who's obviously in no condition to answer, "Here." he adds holding out the whiskey as a chaser.
Penny starts to get off her ass, elbowing the wall. She drags long and looks at Compton, then the stairs and the door Pobble just exited by. She puts a hand in her pocket, flicks the kill switch and the thumping bass finally stops. "Good. Good," to herself and maybe to the bathroom door. Surveying in paces, Penny walks around the lab "can't though," to Heps' invitation to dig on it "not my turn." Whatever that means.
Exhaling over the stacked televisions, Penny toys with the wires. "So you uh.. know Chase a while?" Whatever Hepzibah says, Penny eyes Compton for confirmation.
Hepzibah wipes the tears away with her sleeve and and accepts the whiskey gratefully. She makes a pained face as she downs some, then passes it back. Some coughing, sputtering, and wincing later, she gets her voice back. "Thanks... about three minutes, give or take." she rasps. Her lipstick is noticably smeared now. "Uh, what about you?"
Compton peers back over at Penny and his face tense's again. What is it with him tonight? To her question he takes a look at Hepz, then back to Penny with a shrug.
Compton says, in Enochian, "I know as much as you do Elohim."
Penny says, in Enochian, "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to do drugs with strange girls?"
Hepzibah makes some strained throat clearing noises as she tries to make some sense of what Compton and Penny aresaying and apparently fails. She sort of slides down the table leg and folds into a crouching position.
Compton looks over at Hepz again, after what Penny says. No, in fact leering would be a better word. "I've seen stranger looking girls. Besides it's Chase's shit and I'm just being supportive is all... ya don't see me doing it do ya?"
"How ya feeling little girl?" Compton asks Hepzibah.
Whatever Penny said, the tone's a little incredulous. It's a flat response, maybe a little ticked. Maybe, but that's all left to interpretation. She turns and leans on the tvs, lamppost-like. "Oh ages," her smile a friendly gesture. Placid like lake water, the eye of a hurricane "Chase, he's good people," nodding at the bug powder dust on the table, a tight little nod again at Compton "you're a lucky girl."
Zip, flush, and prince charming's back. Chase walks through the reinforced door palming the back of his head. "What 'append to that dude, anyways.." Probably Pobble. The soldier looks for answers, still pinching his nostrils and heading back to the leather chair.
Hepzibah sits on the floor and looks slightly bewilderd. "Uh, alright I guess?" she hazards anxiously. "I um...I'm still not sure *why* I'm here." she adds. "But the explanation can't be that far off, can it?" Her gaze locks on Chase as he comes back into the room and follows him to his chair.
+view hepzibah/patches
A sampling of the patches on Hepzibah's coat includes:
-Everything- gives you cancer.
Save water. Drink urine.
Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity.
Just do it: Burn your Nikes.
Legalize It!
Saddam Hussien, Stalin, Hitler, all had mustaches.
Penny shrugs and tips off the tvs toward the bathroom, Penny has no answers. She's just decoration, shedding her coat and a wad of sterile, red-soaked bandage from her right side. Unhooking her bag for maybe the millionth time (this gesture looks easy - it is not, this is a complicated affair) she asides to Chase "Trash?" balling the gauze up in her hand "Gotta change this."
Chase says, "Yer here fer proper field training, Hep. 'M not a flake like Bob 'n his crew. No teenaged pipe bomb runs here, chica." Towards Compton, the thick man offers for his benefit. Ya know, just so everyone cin speak freely. "She's from a junior chapter of After-Math. Gonna get 'r nose wet up here."
He seems to be pacing the room slowly, the now almost empty bottle hanging limply from his finger, "Right. Fresh blood... young blood." Compton hits the word young oddly. "....allies." he finishes with his voice trailing off in a whiskey warble.
Hepzibah seems to take mild offense at the term 'teenaged pipe bomb runs.' She sniffs. Then again, maybe she's just not used to inhaling animal tranquilizers. "We had proper explosives. Would've been just fine if the Terminator guys didn't come out of the flowers." She frowns. That just doesn't sound right. "Not the sort of thing you can predict, you know? I tried to do a reading the night before, but none of it made any sense. Happens sometimes. Chalked it up to nerves."
"Ya, I know those robot fucks pretty well." Chase returns, slumping into the chair with a sigh and eyeing the bottle in Compton's grip. He does the 'gimme' motion towards it. "So Comp over here, he's parta something called the Invisible College. Dig they're style, even if I can't understand what the fuck they're up to half the time. Sos P-Diddy 'n the screamin' fruit that just ran outta here."
fault."
Compton shambles back towards Chase hand haphazardly holds out the bottle for docking. Those born far enough back will recall images of the MiR/Soyuz collison in the early 90s, and this is a fitting memorial for that famous calamity. In his usual deadpan Compton adds to Chase's commentary on the College, "It’ not our fault."
Hepzibah says, "Invisible College." Nope, repeating it to herself doesn't make any more sense. "Yeah, Bob was saying... the terminator robot whatsits were like... um... " She reaches up and plucks the straw off the table, then uses it to draw little circles in the air. "Invisible. Not coming out of the flowers."
Copious vomiting.
It's like listening to the Hoover Dam fall apart. Yak, flush. Yak, flush.
Noisy, awful wretching underscores the conversation in the lab.
Then it stops and a subtle throbbing, distant headphone-echo starts to build up again. The door to the bathroom opens on rusty hinges and slams into the wall with a loud bang, Penny at her finest. Swiping spittle from her chin and cheek, her forehead is damp, t-shirts near to soaking and the red stain on her right has brightened, if anything. She toes the door open again before it can close on her face
"Yo Chase," she croaks, headphones vibrating around her neck "Band aids?"
Chase looks up from the leather chair, "Eh?" Bloodshot eyes look upon the wounded. "We talkin' Flinstones vitamins or field surgery?" A few inches forwards he leans, accepting the bottle from Compton and awaiting further info from bleedy over in the corner. Without wiping the top, he swigs. Clearly not afraid of germs.
Penny deadpans "Funny. Just big enough to cover," she turns away and the bathroom door gets propped open on her shoulder blades. Nimble fingers tug up the shirt where only she can see "bout three inches," her voice bouncing off the bathroom walls. "C'mon, it's making a mess'a me."
Chase stands from his plush chair, adjusting the straps to his kevlar vest and procures a small first aid kit cleverly stashed out of sight and under the lab. Why out of sight? No good reason it seems. At the lab table, he opens the tin and fingers out a few band aids. "Three inches? Need a stitch mebbe?"
Silvius slips into his Robes of Office and into Judge Mode!
Hepzibah chews on the end of the straw. "What happened to you anyway?" she calls in Penny's direction, morbid curiosity getting the better of her. She chews on the straw some more, grinding one end pretty thoroughly between her teeth.
Guess what ya don't do, ya don't go poking about the exterior of Chase's underground lab and sanctum. Especially not while he's home and has his ears on. It just so happens that Chase catches this on the feed and a snarl whips over his features. "Who the fuck's that." He's forgotten Penny's well being for the moment, instead opting to pick up the shotgun next to fridge and hand it to Compton. "'Ere." Regardless wether or not the man knows which end is which. A colt 45 in hand, and not the kind that Billy D. Williams promotes ether. Chase steps towards the video screens and hunches over to get a better look at this would be intruder.
It so happens, that on Chase's video feed from upstairs, you notice a person, male, decent size and build, poking about the exterior of the building.
The man on the feed looks rather non descript, other than the wide shoulders and perpetually irritated look on his face. He walks around from the side of the house to the front, and reaches out, trying the door.
Compton's eyes bug outta his head a bit and he staggers slightly from the sudden reactions of Chase - but his big mits grasp the barrell of the 22 gauge surely enough. With barely a thought he sticks the stock to his shoulder and chambers a round, and only then shoots a 'What the fuck?!' look over at Penny.
"Nah nah," rolling down her shirt before Chase gets around with the kit. "Just a ..can't stitch it. Chase? Comps?" Having ducked in momentarily, Penny comes out of the bathroom one more time with toiletpaper wadded up under her shirt. "Comps," she gestures with her free hand for the gun and makes the universal hand gesture for be-quiet.
Hepzibah ambles over to take a look at the monitor. "Never seen him." she contributes, trying to sound like she has at least half a clue, and might have a remote chance of recognizing a random intruder.
Looking up at the top of the stairs, Chase peels his gaze from the video feed and pulls out a small digital remote to go with his Colt 45. It's aimed at the door, the remote not the Colt, and beeped. With a few quick depressions of the button there, the door atop the stairs reacts with a solid locking mechanism. Having takin that precaution, his alert yet reddened eyes return to the feed. "Keep the heat on the door, Comp." He commands, moving quickly in business mode. This is where Chase thrives. But this dude, he's never seen before. So instead of looking like it's go time, he seems more curious than anything. "Mebbe a drifter..."
Compton gets a hurt look on his face at Penny's motions to disarm, and holds up one hand reassuringly to her before quietly plucking the other Colt from the bench and lobbing it towards Penny and then quickly sighting up on the door's center. Letting Penny to worry about the catching more than the throwing.
The man steps back quickly as the locks slip into place on the door as he tries it. His hand slips under his shirt at the back of his pants and pulls out a large handgun, possibly a Desert Eagle or similar. He moves to the side of the door slowly, as if expecting someone to emerge from the door. He makes no other motion, and glances at the other feeds shows that the man seems to be alone.
Hepzibah studies the monitor intently from far enough away that she's not blocking everyone else's view. She chews on the straw and gets red lipstick smears on it. Her eyes are big and wide and she seems a little bit stunned.
Well Chase can see him, that's a plus. Armed? That's to be expected. And they happen to be in Chase's sanctum, not a place you'd wanna fuck around. So, still idly holding the Colt, the narcotic soldier plucks something from the chem rack. It seems to be a blue bottle, containing a handful of blue pills. "Let's figure this out then." He says to no one in particular, and pops a pill. "Some back up, if you please Hep. Let's do this right." And in turn, a pill's handed to her.
Thus armed, because Penny's fucking athletic, she's got a bead on the door and one eye on the monitor when it counts. "Yeah," sarcastic "Cause a fucking drifter packs the biggest hand cannon on the market. How 'bout the competition? You got any? Doesn't look like one of those magic fucking ninjas..." she opines, advancing to the bottom of the stairs.
Hepzibah takes the blue pill in the palm of her hand and looks at it uncertainly. "Um what sort of backup? What is this?" she asks. She swallows the pill without waiting for an answer and glances over her shoulder at the stairs. The straw goes back between her teeth and she gnaws on it furiously.
"Fuckin' raw recruits." Chase snarls at Hep. "Just believe in what i'm doing, ok? Fuck..." Some head shaking, the thick man looks back to the feeds now as his jaw begins to gnash up the pill. It's turned into a messy blue powder rather quickly, and swallowed in short order. After this, eyes narrow upon the armed form, Chase's trigger finger gets itchy.
Compton licks his lips and jerks his head to one side flipping the Santa's cap over. He shakes his noggin a little trying to clear the whiskey, and squints one bloodshot eye closed.
Hepzibah holds her hands up defensively. "Ogay. Ogay." she agrees, speaking through her teeth with the straw sticking out of her mouth. She swallows a couple of times and looks back and forth between the door and the monitor and doesn't seem to have a clue what to expect. Her hands stay held up in front of her just incase of...surprises?
After a few moments of watching the screen, a dirty grin slinks over Chase's features and he rises. "A messenger." Stuffing the colt in his waist, he rubs furiously under his nose. "Watch the feed. 'M gonna go take care a this..." Another handful of pills are popped, Chase isn't taking his eyes off the man. More concentration.
The man still hasn't moved from the position next to the door, though the gun does lower a bit and he glances to the door, a look of indecision crossing his features.
There's a moment where Chase is watching the feed. And the next, well, he's just not there anymore. But, the door at the top the stairs is opened somehow, and promptly closed.
Hepzibah shifts anxiously from one foot to the other. Watching she can do, but it doesn't seem overly useful. She does a double-take when Chase disappears, but hey.. it makes as much sense as anything she's seen lately. She watches the feed as helpfully as possible.
She blinked and then he was gone. "Damn." Penny lowers the gun to her left and edges up the stairs, right shoulder first. Still dripping in splotches across the floor and steps, her blood mingles with the dirt and grime underfoot. One step at a time, Penny gets about halfway up and retrains the gun on the door.
Compton lowers the barrel of the gun and pushes the Santa cap back on his head and wipes the sweat from his brow.
And on the feed, Mr. Intruder looks pensive still, and steadfast in his ready position. But there, on the screen, in the corner, is Chase approaching with his Colt in one hand. One would guess that the man would -have- to hear or see the thick man's approach. But no. There's nothing. In fact, Chase get's within /inches/ of the man before casually pointing the 45. barrel at the back of his cranium. Over the audio feed, you hear, "Drop the gun 'n letter, or you're aces cabrone." And truly, with the barrel poking his skull, there'd be no chance for this man to escape sans bullet hole.
Hepzibah is clearly quite fascinated. Chase seems to have the situation in hand, so she quits worrying about being useful and just watches things unfold and chews on the plastic straw.
Compton clicks the safety back on the shotgun and puts it down on the bench, before shuffling off to the fridge and rummaging around inside.
The unnamed man blinks and jumps a bit, gun raising quickly but then stopping as he feels the barrel to his skull. He sighs a bit and shakes his head an inch or so. The reply is one in a voice heavy with a spanish accent, "No can do Amigo... Unless you the right man.. You kill me boss kills me, makes no difference if I give to you and you wrong."
Penny remains there on the stairs, gun pointed at the door. "Comps, got another smoke?" Hasn't budged an inch and isn't likely to. Clicks her tongue against her teeth "What kinda messenger says no..."
A moment later "..obviously not one that wants to live."
Still with his bitch painted on the back of the man's skull, Chase switches over into some Spanish. Which I will translate here for everyone's sake. "You lookin' for Chase? You found him." The 45. cocks, and the hammer pulls back. "You lookin' ta get yer head fucked open, you keep ignoring the puto with the gun to yer head. Now, drop yer piece and leave the letter on the ground. Last time..." 'S like watching a real TV show, video screen 'n all. Only, this one's for reals, and filming right outside.
Hepzibah eventually finds something relevant to say. She demonstrates her mastery of the blatantly obvious. "Guy's got a lousy job." she remarks. It doesn't sound like she has a huge amount of sympathy for him, though.
Compton's head pops back out of the fridge, the pompom on the hat flipping around moronically, "Yeah, somewhere. Gimme a sec." and the closes the door with two beers in his hand and starts to pat down his parka with the other one looking for the square lump. Finding it he extracts two smokes and makes his way over to the stairs, stopping by Hapzbah to make a 'Got a light?' hand motion.
The man then nods slowly, his knees bending as he very slowly reaches the gun towards the ground. His other hands reaches into his back pocket, slowly as well, to give the man behind him no reason to pull the trigger. "Hey man, it's all cool, si? Just had to be sure, ya know." He sets the envelope and the desert eagle on the ground at his feet and starts to straighten again, "Now I just walk away right?"
"Scoot." The gun's lifted from the man's skull, Chase allows a peaceful retreat. And soon, it's just the thick soldier on screen. The Desert Eagle's grabbed, as is the letter, and soon Chase is on his way back inside without any shots fired.
Hepzibah doesn't notice Compton's gesture. She's way too new to this to be blase, and a couple people who want to smoke cigarettes don't even register while there are brand new loopholes in the laws of physics and a couple of guys with guns to consider. She sucks on the flattened end of the straw and watches owlishly.
Besides, Hep's lighter is in the pile of jacket Penny left on the floor. Eyes in the back of her head, Penny would say something but the audio's come back to life again. Out there it sounds pretty tense; doesn't want to fuck it up. Under her breath, Penny mumurs "..wrong answer, heffe.."
In through the door and down the stairs, Chase is unfolding a letter and stuffing a 50. Cal hand cannon in his waistline. "Can't fuckin' believe someone knows where the shit I live." And that, more than anything, has him -pissed-. He reaches the bottom of the stairs and walks towards the lab, eyes still downcast.
Compton rolls his eyes at the young'in and her excitement at the promise of violence and moves on, beers clinking as he moves across the space. Reaching Penny, he offer both smokes up. "Sorry, no light." and gazes to where Penny is so intent on.
(SPISH) A beer opens.
Compton has the beer out for Chase without a word. Shortly there after opening the second one and nipping in.
Or maybe it was in her backpocket. Lighter mechanics.. y'never know. She looks up to the door again, clicks the safety back on and tucks the gun into the small of her back. Gets lit and teeths the cigarette enough so she can exhale and talk around it. She presses herself against the wall, casually looking over Chase's shoulder as he walks downstairs. "S'bullshit is what that is."
A muchly deserved beer from Compton, "Gracias." Chase thanks and pulls from the cold treat.
Hepzibah turns around to look at the real live Chase coming down the stairs. Her expression is brimming full of questions, but she manages to squelch them for the time being. She rocks back and forth between her heels and her toes and accidentally flicks the straw across the room.
"Eh. Wonder how he found ma ass." Chase says, having absorbed the letter's contents in a single gulp. Beer wielding hand rubs his nose again, lazy eyes look at his three compadres. "Gun dealer." That's offered in explanation, and the thick man returns to his spot on the plush leather chair. "Been pokin' into his gig, guess he found that shite out. Good lookin' out though, cabrones. Ya'll 'r regular Johnny's on the spot."
Compton grins proudly that his little display of macho-killerness was so convincing. "The College is 'ere for ya is what Jesse says. So we're here for ya. Is all good." he croons on confidently. Yeh. Holding that big gun in his hands fulfilled some need in Compton that he's riding high on now.
Penny drags long and exhales something quiet under her breath. She stays in the region of the stairwell, talking to herself. Her right hand has returned to the drenched toiletpaper sticking to skin and shirt, starts plucking it out one soggy square at a time. "De nada, man" pasting on a smile for everyone's benefit "we're all alike."
//.etro: Penny rolls "arete" privately to Silvius at diff 5.
For a total of 2 success(es).
Long distance to Silvius: Penny is gonna roll arete diff 5 and get a spirit to do some recon with the messenger. Kay?
Silvius pages: okay.
Silvius pages: having it follow him?
You paged Silvius with 'Yep. Will tell me who he's taking orders from.'.
Silvius pages: penny okay, he walks a few blocks and gets in a car, then he drives to Little Italy, to Botticelli's Ristorante. He steps up to a man eating there alone, dressed in a very expensive, tailored suit. Man looks to be in his late 50's early 60's. He tells him how the scene went. The man isn't pleased about the gun being left behind but nods and dismisses the messenger with a wave of his hand.
[Ed Note: This, of course, is not what I asked for. But hey..]
"Right then. Let's see that cut, P." A finger wags at her, Chase has set aside the letter and is holding the band aids he procured for her before they were interrupted. The protective paper strip is peeled, and his callused hands prepare the wound closer.
Hepzibah twists a long lock of unnatural red hair between her fingers. "If you say so." she mumbles. She brushes the end of the hair over her cheek as she toys with it. She settles back down cross legged at the base of the table and looks at everyone like she's Alice in Wonderland and they're hookah smoking catterpillars.
Penny tugs the gun out and lays it on the table. "Got feelers out," sucking in, her hand scrapes off the rest of the tp into a garbage can. Heavy, wet noise in the plastic liner. "..keep you posted. I gotta get cleaned up. Hey," she adds almost as an after-thought, nodding at the gun on the table "you wanna let me hang on to that? Just in case he's like.. down the block'r somethin'?"
That's our Penny, as coy as she is polite.
"Eh." A glance back to the Colt. "Eh, go 'head I guess." Though Chase is still holding the band-aids, and offers them over with insistence. "But here, fuckin' plug that hole. Pobs bled enough on the damn floor, don't need this place lookin' like Fred Krueger lives down here. Now that I gots a roommate 'n all." A brief glance towards Hepsy, wonder what she makes of all this. Her relative silence speaks loud enough though.
Silvius has left.
Compton stands idly by watching Chase's feild triage sipping at his beer. "So, um... what's with the hole anyways Pens? You pickin holes in yerself like Doc?"
Penny retucks the piece and begs off the band aids. "He says he's terribly sorry about the mess and wishes it could be otherwise but it's a limitation of the vessel."
Right.
Just a smidgen off her game, Penny looks to Compton and to Hepzibah "I gotta go," some edge of hysterial tilting her voice to the higher end of the scale. She takes off almost as fast as Pobble did. Only minus the screaming and vulgar language.
Hepzibah attempts humour. Sort of. She laughs nervously. "Uh..as long as he doesn't really live down here, it's all good." she says. The lock of hair that she's twirling is smooth and shiny from the attention.
Chase is all about checkin' this gun boy. After handing over the band-aids, his cell phone is pulled out. "Via con dios, P." To the retreating girl. "Oh..." A beeping sound and the door's open. "Now then, let's see what kinda game this fucker's runnin'..." And his fingers go about punching in a number.
Compton shrugs at Penny, puts down the beer and starts doing up his parka. He makes to go too. But far less hasty then God-lady. "Well, was a slice guys. Thanks for the beer." he says cordially on his way.
Penny goes up the stairs.
Chase says, "Adios Compton. Thanks cabrone..."
Chase picks up his cellular phone and begins to dial.
Compton winks a final acknowledgement. That crossed with the grimey Santa's cap makes for a disturbing image. And he's gone too.
You go up the stairs.
From Derelict Home - Main Room, Penny comes up the stairs.
Derelict Home - Main Room
You leave the derelict house.
Chinatown Side Street
The buildings are too closely spaced together here. The first few buildings are businesses, spilling over from the busy street beyond. Then the buildings settle down to being residences. Many are old and rundown. Most are crowded close enough together to be termed shutgun houses. However, a few here and there are more elegant, remnants of an earlier time.
Contents:
Obvious exits:
[Meanwhile, out on the street, Penny is possessed by a sudden need to gun down The Enemy, newly armed]
You paged Cassius with 'Oi'.
Cassius pages: Oi!
Long distance to Cassius: Penny is looking for James. Feel like witnessing a spirit roll to send some out a'huntin' for me?
You walk south along Jarvis to College.
Downtown - Jarvis and College E(#128RJ)
You walk under the archway and enter the gardens.
Allan Gardens(#6048RIJM)
Verdant manicured lawns stretch out on either side of a wide sweeping walk way the leads you into Allan Park. A large circular fountain dominates the view as you approach the Conservatory.
Low concrete benches surround the shallow marble lined basin where one may sit and watch the bright red and orange Koi swim in and out of the lily pads and underwater plants that festoon the clear water. Copper and silver coins glisten beneath the calm waters, tokens to the gods of good fortune from the small children and wistful lovers who pray for favor over their offering.
Ahead gleams the ornately crafted Conservatory where the collection of tropical flora from Madagascar is tended, considered to be one of the finest in the country. And to either side you notice walkways that lead through out the formal gardens.
Place code is in effect here
You paged Cassius with 'Maybe?'.
Cassius pages: Um, alright, what sort of spirit are you looking for?
You paged Cassius with 'Responsive, intelligent. Something that isn't a bane?'.
Long distance to Cassius: Penny lags, horribly.
From afar, Cassius grins. Hmmm...
Cassius pages: Alrighty. Give me a roll. Where are you calling for a spirit?
Cassius pages: And give me a PAT first, it'll help determine the spirit. ;)
Chase steps in from the steet and heads into the gardens.
Chase has arrived.
Chase enters the conservatory
Chase has left.
'Phenomenon - Penny's sitting on a bench in the garden outside the Realm. She takes out her cellphone (foci) and dials.
Action - Penny is actually text-messaging out a broadcast to the most receptive spirits that reads: Please aide. Enemy at large. Must be found.
Theory - As a mentored hermetic, Penny has learned to disguise and hide her messages in conventional, modern technologies. The phone is just the tool.'.
You paged Cassius with 'Diff 5?'.
Cassius pages: 6 for Allan Gardens.
//.etro: Penny rolls "arete" privately to Cassius at diff 6.
For a total of 1 success(es).
Cassius pages: Gonna have to do better than that.
You paged Cassius with 'Kay. Same roll how many times?'.
Cassius pages: You just need more than 2 successes to do it. It takes that many to pierce the Gauntlet.
You paged Cassius with 'So just one more?'.
From afar, Cassius nods.
//.etro: Penny rolls "arete" privately to Cassius at diff 6.
For a total of 3 success(es).
Long distance to Cassius: Penny goes BOOYA. Gimme, gimme.
Cassius pages: You get a message that says 'No Carrier' at first and as you extend your will with a bit more oomf you get a text message back from FlwrPwr: Who is it?
Long distance to Cassius: Penny texts back P3NNY Ante. Who're you?
Cassius pages: FlwrPwr: You texted me. Who're you looking for?
You paged Cassius with 'James Anderson.'.
Cassius pages: FlwrPwr: Will find through grapevine. I'll text u ltr, k?
You paged Cassius with 'kk. thanks.'.
Cassius pages: About an hour or so later...
Long distance to Cassius: Penny whistles. Time flies!
Cassius pages: FlwrPwr: 911! Entropy Central! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fir--- NO CARRIER
Cassius pages: And there you go.
You paged Cassius with 'Uh, what?'.
Cassius pages: Spirits are not known for their abilities to give directions... It seems to have gotten cut off by something. But the clues are there to find where he is.
Long distance to Cassius: Penny gotchas.
Cassius pages: You also have the distinct impression of a curse.
Long distance to Cassius: Penny aprreciates your takin'the time. Thanks :)
Cassius pages: Not from the spirit. Its more of an intuitive thing.
You paged Chase with 'James must know he's about to get dead. Cassius pages: Cassius pages: You also have the distinct impression of a curse.'.
Long distance to Cassius: Penny hang-ons. "Did you mean I sensed MYSELF acquiring a curse or that there was something in the message?"
Cassius pages: No, it had to do with James.
You head out of the park.
Downtown - Jarvis and College E(#128RJ)
[And a short time later...]
You walk west along Bloor to Bay.
Downtown - Bay and Bloor W(#224RJ)
This bustling intersection is a constant hub of activity. Stores of all ranges pack the streets, and pedestrians flock to all of them. An office tower currently occupied by the Bank of Montreal with shops and stores on the ground level is known as the Manulife Centre. Other major stores include Holt Renfew, a department store selling only high-priced brand-named goods like Armani, Harry Rosen and Christian Dior; Bay Bloor Radio, a large discount store specializing in electronic goods, and the Bloor Street Diner, a yuppie bar and eatery. Bloor and Bay is one of the hearts of the after-hours hangouts. Yuppies nestle themselves into snotty bars while those of lower incomes pack into pubs and eateries. This is an area of influential, high-powered business mixed in with high-retail commercial. Pure white sidewalks are here, with the freshly paved road now deprived of pot holes as the beautification has come through here as well. Pleasant flowers in planters line the streets and small trees rest in their own holders at various points along the street.
Contents:
Ted Reeves
Ryan Reeves
Mick
Ryan Reeves is apparently waiting at a red light in an old blue-green Chevy. Hurrah for obeying the law!
Mick Is chilling in a grey government sedan, finishing a sandwich and a cellphone call at the same time.
The chevy's backup lights flare into the night as he inches backward from the red to line h is car up next to the governmental sedan. He then comes to a complete stop while keeping the engine running.
Ted Reeves is riding shotgun with his head out the window smelling the air. Hurrah!
Penny j-walks through the middle of the street, headphones on, collar flapping in the tumultuous winds. She isn't paying much attention, the world going on around her. Busy looking at a cellphone screen.
Mick flips a bird to the world in General "
Mick flips a bird to the world in General, muttering to himself "Im a friggin Federal Employee, I don't chase speeders....Jesus H Christ"
Ted Reeves motions for Mick to roll down his window and then he says in a british accent, "Pardon me sir, but do you have any grey poupon?"
Ryan amuses himself by watching the woman cross the street. Respectfully, of course.
Mick shrugs and waves his sandwich, "Nah...I got plain old frenches yellow," he adds as a rather inneffective comeback "I got a Remington 870 in the trunk?"
Hennessey arrives from the west.
Hennessey has arrived.
She gains the curb on the opposite side of the street without incident; nobody deliberately tried to mow her down - mostly they just slowed or she kept the right pace to traverse bumpers. Passing by the groups of people spilling out into the street, Penny slows on occassion to look from the phone up to doors. She stands back more than once, looking for numbers across the doors. Numbers and faces; looking into the faces of people she might know, doesn't know, will know in the future. Her headphones describe a false distance between her approaching these people, keeps her on that side of the glass and wall-eyed she keeps walking.
Ryan Reeves is apparently pulled up beside a government Sedan in his own blue-green Chevy.
Ryan gazes at Penny as Ted talks to whoever's in the sedan.
Ted Reeves gives Mick a confused look, "How do you change you're tires with Remington?
Mick hangs up his cellphone, conversation apparently finished and grunts "Very Carefully, Very Carefully"
Ted Reeves snorts in a british accent to Mick, "No grey poupon!? How uncivilized!"
Ryan casually leans back in his seat, apparently not going anywhere. He withdraws a cigarette from a jacket pocket before he alerts Ted, "I think he and the Miss's are picking up soliciters."
Mick asks the guy across from him "No, we aint picking up Johns," then he looks the pair in the Chevy over and asks "Hey, aint you that reporter guy?"
Hennessey crawls through the start-and stop of traffic. Shows must be just getting out or something. She yawns.
Penny holds her phone up to the next awning, counting silently to herself, nodding her head up and down. Up and down. Down down, bamp bamp. She finds her groove and knocks it around, shivering terribly.
The things we do for love or money. Suffering outrageous conditions, Penny glances downat her shoes? at something lower than eye-level and shoves her way past a heaving debutant faster now.
Ted Reeves switchs from a british accent to his patented southern accent and says to Mick, "Well, I'll be damned. If we's a re-port-ers, then I'll bet that your a mountie... Eatin' a sandwich with no grey poupon, that is."
Ryan sighs, apparently allowing Ted to handle whatever questions are asked. He instead leans out the car window and makes a motion toward Penny as if beckoning her to approach.
Millia arrives from the south.
Millia has arrived.
Ryan is apparently sitting in the driver's seat of a blue-green chevy which is pulled alongside a sedan.
Mick says "Yeah, Im a mountme, you want a leak or not?"
Hennessey crawls through traffic in a dark blue little Audi sedan... the live-parked Chevy isn't helping, of course, but then again, maybe it's important.
Ted Reeves pats Ryan's shoulder, "He's giving us info! Screw the streetwalker." He turns back to Mick and says, "So, Federal employee what do you know?"
Mick says "Well, I don't wanna talk outa school, got a place you like to drink beer at?"
Penny wasn't looking at the gesturing Ryan; she was concentrating on her phone. It was only the after-image, the missing motion of a stopped hand that catches her wide eyed and staring. Blue, gloveless hands refold inside the jacket as she tucks away her phone and approaches the truck.
"Yeah?" One syllable, multiple interpretations.
Late evening or not, Millia seems to still be speaking to people. She walks about the streets, handing out buttons as she speaks to people along the way.
Ryan gives Ted a slight frown before he says, "She looks cold." He then gazes at the woman who has approached and asks, "It's a bit late to be wandering the winter streets, isn't it? Can I give you a ride somewhere, madam?"
//.etro: It is 9:53 pm, late evening, on Saturday the 10. day of January, 2009.
Coming closer to the group, the reporters should recognize Millia, now. She's one of the two candidates running in the city council election. She smiles at the two of you, "Thanks for the offer, I might take you up on that."
Ted Reeves looks at Ryan and shakes his head, "Hey cop, I'll go drink a beer with you. My brother has his eyes on other things right now."
Mick nods "Sure thing dude, hop in?" he eyes the brother and says "Let ol' boy get to gettin?"
Ted Reeves jumps out of the old chevy and into the Govt sedan.
Mick fires up his car and pulls out of the parking place, zipping down the street for buisness and beer.
Ryan shakes his head slowly before offering Millia a smile as well. He seems to have been addressing the previous question to Penny, but he decides either woman looks cold.
Mick walks west along Bloor to University.
Mick has left.
Ted Reeves walks west along Bloor to University.
Ted Reeves has left.
Maybe she was about to speak up but hey, Penny knows how to let things move along. And she goes with the flow, passing by Millia in just a few quick steps without a backward glance. Everyone near Penny has buttons and a few of them try to pass some her way, touching her elbows, pinching at her jacket.
Hennessey pulls out behind the sedan. Well, at last, traffic's moving..
Hennessey walks west along Bloor to University.
Hennessey has left.
Ryan frowns as Penny begins to walk away, but he does address Millia as he asks, "So, things look to be pretty much in order here. Did you want a ride somewhere?" Yep, Ryan seems to be running the blue-green taxi service as of late.
Millia looks at Penny as she passes by her, a hint of recognition on her face, but that is gone almost as quickly as it appears. She nods towards Ryan, "Sure, I'm pretty much done here."
Penny says, in Latin, "DON'T TOUCH ME!" shouting at these drunks, these wastrels, these her brethren. Penny shrieks and flinches away from the button brigade. She holds up her hands, pushing at the air, shielding her eyes from the wind "STOP" swiping at invisible hands trying to plant these electoral seeds in her pockets and palms.
Ryan nods to Millia, motioning toward the now empty passenger's seat as he says with a sly smirk, "Hop on in. You're lucky, Ted usually doesn't give up the shotgun position without a duel."
Millia chuckles softly, and like her voice, there is something light and musical about it, "I think I've run into your brother, but I can't pin where." She then wanders around to the passenger side of the chevy and climbs in.
The shouting seems to do the trick, sends the hip and youthful guerilla campaigners on their way to other streets and other bars where their efforts won't be rebuffed. Penny, winded, puts a hand out to a white-painted pole. Leaning there only a moment, her handprint remains in a red stain as she limps on.
Ryan nods before commenting, "Probably, he does seem to know everyone in the city." Ryan points in Penny's direction before commenting, "Well, besides her." He wences at Penny's shouting, a slightly concerned look crossing his face before he accelerates and pulls up alongside the woman. "Um...did you want a ride as well, miss? You seem a bit upset and lost," Ryan says before he adds, "And...um...wounded."
Ryan gazes at Penny for perhaps a moment too long after he asks the question before finally blinking once again. In all, it looks to be the appraising type of gaze reporters often give when trying to size someone up as a potential story.
Millia gets a look of worry across her features looking at the handprint. From the vehicle a soft humming is heard, as she takes hold of her pendant.
Millia actually steps out of the vehicle, moving towards Penny, "Are you alright? What happened?"
The headphones tilt and slide off her head "Get away from me," taking it personally while the truck rolls slow enough to keep her pace, harsh and heavy words issuing forth "you're a mark, we're not supposed to talk." She stops suddenly, an equally estimating eye fixed on Ryan "What'd he want you messed up for anyway. You have a little too much fun in the Boom Boom room?" On second thought, this really isn't the time. Resorting to duck and cover, Penny tries to keep moving through the crowd.
From afar, Millia wants to do a lifescan on Penny, to see where she is hurt.
Millia pages: Would you like me to contact staff, or would you let me roll it to you?
You paged Millia with 'You can roll but I'll tell you - she's got a wound in her abdomen.'.
Ryan moves to slowly keep up with Penny, his vehicle inching forward. He doesn't appear to be too upset with the woman despite whatever it is she's going on about, instead offering a (what he hopes to be) disarming smile as he responds, "I assure you, I am not that type of man. I've only been in there once and that was for a friend's eighteenth birthday party."
From afar, Millia is trying to remember if I'd rped with you before or not, I've talked with the rest of the Invisible College..
Long distance to Millia: Penny nopes.
Moving as slow as it was, Millia showed she had some atlethcism when she steps out of the truck. She walks rather quickly to intercept Penny, "Please, ma'am, let me look at that, I am medically trained a bit."
From afar, Millia nods, Okay...no mentioning the rest of the college to try and stop then.
The shouting taunts and Penny can't stop herself, evading Millia with a few quick feints, a dodge to the left and she's back at the truck's window. Her hand grips the mirror like she's about to take off again "Y'see like a nice guy, you're not 'cause you're a reporter and I know better, but you seem nice." Some threads of genuine concern, something else wrinkling her forehead "Okay? You just.. seem .. nice," warning you off, Penny starts to take off again.
Millia keeps in step with Penny rather well. She steps just beside the other woman, glancing at the her abdomen, pinpointing the wound quickly, "What happened to you?" Her voice is full of concern.
Ryan offers a slight smile as he answers, "And you seem to be cold, madam." He continues to follow alongside Penny, ignoring the traffic that passes around him as he moves. "You know you have absolutely nothing to fear from me. Why don't you let her see to your wounds, madam?" Ryan makes a motion toward Millia as he pulls to a stop once again, casually exitting the driver's seat in a graceful motion.
Penny looks over her shoulder, passing by panhandlers, people turning out papers, trucking out the hopelessly drunk. Blood passes from Penny to those stumbling in her path, dotting them. She looks over her shoulder and sees the unwelcome entourage, stung by the vision and spurred on like there's a whip across her back. "Go away, ..said it'll only get frostbit. Just fuck off, okay?"
Ryan sighs as he withdraws a cellphone from a trenchcoat pocket. He, of course, keeps after Penny, red trenchcoat swirling dramatically about him as he dodges passerbyers rather deftly. "Listen, madam, if you do not stop I will be forced to call an ambulance and possibly the police as your safety outweighs any dislike that you may bear for me afterwards."
So she stops. And waits for Ryan to catch up. She, too, reaches into her pocket and tugs out a cellphone, a calm composing her suddenlyvery still "Got one, too. Anyone can call the cops. Do you have a point? People can bleed if they want to." Close up you can see her shoulders slump a little and her skin's a little silvery - damp. "G.. " gutteral noise, unfinished in a sneeze, more substance issuing out "..you wanna be a hero? Save her election," nodding up to Millia "don't do me any favors. It's nothing you'd understand."
"I don't want to be a hero," Ryan responds softly before adding, "I just don't wanna see a woman die before me." And, with a deft motion and turn, Ryan removes his trenchcoat and tosses it toward Penny as he turns to leave. "Do me a favor, don't freeze to death," Ryan says as he doesn't even bother to watch whether Penny catches the trenchcoat or not. As he makes a motion for Millia to follow him back to his chevy, Ryan adds presumably for Penny, "Tell him he has my appologies for whatever perceived insults he's suffered and is free to have me roughed up at any time, but that I would ask he lay off injuring women."
Connelly has arrived.
Connelly walks in in her heavy winter jacket as she is heading towards the bank...(OOC OK..now can someone set the scene for me?)
Ryan Reeves is wandering toward a blue-green chevy, presumably to get out of the rather cold weather. He occassionally glances in Millia's direction as if to be sure she's following.
"Please miss, you're going to pass out soon if that wound isn't treated," Millia says to Penny who seems to be running away from her, while Ryan climbs into a truck parked nearby.
Penny catches the trench tossed in her off-hand. But Ryan's walking away; too fast for Penny to throw it back at him. Hey, free coat. She wanders off, but not before responding "You don't know shit about and God says you're gonna lose."
Millia sighs shaking her head, but after saying that, she does follow Ryan towards his vehicle.
You walk east along Bloor to Yonge.
Downtown - Yonge and Bloor(#110RJ)
You walk down the stairs into the subway tunnels, pay your ticket and approach the subway platform.
Subway - Yonge/Bloor Station
From afar, Millia chuckles, talk to Connelly before you run outta her.
Long distance to Millia: Penny is long gone.
Penny takes a subway bound for college.
You board the subway for COLLEGE.
Subway - College Station
You enter the lobby area of the Holiday Inn.
Holiday Inn(#2848RnAJ)
You enter the apartment.
