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ElegantFugue
Jun 5, 2012

Spring Hyenard
Interior
Normal Condition
9/10 HP
2 AP
Shift Recoil Stance

---

Glowering, Hyenard bounds through the thin gap between the wall and the generator, lands behind the bazooka reploid, and propels his clawed fist directly at the foe. It lands cleanly on the back of Joe's helmet, sending the Reploid staggering. "Okay, who's got eyes on a fire extinguisher? They should be clearly marked, but this is Legion, so it's probably rusted into some corner who-knows-where."

---

1: Move action to duck between the generator and wall, to the right, moving into flanking with Polar.

2: Free action to switch to Shift Recoil stance, just in case some extra damage is somehow needed.

Special: Add the following Effect to all your melee attacks: At the start of your next turn, if Target is adjacent to one or more creatures, you may choose to swap it with one of those creatures, and deal 1 damage to one or both creatures.
Passive: When you take damage from an attack or trap, you may shift 1 square immediately afterwards.

3: Attack with Advantage from Flanking. Melee Basic.
Type Attack - At-Will
Range Melee 2
Attack ( 4, 4, 3 => 4 + 4 ) => 8
Damage 2 before Exposure
Element Crush: +1 vs Fire, Zap, -1 vs Metal
Effect See Stance.
Role When you roll a 6+ on an attack, you may choose to either Slow the target until the end of its next turn, or to slide the target 3 squares.

Choosing Effect: Slow, assuming he somehow survives.

4: Role action to look for a Fire Extinguisher somewhere to extinguish our bear before someone makes a "freezer burn" pun.
Questions 1
Question: "Where is the nearest fire extinguisher?" as a question not on the lists but very relevant to the battle

Answer: [8:20 PM] Moriatti: Yes, there is an extinguisher... uh. Let me speak at the map.
[8:22 PM] Moriatti: Hidden in the central panel, you can see the faded remnants of a sign

ElegantFugue fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Apr 10, 2019

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Plutonis
Mar 25, 2011

Sawyer

HP: 11/13
AP:2


"SPLIT?" Sawyer gives an inquisitive nod towards Ruby before he charges up north, dodging the debrises of the downed structure as he heads towards the door!

Unknown Quantity
Sep 2, 2011

!
Steven? Steven?!
STEEEEEEVEEEEEEEN!
Ruby Rhapsody
HP: 10/10
AP: 2
Exterior

"Sure. You take the big entrance, I take the small one. I'm used to tight spaces and working alone anyway."

Besides, maybe if I'm lucky he'll drag even more people over to him while I either stab them in the back or slip past them to reach our VIP. I'm just hoping that flower isn't doing anything too reckless. I really don't want to give them a talk about pushing themselves too hard or give them a reality check...

Ruby rushes off towards the vents to the south. She leaves a bit of a trail of fingerholds in the structure as she enters, but manages to slip in well enough.

Moriatti
Apr 21, 2014

"Aww, come on boys, isn't it a little crowded back here?" Joe snickers, ducking under another mine he's pulled out.

"Why don't we fix that, huh?" He detonates it, pushing Hyenard and Polar back. However, Polar is able to catch himself on the pillar, and remains right next to Joe.

"Oh you uh, you were paying attention, huh?" Joe stammers, looking up at the big guy.

Next succesful hit takes this boy out, narrate as you please if you score it. He's not gonna win and can only tally up strikes this way.

Ignite Memories
Feb 27, 2005

Polar Barrier
HP: 2/13
AP: 1
Strikes: 1
Miss Tokens: 1


Polar Barrier scrapes his frame up against the venting unit, unable to get his massive arms close enough to swipe at Bazooka Joe. Losing his patience, he finally just rears back and plunges his relatively slender neck into the crevice. His Bassnium teeth, sharp as ever, crack into Joe's helmet and firmly take hold of him.

Pushing back against the wall and vent with his arms, he yanks Bazooka Joe into the air. They balance perfectly upright for a moment that seems to last forever, and then Polar Barrier falls backward with a fiery arc, suplexing Joe into the floor with enough force to detonate the plunky reploid's internal reactor.

They erupt into a fiery explosion, scattering thick, oily flames over the pillar and floor. For a terrifying few seconds, all that is visible is a heap of flaming scrap before Spring Hyenard defuses the tension with an extended blast from the nearest fire extinguisher.

The chilly dust settles around Polar Barrier. The pseudoroid feebly raises his thumb nub.

-------------
+2 HP from pharmacopia
2 Ongoing damage from the fire.
Free action to swap back into Avalanche Stance for a dramatic deathblow
Melee Attack vs Bazooka Joe: 5+3=8. That oughta wrap it up.
After combat my compatriot is presumably able to remedy my ongoing damage without any trouble.

Ignite Memories fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Apr 14, 2019

ElegantFugue
Jun 5, 2012

Spring Hyenard
Interior
Normal Condition
6/10 HP
2 AP
0 Strikes

---

Hyenard sweeps the extinguisher back and forth over Polar, doing his best to put out the lingering flames. "Hell of a show, Polar, geez. Where'd you learn to fight like THAT?" He sounds a little worried, and a little impressed, but mostly he just sounds glad the battle is through.
"Dr. Mann, come over this way, around the generator. The panel sorta... melted a bit," he explains, completely unsure if the melted bits were important or not but unwilling to experiment with the unfamiliar high-voltage recently-exploded-at equipment. "And Daisy- where did Daisy go?"

Moriatti
Apr 21, 2014

As the dust settles, no oposition is left to stop your characters, you're able to pass through the security checkpoint almost effortlessly.

With a bit of smooth navigation, you do find the information hub and reunite with your compatriots. Daisy is able to blast the door open with her vines, which grab the humanoid inside.

"Hey- HEEEYYYYYYY!!!!!!!" He says as he's constricted by the vines.
He looks at the party, then at his terminals, then at the party.
"To Thomas, I hope you guys are more Aces."

Moriatti fucked around with this message at 02:46 on Apr 16, 2019

Otherkinsey Scale
Jul 17, 2012

Just a little bit of sunshine!

Otherkinsey Scale posted:

Role action to force the door open with Elemental Master: Plant. I got a 6, so that's two bonuses on top of success.

((Just putting this here as a placeholder til the results get edited into the above post, as discussed.))

Otherkinsey Scale
Jul 17, 2012

Just a little bit of sunshine!
Daisy Vivre
Venomrail Station: Information Hub

AP: 4
Condition: Overwhelmed (minor mental condition)

Imagine, she'd once told Ruby, that you spent your whole life underground. Your eyes would be perfectly adapted to using the small amount of light down there, right? But if you went above ground, the light would be blinding, you'd experience afterimages, and so on. The same thing that made you perfectly suited to that environment would make you disoriented in this one.

Well, that's kind of what
all my senses are like. I was made to monitor incredibly slow, incremental changes. That's almost all I've ever had to deal with. But now, everything is so fast, so loud. It's all so exciting! Too exciting, sometimes.

I'll be okay. I just need a minute.


---

Daisy's body echoes with the feeling of being shot for the first time. And then the next three times. Not the pain of it--minimal, thanks to SE--but the bluntness, the dull heat in her side. Her ears still ring with explosions, and with the Joe's hateful words. Worst of all, she was on fire; the doctor's intervention may have extinguished the flames in short order, but her nerves are still sounding the alarm. If she can keep moving, keep doing things, she'll be able to ignore it until it stops. Probably. She's been able to handle the aftermath of every fight so far that way, at least.

She'd crumpled the door into the ceiling and restrained the humanoid, and that was a good start. "Ruby," she says, with some effort, "can you question the captive for some tactical...stuff? Sawyer, Barrier, guard...doors, please. And I'll go tapintothenetworkand░░░░░░"

Daisy's words run together into static. She mostly just seems annoyed by this. She points at Mann and then sweeps her arm over to the terminal. You should probably get that instead.

For herself, she taps her throat with two fingers, holds up her pointer--one moment--and then gestures to an empty corner of the room. (Well, empty except for the greenery her dramatic entrance flooded the entire room with.) I'll be over there. She looks at Hyenard to recommend him a task, but then her eyes are caught by his purple-yellow patch of biometal. Intrigued, she crouches down and holds up a lilac to it, as if testing for a reaction. Then, she stands up and tugs on Hyenard's arm. "░░░░░░░!" she crackles, excitedly, having briefly forgotten the nature of the problem.

Frustrated at being unable to adequately communicate, she walks over to the designated corner and ducks behind a table that had been overturned by her tide of flora.

Otherkinsey Scale fucked around with this message at 18:31 on Apr 18, 2019

Unknown Quantity
Sep 2, 2011

!
Steven? Steven?!
STEEEEEEVEEEEEEEN!
Ruby Rhapsody
Condition: Normal
AP: 2
Information Hub

And it's almost everything I imagined would happen happening. She gets into combat and now her system that's never expected to be harmed suddenly has to deal with input it's never had to handle before. And the worst part is I don't see any regret or fear in her eyes. She thinks this is fine. Which means she's going to push herself even more in the future. But whatever, Ruby, you'll deal with that baggage when you've got time to think. Right now you've got to get some information out of this jerk and hopefully remove any unexpected surprises.

"By a certain definition I'm an ace in the hole. But right now, all I want is for you to tell me who else is going to come knocking on these doors or what other defenses remain here so we don't have to worry about crossfire. In exchange you won't be stuck like this and'll get to go back to whatever you were doing as soon as we're done here. I wouldn't recommend trying to break free: you'd have to deal with the angry flower, the walking industrial shredder, the frigid wall and my uncanny knack for exerting too much force."

ElegantFugue
Jun 5, 2012

Spring Hyenard
Information Hub
Normal Condition
2 AP


---

Hyenard glances down at his chest- the flower he got from Task is still there, nestled against the heart-shaped hole filled with purple... whatever bioorganic compounds Bio Metal is made of. He looks back up at Daisy and winces as her voice drowns out in static. He follows her slowly and carefully, trying to not make too much noise but also not be too silent to hear. "Daisy? Are you okay? Did you need the Bio-Metal shard?"

Otherkinsey Scale
Jul 17, 2012

Just a little bit of sunshine!
Daisy Vivre
Venomrail Station: Information Hub

AP: 4
Condition: Overwhelmed

As Hyenard wanders up, Daisy's attention is absorbed in watching a flower stem slowly grow, gently spiraling up from the ground at her command. She notices Hyenard and sees the similarity between her construct and his limbs, and smiles faintly. She scoots over a little to make room for him behind Fort Table.

ElegantFugue posted:

"Daisy? Are you okay? Did you need the Bio-Metal shard?"

She taps her throat again and shakes her head. Either I'm not okay or I don't need the shard or maybe even just, I can't answer that right now. She's absorbed in the flower's growth, and her hands are worrying her now-singed dress. After taking some time to immerse her senses, she manages to speak, still in a scratchy voice.

"Too...much." She clearly has a lot more to say, but instead gestures back to the flower. She pointedly focuses all her attention on its slow, slow growth...and then, suddenly, it explodes into a burst of pollen. She makes an exaggerated cough and then tries to wave the pollen away with the flower stem. With mixed results.

"It's...like that."

Otherkinsey Scale fucked around with this message at 22:28 on Apr 18, 2019

Moriatti
Apr 21, 2014

"Ace in the hole? No I me- oh." The Humanoid looks from side to side, her snake arms going limp.

"I mean, we hired that other Ace to guard our shipments but if I havent been alarmed then..." She looks at the assembled group, then sort of bows her head.

"You must've taken out the guards too fast for them to have alerted the others... As long as you didn't leave a big footprint, you should have time to get what you need. I'm not really designed for combat..."

[This space reserved for bio-metal stuff]

Moriatti fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Apr 18, 2019

ElegantFugue
Jun 5, 2012

Spring Hyenard
Information Hub
Normal Condition
2 AP


---

Otherkinsey Scale posted:

She taps her throat again and shakes her head. Either I'm not okay or I don't need the shard or maybe even just, I can't answer that right now. She's absorbed in the flower's growth, and her hands are worrying her now-singed dress.
Hyenard crouches down beside her, his limbs moving and shifting a bit but overall mostly just compacting. He admires the spiral stem for a moment, but quickly returns his attention to his teammate as her hands move about between her neck and her outfit. "Just take it slow. We're here if you want any help."

Otherkinsey Scale posted:

"It's...like that."
He nods slowly. He follows her gaze to the flower, its gentle spiral turning on and on and on and-
He does not actually catch himself from springing out in shock at the sudden burst of floral particulate, but he does at least manage to freeze his springs before they lash out far enough to hit anything or launch himself off the floor. Sheepishly, he coils up again, hoping his kinetic outburst hasn't made the situation worse. Calm down yourself, you dumb Reploid, remember you're made of springs...
"I, uh, see. Please don't poof away. We still have some time, it sounds like nobody knows we're here, yet. Catch your breath, and go easy. I can stay with you as long as you need." He shakes his head back and forth. "I know what I do to help deal with my own, uh, high-tension design, but that's physical stresses. Unwinding mental tension can be a lot trickier. But we don't want you going poof."

Otherkinsey Scale
Jul 17, 2012

Just a little bit of sunshine!
Daisy Vivre
Venomrail Station: Information Hub

AP: 4
Condition: Overwhelmed

Daisy laughs at Hyenard's reaction, despite herself. "Sorry. Sorry." She suddenly becomes fascinated by the movement of his springs, leaning down with her elbows on the ground and her head in her hands to watch them. Experimentally, she raises a few more coiling vines, attempting to mimic their form, their motion. A fruitless endeavour, but it seems to be relaxing her.

"It's...not mental," she says, after a few silent moments. "More like...your tension. Inherent to my own design, my sensory apparatusisconfiguredformicroscale--" She stops herself, before she starts crackling again. "Well. Skin won't stop. Ears--won't stop." She opens and closes her hand rapidly, attempting fruitlessly to pantomime the firing of sensory neurons.

"But my mind?" She smiles, a little less weak than before. Her eye contact is still directed at Hyenard's arm-springs. She begins carefully sounding out her words. "You don't get to my age without...coming to terms, with yourself. I am an emotional person. Can't stop it, don't know how to hide it. But I don't let that...affect my decisions. Terrified, but I still did...all that." She waves vaguely in the direction of the recent carnage. "I will, acclimate to these sensations too. Soon. A decade. Two, at most. Short project." She says this without apparent irony. (Daisy's still not sure when it's alright not to pretend she wasn't made in 21XX, but she figures it's sometime between performing surgery on someone and breaking into a Legion base with them.)

A few more moments pass in quiet observation. "Thank you," she says, suddenly. "For staying. That's...also new. Something else to get used to. But it's nice." She leans forward and squeezes his paw. "It...helps."

Otherkinsey Scale fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Apr 19, 2019

Plutonis
Mar 25, 2011

Sawyer

HP: 11/13
AP:2


Ignoring Daisy, Sawyer walks up to Ruby and the captured Reploid... And with a powerful stomp, he makes his presence known to the constricted prisoner, opening his enormous maw with a monstrous roar to him while the sawblade on his back starts to whirl like crazy, sending several sparks in the air! Sawyer's tail menacingly whips the air, and the Reploid can see the remains of a broken Met and pieces of masonry stuck on the large harpoon on the tail's end. "YOU. OBEY. COME WITH US. ANSWER QUESTIONS." The Pseudoroid grunts, his massive presence and the sharp spikes covering his body making the demands quite persuasive to the poor Joe. "OR ELSE."

What's implied on that "else", of course... Well, that's not really hard to guess.

Rolled a 6 when doing a Trained Intimidate Roll!

Unknown Quantity
Sep 2, 2011

!
Steven? Steven?!
STEEEEEEVEEEEEEEN!
Ruby Rhapsody
Condition: Normal
AP: 2
Information Hub

Oh for...Great. Well Ruby, you get to pick between either stopping the industrial shredder from making the captive self-destruct out of fear or stopping this Romeo from forming a tie with Daisy that'll only get more and more painful to sever when it's our time to go... She looks between the two, then decides to start stomping towards Daisy and Spring. Of all the dregs in this group to try to attach to her, it had to be the one most directly involved with the conflict. Next thing you know he's going to start singing her praises at every turn and making her think she's invincible right up until she gets split in half by someone like me. Well, not on my watch. Let's see if he can get the hint if I make it about as subtle as an anvil.

With a deliberately firm series of taps on the shoulder, Ruby leans in once he turns around, making sure her race is obscured by the machine's body when she starts speaking in as hushed a tone as she can, a smile on her face. "Heya. You sure do like hanging around Daisy a lot. Making friends? Hoping she'll stick around, possibly fall for you or become a mascot for whatever front you wanna run?"

The smile vanishes, replaced by a cold, empty stare. "It's not going to happen. The second we get back on the trail of our original leads, we're gone. We're not soldiers and have no reason to go anywhere near Legion unless it directly affects us. Remember that before you start putting any ideas of becoming a freedom fighter into her innocent and vulnerable mind, punk." She resumes the smile as she looks back over at Daisy. "Just hang in there. I'll make sure you get back into your garden safe and sound. All part of the promise to protect you against anything and everything, after all." With another wave, she heads back over to deal with the fallout of an angry D-Rex.

ElegantFugue
Jun 5, 2012

Spring Hyenard
Information Hub
Normal Condition
2 AP


---

Otherkinsey Scale posted:

A fruitless endeavour, but it seems to be relaxing her.
Hyenard does his best to stay still, letting her examine his spiraling limbs. Some sort of distraction seems to be in order, and if his unusual anatomy is what she's taken an interest in, well, it wasn't much trouble on his part to oblige. "That's impressive. The stems need a certain amount of strength to hold up the weight as they grow, I imagine?"

Otherkinsey Scale posted:

She says this without apparent irony.
Hyenard's eyes narrow with concern as Daisy explains, but shoot wide open with confusion when she describes decades of time as a "[s]hort project" without a hint of sarcasm. He spends a few moments trying to figure out the right thing to say to help, before noticing Daisy's silence and figuring that perhaps not overloading her sensory input any further might be a solid plan.

Otherkinsey Scale posted:

A few more moments pass in quiet observation. "Thank you," she says, suddenly. "For staying. That's...also new. Something else to get used to. But it's nice." She leans forward and squeezes his paw. "It...helps."
"It's something everyone should have. Someone who'd stay with them if they were in danger, I mean." He very gently curls his finger-claws, making sure the points keep well away from her less-sharp fingers. "Seems like you've got Ruby to help you out with that, though," he points out, glancing over his shoulder at the human as she harangues their semi-reptilian captive, "but, hopefully I can help with that too, when you need it."



Unknown Quantity posted:

"Heya. You sure do like hanging around Daisy a lot. Making friends?
"Mm? Heya Ruby, I-"

Unknown Quantity posted:

Hoping she'll stick around, possibly fall for you or become a mascot for whatever front you wanna run?"
"-was just- what-"

Unknown Quantity posted:

The smile vanishes, replaced by a cold, empty stare.
Hyenard leans back slightly, eyes wide and ears flattened on his scalp.

Unknown Quantity posted:

"...Remember that before you start putting any ideas of becoming a freedom fighter into her innocent and vulnerable mind, punk."

His jaw slowly creaks open, several thoughts bouncing around in his head as he tries to make sure he's properly grasping what's just happened. The shift from attempting to reassure the flower girl with slow simple motions and tensing up in fear of some sort of death strike from the apparently incensed military assassain requires a bit of adjustment.

Unknown Quantity posted:

With another wave, she heads back over to deal with the fallout of an angry D-Rex.
Finally, he stands up and turns to face Ruby as she leaves. "Ruby, she could barely speak. Forget recruiting anyone for anything, I'm just worried about her. Because she's a friend to me. Like, you know what friendship is, right? You do know people can care about each other and want to help each other without 'falling for' each other, right?" With a lot less certainty, and a hint of genuine confusion, he adds, "... Right?"

Moriatti
Apr 21, 2014

Plutonis posted:

Rolled a 6 when doing a Trained Intimidate Roll!

"I- Yeah- I- Ok OK OK!" The humanoid looks even more terrified, her eyes racing around the room, but still missing the quarrel in the corner.

"I just this is just my job! I don't want to die!"

Unknown Quantity
Sep 2, 2011

!
Steven? Steven?!
STEEEEEEVEEEEEEEN!
Ruby Rhapsody
Condition: Passive-Aggressive
AP: 2
Information Hub

Ruby stops dead in her tracks at 'Like, you know what friendship is, right?' There's a pause. While her legs are ramrod still, there's some rapid finger movements with her hands that seem to be trying, and failing, to curl into and uncurl from a fist. After a certain amount of time, her neck snaps into an oblique angle, and she finally speaks, in a raised voice.

"Why no, I gave up all pretenses of friendship when physical contact with me became a health hazard. A hazard not unlike the ones I've been trying to steer them away from. But no, by all means, call me the bad one for not assuming that any and all relationships here aren't based on necessity."

Ignite Memories
Feb 27, 2005

Polar Barrier
Venomrail Station: Entrance

ElegantFugue posted:

Hyenard sweeps the extinguisher back and forth over Polar, doing his best to put out the lingering flames. "Hell of a show, Polar, geez. Where'd you learn to fight like THAT?"
Polar Barrier takes Hyenard's hand and creaks his way into a semi-vertical position. "Oh, I dunno. Hercules Beetle, I s'pose." He coughs, sits on the floor for a moment and catches his breath. "We, uh, didn't get a lot of channels up at Euler Station. But my fr- eh, co-worker of mine used to dupe all the PWF recordings he could catch. I must have seen that title match between Herc Beetle and Camel Heel, oh... two dozen times or so." He chuckles. "Boy could that 'roid put on a show".

Standing, Polar Barrier brushes off his face and stretches his pistons before joining the rest of the team in the hub. "They do not make them like that anymore," he says wistfully.


Venomrail Station: Information Hub

Plutonis posted:

Sawyer's tail menacingly whips the air, and the Reploid can see the remains of a broken Met and pieces of masonry stuck on the large harpoon on the tail's end. "YOU. OBEY. COME WITH US. ANSWER QUESTIONS." The Pseudoroid grunts, his massive presence and the sharp spikes covering his body making the demands quite persuasive to the poor Joe. "OR ELSE."
Polar Barrier steps up to the loudly revving motorgator and calmly puts a hand on his shoulder. He looks down at the cowering reploid beneath Sawyer. "You will have to excuse my comrade, he is very tactile."

"What he means to say is that we are not here to retire you. You will escape unharmed as long as you comply with our requests." He begins to step away, then turns back in a faux-double-take. "...You ARE going to comply with our requests... Right?"

Moriatti posted:

"I just this is just my job! I don't want to die!"
Polar offers his hand to the reploid.
"If you lead us to the supply depot we will make all necessary acquisitions and depart this location."

Ignite Memories fucked around with this message at 03:39 on Apr 19, 2019

Moriatti
Apr 21, 2014

"Yeah yeah, just which one? We just had a train run to some of the starved colonies ahead of schedule a few minutes ago..."

Plutonis
Mar 25, 2011

Sawyer

HP: 11/13
AP:2


"ALL OF THEM. OR FULLEST ONE. NO TRAPS." Sawyer gives a toothy grin towards the Reploid. He actually is expecting the latter to happen... He barely got to have fun breaking stuff outside of the building, and the instinct to wreak havoc still pulses within the maverick's heart.

Otherkinsey Scale
Jul 17, 2012

Just a little bit of sunshine!
Daisy Vivre
Venomrail Station: Information Hub[/b]
AP: 4
Condition: Normal?

Oddly enough, Daisy is now almost the calmest she's been for months. Some combination of Hyenard's comforting presence, the steps she's taken to calm herself down, and the familiar environment of an area completely covered in greenery. And the sudden tension of the situation snaps her the rest of the way back into focus.

"Ruby..." Daisy sighs, as she emerges from behind the overturned table. "Girl. I love you, but apparently we need to have a talk about boundaries. Because you don't get to make these kind of decisions for me. When you called yourself my bodyguard, that was, um." She looks at the big metal door that she crumpled into the ceiling like so much tissue paper, the tech she instantly restrained, and the scorchmarks on her dress. "Very sweet of you. Not to downplay everything you've done for me--you and Onyx took me in when I lost my home, kept me safe while I was finding my feet. I could never repay that. But I have found a new home. Remember: I told you I'm staying on the airship. And then I asked if you were staying too."

She looks at Hyenard, and then looks back to Ruby. "I don't know what exactly you said to him, but rest assured I'm not being recruited into anything. I'm making the choice to fight--that's not your choice or his choice, it's mine." She looks up for a second, thinking. "Well, more precisely, Legion has made the choice that I have to die, for the crime of not already being dead. So I made the choice to, well, not die. Hiding won't work, not if they could find me in a place as remote as my garden was. Running, well, we'll get this airship fixed up and see how that goes. But to do that, we have to fight."

She paces. "Like I said at the briefing, I don't like it--actually, it terrifies me! But that's just what the situation is. I have to face reality. I can't just hide in my bubble anymore, and pretend it's fine. And even if I could..." She gestures at the rest of the group. "They need me, as much as I need them. Because I got shot four times just now, and it was awful. But if even one of those bullets had hit Mann or Barrier, with all the damage they took, they might not be here right now! I'll take that price. My temporary pain for their lives is a bargain! Even if my nervous system freaks out about it."

She takes a step closer to Ruby. "And...I know how much it sucks not to be able to touch anyone. I've spent about 90% of my life with no one around! The last time I had any kind of friendly contact was 40 or 50 years before you were even born. And it was from my dog, so." She chuckles, fondly. "Anyway, I promise you, I will personally find a way to fix what they've done to you." She taps the bracelet she's wearing. "In fact, our special training together has already yielded plenty of data as a starting point to that goal!"

A column of roses rises from the ground, and wraps into the shape of a open hand, stretched out to Ruby. "But until then, even if we can't touch: can we be friends? Because that's what I need right now. Not a guardian, but someone who respects me, sees me as an equal, and stands with me against these situations I can barely handle. Okay?"

Unknown Quantity
Sep 2, 2011

!
Steven? Steven?!
STEEEEEEVEEEEEEEN!
Ruby Rhapsody
Condition: Resigned
AP: 2
Information Hub

Well Ruby, you did it again. That thing you did ever since you became a monster. Evidently you can't help but spout bitter nonsense that drives friends away from you. Then again, this was why you moved away. You wanted to be alone so you didn't inconvenience anyone. Then Onyx came in and gave you someone you could be useful to without worry about destroying them in the process. Then this flower came along and like a lost puppy gave you unconditional love. The problem is...how do you reciprocate that? Is it better to hold onto them as hard as you can, or to let them go? If I let her go we'll probably drift apart, but evidently trying to keep her close isn't working either...

"Daisy, I..." A sigh escapes her lips as she looks at her hand.

Well, whatever the case, I'm a liability to these people as-is, and I clearly misread how things were between me and her. Wish I could actually write, because I can't read my own feelings well enough to use spoken word...Well, I can at least try to scrape something into a sheet of scrap metal when I get back. I owe it to Daisy and these people to at least finish the job I agreed to take on. The rest can wait.

"...I don't know, can we? Evidently I completely misunderstood something that took all of a week for this other guy to figure out." She takes the offer all the same. "If you want to try again, sure, but right now I'm going to make things worse if I keep talking, so I'm going to just shut up and get back to doing the one thing I'm good at, which as it just so happens is 'destroying bad things.'"

Otherkinsey Scale
Jul 17, 2012

Just a little bit of sunshine!
Daisy Vivre
Venomrail Station: Information Hub

AP: 4
Condition: Normal-ish

"I understand. It can be an effort, and this isn't the place to do that work. We'll talk when we get back to the ship. Until then, just remember: I have nothing but patience, and you can do anything, treasure." Okay, so I haven't gotten over this case of hero worship yet.

With that, Daisy wanders over to Barrier and Sawyer. "Hey, so I missed the interrogation. Is she cooperating, or did you want me to shove her in a broom closet?" When someone tells Daisy the tech cooperated, she releases most of the vines, but leaves her arms bound and her legs shackled together. Enough to walk, not enough to run.

"Oh yeah, and Peebee?" She says to Barrier. "I told Eagle you said hi, and he said I should buy you a beer for getting that guy off my back. After this I was gonna see what Task could mix up if I give her the ingredients, wanna come with?"

Plutonis
Mar 25, 2011

Sawyer

HP: 11/13
AP:2


"WRIGGLY ARM TAKES US TO SUPPLY DEPOT, OPEN DOOR, SHOW US WHERE GOODS ARE. THAT'S THE DEAL." Sawyer grunts at Daisy while keeping a good eye at the hostage Reploid. Without the vines she could still try something stupid after all...

Moriatti
Apr 21, 2014

"Wait you think the supplies are stored here? We just manage the trains! And it's already left..."
She motions to the monitor showing departure times, an blinking listing indicates:

code:

LST-012: EARLY DEPARTURE

ElegantFugue
Jun 5, 2012

Spring Hyenard
Information Hub
Normal Condition
2 AP


---

With the situation sounding sufficiently defused to not result in his retirement, Hyenard cautiously inches back over to the group as they work with the snake-armed lady.

Moriatti posted:

She motions to the monitor showing departure times, an blinking listing indicates:
"Ooh, Legion tends to be pretty bad about keeping the trains running on time, nice wor- oh. Oooh. Oh shoot. Uh... Do you have any other trains we could try hijacking instead to catch up with and hijack the first train? A maintenance shuttle on the same line or something?"
As he's forming the sentences, he realizes how ridiculous they sound, and his voice wavers a bit, but he presses on. No time to waste!

Moriatti
Apr 21, 2014

"You think so? I work hard on- oh, y-yeah, I think there's a VIP train fixed to the same rail, but it's not prepped- Wait..."
The humanoid's eyes grew wide as she looked over at the terminal.

code:

LST-00X START-UP INITIATED

"But that's not..."

Ignite Memories
Feb 27, 2005

Polar Barrier
Venomrail Station: Information Hub


"Perfect!" Polar Barrier says, gesturing toward Sawyer. "My comrade and I are Very Important Pseudoroids."

He waves his friends toward the door. "Come, friends, if we hurry we can still catch up to the supply shipment."

Otherkinsey Scale posted:

"Oh yeah, and Peebee?" She says to Barrier. "I told Eagle you said hi, and he said I should buy you a beer for getting that guy off my back. After this I was gonna see what Task could mix up if I give her the ingredients, wanna come with?"

"Sounds like a plan - hopefully our bartender friend is feeling up to the... assignment."

Ignite Memories fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Apr 20, 2019

Ignite Memories
Feb 27, 2005

quote =/ edit

Otherkinsey Scale
Jul 17, 2012

Just a little bit of sunshine!
Daisy Vivre
Venomrail Station: Information Hub

AP: 4
Condition: Normal

Ignite Memories posted:

"Sounds like a plan - hopefully our bartender friend is feeling up to the... assignment."

In 200 years, if she lives that long, Daisy will drop a bag of seeds as she suddenly gets this joke. Presently, she just says "Great!" before proceeding through the door to the next room as he waves her through.

"Come on, mes canards! We might still be able to catch our train!" she yells back to the rest of the group. Probably shouldn't be taking point, but it turns out the really painful position is being in the middle.

ElegantFugue
Jun 5, 2012

Spring Hyenard
Information Hub
Normal Condition
2 AP


---

"Right, let's move!" Hyenard agrees, and then immediately turns to the snake-armed lady. "Wanna come with? We don't have trains, but we do have an airship, and also we're less evil. If not, I can put you in a quick Spring Wrap if you want, so it looks like you were under duress when we came through. It'll be a little snug, but it should hold up fine as long as you don't push against it TOO hard." He helpfully forms a demonstratory spring in his palm.

Moriatti
Apr 21, 2014

"What do you mean less evil? You're looking to hijack a train headed to supply relief aide?"

ElegantFugue
Jun 5, 2012

Spring Hyenard
Information Hub
Normal Condition
2 AP


---

Shaking his head, Hyenard explains, "From what we've heard, Legion is planning to TAKE those supplies from communities, not deliver them- not to the communities, at least. They've always been happy to strip the outer regions to the bone as long as it kept the central cities well-stocked, so I guess they just decided to take it a step further."

Moriatti
Apr 21, 2014

Her eyes widen with the accusation, but she glances back at Sawyer and realizes she has no choice but to follow.

Otherkinsey Scale
Jul 17, 2012

Just a little bit of sunshine!
bump

Current Objective posted:

"Once inside the Routing Center, figure out where those supplies are being rerouted (and make sure fuel for our ship is among them) and radio back to us, we'll rendevouz with you along the way, once you've commandeered the train or car in question."

Unknown Quantity
Sep 2, 2011

!
Steven? Steven?!
STEEEEEEVEEEEEEEN!
Secondary bump, should be the last one needed.

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Moriatti
Apr 21, 2014

Ok, I have the software to continue making stuff on my back-up computer and I'm almost at a point I can resume again after some personal life hick-ups so this SHOULD be the last bump before content resumes.

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