[EP] a rage against this toneless, flat, normal and sterile life* - backdated

[captaincorsair]

Yasmeen "refused to be bored, because she wasn't boring."**

She'd read that in a book in Gotham. But then, Gotham had a library, bookstores, and her Lady. Not being bored was a lot easier. So, when the city opened, Yasmeen all but bolted through the portal into the wet jungle heat in search of anything interesting to do.

It didn't take long for her to discover there were no airships, no weapons modern even by her standards, and very little for non-natives to do. But there was always work in a port city, even in a river port, and she knew how to find it.

On day two, she met Ek Sothea, a young woman with a gift for spotting an opportunity. By day three, she'd agreed to front her the gold for a salvage operation in the river. It barely touched the reserves of what Yasmeen had with her when she arrived from Gotham, but it was enough to finance the operation and get Yasmeen a tip on a bar by the docks where Ek Sothea had gotten the initial information and the name of the man who'd supplied it. Soksan.

The third night, she staked out the bar and by the fourth, she'd met Sar Peou and his contact Hu Chariya who needed an ancient and valuable map retrieved from the business partners who'd kept it after a deal went bad. Early on the morning of the fifth day, she'd slipped into the third floor above the Phann Raksmei bank, picked the locks on the safe chest, and obtained the map. On the evening of the fifth day, she met Sar Peou at Soksan, slipped into his back corner booth and delivered the map in exchange for a healthy payment that covered her investment in Ek Sothea's salvage operation.

Business transacted, she bought herself an ale to nurse while scoping out her next job.

~*~*~*~
* Herman Hesse, Steppenwolf
** Zelda Fitzgerald

Comments

Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[st_eadfast]

Ignis had not, despite interest in the 'city appearing in a hotel room' situation, explored said city much. It was often difficult and awkward leaving areas he knew well, especially when said areas were streets, alleys, and buildings whose threats and dangers he didn't know. So he didn't stray outside of the Inn until the fourth day.

With the unerring direction of someone who'd spent a good chunk of his life heading towards trouble rather than away from it, he found his way to the docks early on. By the evening of the fifth day he knew not only how to get there and back as well as several specific locations (taverns, mostly), he knew that people never stopped believing that a blind man couldn't possibly hit a target directly in front of him. This adorably wrong belief paired with a few small bets meant that he had both an entertaining way to spend time and a small but satisfying amount of local currency in his pocket.

An amount which increased (via coins clinking on a nearby table) as soon as he threw his last dart and heard the sound of it hitting board. It was probably lucky that most in this city were either inclined not to fuss about minor hustles or were intelligent enough to know that picking a fight wouldn't end well.

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[st_rontium]

MacCready had been watching Options Other Than Chicken hustle for like twenty minutes now. It was... Okay, for one he didn't know how the fuck he'd missed that Options was actually blind. Like the scars and stuff were pretty obvious, but he'd seen people with messed up scars that were perfectly fine before.

Watching Options throw darts was friggen masterful, really. He clearly knew his way around...uh...projectiles and-

"Fuck it," MacCready muttered under his breath, picking up his tankard and walking over. "I need to know your name so I stop calling you Options in my head."

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[st_eadfast]

The approaching footsteps weren't surprising, but Ignis couldn't help a faint smile when the cigarette-smoke smell and familiar voice followed them. "Options, is it? I've been called worse." He swept the small pile of winnings off the table and into a pocket. "I'm Ignis. And I believe I should have a name instead of Smoker Probably A Farmer, as well."

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[st_rontium]

MacCready could count on one hand the number of people who smiled when they saw him or...er, well, okay recognized him he guessed. He didn't know if that was a reflection on him or the fact that he tended to hang out with people not prone to smiling. Both probably. "MacCready, actually a sniper," he said. "The whole farmer thing it...ain't exactly common knowledge."

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[captaincorsair]

"Impressive," came a lazy half-drawl from his right side and behind. Since their first meeting, Yasmeen had developed something of a fondness for the blind bodyguard and cook. "How are you with surprise attacks?" It was not a threat, as she certainly didn't mean to attack him.

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[st_eadfast]

"I'm rarely surprised." Most people relied on their eyes, and when something struck that they couldn't see: surprise. Ignis generally heard something, smelled something, felt something in the air or space, just enough ahead of time not to be caught flat-footed. "So, well enough for most purposes."

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[captaincorsair]

Yasmeen stepped up beside him, close enough for their shoulders to touch for a moment before making space between them. She intended it to serve as acknowledgment or approval, since she rarely put such things into words. "What about fighting in unknown terrain, or navigating it?"

[st_ockandbarrel]

Percy had found that some things, like fine liquor, held their value even across worlds. Trading away one of his bottles of whiskey had not been his first choice, but it had netted a bit of gold. Still, he and Vax had agreed that they would continue to look for some sort of work.

The docks seemed a good place to begin, so he entered the tavern and found a seat, listening to the chatter around him to get a sense of the room.

[captaincorsair]

"Percival, isn't it?" Yasmeen offered on her approach. She had two ales in hand, one obviously intended for him as she nodded to the space opposite him with an eyebrow raised in inquiry. "Captain Corsair, or more rarely Yasmeen." She didn't doubt that Vax'ildan would have mentioned her as an ally shortly upon his arrival, but they'd yet to make a formal acquaintance.

Anyone who knows Len, I'm not fussed

[st_icetomeetyou]

As soon as the city had opened up, Len was out of there. A change of scene was what he needed, plus markets meant that there was an option to sell off random nicknacks he'd managed to acquire in his weeks in the hotel. It was amazing how much trade you could undertake if you tried.

But after two days, Len was beginning to run out of contacts to make. Depressingly, most people didn't seem too interested in trading with him. Possibly his reputation preceded him. Taking a group of the natives to the cleaners in a dice game tended to do that. He managed to get served in a bar, but the looks being thrown in his direction were... interesting. They'd just have to deal with it.

Re: Anyone who knows Len, I'm not fussed

[st_everybodylives]

"You make friends everywhere you go don't you," River had been through the portal early as well, but she'd avoided attention by making small deals that were lucrative for both sides and stealing only smaller items that wouldn't be missed until she was long gone.

The humidity was playing havoc with her hair so it was pulled back and she was in her traveling clothes and she thought of the clothes she had arrided at the inn in.

Re: Anyone who knows Len, I'm not fussed

[st_icetomeetyou]

"It's a talent," he admitted with a shrug. "You're not doing your job right if you don't make enemies." At least, that's what he'd tell himself, and for the most part it was true. "They'll get over it."

Re: Anyone who knows Len, I'm not fussed

[captaincorsair]

"On the warm side for Captain Cold, isn't it?" Yasmeen flashed a sharp smile of acknowledgment, one that might have been an invitation, if they hadn't already done that dance.

Re: Anyone who knows Len, I'm not fussed

[st_icetomeetyou]

He wrinkled his nose a little. "Just a little, but I can always chill it down later," he pointed out. The joys of that gun of his, after all. "At least there are opportunities here, better than the hotel." He might not go back.

Open, Tag Yas

[st_everybodylives]

River found the bar with little difficulty, and the man who she was to meet with even less. Their transaction took less than ten minutes, no haggling, she produced payment as promised and he handed her a small bag.

She checked the contents, nodded and the man scurried off lest she change her mind about the trade.

Then she tucked the pouch in a pocket and ordered a drink.

Re: Open, Tag Yas

[st_abby]

The whole scenario was too amusing for Vax'ildan not to approach the woman with the voluminous reddish-gold ringlets - that they should be neighbors who had never quite been formally introduced, that they'd both chosen to enter the glowing portal to gods-know-what, and then tumbled into the same tavern at the same time after all of that. He was professionally curious, too, at whatever transaction he might've witnessed between her and the man with the bag. Vax had watched sidelong, and at a distance, when he'd seen the fellow approach the familiar woman before he could, becoming one more patron save a few extra dark feathers. But now she was on her own again, man having scampered off in haste, and Vax knew a time to cut in when he saw it.

No sooner had her glass been set on the bar and the barkeep turned away than the wiry half-elf all in black came up beside her, casual as anything. "You came quite a-ways for a drink. They've got a bar where we're from, you know."

Re: Open, Tag Yas

[st_everybodylives]

"More than one," River agreed, giving the young man an assessing glance before sipping her drink. She recognized him as well, though she didn't know his name.

"But then that assumes I came all this way just for a glass of aggressively mediocre ale." And, she hadn't.

Re: Open, Tag Yas

[captaincorsair]

A woman with the kind of confidence and swagger this one projected inevitably would draw Yasmeen's attention, since they were still rare in the world from which she'd come, and she'd learned to see in it the prospect of a kindred spirit. Yet this one arrived, did a deal, and went immediately to chat with Captain Cold. Even if she hadn't been in this particular bar when Yasmeen had received a commission for which she needed a crew, she would have been intrigued.

After waiting until the woman went to the bar for a fresh drink, Yasmeen approached and leaned against the bar beside her. "Friend of Cold's or just appreciating the scenery?"

Re: Open, Tag Yas

[st_everybodylives]

"I don't know that he actually has friends," River glanced at the other woman, but for all that it was brief it was assessing. "Though the scenery isn't half bad."

[st_rontium]

As it turned out, two hundred year old funnel cake and a bottle of Bobrov's best was actually enough to get him some gold. That was weird as shit, by the way. Who used gold for currency? It was junk. Yeah, some people could make some decent stuff with it, but for the most part it just weighed you down.

What he wanted most of all out of this whole messed up thing was his room back. That was the only reason he was in this world without ammo or sense. Someway, somehow, he was going to get his room back. It sucked even more that stupid fuckin' Darryl had put him in the room next door so he got to listen to everyone else going through his room to get to this dumb place. He felt weirdly violated. And, yeah, admittedly a little childish like he was throwing a mental temper tantrum over something that was arbitrarily assigned to him in the first place. Thing was it'd been arbitrarily assigned perfectly and he just didn't feel comfortable in the new one.

What he really wanted to do was shoot something. He wasn't often given to violence for violence's sake, but he sure as shit was pissed off enough to want to right about now.

[captaincorsair]

This one, she'd seen around the Inn from time to time, though they'd never had cause to speak. She'd seen him with Vax'ildan and Vax'ildan's companion, which made good enough reason to see what he was doing in a place like this. So when he next bellied up to the bar and walked past her, she made eye contact, lifted her chin and then tipped her head to the empty seat across from her. Either he'd come or he wouldn't, and if he didn't she'd ask Vax'ildan about him and see if it was worth another effort.

[st_rontium]

It took MacCready a moment to realize that she was doing the chin thing at him and not someone else. Shrugging, he grabbed his drink and came over, pretty sure he'd seen her around the hotel before. He caught the chair with his foot and sat down smoothly in it. "Alright?"

Yasmeen + OTA

[st_abby]

Vax'ildan didn't know what it was about this bar, that so many from the inn had trickled through its doors since the portal had opened - was it the closest? Was it the cleanest? Had the owner scrawled 'WELCOME OFF-WORLDERS' in Common on the shingle hung outside? But it was enough that Percy had made mention of it, and that taverns were good places to find work on any world. The inn gave them a roof over their heads and food in their bellies, but there were other things people needed - leather treatments and a pretty dress for a pretty woman, adventure, those sorts of things - that a job found here might help provide.

So he smiled pleasantly at the bartender as he took up a stool, and brought out several of the precious few coins remaining on his person from Exandria to see if he couldn't barter for a drink and a lead both.

Re: Yasmeen + OTA

[captaincorsair]

"Put away your coin, Vax'ildan," came the lazy, predatory drawl from behind and to his right at a booth a few feet away. "You won't need it tonight. Drinks are on me." His were, anyhow, since without Raleigh, Snow or Dyson, he was the closest she had to crew.

The barkeep heard and speedily obeyed, bringing the young man his beverage of choice, with a nod that passed for pleasant, best to be expected in a place like this one.

"Join me?"

Re: Yasmeen + OTA

[st_abby]

Vax did just that, with his company and coin both. "Captain Corsair," he named her as he turned, ready with a smile. He took his common ale and made his way to the booth, lifting it to her before somehow spilling himself gracefully sideways to sit across from her. "Why am I not surprised?"