Characters:
Iona, Yahweh, Nazareth, Saul, Franky, Lacie
Unique NPCs:
| Title | Grady's Luck - Part 1 |
|---|---|
| Scene Synopsis | A Wastelander claims to know a big secret… |
| IC Date | 9 February, 2194 |
| OOC Date | 30 July, 2009 |
| Logger | Pluto |
New Texas City: Virginia Point
It's a beautiful day in Texas. That doesn't really help to alleviate any of the dirt-poor conditions present everywhere in New Texas City, but at least there's a bit of a breeze keeping things from getting too stagnant and odiferous. An older gentleman in dinged-up metal armor is sitting just outside of the Sheriff's office in an old re-fashioned lawn chair, a large cowboy hat tucked low over his forehead to shade his face. He looks asleep. Across the street, a scantily-clad woman and a shabbily-dressed man are having a somewhat heated conversation.
Just crossing the bridge from New Gav is Iona, looking a little tired. A bit of bandage can be seen wound around her abdomen, poking barely out of the bottom of her jacket. Her gait is somewhat slower than normal, and now and again she reaches up to touch her side. A lit cigarette dangles from her lips, and as she enters the Point, her eyes close in on the Police Station.
At least she's dried out, mostly, from the rain. Lacie's in a bad, bad mood. Had to get some sleep last night. Just HAD to close her eyes, and then he was gone. Even if his glasses were left behind, which she's wearing now, as the Knight stalks her way through the streets, scanning the area for anyone and everyone who might look like her intended targets. She walks like a predator, tiny… but with a strong, stiff gait that says she will attack if provoked. Best way to get out of trouble. She sweats under her leathers, her dirty blonde hair sticking to her throat and brow glistening beneath the edge of her new shades.
Nazareth's only recently returned from a trip abroad, and so like many of the wandering kind of the wastes, he's set up along the roadside a bit south of the Sheriff's office. A small black stain with rocks gathered around it simmers and smokes beside him, while his pack is currently being used as a cushion. A faded book rests in his hands, perused by glass-obscured eyes.
"Fucking shit…" Franky mumbles to himself as he prods at his side where the mediocre travelling doctor so kindly…and cheaply..stitched him up. He's taken shelter from the sun behind a section of crumbling wall that once was some form of building. Not too far down from the police station, but enough to stay out of that sheriffs hair at least until night falls.
The sleeping man emits a loud and powerful-sounding chain of snores.
"Now look here, Grady," The tramp says sharply, putting one hand on her waist and reaching up to set a hand on his chest and push him away dismissively. "I don't want nothin' to do with your worthless ass no more. And I don't believe a word out of your damned mouth."
Grady's face is turning redder by the minute. "I'm telling you, Marybeth, this is big! Now you give me my damned money. I /need/ it right now. I'm not losing this chance because of some dumb broad like you."
[ROLL] Nazareth rolls his Perception stat (7) and succeeds. (Roll Value: 7)
You paged Nazareth with 'You have the feeling the guy's telling the truth, whatever it is he's on about.'
Awe, dammit. Someone's beating up a woman. With a strange sense of chivalry, or just a need to protect her own species, Lacie turns her walk down the street in the direction of the small altercation. It'd be nice if she could just flash her Brotherhood badge and people would stand down and walk away. Possibly she will. She walks a bit closer, that tough look coming out over the rims of her glasses as she strides mainly in MaryBeth's direction, coming up on the woman's side, trying to look intimidating in her leathers, shotgun strapped across her back.
[ROLL] Franky rolls his Perception stat (8) and critically succeeds. (Roll Value: 5)
[ROLL] Iona rolls her Perception stat (7) and succeeds. (Roll Value: 7)
You paged (Franky, Iona) with 'You have no idea what the guy's going on about, but it seems he's either telling the truth or firmly believes he is.'
[ROLL] Lacie rolls her Charisma stat (7) and fails. (Roll Value: 2)
Nazareth's wandering eyes dift towards the sound of the man arguing in earnest with the woman. The edge of his mouth tugs a bit and he rises, rolling up the book and slinging his pack. He's not far, so a moment or so later he's near the pair. He doesn't start in just yet, seeing the authority figure enter the immediate vicinity.
There's a long moment of Iona just watching the exchange in front of the old police station, her brows furrowing. She squints through her dusty green goggles and takes a long drag from her cigarette, letting out an equally long exhale. "Fuck, this is against my better judgement." The girl holds her side briefly with a wince and moves over to the police station, keeping a safe distance for the moment.
A sniff of the air is given as Frank looks from side to side before rising to his feet to look up and over the crumbled wall. "Spence..is that you?" He whispers out at what appears to be nobody at all. "Huh." He grunts, lowering himself down to his little alcove once again where he begins to lace himself up in his armor as well has throw his satchel on and collect his rifle. A moment later he starts out into the street, looking up and down it suspiciously. "Something smells…" He muses…
"Yeah, right, Grady. You probably just want my caps so you can go get wasted again. Get your worthless ass a job and then we'll talk," The woman retorts, casting a somewhat-annoyed look in Lacie's direction. "Somethin' I can help you with? I hope you're not looking for hand-outs too."
Grady is looking even more agitated and wild-eyed at this blunt refusal. "Bitch, you either gimme my caps /now/, or I'm gonna put a cap in your ass right here." He reaches into his pocket and holds out the butt of a gun.
The sheriff snores again.
Lacie is doing her best to still look tough, but she won't step in until things actually get violent. Sadly, at her small stature, and not actually in her proper armor, it seems she doesn't look like enough of a threat to actually scare anyone off from committing violence. So she sighs and takes one more step forward, looking up at Grady and growling out in a low, cold voice. "I suggest you leave the lady alone and don't go worryin' about it. If she doesn't want to deal with you, that her choice. This ain't the place to be making trouble." She then looks up to MaryBeth, shaking her head. "No, lady. Just tryin' to help -you-. Men think they can take whatever the fuck they want around here."
[ROLL] Lacie rolls her Charisma stat (7) at a difficulty level of Challenging. She fails. (Roll Value: 1)
"Listen, I dunno what you're babbling about over here — but maybe one of you should turn around and leave before this gets ugly," Iona says, looking squarely at Grady. "There has to be some other way you can get caps for this scheme. Scavenging or something, right?" Iona asks logically, taking another long drag from the end of her cigarette.
[ROLL] Iona rolls her Speech skill (72%) and succeeds. (Roll Value: 35)
Nazareth's otherwise stoic expression tugs in annoyance as the heroes jump in to save the day, as per usual, "Some thin view of justice you amateurs have. For all you know he could be telling the truth." The doctor's attention swivels to the male half of the engagement, "Speak your peace, brother, you're in free territory here."
Franky stares down the street at the little attempt at social life, he attempts the read their lips for a moment but gives up trying and fills in for them when needed. "I'm a dirty girl who needs a big strong man to hold me…" Frank mutters in a womanly tone as MaryBeth's appears to speak. "Guess that's my cue." A toothy grin before he sets out down the street, noticing that Lacie looks more and more like that babe back from HQ that totally had the hots for Yahweh.
[ROLL] Nazareth rolls his Speech skill (56%) and succeeds. (Roll Value: 29)
Grady turns to look at Lacie with a scowl. "It ain't that simple. This wench has my money and I need it. If she stopped extorting me I'd get outta her lice-ridden hair right quick." Iona's words seem to cool him, however, and he grumbles and takes a step back. "Something like that." He doesn't seem too inclined to say more until Nazareth arrives. He seems to approve of the other man's words, nodding once and grinning a bit. "Thanks, man. Yeah. Yeah. I know for a fact where there's some badass tech to be found. Got it from a foolproof source. An' it's gonna make me rich."
The woman snorts. "Don't believe this asshole. He's full of it."
Lacie is about to say more but then she spots Franky coming closer. She blinks, definitely distracted a moment, besides the fight seems to have been stopped by a few other, unfamiliar people coming. Franky's just not one of them. He's more than familiar. A grim smile cuts across the Knight's features, but she doesn't quite leave yet…"Trust me, there ain't any tech around here, buddy. Best not to push yer luck…" She comments more offhandedly towards Grady, more like a professional who knows her business, not trying to bully him out of anything. But her eyes are all for Frank.
Iona's head swivels to Nazareth as she hears him speak. She rolls her eyes and pops her goggles off, letting them rest atop of her head. "You're a dick." She says simply, not in an accusatory tone — more like she's just stating a truth. Her cigarette is finished, and she tosses it to the ground and stamps it out fervently. A brief sigh issues from her lips as she looks between Grady and the waste ho, then to the swarm of people who have arrived. Her mismatched eyes bug out very briefly before she shakes her head. "You assholes are like bad pennies."
"How much is the debt?" Nazareth quickly follows up with the question, almost as by reaction. The rest of it evades his care.
Yeah, Franky did have the effect of drawing attention…probably for reasons totally different from what he'd like you to think. He was in a full-fledged rut strut towards his target, tramp lady, when the magical word hits his ears..tech or more over 'rich'. He stops. Looking almost side long to grady then to Nazareth his 'doctor' to a degree. "What's all this fuss over tech about?" He decides to probe, Lacie it appears is ignored for the moment.
"Oh, yeah?" Grady practically spits, reaching into the pocket of his grungy cloth jacket. "What's this, then?" Slowly, he pulls out and raises something metallic and laced with circuitry. "And lots more where this came from." His momentary exultation is quickly deflated, though, by Nazareth's question. He glances between the four people who have come to surround him nervously. "I, uh. I got some shit to pay off before I can leave town, see. I—"
Marybeth interrupts. "Dumb shit's got himself in debt for 500 caps to the mob. They'll ice his dumb ass if he so much as puts a toe outside this rathole neighborhood."
[ROLL] Franky rolls his Science skill (42%) and fails. (Roll Value: 41)
[ROLL] Franky rolls his Repair skill (31%) and fails. (Roll Value: 9)
[OOC] Plutonium says, "Ouch."
[ROLL] Iona rolls her Science skill (46%) and succeeds. (Roll Value: 40)
You paged Iona with 'You don't know what condition it's in, but you think it looks like a piece out of a robot.'
[ROLL] Lacie rolls her Science skill (42%) and fails. (Roll Value: 5)
Iona reaches into her pocket and takes out a crumpled back of cigarettes, holding it upside down. All that comes out is a flurry of loose tobacco. A few curses emit from the girl's lips before she tosses the empty pack over her shoulder and reaches up to scratch her dreadlocks, furrowing her brows as she further watches the exchange. As the shiny piece of metal is pulled from the man's pocket, she squints at it. "The fuck you got robot pieces for? You don't look like a scientist to me. Is that your big money scheme?"
Lacie is quiet now, studying, learning. Others are better at talking down the situation, and she's a bit more curious about what the hell the man might have. She tilts her head, studying it, not immediately recognizing it as Brotherhood stuff, but then her gifts with technology never have been that good. She folds her arms across her chest, attention split between the man and between Franky, who she's not letting go anywhere away from that cold blue gaze of her's.
Franky folds and arm over his chest to use as a perch for his other while it's attached hand rubs at his chin. "Where did you say you found this again?" He considers, not too sure that the man has nothing more than complete junk. But if this jackass is convinced it's solid tech, then perhaps other can be too….unless Franky is being duped! A wary eye gets cast onto Grady as he thinks, and yet Lacie is still ignored.
[ROLL] Nazareth rolls his Science skill (90%) and succeeds. (Roll Value: 37)
You paged Nazareth with 'It's definitely a robot part.'
[ROLL] Nazareth rolls his Repair skill (55%) and succeeds. (Roll Value: 14)
You paged Nazareth with 'It's from a Mr. Handy maintenance bot. It appears to be part of the robot's thinking circuitry.'
Nazareth rolls his eyes to look at the others assembled, keeping his head still so as not to give the appraising look. He turns the numbers in his head for a moment, looking to the woman, "Miss, what would it take to convince you to pay this man the sum he believes you owe him?" As he finishes the sentence, one arm contorts a bit to grasp at a hanging pocket of his backpack. He detaches it and opens the top flap, holding the pouch out to the woman.
[ROLL] Nazareth rolls his Barter skill (81%) at a difficulty level of Challenging. He succeeds. (Roll Value: 28)
"I could buy twenty times that much booze with 500 caps, bub," The tramp says, biting her lip. "…but fuck it. It's more'n I'll ever get out of /that/ worthless asshole." She reaches down to her waist and pulls loose a small leather pouch, tossing it (with more force than necessary) at Grady. "Now gimme my damned rotgut."
Grady looks as if he's fighting the urge to whip the gun out again, but he picks up the money nonetheless. Looking between Franky and Iona, he frowns. "Why the shit would I tell you buncha chums, anyway?" He quickly stuffs the part back into his pocket.
Yahweh strolls along near wherever this scene is taking place, one hand reaching up to scratch at the back of his head, before he yawns loudly. "Where the fuck am I now…" he grumbles to himself, eyeing his surroundings critically. "Oh, hey… there's a bunch of folks there, maybe they've seen a big oversized idiot who talks to himself a lot. Lucky to have the friends that you do, Wey."
Lacie's back stiffens, just a bit, as the money is throat. She unfolds her arms, so her left hand is free to jerk to her weapon should things really go sour, but hopefully they'll just cool off. She's no longer watching Franky, the seeming pimp and whore having gained all her attention behind her new shades. But then, they hide her eyes enough it's not fully clear where she's looking, just that her hand is closer to her gun than it was five seconds ago.
Yahweh's presence is detected fairly soon enough. Iona brightens and smiles at the man considerably, breaking her gaze away from the ensuing chaos. "Hey! I had a real nice time beating that guy to death with you. We should do that again sometime. Usually I'm on the other side of that whole thing, but, well — you saw the way he was eyeballin' me when I was down. He was going to take liberties with my 'corpse'. He had that castration coming, fair and square!" She says, then looks to Grady and Nazareth, putting her hands on her hips.
Nazareth lets out a devilish smile, sun catching in his glasses. "Thank you, miss," then he turns to her likely now jilted lover, "Now, we've all got a bit of what we've come here looking for.. Almost. Now friend, I'd like to hear some more of your tall-tale." He lifts one arm up, in it a sealed bottle of Nuka-Cola, and gestures to a spot a bit away from errant heroes.
A brow lifts as the good doctor Nazareth seems to wave his hand and all is well in the wastes. Lacie gets a look for the first time, indifference probably, as he tosses the woman a playful wink before looking back to Grady. From the looks of things the man has gotten a bit cocky with his changed fortunes. "Heh, ain't me you got to worry about cheesedick." A motion of his head is given towards Nazareth. "Seems like the doctor here just saved your ass from obscurity here in this shit hole." A look to Nazareth in the hopes that he'll play along…for the riches and stuff?
Saul has arrived.
[ROLL] Nazareth rolls his Speech skill (56%) and fails. (Roll Value: 55)
[ROLL] Franky rolls his Speech skill (31%) and succeeds. (Roll Value: 1)
"I'm gettin' the fuck outta here. Thanks for the booze, pal," Marybeth calls, strutting away from the area with a bottle under each arm.
Grady narrows his eyes a bit at Nazareth. "Look man, I appreciate you gettin' my money back from that bitch for me, but… how do I know I can trust ya?" He glances over at Franky consideringly. "I mean, I need some people that can help me out. This is dangerous shit, man. That guy. That guy looks tough. He's tough, right?"
Yahweh lifts a hand in greeting to Iona, "Yeah, was fun, we'll do it again sometime." he assures her, before spotting Lacie. H starts backpedaling immediately, before he notices Franky too! "The hell is going on." more a statement than a question, there, "Shit." he begins to approach the group once more, and is able to catch the last bit of Grady speaking, "Oh, he's a tough son of a bitch, alright! Guy is downright dangerous, capital 'D'!"
[ROLL] Yahweh rolls his Speech skill (51%) and fails. (Roll Value: 51)
[ROLL] Iona rolls her Speech skill (72%) and succeeds. (Roll Value: 42)
"Simple, friend, you can't. I'm here to make a buck just like you. I can, however, promise you that you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone with my sort of knowhow about how to make use, and more importantly, make a profit, out of little doo-dads like what you currently have stuffed in your pocket," Nazareth adds breathlessly as the posturing of the musclemen sort of falls apart.
"Oh, no! It's true, totally true." Iona says, adapting a look of fear and awe for Grady's benefit. "The last time we was all together, this guy popped another guy in the head with a rock — guy's head blew up. /No lie./" She omits the fact that Franky was actually bleeding out everywhere the last time she saw him, but little embellishments never hurt.
Lacie relaxes a touch, the man having left off any issues about the woman and no fight starting. She steps back then, watching mainly, keeping a close eye on Franky and now Yahweh since he's approaching. She seems far more concerned with that pair than the wastes driven duo that they all approached in the first place.
[ROLL] Nazareth rolls his Speech skill (56%) at a difficulty level of Easy. He succeeds. (Roll Value: 34)
Saul is taking a walk. The man is moving down through the street, one drab bag slung over a shoulder, his usual bulk of equipment strapped here and there. He has to pause when he spots a small commotion and some familiar faces, his head tilting slowly toward the gathering as he directs himself toward it.
"Yeah…?" Grady says when Yahweh approaches, seeming to know Franky. He seems pretty skeptical of the claim, though. But Iona's words, for whatever reason, make him go wide-eyed. He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, apparently. "Holy shit! A ROCK!?" He glances over at Franky with new respect, then looks back at Nazareth and nods a few times. "Yeah… yeah, okay. So I'll take you and the big guy along. You seem to know how to like… make deals, and shit. And the guy can kill people with rocks."
Yahweh glowers toward Grady for a moment, as a hand reaches over his shoulder to grab at the crowbar there, "Hey, I can kill people with crowbars…" he starts, glancing toward Franky and nodding. "Where the fuck have you been?" he adds, as an aside to his pal.
[ROLL] Yahweh rolls his Charisma stat (8) and succeeds. (Roll Value: 5)
Franky cocks his head as he hears what could only be Yahweh, a look back to the man. "The fuck have you been?" He calls out to him, as he waves him over. He diverts his attention onto Grady now, "First you have to survive the wasteland." He motions towards Yahweh, Iona, and himself. "Between the three of us we got enough firepower to take on a band of raiders. Look here, friends got a 10mm sub-machine, me I got a beautiful colt rangemaster.." A look to Iona as he considers, "And if you don't take her she'll slice your nuts off." A moment of though and a smile, "And if that's not enough, I heard a rumor that the lady back there has paramilitary experience, and is dying to tag along." A wave of his hand towards Lacie.
[ROLL] Franky rolls his Speech skill (31%) and succeeds. (Roll Value: 12)
[ROLL] Saul rolls his Perception stat (6) and succeeds. (Roll Value: 5)
[ROLL] Iona rolls her Charisma stat (6) and fails. (Roll Value: 2)
You paged Saul with 'You were listening well enough to understand that the tech this guy has is a part from a robot, and it looked pretty advanced. And you've followed things closely enough to know the guy wants to go hunt out something worth a good amount of money.'
Nazareth's eyes flit back and forth across the other faces, before turning back to Grady, "Looks like you've got a capable and eager team, brother. But i think we need to know some things about this place before we just go gallavanting into the sands."
Iona bares her teeth and lets out a 'rrrr' at Grady. Her voice cracks halfway through and she just looks embarrassed, reaching up to rub the back of her neck with a hand. "I did cut that guy's dick clean off." She points out, letting out a brief sigh. Her eyes flicker back towards Lacie, and she raises her hand in a salute to the other woman.
Saul's head cocks, an awkwardly avian motion before the man takes steps forward. "I remember you guys." It's a simple greeting, but it'll do. "You need an extra gun?" The offer is directed mostly toward the speakers, Saul's shoulder rolling once to bring attention to his beat up looking firearm. "I know how to get places."
Lacie tilts her head in Iona's direction at the salute, definitely a hint surprised, but she returns it smoothly, respectfully. She can most certainly always get behind showing respect to another professional, competent woman. There aren't enough of them out there, sadly. It's the only motion with the group she makes, though, everyone else far better at dealing with these things and she's got her eyes on her targets.
"Okay…" Grady says, taking all of the combined chatter in. Eventually he nods once. "Yeah, I guess you'll all be wantin' a piece of the profit, then. Oh well. Guess I shoulda expected that." He sighs, then reaches up to scratch his head. "Okay, I'll tell you all more about it, but… see, there's the mob to deal with, first. I gotta go pay 'em back. That dumb bitch Marybeth was right when she said they'd frag my ass." He squints again, his beady eyes traveling between those present. "Might be they'd give me a break with so many toughass folks around, though."
Yahweh distinctly avoids looking at Lacie, instead focused entirely on either Franky or Grady. "Been lookin' for your ass. Gettin' shot and stabbed and punched and kicked and all kinds of crazy shit." Yahweh says in explanation to his friend, before looking back to Grady. "I'm a tough ass. So's he. The girl really does cut off folks' dicks."
"Now friend, there's only so much we can do without knowing that you aren't just pulling our legs. That trinket is plenty impressive, but we need some insurance here," Nazareth says. "I'd just like to know what and where the place is so I know you're not planning to march out into marshland so the crab-man can turn us all into prison bitches," he adds, words falling out of his mouth with a bit of force behind them.
[ROLL] Nazareth rolls his Speech skill (56%) at a difficulty level of Challenging. He succeeds. (Roll Value: 20)
Franky ponders things for a bit as he considers Grady's request…"Uh." He blurts, then promptly shuts his mouth as Nazareth speaks up. Instead he looks to Yahweh now, "Yeah about that…." A look behind him towards lacie, giving the woman a wave of his hand. "Is she with you or what?"
Lacie actually -smiles-. But it's not really all that friendly. It's the sort of smile a predator gives towards a particularly juicy looking, but fast running bit of prey. She gives Franky a casual little wave and then tilts Yahweh's glasses down, the ones that rest on her nose. She stares at the guy over his own shades, the look both stern and questioning. If he even looks back at her, that is.
"Yeeeeah… /is/ she?" Iona asks Yahweh with a raised brow. She seems curious to know about the whole Brotherhood chick thing as well. She stretches her arms above her head and lets out a brief yawn, then pops her goggles back over her eyes, obscuring the mismatched brown and green from plain view.
"If you're lucky." Saul's response to Grady is brief, the man taking one more glance around the gathered faces. He seems to have, for all intents and purposes, decided to join the party. Weapon is patted once before it's shrugged aside again, put back into the proper place. "Sounds like some shit."
"Let's not talk about that… just, eh… don't let her get behind me if we get into a gunfight, okay? She hasn't shot me yet, so we ought to be good so far, but… y'know, better safe than sorry." Yahweh mutters aside to Franky, definitely not looking back to Lacie, or Iona for that matter, given their proximity to one another.
Grady frowns in reponse to the idea of revealing more information. However, Nazareth's smooth talking makes him reconsider. "Alright. It's an old factory up by the League City ruins, see. Upper stories of the place are all cleaned out an' shit, but…" He grins. "I happen to know the basement's untouched, and just full of toys like this. But, y'know. Still workin'."
The bottle caps in the guy's eyes are practically visible for a moment before he crosses his arms over his chest. "But I gotta pay the guys down at The Downward Spiral first. Caps won't do me shit if I'm dead."
"Indeed they won't," Nazareth intones with a smile. He then glances towards the others, "Let's go see your friends, where are they?" he asks, as if genuinely interested.
This lack of answering seems to be some sort of bizarre confirmation for Iona. She turns up her nose and lets out a tiny 'hmph' noise. Her hand is reached into her pocket, and out comes many little scraps of paper and other trash. "Damn. No more bubble gum either. Fuck! I'm out of everything. I should sell this shitty pistol I got…"
"Hey… Franky." Yahweh mutters quietly, before tilting his head discretely toward Grady. "Y'know when that tribal told us the deal was off? Remember that?" he trails off, shaking his head, "Anyhow, where we goin'?"