Ison looked over at Taffy. There was something odd about the way she looked at him. Was it resentment, or was it just simple annoyance. Either way it was clear that the raccoon girl was not at all to thrilled at his presence. He took several steps off to the side, alininging himself in front of Taffy. "Ison Blackweller," he said with a sincere smile on his face. He has seen her once or twice, but to his knowledge this was the first time the two had spoken to one another. The mood was tense though, despite this being a simple greeting. Ison tried to lighten it up a bit, "It is nice to meet you! Not nobody talks to me much, heh heh, guess everyone thinks I'm the weird one huh?" He laughed awkwardly and began to rub the back of his head with his left hand. That didn't work as well as he thought it would. He looked back over at Taffy, "So, Taffy..." His voice trailed off as he wasn't sure what to say next. He felt as if he was being put on the spot which, combined with his lack of social skills, made him a very nervous kitty.

ooc:
Pardon my absence the last few days.  Things have been moving at an accelerated pace here, jobs piling up and distractions taking up any free time I have.  I think things should calm down in a week or so, in the mean time would people like me to move the plot forward to an over-night encampment scene?  This would get everyone into one place and allow interaction rather then relying on the Brownian motion to bring characters together.  Any thoughts?

Sounds fine to me, Miss Reeeeithe! 😛

(OOC: Sounds ok to me too! Go for it.)

OOC: Sure thing, Reithe; I'll just wrap up this encounter here and I'm ready to go.

IC:
Taffy stared at Ison - for that was his name - for several moments.  He looks so much like...

But she finally noticed the cat's discomfort as he rubbed the back of his neck with a hand.  She huffed and went to sit on the far end of the log.  Is that why it annoys me to see him so much?

"Look, let me just make this clear now: you get hurt, I put you back together."  She plopped onto the log and crossed her arms, curling her tail over the log as she glanced back at Ison.  "Just the same as anyone else.  So try keeping my job easy and keep from getting injured in the first place, you dig?"

Why am I being so sarcastic?  It's not like he deserves this...I'm such an idiot.  Taffy regretted being so "catty" toward Ison, but she couldn't bring herself to actually apologize.  She could, however, effectively end the conversation by turning away from him and waiting for someone else to arrive to break the tension.

And once the others arrived, it was off on the trek that would take them through the Great Forest...and to the campsite where they would spend their final night there before entering the accursed city of Robotropolis.

OOC:  Sorry about the wait, the endless job hunts were draining me.

"Ahoy ahoy" rang a voice from behind the group.  Taffy and Ison turned to see Max walking towards them, a large backpack on her back and a duffel bag in her hands.  She'd changed clothes since the meeting; now she was sporting a look that could best be described as 'pouches'.  Pouches on her pants, her vest and a bandoleer she had strapped around her chest.  "You guys weren't thinking about leaving little yer ol' buddy Max behind, were ya Taffy?"

Taffy rolled her eyes at the approaching mad bomber.  Max only grinned wider, having gotten the reaction she wanted out of the stick-in-the-mud.  She noticed the grey-furred cat next to her, the one that had been crying at the meeting.  What was his name again...  Ah, whatever.  Time to mess with him.

"Hey, nervous guy!" she called out.  Ison looked around, surprised, then pointed to himself questioningly.  "Yeah, you.  Mind carrying this bag of explosives for me?"  Without waiting for a reply, Max tossed the duffel bag at him.  Ison shifted into panic mode and lunged for the bag, catching it while on one foot.  For a couple seconds, he hopped around to correct his balance, then got both feet down on the ground.  Max laughed as Ison looked at her with a mixture of horror and panic, a look shared by everyone else who had witnessed it.

"Are... are you crazy?" Ison shouted.  "You almost blew me up!"

"Nah," Max chuckled.  "That bag has the shape charges.  Harmless until you put the fuse in."  Max gave him a huge grin as he shifted around nervously, unsure of what to do with the bag of high explosives in his hands.  She turned her attention to Taffy.  "So hey, Taff, how's it going?  Really glad you're coming with us.  This wouldn't feel right unless you were around to stitch me up, eh?"  Max slapped Taffy on the back and chuckled.

(OOC: XDXD Priceless, Castor. I could just see it. XD  Hmm...not sure what to add...but I have to do SOMETHING...)

IC:

Pir stopped abruptly in her tracks as she entered the clearing.  The demo-mouse was throwing around bags of explosives. Great...Maybe this WASN'T the greatest idea...maybe I should just go home...  She shook her head resolutely.  No.  They NEED my experienced hiding techniques and hightened danger sense... She took another aprehensive glance at the mouse. Then again...my danger sense might get lots of false alarms if she's gonna do THAT all the time...

TBC

(OOC: Bleh.  All I could come up with. Sorry. *shrug*)

Nari wasn't too far off when the people began reassembling at this point. He had noticed upon arrival a bag of some sorts being tossed-- apparently full of explosives to the nervous one-- the one who was tear-eyed during the actual assembly itself. That seems like a great idea. The sarcastic thought left his mind almost as quick as it came as he approached the group. A sack of rations slung over his shoulder and more accurately strapped for any said encounters-- which included a ornate whistle slung around his neck, initially in his tribe used as to signal other units. As well, two or three tomahawks-- two smaller than the third lay strapped on his belt, holstered-- modified for dealing with both organic's and robotic's for a few years. But between that... he was pretty light. Quite unlike the demolitions expert.

He sighed, wiping his nose as he chuckled lightly.

Taffy groaned.  The raccoon knew Max pretty well - that came with the territory when you had to stitch someone up umpteen times because they were just a little too close to their own explosives.  Despite how their personalities clashed - or perhaps because of it - Taffy did feel a little better having someone else along that she knew.  This was, however, the first mission that she'd ever gone on with the demolitions expert...and that actually made her a little nervous.

Which made her irritable, as usual.

"I'll be just fine, Max, if you keep yourself in one piece this time - and the rest of us too!"

All that did was make Max chortle to herself, as Taffy could have guessed.  At other times, Taffy would have been more friendly about it, but she'd already gotten irritated with herself earlier with Ison - and she wanted more than ever to get on with this expedition.

Then the other, quieter raccoon showed up - Taffy thought she remembered his name being Nari, but she didn't know him very well personally.  And that was another source of irritation; not that she didn't know him, but that others often assumed that she would know other raccoons just because they happened to be the same species.  She waved over at him politely, but was beginning to wonder whether who would blow their fuses first - Max, or herself.

"Are we missing anyone?" Taffy thought to ask.

(OOC: Still a little low on ideas, so this may be short again. *shrug* )

IC:

Noticing that the mouse was no longer playing hot potato with her explosives, Pirraya relaxed somewhat and emerged fully into the clearing. Setting down her small bundle, she glanced around at the other volunteers for this suicide mission. I hope I'm not getting in over my head here... She sat down, trying to relax, though her ears kept moving of their own accord and her tail twitched with nervous energy.

"So...uh...guess this is it, huh?"

TBC

(OOC: Gah. Reni keeps trying to get herself into this. NO, Ren. Yer not allowed this time!)

ooc;
OMG! I live again! I am so sorry about being absent for so long everyone! Between collage starting up, a new kitchen going in and sick chickens to look after I've just been on overload the last few weeks >.<  On top of that I've been de-stressing through WoW and I think my addiction is creeping back in, which is not conjunctive to a productive lifestyle (trust me on this).  Canceled my subsciption about three days ago, just in case but I'm worried all the same.

Thankyou all so much for sticking with it while I was gone, I'm relieved it hasn't completely vanished off the face of the net.

I really want to get back into this, but for that I need to get a rhythm going.  I've started trying to put together the next post but something always just gets in the way, or I get pulled into something or my concentration fails to materialise out of the gloom.  If all goes to plan I'm hoping to have a draft done by this weekend providing I can get my head right long enough. It has just been so hectic ^_^

Plan is to rap things up at knothole and get the party on the move asap.  We're still technicaly in the prologue and now I've had chance to rethink awkward parts of the plot I kinda know where I'm going with the story as a whole.  Don't want to rush things too much though, pluss I need to re-read all the activity that I've missed the last few weeks >.<

Anywho, hope you can put up with me a little longer.  IF you don't see hide nor hair of me before Sunday, drop me a pm.  The marker email should remind me to update if I've lost track of time or something ^.^' (three smileys in one post! woot!)

Thats me for the night.

Can't brain , have dumb.

 Thanks 😉 (FOUR! YAY!)

{{ No prob - we believe in you! =D }}

(As patient as I can be, I think a month is pretty sharp from what I'm used to. Figure we should get some development in the meantime, right? Everyone is still here, right? Right?)

Nari glanced to the other raccoon and then to Pirraya, the ones who had some semblance of conversation in them. Nari wasn't used to that, the most out of speaking he got was on escort jobs. He commented back to Taffy. "Seems to be. But that can't be if we aren't moving." his voice was neutral, almost apathetic or more accurately disconnected. He took a light breath, "So, then-- what now?"

IC:

Pir rummaged in her pack, bringing out a small dagger and a strip of leather.  She willed her tail to stop twitching as she grabbed it and attached the strip of leather near the tip, sliding the hilt of the dagger in between the leather and her tail.  If they were going to be going into the hostile city, she wanted to be able to protect both her back and her front...her back slightly more than her front.  There was a scabbard attached to the dagger...so that she wouldn't accidentaly hurt herself or one of the party while there was no immidiate need of the knife...but she could pull it off quickly enough.  She also strapped a couple switchblades to the back of her hands, closing the blades for the time being. She wasn't sure what good knives would do against robots, but it was all she had.

TBC

oc; so. After a bout of insomnia, a change of pills and a three day long panic attack about the colours used on my main project not being ‘purple enough’ (I’m not kidding I ended up crying over this and I’ve haven’t a clue why), I think I might be back at last with most of my sanity intact! YAY Shiny Rei rei! I am really sorry about my extended leave of absence gone round the bend disappearance thin-gamy everyone, but I really think I'm back on track now and feel as though I am once again in control of this life thingy. I am hoping to update at least twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays for the time being, rather than burning myself out in one weekend like I did last time.

As for game; what happens now is really up to the group. I believe Vi has some stuff to do whist in camp for the night, so why don't we say that this rendezvous is near the caves were you'll be bunkering down till first light? Unless anyone wants to do anything else we'll then press on to the dank dark sewers of the oppressed capital where danger and adventure await! YAY!

ic;

Around the small clearing ears prickled and turned towards the almost imperceptible path leading back to the village.

Civilisation is much like a sandcastle. It is a wonderful concept until it is put into practice, where upon it becomes clear that the grandiloquent dream is in fact a soggy misshapen mass. Another similarity within this analogy* is the trend of naturally occurring attrition, nature always self corrects. Just as the sea eventually reclaims the sand, ‘civilised-evolution’ eventauly reclaims old unused instincts. For instance in mobian society, most have lost their natural ability to move cairfuly through their once native terrain. Once upon a time stealth was a common attribute of the diminutive species, but these days it was a skill and something that didn’t come easily for the once city bound culture. Thus they become somewhat ‘noticeable’, especially to their own kin. To the gathering of new teammates, it sounded as though an elephant was crashing its way through the undergrowth. Flix clearly thought otherwise, emerging from the forest with a sly look of a card shark with the ace of spades up his sleeve.

His reply to Pirr’s observation started slightly louder then nessercery. “Certainly looks that way my dear.”

Not even Ison flinched, Flix could be ‘noticed’ from the opposite side of the village in a thunderstorm. What hadn’t been expected was the three backpacks balanced atop a large munitions crate he and the Hawk ‘Mobius Springheart’ were carting between them. Sally walked alongside the two, weighed down by several heavy shoulder bags.

“Sorry it took so long,” the princess panted, gently placing the bags on the ground before letting the straps drop “setting up the first squad took longer than I thought it would.”

Turning to address the group, sally gestured to Flix to open the heavy metal box. Resting on a rolled up tarp were several sleek weapons of the old world. Metallic, menacing, they were relics of a time before the great war when mobians had fought in trenches instead of watching from afar as robots decimated their enemies. Few in the group had ever seen one before though it was common knowledge that a few survived in knothole’s vault. Crude burnt polish had been rubbed into the weapons silvered surface long ago, blackening the sheen that would have spelled death for anyone wielding it on a dark night. Even from this distance the weapons seemed to extrude an air of empty pitilessness, as though they were reaching out to their audience pleading to be used once more.

“Sally-girl promised you would be coming back.” Flix pronounced “And you know I would not be committing these to you unless I was sure you could succeed. These six are the last remaining old world weapons we have. They belonged to the special forces that used to operate out of the village. Each bears the name of its master and has probably killed a dozen men or more in the name of king and country. Now we pass them to you. Two are rail guns, quick to fire and they pack enough punch to cut through steel. Two are scatter shots, loud but brutal at close range, they can crush a swatbots chest plate flat. The last two are N-bows, they may look like old crossbows but they have something of an explosive kick to them. You’ve got enough ammo for two clips each, or five shots for the bows”

“Along with those we’ve brought four portable terminals.” Sally said, indicating the bags as she joined the inventory speech “Only one of them is complete though, the others are cobbled together from whatever Rotor could scrounge. You might have to do some feild repairs on the others. The provisions in those backpacks should last the better part of a week, four with rationing and with any luck your underground contact will know where to find more.”

As Flix moved to her side, the leader of the rebellion paused to look around the clearing, ensuring there wasn’t anything she had forgotten to mention. “I think,” She said cautiously “That might be it.”

With an air of gratitude and the utmost respect, Sally surveyed the vollentears “You are about to embark on a very dangerous undertaking. As your leader your leader I salute you and wish you all good hunting. As your friend... I ask you only to come back to us, whether the job is done or not. Regardless of how important the mission may be, I have known many of you for more then half my lifetime, and I cannot abide another loss to our small family here. Thankyou. All of you.”

Beside here Flix slid stiffly to attention and ripped off a perfect salute “Good luck chaps. And if you happen to catch Jerry with his trousers down, make sure you give him a bally good kicking from us.”

*other than a habit of attracting bands of ‘less civilised’ denizens, whom often take objection and proceed to jump up and down on hours of meticulous shovel work.

(OOC: Welcome back!  XD I definitely see Pratchet influence in your writing (this is a good thing) via footnote usage.

However, My reply post will have to be done later, as I just finished the last day of NaNo (did not succeed, but I did reach my adjusted goal of 18k words) and I'm all writing'd-out for now.  Plus my hand hurts. Anyway, good to see you back, and I THINK I still remember what I want to write...I just can't do it right now.)

{{ Oh, sweet - Welcome back, Rei! I didn't add anything to my last post since I like to leave some things up in the air. XD; I'll post something soon! <3 }}

OOC: Welcome back rei, you get no ill will from me about being gone, in fact I'm kinda grateful. I too was away and was worried that this one might get too far ahead. Anyways I'll see if I can whip something up to my character back in action!

oc; Good to see you're all still interested ^_^

I kept wrestling with the idea of introducing these ops'weapons, and I've
decided that they will give the group a more realistic chance of survival once
you start encountering the bigger gribbles in this place.  Also, they are
not a 'replacement ' for any weapons players gained during Character creation, those should remain your primary. Effectively
you now have two rail-guns (rifle-esk) , two Scatter shots (shotguns, fire wide
burst instead of thin beam of the railgun) and two n-bows (crossbows with
explosive arrows).  Pick whichever one you want from the pile.  Each
is embezzled with the name of its creator, so give them whatever names you see
fit.  Ammo wise; the rifles and shotguns use MFCells and are
interchangeable.  Railguns have fifteen
shots per cell, ScatterShot have eight. 
The arrows come in racks of five. 
You also have two sets of extra ammo for each ops'weapon as well as the current
load (so that’s one extra reload per character).  Be aware that although
they are eficant and powerful; ammo for them is very scarce.  That being said I'm not going to stop you
using them however you wish.  If you feel your character would use their wep
in a certain situation then go with your instincts.  Also keep in mind
that your characters have never fired one of these before so it is likely to
come as a shock first time, they
are as much weapons of fear as they are of weapons of war.  

Below are some details:

Railgun: Double gripped with an elongated barrel and protruding
muzzle over the end.  The over proportioned
scope allows for quick x2 target reference (Unsuitable for long ranged targeting).  When fired a streaking blue beam lances from
the muzzle.

ScatterShot; Elongated and bulky, trigger grip is housed
within superstructure that encases the four arm of the user, balancing gip juts
out from the side to low for steady aiming. When fired emits a bursting ripple
of bright blue tracers, like a mortar firework going off at the open end of the
wide gaping barrel. 

N-Bow; Metallic, futuristic side loading crossbow with fold
up sights and thick comfortable handle running the length of its belly.  Can use regular crossbow ammo but is provided
with high explosive rounds, making it an effective grenade launcher.  Weight of specialised ammo requires wielder
to aim above target to compensate for curved flight path.

think thats everything I can think of for now.  See you all soon ^_^

Mobius almost smiled at the small stash of weaponry that lay before him - oh, it was definately not that he was overly familiar with the particular types...it was just that this was almost an admission that there was going to be an interesting and dangerous time ahead dealing with what lay before them - what was to come.

Casting an eye over the gleaming pile of firepower, both subtle and not so much so, he picked each gun up in turn and weighed them in accordance to how most he felt comfortable and how much he himself would work best - his usual MO was to go with the stealthier approaches with weaponry, but if he needed to go en masse with a little oomph, then so be it. Nothing wrong with a little something with kick now and then!

After giving much consideration to the range of toys, his gaze fell back upon the Arrows - he remembered roughly some time with a less sophisticated bowgun in days gone by, and it made him smirk as he realised that this was his more spiritual and working choice...his mind was drawn to the sniping appeal of a silent arrow, and the emerging appeal of the higher range Explosive ammo that was sat beside it, gleaming temptingly.

Still, this was heavy duty - he knew that this was going to be rough, that injuries and fatalities were ever likely with each round of ammo fired...both with the receiver and the user. This wasn't something to take too lightly, and he forced the smile to disappear...reminding himself that this was a mission, that there were lives and freedoms at stake...and that he was here to do a job, and to do it with no remorse to the best of his personal ability.

" Well, I guess this is what my choice is gonna be, at any rate! " He said, picking up one of the two kits available...satisfied in both his choice, and that he was remaining as grounded in his approach as possible. There weren't any target practices or second chances on battlefields, and he silently vowed to himself that he was either leaving on foot in one piece after this was done - successful - or he wasn't coming back at all.

"Wait." Max said, a glimmer in her eyes.  "So what you're saying is that the bow fires explosions?  That I can make things explode over there while I'm standing right here?  Me right here, explosion over there, and I don't have to touch or slap or throw anything to do it?"

There was a brief moment of incredulous silence from the others as the mouse (who could best be described as 'glowing' at that moment) screamed "DIBS!", lunged toward the crate and grabbed the N-Bow, hugging it as if it was a long-lost best friend.

"Oh man, this is great!  So does it explode big or small?  Is it
fragmentation or incendiary?  Is it timed or triggered or proximity oh who cares it
fires explosions!"  Max giggled as she twirled around with the N-Bow, dancing around the increasingly perturbed group of Freedom Fighters.  Finally, something I can use that doesn't involve me being close to the things I wanna blow up!  She was very aware of how silly she looked right now, but she had just been handed a solution to her biggest weakness and she wasn't going to let something like embarrassment ruin the moment for her. 

"Oh, you and me are gonna have SO MUCH FUN together!"

Something on the tabby cat’s features shifted.  The cheese eating grin remained, but now twitched
as though he was sporting a sour oyster under his tong.

“Well I know your excited and all that, Max old girl. But
do be careful with that thing.  We’re not
entirely sure on the yield.”

This got a puzzled look from the ecstatic mouse, how
could you not know what the explosive potential of such a weapon? There was
only a finite amount of space within each bolt after all.

Flix coughed and continued into an explanation, “Ahh, you
see we believe the technology used to make the explosive heads was some what...
experimental at the time they were forged. They were tested of course when we first
uncovered the weapon cash, but the results were mixed to say the least.  Shockingly unpredictable.  It seems as though the material that the core
has been constructed from becomes more volatile as it degrades.  The first test we conducted resulted in a
foot wide sphere being removed from the target. 
The second however removed both the target and a four foot segment of
the tree it was resting against.   As you
can imagined we haven’t cleared such an unusual weapon for use because of the
risk to operatives.  However given the
severity of the situation I’m confident in releasing them to you... just be
sure to have a good distance between you and the intended target.”

OOC: Welcome back, Reithe, I am glad to hear you're doing all right now.

And I'm not 100% sure on how many characters we have, so Taffy can give up her chosen weapon - she is supposed to be a medic, after all.  You'll just have to convince her to give it up!

IC:
Taffy hefted one of the shotgun-like weapons in her arms.  "Any secret details I should know about this one before I blow my head off?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, her tail flouncing once behind her in a gesture of nonchalance.

Though in all sincerity, she was already determined to pick one of the scattershot guns.  While she wasn't particularly excited to use a gun at all, she knew for certain that her best bet for survival would be to open fire at the one range she would likely hit at - and that was point blank.  She also had no pretension to the idea that, as a medic, she would get any special treatment from Robotnik's minions for "doing no harm" as a traditional doctor might do.

oc; hay Tergy! I'm fairly sure we have just the six, though if I'm wrong then there's another somewhere under the tarporlin ^_^ btw I'd take the case with you when you head out for the city.  They're essentialy leaving the whole lot with your team anyway and I'd be useful for carting any larger suplies to the bace camp once you have it set up.  Now, to flix's war time drivel ^^;

ic

“What? Oh yes yes, it is perfectly safe my dear.” Flix responded,
waveing a paw vaguely Taffy’s direction as though the answer were obvious.  â€œJust be careful not to turn the tolerance
down too low.  You ‘can’ alter the width
of the spread, but doing so will probably cause the particles to cancel one another
out.  Best just to let the finer settings
be for now.”

Moving along as though the entire proceedings were but
a common household chore, the Tabby clapped his hands vigorously and seemed to address
the air somewhere above the group  â€œRight! Long night ahead for you all I know, but It may be prevalent to use that time
to discuss your immediate plans.  I trust
you can all come to an agreement on a sutable place for your forward command, along with a ‘plan of action’ before reaching your
contact tomorrow.” 

A few of the group were by now turning their heads in case Flix was
actually looking at something other than floating lint, though Sally’s sudden interest
in the surface of her paw said otherwise. “Flix they know what they need to do,
it’s probably best if you-"

“Nonsense my dear!” Interjected the vanguard of the kings toung, “Best to get the squad peculating opinions early on! Breeds interaction
and good team relations, ahy what!  Now
come on chaps, pick up your goods and set those plans in motion.  You’re going to need every conceptualisation
if you are to out whit the enemy!   Have
you thought about watch rotor for tonight, ahy? Don’t want Jerry’s sneaking up
on your position while you’re catching forty!”

“Flix,” Sally countered rather more severely “Its safer if
they don’t discuss any plans with us.”

Blinking in recognition the feline finally seemed to cotton
on to the princesses way of thinking “AH! Ahhh I see! Right, mom’s the word
then.  Still it’s all worth thinking
about, got to be prepared for every scenario, especially the worst ones,
because then they’re less likely to happen!  Odd that... There's probably some otherwordly reason why, though be damned if I can find it.”

(Hope this is satisfactory enough, didn't know what to do here. Glad to see activity again though!)

Nari looked over the 'weapons' before him, though the group seemed eager enough to dive into it. He shook his head in his reply, a light sigh escaping his lips. "DIY weaponry... not surprising." he would mutter following the sigh, his arms crossed. Though the assortment of bows looked like the most lacking in the ridiculous department. He still found it hard to believe finding assault rifles or something tangible and of less scrapmake couldn't of been difficult, but alas he shrugged again. This definitely put him down to his tomahawks and bare hands. Maybe he should of kept his bow on hand, though it would of been marginally useless against robot armor. Still... he felt naked and idiotic all and all.

IC:

Pirraya examined the remaining weaponry. Both railguns and one scatter-shot were left (OOC: If I'm not mistaken). She picked up one of the railguns. She preferred the stealth of knives to the noise of guns, but, as she had pondered before, knives would have a minimal effect on robots...at best. It would be good to have a firearm for use in case her knives were inadequate. She wasn't sure she would know how to use the railgun, but she sure didn't know how to use the scattershot...which, due to it's nature of widely-spread projectiles might be more dangerous in the hands of a novice than the railgun would. She kept the railgun.

TBC

(OOC: hopefully that was ok...I have little knowledge of guns, and I just stayed up all night arguing with a recalcitrant internet connection, so I'm a little out of it. XD)

IC:

Ison walked up to the small pile of armaments strewn out before him. There were only two weapons left to pick from, but Ison knew exactly what he wanted. He grabbed the scatter-shot without a second glance at the railgun. He raised it eye level and began to look it it over before claiming, "This one seems to be calling out to me." The feline held it sideways and ran his right index finger down the barrel and back up. In all of his ventures, Ison had never held such a marvelous artifact. It may have one time been a simple weapon, and it may well still be, but its crude architecture made it almost seem like a work of art. "So you said they're names on these things, right? Any idea who they used to belong to? Were they rich or poor? Maybe they were they just like us, standing up to insurmountable odds?" A smile came across Ison's otherwise expressionless face, slowly turning into slight laughter.

A soft chirping sound began to emanate from Sally’s belt
as Nicole interrupted proceedings. 
Taking the small computer out of its satchel, Sally turned her attention
to the small screen while Flix addressed Ison through the gloom.

“We aren’t entirely sure,” he replied “Most of the data
on knotholes previous occupants would have been in the royal archive, but sadly
that was one the first casualties of Lucian’s uprising.  What we do know is that they were state of
the art at the time they were made.  The
very best tech the kingdom had to offer thirty years ago, before the reliance
on bio warfare and automated combatants, that is.  Whomever the original owners were, they must
have been very important to the high command of the era.  Secret ‘plausibly deniable’ operations and
all that.”

Talking as he worked, the feline bent down and unpacked
one of the shoulder bags Sally had been carrying. What it contained appeared to
be the most tortured consol in existence. 
Numerous short cables hung from its body, ending in a plethora of
different style connections and data ports. Parts from various other models had
been welded on, adding extra functionality at the cost of ascetics. As the
attached monitor flickered into life the unit’s age showed even more. Bleach
colours flickered sickly against a dulled backlight that barely penetrated the evening
gloom, framed by a crack in the lcd that ran across the bottom left corner,
obscuring the edge in a fractal of oily purple and green crystals.  To most it was a sorry sight.  But to those
who knew what to look for, they could see that only the highest grade salvage had been
used to construct them. One tyrants junk is a freedom fighters treasure.

“Now, this is your hacking tool. There are three other consoles
like this one, though this has the best in terms of connectivity.” He paused
for a moment hefting the mass of wires “As you can imagine we don’t have too
many of these kicking around.  They’ve
got most of the programs we’ve salvaged across the years, but no doubt you’ll
get the chance to acquire more once you’re in the city limits.  For those of you who aren’t technically
minded, it is important to note that these are not ‘skeleton keys’ to be used
like a good crowbar.  Their most important
function would be to get you around security hazards and to act as portable
hubs to download any information you come across should you be investigating a
facility.  Sadly we couldn’t spare any
more parts to construct more than these four, but they should surface provided
you don’t run arye of any defence viruses. 
Any tech you acquire will also likely need one of these to configure-”

Sally gently tapped the cat’s shoulder as an interjection.

“We have to go Flix,” she said grimly “There’s just under
two hours before the second team sets off. If we delay we might miss the entry
time.”

She slipped Nicole back onto her belt and turned back to
the assembled party “The caves will provide ample cover for your stay
overnight.  Be sure to establish a chain
of command and decide on where you’ll be setting up base before you head for
the city.  Keep a lookout rotor running
during the night and set off before the sun rises.”

“Above all, keep safe.”

Hefting her own kitbag she turned and nodded to
Flix.  Falling into step the two mobians disappeared
back the way they had came, ready to run against the guns of the fallen city come daybreak.

Ic;will post up a description of the caves later (unless
someone else wants to handle it?).  As
for the present moment, it is the dead of night and I’m quite tired.

RLUPDATE; sry for the delay, have been quite buried in course work.  Have three large paintings to finish for the 5th along with a presentation on surrealism, so feeling a little pressed for time.  However, I have set aside a few hours tomorrow morning for sitting in front of the tv with the laptop, so with any luck we should have another post midday tomorrow ^^

Rl update 2.0: Soo yeah... All I want for Christmas's is a working pc.  Currently have a very expensive paper wight in my room and am working from a laptop with no net access (not kidding, having to sit under desk with the network cable plugged in to write this.  But wait! It gets better! The presentation I spent three weeks putting together is all on the deceased hard-drive.  Next update is partially finished but collage work takes priority atm.  Once I've got the essay and slide show rebuilt then I can turn my mind back to sweet sweet literacy,  sry again 

(OOC: Yikes!  When it rains, it pours I guess, huh?  RIP, your laptop.  Don't worry, I think we're used to waiting some time for posts on this board.  (also, it's the holidays, so that makes things crazy...especially here...Try getting three people and a dog in an appartment meant for one XD; ))

I'm sorry about this everyone but I think its best we called it for now.  Life has been a little too buisy with collage and work, and I don't feel that months of in-activity at a time is fair on people who have a vested intrest in continuing. Too many hiatus's have plagued my time running this, and I don't feel its all that fair keeping everyone waiting for a continuation that may never come.  I'll leave the thread open and eventualy might pick up where I left off during hollidays when I can be sure of having the brain power to genualy dedicate myself to this project.  I really REALLLY enjoyed what we did so far though and I'd like to personaly thank each and every one of you who have taken part in this untold epic story.  If you're still up for it, I will be reserecting this at some point in the not too distant future, as I really want to see it through to compleation.  In the meatime, thankyou all again! It's been a blast ^_^

Rei-rei.

Sorry to see you go for now, but I look forward to the day we continue this epic! I had fun reading everyone's interesting chracters and all the possible plot developments on the horizen. I wish you all the best in real life, and hope to see you on here again soon!

(OOC: Sorry to hear that, but glad you're keeping it open for the future. I'd love to see this go farther! )

{{ same here. :3 }}