Chronicles of The Omniverse Archived Westeria City: Little Shintenchi - Ration Stations

as written by Tiko

Hachiro raised a questioning eyebrow at Sam's abrupt change of heart, but he determined it was best to simply not question the volatile woman.

"That's good news," he told them.

"I want to group you up with another woman as well. Esti Luwen, former WCPD. She's an excellent runner but..."

Hachiro sighed and shook his head.

"Last time her team was out about a week ago, they ran into trouble. She was the only one who made it back. That's the second team in a month I've lost out there, and those guys weren't just young upstarts looking to make a name for themselves. They were good at what they do, all of them. It's hurting morale, and people are having second thoughts about staying behind. Hell, I'm having second thoughts. I can't risk losing another team out there. Don't take any crazy risks, alright?"

He gestured then to a woman nearby helping to unload boxes from a truck.

"Come on, I'll introduce you," he told them before leaning in to murmur words of condolence into Talys' ear as they walked. "Good luck with the Volarian woman. She's as crazy as they come."

He gave a sharp whistle to catch Esti's attention.

"Hey, come down from there and meet your new team!"
 
as written by Steph

The woman shrugged at Talys. "Sure, dancin' king. Saw you a few times at the dojo." Sam chuckled and replied to his bow with a two finger salute. She hadn't known him long enough to form an opinion about the man - though her default was to hate everyone. She had never once assisted his classes, choosing to train alone in peace and quiet, but she had heard of his unique combat skill. Something she could respect.

Sam nodded at Talys' comment, not surprised Hachiro had mentioned her, no doubt much to his dismay. Sher smirked, thinking he must have depicted her as a complete homicidal maniac. Not so far off from the truth.

Talking about the man, her gaze fell on Hachiro. She raised an eyebrow, attempting to take on an innocent tone. "Crazy? Come on, you know me better than that...I'm more the violent type." She winked at him. Sam loved to make him grit his teeth - yet under her hostile exterior the ex-military really trusted him and in turn, he knew without a doubt she'd get the job done. Although sometimes unpredictable, Sam wouldn't knowingly put anyone's life at risk except her own.

Sam sighed at the mention of the word 'team', already dreading it. "You sure I can't go in alone? Ghost recon and all?" Sam liked to avoid contact with others as much as possible - sometimes their voice alone would piss her off (something she clearly needed to work on). She followed him with her gaze, curious about the first member who would undoubtedly quit on her - Sam usually having that effect on people. Four privates had quit her platoon after she pulled some harmless but distasteful pranks on them. Like goat blood ever killed anyone. She rolled her eyes at the memory of them screaming and running out of their bunks like they had seen Freddy Kruger himself.
 
as written by Sentry

Esti looked up from the box she had dragged off from the truck and gazed in the direction of the small party. They were all new faces, brighter faces, with one exception. They were certainly a colorful group, rivaling Esti's regularness. One couldn't pick her out in a crowd with her dark hair, dirty hoodie, and a rather beat up pair of cargo pants.

As she approached them, she slid off her glasses and wiped the lenses in her shirt. "Hey, there," she greeted them, giving them a smile that took some strength to muster. "My name is Esti. I'll be running with you guys, right?"

Sliding the spectacles back on her face, she gazed at them in turn, longer this time.
 
as written by Script

"There's a lot out there that's too much for one person to handle, even if they're the most badass person in the world," Talys noted. "I think you'll grow to appreciate having someone to watch your back, out there." Spirits knew he and Rune had saved each other's lives enough times since they started running. Rune moreso than him, thinking about it. All else aside, his friend had a lot of useful magic tricks up his sleeve.

Talys smiled up at Esti as they approached her, bowing his head in greeting. "Hey, Esti. That's right. I'm Talys, and this is Rune," he gestured across at the pale youth.

"Yo." Rune gave a halfway-salute of acknowledgement, a gesture mimicked by Caedmon on his shoulder.

"And Sam." Talys gestured across at the mercenary, before looking back at Esti. "I'm sorry to hear about your previous team."

Rune nodded, tilting his head back to look up at the girl from beneath his hood. "Rest assured that we fully intend not to die on you, even if it kills us."
 
as written by Steph

"Yeah, sure, whatever, great." what conversation ending words did they want to hear she thought? Oh well, can't be wrong if you use them all.

The woman moved to find an empty table, pushing past Esti without acknowledging the newcomer. Though this didn't mean she hadn't thoroughly analyzed the dark-haired woman; she seemed intelligent, mature, though, yet not strict. In fact, the ex-military assessed her exterior to be way too friendly. Was is it with people and smiling? Sam seated herself on a table and grabbed her handgun from where it was tucked away. Taking the weapon apart piece by piece and assembling it again, she decided, was far more interesting.

An idea suddenly struck her - Sam turned to Hachiro, calling out his name as she asked: "Got any beer?" Also, more importantly: "So, mission objectives? Targets? Risks percentage? RDV points? EZ?" For someone who didn't like speaking, Sam thought she was doing an excessive amount around these people - another 'perk' of being in a team. A-mazing. Maybe I'm growing as a well rounded individual. Sam chuckled to herself as she removed the hammer off her pistol. Weapons she truly admired; for one they didn't have chatter boxes, there was one for every situation and every style of combat, they were effective to shut people up whether it be by fear or by force and their presence alone commanded authority. A truly versatile tool.

What do you call someone who likes objects better than people? Loony? Mental? Yeah, probably fitting.
 
as written by Tiko

"Looks like it," Adriaan told Esti. "Pleased to have you along. And you have my condolensces about your old team as well," he told her. "We'll do our best to keep ourselves in one piece," he added with a wink.

"Great," Hachiro said. "Looks like everyone should get on just fine."

He opened his coat and fished around in a pocket before checking two more until he found what he was looking for. A rumpled map.

"I marked out the locations and addresses on here that we need you guys to hit," he explained to Talys. "We had a scouting team out earlier, and all seems quiet so you'll be taking the truck this time."

He glanced to Sam and sighed, wondering on the wisdom of having approached her. But they needed people who were survivable more than they needed people with social skills.

"And no, I don't have any beer. You could try the ration lines," Hachiro replied. "And Talys can fill you in on the rest. He's been out there more than I have."

"Hey, if you're just about wrapping up here," Adriaan interjected. "I'll catch up with you guys back at your place, Talys?"
 
as written by Sentry

Esti flashed her teeth in a grin. "I appreciate that," she replied. "I'll do my best to keep you alive, too."

The woman turned her head to face Sam. "All of you."

Though the other woman had seemed callous in manner, months under the management of the WCPD had taught her that first impressions bred bad assumptions.

She hoped that it proved true with this new team member.

Finally, she gave her attention to her new group and listened.
 
as written by Steph

Sam smirked at Esti's comment. Called it. So predictable. Her judgment was a tad hypocritical as she herself had very predictable characteristics of a discharged member of the military. Titanium exterior with a fragile heart is commonplace among them; a stereotype overplayed in every B movies. Though, it has its truths. People who are trained to take lives need to block out some emotions, or they would never make it through Basic. It's all just a big mental test. The toughest survive, and Sam was proud to say she passed, even if it came with its harsh consequences.

Minutes passed and Sam was already starting to fidget, what little patience she had wearing thin. She hated staying still, especially when there wasn't a plan laid out in front of her already. Probably why she never enjoyed watching movies from the beginning or reading a book from page one. She had always skipped to the good parts: the meaty. tender, juicy action just waiting to be devoured. She was the predator, and unfortunately everyone else in her path was marked as the prey. "Did I get here too early? Didn't know there was scheduled blah blah on our itinerary." Sam had said aloud, to no one in particular. Would have skipped the hell outta that.

She spun her handgun around her finger, towing with it like a wild west cowboy. All that was missing was a cigarette in her mouth and the cowboy hat to match.
 
as written by Script

"That's fine," Talys said to Adriaan, smiling. "We'll probably be heading back there as soon as we're done here, so don't take too long."

"Quiet could just as easily mean that the things that want to kill us are sneaky," Rune grumbled. Quiet had always been suspicious in Westeria, and it still set him on edge. Stillness meant ambushes, or territory that everything else knew to stay clear of for one reason or another.

"Well then," Talys shrugged, flashing him a playful smile. "In that case we'll just have to be sneakier, won't we?"

"That's easy for you and me, twinkletoes. But..." Rune trailed off, trying not to make it obvious that he had his doubts as to how stealthy their boisterous new companion could be. He supposed he ought to give her the benefit of the doubt, for now. She was a professional, right?

Talys shrugged. "Anyway, with any luck, quiet will just mean quiet and we can have a smooth run of it." He looked to Sam, then, suppressing a frown. "We normally take some time to look the map over before we head out," he said, maintaining a cheerful tone. "It helps to get your head around what you can expect, and it's handy to know the surrounding area in case we need to make a hasty exit."

He held out a hand, taking the map from Hachiro. "And if you want to come with us," he flashed an almost aggressively friendly smile at the mercenary. "Then you're just going to have to put up with some blah blah."

While Talys had been speaking, Rune had shuffled around to stand next to Esti. Now, he leaned over to her, murmuring quietly. "Ooh, he's annoyed. Might not look it, but when he gets extra chummy? That's how you can tell he's not happy with someone." A pause. "That, or he's flirting. But given the context..? Nah. Probably annoyed."
 
as written by Tiko

"I won't be long," Adriaan assured Talys before separating himself from the group and heading off.

"Alright," Hachiro said to Talys as the map exchanged hands. "If you have any questions about the target locations, you know who to talk to, and you know where to request equipment or ammunition. You can fill Sam in on the how-to of everything. The truck needs a bit of a tune up before it'll be ready to take out again, but it will be ready by morning. Just swing by and pick it up."
 
as written by Sentry

"Sounds like you've got a lot of experience in that department. May I put into question your relationship with your... 'friend?'" smirked Esti, raising a brow at the young man.

She did flash a look of concern towards Sam when she thought the other woman wasn't paying attention. She let her gaze drop and grimaced. "Talys is right. We need to be on the same page during this run. It's too dangerous out there to be careless, even for someone who's trained in combat." Esti folded her arms and gazed at the map. "Every moment of this 'blah blah' counts."

Esti reached out to shake Hachiro's hand. "Thank you. I'm sure everything will go smoothly on the run."
 
as written by Script

Rune's eyes widened and his pallid cheeks turned red. He spluttered, recoiling away and stammering a few attempts at a rebuttal, before finally coming out with a firm "No! No! I- No. Nothing like that. We ... no." After their ... experience at Empyrea last year, there had been a lengthy awkward period where he'd been very unsure as to whether to bring it up. Eventually, after Talys had shown no signs of acknowledging it, he'd decided to follow suit and just pretend that it had never happened. That hadn't stopped him remembering it all too well at times, and that had only been made worse by the fact that they were living together now.

It was awkward. Oh so very awkward.

On his shoulder, Caedmon let out a series of chirrups that sounded very much like laughter. Rune glowered at him. "You can shut up, too.

"What are you two muttering about?" Talys asked, taking note of Rune's flustered state with a curious quirk of his eyebrow.

"Nothing!" Rune hastily put in, shaking his head. "Nothing important at all. We should get going. We've got a lot of planning to do, right? No use standing around here."

"Err..." Talys laughed hesitantly, shooting Esti a questioning glance before shrugging his shoulders. "Alright... sure. My place is just over in the square, over the music shop."

With that, they set off from the square, leading Esti and Sam towards the apartment.
 
as written by Lobos

"If I could recall who I was before the fire, I would bear that name with my words, elder." A claw-like hand beckoned towards the old man. "But please, come closer if you wish to see for yourself the brother under the burns."

The cold smile of satisfaction hide well behind Silvertongue's façade, the features, though badly burned and wracked with the barely healed wounds associated with being trapped under flaming debris held true to the people he claimed to be of. Carefully, one might even say lovingly crafted for this purpose alone, a disguise to meld into one of the larger and more situationally unstable of the various ethnicities within the city.
 
The following morning...

The day had passed uneventfully and with the rising of the sun, it was time for Talys' team to head out. The sun hadn't quite broken over the horizon et, but the glow of it was beginning to spill across the sky to lighten the largely vacant street.

With the ration lines closed down until next week, the only people moving about at this time of morning were people who worked here, loading and unloading supplies, cataloging deliveries, and preparing the mornings teams being sent out that day.

There were three teams heading out this time, Taly's included, but from the look of the others they were on light runs. The armored truck parked on the side of the road was theirs for the day.

Hachiro was there talking with another man when Taly's group began to arrive.

"Hey, good news," he called to them. "We got a new radio put in. There wasn't much to salvage from the old one..."

The radio was laying on the pavement next to the truck, where it looked like it had been the victim of close range gunfire. Given the trucks armored exterior, it seemed likely the weapon was discharged inside the truck.

"You guys all set to go?" he asked. "Where are the others?"
 
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"They should be along shortly," Talys answered. "We were to meet here at dawn." The ifriti dancer cast his eyes over the other runners briefly, assessing them. None stood out as glaringly unsuited for the job, despite Rune's comments the previous day. So long as they stuck to the safer areas, they'd likely not have any trouble.

In the meantime, Rune had stepped closer to peer at the radio. "How the fuck?" He cast an incredulous glance back at Hachiro. "Was someone bouncing a shotgun on their lap with their finger on the trigger, or what?"
 
"The guy who shot it up claimed it was talking to him," Hachiro said with a shrug. "Given the state of the city I would say there's a fifty-fifty chance that he either lost his mind out there, or he legitimately heard something."

Adriaan was the next to arrive.

"Hey, bad news," he said as he neared the group. "Or I suppose good news depending on your perspective," he added thoughtfully before offering a grin. "That Sam woman went and got herself sick. Didn't get a chance to talk to her myself, but I was over at the clinic picking a few things up for Sun and she looked to be making a tin can her new favorite accessory. Nasty case of food poisoning one of he aids said, but nothing dire."
 
Esti jogged up, just barely hearing the end of the bad news. She frowned. "I want to say I expected more," she told the group. Her hands came up to her hips and her gaze dropped to the ground. "Well, it can't be helped. I'm not going to strain myself helping her when I need the energy for this." Her lips tightened in frustration. "Let's... get going."
 
"She'll be sorely missed, I'm sure," Rune said, words dripping with sarcasm. "I'll have to yell obnoxiously at myself all trip to make up for the loss."

Talys chuckled. "Poor woman. But we certainly can't wait for her. Let's move."

Provided Hachiro had nothing more to say to them, the pair made their way over to the truck and piled in, with Talys taking shotgun and Rune sitting behind him. Talys took the city map out of his bag and readied it on his lap to play navigator.
 
"So uh..." Adriaan interjected. "Sun had a quick request."

He fished around in a pocket and pulled out a slip of paper that he unfolded.

"She said that she needs something called, Tretonin. An Aschen medication," he explained. "I figured since the weapon cache is out near Hagan Avenue anyways, we could swing through there and see if there's anything left to salvage? With Rune's talents, I thought we might actually have a chance of finding the stuff. Besides, what's the worst that can go wrong? We all die?" he added with a grin.

Hagan Avenue lay beyond the area scouted for them, and they would be going in blind.
 
"Yeah, I mean I'm sure there aren't any over the top security measures left behind in abandoned aschen facilities..." Rune muttered with a grimace. "But sure. We can try for it. Right?" He glanced at Talys for confirmation, who nodded.

"If it's what will save the girl, then of course we'll try. It's not too far to detour. It's not been scouted, but Rune, you can send Nyu in ahead for us to make sure we aren't walking into anything too dangerous." Talys glanced across at Esti. "Ready when you are, then."
 
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