Chronicles of The Omniverse Archived Westeria City: Little Shintenchi- Shui Square

Tiko

Tiko

Draconic Administrator/Mentor
Administrator
Mentor
Nexus GM
as written by Script and Tiko

Talys's home in Little Shintenchi was a humble affair. A maisonette over the top of a local Losenyu restaurant, it had just about enough space for one person to live comfortably, with a single bedroom, bathroom, and a joint kitchen-living room. It was most certainly not designed to accommodate two gatecrashers and an overexcitable weasel.

"Rune, could you please tell your weasel to stop stealing the teacups while I'm trying to make tea?" Talys shot the fetchling a glare where he was perched on the edge of the small sofa, his nose buried in a book. The furry pest in question paused at the edge of the kitchen counter, clutching one of his delicate china cups between its paws, and turned to trill at him defiantly.

"He says he has a name," Rune answered absently, not so much as looking up from his reading.

Talys glowered down at the rodent. "That's great, I'll be sure to write it on the urn I put his ashes in when I finally snap." Was he really having an argument with a weasel? Good grief.

"Caedmon, stop bothering Tal." Finally, Rune looked up from the book. Talys could only thank the spirits for small miracles. The warlock beckoned, and - albeit with plenty of disgruntled chattering - Caedmon set the teacup back down and scampered away to his master's side.

That animal was going to start seriously testing the limits of his hospitality. Talys sighed, shaking his head and turning his mind back to the tea. "Remind me again, Adriaan, which tea was it you liked?"

"The peach blossom, white tea is fine," Adriaan replied from the couch with a yawn.

His perpetual facade of jovial pleasantness was beginning to fray as of late. His ever present sense of humor and light-hearted demeanor didn't falter, but there was an edge of concern and worry that sometimes found its way into the corners of his eyes, or the crease of his lips when lost in thought. He was restless.

"Any news about the rest of the city?" He inquired.

After the TNG had pulled out of the city, Little Shintenchi had largely closed its figurative doors. The Red Dragon Syndicate provided security from outside threats that now plagued the streets beyond, but it left them largely isolated from the other groups still maintaining a presence within the city. As a result they had been limited to rumor and hearsay when it came to news from elsewhere.

Adriaan himself was keen to get word to the Elysian Vangaurd as to his location as quickly as able.

"According to Shu, that group calling themselves the Westeria Volunteer Guard have established themselves a fairly strong foothold around eastern Azure Heights," Talys answered, as he portioned out the tea leaves. Shu was one of the Red Dragon's men, who'd been doing supply runs into the city in the last few weeks. "And there's some sort of military force operating near where the local aschen have set up. No news on who they are yet."

"Well at least it sounds like things are stabilizing out enough that other areas of the city are holding out," Adriaan replied. "Don't suppose you've heard anything about the giant hole in the sky?"

"Nothing." Talys placed the lid on the teapot and cupped it in his hands, letting out a meditative breath as he channeled heat into it. "As far as I can tell, almost everyone's just ignoring it and hoping nothing bad happens." He grimaced, because that was a fool's hope. There was one sure thing about portals, and that was that there was always something on the other side.

"I've seen figures up there now and then when we've been out on our own supply runs," Rune noted. "Flying around. So someone's taking an interest in it, at least. I guess we should just be glad nothing's come out of it so far!" He closed his book, leaning back and sighing. Caedmon clambered up his side as he slouched into the cushions, nestling in the crook of his neck. "For however long that lasts."

"Your optimism is, as usual, inspiring," Talys chuckled as he began to pour the tea. "But speaking of supply runs, Hashiro's been pushing for us to go out again sooner than planned."

"What, is he running out of suicidal teenagers to send to their deaths?" Rune grimaced.

"I think I'll tag along for this one," Adriaan interjected. "I'm going to go stir crazy if I stay cooped up in here any longer. The wing's mended well enough and I doubt outstanding arrest warrants hold much weight anymore," he added with a quirky amused grin. "Especially Aschen ones."

Talys let out a laugh, shaking his head. "You're probably right. If anything, you could probably wear it like a badge of honour. We can head down to the ration station later. I'm sure they'll appreciate your help."

"So we get to see one of the famous Elysian Vanguard in action, huh?" Rune tilted his head towards Adriaan, smirking. "I expect to be impressed."
 
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as written by Script

Back at Talys' apartment, the dancer had set out some extra cushions around the low dining table in the centre of the main room to provide Sam and Esti somewhere to sit. The map had been laid out with books placed upon each corner to keep it from rolling, and a few worn-looking leaflets and guidebooks to Westeria were stacked to one side of it.

Several locations were circled on the map in bold red marker, clustered around the west of Azure Heights, a fair distance north from Little Shintenchi. One had been labelled 'Lady Grey Institute of Medicine and Healthcare', whilst the other was marked 'WCPD Cache'.

"Alright," Talys settled down onto one of the cushions with a cup of tea, taking a moment to make sure the others were paying attention before continuing. "We're probably going to head here, first," he gestured towards the Lady Grey Institute. "It used to be one of the city's biggest medical schools. I'm guessing the idea is that people's first instinct when looking for medical supplies is to head to hospitals and pharmacies, but we're just as likely to find the good stuff here. Plus, security would have had to be pretty good for the sake of the students, so chances are it's been low on most looters' priority lists."

"Yeah, look here." Across from him, Rune was flicking through a leaflet titled 'Studying at Lady Grey' that had been tucked into the map. The text was written in Terran, as opposed to any of the native Shintenchi tongues. "It's got a paragraph on security here - because it's in Westeria, of course it does." He cleared his throat. "Lady Grey's security is state of the art, to ensure the safety of our students ... blah blah, advertising speak ... oh, here we go. Teleportation and planar travel is blocked on campus, but who knows if that still works ... highly trained security staff, but they'll all be long gone ... surveillance cameras, not important ... all staff and students are provided keycards to access the buildings, all entryways are constructed from heavy duty blast-proof glass..."

He shrugged, unfolding the leaflet and placing it down on top of the city map to display the campus map on its back. "So nothing that sounds too bad. I'm sure a few blast proof doors won't give Nyu much trouble."
 
as written by Steph

Sam entered the home nonchalantly, only surveying the appartment to spot a place to sit down. Decorations and overall cleanliness of one's living quarters hardly ever warranted her interest; her own appartment being in a permanent state of war. Though, she could appreciate it being situated on top of a restaurant. She guessed it had its perks.

''Cozy,'' She remarked as she sat down one one of the cushions that had been arranged around the table as she spotted the map. ''Now we're talkin','' Sam paused to look up at Taly, wearing a smirk, ''and I don't mean that useless blah blah either.'' She winked at him, and scooted herself closer to the table. The ex-military had noticed how her earlier comment had struck a chord with some of the group's members. She had casually shrugged it off. They can have their panties in a bunch all they want - they'll get used to me soon enough.

Her eyes scanned the map quickly, recognizing some of the areas. She figured there might be something useful in terms of electrical current at the med school. She could already feel her legs twitching - although very mildly. If she didn't find anything, then she'd have to resort for a quick reset. Not as painless as it sounds. Oh, well, she decided to push it at the back of her thoughts until a more appropriate time.

''What kind of resistance are we expecting here? Do we have a safe extract zone?'' She knew that part of the city to be in bad shape, creating a shitty terrain to move through and creating lots of choke points.
 
as written by Script

Sam entered the home nonchalantly, only surveying the appartment to spot a place to sit down. Decorations and overall cleanliness of one's living quarters hardly ever warranted her interest; her own appartment being in a permanent state of war. Though, she could appreciate it being situated on top of a restaurant. She guessed it had its perks.

''Cozy,'' She remarked as she sat down one one of the cushions that had been arranged around the table as she spotted the map. ''Now we're talkin','' Sam paused to look up at Taly, wearing a smirk, ''and I don't mean that useless blah blah either.'' She winked at him, and scooted herself closer to the table. The ex-military had noticed how her earlier comment had struck a chord with some of the group's members. She had casually shrugged it off. They can have their panties in a bunch all they want - they'll get used to me soon enough.

Her eyes scanned the map quickly, recognizing some of the areas. She figured there might be something useful in terms of electrical current at the med school. She could already feel her legs twitching - although very mildly. If she didn't find anything, then she'd have to resort for a quick reset. Not as painless as it sounds. Oh, well, she decided to push it at the back of her thoughts until a more appropriate time.

''What kind of resistance are we expecting here? Do we have a safe extract zone?'' She knew that part of the city to be in bad shape, creating a shitty terrain to move through and creating lots of choke points.
 
as written by Steph

Sam nods, scratching her chin. ''Let's hope it does change - I came here for the action.'' She chuckled and pondered Taly's answer. She was no stranger to these creatures, and she was fairly confident that they could defend themselves pretty efficiently. Sam had definitely been meaning to kick some elemental logs around. For shifts and giggles, of course. Though a quick extraction was always the best case scenario for these type of missions, the soldier in her still believes. But that soldier also believes kicking creatures around is hilarious so her integrity could easily be questioned.

''Whatever tries to bump in the night,'' Sam starts, ''I'll bump harder. With a kick. Right to their fuckin' tender parts.'' Alright, maybe I'm getting a little too excited.
 
as written by Sentry

"I could do without running into a little action," spoke Esti. "But I know very well that's not going to happen. You can't walk three feet without running into something. The faster we can get this done, the safer we'll be. We'll need an easy way in and out and someone to stand by the truck while we move in. I doubt any of us have a keycard, but I'm willing to bet that any one of us have... alternate methods of entry."
 
as written by Steph

''Aye aye,'' Sam agrees with a chuckle. The woman had the right idea. ''Though I'll rule myself out for standing like a popsicle stick.''
 
as written by Tiko

The door thumped closed as Adriaan arrived, and he caught only the tail end of the conversation as he joined the group.

"Key cards and popsicle sticks?" he asked. "What did I miss?"

He set a small brown satchel down on the couch before seating himself on the arm of it rather than joining the others on the floor. It was looking cramped enough down there as it was without him trying to squeeze in and risk a wing getting stepped on.

"Wanted to grab a few things before the ration lines closed down for the day," he explained.
 
as written by Script

"We're going over the first stop, so you've not missed much," Talys said. "The Lady Grey Institute, if you've heard of it. A medical school."

Rune passed the leaflet over to Adriaan for his perusal, as Talys gave him a brief summary of what they'd discussed so far with respect to where they'd discussed leaving the truck, and what sort of trouble they might run into.

"I don't know a lot about medical schools, if I'm completely honest," Talys went on with a small smile after he'd finished. "But I'm guessing that most of the equipment and medicine will be in storage rooms in the biolabs and other practical buildings. That's what we want to find, and sadly, it didn't look to me like they put those on the visitor pamphlet."

"Shame. These things are never designed with the benevolent looter in mind. Just shows a lack of forethought, really." Rune nodded towards the larger map. "What about point two?"

"A WCPD cache of some sort," Talys gestured to it on the map. "An armoury, or a warehouse maybe?" He looked across at Esti. "I don't suppose you know anything about it, do you?"
 
as written by Sentry

Esti shook her head. "Afraid not. I was a month away from becoming an officer. I was just an intern. If I had to take a guess, however, I'd bet on weapons. Ones that can take out metahumans, aliens, the like."
 
as written by Tiko

High over the city there was a deafening crack from the massive portal that still spanned across the sky overhead, blotting out the sun and leaving the city cast in perpetual shadow. Should any look up - or out their windows - arcs of energy danced along its surface, crackling and popping with all the intensity of a lightning storm before they died back down and the giant gaping tear seemed to stabilize and fall silent once more.
 
as written by Steph

High over the city there was a deafening crack from the massive portal that still spanned across the sky overhead, blotting out the sun and leaving the city cast in perpetual shadow. Should any look up - or out their windows - arcs of energy danced along its surface, crackling and popping with all the intensity of a lightning storm before they died back down and the giant gaping tear seemed to stabilize and fall silent once more.
 
as written by Script

"A shame, but I think we can assume that it'll be difficult to get into," Talys shrugged. "Or, difficult for a different team, anyway. Weapons are ... useful, I suppose. Though every load of them we bring in cements the Red Dragon's position further." He grimaced. "I feel like we shouldn't be arming them any further, but there's no denying we'll probably need bigger guns sooner or later."

"Yeeah, let's just hand military grade weapons over to the mob, how could that go wrong?" Rune rolled his eyes.

"We don't exactly have better options right now," Talys pointed out. "Like Adriaan said before, eventually people will stop tolerating them. I just hope they don't go to extremes to keep the authority they-"

It was at that moment that the sound of the portal crackling echoed through the building. All eyes went to the window, and Caedmon scurried into Rune's sleeve with fright.

The fetchling was the first to get up and move across to the window. "Fart? More like a full blown fit. There were sparks all over it, but... it looks like it's stopped?" He continued to stare at the once-again still surface of the portal, squinting in an attempt to make out anything that had changed. "If something's changed, though, I can't tell what."

"Did something come out of it?" Talys asked.

"Not that I saw, but it's a fucking massive portal, so no guarantees. I can't even see all of it."
 
as written by Tiko

Adriaan stood and moved to glance over Rune's shoulder to get a look out the window himself, but he couldn't make out much either.

"Once we make that run tomorrow," Adriaan said. "I think I'm going to see if I can get a closer look up there. You said you've seen people flying around it? Maybe I'll get lucky and it's the Elysian Vanguard. Either that or birds... but worth a try, eh?"
 
as written by Script

"Worth a shot. Just don't get hit by weird magic lightning and die, yeah?" Rune grinned. "Letting that happen would probably be bad for our rep with your Vanguard buddies."

"Back to the matter at hand, though," Talys interjected, gesturing at the map. "We need to decide who's going in and who's on watch... so I can get an idea what everyone's capable of, and so we know what we can rely on one another for in a fight, let's lay all our tricks out on the table and we can decide what to do with them..."

The conversation went on for a while after that, with various plans being formed and information exchanged. Before too long, though, things were wrapped up.

"I'll see you all in the morning, then. We'll head out at dawn, to make the most of the light while it's shining under the portal." Talys said. "Till then? My house is not built for this many people..."
 
as written by Steph

For most of the conversation, Sam had been actually interested in, much to everyone's surprise (even her own). She really loved strategic planning, it's what she misses the most about the military. She can't speak for everyone, but she sure as heck is excited to get this going and to see the discussed plan in action. Hopefully though, everything goes to shit and she gets to improv nut punch someone. Really important to have a good improv nut punch in any fight, the woman musses. She almost misses Talys dismissing them.

"Right. Not like I wanted spoon with you lot anyways, apart from the obvious cuties," the woman half jokes with a smirk and a wink. She move towards the door and throws her hand up in a lazy wave goodbye, "See you all at the carnage," with that said, Sam returns home and decides the punching bag hanging in her living room hasn't gotten a good beating in a while. There was no way in hell she could fall asleep right away.
 
as written by Sentry

When the sky boomed, Esti's eyes followed the noise. She strained her eyes, enhanced her vision as she skimmed the portal above, but to no avail.

As the conversation continued, Esti mentioned her ability to augment her senses. "I would be able to warn everyone early if something happens. It's not just sounds and sight. I'll be able to feel vibrations, subtle changes in the air, a buzz of energy. Not a whole lot gets past me when I'm paying attention. Keep that in mind." She gave then a smile and stood up after Steph.

Briefly, she turned toward Adriaan. "I'll be keeping my eyes on the sky. Stay safe-" She gave her attention to everyone before leaving. "It was wonderful meeting all of you. I hope our trip ends well."
 
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