Author Topic: Pontiac (Post-Apocalyptic Arco) (Read 6770 times)

Dossta · « **Reply #25 on:** November 23, 2010, 10:27:17 AM »

Standing up slowly, Eric glances over at D'Shannon. "Could you keep one eye and both barrels on this scum while I talk to your friend here?" Giving a significant look to Eva, he beckons for her to follow then walks about 10 paces away from the raider, back toward the cellar.

Scrasamax · « **Reply #26 on:** November 23, 2010, 12:52:41 PM »

"Sure," D'Shannon said, and tied the raider's hands behind his back before she started patting him down like a disgruntled TSA agent.

EchoMirage · « **Reply #27 on:** November 23, 2010, 01:54:42 PM »

Having walked out of earshot of their captive, Eva bowed to the archer.
"I am Eva May, and gratitude fills me at your approach. Our hiding place had been turned into a trap unpleasant, but apparently fate made you the messenger of justice. So, please state what you would have of me?"

Dossta · « **Reply #28 on:** November 23, 2010, 02:36:11 PM »

Surprised at the woman's strange dialect, Eric paused to take a second long look at her before extending his hand to her. "The name's Eric Freeman." Glancing back to make sure they were out of earshot, Eric began to explain in a low, rushed voice. "Listen, I'm glad that I was in the right place to help you two out of a tight spot, but it's kind of put me in a bind. I was hoping that those three would eventually lead me back to their base so that I could begin wiping their taint off the face of the Earth. I had it all planned out -- sniping them from the edges of their camp, sabotaging their supplies. Probably the death of me, but I had to try."

He pauses to glance over at the wounded raider, allowing some of his anxiety to show.

"If that man dies, so does my lead. As I said, I don't have much hope for him -- arrows have to be pushed through the body, not pulled out -- and I'm pretty sure the second shot hit his vitals. If I heard you correctly, and you do indeed have a medical degree, you would earn my undying gratitude if you can keep him alive long enough for me to question him." At this, his steel-blue eyes harden. "But know that I intend to kill him once I'm done, no matter what else I say to him."

EchoMirage · « **Reply #29 on:** November 23, 2010, 05:02:55 PM »

"Making you abandon your vengeance - though with no intent, and perchance only intermittently - puts me more in your debt, mister Eric. Hence, I will be honest - the vagrant has slim hopes of pushing through, as skills are but a significant part of medicine, the other being equipment. But if he manages to live, I will feel no obligations of actively preventing his demise at your hand, as he'll no longer be in my care."
She looked back at the bleeding raider.
"Let us do what we can, then; I cannot operate on his insides in the middle of Postapocalyptia, but removing the arrows should be possible, stitching him up as well. I will add a clotting agent, if I find one on the storage - it may kill him, yes, but that is a risk he is running anyway."

Eva headed back to the cellar. "Let's do this."
(OOC: let's roll)

Dossta · « **Reply #30 on:** November 23, 2010, 05:29:11 PM »

Eric jogged back to where the raider lay prone, and nodded once again to D'Shannon. "My thanks, miss. I'll take our 'friend' here down to the cellar, if you would salvage what you can from their bikes. Bring whatever you can carry, and I'll be back up to help you hide the bikes in a minute." With that, Eric leant down and carefully, albeit grudgingly, scooped the bound raider up into his arms, following after Eva.

Scrasamax · « **Reply #31 on:** November 25, 2010, 09:14:06 AM »

Medical supplies were at best, scarce. Eva had a half empty bottle of antiseptic, and some basic bandaging she could use. The rest of what she needed came from a sewing kit. Somewhere there was a touch of irony at an incredibly sophisticated robot sewing, by hand.

The procedure was rough, but Eva removed the arrow while D'Shannon and Eric watched. The Raider lost a lot of blood, but when she was done, he was still alive. Pale but alive.

He would sleep for a while, unless they woke him, or he died.

EchoMirage · « **Reply #32 on:** November 25, 2010, 02:00:55 PM »

"I would say that I am not thrilled by the Apocalypse" Eva threw in as she finished the work. The thread and needle had been sterilized in boiling water, the drainage tube and the bottle attached to it likewise. The seal was candle wax. You better not ask about the vacuum.
"You do not happen to have a workshop, mister Eric? Without one, another of my degrees goes to waste."

From below, she carried up a tour backpack, and began loading up. "This place is no longer safe, quod erat demonstrandum. Hence, I suggest packing up anything useful, and leaving. You are welcome to anything I cannot carry. Which, with an alacrity almost unpleasant, makes me wonder - where to? Will you share any suggestions, mister Eric, D'Shannon?"

Scrasamax · « **Reply #33 on:** November 27, 2010, 07:40:56 PM »

"Personally, I would take a hospitality suite at the Pontiac Holiday Inn," D'Shannon said. "But those are hard to come buy this time of year."

"You like to use big words, and you talk funny Eva."

EchoMirage · « **Reply #34 on:** November 28, 2010, 03:40:55 AM »

"My beloved always told me to exercise my vocabulary, to confer the most appropriate shade of meaning" she answered very truthfully, yet unwisely, for the [Engineer's] absence made it all too obvious how many splendid patterns of communication she would not use, ever again, how her growth would be stunted in so many directions, how all the variations on "I love you" she knew were all but superfluous now.
She was equipped with tear glands, and the programming behind their activation was still obscure to her, and use involuntary. A sparkling drop ran down the dust on her cheek.
"I suggest a change of topic, dear D'Shannon."

"Do you, mister Eric, have a more realistic suggestion?"

Dossta · « **Reply #35 on:** November 28, 2010, 03:10:43 PM »

Startled, Eric glanced up at Eva a bit sheepishly. It's not that he hadn't been listening to the women talk -- he had. But their voices had started to faze in and out of hearing. For some time now, he had been running on adrenaline and willpower alone, drained by three poor nights sleep plus a hunt of some hundred miles. Shaking his head, he tried to concentrate a bit more on what was going on.

"I suppose I haven't really given it much thought yet. I haven't done what I set out to do yet, or I suppose I'd think about heading home."

He let out a mighty yawn then, remembering his manners in time to stifle it belatedly. "Speaking of which, don't you have any family that you can take up with, Lady Eva?"

EchoMirage · « **Reply #36 on:** November 28, 2010, 04:07:36 PM »

The "No" that dropped from her lips dryly like a dust-covered coffin lid was a headstone for her previous life.
Indeed, without the people in her life and without her profession, what purpose did she have?

"All but one are certainly gone; as for him, I know not whether he dwells this side of the Veil, or has passed over. My work seems gone, too. I could try to return to the arcology, but I'd rather not."
Verily, [They] might be still in wait.

"I am uprooted, looking for fertile soil."

Scrasamax · « **Reply #37 on:** November 29, 2010, 09:19:01 AM »

"You are in for a long walk, the soil here is sterile and barren, even before the Big Empty," D'Shannon said.

"But I think there is something going on, the Raiders have been getting more active, the Arco-Soldiers havent been out in force in weeks. Your outpost Eric, wasnt the first one they have raided in force. They have been hitting homesteads and camps across the flats." She pulled a crumpled cigarette and lit it. "Usually the Arco-boys show up with their laser rifles and the raiders go somewhere else looking for fun and blood."

"But now they aren't. They are letting the outland settlements burn. I don't know why but I don't like it"

Dossta · « **Reply #38 on:** November 29, 2010, 11:31:19 AM »

Remembering the attack on his hold, Eric once again tasted the bitter, almost helpless rage that had been consuming him for the past four days. He had lost a favourite sister and several small cousins to the flames and gunfire, and his guilt at his inability to protect them burnt almost as much as the anger.

"Sounds like hunting them will become my full-time job for awhile then". Looking over at D'Shannon, Eric continued: "I don't give two sniffs of a dog's ass what the Arcology is doing, but freelanders should stand up for each other. If they are hurting other Euro-folk, then it just became my duty to make their lives harder."

"I suppose I could use some help. Having someone who can patch me up and who knows how to duck would come in mighty handy, Lady Eva. And you did a great job dispatching the other two scum up there, D'Shannon." At this, he smiled ruefully. "But my sainted mother would have words with me if I put either of you in danger."

He heaved a sigh then and got heavily to his feet, exhaustion written in every plane of his body. "I'm just gonna check on our 'guest'. If his head isn't too addled by blood loss, he should be able to tell us something about what the raiders are up to."

(OOC: knowing the apparent ages and race of Eva and D'Shannon would help me play this guy.)

EchoMirage · « **Reply #39 on:** November 30, 2010, 03:49:39 AM »

Eva thought and pondered - there was far too little information upon which to build long-term plans, and far too little of her previous life left to continue.

With a demure smile blossoming on her lips, gaze cast downward to examine the shoe tips of the settler, she finally made a decision: "I am indebted to you, mister Eric, and in honor must repay - thus, please, allow me to do so, and repay to you and your kin; allow me to keep my honor, fragile though it may be."

She looked around the ruined settlement, dust-covered and drifting towards oblivion.

"Alas, perchance in following you, my roots will find purchase - though be warned that then, I may feel indebted again." At last, she gazed up to him, and gave him a smile warm and hopeful.

Scrasamax · « **Reply #40 on:** November 30, 2010, 09:45:53 AM »

A cold rain drove the trio and their captive into shelter. Inside, D'Shannon started a fire in a long abandoned fireplace after blacking out the windows with battered drapes and the ruins of clothing found rotting in drawers. The raider groaned, and after several hours actually regained consciousness. By this point, the interior of the home, leaks included, was fairly warm. D'Shannon unwrapped the scarf from around her neck, and took off her thick wool hat, and goggles. Her skin was the color of cocoa, or at least those who who had seen cocoa would think that. Under the hat, her hair was thick and frizzy.

"D'Shannon?" the raider mumbled in surprise, looking at her.

"Shut up Bobby, unless you have something nice or useful to say," She said.

Dossta · « **Reply #41 on:** December 02, 2010, 10:11:17 AM »

Eric's eyes flashed in the firelight and narrowed almost imperceptibly. "You know this man?," he asked D'Shannon pointedly.

Scrasamax · « **Reply #42 on:** December 03, 2010, 09:02:59 AM »

"Yeah, I do. I also knew the two guys with him, the two I shot." D'Shannon said just as pointedly back at him. "I used to run with the raiders, did some horrible s**t with them, and then I got out. I've been either on the run or hiding from these *******s." She pushed up the sleeve of her battered shirt, her arm was covered with crude tattoos, the sort that marked her as a raider.

"I didn't mind taking what I needed to get by, its tough out here. But they really got going on that Raider badass mentality, kill for no reason other than terror, steal everything and burn the rest. You know, the sort of stuff that gets the Arco-soldiers sent out with their laser rifles to toast a few asses. I don't get off on killing, and when they saw I didn't want to torture prisoners, or play cheerleader for their rape parties, well that just made me one of the victims in their eyes. I killed a few, stole a bike and rode like hell. Bike broke down, and I walked. Seems word gets out fast when a Raider Princess goes rogue and steals the boss's prize pistol and gacks a few of his favorite goons."

"So here I am two months later, so how's it going to be Freeman?" she asked.

Dossta · « **Reply #43 on:** December 06, 2010, 09:01:48 AM »

Idly stroking the bowstaff that lay across his legs, Eric regarded her for a long moment with thinly-veiled contempt. So the nigger was violent and had a history in crime -- big surprise. If he weren't so utterly alone, he might have attempted to kill her now before she had the chance to betray him or hurt other innocent people.

Glancing over at Eva, Eric gave an internal shake of his head. He had no idea what history she had with D'Shannon, but wasn't willing to bet that she'd take his side if it came to blows. Half-breeds were unpredictable, and there was something. . . off . . . about her. Not for the first time, Eric wished fervently that one of his brothers had come with him so that he wouldn't be forced to lower himself to this level in order to carry out his self-appointed duty.

Rearranging his features into what he hoped was nonchalance, Eric nodded slowly at D'Shannon. "People can change, I suppose, and you've already proven that you're not above killing your former . . . associates. If you will help me gather information on them and can restrict your violent tendencies to dispatching more of them, we'll be able to work together."

EchoMirage · « **Reply #44 on:** December 06, 2010, 02:57:02 PM »

As a brook swollen with recent rain, a stream of emotion bubbled up between Eric and D'Shannon, and Eva was more than glad to observe the subtle interaction, how their gazes met, the pause and guarded tone of the settler, and the cautious expecting approach of the ex-raider. 'As if he was scouting a scene of crime, where the villain may still linger, dagger poised to strike - and her, with the trepidation and cautious optimism of a timid maiden, though rough and jaded she may be.'

Luckily, Westerners usually expected guarded expressions from Asians, otherwise her absent-minded smile may have come across as vacant, juvenile, all sorts of wrong.

"I dare say, you will get along nicely. And, while I am so daring and brazen: why not just track the bandits, and alert the Arcology to the location of their lair? Gunships blazing, they will swoop in; that might be better, albeit less satysfying than playing Robin Hood and picking them off one by one."

Dossta · « **Reply #45 on:** December 06, 2010, 04:10:21 PM »

Eric turned to regard Eva doubtfully. "I'm willing to give it a try. As long as the scum are taken care of I don't care how it's done. But from what she said earlier -- " Eric nodded in D'Shannon's direction "-- the Arcology may not be up to it."

EchoMirage · « **Reply #46 on:** December 07, 2010, 02:39:22 AM »

"Well then - if the Arco-boys and the occasional Arco-girl are not up to it, we will have to" she switched to a slightly more juvenile pattern of speech. "As I said, I owe you one - so if you want my aid in your vengeance, I am game."

Scrasamax · « **Reply #47 on:** December 07, 2010, 09:25:09 AM »

"There are some new settlements around Port Huron, the Arco is backing it." D'Shannon said. "That might be why they are too busy to worry about a bunch of trash and raiders killing each other. I was thinking of heading out that way. There is work, and it's far enough away from Old Detroit the chain gangs and city-raiders aren't an issue. If you want vengeance, head for Old Detroit, or New Detroit. I'm done with murder." she said

EchoMirage · « **Reply #48 on:** December 07, 2010, 09:30:23 AM »

"Neither am I thrilled by the prospect - and, truth be said, I would be more useful helping you at home than hunting criminals in the wilderness. Still, it's your call, mister Eric."

She stood there, expectantly, perchance a little too stiffly, eyes fixed on him.

Dossta · « **Reply #49 on:** December 08, 2010, 10:11:46 AM »

"In the case of these vermin, it's not murder. It's justice." Eric eyed the two women contemplatively. "And I'm not going anywhere until I have some more answers from our friend Bobby."

Striding over to where the beleaguered raider lay trussed up on the floor like a pig ready for slaughter, Eric crouched down to examine the prisoner. Looking into the man's face, Eric's anger flared up again hotly, and he had to take a few moments to remind himself that breaking the man's jaw would help no one.

"You awake yet, Bobby? I've got some questions about your buddies 'Hal' and 'Kevin' that you'd better answer."