Big City Living (Midpoint Mingle)

[midpointmods]

The town of Midpoint: called thus because it is at the exact center of the game arena, a busy little Western town full of strange people, many of whom don’t look remotely human, because this is where all the players gather and live. Midpoint Saloon: called thus because it is the only bar in Midpoint. It’s also the biggest building in town, four stories high, dotted with windows, painted a jaunty yellow and decorated with red and green flowers in all the window boxes.

This is where your veteran teammate points you. Or just stomps off to and hopes you follow.

Downstairs is a bar and tavern, Old West style, right down to the upright piano in one corner and a raucous crowd of locals - largely locals, but with a healthy smattering of unusual or downright alien faces that clearly indicate the presence of other Players - eating, drinking, gambling, and getting into trouble. There’s a broad, bearded man behind the bar, waving cheerfully at you as you enter.

The rest of the night and the next day is yours to do with what you see fit. Explore the town, take a long nap in your new room, try to get to know people... everyone is here for the next twenty-four hours before travel to the mission site, so it’s a good chance to scope out the competition, at the very least.

Comments

[cicadashell]

He laughs then.

"I was 'missing' at home too. They wouldn't need a copy."

[unofficial_ambassador]

Inara raises her eyebrows in disbelief. "No one in the world knew who you were?"

[cicadashell]

"They did, but," he has far too many long stories for things that happened only a month ago. "I was kinda kidnapped by the government and they did that 'you don't exist anymore' thing where they get rid of records and whatever."

[unofficial_ambassador]

"Ah." Maybe that's really calm for the situation he's just described, but she's seen that before a few times. "I'm sure they won't be happy if you're suddenly not wherever they put you."

[cicadashell]

"Ha, yeah," he looks pleased about that. "I hope we're not copies then."

[unofficial_ambassador]

Inara laughs at the smug expression. "People like that do not like it when things don't go their way. You're probably safer here."

[cicadashell]

"Except for the dying," he's talked enough about himself, and somehow Inara is easy to converse with. Not something that happens very often. "What entertainment value do you bring to this? You look pretty normal."

[unofficial_ambassador]

"Hm." Inara tilts her head, considering. "Before I got here I was doing the bookkeeping for a small shop that sells magical plants... Maybe they're planning a new 'do the inventory for the general store or die' component."

She'd also been sort of trying to overthrow the government, and kind of had in another universe, but surely that's irrelevant.

[cicadashell]

"Can you... do magic?" because that would be interesting. Accounting, not so much.

[unofficial_ambassador]

"I’m afraid not." She's had some prophetic dreams before, but the person who had been causing them is dead so now she can't even do that. "The boy who owns the shop is a wizard, so he deals with most of the actual magic."

[cicadashell]

"Guess you're just eye candy." There's a bit of a smirk.

[unofficial_ambassador]

Inara laughs quietly at that, unoffended. "Maybe so. We’ll see."

She realizes that he’d startled her so much right at first that she'd never learned his name. "I'm Inara, by the way. Hopefully, we're not on opposing teams now that you've learned all my weaknesses."

[cicadashell]

"I'm Jiro."

He has decided he likes her, and that's abnormal. Has he really been having a conversation for over five minutes without yelling? Huh.

"In think we're all on the same team here in the end."

[unofficial_ambassador]

"I really hope so." If there's one thing she's learned from life on Serenity it's that a small group of people with nothing to lose can effect some pretty major changes.