What's up Chicken Little (Midpoint mingle)

[midpointmods]

PLAYERS: Everyone!
LOCATION: Midpoint, and the Lucky Break for a precious few
GOAL: Wind down and gear up for next round
WARNINGS: None
OTHER: Have fun!

Ten people wake up in the morning to find notes on their bedside tables, coffee tables in the suite, next to their bathroom basin, or even on their pillow next to their face. One wakes up in a cool jail cell with sand, dust, and the distant whistle of a steam engine for her alarm.

For Soldat and Jo, the note reads: Round 86 begins in three days. Your briefing will be delivered tomorrow morning by Nicholas St. North. Be prepared.

Taako, Hajime, and Yoda, get a similar one: Round 86 begins in three days. Your briefing will be delivered tomorrow evening by Nicholas St. North. Be prepared.

For the rest - Fuwa, Inara, Sara, Irene, and Misty, the note reads: Round 87 begins in three days. Please pick up your final teammate and your briefing from The Lucky Break.

North has no information for anyone just yet, but for half the players active this round, there’s nothing to do but loaf around town waiting, and trying to casually suss out who might be on their team and who they have to fight, until the next day when they get their instructions. This has happened before, older players will assure them: if there’s no new players, sometimes they don’t make you trek all the way out to the jails for your briefings.

For the other half of the active players, there’s a new teammate and information to pick up. Who wants to make the trek and crowd into the small jail to free them?

And of course, there’s the expected couple days of chatter as every player, active or not, crowds into the saloon to see who’s getting sent out this month and who isn’t. North has plenty of food for everyone, as usual; there’s a series of shows playing all day at the theater (which turns out to be the Adam West Batman); and everything makes merry the best they can, up to the time people have to leave to get to work entertaining the masses. Good times, right?

Comments

Midpoint Saloon

[midpointmods]

North does his usual best keeping up a cheerful face as he cooks and keeps house as usual: good luck getting anything out of him before it's due.

Booker's General Store

[midpointmods]

Feel free to peruse and chat as always in Booker's - he enjoys the company!

[vigilanteclub]

It's afternoon on the last day before the new round when Sara makes her way into the general store, foregoing browsing in favor of striding right up to the counter.

"Howdy," she says. "I'm looking for rattlesnake antivenin, if you've got it."

She isn't especially hopeful - that it would be stocked in the first place and that it would be anywhere within her price range if it is - but better to know and plan ahead than be caught flat-footed.

Re: Booker's General Store

[knifecollecting]

[She doesn't know what her mission is yet, but she needs general supplies anyway.

Jo wipes her boots at the door as best she can before she heads in, though it might be a pointless endeavor.]

Good morning. [She clears her throat as she approaches the counter, wishing she could find more information independently. Asking people for things gets under her skin.]

[resignedcheetah]

[Lucky Break Jail] (locked to teammates)

This... is definitely not where Yua went to sleep. She has an apartment - it’s extremely plainly decorated, but functional. It’s not this. She searches around for her Shotriser, but it’s nowhere in sight. Neither is her phone, or anything that belongs to her.

She sighs and starts working on attempting to find something to use. A rock to start chipping away at the window, perhaps.

[In Town]

This whole thing makes her feel vaguely ill. She just got out from under someone else’s control, and now she’s a pawn again? Awful. She’ll figure things out, though American Westerns aren’t her thing. Her clothes are casual, but her intense look is definitely not.

She can easily be found in the saloon watching the clientele, the library doing some research, wandering the town to get a good mental map of the area, or possibly dragging Fuwa away from whatever stupidity he’s gotten himself into. She’d check the area out from above, but no point in tipping her hand just yet.

Jail tiiiiime

[ragingwolf]

It's not like any of the jails are particularly nice. The only thing that sets this one apart right now is that it has the information - and extra person they need - for this round. And since Fuwa's the most experienced member on this team, even if not by much, he takes it upon himself to lead the way to the jail.

"Oi." He pulls his ring of keys out and lobs it easily to Sara once they get inside. "You go see who's downstairs, I'll check the file."

[vigilanteclub]

Sara's not quite looking at him, instead surveying the jail - a little less sand-swept and brutally hot than the one she'd woken up in, which is about the only thing she can say in its favour - but she catches the flash of the keys out of the corner of her vision, and her hand snaps up to snatch them out of the air. "Is that some local tradition?" she asks. "Last month's newbies get to break in this month's?"

It's apparently a rhetorical question - she doesn't wait for an answer before heading in towards the cells, letting her footfalls sound just loud enough to carry ahead of her down the stairs. That and a call of, "You awake down here?" should serve well enough as a ten second warning.

[resignedcheetah]

Yua palms the rock as best she can into her sweater, turning to look towards the new voice. She sits down against the wall, glancing up towards the incoming footsteps. "Yes."

The answer is clipped and short, but there's not much emotion in it. She has to remain calm. Getting angry and smashing things is more Fuwa's style, not hers.

[ragingwolf]

Fuwa's happy not to give her one, letting her head downstairs while he stays up for a minute. Enough time to skim the document, realise there's only one team, and mutter, "What the hell...?" to himself, easily quiet enough that it won't carry.

Carry on, he'll be down shortly.

In Town

[chalicejoker]

Some of the saloon's clientele may not notice--or care--that they're being scrutinized, but the guy with the giant mantis (that appears to be waving a cookie around and chattering on about how much better it is than jalapenos).

Staring contest.

[resignedcheetah]

Ah. This kind of person. She just leans against the table, not breaking eye contact. She has no reason to act submissive to him, and better to act like you have confidence than be pushed around for meekness in this kind of situation.

[chalicejoker]

Hajime absolutely isn't going to break eye contact either, because she started it, and he's very mature like that.

He is even going to keep this up while Ryo, who has been trying to get his attention about something, starts crawling on his face in a bid to get said attention, darn it.

[resignedcheetah]

There's the barest hint of a smile, and she rests her elbows on the table. ... Fine. She'll be the first one to break the silence.

"Do you have a problem? Other than a giant bug that you seem unconcerned about?" It's concerning to her but she's also dealt with weirder stuff.

Bucky/Soldat | OTA

[worthallthis]

I. Pre-Briefing

It's not that unusual, to not have to trek out to a jail to get a mission briefing. Soldat isn't worried. And, really, it's nice not have to deal with the idea of new players for the fourth mission in a row, or with having to waste a whole day on travel, especially since Misty isn't heading out and Sam doesn't even have a mission this round.

So Soldat pretends it's another non-mission day, does their usual daily routine of grooming the draft mare, patrolling around the town once, working at the practice range, and eating dinner in the saloon's main room. The only real change is occasionally telling people, "No, it's fine. It just means we don't have any new players," or, "Yes, I have a mission. No, I don't know what it is yet."


II. Post-Briefing

Soldat reads the briefing over breakfast at the bar rather than in their room, frowning at it thoughtfully. It's a nice mission. Something positive. Maybe there's some kind of catch, maybe the miners are robots or murderers or thieves, or maybe it's just... a nice mission, for once. They did just die in order to make their team win.

They'll seek out Jo, and handle getting their supply from Booker and their own resources from previous missions, and check in with friends. If anyone actually wants to talk with them, well, they're in the saloon for dinner like always, and visibly around the town just like yesterday.

And then the next morning, they head out with their one teammate, hoping to hell this is going to be as straight-forward as it sounds.

II

[resignedcheetah]

There's a woman watching them as they eat dinner, her own simple meal carefully but swiftly being finished. She's new, and obviously so - her jacket is too neat, her pants not yet covered with enough dust, and her shoes definitely not the kind you'd want to be using for the kind of work usually done in Midpoint.

Her gaze flicks briefly to their metal arm, and it's clear she's assessing them, categorizing them. She shifts slightly, revealing the general shape of some sort of firearm, but no details.

[worthallthis]

Soldat knows all the faces here, the old-timers like them and the people who came in on the last round, and recognizes the new face. They're really kind of less pleased about being stared at. Being stared at makes them uncomfortable. The metal arm, not really hidden at all by a denim shirt rolled up to the elbow today, buzzes and shifts plates to and fro even while Soldat themselves don't look up and meet her gaze at all. If anything, they seem to be consciously avoiding eye contact, while still clearly aware of her gaze.

At least they're not expecting a fight. Getting into a fight in Midpoint Saloon will get Yua in very hot water with North-- they don't even have guns on them, just a couple knives hidden invisibly away, and the metal arm. It's just... uncomfortable.

They'll only actually say something if she keeps it up until they're ready to retire and she's still at it, or if she gets too close to Misty or Sam in the main room.

[resignedcheetah]

She’s still there when they get up, though they’ll notice her doing a similar stare at everyone else. The metal arm is concerning but not the only thing to catch her gaze. She doesn’t seem to be writing anything down, at least - but more than once they’ll catch her idly spinning an item of a familiar shape.

(Though given the circumstances they last saw it, it probably wasn’t the Progrise key they were focused on.)

The only times she’s not clearly analyzing people is when she dips out - bathroom, probably - and settles back into her spot when she returns.

[worthallthis]

Frankly, if she's watching everyone, they're not going to be that concerned about it. Uncomfortable, yes, but watching everyone is pretty normal behavior around here, especially for new people. Soldat isn't even the weirdest person here, with the metal arm: there's a small talking raccoon, a tall talking tree, a girl with shadow tentacles, and actual Yoda.

They do recognize the little device, but they're also not reading too much into it. If she knows Fuwa, that doesn't necessarily mean they're friends, or that Fuwa told her about them, or that there's going to be a problem.

So eventually, because they're trying hard to be more social and helpful to the new people, they do pause by her table after picking up another serving of dinner. "Anything I can help you with." It even managed to come out pretty friendly-sounding. Soldat is nailing this social thing, oh yeah.

Re: Bucky/Soldat | OTA

[knifecollecting]

[Jo likes the idea of spending some time in a cave, a little, but she isn't especially fond of the idea of being in a cave with Soldat.

She supposes it is a way to see how he is under pressure.

After North heads off to his business, she turns to the man with the metal arm and hums thoughtfully.]

You have any experience with this?

[worthallthis]

Yes. Though they change the lower levels of the mines every time I've been down there.

[They're still reading over their copy of the briefing, making sure they have all the details. Not that there's a lot there. None of the names of miners are familiar, but they expected that. (Think they'll be real people, this time? Who knows. Hope not.)]

Done search and rescue before in a few places here. Mine's the most dangerous.

[knifecollecting]

They're really gonna be trying to catch us while we do it?

[It's just like trying to grab someone before a demon shows up. Right?

Shit.]

What kind of situations have you run into?

( prompt: pre-briefing! )

[sunborne]

While out and about during their patrols, Soldat may notice a familiar towering figure in the distance. Daylight sticks out like a sore thumb thanks to his colour palette of blues and purples standing out against the scenery. The fact he's walking his horse is only adding to the 'yep that's Daylight' quality.

More so with the fact, the horse is clearly eyeing him up. No doubt wondering what would be the best bits to bite and when the chance to bite will prevent itself.

"Oh! Hey!" Upon recognising the figure, Daylight stops in his tracks, his spoiler flickering up in clear pleasant surprise. He's quick to flash a smile and greets Soldat with a cheerful wave of his free servo. "Hey there, buddy! Nice to see you're doing okay."

[worthallthis]

Soldat has in fact been kind of looking for Daylight. They've checked in with Inarra, but not with him, and they haven't seen him. It's a relief to spot the towering figure approaching, and they hold up a hand in an almost-wave, back, before changing direction to intercept. "Daylight. Hi. Nice to see you're doing okay, too." They'd been half worried he'd gone and done something stupid and gotten himself killed, or retired already.

Good to see that isn't true.

[sunborne]

"Yeah! Been spending much time as I can with Munch here." Daylight reaches out to try and pat his mare's - Munch's - head, grinning down at the surly-looking animal.

Munch replies with an attempted chomp! and hm nope.

Daylight hisses, yanking his servo back just in time to avoid a nasty dent for him and a toothache for his horse. "Clearly we're still... working on that." He looks at Soldat, expression sheepish and a little disgruntled by the attempt to bite him but good-natured all the same. "Got any tips to make this faster? Ideal bribes?"

Jo Harvelle | Late with coffee; OTA

[knifecollecting]

[Jo was not pleased to wake up and find a note on her pillow.

While she hadn't let herself think that she had any real space of her own here, wherever this is, but the obvious intrusion frustrates her.

After folding it to stash in her pocket she heads downstairs for breakfast, and perhaps a little socializing. Maybe not.

She bellies up to the bar for her food, swinging her feet idly as she eats. Hopefully, she doesn't kick anyone.]