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

[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.

[vigilanteclub]

"Good."

Sara holds up the keys in one hand as she descends the last few stairs and comes fully into view. There's a flicker of something across her face, there and gone too quickly to pin down, as she gives the woman in the cell a quick but thorough once-over.

"I'll make you a deal - I'll let you out and give you some water," she taps the canteen on her belt with two fingers of her free hand. "And you give me five minutes to explain this crap before you try to knock me out and flee into the desert."

[resignedcheetah]

She's healthy, if slight. Not someone intimidating-looking. She still hasn't found her Shotriser, but it's not like there's much cell to look through. She stands as the other woman approaches. "... You don't sound like someone who's here to keep me captive. I don't have any reason to knock you out."

She's in a totally new place, with no idea where she is. Burning her first lead is an extremely stupid idea.

[ragingwolf]

Fuwa's voice carries ahead of him, as he folds the file and tucks it into his jacket on his way down the stairs. "The good news is, we've got an easy mission this round," he calls out. "No one to kill, funnily enough, just herding cattle."

He steps into the cell area, and the first thing he spots is the familiar weapon and Progrise keys sitting on the shelves next to the exit - and stops, and stares at them. No way...

[vigilanteclub]

"I thought you were staying upstairs," Sara says over her shoulder to Fuwa, a hint of exasperation in her voice - not least because he's bringing up potentially killing people before there's even been a chance to brief their newest co-captive on the basics.

After a half-second's mental calculus, she still unlocks the cell, pulling the door open and stepping back to give the other woman room to exit. "Wish I could say we're setting you free, but as my teammate might have implied, all three of us have been conscripted."

[resignedcheetah]

Her eyes widen at the voice, and she brushes past Sara - while still keeping a sense on where she is in the room - to move towards where it came from. "Fuwa?" She raises her voice, repositioning herself so she can take a look. "Fuwa, you're here as well?" But no Naki in sight or hearing - though that's not surprising.

[ragingwolf]

Oh god, it really is her. He just stares with blank shock at her for a few seconds. "Yaiba..."

Before his face wrinkles into a snarl, and he spits out, "I'm sure she'll do fine. She's been working for a right bastard with no complaint for ages now."

[resignedcheetah]

Her hands curl into fists, and she practically throws the rock she's been keeping hidden at the ground. A gross chill goes up her spine, and her voice waves as she tries to keep from shouting.

"Did you forget that you're not the only one with a chip? You weren't the only one he gave migraines to any time you stepped near the line." ... Admittedly, she should have crossed the line long before she did, but... "It's not as if he'll ever work with me again. I'm surprised you didn't take pictures of me punching him."

[vigilanteclub]

"Ohboy," Sara mutters under her breath, and turns so both of them are in her field of vision.

Turns, but doesn't intercede, just leans up against the bars of the empty cell, crossing her arms over her chest. Whatever this is - and she winces a little, brow furrowing slightly in concern at the mention of a chip - better to let them have it out now, while there isn't danger to be distracted from, or something that requires cooperation.

If it turns violent, or if it gets truly ugly, she'll step in - but for now, she's willing to be a fly on the wall until they remember there's an audience.

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.

[chalicejoker]

"No, no problems here." She had started the staring, dammit. Hajime's forced to confront the more pressing issue of Ryo clinging to his face, and there's a sigh and a paternal-sounding, "Ryo, what did I tell you about the face thing?"

"Don't do it!" Ryo says cheerfully. There's a pause. "Ohhhh..." And at least he climbs off. "Ta-da!"

[resignedcheetah]

She blinks in surprise at Ryo. "... You talk?" She should really be asking 'how', but this place is already weird enough that she's not sure she wants the answer.

[chalicejoker]

"Of course I talk!" Ryo tilts his head to one side. "Why wouldn't I talk?"

Humans: they're silly!

[resignedcheetah]

"I've never known a grasshopper who could talk. Just a Kamen Rider themed after them." Which is strange, because grasshoppers aren't exactly known for their fighting skill.

[chalicejoker]

Ryo puffs himself up a bit. "Am mantis! Not grasshopper! Am much cuter than a grasshopper! Don't spit like grasshopper!"

"You'd be surprised what some bugs can do, really," Hajime says. That's good; let Ryo be all distracting.

[resignedcheetah]

"I'm not exactly a zoologist, I'm an engineer." She eyes the bug carefully - ah. Right. It's more vertical than a grasshopper, isn't it. "Though no bugs are known to talk where I'm from." Not with human speech, at least.

[chalicejoker]

"Trains not have a lot to do with bugs, but different bugs are important!" Ryo has a different concept of what an engineer is, okay. He hops up and down. "Am from Questing Country! Mantises talk when they're from Questing Country!"

Hajime's very content to sit back and see if she spills any more details other than being an engineer. Is this what being subtle is like? Has he finally figured that out? Amazing.

[resignedcheetah]

"That's.. not the kind of engineer I meant." She sighs and glances at Hajime. The guy doesn't seem like he wants to explain anything. "I've never... heard of Questing Country."