[closed-ish] an' I don't give a damn 'bout my reputation

[beatupgrass]

Who: Rocket (beatupgrass) & various quest-goers, etc.
What: A catch-all for quests, etc.
When: September through October-ish??
Where: Various places.
Warning(s): Rocket's mouth, mostly.



[A catch-all for any quest logs I've made plans with. If I made plans with you during the CR meme for quests when they go up (or if you just want a thread), and I don't have you on plurk, PLEASE do not hesitate to PM me to do a starter for you. I would absolutely love to.]

Comments

[thedarkbond]

Hmm, it kinda looks like one... [Ren's definitely just. Going to point that part out as they keep going.

Ren frowns slightly at the corpse comment, but honestly, he'd be kind of disappointed if Magda had been overcome that easily.]

He's an old refugee who's really bitter about the Natha...so I'd be really surprised if he was dead. He seems like the kind of person who's missing because he wants to be.

[Despite Ren's careless, airy tone, it's a reasonably grounded observation.]

[beatupgrass]

He was pretty pissed we decided to side with the Natha, which I'd like to point out- nobody made that declaration. And if we did, there are stipulations. We got people up there on the station. Just 'cause he's an old hermit who doesn't have friends don't mean we're so indoctrinated on the Natha that he has to pack up his toys and leave. We got our reasons.

[Rocket stops short, suddenly, and holds his arms out, stopping his two humanoid compatriots.] The smoke's getting stronger.

[And sure enough, there's a plume of smoke and the light of a fire reaching up into the sky just over the next snow-covered rise.] Either we got a pyromaniac in the area or that's what we're lookin' for.

[errantdetective]

I'll be honest, I'm still working out who's who. I'm not siding with anyone at this point.

[She's new, and she's willing to help out both because she needs cash and because she wants to learn more, but she doesn't owe fealty to anyone here. At least, not anyone who's currently awake and not stuck in a tube. She's only helping out as long as it seems like a good idea.]

Either way, it's worth checking out. Fire bad, generally speaking.

[thedarkbond]

[Rocket basically just made any point Ren could possibly make on their reasons for associating with the Natha, so he's just going to...leave that as is. It suits him fine to have people speak for him when it involves connections like that, because emotions are fake and he doesn't have them, thanks very much.

He actually walks into Rocket's arm before stopping and blinking slightly - it's at least a little feigned, though. The reek of smoke is hard to miss, and Ren's gaze follows the smoke plume upwards into the sky.]

A pyromaniac on the rampage would probably be fun too, right? So let's go.

[Ren sounds...altogether too airy and enthusiastic about the idea of running into a rampaging pyromaniac, but it's fine. Probably.]

[beatupgrass]

[To be fair... Rocket looks like he might actually delight in the idea of something to shoot too. Sorry, Toby, you're stuck with crazy people. Carefully, he pulls his gun off his back and hits the catch so it expands and is at the ready for anything that might happen and starts creeping over the rise where trees are starting to appear less sparingly.

Well, there were more trees here. Most seem to have burned to charred husks and there's some still burning, though it doesn't seem like it's spreading. In the thick of it, there's a body in the snow, too obscured by the ash and white powder to see clearly. Rocket's ears flatten.]

Aw shit. D'you think that's him?

[errantdetective]

One way to find out.

[Not that Toby... has any idea what he looks like. She pushes ahead anyway. If they're alive, they can talk. If they're dead, well, blood will remember anyway. Either way, they're a clue.

She reaches the body and carefully turns them over. She puts two fingers against their neck. There's a pulse. She glances up at Ren and Rocket.]

He's alive. Just unconscious.

[thedarkbond]

[Ren is quietly thankful someone else volunteers to check the body...though he does drift off in another direction briefly to investigate the still-burning trees. He's still looking at them when Toby speaks up, and he hums slightly in approval.]

Well, that's good, then... [He taps distractedly at a part of the tree in front of him that's not entirely on fire. Only mostly.] How long do you think it would've taken for a fire to burn down all of these...?

[The laser probably hit them, but that'd have to be an awfully large arc to immediately take out all this, so he assumes the fire was probably spreading earlier and is just running out of fuel at this point.]

[beatupgrass]

Nurray said it was misfiring somethin' fierce. Guess Magda had it out for this guy, and just gave up when the d'asted gun didn't work.

[This guy who looks like a sailor and not like someone who'd be worth killing. That's weird as hell. Rocket pats him on the cheek.]

Hey, man. Wake up. We're here to rescue you or... something. Kinda. In a roundabout way, I guess.

[The sailor stirs a bit and is greeted by a woman and a raccoon staring down at him. Naturally, he yells.]

[errantdetective]

Hey, hey, it's okay!

[She raises a hand consolingly and gives Rocket a sideways look.]

I think you're freaking him out.

[She gives the man a sympathetic look.]

It's okay. We're here to help you. Are you hurt?

[thedarkbond]

[Ren starts a bit at the yell, and finally turns his attention away from the smouldering trees to the person passed out on the ground. Rather than loom over him like Rocket and Toby are, Ren wanders up to crouch down next to the man.

And then he extends a finger and...starts poking him. It's an extremely silly method of checking how cold he is, because if he's been out here for a while in the snow, then even one of the hardy residents of this place could be at risk of freezing to death.]

He doesn't feel too cold...maybe he hasn't been asleep that long... ["Asleep", clearly, and not unconscious.]

[beatupgrass]

[Rocket backs off with an agitated grunt, and the sailor scoots up into a seated position... Only to drop back down again when the effort proves to be a bit too much exertion.

"No... I'm not sure what happened. I saw fire and came to investigate. There was a figure in the middle of the trees- a bit unsettling in his features, but when I tried to get closer, I just..." He waves his hands in confusion.]

Dropped like a sack of potatoes. Yeah, we getcha. [He looks to Toby and Ren.] Must've been Magda. He's pretty weird-lookin'.

[errantdetective]

Don't poke him! [Toby swats at Ren's hand.

She frowns, listening to the sailor speak, then looks at Rocket.]

Weird looking how?

[thedarkbond]

[Ren swats back at Toby, giving her an impressively deep pout for the intervention.] If you're going to act like it's rude to poke people, then don't hit them either...

[As for the matter of Magda, Ren frowns a little, trying to find a way to describe him.] He's very...like someone from Earth would describe an alien, I guess. Mottled skin and black eyes kind of like a weird frog or fish...

[As far as he remembers, at least.]

[beatupgrass]

I'm gonna hit both of you in a second. [WHY IS ROCKET THE ADULT.

But as he would have utterly failed to describe Magda properly, he's glad that Ren has that covered. He points at him.] Yeah, that's it.

[The sailor says "Yes!" at the same time as Rocket does, and tries to sit up again, putting a hand on Toby's shoulder to steady himself. "Could one of you get my pack? I need to..."

The bag is a few feet away, open, and Rocket hops over to it to investigate. Most of the stuff inside it is rations and some money and a few tools.] Hey, good news, man. He, uh, didn't take your money.

[The sailor groans.]

[errantdetective]

It's not poking in general, it's-- oh, never mind.

[This is not a fight worth getting into, probably.]

You don't know where he went, do you? Did he say anything?

[thedarkbond]

[Ren may take a brief moment to blep his tongue out at Toby as soon as she's looking in a direction that's not at him, but other than that, he doesn't pursue the argument any further.

Instead, he goes along with Rocket to inspect the contents of the pack.] If he was planning to leave, you'd think he of all people would have been prepared for what things are like out here...I wonder why he needed to steal anything at all...

[Short of the technology, which honestly just seemed kind of like a spite thing to Ren.]

[beatupgrass]

[Rocket feels like this interrogation isn't interesting anymore and wanders a little further into the smoldering trees.] I'll check for footprints. Or something.

[The sailor shakes his head. "No... The second I saw him, I was just out." He looks plaintively over at Ren and his pack. "There was a compass and an astolabe among my things. Are those still there?"]

[errantdetective]

If they didn't take the money, maybe they left those?

[She glances over at Ren.]

And if not, well, those are probably replaceable, right? Why would he steal those?

[thedarkbond]

[At the question, Ren starts to sift through the bag, though there really isn't much in it. He's already frowning slightly in thought by the time he's gone over all of it and established there's no compass or astrolabe to be found.]

No, sorry, they're gone... [He glances back and opens the neck of the bag a bit in hopes that the sailor can see it from over here. Which...he doesn't really seem to be able to, judging by the way he squints.]

They're both for navigating, so I think we can figure he's headed somewhere specific...but then, why he didn't bring those along in the first place? He didn't seem like the type to make a half-baked plan like that.

[beatupgrass]

["I can't help you there," the sailor sulks, looking miserable. "He was in a hurry and not interested in being followed. That's all I know."

Rocket rifles through the snow alone, following the sudden scent of faulty wiring until he finds the gun half-buried in snow. For fuck's sakes, he even ditched the thing he wasted time stealing. What is wrong with this guy?

He returns to the group, holding the gun in both hands, as gingerly as one can hold an unstable device.] Looks like we got Nurray's prize, anyway. Bastard ditched this on his way out. Guess if it wasn't working, it wasn't worth havin'