Faction Real Steel [Darkwire]

[Glade]

Tag: Open
Mission: Build'a'Bot

On about diagram six Glade was flummoxed, sitting there with her head in her hands. Hair rolling down her face, a mess of half-brained whatsit technical terms, that Fyor was overcomplicating to the nth degree. The gyroscope bottom had come together, a thick ring around the edge of it. The base of their spherical bot looked nifty. Fyor was still rattling off instructions like an overly chatty teacher to his class of one.

"…… and that concludes slide 17's beginner's introduction to powerflow regulation. Now if you will re-read paragraph 6 section 14b, I'm sure the theory on regulated half capacity workload will make more sense."

Glade bobbed her head. He used to do this every day, and she loved him for it. Only a droid though not him, there was a wisp of wind and remembrance blowing below her but it passed. Drifting off into a daydream, visor over her eyes, and Fyor droid speaking in her ears. Heaven. Talking about eyes, the peeking pair spotted their chance! A pair of tiny Anzellans scampered through the scrap pile, going straight for the main power cell, which they hoisted up on their back and tried to make a dash with!

There was an alarm that sounded like a coreband playing Smazzo percussion, and her chair flashed a smooth neon purple. "Heeeeeyy!" Glade spun her hoverchair around, just in time to see the critters running off with her loot. "Get your own scraps… scrappers!"

"We were here first!" One of the Anzellan jeered

"C'mon, we need that. Botbrain's just gonna flop without'a…." what was it again? "Streamlined Surge resistant power cell" Fyor added for clarity. The droid began reciting, "the rules of the contest clearly state the teams have individual salvaging areas. I can quote verbatim if there is a requirement."

One the Anzellan waddled on out with a guilty look on his face. "We're not exactly entered to the contest, more like entered adjacent." The other added, "On our way to regaining good standing with the management."

"Kinda unofficially official." Natoline bobbed her head in agreement.

"Yeah. Exactly." The front Anzellan puffed out his chest.

Oh well, Glade never cared much for rules, carefree as ever blurting out. "Wanna team up?"

The tiny anzellan's huddled together, whispering to one another. "Do we get to name it?"

Glade beamed and suddenly perked up, "yep."

 

[Daiya]

Daiya relaxed at the easy attitude of the stranger, her limbs quickly warming back up in the Altier sun. She should have worn long sleeves, that would have been smarter. At least her long, brow pants and boots covered up everything else, leaving her head exposed as well as her arms below the short sleeves of her pink and blue shirt. Her pale skin was liable to burn in this heat, even with the Denonite teen's liberal use of sunblock. Her eyes took an appraising glance at the other girl's apparel, noting the baggy clothing and long sleeves. She drew in a sharp breath through her nose, a rising tickle at the front of it threatening a sneeze.

It wasn't allergies, just an involuntary reaction to the lack of style.

"You are not from here. I am."

"No chit," the young shadowrunner pointed out, a grin hiding behind her words. It poked out with a giggle, diffusing some of her frustration and nerves. A native, or at least someone who had been here for longer, would make for a good guide. Daiya still didn't know much about the planet, and last time she had someone looking out for her. It wasn't like that anymore, the young shadowrunner was on her own now.

From the looks of it, so was Cindy, as uncertain as she seemed about that.

"Daiya," the teen returned, pointing at herself. She stepped a little closer now that they were introduced, and Daiya wasn't worried if she could handle a girl like Cindy. The brunette seemed about her height, and could be hiding any sort of weapons in her baggy clothes. Still, the clothes and the ponytail made for easy things to grab, and the junk made for easy weapons if she couldn't get to hers. No, Daiya wasn't worried at all. "I was gonna watch some of the contestants, see what their bots are like. You here for the Death Metal Royale, too?"

Daiya didn't mention why she was, and didn't expect Cindy to either.

With the wave of her hand, the teen beckoned, "C'mon, help me pick the best and I'll cut you in on my winnings. Gonna bet big on the meanest, chittiest robot I can find."

Cinder​

 

[Junker Jonn]

​

Location: Altier, Cargo Container Bar
Tags: Under Foot | Brie Jaxx | Yoroi Argosa | Cartri Keswoll

​

The second drink hit the bar in front of Junker Jonn, and the Kubaz forced himself to nurse this one slowly instead of slamming it back. He'd been in enough seedy places to know that he needed to keep his wits at least somewhat about him; if he passed out in some cargo container on a junk planet full of desperate indentured workers, he'd have everything on him - right down to his clothes, and maybe a few organs - stolen by the time his crew came looking for him. He had to walk the line between dulling the pain and anxiety versus going full blotto.

Never go full blotto. Not in public while surrounded by greedy scoundrels, anyway.

I'm offering odds if you're a gambling man. Jonn looked up blearily at the bartender, forcing his eyes to focus, though it would be hard for anyone else to tell through his red-tinted goggles. "That's probably the smart play," the Kubaz said, taking another slurp of his beverage. "Stay out of the contest, play the odds. The house always wins, so why not just decide to be the house?" He chuckled, a sound that resembled a series of staccato blasts on a kazoo. "But how are you laying odds when half the bots aren't even finished yet?"

Another human - another young-seeming one, Junker estimated - came into the bar. The scav probably wouldn't have noticed, if not for the fact that this one seemed to know the bartender and another of the humans. He greeted both by name and then spoke quietly to the female, with clear familiarity in his tone. Behind his goggles, Junker's eyes narrowed. This bar was clearly a pop-up, so it wasn't like the place had regulars. Besides, none of these folks looked like typical Altier indentures. They weren't quite grimy and downtrodden enough.

The new guy did seem kind of depressed, though. Drooping body language, subdued vocal tone.

For decency's sake, he shouldn't eavesdrop. Junker Jonn was a simple, hardworking scav captain, not some kind of spy. But for his own safety, he did keep one aural aperture open. These people didn't quite belong here, and if they were gathering here, something was up... something Jonn did not want to get involved in. Maybe some kind of shady deal was going down. Maybe an offworld syndicate was involved in the gambling over this contest. Maybe this was all a CorpSec sting, or something. Either way, when whatever it was went down...

... Junker aimed to be ready to do what he always did: run, hide, and cower.

 

[Das]

Location: Altier | Objective: Real Steel | Soundtrack: Live Free

"Oh yeah? Well, how the feth am I supposed to scrounge up a deathbot for you when you're breathing down my neck?!"

Das exploded from the floor and onto her feet, clutching the greasy wrench tightly in her fist. One more word outta the Hutt, and she's smash his slimy face in with it. Altier had been nothing short of an absolute chitshow from the beginning, and the last thing she needed was some porky slug warding over her creation.

Even if it was technically his, the droid only existed because Das knew how to wire up just about anything. She drew in a deep breath, trying not to let the oil fumes and ambient dust perturb her sinuses. The Hutt stood - sat? - expectantly. He wanted an apology for her outburst. He wasn't getting one.

"Look, Barbaa, if you want this hunk of metal to last more than the first round, I need my space. I can't work with you sliming around down here, bitching and moaning about every little detail." He began to protest, but she jerked a thumb toward the droid.

"You can find another tech junkie to finish it up, but the clock's ticking. I'd keep a lid on it and let me get back to work."

Barbaa jiggled angrily, grumbling in Huttese what Das could only imagine was a colorful string of expletives. But the credits were good, and the work was easy, so she let it slide. The slug took his leave, shaking his grotesque head as he wormed his way up the stairs. She dropped back to her knees with a sigh, jamming the wrench back into the droid's mechanical guts.

"You'd better not crap out on me..." she threatened, giving one of the innermost nuts a strong turn.

"It'll be more than just your head on the line."

---

Tags: OPEN​

---

 

[Cinder]

"Daiya," Cinder repeated, nodding.

Though the other teen's form was slight, Cinder noted there was still something intimidating about her. Attitude. She angled her own chin up just a touch as Daiya spoke.

"Yes," she said, affirming that she was indeed here for Death Metal Royale. And just like that, she had a friend – or so she hoped. She followed when Daiya beckoned towards the arena. Crowds were gathering in anticipation of the event.

Scrappers were busy preparing their bots.

As they made their way in, Cinder fixed Daiya in a sideways glance. She was willing to share her winnings. It seemed strange. People were greedy by nature, something that Cinder had learned during her time being an escapee. She was guilty of it, too.

"Let's see the bots," she said. Cinder could already see a girl with green-hued hair ( Das ) working on one.

 

[Glade]

Tag: Open
Mission: Build'a'Bot. Almost done.
Location: Somewhere near the other teams.

Spare parts were piling up high past her seat. Almost like they were rearranging new piles into a makeshift shelter which she encased herself within. Memory loot, junkers prizes, all kinds'a toys. Everything looked and felt great. Homely. It was like being in a sweet shop for the Kiffar.

Hum and glow of two tiny Anzellans engineers running rings around her chair, welding, and cutting while they went. Currently fighting a tug-of-war over a particular hydro spanner. Nato force-hovered two other tools over and snatched what they were arguing over. There was grumbling but at least it was settled. When they stared she just blinked innocently not knowing where it went.

Fyor droid continued to lecture the assembled trio about things they probably didn't need to know. Weight ratios and impact velocities, or somethin'. All seemed very important, her nose was especially scrunched during many parts of his lecture trying to concentrate. Would that fuzzy feeling in her head go away:? Maybe lil stims would fix her up? Did she already have any? Probs not. Maybe.

Every so often one of the Anzellans would direct her to go pick something new up, and she'd hover over to bring back a spare part. Like being back on the Ambiguous statement, or at her memory palaces. Def's she was gonna snag keepsakes from today.

Botbrain was comin' together, sort'a like'a giant big bowling ball. Natoline hummed to herself, rolling her sleeves up. Going overboard applying excessive coloring like always. She was etching names of people she'd loved along their bot. Sweet mem's. Old family. Old friends. Painting a detailed image, an old space elf room she used to live in a lifetime ago. As well as the gyroscope, scoop, and thick armored rings, there were two retractable rotating circular saw blades fitted horizontally and vertically. Especially lethal, "metal rippers, chew through just about anything" an Anzellan declared proudly, chewing on a small piece of wire he'd decided was like a junker's bantha-gum. Their bot was looking like a ball of colorful death with rings around it.

The second tiny Anzellan engineer was trying to get some mini tractor beams installed, but it wasn't going well. None of the junk here was stable enough for it. Their first attempt ended with a clang, and toes being the worse for wear. Anzellan's could swear like Corellian engineers, especially when they had a newly flattened toe. Nato was mortified. Oh, force-its! "Can we just um, pull stuff," she interjected making some hand gestures that soon felt stupid so she stopped.

"Calculating. There may be another appropriate course of action...." Fyor began redesigning, with a few final touches to their bot schematics pending.

 

[Daiya]

She jerked back to hear her name repeated back, taking another look at this Cindy girl. Cindy was tall enough that Daiya could look her straight in the other girl's hazel eyes. They reminded the teen of another hazel-eyed girl she knew, if not for the height and brown-hair on top. Or the fact that Cindy seemed rather unsure of how to talk to other beings.

"You don't say much, do you?" Daiya shrugged at the thought in the next moment, eagerly leading Cindy along her path. She took a winding route along the arena perimeter, her eyes to the land beyond it. If she squinted hard enough, the teen could see some of the bot creators searching for some new parts. Her shoulders slumped more the longer she went without seeing a single bot. "Stars, I wish we had a live-feed of the bot creation we could watch or something!"

None of the bot creators she had seen so far looked very interesting. The hot landscape of the junk world made everything seem shiny, but Daiya could tell even through the illusion. "Why even use droid assistants to build a droid?" she asked at one point. At another the teen wondered, "Doesn't that one look a little too wealthy to be slumming it around here?" Daiya giggled at that one, nudging her new Altieran friend in the ribs. She would have said the same if they were on one of the lower levels of Denon. Mostly, the teen was just glad for the company, even if they weren't very good at it.

Daiya barely had to squint to make out the being making a bot in the next section. "Oh of course, a Hutt sitting on his sluggy bottom while someone else does all the work..." the teen rolled her eyes before adding, "typical! They're worse than Corpos."

She was about to move on when the teen spotted a flash of green hair in the distance. Daiya caught Cindy before she moved on, gesturing her to the bot maker in this section. Daiya found herself peeking up on her tiptoes from time to time, hoping to catch more a glimpse before they came into full view, to surprise the teenage inventor before she could spot them coming.

Das always seemed to know too much, except about herself.

Coming up on the kneeling figure of Das, deep inside the guts of a bot, Daiya turned to Cindy with a finger pressed into her lips. She motioned for the other girl to wait out of the way, stepping slowly over the junk and gravel in her way. Daiya had to hope that Das was too zoned-out to notice her approach, giving her enough time to clasp her hands around the slicer girl's eyes and drop her voice down an octave before asking, "Guess who?!"

Cinder Das​

 

[Das]

Location: Altier | Objective: Real Steel | Soundtrack: Live Free

Das startled at the sudden lack of vision, but the voice kept her from swinging the wrench around.

“Oh for feth’s- wait, is this… Daiya?!”

She reached up and patted at the older girl’s hand, as if somehow she could divine the owner from touch alone. Das giggled as she spun her psychic bit.

“Yes, perfect skin, a-mazing manicure… must be Daiya!”

Giggling harder, she peeled the girl’s hand away and rose to her feet. Nearly every bit of Das’ rugged outfit was covered with blotches of oil, dirt, or some other kind of Altieran death-bot grime. She smiled awkwardly as she gestured to her collection of stains and smudges.

“I’d hug you, but I’m absolutely filthy.” Hours spent tinkering around with an uncooperative piece of scrap and it’s sleazo slug-master is hell on jumpsuits.

Still, it could be worse. The jumpsuit could be orange, and Altier could be a prison back on Denon. The sand and dust, oil and grease, were nothing compared to the alternative. Small blessings, or something like that.

Das went on for a moment about her predicament, then looked to Cinder next, her smile softening from familiar to welcoming.

“Hi!” she said with a friendly wave to the quiet girl.

“I’m Das.”

---

Tags: Cinder ; Daiya ​

---

 

[Cartri Keswoll]

Location: Altier
Objective: Drink sorrows away
Tag: Brie Jaxx / Under Foot / Daiya / Junker Jonn

''I- I'm good... but... What happened to you??''

"Nothing much... I've just been held up in my apartment for a good while and wanted to get some fresh air" the boy lied. Deep down he was devastated by what Daiya had done, broken by the fact that she would go to such extreme lengths to prove a point. That wasn't the true Daiya he loved, nor did he want to love at the end of the day. She had almost killed him, if it wasn't for the doctors and a bit of ginger luck he probably would have been dead on the operating table.

"Yea, apparently I had lost a lot of blood. The wound was deep and it took a few hours to fully seal and get some blood back into my system" he said with a sigh, his right hand going down to the scar. Cartri knew he was fortunate to be sitting here today, thanks to Brie he didn't bleed out on that roof. Quietly, he finally looked to Brie and nodded solemnly as she expressed how they'd miss him. Cartri had always felt the opposite, in his eyes, they'd be better without him and the problems he brought into Darkwire.

"I wish I could agree Brie, but I can't," the teen said back in a lowered voice, nodding to Undie in thanks for his drink "No one would care if I left now. I don't really have anything left here anyway..." he grumbled before looking at the "paint stripper" put in front of him. It wasn't going to be the worse drink he had, nor to come. Without hesitation, he took a quick sip and pulled a face at the incredibly strong mixture. That would certainly do indeed.

"Cheers, this will hit the spot," Cartri said before putting it back down and looking to the barman "How are things going for you Undie? the event been a success?" the boy asked him with a voice that tried to sound interested. Right now, he was just stuck in his own mind. Sighing to himself, he gave a side eye to brie and looked down at his drink

"Things won't be the same again, will they?"

 

[Hex]

Tag: Cinder Cyran Vaas Under Foot
Daiya Brie Jaxx Cartri Keswoll
Location: Altier
Objective: Build a robot

Spoiler: Equipment

• Neon Lady suit
• ap-25i SIMP pistol
• 'Candles' Heavy particle blaster
• 'confetti' Rocket launcher
• Party Poppers (3 explosive, 3 gas)
• Dancer repulsor board
• Jade Void Amulet
• Dervish Knife

Spoiler: Hex dialogue colors

Poor Hex hears voices in her head

Hex speech to others
Hex speech to herself

Hexes inner voices
'...Neutral...'
'...Doubt...'
'...Anger...'
Coloured '.....' are also words that Hex can hear , but I decided not to write them to reduce clutter

​

Things were going OK, kinda, the bomb disposal droid was in pretty good order once she ripped out a few of the unnecessary features like the worn out micro-control servos, she didnt need fine control for this application. The droid was duuuuuuumb though, she wasn't sure who would win in a game of 3d chess, this thing or a gonk droid, in its hey day it would have been smart, but not it almost seem relieved when she slaved its motor controls to a remote on her wrist pad. She moved it around, this was easy, maybe she could make it fly at some point?

'...That would be cheating...'
"Oh girl up, that's hardly the worst thing we've done." she giggled and carried on working.

BANG!

HISSSSSSSSSS!

As Hex tested the hydraulics one if the old pipes ruptured spraying the blue haired teen with thick oil soaking her hair and face. "This chit taste worse than Daiya's hair dye!" she angrily kicked the machine, then hopped around the room at her potentially broken toe.

'...You really are dumb as chit...'
"NOT helping"

She needed a drink, she had four hours left and barring an unplanned hydraulic pipe replacement, everything was going ahead of schedule. So that is what she did, she hopped on her board and skimmed her way over to the bar. Her face and her head were caked in dark hydraulic oil but her long braids swayed behind her.

"Brieeee! Undieeeee!" she called over excitedly to her friends pulling off her goggles to reveal her clean eyes in contrast to her grubby face. "It's me under here! Had a little thingie in the garage....

Oh, hey Knucks, how you doing?" she had noticed him but now felt a little unsure what to say, she had been there for Daiya after her breakup with Cartri Keswoll and as a good friend, she was fully team pink in this arguement regardless of the cause, she was biased anyway, if she didn't agree with Daiya, would she had blown up a train. "The guys said you got pretty messed up, I'm glad you're up and about.

I need a drink..... hey cutie..." she greeted Under Foot in a flirtatious way for fun, they both knew about his attraction, and he was her friend, even ifnshe wasn't going to entertain a relationship with him, she was going to be nice, and it was fun to watch her friend squirm. "Please can I have a large glass of something cold, and if you've got an 11mm hydraulic hose behind there that would be handy too." Underfoot knew what she enjoyed so she would no doubt get something tasty.

She looked at Brie Jaxx nervously, Brie was aware of the budding romance between Hex and Daiya that had come to life since the breakup, had she said anything to Cartri? Did he know too?

'...You probably should have stayed and worked on your bot...'
"hmmmm, maybe"

She raised her eyebrows and thirsty sucked on the straw from her drink.

 

[Cinder]

Cinder gave Daiya a blank look that only confirmed her point. Nah, she didn't say much. Though, it seemed the other teen was able to make up for the both of them in terms of conversation as she offered verbal observations.

She listened.

Her eyes shifted to each thing or being that Daiya mentioned. And she did make a sound, "oof," when Daiya playfully nudged her in the ribs. The quip about Corpos probably would have gone right over Cinder's head, but she did know one thing: Corpos were bad.

As with most people, Corpos were to be avoided. "Hmm?" Cinder followed Daiya's gaze back to the green-haired girl. Cinder didn't know what was going on, but she side-stepped behind a junk pile to make herself less noticeable. And she was quiet, just as Daiya bid her to be with the finger over her lips.

She watched curiously as Daiya put her hands over the green-haired girl's eyes. Despite this, the girl seemed to already know it was Daiya. Uncanny. The two of them and their chit-chat seemed to say they knew each other already.

Cinder froze.

She wasn't used to socializing – it had been discouraged for her own safety. But Das welcomed her with a wave. Cinder approached, but stood to Daiya's side. "Hello," she said to the girl, Das. "I am Cindy."

Daiya | Das​

 

[Cassus Akovin]

By all rights, Cassus had absolutely no business building anything.

That was always his mother's specialty, and she had been such a prolific creator that Cassus had spent his entire adolescent life breaking every one of her gadgets he encountered at least once. He would still have more to go if he hadn't been forced to leave to Junk'D Up Ship behind in the Twilight band of District 7—another reminder of his mother's loss gone, and not an insubstantial amount of gear. There was still The Gauntlet's Off, which is primarily where he grew up, but it was too polished for his tastes—a reminder of her substantial wealth that he inherited.

Finally out of the depths of the Tombs and away from the source of his conflict with his friends, colleagues, and competitive rivals, Altier presented an opportunity to cut loose. He had such a laser focus on "winning" and hating his enemies he had been blind to the consequences it brought on those around him. So the irony of signing up for a bot-fighting competition to win money for Darkwire wasn't lost on him.

Brie had been excited to join the competition but seemed more enthused by the scrapyard than the actual fight. Cassus had just been encouraging her and watching from afar for a while. Eventually, however, a couple of hours into the competition, he asked if they would accept a late entry. At first, they were resistant, reminding him they had a schedule to keep and he wouldn't get extra time or the same amount of scrap. Cassus expressed no concern for these factors, and they eventually relented. Maybe they wouldn't have if they knew what he was putting his "efforts" to.

By the end of his efforts, he had constructed an effigy of the DireX Board. Five heads, each beaten into shapes vaguely reminiscent of the nasty corpos if you squinted with a bit of imagination, affixed to a wide old-school security safe rigged with tank treads. Trailing behind by a thin chain was a long oblong droid head with blaster holes and a knife embedded into its head. He put the "brains" of the machine inside the safe, but ostensibly only to make the bot qualify as one and not a modern art statue. It could move around and drag its effigy head across the ground, but it lacked all sophistication otherwise. That didn't mean it wouldn't blow up at the first available opportunity or surprise him in some other catastrophic way. Regardless, he was hoping to see nothing but melted slag by the end of the competition.

Finishing many hours before the rest of the competition, Cassus went around to try and show off his creative genius.

Brie Jaxx , Junker Jonn , Glade , Hex , Cyran Vaas , Das , Under Foot , Daiya , Yoroi Argosa , Cinder , Cartri Keswoll , (Let me know if you want Cassus to bug you/distract you while you build/booze/etc.)

 

[Cyran Vaas]

Time: 4 Hours before Death Metal Royale
Location: Altier

Cyran had been struggling to find some components for the “bettie bot” he found. The chassis and mechanical skeleton within her were largely in good shape though, so they had a decently well made foundation to work off of. The zeltron was no engineer, and was mostly relying on his team of pit droids and R4-P4. While they were busy building the droid, Cyran instead was searching around for parts to use instead.

To aid him in this endeavor Cyran pulled out his ole Tactical Tractor Beam Projector to more easily sift through the massive among to garbage everywhere. Some hardcore power tools or old weapons were what he was looking for. The droid needed to defend itself after all. Blasting away piles of trash, the bounty hunter eventually came across some large metal box. Clearing off some he found out it was a safe of some kind. Pretty large one too, about the size of a fridge. Telekinetically lifting it up with the small tractor beam he managed to bring it back to his team of droids.

Setting the safe down with a loud thud Cyran remarked. “Something is inside of here, not sure what though. But it’s gotta be cool I bet.” Rolling over to it, P4 looked it over before agreeing that it should be worth getting into. But it would probably take a bit to break it.

With that in mind P4 deployed their plasma cutter to begin breaking the safe without damaging what might be stored inside. Like they predicted it took a while of their precious time without even knowing if it was a waste of time. However, they managed to break the safe. Pulling open the broken door they finally saw what it was keeping safe. Weapons. It must’ve been someone’s gun safe long ago. “Wow, now we can give her some serious artillery.” Cyran said before P4 agreed with some beeps. “Alright, well you figure out how to integrate these blasters into them. I’ll go back to looking for a processor of some kind. But I’m starting to feel somewhat confident about this.” The zeltron said before grabbing the miniature tractor beam projector once more to scavenge among the trash again.

 

[Glade]

Tag: Cassus Akovin
Mission: Build'a'Bot. Done. Now Name'a'Bot Begins.
Location: Somewhere near the other teams.

Bot Check! Saws were sharp. The thick defensive ring was tough as a bantha'bum. Her Scoop worked for ramming. The tractor beam was a no-show, but the gyroscope ball changed direction so easily and was a really solid design. Also it looked kinda snazzy! Which was the most important thing she'd decided, polished up, painted up, and sleek. The Anzellian, or Anzies as she was calling them to their annoyance, were fitting on three grappling hooks instead of a tractor beam, for acceleration, vertical movement, and for capturing anything that wanted to try to get too far away from the saws.

There was also…. a glitterbomb, in Natoline's design because of course there was. Something to blind everything and everyone in especially thick purple smoke and flashes. The bot getting some fancy lights on the side, some sort of laser torch that burned purple as well. Yes all purple take that space-elves! Everything had to be purple. It gave the solid bot some range but not much, which was its main flaw.

Cassius went around to try and show off his creative genius. Cassus Akovin

And..... was almost run over by an out-of-control large bowling ball, with razor-sharp circular saws attached to a ring around it. "Whahawah watch out!" A tiny Anzellian engineer was running after the bot flailing hands in the air. Just another day in Nato-land. Natoline sat in her chair, head in her hands again, she did an almighty PFFFFFFTTTTT in exasperation. The kiffar decided this called for a snack of high-degree, triple sugarcovered chocolate somethin's, on second glance it was probably only just sugar.

"Heeeey nice bot!" Natoline beamed happily to Cassus Akovin curling a happy smile.

Breaking a piece of sugary teethkiller for the other Anzellian, he studied it with a small scanning tool and passed it back quickly. She smirkled, crossing a smile with a smirk, who needs teeth anyway. "Wanna snack?" Glade asked Cassus from her chair, a side draw opened on her hover chair with a small minibar of overpriced, over-sugared snack bars, stimcaf ice coffee, glazed bantha jerky, also probably some equally sugary zeltros blue liquor.

Oh, she didn't have "a name!"!!!!!!!! "Sir Rolls'alot, Gygromancer, Be Edgy , Ball'a'death, Purple Point of View? Wadda ya think?" Looking to the stranger for inspiration or ideas. She'd never met him before, and would talk to just about anyone about anything. Chatty as you like. The oversized bowling ball was rolled back in, though it took two Anzellian's to move the weight of it.

 

[Cassus Akovin]

​

Cassus was almost taken out of the competition before it even began, but the Anzellan's warning had been enough to grab his attention before anything too messy happened. Tumbling out of the way and rolling down some trash, Cassus returned to his feet and admired the incredible productivity of his fellow competitor... whoever they were. The tiny Anzellan, maybe?

"Heeeey nice bot!" A woman in a hoverchair beamed at him as his mobile effigy crested over a mound of garbage, rattling its tail behind it as it went. Cassus smirked incredulously.

"If you say so!" He mirthfully shouted, "It's really more of an art project. Can you guess who it's all supposed to be?" He was thinking probably not and that he'd have to explain it every time, but he didn't mind that possibility. It wasn't as though this was his specialty or anything. Still, like a kid proud of his drawing enough to show his parents, Cassus wanted to show it to everyone, especially since he considered it meaningful and cathartic. As cathartic as a robot death match could be, anyway. He supposed he was in good company to agree with him.

"Wanna snack?" As Cassus approached the human mobile snack machine, he went to work observing the multi-functionality of the hover chair. Thinking back, he wished he had thought of something like this to purchase for his mother when she was still alive.

"You got liquor in this thing?" Drinks weren't really his thing usually, but the novelty of a minibar in a junk heap amused him too much to ignore it as an option. Pulling it out, he saw it was from Zeltros.

"Oh, no kidding. You wouldn't know it looking at me, but I have a bit of Zeltros in me. Do you mind?" Cassus asked politely, gesturing to the blue drink.

"A name!"

"Cassus Ako-"

"Sir Rolls'alot, Gygromancer, Be Edgy, Ball'a'death, Purple Point of View? Wadda ya think?"

"Oh, for your bot." Cassus realized belatedly, only half embarrassed by his eagerness to introduce himself. "I'm partial to Purple Point of View. Feels like a political statement. Guess I should find a name for my effigy-bot, huh?"

"Well, if you're all finished with your bot, we should probably start heading to the arena. I wanted to show off mine to my friends a bit first before everything kicks off. I want them to know why I'll be laughing so much when it gets toasted." And so they didn't think he was crazy when he did, as it was rare for him to smile, let alone to laugh.

Brie Jaxx , Junker Jonn , Glade , Hex , Cyran Vaas , Das , Under Foot , Daiya , Yoroi Argosa , Cinder , Cartri Keswoll , (Let me know if you want Cassus to bug you/distract you while you build/booze/etc.)

 

[Glade]

Tag: Cassus Akovin
Mission: Name'a'Bot Done. Now Beat'a'Bot Begins.
Location: Entering the Arena.

Did she know what his bot looked like? Five heads, tank treads, ummmmmm. Her nose scrunched so hard and she felt really really bad. "I erm," she bit her lip, "looks really really like… " Tank treads were tough lookin', and dragging chains was kinda cool and… oh whatsits she had no idea! "Sorry dun know." She whispered hoping nobody else heard, probably even him. Maybe naming his bot could help? Nato wasn't as clued up on their corpo world as most others, mostly spending her time just surviving.

Do you mind? She just smiled brightly, bobbing her head to say sure. She used to love Zeltros, her old clubs, so many people, awwwww. Anyways.

"Purple point of view, yes'sir, kinda like it!" She bobbed her head at least twice. "Defs ya gotta have a name. I mean, I think?" Right? Maybe? She honestly had no idea and now looked even less confident chewing on her lip.

Time for bot punchin' "Okies!" She saluted Cassus, packing up many pieces of her hoverchair that were strewn about, force levitation helped a bunch. Anzies were running around collecting all their expensive tools, hauling far too much weight for the lil fella's. They probably didn't have that many tools when they started… oh well details.

Entering their arena, there would probably be some purple lights under her chair on show, and a Kiffar girl giving anyone and everyone an excited small wave. Behind her sat an oversized bowling ball, encircled by metal rings and defended by large scoop. Purple'd up to the netherworld, names, pictures, and general artwork which looked okay just cluttered.

Their two Anzellans chanced to come. One on her chair arm chewing old wire, his friend standing proudly with the Ball-Bot smoking a huge cigarra. A second Cigarra was offered to Cassus Akovin by their little guy, trying to do so discreetly. His Cigarra gift was actually hollow with a Mem-stik inside, maybe something Cassus had been looking for, or just a gift of a well-known corpo's security code. #Plot Hooks Asked any question, their Anzellian would just smoke and play dumb.

 

[Daiya]

Daiya bit her lip to keep from making a sound that would betray her. Especially a giggle. She didn't find it too difficult to let her victim examine her hands for a guess, but the teen had to bite down too hard to keep from making a sound when Das mentioned her skin and nails. "Ow," came her reflexive gasp, and brought a hand to her mouth once they were free. Her eyes came face to face with the clever glimmer reflecting off the slicer girl's own pair of orbs, and it was then that Daiya finally let out a giggle. "I couldn't help it."

She looked over Das' soiled outfit, her nose instinctively wrinkling at the sight. They weren't on Denon, that was clear enough by the hot sun and acrid smells around them, and Daiya tried not to judge too much by those standards. The clothes, the makeup, the hair were all ravaged by this planet's environment, and made them all hardly worth the effort. The teen had tried her best not to look like the scraprats that skittered around the junkpiles, dragging off choice hardware for enough credits to fill their bellies. Das, on the other hand, seemed to embrace the role.

"Everything here is filthy!" Daiya pointed out with a shrug. She glanced back at Cindy when Das noticed her, stepping aside so the two girls could meet. The young shadowrunner still wasn't certain what to make of Cindy, whose sense of looks almost seemed to make Das look like a model by comparison. It didn't seem too farfetched for a native to the junkworld, though Daiya wondered just how long it had been since Cindy had talked to another being for more than a minute.

It wouldn't have surprised Daiya to find out that Cindy was one of the scraprats herself.

"New friend, meet old friend," she pronounced, deciding right then and there what Cindy was going to be. Daiya wasn't sure how easy it would be to get the mousy-haired girl offworld, but the other girl seemed to be in desperate need of an adventure. "Having problems with the bot, Das?" She opened her satchel to show off her cache to Das, "We can cover up any rough spots with a bit of paint and glitter."

"Or..." She started, drawing out her voice and looking over at Cindy. Maybe an adventure that was closer to home?

"If you can't get it working, maybe Cindy here could sub in?" Daiya giggled and drew near to the brunette again. She put an arm around the girl's shoulder, unused to doing it with someone her own height. It was easier and, somehow, more comfortable. To her new friend, the teen lowered her voice to mention, "You kinda talk and act like a bot already," and then raised it again, "but I'll bet you're tough as nails!"

Cinder Das​

 

[Brie Jaxx]

Location: Altier, the makeshift bar
Objective: Save a relationship?
Tag: Under Foot , Cartri Keswoll , Junker Jonn , Yoroi Argosa , Hex

​

Brie listened carefully as Cartri told her about the treatment given to him at The Tombs, giving him her full attention.

​

"No one would care if I left now. I don't really have anything left here anyway..." he grumbled before looking at the "paint stripper" put in front of him.

It truly hurt her heart hearing that, and she felt helpless doing anything that would make him think otherwise. She could just hope that what little she could do, with time, would help heal her broken friend.

''I would.'' she insisted sincerely while looking at him with a ''A lot of people would. Including Daiya...'' she added, although fully knowing that the younger shadowrunner could very well be considered the very definition of stubborn, and since ms. Stubborn and Weird Girl apparently had something going on more than being room mates, Brie had quite the hill to climb if she tried to save her friends relationship. It was all misunderstandings and miscommunication that had led them here, and both Cartri and Daiya had reasonable points. She did intend to try, though.

"Things won't be the same again, will they?"

''I guess... it depends on what you want to be the same...'' Brie responded thoughtfully, thinking on how she would do this. ''The train bombing changed everyones lifes. We might have to accept it, for now... but... I'm sure we could make things be as they were, if not better...?'' she explained in an attempt to encourage him.

''The drink's good? Sounds like it even beats a Port In A Storm!'' she added with a light chuckle while glancing between the high octane drink Cartri had ordered and him, trying to shift some focus to what happened here and now instead of thinking of the past. ''You want to go watch the bot games after this? Cassus is building one... Think he needs a little support that cheer him on...''

"Brieeee! Undieeeee!" she called over excitedly to her friends pulling off her goggles to reveal her clean eyes in contrast to her grubby face. "It's me under here! Had a little thingie in the garage....

Speaking of the devil. Brie left focus on Cartri for a moment, and turned to look at and greet Hex, forcing a smile that left as quick as it appeared.

''Hey, Hex...!'' she said with an upwards nod to the blue haired girl. Being a negotiator between her friends wasn't going to be pleasant business.

Brie felt the awkward gaze from Hex as she sipped on her drink, and met it with her own, filled with mixed emotions, doubt being one of them. She excused herself for Cartri, before she rose from the chair and wandered over to Hex.

''Hey, uhh... things are pretty messed up, right...?'' she said and fiddled some with the glass of juice in her hand. ''How is Daiya today? How do you think she will take it to see Cartri at the games?''

​

 

[Das]

Location: Altier | Objective: Real Steel | Soundtrack: Live Free

“Glitter?! I think the old slug might have a stroke if he saw sparkles on his death-bot.” Das tapped her chin thoughtfully, cracking a grin as her devious sense of humor began to show.

“On second thought, the more glam, the better - this poor fella needs a little shine.”

She licked her thumb and dabbed at a glob of grease on the bot’s arm. It mostly just smeared against the rusty plate that served as its shoulder, but Das seemed satisfied nonetheless. She looked to Cindy with curiosity.

“Yeah? You’re handy with droids?” she asked. Das knew a thing or two, sure, but mostly just what she’d learned while working with Sam Kolburn in her dad’s workshop. There was a fair bit that carried over from speeders and podracers over to droids, but a large gap was lost in translation.

She had low stakes in the arena anyway, but she’d be lying if she said that winning wouldn’t be a great turnaround for her. Besides, Cindy seemed like a cool kid - even if she was a bit odd. Who wasn’t, when it came to Darkwire, though?

Das cracked a smile beneath the veneer of oil and dust that layered over her pale face.

“I could actually use a hand,” she said, casually holding out her wrench to Cindy.

“If you’re up for it.”

---

Tags: Cinder ; Daiya ​

---

 

[Cartri Keswoll]

Location: Altier
Objective: Drink sorrows away
Tag: Brie Jaxx / Under Foot / Daiya / Junker Jonn / Hex

I would.'' she insisted sincerely while looking at him with a ''A lot of people would. Including Daiya...''

Cartri visibly frowned from hearing Daiya's name, clearly still hurt from what happened at the train bombing. Since then, the teen had only seen her once at the arcade, where she looked happy without him. For all he knew, Daiya had already moved on from him, tossed aside as if he wasn't even there to begin with. That in itself made him feel like there wasn't anything left for him at darkwire. He witnessed the harsh truth of his friends turning to madness, now he didn't want any part of it.

To say the least, his time in Darkwire was limited.

A few moments later Hex walked in to greet those who were at the bar. Cartri nodded slightly and tried his best to offer some sort of smile "Hello Hex. Things are... alright" the said in a mutter before taking another huge gulp of his drink. He was curious what Hex thought of him now ever since the scene he and Daiya created. Knowing her she probably despised the fact he hadn't chosen to talk to Daiya since that fateful day. If she did, Hex was pretty good at hiding it.

Getting up from his chair, Cartri joined Brie and Hex elsewhere and heard the last few bits of Brie's conversation. Cartri slammed his whiskey on the table a little harder than intended, the first sign of accidental aggression coming from the young man "No... I don't want to see her yet" Cartri sighed "I... I just need time to myself before I even think of speaking to her again"

"I promised I'd always love her no matter what, but after what she did I'm finding it hard to put the pieces back together..."