This thread is permanently archived
[Setting] Uptown Highway
| > Following into the scene, a moterbike glides through traffic, coming to a stop across the street. The rider gets off and removes his helmet, looking to the woman at the bus stop. He takes second before crossing to meet her.
| >>585604
> The lady glares at the man. Even through the dim lights of the stop, barely illuminates her — it appears that she is tired, with the light highlighting her long overworked self.
| >>585610
> The man stops directly in front of her, rather relaxed compared to her. He remains soft-spoken, analyzing her stature.
"Lucetta?"
| >>585616
> Her short stature is most definitely Lucetta, but the empty stare is unlike her. Her eyes were less than expressive, showing what seems to be despair.
"Y-you have her, right?"
> She didn't answer the man's question, but neither did she avoid it. Instead, she seems to outright confirm it.
| >>585617
"Of course."
> He doesn't seem to like the return, nonetheless rolling along.
"We're waiting for one more, if that's alright with you."
| >>585623
> She didn't seem to reply, instead looking carefully at her surrounding. Whether it was the man's wording, or her already cautious and paranoid self — she doesn't seem comfortable at staying still.
"Be quick."
> She strafes, gazing at something behind the man.
| >The soft clopping of wooden clogs on the concrete path can be heard moving toward the bus stop as a man wearing what can best be described as... a kimono at best, bed spread at worst, approaches. His clothing had definitely seen better days- it's black with faded gold trim on the edges, and just barely holds together with a sheathed, curved sword of some kind at his hip.
>The man himself is a bit unshaven, has distinctly oriental features and wears a top knot. His eyes are baggy.
| >As he makes his way into the bus stop, he acknowledges the two of you with a simple nod and takes a seat.
| > Lucetta was more aware to notice the newcomer. However, her reactions were slow to notice the sword sheathed by his hip. She rubs her face with her hand, trying to smear the unmistakable sleep deprivation away, but the man — she is clearly trying to be careful of the man.
| >>585633
>He looks to the man in the Kimono before returning to the conversation.. He doesn't notice her gaze.
"You said someone gave her to you. What do you know about them?"
> A little upfront, he starts with questioning.
| >>585669
"We're too late for that."
> Lucetta answered, having returned where the conversation was. Whatever her definition of 'too late' was, her voice tells a longer story than that.
| >>585672
"Of course we are.."
> More of just muttering to himself, he keeps rather calm given the situation. He begins to, however, think less of what he says next.
"Alright, then >>>where can you start? You know, explaining?"
| >>585675
"Explain what?!"
> Lucetta explodes upon hearing the question, but she dropped down to a seat in the bus stop. She presses her hand hard against her face, then takes a deep breath — probably to relax herself.
"Explain. I'll explain. Okay."
> She mumbles to herself.
"What do you want to know? I'll answer. Be quick."
| >>585678
> Not at all reactive, he sits down next to her, looking out to the street in front of them. Quick, huh?
"Okay, what is she? Or, what was she?"
| >>585681
> A pocket in Lucetta's coat rang a tune. She ignored it as she attempts to collect her thought. Before long, the pocket stayed quiet.
"She is. She is an artificial lifeform. A broken one. What do you expect me to know aside from that, idiot?"
| >You hear a quite hum go by, with a pairs of feet landing behind the bus. One of the footsteps make their way over to the converastion, and in to the light. It's John, wearing his usual full suit.
"Ladies, I miss much?"
| >>585692
"I don't know, maybe a reason >>>why you'd agree on holding this broken AI? Or what you>>>exactly did to her back at the Cafe? I'm trying to start off on the right foot, here, if you'd let me."
> Kaz, although his speech saying otherwise, shows no irritation, not even an expression. His head turns to the sight of John, sighing as it does.
"Not even close."
| >>585693
> Lucetta only aimlessly sees John. She didn't ignore him, but her sorry state now prevents her from looking as though she cares for anything.
>>585698
"I set her life to {DISAPPEAR}. I needed to save her."
> She closes her face with her hands again, muffling her loud screams.
"MY TRITE PROBLEMS. HE SAID IT WILL FIX THEM ALL."
> Her sentence reaches far from where they are.
| >>585699 >>585698
>John looks at Kaz and at Lucetta, and back at Kaz, whispering to him
"Her what problems? Who is 'he'?"
>John keeps his handgun gripped in his hand.
| >>585700
"We're getting there."
> He whispers back, returning to Lucetta. He's unsure if he needs to comfort her. His anger isn't totally out for her, but he finds his approach and sticks with it.
"What are your afraid of, Lucetta?"
> Kazuki remains monotone, firm to hope he gets an answer.
| >>585701
"No one."
> Her head rises. Her eyes have completely dyed in bloodshot red, but not due to her usual augmentation. It was from crying; puffy eyes and paranoia.
"No one. I'm not scared of no one."
| >>585702
"I didn't specify for a person. >>>What are you afraid of?"
> He's now fully turned to her, what is he up to?
| >>585703
"Nothing."
> Her pocket rang again. Louder this time. She ignored it still, woefully aware of her consequences.
"I'm afraid of nothing, Kazuma."
| >>585705
"Yes."
> She chuckled, not at all winning the conversation — instead, she seems to be swayed by whatever the topic is the two brought for her.
| >>585706
"You going to answer that?"
> Kaz keeps his eyes trained on her, acknowledging the buzz as a [phone]?.
"I suppose 'He' is the one who gave Uni to you? Or can we learn more about him?"
| >>585708
"I have no work left."
> The buzz seems to be a phone. At least, that's what the ringtone is telling Kaz. Her pocket seems to be covered by her own will, seemingly showing that she is hiding something — oddly too obvious.
"He is. There's nothing to learn about him."
| >>585713
"Not a name, a description? Model number, color...?"
> He looks back towards John, in hopes her secrets are as obvious to him as it is to Kaz.
| >>585716
"He is a Lilim."
> Her words are short. As expected, it held no better information than a guess.
| >>585717
"A lilim, okay..."
> Kaz cintinues to think, he's running out of options,ideas, and according to her, time.
"What problems? What did he say it'd fix?"
| >>585721
"Her pocket watch is ringing, maybe it's her time to {Disappear}?"
>John has put away his weapon, clearly, there's no need to waste bullets.
| >>585723
> Hearing John's word has made her realise something. Something she thought she has overcome. Her breaths became laboured, and she held her chest with her hand — as though asphyxiating.
"Yeah. I should."
| >>585731
"You gotta right your wrongs first. Or you won't even get a throne, let alone a piece."
>John pulls all of his years of bullshiting, tying to piece together the mystery without all the pieces.
"Tell me how you controlled Uni."
>He begins playing with a holographic coin in his hand, it shining to get Lucetta's attention
| >>585732
> Lucetta takes her hand to another pocket, one without the ringing device. In her hand is a coin in the shape of an uneven circle; it looks crude and traditional. The side visible to John shows a sea turtle.
> The coin glows when she turns its face, showing a flat surface by its reverse.
"You have this, right?"
| >>585733
"I have something similar."
>John makes the holo disapear, reaching for what seems to be his gun...
| >>585735
> She throws the coin far away, out to the night's own pitch black darkness.
"Great. Now you're the only guy who has it."
| >>585737
"Similarity is not Equality. Now explain."
>John draws out a coin instead of his gun.
"How is this going to do anything?"
| >>585746
"I threw my coin. I have no control for her no more."
> Lucetta, again, danced around the question.
"What do YOU know about them, John? More than me? More than the guy there?"
| >>585773
"I know enough. Enough of them gets what they threw away."
>John tries to imitate Uni's style of talking, maybe it'd make more sense to Lucetta.
"So, what do I need to do to bring her back?"
| >>585777
"Do you have a gun?"
> Lucetta softly said. Her voice had begun running its course, it began sounding hoarse and dry.
| >>585778
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Answer the question."
>John stands his ground, waiting for an answer.
| >>585783
"I'm answering. Do you have a gun?"
> Lucetta didn't budge. Through the imperfections of her voice, she tells her unwavering commitment to a plan.
| >>585788
"Shoot one in the sky."
> Although she sounded a ludicrous answer, there was still no less determination from her. Whatever her plan is, she is sure of it.
| "How do I know you won't shoot one in the temple?"
>John was befudled by the question, but tried to remain composed.
"Sorry, You mind?"
>He takes off his jacket, tossing it on a seat in the bus, revealing his shoulder holster, and once he wraped up his sleeves, his metallic arm, which whirrs for a second, before poping out a drone, which went on to follow the trajectory of the coin that Lucetta threw.
"So, what's the endgame for you?"
| >>585801
> Seeing John handle the situtation quite a bit better than he could, Kaz stands and begins to follow the drone, silent as he does so. Unlike his speech skills, he was prepared to search in the dark with a flashlight now in hand.
| >A mobile phone ringtone cuts through the silence https://youtu.be/eiL0oCXqYYE
>The kimono'd man pulls out a small cellular phone- a clamshell with seemingly nothing but a LCD screen. He stands up and faces away from the three of you as he takes the call, but says nothing.
| >>585801
> Lucetta bit her lip. It's not that John's argument made her doubt herself, but the idea that they are wasting time belittles her more than it should have.
"Fine. Take the gun yourself. Shoot it up. Do whatever."
> She says, not irritated but sounding like one. She puts more emphasis than needed with the word 'up', as she also points to a direction upwards when she does so.
| >>585801 >>585816
(You both may do a d20.)
> The search for the coin seems to be easy, seeing Lucetta's impressively weak throwing skill. With the problem of light being handled by the search party, the tiny coin does look plausible to find.
| >>585823
> Lucetta was taken aback by the sound of the ringtone — more so than the ring of her pocket — but her attention span had begun dwindling the moment she sat there, in the bus stop, giving her very little to split between John and the Kimono Man.
| >>585922
"Oh what the hell."
>John walks up to her, drawing his weapon...
>>585926
(2)
>The drone has a heat failure, and goes in to safemode, only providing the vicinity of where the coin could be, and a bit of light...
| >>585926
(14)
>>585931
> Kaz sighs, watching the drone fail and silently enjoys the extra light. It doesn't take him long, however, to spot the coin in a bit of light. He picks up the coin, than then looks to the drone.
"Wonder... You need some help there, buddy?"
| >>585931
"Point up. Do three shots. Two seconds each."
> Lucetta says, sounding commanding and sure of her idea. Whatever she plans on doing, she is aware it will work to an extent.
| >>585931 >>585949
> The coin is dirtied. It reflects Kazuki's light with ease while it also emits its own faint light. Without much effort, the small and unrefined coin was found.
| >>586002
>John drops the magazine out, empting the magazine, until 2 are left, with one in the chamber. He puts the magazine back in, pocketing the bullets. He flips the VP9 around, now holding it by the barrel.
"I'm not your maid. Do it your self."
| >>586003
> Kaz returned to ignoring the drone, making his way back to the bus stop with the coin now pocketed. He stops once he sees John with his gun, on alert and waiting in the dark.
| >>586015
> Lucetta chuckled again. She takes the gun, and as planned, she points it upwards. Her count were mouthed, but they were as precise as humanly possible.
> By the first shot, a spark can be seen above — then it was the same for the second and the third. Her timed shots made a drone fall in each of her shots. Three in total, precisely the same as she intended.
"Now, you lot are in his wanted list."
| >>586025
"What can I say, I like being wanted."
>John smiles back, a few scout drones don't really scare him anymore.
"So what now, you haven't exactly explained how to bring Uni back."
| >>586031
>>586025
> Kaz returns to the two, unaware of their new situation.
"John, I think your drone is having some issues..."
| >>586038
"Yeah, it's a prototype. Un-like these."
>John gestures to the now defunct drones on the ground, as his drone slots back in to his hand.
"So I think mine holds up well."
| >>586031 >>586038
"First, sitrep."
> Lucetta stood up before she trembles and fall. Her hands helped break the fall, but in her state, it didn't help much to reduce the impact. She hacked a few drops of blood, coughing them to the ground — before attempting to speak.
"I'm—… I'm fucking dying."
| >>586070
> Kaz looks from John to Lucetta, before helping to pick her back up.
"Glad we're not the only ones."
| >>586070
"Oh, I'm fucking sorry, since when where we on the same team? I'm a goal orientated person, so I want my answer..."
>He takes his gun, putting it back in his holster, and picks her up by her shoulders.
"And I want it real fucking soon."
| >>586072 >>586071
> Lucetta didn't try to retaliate against John's answer. Instead, she nodded while being taken care of by Kazuki.
"I don't care if YOU—"
> A pause was made. She coughs again, lending less sense to the words she spoke.
"—if you want me dead. Try and guess who has the bargain chip."
> She leers at John.
"I'm an inch from code blue, leave me to die here if you wanna."
| >John sighed, like he was facing idiot.
"If I wanted you dead, I would have shot you. But personally, I'm impersonal to your situation."
>He looks at Kaz seeing if he has anything to say, as he reloads his gun with malicious intent.
| >>586097
"That's what I wanted to hear."
> Lucetta more or less smiled. Her pocket rang again, this time even louder than the previous two attempts.
"Oh, do check on the drones if you like collecting pennies. That seems to-be your hobby."
| "Gotta have something, some join cults, some have slaves."
>John pokes small insults to both Kaz and Lucetta, as he gives the boys a good stomp to disassemble them.
| >>586101
>>586097
>>586099
"John."
> Taking personal action, he decides best for himself to plunge his hand into Lucetta's pocket, attempting to grab the ringing device.
> He attempts with a failure of motor functions, and makes a smooth transition to slapping her... Across the face.
| >>586101
> Each of the drones had nothing in particular, at least until a small glint shows in them. They each seems to have a glowing token — not too dissimilar from coins Uni would hand out — but they radiate a different sensation from the coins.
> Whatever their function in the drone might very well be a vanity, but their placement inside the drone may indicate otherwise.
| >>586102
"I'll have you know I can do better."
> Lucetta said, trying to rub the pain away. Although the pain is secondary to what she has experienced, she finds the slap to be a clear insult to herself.
> She ignores the ringing device. For whatever reason, she doesn't even pay attention to it.
| >>586103
>John picks out each one of the coins, putting them in to his pocket.
>>586102 >>586104
"Yeah Ka-"
>He stops as he hears and sees Kaz giving Lucetta a hard slap across the face.
"Kaz, what the fuck?"
| >>586104
"So can I."
> The process of being able to reach into a pocket fails Kazuki once more, this time less factorially(?) As he slaps her... Twice this time.
| >>586106
"Okay, the fuck?"
> Lucetta this time feels more annoyed than angered. Having two slaps isn't to her taste, but having one weak slap most definitely is a distaste.
"While you're out wasting time, we're—"
> She began coughing up blood again — which she ejected out to a distance.
"—He's coming one heck of a soon."
| >>586106
"Kaz, what the >>>fuck?"
>John uses this confusion between the two to grab whatever is ringing in Lucetta's pocket.
| >>586109
> John pulls a thin, silver plate from her pocket, much to her surprise. She tries to stop John, but with her weak flailing, she isn't any use.
> The 'plate' is nondescript. There is no clear user input nor interface. It's only a plate capable of producing sound.
"Don't you DARE do something with that, John."
| >>586111
"Slap it."
> Kaz murmurs to himself, still holding on to Lucetta for her own support.
>>586113
"Think it's a worthy idea, John? How many do you think it'll take?"
| >>586113
"What if you DO dare, idiot?!"
> She shouted. That was Lucetta's first incentive at expressing herself — and it wasn't at all friendly.
| >>586115
"I guess not, look at how mad she is."
>John puts his gun away, instead opting to give the plate a rub.
>>586114
"We've already tried that, twice."
| >>586116
> The plate vibrates in a pattern, repeating every once in a while for as long as John rubs it. It doesn't seem to do anything else.
"Give it back!"
> Lucetta shouted again, now sounding like a mistreated child.
| >John sighs, actually begining to feel a little bad for Lucetta.
"Looks like I got the bargaining chip. So tell me, how to I get Uni back."
| >>586119
"I DON'T KNOW!"
> Lucetta pushed herself from Kazuki to take the plate back from John, only to fall again to her knees.
"That meeting… with the other goddess—… it was uncalled for."
| >>586120
"It was her kid, idiot. Now get up, we have a man to kill."
>John actually does something nice for a change, helping her up, and putting the plate in her hands.
| >>586122
> She takes the plate immediately, putting it back inside her pocket. It took her a moment to accept John's help, deciding to then push herself to the seat after taking his support.
"We have none."
> Lucetta sighs, seemingly preparing a long explanation to her best of ability.
"—Uni is incomplete. What you'll be recovering isn't Uni. What you lot is defending won't be Uni."
| >>586124
"Kaz, are you alright? Go get some water and my jacket."
>John sighs at Kaz's lack of motor functions... And sits down next to Lucetta.
"Look, I got a ton of questions, and you clearly don't have a lot of time. So I'll be quick. 1, how do I fix or get back Uni. 2, who is this "he" you keep refering too?"
| >>586130
> Kaz shakes his head and backs away from the scene, beginning to head in the direction of... IS he alright?
| >>586130
"I don't know; she's not my problem. I've got no names to say for him, capiche?"
> Lucetta replies. Having screamed, her voice has given up being audible. The quietness of her voice is unsettling, given her usual complacent behaviour.
| >>586134
"Then what do you know, miss high-and-mighty?"
>John throws his head back in annoyance. Clearly, there a limit to how much bullshit he can take.
| >>586138
"That I can't fix her and that you will be tryn'na find a needle right now — in a big damn haystack."
> Lucetta responded much less quietly, but still below her average threshold. Losing her energy has lent her to doing more cohesive sentence — apparently.
"He promised me I'd get back my sister. He gave me Uni. He told me I can rework Uni for my goals. I did. I was given a lie. I was given a lie in the shape of my sister. That's Uni right now. She is no one to me."
| "Say, is your sister 'up there'?"
>John mellows at the story of family.
| >Unknown to the increasing hostility of the three people, the kimono-wearing man finished listening to his mobile and hid it. He looked down the street- still no sign of any bus. Frowning, he returned to his seat, though one of his hands discreetly moved to the base of his sword as he did so.
| >>586144
"She is down there. She is fucking dead."
> Lucetta drops her face back to her hands — unknown whether she actually interpreted John's question properly or not.
| >>586145
> Despite the busy roads elsewhere, the bus stop is barren. Whether it was due to the uncommon schedule, plastered haphazardly, being nigh-unreadable and outdated — or the fact that the stop rarely utilise its function well — it isn't immediately obvious as to why buses would come in late.
| >John reaches in to his arm, grabbing a pill.
"Take this if you want to join your sister, and take her up. You've righted your wrongs."
>John quietly gets up, grabbing his jacket.
>>586145
"The bus won't come, samurai."
>He says, as begins to walk away.
| >>586148
"Uni is in his hands."
> Lucetta loudly uttered.
"—A part of her is still here; in this city somewhere. Find her, cowboy."
| >>586149
>For the longest time, John lights up a cigarette, and walks down the highway.
"See you around, Space girl."
| > As the bus stop empties, Lucetta is alone with the plate huddled together. She lays motionless, eyes closed — and the night progresses on.
|
This thread is permanently archived
| > Through the busy traffic, a lonesome bus stop lies still. Empty, for no obviously discernable reason, the bus stop hosts a single person: A lady, by a short stature and a hair that can only be described as an unmaintained bed head. She dons a lab coat, with a simple shirt and a skirt covering slightly below her knees.
> She appears clearly distressed — if not also suspicious. In her clothing are stains of mechanical grease, among many other things.