2024.05.04 Awkward Moments Plumb Local Socialization - Revision history

RooK at 23:06, 26 July 2025

2025-07-26T23:06:15Z

@@ Line 773: / Line 773: @@
 Taking stock of myself, I had to blink to absorb the stream my math coprocessors were yelling at me behind my eyelids.  I glanced at Gordon, still standing beside the exit.  Then regarded Fragga standing extremely still beside the stool section of the bar.  And finally flicked my eyes over the relaxed battle-ready Tundak in the middle of the bar.  "I have questions, myself."
-GH9234-D: "I expect we all have things we would like to know."  The Tundak looked pointedly at me.  "What do you think?"
+GH9234-D: "I expect we all have things we would like to know."  The Tundak looked pointedly at me.  "What is your question?"
 Me: "I think we want to know why Jurid was released already."
@@ Line 797: / Line 797: @@
 Gordon suddenly went stiff, and the Tundak reached out with a manipulator limb.  For a weird moment, it seemed to prop up Gordon.  But as it walked past and withdrew its limb, I spotted the panel covering Gordons vitals snap back into place.  Immediately afterwards a shimmering transparency of a personal cloaking device hid GH9234-D as it glided away.
 </font>

RooK at 22:52, 19 July 2025

2025-07-19T22:52:09Z

@@ Line 791: / Line 791: @@
 Gordon: "What does that mean?"
-Me: "Mentalists."
+Many dire explanations danced in my thoughts. "It means that we probably need to leave now.  And that it's probably a really long time before I'll be back again."
-Gordon: "Oh, because they can communicate without conventional comms, right?  Long-range brainwaves, or something."
+The Tundak sent me a packet of updated instructions, too lengthy to absorb at once.  It glanced pointedly at Fragga, then folded its combat torso smoothly back into its artistic techno-crab form, and started walking towards the exit.
-Me: "Yes.  But they can do other things too."  The Tundak cooly nodded in an avuncular manner.  I guess that was good?
+Gordon suddenly went stiff, and the Tundak reached out with a manipulator limb.  For a weird moment, it seemed to prop up Gordon.  But as it walked past and withdrew its limb, I spotted the panel covering Gordons vitals snap back into place.  Immediately afterwards a shimmering transparency of a personal cloaking device hid GH9234-D as it glided away.
 </font>
 <pre>This is still not done.</pre>

RooK at 00:49, 16 July 2025

2025-07-16T00:49:43Z

@@ Line 681: / Line 681: @@
 Gordon jerked his head around to look outside, even though I had the probe robot's feed in the battlewiki.  "Oh!  Because they're afraid of Lady Fragga, and don't know you kicked everybody's ass."
-Fragga snapped her fingers and pointed at Gordon, and he nodded.
+Fragga snapped her fingers and pointed at Gordon, and it nodded.
 Jurid and the goons were quiet and wide-eyed for the handful of seconds this coded comms exchange happened in, but the snap broke Jurid's spell.  "What the actual fuck is going on now?  What do you want, you sick asshole?  Why are you eye-fucking me?"
@@ Line 743: / Line 743: @@
 Gordon: "This guy is screaming in a pretty annoying way.  I take it to mean that this Tundak person is very scary?"
-Fragga: "Maybe make sure you're not holding him directly between yourself and the Tundak - just in case it quiets him down with something with a lot of penetration."  Gordon looks at the hypno-crab form of the Tundak and draws a visual line to the goon he's restraining and steps to the side like some sort of matador.
+Fragga: "Maybe make sure you're not holding him directly between yourself and the Tundak - just in case it quiets him down with something with a lot of penetration."  Gordon looks at the hypno-crab form of the Tundak and draws a visual line to the goon it's restraining and steps to the side like some sort of matador.
 Gordon: "What do we do now?"
@@ Line 792: / Line 792: @@
 Me: "Mentalists."
 </font>
 <pre>This is still not done.</pre>

RooK at 23:19, 13 July 2025

2025-07-13T23:19:00Z

@@ Line 752: / Line 752: @@
 Fragga: "We'll all find out together."  Notably, she was holding her hands wide and far away from her pistols.
 </font>
 <pre>This is still not done.</pre>

RooK at 23:20, 2 July 2025

2025-07-02T23:20:02Z

@@ Line 738: / Line 738: @@
 OK, almost all of us.  I was frozen with a strong life-preserving urge to make no sudden motions.  Fragga was staring wide-eyed and tense with a clear readiness to flee.  Jurid was openly weeping, and making gurgling noises.  The injured cops and most of the goons were frozen like me.  One goon screamed an ran into Gordon, who restrained it.  Gordon, however, merely posted on the battlewiki, "Where did that guy come from?"
 </font>
 <pre>This is still not done.</pre>

RooK at 20:24, 30 June 2025

2025-06-30T20:24:10Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:24, 30 June 2025
Line 265:		Line 265:
	A puzzled look of discouragement came over the guy's face. "Delayed? Again? But why?"		A puzzled look of discouragement came over the guy's face. "Delayed? Again? But why?"

	"Well, you know, the whole bunch of combat ~~droids~~ appearing out of nowhere and filling up a civilian commuter train car might attract some official attention. It's a good 73% probability that the police are going to be waiting at one of the stops coming up, and they might make the whole thing get delayed."		"Well, you know, the whole bunch of combat robots appearing out of nowhere and filling up a civilian commuter train car might attract some official attention. It's a good 73% probability that the police are going to be waiting at one of the stops coming up, and they might make the whole thing get delayed."

	Deflated, the guy's eyes darted with unseen problems and consequences. "Zark. That makes sense. Zark."		Deflated, the guy's eyes darted with unseen problems and consequences. "Zark. That makes sense. Zark."
Line 551:		Line 551:
	The battle robot gave me a look that I chose to interpret as disdainful. But it's hard not to project things onto robots like that.		The battle robot gave me a look that I chose to interpret as disdainful. But it's hard not to project things onto robots like that.

	A probe ~~droid~~ was quietly approaching the main door from outside. I could catch the whispers of its coded comm traffic. Fucking amateurs - they should have used a tightbeam relay, but were probably too eager to all share what it could see directly. And look at that, it used a standard Nastidyne maintenance system, which meant that by the time it got to the threshold it was good and truly PWNed. I wish I had ready some really questionable pornography to graft into its outfeed, but I made due with what I had. From what everyone outside could tell, the interior of the bar was filled with puppies.		A probe robot was quietly approaching the main door from outside. I could catch the whispers of its coded comm traffic. Fucking amateurs - they should have used a tightbeam relay, but were probably too eager to all share what it could see directly. And look at that, it used a standard Nastidyne maintenance system, which meant that by the time it got to the threshold it was good and truly PWNed. I wish I had ready some really questionable pornography to graft into its outfeed, but I made due with what I had. From what everyone outside could tell, the interior of the bar was filled with puppies.

	That got a laugh out of the scary old reptiloid lady when I shared it with her. Gordon merely gave me another one of those disdain-coded looks. Meanwhile, I also got a good look back through the catalogue of joys arrayed outside.		That got a laugh out of the scary old reptiloid lady when I shared it with her. Gordon merely gave me another one of those disdain-coded looks. Meanwhile, I also got a good look back through the catalogue of joys arrayed outside.
Line 641:		Line 641:
	Jurid turned to look back at me. "I'd say you're already out of time, shithead."		Jurid turned to look back at me. "I'd say you're already out of time, shithead."

	I shrugged my cloak behind me with a practiced motion of my elbows, and checked the prime on all my gear. "The degree to which you all you morons are so zarking clueless is embarrassing." I pointed at officer squinty. "This brainiac already told me that you idiots stole the battle ~~droids~~ from the Tundak Mafia. And now you shit-for-brains are surprised to see ME back here."		I shrugged my cloak behind me with a practiced motion of my elbows, and checked the prime on all my gear. "The degree to which you all you morons are so zarking clueless is embarrassing." I pointed at officer squinty. "This brainiac already told me that you idiots stole the battle robots from the Tundak Mafia. And now you shit-for-brains are surprised to see ME back here."

	Clue lights sprung to life in the Trops and cops eyes in rapid succession. "KILL HIM. NOW!"		Clue lights sprung to life in the Trops and cops eyes in rapid succession. "KILL HIM. NOW!"
Line 669:		Line 669:
	With a deep, cleansing breath I drop my helmet again to look at Plete and Jurid. These are information sources I need to extract key data from, not the avatars of my youthful shame. Because even though they may think they see a horrific redemption arc of a previous victim come back, what I actually am is much more dangerous.		With a deep, cleansing breath I drop my helmet again to look at Plete and Jurid. These are information sources I need to extract key data from, not the avatars of my youthful shame. Because even though they may think they see a horrific redemption arc of a previous victim come back, what I actually am is much more dangerous.

	I key the PWNed probe ~~droid~~ to float back off the floor and take position by the external doorway, but in my line-of-sight so I could maintain contact through my jamming. A quick glance through its sensors showed an anxious crowd outside. Makes sense. From their point of view, their bosses went in to pacify a terrifying combatant and a bothersome nerd before everything went dark and all kinds of shooting and exploding noises happened. 89% chance that they're staying out to keep clear of Fragga's attention.		I key the PWNed probe robot to float back off the floor and take position by the external doorway, but in my line-of-sight so I could maintain contact through my jamming. A quick glance through its sensors showed an anxious crowd outside. Makes sense. From their point of view, their bosses went in to pacify a terrifying combatant and a bothersome nerd before everything went dark and all kinds of shooting and exploding noises happened. 89% chance that they're staying out to keep clear of Fragga's attention.

	Our informal battlewiki stayed functional with tightbeam comms, and I used it to address Gordon and Fragga while my math coprocessors ran evaluations on Jurid's expressions to build an extrapolation matrix for the questions to come. "Gordon, please don't interject on any of the questioning, but I would appreciate if you kept blocking the exit. Fragga, you might prefer to leave before I ask them questions so that you have deniability about what was discussed."		Our informal battlewiki stayed functional with tightbeam comms, and I used it to address Gordon and Fragga while my math coprocessors ran evaluations on Jurid's expressions to build an extrapolation matrix for the questions to come. "Gordon, please don't interject on any of the questioning, but I would appreciate if you kept blocking the exit. Fragga, you might prefer to leave before I ask them questions so that you have deniability about what was discussed."
Line 679:		Line 679:
	She gave an amused smirk. "I'm less sure about that now." Instead of admitting that I was still pretty sure in a straight-up fight she could easily take me - eventually - I gave an appreciative nod. "Besides," she continued, "by staying in here I'm probably keeping all those morons outside alive."		She gave an amused smirk. "I'm less sure about that now." Instead of admitting that I was still pretty sure in a straight-up fight she could easily take me - eventually - I gave an appreciative nod. "Besides," she continued, "by staying in here I'm probably keeping all those morons outside alive."

	Gordon jerked his head around to look outside, even though I had the probe ~~droid~~'s feed in the battlewiki. "Oh! Because they're afraid of Lady Fragga, and don't know you kicked everybody's ass."		Gordon jerked his head around to look outside, even though I had the probe robot's feed in the battlewiki. "Oh! Because they're afraid of Lady Fragga, and don't know you kicked everybody's ass."

	Fragga snapped her fingers and pointed at Gordon, and he nodded.		Fragga snapped her fingers and pointed at Gordon, and he nodded.
Line 712:		Line 712:

	Still, it was worth beating the point to finality. "Jurid, they already set you up to die. If you didn't already get enough up-front payment to run away and hide for the rest of your life, you've misunderstood the deal you had with whomever it is. Maybe you knowingly sacrificed your whole organization here - because it certainly wasn't going to escape destructive scrutiny by my employers. But clearly you don't really understand how thorough they would be - you don't get to live the life you've become accustomed to while being sufficiently hidden. But none of that matters now. Now, NOW you're zarked." The big rubbery Trop stared at me. "But - if you tell me what I want to know fast enough - maybe you and your pathetic band of small-time assholes get to enjoy more small-town boredom."		Still, it was worth beating the point to finality. "Jurid, they already set you up to die. If you didn't already get enough up-front payment to run away and hide for the rest of your life, you've misunderstood the deal you had with whomever it is. Maybe you knowingly sacrificed your whole organization here - because it certainly wasn't going to escape destructive scrutiny by my employers. But clearly you don't really understand how thorough they would be - you don't get to live the life you've become accustomed to while being sufficiently hidden. But none of that matters now. Now, NOW you're zarked." The big rubbery Trop stared at me. "But - if you tell me what I want to know fast enough - maybe you and your pathetic band of small-time assholes get to enjoy more small-town boredom."

			Jurid made a face, closed his eyes, and sent a bundle of information tightbeam to me. My math coprocessors pulled it apart in a sandbox, and saw a thorough set of contacts and plans for delivery of the sealed crates. It was technically sufficient, but a few statistical flags squatted angrily.

			"Thank you. Now tell me what you aren't telling me."

			Poorly-practiced outrage trembled in Jurid's voice. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I gave you exactly what you asked for."

			"Yes, you did. But now that I look through it, I'm asking for more."

			"What more, exactly, do you fucking want to know?"

			I'm not sure what flavour of annoyed and impatient was scrolling across my face, and it's possible I had gotten to the place where I didn't care very much. It's information leaks like that which my mentors kept trying to get me to improve. So it goes. "Do you know WHY you're afraid of the Tundak Mafia?"

			"Because they're fucking scary?"

			I nodded. "While true, there's lots of fucking scary things out there, but you don't have to fear them in quite the same way. And there are far more ruthless things out there; heck, I'm biological proof of how reasonable they can be." That might have been saying too much, too. Maybe I needed to clamp it down a bit tighter, but maybe the sliver of rapport would have helped being convincing here. "No, you fear the Tundaks because they are really terrifyingly smart. They know stuff." I made an effort to hold eye contact with Jurid, despite the eyestalks. "And their operatives need to be good at feeding them information. I'm not here because I can kick your ass; they can hire a wide array of talented folks for that." I nod towards Fragga. "There's quite a selection, really." With an effort, I made my face blank. "I'm here because I can figure things out."

			Jurid's stretchy purple skin had a slight quivering aspect to it. But he didn't say anything.

			"And I am reasonably certain that you are holding back a big, important nugget of information."

			He stared back at me. Clearly we had run across something that Jurid feared more than even my lurid description of the lurking Tundak Mafia. Well zark. This was the kind of dead end that I really don't want to have to report back.

			Then, and I want to make this totally clear, we all got scared quite badly. Part of the ceiling in the bar unfurled itself and gracefully lowered itself with uncanny smoothness to an empty section of the bar. Ten artistically-segmented legs, with several sets of manipulator limbs tucked cleanly underneath, and a purposeful center body settled into a crab-like whole.

			OK, almost all of us. I was frozen with a strong life-preserving urge to make no sudden motions. Fragga was staring wide-eyed and tense with a clear readiness to flee. Jurid was openly weeping, and making gurgling noises. The injured cops and most of the goons were frozen like me. One goon screamed an ran into Gordon, who restrained it. Gordon, however, merely posted on the battlewiki, "Where did that guy come from?"

	</font>		</font>
	<pre>This is still not done.</pre>		<pre>This is still not done.</pre>

RooK at 20:15, 29 June 2025

2025-06-29T20:15:24Z

Show changes

RooK at 00:47, 29 June 2025

2025-06-29T00:47:48Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:47, 29 June 2025
Line 645:		Line 645:
	Clue lights sprung to life in the Trops and cops eyes in rapid succession. "KILL HIM. NOW!"		Clue lights sprung to life in the Trops and cops eyes in rapid succession. "KILL HIM. NOW!"

	In accordance with prophecy, I spent the next moment leaning hard on my extensive training for ducking. A series of twisting turning moves left me untouched by the spray of blaster fire, and my math coprocessors quietly gloated about how well-predicted the burn patterns were in the increasingly scruffy decorations of the bar. Except for officer squinty, his blaster exploded in his hand and took some fingers with it - which was satisfying in a different way.		First, I started EM and etheric jamming. Then, in accordance with prophecy, I spent the next moment leaning hard on my extensive training for ducking. A series of twisting turning moves left me untouched by the spray of blaster fire, and my math coprocessors quietly gloated about how well-predicted the burn patterns were in the increasingly scruffy decorations of the bar. Except for officer squinty, his blaster exploded in his hand and took some fingers with it - which was satisfying in a different way.

	This total array of whiffing made all the goons and still-armed cop present shift to very aggressive stances for their next shots. Except that I stopped ducking, and instead popped my helmet and shields. Both of which were scaled for absorbing intermediate-scale weapons, such that all the personnel-scale blasts splattered off harmlessly.		This total array of whiffing made all the goons and still-armed cop present shift to very aggressive stances for their next shots. Except that I stopped ducking, and instead popped my helmet and shields. Both of which were scaled for absorbing intermediate-scale weapons, such that all the personnel-scale blasts splattered off harmlessly.

	It also meant that while I stepped up to the over-extended less-squinty police officer and used an internal force-enhancing gauntlet to shatter his gun arm, nobody payed any attention to Gordon discreetly stepping to block the doorway.		It also meant that while I stepped up to the over-extended less-squinty police officer and used an internal force-enhancing gauntlet to shatter his gun arm, nobody payed any attention to Gordon discreetly stepping to block the doorway.

			Plete roared with a rippling yell that both impressed an confused me. I mean, it was startling and really quite loud, but I had no idea whether he was enraged that his goons and the cops had failed to shoot me or that he was delighted that he got to see some action. An improbably large thug gauntlet deployed to encase his right fist, and then an elaborate helmet snapped up around his head. It wasn't until it finished in it's hammerhead shape that I appreciated just how difficult it would be to have a helmet when you have eyestalks.

			As distracting as that was, when he made an aggressive leap towards me while also winding up a force-augmented punch I had a response ready. Again, I didn't really do any avoiding - just made sure my big shield was in the way. The concussion from the hit was very flashy and loud, and it took a couple points of my shield to absorb the damage that would have really messed up a panel on a hopper. With Plete's face covered at that point, I couldn't tell if he was disappointed. But when I grabbed the wrist of his gauntlet and twisted the power control in a particular manner - and then shoved his arm to clamp it onto his helmet and release a significant electrical charge - I assume he was a bit surprised.

			Plus, of course a cascade of even more personnel-scale blaster fire splattered off my general shields and helmet. Mostly. One blast managed to find a gap and leave a nasty burn on my hip. Ouch.

			I turned to glower at the remaining goons, and Jurid. While Plete's screams trailed off, and I double-checked the non-threatening stances of officers squinty (clutching his mangled hand) and not-so-squinty (cradling his ruined arm). "Nobody leaves. Any weapons still in hands get dealt with harshly."

			Two goons turned to head out, and came up short at the combat robot blocking the way. One shot at me, which I casually avoided. Jurid lowered his shiny NST blaster.

			This was actually a tactically awkward moment, because what I wanted to do was stride towards the lone remaining goon and vent force-augmented violence upon them. But with my limited abilities for offense, I really needed targets to be aggressively off-balance. This one was not. So while it was quite unlikely to hit me, I'd have to try really hard to hit it - and with only moderate chances of succeeding. Which, at that exact moment, would have massively undercut my hard-earned reserve of appearing frightening. The obvious backup plan would be to stride at them in a threatening manner, and hope they bought into the fear that their boss was showing. But, again, I have limited ability for theatrics and would be just as likely to emote a lack of control, plus it still had the failure mode of having to attack them after my bluff was called.

			So instead I went with surprise. It's hard to defend an attack you're not expecting, and very few people a trained to face a "combat technician". Without advancing, I made a complex gesture. Which, while not appearing particularly aggressive, was me reaching out with my embedded force beam tools to deftly tamper the goon's blaster. It suddenly whined in his hand, then blew off his arm and sent him sprawling when its microfusion cell exploded.

	</font>		</font>
	<pre>This is still not done.</pre>		<pre>This is still not done.</pre>

RooK at 23:51, 14 June 2025

2025-06-14T23:51:28Z

@@ Line 624: / Line 624: @@
 "Nope."
 </font>
 <pre>This is still not done.</pre>

RooK at 23:29, 18 May 2025

2025-05-18T23:29:31Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:29, 18 May 2025
Line 626:		Line 626:

	</font>		</font>
			<pre>This is still not done.</pre>