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Nort and Scar     Back to Gamma Terra! So far, this 'mission' has been kind of... pleasant. Gene, the head of Haven, had also recruited the Paladins once he heard about them... asking them to see if the group could make sure the area was still stable and wouldn't break out into war. He did caution them that Haven itself had no authority to rity outside of their territory, so once there they wouldn't be operating with the blessing of the locals. Neither would it be illegal to be a passing traveller though. It's a common enough arrangement in these parts!

    But it has, for all involved, been a bit of a vacation so far today. The weather is in the mid-seventies, the flora is agreeable - unless someone has hay fever, because getting to the Blue Food Flats involves passing through the 'badlands' of this region. These aren't a cracked and barren land of dust and sand, but a gint field of goldenrod, which means.... pollen, lots of pollen.

    But after some time travelling(either together, or meeting up after), the Blue Food Flats are in sight. A small plateau has come into sight, covered entirely by blue vegetation of some kind. Or, more technically, giant mushrooms which aren't vegetation per se. Even during the day, the glow of the highly radioactive crater to the northwest can be seen faintly.

    Even more importantly, movement can be seen along the trail leading up to the plateau. It appears that there are some strange beings harvesting the mushrooms. Though roughly humanoid, they're very tall(three meters or so) and instead of arms have four tentacles growing from their chest, and a bizarrely-shaped head that resembles a heart.
Velvet Crowe     If Velvet finds the field of goldenrods pretty, she doesn't say so, because she has an image to keep up. But for the record, she does. Significantly more than the field of giant mushrooms, at least, which are being harvested by What Are Those Things Even Supposed To Be, a very scientific term she actually coins out loud verbatim.

    Daemons do get weird but they don't get... mutated-weird. Just human-weird, you know? Big werewolves, undead, lizardmen, lamias, or just really nasty animals.

    They don't even have a tour guide they can ask!

    "You think we're going to have to kill our way through?"

    Of course she'd think and ask that.
Henry Jekyll "I would hope not." Jekyll answers Velvet, seemingly somewhat concerned with the idea, but curious about the things in front of him. "I'm not much of a fighter, I'm afraid." There's a hint to his voice of, 'I can deal with things somehow if I must, but I'd really rather not' and he's already reaching for glass vial containing some kind of mysterious liquid. "Let's see if they'll let you pass without disturbing you." And it's at this point that he sort of shimmers out of existence, abandoning corporeality and visibility. "I'll do what I can if need be."
Samantha Middleton     Samantha has, this time, donned her power armor! After some quick discussion with Gene, she has learned that her airship, while not strange enough to be immediately labelled alien, would cause quite a bit of talk, but the piecemeal armor would not. It unfortunately is not environmentally sealed! So she has a runny noise and is enjoying the view much, much less than everyone else.
    "Well they're called the Blue Food Flats. Maybe they're just um... gatherers? I agree with the doctor there... who was there, we should just try talking first." She peers over the distant figures, and falls back so less armored sorts can take the lead in actually talking.
Himei     A lot of the people here, Himei has never worked with before. Some of them, she's had some reports of... and she seems to have read the report on Velvet, because she's giving the woman a critical eye. Samantha is less of a concern because the girl seems to be a 'typical Watch member' which could be good or bad, but not something Himei is going to make a judgement on. Velvet, however, is a creatuer that supposedly kills and eats and...

    Well, as long as she's just making snarky comments, Himei is going to trudge along with the group to try to get some idea of who she's working with. The Paladins don't have much jurisdiction here, and she's not going to cause an incident by insisting the daemon be arrested when said daemon was HIRED by the person asking for their help.

    It's a mess already. Sigh.

    "I'm all for trying that out," she says. "I guess I'll go forward with... mmmn... Crowe here, huh. Middleton's armor might intimidate them." She steps up the pace, giving a pleasant wave to the strange beings. "Hello! May we speak with you?"
Kutsuuko Shiratori     Kutsuuko, as a Paladin, isn't entirely sure she gets this. Assessing an area for political stability, at least in the sense of preventing outright war, seems simple enough on paper, but there's a little bit of backstory she's missing here. Like, why are there giant blue mushrooms in the way? Why is the northwestern area glowing in the middle of the day? Does anyone here not have fur or tentacles or something like that?

    Freaky, alien, potentially violent badlands are already her thing, though, and it's not like she could claim to be one hundred percent human herself, so it seems she had been the best available Paladin for the job, and made to hoof it all the way to the plateau. At the very least, she has a co-worker here. With that girl she'd heard about from the Abbey case, as well as the one apparently trying to kill Anne Blakely, and a seemingly masterless Servant, it feels nice to use the buddy system, and Himei largely keeps her from staring too long and too immaturely at the others.

    "Hell, I really don't know." she responds to the question about killing, peering towards the freaky critters without proper eye shade. "You think those are normal here? I'd like it if we didn't." She looks to Himei, and then at the ridiculously huge weapon she has carried over her back. "Yeah, I'll leave that to you if we're avoiding intimidating them." Also so she can spy on people.
Nort and Scar     The half-dozen beings that were harvesting look tense, as much as an alien being can, when the group begins approaching... but when nobody is being aggressive, and Himei calls out to greet them, they relax slightly. They might be a little mroe worried if they'd seen Jekyll vanish, but instead they're returning the wave. A little awkwardly, but the gesture seems to have survived the war and the hundreds of years after. Two of them break off and approach to speak.

    "Hello, travellers," one says in a strange buzzing voice. "If you are here for food, there is plenty. If your intentions are not violent, you are welcome to share in the bounty." Oh, good, hippie mutants. Though right then and there they all tense again, when an odd barking noise like a pack of tiny wolves or something sounds in the distance, then fades again. It sounds pretty close, like maybe a kilometer or two, probably somewhere in the taller goldenrods or the mushroom flats.
Velvet Crowe     "Oi! Where do you think you're vanishing off to?!" Velvet protests at the reveal that Henry is, apparently, a ghost. Or at least, can turn invisible. It isn't super clear! And she isn't equipped to tell. And now she's being put forward to go TALK to the giant tentacle mutants. A hand raises to her head, rubbing there in exasperation. "Fan-tastic, I always wanted to have a chat with something big enough to step on me and horribly mutated. They'd better be mushroomvores for their sake."

    That's enough complaining, she finally follows along to speak with the... things. Do they have a name? They must have a name. She'll ask them if they can--

    They can talk.
    They're offering food.
    And they tense at the sound of... wolves?

    Velvet actually tenses too. Hates the sound. Nothing but bad memories. Suddenly it's like she can almost relate to those big guys and it solves most of her insecurities. "Pass on the food. Those wolves hunting and bothering you?"
Samantha Middleton     Sam will speak what she's sure everyone else is thinking. "What is that noise?" She didn't fail to see how it made the strange beings tense up and everything. Samantha shifts targets to scan the area... not literally, she doesn't have scanners in that sense of the word, but she can see into the infrared with her goggles, so she takes a quick pass of the area with that.

    "We probably should have gotten a description of Ermon," she realizes.
Henry Jekyll "I was just trying to be ready for any trouble in case it cropped up." Henry answers Velvet a moment before rematerializing right behind her, a smile on his face, though he too has heard that distant noise, and he's looking over that way. "They sound hungry, we should be ready in case they're not as friendly as these gentlemen." He bows towards them, "Professor Henry Jekyll."

His hand is still clutching that vial. Its label says 'Dangerous Game'
Himei     Yeah that sounds pretty awful. Himei shudders, and decides to keep talking. "Thanks, but we have our own mush- I mean rations." Mind not on the game, maybe. "Yeah that doesn't sound pleasant. Are they hostile?" She glances back at the others and takes into account what Samantha said. "Actually, we're just here looking for someone. Wanted to ask a few questions. I'm hoping that isn't them making the noise. Have you seen a hermit?"

    When she says it out loud that sounds like a really dumb question.
Kutsuuko Shiratori     Okay so the tentacleoids are people, not monsters. That's one question down. At least, Kutsuuko considers things that talk first to be people and loosely assumes the opposite to be the case otherwise. Being hippies is a plus, in that regard, though she has to take a second to shake her head as 'blue food' sinks in.

    "Ah, no thanks. I'm good for now." Kutsuuko says back, waving her hand before her face, and then retrieving a snack bar from one of her pockets, twisting the Fenrir logo-stamped packaging off and munching on it quietly while she watches the negotiations. It appears to be mostly chocolate. She pauses chewing for just a moment, to slowly look over her shoulder in the direction of the barking, stare, and then turn back, finish her mouthful, and carefully pocket the rest for later.

    "In retrospect, it'd have been nice." she admits to Samantha. "I doubt it's one of these though. I don't think they're the usual type even in this weird world." Kutsuuko then unhooks something from her belt, depressing a trigger with a click and an escalating whine, and then twists around and pitches it into the field, clearing likely a hundred meters before it disappears into the goldenrod, and goes quiet. "Well, if they're going to bother us, we'll know pretty quickly. If they don't, no harm, no foul, right?"
Nort and Scar     When Henry reappears, the strange beings grow a little more agitated, but his friendly greeting calm them again. It's hardly strange for a group to be cautious when meeting new people, as they themselves were, and the lack of aggression despite the obvious ability makes a good impression on them. The tall and lanky beings regard the group uncertainly, but their spokesman(woman/thing) is more confident. "We think they are bandits, and they have been coming closer and closer for the last few hours. They make other noises, noises of lost technology. We are hoping they will not come here. We will defend ourselves, but if they are that heavily-armed..." Well, he has no illusions as to their survivability.

    Asking about the hermit has him making a vague gesture. "There is a human living here in the flats. He hides when we gather, and we believe he thinks we do not know of him. He has never bothered us, and we have never approached his home. It seems agreeable."

    Whether or not the creatures are approaching, a brief burst of gunfire is heard. It sounds more like they're roaming around than hunting, but they ARE getting closer. And that burst of gunfire, the more advanced members of the party can tell, came from an assault rifle of some kind most likely.

    The beings still haven't offered their name, but one of the grows more bold. "Bandits are becoming less common, but the ones that remain are the most vicious and mobile. One villager saw a pack of Orlens riding ancient machines at high speed. The boxy metal ones with two or three wheels. Yet these have ancient weapons instead."
Velvet Crowe     To Velvet's credit, she doesn't get spooked out by Henry reappearing quite as much as initially. She still jerks to face him, on raw reflex alone. "FFff-- don't just DO that! I don't just show up behind you!" She is very outspoken, at least. You have to grant her that much.

    The gunfire draws her attention-- she knows what cannons are, and what gunpowder is, but that doesn't really sound like either. Sounds faster. Smaller? And now these gatherers are calling them bandits, riding machines and using weapons.

    "Bandits that howl like wolves and use weapons, huh? So werewolves." She clicks her tongue in annoyance. "This isn't really our problem," she finally decides on, as she turns away from the gatherers now that they have the information they came here to get. "But I doubt they're going to leave us alone, so we might as well take care of it so WE can go through here."

    There's a pretty good chance if they could use the gathering giants as a diversion to get past the bandits, she'd suggest it. But for werewolves, she'll make an exception.
Nort and Scar     Scanning with thermals, by the way, shows nothing of great interest so far. The strange beings are a little cooler than humans, and there's some wildlife about, like rats and mice. Otherwise, the heat disperses too fast to see the bandits yet, but neither are there any things lying in wait to see.
Kutsuuko Shiratori     That's a positive on Ermon, probably. Kutsuuko actually thinks it's sort of cute how the mushroom-eating people things are letting him believe he's sneakier than he actually is. Still, that doesn't stop a frown from playing across her face when they insist they will defend themselves. She might be making assumptions, but they don't really look the part, especially when her ears prick up at the sound of assault rifle fire. It's been a while since she's heard one of those, but she wouldn't mistake it.

    "Maybe it's not, but if the region is unstable, then any given attack could cause the situation to worsen, and nobody will be getting through at all. I'd rather know sooner than later, and not find it right here with these guys in potential crossfire." With that, she begins wading back out into the goldenrod, trying to get a good distance, before setting down a signal flare, which launches high up into the air and lets off its hissing red light. Might as well get it over with.
Samantha Middleton     Velvet seems to be down for taking down the bandits, and it would be a good idea in Samantha's mind. For other reasons. "Yeah, we don't want to have them run into us on their turns. Let's see what they're up to, and if they're bandits then taking care of them could get us some nice reputation with the locals." Sam turns her armor towards the sounds. "And yeah, these guys have been nothing but friendly toward us, that counts for a lot to me."
    All right, a signal flare isn't the idea she'd use, but Samantha also can't say it isn't convenient. She drops two of her mobile turrets and hunkers down some distance away. She won't open fire unless they're seen as aggressive, but she goes back to scanning with infrared.
Henry Jekyll "If you really want to pick a fight with some angry mutants badgering people for their spare valuables, be my guest, but I'd rather get on with things." Jekyll mildly complains in a tone of abject boredom, though he does take out a photo camera and snaps some pictures of things that seem of interest to him. This world is, after all, a goldmine of research opportunities, and the League will have to stop by on its own accord at some point.

And he keeps that vial ready.
Himei     Oh a flare. Well that settles that! Himei motions to the others, "We'll check these things out and see if they're bandits. If they are, you guys hide, all right? If they're peaceful, no harm done, right?" She draws her pistol and checks the safety, but being more of a hand to hand fighter, she takes cover in the fields rather than jumping ahead to try to take down everything coming this way. Besides, it doesn't hurt to spread people out.

    "Like Sam said, better to meet them on our terms rather than theirs. Besides, we could learn a little more about this whole situation," she replies to Henry. She's not in a hurry to get into a fight either, but something about that noise really put her on edge.
Nort and Scar     The flare sure does its thing. Velvet will get a good look very shortly, as the group of about a dozen badger-people, short but pretty quick, now start toward the group, drawn by the light and flare. They dont' stumble in blindly either. They dont' move with the coordination and precision of a trained military unit, but they are surprisingly well-coordinated in movements, even if their formation is a little haphazard. They'd make great guerillas.

    They aren't ready for the stun mine though. Several were trying to sneakily outflank, and the three squeal in that inhuman noise when the mine goes off and knock them flat. Several others immediately move out, and it looks like four of them have assault rifles. AK-47s, from the look of it, and in prime condition.

    In fact, since there's a gadgeteer amongst the group, Samantha can pretty easily tell that these are either very very new, or remarkably well-preserved.

    The rattling gunfire starts, but they aren't actually accurate enough to be a threat until they get closer. The guns are fine, but their training is pretty nonexistant. It's amazing they can even figure out how to reload these things.
Henry Jekyll "I'll see you guys after the fight." Henry says with a clear sigh as he puts away his camera and opens up the vial and pours a whole lot of Dangerous Game down his throat. Then, he falls to his knees and seems to be ready to throw up for a moment. And then he grows, his muscles bulge, his spine twists and his face contorts. When he gets back up, only the clothes and the fact that he seems to have changed shape seem to tie this menacing mass of muscle back to the frail and unassuming gentleman who was here prior.

"Time to play." It's hard to picture more viciousness and anticipation for slaughter in those three simple words, and with a sizable leap this brute starts to make his way towards the Badders, taking a few shots on the way there and simply toughing them out as a shovel-sized hand attempts to wrap around the head of one of them and swiftly crush it.
Velvet Crowe     These are... small werewolves.
    And not wolves.
    Maybe she shouldn't have assumed maybe wolves just sound and look different here. That might be TOO open a mind. Small, tons of them. Henry kind of echoes her thoughts, but now that they're being FIRED AT there's no point avoiding the fight anymore.

    At least they've confirmed they're bandits?

    Or at least hostile.
    Or something. Whatever. Velvet stopped caring like, five sentences ago.

    Under threat of small, rapid-firing hand-held cannons, Velvet leaps up and away from where she was standing, and by that account away from dangerous lead, beelining for the small creatures in much the same fashion as Henry's counterpart. She did NOT take him for that sort of person. Beware the nice ones, huh?

    She'll stick to her sword for now though. Two feet of sharp steel pop out of her right bracer, and on her way down from that leap-dash she's trying to behead one of the Badders.
Kutsuuko Shiratori     Of course. Even in this strange, twisted, post-post apocalyptic future, fighting a group of tiny badger men, the venerable AK-47 would be their weapon of choice. Those things will still be made at the end of the universe, or so Kutsuuko supposes.

    Their response answers her questions very swiftly, however, and vindicates her caution and wary view of the situation. If their response to a flare is like this, they'd either hoped to pick on someone who was in distress, or had no idea what a flare means in the first place. The God Eater can't help but crack a smirk when the stun mine goes off, enjoying the flash and coruscating sparks that should keep them down for a significant length of time.

    AKs or not, she still doesn't want to be caught in the middle of a hail of gunfire, poorly aimed as it may be. In a flash, she unslings the gargantuan hulk of red-gold and black machinery off her back, which near-instantly unfolds from its most 'compact' configuration and extrudes an equally massive gun barrel better sized for use on a jet fighter.

    She takes hold of it underslung, minigun-style, leans the assault cannon's center of mass back into herself, and then opens up with a streaming laser of blazing red energy, pivoting her entire body around her back heel so that the arm-width beam sweeps 270 degrees through the surrounding area, scything down the tall foliage, and most likely any badger-men too slow to duck. The weapon lets off a sustained, low and fiery scream while it discharges, impossible to mistake for gunpowder.
Samantha Middleton     And now they're firing. Great. Samantha is staring at the guns, mostly! She has a delayed reaction to starting, but once she starts her turrets start to go off and fire at the badgers. They're not automatic but they are rifles, packing a punch and more carefully aimed than the badgers are doing with their rifles.
    In the meanwhile! Samantha drives Fido forward at a sudden, surprisingly fast pace! The clunky looking armor moves to back up Velvet, since shooting into a melee is bad, and aims to pin one of the badgers down with the clawed arm, to incapacitate at least one.
Himei     Honestly? The others seem to have this taken care of, and Himei's never liked using her gun on living flesh. With all this, she'll keep an eye out for any of them trying to outflank, and only then will she take a shot. Otherwise, at most she might lay down some suppressive fire. Nothing major.
Nort and Scar     As could be expected from a group of experienced Elites, taking out a simple group of bandits doesn't take long. A few shots might land, especially ont he reckless Hyde, but the rattle of gunfire is swiftly silenced by the sound of smashed heads, the squeal of a painful impalement, and the quick gunning down by Samantha and Kutsuuko shooting several. Almost all are cut down right away.

    The strange beings mostly hide, but one is nearby. It watches curiously, and when one of the badger things makes a break toward it, the bandit - who fortunaely doesn't have any guns - suddenly squeals and scampers away as fur catches fire. In all it leaves about half of them alive, though not as many uninjured for interrogation.

    This leaves several of the members of the party a bit bloodied, though. Both in the minor injury sense, and in the 'covered in brainmatter sense in Hyde's case, or blood in Velvet's. Seriously, Hyde, overkill.

    Not that Kutsuuko's gatling wasn't impressive. The beings are friendly still, though the first comment is, "You have our gratitude, strangers. And our respect. To have such powerful artifacts and magic and yet to aid us." Still, they're edging well away from Hyde. Velvet didn't display any of her more monstrous qualities, so they're still not that worried about her.

    "If you still wish to speak to the hermit, he is that way," they offer. Why suddenly so? Because they're actually finished gathering mushrooms. "We of the N'thlai are not often greeted as equals. Thank you."
Kutsuuko Shiratori     Though bloody, especially in the case of the melee fighters, the fight is mercifully brief. Kutsuuko lets her God Arc wind down to conserve ammunition as the beam sputters out, allowing the ornate barrel to cease spinning, and the white hot glow inside the muzzle dim to its regular red. She checks the counter, 75 units left. Not too bad.

    "Ah? Oh that?" Kutsuuko shoots back without really thinking, more surprised than anything that the tentacle people, apparently N'thalai, had stuck around to watch. "Well, it's not like I mind~ But it really is my job to do this kind of stuff. What's the point of ah . . . a powerful artifact, if you don't use it at all, right?" Her expression clouds briefly. "I don't see what reason there is to look down on you. Living peacefully and without bothering anyone is something everyone should think highly of. If someone else causes trouble for you again, you can always give the Paladins a call, got that?"
Velvet Crowe     Oh, don't worry, they'll get to see it.

    With half of the bandits still alive, and a fair number of those injured and unable to just run away, Velvet approaches one and reaches with her left hand. Red and black light bursts out from underneath the bandages, her arm bulking up into its larger true form, like the arm of a huge, glowing werewolf, radiating a bit of purple mist on top of the black and red light.

    Her goal's to yank the Badder up, off its feet and towards Samantha and Himei. "You still want a word with the creeps or can I make an example of 'em? I'm hungry, you know," she says, matter of factly.

    Being held up by that arm is, admittedly, not pleasant. Velvet can't fully control it. Anything it touches, it tries to devour. It's just a lot slower on its own. Kind of like a drain life DoT instead of a sudden bite.
Samantha Middleton     "You're welcome!" Fido waves an arm at the creatures. N'thlai? Okay. But the other arm sitll has one of the living badgers in it, so she just sits down and goes to work! "Before we look for our man... where did you get those guns? Answer that and we can let the rest of you go, but you'd better find an honest living or we'll just have to take care of the rest of you." She nods at Velvet, "Let's just find this out, okay?"
Henry Jekyll Mister Hyde seems disappointed by the speed at which this ended, and he slumps a little in disappointment, and then Velvet does her thing, and the brute starts to approach her, "Hey pretty lady, I'm Mister Hyde, how about we dump these losers and go have some fun together?" He makes squishy sounds with the leftover bits of brain in his hand.

He's pretty much ignoring everything else.
Himei     Himei is pretty interested in this too. But first, "Thanks, and it was no problem. That's what we're here for. At least Kutsuuko and I." She holsters the sidearm for now, heading toward where Sam is interrogating the Badder. At Velvet's thing, though... "We don't torture our enemies. I'm not going to stop you from doing that in battle, but I think now might not be the best idea." Not that she'll stop her from draining SOME life. "Just... don't kill or torture them now that they're beaten, okay?" Some distaste there...

    Ah. Hyde. Facepalm. "... this is going to be a long mission, isn't it?"
Nort and Scar     Just the THREAT is enough to get the badder babbling. "Wha... we just found them! I-I mean... there was a patrol of soldiers that fell into one of our traps. We yanked them from the patrol! I don't know where they were from, I swear!" Eying the crazy people nervously.
Velvet Crowe     Samantha just wants to talk. Himei chides her direct methods. Hyde is... hitting on her? Velvet sighs, and drops the Badder, letting him hit the ground before her arm just kind of retracts into human shape and size, covered in bandages again. Magical bandages that keep coming back. We'll never know how they work, just that it's Edgy As Fuck how it covers her entire arm.

    She offers Samantha and Himei no replies, letting the creature go being enough of one for her. Instead her attention shifts fully onto Hyde, whom she sizes up. "Guess that's what the professor meant. So that's your trick? You've brewed a potion that lets you go from human to... daemon-like form, and presumably back, on demand? Bet the Abbey would love to publicly execute you for heresy."

    She's not really into romance, but she can take a compliment. "Thanks, I guess. Bad time for a date, but how about some other time? I can think of some better places to have fun. I've got people I don't like." Why dismiss someone so powerful who's pledging mindless destruction to her? She could use that.

    Oh, right, they are here to do a thing.

    "Guess we should go meet that hermit now."
Henry Jekyll "Jekyll is a wimp, and if I could I'd never let him out, but this stupid elixir doesn't last forever." Hyde complains to Velvet, and in doing so kind of corrects a few of the minor details to do with it. Nevermind that if Jekyll was as wimp he'd never have tried the Elixir on himself, "And he won't let me out unless he needs something beat up or smashed, sorry." Thus, somewhat dejected, Hyde steps back.

He doesn't go back to being Jekyll yet, hanging on to this state as long as he can, regardless of the fact that this is compromising Jekyll's desire to observe and document all the things. Hyde does not care. "I wonder how Hermits taste."
Samantha Middleton     That was easy. Samantha finds what Velvet suggests a little queasy, but she's a lot more rough than people sometimes thing. She doesn't tell her to stop. She just tosses the badger thing aside and turns to collect her turrets. "Yeah, let's see if he'll come out and talk. If he saw all this maybe he won't." She isn't going to try to mess with what anyone else wants to do, except to stop and listen to Hyde for a little bit. She'll need to ask Jekyll about that later, but knowig who he is... that all makes sense. She's going to trudge up through the mushroom fields and toward where the hermit is.
    She'll go one further though! Climbing out of Fido, Samantha calls out, "Ermon! We're here to ask a few questions, if that's okay? Gene said you might know stuff."
Himei     Himei is now paying attention. "No wonder they were worried about war..." She gestures, "Go on, get out. Before we decide to arrest you." Not like she can do that. Or that the Badders are ikely to understand. Well enough though. "Could you two maybe um... take it somewhere else?" God what a bitch.

    Except she's kind of blushing now, because it's been a while since romantic stuff has happened to her, so even Hyde's crude attempts are reminding her of that.
Nort and Scar     The badders skeedaddle pretty quickly, scampering off as they are threatened. No way are they sticking around! And Samantha is already poking around for Ermon. This is a good idea, too! Especially climbing out of the armor like she did. And mentioning Gene's name. Good ideas, both.

    "All right, all right, missy..." A grumbling man emerges from... somewhere. Grey-bearded and haired, he looks to be around 70 years old, but is quite spry nonetheless. Human, by all accounts.

    A low whistle, and he eyes the others too. "You all took care of those bandits pretty quick. Now what is it you want with old Ermon Coot?"
Velvet Crowe     "So temporary and not under either of your controls. Still, pretty damn impressive. And pretty effective seeing how you smashed those things up." Plus, he just apologized! Velvet likes this Henry better, he isn't trying to study her, just date her.

    That's still really awkward when she puts it that way.

    As they follow after the others, she asides to Hyde: "Dunno, never had one. Probably the same as everyone else. Blood's blood no matter who it's in, though daemon blood tastes a bit more... I don't know. Sour, bitter. Stronger aftertaste." She'd know, it's all she can taste. Even through the arm.

    She lets the others handle Ermon, staying in the rear with Hyde. Especially with Himei being A TRUE JERK FOREVER, which seems to annoy Velvet more than anything else. This is not a very functional party.
Kutsuuko Shiratori     Kutsuuko briefly feels the need to stick her tongue out at Hyde hitting on the other girls. On some level, she can't blame him for the not-uncommon situation of being the only male Elite around, but still. Gross.

    "Well, if they stole them, that at least means they aren't making them. I don't think they'd be a faction in this hypothetical war. More likely the people they stole them from. The soldiers can't be all that far from here, I'd guess." Velvet's arm, from that point, seems to have her interest, though in a very sidelong and oddly uncurious way, like she expects to get some kind of answer out of it if she keeps contemplating it enough. Sadly, she can't surreptitiously stare forever though. "I recommend not eating people at all. There's more than enough 'everything else' in the Multiverse, and I'm pretty sure here, that won't vocally object to being devoured."

    But hey, Ermon actually came out! "Oh hey! A human!" Kutsuuko blurts out, surprised to see one here, even though the squiddies had told her there was. "Want with? Not a lot. We were told to contact you regarding the situation here, since you live here and . . . I don't think a lot of other people do. Supposedly there's some kind of conflict swirling up?"
Samantha Middleton     Samantha waves her good arm, and leans against Fido. "Yeah, what she said. Gene thinks there might be some kind of war brewing or something, so he wants people who aren't, you know, known Haven-people to head around the Flower Lands to investigate. He's especially curious about this Mindkeep place, said you knew something about it?" She perks up. "If you have any broken stuff that you don't know how to fix, I can take a look. We don't expect you to just hand out the info for free."

    Might as well sweeten the pot.
Himei     Himei just takes a seat and looks over Ermon. She's more worried about this war now, but if there's news about why this other place is so important, she'd like to hear it.
Henry Jekyll "There's a subtlety to blood, some blood tastes a little bit more sweet, other kinds taste a bit more unami, and really if you think all blood tastes the same you need to experiment a little more." Is... is Hyde a foodie for blood? He shoots Himei an annoyed glare, and then the hermit comes out and he's about to make another comment before he falls over to the ground and shrinks.

It's quick, and Jekyll pushes himself up and dusts himself off quickly. "Sorry about mister Hyde, he has no sense of restraint." In a sense, Jekyll apologized as well, "And he's more of a side effect of my research that was useful. A loathsome creature, but sometimes necessary."
Then, he turns towards Ermon, "Thank you for your time, good sir, I hope the day finds you well. Is there anything you would like for your answers, or are you a more generous soul?"
Nort and Scar     Ermon looks around the group, then just plops himself down. "No need for that, miss. I don't have much need for gadgets these days. Gene's right, though. Heh. I know Mindkeep. I used to live there. Funny he should be looking into it, but Gene's a good feller." He stretches, gestures for the others to sit.

    "You all look like you know what you're talking about, so I won't mince words," he says. "Mindkeep was a pre-war installation. It was there to find the secret to the Alpha Factor, the codename for uh... mutations. Now, I wasn't a pre-war scientist, but my granddad was. Most of the humans in there died out though. Tried to keep themselves pure and over the centuries... well, you all know what inbreeding can do?" He sighs.

    But there are questions and that means he should give useful info. "I dunno if the machines still work there, but it's all powered by nuclear generators. If you look around there you can find a lot of stuff. Thing is, I had to leave. My brother Jeremiah went a little mad. Kept screaming about the aliens and saying we had to defend ourselves. So who knows what it's like in there now. He's probably rigged the place up with traps. You want an alternate way in, well... You can either try the roof, or maybe there's a way in through the tunnels below. Sorry if I can't help ya more."
Velvet Crowe     "Haven't really gotten to taste many kinds. Just human, malak and daemon. Something to think about... might be able to find recipes that use blood to enhance flavor." That's... actually not a stupid thing to look into. Maybe she'd be less grumpy if she could enjoy food again. Maybe. Probably not, but hey.

    This is clearly the best conversation to be having in front of the hermit and surely can't go wrong.

    She DOES pay attention to what Ermon says, don't worry. She's just focusing on the chit-chat with Henry slash Hyde because this 'talking' thing isn't really her deal. She'd rather just shake the man until answers fall out and be done with it.

    As Henry returns, Velvet shrugs. "S'fine. I'm hardly one to talk. So you heard everything I said while he was in control, then? And vice versa right now?"
Samantha Middleton     Oh good, Jekyll's back. Him, Samantha can understand. But now they're getting an info dump! Of... interesting things. "Wow, your granddad worked there before the war? Um... so... you think it might have a computer in there that would work for us?" That was the point! "But it sounds like we might have to go somewhere else to get the way in..."
Himei     Himei finds this pretty interesting, but more interesting is how aware Ermon is. "Hm. Your brother... oh, do you think Mindkeep could produce these rifles?" She holds up one of the AKs. "I would have thought you'd have lasers or something. This is common where I'm from."
Nort and Scar     Ermon shakes his head. "They might have the parts, but not the precisions," he answers Himei first. "No idea where they got them. We had fancier stuff than that." He chuckles softly, but it isn't a pleasant one.

    Computer! "Huh? Oh, yeah, that would be easy to find in there somewhere, if Jeremiah hasn't wrecked the place. I'm telling you he's a bit crazy. Dangerous! Why do you think I've been sitting out here for the last however many decades. I'm just waiting to finally die." He grins, "But I can help you out. Promise to bring these back, and I'll just hand over a map to some old ID cards if you want."
Kutsuuko Shiratori     That kind of sad story puts things into sharp perspective. In a world like this, where flowers are growing and people live outside (people being a broad definition), it's easy to assume the worst is forever and an age behind, and that the scars have long since healed. The fact that this pre-war installation is something this guy's grandfather (not great gret great etc.) knows all about, is a little sobering, and very much indicates that someone will probably be there, alive, and possibly crazy. That's lots to bring back to Haven.

    "If that's the case, we'll probably be checking out those tunnels. If you have any obvious landmarks we could pick them out with, that'd be appreciated."