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Post by Melody Arachne on Feb 15, 2007 10:03:58 GMT -5
((just a potential setting for some interaction; feedback appreciated))
The door is set into a brick wall, and painted matte black; by the clang when it opens to admit you, you can tell it is reinforced steel and a good two inches thick. Wrought iron gates are pulled back against the walls of a short hallway; a last ditch defense against the shambling horde of undead that occasionally break down the outer door.
Posters, ripped and torn and pasted over, cover the walls of the pub. The lighting is sparse, most of it focused behind the bar, where a struggling generator wheezes and emits the occasional belch of smoke. The mirror that once hung behind the bar is long gone, though shards remain in the upper corners. Bottles are displayed on the shelves, protected by a steel grille from randomly thrown objects. To the right of the bar the room stretches in an L shape, making space for a pool table and darts. The main tables are badly in need of repair, with tilting tops and gouges, burns and bullet holes. To either side of the entrance are the restrooms, doors decorated with rude anatomical representations of which sex they are intended for. The left of the bar is taken up with a proto-sixties go-go cage, now standing empty except for a metal collar and a sign on the closed door; "RESERVED FOR LEON". Above the cage- hung just a bit askew- is a pilfered painting of dubious merit, of a crowd waving red flags.
A heavy-set man stands behind the bar, looking over the room with a surly glare. A smiley face name tag on his apron reads 'ValJohn". He'll fill your orders, but don't ask for small talk, you couldn't afford it. When asked, he points to another sign hung prominently behind the bar. It reads, "NO CREDIT FOR RANGERS!!"
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Post by Magatsu Taito on Feb 15, 2007 15:29:55 GMT -5
A young man walks into the bar, he looks thin and his skin is cracked from dehydration. His hair is a tangled mess, and reminds you of a very bad afro. He walks in quite a straight line, slumps down on a barstool and orders a pitcher of water. He drinks it down fast, and gets half of it on his discolored shirt. He turns around, and walks over to a table, gets up on the table and sits down with his legs crossed. He throws a quick glance around the room, and says quietly: "Magats Taito", before falling asleep on the table.
(And i think its, good, i would probably write that there are a few tables and stuff, but that's kinda obvious so it's not really needed))
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Post by Melody Arachne on Feb 16, 2007 16:35:05 GMT -5
From a shadowed booth at the back of the bar, a figure slowly approaches his table. The girl tilts her head, watching him sleep for a few moments before clearing her throat. "Um ... hey, homeless guy? I don't think they like you sittin' on the tables, you know?" She hooks a thumb back at the scowling bartender. "Plus, like, extra uncomfortable. There's ah ... booths, along the wall if you wanna crash." She gives him another appraising look. "Or you could have, y'know, a burger or somethin'. You look like you could use it."
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Post by Magatsu Taito on Feb 16, 2007 18:24:08 GMT -5
He wakes up. "Wha.. uhh, sorry, I look a mess don't I? I've been stuck in a lifeboat for a few days before i ended up in this place, that's why i look like this." He gets of the table an leans against it instead. "Hey, did you mention burgers? 'Cause I'm starved... I don't have any money though, i think i left it in the lifeboat... I don't really remember." He gets up, buy staggers back against the table and then sits down on a chair. "I don't suppose you happen to feel generous or something?" He smiles a crocked smile at her. "So, whats your name?"
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Post by Melody Arachne on Feb 17, 2007 5:48:31 GMT -5
She smiles, extends a hand. "Melody. I'm from the states. An' ... not much call for cash around here anymore, mostly we barter. Ya got anything cool?" She holds up two fingers to the barman, who grumbles and stomps off to fix the order. "Send out a couplea cokes, too."
She pulls a chair out from the table, turns it around and straddles it. "A lifeboat, huh? How the hell didja end up in a lifeboat?"
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Post by Magatsu Taito on Feb 18, 2007 15:41:51 GMT -5
He looks at her hand for a bit than slowly extends his own, they shake. "Well, i had some stuff in the lifeboat, a gun and a sword, but that's about all, I'm not even sure if it's still in there." He looks at her uncertainly for a moment before hesitatingly starting. "Well, I used to be a sailor. I think i started when i was around 14, maybe 15. I helped out on fishing boats at first, and then started working on bigger ones, like cargo ships. I worked a couple of years on those, nothing unusual happened during that time. We had a few people sneaking on board trying to get someplace, or just to get away..." He stares out into the distance for a while, lost in thoughts.
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Post by Leon Silverblood on Feb 19, 2007 3:38:02 GMT -5
Leon, with his very slight sort of build, tries not to let the door look like it weighs 2000 pounds, though it sure as hell feels that way. He looks around at the place and is, for all the right reasons, reminded of the movie "From Dusk till Dawn." He stands in front of the caged dancer, though she could more accurately be described as a caged crackhead, by the way she eyes him. He has something she wants. He knows what it is, too: brains. Leon smiles at this thought. How rarely any girl was ever really after that. Not that he had any, but still. "Women," he muttered as he stepped to the bar.
Leon placed several first aid kits on the bar, brand new and raided from a hospital drugstore. "Gimme a tab for what this is worth. I imagine you have quite the selection here, considering how many liquor stores have windows looking worse than ex-virgin necros.. Yeah I see that grin. Give me some really expensive rum, since it didn't cost you a thing. triple shot in a coke, please." He smiled broadly at the bartender, who'd damn well better respect someone with that kind of candor, but no animosity.
The drink, presently appearing, wasn't a triple at all, probably not even a double, the bartender's response to Leon's attempted assertion. And it was cheap rum, too. Bastard. Leon grinned at the man, who grinned back and nodded. "Yes, I did," the burly ass seemed to say.
Turning and walking past the cage again, he headed for a table and was soon lost in thought, idly fingering the knotted nylon hair of a barbie doll that hung from the bandolier across his chest. There were five of them, dangling and dirty, some missing limbs, some bearing the partial burns or melting disfigurements incidental to a nomadic life, or nomadic undeath, in Malton. He may have grunt-mumbled a hello as he passed the lifers at the table, as those who aren't really talking to anyone will do when they must, but who can be sure he wasn't speaking to his synthetic girlfriends? Clearly, he had been one of the lucky(?) few to escape the Malton Lunatarium in the "early days of the outbreak," and now he divided his time almost evenly between trying to stay alive and trying to sow the seeds of his insanity, which of course implies many things. They're all true.
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Post by Melody Arachne on Feb 19, 2007 10:27:29 GMT -5
Melody lets her glance stray to the recent arrival, as Taito goes into a memory fugue. She reaches over, nudges his arm, nods a head in Leon's direction. "Hey, check 'im out ... I dare ya to go over an' talk to him. I'll pay for your burger if you do. Go on. I double dare ya!"
She slips off the chair, moves to the bar to collect the two cold bottles of Coke that have been set upon its pocked surface. "Thanks, man ... put those burgers on my tab, all right?" She flashes a dimpled smile at the bartender, who grumbles and gives up his protest after a few muttered noises. "Thanks, doll."
She returns to the table, holds out a coke for the silent Taito. "My treat, this time. You can pay me back later."
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Post by Magatsu Taito on Feb 19, 2007 10:55:27 GMT -5
Magatsu snaps out of it, and watches the guy that just came in walking over to the bar. "Well, anyway, this whole lifeboat thing started with me starting to work on this old Russian cargo ship. It went by the name Ivana Spektor, after the Captains late wife. And the first time i saw him his eyes made me flinch. He was this big Russian, with a thick accent, and big gray beard and hair. I never found out what his name was, everyone just called him Captain. Things were almost as usual, the crew was a bit quieter than i was used to from before, but didn't think that was too strange, most of them were Russian so I just thought they didn't speak anything else. After 2 weeks on the ship, we changed course and headed straight into this big gray mist. And the same night i woke up to the sound of gunfire. I ran up to the deck, and realized that we weren't attacked by pirates as i first had thought, we were the pirates. The yacht that had been our target seemed to fight back quite well, and several of the Russians lay dead in the water. Then i saw someone move behind the people on the yacht, and soon the gunfire stopped. I later found out that one of the Russians was a former Russian Naval Spetsnaz, and had swam under our boat and came up behind the yacht. Most of the pirates turned out to be former Russian military. After the fighting had stopped, i got knocked out and thrown into an empty container for a few days. They told me that i could either join them or get thrown into the sea. I didn't really have a choice, so i became a pirate. It was easier than i had thought, and i came to like it after a while. We mostly targeted rich criminals and gunrunners, people like that, which made it easier for me. I came to look at us as the good guys after a while. Maybe a year after i became a pirate we got word of a bigger yacht carrying guns to a civil war in Africa. It turned out to be a Triad ship, full of angry mobsters with big guns. Things got bad very fast, and after a while people started throwing grenades and firing rocket launchers at each other. Both ships were shaking and burning after a while, and i realized that if this continued we would all die. I tried to find anyone alive, but most of the crew were dead. I ran up to the Captains hut, he wasn't there, so i grabbed a sword from a stand and then left the ship on a lifeboat. I don't think anyone else made it, but one other lifeboat were missing so I'm not sure. Both ships sank after a few minutes, both in flames. And I was stuck in the lifeboat for about a week, until i hit shore in this place..." He takes a deep breath after telling his story, and seems a bit sad about it all. After some time in silence he looks at Melody and asks: "Kinda of a long story, huh? Well, there you have it. So, now that I've told mine, what about your's? How did you end up in this place?" He says, while grabbing a burger that just arrived. He starts chewing slowly, eyes sparkling with pleasure as he eats, watching her. "Well, since I've already started on this, I don't have much choice do I?" He gets up, stretches out a bit like a cat, and heads over in Leons direction. Taito hesitates a bit after looking at the guy closer up, but then takes a step closer and says "Hi, I'm Magatsu Taito. Who might you be?" ((This whole thing took some time to write, so i guess you posted before i finished mine... I'm gonna have to keep it a bit shorter next time, but i got a bit carried away there ))
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Post by Leon Silverblood on Feb 20, 2007 7:30:19 GMT -5
Leon turned around slowly, leaving the wall alone now. He stared past the former pirate as he twirled Janine's hair around his finger, and replied "Nothing, no, nothing at all" with no malice but a clear sense of absence behind the eyes. His white laboratory coat hung open, tattered and not nearly white anymore, letting three of "the sisters" swing to and fro in full view.
He snatched one off suddenly and held her out in front of Magatsu's face, black hair in his fist as she hung there, arms open, face happy, skin charred and melted. "Janine says you're hot! This is Janine! Slut!" He held her before his own eyes for a second and said "I'll miss you, too. Now there's work to be done, so go" and held her out to Magatsu again.
Simultaneously, and absent-mindedly, he reached down and scratched himself through his plaid skirt. As he waited for Magatsu to take Janine, he also looked down and mourned the formerly white knee-socks, holed in many places and closer to black than grey, nowadays. "Oh, and I'm Leon. Nice to meet you."
(Magatsu, I think the long posts are cool. I would say finish them before you post them, though :-D even I thought it was done.)
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Post by Magatsu Taito on Feb 20, 2007 10:40:24 GMT -5
Magatsu hesitates for a while before slowly taking the doll. He got a bit scared at first when Leon suddenly showed it in his face, but realized he probably meant no harm. He holds it in his hand for a while, thinking about what to do with it. While he does this he realizes how awful he must look, he and Leon looks like two bums that has ended up in a fancy restaurant or something. They actually make this place seem clean.
"Thank you for ... ehh, Janine." He says to Leon, and reaches back and twirls the doll into the hair in his neck, almost making a dread with the dolls arms and legs sticking out of it, the little face is visible as well. "Nice to meet you too, Leon. You want half of my burger or something? I can't finish it anyway, since my stomach has shrunk." He starts heading back to the table where Melody is sitting.
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Post by Melody Arachne on Feb 20, 2007 14:05:59 GMT -5
"Well, now, this is practically turnin' into a party. Maybe we should have a little somethin' to go with the cokes- someone did mention rum, yeah?"
She looks over the two, down to her own cropped tee shirt and hip-hugging jeans. "Damn, I think I'm underdressed." She props the heel of one combat boot on the edge of her chair and hugs the bent knee. "I can order us up another burger or somethin', I think I got a bit of credit left." She hitches a thumb towards the dead go-go dancer. "I got twenty bucks for bringing in one that still had all her parts."
"Pull up a chair. taito was just tellin' me he was a pirate. Well, kind of a pirate. Did you ever make anybody walk the plank?"
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Post by Magatsu Taito on Feb 20, 2007 19:53:29 GMT -5
"Ha ha, no, not really. We threw some guys over board one time, and told them which way land was though. It didn't really matter if we let them go, since they were all criminals they couldn't really go to the cops or anything."
He leans back and gives the bathrooms a stare. "Are those safe to use?" he asks Melody. "I'll guess I'll find out sooner or later anyway..." He gets up and walks over to the dark green doors, pushes it open and disappears out of sight. After a few minutes he comes back. "Ok, now I've at least washed my arms and face, where do you go to get some clothes around here?"
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Post by Leon Silverblood on Feb 21, 2007 8:24:00 GMT -5
Leon grinned at Magatsu as he make-shifted his dreadlock, then flipped off Janine viciously. "Thanks for the offer, but no, I'm not really hungry. I might have to ask about that dancer though...She looks yummy." Leon looked down at the other Barbie dolls hanging from the strap across his chest beneath the lab coat and muttered something soothing, sounding dutiful. They were always whining, damn them. He stepped slowly over to Melody and, looking from her to the bartender, the zed-woman in the cage, then back to her and asked "Do you work here? Is she ah...for rent?"
He looked around at the tavern again. "If not, you wanna shoot some pool?", he resumed, looking her over shamelessly from shoulder to boot. His eyes lingered on her legs and boots, then met hers as he waited for a response.
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Post by Vito The Don on Feb 21, 2007 13:51:34 GMT -5
A dark figure steps out from the shadows. He's holding a cigar and a bottle of vodka." So quite the little gathering you have here". He looks at Magatsu, "Dont I know you from somewere? No matter, seems like we're all stuck in this hell hole. Before this all happend I ran the streets". The man sits down while taking a puff of the cigar."I grew up in scilly in a small fishing village. When I was 10 my dad was killed by the local enforcer. He worked as a fisherman, and skiped on his protection money. My mother moved us to britian to start a new life".
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