| The Best and Worst of a Situation. | ||
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Ren returns to the regular restaurant, apparently not particularly nervous about a repeat of the recent case of widespread property damage. Serenity slips sideways at the door and pauses to peer at the patrons present. After a small wave to Urus' image in the mirror, Ren wanders over to join Rayne and rasp a cheery "Hello." Rayne is seated in what is by now her usual place... at that half-booth table at the wall, facing out towards the restaurant. Apparenly she hadn't noticed Urus entering, perhaps a bit engrossed with whatever she is working on with her laptop. Ren is significantly less subtle with her entrance, however, and she suddenly looks up from her computer. "Huh? Oh, hey, Ren! What's up?" She looks around now that her attention has been pulled away from whatever it is, and frowns as she spots Urus. The last time they met didn't go so well... Minu isn't a librarian any more. She is a TASK member and supposedly third in command. As such, she has to make sure she can keep up with those who are larger and stronger then she is. Now she certainly can't expect to compete but she can be her absolute best and it is to this ends that the little elf had been in the gym working out as diligently as she commits herself to her studies. Coming through the gym door and into the UR proper the little elf is glistening with sweat, a towel draped around her slim shoulders and her face flush from effort. Her hair is in a tight braid down her back and she wears a little pink spaghetti strap tank top and a pair of black jogging shorts with matching pink piping. Her small feet are clad in a popular brand of jogging shoes. Pausing as she enters the restaurant she looks around as she wipes off her face. She catches sight of Ren and Rayne then a concerned look crosses her features as she spies Urus at the bar and it looks like he is doing a number on bottle of something strong. Glancing down at her chest where her badge rest on the lanyard around her neck, she carefully tucks it into her top so not to appear to be flashing it. Just an ordinary little elf, nothing to see. Urus Turns and sees Ren, nodding to her as she passes by. By the looks of his expression, either he is really drunk, Tired, or both. At the same time, Minu comes out of the gym, something that he does not expect, nor does he understand. He takes a quick look at the bottle and then back at her before attempting to shake his vision straight. Nope, that is exactly what it looks like. He waves to her half-heartedly, a semblance of a smile happening due to the fact that one of his favorite people are around. As for Rayne, he knows that she is there but considering everything, he worries about her attitude towards him, and how that might affect his state of being in case the beast decides to pick that moment out of everything, not like he isn't trying to have that covered anyway. Serenity twists to glance at Urus again after spotting Rayne's expression. (Ren, by the way, has the TASK badge located rather inconveniently, affixed to the side of the environment suit's storage bin.) "Among other things, I wanted to see if you could use any help," Ren replies while motioning a pair of right fin edges toward Rayne. Ren then shifts to a 'kneeling' posture by the table. "While it's a shame that Twisted doesn't have public disaster compensation, I have to admit some relief that we didn't promise that sort of assistance." Ren frowns. "No, that was an uncharitable thought... Have we any injury reports?" The spotty sea slug doesn't yet spot Minu's entrance. Rayne says, "A few, but it looks like mostly minor burns and scrapes and whatnot. The buildings are being rebuilt as we speak... by whatever force does that." She shrugs to Serenity. "Really, there's little to be done at the moment, so.... I'm just going onward." She watches as Minu approaches the now clearly drunken Urus and raises an eyebrow. Well, those two have always been oddly close, so she shrugs and turns to Serenity again. "God that was an annoying report to write, though, especially when there was already an article in the paper before I even started."" The little elf smiles and waves toward Ren and Rayne then turns again to Urus and makes her way over to him. She smiles "good evening Urus. You look quite.polluted. Whats with the hard drinking? I have seen you drink but not usually to the point of passing out. You also look ..tired. What has been happening? The fish lady been rough on you?" She tilts her head and frowns a little as she pats her sweat glowed skin. Serenity nods thoughtfully in reply to Rayne. As Rayne looks to Minu, Ren follows her gaze and extends a 'wing' from the cloak of suspended water to offer a wave. "There's something particularly unsettling, but not actually alarming, about incomprehensible dangers," Ren remarks. "But you felt that Kotal wouldn't be satisfied with merely learning what was omitted from the news story?" Urus raises his eyebrows trying to keep himself awake. "I am fine, just, just did not get good sleep the last few days. Other than that fine!, Just fine." He says seeming dismissive of his state. That is further bolstered by what little tail he has starts twitching. He attempts to change the subject. "So, you are working out now? I thought that you said 'I'm no warrior, Chemistry is going to be my art...' or something like that." his memory also being slightly hindered by this morning's one activity. He is also probably getting a head shake from Steve at this point. Good thing he is occupied with something else. Rayne says, "Ehhh? What do you mean, Ren?" She blinks, not having even considered just sending the news article with some notes and corrections until just now. After a few seconds, she shakes her head again. "Nah, that'd be a bad precident to set. But yeah. I'm pretty sure that... woman didn't /intend/ to nearly run down the UR. It looked like something went wrong with the tanks." She sighs and hangs her head. "Ugh... If I hadn't asked her to get her tank out of the middle of the street, it wouldn't even have happened, would it?"" Minu puts on small fist on her hip and rocks it outward. She tilts her head as Urus speaks and those golden eyes rake over him knowingly. She smirks and one brow arches behind her gold rimmed glasses. "fine are you? You know your tail wags when you lie right? Its sorta your.tell. How else do you think I always beat you at cards?" She looks at the towel in her hands. "I'm NOT a warrior and I will never be big or strong but I have to be able to move fast and keep up. Now what is going on? Why aren't you sleeping." She frowns a little and looks over as small murmurs reach her ears "I have been reading that report Rayne. You did quite well but its a bad thing that the tank got away. I am not sure its in the public interest to have one of those roaming about in a civilians hands." Serenity frowns at Rayne's last remark. "I am not experienced in dealing with such things, but happen to think it a reasonable request to remove one's giant armored weapon of war from blocking the street. We can't always conduct long-term surveillance before deciding on a course of action." As Minu calls over her observation, Ren nods. Then Ren adds uncertainly, "Where exactly does one hide such a thing?" Urus squints and frowns himself. His tail does what? As he looks back he notices what Minu already has. "Son of bitch." He smiles and says "you are one dirty bird, you know that?" his tail stops wagging as he continues. "Been dealing with some unfinished business. Has been keeping me up." He takes another sip as he decides that anything is better than just looking at each other for the next few hours and waves Serenity and Rayne to join. "It is all under control. No big deal" Then the tail starts up again. Despite the fact that it happens, Urus still pretends it doesn't and can't actually feel it do that. Rayne says, "Well, from what I was able to gather, the guy... girl... uhhh, she changed a couple of times between the two... But yeah, it was a guy when he punched it... so /he/ sent the thing flying." She motions an arc with her hand, representing the flight path of the tank after the Hiryu Shoten Ha. "I've not heard from anyone where it landed." She raises an eyebrow as Urus waves for her and Serenity to join him... And with a light sigh, closes up her laptop and stands up to join him over at the bar, motioning Serenity to follow. "Even if I still owed you a drink, Urus, now would not be the time. You look like crap, man." She takes a seat and waves over the skutter that just got confused as to where it should take the spaghetti plate that she'd ordered earlier." Minu shakes her head as the hyena lies to her again. "You are a terrible liar Urus" the little elf sighs "as to me playing dirty, you had it coming." When Rayne comes over at the hyena's gesture, the little elf smiles "I think Urus is done drinking." She looks to the skutter "we need hang over cure #23 please" she smiles evilly at the hyena "and before you say no, remember the nose. Your gona drink it and sober up a bit. Last thing I want is you loosing control and us having to put you in a cell for the night. I don't even wana think about the paper work that would cause. The stack on my desk from this tank thing is big enough." "Changed?" Ren repeats uncertainly after Rayne, but looks even more confused by the notion of punching a vehicle into the air. Ren slips into a 'standing' posture long enough to flow after Rayne. Ren extends a 'wing' to offer Urus a damp pat on the arm before parking the forcefield generator between a couple of the seats. "Perhaps if the weapon landed outside the city barrier, it has already decomposed," Ren offers optimistically. Ren looks to Urus questioningly as Minu mentions the hangover cure. Urus looks at Minu slightly pleadingly "This is not the time, OK, If you want to talk about this later, sure, but believe me when I say this is best course of action" Tail says, all good. If he is too drunk to do anything useful, so is the beast when he decides to get his paws dirty, at least, that's what he believes. "This control, you speak of, yes. I am aware of it. This is exactly what I am trying to keep." He says hushed, forgetting that he just got Rayne and Ren within earshot. "That is the situation I am trying to avoid." He turns to the others, now noticing their vicinity to him. "Shit..." he mumbles then attempts to change the subject yet again. "So, what is this about a weapon?" Rayne says, "Ehhh, putting him in the drunk tank wouldn't be much paperwork, to be honest. Now, if he did anything else, woo, yeah, that could be a ton of paperwork!" She grins at Urus. She then frowns, and looks back to Ren. "I know my luck, and my luck says that tank is gonna come back to be a pain in the ass again. Maybe she can do some good and at least run over some Xenomorphs or something on the way." She looks back to Urus again. "'Weapon' he says. We had a mentally unstable woman show up with a tank last night."" Skeeve waits for the doors to the Usual to open completely before stepping in and to one side. He pauses for a moment, as though he was expecting something else to happen. Minu's golden eyes narrow in concern for the hyena. The little elf lady wrinkles her nose and shakes her head. As the skutter returns with the ordered hang over cure. Taking it from the tray she hands it up to Urus. "we have discussed this before and I am here for you. Drink this." as she offers him up the glass. The little elf taps her foot. She shifts just her eyes toward Rayne "do you think it was a convergence? I left a message with Neo PD to see if it was one of theirs perhaps and not something new come to Twisted. A little unofficial intercity cooperation." "That is an interesting thought about unexpected benefits of the tank," Ren remarks. The psychedelic-skinned sea slug is simulating sitting by 'kneeling' between a pair of seats next to Rayne. "Of course, we wouldn't -I don't think- actually induct the woman into TASK. But I wonder if it wouldn't be helpful to offer some incentive to use the tank productively if it's still intact." Ren adds, "As for calling her 'mentally unstable', though, I might reserve judgement before calling a new arrival such. Convergence is hardly conducive to acting sanely." With a mild surprise, Ren glances over to Minu with her addition. "I hadn't thought of that possibility but certainly should have. Excellent work on the communication." Despite the mirror, Ren doesn't seem to notice the new arrival just yet. There is a sigh from Urus as he takes the drink and knocks it back. What is disgusting to some is good for others. "I think that this is beyond what we have talked about... There are things, to which I cannot help. " He tells Minu. As for the weaponry, that has him intrigued. "A TANK!" he says excitedly. "That is great, sounds like my kind of woman. I hope I get to meet her sometime. She has good taste." As for what you can do with one of those... it depends on the operator. "If what I have heard of these Xenomorphs is correct, a tank would not be a bad idea. Not the best though. Treads, are made of metal. The bloods of those things are... acidic right." he looks to Minu as she was the one who told him about the new threat. "Not a good combination." Skeeve's eyes widen just a little bit at the array of... let's call them 'people' in the restaurant. Definitely a more interesting crowd than you normally find in a Usual Restaurant, but one takes what they can get. He himself makes his way up to the bar, slipping that ridiculous hat off the top of his head, tucking it away under his cloak. Rayne shrugs her shoulders as she tucks her to-go box under her arm. "She walked around like she owned the place... complete with being in her underwear... Which suggests to me she might be one of those people that have been in the City for ages that I've managed to not see... But I've never heard any reports of tanks. Sure, there's that blue robot lion on the beach, but no tanks." She looks to Serenity. "No, she really was. She listed her psychoses. And apparently has a small bear-looking thing for a psychiatrist that was travelling with her. So... Yeah. I think I'm okay calling her mentally unstable this time." She glances over at Urus as he makes his point. "True, I suppose. Well, that'd knock out two birds with one stone, then, wouldn't it..." No, she doesn't seem to like the tank being around. As far as Urus' type of woman? She'll not judge. "Well, I've got an early morning shift at the Welcome Center tomarrow, so I'm going to go home, eat this in front of the TV," she pats her to-go box, "and go to bed. Talk to you guys later!" She gives the newcomer a nod as she stands up and turns around, but doesn't say anything else before heading for the door. Minu smiles up at Ren. "Thank You. I figured that sense the citys were linked by the bridge, that it would be easy for rabble to head either direction and that the peace keepers on both sides should have some sort of contact and shared information. Its not yet an approved thing but I have access to their information officer so we are at least having some success." The little elf lady snorts and rolls her eyes "your kind of woman." she just smirks up at the hyena then turns her attention toward the door as Rayne heads out and draws her eye to the new arrival. Serenity doesn't seem to share Urus' enthusiasm for the tank operator. Ren also regards Rayne with a concerned frown as she describes the visitor. "And a psychiatrist who is supposed to be but not entirely effectual at guarding her..." Ren remarks uncertainly. As Rayne excuses herself, Ren lifts a pair of fins from the water to offer her a wave. Spotting Skeeve, the spotted Serenity slightly waves a 'wing' to him as well, folding lines into the aquamarine muscle to give the vague impression of a human arm in a loose sleeve. "You're in contact with a police officer already?" Ren says approvingly to Minu. "Could I be of any help in furthering the relationship?" Skeeve can't help but return Serenity's wave, a little dumbfounded, but then, only a little. Trying not to be too obvious about listening in to their conversation, he feels almost compelled to ask, "Did... something happen earlier?" He leans up against the bar. "Seems like the place is in pretty good shape, for needing the police." Urus begins wondering how long he has been drinking if Rayne wants to go to bed. She must have also had a long night. When Rayne speaks having a bear being a weird psychiatrist he takes that slightly personally considering his relationship with a rubber duck. He knows it's weird... so why does he keep doing it? Habit. The newcomer is of interest as well considering Ren seems to know of him. "Hello. And you are?" he says also listening to his concerns. "For a Tank, it must have been pretty quiet, I was up all night. Wait, never mind." Remembering the walls of his apartment are plated in metal, which does not allow sound to diffuse through very easily. "It's the middle of twisted, you could level the entire block, in 3 days the entire thing would be up again. Just another grand part of this place." The little elf lady tilts her head and looks the new comer over. She arches one brow behind her gold rimmed glasses. She takes in small details and stores them away, and waits for the fellow to introduce himself so she can tuck that away for later too. There is a reason she is the chief information officer for TASK. She nods her head idly to Ren. "I will leave you some information on your desk. Its an email address, for the computer. So far we have only shared a few, just enough to check a few shady folks and make sure further information isn't available in each others city. Urus, I am gona head toward the office. I have some Brain Bleach at the apartment if you wana drop by later after work." She offers the new comer a nod and glances back at Urus pointedly before heading back toward the gym and likely from there to the TASK office. Skeeve returns the elf's wave, with just a touch of bemusement, but replies to Urus, "I'm Skeeve, Skeeve Plowse. It's nice to meet you. And I suppose you've got a good point, about the destruction and repairs around here." He pauses a moment, rolling that over in his head as he picks up a menu, then puts it back down. "Wait, did you say a stealth tank?" "Indeed, the construction nanites within the boundaries of Twisted City are disconcerting for me as well," Ren adds to Urus' explanation. Ren nods in reply to Minu's offer. Then, as she departs, Ren offers her a wave before flowing out from between the seats and back in, closer to Skeeve. "I am fairly sure that the recent incident was not the result of anything stealthy, unless it has been around for some time and has just now failed in hiding," Ren mentions. "You can call me Serenity," Ren offers him, along with a damp pair of fin edges with extrusion and scalloping to vaguely suggest a hand. Skeeve takes the... the... after a few moments, Skeeve decides that his own appelation is best, and just takes Serenity's hand, shaking it lightly. Nice to meet you, Serenity..." Letting go, and resisting the urge to wipe his hand off on his cloak (that'd be rude), he adds, "This place sure has changed a lot, since the last time I was here. How long has there been a city?" "Nice to meet you Mr. Plowse." Urus says attempting an Iota of his manners. With a hand out to shake he continues. "Urus Deravin." He rubs the back of his neck for a second relieving some tension. "There are quite a few new additions to the party, and that tank and it's driver seem to be one of them. I havn't seen you around. You from neo-edo or..." he lets that be an open end for whatever Skeeve decides to tell. "This place has been getting busy as of late. It's about once a week or once every two weeks we seem to get a new one." Urus unwittingly tightly grasps the edge of the bar with his claws before looking down and recognizing and letting go. He takes a deep breath and gets himself under control. The last thing he needs is a bad first impression. "Last time?" Ren repeats, inclining rhinophores toward Skeeve curiously. "While time here seems ill-behaved now and then, I can say for certain that Twisted City was here well before my arrival, but the appearance of Neo-Edo across the strait is a much more recent event." | |
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