forum Dystopian Fantasy RP aw yeah (Private)

Started May 02, 2018 by @Young-Dusty-the-Monarch-of-Dusteria group

tune

"Here's hoping." Mike sighed and finished the last of his meal. "I guess that's our cue to get moving. Maybe we should round up the group leaders and have a talk about what happens next."

Tanrial sat up straight and yawned a little, “Probably a good idea. And if you haven’t told the others, Wren we need to tell them about Ryker and Eric’s little escape.”

Wren nodded and stepped away from the table. "I'll tell the others to come talk, but I need to sleep. I'll probably tell Jackie to attend the meeting instead of me." Turning, she headed back outside.
Bernon watched her go and shook his head. "Poor kid. She shouldn't have to be the one worrying about her whole family by herself. I hope she has a nice rest."

“Me too. It’s sad to see her go through that. Hopefully everything will turn out for the better for her and her family.” Tanrial said, taking a sip of her tea.

"You said it," Bernon agreed, then stiffly got to his feet. "I'm gonna go grab my notebook, I might want to take notes during the meeting. Be right back."
Once he was gone, Mike glanced at Tanrial. "I think he's in more pain than he wants to admit. We should keep an eye on him for a few days, make sure he doesn't overwork himself."

Tanrial nodded, running her finger over the lip of the cup, “Yeah. I wish he’d say something though instead of keeping quiet. We should see if that kid, whatever his name was with the healing powers, could help maybe? At least take the edge off the pain.”

"Good thought. Peter, wasn't it? I'll bet he'd be happy to help. He sure seemed willing to gab about what he could do this morning." Mike stacked up the dirty plates and handed them to Rebka as she walked by. "THat should be the first thing we take care of after this meeting, assuming nothing else comes up."
At that point Rick came downstairs, whistling cheerily. "Howdy, you two. What's shakin'?"

Tanrial shrugged, “Not much. Just chatting while we wait for Bernon to come back. You seem cheery right now, that about anything in particular?”

"Mmm, well, it's the philosophy of us mercenaries. You should always be happy when you manage to survive a battle." Rick got himself a drink at the counter and walked over. "Plus I get to visit Miss Fear again today, and I'm lookin' forward to that."
"Don't leave right away," Mike said. "We're having a talk with the others pretty soon, gonna decide what happens next."
"Aww. Okay, I s'pose I can hang around a while. So what does happen next? Either of you got any plans?"

Tanrial opens her mouth to speak before she closed it and shook her head, “I haven’t put much thought into it so no, I don’t have any plans at this point.”

"Me neither," Mike said. "We have to figure out where the kids will go and how they'll get there, if necessary. We also need to think about that data drive, and what to do with it. Oh, and we may need to dig up some kind of compensation for all the people who fought with us and helped us out. I feel bad just letting them leave without some payment, even if I have no idea what to offer them."

“That’s waaaay too many things tit honk about right now but all of them important nonetheless. If only it could be done in a snap of our fingers so we don’t have to worry about it any more. But, it has to be done eventually.”

(I gotta go early tonight, but hopefully I'll have more time tomorrow. Seeya! ^^)
"Well," Rick said. "If it helps at all, you won't need to compensate me. While we were down in that bunker I managed to nick myself some pretty valuable items to sell in the next big town. Besides, I think this was a worthy cause, so I don't mind workin' for free this time."

(Okay, seeya ^^)
“I’d be more mad that you stole if it wasn’t from someone who’s been experimenting on people and growing babies from weird tubes or whatever.” Tanrial muttered, taking the last sip of her tea.

"Good to hear," Rick replied, stepping aside as Bernon came back to join them. "Oh hey, morning Bernon. How're you doing?"
"Could be worse," Bernon said, "What about you? Mike said you got shot?"
"Yeah, but it wore off pretty quick," Rick joked. "One of the kids is real good with his medical skills, you should see him about those burns of yours later."
"They're not that bad….but maybe I will." Bernon glanced out the window as he spoke. "I think I see Dane and James and the others heading this way. Maybe we should move to a bigger table before they get here."

“That or we can just pull some more tables together,” Tanrial suggested as she shrugged. But she stood, “Which will it be then?”

"There aren't any bigger tables," Mike pointed out just as the group leaders started filing in. "Let's pull some together right quick."

They all stood and dragged some of the near by tables together to form one large on in the center of the room, the legs scraping across the wooden floor. Eventually, there was enough room for everyone to sit comfortably and see each other clearly at the same time.

They all sat down, chatting quietly. Dane looked a little less tired now, as did Polla, and she and Trouble were talking happily about the lake and it's inhabitants. Jackie had shown up to represent Ryker's children, and a weary-looking teenage boy with shaggy black hair was there to speak for the ex-prisoners.
Mike waited until everyone had gotten settled before he spoke. "So, first of all, I want to formally thank all of the military leaders for their help with all this, and I'd like to thank the rest of you for your support and cooperation. We're not quite done with this job yet, but as things stand, here's what we need to do: Find a home or homes for every last kid who was living with Ryker, provide support and opportunities for the people he held captive, and figure out what to do with the data drive. Those are the three main things, anyway. Does anyone else have a task or question they'd like to add to that list?"

Most shook their heads no but Thranion spoke up, “I have a question, but it doesn’t have to go on the list.”
“Then what is it?” Tanrial asked, crossing her arms.
“How do we know we can trust her?” He asked, pointing to Jackie, “Didn’t she attack you guys?”

(Okay, no worries ^^ I hope your trip home goes smoothly!)
There was a brief pause as everyone glanced at Jackie. She looked at Mike almost expectantly, but his face stayed blank. "Dude," she said eventually, "Aren't you going to defend me?"
Mike shrugged. "You're an adult, you can speak for yourself. Besides, I don't really know if I can defend you with my limited knowledge of what's going on inside your brain right now."
Jackie frowned, but turned back to face the others. "Fine. Yeah, I attacked some of you last night, but….Wren and I have been talking since then. Ryker is my dad, but I've decided I value the happiness of my siblings more than I value his approval. I'm going to help Wren keep my family safe, and if that means protecting them from somebody at this table…" she narrowed her eyes. "…..I wouldn't hesitate to rearrange some teeth. But so far as I've seen, you guys are good people. So you won't have to worry about me anymore." She sat back and folded her arms.
Mike nodded. "That's good enough for me. Anybody still have objections?"

(Thanks :) )
“How do we know you aren’t working for Ryker? That this isn’t a whole big scheme to gain our approval before you attack from the inside?” Thranion asked again causing James to roll his eyes.
“Hemdez, I believe her. She doesn’t seem to be lying and her statement was valid.”
“I’m just saying, I’ve seen it before and would rather it not happen again.”

"Why should I have to prove myself?" Jackie challenged. "When all of you came storming in and attacked the people trained to protect us, when you destroyed our home and took us away from it with barely an explanation, you expected us to trust you. Right now, I'm not here for anyone but my siblings. If you think you can help us, that's great, but if you continue to act like you're the vulnerable ones in the room, I'm out. We can survive out there on our own if that's what you want."
Bernon held up his hands. "We're not trying to accuse you of anything, we promise. I'll vouch for you, personally. I think you're trustworthy."
"I do too," Mike said. "Raise your hand if you think we should trust Jackie."

“All I’m saying is, I don’t trust someone who has been following a man who has been experimenting on people for god knows how long, and then attacked three people who were trying to explain themselves to you. And now suddenly you’re on our side? Sorry, I don’t believe it.”
“Well I do,” Tanrial raised her hand and so did James.

Polla raised her hand firmly, as did Bernon, Mike, and Trouble. Rick shrugged and raised his hand as well, apparently having forgiven Jackie for their fight the night before. Dane looked a little less certain, putting his hand only halfway up. The teenage ex-prisoner, however, kept both hands on the table and glared darkly at Jackie.
Mike noticed and addressed him. "And what's your objection to her?"
The boy sat back. "About the same as his," he said, nodding at Thranion. His voice was husky and unfriendly. "I have a little more firsthand experience with her and her family. I don't trust a single one of them."
Mike sighed. "Well, it looks like you're outnumbered at the moment. I say we give her the benefit of the doubt, just for the sake of moving on with the meeting. All right? We'll keep an eye on her, but right now there's no need to get in a fight about it. Fair enough?"

Thranion looked unpleased with the outcome and kept glaring at Jackie but he nodded, “Fine. But if she puts ken toe out of line I’ll deal with her personally.”
Tanrial rolled her eyes, “Whatever, but moving on. What are we going to do with the kids? Some of them aren’t old enough to the age care of themselves so we’ll need families to look after them.”

"And I assume they'll want to stay close together," Polla added, glancing at Jackie.
Jackie nodded shortly. "Right. And most of us can earn our keep, too. Peter is a great medic, for example, and I've got plenty of practical skills if anyone wants them." She glanced at Thranion pointedly.
Mike coughed. "That's a good point. Let's think of the kids as a useful, welcome addition to whatever group they end up in, hey? I should think a small town or village would gladly accept a group of healthy, diverse young people since they'll add so much to the community as they grow up in it. It's true they'll put a strain on resources for a while, but what they give back in the long run will probably outweigh the costs. That said, does anybody just want to take the whole group back home with them, off the bat?"