forum The Secret of the Roux

Started March 06, 2020 by @Mr.Misfit

tune

(hm okay)

Lynn winced slightly at the sound, taking a small step away as well, shaking his head. "Fuck, man. That's loud." he commented, shaking his head slightly, running his fingers through his hair.

Taran shook her head and sighed. "Could you guys be any louder?" She stretched her arms over her head, cracking her back, leaning backwards to stretch, and straightened. "Oh wait. That was a stupid question. Of course you could." She jerked her head in a random direction. "I don't think the dead heard you. Try to be louder, why won't you?"

“Taran,” Derek said over the sound of the saw, “I can only think of two things louder than that saw: you on one of your episodes, and me when I snore. If I wanted to wake the dead, I’d be taking a nap.” Derek looked off towards Dai Tarsoni, the slum-village he and his team were based in. He’d been making scavenging runs for… what, about 4 weeks now? All of that time had been in and out of Tarsoni, just trying to scrounge up the parts to get by.

“Come to think of it, I could use a nap right about now…”

"That hurts, right here." Taran rolled her eyes. "And we could all use a nap. But we really shouldn't let you sleep. You'd never wake up. And then the dead would come for us, because your snores are so loud, and they would kill us as well. And you'd be safe, because you'd be asleep like a fucking bear." She shook her head and moved to the edge of the hole that he had made, and peered in. "Found anything good?"

“Nope, not yet. I cut a hole in the wrong spot,” he said, picking up the saw, “Friggin’ foundries couldn’t build up to a standard code. Maybe that’s how they beat us…” he set down the saw and gave it a try. No good. “…Maybe they were just better builders. I don’t know about you, but I don’t see Inquisition equipment malfunctioning.”

"It'd be a shame if it was," Kyrie sighed, hopping up over the edge to where the rest of the group were, "–If we lost, just because they had better shit." He walked over to look down at the hole; the product of the momentary screeching of the saw. "But I guess that's what it's all about, when it comes to fightin'," Kyrie said, letting out a sigh, "Resources."

Derek nodded, “Yeah, that’s probably about half to three quarters of it. They’re big, but they use resources like we use spare parts nowadays: too much for our own good. I’ve seen some of their assemblies.” He pushed the saw down and it bit right away this time.

The saw completed another pass and this time, it was an opening into the Titan’s controls. Bingo.

“Here we are,” Derek said cheerily, waving a hand to Taran, “Psychos first?”

Lynn had been silent, wrapped up in his own thoughts and ignoring the others. He needed to tell them what was going on with him. He blinked as it opened up, shaking his head and banishing his thoughts.

"Why thank you," Taran said cheerfully to Derek, stepping toward the opening. "I didn't know that logs had manners." She ducked slightly to get into the opening before running her hands along the controls, a frown on her face as she concentrated. Then, she gave a grin and turned back to the others. "It's a good one!"

Derek jumped down, landing on the bulkhead and smiling, “That she is. Weapons vault should be close to the heart of the Titan. This sucker’s on its back, though, so be careful trying to climb about.” He helped the others down, and they began to make their way towards the center of the Titan.

Lynn jumped down, wincing slightly as his feet hit the ground, the impact shaking up his body. He ran his fingers through his hair, letting out a slow breath as he followed Derek and Taran.

Kyrie stepped towards the hole, slowly lowering himself in and landing with a quiet thump. He stared longingly at the controls and sleek wiring along the walls as they passed them, wondering what it'd felt like being the mechanics and engineers to build such a beast of a machine.

"I'm always careful," Taran said, just as she tripped. She flailed her arms around, caught her balance, and straightened her shirt, doing her best to look dignified. "I meant to do that."

"Thank you, Taran," Derek taunted, "for a perfect example of what I mean."

He slipped past her and kicked at a door that would've been on a wall. It gave way and he peered down with his flashlight. Thankfully, this room wasn't too far to jump down. Carefully, he guided himself down.

"You're welcome. I always try to be a model for others." She sniffed in mock disgust and brushed away invisible dirt from her clothes before following him. She lept lightly down into the opening, landing lightly on her feet, nearly missing hitting Derek with her flailing arms as she worked to keep her balance.

Derek ducked as Taran landed beside her, then helped to stabilize her. He slipped his flashlight out and continued to make his way down. "Kyrie, where are you from? Central Slums? South Central? Please don't say you're from South Central."

South Central was known for angry people who had a bad habit of incurring the wrath of the inquisition on the daily. Central did it about once a week.

Kyrie landed with a muffled thump, and followed the others. "I'm from South Central," He said through a breathy chuckle, hitting his flashlight in a dull attempt to conjure up a stronger light, "–But I found work in Central, so…" He sighed, shrugging lightly.

Lynn let out a faint laugh, but didn't chime in about his own origins. Hell, he didn't really know. All he knew was that his father passed down a genetic disease along with his fists. He ran his hands through his hair, and powered on his flashlight.

"Oh, um… Yeesh. I mean, not that SC's bad or anything… just uh… you know. Might as well be Inquisition Central."

Derek looked back over his shoulder and locked eyes with Kyrie, "Sorry. I had a couple buddies from South Central. Really… colorful. Scared the hell outta me. And a pair of Inquisition Guards. You can guess how that went."

(I should probably say it now just so ya'll know: I am incredibly sorry if I take what may seem like an unreasonable amount of time to reply sometimes. I know I started this whole thing, but Coronavirus wasn't causing the problems it is now. And from now until when this whole deal is over, I'm trying to make sure a lot of people are safe, and I may forget this. Feel free to poke me as many times as it takes to get me back on.)

Kyrie nervously broke from Derek's gaze, studying the neat wiring that lined the walls. "It's fine. But, yeah…it's a little rough," He said with hesitancy, almost adding 'but it's home' even though it never was. Any memory of home had been dragged out into the street and taken when he was a boy, then taken a second time when Inquisition Guards tore apart his workshop in the slums.

(its not a problem! safety should be everyone's priority right now, and it's good that you're focusing on whats important. good luck! stay safe :)

(Stay safe! And it's okay if you forget about this, we understand!)

“Right,” he shrugged, suddenly kicking himself for bringing it up, “anyways. Shouldn’t be much further now. Vaults are usually pretty sturdy looking rooms, it’ll be reinforced. I’ve got a trick though.” Derek reaches in his jacket, reaching for…

Thin air, apparently. He motioned a stop and began to sift through his pack.

“Shit, please tell me I’m being dumb. Please please….”

"What now?" Taran asked. She hadn't really wanted to talk about the places, and was glad that they had stopped. "Did you forget something? Not surprising. Don't you every single time?"

Lynn frowned slightly. "Derek, what did you do this time?" he asked slowly, eyebrows drawing together in a frown.

“I can’t find the plasma-torch. I was gonna use it to crack the vault wall, but…” he stood up and slipped his pack back on, “I just can’t find it. We’ll have to get creative. Unless you guys brought something?”

Lynn nodded slightly, then shook his head. "I've got nothing but the gun." he said, gesturing to it. He was working on modifying it to be a bit more high-tech and usable, but none of its parts would be useful right now. "If there's an access panel, I can try to hack us in, though."

Taran hesitated, before shrugging. It couldn't hurt to tell them. She pulled her sleeve up and pulled off her glove. Her metal left arm clicked and whirred as a small saw blade emerged. "Would this work?" She asked.

Kyrie's eyebrows rose at the sight and machinery of Taran's arm. He only carried minor tools in his pack and on his toolbelt; nothing that could currently help them, unless improvisation came down to be their last option and some modifications were needed. He peeled his eyes away from the saw blade, it'll snap if the wall's too rigid.
"How tough is the vault wall, do you know?" Kyrie asked, turning to Derek.

Derek shook his head, “If I needed a saw, I’d run back and grab the one we had earlier. No, the doors are typically too hard to cut through. We need something else.” He snapped a couple times, pacing. Eventually, he shrugged, “I’ll think of something… for now, let’s at least find that vault. We’ll find our way through it eventually.