Author Topic: Sometimes, you don't. -Story  (Read 6955 times)

Offline RedRoach

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Sometimes, you don't. -Story
« on: September 26, 2014, 10:18:25 am »
It's amazing what boredom can do to you. I had way too long of a bus ride halfway across a state, and I started thinking. When I get hit with moments of boredom, I'll continue the story.

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RedRoach: You know, when I last remember telling you "We needed more explosives" I meant explosives, not these tiny little firecrackers.
Merchant: They're high power shells from a mortar than can easily punch through hulls, what more do you-
RedRoach: THESE DAMN THINGS ARE MORTAR SHELLS! I WANT ME SOME GOD DAMNED BOMBS!! STUFF THAT BLOWS DOWN A HOUSE! NOT A SHIP!!
Merchant: Bu-But sir, we don't have those in stock-
RedRoach: Screw it, I'll go dumpster diving. Man, when traders are so unreliable that you can find better stuff in a trash can right next to his stand.

The scavenger twirled around on the  tip of his crusted shoe in mock disgust, and left the merchant at a loss for words. As he walked away he looked at all his other potential sellers. Rich folk with men to work for them, all of them idiots who couldn't manage a brawl for their lives, but only for their money.  He went over to the nearest bar, to find something to distract him until he could actually get this prank setup properly with some real boom.

RedRoach: *throwing open doors and using a mocking voice* Gooooood day fine gentlemen, I heard there was booze in this establishment and have come to enlighten you in the use of the liquid of life!

Several people in the bar mutter to themselves, the barkeep looks like he's about to pull a revolver from under the table, and a mercenary eyes him warily from the table.

RedRoach: *calmly walking towards table* You see, you need to  drink in a most proper manner. A bottle of water please!
Barkeep: You don't need to go to a bar to drink water. That's what the toilet is for. Idiots like you.
RedRoach: Excuse me sir, but in fact it is the sink for which idiots like me drink from. I am simply teaching you how to drink properly!
Barkeep: Forget it. I'm not wasting drinks on you.
RedRoach: You dastardly fiend!

Snickers resonate from everywhere within the bar. It is true in it's own right, what idiot could possibly try to get a drink like that? Snapping out of his faked stupor, RedRoach gets up and walks around the room. He has attracted everyone's attention in the bar, and, unaware, he is the sole focus as he looks at the walls. The scavenger then spies a picture of what appears to be a faded picture of a cavern near several burning airships tacked near a small notice.

RedRoach: *normal voice* What's this beauty of a place? "Remember to send merc crew here to remove traces of involment,"? Where do I go to see that?
Mercenary: That's a job notice, not a postcard. And besides, the job is none of your buisness.
RedRoach: Yeah, the job may be above me, but no payment is below me. What are you doing then, this job?
Mercenary: I'm not allowed to disclose my client's information.
RedRoach: And I'm going to assume your client only pays you about 3 bottles of moonshine, considering you're at a bar.
Mercenary: No, he's paying us in several solid bars of tungsten. Then again, you wouldn't know what those are.
RedRoach: Okay, I don't know what tungsten is. But I do know that it's a particularly stronger metal than say, brass or iron. And that it makes great bullets. And that it's incredibly dense. And that stuff like that could be used to make some nice additions to a revolver. And that-
Mercenary: Fine, you know what it is. But still, the job isn't any of your business.
RedRoach: That is indeed correct. But the place, come on, let me see that place-
Mercenary: *stands up unholstering pistol* You know, you're being way too intrusive for your own good. You need to be taken care of.
RedRoach: *eyeing gun, and trying to identify flaws in it* And you're going to take care of me by renting me a room and some drinks? Possible a new ship?
Mercenary: *raises pistol* You have anything to say before nobody remembers you?
RedRoach: *quickly snapping up his revolver* Chamber your gun first.

Both people pull their triggers. One person is faster than the other, however he's made a mistake that cost him his life. A bullet not chambered is a bullet not fired, and a bullet not fired in a standoff means death.  The mercenary falls. The other patrons of the bar, though shocked at the gunfire, slowly settle down again. RedRoach slowly walks out to the bar, and kneels down to his victim, now checking for any pieces of parchment that that signal a location, or at least a gathering. There's nothing of the sort.

RedRoach: For the love of the Dust, you need to have more than just bullets and guns. Wait... mercs mark themselves... where would one mark his profession... please not the lower waist... There!

Shifting leather and the occasional iron plate has found a small mark, a spider surrounded by bones on the grip of his pistol.  Standard "Don't mess with me" icons. But at least, that gives identity. Unfortunately, icons depicting "Don't mess with me" are so absurdly common nowadays. People in the hitman industry would be required to actually figure out who hired this guy. Rising from the ground with this new trail, he turns to face the door. Except it's open with a few troops looking at him.

RedRoach: 'sis okay, we just had a small, erm.. *glances at barkeep, who is giving a blank stare* misuderstanding.  Not much. He'll... uh he'll live with proper... medical treatment?
Soldier: Good. You're coming with us for now.
RedRoach: Yeah... *feigning knowledge* for you know... what is it called again? Can you remind me what it is? I think i had too many drinks.
Soldier 2: The job? Did you forget it already?
RedRoach: Job? What... *glances down at the pistol in his hands, which STILL has the mercenary insignia on it* Oh, that one. Man, I'm out of it. Wait up guys, I'm coming!

Rushing to join his new "allies", the scavenger takes a glance at the barkeep for the last time. He gives a slight nod of acknowledgement towards his shifty move. The scavenger gives a grin back, then slides back into the light to see where the others are leading him.

Offline RedRoach

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Re: Sometimes, you don't. -Story
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2014, 09:47:26 pm »
RedRoach followed his "allied" soldiers towards the docks. The docks? Seriously? Practically everything bad happens at the docks now. The soldiers slowly lead their "mercenary" towards a docked goldfish. As RedRoach follows them, the one with the dirtiest helmet turns around and adresses the group.

Soldier 1: Alright, remember what we're doing. Go in, get out. Slash and burn. Destroy anything relating them to us.
Soldier 2: Any notebooks should be burned, machinery should be cleared, symbols cleaned, and survivors must be silenced.
RedRoach: You wouldn't happen to have some duct tape to make the survivors silenced, right?
Soldier 1: *unimpressed* You saw your contract. It has to be permanent. And there's only one way to assure complete silence.

The men all turn and begin boarding the goldfish. As their attention is drawn towards getting on the ship, RedRoach quickly scoots around the ship and, underneath some armor plates, carefully tosses a small package into the ship. It lands and sticks itself into a small crack. It's always nice, he thought to himself, to have a backup plan if crap hits the fan, and nothing like a loud boom to distract. Just moments after the bomb lands on the ship, a soldier turns away from the ship to face the scaveneger.

Soldier 3: We'll be watching you. We have another 2 engineers on the ship in addition to us 3. If you do anything stupid, you'll also be silenced.
RedRoach: *trying to hold back laughter* Yes sir *pfft*, I promise that I will not cause any sort of mischief on this ship or sabotage it in any way shape or form... *pfft*
Soldier 3: *long pause* Change of plans, your payment will be paid after we get back here, and not when you've done your job.
RedRoach: Whaaaattt? What did I do to not deserve my pay?
Soldier 3: Get compromised and flustered at a bar, and be inattentive to the leader. Now hurry along.

Taking the cue, RedRoach walks up and into the ship in silence, somewhat out of fear, but more out of trying to hold his laughter at the irony of the situation. Sure, there were more than the norm would be on an airship, making it harder to pull out the gag bag, but if they were all as retarded as this grunt was, well, pranks wouldn't be that bad.The moment he steps onto the ship, he notices something unusual. Considiring the goldfish looks like the run of the mill flamer-hwaca-gatling combo, it's floorboards are shiny and smooth. Anytime something's shiny and smooth, people's shoes can slip. People's shoes would be slipping on this ship for sure. Taking a hike around to the turning engines, he noticed a small window without shutters right behind the two engines. There's no doubt that that could be a cabin for a captain of some sort, so greasing up the engines wasn't an option, but a window that can never close? That sets up bad accidents. However, as the scavenger began hiking up towards the balloon, he noticed something. Despite looking all neat and tidy on board, in addition to being docked and therefore at high maintenance, the parts looked more crap than they should be. The balloon was a bit saggy and badly patched, and the main engine looked like something that might burst into flames with a kick.  And seriously? A flamer that's using a lighter instead of a small torch? What kind of a ship was this? RedRoach pulled aside an engineer who was fixing up a door.

RedRoach: Hey, you mind me asking you a question?
Engineer: Of course I goddamned mind you asking me a question. What the hell is it?
RedRoach: Why does the engine look like a sandstorm took a crap on it, yet we're scheduled to leave in a few minutes?
Engineer: *confused* What do you mean?
RedRoach: I mean, why does this ship look like it's gone through hell and back?
Engineer: Didn't it say on your contract? Everything's fully functional. It's only like it so that people will come out of hiding when they see it. More eyes follow a beat up ship than a grand admiral fleet. Eyes like yours, mercenary.
RedRoach: Well, these eyes didn't see that on the contract.
Engineer: That doesn't make any damn sense. You signed it, didn't you? What was your name again? "Longlegs"?
RedRoach: What the hell is a name like longlegs?
Engineer: That's your name. Right?
RedRoach: Actually, I got the job from this associate of "Longlegs", he was selling it off as a cleaning job and-
Engineer: The company we hired doesn't outsource it's jobs.
RedRoach: You absolutely goddamned right it does not.
Engineer: So you killed him and stole his identity.
RedRoach: Well, I didn't really steal his identity, it was just that I took his boarding pass. *shows the small marked pistol*
Engineer: You're lucky nobody else found out.
RedRoach *realizing he just lost his cover to the engineer* Oh, uh, do you mind if you don't tell  anyone? I'm kinda in it for the tungsten reward.
Engineer: It's fine. I don't have to tell anyone. They forced us to do it.
RedRoach: "They"?
Engineer: The soldiers got us to do the work. The reason we hired a mercenary was because the third engineer said no, and was silenced. Permanently.
RedRoach: Ouch. Must be real fun getting silenced then since everyone's getting one nowadays. Whats your name?
Engineer: My name is Tolm. And yours, in case I need to know?
RedRoach: Well... I don't have a name. It's just an alias really. Put "RedRoach" as one of your new acquaintances.

As the engineer got called off for a check on the right turning engine, RedRoach turned towards the horizon. The ship would be embarking soon, and with friends on the inside it would be a bit easier to pull off those dangerous tricks onboard. Something didn't seem right with this mission, but hell, payment is payment, a cooler revolver is a cooler revolver, and if these guys actually did something that should never be, they'd need to watch where they'd walk.

Offline RedRoach

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Re: Sometimes, you don't. -Story
« Reply #2 on: November 04, 2014, 10:21:13 am »
Flight day 1

Soldier 1: Takeoff!

The goldfish roared to life, like a magestic... vulture with it's claw still stuck in a skull, in the most anti-climatic way possible. Stuttering engines, and gas suddenly popping out of the ship caused a handful of chuckles throughout the dock at the ship. However, unnoticed by any bystanders was the functionality of the ship, still turning around at full speed and already rising above nearby warehouses. By the time people managed to stop laughing, the ship had already sheepishly left port. To RedRoach, whatever plan that the leader of this ship had clearly had the opinion that surprise was a hellofalot better than stealth.  The flight towards their destination of an unknown place, where apparently some people were hiding out. But until then, it was time to start the fun.

The first, and probabbly most important thing to come first when one goes on a voyage, is to learn the names of all the people you have to tolerate until the ship finally docks somewhere you can be rid of your fellow crewmates and their obsession with fried pig skin. The soldiers all happened to be on break right after the most marvelous takeoff, and were chatting with small bottles of liquor in their hands.

RedRoach: "Hey, since I'll have to live on this ship for the entirety of... how long until we get there?"
Soldier 2: "Give or take about 3 days there and another 3 back."
RedRoach: "Well, since I'll have to live on this ship for the entirety of 6 days, I might as well know your names so I can yell at you if I need to get an order. You mind tossing out names?"
Soldier 3: "Do names really matter on this ship? Clearly you don't give a damn to be here and you just want the payment. Why so talkative?"
Soldier 2: "I, for one, don't wanna be called *hic* sir all the damn way an' to hell with ranks. M' name's Cris."
Soldier 3: *smirk* "The idiot of the triangle, the one who drinks the night away in all of three boxes of moonshine."
Soldier 1: "However, I respect authority and order on this ship. Refer to me by title, which for this particular excursion will be Captain."
Soldier 3: "And since now everyone's decided name giving was a greeeaaat idea to do to the completely disposable merc, might as well throw mine into the pot. You can call me Giraan."
Soldier 2 "Lighten up man, *hic* you should really just try sleepin' it off next time."
RedRoach: "Well.. Captain, I'll do just as Cris said and nod off to bed. I won't have much to do today, and hell, after leaving port we shouldn't have much of an issue for the next hours."
Captain: "A good idea for now. We'll send the repair crew to rouse you should an emergency arise."

The scavenger left that conversation with more info in mind. The Captain loved order, so pissing him off with failures should lead to hilarious reactions. Cris is going to be one hell of a slacker, giving a bit more leeway in deferring attention. But then, this Giraan guy looked like a total prick. All the more reason to slide a nice glass jar of grease in his pillow. Taking a small staircase in the center of the goldfish straight into the hull, he busied himself with peeking into all the ammo crates for the ship. The standard was there, a bunch of rockets and fuel, a few boxes labeled Heavy and Greased, and the one box of Lochnagar rockets that some idiot decides to pack because who the hell doesn't want to play with a Loch weapon nowadays. More opportunities arising at every step. Time to set the first prank in action here and now.

Carefully, RedRoach pulled out a small knife from inside his pockets. Although it was curved, and quite sharp, the user kept on insisting that it be called just the butter knife. Using the butter knife, Red popped the lid of the crate marked Lochnagar and pulled out a single hwacha rocket. With the butter knife again he carved open the rocket, making sure to dismantle the entire thing down to basic components such as blasting caps and thin round metal coverings, and most importantly, lochnagar powder itself, and putting it all away inside his jacket. Quickly and quietly, the top of the lochnagar crate was put back, and the scavenger quietly sneaked back onto the bridge of the ship. He quietly took a small bottle from a lying box of moonshine, and slipped in a small amount of Lochnagar powder. At least, Cris would pass out and nobody would be the wiser, at best, the captain would freeze up like a stick and fall flat on his face after a swing of this drink. Taking the now mixed bottle, the scavenger walked back into the hull, and into a crudely constructed cabin for the crew. Sealing the bottle, he quietly hid the bottle on the top of the door, leaving it a little bit open. There was no way in hell someone could miss the bottle now. Seeing as how the sun would be falling soon, RedRoach decided to sleep the rest of the day off.

-------  Later that Night...  -------

A soldier walks into the room. Within the first few seconds of opening the door, he's greeted with a surprise. A bottle drops and bounces off his helmet hard.

Soldier ? : "Ah, for the love of- Goddammit Cris! I swear to the Dusty Mistress if you threw that bottle at me-"
Cris: *calling from above deck* "I don't waste my sweet nectar of life by throwing it to people who don't want it thank you very much!"
Soldier ? : "Great. So someone thinks it's fun to be a powder monkey. Hmm?" *examines bottle* " 'Save for the end of the journey so we can pop it off later,'... Ah hell, it's Cris's. Payback time!"

The soldier snaps off the top of the bottle, swirls it around in his hand, and chugs away at the bottle, expecting Cris to be pissed that his bottle is wasted. After downing all the moonshine, he pulls the bottle from his lips.

Soldier ? : *gradually slowing speech* "Ah, that was strong. Veerrrryy strong. I can see why.. why Cris wanted to save this... this for later... um..."

*THUD!!*

Cris: "Giraan? If you fell asleep on the floor again, then I'm not picking you up and putting you away. You understand?" *sigh*