Log:The One About Explosions

The One About Explosions
Participants Leo, Dielle, Maddox, Etsy	26 June, 2017 They talk about explosions. Etsy gets hit in the face. it's an eventful day.
Location H23
Another beautiful evening in the Hedge. Those lovely looming brambles, oozing dark substances of some sort from brutal looking thorns. Dark, inky waters that seem to ripple, not just from the rapids, but from something large, or something numerous, slithering beneath the surface. A haunting greenish glow and a hint of fog, which only makes the cliffs and brambles along the shore even more forboding. The boat churns on, moving slowly. It's a river boat - it's not meant for speed. Plumes of black smoke bellow out of several smoke stacks. The words 'GO AWAY' are painted across the hull of the boat. Nevertheless, several hobs scurry across the wheelhouse and up the rigging, Maddox's 'crew', whether he likes it or not. Maddox himself is at the wheel, more or less. He's got a beer in one hand and he's halfway paying attention to navigating, between inspired jaunts of note-taking in a battered old notebook. He's dressed in a t-shirt, jeans, sneakers, all of them grease and soot stained. Electricity crackles around him, crackling when it dances over the machine bits. Dielle was likely invited on board. Etsy? It's possible, or else she's out there somewhere in that delightful paradise that is known as the Hedge, or Death Awaits, or Why Are You Even Here Go Away Before You Die. Nice place. Dielle is coming up. She has someone in tow, someone she met on the way. "Hey, there, Maddox!" she yells. "I come bearing a present, because I also come with a new friend I met because of Jon." She's got a backpack and a typical outfit, although today it's a shirt tied over a tank top. "Her name is Etsy." But the present gets pulled out before they even come on board. It's a bottle of Everclear. "Here, I figured you could use it to clean pipes or somethin'!" "Hello, Maddox-friend, friend of Leo!" Etsy bubbles, following in Dielle's wake. "I met the Maddox friend of Leo who is my friend now also when he was chasing a thing of fire on the lake and I was have a swim." Her skirts flare around her as she rocks back and forth on her toes, slender form lost in the layers of thrifted clothing she wears. "I was going to go to have the searching of the hedgefruits because for a Courier is an importants, and Dielle said, is coming to have a visits of Maddox-friend, and I said, yes, to talk to Maddox friend about explode a thing! Many things. Actually." Mad glances towards the cabin as he hears the door open. And he does, because it squeaks loudly on his hinges. He could easily fix it, sure, but it also makes a nice alarm system. Or a pre-alarm system. God only knows what other systems he has in place. He grunts when he sees Dielle, locking the wheel since water is calm and the boat is slow moving, and steps out of the wheelhouse. He points to a cooler strapped to the deck and growls, "Beer." that's all. That's his introduction. He shifts his gaze to Etsy, eyes narrowing a bit. He scowls at her, "Yeah, yeah, friend of fucking Leo, I get it. And who says /we're/ goddamned friends, huh?" Some people find a southern drawl charming. Maddox manages to make it exactly the opposite. Yet, there's a glint of interest in his electric gaze when she talks about blowing things up. "What kind of fucking things? I mean, I don't normally do that shit..." Yeah, he's a horible liar. Even he knows it, so he snorts, "Oh, I do. On fucking TV, even. So tell me what you got in mind." Dielle passes Maddox the bottle of Everclear, and finds a place to sit. She's grinning widely. This is gonna be entertaining as fuck, and she's got a front-row seat! She doesn't go get beer, though, anymore than she ever gets beer. She fishes a bottle of peach iced tea out of her backpack, one of those plastic ones from some brand called Sweet Leaf. It's not great, but it'll do. Without missing a beat, Etsy answers: "Me. I am saying is friends to have. Is Leo friend, and is friend mine also." The Transitive Property of Friendship, apparently, is how Etsy figures things. Either that, or she's used to her big wide mermaid eyes and Fairest charms making it nearly impossible for people to dislike her, at least at first blush. If she's offended by his 'the opposite of Dielle' Southern accent, she doesn't let it show: her face is a placid pool of big-eyed 'I'm the best, please like me' unblinking attention focused right on Maddox. "Yes. I am mentions a little to Leo of the things that is for a mermaid that is to help with making things explodes, thought -- maybe -- is to talk to a Maddox, also, and... yes." Maddox accepts the bottle of Everclear from Dielle and examines it a moment, turning it this way and that, shaking it, watching the reactions. He cracks it open, takes a sniff, then caps it and grunts, "That'll make good fucking fuel." He tosses the bottle into a bin of other randomly labeled contains of various sorts. His backup fuel stash. He doesn't actually say 'thank you' or anything, but he does give Dielle a grunt of appreciation. He can respect a unicorn with an eye for good fuel substitutes. He drains his own beer,t hen tosses the bottle over the side of the boat absently, moving to grab another from the cooler. Where the bottle hits the river, there's a swarm of movement and something rather eel-like wraps around the bottle, immediately dragging it down. There's a tussle beneath the inky waters. Maddox ignores it. He goes for another beer, unlabelled, likely fromt he Hedge, and cracks the cap off. it's not a twist off. He tosses the cap over the side, too. He looks at Etsy and rolls his eyes before growling, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're friends with fucking /everybody/. I get it. You just go on thinking that and shit, right up until one of your 'friends' turns into some sort of demonic fucking monster and eats your goddamned face. Then you might start having higher standards and shit." Not that he's saying he's /not/ high on the list of standards, but he doesn't make friends nearly so easily. "So come on, fucking spit it out. /what/ do you need blowed up, and why?" He grabs a second beer, tossing it towards Etsy, as she hasn't found herself a drink yet. Hopefully she catches it, or dodges it. Otherwise she'll be thunked with a bottle of beer. Dielle grins, looking pleased with the reaction to the booze. "I like bringin' booze that's a multitasker. Might be shitty to drink, but there's a shitload you can use it for." She's curious, so she looks at Etsy with upraised eyebrows. Blowing shit up is always a good topic! -> >> Etsy to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 0 Success < 1 1 2 3 4 6 6 7 > ==========================-> >> Dexterity + Athletics No Flags << <- "Not everybody," sighs Esther, though the rest of the imprecations roll off of her like, well, water off of a mermaid's back, though a dark shadow passes over her eyes, like something swimming past in the aquarium that is her head, or something likewise weird. "Mermaids have a losing and a betrayed, also, Maddox. But a Leo is a goodness, and so the goodness of a person who save and fight with a Leo is a proved thing." She rocks back and forth on her feet. "Is not for a thing that is need to blow up, is for a mermaid is a help," she explains, and before she's able to explain, Maddox tosses a beer at her. The mermaid, distracted by trying to talk about the possibility of her being a Tactical Assault Mermaid, raises her fluttery hands and starts in on another sentence, but then the beer's coming at her, and she doesn't catch it and it smacks her directly in the face. Oh, great, Maddox. Just great. Now you made the mermaid cry. And then up from below, there's Leo. His constellation is swirling in a worried sort of grey white as he does, but it quickly snaps back over to a brighter lemony yellow when he hears other voices. He's about to speak up when suddenly there's a beer hitting a mermaid. "Oh shit, Etsy!" he calls out. He moves toward the stricken woman quickly, scooping the beer up and looking over at Maddox with a blink of his camera eyes, crouched beside the mermaid. Maddox grunts at Diell's words. It could be approval, but it's difficult to tell with Mad. Either way, he's not yelling at her or anything, which is probably a good sign. And he, too, seems interested in blowing shit up. So interested that he does the first thing that comes to mind. He gives Etsy a beer! It's a great honor, coming from him. He actually tussled with someone just a few nights ago because they took one without asking. He did, however, kind of assume she'd /catch/ it. The beer smacks her, just as Leo's arriving. Mad watches as Leo runs over to rescue the watery damsel and he grunts, rather unfazed, really. He turns towards Dielle and growls in that rough southern drawl, "See? This is why I fucking pay him. He always does this shit. It's like he has some weird freaky sense of when to be somewhere." The man /is/ a Telluric, after all. He looks back at the other two, up and down, and then frowns, "You dropped it!" He moves towards them, then to the railing, peering over. That eel like swarm is already in a frenzy, and he's just in time to see the uncapped bottle pulled under. He gives a pained groan, "Shit..." He pushes off the rail angrily, then turns towards Etsy, whom he just clobbered int he face with a beer bottle, and growls, "What do you fucking need help with, anyway? Aside from your ability to /catch a beer/?" So charming. Dielle's eyes go wide. "Aw, shit," she says, succinctly, and goes over to examine Etsy. "You don't pay him enough, Maddox. He needs a damn raise Dielle's eyes go wide. "Aw, shit," she says, succinctly, and goes over to examine Etsy. "You don't pay him enough, Maddox. He needs a damn raise!" She puts an arm around Etsy and expends a bit of Glamour. A nice little effect of a cool breeze surrounds them, wiping out any bruising before it even starts, and she says, "He didn't mean to, Etsy. Which is gonna make him crankier, but don't mind it, ok? Maddox doesn't deal well with feelin' bad about somethin'. It doesn't mean he doesn't." Or that he does, but what the hell, it sounds good. "Hey, Leo. Make Maddox give you a raise." -> >> Etsy to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 2 Successes < 1 2 3 3 4 5 6 7 7 10 10 > ===============================-> >> Dexterity + Wyrd No Flags << <- Her hands come up to her face, covering where the bottle intersected with her little nose. When her hands come away, there's only a very little blood on them, because Dielle's arm around her shoulder means that the bloody nose and bruising that had started are gone, daddy, gone. (Like love in a Violent Femmes song.) She blinks widely at Dielle's words, and then at Leo, toward whom she reaches out after wiping the blood from her hand. A brief touch to his wire-laden arm, and then she draws her hand back. "Dielle had the fixings, I am okay," she assures him, adding, "I will get a meads, and shares." Sniffling, more startled than hurt, especially after the healing, she unslings a map case from her back and opens the end. The mermaid shakes a metallic roll out, and drops it onto the ground; it unfurls into a six foot long mirror, there on the ground. Kneeling, she shoves her entire right arm through the metal mirror up to her shoulder, and comes back with one... two... bottles of mead. "Is not NEEDING the helpings, is OFFERING the helpings. A mermaids can be anywhere, fast, with little notice. Can carry all weapons without carrying any weapons. Can be invisibles. Can mail a mirror to a person and be there." She sits back on her heels and holds up one of the bottles toward Maddox. "Is a meads. You want?" Leo glances up as suddenly, Dielle is there. And she's helping with a problem Maddox just caused. He looks over at the other woman for a second or two in what could only be disbelief, followed by a brief moment of joy, though that might've been from the talk of a raise. The touch to his arm gets Etsy a smile, and Leo pushes up with a small grunt. He doesn't get mad at Maddox, that's just not what Leo does, but he does give him a look for a second or two. Then Etsy pulls out a mirror and Leo steps aside, giving her room to pull out the giant mirror, staring at it for a second before laughing at the offer of mead to Maddox. He makes his way over once Etsy has made the offer, saying quietly, "Etsy has been really cool, I met her like a week ago or whatever. She'd probably be really useful to help out especially on the river." And since there's probably not going to be another thrown beer can, he starts toward the wheelhouse, eyes shifting around the boat, like he's making sure nothing is imminently about to catch on fire. Or fall off. Or catch something. Or whatever. Maddox snorts as everyone goes to Etsy's aid. He growls, "She had plenty of time to fucking /catch/ it. Fuck, it's true, it's an age of coddling and shit, instead of just teaching her how to fucking /catch better/. Fucking this is why they're gonna fucking win and shit. Or would, if weren't for people with goddamned tanks and armies and shit." Which he's working on. Still, he hasn't kicked anybody off his boat, which is pretty much an invitation to stay. When Dielle speaks, he rolls his eyes, "You think you know what I fucking /feel/?" At the same time, he doesn't actually deny it. He just mostly glares at her. Then he's watching Etsy produce that mirror, and then that mead. He accepts the bottle, somewhat skeptically, then repeats his inspection process from earlier. As he sniffs, he growls, "No good for fucking fuel." He caps it, then tosses it in a smaller bin near the 'extra fuel' bin. This one's labelled in hasty writing 'Hobs bin'. He looks between Leo and Etsy and then grunts. "/You/ want to fucking help?" He pauses, scratching the three day old stubble on his chin. "I /am/ around water a fucking lot. It ain't exactly safe waters, though. Could be useful, though, give me some specs for my underwater team and shit." He's nodding, showing more interest. "What kinda shit can you do?" To be fair, something does fall off the boat, across the deck from them, and make a splash. There's more tumultuous slightering and splashing. Mad doesn't bat an eye - he's accustomed to it. But, on the bright side, nothing is on fire. Yet. There is a shape forming in the distance, however. A little penninsula, jutting out into the river, which narrows it for a moment. It has some rocks, so hard to see what's behind in detail, but there are the telltale shapes of rudimentary structures of some sort. "Mead?" says Dielle, perking up. "Ooooooo, that's lovely stuff. First time Jon and I ever...never mind. Y'all don't need to hear about that." But her face has gone happy and sort of distant because she's reliving a good memory...well, what she can remember of it. There was a LOT of mead. "Maddox, you should know already that I end up knowing a LOT of what people are feeling. Comes with bein' a bartender for fuckin' years. I have had to hear more damn sob stories...and no, yours isn't one." She grins at Leo and says, "Y'all better hope I don't start drinkin', I get physical when I'm drinkin'." Says the jock. She sits back on her heels, and smiles, close-lipped, when Leo compliments her. Etsy picks up the bottle of mead that she hadn't offered to Leo and opens it for herself. "Is true, mermaids are the best," she affirms. When Maddox asks whether SHE wants to help, there's a sort of bewildered expression that crosses her pale face. "Only three times explaining! Yes, is a mermaid to help!" She ignores the whole thing about coddling and kids these days, but she does give Dielle sort of a look aside, her face decorated with a sly little smile. "No, sounds like is good night, to drink all the meads." There's a patient expression that passes over Leo's face when Mads goes on his rant, Leo just not commenting. Because that's the only response to Maddox rants that doesn't encourage a second rant. He wanders back from the wheelhouse, apparently satisfied with the hob that happens to be driving. This one is tall enough to see through the window at least. Then there's a splash and Leo blinks, hopping over suddenly to look down at it. He just peers after it for a few seconds before shaking his head and moving on to the next big bundle of things attached to the deck. He kneels down and secures them all again to make sure that nothing -else- falls off the boat. Then he eases up to his feet from his crouch and wanders over to the group once more. He lets Maddox and Etsy hash out this will-they-won't-they drama themselves and just gives Dielle a wave, "Hey, sup." he says, grabbing a joint from behind his ear and lighting up with a lighter from his pocket before he sinks down indian-style onto the deck to watch Mermaid vs. Terminator. Maddox snorts at Dielle's words, growling, "Then you should know I don't fucking /have/ feelings. Not like you all do." The non-machines. Yet, at the same time, he /does/ have feelings. They're just incredibly repressed, overshadowed by electric pulses and grinding pistons. Part of him is still aware of them, though. Somewhere. He scowls, then grunts, "Then you should get to fucking drinking. Just in case something decides to fucking ambush us." Or maybe Mad just wants to fisticuffs a little, whichever. His gaze shifts towards Etsy and he rolls his eyes, "Getting an answer out of you is like punching a brick fucking wall." Pot, kettle, black. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can fucking help. /How/? By swimming around and shit? You really want to swim down /there/?" He studies her intently a moment, "What else you do? Pulling shit out of nowhere, that's good, but you gotta fucking /get/ to nowhere first. How are you at that shit?" As Leo goes about securing objects to the deck (To be fair, 98 of the items on deck are fully secured), there's another splash. It's not things on the deck falling off - it's actually parts of the boat. Maddox thinks of it like shedding. Dielle thinks of it as the Serenity from that movie that she and Jon watched: there are bits falling off the ship. She grins at Leo and says, "Not a lot. Hangin' out on a boat with a mermaid and a guy who wants to be a robot and a you." She completely ignores Maddox's protests because she knows better. It's called empathy, bitch! "Thinkin' that this riverboat shit is just about right. Now if we can just get Jon on it...it might sink. He's fuckin' big."