Lead up to Session 3 Online RP

For those still kicking about and want general interactions for the 3 month gap, feel free to post here.

Who knows, maybe good plot will develop :smiley:

Make them as poetic or as plain as you like

The sun rose on Crosspire as Artemis walked towards the gate of the now strangely quiet town. The remnants of the night before were still present. Blood was spotted across the ground where others had been shot. Not by her though, for once. It didn’t seem like anyone was up. Most are probably sleeping off the chaos of last night. The hospital seemed mildly busy though, but that was to be expected. Looking down, she noticed Fox and Sosa’s faces on the wanted posters that were plastered across the town briefly. “Wanted for War Crimes” it boasts. Artemis smirked to herself. The Clements were idiots. They always were. At least they got the “Armed and Dangerous” part of the poster right.

A weird feeling came over her. She realised no one was around to give her orders. Fox and Sosa had disappeared. Whether they were still in town or not was unknown to her. Sitting down on a nearby bench and sighing, she took off her cap and put down her gun next to her.

Freedom sure feels lonely, she thought.

James approaches Artemis from behind carrying a hot drink, trying not to make her jump, he coughs lightly.

“Didn’t expect anyone else to be up so early…” He takes a sip, looking out towards the wilderness, he closes eyes and breaths deeply, with a big sigh he turns back to Artemis
"so whats your plan now?? Seems Sosa & Fox have gone, half expected you to be with them…"

[quote=“TazzyD”]James approaches Artemis from behind, trying not to make her mump, he coughs ligtly.

“Didn’t expect anyone else to be up so early…”[/quote]

“Well you know us military types… Always up early” she replied, moving her gun so he could sit down.

Artemis stared off in to the distance. “I half expected the same thing. I guess I have no plan”. She scratched her head before adding “However, that um, assistant lady. Can’t remember her name. She mentioned something about bringing me in along with them, hard to remember with all the confusion…”

“Besides” she sighed, “I have no where to go. I guess I’m stuck here. Not that anyone seems to really want me around” Her usual glare softened a little upon saying this, as though through a form of revelation.

Behind the bar, Flora sat on the floor with her music box and a bottle of God-only-knew what that she’d dug out of a supply crate in the back room.

So, this was it.

Even though she knew that she could, with her brother’s help, probably get back to the Arc within a few days, there was that debt of honour to be repaid to the Righteous Bear Clan, and somehow she just didn’t feel right about leaving before she’d taken care of whatever-the-hell it was they’d want in exchange for rescuing her from those militia bastards.

She took a drink straight from the bottle, contemplating.

Things could be worse, she reasoned. She had a job now, she had her music box, AJ was alive (though not exactly happy with her), and being stranded in Crosspire was better than being a prisoner of the Clement Republic.

Yeah, she figured, she could accept being stuck here for a while, at least until she managed to pay back those freaks with the feathers and tattoos and learned what the hell was going on with the Arcs.

Didn’t mean she had to like it, though.

[quote=“BlackDahlia”]
Artemis stared off in to the distance. “I half expected the same thing. I guess I have no plan”. She scratched her head before adding “However, that um, assistant lady. Can’t remember her name. She mentioned something about bringing me in along with them, hard to remember with all the confusion…”

“Besides” she sighed, “I have no where to go. I guess I’m stuck here. Not that anyone seems to really want me around” Her usual glare softened a little upon saying this, as though through a form of revelation.[/quote]

“Hey now” James replied, sitting down. “The last thing anyone should be thinking is that no one wants them around, I mean, I know the feeling” he glances back towards town. “It seems a bit crazy, a few months ago, I felt like lying down in a ditch and waiting for the end. But now… I’ve got people who seem to care, so much in fact that it seems to hurt more than if no one did”

“Besides, having no where to go, that’s a perspective. You’re not stuck here unless you want to be. I’m waiting for a… response, of sorts. But if you want to leave, I’m planning to head east in a few days.”

[quote=“TazzyD”]
“Hey now” James replied, sitting down. “The last thing anyone should be thinking is that no one wants them around, I mean, I know the feeling” he glances back towards town. “It seems a bit crazy, a few months ago, I felt like lying down in a ditch and waiting for the end. But now… I’ve got people who seem to care, so much in fact that it seems to hurt more than if no one did”
“Besides, having no where to go, that’s a perspective. You’re not stuck here unless you want to be. I’m waiting for a… response, of sorts. But if you want to leave, I’m planning to head east in a few days.”[/quote]

“I don’t think no one wants me around, I know they don’t. I don’t blame them either” she edged a little bit away to avoid any form of comfort he might try to provide. “People like me, we’re seen in a particular way. We serve a purpose when they need it, then are called monsters when we’re not needed. It’s a cycle that happens no matter where I am”

She smiles briefly then adds “Monsters like me don’t belong around nice people like these”

“Well, I’m not a therapist” he stands up and gets ready to leave. “I’d suggest you find what you want in life, stop letting others tell you what to do, I’m sure the military gave you purpose, but it looks like it’s not the best long term profession”

James heads towards the Infirmary, tossing the dregs of coffee into the dirt. “I need some real coffee” he murmurs to himself.

Artemis smirks a little as he leaves, thinking she would be a therapist’s nightmare. Looking around, she notices some of the town are now slowly waking up. Not wanting to have to deal with their tired blames for the night before, she gets up and heads in to the bar, hoping it is open.

Hearing someone approach, Flora struggles to her feat and reluctantly turns off her music box.

“Oh, hey, 's you,” she says when she sees Artemis, not bothering to hide her exhaustion. “Whaddaya want?”

Remembering that she hasn’t quite established the relationship with the local clientele that she had with the regulars at The Cat and the Fiddle back in New New York, she ammends; “I mean. Can I help you with anything?”

[quote=“siximpossiblethings”]Hearing someone approach, Flora struggles to her feat and reluctantly turns off her music box.

“Oh, hey, 's you,” she says when she sees Artemis, not bothering to hide her exhaustion. “Whaddaya want?”

Remembering that she hasn’t quite established the relationship with the local clientele that she had with the regulars at The Cat and the Fiddle back in New New York, she ammends; “I mean. Can I help you with anything?”[/quote]

Artemis was a bit taken back by seeing a new face behind the bar. But whatever, it’s quiet in here. “I’ll just sit in here if that’s okay. You can go back to… whatever it was you were doing” she said, raising her eyebrow a little. This must have been that Arc girl that Sosa’s tribe brought back, she looked a little familiar.

Flora shrugs.

“You can do whatever you want as long as you ain’t causin’ trouble. Or if you want, I can pour you a drink and you can tell me what’s actually been goin’ on around here, seein’ as I got no idea, 'cause up until now no one’s had the chance to stand still long enough to explain anything.”

“Aint no free rides Darlin’” Travis said with a wave of his hand as he walked by the bar on his way towards the Diner.

“Paying customers first and don’t drink my profits” He says with a preoccupied smile.

Travis had noticeably been preoccupied over the last few days. He had started to drink a little less and while Val was recuperating he had turned to helping Tom in the diner. Something certainly wasn;t right, and the man hadn’t really smiled much since the outbreak.

“I never said nothin’ about not makin’ her pay,” Flora yells after him.

[quote=“siximpossiblethings”]

Flora shrugs.

“You can do whatever you want as long as you ain’t causin’ trouble. Or if you want, I can pour you a drink and you can tell me what’s actually been goin’ on around here, seein’ as I got no idea, 'cause up until now no one’s had the chance to stand still long enough to explain anything.”[/quote]

“Maybe just a water” she replied. She was never one to drink this early in the morning, no matter how bad she felt. “And as for what has been going on. Well, I will only be able to tell you a small part of it. More shit goes on in this town than any other place I’ve been in”

[quote=“BlackDahlia”]
“Maybe just a water” she replied. She was never one to drink this early in the morning, no matter how bad she felt. “And as for what has been going on. Well, I will only be able to tell you a small part of it. More shit goes on in this town than any other place I’ve been in”[/quote]

Again, Flora shrugs.

“Your choice. Personally, I’d trust the whiskey more 'n I’d trust the water in this place.”

[quote=“siximpossiblethings”][quote=“BlackDahlia”]
“Maybe just a water” she replied. She was never one to drink this early in the morning, no matter how bad she felt. “And as for what has been going on. Well, I will only be able to tell you a small part of it. More shit goes on in this town than any other place I’ve been in”[/quote]

Again, Flora shrugs.

“Your choice. Personally, I’d trust the whiskey more 'n I’d trust the water in this place.”[/quote]

Artemis smirks. “The water is the same as it is in most places. You get used to it”. She sits down, trying to avoid having her remaining dagger stabbing her…again. “Well I can tell you those idiots in the Clement Republic probably won’t bother us anymore” she says with a slight grin.

“Good.” Flora slams a glass down on the table in front of Aremis and begins rifling through the array of bottles. “One of these has gotta be water, I think. Anyway. Yeah, I’m glad to hear that.”

“Good.” Flora slams a glass down on the table in front of Aremis and begins rifling through the array of bottles. “One of these has gotta be water, I think. Anyway. Yeah, I’m glad to hear that.”[/quote]

“They came in here thinking they’d scare me and others in to accepting their so called amnesty.” Artemis smiles “I’ve made enough of their men cry for mercy to know they’re all spineless”

With that, Flora takes a slight involuntary step back from the bar.

For a moment, this had almost felt familiar- Her on one side of the bar, the customer on the other, bustling around as she tried to guage information both from the conversation and from whatever wasn’t being said- Usually, foremost at her mind was: How dangerous was this person? Were they a legitimate customer, or were they an exterminator?

There ain’t no 'sites here, she reassures herself, whatever else is goin’ on, it ain’t illegal for you to exist, and you ain’t done nothin’ so you ain’t got nothin’ to fear from her but the work of training herself out of fifteen years’ of one kind of paranoia in favour of whatever countless others are necessary here are too much for her drunk, sleep-deprived mind, and so she only says: “Oh,” and hopes she doesn’t look too frightened, or that she looks frightened enough, or whatever is the appropriate response.

Suddenly, she has a new understanding for what AJ -naive rich girl, outsider who didn’t know when to keep her mouth shut- must have felt when she’d first begun hanging out in Flora’s neighbourhood. She remembers how angry she’d been with her for not observing the unspoken rules that everyone in New New York, particularly 'sites like themselves, lived by, and makes a mental note to apologise to her after she sobers up and sorts out all of the other things she probably owes her an apology for.

It isn’t as though Seargeant Fallon is the first person she’s ever encountered who’s committed whatever sort of atrocities she’s casually alluding to. But at least in the Arc, people are civilised enough to not admit whatever atrocities they’ve commited to near-strangers.

She locates a bottle of what’s probably at least mostly water at last, and fills Artemis’s glass.