Pea Pod and Esta make it back to Murdock's bar in the early afternoon. Meanwhile Skren and Hexe have had some time to get acclimated. Asking around, Pea Pod and Esta would be directed to the auto-shop next door for finding Murdock. Meanwhile as Hexe and Skren emerge from the bunker, they'd find Murdock hard at work on repairing another car damaged in the previous night's fighting.
H.Ex.E.
"Is there anything we can help with?" Hexe asks Murdock.
She watched him work for a minute or two before mustering the courage to ask. And checking whether Marle is around to dislike her attempt to work.
Arbiter Dox
"Nah, got a part-timer on th' way whose gonna help me get through this."
H.Ex.E.
"Right."
An awkward silence is filled by working noise. Hexe seems a bit lost with literally nothing to do, so she now faces Skren in a silent question for orders, help... anything, really.
Dr. Skren
"I guess we'll be out looking for some work, then, huh?"
Arbiter Dox
Voltorb dramattically reduces the volume of its music playing as it says, "Approaching people."
Pea Pod and Esta can see Murdock in the autoshop with a blue car placed over one of the jacks, quietly working on a hole in one of its doors. Dr. Skren and Hexe are nearby speaking to each other.
The music player starts playing a bass heavy, meandering piece of psychedelic music.
https://youtu.be/PosAi2YdW5g
Arbiter Dox
He glances up from his work as Pea Pod speaks, then goes right back to it as he replies. "Yeah? Anythin' more interesting than an animal attack?"
Pea Pod
Pea Pod replies "it looks like it is something alright, I am not sure what. But it aint no animal I ever seen."
Arbiter Dox
This makes Murdock pause for a moment. "What happened?"
Pea Pod
Pea Pod describes what he saw.
Dr. Skren
Skren also stopped talking to Hexe and is listening somewhat inconspicuously
Arbiter Dox
As the story ends, Murdock mutters, "No shit? Heard it was weird, but not THAT weird. Gimme a sec."
He steps away from his work and pulls out a smartphone--though the device would be sized closer to a small tablet for the average user. The group hears one side of a conversation.
"..."
"'Ey, Rawlins. Guy from last night just got back from talkin' to Goat Kyle."
"..."
"Yeah, he did. Weird stuff."
"..."
Murdock gives a quick description of the state of the corpses Pea Pod reports.
"...!" Rawlin's voice can be heard, though not understood.
"Yeah but since when does that asshole listen to a single word he hears?"
"..."
"Right. Gotcha. Talk to you later."
Murdock hangs up, pockets his phone, and picks right back up where he left off. As he works, he says to Pea Pod and Esta, "Ya'll mind stickin' around to tell Rawlins an' Marle th' story later?"
Esta
I'm fine with that
Pea Pod
Pea Pod says "yea I have footage I can edit so I will be here for a while."
Esta
I took some notes
Arbiter Dox
"I appreciate it," Murdock says.
"Rawlins usually ain' free from his farm work 'til around 4:00 or so. Y' want ya'll can head over to th' pub for a late lunch while we wait for him t' get free?"
Pea Pod
"Will do, thank you." Replies Pea Pod
Arbiter Dox
He looks over to Hexe and Skren. "Offer applies t' you two as well."
Dr. Skren
"I'm down. Also, we couldn't help but overhear the story. What the actual fuck?"
Arbiter Dox
Murdock shakes his head. "Hell if I know."
H.Ex.E.
Hexe is less concerned with the story, but with the issue of having to deal with the nosey photographer again. However, instead about worrying about him just now, she tries to make sense of what he reported. And be it only to see him and his story crumble.
Dr. Skren
"Guess we could... stick around when they retell the story later. In any case, I'm hungry. Let's go to the pub, okay?" Skren asks Hexe
H.Ex.E.
"...right. Lead the way. I am not really hungry, though." Hexe who got a bit lost in her thoughts confirms and follows the doctor. She resists the urge to keep an eye on Pea Pod and his camera to not raise any suspicion and just follows the doctor.
Esta
Esta nods waves and heads back towards the pub.
Arbiter Dox
The pub area is sparsely populated at the moment; one pair of men in trucker hats are having a slow meal and conversation at one table, and there are two other tables taken up by a single customer each.
Marle is behind the bar reading a novel at the moment. She looks up as the group comes in and says, "Lunchtime?"
H.Ex.E.
Hexe raises her hands in defence half-heartedly to not even give Marle or Rawlins a chance to pursue the topic much further before she heads for the table where they were robbed not long ago.
Dr. Skren
"Lunchtime indeed." the doctor responds. "Well, for us three, I assume" she says as she looks at Pea Pod and Esta
Pea Pod
Pea Pod nods as he fumbles with his tablet and camera
Esta
Lunch seems like a good idea
Arbiter Dox
Marle nods and writes down everyone's order as they come. Once done, she moves to a window to the kitchen and places the orders down. "Out in a bit."
Esta
Esta glances over at Dr. Skren & Hexe" did you guys find what you need?"
Dr. Skren
"We did"
Pea Pod
Pea Pod asks Dr. Skren " Are you a medical doctor?"
Dr. Skren
"Robotics and medicine, a bit more of the former"
Pea Pod
"Ahh, well still what is your opinion on the events I described?"
Dr. Skren
"As I said in the workshop... my opinion is pretty much 'what the actual fuck?' I can't make sense of it at all. Why would someone steal cow parts like that?"
Pea Pod
"Right, I can't figure it out either. I wonder if there were any other places that this might have happened? Maybe we need to stake out a place and see if we can catch the event live."
Dr. Skren
"I admit I am kinda curious what the hell's going on here"
H.Ex.E.
"I am sure they will get to the bottom of it." Hexe hurries to add.
Esta
Raises an eyebrow "they?"
Pea Pod
"I feel like we are missing one major piece, but we might get more from Rawlings hopefully."
H.Ex.E.
"You two are not working together on this?" Hexe adapts and twists her words that were meant as not-so-gentle reminder for the Doctor to not let her scientific curiosity get the better of her.
Dr. Skren
"Ah" Skren nods towards Hexe. "Yeah, yeah, we shouldn't intrude"
Arbiter Dox
The group's food arrives.
H.Ex.E.
Hexe just sits there to make it seem the most normal thing in the world that she didn't order anything.
Pea Pod
Pea Pod starts slurping up some corn chowder, as he flick's through his pictures and video's on his tablet.
Dr. Skren
Skren is quick to dig into her meaty stew to avoid conversation.
Pea Pod
Pea Pod turns his tablet towards the table and says, "does this look like anything?"
Esta
Esta digs in to her plate and glances over at what Pea Pod brings up
Dr. Skren
Skren also looks up at the tablet
Pea Pod
"Is that something on the tree? A marking?"
"I kinda see a letter maybe? is it a word? maybe a C?"
"capitalism? maybe. I could be seeing things. You know the old saying your eyes are playing tricks on ya."
H.Ex.E.
Hexe who had a look earlier now leans back. Grasping on straws is one thing, but now this guy is really pushing it.
Esta
Esta leans closer to get a better look
Arbiter Dox
It's a stretch, a set of scratches on the bark. The photograph is of good quality, but the 'symbol' being photographed is vague. The mark could have been done with claws or a knife. It has a 'C' shape to it for sure, but was that intentional? Hard to say.
Esta
"It does look like a C" shrugs "could mean anything"
Dr. Skren
"Could just be cows, all things considered"
Pea Pod
"Oh yea!"
Dr. Skren
"Or crazy, which is what the perpetrator probably was"
Pea Pod
Pea Pod chuckles, then turns the tablet back and puts it away. "I really appreciate the help. Dr. Skren do you provide robot repair services?"
Dr. Skren
"Well, I guess we'll be staying here for a while. I can do that."
Pea Pod
"Well I was wondering more if you were running a business?"
Dr. Skren
"Oh, no, we do uh... contract work. And we are just in the are until we got another big job somewhere else"
Skren looks at Hexe for approval of the hastily made up explanation
Pea Pod
Pea Pod shivers, "oh man I do not miss being on contract work. Those were some tough jobs."
H.Ex.E.
She is greeted by thin lips and a rather bleak expression followed by a vague nod.
Pea Pod
"What was your shittiest contract? If I may ask?"
Dr. Skren
"Government work"
Pea Pod
Pea Pod gets visibly upset
"oh fuck that"
"you got me beat"
H.Ex.E.
Hexe reaches for Skren's hand under the table and squeezes it gently. Her expression above the table remains indifferent.
Dr. Skren
Skren softly squeezes it back and responds. "Yeah. Never again" with a bitter tone
Pea Pod
"I would go hungry before I worked for those fucks."
As Pea Pod slurps some more corn chowder
"Doctor, can I just call you Doctor?"
Dr. Skren
"Yeah sure"
Arbiter Dox
The group spots Rawlins entering the pub. He heads to Marle and they have a quick conversation.
As their conversation dies down, they split up. Rawlins pulls out his smartphone and heads toward the back room where the group went to avoid the cops the previous night. Meanwhile Marle approaches the group and says, "Hey, mind comin' to the back room for a minute?"
Dr. Skren
Skren looks at the others. "Uhm, sure?"
Pea Pod
Pea Pod gulps the rest of the chowder and says "sure."
Arbiter Dox
Marle leads the way back. The group would remember the room from the previous night; a comfortable old couch, a few scattered chairs, and a TV, currently switched off.
Inside Rawlins is speaking with an angry tone to Murdock, and the group enters mid sentence. "--these assholes to tell people when weird shit happen!"
Murdock waves to Rawlins. The rat-man (in much more casual clothing this time) takes a deep breath and visibly tries to tamp down on his annoyance.
Marle says, "Right. So." She looks to Pea Pod and says, "You get all this info from Goat Kyle?"
Pea Pod
Pea Pod replies, "yea... am I in trouble?"
Arbiter Dox
Rawlins shakes his head. "Sorry, I'm pissed at Goat Kyle, not you."
Murdock says, "Folks here don't talk about their business. Most 'v the time that's fine, but when weird shit like this comes up it just makes things harder."
Marle asks, "This the only instance we know about?"
Rawlins replies, "Yeah. Who knows if more folks are keeping their mouths shut though?"
Pea Pod
Pea Pod interjects, "keeping there mouths shut about what?"
Arbiter Dox
Murdock says, "More animal mutilations, maybe. If there's someone or something out there taking animal parts, why'd it stop with two cows?"
Pea Pod
Pea Pod says, "right cuz it was almost a month ago. Are there any other places that might be a target? Another farm maybe?"
Arbiter Dox
Marle says, "Well, that means someone's gotta go collectin' info."
Rawlins adds, "I'll see if I can get some of th' farmhands t' talk t' me. That's how I found out about this one. Rumor mill 'n all that."
Murdock looks to Pea Pod and says, "You're here researchin' anyway. Up for helpin' us figure this out?"
Pea Pod
Pea Pod nods and says "yea I can help."
Arbiter Dox
"I ain't much've an investigator if we're talkin' to people, but you guys can use this spot to coordinate whenever," Murdock says.
Marle looks to the other three folks in the room. "Are you guys going to be here for long? If so we could use your help too."
Murdock adds, "We can pay you for it."
Esta
"I'm curious and have nothing pressing" pauses shrugs "I'm in"
H.Ex.E.
Hexe waits for the Doctor's reply, but nods faintly towards her.
Dr. Skren
"We'll be here for a while. I guess we can lend a hand"
H.Ex.E.
"As the Doctor allows it, sure."
Arbiter Dox
Rawlins nods. "Great."
Marle says, "I'll start figurin' out who all we need to talk to tonight. I'll get a list made and tomorrow we'll start interviewin' folks."
Pea Pod
Pea Pod nods approvingly.
===END SESSION 6===
No comments:
Post a Comment