Operation: Roll Out

[initiates]

Date & Time: January 31st - February 4th, Present Day Exsilium Time
Location: Neo Las Vegas, in what formerly was called Turkey.
Characters: All Transports!
Summary: Transports have been sent to Neo Las Vegas to gather information on the origin point of the United Earth and the UE AI. Conference sabotage and the rest is expected and invited!
Warnings: Gambling and alcoholic beverages quite likely! Please PM the mod account for anything else.

By day, the landscape isn't desert, precisely, so much as it is dry. Winter's settled in and found in the biting chill of the wind when it finds you standing on the street. Hovercars and taxis thrum down the cobblestone streets, cavorting and honking like a noisy crowd of inelegant, overweight geese. Men walk by on stilts half in make-up, on their way back to their stage for the next night. Walks of shame are taken proudly in this district, one of the few approved and sanctioned vacation zones in the United Earth.

Evidence of law enforcement can be found all around, but they seem altogether too pleased to be there too. Talk with any one of them about crime rates, and they're liable to laugh at the idea. Those who come to gamble know the house is rigged to win. It's not about making or breaking the bank -- people whose funds dip too low are politely escorted back to their rooms and given a set of normal playing cards -- but it is about enjoyment.

Of the flesh too, and it'd be difficult to find anyone working in Neo Las Vegas who suffers from modesty, or anyone visiting who seems unwilling to politely ask visitors and staff if they'd like to keep them company for the night. In fact, Transports may find themselves needing to turn down multiple such requests! The refusal is always taken well. These are people looking to have a good time, and that's all.

No chance taken, nothing gained, right?

At night, the city really comes alive, the lights in all the hotels and casinos turning the Neo Las Vegas Strip into a carnival of sensation. Drinks and recreational drugs are freely passed around, men and women engage in a variety of sexual and other hedonistic excesses without regret, and the beautiful interiors and ostentatious or playful exteriors of the buildings hide and reveal a rich tapestry of events, delectables, and desires waiting to be fulfilled.

Neo Las Vegas is a fun place, and it is a safe place, and it is Where the Conferences For Our Future Are Made. Playtime is on, gang.

Comments

[controlledvariable]

We were collecting sand 'cause of the minerals in it. Raw materials for something or other. [She shrugs.] Mostly it was just for a holiday, I think. The Initiative knew we needed it.

[After all the bombs and sickness, but she doesn't feel like discussing that.]

But yeah, I saw some dinosaurs, but only little ones. They had a barrier up to keep the bigs ones out.

[urbanmagic]

I, personally, would've loved to have gotten that far back to see anything like that. The oldest I've seen were ghost pirates. Not far enough in history for my liking.

Guess you couldn't bring any back home with you, could you?

[controlledvariable]

It was pretty awesome, and the water was really nice.

[It was one of the good times, between the mess of everything else. It was before things started going to shit.]

Nothing living. We can bring inanimate objects, but plants or animals can't make the trip.

[urbanmagic]

[She nods, guessing as much. She doubted they could survive a sudden shift in atmosphere, and of course there were a lot of other factors in play.]

Hmm, would've been fun if you did. Dinosaurs, anyone?

And the lawyer? Was he with you by then?

[controlledvariable]

Oh, um, I was still with Ellie back then. But she got sent home at the start of October.

[She's just gonna - focus on her drink for a second because thinking about Ellie is hard.]

[urbanmagic]

[... Oh. Oops.] Right. Um... [Bad topic.] Sorry, I didn't realize. You okay?

[controlledvariable]

[She waves a hand.]

It's fine, I just miss her. But she's hopefully better off back home.

[She's probably not, but Steph can hope.]

[urbanmagic]

[Hope's one thing that Traci's got a lot of, so she raises her glass and gives her a smile.] To good things for good people, then?

[controlledvariable]

[And Steph gently clinks her glass against Traci's.]

Good things for all people.

[She can't help thinking of Jesse.]

[urbanmagic]

[...] You've got someone else in mind, don't you?

[controlledvariable]

A few, actually. Things aren't as black and white here as they are at home.

[Even Ellie might not be considered a good person, depending on who you ask. She was a war criminal, after all.]

[urbanmagic]

Things are never so black and white. I try to avoid being Lady Liberty for a reason. [Sure, she investigates stuff, but she never tosses the bad guys in jail. That's the job of the actual super heroes.] I'm guessing a few friends along the way?

[controlledvariable]

Something like that, I guess.

[She doesn't feel like mentioning that every time they go into the past, they're erasing people from the future; that Peter calls it genocide and he's not entirely wrong.]

Sorry, I didn't mean to get depressing. Have you found Blue yet?

[urbanmagic]

Don't worry about it. I got the ball rolling. [So all on her. Though she does laugh a little at that.]

Found him trying to save himself from a very feisty woman. I don't think he stood a chance.

[controlledvariable]

[She's not sure if she agrees with that, but it's not something to argue about, so she just shrugs amicablly and focuses on the rest of what she says.]

Lucky you were there to save him, he does seem to get easily flustered.

[Not that she's noticed, but.

She's noticed.]

[urbanmagic]

[It was hard not to, really.]

Tell me about it. It's funny, he's so good when it comes to handling bad guys, but horrible when all the attention is on him.

[controlledvariable]

Robin used to be like that, but he did get better at it as he got older.

[He also kind of turned into a jerk, but she can't imagine that happening with Jaime.]

[urbanmagic]

The one in the tower, right? Never talked to him much, but he seemed err... [Well, how do you describe Robin?]

[controlledvariable]

Creepy, controlling, like he has a permanent stick up his ass?

[Well.

She's not wrong.]

He used to be a sweet kid, he could even have fun, when I could talk him into a date. He just started taking the hero gig too seriously, after... everything.

[After she died, and his dad died, and his two best friends died.]

[urbanmagic]

I was going for the word serious. Didn't realize he was that bad. [Then again, this is also why she didn't join the Titans. Seriously they had issues, and it was weird to be in the same team as the guy she's dating.]

I only know him from rumors. I wasn't in the tower that much longer than you when we met. Things kind of went downhill really fast. [And she's never visited since.]

[controlledvariable]

He can be.

[It's kind of a problem, even if Steph can understand it, and she's glad that it seemed like he was starting to loosen up a little and learning to trust people again.]

Seems like that's kinda how the Titans are. I wish I could say things get better in the future, but...

[From what she's heard, they've gotten worse.]

[urbanmagic]

The hero life is a hard path to follow, especially when you've got a target on your back. [She's pretty sure all of them have a huge one, with the villains they meet.] I was surprised you didn't join them-- not saying you have issues, just that teen heroes all fighting for the greater good and all that.

[controlledvariable]

Not that I was ever really asked, but all that saving the world stuff wasn't for me. I wanted to focus on the smaller things, make it better for the people in my neighbohood, not run off to fight aliens.

[She can leave that to the people who are equipped to fight aliens.]

[urbanmagic]

Sounds like the plan I would've chosen in your position. Can't imagine being someone the world looks up to to save them. Figured Batman wouldn't have enjoyed the attention much either.

[controlledvariable]

He hates it, most of the Bats do. It's hard to do what we do if you've got the world looking over your shoulder.

[Most people forget that at the end of the day, they're detectives more than they're superheroes.]