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

[commentboxtroll]

"Aside from giving them ridiculous amounts of magic to throw around, supposedly immortality. I've been near a few of them myself, but I've never really stopped the one guy who's had one long enough to play twenty questions."

Mostly because Geddoe was the biggest grouch in the universe, but hey, there had also been that war on to worry about instead.

[crocodilesmiles]

She wrinkled her nose. "Wow, that sucks. The whole near immortality thing. Or ridiculous amounts of magic, too, when you think about it..."

Collette laughs and shakes her head again. "It's so weird hearing myself talk about that so seriously when I grew up thinking magic was a part of fairy tales and that was all."

[commentboxtroll]

"Depends on the person. Some might get along just fine with their rune, for all we know," Caesar added, not at all putting forth any firm opinion on the runes one way or another. They were a thing that happened. You couldn't always like them, sure, but in a war, it was nice to have them on your side.

"And it's not as though everyone is magical where I'm from, you know."

[crocodilesmiles]

"Most people who have them don't actually talk about them?" She guessed that made sense. The elevator guessed they were at another level, doors opening and closing. She barely looks their way this time.

"So?" She quirked up an eyebrow. "You have magic at all. That's amazing! Though wait, are you telling me you're not magical?"

Her eyes were twinkling with amusement. "Caesar! You're only a normal, overly well bred man? Betrayal!"

[commentboxtroll]

"I know some who would contest the 'well-bred' part of that," he pointed out mildly. Mostly Apple, he imagined. Possibly his own father, though only when being caught slacking off. "And no, they really don't. It'd be nice if they did, but many of them tend to drift away from being in any one spot or near people after awhile."

[crocodilesmiles]

"Well bred never meant mannered," Collette said in return. She waved at a group of young men the elevator opened to, pointing up when another made a questioning face and pointed down. She shot him a smile when he looked mock sad. He flashed her one back as the doors closed.

"Do you really blame them? If it does make you immortal, only other people like you are going to keep living. Time gets all weird, everyone and anything you care about dies, and it keeps on happening. Talk about a reason to go all hermit on the mountain!"

[commentboxtroll]

"I never said that I did," Caesar pointed out, but with a shrug. That didn't matter so much, since it was a point they could agree on. "I certainly wouldn't want to live forever, no matter how much power that might entail getting. It would be such a pain after awhile."

The doors opened again and this time he looked.

Then the doors closed.

"Uh, do you even know which floor is ours?"

[crocodilesmiles]

"Twenty-fourth," she said nonchalantly, lips curving up into a smirk.

Yeah. And they were only halfway there.

You're welcome, Caesar.

"Have I told you lately how I love that you're not the brother with the power hungry goals? Because I do. Do you think this place includes room service?"

[commentboxtroll]

Caesar made a point to ignore the comment about his brother. Any response would just encourage her to ask more about him and, frankly, it was a topic that would put him in a foul mood no matter who, what, or where was involved.

"And you just had to hit every floor's button. Of course," he grumbled, finally disapproving of what had before seemed like harmless mischief. Now this was going to take forever! "And even if it does not, it'll be impossible to bill us for real. That's basically the same thing."

[crocodilesmiles]

"Free food, free service, free towels... I'm calling dibs on the robe!" She ignored his grumblings, not even slightly concerned. There wasn't any other time in her life she'd be able to be this much of a nuisance for the hell of it, and there wasn't anyplace they had to be immediately.

She also didn't know if there was a robe, but she wanted it anyway!

"Think people are escaping the laundry room by now?" She turned around, waving at an older man waiting for an elevator heading down. He thumped his cane in return. "I saw Stan when we were making our way out. A few other familiar faces, I think, but you know how it goes."

[commentboxtroll]

"Robe?"

Up until that point, Caesar hadn't even been aware there were robes and first rights to said robes, but, since it was only a robe, he had no reason to dispute. He passively watches the doors open and close past the old man, then again past a (thankfully) empty floor.

"Well, of course you saw him. They pulled everyone in, whether they wanted to be here or not. With luck, they'll have found a normal way to exit the laundry room and it hasn't been set on fire yet."

[crocodilesmiles]

"It's probably on fire. Or ice." With the kinds of talents and skills their companions had, she'd be surprised to learn everything had gone off without a hitch. It was more entertaining when everything was teetering forward, barely separated from general chaos.

Things worked out in spite of that most the time.

Another empty floor greeted them, followed by one more. Only the lights flickered there, making Collette grimace and take a step backward. After her encounters with the maybe haunted castle, she wasn't entirely fond of potential not-her-established-friends ghosts.

Not that she'd admit to as much. "Most classy hotels have robes," she said eventually, answering a non-question for want of anything else to say. "Plus a minibar, which would be outrageously expensive if we were responsible for our own bill. Oh! Man, maybe they have a jacuzzi tub...!"

[commentboxtroll]

"But we aren't, which is too bad. I'm not much of a drinker."

Except for the very few occasions it came up in Paris, which had more to do with peer pressure than actually caring for beer or hard liquor. Wine was typically his preference, which wasn't entirely looked down upon considering the location, but, well, what do you do when you try to fit in with a group of people? Order what they order, obviously.

His attention flickered to the numbers reading off the floors again. They were almost there, almost there, just one more floor...

"And a jacuzzi tub is...?"

[crocodilesmiles]

The elevator doors rolled back one final time (for them, it was doomed to repeat it's fate for a few floors more heading upward). Collette sauntered on out into the hall, more on accident than with the intent to saunter, exaggerating her movements for the hell of it and to stay on balance.

"A jacuzzi tub is better experienced than explained," she said, tossing Caesar a flirtatious grin back over her shoulder. "Either way, let's find out!"

Whatever else this jaunt in Neo Las Vegas would hold, she can be thankful for the playful moments. Caesar will get down to business one way or another. For her part, to stay engaged without something needing her specific skillset, Collette will do her darndest to make sure he's dragged kicking and scowling into some of (her idea) of fun too!

Minus the building repelling.

After all, she wasn't mean.

( ooc: we can probably wrap this thread up here, if you like! )