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

b

[lazyinlove]

How cool is this?

[There's a tipsy teenager nudging you gently, Tempest. Flying cars! Well. Hovering cars. Close-e-fucking-nough!]

[hyanaimne]

[she glances down at Stan and raises both eyebrows; she can't say she's surprised to find him drunk, but then again, she wouldn't be surprised to run into anyone who wasn't]

It is a bit cool. More overwhelming for me, really.

[lazyinlove]

Oh.

[Bummer. It kinda sucks if she's not having fun. They're on vacation! Well...they're probably supposed to be doing something, but he wasn't actually listening to that part.]

You want to be somewhere quieter?

[That's not a come on, really.]

[hyanaimne]

[even if it was, it flew right over Tempest's head. She grins a little]

I would not mind somewhere quieter, but does such a thing exist here?

[lazyinlove]

Yep. Right this way, milady.

[He gives her a silly bow and glances around, looking for their hotel. Well...this is a hotel. It should work.]

[hyanaimne]

Milady?

[she laughs, and waits for him to lead]

[lazyinlove]

[He'd said it to make her laugh, and hey look, it worked. Stan smiles back shyly and wanders in through the lobby to the direction of the stairwell. It's a funny reminder of the day they'd met, when she'd caught him smoking in the hospital back when everyone was sick. He'd almost forgotten about it.]

[hyanaimne]

[she's still chuckling as she follows him towards the stairwell, shaking her head faintly. While she's done enough exploring of the casinos and outside for the moment, she's yet to really look around any of the hotels]

[lazyinlove]

[The elevator would have been better, but there's usually no roof access. So they'll have to split it. He knows for a fact they can access the roof here from the staff elevators near the ballroom on the 4th floor. He leads the way casually, and soon enough they're there.

The door is locked with a code, but those are no match for Stanley anyway. He punches it in and opens the door, gesturing for Tempest to follow him.]

Basically no one hangs out up here besides the kitchen staff when they wanna smoke. But you can see everything.

[hyanaimne]

[the elevator is something Tempest has never experienced before; a box that moves up and down between floors? That's crazy. She doesn't quite freak out, though she keeps a firm grip on any handles in the elevator itself until she can get out.

When they get to the roof, she steps out and looks around, eyes a bit wide]

It is much quieter up here.

[lazyinlove]

Yeah. You afraid of heights?

[It's a little late to ask that now, but since they're at the stairwell it's not likely to be a problem. If she is scared and he goes and sits on the ledge, she's not really going to like that, so he holds off on it for a minute.]

[hyanaimne]

As far as I know I am not . . . ?

[she's never been on the roof of a building this high, at least. She's climbed trees and houses and the like back home for various reasons, but this is entirely different]

[lazyinlove]

Only one way to find out.

[Stanley shrugs and steps forward, out onto the roof. He almost reaches for her hand, to lead her out, but stops himself. After what happened with Nill on his birthday, it seems like it's better to give people their due distance.]

This way.

[hyanaimne]

[she pauses for a moment, then lifts a foot to pull off her shoe, then does the same, leaving them by the door. They were bothering her anyway, and it was nice enough up here. She could use a break.

She follows him over, head tilting curiously. What was he going to show her?]

[lazyinlove]

[There's a strong breeze from the edge, so he holds up a hand to caution her to approach carefully. But once she's there she'll see the city spanning before them.

Below the traffic twinkles like strange, colorful stars. Around them are the roofs of shorter buildings, and the shadows of taller buildings, like trees. There are small vegetables growing in small pots and artistic stacks of reclaimed crates turned into planters for a sweet smelling garden of cooking herbs. Most importantly, the sounds of the street can barely be heard at all.]

See? It's nice, right?

[hyanaimne]

[Tempest leans over the edge carefully, enough so that she can see the scene down below. Her eyes go wide, and she spends far longer than she would like watching it all before she takes a step back, and looks at Stan]

That is . . . one word for it.

[lazyinlove]

[Okay. She doesn't like it.

That was pretty much all he had to offer as far as peace and quiet.]

Vertigo?

[hyanaimne]

It isn't that, no. It is just . . . higher than I realized. I do not frequent tall buildings very often.

[she pauses, and corrects herself] Not the roof, anyway.

[lazyinlove]

Oh.

[Maybe she is afraid of heights after all. Stan isn't, and anyway, he's already fallen off of one of these. It was no big deal. He shrugs, and scoots in from the edge a few feet.]

Just don't look down. If you stay like, in the middle, it's not so bad. And it smells like rosemary. That's pretty cool, right?

[hyanaimne]

It is certainly something.

["cool" doesn't fit, at least her understanding of the word, but it's an agreeing tone]

It does smell of rosemary though . . . do you know why?

[lazyinlove]

[He points lazily to the rosemary in the planter boxes. Actually, they grow some other stuff up here too, but he doesn't think it will particularly interest Tempest.]

Where'd you used to live?

[All she's told him about it is that it was this strange mix of old fashioned and yet not, and that her ears weren't a good thing there. He glances at her again and wonders if she'd let him touch them. He doesn't ask, though. He's starting to realize he should just keep quiet and sit on his hands if he doesn't want to make waves. And waves are such a bummer.]

[hyanaimne]

Ah.

[good observing skills, Tempest. The question surprises her a bit, but she doesn't seem to mind answering. She glances around for somewhere to sit, and after a moment of consideration, returns to the ledge and sits there]

Carmarthen, the capital of Daear. [she quirks a wry, little smile] When I was not traveling, at least.

[lazyinlove]

You liked to travel?

[The city name isn't familiar of course, but hey they can come back to that. He can tell her how much she'd hate Baltimore while they're at it.]

[hyanaimne]

I did not have much choice in it. I wanted to when I was younger, but then . . . well, I was forced into it, one could say.

[it's a lot nicer to say that then "my village was torched to the ground" anyway]

[lazyinlove]

[That sounds like a no. Bummer. He joins her back on the ledge, dropping down beside her easily. She's familiar. It doesn't feel uncomfortable to Stan.]

What happened?