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]

I wasn't gonna mention it. [Sometimes she's nice like that.] And don't worry about it, I don't have a secret ID here.

[She hops away from the slot machine and links her arm through Traci's, grinning.]

Let me buy you a drink. [Legal ages are for chumps.] Has anyone filled you in on the deal here?

[urbanmagic]

But you were thinking it. [She teases, though nods, still a little confused.] Didn't think you'd ditch it. I liked the outfit too.

[Well, she can't say no to free things. She'll happily adjust so they can have properly linked arms, slot machines already out of her mind.] Sounds like a date to me. If by filling me in you mean give me a crash course of what I'm supposed to do before dropping me into the dirty laundry basket, then yeah, I sort of did. Wouldn't say no to extra details though.

[controlledvariable]

Oh, well, I'm Batgirl now. [It's almost a throwaway line, as she leads Traci through the crowd in the direction of the bar.] It just got too tricky to keep up here, you know? I mean - there just weren't enough blonde teen girls that people weren't gonna start getting suspicious.

[Which isn't quite how it happened, but - details, whatever.]

Extra details are something I can do. I've been here for just over a year now.

[urbanmagic]

When did that happen? I remember you being Spoiler just a few months ago. [Guess who is still early in the timeline.]

... So they weren't kidding when they mentioned time discrepancies.

comic timelines, the bane of my existence

[controlledvariable]

Not even a little bit.

[About the time discrepencies, she means.]

But yeah, about... eight or so months after I came back from being not-really-dead, I ended up with the Batgirl gig. And then I did that for like, a year before I got dragged to Exsilium.

the bane of every comic rpers existence really

[urbanmagic]

I feel like I forgot the frying pan aspect and ended up in the fire.

[But! She figured not-really-dead is probably a touchy subject (they usually are), so she'll head straight to the part that seems less like a bomb to walk on in the middle of a casino.] I would've wanted to see you as Batgirl. I bet you'd make Gotham look a lot more jolly.

So that would roughly be... more than two years since we last met, right? Wow.

so true

[controlledvariable]

Things are actually pretty calm at the moment. At least you didn't show up when the zombies were happening.

[Steph you can't just say things like that.]

I've got the suit here, maybe you'll get a chance to see me in action. [She hopes not, though, if only because breaking out the suit means that serious shit is going down. These days she mostly wears it for the internal heating.] Might be more like three. I turn twenty one soon.

[In about five weeks, actually.]

[urbanmagic]

I'm taking a raincheck on zombies.

I've seen ghost pirates before, I'm sure that's more than enough undead for the next century. [And wow. Way older.] And here I am, waiting a year longer to be considered legal in most places. Guess I really am missing a lot.

[controlledvariable]

There's actually a couple around, but they're sentient. Kind of assholes, though, so avoiding them is a good idea.

[The undead are just weird.]

If it helps, I haven't seen you again since then, so we're still kinda even.

[What she's trying to say is that she doesn't have any extra experiences together that Traci would be missing. Just to reassure her that they're on even footing in terms of how much they know about each other; Steph isn't about to say they're BFF in the future or anything.]

[urbanmagic]

Now you've just gotten me curious. I wouldn't know who to avoid with just that.

[She nods, deciding that makes them even all right.] Still weird. I knew that time is a little screwy here, but I was thinking if I'd see a familiar face, it wouldn't have been too big a difference. Well, you seem like you three years from now, so that's a definite plus.

[controlledvariable]

Oh, you'll know. The creepy blue-ish skin, dead eyes, and ridiculous armor totally give it away.

[Okay so maybe she has a slight grudge against the death knights after one of them kind of threatened to kill her.]

There's someone here from home who's about fifteen years behind me. I'll take the three between us any day.

[Things with Dck are never not going to be complicated and confusing.

She makes an executive decision not to comment on still seeming like herself, because it's not true, because the version of her that Traci knew wouldn't have been willing to do half the things that Steph's done, in Exsilium. She's a soldier now, not a vigilante, and she knows it, but--

They're in Vegas, and she's happy to see someone from home, so she's not going to ruin it with the truth.]

[urbanmagic]

... They sound like video game bad guys. [But okay, she'll keep an eye out of them.

Though whoa, back up.] Fifteen? That's too much of a jump. [...] Must be really awkward.

[controlledvariable]

Maybe one of those fantasty ones, but basically.

[Well. World of Warcraft. Close enough.]

Little bit, at least I didn't know 'em that well back home, so I didn't have too many expectations.

[More importantly, though, they've reached the bar, and Steph lets go of Traci's arm so she can fish her wallet out of her pocket.]

Pick your poison, Miss Thirteen.

[urbanmagic]

[Understandable, Traci avoided a lot of close relationships with the superhero community with good reason.] Confession: Never drank in my life. Wouldn't even know what to choose.

[controlledvariable]

Are you telling me you don't get up to all sorts of mischief?

[Steph pls.]

What kinda flavours do you like? We can start with something sweet if you want.

[urbanmagic]

Of course I do, but considering who I'm dating and the people I hang out with? Mischief comes more along the lines of fighting baddies and trying to get a decent date.

[A pause as she considers.] Sweet works. You're drinking with me, right?

[controlledvariable]

It's funny how that kinda stuff gets old. I still expect my dates to get crashed by supervillains even though I'm dating a lawyer.

[Rather than another vigilante.]

And nah, I was just gonna watch you get drunk and laugh.

[Her tone indicates she's joking, as does the fact she orders two of those cocktails with moscato and grenadine because she's forgotten the name of them.]

[urbanmagic]

Tell me about it. [She rolls her eyes, though--] Oh, lawyer, you say? [Let the gossip begin?

She shakes her head and laughs at that, accepting the drink when it comes. She's going to end up holding that one all night, really, and maybe down it when they leave.]

Would've been pretty boring, I figured. So, what have you been up since you got to Exsilium?

[controlledvariable]

Yeah, he's around somewhere. [She waves a hand back towards the conference hall.] Probably chatting up some pretty scientist or something.

[Which she doesn't seem at all bothered by; she's more interested in the cocktail.

It's full of sugar and tastes like strawberries, what more do you need?

Actually, she needs a second to think how to answer that, but after a moment:]

Well, I stole a spaceship, dated a girl, died a few times, slept with a kitrite which is kinda like an elf, rode a virtual reality broomstick, fought zombies, danced with Anne Boleyn, befriended god, hung out with the second Robin in the wild west, and went swimming in the Cretaceous period. I've eaten mutant deer, penguin, and what was probably walrus. For a little while I could teleport, my best friend is a werewolf, and I lived on the moon for a few months, during which time I had my emotions temporarily removed. And now I'm sharing an apartment with my boyfriend and two teenagers who might as well be my little brother and sister. [a beat, and she grins.] Anything else you wanna know about?

[Steph pls]

[urbanmagic]

I got stuck on 'died a few times' and then skipped to emotions temporarily removed. [Well, no, she listened to every one of them, but still.] Okay, I don't even know where to begin asking, and my life is pretty much an adventure already.

Let's start with that first point I mentioned. Is it a time-travel thing again?

[controlledvariable]

[Gosh Traci way to focus on the boring things!!]

Kinda. The Initiative - the guys in charge - have technology that can resurrect you. From what I can tell, it's sort of like a 'game over, restart' kind of deal. 'Cause after I died, my body was exactly how it was when I'd first arrived.

[urbanmagic]

[Don't worry she's going to focus on the rest once she's clarified these.] Huh. That's... strangely convenient, if not disturbing. No consequences?

[controlledvariable]

It's not working at the moment, just so you know.

[Because Steph had been reckless during battle knowing that she could come back. She doesn't want Traci thinking there's a get out of jail free card when there isn't.]

Aside from the reset and the fact you lose a few hours, I never had any side effects. Even if we get the tech back, I won't be doing it again 'cause I don't wanna lose my tattoos.

[a perfectly sensible reason to not want to die.]

[urbanmagic]

Yikes. Good call on the warning. [Not that she was going to try it, but hey, you never know what might happen. She takes a sip of the drink, deciding that okay, got enough info on that, time to move away from the grimmer topic.] Though really-- how did you even end up in the Cretaceous period? Met any of the last dinosaurs there?

[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.