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

[oversleeps]

Yeah, most here haven't. [ nor most home, to be honest, at least not face to face-- but hey, who's counting. ] So really, how would you fucking know?

[ oh, that's right. you wouldn't. ] Glad you think so highly of me, anyway. [ hahaha... ha. ] And here I thought I was being friendly.

[miscreant]

Is that what you call it?

[She sets the glass aside for a moment and looks over her shoulder again as discreetly as possible, covering up her paranoid glance by grabbing another glass from the next person that walks by and gently nudging it in Marduk's direction.]

There. Friendly gestures. Now we are even.

[oversleeps]

[ the noise he makes is no less amiable than anything else that's come out of his mouth so far. he narrows his eyes first at the glass, then at seviilia, before nudging it an equal amount back in her direction. ]

Pass. We aren't any such thing. [ and cheating at roulette takes just enough finesse he doesn't want to be drinking for it, not yet. ]

[miscreant]

Ah, yes, good thing too. I forgot to poison it.

[She shrugs and takes the glass without complaint. She'll finish the wine first though. It way too early in the night to waste it.

But she's still annoyed about her conversation with Apollo, so she routes back to that.]

So tell me. Am I a conversation piece at your dinner table, or are you just that poor at covering your tracks?

[Because she knows enough by this point that he wouldn't go mouthing off about taking her invitation for a maiming.]

WHOOPS i totally used the wrong word in that tag. much gomen im so tired

[oversleeps]

[ oh; he visibly pauses, trying to work out the real meaning behind her words. he's never even written her name down, not after giving up on keeping apollo out of his business; while the latter part of her question is likely true enough for him, he'd like to think in this case he could've done a lot poorer.

gotta keep your standards high for yourself, right. ] Not really sure what I'm supposed to be telling you, here. [ he needs context, at the very least. ]

#yolo

[miscreant]

Your...roommate? Is that the correct term? The little fledgling with the wings. We found one another by chance the other day. She had some very interesting things to say.

[She takes another sip of wine. She does not feel she needs to elaborate. Apollo hadn't really said anything, just made a comment that suggested she obviously knew about round two.]

[oversleeps]

[ fuck, so it was apollo. he grits his teeth, trying (and failing) not to let his frustration show. ] I'll fucking bet she did.

[ this, he thinks, is cause enough to ignore seviilia through the next round. he doesn't bet this time, preoccupied as he is with other things, things that are still going to matter when they go back to exsilium-- maybe. if he just avoided her forever, it probably wouldn't.

not that he wants to do that, for some fucking reason or another. ] So? What do you think.

[miscreant]

It is not a matter of what I think. I am asking you.

[She keeps her voice low, her eyelids lowering curiously to match. She keeps the glass of wine near her lips, expectant.]

That I am asking you at all is quite an honor, you know.

[Seviilia doesn't miss that frustration, which tells her that Apollo did not gain this information freely from him. Interesting.]

Indulge me.

[oversleeps]

And why should I? [ he already hates answering questions; answering a death knight's questions is climbing up there on his top most despised activities list. ] Pardon me for not feeling honored.

[ but. there's another pause, a briefer one, before he tacks on: ] I don't talk.

[miscreant]

Well, that makes two of us, doesn't it?

[And after that, she seems satisfied and goes appropriately (and awkwardly) quiet, disappearing into her wine glass until it empties. She almost considers knocking it over, but holds off instead to swirl the last drop of it around in the basin of the glass.

Apollo either saw them or, like Aelaidas, Marduk kept a journal and she had discovered it. It is easier to presume the latter, given how Apollo had hunted her down after their first meeting.

Annoying.

She stays quiet for two rounds this time before finally placing the glass down and picking up the other. Without looking at him, she speaks up again.]

Koltira found you, then.

[It isn't phrased as a question, but there is something in her tone (is it hope? dread?) that suggests that she wants an answer.]

[oversleeps]

Yeah. [ he's tried to avoid thinking about that encounter as much as possible, and the memory of it makes him shift uncomfortably in his seat. no point in not giving a direct answer, though.

he steals a quick glance at seviilia even though the ball's still rolling, just to make sure no imminent death is upon him for that. ] A bit nosy, isn't he?

[miscreant]

He is my military superior. It is his job to be nosey, unlike certain acquaintances you keep.

[Still, for her part, she looks pretty displeased about it. She steadily taps one nail against her current glass and continues watching the ball, blatantly refusing to glance in his direction. Luckily, the ball is hypnotic enough in motion to pull it off.

Eventually, when she feels his eyes on him, she sighs and rubs her temple with her free hand, the glass moving to rest on the edge of the table.]

What did he say to you?

[oversleeps]

[ well sorry for actually having friends, seviilia. ]

He didn't-- he just asked a few things. [ things that are totally irrelevant to the two of them. things that she definitely doesn't need to know about because they will never come up.

he pauses. ] What does a military superior even matter, here? [ isn't as though the whole ebon blade is in exsilium. ]

[miscreant]

[She has an answer to that, judging by the way she pauses and glances up. But also judging by the way she sits up and looks to her right, she isn't going to talk about it in broad daylight.]

Its complicated.

[Marduk was actually personally familiar with the reason, even if he didn't quite know it.]

[oversleeps]

[ her reticence to continue he can appreciate, but damn if that doesn't make him want to know more. still, what's he going to do-- invite her back to somewhere more private for drinks and a conversation and a please-don't-kill-me? ha. unlikely. (he's still sober.) ]

I don't see how. [ he channels his curiosity and subsequent mild annoyance into sounding disdainful, instead. ] Pretty fucking straightforward to me-- no military, no superior.

[miscreant]

[She is perfectly fine with leaving him wondering. She doesn't need to be sober to be obstinate. You gave up your kindly offered drink to her, BUDDY.]

It would seem perfectly straightforward to someone with your perspective on the matter. But since it isn't much of your business beyond that, I suppose it does not matter.

[Speaking of that drink, its gone now.]

[oversleeps]

[ look, it's on all the safety warnings: do not drive, operate heavy machinery, or practice offensive magic while intoxicated ...

also, he's pretty sure he's just been insulted. again. goddammit. ]

And what perspective would that be? [ if she says something typical-- "an outsider's," maybe-- he might scream. ]

[miscreant]

An outsider's perspective.

[She glances at her empty glass with some disappointment. Come on, what did you expect her to say really?]

[oversleeps]

[ there's no intent to mask his irritation this time. he digs his claws into the edge of the table, leaving scratch marks in the wood that nobody human would be able to manage. the next time a waitress passes by them, he snatches two cocktails off her tray; he holds onto them both, glaring back at seviilia. you don't even deserve these. ]

To your organization, or in general? [ he is so ready to be offended regardless of what she says next. ]

[miscreant]

[She doesn't miss him grabbing those drinks and eyes them expectantly. One of those better be for her.

She is perfectly aware of his offense, so she continues with her original train of thought.]

In general, of course. You know so little of my kind.

[oversleeps]

And you know so little of mine.

[ he withholds them for now; clearly, he's going somewhere with this. the drinks stay firmly on the opposite side of him from seviilia, so any attempts to grab at them will be awkward and likely unsuccessful. ]

I know more than you think. [ ... he's pretty sure about that, anyway. ]

[miscreant]

[Wow, what a tease. Still, that statement gets a slight frown from her.]

Is that so?

[She folds her arms and raises one eyebrow, looking between the drinks and Marduk's face. Go on.]

[oversleeps]

[ alright. a couple things need to happen, here.

he starts by downing one of the drinks in one go-- what is it called, liquid courage-- and shoving the glass away. that gets followed up by him handing the other drink to seviilia, or more accurately, just holding it out to her; he does not pass it over yet. ]

Try me. [ two words he has never once regretted saying, of course. ]

[miscreant]

[She looks at the drink briefly and then back to Marduk. She could just go get her own and continue avoiding this nonsense. After all, sitting around having a heart to heart with a man she's been ripping apart for the better half of a month was not in the day plan today.

Seviilia doesn't reach for the glass right away, staring at him with obvious mistrust. When she finally does reach to take the glass, (if even if she gets her hand on it), she won't try to pull it out of his hand. He can release it of his own accord -- its not like she is exactly desperate.]

...what is it, exactly, that you wish to know?

[oversleeps]

[ everything is kind of a stupid answer, even if it's true. the more he knows, the more accurately he can compare her in his mind, but-- "hey, you remind me of someone so i'm dying (heh) to learn more about you" isn't exactly the best pickup line he's come up with.

(not to mention... after that bit of texting they'd done, he's more than a bit loathe to bring up anything that could cause her to come to that conclusion again. )

so. still holding onto the glass, he answers her question with one of his own: ] What are you willing to share?