exsiliumlogs | Operation: Roll Out

Entry tags:

Operation: Roll Out

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Looks like they'll have to find their own ways out," he said, sounding highly amused by the idea instead of worried.

She was likely right, that the robots would be fine towards guests. What had the highest probability of happening would be that they cleaned up the mess and then returned to the holes in the wall they had arrived from. What Transport would have a problem with that?

Well, there were the ones that broke anything for any reason, but there wasn't much to be done about them...

"Though they may have better luck finding something that isn't a stairwell now."

"Oh, sure, they get to find the elevators!" Her exasperation is delivered with a smile, palms pressed against the door at her back. It took another moment to collect herself enough to push off, craning her head back to check out the expanse of blue sky visible at the top of the cement stairs.

"How about we get back into the sunlight in the meantime? I'm getting cold down here."

She moved toward the staircase without waiting, hand seeking the rail that would guide her to the top.

"Who knows. Could be the elevators down that far need keys."

He added that as if that would make the stairs seem all the better, though knowing the elevators likely wouldn't be that way. They were supposedly in a more open kind of city than they could expect elsewhere in the United Earth. What that meant exactly, he supposed they were about to find out.

Caesar leaned away from the door and turned to follow along. Unlike Collette, he had no need for a railing, and so his hands found his pockets instead.

"Are you so sure it'll be any warmer up above?"

"In the sun?" She laughed, continuing her steady, determined climb. "It's always warmer in the sun, Caesar!" Warmer where the shadows were held at bay, even if there was a wind chill to factor into everything. In clouds, or in darkness, it was always worse.

She didn't need to hold her arms out to feel like she was walking on a balance beam. Collette could handle the flat landscape ambulation fairly well unaided, given she could even stand to jog (and fall) at this point in her life. When she made it to the sunshine, she tilted her head back, letting the sun spill across her face.

"I missed this part of France."

Caesar shook his head at that. Always warmer in the sun? Logically speaking, that was hardly true! He wouldn't argue over it, though. It wasn't a fight worth picking, even if it would have kept the conversation going.

He stepped up beside her onto the other side of the top step, entering the sunlight along with her. Instead of basking, he squinted.

"Too bad this definitely isn't France."

The blinding bright signs, the too colorful buildings, the crush of people who, as they had no way of knowing, were all enemies. Caesar didn't like what he saw. He didn't like it at all.

"We'll always have Paris in our hearts," she sang, a tease and a happy statement. There was a mixed bag of emotions and a hell of a lot of hard work involved with Paris, but a feeling of overall good lingered with her still.

She didn't like Vegas, but she did like the feeling of being somewhere thriving on human life again. She's missed the change in tempo back in Exsilium.

"Come on! Let's look around here, figure out where we're supposed to be!" Close to bouncing on her feet, Collette reached out to Caesar to tug on his sleeve. "Time to get down to the nitty gritty!"

At least someone here was excited. He didn't want to ruin that too much, only there was one little detail she may have forgotten about. If she was seeking to grab his sleeve and drag him along, he wouldn't put up much fight, but while she was revving up to go charging around, he just shook his head and pointed a thumb back over his shoulder.

"I think I'll have to ruin the adventure and point out the convention's in the big ugly hotel right behind us."

They had come up from the workings below into the underground parking, then up onto the street above that. The transporter may have dumped them into a laundry room, but it had gotten the actual mark down just fine.

Collette takes all of a brief moment to laugh off the idea of that being a limitation on what she wanted to do. "Yes, and we're early! So we check in and then go around before it starts!"

While she'd never been to a convention in her life, she's pretty sure there was room between the panels and actually doing things that didn't require holding still.

Really, he knew that much about her. Collette, willingly staying in one place? Better be sick or sleeping, since it was that unlikely to happen at random! And while she'd agreed to help him out, it didn't make her less itchy to move inbetween the other obligations.

"Plus, it's a miniature adventure finding the front entrance. We could totally get lost!"

On purpose.

He does know better, but one could always hope! So her resolve that they go get "lost" after checking in has him sighing. Sighing and turning to start towards the hotel, that is. They can walk and talk at the same time. It's a thing they can do and there is a warning he should hand out before they run into any crowds here.

"Need I remind you this is technically hostile territory? We could get into a lot of trouble here!"

"If we act out," she said, following his lead. "Different from what they expect, which means you need to have fun, too, Caesar. Coming here to be serious all the time is kind of the total opposite of blending in! If this is the one places meant to be all fun and games for a group of people who aren't supposed to do other than they're told, then you need to look like you're glad to get out there and do things at least some of the time!"

She grinned, more amused at the situation than anything else. "Though I don't know if you should go around smiling. Imagine that heartbreak? For the ones who aren't weirded out!"

It was too easy to tease sometimes.

Fine, she had a point there. He didn't have to like the point, but he did have to grudgingly admit it. Everyone else who came here came here to let loose, only if their group let loose, things would probably start exploding! Of course, it was hard not to dwell on worst case scenarios these days.

Of all the places to be tense, Caesar had picked the worst one.

"I... guess," he finally got around to agreeing. Though she got a funny look for the smile comment. "And now you're just exaggerating."

"Only a little," she said, laughing. "Not as much of one as it could be. Anyway, now that you've agreed, that means we do get to have fun while we're here! Which should totally include walking around here before the conference, hmm? You'll like it better in the daytime than at night. I bet it gets really crowded out here at night."

Hovercars catch her attention as they make their way to the entrance, distracting her away from bothering Caesar with pleas of having fun. "It's like Back to the Future around here. This is so different from that small town we were in before!"

"Like what?"

So many movie references will forever elude him. He won't argue about the day versus the night part, at least. In that, she was likely right again. The old Vegas was supposedly built on its nightlife and this one shouldn't be much different.

Though the hovercars are underwhelming to him!

"We saw cars like that back in Paris, though. That's not very impressive."

"What you lack," she said with an air of a tease, "Is proper perspective, my friend. They're impressive to see again after the last month and more in Snowsville! Besides, imagine sulfur free warm bathwater... you can't tell me that's not at least a little appealing!"

All said as she looked over the building they approached, wondering at it's construction and design. What sort of theme was it going for? Or was Neo Las Vegas not as sold on being thematic?

"Back to the Future. It's a movie where this guy, Marty, and this scientist invent a time machine out of a car? Anyway, Marty drives back into the past one of the times he does it, and another time into the future. The future they thought might be real back when they made that movie was crazy! All these interactive adverti--ahh!"

In much the same vein as sharks leaping out of advertisements to bite at passerbyers, Collette actually jumped back and pulled Caesar with her, stepping in front of him, when two camels holding machine guns jumped down in front of them.

"What's the hold up?" Asked a voice projecting over their heads. "Stop by Druggats Oasis for your chance to win a backstage pass to everything you could possibly desire! Remember to make love, not anger, during your stay with us here!"

Both camels pressed their triggers, sending out a spray of flowers to rain down over both their heads.

Naturally, when Collette went on to explain the movie in detail, Caesar more or less zoned out of the conversation. He didn't actually care about Back to the Future, especially since the title alone seemed to be their reality currently. More on his mind was what else she had mentioned.

Clean, warm bathwater.

If there wasn't anything that could speed his motion towards the hotel before, that would do it. A few more steps led him straight into a gun-toting camel, though, so his attention came slamming back down to their surroundings. He jumped back with a startled shout, kind of stumbling to put Collette between him and the holographic advertisements.

But then there was flowers everywhere and his surprise fades into bewilderment.

"...what?"

Caesar Silverberg: the man she cared for due to his deep seated sense of bravery and protective instincts.

Mostly the self-preservation subset.

She was still responding to the adrenaline rush of the armed gun-camels, her own arms up in a cross between an ineffectual stop motion and an attempt to ensure Caesar stayed behind her. The flowers have her flinch at first, trying to brush one off her wrist to no success. Holographic flowers didn't respond to physical touch, alighting on both Collette and Caesar and proceeding to bloom and pulsate in colorful pastels.

"You got me," she said, still too keyed up to not be standing defensively in front of him. "Why aren't they coming off? They're not even real!"

Caesar Silverberg: a man who enjoyed not being killed by camels.

In any case, it turned out no one was in danger in the first place, which, as soon as the shock wears off, caused only even more immediate dislike for Neo Las Vegas in general. He attempted to shake one of the flowers off his arm, but there was no effect. It remained no matter how much he tried, so, inevitably, he gave up for the time being.

"This place is stupid."

She looked at him over her shoulder, giggling at the sight of his flowers. "I don't know, they're almost complimentary to your eyes, C!" She stuck her tongue out at him, gathering herself for an effort at jogging forward again to less disastrous results. She managed to make it across the valet parking flat in front of the hotel entrance with minimal fuss, reaching out to push one of the hovering cars.

It didn't move, but it did dip downward some. She grinned as she went past. Caesar might have been used to interacting with things in Paris in a certain way, but Collette hadn't had much of the same chance. They'd had two different experiences of the same city, overlaid in sections at compelling, contrasting angles. The overlaps were some of her favorite memories, but it wasn't a perfect fit.

People's lives weren't meant to be.

"Were you planning on getting your own room, or were you sharing with someone?" She ducked under a strand of glass bead woven vines, the flowers falling off her in a cascade of multi-colored petals. They'd reached the limits of the hologram's reach.

"My eyes are green. Everything compliments them."

As far as he was concerned, anyhow. For the holograms sticking to him, he made a point not to look at them again, as if pretending they weren't there would make it so, and followed along after Collette, hands stuffed into his pockets. He took his timed compared to her headlong rush onward. When he passed over the hotel's threshold and the flowers finally scattered, that was an immense relief.

Just imagine if those things lasted the entire trip...

"As long as there's a bed and a warm shower, I don't care what my plans end up being," he admitted, pushing by the glass bead vines as well. "I don't believe anyone has offered to share a room with me just yet, however."

He'd have been the most complimentary flower child...!

Collette hummed in reply, glancing toward the front desk. She ran a hand through her hair, suddenly aware how little like a tourist she really looked. It was the difference in how she carried herself compared to the people around them, though not in her enthusiasm or tendency toward smiling in relief. They' weren't bogged down with suitcases -- that was the thing!

"We can see if Ahiru'll take you on," she said with a wrinkle of her nose and a wink. Her mind was mulling over options to explain the rest. So far she favored luggage being lost in transit. Right when we need to be here for a conference, talk about terrible timing!

"Ahiru? No. She snores," Caesar declined the idea outright, mostly to take the chance to, once again, poke fun at their easily mocked friend. Well, easily mocked in his opinion, anyway. Then he strode on by her and straight towards the front desk, with nothing more than a hope that the AI set everything up for them beforehand, because, really, how else could they stay here for a whole conference?

"Hello. We're checking in. The room should under the name Silverberg."

Already paid would be his other hope.

She stifled her laughter, shooting him a look in objection. "Caesar! She does not! Unless you know that," she said, feeling mischievous. "And I need to tell Ahiru about your unsavory tendency to creep up and listen to sleeping people snore."

Her expression wasn't precisely schooled into anything serious with the desk attendant looking to Caesar, and her contribution was to lift a hand and splay her fingers in a lazy wave. "We?" she said under her breath, amused once again.

The attendant looked through her records, tapping on keys on the touchscreen behind the desk.

"Welcome to El Fortuno, Mr. Silverberg. If you will please step up to the retina scanner?"

She gestured to a device that looked like a monocle on a stand next to the desk.

"Left eye," she said. "If you please."

Collette briefly wondered if she had a room to actually check in to so she could do the retina scan, too, but it'd always seemed unlikely. Unlike most folks, her last name had never been on network, and she'd never sought to rectify that information misstep. She kind of liked the walking element of the unknown, like one of the very few links to back home she had anymore. That element of secrecy that had saved them for a while.

Secrets. When had she gotten so used to keeping them? When had she really grown into being the sort of woman who could?

She stepped up to the desk, waiting until after he'd scanned his eye. "These are the room keys?" With a nod, she scooped them up, putting on an air of musing concern. "Our luggage was lost on the way in - is there any way to get double of what comes standard in room?"

"Certainly, Mrs. Silverberg," said the attendant. Collette didn't manage to hide her dry look, followed by an equally dry interjection.

"Smith. Miss Smith. Lovely to meet you, Andy!" A glance at the woman's nametag was enough to personalize the correction. Smith had to be one of the most common names she could remember off the top of her head.

Collette Smith. She smiled, laughing inwardly, as she turned and walked away toward the elevators. Next time it'd be Collette Doe.

The retina scan was unexpected, but he didn't let it show much. If there was an uneasy look towards it, it lasted but a second, and then it was over, done, and passed with flying colors. What a scary thought, though. Did that mean the AI put him into the UE's network somewhere?

Probably. How else would this work out the way it did, it not for that?

Those thoughts wouldn't linger, though, when Collette made a point to correct the attendant. Caesar turned to give her a bemused look. It wasn't without some humor in it, of course, but still! He exchanged looks with Andy, giving her a faint smile.

"Suddenly I think I should be feeling more offended than she is," he joked before turning to follow after Collette. He caught up with her at the elevator, just in time to push the button before she could. "Not quite ready to be mistaken for a married woman, I see."

Her finger hovered over the already pressed button before she turned to Caesar and stuck out her tongue. The epitome of mature responses was clearly merited in this moment.

Her hand fell back, coming to rest on her hip.

"About as ready to paint myself in henna and make vows over fire as you are to slip a ring over someone's finger and do whatever it is you guys do for a marriage ceremony." Her own jest about traditions as separate from the ones most American girls believed in goes unnoticed with her present audience. She snorted after her tease, giving a shake of her head. If there was no reason to pretend, then she was distinctly uncomfortable with pretending. Marriage wasn't supposed to be so light and lightly forgotten. People enduring things together... she's seen more of what it is when people can't than when people can.

She stared at the light above the elevator, counting numbers as it came back down from the upper floors. Better to make light of it, and not confess to the things she didn't like about the weakness of the human condition. "I'm far too young and adventurous to be married! Ask me about that again when I'm like, twenty-three or something."

The elevators arrived. Collette stepped through the opening doors as soon as it was evident no one else was darting out.

"Fire?" Caesar asked, eyebrows raised high. He had considered asking about the henna instead, but as he at least knew what fire was, that one, he imagined, might make easier sense. Provided he got an answer at all! Because they were already on the move again, even if only a few steps into an elevator.

"But fine, then. Twenty-three or something it is," he added with a shrug, turning around to face the elevator doors once he was in and they were closing. Don't mind him as he lounges against the back wall of it. "Though you'll be so old then..."

Sooooo old.

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