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

[ frown. are they really going to play tug of war over the dregs of a bottle? his hold stays firm, but he doesn't pull again. ]

Mm, so-- everything before the texts was fine? [ because that is totally what you just said. ]

[There's a long pause as she contemplates. No. Definitely not fine. She's to drunk for arguments.]

You knew what I meant. Do not play games with me.

[She lets the bottle go, and quietly chews on her lip.]

[ victory. he's smiling, but he pauses with the bottle halfway to his lips. ] No games here, Seviilia.

[ with that he finishes off the rest of the bottle, before she can change her mind again. gently, he sets it down behind the couch, then-- with great effort, and another pause-- pushes himself into a standing position. moving is going to take another minute or five, though. ] Would not ask if I knew.

No. It was not. I am drunk, and you are a pain.

[She rests her arm over her eyes and goes quiet for a few moments.]

You stink. Do not cast anymore.

[ mm. fine. he doesn't argue, even if he really wants to; he watches her for a long moment, though, thinking of-- doing something else stupid, if he's going to be honest about it.

...

nah. not tonight. he almost sighs as he pulls himself away. marduk drags himself back to the bed, crawls into it gratefully, and pulls the blankets all the way over his head.

good night, seviilia. ]

[Seviilia doesn't sleep well. It takes a long hour of silence for her to finally drift off. She wakes within five hours, but does not bother moving -- after all, there is still somebody in the room.

The ice in the lock would have melted by now, but she can still hear the steady pulse of his blood over on the bed. Its almost hypnotic enough to put her back to sleep. The better part of the first hour she is awake is spent deciding whether or not to wake Marduk up. Somewhere toward the end she decides its better if she doesn't.

So for the next...however long it takes for him to wake up, she spends staring out the window, watching people move aimlessly in the street.]

[ marduk is naturally slow to wake, and a night of drinking does nothing to speed things up. it is well into the day when he finally stirs, only to pull a pillow over his face and roll over, tangling himself further in the sheets. another moment passes before he realizes he has no idea where he is; but no, that's not right, he's just in... seviilia's... room. alive and well, at that.

somehow.

the light alone had been enough to keep him from wanting to get out of bed, but now he refuses to move even for the apocalypse. no way. he doesn't even know if she's still in the room, but he's definitely not going to check. no fucking way.

...

he checks, after a little while. the only other option is to go over what happened last night, since he's not going to be able to sleep again anytime soon, and even though the brightness makes him hiss and squint it's infinitely preferable to any acknowledgment of bad decisions theater. once marduk verifies that yes, she is in the room, the pillow is immediately restored to its proper spot on his face. ]

How long has it been. [ or-- how long have you left him alive, and also, how soon is that going to change. ]

I do not have a timekeeper.

[Well, she does, but its over in a corner somewhere. She doesn't look back when she answers, but her eyes narrow at whatever she is looking at.]

You sleep like the dead.

[She emphasizes dead, as opposed to undead. She's still in the dress from the night before, if only because the alternative was...well, nothing.]

[ ugh. as if he didn't know that already. it's bad enough being sober around seviilia again, and the pain in his head isn't helping at all. altogether it leaves him edgy, snappish, and wishing he'd stayed at the roulette table all night like he'd planned. ]

What's your point? [ marduk drags the blanket back over his head again, much like the night before; he's definitely beginning to reconsider his appreciation at being left alive. ] Are you jealous?

[This time, she looks over and gives him a look that says "Why are you so defensive?"]

Just an observation, darling.

[Jealousy? Please. She's way too old for--wait, no she isn't. Seviilia then turns her attention back outside. She spends the greater part of the next minute drumming her fingers against her folded arm. He's been awake for two minutes (to her knowledge) and he's already managed to aggravate her.]

[ whatever. he chafes at the resurgence of the pet name, but refrains from making the situation worse-- for now.

the silence stretches long between them, and it is so hard to fight down the urge to say something. he's not sure what; sorry? thanks? a bit of both? what he really wants to comment on is where she left him hanging before, when she'd run off. is that pushing his luck too much? it might be.

if only that was something that usually stopped him. ]

You didn't need to run. [ it comes out after a brief struggle. he'd wanted to say something a bit nicer, but... ] Honestly.

[Predictably, he gets a sharp glare for his trouble. A very very sharp glare. Her posture stiffens, just enough to show she is uncomfortable, and she picks herself off the windowsill.]

I don't need a lecture from you of all people on decision making.

[Its an icy retort. Maybe you should shut the fuck up. Or leave. Or both.]

[ he hears enough movement that he peers out from under the covers again. he's overstaying his welcome for sure. okay. he should probably just-- quietly grab the hologram emitter and go--

quietly actually lasts while he picks the emitter up (without ever leaving the bed, for the record; gotta avoid that for as long as possible) in an admirable show of self-restraint. but... her assessment from the night before was right. he really can't leave well enough alone. ]

It's not a lecture. [ pls. he rolls onto his back to put the emitter back on, though he doesn't enable it yet. ] Why did you?

Why do you care?

[By the time he picks himself up from picking up the emitter, he might notice her hanging over the side of the bed to stare at him. Its an honest question, rather than a snapped retort. She cannot understand his sudden interest in her, and its starting to bother her.]

Is that not the better question here?

[ ah. well. he hadn't expected her to approach; marduk glances off to the side, towards the wall. less unnerving than staring up at her. ]

Am I not allowed to? [ p.s. don't answer that. ] I liked my question more.

"Allowed to"? You're joking.

[Yeah, she's not buying it. She crosses the length of the bed until she is between him and the wall he is looking at (and, coincidentally, the door) and folds her arms.]

I have met some fools in my lifetime, but you are rapidly ranking as one of the most foolish. I have nearly killed you twice, and your concern lies in personal detail. Why.

[That's a demand, not a question.]

[ if she wants to stand there, that's fine. he'll look up at the ceiling instead. ]

Only nearly, and only twice-- out of four times. I've had worse odds.

Is it a family member? A sister? A mother?

[There is one other option, but she's not gonna fuckin' go there, because she really doesn't even want to consider that. It is probably the more likely of the options, considering his...memory situation.]

Who is it that I remind you of. That's it, is it now?

[STARING]

I don't--

[ -- what? he's protesting before he even gets a chance to fully process what she said, causing him to fumble his words. wince. like that doesn't help the suspicion any. ] I don't know what you're talking about.

[She sees the wince. She hears him trip over his words. She's positively looming now. Her head tilts to the side, and she suddenly looks incredibly...unimpressed.]

A lover?

[ a slow exhale. it's funny. he hadn't even realized he was holding his breath, there. ]

It doesn't matter who she was. You aren't her. [ only... a lot like her. a pause, and then he adds: ] I still want to know.

Good. Then we understand one another.

[Aka, this shit is gonna stop. RIGHT? She's still not answering that question. Her life is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.]

[ no response. marduk shuts his eyes, then sits up, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes. he is way too hungover for this shit. if he had his way, he wouldn't have left the damn bed until they forced everyone home. but this...

heh. actually, if he thinks about it-- it's funny that he got caught, so to speak. that might account for the half a smile he has when he glances over at seviilia, finally willing to make eye contact again. ] I doubt that.

[She merely snorts, a cloud of frost brief in front of her face before she turns and walks away from him, leaving him a path to the door. She still doesn't really get the curiosity, but if she's being honest, she only cares because she doesn't understand.

And since he's so hell bent on keeping the information from her, the only winning move is not to play. She's not sure when she subconsciously started scratching behind her right ear, but she continues until she makes it to the other side of the room, at which point she stops offering Marduk any sort of response and her arms fold across her chest.]

[ alright, alright. it looks like it's definitely time to go. marduk slides off the bed, flicking on the emitter as he goes. standing takes a lot of effort. walking, even more so. through some miracle, he makes it to door; he pauses there with it half open, hanging off of it for support as he looks back.

even with the wounds-- a number of them caused by him-- his hunch was right, before. ] You do look nice. [ he's gonna stick by that. ]

Operation: Roll Out

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aka nope, wrong

boy you cruisin for a bruisin

kiss :*

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