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

[getoffmyearth]

[Are they about to have a serious on the spot discussion about why people drink? Dear god, he has probably not drunk enough to prepare for this moment.]

Sometimes it's just about trying to have fun and enjoy spending time with people. Come on, Adam, how often do we just get to sit down and not try to fix the universe? It's ok to relax, just for a bit. Sometimes you have to let yourself do that if you ever want to keep moving forward without losing it.

[awarlock]

[ yes, because drinking is about having fun and relaxing and that's not running away from the current problem they face. he looks at peter and doesn't take in a word he said. ]

That may be how it works for you but not for me. I have learned from my past that it is better to forgo that so-called necessity. The universe is a unending and unyielding, Peter. There is and will always have something that needs to be fixed.

[getoffmyearth]

I know that, Adam.

[Suddenly serious, because apparently they are going to have a very serious discussion, and he may be drunk off his ass, but he can do that if he has to. Seriously. Very serious right now.]

But you can only carry so much pressure for so much before you need to let some of it go sometimes. You might be on another level from the rest of us, Adam; I can't even begin to understand what all you are and what it signifies, but even you have limits. Breaking points. Sometimes you need to let some things go so you can face what's coming tomorrow, before you crack from all the weight you're trying to carry. Even if it's just for one night under the influence of whatever inebriating substance you can get in a shitty bar.

[awarlock]

[ he gives peter a stony look, as he often does. because if they're having this conversation, peter might need to be a little drunker than this. and maybe he needs to take a sip himself but he's refraining right now, still haunted by his past involvement with it. ]

The circumstances of my life has trained me well, Peter. I remember what it was to know nothing and have no understanding of what my life's purpose is. And I know I would rather carry that pressure than have none at all, even if it's just for a moment. That pressure reminds me of why I'm here, my life and a purpose in it. Having none of those, letting myself go, is a moment I don't want to come.

[ a beat before he continues. ]

Letting myself go, I become someone I don't want to be. Do you understand my reluctance?

[getoffmyearth]

[Peter is well beyond wasted and steadily into shit-faced. Which is the only reason he's having this argument in the first place. Because if he were the slightest bit more sober, he would know he's fighting a losing battle, and...would probably approach this with something like more tact, and dignity, whatever dignity he has.]

Adam, you're not burning through your power, you're not going to go evil from one drink. What you will do is facilitate trust, teamwork, and friendship, and frankly, Adam, for once I'd like to have a conversation with you where it doesn't seem like you're dying of stiffness and a stick up your ass. Please. For the love of god. Can we just have a moment that's not about trying to desperately save the world or arguing where we act like normal people?

[awarlock]

[ There's a beat where Adam stares at Peter and tries to gauge his level of sobriety. ]

You may have a point. I may not turn evil [ C'mon Peter. That's rude. ] but I will turn into someone else, won't I. My experience with alcohol is just that. I turn into someone I didn't choose to be.

[Which begs the question, why Peter is so willing to lose control.

He's gives Peter another look. This one is definitely judging, full of disappointment. Because he sees Peter's point, that some how this will loosen them up and get them more fluid as a team. But first of all, he's not "dying of stiffness" and alcohol isn't the way.]

We don't live as normal people, Peter Quill. What makes you think that we would act like them?

[getoffmyearth]

[Peter's never really felt like he had control. Or, no...he did, once. But he didn't know what he was doing. He's never entirely known what he was doing, even at the height of his plans. And he's more of a normal person than he thought he was, when he was younger. When he'd thought he was more exceptional than he feels he is now.]

Speak for yourself. I don't have any nifty cosmic powers. [That would sound self-pitying, but...actually, it does kind of sound self-pitying, but really he's just trying to make a point. He doesn't know how to continue this argument, though, he doesn't know how to make it clear to Adam what he wants, or why.

Which leaves him saying, suddenly:]

Do it because we're friends, then, and that's what friends do.

[awarlock]

[ That's almost something that Pip would say. Some where his best friend is drinking his life away because that's what he does. While Adam doesn't get how they find any enjoyment in it, he can understand the sentiment behind drinking with a friend. Because thinking of Pip in that instance reminds him that they might not get another chance like this.

So Adam finally but reluctantly drinks the contents of his glass without thinking too much about it. He brings his elbows up on the counter and covers his mouth with his hand. He doesn't look at Peter but at the glass instead, staring at it as if it'll tell him what the hell he just put inside him. ]

That is disgusting.

[getoffmyearth]

[Try not to laugh, try not to laugh, ok he can't help it, he has to kind of giggle-snort a bit at that. Oh god, he didn't actually think Adam would do it, but it worked. They must really be friends then.

Somehow that makes him feel a lot better, although why is a mystery for a much more sober time.]

They're not serving anything that great, no. You get used to it after awhile. [Coughs, still trying really hard not to outright laugh.] I can't believe you just tossed it down like that.

[awarlock]

[ It's not like he puts a lot things in his mouth to work those tastebuds so maybe his senses are just lagging. ]

I wasn't expecting great. I was hoping that it would be less revolting.

[ See this look, Peter Quill, it's a look that says if you laugh anymore he's going to zap you sober. ]

[getoffmyearth]

[He's trying, Adam, he's trying. He'll get it under control, promise. It's not nice to laugh at one of your best friends who clearly can't help his total lack of experience with alcohol.]

Sorry, buddy. It's an acquired taste, like coffee. You can get drinks where you don't hardly taste it, though, if you're willing to risk the shame of the paper umbrella.