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

[hyanaimne]

[if she were anything other than an elf, Tempest may have raised both eyebrows in surprise. But as it is, elven ages don't surprise her at all]

Mm, no, it isn't. Nor is it too difficult to learn.

[inafadingcrown]

May I ask where you are from? [Because she doesn't think this woman is from Arda, but it's so very strange that she speaks Quenya if she is not.]

[hyanaimne]

A country known as Daear; no one seems to have ever heard of it. [and she's gotten used to that; it's probably for the best]

[inafadingcrown]

I have not either, alas. Strange that my native tongue should be spoken in a land that is unknown to me.

[hyanaimne]

It is a bit more common than comfortable, yes? There are other elves here, from other worlds with similarities far too close to my own.

[inafadingcrown]

[A soft little hum] There are some similarities, true, but I have found the elves of my own world to be quite distinct. [Another little smile] You are all so very young.

[hyanaimne]

[comparatively? Yeah, Tempest is a baby compared to everyone else. And usually she would dance around the topic at hand, but not this time]

I am only half-elven, so I do not age the same as you or the others would. [she grins a bit, and hopes that that little admittance doesn't ruin the conversation]

[inafadingcrown]

Do you not? [It's just curiosity in her voice, nothing more.] In Arda, the line of the Half-Elven, the descendents of Lúthien and Beren, are granted a choice in the matter- to be counted among elves or men. [And they age accordingly]

[hyanaimne]

We . . . are given a choice in if we wish to live the lifespan of a man or an elf, but we are not counted as either. [and that sort of choice being available kind of boggles her mind, just a bit] Nor do we really . . . live as long. For various reasons.

[inafadingcrown]

[Her brow furrows a little at those pauses.] Forgive me if I have strayed onto a topic which troubles you.

[hyanaimne]

It does not trouble me so much as it is a bit strange to talk about, sometimes.

[inafadingcrown]

I thank you for humoring me, then. [She grows quiet for a moment.] My grandchildren face just such a choice.

[hyanaimne]

You needn't thank me. [her lips twist for a moment, wry] Most of the people I speak with often are human or . . . not, so that is why it is a bit strange. I've spent most of my life with humans, as well, despite . . . [she waves a hand]

Your grandchildren?

[inafadingcrown]

[She nods.] My daughter is wed to Lord Elrond Peredhil- Half-Elven, in Sindarin. Their children face the same choice their father did.

[hyanaimne]

Ah—I have met him. [she makes a brief face, though, when she brings up choices] It is not an easy choice to make.

[inafadingcrown]

I know. [It's said quietly, thoughtfully- with just a trace of the sorrow underneath it.] But you met Lord Elrond, you say? [A shift in topic is good.] I am glad; he is a good man.

[It's a small, simple statement, but somehow there's a lot of praise packed into it. She holds him in very high esteem, that much is obvious.]

[hyanaimne]

[Tempest knows a topic change when she hears one, and she goes with it] He seems that way - I enjoyed speaking with him.

[inafadingcrown]

I am glad. Did he honor you with any tales of our world? He is a great loremaster.

[hyanaimne]

He did not, no . . . nor did I think to ask, really. I am admittedly not very good at speaking with others.

[that is an understatement, Tempest]