forum The Secret of the Roux

Started March 06, 2020 by @Mr.Misfit

tune

Lynn followed after Derek, a hand resting on the gun at his side. He wasn't sure what to expect, so he wanted to be prepared for any and all likelihoods. He was silent, mind wrapped up in his own issues. Namely, raising enough money to take care of his own issues. He needed money. He had been recently diagnosed with something, and the medication was so expensive that as things stood now, he couldn't afford it. And without the medication… without that, he could very well die. He hadn't told any of the others yet; he didn't think they needed to know.

Derek finally reached the top of the Titan and wiped the sweat of his brow as he sat and surveyed the old fields. Holes littered the landscape where Inquisition orbital lasers had decimated every active Roux signal, effectively ending the Rouxi defense.

Derek shook his head. The end was quick and painless for most of them. That’s All he had to think. He looked down at his team, trying to find a distraction. “Lynn!” he called, “You never told me why you don’t just sell that gun.”

Lynn looked up, raising an eyebrow. "Uh…because I need it?" he had already sold most everything he could. He climbed up beside Derek, shaking his head. "Plus, this is the last I've got of my family. Not gonna sell this unless I haven't got a choice." he had a faint accent to his voice that was a bit difficult to place. He shrugged his shoulders slightly.

(Question: have they like…colonized/settled other planets/the moon yet?)

(I'd say yes, but the status of those colonies is in some serious question. Also the invasion of Tarim happened centuries ago, so these guys haven't lived through it, and if there are any outside Roux, they don't know about the guys living here.)

"Need it for what? Inquisition? Good luck…" Derek sighed as he started setting up the mounted saw, "You can't penetrate their armor nowadays. It's all shields and nano-steel. Roux tech, by the way. They just added more of it and made it look like Inquisition standard-spec. In short, I don't think anything we have could break it."

Kyrie hummed to himself as he surveyed the downed Titan, his scarred fingers hooked into the shoulder straps of his empty pack. His toolbelt jingled as he walked through the desolate fields, and his eyes traced the lower edges of where the metal of the Titan met the ground, searching for anything that might have been caught in between. He looked up at the two on top of the fallen Titan, planning to join them in a moment.

(ohh okay. Would it be feasible for Lynn to be from one of the colonies, or nah??)

Lynn shrugged slightly. "It still works on other people. And besides, it's one of the last things I've got that belonged to my family." He replied, looking at Derek and arching an eyebrow.

(Maybe his lineage could originate from a colony. Idk about him….)

Derek shrugged, satisfied, and worked on getting the saw functioning. The blade jammed on the first go, the belt fell off on the second. On the third go, the blade caught metal. The saw began to chew through the hull, so Derek stepped away. The noise was too loud to hear anything over it when he was right there next to it.

(hm okay)

Lynn winced slightly at the sound, taking a small step away as well, shaking his head. "Fuck, man. That's loud." he commented, shaking his head slightly, running his fingers through his hair.

Taran shook her head and sighed. "Could you guys be any louder?" She stretched her arms over her head, cracking her back, leaning backwards to stretch, and straightened. "Oh wait. That was a stupid question. Of course you could." She jerked her head in a random direction. "I don't think the dead heard you. Try to be louder, why won't you?"

“Taran,” Derek said over the sound of the saw, “I can only think of two things louder than that saw: you on one of your episodes, and me when I snore. If I wanted to wake the dead, I’d be taking a nap.” Derek looked off towards Dai Tarsoni, the slum-village he and his team were based in. He’d been making scavenging runs for… what, about 4 weeks now? All of that time had been in and out of Tarsoni, just trying to scrounge up the parts to get by.

“Come to think of it, I could use a nap right about now…”

"That hurts, right here." Taran rolled her eyes. "And we could all use a nap. But we really shouldn't let you sleep. You'd never wake up. And then the dead would come for us, because your snores are so loud, and they would kill us as well. And you'd be safe, because you'd be asleep like a fucking bear." She shook her head and moved to the edge of the hole that he had made, and peered in. "Found anything good?"

“Nope, not yet. I cut a hole in the wrong spot,” he said, picking up the saw, “Friggin’ foundries couldn’t build up to a standard code. Maybe that’s how they beat us…” he set down the saw and gave it a try. No good. “…Maybe they were just better builders. I don’t know about you, but I don’t see Inquisition equipment malfunctioning.”

"It'd be a shame if it was," Kyrie sighed, hopping up over the edge to where the rest of the group were, "–If we lost, just because they had better shit." He walked over to look down at the hole; the product of the momentary screeching of the saw. "But I guess that's what it's all about, when it comes to fightin'," Kyrie said, letting out a sigh, "Resources."

Derek nodded, “Yeah, that’s probably about half to three quarters of it. They’re big, but they use resources like we use spare parts nowadays: too much for our own good. I’ve seen some of their assemblies.” He pushed the saw down and it bit right away this time.

The saw completed another pass and this time, it was an opening into the Titan’s controls. Bingo.

“Here we are,” Derek said cheerily, waving a hand to Taran, “Psychos first?”

Lynn had been silent, wrapped up in his own thoughts and ignoring the others. He needed to tell them what was going on with him. He blinked as it opened up, shaking his head and banishing his thoughts.

"Why thank you," Taran said cheerfully to Derek, stepping toward the opening. "I didn't know that logs had manners." She ducked slightly to get into the opening before running her hands along the controls, a frown on her face as she concentrated. Then, she gave a grin and turned back to the others. "It's a good one!"

Derek jumped down, landing on the bulkhead and smiling, “That she is. Weapons vault should be close to the heart of the Titan. This sucker’s on its back, though, so be careful trying to climb about.” He helped the others down, and they began to make their way towards the center of the Titan.

Lynn jumped down, wincing slightly as his feet hit the ground, the impact shaking up his body. He ran his fingers through his hair, letting out a slow breath as he followed Derek and Taran.

Kyrie stepped towards the hole, slowly lowering himself in and landing with a quiet thump. He stared longingly at the controls and sleek wiring along the walls as they passed them, wondering what it'd felt like being the mechanics and engineers to build such a beast of a machine.

"I'm always careful," Taran said, just as she tripped. She flailed her arms around, caught her balance, and straightened her shirt, doing her best to look dignified. "I meant to do that."

"Thank you, Taran," Derek taunted, "for a perfect example of what I mean."

He slipped past her and kicked at a door that would've been on a wall. It gave way and he peered down with his flashlight. Thankfully, this room wasn't too far to jump down. Carefully, he guided himself down.

"You're welcome. I always try to be a model for others." She sniffed in mock disgust and brushed away invisible dirt from her clothes before following him. She lept lightly down into the opening, landing lightly on her feet, nearly missing hitting Derek with her flailing arms as she worked to keep her balance.