Anthracite Solstice (Cyberpunk d20)

Talk about things that are not making games here. But you should also make games!

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Post by Taco Bot »

Scott is thoroughly surprised. "Well, that's not at all what I expected. Sorry for doubting you, you seem like a pretty legitimate physician. So then, why are you taking a dirty job like this?"
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Bob the Hamster
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

Tokamak finishes her bratwurst.

"Not bad. I can imagine a lot of shady ways to use a thing like that, and it sounds like you found an ethical one. You're alright, Doc."

"Are we almost there? Which one is our stop?"
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Gizmog
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Post by Gizmog »

The doctor rolls his eyes."It's a boring use for it. Dirty jobs like this are fun, it's where the real medicine happens. Keep nice folks like you from getting hurt." Well... putting them back together after they get hurt. The truth can hurt. Not usually the best course of treatment. He gives a quick sniff. Smells like they're getting close. A quick peek down an alley confirms the bums are getting fatter and there's a neon glow on the horizon.

"Damn, I almost missed it!" he jumps to his feet and runs to the right side of the bus, leaning over as far as he can. At the first sight of an elaborate green sign, Dr. Hai-Po's Hypo-Lipo written on a shimmering green dragon, both the doc's middle fingers go up and stay up. "BOOO! GO SUCK YOURSELF! slime THIS PLACE! You aren't even a real doctor! Just a candlemaking son of a biiiiiiiiiitch!" As the sign fades into the distance, the doctor regroups and gives a smile. "Yep. We're gettin' real close."
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

Tokamak silently makes note of the location of Hai-Po's.

Might be handy to buy a few candles for the mission, she thinks. The AI will probably have total control of the lights.

"I'm gonna walk around the neighborhood and buy a few little supplies" Tokamak announces to the others-- "Unless you wanted to give us the grand tour, Doc?"
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Post by Gizmog »

"Nah, no need for a grand tour. You guys do whatever you need to do and we'll rendezvous back at the bus stop."
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Post by Taco Bot »

Scott doesn't have anything in particular he needs to do, so he follows after Tokamak.
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Bob the Hamster
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

Tokamak strolls back down the street towards Hai-Po's

She steps in the front door, which jingles as it opens and closes.

"Hey, I wanna buy some candles"

The receptionist's eyes bug out. She glances left and right rapidly.

"Wha... What? Are you a COP?"

"Nah, I just want to buy some candles, I heard this place was a candlemaker--"

"No! Hypo-Lipo! Read the sign! We are licensed medical professionals. We would definitely NOT be selling candles or any other tallow based products in the front of the store"

"Oh, my mistake. C'mon Scott."

The door jingles again on the way out.

Tokamak looks down the narrow side alley between Hai-Po's Hypo-Lipo and the adjoining Pho joint/Strip club. It is dark back there. A huge man is standing back there doing nothing, just leaning against a wall. His earth-tone hawaiian shirt and gleaming fully-cybered-out arms are lit by the flicker of a single candle resting on a crate in front of a sunken and grimy side-door. The thug makes eye contact with Tokamak for a menacing half-second, and then goes back to staring into the flame.
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Bob the Hamster
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

"This the right door for buying candles?" Tokamak asks the thug.

He doesn't reply, but since he also doesn't grab her or punch her, she opens the door and walks on in. She leaves it ajar behind her without checking to see whether or not Scott is following.

"Whoa! Damn!" she says, in spite of herself.

"Those are some creepy candles." She says to the long-bearded leather-gloved candlemaker next to the vat.

"Can I just buy a dozen of the... regular ones?"
Last edited by Bob the Hamster on Wed Apr 19, 2017 8:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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After a moment of hesitation, Scott follows Tokamak into the store, barely catching the door oh his way in.
"Uh, hey Tokamak..." Scott whispers, "Maybe we should buy our candles somewhere else? These people seem a little, um... preoccupied."
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Post by Gizmog »

Greg pulled out a card index and sandwiched himself into the elephant parade that was the express line. Strangely comfortable and quiet, walled off from the rest of the controlled chaos that is Big Kitty's Buffet. Like your very own portable eclipse, with just a hint of sweat, which was usually a foreign smell in this place. Big Kitty had spared no expense to guarantee that her home would be where calories were consumed, not burned. She'd even printed t-shirts bearing the slogan. A red flashing light rose over the mountain in front of him and set slowly behind, confirming what the sorrowful march had already told: the conveyor belt was broken again.

Not that the Doctor was in a hurry. The Express Line would've been a terrible choice if he was. Despite the name, it was always literally full of the most passionate and slowest customers. Piperman hoped that one day, one of the would-be Sumos would look down and say "I see you here every day, how do you stay so thin?" and that Piperman could fork over a business card and earn another customer. But that would require being seen, and the pudgy line consumed the doctor so fully that sometimes the hostess didn't even make him swipe his special card.

That one wasn't in the index. It was tucked into an inside pocket of the labcoat, hidden even more securely than his gun. Business black, holo-bordered with pink neon. Recognizable at a glance, and in these surroundings, a very dangerous thing to have. Lifetime membership, free entry. The man in front blundered off towards the Lo Mein, and the eclipse was broken. All at once, the whole crazy world was back. Forks and knives, plates and bowls. The sizzle of shrimp, the barrels of rice. Jets of flame rising three stories casting a crazy light around the place and people, people everywhere! Some of them shouting, laughing, whispering, but all of them eating. The doc covered his card and slid it into the lock. The gate lowered, granting him access and then jolted upwards to wait for the next patron.

He ignored the plate station and looked around for Big Kitty. No time for food, this was a business call. He'd have gone straight to the office otherwise. Something about being potentially trapped for weeks had put ol' Doc Piperman in the mood for some authentic Chinese food and if anyone would know about that, it'd be Big Kitty.
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

"Yeah..." says Tokamak distractedly, browsing the candles. "This'll just take a minute."

"Hey, this one has a tooth in it, is it full price?"

The bearded man leers and shakes his head in the negative.

"Okay, these ones."

The man wraps tthe dozen candles that Tokamak selected in brown paper. His tallow-slathered yellow rubber gloves stain the wrapping, making it smell disconcertingly of bacon.

Tokamak passes over some credits, and exits, giving the burly guard a nod.

"Anything else we need, Scott?" she asks, making her way back to the street.
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

Tokamak strolls down the street, not making any attempt at conversation with Scott.

As they head back to meed with Dr Greg, she is looking in the windows of shops, hoping to spot anything that looks like it might fall into both the categories of "Cheap" and "Useful when confronting murderous robots under the control of an insane AI"
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

Tokamak looks up from her empty bowl, and puts down her chopsticks. It had been a cranberry-kale szechuan cricket salad. The kale had been a little too GMO for her tastes, but it didn't matter because the crickets were so big and succulent and the szechuan sauce was so fiery.

The meal had absorbed all her attention, and only now did she realize that she was alone at the table. Scott's cup of coffee was still there, half empty and cold. Had he said he was heading to the bathroom? She didn't remember, but he sure had been gone a long time...

She looked around the chaos of Big Kitty's Buffet, trying to guess which side door or back room Dr Greg had vanished into. He had been gone even longer than Scott.

Was she going to have to do this job herself?... It what if Scott and Greg snuck off to do the job themselves, and cut her out of it?

Suddenly those crickets weren't sitting quite so well.
Last edited by Bob the Hamster on Sun Oct 15, 2017 3:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
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