MachineSoul

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

Incubus, Blade, I can't put one up right now. As soon as I get home tomorrow, I'll start writing

Thunderbolt Black (Fighter Pilot Mercenaries)

I hoped that it would not come to this, but due to the circumstances I am, more or less, trapped in, I will no longer be able to participate in this roleplay actively. I am really sorry for this, I have let you down, Silver; I apologize if my absence has slowed anyone down, but from now, I will no longer be a burden. For now, I can not claim with certainty if I will leave Thunderbolt Black forever, or maybe return later in time, but I will leave. It has nothing to do with the story, with the people involved, the only one to blame is myself. You may do whatever you please with my character.

Again, I am very sorry for any inconveniences I may have created and I hope that we may meet in brighter days.

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

The canine felt less and less enthusiastic about his initiative and by then, there was nothing that he could say to reconcile with Mike; all that he could do was to make sure both of them would make it alive, then his tiger colleague would be free to beat him down to a pulp. It may have been a reckless act, but at least they had a lead. Aidan could barely enjoy the food mostly because his stomach clenched and pushed itself against the diaphragmatic dome, probably a sympathetic response to Michael's hostility and the unstable situation; plus making a fool of himself in front of a lady. Anger seemed to blossom in response to the circumstances, the canine was rubbing the pool cue with his thumb hard enough until it became sore, slightly bending the wood fibers as he exhausted some of the toxic emotion. Some time later the mink revealed that she wasn't fooled by his bluff, which only aggravated the dog's mounting anger and way before he could relax a little and rationalize with himself, Mike flushed the two most important balls from the table, urging the duo to go.

Aidan gnawed off one last bite of the greasy burger and poured the final chug of beer down the hatch before he dropped the pool cue back in its rack; after he paid the bill, the undercover pilot tightened the shoulder of the briefcase he was carrying and followed Michael. He decided to lag behind for the trip and check their backs every once in a while, he didn't really like the group back in the bar and he didn't want trouble just yet. Passing by the pharmacy, the dog took a good, long look at it, thinking of a way to dash in, get whatever he needed- but it wouldn't work like that, the stuff he needed was prescription only. Unless he robbed the place, there was no way he could get his hands on them. Not while things were still peaceful...

"Looks like our place." He muttered, breaking the silence once they spotted the park the lady mink mentioned. "There's a police station, so we've got our backs somewhat covered, depends on who opens fire first- if things go bad, that is." Aidan crossed his arms, waiting until the green light would allow him and Mike to cross the street and reach the park.

"Look, I know I've dragged you in a possible shit-hole, but we have something. If it's a good lead, we may as well become decorated heroes; if not, at least we didn't get fat with beer and grub all day long. From what I could tell, the lady was telling the truth, I... well, I have experience with liars, you know, from working in infirmaries. I- let's just go."

They did find the woman in the middle of a conversation, Aidan quickly silenced his every move and listened carefully. To him, it sounded like they hit the jackpot, a huge wave of relief washed away the figments of doubt fueling the anger inside that would slowly turn into frustration, rage. Regaining confidence once more, he put on his game face and rolled in. His smirk almost vanished when he realized that the other voice had disappeared from the scene; he nearly blew his cover, cancelling the muscle twitch that would turn his head to the right to look for the other person. He instead lowered his head to look at the mink through the slit between the top frame of his sunglasses and his cap.

"Ah, good. You turned up. So... let's talk. I have information, and I think you might want it. It's regarding a certain important woman"

"You mean, a certain important cargo. Well, you'd better start talkin', Minerva, time's something we don't have and if what you say is true, a war may begin today."

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

'Ey, gotta spice things up every once in a while, no? Like them younsters say, "YOLO biatches", or something like that

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

The mink's accent and general demeanor did rouse suspicion for the canine, or maybe, he was just too suspicious. But it wasn't only her, it was her PADD too, which had a map displayed moments before she powered the display off in an obvious rush. Again, maybe Aidan was a bit too suspicious; he also had some sort of hunch that told him he hit the jackpot, judging by the shady guys having a very private conversation. He soon found out she was, in fact, not the bartender, which raised a big question in his mind: who is she, then? Definitely, not the owner. The woman did offer to answer further questions, but before he could open his mouth, Michael intervened and tried to pull him out of a possible misunderstanding. The canine threw a befuddled look at his tiger colleague as he basically spoke for him, then, rushed over to the bartender to order the goodies. Who the fuck is Dave- oh! Wow. I do kinda' look like a Dave, I suppose Aidan thought while he followed Mike with his eyes as he tried to defuse the rather awkward situation. True, the canine didn't open the conversation very intelligently, but it was enough to have them noticed; eavesdropping won't be enough for the task, the boss did say they should snoop around. Aidan wanted to do that exactly, a wind of some sort of crazy courage hoisting him to open his mouth again.

"Well, I apologize for whatever, but let's cut to the chase." He started, his eyes shifting from Mike to the group of people hanging in the bar at the table. He leaned in closer to the woman and murmured in a dire tone.

"You've got LDF coming to Martenstown, they'll arrive in approx. two hours and they're ready to sweep. Don't ask who we are, just know we're here on the behalf of a partner interested in your "cargo's" security. Look, we don't have time for doubts and suspicions, by the time you contact boss and play stupid with us, you'll have a couple o'cruisers rake the city for 'em. I can give you the cruiser locations, that and the escape vehicles. We keep playing dumb for now, eat, drink, then we roll. We get out, you follow us, I'll mark everything on your PADD and we leave the city stat."

It was a huge bluff and Aidan instantly regretted. This plan would either work, either get them killed, or, he just made a fool of both of them in front of a, more or less, legit civilian. Should she and the others be genuinely concerned, they would heed his warning, or at least, that was what Aidan hoped for. He left the woman and refrained from looking back as he headed towards the pool table, where he started to arrange the balls and prepare the pool cues. When Mike did come to him, Aidan ignore any reproach from him and pulled him closer so he could whisper in full secrecy.

"Look, I've just planted a bluff. I learnt this stuff from- uh, a spec ops acquaintance. They think two landcruisers are headed to town and we have an escape convoy for them and the HVTs. We'll know if they're the guys we're looking for: if we get kicked out, or get in a brawl, it ain't them; if they follow us as we exit, it means they took the bait. Look, from all of the locales, this place is our best shot, the other two are too obvious and grimy to hide anything the military would be interested in. Also, we can't just sit and try to listen to their talk, you can imagine our guys would keep their mouths shut with us fooling around. We see what happens, but for now, play dumb, eat and drink, but try to trust me on this one. If shit hits the fan, I'll buy you as much booze as you can handle."

The courage faded and panic took over again, not knowing what to expect from these people; the possible consequences from his thinking could be dire, but he was used to taking such high risks due to his career. Now, he could only wait.

Your move.

Thunderbolt Black (Fighter Pilot Mercenaries)

I am not sure if I will be able to post within the given deadline. You may take out my character if things lead towards that

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

Seen 10 days ago

I totally didn't stalk him

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

ಠ_ಠ

I died

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

Aihara belongs to Shadowman, Kenny Maxwell is Cartwright's copyrighted property

I'll let you people post first. I need to do some thinkin on this one; oh, if only we had just as much time IRL to figure out how to talk to the ladies...

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

The canine fussed around the ramp, feeling slightly uncomfortable wearing something different than the uncomfortable BDUs and t-shirts issued by the LDF, but at least, he had a source of relaxation from Michael's laid-back attitude; if only he could be as confident on himself like the tiger was, Aidan blamed it mostly on the nature of his profession and his own slightly jumpy personality. He constantly readjusted his sunglasses and his cap, emitting an aura of both anxiety and impatience, something atypical coming from him. Boss finally started to lay out the plan for scouring the city for intel, but first, he had to split the team in three: Adrian would go with Blade to the market place, Es, Ken and Aihara were going together to the market area, leaving him with Michael. Piss. Dicks! swore Aidan in the back of his mind, feeling the immediate urge to cover his mouth not to let the expletives escape from his dirty snout. The sort of pairing Blade decided to go for completely thrown Aidan's plans to keep the whole medication issue a secret affair straight into the sewer; panic was rising, he could definitely feel his blood pressure and heart rate grow to dangerous levels and he needed those two in check to keep a frosty mind during the urban operation. Just as he was about to comment about the colonel's choices, the vulpine made sure that there was no place for rearrangements. And, really now, how were you going to say you don't want to stick with Nawlin, then? Aidan tried not to stare too much neither at the tiger, nor at the feline captain as they all headed out of the landcruiser to approach the city and get down to business. Still, he couldn't help looking at the captain, trying to look for any signs of her emotional breakdown. Even for a tough-as-nails woman like her, such dire news in a completely hostile environment would be too much to handle all alone... but she had him and her team, or, at least Aidan hoped she would try to let some of the tension out to her closer peers. In that moment, he couldn't really do anything useful for her without looking like a complete freak, so, he made sure to remind himself to grab the stuff she needed, even if he had to rob a place or two. Doctor Rocker was Oscar-Mike with doubt in his heart and a clear goal in his mind.

Not much later, he found himself walking down the streets of Martenstown, ignoring the view around him mostly unintentionally; actually, it was a good thing, he wouldn't look like a tourist to anyone by gawping at the surroundings. During the beginning of the trek, the canine didn't say much to the other GEAR pilot, a slight feeling of awkwardness growing in his stomach until he couldn't bear it anymore, so, he had to break the ice. Right before he could open his mouth, Mike spoke first, coming up with a good suggestion; the tiger's voice drew Aidan's attention, blinking at him behind the pair of aviator sunglasses.

"Pool? Ye, I'm game. 'T should help loosening up some more." He then redirected his view over to the corner of the block, suspecting that their target places wouldn't be too far. "Get a couple of beers and a large, greasy burger. Yeah, I didn't have breakfast."

"Alright. Our three objectives should be close en-" too military, you dimwit "-those three good spots to chill should be close enough, just gotta follow the GeePeeEss and we're there. So, uh, how's your family doing, Mi- Mitch?" Smooth.

And like the canine suggested, they reached the location in no time, but once they arrived there, Aidan instantly disliked the side streets; he was now finally on full alert, his eyes darting around his peripheral vision to check for any funny activity. He cleared his throat and took a quick look over the snapshots of the possible target locations, immediately identifying all three of them. And, lucky him, there was also a pharmacy on the same street, which drew most of his attention. He didn't have to think too much about how the two would approach the three locations, but he really had to think of a smart way to grab Es's stuff. He needed a more relaxed mind for such thinking processes, otherwise he would fumble and lose risking his liberty for the next few decades; losing his life would actually be a much easier outcome if things went south in his current state of mind.

"Alright, here we are, Mik-Mitch." Aidan gave the three locales another scan with his eyes. "We need more courage to get down in that basement and there's no pool table over at that targ-uh-terrace there. This one's got a jukebox an' a cute chick. Let's roll"

So, the canine was the first to enter the locale and, although there was a strong voice of doubt somewhere lost in the crevices of his brain, he knew he had to take off the sunglasses in order to appear less suspicious. Thus, he folded the sunglasses and hanged them from one of the upper buttons of his short-sleeved shirt and walked up to the lady mink shifting her gaze up and down, from one monitor to another. Nothing felt right to him: the people, the place, the atmosphere, the sunlight from outside, nothing felt in place, which, made Aidan feel some sort of vulnerability. To compensate for that, he mentally hanged a mask on his own face and tried to play a different role, creating an illusion of courage, confidence and chillness. He felt a slight shot of sharp pain in his left arm, right under the fresh bandage

"Mornin'. I'll have a stout and- yo, Mitch! You want something? Yeah, get him that and two of those Fat Boys, mine with extra mayo and I'll have you any day, sweetheart. Hey, can we borrow the pool table for a couple'a'games? Promise I'll be gentle on it."

It is all for a greater cause, kitten. Or at least, that's what I like to believe.