Camping: Part II!

[kingtyrantranger]

Jason didn't exactly sell the new world well. Stepping through the Threshold Gate, the Legionnaires find themselves on a landing platform overseeing their new vacation hotspot. The first thing they'll notice is that everything feels slightly heavier. Nothing dramatic, but if they were carrying a hundred pounds of stuff, now they've got twenty more pounds weighing them down. The planet, Futuro's Folly, is as advertised, hollowed out with the entire ecosystem on the inside. Outside, if they'd bothered to look, there was only a barren, crater-pocked surface of a dwarf planet about half the size of Pluto. Inside, however...

While they're standing in the midst of what was surely once a base of some kind, the criminal resort according to Jason, it doesn't stretch out very far. Just about three quarters of a mile out, the 'settled' area ends, taken over by a vibrant jungle of dense violet and orange foliage, with gigantic red and blue mushrooms filling just as much area as the trees. More, in some cases, as some of them seem to be miles high off in the distance, just when the earth seems to start curving in on itself. An orange sphere that seems to be the size of a silver dollar hangs in space above their heads, with something rotating in the core of it. If anyone were to watch it, the orb flickers rapidly as rings blur around the sphere itself. After about 8 in the evening, the fields that the rings generated would turn slightly opaque, bringing darkness to the entire planet at once.

The former crime resort itself isn't exactly in the best of shape. By 31st century standards, the technology is centuries out of date and finding people who are capable of repairing it without ruining the 'historical significance' is increasingly difficult. There are six main buildings other than the small spaceport they're standing in:

• The main building. The top three floors were once dedicated to administration, communications, and security. The bottom two floors are dedicated recreational areas, with infonet hookups (reception's not a problem when you can turn your entire planet into a signal amplifier), a variety of holographic games, and a bar/lounge area with some futuristic gambling machines tucked into a corner. Jason has turned on the parental controls, however.



• Behind the main building is the storage center. There's a vast array of vehicles, furniture, and machinery that can be asked for, and it's all stored underground. Simply type in a command and the robots underground will shove the requested item into the gravity tubes, shooting them up to the customer's level.



• The food court has the option to make your own food as well as an outdated and slightly buggy robo-chef that can make a variety of meals. Meat is on the menu, but if anyone asks for meals that require it, they'll have a long wait. The larder hasn't been stocked in centuries. However, it does have coffee. STRONG coffee. And just about any vegan meal you could ask for. It's open air, but can be covered with a dome at the push of a button. The dome has controllable transparency and can be programmed to display any number of things as a ceiling.



• Standing roughly three hundred yards apart are two convertible athletic fields, each about a half-mile in distance. In the old days, they'd hold races or gladiatorial bouts in them. They'll form just about any field needed, however, from obstacle courses and splatterball to golf to the now-illegal slaughterball rings or laser tag arenas. However, most of the gear needed to play is in the storage center.



• Finally, there's a single public bath house. Rather than the sonic showers of Legion World, these use real water. The bath house holds rooms for spas, saunas, massages, public bathing, and showers. Jason has assured everyone, however, that there are private bathing arrangements. He neglects to mention the cameras that subtly fill the rooms, though they are now sporting brand new Legion of Super-Hero stickers over the lenses to keep everyone's privacy intact.



• About a quarter a mile off in the distance, there's about fifty luxhabs. Small cabins built for two people at most, with private bath rooms, small kitchenettes with freshly stocked food, personal computers, and a communications system to contact other luxhabs or make orders from the main house and kitchen. Food can be delivered by small drones if it's called for. The beds are made of a oxygenated memory gel, capable of taking nearly any consistency and shape requested, from a pudding to rows of gel-blades. Climate controls, down to programming the inhabitant's favored atmosphere or filling the luxhab with water, are in full effect. The outsides are programmable ferroliquids, so the guest can customize their vacation home's exterior, even going as far as to add porches.

When the Legionnaires approach the border, heading to the wilderness, there's a small, almost decorative-looking wall. Even those with normal hearing will pick up on a ringing tone as they get closer to it, like a bad case of tinnitus. Walking through the gates is almost like walking through an actual barrier, but once they've done that, the noise fades the further they get from it. The sonic barrier covers the resort in a dome, meaning that they'd run into the same thing if they flew straight up.

Immediately outside the wall, the jungle starts abruptly. And, compared to the relative silence of the resort, the noise of life is practically deafening. Bugs clicking, birds calling, animals screaming at one another, it all slowly fades in the deeper they get. There are trails through the jungle, but they're slowly becoming overgrown as the resort's popularity slowly fades.

As they go deeper, it's not hard to find the first actual animals. Totally unused to humanoid life, they show more curiosity than fear. Small, chicken-sized dinosaurs roam in packs, sloth-like creatures hang from the ceilings, and there are trees that have been knocked over, and recently, in some huge brawl between titans. Every now and then, a small batch of overgrown buildings can be found, mechanical parts pushed out of them by growing vines, or torn out by wild animals. Slow, crackling noises that sound like drawn out thunder echo in the distance as something snaps trees, some of them several dozen feet in diameter, like twigs in the pursuit of prey.

The only thing that Jason's marked on the maps, beyond the default markers that the resort gives out, is a lake about five miles outside of the resort. Set in a clearing, it's over a mile long and several hundred feet deep, with a cave system connected to it underneath. The data regarding the caves is corrupt, the maps refuse to include them. A river feeds into the lake by a waterfall, and a number of small creeks seem to spring up near it. It's not uninhabited, there are several fish in there. And, possibly, something living in the caverns underneath. It's rare, but someone might see animals drinking from time to time, from the small dinosaur packs to titanic mammoths... with weapon mounts that alarmingly track anything that move too close, too fast.

There's a lot to work with, and Jason's rented the place for several days. Hopefully, everyone will find what they need to relax and recover from their recent traumatic events. Or just socialize and meet new people.

[[Okay, so there's some generic activity headers up right now. Feel free to pick one up and run with activities running in any of those areas. For those of you who wanted action, I'll have a separate top-level for that. However, I won't be running any of that chaos, so feel free to take it in the direction you'd like.

If you want to do anything, anything at all, and it doesn't fit into one of my toplevels, feel free to make a new thread entirely! Go wild with it, y'know?]]

Comments

[mylawn]

"My name."

Which seems to be a number, and his dry tone suggests that he's entirely serious about this.

"I ain't that old. Come on."

Now that they're properly introduced, he'll waste no time in continuing to trudge in the direction she was heading.

[thewildflower]

Is he still joking? That tone definitely suggests he isn't a comedian, but that name only creates more questions than it does provide answers.

"Er, no, that is...I didn't think you were, but I also didn't think that was your name, sir. I apologize."

At least he isn't heading the way she arrived; she doesn't really want to go back, she wants to keep looking around. She stands still for a second or two before following after him, her steps light and quiet.

"Is that your Legionnaire name? It's an interesting choice, sir."

[mylawn]

"It's what people call me."

So, not technically a choice, though he supposes he could have gone with something different here on Legion World. The truth is that when the media branded him with his current alias, he didn't care enough to go by anything else. It's functional. It suits him.

And if it takes this conversation to get her to relent on the buddy system, well. 76 is willing to entertain it. He pushes further into the forest, environment scanner activated and searching for any signs of life.

"Not a problem, I hope."

[thewildflower]

"No, no, it isn't a problem at all! There are stranger things about this world than your name, after all."

There's an earnestness in her voice as she attempts to make up for guessing so many things about him. It really isn't a problem. Or at least it shouldn't be. It's no weirder than someone calling themselves the Hurricane or Mad Dog, right?

She follows after him, curiosity rising as she steps through the jungle.

"I'm actually glad for company," she admits, even if she thinks her companion is still a bit strange. "I was once scolded for not knowing the names of everyone in my company, you see."

[mylawn]

Stranger things that might jump out of the woods and attack them, he's sure. Hence the insistence on the buddy system. Now that she's relented, however, 76 seems altogether more agreeable, falling in steps with her easily and keeping his visor running while they talk.

Just in case.

"Your company?"

That gets his attention, if only for the military slant of the phrase.

[thewildflower]

"That's right!"

She reaches out to hold a particularly bizarre looking bud with her gloved right hand. She doesn't bend down close to it, but even the flora on alien planets is interesting.

Once she's done, she starts moving again.

"It catches some people by surprise here, I think, but it's really nothing extraordinary where I'm from. I'm a soldier serving for one of the noble houses of my country, sir."

[mylawn]

It's not that he's surprised, really--76 has met soldiers of all shapes and sizes, and he knows more than most people not to judge books by their covers. Whatever world she's from, 76 can already guess that it isn't as scientifically advanced, but war tends to be the same no matter what. People just fight it with different tools.

"Yeah?"

Perhaps he sounds a bit interested.

"Career military?"

[thewildflower]

It's fine if he's interested. Rebecca will take those questions as a sign that he is, and it helps make her feel a little more comfortable about escorting a sexagenarian about the jungle.

"Ah, no! I wasn't formally trained...but in the village, I always hunted my own food. When Lord Eliwood saved my village from my bandits, I decided I'd go with him and see the world for myself. If you haven't guessed, I've skill with a bow."

Her motives are deeper than that, but at the same time she's happy to share at least that much. There's obvious warmth and fondness to her voice at just mentioning her liege's name.

"It was...certainly a big change, but in a way I think it helped me adjust to being a Legionnaire."

[mylawn]

He supposes he could just ask her about her world outright, but he's getting enough context clues to make a few educated guesses. To start, the fact that her village was saved from bandits, to say nothing of her somewhat anachronistic weapon.

But hey, if she's good at it, what does it matter? The Legion--for all he doesn't trust them--seems pretty good at giving people the necessary abilities to hold their own in the spacefuture.

"They upgrade you at all? When you got here?"

[thewildflower]

"I plan to speak to the nerds about it, actually."

There's no condescension when she mentions nerds. Instead, she sounds more reverent, like it's actually their job title and not an insult. As far as she knows? It is. 'Nerd' isn't really in her vernacular.

"But I'd rather have something new. This bow...it's the only thing I have with me that comes from home." She thinks for a second, then shakes her head. She ought to be paying more attention to their surroundings, but... "I'm talking an awful lot about myself, aren't I? You can take over whenever you'd like."

[mylawn]

He outright laughs at her use of the nerds, like she doesn’t quite know what the word means. 76 knows who she’s referring to, of course, which just makes it funnier. To his credit, he puts a lid on it fairly quickly so as not to make her think she’s said something wrong, but it’s clear he’s amused either way.

“I can understand that.”

He won’t let them touch his pulse rifle, after all, though that’s less about sentimental value and more the fact that he worked very hard to steal it. The last thing he wants is for it to be tampered with.

“Afraid I’m not that interesting.”

[thewildflower]

She's not sure why he's laughing, but the fact that he's laughing does put her further at ease. At least she's used to dealing with people who seem grumpy, but for some reason Sir 76 seems a little more intimidating than Raven had been.

"I suppose I shouldn't say it's the only thing from home...there's a replica of my village in the habitat bay, should you ever forget what a river looks like."

Is she salty about the lack of water in the showers? Damn straight she is, there's no getting used to being blown at to get clean.

"But there must be something. What's your favorite food?"

[mylawn]

Yeah, the showers are pretty weird, but 76 has been military for so long that he doesn't bat an eye at most strange living arrangements. They want him to use some weird sound device to get clean? Fine. Whatever. He's adjusted to much worse.

What he doesn't like is having the conversation trained on him, even for something as innocuous as a favorite food. He isn't hostile about it, but there's some discomfort evident in his voice.

"That's your question?"

Really?

[thewildflower]

"Why not?"

She sounds hopeful about her question either way. It's meant to be an easy question to begin with, since he doesn't seem like the conversational type. Plus, she's already made plenty of blunders in this conversation.

"Everyone has one. I'm not going to believe you if you tell me that you don't like to eat, Sir Seventy-Six."

[mylawn]

"Well, that's the answer, unfortunately."

Probably he's joking--he has to be--but he's so deadpan about it that it might be difficult to be absolutely certain. He does run mostly on caloriemates and unadulterated rage, after all.

[thewildflower]

"I'd never imagined someone with a face like that could have such a playful personality."

She feigns exasperation. She either doesn't believe him or she refuses to believe him, but the end result is the same. Once she's decided to talk to someone, they'll find that she is quite the talker...unless they make her cry, which she really hopes isn't going to happen.