007. action. mostly open!

[strikeraid]

[ Skyler has been out and about for a great deal of time during this Christmas holiday! Let us count the ways: ]

[ Option A: Oh Shit Let's Be Santa; or, Christmas shopping with his kid sister ]

[ THIS PROMPT IS WIDE OPEN CONTEXTUALLY! On the day of the 21st, Skyler will be walking around local shopping centers and the mall with a very cheery looking little girl, her jingle bell earrings tinkling as she turns her head and points at the next store she wants to go to, and the next, and the next. Skyler himself looks pretty harried, but allows himself to get pulled every which way, his arms slowly getting loaded down with shopping bags.

Catch him between trips resting on a bench while she traipses through the local Claire's clone, or intervene somewhere before or after he gets dragged into Build-a-Bear. IT'S UP TO YOU. THE SKY'S THE LIMIT. Hey, that stray Echo your character may get upon looking at him face to face might be enough, right? ]

[ /Option A: Oh Shit Let's Be Santa; or, Christmas shopping with his kid sister ]

[ Option B: Oh Shit Let's Be Santa mk II; or, Christmas shopping on his lonesies ]

[ The same as the above, but with no kid sister and totally available between the 21st through the 23rd. He will be keeping much more to himself and sticks mostly to department stores, checking his phone or brushing past in an aisle or standing in line at a register, not really looking anyone in the eye, but the Echo trigger may still apply! ]

[ /Option B: Oh Shit Let's Be Santa mk II; or, Christmas shopping on his lonesies ]

[ Option C: Blood Key Off Duty: haha duty ]

[ This Blood Key is sitting on a bench in the bohemian district, off duty and on his phone, but the sunglasses and the hoodie are a dead giveaway. He seems to be pretty distracted and not at all interested in your character... Advance or abscond? ]

[[ ooc: please note that i'd prefer to plan it in advance a little bit if your character wants to pick a fight! feel free to pm me or leave me an ooc message in the post so we can hash out the scenario really quick :) ]]

[ /Option C: Blood Key Off Duty: haha duty ]

[ Option D: Blood Key On Duty: YA GETTIN ROBBED SON ]

[ Oh, friend, why are you even here? They came in twos and threes and surrounded you faster than should really be possible. A guy in a dark grey hoodie and a metal pipe should be present, but he's not going to be the first one to talk. ]

[[ ooc: again, please note that i'd prefer to plan it in advance a little bit if your character wants to pick a fight! feel free to pm me or leave me an ooc message in the post so we can hash out the scenario really quick :) ]]

[ /Option D: Blood Key On Duty: YA GETTIN ROBBED SON ]

[ Option E: Blood Key On Duty: The One Where Skyler Tries To Rob a Girl [laugh track] (closed to blastiaobsessieanonymous) ]

[ Ever since the encounter with the girl with the purse, Skyler's been struggling to justify the fact that... holy shit, they're actually robbing people. People who probably don't deserve it. "Everyone else deserves it if they're on our turf" tends to be the general attitude among the Keys, but... Skyler tuts to himself as he rounds the corner and sees a lone figure wandering a little too close into Key territory. He doesn't exactly see eye to eye with the Keys, but he's not about to blow his own cover either. He's going along with it. It's a struggle, but he'll get used to it, he thinks.

Which is why he goes alone to tap her on the shoulder with his pipe. He pushes a little roughly, but it's mostly just to get her attention. He coughs a little and prepares to adopt a deeper voice that he's been using for these encounters. Mostly, he's depending on his appearance to make his intentions clear. The shades and bandanna over his mouth should make it pretty obvious, right? ]

[ /Option E: Blood Key On Duty: The One Where Skyler Tries To Rob a Girl [laugh track] (closed) ]

[[ ooc: Please note that if your character interacts with Skyler in any of these options, they will gain one echo if they haven't gotten a Blood Key echo yet! ]]

Comments

[ursoreckless]

No worries there. I just need to wake up a little before going home.

[nods and puffs a little smoke, not looking at him, not doing anything much but looking up at whatever bit of sky he can see and sort of humming under his breath. he's got a good voice though the song itself seems a bit sad.]

[strikeraid]

[ He makes a sound of confirmation at that, then settles in, thinking idly about the rumor he knows he's heard. A boy who caught one of the guys on fire, that girl who blew up an alleyway and wiped out an entire squad. This guy. Something about packing heat? He's pretty sure this guy's mentioned having some sick gunskills now in one of his posts. Sue him if he remembers; besides the gang, the network is his entire social network now. And that's... fucked up.

Either way, it's kind of an inextricable mess they've gotten themselves into, the network. No one's going to give an inch.

He sighs. That song was getting annoying. ]

You didn't have to sit down.

[ursoreckless]

[problem was that shou really didn't hate the blood keys. sure they were a pain in the ass and they did attack the clinic, but they were a gang. people should expect some bloody confrontations with gangs, especially if they think their territory was getting stomped on. the only problem was the fact that the blood keys were augmented. that fact could only come from something not really normal. then there was all that crap going on in the center of this place, pretty much stomping all over the territory lines, which had him think about his vague recollections from his past self.

which meant the keys were bought out and letting someone stomp over their territory in exchange for better gear. that wasn't good in shou's eyes. he wished he remembered why.]

I didn't feel like standing.

[strikeraid]

[ Skyler grunts again. Time to stop beating around the bush like a couple of coy old ladies with gossip. He's not really the type. ]

I've heard of you. Shot out a lot of us. [ ... ] Didn't kill any of us, though. Kneeshots. Why?

[ursoreckless]

So they did survive?

[he thinks about it for a moment and then chuckles softly, flicking ash onto the ground before taking a reflective puff.]

Just cuz they weren't paying attention doesn't mean it should cost them their lives. I've got no grudge against people that'll leave me alone and if they do try coming back after me, I would understand.

Still doesn't mean I'd go easy on them. In another place and another time, it may have cost them more than a couple kneecaps.

[strikeraid]

[ ... man, did he sound like that when he's talking about network shit? Note to self: stop sounding so mysterious or say nothing at all if you can. ]

Yeah. They fixed them up. Some of them are running around again. Dunno if they'd go after you. It's not my business.

[ He watches the smoke rise in the air, thinking through his next remarks. ]

You're with the other weird ones, right? The ones that keep killing us.

[ursoreckless]

[part of it was the alcohol talking. shou was a heavy drinker, pride himself on being able to hold his head when most men pass out, but it does have a way making him sound like he was a fortune cookie. but another part was the other, coming out by shortening his words, giving his accent a sharper edge, making his Rs roll. if skyler had ever hung around street toughs Japan Town way, he would recognize it.

tongs and yakuza intermingle down there and shou's accent matched theirs in spades.]

Think about it. Most of us were normal people, living our normal boring lives and not even knowing much about anything going on. Then one day you can see something not quite normal and then someone dies for mentioning their fears to a cop. Now we're all running around, getting caught up in this mess and when we go to a place where no one asks questions to treat things that would cause us to get institutionalized in other places, there are these toughs making things worse.

You're talking school kids and housewives and working joes and college students. People that never brushed up close to this kinda place before. They're scared, they're acting out and you guys aren't fully human and aren't tuned in on the only safe place they know about.

So you're cataloged as being part of the enemy too.

[that smoke was done for. shou ground out the butt and lit up a new one, thinking and remembering something like a song just on the tip of his tongue.]

I understand the thing about territory and protecting your family, more so now than before. I understand it and hold no grudge even though a group of yours attacked the free clinic. Innocents got caught there and that was a very bad move on your part since half our group sees it as a sign of war. There is also that building going on inside your territory; no one's happy about it cuz how that group funds ways to try to kill us off. But I see no reason to go on a witch hunt when there's more pressing concerns right now.

[strikeraid]

[ 'course he did. His Jii-san told him never to talk to those people, which meant that he'd wander down that way growing up every once in a while to fuck around with some of the members. Never joined them, of course, but he was always kind of a hanger on in that department. Man, did he ever do some hanging on. ]

... You know, none of us know any of that. [ he scuffs the ground a little with his shoe. ] Well... I guess I do, now. That's our territory. [ he says that with as much feeling as he can - he's a little indoctrinated, sure, but right now he's really channeling Hellbird for some passion. ] It just started growing after the -- changes. Then you guys kept popping up on our patrols, and now we've got people dying left and right. [ ... he chuckles to himself. ] We attacked the clinic because one of you shitheads burned one of our guys alive and more of you guys kept coming out. It's a dick measuring contest, yeah, but once you see one of your own dudes in five pieces down an alley? [ he shakes his head, leaving that statement right there.] We don't know who you guys are, and I don't think I'm ever gonna get it, but if you keep biting us, we'll keep biting you.

[ursoreckless]

I didn't think you did. Mebbe some of the higher-ups know, but like fuck they'd tell the grunts what's going on.

[the attacks were pointless. he knew that and he figured a couple numbered knew that, but the rest? they were scared and they had a target. sure, it was just kids built up to be a little tougher than others, but they were kids. they only knew a little about what's going on, especially if this one was telling the truth.]

Think about it for a second. None of us asked to be changed into something else. Some of us change without warning or even a sign. One minute, you think you're normal, the next fire comes outta your hands and some sap gets caught in the flames. We can't control the changes half the time and your people trigger something in us.

It's like a loaded weapon. You know it's loaded, but you don't know how to release the safety. If you ain't careful, it'll blow up in your face.

Yeah, it was a dick move on that person's part to set someone on fire, but we don't have the option of having a training period.

[he was done with his cigarette, and crushed it out, sending a small puff of smoke into the night sky.]

We're all puppets in this mess; you, us, the normals around us. Whoever is playing the tune is gonna keep tossing you at us until one of us gives, and the fuck I like the idea of it. It's a waste.

[strikeraid]

[ ... Skyler tuts, sinking further into his jacket against the cold. He lets this pause drag out very far, until he's allowed himself to think enough and not too hard. ]

So... we're getting paid in upgrades so we can keep people out of our territory. Away from whatever building's going on in there. [ ... he shrugs. ] So. You can either kill us all or give us a better deal. Between you and me... I'm thinking the first one's gonna sound easier. If you're just a bunch of students and housewives and shit, I don't think you guys can do what they're doing for us. One side's going to die in this, and I hate to say it to the moms and kids, but we really, really want to live.

[ursoreckless]

I doubt moms and kids have anything better to pay you guys with outside of your lives.

[he shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets, feeling a little bite in the air and wonders if there was going to be snow soon.]

We wanna live too. That's the reason why we're fighting anything that stinks of them. We wanna live and we wanna figure out what's going on because no one else will tell us shit unless we bite back hard enough. And the thing is, we have a lotta tricks that can't be found in a doctor's office. Fire from the hands? Ain't nothing. Cybernetic upgrades? We've got worse. The question is just how long it takes to focus it all.

[strikeraid]

[ ... skyler laughs. it's a tired sound. ] You trying to scare me, asshole?

[ursoreckless]

No, why do I need to do that? You've probably got a pretty good idea what some of us can do already. [he sighed and stood up, his hands still in his coat pockets, pulling it tight around him.]

I'm just saying that it's hard to protect a territory when there's no one left to protect it, and it's a waste trying to stop people who really are not after you personally. What we want is knowing more about that building they're tossing up, not to deal with you guys.

[strikeraid]

[ skyler speaks after a beat. ] You're talking to the wrong guy. I'm not the one who calls the shots, and if they still think our turf is worth all this, I'm following them. [ which is a lie, but he says it kind of monotone, hoping that'll carry any connotation except for the truth. ] You want change? You stop talking to the bottom of the barrel and find someone who knows what the hell's going on with us. Because fuck if I know.

[ursoreckless]

I know, but you are the first one I've managed to talk to without first making sure I won't get my skull cracked.

[he laughed and shook his head, taking out his car keys and making a half-hearted peace sign.]

Mebbe I'll find someone more important up the rung. Just don't get yourself killed over being an idiot in the meantime, okay?

[strikeraid]

[ Skyler snickers, waving him off. ] Maybe I'm just talking 'cause I know I don't have shit to say. Anyway, thanks for the concern. Don't fuck it up, whatever you're doing.

[ursoreckless]

I hate seeing people get killed for being stupid, so yah, I'll keep my head. [there a click and that really flashy sports car turns on, the lights sliding open. another wave and shou was across the street and into the car and then driving off.]

[strikeraid]

[ Skyler rolls his eyes and mutters to himself at the display of straight up money. ] Dick. [ But he chucks a deuce up as the network member departs, going back to his texts. At least he didn't seem like a trigger happy murderer. Damn, some of the network members were creepy. ]