Merry Christmas or what ever holiday you celebrate.

V.A.S-531~

"Now now, I-I am su-re there's a more peace-ful solu-tion to this. So just put the gun down and and and let's talk." As a gesture of peace, I drop the EAR-45 and the sciz blades. EM7 is concealed however…

Gamma growls as Ki tilts his head a bit. Seeming disappointed.

"I-I-I mean, af-ter all. You could have just ask profe-ssor."

Gamma growls at me. "I trust you….why?"

"Did I tell you to speak?!" I scowl. I turn back to the scientist. "I mean after all. You are part of the ASRI corre-ct? That is thier top grade haz-mat suit."

"Why yes, YES! Thank you for recognising that."

I grin.

"But of cours-e, I can't just hand this specim-en over to you. I do need to resto-ck on su-pplies. I need curre-ncy."

"Why yes of course! 2,500 tabs sound nice right?" I'm guessing Tabs is the currency of this new world. Or at least this town.

"Af-firmative. Looks like we have a-a deal." I hold out my hand.

And he foolishly shakes it.

I quickly pull him in, put him in a choke hold, and pull out the EM7. Pointing it at his head.

"Now if I see you so much as go within 30 feet of Gamma. The "Demon-wolf" you des-ire. I. Will. Kill. You. She is in the protection of the U.S./Japa-nese allied forces. Both me and you know that-know that you are not part of a gro-up that ende-d back in the 2600s. Nor is that their suit. Or should I end this now to avoid tr-ouble later?"

"You…can't….break… The…rules…of….robotics…"

"My codi-ng does not follow some com-mandm-ents made by a sc-ience fic-tion writer. My ex-istence breaks those rules." I drop him. "Leave while I still grant you mercy." The crowd disperces.

I turn around and face Gamma. "Sorry, but I felt I wo-uldn't get my point ac-ross if I just shot him."

"…So you lie to scientist to protect Gamma?"

"Yes, I had no inten-tion of selling you."

"You know…." Ki leaps down from his post "You should have made him give you the tabs first."

"I don't want his filthy mone-y."

"Still, I was more expecting a "pew pew pew" and "bang bang" and a "ackarggah""

I understood none of that.

Suddenly, a knife plunges into my back as a cyan liquid leaks from my chest.

"I don't like liars. You should have just given me the mutt."

"You sh-should have stabbed a little more to the left."

EM7 that close to the frontal lobe has a 0.0000000003% chance of survival.

He falls limply and without response.

"You alright?" Gamma brushes against me as Ki looks at my back.

"That does not look good." 

"It's just coolant. Within a few week-s I'll heal on my own but let's find that mec-hanic, you want to go to Eden right?"

I'm having way too much fun with this.

Gamma~

Heads turn as soon as we near the tinkering group of men. One lifts his huge glasses, thick and obviously designed to help him see exactly what's going on in one square centimeter of space. Most hands go to their respective mouths when they see 531's cyan "blood" seeping out of his chest, and two important-looking ones rush to support the V.A.S. I notice that my friend's eyes are dilating and contracting wildly and he sways. I catch him with my side, 531 disappearing halfway in my thick fur. These men don't seem to have malicious intent, so I allow them to take 531 and gently slide him onto the operating table. Saudering torches, industrial tweezers, and bundles of wires and plates of metal appear, slowly making their way onto and into 531's robotic body, fixing him until he looks as good as new. Suddenly, he opens his eyes from the trance he fell into when he flopped into my side. Ki lets out the breath he was holding, and I hum contentedly.

"It worked…!" Breathe a few engineers. 531 smiles up at us from the operating table. suddenly, something moves on the floor. Long, black, and covered in scales, that 'something' heads directly for the leg of the man who did the most to help 531. Something snaps inside of my soul. That snake, obviously poisonous judging from the fangs flashing into and out of sight whenever the snake opens its mouth, must die. Like a bolt of shadowy lightening and without touching anything but the ground, I dart forward, jaws open and ready to kill. The engineer, not having seen the snake, screams when he does see me, wild and ferocious, heading straight for him. Perfect.

~~ 

So, can we talk about what’s happening? I was going to post, but now I need a little help. So, this place (the tinker shop) is where the characters are going to meet. But what if part of it is a pub? Like it’s an inn, correct? So I’m guessing they would have some sort of make shift food/drink bar. Because I think that just a tinker shop is directed toward a narrow crowd. I was thinking it would be crowded, and Carson could meet Ki, who’s separate from 531 and Gamma… 

Just thought that we could share our thoughts!  

Chyla skipped across one of the ship's upper balconies. I knew this settlement had some good trades, she thought, looking happily at her new hammer. I just wish that those gate guards had calmed down sooner. Then I wouldn't have a chunk blown off my arm. That's going to take a day to regen … hold on. Chyla turns her scouter on and off a couple times. "Hey!" She shouted at Ki, who was standing a short distance away. "Are you like a plant or something? Oh! Or an android that doesn't run on Hydrozen or …" "Excuse me?" Ki said, walking over to Chyla. "Oh, sorry. My name's Chyla. You're not showing up on my Hydrozen and lifesign detection 'scouter'. That's pretty interesting. Maybe we could talk, be friends? I'll probably be here a couple more days …" "I can't." Ki replied, walking away. "I'm heading for Eden tomorrow." "You're going to Eden?" Chyla jumped over to Ki, knocking over a table in the process. "I going there too! Could we go together? If we travel as a group, we have a better chance of getting there. So, can I join you? Please?"

I've been waiting for a good time to come in, thanks J.B.E!  If i get anything wrong just tell me what it was and act as if it never happened, I don't want to slow things down.

~~~

Through the doorway in the tinker area, a large trading hub that may have been a ballroom at one time was buzzing with activity.  A man so large and muscular that he almost certainly had a mutation of some kind was holding a huge cluster of canteens and arguing avidly with a little girl, who was about and eighth of his size.  They were standing directly in the doorway, and they kept getting cut off as people came through.

"65 tabs," he said firmly.

"But sir, if you'll pardon me, I've bought water many times and it's never be-" she was cut off as a young woman and an anrdoid pushed in between them, "-well, it's never been over 25-!"

"65 tabs.  This water is clean.  You pay for the assurance.  That's how it works." He said shortly.

"Ye-yes sir, I understand.  Perhaps 35?" she said timidly.  Lucy was to nervous to press the point, and he knew it.

"65."

"Forty-seven?"

"55," he relented.  She clearly had money and he wouldn't want to lose a possible repeat customer.  Besides, the water wasn't even worth 15.

"Okay.  Thank you." Lucy placed a handful of tabs in his enormous outstreched palm.  He slung a large canteen off his back and dropped it into her arms.  The little girl buckled under the weight, and by the time she regained her balance he had disappeared into the crowd.

She stood there, getting bumped and jostled by the passing crowd.  Snippets of conversation reachced her ears and the flew away again.

"The whole town, burnt-"

"Get over here, look at this price!-"

"Oh geez where's my wallet-"

"I'm heading for Eden tomorrow."

"You're going to Eden?"

Eden? Lucy perked up and glanced around frantically for the speakers.  They caught her eyes almost immediately, as the one girl was very noticeable.  She had two fox tails and skin that looked like it was made of pure crystal.   Slipping her way between people's legs and tripping under the weight of the water, Lucy dodged the falling table and darted up to them. She reached the pair just as Chya was asking to come along.

"May I come too, please?" Lucy asked quickly before Ki could answer. She knew the offer was terribly unsolicited, but she was so lonely after weeks of solo travel that she hardly cared.

~~

Sorry it's bad, I was in a rush and didn't have much editing time :3

Ki~

They certainly weren't kidding when they said I'd be able to meet a lot of people here.

The crystal mutant, Chyla, is by far one of the most interesting life forms I've met. The way her body melodically resonates when she speaks… it's pretty neat. But I'm not sure if telling her that would come off as insulting or not. So I don't.

And now… a kid?

I've never really spent any time around kids. Big crazy wolves I can handle, but kids?

I guess anything really can happen out in the wastelands. 

Think, Ki. How do you talk to kids.

"Uh… hi there. Are you here by yourself, or…?" 

"She wants to go with us!" Chyla looks at me.  "Isn't this exciting? We'll make a thing out of it! Imagine, a band of ragtag travelers searching for the legendary Eden…" he arm sweeps the room, as if to lay out a map only she can see. She accidentally smacks a passerby in the jaw with her forearm.

"Hey!" I exclaim with a grin. "Watch what you say or you'll get this entire ship on board too!" 

"I promise I won't get in anyone's way," the girl pleads. "It's just been so long since I had any company."

I glance down at her. "Look, if it were just me, I'd say the more the merrier. But I really don't know how my current traveling companions would take this."

"And who are they?" Chyla asks. 

"A Vessel Assault Scout named Sel, and Gamma, this big, spooky, wolf-thing… Oh, gosh. She'd likely tear me to shreds if she heard me call her that."

"Wow! You're traveling with a V.A.S?" the girl cries excitedly, seemingly oblivious to that last part. "I've only read about those. Does he have an EAR-45? Oh, or an EM7?"

"What." 

Looks like I know even less about kids than I thought. When did they all become android aficionados?

"Your friends sound very interesting," Chyla says, crossing her arms. "I'd like to meet them soon."

I sigh. "Alright, alright. I'm sure they'd be fine with this. But in any case… let's get out of the middle of the walkway. There's a pub on this deck where we can sit down and discuss this. Plus I'm thirsty."

"A kid joins our party and your first impulse is to go drink?" Chyla says dubiously. 

"Uh, yeah. Water." I waggle my hand in front of her face, showing her my slightly wilted fingertips. I've been so busy lately I haven't had time for a good watering.

"Oh. I suppose that makes sense. Lead the way, then."

"I'm right here, by the way," the small girl pipes, struggling to keep up with us while lugging her big canteen around. "And my name's Lucy."

When we reach the pub, almost all of the circular tables are completely full with people of the large and threatening variety, many giving us the stink eye to reinforce that people like us don't belong in a place like this. Only one table has open seats, its lone occupant a man with short brown hair and blue veins on his face.

"Hello," I say to him as we approach. "Mind if we sit here?" 

—

I brought Carson in! Hopefully this is more or less what you had in mind, Tux. 

Gamma~

Nobody has noticed me in my comfortable position on top of a large beam. High above the heads of the crowd below, I can see everything. Two girls are pining for Ki's favor, begging him for something. He looks deeply disturbed. They don't look particularly dangerous, so I return my attention to 531. I whimper quietly as I scan him, sleeping soundly in a glass protection case without a move. Actually, he looks dormant. Hm. Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpse a stranger, cloaked in black, enter and look around. He's wearing a hat, so I can't see his face, but something's up with him. Checking my sensory input, I sniff slightly. There's a lot of scents here, most of them sweat and bad breath. Ew. I close my eyes for optimal focus and precision. Underneath all of the major smells, I detect gentler, more discreet scents. A woman trying out her new perfume. A child eating a fresh cookie. A man in a black coat. A heavily washed black coat. He's trying to hide something. Maybe he's being hunted. Hunted by what? If he's trying to hide something with the scent of another… Hmmm. His hunter can smell as well as I can. As well as I can. My eyes narrow tighter. Slowly, I take a deep breath in. Underneath the smell of the coat, I detect… Polyethlyene, and a light layer of metal. Why would he be wearing…? My eyes snap open.

A haz-mat suit.

I quickly search the crowd for the man. He's standing right where I feared he would be. Right next to 531, looking around with something in his hand. I stalk as fast as I can over beams and rafters to get to the man before he gets to my friend. He pulls out a device and places it on the keypad lock. A slight click that only I hear, and the door that seperates 531 from the rest of the world opens an inch. The stranger pulls something out of his coat pocket. A Shredder. I've got one, and I know what it does. Plug a Shredder into any AI and it'll take the AI apart, piece by painful piece. If the AI tries to take it out it explodes.

Without moment's notice, I launch myself at 531's attacker's throat. I don't care about the numerous shrieks that immediately ring out and the multitude of people rushing to get away from my feirce wrath coming down upon the stranger's head like dark lightning. They'll live. This man definitely won't.

~~

Whee. 

I'm not going to post something for Chyla until Tux's post shows up (at which point I will probably be off for the day), so I'm going to write this instead:

The black android stood seep inside one of the shadows covering the walls of the ship, unseen by the many people passing it.

"Target found." It said, speaking softly into a built-in headset.

"Situation?"

"Target is with two others. One young girl, power level 50. One plant-based mutant, power level 800. Total power level 7150. Chance of completing mission: 17.8%."

"Acknowledged. Chance of mission completion if all three are present?"

"83.4% Chance of detection 2.6%, assuming stealth mode active. Chance of losing target 15.4%."

"Remain on target, but do not engage. Target will be engaged after leaving settlement."

"Acknowledged."

Up, up and away!!