Lower Junon

[Steve Harmer]

[shadow=red,left,300]Come here for all your Lower Junon roleplay.[/shadow]

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Rude exited the hatch. "Hopefully, this location should be a safe distance from the beach in case of another wave..." He waited for Lutz and Reno to join him.

Reno helped Nikky sit up. "I think you need some fresh air, yeah?" I'm so sick of being cooped up in this ship... He led the way outside.

"Well, look who decided to return to the land of the living," Rude commented as Reno emerged.

"Hilarious. You should be in stand up. Honestly." He kept a firm grip on Nikky's hand. No worries, kid... we're keeping an eye on you from here on in. "So, you were saying earlier?"

"I need to withdraw some of our petty cash. We need to construct a... custom weapon."

Reno started grinning like a schoolboy. "Custom is the magic word." He got out his wallet. "How much we talking?"

Rude looked back over the list on the schematic. "Eh... to constuct the mechanism on this scale..." He named a figure.

Reno almost dropped his wallet. "Rude, that not only consumes all our petty cash, it also consumes a large portion of our back pay as well."

Rude looked at the others. Time to start passing the hat around...

Ami, still aboard the ship, overheard the conversation. She dug into her battle-ravaged pants back in the cabin and fished out the several thousand gil Squall had slipped into her pocket earlier... She peeked out of the access hatch. "Will this cover it, boys?"

Reno looked the money over. "Almost. But we need a little more..."

[*~Nikkole~*]

nikky had been looking around, she looked back over and grinned slightly. she pulled out her wallet and fummbled through it. ''how much do you need??'' she glanced up, brow slightly raised. she had a lot oh her.... too much to be safe. besides, it was the least she could do.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Reno shook his head. "Hey, I'm not the old fashioned type, but I don't let girls pay the bill."

Ami made a face. "So what am I, an androgenyte?"

Reno shrugged. "Hey, Squall's paying your way. I'm not gonna sweat another guy's finances."

Ami sighed. This sudden relationship Reno has with Nikky is going to make life difficult in times to come, I can see. "Look, romance and weaponry... not exactly my idea of nice neighbors."

Reno shrugged again, dismissively. "Best way to make the worst impression... start mooching off the girlfriend."

Ami rounded on him. "So where DO we get the money, Mr. Lonelyhearts?"

Reno thought about that. "Eh, kareoke contest?"

Ami came within inches of strangling him. Rude had to hold her back. "Reno, take the girl's money. You're going to hurt her feelings."

Reno rolled his eyes and accepted a few bills. "Okay, that should cover it."

Rude let Ami go. "Let's make tracks, people. Nearest Army surplus."

Ami straightened out her coat with a huff. "You're no fun at all, cueball."

Rude ignored her profoundly. Ami went off to tell Squall where they were headed. "I'll catch up in a minute."

[*~Nikkole~*]

nikky bit her lip to keep from giggling. she put her wallet away and looked around. she took renos hand again lightly. she looked a little on edge and a bit nervous....

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Reno noticed her unease. "Hey, chill out. You're in good hands." He grinned at her. "Beating people up is what I do for a living. Nobody's gonna get to you unless they go through me first."

Rude headed for the nearest phone book. He looked up the address of the surplus. "Looks like your luck's with us again, Reno... only a couple blocks away." He started walking.

****

45 minutes later...

"Obviously this is a definition of 'a few blocks' that I was previously unaware of," Rude remarked snidely. He was all but carrying Nikky at this point. "Rude, just because you have the endurance of a camel on steriods, don't assume the rest of us mere mortals do."

Wonder when Ami and Squall are gonna catch up... wonder how much room there is for us on Ami's cycle... Good G**, I'm beat.

They arrived at the shop. Rude went inside to get his items while Reno sat down in the middle of the sidewalk outside, totally incapable of autonomous movement. I'm half ready to pass out right here. I gotta get some sleep eventually. He looked at Nikky. "How're you holding up?"

[*~Nikkole~*]

nikky looked over wearily and grinned slightly. ''i've been worse....'' she yawned and slumped slightly, resting her chin on her arm. she stared at everything and nothing, really tired. so tired that she thought she saw something..... but it was only a hallucination, she was sure. she saw he was more tired than she was and pulled him over, hugging and cradling him slightly. she ran her hand through his hair and smiled t him. she hoped he could rest a minute or two.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Back at the ship...

Ami checked her wallet. Even after handing over the money Squall had given her, she still had most of the money she'd saved up for this trip-- nearly a year's waitressing wages. "I'm going to need to pick up a new helmet and a leather jacket while we're here." She pulled Gunmetal out of the cargo compartment. "A chopper is a girl's best friend, but you gotta have protection when you're riding one of these."

She stuffed her wallet into her bike's storage and climbed aboard. "Come on, Squall... the others are waiting for us to catch up."

She waited for him to get on.

****

At the store...

Reno might have yawned, but he just didn't have the energy. "What a day..." He leaned on her and blinked slowly. "I'm just gonna rest my eyes for a second, okay?" I won't fall asleep... for one, this sidewalk is way too cold... oy, who am I kidding? Every time I blink, I have mini-dreams about giant, smiling old guys chasing me with scissors.

Rude paid for his purchases and waited for the sales clerk to package them properly. "These are some unstable devices, sir, so please forgive me if I take my time-- you don't want any of these things to break along the way." Rude nodded mutely as the clerk chattered on. "Now, if anybody asks, you didn't get this stuff here. I'll have my courier take you and your items back to your craft... I hope you understand, I don't wish this merchandise be seen out in the open any more than is neccessary."

Rude was barely paying attention... he was keeping an eye on Reno and Nikky. Those two are a laugh riot. If I put a hat out there next to them, somebody would stop and drop a quarter or something.

[Squall]

"Security on!" Squall shouted, the lights on the ship dimmed and a small beeping sound started up. Lets go! Squall hopped on the bike behind Ami and scooched up close behind her, resting his head on her shoulder, * pecks her on the cheek* " you up for this?" Cant help but worry now that your jenova side has gone...

[Amnesty Lazuli]

She turned her head to face him and gave him a long, loving kiss. "Long as we're together... I'm ready for anything."

She turned the ignition and got rolling. "Hope this surplus place has helmets for us..."

****

They arrived some fifteen minutes later, just in time to see Reno sack out on the curb. Ami shook her head. "This is a man with serious sleeping disorders." Though I can't help being a mite socked out, myself. If this weren't so urgent, I'd definitely still be in bed right now.

She parked the bike as Rude emerged, a scrawny kid following him, pushing along a dolly with two crates stacked on it. They headed for an armored car parked in front of the shop. "There you are," he noted. "We have our equipment-- it's time to commence assembly." Rude let the kid start unloading the crates as he examined his dozing partner. Good thing for him I don't have an air horn on me...

Ami let go a whistle that had some of the ferries in the bay running into each other. Reno sat bolt upright, startled out of his mind. "It's the Tongs!" he yelped before he noticed Ami laughing uncontrollably at him.

[Squall]

Yeeeoowzer!
Squall smiled and hopped off the bike, Commence assembly? Squall walked over to the crates and examined them. " What are you guys making?" * Eyes his gunblade* Im all set at least... Squall looked out in the direction of the sea... Dont fancy getting to wet at the moment...Hell think about poor lutz!

[Amnesty Lazuli]

"The most appropriate term would be 'a remote genetic segregation device'," Rude explained.

Reno gave Ami a glare before turning quizzically towards Rude. "Sprechen zie Englisch?"

"In other words, our battle with Jenova gave me something in the way of an inspiration," Rude clarified further. "Our discovery of the splicing mechanism in the Mythril Mines led me to believe the process could be reversed-- in this case, to remove Chaos cells from the Sins we are preparing to confront. Such a weapon would better our chances of success exponentially by essentially removing the source of their power."

The courier finished unloading the crates and climbed into the armored car's driver seat. "Ready when you are, sir."

Rude nodded acknowledgement. "Reno, we should return to the ship and begin assembly of the weapon."

Reno looked around reluctantly. It was mid-afternoon in town, and the streets were starting to show signs of life. "Listen, partner..."

Rude knew what was coming, but he waited anyway.

"I was thinking I could show the party around, get 'em some bearings?" Reno suggested hopefully.

"Reno, how long has it been since we've had an assignment here in Junon?"

"Um..."

"Three and a half years. Can you even remember the way back to the ship from here?"

"Well..."

"You guys go ahead and figure it out," Ami said dismissively. "I need to pick up a couple of items here myself." She headed inside. "Squall, you come too... I don't want you riding that cycle without a helmet any more than you have to. It makes me nervous." She pulled him in behind her.

Rude realized it would take nothing short of tying Reno to the bumper to drag him back to the ship... and after being cooped up in there for hours, he could hardly blame him. "Is there a workroom or a stock room in this shop?"

The courier shook his head. "We put the stock directly on the counters every morning."

"Where do you take your deliveries?"

"In back, behind that chain-link fence over there."

Rude got out of the car, much to the courier's consternation. He walked around the chain-linked area... just a flat bit of concrete, big enough for two semis to park in. He nodded. "This will do."

The courier blinked. "You mean... you want to build this thing... right here?"

Rude gazed at the man levelly. "Why should I not?"

"This device of yours... I was there when you ordered the components. If something goes wrong, you could blow up this entire half of the city!"

Rude maintained his level gaze. "So you're afraid your products may posess some defect? Because if you are, the warranty doesn't expire for thirty more days..."

"All right," the courier surrendered. "But my boss ain't gonna like this." He drove the car into the area, then hopped out and went inside to confer with the manager.

Rude opened the crates and got to work. "Reno, give me a hand with this," he insisted, digging through the packing peanuts.

Reno grudgingly pushed himself off the sidewalk. "Coming." He helped Nikky stand. "I love custom weapons as much as the next guy, but..." He shrugged. "Have any experience with this stuff? If you don't, that's cool. Lack of expertise has never been anything that cost me sleep. You can still give us a hand." He smiled at her. "The faster we finish this job, the faster we get to the Pier Club, right?" He put an arm around her waist and walked over to assist Rude.

"After the weapon is completed, we'll head to the beach for a preliminary investigation," Rude continued, laying out some components in the floorboards and accessing the schematics on his phone. "The database's records on the Leviathan are patchy at best... I want a clearer picture of what we're dealing with."

****

"Here's a good helmet," Ami informed Squall, examining a black full-head model. "Pretty sturdy, but I don't know if it'll fit you. Want to try it?" She handed it over and picked up another, similar in design but colored white and slightly smaller. She tried it on and looked at her reflection in a window. "Eh... forget it. Too much glare." She put it back and kept looking. "Here we are..." She found another full-header with a silver sheen. "Now that's more like it." She tried it on. "What do you think?" I want to make this as quick and painless as possible... shopping and boyfriends don't mix.

[*~Nikkole~*]

nikky had been listening and watching, she grinned and followed them, leaning up against reno and watching them. ''well.... my limits are farspread and my expertise in machanics are '' she shrugged. ''fair enough....'' her green eyes glinted slightly. ''if theres anything i can help with, let me know.'' she tossed a few coins anbd rolled them across her knuckles slightly. she waited for instructions, really hoping they had something she could do. she was very bored afterall....

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Rude eyed her. He wasn't so sure she was skilled as she claimed, but any help was welcome. "Here's the original schematic for the splicer," he explained, showing it to her. He punched a few more buttons on the cell. "And here are the adaptations I've made to weaponize it."

Reno looked over the plans and nodded approvingly. "I like big guns and I cannot lie."

He pulled a blowtorch out of the crate. "You and Reno can work on the focus, the shaft, and the interlock trigger. I'll take care of the power cell and particle acceleration engine myself." He handed over the torch to Nikky and shoved the other crate at them as he bent over his task of welding the seemingly incongruent pieces lying before him into a functional unit.

Reno hunched over the crate and examined the parts they had to work with. He picked up the first two that looked, well, slightly familiar to him. "Huh... so, I guess this part goes... well, maybe that one goes with..." He sighed. "Okay, okay, I'll read the instructions."

He picked up Rude's cell and began looking over the plans. "What is this written in, Martian?" He brought them over to Nikky. "Wait a sec, I think I can translate a few words of that..." He pointed at one particularly unintelligible sentence. "'All your base are belong to us'?" Ba-doom-crash! I kill me. "Seriously though, Rude, I can't make heads or tails of this henscratch. Nikky, tell me if there's something about this stuff I'm not getting."

[*~Nikkole~*]

nikky was holding the torch and was examining it. now i know some stuff.... god i hope i don't mess up. she looked up and walked over. ''well... for starters i don't think thats what it says.'' she grinned slightly. she fumbled with her grip and looked it over. she mapped it out in her brain.