A Gamma World® play-by-post adventure run by gammaworld_gm
Liska cleans her weapons and tests the IR goggles. Both are in perfect order.
K-11 remains standing in the hall the entire night.
The lean Leoparoid with spotted gold fur and large green eyes stretches lazily on her cot and casts a glance or two at Brimstone. She does wonder why Brimstone keeps mentioning a window when they are one level underground. "Over here Brimstone," says Kicker patting the cot beside her. When Brimstone reluctantly approaches and sits down beside her. Kicker gently leans on his shoulder and drifts off to sleep, purring ever so faintly.
The rest of the night passes uneventfully. At daybreak K-11 wakes everyone, telling them the storm has passed and it is time to leave. Kasteen is upstairs opening her shop.
Hearing the metal clank of K-11's feet, I jump to my own feet, toss my head back and crow loudly! It's nice to be alive. Shaking free any loose feathers, I strut out the door to wake the top rooster of the coop!
Cursing himself for not checking out the room and assuming there was a window, Brimstone tries to ignore the growing cramp in his shoulder and still keep still for the purring overgrown kitty cat. As Kicker sleeps softly having little Leoparoid dreams on his shoulder, Brimstone is wincing in pain, trying to keep still. After an hour, he is sweating and shaking on every side but the one Kicker is on. Finally, he collapses his shoulder, falling back flat on the bed, and he begins to convulse and breath heavily. Kicker stirs only slightly and remains asleep. Panting and weezing, and his shoulder still throbbing and aching, he tries to fall asleep.
The next morning, Brimstone's right side is cramped and sore. Kicker wakes up and stretches loudly, giving a miniscule Leoparoid roar and a rare smile to Brimstone. He wakes up grumbling, rotating his tender shoulder, and ignores Kicker's woke-up-on-the-right-side-of-the-bedishness.
Captain Foghorn Leghorn beats K-11 to Jonn's room. The buff Roosteroid pounds on Jonn's door and crows, "Rise'n'shine alpha rooster!" Then he sees the makeshift sign hanging from the door handle and written hurriedly in the flowing cursive that can only be Gren scrawl, "Do not disturb! (Especially you, Leghorn!)" He frowns.
Minutes later, Jonn emerges from the room and closes the door behind him before Leghorn has a chance to peer inside. In T-shirt and boxers, and as stubbly as ever, Jonn acknowledges the Captain with squinty eyes, "Please tell me this place has a Starbucks, Captain."
Leghorn bocks and remarks, "I say, boy! You've got your shirt on back-a-wards and insider-out!" he ribs the Pure Strain human with cigar in hand, and flicks the shirt's tag under Jonn's chin. Gren-ish giggles escape from the room behind them.
Jonn looks down at the tag, at which point Leghorn bonks his chin with his feathered fist, clucking jokingly. It's Jonn's turn to frown. Soon, all three suit up and head upstairs to Kasteen's shop. Jonn doesn't relish confronting the Lizardwoman again.
Tucking in my blouse as I exit the room, I see Howard standing nearby and immediately hug him as if I had not seen him in ages. Smoothing his feathers down, I release him. I then turn and hug Jonn as he stands there with a dumb look on his face, as if he had won something he had yet to realize he already had last night. [A reference to the GWA award. --ed.] Positively glowing, I punch Jonn lightly in the stomach. "You were the_best, Jonn." I walk up the stairs to the shop above, keeping my tears of joy hidden from the two good-looking but oblivious males to which I was strongly attached.
Jake and K-11 are upstairs with Kasteen before the rest of the group arrives, just as she privately requested the night before.
"OK, you two, take the skimmer and fly to Datil and do exactly as I asked. You should be there days before Jonn and his mighty crew arrives. You'd best wait till they leave town. Jonn would shit a nuked biscuit if he knew you were there first!"
"Remember, I told you to tell him Kasteen!"
Liska would get her gear and start out of the room. She would head up to the store proper and look over to Kasteen. "Morning boss. Rest well?" Liska starts checking her pack again, then looks over to the group. "Well guys, let's get going."
Ormahzd watches Liska gather her gear and head out, getting up slowly and stretching. He can't help but think, "Damn, nice ass." Anyway, hearing the others up and about, he grabs his gear and heads up to join the rest of the crew, all the while thinking to himself (with a damn big shit-eating grin), "Soon I will have my hands on he who desecrated Her and Her's, and he will pay mightily for it, very mightily."
To help promote excellence in posting, I'm creating the GWA (Gamma World Award). Such GWA winners will be recognized in the future with 5 stars (*****). To give you an idea of past GWA winning posts go read the posts by:
.Several factors determine an excellent post, such as being funny, being in character, and sticking with the story line (such as bringing up past events). I do hope everyone can win it at least once!
Having observed it being performed more than twice, the robot reaches out and ruffles the Duckoid's feathers in a friendly manner within 0.001% of Lamia's and Jonn's actions.
Pats Brimstone on the shoulder, rubs up against as she passes and then bounds up the stairs ahead of him.
"Good morning Liska. Remember to return those things I asked for. I'll be here waiting," hisses the Lizardwoman, giving Liska a smirk.
One by one the entire group climbs the stairs up to Kasteen's shop. Just before you are ready to leave, Kasteen says:
"Oh Jonnie boy, I just thought you should know I have hired Jake and K-11 away from you for a short while. Nothing personal---just business!" hisses Kasteen, her teeth clenched.
"Sorry dudes, K-11 and I'll catch up with you on the flip-side," says Jake, shrugging slightly. "Don't write us off, as we will rejoin you in Datil." K-11 says nothing, standing ever silent behind Jake.
Ruffles feathered by man, Gren and machine, Howard quacks in delight. "Enough, enough already! A duck'sth gotta have sthome dignity! <quack!>" He notices Lamia's content visage and the scribbled sign on the door. Jonn quickly grabs it and crumples it up, and gives Howard one of his trademarked ToothyGrins&153;. Howard sighs and shakes his duck head, holding back any comments in favor of one word. "Hu-mannsth!" He quiggles (a giggling quack) and gathers his gear.
Once topside, and with farewells to Jake and K-11, Howard thanks Kasteen again for the joke book. "I love thisth sthuff! Thanksth again!" He also thanks her for the boarding last night, although he hints some had a more enjoyable sleep than others. He tries to not to look at Jonn but manages a glance anyway.
Liska would look over to Kasteen. "No problem, boss. Alright people, let's get going, saddle up and move out." Liska would give her gear one last check, and she makes sure that her guns are clean and loaded. "Alright, who leads this group anyways?"
Ormahzd speaks up, "Look out, Jonn old boy, she's very fastidious about cleaning those guns. As you are leader and most happy man," he laughs quickly with a sidelong glance at Lamia, "this morning, I think you should keep your eye on her, and answer all of her (I'm sure they're going to be) inquisitive questions about the 'people' and other tough questions."
In a lower voice, he addresses the Pure Strain Human woman, "By the way, Liska, you don't have to aim one of those things at me in the night. As I told you, I work by invitation only." He winks and smiles at Lamia (hopefully noticed by all).
"Jonn leadsth usth, Listhka, buth mosthly intho throubthle!" he says, quacking vigorously as he exits the shop. "Lasth one to the buggiesth isth a rotten hen fruith!"
Jonn answers Ormahzd with a wink, "'Innocent 'til proven a guilty rooster.' That's what I always say! If I can't answer Liska's questions, then Geo can, right Geo?"
"Sorry, but I must admit up front that my sexual <beep-beep> programming is woefully inadequate. But I am learning!"
Jonn looks questioningly at Geo and shakes his head quickly, as if to clear a thought. He then extends a hand toward Jake. "Take care of yourself, man, and you too, Jake---Joshua. You both will be sorely missed," Jonn says, grasping the dark-eyed man's forearm in a hearty arm-shake. "I hope you find what you're looking for."
As everybody files outside under the flawless blue sky, Lamia lingers just beyond the door, and notices Jonn fidgeting with his pack. She takes it as a sign that he wants a private audience with that pesky Lizardwoman. She acquiesces by closing the shop door behind her.
Lamia curses her stars that she didn't share Jonn's history, or his secretive ties. How can it be that everyone they meet somehow knows him? She wanted to be a part of that fan club. Trying to fight a pang of jealousy, she sighs, "Ah well, we all have skeletons to address every now and then." She peers back in her own mental closet and, for a moment, a random thought places Jonn's bones in there! "Terrible thought!" she shivers.
When Jonn is alone with Kasteen, he slams his hands down on her desk and stares her down where she sits. For a while, they lock eyes as he marshals his guts. When he finally speaks, he minces no words. "Xervian, you conniving Gila monster, why did you have to steal Jake and K-11? Is it NARC business?"
Kasteen nods, but before she can respond, Jonn continues, inhaling deeply, "No matter. For the record, you were the best NARC operative I ever teamed up with, and not just because you saved my life." Jonn's sudden openness seems to take Kasteen by surprise, and she holds back what certainly would have been an acidic reply.
"There's a reason we haven't bumped into eachother for ten years. I turned down every subsequent mission that had your name on it because I... I felt something... around you, and... well, it scared me. There, I said it. You can throw that replacement paperweight at me, and then I'll be leav---"
"Hold it, flyboy. And now you're feeling the same way toward that wispy Gren out there," she emotes with a careless flourish toward the shop's door.
"No, no, it's much stronger, but... yes," Jonn says, confused at how she could read him.
"Uhuh. Only she has softer skin, and no forked tongue," she states flatly, flickering her tongue lasciviously. Her Reptiloid eyes twinkle as if she'd guessed as such all along.
"Well, uh..." he sputters, then seeing Kasteen's growing toothy smile, he visibly relaxes. "Yeah, Xerv, heheheh, your tongue really freaks me out!" he says half-expecting a ballistic paperweight.
She stands up from her desk suddenly. "Well, I'm glad we've got that out in the open. Of course, I knew it. I was only teasing you, Jonnie. Did I ever tell you it turns me on? Teasing you? Now get outta here, you scoundrel, and go save the world." Jonn stumbles out, and leaves, speechless.
After his departure, Kasteen sits down, takes out her inventory book and starts to scratch through the duck joke book entry, but snaps the point off her pencil. She stares at the broken lead, then inhales sharply and covers her face with her weathered, scaly, clawed hands.
Liska would quickly get into the assigned dune buggy and get ready to go. "Alright, let's move out people!"
At the dune buggies, Howard boasts, "You'd better sthrap yoursthelvesth in tight, boysth and girlsth, thisth buggy isth sthouped up and ready to ride!" He dons his sand-mask/goggle contraption, and revs the engine a few times in effort to coax Jonn into a race.
The day is clear, bright, and hot. Having returned to the dune buggies, finding them exactly where you left them, you remove the sand covers and prepare to leave. In the first buggy are Jonn (driver), Brimstone and his rifle Mute (front seat), and Geo, Kicker, and Lamia in the back seat, since Brimstone took the front seat. In the second vehicle are Howard (driver), Ormahzd (front seat), and Marcus, Liska, and Captain Leghorn in the back seat. Starting up the dune buggies, you leave Gamma One like a dog on fire. Howard quickly takes the lead, his dune buggy now having a bit more power than Jonn's.
"I say, I say there Howie, that rotten hen fruit remark wasn't up to your usual-sa-sa-standards my boy. Onward, Duckoid!"
Add theme music from Rat Patrol TV show.
[The adventurers have split up:
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