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Post by DanteMGalileo on Dec 14, 2018 21:31:11 GMT -5
"I've come to the conclusion that I actually hate cars," Will bluntly stated as Ryan parked the mess of machinery. "Gimme my own two feet any day, man..." Climbing out, he turned to the sky to see Percy land, tossing the brunette's coat and shirt back at him. "So? Anything follow us here?"
"Nope," Percy replied, tossing his top wear back on. "I'm gonna guess that they're at least out of it for now. Hang on, lemme grab our key..." Rummaging around his coat (producing some interesting sounds in the process), the brunette seemed to have lost whatever it was he was looking for. "Month-old piece of fish... other hairball... hammer to use in case of plot... slightly larger but still miniature replica of the solar system... Ahh, there it is!" He pulled out a small plastic card with strange symbols, handing it to Will. "At least this place uses our language, huh Will? ... Uhh, you can lead the way. You know I can't read."
"Yeah, that's one mercy. We're room 308. Looks like this hotel's bilingual," He accepted the key with a nod. "C'mon. I'll meet you guys up there." Either not noticing or ignoring the elevator, Will began his way up the stairs...
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Dec 14, 2018 21:57:04 GMT -5
Throughout the car ride, Max stared out the window, barely speaking a word to the boys in the vehicle with her. Her expression was locked into a frustrated scowl, but she strangely didn't seem angry. She just seemed to be puzzling something. Mentally asking herself what she was doing. What any of them were doing. Going over step by step what needed to be done. And no matter how many times she went through her plan in her head, something about it just didn't sit right.
Once they were parked outside the hotel, Max reached over and popped the car's trunk, nodding to the others as they piled out and Percy assured them that they weren't followed. "Just in case, it can't hurt to look as inconspicuous as possible. We'll draw less attention if we go in with bags."
She climbed out and circled around to the back, reaching into the open trunk and procuring a large, clearly stuffed suitcase. "I used to think Lydia was kinda silly for keeping this in her trunk. Granted, when her drinking got worse, the possibility of her waking up in a strange place became somewhat more plausible." After closing the trunk, she offered Ryan an awkward look, dropping the heavy suitcase on the ground while shifting her own tote bag on her shoulder. "Sorry, Ryan, but... do you mind...?"
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Dec 14, 2018 22:08:31 GMT -5
Lounging in her chair, feet propped up on the instrument panel, Lydia stared at her monitor as William watched Max pull a bag out of her trunk. Her expression was somewhere between dread and humiliation, her tone barely above a dismayed mumble. "Oh nooooo... she knows about the suitcase...?"
She let out a deep sigh and ran a hand through her hair, watching as William entered the hotel and ascended the staircase. It was hard to tell from his perspective alone if anyone was following him or if the rest of the party had opted to use the elevator. Either way, Lydia felt inclined to ask, "So how much of this horse hockey should we let Percy in on? Think we could trust him to keep the true nature of your talking fever from Max?"
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Post by ColArana on Dec 15, 2018 18:36:58 GMT -5
Ryan gave a slightly good natured smile to Will. "Well. Makes sense. But don't you guys at least have carriages or chariots or something like that back home? What's really the difference?" He offered, as he stepped out of the driver's side door, and shut and locked it behind him. He was relieved to have Percy running scout duties to make sure they weren't tracked. True, Ryan could have done it himself as well, with his sonar but... There was still a huge part of him that did not want to embrace his cyborg nature. True. It's what he was now. But... Every day he could put off avoiding having to face that fact, the longer he felt he could feel... human. Like the day he accepted his condition was the day he lost his humanity, somehow.
Ryan shook himself quickly out of that line of thinking. This wasn't the time for that. Max was asking him something, dropping what looked like a heavy suitcase in front of them. "I don't mind at all." Ryan replied, walking over and lifting the suitcase with one hand. On some level, various mechanical sensors detected the object's weight, but Ryan's body was constructed to support several tons, and so he lifted the suitcase about as easily as if it were an empty paper bag. He paused as he looked at it. "I... err... I work out." He said, trying to cut off any questions preemptively as he began to head into the hotel, carrying the suitcase under one arm.
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Dec 15, 2018 22:46:04 GMT -5
"Nope. Trust Perce with your life by all means, but never trust him with your secrets," Will said to nobody (or so it seemed) as he ascended the staircase, going slow, but not too slow. "He'll forget it's supposed to be secret and end up blabbing it to everyone he knows." He took a moment to confirm he was alone before he continued. "... Look, when I said he was kinda dumb, I meant it. He can't read words, and if we're to believe him, he dropped out of kindergarten after having to repeat it. Point is... leave the fighting to him. Leave the thinking and secrets to someone else." He gave a quick sigh. "Shame my brother isn't here. He's great at keeping secrets."
---
"Hah... we should look into installing more of these back home..." Percy commented as the rest of the group got in the elevator. "So much faster than stairs, and a lot less tiring when you're outta gas... uh, which one of these is a three? Ah, thank you..."
He poked Ryan's arms, as if checking for such muscles. "... Hard. You gotta share your workout routine with me, man." Whether Percy was genuinely trying to cover for Ryan's cyborg nature or if he had merely forgotten last night was a mystery.
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Dec 16, 2018 12:57:13 GMT -5
"Thanks, Ryan," Max breathed, offering the young man a genuine smile of gratitude. She quickly followed him and Percy inside the hotel and into the elevator, hitting the third floor button for Percy when prompted. Once they reached their floor and piled out, Max continued, "So Percy... are you a friend of Lydia's too? How involved are you in this plot?"
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Dec 16, 2018 14:09:35 GMT -5
"Well then, uh..." Lydia awkwardly tugged at her collar; it wouldn't have surprised her if William could actually sense her doing so. "Guess we'll just have to give him the same abridged version we gave Max. Whatever keeps the crowds off our tail..."
After reaching into her bag and snatching a pudding cup and spoon, Lydia reached over to her computer and started cycling through the pod's support systems, muttering all the while, "Granted, I'm starting to wonder how long we actually have until Max starts to question some of the holes in our story. Oh well. At least now we know we're going after the right people, huh?"
OXYGEN RESERVE: 70%
"Saves us a bit of time."
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Post by ColArana on Dec 16, 2018 23:55:09 GMT -5
Ryan grinned at Percy appreciatively, as Percy covered for him, while the group made their way in. "You seem to take to technology like this way better than Will does, huh?" He offered. Then paused. "Gotta talk to you about some stuff soon, Percy, once we're in private. Nothing major, just a few heads up. You missed out on a lot today." He stated. He wasn't planning on spilling the beans about Lydia, but he figured Percy should be informed that there was a reason for Will's behavior and just to roll with it for at least one day.
He glanced over at Max when she asked about Percy knowing Lydia and frowned. He could try to cover for Will but... "I don't think he is. Or at least I haven't seen him with her before." He noted in answer, trying to at least distance himself from any flailing that was probably inevitable with Will.
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Dec 17, 2018 12:19:20 GMT -5
"Oh, I never met her before," Percy replied to Max's inquiry. "Maybe Will had a drinking buddy he never told me about? I dunno, I don't remember much." Hey, at least he was honest. He turned his attention to Ryan, curious. "Huh? What's up? You need someone poked? Or is it related to Will's talking fever? ... I think this is an eight? Correct me if I'm wrong, but-"
"Yes, this is our room." Will emerged from behind the group, looking slightly out of breath. "... I hate staircases, why can't they make ones that move? It'd be a lot easier for when you're tired..." Fishing around his pockets, he pulled out the key and inserted it, before opening the door. "Come on in, let's hope we didn't get followed... Uh, is it me, or is that towel I had on the table moved?"
"That was me." Percy ran ahead and jumped onto the couch with a plopping sound. "It was bothering me, so I moved it when I got back last night. Unlike you."
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Dec 17, 2018 14:19:09 GMT -5
"I see. In that case, yeah, we have quite a bit to catch you up on if you wanna help us find my ex," Max stated to Percy as they reached his and William's hotel room, the later catching up to them shortly thereafter. She raised an eyebrow at the blond as he grumbled about staircases. "...They do. They're called escalators. They got 'em everywhere at the mall. Or, y'know, you could just take the elevator."
Max stepped inside the room, quickly dropping her tote into the nearest chair and fishing around inside it. "I appreciate the hospitality guys. Hopefully we have the time to get a proper plan in order now. Will, Ryan, you think you guys can handle bringing Percy up to speed? I need to make some phone calls."
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Dec 17, 2018 17:21:07 GMT -5
"Not sure towel placement is worth getting OCD over," Lydia plainly stated as she dug into her pudding cup. "Granted, my apartment looks like a tornado had a seizure in it, so who am I to judge?"
Her eyes remained trained on her monitor. Particularly on Max every time she was within William's line of sight.
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Post by ColArana on Dec 19, 2018 19:21:42 GMT -5
Ryan gave a half-nod. "Yeah, just... yeah a quick talk is all." He said in a dismissive tone that might leave any eavesdroppers guessing as to whether or not he meant it about the "talking fever". He frowned as he glanced over at Max. "Yeah, no problem. You take all the time you need with the calls, Max. We'll see if we can't have him up to date by the time you get back." He commented, looking over at William, to see if the other man had anything to add.
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Dec 20, 2018 13:28:52 GMT -5
"Hey, uh, Ryan, can I talk with you for a second? ... Perce, don't eavesdrop, didn't you ever learn?" Will said to Ryan, shooting Percy an annoyed look. The brunette simply shrugged.
"Nope. I'm gonna go reheat some of this pizza. We should look into installing this microwave thing back home!" Humming to himself and oblivious to whatever was about to go down, Percy made his way to the device in question, pulling out some plates and boxes from his coat. "Okay, which of these is what again? Ehh... I'll just press this one..." Beep beep, pizza smell.
"That'll work." Taking Ryan aside, he made sure he was out of Max and Percy's immediate line of sight. "... Okay. Here's the deal. DON'T tell Percy about the true nature of my, ah, talking fever. Trust him with your life, but by all means, never trust him with your secrets. Thing is, he won't even intend to spill the beans. He'll just forget."
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Dec 20, 2018 20:32:46 GMT -5
"Thanks, guys." Max nodded to Ryan, then turned to Percy and gestured towards the bedroom nearest to her. "Hope you don't mind if I sit in there. Don't wanna risk any of my contacts overhearing what we've got going on."
As she walked off to conduct her work, Max pulled up a name in her phone's directory and gave it a call, waiting for two tone before someone picked up on the other end. "Hey, Dwayne? It's Max. You mind helping me do a little research? I have one hell of a story on my plate."
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Post by ColArana on Dec 27, 2018 22:18:20 GMT -5
"Sounds good Max, take as much time as you need. We're not going anywhere anytime soon!" Now down to business, once Max left the room.
Ryan looked at William and, expecting something important, quickly walked over towards Will. "Yeah, what's up man?" He began curiously. As Will explained things, Ryan just smiled and nodded. "Wasn't planning on it. Actually was gonna just ask for him to roll with anything we say for the next day or so, and that we'd explain later. Just that it was important that if we said something that sounded weird, just roll with it and back it up. Is that okay?" He asked William, speaking very quietly. "I figured that was vague enough and wouldn't risk him compromising anything, even if he didn't agree. I got a little nervous back there when she asked if he knew Lydia as well, and all, which is when I thought of it."
Ryan then paused and looked straight into Will's eyes. Or well. Directly at Will's passenger. "Just so you know though, Max is sharp, and I don't think we can keep this up for long, without digging some holes that you won't be able to climb out of when this is all said and done. This is going to piss her off. Royally. She seems to be the type that'll be absolutely furious when she works out what we've been doing and what's going on. You sure you can handle that? That that won't be a thousand times worse than just handling some embarrassment now?" He asked, and glanced back at the room that Max was in. "Also, any idea what she's doing over there?"
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