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[Big Maul] Introductions (H 2.3, P 2.4)
Hottopic and Playboy,
GNC and Ball Pit headed back to the shop after the thing at AMC, so they're both here when you two come in. Hottopic, you notice that little red car is a walking robot, standing by the door. It seems to regard you as you come in with the big microwave, but says nothing.
Seeing you both enter as he's standing by the counter, GNC hustles over to take the microwave. Was it hevy for you, Hottopic?
Ball Pit is lying on the floor, a bucket by her. She looks hella sick, drunk sick, not plague sick. The Furrby toy is sitting on a shelf, still hooked up to the Speak N Spell device.
What do you do?
GNC and Ball Pit headed back to the shop after the thing at AMC, so they're both here when you two come in. Hottopic, you notice that little red car is a walking robot, standing by the door. It seems to regard you as you come in with the big microwave, but says nothing.
Seeing you both enter as he's standing by the counter, GNC hustles over to take the microwave. Was it hevy for you, Hottopic?
Ball Pit is lying on the floor, a bucket by her. She looks hella sick, drunk sick, not plague sick. The Furrby toy is sitting on a shelf, still hooked up to the Speak N Spell device.
What do you do?
Comments
I carefully grab the assemblage that I made to be Muzak's physical proxy. Furby, electronic dictionary, walkie-talkie. With a nod to GNC and a pause to stroke Ball Pit's hair, I'll lead Playboy through the shop.
This front area's a big open space. Four separate workspaces, not walled off or anything, but pretty clearly defined by the worktables and corona of "stuff" around each. Bins along the walls with vaguely sorted bits of electronic gear. A few toolchest-type things with lots of drawers for the smaller things that come from disassembling those bits (resistors, capacitors, chips, what-have-you). Shelves along the walls, too, with my "toys".
Ball Pit's space is where most of that salvage work happens. She's got an uncanny eye for finding the useful in the midst of the trashed and ruined. Her space is all about tools for taking things apart, and she's got an elaborate, inscrutable series of sorting baskets lined up just so.
GNC's space is about putting things together. Soldering irons, flux, bits of wire. He's got the manual dexterity for the fine work and a good eye for how to seat components and draw off heat and generally make things fit.
Poor Godiva's space is actually the largest. He did a lot of the mechanical stuff, so it's wrenches and screwdrivers and lubricant and such. Some basic machining tools (anything big we take to Payphone).
My space is the least defined. The bench generally holds whatever project is stymying the rest of the crew, or whatever wild hair has gotten my attention. It's a scatter, a jumble.
I lead Playboy past this, to the back part of the old store. I sleep in what used to be the office space. There's also a store room for supplies and tools that would be in the way in the main space, a small useless bathroom, and a space that used to be the break room. That's arranged now as a sort of conference room: table, four chairs, a blackboard and chalk. This last room is where I take Playboy.
I set Muzak on the table, sit myself down, and say, "Muzak? This is Playboy. She has some questions."
Furrby answers, it's voice slightly static-filled, "Hello." It's tone is neutral, ignoring Hood, talking to you.
"Are you Muzak? Do you play the tunes in The Maul that keep The Breeze away?"
The eyes move to track you now, like it is giving you more attention. Outside, the music shifts, into something metal. "Before The Breeze, I didn't think or feel. Then I woke up, and The Breeze was here. But when I played songs, it went away. It is afraid of the order, the emotion, the control of the sounds. It is from before. Before The Breeze, before... me. And it hates it."
It looks over to you, Hottopic. "I was alone. Even with the music, alone. I thought I was the only being in the universe."
"Are you in this little monster? Or in the closet where Hottopic works on you? Or somewhere else?"
"Why do you want to know where I am? Your Hood does not like me."
"Can we kill The Breeze?"
"And also, do you want to be in that little monster? It seems like there could be better bodies for you."
Muzak is a person in the read a person sense
(Also, what's up with the character wiki?)
I turn to Hottopic. "You fix stuff, why not fix the world? Kill the breeze?"
"Kill the Breeze?"
Stumped. Truly, this has never fucking occurred to me. Fix the individual things, yes, make it better. But, fix the world? The Breeze?
Kill the Breeze? Well, kill, fix, turn off, whatever. Hmm.
"Well, why the fuck not, Playboy? Why... the fuck... not?"
GNC looks up from his work. He was eavesdropping, because you know, this is way more interesting that his current task. He looks more than a little disturbed by Muzak's request.
"Muzak, I just don't know how to do that, and I'm not sure it's even right. Esco's still in her body somewhere, and I promised I'd try to help her."
A pause to consider.
"Can I make you a deal, Muzak? Give me time. Time to try and help Esco, or fail. If you do that, I'll make something for you, better than these toys and doodads. If I have time, I can maybe figure out the how, too, so I can try to give you a body if I can't help Esco, or something else happens to someone else."
(Rolled: 2d6+0. Rolls: 4, 1. Total: 5)
I think about what Walgreen has in his space, what I'm going to need here. Without even realizing it I'm up at the chalkboard, making lists of equipment, lists of responsibilities, lists of everything.
"GNC, you're my rock, dude. Here's what I need you to do for me. Get over to AMC, check in with Rache. You're my guy there for the moment, right? Recruit a few folks, make sure Rache and Jet Black get what they need, let me know if you need anything. On your way over, tell Walgreen that I'll take Esco off his hands in a day or so."
I call out to Ball Pit. "Ball Pit? Sweetie? We've got some work to do, so I need you to do your best, okay? See this list?" Pointing to a seemingly random list of equipment and supplies on the chalkboard. "Can you find No Storage, take him around with you, and negotiate for this shit? Everyone knows we're good for it. Start with Auntie Anne, avoid Dillard's. And have No Storage send some of the other kids around here."
Finally, "Muzak, whatever happens here is going to take some time. I've never worked on people before, and you are an entirely new thing, so I'm not sure what makes you you, what it would take. Whatever I do may not work the first time, but you need to be patient. I can only do what I can do, okay?"
"Doc Marten has the stuff you need. He works on...people, all the time."
"And I can get you a body, no problem."
"Playboy? Where are you going to get me a body?"
And Hottopic, you have the life support option for your workspace, which would let you work on people. So... based on those quick notes, you surmise that to put Muzak in a working human body...
• you’re going to need Doc Marten (alive) to help you with it;
• the best you’ll be able to do is a crap version, weak and unreliable;
• it’s going to take several tries;
Please go here.
I bring Furby into my room, close the door. Sit on the bed, with Furby on a chair, facing me. I have two questions to ask.
The first one is the question that I never got a chance to ask, back when this all started. "Muzak. The night before I woke you up or whatever you want to call it, the music stopped for a while. What happened, and is it still a problem?"
The second has a little rant in front of it. "Listen. I grew up being beaten and threatened by a nasty man. Stayed because I was getting something out of it... I was learning. But I don't react well to threats and violence, not any more. You're giving me orders, Muzak, when I'm the only reason you even have a voice to give orders with. You're telling me to do something I don't want to do, that I think is terrible, and that leads me to a question. What's... in it... for me? Real benefit, I mean. What do I get out of this?"
Its eyes look into yours from the shelf, "I am sorry for your pain as a child, Hottopic. I... admire you. You are my savior, and I am thankful. I did not order you to do this. I offered a bargain. Give me a body, and I will assist you in your many other commitments." Muzak pauses, then offers an olive branch, "I was... insistent. This I agree upon. But a threat? I could have threatened to stop the music again. But I did not. I am eager for new experiences. I thought you found Esco's form pleasing, and we could work together to secure this place against.... for lack of a better word, against entropy." It stops, waits for your rebuttal.
I blow out a breath. "Check it, Muzak. You did not make an offer. You're learning fast, alright, pushing emotional buttons and shit, but even if you're a hundred times smarter than me, I've been a person for about... two thousand, six hundred and seventy-eight... times longer than you have. I know you're eager to learn, and I know you don't wanna take it slow, but..."
"Alright. I'll put you in a body, if I can. I'm calling in all sorts of shit. Doc Martens is an ugly piece of work, and Playboy's... well, whatever Playboy is. It's going to take some experimentation, right? Be patient, and we'll work up to whatever... partners against entropy? This works, you can help me pay it back later."
Then, "We should evaluate threats within the Maul and decide which ones should be eliminated. If Doc Marten is at the top of the list, we could utilize his expertise, then exterminate his threat."
"The top of the list is, and always will be, the Breeze, like Playboy said. Everything else is a symptom or a sidetrack. The Breeze is entropy. And it wants to eat us, break us down into twitches and drool."