[Junk XIII] Dinner (S 2-7)

Rich

Stitch,


Dinner at Touch o' Gold's with the crew that showed up, which was Bank, Motel6, Svenja and Kodak. Kiddo, Rinso and VB were all absent. The food was great. Kodak paid for everything. The restaurant is open air, and it looks like either a refurbished or recreated pop-up restaurant from back home. Pretty clever, really. It sits six containers up, the walk up the interior stairs was tedious. But it looks safe. The whole thing can be locked up tight. It has a great view of the surrounding area, you can see all the way to Trench. Gets a bit chilly as the night comes on, but the couple guys running the place, including Touch o' Gold himself, light some torches for heat. What did you eat? What did they offer that you know Caesar would have loved to try?

Motel6 falls into some story-telling, talking about long hauls he's been on, things he's seen, like the First Men, the green waterfalls, domesticated plaguedogs, lots of crazy stuff. Bank and Kodak laugh it off like he's full of it. Svenja just listens quietly, sipping on her third bowl of soup. She doesn't know what's true or a lie anymore.

At a lull in the conversation, Kodak asks Toch O' Gold, "Hey Touch, that bit over there," he points off to the northeast at a silvery blob on the horizon, "Is that the Ascendant?"

Touch o' Gold nods, "Ayup, it i-yuz. Buncha dayum raiders and dreyuk. We thought maybe it'd be good trade fer a biyut, but theyze up in theyar fer a coupla junkfall now. Got power an all. Folks flockin to em like flyze to freyush dreyuk."

Genevieve

Touch offered me spam! Caesar keeps talking about trying to get his hands on some- I offered to trade a chocolate bar for a tin of the stuff.

I listen to Motel6, not knowing what's truth or lie, but I enjoy it nonetheless. Svenja seems down, but I don't want to mention Metro's plan for the radio towers yet. Maybe after he's got another tower up and running.

"What's the deal with the Ascendant, anyway?" I ask no one in particular. I keep hearing bits and pieces of it- seems like it might have a working infirmary, which makes me curious.

Rich

Touch absolutely made a trade of a can of Spam for a bar of chocolate, without hesitation. You get a feeling he took it so quick that he might've given more. Chocolate is pretty valuable, it seems.

When you ask about the Ascendant, the truckers look to Touch. He sits down on his little rolling stool like he's gonna tell a story. The man's got lines of age on his face like a road map, and his bushy white hair waggles in his hair net when he moves his head. He says, "Weyull, long bout a yeeyur ago, we got ar first crayush. An fer some reezun, the shiyup stayed mosly in tayuct. We all sent folks up ar fer scavenge, but like some bayut outta heyull, Brannigunz came ridin iyun an shot uppa buncha folks, an theyun he jus took over. We all waited an waited her him to scuttle it an come heyur her trade, but nope."

Touch has a bit of storyteller in him, and he looks to make sure everyone is paying attention before he continues, "So's alla sudden, lights come up onna Ascendant. Ever since, more n more folk head to it, and some of um come heyur all happy with enough dreyuk to live on her years. An others come a raidin, just throwin thar lives away, fightin like idjits who don't care nothin bout survivin. Its scurry."

Rich

Svenja's interest grows with this story. She asks Touch, "So, this bird's got power. Seen anything else, old man? What about the engines? The deck guns? Do they have any transports? Shuttles? Anything?"

Touch just blinks, like he hasn't followed all of what she asked, and says, "What I seen, theyur teyuk, its flayush. Pulse rifles, and some kinda flyin cycles an I did see a flyin boat or somethin, too. Just the once."

Genevieve

"Kiddo wants to go there, after we finish this job." I say quietly to Svenja.

"What about this Brannigans guy- what's his deal?" I ask Touch, or really anyone.

Rich

Svenja nods, "Me too. We need to grab Cee and see if we can get that fucking thing working."

Kodak answers about Branigans, "He was a spooky ganger for a while, had some mind tricks he could play... nothing like Pallor, or even Ziploc. But then one day, he just up and started warping folks minds, making them into mindless slaves. He upgraded from spooky to frakking terrifying." He looks over at Svenja, "You'd be smart to stay way the hell away." Bank and Motel seem to agree with Kodak.

Touch o' Gold serves up some fried fruity food as dessert, and that seems to hold more folks interest than talking about Branigans.

Motel seems like he might have had more to say, though.

What do you do?

Genevieve

I sit down next to Motel. "Where did he come from, anyway? What messes him up so bad to start frakking folk up like that?" I ask over the dessert.

Rich

The dessert isn't nearly as sweet as stuff from back home. Have you ever had mochi? It's barely sweet. But after a few weeks of no dessert, it will do, right? Or, more like a hundred years since dessert, right?

Motel keeps his voice low when he leans in to answer, "It's power, darlin. Some folks get it after bein put down for too long, and it messes 'em up. From what I hear, Branny was beat on as a kid, until one day, he figured out his brain wasn't wired right. And the brain's a muscle, right? So I guess, after a few years o usin it, he got stronger."

He takes a big bite of the soft fried food and says, "Branigans was part of a gang that hung around Sector, then roamed around south after the fall. I saw one of his fellas earlier, seems he got messed up real bad somehow. His name's Nelson, and half his face was burned off. They say Branny made him to it to hisself."

Genevieve

"Oh." How on earth could someone make somebody do that to them self?!? No, not on Earth, I remind myself...

I've had mochi before- some benefit dinner for the hospital- I went with Ethan and barely tasted my food. That was in the beginning, before he started getting jealous. We were so in love- that whole night all I could think of was ripping his damn suit off... I stop myself. Ethan is dead an I'm a hundred years and millions I miles away. No use thinking about it.

I sigh and think of Metro. I wonder what he's doing right now.

I make small talk with Motel- he's a good guy- but my heart isn't really in it. I'm tired- I should probably get some rest.

Rich

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