[Prologue] Downrider

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Finnegan spun around slowly on his heels to face Oliver, the plates of his armour clinking slightly as they readjusted themselves. While finn naturally wasn’t one of the tallest people, his armour added nearly a foot onto this, so the two were nearly standing eye to eye if it weren’t for the fact that the merc was sizing up the guy who he swore he has seen before...

“Yeah well, i guess some of us don’t need to try and look cool” He said with a small grin as he put his hands on his sides and racked his brain for where he had seen the guy’s face before.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but have we met before?” Oliver didn’t seem like the kind of person that took contracts for a living, but Finn could be wrong, he had seen the guy somewhere, that was a certainty.
 
Oliver thought for a moment when the armoured man spoke to him, he did think something about him was familiar but couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Well a man like me gets around I wouldn't be surprised if we've run into each other before, Ive seen a few people with armour on but I think I'd remember..."

Oliver looked at his guns then back at fin doing an almost comical double take as something clicked, he had seen the man before in fact he thought he'd almost killed him. "Hang on, did a man with a pink wrestling costume hire you to kill me a while back? Taking another look at my memories I remember shooting someone who was wearing armour like yours a couple years back."

Oliver didn't know how much this bounty hunter knew about his history but the incident with the pink wrestler had been the bloodiest and most dangerous part of his life. He didn't seem like a bad guy however and Oliver didn't show any signs of mistrust or fear towards him and instead posed the question of shooting him as though it was a pass-time between old friends.
 
It was as if somebody flicked a light switch on inside his noggin which caused the memories to flood back, memories of a short man who’s horizontal measurements matched his vertical ones, wrapped in a fluorescent pink luchador outfit who had hired Finnegan to take out a con artist who stole the man’s wife.

“Ahhh, yes, El Guapo” He began, no hint of hostility in his voice towards the man who was once his target.
“I can see why you thought i exploded however, you missed and hit a vehicle behind me that was carrying some pretty flammable stuff, El Guapo died in that fireball and i thought i had too, until i woke up two days later in a trash compactor, with a chicken on my head.” He clanged an armoued fist against his right thight as if to reinforce the armour’s sturdiness.

“No hard feelings though, the guy died so there was no real point in going after you anymore seeing as there was no longer any reward for bringin your head back” the merc had said what he needed, and extended a hand to the former target.
 
"Hahah yeah no hard feelings, I'm kinda glad I got him and not you means i get a team mate now and dealt with the source of my problems then." Oliver clasped his hand and shook it, a somewhat odd new friendship made through past rivalry. Oliver let go of the armour clad coin hunter and took his seat once more, having joined officially and met an old... comrade, he decided it was best if he just sat back and waited for dahlia.

Oliver realised how hungry he had gotten and wondered if he could get food anywhere not wanting to put the effort in to make his own for the time being, and avoiding letting the others know he could. He spied the trail mix the pilot had been munching on and considered asking her if she had any more, he watched her for a while longer waiting for a better opportunity.
 
The fox-boy sat back complacently, eyes darting between each individual, scanning their appearances and deducing what jobs they're going to have on the team and on the ship. While the more... eccentric of the mechanists were busy discussing what looked like a glorified coffee table crossed with something he'd have stepped on without noticing, he slipped from his seat to approach Bert with a raised eyebrow. He pursed his lips in contemplation before bringing his metal hand down to one of its legs.

As he tugged at it, lifting it from the table and prompting a sound not unlike that of an electric toothbrush against a countertop, it tugged back. Weak, yes, but enough to be felt. It was like holding a crab by the leg. Good thing it doesn't have claws. He pulls at the limb once more to get an idea as to how strong the force between the central body and its limbs was. Oddly enough, it felt organic in movement - albeit a tinge tremulous. The fact that it's powered by electricity (or at least some sort of fuel source that required a jump-start) told him that it may not have been so much held together by magic as it is some kind of magnet.

He turns his attention to the struggling robot's other legs, and notices slight markings on their insides, though he's unable to make out what they are besides incredibly narrow lines - and yet the tapered edges of the lines would be apparent after a moment or two of staring intensely. After three, you can see slight gaps. "Any idea what the purpose of these runes on the inside of the legs is?"

His head turned to face Dahlia to adjust the trajectory of the question to her. While he wasn't looking, the small drone would yank its leg from Deimos' grip. for a moment, it would be off balance from the momentum of the action, hobbling back and forth, each step making a ticking noise against the table before it finally became upright once more.
 
For the past several minutes, Cognis had stood, unobtrusively observing the growing band of misfits and madmen. Outwardly, of course, the MDU-9 security android stood stoically behind Dahlia, motionless except for the occasional movement of its head as it looked around the room, looking for all the world like your bog-standard robotic bodyguard.

Inwardly, Cog was taking in everything; recording every word, expression, and movement in the room for later analysis. The shell of the android's original programming was also active, assessing each new potential combatant as they entered the room. Many of them veritably screamed "highly dangerous" to the droid's threat-assessment systems, but thankfully none of them seemed hostile. He was largely oblivious to the meaning of the strange machine that Dahlia presented to the group, but the mixed reactions it prompted were a much greater cause for interest. Some were curious, others were fascinated, still others didn't seem to care in the slightest.

With each new point of data, Cog's curiosity grew. He wanted to know more. More about these people, their personalities, their history, their abilities, and their world. Cog had experienced many emotions for the first time in the months leading up to and following the escape from his makers. Anger, fear, resentment, relief, gratitude, curiosity, wonder... But as more and more people pledged to join the expedition, he began to feel something new. Excitement.
 
Dahlia grinned as more and more people threw their into the ring. They hadn't even discussed pay yet. The scholar started to pack up her projector and other briefing materials. She called out to the conversing group. "Go ahead and head on down to the lobby if you'd like. We'll take a trip to the expedition ship and finish up there!" "

Bert didn't seem to be afraid of Gray's comment, if it even registered it as a threat. It was, however, quite distressed by Deimos inspection. There were a number of distorted beeps and chirps as it was strung around like a rubber band by one of its feet. Dahlia turned her head to Deimos and Gray. "I'm not sure what they mean. They're super small though, so it could be anything. Sadly its battery life doesn't last long right now."
 
Miko stood and knocked the chair away from himself. He stretched for a moment before headind towards the stairs. His hands were behind his head as he took a stroll back to the lobby.

As he reached the bottom he pulled out his notepad and looking over the logs. After logging into his profile and into the bounty hunter network a list popped up. It had 10 marks listed and each one were indicated to be out in the sector they would be exploring. He thought it would be wise to team up with this rag tag expedition team in order to secure passage to this area of the universe. While it was not confirmed his targets would be there the bounty hunter network does a good job in getting close.

He put the notepad away and walked over to the bar and ordered a tall beer.
 
"Aye, boss lady." Juryrig said with a smirk on his face. He hauled the haversack off the Horse and onto the floor, and knocked on the contraption two times. "Alright, get folding!"

The Alchemical Horse sputtered, and began to curl and crunch on itself, folding into a cube that could fit in the palm of your hand as it compressed, folded, and shifted into its smaller shape. Juryrig picked up the cube, packed it up in his bag, and left along the room along with it.

The mad engineer's behavior seemed to lull; he was still cheery in his odd self, but he doesn't appear to be very bombastic and wacky. In Juryrig's mind, he felt he gave everyone a good impression of what he is all about, that he cemented his place on this team. Where they all will go, Juryrig don't know, but he could just care less. Right now, he cared about the payment and the journey; to live the life of a mercenary.

Now what will this ship be, anyway? Juryrig thought to himself. It's gotta be a big one, guarenteed!
 
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Oliver stood with hands in pockets watching the others standing and leaving with juryrig and the self-justified bounty hunter leave first and watched the others, his thoughts drifted once more to his hunger and for a brief second considered trying to steal some from the pilot. To some it may have looked odd to see him shake his head and mutter things to himself before he put his head down and moved into the lobby to buy himself some food.

Although he scammed people for most of his life Oliver had given up stealing for himself long ago, if he needed something he would buy it. Wasn't his fault people believed his stories when he sold "Exotic goods" and in his own mind his justification was that he only targeted those who could afford it and not the desperate. "God If i could just find a place out of sight for a moment..." he muttered as he sat down beside Miko and checked his funds finding only cobwebs.

"Ok whatever universe." He slipped his hand into his coat and created a small and basic pastry food which he then took out and began to eat as though giving the impression of having had it within the folds of his coat the whole time. Oliver only hoped the bunty hunter beside him had been focused on his drink to pay the dreary looking figure beside him any mind. No doubts in his mind that it was for the better to keep his talent hidden until the order of the ship was established and he could find a way to use it more freely.

"Hope this ship has a decent galley in it..." he thought to himself only half in his mind.
 
Finnegan followed Miko down into the bar and ordered himself a Mojito along with a mountain of food, before waving a hand in front of the man's face to see if there was any sort of life behind it, or if he was just running on a predetermined path.

He began to snap his fingers to elicit a response "Hey, cowboy-man, I can see the lights are on but is anybody home? helloooo"
 
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Dammit, now Marie was getting hungry. All that passive stress costed her a fair amount of energy, and now her stomach was silently complaining, “Why don’t I get any food?”

She walked over to the bartender and ordered a small plate of fried chicken wings, with some sweet and sour dip. Hopefully it would help let her last until next meal, provided she didn’t have to give someone the tazer treatment or something.

Luckily, she had funds. Or maybe it was just her avoiding the trap of blowing all her money on useless things. Then again, she didn’t have to worry about housing or food or much for quite a portion of her life. And when she did, she managed her wallet decently to where she still had money left for emergencies such as these.
 
Arbles yawned quietly from her chair, the childlike voice of the childlike woman floating weakly through the air as she did so. She bounced one leg up and down passively shortly afterward, trying to keep herself awake. She yawned again before speaking slowly, "Ssssoooooo... What was next on the agenda again, Dhalia?"

The bartender stepped in and handed the Arble a plate laden with mashed potatoes and some fried chicken quietly. She ordered the food before the meeting started and asked it to be delivered about now.
 
Grey watched for a moment longer. He had been interested in seeing if it had enough cognitive ability to register the threat- or even simple audio receivers. Nothing its reaction, grey seriously doubted either were very likely. "It could be distorted audio, or maybe code in audio form to communicate with other machines." Grey had several experiences involving such matters, 'machine audio' that could carry instructions, malicious or otherwise. More than once he nearly made costly mistakes with such devices- but at least they had strong potentail for injecting code into machines that had some form of microphone.

"Best to keep it away from anything with an operating system the same as its own, I imagine." With that said, he turned away and moved towards the stairs. Only breifly did he glance at the hulking security robot, noting its idle movement. "Custom programming, possibly..." he mumbled as he went off. Surely such a security droid had the field of vision to easily see the entire room. Not familiar with that model, Grey could only pass it out of mind- a biological mind could only focus on so many things at a time after all.
 
"Aye, there better be some good eats on the magical quest." He said as he tapped his half finished beer on the table having heard the gy behind him comment.

Miko was tipping back his beer and checking out the local girls in the bar also. As he reached for another beer that was brought to him he noticed one of the girls from before was ordering wings.

"Awesome, nothing better than some chicken wings and beer." He snapped his fingers and put in an order for some wings. He turned and leaned a little closer to Marie. "So you seem like one of those smart types. What brings you to take on this mission?" He asked in a calm smooth voice.

He had been completely ignoring the guy snapping his fingers in his face. He reached and pushed against Finnegan in a shoo away fashion. "Wait your turn sweet cheeks, will get to you in a minute." He commented without breaking eye contact with Marie.
 
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Seeing the others get food made Lilli hungry as well, the scent of fried chicken wafting pleasingly into her nostrils and making her stomach growl softly. The little woman jumped down from her chair, and hitting the floor with a graceful landing before she walked towards the bartender as well, intent upon ordering a large plate of boneless fried chicken and fries, with a generous helping of honey mustard dipping sauce and some lemonade. If the ship did not have a good galley, this would likely be one of the last good meals she had before leaving on the expedition. While she waited, Lilli took a seat at a nearby table, with two of the others seated there and typed aimlessly at her datapad, checking the time, the weather, her packing list, and the news. Nothing seemed to draw her attention for a long period of time, but soon enough her food arrived, and she began to eat the meal with speed.

Money was not as much of a concern for her as it would have been for some of the others. Her parents had left her with a considerable amount of wealth and assets, which included their entire house and a few other significant belongings. As she ate, her eyes widened when she registered the man's smooth sounding voice, an obvious attempt by him to flirt with white-haired girl.

With an audible sigh, Lilli shook her head in mild annoyance and took another bite of her food.
 
As Marie spoke he too notice of a thick gnome who just got a plate of food. He thought to himself how in the world is she going to eat all that yummy food. He also could not help but notice her boobs stuck out as far as she was tall.

Miko completely ignored Marie as if he had not even started to talk with her. He grabbed his beer and quickly walked over to where the gnome was seated. Had Marie been in the way this is one of those "Oh damn an even hotter girl, get out the way bitch".

"Why hello there, I could not help but notice you was looking at me earlier." He said in a smooth deep voice. "Mind if I join you?" A smile crossed his face, a first for the night.
 
Sensing the brewing tension between Fin and Miko Oliver was tempted to leave especially with the cliche bar flirting going on to add to the confusion, standing to leave he flicked glances at those around him before heading outside and leaning against the building. He didn't know which ship was theirs and until he had an idea oliver would wait for the captain or pilot.

As he was the only one outside he decided there was no worry in getting himself some extra food and drink and set about filling his canteen with some strong brandy while whistling to himself. Afterwards he got a small container from within the folds of the coat and made himself some dried fruit and meat for backup supplies, "wonder how serious some of these people are."
 
So there he was. Another one of that kind of guy who would hit on every single girl in the world.

Marie had no time for them. She'd find herself someone decent. Someone who wouldn't try to hit on every single girl in the world to earn himself all the "happy land" time he could. She wasn't ugly, she was sure of it -- in fact, she thought she looked quite lovely. An exotic and beautiful hair color with a dazzling eye color to match decently endowed and hopefully okay in...other...departments.

So she let out a small huff in her mind and got up from her chair. Passing by Miko, she decided to give him a little bit of voltage just to make him look like a fool -- not enough to do anything but cause some amount of pain.
 
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