Re: The Fearsome Encounter (GBS3G8) [Round 2: Oh Two Oh]
06-23-2012, 04:51 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-20-2013, 11:22 PM by Solaris.)
Originally posted on MSPA by Solaris.
For what was the fifth or so time in the last hour, Vernon was kicked out of one of the many stores that he was loitering in. Normally, this wouldn't really be that big of a deal on Oh Two Oh, but Vernon had unfortunately garnered a reputation on that district of the large ship, one that was as unwanted as a few of his nicknames. The Rat, the Weasel, Vermin, and something that when translated meant "Soon-To-Have-A-Nose-Shoved-Up-Your-Ass" were all nicknames that the furry brown, six legged, Information and Possession Collector had gained in his time on Oh Two Oh. The reason that no one wanted him around wasn't that he would probably steal from them, but because his ears had the hearing of a bat, his nose could literally smell information, and because he had a knack of getting into trouble.
However, Vernon couldn't smell trouble like he suddenly got a wiff what smelled like an entire universe's worth of information. He had no idea where it had come from, but it was certainly there, and he had to have it. The vermin creature scurried to the source of the smell, breathing heavily as he imagined what it would be like to have so much information in his perfectly kept little hands.
However, as he neared the source, his anticipatory joy soured a little.
"Here? Really? Oi." Vernon sniffed the air, just to be sure, "Yearp, dat's comin from in dere. Oh nelly, whatever source of info this is it better be worth it."
Taking in a deep smell of the information that was in the air, Vernon entered the headquarters of Oh Two Oh's resident Information Brokers. To Vernon's unique sense of smell, the IB's HQ was always a large ping on his radar. That whatever information source caused this significant of a wiff meant that it was big.
"Oh, it's you again. Didn't I make it clear last time?"
Of course, that the HQ made a large ping meant that Vernon had paid multiple visits, the most recent of which did not end very well. Like many other places, he was kicked out. However, the prize was what was on his mind, and he wasn't willing to give up without a fight.
"Oi oi, Mizz, I don't want no trouble. I just left somethin here da last time I came in here, is all."
As the vermin creature stepped forward a bit, the bug-lady at the counter skeptically responded with an "Oh, really?"
"Yea, yea, dat's all. Just gotta find it." He started sniffing the air, hoping to pinpoint the source only to have black fingers cover it up.
"I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that. Boss' orders. If it's really yours, you don't need this, right?"
Vernon gave off the biggest, and most fake smile he could and said "Force of habit."
Still smelling the goldmine of information, only quietly, Vernon eventually found his prize, which to his confusion was a dark blue book that read "ἐγκυκλοπαιδεία" on the cover. Trusting his nose far more than his eyes, the vermin creature carefully took the book and started to leave the Information Broker Headquarters.
"Didn't your mother teach you not to steal?"
Vernon and the lady at the counter looked around the store for the source of the voice, only to find that they were the only ones in the front of the building. Still, Vernon found this worrying and wanted to leave as quickly as possible, rushing to the exit without saying a word when he was effortlessly kicked into the air dropping the book on the counter.
The mighty foot that had kicked the vermin creature back was none other than Pope Triumphian, closely followed by the newest member of his religion, the former Captain Jessica Blaus.
"Greetings to you, I am His Holiness the Glorious Pope Triumphian the First of the Holy Empire of Lagran. My escort tells me that you have information about the universe, star charts, navigation records, and that sort of thing. I require an accurate route to get from this ship to the planet Lagren."
After working with Information Brokers for a while, you get desensitized to things. Your reaction to things that happen is giving away information that could give your opponent an advantage, and when people wanted to know something that they didn't want to know, you didn't want to be standing on lower ground. As such, the bug-lady at the counter paused for a bit, but did not lose her poker face at the sight of the giant red dinosaur in a silly hat.
"Could you please give me some star coordinates, that makes this all a lot easier." She produced a small notebook and pencil and she handed it to Triumphian, who wrote down a series of numbers and locations and then handed it back. "I will see what I can do, your Holiness."
As she turned to the back, to consult with her co-wokers on the location of this Planet Lagren, Triumphian and the captain observed the headquarters.
"It's been a while since I've been in here, warning you now though, they won't give you the information without a price."
Triumphian however, was focused on the counter, where an unconscious brown thing seemed to be covering another object. Shoving Vernon away, he saw a familiar sight.
"Oh finally someone gets that rat off of me. I'm almost glad that I haven't worked out smelling on this thing because there's no way that thing's clean."
"The book!" Triumphian smiled at the sight of the supposed Universal Encyclopedia, sure that with it on his side, he would be able to get away from this stupid competition.
Vex's reaction on the other hand, was a bit less ecstatic. "Oh, you are the Pope aren't you? Good to see a familiar face, though not quite the one I want."
"Is that book talking?"
Triumphian nodded at the captain and continued to make small talk with Vex, hoping to use him to further his goals. "Oh? Which one?"
"The mannequin."
Before they could continue, the bug-lady returned from the back, "Uhm, I'm sorry, it seems that there isn't any Planet Lagran in the star coordinates that you've given us, or... anywhere in our records."
"What?" His voice had a tone of deep and vile anger.
The bug-lady did her best to keep her face straight in the face of the obviously pissed off dinosaur, "Y-Yes, according to our records, it seems that there is nothing in that area other than a barren planet of wild animals and nothing else."
Forgoing any shred of courtesy in his anger, Triumphian slammed his claw on the counter, ordering Vex to tell him about the location of his planet.
Fearing the worst, and not quite sure of the consequences of a dinosaur pope angrily ripping the book he was inside apart, Vex responded as calmly as he could. "Hey buddy, calm down, no need to do anything we would regret," Vex said as he noticed Triumphian's eyes slowly glow bright, "I still haven't got a full handle on this thing, so just wait a minute while I try to find it alright?"
For what was the fifth or so time in the last hour, Vernon was kicked out of one of the many stores that he was loitering in. Normally, this wouldn't really be that big of a deal on Oh Two Oh, but Vernon had unfortunately garnered a reputation on that district of the large ship, one that was as unwanted as a few of his nicknames. The Rat, the Weasel, Vermin, and something that when translated meant "Soon-To-Have-A-Nose-Shoved-Up-Your-Ass" were all nicknames that the furry brown, six legged, Information and Possession Collector had gained in his time on Oh Two Oh. The reason that no one wanted him around wasn't that he would probably steal from them, but because his ears had the hearing of a bat, his nose could literally smell information, and because he had a knack of getting into trouble.
However, Vernon couldn't smell trouble like he suddenly got a wiff what smelled like an entire universe's worth of information. He had no idea where it had come from, but it was certainly there, and he had to have it. The vermin creature scurried to the source of the smell, breathing heavily as he imagined what it would be like to have so much information in his perfectly kept little hands.
However, as he neared the source, his anticipatory joy soured a little.
"Here? Really? Oi." Vernon sniffed the air, just to be sure, "Yearp, dat's comin from in dere. Oh nelly, whatever source of info this is it better be worth it."
Taking in a deep smell of the information that was in the air, Vernon entered the headquarters of Oh Two Oh's resident Information Brokers. To Vernon's unique sense of smell, the IB's HQ was always a large ping on his radar. That whatever information source caused this significant of a wiff meant that it was big.
"Oh, it's you again. Didn't I make it clear last time?"
Of course, that the HQ made a large ping meant that Vernon had paid multiple visits, the most recent of which did not end very well. Like many other places, he was kicked out. However, the prize was what was on his mind, and he wasn't willing to give up without a fight.
"Oi oi, Mizz, I don't want no trouble. I just left somethin here da last time I came in here, is all."
As the vermin creature stepped forward a bit, the bug-lady at the counter skeptically responded with an "Oh, really?"
"Yea, yea, dat's all. Just gotta find it." He started sniffing the air, hoping to pinpoint the source only to have black fingers cover it up.
"I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that. Boss' orders. If it's really yours, you don't need this, right?"
Vernon gave off the biggest, and most fake smile he could and said "Force of habit."
Still smelling the goldmine of information, only quietly, Vernon eventually found his prize, which to his confusion was a dark blue book that read "ἐγκυκλοπαιδεία" on the cover. Trusting his nose far more than his eyes, the vermin creature carefully took the book and started to leave the Information Broker Headquarters.
"Didn't your mother teach you not to steal?"
Vernon and the lady at the counter looked around the store for the source of the voice, only to find that they were the only ones in the front of the building. Still, Vernon found this worrying and wanted to leave as quickly as possible, rushing to the exit without saying a word when he was effortlessly kicked into the air dropping the book on the counter.
The mighty foot that had kicked the vermin creature back was none other than Pope Triumphian, closely followed by the newest member of his religion, the former Captain Jessica Blaus.
"Greetings to you, I am His Holiness the Glorious Pope Triumphian the First of the Holy Empire of Lagran. My escort tells me that you have information about the universe, star charts, navigation records, and that sort of thing. I require an accurate route to get from this ship to the planet Lagren."
After working with Information Brokers for a while, you get desensitized to things. Your reaction to things that happen is giving away information that could give your opponent an advantage, and when people wanted to know something that they didn't want to know, you didn't want to be standing on lower ground. As such, the bug-lady at the counter paused for a bit, but did not lose her poker face at the sight of the giant red dinosaur in a silly hat.
"Could you please give me some star coordinates, that makes this all a lot easier." She produced a small notebook and pencil and she handed it to Triumphian, who wrote down a series of numbers and locations and then handed it back. "I will see what I can do, your Holiness."
As she turned to the back, to consult with her co-wokers on the location of this Planet Lagren, Triumphian and the captain observed the headquarters.
"It's been a while since I've been in here, warning you now though, they won't give you the information without a price."
Triumphian however, was focused on the counter, where an unconscious brown thing seemed to be covering another object. Shoving Vernon away, he saw a familiar sight.
"Oh finally someone gets that rat off of me. I'm almost glad that I haven't worked out smelling on this thing because there's no way that thing's clean."
"The book!" Triumphian smiled at the sight of the supposed Universal Encyclopedia, sure that with it on his side, he would be able to get away from this stupid competition.
Vex's reaction on the other hand, was a bit less ecstatic. "Oh, you are the Pope aren't you? Good to see a familiar face, though not quite the one I want."
"Is that book talking?"
Triumphian nodded at the captain and continued to make small talk with Vex, hoping to use him to further his goals. "Oh? Which one?"
"The mannequin."
Before they could continue, the bug-lady returned from the back, "Uhm, I'm sorry, it seems that there isn't any Planet Lagran in the star coordinates that you've given us, or... anywhere in our records."
"What?" His voice had a tone of deep and vile anger.
The bug-lady did her best to keep her face straight in the face of the obviously pissed off dinosaur, "Y-Yes, according to our records, it seems that there is nothing in that area other than a barren planet of wild animals and nothing else."
Forgoing any shred of courtesy in his anger, Triumphian slammed his claw on the counter, ordering Vex to tell him about the location of his planet.
Fearing the worst, and not quite sure of the consequences of a dinosaur pope angrily ripping the book he was inside apart, Vex responded as calmly as he could. "Hey buddy, calm down, no need to do anything we would regret," Vex said as he noticed Triumphian's eyes slowly glow bright, "I still haven't got a full handle on this thing, so just wait a minute while I try to find it alright?"