She snorted at the question about the cook. "He did his best to take us all on and lost. I did not like him turning cannibal but what is even worse is that he dealt with the porkers. For that he had to pay the price. I am wondering, who is going to run this place?, is it going to be a business like cookie?. I know i am not interested in waiting tables that is for sure."

"Yeah they said he was a good cook but then as something he nearly served up deep fried I'm not sad to see him go" reached replied to the yeti

Overhead a lone figure flies through the area scouting the lands for equipment, Spying the large mechanical object below, it circles around slowly to see what it is. Seeing that it appear to be a robot, his slows his pace a bit and rides the thermals. after a few minutes of observing and not getting shot, he banks lower before landing near the entrance to the building.

Crinkles looks to the gathered individuals and outside sees someone land nearby, "Anyone here cook? I'ma bit hungry. I'ma Crinkles sos you know."

Tom moves a step or two away from his position at the front door of the kitchen.

"You know what the cook cooked, don't you Crinkles?  And you're still hungry?  You must have some kinda iron stomach."

The thought should make Tom cross, that someone could accept the cook's cannabilism without any sign of concern, but the yeti is so blase about it that it's hard to feel angry.

"Anyhow, I'm Tom."

To Thunderbird, Tom adds, "And who might you be?"

"No, Tom. Crinkles didn't know. Just know cook gave it to him in exchange for some task. S0metimes Crinkles didn't want to do task but Cookie was insistent." he says as he makes his way to a seat within the restaurant.  As he lowers himself into a chair, the object strains under the Yeti's weight.

"Screech" says the feathered creature. "Sorry, I do not have a name of my own. The people at the lab I use to work at referred to me as "Thunderbird" but I am not sure if it was due to the make of an old passenger vehicle, a brand of wine or a creature of mythology. I hope for the latter rather than the two former. The director that was in charge of the place use to work at use to tell me that If I was not careful when I was out surveying for them, that I could end up being "Found on road, dead" and he would chuckle as if it was some inside joke to him."

Pointing to the large object outside, Thunderbird inquired, "How did that end up in front of the store and does it work? "

[OOC: Looks like we have adjourned to the interior...]

Bedlam cocks an eyebrow at the doorway when the hawkoid enters, apparently without hostile intent.
"Name's Bedlam," the giant introduces himself to the new arrivals. "I'd welcome you to the Soup Kitchen, but speaking from the experience of a shared campfire, none of us is much in the way of a cook. We'll probably be taking this place in a new direction. Maybe salvage and trade. Set up a little run into Compton."

"That, of course, assumes we can resolve things with the Porkers."

"The not-so-living metal out front," he addresses Thunderbird's question. "Was part of the cook's defenses. It's... uh... going through some renovations, too."

"Are the two of you," he indicates Thunderbird and Crinkles. "Together?"

Crinkles looks at the one called Screech, "I do not know a Screech until just now. But it is a pleasure to meet you."

Crinkles sits down on the ground and reaches inside his backpack and pulls out a small pack of trail rations, he starts picking at them and eating them casually.

"Not a Screech, perhaps, but a Shreek." Tom raises an eyebrow at the similarity of the hawkoids' names.  "That thing outside did for him."

Tom trails the others back into the kitchen, resuming his seat at the table with the armour samples.  "Anyway, no Cook anymore, so no food.  You two trading, looking for work or just passing through?"

 Shaking her head as she entered the dining room area where the new people had just walked into. Frowning at the new ones, "Let me get this straight, these new people have just walked into our building without an invite?, one would think that after we took care of the "Cook" they might have been nice and asked if it was ok...Or maybe they are thinking since we are battle worn they can just take over the building themselves?. So what shall it be, small ones?."

Crinkles frowned, "Didn't know Cookie was gone 'til just now, store never been closed before." he stood back up and stretched one of his large arms in the air. "Crinkles never been called small before but he isn't trying to take nothing without earning it. I gots food from Cookie then he told me what to do for him. I do it even though some of the things I didn't want to. Never could say no...

Anyway, I not taking anything, plant, but work wouldn't be bad."

"Easy, sis," Bedlam grins at Flora. "The sprawl's a rough spot, but not every wanderer is an enemy - it's important to find allies when you can. They're not trying to get into the kitchen, and some of us appreciate a little shade now and then."

"Sorry, I was flying through the area. I did not mean to surprise anyone but call it a natural curiosity of mine.  I scavenge electronic components and try to get them to operate again. Not much experience with the more complex circuits but I have gotten pretty good at recharging small batteries.  I have been known to help fix mechanical objects but have to rely on someones tools as they tend to be too heavy to fly with. Kind of hard to fly with a hundred pound tool box strapped to your back." says Thunderbird.

"As for this "Cook" person (or creature) I have no idea who he was, but I am guessing he did not care if the creature in the pot was sentient or not. And no, I was not trying to get into the kitchen, I like my food fresh, non-sentient and not glowing."   he says with arms folded, talons grasping his biceps.

"Sounds reasonable."  Tom agrees.

To Flora, Tom adds, "We could use some help to hold this place, Flora.  In the longer term, at least.  We've no reason to trust these guys but you had little enough reason to trust me back in Compton and here I am.  I figure as long as they do what Bedlam tells 'em for a bit, we should be okay."

To Crinkles and Thunderbird, Tom takes a slightly different approach.  "Look, we've just had a big scrap so we're a bit toe-ey.  After what we found here you wouldn't blame us for being suspicious.  But we're likely to have company soon enough that shoots first and talks later, if you get my drift.  So you can either stay here and help us out or you can bug out.  If you help us, there's enough tech here for us to make it worth your while or you can talk to these guys about joining on for longer.  If you're leaving, do it soon and stay away."

Crinkles shrugs, "Rarely meet people who don't run from Crinkles in fear. I'll stay as long as you will allow."

At the mention of tech, Thunderbird's eyes light up. "I would be more than happy to help deal with whatever foes that want to pay a social call. I prefer to keep out of harms way as these wings do not take to well to having holes in them but my friend "Prometheus" here comes in handy or my natural abilities. Where do you want me, out scouting around or on guard duty?" he asks
This message was last edited by the player at 11:38, Tue 27 Aug 2013.

Roach let the others chat but was concerned about no one being on lookout so he jumped and scuttled up the outside wall and onto the roof.

From there he was able to view the surrounding area

 She glanced around the outside once again before ducking and entering the dining room with the new people. It seemed that the new people were going to stay and crowd her roots with their presence.

 She looked at the bird man with a critical eye, "well, one of them can at least fly to take on the porkers air ship, remember we the last time we fought them?, we had trouble with the flying gun platform, so maybe he can help."

 She did not say it but wondered if he would survive going against the flying gun platform.

"Well, if they have a flying platform, maybe setting up an ambush so that I can have the Sun behind me when I come in would be a good idea. Since it is an airship, then I should be able to land on top of it and rip it apart with my talons. If they try shooting at me, they are more likely to punch holes in their own vessel.  Do they seem to have a base of operations?" Thunderbird asks

"Stay here." Tom answers Thunderbird's first question.  "Until we know the area better scouting is too dangerous, 'less we do it in groups and we don't have the time or the people for that."

There's also the surveillance equipment inside the kitchen but Tom doesn't see that Thunderbird and Crinkles need to know about that just yet.

As for the porker's base and modus operandi, Tom looks to Bedlam and Flora since he wasn't around for the first fight.

"Yeah, they have a base off in..." Standing in the dining room Bedlam turns slowly, getting his bearings.

"Off in that direction," he finally decides. "Maybe a day or so? Depends on how well you know the Sprawl. Big, well-established compound. They have motorcycles in addition to the gun platform. We'll want to stay off their radar as long as we can."

"Unfortunately, the dabbers seem to think they are already on their way, so... much as I'd like to sit and chat some more," Bedlam is obviously ready to go back out into the courtyard. "We've got some work to do to make this place more defensible. Thunderbird, Crinkles, if you're willing to work, you're welcome to stay. As you already know, the Sprawl is a dangerous place, and it's not often you know ahead of time the danger is coming. I certainly understand the reasoning behind avoiding unnecessary trouble. But trouble is on its way, and we'll be here to meet it. If you choose to face it with us, we'll do what we can to see you through, and you'll get a share in whatever the survivors scrounge."

Crinkles nods his head in affirmation and walks out into the courtyard.  "Screech or Thunderbird, could you fly me with you up to there flying weapon place? I could be of some help up there."

 Letting her tall gaze walk up the side of the building until it settled on the roof. With a smooth spin she faced Bedlam, "I was wondering if its possible to set up a oversize xbow on the roof with a cable attached that we could use to disable the porkers flying platform?,kinda like a harpoon with a barbed tip to grab what ever it hits and to reel it in to get close enough to come to blows in person."

During the next few days you desperately shore up your defences while getting to know the new arrivals. Tempers are not helped by the wave of Alpha flux that lays the original crew low for half a day. All to soon you are faced with the feared assault.

OK folks, still have a few things to sort out. See the Meta thread. Also, would be good to know your revised defensive plan. I know Bedlam is manning the cameras, but where will everyone else be? Check the Combat Maps thread for a plan of the soup kitchen and surrounding area. Also, will you be going for Flora's crossbow idea? You have a limited amount of resources to build up some defences, the corssbow will use them all.