Recap:
The mission to Urser was successful with no hitches. However, when Michael led a small team to poison Ra, things went south before they could even get close enough and the bunch barely escaped with their lives. Project Poison would have to wait for another day. However, it has been confirmed now that Katy is 100% healed.

When Michael returned, Katy was sure to reassure him and with him, worked hard to keep morale from falling. News of Shelly's recent victory helped, but times are about to get a bit... difficult.

Now:
Katy has everyone assembled at the Mess Hall. "It's a new year, everyone. That means a lot of things. It means new year's resolutions. It means fresh chances. It also means winter and low crop yield. As usual, we saved excess to last us through the winter, but this year, the rations will be less than last year. That said, I want volunteers for a special mission. There is an old grain storage up north about 16 miles. There is a lot of snow and cold weather to trudge through to get there. But if we don't get what we need from there, I'm afraid we won't quite have what we need for the entire winter. Don't worry: We have time. But I *need* people to go there. Valin needs to go, though, because he'll be able to carry more than the rest of us." she glances at Valin. "Sorry, big guy..."

Katy looks back at the others in the room. "Being here is important also. Your efforts will count a lot while the team is gone on this mission. But that means I need you all to work hard. Support each other. When someone gets tired, take their place. When someone is cold, make them go inside and take their place. We have done this before many times. We can do it again."

Katy looks specifically at the newbies for the most part since it's really for their benefit that she is stating what is now obvious to those who have been here a while.

Emerald clears her throat.

Katy nods. "Emerald is leading this fetch mission. She knows a lot about how to take this kind of weather by the horns. Alright then... who wants to go?"

Maverick raises his hand. Katy eyes him and looks at Valin, as if double-checking that he thinks it would be OK to take the boy along.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:31, Thu 27 Jan 2011.

Meanwhile, back at Aquarius, Shelly is having breakfast with the others. She smiles. Their food is taken care of, their recent mission was successful, they are living in a more indoors heated environment. Life is pretty good at the moment. She didn't get on anyone's case and didn't really have to. She snaps her fingers. "I've got it!" she suddenly says. She looks around. "Naughty?" Once she spots him, she continued, "Naughty! I just had an idea! We've got it really good.. we should check if our neighbors, the Channelwood Freedom Fighters, could use any of our help. But..." she bites her lower lip. "Angel left after returning Hart and Timothius here. So we don't have any fast way to get there. And there's a lot of snow..."

Philip raises his hand.

"I'll help," he says, "For what it's worth, I know how to forage for food if the mission fails."

The player doesn't want to deal with the fish right now, so not posting them.

Winter can be fun!  But it can be annoying too.  Mittens has cabin fever BAD right about now.

"Ooh!  Ooh!" she says excitedly, waving her hand in the air frantically, "Me!  Me!  Send me, take me, use me, spend me, I am not my own!  Wheeee!"

She's already rushing for the exit.

  Joe's habit of wearing a full outfit has a practical purpose this time of year (nevermind it's a more popular look with the Channelwood and Aquarious types in general than most other Mobians).  "I'll go unless we're expecting something else to come up I would be more needed for."  There's 'expecting yet another doom plot' and then there is 'Doom plot is currently happening this week', so technical difference.

  Besides which, he's somewhat suspecting someone has already beaten them to the grain storage and if negotiations fall through the horrors of post apocalyptic 'murder for food' they may need someone with adjustable morals that go past 'us or them' but not up to 'obliterate planet for revenge'.  Well, if things get that Grimdark on this board anyway.

Sits in with the group, listening to the call for volunters to go raid a grain store.  She of all people knows about the dwindling supplies.  she's had to become more creative as of late when it comes to meals.  She raises her paw, "Si, I volunteer.  The cuboard, she is nearly bare and we need everyone carrying back food who can."  she volunteers.  With so many volunteers at least Emerald will have her choice of volunteers to take, or just have a bigger mob to loot with.

Is still finishing his breakfast as he looks over some schematics along with a list of maintenance repairs that he still needs to preform on the shuttle. The list has become a bit shorter with a few more items marked as completed in part thanks due to the parts he was able to bring back with him on the last raid. Samuel sighs as he realizes he's going to need to get more supplies in the not too distant future as he has already used most of the supplies he was able to get towards repairing his shuttle. But at least with the SWATBot armor suit now ready for a field test he might be able to get his hands on more supplies soon.

When Shelly starts complaining about the snow he chuckles softly as he ponders what the natives would think of the harshness of outer space if they are so troubled by simple snow as the coldness that comes with snow pales before the coldness of outer space. Samuel then mutters to himself, "I doubt they will need me for that. But then again I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to use me for some inane task simply for their own deranged amusement."

Samuel then proceeds to ponder which other repairs he can perform on the shuttle with the remaining components he has access to as he doesn't expect that anyone else is expecting anything of him so he'll focus on what he can still accomplish on his own.

Michael is still slightly disappointing by the failure of 'Project Poison', but hopes that this upcoming mission fares better. With Emerald, Valin, and Maverick already on the team, he doesn't expect that he'll be needed to go on the mission, since he'll be more needed in Channelwood working to make sure the snow doesn't pile up on walkways and cause any of them to collapse from the extra weight.

Valin isn't sorry that he is needed for Katy's upcoming mission as he knows his strength could mean the difference between carrying back enough food for everyone or not. Valin also realizes that there may be some seeds that the group could acquire which could used to replenish seed stock for growing crops in the area next spring. "We also might also be able to find some seeds that we can use for growing crops in the spring."

When Katy looks to him after Maverick raises his hand, the gorilla nods as he doesn't see any harm in letting the boy come on what should be a rather routine and safe mission, compared to raiding Middletown.

Nautilus grimaces slightly, despite smiling on the inside, at Shelly's calling of him. He walks over with his light breakfast in hand and takes a seat next to her, listening to her explain her thoughts and the idea forming.

The old seabear's eyes widen at her sudden suggestion, "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that one of your primary concerns is for those who are possibly less fortunate than us... However, while it is admirable, Princess, do remember that the Freedom Fighters in Channelwood have quite a bit of experience without our help. I'm certain they have prepared for enduring the cold and the snow..." His eyes calm as he looks at Shelly closely, "Of course, there is always the chance they could benefit from our aid... and, if I'm not mistaken, you already seem to be thinking of a way to go about doing this? Traveling on foot through snow is not one of our specialties."

He raises a brow and turns towards Mittens as she speaks up, "Calm your tide... A proper mission hasn't even been set!"

Hart has finished his breakfast already, but he's still around the mess hall and taking in the cool atmosphere of the morning, sitting close to Pierson, Crucible, Walden, and a few others.

In contrast to Mittens, the deer is taking fairly well to the relative quiet and slower pace of the winter, enjoying the opportunities to calm down and focus on the small things around Aquarius. He's gotten into quite the routine of swimming several times a day, despite the lower temperatures outside, and it's improved his disposition for the most part.

As he hears Shelly start to bring up her idea, he shakes his head softly with a smirk, listening in for now and seeing if anything comes of the random idea.

Having heard the votes and not-votes, Katy nods. "Then it's settled. Everyone going on the mission with Emerald, talk to her. I have things to do. Take care." she moves on to her next task, which is more or less going over Channelwood to see what needs addressing.

(Note from the GM: Channelwood is going to be off-panel. This is to help me not have to RP as Katy for now and, if he chooses, Michael can give his chimp a break so he has fewer posts to worry about here. I understand life is busy for him.)

Emerald helps her team get together and get what is needed, which isn't much since Emerald was already prepared to go before the meeting. Once the team is ready, Emerald heads down to the ground level via the stairs, letting whoever wants to to use the elevator. She seems as bright and cheerful as usual.

Once everyone was at ground level, Emerald began leading the way northward. "16 miles is a long way to go and while we COULD do it in a day, I don't wanna overly stress anyone. If everyone here were as fit as, say, Joe, then we could make 20 miles in a day. But I'm going to have us cover 12 miles today. Tomorrow, we'll cover the last 4 miles, stock up stuff, take a break, walk 6 miles back, spend another night, and then go the 10 miles back home. So this is a 3-day trip. Understanding this, is everyone still on board for this mission? It's a long trip, so expect some boredom, foot pains, and the occasional desire to warm up. I will help out with all issues every step of the way, but if for some reason, you feel you will wind up complaining every 10 minutes or so, please stay behind. A complainer is more of a hindrance than a help in trips like this."

Maverick had gotten to see how to make a pair of boots as winter approached. It was fun and he is now wearing such to protect his feet from the snow. The boy listens to Emerald's intro speech and simply nods. He is ready to go and has no objection. Crying is for women, babies and men who just had their ears ripped off. So logically, Maverick concludes he will not join the sissy brigade by complaining.

Unfortunately, he'll be taking this too far and not complain at ALL. But thankfully, Emerald will be ready for that too. Also good is that Maverick is used to walking far distances.

(Raichel is in the background, but is on auto-follow with Philip)
This message was last edited by the player at 03:35, Thu 17 Mar 2011.

If they had spacesuits in the snow, they likely wouldn't complain about it. In fact, once in space, they'd probably like it over snow since they would be protected from the cold of space. It's the lack of gravity that would become a problem to deal with and sadly, no amount of "getting used to it" would keep your bones from deteriorating. Again, Sam is likely going to be reminded that he takes his technology for granted and will soon discover that while space is more hostile, bad weather has its own inconveniences that he isn't used to *because* he's more used to space.

But then, that's the fun of playing a character who thinks he's superior to others. It's like complaining about how much an auto mechanic charges you for repairs until you try being an auto mechanic. All the sudden, the prices seem more than fair.

Even as Mittens is running, Mei Ling is entering the area. If Mittens doesn't stop her terminal velocity, she will slam into Mei Ling.

Shelly meeps and hops to her feet, "Mittens, wait! Nothing is set yet!"

She sighs and flops back onto her butt. "I'll give them a call on the radio. Maybe the sentiment will be enough. But in the meantime, as Mittens just demonstrated, some *are* getting a little stir-crazy and want out. We spend a lot of time indoors normally, but winter has made it more so."

"Mobotropolis is my area of familiarity," Philips answers, "Any tips on wilderness survival and navigation would be much appreciated."

He too follows along, staying close to Raichel.

"Ohright!" Mittens answers as she screeches to a halt then turns to speed back the way she came, "Sillyme!  Willneedskis!"

Zoom!  She rushes to go grab her skis then returns!

"Done radioing them yet?  Last on there's a rotten egg!"

What she wouldn't give for a two-tailed fox piggy-backing to propel her at supersonic speed!

(( OOC: In Mother Russia, you don't ski the skis.  The skis ski you! http://www.wired.com/playbook/...ssia-motorized-skis/ ))

  "It's fine.  I'll keep any ranting to the usual variety as opposed to the weather wandering related."  Joe's already done his fair share of travel through the wilderness in his nondescript vague backstory anyways.  Of course, so has almost everyone who didn't directly end up at their respective locations.

  "Besides, even if we could reasonably make it there in one day we'll be carrying all that extra weight on the way back.  So The end result would be about the same."

  That said, Joe starts following along.

The narrator wonders if that pun was an intended response to Mei Ling's existence. But that said, the pig is still in Mittens' way. She giggles, "This isn't a race, Mittens."

Shelly says, "It hasn't even been a second, Mittens. I'll join you when I join you." she gets up and goes to radio. Thankfully, that conversation can happen off-panel.

Emerald leads the way and sings a cheerful song as she does. Raichel glances at Philip and says in a quiet tone, "You know, dad... I really like Emerald. Of course, I like all the people in Channelwood, but you know what I mean... she's very upbeat. Something you don't get to see often these days..."

Emerald flicks an ear, but just keeps singing with a bright smile. Occasionally looking at her surroundings and at her companions to make sure everyone is with her and there are no ambushes.

"If it ain't it should be," Mits answers the pink lady with a grin as she begins to side-step around the obstacle, "You comin?"

---

Philip too is on guard against attack.  He nods gravely in reply to his daughter.

"Tell her."

  The original prototype Joe Darkthorne character was also very upbeat, and a lot closer to Mittens standard issue in the 'Go forth! Where we shall cause EXPLOSIONS!' sense... What happened?  First you got all reasnable with the Matt Darkthorne versions, then you went all Generic Sarcastic Cynic with further Joe's like now.

  Of course, being a killer robot instead of having to fight them may offer some answers there in this particular case.

  Oh, okay, he's juggling.  Juggling is nice and upbeat right?... Well, not so much when you're juggling knives... Progress?

Samuel glances over at Mitten's shenanigans and comments, "I don't think Mittens is going stir crazy. She seems perfectly normal, at least normal for her."

As Samuel watches Shelly head off to use the radio, Samuel mutters, "I miss being able to order out for delivery. Either to get components to finish a job or good food to eat. Speaking of good food, what I wouldn't give for a nice juicy steak right now, or maybe some nice and crisp ...." as he notices Mei Ling's presence and then Samuel then hesitates and all but metaphorically holds his tongue to avoid mentioning bacon as there is a sentient pig in the room, and Samuel isn't annoyed enough with anyone, yet, to start making people think he might actually consider eating a Mobian if he got hungry enough.

Michael heads off to deal with the additional chores around Channelwood that he'll be responsible for with Valin heading off on a mission for a few days.

[OOC: Ya I'll be keeping Michael Off-camera in Channelwood for the time being.]

Valin considers the number of people going on the mission and the size of the area being covered and asks Emerald as the group head out, "Perhaps we should extend the mission to be over 4 days to have more time to scavenge the area for supplies. As your leaving very little time to gather and secure supplies since your having us travel at least ten miles each day if we pack everything into three days but use a day and a half for traveling each way. The extra day would be useful for gathering seeds from the nearby wildlife since if we deplete the grain storage then next year we'll be worse off so we need to do what we can to scavenge renewable sources for seeds and grain, which can be done while traveling if we come across the right type of plants as they may have seeds nearby we can use, but we'll only be exploring two narrow paths getting to and from the grain storage, so we'd be able to use the extra time exploring around the grain storage site to find seeds we can bring back, I am bringing a few tools to help with that."

Emerald replies to Valin with an apologetic sad smile, "Thanks for the thought, Valin, but it's winter. Most of the seed gathering has already been done by the wildlife and we would be left foraging through the snow. The fact it's winter is also why we will need to keep moving. As it is, I already made sure the pace will be slowed down from what more fit members like Joe could have paced. But believe me, I allowed for time to gather things in that schedule. However, I know that plans can change all too easily. What I mentioned is what we will go by for now, but we will see how things go once we get to the storage. If the mission needs extending as you suggest, the storage area is where the extending will happen. So we'll worry about that if it comes up."

Raichel says, "You know, Emerald... it's nice to see you so upbeat and smiling. Don't get to see that often."

Emerald says, "I have much to be happy for. Starting with all of you."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:15, Tue 05 July 2011.

Mei Ling bites her lower lip in thought before smiling and nodding to Mittens. "Sure. But it's cold out there. Lemme get something warm to wear and I'll join you."

Meanwhile, Shelly eventually is off the radio and goes to get dressed up as well. Judging from her slightly worried expression, the call probably went as expected.

Soon enough, Shelly and Mei Ling are outside with winter clothing on.

  Joe's defaulting to certain degrees of cynicism isn't even assuming there is any safely edible food waiting for them at the end of this trip until proven otherwise.  "Well, I suppose another downside to extending the trip is how those back at Channelwood would be expecting us back around when we first planned.  One extra day could work out, but more than that and Katy may end up sending people to look for us only to find 'nope! were fine!'"

  He cuts off the juggling (with no literal cutting involved, fortunatly), and shrugs.  "I guess it's like Emerald said, we'll figure it out when we get there.  Can hardly blame you for thinking about 'how better to not starve to death' though Valin."

By the time the slow pokes are ready to go, there's several snow angels lining the path to Channelwood with Mittens making a dotted arrow made of snowballs in the middle of it all.  The arrow and the snow angels are all pointing in the direction of Channelwood.

"You're ready?  All right!  Let's go!"

Mittens jogs in the direction of all the divine guidance.

---

Philip smirks at his little girl's adorable attempts to connect.  And the nice lady's nice response.  He makes no comment about starvation or search parties, and stays alert.

Samuel realizes that no one is really paying any attention to him and frankly he is starting to fall into a rut by repeating the same routine day in and day out. A small smirk forms as he gets a mischievous, yet amusing, idea and thinks to himself, 'well I do need to test the insulation and some systems on that SWATBot suit. Putting it through some field tests might be just what I need to break the monotony of my daily routine. I could also have some fun with it if I surprise Shelly, Mei Ling, and Mittens by jumping out and yelling 'all your base are belong to us' or something at them... I wonder who came up with that phrase as it is really poor English but it's been around so long.'

Soon Samuel is in his workshop and putting on the SWATBot suit with a bag and large white cloak on hand as Samuel figures he'll be able to use the cloak to conceal the suit while leaving, and he can hide the helmet in the bag and put it on once outside.

[OOC Note: Yes I know where the 'all your base are belong to us' came from, but remember Samuel wouldn't know that, as its origins predate interplanetary, let alone interstellar, travel.]
This message was last edited by the player at 18:41, Wed 06 July 2011.

Valin nods as he listens to everyone's responses to his suggestion and says, "Well the least we can do is make sure that we don't leave any tracks that could be used by a patrol robot to discover the location of Channelwood. That won't significantly slow us down." It is at times like this that Valin wouldn't mind having a long tail so he could use that to disrupt and conceal his tracks, instead he simply uses a branch that had broken off due to the weight of snow on it. Valin uses that branch by slowly swinging it back and forth behind him as he walks to collapse the snow around his footprints to break up his tracks behind him.

Emerald looks over at Valin and nodnods. "Good thought, Valin. I guess I got too confident in our being out here in the woods, but you're right. Everyone in the rear, do what you see Valin doing. Those in the lead will occasionally trade places with those in the rear for cover duty."

She then smiles up at Valin. "Thanks for covering bases and thinking proactively."

Apparently, Sam will have to be VERY quick or he'll miss his opportunity since Mittens is in high gear. Even for her. Shelly hugs her coat close and says, "I brought the spare foodstuffs that we can afford to give. It's a crate's worth." she thumbs behind herself at the crate that is on a sled. "Let's all pull it together."

Milloni is in the hall that Sam's in as he is heading off. The suit concealed, she doesn't figure the cloak is for anything more than being warm. "Oh, hi Sam! You part of the charity mission?" she walks alongside him so he doesn't have to stop walking.

Samuel smirks slightly as he replies to Milloni, "Nope, I'm just heading out to run some field tests on some gear. Although I may come across them though while I'm out testing the gear. You heading out?" as Samuel reaches the exit. Samuel plans to take the helmet of the bag it is concealed within and put it on before he starts sprinting after those on the charity mission once he's outside, as he doesn't expect Milloni to follow him, and even if she does he can truthfully say he is testing the SWATBot suit, since he truly is. Just not in the way other people may approve. However Samuel knows he has ground he has to cover in order to make up time, and he doesn't know how fast they are moving but he hopes to reach them before they reach Channelwood.

[OOC Note: Ya it may be out of turn, but it isn't like posting out of turn is going to affect anyone else.]

  So, finally after ages of never using it, Joe finally uses his arms grapple claw!... To trail it behind him and break up tracks.  Whoooooo!  In regards to the Emerald to Raichel banter, he comments "Well, the whole not being dead and with people who actually help eachother as opposed to look out only for themselves thing does tend to be a mood lifter, yeah."

  Of course, Dark Sun could be considered a better off setting in some cases, as well as worse than traditional Sat AM Sonic.  On the one hand, Player Characters are supposed to all be ridiculous kickass individuals.  On the other hand, they also have to deal with magical plot devices and enemies and personally, instead of rarely and solving said problems just by waving the designated plot item at them.

  Kind of a toss up really, but Sat AM wins out in the end due to the fact the Sun isn't actively trying to murder you.

Well now that Mittens has to drag around a sled of supplies with two slow pokes, Sam will have no problem outpacing her.

"Sure thing!" Mittens cheers, "Always happy to help, Snowflake!"

As requested, she begins helping, chanting some "slaves dragging heavy object" chant.  "Oh weee oh!  Yoooo roh!  Oh weee oh!  Yoooo roh!"

---

Phil helps with covering tracks.  Being an urban warrior makes this kinda thing rarely needed, so he's not especially skilled at the wilderness track covering thing.  He watches Valin closely and mimics the technique as closely as he can.

Valin nods to Emerald and keeps an eye on the others helping to conceal their tracks to make sure no one is having trouble since Valin wouldn't be surprised if Joe's grapple claw got snagged on a hidden rock or something and wants to be ready to help out if it does occur.

[OOC Note: Waiting to post with Samuel will Milloni replies to Samuel's question.]

Milloni ohs and says, "Well... I was kind of curious about Channelwood. I hadn't been. But this place should have at least one engineer around, so much to do. So since you're staying behind, I guess I could go after all. Need any help with the gear before I go?"

---

Meanwhile, Shelly giggles. "Snowflake? I like that..." she grins at Mittens. Mei Ling looks around. "....hey wow. Crucible and Pierson aren't following you? They will have a conniption if they find out you slipped their notice and only had me and Mittens with you."

Samuel nods and says, "Well testing this gear won't take me too far away, since if the gear breaks down I need to be able to safely get it back inside."

Samuel makes sure to position himself so that Milloni can't see his gauntlet-ed left hand reaching for the door release as he opens the door and steps outside.

As soon as the cold air hits Samuel's face he grits his teeth and grumbles as he pulls out the helmet from the bag and puts it on. Samuel mutters to himself that the suit's insulation isn't as good as his spacesuit but he hopes it will be sufficient for terrestrial endeavors. After all, if it fails to hold up then it will be useless as a 'shivering swatbot' would look out of place among other SWATBots.

Samuel quickly glances around to see which direction Mittens, Shelly, and Mei Ling are in before discarding the cloak and bag, as he won't need them till he goes back inside, as he starts trying to run over to them. However Samuel only manages to end up stomping around haphazardly, looking like he is going to loose his balance any moment.

As Samuel works his way over towards the three, he speaks up using the SWATBot Suit's 'robotic voice', "All your base are belong to us!" trying to be just loud enough for them to hear him, but not loud enough for anyone significantly farther away than them to hear him. Samuel ends up having to wave his arms around as he tries to not loose his balance since he doesn't want to slip and fall in the snow as SWATBot 'boots' weren't exactly designed for running in snow. Samuel thinks to himself, 'Okay, which will happen first, will I reach them, or will I lose my balance and fall flat on my face. I just hope the joints in this suit don't freeze up on me while I'm out here.'
This message was last edited by the player at 07:10, Fri 08 July 2011.

Meanwhile, the Channelwood grain-gathering group is reaching the end of day one and Emerald has the group set up camp, giving them careful instructions on how and where to set their tents. Once camp is set up, Emerald goes to check on every tent, every sleeping quarter and makes sure everyone is set up right, wishing each person a good night as she does. Everyone is set up with a partner to sleep with in close quarters so body heat will be maximized.

Emmy is sure to pair up with Mika. Joe is set up with Valin (Lucky Joe, Valin gives off all kinds of body heat) and Raichel is set up with Philip. Emerald makes one last declaration for the night. "Everyone, we have an hour of downtime. Beyond that, be sure you do get to sleep."

(OOC note: Keep in mind since this mission is not going to interact with Aquarius in any way, I'm actually having this happen at a different time than the Aquarius bit. So when Shelly arrives in Channelwood, this mission will either be at the halfway point or Emerald will be already leading the group back home.)

  Joe is more considering Valin's head clearance in the tend than the biological space heater situation.  Of course, the big guy is smart enough to realize stretching may be a bad plan if one of decent quality visual slapstick results.

  "While I doubt it, I don't suppose there is anything you haven't taken care of yet you could use some help with before we abandon consciousness Emerald?"

_{"Only us,"} Mittens scoffs, "Shelly is a mighty hero in her own right, and we're no push-overs either.  But yeah they'd likely fuss anyhow.  Good for you, ditching them for some freedom, Snowflake!  Glad you like the nickname!"

She takes a break from sled dragging to do a few cartwheels then returns to helping with the sled.

---

Philip watches closely how the group goes about pitching camp and makes mental note of how it's done out in the wilderness compared to in the urban environment he's used to.

Shelly sees the SWATbot and screams, jogging in place before rushing to dive behind a tree. Then peeks at Sam.

Mai Ling didn't scream, but she dived for cover behind another tree and begins sifting through her vials for something to concoct on the spot.

Sam gets ambushed suddenly by Pierson. "Run, Princess!" he yells. With Sam already being off balance, the sudden skunk jumping at him from the side will likely topple him if he doesn't somehow dodge the royal guard.

Emerald tail-swishes as she strokes her chin in thought. "...nope. I'm all set. But thanks, Joe. Unless you have a good, relaxing story that will help us sleep better."

Ghost stories, while still popular, tend to keep people up. And tonight's goal is to sleep.

Raichel is doing the same as her dad. When Emerald mentions good stories, Raichel gets excited. "Daddy! Tell them about that one mission you did with Sean! The one where you used the bad guys' weapons against them!" her tail wags excitedly as her ears perk up.

Mittens gets in a karate pose to face this new threat!  "You just picked a fight with the wrong..!  Wait.  You sure are wobbly, aren't ya?  Oh.  It's Pierson.  Speak of the devil.  How much you wunna bet Spaceman Sam's gunna complain that Pierson scrapped this bot beyond salvaging?"

Mittens scoops up a snowball and winds up just to say she got a shot in.

---

"That hardly seems like a relaxing story," Philip answers, "I was thinking of maybe some nice poetry."

  "The only bedtime story I remember offhand is 'Go The *censored* To Sleep'.  So, while originally written as a desperate plea for their children to go to bed on time for once, I don't think it serves our purposes here."

  When Phillip makes the poerty suggestion, he says after a moment "I guess that could work?"   Bad poetry would make you fall asleep faster right?  Would Joe have to put on a black beret and finger snap instead of clap?

After finding out he'll be bunking with Joe, Valin spends enough time making sure their tent and where it is positioned is large enough for them both to fit into it, even if he does have to be careful about stretching and remaining hunched over while inside the tent. Valin is concerned about ending up with his feet sticking out of the tent since he doesn't like the idea of frostbitten toes.

In response to Joe's question about if there is anything else to take care of, Valin asks, "Who will be taking which watch during the night? Since it would be bad if we are all asleep and a robot patrol stumbles across us without any warning."

Valin isn't concerned whether poetry or stories are discussed, as truth be told, he just wants to know he'll be able to sleep without having to worry about waking up with a SWATBot in his face.

Samuel starts laughing at everyone's reaction, which sounds rather demented and strange with the SWATBot's voice modulator working. At least until Pierson jumps at him as Samuel stops laughing as he says, "Hold on nowwww..." As Samuel doesn't want to risk an accidental weapons fire from the integrated blaster in the SWATBot suit's arm, Samuel tries to redirect Pierson by using his other arm to try to keep Pierson from slamming into him. However his sudden twisting and turning causes Samuel to loose his balance before Pierson reaches him, as Samuel falls onto his back almost spread eagle, causing Pierson to either safely hurdle over him and land somewhere else, or possibly grab onto Samuel's flailing arm and possibly ending up smacking, possibly headfirst if he isn't careful, into the snow covered ground due to being dragged down by the weight of both Samuel and his SWATBot suit if Pierson chooses to cling to Samuel's arm as Samuel falls over.

In response to Mitten's statement Samuel replies, forgetting to turn off the SWATBot voice modulation, "Quite a bit actually, since it took me a while to get this suit working and I wouldn't like having it ruined on its first field test. But I will admit your reactions were hilarious! And so worth falling over for."

Just then the snowball goes 'splat' against Samuel's helmet and Samuel says, "Okay Mittens, let's see how much do you like having snow land on your head?! And Pierson, please stop throwing yourself at me, I'm married and not interested in you." and from his prone position on his back, Samuel sees a large branch above Mittens that is laden with snow. Fortunately Samuel used the arm that didn't have the integrated energy gun in it to try and keep Pierson off him and Samuel quickly aims the arm mounted SWATBot blaster at the branch and fires it at a low setting to impact the branch enough to knock the snow off of it, but not do any permanent damage to the branch... resulting in several pounds of snow from the tree falling ontop of Mitten's current position, that is if Mittens doesn't quickly move out of the way.

_{[OOC: Not sure if Pierson wants to try to grab onto Samuel's arm or not as Samuel is falling. It is the only body part Pierson would be able to reach due to the length of Samuel's arm compared to the length of Pierson's arms. Also Mittens if she isn't too surprised, distracted, or busy gloating about nailing 'the SWATBot' in the head, has enough time to easily jump or dive out of the path of the falling snow. At worst, Mittens could end up with a 'snow Santa Claus' moment if the snow sticks to her fur/clothing, but it isn't enough snow to hurt her other than possibly striking a blow to her ego that she just got snow dropped on her from a tree branch by what looks like a SWATBot.]}

Maverick had been completely quiet up till now (unless people tried conversing with him). "I'll take first watch. I usually stay up late anyway."

Emerald hrms, examining Maverick, then says, "We should stay up in pairs. Anyone besides me want to take first watch with him?"

Pierson didn't hold on when he saw the bot toppling as making the bot fall was the goal of his first attack. He lands on his feet and faces Sam. When Sam shows he is not a real SWAT and makes his comment about throwing one's self at Sam, Pierson calms down, cracks a smile, and straightens out. "Very convincing." Pierson comments.

Shelly pops out. "Sam?" she says quietly when the bot says how worth it spooking the group was. She smiles brightly, trots up to him, and giggles. Sam would notice the seabear is glowing, but the glow dims back to nothing as Shelly gets up to him. "Great prank! But even better craftsmanship! I was *convinced*! And from the looks of it, so was everyone else!" Yes, Shelly is an admirer of pranks, being a prankster herself. Not that she's had time to go out of her way to cause one lately.

Mai Ling quietly puts away her mini chemistry set and walks over to the bunch. "Indeed. It is very convincing." she isn't smiling though. Unlike Shelly, Mai Ling doesn't appreciate pranks. "But that was dangerous. What if we hurt you? Or if you hurt us?"

  "I gues both of us could deal with last watch for less tent shenanigans through the night Valin."  First watch seeming to be spoken for already as it was.

  "Remember, if it's the usual Swats they will loudly demand we surrender giving us time to wake up.  If it's the Genre Savvy model they will quietly kill us all in our sleep."  Fortunately, most of the NPC extras had a decent fan base so that lowered the odds of smart SWAT leaving only the player characters alive or uncaptured to escape.

OOC Style: A-Swat's latest plan.  Fly airhorns over the forest at regular intervals during the night.  Annoy the Freedom Fighters to death.

One doesn't live in Mobius for long without developing the reflex to hit the deck at the sound of laser fire.  Given the risky life Mittens has lived, all it took was for the Swatbot to begin to point it's arm in her direction for her to drop down...  and get buried in a pile of snow.  She pokes her head back up with the classic comical cartoon gag of snow sticking to her face like a beard, and blink-blinks.

"Wouldn't have figured you for a prankster, Spaceman Sam," she comments, shaking the snow off, "Nice job with the Swat Suit!"
She gets to unburying the sled.

Philip has never heard the term Genre Savvy and assumes Joe is talking about some advanced new stealthy killbot he hasn't heard of.

"I'd stay up anyway," Phillip suggests, "I tend to be a night owl."

If he gets any sleep at all now that he's thinking about some stealthy bot murdering his girl while he sleeps, it will be a miracle.

Samuel stands up and chuckles as he says, "Well it looks like this test has been a success if I was able to fool everyone into thinking I was a SWATBot and not just wearing a suit." Samuel then notices Mitten's face as she pops her head up after diving into the snow and starts laughing as he listens to Mai Ling's concerned question and laughs even harder as he can't even think of a way in which someone walking up to a group and waving ones arms around being silly can result in said group getting hurt, barring the group doing something stupid to itself like running into a tree branch, "Well it isn't like I could hurt anyone by waving my arms around when I'm out of arm's reach, and I'm not crazy enough to aim the blaster in this suit's arm directly at anyone so how could I hurt anyone. There was more of a risk of you all somehow hurting me or something going wrong with the suit. Although with this suit, I think you'd have to do more than fling snowballs at me to hurt me."

Samuel finally gets the laughter out of his system as he says, "With how much I've been keeping myself busy with repairs to the shuttle, maintaining my equipment, and making this suit... I really haven't had any time to actually do anything fun...and frankly I was starting to go a bit stir crazy. It isn't like the concept of going on a mission to pull a prank on Robotnik's goons would be productive, safe, or even satisfying. Most of them aren't even able to realize a prank has been pulled on them. All they would do is start trying to find whoever is in the area and deal with them harshly."

Valin nods to Joe and says, "Last works sounds okay with me, Joe. But wouldn't the Genre Savvy version just quietly stun us all and  then have us all restrained before dragging us off to a roboticizer. Knowing Robotnik, he'd then have them wait till we were just regaining consciousness up to roboticize us. After all Robotnik is a psycho and he'd want to watch people being roboticized. And unless they have perfected the Zombiebot, they don't really have a use for a dead Mobian." Valin grins slightly as he doesn't mind waking up early in the morning, it's the middle of the night shifts he doesn't like as much for the reason Joe pointed out as he doesn't want to have to deal with getting comfortable in the tent twice in once night.

Emerald says, "Or the positive version: If it's genre savvy, it will give up, knowing we are the heroes of the story and thus we can't lose and its whole existence is to make us look good when we beat it. Besides... I have sharp ears and will be watching for movement." Emerald can not break the 4th wall, but she knows what Joe is talking about. She doesn't believe any story would revolve around herself (Maybe Joe or Katy... or Samuel), but IF a story did, they would still be the heroes of the story since everything else is the villain.

She most CERTAINLY doesn't believe this is a children's cartoon. XD

Emerald looks at Phil. "Alright then. If you would have stayed up anyway, I'll go ahead and take the mid-shift. See you in four hours." and she heads for bed.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:33, Sat 24 Sept 2011.

Raichel says, "Guess I'll be taking mid watch too then. G'night, dad. G'night everyone."

Meanwhile, Maverick takes a position and sits there, looking like a sentinel.

Shelly says, "Don't be such a worry-wart, Mai-Ling." then looks at Sam. "Don't blame *anyone* for going stir crazy. So, wanna tag along for our trip to Channelwood?"

Pierson doesn't comment, though he goes to help Mittens un-bury the sled.

Mai-Ling goes to aid in that as well, having little else to do or add.

  "Well, after you Valin.  I think I just might have an easier time closing the tent than you."  He could also be wrong there, but whatever.  At least we got a line of dialogue out of a 'So Joe went to go sleep till later' post.

OOC Style: Speaking of Genre Savvy Swats, the A-Swat 'applications' were made way back in August 2007.  And the last things ever said about it were in Feb 2008.  I've given up on them though, even if they got properly made I've lost my enthusiasm for them.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:54, Sat 24 Sept 2011.

"G'nite," Phil answers.

Great thing about having the silent types take first shift: they don't keep you awake with chatter.  He listens and watches quietly while the others turn in for the night.

OOC: Indeed.

"Good to see you're not all business and no fun, Spaceman Sam," Mittens says with a grin, "Happy to have you along.  Curious how the Channelwood folk will react.  Though you might wunna remove the helmet so they know it's a person approaching.  Don't wunna cause a panic, do we?  Remember they have a big guy of their own, and he could do you some serious harm with a thrown rock."

Valin nods to Joe and hunches over before getting into the tent, and manages to fit into the tent as he mutters, _{"Now I know how  a sardine feels,"} as he misses his larger hut and its comfortable bed already.

Samuel ponders Shelly's offer for a moment as he stands up saying, "Okay let me pick up my cloak and pouch since I left them not far from here. After all I had to wear something to not alarm people while I was coming up here."

Samuel then walks as fast as he safely can in the suit back to where he dropped the hooded cloak and pouch that he had previously worn and hidden the helmet in and retrieves them both. When Samuel returns he is now wearing the cloak with the hood over his head, and the helmet in his hands as he says, "The helmet is warmer than the hood, so I'm considering wearing it till we get near Channelwood."

The night is uneventful for the most part. Maverick is quiet, so unless Philip actually strikes a conversation with the boy, he doesn't speak. Raichel and Emerald converse quietly during the night and eventually even Philip succumbs to his mortality as he's too tired for his tenseness to keep him awake (This is why he isn't a morning person).

But during Joe and Valin's watch (the third shift), the two of them can hear the sound of crunching snow and leaves from someone walking not too far off.

Shelly grins. She nodnods to Sam's mention of the helmet being warmer. "Can't blame you there, Sam. Can I try it on, though?"

Fast forwarding a bit, though, the Aquarius group eventually arrives at Channelwood as they spot the unmistakeable windmill and it's not-frozen pond (though there are ice patches floating about in it and along the edges). The watch tower already informed Katy of the approach of the group, so Katy is there to greet them.

Katy walks up to the bunch. "Greetings. Nice of you to visit. Even nicer of you to bring surplus. We sure can use it."

Despite the fact the elevator is run by water power, the Channelwood Freedom Fighters thankfully have a way of heating water, so the water pipes don't freeze. This is evident by the fact the snow is melted around any of the pipes.

  Joe suspects the reason to be thankful for the snow, will be reason for Joe to wish he had an odd number of fingers.  Considering only Cannon Characters seem to get to completely ignore the laws of physics and sound.

  "Valin, think you could wake up the others while I try to get a look at who or whatever that is?"  The polite thing to do would be to wait for a reply, but some days having sub par manners is a great time saver.

  Let's see, how to bypass needing to explain how Joe walks silently on fresh snow when his character is a sneaky sort while his player has no clue on methods... Ah, of course.  While any Sonic plan will default to 'go fast', a Joe plan often defaults to 'vertical travel'.  Joe quietly batman's his way up to a branch without much in the way of snow for a better viewpoint.

Valin nods and replies softly, "I'll get right on it, just be careful since whatever it was isn't some small little critter and is more likely a robot patrol." As Valin knows that he and Joe wouldn't mistake the sound of footsteps on snow for some small scurrying critter, especially since said critters tend to either be hibernating this time of year, or have adapted to move very quietly to not draw the attention of predators.

Valin then proceeds to quickly and quietly wake people up in the camp without alerting whoever, or whatever is nearby so that the camp will be ready in case the person proves hostile.

When Shelly asks to try the helmet on Samuel jokingly says, "Sure, just be careful to not break it or get it stuck on your head as that could be embarrassing."

When the group reaches Channelwood some time after Shelly has no doubt handed the helmet back to Samuel, since otherwise Katy would have noticed its presence on Shelly, Samuel looks around and notices that there is no 'big guy', and no one armed with what would obviously be a weapon that could be used to ruin the armor and hurt him in the process. Thus Samuel ponders subtly pulling the helmet out of the pouch and putting it on when no one is paying any attention to him for two reasons. First, the helmet is warmer than the hood, and second, he thinks it could be hysterical.

Mittens salutes Katy by pounding her chest with her fist.

"Greetings, mighty berserker who knocks out cyber-dragons!  It is our pleasure to bask in the glory of your awesomeness and to contribute to our mutual cause."

She gives a sweeping bow.

---

Philip of course spends his watch in silence.

Emerald is pretty groggy, but doesn't seem to question Valin waking her for any reason. "What's up?" she asks quietly, as if instinctively knowing to be quiet. Because let's face it, this is probably something any freedom fighter has adapted to doing when woken in the middle of sleep.

Meanwhile, from his vantage point, Joe can see a human female trudging along in the snow, hugging herself and looking rather chilled. And it's no wonder too. She doesn't have a coat, has exposed legs with no pants (she's wearing a skirt), has exposed shoulders, and what she does have on seems more like summer clothing, although her sleeves are long at least and her boots seem to cover most of her legs. She has silver hair and is wearing some odd little technological orbs in her impressively long hair.

(If you all hadn't figured it out yet, it's this gal: http://timothius.deviantart.co...y/?q=glados#/d2615fq )

The girl does seem to have noticed the encampment and is heading for it with no apparent ill intent. Probably just hoping for food or shelter.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:01, Tue 18 Oct 2011.

Katy blushes like Freiza. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v30HToswDs watch the whole thing if you want, but the blush as towards the end at 1:34) But nods to the group. "Thanks. I was lucky, you know... Let's load up the elevator."

Katy then looks at Samuel. "That is one convincing suit. VERY nice. And if it can fool the enemy, very useful. Do you know yet if it can fool the enemy?"

Shelly giggles, "It sure fooled us when Sam snuck up on us with it."

  Joe finds himself wondering where the misting breath exactly is.  Unless that's an artistic license department thing (really, how often do they bother do draw that?)

  He makes his way back to the others, "We're apparently obvious enough to make a bee-line for from a distance.  Overlanders don't tend to have two different colored eyes, silver hair, and metal plates instead of ears right?  Well, except for Julian on that last one I guess."

Valin proceeds to explain to Emerald what Joe and he had noticed while on guard duty as he continues to try to make sure everyone is awake incase whatever Joe encounters proves to be a threat.

Upon Joe's return and his description of the Overlander Valin shakes his head and says while still keeping his voice low to minimize the chances the Overlander would hear them, "While different colored eyes and silver hair is possible but unlikely, the metal plates instead of ears is disturbing. Especially since Robotnik has them."

Valin then asks, while still using the soft tone of voice, "Does the Overlander appear to be carrying weapons, or seem likely to attack? I am curious to know what this Overlander is doing out here, as the timing... is unlikely to be a coincidence."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:18, Tue 25 Oct 2011.

Samuel momentarily grins when Katy comments on his suit as he takes pride in his work.

However when asked if it will fool Robotnik's forces. Samuel shrugs as he admits,"That happens to be the next test I need to do. It should fool their sensors, but the problem is procedures and being able to act how a SWATbot is expected to act. Although to pull the test off properly I'll have to get access to the current programming for a SWATBot, since I don't want to rely on procedural data that is out of date as that could give me away. But I should be able to do that if I can find a lone SWATBot, jam it's radio to prevent it reporting anything is wrong, disable it, and then access its programming core so I can 'assume' its identity. But before I could even propose such a test, I had to make sure the suit won't fail in field conditions by simply moving around."

"If it isn't a machine it's probably not an enemy," Philip mutters.

He doesn't wait around for the others to make up their mind what to do and rushes in a wide arc to approach the human from an angle that will draw attention away from the others.

"Hey there," he says, trying his hardest not to be too threatening, "My name is Philip.  You're not dressed for this kind of weather.  Why?"

Mittens nods to what Shelly says.

"That it did!  Best disguise ever!  But I think you give those Swats way too much credit.  You might be surprised how easy it is to fool them.  But hey, can't argue with erring on the side of caution."

Emerald not only doesn't have the chance to argue with Philip, she doesn't have much reason to. Though she looks at Valin. "Guess Philip's got the stranger covered. Now it's up to the rest of us to have Philip covered."

Speaking of Philip, the overlander girl looks at Philip, still shivering. She reaches up, pulls off one of the black things to reveal an ear. That's right, those are not in place of ears. Those are resting on them. Kinda like Vector's headphones. She seems ecstatic. "A person! An actual person! I'm Glados! I was kicked out and have not had much chance to find extra c-clothing. Can you help me?"

 "Not unless she's hiding a machine gun under a skirt barely long enough to cover her undergarments, no. I do agree with the fact she was walking directly towards out silent and out of site location makes even my arrivals look plausible."  After all,  Joe stumbled across an entire town by a stable water source.  This is the middle of nowhere.

  Then again, you can search a lot of forest in almost three years RL.  Glados's departure post was back in December 2008.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:18, Wed 26 Oct 2011.

Katy guides the group into the elevator, helps load, and goes up. In the elevator, she looks at Sam. Then the others. She says, "Sam, Mei-Ling and I will take the stairs. I don't wanna risk overloading the elevator cables." She heads for the spiral staircase with Sam. "Besides, it's an excuse to test how well your suit handles stairs. With people like you on our side, Sam, Robotnik could very well be beaten by his own devices. What poetic justice that would be..."

Meanwhile, in the elevator, Shelly turns to Pierson. "I love this part!" and she then peeks out the window to watch their ascent. "The elevator in Aquarius should have windows... I'll ask Sam or Milloni to install windows."

Samuel looks to Mittens and says, "It's not the SWATBots that I am worried about, but field commanders and other more intelligent beings that I am concerned about, like a certain robot dragon."

Samuel nods when Katy points out the stairs and follows her as he Samuel explains, "I know the suit can handle stairs as that was easy to test without leaving Aquarius. But the stairs are the better option as I wouldn't want to risk overloading the elevator anyways." Samuel then pauses for a moment and says in a distinctly dark tone of voice, "Poetic justice would be Robotnik being slowly roboticized and force to clean up the mess he has made," as it sounds like Samuel would have no hesitation in pushing the button to roboticize Robotnik, if Samuel ever had the option to do so.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 21:07, Sat 29 Oct 2011.

Valin nods as he says softly, "That is true. But right now we just have to make sure we don't walk into a trap. We don't know anything about this person, and in these days blinding trusting strangers is risky."

Then again if Valin knew that Glados was apparently responding to quiet comments Joe had made when she should have been too far to hear said comments, Valin would be far more suspicious since as far as Valin knows Overlanders don't have 'super hearing', but robots can very sensitive sensors.

  Joe, and plenty of other characters aren't without their own cyborg bits, but the 'looks just like what Robotnic has' angle isn't quite so common.  Surprise offscreen to Joe revelation cold metal is put to use as earmuff choice isn't cybernetics aside... Though you might end up needing cyborg ears from frostbite with that fashion sense.

  "Less than hostile overlanders have been popping out of the woodwork lately, but yeah that doesn't mean drop all paranoia." Okay, one violent child, one 'special needs' child, and one Guy supposedly willing to glass the planet if it meant killing Julian.  Okay, so maybe only one of those was actually less than hostile.

  OOC Style: Outtakes Reel:  ""A person! An actual person! I'm Glados! I was kicke-"  "HOLY CRAP!" "What?"  "You just tore your frostbitten ear off!"  "Oh, that?  That's just my novelty prop ears.  That I wear under my not really attached metal ears. Honest."  "I'm still not finding this believab-" "When Robotnic killed my family and town like everyone else's family and town ever, he stole my ears." "Oh, then it must be true, so sorry."

  Eslewhere:  Robotnic says "I turned her ears into stereo speakers! Muhahahaha!"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:51, Sun 30 Oct 2011.

Philip lets his guard down and nods.

"Yes, I can help," he answers, "From the looks of you, you'll be fine as soon as we get you a wrap.  Follow me, but keep your distance.  My daughter gets nervous if there's a stranger close to my back."

He tosses Glados his jacket, then turns to lead the way to Raichel's tent, making sure Glados stays back enough to keep the others from panicking.

Mittens ahs, smiles, and thumbs-ups at Samuel's clarification.  She then nod-nods enthusiastically to Shelly's idea.  "Yeah yeah!  That'd be super!  I love this place.  It's the ultimate tree house!"

GLaDOS follows Philip over to the others and does so as Philip suggested; from a distance. She looks around to see if there is anybody else. If the others don't bother making themselves scarce, Glados will notice them.

Emerald is one such person and comes over to Philip. "So what's her story?" she asks of Philip.

Katy is able to overhear the excited yellings of Mittens, though she doesn't make out what Mittens is saying. She just flicks an ear in response to hearing the excited voice, then looks up at Sam and nods. When she reaches the top, Katy guides the bunch to the storage hut. The bridges creek and sway when walked on. If the suit Sam is wearing has some balance difficulties, he may find himself nervous on Channelwood's bridges. Shelly is, of course, more than happy to tell Katy of her idea about a window in the elevator back at Aquarius. Katy just nods.

While The SWATBot suit Samuel is wearing doesn't have balance issues, Samuel is nervous as he walks on the creaking boards for another reason... fear of the boards breaking under the weight of him wearing the SWATBot Suit as Samuel doesn't like the idea of falling the to forest floor.

Samuel mutters to himself as he is led to the storage hut, "If these boards break and I fall to the ground and break my neck, I'm going to come back from the dead to torment someone. Preferably Robotnik, but I'd settle for whoever build these walkways."

Valin figures that he's too big to hide, so he might as well not try. So instead he follows Emerald and upon hearing Emerald's question he mutters, "This is strange. She looks like she isn't prepared for winter, and she doesn't look like she's the type to be able to forage for herself, especially since she doesn't look like she has anything to carry supplies she foraged for on her. However she also doesn't look like she is starving." Valin realizes something isn't quite right here, and that the easiest solution is that the girl isn't alone, and that she has deliberately left herself like this to draw sympathy and get people to lower their guard, while her companions ambush whoever she comes across.

Thus Valin glances around, as if expecting an ambush at any moment.

  Joe had written off her condition partially, due to cartoon clothing rules (as in, most people go around practically naked all the time with no hassle).  Though when someone makes such a big deal about being lost in the cold, it does draw more attention to how perfectly fine they are.

  "Nobody sticking around anywhere near here that I know of to give food and shelter, so I'm more curious where she came from than where she's going."  He gets the feeling he'll be stuck keeping an eye on her while others deal with the job.  leading complete strangers to emergency food stockpiles is a nono in a post apocalyptic setting.

"She says she was exiled recently," Philip answers.

He can guess at several reasons such a strange girl would be exiled.  But to leave her without any winter coat?  Execution would be more merciful.  Unless...  Unless any number of nightmarish reasons that would mean Glados was deserving of worse than freezing to death.

"I'm surprised you're so sure there isn't a hidden town near here considering how far we've traveled and the lengths your own town goes to in order to remain hidden.  Even so, my instincts tell me that even if her story is true, she deserves to die of exposure.  But that's just instincts.  Until it is proven otherwise, I will treat her as though she deserves to live."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:40, Fri 11 Nov 2011.

The stability of the bridges aren't helped any by Mittens hopping along like a bunny.  Or her ducking, dodging, and shadow dueling imaginary ninja Kobolds.

"Considering a 500 lb gorilla lives here, I'm sure it's plenty strong enough to hold you up, Sir Haunts-alot," she says, "But coming back as a wrathful spirit of vengeance would be an awesome afterlife goal.  Or a vengeful spirit of wrath.  Either one suits you...  Stealth pun!  Suits the guy wearing a SWAT suit!"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:41, Fri 11 Nov 2011.

Katy snorts from Sam's comment and then Mittens makes her point for her. "These bridges are built to hold Valin. His dad originally built them and Valin himself has maintained them. As Mittens pointed out, if they can hold Valin's weight, they can definitely hold yours." She gets the group to the storage shed and begins filling it. "You came all this way, do you all want to stay and rest a while? I sent Emerald with some others to go grab some grain from a storage before you guys offered this surplus, so maybe we can all share a little."

Shelly says, "I don't mind staying for some fellowship and stuff. And at the very least, Sam can share his SWATsuit tinkering with your best techy so when you guys get a SWATsuit, you can do what Sam did."

Katy nods. "The more, the merrier. Daemon can receive any info concerning programming, while the more hardware part... well Joe could probably jury-rig something, but at that level, we would still need a devoted techy like you Sam. I just hate to bother you with extra work." Katy really prizes the independence she and her own have.

Emerald says, "No need to treat her hostile. She hasn't shown any ill intention yet. Back when Robotnik wasn't ruling the world and most of you were kids, there was a saying; Innocent until proven guilty. Today, I still feel this holds true since we could use all the allies we can get. It's OK to be cautious, just remember not to jump to conclusions."

Glados says, "Yes... I was exiled recently. I haven't even had time to get hungry yet. I was dropped off via hovercraft a few miles from here and just started walking, hoping to find shelter. I'm just cold and alone. Although maybe I can have friends now... if you all are willing to be my friend."

  "Yes Emerald. Wondering where someone came from means I want to violently interrogate them with a pickaxe.  And saying someone looks unprepared and not bad off means Valin wants to throw them into space."

  Joe is wondering why all these people who get to keep their high grade technology only get to if they are reclusive assholes who don't help anyone, or plot to take over the world themselves between Robotnic problems.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:13, Fri 11 Nov 2011.

Valin looks at Glados and asks, "And what is the name of this village that uses a hovercraft to exile people in winter with no survival gear in winter? Also I feel it prudent to know what you supposedly did that got you exiled in the first place?" Valin finds Glados' story hard to believe, although unlike Phillip Valin doesn't assume that Glados was exiled, but instead finds the idea of anyone exiling someone in winter, with no supplies to be rather cruel and incredibly risky as what would prevent the exiled person from betraying those who exiled him or her to Robotnik in exchange for the promise of not being killed or roboticized? Not to mention what would prevent a hoverunit from being detected by a SpyEye and followed back to said secret village...Although Valin has the suspicion that for some reason Glados would be still 'loyal' to such a cruel village and not be willing to reveal anything about its location so Valin asks,  "Anything you could tell us about this village you came from?  Such as it's location or size?" After all why should she be loyal to a village that exiled her...unless there is no village and she is instead making her story up as she goes along.

In response to Joe saying that Valin would throw someone into orbit, Valin frowns and says to Joe, "I don't even want to know what made you even think of something so outlandish as me throwing someone into space."

Samuel rolls his eyes at Mittens' puns and antics as he thinks to himself, 'for my next project, I should cobble together a portable holoprojector that I can rig onto the ceilings and then make Mittens think that Aquarius is haunted. But what to make the ghosts look like and how to have them move realistically with the limited resources available... hmm what does a Mobian ghost look like anyways?

Samuel is shaken from his thoughs when Katy speaks to him, and after hearing her logic, Samuel nods. Although he still doesn't feel any safer hearing the boards creak beneath his feet.

When Samuel's progress, or services, with making a SWATBot suit is 'offered' Samuel considers the discussion and mutters to himself, "Well, if nothing else such work could be bartered for components to repair the shuttle, not that I doubt anyone here would even know where suitible equipment would be beyond saying 'Middletown'."

Samuel rubs his chin as he says, "I'm sure something could be worked out," since if nothing else they could help him find and get supplies he needs out of Middletown...or Aquarius or wherever else the components he needs for his shuttle can be found.

Emerald looks annoyed. "I was referring to the fact Philip said the girl probably deserved being out in the cold alone, Joe, but was trying to avoid sounding like I was lecturing anyone in particular. But I guess the trust issues are worse than not trusting a stranger, since you feel I like singling you out as some kind of sadist."

And yes, she interrupted pose order to say this.

Philip's hands clench tightly into fists, making his arthritic knuckles crack and pop painfully.  He grits his teeth, trying to suppress a low growl and takes a deep breath to try and calm himself down.

"Innocent until proven guilty is among the principals I would give my life to defend," Philip says in a low tone, "So you are quite right to lecture me when I don't live up to my own standards.  In fact, that's the very reason I spoke my instincts aloud.  The anger in my voice is because I'm very frustrated that my instincts don't hold to my most treasured ideals.  So I was looking for you to help keep me in check.  But even now, even after your reminder, my mind still considers suggesting we blindfolded and bind her tonight just in case the watch dozes off and she tries something."

He looks to Glados.  "I hope it turns out that you are undeserving of my paranoia, but I suppose it beats freezing to death alone."

"Oh squee!" Mittens cheers, "A collab!  Nerds of the resistance unite!  By grit and determined cleverness, outwit the big nasty supernerd villain!  When we turn his army of robots against him, we should put in a program that makes them say, 'Stop hitting yourself!  Stop hitting yourself!'  That'll drive him batty!  Not that he isn't crazy already.  Kindofa prerequisite if your going to be a mad scientists is to be mad.  And a scientist.  Inventor counts as scientist, right?"

Emerald looks at Glados expectantly.

Glados looks at Valin. "The place I'm from is called Jarlton; one of the last remaining bastions of Overlander society. I was put out because I knew things they didn't want anyone to know, but they knew a simple murder or such would look incriminating. So if I died of wandering around in a wintery wilderness, they could say it was my own stupidity that got me dead."

She then looks at Philip. "I can agree to being tied up and blindfolded. It doesn't hurt and beats being violently interrogated by a coyote with a pickaxe, being thrown into space by a gorilla, freezing to death, and/or starving to death."

Raichel peeks. "I'm sure everyone is just grouchy from loss of sleep. But since she's agreed to being bound and blindfolded, we may as well take her up on the offer so we can get our rest and care for her when we are all more awake?"

Katy nods to Sam. Then looks at Mittens with a shrug. "I dunno. I always thought a scientist was someone who tried to *advance* the world, or discover it. Not someone who tries to destroy it. No... I don't think he deserves any prestigious titles, even the one he goes by; Doctor."

Shelly says, "Well we know what he can do. That much is important. Does anyone know his motivation?"

Katy folds her arms and looks aside. "Nobody knows. Some theorize, but I believe nobody could know except maybe *MAYBE* his twisted nephew Snively."

  Joe takes Emerald's offense in stride "Oh, right. I just defaulted to sarcastic defense of my world view because that sounds exactly like something I'd get told.  Point out you were talking to Philip next time?"  Really, multiple people were questioning Glados, not just Phillip.  Even if the Tiger was the most blunt about it.

  Speaking of questioning, Joe looks to Glados and asks "So, just what is the terrible secret of space that made you a liability?  One they dumped off alive so you could tell anyone who came across you.  Really, what is it with societies that got to keep their techbase being filled with selfish assholes?"  Okay, just from people met in the threads alone we have.

  Unity:  We blew up a whole city to trick Robotnic!  Don't worry, we still have this kickass underground city mlitary complex so WE can take over the world!  Everyone who matters keeps a spare city don't they?
  Whatitsplace Timothius is from:  We live in flying cities.  We fly.  Sucks to be you.
  Jarlton: We have hovercrafts to spare.  Glados got "lost" If you don't believe us, we have a lovely hovercraft ride free of charge!
This message was last edited by the player at 23:59, Sat 12 Nov 2011.

Valin listens to Glados and picks up on the odity that Joe questions about and says, "Hmm, the location of Jarlton would be helpful, I can think of a couple people who might wish to return to Overlander society, even if Jarlton is feverntly anti-mobian, I doubt they would turn away other Overlanders that sought them out..." as Valin thinks of the Overlanders he knows like maverick and Samuel, as Valin doesn't understand the difference between a 'Human' and an 'Overlander' if there is any.

Valin ponders if Maverick would be happier living among overlanders or staying at Channelwood, and also if Samuel would prefer living among people who looked like himself, although Valin suspects that Samuel would be more concerned about if Jartlon had stuff he could work on as Valin remembers that Samuel has a technical lean and was gathering electronic components when he last encountered him...although Valin does not yet know that those components are now being used for the SWATBot suit.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:41, Sun 13 Nov 2011.

Samuel glances at Mittens and says, "I'm a technician or an engineer if you want to label my profession in such terms. I am not a scientist or a nerd."

Samuel grumbles when the talk turns to Robotnik and his motivations as Samuel remembers that Mobians dislike profanity so he chooses his words with a bit of care while still trying to get the point across, "Robotnik's a psychopath that needs to be put to death. Or subjected to a fate worse than death if whoever captures him isn't too squeamish. I think it would be fitting for someone to shove Snively up Robotnik's rear end and then roboticize the both of them and then disassemble them so they can be turned them into a toliet and configured to be mentally aware of their surroundings and condition but unable to do anything about it. That should be possible with Roboticization right? I'm not expert on it so I duno what it does to someone's mind other than makes them a slave to Robotnik's will." Samuel doesn't admit that he does like the idea of stealing control of robots to use against Robotnik, but doesn't comment on it since he's no good at hacking robot AIs and doesn't know of anyone around who could pull such a trick off.

Maverick is listening to the conversation the group is having with Glados. He goes to Valin and kinda uses the gorilla as a bit of a "shield" between himself and Glados as he is peeking from behind Valin. He wants to grab hold of Valin's fur, but feels too much like that would make him look like a baby or something. He eyes Glados, sharing the same suspicions and curiosities of the group. When Valin mentions other overlanders wanting to go and live among overlanders, Maverick looks aside. "If Jarlton is the type to hate those I love, then I have no place with them."

"Glados wouldn't be the first whistle-blower to meet a 'tragic accident' before or after they told what they knew," Philip growls, all the more angry with himself now that he's heard Glados' story.  Especially since she volunteered to be bound and blindfolded.  He looks at her and says, "But the more who know the secret, the less reason there is for your enemies to 'accident' you to death.  You would be wise to tell as many as you can."

He looks over at Raichel, "Let's leave that for the others to decide."

He's guessing from the lack of immediate condemnation of Raichel's suggestion from the Channelwood Freedom Fighters that they're at least a little skeptical about this Overlander.  Also, he's guessing Joe's last question is important enough to him to warrant an answer.  "Because Robotnic knows that they don't have the moral backbone to stand up to him.  So instead he focuses his efforts on folks like you.  You may not be as well equipped, but you pose a much greater threat to him because you're willing to use what you have to resist.  All the tech in the world won't do Jarlton a lick of good if they don't have the will to use it."

Mittens giggles and laughs uncontrollably as Samuel's verbal pictures tickle her imagination.

"Oh man!" she says, catching her breath, "That bathroom would have the longest line in history waiting to use it!  We'd have to give it some fitting name!  Like 'The Julian John,' or, if we turn his big mouth into the bowl, 'The Super Sewer Swallow!'"

She grabs her stomach, doubles over, and collapses to the ground kicking her legs, tears streaming down from all the laughing!

GLaDOS answers Joe, "Throughout history there has always been demands for new and improved technology during war times. Whoever has the best technology always has an upper hand on their opponent. Whether it is a missile or simply one of the first computers, whoever has access to these instruments has a key advantage. That is why they are secretive. You don't just build a death ray and then say to your enemy: Here. Have the blueprints! Now you can zap me too and we'll all die together! As for the secret I know, I have the blueprints of the portal gun up here in my head." she taps her head.

GLaDOS looks at Valin. "Jarlton is located at around 35 degrees latitude north of the Equator, 85 degrees longitude west of the Prime Meridian. But I couldn't tell you how to get there from here since I don't know where here is."

Emerald says, "...I can't picture it in my head, but when we get back to Channelwood, I can have a look at a map."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:38, Tue 15 Nov 2011.

Katy just gives a somewhat disgusted look ( http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_eEkU...k/s400/Disgusted.jpg )

Shelly says, "EWwwwwww!!! Gross!"

Mei Ling says, "Boys." just before Mittens starts going on about how hilarious Sam said was. "...I stand corrected."

Katy looks back at Samuel. "To be honest, I don't know what is possible with Roboticization. Don't even know how it works or what exactly it does. Rumor is that Robotnik is already partly roboticized."

  Go figure that it's Phillip who provides an actual helpful insight as to 'why all the high tech jerks?'.  "Yeah, my outlook is more in regards to 'we have death rays!  And now to never use them for like, revenge or something' phenomenon.  Also on those lines, I'd be more super excited about a portal gun if we had actual odds of ever building one."

  At Emeralds mention of maps, he pulls one out... then manages to refrain from facepalming considering its old, faded, and hole ridden condition. "I really need to get a new global map."

While Samuel expected Shelly, Mei Ling, and Katy's reactions, he didn't expect Mittens 'amused' reaction and Samuel realizes that he should have expected something of this sort from Mittens. Samuel feels somewhat disturbed that someone would think his idea of 'vengeful punishment' is amusing... which Samuel finds rather unnerving.

Samuel sighs, "Mittens, I wasn't joking around or being sarcastic. If I get my hands on Robotnik, I intend to make him suffer to the point that even his enemies would feel pity for him. Given his arrogance, hearing the pity of his enemies would be more painful to him than any wound I could physically inflict upon him. But Katy is right, none of us here understand Roboticization well enough to know if it is physically possible to rebuild someone who has been roboticized in that manner. And if that would prove impossible I'd do something else to him. But I find it rather disturbing that you think such a fate would be comical or amusing. After all, that is the sort of reaction I'd expect out of Robotnik when he describes to a victim what he intends to do to them." Samuel tries to make it quite clear he wouldn't be inflicting such a fate for fun, amusement, or personal satisfaction... but out of a desire to make Robotnik pay for what he has done...in essence Samuel admits he is motivated purely by the goal of revenge.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:22, Wed 16 Nov 2011.

Valin listens to what Maverick says and nods as he says, "I understand, but can you make the same claim for Samuel? I think he is only motivated by having access to equipment and resources to do whatever it is he is doing. Frankly I'm not sure he cares about who he keeps company with so long as he achieves whatever goal he is working towards. And honestly that worries me."

Valin then turns back to Glados and asks, "So let me get this straight, you were exiled due to knowing how to build something that they don't want falling into the wrong hands. And thus they drop you off in an area where you are more likely to be found by one of Robotnik's patrols from Middletown before you would have time to freeze to death? Don't they consider Robotnik's hands the wrong hands?"

Philip grunts and nods in agreement with Joe.  "If I find a way to motivate folks with death rays to fight against Robotnic, I'll make it a priority."

He listens to Glados and Valin, wondering the same thing Valin asks.  It's hard to imagine someone being so careless as to allow something so valuable fall into enemy hands by accident, so he's guessing the 'mistake' was made on purpose.  But why?  He does NOT like the morbid reasons that come to mind and hopes Glados' explanation refutes his fears.  Assuming she even knows.  "If you were captured by the enemy, how hard would it be for them to extract the data from your head?  Do those strange earmuffs of yours double as some kind of computer radio for communicating with the computer chip in your head?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:41, Tue 22 Nov 2011.

Mittens gives Samuel a confused look.

"I never would have guessed talk of robo toilets was serious business," she says, "That's like saying images of Robotnic doing a striptease is serious business.  But if it's pity for your enemy you want in order to sweeten your revenge, be prepared for folks trying to rescue him.  Then you will be faced with having to harm heroes with compassionate hearts.  At which point you become the new bad-guy.

"The tenants of my faith demand that those guilty of the crimes Robotnic has committed be executed, even if you somehow feel mountains of pity for them.  So you don't have to worry about me being among the lot that might try to rescue your robo toilet.  Rather, I'd join the group bent on dropping a big enough cherry bomb in it that there'll be no piecing together what's left.

"I laughed because I thought you were being silly.  But since we're being serious, I'd recommend dropping any elaborate torture fantasies in favor of planning on killing him as efficiently as possible.  Anything more than that risks him escaping."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:33, Tue 22 Nov 2011.

Emerald patpats Joe. "Like I said... got one back at Channelwood. We'll get you a copy soon as we get there. But we gotta complete our mission first." She looks at GLaDOS to listen to the conversation more.

GLaDOS shrugs. "How should I know what those meany-meanypantses are thinking? All I know is I'm here now and I have the schematics to a neat gun in my my head." she looks at Philip. "Oh... these? They're headphones. I use them to listen to music. Well, normally anyway. Today, I just wanted my ears to stay warm. Though I did listen to music too. Why do you think I have a computer chip in my head?"

Katy can see how easily this could turn into a "you're as evil as Robotnik!" conversation. "We'll kick his tail someday. Until we do, fighting over how we punish him is only going to help him slow us down rather than further our goals. Is there anything I can provide you folks with before you leave?"

Mei-Ling says, "If I could browse your town for nuts, leaves, grass, and other such things, that would be helpful..."

Shelly shrugs. "Any new information. Especially logs of your encounters against Robotnik's forces."

Pierson simply headshakes in response to Katy.

Katy says, "Done and done." she then looks at Sam and Mittens expectantly.

  Somewhere, a Mittens is sharing Joe's world view on proper Robotnic disposal.  "Thanks Emerald."  He wonders what it says about the world when they will question many things, but 'I have portal gun plans' is taken at face value even by himself.  Oh, right, it's a crazypants world.

  "I think he was taking your claims of keeping the plans inside your head in a literal fashion.  Clearly her head opens up like a cookie jar instead of it being imbedded on a computer chip, duh Phillip."
This message was last edited by the player at 08:15, Tue 22 Nov 2011.

Valin listens to Glados' reply still thinks something is strange about the situation as he asks, "Okay what is so great about this gun that they felt they had to exile you because you know now to build it but that they wouldn't care if it fell into the wrong hands since if they did you'd be dead by now and they'd probably dispose of your body where no one would ever find it? With a name or nickname like portal gun, it sounds like it blows holes in walls. Were they afraid you'd destroy the city with it by filling the city with so many holes they'd have to rename Jarlton to Swiss-Cheese-Ville?"

After all if Glados isn't being forthcoming about where she is from or why they kicked her out, maybe another approach could be used to try and figure out if she is safe or too dangerous to let near Channelwood.

Samuel looks at Mittens and then after Katy looks at both Mittens and himself, Samuel calmly says, "Unfortunately until we learn how to reverse the robotization effect and save those we have lost, we can't simply kill him. We could very well need knowledge that only he has to reverse the process. And even then he wouldn't give us that knowledge unless we first broke him. He's sadistic enough he'd want to take those secrets to the grave out of spite, so we'd have to change his mind about that. Hence the turn him into a toilet concept as the only weakness I can see in Robotnik is his ego, well that and he's a heart-attack waiting to happen, but that won't help in this situation. And if the only way to break him and save those I've lost is to do something so horrible that people would think I am even worse than Robotnik... if it got my crew members and myself back home safe and sound... then I could live with that on my conscious. Hypothetical situation, if you were placed in a situation where you had two choices, one where you would save your friends, family, and loved ones and stop Robotnik forever, but to do it required getting your hands dirty by doing something so contemptible that even Robotnik would hesitate to do it, or the other option where you maintain the status quo... could any of you look them all in the eye and tell them all sorry but your freedom is not worth me getting my hands dirty? Yes some may hate you for it, but at least they would be free to express that hatred instead of being Robotnik's slaves."

By the tone in Samuel's voice it is obvious that he is quite serious in that he'd do whatever it took to save those Robotnik has taken from him, and with how he looks around he is also not directing the question simply at Mittens, but at everyone present. Of course Samuel suspects that its a loaded question since to disagree would be to claim that it would be better for someone to be enslaved to Robotnik and he cant' see anyone saying that someone would be better off roboticized and slaving away for Robotnik. Samuel smirks slightly as he wants to see someone squirm out of having to admit that yes in that situation they would do the deed, but he expects most to be pansies and say that the situation could never occur.

Philip blinks a few seconds, his sleepy head spinning that the question asked of him was answered for him faster than his brain could even process it, much less think of a reply.  Not to mention the confusion of an adult who talks like a care-free child in spite of facing death.  This followed by more confusing not-to-be-taken-literally commentary that in this crazypants world could be taken literally.  Philip narrows his eyes and tries to discreetly find a hint of a seam on her head that would suggest that it has a cookie-jar like lid.

"Let's have a look at these plans, then," Philip says, figuring that maybe his request's answer might answer Valin's question.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:04, Wed 23 Nov 2011.

Mittens is so completely convinced that she was clearly not arguing but rather offering helpful advice that she infers that Katy has a third opinion but would rather not voice it for fear of starting an argument.  She sweatdrops at the sudden invitation to leave.

"How 'bout a snowball fight?  All work and no play makes for a stressed out dragon-kicking hero.  Or maybe a cookout?  May Ling here makes some exotic dishes.  Or maybe both?  It's not often I get to stretch my legs, much less at an awesome tree village."

She considers Samuel's mini speech.

"Good points.  Then I suppose it would be wise to also work on unlocking the secrets of roboticization in addition to working on overcoming Robotnic.  In fact the one might be the reason the other is accomplished as opposed to the other way around.

"If that wasn't a rhetorical question, my answer is no.  If I had to make a hard choice, I'd likely regret the choice regardless of which decision I made.  But I don't think anyone has the right to expect you or anyone else to do what is immoral in order to rescue them.  And if they love you more than themselves, they would ask you not to.  If you would sacrifice your freedom to shield those you love from shame, allow them to sacrifice as much for you."

Shelly says, "I think a lot of people are willing to do a lot of things. But becoming evil is definitely not on my list."

Mei Ling is quiet, pondering how to answer.

Pierson says, "Thankfully, my loyalty is to the crown as they are the closest thing I have to family. So all my moral misgivings of a situation fall on Shelly's shoulders if she orders me to do something contemptible."

Shelly folds her arms. "Gee. Thanks, Pierson."

Pierson glances at Shelly. "Not that she would order me to do anything contemptible."

Shelly squirms slightly, feeling the weight of her responsibility a bit more. HER actions matter more than just to herself. As a leader, she has less choice in the matter and has to act responsibly or else.

Katy puts her fists on her hips and says, "Even hypothetically, Robotnik would not hesitate to do anything contemptible. As for your question, I don't know my limits. There is always such a thing as going too far. An old saying goes; Don't throw the baby out with the bath water. It means just because something is dirty, you don't throw everything in the trash to get rid of it since that defeats the purpose. What is love anyway, Samuel? Is love about how angry you are at evil? Or is it about how much you want to protect people? Well I ask myself that every day and for good reason. Your question is a very valid one and deserves a lot of thought. I hope you meditate on it more and come to the same conclusion that I have; if I rescue my family's bodies and not their souls, then I've destroyed them and Robotnik wins."

Katy glances at Mittens. "...a snowball fight sounds good. I'm up for it if the rest of you are."

Mei Ling is thankful she got out of answering Samuel's question.

GLaDOS says, "Like I said, Mr Gorilla, I don't know what those meanypantses are thinking! I'm not psychic!" she huhs at Philip. "Oh! OK!"

She immediately goes for the nearest stick and begins drawing in the snow. She draws what look like the beginnings of extremely complicated plans and says, "This is a very rough picture of it, but snow doesn't make for the kind of canvas I can draw on in much detail without the use of other materials like ink or lasers. Now to explain some of the theory behind it: A basic equation, y(t)=2h(1/3 - ∑∞(1-^2(-1)_n over n2π2)cos(nπt√g over 2h..." and she is going on from there in stuff the people present don't understand.

(OOC: appologies for the sloppy attempt at making her say advanced math, but at a certain point, you can't type that kind of math on a normal keyboard. But here's the equation I was trying to type out: http://drdavedangerous.files.w...-equations-paint.png )
This message was last edited by the player at 02:33, Sat 26 Nov 2011.

El Edit: Oh, Math AND plans.  Duuur.

  "Well, the assembly instructions are at least more generally comprehensible than the math involved.  But then, that's normally the case in any mechanical structure."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:45, Sat 26 Nov 2011.

As if Philip weren't confused enough, the girl goes from "meanypantses" to incomprehensible science jargon so fast it makes his head spin.  He holds his hand up and mutters, "Please stop..."

He rubs his temples with his other hand.

Mittens smirks at Shelly.  "I too would do latrine duty for you because you've earned my trust and respect enough that I know that whatever seemingly contemptible request you may make, it would be for the greater good.  If you ever gave a command clearly against what you believe in, I Pierson, and everyone else would know right away that you were under the influence of mind control and would immediately storm the tower of the long-fingernailed sorcerer responsible to break his spell!  In other words, you can rely on us to do the right thing just as much as we can rely on you!"

She grins at Katy then begins to act all formal.

"That's rather deep, Madam Dragonkicker.  Deeper even than the reserves of snow I shall unleash to defeat thee and thy team at wintry combat in the field of valor!  I have not a gauntlet to throw down, so I shall improvise..."

She grabs herself and forward flips herself, landing on her back at Katy's feet!

"The mitten has been thrown down!"

Valin arches an eyebrow as Glados begins explaining the mathematics and drawing in the snow as he asks, "Does anyone have any paper or and a pencil or something? Writing on snow is rather limiting." Valin knows that he doesn't understand the mathematics, but if the plans and be put on paper and then taken back to someone in Channelwood or Aquarius who does understand it, then they can at least find out of the gun actually does something, or if this is all just some strange hoax or trap.

Valin glances to Emerald as he wonders what the group should do, since they still have to get the supplies and get back to Channelwood. But he finds Glados to be rather strange but knows it isn't his place to make a decision regarding her.

Samuel looks at Katy and says, "Love has nothing to do with anger, and if you save someone's body but not their mind, then you haven't saved them. Thus in the hypothetical situation I proposed, to save them would be to save them would include freeing their minds and souls from Robotnik..."

Samuel is then interrupted when Mittens throws herself onto the ground as a precursor to a snowball fight. And Samuel groans at Mitten's pun as he mutters, "Guess she wants even more snow dropped on her. Either that or her brain may still frozen from the last brief snowball fight."

Shelly and Mei-Ling both giggle from Mittens' display. Pierson just gives her a "what... the..." look.

Katy looks down at Mittens and says, "So is it going to be team Aquarius vs me and some Channelwood Freedom Fighters?"

Shelly says, "Sure!"

Katy looks up at Samuel. "In a snowball fight, Samuel has an unfair disadvantage of being a bigger target. Sure, he can throw larger snowballs, but still. I'm wondering if there is something I can do to give Team Aquarius a handicap." she gives Mittens a challenging glare. "You'll need it."

Shelly says, "Now, now! Sam can handle himself quite nicely. Let's just pick some people and play!"

Katy says, "Meet you all on ground level. I'll get my 4 other team members to match you bunch."

She has Benji (the hamster who usually has lookout duty) escort the Aquarius group to the elevator. Then goes looking for Michael. Once she finds him, she informs him, he now has the important task of taking a break from work and defending Channelwood's honor with a snowball fight challenge. She then goes to find other Channelwood FF's to join the snowball fight. Amy, Autumn, Benji and maybe Lucky.

Emerald pulls out some paper and a pencil. GLaDOS gets to work on it. Emerald says, "So... can we finish sleeping? We need to have our rest to get to the storage. Valin, maybe you can keep Glados with you. You emit plenty of body warmth and if she tries to escape with our supplies, you are the strongest one here."

GLaDOS is humming a tune to herself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD3v1B_aXw0

  Conveniently, Valin and Joe had already gotten their sleep in already.  Though the double duty of keeping an eye no Glados, and dealing with her if need be would probably be easier to keep nonfatal for Valin...

  Speaking of worries she'd make off with limited supplies, "Valin would be a better choice than me when it comes to dealing with supplies. So, I guess me and others would be sticking around here with Glados when that gets dealt with."

  Unless of course, they wanted to show someone they just met who they don't fully trust where the 'saved in case we're close to starving to death' emergency food stash is.  Like morons.

Philip is more worried about the group being split during an ambush.

"I would recommend accepting her offer to be blindfolded and sticking together as one group if you don't trust her," he suggests, "But logistics can probably be better decided on after breakfast.  You know where to find me if I'm needed."

He returns to his tent.

Mittens grins at the reactions she got and turns a friendly challenge-glance back at Katy.

"Bring it on!"

She follows along with Shelly, excited to get started.

---

(( OOC: Lucky follows along if invited, but won't RP much.  2 alts in 1 thread is enough. ))

Upon hearing Katy think that he is at a disadvantage for being larger, Samuel grins as he tells says, "I may be a bigger target, but also remember, I'm wearing armor, and I do have a functional energy weapon that I can use to knock snow off tree branches, as Mittens learned first hand. So one possibility for a handicap is that I am not to use the weapon built into this armor to knock snow around in the fight, or to try and shoot the snowballs in midair." Samuel then watches as Katy heads off, no doubt to recruit others for her team in the snowball fight.

Instead of following Benji to the Elevator, Samuel heads back to the stairs to head back down since if it wasn't wise for him to use the Elevator to go up, he shouldn't risk trying to use it to go down either, unless he wanted to risk an uncontrolled descent before a crash at ground level.

Michael is indeed working when Katy tracks him down, and when she suggests a snowball fight. Michael is curious as that isn't something he'd expect Katy to come up with as he asks, "Well I don't see anything wrong with it... but out of curiosity, why a snowball fight? That doesn't sound like something you'd suddenly suggest."

Even before Katy responds, Michael starts getting to a stopping point in what he's doing so that he can leave the work in a state what won't be compromised when he returns.

Valin nods to Emerald when she gives her suggestion, although Valin arches an eyebrow as GLaDOS hums as it isn't a tune he recognizes.

When Joe speaks up Valin replies, "With my size, gettin the supplies from where they are stored could be problematic, however carrying and dropping them off will be another matter entirely. But if your volunteering to stay with her while I go and help gather supplies, I'll defer to Emerald for her decision on the matter.

Valin doesn't comment about Phillip's suggestion regarding a blindfold as he thinks it is a bit early to deal with that.

Katy simply nodded to Sam. But she thinks he's being silly about shooting snowballs mid-flight. The guy is a technician, not a marksman. "Snowball fights require the people involved to make snowballs and throw them. Anything else would be a violation of the rules anyway." she points out. "Nevermind the chance of actually hitting someone directly with your weapons." she heads off to Michael.

When Michael asks his question, Katy replies to Michael, "It isn't something I'd suggest normally. The hyper cat from Aquarius named Mittens suggested it. I figure... it's time we all take a break from the grind and do something like this."

Shelly looks over at Mittens and then Samuel. "Well let's get a snow wall fort ready!" she grins at Samuel. "And nothing dictates how that's built, so you could knock some snow down into piled clumps and we can pack it all together to have some "bases" to hide behind."

Emerald earpirks at Joe's point. She nods. "Right. That works. Just keep in mind, we will need to blindfold her at SOME point. We can't leave her in the cold, but revealing the location of Channelwood to a stranger isn't a good idea any more than the location of our grain storage. But she'll need a home. So yeah... let's be thinking on that. I'd honestly rather have her along to help with the grain, but I suppose it would be best for you guys to stay behind with her. Joe and... Raichel."

Philip grunts and returns to sleep.

---

"Hot dog!" Mittens cheers with a clap, "This is gunna be so epic!  I'll make some ammo!"

She gets to work making several piles of snowballs of various sizes.

"Having someone on our side who can launch artillery sized snowballs with a double size arm isn't against the rules either.  We're gunna cream the poor saps.  Nother ninja pun!  Tree folks are saps!"

  "The distance between locations is much larger than the distance in and out of storage several times anyways Valin.  It's like comparing a delivery truck to a forklift."

  Of course, Heavy Duty might not be too inconvenient to have around.  But that's a different kind of forklift.

  Of course, now Joe's view on the whole matter has resulted in him ending up with the job that has more responsibility involved.  Smooth.  "Sure Emerald, sensible not to leave just one of us in any situation these days."