(Decided the only way RP will get going is if I just get us started. I thought a good starting point would be for our various characters to meet up. I have a character or two in mind, Will has a character in mind (yay barakian!). Dunno if Chris has one in mind by now or not. But here goes:)

Hurala Station! A checkpoint space station that has all the amenities afforded to a strip mall, gas station, and even a foreign currency exchange office. But more importantly to the main characters of our story, this is where people looking to run a ship, but not go it alone, tend to go looking for a crew. People of ALL trades land here, so it's not that this place was designed for crew-recruitment; it just wound up that way as a consequence of it's level of convenience for people of all background.

  Hakkof has been, for once, between jobs by choice.  Sometimes a week long break after a contract ends can be nice.  Relax, get some bookkeeping done, catch up on current events you may have ignored because carrying an employer to scared to run for cover in a firefight is highly distracting.

  However, even a voluntary vacation can't last forever.  So the Barakian is currently doing what many people who pass through Hurala Station have done and will continue to do, look into job opportunities.

"Woah!  No way!" Kevin exclaims when he realizes he's suddenly unemployed, "Like... totally lame!  Hahah.  So like... no two weeks notice or anything?  Woah."

Once finished with his monologue, he looks around and asks no one in particular, "So, like... uh... anyone know anyone who's like... hiring or something, hahah?"

A female blissian sees the goat and the barrakian. "Hey!" she calls out to them, waving with a big smile. When they look her way, she motions them over. Should they come over, the blissian introduces herself. "Hello. My name is Nivi, but you can call me Melody if you like. I noticed you two are lookin' for a job. I'm hiring, but I gotta know what you can do."

---

Here's a pic of her:
http://timothius.deviantart.co...path=scraps#/d5jycow

  Hakkof walks over to the little bunny with big colors, "Hello Nivi, I provide what most would expect from a Barrakian.  While I'm not so qualified for a technical job, I am not above deskwork."

  Flashback moment of Hakkof in a white shirt and tie, standing out because he's taller than the cubicle sitting down.

"Woah!" Kevin says when he notices the Blissian.  "Woah!" when he sees the Barakian.  "Like... double woah!  Hahah...."

He approaches with a spring in his step.  "Blissian.  Hiring a Barakian.  Not something I see every day.   Hah.  What I do?  Ah....  hah.  I'm like...   Well I love extreme sports and wunna go pro and all, hah.   But like...  I'll take what job I can get, hah."

A few others seem to be attracted to the fact a blissian and barrakian are in one spot. Heck, people would have been attracted to the blissian alone (and giving the barrakian all the room he wants), but seeing the two together is, like, double woah!

Nivi smiles brightly at both. She looks up at Hakkof. Then to Kevin. "Well you two are clearly looking for jobs, so... may I see your resumes please?"

A grenu trots along to the group and hands his resume over. The grenu says, "Heard you were hiring a crew for exploration purposes. I'm a techy, if you need one."

---

(OOC: What would be on your resumes? I'm curious the previous jobs and "other qualifications" you two would have. XD )

Rainbow bunny, bright colors attract they eye while social status keeps the attention.

Hakkof hands over his own Resume info, and comments to the Genru "Take a moment to picture a place where a Blissian needs a Barakian every single day, instead of a nice place like here."  Of course if it was an exploration job, it could end up that way.  Or he could end up like Worf, that could sting.

Expected entries include: Bodyguard, Bouncer, light security, mercenary work.
Less stereotypical entries include:  Customer Service, Accounting, pancake house, courier, interpreter.

Kevin mouths the syllables, Rez-you-may, with a confused look on his face.  When he sees the Grenu and Barakian hand over formal looking papers he ohs as he half-remembers that boring high school class that he flunked for lack of attendance that mentioned something about 'selling yourself' at an interview.  He then pulls up a video montage of his best stunts on his datapad and shows it to Nivi.  "Never needed a rezoomay before, hah."

Nivi curiously looks over the Grenu's resume... then Hakkof's... then.. Kevin's? After watching the video, Nivi thinks about it. "Before I hire you all, what I'm asking could be dangerous. That said, if you want the job, you all are hired."

The Grenu nods and says, "Consider me both warned... and hired."

  "Risky work is nothing new, though there can be a fine line between a job hazard and negligence.  I'm up for it, unless you do not think you can properly asses risk."

  The bunny is probably at the very least, smarter than the impression Kevin is giving.  Hakkof reminds himself that ignorance isn't the same thing as being a moron.

"Hah... Hahah...  Hahahah...  Dangerous?  Hahah.  I wouldn't be into extreme sports if I shrank from danger, dude.  Hahah.  Of course, I not going to like, do stupid dangerous like...  throw a rock  at a dinosaur and taunt it, hahah.  ...Only now that I've said that, that's like.... sooo going to wind up happening, hahahah!"

Nivi leads the group to the ship. The ship is junky looking, but functionally sealed and such. Once inside, the group can see wires showing from missing wall panels, and a few missing floor panels. But apparently, it's a large enough ship to hold a smaller pod-like ship which, in contrast, looks amazingly brand new and advanced. It has a lot of blissian things going on with it. Nivi explains, "This pod is my own personal ship. The larger ship, which I named the Yatta, technically does not belong to me. It belongs to a used ship dealership. We take care of the ship with our own money. A percentage of our adventures will be set aside towards paying for the ship until it's ours. The rest of the earnings will be split evenly among us. So in essence, the better we do as a team, the more money we'll all get."

Juros ooos at everything. Junk ship Yatta and fancy blissian ship.

(OOC: Decided to change Nivi's text color so Juros could be separated from her. Besides, orange probably works best for her anyway)

  Well, it would be lying to say Hakkof hasn't worked on worse ships.  It would also be neglecting relevant information to omit that those ships had just repelled a violent boarding action.

  "Just how long have you been doing this sort of thing, Nivi?"  Though it might be more comforting if she was new at this.  Otherwise one could imagine a leftover piece of what was left of her previous employees in one of those holes.

OOC: Somewhere, a serious business "Orange text is for OOC ONLY" GM's detonates.

"Whoooah!" Kevin woahs, "I wonder what happened to this thing, Hahah.  Like... It looks like... someone like... trashed it or something, hahah.  We're like..  totally gunna die, hahaha!"

Nivi says, "Well... the exploring thing? I've been doing a while. The having a crew and big ship thing? ....brand new to that. Heh. So yeah, I'll be putting Juros here to work immediately."

Juros looks around and smiles. "My pleasure."

Nivi looks over at Kevin. "And of course we're going to die. Everyone dies some time. But if you mean we're going to die on this trip, well.. how do you know?"

  "Perhaps years of kick flips over large drops has given Kevin a sense for judging when something would send him plummeting to his doom?" Hakkof comments.

  "If the ship made it here without falling apart, it may very well repeat that trick if Juros can fix it... Or at least plug the bigger holes."

"Hah...  Hahah....  Hahahah...."

Apparently Kevin laughs a lot when when thinking of a response.  "So like...  there were these dudes who like...  went white water rafting?  And like...  only one of 'em had ever been rafting before, hah.  They got a used raft and patched the holes and stuff?  They all drown, hahah."

Juros gets a proud smile and blows upward on his hair. "Sounds to me like they didn't know how to fix a raft. I, on the other hand, happen to know what I'm doing and can get this ship so functional that even an inexperienced crew won't be able to accidentally wreck it!"

Nivi says, "Well for now, that's what you can do, Juros. Thanks! Kevin, I will look into all the dangers of small-crew ship travel so we can be sure to make a checklist of things to cover. But for now, let's all follow Juros through the ship as he makes his inspection. Juros can give us a list of parts he needs and then we can go shopping for them."

  If Hakkof knew Kevin was laid off, he would be asking the goat if they hadn't actually quit because of so many senselessly dying co-workers.

  "It is encouraging to hear I won't be taking out important components just by standing up too fast when we are done with this, Juros."  Horns and Jetsons style bubble dome canopies can have... Issues.

  Of course, they could also wallpaper the entire ship if Nivi printed the whole checklist.  Unless she skipped some of the more esoteric dangers like 'became insane cannibals' and 'Our hyperdrive travels through hell'.

"Hahahah, woooah!" Kevin chuckles at Juros' confidence, "You're like... one of those dudes who likes to play chicken with Murphey, aren't ya?  Hah...  So can I like...  buy you a life insurance policy?  Hahahah!"'

He smiles at Nivi and answers, "No problem, babe!"

Juros looks up at Hakkof. "Unless you count your head or horns as important components. I can't guarantee how sturdy those are against a reinforced ceiling."

Juros looks up at Kevin and asks, "Who's Murphy and what makes you think I'm playing chicken with him?"

He does a cursory evaluation of the ship and occasionally says, "mm-hmm."

Meanwhile, Nivi looks at Kevin curiously when Juros asks who Murphy is.

  "Some light bruising is preferable to loss of atmosphere.  Murphy is a cybernetic police officer meant to represent a messianic figure.  By shooting people...  We may be talking about different Murphies."

"Ha.  Hahahahah!  Dude!"  Kevin makes a fist and points it at Hakkof with a big smile.  "Fist pound!"

He headscratches, trying to figure out how to explain.  "You heard of Lady Luck?  Hah.  Maybe not if you haven't heard of Murphey, hah.  How 'bout Gremlins?  Hah...  Suppose not.  Well where I come from, Murphey's Law says, 'Anything that like... can go wrong... will!'  Hah.  Especially when you tempt Murphy by saying, 'Like, totally Nothing'll go wrong, dude.'  Hah.  Dudes!  Seriously?  You hadn't heard of Murphey?!  Like..."

He lightbulbs!  "Toast!  It like... lands butter side down!  Hah!"

Juros jovially says, "Ha! You've clearly never met one of my kind before or gotten to know them. My people's language literally doesn't have a word for "impossible". The closest we have is "difficult". This Murphy you speak of is only a reason for us to get better at whatever we do. You'll see... this ship will hold together." He wags his tail.

Nivi giggles. "Glad you're so confident."

Juros then looks at Hakkof. "....but what does being a cybernetic messianic officer have to do with toast landing butter side down? Were you talking about a different Murphy?"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:12, Tue 18 Dec 2012.

  "Different Murphy."  Unless you were a criminal, then everything tended to go spectacularly wrong.

  "Toast landing condiment side down is literally weighted odds."

Kevin giggles as well.

"Hahah.  Hahahah.  Whoa!  Dude!  Your whole race is like that?  Like...  whoa!  I'll be tragic and all, but like...  it's going to be like the most epic extinction ever!  Hahahah, like... flying cyber sharks, asteroids, volcanoes, invasions...  like... all at the same time!"

Juros says, "Pff. Well that sounds pretty cool and all, but if my race was going to be extinct because some evil spirit dictated we aren't allowed to be confident, it would have happened thousands of years ago."

Soon enough, Juros has the list of parts needed written down and heads off to shop with the team.

On the way, Nivi says, "So how much experience do you bunch have with deep-space exploration? Have any of you been on the outskirts of the cluster?"

Juros says, "Not yet, I haven't. Looking forward to it, though, as I always wanted to see the far reaches of colonized space..."

  "Kevin may be more brave than he sounds.  Repeatedly flipping upside down jumping over holes with a small plank sounds more likely to cause injury than ship maintenance."  That or Kevin needs to level up his self awareness humor... Or were they max level?  It was hard to tell with those.

  "As for the farther reaches, it has generally been easier getting work merely close to the edge as opposed to the actual edge of cluster.  Far enough for less competition, close enough to actually leave when you want to."

"Hahah, nope.  Never been that far, hah."

To Hakkof's comment he bashfully rubs behind his head.  "Hah, like, maybe more reckless than brave, hahah.  Wunna see my scars, hahahah?"

Fast forwarding a bit, Juros gets the equipment needed while the crew has mostly small talk. It seems Juros and Nivi like Hakkof, Kevin and each other well enough. Juros is more than happy to be doing his job. Nivi has the others doing clean up, mostly. Juros is easily finding parts that are so done for, they are beyond any use. So he piles those into "trash" heaps for Kevin and Hakkof. Nivi seems to be planning things with her data pad.

Then, an unexpected thing happens. Some goon starts approaching the group about some kind of "insurance" for this area.

  Unexpected?... Oh, right.  Blissian employer.

  "Slow day?  Perhaps you can come back later, when the ship is actually worth somethin-Is that the airlock seal?"  Hakkof's reasonable explanation to the insurance agents is interrupted when he glances over to the latest addition to the junk pile.

Kevin sings the song, "We're all dudes," as he works, apparently cheerful enough in spite of expecting to die.  When Hakof treats the goon like a legit insurance salesman he can't help but chuckle.

"Hahahah!  Hahah!  Dude!  Like...  He's not really selling insurance, hah.  He's like...  an extortionist, hahahah!"

To the goon he says, "Dude!  This ship's like, a Blissian's ship.  If like, you're conscious can handle it, hah, she might just give you money just for askin, hahahah!"

The man looks at the blissian. Looks at the junk ship. Then looks at the others. "Look. I'm not really an insurance salesman. I'm robbing you, see? Now you guys gotta be pretty rich to be able to afford a ship. So... fork over what you got and I'll be on my way."

  Hakkof is perfectly aware of such implied threats, he just prefers to pretend he does not understand them.  It clears up a lot of things, really.

  The Barrakian has probably had enough time to guess if this guy has a gun on them by now.  If they don't seem properly armed, he will attempt to just pick the guy up by a leg and carry them over to his employer to ask what to do with them.

  Otherwise, he'd just comment on how they should try a ship where they are less outnumbered.

"Woah, hahahah!  Looks like that's an 'affirmative,' hah.  Well I'm guessing the conscious of the rest of us won't let you like, take advantage of her so easily, dude, hah."

If Hakof subdues the would-be thief, Kevin will try and find some I.D. on him to show to the boss bunny.

Hakkof is able to lift the guy up by his leg. One could say it's sad that the guy was not properly armed.

Nivi says, "And this is why you don't make threats to a barrakian."

Kevin finds an I.D. on the guy. Nivi looks it over. "Harry Henderson." her eyes keep scanning. "...there is nothing on his I.D. that shows him as anything other than a normal civilian. So we'll just let him go, report him to the local authorities so they can keep an eye on him, and continue what we were up to?"

She takes a picture of the guy (when gravity isn't giving him a troll doll hairstyle) and waves.

If Hakkof lets Harry go, he runs off.

  Hakkof drops Harry (Was his middle name "And The"?) off at the Exit.  From shoulder height.  His polite professionalism only goes so far.

  "Get a job.  Somewhere else."

Kevin watches the guy run off.  "Dude.  Extortion is his job, hah.  And like, he's gunna go and tell his mob boss who's gunna be like, 'Dude!  A Blissian hired a Barakian?!  Awesome!  They must be guarding some way valuable tech or something, hah.'  So like, then they go and buy a huge arsenal and attack.  And we'll be all, 'No way!' and like, do an emergency warp jump.  But not before the Navigation computer gets damaged, hah.  So we'll like, end up on a remote planet with limited food supply.  So we'll be all starving, and I'll be all, 'Dudes!  We could like, eat my arm, hahahah!'  Only problem is, I've been told I taste like a goat, hahahah!"

(Flashback)
A pile of fallen mountain climbers try to untangle themselves from each other, one of them has a mouthful of Kevin's tail.  He breaks free and sputters and spits.  "Gross!  You taste like goat!"

"Hahahah!  Dude!  You like, ate my shorts, hahahah!"

"We would have to have a running ship in the first place for all that to happen." Juros objects.

"Well the ship DOES run..." Nivi points out.

"Not to my satisfaction." Juros counters.

"Hakkof, if you're any good at trailing, follow Harry and find out who and where his boss is."

She looks at Juros. "You know how to build stun mines?"

Juros says, "Well yeah, but I would need the parts..."

Nivi says, "Good. Then make a list of parts for 8 stun mines. I'll have Kevin keep you company while I pick up the parts."

(Yay! You caught my reference to Harry and the Hendersons!)

"Hahahah, dude!  Like, awesome!  Barakians aren't known for stealth, hahah, so it'll be like, double awesome for Hakkof to trail the dude!"

  Kevin keeps saying things Hakkof agrees with.  Is this a bad sign for Hakkof?  "Tracking, yes.  Tracking inconspicuously not so much.  I suppose I could loom ominously in the background and see what happens."

Nivi says, "Nevermind, Hakkof. I'll trail him. You get the parts for Juros. Here are some creds." she transfers some credits to Hakkof's account, then hurries off to follow the goon.

  "Shopping it is.  Do be careful Nivi, rainbow shirts are not very subtle either."  Plus they would all have to find another job if something happened to her.

  Hakkof will be sure to keep the receipt for the parts he leaves to purchase, just in case.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:44, Wed 30 Jan 2013.

"Woah, hahahahah.  Blissian spy in tie die!  Gets kidnapped and held for ransom.  Her employees like, can't meet the ransom and go to the authorities.  Who are on the take, hahah.  And then like, their ship is stolen.  Hah."

He gets to work helping out as asked.

Nothing against Kevin. Nivi just expects Kevin to laugh as he trails the guy while bragging about how he's gonna get caught. And Juros needs to fix the ship. Hence picking herself.

While Hakkof is shopping, some other barrakian guy happens to be there and looks at him. "Oh hey. You're the first barrakian I've seen all day. I think they're all busy watching the game. So what's your deal? You a technician?"

Meanwhile, back at the ship, Juros is rolling his eyes. He looks at Kevin and says, "I think I get the picture. You always look at the worst case scenario so you can only be pleasantly surprised. Right? I mean, you don't ACT like a negative person. You're laughing the whole time!"

  Finally, somebody around eye level.  "I think the job title is still up in the air, getting the parts for the actual technician.  Merc work was getting samey, so some variety to make sure I continue to appreciate fighting later seemed in order."  Boredom could get you killed, if you were bored with the wrong things.

Nivi's expectations may very well be accurate.  Or Kevin might some other reason why he would be caught.  Like hooves.  He thinks for a second when Juros asks his question then resumes his animation and chuckling.

"No way, hahahahah!  There's like, no such thing as 'worst case,' hah.  'Cause like, no matter how bad things get, they can like, always get worse hahahah!"

Juros shrugs. "From an individual's perspective, at least, things can only get to a certain level of bad before tolerance levels just forbid anything being worse. For example, you know people can go unconscious after a certain level of pain, right? Same for psychology. So if the guy is being tortured and just finished watching everyone he cared about either die or betray him, if he doesn't fall unconscious, one of two things could happen to his mind: 1) He stops caring and goes cold, so nothing is bad for him anymore. Or 2) He goes insane and lives in a fantasy world where things go however his mind makes them go in order to cope. .....but yeah, outside personal perspective, things can always get worse. Though that also depends on your definition of what's good and what's bad. Some people would be happy if the entire universe imploded."

---

The barrakian ohs and says, "Interesting. So what's your boss like, if not specific about what your actual job entails?"

"Woah, like, totally!  And like, just to spite those dudes the universe, like, doesn't implode!  Get it?  That's why Hakkof like, totally served that extortionist, hah.  'Cause like, 'one dude's victory is another's wipe-out,' hahahah."

  "Nice enough, though knowing them only a few hours means I only have first impressions to go by so far.  I suppose keeping idiots from bothering her too much will be about the same as it is for any other job."  If with potentially less piledrivers to attempted extortionists.

Shopping goes easily enough and the barrakian seems like a sane guy and welcome company.

Meanwhile, back at the ship, Nivi returns and waves to Kevin and Juros. "Hi, guys!"

When Hakkof makes it back to the ship, he sees Nivi waiting for him.

"Hahahah, hey, Nivi!  Good to see you back in one piece, hah.  So like, how'd it go?  Did he lose ya or somethin?"

Kevin also greets Hakkof when he returns.  "Welcome back, dude!  Hahahah.  So like, how's it hangin?"

  Of course the Barrakian had been sane and welcome company, they were a Barrakian.  Yes we know what bias means, what does that have to do with anything?

  "It is hanging reasonably well.  I have the parts requested."

Nivi nods in response to Kevin. "Yeah, he lost me. But I gave the local authorities a phone call and found out he and his boss are on their radar. The authorities also said they would keep an eye on us by satellite until we take off."

Juros, of course, is pleased to see the parts. And Hakkof, too, of course. "With these parts, I'll have the ship safe enough to confidently take off and finish the lesser repairs in space." he says. While Juros gets to work, Nivi sits with the others. With a bright smile on her face, she asks, "You two excited?" her little bunny tail wiggles in excitement!
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:28, Mon 25 Feb 2013.

Kevin gives a grin and thumbs-up to Hakkof then chuckles at Nivi's response.

"Woah!  Like, call the cops?!  Radical!  Hahahah."

To her question he repeats the grin and thumbs-up.

  Hakkof answers "Absolutely ecstatic.", even if he sounds like he sounds just as deadpan as ever.

  He looks over to Juros,  "What do you consider 'minor' repairs?  I used to know a guy who considered restocking the emergency supplies in escape pods minor."

Juros huhs? "Well for one thing, stocking emergency supplies don't count as "repairs". I'm a technician, not a quartermaster. For another thing, the list of things I would consider minor is actually pretty large. But to give examples: an overhead light, loose wiring in the sound system, a clogged fan in one of the walls... stuff I literally can take care of with ease while we are in space that our lives would only depend on in the most unlikely of circumstances."

Nivi says, "The escape pods are stocked with emergency supplies, though."

Juros adds, "And the escape pods are fully functional. Although there are only two of them, so please be aware we would likely wind up escaping in pairs."

"Hakkof like, counts as a pair all by himself, hahahah," Kevin points out, "So like, when we wind up having to escape, at least one of us will wind up left behind.  Or like, try to comically cram three into one pod then we all die in the crash landing due to insufficient seatbelts, hah.  So like, should we like, draw straws to see who goes where in an emergency?  Hahah."

  Luckily, Hakkof isn't so sarcastic to claim that Kevin can ride on the outside if he asks nicely.  "I think in this case, it is more that there are not enough to flee for your life the second you get in, if you wanted to avoid leaving people behind."

Nivi says, "Don't be silly. The escape pods are big enough to hold more people. And details like this are the reason why I plan for us to have emergency drills."

Juros says, "Kevin, you are about the weirdest person I've met."

"Awesome!" Kevin chuckles with a smile and a hang loose hand sign.  Chances are he'd have said that regardless of what was said, even if offered a ride outside the ship or labeled normal.

  Hakkof supposes Juros needs to get out more if Kevin is the strangest the Genru has met.  Of course, this job would actually entail that if it got to the exploration part.

  "Yes, knowing proper procedure for ramming the enemy ship while there is a hull breach on the bridge is always important."   Dude, Blissian ship.  Not Barrakian ship.

Well... the Yatta is not really a blissian ship. Just happens to be "on loan" to a Blissian, as Nivi explained a while back. But that's beside the point. It still isn't a barrakian ship.

Nivi says, "Well let's go over the drills."

The player is a lot less "emergency drills for futuristic ships" knowledgeable than the character is, so suffice it to say Nivi doesn't leave anything out. All the standard and even a few not-so-standard drills are there. Though "ramming" drills are obviously not there.

Kevin has lots of fun with the drills, spicing things up by roleplaying various complications...

"Hahahah.  Dude!  Like.  My arm's broke, hah.  So like, how do I break this rusty wheel loose to open the hatch?"

"Dude!  Like.  Containment breach, hah.  Won't following the drill cause more stress on the reactor?  Hahahah."

  Fortunately, Hakkof owns his own stuff for spacewalks and other such cases of protective clothing for the occasion needs.  He's a practical man like that.  "It would depend on what tools you had available with a broken arm, a wrench does not require both hands."  Even if it helps.

  As for pretend containment breaches,  "You will fit best, so you are going to have to reset the core manually while we all mourn your sacrifice.  That or abandon ship and let it melt in the parking bay."

OOC: Dad is so 6 foot 4 huge he can't really fit in the emergency spill cleanup outfits at the power plant.

Juros is initially annoyed at Kevin's antics, but when Nivi seems to commend him on making worst-case scenarios to be ready for, Juros lightens up a bit.

Eventually, the drills are over and the ship is ready for take-off!

Nivi asks, "Everyone please buckle your seat belts. Any last predictions of doom before we take off, Kevin?"

Kevin got a kick out of Hakkof's frank answers and feigned panic.  "Like, no way!  Hahah.  We're all gunna die!  Hah.  Every goat for himself!  Hahahah!"

He buckles in and smiles at Nivi's question.  "Dude!  Like, ominous, hahah.  That totally sounded like 'Any last requests?' Hahahah!  Like, everyone knows they're gunna die some day, so like, may as well enjoy the gnarly ride getting there, right?  Hahahah.  So like, what are we waitin' for?  Let's like, get this show on the road!  Hah.  Cowabunga!"

  Hakkof gets seated, "Sounds about the same as the people who don't realize their mortality, then."  Perhaps like his employer?  Of course, he's been hired to try and make that a non issue anyways.

The ship takes off without a hitch. Nivi is beaming as she seems more excited about this than Kevin would be over a perfect wave or ultimate climbing challenge. The group then gets into space. Once in orbit, Nivi opens the internet and searches the job list for explorers. "Hmm... we have a huge, dense jungle on Planet Sharr. Most people who visit Sharr aren't interested in going jungle diving and the Deksharr themselves don't really care what's in the jungle and just avoid it, so it remains mostly unexplored. But the person in charge of this mission is offering 15 creds per acre explored. There's a request for aid on Planet Alluvion aka the Flood Planet. The people there are asking explorers to research a missing sea vessel and are offering 2,000 creds. Lastly, there's a rich guy who is paying 1,000 creds to any explorers who find any evidence of how Planet Galloway was destroyed. For those of you who don't know, that's the planet that was destroyed thousands of years ago, but its moon survived whatever cataclysm caused it's parent planet's destruction."

Juros says, "I'm not keen on jungle-diving, but that DOES sounds like easy money there... just walk around in a dense jungle for what amounts to 15 creds an hour? I mean, I'm just taking a guess it would take an hour to explore an acre of dense jungle. Then again, I have NO experience with such things. That missing sea vessel sounds kinda dangerous, but it's the most money up front. And checking on Galloway's moon sounds almost like a walk in the park, but finding evidence in that much space sounds like we'd be earning that deceptively "easy" 1,000 creds..."

Nivi looks at the others. "Thoughts?"

---

As a reminder, 1 credit = about 10 US dollars.

Kevin gives it some thought.

"Let's see.   Hah.  Like, chased by jungle raptors, fall into quicksand, and get poisoned by the vines we climb out on, hah.  Or like, chased by sharks, get trapped in an underwater cave, oxygen tank gets punctured.  Hahah.  Or like, get stuck in a meteorite storm, suffocate from hull breach or get exploded from a damaged engine.  Uh...  Hahahah...  I like, have more experience with land sports, but I'd like to try out water and space some time.  Let's like, do 'em all!  Hahahahah!"

  "I am inclined to take the only job with a certain payout, especially for the first one while expenses still need to be paid.  We would need almost seventy acres to make even one thousand credits for the Deksharr Jungles-" That's ten times more than seven, and that's terrible with no cakes OR Pies involved.  "And the last one while more significant to galactic knowledge as a whole, will only pay if we solve a longstanding mystery that entire galactic governments have been either studying to no avail, or hiding."

  He considers his coworkers and employer, then adds "Of course, if hardly anyone here is trained for aquatic operations, then it would be best to take the Jungle options just on the basis of our qualifications."  He can see it now,  Ahah, like, how do I seal a leak in my suiuubleburbleglack.

OOC:  OOC wise, my opinion was somewhat skewed by the fact we're already lost and stumbling through a jungle in another Space Opera game.  But that's no reason to risk more than a 50% chance of drowning for the team just for a steady paycheck.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:09, Sat 23 Mar 2013.

Nivi adds, "Keep in mind the pay. Pay isn't just our bread and butter. It's also a gauge of both how dangerous a mission is and how much the client wants it done. Of course, the trick is figuring out how much is danger and how much is desire."

Juros says, "The money is paid upon completion for any given job, right? I mean.. given that we'd be payed for only doing a few acres on Sharr's jungle, I say we do that. Worst case scenario, we discover we don't like the job, we get payed for what we did do, and we move on to the next job."

He looks at Hakkof. "Sure, the other two jobs give a nice chunk of change upon completion, but I am willing to bet if they offer that much money, completing either of those tasks is going to take as much time as exploring 70 acres of jungle, and probably will be more difficult."

Nivi says, "But what about the more important point Hakkof made? Are we all qualified for any or all of these missions? I can say I'm qualified enough to try, but I'm no marine specialist. Although, having visited Greenery before, I know my way around flora."

---

I guarantee the jungle of Sharr does not fill up with blaster-proof monsters when it floods, nor does it have paralyzing fairies, nor does it have driders. Besides, that would feel like I was copying off someone anyways. That said, I'm not pushing for the jungle, this just happens to be the way my characters are reasoning. I didn't even think until now about the fact Nivi would be qualified for the jungle, but she is. :\

"So, like, jungle first, then, hahahah," that's a lot of commas.  "For this and all jobs, getting qualified for a job usually entails doing it while unqualified, hahah.  You can like, expect to like, get all kinds of injuries on your first several goes on a half pipe, but like, you just gotta keep at it till you get the hang of it.  Or get too cripple to continue trying, hah."

  "Good reason to take the Deksharr job then over the others." It seemed at least that nobody had been seriously considering the planetary destruction investigation.  "I suppose there is also the fact potential expenses would be lower for forestry than deep sea exploration.  If things go bad we may be able to cover our losses better."

Moving along, the group arrives at Planet Sharr. The standard landing procedures are followed, albeit with a very formal approach rather than the comparatively laid-back style of most landing stations. But then, Deksharr are famous for being strict, law-loving sorts.

Nivi lands the ship at the docking station nearest to the jungle and sets out for the jungle with the others. The group isn't at the jungle yet, though. And they are being escorted there by a deksharr named Guncor. "According to our visitor files, this is the first time any of you have visited Deksharr. Yet, you are going on a job as your first visit."

Nivi answers, "Correct. We are not here for a vacation. Vacations will come after we've earned a bit more money."

"Hahahah...  Like, nice ta meet ya!  Hah.  So like, out of curiosity, how many folks have died exploring the nearby jungle so far?  Hahahahah."

  "Do you get many people who can not be bothered to work because it is their first time here?"  Maybe the Deksharr have so much paperwork to try and keep the lazy people out?  If someone can't be bothered to fill out a form in quadruplicate then what good are they to them.

Guncor answers Hakkof first, "Ordinarily, yes. Aliens usually come to Sharr as tourists, not for a job. And those who come because they have a job usually spend their first day or three sight-seeing rather than jump right into a job. However, your case isn't unheard of. People who really need money right away will tend to a job first. Not saying it's a bad thing, just uncommon."

He then looks at Kevin. "In the past 1,000 years, this jungle has claimed 1 Deksharr life, 2 Neplusultran lives, 5 Tharian lives, 1 Blissian life, 3 barrakian lives and 12 grenu lives. However, if you were hoping to figure out how dangerous the jungle is, the statistics I gave you are not much of a gauge as this jungle is very rarely explored. Each death had reasons that make sense; at least, the deaths we know the cause of. Would you like to know more?"

Nivi is silent.

Juros frowns, not liking the numbers he heard.

The GM takes this moment to remind the players in case they forgot, Juros is a grenu.

"Woah!  Like, that's way feweer than I was expecting!  Hah.  But so many Grenu compared to the others makes ya wonder if Murphey's gunning for 'em, hah.  Though so long without any goats in the numbers makes me wonder if I'm like, higher on the hit list, hahahah.  Dude!  We should like, read those fatality reports to like, find out what happened, hahah."

  Hakkof does some basic math and comes out with, "I wonder what it is that has caused as many Grenu to die as the rest put together known?"  Maybe the buddy system had always included a Grenu, and the buddy system didn't work out.

Guncor listens to the others and says, "It actually all started with the death of Darook, the deksharr who decided it was time to fully explore this jungle. It had been considered a taboo to enter, but he had to know why and try to expose the secrets of the jungle. He explored a great deal. The parts that are currently explored are mostly to Darook's credit."

Guncor shows a map to reveal what Darook had explored. 20 of the 30 explored acres are credited to Darook. "However, he and his team were attacked by wildlife. In their panic, the group fell off a waterfall edge. Darook never resurfaced and his team waited for him for a day. Eventually, Darook's team returned home, never to go back to the jungle. Between the taboo, superstitions, and the fact Darook died, it then became illegal to enter the jungle. And well... our kind is pretty strict about obeying the law. So there hasn't been a deksharr known to go in there since. That was almost 1,000 years ago. Our law forbids deksharr from entering, but aliens are free to enter. Since then, the other lives I mentioned were claimed. The two neplusultrans were experienced explorers who figured they would touch down in the middle of the jungle in their ship and start exploring the jungle by ship. Their ship and they disappeared with no trace, never to be heard from again. After that, the Barrakians and Grenu both saw this jungle as a challenge; something they had to prove to all other races that they were able to conquer the jungle. But most barrakians have better things to do than explore a jungle, so only 3 actually made the commitment to come. And even then, it was 1 barrakian at a time over the course of 200 years. The first two barrakians that came believed in going in with just the bare basic survival gear and no electronic devices. The third one came with his own personal exo-suit. None of them ever returned and nobody went for them. During that time, about six grenu, also individually, came and tried to tackle the jungle their own ways and none returned. Now the Tharians are a superstitious bunch and so it's little surprise that after they heard about this and thought opposite of barrakians and grenu. But some incentives are irresistible. 600 years after Darook, one Grenu managed to explore a couple acres and found gold. This drew attention from all over the place. We call it "The Darook Gathering" because thousands of aliens of all kinds showed up, but it was weird.. nobody dared enter even though they had come that far. However, after the crowds died down, a team of 5 tharians went and explored the jungle. They got a couple more acres discovered, but then disappeared. The grenu were relentless and kept at it, having shown they had succeeded before. But their corpses started showing up outside the jungle as if someone inside was sending a message. The deksharr government took it as a sign someone lives there and considers the place their own sovereign nation. However, one grenu was furious when he found out. What was once just a relative dying of natural causes became murder and a cause for revenge. He came here under the pretense of a visitor, but then suddenly dropped multiple bombs across the entire jungle. Our satellites lost track of the jungle briefly and he was arrested when he was done, but eventually, we could see the jungle was unharmed. Then, about 200 years back, one brave blissian came after hearing about yet another dead grenu explorer. He set out to find the bodies and try to get closure to the whole thing, whether it meant exploring or not. He ironically wound up exploring 6 acres, told some amazing stories, then vanished. Then two more grenu have gone there and died since."

Juros looks at the jungle's direction like he's facing an enemy.

Nivi oh-my's. "Why such a low price tag then? Why pay explorers so little?"

Guncor says, "To lower the death toll. Most just come here for challenge."
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:32, Tue 16 Apr 2013.

"Wooooooah!!!"  Kevin says in some awe.

"Dude.  So like, Hahahahah.  No way!  That's like.  Totally!   Hahahahah."

Clearly his brain is broken.

"Dude.  It's almost like this could totally be Murphey's home base!   Hahahaha!  I mean, like, seriously?  A jungle that's like, immune to explosives?  Woah!  I wonder what sorts of amazing stories that Blissian dude told.  Like, 'Dude!  There's like, magical unicorns and stuff in that jungle!'  And like, then we're all, 'No way!' and go to see for ourselves.  And before we all die horrible gruisome deaths we'll see a unicorn and it'll be all, 'Dude.  You should have take that Blissian dude's word for it and stayed out.'  'Dude!  Use your magic to like, teleport us out of this meat grinder trap!'  'Sorry, dudes.  My magic ain't more powerful than Murphey's.'  'Dude!  Murphey's a Magician?!  I shoulda guessed!  No way!  Hahahaharglegurglegurglechoppedtobits!'"

  "Nature has a tendency to be passive aggressive here then, it seems."  Hakkof wondered if they would be lucky enough that whatever dropped the bodies off were simply idiots who forgot to leave a 'totally natural causes did it' note giving a false impression, as opposed to something like invisible headhunting killers lurking through the jungle.

  Hakkoff couldn't tell a difference in Kevin until that last bit where he forgot to use the spacebar.  "The bodies were left behind intact, Kevin.  Though I suppose the missing ones could have been chopped to bits."  He looks over to Nivi, "You are the one running this show.  Do you wish to proceed?"

Nivi stares forward. "...The last people to have died here was more than a generation ago. We would be no good to any of the deceased. I am calling off this job. I have no reason to put you 3 into this kind of danger for so little money. Still, maybe while we are here on Sharr, they may have jobs for us that aren't listed on the network."

Juros sighs. Whether in relief or disappointment is anyone's guess. Could be both.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:37, Fri 19 Apr 2013.

"Bummer, hahah.  Here I was all stoked to die some horrific death, like, my remains in one piece afterward or otherwise, doing a job that like, intentionally underpays!  Hahahah."

Kevin could work on his sarcasm skills.  Unless he means what he just said.

"Yeah, like, fall-back jobs are like, better than nothing and all, hah.  Though I am curious enough to like, look over the maps of the areas that were successfully explored at least, hah."

  Hakkof didn't exactly disagree with Kevin when it came to the poor pay grade for services rendered.  His player tended to share that blurry zone of Sarchonesty.

  "Yes, it would be worth looking up what so many have lost their lives to discover at the very least."  If only so they didn't just retread already paid for ground if they did end up coming back.

As the group looks over the maps, it becomes evident that the discovered areas are simply dense jungle; the photos showing mostly trees, streams, some swamp, and various flora. According to reports, people still die when they enter those areas, so an area being explored does not make it any safer.

The tour guide seems relieved as the group heads back the way they came. "If it makes you all feel better, I will personally see to it you get a job of some kind before you leave."

Nivi smiles at Guncor. "Thank you... I really appreciate that."
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:41, Tue 23 Apr 2013.

"Hah, like, me too!" Kevin agrees, "Anything to do with extreme sports would like, be totally up my alley, hah.  Woah!  Like, big surprise, right?"

  "I suspect we will not all be fortunate enough to get paid for jumping off a cliff."  Wait, safety gear?  That wasn't very extreme.

Guncor says, "...well there is a ski slope about 100 miles from here that is holding a competition. But you would have to win to get that money."

"What's the prize?" Nivi asks.

"5,000 creds." Guncor answers.

Nivi looks at the others as if to see if they think it's worth trying.

"Hahah, like we'll end up having to pay to jump off a cliff, hahah," Kevin agrees.

He lights up at the mention of a ski competition.

"Dude!  I'm like, all over that, hahahah!  There's like, no chance I'll win it if the competition's today, but, it'll be totally fun to jump in completely unprepared!  Hahahah!"

  "While I do not shy away from athleticism, most <airquotes>Xtreme</airquotes> sports I stay away from for practical reasons."  Bungee jumping staff not bothering to adjust for his greater height, fool him twice, etc.

  Also, it is apparently frowned upon to land your BMX on the competition off of Barrak, go figure.

  He looks to Kevin,  "I was under the impression you have been laid off for financial reasons, not an inability to perform."  He considers for a moment, then adds "Of course, if it is due to a lack of ready ski equipment that would be understandable."

Guncor says, "The competition's in a couple days. Come on... let's get to town."

Juros considers joining the competition himself.

Fast forwarding a bit, the group is in town and Guncor even showed them a place to stay. "Let me be the first to say; I'm glad you didn't go in that jungle. It's good to see you four alive."

Nivi nodnods and goes to give Juros, Hakkof and Kevin each a hug.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:14, Tue 18 June 2013.

"Your impression was correctamundo dude," Kevin answered, "And like, having to use rental skis would be just the start of the reasons even a top athlete would like, lose the competition he like, didn't have a chance to practice for that's like, on a slope he'd never been to, and like, uses regional rules he hasn't had a chance to learn, and like..."

He gives a long list.  To the hug he just smiles and giggles.

  "I appreciate you not looking forward to our unfortunate deaths." Is there any way to make that sound good?  Probably, but not one Hakkof can think of at the moment.

  "Good points Kevin, at least you have a few days to see if you can not do a triple backflip with twist using the available resources."

  The Barrakian isn't quite sure how to react to the bunny hug.  Most physical contact in his life had been either attempts to harm him, or beg him not to step on them by counterproductively clutching at his feet. "Uh, thank you?"

Juros smiles from the hug. Free hug from a girl, after all. And a blissian at that.

Nivi says, "Does that mean you don't wanna compete, Kevin? You said extreme sports is one thing you do real well, right?"

Juros says, "He's just pointing out that in an official event like this, there are people who do nothing but ski and they are so into it that they have custom skis just to have a few extra seconds of an edge on their opponents. His chances of winning aren't high..." he smirks at Kevin. "Not too low either, though, I'd like to think."

Nivi pulls up some data on the competition. "Well for the prize money, it probably does attract all the pros in Sharr and maybe even a few off-worlders who enjoy skiing on Sharr."
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:22, Wed 03 July 2013.

"Dude!  I'm like, all over it!  Hah.  My winning would most likely be like, Murphey punishing all the other competitors for bragging how well they'll do.  But like, I'd totally love  to compete, win or lose!  Hahah.  Dude!  Like, imagine how fun it'll be if it's a team competition, hahahahah!"

  Hakkof somehow doubts he'd be allowed to hurl Kevin down the hill for a head start in speed.  Then again, he may have meant something more reasonable when it came to team competitions.  "Things may turn out better if it was not winner take all, though I would be surprised of placing would make up for the entry fees even if that were the case."

Fast-forwarding a bit, Kevin is entered into the competition. Juros comments about how he wants to learn to ski, but until he actually LEARNS, he's not competing.

Kevin is lined up against the competitors and most of them are Deksharr. Two others besides Kevin are off-worlders. A human male and a badger female. The human is wearing Pirace's colors while the badger is wearing Tharia's.

Nivi is in the crowd with Hakkof and Juros, cheering Kevin on, fists in the air. "Woooowooo! You can do it!"

Kevin had similar expectations about the entrance fee but didn't say anything lest his team decide against looking into the competition.  And he would totally jump at the chance to be thrown by a Barakian who wasn't out to kill him.  Dude!  You ever been like, thrown by a Barakian?  Hah.  I have!  It was awesome!  Hahahah!

Kevin takes note of the other competitors.  "Woah!  Like, this is like, interplanetary and stuff, hahah.  Dude!  That's like, seven syllables!  Epic!  Hahahah!"

He smiles at Nivi's encouragement and does a half cartwheel sideways hand-plant to wave back upside-down.  He returns rightside-up and start laughing when it dawns on him...

"Hahahahahah!   Dude!   Hahahah.  Like...  Snow bunny!   Hahahahahahahahahahaha!"

  Silly Kevin, every Barrakian is out to kill you, most just never get around to it.  Or are we thinking of Bears?

  "Break them.  Metaphorically."

The human laughs. "I'm here for kicks; Normally, I compete in the multiworld championships. You bunch of rookies don't stand a chance."

The badger girl seems kind of hyper, hopping in place while shivering and says, "Yeah! Yeah! Championships! HEEEHEHEHEHEEE!!!"

The deksharr competitors mostly eyeroll, but soon the competition begins! The other skiers take off and all seem to have a good start. Levi-cams follow the competitors and the audience gets to see any competitor they want at any time.

Obviously, this is something Kevin would know about / be used to. So the fact a hovering camera is following him around is not only unsurprising, but something he would know about and what it's there for. What extreme sports guy hasn't watched at least a few competitions themselves?

Meanwhile, Nivi switches to the "most of them" camera to watch who all is ahead of who for now. Not that the monitors don't give a placing.

Kevin grins and gives a thumbs-up to Hakkof with a nod.  the badger girl gets him all kins of psyched up for the race and the human has him giggling.

"Dude!  Like, real honor to race with such a big champ, hahahah!"

He gives the aloha handsign and a wink to the camera before tucking back into the low-drag speed posture.

  Pixie sticks are not considered substance abuse in the world of sports, only the world of parenting and some schools.  So the Badger is probably fine.

  Hakkof couldn't decide to consider the human practical for a good paycheck, or foolish for dealing with something so beneath him as to not be worth his time.  Like wondering if you should bother breaking a bar stool over someone's head instead of just punching them... Or nothing like that.

The beginning of the race is very simple. You just go straight for a bit. But soon, the twists and turns come. Clearly, nobody in the competition is getting eliminated simply from terrain. But soon after the turns come obstacles. Your basic flagpoles to weave in between. Remember Pocket D's Winter Event area? :) Well along those lines... this is the advanced course.

Kevin finds himself challenged just to stay on the course, but he does stay on thanks to his skills! Most of the competitors get ahead of Kevin, but three are behind him (Two deksharr and the badger). The badger girl comes up next to Kevin. Her goggles are transparent, making it easy to see her eyes as she grins over at him. "This race course is TOTALLY WICKED!!!" she yells, waving her arms in the air before going back to racing pose. She seems to be staying with Kevin rather than gaining ground over him.

Meanwhile, Nivi sees this and giggles. "Looks like Kevin has a friend."

Juros looks a little confused. "I'm wondering if she cares about winning or not..."

So far so good for Kevin's first two goals of not being disqualified and not finishing last.  Not messing up another competitor and causing them to be disqualified seems to be working out as well.  Kevin frequently smiles and thumbs-ups at the camera to reassure his friends he's hanging in there.

"For real!" he answers the Badger with an aloha handsign, "Not as radical is my competition, though, hahah!  I'm Kevin.  What's your name?  Super awesome rocket babe?"

  "The human may not be the only one who entered purely for entertainment."  Though the badger sure seemed to have more enthusiasm for the actual skiing.

The badger answers Kevin, "My name's Lulu! But I'm OK with Super Awesome Rocket Babe! Thanks, Kevin! See you at the end zone!" before she leans in order to gain speed, goes to a ramp and flies off, doing a backflip before continuing to ski. "WHEEEEEEEEEEE!" can be heard coming from her.

Nivi smiles. "Well it's good to have fun. Oft times competitions like this take all the fun out of it for the competitors and they take things way too seriously."

Juros shrugs. "If your goal is fun, then sure. But if your goal is to win, you can't let your guard down."

"Nice to meet you too, hahahah WOAH-Ho-Ho!  Epic backflip, Lulu!  Hahahah!"

But because Kevin is trying to win money for his friends, and fancy tricks slow you down, rather than answer with a trick of his own Kevin focuses on going fast... and messing with the competition's minds.

"Dude!  I'm like, totally gaining on you, hahahahah!"

Unless you get extra points for fancy tricks.  In which case, he's totally all over that.

Sweet tricks done mid air after going off ramps was how you refilled your turbo bar right?

"As far as I know, this course is more relaxing than what Kevin has normally done.  Though it also means it is longer."  After all, skateboarding over a helicopter was a short ride, whether or not you pulled it off.

The ski course is fun and Kevin places 4th! Really good considering he had plenty of competition. The egotistical human placed second, though. Which seems to annoy the guy. But the 1st place guy isn't a soar winner.

The others meet afterword to congratulate each other on a good race. Lulu can be seen taking the course again just to have fun on it! Nivi just nods to Kevin as if to indicate he can go to have fun too.

When all is done, the sky is getting dark and Nivi invites the group to go spend the night at the nearby cabin lodgings.

"Woohoo!" Kevin cheered at the finish line.  Not only did he finish the course without a wipeout, he did so without placing last.  He was sure to congratulate the others, especially the top three and Lulu.  Then totally goes for a second run.  Mostly so he can try out the sweet tricks he was thinking up during the competition but held off on in favor of more speed.  Kevin of course accept s the invitation to stay at the cabin.

"Dibs on any top bunk, hahahah!"

  How to put it?  Saying he performed adequately while factual probably didn't sound very nice.  <brown>"Good to see you enjoyed yourself Kevin."<brown>  Close enough.

Nivi giggles. "I'm sure we can get a room with a bunk, so you can have an upper bunk, Kev. Let's find out."

When the bunch make it to the lodgings, a shady looking deksharr is there and keeping an eye on the group. He makes no moves and doesn't give them any mean looks. Just has the whole jaded look about him while keeping an eye on them.

The human racer shows up at the place. He smirks as he notices the goat who competed. "Well... if it isn't the surprise-4th-place! These your friends?"

"Thanks, Hakkof!  Hahahahah!"

Considering all the things he mentioned were going against him, Kevin is very happy with how well he did.  He takes note of the Dekshar, smiles, and waves.

"Dude!  It's like, the skicret service!  Hahahahah!"

"That they are, second place dude!  Hah.  We are Hakkof, Juros, Kevin, and Nivi.  Like, space explorers, hahahah.  So like, nice to meetcha, dude!"

  Hakkof knows that look on the Deksharr, he sees it in the mirror often enough. He nods to the human, "It would be for the best if you let us know what to call you, except for anything but first place of course."

The human says, "My name's Gaither. Nice to meet you. You sure are an odd bunch. Mind telling me the story of how you all got together?"

Nivi says, "They needed jobs; I provided."

Gaither chuckles. "So the blissian lady's you all's boss? This is getting interesting."

"So like, 'After an extensive review of our current budgetary constraints we have determined that sponsoring your team no longer fits within our company's long term goals,' hahha," Kevin quotes, "'Dude!  That's like, our biggest sponsor!  Without their dough we'll have to like, disband our team!'  Hahah.  'No way!  Bummer!'  Hahahah."

  Hmm, Kevin sounded more like he was having a flashback than an explanation.   Those team breakups can be rather traumatic?  He looks to Gaither and says "If one were optimistic, working for a Blissian is like a paid vacation compared to my usual employment."

Gaither asks, "And if one were pessimistic?"

Nivi gives Kevin another hug. "I'm well-funded, don't you worry. I've got enough to sustain you guys for a good 2 years without any actual jobs to fund me. But it shouldn't take us THAT long to find jobs we can handle. And even if it did, that's 2 years we all got to hang out and befriend one another."

She remembers Hakkof is one of those "not comfortable with hugs" kind of people, so she avoids hugging him for now. Especially since it's a public place.

"Dude!  If one were pessimistic they'd like, say Murphey's Law doesn't apply to the competition.  Hahah.  But like, Murphey's an equal opportunity misfortune bringer, hahah."

Being hugged by one's boss is rather unheard of, but Kevin's boss is a Radical Snow Bunny!  So he returns the hug with a friendly one-arm hug and his signature aloha hand sign and chuckle.

"Dude!  If you tell your employees that, they'll like, slack off!  Hahahah!"

  It was difficult to look the part of Worf stereotypes when a colorfully dressed snugglebunny was hugging your kneecaps, yes.

  The prices people pay for professionalism.

  "Two years slacking off is also two years not making any savings for later, though some would not look at it that way of course."

Nivi looks befuddled. "You guys will slack off? Why?"

Juros says, "Speak for yourself, Kevin. As long as there's technology for me to play with, I'll be doing my job. Remember, poor Nivi here, being a Blissian, is used to a socialist society, so ideas like being a leach are new to her."

Nivi asks, "Being a leach?"

Gaither can't help himself and chuckles. "....sorry, young lady, but unless you lucked out, Kevin's right. Tell you what. I have a job for you all. If you simply deliver a message for me that I can't afford to email, then I'll pay you each 10 creds and whatever the Gammus* cost would be to get there."

*In case anyone forgot, Gammus is the "Gasoline" in Faction.

"Woah, good point, Hakkof, hahahah.  Not that stops some dudes.  Stupid, right?  Hah."

To Juros he answers, "Woah, chill, dude, hahah.  No way would I peg you as the kinda dude to slack off, hah.  I was like, warning her about the dudes that'll take our places after we die, hahahah."

He then asks Gaither, "So like, what's keepin' ya from emailin' it?  Is it like, schematics for a chimera virus and we'll be hounded by spies and stuff?  Hahahah."

  "Perhaps what he has to send exceeds his services attachment limits."  Interstellar Email could either be incredibly easy, or incredibly difficult depending on the setting  (Commander shepard I sent you an email to your stealth ship out in the ass end of space to thank you for finding my pet fish).

  Hakkoff was not particularly worried about the work ethic of this crew (even Kevin).  But will leave the desicion of picking up this sidequest to his employer.

Gaither says, "It's a personal message and I don't trust email with it. Long story short, I have a very tenacious ex-girlfriend who happens to be a hacker."

Nivi says, "....well we'll gladly take that job. So long as the destination is safe enough to get to."

When Gaither shows Nivi where she's going, she agrees it's safe.

"Woah.  Bummer about the crazy ex, dude.  Best of luck, like, surviving and stuff, hahahah."

Kevin doesn't believe Gather's cover story, but it's fun to play along.

  "I am sure that if he has not died in an apparent accident yet, his ex is merely petty at worst"  That or only a mediocre hacker.