Jacqueline looks at CHAD carefully as he responds, keeping her own position, but shrugging, "Not too surprising. Always compliant. That's one of the reasons I knew you were a good investment, Chad. Still, I wanted to hear your thoughts on the offer, if you had any. But it looks like that's all ready settled." She leans forward in her desk and speaks clearly, "There's a competition going on today and it was suggested that I take a look at it. The people running this competition, the Lockmans, are going to be very important to all of us in this company. The problem? It might be filled with some people of... lesser standards. I'd simply like you to go with me and ward off any potential riffraff."

As she says this, she stands herself up and smiles at CHAD, folding her hands behind her back, "That's it for the 'briefing' on this little venture, but I would like to make sure you understand two things before we go. First, don't publicly announce who I am or otherwise draw a lot of attention to the fact. I don't want to be a spectacle. Second, try not to kill anyone during this, okay? Not unless they try to kill me or you. We don't need that kind of press. Is all of this understood, Chad?"

Nash's ears lower ever more as he practically feels Billy looking at him, debating whether to be rude and pretend he doesn't know the Blissian, or to give kindness where kindness is due.

Of course, he can't help but give a faint, if nervous, smile to him in return before turning his attention to Rocky. He can hear a great deal of the conversation and the offer and tilts his head at the overall reaction.

Ya know, this Rocky isn't nearly as scary or standoffish as I thought he'd be. He's actually surprisingly friendly, and he's even MORE friendly to the Blissians! I was sure he would be someone extremely hardened and even rude to people passing through, but I was wrong... That's a good thing, right? Or maybe it's just too early to tell? Not letting my guard down. Staying cautious... He seems really easy to trust.

His attention is somewhat diverted at seeing 'Team Joe' arrive on the scene, having never seen a collection of travelers quite like that before. He doesn't know WHAT to think, aside from the fact that they look like they're on a mission themselves.

Thoughtfully, he adjusts his glasses and stays ever quiet.

Elena's eyes widen in glowing joy as he hops at Rocky's response and gives Lucky a tight hug before doing the same to Rocky, an act which causes Miya to flinch with concern as she's too late to do anything to deter her employer's excitement.

The Blissian backs away with a rosy tint to her cheeks beneath her fur, "S-sorry! I'm just... Oh, I'm SO happy! You're really going to help? That's the greatest thing I could have ever hoped for! Thank you! Thank you so much!." She gives a bow again as she steps back a pace to be polite, "What Lucky says is absolutely true. I'd be more than happy to heal any injured that you have after, well, the event today. Though I hope..." She pauses before she tilts her head at Rocky with honest curiosity, "Is this really going to be a dangerous event today, Mr. Rocky?"

For Miya, the sight of the others isn't something that she's all too thrilled about. They clearly look familiar to her and she can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. At the very least, she's keeping a watch on them from the corner of her eye, giving more of her complete attention to Elena and the one's they're currently dealing with.

Rocky looks at Lucky with a "wha?" look when he calls Rocky shrewd. "Shrewd? Pfff.." he leans over to Brian and whispers, "What's that mean?" Brian chuckles and whispers back, "Clever." Rocky ohs. "It's common sense to build a hospital when you can afford it. It's STUPID to turn down more or less free labor and materials to build a hospital. Any 2-year-old knows if someone gives you a band-aid when you are hurt, you take the gift."

Rocky genuinely blushes and gives a helpless smile when Elena hugs him. His smile being much like a little boy who just got tucked in by his mom. When she pulls back, he's looking bashful. "P-please... Elena. Just call me Rocky. Mister is more for older... yeah, older people. I'm like... still just a kid m'self." he admits.

Amy telepaths to Nash, <Many folks have a soft spot for Blissians. Rocky, however, from what I understand, is a softy who wants to make people think he's a tough guy. Sometimes he tries too hard, but I'm sure you aren't in any serious danger with him. Especially with Blissians for him to "behave" around.>

Rocky spots the newcomers and says with a chuckle, "Heh. Looks like everyone wants in before I'm even ready. Well... you all may as well come on in."

As he leads the way in, he looks at Elena. "To answer your question, Elena, yes. Some events are dangerous. But you gotta understand... it's our way. Our life. Especially the guys from my culture. We like wrestling, fighting... to put it in a way that might help you not think it bad, a lot of the rough stuff we Piressens do is, well, a way of feeling whole. For many of us, our entire role as the male gender depends on these rough-and-tumble activities..." his nerdar is going off and he knows he's the one making it do so. This needs to be corrected. "It's a thing we gotta do, but I make sure nobody gets permanently hurt... OK?"

He looks over his shoulder at the recent arrivals. "Party's not ready yet, folks... just keep your pants on and things'll be moving along shortly."

T'shock follows the group inside and nods when Rocky says what he says. Then looks at Joe. "We may as well help out while we're here."

Rocky interjects, "Or sit to the side bored. I don't need the help, but it's much appreciated."

(Fast forward imminent when players are ready)

He had found himself a nice little spot near the door to watch the festivities that he was hoping would start soon as he was getting slightly impatient.  He noticed that the hooded person had pulled his hood down, showing that he was a blissian.  Just what he needed...another rabbit.  Though even at that distance, he looked ever so slightly familiar.  Then again, to him they all looked the same anyway.

Damn rabbits everywhere.  That one looks like he knows me.  He muttered to himself, shaking his head a little bit before going back to waiting for the action to start.  He knew that the blissians had a lot of backers, so he had to keep his head down in this area or at least keep his propensity for agitating them in check, lest he find himself in a situation that even he couldn't fight his way out of.

  Joe's replacement eyeball indeed is not a tiny spaceship.  He also supposes that nobody had put any thought to the implications Joe brought up worth mentioning.

  With a better view of the big name crowd, literal photorecognition is a convenient thing.  Though if Joe recognized a famous musician/ambassador/father of a double planet ruler he didn't show it. He looked to T'shock and asks  "Wouldn't the unrelated to competition reason we came here qualify as 'helping out' anyways?"

OOC Style: Ready for another Fast Forward.  Heh, only one Joe post ago we arrived here from a Fast Forward and now We're FFing even more.

"Depends on who you ask, I suppose," Nono replies, "One man's help is another's interference, kupo.  But this guy seems the kind to not turn us away."

He gladly helps out as directed.

This is going far better than Lucky had imagined!  He even got a hug from the pretty bunny without being shot by her pretty body guard!

"If only common sense were more common, Rocky," Lucky says, "I'm just glad to see you have it in ample supply.  Can't much blame people for being excited about your event.  So yeah.  Let's get to work!"

He too helps out wherever he's directed to.

C.H.A.D. nods firmly "Understood.  I will avoid killing anyone."  he seemes pretty comfortable about that order.  "I will also not refer to you by name, ma'am.".  He waits for her to move, and will fall in a few steps behind her,  "Since this is a recon mission I will observe this competition as well."   He pauses a moment as a thought goes through his head, "Are we participating in this competition?" he asks curiously.

Between the help of the many who showed up and Rocky's already hired help, the event gets set up in record time. Rocky has the people take their places and soon, there are people from all over town lining up to enter. The first competition is marksmanship. How good is anyone with a gun?

(By now, CHAD will have arrived. Anyone wishing to partake in sharpshooter competition, lemme know. Otherwise, you are relegated to DBZ-style sidebar commentary.)

T'shock SO joins in this competition. She doesn't care about being hired by Rocky or not (Though that could look very nice on her resume), but does want to see how she measures up to all these supposed "best" of this town who think they can compete.

Drizzeleaf decides to sit to the side and watch.

  Joe somehow doubted a stack of 3rd place wins, if he was incredibly fortunate, would stack up to a grand total victory.  Not to mention his favorite gun would probably get him disqualified for the whole smartlink perk it had.

  On the side of logic not having to do with expecting personal failure, it would be somewhat easier to follow up on any leads realized when not in the middle of a contest.

Both Lucky and Nono are more than happy to be DBZ style side commentary and find seats with their new friends.

"Wow, a Barakian," Lucky comments, "She'll likely be the one to beat for most of these competitions."

Nono's more interested in the guns themselves than the competition, though he's enthusiastic about rooting for his favorite red-skin lady.

"You show 'em who's boss, T'shock!  Kupooooo!"

T'shock gets this adorable smile on her face as she gets rooted for by her recent acquaintances. But she is impressed to find she isn't the best one there in the shooting competition. Instead, that goes to some wolf there named Gmork.

Billy is comfortably seated with the others, a bright smile on his face as he lets an ear flop. Upon hearing Lucky's comment, Billy nods and says, "From the looks of her, bounty hunter. So she's got to be decent at least." and when T'shock shows her stuff only to be outdone by Gmork, Billy nods. "She did well. But no matter how good you are, there's always someone better."

He looks towards Nono. "If I may ask... what is your relationship with the barakian?"

Meanwhile, Drizzeleaf looks at Joe. "Why not join? I would, but I'm too small... but what's your excuse?"

  "If any leads turn up, It will be easier to deal with them if I don't have to drop out of a competition in the process.  Also, what he said.  People have been expecting this competition for some time and have prepared accordingly, it takes a certain kind of person to just join at random and then win.  I don't happen to fit that qualification."  For our next trick, crashing the Olympic games?

 Though, he turns to Billy and asks "So, who's better than you?  And who's better than them?"  Hey, Billy is the one who brought up the stock aesop.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:21, Tue 07 June 2011.

"That would be plant type monsters, kupo," Nono answers for Billy, "Treants and the like.  Which tend to be weak to Vermin such as giant beetles.  Which are on the menu of Lizards.  Who happen to be easy prey of us long eared fuzzy types.  It's cyclical."

Silly Moogle.  Billy is an alien bunny.  The Final Fantasy Beast Strength Chart does not apply.  Maybe.

"As for my business arrangement with the frugal Barakian lady, I'm her mechanic.  Also did some work for this shrewd fairy here which conveniently is on a scale that can be shown off here."

He proudly points at Driz's ship.

Lucky smiles and waves.

"You seem like a friendly bunch.  My name is Lucky.  This is Billy Bard and (insert all other characters present).  A pleasure."

Billy nods as Nono answers Joe's question. "Indeed. It is cyclical on many things." he examines the fae ship and nods with an impressed smile. "Excellent work." he says of the ship.

T'shock nods to Lucky. "Name's T'shock. Nice to meet you."

The next competition involves a pool. Brian explains that this one goes to whoever can hold their breath the longest. "Though anyone who can hold their breath for 60 seconds or more will pass this part of the competition regardless."

Rocky is sitting in some lazy-boy, overseeing the pool.

  If going to have to keep track of all these people and names he's meeting today isn't he?  Thank goodness for backscroll augmented memory.  He also can't help but wonder, after the latest challenge announcement if the one following this will be 'now! bob for apples in the pool!'.  Okay, that probably won't happen.

  "Well, nice to meet you all as well.  Is having someone hold their head under the water for them considered cheating?  Probably I guess."

  What do you mean they didn't hold their breath 60 seconds!  They didn't come up for air in 70 seconds! It shouldn't matter if they were unconscious and half drowned, this contest is totally rigged!

"Thank you, thank you," Nono replies, "Name's Nono, and this is Joe.  I'd love an opportunity to repair or upgrade whatever it is you're traveling about in, kupo.  And for a limited time, I'm only charging for parts costs."

"Nice to see there haven't been any injuries yet," Lucky says, "Let's hope people don't push themselves beyond what they can handle.  Appreciate the offer, Nono, but I don't think my ride needs any maintenance or upgrades at the moment."

Billy chuckles from Nono's enthusiasm. "Confident..." he says of Nono. "You may look at my ship, but I'll be surprised if you can find it in need of any upgrade for cheaper than, say, 100 credits."

T'shock huhs. "I dunno the rules."

Rocky says, "If you fall unconscious, you are disqualified."

T'shock says, "...guess that answers that."

The competition allows for simply dunking your head, but a few take advantage of the pool and go all-in with a dive. T'shock ponders. "Ya know... that looks refreshing..." and she hands her things over to Joe. "Hold on to this stuff while I take a dive."

She walks over and dives in! She begins holding her breath with the other competitors. After 20 seconds, people start popping up. One by one, competitors get eliminated from the breath-holding part of the competition. T'shock lasts a good 50 seconds before she knows she just can't physically stand it any more and pops up, gasping for air. This makes her one of the better ones, at least.

(Money translation: 100 credits = 1,000 US dollars)
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:55, Wed 10 Aug 2011.

  "I suppose it would entirely depend on if it was based on required upgrades, or convenient upgrades.  A Gyroscopic cup holder on every chair can add up.  But I expect you're right Billy."  Of course a Blissian's ship will have the most advanced weapons system possible already installed, and need no upgrades to deal with combat any better that it already can.  This narrative comment was borderline spoken out loud, but Joe possesses some slight shreds of tact.

  Joe then finds himself the proud temporary owner of Barakian possessions.  Sure, he hasn't given a terrible impression yet.  But he somehow doubts he's got the most trustworthy face in the sector.  "I expect tickling the competition would also be grounds for disqualification, if more than one person went in at once anyways.  Though that would probably be the most hilarious thing to hear on the sports news.  'Contestant Disqualified in tickling scandal!  Many hospitalized!'"

  Oh look, Joe's getting his sense of humor back.

"Fantastic!" Nono says, pounding his fist into his upturned palm, "I'll get on it, right away, kupo!  Where would I find your illustrious ride, then?"

He and Lucky both cheer on T'Shock.

"Impressive time, Miss."

"Kuporific!"

Thankfully, Joe has tact! Yay! And humor to top that off. Which Rocky finds funny and thus laughs.

Billy gives Nono directions to his vehicle.

T'shock snorts (the laughter type of snort. Not the distinguished elf type of snort) from Joe's comment. Then nods to Lucky. "Thanks."

She's also drenched and has the whole "clinging shirt" thing going on. She undoes her ponytail and starts wringing her hair.

After the breath-holding competition, Rocky has a racing competition. Foot-race. T'shock, of course, partakes. She looks at Joe. "Not planning on partaking in any of the competition?"

(OOC: Best way for most sane people to deal with combat is to not be in it in the first place. So far as that is concerned, Billy's ship is good to go. But then, Blissians tend to not think of weapons as an upgrade so much as a downgrade. Just like most people would consider putting 1000 pounds of paperweights on their vehicle to be a downgrade. You have to be willing to use the weapon for the weapon to matter.)

  Joe succeeds in not staring at T'Shock's clothing situation...  With his organic eye at least.  So many features listed on commercially manufactured cybernetics, but none of them seem to list 'stare without being obvious about it' as a bullet point.

  "Well, one of the original reasons I wasn't joining in was so I could look into our job while the competition went on.  But I think that's a bust.  If they pull a 'reverse engineer this stoleneeer, FOUND (honest) technology for us fastest' challenge out of nowhere, then maybe I'll give it a go.  Competing just for the sake of it isn't always my thing."

  Joe is actually counting on there being a 'Nice try' award or something reality will mock him with.  It makes it more likely T'Shock will get it this way.

Lucky offers up a towel, but he's a bit on the short side.  Nono's even more on the short side, but he can fly, so he snatches the towel and flies it up to T'Shock.

"I heard mention of a job," Lucky says, "What is it that you do?"

"I'll be looking at that ship now, kupo," Nono says.

Once T'Shock has the towel he zooms off to where Billy indicated.