10:20 <Crion> The repurposed Project NIGHT SKY van rumbles over the A1A bridge...and onto the Florida mainland proper. In the distance, a great and hideous Magic Kingdom rises over the trees and much smaller urban core of Orlando, Florida. You've still got some road ahead through beachside resort and manatee swamp (routinely butting heads with each other) before you get there, though. 10:22 <banana> Oh my God does the van have windows? Can we see the manatees? 10:22 <banana> ...Melanie feels a bit like one herself dressed in this freaking, military body armour. Huge floppy beast with impenetrable skin. 10:23 <Crion> Well, you need to go inland a bit more. But on the map, the road you're on eventually turns into a speed-restricted manatee buffer zone. 10:25 <Crion> You'll hit Cocoa Commons before any risk of manatee enjoyment rears its head, unless you go north up the coast for some reason. 10:27 <dammitwho> We can go and see the manatees when we come back. 10:27 <VoxPVoxD> If. 10:28 <banana> Melanie: "Well, let's improve the odds of that by getting these radios working." 10:28 <banana> "Is it like a push to talk thing..? There's a back panel with extra controls." 10:28 <trenchfoot> When. Cheer up, please! This place is already upsetting enough. 10:29 <Crion> It's a walkie-talkie set up, but each walkie-talkie has a headset. Seems like there are settings you can fiddle with for hands-free noise-gating, too. 10:30 <Crion> When Melanie gets it crackling to life: "Hello? Something just went green on the boards over here, so I'm guessing..." Lauren. 10:30 <banana> "Hello Lauren. This is Melanie, over. How are you doing back there?" 10:31 <trenchfoot> Are you supposed to say "over" when your message isn't over? Nels doesn't know radio etiquette. Or radios. 10:34 <Crion> Lauren: "It's fine. We're fine. Chup's up here with me on the deck. The military people are keeping their distance." 10:35 <Crion> "If they don't, I'm like, five feet from the door to the Belowdecks." 10:36 <CBN> Tony's riding shotgun, which means holding his shotgun in his lap and thinking about the Westerns he'd watch when he was a kid. A van's basically a wagon with more of an enclosure. His eyes scan the dusty trail for signs of restless natives. He is ready. Maybe this trip is salvageable. 10:37 <VoxPVoxD> This sucks so bad. 10:37 <banana> Melanie: "You're smart not to trust those guys, although it's not like we have a choice. Stewart's grumpy, do you wanna cheer him up?" 10:37 <VoxPVoxD> Grumpily: "I'm not grumpy! Who are you telling I'm grumpy?" 10:37 <Crion> Lauren laughs. "You can put him on." 10:38 <banana> Melanie just takes her headset off and gives it to Stewart. She'll get another one set up in a minute. 10:38 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart takes the headset. "Lauren?" 10:40 <Crion> Lauren: "Hey, babe. I was just telling Melanie that we're settling in here and the army guys are leaving us alone." 10:40 <dammitwho> Maggie's keeping her eyes on the road. Not only does she not want to miss some weird hob attack, she also doesn't want to accidentally hit one with the van and piss off Tony. Politics. 10:41 <trenchfoot> We can fight back if they hit first, right? That's not off the table for the sheriff? 10:41 <Crion> Streets seem pretty deserted. Some weird fog's rolling in off the water...is it smoke? No, smoke has a smell. 10:42 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You hear back from Baltimore yet?" 10:42 <Crion> Lauren: "Cormorant's getting the office together. Kingsley is apparently at some function. Which is weird, right? Because of lockdown." 10:44 <banana> Maybe they flattened the curve while we were at sea. 10:44 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Probably not a good sign, whatever it is. But maybe they're organizing our welcome back party." 10:44 <Crion> Is Maggie making a conscious choice to hit up the Cocoa Commons Walmart? 10:45 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Probably it's a secret function. Maybe with the wizards? I've warmed up to those guys." The Walmart is where our first meetup is, right? 10:45 <Crion> Well, optimistically. It's where NIGHT SKY set up a forward-operating base they subsequently lost contact with. 10:46 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart actually does feel a bit better hearing Lauren's voice. Hopefully everyone finds his petulant refusal to admit that amusing. 10:46 <banana> lol 10:47 <trenchfoot> Nels does, at least! Not that she will say so. 10:47 <dammitwho> Then yes, she is. 10:47 <Crion> As Maggie pulls onto State Road 528 inland...there's a firework off to the left, that arcs into the sky and-- 10:48 <Crion> --no, a flare. 10:49 <dammitwho> Maggie: "There's our boys. Hang on, gang!" 10:49 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart relays: "We just saw a signal flare over Cocoa Commons." 10:51 <Crion> Lauren: "Well, that means some of the NIGHT SKY guys are alive, right?" 10:51 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Or their ammo stash just caught fire." 10:52 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Somebody take a look at a map there, I need a navigator." 10:52 <VoxPVoxD> "I got it." 10:52 <banana> Melanie tugs at her seatbelt nervously then settles down. She's going to focus and call upon her promises to the more literal parts of the Hedge, the shadowed thorns that tear and bite as you flee. 10:53 <banana> We've had plenty of time to prepare for once, so she grabbed a handful of leaves from the edge of the swamp. They're bitter to chew but will take the edge off the mimosas. 10:54 <Crion> Yes...and no. Anyone paying attention -- either very close attention to the scenery outside or to that and the map -- can tell that the roads, and the Walmart, don't seem to be what they're supposed to be. The Supercenter is supposed to be at the right-angle elbow of State Road 501, Clearlake Road, sort of wedged between that and Route 1 near the coast. Instead, the Walmart -- and the flare 10:54 <Crion> over it -- seem to be in the middle of a moderately-dense commercial zone, where...there should be fancy, richie-rich housing, and Eastern Florida State College. 10:54 <Crion> You probably don't NEED Tony to tell you something Hedge-y is afoot, but... 10:55 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, the Wal-Mart moved. Seems to have accreted a big strip mall around it." 10:55 <CBN> Tony grips the shotgun tighter and hunkers down. Sorta. "Keep an eye out, stuff's looking...weirder." To the group, over his shoulder. 10:55 <Crion> Lauren: "It did what?" 10:55 <Crion> Lauren: "Well shit." 10:55 <Crion> "I don't have a map for 'the Walmart moved.'" 10:56 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Eyeballing, it's somewhere on the boundary of where the ESFC campus is supposed to be." 10:56 <trenchfoot> Nels: "We might still be okay? Except I want to fix this and leave as soon as possible." 10:56 <VoxPVoxD> "But isn't, anymore." 10:56 <banana> Melanie: "Let's just head toward the flare, but be ready to take off." 10:59 <Crion> For a little bit, it seems the Walmart and the attendant flare is moving away from you -- but then suddenly it seems to affix, and you're able to make progress towards the building. 11:02 <Crion> Ominously, perhaps, the parking lot is empty...except for a van like yours, and two humvees painted likewise. 11:02 <Crion> They seem to be abandoned. 11:03 <VoxPVoxD> Well, at least they're not painted like the Mystery Machine or turned into pumpkin carriages or something. 11:03 <dammitwho> Nor are they burning, or torn apart by giant claws. Optimism! 11:04 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "We can see three ONS vehicles, one van and two jeeps? Or, no. The one that's like a big armored jeep." 11:04 <dammitwho> Maggie will pull into the parking lot and honk twice. I mean that she'll use the horn on the van she's driving, not that she will impersonate Steve. 11:05 <Crion> Lauren: "Tha--*****--***00-- Hum----****#@@@@" Something's starting to interfere with the signal. 11:05 <trenchfoot> Um. That seems bad? 11:06 <VoxPVoxD> "We're getting signal interference," Stewart says to the van and into the comm. Ah fuck. Ah shit. 11:06 <Crion> In response to the horn, a shot rings out from somewhere up high. 11:06 <dammitwho> At us? 11:06 <Crion> It hits the armored frame of the van well away from any of you and skips off harmlessly. 11:06 <Crion> The intent is clear: warning shot. 11:06 <VoxPVoxD> He knew he should've stayed home this astronomical quarter-year. 11:07 <Crion> The radio crackles to life again. This time on a different, local channel. A fierce woman's voice. "Challenge: Garter." 11:08 <dammitwho> Ah, crud. Did they tell us any of the responses back at base? 11:11 <CBN> Tony turns towards the group and mouths 'whaaa?' 11:11 <Crion> If Stewart asked Orr, which seems prudent, he would have been given the counter-sign "Cave." 11:12 <trenchfoot> Nels looks just as baffled as Tony is. 11:12 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart codes in. "Cave." 11:14 <Crion> There's silence for a moment. Then she thumbs the mic back on while arguing with someone: "--not like we've gotten new codes either, bitch. You, ID yourselves. Why's there only one van? How'd you get in?" 11:15 <banana> Melanie wants to say something, to reassure them, demonstrate we can help - we really are the cavalry in this fucked-up norm that's been imposed - but how do you convey that, to people who don't know you and aren't anything like you? 11:15 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart sighs into the mic. "We're specialists. Team Leader Taggart sent us." 11:17 <Crion> Another pause. Then the same voice again: "Get out of the van, slow. We have position advantage and are covering you from two angles, so don't try any weird shit." 11:17 <trenchfoot> We are weird shit, though?? 11:18 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Understood, ma'am. We will refrain from weird shit as long as possible." 11:18 <VoxPVoxD> To the van: "We're getting out, slow. These guys are spooked." 11:18 <banana> "Let's hope they aren't very perceptive, then." 11:18 <VoxPVoxD> "Okay? So just. No overt magical displays. No sudden moves." 11:18 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Hands in the air, no sudden moves, got it." 11:19 <dammitwho> Maggie nods, grunts, and begins to slowly get out of the van. 11:19 <CBN> Tony boops the radio back on. "Yeah uhh we're probably gonna look weird though, no control over that. Just letting you know. Hi this is Tony. Bye. Over." 11:20 <Crion> As you step out of the van, there is no sudden lethal whiff of air past your head or whipcrack sound of the rifle firing again. 11:20 <Crion> Everything's nice and easy so far. 11:21 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart comes out, hands visible, arms akimbo. A pale, lanky, ethereal young man, with pitch-black hair and solid, featureless eyes to match. The proportions are wrong; he looks like a background model from a Gorillaz video, or like someone tried to do a lot of cosmetic surgery on a starving goblin. 11:22 <banana> Melanie: "Get ready though. In case these are the things that ate the forward operating base." 11:23 <Crion> Those among you really looking can figure out where the NIGHT SKY operative(s?) are. There's someone with a rifle on the roof of the Supercenter at your 11 o'clock, using the cheap facade of the main signage area as half-cover; meanwhile, over near the Home and Pharmacy entrance, there's a very large man in tactical gear with a very large machine gun, behind an ersatz breastworks of mulch 11:23 <Crion> and concrete and some actual sand bags. 11:24 <VoxPVoxD> This better be worth it. 11:24 <trenchfoot> Well, we aren't getting shot yet! That's something, right? 11:24 <Crion> There seems to be something of a struggle on the roof. You hear a short argument and then there's a third guy, and he's got a megaphone. He appears to be... "Hey! It's alright, they're like me! Hey guys! Hey! It's Mutt! It's all good!" 11:24 <Crion> ...a Changeling. 11:25 <VoxPVoxD> Mutt? 11:25 <VoxPVoxD> For fuck's sake dude. Have some self-respect. 11:25 <CBN> Tony slides out of the seat, the cornstalk skeleton padded with ample soil look only slightly less horrifying for having a batting helmet atop what one must assume the head would be. The massive shotgun slung over his shoulder brings it right back around to 'nope' town for the average observer (hope none of those made it). 11:25 <Crion> He might be a Beast...? Or like...a really tiny Ogre...? It's hard to tell, especially from this distance. He seems enthusiastic, though. 11:25 <Crion> He's Hedge-Busker's Tipping Stewart and Maggie. 11:26 <CBN> Hollers up: "Hi Mutt! I'm Tony!" Staying real nice and still like though. 11:26 <Crion> And Toiny. 11:26 <dammitwho> Maggie oofs and opes her way out of the van and getting the Zveroboi strapped to her back again. A woman made of battered metal, or a steam boiler made in the shape of a woman, a bit portlier than her Mask, with a grate in the middle of her belly that shows a constantly roaring flame, partially covered by a somewhat incongruous Kevlar vest. 11:26 <Crion> Tony. 11:26 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart Reader, Lord Sage of the Unknown Reaches -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_HtcAuTWEE It's the terror of knowing what this world is about: watching some good friends scream, "Let me out!" 11:27 <VoxPVoxD> Right back atcha, kid. 11:29 <Crion> A woman follows him out from behind the facade, military, fit, slinging a marksman rifle, cursing Mutt out. The big man hefts the big gun, but keeps it ready to hip fire. 11:29 <CBN> Tony Bowen, Few Hands Making More Work, Baron of the Lesser Ones -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghcsrblhn7A I foresee terrible trouble // And I stay here just the same 11:30 <Crion> Mutt -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uYST9R9Z58 You were brought up well, still in spite of it all you're touched by nothing -- watch a man fall, put a foot on his back to get a better view, 'cause you're loyal to no one. No one but you. 11:30 <banana> Melanie.. right now, she's wavering pillar of shadow in heavy body armour. Dimly outlined within the shade, which resembles but is not that shade produced by leaves blocking the sun, is a pretty-much humanoid form, though if you looked closely enough the hair is too few, lumpen strands. 11:30 <trenchfoot> Nels slides out of the van distinctly not putting her hands anywhere near her gun. Her proportions are all off, weirdly lanky, and her fingers are unsettlingly long, plus her hair looks like wheat, or corn, or something. Not hair, though. 11:30 <dammitwho> Maggie Bakehead, Furnace-Crowned -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0aaKcIAMrs Do this, then, raise the babies high / And make them shriek with love and laughter! / Do this, then, kiss your woman's eyes / And raise a song unto the rafters! / Wash the steel mill from your hair / Heap the table 'till it's breaking / 'Nor let terror enter there / And in the hearth set the glasses breaking! 11:31 <Crion> Spc. Catrina Lopez -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NC5Z9snaac Count me down; down, boy, down. 11:32 <Crion> Mutt is, quite notably, not wearing tactical gear or a NIGHT SKY colors. 11:32 <VoxPVoxD> Does he sound local? 11:32 <Crion> Yep. 11:33 <Crion> Spc. Erict Santana -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpv2cyRTy0A&t=218s And I'll be running you and your man straight up out, while y'all ain't running a fucking thing but your mouth. 11:34 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart grins despite himself. 11:35 <Crion> Mutt: "Wait there! We're coming down!" To the woman, without turning off the megaphone: "See? I fuckin' told ya someone was coming." She smacks it out of his hand and storms to the stairs; he follows. 11:35 <Crion> That means it's the big guy who reaches them first. "The fuck's in charge here now? They sent a damn anime high school in here to save our asses?" 11:36 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You wanna keep trying your luck with gaijin cartoons, we can turn around." 11:36 <banana> Melanie: "No, they think you're dead. We were sent to besiege the Magic Castle." 11:37 <dammitwho> Maggie: "They think they might be dead. They did ask to check their last known location!" 11:37 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Which is about 600 meters that way, by all mortal cartography." 11:37 <banana> "About the same point our radios cut out." 11:37 <trenchfoot> Nels: "I mean, you guys already know this, but this place is weird." 11:38 <Crion> Specialst Santana, to Stewart: "Well. Maybe I fuckin' will. How bout that. You all look like you got your shit together more than that Always Sunny reject in there, though." 11:38 <VoxPVoxD> Does he mean Mutt? 11:38 <trenchfoot> It's the only thing she can think of to say to avoid blurting out 'but I graduated though.' She's still very proud of it. 11:38 <Crion> Seems so. 11:38 <Crion> Guy doesn't really look like Charlie, but did have extreme Charlie energy. 11:39 <VoxPVoxD> That's one of the nicer ways to frame 'acts like a dog who got turned into a human by a lazy rampant AI'. 11:39 <Crion> Insofar as he tried to hold a conversation with someone through a megaphone while five feet away. 11:39 <VoxPVoxD> We 3 Kings. 11:39 <banana> It's still not a nice way to describe the man. Melanie ignores it. "What's prevented you...r team from driving out of here?" 11:40 <VoxPVoxD> Maaan Stewart's in a bad mood. He's kind of vibing on it, now, though. These guys seem amenable. 11:42 <Crion> Santana's mood is even worse. "Y'all tried driving out?" 11:42 <VoxPVoxD> Does Mutt have a mantle? 11:42 <CBN> Tony: "We just got here." 11:46 <Crion> He does not. He and the sniper have just reappeared, giving each other some distance. 11:47 <Crion> Santana: "Well, you can't leave. Ain't no roads out of town." 11:48 <dammitwho> Briskly: "Do you mean that the roads turn on themselves so you end up going back the way you came, or does an obstacle show up?" 11:50 <Crion> Santana: "They start that way, yeah. But you can sort of game it back the right way if you cut through lawns and shit. Then it just gets mad and starts chunking the road." 11:50 <Crion> "You ever played that Silent Hill game?" 11:50 <Crion> "Like that. No more road. Big chasm." 11:51 <Crion> "And it'll move around on ya. Till you're back here." 11:51 <banana> Melanie: "We might be able to lead you out. Tony can find paths that aren't mappable, and if there are gaps.. we'll close em. You'll have to stay close." 11:51 <Crion> Lopez arrives, with Mutt in tow: "None of you look like you've ever been in a combat regiment." 11:52 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Not... exactly?" 11:52 <banana> Maggie's been on the front lines! 11:52 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I'm a Twitch streamer." 11:52 <dammitwho> Maggie: "I fought Pinkertons once." 11:52 <Crion> Mutt: "Great. Great! That's fuckin' great, so did the Freehold send you?" 11:53 <banana> Melanie: "I just get really mad sometimes." 11:53 <trenchfoot> "Um, probably not the one you're thinking of?" 11:53 <CBN> Tony: "Shot the fuck out of a big egg thing once and saved Baltimore, but we aren't troops or anything." 11:53 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "A Freehold sent us." 11:53 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Haven't got to the Freehold yet. We're from up Baltimore way." 11:53 <CBN> Tony: "Mutt, right? Mutt man. We're on vacation." 11:53 <Crion> Mutt: "Baltimore? Freakin, Baltimore?" 11:54 <Crion> "Jesus Christ!" 11:54 <Crion> "Well, that's something." 11:55 <Crion> Lopez: "It's not just the roads that are wrong out here. There's something moving between the fences of the houses. Those houses aren't fuckin' real, man. Nobody ever lived in that shit. All the lawn decoration is all wrong. The hoses are solid rubber. The, the fuckin--the water things--" 11:56 <Crion> Santana: "Sprinklers." 11:56 <CBN> Tony points to Mutt with his free hand: "Did you tell them about hobs yet?" 11:56 <Crion> "--the sprinklers don't have holes in them. But something's moving out there. Picked us off as we tried to find a way out." 11:56 <Crion> Santana: "Doesn't like the parking lot. Too open." 11:56 <dammitwho> Maggie nods. "Yeah, that's the Hedge for you. Mostly it tries to fill in the gaps." 11:57 <Crion> Mutt shrugs. "I just got here, buddy. Just thought hey, maybe this Walmart had a PS5 in the back. Then wham, suddenly, stuck with these two." 11:57 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You got casualties? Injured?" 11:57 <VoxPVoxD> "Is it just you three?" 11:57 <Crion> Santana: "Just us." 11:57 <Crion> Mutt laughs. "Haha, yeah. No bodies." 11:57 <VoxPVoxD> Tongue cluck. "Shit." 11:57 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Cripes." 11:57 <Crion> "I mean, uh. Ahem. That's very sad." 11:58 <CBN> Tony looks around. "Okay, so, I dunno what you got briefed on or whatever, but the Hedge is weird and stupid, but amazing too. Stuff that looks like it's alive, it might be, try talking to it, do not I cannot emphasize this enough, do not try to make any deals with it. The stuff that lives here natively, those're hobs." 11:58 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "But you are, as I'm sure you're aware, far from the only folk born of man and woman who got unlawfully transposed." 11:58 <VoxPVoxD> "So we're headed in." 11:59 <VoxPVoxD> "We can probably get you back out, if that's your priority." 11:59 <CBN> Tony taps his helmet with his free hand: "I'm not trying to big league you nice folks but this means it's my job to keep hobs and people doing their own thing and not fucking around with each other, so I gotta ask: Have you killed anything over here yet?" 11:59 <CBN> Tony: "Because it sounds like they took some of yours." 11:59 <Crion> Santana and Lopez look at Tony incredulously. 11:59 <Crion> Lopez: "Motherfucker I wish!" 11:59 <Crion> Santana: "We're being hunted down one by one by some kinda suburban slenderman, dog!" 12:00 <VoxPVoxD> "You got a description? You got a Tip, Mutt?" 12:00 <CBN> Tony breaks into a broad smile for a second, which means some soil and rusty nails fall out of his face-hole and clatter on the pavement. "No that's great news! That means I just gotta point this at the other guys and not you all, it's pretty straightforward." 12:00 <CBN> Tony: "And you all seem...nice? So that's nice and clean." 12:01 <Crion> Mutt: "I ain't seen the guy and I ain't want to see the guy. Doesn't sound like some little cartoon cutey doing rolling around in the adorable mud." 12:01 <VoxPVoxD> "No. No it does not," Stewart concedes. 12:01 <VoxPVoxD> "What's it like inside?" 12:01 <Crion> He jerks a thumb backwards at the Walmart. "Good news though is that everything in there seems normal! No PS5s, though." 12:01 <VoxPVoxD> He means the Wal-Mart. 12:01 <VoxPVoxD> "Figures." 12:02 <VoxPVoxD> "Did they have the iron shot before you went in?" 12:02 <banana> Melanie: "Well. If we stick together we'll be able to deal with it.. we might have to put some people in the vans and have others walking alongside, take it slow." 12:02 <Crion> Santana grimaces. "No, we're on FMJ ammo." 12:03 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Right." 12:03 <Crion> Lopez: "I'm guessing you didn't bring any boxes of 5.56 or .308." 12:03 <VoxPVoxD> "I've got two boxes of 9x19." 12:03 <VoxPVoxD> "We're not really rifle people." 12:04 <VoxPVoxD> This is a Supercenter, right? So it has groceries? Is the power on? 12:04 <Crion> Yes and yes. 12:04 <VoxPVoxD> "How are you guys doing on supplies?" 12:05 <Crion> Lopez: "We're eating off the shelves and out of the break room. Bathrooms still work too. Thank God." 12:05 <Crion> Mutt: "For being in the Hedge, a lot of this shit is weirdly normal." 12:06 <trenchfoot> Nels: "It's -- yeah. I think about that a lot." 12:07 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Okay. That's something. Do you have sidearms? Like I said, the best I can do for iron is 9mm." 12:07 <banana> Melanie to Mutt: "It might be hard to tell from the inside, but we're not really in the Hedge, or not exclusively. It's more like a very large door. Larger than Orlando. 12:07 <banana> " 12:08 <banana> "This whole thing is an open portal..." 12:09 <Crion> Santana: "I'm gonna need some of that 9 milli if you can spare it." 12:09 <Crion> Lopez sighs. "I'd say the same, but I lost my sidearm during a tactical retreat." 12:10 <Crion> Mutt, helpfully: "That's troop for she ran away." 12:10 <Crion> Lopez: "Why are you such a little piece of shit all the time?" 12:10 <Crion> He doesn't answer that. 12:11 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I'm gonna duck back into the van." 12:11 <VoxPVoxD> Assuming they don't start shooting, he'll turn his back, come out with the two boxes of 9mm, and a Glock 17. 12:11 <VoxPVoxD> Both of the soldiers get a box; Lopez gets the Glock. "Ma'am." 12:12 <banana> Melanie shades her eyes with one hand - the wisps of shadow concealing most of her are one-way, or she wouldn't be able to see at all - and scans the horizon, looking for accessways or big box stores that might be amenable to hedgespinning. We need to find the weakest link. 12:13 <CBN> Tony looks at the Troop contingent: "Now that we're all friends, you guys mind if I do a quick loop around here? We've been driving since we got here and I wanna stretch my legs." 12:13 <Crion> Santana: "Go ahead, man." 12:13 <Crion> Lopez takes the gun, blinking. "Are you sure?" 12:14 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I don't know how good a shot you are, but I know how good a shot I am. I'm sure." 12:15 <CBN> Tony nods and heads off, getting a look around. Trying to get his bearings, which means its whole own thing over on this side. And if he can spot any signs of the stuff they were talking about, great. 12:18 <Crion> Lopez nods; she and Santana head over to one of their vans, pop a portable reloading bench out of the back, and get to work shifting from normal ammunition to cold iron 9x19. 12:19 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart sniffs deeply, and says, as an aside to the motley: "I'm thinking of becoming a sword guy." 12:20 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Is that something that people can just do?" 12:20 <Crion> Mutt has wandered off back into the Walmart, if the motley is reasonably keeping a close eye on him. 12:20 <banana> "That would be so cool." 12:20 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "All I needed to become a gun guy was like $750 for the gun, ammo, licensing, range time." 12:20 <VoxPVoxD> "What are the odds I can't find a sword here?" 12:20 <VoxPVoxD> Melanie's approval pretty much seals it. 12:21 <dammitwho> Maggie nods. "That makes a lot of sense. I think you'd do good with a sword. Maybe one of those cool ones that you hide inside a walking stick?" 12:21 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Dude!" 12:21 <VoxPVoxD> "You're a genius." 12:21 <trenchfoot> "I think you just get handed them by ladies in lakes or something?" 12:22 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "As long as it hasn't gone full Monty Python." 12:22 <banana> She didn't even realise how cool swords are until Stewart brought it up just now. Fencing is one thing, but oldschool broadswords like in Braveheart... 12:22 <banana> Or what about like, a team of women with elegant swords who battle through ______. Fill in imagination later when there's less need to focus. 12:23 <VoxPVoxD> Melanie would rock a zweihander.