agentnumalol

Of Crosses and Collapses: A Crossover Adventure of Survival on a Patchwork World.

How are y'all doing?

@Eventua

Pretty solid. Took my doggo to the vet. He's doing pretty well for being 14 years old! How about you?

Of Crosses and Collapses: A Crossover Adventure of Survival on a Patchwork World.

And I got a post up. Man, Marston could really use that Ambassador, and trying to get it from Cedar feels like that one quest in Fallout: NV where you have to get Euclid's C-Finder from the kid in Freeside. Your character does all this killing and looting, yet somehow I can't bring myself to be an asshole around kids.

Of Crosses and Collapses: A Crossover Adventure of Survival on a Patchwork World.

Location:

2Fort- Waiting Room [RED building]

Mentions:

@Megsychan @Eventua @DracoLunaris @FrozenEcstasy @Crosswire

As John started to make his way topside, he noticed the rest of the party had opted to travel together as well. It seemed like everyone had their own ideas on how this group was going to play out, evidenced no more strongly than by Kerrigan, who introduced her psionic ability to everyone under a trust whose betrayal was punishable by evisceration. Yet in spite of this threat disguised as an olive branch, John could at least understand the sentiment and motivation.

"You sure got a peculiar way of showing trust"

He appreciated that there seemed to be some semblance of cohesiveness among the group. John learned a lot about people by talking and riding with them; this was as good a start as any.

His moment of peace was immediately pierced by an enthusiastic "¡Hola camaradas!" Oh lord. John turned towards the portly dictator, beholding a man that brought to mind the best and the worst (but mostly the latter) of the Mexican leaders and rebels that made names for themselves in the revolution of Nuevo Paraiso. One glance between him and Handsome Jack, and the cowboy was aware of just what kind of trouble was rearing, and simultaneously resigned to just letting it play itself out.

“Well, it’s good to have you so excited to be a part of this, but it seems we’re just about to roll out. So shall we head up, amigo?”

The entrance of another man, refreshingly regular in appearance, caught John’s eye. The man seemed capable enough, and the pistol sitting in his holster suggested that he and John had similar approaches to solving problems. John was surprised to find Mr. Payne a lawman, as his slightly sunken expression and unkempt hair was something John had seen more often in drunks than marshalls.

John was growing more and more disconcerted as the group discussed their backgrounds. He felt pity for Cedar’s undeserved and untimely end, as well as confusion at the mismatching timelines shared by Ms. Shen, Mr. Payne, and Quiet.

“The last year I found myself in was 1911. I was at my farm in Beecher’s Hope in New Austin, just north of the Mexican border.”

John paused, dredging his unpleasant ending before the Event.

“ I had died, too. I watched my family ride away before I was gunned down by the Army. And one federal bastard.”

John clenched his fists and his body tensed at the memory, but he made an effort to compose himself in the presence of his newfound accomplices.

"Maybe you can make more sense of this than I can, Ms. Shen, but right now, all I can do is focus on trying to help our settlement here survive and finding my family."

---

John assessed his pickings from the disused waiting room. John gladly put the styptic and shotgun shells into his satchel bag. The styptic would certainly come in handy if hunting goes south, and the shotgun shells were a familiar, welcome addition, though the lack of a shotgun itself was lamentable.

However, John was at a loss with the gift box of caramels. He certainly wasn’t one for sweets.

“Maybe I’ll save these for Abigail.”

As he was about to leave, John took notice of the assorted items that found their way into the possessions of the others, but none caught his eye like the oversized and overdecorated revolver that found itself in the hands of the underwhelming girl. The piece, ridiculous in its proportions as it was, would definitely help John feel more prepared.

He approached Cedar.

“You know how to use that thing, Cedar? I reckon you should probably let me handle that thing before you hurt yourself.”

John knew he was in the right here. He was the better gunslinger and was confident he could use the revolver better. In all likelihood, she would probably even hurt herself if she tried to use that thing without any experience. Yet somehow, he felt a slight twinge of guilt at essentially shaking down this girl for what might be the most valuable thing she had. He thought about the caramels.

“Hm. Would you be willing to make a trade?”

He shook the idea of saving the gift box for Abigail from his mind. Right now, John needed that gun, and unlike the hundreds of smarmy, rich city-types, it didn’t sit right to take it by force from Cedar. At the very least, she needed something to brighten her life a little after her death. Plus, Abigail couldn’t afford the extra weight, pray she didn’t hear that.

---

With his business done around 2Fort, John headed to the bridge by the pond and waited for the rest of the exploration group to appear to head out. John had thrown out the idea of heading north, and based on Quiet, Cedar, and the Batter, they seemed fine heading that direction, or at least weren't against it. The decision of the rest of the party remained, however, and maybe a better direction could come up. John leaned against the pole on the bridge. In the chaos, he had nearly forgotten about cigarettes until he reached for one that wasn't there.

Of Crosses and Collapses: A Crossover Adventure of Survival on a Patchwork World.

@Crosswire Hey, what a coincidence, it's my friend's birthday today. Best wishes to your mom from a random stranger on an RP board! Hope you're doing OK as well, Cross. Relatives can be something else...

@FrozenEcstasy I'd prefer slow updates over a thread silently dying out. Take your time, my dude.

Where do we stand on progressing, by the way? I'd love to post, but I'm worried it might be a while before we run into other latecomers...

Of Crosses and Collapses: A Crossover Adventure of Survival on a Patchwork World.

So how is everyone doing?

@Crosswire

Still alive! Been busy getting moved into a new place and keeping an eye on adjusting my dogs to the new place. If we're on the subject of podcasts, y'all should listen to S-Town if you haven't already. It's not tabletop, but it's a pretty engaging mystery.

Of Crosses and Collapses: A Crossover Adventure of Survival on a Patchwork World.

While I was waiting for posts I expanded the loot list even further and added some more series to the roleplay.

Animal Crossing

@Crosswire

I'm really excited about this development for some reason. Maybe it's the idea of one of the leader-types of our group running for mayor of AnimalCrossing-ville. Maybe it's the idea of John being horrendously uncomfortable with the idea of talking to animals he skins for a living. Maybe it's the idea of the HRA judging the interior design choices of 2Fort.

On further thought, there are a lot of reasons why this idea appeals to me.

Of Crosses and Collapses: A Crossover Adventure of Survival on a Patchwork World.

Ah, got my post up. Hopefully it's not too lengthy, wasn't sure how to go about it, so I just put down a lot.

Also, my post makes it look like he just left before anyone responded to him, but really I just wanted to express that John searched for goodies after the meeting.

Of Crosses and Collapses: A Crossover Adventure of Survival on a Patchwork World.

Location:

2Fort- Handsome Jack's Office

Mentions:

@Crosswire @FrozenEcstasy @Eventua @DracoLunaris

John was satisfied with Handsome Jack’s approval, but his arrogant, bureau-reminiscent personality easily soured the already unfavorable impression John had when he entered the office. Handsome Jack being a loosely hinged, remorseless killer didn’t sit right with John either, but as he had so often been reminded, he had blood on his hands as well, and no amount of romance or justification could change that.

John didn’t like Handsome Jack’s rudeness to the girl, either, but granted, her excitement did feel a little displaced. A real cowboy? That ain’t too strange, is it? John thought to himself. Motorized thumping began to be heard from the office.

As John stepped away from the desk to leave space for incoming volunteers, he caught the rhythmic thumps increasing in volume, approaching the office. What could someone possibly want to herd in here? Turning around, John saw a small Oriental woman, her outfit more modest, yet still unfamiliar to John, approach the desk. Behind her, John finally saw the source of the sound: a lumbering, mechanized contraption, a caricature of a human form, marching behind her. The cowboy could barely make sense of the duo, who introduced themselves as Lily Shen and Julian. There was a level of discomfort in how often John was encountering people where New Austin manners didn’t seem to apply.

John was glad he made space from the desk, and even more thankful for the space when the deathmatch between the purple psychic queen and the automated man went down.

“Calm down! No one has to die today!”

Despite his calls, he maintained his space and elected to let the situation diffuse itself, in the absence of any real way to separate the two demons himself. When the fighting died down, John was relieved, not only because the situation was settled relatively well, but knowing that Julian was strictly under the command of Lily. He would take a strange outfit over a hulking monstrosity any day of the week.

The sudden appearance of the Batter chilled John in the same kind of way that 2Fort confused him. The pure white figure’s outfit and bat bore a strong resemblance to the baseball players in the big cities of the East, but it only rooted his strange hue and piercing, closed eyes in a familiar foundation. It’s always strangers one after another.

John hadn’t even noticed the blue one around the corner until Handsome Jack had pointed him out, and even glancing at him, could barely make anything of him, shrunken around the corner as he was. He seemed harmless enough, though, which was a refreshing change of pace.

With seemingly all the volunteers gathered, John quietly listened to Handsome Jack’s explanations. John was unnerved by Handsome Jack’s mention of his resurrection, lowering his hat.

“A world where the dead can’t rest...I think the good book calls it Hell.”

Being gunned down by the US army was not a memory wanting of recollection, and together with Jack’s speculations about this strange world, spoken in a room filled with fantastic people and beings, cemented just how much this world defied any logical thought John was capable of.

So when Handsome Jack suggested a regular group to be formed for the sake of 2Fort, John raised his eyebrows.

“This is certainly a strange posse we have here. Certainly never worked with anything like this before.”

John grasped his belt, ruminating on his past experiences before remembering the kind of men that helped storm Fort Mercer and forced Bill out to Mexico. Oddities and nuisances. John shrugged and smirked to himself.

“Although, I can’t say working with strange folk’s anything new.”

The world was still dangerous, the people were still unhinged, and his family still needed him. It would have been real amusing for John how parts of his life tend to repeat themselves, if he didn’t remember how these chapters ended each time. In the end, it meant that Handsome Jack’s plan was just as strong as any, and he listened quietly to the remainder of the briefing.

---

John was confident in his pitch to Handsome Jack. Always was pretty good at marketing himself. But the truth was that being good at shooting and riding doesn’t mean anything without a gun or a horse. Even his old Cattleman would have been handy right now, but somehow John’s guns didn’t follow his soul’s example and make their way back to where they belonged. This needed to be remedied as soon as possible.

With the briefing complete, John turned toward the group.

“Uh, hello. My name’s John Marston, for those of you who weren’t here when I introduced myself.”

John was used to planning heists with his old gang. But the situation now differed from his old ways in two ways: they didn’t know exactly what treasures and dangers they would find out beyond 2Fort, and he didn’t know exactly what these people were capable of. Given these circumstances, he kept his ideas open; it’s not like plans ever stayed together.

“I’m heading to the bridge over the pond once I’ve finished having a look around. I say we all group up there once we’re ready to head out. Y’all can pick which direction we head from there, but exercising my presumably democratic right of voting, I’d like to head north. Thoughts?”

The question hung in the air.

"I don't suppose any of you has a spare gun by the way?"

---

On the way up from the offices, John noticed a room at the base of the stairs heading topside. Peering inside, John beheld a plethora of miscellaneous junk strewn around the room. There was more chaos in this waiting room than the lodgings at Thieves’ Landing; but like the rooms in that back-end swamp, there could be something hidden in just the right places. Maybe there’d be a few dollars lying around in a broken cabinet. Hell, if he's really lucky, maybe even a revolver. [Roll for search]

Of Crosses and Collapses: A Crossover Adventure of Survival on a Patchwork World.

>The Merchant
I know who John's gonna be visiting very often.

@Crosswire By the way, I was thinking about editing my first IC post to be formatted more consistent with the first post. Would you like posts to be in that format or is it more of a personal preference?

Of Crosses and Collapses: A Crossover Adventure of Survival on a Patchwork World.

Meanwhile she's also going to have to pretend Marston doesn't remind her of her lover Jim Raynor.

@FrozenEcstasy

Here's hoping Marston's more afraid of his wife than Queen Bitch of the Universe!

Also for some weird reason I can't stop thinking about Marston taming and riding around on a Velociprey from Monster Hunter...

@Crosswire

I'm suddenly super motivated to get more mileage out of the lasso than I had expected going in.