driftfleet | When We're Rollin Through the Wild Wild West

When We're Rollin Through the Wild Wild West

Who: Everyone! EVERYONE!
Broadcast: IF YOU WANNA
Action: Everywhere! EVERYWHERE!
When: Mid-September - Mid-October

[How's your ship doing, pardners? Is it still pretty damaged? Is it glitching out hardcore? Well, there is one place to land to take care of all that, and that's on a dusty old moon in front of a planet that no one wants to go to. On this moon, you'll find a civilization that looks a lot like one's stepped into a wild west movie, hardened cowpolk and mutant horses and all. Will you become a vigilante, hunting bounties and stopping gangs from doing their dirty work? Will you go exploring planetside, with a cowboy hat and a stalk of wheat in your mouth to complete the look? Good luck with that; there is no wheat. This town ain't big enough for all you flooters, but make it so! For the ratings!

In other words, it's a planet mingle! Get 'er done!]

[September Planet info here]

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Geez, you too? I swear everybody I know seems to be getting into fights in bars lately... [He sounds more bemused and mildly exasperated than disapproving about this, though.] A pool stick...ah, you mean those ones that people use to hit the little balls on a table? That's pretty crazy!

[HE'S IMPRESSED....sometimes you need to improvise in a fight, after all. Speaking of which, oh...and he starts shifting around the stack of parts in his arms again as they walk, reaching around for--there we go! He holds up a rebar.]

Come to think of it, I actually ended up using one of these in a fight earlier myself...it's not really anything like a sword or a pool stick, but it worked alright. [He looks over to Kirito, offering the rebar in his general direction.] Would you like one? I have a handful, so I could probably spare one of these for you!

Eh?

[Kirito shuffles the basket to one hand so he can accept the rebar, turning it this way and that to get a feel for how to move it. It has... a decent weight to it, actually. Not too heavy, not too long. Maybe if he can get some kind of strap or sheath for it... hmm.]

You don't mind?

[He watches, mildly curious, as Kirito seems to test the weight and merit of the rebar in question. Personally Megaman actually thinks it's a little too heavy--cyber swords don't put a lot of stock in weight, and those are what he's more used to--but still, it had felt like a good offer to make. And it's certainly better than nothing at all!]

Yeah, I don't mind at all! Those things really got me out of that pinch, so it should help you a lot too, I think. I can just get more of them later anyway, if I need to...

[Admittedly, it's probably too unwieldy to use long-term - he'd still much prefer a lighter, genuine blade eventually - but he's not going to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything. A weapon's a weapon, and it's as better than the nothing he'd had before now.]

Ah- did you have to buy it? I don't have much money, but I'm sure I can find a way to pay you back...

Oh, yeah, there was a place selling scrap parts and things... [But Megaman laughs a bit, waving away the offer with his newly-freed hand before he wraps it around the rest of his armful of parts again.] Don't worry about it, though! It's not too expensive for me, since I haven't been buying a lot of things until now...and you're newer than I am, so you don't have as much, you're right! You should save what you can.

[He shrugs a bit, beaming.]

We could say you're paying me back already, by helping me with carrying these parts! Would that be okay?

[Kirito ponders that suggestion, giving the rebar a couple of test swings. ...Yeah, it'll do.]

Sure, I'm fine with that. Thanks.

[He was going to help for free, but he's certainly not going to protest a useful handout like this.]

[As he should! Megaman seems pleased with the verdict, at any rate.]

It's no problem! Now it's one less thing to worry about too, I bet... [He hums a bit thoughtfully as they continue walking, blinking around at their surroundings. It's all still a bit strange to him even with this long to adjust to it, really...] There's--a lot of really shady people around here, aren't there? It sort of reminds me of the Undernet...

Yeah, no kidding. It's the reason I want to be armed in the first place.

[He tilts his head a bit curiously, as the name means nothing to him.]

What's the "Undernet"?

[Ah, that's true though--Kirito wouldn't be familiar, would he? It'd been more of an absentminded remark, before he could catch himself, but Megaman looks back over to Kirito with a slightly apologetic smile.]

Oh, that's right--you probably wouldn't have heard of it, I guess...but, the Undernet is a place back home, for me! It's sort of part of the Net, but not really? Ah, if you're familiar with the Internet, some people call it the deep net... [Megaman shrugs a bit, thoughtfully.] It's really a pretty separate place all on its own, though--normal cyber law enforcement doesn't usually have permission to access it, so the Undernet is full of all kinds of shady programs who want to do illegal things. You have to watch your back for sure! Sort of like this place here...but maybe not quite as bad, I guess?

[He takes another look around at all the dusty buildings around them]

It's a lot less purple here, anyway.

I know about the internet, at least.

[It's kind of consumed his free time for most of his life, rather literally in the case of MMO games.]

That sounds a lot like the Deep Web we've got back home. It's a pretty good comparison, though the danger here is a lot more... immediate.

[And obvious, at that.]

I don't know, it seemed about as immediate over there as it is over here...? [Megaman frowns over to Kirito a bit, before it clicks--] --Ah, right, but--I guess browsing the Undernet would be a bit different for a human, compared to a program! It's a bit harder when you actually have to walk in there with all those other Navis...I had to pretend to be nasty like them once, so I could navigate in there without getting chased out.

[He sighs.]

Sure wouldn't want to do it again, though...it wasn't very fun. And--this place isn't very fun either, in the same sort of way.

Ah, yeah, that's definitely true. It would be difficult to hack a human.

[Though with the way Full-Dive technology is headed, that could be an unfortunate part of their future if they're not careful. One of the reasons he wants to be more deeply involved in development.]

It sucks that you had to deal with that, though. You made it out okay?

[Ah, hacking a human--difficult for sure...and that earns a slight laugh, from Megaman's end. But at the question he just shrugs a bit, staring at the path ahead of them absentmindedly as he thinks back to it.]

Yeah, I did make it out alright! I had to fight a lot of people...they really like battles down there, since apparently strength is what matters most to those sorts of guys. They had a Rank system and everything...Lan and I had to find something being held by the Navi ranked First and strongest in the entire Undernet, and you couldn't see him unless you were Ranked yourself. But we did find it, eventually! [He tilts his head a bit, more to himself than anything.] So I guess I'm still technically Ranked Second down there? But I don't really want to do anything else with it...

[He doesn't recognize all of the terminology, but he can understand the gist of it, at least. He's well-versed in competition rankings, at least. It's a big deal online, so of course it would be important in the darker side of the net.]

Ahaha... congratulations. You can get quite a reputation from that sort of thing.

Hah, yeah, I guess you can! Though it only seems like everyone wants to fight you even more, when that happens...or they think you're a threat, and want to get you out of the way...

[Like honestly, sure, the recognition is flattering sometimes...and he enjoys a good friendly NetBattle as much as the next guy--he really does! But the not-so-friendly ones, after awhile...he sighs.]

At least they don't seem to have anything like Ranking on this planet, though! And we're probably not going to be here for much longer, so we probably just need to be careful, mostly... [Looking ahead, Megaman perks up a bit, noticing a few familiar landmarks in the area they're entering.] Oh, I think we're getting pretty close to my ship! Shouldn't be too long now.

[Kirito follows his gaze, taking note of the area. Huh, so they are.]

Hey, what are you planning to do with all these parts, anyway? If you don't mind me asking.

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When We're Rollin Through the Wild Wild West

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