nexus_crossings | Cleaning up after chaos: A post Khan event question

Cleaning up after chaos: A post Khan event question

Not everyone who frequents the Nexus was unfortunate enough to be caught up in Khan's attack. Reynard had ended Winter in his own world and engaged in his usual annual seclusion that, as it always did, ended once he had run out of alcohol. The sight of an obliterated Nexus was not the pub crawling paradise he'd remembered it as. It seems that he's missed the action and stumbled into the aftermath. People are tired, disoriented, upset and in shock, or powering through their emotions by helping organise everyone else. Without much of a thought, Reynard falls into a group that is already working to set everything right again. Or as right as things can be set. As it turns out, an atmosphere of destruction and tragedy does wonders for a Spring-sick Winter spirit.

He looks as awful as he feels, and far more sober than he'd like to be. He's forgone his coat, but kept his gloves on and a makeshift mask for the work at hand. Reynard has volunteered for the grim task of working with the dead. In a shaded area he helps move bodies to rest side by side, covered in shrouds that have started to vary in colour as they run through their supplies. These are the ones who have not, or cannot, be identified.

It's been a long day, and it's been hard graft, and everything feels hotter than it is, especially with the cloth around his face. Reynard takes his gloves off, leans against the edge of a table, and pulls away the mask, revealing an unkempt beard. "What would you like to happen at your funeral?"

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A high note of amusement slips out at her brutal honesty, but he's not offended. Tina couldn't offend him if she tried.

Undeterred, Reynard's brow lifts and he nudges her gently with an arm. "It's no fun being the only one eating. Come on, take a few and tell me how you've been. You kept safe during all of... this..." He gestures around them. "Didn't you? Stayed at home?"

"Twist my arm why doncha..."

Tina gives an exaggerated bemoaned sigh far too loud to be real and reaches over to take a couple of the cookies for herself. They make awesome cookies here in the Nexus. Eventually she should probably eat something besides baked goods, but that's a problem for Future Tina.

"Naw son, I came and dropped a few grenades on the baddies. Then a sheriff showed up an' told me I shouldn't be here an' brought me to a table where these magic dudes were hanging out helping refugees. Not much of a combatant though, so I stayed on the sidelines pretty much."

She could have picked up a gun and gone out there. It's not as though that's uncommon for the people of Pandora. But Tina doesn't really like that sort of thing. Too many bad memories she'd rather keep locked away.

"Did they hurt you? I'll bomb their entire homeworld till it looks like it was shat outta mine's booty if they did."

The dramatics get a smile from him. He can appreciate the need to play a part and bring a bit of flair to the world.

Her answer, on the other hand, gets a gentle frown and a disapproving, "Tina..." He sighs and nudges her arm. "You should have gone somewhere safe, stayed hidden. You need to make sure you survive, my dear."

"I'm fine." He picks up a cookie and waves at his face where a wry grin appears. "This is mostly self inflicted. Too much drinking what should be used for bombing."

"I gotta level with ya, even under attack this place is safer than my home world. I'm used to all of this. Why you think all my ho's gots booties that can blow up a mothahumpin train?"

People die all the time. Usually in gruesome and horrible ways. Watching a bunch of badasses fight some baddies is a spectator sport as far as she's concerned.

"Nawwww son you can't drink that kinda stuff. You's classier than that."

He sighs again, but there's a resignation in the tone and an apology in his eyes. "I'm sorry to hear that... I just don't want you to get hurt... Who else will make sure I eat plenty of cookies?" As if reminded by this question, he holds up the cookie in his hand and then takes a generous bite of it.

"It's good to hear you think so," he says once he's gotten through his mouthful of crumbly cookie goodness. "But when the cupboards are bare and a man's got to drink, then he'll drink what he can get, my dear."

"Don't worry 'bout me none."

Tina reaches over and pats Reynard's arm. She's in a pretty good position, all things considered. Got the strongest badasses on Pandora for friends. They look out for her, even when she's being kind of a pain.

"You can always come to my space an' have tea with me. My tea parties always have reservation for distinguished gentlemen such as yourself."

The typically casual response gets a smile and the Winter spirit sketches out a rough salute. "As you command."

He takes another bite of his cookie and looks thoughtful. "It's been so long since I went to a tea party. Maybe I will. Do you have them often?"

"Well, I mean, it's just me an' my girls usually."

Her stuffed animals, she means. How a girl so young survives on her own in a world as dangerous as Pandora is a bit of a tricky thing but the answer comes just as quickly. Equal parts fear and explosives. No one gets close to Tiny Tina's trailer and workshop unless she wants you to.

"We have tea pretty much erry day, 'cept when the bandits take my teapot. Then I gotsta get more scrap metal to make a new one. Which kinda sucks, because it's not like I can just go buy a new one. Don't worry none, I rinse it out before I use it."

How has anyone in Pandora avoided getting tetanus, really.

Edited 2017-05-24 17:56 (UTC)

Every glimpse of a lonely young girl strengthens Reynard's resolve to keep her smiling. True, he's not at his best, and they're surrounded by death and destruction… but staying bright when the odds are against you is something he has immense experience with.

A hand claps against his chest. "It would be an honour to spend time with such delightful company."

"Bandits take your teapot?" His surprise is evident on his face. "Why would they do that?"

"To melt down for bullets mostly and because they suck skag-butt. Ain't a lot of resources on Pandora, so theft's a way of life."

It's not as though Tina is any better. Though she's usually more likely to hire someone else to do the thieving for her. Her specialties lie in making explosives, not stealth anything. Breaking and entering can't always safely be accomplished with a bomb, after all. Sometimes, finesse is involved.

Just easier to fork over some cash really. Gives her more time to work on her Bunkers and Badasses campaigns.

"I'll save a chair from now on, special for you. Do you prefer a crushed velvet backed chair or a wooden antique?" And yes, this does mean cheap thin concrete carpeting over a folding chair or a chair constructed from old crates. But at least Tina is creative and glaringly optimistic about her station in life.

Edited 2017-06-04 02:15 (UTC)

It's not hard to believe that that resources are scared, but it's still a ridiculous thought in Reynard's mind. Maybe he's been away from war for too long... "There must be a desperate need for bullets."

"Hm..." He strokes his beard. "Wooden antique." He winks. "Just like me."

"Yeah, son. Pandora's got a lot of bullies, bandits, and bullets. Guns are a way of life. Hell, most folks offer goods and services in exchange for guns instead of money."

Even at thirteen Tina knows how to use a pistol. Prefers her home brewed grendaes, but if push came to shove she'd be able to pop a sucka.

"You just wait, you'll know it's yours right away. I'll decorate it just for you!"

"Has Pandora ever not been a place of war?" It seems all Tina ever talks about is fighting, and the fantasies she uses to escape from the fighting.

He puts a hand over his heart and bows his head. "You do too much, my dear. I'm honoured." He straightens and munches on another cookie before he muses, "Now, what shall I do for you in return, hm?"

"Maaaaaaaayyybeee?"

Though judging by her forced smile and shrug of her shoulders she honestly has no idea. They don't exactly have public schooling out there. Everything she knows about the world is from her own experiences or things people have told her.

"It's not exactly a prison planet, but I've heard bad people get sent there before. I was born there. So, iunno. It's just Home to me."

She's already working out what kind of generator she'd need to run cooling lines all around the chair. This is the sort of thing she does for fun and for once no one is going to get blown up because of it (probably!) so it's best to just let her scheme.

"Aww, you don't hafta. You're coming out to spend time with me. It means a lot." Says the lonely girl who desperately wants some human contact that isn't' trying to peel her skin off and wear it.

Reynard smiles and nods. There's no need to press any further. Like she said, it's just home to her. Even if other people see it as something else, Tina won't.

"Ah, but honouring me with your presence is just another gift to me," he says playfully. "I need to give you something in return. It's the least I can do."

His joking subsides for a moment as he eyes the youngster. "Is there anything you'd like? Any comfort you want? Blankets? Cushions? A warm jumper?"

Oh.

Oh wow. The question throws Tina completely off guard for a moment. She stares up at Reynard with something akin to confusion and wonder on her face, before she ducks her head for reasons that definitely aren't emotions Tina doesn't like to share with others.

Sniff.

"A blanket would be nice, please." Her manner of speech has become fairly ordinary and polite, all of a sudden. Quiet and reserved too. "Or a pair of rain boots...."

It's only natural that such a young girl surviving so well in such a harsh world be unused to kind questions, but the breaking of Tina's facade with such a simple thing sends a pang of sadness through Reynard. He doesn't want to intrude, but he doesn't want her to be sad, either.

He smiles gently and nudges her softly with his side. "A wise young woman." Then he stretches out a leg, toe pointed up and waves his foot from side to side in as silly a manner as he can. "Let's see what size you are, then."

Truthfully on Pandora, the invention of rubber shoes serves a much larger purpose than simply to waterproof one's feet. Tina regularly has to gather dangerous things that get distilled and included into her explosives. Frankly having non conductive shoes is going to make harvesting the shock-cacti a lot less dangerous of a prospect.

Though they are also cute and practical for being out in the rain. Tina's smile returns as quickly as it left and she giggles while leaning back and tugging off her shoe. A child's foot in a striped sock emerges before she presses her foot flat against the bottom of his boot. Complete with her little toe poking out of a hole in the well worn stockings.

"This big, yo."

He takes a mental note of her size ~~and her holey socks~~ and waves his foot some more, making hers wobble with it. "You're getting big... But I don't think you'll have stomping feet like me."

She giggles at the wobble and tries to wiggle back, but her much smaller foot can't press too hard against Reynard's boot. After a moment or so she tugs her shoe back on.

"The better to kick butt with, Reynard. And don't you forget it none." She will not hear of anyone trash talking her good friend and Winter Spirit. None of it. No sir.

"Y'all feeling a bit better with some food an' drink in ya?"

He looks to the plate, then smiles at Tina and nods. "Much better, thank you, my dear. You've brightened up my day considerably."

The boisterous thirteen year old hops up out of her chair and comes over to give Reynard a hug round the middle. No care for the smell of work, dirt, or drink that clings to him. She's smelled worse, let's be real.

"I gotsta finish up an order of mothahumpin bombs before Lilith comes back tonight, so I better scoot. You let me know when yas wants to come over for tea. I will make sure only my most prominent guests are in attendance."

The hug surprises him a little, but he quickly eases into it, patting her on the back until she lets go.

"I will, I promise. And Tina?" He levels a look at her that is direct enough to show that he serious, but it's softened by a gentle smile. "Thank you."

She smiles then, something soft and more her age.

"Anytime Reynard. I'm here for you."

And with that, she spins on her heel and trots back off toward her (quite intimidating) door back to Pandora.

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Cleaning up after chaos: A post Khan event question

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