The Perils of Dalveen (Steampunk Group RP)

[MissMonster]

This is a Group RP that's always open to anyone interested. Before you post, please check out the ooc thread here to construct a profile, give ideas, and chat with us!
http://animeotk.com/forum/showthread...oup-23462.html

Tick, Tock. Tick, Tock.

Green eyes gazed anxiously at the towering, oak colored grandfather clock within the rather confined apartment. Tan fingers drummed idly against the China tea cup, a small chip in the corner offering Shannon a reminder of just how important it was to remain astute while on a heist. She wasn't able to sell the teacup now that it had a chip in it, all thanks to her clumsy escape from a Middle-Class home a few months back. She couldn't cease the gentle smile on her face as her lips met the warm contents of a briskly made tea, recollecting her escapades that have surely brought her and Max to where they were today.

Speaking of which, it was now evening in Dalveen, marking an important time of day within the steam-powered city. While it meant very little to those living in the Middle and Upper district, it grasped an important message for those just unlucky enough to be living in the close-knit slums. Within the next two hours, it would be curfew...and all those found littering the streets would be eradicated as if nothing more but waste. The Sweepers was what they were called, a team of assembled, bionic titans that carried a mechanized shot gun, an insatiable bloodlust, and lacked any form of empathy. It had been about three years since King Kitridge allowed his dodgy adviser to talk him into this folly, and although many in Dalveen found it to be an atrocious way to control crime in the Lower District, others were not so keen on the idea of murdering others like pests.

"Where in blue blazes is this girl?"

Shannon stood to her full, petite height of 5'2, adorned in her usual form fitting pants suit. Her boots clicked as she walked towards the window, scrutinizing the shanty-towns below. There were shops beginning to close, men, women, and some children returning home from work at the factory, playful adolescents being ushered inside, and prostitutes making their last few deals before the night sky would blanket the district. In the distance, she could see the light of the Middle Class houses, as well as the steam being released into the air.

Shannon sighed, deciding that two hours was plenty of time for Max to return. Her seventeen year old sibling seemed to lack any form of danger at times, which frightened the elder sister to a tee. However, they were both their father's children. Max was a crafty young woman with an astounding sense of tenacity, and Shan had a feeling she'd be mindful of the hour.

~~~~
"Thanks for the groceries, Miss Lakely!"

"You're very welcome, Maxine. Please, tell your sister I said hello."

"Will do!"

Max grinned politely as she waved a goodbye towards the elderly grocer, heading outside. The moment she did, she took a quick glance at her pocket-watch, nodding her head in approval. Unlike Shannon, Max figured two hours was plenty of time to head back to their apartment.

All good and well, for she had to make one last pit stop before the evening was interrupted by the Sweepers.

The seventeen year old started to walk through the slightly bustling market square, watching as shop keeps made last calls, and potential buyers started to rush. It was somewhat depressing to notice the faces of those she passed, for what was once a lively District, had now become a battle of life and death. Mothers were worried, fathers were apprehensive, and children were kept close and within range. It made Max sick to her stomach to think the Upper class could be so cruel.

Luckily, their would be no more burying innocents. For the time of atonement would be nigh.

Unbeknownst to Shannon, Max would often attend the rebel meetings held in dilapidated churches or underground saloons. She found the prospect of rebellion not only refreshing, but almost imminent. Things had to change around here, and what better way to take back Dalveen and claim it for those who truly deserved it? The forgotten ones, the forsaken ones...the invisible force that would drive out their oppressors. For enough was enough.

Finally, the teen found the ammunition shop in the darkening alley ways, ran by a local gang called the "Sharpshooters". While they were mostly a group of arrogant teens, they certainly had a plethora of ammunition to spare.

"Well, well, well...if it ain't ole Max!"

"Shove it, Peter. I need some bullets for my revolver."

"Take your pick, missus. The Sharpshooters got all kinds of stuff ready for your buying pleasure!" Peter, a lanky teen with a wide, toothy grin, began to bow dramatically as Max approached his stand. Max adjusted her goggles atop her head, going through each carton of ammo. "Name your price, Pete."

"For the lovely lady, I'm thinkin'...seven Silver Coins!"

"You really are too kind." Max rolled her eyes, reaching into her pocket to count the remaining SC. Shannon was likely going to kill her for spending what was left of her coins, but it was all for a good cause. The rebels planned to attack the Upper District soon, and she wanted to be apart of the cause. She wanted to involved on what she suspected to be the winning team.

"You better get your ass back to your apartment, missus! The sirens are gonna sound in a couple hours."

Max said nothing as she handed the boy her coins.

[Yukiko]

In the dark and narrow alleys east of the market, you can buy a lot of things. Drugs, girls, weapons, informations - the shops there open up when the official shops like Miss Lakely's groceries shop close. When the people have left the streets and the sweepers haven't arrived yet. That's the perfect time to buy those things you don't want anybody to know that you bought them. The perfect time for Christine to meet her customers.

She is not as afraid of the Sweepers as many others. Those robots are huge and have mechanized shotguns - but they also have mechanized brains. Their search patterns are quite..mechanical. Well, what do you expect, if you use a clockwork as a brain? For example, if they don't directly see it, they cannot imagine that someone could use an opening which is too small for an adult. Though they know that kids exist they are not able to think one step further - or the mechanic who built their brain, simply thought that children are irrelevant. Another thing is that at a junction they will always take the right path first. These little details most people wont even notice, but Christine has read "The Mind in the Machine" of Immanuel Tesla. Five and a half times.

More dangerous than the guys with mechanized brains are the unpredictable guys living around here. Gang members. Like the Sharpshooters. She should be safe, since she is under protection of the "Hellspawns". Another gang which only accepts members who have been at the Hall. But "safe" is relative here when it gets dark.

Maxine is no gang member of the Sharpshooters as far as Christine knows, which means she is a customer. Christine pulls down her hood, to hide her face and lifts her eye-patch to use the zoom. Hm. Bullets. A whole carton. Either the sisters plan a dangerous burglary or it is about the rebellion. Everybody in the shanty town seems to know about the rebellion. The great rebellion which will bring freedom for all of them. There are rumors the rebellion will come soon. There are always rumors about the rebellion coming soon, but it seems to be more serious than usual this time. Christine doesn't share Maxine's opinion about the winning team. She has lived in the wealthy part of the city and she has seen their mechanical guards, the sweepers, and their soldiers. Soldiers vs criminals, robots vs humans, she is no expert for wars, but she has no good feeling.

Whatever. Maxine is not just a friend, she is also a customer and Christine anyway wanted to meet her. As Maxine pays and turns to leave Christine walks near. She knows how to approach an armed adult, no hasty movements and keep your hands visible.

"Hello, Max." She removes her hood to show her face. For Maxine who knows the younger girl it seems always hard to believe that she manages to go for a boy. The brown somewhat dreamy eye, the fine brows and the soft line of her cheeks, it seems so obvious. Christine shows a faint smile. "Buying ammunition? So the great rebellion will finally start?" Peter who heard her words bursts out into laughter what sounds like he is choking. Ignoring him Christine shows a tiny metal piece lying on her palm. "I got the part that I told you about, that could make your revolver work properly. Would be a shame if you bought so much bullets and only manage to fire three shots."

[Madcat]

Elsewhere in the city, others were buying ammunition as well... or, at least, trying to. However, luck was not with many of those, the recent flare-ups of bandit and anarchist activity having given rise to a run on the arms-sellers and the ammo-smiths. Now, supplies of common calibers of ammunition were plenty scarce, unavailable at any price, while the weapons to fire such calibers were likely getting difficult to acquire.

Turning away from the fifth such store who did not have what she wanted, Novia Callisuna wrinkled her nose and stamped her foot against the dusty ground. She did not want to hand-cast her own bullets! That would take forever! Noting the shadows pooling in the alleyways and streets, she produced her chromed chronolog from her purse, pressing the switch at the top to peer at the delicate gold hands that spun, some quickly and others slowly, around the sapphire pips that marked the hours.

She frowned. With every visit to a shop taking the better part of half an hour, she would be able to visit only two more in this district before she would have to meet her guardian at the clock tower, where she had promised to find her after her shopping excursion. But...

The athletic red-head turned towards the district gate, flanked by no fewer than four of the city's finest. She had been through it several times in her life, though never without an escort, for beyond its gate sat the mercantile and residential districts of the less-fortunate, the middle-class. Working merchants, owners of small companies, supervisors of laborers and similar sorts who actually performed tasks for money... and beyond that could be found the slums wherein dwelled the Poor.

Novia had never actually seen a Poor before, not in the city, though one time she and her family had taken a trip to the islands, and she had witnessed some fellows working at loading very large bunches of bananas into a wagon. She was surprised at how well they handled it, for the heat and humidity had her practically fainting just standing there.

Still, certainly the Poors had to have gunsmiths, right? And ammo shops? Of course they did, she had read about them in the penny dreadfuls she and her girlfriends shared at their weekly luncheon! It was only a matter of finding the right corner with the right marking on the wall, and giving the man at the door, who was going to be of one of the less-desirable bloodlines, for they always were in the books, the proper phrase, and she would be up to her knickers in slugs.

With a final, cautious glance towards the cafe across the square she had left her guardian stationed at, she hefted the monstrous arcannon that was never apart from her, slipping the padded sling over her head to rest upon her shoulder, and headed towards the gate.

[Coldfurrie]

The lower district was, in the mind of a more wealthy person, nothing but a pig's pen. A filthy hole for all of Dalveen's trash to be dumped in. It was over all, not a place for a wealthy, respected person to hang around. Though, some people are either too stupid ti understand this, or are clever enough to make her way around. This was the case with a certain clever blonde girl.

The teenager made her way trough the lower district, being one of the few persons accepted there, and sometimes even seen as 'one of them'. Eylene finds this 'trash pile' nothing but a playground. Strangely enough the girl was not out for supplies, like many others. She was out for some more entertaining things to do. Unlike most people from the upper class, the girl had a liking for fighting and gambling, and what better way to combine that, than to wage money in a fighting game.

The game worked simply: The people who organized it had a couple of 'brawlers' to deploy. The challenger would wage money, and then the organization would pick the opponent that would make the best fight. This is all based on profit, because the more entertaining the fight is, the more money the people wage. The people who waged on the winner get their money back doubled, the ones who waged on the loser, do not get it back. This was a brutal game, with no rules, except: No weapons.

Eylene loved the thrill this brought. It was such a relief to do this outside of her usual life of watching children and running around the yard training with her sword. Here she was no longer the rich girl. Here she was a well known fighter. She walked further into the streets, her mechanical leg piece making slight sounds ever so often. She could feel many gazes follow her. This was logical, because her dress was worth ten times all of the clothes of these people combined would cost.

Walking further she spotted a group of five armed people, with in the middle a woman with red hair and a gun that looked like it was designed to blow up buildings. Eylene made sure to stay behind them, because passing them seemed like a horrible option at the moment. The main danger however, was not that she would be spotted and shot, because she wouldn’t dare shoot a person her class. The main danger was, that she could be spotted, recognized, and dragged straight back home, which meant goodbye to her fighting games.

[Madcat]

It had not been as difficult to reach the slums as she had first expected. There had been no need for passwords or code-phrases, no bits of rough trade at the gate to make comments about the place being unfit for her, or she for it, not even a barricade of soldiers keeping the riff-raff contained! Simply a series of walls and gates and, later, nothing more than streetsigns and a gradual deterioration of the quality of the paving, until she was certain that it was not a street at all, just a muddy track.

It was after her last turn on this muddy track that she became suddenly aware of the previously-expected rough trade blocking her path, and now moving in from all sides. She had not expected the ammo-traders to be so difficult to find and, indeed, had expected there to be some sort of shop, a tavern or an inn or even a haberdasher, with some sort of vague sign suggesting that bullets and bombs were dealt out the back door in the alley. Instead, she suddenly found herself surrounded by toughs.

By reflex, her hand had slid down to the grip of her arcannon, her other hand resting tensely on its support bar. "What do you want?" she asked of the closest.

[Coldfurrie]

Eylene frowned, and decided to take a look at what these people did there anyway. She calmly peeked around the corner into the alley. She was still carefull not to be seen, but she was just too curious. The girl suddenly felt a touch on the shoulder.

A man, clearly drunk, had approached her. "ey... sweetheart... how much for a night?" he asked, losing half of his speach, and not even able to stand straight. Seeing that the man implied her for a prostitute made Eylene angry. Despite it not being the first time this happened, she still hated it every time. She looked at the man and then kicked him in the gut using her mechanical leg piece to boost her strength. The man was pushed backwards and fell into a pile of wood and pallets, making a lot of noise. Eylene growled. "better try again when your not drunk. and not with me" she said to the man.

[Madcat]

Novia looked around at the men surrounding her, blue eyes wide and bright.

"Pardon me, gentles, but you seem to be blocking the road. Be dear and step aside, would you?"

[Yukiko]

It was on her way back with Maxine when Christine noticed Novia and her four bodyguards. Every inhabitant of the slum would have known what the sign, scribbled on the wall of the muddy alley, means. A "H" in a hexagon is the gang sign of the "Hellspawns". Either the small but well armed group is out to start a gang war, or they are some fools from behind the wall. Christine would bet on the second, she knows how little the people behind the wall know about the people who live in the same city with them, but on the other side of the wall. "Max, I'll meet you later," Christine states and quickly follows the group to watch from behind the corner. The welcoming committee has already arrived.

The guy in front grins at Novia's question, showing the few teeth left. "Such a little girl and such a big gun." He lifts his right arm which is an augmentation, a metal claw with three fingers, which makes a screeching sounds when he moves them. "Perhaps I should help you carrying. After all I am a gentleman?" This causes laughter from his comrades.

Claw. The name of the guy is Peter but everyone calls him Claw. Instead of a normal augmentation he could have never afforded, some black market surgeon attached the arm of an industrial robot to his shoulder. He can crush concrete with it and probably the metal skull of a sweeper but it also constantly causes pain, since it is not made to be attached to a human. Christine repaired it once (and judged by the sound probably soon again) and it's a miracle that he can use it without frying his brain. He is always on drugs to fight the pain, he is 17 and Christine is sure he wont reach 20. The slum consumes the kids almost faster as the Hall can spit them out. The way Novia is holding her gun, he wont reach 18.

Christine remembers her now. Novia, she met her a few times while she lived behind the wall. Easy to recognize because of her sturdy built and the arcannon she carries around. Christine wonders, what she is doing here. Maybe searching for illegal parts for her weapon?

[Coldfurrie]

Eylened was leaning against a wall just next to christine. She chuckled as she saw the girl. "Hey sweetheart, might be a bad idea to watch this, this might get bloody" she said looking down at her. Eylene has seen this before. Many street fights began or ended as potential gang wars. She knew that novia's attitude was either gonna get her killed, or persued. Gangs like this never let anyone go who mocked them. She stretched out, giving the girl next to her another smirk. "what's a lil' kid like you doin' here anywat" she then asked, being amused by the girl's appearance.

[Yukiko]

Christine turns her head as Eylene leans against the wall next to her, so that her artificial eye gets visible, since she removed her eye-patch to get a better look. A strange contrast, the pretty eye in a warm brown color and the other one made of metal, looking hard and cold. "I live here." Christine's ability to judge people is not as good as her ability to judge why something mechanic isn't working as supposed, but Eylene doesn't look like she plans to harm her. Just to be sure, Christine reveals her left shoulder, showing the "H" tattooed on it. Most people wont try to hurt or steal from a kid from the Hall so close to Hellspawn gang territory. Boys usually have the tattoo in the face, on their forehead or temple, but the guys from the upper class are gentlemen after all, so girls from the "Hall" have the tattoo where you can't see it when they are dressed.

"Bloody, yes." Christine turns away from Eylene to watch again. "Arcannon. Automatic rapid fire grenade launcher. Seems modified. Very interesting weapon. Could get bloody."