514/Down in Afterus

Down in Afterus
Date of Scene:	29 August 2014
Location:	Afterus - City of Home
Synopsis:	Kotone meets up with a few friends namely Annie and Ziggy. However Dillon joins things and that's where there's a bit of confusion about Afterus. Then again given the people who created this world? Is this any wonder?
Cast of Characters:	Kotone Yamakawa, 437, Ziggy Grover, 549

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Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has started coming to Afterus as she's found some decent levels of work here, so she's finished up anotehr client call for fixing some off world car and now was making her way through the city it self. She's passing the various temples wondering aout just how strange this place is. She stuck out only a little bit and it was more her clothes than anything as she moves heading towards one of the roadways near the temple district.

Dillon (549) has posed:
The roar of an engine in the distance is the only warning as a black, tricked-out Firebird appears, rapidly decelerating when it comes into sync with some place called 'afterus' ... which was not where Dillon was expecting to go. Not that he knows where he's going. The navigator device on the dash has been "tweaked" a few times, and then Dr. K gave him a map... where she got a map of the Union, who knows. The purple monkey-looking device taking up too much room in the back of the car is no longer glowing, and the specialized energy cell is waiting to recharge, so he sighs.

"OK, Zig. Where are we? This doesn't look like magic rat land."

Ziggy Grover has posed:
"Relax, Dillon," Ziggy comments as they drive around. "I can follow a map just fine. See, just because there's a lot of temples, and they all look alike, and all the streets are little maze all seeming the same doesn't mean I can't figure out where we are. Let's see... there's a giant statue of some dude there at the entrance, so I think we're here. So now, we just have to go in and find the temple of... uh... were we supposed to meet at the statue of the God of Misfortune, or the Goddess of Misfortune, or was it Mistakes?"

Shuffling the map and leaning it against the dashboard, Ziggy considers it gravely. "Um, which god or goddess was it again?"

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
Annie is sitting next to one of the statues, and stands up and waves as the car approaches, before she can even tell who's inside it. "Hello!" she says as she walks up to the arriving car, noting with joy that Ziggy is inside. "It's great to see you again! This looks like a really nice place." She looks around at the varied temples and other surroundings. "I don't know where Miss Kotone is though."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa was not expecting the car to show up that did she she takes a good darn moment to stare at the car she catches in the distance. She gets a wee bit existed s she does spot Ziggy in the car, his hair is kinda hard to miss.

"...Ziggy? Annie?"

She looks normal enough as she comes near but ... there's something about Kotone really that is .. a bit off.

Dillon (549) has posed:
"OK, Dr. K, I guess the coordinates were good," Dillon says, as women from nearby converge on Ziggy as if they knew him. Strange. Back in Corinth, women kind of avoid or pity Ziggy, when they aren't poking at him with eleven-foot-poles.

"Of course they were, Ranger Operator Series Black. The transit power cell will recharge in four hours. Please don't break anything there. You aren't in Allied space now," Dr. K's voice says over the communicator. "Don't cause an incident."

"Doc. You sent ME. And ZIGGY. If you don't want incidents, send Ranger Yellow."

Dillon bends forward to peer at the two women approaching the passenger-side door of the car. He really wants to tell them not to scratch the paint, but ... no incidents. Right.

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
     "Hi Miss Kotone," Annie says cheerfully, not noticing whatever might be different about her. She looks the same, and Annie knew she was going to be there, so she was the same person, obviously! She then walks around the car, looking up curiously at Dillon. "Hi," she says, waving to him. "Are you Ziggy's friend? It's nice to meet you!" If the door's closed, she'd be speaking loud enough that she could hopefully be heard.

Dillon (549) has posed:
The door is closed, but the windows are down on both his and Ziggy's side, as usual.

"Uh, hi, I'm Dillon," he says to Annie. His expression changes when he realizes that this isn't really a grown-up. Maybe. How do you tell when a giant womp-rat can turn out to be a high-priest-mucky-muck. Anyway, the expression is one that could be mistaken for a frown or a scowl, but it's actually him trying to think.

"You look a little young to be out alone. Is someone watching out for you?" Not predatory-creepy at all, are we?

Ziggy Grover has posed:
"Hi, Annie!" Ziggy greets, as he opens the door. "This is Dillon. Dillon, Annie and Ko. They're cybernetic, partly." Which would explain a fair bit about why it was Dillon and Ziggy. Because Ziggy knew them, and because it might be instructive to see what other cybernetics made of a Venjix hybrid.

Stepping out, the wild-haired desuited Power Ranger adjusts his jacket. Got to look good for the public, after all.

"That's the Dillon I told you about. Hey Dillon, step out of the car, will you? She's not going to bite."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
What could go wrong? Kotone seems to be eyeing Dillon's car with the eye of a mechanic as she looks over the mods and alterations that have been made to it. She snaps out of her daze after a moment.

"Sorry hey Annie, Ziggy and ... mmm hi there."

She looks over Dillon for a momet longer.

"Ah good to meet you and a hell of a job on the car, you don't see muscle cars like this where I'm from."

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
"Miss Kotone invited me here too," Annie says to Dillon. "And I can take care of myself okay if I need to," she adds with a smile, before giggling a bit at Ziggy's words. "That's right. If you're Mr. Ziggy's friend than you're my friend too."

Dillon (549) has posed:
Dillon reaches into the back of the car, and snags the energy cell from the paws of the purple-monkey drive unit. He pats it on the head and it folds over into a flat package, locking in place. He's in as reasonable a place to park as any, so he turns off the engine, and pulls the key, getting out to stand. A proper appreciative eye, that's flattering.

"Thanks. Not too many left where I'm from either," he says to Ko. He's not going to boast about being cybernetic. It's not actually something he wants to think about too hard sometimes.

Ziggy Grover has posed:
"That's right," Ziggy replies with a broad smile, almost practically rubbing his hands together in glee. "He's a lot like you two, but he's sort of conflicted about it. It's because there's two sides at him at war and..." There's a brief pause as Ziggy considers what -that- look from Dillon could mean, before he decides on the better part of valor.

"So! Dr. K wanted to see how you guys interacted. You aren't feeling anything weird, are you?" Tilting his head, Ziggy clasps his hands together. "Just ... talk among yourselves. I could get drinks... where's a good place to pick up anything around here? It's awfully... temple-y. Water, maybe?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa seems a bit put off about being mentioned as Cybernetic from the look on her face, she's not ... seemingly too keen on it. She's more like Dillion in that respect it's just rather hard to hide your nature when there's certain give aways that remind you quite often.

"I heard things were bad off it's kinda like a nightmare of every right winger come to life back home. Drinks I'm pretty sure we can get some, I know some of the gods were very fond of booze."

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
     "How we interacted?" Annie asks curiously. "Um... right now I don't think I'd do anything differently," she points out. "It doesn't really matter too much to me if people have machine parts or anything." She looks around at the others. "I think the other Fundroids are the only real exception... I can connect with them over the network if I want." It was a system designed to facilitate play with multiple Fundroid models; Annie had largely stopped using it and was now seen essentially as a human by the non-sapient Fundroids.

Dillon (549) has posed:
It seems that Ziggy has been learning, if he recognizes -that- look so quickly. Maybe it was the promise to use him as the front bumper on the trip home. The word "Fundroid" makes him kind of nervous though. It seems, well, let's not go there. It's a dark and creeepy place.

"Doc, what did you think we'd do, form a Zord or something?" Dillon says, a bit annoyed. No answer yet from K. which is just as well. He looks over at Ko, and smiles.

"Are these the kind that drink all the magic and leave the booze behind for the rest of us?"

Ziggy Grover has posed:
"What's the network, Annie?" Ziggy inquires. Unlike Dillon, Ziggy was more inclined to look at the brighter sides of things, and so... "What do Fundroids do, have fun? Do they play with children?" Hands shifts up and make gestures. "Can you do shadow puppets?"

Ziggy looks back over at Dillon, before shaking his head. "I don't think you can combine like a zord. I mean, Tenaya didn't. Unless you share the same cybernetics, it's probably... well, incompatible."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa Says "Everyone is getting more and more cyberized on my world. It ... concerns me to be honest."

From the way she's talking she's not a cyborg for the fun of it. She looks for a moment and tilts her head at Dillon for a seocnd.

"No they drank it just not all of it. That sort of thing wouldn't do good things to the brain...I mean there's some people who can control a second body..."

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
     Annie nods firmly and smiles wide at Ziggy's questions. "Yep! Fundroids are sort of like the best toys ever," she explains happily. "Most of them aren't people, though... like, they just follow their programs. But sometimes it happens. And they all have a network they use to communicate and download stuff so they can play with each other better." She then listens to the others. "Well I hope there are other drinks than just that." Of course she wouldn't get drunk or anything if she had alcohol, but she just doesn't drink it in order to set a good example for human kids.

Dillon (549) has posed:
Dillon sighs. "No. Tenaya didn't because she's a evil vicious Venjix monster in human form, while I'm a human with non-factory machine parts stuck in later. I meant, what did you thi... nevermind."

He watches Ziggy revert to his actual mental age and make shadow shadow-puppets for Annie. But it's Ko's remark that has him concerned. "Do you have ways to stop it, I mean, the increasing cyberization?"

Ziggy Grover has posed:
"Well that's no fun, if you can only do what you're programmed to do. If you can do more, you should," Ziggy replies, as he adjusts the shadow puppets to a semi-representation of Dillon being grumpy. "Remind you of anyone?"

Standing up, Ziggy cracks his knuckles. "Okay, water, no magic tonics for anyone. Unless you want castor oil or something, make it easier for your joints...?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa says "I get that, Dillon, I never intended to become one myself. I didn't eve have a basic cyberbrain. No people are chosing to it's getting harder and harder to operate without the basic implant these days I find. Waters fine I casn still taste it's strange i worry more about my food now that it's not so imporant to me..."

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
While Dillon is all serious business stuff, Annie is laughing at Ziggy's shadow puppets. "You're right," Annie says. "I'm always happy when I hear that Fundroids are starting to do more than what they were made to do, but... A lot of people don't like it," she says with some sadness. "I think some people are scared of what we can do if we become more like humans. It's actually not supposed to be allowed." From what she's heard of Ziggy's world, she feels like he could probably understand why people might be nervous about it. "It's weird how different it is in Miss Kotone's world, though. Nobody there cares about it at all."

Dillon (549) has posed:
Dillon is beginning to see part of the situation. Ko is from a place where people are deliberately becoming part-machine, even if they don't like it, because it's necessary to live. Annie is a toy who has become real. Dillon, however, is a human who's been, well, infected with machine-ness. And he's not happy at the thought of what could happen if Venjix got into the people he's met so far.

"Dr. K? We may have a problem," Dillon says. "Are you getting all this?"

"I am, Ranger Black. Continue social integration. I will perform risk assessments," the good doctor's voice comes back, on the Ranger comms but not in audible speech.

Social integration. Wonderful.

"So. You're a mechanic?" Dillon says to Ko. "You have a car of your own?"

Ziggy Grover has posed:
If the Rangers were into the multiverse, so, quite likely, Venjix could reach it as well. Once one universe wove itself into the multiverse, any element in it could touch the multiverse at large.

In shorter tl;dr terms: Totally Ziggy's fault for teleporting into the multiverse at large.

Ziggy, meanwhile, goes on with the entire social integration thing, coming back with water and soda.

Passing it about, Ziggy settles back, leaning against Dillon's car for all of about one second before jolting back upright. "Uh. Yeah. Bench... there?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa says "Shadow Puppets huh? Also for me it was medical I was bad ... of I ... don't remeber much just telling the doctors I wanted to live."

She looks to Dilon and if she knew the full story she'd be very sympathic to his condtion.

"Yes, I do but it's not a muscle car like this my real joy's an old motorcycle that predates the cyberization trend. Nice little thing and I also design new ones it's what I do for a living I do customizations restorations and the like."

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
Annie accepts the water from Ziggy, and starts drinking it immediately- thus showing Dillon that she in fact can. "I don't really know a lot about cars," she admits. "I know a lot of games you can play while riding in a car, though!" She smiles again. "So, why'd you invite us here, Miss Kotone?" she asks, looking toward Kotone. "It's kind of a weird place, but I like it."

Dillon (549) has posed:
Water. Having crossed that desert that the Earth became when Venjix decided to kill all unworthy life, Dillon appreciates water. He even thanks Ziggy for bringing it. It tastes a little odd. Flat, without the tiny amounts of dissolved metal he's used to, but that's acceptable.

"Yeah, good question. What's up, Kotone? Other than meeting another gearhead, and I do want to see your bike sometime, are you looking to get out of Switzerland here?"

Ziggy Grover has posed:
"I thought we were here just to get introductions and stay out of trouble with the Confederate, but I've got to confess, I've only met -one- of them, I think... and she seemed like basically a person defending her homeland, so..."

Taking a swig of his water, Ziggy inclines his head at Kotone. "Why are we meeting at a temple and not at a Union cafeteria or your home 'verse?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa says "You mean here I find work, it's interesting and it's not mixed up in the war. Seems there's elites in both factions partial to this place and well the bosses of the Syndicate are from here. I just happen to like it here. I figured why not somewhere new there's some interesting places to eat given there's three major native species here. Human, Trolls, Capricans."

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
"Huh, okay," Annie says. "I guess it is a nice place to just visit." She looks around at the others. "Maybe you could come visit my world sometime too," she suggests. "It's nice there, it's pretty peaceful."

Dillon (549) has posed:
"Oh, so you just wanted to meet up for lunch if we were going to meet anyway? Gotcha." Dillon grins. "So where's a good place to go? Zig, you're buying, right?"

He honestly doesn't expect that to work. Ziggy never has any money.

Ziggy Grover has posed:
"Uh..." Now Ziggy fumbles with his hands before pointing an index finger at himself. "Me? Uh, money...?" Giving a sickly smile, Ziggy motions to Dillon. "I only had enough for the drinks. I thought Dr. K gave you the big bucks."

Still, Ziggy rallies. "Maybe we could check Annie's world...?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa says "I have the money, if your worried I do make a bit from some other employment I have. To perfectly honest. So consider it my treat, eating now is sadly an indulance for me...for the most part..."

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
"Thanks, Miss Kotone," Annie said, glad that she was willing to get the food for them. "I'd like to see what the restaurants are like here myself... they must be pretty interesting!" The surroundings of the place were varied enough that she really didn't have any idea what to expect in terms of food. "I wonder what we'll end up eating."

Dillon (549) has posed:
"Actually I have money, if it works here," Dillon says. "I just don't know the exchange rate. If there is one."

He gives a large and mildly evil grin at Ziggy, who is the only one who's actually _lived_ here before.

Ziggy Grover has posed:
"Oh you were supposed to swap it in at the gate," Ziggy responds, as he holds his hand out. "Okay, I'll take care of -that-, then..."

Holding out his hand, Ziggy taps a foot, before looking back at Kotone and Annie. "Don't worry about him, his grumpy face is just a facade for the friendship bond we have. He'll loan it to me."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa looks to the trio as she's grinning.

"There is one it's pretty universal if the nation can be proven to exist they tend to take it that's about it." She grins and she's trotting along now at this point and she says "...or he could want to set you on fire with his mind."

Dillon (549) has posed:
Dillon figures that someday Ziggy will pay attention and realize that the purple thing in the back of the car is a space-time-transit-monkey that goes through the electro-bio-morpho-zapo-tron-a-genic field (or whatever Dr. K called it) using a trans-static-euclidean-plot-mapper (whatever that is) and that it gets them from Corinth to the programmed destination, then it has to recharge. She didn't laugh when he called it a 'plot device'.

"Wait, the exchange rate sets you on fire with his mind? I'm not ... ok, not my universe, not my rules," Dillon says.