jaunt > walkabout, filtered and double protected

[leftbehindagain]

[Naoki's been at a bit of a loss as to what to do on this jaunt, it's true, but it has occurred to him that he knows some people who might be able to help.

...Who are not here. And might be infiltrating. He can't remember if Minako replied to Armin's earlier infodump or not; he was mostly listening for Kanji, who didn't say anything.

In the end, it's a pretty small filter. If Kanji's there they should talk; if Chie's there, she deserves to know what's going on; and depending on how quiet things are, Minako might be glad of the potential escape too. Jean sounded content to spend some time with Eren and Mikasa, so Naoki leaves him off the line. Jauntside, he's only got Thorne on, so that she knows whether she needs to go pick anyone up, and has a start on how many people might be leaving.]

Kanji? Are you infiltrating, or did you just ignore Armin-san? Things are getting... interesting, on this side of things.

Comments

[truerevelation]

-whoa, hey!

Hi, Naoki!

Yeah, I heard him sayin' something? But ... wasn't sure if he was just talkin' to talk. Think I missed a lot of it. What's goin' on?

[leftbehindagain]

We're pretty sure the time travel was for Fortune, for a start. Thorne-san and some others tried to go bother her in Liminal Space. I'd meant to call you before that, but I got distracted.

We're on Mars, but most of the point seems to be stealing cows. Or, well, stealing some of them back from the people with power. Some of the herd they were showing off with when we got here was intended to go directly to the smaller towns to make it easier for them to support themselves. Dairy is a stupidly expensive luxury for most of these people, and that's not even getting into being able to eat meat.

Oh, and Naoto's apparently infiltrating as Sherlock Holmes. We had some idea about that when Armin-san poked you guys, but I think most of the heavy lifting in that regard's going to cme after the jaunt regardless.

[highsteaks]

WHAT?!?

[Oh hi, there's Chie.]

Oh, that is not on. Where are these guys? I'll kick them all in the face.

[seestheworld]

I feel like I probably shouldn't be surprised, since they named themselves Erebus rather than something more subtle like The Totally Not Evil Corporation, but still.

[leftbehindagain]

[Yeah, he had a feeling that might happen.]

I think the bigger idea with getting people cows is so they can do their own dairy production, but it'd probably lead to more meat down the road, too. As for where the people controlling supply are, the shinier tech they have, the more likely they benefit from the current arrangement.

[leftbehindagain]

I hadn't given the name much thought, but it is suitably ominous-sounding.

[seestheworld]

Yeah, it's kind of a weird choice.

So... cow stealing?

[highsteaks]

... yeah, but. It's still not right. Do you know anyone who can bring us over? [Wait. Should she be volunteering Kanji and Minako already?] Us... as in me and Muku and Firia... [Yeah, no, he's not going to believe that.]

[truerevelation]

Infiltratin' as - what? I had a feelin' something was going on, but ... well, that explains why I couldn't find her, huh. Man, talk about that resonance crap.

But damn. These just - normal cows? Not like space cows? Assholes in charge going "look at our cows that you ain't got" or something, that right? Tch. How's that going?

[He pauses for a moment.]

... And Fortune, huh. Man. That- explains a lot.

[He can think of a certain horse who'll be as happy as its idiom can manage.]

[thornsofmalkav]

Yep. Fortune. Sorry that Naoki didn't get to you before the big trip, but we never actually made it to her conversation space, because she locked it up. She just dumped us in my movie theatre and talked to us through the speakers.

[leftbehindagain]

No kidding. [It's bound to be... interesting for Naoto, but that's unlikely to be a pressing concern until after the jaunt. Besides, regular de-infiltration probably wouldn't do her or Sherlock any favors.]

Considering the locals stole all the cows well before anyone found out they were rightful owners of at least some of them, I'd say it's not going very well for Erebus. Riddick-san and Yukino-san have been here before - not just to Mars, actually here for this heist - and from what they've been able to piece together, it's going a lot more smoothly this time out.

It does, doesn't it?

[leftbehindagain]

Cow stealing. Seventy of them. I stayed in the city rather than try to get into stuff I know I'm not prepared for.

[leftbehindagain]

[Yes. Totally only Chie and her animal companions. Very definitely.]

Thorne-san's on the line so she knows if anyone needs a lift out of there, and roughly how many people to look out for.

[truerevelation]

[Kanji's just hoping that it doesn't do a number on Naoto's 'but I have to be a detective all the time' feelings...]

...bet they've got some interesting things to ask her, huh.

But - heh. Good to know we've got our act together on some things since the good old days. Nice work.

[thornsofmalkav]

I can get about five normally and twice that if I dig deep in my reserves. Which I should be able to do if I come alone. It turns out that bridging by yourself and bridging with other people count separately for the skill cooldown.

[leftbehindagain]

[If it does, they'll have no way of knowing until after the jaunt. If it doesn't... well, they'll have no way of knowing until after the jaunt.]

I'm sure they do, or they wouldn't have gone to this trouble.

It did occur to me that you might be able to help over here, if you wanted to come over. There's a lot of radio chatter going around, and we're closing in on the point where there's going to be some kind of showdown. Someone who could make sense of Erebus' plans before they're fully enacted would be incredibly useful.

[seestheworld]

Yeah, I can see why.

[Cow-stealing isn't exactly in her wheelhouse, either.]

So the point of the Jaunt is... to make sure the cows are successfully stolen? And also possibly bring Fortune back?

[leftbehindagain]

...huh. That's useful.

[truerevelation]

...nah, it's alright. Going pokin' people across the whole divide and all, with everything else going on, woulda been a pain in the ass.
Can't blame her for locking you guys out, mind.

[leftbehindagain]

I think so, yeah.

[seestheworld]

And possibly to bust Totally Not An Evil Corporation Corporation for being evil?

[truerevelation]

Huh? Well... could probably tap their communications fine, yeah. The actual working out of plans bit is a whole different thing.

But. Right. Coming over. I... We're off on an expedition here. It's ... it's Piyo's world. Dunno if you heard while Armin was... doing whatever.

[thornsofmalkav]

Actually, though, if you want to come over, we could actually really use you. We've got one of those cases like with Naoto where the Former Traveler's figured out that he's got one of us Infiltrating as him and, like, I can't Fully De-Infiltrate him because I did it too recently, but you could. Unless you did it lately too and your goo reserves are too low like mine.

[truerevelation]

Haven't had to do any infiltrator ... anything. Ain't had to do crap-all, really. Done a bit of scanning and scouting, but ... shit, mosta the folks over here are better at this long-distance adventure stuff than I am.

Woulda been nice to see more of this place, but... I dunno.

[thornsofmalkav]

It sort of makes sense, though. Bridging with other people is, like, advanced bridging. So if you're good enough to bring other people, you've probably built up enough bridging ability to pull it off a second time just by yourself, even if you're burnt out on other people.