As everyone continued to try and rationalize the death of Gi'Laduche, Florida man showed up and explained how he can now wrestle a dinosaur. Socket not wanting to deal with anyone mentioned something about having to work on the boats and scurried off while there was a warm welcoming for Florida man, which promptly ended as the guests woke up and started to look around.
Jenny woke and came out to ask everyone one at a time what happened to Gi'Ladouche ending with Butch gathering everyone up and explaining he saw Gi'Ladouche go off into the woods the night before with a rifle. This is when Riggis came out and was very perturbed to announce that his rifle had been stolen.
Lexington and Socket made a show of heading into the woods to look for Gi'Ladouche coming back to the compound right before the next batch of tourists would be arriving, obviously empty handed. Kage explained to Riggis that his lost property would be paid for out of insurance funds since it appears to have been stolen by another guest. Jenny appeared to be disappointed but not overly upset or concerned about her loss, which didn't stop Ray from being very kind and trying his best to offer condolences.
When the tourist buss arrived with its mercenary guards, Anton (Matthew) walked off with Kage again to discuss some business as the new tourists exited and the old tourists got ready to head home, with one less. Florida Man tried immediately to sell them small wicker representations of himself before wandering off to try and make hims self some " 'sploring clothes ".
The new group of tourists consisted of two middle aged women and another young couple. The middle aged women seemed a bit somber and unexcited during Ray's welcome speech, during which everyone was very careful to observe the dangerous plants. Right from the start, the young man Billy appeared to not have wanted to come on this trip, but instead was catering to his wife, Zoey's interests.
Kage and Anton had gone into the main office and once again as they came out, they were observed having a hushed conversation which included Anton again apparently pointing out someone but it was not clear who. This peaked Butch's interest in what might be going on, and he made a note to bring it up later.
With the formality out of the way, and with the danger from the last tour still fresh in everyone's head, everyone but Socket went with the new tourists to the north to show off the Stegosaurus pod that lived there. The trip was very uneventful other than Billy complaining a bit that he was not comfortable with all these 'DBs' around. On the way back, Butch overheard Angela and Mallory having a quite conversation in which Mallory appeared to be trying to calm Angela and explain that she was safe here.
That evening they had a nice dinner and Florida Man tried his hand at entertaining the guests. His story was a bit hard to follow and ended a little dramatically, leaving the guests a bit confused and frightened. Ray stepped in and relayed the story of a group of adventurers and a haunted hotel in the middle of the dinosaur swamp (see weeks 5 & 6) which they all very much enjoyed and everyone went to bed feeling good.
Butch, Florida Man and Ray approached Kage and Lexington to ask about what Butch observed with Anton and they were basically told, don't worry about it. It was explained that the CS had mental interrogators and they could not get in trouble for things they didn't know. The implication of course was that Kage and Lexington were trying to protect the employees by withholding some kind of information which seemed to sit just fine with everyone but Butch who just got more agitated and curious.
The following morning as the days preparations were being made, Kage announced they would be heading to the Kopar to do site seeing and shopping. Butch, Florida Man and Ray were approached by a man calling himself Henry and asking for Lexington. The man was obviously Kopar and this fact appeared to be either lost on Florida Man or he simply did not care that he may be inciting violence as he flashed some ritual hand signs taught to him byt he Kopar's sworn enemy, the SEEGA. Ray stepped in to calm the situation down and they pointed his toward the main office building. Everyone continued their preparations and after breakfast, Lexington and Henry emerged and Henry left. Lexington took Mallory and Angela aside to have a private discussion and then they got ready to go to the Kopar city.
The trip was again uneventful and everyone appeared to be having a good time. When they reached the Kopar city, Billy did not appear to be excited about the prospect of going in and wanted to wait in the car. Ray made an attempt to dissuade him from doing this, but at the last minute, Butch offered to stay behind with him.
In the market Jenny appeared to be having a good time shopping with Florida Man and Ray while Lexington, Mallory and Angela moved off to look at some other things. Ray bought some small toys for 'his kids' at the orphanage and Jenny bought a lot of nice ferro-glass crystal jewelry. As they entered a larger market situated in an old intersection, the two groups were separated by a group of half dozen men who appeared to be lead by Henry, who no one recognized or remembered having only briefly met him earlier in the day.
Just then, an altercation started off on the other corner of the market catching everyone's attention. There was some confusion and alarm causing Ray and Florida Man to head toward Lexington and the others. Ray spent a few minutes getting Zoey secure and so arrived near Lexington and the others just in time to see Angela duck under a table. Florida Man had arrived a moment earlier and actually thought he heard Angela and Mallory exchange good byes before he also saw her duck under a table. When Lexington realized everyone else had arrived, he started to frantically search for Angela and Mallory appeared to realize that she was gone as well causing her to begin to panic. Lexington was trying to get everyone to leave and then they would re-convene in a safe place and figure out how to find Angela, but Florida Man convinced of what he saw, attempted to briefly discover Angela's route of egress only to be called crazy and get harassed by the merchant who's stall she would have had to pass under and through.
When they got back to the 'boat' Butch demanded to know what was going on and it was explained that Angela had gone missing. Ray and Florida Man headed off into the Kopar city again to try and find Angela, while Bitch took Lexington off into the woods a ways to see if he could get some answers. Once out of earshot of the 'boat' Butch attempted to coerce answers about what he knew out of Lexington with the barrel of his formidable weapon, causing Lexington to become agitated and punch Bitch in the face while shoving the weapon rather forcefully away. Lexington rather violently declared that this was not the time or the place and that Butch was paid to do a job and not ask questions. For the time Butch let it go and then he went back to the Kopar city to help find Angela.
Florida Man and Ray scoured the town looking for 'Henry' who they had recognized in the crowd and got some information from a security guard who actually expressed interest in the man, calling him Harold. After more searching with a name and a description, they found that the town was reluctant to discuss the shady figure but eventually did so leading them to a strip club in the shadier parts of town.
When they arrived, they were challenged by the front guard but Ray managed to confuse him and they entered. Butch was hot on their heels and also managed to intimidate the front guard and gained entry. Together they found their guy in a back corner. Ray simply pushed through the security that was obstructing them and Henry/Harold seemed OK with this. A few minutes into the conversation Henry realized that Butch was someone he knew being one of the people who brokered the
deal to get his very heavy gun through the black market. They had a conversation which consisted of Henry dodging a lot of questions but generally reassuring the group that Angela was gone and she wanted it that way. He offered to sell them some weapons and Ray managed to arrange to exchange weapons from the CS APC they recently got a hold of for the parts they needed to fix it.
Other than Mallory being inconsolable on the ride home, it was an uneventful trip. When they arrived Butch was salty as ever and dinner prep was made. Ray and Florida Man tried unsuccessfully to comfort Mallory, with Ray offering kind words and hope and Florida Man offering to teach her the game of 'stream jump', which he then gleefully wandered off and did himself when she refused.
That night after dinner, Kage made sure everyone knew they were paid and then made sure that everyone knew he and Lexington were a couple. He then mentioned that Lexington had his blind trust and because of the danger that certain information, which could be read from their minds posed to the business and their own personal safety, he was happy to be ignorant of a lot of the details of the 'extra' business ventures that Lexington was orchestrating. This seemed to sit well with everyone but Butch who demanded full disclosure. After everyone left, Lexington gave it to him.
Apparently Dinotours excursions was not just in the tourist trade, but also in effect in the insurance fraud business. They would 'dispose' of specific tourists as is previously arranged and they would also aide others to gain freedom and safety, for a price of course. Angela had to escape because she was a mystic and would have been hunted and exterminated by the CS. Where as Gi'Ladouche was disposed of by contract because he had a sizable insurance policy that Jenny and others would collect on. Butch reiterated that he wanted to be in the know from now on and was curious how he knew when he was supposed to respond with full force to try and get someone back. Lexington simply told him he would know if it happened.
The following day, Ray again tried to console Mallory as she left but to no avail and Zoey and Billy left happy. The new batch of tourists was a group of Tween kids and their parents along with other people. This group was the first to be there for more than two nights and Everyone seemed excited about the prospect of going to visit the SEEGA. What could possibly go wrong.
Ray still doesn't really understand personal loss, since he's never experienced it as such but he was at least trying his best, in the somewhat awkward, sincere fashion of a young man who also doesn't understand dying very well either. On the bright side, Florida man was happy to be provided with a massive amount of pseudo-alligator leather from the beastie that chased the car, so the day wasn't a complete loss.
ReplyDeleteTelling stories on the other hand, he understood very well - a legacy of his having curled up on Cage's lap (for about a day) then in front of his feet and listening to the ones the older man would tell of anything that came to mind, and the first night the new guests were in town he did his bit to regale them in that fashion with fine native flair and a certain natural knack for making scary noises. Although not as scary as Florida Man.
Whatever he may be invulnerable to in the way of personal weapons, Ray remains patently sensitive to personal conflict and the speed with which he jumped in to keep Florida Man and the Kopar from their falling out - as well as his eagerness to placate the nervous Coalition husband - continued to pay peaceful dividends even when he patiently explained to the unhappy gentleman that coming with them would expose him to native barbarians but staying with the car would mean he might meet some of the local raptor packs (whom he happily described by name).
With Butch therefore providing security at the car, everyone else headed into town where Ray variously enthused about the children he rescued and bought them trinkets, proved to be better at keeping track of things in a crowd than anyone would expect and turned out to have a natural knack for dealing with the criminal underworld that took him from no local knowledge to being face to face with a senior member of the local black market in a little less than an hour. For whatever reason, no-one ever stopped to think that this might be odd, but then again it is Ray we're talking about here.
Who appears to have a natural knack for arms deals and re-purposing high performance vehicles for shady endeavours.
Nah, it's probably nothing.