Category: Sci-fi

Sindaria Part 2 – New Runner City

I found Sindaria via a Scoop.it article that led me through to a Blog post about the Cyberpunk area of Sindaria. At the time of writing my previous post on Sindaria, I hadn’t fully read the said blog post, for which I owe the author an apology for seeming rather dismissive of it,when that wasn’t my intention. Anyway onto my visit to this city. Obviously this time I took the other teleport doorway, the one lit with neon.

The teleporter to New Runner City

This brings me to a large circular platform surrounded by skyscrapers with giant ad boards on them (not actual advertising for inworld stores or services, RP related). The one that stood out the most was one for a place called “Galaxy Glub”, so clearly a place I’d have to look at. Nearby is a shuttle landing platform that I headed for.

The shuttle landing platform

Before I left however I thought I’d mention the eco-dome type structure containing a few trees. A nod to the other theme on the region, like the police car in the Elven Woodland area below. At the shuttle platform I hit the big green call button and a shuttle could be heard approaching and landed next to me and I boarded.

The shuttle system is fairly impressive with quite a number of locations it will take you. I picked a location at random and the shuttle tok off and flew me down to a lower level, rather smoothly.

At the bottom I found myself a short distance from the Galaxy Club so I went to investigate. As Secondlife clubs go this was fairly mediocre, but given the region is meant for RP not parties, this is understandable, much more effort has been spent elsewhere.

Back outside I found a teleport station, again with a reasonable number of destinations. This is good, because as I explored I kept finding more to see, similar to Hangars Liquides, but on a smaller scale. I ended up at what appeard to be the rear of the club, near the entrance to another unidentified building. No signage and a locked door. What was beyond this place however I found more interesting.

Rain. Yes I know sounds weird, but when most people try to add weather to a place in SL, it looks dreadful. Not that it’s something you deliberately look for, but it stood out to me because it was so atmospherically accurate and appropriate to the setting.

Rain, that actualy felt like rain.

To my left I saw what appeared to be pink crosses so went to investigate, I guess even cyberpunks need religion, but this seemed more of the Vegas variety.

I headed out in the opposite direction to see how far the rain went and where the road led. The rain didn’t extend far, but the road does, lots of winding bends, leading downhill. The further down you go, the scruffier it gets, more proligic garffiti and the like abound.

I didn’t explore much more of the region beyond this, it would take quite some time with the city being so large. Lots of RP locations everywhere and multiple transport methods to find and get to them. If you like your Cyberpunk RP this is a place to definitely check out. Usually I keep my writing about SL, because making comparisons to PC games is usually like comparing chalk and cheese. However while I was writing this peice I saw a video that mentions the much hyped Cyberpunk 2077 game. I haven’t played the game on any platform so I watched it with inerest to hear a critical analysis. It was mentioned a few times that the linear nature of the game didn’t allow for much aesthetic character customisation or Roleplay in what was meant to be an Roleplaying Game. But to me that’s like trying to hammer a nail with the handle of a screwdriver, it’ll work, but isn’t the right tool. You want to aesthetically customise you character to your hearts desire with few constraints and have freeform RP? Sign up to SecondLife and spend the game price on Lindens (at time of writing that’s about $L 16,400) to customize your avie to your hearts desire. Then visit the cyberpunk location of your choice and RP away. Obviously if you want to go round shooting folk and NPC’s as part of a structured plot, it’s not for you, but if your focus is the “RP” in RPG give it a go. Landing Point: https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sindaria/58/91/1089 Website: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/sindaria-scarlet-fey The Cyberpunk 2077 video mentioned: Youtube

Outfit:

This post was featured on the SecondLife Community Blog on 20th January 2021.

The Varuna Project: Entertainment District

I decided to follow up on my post about The Varuna Project and explore the parts I missed out, I really didnt do some parts justice on my ast visit.

The main hub area has 4 exits and I only explored two, or at least thought I had, but seems I missed lots out.

Starting at the hub, 2 sets of escalators up from the landing point,the next exit along was according to a sign, “Inspiration Park” so I headed there.

Looked and shrugged basically. (Sorry S..)

It’s an alcove with some seating and a couple of tree-like metal arches. Not particularly inspiring, I’d say it might be a nice quiet place to reflect or think. Reflection Park would suit better.

The 4th alcove round the curved wall wasn’t even signposted, but doesn’t really need it. It’s a transport point.

By the look of it the idea is a small shuttle/submersible that would carry you through tubes to different parts of the complex. In practical inworld terms, it’s a teleport system.

I tried each of the different destinations to see where I ended up.

The last place I tried was the Entertainment option, thinking I’d covered it already. How wrong I was!

I arrived and was presented with rubbish bags, literally piled up outside,so this is different..

I stepped out into a tight corridor that appeared to dead end not far away. (The owner later commented to me “There no dead-ends at Varuna”.)

There was a lift door however, so I decended

Which took me down to the very lowest level, that I fell to previously and now know is called The Hollows. Since I’d already explored down there, I came straight back up.

When the door opened again I found an opening opposite, dark and featuring pink neon.

Clearly the corridor with rubbish bags wasn’t a dead end, it was a junction. I had a bit of an investigate, though pink neon is usually a bit of a clue, adult entertainment.

Coming out the continuing corridor that seemed much brighter and very promising.

This corridor opens out into a rather large shopping-mall style area.

Across the main floor from me was a coffee shop called “The Joint”,  with a large green neon sign saying “WEED”. I’d suspect their cookies are rather moorish.

Inside was a small dancefloor and the coffee serving counter, nothing too exciting.

Across from The Joint, is a trip club called Voltaic.

Following on into the next room through a circular doorway;

there’s some other vendor booths,but what draws my attention is a train.

Yes of all things, a train car made into a dining area. Maybe there was a nasty accident on the surface and it fell off a bridge or something and got salvaged, who knows.

I took a seat for a moment but the food didn’t look very appetising.

The food didn’t look too appetizing

Outside there is another tunnel, I had a brief look and could see it seemed to go on for quite some distance with various junctions coming off it. Maybe to be explored another day. (I found out later that the private rental accommodation is down the far end, so best I didin’t disturb anyone.)

I took the first door I came to, which was a lift that took me up to a rather classier style of establishment It was as I walked through these rooms I realised my previous mistake. I was directly *above* the club I’d previously visited and had completely missed it!

There’s a fancy piano bar and an observatory bar where the rich could look out at the beautiful oceanscape view while sipping their overpriced drinks.

How I missed the lift outside the club..I don’t know..lured by the neon I guess to see what lay within.

The room I passed on the right on my first visit..

then a cafe

..turns out it isn’t a dead end, there’s a lift at the back of there too.

I began my first post on the Varuna Project with references to Hangars Liquides and Drune, but I didn’t really draw an actual conclusion at the end. I briefly dropped by Hangars Liquides before finishing this post to refresh my memory, glad I did. It reminded me that it’s not quite so shiny (as in darker with more graffiti) as I remembered, especially with EEP implemented now.

The lower levels at Varuna are definitely like Drune in parts, but like Hangars Liquides in others. Having now seen the more luxurious area of the Entertainment District at Varnus Project, the bar put me in mind of the Voodoo club in Drune, but larger and plusher. Whatever your taste or favoured genre of entertainment, you can probably find a setting for it here.

If you didnt take the time to explore The Varuna Project yet, it’s definitely one to be seen. If you did see it already, it’s worth a seconf look.

Landing point:Location Closed 12th March 2021

Website: https://www.thevarunaproject.com/

 

Region Rating: Adult.
Although most video games classed 15 are more graphic than this place. As with Last Chance City, it’s the potential RP and peoples actions that might require the rating.

Outfit:

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The Varuna Project

This place is an amazing deep sea sc-fi roleplay location. That description doesn’t do it justice at all. The premise is the surface becoming uninhabitable due to a deadly virus. So a deep sea leisure resort for the wealthiest of the wealthy (which hides a dodgy research facility below) is the last refuge of humanity. There are a few places/builds in SL that you can judge Sci-Fi builds against, in my opinion there are two main ones: Drune and the other is Hangars Liquides ( I really need to do an updated post on that place). The Varuna Project includes elements similar to both.

The upper levels are clean, clinical appearance of sci-fi film settings, similar to Hangars Liquides. The lower levels are very much like Drune, deteriorated, scruffy and graffitied under neon lights. The difference though is also the size of this area, with lots of winding tunnnels it feels bigger than Drune,despite the actual footprint being only slightly larger. The landing point is a large circular area with various info boards and signage. It felt simiar to my visit to New Frontiers, except much slicker and streamined. The place isn’t cluttered or overloading you with stuff to read or click on. There are in fact just 3 boards to look at:

You’ll see in the first image there are large screens at the escalators saying “RP Begins January 10th. Enjoy 🙂 ” My visit was on 8th January, so no doubt these will have gone by the time of posting, there may also be other changes. You leave the area via a couple of escalators At the top of the first one I found a Sushi bar, but what’s more interesting is actually the windows on this level. A glimpse out these windows gives you a glimpse of the scale of the place.



You might be forgiven for thinkng maybe there were just scenes on the windows

I took the escalator again up to the next level, which is ringed with corridors leading off it. I thought I’d check them out one at a time, the first one was signposted “Entertainment District”.

Back to the main hub and down the next corridor, this on signposted “NANTEC: Solarium,Pharmasuticals Cybernetics”.

The next level down in the lift however is when things start to go from Strar Trek to Resident Evil, because it’s a lab.

At the back is another innocuous door that you wouldn’t look twice at, but to where it leads

The exit from the lab

Whereupon we find security scanners you have to pass through and cages..no more Mr Nice Scientist!

Through the corridor you navigate a couple of glass elevators until you find yourself here…where the place starts to feel much like Drune. First thing you come to however is what looks to be a booth selling antique diving gear?

Then the place opens up to a series of walkways which I followed around to a surprise discovery.

A Basketball court? This far underwater? Guess they’ve gotta exercise somewhere.

I was rather surpised to see this down here, that when I turned around I fell off the walkway. Then got a little lost, exploring all the suboceanic environment of corridors and tunnels. You might ask why didn’t I just fly up or something? When I’m exploring a place I try to keep it real, as you would expected to do in a roleplay scenario.

There is lots to see here and I only explored 2 of the corridors off the main hub. Wandering around the place seemed to go on forever, elevators,tunnels and stairways leading into different areas of the seabed structures. This is intended as an organised roleplay region with related rules/codes of conduct. There are factions and clases of characters you can choose to play as. So if you want to RP here, definitely read the website.

Website: https://www.thevarunaproject.com/

Landing point: Location Closed 12th March 2021

Region Rating: Adult. Although most video games classed 15 are more graphic than this place. As with Last Chance City, it’s the potential RP and peoples actions  that might require the rating.

Folloup post: Varuna Project: Entertainment District

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Drune: Babalon

Another district of Drune is unveiled to us!

In a similar style but not ground layout as the previous build (Drune Crossroads), Drune Babalon is full of lights in a dark setting.

Like Crossroads you arrive by tube (Subway), although this time the arrival point is in a carriage rather than on the platform.

You’re not in the wrong place, walk forward!

Unfortunately the TP routing drops you too close to the back of the carriage when using the default camera position. Just take a step forward.

Walk along the carriage til you come to the doors

and step out onto the platform

Exit up the stair into a much smaller lobby leading out onto the street:

I went left and across the street to the purple steps and what looked interestingly like some kind of portal

Which took me into a small club calle “Peaches”. The neon lights change very regularly to different colours, giving the club a different feel from minute to minute, but thankfully not at a fast flickering speed.

Coming back out I saw a weapons shop across the street, a reminder of the dark kind of RP that could be found here.

Maybe it’s close to the station for a reason, but I came prepared with my own.

Along the street I find a club East of Eden, but didn’t go inside

The building across the street was more intruiging..”Jesus Saves..with Drune Central Bank”. I wondered whether I find pews or bank teller cubicles inside.

Turned out it was neither, the church had been converted into a nightclub,the pulpit the DJ Booth.

Out on the street again I see a neon sign for another potentially interesting place to investigate, a Fight Club.

This place wasn’t too surprising on the inside, exactly as it proclaimed.

While I explored it became evident that while the layout of the streets near the station were similar to Crossroads, there was more levels to Babalon. The Crossroads had another level but it was high up above street level, here the levels are more evident, due to a waterway running through the region. This meant there was a lower waterside level.

So obviously I had to explore the lower level and see what trouble may be found.

However before I descended I spotted a tiny detail on the bridge, just some puddles, but is another example of the attention to detail in Drune builds.

Only in SL might puddles deserve a photo, but the detail caught my eye.

As I descended to the lower level I could see some brightly lit places that might warrant later investigation.

Down on the lower level however I found a fun looking Rock Club

But Drune being a Roleplay simulation, it’s unlikely it’ll see any dancing.

Back outside I found there was a walkway that ran underthe bridges, but no way to cross the river without getting wet.

I retraced my steps and crossed over to look at the other places I’d seen. The most brightly lit turned out to be a chinese restaraunt. As you would expect from a Drune build,while not particularly exciting, this wasn’t just an empty facade.

Nearby however I found a small starirway and followed it up.

On the upper level I found a small cafe and access onto a walkway similar to that of Crossroads, but not quite as extensive.

When I reached the end of the walkway and a brief rest, I took the quickest way down to the ground, off the edge again. The fal being much shorterthan the one in Crossroads!

Back on the ground I found another instance of the Vooddoo club

At the end of my post about Crossroads, I commented that it could probably have got away with a Moderate rating,due to the establishment signage being merely suggestive and absence of adult furniture. So I thought I’d have a look and see if the same was true here.

When I arrived I’d tried a few doors and they seemed to have combination locks keeping the public out, seems I’d just been clicking the wrong part of the lock.

So first stop was a massage parlor, which turned to have functioning massage couches.

Then the more flagrant establishment across from the station..which was pretty much as you’d expect,but more peepshow type than couples animations.

So this district of Drune definitely requires it’s Adult rating. But as you can see, this is just fairly small aspect of the highly detailed cyberpunk build. Which along with bars and clubs, even includes your regular mundane service vendors..

As always we never know how long these builds will stay around, so go check it out before its gone.

Arrival point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Blissful%20Summer/135/184/2496 (Region Rating :Adult)

Note on lighting: This Drune build uses an EEP shared lighting model, you’ll get a notecard about it when you arrive. If you don’t have EEP viewer thinks might look different.
(Also besides EEP implementation the photos got a whole lot better since the Crosroads post because I got a sweet new laptop with much better graphics!)

Outfit Credits:

This post was featured on the SecondLife Community Blog on 5th January 2021.

Drune Crossroads

Drune is back!

I missed the last incarnation of this place, since it doesn’t seem to stay for long, so I’m pleased I got to visit this time around. Hopefully it’ll still be there for you to visit when you read this.

To set the scene this is the land description:

Drune Crossroads
A drift down memory lane, with an eldritch tone. Cyberpunk Streets, Cyber Punk City, Sci Fi, Bladerunner, Lovecraft

So you can expect lots of bright neon lights, dark alleyways and (non-drivable)flying cars.

The arrival point is an Underground (Subway) station.

exit through the ticket barriers up the escalator as you would a real station.

This takes you up into a waiting room

Now we get to the interesting part, exiting this area takes you out into a main street where you are bombarded with the expected neon and shopfronts.

You then come to what must be the proclaimed “crossroads”.

You may have noticed in the last picture in the previous gallery I passed a blue Christmas tree, this becomes relevant when you reach the crosroads.

There’s different coloured trees in different directions, this helps you keep your bearings, when at street level at least. I picked red and went that way.

Drune has lots of little nooks and crannies full of detail, as I walked I saw a sliding door open slightly and had a peek.

This one was a car repair place,not super interesting from my point of view, but illustrates the detail put into the place.

When I got to the end of the road there was a junction

I headed right towards the pink neon lighting a stairwell and wasn’t surprised what I found..a bar with a some rather evocative statues at the entrance and some fun solo dance furniture.

Heading through to the back I had a look down at the street below

Next I retraced my steps down to ground level and took the opposite alley that took me to a ground level bar with a somewhat classier feel.

I then took a nearby fire-escape style staircase which seemed to go on for ever, when I reached the top I look over the edge…it’s a long way down!

However up at the top is a whole nother way of seeing the city, via a maze of walkways.

When I reached the apparent end there seemed to fortunately be a lift back down

But when I took it down and followed the subsequent corridor..It led to a locked door!

I had no choice but to go back up and walk around the gangways. But as I said, it’s a bit of a maze and couldn’t find the stairs! I decided to abandon my pedestrian approach that I try to stick to when exploring and took the express route back to the ground, that you could only get away with in SL, jump over the railing. The fall seemed even further than it looked.

Back on the ground I’d landed in what at first glance was a sex venue of some kind, til I read the second line “Cosmetic Surgery”, not what you normally might associate red or pnk neon with, also not a roleplay avenue I’d want to pursue!

On the whole another great incarnation of the cityscape, worth visiting for sure, lots to be found with lots of attention to detail.

Arrival point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Real%20Angel%20Estate/33/128/37 Region Rating: Adult
(although it could probaby get away with being rated Moderate, if it weren’t for a few revealing photos on an upper level,since the signage everywhere appears to be merely suggestive and I didn’t find any furniture with adult animations.)

This post was featured on the SecondLife Community Blog on 14th December 2020

New Frontiers

I was scrolling through the SL Destination Guide and I was finding lots of seasonal places, quaint Christmas themed locations and the like. Then I saw New Frontiers which looked much more my kind of place.

The arrival point takes you to a raised platform with a number of Staff and Management online status boards as well as consoles which provided links to online resources.

It also has the regions HUD vendor, but unless you knew what you were looking for, you might miss it.

The HUD vendor is grey, surrounded by other grey stuff and lost in Hovetext everywhere.

It wasn’t til I read the Starter Guide which has an image of the vendor located in a past incarnation of their landing point that I spotted it.

Anyway I carried on exploring without the HUD on my first visit. Down the steps at the opposite side of the platform, thier lore is quite detailed and there are a number of Factions your character can join.

There are TP doors to either side of the staircase, I took the one to the left at random.

I head into town to have a look around, the usual things are to be found, a bar and some other buildings as well as paths out of town.

Since the bar was deserted at that hour I headed out of town, which took me onto a forest trail.

After a short walk I came across a building that was clearly the headquarters of one of the Factions mentioned at the arrival point. So proceeding with caution I went to explore.

The Faction complex entrance

To the side is another building I thought I’d check out first, this seems to be some kind of meeting room, so on into the main building I went.

Clicking the red square in the middle of the main door takes you inside to a cave-like tunnel, which leads to a 3-floor lift.

I hit the button for the 2nd level to begin my descent. Finding nothing of interest there I hit the button for level 1, which was more promising.

Down to Level 1..

On level 1 there’s a locked door that obviously lets you into the Factions HQ proper. I’ve seen these locks in SL before, presuming this one is the same,the combination pad is functional and you need the combination to proceed. So that brings this particular exploration to an abrupt end for now.

If you like Sci-Fi roleplay this looks like a very promising place to try, or just to explore and photograph. I only tried one of the TP doors from the arrival room, so there’s plenty more to explore that I haven’t covered.

Landing Point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Caymen%20Shores/172/189/2126

Wiki: http://www.newfrontiers.co/wiki/index.php/New_Player_Guide#Visiting_the_sim

(Note: going to the Homepage newfrontiers.co prompted a warning from my security software so I didn’t visit that part of the site.)

Hellas Crater – Watchtower and Bunker

I have an update to share about the Hellas Platina Crater Roleplay set on Mars.

So what’s new? After the expansion I wrote about  (and was featured on Secondlife Community Blog) at the beginning of August,a new RP area has been added. This consists of an office, a watchtower and a security bunker. Penny, who I first met IC (In-Character) during The Unexpected Delivery RP, showed me the new additions.

Penny and I at the new RP area

The largest of these additions is the bunker.

The Bunker entrance

Having a dedicated security headquarters,will give my character more of a functional base to work from rather than a container crate home. It was decided my character with her history of dealing with weapons (see The AMZ Delivery Lady) should take on the role of handling crater security and the bunker is where that will be run from.

With these additions, there have also been removals. The cargo container accommodations previously mentioned have been removed.

The storage container homes have been removed

These container homes are all very well as being a known story element location to refer to, but since most people don’t usually RP in them much, they don’t actually need to exist.

Penny reworked the area with some greenhouses once they were removed.

I’m looking forward trying out theses new areas in an RP, maybe we’ll need a troublemaker that needs dealing with. Come along and join in!

Landing Point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kind/182/178/3001

Cocoon

Cocoon is a Cyberpunk Roleplay location, but with a slight difference, as you will see.

Arrival point

The story lore incorporates various races/beings

Don’t forget to collect a visitor tag before you leave the arrival point

Once you arrive in the RP area find the taxi, clicking it will give you a grid displaying various locations to visit.

The various locations are what you would normally expect to find in a place of this genre.

However if you choose the “Main Starport” option on the taxi board, this is where things get a little different. Because here you will find a couple of vehicles that transport you to slightly different themed places.

The Limo-style one takes you to a location referred to as “Luna” and is very clean and utopian in style:

The other transport takes you a considerably more run down location, apparently located on Mars:

There’s certainly a lot to explore here and plenty of scope for RP storylines with the various race and faction options to choose from. Drop by and have a look if Sci-Fi or Cyberpunk are your thing.

A note if you’re going along just to take pictures. The default windlight is quite dark as you can see, so choose a lighter outfit if you’re going to use it. You can see in the first pic my suit was black and found I had to change that as soon as I left landing area because I was pretty much invisible (good for roleplay maybe, not for pictures).

Arrival Point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Esperia/236/163/4086

Website: https://darkfuture.wixsite.com/slrp/
(updated Nov 2023)

Featured on SecondLife Community Blog 13th November 2020.

Sharke and the Doctor

As promised I approached the greenhouse area intending to visit Penny, as I said I would at our last meeting.

On arrival I see Seffy perched on top of the chicken coop and a couple strangers in the vicinity. There’s a man next to Penny outside the greenhouse and a woman by chicken coop.

The woman is talking about how roast chicken was appealing. Seffy pointed out that unfortunately despite wanting fried chicken, she’d been told they were more useful as a supply of eggs. I agreed with that after offering greetings to all.

Penny doesn’t make any introductions of the strangers to me,which seemed odd. However listening to their conversation I gathered she was still trying to find out the man’s name and he was being evasive.

I notice someone come up behind me and move towards the greenhouses so they’re not directly behind me. Not taking in their appearance at that point, just they were very large in stature.

Moving on into and through the greenhouse building, I had a look around while listening to the conversation between the first man I’d seen and Penny. By the time I’d emerged at the other end of the building it was revealed he wished to be addressed as “Sharke”.

Sharke

The unknown woman blurted out a barely understandable sentence before leaving the area hastily. Evidently not comfortable with the growing number of strangers around.

The unknown woman before she took flight

As I emerge from the greenhouse I’m now facing the stranger that had come from behind me, he’d come closer. I could see another reason the woman may have bolted. He.. presumed from stature, was not human. Humanoid in shape but his head was elongated and his skin appeared leathery.

Humanoid, but not Human..what *is* this thing I wonder.

So I ran a scan with my optical implant. Originally intended for detecting dangerous goods in packages, I’d had a few upgrades made to it. The result showed that the outlines of internal organs seemed to be in the right places for a human, so maybe he was once? I’d noticed his pistol with my regular eye already, the scan revealed just some spare ammo in his long jacket and random stuff in his bag.

Out of curiosity I did the same scan on the other guy, Sharke, talking to Penny. That brought some interesting results. I hadn’t noticed his hands weren’t completely flesh, he’d had quite a few augmented upgrades too. He noticed what I did and didn’t seem to comfortable about it, but made no verbal comment. The conversation revealed that both of them were in need of shelter and that Sharke was in need of a medic and a technician for his hands.

I told him we have a bot-shop so fixing his hands wouldn’t be an issue and we had private accommodation in old shipping containers. Penny chimed in with more information on a shelter and medical facilities. At this point the non-human announced that he was a medical doctor. It crossed my mind that may explain is current appearance, an experiment gone wrong perhaps…or right?

Penny took them over to the large building opposite, that she referred to as the “Church”. I’d just thought of it as a hall or barn, since it contained mostly medical and droid repair equipment.

The building Penny describes as the “Church”

I followed them over at a distance. Sharke made the gentlemanly gesture of indicating I enter ahead of him, but by the time I caught up he’d gone ahead. I slipped in quietly and leaned against the door frame briefly before taking a seat on an old folding chair, since I had not much to contribute to the discussion at the time.

Keeping to myself out the way

Penny was trying to get the Doctor to fill in some paperwork, which seemed a little ludicrous given the circumstances. But I figured this was Ellie’s domain and being an android it made sense she’d want everything orderly.

Penny then made her departure to go tend to the greenhouse and feed the chickens, I followed her out, leaving the Doctor and Sharke talking I bade them farewell.

The Unexpected Delivery

Following up on my post “The AMZ Delivery Lady“, Ava is surprised to encounters the recipient of the package she had been supposed to deliver weeks earlier.

Ava exits her storage crate home and crosses towards the group gathered near the buildings and greets the group

[13:13:15] Ava looks around at the gathered folks

[13:13:25] Ava: Hi everyone

A round of returned greetings are received, but one gets her attention more than the rest.

[13:17:30] Penelope Keene turns to Ellie and raises a shoulder to gesture at Kam. "She's expectin' a kiddo." She tilts her head to the side as another unfamiliar face approaches, Ava, as others are calling her. She gives a wave with her cigarette clad hand. "Heya, Ava. I'm Penny. I run the farm over there. Good to meetcha'." She nods across the crater towards the warehouse that containers her tech.

[13:19:49] Ava pauses as if reading something only she can see and puts her hand slowly on her pistol.."and..how well do you know her?" as if Penelope hadn't spoken. You all remember the package I was meant to deliver? Apparently she was the one meant to collect it.
Ava steps closer to Penny

(Ellie on left, Penny on Right)

[13:22:40] Ava addresses Penelope "You were meant to collect a package at Helix city a while back weren't you?"
[13:27:30] Penelope Keene blinks rapidly as Ava suddenly addresses her with such a detailed question. She stutters slightly as she speaks. "I mean, I ran packages every once in a while to Eden's Nursery, but I mostly stuck to my warehouse, tending to the plants." She grins playfully, attempting to lighten the mood. "I had a lot of takeout delivered."


[13:30:27] Ava taps her eye augment "Face recognition of package recipient. I was delivering the package you would have collected. I think a very dangerous package. Given I was given a personal bomb shelter capsule to bring with me when I came to Mars."
[13:33:08] Ava steps up closer to Penelope. "I think several of us would love to know who you were picking it up for, given the place pretty much exploded after the delivery was missed."
 [13:38:19] Penelope Keene brows furrow and she mouths "huh?". She brings her hands up as Ava approaches. "Whoa, I have no idea whatcha' mean. I know nothing about explosives. I never dealt with stuff like that." She shakes her head and glances around at the others. She nods to Balan and gives a wave. 


[13:38:48] EL1 Ell1e 's lips press, obviously hearing Gabor and Kam talk as her L.E.D's stay faulted to Ava as she seems to watch her every movement. "Perhaps, Kam. Gator, you should head inside the cave. There is much less dust there, and it is healthier for the baby. I will bring you refreshments shortly." She says, her tone mellow and yet holding to a want to see them safe. She starts to turn to mention something to Balan, but her open lips pause as she nods her head once. "Yes. Fairwell. Miss Balan."

[13:41:40] Ava: Well Penelope, it was a munitions crate I was delivering, so I guess you were just the runner then.


[13:44:22] EL1 Ell1e 's interest in the conversation the two are having is given with the fact her eyes flicker to them for the faintest of milliseconds. Her eyes staying now, at a steady yellow, she seems almost at peace in stance. If one were not to observe her steady appraisal of Ava's movements.


[13:45:51] Penelope Keene's face is still twisted in a look of confusion as she watches Ava approach her. She drops her cigarette to the ground and stomps it out before crossing her arms across her chest, bristling slightly at the implication that she may be out to hurt people. "I ain't never hurt anyone. I ran packages. Grew product. That was it."


[13:48:39] Ava extends her arm in a non-threatening but insistent motion and indicates the touch sensor on her couriers armband "hand print would settle whether you were the person meant to collect it. However that doesn't mean you meant anyone harm. The person you would have been collecting it *for* clearly was.
[13:49:44] Penelope Keene nods slowly, hesitantly offering her palm.

[13:50:28] Ava: so as I said, we might like to know who you were meant to take that parcel *to*


[13:50:33] EL1 Ell1e 's steps are light, gently placed as she walks steadily toward Penny's side. Her smile, as it appears on her features does not make it to the mimic of the expression on her cheeks. "Understood." She states, almost sharply.


[13:51:35] Ava watches as the scanner flashes green and beeps a positive reading

[13:52:43] Ava: What are the chances of the person it was going to still being around and expecting it,any ideas?


[13:53:51] Ava steps back slightly to a more relaxed distance


[13:57:04] Penelope Keene lets out a sigh, hating talking about her past in the city, but realizes that she doesn't really have an option at the moment She mutters "okay, we doin' this then" under her breath before locking eyes with Ava and speaking in a clipped tone. "I was employed by a gang that ran outta' the casino in the city before it went down. I grew their product and we sold it out of Eden's. I didn't get outta' that warehouse often, and I definitely didn't ask questions when I was pickin' up packages and delivering them to my boss at the casino." She lets out a sigh, looking over to Ellie to see her reaction before turning her attention back to Ava. "I wanted to get a fresh start and get away from that."

[13:59:03] EL1 Ell1e 's eyes flicker the lightest bit of green seeping back into the yellow orbs as the tone shifts. The fact that she is listening, obvious with the way she lets her head shift the faintest amount from person to person.

[14:02:42] Ava notes the glance to Ellie and ajusts her stance addressing both of them "well I'm sorry to be raking up your past, but if they're going to come looking for that package..it puts us all in danger. You see why I wanted to know?


[14:05:53] Penelope Keene eyes shift over to Cod and she gives a quick nod in greeting before looking back at Ava. "I get whatcha' mean." She puts on a hand on her chest. "I swear, I don't know nothing 'bout what's inside that package though. If my former employer had plans for it, I don't know what they are."

[14:05:59] Ava: I was very startled when my implant went mental at me when I..it..saw you

[14:07:45] EL1 Ell1e 's gaze shifts, reading them both.
[14:08:59] Ava nods "yeah, usually company policy not to ask questions either. We just deliver the weapons to whoever pays, but given that the city is uninhabitable now and I'm kinda stuck here..


[14:09:03] Ava: me shrugs

[14:09:20] Ava: I guess they didn't need what's in the package after all

[14:10:27] Penelope Keene nods in understanding. " Whatcha' gonna' do with it now?"

[14:12:48] Ava: no idea, it's a big doorstop in my crate for the moment. I has some rather nasty anti-tamper measures on it, so unless you were specifically asked to check the contents, it stays that way. Until I can get it transported back to HQ"

[14:13:26] Ava: and as a runner, I doubt you were

[14:13:34] Penelope Keene shakes her head. "I never got to look inside the packages. Just delivered."


[14:13:38] Ava: so it remains a mystery


[14:16:04] Penelope Keene smiles sheepishly, fiddling with the fabric of her jacket as she speaks. "Well, I'm fuckin' horrified that I was gonna' deliver something that dangerous. Best of luck to ya', Ava. Be careful. I gotta' go tend to the chickens, but if ya' need any food, come see me, yeah?"

[14:16:33] Ava sticks out her hand to shake "I'm sorry for being  hostile, but you understand. I'm ava, lets start over"

[14:17:06] EL1 Ell1e 's eyes shift gently, watching the incoming hand. She takes a mimic of breath, her eyes stabilizing back from yellow to green. 


[14:18:01] Penelope Keene hesitates for a second before nodding in agreement. Her lips quirk into a grin as she takes Ava's offered hand. "Deal. I'm Penny. It's good to meetcha'."

[14:18:59] Ava: I will come by another time for sure.

Once Penny is out of earshot Elli addresses Ava:

[14:24:48] EL1 Ell1e 's arm comes up to accept the half hug from Penny, and her head shifts to follow her movements toward the coop. When Penny is a distance away, her eyes narrow at Ava. "Penny is needing good human connections. Do not effect her human relations." She says, and gives one solid nod before she starts to turn into the shelter.

[14:26:18] Ava hearing Ellies parting words, she turns and nods "Understood".