Ducky
Forum Replies Created
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(OOC: Yes! Yes this is learning happening here!
P.S. please, please, please do a little more research on the criminal justice system. I’m not trying to criticize; I just think there’s potential for a really awesome story in that. (also wardens are typically actually very polite to prisoners))
Heckie went ahead and walked into the house, Nova having very abruptly left after what seemed like a dramatic phone call with… Bones, maybe?
He took the liberty of pouring himself a glass of their water and sitting down at their table. He’d been thinking about something over the course of their conversation and journey to the house, and he reached a conclusion.
Things were going to escalate. Some of these people – these transhumans – were younger than he was. They were already powerful enough to wreak havoc, even by accident, and judging from what he had seen earlier, ordinary folk were getting desperate to restore order.
Heck could get a free roof over his head, and that deadline was coming fast. He had a paper to write. On the other hand, choosing to live in this place meant inadvertently diving head-first into any number of growing problems.
But hey, he’d already spent his money on textbooks and Saranac. Beggars can’t be choosers, right?
If these people wanted him around, that was what they’d get.
Frankly, with all the shit happening around here, it seemed like a good thing he was going to be a lawyer.
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“Yeah, I don’t really have any plans,” Heck said. “Plus, it’s cold out here, and Gears is probably working right now.”
He fell into step with the cat, feeling a bit strange, and in fact really hoping that nobody noticed him talking to a cat at any point on their trip.
Well, it wouldn’t be too bad. Heckie Blair could already pass decently for a drunk.
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“Y’know, the patter of feet. You’re barefoot. Nicknames are just words associated,” Heck said. “Also, I may have been a little bit tipsy when I decided on that one. Frankly, I’m just surprised you guys haven’t been found sooner, considering how much attention you draw to your place.”
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“Me? I tell people fun things like what I did last Friday. A hint: It involved alcohol,” Heck said, crossing his arms. “I’d hardly describe severed fingers as fun, Patter.”
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“Look, I never said what was true. I don’t really know the story here. I just know that that’s the impression you guys are giving to the world. Is it any surprise people are leery around here?”
Heck glanced down at the clip in his hand.
“Honestly, though, I just think Transhumans are a sad story. You give a human mind the powers of a god? All it’ll do is destroy itself.”
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“‘Family of four killed in their car, transhumans suspected.’ ‘Transhuman steals car.’ ‘Dinosaurs come to life in natural history museum. Transhumans suspected.’ Do you guys have any idea what people think you are?” Heck said. “Humanity is terrified, because humanity, it would seem, is being replaced. I, for one, think humanity should chill the hell out. These problems sort themselves out.”
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“Transhumans, they’re calling you,” Heck said, approaching Kaz and Nova. “Wait. Don’t tell me you’re a group of high-octane superhero/supervillain nutjobs and not one of you checks the news.”
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Heck looked into the sky to see a swarm of helicopters circling something in the distance, then buried his head in his hands.
“The worst part? I chose to become friends with you guys.”
This was going to be a long evening.
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“It’s all good,” Heck said. “Just a bit tired of watching everything escalate to death and violence in this town.”
Heckie spotted something that one of the soldiers had dropped while being thrown. He walked over and picked the object up from the ground.
“‘Standard issue steel-core bullets,'” he read from a label on the dropped clip. “‘Manufactured by order of… The Florida Department of Transhuman Affairs?’ Do we have one of those? That sounds like… something out of bad fiction.”
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“Whoa, whoa, Snacks, slow down there. You want to give them a hard time? Go report them for trying to shoot you. This is well within the territory of ‘unnecessary pain,’ man,” Heck said.
Keeping his thoughts to himself was never a strong suit of his.
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A Memo:
It’s better than we’d hoped. He’s already eager to moderate his new friends’ rash actions. If he can get them in check, maybe get them to stop destroying things, then I will consider this a success. If he accidentally uncovers a means for us to bring the transhumans to answer for their crimes against humanity, that would be even better.
Recall the soldiers. They played their parts well.
-Administrator Yannic, Department of Transhuman Affairs
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“I’m always game to see cool things,” Heck answered. As an afterthought he knelt down next to the fallen soldiers. “You guys might want to pay attention. I think he’s going to do something cool.”
He wouldn’t normally mock someone like that in a situation like this, but to be fair they did just try to shoot someone cold turkey. Transhuman or not, that was not justified.
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Heck scratched his head.
“Is there something in the water around here or something? What kind of soldier opens fire on a kid? So, what’d I miss while I was… uh… asleep?”
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Heck, having long determined that the occupants of the house were too busy to open the door, had decided to wander off and maybe come back later.
In his wanderings, through the same outrageous coincidence that seemed to drive the rest of this universe, he came across the same group of soldiers which he had seen earlier, staring down Kaz.
“Hey, Snacks,” he said, waving to Kaz and the soldiers. “Why is it that you guys are never doing anything normal?”
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Three skeletons ran out from the same direction that the soldiers came from, and Heck decided to take the better part of valor and flee.
“What is with this town?” He asked nobody in particular.
Finally he came to the front step of the Strangest House in The World (TM) and rang the doorbell.
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Studying went well. Unfortunately, Heckie remembered very little of what he learned, as he was interrupted by an invitation from his pal Gears to spill a few Saranacs, and the next thing he knew he was lying on her couch with a wicked headache, with his buddy Brick lying on the floor next to him.
A few well-learned self-treatments later, he was able to look at bright lights again. It seemed to be early evening outside, so he figured his day wasn’t over yet.
Why not see if his weird new friends were up to any shenanigans?
As a precaution, he made good on his word and stopped at a convenience store for a bottle of pepper spray, then set off on foot for the address of their house.
On the way, he was forced to take a detour when he found a massive wall of ice blocking the road.
“What in the…”
Three armed soldiers – because even the army has gone completely bonkers in this town – ran past, warning him that a dangerous transhuman and some accomplices was recently here and he should be careful.
Sounds like Spooky to me.