video; un: mccree

[flashbanging]

[ The video shows a table in some corner of Oska's kitchen. There's a man at this table, long legs propped up on top of it, reclining against his chair. He's wearing boots with spurs, leather chaps, and a red serape that hangs off of his left shoulder. Body armor covers his chest; the panels inlaid on either side glow faintly blue. He's holding a revolver of significant size with one gloved hand, and with the other, he's carefully polishing oil off of that revolver's barrel. That other hand is bionic, and also covered in faintly glowing panels. The prosthetic runs up the visible length of his arm and disappears into the shroud of the serape.

He grins into the feed from beneath the wide brim of his hat. In his late thirties and handsomely rugged, he's swarthy, with thick, brown hair and dark eyes. His voice is a deep, southern drawl--affable, but with a suggestion of something sharper just beneath. A cigarillo, lit and gently smoking, dangles from the corner of his mouth. ]

Well, now. I'm findin' this place right peaceful. I got to say it's nice to walk around without worryin' over a bounty on my head, so I ain't too sore at these ALASTAIR fellas for pluckin' me out my own place like a ripe peach.

[ He jerks one metal thumb at the table. A few gleaming revolver shells are scattered across the wooden surface, nicely framing a half-finished tumbler of bourbon. ]

Bourbon ain't too bad, neither.

[ He sits up and leans forward, setting the gun down next to the glass; as he does so, there's a glimpse of his belt--strung with more revolver bullets and cinched with a gold buckle. The letters 'B A M F' are clearly engraved on this buckle. ]

'Sides, it's a job like any other. I done escorts before. Granted, they usually been human. Sometimes omnic. Never whatever the hell these things are tryin' to be. But if it's got to get done, it's gonna get done, right? Right.

[ He puffs on the cigarillo, exhaling a long plume of white smoke. ]

Oh, yeah. I had a look see at this here device, flicked through the archive a bit. Noticed some talk about learnin' this or that. I ain't handy with a sword, but if you need a man to show you how to shoot, I'm your huckleberry. I know my way around a fist-fight, too, if it comes to that. Ask and ye shall receive.

[ His smile widens, warms. This is still a hell of an unfamiliar situation, but he's damned and determined to make the best of it. ]

Name's McCree, by the way. Pleased t'meet you.

[ He tips his hat, and that's all, folks. ]

Comments

[asscan]

[He's seen many things since he was forced to join ALASTAIR, but a gun is not one of them. Laedo quirks his ears and peers across the network, attempting to focus the feed on the revolver.]

Thank you, I am aware of that, [he responds--part in earnest, because an askan can rarely resist a compliment, and partially because he's aware his lot has been thrown in with a cohort of bipedal creatures.]

We have nothing like these among the humans I am more familiar with. You would be willing to show a different being what it is that firing a gun entails?

[He listed it among several other fighting techniques. So far Laedo is curious and mildly underwhelmed, but not willing to dismiss the option.]

[flashbanging]

Sure I would. Everybody oughta know how to shoot.

[ He pauses. No, he just can't help it. ]

Look, I ain't tryin' to be rude, but you said 'humans' like it was some other separate thing from yourself. So what are you, exactly?

[asscan]

I am an askan asandus--most closely associated among your kind with, apparently across more than one world, 'dragon' kind. However I do not eat living flesh nor breathe fire, so if you've any concern about some kind of underhanded ploy to make meat of you, you'll have more luck finding it among some of the humans we've been forced to work with.

[His whine is ageing beautifully with several months of steeping in Nalawi politics behind it.]

[flashbanging]

[ That's a lot to take in at once. McCree's seen some odd things in his life, and he associates with people who often go more than a bit beyond normal--hell, he's there himself--but he's never met anything even a little bit like a dragon. That's fantasy novel stuff.

(He feels a little excited.) ]

Hot damn. Ain't that a daisy. Only been here a minute and every fantasy movie I ever seen is comin' to life.

Much obliged about the eatin' me thing--though you're talkin' like it's a concern I ought to have with some of our other teammates. Am I hearin' you right?

[asscan]

'Fantasy?' [Laedo's offended, but then he's thinking of his ill met Full Monty experiences down by the hot springs and he's not looking to add to the retinue of dongle-danglings he's already had to experience. He's happy to move along to other topics.]

Literal cannibalism might well be possible, though I mean more by the fact that you may well find yourself on the wrong side of an argument... and there are those who would solve an argument with blades rather than a ratified scroll of concessions, if you follow my meaning.

[flashbanging]

[ He's quick enough to see that he's given offense, and he doesn't need to ask why. It was a bit of a careless comment, he knows, but the other ... dragon-guy ... seems willing to slide past it, so McCree won't keep prodding at a bruise. ]

I get you, partner. Ain't worried much, though.

[ He taps Peacekeeper's barrel fondly. ]

Never was one for swords.

[asscan]

Right, [Laedo's ears flick back, muzzle tilting in an approximation of a wry grin.] You shoot.

[He hems and haws for a moment or two.]

I would like to see your strange device, and I would like to see it in action. Preferably not with the shooting end pointed at me, if you would be so kind.

...However, I cannot enter the building in this form. Do you know your way to the field beyond the stables?

[flashbanging]

[ He raises an eyebrow, wondering why this dragon guy assumes McCree would just set to shooting him for no reason. Paranoid? He makes a mental note. ]

Sure, I seen it while having a look 'round. Y'want me to meet you there?

network -> action perhaps?

[asscan]

Unless you've a mind to break ancient windows and possibly have the cats after you. They are not especially forgiving, from what I have heard, [Laedo quips. Of course, he's been far too regal and hopped to the beat of ALASTAIR's drum with too much aplomb to run abreast of the little engineers, which is probably for the best...

In any case, he disconnects from the network with a hrrmph and settles in under the massive central courtyard tree, tail idly twitching as he watches an amusing scuffle between one of the ALASTAIR staff and a newly tamed mount refusing to enter the stables. It's absorbing enough that he loses track of who is coming and going from the great central doors into their castle-like abode, though he himself is very hard to miss, sitting in a sunbeam as though to try to throw little rainbows across the flagstones.]