legionworld | [OPEN] Getting to grips

Entry tags:

[OPEN] Getting to grips

Who| Rico Dredd, and anyone!
What| Rico's getting adjusted. Discovering sugar and telling people to move out of his way.
Where| Mess Hall, Observation Deck
When| Before Bodies for Rent
Warnings/Notes| Rico's an asshole. Warning for violence, fighting, blood, threats of bodily harm, and treating sugar like an addictive substance (i.e. drug talk). Will match formats.

[A: Mess Hall]

[It had taken a long time for Rico to get adjusted to his new surroundings. After the expected violent outburst after waking up, he was upset. Not because he was just faced with the knowledge that his entire universe was in danger, that Mega-City One was in danger. No. It was more that he was yanked out of his world by the scruff of his neck, and had a lot of schemes he'd spent time and effort setting up. A lot of fingers in a lot of different pies whose outcomes he was just waiting to realize.]

[But Hell, the only saving grace is that at least he might just get a kick out of all this. So he took the oath, if only for them to get off his back about it. Time would tell whether he felt like following it or not. But for now? The Mess Hall would be where he could get a feel for the social dynamics that run through this place. And he'll be damned if Rico Dredd never comes out on top. And he's hardly going to let a little thing like being dropped into a completely unfamiliar environment alone and without backup hold him back.]

[He strides into the mess hall with a natural arrogance, a swagger to his step that could be mistaken for confidence. Of course, with how packed it is, and how he isn't making any attempt to move out of anybody's way - fully expecting them to move for him - somebody might accidentally jostle him and his rather bulky and pointy eagle-shaped shoulder pad. If that happens?]

Hey!

[He barks out sharply in a gravel rough voice, in a tone that demands immediate attention. He cocks his head to the side, overhead lighting reflecting a glint off his black visor where his eyes should be. He crooks a finger, beckoning them to come closer as his mouth twitches up in the beginnings of a smile.]

You gonna apologize for that?

[B: Mess Hall]

[Rico is sitting at a table with his back to the wall, with a baton kept loosely in his lap, staring at an unopened packet of sugar in the palm of his hand. He knew that The Legion had different practices, different laws but this was really something else. He tears the packet open with delicately pinched fingers, spilling the white crystals onto the table, and sniffs. He takes off a glove, dips his finger in the pile, brings it up to his face for careful scrutiny, then licks it.]

Oh, what the drokk? [He murmurs under his breath as he pulls back, confusion and tentative excitement mixing in his voice.] They can't be serious.

[He starts picking up more packets, one by one, and ripping them all open. Soon, there's a veritable pile of sugar on the table. But if someone were to come a little later and perhaps want a sugar for their coffee or tea this morning...? Well too bad. It's all been confiscated. If you reach out for one, expect to be impeded by a black baton.]

Sorry. [He doesn't sound very sorry at all. Actually, he almost sounds a little gleeful. He's well aware he has very little authority here, but that's not going to stop him from pretending that he does. Also, he might have slipped a packet or two into his own pockets.] Restricted substances. Mind your own business and move along.

[C: Observation Deck]

[The Observation Deck. Rico leans forward against a railing, looking down at the view. It's mostly empty for now, and he enjoys the rare peace. No shouting citizens, no endless, pointless chatter, or explosions. He's been a Mega-City boy all his life, never been to space, and despite his best efforts not to be impressed, it still captures his attention like nothing else.]

[Rico feels the prickle of a stare bouncing off the back of his helmet, and working on an instinct that every Street Judge has - or at least, the ones that aren't dumb as dirt and still alive - he fingers the baton by his side and says out loud without turning around;]

You looking at me, creep?

[D: Wildcard option!]

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[It was apparently a lucky thing for Thad that he'd never really taken to sugar, usually he was good with just a little honey in his tea, but today he was tempted to forgo even that. For today was the day that a hulking man had decided all the sugar was for him, and him alone. At first, seeing an armor-clad adult tear open tiny packets of sugar and dump them on a table had merely been one of the oddest (and most perturbing) little 'quirks' he'd been witness to thus far.

And did he seriously just dip his finger in it and lick it? Gross!

But when he moved on to actively bogarting the little packets from other people and claiming they were 'restricted substances' the quirk went from odd (and messy!) to obnoxious.]

"No, they're not."

[The haughty indignant response practically comes out on automatic, as he now stood there near the last person to get their hand slapped by a baton, with a sour look on his face and tea clutched in hands, probably looking about as intimidating as a yapping chihuahua next to this Judge.]

[Excuse you. This is an extremely scientific forensic testing method. At the comment, Rico looks down, and down. Was this funny looking juve seriously trying to contradict him? Kid's got some nerve, coming up to him like this. Rico mentally tuts to himself. No fear of the Judges here, that's their problem.]

Yes, they are. [He says slowly, with a hint of amused condescension, like he's talking down to a child about five years younger than the juve in front of him actually is. He taps his daystick impatiently against a table leg, making a sharp rapping sound, and then smiles at him beatifically.] In fact, it almost sounds like you're contradicting me. Are you?

[Like his genetic original before him, Thad wasn't very good at picking up on tonal shifts or understanding the meanings behind them, even when they were obviously meant to be insulting. If anything he was actually worse at catching these social cues then Bart was. But he hardly needed the excuse of understanding he was being condescended to in order to frown harder at this odd man.]

If that was the case, then the kitchen staff would have taken it away themselves, not haphazardly dumped it on a table. And of course I'm being contradictory. You're spreading false information and unnecessarily assaulting people with a baton.

Oh, I'd say it's very necessary. Sugar is a dangerously addictive substance. It might taste good and give you a boost now, but it'll rot your teeth and pancreas. I'd say it speaks more of the irresponsibility of the kitchen staff for providing this junk.

[Rico grins. Look at this juve trying to be diaspproving at him. He's got nothing on Joe's stinker of a frown, but it's still cute seeing him try.]

Might be why your development is so stunted. I'm doing you a favor.

Perhaps it is, but in this universe, it's their right to make the decision to wreck their own bodies as they please; at least as far as adding sugar to their drink goes.

[He wasn't even going to touch that crack at his size, or bother with defending himself against the accusation that it was due to him being some kind of sugar fiend. Whether or not he liked the substance himself was neither here nor there, and if the Judge wanted to poke fun at his appearance, that was perfectly fine by him. Being underestimated had only ever given him an advantage.]

And how exactly does ripping open the packets and dumping them out onto the table help in your mission to dispense of it in the first place?

[Rico ignores the question, as he does with all things that might inconvenience him.]

A Judge protects people from themselves, as well as from each other.

[He peers down at the juve, arms folded.]

Would you stand back and let some idiot with a fork stick it in a power outlet? I didn't think so.

That would depend entirely on the situation, actually. Who was doing it, if the fork had a handle that would help prevent shock, if their footwear would help with grounding, and whether or not I knew that the approximate voltage they would receive would be non-leathal.

[And that was his long winded way of saying 'you thought wrong'. If he didn't like the person and he knew the shock wouldn't kill them, he would definitely let someone electrocute themselves for his amusement. In fact, the first idiot that came to his mind, nearly had. ]

You didn't answer my question.

Edited 2017-07-13 20:51 (UTC)

[Rico laughs, openly. Unexpectedly it's not mocking at all, but rather genuinely somewhat amused.]

I like you, kid. You've got a bit of an attitude, but that's fixable. At least you're interesting.

[He grins. It's probably nothing good coming from him, but there it is.]

Unfortunately, it's my job to prevent that. [he drawls.] So....

[That laugh is so unexpected the kid is actually a bit startled by it. For a moment his frowning disapproval is broken by bewildered shock, his brow eventually furrowing as if he's trying to piece together a mildly frustrating puzzle.

He's not sure if he's comfortable with the idea of this guy liking him, especially when he couldn't quite understand why he would. Approval certainly wasn't what he was aiming for, and just because someone was interesting didn't mean they were likable. He couldn't help a pickling of paranoid suspicion at what he considered odd behavior.

As Rico ends on that 'So...', there's a moment where it just continues to hang in the air before Thad realizes he doesn't intend to finish the thought. That he's meant to draw his own conclusion, and maybe it was just his creeping paranoia but he couldn't help feeling it was meant as an unspoken threat.

But giving the rare benefit of the doubt, he takes a chance at attempting to finish the thought for him.]

So, you're going to keep hitting them with a stick everytime they do something you think is stupid and harmful to themselves?

[Rico likes the reaction he gets from the juve. How much of his behavior is an act or not is unknown even to him sometimes, but it's moments like these where he enjoys, for a lack of a better term, freaking people out. Even better if it's genuine on his part.]

Exactly. I'm glad you get it. Some people can be dumb as drokking rocks, but they'll learn eventually. You can tell a person not to stick their fingers in a socket a thousand times, and they'd still do it. And then they'd kick up a fuss that you didn't stop them. Grud, I've certainly met some stupid enough to.

[Rico shrugs. There's not much he can say that doesn't come out like an unspoken threat one way or another.]

Sometimes it's the only way idiots like them can learn. So really, it's the compassionate thing to do.

[Staring at the Judge critically, as if he's trying to puzzle something out, he almost opens his mouth to argue against him again, but thankfully thinks better of it this time. He was fairly certain there was nothing he could say that would affect this man's reasoning. Which was just about the one down side to not being taken seriously by someone, at least when it came to engaging in a calm conversation.

But even if he couldn't make him stop his quest to 'confiscate' all the sugar, he could still take this opportunity to learn more about the kind of person he was dealing with. Chances were this probably wouldn't be the last time they ran into each other, best to be prepared.]

Out of curiosity, how many other people in the vicinity would you say are doing something they shouldn't?

[Taking a step to the side so that Rico could have a full view of the cafeteria again, his voice is back to its normal measured tone, far from friendly but genuinely curious.]

Rico rubs his chin, putting on a show of consideration. Then, with great ceremony, raises his finger and points at various places in the crowded room.

To a particularly rowdy group of Legionnaires laughing loudly and ribbing each other. "Public disturbance. Sentenced to four months each in the iso-cubes."
A person tipping his cup of tea into the trash can. "Improper disposal of waste. Sentenced to thirty days in the iso-cubes. There's a liquid waste receptacle to the right he knowingly ignored, so add a three-hundred cred fine to that."
Somebody dropping a plastic fork under the table and after a glance, leaving it there with a shrug. "Littering. Six months in the iso-cubes."
A large, bulky man holding up the line by standing in front of the drinks section. "Loitering and causing obstruction. One hundred credits fine."
Then, finally, an alien with ten shuffling feet just going about her business. "Walking funny."

Hey, this is pretty fun. Like an exercise in the academy. Rico then looks sidelong at Thad, conspiratorially whispering to him a shared joke. "But if it were me, I'd just let her off with a warning. Not like she can help it!"

Following Rico's finger as he pointed out each infraction and gave a suggested punishment, if Thad was alarmed by any of them, or disapproved of them, he didn't show it. The most reaction he manages to get out of him this time is a raised eyebrow at that last one and the conspiratorial whisper that came with it.

"You could instruct her to remove some of her feet." He suggested, his deadpan tone as unchanging as his expression, making it hard to tell if he was joking back, mocking Rico or being completely serious.

"How many of those would you attempt to follow through with in this universe."

"Oh, you're certainly not wrong. But we only recommend surgical intervention for repeat offenders," Rico says breezily. "I'm inclined to be lenient, in her case."

Like Thad, it's hard to tell if he's joking either. But his questions takes him somewhat by surprise - not that he shows it. After thinking for a second, he replies thoughtfully.

"It'd be considered a dereliction of my duty to not follow through through on all of them," he says, and leaves it at that.

If that was meant as a joke on Rico's part, Thad still regards it as if he were serious.

There was a temptation to ask if that surgical option was only used in cases where the sentient had an actual medical abnormality or problem, but decided it was better not to ask questions he might not want to hear the answer to. He would settle for knowing Rico didn't intend to go that route in this case (though, if she turned up with missing legs later he would have a pretty good idea of who the prime suspect was). Instead, he focused on the line of questioning that he found more important.

"Even if it were to bring you at odds with Legion policy?"

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[OPEN] Getting to grips

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