Sector 2: Ready Player One

Camleen

Camleen

I'm going to be my own kind of princess
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Posting Speed
  1. One post per day
  2. 1-3 posts per week
  3. One post per week
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
Preferred Character Gender
  1. No Preferences
Genres
In no particular order: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Modern, Magical, Romance, anime, comic books, cartoons, video games..

Sector 2: Gygax, Jurassic World, Universal


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A world in Sector 2, named for Gary Gygax. He is the co-creator (along with Dave Arneson) of Dungeons&Dragons. Considered to be, by many, the the beginning of modern role-playing games. And a cornerstone of the industry. It began in 1972 with Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. It has been the basis of countless games and ideas since its inception, and was a fundamental part of setting up the OASIS and how the game was structured. It's influence can not be understated. In this part of the Sector, you will find multiple worlds encompassing the universe of Dungeon & Dragons lore. Each world will be different 'versions' of the game itself, but all of it under the same banner of Dungeons & Dragons.
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Based on the franchise of Jurassic Park, a world where dinosaurs exist in the modern era. There is a Park Hemisphere that is the amusement park, and a Site B hemisphere where Dinosaurs roam free and players can play a kind of survival game. No high tech weapons or magic! This is also considered a PvE only zone, no PvP allowed.
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This subsector of Sector 2 contains worlds based on the earlier movies of Universal Studios. It's main feature is a world with the collected works in the 'Universal Monsters' franchise (spanning mainly from 1920's to the 1950's). But this subsector also houses smaller worlds based on specific genres that can be found within the Universal movie catalog. A highlight is the world 'Pinstripe', which almost seems to be ripped straight from the 'pulp noir' movies of the 40's and 50's.
Here is a list of the monsters' worlds you can find here!
Frankenstein's Monster
Bride of Frankenstein
Dracula
Wolfman
Creature from Black Lagoon
Van Helsing
The Mummy
Phantom of the Opera
Invisible Man
The Mole people
Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde
 
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Gygax

Kat was still getting used to Oasis, but she had been more or less pressured into taking up more interest in the system. One could say that her disinterest stemmed from deeper routed issues, but she decided to heed the advise and get more involved. She had been told that D&D was likely a good place for her to start, so that was the only place she had any interest in visiting at the moment, and today was no different. Dawning her avatar, Kiara, Kat logged into Oasis and began her dive.
Kiara arrived at Dragon Breath Tavern in the village of Iron-haven. As per usual, she was stunned by the visual effects nd how uncannily real it all felt. She could feel the breeze on her skin, the musky smell of the mines being carried on the refreshing breeze, and the odd mixture it made when combined with the stench of alcohol, sweat and testosterone. Last time she dropped by she had picked up a request to rid the village of a Goblin issue, as it appeared that they had taken up resident inside the mines, cutting into the villages primary source of income as well as hampering the everyday lives of the villagers. Kiara had taken up the extermination request and was simply stopping in the tavern to have a quick talk with the Town's chief. The moment she opened the doors, all banter, laughter, and side talk came to a halt. She felt the eyes on her as she stood in the doorway looking about for the chief, who was seated at the bar. She walked toward him with purpose while ignoring the glares, sneers, and whispers of the NPC's that cohabitated the tavern. One thing that she still had a hard time dealing with was the realism of the NPC's, it felt as if they were real, and their annoyed and irritated stares only put her in a bad mood.
"Kiara! I'm so glad you could make it, I've been waiting for your arrival!". Chief Peck, as she called him, was as golly as ever. He was a tall man at about 6'4" and heavy set, you would almost think that he could simply waltz into the mines and deal with the issue himself.
Kiara grins a bit as she leans against the countertop and stares back out at the room, her strong gaze forcing some to look away and others to simply go back to talking to each other. "I'm just stopping in to tell you that I'm getting ready to fulfill my end of the bargain," she stated, "The deal still stands right?".
The quest obviously came with a pay off, experience points, loot and the like, but she couldn't help get swept up in the banter. The whole experience was truly like you were living it all out, so there was no point in not getting into it.
The Chief's face soured for a moment, but the smile quickly appeared again. "Yes, of course," he began, shifting in his seat a little, "I'd like to ask something more of you too, if you don't mind," he finished the drink in front of him. He turned and stared down into Kiara's eyes, the piercing stare betrayed the calm look on his face. "There have been a few people that have gone missing, one of them being my daughter...," he paused for a moment, "I believe that they've been kidnapped by the goblins, if there's anyway that you could either find any evidence of this or rescue them, if that's the case...you'll most certainly be greatly compensated for the hassle."
Kiara pushed off the bar top and began to walk toward the door, only stopping once a few men at the nearest table stood up and blocked her path. It wasn't like I was going to turn him down, but this is a bit much for a side mission, isn't it?. Kiara sighed before looking down over her shoulder. "If they're in the mines, I'll find them. You have my word."
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That had been the conversation and events that had taken place about 45mintues ago, for now Kiara was in the mines facing, what felt like, a never ending horde of Goblins. Their weapons were blunt tools for the most part, with only a few of them having arrows or spears. It was truly an exhilarating feeling to dodge, parry, and deflect oncoming attacks while using her sword to slay her enemies. She had decided to take every mine path to its end before heading back to the beginning and finding another route, so as not to miss any clue that might lead her to the kidnapped townspeople. However, it felt as if she wasn't going to be able to find them. It was after clearing one of the last rooms that a prompt appeared. Hidden Room located: Lair of the Goblin King. She figured that this had to be where the townspeople were being held, if anywhere, so she decided to venture in.
She had guessed right. The space she now stood in was bigger than any of the other spaces by about 3, and it had the makings of a king's hall feel to it. At the back of the room sat an Ogre, a broadsword leaned against the wall next to his seat. The townspeople were in a cage at the far right of the room, and they began to scream and holler for help the moment they noticed Kiara. Obviously, this drew the attention of the other 4 Hobgoblins in the room, who quickly took up arms once her presence was noticed.
Shit! I wasn't expecting anything like this, this might actually be harder than I thought. Two Hobgoblins brandished longswords, one had a spear, and the other brandished a stone club. Kiara huffed as she slowly stepped forward and pointed a finger at the Orge sitting in the chair, seeming amused that she was the only one show up. "I'll be leaving here with those people you took, the only question is if you'll still be breathing or if you'll become an ornament above the Dragon's Breath." It never didn't feel good to shit-talk to monsters and bad guys, it was like therapy to a stressful day.
However, the Ogre only huffed irritably as he hand motioned for his underlings to rid his presence of her. With that hand motion, the 4 Hobgoblins rushed her. They were all level 12. 5 f***ing levels higher than me, and four of them at that. I can do this if I fight smart....starting to regret taking on this side quest. The prompt, "Side Quest Begins", flashed briefly as their attack began. Kiara's hand went to her sword's handle, but she didn't draw the blade, as she prepared to use a skill right off the bat to show them that she meant business.
 
Pinstripe

Gumshue rubbed his chin, which was still sore from the last fight. When he'd said to Tobin Falerone "let's settle this like gentlemen," his intention had been for the mafia lieutenant to talk things out, or even surrender… or at the very least, stand up and fight for himself.

In retrospect, thinking that was going to work was really, really stupid.

Tobin, of course, called in a couple extra thugs, then told his bodyguard Jonas to show exactly how the mafioso felt about "gentlemen like Gumshue."

(Roland reminded himself again that he needed to update the addon that made NPC dialog check for a name while on Pinstripe, rather than check his user ID… immersion was so much better when they called you "Roland" or "Mister Shue," or at least "Assface," instead of "Gumshue." At least it wasn't like someone he'd grouped with a while back on another adventure where the NPCs continually referred to his ridiculously-named companion… though it was pretty funny to hear old-time gangster voices say things like "Nyah, we're gonna kill that Wildc0ck, see?" or "Get that Wildc0ck fucker!" as fights broke out. At the end of the adventure, the hostage they'd rescued even said "Oh, Wildc0ck, you're so dreamy and handsome! I love you, Wildc0ck!" Roland had to admit it might have been worth eschewing roleplay that night for some of the accidental one-liners that popped up.)

The fight with Jonas was no picnic… Gumshue's martial arts skill was alright, but his primary go-to in combat was his Colt .45 revolver, a trusty piece he'd grown accustomed to for look as much as hitting power (especially since it made the .38 Special look pathetic by comparison). But a gentlemanly fight didn't involve weapons, and the optional objective that had flashed on the screen said to defeat Jonas like a gentleman.

For a Level 11 mob, Jonas sure punched like a Level 20.

Gumshue had to lay down some pretty high-end ducking and dodging to avoid getting pounded flat, and by the end of it, his health bar was more than half gone. Tobin had certainly stopped laughing though, and called in his goons to finish it off. That fight was more Gumshue's style. Taking cover behind the bar, the detective was able to pick off his foes one at a time, only catching two glancing blows that were mostly soaked off by the armored trenchcoat he wore. Sadly, Tobin managed to bolt (predictable – this was only a Level 15 adventure, after all), but for his trouble, Roland was rewarded with a rare drop for the encounter: A Colt 1911 autoloader pistol, as well as Jonas's wallet. When Gumshue recovered that, the quest log had added "return Jonas's wallet to SAPD for a reward." Lucky Roland.

The detective did just that, working his jaw a little more as he went outside and got into his mint green Delage D6. The color's draw was… debatable. But it was a pretty piece of work, and fun to drive on the streets of St. Ajora. Gumshue went to the police station and turned in the wallet, his reward quickly converting to credits in his inventory, and he briefly considered handing in the pistol he got for exchange as well before he noted that it was, statistically, an upgrade from his. No sense dropping that. Roland was still attached to the revolver though, so he kept both. Besides, nothing wrong with a secondary weapon.

The detective got back in his car and drove across the streets of St. Ajora. He wasn't really looking for another adventure, so while he drove, Roland turned off his Pinstripe RP flag and went dark, even using his car's radio to identify an event so that he could avoid it, rather than participate, as he drove to the little hole-in-the-wall office his character lived out of. Gumshue got out, a light rain drizzling on his smoky-gray trenchcoat and matching fedora as he walked up the stairs to the door that led to his office and apartment, yellow paint on the door reading "Gumshue Investigations", with the sole of a shoe inside a magnifying glass above the text.

The detective opened the door and walked in, locking it behind him. Several unopened emails had been placed on the desk in the form of envelopes, and he ignored them for the moment, save one for the upkeep of the office he kept in St. Ajora here in the OASIS. Gumshue opened the message, then dragged it to his credit counter, which promptly was reduced by a fair amount, but the rent was paid for another month.

Gumshue made his way around to the rickety-looking wooden chair, which was more comfy than it looked, and since he was home and relatively safe, opened other windows and started to browse the net for a moment, occasionally glancing at the list of other worlds in Sector 2, curious as to how he was going to burn the next few hours before he sacked out. He may have felt just a little too lazy to go for a run (whether simply outside the OASIS proper, or outside for real and completely offline), but the night was still young, and if noone walked in his office door, there were so many other places he could head out to explore himself…
 
Each of those hobgoblins, well they are very similar in appearance. At least to someone of a non-goblinoid race. And especially those outside of the Ghaal-dar tribe. They each wear light armor, colorful and burly. Much like the hobgoblins themselves. They charge towards Kiara, and spread themselves out so they are now coming at her from 4 different directions, but still facing her as they come to a stop about 15 feet in front of her. Each of them growl and grunt as they face off against the female swordsman, an all of them grinning as they glance to one another. As if playfully daring each other to go first. And abruptly, the hobgoblin towards the center of the four charges Kiara with a warhowl that resonates throughout the hall, one of the hobgoblins with wielding a longsword. The hobgoblin on his immediate left also suddenly charges forward, twirling his stone club in his hands. The other two, they only inch forward, holding themselves in reserve for the moment.

The Ogre sitting upon his chair (he prefers to think of it as his throne), seems to half lose interest in the ensuing battle. He reaches out and flicks stones at the cage of captives, causing them to flinch as the stone bangs against the bars. He seems amused by this, by rattling the captives juuuuuuust a little. But… he sits up suddenly in his chair. He lets out a low rumbling growl as he looks up and around the king's hall. His large hands draw up and then press down upon the arms of his stone chair. He pushes himself to standing, being a full 9 1/2 feet tall (and 630lbs if you need him). He is called Orig… and he rules here. He lets out a growling howl of warning, causing the 2 hobgoblins that have yet to attack to glance back towards him. Orig feels like something is here. Something besides the meddling and fairly inconsequential Kiara. Towards his throne he reaches, hefting his immense broadsword with horrifying ease.

Now if Kiara is paying attention (which might be hard while she tries to keep herself from being halved), she might see a sudden shadow seem to come to life and leap onto the back of Orig's 'throne'. A being of dark color, and only there for a moment before it is gone again, leaping behind the throne. Orig turns with an angry roar, lifting his broadsword so it rests on his shoulder. The smaller being rushes passed the cage of captive peoples, and through a stone doorway. The captives… they will know that these monsters have taken some of their captives into that room before… and they never came back. Angrily Orig stomps his foot into the ground, causing the stone floor to crack. And he moves as quick as his very large frame will carry him through the doorway. The captives lean away from the direction Orig is coming, some of them cowering at the opposite side of the cage itself. Orig would disappear through the doorway, giving chase to the mysterious being that seemed to have come out of nowhere…

Tagging: @WanderingWriter
 
Footsteps can be heard slowly coming down the hall in the otherwise still silence. They stop, and through the frosted glass of his door Gumshue sees a person's silhouette. They give the door three light, timid knocks before being given permission to enter. When they do, Gumshue sees that it is a woman with curly light brown hair wearing a long tan coat and matching cloche hat pulled low enough to shade over her eyes. She clutches a small purse between her hands.

"Hello sir." She greets him with a dainty, squeaky voice as she comes to the desk and sits in the chair across from him. The hat stays on, and she keeps her eyes away from his as she speaks. "I-I don't want you to get the wrong idea..but I need you to follow this man." She reaches into her purse and takes out a small photo that she then slides across the desk to him. "I think he's up to something….funny...but I'm too close, too clumsy, to learn what or why." She reaches one hand into her purse "I only need him followed tonight, for now. I can pay you upfront now so you can catch up with him in the next hour."

In Gumshue's UI a message appears. 'Accept Funny Man Quest?' meaning this is an NPC, and the quest name unfamiliar to him; which meant this was a newly generated questline for PI players.

@ThePezCat
 
Gumshue looked up at the door as the silhouette appeared and smirked just a bit. He wasn't sure if it was another player or an NPC, but he was always glad he bought the ability to lock the door and make it a non-combat zone when he'd leased this little hole-in-the-wall for his OASIS persona. The security of a locked door and safe spawn-in point was worth its weight in gold. Sure, it wasn't some planetoid or megafortress, but it was a home-away-from-home, and those should be safe for anyone.

Given that he wasn't ready to call it a night yet, however, he figured "why not?" Gumshue turned his RP flag back on and said "come in", unlocking the door from where he sat (not everything needed to be a throwback after all - especially getting up to let someone in).

Gumshue listened to the woman talk, and, as he'd done a couple times before with NPCs (and once with someone he thought was an NPC and wasn't), he went into a kind of internal monologue, just like in the old noir movies he'd watched time and again - nothing out loud, just like in those movies, but it still added to the whole experience for him, and always gave him a chuckle.

"The dame walked in, timid as a mouse but twice as cute. Those sandy curls of hers didn't do much to help her look any less helpless than the doe eyes she had did, and her voice was almost predictable because of it. Dames like that are trouble. Sure, maybe they aren't trouble on their own - but what they want usually leads to it. Especially since a woman like that is hard to turn down. They get you to help them out, give you what they think you want, or what YOU think you want, then you realize exactly how deep in you are - whether it's because they need you, or because they're using you. Either way, always trouble.

But trouble usually pays well, and it ain't ever boring. Sitting around your office is boring, dames never are. So of course I was gonna help her. I knew that the moment she walked in, and so did she. God we men are suckers... If women as a whole ever realized exactly how bad we are with that, we'd be screwed.

God bless dames."

Yeah, back in the day, they were a little sexist in the noir flicks from time to time. One reason he never said those things out loud, even if he didn't mean them in a sexist manner. Gumshue looked at the photo as he listened, then the UI offered him the quest, confirming she was indeed an NPC.

"Funny man quest?" he mused to himself. An unusually simple name for this. Roland was sure this would be trouble. But he'd gotten back to his office in one piece, and was healed up. If the server itself was offering the quest, odds were long it was out of his league - especially if it was a "do it now" sort of thing. And he still had several hours before he had to sack out. Plus, the fact that it seemed geared towards his specific archetype made him really not want to pass this up - this was about as personalized as story quests got, and that was just about his favorite thing about questing in the OASIS.

Gumshue looked up at the woman who'd come into his office and smiled as he accepted the quest in his UI. "Think I can help ya out, ma'am," he said calmly. "Any idea where he is now? Seems like if he's on your trail, the time to get on his is prime..."
 
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A smile comes upon the woman's lips when he accepts the quest and she lifts her hat up a little to unveil her soft round blue eyes. "Thank you, sir." She takes a couple bills from her purse, and places them on top of the picture of the man before sliding it over to him. When he takes up the bills they dissipate into a thousand coins that drop into his account. The picture is also revealed to be the headshot of a man with a thin face, short pompadour, and a wide good-natured grin.

"He's not on my trail. Which is part of the issue, you see." The dame clears her throat "We are…..involved, and I need to know more about him before we get more involved, or not at all." She stands and points out the window of his office. "He should be about to do...what do they call it...a set? Yes, a set at the Chuckle Chamber a few blocks away soon. He's an aspiring comedian, and wouldn't miss this chance for anything, or anyone." She tells him, her voice dropping a little into a sadder tone at the end. Again she reaches into her purse and gives him a slip of paper. "Call that number when the job is done, and I'll be back here to close the deal immediately." The dame pulls her hat down again and gives Gumshue a smile "Thank you, sir. And please be careful. No telling what he's up to." She then leaves his office quietly as she had come.
 
((Sorry for the delay - 12-hour shifts and the other half getting in a car wreck have dominated my time.))

Gumshue gave a little smile as the money entered his account - almost the same amount he'd just laid out for the rent on his little office, which made his last job - and any further take from this - all profit. Not a bad way to wrap up the evening. Roland smirked, then couldn't help but shake his head as the name of the quest suddenly made a lot more sense. It also was sounding more and more like, well, exactly what one would expect out of an old-time detective story: a detective, a female lead that gets him in trouble, and some foil that's either there for comedy relief or emotional guidance.

Today's episode seemed to be about the former rather than the latter.

Still though, Gumshue was sure there was something else going on here.Even in a game world, people didn't randomly start suspecting an aspiring comedian without a reason. He did know one knew piece of information though:

He wasn't, presently, following her.

Gumshue stood up and pulled his coat, smiling to himself a little bit. Every tiny piece of information helped - after all, you never knew what was going to be the thing that broke the case. "I'll go see what he's up to, ma'am," he said, giving the curly-haired woman a nod, "and hopefully the worst thing he has to offer is a series of awful puns." Roland held the door open for his guest, then locked it once they were both outside before making his way to his Delage and getting it started, driving through St. Ajora to the Chuckle Chamber.

Gumshue parked his car and got out, heading for the front door. A large man in a suit eyed the detective up and down, then, as Roland gave him a nod, the doorman grunted, doing much the same, then letting Gumshue on in. The detective wondered to himself why this place needed a bouncer as he went inside, looking for an empty table before sitting down. Gumshue ordered a scotch on the rocks (because you don't go to a place like this and not have a drink), then scoped out the room once more, making sure there was nothing imminent he needed to keep an eye on before he waited for his mark to take the stage...
 
The Chuckle Chamber was fairly full tonight. Players were either here on a date, or just having fun mingling while decked out in pinstripe suits, fedoras, or flapper girl skins. Quite a few broke the authenticity of the scene by either being of an otherworldy race, or just having their skin a flamboyant color to clash with the setting. There was a stage along one end of the place, and as Gumshue enters the comedian working the crowd is what is very obviously a man in a shimmering purple cocktail dress and long blonde wig. For all the possibilities The OASIS offers someone, this was a player not shy to be a man in drag. His set? Not bad either. The crowd laughs at his observations on the Gunters who are still spinning their wheels in Halliday's Easter Egg Hunt, and his views on how he was waiting for his pizza to be delivered for over an hour… "And then it hit me!" which earns him a well-deserved round of laughs and applause before he curties, thanks the audience, and vacates the stage for the next act. The next act being The Mark.

The man Gumshue is here for takes the stage riding on the applause from the previous act with that same smile he's seen in the picture. He is wearing a dark blue shirt with red suspenders and black slacks with an orange tie. After the applause dies down, he starts in on his set.

"Hey hey heyyyyy! I am often called Petey Beach, and I want to share something that happened to me recently. I was at a rest stop, on the John trying to ya know take the Browns to the Superbowl. But as usual, I didn't have the proper fiber or spirit for the year to make that happen right away. I'm there, trying to make this work, and another dude comes in to use the stall next to me. After a minute or two, I notice not only has this guy not dropped his pants, but he's tapping his foot?" He pauses to tap his foot, eliciting a bit of chuckles and giggles from the audience as he puts on a very confused expression.

"Now I don't know if any of you have had this happen, but it gets really annoying really fast. And he makes it worse when he moves that foot closer and taps faster." He does so and the audience laughs even louder. Louder still when he shrugs and looks confused. "I let this go on for a minute before I ask the guy 'Hey buddy, you mind?'" The audience giggles collectively and Petey looks around, shrugs "How was I supposed to know I was giving the dude 'the go'? He stops tapping and walks out of his stall, and that's when I realized too late that I didn't close and lock the stall door all the way. He jiggles it open, and I finally see this dude-." He suddenly snaps to a military salute "'Mr. President!'" The club erupts into raucous laughter and applause at the punchline.
 
Gumshue turned his RP flag on, but immediately also turned on a secondary "busy" flag, and went right back to immersing himself in this little slice of heaven. Stand-up comedy was hit-and-miss with him, but if the worst thing that happened was he got a drink and was able to unwind, it wouldn't be a bad finish to the evening. The PI spotted a player with the handle "ThirtyEightSpecial", another regular around St. Ajora that he'd grouped with a few times, and gave the man a nod, raising his glass in the other player's direction, and receiving a similar response before each returned to their own priorities - Gumshue to Petey Beach, and his friend to the lady companion that he was sitting with. Roland looked at the stage, and the first thing he really noticed about the comedian was that his outfit was... questionable.

"Those suspenders plus that tie equals no," Roland thought to himself before he settled into his chair and watched the man perform. His eyes occasionally went around the room, mostly to the sides of the stage or the tables nearest to it, his mind not on the act so much as the man. Gumshue his expressions, from when jokes worked and didn't, to any reaction he had to anyone in the crowd, to even if Petey was sweating or not. A lot of it was going to just be programming and he was probably reading too deeply into it for most players, but Roland didn't care. Here, he was a full-on detective, and you watched your mark for anything that could help.

"You never know what the break is going to be, so you keep an eye on them as much as possible," he said to himself, his inner monologue starting up once more. "It could be the way they get nervous when the act doesn't get enough laughs. A fidget at the flower in his pocket. A specific table he keeps looking at, as if he knows someone there. Watch them enough to not miss anything, and watch the rest enough to make sure you're the only one doing so. Eventually, you find what you're looking for. Everyone has a tell, even if it takes them a while to get to showing it...."

Gumshue took another sip of his scotch and went back to watching Petey's show, though he also made it a point to enjoy the scenery. A slightly smoky club, carousing and conversation going on quietly, and a performance on the stage.

This was the life.
 
Petey Beach continues with his set for about twenty minutes. He keeps his momentum going with some good zingers, even ribs a couple of the audience members nearest the stage.

At the fifteenth minute, the NPC servers change over to simulate a shift change. There are new faces serving drinks and snacks. Petey takes a particular, if discrete, interest in one of them. A thin, wispy young woman with brown hair in a bob and tiny mole(or beauty mark as most would call it) just below the left corner of her lip. As Petey works the crowd, his eyes follow her around the room while it appears he is just keeping an eye on the crowd as any comedic performer would.

This server stops by Gumshue's table and asks with a winning smile "I getcha anything, mister?"
 
Gumshue's eyes went to the slender brunette as she went around the room, keeping a slightly closer eye on her than before, but mostly because Petey was doing so. The detective was waiting for some cue, whether it was from the waitress, from Petey himself, or from something about to happen in the club... this job, especially for an OASIS quest, couldn't possibly be so easy as to sit here and watch, could it?

Roland chuckled and chided himself. He was supposed to be fully immersed in his character, not thinking of the metagame mechanics right now. The off-duty cop shook his head and put himself back into the scene mentally at about the time that the waitress came to his table. She might just be doing her job, he thought, but there might be something more to it. The comedian, after all, was watching the room, just as Gumshue was, and he wouldn't have been the least bit surprised if she was a lead in for the man. She was equally as likely to be candy to Petey's wandering eye as she was an important player in a scene yet to play out, but both were important possibilities as far as the detective was concerned.

Keeping a subtle eye on Petey, Gumshue nodded to the waitress and smiled back, holding up the near-empty glass as he did. "Refill, please, young lady... scotch on the rocks, if you'd be so kind..." he said, meeting her gaze before finishing the drink and setting the glass back down.
 
"Refill coming up, mister." The brunette takes the glass and to maintain immersion sets it on her tray and walks off to refill it. Petey's eyes keep following her to the bar, and back as she returns to his table with a refill. "Enjoy, sugar." The woman winks at him and saunters off to serve others.

"Aaaand that light, tells me my time is up." Petey announces pointing at a light at the center of the room then waving. "Thank you all for being such a great audience! I'll be here next week!" Petey gives a nod and bow, walks offstage to leave the stage empty. No act takes it for now as it's intermission.

Petey enters the room proper from the side door of the backstage area, still in his tacky attire and walking about. A few of the patrons give him a high-five as he goes around, looking for someone evidently, and the brunette passes him by and he watches her go, yet he makes no move to get her attention. He takes a table on the opposite side of Gumshue, and is looking about while tapping a finger on the table.

He's waiting for only a few minutes until the door opens, and a stunning blonde woman enters. She's decked out in a dark purple dress and heels in a Marilyn Monroe avatar body type. She turns some heads, and some players make a move to go in. She disappoints them all when she makes a beeline for Petey. The man lights up, stands and embraces her. They sit and the brunette comes by. The three appear to be chatting a little closer than customer and server.

"You're late." Petey says to the blonde, his smile faltering.

"So sorry dear, you know me, I can't stand to be outside and not be my best." The blonde responds.

"Pete got a great reception." The brunette rubs Petey's shoulder and smiles, looks back over at the blonde. "Somethin' to drink, Barb?"

"Oh nothing for me dear." The blonde answers and asks Petey "How's the little woman?" She asks with a cheshire grin that makes Petey frown a moment.

"She's fine. Working late." He answers tersely.

"Poor girl, so overworked." The brunette makes a tsk tsk sound "Welp, you need anythin', you flag me down." She tells the pair and resumes her rounds, which will take her back around to Gumshue.
 
Gumshue thanked the brown-haired server for his drink, then went back to subtly watching the comedian as he entered the lounge proper. The detective's brow rose just a tiny bit when the gorgeous blonde entered, though the fact she made her way to Petey denoted her quickly as an NPC - a fact that caused Roland to chide himself for briefly breaking character in his thinking, though also amused him due to the fact that a number of players all seemed to want to "get to know her better" almost immediately before she found her place in the room.

Gumshue also thanked whatever powers that be that he was close enough to eavesdrop on the conversation, despite his distance in the room.

The detective stayed quiet, and simply listened. A lot of investigative work was just that: listen, watch, pay attention. People or objects you're keeping an eye on will often tell the story for you, if given the chance. Possibilities of what was going on, underhanded or not, started to peel off and eliminate themselves. Petey was unlikely being unfaithful, despite a wandering eye (admiration was no crime, after all). The waitress was clearly friends with both of them by their conversation, though their talk was still young when the serving girl came back. Meanwhile, Roland's client had apparently told him she was working late, for whatever that was worth - though it also seemed this wasn't the first time, which was curious on its own...

Gumshue considered simply watching a bit more for awhile, but this had the feeling of an opportunity, and the detective decided to play dumb. He had a hunch that he could get a little more information by playing the fool, and if you asked the question right, noone ever assumed it was a play.

His drink still more than half full, Gumshue made eye contact with the waitress to get her attention and draw her over, then casually addressed her when she arrived. "What's their story?" he asked, motioning his head towards Petey and Barb. "If I had a girl like that sweet on me and walking into my show, I'd probably have a different look on my face. Think he'd be in a better mood..." The detective left out the part about hearing them discuss Petey's actual squeeze, instead having a curious look on his face as he regarded the waitress with a friendly tone.
 
"Oh them?" The brunette giggles and makes a tsk tsk sound again "Be awful scandalous if he had any other kinda face for her. That there's Petey's sister." She bends down to whisper to him with a sly smile "Drinks on me if ya can get her to come next week in time for Petey's set. I love the girl, but she's really gotta keep her word, and a handsome fella like you might be what it takes." She giggles again and walks off to serve another player.

Back at Petey and Barb, the woman reaches into her purse and slides over a folded piece of paper. Petey doesn't look too happy even before he unfolds it. "What a mook." Is his knee-jerk estimation to its contents.

"Mook with money. Thinkin' about a date." Barb replies and Petey scoffs.

"You know how this one ends Barb." Petey tells her in a warning tone.

"Could be different this time. He might come out on top." Barb pouts her lips.

"Doubt that." Petey adjusts his suspenders. "Be right back, gotta see a man about a horse." He grins and gets up and walks towards the bathrooms.

"Oh you!" Barb slaps him on the arm as he passes her. Now Barb is alone at the table, at least for the moment. The stage is active again when a jazz band walks on and starts to play.

 
Gumshue chuckled. That did, in fact, explain a lot, and it also got him a bit more information. Sometimes playing dumb did indeed pay off.

The next exchange was interesting though. What was that all about? The detective's eyes narrowed as he sipped his drink, the gears turning. Petey might need money, given what his sister said, but he also seemed the type to have enough scruples to not just take any job. Still, what exactly was that job? There were clearly pieces to the puzzle he still needed, but he had something to go on now. Roland thought for a moment; there were a number of ways to go about this. Usually you had to watch and wait. Investigation was largely about information gathering, after all. But sometimes, you needed a way to get the person you wanted information from to spill their guts. Sometimes that involved pressure, sometimes that involved fate, and sometimes, it involved charisma.

Gumshue had an idea.

The detective picked up his glass and stood up, walking over to Barb's table and sitting down before saying a word. Rather than go for some smooth pickup or cheap attempt at a flirt, he did something that usually caught most people off-guard: he came out and was honest - at least, somewhat.

"Evenin' ma'am," he said in a calm, friendly tone with a slight smile on his face as he looked at her. "I'd come over with some line about 'how could a beautiful girl like you be abandoned by a guy in a place like this', but the waitress lady mentioned that the talented Mister Petey is your brother, and that line would be pretty obvious bull at this point. He seemed upset for a moment when you two were talkin'. Everything alright? World's short enough on laughter as it is, don't need a good guy like that up and vanishing. If I'm intruding, I'll pop for a drink for your trouble, and two if you're willing to let me stick around. Might be able to help."

Programmed blonde NPC or not, Barb was pretty, and in a setting like this (particularly with the OASIS's AI), treating her like a person and not some robotic automaton was going to work out far better than trying to go for a shakedown. Besides, worst case scenario, simply going and tracking Petey wasn't out of the deck yet. Best case, Gumshue gets to sit and talk to a pretty girl, and maybe even find something valuable out...
 
Barb doesn't appear to mind a random man coming up to her table, as if this is a common occurence. Barb even smiles and lets him talk, not the least offended at his sudden personal question. "By the definition, you are intruding." Barb laughs "But I'll take your bargain, mister." She flags down the brunette "A Manhattan please, on this generous gentleman."

The brunette has a Manhattan materialize on her tray and gives it to Barb while winking at Gumshue then resumes her rounds.

"Things are alright with Petey and I." Barb sips her Manhattan looking over the glass at him "Just the usual 'brother doesn't like my choice of men' even if they are well-to-do." She puts her glass down. "You wouldn't know looking at us, but we're twins. Had each other all our lives and while I'm more than happy he's got a lady waiting on him, he doesn't like me shopping around." She smiles wider "How about you handsome? You on the market?"
 
Gumshue chuckled at Barb's response, a smile remaining on his face even after she accepted the offer. Losing a couple credits was worth it; he'd been paid partly in advance, after all, and expenses were common in this line of work. Besides, it wasn't like he wouldn't have bought a drink for a pretty lady when he wasn't on a job, so it really was all the same at that point. The twins side of things was interesting, and also provided an in.

"Twins?" he said, an amused smirk on his face and a single brow raised as he fidgeted slightly with his own drink. "You're right, I wouldn't know it by looking at ya. Clearly you got the fashion sense of the pair..." Roland took a sip of his drink before he continued. "Can't say I blame the man for wanting to worry about ya a little though. If I had a pretty sister like you, I'd fret a bit too over who saw her. Lots of folks will say the right things to try to get you and have less than noble intentions."

Gumshue set his drink down and continued to simply be sociable for the moment. Getting in Barb's good graces was likely to get her to open up on anything he'd ask later, so he continued to relax and simply enjoy the atmosphere for now. By God, he loved places like this.

"Depends on what ya mean by single, ma'am," he said, sitting so that he could prop one elbow on the back of the chair while he held his glass with the other. "Ain't no lady I go running home to at present, but to say I'm married to the job isn't inaccurate. She's a demanding one, but admittedly not a jealous one, at least..." The detective flashed another smile at the attractive woman, taking another sip of his drink before shifting the topic slightly, thinking that information on his employer might also help shed light on exactly what all he was looking for, if anything, here. "Surprised his girl isn't around for his show. They not that tight? Or she got her own gig this time o' night?" Roland's tone was a mixture of curious and friendly as he used the topic of his mark's sibling as both an icebreaker and a possible lead-in to more of the information he was truly after - even if he had no idea what that really was...
 
Barbara giggles at his comment on Pete's fashion. "Oh no that's just his comic schtick. He has much better sense than that, trust me." She rolls her eyes at his followup and replies "How cute that you would think I don't have less than noble intentions of my own." She smiles again and this one takes a turn. It's not a joyous smile, it is more like the smile a tiger would have looking at a pig stuck in the mud. It passes as she listens to him describe how he is in other words married to his job.

"Heard the job is a cold lover sometimes. Same could be said of-" Barb starts to say but stops when she sees Petey come out from the bathroom. He frowns seeing Gumshue at the table.

"Whose this?" Petey asks Barb not even bothering to ask Gumshue himself. He sits down and looks across the table at him.

"A new friend. For tonight at least." Barb replies and giggles. "And I didn't even get a name, silly me. Or give mine. Shame on me." Barb winks at Gumshue. "Barb Beach, pleasure to meet you. You come here often?"

"He doesn't." Petey answers for him. "Im real good with faces, and this guy I don't recognize." He says, eyeing Gumshue suspiciously.
 
Roland chuckled at her response. "Ma'am," he said, a charming-yet-mischievous smile on his face as he raised his glass just a hair, "in my experience, there are few intentions at all that can be called 'noble'. I know I certainly can't call most of mine such..." He knew that grin he was looking at, and it didn't faze him; at least, not much. Gumshue had to admit, he liked ladies who had a bit of bite to them, and this dame certainly did. He also knew that getting too involved with her would almost certainly be trouble, from what little bit he'd seen and heard.

That reverie, however, was shattered when Petey returned.

Two words too early, the detective thought to himself. He was very, very interested to know if the 'cold lover' was going to be Barb's current squeeze, or a jab at his current employer. She hadn't responded to the bait regarding her yet, after all. But the board changed, and Gumshue had to move with it or be lost.

Adjusting on the fly wasn't anything new for the private eye, however.

He arched a brow and smirked casually over at Petey before answering the both of them. "Most folks call me Gumshue. That or Roland. Take your pick," he said, "and no, I don't come here often, though for a good show or company, I might change that." Gumshue took a small sip of his drink before he continued. The detective opted to throw some truth out as bait and see if Petey bit. After all, it was a lot harder to sell a lie than the truth, and selling the truth never meant you had to sell the whole truth.

"Came to see the show and the man putting it on," he said, focusing more on Petey now, at least for the moment. "Glanced over and saw the pretty lady. Cute one said you two were sibs," Gumshue calmly and slowly jerked his head in the direction of the waitress as he continued. "You seemed upset, at least for the moment. The kind of upset that people try to bury behind a smile. She seemed friendly enough, and I figured a guy who might be able help with one or both of those problems might be welcome. If I was mistaken, hey, my apologies." The detective set his drink down and briefly lifted both hands, palms out, as if to show he meant no harm. "Last thing I wanna do is cause a bother, man. If you want a hand - not like the one you earned as the headliner - I'll be happy to help. If not, hey, I'll leave ya be, though if you pass and the lady wants to meet me here for your next show, I might be well obliged..."

There was little more Gumshue could do at that point, save maybe prattle on, and he knew it. Petey's decision was almost certainly going to be made up regardless if he kept trying to sell it, and he'd managed to lay the line down not only to see how that was going to play out, but to see if he could indeed get Barb to show up for the next time Petey performed - free drinks were free drinks, after all...
 
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