Star Trek: Starbase 777

Vara had made her way to caboose! It was time to hang out and relax and so she had decided to go to some western holodeck event on her off hours. She dressed the part of a cowboy! Navy blue duster, black cowboy hat, white dress shirt and blue vest, jeans, brown cowboy boots with spurs, fingerless gloves, a black bandana tried around her neck. She hummed as she slowly walked around the caboose. “Hmmm hmm, let’s see. Anything neat around here…”

Since nobody else had decided to spawn here, she left!

She stood, eyes closed, as the breeze flowed through her hair and whistled into her ears. As much as the malfunction was concerning, T'Evoryn decided to just... take a moment. Should she go back and try to find a solution? Perhaps. That would've been the most logical solution. The only problem was that logic wasn't anywhere near her mind, as her arm rested against the railing, and a quiet, peaceful sigh escaped her lips.

Caboose was an incredibly silly word, Rojin thought, as he walked towards the little balcony that was overlooking the horizon as the train kept moving through the desert. Saren wandered off to check the coach, which gave the older Lareth some time to just... think alone. Linger. He adjusted the bandana around his neck as he entered, only to spot another person present here. Was that..? "I hope I'm not intruding?" he uttered, lingering by the entrance. He was dressed less like a cowboy, more like a worker (or someone who wanted people to think that he was one, perhaps..?). There were the boots, the dark pants with a heavy leather belt, and a half-buttoned dirty white shirt, tucked into the pants. The clips of his suspenders looked like small dog-heads, biting into the washed material. Stuffed into one of his pockets, was a small rag he used in the bar.

2

The Vulcan turned, the light reflecting off her earrings as they swayed in the wind. "Not at all." She replied, clasping her own two hands together. Truthfully, she was caught off guard upon his arrival. Had she been so absent minded as to not even notice someone behind her? Ah, what does it matter? There was not any reason to be on edge anyways. "Trying to enjoy a quiet moment? If so, I hope you don't mind me being here." (edited)

"It's fine. It's the dining car that has too much noise," he stepped out onto the balcony now, leaning his side against the railings, giving T'Evoryn plenty space between her and himself. "Besides, everyone knows that the worst glitches happen in places where there are too many entities present at the same time." As Rojin joked, he turned his head towards the Vulcan for a brief moment, gesturing behind himself and also catching a better glimpse of her face. It was definitely her, no?..

"I better keep track then." She nodded, gazing off into the artificial distance. "Although I'm not very sure if people count as entities here." Her fingers tapped to the rhythm of the tracks, as her near expressionless face turned again slightly, to the man beside her. Had she seen him before? For a Vulcan, she was pretty bad at remembering faces, but... she was fairly certain she hadn't. "I don't believe we've met before." Then she paused, for seemingly no particular reason. "My name is T'Evoryn."

He shrugged to that, "Sure hope not. Though with all the silverware in there... Still a place to be wary of." T'Evoryn, then. Interesting. Rojin offered her a polite nod, before choosing to look out into the distance as well: "Pleasure to meet you. Mine's Rojin tr'Lareth. You might've heard about my nephew, though I myself don't dabble in Fleet's business. I own a bar here." Tee-hee.

"Likewise." She reciprocated the response. "I've heard of your nephew, though I've personally never met him. Regardless, I generally try to be aware of most of the crew here. Though I wasn't aware there was more than one..." Ah. Hm. Her expression shifted slightly, not too noticeable if you weren't looking, but painfully obvious to those that were. A frown perhaps? Though it was more of a gulp. "Well, I haven't been to many bars since my arrival here. What is it called?"

A thoughtful hum was her response. "Hlleistau." He might've been layering it on too thick. After he mentally reprimanded himself for it, Rojin opted for a different approach: "Have you been there before? It's a Romulan bar, but... I've noticed many of my patrons don't mind that much."

The horizon was distorting; not loading quite properly in front of them. Something was obscured, but there was, for a second, the sound of dozens of hooves thundering along the ground... Then it was gone.

3

2

As soon as that happened, gone was his relaxed stance - the bartender was now standing upright, alert, mismatched gaze raking the horizon like a fine comb... "Did you hear that?" he asked of T'Evoryn, the light tone of his voice replaced with something cautious. Did he get a bit too cocky with his jokes?

"Hear what?" Her voice came from the doorway, golden eyes watching the sand in the distance like a hawk. "Is the audio glitching?"

Ev'kor trailed after Vovvi, content to let her lead the way. He figured the train wasn't large enough that he wouldn't be easily found in the event of an emergency. "Seems like one of the harmless ones," he commented, before noticing who else was on the balcony and automatically standing up a little straighter.

A voice, then another one, both painfully familiar. Rojin turned around, suddenly very aware of their presence in that doorframe. He was also made aware of the air rushing off of the running train, ruffling his hair and carelessly playing with the folds of his shirt; he refused to linger on that fact, or the way they - all of them, really - were dressed. "Hooves, multiple of them," he explained. "I... thought it sounded like they were following the train."

She angled her head curiously, the ripple of fabric catching her attention for only a moment before she sharpened her focus once more. "Maybe something bleeding through from the sister program?" Vovvi posed lightly. She would have tipped her hat at him, or even brought the brim down to obscure her eyes, but alas. "Either way, it's on par with all the nonsense that's been going on already, yes?"

If not for the stupid holodeck settings, he would have knocked his hat off again; messing with your hair for a nervous tic was really easier when you weren't wearing headgear. "Sister program?" he asked Vovvi, slightly out of the loop. Probably his own fault.

"The program has two options." Reaching up, she lifted Ev's hat off of his head, tugging it down onto her own. The texture distorted before settling into the warmer brown and yellow of her outfit. Her shoulders straightened, just a little. "Either a regular adventure — the one currently active, or one a little more action packed. Bandits. Heists. All that," she explained with an idle wave of her gloved hand.

He entered the caboose. "Hmmm. Not much wall space for panels and other secrets to hide here, actually." Still, he had a bit of a look around to see if he could find anything before he would leave, not knowing he was completely the wrong end of the train.

What the h-- actually, should he be that surprised? He'd seen the window slide around the wagon's side. Still, the gesture itself... "So you think it was that second setting poking through?" he put a stop to that train (ha) of thought with a swift verbal blow to it's proverbial head, before it could begin bleeding his heart dry. He opted to turn his torso in a way that prevented the shirt from, well... flapping around. "I wonder if it's a symptom to a bigger problem, or if it's one of the options that is specifically bugged. Either way... what are our options, as of now?"

Ev'kor stayed still for a fraction of a second, stunned, before immediately running a hand through his hair properly, almost wishing he had something to tie it back with. "Evacuate and reset the holodeck was the idea, I think. There's a lot of unqualified civilians here-" speaking to Rojin, the distinction was necessary "-who can't be asked to endure too much personal risk."

"My only knowledge of procedural generation like a holodeck comes from video games," she admitted sheepishly. "I've already seen some collision issues, and some textures distorting. I'm worried that the safety settings are shot."

He couldn't help the small, fleeting grin that appeared on his face after Ev'kor's words. It was bitten off with a chuckle and a grimace, the feeling of them being In The Know icing his insides like something else. "I'd love to assist, however I can, and--" Was that..? He turned around.

The thunder of hooves. Again. Closer, this time— a small cluster of moving shapes and colors against the hill, barrelling towards the train.

"Inside—" and she was moving, pulling at his arm to draw him towards the door. "Now. Let's go!"

"Does anyone have a phaser on h--" nevermind, then. Rojin's other arm landed somewhere on Ev'kor's person, maybe for stability, or maybe to ensure he'd follow.

Well, nothing to see in here except, uh, horses? He went back to the freight car.

"There's no-" Ev started before being pulled into the car as opposed to standing on its balcony, trying not to be too aware of the hands on him "-phasers. All equipment has been changed to fit the theme." His feelings on the matter were pretty obvious.

4

Everything stopped. Textures unloaded rapidly, flickering, before an ERROR message flashed across the holodeck, allowing everyone a glimpse of their fellow holo-goers, before everything reloaded. Reset.

“Oh, are you—“ He blinked, and suddenly, he was stuck in the caboose. Shit. “Again?! Really???” He exclaimed, “I hate holodecks.”

"We're entering bandit country," a miscellaneous NPC flickering in and out of existence reported. "Please do your best to keep th— the conductor and the freight car safe!"

Nope. He maneuvered himself across the caboose, moving inwards on the train. He wasn’t doing this today.

Vovvi touched down superhero-pose style, though quickly realized she'd accidentally lead herself to a dead end. Oh well. At least she'd be having fun before she was shot to death?..

Rojin jumped down not too long after Vovvi, only to begin walking up to her...

Ev'kor followed last, Rojin's dark-haired shadow like a dog on his master's heel. "Two-on-one, nowhere to go," he stated, not intending to come across as quite as menacing as he did.

3

Her eyes darted back and forth between them, delight quickly dwindling into a nervous twist of her mouth as she realized she did Not have the bullets to take them both down. Hm. "Will you accept a surrender?.."

He was so close. Close enough to shift his weight and partially lean it against the railing, his hand gripping the metal as he did so. His eyebrows went upwards then, heavy gaze briefly landing on Vovvi's gun - so close to that hand of his, on the rail - before flicking upwards at her: "That would only be fair. Why did you board this train in the first place, though?.."

Ev'kor came in closer as well, not quite bracketing Vovvi the way Rojin was doing, but certainly cutting off any avenue of escape, standing close enough to loom. "If we shoot her now, we can get back to the fight, help some of the others out," he pointed out, twirling the revolver in his hand before catching it perfectly, then using its muzzle to point up the brim of Vovvi's (his) hat. "Your rebuttal, Miss Rei'nak?"

She opened her mouth to start rambling on about the bugs in the program, them replacing the bandit NPCs, the terrain breaking, though it quickly hit her that they were roleplaying. Vovvi hummed instead, leaning all too casually against the railing, though a smile crinkled up the corners of her eyes. "You would send me to jail just for having a little fun? That's cruel. I didn't even get the chance to steal anything."

He angled his head, then. "And now you're separated from your little group... Are they targeting the freight car?"

"Why should I tell you? You'll jail me either way," she sighed, fingers playing idly with the loose hair at the end of her braid. "I'm not in the mood for conversation without a little incentive."

"What kind of incentive were you imagining, hmm? It can't be much better than "we don't shoot you," I'm sure." Ev'kor brought the revolver down from the brim of Vovvi's (his) hat, letting it settle on her head the way the program wanted it to, instead using his gun to push her chin up, forcing her to abandon the coy act at least partially. Was that too far?

4

He did not have time to digest just What exactly the unfolding scene made him feel, with the gun and his hand and her face and all - when the train suddenly lurched, bumping both him and Ev into Vovvi, the motion a tiny sledgehammer bouncing off of his skull, knocking some sense and awareness back into his brain. "You... ok?" he breathed out, somewhere into dark hair suddenly in front of him, the Everything somehow making Rojin feel both hot and cold at the same time.

In any other situation, the lurching of the train would have terrified her. Somewhere in the mess of bodies and clothes and hair, there was laughter— small, at first, then bordering on obnoxious, fists thumping gently at Rojin's chest and Ev'kor's arm as she tried to wiggle herself free. "I'm just glad we didn't go flying..!"

2

Ev'kor had to lower his revolver so he wouldn't get it caught in Vovvi's throat, inadvertently getting it stuck between their bodies as they ended up in a pile against the railing. "Would've made for quite a dramatic exit," he joked, before turning his roleplay face back on, not stepping back and in fact taking advantage of Vovvi's position stuck to the railing. "I don't suppose we can convince you to turn a new leaf, Miss Rei'nak? Fight for the good guys?"

He, on the other hand, did lean back a bit, needing fresh air and, and... something else. Space. Perhaps it was space. "We could certainly help you with that..." came his murmur, a tad quieter than he intended, words slipping out like dripping tar, "... not that you have much if a choice here, really."

Vovvi pretended to consider for a long moment, as if she had any choice, before nodding. "Alright. I'm a changed woman, now," she reported cheerfully. This program fucking rules. "Want to grab dinner after our shifts?.."

"I feel like I've earned a day off after all of this, anyway. We could probably just go once the program ends, if Rojin's going to be free too." Well, that was easy. Ev'kor stepped back too, shooting a questioning look over his shoulder at Jin.

Well, of course. Still smiling, she turned her gaze inquisitively onto him as well, making it explicitly clear the invitation had been extended to the both of them at once. (edited)

..What the fuck? He blanked at both of them, lower jaw working as he tried to come up with something to respond with. He was free after this, he made sure that his whole day was free when Saren invited him here; being ambushed like this was not in his plans, though. Not by both of them, with the hooking game so smooth they might as well have conspired against him beforehand. "..." they did both extend the offer, explicitly so... "Alright."

Back up onto the roof, then!

"You coming?" Ev said, hauling himself onto the roof and sticking his hand out at Rojin again, intent on helping him up just like last time.

"I don't have much else to do now, do I?" still pondering just how the fuck did he ended up here, he followed Ev'kor.