Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

[Caulder]

Mozzie, self-proclaimed master musician and general layabout, was currently at the Broken Shillelagh, fine-tuning his fiddle after having finished his classes for the day, preparing for his usual gig of taking requests from patrons at the pub.

He'd been steadily learning to control his talents, that had manifested only recently, but at least they suited something he absolutely loved, which was music of all forms. Of course, it was nice to just relax and play one of his favorite instruments, even if it was to a bunch of drunks.

 

[[Sc8]Hardware]

21 April 2038 - 1700 hours

Behind the bar, Miranda Connor, the quiet Irish publican, paused briefly from prepping glasses to turn the stage lights on.

 

[Caulder]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House

As the stage lights kick on, Mozzie smiles and puts his sunglasses back on, not wanting the enhanced lighting to show off his special eyes. Lifting his fiddle to his shoulder and setting the bow in position, he adjusts his seat on one of the bar stools near the stage, his clothing rather simple, a black T-shirt with a line of music from Beethoven's No. 9 Symphony on the front of it, and a pair of blue jeans below, as he begins to play a rather well-known song to the pub.

With a gentle tapping of his foot, he begins to fiddle out a song known as

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, usually expecting the patrons to begin singing, since quite a few of the regulars knew the lyrics by heart, and he was quite happy to play one of his three favorite instruments.

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House

After a bit of the song, a somewhat unremarkable man entered the pub. Max took a moment to study his surroundings before getting a table and ordering some food.

While waiting, and eating once the meal arrived, he periodically looked around the room.

 

[[Sc8]Hardware]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House

As Max watched the entrance area between the general seating area and the bar area where Mozzie was playing, a group of five (apparently) teenage girls entered, giggling, and started moving to the right toward the stage. Miranda suddenly spoke up.

"Ah. Sorry, kiddo, you know how this works." She pointed to the second-floor balcony above the general restaurant seating.

The shorter of the two redheaded girls immediately became rather hostile, crossing her arms defensively and kicking at the nearest bar stool.

"You're not my mother!"

"No, I'm not." Miranda looked pointedly at the other redhead. "But since I have to be the adult here..." She placed a backpack on the bar and pointed to the balcony again.

The girl huffed, grabbed the bag, and stormed off toward the stairs. Miranda turned to the remaining girls.

"Just because you're lucky enough to still look like teenagers doesn't mean you still get to act like teenagers."

They didn't reply, but they also didn't look at each other as they took their places in the audience.

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House

Max had gotten partway into his meal when the girls arrived. The outburst caught his attention, and the tail-end of the entire episode brought a puzzled look. After a quick shrug, it seemed that whatever he thought of the whole thing was going to wait until the meal was eaten, however, as he rather quickly returned to it.

 

[[Sc8]Hardware]

21 April 2038 - 1720 hours

The pub's seating slowly started to fill up. A low hum of conversation undercut the music. Mixed scents drifted lazily on the air from the direction of the kitchen.

Suddenly, those closest to the door heard a strange sound; a sort of hollow "pop," like a Nerf gun firing...

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House

Max had just gotten up from his table when the pop was heard. As he turned to look, he muttered a "What the..."

 

[super_slicer]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House

As James reached the pub door he hesitated for a moment...

Old Sal Valintino and his boys had been dead for years. James had watched the state fry each and every one of them for what they'd done to those Korean girls. And if any of the rest of the family could even recognize him, they knew better than to start anything here. While the proprieter wouldn't normally bend over to deal with scum as low as them, any trouble at the Broken Shillelagh would land them in a world of hurt. Still, it might not be a good idea to tempt fate...

An image of 'Big Roy' licking his lips in anticipation, a dribble of saliva trailing it's way down into that tangled mass of hair, was all it took to break that hesitation and push James forward on his quest to destroy the brain cells which held that loathsome memory.

Entering the pub, he took a quick survey of the room and then headed straight to the bar, ordering a Gin & Tonic.

 

[[Sc8]Hardware]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House

To the left of the entrance, the basic restaurant seating-area was partly filled. The balcony above the restaurant seemed mostly to be populated with high-schoolers. Ahead and to the right, the bar didn't have many people sitting at it; most in the bar area were at the tables around the stage where Mozzie was playing. None of them looked like mob enforcers, so James was probably okay...

 

[super_slicer]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House

James took a seat at the bar, downing his first drink rather quickly and ordering a second immediately after.

He began to examine the stage and this musician further...

 

[[Sc8]Hardware]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House

Mozzie was currently attempting to play while resolutely ignoring the attempts of two young women at the edge of the stage who were trying to get him to pick up and play a silver guitar sitting nearby.

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House

A few moments after James got his second drink, a fairly non-descript man walked up to where the register was. Well, "fairly" was a relevant term... The man's face still bore the faded marks of chemical burn scars, although aside from that he was unremarkable: Average height, weight, build, simple trimmed haircut and neatly trimmed-yet-full beard, brown for both hair and eyes, and a more practical manner of dress.

While paying, Max asked the publican, "Do you have anything around here that is supposed to make a weird 'pop' noise? I heard something like that when I got up to pay... Almost sounded like some sort of toy dart gun, now that I think about it more."

 

[[Sc8]Hardware]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House

Miranda looked pensive. "Yeah, I noticed that..." She sighed. "Probably one of the kids upstairs."

 

[super_slicer]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House

Eavesdropping James tried to recall anything that might sound like a nerf-gun without being one, unfortunately his memory was piss-poor concerning sounds and he came up empty handed.

As was he when he went to take another pull on his drink, so he ordered a third.

 

[[Sc8]Hardware]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House

Miranda had just started to turn to head upstairs when a much louder sound came from direction of the parking lot. Suddenly, all the lights and other electronic items in the pub went dark and silent...

 

[super_slicer]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House

James took his lighter out, a tarnished silver zeepo he almost always carried in his front right pocket, lit a cigarette and asked "Got any candles? Drinking in the dark's a little too moody for me."

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House

Max had started to turn towards the exit when everything went dark. During the brief light from the lighter, he started trying to make his way towards the front door of the pub.

 

[[Sc8]Hardware]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House

Miranda let out a sharp, oddly modulated whistle. In the dusky half-light coming in through the windows, several patrons could be seen jumping to their feet and moving. In a grim voice, she said, "I think we have bigge-"

A crash as the door flew open, and the pub was suddenly flooded with a wave of robots. Almost all shared the same body, but some had, in place of heads, microphones or cameras, all of which looked like technology from the 1930's or 40's. The room was being lit in patches from a series of flying robots that resembled antique Hollywood stage lights.

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House

'Of course... THIS kind of thing happens *now*...'

Max did his best to find some cover, and started trying to figure out a way out of the pub that didn't involve the bot-horde.

'At least I lucked out and have it at the shop, not the bunker...'