Futuristic The Bar at The Edge of The World

[AliceNWeb]

[This RP may be easier to read on dark theme]

This is meant to be an icebreaker Roleplay and a constantly changing, yet flexible experience. This RP has no interest check, whoever wants to stop by and drop a post can do so at their own discretion. I may have several posts by myself in a row - this is meant to keep the roleplay on the radar for curious people. If you have questions, try to roleplay them out, if it's not possible then you can shoot me a DM. I am using Motoko as my FC, if that bothers you then feel free to stop reading and click your nearest back-button.

Timeline:
//RP Takes place in an alternate universe or parallel universe where it's modern day but the technology is 50-100 years ahead of now. Think self-driving cars, futuristic weapons (non-energy), 3d printed clothes and buildings, etc. If you have a question just ask... try to make it interesting though - roleplay your questions.

Setting:
//RP is set in modern America where the democratic socialist-capitalism has reached the point of overriding government entities and has been replaced by corporations with private military and a board of CEO's that decide the fate of the country. If you need an example - think Ghost In The Shell S.A.C (original) or SAC_2045(Haven't finished it, don't spoil anything please!)

Rules for the RP:
//Don't god play, god mod, etc. This doesn't mean your posts have to be realistic in the sense of current irl, but keep your posts in-line with your character; think about how complex a person is and try to incorporate honest reactions and feelings into your writing.

//Don't spoil SAC_2045 for me please! I haven't finished watching it!

IntroYou walk into a bar seated at the forefront of a massive district and it's exactly what you'd expect of an outskirts slum beneath the pristine and shining towers of a city that controls 99% of the wealth. Call it a massive-walk-in-mall-bar, call it the strip, compare it to Vegas if everything was indoors and the day/night cycle was artificial. There's gambling, drinking, women, and several skeptical looking alley-ways and characters.

There's a bar, it serves as the welcoming port of the slum district. To get anywhere you've got to go through here first - mercenaries, PMC's, working-ladies, business men and women - you name it. They all pass through this place. If you're lucky you find work; if not you can always beg on the streets. For many, this bar is home. It houses hundreds of people reaching up to the sky; like an extremely long, rusted tin-can. The smell of booze, and cigarette smoke stain the hardwood of the place. It's brightly lit with dim corners, the entire hustle and bustle of city life can be heard each time the double doors slide open. Bots take your order and leave you in peace.

This bar is "S9"
​

[To-be-named character sitting in one of the dimly lit booths that line the corners of S9]:

"yes, thank you. That'll be everything" - a female with neck length synthetically altered hair sits gesturing to a server-bot.
*The bot makes some cheerful noises and disappears behind a pair of old-fashion swinging doors*

She seems preoccupied examining the people walking in and out of the bar - which is unusual to see when there are millions of virtual applications available to someone with a cyber-brain. Most of the people she watched were business men, and women walking around messing with their virtual headspace; more than likely checking emails and schedules for their daily meetings.

 

[AliceNWeb]

*The bot comes back with the lady's drink and places it on the table flashing some lights and emoji's to show its appreciation for the patronage before humming a pleasant melody and disappearing off in the distance to serve the other customers*

The lady sighs
"A lot of the same stuff, every day..."

*she takes a drink from the strong glass of liquor infront of her before accessing her virtual space, motioning to nothing with her hands for a moment. Suddenly she's connected to her only place of solace. A deep blue ocean. Here neither her thoughts nor her face could be seen and the expectations of others, along with the noise, were all but forgot if only for a moment*

From the outside it looked as if she was spacing out, looking through the glass that had been set in-front of her. These moments were bliss, and served as a place for her to rest her cyber-brain and let go of the ties to the ongoing social world they had; a vulnerability frozen in time but also a sanctuary.

 

[Puhon]

All of a sudden, a man, probably in his late thirties, with messed up, mouse brown hair and holey clothes came running into the bar, eyes wide in terror as he pressed his hand against the bloody side of his neck, screaming something about a vampire.
Most people just ignored him, but a few watched in confusion, one eyebrow raised judgingly. Vampires. What an outdated myth.
However, people driving nuts on alcohol or other substances wasn't a rare thing, so they didn't really bother. He'd get over it.

Upon bumping into a pair of people walking by, one young man in a long Trenchcoat and a short, young woman, her black hair tied into a tight bun, both beared the same facial features - cyborgs. Their cheeks and Jaws were split into five seperate plates to ensure movement, red eyes piercing through their dark lashes, the man screamed once more and ran off into the opposite direction.
The cyborgs looked at each other for a moment, before they wordlessly split up, the man leaving while the woman took a seat at the bar, watching her companion as he strolled away.

 

[AliceNWeb]

*a surge of information from various feeds peaked her own interest, enough so to come out of her deep dive. As she became aware of her surroundings again she only caught a glimpse of the commotion before the man was gone. A bit of red and a brief glimpse of the victim before they fled. She had a momentary ping of awareness to the two cyborgs seemingly un-phased by the commotion take a seat.*

"Let's put some feelers out..."

*she muttered to herself before once again retreating into her cyber-brain. Before too long, however, she was tapped into several of the local camera's just outside the bar using exposed cameras based on their low-security infrastructures*

"Please notify the authorities and have that man taken into custody for medical treatment, evaluation, and wait for me to arrive on scene"

*she seemingly said to no one, but before long several drones from the authorities were monitoring the situation and following the man who had fled the bar*

 

[Puhon]

The woman at the bar seemed to be focused on nothing in particular, watching the ice cubes dancing in her glass with a fancy, sparkling blue fluid.
In fact though, her fine ears were listening to her surroundings, trying to spot anything suspicious.
While the man who'd been with her had left the bar after the screaming guy, she stayed to make sure the coast was clear.

A red flag raised in her head when she heard a purple-haired woman in one of the booths muttering something about the authorities.
Damn, Obadiah-!
She scoffed, sipping on her drink while all her attention was now focused on the female. Now, how to approach this before the situation would get out of hand....

>>Obadiah!<<, she addressed the cyborg that had been with her just minutes ago through an encrypted channel that would hopefully keep their conversation private. Soon enough he replied, his voice popping up in her head like a thought.
>>Maru.<<
>>I just saw a bird flying by.<<
>>I saw it too. I think I'll take a day off and go camping.<<

The woman, apparently her name was Maru, sighed silently, staring into her drink for a while before she replied.
>>Watch out for the bears. Be safe.<<
Obadiah would be gone for a couple of days, so she'd be on her own. It was a relief, in a way, but she had a tendency to feel lonely quite quickly.

 

[AliceNWeb]

*The drones that were dispatched by local authorities continued to pursue the hysterical man, leaving a trail behind him along with many... many side-glances, gawks, and laughter as he plowed through the crowds*

"This is going to take a minute"

*She said to herself inside her own head. After a few moments of watching she clicked back to the real world to scan that bar again. The two she had caught a glimpse of... one of them had left... did they have something to do with the man? Was she overreaching? Her curiosity scratched at the back of her mind - it was her ghost; telling her to investigate. She leaned forward grasping her drink and taking a mouthful down. In the next few moments she had sent out an internal message to anyone she could count on, asking for any information about the man that had left - including security footage and any documentation available about the man.*

*she slid out from the darkened booth and approached the woman at the flat-top of the bar.*

"Time to see if she's an exploit."

*she said to herself before taking a seat leaving exactly one between them. Before long the bartender (who, was surprisingly, human) came over to take her order.*

"I'll have what she's having"

*she motioned to the dark haired woman beside her, the bartender nodded and began making the cocktail*

"So... are you here alone?"

*she asked the woman*

 

[Puhon]

Maru had been keeping an eye and an ear on the woman with connections to the authorities ever since she'd heard her talk about investigations.
She could hear the barely audible silent buzzing of the drones getting lost in the distance as they followed the injured man.
If Obadiah was clever, and despite his occasionally poor self control, she mostly did believe he was, he hadn't followed the guy. Every part of her being screamed to go and seek for him, make sure he was okay like she always did, even though hed made it his personal task to keep her safe long ago.
In the end, she figured, all they had left was each other.
Despite her urge to go look after him, she stayed where she was, suspiciously eyeing the woman as she took a seat near her and addressed her.

"Hm?", she said as if she had just been distracted from some deep thinking. She did look somewhat stern, with her hair tied into a tight knot and her brown trenchcoat, worn over a simple, black dress, but her voice was surprisingly soft.
She looked like she was about 24, maybe w5 years old, of course, as she was a cyborg, she didn't age. The only indicator for how old she actually was were the wrinkles in the corners of her eyes. They didn't ma,e her look older, but tired.

"Oh, yes", seh world an wer softly, glancing ab the woman for just a second before her gaze wandered back to her drink. "My brother and I were planning to go to the cinema, but he just ditched me to go camping. Typical older brother."

She chuckled silently, slightly shaking her head like she was used to her brother being a dork.
She wondered, though, if theyd do a background check of Obadiah.What they would find would be decades old videos of cyborg fights he'd won when theyd still been popular, as well as a report of how his creator, Dr.Dyson, had been murdered alongside the cyborg's sister, by a cyborg breaking into his house to steal his technology.
His trace would end there, probably leading everyone to think that Obadiah himself had been murdered that night 70 years ago, too.
"What about you though?", she asked curiously. "Waiting for someone?"

 

[AliceNWeb]

"No I come here regularly to find points of interest and it seems you're a point of interest"

*the waiter places the cocktail infront of her, and she picks it up taking a sip*

"To most of these people..."

*she motions, glass in-hand to the people wandering in and out*

"I'm a stranger, a complete ambiguity."

*she slams the rest of the drink in one go*

"These drinks don't do much for me, what's your name? Mine is..."

*she thinks for a moment*

"Alice."

 

[Puhon]

Something about the woman put her off, to say it mildly. She seemed just as sinister as Obadiah, which, to be honest, was kind of an art. He always had that air of sinister somberness surrounding him, something Maru herself had never managed to build up. She'd always been more of a silent spectator occasionally getting involved to once again whip her brother's dumbass dumb ass into shape... Or out of trouble.
"Maru", she said gently, purposefully using the name she always used as an alias. Maru was off the grid. If they'd research her actual name, Minerva, they'd end up wondering how someone who had been murdered 70 years ago could still be walking around, and she'd rather avoid that. Attention was something for the living.
"And why am I a point of interest to you?", she asked wearily, covering it with a small, polite smile.

 

[AliceNWeb]

"well to be honest, I only caught a glimpse of you and that other guy... but you seemed oddly collected by the whole situation. It just peeked my interest I suppose."

*Alice glances over taking Maru's appearance in for a moment, her cyberbrain was working on pulling together a profile of the woman from any available databases*

"Maru... that's an interesting name. You have any friends or family? I... don't really remember much about my own. I hope I'm not intruding. It gets boring in the real world without applications constantly buzzing around your head. I like to pass the time, observing - talking with people."

 

[Puhon]

By now Maru found herself caught somewhere between sympathy and distrust.
Both feelings were rooted so deep in her very core that they constantly seemed to clash and fight. On the one hand, she enjoyed company, she loved communication and people in general; in the other hand distrust was what had kept her and Obadiah alive for so long. If they had gooten involved with the wrong people... They would have been dead decades ago.
Her gaze scanned the woman next to her for a moment before she smiled an understanding, yet tired smile.
"Ah... When you've lived for as long as I have done you have seen weirder things than a man running around screaming", she chuckled silently while her striking red eyes locked to the ice cubes in her drink once more.

When Alice spoke up once again, Maru slightly tilted her head to the side. Was this an investigation or someone just being curious?
"Maru, yeah... It's a reference, actually", she admitted with a little laugh. This at least was the truth. "When I was created I was named after that comic book character, Isabel Maru, because of the plates my cheeks and jaw consist of. She had similar ones, though hers were a prosthetic to cover her disfigured face."
Another chuckle made it past her lips as she looked at Alice, though this one rather seemed a little awkward." Well, I have a brother. He's a little overprotective, but I have to admit, he does have his reasons. Aside from him... Nah. He'd probably blow up his circuits if I ever trust anyone but him."

 

[AliceNWeb]

Alice paused letting Maru speak, nodding now and again. As she mentioned that her name was a reference her retina's lit up with an artificial glow.

"Oh I see, yeah I didn't know that... I just looked it up. Seems to be a reference to... a 'Doctor Poison', is that right; I also see that she's popular from the movie Wonder Woman"

She paused for a moment, it was actually quite odd having a normal conversation with someone for once. Most of the time she was investigating anyone she could find interesting and digging up any information on them that they might want secret.

"So... did you watch the film or read any of the comics associated with Dr.Maru?"

Alice was a bit fascinated by the world of comic book illustrators, particularly any Japanese manga illustrators.

"I remember watching countless Kim Jung Gi videos in my spare time, that man has an amazing retention for details."

She stopped for a moment, looking at the empty glass infront of herself.

"If you're brothers overprotective, why isn't he here with you now."

Alice turned her head so that her eyes were parallel to Maru

 

[Puhon]

"I've never really had the time to dig deeper into comic books or movies", Maru admitted with a smile somewhere between wry and ironic.
It was ironic, after all, to think that a cyborg of her age had never had the time to develop an actual interest in basically anything. Only now did she realize how much she might have missed thanks to always having to have an eye on Obadiah.
She frowned for a second as something like doubt flickered up inside her mind, but pushed it away as soon as the feeling came up.

When Alice mentioned Kim Jung Gi, Maru quickly dug her way through heaps of data garbage in her memory until she had established a halfway stable connection to the internet.
God she really needed to defragment and get an upgrade or two. Living under a rock had taken its toll on her; she was far from being up to date.
"Ah", she lastly said, as her image search finally, after an eternity of loading of ten seconds, provided some results.
"Wow. I see what you mean, that man draws incredibly detailed, I'm impressed!"

Then her question regarding Obadiah sent Maru back into her state of uncomfortably. She slightly shrugged her shoulders before she would answer hesitantly. "You see, Obadiah and I, we have a kind of... strained relationship. He knows when he's better off leaving me alone, even though I bet he's spying on me again. That's easy when you have a collective memory."