gods ain't gonna help ya (video; un: lagoon)

[areal_hisname]

WHO: Dickson
WHERE: Libra app
WHEN: 4/22 backdated
WHAT: Another new TBO person is here
WARNINGS: His mouth, jokes about his name, jokes about weed.

[Another new face has arrived, friends! This one less cheerful looking as he clicks the feed on. An older man that looked like he walked straight out of the 70's stoner phase and never left appears and just rubs at his temples under that nice red bandana of his. He began to speak with a thick Northern English accent and a kind of grit that came from many years of smoking.]

I could've been here days ago, but a right clown decided he was gonna tell me the wrong time for his layover in Europe. And then he goes off on wanting a vacation. Ain't that a son of a bitch? [ASHIYAOTHY DOUMANINGTON, LOOKING RIGHT AT YOU, so to speak. He shook his head and leaned back in his chair, waving a hand in a gesture of dismissal..]

Ah well, anyway. Dickson's the name. Yeah, yeah, get all your jokes out I've heard a million of 'em and got a million more for you. [Said with a bit of a good-natured smirk. The air of someone who couldn’t beat 'em so joined 'em.] I’m with the clown. Ashiya Douman. Another from the Black Order. I’ve been with 'em a good while, but my side hustle is making weapons. Fire arms, swords, shields, you name it, Al Dickson makes it.

Feels like they got me on another long reassignment, so you lot need anything made and I'll make it right quick for you. Won't come cheap, but nothing does in this day and age now does it? A man's gotta eat. Hahahaha.

Gonna need a bit to get myself settled though, I'll say when I'm open for business.

[He carried the air of someone confident in that skill at least. And to be fair the man's got a point! He's gotta eat! For all intents and purposes nothing about his offer carried suspicion, it was a genuine offer and considering this town was dangerous it might be a good avenue to take, even.]

[[ So kind of like with Douman, people who know Dickson either through past lives or through TBO itself will have very vague memories of him. Dickson is well known for knowing just about everyone in a place passively so it’s very likely they’d just remember him as a guy in their periphery just not one they talked to for too long. Like a random inconsequential encounter you had on a Tuesday mid-morning while you were passing by the water cooler, that kind of vague recollection. ]]

Comments

video | UN: Thorn

[poisontippedcure]

[Rose should be wary. It hasn't been long at all since Teresa showed up.]

[But with Douman, she's already let down her guard. There's no reason for her to put up walls again, right?]

Are you sure he told you the wrong time? Perhaps you just misunderstood.

[Of course, she'll be her lovely little self regardless.]

[areal_hisname]

[Oh this girl seems like a peach.]

'Course I'm sure. You think I wanted to spend a night stuck in LCY? It's just like the clown to pull some shit like that.

[poisontippedcure]

[Yeah, she’s just the worst.]

Really? Douman seems like the upstanding sort. I can’t imagine he’d tell you the wrong time on purpose.

[Is she being coy or just that stupid? Roll a d20 to find out.]

voice | un: kissmyash

[switchaxe]

[...Dickson, huh.]

The hell did they send you here for, old man?

[Ash...he remembers them fighting, last time they ran into each other? But not what about or what happened. It was probably nothing.]

voice

[areal_hisname]

[Huh, the scrappy kid's still alive is he? They really botched their job in this shithole. Thought that little god in his brain would have taken him out by now. Good thing he's in.]

Well, shit really went to hell the last couple months. I'm just goin' where the higher ups point me like the rest of you lot. [Which doesn't answer the question, but also isn't entirely a lie.

What is a lie, however:]

It's good hearing from you, kid.

[switchaxe]

[Looks like someone hasn't been reading his reports. Which, weird. He thinks? Whatever.]

Yeah, shit got wild an' I don't keep track of timezones. Still dunno why they'd send your crusty old ass out here. It gets pretty cold in the winter, you sure your joints are gonna handle it?

Video | UN: jalbarea

[noblerise]

[Jusis vaguely recognizes this man, but that vague recollection coupled with how "nice" Dickson is makes him raise his hackles like a stray cat with a stranger.]

Hmph, a pity you're too late for the job. We have a more than capable blacksmith in the ranks that I wouldn't be even a tiny bit surprised if he could give you a run for your money if not make superior works.

[His crosses his arms, looking colder than he ever has.]

In other words, your silver tongue has no business here until I see hard evidence that you're comparable or better than Guardian Blade is.

[areal_hisname]

You ever talk to someone about gettin' that stick outta your arse, Albarea? It ain't healthy for someone your age to be so high strung.

[Seriously, Jusis. The saddest part is this is actually half genuine. Half. ... A quarter.]

I heard about the guy. If he's as good as you say I can't wait to see him give me a run for my money.

video: un: bar_cat75

[wiseoldbartender]

[Another new Guardian- another face Husk can't place with any great amount of surety. Especially because this is clearly another old timer who he really should know better than he does. He doesn't like this new precedent one bit. ]

You're gonna make Blade cry like a whiny little bitch if you keep up with a spiel like that.

[Maybe this one Blade should be allowed to go off. Just once.]

Met the other guy. He gave rancid asshole vibes, so I'm not surprised he screwed you over. So. You here for any reason other than to do a job someone else is already doing for us?

[areal_hisname]

[Oh this fucking guy. The bleeding heart drunkard that gets attached. Dickson smirked.]

If competition's gonna make 'im cry he oughta put the hammer down and close his forge right now. He don't seem like the kinda guy from what I heard. [You don't survive a possession without guts, he'll give that much.]

Rancid ain't the half of it. Try being within two meters of him and see how quick it turns into centimeters. [Ashiya Douman Stop Challenge 2024.]

Eyes've been on this place harder since November, you know that better than I do.

video: un: Limbo

[ridiculecat]

Mmmmmm~. Did I tell you the wrong time? I do remember drinking with you late that night and perhaps you just couldn't hear this humble priest though the bottom of your whiskey bottle, fufufu.

I, of course, was UP and READY early, and yet you were nowhere to be found at the airport! Mah, I wasn't just going to miss my flight you know~?

And don't tell me you don't desire a vacation as well. The last few jobs we've had were definitely worth at least a week at the beach? A week, a week.

[areal_hisname]

[OH THIS BITCH EATING CRACKERS AND JINGLING BELLS.]

Don't hit me with that, clown, when I've drank you under the table of the pub more times than you can count on those paws of yours.

You told me to be up at 8 AM. That's when the plane left and I was stuck for a day in LCY 'cause of it. Been 'round you for barely a week and the vacation I need's from you.

Video

[ampersand_me]

You know who was still so new here he had absolutely no clue about this whole 'Black Order' business? This spiky punk. Who, while he at least had learned not to hold the phone up close to his face, was still holding it at extreme arm's length and probably not terribly centered.

Though admittedly arm's length for him wasn't really all that far anyway.

"You are an arms dealer? Are you a fighter as well?"

Yes, that was really the only part of all this that piqued his interest.

[areal_hisname]

[What the fuck?

... You know what, at his age you just learn to let shit be.]

Sure am. You don't get by as long as I have without knowing your way 'round a scrap.

voice; un: tsubaki

[kanka]

[You know, that's another name Ayato somehow finds familiar, yet can't quite remember much about the guy at all. Did they meet at some point, possibly when he was sent to look after a team and "fix" an issue? It's hard to say, but there's definitely a drop in the pit of his stomach now.

Not really remembering one person is odd. But two? Hm. HMMMMM. He won't talk about it for now, but something just feels off.

That's a familiar voice to Dickson, though. Someone he's met and knows pretty well, all things considered.]

I do apologize for the lack of greetings upon your arrival, Dickson-san. Things have been rather... busy, as of late.

[areal_hisname]

[Look who it is, the failed mediator. Dickson wouldn't have to be here if you only did your job right. Now he's gotta put the team here and the city in its place with the clown.]

Eh, don't you worry about it, kid. Heard as much from the reports. While I'm here I may as well lighten the load you all got stacking higher.

[8)]

un: violetsmoke; voice; private

[infezione]

[Okay, so Fugo's memories of this guy are... vaguely positive? He wonders a bit about sending this message to begin with and something doesn't quite sit right, with the vagueness of the memory and the timing...

But still, this one doesn't set him immediately on edge the way Douman did. That's why there's a message at all, but it's set to private.]

If I ever take up firearms specifically, I'll keep you in mind.

private!

[areal_hisname]

[Filtering the feed, huh? Dickson remembers this kid's voice. Purple Haze was a big segment of his past life files.]

It doesn't have to be firearms, but it is one of the easiest things for me to make. Call it my ol' reliable.

Patrizio, right? It's been a while.

UN: JOJO

[standless]

I have heard many a perilous tale of the 'airport layover'...

How can it be that we have cteated such magnificent, widespread machines, yet such troubles plague them so!?

Alas, I fear I shall be unable to offer patronage enough to offer food, for as you may see-

[And indeed, he's on video with the usual 'Alfred is floating the phone' trick-] ....I am rather small, and have meager funds to spare.

I could perhaps spread word to those in need of weaponry however?

[areal_hisname]

[You know what after seeing Knuckles this is pretty whatever.]

That's what I'm saying! Thought we would've come longer in all this time.

[Disregard the fact that Dickson looks in his 40's and is clearly from this world.]

I'm not saying no if you wanna advertise. It'll be a while before I've got everything up and running. I'm still waitin' on most of my luggage.

video; un: theprofessional

[sg09r]

[Something about this guy…it puts him on edge. Well, even more on edge than Douman did. But try as he might, Leon can’t entirely recall why, beyond a vague sense of unease. They’ve worked together, he thinks—but the details slip his mind.]

Welcome to Kaisou, then—sorry a lot of us couldn’t be there in person. [He’s distantly polite, but there’s an undercurrent of wariness and a tension in his shoulders.] We actually do already have a blacksmith, like Jusis said, and there’s another on the app, but I’m sure everyone will be just glad to see another one.

[areal_hisname]

[Wow, rude. At least Dickson isn't a clown bell man. There's a shift in his expression seeming to light up seeing Leon. You know between him and Ash, Dickson felt almost a little bad that he's here to crush Kaisou underfoot and remind the people here of their place.]

Ain't a big deal, not like I was expecting the welcome mat to be rolled out for an old Black Order hat like me. Haha.

Really? I heard about Blade, but not this other one. I guess I've got more competition than I thought. I'll have to bring my A-Game.

video; un: midnightfishing

[illucesco]

[Huh. Hold on:]

You can make shields? Can you make one that can be thrown like with that one superhero? [Wait, he has to explain.] I can teleport to wherever I throw something, and I have a lot of swords but I don’t have a shield.

[And it’d be nice to have another weapon that doesn’t do psychic damage to him on every hit.]

[areal_hisname]

[Wait, he recognizes that ability description. This is the guy from Ardyn's stupidly detailed botched report. That was a funny conversation Ravus had that Dickson snooped in on.]

What, you're not about to be the next Captain America or somethin'? Hahaha. [A good natured shrug.] Yeah, shields are up my alley. If you need something like that I'll see what I can do for ya.

voice | un: laluna

[crisantemo]

[ The face and name only bring a very vague recollection, but that's not what she's worried about (actually it is because why are her memories so fuzzy, but that's for later stressing-). Why did she only feel those nauseating feelings towards the clown, but not this guy? She doesn't trust him, not at all, but it's not the same vicious churn of emotions.

But she keeps her voice calm and even, the pinnacle of politeness. ]

Welcome to the city, Dickson. I'm sure you've already heard about Blade and the other blacksmith here, but having more people who can make weapons never hurts.

[ She's only an apprentice still - ]

... Though I know Douman has a focus on the yokai, but what prompted you to be reassigned here?