The Right Tool for the Job [Open]

[governmentninja]

The Nightmare King had been, more or less, taking it easy on Leon. Not that he had to do much. All he had to do was let Leon know that he was in his head. Considering that he never really recovered from being possessed by a plaga, just knowing that he wasn't alone in his own head was more than enough to get to him. For Leon, an occasional flash of something dark moving through the veins just under his skin, or glancing at his reflection only to see a pair of red eyes looking back at him, was more effective than any elaborate nightmare. Even the feeling that his clothes were contracting against him despite his having gotten rid of that godforsaken plant suit, or that damned itch on the inside of his chest were starting to get to him.

At first, he just resorted to ignoring and pushing past the sensations, going colder to get himself through the day. Slowly, though, the Nightmare King was chipping away at that defense.

But Leon would be damned if he was going to end up helpless against this thing. "Sigmund," the Seer's droid assistant had given him a list of ways to 'bless' and reinforce his weapons to make them more effective against daemons. Leon tried a few, mostly on the weapons he didn't normally carry while back home. It worked, to a minor degree. At the least, it made it so those weapons stood out in his waking dreams. The discontinuity of having them there was usually enough to make him realize that he was dreaming. Well, that, and the fact that he scrawled the words 'WAKE UP' on each of those weapons.

But he was hoping to find a more effective way of taking on the Nightmare King. Which is why, for once, Leon was in the sensoriums.

He usually avoided the sensoriums, only bothering to step in if he had business with someone in there. There was something about a hyper-realistic virtual reality that annoyed him, and he found the way some crew members buried themselves in a false reality to be worrisome. Even more so, considering that not even that was a refuge for them from the Nightmare King. But for right now, the room's ability to conjure up whatever he wanted trumped his discomfort with the place.

His brain was a bit too fried to focus on a list, so he had the room bring interface with the W&P inventory list to bring up the "infinite armory". He stood in the middle of countless rows and racks of weapons and armor, and what could be seen was still only a fraction of what they had on board. He moved them easily and effortlessly, rearranging them with the aid of several holographic screens.

He looked at the specs for several groups of weapons, hoping that somewhere in that haystack, was a needle that he could use to stab the Nightmare King in the eye.

Comments

[gtmighty-pirate.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it was because Guybrush Threepwood had only recently awoken, or because he was too easily frightened to warrant attention from devastating nightmare ghouls, or because the Nightmare King didn’t want to waste his time conjuring up an infinite deposit of porcelain vases. Whatever it was, Guybrush found that he was one of the few crewmates not seriously affected by his dreams, waking or otherwise.

To some degree this made him relieved; but on the other hand, it’s a lot more difficult to gather information from mentally unstable people (and aliens) than usual, putting Guybrush at a major impasse. He could always wait for things to blow over, but that really wasn’t his style. He could try to gather information anyways, but even without the dreams he was feeling unmotivated and depressed—not to mention useless. Wasn’t there something he could do? Anything at all?

Guybrush finally settled on heading back to the Sensoriums. Perhaps some virtual grog would ease his nerves.

…Oh, there were a lot of guns. I mean, among other things. But look at all the guns! Guybrush had never seen guns like these before—did they even use powder? What were these things?...

The pirate had a mug full of noxious liquid in his hands as he walked up next to Leon, eyes sparkling as if he’d just found the biggest damn chest o’ gold sitting in the middle of the street. Words could not express how happy he was, or how much he wanted to totally man-hug this fellow for creating such a beautiful image. For whatever reason, all of his efforts of poetic wonderment and admiration degraded to:

“…I take it you like guns?”

[governmentninja]

Leon spared a look over his shoulder to Guybrush. He then smirked a little and shrugged.

"They're useful for solving problems," if nothing else.

[gtmighty-pirate.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. “It’s always good to find someone with similar interests as myself.”

Yes, this was turning out well so far. No psychotic outbursts, no hysterical giggling, no spewing of random gibberish—this guy seemed coherent enough to answer some questions. Or, at least coherent enough that he’d remember an introduction if he got one.

“I’m Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate™. And you are…?”

[governmentninja]

If one could peek into Leon's head, they might argue how sane he is. But if he's crazy, he's at least functionally crazy.

"Special Agent Leon S. Kennedy, Chief of Security on this ship," since they were being formal with titles and everything. "So I take it you're something of a gun nut?"

[gtmighty-pirate.livejournal.com]

Ooh, Chief of Security. That sounded important.

“Less of a ‘gun nut’ and more of a ‘guy with a short attention span’,” Guybrush admitted with a smile and a raised brow, “If it’s sharp, blows things up, or otherwise is capable of causing mass destruction, then I’m interested in it.”

He paused, taking a swig of grog. It burned his lips and throat on the way down, like swallowing a mouthful of bile—which was just the way he liked it.

“…Or, you know, if it’s shiny I’ll also look into it.”

[notlewis]

It was rare to find Luis out of the lab and rarer still to find him near the sensoriums. But Leon didn't seem to be anywhere else at the moment and it turned out his suspicions were correct.

"Somehow I thought your simulations might look something like this, amigo," he said, leaning casually against the door.

[governmentninja]

"It's more productive than most others," he responded. Most people just lounged or played around in here.

"So what finally chased you out of the lab?" He looked back at Luis with a smirk, "Jean or Scarlett trying to kill you?"

[notlewis]

"Hey, if I ran out of the lab every time that happened, I'd never get anything done," Luis replied with a shrug. Jean moreso than Scarlet. Scarlet was more liable to exasperated looks than she was outright violence. "They both secretly like me, I'm sure."

He cast an eye around at the rather impressive stash of weapons. "What are you going to do with all of these?"

[governmentninja]

"I'm sure your charm is winning them over." At the least, Leon got few complaints about Luis in general, recently.

Leon flipped through a couple more of the holoscreens, and a couple of the weapons racks shifted as a result. "These? I'm going to find a way to use one to blast the Nightmare King to hell and back."

[notadamnangel.livejournal.com]

Dean walked in, and grinned at the sight. Ain't this impressive? Kind of like something out of that confusing computer movie. Matrix wasn't it?

"Well, and here I was just looking to ask somebody about a gun."

[governmentninja]

Leon raised an eyebrow at Dean.

"Must be your lucky day, then."

[notadamnangel.livejournal.com]

Dean gave a disarming smile as he stepped closer, "Well, my brother and I been hoping Stacy grabbed it when she nabbed us. It's a particular gun. A Colt. A Texas Paterson Colt to be exact. You wouldn't happen to come across that little find, have you now?"

[governmentninja]

This Dean and his brother may not have had anything to do with the Yeerk thing, but he was still somewhat leery about handing them weapons.

"We have a number of revolvers, probably a few of that model. A bit old school, though, don't you think?"

[in-venting.livejournal.com]

There is an almost noise behind Leon, something like the scuff of sneakers as someone tries to catch themselves from tripping over their own two feet. "Daddy? What are you doing in here?" Sherry knew that the sensoriums were a playground for her and the other kids, usually, especially when they were being chased from the city for one reason or another.

No, 'it's too dangerous, you're too little!' would never stick with them. Ever. She rubbed at her eyes a little - an impromptu nap with Kelly had bolstered her, at least until the nightmares began again. Still, she was more thankful for thirty minutes of restful sleep than she had been a few weeks ago. Was that an improvement? She wasn't sure.

[governmentninja]

Leon looked over his shoulder, and gave a small smile to Sherry. "Just doing a bit of research, sweetheart. What are you up to?"

[in-venting.livejournal.com]

"I woke up," she replied and stepped closer to Leon, smiling slightly. "So, I thought that I would go looking for you. I didn't expect to see you here, though. This was absolutely the last place I thought of." Thus her reasonable confusion. Still, it somehow fit that he was still doing work instead of relaxing like everyone else did in here. It made her feel less guilty for playing with her ROBOT game.

"What are you researching? Can I help?" Sherry peeked around her father to look at what he was up to.

[governmentninja]

"This is the last place I'd normally be," he admitted, "but its proving useful." Having a visual to work with was a lot less taxing on his focus than reading through a list.

Putting a hand on her shoulder, he nudged her a bit so she was more standing next to him than behind him. There wasn't anything terribly important, just weapons categories on one holoscreen, the specs of the currently selected weapon on another. he didn't mind if she had a look. In fact...

"You might be able to help. How much do you know about magic?" He was curious, considering how much she loved science.

[madeofwyn.livejournal.com]

"That is a lot of guns." Wyn mutters from the doorway to the Sensoriums, glancing around the room in half-awe, half-trepidation. "Oh, sorry to interrupt."

[governmentninja]

"It's no problem," he stated, glancing at the newcomer. "In fact, I wanted to have a word or two with you."

[madeofwyn.livejournal.com]

"Really?" Wyn asks, stepping fully into the simulation. And now she's wondering what she could have done recently to grab the attention of the Chief of Security.

[governmentninja]

Relax, Wyn, it's not about your uncanny ability to blow things up. Well, actually, it is, just not in a bad way. Besides, Leon knows far too many women with that particular talent to be worried about it.

"Yes. How much do you know about mystical weaponry? Particularly weapons that can be handled by people who don't normally use magic on their own."

[sent-herself.livejournal.com]

These aren't weapons as Mulan is used to weapons, but she can tell that's what they are. They remind her of some of the accessories on Sima Yi's amazing moving suit.

Speaking of suits, she's found a rack of ballistics vests and is tapping them out of curiosity. "Is this armor?" Really? "It's so light!"

[governmentninja]

"Yeah, it is," he answered. "It's good against most small projectile weapons, but not great against close range weapons."

[sent-herself.livejournal.com]

Mulan looks at Leon - he looks authoritative, and clearly knows more about future-weapons than she does. She inclines her head in a respectful bow. "More wonders from beyond my time," she says, beaming without self-consciousness. She has much to learn about this ship's weaponry, but she has learned much already. There is no reason she cannot learn more.

[governmentninja]

Leon regarded her with a mild curiosity, though he did also bow slightly in return. He was a little busy, but no need to be rude.

"Beyond your time?"