CASEY BRIGGS
RESISTANCE
The Mechanic and Messenger
Posts: 30
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Post by CASEY BRIGGS on Jan 3, 2011 20:58:04 GMT -6
It wasn’t that she’d never done drugs. She’d tried things a few times, when she was offered them, but it always seemed like the crash afterwards just wasn’t worth the fake ‘good’ feelings the drugs gave. Maybe she didn’t get as high as other people did, or something, but it just wasn’t worth it to her. Alcohol didn’t even give her that much of a buzz. So really, there was no reason to cloud her judgment with drugs when she didn’t even get that much out of it. Not to mention all the health issues that came with that sort of thing. Her life expectancy was short enough, all things considered. She didn’t need any help making it even shorter.
She didn’t much understand the appeal of drugs as an escape, either. It wasn’t going to make anything go away, even if she forgot about her crap past for a little while. The world would still be in the shitty state it was in, no matter how many drugs she took or how many times she got high or so drunk she passed out. And she might feel better for a little while, but it always seemed that much worse when she inevitably came back to reality. Escaping never fixed anything. So she’d stopped doing drugs a few years ago, when she was still in her gang. A year or so before she’d become the leader, if she remembered right. But enough dwelling on the past. She had better things to think about right now.
Casey had closed her eyes again, going back to her planning, when a bag of chips landed on her stomach with a crackle. She blinked at the bag for a moment before looking over at Eria, who said something about not being as hungry as she’d thought she was. Casey shrugged. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, she opened the bag without a word and started to munch on the chips inside. Maybe some people were picky enough to care that they were barbecue flavored, but Casey had gone hungry too many times to give a damn.
As she munched on them, she remembered something she’d meant to tell Eria and swallowed her current mouthful of chips. ”So,” she said as a way of getting Eria’s attention, ”I fixed your bike while you were gone. She runs like a dream now. Gets damn good mileage, too, if I do say so myself.” Mileage was important, after all, considering the price of gas and the Resistance’s limited resources.
Maybe Casey wasn’t the most social person, but she had a way with mechanical devices, especially guns and cars. She could fix most any vehicle, unless it was completely totaled. Not to mention assemble engines from spare parts. Her bike was mostly built of salvaged stuff, for example, not that you could tell by looking at her. She looked like something right out of a motorcycle ad on TV. Casey’d spent a long time looking for the right parts for that one; she was proud of what she’d ended up with, and rightfully so.
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Post by ERIA HATEM on Jan 3, 2011 21:10:38 GMT -6
A small smirk crossed over Eria's lips as Casey started in talking about her bike; it was good to hear that her baby was up and running again. "That's great; I owe you one. I gotta be honest I wasn't sure my baby was gonna run again after she got total'd. Damn Order goons think it's cool to run a gal and her bike into a wall; no respect I tell ya, none at all. I mean I get not liking me, but c'mon leave the bike out of it."
Shaking her head slightly she sat forward and took her cigarette from her lips, tapping the ashes into a small glass ashtray on the table in front of her before grabbing her beer and taking a small swig of it. Once she was done with that she set it back on the table and just sort of stared at it. She didn't know what to say; she wasn't used to having actual conversations with people anymore, not since everything with Amaria had happened. She didn't really talk with people anymore; she said things to them and occasionally gave responses, but as for full drawn out covnersations...those were pretty rare for her.
She rubbed her eyes a bit, holding back a yawn. Damn she was tired; it'd be nice to sleep for once. Normally she didn't, being too busy planning raids, but tonight she was pretty sure she'd be sleeping like a rock. And it'd be nice t lay in an actual bed too! The cot that she'd had to lay on might as well have been made of stone; it wasn't the least bit comfortable and the pillow they provided wasn't even supportive; it felt like someone had taken a pillow case and give it the appearance of having something inside but really there was nothing. And the blanket? Could it even be callled that? She was surprised she hadn't frozen to death!
Eria shook her head slightly; no sense in thinking about that place since she wasn't there anymore. She took another drag from her cigarette and blew the stream of smoke out towards the middle of the room, watching as it vanished before her eyes.
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CASEY BRIGGS
RESISTANCE
The Mechanic and Messenger
Posts: 30
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Post by CASEY BRIGGS on Jan 3, 2011 21:30:09 GMT -6
Eria’s smirk was mirrored on Casey’s face; she remembered when Eria’d brought the bike back just before she’d disappeared for the last week, both of them more than a bit beat up from apparently being run into a wall by one of the New Order’s goon squads. She’d shown the bike to Casey after getting patched up a bit by an insistent Isaiah, and Casey had taken one look at the girl and known she’d be able to fix her up. She knew by now in less than a minute if a vehicle was a total loss, or only good for salvage. Eria’s bike had been damaged, but nothing Casey couldn’t fix. Those bikes were made of tough stuff. Casey had made sure of that when she’d first joined the Resistance; her first couple of months had been spent renovating the contents of the garage, and setting herself up a makeshift pit for repairs.
”Pfft, please,” Casey snorted, waving a hand briefly before crunching into another chip. ”New Order goons wouldn’t know respect if it danced in front of ‘em wearing nothing but a thong. Or a good bike, for that matter. You seen that shit they drive? It’s amazing they catch anybody in those clunky old junkers.” The cars the New Order goons drove were supposedly state of the art, but Casey had amused herself taking one apart lately. Apart from the eight million listening and monitoring devices she’d found (and promptly fixed up for the Resistance’s use), the cars were total shit. Not to mention they weren’t nearly as maneuverable as bikes. A good bike could get you through a mall without hurting a single civilian, provided it wasn’t being driven by an amateur. A car, well… not gonna happen. Especially the huge SUV things the New Order used.
She crunched on another chip. ”As fer getting it goin’ again, it was a piece of cake. Try fixing a bike that took a dive off a ten story building. Now that’s a chore.” That one had taken her a while, but it’d been a damn good bike, and while the pieces had all taken a beating and most of them weren’t exactly connected anymore, she’d managed to put it back together with only a few new bits. The engine had always had a bit of a rattle to it, but it hadn’t affected the way the bike ran. It had looked like a junk bike, but it had run like it was practically new. Casey had a way with machines, what could she say?
She finished the chips and crumpled the bag, tossing it into the nearby trashcan neatly, without hitting any of the sides. ”Swish,” she said absently, more out of habit than anything else. She’d have to take her bike for a spin soon. It had been too long since she’d done that; there’d been a lot of messages going back and forth with Eria’s disappearance. Likely there’d be another rush now that the boss was back, but she’d find the time.
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Post by ERIA HATEM on Jan 3, 2011 21:54:20 GMT -6
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CASEY BRIGGS
RESISTANCE
The Mechanic and Messenger
Posts: 30
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Post by CASEY BRIGGS on Jan 3, 2011 23:16:30 GMT -6
Casey was a bit surprised to hear a chuckle from Eria, to be honest. She didn’t remember the last time she’d heard Eria laugh, even a little bit… in fact, she was pretty sure she hadn’t ever heard Eria laugh. The Resistance leader wasn’t really the laughing sort. Casey didn’t know jack about what had happened in Eria’s past, but whatever it was, it wasn’t good. The older woman harbored a hatred for Dresdin and the New Order beyond just about any other Casey had seen, including her own. And that was saying something, considering how many people wanted revenge on the assbag and his cronies.
She picked at her hangnail again, then raised her finger to her mouth and bit it neatly off. Damn things were annoying. ”Probably their mamas were too busy spankin’ their pompous asses to worry too much about respect,” Casey mused aloud, grinning slightly at a mental image of Dresdin bent over some woman’s knee getting spanked. She’d never met the New Order leader, obviously, but his picture was everywhere. On buildings, on TV, on anything with a flat surface big enough to fit, seemed like. He was just that full of himself. Casey rolled her eyes. She wouldn’t be surprised if he printed money with his face on it soon. If he hadn’t already.
Glancing over at Eria as the other spoke again, Casey thought for a moment. She’d always been a builder, even as a kid, assembling model cars and planes and Lego sets – the kind of toys little boys usually got to play with. Lego sets were always her favorite. When had she stepped up to vehicles and the like? Hmm… probably when she joined the gang. She was a good scrapper, but not a great one, and her small size often made her a target to get ganged up on. And she loved to tinker.
She shrugged after a moment. She kept her story a little vague; she hadn’t told anyone about her gang past and she didn’t really intend to. She didn’t like questions about what had been; it didn’t help to be dwelling in the past all the time, and she didn’t want any pity, though she doubted she’d get any from Eria. ”I think some guy I knew totaled his bike, and I was bored one day and started messing around with it. Got it working again. My mates told me I had a talent for it, and everybody started bringin’ me their stuff.” She shrugged again. ”Good money, too, if you’re willing to forget the paperwork.” Nobody in the circles she’d been involved in in her life liked paperwork, though the New Order was all about the damn stuff. Nobody liked leaving such an obvious trail.
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Post by ERIA HATEM on Jan 5, 2011 16:11:56 GMT -6
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CASEY BRIGGS
RESISTANCE
The Mechanic and Messenger
Posts: 30
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Post by CASEY BRIGGS on Jan 5, 2011 23:30:33 GMT -6
Casey wormed a bit of grease out from under her fingernails absently. She was perpetually covered in the stuff, considering how much time she spent in the garage, but it didn’t bother her much. Made her stand out less on the streets, too; look too clean and you drew attention to yourself. The grease just looked like dirt from afar. She could very easily pass for a street kid, or even a gang member if she left the tattoos on her arms open to the air. It served her well when she needed to disappear from sight temporarily; smear some crap in her hair and ditch her outer layer and she was very good at looking like a desperate street kid when the goons next saw her. It worked pretty well, usually.
She nodded slightly as Eria looked over, then snorted as the leader admitted she was better at breaking stuff than fixing it. Most people were. Casey tended not to break things in the first place, but she didn’t begrudge anybody her repairs. She liked fixing machines, especially, and every time she worked on Eria’s bike she improved it a little more. You’d never find bikes in the shops that ran as well as the ones under Casey’s care, even if they looked like shit from getting banged up all the time. Still, looking like shit and running like a dream was better than the other way around.
”Well, you keep breakin’ the New Order’s shit, and I’ll keep fixing yours, and it’ll all work out, yeah?” Casey smirked slightly; she had, after all, noticed Eria’s tendency to break things on a regular basis. But no matter. She was more than willing to fix up bikes and the like. Not like she had anything else to do between runs, after all, other than zoom around the city on her own bike. Though she could only do that during certain hours, since it was illegal to drive them when they might ‘disturb the peace’. And while she didn’t give a damn about Dresdin’s rules, she didn’t want to draw too much attention to herself and get thrown in prison. It sent a shiver down her spine just thinking about it; being cooped up in a prison cell, only a tiny little window. Ugh.
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Post by ERIA HATEM on Jan 11, 2011 20:38:25 GMT -6
"Sounds like a plan," she agreed. Closing her eyes for a moment she ran things through her mind; there was a lot to go over but the main thing she had on her mind was her next mission. She'd originally planned on going solo, like always. But Casey here....she was damn good at running and getting information; she wasn't sure but it might prove more beneficial if she took Casey with her. That wasn't something she did often; Eria preferred to work on her own to keep people from getting in her way and to keep herself focused. But maybe this one time it wouldn't hurt.
Opening her eyes she looked at the girl across from her. "Casey, I'mma ask you something. I got a raid planned on a weapons armory not too long from now; gonna take a shit load of their ammo and fire-power. I had planned on goin' alone, but....if you want you can get in on it." She leaned forward a bit, her elbows resting on her knees.
"Now you should know that I don't make this sort of offer often, if ever, and if you refuse it doesn't matter to me. I'm only asking because you're skilled at finding things out as well as running and infiltrating. If you choose not to go with then fine, but don't be waitin' around for the offer to come up again. 'S up to you though." Eria stared at the young girl; part of her wanted her to say no, to refuse to come with. That part of her knew how dangerous this was; the place would be heavily guarded and there was a great chance that they could either be captured or killed. The other part of her didn't care.
Whatever Casey's answer was, it didn't matter too much to her. Even if she was flying solo she'd still go through with it; nothing was going to de-rail her from this plan. It was too big of a chance for her to pass up. She waited patiently for Casey's answer, all the while keeping her grey eyes locked with her blue ones.
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CASEY BRIGGS
RESISTANCE
The Mechanic and Messenger
Posts: 30
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Post by CASEY BRIGGS on Jan 12, 2011 19:53:55 GMT -6
As soon as Eria said she was going to ask Casey something, she had the younger girl’s full attention. Her mind paused in its planning for the blueprint run; she had most of it planned out already. After all, she knew the rooftops of Detroit better than she knew the back of her own hand. With her natural sense of direction and years running the roofs, she’d developed an extensive knowledge of them. So it didn’t take her long to plan out the best routes for her mission. Which meant that when Eria started to describe the raid she had planned, Casey was able to give her her full attention, and she did so. She respected Eria too much to do any less.
Apart from rolling her head to the side to meet the other’s eyes, however, Casey didn’t move from her position. It might look like she was lounging, true, but it was just that she was comfortable and didn’t really see the point in moving. She watched as Eria leaned forward slightly, elbows on her knees, and listened carefully to what the leader was proposing. A two-person raid on a weapon’s depot, huh? Well, better than a one-person raid, to be sure, especially with Casey’s skill at getting into places she technically shouldn’t be with a minimum of fuss. It was funny how few people bothered to lock their windows on the third story or higher, let alone their skylights. She could easily get in through those, ninety percent of the time. The rest of the time, well, she improvised. She was good at that.
”I’ll go,” she said without hesitation, though not in a way that would imply she was only agreeing to go in order to gain favor or something. Casey wasn’t a suck-up by any means; she had decided to go because she genuinely thought she could help. She could infiltrate, or provide sniper cover, or any number of things, really. She was pretty well-suited to helping on a mission with a small squad, or just a pair. In bigger groups, her stealth skills tended not to be as helpful, but with just two of them… Casey grinned slightly to herself. This ought to be fun. A challenge. And she could help make sure the Resistance’s leader made it back alive, too. Eria was the hingepin of the whole operation after all, her strength holding it together. Without her, the Resistance might very well crumble. And even if Casey had cared nothing for Eria herself, she couldn’t let that happen. Not when she had a chance to stop it.
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Post by ERIA HATEM on Jan 12, 2011 20:07:37 GMT -6
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CASEY BRIGGS
RESISTANCE
The Mechanic and Messenger
Posts: 30
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Post by CASEY BRIGGS on Jan 13, 2011 11:07:31 GMT -6
Casey nodded slightly as she listened, picking dirt out from the creases around her fingernails absently. Seemed like her hands always had to be busy with something, even if her mind was otherwise occupied. Whether it was tinkering with some sort of little mechanical device or simply picking at her nails, Casey’s hands were always moving. It was habit, an unconscious tendency. It couldn’t ever fairly be called a “nervous” habit. It was merely a habit, a part of Casey. It always had been; even when she was little she had loved to tinker with things, and had constantly been messing with whatever she might be holding, be it a pen or a makeshift bomb.
She nodded at the news that the place was probably not well guarded. Casey liked a challenge as much as, if not more than, the average person, but when it came to something this dangerous, she’d rather be underestimated. Better they could get in, steal what they could, and get back out with a minimum of attention drawn to their presence. The New Order goons were stupid, but there were a lot of them, and they were for the most part better armed than the Resistance. ”I’ll scope it out tomorrow. See if I can’t figure out if there’re more of ‘em inside.” She was a master at going unnoticed; she would be able to watch a while and figure out what kind of force they’d be up against.
Another nod at the news that they’d be blowing the place sky-high when they finished. It made perfect sense; whatever they couldn’t carry off with them, they ought to at least ensure the New Order wouldn’t be able to use. The Order had enough advantages already; whatever they could do to hide the Tyrant’s operations should be done, even if there was a slight chance the explosion might catch a civilian. Casey was by no means an advocate for involving innocents, but it was worth the risk in this case. ”I can jury-rig a bomb over the next coupla days,” Casey mused aloud. It was a small step from working with machines on the level that she did to making explosives. It was basically the art of intentionally putting something together in the wrongest way possible, to make the biggest explosion. Casey smirked to herself. It’d been awhile since she made a bomb. Oughta be fun. ”Got a particular day in mind, or should I just be ready to go whenever?"
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Post by ERIA HATEM on Jan 13, 2011 18:40:34 GMT -6
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CASEY BRIGGS
RESISTANCE
The Mechanic and Messenger
Posts: 30
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Post by CASEY BRIGGS on Jan 14, 2011 12:43:59 GMT -6
Casey nodded slightly as Eria said it would be soon. She was right; the sooner they could blow the place, the less likely Dresdin would be able to use the weapons for something, like forcing civilians into line, or going after the Resistance. Plus, they wouldn’t want the Tyrant to get too complacent, right? Keep him on his toes, keep him thinking they’d go after him at any moment. The less he got to relax and enjoy how much he’d fucked up the world, the better. They had to let him know how much he was hated, and how the end of his control was coming soon enough, one way or another. Casey curled her lip slightly, thinking of how great it would feel when someone finally offed the bastard. She hoped it was Eria; she knew the other wanted to, and Casey would be perfectly fine just knowing he was dead. She didn’t feel the need to do it herself.
Though she’d spent a lot of time on the streets, Casey hadn’t actually killed too many people. In self-defense, sure, she’d stabbed a few people, or broken some bones, but she’d never gone into a fight with the express attention of killing someone. It just wasn’t her style. She was fine with just disabling them; winning decisively, but leaving her opponent alive. After all, who was she to say who deserved to live or die? Of course, she made an exception when it came to New Order goons. They’d brought it upon themselves by working for Dresdin, in her book. They deserved what they got. Especially the ones who used their power to pick on civilians, who couldn’t fight back for fear of being tossed in jail and brain drained. It was sickening, really, the way everything America had once stood for was now a thing of the past. Casey had never been that patriotic, but still. Dresdin had a lot to answer for, and sooner or later, he would.
She nodded again. ”I got some grenades stashed around, and I’ll make a couple bombs for both of us. Just in case.” That way, if one of them for whatever reason couldn’t set the bomb, the other one could. It wouldn’t take her that long to make extras anyway, and being prepared was a good idea. It’d suck to alert Dresdin to the fact that his guns were vulnerable to raids without making sure he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it afterwards. If they didn’t destroy the place, security would definitely be tighter the next time around. And that was no good.
((I think we should wrap this thread up and move on to the raid o3o yush?))
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Post by ERIA HATEM on Jan 22, 2011 13:31:29 GMT -6
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CASEY BRIGGS
RESISTANCE
The Mechanic and Messenger
Posts: 30
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Post by CASEY BRIGGS on Jan 25, 2011 17:29:41 GMT -6
Casey didn’t interrupt Eria, but by the time the other finished telling her that she might have to kill on this mission, she was nodding. ”Don’t worry about me; I can handle a few stiffs. I’ve made a fair few of them myself.” You didn’t run with a gang for as long as Casey had without killing people. She didn’t make a habit of it, when she could avoid it, preferring to shoot out someone’s kneecap or something equally disabling and make her escape as opposed to killing them outright. But when she had to, she had no qualms about doing so. ”I won’t freeze up on you.” She’d lost gang members who froze up in a firefight. She knew the dangers of doing so, and she wouldn’t.
She pushed herself up off the chair. Casey wasn’t one to sit around in any one place for very long, and besides, she was pretty sure they had exhausted the current conversation. ”I’m gonna go get to work on those bombs,” she said offhandedly, tugging her sweatshirt back down where it had ridden up slightly around her middle. ”I’ll be in the shop.” By ‘the shop’, she knew Eria would know that she meant the area of the garage that was almost exclusively hers, where she kept her makeshift ‘pit’ and all her gear for fixing machines. She slept there, too, just beneath one of the garage’s windows. After all, the rest of the base held no real appeal for her, except perhaps the kitchen.
With a slight hand wave, she left the room, walking through the familiar dark halls without needing to turn on any lights as she passed. It took her only a minute to reach the garage, and she moved to her ‘shop’, running a hand along the smooth seat of her bike as she passed it. Flicking on the lights she’d rigged for her area, she cracked her knuckles thoughtfully before sitting down at her worktable. She had a lot of work to do.
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