Side Quest

Participants:

vf_kain_icon.gif vf_magnes_icon.gif

Scene Title Side Quest
Synopsis Magnes seeks out K-Mart for "science books" and finds out that his princess is in another castle.
Date December 12, 2011

The Hub

K-Mart


After making the trek down the stairs, and looking around at everything as if it's just a little too creepy, Magnes finally stops when he looks up and sees the small K-Mart sign. When he gets up close, he knocks on the door. "Hello, it's Magnes J. Varlane. I'm here looking for science books."

He is, once again, wearing his green Surge shirt.

The chain-link door rattles and clangs with the knock, followed by a rough, “Hold yer fuckin’ horses Ah’m comin’.” Beyond the rows of metal racks and plastic bins, Magnes can make out the shape of Kain Zarek shuffling around nearby to a stack of old newspapers. He finally emerges, booted fleet clomping on the ground, and comes up to the other side of the chain-link door, fingers curled in the links and head tilted to the side.

Magnet,” Kain greets the young man, one brow raised. “Ah’ ain’t got no more of them comics, you and Ruiz cleaned me out an’ nobody’s found any since.” His lips downturn into a frown, shoulders slacked and fingers unwinding from the links. There’s an incredulous squint. “Wait did you say science books?

"Yes, science books! I don't know if you're savvy about science or anything, but I'm trying to… figure some stuff out." Magnes crosses his arms, rubbing his chin in consideration. "Whatever you can find. What I'm trying to find are books on higher dimensional spaces. Particularly the fourth and fifth dimension, I believe. Mostly the fifth. But uh, just, if you have anything science, can I see?"

Kain stares at Magnes for a moment, then flips the latch on the door and swings it open to the inside of the storage room. “Ok, uh, yer new here so Ah’m gonna break it to ya as easy as I can. All’a this stuff?” Kain motions up to the shelves. “Necessities. Ah’ got yer toilet paper, chocolate, deodorant, tooth paste, booze. Life needs. Every bit of it's valued by how much it weighs versus how much it makes things easier.”

Wrinkling his nose, Kain leans against the doorframe. “Kid, books like that? Only good for wiping out asses with the pages, or burning for warmth. We ain't never hit up a library, either.” But then, there's a thought. Kain looks to the side, then back to Magnes.

“But, if yer interested in science books.” Kain makes air-quotes with his fingers. “Ah’ know where y’can find a library full of ‘em. Ah’ll even tell ya how t’get there too… if yer willing t’make a stop on the way t’get somethin’ for me, too.” Kain’s brows raise, the ball now back in Magnes’ court.

"Like, go outside, with the sniper?" Magnes asks, and adds, "Without my ability since that would mean catching a deadly virus?"

He considers that for a long moment, crossing his arms. It's not as if he hasn't had training to avoid snipers, though he's not exactly an expert either. Going outside in a world he's never even seen, with an army of murderous people he's never properly seen… But is that so different from things he's experienced in the past?

"Alright, I'll do it." he agrees. "These books are the most important things I'm ever going to read, so it's worth the risk."

Kain’s brows raise in disbelief and he exhales a slow, steady sigh. “Kid, you are six kinds of crazy.” Stepping out of the doorway and past Magnes, Kain swings the door shut with a clanging rattle of the chain link and loops a chain around the frame and door pipes, then claps a padlock on it. As he ambles past Magnes, Kain takes an old road atlas map of New York out of his back pocket. It’s taped in multiple spots so as to hold together, marked with red pen in others.

“It ain’t that wild out there, though.” Kain flattens out the map atop a pair of stacked coolers. “Place you’ll wanna go is here,” Kain taps a finger on a location just a few blocks away. “That’s the Queens Library, it’s pretty much a straight shot southeast of here, ‘bout a fifth of a mile.” Tilting his head to the side, Kain looks over at Magnes. “You’ll find your science books there.”

Then, Kain traces his finger a little further away to the north. “This is Mt. Sinai Hospital in Queens, now we’ve raided this place a few times but we ain’t never hit the basement.” Kain taps his finger on where it’s located on the map. “Basement’s got a medical supply storage room, full’a all sorts of shit we need. Pain killers, bandages, whatever. Main reason we ain’t never hit it is because Ed told us it’s structurally unsound.”

Brows raised, Kain tilts his head to the side again and flashes a so that’s why smile. “You get your books, an’ in return Ah’ need you t’get as many supplies as y’can from the hospital. Ah’ve got a gun and some backpacks Ah’ can spare ya, since y’ain’t got nothin’ of yer own.” Blue eyes lock back on Magnes and Kain fishes a bright yellow paper wristband out of his pocket and holds it out. “This means yer on a scavenger team. Fellas at the front door will let you take a clean suit out. Feel free t’take somebody with you if y’want. Like y’said, it ain’t safe out there.”

“So, sound fair?”

"That sounds fair to me. I can do it. I know New York like the back of my hand, I was a pizza boy and I made my delivers by jumping from building to building. I have the entire city mapped out in my head." Magnes taps the side of his head, for emphasis. "So, I can take someone with me… Alright, I think I can do this, and I have some training to avoid snipers if that's a problem, though it's always a risk, especially if they have an evolved sniper, but… this is important."

He crosses his arms, considering a few things… a few people.

"I need Richard Cardinal."


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