Post by BrainScratch on Apr 29, 2024 2:00:45 GMT -5
Iro Waters started his sophomore season with a big victory to retain the CWF Valor Championship, and for once War Zone's location in the city of angels left him very close to his current homebase of San Diego. But for now that home is a meager apartment, so Iro and his fantastic girlfriend Joy Fannigan were not in a rush to return to that. With the next show in Oregon, Waters thought this was perhaps a sign to visit a certain little slice of Paradise in northern California along the path.
Cruising peacefully on his motorcycle with Joy resting behind him and the Valor Title resting around his waist, Waters feels like maybe this really is the life, and baseball was just an important bump on his road to this. As with most his happy thoughts, it gets interrupted, this time by a call from Edward Zepp. Iro hits a button on the bike's console to patch the call into a receiver in his helmet.
Edward: "Hey."
Waters: "Hey."
Edward: "You home yet?"
Waters: "Heading north."
Edward: "Oh..."
Waters: "That's a suspicious tone, Ed."
Edward: "Was hoping to meet up. Something went weird with your paysheet. Usually the ten percent I get is... a bit more. Just wanted you to check your side of it, too."
Waters: "Maybe it was your damn brother."
Edward: "If he wanted to commit bank fraud, he would've had me do it. Besides, he's been busy all night singing One Armed Scissor on a videogame."
Waters: "That the one about suicide?"
Joy suddenly pipes up, yelling loud enough for both to hear her through Iro's helmet.
Joy: "Nah it's about oranges I think!"
Waters: "Oranges?"
Joy: "Yeah... Juice and pulp slices for days! I bite to remember!"
The song is actually about the growing animosity between the bandmates of At The Drive-In in the year 2000, which eventually resulted in them splitting up and creating two new bands with different musical goals, Sparta and The Mars Volta. Edward knows this because of the countless times his brother Isaiah has ranted about the topic, but he doesn't care enough to correct it in this particular conversation.
Edward: "It doesn't matter. Just watch out. Don't give your bank info to any random numbers from India or something."
Waters: "Those people are so helpful, though, they always offer to clean the viruses from my motherboard for a google play card."
Big Ed replies with a nonplussed groan.
Waters: "Really, though, thanks for the heads up."
Edward: "Yeah. Do me a favor and keep winning for once."
The call ends and Waters thinks about what technical snafus could make CWF's money transfer not process regularly, but Joy disrupts that thought process.
Joy: "Eat away! Eat away!"
Waters: "You don't actually think that song is about fruit, right?"
Joy: "Na I just like annoying the Zeppos."
Waters: "Fair."
- - - Welcome To Paradise - - - -
The drive takes longer than most of Iro's treks to Mexico during his rookie Season, but this ride is a literal trip down memory lane and flies by like a dream. After a pass through Butte Valley, of which Joy giggles the entire time, Iro returns to Paradise, California for the first time in many years. For Joy, this is her first time ever. Dawn begins to break on the horizon, shining a beautiful light on a quaint little town in the foothills.
Joy: "Wow... I used to see some places like this back home we'd go for th' craic."
Iro: "There used to be more of it..."
The pair drives past a smattering of buildings that have been damaged by various wildfires from various years starting in 2008. What still remains here, the structures and community alike, still holds strong. Iro slows his speed as he passes his old highschool, and stays slowed as he turns onto a long street that inclines to a longer dirt driveway. He finally feels a hint of trepidation, but he continues to the top, to a beautiful home that overlooks the surrounding areas. Joy hops off the bike and stretches her legs.
Joy: "Holy crap, you never said you grew up in a friggin' mansion!"
Iro remains seated, not budging an inch. Joy tries to wrench him away from the cruiser, to no avail. However, the sound of someone approaching makes him quickly dismount. Joy freaks out in realization that it is not a someone, but a small robot rolling toward them on a single wheel. It speaks with an irritating high pitch digital voice.
Robot: "Greetings intruders, prepare to eat hot lead!"
Despite the threat, Iro relaxes and gives a command.
Iro: "Protocol tango romeo alpha papa."
Robot: "... Greetings progeny, welcome home!"
Iro walks past the bot slightly annoyed. Joy cautiously steps by it, and then slaps it on the casing. Reflexively, the bot produces a weapon and fires a nerf dart at her. The two come to the front door, where a scanning mechanism flips open. Iro instinctively presses his thumb onto the scanner, and with a few clicks and sputters the door swings open. Waiting inside, an older man is chuckling at his security camera feed. As Iro walks into the home, the gentleman and scholar Nicolaus Waters turns around to greet his son.
Nicolaus: "You still remember the codes! Ohoho!"
Iro: "Yeah, yeah, I remember the dumb bots. It's good to see you, Dad."
As they embrace, Iro winces slightly from the ever-growing pain in his right elbow. Nico furrows his brow, but realizes he has an introduction to make. Joy is staring wide-eyed at the various machines built around the house, including a telescope extending from the ceiling.
Nicolaus: "And THIS must be the joyous Joy that I've heard a little about!"
Joy: "That would indeed be me! What's with all the gadgets and doohickeys?!"
Nicolaus: "Well I am nothing if not an inventor, and, well, after Iro left here I was all by my lonesome. It's hard to make friends, unless you can make friends, heh..."
Joy: "Oh. Well, at least you didn't make a weird female robot or anything like that! Now THAT would be crazy!"
Nicolaus: "Ohoho, goodness no..."
Nico's smile shifts a bit as he clicks a control panel button that closes a door upstairs.
Nicolaus: "Anyway, I'm so glad you came, but why the sudden change from no contact to a full visit?"
Iro: "It was on my way to work... And that was all the Zepps doing. I tried to call every day."
Nicolaus: "Ah yes your new work as a vicious competitor! I've been keeping tabs as best I could."
Dr. Waters shows his son a collection of newspaper clippings of his CWF career. As Iro looks more, it includes some events from years ago involving Zepp and his war against political entities like the BSE.
Iro: "Yeah, that same Zepp guy, he's a psychopath."
Nicolaus: "I suppose... But all the same, he's not the reason you left, but he has played a factor in you coming home today. Just like Joy here!"
Joy does a little arm dance at the mention of her name.
Iro: "Heh. I suppose, Dad- Hey!"
Nico suddenly grabs Iro by the arm and secures it to his table.
Nicolaus: "Now lets see what damage you've done to my handiwork."
Iro: "Whoa, hey, it's fine."
The good doctor quickly runs a scan on the arm and blinks at the results.
Nicolaus: "Good lord you've almost turned it into twisted rebar. How are you even able to function..."
What appears to be a large electro-magnet is fitted around Iro's elbow. The young Waters screams in discomfort, until the whirring of the mechanism stops... and suddenly Iro let free as he stops yelling. He stretches out his arm.
Iro: "Whoa. How the hell did that work."
Nicolaus: "I've had a lot of time on my hands, my son... Anyway, I'll fix us up some food, and you can use your old gym in the basement to test the arm if you like."
Iro: "I dunno about-"
Joy: "Whoo, crazy futuro-house!"
Iro: "Well okay..."
Cruising peacefully on his motorcycle with Joy resting behind him and the Valor Title resting around his waist, Waters feels like maybe this really is the life, and baseball was just an important bump on his road to this. As with most his happy thoughts, it gets interrupted, this time by a call from Edward Zepp. Iro hits a button on the bike's console to patch the call into a receiver in his helmet.
Edward: "Hey."
Waters: "Hey."
Edward: "You home yet?"
Waters: "Heading north."
Edward: "Oh..."
Waters: "That's a suspicious tone, Ed."
Edward: "Was hoping to meet up. Something went weird with your paysheet. Usually the ten percent I get is... a bit more. Just wanted you to check your side of it, too."
Waters: "Maybe it was your damn brother."
Edward: "If he wanted to commit bank fraud, he would've had me do it. Besides, he's been busy all night singing One Armed Scissor on a videogame."
Waters: "That the one about suicide?"
Joy suddenly pipes up, yelling loud enough for both to hear her through Iro's helmet.
Joy: "Nah it's about oranges I think!"
Waters: "Oranges?"
Joy: "Yeah... Juice and pulp slices for days! I bite to remember!"
The song is actually about the growing animosity between the bandmates of At The Drive-In in the year 2000, which eventually resulted in them splitting up and creating two new bands with different musical goals, Sparta and The Mars Volta. Edward knows this because of the countless times his brother Isaiah has ranted about the topic, but he doesn't care enough to correct it in this particular conversation.
Edward: "It doesn't matter. Just watch out. Don't give your bank info to any random numbers from India or something."
Waters: "Those people are so helpful, though, they always offer to clean the viruses from my motherboard for a google play card."
Big Ed replies with a nonplussed groan.
Waters: "Really, though, thanks for the heads up."
Edward: "Yeah. Do me a favor and keep winning for once."
The call ends and Waters thinks about what technical snafus could make CWF's money transfer not process regularly, but Joy disrupts that thought process.
Joy: "Eat away! Eat away!"
Waters: "You don't actually think that song is about fruit, right?"
Joy: "Na I just like annoying the Zeppos."
Waters: "Fair."
- - - Welcome To Paradise - - - -
The drive takes longer than most of Iro's treks to Mexico during his rookie Season, but this ride is a literal trip down memory lane and flies by like a dream. After a pass through Butte Valley, of which Joy giggles the entire time, Iro returns to Paradise, California for the first time in many years. For Joy, this is her first time ever. Dawn begins to break on the horizon, shining a beautiful light on a quaint little town in the foothills.
Joy: "Wow... I used to see some places like this back home we'd go for th' craic."
Iro: "There used to be more of it..."
The pair drives past a smattering of buildings that have been damaged by various wildfires from various years starting in 2008. What still remains here, the structures and community alike, still holds strong. Iro slows his speed as he passes his old highschool, and stays slowed as he turns onto a long street that inclines to a longer dirt driveway. He finally feels a hint of trepidation, but he continues to the top, to a beautiful home that overlooks the surrounding areas. Joy hops off the bike and stretches her legs.
Joy: "Holy crap, you never said you grew up in a friggin' mansion!"
Iro remains seated, not budging an inch. Joy tries to wrench him away from the cruiser, to no avail. However, the sound of someone approaching makes him quickly dismount. Joy freaks out in realization that it is not a someone, but a small robot rolling toward them on a single wheel. It speaks with an irritating high pitch digital voice.
Robot: "Greetings intruders, prepare to eat hot lead!"
Despite the threat, Iro relaxes and gives a command.
Iro: "Protocol tango romeo alpha papa."
Robot: "... Greetings progeny, welcome home!"
Iro walks past the bot slightly annoyed. Joy cautiously steps by it, and then slaps it on the casing. Reflexively, the bot produces a weapon and fires a nerf dart at her. The two come to the front door, where a scanning mechanism flips open. Iro instinctively presses his thumb onto the scanner, and with a few clicks and sputters the door swings open. Waiting inside, an older man is chuckling at his security camera feed. As Iro walks into the home, the gentleman and scholar Nicolaus Waters turns around to greet his son.
Nicolaus: "You still remember the codes! Ohoho!"
Iro: "Yeah, yeah, I remember the dumb bots. It's good to see you, Dad."
As they embrace, Iro winces slightly from the ever-growing pain in his right elbow. Nico furrows his brow, but realizes he has an introduction to make. Joy is staring wide-eyed at the various machines built around the house, including a telescope extending from the ceiling.
Nicolaus: "And THIS must be the joyous Joy that I've heard a little about!"
Joy: "That would indeed be me! What's with all the gadgets and doohickeys?!"
Nicolaus: "Well I am nothing if not an inventor, and, well, after Iro left here I was all by my lonesome. It's hard to make friends, unless you can make friends, heh..."
Joy: "Oh. Well, at least you didn't make a weird female robot or anything like that! Now THAT would be crazy!"
Nicolaus: "Ohoho, goodness no..."
Nico's smile shifts a bit as he clicks a control panel button that closes a door upstairs.
Nicolaus: "Anyway, I'm so glad you came, but why the sudden change from no contact to a full visit?"
Iro: "It was on my way to work... And that was all the Zepps doing. I tried to call every day."
Nicolaus: "Ah yes your new work as a vicious competitor! I've been keeping tabs as best I could."
Dr. Waters shows his son a collection of newspaper clippings of his CWF career. As Iro looks more, it includes some events from years ago involving Zepp and his war against political entities like the BSE.
Iro: "Yeah, that same Zepp guy, he's a psychopath."
Nicolaus: "I suppose... But all the same, he's not the reason you left, but he has played a factor in you coming home today. Just like Joy here!"
Joy does a little arm dance at the mention of her name.
Iro: "Heh. I suppose, Dad- Hey!"
Nico suddenly grabs Iro by the arm and secures it to his table.
Nicolaus: "Now lets see what damage you've done to my handiwork."
Iro: "Whoa, hey, it's fine."
The good doctor quickly runs a scan on the arm and blinks at the results.
Nicolaus: "Good lord you've almost turned it into twisted rebar. How are you even able to function..."
What appears to be a large electro-magnet is fitted around Iro's elbow. The young Waters screams in discomfort, until the whirring of the mechanism stops... and suddenly Iro let free as he stops yelling. He stretches out his arm.
Iro: "Whoa. How the hell did that work."
Nicolaus: "I've had a lot of time on my hands, my son... Anyway, I'll fix us up some food, and you can use your old gym in the basement to test the arm if you like."
Iro: "I dunno about-"
Joy: "Whoo, crazy futuro-house!"
Iro: "Well okay..."