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xp_logsX-Force arrives at Burning Man and set up camp.
The RV lumbered into its assigned camp spot, playa dust already clinging to its metal sides and turning the chrome and matte steel grey to mottled cream and beige. It did nothing to improve the looks of an already elderly-looking camper.
The doors swung open, and Marie-Ange carefully stepped out and then gestured as the RV inched forward until it was fully into the marked-off lines of the spot. It was a slow process - camper inching forward, Marie-Ange backing up a few steps, repeat. By the time she was done, and the hiss of the parking brake was heard, her feet and legs were just as mottled as the sides of the RV.
Then she climbed ungracefully back into the camper. "Welcome to Burning Man, I suppose. We can set up camp and our front area outside, everyone get some fresh dusty air and do a quick walk around, and then please come right back for a quick meeting."
Doug hopped out from behind the steering wheel where he'd guided the RV into its spot. "Sunscreen and hydrate, people. Set yourself an alarm unless you feel like pulling off lobster chic." He pulled on a battered ballcap and stepped out into the sun. "And before anyone goes anywhere, I could use some help setting the leveling jacks so we don't tip over at an inopportune time."
Artie dropped the tie dye curtain over the dash to give privacy to the interior of the RV and followed him out, ignoring the request to help with leveling jacks and moved to the back of the RV and the bikes and containers strapped down there and on the roof. His role, for the next few hours, was setting the scene - painting murals on the tarps he'd brought as windbreaks, the prayer flags, the papercraft lanterns strung together on a six-foot steel and fibre optics stand he'd welded together in the last few hours before they'd left the mansion. There was a lot of thematically appropriate junk in the mansion's attics and he'd brought about 85% of it. The heavy Rubbermaid containers he'd brought the props in - already dusty and fucked up from the drive - would form the basis of a sketchy camp kitchen.
He was actually looking forward to painting the murals.
Years of experience, no matter how long it had been, with traveling in RVs meant that Wanda had gone straight to work. RV leveling by hand wasn't difficult but it could be finicky. The RV with the hydraulic ones that had been available had been, in her opinion, priced at a ridiculously high amount - no doubt due to Burning Man. Manually leveling it might be more of a pain but she hadn't been about to put up with highway robbery when she knew how to set it up.
Marie-Ange had done part of the job already by finding them a spot that was already fairly level. Now, it would just be a matter of placing the leveling blocks and getting the tires on them just right. And then, the stabilizing jack to finish the job.
Making sure it was done right was important not just to their cover but Wanda also knew she would have been driven a little insane if it hadn't been.
Jubilee for her part had been changing into better ‘Burning Man’ attire that consisted of brightly colored tiny shorts and a dayglo yellow bikini top. She pulled one of the playa bikes off the back of the RV and nodded at the others before taking off. She’d do a quick recon of the area before reporting back, and possibly bringing back some good food as well.
Sarah had always believed that hell was located somewhere on the Jersey Shore. Now she wasn't so sure. With sand and tents as far as the eye could see and a mob of half-naked partygoers, the two places weren't really all that different. At least the shore had ocean water for when the temperature got to be too much. "I'll go meet the 'neighbors'. Somebody has to know all the gossip, and it'll be good to get the word out that there are some very visible mutants here. Set the bait."
"Sounds like a plan," came Amanda's voice from the other side of the RV, where she'd been placing the blocks on the other side - while she didn't have the sort of experience Wanda had she'd spent some time traveling with her own family and had learned the basics. "Go past the Playa Info and register us as well. You can use the directory there to figure out where the U-Men van will be."
"Got it." Sarah gave a little wave and set off on foot. The trip would take longer, but she wanted to make herself as approachable as possible.
Once the jacks were set and leveled, Doug peeled off his shirt to begin sunscreening as he had instructed the others to do. He had no idea how the 'friendos' would react to that, and he'd prefer to keep it that way. His cargo shorts were already playa-suited, but he pulled out a pair of sunglasses and a long length of fabric that he wound around his head to keep the worst of the sun out of his eyes. As Amanda mentioned the directory, he stopped in his tracks, the sunscreen bottle dangling from his hand. "Aw crap." He sighed. "I, uh, guess I should see if my folks are here this year."
Marie-Ange did not even bother to stifle the amused laugh and shook her head as she came around the side of the RV with one of the plastic bins Artie had helpfully labeled "CAMP STUFF" and set it down in his working zone. "Good news everyone. Doug's parents are burners. Also lawyers, so they have the really good edibles." She'd already gotten an earful from Topaz, and then one from Doug himself. "Everyone else not building the camp, go scout, get ice, someone make sure Jubilee remembers we brought all our own food, and be back in thirty minutes for a meeting."
==
Not quite thirty minutes later, Marie-Ange was dusty, spattered with specks of paint on her legs and arms, and had a pair of goggles pushed up into her hair, making a mess of the already unkempt long bangs she'd been sporting the entire trip. "Is this the safety circuit for the fibre optics, or for the lights?" She held up a black and grey box with outlets. 'Either way, I think we wait. I can see Jubilee on the way back, and the others should be back shortly."
The first to return was Doug, who wandered up with a small package and a very confused expression on his face. "That was officially the weirdest family meetup ever," he declared. "My parents are delighted that I have brought my friends to Burning Man, and they gave me a 'care package' for you, Angie." How his parents had come to the (correct) conclusion that his French off-and-on sort-of girlfriend was as big of a pothead as them, Doug had decided not to ask a single question about. It had been awkward enough keeping himself from blurting out 'was I conceived at a burn' and keeping the friendos in flesh mode because he did not want to explain why he needed a prosthetic to his parents.
In his other hand, a piece of paper dangled. "And my dad gave me the lowdown on which camps are mega-sketchy because I come by my nerdery honestly." He sighed. This was definitely not how he had pictured this trip going.
"You have got to see this place, it's wild." Jubilee said breezing past as she slid from her playa bike at the last minute and skillfully directed it into a space between the others. "And also, I found some good places to set up surveillance."
Sweaty and dusty from the camp set up, Amanda sat down heavily on a camp stool and shoved the hair that had escaped the ponytail she'd tied the dreads into out of her face. "And the U-Medical van? Where's that?"
Sarah pointed a hand in the direction she had returned from and waved vaguely. "Prime real estate towards the center of camp. Anybody who goes to the stages is going to pass by. They are in the perfect place to see and be seen. We also have an invite tonight for s'mores and adult beverages at the camp with the unionized Keebler Elves animatronics."
Wanda squinted at Sarah before chugging down half a bottle of water. "This place is simply trippy before you add in actual drugs and alcohol to the mix. I do not have much, either, other than our neighbors are very friendly - pretty sure those are pot brownies we were given but I still wouldn't eat them just in case there's something else - and are of the less sketchy variety."
Artie shrugged. "I've got nothing, really," he signed. " I was on camp duty for the last while. Just be aware of the volume. I've spoken to the neighbours on both sides and sound carries here. Camp's properly set up, though."
~We can always use sign if it's important,~ Amanda added, her movements slow for those who weren't as fluent - being put in Artie's class when she arrived at the mansion (and being a language nerd) had meant she'd learned it a long time ago. "Good job on the art, by the way," she added aloud. "You and Angie did great."
"I just followed Artie's lead." Marie-Ange said, while unwrapping the wax-paper wrapped package. "Oh, blondies!" She took a sniff, and then nibbled the corner of one. "Yes, these are going in the RV pantry and not being eaten until we are done work. If I eat one now I will do nothing but giggle for half a day." She set them down on one of the speakers, accepted the paper from Doug and read down the list. "If I am reading right, we may be able to use this list because some of these camps look close to our target. So we cause a problem at one, spill it over to the U-Clinic and use it as a distraction?"
"That should work." Wanda grinned and gestured around. "Besides, is there any group better at causing problems and making distractions?"
The RV lumbered into its assigned camp spot, playa dust already clinging to its metal sides and turning the chrome and matte steel grey to mottled cream and beige. It did nothing to improve the looks of an already elderly-looking camper.
The doors swung open, and Marie-Ange carefully stepped out and then gestured as the RV inched forward until it was fully into the marked-off lines of the spot. It was a slow process - camper inching forward, Marie-Ange backing up a few steps, repeat. By the time she was done, and the hiss of the parking brake was heard, her feet and legs were just as mottled as the sides of the RV.
Then she climbed ungracefully back into the camper. "Welcome to Burning Man, I suppose. We can set up camp and our front area outside, everyone get some fresh dusty air and do a quick walk around, and then please come right back for a quick meeting."
Doug hopped out from behind the steering wheel where he'd guided the RV into its spot. "Sunscreen and hydrate, people. Set yourself an alarm unless you feel like pulling off lobster chic." He pulled on a battered ballcap and stepped out into the sun. "And before anyone goes anywhere, I could use some help setting the leveling jacks so we don't tip over at an inopportune time."
Artie dropped the tie dye curtain over the dash to give privacy to the interior of the RV and followed him out, ignoring the request to help with leveling jacks and moved to the back of the RV and the bikes and containers strapped down there and on the roof. His role, for the next few hours, was setting the scene - painting murals on the tarps he'd brought as windbreaks, the prayer flags, the papercraft lanterns strung together on a six-foot steel and fibre optics stand he'd welded together in the last few hours before they'd left the mansion. There was a lot of thematically appropriate junk in the mansion's attics and he'd brought about 85% of it. The heavy Rubbermaid containers he'd brought the props in - already dusty and fucked up from the drive - would form the basis of a sketchy camp kitchen.
He was actually looking forward to painting the murals.
Years of experience, no matter how long it had been, with traveling in RVs meant that Wanda had gone straight to work. RV leveling by hand wasn't difficult but it could be finicky. The RV with the hydraulic ones that had been available had been, in her opinion, priced at a ridiculously high amount - no doubt due to Burning Man. Manually leveling it might be more of a pain but she hadn't been about to put up with highway robbery when she knew how to set it up.
Marie-Ange had done part of the job already by finding them a spot that was already fairly level. Now, it would just be a matter of placing the leveling blocks and getting the tires on them just right. And then, the stabilizing jack to finish the job.
Making sure it was done right was important not just to their cover but Wanda also knew she would have been driven a little insane if it hadn't been.
Jubilee for her part had been changing into better ‘Burning Man’ attire that consisted of brightly colored tiny shorts and a dayglo yellow bikini top. She pulled one of the playa bikes off the back of the RV and nodded at the others before taking off. She’d do a quick recon of the area before reporting back, and possibly bringing back some good food as well.
Sarah had always believed that hell was located somewhere on the Jersey Shore. Now she wasn't so sure. With sand and tents as far as the eye could see and a mob of half-naked partygoers, the two places weren't really all that different. At least the shore had ocean water for when the temperature got to be too much. "I'll go meet the 'neighbors'. Somebody has to know all the gossip, and it'll be good to get the word out that there are some very visible mutants here. Set the bait."
"Sounds like a plan," came Amanda's voice from the other side of the RV, where she'd been placing the blocks on the other side - while she didn't have the sort of experience Wanda had she'd spent some time traveling with her own family and had learned the basics. "Go past the Playa Info and register us as well. You can use the directory there to figure out where the U-Men van will be."
"Got it." Sarah gave a little wave and set off on foot. The trip would take longer, but she wanted to make herself as approachable as possible.
Once the jacks were set and leveled, Doug peeled off his shirt to begin sunscreening as he had instructed the others to do. He had no idea how the 'friendos' would react to that, and he'd prefer to keep it that way. His cargo shorts were already playa-suited, but he pulled out a pair of sunglasses and a long length of fabric that he wound around his head to keep the worst of the sun out of his eyes. As Amanda mentioned the directory, he stopped in his tracks, the sunscreen bottle dangling from his hand. "Aw crap." He sighed. "I, uh, guess I should see if my folks are here this year."
Marie-Ange did not even bother to stifle the amused laugh and shook her head as she came around the side of the RV with one of the plastic bins Artie had helpfully labeled "CAMP STUFF" and set it down in his working zone. "Good news everyone. Doug's parents are burners. Also lawyers, so they have the really good edibles." She'd already gotten an earful from Topaz, and then one from Doug himself. "Everyone else not building the camp, go scout, get ice, someone make sure Jubilee remembers we brought all our own food, and be back in thirty minutes for a meeting."
==
Not quite thirty minutes later, Marie-Ange was dusty, spattered with specks of paint on her legs and arms, and had a pair of goggles pushed up into her hair, making a mess of the already unkempt long bangs she'd been sporting the entire trip. "Is this the safety circuit for the fibre optics, or for the lights?" She held up a black and grey box with outlets. 'Either way, I think we wait. I can see Jubilee on the way back, and the others should be back shortly."
The first to return was Doug, who wandered up with a small package and a very confused expression on his face. "That was officially the weirdest family meetup ever," he declared. "My parents are delighted that I have brought my friends to Burning Man, and they gave me a 'care package' for you, Angie." How his parents had come to the (correct) conclusion that his French off-and-on sort-of girlfriend was as big of a pothead as them, Doug had decided not to ask a single question about. It had been awkward enough keeping himself from blurting out 'was I conceived at a burn' and keeping the friendos in flesh mode because he did not want to explain why he needed a prosthetic to his parents.
In his other hand, a piece of paper dangled. "And my dad gave me the lowdown on which camps are mega-sketchy because I come by my nerdery honestly." He sighed. This was definitely not how he had pictured this trip going.
"You have got to see this place, it's wild." Jubilee said breezing past as she slid from her playa bike at the last minute and skillfully directed it into a space between the others. "And also, I found some good places to set up surveillance."
Sweaty and dusty from the camp set up, Amanda sat down heavily on a camp stool and shoved the hair that had escaped the ponytail she'd tied the dreads into out of her face. "And the U-Medical van? Where's that?"
Sarah pointed a hand in the direction she had returned from and waved vaguely. "Prime real estate towards the center of camp. Anybody who goes to the stages is going to pass by. They are in the perfect place to see and be seen. We also have an invite tonight for s'mores and adult beverages at the camp with the unionized Keebler Elves animatronics."
Wanda squinted at Sarah before chugging down half a bottle of water. "This place is simply trippy before you add in actual drugs and alcohol to the mix. I do not have much, either, other than our neighbors are very friendly - pretty sure those are pot brownies we were given but I still wouldn't eat them just in case there's something else - and are of the less sketchy variety."
Artie shrugged. "I've got nothing, really," he signed. " I was on camp duty for the last while. Just be aware of the volume. I've spoken to the neighbours on both sides and sound carries here. Camp's properly set up, though."
~We can always use sign if it's important,~ Amanda added, her movements slow for those who weren't as fluent - being put in Artie's class when she arrived at the mansion (and being a language nerd) had meant she'd learned it a long time ago. "Good job on the art, by the way," she added aloud. "You and Angie did great."
"I just followed Artie's lead." Marie-Ange said, while unwrapping the wax-paper wrapped package. "Oh, blondies!" She took a sniff, and then nibbled the corner of one. "Yes, these are going in the RV pantry and not being eaten until we are done work. If I eat one now I will do nothing but giggle for half a day." She set them down on one of the speakers, accepted the paper from Doug and read down the list. "If I am reading right, we may be able to use this list because some of these camps look close to our target. So we cause a problem at one, spill it over to the U-Clinic and use it as a distraction?"
"That should work." Wanda grinned and gestured around. "Besides, is there any group better at causing problems and making distractions?"
