Map Search: Hairsplitter

[Spinister]

Hairsplitter, despite turning into a rifle, has his own rifle. Look at his toy. Now squint. See that? Yeah, he has a rifle. He keeps it held in front of him, ready to use it. Caution is a good thing. Looks like the natives of this planet weren't much taller than Nebulans are. Spinister suggested an office building, but Hairsplitter has his own ideas. Either way, a map is more efficient than trying to blunder around blindly. It may take a little longer initially, but they'll end up with everything at their fingers for their effort.

Petrol stations (or whatever fuel they used here) usually have maps. They're also pretty easy to identify, having refueling stalls and whatnot. Hairsplitter continues to wander the city, meticulous about keeping track of where he's been. He may have quite a bit of walking yet to do.

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OOC: Feel free to join Hairsplitter or not. He's one of Spinister's guns. Short!

[Needlenose]

Zigzag is stalking angrily through the streets of the alien town, grumbling to himself. "Go do something useful" indeed! And with him out of the way, Sunbeam was there by himself with that newcomer. Well, and all the others there, but none of them looked like quite her type.

Not that Zigzag was really sure what her type was. Could she really be a Transformer? But both Needlenose and Spinister were pretty adamant about there being no female Decepticons, or even Autobots outside of the public relations model... meh, who cares. Even if it's a look-but-don't-touch situation, she's a hell of a lot nicer to look at than the rest of these guys.

It's luck, not intention, that leads Zigzag to encounter Hairsplitter. The other Nebulan stops up short, and waves. "Ho! Hairsplitter! What're you up to?"

[Spinister]

Hairsplitter, for a moment, aims the weapon over at Zigzag, startled. Then, he quickly points it away, as if his error never happened. He can't say that he likes Zigzag much, Hairsplitter being the accurate person he is, but he's happy enough to see anyone in this strange space.

He reminds, "I asked for help on the radio. I am trying to find a map of the place. Either an office building and maybe a map of the mine or a petrol station or whatever they used where and just a general road map. Would you mind coming along with me?"

Hairsplitter doesn't want to be alone out here, for reasons both practical and pathetically needy.

[Needlenose]

Zigzag shrugs. "Yeah, sure. Needlenose chased me off, anyways." He grumbles. "Stupid. Sounds like he'll be needing a weapon about now, anyway." Zigzag's words, however, do not take into account the fact that he is no longer a good choice as a point-blank weapon.

Of course, given his accuracy, he was never that great a choice as a long distance weapon. Sure, even at normal power levels, a single landed shot from the Nebulan can win many one-on-one type battles, but it's not unheard of for Needlenose to go a whole fight without making that one essential shot.

Zigzag draws his sword, just so it'll be ready, and asks, "You got an idea where we're heading?"

[Spinister]

Hairsplitter points out, "Needlenose also possesses Sunbeam and a backup pistol, and if he could access his alternate mode, he carries quite an arsenal."

He then sighs and logically reasons, "If I knew where we were going, would I need a map? No. I am merely looking for a likely building where I can try a bit of breaking and entering."

Hairsplitter walks on the other side of Zigzag that isn't holding the sword. It's not being careful. It's preventive defence, on his part.

[Needlenose]

Zigzag glares as Hairsplitter points out Needlenose's other weaponry, then fair-on glowers as he points out the obvious. No one likes to have the obvious pointed out to them. He skulks as he walks alongside his fellow Nebulan. He signed up with the Decepticons to get away from little know-it-all twerps like this... and here he was again.

At the last comment, however, he just shrugs. "I can do breaking and entering. That's easy. Is there any particular sort of building you're wanting, though? And don't tell me, 'The kind that carries maps.' I know th-" At this point, Zigzag pulls up short. He was a mechanic, dammit. Not a good one, but still, a mechanic. He knows the sorts of places that have maps. He points to one building on the corner of a road, a row of large doors wide enough to let a Transformer in alternate mode in, a row of strange structures in front of it. "That, maybe?"

[Spinister]

Hairsplitter winces at the glares. Why don't people like it when he corrects them? Do they like walking around wrong all the time?

Patiently, Hairsplitter reminds, "I already suggested either an office building or a petrol station, and... oh." He pauses and stares at the building Zigzag is suggesting. After finding for one of the smaller doors, he runs a gloved hand along the doorjamb and leans his weight against it. Ah, so the lock is located over here. He asks, "Want me to try to shoot open the lock?"

[Needlenose]

"Naw, I've got it," Zigzag answers, and he lifts his sword (which, it should be noted, is more of the 'very heavy baseball bat wannabe' variety), using it as a crowbar to snap the lock off. It leaves a mess, and is no doubt less precise than Hairsplitter's attempts would be, but it gets the job done.

With the lock broken off entirely, it's an easy matter for Zigzag to kick the door open. He gestures towards the inside of the building. "There we go."

Of course, in order to go in first, Hairsplitter has to turn his back to the guy with the sword...

[Spinister]

Hairsplitter does worry a little bit about turning his back on Zigzag, but a) he's wearing armour and b) Spinister will kill Zigzag. Hairsplitter is Spinister's favourite gun. There are days when somebody just needs to be set on fire, and those are the days when Singe shines, but Hairsplitter can hit a target day in and day out, and Spinister actually appreciates him for that ability.

It's a rather sad thing, but Hairsplitter is actually happier and more fulfilled as a Decepticon than he ever was on Nebulos.

Despite the filters on his suit, once he's in, Hairsplitter sneezes and complains, "Rather dusty in here." he feels along the side of the wall and finds something that may or may not be a light switch, but whatever it is, the lights turn on.

[Needlenose]

Zigzag waves his hand around in front of his face to clear out the dust, and can only just avoid sneezing in his own mark. That could get messy! He blinks when the lights ar turned back on, and starts, "Wait, ho-" before he cuts himself off. "Oh, yeah, that... that thing at the thing... that was supposed to turn power on in places, wasn't it?"

He looks around and nods. "Looks like a shop of some sort... now let's just hope they hadn't switched entirely to electronic storage."

[Spinister]

Hairsplitter confirms, "We have power now, yes. I shall have to calculate exactly how much and how it should best be used some time soon."

Then, with a surprising amount of vitriol, he launches into a rant, "It is not really more environmentally friendly to switch to all-electronics, you know. The chemicals used in electronics processing are fairly dire, and people just throw them away, filling up landfills. Paper biodegrades and can be easily recycled, with just a little effort."

He starts looking through the shelves and starts pulling out and flipping through the small selection of paper-based products. Hairsplitter turns one sideways, and he makes a funny expression. Then, he quickly puts it back and mutters, "So not what we need."

[Needlenose]

Zigzag stares at Hairsplitter's rant. "Uhm... okay?" is all he has to say on the subject. Environmentally friendly? Eh. Who cares? Zigzag is the sort to celebrate Nebulos day by turning all his appliances on, leave them running, and then go out and ride around in a poorly maintained, black-smoke spewing hovercraft.

When Hairspliter makes his face and proclamation, however, Zigzag immediately dives for that which is "So not what we need." He flips through a few pages, tilts his head, frowns, and finally shrugs. "Too many arms," he proclaims, tossing the paper-based product on the floor thoughtlessly.

[Spinister]

Hairsplitter is compelled to pick up and put back on the shelf the magazine that Zigzag so carelessly discarded. He scowls as he does so, but he doesn't say anything.

Then, Hairsplitter methodically goes through everything on the shelves in turn, occasionally grimacing. Eventually, he finds what appears to be a local map. Hairsplitter had an aerial view of the place, after all.

He flips it open and nudges Zigzag. Hairsplitter asks, "Now, if I was an alien with too many arms, what symbol would I use to indicate 'important building where mine plans are kept'?"

[Needlenose]

Zigzag shakes his head and raises his arms (all two of them) in frustration. "I don't know! You're not an alien with to many arms!" He tilts his head and considers this for a moment. "I suppose we could ask that Blackarchnia babe, but Needlenose says he doesn't want me speaking to her, for some reason." He shrugs. "A fist, maybe?"

[Spinister]

Hairsplitter squints at the symbols and theorises, "Look, I have no idea what I'm looking at, but I don't think this is a pictogram-based language. I think it's alphanumeric. What the alphabet and numbers are, I haven't the foggiest. It just looks too simple and stylised for this squiggle here, to mean something like 'house', especially because it's surrounded by all these other squiggles."

He sighs and stuffs a pair of the maps into his suit's compartments, keeping the open map out. Hairsplitter adds, "Look, I hate saying this, because I hate thinking like this, but I think we need to find a building with a chain link fence or something."