Crankshaft Rafflesian: We're Past the Tutorial Thank God!

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You make for a quick shower and change into fresh clothes. You step out of the bathroom. Dotty is sitting on the bed waiting for you as you dry your hair.

Lex: So uh.... you were talking to someone right? We getting put to work right away?

Dotty: Yeah, that's Tackle. She wanted to prep us on some policy.

Lex: Okay.

Dotty: So we're temporary staff. We don't have to wear uniforms but we gotta abide to a few polices. No firearms on park so we're being handed stun batons in case of pardner. 

Lex: Sure, keep talking.

Dotty: Shoes and shirt are required at all times, no facial piercings allowed, tattoos that don't comply with marking code need to be covered up. No wearing religious artifacts of any kind. Guys can't have hair that goes past shoulders and must tie or style appropriately.

This sure is a place.

Lex: Gotcha. Kinda uh... old fashioned huh?

Dotty: They're so called "family friendly" so yeah. It's a mess of a company. Big one next, no cursing or swearing.

Lex: Is there a difference?

Dotty: Maybe? I'll be fine, you should probably be fine but I'll remind you if something goes down. 

Lex: Easy then.

It might not be that easy for you.

Dotty: We're allowed to eat on the park as long as we're not in any uniform... uh.... no interacting with the costumed characters more than required is a big one. No photos, no hugs.

You absoultely were planning to take a photo with a certain silly old bear who's usually in rotation but looks like it's not happening this time. Nobody would notice if you got a hug in though right?

Dotty: I mean it by the way, no.

Lex: Gotcha.

Dotty: We're not allowed to get on any of the rides while we're looking for pardners. Off the clock only.

Lex: Guess that one's fair enough. Not like we'll find any on a rollercoaster.

Dotty: We wouldn't be able to deal with them if we did. Too unsafe to jump out of. 

Lex: Yeah I don't wanna do that today.

Dotty: They need us downstairs in twenty minutes. We'll be treated to breakfast before we work and then from there we'll enter the park. Geezer apparently pinpointed a area where Pardner activity is really big last night while we were asleep. 

Lex: Oh god Geezer's hair is long right?

Dotty: Yeah?

Lex: Do you think he has it all tied up? Like in a silly bun.

Dotty: You're a silly bun... but yeah he probably does. 

Lex: I'm gonna bully him.

Dotty: That's also banned actually... you wanna start going actually?

Lex: Yeah, let's hurry on out of here.

You make one last quick look at yourself in the mirror before heading toward the elevators. 

You hit the lobby floor, the construct from earlier waits for you in a chair with a crank newspaper in hand. 

Dotty: Tackle!

She waves back at you and puts the paper down before approaching.



Tackle: Morning Dotty, and uh... this is Lex I think?

Lex: Yep. Morning. 

Tackle: Mm. We're going to eat in the shopping center in just a sec. Did Dotty brief you?

Lex: Sure did.

Dotty: I covered most of it, I'll bring up anything missed if the situation comes up but a lot of the important stuff is down.

Lex: So uh.... what's breakfast?

Tackle: Well.. there's a pancake place on location if you're interested. We'll talk more over there on game plan. Geezer will hopefully meet up with us. 

Lex: Yeah, that sounds good.

Dotty: He doing okay?

Tackle: Mm. He's very efficient at his process it seems, expected from a knight I suppose. You're a knight too aren't you Dotty?

Dotty: It's a bit of an artifact title. Never really comes up and I don't practice anymore.

Tackle: Well wear it while you're here, it impresses the suits and it'll get them to listen to your input. Lex, as far as people are concerned you're her squire. You assist her while you look for a guild to register you and learn under her wing. The folks on top will look at you nicer than if you uh.... what's your occupation?

Lex: Minor Circuit Duelist.... with a side job handling online store inventory.

Tackle: Yeah no, Squire works better here. Trust me, it'll find you opportunities down the line if they like your work over the next couple of days. 

Lex: I could get a job out of this?

Tackle: Maybe! Management here likes to talk so... make sure they got good things to say about you. You got any questions?

Dotty: Yeah. Can we scoot this over? We're kind of standing in the middle of a lobby and people are trying to get around us soo....

Tackle: No problem! We'll head down and meet up with Mr. Geezer.

The three of you start shuffling out the lobby door. You feel a nice mild breeze as you exit, the morning sun just barely giving a hue to the sky. You're usually not up this early so this is a nice change of pace....

There's admittedly not much in the way of conversation, though you can't help but look over at Dotty a ton as you do.  

Tackle: Just as a note, this area of the resort is open 24/7. Not every shop of course but if you ever feel up for a late night bite there's options. 

Dotty: Is the upkeep hard?

Tackle: Absolutely, night shift is pretty calm after 12 though so most of it is spent handling maintinence. We need more technically sound crew for that time of day since we don't have as many folks to take care of things like spills and lightning errors. 

Lex: You ever work the night shift?

Tackle: A few times, a lot of us have dorm near park or under it because it's pretty difficult to drive in and out during the work week for full timers. 

Lex: Under the park?

Dotty: You never heard about the underground city?

Tackle: It's not really much of a city but.. there's living areas and fast traveling tunnels to help crew get around or take quick rests. I could show you later if you'd like...

Lex: Yes please, sounds spooky. 

Dotty: I want in on that too if you don't mind much. 

Tackle: I'll put in a good word for you after you're done investigating today, tell you what. For now well.... I think we're here!



You arrive in front of a cabin-esque pancake house with a inflatable cartoon character dressed as a lumberjack standing on top of it. His big ax seemingly casts judgment on you, a reminder that you are not in charge. 

Geezer stands in front waiting, his hair tied back in a ponytail. He looks like a marketing image for shampoo that makes you fit.



Geezer: Hey ya'll. Got here before all of you. Got to do a lot of briefing but I'm sure you're all hungry huh

Dotty: Yep.

Lex: Starved, I forgot to eat yesterday.... 

Tackle looks at you with genuine concern. 

Geezer: Yeah we should fix that. Park is covering our meal so feel free to go hard, you need that right now.

Tackle: Mmhmm. Courtesy for how sudden and unexpected this situation is, plus you're going to be dueling in a couple of days anyway once the Pardner issue is cleared right? We gotta treat our performers well. 

Lex: If you're sure, I can't complain about free breakfast.

Dotty: Mm. Lets get our table.

Tackle: Absolutely.