Apocalypse World 2nd Edition: MEAT - Whisper the Tongue Like an Old Friend

MEAT - Whisper The Tongue Like an Old Friend

Campaign Page

Starring

• David as Li'l Walt the King of 1-DR: Vanna caused some ruckus with Chief. I'll need to figure a way to smooth things out so she'll brew me up my wonder drug to dope up the beast with.
• Gina as Chief McFigglesworth: I've got to raise up a gang and get some protection. Li'l Walt crossed the line with what he did to Gritch.
• Mike K as Gritch Sundown: I found Uncle Bill, I wonder how mad Chet still is about the way he left.

Gritch stood at the entrance to the cave. The last time he was here it had been one room with some rickety furniture that Uncle Bill called the Den. It had been 7 years since Gritch had refused to continue training with Uncle Bill and told his brother in training, Chet, he wouldn't be going out into the wasteland with him. Chet had ratted Gritch out to Uncle Bill after that and Gritch had to flee.

The cave had been dug out further and a cul de sac had been constructed within the cave. Complete with a playground at the center and fake trees to give the appearance of a 1950s American Levitt Town neighborhood. 

There were dozens of people wandering around in ratty imitations of 1950s America's finished fashions. Everyone seemed to have a brand of Uncle Bill's face branded onto their arms and crudely painted on the back of their clothing. They exchanged waves and a "Howdy neighbor" as they passed each other.

"Looks like Uncle Bill's been busy," Gritch said to no one in particular, before yelling, "Oh Uncle BIIIIIILLLLL! I'm home."

He spotted Uncle Bill holding a garden hose standing in the front yard. There was no water coming out of it. Chet was standing behind him. The smile that Uncle Bill seemed to have etched on his face cracked just slightly at the sight of Gritch. He leaned over and whispers something to Chet who turned to glare at Gritch.

Chet approached quickly and before Gritch could worm his way into a lot of buttery language to placate his aggression, Chet struck him across the face. From his new place on the floor of the cave surrounded by blurriness he heard Uncle Bill say something about bring the prodigal son to The Kitchen before letting the dizziness take over.

Meanwhile back in 1-DR, Vanna Black was returning to Li'l Walt's place above the firehouse with her wagon load of meat and one less thug.

After hearing about what happened at Chief's Li'l Walt said, "Don't worry about it. That's just show biz darling. I'll smooth things over with the concessions. You're talent though sweet heart. You're doing a beautiful job with your work here."

Li'l Walt rounded up a person guard of two of his slightly less savage thugs to accompany him. Upon arriving Chief was not in her usual place at the counter. Instead Mittens was turning all the customers away. He stopped what he was doing and clenched his enormous hands into enormous fists as Li'l Walt approached.

"Well hey there pal. Is the owner of the establishment in? If you could let Ms Figglesworth know that Li'l Walt is here to see her I'd be mighty obliged," Li'l Walt said with a voice oozing with insincere politeness.

Mittens hesitated a moment before heading back through the walk in freezer, locking the security bar and deadbolt behind him. He told Chief that Li'l Walt was up front with some thugs asking to speak with her. She rounded up her weight staff and told them all to arm themselves.

"You've all been promoted from weight staff to bad mother fuckers. You're either in or you're going to work for the bug eating freak," all of the weight staff picked up various blades and nodded at Chief, "Good, now I've got a thing or two I'd like to tell Li'l Walt myself," she grabbed her biggest fuck-off sized cleaver on her way to the front, "Wait at the door for me. You've got my back, listen to Mittens."

Chief stormed her way behind the counter and began chopping up what little scraps remain of her loser-meat supply with a little more force than necessary, "Oh, why Li'l Walt, so nice to see you in my humble establishment. What do you want?"

"Now now dear, I'm here to make sure this is all water under the bridge and that you're not still fuming about my girl Vanna's shall we say...curt collection methods of collection, but you do know even people that have always been here owe for protection. Everyone knows this darling."

"I'm pissed about what you did to Gritch and what you did to my place. How am I supposed to turn a profit with nothing but scrapple?" Chief was fuming and waving her cleaver as she spoke.

"Now now, there will be a new crop of loser soon. I've got big plans for the Big Show. It's getting bigger, darling, simply enormous. I promise you there will be more loser meat," Li'l Walt gave his best showbiz grin, "Now let's forget all about being mad at Li'l Walt and forget about any sort of ideas about finding a new host. I'm gonna need a special order of some special sauce from my special lady. Can you cook up something good and intensely strong for me? I've got this brute of a man that's in need of something good. I'll pay you after the Bigger Show, I swear."

"Not good enough. You gotta show me you still want me here and that you really value my part in your organization," Chief stood with her arms crossed, a creak from the walk in freezer made Mitten's presence known.

Li'l Walt's showbiz smile didn't falter for a second, "What's it gonna take to get us all on the same page again darling? You name it."

"I want that crazy bitch Vanna Black kicked out of 1-DR," Chief stood with her arms crossed and stared at Li'l Walt.

He turned to face his thugs for a moment before turning around and sticking out his hand, "You drive a hard bargain sweet heart, but consider her being sent a way your consolation prize for deciding to keep on putting on the best damn show around with Li'l Walt."

They shook hands and Chief agreed to cook up some super drugs for Li'l Walt's brute. She had plans for an extra special recipe that would show Li'l Walt you don't fuck with a Figglesworth.

Li'l Walt headed back to his control room to review some old tape and let Vanna know she was cut from the show and wouldn't be needed for the next episode.

"Listen love, I've got a brother who runs 2-DR. His name is Big Roy and I'm sure he would love to take an amazing talent like you in to help him run his show. He's the king of scrap. Had his infected followers pick through everything within a week's travel of there. I'll send word by one of the mutant carrier pigeons, so he'll know to expect you."

After attaching a note to the giant bird and sending it off he turned to Vanna, "Now you know I hate goodbye's darling, so it's best if you just go. Take what you need and take some of the boys to escort you. I'd hate to hear about you getting caught up in one of those nuclear sandstorms or eaten by sand worms. You'll be fine darling, trust me. They never attack trucks going fast enough."

Meanwhile, in the cave outside of 2-DR, Gritch was being dragged into the immaculate home of Uncle Bill. The furniture, wallpaper, carpet, everything looked like it had just arrived from the Sears & Roebuck's catalog. Chet set him in a seat at a Formica table shining like the day it came off the assembly line. There was a cup of sweet tea set in front of Gritch. 

"Now what's a strong willed fellow like you doing coming back to my cave? Why don't you tell Uncle Bill where you've been these past 7 year," Gritch couldn't help but spill the beans and tell Uncle Bill all the things that had happened to him. Chet chuckled at Gritch's frequent misfortune.

"And with his power hungry antics it's only a matter of time before Li'l Walt comes storming into your lovely little cul de sac here and starts demanding you give him tribute," Gritch could tell he wasn't getting the fired up response he was hoping for out of the two of them.

"My my, that does sound rough, you need help clearing all the bad stuff out of you don't you?" as he said this Chet moved quickly to brand Uncle Bill's likeness onto Gritch's arm, "Now I'm sure you feel much better. You're welcome here, but if you really want me and my nieces and nephews to go storming 1-DR, I'll need to know this isn't just some excuse of yours to take power with someone else's army. If you want my help you'll need to let Chet put a small cortex bomb in the base of your skull."

The look on Uncle Bill's face made it clear this was non-negotiable. 

"Well if that's all it's gonna take," Gritch put his head on the table exposing the back of his neck, "inject away Uncle."

Shortly after the cortex bomb was in place, they took Gritch to the second floor balcony overlooking the cul de sac, where Uncle Bill began a very fiery speech to his followers. 

Gritch couldn't be bothered to pay attention to all of it, but caught something about a new home and taking power. At the end of the speech Gritch was given free range of the cave. He attempted to speak with the followers, but could only get "howdy neighbor" and "gonna watch the ball game this weekend?" when he tried to speak with them. They said these things as if they were holy prayers from a worried Catholic. 

Gritch decided to let the psychic maelstrom tell him show him the cave and how it began. His pupils dilated and he lost all control of his bowels and bladder. Luckily his utili-kilt didn't catch any of the mess. His jaw slung open and he drooled. The cave disappeared and he saw a gray sandy blankness with the loud and distinct sound of a nuclear sandstorm raging nearby. He saw a glow in the distance begin to throb. The storm grew louder and he saw dozens of tiny ants scurried toward the light.

When he snapped back to reality he felt drained. The a sudden return of the memory of when he had convinced Toyota to help him cheat on Chief Figglesworth during their relationship came flooding back to his memory. They had such wild sex in the dark room, before Chief turned it into the drug lab. 

"What a strange memory to have surface," Gritch thought as he shrugged it off and continued to explore the cave.

Meanwhile in the hidden drug lab at Chief's Butchery, LaLa was working hard on the regular brew just as Chief interrupted her.

"We got a special order for Li'l Walt. He needs something strong. Wants to get a brute high for the show I think, " Chief said.

"No problem, Chief. I can brew that up for sure," Lala was eager to help.

"Not so fast though. I want you to add something to it. Something potent that his brute won't like. Nothing that will kill him, but I want him to have a shitty time. You get me?"

"Loud and clear, Chief. Lala knows just what to give him."

Chief smiled to herself. Pleased she'd taken care of the brute problem. Now if she could just figure out what the hell Gritch was planning and when to expect his signal she could really kick the planning into high gear.

She stopped for a moment, took a deep breath and began to hum softly to herself. She felt the effervescent tingle on her scalp as the psychic maelstrom reached into her brain. She wanted to know what Gritch was up to. In a flash a sudden vivid and obscene memory came back to her. She saw Gritch and Toyota having wild sex in this very room. In the background she heard a band playing music. The last time a band played music had been on her birthday a few years back when her and Gritch were a couple. It wasn't until she heard a birthday song being sung that she knew for sure what she was seeing.

"On my fucking birthday! You piece of shit," Gritch yelled when she snapped back to reality.

"Easy there, Chief. Lala has never fucked with Chief on her birthday. You know that Lala is not like that."

"Change of recipe. Cook him up something really nice. Impress the fuck out of him. I want Li'l Walt to be the happiest he's ever been with me. And I want that brute foaming at the god damned mouth when Gritch gets to the gates."

"Uh..you want me to switch it again? You got it, Chief."