Super Robot Wars ∀: Deep Space IC Thread - Part 1: The Culmination

[Snowy_One]

"Wow. About as drilled in as my welcoming and greeting for work." remarked Melissa as they walked. Before long they arrived at the store. It seemed to be a fairly large place, maybe not the biggest store in the mall, but well up there and full of people going in and carousing the books. Humor, history, humanities, novels, and so-forth. Calmly and quietly Melissa entered on in, looking over the various titles.

"Wow. They've got a re-release of that stuffy old Fifty Shades book in e-book form. I don't know what people back in the twenty-first century were thinking. Though it's not something for you." she remarked as she looked over the new release table and a small display. "Personally I prefer, well, comedy books. I don't find too many that are good though. So many just pile in lazy puns. What about you? Let me guess, books on nature? I think they're back towards the stairwell down to the second floor with the kids books and electronic stuff."

Edited January 12, 2017 by Snowy_One

[Phoenix]

"I think it's good," Megumi offered, trying to smile instead of shrug. She didn't want to come off too apathetic, but she still only managed the faintest of smiles. "There's somewhere I need to be," she said, not getting into specifics about their prisoner around the young civilian. There was no telling what the reaction might be. Suddenly she felt a little silly thinking of him as young, as if she were that much older. It would have been nice to actually know for certain, but life didn't always give people the answers they wanted. Sometimes, life let a bunch of stupid trigger happy mercenaries shoot up the archives and kill anyone crazy enough to stick around making backups. Just let it go ...

"Did you have any other questions?"

Elaine certainly did, but it wasn't a question for Megumi, it was one for Makoto, and as usual, it was the question, not the answer that enlightened. Now that she was asking about the battle, those irritating communications were coming back to her. She couldn't be completely certain, but the boy's voice did sound an awful lot like the Phalanx pilot's. Was he really just a civilian? Either way, he was certainly more interesting now than he had been a moment ago.

---

Thorvald had some interesting, and discreet words for Brant as he passed. The telekinetic could only manage an amused chuckle as the man passed. It wasn't like that, not really, though there wasn't any point in correcting Thorvald. The way things had been going, the possibility was clearly there. Brant would have liked to have more going for him in the ANF than just piloting an Accensus. As of right now, he was risking his life in an organization whose cause he didn't really care about on the whim of a sociopathic old man. All he had to show for it was a modest salary and a small bodycount. He didn't much care for the bodycount, either. No need to rationalize shooting people down if 'my woman' is on this ship, he mused, nearly prompting another chuckle. ... or in the field ... memories of Jessica launching with Nikolai came to mind, and then he really did chuckle quietly again, though very briefly.

Shortly afterward, Jessica offered Brant her glasses, and her method might have sealed Thorvald's interpretation of what was going on for the time being. Brant felt a little awkward borrowing her glasses after she'd gotten them to help complete her look, but if she really didn't mind then he wouldn't complain. At least the sunlight wouldn't bother him nearly so much, now. He was just glad to see her in a good mood either way. It happened often enough, granted, but in the context of the last mission and awaiting word from ANF high command or whoever was ordering them around, Brant wouldn't have been surprised to see her looking depressed again, this morning.

She did seem a little worried, though not on the surface. With another person this close, it was harder for Brant to tune out his senses. "Thanks. I appreciate it," he smiled, showcasing his new look. He decided not to ask her about whatever was worrying her for now. It wasn't always worth bringing up what others were feeling; sooner or later they would feel like their privacy was being invaded nonstop, or they would feel a little too coddled, if it happened whenever he was around. Striking a balance came down to focusing on the stronger emotions, those that came with more pressing issues.

Edited January 12, 2017 by Phoenix

[SB.]

"Uh... don't worry about it!" Lyra replied awkwardly, not quite sure how to respond to the scatterbrained pilot. What a weirdo... Holding back a sigh, she followed Astin into the hanger, where a familiar face came to greet them. "Hello again, Officer." she smiled. "Thanks for bringing the volunteers in yesterday - the medical bay was really busy." She was actually slightly miffed he didn't seem to remember her, although her face didn't show it. Either way, it sounded like this was a job for a real pilot, so it looked like Astin was on his own here.

[Nanami Touko]

Lace

 

"Ah, heyyyy..." Christina smiled a bit as Kim ruffled her hair, wondering what the expression was about. Was she letting off more than she thought she was? Kim would pick it up if she was. I'll tell her later; we're supposed to be going out and having a good time, right? No need to get into my insecurities. "Sure thing. Now, let me put your shoes on, so we can finally get outta here, yeah? We're making Brant and the captain wait!" Christina spared no time slapping on Kim's boots, tying up some perfect knots to make sure they didn't come loose while they were trudging out there.

 

She hopped back up and leaned down some with her hands on her hips. "There! Are you finally ready? Or do I have to help you with a sudden assortment of accessories, too? Hee."

 

Pack Your Bags

 

"Roxanna," Olivia quietly corrected to Val, before saluting the XO happily. "I'll go and get my things and report back to the ship ASAP, XO. Thank you! I'll be sure to let the doctor know as well that she has two new staff." As long as Roxanna didn't go snooping around in Olivia's resume, she wouldn't regret her decision. And if she did... Well, Megumi would just have to vouch for her! Easy. She started off towards the elevators, wondering why the connecting bridge was on the top floor.

 

Crowded

 

"You're welcome... Wait..." Jess looked around a bit, realizing that both Roxanna and Thorvald had been staring at the two. "Uhhh... Th-They don't think we're flirting, do they?" She offered a sheepish smile, pressing her fingers together. "I... Well, I-I mean I'm the c-captain, so of course we... Weren't, uhm... Y-Yeah the shades are nice. And, stuff." You've never dated anyone, how could anyone be thinking you're even flirting?

 

"R-Right, do you, uh, know how to get to Bismarck?" Sharp subject change, and another quick glance at their tiny crowd. "You should have a map of the colony accessible on your pad, but, just to be safe, it's too the north. Should take us about forty minutes, walking. Maybe fifty if we dawdle... Haha." Am I blushing? I must still be blushing... Dammit. I... He's pretty, and nice, but... I-I'm the captain. Can't do that. Don't even think about it.

Edited January 17, 2017 by Nanami Touko

[Ether]

"Could maybe do ribbon, bow, jewelry..." Seung-Min replied, swinging her feet after Christina backed off from lacing her boots, before sticking her tongue out whimsically at Chrissy, standing up and stretching, before walking towards the door.

"That all, thank help. Let go then, yes?" She confirmed, closing the rest of the way to the door, opening it for Christina, and closing it behind her, Kim locking it as she walked away... and onto what appeared to be an interesting scene. Jessica was radiating fluster, and her face was flushed as she was speaking to Brant. What might they have missed, between those two?

"Jess, you red as lipstick, what wrong? Brant skip thumb up and smack backside?" Kim shot blindly, expecting to be entirely wrong. It did give her a chance to mirror Brant's signature move, which was fun.

[Phoenix]

Things were a bit more fun for Brant when Jessica was oblivious to the way a situation looked, but on the bright side, seeing her flail trying to explain away so little was amusing. Unable to fully recover from that, she jumped from one set of tracks to another to avoid the trainwreck and asked him if he knew where Bismarck Electronics was. He did, of course, though considering he'd opted to walk, he could understand if she thought he hadn't actually seen a colony map today. "It's pretty early so there's no rush," Brant said, feeling fine with some inefficiency here and there. They were already doing so well in that department.

Kim and Christina emerged and the former locked her door. That sort of thing was going to remain a highlight for a while yet. She then started in on Jessica with the jokes, not holding back much, either. "No I gave my honest review," Brant chimed in casually. "That said ..." Another thumbs up, this time for Kim's outfit. "You've all got really good taste."

[Nanami Touko]

Smack

 

"Wha-- N-No! Ahhhhhhh, Kim! Please!" Jess shrunk further, biting at her thumb, not even daring to glance over at Brant. Why would you even say anything like that, pleeeease...

 

While Jess stayed shrunk, Christina hopped over, offering an empathetic smile to the unfortunate captain. "Ahh, well... She's just joking around, Captain. See? Brant's not making it worse." Even if he could have, with the smallest gesture. What a nice guy.

 

"I... I guess, but... Aahh..." She finished her little freakout moment, sighing and standing back up straight, though her redness would remain for some time. "L-Let's just, get walking. Since it'll take us a bit. Come on, then." Jess huffed, and shook her head, heading off to the elevators. The sooner they got walking, the better.

 

Christina started after her, smiling back at Kim. "Let's go see how the colony's doing! Maybe they'll have some neat robots over at their facility, too." Maybe a T-Link... Nah, that's just wishful thinking.

Edited January 17, 2017 by Nanami Touko

[riariadne]

"Good to meet you, Makoto. My name is Dwight Turner, a former Vice-Admiral of the ANF serving as an advisor for the Hieon Riese," Dwight greeted the younger man, extending a hand. "I wish your mother and everyone else the best of luck in their recovery. Though this battle was a costly one, we will all have to simply try our utmost to find the path to a speedy recovery."

Elaine's question raised an eyebrow from him. "The Phalanx that assisted during the battle? Piloting one of those is a rare skill for just a civilian to possess. Perhaps there's more to your story, Mister Watanabe."

[Balcerzak]

A twist of the knob and Thorvald stepped into his room. He'd done some decorating already, as had probably most everybody else by this point, so it was reasonably cozy and as close to home as one could get on a boat, in outer space, miles and miles away. If anybody from the hallway were to peek in, they would likely catch sight of a poster for a GY240 production of The Nutcracker, with the featured ballerina posing in a lovely third arabesque position. Off to the sides could be seen several smaller pictures of his family, and Mr. Nibbles even had a cameo in one of them.

Tossing his bag to the ground beside the bed, Thorvald took a load off and sank down into it for a bit, relaxing and trying to decide which of the many priorities for the day he should work on first. There was the matter with Roxanna, the prisoner in the brig, and he also wanted to go bug Avery about getting him access to the flight data from the last mission so he could start to review it, maybe also plan out when they were getting drinks. He felt hopeful that if he played back over the 'challenge' from Vera he might uncover something she'd let slip, maybe there was a clue in there that hadn't grabbed anyone's immediate attention. It seemed perfectly plausible when considering that the squad had just had to come to grips with a possible worst case scenario. There might be any other number of interesting nuggets in the data, in fact, and it might not be a bad idea to sic the android on it as well, given her unique point of view. While HAN4 did seem to have trouble comprehending things at times, and might miss out on the kinds of organically formed connections that would be obvious to a human, surely there was the possibility of her catching onto patterns that he might overlook in a similar fashion? And she was the only other person around with prior experience, and conversation, with the Apotheosis Lieutenant, so that was an added consideration.

With a sigh, he ran his fingers through his still-damp hair, massaging his scalp a little, then tiring of that, finally managed to shake the last of the water out of his ears. Endlessly brooding wasn't going to get anything done, so... wait, a blinking light, huh, must've been pretty zoned out to have missed that the first time around. Pulling up the text message from the XO that the notification had been indicating, Thorvald smiled slightly and nodded. Fair enough, still plenty of time before lunch and if she's ready and willing, then by all means now's the time to do it. While he didn't exactly enjoy composing an awkwardly stiff reply, it wouldn't do not to match the tone she'd used in hers. That said, he'd likely missed the mark and gone overly formal.

"Executive Officer Martinson:
Most sincere apologies for the delay in my replying to your message. Assuming it still to be convenient, you may expect my arrival in a matter of minutes.

Best Regards,
Specialist Thorvald Eriksson"

Okay, and out of the gym-clothes casualwear. Selecting a green and black checked button-up, and some khaki slacks, Thorvald paused for a moment before opting to forgo a necktie. The (original) goal of this was to allow them to get some insight on each other and sort of feel out who they were. There's a line between dressing responsibly, and pretending to be someone you're not. A tie was way over that line. The final major decision was... white, or red? Running his hand over a beard a moment as he hesitated over the question, trying to make use of what he did know of Roxanna to properly inform his selection. Slipping his choice into a messenger bag along with some other items he was pretty sure he wouldn't need or use, but couldn't hurt to have along just in case, he then picked it up and headed out the door again.

By this point the hallway had cleared out, with everyone seemingly having disappeared into the elevators, enabling Thorvald to head over to Roxanna's door on the other side of the hall in peace. Knocking, he called out, "Thorvald here, I hope you didn't think I was ignoring you there. Hadn't seen your message while I was at the pool, and on my way back you looked kind of involved with the volunteers from last night."

Edited January 13, 2017 by Balcerzak

[Phoenix]

Brant had gotten his wish; they were walking to Bismarck Electronics. It wasn't a long trip by his standards, but he could understand some of the initial reluctance. Gone were the days where his legs and feet would cry out in agony over a measly four hour walk. Also, gone were the days when he had that much time to invest consistently. This was a rare opportunity and like most people seeking their own interests, he was greatly looking forward to it, as well as their actual destination, assuming they could get in. For now Brant put it out of mind, since they could just keep on walking if Jessica's status as captain wasn't enough to get them in. That wouldn't be so bad, at least until the complaints started and they wound up renting one of the colony's vehicles.

Right, the colony ... Christina had just brought that up. This wasn't actually an occasion where sightseeing was ideal, though the locals were trying their hardest to address as much of the destruction as they could. Brant found himself anticipating more than just excitement and intrigue during the first leg of this trip. There was bound to be some reflection on the attack itself, as well as the aftermath. It couldn't be helped, though. If they were going to spend their day on the colony, they were going to spend their day seeing the handiwork of the rebels and Apotheosis, and maybe patting each other on the back for what was left that they helped save.

I can't believe they were going to blow this place. Friggin' morons. The thought of the suits up top condemning this place was never going to sit well with him. Ever. He decided to take his mind off of that 'worst case scenario' they'd prevented before he started developing an actual grudge. "What kind of machines would they have there ... aside from the Phalanx and whatever else gets used around here?"

[Shin]

The concept of a comedy book was completely alien to Tarquin, almost as much so as the fact that someone would choose them as their reading material of choice. His own enjoyment came from the acquiring and utilisation of knowledge, the quips and misfortune of others didn't even interest him remotely. There had to be an explanation, surely people liked them if they were able to produce so many? There were so many books in existence, did people really feel compelled to read ones like that?

There was no doubt though that the building contained more books than he'd ever seen before. It would have been a simple task to simply indulge in his own tastes and completely ignore Melissa. There seemed to be many shades of grey, none of which piqued his interest enough to even consider. It would have been easy to correct Melissa, stating that he preferred abstract sciences more than the natural world, but he'd learned that would only open another can of worms. He simply nodded his head, eager to return to his reconnaissance.

"I'll go see what it's like there, I can always ask a member of staff for assistance." he replied, looking over at the stairwell. Logically, children's books were easier to read, so they would surely be a good starting point for Nikolai. It would also give him a chance to observe the purchasing habits of younger people. "If there is anything you desire to purchase, I'm more than happy to pay for it."

It was the least he could do trying to ditch her, he might have possibly felt bad otherwise. As Tarquin left to head down to the stairwell, a shocking realisation came to mind.

How does one pay for things?

He'd never used his card, he remembered all the numbers associated with it and which ones he should reveal or not... but the actual practicalities were completely foreign to him. It was another thing he would have to observe, did all these things come naturally to people? It sounded like a skill that took very little ability to perform, yet with all his intelligence, he found himself completely stumped.

[Ether]

Seung-Min let out a light snicker as Jessica reacted about as expected to her prodding, turning an ever brighter red and stammering for a bit, before moving to the elevators to try and change the subject by starting on their walk. Kim didn't have any real objections to that, though she smirked a bit as Brant gave his signature review once again.

"What, expect different? Disappoint, Brant." Kim chided, pulled out of her teasing a bit by Christina's comment on the colony. How much damage would remain, after all of this? She had been too focused on the battle the day before to truly examine the state of the colony itself properly...

[Xinnidy]

Special Test

"Oh, wait, you're the guide lady from yesterday." That it took Officer Grey long enough to realize who she was would be embarrasing, but with the hours on end he spent working on that hangar it was easier to blame his brain being tired. "Uh-- Lyra! Right, I hope the volunteers were helpful. It's our fault your medbay got so busy, after all." All he offered back was a sheepish smile, focusing back on Astin's words.

"You know what... that should be good enough." Officer Grey pondered a moment as Astin affirmed their specialty, "I want you to try out a mech for me. You see, I think we owe you guys one from yesterday, and back when I was taking the volunteers to your hangar I was surprised you didn't have that many spare mechs ready to go." Then again, the army was all about beam-sword-and-artillery titans, which took up considerably more space than the usual jet fighter. "So I was thinking maybe you guys could use an extra mech. 'Course we don't have anything specced for heavy warfare here normally, but I got the ok to mess around with some of the machines that were going to be scrapped. Come."

Motioning for Astin to follow him, the officer led them to a covered machine further down the hangar. "Here it is," Pulling down the black cover revealed a mech not unlike the Phalanx from their past mission, though its design certainly seemed more intricate --it sported a lighter antenna, its design was less blocky and more aerodynamic than the previous unit, an overall bulkier torso and a metallic gray paintjob. "Me and some of the guys worked on fixing this model 21 with parts of the scrapped units. Gave it some extra plating to try to make it more survivable than your regular fighter jet. Just gotta make sure it's still balanced properly with all the extra weight." On top of being tougher and faster than model 19, the 21 also made use of different outer frames to suit land and zero gravity use. He figured it couldn't be a downgrade from the planes if they managed to patch up the armor.

Cat Out of the Bag

"W-wha?" Elaine's sudden outburst surprised Makoto, the boy freezing up in place. Shoot, I'm not supposed to tell them I-- That ended up being a terrible idea, no excuses came to his mind immediately as he got further pressed on by the older man --he knew he was a terrible liar, anyways. Gulping down, he met Dwight's hand with his own, a not-so-firm shake. "I'm not really supposed to tell I was there, but yeah, I was the Phalanx pilot." Maybe if he was straight about it, he wouldn't get in trouble. He'd feel bad if Officer Carlson did, since he was the one that pushed it. "I just wanted to find my mother. The station had radio silence for a long time since the attack started so I asked to go out there and try to get my mom, since we got lost. Ended up being chased by a Heracles until I found you guys, though..." It probably wouldn't reflect well to say that his mother was there with him while he was being chased. Don't need to say that one...

More Ceremonies

"No problem. Make sure you don't forget anything you don't need. I'll let Doctor Amparo manage your work shifts with you." With all that seemed important over, Roxanna retreated to her room --she felt she had seen enough of Jess for the day, already. So we'll pretend that didn't happen. Alright, I can do that. Already, her bed was tempting her to nap the morning away. Unfortunately, that'd ruin the makeup she'd already put on, so with a conformed sigh Roxanna had to opt for her chair for now, maybe she'd finally be able to get up to date with the news...

Of course not, though the interruption wasn't that negative. An update in the corner of her screen made it clear that Thorvald had replied to her message. Huh... so he's coming over. The lack of an immediate response made Roxanna think he'd given up. Perhaps whatever he was off doing just took that much attention from him? "How about that..." It didn't take particularly long for him to show up on her door after sending the message. Well, at least he knows how to talk, maybe this won't be so bothersome. Roxanna was foreseeing something about her relationship with Jess to be discussed --seemed to be the only thing people paid attention about her--, at least Thorvald would be one of the less one-sided about it... probably? "Come in." She walked up to the door, unlocking it rather unceremoniously. "That's fine. The volunteers just wanted to know about working with us for a longer period of time." So far, so good.

[scorri]

"Oh, huh. Yeah, I could pilot that... Are you sure you want to give it to us though? I mean, I can test it real quick for sure, but... Well, no, I'm sure it will be interesting. A smaller mech has its uses at points... Well, i suppose I may as well test it out, right?" Astin walked over to it and gave the exterior a quick inspection as best they could before climbing into the pilot seat. "Right then, lets see how this works..." Powering the mech up, they took a few seconds, to get accustomed to the controls before starting to move.

Val quietly sighed and followed after Olivia. Thankfully, as far as she knew, she wasn't living near the other girl so she would have some time to collect herself. Until then though, she entered the elevator with the other girl, hoping that things would go quickly. She almost started to speak, but changed her mind halfway through the first word. She'd made her stance more than clear and better to just leave things. Get off the ship, get her stuff, and then figure things out from there. That's all she needed to do. Easy enough.

[Balcerzak]

Definitely not an inquisition

"Oh, is that so? I hope you set them up with a contract then; the fewer surgeries I have to get roped into assisting on, the better," Thorvald chuckled amicably as he entered the room. "I hope you don't mind if I make myself comfortable," he followed up with, moving to take a seat in one of the chairs circling near the little round table off to the room's side.

Once he'd gotten himself situated, he reached into his bag and pulled out the gift he'd selected: a bottle of red wine, a nice Zinfandel with the word 'Federalist' prominently spread across the label. Setting it on the table he explained, "Now, I don't know if you're much of a wine lady, but it's been sort of my standard warming up gift and I didn't really have much time to try to deviate from the script. Heck, seems to me that even if you're not one normally, the last couple of days were crazy enough to put most anyone in the mood for a drink or two. This fella shouldn't be too astringent either, if you're worried about that."

That bit of explanation out of the way, he segued into a broader description of the reason behind his visit. "I generally make it a point to try get in good graces with my immediate superiors, if you're curious what this is all about. Honestly, I was expecting it to be another squad leader this time; reporting direct to the XO is a bit new for me, so bear with me if I don't always meet with expectations. Now, I'm not sure how much you already picked up on from whatever sort of files they give you, but I figured it couldn't hurt for some back and forth casual questions and answers." With a bit of a shrug he elaborated, "Could be about anything really, doesn't have to be strictly work related if you don't want it to be. I will be upfront and mention there's at least one topic on my own agenda to dig into, but I don't mind saving that till last."

[Snowy_One]

"Do not worry. I have a couple hundred in my savings and most books aren't super-pricey anyways." replied Melissa as she watched Tarquin start to head down. She wasn't going to pester him by following him. No point really. She wanted to see if she could find the type of book she was looking for anyways which was located in the comedy section.

"If you need to find me I'll be in the comedy section or, failing that, in electronics." she said simply with a smile before heading off.

Edited January 14, 2017 by Snowy_One

[Xinnidy]

Driving Stick

Astin could quickly tell the Phalanx's controls put more on the pilot's hands as far as maneuvering the machine, its own system didn't seem to make corrections on the go as efficiently as a Velite would, but then again, it was a notably smaller mech, which made spatial awareness easier.

"Yeah, I thought it'd be worth a try, at least. Worst I think can happen is you guys deciding it's not worth it and sending it back to us." The officer was pretty confident it'd be a good idea, at least. Making sure that everything was set when Astin boarded the mech, Grey took a step back. "Alright, why don't you take this boy for a walk? Just to make sure it won't topple over on you."

The Persuasive Powers of Wine

Though Roxanna didn't mind the Specialist's entrance initially, the amiable tone and sudden gift were definitely eyebrow-raising. "Uh, Specialist Eriksson?" Whatever he was getting at, Roxanna doubted it was all to cheer her up or for some greater good. The answer came soon enough, Roxanna letting her guard down. "Alright, Specialist, I think I'll bite." It was not everyday that Roxanna got a gift from one of her crew --rather rare, in fact--, so why not enjoy it? "You're in luck, I actually do fancy my wine red, and I certainly could use some right now. Make yourself comfortable." Some semblance of a good mood hitting the XO in what seemed like far too long for her own good. In a moment, she walked over her pantry, retrieving two wine glasses. It was rather fortunate to have been prepared for the occasion, she thought she'd never use more than the one except for when it broke on her.

"I know about your previous assignment, but you'd be disappointed if you think I looked deeply into why you were transferred, or checked your record." With all the other special pilots, Roxanna had tunneled her searches quite a bit. With how hasty everything about the implementation of Dry Lake was, Roxanna chose efficiency over losing hours of sleep. "You turned out to be the most reliable out there, as far as leading a squad goes, I don't think there's much for me to worry on that end." It would only be better if their leadership was as solid as Thorvald's throughout the Riese..

"Hmm, if you'd rather save that topic for last, then I think it's a good idea." Call it a hunch, but Roxanna felt it wasn't going to be something she was entirely pleasant to take right now, maybe some wine would actually help her, there. "If you have anything else you'd like to ask first, go ahead."

Books With Purrsonality

Going to the children's section, Tarquin would quickly find out story books seemed to have the most representation. Nearly every book had soft-colored, hard covers, and plenty seemed to share cartoonish illustrations that would probably catch the attention of younger minds. Books other than story books seemed to usually share a trend of adding 'for kids' at the end of their titles. There were also a small share of magazines and booklets, most of them advertising as drawing or quiz booklets in this section.

At least there was coherence in how these books were sorted, Tarquin could quickly find which shelves had the more educational style books, unfortunately the 'languages for kids' series seemed to be on the top shelves, a bit high for Tarquin's height.

A Land With No Lords

Melissa would find her trip to the comedy section pretty straightforward. There were a few new books, but not a lot of comedy had been published this season. From a sign near the shelves, at least she would learn that there was a promotion going on --25% off on the purchase of three books or more!--, it didn't seem that impactful, but it was better than nothing?

"Heya, miss!" A voice from nearby called, was it even calling for Melissa? "You dropped this." Should Melissa turn and check, she'd see a man holding a card towards her, but it wasn't one that looked familiar to her at all. On further inspection, the man seemed to be on his mid 20s, perhaps still on college. He dressed simple, sandals, beach shorts, and a red shirt with a black picture of some man that was probably important centuries ago, a sentence below the picture that read: "R.I.P. 1928-1967; A body was killed, a man lives on." Another glance revealed he held a beverage can with his other hand.

Edited January 15, 2017 by Xinnidy

[Balcerzak]

As Roxanna headed to retrieve some wine glasses, Thorvald went about uncorking the bottle. When she explained the depth of her familiarity with his background, Thorvald chuckled a little. "Heh, 'disappointed' isn't quite the word that first came to mind, actually. A bit relieved actually, that having a pair of TKs and the Andromeda Factor probably kept you from delving into my less exciting background."

Once she'd set the glasses down, he carefully poured them each some of the wine, then raised his glass for a minor toast. "Cheers!" After giving it a brief swirl, and savoring the aroma, he took a sip, then settled into his chair and continued. "...Truthfully though, I was a bit worried the Major's report would try to poison the well, but with the way things've turned out, that obviously wasn't the case, or simply wasn't relevant. Still, I do feel a little obligated to discuss the circumstances, though, just in the interests of full disclosure."

"While I got on fine with the rest of my squad, and with Jess--sorry, given the potential for confusion, I should really be calling her Sgt. Barnes now, shouldn't I?" Distracted slightly by his tangent, he leaned forward slightly, and his voice became a tad conspiratorial as he continued, "I'm really more of a first-name kind of person, you know, barring an active duty environment. That said, if I slip up and call you Roxy and that bothers you, do let me know and I'll try to rein it in."

"Anyway, where was I," Thorvald resumed his normal tone and posture. "Oh, yes, well, while the general atmosphere was good, for some reason the Major, the top brass at the site, seemed to have developed some sort of bias against me. After that fact had became clear, it sort of ended going both ways: I'd take to thumbing my nose at him when I thought I could get away with it." As his explanation reached its end, he hurried to follow it with some reassurances. "Shouldn't be any sort of those problems coming from me here on the Riese, though, as things have gone so far in the opposite direction, as far as there being any sort of reason to be petty. But I just thought you should at least hear my side of the story, even if you hadn't read the official one."

Taking another sip, then setting his glass down on the table, Thorvald reached up with a hand to scratch the back of his head. "Right, well, I shouldn't be hogging all the conversation. What were things like on your last assignment?"

[Shin]

None of the children's books were anything that Tarquin would have considered normally. However, they were likely to be basic enough to use as supplementary material for Nikolai. However, in order to provide technical instruction, Tarquin needed something for substantial, and thankfully the store appeared to stock material intended for the education of children. Nikolai wasn't exactly a child, but he would have to start basic in order to help him progress. Tarquin had been reasonably literate from his early years, but it would be unfair to expect Nikolai to be able to make the same advancements.

It seemed to be one day where Tarquin faced a plethora of weaknesses that he had, some of which had never been particularly relevant until they had reared their ugly heads. Not only would he have to get to grips with the civilian payment system, he would have to face a challenge that seemed to have very few solutions.

"The shelf is higher than I expected." Tarquin winced, standing on his tip-toes to try and reach at the upper shelves. It was no use, there was no way to overcome the vertical distance between himself and the books he desired. How were people supposed to purchase books when they couldn't even reach them? Surely the books couldn't have gotten up there by themselves? Looking around, Tarquin needed to find someone suitably tall. Emotional independence was something that he could maintain, but unless he were to suddenly grow six inches taller, he was short of luck. With all his genetic superiority, it would have been convenient if his full predicted height were to arrive sooner rather than later.

[Sandalphon]

Nikolai shuffled through streets aimlessly, like a frightened animal scoping out another's territory. Cognitively, he knew people would not pounce on him and tear out his jugular or eat him whilst he was still alive and screaming...

No, he thought grimly, whatever humans could do was probably worse.

After pacing through streets for god knows how long, following the whims of gridlike urban planning, he stopped in front of a store front. Normally, he wouldn't care since he had no money or need to own any physical property, but there was something brewing in the back of his foggy mind. A thought, kicking at his hippocampus, burrowing into his memories and just generally fucking with his limbic system.

Johannes would like this place.

He placed a tentative palm onto the store window, as if to reach into the display behind the glass. It was something friendly, a stack of books of all sorts, with colourful covers and assorted merchandise meant to entice the public into shelling out their hard earned cash into this capitalist machine. At the moment, however, it filled Nikolai with something other than his typical apathetic bitterness... was it nostalgia, or perhaps grief?

Maybe it was both.

He nervously stepped into the store, noticing immediately how out of place he seemed. Still, he kept his gaze lowered, almost submissive, as if it would appease any of the normal human beings who belonged there. He walked amongst shelves almost reverently, as though the sales floor was a sanctuary that he had so rudely barged into. This was no place for monsters. No matter how hard he had scrubbed his skin before leaving the ship, there was no masking the fact that he was not worthy of walking amongst people...

and yet, here he was.

He gently reached forward, brushing the bright blue spine of what must've been a book about painting. He opened it cautiously, staring at the small dark words that accompanied a hazy picture of what appeared to be water sprawling under a bridge on the page, almost begging them to make some form of coherent sense to him.

"₵ℓᾲὺḋἕ ɱøȠἕʈ : Ẉᾀ₮ἕꞄ ꝆịἾἼịἕᶳ..."

He croaked the words out loud to himself, choking on them, stuttering as he tried to sound them out. He didn't want to disappoint anyone anymore...

[Nanami Touko]

Models In Stock

Jess was slowly trying to recover from her embarrassment, Brant's question letting her take a moment to do so. "Let me check my database." She pulled a small device from her pocket, almost like a phone, but definitely just for ANF related materials, as one could see once the screen turned on. They got onto their elevator and Jess stared to flick through things, waiting for the ding of hitting the top floor. "Let's see... It seems like the Phalanx is the main model used by the colony. Something about... Ease of size and construction costs. There seem to be a few abandoned projects in their records, but some of them aren't public knowledge... And I don't think I can get in with my ID through this. We'd have to get on a computer at Bismarck. Hmm... Oh, there is one. Something called a... Ceres? That's, like..."

"A dwarf planet, between Mars and Jupiter," Christina chirped in with, as their stop came, doors opening.

"Right, that. There's no other details on what it does, just that they gave up construction once the colony's focus changed to space travel... Maybe they have a prototype at the facility? Would be interesting to see..." Jess didn't exactly have much knowledge on what machines were being constructed by the ANF, EU, or any other groups, like Brant's Russian backers. She only knew ships, of course. Still, seeing something old and unique like that would be interesting, surely. The door to the connecting bridge slid open, and she started what was sure to be a long walk.

"Maybe they'll have some of those testing pods, you know? Like, the ones pilots use to train. I don't think I can see myself in an actual robot any time soon, but it might be fun to try and do something virtual..." Better than actually firing at someone. Christina wasn't exactly up for the walk, but everyone else seemed to be okay with it, so she kept quiet.

 

Pack Your Bags

Val was clearly not in any mood to talk, and she's already gotten her teasing out of her, so Olivia shifted through her pockets and pulled out some headphones. "Can you hear, my heart beat..." she mumbled, as her music turned on, stepping out of the elevator after the captain and her entourage. Huh, going on a little colony walk? They deserve the break, after all that fighting... Let's see... Olivia was going to need a lot of her clothes, all of her music, her computer, maybe a video game... Unless the medical staff was supposed to be on call the entire time. She'd have to ask. Either way, hands in her pockets, she walked on. "We were, born to make history~" More mumbled lyrics accompanied her stroll.

[Dandragon]

"So it WAS you? Huh...Well, that explains a few things, actually. But, how did you learn to pilot one of those things, anyhow?" This was puzzling. Even when Elaine entered the academy back then, she knew absolutely nothing about flying a robot. So to see this kid claim to have flown one on his own , Elaine had to admit, she was impressed.

Edited January 17, 2017 by Dandragon

[scorri]

Astin nodded even though everyone else couldn't see them and started to manipulate the bot. First just moving. It seemed to be able to move around just fine. Next moving the arms. They were straightforward, nothing complicated. Easy enough. They called out on the speakers, "Seems to work well! I figure I'd better not test any weapons in here but the controls seem straightforward enough. I bet this could be useful at points for sure."

 

Good. Olivia wasn't interested in talking. Heading out of the elevator, she headed out. Time to get back to her place, thankfully located relatively close to the spaceport. Clothes would be the most important thing. Her computer and E-reader would be the next set of things. She couldn't leave behind her treasured collection of plays and musicals either.  People sometimes thought she was strange for holding on to physical copies of the older shows, but she needed the connection to her old dreams. And most importantly, she couldn't forget the ragged teddy bear she couldn't seem to get rid of. That was a good starting list. She smiled, content for the moment.

 

Colt groggily opened his eyes veggie bolting upright. "Where am... Oh right. Ship. Ugh. Ok. Gotta... Get back home." He groaned as he sat up, muscles complaining slightly. "Right then... Clothes... are covered in grease. Right." Walking over to the closet, he found a pair of athletic pants and a tshirt that fit well enough. Picking up his clothes he winced and then dug around in the pockets for his phone. "Not there. Right. Uhhh... Oh yeah. Took it out when we were working. Gotta go get that then."

He slowly made his way to the hangar, still about three quarters asleep. He managed to find his phone before noticing a sleeping woman. "Aw crap, that's not good. Uhhh her name was... Angel? Avery? Something like that. Head mechanic. Right. Hey you, come on, there are lots of beds you could be sleeping in instead of over here." He did his best to gently shake her awake without scaring her or anything like that.

[Snowy_One]

Melissa's own search was drastically different from Tarquin's as she wasn't interested in childrens material. Rather, she was looking for a particular series of comedy books that was also surprisingly informative; dealing with such topics as the economic ramifications of using a giant space station with an orbital laser from a classical movie to blast apart a planet and it's practicality of using it both as a military weapon and as a mining tool. Or, alternatively, the physics behind using machine guns as a source of propulsion instead of traditional engines. It was a weird, yet surprisingly smart and educational, book.

It was also a search suddenly disrupted by a man coming up from behind claiming she had dropped something. "That's odd..." she said as she looked at the card. "I don't remember having a card looking like that. Why do you think I dropped it?"

[Nanami Touko]

Map complete

"Thank you for the tour, Buck."

Hannah smiled and shook Buck's tiny hand lightly as emerged from the engine room, but the android suddenly froze up.

"Aw, shucks, it wasn't any trouble! Just don't go giving any of those schematics to anyone you shouldn't be giving them to! If they found out you did that, I'd be fired-- and you'd be dismantled... Hannah?" He waved a slightly concerned hand in front of her face, and she near instantly resumed functioning.

"My apologies. I must depart the ship with haste. My alarms have been triggered. Goodbye, Buck."

She sped off towards the elevators without a second thought, leaving Buck sitting there scratching his head.

"What alarms?"

 

Long Road to Bismarck

The destruction of the colony wasn't as apparent on the East Side where the Riese had been docked. Even as the group walked towards Bismarck, nothing came into view until they got near the facility. A few destroyed buildings in the distance, rubble scattered along the road... Bloodstains, either from civilians caught in the fight, or from before it. It wasn't a pretty sight, and luckily, they didn't have to go near it. But what was more eerie was the sight of Bismarck. It looked abandoned upon arrival, not a soul in sight, no security on guard. It was like no one had bothered to go near the place, or leave it, since the rebel invasion.

Christina hadn't spoken up much during their walk, mostly in an attempt to ignore her tired legs, and not ask Brant to carry her. When they got there, she was the first to speak up. "Hey... Are you sure about this? This... Feels like we really shouldn't be here. Like we're gonna get in trouble, in some way or another, if we go in there." The group had been stopped, figuratively, by the security bar outside a guard stand-- which was also empty. The facility in question laid only a good twenty feet away from it, parking turning to the left and right. There were still cars parked there, but...

"We came all this way. We might as well see what's inside..." Jess took a moment to squeeze herself past the security bar, heading on over to the entrance, hoping people would follow her.

 

Rude Awakening

"Wha--! Get'chur paws offa me you drunken, son'bitch... Huh?" Avery had shot up and nearly decked Colt in the face, looking around the hangar, dazed. "Whazza... Who's... Who's you? You'se... Gimme a second." She yawned, shook her head, and then slapped her cheeks, hard. "Ahhh... Fuck, smarts. Right... Yer... Colt, right? One o' them volunteers? What's goin' on? Sorry fer findin' me like this, spent way too much time tryin'a fix them suits. Jus' part o' the life, heh." She stood up and stretched hard, yawning again. She'd have to find a proper bed and get some real sleep, later.

 

Edited January 20, 2017 by Nanami Touko