Remnants of the Earth
SPACE STATIONS => The Cancer => Topic started by: Anonymous on June 29, 2008, 08:09:56 pm
-
((OOC: Set after "First Port of Call".))
A switchblade with a pink grip quivered, only recently sunk deep into the metal of the bar. "Holy shit, guys," said its owner, standing up from a bar stool (an action which, in all fairness, made her shorter). "I get dinged by space junk and try to go home to repair my fuel tank, get chased off my home planet by dragons, am forced to spend however-the-hell-long-it's-been here among the perverts and criminals, and you try and tell me I can't have a drink 'cause I look too young? You wouldn't card me if I looked like that guy," she said, pointing to a rather amorphous, multi-tentacled green alien on the other side of the room. "He could be a fuckin' pre-teen and you'd never know, now would you?"
The bartender looked shocked. Clearly a new guy, she thought. "How dare you accuse me of prejudice! Besides, how the hell am I supposed to know what kind of a day you've had? I've been pouring drinks for your perverts and criminals all day!" He gave a nervous smile to a few customers who had taken offense.
"Yeah, well maybe you oughta take the fact that you don't know shit into account next time, before you make someone really fuckin' mad." She sat back down and smoothed her hair. "Look, I have a mech in back, and a remote that tells it what to do. You might want to think about getting me that drink."
The bartender turned his back, and the customer pulled her knife out of the table. Another imperfection, to match the countless dings, bullet holes, craters, and burn marks already on it. Another man came out from the back. The manager. "What the hell is going on out here?" He looked around disapprovingly at some of the bigger men in the bar, before he noticed the disgruntled girl inspecting her knife-blade. "And what are you doing in here?"
"Ordering a drink," she said irritably, clicking the switchblade back into its grip and extending her right hand, taking care to show the scar from where she'd ripped her identification chip out. With my teeth, as I remember it. "Rikki Neves, recently of Teinar. Who the hell are you?"
The manager stared at her hand in startled recognition. "Right, Neves. What'd you order again?"
"A Sissymaker, please." She ran her hand through her bangs. "No ice."
-
[OOC This is the third crappy post I've wrote in a row >.<
Set after Mr Purple Fox finds a friend (http://http://remnants.spiritsoftheearth.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=845)]
It felt good to be back on the Cancer again. Now she had something of a crew and knew she was going to get more she felt empowered. If anyone messed with her, her crew or any of her friends on the Cancer they were going to pay. But for today she was recruiting.
She led Keir and Tetro into one of bars. It was noisy today and a woman at the front was causing a bit of a scene. Oh well, that was too be expected.
“Why don’t you two sit down, I’ll get the drinks and I can ask the bartender for information,” she said turning to the other crew, “Anything in particular you want Tetro?”
She then headed across to the bar and stood up on the edge of it slightly, she wasn’t the tallest of people.
Then she heard a familiar name, Neves. Where had she heard that before…? Oh well, it’d come back to her later.
“Hey bartender, do you know of anyone looking to be part of a ships’ crew, the name’s Nastusia Manasa by the way.”
The bartender wasn’t one she had encountered before but hopefully he’d recognise her name. Maybe even the ‘Neves’ woman would.
She turned to her and smiled, “Got some time to kill?”
-
Tetroneaque followed Nastusia and Keir rather closely, still feeling a bit out of place in this galaxy. He didn't really have any friends except those two, mostly because they were the only ones he knew of that could speak the Kitsune language. Tetroneaque sat down at a booth with Keir when Captain Nastusia suggested it. He was glad to be able to kind of blend in a bit better by not standing around. He didn't want to admit it, but he was a bit nervous. This bar looked like anyone might decide to mess with him just for being small and fluffy, at least if he had been alone. He glanced at Keir and settled himself down a bit.
Nothing to worry about. Your friends are both strong enough to help you if ya need it. I doubt anyone will mess with you today, so just relax. Have a few drinks, and enjoy yourself. He thought to himself.
"Bring me anything you want to. I'm not picky." He commented with a happy yip.
-
The manager sent the shell-shocked bartender to get Miss Neves her drink with a gesture and an impatient glare. He grudgingly set about his business, mumbling something about celebrities and unfairness.
Rikki looked over as... a little girl approached the bar. Not really little, but littler than her. She stood on the baseboard under the table to look taller, which, in all fairness, was kind of cute. “Hey bartender, do you know of anyone looking to be part of a ships’ crew, the name’s Nastusia Manasa by the way.”
The name sounded familiar; she'd seen it on a forum somewhere. Ohh, the immortal! Now I remember. This could be fun!
The girl/woman looked over at her and grinned. “Got some time to kill?” Rikki smirked right back. "There's always time to kill. Nastusia Manasa, you said? Damn, I hope you're not trying to order drinks from this stiff looking like that! He'll give you a root beer float with a fuckin' bendy straw."
She extended her hand, this time for a handshake. "Henriqueta Desidéria Valéria Neves. I don't care who you are, you can't pronounce that... that's Rikki, then. Sure, I'm interested." She leaned against she bar as the bartender put her drink down, along with the remainder of the spoon he'd stirred it with. "You got any other members, or are you starting from scratch, in a place like this?"
-
Nastusia took her hand, “Pleasure, and I do have some other crew yes,” she indicated the two males sat a little ways back, “Keir Faser my co-pilot and Tetroneaque Swiftpaw Tailchaser my mechanic. You might have heard of Keir.”
He had been part of the crew of so many ships, she had lost count and a few people on the Cancer knew him by name, if not face.
Nastusia then turned to the bartender, “A beer and two Mist Oceans, please.”
She was sure they’d serve her and if they didn’t she had ID…not entirely accurate ID since she didn’t know her age but ID all the same. The beer was for Keir, hehe that rhymed, and her favourite drink was a Mist Ocean. It was a kind of blue and green swirling liquid that smoked a little. If any human tried to drink it, one sip would cause severe damage to their liver and a whole glass would kill them several times over. Tetro had mentioned he could eat many things that would be poisonous to humans so she was sure he’d be fine with on of those as well. It was certainly sweeter than beer which was just icky.
“So, what’s your area of expertise then,” Nastusia asked as the drink which placed on the bar in front of her.
She giggled when she saw one of the blue drinks did in fact have a straw in it. Probably a joke on the part bartender, she didn’t mind however.
-
Tetroneaque kept raising his nose up in the air a bit and sniffing. To him this place was almost over stimulating due to the vast amount of varied scents lingering in the air. Of course the ones he was most interested in were the food and drink smells coming from behind the bar.
"Hey Keir, do you think it would be okay if we ordered some snacks? Well... you ordered some snacks since the servers will just look at me funny and say something I won't be able to to understand." Tetroneaque had a mischievous little grin on his face. To him, a few snacks would likely consist of a twelve course dinner but Keir had yet to see the little Kitsune eat yet. His train of thought was derailed as he saw the Captain talking to another female at the bar.
Tetroneaque, of course, couldn't understand a single thing being said but their body language seemed to convey a certain amount of friendliness toward each other. That was always a good sign in Tetroneaque's book.
"You think the Captain has already found another crew member?" He suddenly asked as he continued to look over at Nastusia and the mystery woman.
-
Rikki looked back at the men Nastusia had indicated. "Huh," she said. "Interesting. Can't say I've ever seen such a... cute and fuzzy space crew..." She waved a bit at the two, and smiled. "Yeah, I've heard of Keir. Been on every ship in the fuckin' docking bay!"
She listened to Nastusia's order. Mist Oceans, eh? Yeah, must be immortal... and never to be outdone, I see. She sipped her drink and swirled it around in its glass. The Sissymaker was one of the more powerful drinks that wouldn't kill a human, and rather an acquired taste. Rikki was surprised when the bartender had actually brought her one; most bars seemed to lack one or more ingredients. Usually the hot peppers.
“So, what’s your area of expertise then,” the little immortal asked. Rikki adopted a dangerous smirk. "Weapons. You can't have a ship these days without a weapons specialist. I mean, who knows who'll be out there trying to blow you up, you know?" She extracted a pink-and-goldtone handgun from the folds of her outfit and started polishing it. "Also, I've got a mech. Works in space, can operate independently from the ship if you ever get into a real clusterfuck situation. No rapid-fire, mostly cannons, lasers, missiles... one of which can blow up a Phoenix in one shot." She looked up and smiled. "The Heartbreaker missile, if that means anything to you."
The bartender delivered the drinks, and she grinned at the straw sitting in one of the Mist Oceans. "What's this, then? All that bitching, and they don't even have bendy straws. What a sad universe." She shook her head and inspected the barrel of the gun. "Yeah, though... a ship without weapons is a cute idea, but you'd get smeared within two hours of doing anything."
-
“No, we shouldn’t be here to long,” he replied to the fox’s question about snacks.
Keir was glad when Nastusia started talking to a woman at the bar about being part of the crew; that was good. He didn’t want to stay on the Cancer too long what with the possibility of TRIM showing up anytime soon to grab Nastusia. She couldn’t die but she could still feel pain and Keir worried about her, she was like a little sister to him, even though she was a lot older than him. But most of the time she acted like a kid so it was hard not to feel like she was younger.
Keir probably would have been suspicious of the woman Nastusia was talking to if he didn’t know who she was, but he did know, Rikki Neves, a weapons expert with her own mecha. She would be quite handy, Nastusia was a one-woman weapon by herself but if she didn’t have to serve as pilot, captain and weapon then that would be helpful.
“Yes it does look like she might have found someone,” Keir replied to the fox’s question, “That’s Rikki Neves, she’s a weapons expert.”
//////////////
Nastusia laughed at Rikki’s comment about Keir; that was true. There were few he hadn’t been on. Like her he just couldn’t sit still for long.
“Well it’s only me and Tetro who are cute and fuzzy, Keir’s rather normal I’m afraid…apart from the immortality.”
They were quite a crew really, a kitsune from another galaxy, two immortals one of which could read souls and the other looking like a twelve year old and wielding another power to destroy a planet.
She liked the idea of some weapons on the Vulpecula though, sure she could act as the weapons but it would be nice not to have to do three jobs. A mech might come in handy as well.
“Heartbreakers, huh? Quite powerful missiles,” Nastusia replied, “You don’t see too many things around using those.”
They were quite devastating, maybe a little too devastating but they might come in handy if they spotted a TRIM ship flying around. She’d have to shield the specimens with her magic first though. And she remembered where she’d heard of Rikki Neves now, she was quite well-known on the Cancer, known for her skill with weapons and the fact she had a mech.
“Well, my ship could use some weapons, I’ve been acting as the weapon myself but actually having some proper ones would save me a job. I would say you’re hired should you want the position. Or perhaps you could meet the crew first before you make your decision. I warn you about Tetro though, he doesn’t speak common.”
-
Tetroneaque seemed disappointed that they wouldn't be staying around long enough to sample some of the local cuisine. His ears drooping down as he gave a sad sigh.
Oh well. At least I get to have a drink... as soon as Nastusia brings it over. I wonder how much it cost. In fact, now that I think about it I wonder what they even use as currency in this galaxy.
Tetroneaque's gaze went back toward the Captain and the prospective recruit for the Vulpecula. He noticed the new girl wave toward their table. Not wanting to be rude Tetroneaque tossed a friendly, if a bit shy, wave back toward her. She seemed nice enough to the Kitsune.
Tetroneaque's attention came back to Keir when the immortal mentioned that the new girl was in fact a weapon's expert.
"A weapon's expert? That sounds promising. Maybe give me someone to compare notes with as it were and help me get a little better acquainted with this galaxy's weaponry." It was an interesting thought for the purple Kitsune and his tails began to swish back and forth slightly.
"Assuming I can communicate with her. Though if worse comes to worse I guess I can always communicate mind to mind with her if need be." I'll just need to work on controlling my emotions a bit more when linked. Wouldn't do to hurt her with some emotional backlash... He added mentally to himself.
-
Rikki folded her arms and looked momentarily annoyed. "I'm cute too..." She waited as Nastusia deliberated about the decision, sipping her drink periodically. She put her gun away and just sat there, swinging her legs.
“Heartbreakers, huh? Quite powerful missiles,” Rikki nodded contentedly. “You don’t see too many things around using those.” Rikki straightened her back proudly. "And for good reason! I helped develop that one, and I could tell you the people they have selling them now know what they're doing." She smirked. She had made absolutely certain that they wouldn't be sold to any governments. If you wanted a Heartbreaker, you needed a good reason.
Nastusia looked pensive, but Rikki was pretty sure what her decision was. “Well, my ship could use some weapons, I’ve been acting as the weapon myself but actually having some proper ones would save me a job. I would say you’re hired should you want the position. Or perhaps you could meet the crew first before you make your decision. I warn you about Tetro though, he doesn’t speak common.” Rikki smiled gratefully. "Awesome! Sure, I'd like to meet the crew, but I betcha there's nothing I'll absolutely hate about them." She hastily paid the bartender and slipped down from the bar stool, taking her drink with her.
She approached the booth where Keir and the purple fox-person sat. "Hi!" she said pleasantly to the crew members. Well, Keir, mostly. She looked from one to the other. "Keir Faser, I've heard of you...and Tetro, 'zat right?" Tetro probably wouldn't answer her back, but she smiled anyway. "I'm Rikki Neves, weapons specialist. So apparently we're going to be flying through space together for however long..."
-
Nastusia paid the bartender then grabbed the three drinks off the bar and followed Nikki. She placed them down on the table then sat down herself. She pushed the Mist Ocean towards Tetro.
“Hopefully it won’t kill you,” she said in the Kitsune language.
She took a sip of her own through the straw, “If it does I apologise in advance.”
Being immortal she had a high tolerance to poisonous substances, and she liked to test the whole ‘not being able to die’ thing. Keir however was boring and stuck to safer drinks. She didn’t know why, he healed almost twice as fast as she did…unless of course she did die in which case she would heal instantly when her soul returned to her body. Dying wasn’t pleasant though no matter how many times you did it and she had lost count.
Nastusia then realised she’d better translate for Tetro, Keir however beat her to it.
He then turned to Rikki and said, “I’ve heard of you as well, you reputation precedes you. Hopefully Nastusia wasn’t wrong in hiring you.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Nastusia said to Nikki, “He’s just a little grumpy. Tetro is friendlier…but well…He can’t understand you,” she laughed nervously, “Not unless you speak Kitsune…”
She took another sip of her drink; it was sweet but strong and tasted vaguely of blue food colouring and aniseed.
-
Tetroneaque gave a friendly smile toward the new girl as he listened to Keir translate. He nodded his head and continued to grin.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance Rikki. I look forward to working with you. Perhaps we can create some more interesting weaponry together." Tetroneaque said, barking out the reply. He would let one of the two immortals translate for him.
"Oh, I can communicate with you Rikki but only through a mind to mind link. I won't try that though without your permission or very good reason though." He added as soon as the thought formed. He was sure it would make communication much easier between them if she let him do it. It wasn't as if Nastusia or Keir would always be in presence when he needed to communicate with Rikki after all. It would have to do until he learned how to speak 'common'... or Rikki learned Kitsune.
Tetroneaque lifted the strange blue drink for a moment. He was pretty sure it wouldn't kill him, but he took a tentative sniff of the beverage first. He always took a good whiff of anything before tasting it, as it was a good way for him to get an accurate guess as to how something would taste. After a couple sniffs of it he gave a happy yip, and took a sip. It had an interesting texture and the taste was unique and much to his liking.
"Oh! This is good! Thank you Captain!" He raised his glass toward Nastusia and continued to drink.
Mental note. I simply must get the recipe to this! He thought to himself as he swirled a sip around in his mouth before swallowing.
-
Rikki listened to Keir's opinion and smirked. "Think of it this way... since you have me in your employ, I'm not working for someone who wants you dead."
“Don’t listen to him,” Nastusia's voice. “He’s just a little grumpy. Tetro is friendlier…but well…He can’t understand you, Not unless you speak Kitsune…” Rikki laughed a bit. "You give me too much credit... I've never even heard of the language." She sipped her drink.
Needless to say, she was a bit freaked out when Tetroneaque started barking. Well now I know why. It kind of makes sense, at least. Keir translated for him. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance Rikki. I look forward to working with you. Perhaps we can create some more interesting weaponry together." She nodded her head. "Sure! I betcha your ideas are way different from anything I could come up with."
Then he said... something about a communication mind-link. "Yeah, I guess we could try that..." she said nervously. "I've never done anything like that before." She lifted her glass to her lips, keeping alert now. Shit, these could be decoys from Aedolis, out to catch me...
-
Nastusia was glad Tetro liked the drink, truth be told though, it was considered more of a feminine drink, but if he liked it then that was all that mattered.
“True,” Nastusia said when Rikki said if she worked them she wasn’t working for someone who wanted to kill them, “Not that anyone could,” she giggled.
“Kitsune is an unusual language,” Nastusia said, “A mind-link might be needed though, Tetro doesn’t know much about technology from this galaxy, similarly you might not recognise the technology he uses. Communication will be key. And it that doesn’t work then I guess either me or Keir will have an extra job.”
Hopefully Tetro’s technology being different wouldn’t put Rikki off. Then again if she was any kind of weapons expert she’d be excited to explore new technology.
“So, are you in Rikki?”
-
Tetroneaque seemed to be having a hard time with his drink as the liquid got lower in the glass. His muzzle kept getting in the way as he tried to get at the liquid. His mouth just really wasn't designed to sip from such a narrow opening. Not to be deterred, he simply opened his mouth wide and drank the remainder of his beverage as if it were an over sized shot. He licked his chomps and started to make that murring noise again which meant he was feeling quite content.
Then he let out a loud pained yelp as some other patron stepped on one the Kitsune's large bushy tails. A rather unfortunate chain of events then began. Tetroneaque suddenly jump up, knocking over his chair. The chair smacked into the person who had stepped on Tetroneaque's tail, tripping the person. Tetroneaque was hugging his wounded tail to his chest now as the rather burly looking human fell onto an adjacent table, knocking over the people there and spilling their drinks.
"Keep that damn dog on a leash and out of the bar!" The angry man yelled as he got up from the ground.
Tetroneaque looked around confusedly, not sure what the man had said but knowing and angry voice when he heard one. He was still rubbing the part of his tail the man had stepped on.
"Why is he mad at me? He stepped on my tail! I should be mad at him!" Tetroneaque barked out. He didn't want to start any trouble, especially since he had left his exo-suit control glove back on the Vulpecula which in retrospect may not have been the best idea he'd ever had.
Tetroneaque's barking only seemed to piss the guy off even more as he advanced on the little Kitsune.
"Is the little freaky puppy gonna bite me? Maybe the two little girls or this punk is gonna do something. Ha! No one makes a fool of me and walks away from it, even if they are some stupid purple dog." The man stated, practically spitting out the words. Before anyone could do anything however the people who had been sitting at the table the man knocked over came up behind the man and smashed a beer bottle over his head.
"And no one knocks our drinks over without paying us for them ya jack ass!" Called one of the now rather irate patrons. Several of the people across the room got up from their table now and advanced toward the two who had attacked the first man.
"Hey! You mess with him you mess with us! Let's get'em boys!" Called the new group, all of whom seemed to be dressed in a very similar style of leather and spiked outfits.
It seemed the whole bar was now erupting into a brawl as more and more of the people found ways to get pissed off at the other folk.
"What's happening???" Tetroneaque asked his friends as his eyes darted nervously around the room. He was now holding all three of his tails against his chest now, trying to make himself seem smaller.
-
Rikki would have answered Nastusia, but Tetroneaque yelped at that exact moment, and she turned around reflexively as Tetro knocked his chair over onto the guy who'd apparently caused the yelp. Rikki watched the whole thing with a bemused expression. Well, guess I get that chance to prove myself a bit earlier than I thought. The man started yelling, "Keep that damn dog on a leash and out of the bar!"
She regarded the man distastefully. Didn't it just have to be a big guy. She reached into the kimono side of her top, pulling out her switchblade again. "Is the little freaky puppy gonna bite me? Maybe the two little girls or this punk is gonna do something. Ha! No one makes a fool of me and walks away from it, even if they are some stupid purple dog."
This had better be worth it, she said, opening her mind and channeling her psychic energy.
"Hey," she said forcefully, shoving the man with her left hand, and infusing the motion with telekinetic energy to knock him back. "Fuck off, Philistine. First off, he's a purple fox, second, he's a sentient purple fox, and third, he's with me, and them." She gestured with her head at Nastusia and Keir. "Now, do you want to back the hell off," she said, noticing the men coming up to defend him, "or are you so fuckin' starved for attention that you gotta make a scene of it?" She aligned herself with the two who'd had their drinks knocked over, and braced herself for a retaliatory strike.
-
Nastusia looked at Tetro quickly when he yelped and then gradually watched the events unfold. Bar brawls were common place; she had seen and finished many. When the man who had stepped on Tetro’s tail and started insulting him, Keir looked at Nastusia as if you say ‘aren’t you going to do something’.
She just smiled as she took about sip of her drink as Rikki stood up as if on cue. Defending her crew mates already, she knew she hadn’t been wrong to hire her. However the brawl might get more out of hand than it already was. She downed her drink and looked up at the man, no expression on her face whatsoever.
“You called me a girl; I assume that means you don’t know me by face. So I’ll tell you my name, Nastusia Manasa.”
She paused for effect; hopefully the name would sink in.
“And if you demand any respect at all on the Cancer you should know that name. Either way if you don’t harassing my crew for something that was your fault, then I will have to teach you respect. Now, are you going to apologise or do I have to break you.”
All this was said without a single change in expression or tone. She had said it like it was fact rather than a threat. It wasn’t a threat however, if he didn’t leave Tetro alone he would meet the business end of her magic. Perhaps causing unnecessary attention was foolish, Keir’ frown certainly suggested that. But if TRIM representatives did turn up, she could handle them.
-
Tetroneaque was glad that his friends were there to save his tails... again. He still wasn't quite sure what was going on since everyone was speaking common. It did seem like time froze once Nastusia decided to step in though. The whole scene became almost eerily quiet. The man who had started the whole thing seemed to pause he thought things through.
"Wait, you're Nastusia? THE Nastusia!?!" The man's tone seemed awed more than anything else.
"Sorry. I didn't recognize ya. I didn't know you had a crew or ship. I don't want no trouble from ya." The man stated holding up his hands in front of himself.
"Who the fuck is she? She's just some little girl with a weird pet!" On the man's gang called. The man turned around and backhanded the one who spoke, knocking the teeth clear out of the guy's mouth.
"Shut your hole ya wanker, unless ya want her to turn you inside out with a thought!" The gang leader turned back toward Nastusia and the rest.
"Like I said, I'm sorry. Tell your purple fox... your sentient purple fox that I'm sorry too. In fact, let me pay for your drinks." The gangleader grabbed the guy he'd backhanded off the floor and shook took something from the guy's jacket. He went over toward the bar, spoke quickly with the bartender and then hurried out of the bar. He tossed the barely conscious fellow he'd smacked to his other lackeys and hurried out of the bar.
"What just happened?" Tetroneaque asked, his head tilted slightly to one side and one ear twitching. His face was one of utter bewilderment.
Outside the bar however...
"You're nothin but a sissy boss! Let'in some punk ass girls and a weird animal boss you around. Aren't we gonna get back at them?!" One of the punks asked their leader.
"Idiot! We can't fuck with them! They're psychic and shit! Plus, there is a rather huge bounty on that little girl. We don't have to do nothing but call up TRIM and get that fat reward when they come to take them all away! Let's go make that call..." The leader said with a laugh as he led his goons away.
-
Rikki smiled as the thugs started tripping over themselves to apologize. I kinda woulda liked to settle this without naming names, but still that's impressive. She watched them, putting the knife away and leaning against the table.
"Like I said, I'm sorry. Tell your purple fox... your sentient purple fox that I'm sorry too. In fact, let me pay for your drinks." The man relocated his semiconscious toady and rushed over to the bar. A thought occurred to Rikki, and she turned to Nastusia. "Now they know who you are and where you are, they're probably gonna try and turn you in," she whispered uneasily. She slipped cautiously into the thug's mind as he walked out the door. Tetroneaque barked. Shit, I hope he can't tell. I'd never know they knew...
She grabbed her drink and turned her attention to the man outside. Yep, they were definitely calling TRIM on her. She downed the rest of it and turned around. "We really oughta make ourselves scarce." She looked serious. "Where are you docked?"
-
“Probably,” Nastusia replied, still Tetro was her friend and she was defending him, and she hated jerks that picked on people for no reason.
Keir looked furious at her, “You are an idiot, do you know that?”
Nastusia smiled at him, “No, just immortal and not afraid of jerks like that or TRIM.”
He sighed exasperatedly and stood up as did Nastusia.
“The usual place,” Nastusia said, “I didn’t hide the ship, it just has a barrier around it. If they manage to break through it they deserve to stop us.”
It was a magical barrier of her own creation; she wasn’t sure if Tetro had been up to the challenge yet so she had stuck to something familiar.
She started heading out of the bar, “Stick with me and if they catch up to us leave me and head back to the ship. I’ll follow you shortly.”
“I’m not going to do that Nastusia,” Keir replied.
“You will because your captain orders it.”
-
Tetroneaque hurried after Nastusia, not wanting to let her leave his sight. He felt safe around her, and not just because she had rescued him from that TRIM ship. He couldn't explain it even to himself why she seemed to exude a feeling of safety, at least for him. He was still clutching his tails to his chest, hopefully no one would step on another.
"Would someone please tell me what's going on. Yall know I can't understand that crazy human speak yet." He stated quite bluntly as he followed the Captain. First the guy had stepped on his tail, then the fighting, then the guy had simply left after what Tetro assumed was an apology of some sort, and now they were rushing out like something bad was about to happen.
"I assume we're heading back to the ship?" He asked hopefully. While he liked to see all the new sights on this space station, he rather enjoyed the safety of the Vulpecula as well. Plus he would be able to finish taking apart the Fury and put it's armor, shields, weapons, and energy sources to good use. Thoughts of that led him to have a new idea.
I wonder if the Captain would mind if I built a mech of my own with the spare parts of the Fury... The idea was rather intriguing to him, especially making it a hybrid of human and Kitsune tech.
-
“The usual place,” Nastusia answered. Well, shit, that helps me none at all. "No, I mean so I can find you. I'm not leaving the Rikkämpfer here, the docking bay is a big place, and I really don't feel like latching onto the wrong ship and looking like a tool." She seemed rather irritated, but she was always like that under stress. She breathed deeply. "What color is it? What type?"
Rikki followed the other three into the main part of the space station, and towards the Blue District. Tetroneaque looked thoroughly frazzled. Rikki wanted to tell him everything would be fine, but he wouldn't understand her. She concentrated on her weak mind-link with the thug again. They still haven't found a telephone, but at least they're further into the Red District. "We haven't got much time. You can interpret that as me being afraid for my life, and Tetro's, if he's not immortal too..."
-
“You don’t want to know,” Keir replied to Tetro’s question, he was better off being ignorant for the moment.
He’d probably realise for himself but telling him might panic him and he might be liable to do something foolish. Nastusia was being her usual reckless self. She was strong and couldn’t be killed, not permanently anyway but the time might come when she couldn’t return. And last time he had seen her fight, against Mordecai and mages that time, she had died twice. She came back, but that wasn’t the point.
“It’s blue and silver,” Keir replied to Rikki’s question, “Small, Renatia Class.”
Renatias were small but reliable ships and most of all fast. Which was good because they were going to need its speed, if they didn’t get stopped before they reached it that was.
-
Tetroneaque was simply more confused by Keir's reply. His ears kept twitching in annoyance at being kept out of the loop so to speak. However since the Captain didn't seem to be telling him anything either, there wasn't much he could do about it.
I'd still like to know what's going on... He thought to himself with a slight frown as the group continued to make haste in the direction he remembered the ship being docked.
"I'm guessing those men back at the bar do not wish us well?" Tetroneaque finally asked, rather sure of the statement. Before he could get confirmation on that however a group of rather familiar looking people stepped out of a side passage and blocked the group from advancing. They certainly smelled familiar to the Kitsune, with that odor of blood, fear, and disinfectant.
"Those guys are from TRIM! I'd recognize their smell anywhere!" He barked out, becoming quite uncomfortable now.
Oh why did I leave my exo-suit on the ship...
-
Rikki nodded to Keir, now with a pretty good idea what the ship looked like. "See you there then!" She ran off toward the station where the Rikkämpfer was docked, looking back over her shoulder at the last possible moment.
Oh, joy. Another group of no-goodniks was menacing Nastusia, Keir, and Tetro. Good thing I'm behind them then! I really didn't want it to come to this. She walked silently closer to them and quickly penetrated their minds all at once, hoping she didn't hit anyone she liked. I hope this works... She locked down their joints so they couldn't move. "Run! I can try to hold them, but it won't work for long... Get to your ship, I'll meet you there!"
-
Nastusia was about to open her mouth to say something, probably along the lines of ‘I’ll deal with them, I’m not afraid of TRIM’ but Keir quickly flung her onto his should and did exactly what Rikki had told them to, he ran. Hopefully Tetro would know to follow.
“Put me down!” Nastusia exclaimed as she struggled, in the Kitsune language surprisingly.
She was probably hoping Tetro would ask Keir to obey but the situation had gotten out of hand enough as it was because of her. Blowing the TRIM people up would make things worse. As old as Nastusia was and as wise, she could be very reckless and very stupid at times. Now was one of those times, her pride took over.
-
Tetroneaque of course stayed as close to his 'mother figure' as he could, running along side Keir who was holding Nastusia. He was about to say something when a bolt of white hot energy flew past his head, close enough that he could smell his own singed fur. He let out a frightened yelp and went down on all fours, running more like a fox in truth. He was surprisingly speedy running in this fashion, and was actually pulling ahead of the others at this point.
"This galaxy is insane!" Tetroneaque exclaimed. "Why can't anyone simply discuss things in a civil manner!?!"
His ignorance about humans would have almost been cute if not for the horribly lethal circumstances at the time. Bolts of energy kept blazing pass the Kitsune and his companions, though none were quite as accurate as that first one had been.
-
Rikki looked over her shoulder to see if the others were far enough away. When she judged they were at a safe distance, she deftly tripped the TRIM representatives and loosed her psychic hold on them, running full tilt toward the docking bay. I am so glad Dock 26 is on the near end here... the TRIM reps were firing at her with energy pistols. She took out her gun and fired a few blind shots behind her, zigzagging in her path so she would be more difficult to hit.
She stopped shortly at the front desk, breathing hard. "Dock 26," she panted, looking over her shoulder to see if she'd lost the TRIMmers, "checking out." The woman at the desk handed her a sheet of paper, which she quickly signed and zipped off toward the dock.
She put the gun away and took out the remote control for the Rikkämpfer, sort of relieved that the TRIM reps had left her to go after Nastusia... in a spiteful, jerkass sort of way. She hit the button for the entry platform as soon as she was within seeing distance of the mech, putting on an extra burst of speed to get there.
Hitting the platform and the button at the same time, she almost fell off it as it rose toward the mouth hatch, catching her balance at the last possible moment. She climbed through the mouth hatch, pulling the platform after her, and closed it. Then she turned on the onboard computer and radio transmitter, and locked the mech down against air leaks. "Hello-hello, Dock 26 to the Cancer, requesting to depart, over." I hope the others made it okay...
-
From her position on Keir’s shoulder, Nastusia could clearly see the TRIM reps gaining on them, Rikki had used some kind of psychic ability to trip them but they were still being chased.
“That’s it!” Nastusia exclaimed wriggling free from Keir and landing on the floor.
She quickly got to her feet and faced the oncoming TRIM workers. Closing her eyes she focused her magic into a wall. As she did so a blue glass-like wall appeared from ceiling to floor blocking Keir and Tetro off from her and their pursuers. There now they wouldn’t get hurt and Keir could stop her.
She turned to the TRIM workers, “Who wants to be first?”
-
Tetroneaque skidded to a halt when Nastusia suddenly wriggled free from Keir. The little Kitsune wasn't sure what to do.
"Captain!" He called, pounding on the energy barrier. It was solid, even though it looked frail. Tetroneaque seemed to be panicking now that he was separated from her. His eyes were wide as he looked around for some way to get pass the barrier and help the Captain. There wasn't one, Nastusia had been very thorough creating the barrier.
Two ideas suddenly sprang to Tetroneaque's mind. He could help if he had a weapon, or he could try and distract the TRIM people with a little trick to help buy some time for Nastusia to lay into them.
Tetroneaque concentrated and soon five bowling ball sized orbs of blue fire appeared on Nastusia's side of the barrier. They went hurtling toward the TRIM members and engulfed them. The fire had no heat to it, thus it wouldn't hurt anyone. It did however cause a very nice distraction as they tried to extinguish the strange fire out of instinct.
Tetroneaque couldn't bring himself to run and abandon Nastusia though, at least not without a direct order.
-
The Rikkämpfer walked into the airlock, and waited impatiently for the in door to close and the space door to open. Rikki tapped her nails against the control panel. "Any day now, Cancer." She leaned back in her seat and folded her arms.
A reply came through. "Airlock opening in T-minus ten seconds. Have a nice day, Rikkämpfer."
Rikki rolled her eyes, glad not to be video-connected. "Back atcha, Cancer." She turned the Rikkämpfer's leg jets on hover as the airlock door opened, and floated out into space. "Departure complete, Cancer. Rikkämpfer out." She closed the connection and floated aimlessly outside the docking bay, opening a limited-area radio connection to wait for the Vulpecula. She rotated the mech, looking out the windshield for another ship. She looked to the far end of the docking bay with the Rikkämpfer's eye cameras.
Then she gave up. You know what, I'll wait for them to contact me. She stood up in her seat and reached behind it, extracting a thin metal paddle with a small rubber ball attached by an elastic tether; a toy from a bygone age, that she had picked up in Ipollius. She hit a switch on a side panel, and a cover slid out to shield the buttons on the control panel. She leaned against the cover and tried to figure out how to string together consecutive ball-hits with the paddle. It was hard, but Rikki was annoyingly persistent.
-
Keir frowned at Nastusia from behind the glass, there was no use shouting to her, she wouldn’t be able to hear. He had lost count of the number of times she had done that trick with the wall and he had never figured out how to break it.
Tetro was panicking now but actually managed to do something useful by summoning some fox fire behind the barrier, successfully distracting the TRIM reps long enough for Nastusia to create a ball of energy around them. It crackled with green electricity, shocking those inside. That particular spell didn’t always kill but the people inside probably wouldn’t be able to move for a very long time.
As noble as Nastusia’s intentions were, she could be very biased at times, particularly towards TRIM. It wasn’t because TRIM were after her, it was because of all her friends who had ended up at the awful place or were dead because of it. The people who worked at TRIM though didn’t always realise what they were doing was bad, many of them were not intentionally cruel.
Nastusia stepped back when suddenly the ball disappeared. Some of the TRIM workers were still standing and one was holding a magic negator. Nastusia was a strong enough mage to be able to overwhelm it, but doing so would endanger those in the surrounding area. As revenge driven as the female immortal could be, she wouldn’t drag other people into it.
So instead they got a glimpse at a rare occurrence, Nastusia fighting hand-to-hand. This was something she rarely did…because she was crap at it. She could avoid attacks but did not hit very hard.
She jumped behind the one holding the magic negator and planted a kick into his back, then she ducked as one tried to hit her. As she did she swung her legs round knocking another to the floor. However this meant she didn’t see the laser aimed at her heart. Whilst she was rising to strike another TRIM rep, they pulled the trigger.
“Nastusia!”
She slumped to the ground and as she did the barrier shattered.
[OOC o.O No she isn't dead...she's immortal remember ^^....Well she is technically dead...but she isn't going to stay dead o.O]
-
Tetroneaque let out a pained yelp as he saw Nastusia 'die'. He knew she was immortal in the sense that she didn't really age, but he didn't know she could come back from the dead. He was shocked at what he had just witnessed, at a loss for what to do. He'd never seen anyone he cared about before become the target of something so violent before. It was bad enough having total strangers die where he could see them, like back at Tynova when the technicians there had run afoul of his machine's security devices. This however, was much much worse to him.
"Nastusia!" He cried out in unison with Keir. Without really thinking about what he was doing he ran toward her. When a member of TRIM got in his way Tetroneaque did what any distraught animal might do.
Tetroneaque sprang up and clamped his teeth into the guy's throat, acting like some sort of wild wolf. He shook his head back and forth, tearing out the man's throat with a spray of blood which stained the Kitsune's fur and white lab coat. It seemed Tetroneaque was temporarily insane from grief.
He was quick though even in his troubled state of mind. He dodged blasts that most humans would have been hit by as he ran around on all fours, dodging between legs and tripping people. He bit one person on the leg, causing them to fall over. It was the same one holding the magic negator, which broke as the man landed on top of the device. Tetroneaque hadn't planned that though, as he was simply lashing out at these cruel people whom he figured had taken his friend away from him. He was a blur of fur as he dashed about biting and scratching, though none of the wounds he inflicted were as bad as the fatal one he'd delivered earlier. He did however make for quite the distraction.
After a few moments, which seemed like an eternity, he finally got to Nastusia's body. With strength fueled entirely by adrenaline he grabbed her and started to run away, back toward Keir.
-
Keir knew that Nastusia would come back, she always did but he couldn’t help but worry that she wouldn’t return. In the 5,000 years he had known her he had seen her die in front of him many times, 870 to be precise. Nastusia could never remember how many times she had died, he however could remember the times he personally had seen her die. Hopefully 871 would not be an unlucky number.
Tetro clearly didn’t know she could return from the dead as the moment the barrier fell he lunged at the TRIM reps killing one and wounding several others. He looked like some kind of rapid animal as he dodged their lasers and pounced at them. It made Keir glad he was on their side. Tetro was most likely blinded by grief and later once he had time to reflect on what he had done would be deeply depressed. Maybe realising Nastusia wasn’t dead might alleviate this somewhat.
The fox grabbed Nastusia and starting running back towards him. The TRIM reps were wounded mostly but they still might try and follow them. For now it was better to just run. Who knew how long it would take for Nastusia to come back, it varied. Still he had better tell the kitsune in case he did something foolish.
“She’ll come back Tetro, that’s how her immortality works. She dies but her soul always returns to her body.”
-
Tetroneaque had tears streaming down from his eyes as he ran. He felt so confused and full of grief that he simply couldn't think straight. The iron tang of human blood was still in his mouth too and the taste made him want to vomit, but he couldn't stop. He was carrying Nastusia away from those terrible people, he wouldn't leave her with them to experiment on her body.
As he ran away Keir was there next to him. He hadn't known Keir as long as Nastusia, but it felt better having someone familiar nearby anyway. When Keir spoke, Tetroneaque almost stumbled as the words sunk in.
"She'll...she'll come back? Are you sure?" The words were hard to get out between sobs, but he managed. To him someone simply living forever, and coming back from the dead, were two vastly different things.
-
“That was not fun,” Nastusia thought to herself.
Right now she was in a rather interesting predicament, no living person would be able to see her but a ghost or a possibly a necromancer could. If someone had been able to glimpse her what they would have seen was her in a see-through spirit like state chained to her body by a glowing silvery-blue chain which went from were her heart was on her spiritual body to where it was on her physical body. The chain was basically the trick of her immortality.
Whenever her soul was flung from her body, i.e. when she died the chain kept it tied to her body so it couldn’t escape even it she wanted to. She had thought that maybe the chain would rust and corrode over the years but it hadn’t; it was as bright and unmarked as it had been thousands of years ago. Not that she wanted to die yet.
Because she could die, she also felt pain and dying had hurt, she could even see blood around the chain on her physical body but that wound would heal when her soul returned. Getting there was the problem. She had to pull herself along the chain until she reached her body again, the chain was roughly 10 feet and she wasn’t the strongest of people. It was hard enough when her body was stationary but Tetro was running and carrying it at the same time. And since she was attached by the chain she was getting dragged along with it.
Sighing, she started to gradually pull herself along the chain and try and not let go else she’d have to start over. She was pretty sure there wasn’t a time limit for getting there. One time when she was much younger she had tested it and had remained outside her body three days and nothing had happened. Tetro would have to put her down sometime soon but she would try and get back first. She had seen what he had done after she died. He obviously cared about her and the sooner she got back to her body the better.
//////
“Yes,” Keir replied, “I’ve seen her die 870 times previously and she never stays dead.”
He knew that when he said that he was trying to convince himself as well. He knew she came back but he always had a sinking feeling that she wouldn’t. He glanced ahead and noticed the Vulpecula was now in sight. Fortunately Nastusia had set the barriers up so it would allow Keir and Tetro entry without her there. A good idea, otherwise they’d have to wait for her to return.
[OOC Heheh, the chain idea came from when some of my so-called friends handcuffed me to a tree at a party o.O...though it does sound kind of Bleach-esk o.O]
-
Tetroneaque still wasn't convinced yet. He wanted to believe Keir, but everything he knew about science and magic told him that coming back from the dead was impossible. Talking to the dead, sure that was feasible. Bringing the dead back as spirits, wraiths, or even animated corpses... yeah that was doable too. Yet simply coming back to life in your old body as if nothing happened? That just didn't click with anything Tetroneaque knew.
It didn't really matter what Tetroneaque knew could or couldn't happen though, as some things simply couldn't be explained. He wanted to believe that Nastusia would come back and be totally fine.
He entered the Vulpecula right behind Keir. Tetroneaque was huffing and puffing by now as he was not used to so much running, especially not while carrying someone. He was grateful that Nastusia actually weighed less than himself. He was even more grateful to be able to set her body down on the couch in the living area. He was still crying as he waited next to her body for some sign she was alive. The area around her heart still looked charred though, cauterized by the heat from the weapons fire.
At least she won't bleed on the couch... It was an odd thought, and he realized that. Yet, if she was coming back he wouldn't want her to worry over a stain on the comfy couch.
"Come on Captain... come back. Please come back." He practically pleaded. He was still crying, but it was no where near the racking sobs from before.
-
Rikki had probably attempted and failed to whack the ball more than once with the paddle about seventy times, and she was quite frustrated. "Ugh," she said, flinging the toy to the back of the cockpit and slumping farther down into her seat. "Fuck this shit." She retracted the cover from the control panel and hit the "transmit" button.
"Rikkämpfer to..." she said, biting her lip. "Shit, guys, you never told me what your ship was called." She exhaled, rolling her eyes. "Repeat, Rikkämpfer to your little blue Renatia, whatever it's called, over."
She leaned over the arm of the seat while she waited for a response, and opened the small refrigerator she had put in, extracting a bag of candy. They better not have been leading me on. That'd make them damned immature, for immortals, she thought, munching on candy as she waited.
-
Nastusia was thankful when they finally reached the ship and Tetro put her down. She had given up on trying to reach her body whilst he was running, it was virtually impossible and despite being a spirit it was still tiring.
Now her body was stationary she grabbed the farthest bit of chain she could and pulled herself towards it. Then she grabbed the next farthest bit and kept pulling herself closer to her body. She continued until she was within touching distance of her body and the moment she did touch it, everything went white.
//////
It was Keir who answered Rikki’s transmission since Nastusia was still out of commission.
“Vulpecula here,” he replied, “We got back so you can join us now.”
It was probably not a good idea to mention Nastusia’ death and besides she’d probably be back by the time Rikki reached them.
Keir went back into the living area and leant again the door frame. He glanced at the captain. Though he knew she came back whenever she died, he had no idea how she did it. And she even refused to tell him, it was one of those things she would never tell anyone. It made Keir think that maybe there was such a thing as god and they had sworn her to secrecy. Or maybe there was nothing beyond and Nastusia didn’t want to alarm anyone by telling them they would cease to exist upon their death. Hopefully when she came back to life Tetro wouldn’t question her about what lay beyond.
He glanced at the kitsune and saw he was still crying and then glanced back at Nastusia. Upon doing so he noticed the wound on her chest rapidly healing. And then she started breathing again.
-
Tetroneaque was still sobbing when he noticed the wound in Nastusia's chest beginning to heal itself at a pace that defied all logic. He wiped at his tears, making sure he was seeing things correctly. Then Nastusia's chest began to rise and fall as she began to breathe again and then her eyes fluttered open.
Tetroneaque felt so happy now that he knew she was alright. Unable to contain himself he pulled her into a fierce hug and licked her face out of sheer joy.
"Oh Captain! You're okay! You're okay!" he exclaimed in happiness. "I was so worried! I thought those people had killed you!" Tetroneaque's tails were a whirl as they swung back and forth rapidly as the Kitsune expressed his joy over having Nastusia back. He didn't seem inclined to let her out of the hug anytime soon.
-
Rikki was thoroughly and pleasantly surprised by a reply from Keir. “Vulpecula here. We got back so you can join us now.”
She nearly dropped her bag of tooth-rotting comfort food, so ecstatic was she at actually getting a shot at being a space pirate. She hammered the "transmit" button, smiling. "Vulpecula? That's a hell of a name... Awesome news, though, I'll be over posthaste." She looked through the eye-cameras, swiveling the Rikkämpfer's head until she caught sight of the ship. "I've got a lock on ya... see you in a few seconds, over."
She put the bag of candy away and rotated the mech, turning the jets on low for a bit and coasting over toward the Vulpecula. She hit "transmit" again, before she made any further moves. "You guys got a dock on this thing, over?"
-
[OOC Short and sucky, I'm thinking of hiring a new muse o.O]
“I’m not doing that again anytime soon,” Nastusia said unconsciously in common as she sat up with Tetro still hugging her.
Keir didn’t look amused however, she’d probably hear about it later.
She then turned to Tetro, “I can’t die permanently, why do you think I’ve lived so long? I’ve had enough people chasing me over the years to have killed me several times over if I stayed dead. I’d probably have died even before I can remember.”
Rikki’s voice then came over the radio, “You guys got a dock on this thing, over?”
“Um, Tetro can you let go so I can answer her please?”
-
Tetroneaque blushed quite brightly for someone covered in fur as he reluctantly let go of Nastusia.
"S-sorry Captain." He managed to stammer out the apology as he got his emotions somewhat under control.
"I was just worried about you and kind of let my emotions get away from me. I've never had one of my friends die in front of me before, let alone come back from the dead. I'm just happy you're okay." Then the realization of what he'd done came crashing down on him. He'd killed someone. Not just killed them, but tore their throat out like some sort of wild beast. He suddenly felt disgusted with himself. There was still a red stain of blood on his usually pristine fur. His face was one of horror as he quickly backed away from Nastusia, mumbling some sort of apology.
Without another word he ran off to the bathroom to clean himself of the foul stench of blood.
"By the Nine, what am I becoming?" He asked himself as he disrobed and got into the shower. He scrubbed at the bloodstains until they were gone, then continued to scrub.
"Not clean... not clean..." It was hard to tell in all the water but he was crying again, though for an entirely different reason than before. It seemed the young Kitsune would have a lot to get used to in this new galaxy.
-
Once Tetro let go of Nastusia she went into the cockpit to tell Rikki they did indeed have a dock on the Vulpecula. She seemed alright but he knew later when she went to bed she would be out for hours. Nothing short of the ship crashing would wake her. He was more worried about Tetro however. Now that he knew Nastusia was okay he was probably dwelling on having killed that man back on the Cancer. Keir himself had killed several times, as had Nastusia, it was necessary for survival. He doubted it was different in other galaxies, Tetro’s existence had probably just been more sheltered than most.
Keir went up to the bathroom door and knocked, “You alright?”
Nowadays, he wasn’t a very caring person, but he remembered the first time he had killed someone quite vividly; it was several thousand years ago when he was only 26 and still thought he was mortal. He had been protecting Nastusia at the time since she wasn’t as powerful a mage as she was now. It was one of the first steps to becoming the miserable grouch he was these days but being innocent and goofy got you killed.
“Killing does get easier,” Keir said too Tetro through the door, “But you get used to it. If you’re different in this galaxy you have to kill for survival.”
-
Tetroneaque listened to Keir through the door. What he said made sense, and the Kitsune realized that. Yet it really didn't help Tetroneaque feel any better about killing that person. Especially the excessively brutal manner in which the Kitsune had slain the man. Tetroneaque wondered if it really did get easier, yet more important to him he wondered if he wanted it to get easier. In fact, he wondered if he'd lose a little part of himself if he stopped feeling terrible over slaying another sentient being.
He finally turned off the shower, dried off, wrapped a towel around his waist, and came out of the bathroom. His clothes he put into the laundry chute again, as they were stained with blood and he simply couldn't stand to look at them just then.
"That man wanted to hurt Nastusia, and probably me as well. I know that I didn't do anything wrong, but I still don't feel good about it." His voice was a bit glum as he spoke. "I don't know if I'll ever get used to it."
-
Steering the Rikkämpfer was tricky business indeed, as Rikki had learned when she first started piloting it. Over the course of a year she finally got it down, but not before plowing into a few buildings, paying a few fines, spending a few nights in a few hospitals, mortally terrifying a few citizens, and nearly reaming the city of Teinar a few new skylights. Steering around the outside of the Vulpecula while it was moving was a difficult task, but she managed, hoping to whatever God there was that none of her newfound crewmates would get it into their heads to try and fly the thing. Land steering was easy, but flying was reserved for experts.
She landed in the dock (hitting the ground running, so not to burn the inside of the dock with the leg thrusters) and radioed in again. "Rikki here, I'm in the airlock. Ready to lock down and re-pressurize, or whatever, over." She didn't want to let the others know, for fear of jeopardizing her image, but she was extremely antsy and excited to see the inside of the ship. I guess it's true what they say... you can teach a girl to be a calm, collected, badass mech pilot, but she'll still be all, "oh my God, I'm gonna be a space pirate" when the opportunity presents itself.
-
[OOC Faily Goodness]
Nastusia keyed in the sequence to close and re-pressurize the airlock the headed to greet Rikki. However she caught the tail end of Tetro and Keir’ conversation.
“Getting used to it and not feeling guilty about killing are different. You will always feel guilty, but you’ll get used to the guilt.”
Keir wasn’t the most sensitive of people. He probably hadn’t explained it properly. And she doubted he cared nothing for killing.
Nastusia then headed to the air lock and opened it, this time from the ship. She then got a view of Rikki’s mecha. It certainly was impressive, if a little unusual looking.
“Nice,” Nastusia said brightly.
-
Tetroneaque didn't know if it was true yet, but he was willing to believe Nastusia. After all, she'd been around longer than he had. So he simply nodded his head and followed her. He wanted to see what this new crew member brought to the party, so to speak. He still had the towel on and nothing else, as his only set of clothes were being cleaned at the moment. He was a bit surprised at what awaited in the docking bay.
"Oh!" He exclaimed with surprise and just a little excitement.
"That is an interesting weapons platform. I can't say I've ever seen anything quite like it." He walked around the strange looking mech, making mental notes of areas he thought needed improvement or at least some repair.
"I think I can improve on this design... if our new member accepts my offer anyway. Are these types of bi-pedal weapons platforms common in this galaxy?" His questions were directed at Nastusia. He was suddenly feeling himself cheering up a bit at the prospect of getting to play around with some new gadget. His tails started to wag a little as he continued to check out the mech in his bath towel.
-
After Rikki was sure the airlock was shut, and a "ready" light came on on the inside wall of the dock, she cut power to the hover mechanism and felt the mech settle on the floor of the dock. She stood up from the cockpit and made sure everything was in order before crouching down on the exit platform, hitting the button to open the mouth hatch, and pressing a few keys on her little remote. The platform rose, and shook a bit when it reached the top, so that Rikki nearly lost her balance and had to grab the edge. "Piece of shit," she muttered, as the platform slid forward, jerking again, and shot two telescopic metal poles to the ground below, before sliding along them to the floor.
She stood up and stepped off the platform, giving it a dirty look before inputting the same keystroke on her remote and watching it rise back up into the mech, and the mouth hatch shut. She straightened her top and walked forward toward the main body of the ship. She waved to Nastusia and Tetroneaque, who were standing in the doorway. Tetroneaque appeared to be clad in... a bath towel. I’ll never get used to that, she thought. He’s really cute, though...
“Hi, guys,” she said, once she was within earshot. The purple fox walked over to the mech, examining it from closer up. “Nastusia,” Rikki said, “you might wanna tell him the legs are probably still hot. No sense in him burning himself...”
-
[OOC Very short, sorry o.O]
Rikki’s mecha was impressive, but unusual looking. That was good; the whole crew was unusual then. And it was a rather strange sight to see a purple Kitsune, his eyes lit up like a puppies dressed in just a bath towerl.
“Rikki says the legs will still be hot,” Nastusia warned Tetro, “And yes they that kind of weapon platform is quite common.”
-
"Yes, I can feel the heat coming off the legs. Seems like a waste of energy to me..." He stated as he put one hand to his fuzzy chin and stroked it in thought. His other hand stayed on the bath towel, since his tails made it a rather precarious garment anyway as they swished back and forth.
One of the spider like mini-furies came to investigate the new mechanical device, its 'eyes' blinked orange a few times. In a few moments the other mini-furies came to investigate.
"It seems our maintenance crew want to get their claws on that mecha and repair it. Captain, can you ask Rikki if I can proceed with repairs and perhaps an upgrade or two?" Already his mind was whirring with possible ideas of how to improve this machine. He'd planned to let the mini-furies repair it as much as possible until it had cooled a bit, and then he'd get to work on it himself. That was if he got permission to do so.
-
“Tetro wants to know if the ….spider things can repair your mecha and possibly upgrade it.”
If Rikki said no, she would understand, it was her mecha and she might want to do all repairs and upgrades herself. People could have strong attachments to machines in the current age. It was probably because they had become common. She could remember when machines were in their infancy and many people were scared of them. They didn’t like change.
Hopefully if Rikki did allow Tetro’s spiders loose on it they and their master wouldn’t get over excited and install something only he’d be able to understand.
-
Tetroneaque suddenly noticed that he was wearing nothing but his bath towel in front of these two women. With a sudden cough he back away a bit.
"Uhm, excuse me for a moment while I go get into my work clothes." He stated and walked quickly out of the hanger. The mini-furies continued to walk around the mech, scanning it and rescanning it to work out its schematics. Of course they'd download the blueprints directly from it once they could, but this way it minimized how long they'd take to download the plans.
Tetroneaque was happy to find his clothes folded neatly on his bed once he arrived at his room.
"I really need to get some more clothes." He muttered to himself as he dressed and then hurried back to the hanger, tossing the bath towel into the laundry as he came.
"Sorry bout that." He let out a nervous chuckle as he went to stand by the little mechanized mechanics again.