Remnants of the Earth
SPACE STATIONS => The Libra => Topic started by: Jounin on August 27, 2015, 10:50:41 am
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Cygnus finally got some down time after dealing with some new recruits so he decided he'll head down to the marketplace to do some grocery shopping. He gets everything that he needs on his list when he notices the bakery making fresh scones.
Cygnus' mouth waters as he walks over "Gods if I don't deserve this then I don't know who will." He buys a one and walks out of the market munching. Today felt quaint..to quaint he just knew something was going to arise. Either it ruin or improve his day he didn't know, but he just had that feeling.
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[Since Cygnus is your character, it's up to you to determine what kind of trouble he gets in. My original idea was that a gang tries to kidnap him to ransom him back to the Libran government, but that's just a suggestion.]
Asai idly walked through the marketplace, stopping every once in a while to enter a store and have a few looks around. She was in her preferred human disguise, and she had her flowing, white hair done into a long ponytail.
Despite the fact that she didn't really intend on buying anything, she did come out of one store with a nice little bracelet. It was titanium with little jade insets.
She wasn't a local, so she didn't really notice Cygnus as she walked past him, all too focused on her shiny new bracelet!
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[Yeah I like that idea]
On his way home. He was blocked by a strange man. Before he could react he felt a cold gun pressed up against the back of his head.
Outside of his mecha Cygnus is no fighter by any means so he raises his hands in surrender.
"Great...I knew I wouldn't be able to relax today."
A small grin creeps up his face. "You know it's pretty risky attacking an admiral like this, especially in not the most secluded place."
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Asai was seated at a table when she saw it. She didn't know if anybody else did, because the people were just walking on by. Just off to the side of the main crowd, that military looking man was being held up by a group of thugs, and nobody else was seeing this!
Asai shifted around in her seat, biting her lips for a few seconds, before she stood up, and started making her way over there through the thick crowd.
"Come on," she whispered to herself.
"Just hold on for a few more seconds..."
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The thugs seemed a bit hesitant after that comment. "What is that gun? A Mark-V Zeron? Not the most dated, but gets the job done." At this point Cygnus was just trying to stall them hoping one of his knights will find him.
"H-how did you know?" The thug behind him stammers."
"Well I can feel the shape of the nozzle and assuming you aren't the richest people around that gun was the only cheap one with that nozzle. It was fairly simple to put the pieces together."
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As Asai moved through the crowd she reached into her vest, which she was wearing above a padded, long-sleeved shirt, and was dismayed when she remembered she didn't have her gun. Damn Librans, taking her gun away!
It only meant she'd have to risk discovery, then.
She didn't have much time to think of any other way to deal with this, because right as she realized she was unarmed, she'd stepped out of the crowd, and clear into the view of the thugs.
Without hesitating, she lifted a hand towards the man with the gun to Cygnus' head, and a bright, cerulean ball of energy shot out of her palm to strike the man in the chest, sending him against the wall.
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Cygnus darts over to the man snatching the gun from him and points it at the other thug. He backs up to the woman that saved him.
"Thank you for the assist. Was that magic? Are you a Duo pilot? I don't know many pilots except for my knights?" He asked not moving his eyes away from the thug.
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Asai opted to stay quiet, because most likely, being a duo pilot was likely the only way out of this without being called out as a mage! And if she was called out, then TRIM would find her, and if TRIM found her...
That'd be it. Bam. End of story for her!
Either way, military types prefer not to talk while fighting, right? At least, she hoped so.
Without answering immediately, Asai then turned her attention to the other man, who, once seeing that a mage was involved, suddenly looked much less confident in his ability to kidnap the man.
She straightened out her arm, and the man's hands went around his throat. Then, with a flick of the wrist, she threw him face first into the ground.
All of the thugs had been neutralized, and Asai slowly let out a breath. Funny, how she breathed in air, even though she didn't need to. She was never organic, so she never had the need to. She'd picked up the habit from having to blend in.
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"The silent type I see, I'll take that as a yes. I must thank you for helping me out, it would've been a disaster if an admiral got kidnapped."
He puts the gun away and looks at her. "Come to my place dinner is on me. Think of it as a celebratory meal for your heroism. Oh and may I ask your name so I can recommend you to the duo admiral."
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Asai fixed her vest. She was tempted to bolt, but it'd be too suspicious. Then, she heard his question. Was... Was he asking her to dinner? A small blush came to Asai's cheeks, and she joined her hands together at her waist.
"Oh! Sorry if I was a bit quiet, the, uh... the magic takes focus."
Okay, now she needed a name.
"I'm Hailette."
Uh...
"I'm a standard Duo mage. Nothing too special!"
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That last line seemed a little suspicious, but he shrugged it off. She did save his life after all. "Well you may not be nothing too special once your admiral hears about this!" He starts walking motioning her to follow. "You know if your ever interested in learning how to operate a mecha the Knights will always welcome new members."
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"Oh, I've never really been good at manual controls," Asai said, and it was true! She'd tried to pilot other machines before, it just didn't feel right. She surmised that she wouldn't feel too good in a mecha, either.
A humanoid machine piloting another humanoid machine? A bit too "meta" for her tastes, frankly.
She followed after Cygnus, a little nervous. But it didn't come of as an "I'm a fugitive" kind of nervous, it was more of an "Awkward girl being invited to dinner by a cute guy," sort of nervous.
It was rather cute!
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Cygnus led her to a luxury apartment complex. Entering the lobby he plugs in a code and the teleport pad start glowing.
Thinking back running a synopsis on the situation the girl is really beautiful, but it may cause needless rumors if he were to go after a pilot.
He smiles directing Hailette to the pad. "It would be rude of me to enter before my guest."
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Asai was a bit distracted, thinking about just how the hell she was going to get out of this, but when Cygnus offered for her to go first, she smiled, blushed again, and stepped inside.
When she came out the other end, she was stumbling a bit, but other than that, she held her footing pretty well.
As a machine, she had gyroscopes instead of those tubes in the inner ear. The only difference was that gyroscopes kept her stable, at the cost of her being disoriented a bit easier.
She looked around, curious to see her surroundings.
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Cygnus beams in. "Ah home sweet home." His home consisted of a high tech living room and kitchen and in the corner was a large octagonal shaped room that held the master bedroom and bathroom.
"So miss hero what would you like to eat? As long as I use technology to cook I can make a fairly good meal."
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Oh, crap!
Going to dinner with this guy actually meant eating. How could she have forgotten such a simple detail? She could fake eating, but she'd... never really eaten that often.
Her technique could use some work.
"Just some meat and veggies would do for me. They keep us pilots on pretty strict diets. Gotta make sure we fit in those tight cockpits and all that," she said, and chuckled. She looked around, and took a seat on the couch, marveling at how comfy it was.
"Wow, real cushy place you have here. You must be pretty high-up..."
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Cygnus laughs at that comment. "Right sometimes I forget we torture you poor pilots with extra work and bad food. Here's what I'll take the meat and vegetables and make a stir fry."
Cygnus heads over to the kitchen and starts getting ingredients. "Yeah it's a lot different than living on the streets. To think what I'd be like if the military never found me."
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Asai smiled a bit, and she spun around on the couch. She propped her knees up on the seat, and rested her elbows on the backrest, placing her chin in her hands so she could look at him work.
"I know the feeling. Things were kind of rough for me, too."
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Cygnus starts up the wok, then a series of high tech machines and begins cooking. "We all have our past, but it's what we make out of our future that matters. Serving the Libran people is award enough for me, but improving this great station would make it even better. If we were to terraform our memories and technology will be dampened."
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"Oh yes, definitely!" Asai said, and after a few moments, she just got up and walked to him so they didn't have to talk across the room.
"If we colonize a planet, we'd need to draw a full-sized army to compliment our space forces. No doubt it'd hamper our famous navy."
She hopped up onto the counter to sit on it, watching him cook as she stared curiously.
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Cygnus gives her a friendly smile as he continues to cook. "Well Hailette I am glad that you see reason or this dinner would have gotten sour quickly." He gives off a joking laugh. "So tell me what is your rank?"
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"Airman First Class!" she declared proudly, having searched for proper Libran air force ranks with her computerized brain.
"Are you like... and Admiral or something?"
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"Impressive...it's interesting your body signals, the way you speak it is not one of a trained pilot. If you were a private or even an ensign I could understand, but not one of first class."
Cygnus finishes up the meal. "Another thing is shouldn't you know who I am already...what is my name?"
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"Well, I've always been pretty casual," Asai said, and shrugged.
"And, I don't really know you because, well... you're not in my branch. I've never been good with names or ranks. Airman first class sounds pretty high up, but it's just above Airman. Airman's as low as it gets, we don't have privates in the Pilot force."
She crossed her hands over her lap.
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(OOC: Correct me if I'm wrong, but since the branches are led by admirals wouldn't they be navy ranks? But I could be easily wrong.)
Cygnus lets out a sigh. "Well I've never really been one to focus on the other branches so I can't argue that." He puts the sir fry in two bowls and brings them to a table. "I am Admiral Pleiades, but since we're keeping things casual you can call me Cygnus."
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[I dunno, I'd like to think that if all the branches used the exact same ranks, things would be confusing...]
Asai smiled. She walked with him to the table, and when he set the bowls down, she sat next to him, rather than across.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Cygnus."
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(OCC: Fair enough)
She sat next to him instead of across. Why does she want to get close to him? His military trained mind kicks in thinking it could lead to an assignation attempt. He bypasses that thought and thinks that maybe she has an interest in him.
Cygnus has never actually been in a relationship before due to going from scavenger to military prodigy with no in between. This flustered him a little as he started to eat smiling back at her.
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Okay, maybe she'd been a bit bold, but it seemed like he didn't really mind! And he was cute, too. Asai didn't really consider herself all that adept at flirting, but it seemed she was doing something right.
Which was good, because if she could get this guy to soften up on her, she'd be able to get out of this situation all the faster!
"So, you live here all by yourself?"
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"Yeah, I don't normally have people over either. I'm usually on duty, but when I'm not I tend to just work on robots, mechas, or really any other synthetic machine. I know this may sound odd, but I've probably spent more time around technology then people."
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At that, a small, involuntary smile from Asai. Work with machines? How convenient.
"That's okay, I'm the same way! There aren't many people that lick to stick around with me. It's hard being a mage."
She looked down, and started eating.
"Mmm! Delicious!"
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"I'm glad you like it!" Cygnus gives a kind smile. He couldn't shake the feeling that something is off.
Unintentionally he starts clenching a fist while trying to push his paranoid thoughts away. The one thing he had ever despised about the military is how it created a string sense of fear within him.
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Asai smiled, and she started to thread some noodles through her fork when she picked up some movement by his hand.
She glanced down, and saw that he was clenching it, and her eyes opened up a bit wider.
"What's wrong?" She asked, and mustering up the sheer depths of her courage, she put her hand over his. Her hand felt human, no doubt about it. Her skin was soft, and smooth, and she was definitely warm. Cygnus would even be able to feel a heartbeat, if he focused on it enough.
Realizing what she was doing, her cheeks threatened to just turn completely red. Even then, a slight tint made its way onto her expression.
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His body seemed to relax at the feel of her touch. "It's nothing...just a bad habit from being in the military." He gives her a comforting smile. "So why don't you tell me more about yourself."
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A flash of concern went through Asai's features, presumably over his little "habit", but she smiled afterwards.
"Not much to say, really. Born and raised here, in Libra. Magic came into my life when I was around eight years old, and when I was sixteen, I signed on as a cadet in the duo pilots."
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"That seems fair enough. What was your reason to join? How do you feel about our military?" Cygnus tried to not sound to inquisitive, but he has to find a casual way to ease his suspicions.
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"Well, I didn't quite like the alternative," Asai said, and brushed a bit of her hair out of the way. She ate a few more noodles, and turned to face Cygnus on her chair.
"When I found out I could do magic, I... well, I wanted to do it! And do it good. I figured that the military was the place for that. I get to serve my station, too."
She smiled.
"What about you? What's your story, Admiral Cygnus?"
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A satisfied smile spread across his face as he finished up his food. "You made the right choice joining the military. As for me I grew up on the streets and when my parents suffered a fatal accident I turned to scavenging. There I started building a mecha with my spare parts and the military saw my talents and recruited me."
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"Wow, a whole mecha from spare parts?" Asai said, wonder and curiosity in her eyes.
"You must be really good with machines. Especially humanoid ones."
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Cygnus' eyes lit up. "Yeah! There's something about a human and machine in one that just seems kind of beautiful. I've always been proud of my ability with robotics."
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Asai chuckled, a blush fell onto her cheeks. Why was she blushing? She shouldn't be blushing at a comment like that!
"I always thought the mecha were so cool, but I could never wrap my head around piloting one."
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Cygnus gives her a slight smile. "Well I have the rest of the day off, how about I set you up in the training simulator and you can get the feel of piloting one."
This went against his mindset but he couldn't help but be infatuated with her, even if he's risking his life.
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"Oh my gods, really?" Asai said, emotive eyes going wide. She'd forgotten that she was a fugitive on the run, and not actually this guy's friend, but he was just so cute, she didn't want to disappoint him or anything.
She put her hand back on his wrist, and nodded.
"That'd be so cool! I don't have my papers or anything on me, though. It's my day off too," she said, but then got a sly look on her face.
"Or are we taking the back door?"
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Cygnus looked a little flustered at that last comment. "W-well that's a nice way of saying sneaking in, but no I can bring anyone into the simulation room, it is my domain...it's the hanger were you can't enter.
A stern look crosses his face. "If you do enter the hanger without my orders do know I will have to report you." The seriousness melted away into a smile. "Shall we go?"
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"Oh, the hangar."
She finished her noodles and suddenly, she threw up a salute and grinned.
"Don't you worry, Sir. I won't stray!"
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"Very good!" He stood up and went to the teleportation pad. Still having some paranoia he motions her to go before him. "Lady's first."
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Giving him a playful smile, Asai stepped past him and onto the teleportation pad.
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Cygnus followed her to the teleportation pad and leads her out of the lobby. Since he lives fairly close to the base, he takes her by the hand and begins walking towards the base which would take about ten minutes to arrive.
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She waited a bit outside the teleportation pad, and when he appeared and took her hand, she blushed a bit and followed along.
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Smiling at her he continues. About five minutes into the walk Cygnus caught sight a pickpocket trying to make some quick money. "Did you see that Hailette? Do you mind side tracking a bit to bring this criminal to justice?"
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Asai looked over to the pickpocket, her advanced visual sensors picking it up in much greater detail Cygnus could ever hope to perceive.
"Okay," she said, looking a bit intense.
"It's gonna be mostly you, though. I might seriously hurt the guy."
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"Fair enough, restraint is good." Cygnus crept over to the pickpockets and yelled for him to freeze. The pickpocket started run and Cygnus began to pursue. "Blast! I forgot to pick up my pistol at the apartment!" Cygnus muttered. He then looked towards Asai "Hailette I may need your talents for this!"
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Asai hedged where she was, analysing the situation. She sprinted towards them, but she was only tangible for a few moments. She faded out with a flash, and reappeared several paces in front of the pickpocket. She held her hand out, and it flared up with blue fire.
"Stop!"