[Die Screaming] Dated Equipment

[FrostJaeger]

RP Date

YE 45

RP Location

Stenkagorad

Svodog
Stenkogorad Starport

It hadn't been long after they reached the settlement on Skenka and Haisely was pouting idly to herself, since she'd lost the majority of her kit when the ship left the hacker was a little more underequipped than desired.

"No fucking photon suit, no gun..." she muttered to herself while pacing the very small space she'd chosen to stay in while they were here. In one corner a small setup was humming away the nepcat had managed to build from some scavenged parts and a fairly old flip-computer brought back to life from a garbage bin.

"Fucking DICKS!"

While the insult was directed up at the sky towards the captain of that ship, it was loud enough for anyone nearby to possibly misinterpret.

A series of knocks on the small room's similarly-proportioned door - the compartment was, in all honesty, little more then a plus-sized walk-in closet - announced the presence of one Matokai Masato. "Permission to enter, Haisley-san? You sound somewhat distressed..."

The Minkan, though not exactly the squad's morale officer (thank the Empress!) knew from his officer training that he it was a good idea to become acquainted with one's subordinates - and besides, he had nothing else to do apart from scrounging up something else to wear besides his environmental suit... which truth be told was rather comfy, in all honesty.

The metalic tail on the nepcat stiffened slightly at the sound of another person, initially she went into full blown defensive mode not having heard them approachl assuming nefarious intentions. Though as soon as she heard that yamataian voice Haisely breathed a sigh of relief and retracted her claws.

"Yeah whatever, come in."

It was true her social prowess was matched only by a slightly damp rock on a good day, the nepcat had a lot to sort out before they moved out and wasn overly excited at the prospect of having to explain her outburst to this minkan.

Haisely flopped lazily into a small beanbag and stared at the door.

With a noticeable squeak of protest, said door opened to reveal Masato - still clad in that Yamataian environmental suit of his, albeit sans helmet. "Ē to... are you alright? I heard you yelling about something - male genitalia? - and was worried that you'd injured yourself or something...

Though his features were that perfect picture of neutrality he'd developed over years of dealing with others, inwardly the engineer was cringing. Hard. Could you be any more awkward or idiotic or just plain dumb, you baka?

If he thought it was cringe he really didn't want to look at Haisely's facial expression right now, the Nepleslian was staring at him, one corner of her mouth pulled down in visible disgusted amazement.

"Yeah, definitely would be yelling about male genitalia if i was injured." Haisely replied, her face returning to a somewhat angry looking scowl for a moment before softening as she groaned and tipped her head back.

"But for your information since you care, no I'm not in trouble or hurt, just pissed off."

A pause.

"So, do all minkans come running at the word dick?"

"I... well, perhaps?" replied the visibly surprised Shoi, clearly caught off-guard by the hacker's comment; after a pause of his own, he continued "...though Nekovalkyrja definitely do. Anyways, may I ask about what you're annoyed at? I'm not exactly a counselor..." - now THAT's ironic! - "...but as an officer any problem facing my subordinates is my problem as well."

Once again, Masato winced internally. Empress help me, what in the actual fuck am I saying!?! I'm an engineer, not whatever... whatever the frak this is!

Haisely's scowl returned once again.

"Subordinate huh? Not many people call me that." The Nepcat stood up, though she was still pretty short, and stepped over to Masato, tapping him on the chest several times before drawing her finger back and extending the neriumium claw. It wasn't an imposing weapon, but with a length of 2" it was suitable to deal some major internal damage if she so desired.

"You may outrank me, but I don't introduce myself in reverse, got it?" She said making a dig at the culture she was not a huge fan of, definitely a die hard Nepleslian.

Haisely turned around and went over to her rudimentary setup and tapped the keys a few times, some screens flashed up that looked like some kind of banking sites but it was a bit fast to be sure. The Nepcat stood once more and walked back towards Masato.

"As for what I'm annoyed at, that dickhead of a captain took off with all my shit when he dropped me here, and now I have no gun, no Photon suit, and no decent equipment. So, is that gonna be your problem, sir?" The final word positivel dripping in sarcasm.

On one hand, Koyama-Taisa was a certified bitch. On the other, if this is how I came across... yikes... thought Masato, a hint of steelbound authority leaking into his carefully composed features - and tone - as he throttled the urge to let out a sigh of exasperation. "Very well, Haisely-san. Now, because your lack of equipment is indeed 'my problem,' get up."

"You and I are going shopping."

"EHH??"

The nepcat exclaimed looking quite caught off guard, physically recoiling from the man and hurridly leaping back into her chair for what little protection it provided. Who did he think he was telling her she needed to come with him to go shopping, the nerve of this guy.

"What makes you think I need you to babysit me buying a gun huh?!"

Empress have mercy... "Because if I don't, you're probably going to stay hidden away in this hideout of yours until Borok-sama sends me - or someone less friendly - to drag you back to the rest of civilization. Now, let's go... and that, Haisely-san, is an order."

With that, the Minkan about-faced, stepped outside of the closet-with-delusions-of-grandeur, and waited.

Wether the minkan saw her face break into a huge smile or not, Haisely was unsure, but the fact that he clearly didn't know anything about her was amusing to the techie. Sure, she'd probably stayin here, but that wouldn't hamper her abili to obtain a weapon in the least.

Haisely turned back to her device and tapped a few more times on her keyboard, satisfied with a good days work she decided to obey this order. The nepcat wandered out lazily and gave Masato a soft punch in the back since he was facing away from her.

"Alrighty then sir, please lead the way."

* * *

Several dark and (occasionally) dank corridors later, the duo emerged out into the settlement’s central plaza - or, at least, what passed for it. It was set up like an octagon, with stores occupying the cardinal points and entryways occupying the intermediary walls (save for the southwest, which contained the somewhat-large space’s obligatory restrooms); the north had an Ori-Mart, the south had a small Galactic Horizon outlet, the east had a Neppie’s, and the west had a boarded-up shop whose sign had been obscured in the middle, with only an M and an ’s showing at the front and back, respectively. In the windowless room’s center was an assortment of chairs and tables; though the plaza’s designers had clearly meant for it to be an open, airy space, the extremely low ceiling - Masato could nearly reach up and touch the damn thing - and dim lightening instead gave it a decidedly gloomy (albeit… intimate, in a way) atmosphere.

Masato, having grown all too accustomed to such places over the past week or two, was the first to speak up. “Where to first, Haisely-san?”

The cybercat was still dressed in her large hoodie and some kind of thermal pants, not having bothered dressing up to go shopping, though she had grabbed her beanie and tucked away the ears and tail. Following along behind Masato almost like a grumpy child, kicking loose stones and mumbling occasionally to herself about digital nonsense.

"Well, I really want a new photon suite, and I could do wit- actually nevermind the suit is fine to start. So lets go to GH, hopefully they make proper guns now, the early stuff was just weird."

“Galactic Horizon it is, then,” replied Masato as he lead the way to the southern part of the plaza.

The place in question was - based on how surprisingly clean and well-kept it was for a store in a glorified rest stop - either relatively new or owned by someone with a cleanliness fetish, as the black floors had yet to lose their glossy finish, the various racks and shelves of equipment were immaculately organized, and there was a conspicuous scent of industrial-grade cleaner lingering in the air. Given the hour, the place was also empty - save for the hulking Nepleslian cyborg (who, based on the sounds emanating from his phone, was watching an Elysian soap opera of all things) behind the counter.

Haisely stuffed her hands in the pockets of her hoodie as they walked over to the large outlet following along behind the minkan. Like Masato, the nepcat was mildly impressed with the cleanliness of the whole environment compared to the surroundings of the building, though they always came off as a bit flashy in her opinion.

As soon as they got inside the cybercat made a beeline for their armour and utility section zooming right past Masato as she near-sprinted towards a visible Photon suit. Haisely's face had formed what could almost be mistaken for a smile as she looked over the item, one complete suit, brand new, and no weird paintjobs or extras on it either, 'thank the machine gods for direct outlets!'. It even had a working AUG in the chest this time, unlike her last suit.

"Hey, you got some kind of credit card?"

Haisely wasn't hard done for funding, but you dont stay rich by buying your own equipment, and she was busy side-eyeing a display cabinet with a Zytone power armour within. If they didn't carry replacement parts she was liable to be very upset and just re-route the next delivery to the base instead of here.

Masato - feeling almost like a babysitter or adult chaperone of sorts as he followed the Nepleslian from display case to aisle to display case again - paused at the mention of a credit card. "Yes, but may I ask why? I don't mean to sound rude, Haisely-san, but I assumed you'd be paying for your own gear."

Haisely pouted and folded her arms, leaning onto her left leg and tapped her right foot several times.

"Remember when you said that as your 'subordinate' my lack of equipment was your problem? Cause I do, time to pay up boss-man." With her very underhanded tactic revealed the cyber cat looked back towards the Zytone briefly before sauntering over to the photon suit again and retrieving the item. As the nepleslian girl moved to the counter the cyborg man raised an eyebrow as if mocking one of his kind for daring to choose something stealthy. Haisely shot back her own look, clearly demeaning him more for being the one selling it to her.

"Hey boss, can you check the spare parts and see if they got a Zytone helmet, I wanna rip the controller out of it and turn it into a fruit bowl." She called out towards Masato, before leaning over to look at the mans phone as he offered it, recoiling in fear at the sight of more bird things.

The Minkan let out an internal sigh and bowed his head in defeat, because he knew he’d been beat - by his own words, at that - thus with a growing sensation of finance-induced despair he muttered something along the lines of "Indeed I did..." and dejectedly turned back towards the aforementioned power armor's display case.

Unfortunately for the Shoi, there were im fact several box-encased Zytone helmets on a shelf adjacent to the display case. Oh, lovely...

Fortunately for the Shoi, they 'only' cost 1,500 KS. Yeah, this was a mistake and a half. Rest in peace bank account-chan. "They do in fact have Zytone helmets for purchase, Haisely-san. I'm guessing you want one?"

Back at the counter, the cyborg let out a low - bordering on subsonic, really - chuckle as he watched his fellow Nepleslian become visibly perturbed over the sight of episode 70,081 of his favorite show, the The Young and the Flightless.

After collecting herself from nearly falling off of the bench, Haisely cleared her throat. "Uh, yeah. Make sure its stock. You brought this upon yourself!" The cybercat called out before pulling out her communicator and looking up said show shown to her by the sales clerk. Haisely would have to do further research on this later...

In the meantime she decided to check on her inventory requirements, Photon suit - check, Zytone helmet - check, weapon? Well, was there anything she needed from GH. The nepcat had a quick skim through the catalogue sitting on the counter. The hackers eyes lit up, the Trike was new, well actually it was a few years old but she hadn't seen it before, therefore was exciting. Not only that but the giant sonic rifle now had a condensed pistol counterpart??

Haisely definitely wanted them to play with. With zero hesitation she walked up to masato and pointed out both weapons. "We still need to go to ori-mart afterwards for more weapons, these are circumstance based loadouts." She said rather unceremoniously while picking out her weapons of choice.

Masato - now with an encased stock Zytone helmet firmly grasped in one hand - visibly winced as his subordinate expressed the urge to purchase even more weaponry. Good thing I’ve been a frugal spender all these years. Damn… if girlfriends are this expensive, maybe I’d be better off without one…

“Noted, Haisely-san. Is there anything else you’d like to buy - besides ammunition, of course - before we head to the Ori-Mart?” Please let the answer be no…

Haisely tapped her chin gently with a single claw while thinking, there wasn't anything else she needed but it was fun to purchase new stuff with other people's money. "I want a triple X-L GH shirt and hoodie." The nepcat pointed at the small merch rack on one side of the store at various garments, bottles, and othersmall trinkets.

Oh you have got to be kidding me thought Masato as he resisted the urge to facepalm. Hopefully Galactic Horizon doesn't overcharge on their licensed merchandise like Emrys does... "Very well, Haisely-san, but that's all we're going to be getting here." With that said, the engineer - helmet in hand - made his way over to the clerk and placed his subordinate's purchases onto the counter. "How much..." - a pause as the Minkan read the aforementioned clerk's entirely-too-shiny embossed black-and-gold nameplate - "...Moe-san?"

Before Moe could answer within the ballpark of 10,000ks, Haisely placed a small metal card on the counter which gave cause for a raised eyebrow. Scanning the almost blank piece of metal, save for an engraved GH, he shook his head at Masato.

 

[FrostJaeger]

"She must've had you going lad, this one has enough credit to buy out the whole store if she pleased." The nepleslian stuck his thumb towards the cybercat, with a devilish grin so wide it nearly split her face open.

"J'so you know, it would have been about 7,000ks give or take, I'm not too quick with the maths this mornin." The man bagged up the apparel and placed each weapon with its respective ammunition into separate cases, followed by a case for the helmet, and another for the photon suit. As Haisely gathered her items and strolled out of the store humming she gave Masato a soft punch to the arm.

"Bet you feel dumb right about now."

The Minkan - whose expression went through all five stages of grief upon hearing that his companion had been pulling his chain the entire frelling time - merely responded by letting out a lengthly sigh of exasperation as a headache blossomed behind his temples. And people wonder why there's so much silver in my hair... anyways. "I'm not feeling dumb, Goenkof-san," he replied as more then a hint of sternness entered his tone. "Please... don't do that again."

After several moments of awkward silence passed by while the duo walked out of the store, the Shoi finally continued, "So, I'm guessing you wish to visit the Ori-Mart next? And..." - he paused to hold up a hand in a 'wait' gesture - "...before you answer, do you possess any other credit cards I should know about?"

Those his features were neutral, it was clear that the engineer was more then a tad annoyed at being made to look like a fool.

The cybercat cocked an eyebrow, clearly she'd hit a bit of a nerve with this prank, definitely needed to remember this for the future. Apparently the minkan still held onto his pride, and lo silly infront of a stranger hurt that pride it would seem, oh well what can you do, everyone has their ways.

"Yes, and no, I need a compact lethal sidearm, preferably something with flat recoil semi-auto and if possible a full auto mode as well. Haven't looked at their stock before though, and no I don't do work for Origin at this current point in time. As for my other cards, you won need to know what they're used for."

it was the most Haisely had said in one go, she clasped hands behind her head as she walked, looking dead ahead and with any hints of sarcasm for once in her voice. Last thing she wanted right now was to be slapped on the wrist and put on cleaning detail or something, too much work to do and no time to afford that.

“…Noted,” replied Masato, whose sternness already started to fading as he led Haisely to the Ori-Mart. Stupid of me to lose my temper over something so minor… sheesh. I should probably apologize to her later, lest bad blood develop between us… ah, here we are.

The aforementioned Origin storefront was definitely closer to what one would expect from an older rest stop store: white-tiled (with a smattering of black, blue, and green tiles scattered here and there) floors that had long since lost their shine but were still kept clean, racks and shelves of food and equipment that were mostly organized save for a few out-of-place bits here and there, and lights that were functional - save for a stubbornly flickering panel in the back of the store - but clearly of several different makes and models based upon the differing shades of white they outputted. Like the Galactic Horizon store, the Ori-Mart was occupied by a Nepleslian (albeit one in the classic black-green-and-blue Origin uniform Origin uniform instead of GH’s black-and-gold); unlike the Galactic Horizon store, however, the Ori-Mart had another customer in it apart from Masato and Haisely: a gargantuan Abwehran male who was currently comparing different Origin pistols.

Haisely walked beside the Minkan to the Ori-Mart in silence, her head filled with the few Origin models she knew of desperately trying to remember if she'd used any before and what they had been like. Seeing the giant person in the section she wanted to browse immediately had her in flight mode and the cybercat visibl tensed up in the doorway, looking around for others that may have been after her, the submerged paranoia of her mind surfacing an iceberg and telling her she'd been followed.

Haisely, without her homefield advantage immediately moved behind Masato while within the store and her furred cybernetic ears rose up to begin sonar mapping the store.

Masato - who’d turned around in order to ask his Nepleslian squadmate what she was thinking of buying - instead found himself pausing, his features quickly turning into that of surprise and shock as he took note of Haisely’s decidedly apprehensive appearance; though the Minkan was no psychologist (he thoroughly despised them, in fact), it was clear that something or someone was clearly causing the hacker great distress. That’s odd. I didn’t think I was that stern with her…

“Is everything alright, Haisely-san? You seem a bit on edge, to put it mildly.”

After a minute of silence and darting eyes, Haisely calmed down as the other patron retrieved an item and went to pay, the hacker letting out a sigh and unclenching her fists. "It's nothing, don't worry about it." The cybercat shot back while stepping around Masato to visit the now empty pistol and assorted sidearms section. Though she may have been staring at the weapons her mind was elsewhere as she half-heartedly brushed her hands over the items on the shelf.

"Do you know, any decent weapons..."

That just makes me worry about it even more, though considering my own experiences, best to leave it be unless or until it becomes an issue. Anyhoo... "Apologies, Haisely-san," replied the Shoi, "but I don't, as, well, with how effective the Type 33 Nekovalkyrja Service Pistol is I've never had a reason to research any other weapons."

Yeah that figured, of course he would have never needed to use anything else, oh well time to do it the old fashioned way. Haisely inspected the various firearms and other assorted weapons for a minute lost deep in thought. While she wasn't a gun nut that could estimate values based on the size and construction of the weapon, the cyber cat was more than capable of inspecting the ammunition for each one to make sure she wasn't going to be blowing her arms off.

Eventually she stopped at the ODM Raygun and pulled out a small device to look up some info on it, a soft voice emanating from the device as she became engrossed in an "unboxing and review."

Having satisfied himself that Haisley's bout of paranoia (or apparent phobia of Abwehrans?) had resolved itself for the time being, Masato - rather thankful of his body’s enhanced strength, given that he was carrying his subordinate’s Galactic Horizon shopping bags in one hand and over one shoulder like a true boyfriend manservant - ambled over to the store’s solitary cash register and the youthful-looking cashier behind it.

“Uh…” - a pause as the engineer read said cashier’s nametag - “…Faust-san?”

Faust - pale-skinned with dark, wavy hair and probably male - very nearly fell out of his chair in shock, clearly too engrossed in the book he was reading (a sci-fi novel titled Space Conflict: Wraith Squadron) to have noticed Masato’s decidedly conspicuous approach. “Bwah?!? Oh, uhm, sorry, sorry… is there something I can help you with, sir?”

“Yes,” replied the Shoi after he’d finished throttling the urge to chuckle or at the very least smile. “Out of curiosity, do you know why the neighboring store closed? The outpost directory listed it as being open for business.”

“Oh, they, uh, haven’t updated that thing in forever,” said the clerk with a dismissive sigh. “And as for why the place closed, I wish I could tell you, but I’ve only been here for a couple of months, and it was already closed when I started working, sorry, though I think I remember my boss saying something about ‘health violations’ or something. Sorry I can’t be of more use…”

"We don't have to get food if you don't wanna walk all over looking for a place..." Haisely said over her shoulder while inspecting some rather impressive PA equipment on a far shelf, the cybernetic ears atop her head twitching clearly giving away her eavesdropping earlier. Truthfully she had snacks in her room and wasn't sure how much she could stretch Masato's budget before he caved in and cut her off anyway.

"Or we can break in and look for ghosts."

"Food would be fine, Haisely-san," replied Masato as he turned around to observe his subordinate's progress. "Do you see anything else you'd like to get before we go?"

"Nah."

The cybercat magically appeared at the counter beside Masato with the ODM Raygun and set it down along with some ammunition for the weapon. Still glued to her device now watching as some unknown species demonstrated action-movie style takedowns and executions with the weapon accompanied by industrial drum and bass over the whole video.

"So definitely no ghosts?"

“Definitely no ghosts, Haisely-san,” responded Masato with a faint, faint smile completely devoid of any humor, “because if such entities existed I’d be haunted by exactly two hundred and thirty-seven of them. Faust-san?”

“R-Right, sorry, uh, yeah,” replied Faust, his sudden blush - and shift of focus from Haisely to Masato - suggesting that he’d probably been sizing up the former’s feminine aspects. “Okay, that…” - a pause as the Origin employee rang up the hackergirl’s purchases - will be… with tax, that’ll be, uh, 1,031.94 Davis Alliances.”

Kids these days. Empress help me, I hope I wasn’t that blatantly obvious when I was an acne-ridden teenager ‘admiring the view’ at the beach… thought the Minkan as he withdrew his standard-issue credit card from his standard-issue wallet. “Are Kikyou Satsus accepted here?”

“Yeah-sorry, I mean, uhm, yes, they’re accepted here, sir. Would you, like… sorry, would you like them in a bag?”

“Indeed I would,” was the Shoi’s answer as he swiped his card, returned said card to his wallet, returned said wallet to its resting place inside a pant pocket, and picked up the several Galactic Horizon-emblazoned plastic bags he’d had to place on the ground to retrieve the aforementioned credit card to begin with.

“…..Oh. My, uhm, uh, condolences, sir,” said Faust, his face full of sudden understanding. “Anyway, thanks for shopping at Origin Mart, and have a wonderful day!”

I wonder how many times he’s had to say that today. “Likewise, Faust-san, likewise,” replied a heavily-burdened Masato as he led his fellow squadmate out of the store and to the duo’s final destination. “Come, Haisely-san. Food awaits.”

"Only 237? Seems low for a yam." The nepcat commented nonchalantly. While appearing to not notice the clerks gaze. Whether or not she knew and ignored it was unclear though, as the cybercat continued to scroll social media. Haisely heard the brief exchange between the men but didn't seem to pay much attention, truthfully the one kind of manipulation she didn't know how to use was her feminine ones and so she never bothered to make a scene, if someone ticked her off their bank account might just get a little light the next day.

Still though, 237 was a hell of a lot more than she could manage.

One scene transition later found the two soldiers standing in front of the plaza’s sole remaining operational store front: a Neppie’s that had clearly seen much, much better days, judging by the dirtiness and disrepair that was visible even without entering the store, as the floor was a splotchy mess of grime and grease, one of the displays behind the counter had burnt out, and a couple of tables (and five or so chairs) seemed to be either broken or of questionable structural integrity. Despite all of this, however, the surprisingly large number of patrons (around a dozen or so, clustered in groups of threes and fours around the functional tables) and the indescribably delicious aroma of greasy and fatty fast food wafting outwards from the place meant that it had to be at least somewhat safe to eat at - thus the Minkan led his Nepleslian charge into the restaurant and up to the aforementioned counter. “What would you like to order, Haisely-san?”

"Ah Neppies, must be a pretty big credit card." The cybercat teased as they walked in, eyeing off the menu with another blank look. "Just some fries... Thanks."

“Alright, sweety,” drawled the aging, heavily tattooed, and purple-haired woman behind the counter, her overweight form (stuffed behind a thoroughly stained Neppies uniform) seemingly rippling as she shifted her eyes - the left was natural and purple-hued, the right was clearly cybernetic - to Masato. “What about you, kiddo?”

“I’ll have a plain number one, please….” - the Minkan had to squint to read the clerk’s grease-spattered nametag - “Pearl-san, without any pickles, lettuce, or tomato. Just cheese.”

“Okay, that’ll be seven alliances an’ ninety cents,” replied Pearl, her cybernetic eye flickering several times as she punched the info into the dilapidated cash register in front of her. “Cash or credit?”

“Credit,” said the Shoi as he produced his card and inserted it into a slot on the card reader; after a moment, the reader let out a glitchy-sounding bweep and spat the card back out. “Uh….”

“Don’ worry, it does that all th’ time,” said Pearl with a chuckle as she handed Masato a receipt. “You and your girlfriend are ordah sixty-six. Enjoy!”

“Thanks, but she’s… oh, nevermind,” was the abruptly flustered Minkan’s response as he hurriedly grabbed the receipt and the cup - one of those ubiquitous see-through plastic one - and turned to look at Haisely, a blush clearly evident across his features even in the restaurant’s less-then-stellar lighting . “Is there any place you’d like to sit, Haisely-san?"

As Masato turned to face her, Haisely's face displayed the biggest shit eating grin at the minkans embarrassment. Clearly she was enjoying this way too much.

"Well, anywhere with actual seats or those comfy benches, can't stand those fuckin stools with no backs." The nepcat replied, turning her attention to scan the room until she located the perfect little alcove seating, a table with a single padded high-back bench around 3/4 of it. The cybercat sauntered over with her hands buried in the pockets of her large hoodie and scoped out that table, checking for any indication if it'd been washed or used recently. Satisfied the bench and table weren't a biohazard Haisely looked back towards Masato and gave a thumbs up before sliding into the seating and sinking into the overly soft cushioning.

"So, you gonna keep dragging me out of my room like this? Cause I have plenty more expensive stuff I could use." The nepcat said slyly when Masato arrived looking over the several bags he had in tow.

Masato - still blushing somewhat and rather sore, given that he was carrying Haisely’s multitude of bags with one hand while balancing the couple’s order of food with the other - let out a defeated sigh as he approached the table and gingerly set the aforementioned platter of food down onto it. As thoroughly unpleasant as carrying all of this expensive gear - my bank account would have SUFFERED if I’d been the one paying for all of that GH equipment - around has been, spending time with Haisely-san really hasn’t been all that bad… so you know what?

“Yes,” replied the Minkan after a spending a moment thinking and sitting down, “because…” - he paused to take a nice long sip of cola - “…you and I both need to practice at in-person socialization more often, as I’ve spent too much time cooped up in engineering compartments, and you’ve spent too much time staring at computer screens.” Empress, what a flimsy rationalization that is, you baka…

Haisely's sly grin rapidly changed into a look of something closer to disgust mixed with shock, 'yes?!' Who did this guy think he was telling her to go outside more often. "In-person huh, and how does that benefit me? You aren't from around here, but I figured they might have stories about Nepleslia to tell little kids to keep you in line over there." The cybercat locked eyes with the minkan with an uncharacteristically serious look across her features while leaning towards Masato.

"There are people, groups, and even whole organisations that would do unspeakable things to me, and keep me alive to experience all of it, most likely resulting in my brain being wired into a fucking doorbell." Haisely sat back and tossed a fry towards her mouth, missing, with a grimice crossing her face briefly as it hit the floor while she ate a second normally. "Look, today was, not terrible. But just know the more time I spend in the open the closer that scenario comes to being reality."

The nepcat continued munching on her fries slowly, sitting back and tucking her knees up to her chest while staring at something mildly interesting out of the window. Why did she bother telling him that? Not like he could do anything about it, but knowing a yammie now he's gonna try giving some kind of life advise, oh well wouldn't be the last lecture she received.

The process known as Masato.exe stopped responding, then crashed, then resumed functioning as the Minkan realized that the Haisely route would very likely come to a traumatic and screeching halt if he didn’t choose his next words very, very carefully. No wonder she’s always hidden away, if she has enemies that powerful and plentiful. Empress have mercy, I must’ve sounded like a gorram idiot to her. Smooth, Masato. Very smooth. “As… someone with a Nepleslian father, yeah, I heard a few stories growing up, Haisely-san, and…” - the Shoi paused to meet the hacker’s gaze with his own - “…I… apologize for what I said earlier, as I didn’t know your enemies were that influential. I’m pretty sure the Star Army Research Administration wants me dead for exposing some stuff they'd rather keep hidden, but even they wouldn’t hook me up to a doorbell."

"It's, fine. Might let me off as just being the security camera instead." The cybercat spoke softly while sinking into her chair a little further.

The Shoi once again looked into Haisely's eyes, a blush creeping its way over his cream-colored features as he drew upon every ounce of courage and resolved to finally to speak his mind to the woman in front of him. You know what? You know frelling what? We, well, I ball. This is probably going to at best get me a slap across the face and at worst get my bank accounts drained and my identity sold on the interNEP, but I'm honestly tired of all of this dancing around the subject, so it's time I finally say what I should've said at the start of this excursion. "Haisely Goenkof, I swear that I will do everything in my power to prevent anyone from turning you into a doorbell, a lightbulb, or a security camera, because I-"

At that exact moment, Masato's Type 36 Communicator ringed, which caused the Minkan's serious expression to turn into one of pure rage as the moment he'd been building towards was completely ruined. "Fucking DICKS!" he swore as he read the caller ID helpfully displayed on the phone - which in this case read Star Army Research Administration.

"I'm really, really, really, really sorry, Haisely-san. I know the timing is horrible, but I have to take this, said the engineer as he got up and began making his way towards the exit. "I'll be back in a minute!"

Though, thought Masato as he stepped through the entrance to the fast-food joint, if this is what I think it is I'll be departing for Yamatai soon...

Haisely's eyes slowly widened as Masato spoke, he wasn't actually about to say it was he? To the cybercat's relief his phone interrupted just in time.

"Oh, yeah no worries." The nepleslian shot back while watching him leave out of the corner of her eye. As the minkan stepped through the door and answered his phone, Haisely slid out of their booth and headed for the kitchen much to the employee's shoc. With practiced eyes and physical skills that had become muscle memory the cybercat leapt from a countertop towards a ventilation duct and pulled herself through and into the vent system. Clambering up the inside of the building's ducts until she exited again on a different floor, pereched on another table much the way a cat might.

"It was fun Masato, but I don't think you want to finish that sentence, I'll see you at the base I suppose."

With a few, almost elegant, hops and bounds Haisely disappeared into the mess of stores.