A
Alex Hart
ON, the Queen's Slave, after Star Wasp nine,
New Belfast, Capital Starport
Out on the frontier of Nepleslian space, New Belfast wasn't exactly a jewel of the Imperium. The second of the R-1, or "Freebeer", systems habitable planet, the Ice World was home to countless colonists rushing to exploit the wealth of natural resources discovered there. As with many worlds caught up in these proverbial "gold rushes" it also became a hub for the shadier side of life, where malcontents seek their fortune in far less savory ways then the miner's that made it their home.
One more soul had found their way to the world, given directions to a small freighter known as the Queen's Slave on the planet's biggest port, answering a job opportunity that had cropped up in the past few days. Outside the ship she had been pointed towards, she'd find two lone figures sitting on a pack of crates, wearing formal clothes and...identical faces.
She hated the cold, having massive wings made it hard to keep warm when the biting wind would blast against them and steal what heat they had, so she was happy she found a break wind in the form of a parked space ship with some people in front of it, and it was also the place she was asking about to boot, so win-win.
"Excuse, me," she began as she walked over, "I'm here about a job."
Alex hopped off of the crate, interested in meeting someone new and different, especially now that people seemed to be interested in his idea. The newcomer seemed human enough, but had large white feathery wings. He spoke up, "I believe you're in the right place, miss..."
"Evangelle, Serra Evangelle." She replied to his prompt for her name. Curious, these two seem to be perfectly identical. Now she's heard about twins, but even among them there are generally superficial things that make them distint. But these two look almost cloned. She put that thought out of her mind for the moment, she needed a job right now and being weird about talking to clones would be weird enough. "Mr...?"
"My name is Alex. Its nice to meet you."
The other young man drew himself up to his full height, sporting a shark-like grin as Serra introduced himself. "And I'm Jason." His counterpart added, both seeming to prefer not to give out last names for some reason or another.
"Your resume was pretty impressive, blew most of out other applicants out of the water." He didn't seem all that intrested in playing the usual tactic of downplaying a potential employee's valubleness during a interview. "Me and my... brother," He seemed to hesitate at the last word, as if not quite sure it was the best way to phrase it. "Represent the military of a frontier world's new government. I'm the leader of it's mecha division, which Alex is also apart of. We're intrested in hiring you on as our teams head machanic, and if YOU'RE intrested....head of another project." Jason isfsued a quick, expectant glance at Alex.
Serra was frankly confused at how readily they wanted to hire her. Normally there'd be a back and forth, and discussing how useful her skill set would be to the company, or whatever is hiring her, what her strengths were, what her weaknesses were, how reliable she'd be if left alone and all that stuff. "I... Excuse me, but this is a little forward," she muttered, "normally a potental hire would want to discuss what exactly they need before they jump to hiring someone they never met before."
Alex didn't really know much about how this kind of thing, and cocked his head to the side for a moment. "I didn't know that we were supposed to do something different..." Looking at Jason for some indication of what to do, he seemed very nervous.
Jason let out a low sigh at the response, wondering how exactly he let himself and Alex get stuck with the job instead of passing it off to Ronin. At least that guy had probably gone through more then one Job Interview before. "Of course,of course. I said we're intrested, not that we've chosen you yet."
Alex cocked his head again. "I thought you said that she was the only applicant."
Almost immediately, Jason tried his best to correct the misstep with a bit of a..bending of the truth. "That was another job, Alex." This time the younger of the two shot a glare at his counterpart, before carrying on with with what he was say prior to the inopportune interruption. "Anyway, if you want to sit down," They gestured at one of the crates strewn about the hanger floor. "We can talk your credentials and the job you'd be doing, if we decide to go with you."
"..." The Elysian looked between the two person and raised an eyebrow. "Right..." She said as she walked over to a crate and stared at it, before looking back at the clones. "Can we go somewhere warmer?"
"Sure, we can head into the freighter, if you'd like. Plenty hotter in there." With a singal from the pilot's mindware, one of the freighter ramps opened up, allowing for the group to head in if they so desired. "So you've been an engineer for about...a decade, is that correct? Your resume also said you've had a fair bit of experience with mecha."
Alex walked into the cargo bay of the ship, glad to be out of the cold. Looking back, he asked a quick question. "Is anyone else hungry?"
"Yes, my first position was head engineer for a company called Higa." She said, before her expression soured. "That didn't last long though." She finished. "I got the chance to work on some of their frames before the company folded like a cheap flyer though." She finished. "Before that I worked more as a general mechanic on vehicles." She glanced over to Alex when he asked about people being hungry. "No, I've already eaten."
Jason managed to suppes the urge to shoot another dirty look at the original, seemingly carrying on as if he hadn't heard them. 'This is really not the time Alex, act professional.' The message found it's way to him via mindware rather then something their only applicant could overhear. "Higa Industrial, right? I've heard of them. Shame they went under, the Zilant was a piece of work for it's time."
"Mind if I ask bit about your experiences with the company while you worked there?" Admittedly he would have to take her words regarding her work there on faith, given he couldn't exactly call up her former bosses. Taking lead of the group, closing the ramp again with a mental command and walking down the hallway.
"Hmm," Serra muttered as she rubbed her chin. "Well, I primarilly worked on the MX-01 Ziland and the Mx-02 Typhoon combat frames." She said, "I didn't get a lot of time to work on them naturally, but I was able to comit their schematics and most of ther OS code to memory. I didn't get much time to examine the variant combat fit outs for them though, those were still in alpha prototype phase when the company fell under."
At the mention that she had the designs for the two mecha, for their most part, still in her head elicited a chuckle. "Really now? Good to hear, though I'd imagine still be under copyright." A door at the right side slid open and he prompted the two to enter before doing so herself. Within was a small room, but not cramped for the needs of three people, looking like a commons area for the crew despite the sterile look it had. Seating, tables, and a holo screen on the opposite wall. "But at least we know your familar with frame design."
"Have you only worked in the private sector? No experience servicing machines involved in regular combat or operating in a danger zone?"
"I have not." She admitted, "I generally find war and conflict distasteful," She said. "I have maintenced vehicles that later on were used for warfare, but no, I haven't worked directly on weapons."
"Well, I'll be honest with you and say that our forces get up to a fair bit of...distateful work, if that's how you want to put it."
He pulled up a a chair, taking a seat and resting his chin on his hands while he spoke."Just a few days ago we were part of a sortie with the rest of the fleet, pulling a offensive op liberating an allied system from some former NMX forces. Little more then a week and a half back, Alex was on a...similar mission. If you are intrested in the job, you'd probably be expected to be on whatever ship is ferrying us during these sort of things, and their's a chance it could end up shot at during a skirmish."
Serra sat opposite of Jason and mulled what he said. "While I find violence distasteful, I also understand that violence is a necessary evil." She said. "I would like to help you, but I would also like to stipulate that if you are going to have me service your weapons, you use those weapons to remove more evil from the universe then you are bringing into it."
"Hmm." Jason seemed to pause at her answer himself, though more as if he was making some sort of mental note. "I like to think that on the whole, we're a positive force. Did just save a species from being conquered by some Mishuvarthyar warlord. I'm sure we'll live up to you standards too."
Serra's expression evened out as she stared at Jason. "Allow me to properly explain what I said." She said. "Whie you are doing good, you are using violence to do so." She said, starting out. "Of all things claimed to be good or evil, violence, on its own merits is an act of the utmost evil, It makes people hate, or fear, or want to reciporcate the act on another." She continued. "Paying evil unto evil is a cyclical sin against all life that exists." Serra took a second after that to collect her thoughts some more. "I will help you with your equipment, which includes your weapons, knowing that I am assisting the creaton of more evil, but, I wish to have you promise me that you will bring as little into existance as you take out."
Her would be employer was quiet as she gave her speech, aside from the occasional drumming of the fingers on his left hand onto the table, trying his best to seem respectful given the philosphical nature of her speech. "In that case, you have my word. I don't do what I do because I'm a sadist." His last sentance was said more as a statement of fact then a defense of his occupation, holding neither a apologetic nor accusatory tone.
"Now that we have that out of the way...would you like to take a look at what you'd be working on?"
"Before that, I would like to request extra lodgings aside from myself. I have a dependent and assistant that I'd wish to bring with me, as well as a Junker drone." She said.
"Sure, I think I can pull that off. We make plenty of use for Junker's already." Raising a eyebrow at her , he asked. "Dependent AND assistant? Teaching your daughter the family trade or something?"
"No," Serra stated flatly at the mention of a daughter. "I am the stewerd of a Helaisho, that I procured as an administtrative assistant when I worked with Higa." She explained. "I left her behind when I went to work with Cirrus, but I do not wish to leave her alone anymore."
"I catch you." He replied. "All though I will say that outside our bases, things can be a bit....different then what your used too Like I said, we're on a frontier world and the people don't have access to modern technology. We're working on that though. Their's also a rebel group that could target you, but their mostly harmless. Working with blackpowder and flintlocks."
Serra waved off the threats, "I'm not all the concered for her safety." She said. "Flower is her direct guardian." She said, not elaborating at all.
"Flower...?" He trailed off as if to beg the question when it was clear she wasn't going to enlightment him, at least without prompting.
"My junker." Serra stated. "Saja likes to ride on top it." She said as she procured a picture out of nowhere and showed it to Jason. The depiction is of a downright adorable looking young woman with light grey wavy hair, with a pair of slightly floppy ears on the top of her head, large sparkly lavender eyes, wearing a maid outfit,with a long black and white ringed tail perched like a cat on the top of a heavy set looking metallic egg, brightly painted in psychodelic colors with gears and flowers drawn all over it and four heavy set legs. Both the Junker's central red rail eye and the Helashio's lavender eys are staring right at where the camera is, with the Helashio smiling innocently.
"Cute." Jason only had to take a single look at the picture before letting out a small chuckle at the somewhat absurd scene in front of them. "Yeah, I don't think the guys using muskets are going to be picking any fights with a giant metal spider."
"All the same, I'll make sure she stays far away from them." Serra said before putting the picture away. "Now then, you wanted to show me the mechs?"
As soon as she asked, almost earily, a hologram was projected on the far side of the room, showing a number of Origin frames. From the Venerable M1 Garuda standing at the right, Alex's own heavily customised M3 in the center, with the M5 Kishi, the current cutting edge of Frames pulling up the left.
"You'll have a chance to look at them in person when we got to 188604, but this would be our current compliment, all though with any luck we'll be adding a lot soon. The Kishi's mostly standard apart from the missile pods, though Alex's M3 has been heavily customised. He could probably tell you more. Ronin's the last member of our team, Star Army vet, and he pilots the antique." With a superfluous flick of the wrist, the shapes expanded out to take off their armor and superimpose the internals. "Feel free to mess with the image, take a thorough look."
Serra pushed her glasses up her nose as she looked at the Origin Powered Frame. "Ah, Origin Industries." She said. "I wanted to try and get a job with them, but I felt they must have had an abundent number of engineers." She said, narrowing her eyes as she looked a little closer. "That's the... Garuda, I believe, correct?" When she heard she could play around with the hologram, she got up and walked over to it, and began to remove the simulated weaponry from the base skeleton, she then spun it around, then end over end, then started taking the skeleton apart, setting the limbs and plating into seperate piles, before reassembling the entire thing and returning to her seat. "Interesting design, too bad for the intigrated weapons systems though. It looks like it could be a viable civilian heavy labouring tool."
A slow clap on the far side of the hanger sounded, each a second apart, dripping in cynicism as a figure approached from the far side with slow lazy smarmy steps, seemingly bemused by what she saw.
"Some people never let old designs die, huh? I take it you two are hoplite fangirls?" a woman said as she polished her glasses, trying to juggle in her hand a cardboard cup of coffee, sipping at its cold lid.
She didn't look much older than 18, maybe 19 by Nepleslian standards. Her skintone was painfully pale, almost translucent and her accent equally, was painfully Lorath.
She extend her hand, thrusting it into Alex's without asking and squeezing vigorously -- then next, Serra with a nod.
"Kalopsia, Aiesu Kalopsia." her voice came quietly, noting the images before her: "A close friend said you needed some help."
Alex was taken aback by the introduction. Where had this new person come from. He thought that Jason had only sent this location out to one person. He also wasn't sure where the newcomer had gotten the idea that they were already prototyping.
"Errr... My name's Alex. It's nice to meet you Aiesu. l dont know why you think we're already making a prototype. I only just came up with a conceptual model.
Aiesu took another sip of her coffee, noting the imagery.
"Do you have any specifics in mind? Powerplant, guidance, avionics? -- If you can kink out most of the main systems, couldn't you just run it through a solver and have it work out all the basic wiring and placement requirements for you? If you've got the funds, I think we could go to a working prototype in about two weeks" she said very casually.
Alex was shocked. He hadn't known about any of those things. He'd only just come up with the idea a few days ago.
"Well, I really only came up with the idea while tinkering with a 3D modeling program. I never expected anyone to think about building it. I don't know much about systems either."
"Well, then how are you paying for it? Who's funding this?"
"Well, Jason" At this Alex gestured to his counterpart, only to find that Jason and Serra had walked out of the room while they were talking, "told my boss, Uso Tasuki about it and she seemed enthusiastic about it. She gave him the money but I have plenty of my own."
"I see, fun fun... So what do you have down already?" she took another sip from her coffee, the small woman unassuming. "I mean, we can feed this thing through a solver if you've got servers somewhere. What kind of arrangement for the transformation are you going for? Folded front or classic split-back like the old hoplite?"
Alex went and got a tablet from his room. He then showed Aiesu the model and the transformation.
"I was thinking something like this. I have the front folding down and the legs and arms coming out from the body. I have a bit of a split in the back here because I thought it would be a good way to hold larger payloads."
"Makes sense. Where were you thinking for engine placement? The legs or the back?"
Alex rotated the model to show a leg and a bit of the back.
"I was thinking that the main engines would go in the legs, but there could also be some in back for when it's transformed as a mecha.
"You mean a frame. Mecha are what fans of science fiction and Yamataian cartoons call them."
"Oh. I didn't know that. I've mostly heard them called mecha so I assumed it was the proper name."
"...No. I take it you're used to flying ships and planes?"
"Wouldn't exactly be the safest bet, no." A voice from rang out from the once more opening freighter as someone the spitting image of Alex jumped out. "Let's just say he's not the type to care too much about proper terminology."
Aiesu took another sip of her coffe, swirling it over her tongue before eyeing it with a quiet grumble -- Cold.
"He's not particularly professional then. Some kid from the boonies?"
Someone her size, talking about Alex like he were a child. She was shorter than HE was!
The clone couldn't help but smirk at her estimation, striding up to the pair with a bemused twinkle in his eye. "Something like that, yeah, and I'm afraid professionalism is in short supply where we work."
Given his apparent age and lack of familairity with the norms of society Jason wasn't exactly about to look down on her over own youthful appearance, but..... "I don't believe we've met, Mrs..."
"Kalopsia, Aiesu Kalopsia" she repeated herself - bitterly disappointed with her coffee now.
Alex ruffled his hair in embarrasment. While 10 years of training managed to instill many things in him, a professional attitude was not one of them. However, one thing he did have was the innately human desire to protect his own fragile ego.
"I might not be quite as professional as you Jason, but I'm still the better one in the cockpit." He shot back.
"Jason, front and center" she nodded, clicking her finger as if commanding a dog.
He looked for a moment as if he was about to retort to his counterpart, more amused then angered by the claim, before the Lor gave her command. Without hesitating she found Jason towering above her, offering the woman a mock salute. "As in the famous scientist? Suprised to see someone like you bothering our lowly little freighter in the middle of nowhere..."
Aiesu gave a subtle shrug. "You'll notice my photos never match... There's a lot of me to go round. I've got some stuff in the cargo-bay if you don't mind that I'd like unpacking so we can get set up..." she eyed her watch. "I mean, the hardest part of any frame is usually the software and avionics so I'll head that, I'm happy to help with engines, but the rest is your baby, okay?"
Alex was slightly annoyed at being sidelined like this. The craft had been his idea originally, but he was also loath to speek up, lest he drive a potential ally away. Settling for a happy medium, he decided to speak.
"I was wondering if you could run stuff by me first, after all, it was my idea." He said shyly.
"Sure, but I'm not sure you'll really understand most of it. Software is a little different from engineering, you see."
"I just want to feel like have some say in how things go." Given Alex's past, this desire wasn't surprising, though he was not overly vocal about it.
"That's fine, just know when you're out of your depth. I'm happy to help, but I'll be dealing with the software. The hardware is entirely up to you."
"That's fine. We've got that Elysian you met earlier on the team as well."
"Fun, fun."
Jason shot a glance at Alex that nestled somewhere between approval and...pity? "Don't worry man, we all know the project is your baby." He turned his attention back to Aiesu, a hint of suspiscion and hesitation marking his voice. "Assuming you are who you say you are, I'd love to have you working for us, but nobody told me you'd be showing up. Who exactly did you talk to about this?"
"Your boss and I go way back, kid. She's a nice lady. He's a nice lady... Still a tricky one for me to wrap my head around: telepresence makes everything very difficult, y'know?" Aiesu tried not to laugh. "You wouldn't know where I could get a refill, could you?" she held up her cup.
"Sure, we have a coffee maker inside, follow me." Jason made a gesture to follow along, seemingly gullible taking her story at face value...or maybe just thinking someone like her wouldn't be much trouble to deal with if they were lying? "Didn't know she was using male bodies. Anyway, I'd be happy to happy to help you get your stuff in. Our new head engineer on the project, Serra, should be right inside in case you want to chat."
Aiesu was soon pacing herself behind Jason, getting a sense of the ship she'd only known for a matter of minutes now as she pondered.
"So what's your experience of Uso, off the record?"
"Well, I'm not sure I'm the best judge. Haven't known her for too long. That being said..."
Jason took a pause as if to carefully consider his words, eyes darting from one end of the hall to the next as if searching for...something. "She's opportunistic, and likes to gamble. Is pretty good at delegating things, and finding the right people for a job. Doesn't lean much on fomality, all though she does seem to care about appearances...in a 'I want to manipulate people' way, not a self concious one. Gave me this whole spiel about how to dress to manage expectations when she took me and Alex clothes shopping once."
"What's your take on her?"
"She thinks technology and money can solve all of her problems. That if she asks nicely enough, she can have anything she wants. Or that if they say no, she can make them say yes. Very very fond of alcohol in my experience, though that might just be a set-piece" Aiesu replied.
Alex was uncomfortable with the talk of manipulation, and so walked in awkward silence.
"Ouch, you really did mean off the record, all though money and the right tech can solve a lot. I guess I should add that she's the kind of person who'd conquer a foriegn planet and set herself up as dictator, so make of that what you will." A door slid open to Jason's side, the young man ushering his two companions into the rec room, the smell of freshly brewed coffee wafting in the air. "I'm kind of suprised someone with your reputation would get involved with people like us. Not worried about it coming out your working with the military of some backwater colonial empire?"
"Why would I be? There's like a million of me" she tried not to laugh. "I could die here and it doesn't really change anything for me, so don't worry about it" Aiesu scented the air, her nose searching for that rich bitter goodness. She soon found herself before the machine - eyes squinting as she decyphered trade and began punching buttons. It wasn't long before she summoned something disgustingly sweet though she did something strage - popping a few plain white pills into the beverage before covering it in some bizzare combination of vanilla and various syrups she apparently kept in her metallic briefcase connected via cuff to her left wrist. There was an assortment of strange objects inside: black slates, surgical bags and little pill bottles, but before much could be seen she'd already locked the clasps and was happy with her coffee which she wore as a vanilla cream mustache.
Serra looked over to the smaller woman suddenly appearing at the coffee machine she was leaning next to. "Who're you? Where's Jason?"
"Dr Kalopsia. I'm a voulintary consultant. Friend of your boss. Who are you?"
Serra raised a brow. "A new hire." She sipped at the coffee in her hand.
"Design, manufacture or general use?"
"Yes." Serra sipped her coffee again.
Alex, while the others had been talking, had sat himself down on a couch, and was projecting an image of from the screen, showing model being manipulated... while hands were in his lap.
"She's the woman I was telling you about, will be working on the hardware side of things." Jason voice called out before he joined the two. "Aiesu, Serra Evangelle, former head engineer of HIGA. Serra, Aiesu Kalopsia, sector famous neurologist and expert in artificial intelligence."
"YOU'RE HIGA?" Aiesu visibly balked - surprised. "...We came so close to buying you out so many times. Your refusals were a wonderful mark of defiance in a world where everybody else cares about their bottom line" she tried not to laugh. It was unclear if she was saying this ironically or if her sarcastic delivery was masking her genuine opinion. Aiesu was a tricky one.
Serra raised a finger while in the middle of another drink. "Former HIGA, I left when they dissolved." She said,
"Well, you are where you come from."
"Then I'm Elysian since I came from there." Serra snapped.
"Oh wow, I've never had the chance to ask a real Elysian this. ...You've... Heard of duq duq goose, right?"
"No." Serra replied.
"Hoo boy we've got some bonding to do, cousin. Man, I can just feel how offended you are just me calling you that. Uso was right: this is going to be FUN."
"Please don't." Serra muttered evenly, sincerity seems like it should be in her tone, but no. there isn't any.
"Well considering your both going to be working on the U-1, you'll have to learn to love each other. Or not kill each other, at least." Jason seemed to visibly be trying to suppress a laugh. "But I'm glad your already hyped to start working."
Aiesu nodded, still nursing her coffee and creamy mustache before eyeing Serra thoughtfully.
"...I'm a trained doctor but I don't know much about Elysians..." -- a line of conversation Serra was soon going to learn to dread as so many sentences would start this way: "Do you give birth to live young or...?"
Serra leveled an even glare at the smaller woman. "We Elysians are not evolved from birds." She stated, "like everything else in Kikyo, we are a hybrdization, though created for asthetics by the Black Sun."
"So originality isn't your strong-suite. Sera, was it...?"
"...You're a Lorath right?" Serra asked, "an actual birdbrain, from that backwater world Yamatai blew up, correct?"
"Technically no. I'm actually not Lorath at all. I'm representing a Lorath. I do a great job though, wouldn't you agree?" Aiesu chuckled smugly.
The Elysian took a deep breath as she took another drink from her cup of coffee. "I feel this will be a very irritating stay," She muttered. "Just no bullying my Saja." Serra said.
"What's your Saja?"
"A Helashio under my care."
"Oh? I simply must meet it."
"Her." Serra snapped.
Aiesu snickered quietly.
"Well, Mrs.Evangelle did make it clear that bringing her over was a part of the contract, so I'm sure you'll get the chance." If the look in his eyes was anything to go by, the young man was definitely a fan of schadenfreude. "Well you be coming over alone, Doctor Kalopsia?"
"Mmm? Just me. Though, if you if you see anyone who looks like me, they probably answer to my name so don't worry."
"That sounds like an even worse annoyance." Serra said, "Isn't one of you enough?"
"We're all slightly different. Some of me might be nicer, some might be meaner. Think of us as a family."
"I'll rather think of you all as an infestation." Serra quipped. "I'll need to brush up on my mouse traps, but for birds."
"Do those exist? Maybe if you built them a house and poisoned the feed..."
"If they don't I'll share the patent with you, Jason."
Alex was having trouble following the conversation, but from what he could make out, Serra was mad because Aiesu had called Saja, which he assumed to be Serra's daughter, an it. He felt the need to speak up before the situation got more out of hand.
"I think that you should apologize Aiesu. It isn't right to call anyone an it. I'm sure that Saja is a lovely person, just like everyone here, and I look forward to meeting her."
"Saja's more of an angel then I am," Serra said. "Which is a feat since I am an angel."
"...Helashio leading Elysians around. Fitting. I'm not apologizing. Uso begged for me to be here," Aiesu eyed her coffee again licking the foam from her lips finally. "What that means is if I'm nice, its not because I have to be."
Alex had had enough of the unpleasntness. There was only so much the young man could take before he felt the need to act. Taking Aiesu's wrist in his hand with a dangerous strength that belied his wiry frame, he lifted the diminutive figure up until she on the tips of her toes.
He then spoke in a cold voice that was unlike the quiet boy people knew.
"I think you should apologize, or you should leave."
Her lips spread: revealing teeth like those of a shark: triangles locked together with eyes cerise filled with malice and want - screaming 'do it' as she laughed softly to herself.
"What the actual fuck are you doing Alex." As soon as he had made a move on the woman Jason was immediately following after him, attempting to grab his 'twin' wrist and twist till he let go. "You can't just attack people out of nowhere."
Alex responded only by looking at Jason with a curious gaze before taking his twins wrist and tried to move it away from his other arm. The pain from the twisting was easily enough ignored as it was nothing compared to ten years of abuse.
"I'm done listening to people argue."
"No, he's right. Alex. You need an appointment first."
"You know in polite society, we have this ---unspoken rule where we don't outright assault people who are doing things we aren't fond of. We mainly have to make do with sniping and ostracizing them."
Alex cut off his twin midsentence. "In a polite society she wouldn't have said those things and caused a problem.'
"But we're not in polite society. This is Nepleslia."
Serra was watching this episode of an overdone drama silently for aeveral minutes. "So... is everyone done?" She asked.
"Over easy. You give birth to live young so you're anybody's..." Aiesu couldn't keep a straight face, bent forward laughing to the point of tears before waving her hand before her mouth as if wafting to cool herself "I'm done, I'm done. I think it goes without saying that as an AI specialist, I'm also a psychologist so this was a chance to get to know you a little better - see all of your little group dynamics" she wiped her eye. "You're going to be really fun. No hard feelings?" she held out her hand to Serra.
Serra looked at the hand for a second. "Just be nice to Saja." Serra said, taking the offered hand. "That goes for the other yous to, please pass it along."
"Of course. I'm a trained vete-... Doctor of Helashio biology so if you'd like to have her examined - something I normally charge a few grand for, I'd be happy to give her the works free of charge when I've got some time. You're not gonna find another doctor who knows Helashio this well in twenty lightyears." Her voice was actually quite sweet at this point, still trying not to laugh from the absurdity of the melodrama that had been just moments before.
Any momentary enthisiasm that Jason straight up assaulting her hadn't soured her on the whole deal, and she seemed to be taking things pretty well was dimmed by the fact still hadn't let her go. "See, they're getting along great? Now why you just calm down before you end up escalating this into something we'll both regret, okay? Hell, I'm not even sure she can feel pain-"
"What was that first bit?" Serra asked
"Nope, nothing!" Aiesu interjected, closing her slender pale fingertips around Alex's wrist - patting gently for him to let go.
"So I'm pretty sure this is a bit of a lost cause on your part." For the moment Jason let go himself, attempting to deescalate the situation, but keeping one hand near his NSP.
Alex let the small figure down before sitting down and seeming to undergo a change back to the shy boy that everyone had met. "I don't think that was a nice way of getting to know someone." He said quietly.
Aiesu glanced about mousily, pushing her glasses back up her nose as she felt the ground again.
"This is really good coffee."
New Belfast, Capital Starport
Out on the frontier of Nepleslian space, New Belfast wasn't exactly a jewel of the Imperium. The second of the R-1, or "Freebeer", systems habitable planet, the Ice World was home to countless colonists rushing to exploit the wealth of natural resources discovered there. As with many worlds caught up in these proverbial "gold rushes" it also became a hub for the shadier side of life, where malcontents seek their fortune in far less savory ways then the miner's that made it their home.
One more soul had found their way to the world, given directions to a small freighter known as the Queen's Slave on the planet's biggest port, answering a job opportunity that had cropped up in the past few days. Outside the ship she had been pointed towards, she'd find two lone figures sitting on a pack of crates, wearing formal clothes and...identical faces.
She hated the cold, having massive wings made it hard to keep warm when the biting wind would blast against them and steal what heat they had, so she was happy she found a break wind in the form of a parked space ship with some people in front of it, and it was also the place she was asking about to boot, so win-win.
"Excuse, me," she began as she walked over, "I'm here about a job."
Alex hopped off of the crate, interested in meeting someone new and different, especially now that people seemed to be interested in his idea. The newcomer seemed human enough, but had large white feathery wings. He spoke up, "I believe you're in the right place, miss..."
"Evangelle, Serra Evangelle." She replied to his prompt for her name. Curious, these two seem to be perfectly identical. Now she's heard about twins, but even among them there are generally superficial things that make them distint. But these two look almost cloned. She put that thought out of her mind for the moment, she needed a job right now and being weird about talking to clones would be weird enough. "Mr...?"
"My name is Alex. Its nice to meet you."
The other young man drew himself up to his full height, sporting a shark-like grin as Serra introduced himself. "And I'm Jason." His counterpart added, both seeming to prefer not to give out last names for some reason or another.
"Your resume was pretty impressive, blew most of out other applicants out of the water." He didn't seem all that intrested in playing the usual tactic of downplaying a potential employee's valubleness during a interview. "Me and my... brother," He seemed to hesitate at the last word, as if not quite sure it was the best way to phrase it. "Represent the military of a frontier world's new government. I'm the leader of it's mecha division, which Alex is also apart of. We're intrested in hiring you on as our teams head machanic, and if YOU'RE intrested....head of another project." Jason isfsued a quick, expectant glance at Alex.
Serra was frankly confused at how readily they wanted to hire her. Normally there'd be a back and forth, and discussing how useful her skill set would be to the company, or whatever is hiring her, what her strengths were, what her weaknesses were, how reliable she'd be if left alone and all that stuff. "I... Excuse me, but this is a little forward," she muttered, "normally a potental hire would want to discuss what exactly they need before they jump to hiring someone they never met before."
Alex didn't really know much about how this kind of thing, and cocked his head to the side for a moment. "I didn't know that we were supposed to do something different..." Looking at Jason for some indication of what to do, he seemed very nervous.
Jason let out a low sigh at the response, wondering how exactly he let himself and Alex get stuck with the job instead of passing it off to Ronin. At least that guy had probably gone through more then one Job Interview before. "Of course,of course. I said we're intrested, not that we've chosen you yet."
Alex cocked his head again. "I thought you said that she was the only applicant."
Almost immediately, Jason tried his best to correct the misstep with a bit of a..bending of the truth. "That was another job, Alex." This time the younger of the two shot a glare at his counterpart, before carrying on with with what he was say prior to the inopportune interruption. "Anyway, if you want to sit down," They gestured at one of the crates strewn about the hanger floor. "We can talk your credentials and the job you'd be doing, if we decide to go with you."
"..." The Elysian looked between the two person and raised an eyebrow. "Right..." She said as she walked over to a crate and stared at it, before looking back at the clones. "Can we go somewhere warmer?"
"Sure, we can head into the freighter, if you'd like. Plenty hotter in there." With a singal from the pilot's mindware, one of the freighter ramps opened up, allowing for the group to head in if they so desired. "So you've been an engineer for about...a decade, is that correct? Your resume also said you've had a fair bit of experience with mecha."
Alex walked into the cargo bay of the ship, glad to be out of the cold. Looking back, he asked a quick question. "Is anyone else hungry?"
"Yes, my first position was head engineer for a company called Higa." She said, before her expression soured. "That didn't last long though." She finished. "I got the chance to work on some of their frames before the company folded like a cheap flyer though." She finished. "Before that I worked more as a general mechanic on vehicles." She glanced over to Alex when he asked about people being hungry. "No, I've already eaten."
Jason managed to suppes the urge to shoot another dirty look at the original, seemingly carrying on as if he hadn't heard them. 'This is really not the time Alex, act professional.' The message found it's way to him via mindware rather then something their only applicant could overhear. "Higa Industrial, right? I've heard of them. Shame they went under, the Zilant was a piece of work for it's time."
"Mind if I ask bit about your experiences with the company while you worked there?" Admittedly he would have to take her words regarding her work there on faith, given he couldn't exactly call up her former bosses. Taking lead of the group, closing the ramp again with a mental command and walking down the hallway.
"Hmm," Serra muttered as she rubbed her chin. "Well, I primarilly worked on the MX-01 Ziland and the Mx-02 Typhoon combat frames." She said, "I didn't get a lot of time to work on them naturally, but I was able to comit their schematics and most of ther OS code to memory. I didn't get much time to examine the variant combat fit outs for them though, those were still in alpha prototype phase when the company fell under."
At the mention that she had the designs for the two mecha, for their most part, still in her head elicited a chuckle. "Really now? Good to hear, though I'd imagine still be under copyright." A door at the right side slid open and he prompted the two to enter before doing so herself. Within was a small room, but not cramped for the needs of three people, looking like a commons area for the crew despite the sterile look it had. Seating, tables, and a holo screen on the opposite wall. "But at least we know your familar with frame design."
"Have you only worked in the private sector? No experience servicing machines involved in regular combat or operating in a danger zone?"
"I have not." She admitted, "I generally find war and conflict distasteful," She said. "I have maintenced vehicles that later on were used for warfare, but no, I haven't worked directly on weapons."
"Well, I'll be honest with you and say that our forces get up to a fair bit of...distateful work, if that's how you want to put it."
He pulled up a a chair, taking a seat and resting his chin on his hands while he spoke."Just a few days ago we were part of a sortie with the rest of the fleet, pulling a offensive op liberating an allied system from some former NMX forces. Little more then a week and a half back, Alex was on a...similar mission. If you are intrested in the job, you'd probably be expected to be on whatever ship is ferrying us during these sort of things, and their's a chance it could end up shot at during a skirmish."
Serra sat opposite of Jason and mulled what he said. "While I find violence distasteful, I also understand that violence is a necessary evil." She said. "I would like to help you, but I would also like to stipulate that if you are going to have me service your weapons, you use those weapons to remove more evil from the universe then you are bringing into it."
"Hmm." Jason seemed to pause at her answer himself, though more as if he was making some sort of mental note. "I like to think that on the whole, we're a positive force. Did just save a species from being conquered by some Mishuvarthyar warlord. I'm sure we'll live up to you standards too."
Serra's expression evened out as she stared at Jason. "Allow me to properly explain what I said." She said. "Whie you are doing good, you are using violence to do so." She said, starting out. "Of all things claimed to be good or evil, violence, on its own merits is an act of the utmost evil, It makes people hate, or fear, or want to reciporcate the act on another." She continued. "Paying evil unto evil is a cyclical sin against all life that exists." Serra took a second after that to collect her thoughts some more. "I will help you with your equipment, which includes your weapons, knowing that I am assisting the creaton of more evil, but, I wish to have you promise me that you will bring as little into existance as you take out."
Her would be employer was quiet as she gave her speech, aside from the occasional drumming of the fingers on his left hand onto the table, trying his best to seem respectful given the philosphical nature of her speech. "In that case, you have my word. I don't do what I do because I'm a sadist." His last sentance was said more as a statement of fact then a defense of his occupation, holding neither a apologetic nor accusatory tone.
"Now that we have that out of the way...would you like to take a look at what you'd be working on?"
"Before that, I would like to request extra lodgings aside from myself. I have a dependent and assistant that I'd wish to bring with me, as well as a Junker drone." She said.
"Sure, I think I can pull that off. We make plenty of use for Junker's already." Raising a eyebrow at her , he asked. "Dependent AND assistant? Teaching your daughter the family trade or something?"
"No," Serra stated flatly at the mention of a daughter. "I am the stewerd of a Helaisho, that I procured as an administtrative assistant when I worked with Higa." She explained. "I left her behind when I went to work with Cirrus, but I do not wish to leave her alone anymore."
"I catch you." He replied. "All though I will say that outside our bases, things can be a bit....different then what your used too Like I said, we're on a frontier world and the people don't have access to modern technology. We're working on that though. Their's also a rebel group that could target you, but their mostly harmless. Working with blackpowder and flintlocks."
Serra waved off the threats, "I'm not all the concered for her safety." She said. "Flower is her direct guardian." She said, not elaborating at all.
"Flower...?" He trailed off as if to beg the question when it was clear she wasn't going to enlightment him, at least without prompting.
"My junker." Serra stated. "Saja likes to ride on top it." She said as she procured a picture out of nowhere and showed it to Jason. The depiction is of a downright adorable looking young woman with light grey wavy hair, with a pair of slightly floppy ears on the top of her head, large sparkly lavender eyes, wearing a maid outfit,with a long black and white ringed tail perched like a cat on the top of a heavy set looking metallic egg, brightly painted in psychodelic colors with gears and flowers drawn all over it and four heavy set legs. Both the Junker's central red rail eye and the Helashio's lavender eys are staring right at where the camera is, with the Helashio smiling innocently.
"Cute." Jason only had to take a single look at the picture before letting out a small chuckle at the somewhat absurd scene in front of them. "Yeah, I don't think the guys using muskets are going to be picking any fights with a giant metal spider."
"All the same, I'll make sure she stays far away from them." Serra said before putting the picture away. "Now then, you wanted to show me the mechs?"
As soon as she asked, almost earily, a hologram was projected on the far side of the room, showing a number of Origin frames. From the Venerable M1 Garuda standing at the right, Alex's own heavily customised M3 in the center, with the M5 Kishi, the current cutting edge of Frames pulling up the left.
"You'll have a chance to look at them in person when we got to 188604, but this would be our current compliment, all though with any luck we'll be adding a lot soon. The Kishi's mostly standard apart from the missile pods, though Alex's M3 has been heavily customised. He could probably tell you more. Ronin's the last member of our team, Star Army vet, and he pilots the antique." With a superfluous flick of the wrist, the shapes expanded out to take off their armor and superimpose the internals. "Feel free to mess with the image, take a thorough look."
Serra pushed her glasses up her nose as she looked at the Origin Powered Frame. "Ah, Origin Industries." She said. "I wanted to try and get a job with them, but I felt they must have had an abundent number of engineers." She said, narrowing her eyes as she looked a little closer. "That's the... Garuda, I believe, correct?" When she heard she could play around with the hologram, she got up and walked over to it, and began to remove the simulated weaponry from the base skeleton, she then spun it around, then end over end, then started taking the skeleton apart, setting the limbs and plating into seperate piles, before reassembling the entire thing and returning to her seat. "Interesting design, too bad for the intigrated weapons systems though. It looks like it could be a viable civilian heavy labouring tool."
A slow clap on the far side of the hanger sounded, each a second apart, dripping in cynicism as a figure approached from the far side with slow lazy smarmy steps, seemingly bemused by what she saw.
"Some people never let old designs die, huh? I take it you two are hoplite fangirls?" a woman said as she polished her glasses, trying to juggle in her hand a cardboard cup of coffee, sipping at its cold lid.
She didn't look much older than 18, maybe 19 by Nepleslian standards. Her skintone was painfully pale, almost translucent and her accent equally, was painfully Lorath.
She extend her hand, thrusting it into Alex's without asking and squeezing vigorously -- then next, Serra with a nod.
"Kalopsia, Aiesu Kalopsia." her voice came quietly, noting the images before her: "A close friend said you needed some help."
Alex was taken aback by the introduction. Where had this new person come from. He thought that Jason had only sent this location out to one person. He also wasn't sure where the newcomer had gotten the idea that they were already prototyping.
"Errr... My name's Alex. It's nice to meet you Aiesu. l dont know why you think we're already making a prototype. I only just came up with a conceptual model.
Aiesu took another sip of her coffee, noting the imagery.
"Do you have any specifics in mind? Powerplant, guidance, avionics? -- If you can kink out most of the main systems, couldn't you just run it through a solver and have it work out all the basic wiring and placement requirements for you? If you've got the funds, I think we could go to a working prototype in about two weeks" she said very casually.
Alex was shocked. He hadn't known about any of those things. He'd only just come up with the idea a few days ago.
"Well, I really only came up with the idea while tinkering with a 3D modeling program. I never expected anyone to think about building it. I don't know much about systems either."
"Well, then how are you paying for it? Who's funding this?"
"Well, Jason" At this Alex gestured to his counterpart, only to find that Jason and Serra had walked out of the room while they were talking, "told my boss, Uso Tasuki about it and she seemed enthusiastic about it. She gave him the money but I have plenty of my own."
"I see, fun fun... So what do you have down already?" she took another sip from her coffee, the small woman unassuming. "I mean, we can feed this thing through a solver if you've got servers somewhere. What kind of arrangement for the transformation are you going for? Folded front or classic split-back like the old hoplite?"
Alex went and got a tablet from his room. He then showed Aiesu the model and the transformation.
"I was thinking something like this. I have the front folding down and the legs and arms coming out from the body. I have a bit of a split in the back here because I thought it would be a good way to hold larger payloads."
"Makes sense. Where were you thinking for engine placement? The legs or the back?"
Alex rotated the model to show a leg and a bit of the back.
"I was thinking that the main engines would go in the legs, but there could also be some in back for when it's transformed as a mecha.
"You mean a frame. Mecha are what fans of science fiction and Yamataian cartoons call them."
"Oh. I didn't know that. I've mostly heard them called mecha so I assumed it was the proper name."
"...No. I take it you're used to flying ships and planes?"
"Wouldn't exactly be the safest bet, no." A voice from rang out from the once more opening freighter as someone the spitting image of Alex jumped out. "Let's just say he's not the type to care too much about proper terminology."
Aiesu took another sip of her coffe, swirling it over her tongue before eyeing it with a quiet grumble -- Cold.
"He's not particularly professional then. Some kid from the boonies?"
Someone her size, talking about Alex like he were a child. She was shorter than HE was!
The clone couldn't help but smirk at her estimation, striding up to the pair with a bemused twinkle in his eye. "Something like that, yeah, and I'm afraid professionalism is in short supply where we work."
Given his apparent age and lack of familairity with the norms of society Jason wasn't exactly about to look down on her over own youthful appearance, but..... "I don't believe we've met, Mrs..."
"Kalopsia, Aiesu Kalopsia" she repeated herself - bitterly disappointed with her coffee now.
Alex ruffled his hair in embarrasment. While 10 years of training managed to instill many things in him, a professional attitude was not one of them. However, one thing he did have was the innately human desire to protect his own fragile ego.
"I might not be quite as professional as you Jason, but I'm still the better one in the cockpit." He shot back.
"Jason, front and center" she nodded, clicking her finger as if commanding a dog.
He looked for a moment as if he was about to retort to his counterpart, more amused then angered by the claim, before the Lor gave her command. Without hesitating she found Jason towering above her, offering the woman a mock salute. "As in the famous scientist? Suprised to see someone like you bothering our lowly little freighter in the middle of nowhere..."
Aiesu gave a subtle shrug. "You'll notice my photos never match... There's a lot of me to go round. I've got some stuff in the cargo-bay if you don't mind that I'd like unpacking so we can get set up..." she eyed her watch. "I mean, the hardest part of any frame is usually the software and avionics so I'll head that, I'm happy to help with engines, but the rest is your baby, okay?"
Alex was slightly annoyed at being sidelined like this. The craft had been his idea originally, but he was also loath to speek up, lest he drive a potential ally away. Settling for a happy medium, he decided to speak.
"I was wondering if you could run stuff by me first, after all, it was my idea." He said shyly.
"Sure, but I'm not sure you'll really understand most of it. Software is a little different from engineering, you see."
"I just want to feel like have some say in how things go." Given Alex's past, this desire wasn't surprising, though he was not overly vocal about it.
"That's fine, just know when you're out of your depth. I'm happy to help, but I'll be dealing with the software. The hardware is entirely up to you."
"That's fine. We've got that Elysian you met earlier on the team as well."
"Fun, fun."
Jason shot a glance at Alex that nestled somewhere between approval and...pity? "Don't worry man, we all know the project is your baby." He turned his attention back to Aiesu, a hint of suspiscion and hesitation marking his voice. "Assuming you are who you say you are, I'd love to have you working for us, but nobody told me you'd be showing up. Who exactly did you talk to about this?"
"Your boss and I go way back, kid. She's a nice lady. He's a nice lady... Still a tricky one for me to wrap my head around: telepresence makes everything very difficult, y'know?" Aiesu tried not to laugh. "You wouldn't know where I could get a refill, could you?" she held up her cup.
"Sure, we have a coffee maker inside, follow me." Jason made a gesture to follow along, seemingly gullible taking her story at face value...or maybe just thinking someone like her wouldn't be much trouble to deal with if they were lying? "Didn't know she was using male bodies. Anyway, I'd be happy to happy to help you get your stuff in. Our new head engineer on the project, Serra, should be right inside in case you want to chat."
Aiesu was soon pacing herself behind Jason, getting a sense of the ship she'd only known for a matter of minutes now as she pondered.
"So what's your experience of Uso, off the record?"
"Well, I'm not sure I'm the best judge. Haven't known her for too long. That being said..."
Jason took a pause as if to carefully consider his words, eyes darting from one end of the hall to the next as if searching for...something. "She's opportunistic, and likes to gamble. Is pretty good at delegating things, and finding the right people for a job. Doesn't lean much on fomality, all though she does seem to care about appearances...in a 'I want to manipulate people' way, not a self concious one. Gave me this whole spiel about how to dress to manage expectations when she took me and Alex clothes shopping once."
"What's your take on her?"
"She thinks technology and money can solve all of her problems. That if she asks nicely enough, she can have anything she wants. Or that if they say no, she can make them say yes. Very very fond of alcohol in my experience, though that might just be a set-piece" Aiesu replied.
Alex was uncomfortable with the talk of manipulation, and so walked in awkward silence.
"Ouch, you really did mean off the record, all though money and the right tech can solve a lot. I guess I should add that she's the kind of person who'd conquer a foriegn planet and set herself up as dictator, so make of that what you will." A door slid open to Jason's side, the young man ushering his two companions into the rec room, the smell of freshly brewed coffee wafting in the air. "I'm kind of suprised someone with your reputation would get involved with people like us. Not worried about it coming out your working with the military of some backwater colonial empire?"
"Why would I be? There's like a million of me" she tried not to laugh. "I could die here and it doesn't really change anything for me, so don't worry about it" Aiesu scented the air, her nose searching for that rich bitter goodness. She soon found herself before the machine - eyes squinting as she decyphered trade and began punching buttons. It wasn't long before she summoned something disgustingly sweet though she did something strage - popping a few plain white pills into the beverage before covering it in some bizzare combination of vanilla and various syrups she apparently kept in her metallic briefcase connected via cuff to her left wrist. There was an assortment of strange objects inside: black slates, surgical bags and little pill bottles, but before much could be seen she'd already locked the clasps and was happy with her coffee which she wore as a vanilla cream mustache.
Serra looked over to the smaller woman suddenly appearing at the coffee machine she was leaning next to. "Who're you? Where's Jason?"
"Dr Kalopsia. I'm a voulintary consultant. Friend of your boss. Who are you?"
Serra raised a brow. "A new hire." She sipped at the coffee in her hand.
"Design, manufacture or general use?"
"Yes." Serra sipped her coffee again.
Alex, while the others had been talking, had sat himself down on a couch, and was projecting an image of from the screen, showing model being manipulated... while hands were in his lap.
"She's the woman I was telling you about, will be working on the hardware side of things." Jason voice called out before he joined the two. "Aiesu, Serra Evangelle, former head engineer of HIGA. Serra, Aiesu Kalopsia, sector famous neurologist and expert in artificial intelligence."
"YOU'RE HIGA?" Aiesu visibly balked - surprised. "...We came so close to buying you out so many times. Your refusals were a wonderful mark of defiance in a world where everybody else cares about their bottom line" she tried not to laugh. It was unclear if she was saying this ironically or if her sarcastic delivery was masking her genuine opinion. Aiesu was a tricky one.
Serra raised a finger while in the middle of another drink. "Former HIGA, I left when they dissolved." She said,
"Well, you are where you come from."
"Then I'm Elysian since I came from there." Serra snapped.
"Oh wow, I've never had the chance to ask a real Elysian this. ...You've... Heard of duq duq goose, right?"
"No." Serra replied.
"Hoo boy we've got some bonding to do, cousin. Man, I can just feel how offended you are just me calling you that. Uso was right: this is going to be FUN."
"Please don't." Serra muttered evenly, sincerity seems like it should be in her tone, but no. there isn't any.
"Well considering your both going to be working on the U-1, you'll have to learn to love each other. Or not kill each other, at least." Jason seemed to visibly be trying to suppress a laugh. "But I'm glad your already hyped to start working."
Aiesu nodded, still nursing her coffee and creamy mustache before eyeing Serra thoughtfully.
"...I'm a trained doctor but I don't know much about Elysians..." -- a line of conversation Serra was soon going to learn to dread as so many sentences would start this way: "Do you give birth to live young or...?"
Serra leveled an even glare at the smaller woman. "We Elysians are not evolved from birds." She stated, "like everything else in Kikyo, we are a hybrdization, though created for asthetics by the Black Sun."
"So originality isn't your strong-suite. Sera, was it...?"
"...You're a Lorath right?" Serra asked, "an actual birdbrain, from that backwater world Yamatai blew up, correct?"
"Technically no. I'm actually not Lorath at all. I'm representing a Lorath. I do a great job though, wouldn't you agree?" Aiesu chuckled smugly.
The Elysian took a deep breath as she took another drink from her cup of coffee. "I feel this will be a very irritating stay," She muttered. "Just no bullying my Saja." Serra said.
"What's your Saja?"
"A Helashio under my care."
"Oh? I simply must meet it."
"Her." Serra snapped.
Aiesu snickered quietly.
"Well, Mrs.Evangelle did make it clear that bringing her over was a part of the contract, so I'm sure you'll get the chance." If the look in his eyes was anything to go by, the young man was definitely a fan of schadenfreude. "Well you be coming over alone, Doctor Kalopsia?"
"Mmm? Just me. Though, if you if you see anyone who looks like me, they probably answer to my name so don't worry."
"That sounds like an even worse annoyance." Serra said, "Isn't one of you enough?"
"We're all slightly different. Some of me might be nicer, some might be meaner. Think of us as a family."
"I'll rather think of you all as an infestation." Serra quipped. "I'll need to brush up on my mouse traps, but for birds."
"Do those exist? Maybe if you built them a house and poisoned the feed..."
"If they don't I'll share the patent with you, Jason."
Alex was having trouble following the conversation, but from what he could make out, Serra was mad because Aiesu had called Saja, which he assumed to be Serra's daughter, an it. He felt the need to speak up before the situation got more out of hand.
"I think that you should apologize Aiesu. It isn't right to call anyone an it. I'm sure that Saja is a lovely person, just like everyone here, and I look forward to meeting her."
"Saja's more of an angel then I am," Serra said. "Which is a feat since I am an angel."
"...Helashio leading Elysians around. Fitting. I'm not apologizing. Uso begged for me to be here," Aiesu eyed her coffee again licking the foam from her lips finally. "What that means is if I'm nice, its not because I have to be."
Alex had had enough of the unpleasntness. There was only so much the young man could take before he felt the need to act. Taking Aiesu's wrist in his hand with a dangerous strength that belied his wiry frame, he lifted the diminutive figure up until she on the tips of her toes.
He then spoke in a cold voice that was unlike the quiet boy people knew.
"I think you should apologize, or you should leave."
Her lips spread: revealing teeth like those of a shark: triangles locked together with eyes cerise filled with malice and want - screaming 'do it' as she laughed softly to herself.
"What the actual fuck are you doing Alex." As soon as he had made a move on the woman Jason was immediately following after him, attempting to grab his 'twin' wrist and twist till he let go. "You can't just attack people out of nowhere."
Alex responded only by looking at Jason with a curious gaze before taking his twins wrist and tried to move it away from his other arm. The pain from the twisting was easily enough ignored as it was nothing compared to ten years of abuse.
"I'm done listening to people argue."
"No, he's right. Alex. You need an appointment first."
"You know in polite society, we have this ---unspoken rule where we don't outright assault people who are doing things we aren't fond of. We mainly have to make do with sniping and ostracizing them."
Alex cut off his twin midsentence. "In a polite society she wouldn't have said those things and caused a problem.'
"But we're not in polite society. This is Nepleslia."
Serra was watching this episode of an overdone drama silently for aeveral minutes. "So... is everyone done?" She asked.
"Over easy. You give birth to live young so you're anybody's..." Aiesu couldn't keep a straight face, bent forward laughing to the point of tears before waving her hand before her mouth as if wafting to cool herself "I'm done, I'm done. I think it goes without saying that as an AI specialist, I'm also a psychologist so this was a chance to get to know you a little better - see all of your little group dynamics" she wiped her eye. "You're going to be really fun. No hard feelings?" she held out her hand to Serra.
Serra looked at the hand for a second. "Just be nice to Saja." Serra said, taking the offered hand. "That goes for the other yous to, please pass it along."
"Of course. I'm a trained vete-... Doctor of Helashio biology so if you'd like to have her examined - something I normally charge a few grand for, I'd be happy to give her the works free of charge when I've got some time. You're not gonna find another doctor who knows Helashio this well in twenty lightyears." Her voice was actually quite sweet at this point, still trying not to laugh from the absurdity of the melodrama that had been just moments before.
Any momentary enthisiasm that Jason straight up assaulting her hadn't soured her on the whole deal, and she seemed to be taking things pretty well was dimmed by the fact still hadn't let her go. "See, they're getting along great? Now why you just calm down before you end up escalating this into something we'll both regret, okay? Hell, I'm not even sure she can feel pain-"
"What was that first bit?" Serra asked
"Nope, nothing!" Aiesu interjected, closing her slender pale fingertips around Alex's wrist - patting gently for him to let go.
"So I'm pretty sure this is a bit of a lost cause on your part." For the moment Jason let go himself, attempting to deescalate the situation, but keeping one hand near his NSP.
Alex let the small figure down before sitting down and seeming to undergo a change back to the shy boy that everyone had met. "I don't think that was a nice way of getting to know someone." He said quietly.
Aiesu glanced about mousily, pushing her glasses back up her nose as she felt the ground again.
"This is really good coffee."
