RP: Cirrus Station [Episode 1] Welcome to Cloud Nine

Lorcan watched all the proceedings with a detached interest. Everything from Cyril’s protest to the semi-automatic, which Lorcan fully intended to be able to tinker, with so that it wasn’t exactly semi-automatic anymore. On the note of having an extended magazine for his little service pistol Lorcan was sure he could come up with something for the guy even if he had to dismantle something to get it. He perked up just a bit at the armor suit she pulled out next. As she babbled away Lorcan’s mind was already turning on how he could get the armored plates to sit together better and everything else he wanted to add to make it look more like armor and less like silk and giant metal dinner plates. Hearing what Serra and Dream were saying to each other Lorcan walked over and put a hand on the Elysian’s shoulder to add to Dream’s words. “Yeah, don’t worry about it right now; we’ll straighten things out later. Just relax and flow with it…” Lorcan sighed and looked up as Dream launched into her great and tremendously boring and long rallying speech. HE shook his head softly.

Somewhere in the last five minutes Lorcan’s brain registered the fact that one other was looking at the semi-automatic just as much as Lorcan had been. Well he’d have to talk to the guy later. His mind was with Serra on the coming up with ideas for other uses for Montreal’s armor and weapons. He was sure with a little work he turn the barrel of the gun into a short sword and make the rest of it into a handle. It would take time but fixing things and making things into other things was what he did best. Or he could just take off all the good metal bits and save them and turn the rest into something he could use for his half finished wind up toy. He spotted Tweak sinking down into the seat and sighed, she looked nearly scared to death. This wasn’t turning out well. When Dream finally shut the hell up Lorcan spoke softly into the silence.

“okay, more reasons to hurry up and get going,” He turned to look at Montreal. “Anything else you want to share or can we find out where the hell we’re staying and disperse?” He asked, his stomach grumbling for him. “Dunno about anybody else but I’m hungry and standing around here is accomplishing nothing except for making people go crazy…” ‘And think of ways to utterly and completely destroy you and your inventions…’ He added to himself mentally before giving her a forced smile.

Keid had remained fairly inactive during Cassefin's demonstration, not really concerned with the armor and weapons being issued to the humanoids that would be in charge of security. As far as the Automata was concerned, the Nepleslians would be able to take care of themselves. Dream and Tweak, however, were of a non-combatant role. Being designated as non-coms, Keid would be most likely to protect them the most.

"Dream. Make sure you and Tweak don't wander around without me." The Automata's cooling fans "sighed" again, as a single LED eye moved around the left of his face, then moved up the back to face her. Apparently, Keid would be keeping an eye on her on his back.

Lucius didn't know why he let it go on so long. Maybe he didn't think that they were his responsibility. He let the soldiers talk their piece giving out what crap they obviously felt like Montreal deserved. Maybe he gave the Freespacers more leniency because they were new to this whole 'do as your told' and 'there is such a thing as authority' mentality.

But he had definitely reached his boiling point. He was livid, not out of respect for Montreal or anything like that, but they weren't behaving like marines/soldiers/enlisted should and he was a sergeant, they would probably blame him.

He stood up off the crate he had been perched on, his face a little red and seething with rage. He seemed to direct it mostly at Lorcan and Dream.

"ENOUGH!!" He thrusted his finger at Dream, his sergeant stripes plain on his shoulder. "YOU! DOWN!" He pointed at Cheza. "YOU! CAN IT!" He pointed at Lorcan. "YOU! ONE MORE SMARTASS COMMENT AND I'LL HAVE YOU RAINBOW-CHILD AND THE CLOWN QUEEN HERE SHOT OUT OF THE NEAREST AIRLOCK! THE ONLY THING I WANT TO HEAR OUT OF YOU ALL IS QUESTIONS ABOUT THE STATION AND GOD SO HELP ME IF YOU ARE TRYIN TO FUNNY OR SMART ABOUT IT."

One would have been sure that the nearest marines were on the verge of bursting into flames from the fury poured forth.

Lorcan blinked and stared at the finger pointed at him and then looked at Lucius. He arched an eyebrow, his muscles twitching softly as he restrained himself from nabbing the Sgt.'s arm and breaking it. He damned well knew how and only the fact he was in uniform stopped him from a rebellious streak. He did however snap his back teeth together with a loud 'click'.

Then he turned and stalked back to Keid, reaching up to pull Dream off the Automa's shoulders and set her on the ground. Then he went back to his giant duffel to dig out his PDA, jack in his tiny headphones, stick them on his ears and pick up the wrench, holding it in a way so that he could end up throwing it at someone if he wanted to.

He bet most of the others would think he was sulking again. They'd be wrong. He was just waiting for this damned "orientation" or whatever to hurry up and be done with so he could go destroy something and put it back together again. Thats why he was a mechanic and not anything else. He'd had his share of fighting since he was six, being on a security team for a bunch of scientists was a bunch of bull. He'd have to see how things turned out before getting a re-assignment though.

Eventually Lorcan got tired enough to put the wrench and everything back into his pack. Reaching up, he let his hair out of it's topknot and let it fall down around his head. He rested his chin on his chest and closed his eyes to listen to the droning on of everybody else while he stood there. Only the occasional movement of his fingers on the touch screen of his PDA were the only hints that he was even awake.

Serra spun in place when she heard Lucius begin to shout at people. It took her a whole second to determin that this person, was a lothesome little tadpole. Taking the few strides that were between her and the soldier she stood before him, both hands on her hips while she just glared her best Elysian glare at him, while she klicked a shoe heel.

"Sergeant, right?" She asked, tilting her head to the side as she noted her question with some haughty sarcasm, "Dream is not a soldier under your command, nor am I." She made a note to tell him this with as much command her own voice could muster. "Thus, we are not as bound to your orders as the rest of these people." She said, making a wide motion, generally pointing out the other Nelpeslians.

"From what I read, this station is a conglomerated effort from Nelpeslia, and the Freespacers." She mentioned with araised finger, "so, decinding to kill one because she is acting like a Freespacer, would mean you would be an idiot. Now get off your box, you're attempt at being the big dog has made you look like a big fool."

After saying her piece to the Nelepslian, she turned around to the smaller Geshrin, "Ms. Montreal, I am not a security guard, nor am I a soldier, or a grunt of any kind. I am a technical engineer, and I intend on keeping my profession." She said, clear and concise command in her voice, "you WILL assign the non-military to a job that they are qualified for. That is the job of a Station manager." She was making no wiggle room here. "I do not care if you claim to be a qualified genius, from your actions, I see you more as a fully qualified loonatic who has too much ego for her brain to function properly."

Dream didn't understand exactly what was happening. Some guy had screamed her to get down (Why? Was he afraid that she's trip and fall off Keid's shoulder and get hurt? That was the only rational explaination that she could thing of) and then went on screaming other things to other people.

Once again, Lorcan grabbed her and put her down. She still didn't understand how Nepleslian society worked, and this was just another puzzle she couldn't figure out yet.

But then... Serra.

Oh Serra.

Oh, Serra Serra. Beautiful Gearwing Serra.

Dream's eyes (yes, even the cybernetic one) had sparkles in them. Tears and lens cleaning fluid were swelling up spontaneously.

"So... cool." She whispered.

Before Kaziah could reply, three things happened in rapid succession. And, in the grandest traditions of the Demon's sense of humor, they were perfectly calculated to induce mood whiplash.

First, the ID-SOL spoke up yet again, this time with a vague 'I am humoring you' tone to his words. That in and of itself wasn't really a problem, but given his earlier comments it might be enough to set off Ms Montreal again. And ticking off the station administrator always made Cyril twichy.

On the plus side, this was almost immediately followed by their sergeant, not the face punching one, finally exercising some of his authority. On one hand, Cyril was glad that he was no longer the sole voice of reason at hand. On the other hand, he was kinda pissed that the sergeant had waited so long to actually do something.

And then, icing on the cake, the damn feathery bitch out and out insulted Montreal. To her face. Cyril decided that damage control was beyond a mere TS3. Instead, without missing a beat, he grabbed the shoulders of Kaziah and the bald marine and pulled the two of them back toward the wall, and out of the line of fire.

"Oh, the Demon's here alright. Please keep your heads down folks."

Pulled back along by Cyril, she simply obeyed, no longer wanting to even be close to this shit storm. What was supposed to be a very, very simple station orientation had turned into a circus. Thanks to the 'Spacer, the ID-SOL, and that winged woman. It was a small wonder that all of them, or any of them, was still standing.

A part of her hoped the marine would get what was coming to him. Discipline was something that he seemed to lack, completely.

"Down, down, down," Keziah whispered to the two men as they stuck to the far wall. "I'll keep my head down. Maybe back here we won't be noticed."

No more whispers were coming from the tactical mind. No, it was screaming now.

Stress levels in the room had risen and fallen so many times, Tweak was feeling physically tired from the tension. But, now, it had just gone off the scale. Although she was thankful that someone was trying to get her and the other non-combat personnel into something more resembling their chosen profession, Tweak knew that there had to have been ways of doing it without making the Head Admin approach supernova status.

While three marines backed up, Tweak stayed where she was with her forehead resting on her knees and her arms hugging them to her chest...if you stay still, maybe she won't see you...

PC3 Sevyn grabbed James and private Dells and quickly pulled them out of the way of an increasingly hostile situation. James didn't particularly care to be pulled anywhere, but on this occasion, he didn't mind. There wasn't enough money in the world to make him want to be around Montreal, the Elysian, and the big ID-Sol when one of them exploded.

When Sevyn told them to get down, James happily obeyed. Although Sevyn probably didn't mean it literally, James took it that way. The marine found a large crate and put his back to it. He then slide down into a sitting position with his legs crossed. He kept his head up so he could watch, but he did so with a lot of caution. When people began throwing punches and wrenches, which he was sure would happen, he didn't want his face to be exposed.

Cassefin looked shocked for a moment as Serras demands and insults registered. Quickly, however, the enraged scientist pursed her lips together so tightly that they began to look like thin, white lines on the bottom of her face. And, just as quickly, the expression changed and relaxed as Cassefin’s mind quickly flicked its “IGNORE” switch. Great minds like herself are often chastised for their brilliance…Cassefin decided that this Elysian was merely following suit behind the several others who would criticize her out of jealousy. That was something Cassefin could handle; an ever-so-jealous worker under her. No doubt this Elysian wanted her job…ambitious, but a fool’s errand. And Cassefin found it very easy to ignore fools.

Instead of exploding on Serra, Cassefin turned and placed her hands on her hips, gazing straight at Lucius, a sly little smile spreading across her face. Setting down the CSS suit, Cassefin approached the marine and crossed her arms.

“Now…that is what I am looking for. Initiative! Such promise! Both Dream and Sergeant Lucius display it…they are the ones who will be going places in life! Instead of being like them, you all complain and bicker…pointless! A waste of perfectly good time and synthetic oxygen!” Cassefin turned and glared at Serra as she continued. “Let me repeat myself…I no longer need any technicians, of any type. I have great technicians, hand-picked by myself. I have technicians that are better than you. I have technicians who are smarter than you. You weren’t hired to pretend to tinker with my station…you are being payed, quite well I might add, to work a simple, simple, SIMPLE security position! You WILL work them, because it is not about the money, or the work…it is about each part of this station coming together to create and develop a better, safer universe. If you wish to have no roll in the betterment of our future, you may leave…although, I can assure you, you will regret it.”

“And, as of this moment,” Cassefin continued, casting a stealthy gaze of malicious sneering towards Serra. “…Sergeant Lucius Wilson is your new captain. Dream will take a position under him as Co-Captain as well, simply because her attitude is an uplifting inspiration that you all sorely lack. Their dedication and initiative have rewarded them, and you will listen to their orders as you would listen to mine as they are now, officially, your superiors. Congratulations to both of you,” she finished with a smile…but her tone, oddly enough, sounded less-than-sincere. Almost mockingly, or jokingly. In any case, Cassefin then abruptly turned and scooped up the CSS suit and Variable Weapon and deposited them back into the Pneumatic Capsule…but did not send it off on its way. Instead, she turned around once more to face her audience.

“I’m afraid, ladies and gentlemen, that I have run out of time, and have other matters to attend to. Do no worry, however; out of the generosity of NAM and my own gracious, considerate heart, the Cirrus Station has been provided with a large number of the latest Savtech – Jane constructs. I have delegated them to work as your squads’ personal secretaries, and they will be both your guides and your access to the Cirrus Station, and to me or others aboard the station. They will now take over for me, answering your questions and guiding you around the station,” Cassefin said, suddenly slightly cheerful and enthusiastic in her speech. Maybe it was the fact that she was getting out of this room.

“The first, Mimi, I’m sure you all remember,” Cassefin pointed idly to the honey-blond uniform-clad young woman, still standing patiently next to the Pneumatic Transport System, still smiling softly and looking as though she had not a care in the world. “And, for you second, I shall assign you…hmm…” Cassefin paused for a moment and appeared to stare back into space again as she read some detailed information from her one-sided volumetric displays on her spectacles. She cycled through all of the free Savtechs, marking off each one as far to important and productive for such a simple task as working alongside a not-so-important, no-so-productive security squad. Finally, she made her choice, with a smart little smile.

“… Kess. Mimi and Kess. Kess, would you introduce yourself please?”

A moment or two after Cassefin asked, another figure appeared next to Mimi, dressed in the same skirted uniform. However, this was differed a great deal from the smiling Mimi. Kess, as Cassefin had called her, was a much thinner figure in comparison to Mimi’s verge-of-buxom curves. Thin face with slightly angular features, jet-black hair flowing loose down the sides of her volumetrically projected head, and an expression of distance, annoyance and nonchalance…indeed, a stark opposite from her companion at her right. After her virtual representation fully registered, Kess gave a small huff, confirming that she was, indeed, Kess, and that she was present and listening. Cassefin didn’t need any more than that to make an excuse to leave this dank, ugly storage closet.

“Mimi, Kess, set them on the correct track, and give me an update later tonight. We will be hyperspacing out of Prime space within the next hour for the Expanse…so make the best of your time.”

With that, Cassefin Montreal was gone, her coat trailing slightly as she zipped out into the hallway. Mimi and Kess stood silent for a moment, a moment of awkwardness passing between the two. Before long, Mimi spoke up with her sickeningly sweet little smile.

“Are there any more questions about the Cirrus Station Security suit, or your security rifles? Or…anything else? If not, we may continue reviewing your assignments by showing you your sleeping and recreation areas.”

Lorcan turned red, his muscles standing out against his shirt. His sudden and unusual anger flared. He picked out his pack, situated it across his back and glared at the Sgt. Wilson. His look plainly said 'I dare you to try to get you ass over here to stop me.' He didn't say anything however, having been told not to. So to enforce his point there was three cracks, one for the knuckles on his right hand being crack, one for the knuckles on his left hand being cracked and one for the wall behind him as he turned and buried both fists into the metal. He left bloodied indents from his gloves and steel knuckles.

With his pain receptors screaming at him, he forced something between a devilish grin and a mischievous smile. He turned and stalked off towards the door, blood sliding down his fingers to the floor. On his way out he uttered a soft "Leave me the fuck alone, I'll find it all on my own..." and disappeared, making sure to leave another dent. Though it hurt ass bad to move his fingers he used his PDA to pull up a layout of the station so he could go get his knuckles fixed up.

Cyril watched Lorcan's departure with wide eyed disbelief. For Murphy's sake, the man was acting like an overgrown child. Did the he not realize that he was in the military? Did he not realize that the chain of command was predicated on, at times seemingly arbitrary, objective criteria? It wasn't a bloody popularity contest where you only have to follow the orders you like. Didn't he know that you don't spit in the hated officer's face, rather you quietly work behind their back? But no, the man was instead living up to the worst ID-SOL stereotype of the big, hulking, violent idiot.

"How the 'ell did 'e make it through Basic?" Cyril asked no one in particular, shaking his head. "'e'll wind up in a for a court martial for sure one o' these days..."

A child, no doubt about it. Keziah frowned as the ID-SOL left, throwing a tantrum the likes of which she hadn't seen in years. Not since the creche, at least. Part of her wanted to take up Cyril's advice of a jump squad, if just for a petty kind of revenge, or just to show him that his kind of behavior wasn't acceptable in the military. Best kind of stress relief.

Part of her wanted to snap a salute to their Captain Wilson. Well, he wasn't a real captain, though for all intents and purposes that didn't matter. Not on the station. But with Rainbow--Dream?--as his XO, maybe it wasn't as serious as she thought it was. A 'Spacer liaison wouldn't be a bad thing, but, then again, it was just a stark reminder of how far removed from the military they were. She was trained to be a soldier, and now, here, she'd be following the orders of a foreign idealist.

Great.

Her eyes snapped to Cyril, and she shrugged. "Maybe they were short on stupid soldiers."

Dream didn't understand a LOT of things that had happened in the last minute or so. She tried to make a bit of sense of them.

Headmaster Real's behavior was bizarre and erratic. (Any telepaths in the audience, feel free to shout "YOU'RE NOT ONE TO TALK!!" and smack her with a paper fan, please.)

Apparently, she had been praised by her, but she didn't understand exactly WHY. She hadn't done anything. Quite the contrary: she had failed to cheer up the people in the room, to awaken their spirits.

Oh, well. There was still the issue about the rather inefficient personnel assignments.


She looked at Tweak, Serra and Lorcan. They weren't Militants or Warmongers. Well, actually Dream, after her recent experiences with Nepleslians, had concluded that most if not all of them could double up as Warmongers whatever their primary trade might be, so it was probably fine for Lore.

...Lore? Was he going away? He seemed... angry. What was wrong?

Hmm. She needed a to-do list. She created one, mentally, and recorded on it "Help out Gearhead Lore".

Anyway, Tweak and Serra were Gearheads, but Real said that she didn't need any more Gearheads.

Well, the problem was easy to resolve. Real didn't need any more Gearheads, but there probably was someone on that station who DID need some Gearheads to help.

Dream for a moment toyed with the idea of asking them to help her out with one of her own projects, but...

...but what?
Why not, after all?

"Talk with Tweak, Serra, maybe Lore about archived projects/ideas, ask help"

Also, she recorded that Mimi and Kess were the Cirrus' Syntelligences. As a priestess, it was her duty to learn more about them and, through them, the station itself, in order to come to a better understanding of the soul of the Cirrus.

"Interface with Mimi & Kess. Discover local Path of Balance. Seek Harmony with the Cirrus station."

She glanced around, looking at all the dispirited Nepleslian soldiers.

"Addon: estabilish mecha-druidic shrine. Help others along Path of Harmony"

That was about it. There was one last thing that bugged her.

"Dream will take a position under him as Co-Captain..."

Click to expand...

She stared at the tall, muscular Nepleslian.

Was she supposed to stay under him? What if he stepped on her by accident? That'd hurt. He looked heavy. Her cybernetic eye estimated his weight in the 90 kg range...

*This is ridiculous, there must be an error.* She pondered. *No way I can have such a huge guy above me. I'm way lighter than him, shouldn't I be the one above him? I'm sure he can carry me around without problems.*

Then, a sudden thought: *Wait, does that mean that I have to carry him? ALL THE TIME?*

With a worried look in her face, she ran to... to...

Mhh...

Foreman? Apparently, his role was coordinating the effort of the other Nepleslians. It was kinda like being a Foreman.

Good.

She ran to the Nepleslian officer, stopping right in front if him, and nodded her head apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Foreman Luci. I don't think I'm physically strong enough to carry you around, unless I upgrade my body to an Automata-type. Nonetheless, I look forward at working together with you!"

(...what the heck was a "co-captain", anyway?)

James looked around with that sort of "am I alive?" look. Montreal's quick and painless way of dealing with the situation threw the bald marine completely offbalance. He was expecting some big showdown between the big ID-Sol (whom James absolutley abhored), now captain Lucius, and Montreal. The silence and relative order that came after the head admin's exit left James with mixed feelings of dissapointment and relief. He really wanted to see a fight, he just didn't want to be a part of it.

All that aside, James hung back with private Dells and private Sevyn until somebody made a move. It wasn't his style to simply stalk off like a dumb-ass ID-Sol, he would wait and watch. James knew he was supposed to interact with the SI and take the grand tour of the Cirrus with everbody else, but to be honest, he was too shy to go first.

Instead he made idle chit-chat with the only two people he had even talked to through the entire briefing.

"Yeah, big guys like that usually end up on the shit-list. Anyway, what's your names? All I know about you is your rank."

Being complimented by Cassefin wasn't exactly what Lucius had wanted... In fact it was the absolute opposite. Now he looked like her lap dog. He sure as hell didn't want to be that. After all he was in the same boat as everyone else: under the authority of quite the bitch of an administrator.

Lucius frowned, it slowly turning into almost a scowl as Cassefin continued to praise him and the fruit-brained one called 'Dream'. What was with her after all? I mean, he knew 'Spacers were supposed to wierd, but seriously, what the hell?

After Montreal finished her sub-speech and left Lucius sighed and crossed his arms, saying quite plainly and quite audibly for quite a radius around him. "God, what a bitch." He didn't lay the hammer down because he wanted to make Cassefin happy. It was because it was his job and god help him he was gonna do it well. Plus if this station made some stuff that advanced Nepleslia, all the better.

Lucius looked over his shoulder at the same ID-SOL that had been quite the fury-pot, and it was quite an unproductive fury. What was with him? Weren't ID's typically the loyal type? Oh well, guess you can't always call 'em by their cover. After all, he didn't look pure ID. After the soldier had put another cigarette in his mouth Lucius bared his teeth slightly and started to march roughly over to him, knocking a few of the less quick marines out of his way. But Lorcan slid out of the room before the sergeant could muscle his way to him. Lucius knew he was going to confronting him often and he hoped it wasn't going to get physical. Not because he was afraid of getting hurt but he didn't want to have to court marshal anyone. But he would watch him quite closely for that.

Lucius was breathing slightly fast, his blood stirred up from Lorcan's insistent insubordination. As Dream came up to him, he snapped around to face her, his teeth still barred. He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath. He wasn't gonna take it out on the poor 'Spacer, after all, she was supposed to be his XO. He opened his eyes back to quite the strange question.

He crossed his arms to look slightly more authoritative as he looked down at Dream. His voice was firm, still a little bit of anger left from Lorcan.
"It's Sergeant Lucius. And I'm looking forward to working with you too... But why the hell would you carry me around?"

Dream scratched the back of her head, confused.
Apparently Luci didn't understand Real's bizarre idea as well. He seemed like the smart, realistic, no-nonsense person, at least.
Dream tried to imagine him as an experienced, hard-working Type Two.

"Um, Headmaster Real said my place should be under you, but I think that her suggestion is somewhat flawed. No offense, Luci, but you're clearly too heavy for me." She said with a smile, happy to notice that they were on the same wavelength about Headmaster Real's inputs.

She was clearly a very good Freethinker, but, for some reason, she apparently wanted to try out other roles she was not trained nor prepared for. Like Headmaster, for instance.

*Oh, well.* She thought. *I'll have to talk to her, later, about her place in the Harmony of the Cirrus.*

"So... what is a "Co-Captain", exactly?" She asked. "Headmaster Real said that I'm a "Co-Captain" now, and that you are a "Captain". I recently learned that you Nepleslians call "Captain" a person that covers, more or less, the role of Foreman of a starship, but there aren't any starships here, are there? What did she mean? What did she tell us to do?"

Real was the Headmaster, that is to say (in Dream's mind) the coordinator of the Cirrus. She didn't recognize her authority (or no one else's, for all that matter), but the position of Headmaster implied that she knew the situation on the Cirrus and was experienced enough to coordinate the work of others.
However, she had demonstrated that she wasn't a good coordinator, so Dream, not knowing whether to follow her suggestions (They weren't "orders", at least, not to her) or not, defaulted to "try to collect more information".

Which she was doing.

Cyril watched the byplay between their sergeant, damned if he was going to follow a civie's idea of rank structure, and his XO (corporal?) with a certain degree of slightly morbid fascination. After all, while Montreal would likely be the main source of pain for himself and the other marines on board, she wouldn't be there all the time. But their NCOs would. Every single bloody day. And if they got off to a rocky start, things would be aboslutely miserable for the grunts under their command.

To Cyril's unspoken relief, they seemed to be getting along as well as could be expected for an NCO with all the crap that had been loaded on to him and a woman from a culture known for it's almost complete lack of solid lines of authority.

Cody said:

"Yeah, big guys like that usually end up on the shit-list. Anyway, what's your names? All I know about you is your rank."

Click to expand...

Cyril glanced over, half-surprised at the bald marine speaking, before half grinning.

"Where're me bloody manners? Name's Cyril Sevyn. Pleased to meet anyone in me paygrade with a 'alfway level 'ead on their shoulders." he said, extending a hand.

Lucius was definitely a little blind-sided by Dream's complete lack of understanding for the command structure. He knew he had to expect it, but it was like a Nepleslian that didn't understand the value of a good drink, it just didn't seem possible.

Lucius sighed slightly and rubbed his forhead for a second. He wasn't sure if any of his explanations would do any good, and he didn't really want to have to bother with it. He might as well try. "Okay... Well... Umm..." He looked around for a second, looking for ideas, then pulled out his datajockey and opened the AwesomePaint application.

"Let's say if we drew it out, just as an example. This isn't where people have to be physically, just... symbolically."
He drew a circle with a 'C' in it at the top.

"This is Cassefin. She's at the top."

He then draws a circle with an 'L' in it just below Cassefin's bubble and another blew his with a 'D' for Dream.

"And since I am down here, I am 'below' her and have to do as she says. Also, since you are 'below' me you do what I say and what Cassefin says."

He then draws a big circle below Dream's with a large 'M' in it.
"And these are the other people here in our group. They have do what everyone above them says, Which is you, me and Cassefin."