RP: Cirrus Station [Episode 9] The Silver Lining

Fidela sunk lower into her shoulders looking left and right as the words were shot side to side, seeing the boundary split the two sides of the table. Stovaa obviously had some trouble with her (former) bosses, and so did the other two ladies who had come in the room. She didn't know it for sure, but it was hard to think otherwise when the air soured from the two groups in the room. Though, specifically, as she observed, everyone on the Cirrus end wasn't entirely on board with the comments.

"St-- ?" asked Fidela, looking up at Stovaa, right as he went and asked her about Claire helping them with some 'legal work'. "A-...A-wha--... Why would we need her--... her help? Ah! I-- I'm not saying she's n-not wanted! But-- bu-but! Ooooh..." The smaller woman began to become panicked to the larger people to her left, but trying to be quiet about it. The physicist mewled before scooting her chair into the table some more, bring the edge to he stomach as she stared embarrassedly into the tablecloth.

"Wow... Really?" Blake sunk down a little at Sierra's mention of the Elysian homeworld. His widened eyes peered over his sunglasses, now fallen down to the tip of his nose. The shattered gaze went between Nell and Sierra. "No more monuments to an almighty God? No more passion plays in the twilit hillsides? No more gargantuan feasts? Just Mishu and ashes covered with bloodstains?"

His lip may have quivered at the visual image. His gaze settled back at Nell. "It's truly a loss for the galaxy, so much art, destroyed by a race which has none. It'd be one thing if the squids came in with social progress, free food, and public transportation. But this, this is bad."

Serra gave Lam a frowning glare for his response. "You're sadness for my homeland is appreciated , but I doubt they wantonly destroyed everything, Lam." She muttered.

Kokuten said:

"I didn't know you three knew one another." said Chiaki, his blinking eyes clacking in surprise as he looked between the Cassefin, Purina, and Marrisa. "Before business, I mean."

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"Oh yes, Mr. Bright Eyes," Marrisa answered Kokuten's question with a short giggle. "We three actually met at university. Ah, good ol' Brann U, isn't that right Finny? What, you didn't tell them? I'm hurt, Finny," Marrisa pouted her lips out in false pity.

"Well," Purina added to Marrisa's comments with a shaky smile. "It was some time ago..."

Cassefin rolled her eyes a bit at the personal nickname Marrisa had given her. "Yes, Purina, Marrisa and I have known each other for quite some time now. And, Marrisa, I didn't tell them because I've never really needed to," Cassefin said, clearing her throat and raising her chin to the side just a tad, in a sign of slight indignation.

Marrisa laughed again, apparently having much more fun with the conversation than either Casserin or Purina was. "Oh Finny, don't be so vague! The three of us were nearly inseparable, a real trio of terrors on the Brann University campus. I was the fashionable one, Purina was the brainy one, and little Finny was our muscle."

Cassefin sighed and placed a palm on her face, her cheeks turning a faint shade of red at Marrisa's explanation.

Mr. Bright Eyes? thought Kokuten, his mind rolling over the odd nick-name. He gripped his chin, listening to Marissa and thinking on it at the same time. Why do I find it odd no one has ever called me that before?

"Hrm! Certainly a coincidence you all come together like this!" said the Captain with a smile, his fingers drumming over the edge of the table. He was simply glad he had diverted the subject from something less striking, to something a little more informational. "Though, Purina seems hardly the type to be considered a terror!" he laughed, "Why, even with Cassefin's robust style of leadership, I would say it's hard to..." He stopped there, visibly thinking on that. "Well. Not extremely hard to imagine."

Laj looked quite surprised with the direction the conversation had taken. "My my Marrisa, you never told me about this," Laj exclaimed, surprised but otherwise intrigued and amused by the idea of it all. "A true coincidence indeed, the three of you back together again."

Cassefin, cupping her palm-planted hand to cover her face from the rest of the table, turn sideways slightly and shot Kokuten a furious look so intense that it could have possibly physically hurt him, in some manner or fashion. Apparently she didn't take too kind to his reluctant agreeably to Marrisa's far-fetched claim. "Yeah, it's just great."

"Oh yes," Marrisa nodded along with Kokuten's fanciful thinking. "I majored in social sciences and economics, so it kept our little group up to date with the perilous fashion world of college life... you could say I was the leader, if you must. And you wouldn't guess it, what with her many layers of pink bubblegum and spun sugar," the businesswoman tussled Purina's hair lightly while the Cirrus scientist giggled in embarrassment. "But Purina here was the smartest of all of us. A major is biochemistry, advanced biology, captain of the baton squad for the Brann U Brawlers and all that cute behind a pretty smile? She had boys drooling over her all day. Even I got a little jealous sometimes. But not too much."

Kokuten's visage strained slightly as he could feel a hole being burned in the side of his head by Cassefin's stare. The sensation was sudden, but he wondered just when the drinks would get there. He ran his hand through his hair, trying to shake off the uncomfortable air the woman next to him was beaming, and regained his facial composure.

"Well, it shows! Purina is one of the most gifted minds on the station, at least, from my humble viewpoint as part of the CSS." nodded Kokuten, before looking to his side at Cassefin, risking her fiery gaze. "What did you major in, Mistress Montreal?" He nodded his head respectfully at that, half out of the respect garnered to the woman, half to defend his eyes of any retaliation.

Cassefin tilted her head and began to glare, as if it were even possible, even harder. "Quit calling me that!" Cassefin whispered harshly through clenched teeth under her breath as she began turning multiple shades of red, obviously still a little sensitive to all of her nicknames being thrown around the table at random.

Before Cassefin herself had time to answer for herself, Marrisa kept up her momentum, clearly relishing being the temporary focus of the table. "My, what hasn't Finny majored in?" Marrisa queried cryptically with a wide grin. "She finished at Brann U in the Advanced Physics and Chemistry honors, but if we are to believe she inherited her mother's knowledge, Cassefin knows pretty much every branch of science in and out. In fact, Cassefin felt she knew more than our Cal V instructor on our sophomore year. And when they started arguing, he called her obtuse and she hit him! Square in the jaw!" Marrisa cackled in glee while Cassefin turned her head in disbelief, covering her face with her palm once again in embarrassment. Purina couldn't help but giggle along with the fond memory, being quick to stifle it with her hand.

"None of the other instructors bothered us after that. Hence why lil' Finny was our little group's 'muscle'. A real trouble deterrent, to be sure," Marrisa nodded in a sagely fashion, taking a quick drink from her water glass. "Of course, she also scared off a lot of the cute campus boys with that stunt as well. That was troublesome for a while."

As Kokuten had his head nodded, he needed to force himself not to snerk at Cassefin's assertion. Despite the hole being bored into his head by her stare, the whole situation was rather humorous. He turned back forward into his seat, smiling a little more genuinely now before tilting his head back a slight. I will save that little name for later. thought Kokuten deviously, as devious as his mind got, which wasn't much.

"That definitely sounds something like our Head Administrator." nodded Kokuten solemnly, metal lids closed over eyes, withholding his chuckles through his grin. He opened his eyes, looking at Marissa, revealing his green eyes had become a lighter shade. "The three of you are certainly doing well. Cassefin is the Head Administrator of one of the largest, if not the largest research station in the universe, with Purina being over an entire division of said station." The Captain gave Marissa his rapt attention, throwing her a curious look as he rested his chin on a hand propped on the table. "Though, I have to wonder, Miss Cranker, how did you come into partnership with Mister Vinross-Yu?"

Stovaa placed a hand on Fidela's leg cautiously. "Sorry, did I fluster you? I just meant that Claire would probably know more about the paperwork you'd need to sign than me." He glanced over his shoulder, looking not so much at Claire as past her, in the hopes of seeing waiters bearing fruit.

"If you just want to fill them in me and you, that's perfectly ok though."

"Hey, dear. I'd be happy to help you out, maybe even get the chance to chat a little with our newest member. I may be just a security guard, but I can answer some general questions you might have." She tried to give Fidela a reassuring smile. She looked so incredibly nervous that the Geshrin felt a little sorry for her.

Then Kokuten started speaking up, thankfully diverting the attention away from the rest of the group so they were free to speak among themselves. She paused only to consider the idea of the three women being old friends. Of course, the question on her mind was 'where'd it all go wrong?'

Marissa being an old friend of Cassefin's didn't change anything though.

Since George fell silent again, Tweak idly listened to the conversations at the table. The story about the "Terror Trio" of Cassefin, Marrisa, and Purina was interesting, and a bit surprising. Not that they knew each other, as Tweak had gathered that the three were previously friends by the greeting Ms. Cranker had given the other two in the clothing store earlier in the day, but more that Cassefin didn't seem to be on very good terms with Marrisa any longer. After all, why would the latter invade Cirrus if they were still friends?

Tweak's hands fiddled with her device again, this time just moving pieces at random. She knew how to return it to the functional configuration she wanted for the dinner, so this was just something to keep her hands busy. Her eyes glazed over a bit as she reviewed some stored memories.

It was strange. Tweak noticed that she actually missed some people, even though she never actually knew them except through her memory recordings. According to her records, she hadn't seen Dream in about a week, but after watching/experiencing the recordings involving Dream, Tweak felt like she wanted to spend time with her. She wasn't sure if that was "missing" someone or more like wanting to meet someone that one only knew second-hand...to her, at least, it probably qualified as both.

Who else did she miss? Well...even though the Kohanian never really interacted with her outside of those few missions they had been on, Tweak realized that there was a place for Deacon's presence that was now vacant in the team. Other than him, anyone else had either been transferred after a single mission or had left before Tweak received her external memory storage unit, so all she had on them were handwritten notes. Good notes, but very impersonal compared with the live recordings. Some stuck out, like an automata named Keid, who had given her the LED lights that were still woven into the crown of her favorite hat, and the engineer named Pavel who had popped up once or twice on Cirrus after being the engineer on the YSS Banning, the ship that had brought Tweak part of the way to Cirrus. He had been nice to her, even after discovering she was a neko. And then there was that one Freespacer who had made Tweak uncomfortable, but only because neither really knew how to interact with others...Tweak had been willing to be friends with Method, but a series of misunderstandings between the two left Tweak confused. Method had gone to another squad before reconciliation could be attempted.

Looking down at her device, now a tangle of parts, Tweak let out a silent sigh and glanced over at George. "Hey...if you weren't here, what would you be doing?" Tweak whispered. The question was quite unrelated to her thoughts, but completely related to her need for something to do. Since there was nothing else, talking had become a valid option. And George seemed to want to talk to her, but couldn't figure out what to say. It was partially her fault, admittedly...well, if George wanted to talk, then it was an opportunity to learn something about him. Something to make him less of a stranger, maybe.

"W-well, I just don't know... I mean, aren't supposed to handle the paperwork on station?" Fidela said, rubbing her thighs together in her seat before looking to Cassefin. She seemed doubly unsure of what to do since her mind was focused on trying not to screw up her oppurtunity. Her light-brown eyes looked back in their direction, "Shouldn't I talk to Cassefin about this?"

"Huh?" George mumbled, taken a bit by surprise at Tweak's sudden assertiveness to start a conversation with him. He had been busying himself with the silver spoon in front of him, pushing on the head of the utensil to cause the handle to surge upward and back down endlessly. Tweak's inquiry snapped him to attention, however, as he scrambled to give her an answer. "Uh! Well! I..." George began to talk out of instinct before pausing for a moment to actually think about his answer. "Well... I'm not real sure. Me an' Lenny were pretty lucky to land this job after we lost our last, got a roof over our heads and food's pretty... well it's clean, at least," George leaned back in his seat a bit as he considered just where else he would be had he and his larger counterpart hadn't joined up. The man looked back down to Tweak and gave her a smile and a short shrug. "Company ain't too bad either, yeah?"

---

"Oh, that was so long ago," Marrisa chortled at Kokuten's question, wistfully waving her palm in front of her in a dismissive fashion. "After we all graduated, we went our different ways. Although it was Finny's dream, all three of us were actually responsible for the conception of the Cirrus Research Station, you know," Marrisa's revealed, her eyes flashing a bit as she tossed a sideways glance over to Cassefin. The red-haired administrator, however, remained straight-faced as she gave the CEO a placid, if disinterested, smile. "... but after graduation, I felt I needed to move in a different direction. While Finny and Purina brought the Cirrus proposal to NAM, I took my degree over to the business world."

"That's when I discovered her," Laj interjected with a short laugh, Marrisa bowing her head in approval to let him pick up the story. "At a wine mixer hosted by my uncle for his shipping company. Marrisa had weaseled her way into the party just to find me; she had heard I was planning on picking up my father's company through the grapevine, and wanted to know if I would be needing a partner," Laj looked over to Marrisa, who seemed to be relishing this particular part of the story; the woman loved to hear about herself, so it seemed. "Truth be told, I admired that bold attitude. She took a gamble, a shot in the dark, and I respect that. Enough to sign a partnership, anyway. And that's how we became Vinross Yu-Cranker Materials, Incorporated."

"Oh...right." Tweak blinked. Not the answer she was looking for. George hadn't answered the question she asked, either. At least, not the question she had intended. She fiddled with her device's pieces a little. "I...um...meant, what would you be doing if you weren't here here, at the dinner. Would you shop, drink, sit around?"

Clean food? Just how bad were their circumstances before they'd come to Cirrus? Tweak guessed that hers were probably along the same lines, before the Freespacers had picked her up. But, first questions' first.

"Well, you'd need to make a formal application. But you're probably right."

Stovaa craned his neck, praying for the sweet nectar of the gods he ordered to arrive.

"...Anyone else hella thirsty?"

"Fascinating!" said Kokuten with the utmost interest in his face, "One of the most successful firms in the known universe formed at wine mixer!" He chuckled before leaning over the table a moment, rubbing his forehead with gunmetal black fingers, shielding his face from Marissa's and Laj's line of sight. With that moment he expression smoothed into something more of a thoughtful expression rather than the smile.

They were learning all sorts about their antagonists on the other end of the table, but Kokuten wasn't hearing specifically what he wanted to hear. Of course, blatant, obvious answers would be impossible, but he only need a little confirmation. Not how, not who, no measures of guilt or damning evidence, but just... Why?

Perhaps I'm deluding myself, thought the young Chiaki, this is a dinner.

"You've been very successful thus far," said Kokuten, leading out of that moment of repose, straightening himself back up with that same interested gaze. "I can imagine you've secured several profitable contracts, what with... well..." He held up his hands, gesturing to the room around them, "... all of this! What I always wondered, from that time you came to discuss business at the Cirrus, what was that all about?"

He gave a little pause there, fingers drumming over his knees, "I mean. Despite the station's size and productive value, it is no factory, and by all means and purposes, a research station."

Or at least, I think it is.

"Unless..." he threw a grin in Marissa's direction with a little chuckle, "You were planning to outfit all of us in camisoles."

Stovaa craned his neck, praying for the sweet nectar of the gods he ordered to arrive.

"...Anyone else hella thirsty?"

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Kokuten threw a look over at Stovaa, before raising his hand to signal that he to was hella thirsty.

Blake also joined the bandwagon in signaling that he was one of those which had been struck with a hella-ish thirst. Truly he hadn't ordered anything to drink, but he'd emptied his water glass long ago, in the process securing his hand close to Nell's on the table. Now he was getting nervous, and beginning to feel the urge to sneeze himself. All this fear about getting sneezed on had somehow activated the power of suggestion in a terrible way, and now his nose was itching with the fires of damnation itself. At the same time, he found himself still fearful of Nell's no-doubt deadly imminent microbial projection. The fear of sneezing was driving him wild.

Blake kept cool behind his sunglasses, but sweat was beginning to form on his forehead, itching its way down through his eyebrows. A weakened version of his broad smile was plastered across his face like it had been cemented there. Still, he was a trooper, and tried to maintain conversation with Nell.

"So, Miss Nell, if you don't mind me asking, which kind of gun do you carry as a Unique? I prefer large handguns myself..."

"Oh. Right...hah hah..." George laughed sheepishly at his own misunderstanding of Tweak's question, clearing his throat as he regained his composure. "Well... I guess I'd just be relaxing. Have a drink, maybe hit the slots a little. Go dance a lil'. Maybe go see a show. Lenny would like that too, I think," the short Nepleslian man nodded once in agreement with himself, looking on to Tweak to see if his answer appeased her curiosity. "Don't get many chances to just sit down and have fun up on the Cirrus, you know? Have to enjoy it while you can."

---

Lam said:

"So, Miss Nell, if you don't mind me asking, which kind of gun do you carry as a Unique? I prefer large handguns myself..."

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"Well, since ya asked so nice-like," Nell began to explain, but turned over to Odette in a sudden twist of events, giving her a beseeching look. The Unique captain, as a result, shrugged her shoulders at her smaller companion, the two of them finally turning to Marrisa Cranker on the other end of the table for approval. The woman smiled slyly for a moment before giving the two of them a simple nod. "All us Unique's are given a plasma rifle, designed by Miss Cranker herself, yannow?" Nell spoke in admiration for the weapon, holding up a gesture as though she were holding the actual device in question. "Pretty standard stuff, but they look real purdy an' they shoot pretty good. I haven't had much of a chance to use mine yet, though, 'sides from back at the Sinkstrip."

"Uniques are issued the Gold Chandal Sheen version of Miss Marrisa's weapon, which is more widely seen and used in our rank," Odette began to add a more detailed explanation for her friend, leaning forward a bit to get in clear view of Blake. "It's most noticeable trait is the gold luster finish. Not real gold, of course. Miss Marrisa does have a soft spot for the extravagant."

"Guilty as charged," Marrisa hummed in a light, airy tone.

"Unique Captains like myself are given the more powerful Platinum Pavo Spark rifle. It has more utility functions on it, such as a target designation unit. Miss Marrisa has also just recently introduced a multi-spectrum targeting array. I'm not too sure what exactly we will be needing to use it on," Odette cast a questioning glance over to Marrisa. Marrisa simply shrugged aloofly, tossing a quick, split-second glance over to Tweak, her smile growing a bit wider as Odette went on. "But hopefully our foes in the future will not have the ability to turn invisible. But we could deal with them if that was the case with the new function."

Nell turned back to Blake, scratching the back of her head in slight embarrassment. It was quite clear Odette knew much more about it than she did. "Eh heh heh... what she said."

---

As if on cue, a handful of waiters came in with a rolling silver cart. The center had been fitted with a moderately deep barrel, which had been filled with ice to hold the deposited bottles of various drinks and liquids in a constantly chilled state. As the attendants began to pour the drinks ordered, Laj remained relatively silent to Kokuten's question.

Kokuten said:

"I can imagine you've secured several profitable contracts, what with... well..." He held up his hands, gesturing to the room around them, "... all of this! What I always wondered, from that time you came to discuss business at the Cirrus, what was that all about?"

He gave a little pause there, fingers drumming over his knees, "I mean. Despite the station's size and productive value, it is no factory, and by all means and purposes, a research station."

Click to expand...

Laj leaned back in his seat a bit as the waiter uncorked a long red-glass bottle of liquor, tenting his fingers in front of his mouth as he gave Kokuten a peculiar look above his smile. Kokuten was pressing, and it was difficult to tell if Laj was taking the bait or not; the man was difficult to read, the head of the table drawing all of the attention and returning none.

"Mr. Chiaki, I decided to visit the Cirrus Station because I felt I needed to see it for myself," Laj began to give an answer to Kokuten's loaded question. "Being the first business deal between Vinross Yu-Cranker and Cirrus Station meant I needed to make a good impression. I wanted to meet Administrator Montreal myself, and I wanted to see what Cirrus was all about."

Laj Vinross Yu nodded towards his waiter in thanks as the attendant finished pouring Laj a wine glass full of the deep red liquid. Laj grasped it lightly and held it up, but did not take a drink. "And I wasn't disappointed. Things have been rough for her and her crew, but business with Cirrus Station seems like a risk I'm willing to take."

Kokuten's fingers encircled the glass of the recently poured alcohol as Laj went about his explanation. He lifted his glass, tilting it in the man's direction, before tilting it in the direction of his lips. It was a wonderful sensation, one that immediately brought back a few memories. Nepleslian Green had a certain taste, and certain texture. The very functionality of the drink with it's lack of class made it considerably Nepleslian. It's clear nature also made it an excellent disguise for water.

"Ah, I appreciate the sentiment, Senator Vinross-Yu. It's good to hear a little positive reinforcement from a third-party, especially one with such an elite fighting force." responded Kokuten after putting away a quarter of his glass, his eyes flickering at the effects. He sighed, letting the taste roll back on his tongue. The Captain put his glass back on the table. "Though, I did not mean for you to explain your attendance to the station." One of his gunmetal digitss circled the edge of his glass as he spoke.

His index finger locked up on top of the cup, causing a little surprise in the LED-eyed man. He calmly brought his other hand up to straighten out the locked finger with an audible click. The metal hand flexed twice, before spinning all the way around on his wrist.

"I simply wanted to know why a large resource firm would choose a research station. I know we have material needs, but I figured Vinross-Yu Cranker for more high demand contracts." said Kokuten, giving an embarrassed grin to the people across the table from his little hardware malfunction.