RP: Cirrus Station [Episode 9] The Silver Lining

[MoonMan]

Laj tapped his cigar against the end of the bench, allowing the embers to fade out as he prepared to make his own way back to the table. "Tell me... how did Cassefin go about acquiring a nekovalkryja to defend the station?" Laj glanced over at Tweak, revealing that he at least knew something of the young neko and her occupation aboard the Cirrus. His look was inquisitive, interested, perhaps even a little amused; Tweak's presence was a point of mystery to him that filled him with intrigue. "And how have you kept her hidden from official eyes that would see her taken away? Do they even know?"

 

[MissingNo]

Tweak had paused when Kokuten did, having begun to follow him out. She tensed again when Laj requested permission for his own question. Once he asked it, though...she relaxed.

He knew. Yet, like Kokuten and Dream, Laj didn't care. He hadn't referred to her rudely or disparagingly, or put her or her kind down in any way except to call her what she was created to be: a weapon.

"Head Administrator Montreal doesn't know." The calmness of her tone caught Tweak off-guard. She didn't speak loudly, but at a volume just over a whisper. "I am...broken. I was lost. The Freespacers found me and adopted me. I am on Cirrus as part of the exchange program with the Free State." She looked at Laj straight in the eye for a moment, but her eyes refocused on the cityscape behind him. "I don't know anything about where I came from except that I would be destroyed if I was sent back to whoever made me. And yes, your government is very aware of me. I was there at their first contact with the Freespacers, you can look it up...right?" The question was directed with a look back at Kokuten who had been walking ahead of Tweak, but was now behind her.

 

[MoonMan]

"Oooh, ya hear that Odie? He wants t' sculpt me," Nell continued to send sarcastically long gazes at Odette with every word. The raven-haired woman, her attention now forced onto Nell as Laj was no longer at the table, began to look increasingly agitated with Nell's constant harrowing. "How many guys've wanted t' sculpt you?"

Odette smiled through clenched teeth at her smaller companion, doing her best to remain as composed as possible. "I think, Nell, that he is perhaps just being nice. Aren't you, sir?"

 

[Kokuten]

Kokuten's eyes turned white rather slowly, brightening up from the sagey green that glowed from them. Laj was completely aware of Tweak's presence, of her identity. How could he be so sure of it? Did he trace her existence back to the debacle on the Alliance? He looked at Tweak, his eyes fading back into a leafy green again.

"The data concerning her existence is probably guarded for the sake of her identity. If you wanted to read the reports by Captain John Miller from that day, you'd like need to address the Naval Corps, that or the IPG. Your status as a Senator should allow you that much." said Kokuten rather knowledgeably, before crossing his arms behind his back, "That said, Tweak has been subjected to enough unjustified bias in her life. So, for her sake and my sanity, it's best for us to keep this quiet. Especially with how Ms. Cranker was badgering her in the dining room, I'd kindly like that to stop."

 

[MoonMan]

"Unfortunately, I don't control what Marrisa does and doesn't do with the information she has," Laj waved his hand dismissively, sounding a little annoyed with the stated fact. Her brand of tact was markedly different than his own. He went back to gazing at Tweak with great interest. "Strange... even a neko considered a part of the Free State would raise many flags in Nepleslian security codes of conduct and border laws. There must be some reason for the disclosure, something happening if she was even allowed to travel here in the first place. If Yamatai knew of this, they would most definitely have something to say. If Montreal knew of this, she would most likely expedite your friends journey back to Yamatai's awaiting arms. Probably."

Laj raised his hand to his chin, contemplating Tweak's position and what it could mean. "Quite a gamble, keeping her a secret like this, and at the same time being so... loud with her actions in your squad. You'd best be a little more careful; if I was able to discover her so easily, others could as well," the suave CEO sounded more intrigued than actually concerned. After a moment went by, a wry smile crept across his face. "... you're the one who killed Lisa Bell, aren't you, neko?"

 

[Lamb]

Back at the table, Blake was trying his best to reassure Odette of his intentions.

"No, ma'am." Blake said, shaking his head softly, "I fully mean any intentions I state. I'm not a dishonest man unless ordered to be."

The young artist produced his earlier sculpture from the shuttle ride over, a clay representation of both Kokuten and Purina standing side-by-side. The details were nearly perfect in almost every way, save for the fact that their eyes were switched. He smiled as he set the sculpture on the table in front of him, where food would soon be.

"This is just a very rough piece, and as I said before, I only want to sculpt Nell." He paused for a moment. The drugs were really terrorizing his word-recall. "Uh... So, my point is that I'd like to do it because I find Nell to be especially honest in her outward attitude and exemplary of the sociological state that is... um... 'being Nepleslian' and stuff. It's really beautiful, and I'd like to set it in stone, if you'll pardon the terrible pun."

 

[MissingNo]

Uneasiness returned as the senator began listing off what could go wrong for Tweak. She knew she had been careful as far as the missions recorded in her memory unit went...so maybe it was that first encounter that she slipped up on. And his estimation of Cassefin's response made Tweak nervous.

"... you're the one who killed Lisa Bell, aren't you, neko?"

Tweak's eyes snapped up from where she was looking at the floor. Okay, now he was being insulting.

"Captain Bell killed herself," she replied, a touch of ice in her voice now. He was calling her by her species instead of her name; Tweak barely restrained herself from returning the favor. "She attacked me. She attempted to blow us up with an unreasonable number of grenades; you probably felt the explosion." Her eyes glazed a moment as she retrieved the memory. "And, no, I didn't make the killing blow. That was someone else's to make."

She paused. She couldn't let his insult go without at least noting it. "Are we on informal terms now? Would you like me to forgo your name and refer to you as 'human' from here on? If not, then would you kindly call me by my name." Despite the sound of her voice, Tweak's face was not angry, but polite...and just a little tense.

 

[MoonMan]

Tweaks response garnered no immediate verbal reaction from Laj. Instead, the man continued to smile at her, his eyes narrowing sharply and the creases of his mouth curling his smile wider in such a slight manner. The mention of her connection to Bell's death seemed more than enough to keep Laj Vinross Yu content with the answer he heard. "My apologies, I meant no offense. I simply forgot your name for a moment, is all."

"You two should know, however," Laj straightened up again, dusting off his dinner jacket of any stray imperfections as he spoke genially. "That Lisa Bell was a good friend to many of us. She was dependable, sharp and, as you may have already guessed, headstrong, and perhaps a little too willing to put her life on the line for her duty. In many ways, I could compare her to you, miss," Laj held out an open palm to Tweak as he made the comparison. "It's almost poetic, that it was you who aided in her death. She took the most interest in you, after the incident on the Cirrus."

Laj sighed as he reminisced about the deceased Unique captain. "What's done is done, I suppose. She fought you, you defended yourself. I cannot fault you for that. I suppose I just wanted to know the truth, is all."

 

[Kokuten]

"If that's all, then I think we'll just dismiss ourselves on out." said Kokuten, thumbing a gunmetal black digit to the door. He once again gave the Senator a short nod. In all honesty, he needed to get out. Secrets were flying every which-a-way and the Captain had more reason than ever to worry. For now, it was time to try and find some sort of place to lay back and hopefully relax. All this vacation had done so far was to make him feel less and less at ease. "Tweak, I'll see you later on if you still want to talk," said Kokuten in a somewhat off-hand fashion, "I'd actually like ask you about something as well."

With that he turned, and walked, making his best and most powerful effort into casually striding out the door.

 

[MissingNo]

Another spark of paranoia hit Tweak and she looked Laj over before glancing at Kokuten as the captain gave his nod, so she turned back to the senator and did the same.

Tweak's once-over of Mr. Vinross Yu was a quick multi-spectrum sweep of his person while she again swept the local radio transmissions sorted by distance from her person to see if any were leaving his. It was too late for her to do anything about them, something she mentally kicked herself for, but it would be best to know if he had been carrying a wire than to find out by surprise later on. She hadn't noticed anything right off, visually, but her TacOpSys was going over the visual data piece by piece while she waited for the returns on the signal scan.

"Tweak, I'll see you later on if you still want to talk," said Kokuten in a somewhat off-hand fashion, "I'd actually like ask you about something as well."

With that he turned, and walked, making his best and most powerful effort into casually striding out the door.

"Okay." Tweak paused, watching Kokuten leave then glancing back at Laj before heading back to the dinner table. Unlike her exit, Tweak looked preoccupied and a little worried as she returned to the main group.

Some things still didn't match, like Bell's behavior. The woman was out-and-out insane when Tweak and Claire encountered her at the Sinkhole. And Tweak didn't remember any notes in her journal referring to Captain Bell in the first encounter, either. Why and how could Bell have known about Tweak? Unless Marrisa had told her, of course...was Marrisa trying to make her own equal to what she apparently perceived as "Cassefin's neko watchdog"? Based on Marrisa's behavior throughout the dinner and the edge of competitiveness between her and Cass, Tweak wouldn't be very surprised if that was true. The second half of Yu-Cranker had ended up with something close to a real abomination in "Bell 1.1", though; Tweak really hoped there wouldn't be a two-point-oh.

The disguised neko approached Cassefin before sitting down, again feeling like everyone was watching her. They just see an eccentric Freespacer, that's all...

"Um...Miss Montreal, Captain Chiaki requests..." Tweak paused, looking down at the tabletop as if trying to remember a quote. "...that you please excuse his absence from the rest of the meal, and accept his thanks for including him in this event," she said, giving a short nod at the end. "He says he is feeling ill."

 

[Dragonnova]

Claire frowned at Tweak.

All she had seen was Kokuten and Tweak leave... along with Laj. What had happened exactly to make Tweak come back and give a cookie cutter excuse for Kokuten's absence? What had they seen or heard? Claire decided that these were questions that needed to be answered... but she wasn't going to get them from Tweak.

"Excuse me, I'll be right back." She gave a polite nod to Cassefin, then to Stovaa and Fidela before walking out, avoiding any of Marissa's looks as she wandered out to the smoking area where they said they'd be.

 

[MoonMan]

"I'll be right there, miss," Laj said casually as Tweak began making her way back, nodding expectantly as the Kokuten and Tweak quickly drew from his view. "Just going to take in a bit more of the view," the Nepleslian CEO turned back over and placed his hand on the railing over Fortune City, taking a short moment to stare back at the sprawl of lights.

---

Cassefin turned when she noticed the others take note of Tweak's reappearance. The administrators eyes darted to both of Tweak's sides, no doubt to see if Kokuten had returned as well. Upon hearing Tweak's explanation for his absence, however, her face revealed a twinge of concern. "Wh-... did something happen?" Cassefin whispered to Tweak under her breath. The red-haired woman also took note of Laj Vinross Yu not being present among them; Cassefin began to worry in earnest that, perhaps, one or both sides had done something drastic.

---

Grinning ear to ear with the male attention she was receiving, Nell nodded along with Blake as he explained what his intent was. She began to look confused, however, when he ended his statement, tilting her head quizzically to the side in misunderstanding. "Wait..." Nell muttered, spinning in her chair to turn to Odette once more. The taller Unique captain gave Nell her attention, albeit still looking a little wary that the silver-haired lady would simply hassle her in another shape or form.

"So what's sculp'in'?" Nell asked in a casual voice, apparently unsure of what Blake had actually wanted to do. "Is that like he wants t' touch me or somethin', oorrrr...?" Odette laughed nervously as her eyes darted across the table, uncertain on how exactly she was supposed to reply. "No Nell... sculpting is a form of art. He wants to make a statue of you, perhaps from clay, or stone, with his hands."

"...oh," Nell replied simply, her voice sounding a little disappointed. She turned back to Blake and gave him another comforting smile. "Uh... yeah... I think I could do that. Sure."

 

[Dragonnova]

"Beautiful view, isn't it? Even the smoking area gets the best for this place, hm?"

Claire sauntered forward, rolling her hips as if she were in a ballroom as she walked up to the edge, standing a couple feet away from Laj. "Our dear captain must not have enjoyed what you had to say to each other... not returning to our table at all and the spacer girl making silly excuses." She smiles a little, though the expression was a little forced.

 

[MoonMan]

Laj turned his head upon hearing Claire's voice behind him, a skeptical look across his face. His expression softened a bit as he instantly recognized her from the table before, giving her a small smile in return. "Ah... Claire, was it? The 'fashionably late' one? One of them, anyway," Laj spoke as his eyes followed Claire's movements as she strode towards him.

For the moment, however, Laj seemed content to look back out towards the city, standing back up straight and tucking his hands into his pockets. "Best view in the district. I made sure of that myself before we started construction," the man answered Claire back with an air of pride lacing his voice. "I love Nepleslia. No matter what the climate or harshness of the natural land, we manage to eke out our place. Sand, rock and dust stretch on for miles, and in the middle of it all, this city. Reminds me of home, I guess you could say."

 

[Kokuten]

Fidela looked up at Stovaa with an expectant stare. Her eyes showed she had little idea what in the world was going on. She pouted her lips and shifted her butt-end side to side in her chair, hands forming two nervous fists in her lap.

"What's going on?" she whispered, a hair or two getting loose from her bangs, "That Captain was really looking forward to the dinner, and then Tweak comes back and says he's feeling ill? All after Mr. Vinross-Yu goes to the smoking area?" The graduate's tone became more hurried, "Why does Cassefin look so worried? Why did Claire go to the smoking area, too? She doesn't look like she smokes. Does she smoke? Does this happen all the time?" Her tone became even more hurried afterwards, turning quietly frantic, "Oh god this is some terrible situation, isn't it? Oh oh oh, there isn't going to be shooting is there? I don't want to get shot! Are you carrying a gun? Do you think anyone else is carrying a gun?" She was beginning to turn rather peckish at this point, "Oh I'm so nervous! Are you nervous? You're not used to this, are you? You probably are. That means this happens all the time. That means it could happen at work. That means it could happen where I want to be working! That means I'm making a bad decision! Oooooh!"

Fidela pressed her hands into her cheeks, puckering her lips as the anxiety of her wild imagination began to overthrow her.

 

[Stovaa]

Kokuten's noted absence worried Stovaa slightly, suspecting something had happened, but he didn't really give it much thought. He could have just had a bad cigar, or maybe the alcohol was getting to him. Maybe he was allergic to Cassefin's lipstick, he mused.

He nodded to Claire as she left, then turned back to an increasingly nervous Fidela. Before he could really say anything, she began to spiral down the panic shaft, increasing in pace and level of concern as she spoke. He turned his chair to face her, looked her in the eyes and placed one hand on the side of her face, cradling her chin gently.

"Shhh... Claire is probably just going to ask our host what he and the Captain spoke about. I'm not nervous, and neither should you. There won't be any shooting because this is a public place and no-one is armed. Besides, I'm here. I could probably throw this entire table out through the window by the time someone had fired on us." he said quietly, loud enough that anyone on the table could strain themselves to hear. His brain whirred, trying to think of ways to bring her back down more. He doubted he could throw the table through the window, Laj would probably have planned for it. He'd love to try it though, but now wasn't the time to practice throwing heavy furniture and company CEOs out of casino restaurants.

"...Did I ever tell you how beautiful your eyes were?"

 

[Kokuten]

Fidela puffed her cheeks a bit with restrained breath as Stovaa attempted to comfort her. The college graduate eased herself a bit, loosening her hands in her lap and straightening her dress some. Though she did pull her face away from Stovaa's encompassing hand, the blush on her face didn't hide the reaction to his comment.

"Pfft..." Fidela stifled a giggle, blocking her face from his view with hand, "I bet you say that to all the girls. How often do you butter up the scientists on the station, huh?"

 

[Dragonnova]

"They always say Nepleslia has a rugged beauty, don't they?" Claire smirked a little. Playing along with his distraction. "Yamatai seems to dismiss it as a wasteland, filled with chaos and debauchery. But to us, it's a forge. The harsh elements to drive our progress, and to make us resiliant against whatever stands opposed to us."

She looks at Laj again. "Do you feel nepleslia has shaped you to what you need?"

 

[MissingNo]

Tweak began to answer Cassefin when she noticed Claire apologize, get up, and leave the table. No...no no NO no no... she thought, worried. Claire was headstrong, and if she thought something was up then Tweak wouldn't put it past her to tell off Laj for it.

"We just talked...I'll be right back," she said quickly, then went after Claire.

---

Reaching the balcony again, Tweak stayed just out of sight beyond the doorway, listening to see what was going on before bursting in. Just talking about the city...okay, no panic yet. She stepped onto the balcony.

"Claire! Let the man smoke in peace, you're probably giving Cassefin an heart attack..."

 

[Stovaa]

"Not very often, they're too busy being scared of me. They usually say us being around means something is gonna explode," he said with a smile.

He leant to the right and then to the left, peeking past her attempts to block his vision.

"You blushing? Aww..."