RP: Cirrus Station [Episode 9] The Silver Lining

"Actually, Captain, I just told the staff they were mine, and now they seem to have free-roam of the entire place. Guess that's because they're so keen on serving their rich tourist customers." Blake suggested, "I bet they'll even let them sit on the tables in the restraunts until someone complains about it. Then, they'll start by asking me to switch tables. If I refuse, whomsoever is ordering the least expensive meal will be asked to leave."

Blake nodded sagely with this information as though he were telling Kokuten useful information. "I've gotten away with a lot of stuff just by belonging to a pair of rich parents. As they say-- that which is very expensive, can be free to those who can afford it." With this, petted Evan contentedly and puffed his cigarette in his free hand. The smell of lemongrass and patchoulie filled the elevator with a sweet quaffeur in every puff of the typically effiminate cigarette. With it, Blake shot a smile back at his Captain. He was starting to feel good again.

Tweak looked up at Kokuten, then back at Hotohori. Was that what it was? It was possible, she thought. It just seemed odd to her.

Shrugging one shoulder, Tweak began to walk into the elevator, but balked when Morris let out a puff of his cigarette. She stared at it a moment, utterly ignoring Morris as though the ember-tipped roll was hovering there itself, then muttered somethig about taking the stairs before backing up and heading to the nearby stairwell access.

This time, Blake shot a frown at the Captain as Hotohori growled lightly before turning to follow Tweak. He was confused, as usual, about the situation. He looked to Kokuten for advice.

"Captain, do you think I still smell like vomit?"

"Yes." said Kokuten, being rather straightforward with his answer. The Freespacer's reaction had been noticeable enough, especially with the smell in the elevator. Unlike cigars, the cigarette Blake had produced was a much different smell. "And Morris, a gentleman does not smoke in such an enclosed space. Especially when a lady is present." The Captain sighed, watching Tweak walk off. Despite how negative it sounded, he didn't trust her to be alone in a place like this for all too long. So, he exited the elevator, following after her, and turning back towards door.

"I'd put that out until we get some place where the smoke can flow a little more. Besides, the haze can be a hassle, right?" quipped Kokuten as he caught up with her. "Tweak! I wouldn't walk into that stairwell alone, those work like alleyways in buildings when you're in Nepleslian space!"

In response to this criticism, Blake hurriedly put the cigarette out on a puddle of spit resting on his tongue before pursuing Kokuten and Tweak. He seemed to become desperate again very quickly. While his decadent statements and lack of social boundaries had usually been a hit amongst the artsy teenager crowd he typically hung out with; being a Nepleslian Marine had thus far brought him failure after failure in social circles. His distaste for most pornography and cheesey movies had left him friendless during training. More than once, his failures in the field has resulted in group punishment for his entire platoon, further resulting in their dislike of him. Now that he'd finally been graduated and assigned to Cirrus, he was desperate to get off on a better foot.

And in this though he led himself to Tweak and stood before her. "Listen," he began, adjusting his position to be more loose and relaxed. "I don't know much about people, okay? I'm a really well-meaning guy, I really swear. When I was growing up, I played piano and flute at all of my parents' dinner parties and all of the stuffy people laughed and clapped. When I was a teenager, I would go out into Funky City and pay people to let me paint them. Then, All the dirty bums and gangers laughed and clapped."

"I know I'm kind of funny-acting, but I'm just not used to having to make friends on my own, without some kind of merit to present. Some kind of skill, talent, or possession to give away. That's how I grew up, and it's really different here. I'm really sorry I blew all that smoke around you. I don't want to make you angry or upset. I just want to be friends with you and the Captain. I'll not smoke around you. I'll even be really quiet, and I'll sit still, and I'll even buy your meals if you want... Just please give me a chance, okay?"

At this, he looked upon Tweak's features hopefully for some sign of acceptance, occasionally looking back towards Kokuten for some sort of support. What kind of support, he knew not. But he was feeling a certain kind of helpless all-of-a-sudden and there was nothing for him to do but endure the mind-numbing wait that is in store for every person attempting to clear up the dull pain of social awkwardness.

Kokuten said:

"Tweak! I wouldn't walk into that stairwell alone, those work like alleyways in buildings when you're in Nepleslian space!"

Click to expand...

It doesn't matter.

What are alleyways like?

Tweak reached out to open the stairwell door but somehow Morris got there first, blocking her path. She backed up a step to put a comfort zone between them, her eyes on his as he presented his case. Well...sort of on his.

Lam said:

Now that he'd finally been graduated and assigned to Cirrus, he was desperate to get off on a better foot.

And in this though he led himself to Tweak and stood before her. "Listen," he began, adjusting his position to be more loose and relaxed. "I don't know much about people, okay? I'm a really well-meaning guy, I really swear."

Click to expand...

As Morris spoke, Tweak's gaze periodically drifted to one side or the other. Not in a bored way, though. Sometimes it was jumpy, like something had startled her or caught her attention, other times her gaze drifted like she was lost in thought. Every time, though, she seemed to catch herself and her eyes snapped back to his. And, despite the distractions, she was tracking with what he said, even without looking at him. When he finished, a couple of moments passed as she thought.

He's panicking. Why?

Is he lying?

No, it doesn't seem like it. And why would he?

He's not hitting on me.

He still stinks.

He apologized.

He wants a friend.

The fracturing from earlier was returning, the background noises of the crowd in the corridor not really helping Tweak's state of mind. She looked down at the floor, then back up at him, turning again so she could watch both him and Kokuten in the same field-of-view. When she finally said something, the nervous tic was making a comeback.

"It-it-it's one level down. Can we go?" At least she didn't tell Morris he had to go away.

Kokuten smiled again and headed forward to the door of the stairwell. He pat Blake on the shoulder and laughed.

"Ah Morris, no worries! You're doing just fine. Everyone makes a social hiccup every now and then. The only consolation is that you yourself adjust and improve yourself as a result." said the Captain before pushing him ahead gently with one hand, "Now, lead the way, Morris. I need a bit of java in me before the Head Administrator fabricates a reason why it's unhealthy for us." He turned to look at Tweak as he motioned the man ahead of them. His hand gestured to behind him and mouthed to her, 'I'll stand between the two of you.'

"Right." Blake said simply. He wasn't quite sure if he'd been forgiven or not, but it seemed like a good start. He pushed open the door to the stairwell and led the way into the cold sterility of a white, square shaft rarely used by anyone. As if to complement Kokuten's earlier statement, a large man in a long black coat ducked out the next door up upon noticing the trio, leaving them in silence.

Having not learned his lesson yet in his short life, Blake contributed to the the demise of the silence with a low, unsynchronized blubbering noise that some often considered his primary form of communication. In this instance, what he was genuinely saying was, 'I don't like quiet moments.' However, to the untrained ear, it came out very much like this: "You know, it's been a whole year since I had some good coffee. There's no coffee on the station. There aren't any good snacks either. Although, I'm growing rather fond of the cheese-like goop in the vending machine. I wonder what they put in that stuff? It's certainly not cheese. Or food."

"And what's the deal with the Uniques being all bad guys and stuff? Everybody seems to hate them, but nobody tells me why. They just 'don't want to talk about it' and get angry with me. If I hated somebody, I'd want to tell everybody I knew about it so they'd know why that person's bad and that you should stay away from them and there's no reason to--"

Evan interrupted Blake with a sharp, pained yowl as he scratched at the door on the bottom of the stairway. Blake had apparently talked himself down both flights of stairs and had stopped, standing directly in front of the door as he continued his rant.

"Oh. Sorry, little friend." Blake apologized to the cat as he pulled the door open to the floor waiting below. Without exiting the stairwell, he peeked outside, looking for the coffee shop he'd seen before.

Tweak let Kokuten go ahead of her, figuring it would be easier to just let him instead of objecting. As Morris began his attempt to fill an auditory void, though, she was glad for even the slight dampening provided by having a body between her and the talking. The echoing nature of the stairwell certainly didn't help much.

Morris was either taking his time walking down the stairs or was talking rather quickly, maybe both, to cover what he did in the time it took to go down the two flights of stairs between the levels. The Freespacer neko ignored the majority of the content, waiting to arrive at the promised "quiet place" before trying to think about anything again. Then her teammate mentioned "Uniques". She tensed, reflexively checking the area before realizing that Morris was still simply talking. Pausing mid-step to relax herself as the recently-accessed memories regarding the First Unique Encounter on Cirrus flickered through her mind, Tweak resumed walking as Morris reached the door and opened it for Evan.

"There is a reason," she said softly, frowning briefly before looking down, absently noting that Hotohori was still nearby. The other cat glanced at her, then padded ahead to join Evan, who was squeezing through the door before it was completely open. Hotohori waited until Morris had completed the action, then another second went by before the second feline went through into another corridor of the hotel's mall levels.

"Uniques..." mumbled Kokuten, making his way down the stairs. The first attack on the Cirrus station wasn't a pleasant ordeal in the least. The people that died, that lives that were lost, and all for what? The simple ambition of a company over the whims of a less than in touch administrator? "How about this, Morris?" said Kokuten patting the man on the shoulder as he went by Blake, "I'll tell you everything on the way back up to the station, after our vacation is over. Let's keep the rough things from work at work for now."

As the group rolled out of the of the stairwell, they would find that their destination wasn't too far. In fact, it was within sight of the door. There was a narrow entry way, leading into a more dimly lit area. If Tweak's senses were keeping up past the smell of smoke, it would like smell the faint aroma of fresh brewed coffee, even as far as they were from it. Along that was the rhythmic sound of music playing, the kind that seemed to put one at ease. Above the door way in big green letters, was 'BADASS BEANS', and above that was a coffee bean with sunglasses, and a smoking gun.

There were a few tables outside the establishment, seemingly for people who didn't want to sit in what sort of atmosphere was provided inside. One person was out there right then and there, being attended by what looked like a coffee-shop worker, who was also ready for war. In truth, it was a BADASS BEANS associate wearing the usual black shirt and khaki pants attire, the tough sunglasses that the BADASS BEANS mascot wore, with the iconic green apron and beret, with the more iconic BADASS BEANS bandolier. The 'BB' Bandolier was most unique in that it was loaded with .75 caliber bullet shaped capsules of sugars, creamers, and other additives.

"Ah, I haven't been to a BADASS BEANS in forever!" mentioned Kokuten, as he suddenly took the lead towards the establishment.

Morris stepped forward behind Tweak and Kokuten into the hall. There, he found Evan looking up at a table in front of the coffee shop, contemplating a cream boat above. Hotohori was prudently keeping his distance. Blake signaled the overly courageous cat with a clicking noise, causing it to return to his side.

"We will get you some creamer when we sit down, Evan. If you take someone else's, you'll get in trouble." He lectured the young alleycat. Evan seemed to understand the sentiment and kept close to Blake, awaiting the inevitable handout that Hotohori had long since lost faith in.

In an attempt to better serve his new feline friend, Blake went ahead and took his seat, signaling to the nearest server with three raised fingers.

The smoke smell was still around, dissipating as time went on, and Tweak was easily able to ignore it to focus on the new scent. Mmm. Yeah, that was coffee. It matched what she'd recalled from the Cirrus supply. A little different, but close enough. And, nope, didn't smell like anything she liked, but then she noticed that there were a number of other smells in the air along with the aroma of ground-up beans.

Cinnamon...sugar...cream...chocolate of various types, powdered, shaved, and chipped mostly...other particulates not normally found in ambient airflow that were presumably ingredients, along with what she realized was such a vast selection of coffee bean types and flavors that she raised an eyebrow in surprise.

I guess if there are so many varieties there might be something I like, Tweak decided. And, mood music aside, it seemed like the place really was quiet. She could pick out a number of people inside, so it wasn't empty, but the noise level compared with the corridor outside the cafe was significantly milder. Maybe this was a good idea. She looked over at Morris as he passed her to catch Evan, then up at Kokuten, wondering if she should wait for him to lead the way inside or take the lead herself.

Kokuten went forth towards the BADASS BEANS coffee shop, and walked in through the door. Inside, was a dimly lit room with three tables with stools around them, and nine tables with couches and love-seats. There were four BADASS BEANS associates going to and fro assisting only three people in the room. One customer, was young hipster girl, wearing plastic glasses and faux-formal attire. The next was a business man, dressed in real formal attire. While he sipped his coffee, he also tacked away at his DataJockey, supposedly doing something important. Though, the third man, was an interesting sort. He looked familiar, in fact, the three 35 Squadders could recognize him as a security agent from Cirrus station. Though... he wasn't part of their squad, and nor were any other squads brought along for the evening.

"Ah! Excuse me!" went Kokuten, ignoring the people in the room for one of the BADASS BEANS associates. She turned in Kokuten's direction, and gave a fairly disgusted look at the man.

"What?" she replied, in a fairly disinterested tone.

"I'd like one strong 100mm blend, and..." Kokuten brought a hand to his chin, trying to figure out what Tweak would like, "A mild mocha... 25mm blend, that should do it."

"Tch." went the Associate, looking away from him to enter it into her BADASS BEANS DataJockey. "It's not like want to get you the coffee, or anything..."

"Cut the TsunTsun DereDere. We don't have any Yamataians here." explained Kokuten.

"Wha? What about them?" she pointed at Morris and Tweak, and continued bluntly, "They're weird lookin', ones got Yammie skin, and the other is just Yammie weird."

"Ah, a common misconception. The 'Yammie Skin' friend over there is a Freespacer, of which her race comes in several different shapes, sizes, and colors. As for the 'Yammie Weird' friend... Morris... Morris is Morris, I'm unsure how to explain it beyond that." said Kokuten rather fluidly despite the blunt insults to his friends. With that, the associate shrugged, adjusted her reflective sunglasses and went along with her business.

Max glanced up from where he was sitting, and almost spit his coffee back out when he saw the members of Squad 35. What the hell are they doing down here? Did someone notice I left? He ducked his head back down, hoping fervently that they would totally miss his presence. The tall young man was making his body as small as he could, which was smaller then you'd expect, his thin body being a bonus for once.

"Oh, so it's that kind of place," Blake thought to himself as he watched Kokuten order for himself and Tweak. "Well, I'll just order then." Blake shuffled past the shuddering form of the hidden fellow security officer and made his way to the server.

"Yes, mam, and I'll be having a iced triple-shot of espresso with caramel, mocha, and vanilla cream, topped with steamed milk, nutmeg, brown sugar, and a stick of cinnamon to stir it up, please. Oh, and a bowl full of heavy cream. I'll be paying for these two as well."

Blake pointed to Tweak and Kokuten as he said the last part with a flutter of bills appearing in his other hand.

Tweak mumbled to herself as a way of keeping herself focused while they walked inside, listing off the ingredients and items she saw and smelled as her tactical system kept a running list along one side of her field-of-view. It also tagged the other patrons and employees in the room in its augmented-reality view; everyone had the yellow aura that designated unknowns that was dim enough to avoid cluttering her vision. Tweak assumed all were civilians, but her TacOpSys refused to switch until they were confirmed.

One outline, however, brightened and began blinking on and off instead of settling on the consistent faint glow of the normal designation. After a couple seconds the tactical system settled on flagging the man with a sharp, bright yellow outline that continued to blink until Tweak focused on it. Her tactical system wasn't getting a positive identification on him so it raised his threat level by brightening the indicator.

"Why?" whispered Tweak as she squinted in the direction of the little bit of him that she could see. It wasn't to get a closer look at him, the disguised neko's dark red eyes could zoom in just fine, but he was doing his best to cover his facial features and distort his form by hunching over like that.

But why? Considering it a bit, Tweak mentally shrugged. He wasn't doing anything wrong, and there were no signs of anything but nervousness and possibly fear from him. He was afraid of someone in the room, it didn't even have to be her or anyone she was with. Tweak decided to leave him flagged but to track him closely.

As this was going on, she let her attention split between figuring out the mystery and listening to the exchange between Kokuten and the waitress ("barista", her mind corrected, bringing up the specialized employee title) before Morris made his order. Tweak turned back to look at the trio, almost objecting that she could pay for her own drink before remembering that she didn't have an active account and deciding that the barista probably would be less than cooperative in accessing her funds the long way. So the 'Spacer neko remained silent and set about reading up on the apparent gibberish Morris had just spouted meant in "coffee-talk".

She shifted the store bag's weight from the fingers of one hand to the fingers of the other without shifting her position with both hands holding it in front of her; a subtle nervous gesture. And, with her, subtle nervousness was better than obvious nervousness.

Maybe the hiding guy is afraid of the coffee too? Wait, that makes no sense. I hope whatever Kokuten ordered for isn't going to be horrible. I can probably deal with something bad, but if it is horrible... Tweak stopped that line of thought, blurting out the next thing that came to mind:

"I'm not radioactive!"

Inside, she winced as she remembered the clothing clerk's reaction. Not only was the Freespacer neko's comment completely too late to be any help to what Kokuten had said to explain her appearance, but it wasn't even a help at all! "I mean...um..." Tweak blushed furiously this time. Even if no one was looking at her right then, she still felt as if every eye in the building was on her.

When Tweak uttered those three words, 'I'm not radioactive!', it turned a switch on in Blake's head. An itch came over him and held him in thought, the desire for information welling up inside him. Finally, when he couldn't hold it in anymore, he just had to open his mouth:

"Why aren't you radioactive, Miss Tweak? I thought all Freespacers were."

Dammit! Morris! Why are you so inquisitive!? strained the Doctor, feeling a sick pit rise in his stomach. Would Tweak be able to bring out a proper reason without exposing herself? No... She had trouble with honest conversation in the first place, much less with Blake. Silence would just seem suspicious. The Captain couldn't take that risk, so he did what he seemed to do well. Speak.

"Simple enough, Morris." said Kokuten, his back to them, still watching the BADASS BEANS 'barista' walk off. She seemed to ignore the outburst from Tweak, likely signifying that such strangeness was probably normal to her. The young hipster girl had nearly fallen out of her chair, her glasses falling to the floor. The businessman cut his eyes in her direction, giving her a piercing stare, before going back to his work with a huff.

"Our friend Tweak is..." Kokuten said, pausing to turn on his waist to look at Morris, before accompanying the rest of it with a flourishing spin to walk over the man. He moved as if diagnosing a patient, waving his hands gently to process the point. In truth, he needed those few steps to fabricate a lie that he had to draw from what knowledge he had from Freespacer biology. Lying was a little difficult for the man in the first place, but he managed. "... A unique model of Freespacer." There it went. It came a little slow, but it sounded more like he was trying to recall a fact that push a lie, "A worldwalker, as I heard it. Her body has the apt ability to adapt to planetary environments without the need of radiation to act as her immune system! Thus..." He gestured a hand to Tweak, "... she is not radioactive."

Model? No, that didn't fit. An unfortunate subconscious slip of the tongue on Kokuten's part. Breed would have been the better word, but word choice was the least of Tweak's problems. Lies only made things worse and the more they veered from the truth and from publicly-available information the less likely they were to be believed.

"No-no-no...not that." she started, glancing up at Kokuten and giving him a weak it's-okay look before trying to focus just on Morris. If she could ignore everyone else, maybe she could make it. "I-I-I do have radiation, it is-is-is..." She paused. "It is just not dangerous." That was true, body heat was radiation, and hers was higher than most. But now to explain why Kokuten would feel a need to explain for her...and why she might be embarrassed about something like that.

"I don't want people to-to-to be scared of me...that is all." She swallowed. Tweak knew looking away was percieved as being untrustworthy so she did her best to look Morris in the eyes, which was difficult considering it was not something she was comfortable doing anyway. "Earlier...some-some-someone wasn't very nice about it," she said just before giving up and looking down as she finished. Maybe that was enough, though...and she had the means to back up her claims.

Blake nodded along with both explanations. Truly, he was very interested in the subject, as he'd always had an intense fascination with Freespacers.

"Well, that's a complete shame, really. People shouldn't be so intolerant. Or arrogant." He mused, turning his attention to the barrista's escape route in search of the coffee no doubt destined to come his way.