Porrim's Group, Breaking and Entering
"Perhaps sneaking in or diplomacy could work well for us," Porrim considered Akemi's point, thinking herself to be the ideal negotiator for the job. Meanwhile, the only sign that she Aiesu's hand had missed that she'd let on was a slight widening of her stance, putting more of her weight against the wall next to the door inside. Aiesu felt ... quite a rump in her hands. "The stealthy approach is good. I guess we can-"
"CAN YOU" Klang! "HEAR YOUR TELEVISION" Klang! "NOW, YOU SOFT FUCK?!" Klang Klang Klang!
Porrim blinked, looking incredulously. Was an alarm of some sort raised? Porrim looked around to the others with a raised eyebrow, still as the situation unfolded. She didn't recognise the voice at all - sounded Nepleslian, and they were speaking fluent Trade.
And over the din of the snowstorm, perhaps in a lull, Porrim's group could hear the following shriek from what sounded like a nasal Yamataian woman speaking Trade."SHUT UP DOWN THERE OR WE KILL YOU! FOR REAL THIS TIME, A-AND YOUR GIRLFRIEND!" Was it the message Akemi sent? Was it something else entirely? Akemi didn't get any reply back, but he didn't feel responsible for causing this to unfurl as someone else was at work. Porrim had no idea what'd happened.
"They must be referring to J'ann." Porrim noted, pointing out very quickly that only J'ann could be mistaken for a girlfriend, and the voice she just heard was no J'ann. "Aran'ya, Akemi, go up together, prepare to knock some heads. Sounds like there's strife going on inside, let's take advantage of it. Knight, you and I can go through the front doors. Ny'za," she switched over to radio, hoping the mecha would be able to make out what she said: "Keep an eye on our building. If you see reinforcements or a surprise, tell us. Finally Elm, report status."
Porrim raised her HHG, and moved over to the side of the door, giving Knight the nod to do the honours. On the other side of the doors, the reception area had been ripped apart, though couches remained, as had the front desk and the desktop computer resting on it, and a barrel full of flaming something keeping the room lit and warm. However, there appeared to be crude tripwires hanging between the staircase, and at the top of the stairs a double-barrelled shotgun was sitting in a gun rest, with a string tied around the triggers.
On the second floor meanwhile, Akemi and Aran'ya could see a pair of feet coming down the stairs. They looked like they'd sprinted through a cheap Nepleslian clothes outlet and through a junkyard for their fashion choices - and that blue hair simply clashed with everything else! They had an old, civilian-grade hunting rifle in their hands, but the way they moved didn't suggest they were combat trained. They walked over to a depression in the floor and yelled down it.
"Right! You motherfuckers will pay for this!" They fired a shot that landed between Ran and J'ann, hitting the floor and cracking a tile. As they were cycling the bolt, it seemed to snag on something. "Come on - ugh, stupid rifle." Rifles weren't stupid, but the people who wielded them could be, and Ran could see that their bad-aiming captor's foot was close enough to the ledge that a quick yank could send them down, and they had a rifle to boot.
Elm's Little Adventure
Norio and Akira balked when Elm seemed to appear from thin air, but Momoko stood firm. "That's ... that's not a Lorath," Akira said, in Yamatai-go. "Where's the wings?"
"They're not. They're one of the little ones, the disposable ones." Momoko replied in kind, turning around to the others for a moment before looking down to Elm, and stepping over. Momoko was a head and a half taller than Elm, and appeared to be Yamataian or Minkan, the civilian model - not that she'd know. She bent down and picked up the staff, turning it over and inspecting it.
Norio, now calming down and standing up looked down at Elm. They were a hardy looking Yamataian man, much taller than Elm was. Perhaps they were a farmer of some sort before the war hit. "What did they say?" He asked, looking at the stave in Momoko's hands, "and what's the stick for?"
Momoko looked towards the ceiling, tapping the bottom end of the staff against the ground as she thought. "One of my previous bandmates was Lorath. I think she said ... Soldier Petra, Lorath Matriarchy ... um. I don't understand the rest, but her name is Petra." She passed the Helashio the staff back, unable to discern its purpose, but figuring out it wasn't a weapon. Though, it could give a good thwack if swung hard enough. "The stick ... dunno. Might be some sort of sensor thing, its giving off pings."
The microphone in Elm's suit and the staff was picking up all this conversation. Momoko meanwhile wasn't exactly sure what to do with the Helashio, shrugging. "Uh, who speaks Ly'thir?"
Norio and Akira shook their heads. Akira stood up and looked over to the makeshift kitchen, looking out the window. "I wonder if that big mech of theirs outside is on her side too?"
Er'red's Group, Hello Nurse!
The Nekovalkyrja on top of Ashlinn seemed incredulous with how long winded their story was, but given what she and her sisters had seen ... it made some form of sense - Whirlwind Mecha didn't just fall off the back of a truck. Lorath-made mecha, the Nepleslian in the Hostile, and finally, Ashlinn laying on the ground in a Daisy - all of it was military spec.
"Wait wait wait," Akihiko asked, raising a finger to Ashlinn as she stood up and lifted her up off the ground, "so the Nekovalkyrja, the Nepleslians, and Lorath are allied together now?" She raised her eyebrow even more - it almost threatened to leave her forehead. "That shit is bananas. That happened in four years?"
They seemed distressed by this, reaching for their parasite container and producing another one of those strange fruits. From passing knowledge, Ashlinn noted that it resembled a Duq - the sort Lorath loved chewing on, but it seemed more hardy and shrivelled. This Nekovalkyrja seemed to be eating it fresh instead of letting it ferment. "Fuck me running, bring me up to speed!" Akihiko said, sounding a little desperate as she put a hand on Ashlinn's shoulder, and talking with her mouth full a bit. Manners had slipped during her extended stay.
Weirder still, her tack had changed. Once, she was willing to take a hostage, but could that have been overconfidence after being stranded for so long? Perhaps desperation? Old instincts kicking in? Or maybe it was what she was eating.
Meanwhile, downstairs, the two Nekovalkyrja who were walking with Menelik seemed to pause for a moment as they went around a corner, and glanced at each other as they kept walking up the carpark. "Whoa?" Potta asked. "Four years?"
Emirella blinked and looked at Menelik, then back at Potta as they walked past what seemed to be a scrap-storage floor, with some hover cars and ground cars laying disassembled for parts, hanging up in racks and boxes. Some of it still looked useful, and well-used tools laying nearby indicated they were innovating in their own ways. "They all coalition now. Strange. I thought Yams and Neps hated each other, and Yams hated Lor, and Lor hated Yams, and Neps did not give fuck."
"Maybe they all give fuck now." Potta pointed out, making an aside glance to Menelik. "Maybe they 'give fuck'." She grinned, stepping over and nudging Emirella in the shoulder, who made a little 'ooo' in reply. The next floor they walked through was making use of some previously temporary fencing to store their more sensitive items, and metal barricades. Menelik could see weaponry and food - including unidentified, salted cuts of meat lying on the other side, and another Nekovalkyrja, sitting down with a rifle by her side and eating some soup as she watched her friends go by. "Hi Vee, we have a Neppy!" Potta pointed out enthusiastically.
"Hi." Vee replied, shrugging as they put a spoonful of mashy looking gruel in their mouth. Wasn't the first time they had a neppy, or had neppy - all the stuff they smoked and the crap they drank made them taste terrible. The next floor Menelik found himself walking through appeared to be where they slept - a huge collection of car seats, blankets, pillows, and other comfortable rubbish was strewn about this floor, while the walls were barricaded.
"Sit, make comfortable." Emirella motioned for Menelik to sit on a large race car driver's seat, while Potta and Emirella hung up their rifles and sat down together, Potta lying down on Emirella's lap. "We going home soon maybe, Emi. We go home."
"Is home even there? Sounds like it isn't..." Emirella sighed. Maya wasn't present just yet. "Webber's on her way up from downstairs. Maya's coming down the stairs ... what's Akihiko doing?"
Potta blinked. "What is she doing?"
As all this unfolded, poor Mirage was still laying down in a puddle of embarrassment as the cadet, the mechanic, and the sharpshooter moved around on her. Ix'ion noticed as he was cutting through the garden that there was another figure entering the carpark, and the roller doors were still open. They seemed to have a sack in their hands, bristling with small spherical shapes, like produce. With the numbers ran, that meant there were six Nekovalkyrja occupying the carpark.
When Ix'ion got to the front doors of the car park, he noticed the roller doors fell down and shut. However with his GUST's added mobility, he could find his way in through a hole on the side of the building that wasn't barricaded a couple of storeys up.
