Porrim's Team, Collision
The raider looked up at Akemi first incredulous that there were so many interruptions all the sudden, like they hadn't considered that spiriting away someone in uniform would lead to other people in similar uniforms showing up to look for where the missing uniform had been whisked away to.
The blue haired, would-be raider looked at Akemi, blinking "What? Look man I have no time for a message, I'm trying to-" Then someone grabbed them by the ankle with the force of an angry Marine division and gave them a pull with all their strength. At the same time though, Aran'ya was trying to grab them from behind to do her disarmament.
What ended up happening is that the lady with the rifle dropped the gun into the pit, and fell forward arse over teapot and a twirl screaming, fashion items being torn off of her and sending nuts, bolts, and paper clips on string flying everywhere as she came crashing down on her face into the bathroom tiles.
However, that wasn't all that came tumbling into the hole. Landing on top of the office occupant's chest was Aran'ya's ample chest, along with the rest of her landing face down and burying the raider. Akemi saw her take a tumble, but according to his HUD, their vitals seemed fine, just a little shaken.
Porrim heard the commotion, and a scream from Aran'ya, muttering a curse under her breath and looking towards where Aran'ya's last known position was. She didn't charge ahead though, she followed Knight as he'd directed, looking towards the depression in the floor and scowling. "Aran'ya, report. What do you see? Any sign of J'ann?" She whispered into her radio.
She should've been looking at the stairs further ahead, as Knight spotted someone committing crimes against fashion (or possibly the new face of the YE37 haute couture) coming down with a pair of pistols, yelling 'hey!' and unwisely announcing their position. Knight had an eye on them - Porrim had to turn around. Some of the overturned desks piled with junk nearby made adequate cover. Akemi could see the gunman coming down too, and although he was a little further away, he still had a clear shot of the attacker's legs.
Aran'ya meanwhile was greeted with the sight of a lacy groined J'ann and the unknown-to-her Nepleslian marine. The rifle fell down beside her. Upon closer inspection, it was a
Styrling Longbolt with wooden furniture, the sort of rifle found in the hands of enthusiast hunters. Ran deduced that it must've belonged to a Nepleslian who used to work at this office. He spotted the Styrling 10 x 58mm cartridge being the usual for these, and maybe this fallen (and dazed) raider had a few more rounds on them he could filch.
Maybe with this uniformed woman, who he recognised as Lorath Self Defence Force, and the suit of WIND armour they were wearing, there was a way out of this hole if he asked 'nicely'. Breaking through the walls was a lot easier with a power armour, or getting a leg up or a lift was also possible.
The snowstorm whirling around the building, meanwhile, didn't let up. Aiesu meanwhile was left in the lobby, awkwardly waiting for the fighting to end.
Apartment Building, Elm's Little Adventure
Momoko looked outside, unable to see where the Mecha had gone in the confusion. "Well, that's good, at least..." she said, looking about the room and shrugging as she walked over to a couch and collapsed into it, looking over to Norio and Akira. "Come on, show some hospitality. I guess we'll wait this storm out, and we'll go see how Knight's doing, and pick up Eric along the way."
Norio grabbed a drip-fed kettle and put it on a hotplate that was connected to the building's still-functioning electricity. Knight helped get it working with Akira, and it sure beat the alternative. Plus, water was easy to find by melting snow and giving it a decent boil, then straining any sediments out.
Akira meanwhile just kind of sat down in an arm chair and looked about, unable to strike up a meaningful conversation, instead crossing his legs and relaxing as he watched the storm through the window.
Er'red's Team, Getting to Know The Locals
Well, where the Hostile-wearing soldier was sitting wasn't a
horrible place. Menelik had definitely seen, or heard of worse in the middle of Funky City. He had heard from people who travelled outside the village about places like this. Maybe the stories were a bit exaggerated to put the fear of the Maker in someone's heart, or to toe a line about how simpler living could be better.
Soon, Menelik saw Ash'linn and Akihiko walking down a ramp together and joining him in the cosy little abode that the former(?) NMX neko had made for themselves. "So we live here, and this is house." Akihiko announced, raising their arms and looking around. Well, anything could be a house, even a carpark, but to Akihiko, it was definitely home.
"Ya. Ya. We eat grasses, old supermarket foods that the other people here won't eats," Maya nodded, "duq fruit that Webber grewed," they hadn't seen anyone named Webber yet, "sometimes people who try attack us cos they think we'll kill them first."
"They so rude!" Emirella nodded earnestly, perhaps a little more than was appropriate given that they probably were so upfront about eating intruders.
"Ya! We were happy to wait here until master came back, but..." Inoue sighed, looking out a porthole into the swirling blizzard outside, "I think we lost the war, didn't we?"
"Just like Vee predict." Maya looked over and rested her head on Akihiko's shoulder. "Nepleslians, and Yamataians working together." She reached into the former parasite compartment hanging by Akihiko's side to grab a fruit. "Dogs and Cats!" She took a bite of it and chewed on it. The internal structure looked like a duq, but Menelik and Ashlinn weren't familiar enough with the opiate fruit to identify it at a glance, and without the heedy smell.
"And birds, too!" Emirella piped in as she took a swig from a beer bottle. A small chorus of agreement went through the crowd. Menelik and Ashlinn felt a bit ... left out by the conversation so far. Perhaps the Nekovalkyrja were so unused to talking with friendly strangers that they were talking to each other instead, with their others as an audience. They were perhaps too busy speculating with each other to lead the two soldiers down a garden path with conversation - and six practically naked Nekovalkyrja versus two well armed powered armours in close quarters would've been a bloodbath - for the Neko anyway.
Downstairs meanwhile, Er'red could see on the other side of the roller door through the wind holes in the slats that whoever had gotten in and shut the door behind them before had stopped and turned around. They put the sack down on the ground, mindful that the contents didn't spill out and approached the gates.
"Bird... fruit?" They asked, in mangled Ly'thir as they passed Er'red a strange looking duq. It felt like one in his hands, had the same feel, but it felt a lot hardier, like the ones cultivated in Northern climates. "Is ... goon? Good.
Iie, wakarimasen..." They mumbled in the Mishhu dialect of Yamatai-go for a bit, tutting themselves as they walked over to the side. "Come in man. Ash-Lin and Man-lick say friend."
Their Ly'thir really needed work, but on a planet like this, a correspondence course wasn't within reach in these sorts of conditions, but Er'red could hear the garage doors starting to rattle open as the motor did its work.
Meanwhile, deer grazed near Mirage's fallen mecha, one of the cervine creatures sniffing at her hull curiously before turning around to chew on some grass poking through the cracks in the street. Was there a zoo, or were deer popular pets on this planet? Must've been the latter, knowing the Yamataians. She also saw in the window of a shop a release poster for a new Aoi Tanaka and Take the Lead album ... well, new if it was YE34 had been released, and the interior of the store was full of media and entertainment discs. Games, movies, music, television shows, a snapshot of Jiyuuian culture caught in time.
Maybe someone could snag a handful of things on the way out and take it back. Perhaps a cultural snapshot was just as valuable as discerning whether or not this planet was safe to recolonise. My'ean could see over the snowstorm that it wouldn't last for much longer, or at least slow down a bit to make flight and recon a little easier.
