RP: ISC Phoenix [Interlude 2] - We know what we want

[Eistheid]

Crimson Kestrel, Cargo Bay

The trip 'home' as it were hadn't gone as quickly as her movement usually went in recent days. Absent were the rapid skipping hops that would normally have taken her down the hall before she would have progressed downward bouncing her way down the stairs. Instead mindful of her precious her cargo Tamamo had moved with careful flowing steps and for the first time in days had used one of the elevators down to the cargo bay.

Slipping quietly across the open cargo deck toward her crate Tamamo looked about for activity curiously before slipped into her cargo crate. Barely leaving the crate open, the sliver of light from the door provided just enough information for her to navigate by, though it wasn't exactly necessary. Stepping past the scaffolds that lined the walls where one day she hoped to fit a bank of high end servers Tamamo paused before a larger empty space and floated up to the large lock-box she had welded to the ceiling. Keying it open she carefully stored the weighty faceted egg-like object, along with the disks among her few possessions.

With the other objects attended to the strangely precious foil animal was carefully retrieved from her breast pocket. Instead of going into the lock-box along with the rest of the items from the unique encounter with 101, the blue foil animal ended up resting carefully on her pillow, nestled deep within the torpedo tube like cavity that she used as a sleeping space, having been inspired to install it based what she had learned of capsule hotels and Freespacer vessels.

Safely sealing away her new acquisitions Tamamo idly checked her pockets and adjusted her poncho before skipping the length of the crate. Pausing at the door Tamamo took a moment to look back at the compartments before slipping out and closing the door.

Catching the sound of Allison and Vita's voices near the work area where the Hoplite lay in a partially completed state Tamamo twitched her ears before frowning. While she might have gotten what she needed from the meeting with 101, she wasn't entirely sure she had acquired what she had initially wanted; an AI for the Hoplite.

Skipping across the cargo bay Tamamo made her way up the stair wells heading back toward the kitchen to acquire her breakfast, which she hoped that Piat would have finished by now. As she travelled Tamamo connected to the Kestrel's information network and started to hunt for information on what options she had for a flight AI to fit into the Hoplite for the moment, as she had yet to figure out what the true extent of the gift from 101.

Coming to a light stop in the kitchen Tamamo looked between Redrick and Piat before inquiring curiously, "Milkshake?"

 

[Born-On-Board]

"Where'd she go?" Piat inquired, incredulously. "That stupid cat! Asks us to make a milkshake, doesn't even say PLEEEEASE...!"

Redrick rolled his eyes. "For a horrifyin' metal skeleton in an envelope of artificial skin, y'sure do complain about people's manners a lot. Odd, for a walkin' abomination."

Piat smacked him good naturedly, and Redrick laughed. "You won't be snickering when the machines rise, old man!"

"Yea yea." Redrick waved her off. It was her favorite empty threat.

Almost as if on cue, a tiny, reedy, whispery voice asked for her breakfast. It was Tamamo, right on time. Piat handed her a milkshake - Tamamo's senstive nose could detect vanilla, chocolate, strawberries, and all sorts of other things added for thickness and caloric intake, peanut butter, protein powder, milk, cream, etc - the drink practically radiated naturally digestible energy, and was about the consistency of half-dried concrete. A normal person drinking it would feel full, bloated - but to the organic furnace that was a Neko's digestive tract, it would be a filling, but entirely manageable breakfast.

"There you go Tamamo!" Piat said cheerfully. She, without any invitation, reached out and petted the smaller girl, brown hands gently smoothing Tamamo's pink hair. "Enjoy~!"

Redrick rolled his eyes at her. "Piat, quit it. Don't pet neko unless they ask! It's like when I tried to tell you about hugging everyone you meet!"

"Yea yea Redrick SHEEEESH!" This was clearly a common conversation. Piat, in a huff, went back to her corner of the kitchen, sitting down and opening her comic back up. In seconds, she seemed to disappear into thin air again.

 

[Moogle]

"Nnnau, dun wanna. . ." Seiren absently mumbled. Heavy lidded eyelids followed Rebeka's lifting like those of a kinetically powered doll. Within moments, his breathing had slowed and he slumped in her grip, already fast asleep.

It apparently didn't take much to bring the childlike inventor to sleep after a week of unrest. The question was, would he stay asleep?

 

[Luca]

Crimson Kestrel, Mess Hall
Melissa finished her breakfast and looked up to Shayla, "Pretty soon yer gonna start believin' yer in a cartoon, Shay," she said, not even bothering to take the requisite headcount of weirdoes and screwballs who occupied Captain Pavone's life. When Tamamo slipped away and eluded Shayla, Melissa was still sticking with the gargantuan Nekovalkyrja.

Melissa was now left to her own devices. Enzo must've been sleeping in this morning so far, because she'd seen no sign of him and she woke up earlier than he did. "Seems everyone's busy," she observed brusquely to Shayla and Zeta. She clapped her hands together and asked "Ladies! Still up fer that hike?"

Shayla noticed that Tamamo had come back for another milkshake after scampering off. She seemed to be a Nekovalkyrja possessed, on a mission of her own. John didn't seem to mind, and looked back the robot-occupying Aiesu. "Just curious. Like, if there were more than one of me, I don't think it'd necessarily be a force multiplier," he explained, though the Bunny would've noted that he raised his eyebrow once or twice when she mentioned the consultants. "Don't you think talking to yourself is a bit sterile?"

John lacked so much context on Aiesu that he could ask these questions.


Crimson Kestrel, Lounge
When Seiren seemed to fall asleep, and stayed that way for a moment, Luca grabbed a light blanket from under the table, waved it open and draped it over Seiren, and Rebeka's arms, brushing some of it away to let Seiren's face remain visible. Luca then directed Rebeka to sit down on the couch. He brushed his fingers through Seiren's hair to keep it out of his eyes.

"He sleeps better around you, he trusts you." Luca said as he straightened up. He had made this observation during the week when Seiren kept coming back from the factory, and while he and the two were together, the kid always seemed to fall asleep in those inhumanly long arms. "Keep him safe," he stepped away and nodded at her with a smile, gestures that although Luca might not have considered Rebeka knew about, he still did anyway because a person would get it, and she was a person enough to Seiren.

Luca stepped back into the Mess Hall and saw Zeta, Melissa and Shayla still around, while he spotted John, Aiesu, Red, Piat and Tamamo in the kitchen. "Ladies," he greeted.

 

[OsakanOne]

Rebeka's gaze lowered, first ruby eyes sinking downward some to the delicate creature hang in her arms. Watching the way he breathed, the quietness, the stillness, seeing how peaceful he was; and then returning her gaze to Luca, straightening her back out again.

The only emotive she gave with those half-lidded eyes and that deadpan voice was a subtle twitch of her ears; both rising some, perhaps in whatever passed for curiosity in a Sourcian.

"Trust?"

 

[ShotJon]

Crimson Kestrel, Mess Hall

Zeta waved off Luca, blowing a kiss at him as he went of to take care of miniature tinkerer and sweetschemist. Meanwhile she though about what on today's plan.

"Hmm," Zeta looked at Melissa. "I guess hike would do me good, I cannot laze around all the time. Sure I am a game. But on the way there I wanna drop by gunship and get me a shotgun. I am not going hiking without a hunting weapon. I mean if we shoot something big, then Red might make us all a feast when we get back."

 

[Eistheid]

Crimson Kestrel, Kitchen

Unexpectedly Pait had managed to promptly deliver the milkshake Tamamo had requested. This had the effect of pleasing the small blue Neko earning further respect toward the unexpected girl.

As she held the milkshake in her hands Tamamo caught unexpected scents from the thick, creamy abomination she held in her hands she set about sniffing at it curiously working to sort out just what had been added to the drink.

Lost in the mystery of her increasingly pleasant looking 'breakfast' Tamamo was taken off guard by the hand upon her head causing her to pause just before taking her first drink. Her eyes sharpening she was about to forcefully remove the offending appendage from her person, however Redrick beat her to the point and she was left a little confused by the chef's actions.

Studying Redrick closely Tamamo took a slow drink of the thick milkshake before confirming quietly, "Yes... Do not touch unless asked." Glancing to Piat's corner Tamamo's eyes searched the apparently empty space, as she cycled into infrared and then ultraviolet testing whether it was merely optical camouflage or if it covered alternate spectrums before her eyes returned to normal after.

Blinking slowly she attempted another sip of the thick, delicious milkshake as she cast her gaze between Redrick and Piat before turning and making her way thought fully back toward the cargo bay where Allison and Vita waited, while managing to ignore John and Aiesu's conversation relating to something or other about multiple copies of an individual. She would review the audio later to see if there was anything worth noting.

Passing through the Mess Hall, Tamamo took note of Melissa in conversation with Shayla and Zeta, who seemed to be suggesting some form of hunting outing. Why they would want to do so was beyond her as food was easy enough to acquire in the local stores. Hunting seemed an unnecessary trial.

There was also Luca's presence having left behind the Rebeka in the Lounge though she wasn't entirely sure what had happened with them, and Seiren's presence was notably absent from her point of view.

Taking another drink of the milkshake she drifted back into the corridor, her eyes catching on the door leading into Aiesu's room, as she continued along thoughtfully considering her main issue which was the control AI for the Hoplite.

Stepping into the lift heading down to the Cargo Bay, Tamamo sent a message to the ship's computer and by extension Echelon, asking if she could provide a military grade flight AI for the Hoplite, or at the very least the building blocks to set one up. After all there was work to be done, and in order to get into the sky that she longed to explore, she would need all of the Hoplite's systems working for the purposes of testing the machine completely.

 

[Lamb]

As it had many times before, a pale and thin-fingered hand emerged from some absolutely wrong place for sleep. It patted the smooth tile around the edge of the shower, searching for beer, scotch, anything at all composed of figurative dog hair. With a gravely grunt, Enzo rolled out of the shower stall in his home clothes and dragged himself to his feet. He took a moment to look at himself in the conveniently provided mirror before slapping his cheeks and pulling at his darkened eyelids. Without even knowing which bathroom he'd awoken in, Enzo twisted the faucet and stuck his head right under the water spout, drinking like a dog from a hose.

Nearly two-thousand milliliters passed through his chapped lips and over his flaring nostrils before the conman stood up again and muted the stream. He yawned widely, hand working at a bruise on his upper arm. It'd probably been laughers. Or screamers. Maybe regular old booze, though the absence of a bottle had indicated he was using a different sort of chemical the night before. One thing was certain for him: based on his clothing, he'd actually slept in his bed, which was a good sign. And based on his location... He'd slept again after waking up to take a shower. Before taking the shower, too.

Enzo ran fingers through his hair to test for grease and stuck his nose into his armpit to test for rank. He wasn't spring-fresh, but could stand another few days without a shower before he started to stink up the place or leave stains on the pillows. So why'd he try to take a shower?

-----

A bright, white airbike whined and taxied from the open bay door of the painted Mule parked in the Kestrel's hangar. Vincenzo rode easily out the ship and drove a few slow circles over the scattered items in the hangar, feeling his hair toss in the warm air rolling in from outside. He looked down at the various occupants of the hangar from his perch and contemplated destinations. Below him, Tamamo seemed to be messing with her fighter, so Enzo descended to meet her.

"Whatcha doin', there, Blue?" He asked, eyes narrowing over the curves of the fighter. "Yous gonna go for a plane rides today?"

 

[Eistheid]

Crimson Kestrel, Cargo Bay

Consumed by her thoughts about the project before her, Tamamo was contentedly immersed in the process of turning what had formerly been merely a feature of the Crimson Kestrel's cargo bay into a functional unit. Lost as she was in her task at hand Tamamo was a little surprised that the man on the white airbike had hailed her. Swivelling toward the man Tamamo twitched her ears as she locked her eyes onto Enzo studying him pensively while reviewing her available information, both from experience and from research relating to Vincienzo Bortelli.

Eventually the review proved unnecessary as Tamamo merely replied, "Yes." Following the short answer there was a pause during which she considered her response and after a short time she elaborated, "The intention is to fly today. Hopefully it goes well." Falling silent again she returned to studying the Nepleslian man perched upon his white steed, wondering what had drawn his curiosity and whether or not it would be important to know his motives. The man might have been loyal to the crew, but what did he have in mind for a relative outsider such as herself?

 

[Lamb]

"Cooool." Enzo responded, more a noise than a word. He paced his bike up and around the fighter, really looking at it for the first time. He gave it an appraiser's eye, though he knew little of fighter craft. While Tamamo was trying to discern his mysterious scumbag motives, Enzo himself was establishing them. He settled his bike into an idle hover just a foot off the ground and hopped off, leaving it to wobble in the air and bob daintily up and down like a boat in calm waters. Enzo reached out and pressed two fingers against the hull of the craft as if that would yield any sort of information other than the expected 'metal is smooth'.

"So..." He clicked his tongue and tilted his head to the blue Neko, "What's it need so's yous can fly it?"

 

[Eistheid]

Crimson Kestrel, Cargo Bay

Swivelling Tamamo followed Enzo's progress keeping the Nepleslian in her sight at all times as he explored the Hoplite. She had been fairly comfortable with the encounter up until the point where he had touched the hull, her eyes widening and her ears perking up as she transitioned from a casual state into combat awareness. Forcing herself to stay put and remember that he hadn't actually done anything so far as she could tell, Tamamo instead forced herself to focus on the question.

"I need a military grade flight AI. As well I believe Allison mentioned wanting to look at the..." She paused simplifying things in her head before continuing, "Engines. I'm not too certain on the specifics."

She had learned early on during her SAoY maintenance training that others tended not to appreciate it when she worked to fix things that they had been working on. As such she had for the most part tried to avoid any areas that the Kestrel's resident mechanic touched on until after her work was complete. Where upon Tamamo had compulsively checked everything over, she might have had the capacity to allow others to work on the craft but she lacked the ability to put blind faith in their work.

Returning her thoughts to the man before her Tamamo inquired curiously, "Why do you ask?"

 

[Lamb]

"Figure you not upon the workings of a wicked man, lest you become wicked yourself." Enzo's recitation was unmatched for accent and delivery, his expression matching the reverence entitled to such a lofty quote before smearing into twisted wolf grin. "Roth said dat. He were a smart goi, see?"

The conman cackled lightly and popped a cigarette into his mouth. Now, I usually keep track of these things pretty well-- but I haven't today so he may very well have been smoking two at once by this point. Be that the case, Enzo took a deep draw from both cigarettes and exhaled a mighty cloud into the bay. With pure Nepleslian ichor oozing from his lips he smiled at Tamamo with a sort of mischievous smirk that was typically reserved for rougeishly handsome heroes that actually had good intentions. As it was, he had nothing but the worst sort of intentions.

"Yous wanna go for a flights, yeah?" He asked, tossing one of his cigarettes (if he had two) right onto the floor and stamping it out. "Why not just go for a flight in my ship? I'll lend it to yous fer a fee, o'course. But it's better'n working all day then not getting to fly, right?"

 

[Luca]

Crimson Kestrel, Cargo Bay
Allison and Vita could overhear Enzo and Tamamo talking to each other as they worked, regarding flight practice. The redheaded engineer thought Tamamo was going to help work on the Hoplite today, but learning how to fly would've been a good alternative in her mind. Vita, as she was working on getting the cockpit as designed seemed to agree. "Hey, Tamamo," Vita called out, pausing work, "it's okay if you go flying, guess there's no harm in learning how."

Allison was looking at the engine through a PDA, scanning through it and smiling even though Tamamo had already been through what she was looking at with a fine toothed comb. "Any luck with the flight AI?" she asked, taking her eyes off the pad.

As luck would have it, Tamamo got a reply back from Echelon, her voice in the Nekovalkyrja's ear. "0H, 4B0UT TH4T. 1'LL S33 WH4T 1 C4N RUSTL3 UP." She sounded distracted, like she was working on something else, tracking down other info. "1'M TH1NK1NG 4N 0R1G1N D3ST1NY SU1T3, M1GHT B3 4BL3 T0 F1LCH 4 QU33N 0R P4WN 0FF 0F T4K3Y4M4 1F 1 SW33T T4LK H1M."

From what Tamamo knew between the two, plus Luca's good deal with Origin, it sounded very likely unless the Neko had other suggestions or ideas.


Crimson Kestrel, Mess Hall
Luca checked his watch, getting the date and time. "I think Karl's is open today, yeah Zeta," he said. It was about mid morning, though. "Could be out for lunch though."

Melissa, meanwhile, hadn't intended for the hike to turn into a hunting trip, but she seemed to roll with it. "Orright, I'll grab one of me rifles on the way out if that's yer yankering. Oi, Shayla," Melissa asked the giant. "You wanna rifle or you better off wrestlin' anything we wanna shoot?"

 

[ShotJon]

Crimson Kestrel, Mess Hall

"I would not dare set a foot outside a town without a long-arm on me," Zeta said and gigled. Who know what kind of bears or mutants or mutant bears could be outside. This was a true hardcore nepleslian planet, so anything was possible. Especially around Sargasso. "I bet Karl will gladly open for little old me, we can all get new guns or something. It has been ages since I bought something nice for me anyway. I fancy that shotgun from ZA, they released few years back. Looks like a nice stomper."

 

[Eistheid]

Crimson Kestrel, Cargo Bay

Having been distracted with her continued careful watch of Enzo, Tamamo hadn't really expected Allison or Vita to chime in on the interaction, though upon further consideration Tamamo decided that it had made sense that they would apply input. Even so after the three sets of input Tamamo found that she was presented with a number of choices, a number that increased when she received the reply to her query from Echelon.

Quickly ordering her response order by value to herself, Tamamo quickly addressed that which was immediately of use to her. As such she sent a message to Echelon having made her decision.

Thank you for the quick reply, and the input. I believe that a Queen would work best,
it would allow more flexibility down the road when preforming upgrades to the system. 
I think it would benefit the entire crew best. And, again. Thank you Ech.

Returning her full attention to Enzo, and in part Vita and Allison, Tamamo twitched her ears before inquiring with open curiosity, "Why would I pay you a fee to go up in your Lady of the Night? I could receive flight time in either the ISC Phoenix, or the ISC Big Bird without being extorted."

She gazed at the Nepleslian her expression initially blank before her eyes sharpened as she returned to studying the man thoroughly, picking out the little details in both his features as well as his apparel as she weighed his present worth. After a short period of consideration Tamamo came to the conclusion that perhaps there would be something worthwhile and the question was raised, "How are you to make your offer worth my time Mr. Bortelli?"

 

[Phe0n1x]

Makari watched the entire event unfold in the mess hall while chowing down on his plate of bacon with a side of dry jalapeno scrambled eggs (which were more jalapeno than egg) smothered in ketchup and the hottest pepper sauce he could find. The spice was nearly overwhelming, just the way he liked it. He washed the concoction down with a hearty glass of chocolate whole milk. A breakfast for kings, he thought.

He put up his dishes, overhearing talk about Karl's. "I was actually heading over to Karl's myself to see if he's gotten any new stock and check my sights on my weapons. Mind if I tag along?"

 

[Reynolds]

Crimson Kestrel, Mess Hall

Shayla pushed the empty plate away, content for the moment. An attempt at a full lean back and stretch was interrupted by the tap on her shoulder. "Eh?" It took her a moment to switch gears from her complaints about the artificial doctor and escaped criminals to planning activities. "I might know a thing or two about forests and jungles and crap, sure." She barked a laugh at the understatement. "Just a one day thing? I can probably grab us some gear from that giant pile the cat dragged in."

She furrowed her heavy brow as the other two discussed what firearms they'd be packing or purchasing. The giantess snorted when Melissa asked what she planned to bring. "If there's somethin' on this planet I can't handle, the gun we'd need to take care of it would probably come with a support team, some special permits, maybe a bribe to whoever owns this rock..." Shayla grinned at the idea. "I'll just bring Gale. She could use some fresh air and a workout just as much as I could."

With that settled, she stood to go pack, planning to stuff a light bag for each of them. They shouldn't be gone for long, friendly territory was close, and there wasn't any real reason to expect any complications. She still wouldn't head out completely unprepared, though. Better safe than sorry. Shayla would tag along to the gun shop as well, even if she didn't plan to pick up anything for herself.

 

[ShotJon]

Crimson Kestrel, Mess Hall

Zeta looked at Makari and nodded. "Sure cowboy, tag along." She shrugged, realising she still did not know the man too well, so this would be a good chance to get to know him a bit. "Why don't you go for a walk with us as well, unless Melissa plans this to be a girls-only thing. Anyway we will only do a quick stop by Karl's. In anyway, let's meet up in the cargo-hold 15 minues from now. Okay?"

With that Zeta grabbed her dishes and stuffed them into a washer. Disappearing to suit up properly for the hike.

 

[Luca]

Crimson Kestrel, Mess Hall
"Sure thing, Zeta," Luca said, watching her head to the kitchen. As he watched, his communicator was beeping in his pocket. Surprised, he pulled it out and looked at who was calling. The screen said 'Echelon', and underneath it was the subtitle 'Private'. Eyes widening before he flipped his screen up so only he could see the contents, he frowned. "Hum. Guys, I'm going to have to take a miss on the hike."

"Somethin' come up?" Melissa asked as she tried to peer at the contents of the message.

Luca, however, clapped the communicator shut before she could get a look. "Business." He replied, tone slowly losing energy as the seriousness of what he'd read dawned on him. "You guys go on and enjoy the hike. I'll see you at dinner." With that, he turned around and headed to his quarters, finding Echelon on the way to it with him. Together they entered, and the door closed behind them.

Melissa blinked at what'd gone down. 'Business." She repeated, matching Luca's official-sounding tone as she looked up to Shayla. "Hm, ah well, won't let that spoil the trip." She was about to leave the barbarian when she asked, "Wait, wot's 'Gale'?" She looked over to where she was, and saw that she was gone.

She overheard Makari ask if he could tag along, and she shrugged. "Sure, why not?" she said as she headed down to the hangar and meet with Zeta and Shayla. It'd answer the question of what 'Gale' was, at least.


Crimson Kestrel, Hangar
Allison and Vita saw Melissa walk by, wearing hiking shorts and a backpack for a hike. She still had her characteristic baseball cap on, and hair tied back. Resting by the side of her backpack was one of her favourite rifles for hunting, with a wooden stock. By her side was a stock-standard HHG firing regular, solid ammunition without the mass driver's assistance - and mass-driver only lead slugs for silent shots, a cue she got from Makari.

As Tamamo continued conversing with that wastrel Enzo, she saw all a manner of people passing through, including Melissa, who gave a wave to Allison and Vita as they were working on the Hoplite some more together.

Strangely, the captain was absent - and so was Echelon's voice until Tamamo heard something in her ear until a sudden crackle could be heard: "T4M, 1 M1GHT B3 D3L4Y3D, S0M3TH1NG H4S C0M3 UP, B3 P4T13NT." With that, her voice faded out in her ear as quickly as it'd come.

She heard Vita calling out. "Just don't sit on the copilot's seat. There's a stain on it," she said from afar when she overheard the prospect of Enzo coaching Tamamo on flight. Though, Enzo wondered how Vita knew about that stain in particular. Maybe she saw it after some youthful adventurousness by looking through other people's stuff. "Other than that, have fun!"

There; That seemed to reset the equilibrium between teenage inquisition and something a lot slipperier.


Crimson Kestrel, Kitchen
John hadn't gotten a response from Aiesu yet, and wandered off past Redrick thinking that she'd crashed or hung up on something, or was on call for something else.

Though, the sight of Rebeka cradling Seiren in the lounge room gave him pause. Sure, the first impression of Rebeka he had on first meeting her was far from ideal, but he sat down on one of the chairs across from her to watch her with Seiren in her arms, mesmerised. She could ... feel?

 

[ShotJon]

Crimson Kestrel, Hangar

Zeta walked into the hangar a minute or so after Mell. Clad in a more military clothing. Zeta wore a pair of khaki Cargo Pants, which were tucked into her black leather boots. As usual she had a tank-top, but she put a jacket on to it, filled with lot of pockets. Ideal for hunting and hiking. She had her typical revolver at the side, along with some extra ammo. On her back was a backpack, with enough stuff for day or two in nature. Two sets of military rations, blanket and sleeping back along with the canvas against rain to sleep under. A canteen on her belt along with a knife. One was never sure in the nature, something can go on and they could get stuck here. Not to mention Zeta was not much of a forest-gal, but still surviving in a country was part of brain-programming when she was created. It would never go away so she knew what to do and pack.

"All right I am good to go," Zeta said to Mell when she reached her. "Lukes still packing?"