RP: IPG [IPG Operators] Breaking Blood Explosion Extraordinaire!

Caleb continued to smile warmly at Nelew. "You have a very unique sounding name, is it safe to assume you're not from Yamatai?" He asked politely as he poked his dinner, a pile of thick cylindrical noodles covered in a thick red meat sauce. "You don't have too much of an accent, neither but I can't quite place where you might be from. Me, I'm just a Nepleslian through and through, I grew out a few miles out from Funky city."

"That is correct. I was born off-world," Nel replied.

That he noticed how she spoke was rather unexpected. She took a bite of a rib and chewed it slowly before swallowing as she looked at the rest of her meal. Her manner of speech was mostly copied from Lenwe, though she had adapted feminine mannerisms according to her behavioral education given before she was brought here. It had been a rather abbreviated course that was suggested when everyone realized that she was rather robotic otherwise. A strong fighter, true, an observant learner, correct, a social engineer...far from it. But she was getting better.

"Why are you here?" asked Nelew as she glanced back over at him with an unreadable expression tinted with curiosity.

"Same as you, I gather," Caleb responded with a sly smile. "To study, experience, grow as a person, as well as, some other things. 'Life is study', as my father used to say." He indicated her large selection of food with his fork for a moment. "Right now, you seem to be studying your sense of taste unless your metabolism is really that fast that you need that much food to keep going."

He chuckled a little, "I'm hoping this chow is as good as it looks or we'll both get to learn about indigestion and the inside of the bathroom stall."

Nelew chuckled too, matching his laugh while adjusting for her higher pitched voice so it sounded almost natural. And, though it was unintentional, since she laughed out of synchronization with Caleb the match wasn't as apparent as it could have been.

"Our fathers seem to share philosophies. Mine has sent me here for almost the same reason," noted Nel as she took another bite and finishing it before continuing. "The food has been well-prepared, though I cannot speak for the method of its dispersal. Have you had poor experiences with public meals before?"

"Traditionally, military mess hall food is bad but I've been pleasantly surprised by how good everything really is. What's been your favorite field of study so far?" Caleb smiled again before scooping up a forkful of the pasta into his mouth as he waited for Nelew to reply. He kept his eyes on the woman, appraising her silently as he ate his lunch.

Another bite disappeared before she answered.

"Social behavior patterns has been the most complex field I have encountered. It is not as straightforward as most other fields with high amounts of interrelated variables. But the difficulty is...appealing. What has your favorite been?" Nelew returned, then finished off the first rack and set the bones down on on side of her plate. Glancing down, Nel realized that she didn't account for the need to place the remains of her meal somewhere on her too-full plate. She might need another plate to carry the bones. No, she could work it out by arranging the ribs around the chicken legs...her thoughts trailed off in that direction as she waited for Caleb's reply.

A very thoughtful look crossed Caleb's face when he heard Nelew's overly scientific reply. "Indeed, it's very intriguing.It only gets even more so after so many years of study. How long do you think you've been more actively studying sociology? I find psychology extremely interesting but that does cross over with social behavior." He smiled again as he wondered aloud, "What do you think will happen during this training?"

Nelew nodded a little as Caleb spoke, finishing up a bite of chicken. "I have been studying sociology for almost two weeks," she said. "As for the results of this institution, I lack the information regarding methods and intended results to make a prediction..." Here she paused, looking over at him again. "...but, since you asked the question, I take it that you have made one?"

Caleb seemed to consider Nelew's question for a moment before answering. "You mean, what my prediction might be about how the training might go, right? I'm not sure exactly. This is a first for the IPG and for me as well, so I dunno what to expect. I wager that I'll just be wingin' it." He paused and decided to expand on his earlier question between mouthfuls of food. "Only two weeks? What were studying before that?"

Nel's smile slipped and her expression went deadpan as she looked down at her food, setting aside the finished chicken breast.

This man was much better at getting to what Hatu had failed to find out; Nelew hadn't figured out exactly how much information she had given Caleb until just now. Fortunately most of it was only surface preferences and mild background data. How she worded this answer, though, could have given herself away.

Her smile returned, though smaller, as if she had been thinking hard about something, and Nel looked back up at Caleb. "The basics," she replied. "Reading, writing, math, basic computer operation, and personal defense. The last one was my father's idea."

ON>

Caleb's smile didn't falter as he carefully wiped some stray pasta sauce from the corner of his mouth with a napkin. "You can never go wrong with keeping things simple. Basics can get a bit dull though, I can see why you might want to jump to somethin' like social behavior after doing nothin' but good ol' book work for so long."

Nelew simply nodded and took a bite, starting on the burger.

The dark haired man watched Nelew curiously as he tried to decide on something else to talk about to keep the conversation going. "So what's the weather like at your home right now? I think in my home town, it's a little humid and overcast from the smog."

"Cloudy, with chances of sun." She took another bite of the burger, squirting a little ketchup over her lip that she quickly corralled into her mouth. The hometown question was a possible leak. But chances were that the IPG already knew where she was from...so...would it matter if this man knew? "Your hometown is where you were raised, is that correct?"

"It's a tricky question. Some people consider their hometown to be where they spent their childhood; where they spent most of their life; where their family is; or even some, consider it to be where they were born. It's all a matter of perspective and opinion," Caleb responded smoothly as he sipped whatever it was he had in his cup.

"What about you, what do you consider a hometown to be?" inquired Nelew after finishing another bite. "Were you raised where you were born?"

"Yes and no. I typically consider my hometown to be the place where I had the fondest memories growing up- which is where I spent a great deal of my childhood," Locke responded after a few moments consideration. It was a tricky question and he hadn't really thought about what he considered to be home.

"Ah." Nelew pondered that over the next bite. Fondest memories? "Memories with the highest priority, ones that you would elect to recall before all others?" she said aloud, half to herself. All she remembered were laboratories and her training...though, as she thought about it, Nel noticed that there were specific events and people that she was recalling more often than others. Were those her 'fondest memories'? "What was your childhood like?" she asked.

"Nothing special, I spent a lot of time in school or trying to stay out of trouble. My brothers and I used to get into scraps every now and then but it was all in good fun. How about you?" Caleb responded with a smile.

"I have no siblings. My time was spent with my instructors, in training to perform my duties. That is also why I was sent here." The woman's voice carried no variation to it as she spoke. Nelew had known no other way to grow up than what she had experienced herself. If anything, she was curious about Caleb's upbringing; the rearing of young had only been briefly addressed in the sociology training she had received. It wasn't anything that the scientists had expected her to need to participate in and none of the people she was thought to encounter would be children, so they had presented it as an abstract requirement of life. Nothing more. But they had forgotten that everyone she would encounter had been a child once. So she was going to find out about this sooner or later.

"Your duties? You were being raised to be a soldier or something?" Caleb asked again, keeping his tone of voice fairly casual and friendly. His eyes wandered for a moment towards the entrance of the Mess Hall before drifting back to Nelew's face, he paid special attention to her eyes as she spoke. The flatness in her tone intrigued him but he didn't vocalize this. "Did you do anything for fun? I mean, all work and no play makes for a dull time."

Entertainment...hm. "Fun?" Entertainment... "I did. One of my instructors was a...'downfall jester', I think they called him? He made people laugh when he injured himself." Nel's smile grew a little as she remembered his combination of hand-to-hand combat training mixed with slapstick comedy; teaching her how to laugh and what was appropriate to laugh at. It was then that they had figured out that behavior training was going to be necessary.

"I guess that when all else fails, hurting yourself in a comedic fashion is always fun," Caleb finished off the last of his plate. He noticed someone entering the Mess Hall and nodded to himself. "It looks like I gotta go, but, I'll catch up with you later, Nelew."

"Alright. Good-bye, Caleb." Nelew gave him a nod and a smile, then turned her attention back to her half-finished meal.

Caleb grabbed his tray and walked off into the crowd of the Mess Hall.

END>

ON

Caleb deposited his empty tray somewhere where the cleaning crew could retrieve it, and then strode casually over to his friend whose presence had pulled him away from his earlier conversation. "Hey, took you long enough, man! What were you doing in there?"

"Nothing at all," was the icy reply. The figure that uttered it was a tall, blonde-haired man with a quite bored look on his face. "How was lunch, my good friend?"

Caleb grinned. "Interesting. You planning on eatin' or are you taking a pass on chow or you sticking to straight stims? It ain't too bad, a little like home cooked chow." He playfully punched the tall, blonder man in the shoulder, "You should loosen up a little, man! It's like they gave you suppositories of icy daggers or somethin'."

The tall blonde coughed slightly when the fist impacted his arm. "That may or may not be the case." He allowed his eyes to flit over to Caleb's former seating arrangement, and the dark-haired woman sitting there, for a moment, before bringing them right back to bear on Caleb. "I will be passing on consuming anything for the moment, thank you." He stopped and thought for a moment. "Ah, yes, there is someone who would like to speak with you."

"That would explain a lot, actually. Especially why you walk... that way," Caleb continued to tease with a grin. He nodded as he smoothed his hand over his hair. "Oh? Is this someone tall and voluptuous or am I gonna be disappointed and get tall, dark and brooding?"

The blonde's face showed now sign of amusement at either comment. "The latter, I'm afraid." He turned and stepped through the same door he had entered. "Come."

"I can't say no to the angry ones, they hit harder than the voluptuous ones," Caleb commented with a sigh as he followed after the blonde man.

The man strode down the hall at a rather high speed. After about a minute of stony silence, he stopped at a large door. He knocked twice, and the large, gray barrier shifted away, revealing a large room filled with viewing screens, all of them focused on the cafeteria. The blonde stepped through the door and made his way towards a large cluster of men, on of which was Mitchell Flins, bent over one of the displays. "Caleb, come here, please."

Caleb's smile didn't fade as he walked casually into the monitor room towards the large, bent over ID-SOL. "If I didn't know better sir, I'd think you wanted me to do something inappropriate." He stood just out of arm's reach to the left of Flins as he waited patiently for the man to respond.

Flins grunted before standing to his full height, and turning to the shorter man. "Hilarious, Cadet." Flins stepped around Caleb, towards another bank of screens, these ones focused on Alaster and Lenz, still picking through their food. "I assume you learned something." He clicked several keys at his display before turning back. "Would you care to share your findings?

"Hmmm... where to start," Caleb pondered for a moment and thoughtfully rubbed the stubble on his chin. Inwardly he knew that the stubble counter balanced the neatness of his appearance but he liked the feel of it against his hand when he pondered like this. "Her upbringing is fairly recent and she sounds rather 'hollow' because of it. She doesn't understand certain emotional concepts so she might be an advanced AI trying to become human in her behavior. Or she might be socially retarded from living a incredibly sheltered and technical upbringing on some backwater planet. She's also trying to mimic certain behavioral patterns in order to fit in more."

Flins nodded. "Excellent work, Cadet." He lifted a folder located on one of the numerous tables throughout the room. "As for the backwater planet, that would be New Kohana. We have an inkling she may be linked to a Yamataian crime lord who has made his base of operations there." He looked down at the file some more before passing it off to a small hovering drone, with a command to enter in the extra information to the central database. He looked back to Caleb. "You looked quite friendly with her."

"It's what I do, Sir. I've found more information can be gained through casual conversation than an interrogation. Besides, she looked more inviting for conversation than the midget with the assload of muscles and the short temper breaking silverware," Caleb shrugged. "Not that, being a wall of muscle with a bad temper is a bad thing for the organization, it's just less interesting to spark conversation. But I have the feeling you already have a great deal of information on that particular red head."

Mitchell nodded. "Indeed we do. He, however, hasn't been hiding anything." He pointed to the same table he had pulled the folder off of earlier. It was still stacked with dozens of vanilla-colored portfolios. "As you can see, we're not hurting for information on all of out new recruits."

"I'm just glad I'm not the one trying to sift through all of those folders right now. So we suspect that Nelew's father might be the Yamataian crime lord or working for him then?" The young intelligence officer wondered aloud, it'd make sense but Caleb knew that there'd be no way to get confirmation of that data through regular conversation with Nelew.

"Correct. However, we lack verification on anything further at this time." Flins answered. "You've done well, Caleb. You will do well for yourself. I believe that is all, for now. Cadet Blist will show you out." Flins turned back to his display, as the blonde man nodded, looking to Caleb.

Cadet Locke nodded and turned to follow Blist out of the monitoring room, he paused for a moment. He looked over his shoulder and added, "Oh, one more thing Sir. I'd keep an eye on her hygiene habits. You might discover more information about her true nature that way."

Flins looked over his shoulder. "Noted. Thank you, Cadet."

OFF

Alaster continued eating at a leisurely pace, wiping his mouth every so often with a napkin on his lap. Granted he could've sat with someone, but simply observing, and the peace and quiet of having one's own table, or space to themselves afforded a bit of serenity that he had come to mildly fancy. He picked a little at the dessert before taking a bite, and finding it acceptable.

Lenz ate his food in a thoughtful, brooding silence. He was handling his eating utensils very carefully since he didn't feel like having to get more if he broke another set.

His plate was soon empty and he stared at the now bare chicken bone as he contemplated the value of getting more. The corner of his mouth twitched as he looked around suddenly, trying to see if he could figure out why exactly he was feeling like he was being watched. After a few moments he lifted up his now dirty food tray and carried it to where it appeared they were supposed to go to be cleaned.

The remainder of Nelew's meal was finished within minutes, with each bone picked clean. She would have eaten those as well (What? If your digestive system can handle it, why not?), but social norms dictated otherwise.

Nel organized the remains on the plate and set the dish and tray in the designated area, then exited the mess hall. Once in the hallway, however, she became undecided. Should she return to the barracks or explore the facility?

The loud, measured gait of Mitchell Flins's heavy boot would hopefully serve to make up Nelew's mind as to which course of action to take. The ID-SOL strode down the long hallway, catching site of the smaller woman. He stopped a ways away.

"Hello, Initiate. May I ask why you have distanced yourself from your comrades?"

Nelew turned and stood at attention, saluting Flins. "They are engaged in mealtime activities and I was unsure of the remaining time to complete said activities. So I decided to allow them to finish their meals rather than distract them, sir." She held the salute until he returned it. "Was I wrong in doing so, sir? Does a soldier need nutrition more than interaction, or is it the other way around?"

Caleb accidentally ran into Flins in the corridor and the much shorter man was sent sprawling to the deck. A small brown bag made a light squishing sound as it fell from the clumsy Cadet's hands onto the floor. "Oy, sorry Captain! I must not've been paying attention to where my feet where directing me!" He slowly stood up and started dusting himself off, "I think the lady is a little short for you, Sir." He gave Nelew a playful wink and bowed solemnly to the large ID-SOL. "But sorry again Sir, I hope I didn't interrupt anything."

Hatu frowned at the multiple choices across the buffet table. He didn't like it when he was presented with more choices than what was necessary, he was too indecisive to pick quickly. The Technical Consultant paced up and down the line, cutting infront or behind different individuals. He put a slab of steak on his plate, and then cut further up the line.

...Potatoes... maybe? His mind seem to come to a blank. With that he scooped some potatoes on his plate. One Operator started to complain about this, and then Hatu shot him a gaze. He zoomed in on him, the full x10, making his lenses stretch out at the mans face.

"I don't have time for your babble." Hatu said impassively, and with that he abruptly went down the line and scooped some corn on the plate.

His meal ready, and already missing some of the conversation at hand, the Tech looked around for a spot to sit. The man only knew his hunger at the moment, and seeing only an empty seat, took it.

Hatu laid his plate on the table and took his seat. Now, if there's one thing about the Chiaki's, it's that they all have similar traits. One, would be their vast persuit of knowledge. Two, would be their attraction to cyberized women(Kokuten the 4th's wife, Triana, was sporting a rather sexy bronze colored arm when they first met.) Three, would be a Chiaki's ravenous hunger. So when Hatu ate, he tore into his steak, his potatos, and his corn.

A tall thin, red headed woman with dark green eyes wearing a well fitting Star Army of Nepleslia uniform gracefully walked with a seductive sway of her hips over to an empty seat at Alaster's table. her footsteps fell somewhat heavily onto the deck for a woman of her build. She stood holding her food tray as she looked down at him, "Mind if I join you, Soldier?" Her curly hair was pulled up into a loose bun and pinned with a large black barrette, she had several short wisps of loose hair that fell along either side of her heart shaped face. Further visual examination of her appearance would reveal two standard HHGs strapped in drop holsters on both of her thighs and a nameplate reading, "Eros, S.".