"Ahhh...." Ran stood hidden behind a couple of trash dumpsters, looking to the right and left to make sure that some damned hobo didn't dare venture into this particular alley. Shaking his bits to make sure that no urine would dare dribble out to stain his pants, Ran zipped his pants back up and walked out the alley, lighting up a cigarette to add to the myriad of terrible smells that assaulted his nose. His wallet had taken a huge hit from the previous days spent by him in bars and sleeping next to hookers in run-down motels.
Pulling out the datapad from his pocket...and wiping several pieces of what cigarettes contain away from the screen, the Chief pulled up Rico's message that had told them were to meet him in Los Apagos. Taking a last sip of...water, of all things, Ran joyfully skipped off to the meeting spot.
Kagura would comb her organic fingers through her thick purple hair as she approached Apogee Square. It felt good to have an arm on her shoulder again. "Alright, where were we supposed to meet that Rico-dude again?" She muttered, flexing her durandium fingers and looked around. She hadn't come into the line of sight of Autumn yet nor Rico as she took a walk through the rough streets on her own. "I love a town like this."
Gran sighed as he trudged through the streets. He looked like a man who had been insanely bored for the last few days. He carried a knapsack on his back that made a sort of metallic jingle with every step. He kept looking side to side as he tried to find the appointed place, his datapad surprisingly being of little help. The city felt strangely foreign to him. He realized he felt most at home walking down tight walls of steel and looking out at the cold black through thick viewports. He continued to wander, eventually finding his way to the spot with his nose still buried in his datapad's map function.
Fay carefully made his way to the meeting place. He wasn't really much of a drinker, but it seemed like he didn't have a choice right now. Not that he minded, actually. He had nothing else to do, so this could kill some time. His mechanical kneecap was still acting up, so he had to sort of hobble along. Luckily, he had an old wooden cane to support him as he walked. It looked as if it would break at any moment, but it seemed to somehow hang in there. He would soon arrive at the meeting place, but he couldn't see anyone that he recognized yet.
Little did poor, unsuspecting, purple-haired Kagura know, that she was being stalked. He moved like a Fancy Feast cat through the rough and tumble streets, dodging the occasional glance that Kagura would take behind her. Sort of getting bored with doing this for several blocks...and rather wary of people thinking that he might actually be ready to molest this woman, or something...the Chief simply walked up to Kagura and kept a steady pace behind her, not being more than 8 inches from her. When they would get to the park, he would whisper a "..Hell-looo" into her ear.
Kagura could hear the stalker and turned slightly to glance over her shoulder and thrust her metal elbow back, aiming for his gut. She didn't like being stalked like this, especially after coming out of the safety of her ship; perhaps this town was a little too rough and tumble. "I seriously think it's not safe for you to walk behind me unless you want to get hurt," she said.
Autumn turned her head slightly to one side as she heard more pronounced footsteps that seemed out of sync with the others somehow. She rocked on her heels and waited to see who they belonged to. She heard Kagura's threat and grinned. "Dear Heart, are you testing out your new hardware already?"
Ran had taken a sip of water, and her elbow to his gut caused him to spray it forward in suprise. In Kagura's direction. "Damnit, Kagura." He wiped the water from his mouth, throwing the bottle onto the street with little regard for pollution laws. "You're fucking lucky we're on shore leave, or I'd have you clean our bathrooms for a week." Ran glanced forward and noticed that Autumn was also here, and offered her a nod.
Adrian had had his back resting against the stone wall for the better part of a quarter hour. His legs were splayed out in front of him, covered with dark camouflage cargo pants that went quite well with his spike-coated jacket. He was happy to have reapplied the green dye to his hair. Next to the medic were his datapad and two small, brown paper bags. One was empty, the former contents of a new Zen Arms .45, was currently in one of the many pockets on his legs. The other, larger bag was home to a good-sized bottle of Absinthe. Adrian took another drink from his bottle before taking a look over the concrete barrier. It looked like some others had arrived. The Staff Sergeant hopped the small wall and headed for the center of the park.
Kagura's eye tic'ed slightly as she felt something wet hit the back of her head. "Then don't stalk behind me like that Ran." she said, crossing her arms over her chest as she did. "And I wouldn't clean your bathrooms unless you wanted to clean mine first." she joked and turned to Autumn and smiled some and went to go meet her friend. "You can say that." the purple haired woman snickered. "Really upgraded equipment too." She said, showing her shiny new arm to Autumn.
Gran strode into the park and finally looked up from his pad. "This is it I guess..." He mumbled, not sure why they were meeting in such a rotten place. He looked up and noticed Adrian walking around. He gave a short wave and walked up to him. "Hey man, what'cha been up to?"
Adrian gave a slight nod in response to Gran. "Drinking, bit of sleep here and there. I think I stabbed someone last night." The medic shrugged and took another drink.
Fay could hear people yelling and talking in the area. Soon, he could see Autumn and Kagura, but not really anyone else. The medic hobbled over to them without a word. He didn't really know them too well, so it seemed impolite to interrupt their conversation.
Autumn chuckled and waved to the Chief and her obstinate, purple-haired friend. "Ooh swanky. I just got my new one all set as well. I'm just hoping this next engagement won't give me a matching set," she chuckled softly as she waved and smiled at the young man she half recalled from the Alliance. "I think we're meeting over in the center there." She twirled and started walking towards the barricaded square. "I try to make it a point to be early to places, I think we have a little more time before everyone else that's coming is coming."
"Looks like drinkin’ mostly.... Wait you stabbed a guy? What for?" Gran said, quite suprised. He looked up and down Adrian wondering just what he had been up to and why he 'thought' he stabbed someone.
Gran's inquiry was met with another shrug from Adrian. "Fuck if I know. I was drunk, wasn't I? I just remember waking up with a sore head, and then finding this in my pocket," He reached into his pants and produced a decent-sized switch blade. The medic flicked it open, showing the tech sentry before him a fair amount of congealed and flaking blood covering about half the blade. "It wasn't mine, so I kinda assumed 'well hell, I guess I stabbed someone'."
Fay smiled shyly back at Autumn before following her and a couple others to where she had referred to. He tried to not noticeably be limping with the cane. It wasn't like he had been injured in combat or anything... just an old wound resurfacing. A light sigh escaped his lips.
"Crap, I don't know how you can have one of these, woman." Ran rotated his right arm, which did not have any sort of metallic sheen that the others might have. It was a simple, almost "gun metal" color, and had the usual shape of any cybernetic limb: "muscles" here, joints there, etc. The only real thing that was different was the difference in quality to Kagura's, as well as four spikes on the knuckles. "My right side is heavier than before...bit akwa-MEDIC!" Ran jogged past the two up to Fay and grabbed him in a headlock, practically dragging him along with the two women.
Fay gagged in surprise, accidentally dropping his cane as he was put into a headlock. "Ow..." he breathed as this occured. He knew it was all in good fun... sort of... but he still didn't care for the rough-housing.
Kagura chuckled a bit and walked toward the square, thinking a bit as she did. Her arm looked like a normal arm would just without the synth-skin over it and in a moment, her fingers transformed themselves into four nerimium-black claws that seemed not to reflect any light. "Check these out Autumn," she cakled evilly, but softly and waved to the others.
Gran scratched his head slightly as he looked over the produced knife. "Well... I guess you'd already check 'n make sure it wasn't your blood..." He let out a small chuckle. "Well at least your few days were more interestin’ than mine." He looked around, shifting the pack on his back a little. “Any idea where everyone else's been?”
Adrian shrugged again, although this time it was more to stretch his back than anything. "No idea. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen any of them since the Alliance landed. You seen Kokuten around anywhere? I wanted to say goodbye to that motherfucker."
"Ahh, oh well. But nah, I haven't seen Kokuten for the longest time. In fact I haven't seen just about anyone since we landed. I was kinda suprised at how boring things can get in a city like this..." Gran let out a small sigh and a yawn.
"Taking a page from the enemy’s book I see, Dear Heart. But awesome, Ran. I'd almost say we need to get inked up together for getting unarmed in the same engagement but that seems a little... gay?" The armorer teased as she spun for a moment to wink at the people behind her. She took a couple steps backwards and flexed her new cybernetic left arm, which seemed normal enough. "Oorah and all that moto shit, ja?"
"...I think that gay shit requires two guys to do something, Wilde. But thanks for the compliment." Ran took a drag from his cigarette, crop-dusting any poor passer-by that dared walk past the group. "What the shit does Oorah mean? Sounds like a terrible war-cry." Upon hearing Fay protest in him headlocking him, the Chief let Fay go, went back to grab his cane and gave it back to him. "Sheesh medic, if you can't handle a fun headlock, how're you gonna patch us up with grenades going off around you?"
"Wear earplugs?" The medic joked slightly. He coughed a moment before thanking him for bringing his cane back to him. Fay cracked his neck slightly as he twisted it at a weird angle.
Kagura sighed and watched it going on and nodded when Autumn mentioned her taking a page from the enemy's book. "It does doesn't it?" she replied to Ran and smirked some. "So where's that loser Rico at? It's not like him to be late." she said, looking to the others.
"Someone yelled it once and now no one knows where it came from, I guess," Autumn shrugged and she turned to face forward again. "I think we're early still, so the Sergeant isn't necessarily late."
"Eh, there are ways to make it interesting," Adrian held his bottle up a little higher and sloshed it slightly side to side. "That might just be me, though.”
Gran grinned slightly. "Well, stabbing people then not remembering it isn't quite my definition of fun. But hey, if that's your thing."
Off to the side, the three slacker-looking types began to quiet down their own conversations. Occasionally, they would toss a sideways glance at the growing gaggle of Green Marines and murmer something amongst themselves.
"Well, would you rather you remembered stabbing them?" Asked Adrian in response.
Kagura blinked a bit and looked around at the others seeming to look over at them. "Something's not right..." she said. "I think those guys are planning something..." she said, tapping on Autumn's shoulder and nodding over at the three slacker-looking guys.
Autumn shrugged. "We'll see what happens when it happens. I'm up for a little action tonight, I'd just prefer to not get arrested on leave." She grinned at Kagura. She half watched the thugs out of the corner of her eye but she wasn't really visibly worried, they had numbers on their side.
It was Gran's turn to shrug this time and smirked. "Well, might help me know who to avoid." He glanced at the gaggle of non-marines then back to Adrian, not thinking much of them.
"Well, if I can't remember it, fair chance he doesn't either. In case you haven't noticed, us Nepleslians are something of a hard-drinking lot." Adrian followed Gran's gaze to the thugs nearby. "Wonder if they're pushing."
Fay stepped a little closer to both Kagura and Autumn. If those guys were what they seemed to be, they probably would try to grab the women and escape. Though he doubted that they'd get far, the slightly crippled medic wanted to be able to act as swiftly as he could... just in case.
Most of us. Gran thought passively. "Yeah you're probably right." Gran glanced again. "Pushi-? Oh, who knows."
"They do, but they look like fucking cunts." Adrian replied. He watched on until one of the bigger ones started talking. "Sound like cunts, too." Adrian turned back to Gran. "Fuck it, I got plenty as is, you know?"
The ones closest to them caught notice of Kagura's sudden attention to them. The three of them turned and nodded to each other, and the tallest one began to walk towards the group. A voice rose up from the figure, slightly vague in the fading sunlight above the smog-laden sky and distant argon lamps. "Hey. You fellas ain't from 'round here, aintcha?"
"I wouldn't mind a little fight, I don’t care if I get arrested." Kagura said quietly to Autumn as she kept a side long glance at the slackers. "So what'd you guys do on your leave so far?" he asked, blatantly ignoring the slackers
"...My god." The thugs were probably the last thing on Ran's mind. His attention was diverted towards the stomach that came cascading down the horribly-stretched hotpants of a hooker on the street. Her cankles were as if someone was baking break in her ankles. Her hair was disheveled and patchy, and her stretch marks ran across her stomach so artistically "...My god, she looks like a tiger." He muttered to himself. The slackers moving close to him, however, had caught his attention. Already, he had unbuttoned the holster that held his .45, gripping the pistol in his right hand and ready. "Hooker sex, of course." He responded to Kagura.
"You're disgusting Ran." Kagura sighed.
"...Well, if you'd just have sex with me, maybe I wouldn't need hookers.." Ran muttered.
"If you want to get laid that bad I can probably hook you up with someone on my ship." Kagura cackled evilly.
"Or you could just not be so frigid."
Autumn shrugged. "Just dicking around is all." She laughed a little. "There's nothing wrong with sex and money being exchanged for each other. It's a job just like any other... we all get scewed some way, hookers just know it's coming."
Fay decided to keep quiet. The conversation was a bit... interesting, but he didn't have much to input.
"I'm not frigid you lunatic." Kagura retorted.
"SO WON'T YOU JUST LET ME PUT IT IN YOU, THEN?!" Ran screamed at her, nearly swallowing his cigarette. "Ah, it's all in good fun, Kagura." He slapped her on the back.
"Then who popped your cherry, dear heart? I must've missed it and you need a coming out party!" Autumn looked at Ran's outburst and laughed. "So it wasn't him, obviously. "
Kagura slugged Ran in the shoulder, forgetting her strength enhancement for a moment, the blow would be strong enough to spin Ran on his feet like a top at least once. She turned to Autumn and sighed a bit. "I haven't gotten laid yet, I just decided that I wouldn't be so manly about it."
The two other city-dwellers jumped up as they took notice of Ran, his hand reaching towards his pistol. The leading figure, however, calmed them down some with a raised hand. "Easy there, baby! I just thought I heard ya'll talkin' about some guy named Rico. You know him?" The figure replied in a softer, friendly voice...or at least the guise of one. The gang was too far away from the trio of freeloafers to tell.
Ran had been sipping from a bottle of schnapps. And when the punch connected with him, he spun around, spilling the alcohol all over Kagura. "Howabout you go back to whatever place you came from, guy?" Ran took momentary glances back at the guys, as the group walked away from them.
"Be so manly about it? What, you got a strap-on?" Autumn retorted quickly as she did a couple dancing type of steps to stay out of Kagura's reach. "I hear he might be a good lay, you know anything about that?" The armorer called back with a grin.
"Who's a good lay? Me?" Ran said, with hope dotting his eyes.
Kagura jumped back from the alcohol to avoid it getting on her, which would make her have to change. "I mean, I know I should be more lady-like." Kagura said to her female comrade. "And no, I dunno about that, I ain't tryin it any time soon" she smirked and glanced over.
Fay scratched his cheek idly with one finger as he listened to more of the conversation. Some of it seemed to be sarcasm, but other seem to be a bit true. He partially ignored the thugs, but still kept an eye on them.
Gran watched one of the group approach some other people. "I wonder what they're up to..." He said to Adrian, or no one in particular. He recognized Kagura and then some of the other people. "Hell... Looks like the rest of the people are over there. Geez they're pulling guns! Come on." Gran started to walk briskly over to the group, making sure to approach for the side of his fellow soldiers.
Adrian looked over his shoulder at the locals. "Yeah, I know him. He's a convicted rapist, you know." He looked back to Gran, his voice lower. "Fucking hell, what do these pricks wa-" he stopped as Gran headed away. "Oi, where're you going mate?" He then noticed the other Alliance marines. "Oh, what do you know." He walked towards them slightly, although at the mention of guns, Adrian made sure his hand hovered around the area of his .45.
"Rico, Ran... Rico. I don't know the hookers you service so I can't give you an opinion," Autumn replied to Ran with a teasing tone and a grin. "Oh I see, feminine.. you'll have to let me know how that works out for you. I'm a certified tomboy. I had to get a man to show me how to dress like a girl, so I think I am not fully qualified to help ya."
"What's it matter really? You guys'll never see me dressed like a woman in public, I only do that in private." Kagura said with a snicker.
"You wouldn't happen to be a tranny, would you Kagura?" Adrian asked in a deadpan as he finally approached the group.
"I'm not a tranny, Adrian, what? would that get you off?" Kagura teased the medic playfully.
"Better make sure that you're not in my squad, Kagura. You'll be in mini-skirts and tiny tube tops for the whole damned time." Ran muttered, again.
Autumn laughed again. "I can promise you guys that Kagura is a woman. I have seen her naked, after all," she winked and kept out of kagura's reach again.
Kagura flushed at that and gave him a dead pan glare. "No. Way. In. Hell." She said, flexing her claws at Ran and glanced to Autumn. She retracted them and snickered. "And she's the only one who will too."
"You've seen her naked? Does the carpet match the drapes? Is one melon on a bungie cord and is one taped to her? Is she an innie or an outie?"
"No, not really." Adrian replied. "I'm quite sure that a tiny penis between your legs would not give me an erection." The medic still spoke in his deadpan voice. He smirked, however, when Autumn spoke.
"You wanna die?" Kagura grinned evilly at Adrian. "Again?"
