RP: ISC Phoenix [Mission 7] - Siege on Sector 72

[Scot]

Panther was leaning on a wall during the meeting and left after he had received his money. He returned to his small garden in the cargo area noticing one of the plants were dieing. It was intentional however since the root of the plant was good material after it had withered, though it did show he was going to need to do a little more for the poisons he requires.

He gave a light cat like rawr as a yawn from his earlier nap in the cockpit during the Mishu battle and began going over what he might need. Not only needing a laboratory by human standards, but some mechanical equipment as well to create some devices for his profession.

 

[TeslaTornado]

"Scotch is nice," Vincent grunted, feeling his ribs throb slightly less in anticipation of the painkillers in the drink. The mercenary downed them quickly, and grinned as the painkiller-alcohol cocktail hit his gut, taking the sharp edge off of this broken ribs.

The next few minutes went by in a haze, as various drugs and medicines were introduced to his systems. Pain spiked in his chest as the bone repair serums began to do their jobs - the process was a miracle of modern science, yes, but that didn't make bones suddenly knitting themselves back together any less painful. After a while, the pain in his chest subsided to a dull throbbing sensation and the bullet-hole in his arm - the precursor to all of his previous wounds - seemed not to be there at all, except for the raw flesh around the hole and a few specks of dried blood on his arm.

He caught his name being tossed around a few times, along with the pay for his services. The numbers took a second to soak into his painkiller-permeated brain, but eventually the significance of his paycheck hit him. Vincent's face broke into a massive grin. Twenty-eight Gs would do him quite well. Most mercenaries didn't see a twenty-eight thousand KS paycheck for the highest-profile jobs, but then again Luca and his crew moved far beyond "high profile jobs" on a regular basis.

The ID-Sol eventually faded into an easy sleep on the gurney.

 

[Blackbird Lore]

((Five pages later...))

Uriel did his best not to draw attention to himself during the award ceremony; he had no taste for this petty political pep-talk. So he took his medal, nodded graciously in respect to the figurehead of Drift, waved to the people, and boarded the ship- all with a rather solemn gaze.

In his room, the Patrician opened up the case in which his old uniform lay. He kept it as a keepsake now, and it was still in perfect form. It was rather bare in terms of badges and the like, but this new medal helped it out. After making sure it was even, he made his way to the meeting; like the rest of them, he was surprised and more than a little confused as to how he would use all that money. Twenty-eight thousand... that was an enormous amount of money. He quite honestly couldn't think of a proper way to use it. Well, he could, but not for himself. As everyone began to disperse, he found time to request Luca send 8000KS to Enzo, and keep another 5000KS for "ship funds." "Because you never know what could happen," he added, then made off for some privacy. Uriel returned as the first movie was being popped in. He kept back by the table rather than sit on the couch; besides, the furniture wasn't really designed with wings in mind.

All this time Uriel had been feeling downtrodden, and as the movies started the Archangel realized why: he was tired. His wings were still stiff, his leg still ached, and the last... oh, he didn't even know how many hours- had really taken a toll (and getting shot certainly didn't help).

The movies didn't really seem to catch his interest either, and on more than one occasion he was tempted to correct them on a technicality here and there. Uriel Hisshana distracted himself by unwrapping his wings and tending to them, plucking useless feathers and cleaning the areas around the wounds. He'd cleaned up his mess, rebandaged himself, and was headed back to the light show when he passed Enzo and little Naoko in the hallway: strangely, they were the two people he'd been hoping to talk to, and now they were away from everyone else.

He followed the sound of voices, waited for a pause, and then entered. "Enzo, I've asked the Captain to transfer to you eight-thousand from my earnings to you; I've no use for all that money, and thought you might find more utility for it than myself. I hope that's alright." He had no doubt it was, then turned to Naoko, offering his hand. "May I speak with you in solitude?"

 

[Gallant]

Stirring slowly, Naoko stood up and gathered the off-color sweater around her modesty protectively, glancing towards the small box of smaller clothing thoughtfully. Then she looked to the hand offered. To her, it was too big to shake, but too small to hold her since she had sprouted. Deciding to ignore it completely, she vaulted, landing with a somewhat awkward grace on Uriel's shoulder. The sweater swirled, suspended mometarily by Naoko's gravity manipulation. Then it settled and she sat, dangling pale legs.

"I wonder what you shall say," she posed, tilting her head forward so he would not have to turn his own head too far, "That will need to be said in private."

Offering the Elysian a quiet smile, she turned back to Enzo. "This will only be a moment, I think. Please excuse me, ne?"

 

[Lamb]

Enzo waved Naoko away with a smirk on his face. Having not known of Uriel's already informing the captain of his plans, he assumed he was being bought off. He was okay with that. He watched as the patrician stood towering above him with a sense of curiosity. He also maintained a sense of 'minding one's own business'. When all was said and done, he closed his eyes once again attempted to smoke whilst he slept.

Needless to say, he was somehow successful.

 

[Luca]

"I'll watch 'G'day Mate!' with ya if no-one else wants to watch anything," John raised his hand, taking note of Luca's attempt to get some attention, "Cheer up, Cap'n!" He said, giving him a pat on the back, "Maybe someone else has a movie to tell us about."

"Well, I've got 'Adventures of the Unreasonable', if anybody wants to watch that." Seiren commented, bordely twirling a bullet around his finger on the table. "It's another one of those comedy skit movies."

John scoffed a laugh, "I remember that!" He said as he pushed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose, "It's the one starring Benny Roderick and Matt Castle, right?"

"I'm down for that if you are," Luca smiled in Seiren's direction, "By the way, how are you settling in, anyway? Mishhu and Zombies tend to be stressful events," Luca leaned in and asked politely, "Last time I checked anyway," He appended, "But you seem to be holding up pretty good."

"Peachy Keen!" The childlike inventor commented. He then twirled the bullet across his hand, catching it between two fingers. "You know what they say, walk softly but carry a big gun! But seriously, I have got to get myself a bigger gun and something to carry it with. I could barely handle the Mancannon in the WIND suit!"

John leaned forward towards Seiren, giving him a pat on the head with a look of mock concern, "You aren't compensating for something, are you?" He smirked.
That's when he heard the sound of Luca's HHG being drawn. He swivelled around and noticed Luca posing with his empty revolver, wiggling his eyebrows before putting it away.

"What?" John asked.
"We both like revolvers, that's all," Luca observed, "Now let's get that movie turned on..."

"Righty-o!" Seiren replied, pulling the disc out of a case in his bag, which somehow inexplicably he had on him ever since they got back on the ship. Then, he headed over the TV and popped the movie in.

So they sat back for a bit to watch the movie unfold, and Luca had somehow managed to procure some popcorn, and passed it around the moviewatchers. He put his hand on the remote control, with his finger over the play button, when...
...he got a knock on the side of the ship.

"Doors open," Luca said, putting the remote down.
That's when Galar Vanatosk came walking in, "Luca," He said, "It's been three years since we first met? I figured we have some catching up to do."
A smile crept across Luca's features as he waved him over, "Sure, wanna sit down, watch a movie or something?"

"Oh, alright," Galar said, taken aback by the man's casual attitude, "Why not?" He grinned as he sat down next to Luca, and picked up the remote, and let the video disc play.

 

[Blackbird Lore]

Uriel did not answer the minuscule Neko, at least not immediately. He strode from the room and guided them to his small space in the cargo bay. There in his "room" on the bed was his uniform's case, unlatched and open. He gave a quick glance toward the doorway before he began speaking, his eyes on the uniform of a navigation officer.

"I was in the Fourth War between Yamatai and Elysium. I lost my father to that war, as well. Needless to say, the events that transpired those years are very important to me. So I must ask, were you involved in that war?" The Patrician had little understanding of how the Nekovalkyrja functioned, but was certain of a possibility that Naoko had been present during, despite her unusual form.

 

[Gallant]

Ah...

Placing a hand on the Elysian's neck, to steady herself, Naoko leaned forward and examined the uniform. Taking a little while to consider it, the small nekovalkyrja sat back. "What answer would satisfy you, Duplicarii?" the small, demure woman offered quietly, throwing Uriel a sideways glance and considering him speculatively.

"The truth is; I was born because of the battle at Geshrin-kichi. My first combat action was defending it."

 

[Luca]

So the movie kept on playing, with the on-screen action taking place just like history. That was, one awesome thing after the other.
"So, do you think we'll strike a sponsorship deal one day when we're retired?" John leaned over and asked nobody in particular.

"Maybe. Hey, could bring out a line of toys to test the water with," Luca joked, mimicking the motions of playing with dolls. Enzo entered the room with a well-timed 'pshew!' sound, mimicking the explosion no-doubt targeted towards Luca's dolls. He laughed as he pulled up a chair behind Luca and Galar on the couch.

"What's everybodys watchin?" Enzo asked, slipping an almost invisible hand over into Luca's popcorn.

"I dunno," Luca said as he tried to take a handful of popcorn and noticed that he'd come up empty. He blinked a little as he gaped in awe. About that time, there was some rope-swinging action happening on screen. As one of the movie's many protagonists suddenly caught on fire and then extinguished himself almost immediately, Enzo coughed through the kernels from the bottom of the popcorn bowl.

"This isn't Nepleslian... is it?" he asked, his head turned sideways at the screen.

Then the sound of a rumbling explosion filled the room, courtesy of the sound system, accompanied by the sounds of acid rock and drum and bass music, punctuated by gunfire.
"Maybe," Luca replied, shrugging, "I'm never sure these days."

"CAN YOU QUIET THAT CRAP DOWN!?" Sebastian yelled over the din from the loungeroom, "I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!!"

"SLEEP SOMEWHERES ELSE THEN, GEEZER!" Enzo returned his bellow, spitting another kernel off to the side.
"FINE! YOUR BED WILL DO!" The old man replied as the sound of a body colliding with a mattress could be heard, with the old man laughing like a schoolgirl.

"I don't sleep in it anyway." Enzo said to no one in particular. "This movie sucks." As if to punctuate his statement, an on-screen car collided with one of the the trees in the movie-jungle. He looked over Galar and decided that the movie best be ignored, in light of new and interesting sources of information/money.

"Aren't yous the bigs dog on this station?"
Galar looked over to Enzo, putting his hands in his pockets, "I suppose you could say that. I came up with the idea, and put it into action."

"How abouts givin' a guy some men and a ship to rescues his ship, eh Guv'na?" Enzo asked, only half-serious.
"I think you already have some men and a ship," He chuckled, pointing to Luca, who smiled.
"Hey, you got an entire space station, I got this thing, and it isn't even mine!" He joked, giving him a shove.

"Whaaat?" Galar asked in a mock anger, giving him a shove back, "I thought you were a by-the-books type hero who always did right and saved the day!"
"Save day, yes, do right, not always, but hey, one outta two ain't bad, right?" Luca smiled.

"Ii," said a small voice in distinct Yamatai-Go from beneath the coffee table. The screen flickered gold and white as another explosion rocked the beleagured heroes. "I cannot believe they survived that."

Galar leaned forward, looking at the Neko with his eyes wide in wonder, "Oh, I remember you," He said.
"That's Naoko. She's our newest, and smallest member," John nodded as he wondered where the popcorn had gone.

Onscreen, there was a gratuitous shot of biceps and a high-calibre machine gun putting gaping holes in the wall like a cartoon, as the protagonist screamed for glory.

Naoko ate another kernel, apparently fascinated. Enzo chuckled in delight as he watched a presumably bad man being torn into by machinegun fire, twitching and twirling about endlessly. The vagabond slinked around to the side of the couch and sat on its arm, next to Galar. Galar kept his hands very close to his pockets.

"So, brave and nobles governor..." Enzo paused, looking down at Galar's hands close to his pockets, "You gots ta go to the bathrooms or somethin'?"
"Not quite, I just want to keep my hands on my possessions, even though I left everything at home under lock, key and retinal scan," Galar said absently, rolling his eyes, "I need to have some money on hand to repair this fair station."

"Which reminds me..." Enzo pursued the questioning further, "What's yous doin' arount here watchin' movies with dirt-mercs whiles you coulds be seein' the people? Fixin the place up? Meeting the minds of the citizens, see?"

Galar smiled a little, "You see, Luca and I served on the same ship in the Yamataian Star Army back in YE 29 before we went our separate ways."
Luca leaned over on him, "Yep, that we did. Remember how screwed we were?" He reminisced with a broad smile.

"I don't" Enzo interjected, "But alls I see is a politician who just had his shit blown-up sittin' around and watchin' movies... My kinda politician."

Another kernel disappeared, devoured by Naoko. Enzo stood and stretched, "I'm gonna go gets some more popcorn since the cat keeps eatin' it up."

"Heh!" Luca said as he noticed Naoko continuing to munch down on the popcorn, "Now now, you'll get bloated if you eat too many," He said with mock concern. Naoko looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Luca, you've gotten over your fear of Nekos?" Galar asked, frowning a little.
"Yeah, times change," Luca said as he grinned in Naoko's direction.

After a brief absence, Enzo returned from the kitchen, Crane's voice behind him as the door closed. He had two more bowls of popcorn. One, he shoved under the coffee table in front of Naoko, scratching playfully behind her ears, despite any danger to his person from such an action. The other, he placed on top of the coffee table before snatching a handful and returning to his chair behind the couch.

"Please, don't touch my hair," Naoko prompted, her politeness edged as she flattened her ears and pushed her hair back the over her shoulder, "I am not a pet. You will not do this without permission, again."

Galar frowned a little, looking at Luca for an answer.
"Relax, she doesn't bite."

Enzo chuckled again before continuing Luca's response, "Unless you're a Neko withs a taste for somes Phoenix blood. You sure dids a number on that one, Naoko." The small NH did not answer this, instead preening, running her fingers through her hair. Enzo frowned and peered over the back of the couch. "You really that mad I thouchsed your hair, eh?"

"Ask, first," Naoko replied, softening her voice somewhat. Enzo shrugged, asking permission for what he just did, as if to make reprimands. "Alright thens, how abouts I scratch your ears a few minutes ago, woulds that bother you back then when it happens... er, Happened?"

Galar tilted his head at Luca, "Is your crew always like this?" He asked, pleadingly.
"All the time," Luca smiled, "It never gets old."
On the TV screen, the movie had managed to draw to a conclusion, with the protagonist standing upon a pile of corpses, which'd somehow arranged themselves into a towering mountain.

In the protagonist's arms was the girl of his dream and a giant machine gun, as the Nepleslian flag waved in the background triumphantly, with the words, "FUCK YEAH!" on screen before rolling onto the credits.

"Lookit the rack on her" Enzo commented on the woman in the heroes' arms.

"They're fake," offered the small Nekovalkyrja, sidestepping Enzo's previous question.

"So're yours." came the conman's rebuttal.

Naoko looked up with an almost genuine expression of hurt. It was undermined somewhat by the smile that followed.

"Such a terrible thing to say, ne? I was born this way. She wasn't. Also look very closely at the throat and facial structure, please." The screen paused. Somehow, Naoko had also acquired the remote. "See it?"
"Sneaky..." John mumbled as he tried to retrieve the popcorn. With an outstretched foot, Naoko edged it just out of his grasp.

"Seewhat?" Enzo replied, shoving Luca and Galar to either side as he leaned over the couch to get a closer view. Naoko lifted a hand, extending a finger.
Luca was blinking, exchanging a confused glance with Galar, who was shaking his head, coming up short of an answer.

"The way the left cheek twitches along the bone. Do you want to see it again?"

"One more times, yeah."
"Yeah, er, one more time, too," John seconded with a smirk.
The tape rewound a few seconds. Again came the traditional 'FUCK EAH!', the mound of corpses, and the lucky damsel swept up by her muscled he-man Nepleslian saviour. Then it paused.

"I think I see it..." Enzo finally just jumped over the couch and nestled in between Luca and Galar. "Her doctor dids a very good job. Those are some nice, fake... things."

Luca sighed as John did the same, leaning in and getting a good view, "Yep, I agree wholehearte-"
He was cut short by Luca grabbing him and Enzo by the head and making their heads collide with a satisfying BONK sound.

"What're ya mades of bamboo or somethin?!" Enzo quipped to John, rubbing his head.

"Male." The sound of Naoko crunching another kernel followed the declaration. "Nanosurgery. It is very obvious."

"I dunno about Bamboo Bob here, but as a Nepleslian," Enzo countered "I gots so used to seein' fakes tits, I dunno what real ones looks like anymore."

John rubbed his head and readjusted his sunglasses, "Ah, well, I was bought to Yamatai when I was about 10, it was hard to tell which ones were what there! Gave me a good excuse to keep looking!"
Luca tutted John, "Any excuse to look, eh?" He chuckled.

"I don't need an excuse" Enzo commented, "Naked people are pretty. The body is pretty. Anyone who's gots a problems with being pretty is a prude."

Naoko leaned the controller upright against her shoulder, putting her arms around it idly. "What else is there to watch?"

"Good question," Luca leaned over and took the controller from Naoko, with relative ease, and pointed it at the TV. Addressing nobody in particular, he asked, "What do you think?"

"Who the fuck are you talkin' too?" Enzo said, leaning over to look at the Captain's imaginary audience.

MISSION 7, COMPLETE!!