Jack Pine
Well-Known Member
===//188604// noon// restaurant in Nath tower//===
A lot of the Section 6 crew had left early for various reasons, leaving only Jack, Sarah, Thorn, and Beaumont. The restaurant had remained sparcely populated through there stay, and the group had stayed to sit around and talk.
"Since it's your guy's first day and I feel like celebrating, the tab is on me." Jack said before taking a casual sip from his beer. He had changed into a pair black jeans, button up vest with a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up underneath, and nice boots.
"Look at you, actually being nice and not an asshole." Sarah gave with a slight giggle as she drank some, too.
By some combination of Izzy's kindness and Jack and Sarah's negotiation skills, they had managed to stuff Thorn into a pair of jeans now too small for Amit, and a thin tee shirt of Sarah's. She'd managed to make it look passable, if a touch large, and not quite the cocktail dress that would have been resewn out of one of Jack's tee shirts. Not that he would have agreed to it. The flirting with Sarah had continued, subtlely, and was quickly eclipsed by the conversation Beaumont and Jack were having.
Beaumont sits adjacent to Sarah and across from jack, looking forward with a bottle of beer gripped in his metallic palm. His mask had been lifted the entire time, allowing his jaw to come into view and give him the ability to eat. Since the party had walked in, he had immediately received strange looks from the patrons and waitresses all gawking at the sight of a full-conversion. He opted to keep in the same clothes as before. They weren't sweaty or anything. A pair of jeans with a T-shirt underneath. The Lab coat around him would be buttoned a partial way up to conceal the Yamataian mascot embellishing the center of the chest. The star of some animation he had pirated off of a network for watching on off days.
"Damn. I was getting my hopes up that this would be a common thing." He laughs, a smile visible on his false lips. "Gotta thank you for it no less. Been needing a meal like that since I first landed on this rock."
"Well when the project for the new joint station is finished, everything will be even better. A very large space station that is a hollow world on a relatively small scale. high end residencies, schools, businesses, and data archives on the inside of the shell; manufacturing and military on the outside, and to top it with ship construction docks around the equator at the center of the station. It's a joint project between the USO, Garts, and the I'ee. When completed Section 6 will be moving to the new station." Jack gave with a smile at what the future held, "say good-bye dust ball and hello space eden."
"Sounds definitely like Eden for a Nepleslian. But also like a good place for things to go really bad really fast." He takes a sip of his drink. "So, a hollow world. Guessing everything is going to be inside the dome. Imagine the vertigo you'll get on that thing. Yeesh." With the bottle set down, he hums. "Remind me agin why this all of this is being built in the first place? The purpose of having that big ball in the sky?"
"It will provide a strategic advantage as well as a center for diplomacy, and a better home. I have nothing against this planet, but it's not exactly a place I wanna raise my kids on. This give a chance at providing a better place for them to grow up, in safety, and with a better education. It will be safe, we're working on building a defence fleet for the station as well as thorougly designing a defensive grid to protect it. You're looking at the future admiral of the fleet and admin of the station." Jack added as he thought about the question for a moment as he swished what was left in his glass around.
"I can't say I blame you for that." He hums while setting his elbows on the table to rest them. "Least that will be a better place for Nepleslians like me. So you say you have kids, Jack? And you really want the big scary robot man to move in across the street from them? You know how well things went down with that kid who saw me earlier. Plus, i'm pretty sure that family who brought a baby to the restaurant's kid started crying only because he saw me pass by. Shiny folk like me kinda get weird looks, so don't be surprised if property values drop because I move in."
"Nah, that one was on me. Waiter tried handing me a kiddie menu, remember?" There was a touch of salt in Thorn's voice about that one, and a swig of her mead to wash it down. "I mean, if Sarah wants me to dress up for a night, I'm game, but in casual company..."
He laughs. "Right, now THAT was priceless." He would laugh. "But don't worry. Some people like short girls. Your kind are a cute one." He swigs his beer once more. Odd enough, it almost seems like the cyborg is starting to get plastered. True, he has a fake liver now, but the alcohol is still being brought to his brain. He chuckles a couple more times following his statement, finishing off his... maybe twelfth bottle this evening. He's lost count, and the waitress had avoided letting the bottles pile up beside him in the event of an accident.
"Well, thank you, mister Beaumont! In all due seriousness, the hollow world project's ambitious and interesting, with just enough crazy to work. I managed to get geomagnetics and gravitational of the system on the way in, so there's gonna be a good place to start construction or build refining operations if construction's already started. I didn't check on that." The girl shrugged, looking to Jack for approval before continuing. "This planet's a bit of a dustball, but it's nice, you know? Cool, kinda dry, don't need a dehumidifier for most of the apartments, and no major wildlife. Sure, there's some pirate activity, but that'll get cleaned out in the next few months. Then again, I'm happy with a 6X10 studio with a workbench. Hell, I'm happy sleeping in the lab."
"Yea, I get where you're coming from with that, but this place is just so... empty is all." He tilts his head. "It's still all coming together, but a vast majority of the resources are going up to that space base. Guess we'll just see how it all works out. Might be cool to work there in the future. So!" He would turn his whole body towards her now that a full-on conversation has started. "Saw you working on some fancypants stuff earlier when I first applied. Gotta do with the queue ball?"
"Oh." Thorn straightened up, turning to Beaumont and setting down her drink. "Ahm... Not yet, just refurbing a fusion reactor for my section of the lab. If Jack is to be believed, you're looking at the new head of Advanced Research and Development. Gotta get some things up to my standards, then I gotta get some interns in there and start building up a team... Hopefully. How're you liking the new office space, by the way?"
"Well isn't that a big title. Guess we gotta start with someone who can be in charge." He brings a hand up to wave down a waiter, pointing to his beer with his other hand, to which the waiter gives the cyborg a nod and a pointer finger up. "And the office. Oh, it's nice. Empty as this planet, but still nice. Can't wait to see all of the doohickeys and thingamajiggers Jack had ordered for it. guess the medical department's been long overdue or something, and Jack has been dealing with all of the medical care until now. But now that's going to fall onto me, and since I have no idea where to look to hire because all of my past operations were in back alley warehouses -don't ask- it may take some time before a full-fledged medical staff is up and running."
"Sweetie, before this, I was a goddamn mercenary researcher. Unlicensed with no citizenship status anywhere. Believe me, your hiring isn't the strangest thing I've seen in the last forty eight hours. Hell, Jack found me trying to steal data on their response times to try and figure out why they wanted this dustball... And then he offered me a job." Thorn furrowed her brows confusedly. "Said he could tell I was educated, but that still doesn't explain why he didn't shoot me."
"Consider this with your line of work. You can do cool, smart stuff that's illegal and get away with it, even be hired if there's a guy like Jack around. Now take me in the back of an alley with a scalpel and a guy with a bullet hole in his body. Not exactly a pretty image that would be 'hire this fellow right now' material." He laughs. "And trust me. That situation occurs waaaay too often where I come from."
"Nepleslian?" Thorn cocked an eyebrow, a grin playing across her face. "I've heard that it can be a little rough out there."
"Very." He groans, shaking his head and nodding to the waiter who brought him the next round. He'll be sure to pay Jack back if need be for all of this alcohol. "So a merc researcher, huh? Guess I can't escape working with you lot of guns for hire."
"I resent being called a gun for hire." There was a huff, stuck up nose, and a slight turning away at that comment. "I am proudly noncombatant, with my skills being put to better use finding the really cool shit in the universe, grabbing pics, and getting away before anybody knows I'm there, thank you. Though..." She relaxed, chewing on a brussels sprout in contemplation. "Most of it was stellar prospecting. Which sucks."
He'd grunt in acknowledgement. "I see. Least you weren't one of those guys going out and getting shot because that's where the money's at. Then again, someone's gotta do it." He would swig his beer. "And I guess without them, I'd be out of the job." He'd pause, and his mask would shift back into place. His HUD would flash that his internal systems are full. He couldn't finish this bottle if he tried.
"Without people like me, your job would be a lot more messy. Some times I'd get called into a combat zone to provide live overwatch support. Never liked combat zones." Looking down into her drink, she thought for a moment. "I ever have kids, first thing I teach 'em. If you don't think it's worth the trouble and pain your actions will cause, there's a good chance you're right."
Jack had been listening to the conversation as the two talked, enjoying the fact that the new crew was getting along.
"Some times you don't always have a choice in that regard, and I have many scars to prove it and the nightmares that don't let me forget. And to be honest Beaumont, merc work is better than the military. I served with the nep military for five years, the last two as an officer, and to be frank I miss everyone of my comrades. All that's left of the old squad is my best friend Zeke Rykiel and a lot dog tags. Worse than the fact that your friends are dying around you, is that the government who couldn't give two shits is making you give the orders doing it. I might as well have pulled the trigger myself and got it over with." Jack spoke for a while his expression somewhere between nostalgia and sad.
Guess that hit a little closer home to his boss than he expected. Best back off on the merc criticism if he wants to keep his job. he does have a good point, though. He can remember seeing Nepleslian soldiers pass by near the warehouse he operated out of. Sometimes, familiar faces would pass by, but with a few of their party members missing. A sigh escapes the cyborg. He was never one for that mushy stuff. Since Louisiana passed, he never really regained that sort of sentimentality. But it must be a similar degree of pain Jack's experiencing. One that all of the medicine in the galaxy could not patch up. "I can only imagine what it's like. Sitting back in my office and being left to patch you lot up makes one forget to realize that some folks can't be put back together again." He doesn't even bother to look to the two at this point, feeling a little sheepish at the prospect of touchy-feely subjects like this.
"Not the worse part of my life to be honest, I hand a gun in my hand and no one at my back for most of my childhood. My parents died when I was born, Sarah is my only living family. Amit the kid you met earlier is my adopted son, we picked him up on the last mission, and my pregnant wife is carrying plebian twins because Honey moons are a two sided coin." Jack said after downing what was left in his glass before signalling for another.
A smile curls on his synthetic lips. "Good to see you doing well - despite your past. Hope I'm in a similar position as you someday."
"With the way things are going around here it's not hard to make it big. I've only been here five....six months." Jack said actually counting fingers as the alcohol was kicking in.
"Huh, not too long, then." He would hum, checking his watch to see it already getting late. Around the table, waiters and waitresses had already begun to clean off the nearly empty restaurant, a few tossing nasty glares towards the drunk cyborg and the steadily tipsy bunch. His mask lowers, snapping in place over his jaw. "I believe it's time to foot the bill and hobble back."
"Well I'm wasted, who's driving?" Jack asked in a slight slur.
"I can fly anything with a twin joystick module, but I can't see over the dash. Sarah? You've been quiet this whole meal. What's up, hon?"
"Getting hammered, not really anything much else, I don't think I am in much position to drive either. Maybe we should grab a taxi, we have those right?" Sarah said clearly drunk and flushed with several bottles laying on the table empty.
"Go home Sarah, your drunk." Jack said clearly not as drunk but still affected.
"I can take her home." Thorn blushed, knowing that where a dozen might affect Beaumont or Sarah, it would take a mere one or two to plaster her to the floor. With that final thought, she immediately lifted her tankard to her lips and started drawing, hard. A sudden realization that there was no way she could carry the larger woman, especially if they're both equally tipsy, was enough for her to start thinking seriously. As the now empty tankard thunked back onto the table, Thorn suggested an air pickup whilst holding back a belch.
Jack looked at Thorn for a moment, "Yeah I got that covered the U-1 has autopilot function and mine should still have a troop module. I'll go pay the tab and meet you guys outside."
Sarah got up unsteadily from her chair, "Woo, I drank too much, gonna be one hell of a hangover in the morning. Might need a cold shower tomorrow morning."
"Cold shower sounds nice. Especially with all the flirting I've done tonight." Thorn pushed herself up from the table, letting her legs slide to the floor before she stumbled a bit and started towards Sarah.
Her steps were unbalanced and uncoordinated, as shough she'd lost that catlike saunter of one who grew up in unreliable gravity. Far from it, just her sense of balance was overcompensating, and she quite promptly slipped and fell over sideways with a curse and a grumble.
Rolling to her knees, she sighed. "Sorry, must be a bit tipsier than I thought."
Sarah bent down some to lower her back, "Just hop on, I don't want you falling down the elevator or something. Would be a shame to see you go so soon, and I thought we were getting along well."
There was the barest hint of an arguing thought. But Thorn knew the back offered was a much better solution. Wrapping her arms around the larger woman's shoulders, she used her thighs to grab onto her waist and pulled her head into the crook of Sarah's shoulder with a purr of "You're soft."
"You can use me as pillow later, let's just get you out of the building. Oh gawd i'm so drunk. Beaumont come on, we're gonna need you to make sure we don't get lost, or fall over." Sarah spoke with a slur still as she began to take an unsteady pace towards the elevators.
"I think I'd like that. But I bet your front's softer."
"Oioioi. You know how it is flirting while drunk, you two..." He grumbles, stumbling over his own feet for a second before switching controls to his computer. His brain is far too tipsy to keep his body in balance. Best leave it to the computer's gyroscopes. "I'll keep an eye on all three of you. Jack. Mind calling in the U-1 and having it pull in? I'm pretty sure nobody is going to mind if you land a fighter in the middle of the parking lot for a couple seconds."
"Nah it's a regular occurance around here. I can always come back for the jeep tomorrow. Ok everybody, bill's paid, lets head out I guess." Jack said as he walked unsteadily to the elevator closest, pushing the button and standing in the door way to keep the doors open.
He clambers into the elevator first, his back clanking against the wall as he had misjudged the distance between the two. He turns his gaze to face the other three. Against his better judgement, he opens up his mask once more to offer the rest of the party something of a shitfaced smile - appearing just as a woozy human's grin would.
"So... We're all way more buzzed than is safe to drive. Especially him." Thorn's eyes narrowed as she pointed to Beaumont. "He's had twelve." Forgetting to be polite for a moment, the gasses in her stomach and throat ripped free in a thundering belch, followed by a weak "I'm sorry."
Sarah would follow suite with an equally loud belch, "Ah dammit, *hiccup* I need to drink hard liquor more."
Jack gave Sarah a sideways glance before shuffling closer to his side of the elevator, "Most of the marines I know, don't belt em that loud."
"Twelve and a-" He pauses and turns his head away from the rest of them, then adds to the chain of belches, just as loud, but with a hint of tinniness. "HhhALF." with that, he shakes his head, exhaling before letting pout a solid "GodDAMN" in an oddly perky voice. "I'd forgotten what it was like to do that. Haven't eaten or drank like that since I even got this body. A chuckle escapes him before he slips down to sit upon the elevator floor. "Thanks again, Jack."
Baaallllaaaaaggnnnnaa! Jack let out a huge belch deliberatley like that of a demonic cry as figured "what the hell, when on 604 do as the new guys."
"Man, score one for inner demons, next thing you know I'll be seeing possesed onions, or something. Speaking of onions, I wish this thing would move faster, it's starting to get a bit smelly in here." Jack gave with a sniff.
"Oi. I showered at the house. No EVA stink. Though she still smells better. I like it here."
The elevator reached the bottom floor, which was the lobby and reception area. The group stumbled out of the enclosed space, sticking out like sore thumbs amongst the sober populace present. This drew sideways glances and awkward looks as they made their way outside as a black and red U-1 variable mech fighter decended to land in the parking lot.
"Don't worry we can take a shower back at the house, then I think bed time. It's not even night and I'm too wasted to finish the day." Sarah said moving around the back and into the troop module.
"Bed time like you're taking me to bed?" Thorn perked, knowing that she wasn't good for much for the next few hours, save halfhearted passes at a woman who could at any moment decide enough was enough and drop her. And also far too focused on the task to even note that the shuttle had landed. "I could stand to be made a bit more useless."
He whistles, eyeing the fighter. Quite a work of engineering. With that, he clambers into the troop module. "I can agree to that, Sarah. Been a reaaaally long one. Walking around, getting a job, meeting some new folks. Some prettier than others." He scrambles into a seat, finding his body a little limp. Despite having full energy reserves, his brain did not. Frankly, he didn't even sleep on his way through the city. He just walked, trying to catch sight of the warehouse. "I'll admit. I'm curious what the house across from Jack is like. I doubt it'll be that bad."
"The same as mine. They are all copies of my house, as I built the original and we just templated it for the rest of the neighborhood." Jack answered throught the internal comm as he strapped into the pilot seat. He switched to autopilot, and set his house as the drop point. The U-1 began to lift and accelerate to a higher alttitude before descending again to land at street level with the trip only lasting a couple minutes. Jack set the hanger as the new destination with a five minute delay.
"Alright everybody, end of the line. You can go where ever, but you can't stay here." he said before hopping out of the cockpit to land in an unsteady crouch outside.
Sarah walked down the ramp almost tripping the last couple steps, and began walking towards the house, compltely forgetting Thorn grappled to her back.
"uh, Sarah you have a plus one there." Jack said standing up.
"I don't mind being here." Thorn grinned, enjoying the movement of Sarah's body as she was carried. "Rocking hips, strong shoulders, kind of relaxing, really."
He steps from the pod, a loud cracking sound echoing from the pavement as his metal mask meets it. Not enough to dent or scratch, but it would definitely hurt. He pulls himself to his knees with a sullen groan. "Goddammit, I'm gonna hate the hangover after this." He presses a few buttons on his wristwatch, commanding his legs to go into auto gyroscope once more, and pulling himself to his feet. From his pocket, he grabs his keys. "i'll go and get my ship from the docks tomorrow. I could... probably land it in front. I don't know."
He swivels around on his heel, glancing over the not completely modest abode. "Not too shabby for a planet like this." He mumbles, a tinge surprised that such a thing was just given to him for placing a file in a man's hand. "This house is clearly built for a family... Whelp. Looks like I'm gonna have to find roommates or something. This...is too much for one guy." He chuckles, looking over his shoulder. He sounds more like he's talking about a large plate of food and not a house.
Sarah entered the house and walked upstairs to her room, "Either you can stay in here, or take the room next door. Your choice, I'm going to take a shower then sleep if possible." she said placing Thorn on the end of her bed before walking towards the door to her personal restroom.
Jack would head into the house as well, but to his room, to where he collapsed atop the bed passed out fast asleep.
"Yeah, I like you, but..." Thorn looked away, just clearheaded enough to realize that alcohol didn't exactly make for respectable moments. "I'm gonna want to be able to respect myself when I'm fighting off tomorrow's hangover. Thank you, Sarah. But we're both a little too buzzed to be making good choices."
Waiting for her to leave the room for a moment, Thorn would take off the borrowed shirt and fold it neatly across the bed, before curling up in the closet of the room next door to go to sleep in a sport bra and spandex shorts.
He watches as the three walk away, pausing for a moment with his head cocked over his shoulder. With that, he shakes it, stuffs his hands in his pockets, and proceeds to take the march towards his ship. gonna need to bring it over if he wants to actually move in. Besides, he's got his toothbrush in there. Months had passed since he could last sit down with someone while not having a gun pointed towards his skull. Since he could be doing something with somebody else that doesn't involve his fingers knuckle-deep in a bullet wound because the calibers needed the extra reach. Since he could have a beer and a conversation, or share a smoke. He chuckles while his mask locks back into place. He missed having friends. But now is not the time for reminiscing. The Princess Louisiana awaits. The sun has yet to even set in the distance, its glare casting orange peel rays across every brick and plank and cobble. "guess I could get used to living on a planet like this."
//.....next day// 0800//
Jack woke up cuddled up nex to Isabelle, not remembering when she had entered the bed, or when he had moved himself. He sat up to see the time listed on his datapad as around 8am. "Well time to start another day, better hope I remembered to stock some pain killers in my desk." he said to no one in particular as he held a hand to his sore head.
Izzy stretched as she woke up, yawning as well. "Morning, Jack," She said softly, knowing well that he came home drunk the night before and noting that he held a hand to his head as well. "How you feeling?"
Outside of Beaumont's home sits the Large Ge-F7-1B cargo runner, poking out from the garage and into the driveway. Guess it's a bit too big for the usual urban setting. On it's side, the words "Princess Louisiana are sprawled in white paint, with cartoonish wings painted above them in the same color. Inside of the house, Beaumont lays sprawled along his couch, wearing only his jeans. He had passed out after moving some stuff into the house. Didn't even brush his teeth as he had planned. His systems would ring, serving as his alarm clock and jostling him awake while the view of the world around him blinks to life. His arms, his legs, his head, they all feel as though tiny needles caress them. He would curl his fingers, but his body would not budge. Not his fingers, but his body's. Perhaps the hangover brought about some phantom sensations with it. Guess it didn't want to be the only one at the party. The cyborg curls up into a seated position with a groan before rubbing his mask.
Sarah woke up in the shower in nothing more than her undergarments, apparently she had decided to sleep there after her shower the afternoon before. Her hands instantly went to her head as the headache caught up with her. "Jesus!", she gave aloud before clammering out of the shower. She reentered her room to find the folded shirt on her bed, picking it up confused until remembering Thorn had been brought into the house.
She looked around the room but found no sign of her. Putting on a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, Sarah left the room to find the next door over open. Peeking into the dark room, it was clear the closest had been opened, within she found a sleeping Thorn. She knocked on the closet door frame.
In response to the knock, Thorn curled tighter into the nest of bedding she'd built herself, flinching away from the noise as her subconscious guarded her from harm. The messy scars surrounding the glint of her rebreather pods showed under the dim light, as did the countless others across her shoulder and exposed arm. These were scars Sarah hadn't seen, leaving Thorn alone in the room to change yesterday. Still, the movement was little more than a twitch and grumblings of discomfort.
More incoherent grumbling and she curled more gently tighter in the covers, trying to avoid the light she knew would be less than fun today.
Jack looked back to his wife, "Good just paying the price for not being more moderate in my drinking."
Izzy smiled softly, "It probably wasn't a great idea to drink as much as you did. I'm not sure if we have any painkillers or anyting, unless you have something at your office." She stood slowly, not wanting to get vertigo or anything. "Where did everyone else end up? Did everyone get home okay?"
He hoists himself to his feet with yet another groan, hobbling over to the fridge he had just loaded with the extra bottles of water from his ship. He cracks open one, letting his mask slide away and then hoisting the bottle overhead, pouring the ice cold beverage over himself and occasionally grabbing a mouthful from the resulting deluge. Nothing like some crisp water to send the hangover running for a brief moment while he gains his bearings. The mask closes once more, and his gaze slips around the room. What to do... what to do... perhaps work begins today? May as well pay a visit to Jack's family.
Another groan and Thorn shoved her heard under the covers, kicking away the blankets covering her legs. It wouldn't take long for her breathing to even back out indicating sleep.
Sarah didn't just want to leave her there, but what to do. She opted to going back to the bathroom to grab some painkillers and a glass of water befor setting them down and going to the closest to scoop Thorn up in the bedding she had bundled in.
Sarah's touch would cause Thorn to flinch hard, curling tighter inward with a squeak, before some part of her reminded her that she had nothing to fear, and she relaxed as the short, scruffy hair flowed over the blanket and she lowly blinked awake. Finding herself carried, she yelped in subconscious teror and kicked, hard. The force seperated Sarah's arms enough for Thorn to fall through and to the floor with a solid thump.
The girl pushed herself upright and scrabbled backwards until she met a wall, breathing heavily, and eyes wide. It would take her but a handful of seconds to calm down enough for the headache to hit and cause her small body to curl back inward with a groan. "Forgot to drink water..."
He felt no real need to shower. He didn't get filthy yesterdy, and any loose dirt that may have been on him was rinsed away by the dousing of water over his head. He proceeds to strip away his pants, tossing them while heading towards his room to grab some clothing from his closet and tossing the garment on his bed. When he eventually emerges from the house, he bears pretty much the same clothes as usual, the only change being a different brand of t-shirt underneath. Though a fresh labcoat and pair of jeans certainly helps.
With a slight spring in his step to keep his mind off of the feeling of his skull imploding on itself, he approaches the front door of the Pine household.
Sarah grabbed the water and painkillers from the other room after the separation, before offering them to Thorn.
"Here you're going to need these babe, a hangover like that tends to ruin the day unchecked."
Jack got up and went inside the closet to get clothes, grabbing a muscle shirt, and a pair of cargo pants before hitting the shower, giving his beautiful wife a kiss on his way to the bathroom.
The water looked poisoned, the painkillers didn't look like asperin. Thorn felt her breathing accelerate, her rebreather's turbine spooling audibly to compensate. Then she took a deep breath, forced it all down, and looked Sarah in the eye. "Thanks."
A quick blush and she relaxed, shaking a bit as her stiff and unresponsive muscles took the glas and held out a hand for the painkillers. "Bad dreams."
"Must have been some pretty bad nightmares, I haven't seen anyone wake up like that other than Jack. Usually that implies physcological trauma from a horrible event. I won't pressure you about it though." Sarah said kneeling.
Thorn's look turned from apologetic to almost bored, before she gestured to her body, and then immediately back to apologetic as she realized what she'd just shown. "Sorry, not exactly something I like to talk about. It was long and complicated, and frankly, I don't want to go back to it, even in memory. Just... When you get a chance, look up a name for me. It'll be in the Nepleslian database." She blushed again, still not used to the name given her at birth. "Ironhart. Lisa Alice Ironhart. If you want to know. There'll be an interview attached."
"It's a beautiful name, for a beautiful woman. Your not the only one with a backstory better left unread, my career choice before here was probably far from the best. So let's stop lookin g to the past and think of the future. Come on climb on, we'll go to the kitchen and get breakfast." Sarah said offering a hand.
"Thanks," She took the offered hand, letting herself get pulled to her feet. It was an awkward feeling, knowing that there was a lot in the history that both would need to know eventually, but didn't want to share now. Or, in Thorn's case, she'd bury it from all her coworkers save one. If she could get away with it, Jack and Sarah were to be the only two who had any idea. "Honestly, you got me on the beauty front. You're the beautiful one, here. I'm just short enough to make it count."
"Good to know we think the other one is beautiful, would be a shame if we didn't feel like looking at each other. Besides size doesn't matter, just the easier to sweep you off your feet." Sarah said picking Thorn up again, hoping for a more relaxed reaction this time.
"You really like carrying me arond don't you?" There was a squeak as Thorn stretched and relaxed into Sarah's arms, her back giving a small pop. A small nestling motion to secure herself and she looked up. "Sorry if I was an ass last night."
"Not many people usually are this friendly with me, then again I've usually tried to not get involved, but since I'm living with my brother I figured playing the bitch was not the best idea anymore. So if that was you being an ass, I'd love to see your nice side." Sarah continued as she carried her back to the room. "Also you may want to put your shirt back on, not a lot of people used to the Yamatai sense of modesty. Granted I wouldn't mind walking around in nothing but a bra and thong to be comfortable on this inferno of a planet, but the looks wouldn't be worth it." she added as she freed a hand to pick up the shirt to give to Thorn.
"It's a sport bra. It counts. Not like I have the cleavage to make the looks anyway. Hell, I walk around in a pair of baggy jeans and shirtless, I might be mistaken for a boy." With her arms hanging around Sarah's neck to support herself, she grinned. "Granted, I wouldn't mind seeing you walk around in a bra and thong, maybe less if you want, but you might catch me staring... Maybe drooling a bit."
"That's definetly a possibility, but better to be done in a more private setting. Maybe if we have time leter. For now I need something to eat." Sarah added before descending the stairs.
Jack was already sitting on the couch with coffee cup in hand, and an omlet of some sort on a plate already half eaten, "Nice two see you two up, foods in the kitchen help your selves, and coffee is brewed already. Don't worry about work for now, everybody is more or less trying to clear their heads." Jack noticed Thorn in Sarah's arms with a raised eyebrow, "Is this a thing now?"
"Yes!" There was a bright grin, right before a blush. "She's soft and sweet and I kinda like the height. Like her more, though."
Jack sat there silently for a moment mid sip, "Ok......Just keep it down at night."
Sarah gave him a slight glare,"It's nice to see you have no problem with this. I thought you would have had reservations."
Jack lowered the mug,"Unlike a certain someone, I don't judge other peoples relationships."
Sarah gave a loud sigh, "Low blow bro. Revenge tends cloud things can you blame me for not liking Izzy when we met?"
Jack paused again, "No, but I've learned grudges are useless, or worse get you dead."
Sarah continued to the kitchen with a smile, "Fine we'll play quitely then."
"Wait, she can be loud?" Thorn furrowed her brows, looking over to Sarah before flashing a wicked grin. "This'll be fun."
"Only when not on the job, then I'm so quiet they never hear me coming, and outside everybody will hear me coming." Sarah said blushing face bright red as she sat Thorn in a bar chair a the center medium of the kitchen before moving over to the fridge. She opened and bent over to look throught the lowest shelf where she kept her stash of personal food items which consisted of mostly junk food. "What do you eat?" Sarah asked while still in the fridge.
"Iunno. Ration bar every six or seven hours?" Thorn responded, head cocked to the side as she admired the view.
"Do you not eat pancakes, or anything? I mean we have ration bars, but don't you want something with more taste? Hah, there it is." Sarah said before pulling some sort of wrapped pastry and a soda, "not the most healthy breakfast, but why the hell not."
"I mean, I'll eat something more flavorful every once in a while, but I kind of grew up on ration bars, so everything else tastes weird. Not bad, but kinda... Above my station? If that makes any sense?" Thorn checked her blood sugar really quickly, pulling the information up on her datapad, alongside estimated time to the next warning. Logging that it was a good three or four hours away, she dismissed the app with a swip of her finger, shrugging the thought off. "I dunno, probably just a quirk."
Switch into the flirty tone after a slight pause for dramatic effect, maybe place her elbows on the counter and rest the chin in the palms of her hands, "Don't worry about me. I'm more than good here."
Jack had picked up a datapad to look over some of the data from Thorn's ship he had purchased the day before, and was looking throught geological scans of 188604 she had been taking when the two had first met. Something he was scrolling through caught his attention. A spot in a high res orbital image of the local area. "Hey Sarah, you know how Rag has that oasis of theres on the mountain?", Jack shouted over the back of the couch with a grin.
"Yeah, what about it?", Sarah answered inbetween bites of her crepe.
"How do you guys feel about surveying a site a little ways off?", Jack said before finishing his coffee.
"Always up for a little survey work." She looked to Sarah. "Though I can't tell if he found an anomaly or if he just wants to go swimming."
"Those smug bastards have their own resort, according to an orbit capture that was in the data I bought from you Thorn, there is another Oasis a slight ways from here. Who wants to setup a getaway camp?", Jack said enthusiatically.
Sarah finished off the pastry, "Beats checking gear again, and sitting around doing nothing. Saber needs more work to do, but the camp provides a place for me to sunbathe while I wait.", Sarah winked at Thorn at the last part. "I'm going to grab my bathing suite." she added before walking back upstairs.
"Ask and ye shall recieve." Thorn muttered to herself, giving a half smile. "I can stand to watch."
This was about half a second before she realized she didn't own a swim suit. Screw it, my EVA suit's mechanical pressure. Shows off what little figure I have. "I can make it look like a basic survey camp from overhead. Maybe a deuterium mining site."
"Why would we need to hide it from above? you took getaway camp too literal. I'll probably end up just rock climbing or sitting beside the water. I don't have swim trunks." Jack answered with a shrug.
Sarah came back still wearing the shirt and jeans she was wearing before,"Ok I'm ready."
"I... Yeah, little too literal on that one." She didn't notice anything different about Sarah with a passing glance, and furrowed her brows. "Swimsuit underneath?"
"Yeah, saving the surprise for later.", Sarah said with a wink.
"Woah woah, I'm still in the room! I don't want to know about any of that." Jack said quickly backing out of the room.
"Oh, come, now, don't you want to make sure your sister and your newest researcher are happy?" A little pout and flash a smirk to Sarah.
Sarah joined in, "Yeah mister go from having no family to large family in like one month. Maybe I need pointers, huh?"
Jack began to head into the garage after shouting back, "I can't help I'm a stud with a caring heart, but you two seem to be doing fine on your own. Just go get a room or something, and just mail the wedding invited later." he stammered before closing the garage door.
Thorn cocked an eyebrow. "Well, that didn't work. Wedding invite? Not sure I... Never mind."
"Don't worry that doesn't come to later. But first lets get on the bike before they leave us behind. You want front or back?" Sarah asked grabbing the key for her DR1.
"View's great either way." A cheeky smile before Thorn hopped down from the stool. "I'll ride bitch if it's a motorbike key you just grabbed."
"yeah, we're riding wild today, and the jeep is still at Nath tower, so you get to use me like a chair." Sarah said heading towards the front door, "You coming babe or what?"
A look of shock and a dumbfounded smile on Thorn's face as she watched the figure ahead. "Coming, but I'm more than capable of..." Shaking off the image that sprung up in her mind, Thorn followed with her usual bright smile. "On my way!"
"Oooh, I know that look, you looking at me beautiful?", Sarah said having just stepped out on the front porch.
"Don't worry fantasies tend to come true around me." she added blowing a kiss playfully.
Sarah turned around too late to realize Beaumont coming up to the door, and slammed into him. He remained standing, but she bounced off hitting the floor on her rear.
With a squeak, thorn felt her cheeks ignite, her heart thundering causing her rebreather to spool gently. She tried to speak, some retort or quip. Anything, really, succeeding only in incoherence and a complete departure from her normal cockiness. Cheeks on fire and butterflies being chewed up by the turbine in her chest, the little girl had no chance. Like Icarus, she had flown too close to the sun.
Jack stuck his head back in from the garage, "Hey what's going on in here?"
He hobbles back for a sec, watching as the girl would fall down. He hadn't even had the time to reach down and grab her arm, what with his headache. "Whoah whoah hey now." He bends down to offer his hand to help her up. "Gotta watch where you're walking. I've got good targeting systems, but I don't keep 'em on when I've got no need for 'em." A chuckle escapes the robot. He seems to be in a good mood. He would cock his head up to call out towards him. "Hey Jack! Nothing much, just knocking everything over and not sweeping it up afterwards!"
"You may want to get on a DR1, we're heading to an oasis to survey it as a possible retreat camp. One was left in the front lawn since your garage seemed occupied." Jack said before pulling back into the garage.
Sarah took the hand before rubbing her rear with her free hand, "Your definetly a knock out doc. Thorn you ok, you sound like you took a head injury?"
He laughs. "I gotta knock 'em out sometimes, anyways." He places his hands into his pockets once more before pulling himself back up to an upright standing position. "You mean that's mine? I kicked it over thinking some asshole had parked their motorcycle in my lawn last night." With a sigh and a shake of his head followed by a grin from behind his mask he chimes. "Guess this is going to be a fun escapade. Hit me up on the comms on the way there. I wanna hear the reason why we're setting up this oasis in the first place."
He twists on his heel, stepping out the door and across the street towards his new mode of transport. A lot sleeker and nicer than the Princess Louisiana, but, most likely, incapable of flight. Might wanna talk to R&D about that. He rubs his hands together before reaching down to hoist it back up to a standing position on its kickstand. "Ohhh BOY this is gonna be fun."
Thorn's reply to Sarah was a quiet squeak as she hid behind her hair and her blush spread. Unused to her advances being accepted so heartily, or even returned, she was unprepared for such a response from her own mind and body, hammering down thoughts in a game of cerebral whack-a-mole as she moved for the door.
He turns his head over towards the garage where Jack is located, offering a wave and then turning back towards the motorcycle. He'll admit, he'd never driven one before. Always came across to him as a pipe dream, whirring through the streets at a breakneck pace with nothing between you and the world around you. Perhaps, with this tin can on, it would be a lot safer. He checks the underseat compartment, fishing out a pair of keys and stufing them into their respective slot, twisting to the side and savoring the sounds of the beast grunting awake before him. He slings a leg over, a tad hesitant but soon shuddering while the motorcycle purrs. He's definitely enjoying this a tinge too much.
He places his hands on the handlebars, revving it up a couple times just to let the bike roar. He scans the dashboard, twisting a knob to let the radio fizzle and pop before it lands on a rock and roll radio station. "Alright, let's get this show on the road."
Jack slowly rolled out of the garage on his own DR1 having apparently have put on a leather jacket and the helmet of his light combat armor. He revved the fusion engine and ignited the thrust as the bikes synched to his helm's HUD showing status of it's systems, a map, and his speedometer.
"Alright everyone, let's ride. I'm sending a nav point to everyones bikes. We'll meet up there. Now lets see who can keep up." Jack said before popping his wheel up, dropping it and drifting onto the street and hitting the thrust speeding him away with a loud roar as his bike drastically built up speed.
Sarah mounted her's which sat in the front yard, and patted the seat in front of her before unclipping her own helmet from the side of the bike.
With her face still red, Thorn slipped onto Sarah's lap, leaning back to feel her head come to rest between the larger woman's breasts.. With a few taps of her datapad and a cable, she linked her forearm into the bike's computer. "I've got a little bit of data flow out of the engine. Forearm's a touchscreen, I can tweak it on the fly." Wrapping her arms around Sarah's wais, she gave a slight tap on the thigh, indicating secured and ready to go.
He couldn't help letting out a wild, almost maniacal laugh at the sight of Jack rushing away. He hunches forward, letting his targeting systems engage and syncing his HUD with the dashboard, the spedometer, RPS, fuel levels, and engine temp all shivering into the corners of his vision. He locks onto Jack while he bursts into the distance. "Oh no you don't!" He kicks it off of its stand while the wheels screech over his lawn, flinging dirt into the air before launching the cyborg forward at a breakneck pace.
His mechanical heart flutters, and his vision dialates. The overall experience is terrifying for the machine, seeing the world fly by from an uncovered vehicle. He ducks under the windshield, allowing for a greater level of streamlining. "WOOOOHOOO!" He whoops in pursuit of the man.
Sarah started the engine, "Men will be men. For some one so flirty, you got shy all of the sudden. Something wrong? I didn't come on too strong did I?"
Sarah rolled it forward and onto the street before beginning to accelerating gradually, and only boosting when they were outside the neighborhood, both dust trails of Jack and Beaumont spreading across the desert.
Jack was maxing out his speed, the wind a torrent outside his helmet as the sand whisked over the vehicle, and it spewed out in a column behind him as the specially designed tires effortlessly found traction in the almost liguid mass of sand. "Hey Beaumont, guess who designed and built these beauties.", Jack said hitting the comms with his chin.
"I guess I wasn't used to my advances being reciprocated so readily." She was glad to be in the blind spot, for once. At least her face, anyway. "I mean, it's not like my body is really all that attractive to a lot of people. And I've only been out and about for maybe three years."
"Let's see. Sleek build, fast as fuck, fun to use..." He can't help but laugh even harder, feeling all of the sand and dust bounce off of his mask and labcoat. One advantage to not having eyes - you don't need goggles or helmets. "I'm guessing somebody in the R&D department of Section 6 with a little too much time on their hands and a few too many scraps in the back corner." He fishtails through a series of particularly large rocks before kicking the beast's thrust on in hopes of catching up to his fleshy boss. "Am I on the right track?"
"Hey gunsmithing is not a legitimate hobby anymore when you have kids, so you know I needed something else to do. It's nice to see you appreciate my craft, might built more than bikes later." Jack said still gunning it.
"Freedom is where the frontier is. And its not all about looks, as it takes a sparkling personality like yours to woo a grump like me." Sarah shouted over the roar of the engine.
Thorn fell quiet, occasionally peeking around through the dust and wind to make minor adjustments to the bike's core. Opening the vents here or there in response to Sarah's maneuvering, to act as airbrakes and stabilisers. A tap on the outside of the thigh indicated Thorn knew the data, and Sarah could push the bike harder. She could almost see how its fusion heart beat, and could adjust the cooling flow in real time. Over the wind, she called out, "Last one there sets up camp, right? You can punch it a little harder. I've got control over the cooling system and some of the engine. Adjusting."
"If they're anywhere as good as these beauties, I'll make sure to give those a taste as well!" With that, his wrist flicks back as far as possible, giving the bike a little more 'oomph' and keeping hot on Jack's tail. He then throws his body back, tossing the front wheel into the air for a moment. He howls in excitement while the front wheel returns to the earth, pulling the bike along with it. He had already begun to get used to the vehicle, enjoying the freedom it provides, the sensation of wind over his armor, and dust whipping his coat. "So tell me. How far away are we from the oasis' location?"
"I don't think anyone brought tents, but if I set camp I get a private room." Sarah shouted before maxing out the bikes systems, causing their speed to let the pair catch up with the boys then pass them with Sarah giving Jack a mock salute as they did so.
"Just around that rock formation we're pulling up on, lets......how in the hell. How did she pass us from that far behind?" Jack said going from serious to utter confusion.
Utterly focused on her task, hunched over and just about face in the display, a small figure sat hunched over, arms extending underneath the handlebars as fingertips genly caressed the screen. She didn't need to notice Jack or Beaumont. She was busy letting the information flow across her mind and tune everything out. Tiny points of data, from her own and her pilot's balance, to the tiniest flux in the reactor core, everything calculated simultaneously as her entire consciousness devoted itself to the task at hand. A quick change in the position of her hips would change the balance just slightly, higher center of mass to offset the turn, and as she finally saw it, she could almost see the numbers flowing across her mind. Small figures, ones she had picked up in a high school physics text three years ago. But enough.
He could see two dots appearing in the corner of his vision, two new crosshairs, two new targets. He knew just who they were - and hus gut told him just how they pulled it off. "Oh for fuck's sake, that's cheating! She's got the egghead!" With a laugh, he straightens out the bike and ducks down, letting the newly established airflow provide him with a hint more acceleration. "Guess they're gonna play dirty. Two can do that." He would fumble around hin his labcoat pocket. He has to have one in there somewhere. "Voila!" He yanks the handle of a scalpel from the depths. He only has one shot at this. he spins the stick in hand, pointing it forward like he would if there were a scalpel within it, he brings his arm back, locks onto the rock nearest the two. Would it kill 'em? Hell no. startle them? hopefully. he throws his arm down, focusing his energy into it and throwing it at maximum capacity towards the stone. It spins madly like a propeller before shattering on impact just as the two girls pass its target.
This caused Sarah to take an evasive maneuver and therefore slow down with a "Shit!"
Jack still had the speed advantage, and cleared the turn around the rock formation first to find as he slowed down a pleasant site. A good sized oasis backed by a rock face of the large rock formation they has used as landmark, "Perfect.".
There was no sign of notice from Thorn, save a sudden opening of the air cooling system completely, to act as stabilisers for the slowing, a slight softening of the rear shocks to keep the bike level. No sign of noticing as a shard of plastic flew past her nose, just enough to scratch the tip. Nor did she respond to the curse Sarah threw. No words, just feeling her breath even as though slipping into sleep, and her eyes glazed over.
"'Nyah ha haaa!" He chortles, breezing past the two - and completey forgetting that their destination was right past them. Before him, the pool of crisp blue would come into view, pompting him to latch onto the brakes of the motorcycle. The vehicle- of course - would skid to a halt just shy of the water - but Beaumont would retain that momentum, being thrown forward beyond the Motorcycle and whipped in circles before splashing down. Bubbles would form in the surface indicating where the medic would sink to the bottom.
Sarah continued to slow as she accepted defeat, and now noticing the hyptnotised Thorn in front of her. "Thorn? Your starting to scare me here, talk to me." Sarah said as she began to get worried. She pulled around next to Jack before dismounting and turning off the bike before kneeling before Thorn still mounted. "Come on babe, snap out of it, I'm getting worried.", she said snapping in front of Thorn's face.
"Damn it Beaumont, I hope he doesn't rust easy.", Jack said following the loud splash.
"Hmm?" She blinked once before looking up, and blinking a few more times. "Oh, we're stopped. Wait, we're... Where are we? Sorry, I got kinda sucked in..."
His systems would immediately engage its aquatic systems, sealing off any and all openings that could flood and shifting his lungs to work in the marine environment. Upon reaching the bottom, laying flat on his back, he'd sigh before pulling himself up to his feet. That DEFINITELY stung like a bitch. If he were human, his back would be as red as rust. With one foot past the other, he clambers up towards the shore, emerging like some ancient beast from the depths of the oasis with his back hunched over and dripping from head to toe. First thing's first: He peels away his labcoat, not even bothering to gaze over at the three to his left while he tosses it over his shoulder, marching to stand his desert rider back up. "At least we know the water's fine." He chuckles in a sheepish fashion.
"Well let's start scanning the area, but everything looks perfect, we can have habit units dropped in. Will take about an hour." Jack said removing his leather jacket then his helm.
Sarah brought Thorn into a hug as she let out a breath she hadn' known she was holding, "Don't scare me like that, thought you were going to have a seizure or something. I'm still getting over Jack doing that last op. He took a couple rounds and was zoned out before passing out." Sarah said as she held her to her chest.
"I'm sorry... Ow!" A jerk of Thorn'a arm ripped the datajack free, splitting the bond where the port embedded into the pad under her skin. She spared the offending cable a quick glare before hugging Sarah tight. "I didn't mean to scare you."
A quick kiss on the cheek and she gave a wide smile. "I'm fine. I just get a little focused some times."
"You got it. Let me just... get some of this off and... dry off." He pants a little bit, allowing his lungs to transition from aquatic mode to terrestrial. the lab coat is slung over the seat of the bike, followed by his shirt. He takes his shoes off, letting his metal feet meet the blazing sands. He'd go as far as taking off his pants, but he lacks the boxers to make the situation modest - I mean, what robot needs underwear? "So what are we keeping an eye out for, Jack?" He raises an eyebrow.
"To be honest I don't have a fucking clue, hazards I quess before we start dropping a campsite here?" Jack said flatly with a shrug.
Sarah returns the kiss, "Maybe you need something else to focus on?"
"I..." She paused for a moment, letting the blush rise to the surface and catching the sunlight and the water beyond in those sky blues. "I could get lost in you."
He does just so, hands in pockets, scanning and sweeping the sand in search of anything that could be classified as hazardous for anyone near the oasis. He then scratches his chin and nods before stripping down completely. "I'm going to go into the water and see for any hazards in it. Got any equipment to measure the chemical content of the water that I could use? See if there are any dissolved toxins that may be unhealthy for consumption?" He begins to step into the water, stopping when it reaches his waist.
A lot of the Section 6 crew had left early for various reasons, leaving only Jack, Sarah, Thorn, and Beaumont. The restaurant had remained sparcely populated through there stay, and the group had stayed to sit around and talk.
"Since it's your guy's first day and I feel like celebrating, the tab is on me." Jack said before taking a casual sip from his beer. He had changed into a pair black jeans, button up vest with a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up underneath, and nice boots.
"Look at you, actually being nice and not an asshole." Sarah gave with a slight giggle as she drank some, too.
By some combination of Izzy's kindness and Jack and Sarah's negotiation skills, they had managed to stuff Thorn into a pair of jeans now too small for Amit, and a thin tee shirt of Sarah's. She'd managed to make it look passable, if a touch large, and not quite the cocktail dress that would have been resewn out of one of Jack's tee shirts. Not that he would have agreed to it. The flirting with Sarah had continued, subtlely, and was quickly eclipsed by the conversation Beaumont and Jack were having.
Beaumont sits adjacent to Sarah and across from jack, looking forward with a bottle of beer gripped in his metallic palm. His mask had been lifted the entire time, allowing his jaw to come into view and give him the ability to eat. Since the party had walked in, he had immediately received strange looks from the patrons and waitresses all gawking at the sight of a full-conversion. He opted to keep in the same clothes as before. They weren't sweaty or anything. A pair of jeans with a T-shirt underneath. The Lab coat around him would be buttoned a partial way up to conceal the Yamataian mascot embellishing the center of the chest. The star of some animation he had pirated off of a network for watching on off days.
"Damn. I was getting my hopes up that this would be a common thing." He laughs, a smile visible on his false lips. "Gotta thank you for it no less. Been needing a meal like that since I first landed on this rock."
"Well when the project for the new joint station is finished, everything will be even better. A very large space station that is a hollow world on a relatively small scale. high end residencies, schools, businesses, and data archives on the inside of the shell; manufacturing and military on the outside, and to top it with ship construction docks around the equator at the center of the station. It's a joint project between the USO, Garts, and the I'ee. When completed Section 6 will be moving to the new station." Jack gave with a smile at what the future held, "say good-bye dust ball and hello space eden."
"Sounds definitely like Eden for a Nepleslian. But also like a good place for things to go really bad really fast." He takes a sip of his drink. "So, a hollow world. Guessing everything is going to be inside the dome. Imagine the vertigo you'll get on that thing. Yeesh." With the bottle set down, he hums. "Remind me agin why this all of this is being built in the first place? The purpose of having that big ball in the sky?"
"It will provide a strategic advantage as well as a center for diplomacy, and a better home. I have nothing against this planet, but it's not exactly a place I wanna raise my kids on. This give a chance at providing a better place for them to grow up, in safety, and with a better education. It will be safe, we're working on building a defence fleet for the station as well as thorougly designing a defensive grid to protect it. You're looking at the future admiral of the fleet and admin of the station." Jack added as he thought about the question for a moment as he swished what was left in his glass around.
"I can't say I blame you for that." He hums while setting his elbows on the table to rest them. "Least that will be a better place for Nepleslians like me. So you say you have kids, Jack? And you really want the big scary robot man to move in across the street from them? You know how well things went down with that kid who saw me earlier. Plus, i'm pretty sure that family who brought a baby to the restaurant's kid started crying only because he saw me pass by. Shiny folk like me kinda get weird looks, so don't be surprised if property values drop because I move in."
"Nah, that one was on me. Waiter tried handing me a kiddie menu, remember?" There was a touch of salt in Thorn's voice about that one, and a swig of her mead to wash it down. "I mean, if Sarah wants me to dress up for a night, I'm game, but in casual company..."
He laughs. "Right, now THAT was priceless." He would laugh. "But don't worry. Some people like short girls. Your kind are a cute one." He swigs his beer once more. Odd enough, it almost seems like the cyborg is starting to get plastered. True, he has a fake liver now, but the alcohol is still being brought to his brain. He chuckles a couple more times following his statement, finishing off his... maybe twelfth bottle this evening. He's lost count, and the waitress had avoided letting the bottles pile up beside him in the event of an accident.
"Well, thank you, mister Beaumont! In all due seriousness, the hollow world project's ambitious and interesting, with just enough crazy to work. I managed to get geomagnetics and gravitational of the system on the way in, so there's gonna be a good place to start construction or build refining operations if construction's already started. I didn't check on that." The girl shrugged, looking to Jack for approval before continuing. "This planet's a bit of a dustball, but it's nice, you know? Cool, kinda dry, don't need a dehumidifier for most of the apartments, and no major wildlife. Sure, there's some pirate activity, but that'll get cleaned out in the next few months. Then again, I'm happy with a 6X10 studio with a workbench. Hell, I'm happy sleeping in the lab."
"Yea, I get where you're coming from with that, but this place is just so... empty is all." He tilts his head. "It's still all coming together, but a vast majority of the resources are going up to that space base. Guess we'll just see how it all works out. Might be cool to work there in the future. So!" He would turn his whole body towards her now that a full-on conversation has started. "Saw you working on some fancypants stuff earlier when I first applied. Gotta do with the queue ball?"
"Oh." Thorn straightened up, turning to Beaumont and setting down her drink. "Ahm... Not yet, just refurbing a fusion reactor for my section of the lab. If Jack is to be believed, you're looking at the new head of Advanced Research and Development. Gotta get some things up to my standards, then I gotta get some interns in there and start building up a team... Hopefully. How're you liking the new office space, by the way?"
"Well isn't that a big title. Guess we gotta start with someone who can be in charge." He brings a hand up to wave down a waiter, pointing to his beer with his other hand, to which the waiter gives the cyborg a nod and a pointer finger up. "And the office. Oh, it's nice. Empty as this planet, but still nice. Can't wait to see all of the doohickeys and thingamajiggers Jack had ordered for it. guess the medical department's been long overdue or something, and Jack has been dealing with all of the medical care until now. But now that's going to fall onto me, and since I have no idea where to look to hire because all of my past operations were in back alley warehouses -don't ask- it may take some time before a full-fledged medical staff is up and running."
"Sweetie, before this, I was a goddamn mercenary researcher. Unlicensed with no citizenship status anywhere. Believe me, your hiring isn't the strangest thing I've seen in the last forty eight hours. Hell, Jack found me trying to steal data on their response times to try and figure out why they wanted this dustball... And then he offered me a job." Thorn furrowed her brows confusedly. "Said he could tell I was educated, but that still doesn't explain why he didn't shoot me."
"Consider this with your line of work. You can do cool, smart stuff that's illegal and get away with it, even be hired if there's a guy like Jack around. Now take me in the back of an alley with a scalpel and a guy with a bullet hole in his body. Not exactly a pretty image that would be 'hire this fellow right now' material." He laughs. "And trust me. That situation occurs waaaay too often where I come from."
"Nepleslian?" Thorn cocked an eyebrow, a grin playing across her face. "I've heard that it can be a little rough out there."
"Very." He groans, shaking his head and nodding to the waiter who brought him the next round. He'll be sure to pay Jack back if need be for all of this alcohol. "So a merc researcher, huh? Guess I can't escape working with you lot of guns for hire."
"I resent being called a gun for hire." There was a huff, stuck up nose, and a slight turning away at that comment. "I am proudly noncombatant, with my skills being put to better use finding the really cool shit in the universe, grabbing pics, and getting away before anybody knows I'm there, thank you. Though..." She relaxed, chewing on a brussels sprout in contemplation. "Most of it was stellar prospecting. Which sucks."
He'd grunt in acknowledgement. "I see. Least you weren't one of those guys going out and getting shot because that's where the money's at. Then again, someone's gotta do it." He would swig his beer. "And I guess without them, I'd be out of the job." He'd pause, and his mask would shift back into place. His HUD would flash that his internal systems are full. He couldn't finish this bottle if he tried.
"Without people like me, your job would be a lot more messy. Some times I'd get called into a combat zone to provide live overwatch support. Never liked combat zones." Looking down into her drink, she thought for a moment. "I ever have kids, first thing I teach 'em. If you don't think it's worth the trouble and pain your actions will cause, there's a good chance you're right."
Jack had been listening to the conversation as the two talked, enjoying the fact that the new crew was getting along.
"Some times you don't always have a choice in that regard, and I have many scars to prove it and the nightmares that don't let me forget. And to be honest Beaumont, merc work is better than the military. I served with the nep military for five years, the last two as an officer, and to be frank I miss everyone of my comrades. All that's left of the old squad is my best friend Zeke Rykiel and a lot dog tags. Worse than the fact that your friends are dying around you, is that the government who couldn't give two shits is making you give the orders doing it. I might as well have pulled the trigger myself and got it over with." Jack spoke for a while his expression somewhere between nostalgia and sad.
Guess that hit a little closer home to his boss than he expected. Best back off on the merc criticism if he wants to keep his job. he does have a good point, though. He can remember seeing Nepleslian soldiers pass by near the warehouse he operated out of. Sometimes, familiar faces would pass by, but with a few of their party members missing. A sigh escapes the cyborg. He was never one for that mushy stuff. Since Louisiana passed, he never really regained that sort of sentimentality. But it must be a similar degree of pain Jack's experiencing. One that all of the medicine in the galaxy could not patch up. "I can only imagine what it's like. Sitting back in my office and being left to patch you lot up makes one forget to realize that some folks can't be put back together again." He doesn't even bother to look to the two at this point, feeling a little sheepish at the prospect of touchy-feely subjects like this.
"Not the worse part of my life to be honest, I hand a gun in my hand and no one at my back for most of my childhood. My parents died when I was born, Sarah is my only living family. Amit the kid you met earlier is my adopted son, we picked him up on the last mission, and my pregnant wife is carrying plebian twins because Honey moons are a two sided coin." Jack said after downing what was left in his glass before signalling for another.
A smile curls on his synthetic lips. "Good to see you doing well - despite your past. Hope I'm in a similar position as you someday."
"With the way things are going around here it's not hard to make it big. I've only been here five....six months." Jack said actually counting fingers as the alcohol was kicking in.
"Huh, not too long, then." He would hum, checking his watch to see it already getting late. Around the table, waiters and waitresses had already begun to clean off the nearly empty restaurant, a few tossing nasty glares towards the drunk cyborg and the steadily tipsy bunch. His mask lowers, snapping in place over his jaw. "I believe it's time to foot the bill and hobble back."
"Well I'm wasted, who's driving?" Jack asked in a slight slur.
"I can fly anything with a twin joystick module, but I can't see over the dash. Sarah? You've been quiet this whole meal. What's up, hon?"
"Getting hammered, not really anything much else, I don't think I am in much position to drive either. Maybe we should grab a taxi, we have those right?" Sarah said clearly drunk and flushed with several bottles laying on the table empty.
"Go home Sarah, your drunk." Jack said clearly not as drunk but still affected.
"I can take her home." Thorn blushed, knowing that where a dozen might affect Beaumont or Sarah, it would take a mere one or two to plaster her to the floor. With that final thought, she immediately lifted her tankard to her lips and started drawing, hard. A sudden realization that there was no way she could carry the larger woman, especially if they're both equally tipsy, was enough for her to start thinking seriously. As the now empty tankard thunked back onto the table, Thorn suggested an air pickup whilst holding back a belch.
Jack looked at Thorn for a moment, "Yeah I got that covered the U-1 has autopilot function and mine should still have a troop module. I'll go pay the tab and meet you guys outside."
Sarah got up unsteadily from her chair, "Woo, I drank too much, gonna be one hell of a hangover in the morning. Might need a cold shower tomorrow morning."
"Cold shower sounds nice. Especially with all the flirting I've done tonight." Thorn pushed herself up from the table, letting her legs slide to the floor before she stumbled a bit and started towards Sarah.
Her steps were unbalanced and uncoordinated, as shough she'd lost that catlike saunter of one who grew up in unreliable gravity. Far from it, just her sense of balance was overcompensating, and she quite promptly slipped and fell over sideways with a curse and a grumble.
Rolling to her knees, she sighed. "Sorry, must be a bit tipsier than I thought."
Sarah bent down some to lower her back, "Just hop on, I don't want you falling down the elevator or something. Would be a shame to see you go so soon, and I thought we were getting along well."
There was the barest hint of an arguing thought. But Thorn knew the back offered was a much better solution. Wrapping her arms around the larger woman's shoulders, she used her thighs to grab onto her waist and pulled her head into the crook of Sarah's shoulder with a purr of "You're soft."
"You can use me as pillow later, let's just get you out of the building. Oh gawd i'm so drunk. Beaumont come on, we're gonna need you to make sure we don't get lost, or fall over." Sarah spoke with a slur still as she began to take an unsteady pace towards the elevators.
"I think I'd like that. But I bet your front's softer."
"Oioioi. You know how it is flirting while drunk, you two..." He grumbles, stumbling over his own feet for a second before switching controls to his computer. His brain is far too tipsy to keep his body in balance. Best leave it to the computer's gyroscopes. "I'll keep an eye on all three of you. Jack. Mind calling in the U-1 and having it pull in? I'm pretty sure nobody is going to mind if you land a fighter in the middle of the parking lot for a couple seconds."
"Nah it's a regular occurance around here. I can always come back for the jeep tomorrow. Ok everybody, bill's paid, lets head out I guess." Jack said as he walked unsteadily to the elevator closest, pushing the button and standing in the door way to keep the doors open.
He clambers into the elevator first, his back clanking against the wall as he had misjudged the distance between the two. He turns his gaze to face the other three. Against his better judgement, he opens up his mask once more to offer the rest of the party something of a shitfaced smile - appearing just as a woozy human's grin would.
"So... We're all way more buzzed than is safe to drive. Especially him." Thorn's eyes narrowed as she pointed to Beaumont. "He's had twelve." Forgetting to be polite for a moment, the gasses in her stomach and throat ripped free in a thundering belch, followed by a weak "I'm sorry."
Sarah would follow suite with an equally loud belch, "Ah dammit, *hiccup* I need to drink hard liquor more."
Jack gave Sarah a sideways glance before shuffling closer to his side of the elevator, "Most of the marines I know, don't belt em that loud."
"Twelve and a-" He pauses and turns his head away from the rest of them, then adds to the chain of belches, just as loud, but with a hint of tinniness. "HhhALF." with that, he shakes his head, exhaling before letting pout a solid "GodDAMN" in an oddly perky voice. "I'd forgotten what it was like to do that. Haven't eaten or drank like that since I even got this body. A chuckle escapes him before he slips down to sit upon the elevator floor. "Thanks again, Jack."
Baaallllaaaaaggnnnnaa! Jack let out a huge belch deliberatley like that of a demonic cry as figured "what the hell, when on 604 do as the new guys."
"Man, score one for inner demons, next thing you know I'll be seeing possesed onions, or something. Speaking of onions, I wish this thing would move faster, it's starting to get a bit smelly in here." Jack gave with a sniff.
"Oi. I showered at the house. No EVA stink. Though she still smells better. I like it here."
The elevator reached the bottom floor, which was the lobby and reception area. The group stumbled out of the enclosed space, sticking out like sore thumbs amongst the sober populace present. This drew sideways glances and awkward looks as they made their way outside as a black and red U-1 variable mech fighter decended to land in the parking lot.
"Don't worry we can take a shower back at the house, then I think bed time. It's not even night and I'm too wasted to finish the day." Sarah said moving around the back and into the troop module.
"Bed time like you're taking me to bed?" Thorn perked, knowing that she wasn't good for much for the next few hours, save halfhearted passes at a woman who could at any moment decide enough was enough and drop her. And also far too focused on the task to even note that the shuttle had landed. "I could stand to be made a bit more useless."
He whistles, eyeing the fighter. Quite a work of engineering. With that, he clambers into the troop module. "I can agree to that, Sarah. Been a reaaaally long one. Walking around, getting a job, meeting some new folks. Some prettier than others." He scrambles into a seat, finding his body a little limp. Despite having full energy reserves, his brain did not. Frankly, he didn't even sleep on his way through the city. He just walked, trying to catch sight of the warehouse. "I'll admit. I'm curious what the house across from Jack is like. I doubt it'll be that bad."
"The same as mine. They are all copies of my house, as I built the original and we just templated it for the rest of the neighborhood." Jack answered throught the internal comm as he strapped into the pilot seat. He switched to autopilot, and set his house as the drop point. The U-1 began to lift and accelerate to a higher alttitude before descending again to land at street level with the trip only lasting a couple minutes. Jack set the hanger as the new destination with a five minute delay.
"Alright everybody, end of the line. You can go where ever, but you can't stay here." he said before hopping out of the cockpit to land in an unsteady crouch outside.
Sarah walked down the ramp almost tripping the last couple steps, and began walking towards the house, compltely forgetting Thorn grappled to her back.
"uh, Sarah you have a plus one there." Jack said standing up.
"I don't mind being here." Thorn grinned, enjoying the movement of Sarah's body as she was carried. "Rocking hips, strong shoulders, kind of relaxing, really."
He steps from the pod, a loud cracking sound echoing from the pavement as his metal mask meets it. Not enough to dent or scratch, but it would definitely hurt. He pulls himself to his knees with a sullen groan. "Goddammit, I'm gonna hate the hangover after this." He presses a few buttons on his wristwatch, commanding his legs to go into auto gyroscope once more, and pulling himself to his feet. From his pocket, he grabs his keys. "i'll go and get my ship from the docks tomorrow. I could... probably land it in front. I don't know."
He swivels around on his heel, glancing over the not completely modest abode. "Not too shabby for a planet like this." He mumbles, a tinge surprised that such a thing was just given to him for placing a file in a man's hand. "This house is clearly built for a family... Whelp. Looks like I'm gonna have to find roommates or something. This...is too much for one guy." He chuckles, looking over his shoulder. He sounds more like he's talking about a large plate of food and not a house.
Sarah entered the house and walked upstairs to her room, "Either you can stay in here, or take the room next door. Your choice, I'm going to take a shower then sleep if possible." she said placing Thorn on the end of her bed before walking towards the door to her personal restroom.
Jack would head into the house as well, but to his room, to where he collapsed atop the bed passed out fast asleep.
"Yeah, I like you, but..." Thorn looked away, just clearheaded enough to realize that alcohol didn't exactly make for respectable moments. "I'm gonna want to be able to respect myself when I'm fighting off tomorrow's hangover. Thank you, Sarah. But we're both a little too buzzed to be making good choices."
Waiting for her to leave the room for a moment, Thorn would take off the borrowed shirt and fold it neatly across the bed, before curling up in the closet of the room next door to go to sleep in a sport bra and spandex shorts.
He watches as the three walk away, pausing for a moment with his head cocked over his shoulder. With that, he shakes it, stuffs his hands in his pockets, and proceeds to take the march towards his ship. gonna need to bring it over if he wants to actually move in. Besides, he's got his toothbrush in there. Months had passed since he could last sit down with someone while not having a gun pointed towards his skull. Since he could be doing something with somebody else that doesn't involve his fingers knuckle-deep in a bullet wound because the calibers needed the extra reach. Since he could have a beer and a conversation, or share a smoke. He chuckles while his mask locks back into place. He missed having friends. But now is not the time for reminiscing. The Princess Louisiana awaits. The sun has yet to even set in the distance, its glare casting orange peel rays across every brick and plank and cobble. "guess I could get used to living on a planet like this."
//.....next day// 0800//
Jack woke up cuddled up nex to Isabelle, not remembering when she had entered the bed, or when he had moved himself. He sat up to see the time listed on his datapad as around 8am. "Well time to start another day, better hope I remembered to stock some pain killers in my desk." he said to no one in particular as he held a hand to his sore head.
Izzy stretched as she woke up, yawning as well. "Morning, Jack," She said softly, knowing well that he came home drunk the night before and noting that he held a hand to his head as well. "How you feeling?"
Outside of Beaumont's home sits the Large Ge-F7-1B cargo runner, poking out from the garage and into the driveway. Guess it's a bit too big for the usual urban setting. On it's side, the words "Princess Louisiana are sprawled in white paint, with cartoonish wings painted above them in the same color. Inside of the house, Beaumont lays sprawled along his couch, wearing only his jeans. He had passed out after moving some stuff into the house. Didn't even brush his teeth as he had planned. His systems would ring, serving as his alarm clock and jostling him awake while the view of the world around him blinks to life. His arms, his legs, his head, they all feel as though tiny needles caress them. He would curl his fingers, but his body would not budge. Not his fingers, but his body's. Perhaps the hangover brought about some phantom sensations with it. Guess it didn't want to be the only one at the party. The cyborg curls up into a seated position with a groan before rubbing his mask.
Sarah woke up in the shower in nothing more than her undergarments, apparently she had decided to sleep there after her shower the afternoon before. Her hands instantly went to her head as the headache caught up with her. "Jesus!", she gave aloud before clammering out of the shower. She reentered her room to find the folded shirt on her bed, picking it up confused until remembering Thorn had been brought into the house.
She looked around the room but found no sign of her. Putting on a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, Sarah left the room to find the next door over open. Peeking into the dark room, it was clear the closest had been opened, within she found a sleeping Thorn. She knocked on the closet door frame.
In response to the knock, Thorn curled tighter into the nest of bedding she'd built herself, flinching away from the noise as her subconscious guarded her from harm. The messy scars surrounding the glint of her rebreather pods showed under the dim light, as did the countless others across her shoulder and exposed arm. These were scars Sarah hadn't seen, leaving Thorn alone in the room to change yesterday. Still, the movement was little more than a twitch and grumblings of discomfort.
More incoherent grumbling and she curled more gently tighter in the covers, trying to avoid the light she knew would be less than fun today.
Jack looked back to his wife, "Good just paying the price for not being more moderate in my drinking."
Izzy smiled softly, "It probably wasn't a great idea to drink as much as you did. I'm not sure if we have any painkillers or anyting, unless you have something at your office." She stood slowly, not wanting to get vertigo or anything. "Where did everyone else end up? Did everyone get home okay?"
He hoists himself to his feet with yet another groan, hobbling over to the fridge he had just loaded with the extra bottles of water from his ship. He cracks open one, letting his mask slide away and then hoisting the bottle overhead, pouring the ice cold beverage over himself and occasionally grabbing a mouthful from the resulting deluge. Nothing like some crisp water to send the hangover running for a brief moment while he gains his bearings. The mask closes once more, and his gaze slips around the room. What to do... what to do... perhaps work begins today? May as well pay a visit to Jack's family.
Another groan and Thorn shoved her heard under the covers, kicking away the blankets covering her legs. It wouldn't take long for her breathing to even back out indicating sleep.
Sarah didn't just want to leave her there, but what to do. She opted to going back to the bathroom to grab some painkillers and a glass of water befor setting them down and going to the closest to scoop Thorn up in the bedding she had bundled in.
Sarah's touch would cause Thorn to flinch hard, curling tighter inward with a squeak, before some part of her reminded her that she had nothing to fear, and she relaxed as the short, scruffy hair flowed over the blanket and she lowly blinked awake. Finding herself carried, she yelped in subconscious teror and kicked, hard. The force seperated Sarah's arms enough for Thorn to fall through and to the floor with a solid thump.
The girl pushed herself upright and scrabbled backwards until she met a wall, breathing heavily, and eyes wide. It would take her but a handful of seconds to calm down enough for the headache to hit and cause her small body to curl back inward with a groan. "Forgot to drink water..."
He felt no real need to shower. He didn't get filthy yesterdy, and any loose dirt that may have been on him was rinsed away by the dousing of water over his head. He proceeds to strip away his pants, tossing them while heading towards his room to grab some clothing from his closet and tossing the garment on his bed. When he eventually emerges from the house, he bears pretty much the same clothes as usual, the only change being a different brand of t-shirt underneath. Though a fresh labcoat and pair of jeans certainly helps.
With a slight spring in his step to keep his mind off of the feeling of his skull imploding on itself, he approaches the front door of the Pine household.
Sarah grabbed the water and painkillers from the other room after the separation, before offering them to Thorn.
"Here you're going to need these babe, a hangover like that tends to ruin the day unchecked."
Jack got up and went inside the closet to get clothes, grabbing a muscle shirt, and a pair of cargo pants before hitting the shower, giving his beautiful wife a kiss on his way to the bathroom.
The water looked poisoned, the painkillers didn't look like asperin. Thorn felt her breathing accelerate, her rebreather's turbine spooling audibly to compensate. Then she took a deep breath, forced it all down, and looked Sarah in the eye. "Thanks."
A quick blush and she relaxed, shaking a bit as her stiff and unresponsive muscles took the glas and held out a hand for the painkillers. "Bad dreams."
"Must have been some pretty bad nightmares, I haven't seen anyone wake up like that other than Jack. Usually that implies physcological trauma from a horrible event. I won't pressure you about it though." Sarah said kneeling.
Thorn's look turned from apologetic to almost bored, before she gestured to her body, and then immediately back to apologetic as she realized what she'd just shown. "Sorry, not exactly something I like to talk about. It was long and complicated, and frankly, I don't want to go back to it, even in memory. Just... When you get a chance, look up a name for me. It'll be in the Nepleslian database." She blushed again, still not used to the name given her at birth. "Ironhart. Lisa Alice Ironhart. If you want to know. There'll be an interview attached."
"It's a beautiful name, for a beautiful woman. Your not the only one with a backstory better left unread, my career choice before here was probably far from the best. So let's stop lookin g to the past and think of the future. Come on climb on, we'll go to the kitchen and get breakfast." Sarah said offering a hand.
"Thanks," She took the offered hand, letting herself get pulled to her feet. It was an awkward feeling, knowing that there was a lot in the history that both would need to know eventually, but didn't want to share now. Or, in Thorn's case, she'd bury it from all her coworkers save one. If she could get away with it, Jack and Sarah were to be the only two who had any idea. "Honestly, you got me on the beauty front. You're the beautiful one, here. I'm just short enough to make it count."
"Good to know we think the other one is beautiful, would be a shame if we didn't feel like looking at each other. Besides size doesn't matter, just the easier to sweep you off your feet." Sarah said picking Thorn up again, hoping for a more relaxed reaction this time.
"You really like carrying me arond don't you?" There was a squeak as Thorn stretched and relaxed into Sarah's arms, her back giving a small pop. A small nestling motion to secure herself and she looked up. "Sorry if I was an ass last night."
"Not many people usually are this friendly with me, then again I've usually tried to not get involved, but since I'm living with my brother I figured playing the bitch was not the best idea anymore. So if that was you being an ass, I'd love to see your nice side." Sarah continued as she carried her back to the room. "Also you may want to put your shirt back on, not a lot of people used to the Yamatai sense of modesty. Granted I wouldn't mind walking around in nothing but a bra and thong to be comfortable on this inferno of a planet, but the looks wouldn't be worth it." she added as she freed a hand to pick up the shirt to give to Thorn.
"It's a sport bra. It counts. Not like I have the cleavage to make the looks anyway. Hell, I walk around in a pair of baggy jeans and shirtless, I might be mistaken for a boy." With her arms hanging around Sarah's neck to support herself, she grinned. "Granted, I wouldn't mind seeing you walk around in a bra and thong, maybe less if you want, but you might catch me staring... Maybe drooling a bit."
"That's definetly a possibility, but better to be done in a more private setting. Maybe if we have time leter. For now I need something to eat." Sarah added before descending the stairs.
Jack was already sitting on the couch with coffee cup in hand, and an omlet of some sort on a plate already half eaten, "Nice two see you two up, foods in the kitchen help your selves, and coffee is brewed already. Don't worry about work for now, everybody is more or less trying to clear their heads." Jack noticed Thorn in Sarah's arms with a raised eyebrow, "Is this a thing now?"
"Yes!" There was a bright grin, right before a blush. "She's soft and sweet and I kinda like the height. Like her more, though."
Jack sat there silently for a moment mid sip, "Ok......Just keep it down at night."
Sarah gave him a slight glare,"It's nice to see you have no problem with this. I thought you would have had reservations."
Jack lowered the mug,"Unlike a certain someone, I don't judge other peoples relationships."
Sarah gave a loud sigh, "Low blow bro. Revenge tends cloud things can you blame me for not liking Izzy when we met?"
Jack paused again, "No, but I've learned grudges are useless, or worse get you dead."
Sarah continued to the kitchen with a smile, "Fine we'll play quitely then."
"Wait, she can be loud?" Thorn furrowed her brows, looking over to Sarah before flashing a wicked grin. "This'll be fun."
"Only when not on the job, then I'm so quiet they never hear me coming, and outside everybody will hear me coming." Sarah said blushing face bright red as she sat Thorn in a bar chair a the center medium of the kitchen before moving over to the fridge. She opened and bent over to look throught the lowest shelf where she kept her stash of personal food items which consisted of mostly junk food. "What do you eat?" Sarah asked while still in the fridge.
"Iunno. Ration bar every six or seven hours?" Thorn responded, head cocked to the side as she admired the view.
"Do you not eat pancakes, or anything? I mean we have ration bars, but don't you want something with more taste? Hah, there it is." Sarah said before pulling some sort of wrapped pastry and a soda, "not the most healthy breakfast, but why the hell not."
"I mean, I'll eat something more flavorful every once in a while, but I kind of grew up on ration bars, so everything else tastes weird. Not bad, but kinda... Above my station? If that makes any sense?" Thorn checked her blood sugar really quickly, pulling the information up on her datapad, alongside estimated time to the next warning. Logging that it was a good three or four hours away, she dismissed the app with a swip of her finger, shrugging the thought off. "I dunno, probably just a quirk."
Switch into the flirty tone after a slight pause for dramatic effect, maybe place her elbows on the counter and rest the chin in the palms of her hands, "Don't worry about me. I'm more than good here."
Jack had picked up a datapad to look over some of the data from Thorn's ship he had purchased the day before, and was looking throught geological scans of 188604 she had been taking when the two had first met. Something he was scrolling through caught his attention. A spot in a high res orbital image of the local area. "Hey Sarah, you know how Rag has that oasis of theres on the mountain?", Jack shouted over the back of the couch with a grin.
"Yeah, what about it?", Sarah answered inbetween bites of her crepe.
"How do you guys feel about surveying a site a little ways off?", Jack said before finishing his coffee.
"Always up for a little survey work." She looked to Sarah. "Though I can't tell if he found an anomaly or if he just wants to go swimming."
"Those smug bastards have their own resort, according to an orbit capture that was in the data I bought from you Thorn, there is another Oasis a slight ways from here. Who wants to setup a getaway camp?", Jack said enthusiatically.
Sarah finished off the pastry, "Beats checking gear again, and sitting around doing nothing. Saber needs more work to do, but the camp provides a place for me to sunbathe while I wait.", Sarah winked at Thorn at the last part. "I'm going to grab my bathing suite." she added before walking back upstairs.
"Ask and ye shall recieve." Thorn muttered to herself, giving a half smile. "I can stand to watch."
This was about half a second before she realized she didn't own a swim suit. Screw it, my EVA suit's mechanical pressure. Shows off what little figure I have. "I can make it look like a basic survey camp from overhead. Maybe a deuterium mining site."
"Why would we need to hide it from above? you took getaway camp too literal. I'll probably end up just rock climbing or sitting beside the water. I don't have swim trunks." Jack answered with a shrug.
Sarah came back still wearing the shirt and jeans she was wearing before,"Ok I'm ready."
"I... Yeah, little too literal on that one." She didn't notice anything different about Sarah with a passing glance, and furrowed her brows. "Swimsuit underneath?"
"Yeah, saving the surprise for later.", Sarah said with a wink.
"Woah woah, I'm still in the room! I don't want to know about any of that." Jack said quickly backing out of the room.
"Oh, come, now, don't you want to make sure your sister and your newest researcher are happy?" A little pout and flash a smirk to Sarah.
Sarah joined in, "Yeah mister go from having no family to large family in like one month. Maybe I need pointers, huh?"
Jack began to head into the garage after shouting back, "I can't help I'm a stud with a caring heart, but you two seem to be doing fine on your own. Just go get a room or something, and just mail the wedding invited later." he stammered before closing the garage door.
Thorn cocked an eyebrow. "Well, that didn't work. Wedding invite? Not sure I... Never mind."
"Don't worry that doesn't come to later. But first lets get on the bike before they leave us behind. You want front or back?" Sarah asked grabbing the key for her DR1.
"View's great either way." A cheeky smile before Thorn hopped down from the stool. "I'll ride bitch if it's a motorbike key you just grabbed."
"yeah, we're riding wild today, and the jeep is still at Nath tower, so you get to use me like a chair." Sarah said heading towards the front door, "You coming babe or what?"
A look of shock and a dumbfounded smile on Thorn's face as she watched the figure ahead. "Coming, but I'm more than capable of..." Shaking off the image that sprung up in her mind, Thorn followed with her usual bright smile. "On my way!"
"Oooh, I know that look, you looking at me beautiful?", Sarah said having just stepped out on the front porch.
"Don't worry fantasies tend to come true around me." she added blowing a kiss playfully.
Sarah turned around too late to realize Beaumont coming up to the door, and slammed into him. He remained standing, but she bounced off hitting the floor on her rear.
With a squeak, thorn felt her cheeks ignite, her heart thundering causing her rebreather to spool gently. She tried to speak, some retort or quip. Anything, really, succeeding only in incoherence and a complete departure from her normal cockiness. Cheeks on fire and butterflies being chewed up by the turbine in her chest, the little girl had no chance. Like Icarus, she had flown too close to the sun.
Jack stuck his head back in from the garage, "Hey what's going on in here?"
He hobbles back for a sec, watching as the girl would fall down. He hadn't even had the time to reach down and grab her arm, what with his headache. "Whoah whoah hey now." He bends down to offer his hand to help her up. "Gotta watch where you're walking. I've got good targeting systems, but I don't keep 'em on when I've got no need for 'em." A chuckle escapes the robot. He seems to be in a good mood. He would cock his head up to call out towards him. "Hey Jack! Nothing much, just knocking everything over and not sweeping it up afterwards!"
"You may want to get on a DR1, we're heading to an oasis to survey it as a possible retreat camp. One was left in the front lawn since your garage seemed occupied." Jack said before pulling back into the garage.
Sarah took the hand before rubbing her rear with her free hand, "Your definetly a knock out doc. Thorn you ok, you sound like you took a head injury?"
He laughs. "I gotta knock 'em out sometimes, anyways." He places his hands into his pockets once more before pulling himself back up to an upright standing position. "You mean that's mine? I kicked it over thinking some asshole had parked their motorcycle in my lawn last night." With a sigh and a shake of his head followed by a grin from behind his mask he chimes. "Guess this is going to be a fun escapade. Hit me up on the comms on the way there. I wanna hear the reason why we're setting up this oasis in the first place."
He twists on his heel, stepping out the door and across the street towards his new mode of transport. A lot sleeker and nicer than the Princess Louisiana, but, most likely, incapable of flight. Might wanna talk to R&D about that. He rubs his hands together before reaching down to hoist it back up to a standing position on its kickstand. "Ohhh BOY this is gonna be fun."
Thorn's reply to Sarah was a quiet squeak as she hid behind her hair and her blush spread. Unused to her advances being accepted so heartily, or even returned, she was unprepared for such a response from her own mind and body, hammering down thoughts in a game of cerebral whack-a-mole as she moved for the door.
He turns his head over towards the garage where Jack is located, offering a wave and then turning back towards the motorcycle. He'll admit, he'd never driven one before. Always came across to him as a pipe dream, whirring through the streets at a breakneck pace with nothing between you and the world around you. Perhaps, with this tin can on, it would be a lot safer. He checks the underseat compartment, fishing out a pair of keys and stufing them into their respective slot, twisting to the side and savoring the sounds of the beast grunting awake before him. He slings a leg over, a tad hesitant but soon shuddering while the motorcycle purrs. He's definitely enjoying this a tinge too much.
He places his hands on the handlebars, revving it up a couple times just to let the bike roar. He scans the dashboard, twisting a knob to let the radio fizzle and pop before it lands on a rock and roll radio station. "Alright, let's get this show on the road."
Jack slowly rolled out of the garage on his own DR1 having apparently have put on a leather jacket and the helmet of his light combat armor. He revved the fusion engine and ignited the thrust as the bikes synched to his helm's HUD showing status of it's systems, a map, and his speedometer.
"Alright everyone, let's ride. I'm sending a nav point to everyones bikes. We'll meet up there. Now lets see who can keep up." Jack said before popping his wheel up, dropping it and drifting onto the street and hitting the thrust speeding him away with a loud roar as his bike drastically built up speed.
Sarah mounted her's which sat in the front yard, and patted the seat in front of her before unclipping her own helmet from the side of the bike.
With her face still red, Thorn slipped onto Sarah's lap, leaning back to feel her head come to rest between the larger woman's breasts.. With a few taps of her datapad and a cable, she linked her forearm into the bike's computer. "I've got a little bit of data flow out of the engine. Forearm's a touchscreen, I can tweak it on the fly." Wrapping her arms around Sarah's wais, she gave a slight tap on the thigh, indicating secured and ready to go.
He couldn't help letting out a wild, almost maniacal laugh at the sight of Jack rushing away. He hunches forward, letting his targeting systems engage and syncing his HUD with the dashboard, the spedometer, RPS, fuel levels, and engine temp all shivering into the corners of his vision. He locks onto Jack while he bursts into the distance. "Oh no you don't!" He kicks it off of its stand while the wheels screech over his lawn, flinging dirt into the air before launching the cyborg forward at a breakneck pace.
His mechanical heart flutters, and his vision dialates. The overall experience is terrifying for the machine, seeing the world fly by from an uncovered vehicle. He ducks under the windshield, allowing for a greater level of streamlining. "WOOOOHOOO!" He whoops in pursuit of the man.
Sarah started the engine, "Men will be men. For some one so flirty, you got shy all of the sudden. Something wrong? I didn't come on too strong did I?"
Sarah rolled it forward and onto the street before beginning to accelerating gradually, and only boosting when they were outside the neighborhood, both dust trails of Jack and Beaumont spreading across the desert.
Jack was maxing out his speed, the wind a torrent outside his helmet as the sand whisked over the vehicle, and it spewed out in a column behind him as the specially designed tires effortlessly found traction in the almost liguid mass of sand. "Hey Beaumont, guess who designed and built these beauties.", Jack said hitting the comms with his chin.
"I guess I wasn't used to my advances being reciprocated so readily." She was glad to be in the blind spot, for once. At least her face, anyway. "I mean, it's not like my body is really all that attractive to a lot of people. And I've only been out and about for maybe three years."
"Let's see. Sleek build, fast as fuck, fun to use..." He can't help but laugh even harder, feeling all of the sand and dust bounce off of his mask and labcoat. One advantage to not having eyes - you don't need goggles or helmets. "I'm guessing somebody in the R&D department of Section 6 with a little too much time on their hands and a few too many scraps in the back corner." He fishtails through a series of particularly large rocks before kicking the beast's thrust on in hopes of catching up to his fleshy boss. "Am I on the right track?"
"Hey gunsmithing is not a legitimate hobby anymore when you have kids, so you know I needed something else to do. It's nice to see you appreciate my craft, might built more than bikes later." Jack said still gunning it.
"Freedom is where the frontier is. And its not all about looks, as it takes a sparkling personality like yours to woo a grump like me." Sarah shouted over the roar of the engine.
Thorn fell quiet, occasionally peeking around through the dust and wind to make minor adjustments to the bike's core. Opening the vents here or there in response to Sarah's maneuvering, to act as airbrakes and stabilisers. A tap on the outside of the thigh indicated Thorn knew the data, and Sarah could push the bike harder. She could almost see how its fusion heart beat, and could adjust the cooling flow in real time. Over the wind, she called out, "Last one there sets up camp, right? You can punch it a little harder. I've got control over the cooling system and some of the engine. Adjusting."
"If they're anywhere as good as these beauties, I'll make sure to give those a taste as well!" With that, his wrist flicks back as far as possible, giving the bike a little more 'oomph' and keeping hot on Jack's tail. He then throws his body back, tossing the front wheel into the air for a moment. He howls in excitement while the front wheel returns to the earth, pulling the bike along with it. He had already begun to get used to the vehicle, enjoying the freedom it provides, the sensation of wind over his armor, and dust whipping his coat. "So tell me. How far away are we from the oasis' location?"
"I don't think anyone brought tents, but if I set camp I get a private room." Sarah shouted before maxing out the bikes systems, causing their speed to let the pair catch up with the boys then pass them with Sarah giving Jack a mock salute as they did so.
"Just around that rock formation we're pulling up on, lets......how in the hell. How did she pass us from that far behind?" Jack said going from serious to utter confusion.
Utterly focused on her task, hunched over and just about face in the display, a small figure sat hunched over, arms extending underneath the handlebars as fingertips genly caressed the screen. She didn't need to notice Jack or Beaumont. She was busy letting the information flow across her mind and tune everything out. Tiny points of data, from her own and her pilot's balance, to the tiniest flux in the reactor core, everything calculated simultaneously as her entire consciousness devoted itself to the task at hand. A quick change in the position of her hips would change the balance just slightly, higher center of mass to offset the turn, and as she finally saw it, she could almost see the numbers flowing across her mind. Small figures, ones she had picked up in a high school physics text three years ago. But enough.
He could see two dots appearing in the corner of his vision, two new crosshairs, two new targets. He knew just who they were - and hus gut told him just how they pulled it off. "Oh for fuck's sake, that's cheating! She's got the egghead!" With a laugh, he straightens out the bike and ducks down, letting the newly established airflow provide him with a hint more acceleration. "Guess they're gonna play dirty. Two can do that." He would fumble around hin his labcoat pocket. He has to have one in there somewhere. "Voila!" He yanks the handle of a scalpel from the depths. He only has one shot at this. he spins the stick in hand, pointing it forward like he would if there were a scalpel within it, he brings his arm back, locks onto the rock nearest the two. Would it kill 'em? Hell no. startle them? hopefully. he throws his arm down, focusing his energy into it and throwing it at maximum capacity towards the stone. It spins madly like a propeller before shattering on impact just as the two girls pass its target.
This caused Sarah to take an evasive maneuver and therefore slow down with a "Shit!"
Jack still had the speed advantage, and cleared the turn around the rock formation first to find as he slowed down a pleasant site. A good sized oasis backed by a rock face of the large rock formation they has used as landmark, "Perfect.".
There was no sign of notice from Thorn, save a sudden opening of the air cooling system completely, to act as stabilisers for the slowing, a slight softening of the rear shocks to keep the bike level. No sign of noticing as a shard of plastic flew past her nose, just enough to scratch the tip. Nor did she respond to the curse Sarah threw. No words, just feeling her breath even as though slipping into sleep, and her eyes glazed over.
"'Nyah ha haaa!" He chortles, breezing past the two - and completey forgetting that their destination was right past them. Before him, the pool of crisp blue would come into view, pompting him to latch onto the brakes of the motorcycle. The vehicle- of course - would skid to a halt just shy of the water - but Beaumont would retain that momentum, being thrown forward beyond the Motorcycle and whipped in circles before splashing down. Bubbles would form in the surface indicating where the medic would sink to the bottom.
Sarah continued to slow as she accepted defeat, and now noticing the hyptnotised Thorn in front of her. "Thorn? Your starting to scare me here, talk to me." Sarah said as she began to get worried. She pulled around next to Jack before dismounting and turning off the bike before kneeling before Thorn still mounted. "Come on babe, snap out of it, I'm getting worried.", she said snapping in front of Thorn's face.
"Damn it Beaumont, I hope he doesn't rust easy.", Jack said following the loud splash.
"Hmm?" She blinked once before looking up, and blinking a few more times. "Oh, we're stopped. Wait, we're... Where are we? Sorry, I got kinda sucked in..."
His systems would immediately engage its aquatic systems, sealing off any and all openings that could flood and shifting his lungs to work in the marine environment. Upon reaching the bottom, laying flat on his back, he'd sigh before pulling himself up to his feet. That DEFINITELY stung like a bitch. If he were human, his back would be as red as rust. With one foot past the other, he clambers up towards the shore, emerging like some ancient beast from the depths of the oasis with his back hunched over and dripping from head to toe. First thing's first: He peels away his labcoat, not even bothering to gaze over at the three to his left while he tosses it over his shoulder, marching to stand his desert rider back up. "At least we know the water's fine." He chuckles in a sheepish fashion.
"Well let's start scanning the area, but everything looks perfect, we can have habit units dropped in. Will take about an hour." Jack said removing his leather jacket then his helm.
Sarah brought Thorn into a hug as she let out a breath she hadn' known she was holding, "Don't scare me like that, thought you were going to have a seizure or something. I'm still getting over Jack doing that last op. He took a couple rounds and was zoned out before passing out." Sarah said as she held her to her chest.
"I'm sorry... Ow!" A jerk of Thorn'a arm ripped the datajack free, splitting the bond where the port embedded into the pad under her skin. She spared the offending cable a quick glare before hugging Sarah tight. "I didn't mean to scare you."
A quick kiss on the cheek and she gave a wide smile. "I'm fine. I just get a little focused some times."
"You got it. Let me just... get some of this off and... dry off." He pants a little bit, allowing his lungs to transition from aquatic mode to terrestrial. the lab coat is slung over the seat of the bike, followed by his shirt. He takes his shoes off, letting his metal feet meet the blazing sands. He'd go as far as taking off his pants, but he lacks the boxers to make the situation modest - I mean, what robot needs underwear? "So what are we keeping an eye out for, Jack?" He raises an eyebrow.
"To be honest I don't have a fucking clue, hazards I quess before we start dropping a campsite here?" Jack said flatly with a shrug.
Sarah returns the kiss, "Maybe you need something else to focus on?"
"I..." She paused for a moment, letting the blush rise to the surface and catching the sunlight and the water beyond in those sky blues. "I could get lost in you."
He does just so, hands in pockets, scanning and sweeping the sand in search of anything that could be classified as hazardous for anyone near the oasis. He then scratches his chin and nods before stripping down completely. "I'm going to go into the water and see for any hazards in it. Got any equipment to measure the chemical content of the water that I could use? See if there are any dissolved toxins that may be unhealthy for consumption?" He begins to step into the water, stopping when it reaches his waist.
