A man, still young, sat at the desk within the stuffy, spartan office. Though he was definitely in the prime of his life, he sat there, filling out paper after paper, after paper. It was tiring, exhausting work, but all important - people's lives depended on these after all. Origin was helping people put their lives back together, but it wasn't easy - he knew that first hand. Running a hand through his cornrows, Kelly sighed. Plus, it was partly his own fault too. "A few years of this, and it feels like I haven't made a dent," he remarked to nobody in particular.
"Aww, don't say that!" his secretary came in, encouraging her boss. "We've made lots of progress and helped a bunch of people!" she delightedly exclaimed. A guilty, shy look began creep over her face. "Uh...after we...accidentally blew up a lot of their stuff." Yoshiko, in business attire, and even wearing a pair of glasses to look the part, simply stood there in embarrassed silence before producing a large stack of papers from thin air. Naturally, they were plopped right down in front of Kelly, who eyed them with disdain.
"Nothing's been the same since that whole mess Kensuke made," Kelly remarked, rubbing his temple at the thought of more paperwork. "We ended up doing an emergency jump right back to Morant to try and run away, only to duke it out with the asshole and wrecking a shit ton of people's stuff," the former Frame Test Team Leader recalled, slouching into his leather chair. "Even if I knew the bill for the damage would be this bad back then, I still would have been all for it, but dammit. Origin Armor Works has barely made any profit for the past few years!" A frustrated silence hung over the two.
"I still can't believe he was a Mishhu Parasite this whole time," Yoshiko airily thought aloud, placing a finger on her lip. Again. Kelly put his face in both hands.
"Yeah. Yeah, he somehow ended up infested and wanted to just wreck us because Origin builds arms for the good guys and all that." Sitting back up into his chair again, he casually picked up and looked at one of the papers as he spoke. "With a roundabout scheme with all this corporate dealing stuff, trying to get us killed and whatnot - I bet in the end he had no idea he still messed us up as bad as he planned to in the first place." At this moment, Yoshiko decided to be like a goddess, making life out of the dark nothing.
Another pile of papers came out of thin air and plopped onto Kelly's desk.
He could only eye her with annoyance for a brief moment. "You're really bored too, huh?" She meekly bowed her head.
"...Yeah. I actually get to get off my tushie if I bring over the volumetric paperwork instead of just sending it to you through the net," Yoshiko admitted. With that, there wasn't much else they could say to each other - this life was boring and mundane, without any reward for their hard work. Even then though, they could still dream. "Kelly? You ever wonder where the others went off to?" Yoshiko airily mused, looking out of the window and into a volumetric window she called up. Inside, Shinji could be seen working in the adjacent office, with a volumetric projection of Meena's head, as the two seemed to be conversing about something or other, likely creating more paperwork for Kelly to sign.
"Yeah. I do. But I haven't looked for them since - " the dark skinned Nepleslian was suddenly cut off as Yoshiko yelled into the window she made.
"Hey! Guys! What happened to everyone else?!"
Shinji jumped a little in his seat, startled, turning around to face the volumetric window which had popped up behind him, and Meena's disembodied head turned to face that direction as well. "Uhh, Heya Yoshi. Whaddya mean what happened to everyone else? Dey all still workin' fer Origin, I know that much."
"Yeah, but where? We haven't gotten everyone together for a long time," Kelly's secretary pointed out to him. Behind Yoshiko, Kelly himself could be seen leaning forward over his desk in curiosity.
Meena spoke up, the first to know something, apparently. "I have had several receipts for recording equipment come through my office with Teala and Lucien's names on them. They appear to be doing the voices for that Mecha anime Origin is producing."
"Yeah, tha' souns about right. I've had Lucy-man come in 'ere a coupla times ta ask how paperwork works. Seems he forgets whenever he stops drinkin'."
"What about Viktoria. And Arah?" Kelly asked, hastily adding the latter.
"Heard they got Shipped to OriSec" Shinji noted. "Somthin' bout escort duty."
Meena's floating head nodded, confirming Shinji's information. "They were assigned to the same ship. I had to do the transfer papers for their personal items. they went to the OIF Rammagain, a Kouken escort running the Nepleslian route."
Yoshiko quickly put on a pair of non-prescription glasses and busily got to jotting down notes as they maliciously glinted. Kelly, trying to ignore that malicious glint in Yoshiko's eye, went on, "How's Mark doing? I know he was a DJ before he came to Origin," he asked, now realizing something else entirely. "And what about Ged? Is he stuck on the ship or something? I really don't know how it works out for AI now that I think about it."
Shinji simply shrugged, not knowing the answer to either of those questions. Meena, however, seemed to know, at least some of it. "Ged was listed under Arah's personal equipment that was transferred, though he was transferred in the form of a Mobile computer core. I don't know any more than that." The dark-skinned girl's head was seen looking down for several moments, before she turned back to the screen. "It seems Mister Vintropolis has ordered some custom equipment, though what for, it will not state. When I search his current placement, all I can find listed is 'Something Groovy', whatever that is." Meena seemed puzzled as she looked past Yoshiko's glinting glasses and at the cornrow-topped Kelly.
"Huh. Maybe we'll have that get-together after all," he mused, a call coming in. "Hang on." Fingering the holographic control, a familiar brunette with ebony rimmed glasses appeared, lazily fixing up her bun.
"Good news you two. The frame program is being reactivated," Zophia began to explain.
"WHAT?!" the two yelped in surprise.
"Yes, the frame program is being reactivated - time to dust off all the old prototypes and fire up the reactors again," the AI smiled. As the two burst into cheers, leaping into the air in glee, she went on, "Naturally, you two need to stay here at your managerial jobs, even after you find your crew." The two might as well have frozen mid-jump and hung in the air. Horrified, they both stared at the AI's volumetric image. "Congratulations you two! I know you both have been looking forward to this day for a very long time! I'll have Yuno help you two out with finding everybody - she has a knack for that after all." With that, Zophia vanished. Yoshiko looked like she was on the verge of tears as she stood there, dumbstruck. Kelly slumped back down into his chair, eyes going dim as light left them.
"Time to...rally the troops," Kelly quietly spoke.
"Yeah. And maybe we'll have that party after all," Yoshiko thought with a dim smile.
"Aww, don't say that!" his secretary came in, encouraging her boss. "We've made lots of progress and helped a bunch of people!" she delightedly exclaimed. A guilty, shy look began creep over her face. "Uh...after we...accidentally blew up a lot of their stuff." Yoshiko, in business attire, and even wearing a pair of glasses to look the part, simply stood there in embarrassed silence before producing a large stack of papers from thin air. Naturally, they were plopped right down in front of Kelly, who eyed them with disdain.
"Nothing's been the same since that whole mess Kensuke made," Kelly remarked, rubbing his temple at the thought of more paperwork. "We ended up doing an emergency jump right back to Morant to try and run away, only to duke it out with the asshole and wrecking a shit ton of people's stuff," the former Frame Test Team Leader recalled, slouching into his leather chair. "Even if I knew the bill for the damage would be this bad back then, I still would have been all for it, but dammit. Origin Armor Works has barely made any profit for the past few years!" A frustrated silence hung over the two.
"I still can't believe he was a Mishhu Parasite this whole time," Yoshiko airily thought aloud, placing a finger on her lip. Again. Kelly put his face in both hands.
"Yeah. Yeah, he somehow ended up infested and wanted to just wreck us because Origin builds arms for the good guys and all that." Sitting back up into his chair again, he casually picked up and looked at one of the papers as he spoke. "With a roundabout scheme with all this corporate dealing stuff, trying to get us killed and whatnot - I bet in the end he had no idea he still messed us up as bad as he planned to in the first place." At this moment, Yoshiko decided to be like a goddess, making life out of the dark nothing.
Another pile of papers came out of thin air and plopped onto Kelly's desk.
He could only eye her with annoyance for a brief moment. "You're really bored too, huh?" She meekly bowed her head.
"...Yeah. I actually get to get off my tushie if I bring over the volumetric paperwork instead of just sending it to you through the net," Yoshiko admitted. With that, there wasn't much else they could say to each other - this life was boring and mundane, without any reward for their hard work. Even then though, they could still dream. "Kelly? You ever wonder where the others went off to?" Yoshiko airily mused, looking out of the window and into a volumetric window she called up. Inside, Shinji could be seen working in the adjacent office, with a volumetric projection of Meena's head, as the two seemed to be conversing about something or other, likely creating more paperwork for Kelly to sign.
"Yeah. I do. But I haven't looked for them since - " the dark skinned Nepleslian was suddenly cut off as Yoshiko yelled into the window she made.
"Hey! Guys! What happened to everyone else?!"
Shinji jumped a little in his seat, startled, turning around to face the volumetric window which had popped up behind him, and Meena's disembodied head turned to face that direction as well. "Uhh, Heya Yoshi. Whaddya mean what happened to everyone else? Dey all still workin' fer Origin, I know that much."
"Yeah, but where? We haven't gotten everyone together for a long time," Kelly's secretary pointed out to him. Behind Yoshiko, Kelly himself could be seen leaning forward over his desk in curiosity.
Meena spoke up, the first to know something, apparently. "I have had several receipts for recording equipment come through my office with Teala and Lucien's names on them. They appear to be doing the voices for that Mecha anime Origin is producing."
"Yeah, tha' souns about right. I've had Lucy-man come in 'ere a coupla times ta ask how paperwork works. Seems he forgets whenever he stops drinkin'."
"What about Viktoria. And Arah?" Kelly asked, hastily adding the latter.
"Heard they got Shipped to OriSec" Shinji noted. "Somthin' bout escort duty."
Meena's floating head nodded, confirming Shinji's information. "They were assigned to the same ship. I had to do the transfer papers for their personal items. they went to the OIF Rammagain, a Kouken escort running the Nepleslian route."
Yoshiko quickly put on a pair of non-prescription glasses and busily got to jotting down notes as they maliciously glinted. Kelly, trying to ignore that malicious glint in Yoshiko's eye, went on, "How's Mark doing? I know he was a DJ before he came to Origin," he asked, now realizing something else entirely. "And what about Ged? Is he stuck on the ship or something? I really don't know how it works out for AI now that I think about it."
Shinji simply shrugged, not knowing the answer to either of those questions. Meena, however, seemed to know, at least some of it. "Ged was listed under Arah's personal equipment that was transferred, though he was transferred in the form of a Mobile computer core. I don't know any more than that." The dark-skinned girl's head was seen looking down for several moments, before she turned back to the screen. "It seems Mister Vintropolis has ordered some custom equipment, though what for, it will not state. When I search his current placement, all I can find listed is 'Something Groovy', whatever that is." Meena seemed puzzled as she looked past Yoshiko's glinting glasses and at the cornrow-topped Kelly.
"Huh. Maybe we'll have that get-together after all," he mused, a call coming in. "Hang on." Fingering the holographic control, a familiar brunette with ebony rimmed glasses appeared, lazily fixing up her bun.
"Good news you two. The frame program is being reactivated," Zophia began to explain.
"WHAT?!" the two yelped in surprise.
"Yes, the frame program is being reactivated - time to dust off all the old prototypes and fire up the reactors again," the AI smiled. As the two burst into cheers, leaping into the air in glee, she went on, "Naturally, you two need to stay here at your managerial jobs, even after you find your crew." The two might as well have frozen mid-jump and hung in the air. Horrified, they both stared at the AI's volumetric image. "Congratulations you two! I know you both have been looking forward to this day for a very long time! I'll have Yuno help you two out with finding everybody - she has a knack for that after all." With that, Zophia vanished. Yoshiko looked like she was on the verge of tears as she stood there, dumbstruck. Kelly slumped back down into his chair, eyes going dim as light left them.
"Time to...rally the troops," Kelly quietly spoke.
"Yeah. And maybe we'll have that party after all," Yoshiko thought with a dim smile.
