RP [Open RP] Welcome To The Kikyo Sector

Irchaet's mouth instantly went into an O shape and she got a goofy grin for a second upon hearing Thia's words. "Wow!" she said, her face really lighting up at Thia's way of putting things. "I may have to pour something for myself," she cackled, obviously enjoying the show.

Meanwhile the pair of Star Army soldiers looked at the woman with the cyber eye and back to each other and whispered among themselves and giggled. They approached the bar and gave Altair a wave.



"I'm Poppy," said the pink-haired medic, "and this is Gabriela. Forgive us but we've never seen an Iromakuanhe in the Star Army before. How did you end up in Yamatai?" she asked.

"Who's stopping you, sweet pea?" Thia shifted again to look at the green girl behind the counter, putting her weight onto one hand. With her other, she wove a serpentine gesture in the direction of the collection of bottles on the wall behind her. "Pour yourself something and put it on my tab, I want to find out if you're the fun kind of tipsy."

Altair turned from the bar, swiveling his chair as he turned to face the star army soldiers. He took a sip from his drink before speaking to the two. "Under sun and sky, I greet you warmly. My name is Altair, it's nice to meet you, Poppy and Gabriella." He said politely. He hadn't interacted with many soldiers outside of the unit he had been embedded with during his exchange, so it would be interesting to interact with soldiers who differed from the hyper-dedicated warrior-women of Nekovalkyria who made up the vast majority of those he had served with. For one coming from as diverse a culture as the Iromakuanhe it had been unusual to view such a monoculture.

"I was transferred here a little over two years ago, to observe and take part in the latter portion of your war. My exchange is ending soon, and I was given a short leave, and am exploring some of your empire before I leave. It is said that this city has a great amount of art, and I wanted to see it" His words were measured, another clear mark of a non-native speaker. He looked back over to the bar, seeing the bartender being chatted up by the woman who he'd caught badly pretending to not watch him when he first sat down.

"If you want anything to drink, I suggest you order before the bartender becomes otherwise indisposed.

Delmira smiles at Thia "Yes both of those options interest me." her tail starts to sway behind her showing her clear interest in the prospect. one of her ears swivels in the direction of the two girls and the guy but she keeps her attention on Thia and Irchaet. "so are going to slap G-strings after hours?" she asks and will look at Irchaet.

Delmira's smile caused Thia to respond in kind, though her smile was full of nuance. At a distance, she might just seem to be enjoying her company. However, up close the way her mouth widened more to one side and her lips parted only slightly and more above than below suggested something more complex in her emotional display than simply pleasure. Most of her smiles seemed largely predatory, like a panther bearing its fangs before it pounced, and this was no exception. Usually there was also a hint of sneer, as if she was observing something small and insignificant that had nevertheless done something deeply entertaining. But there was something else in this smile. Perhaps not in the smile itself, but in the carefully choreographed body language that accompanied it. She had the air of a player of games whose opponent had just accepted a gambit that wouldn't pay off until several more moves were played.

Thia took a moment to picture in her mind the layout of the bar and the occupants therein. She was keenly aware of the pair of soldier who had whispered, giggled, and moved to talk with the Iromakuanhe. Her main concern was that they were still within earshot of her cybernetic hearing, but they were, so she didn't move. She was also aware of the Iromakuanhe's comments about the bartender's imminent indisposition, which pleased Thia somewhat, though she wouldn't ever let it show. Finally, she noticed the cat girl's swiveling ear and swaying tail. This was something she allowed herself to visibly notice, and she spent a couple of breaths watching the liquid movements of the tail.

For a second, she imagined a predator perched in a shadowy canopy overlooking a watering hole. The animals gathered warily beneath her. Most of them would only be a small snack, but some might provide a meal that would sate her for no small length of time. But she knew that if she pounced now, they would scatter and she might have nothing to show for her efforts. Instead, she watched and waited, paying attention to the way they carried themselves and moved with respect to one another, while her tail swished through the air.

Thia turned her smile now to Irchaet, awaiting her response.

"Aww, my hours are really quite late," Irchaet replied apologetically. "I'm chained to the bed, er, I mean, bar...the bar for the evening. Without me, who would be here to quench the thirst of all these lonely travelers who come all night?" She gave an exaggerated shrug and tossed back a shot of something that glowed green.

"I have three artworks on me if you want to see them," Poppy half-jokingly offered to Alistair with a wink. "Hey, give me some of that green stuff."

"You'll have trouble walking," Irchaet warned but Poppy gestured emphatically until the barkeeper poured her some.

Gabriela put a multi-colored hand over her mouth and giggled. "What, in the bar bathroom? That's the memories you want to send him home with?" she asked. "Keep an eye on the time. We have a train to catch! Say, what is that?"

"She may end up there anyway," Irchaet warned as Poppy downed the glowing green shot.

Thia tsked out of the corner of her mouth at Irchaet's reluctance, then took another small sip at her blue drink, permitting herself to enjoy the zippy flavour and the euphoria that washed over her, but appreciating how little by little the substance made it harder to do her job.

"We are a thirsty lot," Thia admitted as she took the opportunity to scan the establishment's clientele in case someone had come or gone without her noticing. "But too few of us are coming for my own preference."

Thia let herself scrutinize the cat girl who had an amusing interest in g-string slapping, whose hair was the colour of fire and smoke. Scanning downwards from her face, she traced the lines of her body as if she could see through the neko's inelegant work clothes. Eventually her eyes found her tail again, and she had to shake her head to keep herself from falling into a trance.

"Call me Thia," the dark-skinned girl commanded as she idly smoothed out the sheer fabric of her outfit that was steadily riding up her thighs as she sat atop the bar counter. The outfit was made of a material that was so utterly black that it seemed not only to consume any light that struck it, but it almost looked as if it exerted a gravitational pull on the light passing by, causing a lensing effect as light unnaturally curved around Thia's very natural curves. A side-effect of this was that where clothing would normally compress and bunch up around her as she moved, since there was no visible texture except inky darkness the extra fabric just seemed to disappear. "What do you usually do for fun, kitten?"

Delmira will swivel her head around to Ichaet "what about the morning? or like they suggested we could pop off to the rest room for a quick break." The nekos tail betrays her excitement. she will look Thia over and appreciates what she sees though the cat girl feels a tad underdressed now. She will look up at Thia's face and examine it before speaking. "Well i like to play games and watch movies. im a big kid at heart but i also like to enjoy the company of others." she says and gives a smile at the last part. "My name is Delmira but you can call me Del."

"Wait, is this a threesome now?" Irchaet asked. "I've lost track of who is propositioning who," she laughed.

Meanwhile Poppy got quiet and wobbly and was staring at everyone.

"Hey. You okay?" Gabriela asked Poppy. "You look funny."

"I can see your skeleton," Poppy said. "I can see everyone's skeletons."

Thia laughed at Del's lack of subtlety and picked up the minuscule umbrella on which a single piece of fruit remained. Though she preferred to play with her words as well as her prey, she occasionally enjoyed playing with someone who flipped the board and changed the game.

"You don't beat around the bush, kitten," Thia remarked as she gave Del a sly look and popped the cherry into her mouth. "You just dive right into it."

It was then that the other conversation drew her undivided attention.

"I can see your skeleton," Poppy said. "I can see everyone's skeletons."

Click to expand...

Stiffening slightly, Thia considered risking a quick glance over at the group surrounding the Iromakuanhe, but decided against it. Instead, she suddenly gave Irchaet a serious look, all signs of playfulness gone from her features. Without the playfulness, Thia looked older and had a surprising air of authority for one of the few people here not in uniform.

"Your pink-haired patron is having a bad reaction," Thia told Irchaet. "Help her."

"No, that's normal! She asked for that!" Irchaet replied with a toothy grin. "I drink it all the time so I can see the weapons people are bringing into the bar," she explained. "It's just a little strong but not too bad once you train yourself. It is more drugs than alcohol. Comes from a rare source in Xiuluria. One of those things you can't synthesize. She'll be fine by tomorrow afternoon but she'll be more than drunk by then."

"Whoa lady what do ya mean more than drunk?" Gabriela asked, also concerned.

"The side effects are usually nausea, loss of balance, numbness, mild hallucinations, and seizures. I've see people who try it curl up on the floor a lot. But you can see through things," Irchaet explained.

Poppy just kind of waved her hands in front of her face a lot and squinted at the people. "Yeah I'm feeling the nausea," she finally said. "You know this...this could be useful for a medic...I think I should sit for a minute..."

"Funny story about that..."Irchaet started but didn't finish. She pointed to a booth along the opposite wall and Gabriela helped Poppy over to it, apologizing to the Iromakuanhe.

Relaxing noticeably, Thia nodded at Irchaet's explanation and slipped back into an expression of amusement.

"I enjoy playing games too, kitten," she stated as if replying to Del's earlier comment, but without looking at the firey and smokey cat girl. "But I don't like it when people play without realizing what they're getting into."

Deep in thought, she absently reached up to twirl a finger through her lustrous coffee-coloured hair.

Altair set his drink down, accepting the apology before pulling out the "Datajockey" that he had purchased in the sector, much more primitive than his Solanii Datarod, though it attracted much less attention and questions.

Picking his drink up and moving away from the... oddly tense situation at the bar... he made his way over to the two soldiers' booth, setting the Datajockey down on the table. He looked to the soldier who still had her wits about her, Gabriela, "Will you and your friend make your train?" He indicated to the schedule as he spoke.

"Yeah, and we'd better get going. Lucky for us, I think it has a sleeper car we can use," Gabriela told Altair. "We should get going," she said, helping Poppy up onto her shoulder and walking the unsteady medic towards the door. She stopped a a KS card reader on the way out to pay both of their bills and continued back out towards the train platform where the next overnight train to Uesureyan Fields was just arriving with a loud squeal of brakes and hisses of compressed air. "Thanks again!" Gabriela said, glad she had stuck to the non-alcoholic stuff. Meanwhile Poppy was complaining about vertigo and dazedly looking through the crowd in a literal way.

As the train arrived, more soldiers piled into the bar. This new group was mostly college-age female soldiers of low rank, plus one gray-furred anthro who was either a super feminine catboy or a super flat catgirl.

Delmira will look at Irachet "Well originally it was Thia who was trying to bed you but then i butt it and now im trying to make it a grander thing." The catgirl says and gives a toothy grin before sipping her drink. Her right ear will flick a bit in the direction of her fellow soldier who was clearly more drunk than she was. It appeared the adorable Neko's specialized kidney was not going to cooperate with her tonight. She was curious to see if she could add in a line of code to turn the alcohol filtering off.

Delmira would give a bit of a blank stare to anyone who looked at her for a minute before looking at Thia and giving the other woman a fairly adorable tilt of her head. "Not sure what you mean by that."

Though before Thia could reply soldiers came in and Delmira was pushed into Thia, her blue beverage was spilled but the neko was able to get it on herself instead of Thia. Delmira enjoyed where she landed but she pushed herself up and rounded on the big man who bumped into her. "Hey pal watch where you are going." she said and gestured at the stain on her shirt and her empty glass. "and dont get me started on nearly spilling on my friend here. i think you owe us."

The little neko was full of bark and it appeared she was ready to show off her bite if needed. It didnt help that she looked cute and adorable as well.

For a moment, Thia wasn't hyper-aware of every movement and conversation in the bar in Ternifac. Because Thia wasn't in the bar in Ternifac. She was sitting on the cold tiles of her first apartment's bathroom floor. She was trying not to make a sound. She was crying. She was 18.

Luckily for her, she was awoken from her reverie when Delmira fell into her. In a flurry of movement that happened before Thia could react, the smoke-and-fire cat girl's body was pressed up against her own. In doing so, Thia's glass was upended, the contents of which left a blue stain on the other girl's undershirt and caused it to cling to the body underneath. Then the cat girl pushed herself up, turned around, and began addressing a big man who was standing nearby.

Thia wondered how long she had been lost in thought and looked around the room as if not entirely sure where she was. Where were the pink-haired medic and the anthro? When did all these young nekos get here? Despite all her questions, she knew that she had more pressing matters to attend to.

Sliding off of the bar's counter top, her deeply impractical high-heeled shoes hit the ground with a click-clack sound. The tall woman stretched her svelte body which was slightly sore from having been sitting on a hard counter for some time now. Pushing up and away from the ground with the balls of her feet, she extended every joint in her body, lifting her slender arms overhead, crossing her wrists, and spreading her fingers wide. As she did so, she moaned quietly, satisfied at the pleasant feeling. When she unstretched, she slid her hands down her body, smoothing out the delicate fabric of her light-consuming outfit.

Perched on her heels, she stood nearly a full head taller than Delmira, and she used this height advantage to peer directly at the big man as she stepped up behind the cat girl.

"You'd better do what she says, honey," Thia projected in her silky smooth contralto. "I've never seen her this angry."

The large man's face filled with disgust and he started to talk but Irchaet cut him off and said in a rushed, firm voice: "No guns or knives out in my bar." Whatever that neon green stuff she'd drank earlier and had given to Poppy was letting her see him going for a weapon under his big, shimmering black cloak.

Surprised by this, the man calmed down instantly and politely smiled. "I was simply reaching for my wallet to buy her a new drink," he lied. "My organization only offers the best hospitality to travelers passing through our territory," he said, throwing a KS card on the bar in front of Irchaet and then fluffing his giant pompadour haircut. "I apologize, I was only trying to get out of the way of the soldiers. If you want, I can take you both to the cleaner's."

When she had a good angle on their would-be assailant's face, she added a bookmark to the visual feed from her eye. It was a reminder for her future self to look him up in case anyone was willing to pay for his last known whereabouts. At the very least it was something to take her mind off the feeling of abject terror that had formed a knot in her gut. Thia was painfully aware that she had absolutely no way of defending herself and that if she suddenly found herself in a fight, her best option would be to remove herself from it as quickly as possible. This didn't stop her from using her strength as an actor to portray utter confidence in both body and voice.

"Oh, honey," Thia replied with mock concern. "You only wish you could take me anywhere."

Delmira instantly calmed and nodded her head "My apologies i was thinking someone wanted a fight." she gave a snort that was bordering on a giggle and turned to Thia "you can clean me anytime." she says and smirks. before turning back to the man. "The shirt is fine, i get a discount at the cleaners anyway."

"I'd like to see that," the gangster commented, before ordering a drink and heading to a dimly-lit back-room section of the bar that was obscured by a red silk curtain with a white bamboo pattern on it.

As soon as he was out of the way, the throng of Star Army soldiers saw their opening and crowded the bar to order various concoctions from the busty green alien behind it.


The first three were a trio of newly-minted, fresh-faced soldier in their duty uniforms. "It's probably our last night on the planet, so make it count!" shouted one in a green science uniform. "For research purposes," she added.

"I've never been to a bar before," the small, goth-looking Nekovalkyrja catgirl remarked. She had black-furred ears and black hair hanging over a pale face with red eyes.

"Yeah, uh, well this place looks a little shady," another with red hair nervously laughed. "Are you sure about this?"

"Um, yes," the green-haired girl said and made a nod, before ordering three margaritas. The green barkeeper worked with the blender for a minute. All of them stared at Irchaet as she poured the drinks into their glasses, which made Irchaet sigh.

"What if it tastes awful," asked the Nekovalkyrja. "I don't know if I'll like it," she added skeptically.

"My job is make sure that it doesn't taste worse than when I started," Irchaet replied. "Got any unbelievable war stories to share?" she asked the soldiers.



"Why does everyone have to ask about that?" the cat anthro piped up to complain. "A lot of us have been through horrible things this war, you know? I was in Sixth Fleet and when we went to fight the Kuvexians, almost everyone died in the Battle of Hanako's Star. The whole fleet was wiped out with 97% losses because they outnumbered us fourteen to one. I only lived because an orphaned Hayabusa pilot stopped for my Mindy on the way out. I spent the whole, long way back home crying."