RP [Pisces Station] And All the Rest

"Right, okay then. Just don't go causing too much of a ruckus, Oshiro-hei," Honoka replied. She idly wondered how long this conference was going to be, but then again she had no control over what happened inside with the various important people.

"Hee hee." Honoka's attention returned to the kitten in her arms, which she started poking lightly and petting.

The kitten seemed to take the poke as being playful, as she started to bat at the aide's finger, staring at it with wide-eyed wonderment. Her hand was different than the others, she noticed. She knew her home like the back of her paw, but new places were always so much fun. And her friend never went too far from her so she could always go back if she tired of everything. She took another swat at the strange woman's hand, finding it amusing.

Regnier on the other hand, was sitting down at the nearest table, dismantling some of the cybernetics on his left arm. Apparently he was performing some improptu maintenance. Small pieces of the outer shell and case were scattered across the table. He didn't seem to remember how rare cybernetics were in the yamataian world.

Honoka just started to giggle at the cute kitty's antics. She couldn't help it, though she knew it wasn't very professional. But, it was just too cute to resist! As long as she was there, she was technically doing as she was supposed to. It's not as if walking around with just a bit more attention was going to suddenly stop that much trouble. Besides, she's earned a break, at least she thought so.

Plopping down at the same table as the kitty's Nepleslian Senator, Honoka kept poking the kitten, finding it irresistible how the kitty batted at her. Honoka did, however, glance at the cybernetics of Regnier. She blinked, slightly awed by the foreign machine.

Arkase continued his tasting of the various foods, but kept his eyes on as many crewmembers as he could from the tables - As it stood, he could see the medical officer creeping around, following the various crews from different species.
The Taisho's aide was playing around with the cat still by the senator, as well.
He couldn't really see much else as he sat down with a plate of food of different types.
For a moment, he considered inviting his fellow crewmembers over, but decided against it. They were all 'busy' anyway.

Finally, Regnier's golden eyes looked up to see who had joined him at the table. He noted her staring at his arm, "What? You never seen cybernetics before?" He doubted that, but he wouldn't be surprised either way. "It's an old model anyways. Or as Calero put it, 'An anceint fucking relic.'" He shook his head as he tinkered with it. His arm jumped all of the sudden. He apparently had touched the wrong wire or something similar. This knocked a piece of the arm's shell off the table, which he barely seemed to notice.

Meanwhile, the kitten found something a bit more interesting to do. She got up on the Aide's shoulder and took a swat at her ear. Good thing she was declawed on her front two paws.

"Actually no, senator, I haven't seen cybernetics before." Honoka bent over to pick up the piece that had fallen to the floor, being sure to balance the kitty on her shoulder so that she wouldn't fall off, and retrieved the shell piece for Regnier. She set it down next to the senator.

The aide giggled again at the cute kitty's antics. "Oh noes! Not my ear!" She twitched her neko ears, before she reached up and petted the swatting kitty. "She's just so cute!"

"Ah, that's right... You people never have them. I suppose you can regenerate what you lose..." He seemed to have finished what he was doing as he began putting the outer shell back together. "We're not as lucky. Not to say we couldn't restore lost pieces of our bodies, just that not all of us have that kind of money or connections." He snapped the last piece into place and flexed the fingers to make sure they were functioning. "These are cheaper and easier to get though. Still serves the same purpose."

He watched the Neko fall deeper in love with his cat and his expression lightened a notch, which may be as close to a smile as he could get. "Her name is Abby. I found her on Kennewes when I was still a marine. Thing was hiding under a chair in the control room of a Red outpost. Apparently her previous owner decided they didn't want to care for her anymore." He watched the kitten react to the petting by arching her back and purring loudly. "She's kept me company for these last couple of years. You tend to not have time for other people when in office it seems." Drake had a slightly bitter tone in that last sentence. The cat rubbed her face against the Aide's cheek in affection.

"Not to mention it makes for a nice story like the 'How'd you lose your arm, if you don't mind me asking?' story." Honoka was getting a look at other nations, and she was enjoying it. "I do suppose that cybernetics also have their ups over having a real arm. Liiiiiike a chef could just have all of their stuff like spatulas and spoons and... yeah."

"Aaaawww, that's so sad!" Honoka frowned. She was refering to both Abby's abandonment and Regnier's lack of company. "Do you ever regret becoming a Senator?" she asked, still petting and scratching the kitty. "I don't think I could stand being so... um... alone? Is that the right word?"

"I rather enjoy the quiet, frankly. I'm not overly fond of people. You'd be suprised at what they had to do to convince me to even come here." Drake sighed a little. "As for regrets? You'll have them all your life, kid. Dwelling on them will do you no favors though. Learn your lessons from your actions and move on." He looked over at Abby who meowed at him idly, like she was trying to join the conversation.

"I've never seen a chef with an arm like that. You'd have to have something specific in mind when you lose your original to end up with something like that. It's a bigger pain to change cybernetics than you might think, so we try to keep the ones we have already going for as much as we can." He turned his synthetic arm over and tapped the sharp fingertips on the table. "As for how I got all these? Eh... It was during the early attacks in the Kennewes offensive. Our unit's transport had been shot down before we landed. I myself ended up a good ways away from the wreckage for whatever reason. Some Red in a Dark Demon PA found me. I guess he thought he was being cool or something, because he used the vibroclaws to start ripping off my limbs one by one. Luckily, a friend of mine came before he could take off the last one and filled him with enough bullets to keep them from being able to identify the body." He paused for some reason. "I was able to acquire some old cybernetics quickly, but they didn't want me as a marine anymore. Another friend informed me of this position and I took it on his recommendation."

He looked back up at Honoka, "What about you? How'd you end up here? They have to drug you first to get you to come as well?"

Honoka nodded at the insight. "Ah, okay. I'll be sure to remember that Senator." Sitting in an office all day, looking at papers? Yeah, she was pretty sure that wasn't her idea of a fun job, but to each their own, she guessed.

"Oh... huh, I didn't know it was so hard to change." The aide looked at her own arm. "I wonder if when I was a Geshrin it would have worked..." she thought outloud. "Really? That's a horrible way to lose your limbs!" She looked at Regnier, astonished. "I don't think I could've endured that... I'm sorry!" She gave a sympathetic look to the senator. She almost got up to give a hug, but she caught herself before she did. It could've been quite awkward and possibly offensive.

Drake shook his head. "What's done is done. No use dwelling on it." It seemed that it wasn't exactly his favorite topic.

Abby jumped down from the Aide's shoulder and landed on the table. She started sniffing around, as if the material was strange to her. She paced around in a circle for a short while before curling up and falling asleep. Even amongst the usual bustle of people around them.

Regnier raised his eyebrow, "A Geshrin? Then what are you doing here?" He honestly didn't know many Geshrin that changed bodies just to conform to Yamatai's semi-racist policies. (Then again, he didn't know a whole lot of people in the first place.) Most just went to Nepleslia. But of course, there were always exceptions. So why this one? "How'd you come across your job, anyhow?" Whether or not the second question was on the same though process as the first was hard to tell.

Unaware of it himself, Regnier's tapping of his metal fingertips were staring to make little dents in the table.

Honoka nodded, looking down at the kitten for a moment. "She must be tired with all that's going on," she said quietly.

"Why am I here? Well, I used to be a Geshrin and my family has a tradition of joining the military and such. When there was the Species Restriction Act in the Yamataian military, I opted for the neko body just because it'd help my job at starship ops. My commanding officer is Shimizu-Taisho and she's taking part in the conference, and since I became her aide I kinda had to come too," Honoka told the very short version of her life story. It explained the Geshrin part and the why she was there part.

Again, Honoka looked down at the kitten, seeing how cute Abby was, sleeping, she noticed the dents in the table that were being made. That... was a bit unnerving. Those were certainly some strong fingers.

"An aide, hm? I didn't think Nekos where given such menial tasks." Drake's lack of experience in socializing was beginning to show through. He sighed a little bit, "Bah... the conference. I still think this is all for show. Every nation is going to do whatever the fuck they want anyways." Didn't seem to be his favorite topic.

His tapping stopped as one of his fingers punched a tiny hole into the table and stuck there. He suddenly seem to notice the damage he was doing to the furniture. "Gah..." He yanked it out rather unceremoniously. The jolt on the table from it startled Abby a bit, who looked up at him and voiced her disapproval. She got up and stretched a bit before sitting back on her haunches and peering around at the rest of the room.

Regnier returned his attention to Honoka, "Tradition, hm? Ha..." That seemed to amuse him for some reason. "Quaint." He added after a pause. He folded his arms and sat back in the chair again. Honestly, he was just sticking around doing nothing till Mr. Davis needed the senators input on something. And that sure wasn't happening at the moment.

Arkase smiled, stepping up from his table and moving forward
"I'm here because I wanted to get away from Home." Arkase said, adding himself to the conversation.
He had finished his food, and since nothing seemed to be happening, why not? If the Taisho's aide disapproved, well, he'd get reprimanded later.
"Things to see, places to go, and why shouldn't I get payed for it too?"
The senator will probably be thinking something along the lines of 'he'll regret joining soon' and damn me if he isn't the type to say it. He thought, remembering the small bits of conversation he had overheard while taste-testing the food.

Honoka pouted. "And what's wrong with following tradition?" she whined. "Is it that weird to follow my family's tradition of joining the military?"

"That's an interesting reason for joining the army, Oshiro-hei. Is it really worth it?" the aide asked. She thought she was being a bit of a hypocrite questioning Arkase's reasons for joining while she was defending her own.

"If you knew what happened at home, you'd understand why."
He thought of home, and his smile fell into a grimace.
"Anyway, a family tradition is just as well." He said diplomatically.
He walked away for a moment, and came back with a plate he had quickly shoveled with food. The glares from other people nearby were conveniently ignored as he set the plate down at the table.
"We're probably going to be here a while."

Drake chuckled at Honoka's response. "Tradition is for those that don't either have the strength or the will to decide for themselves. If you chose this job because it honestly interested you, that's fine. But you shouldn't use 'family traditions' as an excuse to how you ended up where you are." Of course, what Regnier was forgetting was that Yamatai and Nepleslia had very different views on 'family'. Nepleslian families could be mortal enemies within themselves. And that was considered 'close' in the poorer areas.

Drake's mechanical eyes rolled back to remove debris from the lenses (Done by a small mechanism behind the socket.) before refocusing on their interuptee. "I don't know about your military, but unless you enjoy killing or have a penchant for trying hopelessly to keep your friends from dying, you won't last too long." Whether or not this was a hint at his own career was hard to discern, though the latter scenario sounded like a Medic's situation.

An announcement came over the intercom. "Security team to holding area E40." It was time for the Lorath Ambassador to be escorted to the conference area.

"Eh, thats what the Drill Instructors told me." Was all Arkase said.
So far, the senator had certainly proven to be predictable, and also proven that he was bitter about his career, more than likely.
He was also straight-forward and didn't seem the type to really lie. Arkase liked him.
However, the comment toward his superior's lack of 'strength' forced him to frown. He wouldn't defend the Aide, though. He wasn't her friend, nor did it seem the man was bullying her. He would watch for any low blows, though. The aide was someone he'd probably have to deal with daily.

When the intercom chimed in, Arkase looked up briefly, and then back to leveling his gaze at the plate of food. "The Ambassador is just arriving now? I thought the talks had begun already."

Honoka frowned at the senator, a slightly saddened look in her eyes. She wasn't about to argue with him, wanting to respect his views. But, still, it hurt her to think that she was weak-willed and couldn't decide for herself. "Oh, okay...."

The aide stood with a meek sigh. "Well, I believe that announcement is our call to duty. Take care Senator," she said before bowing. "Let's go Oshiro-hei."