RP: Cirrus Station [Post Episode 8] The Less Fortunate

"Fair enough mate," the medic responded, although he still gave the SavTechs a slightly irritated look. He looked to Kokuten as another grin cracked his face. "Straight-laced, eh?"

Adrian started off towards the booth. Although his initial worries were somewhat assuaged, he still felt trepidation as he approached. If he was being honest with himself, he had since forgotten just exactly what he had been able to throw in the dark chaos that was the interior of his baggage in the several minutes he had had to pack.

Daniel slowed to a stop as he lost sight of the fleeing shape. He continued to gaze down the hallway for a few seconds, in case he managed to catch sight of it again, but to no avail. In his haste he had failed to notice the hurrying scientist, and the man's words took a second to register.

"Huh? Oh." he said distractedly, turning to face the man. "Yeah, my...uh..." Then, his thoughts catching up to him, "I beg your pardon, sir?" The man's comment seemed odd - Daniel wouldn't consider his standard-issue military backpack to be anything out of the ordinary. He took a tentative step toward the corner the man had rounded as he anticipated his response.

The assistant was already well on his way, not out of hearing range but not in a mood to slow down.

However, as Daniel turned, he could feel that his backpack was moving oddly and a little heavier than it was a few moments ago. By about two or three pounds, actually. He hadn't noticed earlier because he was intent on chasing the metal thingy-turned-holographic distraction, but with attention drawn to his back it was kinda noticeable.

"Claire is right, I'm a bit of a stiff." admitted Kokuten, shrugging as he kept pace with his old friend. He leaned in to Adrian's right, speaking rather quietly as to say his next words, "But Ms. Winters is a wily one, she requires a firm authority to guide her into place." A glance at Kokuten's face would show an expression as serious as his tone.

Though, the Captain threw a quick look down at Adrian's tousled bag.

"Adrian." he started, his eyes turning a cautionary yellow, "You did check your bag before leaving, right? We're not going to have an incident again, are we?""

"... I'm a bit of a stiff." "... requires firm authority..."

Adrian screwed up his face to stop from laughing loudly before responding with a single sentence.

"Yeeeeeeeeah she dooooes."

And then Kokuten brought up his bag. Adrian looked down at it and swallowed. "To be fair, it was a... bit of long trip, so I was a little haphazard in preparation, and, uh... drunk, mostly, actually. Entire way here, too. But the liquor and smokes are gone, I'm pretty sure."

Receiving no reply from the passing assistant and noticing the strange motion of his backpack, Daniel cocked his head over his shoulder and reached an arm around to pull the pack into better view.

His pack immediately became lighter and Daniel could hear something hit the ground and start skittering away again in the direction the hologram had been leading him. Once he got a chance to look, he would see the same robot running away, trying to cloak itself with volumetric projections but failing to keep up with its own movement speed, resulting in a very visible lag that gave the illusion of something moving under the hard floor as if it were a carpet.

"What the...HEY!" Daniel shouted.

He spun around, trying to catch the robot before it could flee. As he turned, his foot flew out behind him, sending him stumbling to the floor. He caught himself on his elbow, landing in a half kneeling position, and immediately lunged for a second grab with his other arm. When the contraption still evaded his grasp, he scrambled to his feet and began to chase after it again. As he ran, he shifted his implant eyes' visual spectrum into the infrared, hoping to see past whatever projection tricks the robot was trying to hide behind.

The robot, being the same temperature as the room around it, was nearly invisible to passive infrared imaging, even though the thermals were not obscured by the volumetric projections. However, as long as the 'bot moved, it was very possible (though not easy) that Daniel could follow the kick-ball-sized distortion racing along the ground.

It raced around a corner, dodging the few employees in the hallways and nearly tripping another hapless assistant, finally turning into another barracks as the doors opened for someone in the armor of a security team rushed out and toward the cargo bay.

This barracks room was empty; apparently both of the squads housed by it were on assignment. The person who just left was probably late for one of those assignments.

Adrian quickly reached the customs booth and simply dropped his still-closed pack onto the counter.

The interior of the heavy bag lacked any sort of organization whatsoever. Most of a marine's standard issue kit had been crammed in haphazardly, although there appeared to be an extra uniform shirt with a lieutenant's rank pins and a gaping hole in the fabric where the metal name plate should have been, and was clearly several sizes too small for Adrian. In addition, there were five knives, two of the standard issue Utility blades, two switchblades, and a huge, wicked looking bush knife in a leather sheath. A dozen or so full magazines were also mixed in with the clutter, appearing to belong to the weathered Zen Arms .45 Adrian had holstered at his side.

In addition to all this were the scraps of the various substances that had fueled what must have been a hell of a bender on the way over. Three large green bottles with their labels torn off (all empty save about a fifth of one bottle), an empty, torn carton of cigarettes, and a half dozen opaque plastic bags containing a variety of substances.

However, before whoever would be searching it reached for the bag, Adrian laid his hand on top of it. He sincerely hoped a living entity would search his bag instead of a SavTech, mostly because he fully intended to bribe whoever was going to be searching him.

Kess and Mimi followed the group as they approached the Customs Koisk, standing to the side of the team. Mimi clasped her hands in front of her torso, giving the clerk behind the counter an earnest smile, while Kess looked around to make sure that everyone that was supposed to be here was, indeed, here.

Adrian's protective hand didn't do much to stop the clerk behind the counter; the man had a tired look about him, as though he had been at this for an exorbitant amount of time already, and was in no mood to beat around the bush. He yanked the bag out from beneath Adrian's grasp, and as the clerk behind the customs counter pulled out each item one by one, the mans skeptical look grew more and more apparent. After he had finished, the attendant turned to his computer screen and stared at it for a good, short moment. "Well, Mr. Decane... I think it's safe to say I should probably just take this entire bag, because pretty much all of what you've brought is considered contraband. Luckily," the man motioned over to the empty bottles and cigarette cartons. "You've already used these items before arrival. That was a wise decision."

The clerk separated what was considered illegal to own from what Adrian was allowed; this amounted to everything save for the small amount of clothing he had brought. The clothing itself, however, didn't escape scrutiny either, as the gentleman began to check the pockets and confines of the clothing.

"I have a special note here on your profile, Mr. Decane, from military dispatch," the man began to speak as he rummaged through Adrian's clothes for signs of hidden items. "However it does not say what exactly I should be looking for, just to be extremely thorough with the customs check. Care to shed a little light on this for me, so that I can finish my shift?"

Mimi leaned forward a bit to catch an inquisitive look at Adrian's face, she herself also curious about the anecdote. Kess, on the other hand, didn't seem all too impressed, and sighed as she continued to watch from her short distance away.

Adrian was surprised at the clerk simply snagging the bag from his grasp, and protested. "Wait! Fuck, I... no... I have money..."

A look of distress crossed his face as his items were pulled from the bag and separated, a look which deepened as the medic realized that the pile of contraband seemed to be a hell of a lot larger than the pile of approved items. The customs officer wouldn't find much in the pockets of the clothing, other than a few matchbooks and a small utility knife.

Adrian quickly pulled on a poker face when the official mentioned the notice. "Staff Sergeant Decane, mate, and I have no idea what you're talking about." In truth, he wasn't lying. He had no idea which of the very numerous citations attached to his military record would be the one that set off the alarms for Cirrus Security.

There was a gentle pat on Adrian's shoulder. Behind him, Claire gave him an easy smile, as if to reassure him. "I know it's rough at first, dear. But trust me, you'll get used to this place, and escape isn't impossible to find, if you know where to look for it." The woman either didn't quite fully comprehend what Adrian had to do to get through the day, or she had found some very devious ways through Cassefin's restrictive rules and laws to admit such in the open..

The shapely Geshrin looked over at Kokuten with a smirk, not forgetting about the comment that got such a reaction from the new guy. "I follow orders just fine, thank you. It's giving me incentive to do anything more that you seem to struggle with."

"Would you like a foot-rub as well, Ms. Winters? I'm sure we can have all that arranged the next time we're out on patrol." chided Kokuten as he turned his attention back to the customs booth. The Captain stepped up to Adrian and then looked down at all the materials and items laid out before them. Judging by the silent movements of his lips and the bouncing character of his eyes, he seemed to be either counting or taking inventory of Adrian's stash. "Hm."

A quick blur of gunmetal-black yanked Adrian's beret off his head, putting it in Kokuten's hand.

"Now Adrian, we all had to go through this when we got here." said the Chiaki rather boorishly, and with slight annoyance to the fact he admitted. He took a look into the other man's beret, checking it for substances. "Complying with the custom's officer will make life much easier for you once you're inside, for more reasons than one." Judging by Kokuten's thoroughness, it may have been the Captain himself who was the citation of Adrian's record. "Mmm, nothing here." he said, despite whether or not there was actually something hidden within the beret, and put it back on Adrian's head.

Adrian nodded with a smile at Claire's reassurance, just before Kokuten tore off his beret. "Fuck you, my hat!" Regardless, the medic leaned in close to his friend and spoke softly once it was returned safely to his head.

"Seriously, I have no fucking idea which one he's talking about, mate."

"Mmm hmm," the man behind the customs counter didn't look convinced at all, giving a blank stare to the small group as they conversed. He glanced over to Kess and Mimi, both of which shook their heads in dismissal to his questioning gaze. That seemed to be enough for the man as he sighed heavily, pushing all of Adrian's confiscated belongings into a plastic bin behind his kiosk. "Alright, your Savtechs will be able to lead you where you need to go. Next!" The attendant behind the counter pushed Adrian's small pile of clothes towards him and motioned for the next person in the line to approach.

Adrian's face fell as he watched the majority of his possessions get tossed into the bin. "Bastard," the marine muttered under his breath as he grabbed the clothes and walked further into the concourse, grumbling. After about six meters, he turned and waited for his two marine compatriots, still mumbling profanity.

Claire smirked at Kokuten's taunt. "Oh please, you're overdoing it. You know damn well you can't give a good massage to save your life." She snickered at the captain as she walked along with Adrian, apparently the new guy demanding her attention by virtue of being new.

"Sorry hon, but I told you it'd be rough at first. Did they happen to mention what squad you'd be assigned to or was that to be determined here?"

Adrian sighed. "No, captain CAT-FUCKER," he raised his voice on the last two words, shouting them loud enough for the customs official to hear, "didn't tell me shit about my assignment, just took all my happy away and tossed it in a bin, the bastard. I'm sure our little computer friends," the medic gave a sidelong glance at the SavTechs "can sort it out for us rather quickly, though."

Claire put up a hand defensively "Easy, hon. I'm not your enemy here. I understand getting angry about this assignment... I thought it was crazy coming here myself at first." She seem a little put off by his outburst, although it was nothing new, considering most people's reaction to going through customs.

She tilted her head at the savtechs, inwardly groaning a bit at kess being called a computer again...