RP: NSS Acadia [Post Mission 1]: Shore Leave

About a day later after the Golding Incident, the entire Marine group found themselves just outside an SMoDIN recruitment center somewhere in Funky City, being unceremoniously dumped there by the IPG after they had their way with them. Their wounded and battle weary bodies attracting looks from people passing by and scaring away potential recruits. Not all the bruises were from piloting Power Armor's though: Anselm, Harrison, Echo and Viktor had additional black and blues from a mild scuffle with the IPG during the interrogation, but all wounds and injuries were sufficiently patched up by the medics to heal on their own accord with the exception of Captain Esther, who still remained in Intensive Care. The Master Chief had his arm in a sling and a regenerative cast.

The fact that the questions asked were rather random were quite infuriating, as some of the marines could attest. It was as though they were skirting around an issue, trying to find some answers without telling too much in the questions. Though eventually the answer that the IPG finally came to was that the group had no prior knowledge of the attack nor were they at any point acting against the interest of the Nepleslian Empire. Some sack-time in the slammer and a black hover-bus ride later led to the current situation.

By the long arm of the Nepleslian Child Care service, Carina Sanroma was again reunited with her father after taking a much more comfortable route from Golding to Funky City.

Fian checked his datapad after it started beeping furiously. Two minutes later he announced nonchalantly. "We get three days off while they fix up Starbase Golding." And then stopped abruptly right there, it wasn't the noisy roads or the train rumbling overhead, but he wasn't under an obligation to make plans outside of battle, it just wasn't his speciality. The black haired Nepleslian hoped his chiefs or someone could take it from here.

Echo shot a look of disgust at the people around him. These general city-goers, the people that thought they had free lives, were what he was protecting...he hated it. They seemed so useless to him, line pawns in a line-up. The reality of it was simple to Echo, he was a tool for the country just like the rest of them.

Standing in front of his Master chief, Echo waited for further orders. Sure, he was on leave, but that didn't put him in a position to just run off. He was a soldier, first and foremost, and that was the way his mind worked.

(OOC: Do we have our guns?)

Trey sat on a bump on the sidewalk, where he had been deposited, his body's abilities allowing him a gentle landing. Oddly enough, they hadn't beaten Trey up, even though he had a Yamataian body. Instead he just sat there and calmly answered questions; it had been like a grade school quiz. The Sniper was currently on his datapad, arranging a taxi to take him to his home, as it had been a while since he'd been back there.

"Anybody want to head toward Roger Wilco city?" Trey asked randomly at the group "I'm going out there to visit my family, and figure if several of us are headed that way we can split the cab fare."

"It all depends on where everyone else is going," Harrison said as he massaged his jaw. A large purple bruise was starting on the right side, the result of an IPG officer with brass knuckles taking a swing at his face and making a connection. Harrison made sure to return the favor, though, and made sure to smirk in satisfaction as he watched, in mental playback, the IPG officer going reeling back, his nose broken and mouth bleeding.

"I was just going to shack up and find somewhere to sleep for the day, maybe go out and drink a bit."

Anselm had never had a family, the concept intrigued him "Why not, Trey, I hear the nature preserve there is..." he searched for the words and failed "interesting; not to mention I need some work done on my cybernetics, so I guess I'll be helping with the cab." he added with a nonchalant smile that came off as disturbing, the albino wasn't very good at socialising.

"I'm all for it; I have no ties to any place in particular." Catching a glimpse of Harrison rubbing his jaw brought about reminiscences of Viktor's encounter with the IPG. They were indeed haughty bastards, and when one had finally decided to get in his face--supposedly an attempt at intimidation--he had headbutted and almost successfully castrated the man. It was a shame he hadn't found a better grip, but then that said something about the man's genitalia didn't it? He smirked to stifle a laugh.

"C'mon Harrison. You can hit the bars in Wilco. We can all go out for a quiet night after squaring off with our superiors that don't exist. I'm wondering who did the most damage." He glanced between Anselm, Harrison, and Echo at the thought.

Echo grinned at the comment that Viktor made, a slight chuckle escaping his throat. "Well...the bastard tried to take my rifle. No one takes MY rifle." After finishing his statement, Echo looked around, challenging anyone to make a move for the case on his back.

"Anyways, I'm just gonna follow the crowd I guess...I have no family or ties to anyone, so...as depressing as it sounds...you guys are all I got..." Echo felt vulnerable for a second, having devulging far more information than he planned to at all, and sighed. "But, that doesn't mean I can't have a little fun with my money."

Echo was surprised at the words coming out of his mouth. He'd always thought of himself as nothing but a soldier, but that was obviously not the case anymore. Something about this unit made him open, and...normal. He kind of liked it.

Lilly was still sitting on the ground, rubbing her bum after the pleasant chuck she'd been given out of the hovercraft. She hadn't had an opportunity to speak to these men since their detainment; apparently the IPG had thrown her in with the lot since she had been the only marine on duty in the control room. She had, however, received her transfer orders to the Acadia shortly before this whole mess. It seemed she was in it for the long haul, now. With plenty of female companionship to boot. She had a poor record with Nepleslian military men; getting felt up had gotten old by around the first ten minutes of basic training. But she supposed these ones deserved the benefit of the doubt. She didn't have any friends.

The moment of introspection over, Lilly stood up and joined the group of men who were talking. They seemed friendly enough. "Um... hello. I haven't had a chance to properly introduce myself. I'm Otarcael-," she said, pausing hesitantly. "But most people just call me Lilly. It's nice to meet you all." She fumbled nervously, rubbing her thumbs together and shifting from one leg to the other. She gave a nervous smile.

Meanwhile, despite the hasty retreat, on Carina's part, she'd indeed been reunited with her father. After seeing the horrible things on the Dust Devil through the SAVtech, Elsae (To whom she currently has in her pocket.) she'd grown especially worried for her loud, tough talking, but in her estimates, awesome father.

Right now however, she clung to him like glue, having been afraid he'd perish amongst the fighting. Even giving the Master Chief, Fian Vel Steyr the occasional dirty look of scorn, wishing fervently she could simply kick him in his shins until they fell off for the fright, and injury he'd unwittingly pushed upon her.

Viktor, still smirking from Echo's response, turned to Lilly. He hadn't much noticed her before, but he was pretty sure she had been in the facility when the IPG showed their ugly faces. "Welcome aboard, then. I'd introduce you to everyone, but I don't think I quite have all the names. I know this half," he gestured to the Power Armor squad with which he'd just operated, then pointed to individuals in turn. "MC Fian, Harrison, Trey, Anselm, Talbain."

(And where is Henry's body???)

Fian thought of his own family and his own siblings, while he misses them all the time, they were scattered across Nepleslian space and would definitely not look kindly on his profession if he showed up in a sling. Besides, he had also just visited them before leaving for Golding. "Yeah, sounds good. Its a nice change from all the bars we usually go during shore leave. I hope its a bus and not a taxi you're calling, Mr.Penton."

When Viktor introduced him to Lilly he simply nodded, without turning to face her while keeping his eyes on the horizon, seemingly deep in thought. It wasn't that the MC didn't really care, but he felt very uneasy looking at her dead on, even in his peripheral vision, the only thing he could make of her while trying his very best to be objective was. 'By the Maker, are those real?'

On the other side of his line of sight was Echo Sakura, not a Neko or Yamataian, not female either, though a female ID-Sol would be even more disturbing.

He ran his fingers through his hair and exhaled, this was an excellent opportunity to unwind and for this ragtag group to know each other, but there seems to be a heavy load on his head and heart. Perhaps this was time for a Paradigm Shift.

"Say, anyone's got a smoke?"

Echo's eyes caught on Viktor introducing the young lady and he nodded, sticking out his hand towards her. "Name's Echo, m'lady. Nice to meet you."

Though Echo had been brought up in a military facility, he would never forget to be polite to a woman. Along with his military abilities, Echo held his manners in high esteem, around women of course. There weren't that many women that he crossed paths with in life, so this rarely came to surface, but when it did some people were suprised.

Anselm gave Lilly a short nod and began doing mental excercises to remember her name and face, but he remembered everyone else quite easily since he'd been in combat with them. The marine was no good with social situations and preferred to stay silent until he was needed.

Trey looked up when he was introduced "Oh. You're the one that tried to fly" he murmured, nodding at the woman, before turning to the Master Chief "No smokes, but I believe I ordered a shuttle rather than a car, for the speed. We should all be able to cram in there, seeing as only one of us has any form of luggage." he looked up at the group, which was slightly larger than the squad he had worked with during the attack at Golding, but seeing as only those from his squad seemed to be responding, he figured the others, faces he remembered from the Alliance and Nerkat, were busy with their own things.

Anselm realized several things at once, but didn't react [much] since it really didn't bother him, except for the staring, that is.

The marine had realized that the reason it was slightly colder than he was used to was because he was still in his flight shorts and the wind was blowing across his skin and not the uniform he would have been wearing had he remembered what he was wearing.

The second thing the albino had realized was that several people were staring at him, or rather his scars and the HHG revolver strapped to his thigh. The most obvious person staring at him, and the reason for which he realized he was being stared at, was some young delinquent who thought that having his face covered in piercings was all the rage.

Anselm tried to ignore the kid, almost a little bit too obviously since the kid somehow tried to, and succeded in, increasing the intensity of his bewondered stare. Finally Anselm gave up and tried to make it look like he'd just noticed the kid, at which he failed.

"What d'ya want, kid?" he asked in as menacing a tone he could give.

Somehow this had the opposite effect and actually made Anselm approachable "Oh- I, uh, you're an Armor Pilot, right?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"I was just wondering if you could tell me where I could sign up and protect my friends and family" the kid may have been impressed but he wasn't fawning, in his head he was thinking "I was just wondering if every marine gets a gun like that when they sign up" and on a second thought he dropped his awkward demure and said just that.

Anselm was too bewildered to say anything, but fortunately everyone could hear the exchange since they'd all pretty much stayed right in front of the recruiting center since the IPG had dropped them off.

"There's a place over in Los Apagos," Harrison chimed in kindly, sparing Anselm from an explanation to the youth. "The Silver Bullet. It mostly sells civilian armaments, but they have HHGs by the bucketfulls. Even better: the new Styrling Mancannon." The old merc grinned at the thought of the new model of Styrling armament; those weapons had always been well-balanced, but the Mancannon was the primary foray into six-shooters for the fledgeling company.

After completing his statement, Harrison turned towards the new arrival. "Otarcael..." He seemed to analyze the word in his mind before he responded, extending a hand to the smaller, stranger-looking woman. "William H. Harrison, NSS Acadia, fire support. A pleasure."

Viktor plucked out a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket, popped one in his mouth, then proffered the pack to the Master Chief. "Thank you and you're welcome," he said, knowing full well almost no one ever understood why he said both. He had given up trying to explain it for the most part. "Anyone else?" He looked about, wondering just how many in this squad were smokers like himself.

Echo shook his head and grinned. "Shit'll kill ya, soldier." Then he shrugged and looked around blankly. "Mostly, I've just never been one to have spending money. Even if I felt the urge to smoke, I can't think of a time when I'd figure I'd have enough for more than a damn pack a year."

Lilly nodded kindly to each man in turn as Viktor pointed them out.

Lilly gave a bewildered look to Echo as he addressed her like some kind of old english gentleman. She wasn't really familiar with the intonation, and it confused her a good deal. "Eh... hello. Nice to meet you," she muttered nervously to him. She treated Harrison to the same perplexed reply.

At Trey's remark, a bit of the nervousness fell from her face. "Oh, was it you that saved me? I can't thank you enough; I would have been as good as dead!" She'd only just hardly met him, and already she owed him her life. She felt quite ingratiated to him. She supposed she'd be joining them all to whatsit-city. She didn't have much else use for her meager salary.

Fian was a little behind the group, standing in the way of an eager recruiter. "Don't do it man, he's just a kid!", but the man simply walked past the Master Chief to make a beeline to pierce-boy. For someone with that kind of physicals and motivation, Fian could only believe that this can only end in tears... Or blood. The MC wasn't going to stick around to look.

Fian stuck the cigarette in his mouth but did not light it.

As ordered, a rather basic commercial 52-Seater Ge-T1 shuttle touched down on a nearby landing pad across the street, throwing up dust and garbage as engine exhaust washed over the area. There were already a number of other people inside, all bound for Roger-Wilco. "Allright, those without plans, get on!" He waved the group with his working arm.