RP: 188604 [Post USO X Heartbreaker Crossover] Recreational Killing

Old City, Streets

Uso would turn her attention towards Tsukisaki now in earnest,

"Don't sell yourself short, that was a good one!"

Uso was smiling,

"I mean, framing the converstaion as 'I want to help you, but I may have to report you' works great on a few levels. I mean, obviously the threat is there but it isn't you putting that threat out there. You get to play good cop bad cop without actually having a bad cop around... or being a cop... but I mean, that isn't important. If we go a bit deeper though, you're still asking me to declare if any of my people are deserters from your star army but you've posed that question as implicit from my other answers.

Of course that leaves me to wonder if you're just trying to draw out information or if you legitimately want to help, which massively complicates my choice of responses.

If we game theory that out then we've got

I have defectors, I admit defectors, malicious response from you = I lose.

I have defectors, I don't admit defectors, malicious response from you = I still lose.

Defectors, admition, you try and help me = well that might be a win for me.

Defectors, no admition, you try and help, = we all keep on keepin on.

Of course everyone here could be on the up and up. that would mean regardless of how I respond you end up getting in trouble with your boss for wasting their time regardless of how you respond unless you respond very exactly with regard to what you've seen here.

I mean, it is a great play, I really like it.

I bet you're a lot better with that sword than you give yourself credit for.

... I mean, even though swords are stupid weapons.

... I don't mean in a like... 'we have guns' sense either. Spears are the shit, even back in the day when guns weren't a thing. Simple to make, easy to use... but I guess they don't look as good when you're uniform. Then again a Rapier really is just a handheld spear and a Rapier is a sword... "

Uso had to think on that for a moment,

"We should come back to that discussion."

Uso looked at Tsukisaki's hand and ended up slapping it in a low-five maneuver, holding the other Neko's hand for the time being,

"SO back to the fun stuff. You've really painted me into a corner here. I have to respond to you since you've built in actions that will happen regardless of response. My oh so clever verbal judo won't work any further unless I commit to not responding to you and I don't think that's what either of us wants. I fully believe you're the kind of person who puts literally EVERYTHING in her reports. I bet you know exactly how many rations and napkins are on your ship too... which is a great segway to...

... Have you ever heard of M.I.C.E.? I'm not even sure if SAINT even covers it anymore. Getting someone to do what you want through Money, Ideology, Coercion, or Ego.

I mean, even offering you money... some physical stuff... You'd just hate that. Everything about you screams that you just love your job and that you're not doing it just for the paycheck.

Coercion? We both know if I threatened to shoot you I'd have so many SAoY ships up my butt I'd just die!

Ego? I mean, you're not the kind of person who looks like they've been passed up for a promotion, or that you're wanting to 'stick it to the man'."

Uso would use a weighty pause before moving on,

"So that leaves Ideology then right? After all who else is out here trying to save the I'ee? Fighting the NMX? Crushing evil and spreading truth and justice!... Of course, I'm being a bit bombastic... but you're out here to make friends right? reciprocal help is very much a thing among friends."

Base Camp

The I'ee hugging up against Pecan squeaked when the two of them fell down onto the floor. "Oh no!" she gasped, after which a chorus of similar exclamations came from the other Ee'ith hovering around. Soon, a small gathering of I'ee had joined the one hugging Pecan, trying to help the poor cook back onto her feet. The other Ee'ith speaking with Kiko didn't seem nearly as bothered by the drama, bouncing happily up and down behind the counter. "Then! Then we can call it a Kiko Fruit!" she declared excitedly, reaching over the counter to clasp one of Kiko's hands in her clawed forelimbs, shaking it as she bounced up and down.

Old City - Streets

The entrances to the old underground seemed harmless enough. As the hunters got closer to them, though, they could hear that the underground was far from as quiet as the rest of the city. From below, a low humming could be heard, along with a variety of bizarre thrumming and buzzing sounds that suggested at some sort of electronic equipment running down below. Those taking to the rooftops would find that, for the most part, there generally wasn't much roof left to stand on: A great many of the structures being collapsed inwards by growing plants.

Corgan

Corgan pulled a spear off of his back and held it forward in stabbing position. If the beast charged out he was sure he wouldn't have time to arm himself. Despite the plant growth and weird architecture, he felt like he was back in Funky City. He checked out Hasewega's butt as she moved forward, trying to resist the urge to comment.

"Feels almost like home if you ignore the ugly trees everywhere." He said, trying to make conversation. "Hey, do you think that your Captain and Uso will kill each other or start making out? 100 KS on them hooking up." He hurried to catch up with her, stopping at the top of the staircase.

"I got right, you watch the left side. The new mech guy can watch our backs. Ready?" Corgan asked. He waited three seconds after her response and charged forward.

Takeshi

The android marveled at the speed and beauty of Araxie's wings. He still didn't find them as beautiful as Skade, but they came surprisingly close. "Her wings are quite stunning, aren't they? I will watch over her." Takeshi said, hurrying to catch up with the Elysian. He came up beside her, slowing to match her speed.

"Do all Elysians have such colorful wings?" Takeshi said to her. "You are the first I've met." He scanned the rooftops and the surroundings for any sign of what they were hunting. The unknown nature of the beast made this much more difficult. It was curious that the I'ee wouldn't give them more information. Maybe that was part of the challenge, he reasoned.

Old City, Streets

The Taii simply stared at Uso as she spoke a mile a minute, blinking silently every few seconds. Only one statement prompted a response from her. "I am exactly as good with this sword as I am accredited." She likely had the digital paperwork ready to present if that particular line of thought was continued.

A moment later, Tsukisaki looked down at hand she had offered, open and empty, as a sign of her willingness to work with the elder Neko. Finding said Neko's hand now firmly anchored in that location. She frowned, brow furrowed, which was a common reaction to these types of confusing situations for her. "...the chances of you getting me to do what you want are exceedingly low." She deadpanned, eyes rising back up to glare at Uso as she continued to run her mouth faster than many automatic weapons the Taii was familiar with.

"You are here 'protecting' the I'ee and repelling the Mishhuvurthyar because it benefits you. I have allowed our forces to cooperate because it benefits our mission, and the Star Army of Yamatai. Even if this may stray from the letter of the law, I believe the benefits outweigh the...costs." She looked down at her still-captured hand once more, before returning to meet the other's gaze. "You are not a friend. Nor technically even an ally. Like I told our Vekimen, if I were ordered to destroy you, I would do so without hesitation. However, while you continue to provide more benefit than cost, minor transgressions can be ignored. Your many, many words are not what will convince me this remains true."


Base Camp

Pecan seemed too far gone to manage to form coherent sentences at this point. Soon the disorganized, disheveled Logistics Neko was swarmed by I'ee, all nervously buzzing about as they tried to be helpful. She was slowly lifted up, eventually winding up crowd surfing on top of a small sea of friendly aliens who seemed very happy to be helping. "N-no, they're...taking me back to their hive! I don't even like honey! That much..." Pecan began to weakly flail, letting out a sad whimper before Kiwi took pity on her. The Cook lifted into the air and plucked her sister from their arms and up above the crowd, giving her a few good shakes to snap her back to reality. "Alright, sis, get it together."

Nearby, Cosima was tsking and clucking her tongue at the whole scene, quietly preparing a sedative...

Birdy

"Hm?" Serai dropped to the floor, her previously-translucent wings returning to their fully opaque, mostly stationary form. She smirked a little, turning her head to face the Yamatai-affiliated.

"Wings? Yes, most of us do have varying colors of wings." The civil engineer shook herself slightly to help keep her muscles loose, stretching her arms out as if praising the sun-which, for those who knew, was actually quite ironic. "I mean, yes white is the most common color which for some reason makes sense to you guys, but there's quite a spectrum to be found. I was actually born with purple wings, but found the color a touch on the gaudy side..." Lowering her arms again, Arx shrugged lightly.

"If you wanna know something else while we're out feel free to ask, I guess. And before you ask, since it seems to be quite a popular question, no I can't carry you around in the air, sorry. Only Patricians are actually able to pull that off and they're a bit too... Fancy, I guess, to be a taxi service." There's another shrug, the silver eyes focusing mostly upon Takeshi but periodically glancing forward to avoid tripping upon the occasional loose stone or root, or fallen tendril.

Old City - Streets

“Maybe,” Skade said, landing by Spacecase to look at the subway entrance herself, “Though there might be another reason for that.”

What no one else saw as she studied potential monster hiding places was a pang of jealousy. Urgh, come on, girl. Saba taking an interest in more people gives him an opportunity to learn, not to mention people realizing he’s more than a jumped-up AI. Whatever the logic of the situation was, it didn’t stop her from grinding her teeth a little when the android followed the Elysian. Just focus on the mission. You can deal with your petty jealousy later.

“Guess there’s only one way to find out,” the Neko said, walking into the subway, shifting the rapier to her left hand as she unhooked Mjölnir with her right.

Old City - Streets

As Corgan watched, he could see a nice well toned posterior through Hasewega's uniform as she moved. Unfortunately, her focusing on the hunt had her at an uneasy feeling of being stared at. She turned around and glared at the gawking Corgan for a moment before shaking her head and continuing forward.

"I highly doubt my Taii will ever fall for that vagabond's tricks." She commented, trying to use some conversation to shake off Corgan from staring at her. "Sexual or hostile advances from your Uso will probably fall flat with her." She lowered her voice for moment just loud enough for Corgan to hear her. "If anything does happen, I wager 100KS that it'll be Valesti running Uso through..."

The minkan cleared her throat and recomposed herself, giving a nod to Corgan's orders and glance back to Jay to make sure he was still with them before rushing in, the Katana quickly unsheathed and held high for any sudden strikes.

City Streets

"Bitches love my ROI!" Uso said, laughing at her own joke,

"... but seriously, you ever play Nekos and Ninjas? Magic is just words... talking to people is the oldest form of magic there is!"

"But seriously, you say I'm here for my own benefit like that's some kinda transgression. You're here because it benefits you. The I'ee invited us because this little outing benefits them. That's only a problem if you're the kinda person who is playing a zero sum game. It doesn't help me or the I'ee to pick a fight with you, and it certainly doesn't make sense for you to start a fight with us if you're worried about costs and benefits."

Uso had her eyes fixed on the Taii, her ears now showing through her hair, swiveling around as they continued to search the area. Of course, they were both Nekos, and that meant despite the outward appearance Uso could very clearly see where the Taii's sword was and where her hand was in relation to it. She already had one of the Taii's hands locked down with her own... Uso's other hand ready to keep that sword in its scabbard should the need arise.

"So relax... enjoy your victory. Stick around and see all of the benefits that this relationship will bring you. I mean, you don't really seem like the kinda person who enjoys being owe'd one since that isn't a metric you can really put on your ledgers but that is something you should consider.

... or is this your way of asking me to ask you what you want?"

Base Camp

Kiko let out a giggle and bounced up and down with the I'ee grasping her hand, unlike Pecan she was really enjoying the company of the little bugs, especially the one she was talking to now!
She gets so excited that she plucks the little bug up, and spins her about!- and sets her back down gently, "So, you gave me juice!- I think It's about time I give you what I brought, you and anyone else that would like some!" She said, gesturing to the container she had brought along with her.

Hunting Grounds
Spacecase would look around pondering the task at hand. After watching for a while he would speak up. "Is it just me or are there not any animals around here? I mean I would expect at least some birds or something to be going by, but so far I haven't seen anything but plants and concrete." Spacecase would pull out some of the heavier knives he brought feeling quite uneasy. I really want to get out of the open, it's not good here too many blind spots.

Jay frowned at the other two as he overheard their conversation.

"Mr. Garrett, let's at least try to act professional here." He said as he grabbed his weapon off of his back.

Base Camp

"Oh!" The I'ee squeaked in surprise as Pecan was lifted into the air by her sister, letting go of the cook and watching in wonder with open-mouthed expressions displayed on their masks. While the oggled the display of higher technology by Kiwi, the one speaking to Kiko let out a happy squee as she was lifted and spun about. "I wanna see what it is!" she declared excitedly, wiggling in Kiko's arms with a bright smile on her mask. "Is it alien juice?"

Old City - Underground Entrance

The stairs leading down into the depths were quite intact, with only battered, sturdy vines covering them, and descended down into the darkness. Nothing leapt out at Corgan, Jay and Hasewega as they descended with their weapons at the ready, but the faint mechanical sounds they had heard from outside were soon thrumming around them on all sides. There was clearly some sort of active machinery in the walls.

In addition, the further down they went, the more the plant life thinned out until, once they had reached the bottom, they found only a thin layer of dust covering the floor. Ahead of them loomed a long corridor, primarily concrete, but with the occasional metal panel or vent opening. Surprisingly, it was lit, albeit very dimly, by a variety of small, electric lights attached to the metal panels. The technology didn't appear to be I'ee in origin, but it was difficult to tell. While from the outside it appeared as if some sort of animal might have lived down here, now that the hunters were at the bottom of the stairs, the underground looked almost like it could be in active use, if a little dusty.

Streets

Behind Uso and Valesti, a faint crunching could be heard as Gut-Stripe's large vehicle rounded the street corner and turned into their street. It ground to a halt once it saw the two hunters: The I'ee still standing on the small viewing balcony by the driver's cabin gave them a wave if they turned to look. Besides the large vehicle, the streets seemed as empty as they had been when they first entered. There was not a sound to be heard, nor an animal to be seen. A soft whirring sound as they passed a building turned out to be a false alarm; it simply being an I'ee camera turning to watch them as it hung from an overhang. Besides the I'ee, though, there was an undeniable, instinctive sense of unease. It wasn't the sensation of being watched, exactly, but it definitely felt like something was aware of their presence.

The other group of Spacecase, Birdo and Takeshi were similarly filled with unease, only for them, there was a visible reason for it. At the end of the street they were proceeding down, at the third story of the building at the corner of the block, were a pair of eyes. They were positioned at the end of some sort of stalk: A pair of large, white orbs with pin-prick pupils, each about the size of an exercise ball. The stalk was a greyish green in colour, thick and muscular, and coated in either scales or some sort of leathery skin. Whatever the creature it was attached to was, it was hidden somewhere around the corner of the block, peeking at them. All was silent.

Base Camp

Kiko laughed, "No! It's not juice, but it is a drink. It's very warm." The neko hefted the container up and placed in next to the juices. She grabbed a cup, filled it full of the steamy, chocolatey liquid, and then offered it to the I'ee, "For you!- Little miss... Well, I don't actually know your name!"

Base Camp

Having found himself staring at the I'ee and the members of the crew too long, he shook his head slightly before looking down to a datapad. He decided to do something he'd actually need to do. He pulled up the limited recordings and files of the roughly nine years he had missed and left behind. He started at the end of YE 30 and began a trawl as forward as he could go while still taking the time to monitor for incoming medical patients and situations.

Alpha

Spacecase would pick out the stalks and would immediatly stop moving. "Guys I think I can see what we're looking for. Unless my eyes are starting to fail me then something is watching us." Spacecase would slowly begin to sheath his trowing knives and pull out his spear. Moving to the side he'd continue. "Don't make any sudden movements. There's no way we can take this thing on our own, we should get the others and pick up from there."

Alpha, somewhere slightly further back in the group rather than forward

The chocolate-and-honey girl shrugged nervously, saying, "Well, I guess I should go check it out from above. All we got about it is uhh... It has eyes? I don't think it can fly unless those things can be uhh, secured. Looks like they're being suspended a bit unstably to deal with turbulence... I won't try to kill it by myself, I'm not an idiot."

Within a few seconds, the near silence was penetrated by the intense humming as Araxie gradually took off into the air, vertically flying until she was at the rooftop level of the nearest building. "Hm. Glad to know I can't land on these... At least, I don't want to try landing on plants I know nothing about." Muttering to herself, Madame Serai fluttered over the rooftop, then paralleled the path the ground team was taking all the way to where Space had mentioned seeing the eyes, drifting slightly a few stories off of the ground as she scanned said ground for any sort of indication of a body-obvious coloration variance, or a swish of a tail or limb, or perhaps she might luck out and see the thing's body as it breathes.

Gamma

The dull humming of the machinery felt like a farcry from the peaceful sounds of nature topside to Hasewega. She snapped with a hand and pointed over to the vents and panels that opened and closed before looking around for disturbances in the dust. Despite sheidling themselves from several angles of ambush with the corridor, the minkan couldn't help but feel at unease in the confined space.

"Watch carefully for any movements, listen even more carefully for any movements." She in a hushed tone before slowly advancing forward down the corridor in low stance. "Keep your eyes on the openings in case it uses those. Move silent, move deep."

There was a short pause. "And if you are going to stare, now would be the time." She hissed, more directed at Corgan than Jay. "Best to keep one eye on the person in front of you."

Beta - Old City, Streets

"I suppose I am not old enough to play games." The Taii responded dryly. While their eyes were locked, she was watching Uso just as closely, aware of the various weapons the other Neko had made a show of preparing. Her right hand twisted at the hilt of her katana, while her left hand squeezed, for the first time since it had been captured, at Uso's right hand. Testing her resistance ever so slightly, some tension growing between them...until one of her furred ears twitched as the alien vehicle rolled around the corner.

Tsukisaki relaxed her stance to something less overtly threatening, although her grip remained firm, as she turned her head to look at the approaching I'ee. She responded to their wave with a nod before returning her attention to her current partner. "Do I not seem relaxed?" The Taii's expression slowly shifted to a very obviously fake smile that did not extend to her eyes. "Should we, perhaps, go together to receive pedicures and drink mimosas while we discuss your usage of Nekovalkyrja and possibly other Star Army weapons and equipment in your actions, creating confusion in our relationship with the I'ee and potentially giving the appearance of Yamataian involvement in and/or approval of your illegal activities?"

She held this forced expression for a few more seconds, before her ears twitched again as one of the other nearby groups began to call out their sighting of the target. Her mouth immediately returned to a neutral line, as she turned towards the indicated direction. "Our prey has been spotted." Valesti began moving with a purpose, taking long strides towards the other group.

Of course, she still refused to relax her grip. So, a few moments later, the group still above the surface would see the pair walking very quickly around the corner, holding hands, each very pointedly not looking at the other.


Base Camp

Kiwi drifted above the I'ee and over towards the makeshift Medical Center. Pecan was still a bit too excited from her close encounters. "Th-the bug was gonna hug me, but I said not to hug me, b-but the bug hugged me anyway! I just wanted to run and hide in a giant...um...our other sisters are already there..." She seemed to lose her train of thought as she was set on her feet, still clinging to Kiwi.

"All right, all right, now, you're over stimulated. Let's get some tranqs in you and then it's right to bed." "Wh-what?" Pecan's eyes widened for a moment, before beginning to droop, as Cosima popped into her view, holding the injector she had just used on the Logistics Neko. "Tranq, tranq, tranq...bed, bed, bed..." She crumpled into Kiwi's arms before she laid her out on the lone gurney Cosima had already prepared.

Old City, Streets, Alpha

Taking a few steps down the stairwell, Skade breathed a sigh of relief as the green gave way to concrete and machinery. Give me alien machinery over alien greenery anytime. Unfortunately for her comfort, she heard her companions yell about finding their target. Dang it all, she thought with a sigh, before flying out of the stairs and up into the air.

“Still don’t know how big this thing is,” the Neko said, floating up until she was just above the apparent eye level of the monster, but still half a block away. “Not to mention there might be more than one. Never got a straight answer out of Gutstripe about that.” Really hope it’s not a weird Squid variant, she thought, readying her rapier, Dealt with enough of those recently.

Beta

Uso's ears heard the same thing as the Taii, twisting towards the source at the same time before she was pulled along... also now not willing to let go of that hand.

"You know, that actually sounds nice. We should get together some time and get our feet done!" Uso quite liked the idea... even if Tsukisaki wasn't being serious.

Now that the creature was spotted, Uso would lower her voice a bit,

"Maybe we should finish the hunt now and then discuss any wrong doing once you have proof I've done something wrong?" Uso asked.