RP: ISC Phoenix [Prologue, Kyoto] - Roping together

Well I'll be buggered sideways! Luca thought to himself, I haven't seen him since the Goban!
"Pass it over. I'll take a look," Luca said as he minimised the game and opened up his message bank.

Galar Vanatosk said:

Hello Luca, it's good to see that you've gotten something out of your new life. I managed to finish one of my engineering creations, the "T-F1 DragonsBreath" flamethrower. I was going to submit it earlier, but I was caught up in the chaos that is our old ship! Anyway, I'm here to tell you that I've sent one of these along to your home. It's a prototype model!

Anyway, take care, Luca, best of luck with the Independent business.
--Galar Vanatosk

Click to expand...

"That's..." Luca said as he wiped a tear of joy from his eye, "...awesome!"
How does he know where I live? Luca questioned, but then he brushed the question aside with a shrug and a goofy grimace and his circumstances. He closed the message, maximised the game and gave it back to Jimmy.

JOINTPOST MISSION – START!!

Luca leant back in his chair on the shuttle, watching things go by as his friends around them preoccupied themselves. He was wondering how Ralt would be when he gets back. Would his parents reward him for trying or scorn him for fleeing?

It's been an eventful few hours... Luca reflected, I think it's destiny or something that's calling me to do something... but what?

Hitori popped her neck in boredom. She did not know who had sent Luca the message, but it seemed like good news. This is a long four hours... she thought to herself.

"I wonder if there's anything to eat on this thing?" Luca questioned as his stomach grumbled. He hadn't had anything to eat while he was at the pub, only a liquid dinner of beer, "There's gotta be something..."

The pilot's voice piped up, "Well... there's a food dispenser in my cabin, I guess I can give you a bowl of something. Come in, kid."

Jim had finished the level that he was on in the game that he was playing on the communicator, but he was bored now. Luckily, there wasn't too much time until they were to arrive. When Jim heard Luca mention food, his stomach reminded him that he was hungry as well. He followed Luca into the cabin.

Hitori blushed slightly as her own stomach grumbled in reply to the two men's. She said, "I suppose that I'll have to eat as well."
"Hey Luca," Jim said as he approached him, "What was that message all about?"

"Well..." Luca said, "That was an old friend of mine from the Army. A funny guy he was, always had his head in a book. He's also a canny inventor, he created something and he's sent it to my house. Oh, I'll have that back thanks." Luca motioned to the communicator

"Interesting, I would like to see it." Jim responded as he saved his game and closed the communicator, giving it to Luca.

Luca opened up the Cabin door to the Pilot's room. A small space with two seats and a wall that was taken up by a screen with all of the navigational mumbo-jumbo which Luca couldn't fathom. The pilot occupied one of the chairs. The Pilot was a Neko, probably a retired soldier. She pointed to a hollow in the wall. "Just get a bowl, put it on the green space, press the red button and you'll have some soup."

JOINTPOST MISSION – PAUSE!!

Hitori waited patiently behind Luca to get some soup. She was hungry, and soup sounded good. She managed to grab a bowl, but Luca was hogging the dispenser.

Luca picked up a nearby bowl, placed it on the green spot under the dispenser and pressed the button. A stream of a hot, steaming chicken broth filled his bowl. Luca gave a good sniff of the soup, and he liked the smell.
"Whew! This looks like hearty stuff!"

"Yup. Certainly is," The pilot replied as she got up and stood behind Hitori, in wait for the soup, "It keeps you warm on those cold flights."

Luca took his filled bowl and sat down on the Pilot's bunk and enjoyed his soup, with a large spoon, "I'll say!"

Hitori quickly filled her bowl with the piping hot broth. She carefully took it back into the passenger cabin to eat it. It smelled, and tasted, very good.

Jimothi took his bowl after Hitori filled hers, waiting somewhat impatiently for the soup to pour fully into his bowl. As the bowl filled, Jim sould smell the slightly tomato-y aroma that wafted off the hot soup and was instantly stricken with hunger. He couldn't wait any longer for the soup to finish pouring, and luckily, he didn't have to wait long. It was only a matter of seconds of which he had to stand and endure the smell that taunted him. As soon as the bowl was full, he snatched a spoon up and dug into the soup. It took him a good five minutes, but Jim finally finished and said, "Ahhhhhh, that really hit the spot. Thank you very much." He paused abruptly and said, "Where should I put the bowl now that I'm finished?"

The pilot had just finished drinking her soup and pointed to the same spot on the wall where he'd gotten the soup.
"Put your dish on that blue thing panel there, it'll go into a washing machine thingy," She said as she walked towards it, she heaved a light sigh, "I'm not sure how it works, but it just does."

She put her empty dish and spoon on the blue panel, then a section in the wall opened up and the panel with the dish on it tilted towards the hole, the dish slid inside the hole, the hole closed and the dish was gone. A few seconds later, a hole opened up near the cutlery hollow and the dish and spoon slid out, landing on top of another dish, sparkling white and clean.

Luca blinked incredulously at the technology, then came to the unanimous conclusion: "Hey, that's cool!" He had finished his soup at this point in time, "Let me try!"

He placed his empty bowl and spoon on the blue panel, then it did what it did, cleaning his bowl and spoon.

Jim acknowleged the pilot's explanation that she wasn't sure how the dish washing machine worked, it just did. Perhaps that was the best way of thinking about these things, Jim thought, some things just didn't need an explanation. He, however, was nearly as excited as Luca about trying the thing out. He nearly crowded Hitori as he got in line to use the dish washing machine.

Hitori followed suit and stood behind Jim. She'd rather have him in front of her anyways. Men are so predictable sometimes. She rolled her eyes mentally as she waited for her turn.

Luca decided to sit back down after witnessing what he processed to be a miracle, thanks to his somewhat drunk state.
"Ah, the wonders of technology..." Luca said as he walked over to the Pilot's bunk and sat on it, sprawling his arms out, "Tis a golden age we live in."

"Not really," The pilot responded, "This is only the low-end stuff. Wait till you see the stuff they have on those bigger cruisers."

"A miracle ne'er the less!" Luca chuckled, "Oh, speaking of cruisers, when are we landing in Ralt?"
The pilot turned around and looked at her navigational charts, then frowned, "About another hour from now we'll land."

When Jim heard this, he groaned audilbly, he had been cooped up for far too long and he really wanted to be out in the fresh air; his last venture out into the sun had been reletively short, and he longed for more. He decided, therefore, to go to sleep. Jim walked over to the seat, sat down, and promptly closed his eyes. Before falling completely asleep, he said to the others, "Wake me up when we get there."

Luca wasn't too thrilled about the waiting times either. Jimmy had sat down next to him, on the Pilot's bunk.
"Ms. Pilot, you'll need to wake me up too..." Luca said lazily as he rest his weary head against Jimmy's, "I haven't slept in days."

"I have a name, it's Rika Yukiro," The pilot replied as she sat back at her controls, "You won't need to sleep long anyway."

"Thankyou, ms. Yukiro..." Luca said with a smile as he fell into slumber land.

Shortly after Luca had fallen to sleep, he had a dream, and he hadn't even settled into sleep!
There he is as the Minister for Trade for the Universe with a collection of politicians!
There he is as a dread pirate, out for money with a crew of undesireables!
There he is as the just hero, saviour of the galaxy with his adventuring friends!
There he is as the Left hand of the Army, ready to fight alongside his soldiers!

Visions of Grandeur, Money and Fame filled his mind, with his companions by his side, all the way through. Streaks of colour flew through his mind as he kept on dreaming vividly.

After putting her own dish away, Hitori decided to go to sleep as well. She was soon asleep, though Luca's snores didn't help much. She dreamed of her brother. They hadn't spoken to each other in many years. She missed those times... A silent tear rolled down her cheek as her dreams walked down memory lane.

An hour passed uninterrupted as the three slept and the Pilot flew to Ralt. Suddenly, the sounds of the landing gears crunching against firm ground could be heard along the hatch opening with a loud clunk.

"Good evening folks, this is your pilot speaking," She said in a professional tone through a speaker, even though Luca, Hitori and Jimmy were the only people on shuttle, and they were right next to the Pilot, "We have Landed in Ralt. Thank you for flying Public-Shuttle Express, we hope to see more business from you."

Luca was still asleep when the shuttle hit the ground, he was a heavy sleeper, and beer had turned him into a sixteen ton weight of sleepiness if there ever was one.

Hitori, unlike Luca, had always been a light sleeper. The landing gears hitting the ground was just enough to wake her up. She drowsily stood up and stretched. She said loudly, "Come on, boys. It is time to get up." She yawned slightly as she continued to stretch her sore muscles.