RP: LSDF Val'ta [Prologue] - Sing about the Valleys

[Moogle]

J'ann, of course, was right. Not entirely right, as his prediction involved a Fyuunen actively throwing the foreigner out, but rather a small and relatively vocal group of L'manel having a passive spat with them. But that foreigner was just going to keep digging his grave, and J'ann would be right in the end. As always.

The New Turlistan smiled smugly in his seat while he listened to Porrim's speech.

So this is the captain? Seems about what I'd expect for a L'manel. A bit unprofessional, too. What kind of a joke was that? Oh well, I'm going to enjoy getting her in my pocket. One mission at a time. He mused, taking minor notes on a datapad.

 

[Luca]

Lor, LSDF Space Station, A Briefing Theatre
Porrim was watching some elements of the crowd interacting with each other. Were they discussing the briefing, or each other? Well, one way or the other they have to make friends with each other, or with their hands. Porrim sighed as she scanned through the crowd and looked especially at those who were making a lot of noise. She was able to recognise the trio who were ex-Akahar, their pictures being included with that of the surprise addition. A medic, a pilot and conservationist; and an engineer.

As she was looking through the crowd to gauge them, the one with the colourful ponytail . Meanwhile. Porrim noticed the male Nekovalkyrja, who was perhaps the easiest to pick in the crowd, their Yamataian accent very easy to spot in a sea of squawking, or currently quiet Lorath.

"Yoohoo! Akemi, is it?" It wasn't difficult to remember the face of a male Nekovalkyrja since they were as rare as hen's teeth, "you may be thinking you're a cat amongst pigeons, but-" and the Captain's expression was clearly in jest, though attention was drawn to Akemi, who'd notice eyes on her now from guards at the edges of the theatre, "-you're amongst people, you know?" Perhaps another spat with the three lmanel was not a smart idea.

She then cleared her throat, letting that attention be drawn towards a change of picture, explaining the functions of the Val'ta in technical diagrams. "So anyway, since we're all here together, I cannot stress what I'm about to say enough." She nodded and let a pause simmer in the air. "We'll be living with minimal outside contact, we will be self sufficient in food, weaponry, and supplies. We're expected to survive a long time out there. We may even have to serve other passers-by as a resupply base - civilian or military." This being one of many possibilities illustrated as the infographics followed the Captain's speech.

Porrim cricked her neck and whistled before continuing. "In the event of an emergency, we may have to call for external help, but we may not always get it. That's just a reality of our mission," she looked down at the podium, solemn, "we'll have to be a cohesive unit to survive out there - there is no other choice - we have the best equipment made for this sort of job." And if they still screw up with all the right tools, they've only themselves to blame... Porrim sighed internally. To her, the one called Akemi could be a troublemaker, according to rumours and reports on their Yamataian involvement, as well as a business venture which drew ire and controversy.

Shown on screen, one of the functions of the Val'ta was to mine gas giants by diving into them and scooping up all of the volatile gasses, processing them into fuel and chemicals. Another function was to scoop up biological matter from oceans by diving into them and filtering through it like a whale, eaten through the structol hull. Finally, the most-loved by the dev team's function - smashing asteroids apart to grab metals and materials. Finally, sending smaller shuttlecraft down to perform planetary exploration and anomaly analysis, research, documentation, and communication.

"One way or the other, you're making friends with each other, your hands," this was a Nepleslian saying from most officers watching their men, "your favourite stone," a reference to something more Lorath-centric, "or the livestock."

She was looking at the glass at the back of the room to see how the joke fared with her technical consultant and Lazarus representative, who'd designed the ship. For the most part, the condition of the meeting was still green, but Porrim's attempt at humour may have been yellowy-orange.

 

[Amaryllis]

When the captain drew further attention to Akemi he simply smiled innocently like a kid with his hand caught in a cookie jar and waved at her and the menacing guards. Once the word cohesive was used he began gently rubbing his slender shoulder against Aran'ya's as if literally trying to stick to her. "Lucky for you I have two favorite stones, friendly hands and a love of cute animals," he whispered into her ear while leaning sideways. Purring naturally resumed.

 

[paladinrpg]

"Come into my parlor said the spider to the fly..." came the response to his question, as Aran'ya quoted an obscure historical poem as his answer... fitting, as she witnessed the male Neko floating over to sit beside her, followed by a dark laugh that was not entirely faked. "Believe it or not, you may be safer here than where you were before," she warned and pointed, as more than one Lorath in the crowd was readying a weapon trained on his previous location. As he followed her arm, he could see the medic insignia as well. "It is unfortunately part of my duty to make sure you stay in one piece, even if you are extremely annoying."

The L'manel tried to refocus on the briefing, but as Akemi got called out on his behavior she could feel eyes on her from the Captain also. Her gut told her she was likely being judged by the past, being one of the Akahar. It was not the first time events from that ship seemed to follow many of the survivors like a dark cloud that was difficult to shake, even if she did better than most. Especially the feelings for that Captain in the white lab coat... Mar'zaz Keib. It had been the first time in years something stirred within her after the Moonfall tragedy took everything. And, even if he had vanished into the aether after Lazarus picked them up, without her having a chance to properly say goodbye... he hadn't vanished entirely from her heart.

Porrim however, was not Keib. She was made of a different cloth, optimistic, hopeful, dramatic... many things that Aran'ya wasn't. Maybe that's why the one called 'Widow' was here, to try to find something to believe in again. The physics of their adventure was certainly ground-breaking, and the fact much of the tech was Lazarus-based didn't escape her purview -- she had known of such things before on that juggernaut of a mining vessel, the Mnemosyne, that ultimately rescued the escape pods of the Akahar. It was unsettling then, but now the idea seemed spun in a positive way. Self-sufficiency was a smart thing, and there may be many opportunities to use her chemistry knowledge to help the mission. The Val'ta was certainly better than a laboratory, by the L'manel's figuring, and there may be entirely undiscovered compounds where they were going.

Of course, they were also going alone. She didn't mind being alone in space, but Aran'ya was soon disabused of that notion by Akemi's rubbing up against her shoulders. She rolled her eyes, and actually seemed to move closer to him for a second, as he also brushed against her alabaster hair near her neck. Before he knew it, the tingling sensation of the small hairs on her head stiffened quickly and then what was soft now was like he was nuzzling a porcupine. Several of the millimeter thin, white hair strands-turned-spikes even broke off Aran'ya's scalp and embedded themselves into the side of Akemi's face like long pins, causing mild pain and terrible itching sensations all over until he yanked them out.

To all this, the now throatier-sounding, insect-morphing L'manel mimicked her previous laugh and laid on the sarcasm, "I warned you before. But you just wanted to stick together that much, didn't you?"

 

[Amaryllis]

Akemi continued to lean against the L'manel for a few seconds after the pain set in before pulling away and scrambling to take the needles out. Never one to be outdone, after scratching his face a bit he took the hairs and quickly reinserted them on either side of his mouth to create a pair of whiskers and tapped his neighbour on the shoulder. Truly there was no better use of Nekovalkyrja bodily control.

 

[Syaoran]

Ny’za growled as Akemi floated through the crowd towards Aran’ya, worried that Akemi would bother Aran’ya, though Aran’ya was older so she chose not to say anything if Aran’ya didn’t express discontent.

Hearing the captain call out Akemi made the L’manel smile, despite her looks she was somewhat the spiteful type thanks to being aspected with a gif’elm. However she heard something soon after that was not as pleasing to her ears. The captain was saying they should all be friends and that they were going to be doing this mission self sufficiently. Both were things that Ny’za did not want to hear. The later did explain why certain systems were on the ship however.

She tried to put things behind her thought and just listen to the information, she did not want to miss anything, and she would handle the disrespectful neko later. As she listened she noticed a bit of a pattern, the captain seemed to really want to ram something with the ship and that was a little worrying even if it was supposedly made for it, there would be a lot of calls to brace for impact.

Ny’za jotted down notes on what the captain said and nodded to herself muttering about getting along with people. She had Rhiq and several stones for herself anyway.

 

[Eistheid]

Lor, LSDF Space Station, A Briefing Theatre

There was still much going on amongst the L'manel section, and it seemed that even the Captain of their vessel had taken an interest in the exchange adding a little more fuel to the fire that the unfortunate gender swapped Nekovalkyrja had sparked. Thankfully there was at least a little of the mission to keep Mirage's mind off of the events in the audience. The journey to check on held but largely unused territories was of interest, it implied that the Matriarchy was hoping to expand outward, setting into motion to expand beyond their modest domain and make the most of what they had laid claim to. The idea that they would soon be able to resettle abandoned colonies and begin the construction on new worlds was exhilarating. There would be new facets of culture and improvements to experience and eventually they would be able to experience all of the new wonders it would bring. In a way the Val'ta was the beginning of a new era.

Returning her attention to her peers Mirage sighed softly before looking back toward the stage and the Captain hoping that it wouldn't be too long before they had better things to do than gossip about the audacity of a foreigner.

 

[Jimmy]

Er'red stood looking stoically bored, trying not to fuss with the ridiculous trousers of the uniform he had been given. It seemed like the time to leave couldn't come soon enough at the rate things were going, with the way some of the crew were getting rowdy even while the captain was speaking. Unthinkable.

Er'red wondered if it was just a sugar high or a sign of weakness of the mind. He had been told to watch for signs of weakness of the mind among the crew as their journey continued, he didn't think he'd have to worry about it the minute the mission started. This uniform also itched.

 

[paladinrpg]

Turning to regard Akemi after the poke, Aran'ya's now slightly segmented eyes in a sea of yellowish-orange stared at him incredulously from multiple angles, before refusing into a single pupil that was wordlessly glaring at him up and down. Why was the Neko not running away at this point? That last maneuver always made any potential suitors head for the hills with only a painful razor-hair momento to remember her by, and yet here he was playing with them without a care in the world. Her messing around to put him in his place only seemed to embolden him further, like they were in some sort of schoolyard competition.

"Akemi... if that is your name..." slightly growled the L'manel lowly, so as not to disrupt the meeting further with raised voices. "Just... why in the hell are you here, anyway? Surely it can't be just to ruffle some black feathers and play with stones," The tone of frustration in her voice was apparent, as was the bit of color coming to her normally white cheeks in between patches of morphed chitinous skin, and almost leathery (rather than feathery) vestigal wings lifting off her back where they normally sat.

 

[Amaryllis]

Akemi crossed his arms below his chest and shrugged. "Well," he said nonchalantly in a low voice, "I felt like exploring and having an adventure and ruffling feathers is fun. And I've heard you guys are basically built for extreme sex so why not go with you? If I'm gonna be stuck with people they better at least be hot. I figure this is my chance to be like Phalanx Phillip and Manuel Long. The fact that you're a matriarchy makes it even better. To me this whole situation is currently an overly wordy Flashbang Entertainment video in the making. I'm recording everything with my computer brain so I'm ready to get to the good stuff anytime. Anyway, my name is Koga Akemi. What's yours and can you shoot web out of your butt?"

 

[Semjax]

Jiji did her best to ignore the annoying Neko who kept making his presence known to them. In all honesty, if it wasn’t for her extreme patience, she’d of let her ciztic kill the stupid Neko already. She kept her attention upon the captain and her briefing however. After the captain addressed the Neko, Jiji couldn’t help but cover her mouth in a light chuckle. Please… An uncivilized and uncultured brute like that? I’m almost one-hundred percent sure he doesn’t see us beyond mating potential…

Jiji’s mind didn’t wander too much, however, as the captain continued her briefing. She took a moment to take the pictures and information to mind and then smiled a bit, she was okay with not being in contact with the outside for a while, or even working with people who pass by if they needed to. So long as they didn’t have a monstrous being trying to kill them she would be just fine… Until Akemi caused more issues at least.

And speaking of the devil, and he shall appear… Akemi was getting buddy buddy with Aran’ya, and this caused Jiji’s attention to be brought back to the pair. Her eyes narrowed a bit and she grit her teeth. She was mere seconds away from sic’ing her Ciztic on the neko who thought more with their dick then their walnut sized brain, only for Aran’ya to work before her. She watched as Aran’ya pricked, and damaged, the Neko with her hair, she couldn’t help but grin widely and think that perhaps that would be enough of a deterrent to keep the Neko at bay.

Of course that was too much to ask for, no sooner did she turn her attention back towards the L’manel captain did Akemi start once more. What the Neko said next was something that infuriated the little L’manel. She stood up now and glared at Akemi, speaking up in an angered tone at the amount of disrespect the Neko had for them based on their gender alone, let alone the rest of his insults. “Listen, you uncivilized, uncultured Neko. Nobody here is going to go within feet of your small dick, let alone actually –sleep- with you. Your blatant disrespect to our captain, to our race, to our gender, and our partners is getting on my last nerve. If you’re here to waste our time, and try to get into our beds, then there is an air lock located twenty feet down the hall and to your right. Please, do the entire universe a favor, and jump out of it. Now, The captain is –speaking-, so sit down, shut up and LISTEN.” She twitched a bit. Her suddenly aggressive demeanor also had Ta’cee on edge too, clicking in an aggressive manner.

Who knew that little L’manel could show such rage, even Ny’za might be surprised!

 

[Amaryllis]

Akemi couldn't help but reflexively smile ear to ear. "You're the one standing. It's not my fault you can't take a joke or a compliment. I was manufactured as a girl buddy." The Neko turned to face Porrim and cupped his hands together around his mouth while he remained sitting. "Sorry this big baby over here can't resist getting involved in quiet private conversations! Want me to escort her out?"

 

[Archander]

Lor, LSDF Space Station, A Briefing Theatre

"There is something uniquely wrong with that Nekovalkyrja. And they are somehow male too? Goddess help us all if someone gives him catnip or something like it..." thought the young, quiet, red stripe marked Lorath. Straight Silvery-White hair cascaded around his face with a small section partially covering his right eye and nary a scar to mark up his visage. Built like he was bred for the sole purpose of fighting, at first glance he looked pretty typical for being a Fyunnen, however it was his calm yet cautious nature that most characterized him. Ix'ion had made it a point not to stand out in the crowd for the time being, opting to focus on the details of the briefing and try to maintain greater control over his emotions unlike others in the room. "A lot of strong egos in here, and this theater is quite large and spacious... I can not help but feel like it is really stuffy in here."

He seemed to be cut from a different thread than most, and his lack of outward reaction probably spoke volumes about him compared to the others. Looking again to the development around the room with the male Neko and a few choice L'manel that drew his attention away from the briefing, he wondered just how long it would be before things would begin to spiral out of control and someone would end up having to be scrapped off the floor. With his eyes closed and a deep breath drawn in and released, Ix'ion carefully considered his placement on this ship's crew and what his role on the ship would be. "Perhaps we will do some amazing noteworthy things. Things that people decades... even centuries from now will look back on and sing our praises. One can only hope..."

 

[Moogle]

And she looked right at me. I hope I made an impression! Not likely. J'ann mused, making very brief eye contact with Porrim while she scanned the cloud. Though the urge to ply his skills on another in the room rose still, Porrim's taunting of the individual made him pleased. At least she recognizes that the foreigner is an idiot.

The New Tur'listan looked over the the others in the crowd briefly, noting two very silent and well-kept Fyuunen, though they sat apart. Fyuunen, he reasoned, were always good to have on your side. He made a mental checklist to get on the goodside of the woman built like a tower and the younger one with the nice hair.

 

[Luca]

Lor, LSDF Space Station, A Briefing Theatre
It seemed things were getting quite restless. The balls of the briefing had been given, and Porrim had noted quite a few strong personalities which were definitely standing out in the briefing theatre, and not just the ones who passed her desk in folders.

She heard a voice in her earpiece from the woman in the box at the back of the room. "I think we'd better wrap this up, a-and get these clods to the ship before a catfight breaks out," she said from behind her safety glass, "what do you think? I'm putting guards on that damn cat..."

At the front of the room, Porrim deactivated her main microphone to speak to her handler in private. "Now now, I've got this covered Ms. K, I have just the distraction," her throat microphone picking up the whisper she was making, looking to someone on the side of the stage and giving them a nod to get the doors ready to open, "I mean, they're all restless because they can't wait to get on the Val'ta like I do, right?"

If it wasn't for the sound of the conversations and catcalls still rumbling through the crowds and forcing the guards to heighten their alert, batons out now, Porrim would've heard a palm collide with a forehead, followed by a drawn out groan of misery. "Fine, fine, you got this, ugh," was all the captain heard in her earpiece before the woman in the box cut out of the conversation.

Hm, their microphone must've malfunctioned... Porrim thought, deciding to reactivate the main microphone and making a click with her tongue to test, and get everyone's attention. "Now, as I have explained, it is one thing to show you images, treacherous and static, like those of the planets and systems we may visit," she tapped her foot thrice behind the podium, which was the signal to open the doors, "but soon we shall see them, and the Val'ta. Please leave in an orderly fashion and follow the teal, dotted lights on the floor or my lead; and we shall go aboard and prepare for takeoff!"

With that, she bounced on her toes, skipped away from the podium and was the first out the door while the rest of the Val'ta's crew was to follow her. The lines on the floor or Porrim's jubilant step and barely contained glee (hard to miss!) would guide them towards a space-dock on the station. Through the wide corridors, there were onlookers watching the crowd as they made procession towards their vessel - lead by someone who looked as though they'd stolen the keys to their father's car and were figuring out where to drive to first.

During the walk, Akemi would notice that there was an exclusion zone of sorts around them, an unspoken one thanks to their uncouth behaviour. Though, he did receive a couple of hoarse chuckles and nudges from the more brazen members of crew, mostly Nepleslians and other Yamataians.

Trailing around in the back of the crew was the lady in the box, trying their best to avoid notice and look like they were following what all the ruckus was about instead of being near Porrim - let alone getting Akemi's notice in a place like this.

 

[Semjax]

Lor, LSDF Space Station, Briefing Theatre

Jiji glared at the cat for a moment longer before taking a seat once more, what the neko male had said was sufficient enough to cause her to feel a little embarrassment. She eyed towards the captain and then back towards Ny'za before she muttered just loud enough for Ny'za to hear. "...Sorry..."

Jiji wasn't one to speak out in such a way normally, nor show such assertiveness, and even she seemed to have noticed the out of place behavior that she just showed. She kept her eyes down at the ground for whatever else was said, until the captain mentioned they were leaving. The sudden quietness she was showing was enough to cause Ta'cee to look up and wrap its tail around her gently. When she made move to stand up Ta'cee used her tail to lift Jiji out of the seat, much to Jiji's surprise, and placed Jiji upon her back. The large quadruped animal standing back up to its full height which caused Jiji to be a good five inches off the ground while on Ta'cee's back.

Jiji only took one minuet to realize that Ta'cee was trying to make her feel better, she gently smiled and leaned forward to gently nuzzle the large head of her Ciztic, kissing the top of the head. "Thank you Ta'cee..." Ta'cee gave a bark in response, before turning and following Porrim out of the room. The large Ciztic had to actually walk pretty slow to not outwalk the Porrim, however it stuck rather close to the captain, giving Jiji the chance to look up towards the captain for a moment. She hesitated to say anything, but she did; "I apologize for my outburst captain..."

This was pretty much all she said, Ta'cee kept up pace; however, the sudden presence of another who was not there sent Ta'cee's ears up and the Ciztic's amazing 360 degree eyesight caught a glance of the one trying to discretely follow them. However, being as smart as she was Ta'cee saw no threat, so she made no noise to let anyone know she was there, thus not even Jiji was made aware of the Lady in the Box's presence.

 

[Amaryllis]

"Come on spider lady! Let's go see the ship!" Akemi said as he hurried to get to the captain so he could walk side by side with her. On his way over he gave whoever laughed or bumped him a smile and a thumbs up. Avoidance was no big deal to him. He simply imagined he was receiving a king's welcome and everyone was parting out of respect for him. Besides, all he needed to do was move with Porrim to negate the ostracizing. "Sorry for all the ruckus ma'am. I'm really super looking forward to working with you."

 

[Syaoran]

Ny'za was more than a little surprised by Jiji's outburst. She herself had decided to focus on the presentation so she wasn't paying much attention. When Jiji did sit back down, Ny'za gave her a pat on the back to try to calm her down as she listened to the rest of the presentation.

When she stood up, her wings fluttered a moment and then wrapped around her like a shawl as Rhiq climbed up to her shoulder and rested there. She then made her way out of the theater with everyone else, but noticing Akemi's movements, she kept herself far away from him which didn't bother her too much since she had nothing to speak with the captain about. Instead she kept herself in the crowd followed, humming softly to herself as she did.

 

[paladinrpg]

Aran'ya shifted nearly completely back into her normal L'manel form, glaring at Akemi's suggestive comments with a modicum of disgust. However, even despite the fact she had technically attacked him with her sharp hairs already, she still did not have the over-reactionary attitude that the diminutive Jiji has suddenly displayed. While she appreciated the thought of the fellow Trooper to stand up for the Lorath race as a whole, she could take care of herself in matters like these and wanted to try to keep the whole matter hush-hush as possible (as was her bonded animal's nature) -- but so much for that idea, as the loud altercation just brought all the attention roaring back.

Now, she had heard worse sexual comments in her days,scoffing in a controlled way that made the pale woman remain in Akemi's eyes a kind of challenge that at least gave him attention, even if it was trading insults and non-lethal blows. "My name is Aran'ya... or call me 'Widow' instead. That should be easier on your alien tongue... until I bite it off on the first kiss you try to steal, that is." The Medic frowned after her threat, addressing his latter comment with a grumbled, "And no, I do not shoot web out of my butt. So cut it with whatever new fetish video you are planning recording in that dirty mind of yours... you've got enough of that already, being a male Neko, eh? Probably hit the Kaserine so bad you got stuck that way... well, don't come crawling to me to detox you, tom cat." The spider-woman's retort was spoken from someone who had definitely been around the block in these matters to know, a fact that probably only served to encourage the foreigner even as she put him in his place.

As Porrim gave the signal and the lighted path arose, Aran'ya was very relieved that the procession to the ship could now begin in earnest and break up the confined quarters. She quaffed the last of her duqla and arose with purpose, though not before she "hmph'd" emphatically at Akemi first, thankful to get some space between her and the controversial Yamataian as he went to chase after the shiny Captain now instead of her. This gave the medic the leeway to fall into step closer to her Akahar 'sisters', Jiji and Ny'za, though not before using her enhanced arachnid vision to scan the faces of the crowd for other familiar faces that may be present. In the organized chaos of the procession, one person seeming to be hiding in the back piqued her interest....

The Lady in the Box could likely feel Widow's gaze lingering on her a fleeting moment, trying to place the face from a distance. The L'manel could never forget the very small and slight girl that was in that escape pod three years ago, crying and hiding behind Kieb... Aiesu? But the woman that was here today was different, more full-figured. Perhaps a sister or relative? She knew of Lazarus constructs to a point, but not enough to suspect this could be yet another one. Still, the sense of deja vu persisted enough for her stare to be obvious to the not-so-mysterious female Lorath that was shadowing them, before the lines of the corridors ahead to the ship dock turned her attention forward to the ship patiently awaiting them.

 

[Eistheid]

Lor, LSDF Space Station, Corridor

Grateful that it seemed that the Captain was taking them somewhere rather than letting them stew in the interactions of a suicidally stupid foreigner and the crew's L'manel caste, Mirage found herself drifting toward the back of the group intent on watching the progress and interactions of the crew as they settled into their own cliques naturally during the walk. It was going to be interesting to say the least, who would be friends with who would dictate a lot of the time spent aboard the Val'ta, after all there was going to be quite a bit of time spent in transit. The most interesting point however was how long it would take before the unfortunately unlucky Nekovalkyrja would get thrown out of an airlock.

Humming quietly to herself Mirage continued her idle scan of the crowd while hoping that wherever they were being led it would be more pleasant than where they had been so far.