RP: 188604 [Star Wasp] 4: The Beach Episode

188604, On the beach by the Great Green Sea

Osman city had some new arrivals lately. In the past few days a large area had been leveled and paved over with concrete to make a star ship landing zone. A bulky Heavy Freighter had been parked there, and had been pumping out equipment. Some of that equipment had been used to distribute beds, bits of mining equipment, and vehicles... but most of it had found its way to the beach in the form of brand new Junker drones, each was exactly like the next, even down to the green spray paint covering the body.

One junker drone had made its way into the water, projecting a force field to keep the green algaeia away from shore, creating an area of crystal clear blue water.

Another was working its way along the beach, scooping up sand, removing much of the non-sandy-bits, and then leaving behind bleached white sand in its wake

Yet another was setting up chairs and umbrellas...

While this was going on, Uso had found a reclining seat, a green drink in what looked like some kind of wooden bowl, dark aviator sunglasses, and a form fitting Green Bikni that matched her hair.

Vier was standing nearby, dressed in a one piece gray bathing suit.

“The drones will have the volleyball net setup shortly, and the beach reclamation is progressing faster than anticipated. We should now discuss civil matters. We need a better way of delivering the U238 to the White Lament and”

“NOPE.” Uso said sternly, picking up the nearby bowl with one hand and taking a drink.

“Why? I do not understand.” Vier replied, nonunderstandingly. Her eyes looking at Uso intently, as if they were trying to drill an answer out of her.



“...On break.... Come get me in a few hours....”

188604, On the beach by the Great Green Sea

Out from inside of the freighter came the six foot Iromakuanhe, skimpily clad and sporting a body that looked young, but had lived for many more years than it showed. She had curving and thick horns atop her head, from which her black then blue ombre hair fell down, to the middle of her cheeks, which were currently covered only by her deep blue underwear. Her bra was similar in color with baby blue lacing and a tiny bow on the front between the C cups she sported. She had removed the detachable holster and tantō knives within and tucked them within her long, draping midnight blue jacket and slitted violet blue dress and laid them neatly inside the freighter, secreted away. She kept her various gold chains on, though, which made it look as if she was wearing some sort of glimmering cowl scarf around her neck while wearing little else.

She spread her toes into the sand and pushed her heels off of it and chose to walk pst Uso without disrupting her in any way, also intent on getting into the sparkling filtered water. As she walked onto the firmer sand where water had recently been, her skinny ankles and shins were soon swallowed up by an incoming wave.

Her Matai Skyfish moved behind her, attached to her through the nonverbal cues she gave it via a DNA transfer of Aashi's own DNA. Mostly the Skyfish was known as "A" aboard Aashi's old ship, the Devata, but only Aashi knew its true name and others only referred to the Skyfish in dire situations. It was a hodgepodge of colors, save for the black lines that erupted from its thin tail that trailed behind it and mouth, which was in the center of its body. It had no limbs save for two flappy wing-like parts of its body on both sides, resembled a manta-ray more than any other creature, and could live for long sustained periods out of water. Today, though, was different from most days in that it got to actually go in water outside of the baths Aashi gave it. It peeked out from behind her back on one side, then flew to the other side to look at the ocean that way. The streamers that blew behind it, used to catch insects, waved erratically until it dove down low in the air and swam into the water as Aashi entered fully.

The vibrant blue lines that were all about her body shone brilliant teal in the sunlight, then dulled when covered by the water. Water licked and lapped at her wide hips and much thinner stomach, then pushed up to soak the fabric pushing against her brown sienna-colored breasts. She waded in further and dove beneath a wave as it broke in front of her, hair flying behind her like a being in and of itself as she did. She dove deep enough so that the churning mass of movement passed over her and she kicked off, hitting the gravel-like sand beneath her, pushing her up and out of the water faster.

When she came up, she gasped and heard the sizzling of the foam as it popped and died off around her. She looked towards the beach, to see if it was only Uso there, still.

Sammy Likes Surf Over Space

Since he had arrived back on 188604, Sammy had been almost inseparable from Arccos, still recovering from his breakdown aboard the Necromancer. As it was, he was clinging tightly to the 'spacer wherever she went, his face nestled in her bosom for comfort. Having already recounted the terrors of space several times, he was now quite content to simply hold onto her and be carried wherever she went.

Beach Bugs

"What is this?", Gut-Stripe interrupted Vier and Uso, shuffling towards them through the sand and pointing a claw at the work being done on the beach. The I'ee wasn't wearing her armour; a good idea, considering the sand, and her blood-red war paint glimmered in the hot sun, presumably painted fresh just recently. She also wasn't the only I'ee on the beach: The two Ioth doctors hovered nervously behind Gut-Stripe, squeaking curiously, and a small crowd of engineers had begun to congregate on the sand, observing the Junkers at work with curiousity.

Sheriff of Boringsville:

In a comparative sense, Arccos was not a beach person. In a literal sense, Arccos had no idea what a beach was or how it should be used. As such, it all rather seemed like an extravagant display of wasting time at the edge of a perfectly usable source of water. Purify it up, filter out that algae, it'd all be good and drinkable. You could run so many fleets off of all this. But instead people were hanging around mostly naked, and doing not much at all.

To that end, Arccos wasn't dressed for the beach. If anything, she was dressed exactly the same. Jeans, boots, blouse, jacket and poncho of office. She only had a small handful of sets of clothing and they were mostly used to keep sand off of her. As this place seemed to have more refined sand, to Arccos it just meant that there was more sand in the same amount of space.

So... Dirty.

To that end, Arccos stood around by Vier. Fully dressed. Giant space wasp clinging to her torso. Smoking a cigarillo and looking at her datajockey. Still, she felt she should at least tell Uso that she still had stuff to do. She gave Sammy a little pat on the head, and stepped up to Uso after Vier was rebuked. Looking like she had a personal bone to pick.

"So we're just... Wasting time on wet sand here?"

This isn't too bad.
After the events that took place during the battle for the necromancer, Alex had been keeping to himself, trying to process what had happening to him. After the necromancer had arrived back at 188604, the crew had kept a close eye on him. Having received an invitation to go to the beach, the crew of the necromancer had brought him along because no one wanted to stay at the ship and watch him.

Alex was uncomfortable around large groups, and so decided to take a walk. As he closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the ocean, he failed to notice someone else approaching.

Watching, Waiting, Commiserating

Aashi Nath looked on at the appearing group and those that didn't necessarily want to be a part of it.

"Is that my cue?" she asked, seeing someone she knew needed something badly, but what, only she knew. She turned to her left and swam away from the area of water just in front of Uso and farther towards where the water turned algae riddled. Before she could get to it, she looked behind her and, seeing just the right wave, splashed her hand forward and kept her body rigid and straight as the wave picked her up. With grace, the water brought her to shore as she stood easily and walked without interruption from it. The Skyfish laid down a few feet from her where the water could lap over it. Its wings began flapping exuberantly when the water washed over them. She looked towards the boy and approached from a short distance.

"Will I be well received if I were to walk with you?" Aashi asked, extending one side of her hips towards him as she leaned a palm on it. "Or not?"

Ace walked over. "So first I fight all manners of stuff on a journey then come back to a beach party. I got no complaints everything we looted is already being loaded onto the Queen's Slave for you to inspect later. Any alcohol? I could go for a bottle or seven."

Alex was deep in thought as the woman walked up to him. When she spoke he almost jumped with surprise. Looking up at the person who had approached him, he was surprised to find what appeared to be a woman with horns.

Quietly, Alex replied, "Sure. I could... use some help figuring out my mess of a life."

Aashi began to walk in step with the boy and reiterated in her own head how he had said he had a mess of a life. What that could mean, she knew too much about and was ready to explore, if he was.

"What could ever have given you," she added emphasis to the last word, then said, "the idea that you have a mess of a life?"

Ptsd time

Alex began to run through the events that had occurred following his awakening. And with each event that he recalled, the horrifying memories came flooding back. "Well, first I got woken up with no memory, aboard a spaceship that was under attack, essentially got shoved out of a hanger in a giant robot that I somehow know how to pilot, and then get my ads kicked by a bunch of squid things before finding out that something is keeping me from running away."

Aashi nodded along as he spoke and then asked, "What scares you more, the responsibility of piloting a robot that should be under your control, or the squid things, as you call them?"

Unsure of the answer, Alex began to hesitate.
"I- I don't know. I just don't get it. I wake up with no memories and the one thing that seems familiar goes berserk."

Aashi wondered just how much he was willing to know about himself. She wondered if she shared her empathic abilities with him, what would come of it. She wanted him to understand himself, fully, though. Her kind, the Iromakuanhe, were driven by a desire to extract knowledge from every facet of life. And to help him now would be an exercise in doing so.

She was not hesitant, but she mulled the decision over for a few brief moments of silence between the two of them, then she broke it with a soft, smooth voice, saying, "Would you mind if I helped you understand yourself a little bit fully? Just by touching you, I can," she said, placing her hand in the air above his shoulder.

Unsure of himself, Alex replied in a wavering voice, "I don't suppose my life can get any weirder. But if I may ask, what are you going to--" Alex stopped mid-sentence as he felt her hand touch his shoulder lightly.

Basically as her hand touched him, she was able to feel his nervous system through the weaving of neural clusters directly beneath her skin. All of the Iromakuanhe could do it and she was one that didn't do it often. Pirates weren't exactly the touchy feely types.

But now, she felt something she had never felt before.

She felt something that made her face open up out of the calm, cool expression she usually held and into one of surprise and shock. If she were to have spoken then, it would have been in a wavering, tenuous voice. Instead, she painted a face that was calm and cool and went back to touching him, this time on his wrist, her dark hand a contrast to his pale skin as it was against him.

"Feel that? Those are my feelings. I am sharing with you the calm I feel. It is like your favorite color. It is now a safe place in your mind, to go to. When you are feeling stressed, overwhelmed, angry, anything at all that you wish to negate, think of these feelings I am sharing with you and breathe them in. Exude them and all will be well."

She let go of his hand and spoke more, "You have implants in your body connected to your nervous system that extend into your mecha, from what I can feel. That is the only thing that makes sense for them to do, given what you have told me."

She felt other things, many things more, but she kept the many whispers away from her mouth and said nothing about them, harboring them for a later time. When he was ready, or for Uso, she did not yet know which.

She said, "Are you aware of this connection between body and machine you are able to have? Your movements become your mecha's movements. Your mind and your mecha's can work symbiotically. A lot like how my familiar reponds to me," she said as her Skyfish landed atop Alex's head and pulsed around it, squeezing his blonde hair flat against his head. "You understand this about it yet, or no?"

Spooky mysterious secrets are spooky and mysterious
Lifting the skyfish off his head and allowing it to flutter around, Alex adjusted his hair back into its normal, messy, state.
"I guess that makes sense, Sort of." He replied. Glancing to his side, he noticed Ashii's troubled expression. Deciding that she looked like she needed some time to herself, Alex announced that he was going to get something to drink.

Good bye and good luck

With an exaggerated sweeping of the arm and a half bow, Aashi let Alex take his leave.

Then, she sat on the beach and stroked her familiar's back as she watched the water.

188604, On the beach by the Great Green Sea

“This is me taking the day off.” Uso replied, her eyes watching the new hire as she mixed those vibrant golds, purples, and browns with the cool blue of the water. “It'll do everyone some good I think. Looks like Gut-Strike already has the right idea with that beach attire.” Uso said warmly, complementing Gut-Stripe's Birthday/Bathing suit.

“Vier... Handle the explany-bits.”

The woman in the muted colors would turn towards the gathering crowd.

“Uso requested we start using some of the junker drones to setup a beach front resort, and to start evaluating how we can use this area for the tourism and entertainment industry. The junkers are processing the area to bring it up to what Uso considers nice... and she requested that I wear appropriate attire.” Vier explained.

Then ace would show up, and Uso would cut him off fairly quickly,

“Shut up Ace, I'm not working today. Drinks are over there.” Uso would point off into the distance, where there was a junker drone distilling some series of fluids into wooden bowls while also trying to fashion tiny umbrellas out of local materials, leaving a small pile of poorly carved wooden umbrellas nearby.... though its technique was quickly improving.

“... Sammy, Gut-Stripe, what do your people do for fun?” Uso asked.

The I'ee commander tilted her head slightly at Uso's compliment, glancing down at her bare, red-painted body in confusion. "But... I am not wearing anything...", she said, completely unaware of the meaning behind Uso's choice of words. Gut-Stripe listened with interest as Vier began to explain, still not entirely sure what to think of the woman. "So... you are converting this stretch of sand into a place of entertainment?", she asked slowly, still sounding hopelessly confused. "That is fair enough, I suppose."

Sammy was still snuggled up against Arccos' chest, squeaking softly with comfort and lazily fanning out his shimmering wings in the sunlight. "The warmth is nice...", he mumbled in response to Arccos' question to Uso, offering some reason to remain on the beach. The ambassador didn't answer Uso's question personally, preferring to let Gut-Stripe do so; who in turn waited for Sammy to answer for her before huffing when she realised he'd rather snuggle with the freespacer. She didn't understand the appeal of hugging false flesh.

"We tell stories, usually through song and dance. I know the Ee'ith are fond of carving artwork.", she said, nodding to Sammy, who let out a sleepy squeak of affirmation. "I'm not sure if we have any dancers amongst us here, however. Otherwise... we simply relax, if we truly have nothing better to do."

Temptation Island

Corgan walked up to Uso wearing nothing but red trunks and sandals. He looked at Vier before turning his eyes towards Uso, almost doing a double take. "Damn, Uso. Can you wear that all the time from now on?" He said with a grin. "So this is why you wanted us here, eh? Trying to do some team building exercises?"

Looking around the beach, he noticed the Junkers setting up chairs, as well as the rest of the gang spread out across the beach. He didn't see everyone, but he did notice someone new. A beautiful lady with horns he was suddenly very interested in meeting. Before he could walk over there he noticed Arccos out of the corner of his eye, with Sammy clinging tightly to her. A pang of jealousy hit him. But that was ridiculous, right? Sammy's a wasp thing and she's a Freespacer cyborg. It's not like he actually had feelings for Arccos. Right?

He had never really had feelings for anyone, not like that. When he was with 14K's gang, he had all the women he could ever want. None could make him actually feel anything beyond friendship. So what was this he was feeling? Maybe it was because she was so different from the women on Nepleslia. Still, he looked to Arccos for advice and he admired her drive. Lost in thought, he didn't realize he was staring at her.