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

Squad Goals

Aashi Nath watched the ball go over the net fall flat on their side of the court as she made her way away from what had once been the girls side to now lead her own. But it was looking grim already as she noticed nobody really show initiative to actually get the ball. She clutched it and walked to where most of those on her team were.

"They just scored," Aashi said quite loudly. "Okay, congregate, all of you," she said. "Cyrus, I want you here by the net as a hitter, with Corgan on the other side of the net. Make sure you're on our side of the net, Corgan, just on the other side of Cyrus on our side," she said with a wink and a smile directed only at him. "Alex and Arccos, you're both going to be middle blockers right here, while 8-Ball and Ace, you're going to be in the back with me, as hitters. Back left for you and I'll take right. Basically the ball should go to someone on your team after you make sure it doesn't hit the ground. You only get one shot at making sure it doesn't hit the ground and gets to someone else on your team so it goes back over the net. Try to yell out the team member's name that it's going to and if it's coming to you and you can't get it, yell, 'Help!' and someone will assist you. Now, let's take them down!~"

She then readied herself, ball in her left hand while she did a cat-stance, then threw the ball up, sprung upwards, and slammed her right hand into the ball, sending it lunging over the other court, towards where Errowyn, Truffleclub, and Uso all were.

Motivation Proclamation

Corgan pulled back his hand, noticing she didn't actually give him a name. When Arccos mentioned he was drooling he turned to protest and saw she was wearing less than he had ever seen her wear. "Arccos.. you look, uh.. I mean. You look great." He said as he looked her over. "I mean you usually look great, but.. "

Damn it, man, get it together! He yelled at himself mentally. This was getting ridiculous, he had to tell her how he was feeling. Not right now, of course. But if he didn't see if there could be something between them he wasn't going to be able to be around her. Before he could say anymore she started fiddling with her datapad. Then in short order Truffleclub's showed up, Errowyn walked over, Alex got hit with a stray volleyball from out of nowhere, and the other men came over too. Definitely not a good time to discuss anything personal. But really, he couldn't think of many times when he was alone with Arccos.

Uso's team choices confused him, and he really didn't want to play volleyball. But that changed when Aashi winked and smiled at him. Suddenly he was extremely motivated to win. No way he could let a beautiful woman down. "Yes, ma'am!" He yelled and quickly got in position. "Watch out for Truffleclub, and except Uso to play dirty." His cybernetic hand flexed and he did a few quick stretches to get ready. It wasn't obvious at first glance but Corgan was basically all muscle. Part of it was from his ID-SOL DNA; most was from working hard daily to stay in shape.

What is this thing you call 'fun'?>

The I'ee commander was completely out of her element, following Uso dumbly like a lost lamb as she explained volleyball to the group. "Why must I hit this ball?", Gut-Stripe asked Uso, peering up at her as she lobbed the ball to the other side of the net. "Uso, I am immensely confused as to the purpose of this." She watched impassively as Aashi plucked up the ball and bopped it back over to Team Uso's side of the net, observing the arc of the sphere but making no effort to catch or deflect it.

Sammy, meanwhile, stirred sleepily at Arccos' side at the activity around them, glancing around at the game being played with a tilted head. Was he meant to do something? The I'ee peered up at Arccos, then looked over at Corgan. "Arccos is pretty.", Sammy noted in response to Corgan's own compliment, gently squeezing the freespacer with his six limbs and nuzzling into her stomach affectionately. "I like hugging her." Speaking of hugs, the male I'ee was beginning to miss resting his head against Arccos' chest, and with no obvious reason why he shouldn't, he began climbing up in an effort to return to his favourite spot; clinging to the 'spacer's torso.

Alex was still trying to understand the point of the game. All he knew was that he was supposed to hit the ball into the ground on the other side. Seeing the ball come his way, he jumped into the air and batted it back down onto the opposing teams side.

He had done it. Maybe I wouldn't be too bad at this. He thought. While he had managed to hit the ball, he was woefully unprepared as he fell, face down, onto the ground with a crash.

Civil Disobedience, and Authentic Freespacer Sim-Sports Feel:

As Uso assigned Arccos a team, then this woman whose name she didn't know ordered Arccos into position... Arccos tottered over out of the volleyball court as a small stack of her own junkers scuttled over across the beach. Arccos had self-determined her own position at every point since coming here, and she'd be damned if she'd take orders from someone she'd never met before. She had nothing against the Iromakuanhe woman, it was just that there was imminently nothing to gain from taking these orders other than a rather dull game of volleyball.

"Come on, Corgan. Surely your standards haven't slipped that low?" Arccos responded to the mercenary, apparently extended exposure to him had led to her not quite considering compliments to be serious. She seemed more concerned with tapping away at her datapad, moving to perch the thing on the top of Sammy's head as he squirmed around on her to jam his head against her lackluster bustline. If the I'ee was getting in the way, he'd damn well serve as a desk, at least...

"Sammy, I don't mind cuddling, but you're getting in the way. It's also about to get loud, so you might want to take this nap elsewhere..."

As Arccos stepped to stand by the net, her four junkers tossed down a sheet of scrap metal, which she stepped on. All at once it seemed to shoot into the air, jerking Arccos and Sammy up suddenly skywards and the sound of their inbuilt rivet guns ran out like gunshots. In what felt like a flash, Arccos was perched atop a wasteland-style scrap metal umpire's platform watching over the game. The junkers' tendrils reaching up to position a folding chair and an umbrella atop the pedestal, slotting in Arccos' quantum node underneath it.

Arccos plopped down, nestling the I'ee into her lap and petting Sammy between the antennae as the holo-projector on her node flared to life. A DJ ENtropic Trance-Reggae track started to flow out of the Junkers' speakers, and true to Arccos' word it was loud. Huge bright letters were projected over the field, displaying an empty scoreboard. The lines of the court were projected over the sand in bright white, as a lightshow was flared over the match giving commentary. The volleyball seemed to trail the waveform of the music played in a bright aurora of color.

Alex would find himself looking at little yellow tweeting birds projected to float around his head after his collapse.

"BURNING SAND AND SUN'S JUDGEMENT! LOVE AND PAIN ON THE COURT: ROUND ONE HAS BEGUN!" Arccos' voice blasted from the speakers, distorted to sound like the voice of a titan.

Strangers to this World or, Yes There is Plot in the Beach Episode:

As the crowd gathered, some of the locals started to gather around to the area. While it was perhaps only the bravest or most sycophantic who were coming to see, many were impressed at the miracle of the aliens somehow pushing back the algae to make the sea blue again. Several of them were apparently wealthy locals, based on their relatively well kept appearances. Some of their monocles would drop at the apparent impropriety of these aliens' swimming costumes, as those who owned beachwear among the locals wore old-timey swimming onesies.

Some were familiar faces. Flea, Ace's guide on his expedition was present, her rawhide trousers rolled up around her knees as she waded through tidal pools to bear-fish for Salt Eels. Lundy and Mizzie, Truffleclub's diminutive co-conspirators splashed around in the ocean wearing dirty longjohns. Others were members of Arccos' sheriffs who were lighting a fire to cook a meal.

One other sidled up along with them. Weirdly standing out by being very plain, but also not looking anything like the locals: A young woman, apparently barely into her twenties gathers among them. Slim, with curled mousy brown hair, with freckles and a cute button nose. She stood out more for wearing a distinctly alien bikini. White, with ruffled details on her top to compliment a rather lackluster figure. She stands by the volleyball court and taps away at a datapad.

She hadn't come here with Uso. Or arrived on any other ship coming here... But then there was more entertaining things to look at than a plain nepleslian girl.

Beach

Of all the many to have arrived, it was not too late for the best to arrive. Of course, the man walking onto the beach with a pair of new, orange swim-trunks and a pair of sunglasses, that had to be Ronin. The Tengu was getting serviced for the dings and singes it had endured, but overall the structure of his mecha had endured its first venture into void combat. Of course, it had run-down one of his blades for the chain-straight, but those were replaceable enough. His bare feet on the sand felt strange, but as he made his way over to the scene everyone else was fixed on. It looked like... a volleyball game? Moving a hand to his orange-streaked mohawk, he brushed through it as he pulled free his pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

"Some scantily clad women, some fairly decent beach, and a nice drag," he said while lighting the cigarette and proceeding to perform the later, "Psh... few men could turn such a thing down. Even a guy like me."

With his lightly muscled figure on display, he was content to stand on the sidelines of Uso's team with both hands moving to his pockets. Overall, the man was a bit out of his element in the crowded audience... but getting a good look at the sweet asses between their plans and playing was worth the discomfort. Not that he was a pervert, but that he was just any average guy when it came to enjoying the beauty of the opposite sex. That didn't stop him from calling out at them a moment later, though, the smoke masterfully spilling from his nostrils and the death-stick stuck in the corner of his mouth like any seasoned smoker could pull off.

"Don't worry Uso! Win or lose, you're still the boss and can fire any of 'em for beating you!"

As strange as the bunch gathered was, it seemed like there had been some real camaraderie had been built between some of them. Beyond knowing some of his fellow pilots, mecha or otherwise, were at least capable however was all he cared for while on the job. The only one who'd been with him personally for anything beyond a sortie had been their esteemed boss.

Sand, Sun, Surf, and Volleyball

Errowyn easily moved and positioned herself for the return hit of the ball. She hit the ball from the bottom with a two fists together to send the ball high into the sky as it lazily went over the net to the opposite side. She smiled at her successful hit.

She remembered back when she was intro'ed to the game and she couldn't hit the ball to where she wanted it to go. But now after a few games during recreactional time and exercise periods, she slowly mastered the return of the ball. She still just simply set the ball back over the net.

Forklift With The Brain Of A Golden Retriever;

Alex's spike shot actually glanced Cloudy's shoulder along the way, resonating with a hollow metallic PANG~ before the ball was deflected back over to the other side of the court more directly by Errowyn. The machine barely seemed to notice their function as a sentient goal post, standing completely stationary whilst their glowing red eyes blinked in sequence.

If anything, they seemed more observant of the slightly lithe blonde man face planting into the sand afterwards. Lodemucker Bauxite had a yee olde simulation game with two little paddles and a ball like this, but these three-dimensional rules were indeed mysterious.

Team members?... Boss Neko Uso lady, Arccos said was not bad... A male Elysian with heterochromia... Gut-Stripe, that war-wasp who wanted to make deals that time... Another neko, unfamiliar, blue-black hair... Oh. Planet capitalists here now, too. Lundy and Mizzie...

Warm. Music was friendly. Friends were friendly.

The ball was moving a bit too fast for the machine to perceive with ease, so they resigned to just standing in the middle of the pitch with fingers linked, and a timid turn of the head. They still basically had no idea what was going on. But that was okay.

"I'm helping?..." A blunt electronic tone, directed towards the more reserved and mysterious nekovalkyrja who had hit the ball. "You... are team, is?..."

Errowyn looked at Truffleclub. "Yeah. We're teammates." She replied eyes widened a bit at the low intelligence that the big robot was displaying. Wondering just how much of an asset Truffleclub was. She looked over the big robot and the attire it was wearing. She refrained from face-palming to hide the slight glow to her emerald eyes and the slight twitch of a smile.

She didn't want to laugh at the efforts Truffleclub went to be clothed similar to the rest of them. Totally ignoring the first question that Truffleclub asked. "Your name?" More out of curiosity than friendship at the moment. Her voice soft so it was hard to discern she was interested in him or not.

Artificial Rendezvous

Alastair pulled up several screen to run diagnostic tests on the Ebony Peregrine to assist 8-Ball in his repairs when his services were no longer required by Uso. It was the least he could do while he was waiting on Junket-Three's delivery. But that was one of many tasks he could perform simultaneously. So what better time than now to find Aries?

A full colored version of Alastair appeared to walk over to Aries on the beach. "Good morning Aries," He said with a slight bow. "May I sit here?" He gestured to the spot next to Aries in the sand.

Beach Volleyball

8-Ball was a bit startled that he was being ordered to play beach volleyball. He learned how to play it during flight school on the weekends. It was a requirement according to some of the instructors. Apparently some ancient but famous movies about pilots had a scene with volleyball in it and cause the sport to become a staple for all pilots. It also had to be done shirtless. 8-Ball was more than happy to oblige, taking off his white beater to reveal his toned, muscular upper torso. That is right, toned. His gene mods gave him increased muscle mass but his exercise regiment is what gave him definition and roughly 10% body fat.

Aashi pulled the group in and formed a general battle plan that was simple and effective. She also took a very interesting stance in 8-Ball's opinion. Corgan, the half ID-SOL, responded to Aashi's plan in a very militant fashion and made sure the team was aware Uso was going to play dirty.

Meanwhile Gut-stripe seemed confused as to why she was playing the game at all. 8-Ball couldn't help but feel a bit of endearment towards her. She was the I'ee he tried to save during the assault on the palace. She was so stubborn that she tried to kill him while he was running with her on her back despite suffering numerous would. 8-Ball immediately liked her. He gave her a smile and a wave, realizing only after that she had never seen him outside of his combat uniform. That all black uniform covered every feature on his body. Would she recognize him?

Then there was Errowyn. She was a fellow mercenary that 8-Ball met briefly on a couple of occasions and even flew with her. She was a damn good pilot, albeit a bit mechanical when in combat. He really should get to know her better. Heck, he should get to know everyone better, but her in particular. She almost become his partner in crime and she is definitely someone he should keep on speed dial in the event of an emergency.

'Speaking of which...'

"Mine!" 8-Ball called when Errowyn hit the ball over the net in a single hit. He ran excitedly towards it because he planned to pummel the ball across the court. He realized at the last second when he jumped up in the air to hit the ball that the ball needed to be hit twice before going over. "Set!" He called out as he brought his second hand forward to hit the ball up in the air towards the front line. All the people in the front had to do was jump up in the air and spike it on the other side of the net.

The mid-course correction saved the ball and, possibly, the point. But the correction also caused 8-Ball to fall on his side instead of landing gracefully.

Artificial Rendezvous
Aries looked over at Alastair and blushed seeing him in full color. "Sure you can your even more handsome in full color. I'd love the company while Ace shows off."
The Game
"I got it!" Ace yelled running to just under the ball before jumping up and slamming his hand into the ball so that it shot towards the ground on the other side with the same force he showed off originally. Upon landing on the ground he jumped back to his original position and got reset to set any balls that came his way.

"This one is Cloudy Truffleclub, emm-four-four-seven-eight-'o'-nine." The machine responded to the nekovalkyrja, earnestly. For a Yammie, they seemed nice enough. "You are work Uso? I can be helping... But what... you name, is?"

Most of the nepleslian folk here were distinctly lanky, but this situation in particular made it stand out that Errowyn was barely over the robot's hips in size. Perhaps that was what had made them more disarming?... Also quite fortunate, given the piston-powered swing which suddenly curved overhead, rocketing towards the returning ball as a well practiced knifehand strike.

Which also missed completely, seeing as the automata's brain was several seconds behind reality.

"Oops!" A disgruntled bleating, as it continued to sail past. Maybe they would get lucky next time...

Or maybe they should just spread out, and physically block as much air as possible.

"Our serve," Aashi, the horned Iromakuanhe from Hlarai, a tropical world with wondrous canal cities unlike any Nepleslian or Yamataian had ever known, said. She put out a spread hand, ready to catch the ball whenever somebody on the other team threw it back over, hopefully gently.

"Want to try out a first serve, 8-ball?" she said loudly over the music, not looking over to him until she had eyed the other side of the court and started making hand signals to whoever was about to throw it over that it should go to 8-ball.

She pointed at him and jumped up while doing so, then looked at him and said with a persuasive inflection, "Don't you want to?"

Shell-shock Wasp>

Sammy let out a soft huff of protest when the datapad and the arm holding it was placed atop his head, flapping his wings to demonstrate his displeasure before contenting himself with hugging her around the waist. "Oh, I'm sorry, Miss.", he said with a sad whine in response to Arccos. "Why is it going to get loud?" He never really got a chance to receive a verbal answer, as soon after her was clinging on for dear life as him and Arccos shot up into the air atop her rapidly assembling platform.
Now trembling with fright, the little ambassador couldn't keep still, even though Arccos was now slouched into a much comfier position in her chair. The loud, booming voice and the ghostly, holographic projections only served to terrify the poor bug even more: He had no idea what the hell was going on! Flapping his wings and flailing his limbs, he half-flew, half-scurried off of the 'spacer's lap and clear off the edge of the platform, toppling downward with a squeal before landing face-first in the sand with a 'poof'.

Meanwhile, in the make-shift court, Gut-Stripe continued to watch the game being played around her with a mix of bemusement and fascination: The aliens seemed to be having... fun by hitting this ball around. The realisation made the I'ee commander tilt her head to one side, having barely moved since the game began. She managed to spot 8-Ball waving to her and cautiously returned the gesture, unable to recognise him, but assuming that the wave must be a part of the game as well. Then, as Sammy toppled off the platform with a wail, she turned her head to watch the ambassador face-plant. "Oh.", she noted dismissively, letting out a snorting chortle of amusement, internally debating whether or not to help the Ee'ith male; his legs flailing uselessly in the air, bug-butt pointed skyward.

Deathball!

"Great hit," 8-Ball called out excitedly as he extended a hand for a quick high five before returning to his position. "I believe that is called an 'Ace'." Yes, he thought he was ever so clever with his play on words as Aashi started gesturing in his direction. She was offering him first serve for their side. "Oh yeah." He replied with a devilish grin and a self-assured wink to the Iromakuanhe.

Violet eyes scanned the competition. The obvious one to target for an easy win would be large robot called Truffleclub based on how the last serve played. But the man didn't have the heart to target a robot that seemed to have an innocent, if not infantile programming. That would be like target someone with a mental disability. A big, powerful someone, but still someone handicapped none-the-less.

There was Gut-Stripe who returned his waive after a moment's hesitation, telling 8-Ball that she didn't recognize him. She did not appear to be invested in the game as much as the others. So serving to her might be easy and get her invested in the game. Who knows, she may even have fun? Then again, could she withstand the onslaught of a volleyball launched at her with the speed and strength of his gene mods? Force does equal mass times acceleration after all. The last thing he wanted to do was take her head off.

Then there were the nekos Uso and Errowyn. Both of them appeared capable, interested, and he knew they could withstand anything he threw at them. They were the few creatures out there that 8-Ball would not want to get into the ring with. He'd have to win through skill and the ability to anticipate the maneuvers of his opponents over speed and strength in that match.

"Gotcha..." 8-Ball said as he finally was tossed the ball from the other side. "One all." He called out from the back line. He tossed the ball up in the air, ran forward to jump, and brought down all of his speed and power upon the ball to spike it across the court at blinding speeds. He would almost be surprised if the ball survived the impact. The target? The area directly between Gut-Stripe and Errowyn. This way Gut-Stripe would at least feel partially responsible for the outcome and maybe start playing seriously. Not to mention letting her be the judge of whether or not she should go after that ball. Errowyn would be able to pick up the slack if needed, and Uso wasn't that far off. Then again, the other team was pretty clumped up so no one was really that far away from the ball. Time to see how fast the other team really was.

Artificial Flavoring

Alastair's face turned a slight shade of red than purple this time. "You are too kind to me madam. I find my attire somewhat lacking in culture and style, but 8-Ball insisted that I blend in with the crowd. That means no collared shirts, no matter how fashionable they may be." He took that seat next to Aries and looked her over briefly. "I see you are looking as radiant as ever." He flashed her a smile of perfect white teeth. "And I shall enjoy watching 8-Ball make poorly crafted jokes in an attempt to humor himself more than anyone else. Though I must admit, I believe he gets the most enjoyment taunting the opposing team."

Beach, Uso's side of the court>

"Because, right now they are the enemy... and we can only defeat them through slamming this ball down on their side of the net. It is just like war, you've got a new challenge here and it is something to work your way through."

Uso would watch as Truffleclub would miss the ball, letting it hit the sand,

"Our big friend here may not be the best, but it is trying, improving itself... and not doing its best not to let that dastardly space-goat score any more points!" Uso shook her fist, playing up the part with glee as she watched 8-ball ready his shot, slamming it down between Errowyn and Gut-Stripe. She'd push off from the ground, sending sand flying backwards as she jumped towards Truffleclub, grabbing ahold of the spacer's massive arm, and yanking herself up, putting herself in the perfect position to spike the ball down onto the other side of the net.... provided someone bounced the ball up to her.

Arccos is probably mildly displeased at Wasp groping, or Wasp meet Robot Spider:

The newly self appointed referee (a pattern?) looked down as Sammy ran off squealing, only to land face down in the dirt. Wasps apparently only like soft humming music, maybe? Did they not appreciate light shows? Either way, he ran off too fast and Arccos was too comfortable in this position to hop down and comfort him. He was apparently getting to be a nuisance anyway. While she could appreciate the hugs, she'd need to have a good long talk with an I'ee xenoanthropologist about 'personal space'... A conversation which the more she thought on it, the more likely it seemed that the I'ee should probably already know.

Gut-Stripe said his family revered Yamatai... Enough women around in their ranks, the I'ee should maybe know better since they'd apparently met them. Still, Sammy was okay for a perverted bug. Unless he was getting off on the whole thing... At which point he was a little creeper. Arccos pinged a mental command to one of her junkers, which disengaged its playing of loud music and trotted over to the fallen Sammy, using its tendril-like manipulators to delicately lift the wasp to its feet, dust him off of sand and pat him on the head.

Each of the four junkers Arccos kept around her seemed to be one of the older, maybe better made constructs. While strictly speaking they didn't normally talk, perhaps out of fandom of the aesthetic Arccos' personal entourage had been retrofitted with a little LED unit similar to the I'ee's emotive panels. It gave a few little soft mechanical chirpy noises while flashing a smile, moving to shield the fallen I'ee from the lights and sound, before raising itself a little with its manipulators out to show that it wasn't meaning any harm.

Uso gets +1 Arccos Heart Point:

Arccos in the meantime had taken up the demeanor of a babysitter who was watching something more interesting, after handing a child a datapad to distract themselves with. While it looked to the outside world that she was mixing in a light show around the entire game to make it more of a spectacular for the local crowd, in actuality all she was doing was prodding a simplistic non-volitional AI programmed with VFX handling software.

The ball pinging off Truffleclub seemed to erupt a burst of flower-petals from the huge Automata, like it was knocking loose half a garden. Errowyn's high flying return caused the ball to flash in the sky, just like in those yamataian animes. Ace's return was accompanied by a loud noise like a splitting watermelon as his hand collided with the ball, before Truffleclub's slow swing missed it. The ball hitting the ground with a loud burst of air horns, as the score board updated. The locals were really enjoying themselves, since this was perhaps the first public and benign display of alien technology that was just open for the public.

At the same time, Arccos was a little bored. Keeping herself out of direct sunlight under her umbrella. No one here seemed to get it. They were just playing volleyball. There was no drama! No flash! None had any style. This was all substance put into a useless game. And wasted substance was practically a sin in Arccos' mind.

And then... Uso showboated. She'd made a loud display of talking about spirit, self improvement and doing one's best. For her efforts she was rewarded with a holographic halo for the duration of her speech. Appearing a bit more heroic perched upon Truffleclub, while the 'dastardly space-goat' was surrounded with an evil bluish aura, truly playing up that this was to be the hero-villain dynamic of the minute.

There was now a hero and a villain! Some in the crowd applauded as there was now something to latch on to in a game they did not understand. And for her part, Arccos started to have a little fun.

Meanwhile:

Among the crowd a woman finishes taking her notes, and wanders off to report...

Lights, Holo-projectors, Action!

If blue was evil, Aashi did not know that and acted as if she didn't know about the game for a moment as her thick hair blew in the wind, then settled, brushing against her thin waist and settling on the small of her back and down her supple butt. She ran a hand through it and took a look at the massive crowd and the spectacle being made by Uso's crew, before squatting low, putting weight on one knee to another as she put her arms forward, exposing her inner wrists and gripped her hands together as she looked at the antics on the other side of the court.

"Watch what Uso's going to do, team!" her unwavering voice said.

We are the underdogs

As Uso's team was watching her speech Alex was puzzled. We're the ones doing badly, he thought. Why was the opposition being played up as heros? He knew he had to do something, but what?
As the crowd cheered, Alex had an idea. If this is all overly stylised, all I need to do is call the real "villain" out!

A scoundrel revealed.
Raising his voice, Alex spoke up. "Hold on just a minute! She's acting as if they're the underdogs. Look at them! Scoring point after point and going so far as to manipulate the crowd!" Getting into the act, Alex gestured dramatically towards Uso. "Open your eyes, here is the true villain!"

Did you say 'enemies'?>

Gut-Stripe visibly stiffened at the word 'enemies', about to run and grab the nearest sharp object, before tilting her head to one side as Uso explained further. "So... this is not real war? Only like war?", she asked, if anything only growing more confused by Uso's comparison. The I'ee tilted her head further, watching the ball arcing towards her and Errowyn with detached curiousity. Technically, she was supposed to do as Uso said, so the red-painted I'ee shuffled slightly to intercept the ball as it dropped down, catching it in her four arms and clutching it against her thorax. Then she turned her head to look up at Uso again, now perched on Truffleclub. "I throw the ball?", she asked, carefully raising the sphere above her head with her uppermost limbs, then ducking down onto four legs before springing back up again in one smooth motion; the jump carrying her upwards into the air with the help of her wings. Gut-Stripe then threw the ball in an amusingly dainty fashion to Uso: Thrusting it through the air in her direction with outstretched arms before slowly floating back down to the ground, her wings kicking up a small cloud of sand.

Cuddling robo-spider just isn't the same>

The male I'ee ambassador shook his head to clear it of sand as he was pulled up out of the ground, waggling his antennae and peering at the Junker in surprise. "Oh!", he squeaked, tilting his head at its familiar-looking LED screen. Then as he was sat back on his feet and given a pat on the head, Sammy let out a snorting chortle of amusement, finding the robot's behaviour to be very endearing: Even giving it a little pat on its 'head' in return.