RP: The Wayward The Ups and Downs (Ep. 3)

The Trip To Waypoint

Once he'd finished patching up everyone Quinn had taken it on himself to put his skills to work in surgically skinning, dissecting and subsequently butchering the enormous bear he'd shot and sharing all of his findings with Rulloo.

Waypoint Station

Quinn had gone with Tanja to the hospital as soon as they had arrived, making sure she was in good hands before he left the professionals to their work. The rest of the week was busy work for him mostly, checking up on Tanja, getting that bear hide preserved, re-stocking the medical bay, studying up on abwehran, helashio and gartagen anatomy and physiology, getting new ammunition, and when he'd had a moment of downtime he'd settled for plugging his guitar or violin into Nan's sound system and entertained the excitable Yamataian with his musical skills.

Alpine Park

Quinn was late and when he got there, and noticed just how late he was he choose to stand back and observe from a distance for a bit as the others assembled and greeted each other. He was glad to find he wasn't the only one not wearing swimming gear, noting the dress of everyone else present. Nan's bright and flamboyant trunks were on-par, Embel and the horned woman, an Iromakuanhe if he wasn't wrong, were both looking beautiful in their swimsuits. He didn't think Reed was one to wear swim caps, but then again Reed was full of surprises and Hugar, well, Hugar was delicious to look at plain and simple.

The man in the suit was quite obviously someone used to wealth and title of some high degree, the bird winged man was a curiosity to be studied later, Ana's modest sundress and position just off of the group was predictable. He was pleased to see Tanja looking much better, pleased she'd recovered well from her injuries, and the robot; Well the robot would be interesting to get a good scan of, but more because he knew Nan would want to know the ins and outs of it. After another long moment of observation he quietly approached and sat down beside Ana on her blanket, saying nothing and adjusting his duster a bit so he was more comfortable.

((OOC; TLDR; Quinn showed up and is being even more antisocial than Ana while puzzling out the crew and observing them, and then he went to sit with Ana.))

Alpine Park

A great relief washed over the doctor as the robot spoke, it wasn't the Captain... but what precisely was it here for? He wasn't sure he wanted to find out.

He found himself taken aback by the captain's arrival. She wasn't anything like he expected, young for starters. She was practically a kid, not really the grizzled star captain type he imagined.

But what was he imagining? Cybernetics? An eye-patch? A parrot? It occurred to the Doctor just how removed he was from this sort of thing, and he didn't seem to like that very much. It was going to take some doing, but he needed to get rid of all of his preconceived notions of the world outside of his lab, outside of the universities he was used too; teaching and learning in, working in with a grant... it was hard to believe he'd never see any of it again.

He let his thoughts drift for a moment longer before snapping back to the present. The Captain was here, and she was probably expecting an introduction.

"Captain Dunst, it is a pleasure. I am Doctor Wilhuuf Creed, nuerobiologist." he said, pushing up against the bridge of his circular rimmed sunglasses. sunglasses. He ran a hand through his hair, smoothing it out underneath as he watched her. He certainly hadn't expected a young, attractive captain for this voyage, but that was something he would have to reconcile later; for now he had to focus on survival.

"I saw in your advertisement that you were seeking a scientist. I have a diverse background in multiple fields, as is required for my specialty."

Alpine Park

Nan smiled even more broadly (if it was possible) as Tanja ruffled his hair. He stood beside her and slung an arm over her shoulders and leaned against her lightly as if to say, 'look how cool I am'.

He was actually pretty amazed by the amount of new crew members. The doctor and Elysian seemed to be stick in the muds because they were all suited up. However Nan knew you couldn't judge a book by it's cover and they might end up being ok.

This down time allowed him to get to know a few crew better as well. His and Quinn's time playing music was pretty neat. While Reed stayed on the Anbruch, they had gotten along really well. He liked that Reed seemed to understand Nan's attitude well.

Him and Ana had gone clothes shopping and he actually allowed her to buy her own choices, a big improvement really for him. The one crew he never really had interacted with was Embel, but she seemed pretty chill.

As each new person came up to introduce themselves to Tanja, Nan in turn introduced himself with an enthusiastic hand shake. "Hi I'm Nan. Nan, at your service. Nan, computer specialist," he said separately to each and so on.

Hugar gave a nod to Reed when he said hello. He looked at Ash as she spoke to him, and assumed that he must be the muscle of the crew. He took a moment to gather his thoughts before replying to her. "No Miss Ash, I am the crews navigator and biologist... However, I am also rather good at fighting, especially with my custom made spear. Its a pleasure to meet you however, my name is Hugar." He offered a gentle smile.

Then turned his attention towards Tanja when she arrived. He noted her state of dress, looking at her pale legs with a slight blush for a moment before taking a breath. "Hello Tanja; it is good to see you completely recovered..." He still felt quite bad that his actions lead to her getting injured, even if it was to try and save her. Considering however she was walking right, and wasn't having any spasms or the like she seemed to be good.

Alpine Park

Adiel rolled his eyes at all that went on around him. He really wished they would quit these childish endeavors and get to business. Time was money, and they were wasting time!

With his chalk white skin, Adiel burned quite easily in the sun. That was another reason he wanted to get out of the swimsuit and into a business suit.

To prevent what could surely become a nasty burn, the angel strolled over to an area of shade cast by an oak. Hea leaned against the trunk and crossed his arms with an indifferent expression. Nearby was a rather small woman in a sundress who looked, quite frankly, pitiful.

"Hello." He muttered quietly in greeting, not looking at her and instead keeping his eyes on the gathering some distance away. It was merely to be polite, nothing more. He had zero clue that she was a fellow member of the crew.

Ana looked up when Quinn joined her and smiled a bit, but went back to her work. When she was addressed by another in a swim suit, she looked up and did a double take at the angelic figure standing there. She offered him a shy smile, even though he wasn't looking at her. She said tentatively, "Err...hello." Due to her working on the contraption, she was a bit messy with grease and such. As per her usual.

Darling waited before approaching the captain, allowing anyone else to greet and let them finish with their introductions to Tanja first. She would be the last to walk up to her, manuevering her mechanism and stopping a meter from her. She looks at Nan's extended hand for a brief moment, then turns away. It'd be better to ignore him than to accidentally crush his fingers. She has bad memories of handshakes through Buddy.

"Hello Captain. I'm glad finally meet you in the flesh." Her robot's head examines the woman, from her head to her feet. Darling decides to take a single step forward, and commands her noble steed to fall to one knee, the head now in line with Tanja's as she speaks once more, the robotic voice hushed. "If I am to join your crew, I think we should speak in private later regarding myself. I wouldn't want yourself or anyone a part of your crew to be uncomfortable with what I am."

Out of her periphrial vision she see's the captain's tail: How very peculiar! She has never seen something like this before-Perhaps she wasn't that different to literally every other humanoid.

Alpine Park

Tanja smiled to everyone and returned their greetings each individually. She took note of all their reactions however and planned to speak up, but first she had to address Darling. "I don't think anyone would be bothered, we have a rather mixed crew as it is already."

She then turned her attention to everyone and spoke up. "I want to apologize for the goggles, I what off-worlders call a night walker. This amount of light would blind me without these. This is also why the lights on the ship are kept dim. I try to keep them light enough so others can at least see though. Your rooms you can keep at whatever lighting you want though." She then curled her tail around in front of her. "And this is just something some of us have that we inherited from our primal ancestors. Also don't get any ideas, I know my kind looks young, but I was for AF 249, that's...yeah six years before the YE scale starts." She gave a big smile to everyone and then turned to walk, motioning for everyone to follow.

"I wanted to give the crew a present of some kind since you all did well on the last mission, and I had heard the beach was a spot captains would often take crews as a reward. Just well I sink like a rock being from a heavy gravity world. So I picked the next best thing, we're going to the hot springs here."

Alpine Park - Hot Spring

It was not that long of a walk till they reached the outdoor hot springs with a fence up for privacy. Judging by the sounds, or rather lack of any sound other than birds in the distance, it would appear that Tanja had reserved the park just for her crew today. "I figure not everyone is comfortable getting naked in front of others so I asked everyone to bring swimsuits." She then turned her attention to Darling once more. "Are you water proof?"

Next to the springs was a small shack likely holding the changing room inside.

Ana had gotten up and gathered up her things as quickly as she could. Everything, so far, fit in a satchel that was easy for her to carry. She then followed Tanja, curious as to what this gift was that they had gotten. She had never complained about the low lighting in the ship. In fact, the only place that had better lighting was the engine room, and that was just so that she could see what was happening. Her own room was a bit dimmer usually, only having a small area that was brighter for either working on something or, when she was really trying...reading. It was still a struggle for her, but she did manage it.

When she came upon the springs with everyone else, she was rather relieved. Though she had a swimsuit, as per the request, she had no idea how to swim. But sitting in a shallow pool that was full of heated water...that she could easily do. She wished she had a t-shirt and shorts, though, to go over her swimsuit. She wasn't sure about showing so much skin. Taking in a breath and letting it out slowly, Ana set her satchel down and pulled out a towel. She then looked around to be sure others were either doing as she did, or were going into the shacks to change, and took off her sundress, revealing her dark green swimsuit that had just a bit of a shimmer to it in the sun. She then went to one of the pools that was small so would not allow too many others to join her and slipped into the water, her towel close at hand for whenever she would step out.

Alpine Park - Hot Springs

Nan went along with the group smiling and practically skipping along. His energy seemed without bounds. As he heard Tanja talk about the downtime he felt super excited. He had hoped for further chances to interact with his friends.

After the Captain had explained about the hot springs and all but released them to their fun Nan quickly threw off his shirt and ran for the largest of springs whooping the whole way. As he neared the rim he jumped in the air and yelled, "Cannonball!"

Hot springs are almost always very shallow and one could only imagine the bad decision that Nan had just made. Although Nan was young, enthusiastic and appeared very naive he wasn't that foolish. As others cringed when he was descending for water impact he activated his Minkan levitation, halting his downward progress. Slowly and with a huge knowing smile he lowered himself into the soothing hot baths.

Alpine Park - Hot Spring

Darling is taken aback by the Captain's question, and after a pause responds, "Yes."

She follows the Captain and the crew to the hot springs, looking to the hot spring and back to the rest of the crew. Darling internally sighs-It's not like she could have a swim suit for a robot. What's the point? Neither would she really enjoy the experience the rest would, unless she was out of the machine. Even then, the idea of getting wet, or submerged, seems...inconvenient.

"Do you expect me to go in?", she asks the Captain, standing a bit away from the edge of the hot spring.

Alpine Park - Hot Springs

A hot spring? Adiel cocked an eyebrow and looked at Tanja incredulously. For several moments the bird contemplated up and leaving, but finally came to the conclusion that a warm soak would do wonders for his healing wing.

And thus, the angel shrugged and began to slowly amble towards the springs. He observed the pathetic, rather undernourished woman near him remove her dress and step into a pool some distance away. He mentally kicked himself for not recognizing Ana as a crew member. He would have greeted her in a more welcoming fashion had that been the case. Still, however, it wasn't entirely his fault. She should work on her presentation. No one would guess that someone so meek and frail would be partaking in such a dangerous occupation. She'd be dead within two minutes should the bullets start flying, by Adiel's estimation.

A small sigh escaped his lips. He'd been tense for the last several days, and months. He peeked into the small bag he carried to ensure that his .45 was still there, and loaded. The late Chase Fortune's private army of mobsters were no doubt hunting him. The healing bullet wound throbbed to remind him that there was a very real threat of retaliation for his "afternoon stroll" through Dawn Station. In addition, the Nepleslian government in particular was breathing down his neck every second of every hour. His lawyers could only keep them away for so long. He desperately needed a way out, and the Anbruch would be that way out. He only hoped his new "friend", Ash, wasn't bringing any unwanted baggage from her own past. The others may not have recognized the tattoos on her face, but he did, and he knew just how dangerous the Blood Wolves could be.

But now, amongst the serenity of the park, he knew he needed to take this time to relax. A healthy mind was the key to success(anotha one). He took those few moments to close his eyes and empty his mind. A soft breeze ruffled his feathers, the warm sunlight splashed across his face, birds chirped. Adiel took in several deep breaths of fresh air, and felt the annoying pain in his wings ebb away with the wind.

A small smile graced his lips. Adiel, for once, felt at peace. At least, right up until the annoying Yamataian caused a scene. His peace broken, Adiel ground his teeth together and glared daggers at the boy. When he saw that there was no impending tidal wave, he harrumphed and skirted the edge of the pool until he was a satisfactory distance from Nan.

He set his bag down, slipped off his shoes, then gingerly removed his tee. Now clad in nothing but his black swim trunks, Adiel stretched his taught muscles, and expanded his great, black wings to their full prominence. He accidentally stretched the injured wing too far, and was rewarded with a sharp spike of pain that caused him to wince visibly. Adiel caught his reflection in the still waters of the pool, and for a split second vaingloriously marveled at his resemblance to a stone idol from an ancient age. He was definitely on par with some Patricians.

Finally, with practiced ease and grace that Elysian nobility were famous for, and mostly as a lesson to Nan on how to properly enter a pool, Adiel stood tall and stepped in without so much as a ripple. He wore a relaxed, neutral expression, and held himself in a demeanor reserved for kings. His steps were light and effortless. The angel settled into the spring and closed his eyes in silent euphoria as the waters burned away all soreness from his body. Adiel allowed his wings to spread out enough to be comfortable, but not enough to block access to the hot spring for others.

Alpine Park - Hot Spring

Reed dropped his hat and t-shirt with a towel on a conveniently placed chair before looking around to try to decide which spring he'd relax in. He had just picked out one of the larger springs when years old reflexes kicked in. Reed quickly attempted to sidestep but, it was too late.

"Ack!" Reed yelped in surprise as his vision went neon blue and purple. It took him a second to recover from the surprise and pull the rogue t-shirt off his face. Reed looked up in time to watch Nan hover gracefully down into the spring grinning as he did so. Reed rolled his eyes before calling back at Nan. "Show off!"

"Don't mind him." Reed glanced over his shoulder at the 4 newbies with a smile "He's always like this."

"Feel free to join us." Reed offered before making his way over to Nan's spring, briefly testing the water and hopping in with a small splash.

(Ninjaed!)

Alpine Park - Hot Spring

Ash followed Tanja and the others to the hot springs, which she found to be a welcome change of pace from the urban sprawl she had been in for the past year. She breathed deeply, taking in the smells of nature; some familiar, but some new. Seeing some of the others already hopping into the hot spring Ash made her way to one side of the hot spring, the other side away from Adiel; maybe if she gave him some space he would loosen up a bit.

Ash tossed down her towel and slipped off her athletic shoes. Despite still feeling self-conscious Ash stripped off her t-shirt and shimmied off her shorts, revealing the grey sports bra and boyshorts she wore beneath. Ash's body was a well-formed hourglass with chalk-white skin, similar to that of an athletic Nepleslian female. Her bust and hips were prominent in relation to her narrow waist, but that was where the similarities with a Nepleslian ended. Small bony plates were featured at each of her joints and travelled down her spine at each vertebrae. A pair of sloped horns sprouted from her temples and peeked out from beneath her short black hair. The observant amongst the spring's occupants would notice Ash had a slash tattoo down across each of her luminescent blue eyes and a dark tattoo of a howling wolf on her left bicep.

Ash realized she was blushing as she slipped into the soothing waters of the spring. But whatever embarassment she felt quickly faded as she sank down up to her neck in the waters. She closed her eyes and sighed as she felt the warmth of the water begin to loosen her tense muscles.

"I think I could stay here for awhile," she remarked.

She could trust these people; she did not have to look over her shoulder anymore.

"Well...for now," she thought. Ash took a deep breath and sighed. She had forgotten what it was like to truely relax; this was something she would look forward to in the future.

Alpine Park - Hot Springs
Hugar noticed that the captain looked and sounded fine, no real long term damage. This made him feel at least a little relieved. He followed the captain to the Hot Spring where he looked around at the water. He seemed interested and couldn't help but smile a bit before speaking up. "I've never been to a Hot Springs before, I hear they have quite the medical properties that allow for a healthy experience." He took a moment before moving over and kneeling next to the water to stick a hand into the springs, moving it in an figure eight style movement, he studied the water a bit as if it was foreign to him. Those who might be interested would see a large amount of scarring on his back from whip marks since as usual he took up the rear when following Tanja.

"Mmm, The water feels wonderful..."

Alpine Park

Embel had disappeared for awhile and had entered the hot springs after everyone else, her jewellery was removed and her swimsuit still showing a lot "Sorry I was delayed, I realised I didn't message my family and that I was safe" she saw that it was a mixed hot springs and sighed, the outfit was uncomfortable and she wanted to free of it, but not while there were men around, they are good for money when she is in this situation but these were her crewmember, she didn't want them getting the wrong idea of her.

She slide into the water and let out a sigh of relief "I agree Hugar, this is amazing" she looked at the others "I am super sorry I disappeared on you guys, my family takes priority in my life." She looked down, she wanted to relax and be happy, but while she had her family, she couldn't do what she wanted, she slid over to Tanja and whispered to her "Can you give my pay to the account I will send you, it is my family so they will get all the money." She sighs "It will mean the world to me and I will do anything you want if you do this for me."

Big Hot Spring

Nan had gone unusually quiet as he settled thoroughly into the hot waters. While his Minkan body kept him in the same shape and had reduced pain settings Nan just simply loved to feel warm and cozy.

He looked around the scenery basking in the peace though the quiet was a little too much for him. Between his music, the clicking of a keyboard, the soft whir of a computer and frankly, his own voice, Nan was generally never without sound .

He watched the Elysian step delicately in to the water and even noticed the brief annoyed stink eye sent his way. 'Typical' he thought. Yamatai's vassals thinking themselves better than everyone else was always going to be a constant. Nan pondered what his deal was.

The...'Iroma', as Nan had heard as the slang name for the, was fascinating. He hears they have some brilliant crystal like computers. He wondered if it was at all compatible with more conventional tech and how it compared. The woman herself was a hard read as well. Her tattoos certainly spoke to an open minded viewpoint but they could be cultural for all Nan knew.

Then there was the robot..a robot! A real possibly sentient robot! Nan barely held in his giggly squeals. It was gigantic and armored so Nan naturally assumes it was here to assist Embel with security though he wouldn't doubt it was more than what it seemed.

The man in the suit was probably the only mystery. I mean who wears a suit to an alpine park? Plus, his beard was a mess! Honestly, he never really understood some peoples sheer lack of fashion sense. Nobody rocks an untidy beard anymore. That was so YE 20 something.

As all these thoughts free roamed throughout Nan's head he spoke up to Reed, "Yo Reed how you been man? Miss seeing you about the apartment. The Anbruch ready to go again? Can't wait to get back onboard and try out a few coding tweaks I thought of."

Hot Springs

Quinn was quick to get up when Ana moved to collect her things. He had no issues with the lighting on the ship seeing as he could see in anything just above absolute darkness thanks to his mechanical eyes.

He hung back and watched the others travel to the spring and then sighed and followed behind, hanging back by the entrance and watching everything. Nan's anticipated antics, the robot's obvious reluctance, and Adiel's look at Ana that had him itching to let the other go right on hurting. He wouldn't intentionally hurt Adiel further though, mostly because he'd sworn to do no unreasonable harm, and because Ana would protest.

Reed's response to Nan's antics was expected, Ash's going from tense to somewhat relaxed was noted, Hugar seemed to have healed well, and he was pleased to see Embel show up, even if she was a little late. After a moment more or two of observation he finally sighed and walked over to where Ana had settled in a smaller spring away from the group.

"I'm going to tuck your bag inside my coat." He told her simply, "So it doesn't get wet." And then he went about stripping off his coat, boots and socks and bundled them all away into one neat little package. He unbuttoned his shirt, slid free of it, and set it aside with his coat, taking a moment to roll his pant legs up past his knees and then he headed for Adiel.

He ended up just as gracefully folding his legs to sit down just behind Adiel and within reach of both wings, studying the back of the bird-man's head for a long moment before he spoke up. "Broken or bruised? Your wing I mean, I'd like to get a better look at it."

Alpine Park

After a few minutes of silence and warm relaxation, Adiel's foul mood had cleared away. He slouched into the water so that it covered his ears and blocked out most of the noise, then closed his eyes.

Quinn's words were muffled, but he caught them regardless. With a calm expression, he sat up a little taller, eyes still shut, but didn't look back. It was honestly too much effort to try and crane his neck.

"Bullet wound, actually," he replied curtly, raising the appendage enough for the medic to get a better look. "I won't go into specifics, but suffice to say it was promptly dressed by Ashtoreth."

He nodded his head in the direction of the Iroma across the spring from him. He couldn't help but grin and let out a small chuckle at her insecurity. He almost wanted to drop a comment to embarrass her further, but decided against it.

"Soon after, I was treated by the doctor of the ship that brought us here."

Ana watched as Quinn put her bag in his coat to protect it. She smiled a bit as she sunk down lower into the water, letting the heat of the springs ease her muscles. Though she was still skinnier than expected, she did eat more and she was starting to flesh out. She would just forget to eat more often than not and so it kept her from looking as healthy as she should by now. However, she was not aware of Adiel's scrutiny of her. She just watched the others as they interacted and felt both contentment at mostly being left alone...and a bit lonely because of her self isolation.