RP With Regards to the Green, White, and Blue

[raz]

RP Date

45.7.1

RP Location

Reikan Park, Yamatai

Wilson J. Tybault Center
Blaze's Spot, Reikan Park

With only a few hours notice the previous evening, Nepleslia's diplomatic mission to Yamatai was told to expect one of the Star Empire's representatives on the first day of Shichigatsu at around nine o'clock in the morning. And just as the news broke that Empress Himiko and Taisho Yui had declared a third war against the Mishhuvurthyar menace, a Ke-T10 shuttle landed at the rooftop landing pad that crowned Nepleslia's embassy. The small aerospace craft was painted in mostly crimson with a silvery-white stripe down its center, and a Yamataian bellflower crest was emblazoned across its flat nose, in the distinct livery of the imperial clan.

Out from the ship first marched two Ketsurui Samurai, who attended either side of the shuttle's port side airlock once it'd opened, both wearing zesuaium katanas fixed at the waist of their uniforms that matched the shuttle's red-and-white coloring. Another three people wearing nondescript suits — lower diplomatic functionaries of some sort — followed them out and immediately scurried off to make initial contact with their Nepleslian counterparts. The Nepleslians were informed that the Yamataians had come to discuss the Mishhuvurthyar.

Last out of the shuttle came Ketsurui Aiko, whose lengthy mantle of raven black hair whipped around her in the turbulent heights of Tybault Center's lofty shuttle pad. Wearing a white Type 35 Star Army uniform, per her usual preferences, she only adorned it with the extra decoration of a single red-ribboned medal around her neck. Although Aiko knew the Sky Marshal personally because she was close friends and working colleagues with his son, William, and was in part sent for her good relationship with Nepleslian leaders and soldiers alike, she did not expect to speak with the Premier today.

Aiko stepped in a gracefully dignified way over the roof's little tarmac despite the wind (and despite the blinking neon embassy sign whose illumination glared up through the forenoon mists, as well as the bassy thrum of music that always seemed to emanate from the miniature replica of Nepleslia that was Blaze's Spot) to meet whoever had been sent to receive her.

 

[Ametheliana]

Blaze's Spot
Landing Pad

Nepleslia's representative stepped forward and offered a hand to be shaken rather than a bow to the Ketsurui clan member. Unlike Aiko's dark locks, Violetta De Luca's were, for the most part, static as it was all pulled back into a tight milkmaid style bun. Only the short locks in front of her ears wandered wildly in the wind. She stood next to an Aggressor with golden trim and a ribbon display the size of a hand towel that hung from the side of its armored chestplate, secured just an inch from the black nanomuscles between its shoulder plating. Painted blue flames licked up from its wide legs, the usually blood-red omnieye was a Nepleslian green, and where a submachine pistol would normally be held, a flagpole from which the emblematic green, white, and blue Nepleslian flag billowed at the top of its mast.

With a motion to follow her, Violetta stepped away from the red and white shuttle and the green Aggressor. There was not much point in speaking where the wind would pull their voices from them. With her blue pompadour heels, she stepped between two marbles statues depicting armorsuits crossing hyper induction axes. Beneath where their longbearded axeheads met was a black glass door that slid open just before Violetta and Aiko walked through, followed by their respective entourages. Inside, the marble staircase spiraled downward and was lit by an emerald and golden filigreed chandelier. Violetta put a slender hand on the crystal stair rail as she took careful steps, meaning to sidle up next to the Yamataian diplomat.

"As the Grand Admiral of the Nepleslian Second Assault Fleet, my heart goes out to your own Star Army's Second Fleet," Violetta was using the Yamataian declaration of war on the Mishhuvurthyar published the day before as a touchstone. "Knowing the prospect of retribution against the enemy is a promise will no doubt make rebuilding such heavy losses easier for your Empire's fleet and people."

 

[raz]

Wilson J. Tybault Center
Diplomatic Reception Hall

Handshakes weren't something Aiko was accustomed to performing, but she'd nonetheless practiced a perfectly measured technique dozens of times with diplomacy staffers and hundreds more as a simulation within her digital brain, and returned Violetta's greeting with a sturdy grip and appropriate smile. After that, the Yamataian representative followed her Nepleslian opposite into the building and down the grand staircase. Green marble stonework laced with veins of deposited gold and dark wood paneling decorated the walls here, themselves overlaid with oil paintings of Funky City's "beautiful" skyline, famous forebears, and Nepleslian flags. From above, the whole room was lit by that beautiful emerald chandelier that cast its twinkling brilliance throughout the chamber and allowed no dark corners to remain.

"Thank you, Admiral De Luca," Aiko said when the pair came to a stop in the center of the hall. The floor itself was decorated with white marble like the staircase and inlaid with bands of sturdy brass that arranged into one-foot-square diamond checks, with the gun-toting soldier and laurels from Nepleslia's flag emblazoned in the center where Aiko and Violetta now stood. "I will be sure to extend your condolences to the admiralty and our people."

One of the Yamataian diplomatic aides pulled out a camera and began recording imagery of the negotiating pair as they spoke. Although no YINN, SANDRA, nor NNN reporters were on scene, quotes and pictures and video would later be disseminated to them through tightly controlled avenues of communication. Aiko reached her hand out this time to offer Violetta a handshake specifically for the cameras now that they were framed by the finery and symbols of Nepleslian might.

"The Mishhuvurthyar have spread unchecked," Aiko continued, getting straight to the point. "Though they have not yet returned to the Kikyo Sector, the Yamatai Star Empire is determined to eradicate their filth wherever it can be found. I have already fought alongside Nepleslian Marines through the Kuvexian War, and even against Mishhu earlier this year. And then at Hanako's World. Their mettle is without question. Regardless of what is decided between us today, I am sure my Nepleslian friends who serve on exchange with Legion 777 will continue to deepen the military ties between our two great nations."

There was ultimately little to discuss, but Aiko had to make sure proper diplomatic flourishes were attended to. Not necessarily for Violetta's sake, for Aiko knew she was among the Nepleslians who could always be counted on to protect this region of the galaxy that both empires called home. But all of this ceremony was still mandatory for those procedural sticklers on both sides.

"That single unit of ID-SOL heroes I am most familiar with is but a seed of potential Yamatai and Nepleslia share when it comes to defeating the Mishhuvurthyar," Aiko said. "So Taisho Yui and our Empress Himiko — may she reign for ten thousand years — have sent me to ask. Will the rest of your people come to war with us?"

 

[Ametheliana]

Wilson J. Tybault Center
Diplomatic Reception Hall

From just above her spectacles, Violetta's pointed gaze observed the Ketsurui's panache and instinctual diplomatic timing. The princess' secondary handshake was as practiced as the first and made for a great press circulations, the Grand Admiral was sure. Even her buildup before her all important question was laden with what a Nepleslian would want to hear. Somewhere in Violetta's memory was her meeting with this Nekovalkyrja's mother and the differences could not have been starker. The Nepleslian wondered what had really come from that backroom meeting with Yui. With a push of her finger on the bridge of her glasses, she raised them to get a better look at the young woman before her. Perhaps it was time for the sector to see the two nations in the light shaking hands after so much time.

"If there is a seed of potential between the Imperium and Yamatai, Ketsurui Aiko, then it shall be watered and tended by Nepleslia," Violetta replied decisively. "We will fight the greatest threat this Sector has or will ever see wherever it may be, home or abroad, and protect what is ours. We will join you in your war."

Her statement had been said as if to those taking notes more than Aiko herself but now, she spoke to just the Ketsurui clan member as she went on. "Though my commitment is preceded by the finalizations of those under me and is further followed up by my own questions that threaten to dwarf it. Would you join me?" With an extended arm and her other hand half raised, Violetta showed the way to an inlet in the reception room wherein a table was set. Ringing it was semi-circle banquette made of green velvet and more dark wood paneling interrupted only by a wall sconce whose quartet of dangling emeralds glinted with reflected light. When Violetta sat down, she looked to Aiko, then to the server that had come and with a flair, had deposited porcelain cups and a large teapot from which Violetta poured them a richly aromatic orange liquid.

"An especially malty black tea from the former Lorath territories," Violetta explained of the brew as she placed the teapot on the table with its gilt spout facing herself. Her hands folded in her lap as she asked, "What light can you shed on the air of expedition and travel that this precedent for war with the Mishhuvurthyar has? I've learned that the enemy has supposedly spread all throughout the galaxy. We'll have to prepare ourselves for extending ourselves far and wide if that is the case."

 

[raz]

Wilson J. Tybault Center
Diplomatic Reception Hall

Now seated upon the green velvet bench, Aiko's mind was immediately apprehensive about accepting the Lorath tea. Of course, she had no reason to feel that way whatsoever, having never encountered even one Lorath in her life. Still, between the histories she'd consumed regarding that perfidious matriarchy and whatever Yui's experiences had engrained in Aiko's genetic makeup, some kind of doubt about drinking Lorath tea stuck with her. That hesitation only manifested for a microsecond of processing time in her digital brain, however, and she wrapped her fingers around the cup in a refined manner to lift it up and take a sip.

"Delightful," Aiko said, grinning beautifully with some impressed brightness in her scarlet eyes. Much of her positive reaction was for diplomacy's sake, her thoughts still colored with inherent distaste for anything Lorath, but she did enjoy any new taste and this one proved entertaining to her senses. Even beyond that, savoring the beverage gave Aiko a precious few more moments to formulate an answer to Violetta's query.

"As you know, Emperor Uesu chased the Mishhuvurthyar out of this region toward the galactic south," the Ketsurui diplomat said after putting down her teacup. "The task force to which myself and the Sky Marshal's son are assigned recently fought against the beasts down there. Beyond those minor holdouts here in the Kikyo Sector that pester both Yamatai and Nepleslia," Aiko continued, speaking of Ukk and Yuukan and all of the insignificant encounters that occurred locally from time to time, "it was believed that the Mishhu were largely confined to Uesu's frontier."

Aiko used the black-nailed tips of her alabaster fingers to gently rotate her cup, feeling its warmth while she took pause.

"That is not the case."

Only sent as an ambassador to secure some basic sense of cooperation between Yamatai and Nepleslia against the Mishhu, Aiko wasn't fully briefed on every top secret detail. She'd learn far more in the coming hours, days, and weeks as the First Officer for the Star Army's YSS Kaiyō II, but mostly had her own experiences and what little had been made public to go off of.

"The Second Fleet's unfortunate encounter has prompted Star Army Intelligence to cast a wide net," Aiko explained. "Our operatives and scout ships have discovered the Mishhuvurthyar far-and-wide throughout the galaxy. So we are going out to fight them before they gain enough strength to come back here. The details of how the Mishhu have spread — as well as how we intend to chase them down — are better left to more secure communications channels. For now, I must reiterate that their threat to the Kikyo Sector is inevitable should they be left to conquer the myriad of peace loving species who assuredly exist beyond known space. The Kuvexian War proved that such peoples and nations exist out there. Yamatai, with hope joined by Nepleslia, must help them from becoming food or fuel for the Mishhuvurthyar."