[Visitor's District (Seon and Gwion's Taxi)]

"Aha," Seon responded. It was a pure vocalization, not a laugh, but to his surprise he found himself following it up with a nervous chuckle. "B-because nothing quite goes wrong like a plan fixed in advance, right?"

I wonder if that was... was my mistake in all this. Developing my plans around the assumption that I could meet the Resistance with no further... The thought trailed off, and he shook his head slightly in a no. While he suspected his employers might disagree once he got around to contacting them, honestly he couldn't see any way he could have avoided having to pull out like this. That tracking ability was just too much for someone like him.

"Stay - um - alert," he said to Gwion, before glancing into the handphone again as he called the Dissidents' contact address. Or rather, called the number of the system that - once it had confirmed his identity - would put him in touch with their latest address through a series of intermediaries. Noxori might be relatively public, but the organization itself still had to keep a low profile even far away from the Federation Sphere.

And on the subject of Noxori... he rather hoped it wouldn't be her that answered his call. Even Varad again would be better then having to tell her that he'd been completely right about this assignment all along.

Feel free to progress everything else while Seon makes his call.

[Old City (Bus Stop)]

The cowled alien regarded the two young humans from behind the strange umbral effect that concealed its features. "I see. Well, no, I don't, but you know..." Its voice trailed off in a hiss, and the being bowed respectfully to Sophie and Midori. "I suppose you can simply tell me if you have seen any qrtxians when we might again." The hood swung back and forth between both of their faces. "We will meet again, kind strangers."

It turned and made its way away from them, soon vanishing in spite of its oddness into the eclectic crowds of the Old City.

[West Side]

"This is what you get when you let lawyers design a society," Gev grumbled. That was one characteristic of the Alliance in general that had never penetrated down to the Free League - thankfully so, as incidents like this showed.

Something nagged at her for a moment, but she couldn't figure out what it was. She sighed, and stared at Kevin with one silver eye. "It's all right, I guess. We might not have been able to bring him in even if we did catch him." That wasn't true - she thought she could have easily overpowered Seon's lone bodyguard and his outdated augmentations, at least assuming that he didn't have anything more unusual under the surface. And honestly, her talons kept twitching microscopically with the urge to grab the back of Kevin's head and slam him face-first into a wall. But of course she wasn't really going to do that, and it didn't do her any good to prolong hostility with the detective.

Not that it mattered much. Unless there was some unknown but quick-to-appear way they could get to the Gate before Seon left, she wasn't entirely certain what the point of further cooperation with the humans would be.

"So," she said out loud, "now what?"

[Waterfront (Beach)]

Qrlil sat up and watched Zerrimus go into the water for a moment - more out of genuine scientific curiosity then any sort of physical interest, though that was there as well. He seemed to use his wings while swimming in much the same way that she remembered the chimeras doing at the Sonjomi Resort; while she supposed that was understandable enough, she couldn't have been certain it would be the case. There were no true winged bipeds in her reality that she knew of, after all.

Hmm. I wonder how his people evolved like that. I'm not entirely certain the chimeras did evolve, but his reality seems much more like mine - no obviously 'magical' components to it.

She lay back down and turned her head towards Angua. "Thank you," she said. "I think."

For a moment, she wondered why she kept saying words to that effect to Angua.

"It could be that, or I suppose it could also just be the effect of qrtxian physical expression," she continued. "We do not, after all - "

Stop. No babbling.

She sat up again and looked more carefully at Angua, her posture shifting to a more open one and her voice beginning to sound like she was revealing a secret. She wasn't, exactly, but it was a bit of a... strange thing to think, much less admit out loud. "Honestly? I really would rather not... choose if it was possible."

edited 27th Jul '15 9:02:05 PM by nrjxll

[Bazaar-Mall]

The way to the mall didn't take too long; with flying boots, travel was a breeze. This time, Nick and Jackson moved at a steady pace, so Adam and Marie were able to keep up.

"Chaps." Jackson said, facing Nick, "Are you kidding me?"

"You're never gonna let that go, are you?" Nick asked.

"Nope! I'm not."

"Ass."

Once they got to the mall, they noticed Kris catching up. Marie smiled and waved.

"What took you so long?" she asked jokingly.

I'm so tired.

Old City - Bus Stop -> Main

Sophie gave the being a farewell nod. "I guess we'll see you later, then. Hope you have a good day."

She stood there for a little while, watching as it walked away and eventually vanished. In fact, she almost missed the fact that Midori had already headed off. Once she realized her companion wasn't there anymore, however, she quickly hurried off after her while hastily tucking her pendant away once again.

"I...uh...." she responded to Midori, before falling silent. After a couple moments, she smiled sheepishly and blushed slightly. "Er...I've got just as much of an idea as you do, really. I don't know how Samantha usually tracks these things down." She glanced around. "Um...I'd just say look out for any stores that sell odds and ends, I suppose. Maybe we'll find a better lead as we go?"

edited 27th Jul '15 9:35:18 PM by Yomegami

Icon by Civvi the Civilian!

West Side - Near Whitehall Motel -> Following Sabaoth

"I doubt he will be very hard to find," Moreena said, and began walking in the general direction of where Sabaoth had gone off to. "Let's just follow the signs of wanton destruction."

Garkin post coming later. Just assume he's still in the water for now.

Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.

[NEAR WHITEHALL MOTEL>FOLLOWING SABAOTH]

Lara wordlessly stepped forward to follow Moreena. Just as she began to turn the corner, she cast another glance at the crushed vehicle. It was at this instant that she realized why she avoided thinking about it.

At the time it seemed like a misstep, but in retrospect, she could see that Sabaoth had obliterated someone's car for his own amusement.

He acted on impulse without respect for another's property, and she, with the alleged signpost, acted on impulse without respect for another's property.

The similarities, however vague, weren't exactly encouraging.

Wanton destruction, indeed.

[Market Street] (Bazaar)

Miyuki and Akira exchanged a glance and a moment of uncomfortable silence. Neither of them knew the value of a dollar, so to speak. They weren't even sure what the local currency was called. Thus, Buso's advice of 'don't ask for too much' was essentially meaningless to them. Miyuki had never needed money for anything before. She always had what she needed, and could always just get what she wanted. Akira, on the other hand, had dealt with money before, but he'd never actually had much. At around the age where kids in the Capital got their first job, Akira got conscripted, and the Kagos Republic did not exactly send its soldiers out with picket change...

"Kyana!" Akira whispered, leaning towards her. "How much is too much? I'm, um, not good with money. What should we ask for?"

Not entirely dead.

Visitor's District - Taxi - Seon and Gwion

Stay alert. That wasn't going to be a problem. That "eager" feral part inside him felt like it was straining to ride with its head out the window, smelling the air.

There was only one thing he desperately needed: a reliable picture of the current status of the portal - and his latest phone call had organised that. They would not be heading blindly into a place that might already have a team waiting to intercept Seon.

That concern out of the way, he turned his mind to other considerations. They may only have the slimmest of leads over the pursuers in the autocab - there was no way of knowing how long their encounter with the police had delayed them. Two minutes? Three? Four? Plus maybe a couple of minutes to get underway and up to speed. So: four to six, seven at the outside.

That was plenty of time if everything went smoothly at the portal end, but any delays from any hypothetical back up team or "reception committee" and that could all be squandered away. Misdirection was impossible, the opposition's psychic or magical means of determining where they were at any given time would render any such attempt useless. Even attempting such a thing would chew up valuable time and there was no guarantee that their pursuers hadn't already guessed where they were heading.

The tactic of random misdirection had already been tried, had failed and, subsequently, had been abandoned in favour of the tactic of running like fuck for the door. No benefit was to be gained in attempting to return to it.

He really appreciated that Seon had "got" what he meant about the uselessness of plans - it made things so much easier when the protectee wasn't some air-headed celeb or bunch of naive JAFAs and actually had a practical sense of self-preservation.

Gwion recalled what he could about the portal and its surroundings. It was big; certainly big enough to acccommodate a space ship if necessary, and consequently the approach to the portal proper was large enough for land vehicles to come and go - which meant that they could drive right up to within a couple of metres of it if they wanted.

They could even conceivably drive right into it in the taxi, if it came down to it, but Gwion had no desire to go quite that far unless the circumstances were really dire.

But driving up and parking so close that Seon could get out, take a couple of steps and be safely away? That was certainly a possibility.

They were already to the east of the Spire, so they were only a couple of minutes away from the portal itself.

Market Street - Mall

Kris looked up at Marie hovering nearby. "As you can see, I had important business to conduct." She slapped the seat of the bike. "You lot going to hang about there all day?"

She headed into the mall with every intention of just grabbing a helmet and a pair of gloves but once she got inside the ranks of bikes and the vast clothing and accessories section took her breath away. This must be what religious bikers imagine heaven looks like.

She proceeded at a somewhat slower pace, eyes darting everywhere, until she got to where Teri and Wolfe were assisting James find a suitable pair of gloves.

As usual, James wanted to know all the pros and cons and intended uses of the gloves before selecting a pair.

Kris shook her head. "For crying out loud, you're only buying them for an exploration of the city, not a lifetime's use."

"That's still no reason to choose unwisely."

Kris grabbed a pair of basic leather gloves in her size from the rack then left them to it while she headed off to look at helmets. It occurred to her that Marie and the others didn't wear any sort of protective garments or headgear while trusting their lives to the flying boots - not that there would be much that could protect you if they failed. Perhaps a parachute if you were up high enough, she supposed.

She quickly found a helmet - a black flip-front helmet of a similar style to Teri's with purple patterning on it - and then had plenty of time to browse, marvelling at the array of goods on offer.

The intercom sets caught her eye so she grabbed a couple of identical sets and took them to the counter with her chosen helmet and gloves.

While she was paying for her purchases, Teri, Wolfe and James turned up, James finally having settled on a pair of lightweight gloves with carbon fibre knuckle guards and Goretex lining.

Wolfe eyed the intercoms. "Great idea. Do you think we should get another couple of sets for the others?"

"They're made to work with the headsets built into the helmets."

"True, but I'm sure we can find compatible headsets that they can wear - ear loops or over-the-head ones or something, and pair them up with the intercoms."

The attendant interjected at this point. "We do stock auxiliary headsets that you can pair with the intercoms. They're so you can still use the intercoms when you're wandering about away from the bike."

Teri nodded. "I'll go and grab some."

While James was paying for his purchases, Teri went off in search of intercoms and headsets. She returned within a couple of minutes.

"Wouldn't ya know it, they sell the intercoms in pairs, but the headsets are individually packaged." She dumped two intercom sets and four headsets on the counter and Wolfe got out his wallet.

They wandered back outside and, while Kris showed Teri and James how to pair their helmets' built-in headsets to the intercom units, Wolfe wandered over to Marie, Nick, Jackson and Adam.

"We thought these might come in handy for you to keep in touch with us and each other - they've got about a two-mile range in the city and up to about thirty in direct line of sight or in open areas. You can wear them on your belts and pair them up to these headsets. They'll let us all talk together or talk privately one to another if so desired."

James noticed the third bike parked at the curb and guessed why Kris had been delayed. "I'm beginning to think I need to learn to ride one of these things just so I can have my own."

Kris grinned. "You buy yourself one, hon, and we'll teach you to ride. You're friends with three top-notch riders."

James looked at the bikes and noticed something. "All three motorcycles have their support stands on the left side so they're all easy to mount from the left side, the same side as one mounts a horse. Back home on Terra Nova, this would mean mounting from the curb or the shoulder of the road, but here - where the vehicles travel on the right of the road, that means mounting from the road side."

Teri looked at him as if he had finally gone around the bend from over-exposure to technology. "So?"

"So, it would make more sense if the motorcycles here had their support stands on the right so that you mount from the curb. Instead, they follow the left-side-mounting convention of horses, which was done because swords are worn on the left," he slapped the sword hanging at his side, "and it's damned difficult to mount a horse from the right with your sword getting in the way."

Teri looked at Kris. "I think he's catching the 'nerd' disease from Wolfe."

Kris, who had heard Teri come out with some pretty "nerdy" comments herself, forebore to comment.

Visitor's District - Visitor Terminal

David Marshall of Central Couriers arrived at the terminal carrying Seon's case and looked about. He had seen pictures from the hotel security camera to help him identify his contact and there was no one that looked like that waiting anxiously for him to turn up. He breathed a sigh of relief - evidently he had got here in good time.

He located a place with a good view of both the door from the street and the portal and settled in to wait for this Rah-Klev Seon to turn up.

As he waited, a group of four humans emerged from the portal together. They looked to be in their thirties and although they were obviously together, they were as incongruous a bunch as you could ever hope to meet.

One was Chinese, with short bobbed black hair and neatly attired in a blue jumpsuit. What was unusual about her, however, was that she had startling bright blue eyes. One was a tall woman with brown skin and features that looked possibly Polynesian. Her hair was cropped short, each of her ears had five studs - green on the left ear and purple on the right - and she was wearing a smart business suit. One was a caucasian woman, shorter than the tall woman and slightly taller than the Chinese woman, with stylish short brown hair. She was dressed in jeans, t-shirt and a loose-fitting olive-green Army Surplus parka with German flags on the sleeves. The final one was a caucasian man with long dark hair tied back in a pony-tail and a neatly trimmed moustache and goatee combination. He was wearing jeans, t-shirt, black leather motorcycle jacket and chome mirrored sunglasses.

The group looked around, taking in the spectacle that was the Visitor Terminal and then split up, each heading for different places - the Chinese woman to the stands of pamphlets, the possible Polynesian to the computer terminals, the woman in the parka to the vending machines and the man wandered closer to the door, taking a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket as he did so.

West Side - Near Whitehall Motel -> Following Sabaoth

Eliza simply followed after Moreena, although considering she saw this as her own problem first and foremost she was quick to take the lead.

As it turned out, tracking Sabaoth down wasn't going to be as easy as Moreena and Lara might have thought. He actually didn't leave a massive trail of destruction behind him. There was the odd damage here and there, but it seemed more indicative of someone who knew where he was going and simply knocked things out of his way rather than someone who wanted to smash everything in sight.

Icon by Civvi the Civilian!

Meiko's Cafe

Kiyumi and Naoko turned around to Samantha and Kiyumi grinned, glad she seemed a bit better than before. "Will do." replied Kiyumi. Linxy smiled at all of them. "It looks like no other customers are coming in at the moment. So I can teach you all how to be a waitress now. Follow me." she said and would lead them to customers who have been seated but haven't ordered anything, all the while explaining everything there was to know about being a waitress.

Old City

Midori waved goodbye to the figure and thought about what Sophie said. "Stores sound like a good place to start. Let's go there then." she replied, curious what kind of things they would find in the stores in the magical part of Capital.

Market Street - Open Bazaar

Kyana listened to the conversations at hand and found herself a bit flustered when Akira asked how much money they should ask for. "Um...I...I'm not sure. How about one hundred dollars? I uh...think that's a decent price. And it should be good here." she answered in a whisper, not entirely sure how to bargain about money.

"Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?"

Old City

"Let's keep an eye out, then," Sophie said with a nod.

For another couple moments she was silent, looking around for potential shops just like she suggested. Eventually, she turned back to Midori.

"So...maybe this would be a better question for Kiyumi, but...." she started, "You call yourselves the 'Party Ninjas.' We've seen a lot of the 'Ninja' part, but...is there any chance you'll get to show off the 'Party' part?"

---

New City - Meiko's Cafe

Samantha appeared to be considerably more confident, or at least doing a magnificent job at faking it, as she followed the others. Or as she followed Linxy, rather; just as seemed to be the case when they left the arena, she also seemed very determined to keep ahead of Kiyumi and Naoko.

"I'll go first this time," she said, "I take it it's the same here as it would be in any other restaurant?"

Icon by Civvi the Civilian!

West Side - Following Sabaoth

The group continued to move through the dilapidated streets of the West Side, passing by the occasional gathering of rough looking locals. Upon hearing a soft, humming sound, Moreena looked up and caught a glance of a small, hovering machine of some kind, just before it disappeared from view behind a building. It wasn't one of the Bleaksteel's drones, but she got the odd feeling that she recognized it from somewhere. She shrugged, dismissing the thought, and turned to Eliza.

"So what do you think our excessively humongous 'friend' is up to?" she asked. "It would be a convenient stroke of luck if he was going after those magical girls, would it not?"

Waterfront

Garkin eventually got tired of swimming and made his way back towards the beach. He got out of the water and flapped his wings a few times to dry them off. Qrlil and Angua seemed to be discussing something, but he was too far away to hear anything.

edited 29th Jul '15 12:09:26 PM by Corvidae

Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.

[Desiccated Refinery]

Kommissar felt a bit refreshed now he had a meal. He nodded and stood up. "Right. Now where to-"

He pulled out his map— it was now crinkled and creased all over. He looked over every area of town- he would have to find someplace to scrape up some cash, and to be far from police. "Waterfront. Haven't been there yet. It's far from here. You have any suggestions yourself?"

He'd considered finding some work, possibly someone who needed some help, but after coming into contact with officers, he threw away that idea.

---

[West Side]

Kevin faced Gev, though not making eye-contact, and said, "My apologies for um- ending your mission." He felt a hunch that she wouldn't accept it, but he offered the apology anyways.

He turned away, and faced the distant skyline of the main Center. "There still might be time to catch those other two criminals, Echo and Kommissar. They might still be in the area." He wet his lips, and recalled how well the chase went. His recklessness ruined someone else's mission. He might as well ruin his own. "...Though I want to do it alone."

---

[Spire - 60th floor Conference Room]

The Commander nodded. The prospects were pleasing. He then thought of how many machines he has to carry. He faced Jade and said to her, "I suppose I can get a few more ships from the Coalition on board with us. Also considering they're giving us the funds to get aid, after all." The Coalition was small, but strong. The Republic and League were always well funded. "About the drones, I think we can program them onto our communication platform. We'll start small with them, yes, to make sure they work well. We could use the recon abilities."

Jac slouched in his chair. "Yeah, or scare bystanders with them," he mumbled.

Jade said, "In that case, we'd probably start small, like 10 machines and around 50 drones."

The hologram of Kegan nodded in agreement. "Now, for an alliance to be what it is, I have to offer something back."

Life is hard, that's why no one survives.

[WEST SIDE (FOLLOWING SABAOTH)]

Lara observed the sparse destruction that Sabaoth had undoubtedly caused. It wasn't as haphazard as she expected; instead, she could tell it was much more methodical. She inferred that Sabaoth was very no-nonsense. In the worst way possible. At the very least, tracking him didn't seem too impossible.

This made Lara think back to her exchange with the tyrant. Eventually, thinking over what he said, she looked up to Eliza, who was now in the lead.

"Can I assume he's told you a similar story?" She asked, "He pretty much said he was in the organization for the money. You probably know this, right?"

[Market Street ~ Open-Air Bazaar (Near Apothecary)] (Akira, Buso, Kyana, Luíseach, Miyuki)

Buso's mask turned to face Kyana, tilting slightly in curiosity.

"Good for you." he said after a moment. "Better to deal as little with Luíseach as possible. You'll feel beholden to her even when it should go the other way around."

Meanwhile, Luíseach stood apart from the others, arms folded with one restless finger tapping away. She shared an impatient glower with each of them in turn, and said, "Tick tick. The hand-off isn't going to wait, and you four still need to get down to the park. I've given you a reasonable head start—I'm invested in this turning out well, after all—but that head start won't last." She took a slow breath, her expression softening as she did so. "As I've said before, and will say again truthfully: I deal fairly. When you bring me that rock, you can spend as long as you'd like deciding upon your reward. And it doesn't have to be money, or medicine. I can do you much more than that."

Her eyes danced towards Kyana as she spoke these last words. "I am in touch with the earth and all of its swirling elements. What binds us and holds us together. What frees us and allows us to live. I'm in touch with a great power and gifted with the gift of gift-giving, to be shared with those that have earned it. Open your minds. Open your hearts. Find your greatest desires, and see them fulfilled. All for this rock."

"Or take a bit of money and live in peace without the constant reminder of why you should never trust this witch and her demented idea of fairness." said Buso, not wasting a moment.

"Buso, nobody asked for your opinion." she retorted, surprisingly calmly compared to the last few times he had cut in, "It's because they don't want it. So shut up."

Buso gave a grumbling sigh, but turned away, shaking his head and fiddling once again with his arm wrappings.

"I understand, it's a lot to think about," Luíseach continued, returning her attention to the other three, "if you need to spend time to figure something out, that's fine. But I advise you not to spend it here."

the color today

West Side - Following Sabaoth

"I think he'd be a little more...enthusiastic if it was the magical girls. Or at least taunt us about it; I imagine he's aware that you want to try speaking to them first, and his orders are simply to kill them." She shrugged. "As to what else it might be...it probably involves violence, but that pretty much goes without saying. Maybe he found someone else worth fighting?"

In response to Lara's question, she shook her head and sighed. "That's the problem with him. He doesn't care about money, he doesn't have any ideals, nothing. He just wants to watch the world burn, and he joined the Bleaksteel so he could help light the fires."

At that point, she started walking faster. They didn't seem any closer to Sabaoth than they were earlier; if they wanted to catch up to the machine they were going to need to pick up the pace.

Darius post coming later; kind of stuck there at the moment and I need to go to bed now.

Icon by Civvi the Civilian!

[Visitor's District (Seon and Gwion's Taxi)]

As the taxi approached the terminal, Seon finished speaking with his Dissident contact over the handphone. Varad, again; somewhat to his surprise, it hadn't gone that unpleasantly. She had actually sounded more concerned about him than concerned with chewing him out for the assignment going down. Though I guess it's not that surprising - she's not as much of a 'true believer' as Noxori, so it's no wonder that she doesn't dislike me as much.

He looked up at Gwion, wondering slightly at the odd sort of tension the bodyguard seemed to be showing. Not nervousness, or anything like he felt, but instead almost sort of an excitement. He wondered if it was a normal human reaction or just characteristic of someone in Gwion's role; even with etis-tra he'd never actually known anyone in the more violent sort of profession closely enough to be sure.

"O-okay," he said, then repeated it once more without the stammer. "All done with the calls. I - um - see we're almost there."

Not sure what else to add for him.

[West Side]

"Apology accepted," Gev said, though it was half-hearted. Not just because she was still frustrated with Kevin, but also because there was still that... something scratching at her mind. She tried to focus - What was it I had been thinking? Something about the Alliance and the Free League - though out loud she continued to speak. "And yeah, I think that would probably be best."

Then it hit her, and she held up a hand, fingers spread. "Both of you, shut up. I'm - I think I have something - we may not be finished quite yet!" Her beak clicked. "I can try contacting my superiors and try to have them send people through the portal from their side to intercept Seon before he makes it through. Don't know if it'll work, the Gate network has a mind of its own. But we specifically got a Gate from the Alliance for the duration of this, so it's - it's worth a damn try at least."

She lifted one of her arms to her face and began speaking rapidly into the comm port on the armor.

Night.

edited 29th Jul '15 11:56:00 PM by nrjxll

West Side - Following Sabaoth

Moreena picked up her pace to catch up with Eliza, the lower edge of her dress flowing across the ground in an almost liquid fashion, never getting stuck on anything and somehow staying clean despite what the environment was like.

"That would make sense," she responded. "Though I'm still curious as to why your father hired him. Sociopathic brutes can have their uses, of course, but you still need a way to control them.''

Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.

[Waterfront - Beach]

Angua's head snapped around to look at Qrlil. She looked briefly surprised, but the expression faded into a troubled stare.

Angua was silent for a few moments, then said, "So, that's how it is, huh?" She worked her jaw. "You know-" she began slowly, "I don't want to sound like I'm being pushy but... I mean, I've known you for-" Her mouth clamped shut, and she looked indecisive. After several silent moments more, she said, voice even, "You were really serious about this, huh?"

yey

[Waterfront (Beach)]

Qrlil tilted her head, troubled by Angua's response. She wasn't certain what she had been expecting, but it wasn't such a... well, troubled reaction.

For a brief moment she thought about reaching out to Angua, but she decided that it would be best to first understand the situation better. Perhaps she misunderstood what I meant? I'm not even entirely certain what I meant myself, so that wouldn't be all that surprising.

"Er," she said, her posture blank with genuine confusion. "Serious about what, exactly? This... relationship between us? Of course I am serious about it."

[Waterfront - Beach]

Angua took a second to reply. "Oh. Okay. Um, that's good. Yeah, definitely good. But uh- I guess it's safe to say that you're serious about you and Zerrimus too. So, I guess I'm asking, which one of the two is serious-er?" Her voice took on an awkward upward lilt at the end of the sentence.

edited 30th Jul '15 10:05:51 AM by Gault

yey

Meiko's cafe

"Of course." Linxy replied to Samantha's request to be first. She led the girls to a table with only one customer, a boy with spiky brunette hair who was fiddling with his phone, possibly taking pictures. He glanced up a moment then back at his phone before becoming startled and his phone slipped from his fingers to his table. "H-hey Linxy. I'm just waiting to ask for something. he stammered and peeked from behind her to Samantha and the others. "Who is that?" he whispered. Linxy just smiled at him and looked back to Samantha. "This will be your first customer. This is Aku, moi bosses little brother. Just remember everything I taught you. It is very much the same as any other restaurant." "Yeah, except we're dressed in super cute outfits." Kiyumi commented with a grin, peeking over to see the boy.

The boy blinked then flashed a cheesy grin. "How are you doing?" he asked the three.

Old City

Midori blushed deeply when Sophie asked about the party ninjas as they walked along the city. "We um... we do party stuff...sometimes when not asked. The casino Kiyumi mentioned we did a show at. She decided we should be the entertainers and do magic tricks. Then the manager found out and chased us off stage. She likes to use her ninja abilities as party tricks for others. She also likes to party herself...and try to get me to talk to cute boys..." she explained, her voice slowly drifting off to a murmur.

"B-but I don't mind, really, I have lots of fun with her and Naoko, even if we get into some, um, crazy situations." she added, face still red.

I'll wait for Blackfire before posting as Kyana

edited 30th Jul '15 10:25:46 AM by Sphinxyness

"Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?"

New City

"Koyel, it's like...midafternoon. We missed lunch." Varnas said as he brushed his hands against the sides of his pants.

"And a cafe's fine. Would rather not walk across half of the city to get something to eat."

Museum Park

...On second thought, it might be a better idea to get the transaction done and over with now. If you put it off for later, something could happen that causes you and your crew to have to leave quickly, thus losing this valuable opportunity.

"Actually, I changed my mind. We can conduct the transaction now, if you'd like. I will have to contact some of my people, and there will be a delay, but it can be done." Jurazel will probably hate you for this, but she'll get over it. Hopefully."...Maybe."

You grinned at Orenue's little comment. "Heh. Doesn't sound much like my ship, except the punching and maybe the alcohol."

You wonder where Trekesser wandered off to, and hoped that you didn't end up alienating him. It's a shame he left, you wanted to talk to him more. You haven't hanged out with an officer since before Rispah, and you miss the companionship. While you always had your crew, your position of authority and the constant close proximity made you feel a bit lonely. You had a lot of subordinates, but you believe you don't have any friends left.

edited 30th Jul '15 10:47:35 AM by Tehpillowstar

"Life is eternal; and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight." - R. W. Raymond

[Waterfront (Beach)]

Qrlil felt herself rocking back and forth in nervousness. She wanted to give a flippant or diplomatic response rather than seriously consider the question, but Angua deserved better than that.

Zhrj. How did I let myself get into this situation anyway?

To be honest, though, when she did think about it, the answer was fairly self-evident. She liked and was interested in Zerrimus, but she'd intended from the start to pursue that interest in a casual fashion and see how it developed. Angua, in contrast, she'd known for much longer and they'd had a significantly larger amount of emotionally intimate moments even before these... latest events. And while it was in large amount the result of circumstances more than anything else, she couldn't help but notice that she'd elected to spend more time with Angua than with Zerrimus.

She shook her head and sighed, then tried to give off a hiss before she resumed speaking. "I suppose, when I think about it, the one I am more - 'serious-er' - about is you." She lifted her head. "Er. I mean, you are correct in that we have known each other for a long time and through some... distinctive circumstances, and I just... well, I think that is more of a serious connection."

[Waterfront - Beach]

Angua blinked twice. "Yeah. Uh, well- that's obvious, right? I mean- yeah. You know what? Forget it." She shook her head, then looked up at Qrlil. "Um, listen- it's just good to hear that, is all." Then, she gave a wry chuckle. "I gotta seem like some lovesick little girl, huh? Needing some reminder every five minutes."

yey

Old City

"So that was what you meant by 'show' earlier," Sophie said, "I thought you were doing something a little more...uh...." At that point, she decided not to elaborate. Midori was really flustered as it was. "...You know."

She shook her head. "Anyway, I was wondering if we'd be able to so something like that tonight once the others get off work." She frowned slightly. "My own life has been...really hectic lately, what with all the killer robots and magical artifacts and stuff, and Samantha's just pure business. I'm not sure if she even knows what fun is." She sighed. "It'd be really nice to be able to relax for a while before we have to hit the road again."

---

New City - Meiko's Cafe

Samantha just rolled her eyes in response to Kiyumi before focusing on the boy.

"I can't complain, I suppose," she said to him, in a rather businesslike tone of voice, "Anyway, I'm Samantha and I'll be taking care of you today." She patted around herself, as if looking for something, before shrugging. "I suppose I can start you off with something to drink?"

Although she seemed to be making a conscious effort to look and sound polite, between her body language and the underlying tone of her voice she seemed to be sending off the messages of "back off and don't get any ideas."

---

City Center - Spire (60th Floor Conference Room)

Darius nodded. "Such a request is certainly doable for us." He then frowned and was silent for a few moments in what was apparently thought. "Although there might be difficulties in physically transferring them to you, considering I imagine we come from...very different places. And even if the first is a success, there is no guarantee we'll be able to remain in constant contact. If you so desire, I can also give you the blueprints for the machines so you will be able to manufacture them on your own.

"As for our own request...." He was silent again. "...The problem is that what we currently desire most is not something I believe you can truly help us with, as it involves hunting down certain items that may or may not be present within your own realm, or even within this city." He tapped his fingers against the table.

edited 2nd Aug '15 1:29:23 PM by Yomegami

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