Aeon - The Odyssey

[Xinnidy]

It seemed most everybody here was sticking around for the team... could be promising. Karina just had to make sure she wouldn't blunder like last time.

She didn't want to think about it at all.

"Still can't believe you can just buy it on your own... well, more power to us." Karina now idly looked at Mewlanie, still leaning on the table, arms crossed. Her feelings about being in this team were conflicted, but Karina would try to stand out again --the chance was laid in front of her, after all--. "So... We'll have to keep in contact, yeah?" This point could get a bit cumbersome, with the knowledge their devices were being snooped on by that AI.

Overall, Karina would like to think it was a step in the right direction.

[Afterglimmer]

Looks like most of us are staying despite what happened.  Some of them are a bit odd, but where's the fun in a boring team?  In that case…  “Yeah, I’ll stay as well.  I didn’t sign up just to be scared off so easily.”  This definitely wasn’t how he expected to join up, but a direct handout like this wasn’t something that comes along often.  Additionally, the investigation into the AI could be a big bonus to the thrill that Aska was looking for to spice up his life.  He had a chance for a good performance and he was not about to let this opportunity slip away.

“I can chip in to help pay for the package if you want; 50/50,” The hawk-faced player offered Mewlanie as Hitomi reaffirmed the bold claim she had made earlier that morning.  “Doesn’t sit right for one of us to pay for the entire thing and I have a bunch of credits saved up from my other shows.”

[Rothene]

What happened to just esports? Why is there a rogue AI after us? But ignoring that, this is my chance to win some actual money! Helena thought to herself. All these protocols, quarantines and nonsense were just too much for a little girl to understand. But Frame OPs, team games? That was just up her alley.

"Uuhh, ah, YES! I'M STILL IN!!!" Helena shouts clenching both her fists and trying to mimic some cutesy idol pose that she had seen many times...and failing with wobbly steps and clearly nervous smile. "Shall...shall we talk about team tactics?"

[Sarki Soliloquy]

Makala's slump shuffled, the cold reception from Karina & Linus confirming a strain of mistrust. Alas, his cocky jeer held - these were the reactions he wanted, and expected considering he lost count of the years where he came to rely on his abrasiveness fulfilling his impressions. This never took course with his father, yet Linus exhibited a shred of his magnanimity.

"Ohoh, si wanna mora de mi? Hmm hmmph, how flatulating! Besides, I no planned to be tailin' off even if you says no, no? Muchas gracias we gets to keeps on the playings."

Pirouetting to rise, his glance switched to Karina. He shrugged his neck out, as if scanning down her spine, the glower of his left eye leering beneath the corner of his skunk tail fringe. "Muuuuy, stale maymays? Si, is glad to hears' catch you knows lotta the archaic bullshetin boars! IIRC me's gotta coupla hard drives rigged up on uno me spare mainframes at hotel. Dun's knows WTF contents be findings, if'n you's wants the see."

[Phoenix]

From the sound of it, they were still good on the ship front. Hitomi was admittedly relieved, though Aska's offer to go half and half on the purchase with Melanie was surprising. Melanie was a streamer, but what did Aska do for a living? Maybe he was some kind of performer ... As for whether it was a good idea to split the bill or have just one person handle it, Hitomi wasn't really sure. The best ship offers in the catalog were so far beyond her budget, she couldn't even fathom what kind of investment it was for either of her new teammates. She only knew they could at the very least afford to be making these offers. Somehow.

"I um ..." Hitomi forced a smile, "I guess I'll let you two sort it out once we decide on the ship we want ..."

Serval Sage took a moment to fiddle with his glasses, which had a small display built into them. "One sec, Karina ..." Before long, just about everyone had received a message from him, one that would let them all sync up their contact details once they opened and confirmed said details and their consent. Even without it, they could still look each other up on Battlenet, but this was more a matter of convenience.

Helena chimed in, letting them know she was sticking with Odyssey, and went on to ask if they should discuss tactics. Tempting as it was, that was getting a little ahead of ... well, everything. Makala also agreed to stay, or at least that's what Hitomi thought she heard. There was also something about hard drives, but that didn't seem to be directed at her or Linus, so she put it out of mind.

With Helena and Makala having given their affirmatives, that was everyone accounted for. They now had ten members, the required minimum for participation in all of Frame Ops PvP game modes. Not a magic number by any means, teams benefitted from having a few extra members in case someone was unavailable, and might otherwise bring on a freelancer temporarily, but having ten active meant they couldn't be excluded from any competition based solely on their numbers. "That reminds me ... before we do anything else, I should start getting everyone registered," Hitomi said, looking down at the table and pulling up a fresh display of her own. "Just make sure you all agree once they ask for confirmation, okay?" With that, she put a call in to Battlenet ...

Kirara was definitely done here ... at least she hoped so. Between Matsuo's attempts to recruit her, and Melanie's attitude, she'd prefer to be doing something more productive elsewhere. Turning her attention to the display, she asked, "If you're going to keep an eye on them then I'm free to go, right? We've gotten all the information from them we can get at this point."

"I wish you would give up this loner lifestyle. Anyway, we do need to discuss a few things. Head home and we'll get started."

"Home, huh? Okay." Kirara wasted no time in heading for the exit. "Good luck this season, Odyssey. Sorry for not being in the best mood, today ..."

"Completely understandable. Take care, Kirara," Matsuo waved with a big smile. Once she left the cafe, Matsuo spoke to the AI. "So far I've been able to piece together that Kirara works with you wards ... I'm just not sure to what extent."

"Yeah, I've read about stuff like that," Sage chimed in, "Random people doing random things for Eupraxia. Is the pay good? If so, sign me up."

"There's no need to ask about that," Alexis shook her head, "If we wanted someone to do something for us, we'd contact them, not the other way around. Putting it bluntly, if we haven't reached out to you, we don't need you right now. If you're truly interested in working with us in the future, consider this incident with the rogue AI your evaluation."

[Nanami Touko]

"Eh, really? 'Alf and 'alf? Mais, oui, I 'ave no probleme wis zis... Eef zat ees what you want, bird boy, zen we can split ze cost." That would make her funds situation a bit more comfortable going forward. Leave her with some savings... Not that she needed it for anything, but maybe some personal protection was something to look into with this situation unfolding...

[Phoenix]

Game On

Scenario Page

13:30 Tuesday, February 1st, 2405 A.D.

An unknown location.

Some things just didn't make sense to Hitomi, not the least of which was Carmen's skill with a plasma blade. The two squared off in an old temple ruin. Sunlight only reached the inside through missing sections of wall, ceiling, and various crevices. The only light besides came from the clashing weapons wielded by Hitomi and Carmen. Hitomi simply didn't understand how she couldn't even scratch Carmen while the woman was carrying only a single blade, and she two. They had done this before, of course, and Carmen always warned her that the additional blade wouldn't be enough to beat her. Hitomi figured she could adapt over time and at least win once. It wasn't as if Carmen's approach to defense ever changed, though it was a stark contrast between how the two handled themselves in Frame Ops.

Catching her breath, Hitomi rushed in with her two blades and tried a different combination with them. She swiftly brought her main hand down for an overhead swing while winding up to follow with a wide slash at Carmen's abdomen. It was a fast move, but Hitomi was fairly short and lacked the reach of a conventional swordsman, so Carmen didn't have nearly as wide an area to defend. The serf woman deftly batted the downward swing up and away from herself, nearly knocking the weapon out of Hitomi's hand. For a brief second, Hitomi was completely open. Rather than ending the fight there like she normally might, Carmen moved to parry the sideswipe, stepping away from it to position herself off to Hitomi's right. Letting the shorter girl's momentum force her too far forward, Carmen lightly tapped the hilt of the plasma blade in her right hand, damaging critical components, cooking Hitomi's hand, and effectively destroying the weapon.

"Ow! R-really ...?" Hitomi had little choice but to drop the roasted cylinder and take up the remaining one in her dominant hand.

"You only need one, Hitomi," Carmen said, mentally exhausted by her friend's stubborn insistence on dual wielding.

"Why does this keep happening, though? I know I'm not 'built' for it, and yeah, you practice every day, but with beam swords, you don't need to be strong to take someone down. I only need to glance you to get the advantage ... so how do you defend every inch of yourself while I keep getting minced?"

"Not every inch, but if you manage to land a glancing blow, that probably would make a big enough opening for you," Carmen agreed, "The problem is you don't have good form and you can't hold back my attacks, so even with one blade you're in trouble. Dividing your arms and focus between two weapons makes it even easier for me, believe it or not." Deciding to demonstrate, Carmen abandoned her seemingly insurmountable two-handed grip and began languidly waving her plasma blade around. "Do you see this? This could work for someone who's trained for it ... and has good strength and coordination, but you don't have either, and you're doing this with both hands. I can disarm you whenever I want when you fight me like this. Maybe if you use a shorter blade for parrying and ... well, I'll give it some thought and offer some serious suggestions, later."

"Whenever you want, huh?" Dejected, Hitomi sighed and began trying to mimic Carmen's ready stance, even as the serf resumed hers. She mirrored the serf as best she could, but neither the form nor the confidence was there. "Sooner or later I'm going to beat you."

"Maybe someday," Carmen smiled apologetically, "but not today."

The two women closed the distance between them and clashed. Another pass followed. Hitomi swung from the left hard hoping to take off Carmen's head, but the plasma blade passed right over Carmen as she ducked. ... having been soundly defeated multiple times after missing a high-risk attack like this, Hitomi could only wince while her instincts cried out, begging the impossible ...

"HAH!!!" Carmen struck hard and Hitomi collapsed, struck down by her taller, stronger, faster, and more experienced opponent. "Match."

13:32 Tuesday, February 1st, 2405 A.D.

Providence, Eupraxia Grand Station, Jovian Sphere.

Hitomi crawled out of the immersion pod. Carmen's pod was right next to it, and she was already out and putting her shoes on. The room they were in was considerably better illuminated than the temple ruins of the game they were just playing. Most of the other immersion pods weren't in use, and those that were hummed quietly as other players in the store enjoyed themselves. Hitomi and Carmen were preparing to head out, though. The Launch game store was no arcade, neither in terms of sheer scale or quality of games, but the two gamers sometimes stopped for occasions like these.

"Next time ... oh right, we didn't really go over everything with the rogue AI ..."

"No point in doing so," Carmen grinned, "I don't know anything about it that wasn't in the news reports. Even Kirara mentioned it. Her take seems less dramatic than a lot of the others ..."

Hitomi forced a smile. Jovians were easily bored, and that led to some interesting journalistic tactics. "Considering how serious she is and the fact she was actually there when it happened, that doesn't surprise me one bit." Hitomi wondered if Kirara had actually taken the time to mellow out and get back into character for that report, or if she was like most famous journalists and just used dupes for the busywork. Considering she was a hardcore Frame Ops player, Hitomi was willing to bet Carmen was watching a dupe deliver Kirara's report on the fiasco at Stratus last night.

"I'd ask Ninos if he's heard anything since he has some impressive sources here on the station ... but that means having to approach him. My apologies, but ... I'd rather not."

"No need to apologize!" Hitomi rushed over, "After selling off your cat just to get even, you should be avoiding him."

"Oh ..." Carmen paused, thinking about something. While Hitomi was left hanging for a moment, she wasn't anticipating anything too bad. "I could tell you about what Lord Riaz did while we decide where to go. You wanted to meet up with the team soon, right?"

"We haven't picked a place yet since we're a little too well known, now ... heheh. We're close to being able to call this a real team again, but first, we need to get into some battles and get used to working together. Anyway, Linus said he'd call when he found one, but I'll bet you fifty credits that Sage is going to do a group call sometime in the next five minutes. He's so quick on the trigger ..."

"Is he playing team manager or something?" Carmen chuckled, "I thought Motherloader was the one you were having trouble with."

"No ... he just ... he's really assertive when it comes to the tech stuff, I guess? Anyway, we'll wait for Linus to call. So what'd Lord Riaz the Magnificent do this time?"

Carmen smiled earnestly. "Saved a piece of my soul ..."

The Lord of House Riaz

When Carmen stepped into Ninos' quarters, she was only given comfort by the fact that she knew why she was there, and the reason was a mostly comforting one. She was there to speak with Lord Riaz over a live video feed, and not necessarily to deal with Ninos directly. Incidentally, Ninos was looking seriously irritated when she arrived. From the look of things, whatever was said to Ninos had him feeling helpless, at least that's what that expression usually meant.

Ninos took a step to the left of the large monitor, giving Carmen all the room she could possibly hope for. "Well, here she is ..."

Lord Riaz smiled at her over the monitor, a gesture she couldn't help but return. "Wonderful to see you again, Carmen."

"Likewise, Lord Riaz," Carmen bowed her head briefly.

"Right, then. I had Ninos summon you because I have a surprise for you."

"A surprise?" Carmen echoed, not sure what to think.

If Ninos' sudden, almost silent, "Hmph ..." was anything to go by, it was something he didn't want her to have, but that her prime benefactor did.

Lord Riaz raised up his hands off to his right, as if holding them out to receive something. Someone offscreen then carefully handed off a small cream-colored animal to him. Carmen recognized the creature instantly. Happiness? Joy? Both understatements. "Is that ...?!"

As Lord Riaz gently turned the young feline toward them, he said, "Yes, Carmen, Lyra is here with me."

"... h-how?" Carmen pleaded, still overjoyed, but also confused. Ninos had only sold her cream striped friend to an interested buyer and her husband here on Eupraxia Grand Station mere days ago. Even if her Lord managed to get Lyra back somehow, getting to Babylonia in that time seemed just ... barely feasible. Not impossible, but ...

"Worry not," Lord Riaz soothed, "She is no clone or anything of the sort. I am well aware of the friction between you and your captain. Ninos overstepped in contacting that couple. I decided to have one of our people on the station purchase Lyra back from them later that same day. A difficult negotiation; we paid them more than triple the original asking price. Afterward, she was placed on a fast ship and brought straight to me for safekeeping. Until the situation aboard the Sipa Lugal is more stable, I plan to keep Lyra here in Babylonia. However, this is not a punishment for either of you, I simply plan to keep this poor creature out of the crossfire."

"Thank you, Lord Riaz!" Carmen could barely contain herself, "Thank you so much. I'm just happy she's alright ... with those people, I wouldn't have any idea. I would probably have never seen her again ..."

"And it would have been a valuable lesson," Ninos muttered bitterly.

"Hardly, Ninos," Lord Riaz smiled as he gently stroked Lyra's head, "If you plan to lead your crew the same way the Iron Ilk lead theirs, you won't be in command for much longer. Many of the serfs aboard that ship carry the spirit of power, as well as royal blood. Marduk, Ishtar, Semiramis, Rachel ... They may be servants of House Riaz, but everything that led their forebears to greatness resides in them. You would do well to remember that." While it was a stern warning, likely a rehash of the tail end of their previous discussion, Lord Riaz had an aura about him. He wasn't particularly upset with Ninos, and the Captain hadn't reached the end of his Lord's patience with him. He was simply letting Ninos know that his current approach was ... at best, counterproductive.

"I'll remember," Ninos conceded, "Well then, if that's all, father ... I'd like to get back to work. These powerful serfs, these inheriters of Marduk, Ishtar, Semiramis, and Tiamat are planning to put on several shows for the Jovians starting tomorrow. I need to make certain everything is in order with the authorities."

It wasn't long into Carmen's retelling of yesterday's events that Hitomi realized exactly why House Riaz's serfs were so fond of its current leader. Carmen, especially. No more jokes at the man's expense, then. Maybe putting Ninos in charge of the Sipa Lugal hadn't been the best idea, but he clearly had his reasons, and the serfs in the crew were bearing with it as well as they could. With Lord Riaz keeping a watchful eye on things, maybe it would all work out in the end. It probably wouldn't help them get Carmen back onto Team Odyssey, but that felt like n entirely different problem.

"It would be nice to see Lyra in person, but I got to spend some time with her over the comm system. That's good enough for now."

"The Lugal's got one of those smartcell 3DIs doesn't it? So it's kind of like being there in person," Hitomi offered with a smile and a soft shrug.

Carmen nodded. "Yes, but it would still be nice to hold the real Lyra and not a bunch of smartcells."

"True ... Alright, well it hasn't been five minutes yet, but I'm still betting Sage is going to do his thing, first."

Right then, Carmen received an alert and made a short detour to a smartglass pane nearby in the walkway. She tapped the screen with the back of her index finger and made the connection. A framed display appeared and another serf woman took up the vast majority of it. "Hey Carmen, get back to the ship! We need you!"

Carmen grimaced. She doubted it was too serious, but with Euphrosyne it was sometimes hard to tell ... "What's happening?"

"I tried, I really did, but absolutely no one else is willing to wear these stupid things. You, Georgios, Sheridan, and Mary are it ..."

"Costumes?" Hitomi glanced back and forth at the serfs, wondering what was going on. "Is ... this for Batcon? You did say the Lugal crew were putting on an exhibit or something ... but what do you need costumes for?"

"How did you convince Mary of all peo-! ... erm ... I guess I could do it, but can we hold off on the Estate for a few more hours? I'm sure people care more about Thomas than a bunch of serf maids."

"Really?!" Hitomi grabbed her sides and hunched over, the mental image nearly flooring her, "It's a maid cafe?! Hahahahah!"

"Not quite, but ..." Carmen couldn't really argue over it. That was a fair way to describe what they were doing. The serfs working on part of the Sipa Lugal's contributions to Batcon wanted to share some of the Golden Kingdom's high culture and serf servants were an important part of that. As for why they were wearing 'costumes' as opposed to traditional servant attire, that had more to do with Jovian culture and their flare for the absurd. An honest, if misguided attempt to build bridges and downplay the seriousness of their societal differences, something that had them yapping at each other to this day ...

"I guess I should hurry back, then." Glancing at Hitomi, who was just now recovering from her laughing fit, Carmen got an idea. "I know I might regret this, but what if Odyssey met up at the docks? I guess it's technically enemy territory, but we're all busy right now. The most Ninos could do is send mean looks your way."

"You know what? That would help us avoid most of the random people trying to cannonball onto the team, too," Hitomi reasoned, "Besides, you're our friend. We should be there to cheer you on and help round up any troublemakers."

"Round up troublemakers?" Euphrosyne scoffed, "Just leave that to us. We appreciate the thought, though."

"Alright," Carmen sighed, "let's call Linus and the others and see if they're alright with this."

"On it~"

'Hey everyone, it's BB! I have a meeting place where we won't get buried in bodies, but I want to make sure everyone can make it. Carmen's people are holding some exhibits down at the docks, so that's a good place to meet up. I'm pretty sure they'll be serving food and drinks, too. Also, Thomas is here. For those of you who don't know who that is, he's House Riaz's best pilot, and he's also a G-Man! Anyway, directions are attached, so let me know!

P.S. Did this before Sage! Hah!

P.P.S. Linus, reply back before I lose my bet with Carmen!'

Edited October 3, 2019 by Phoenix

[Nanami Touko]

"Going out again... What an 'assle..." At least Melanie had been able to quickly find her way to a new phone. She'd been needing an upgrade, this was just a good excuse. She was out, hers was broken, even if... It was her own fault. She'd spent the entire night fixing contacts, programs, logins, even setting up an antivirus-- even if it wouldn't do much good. Once she'd found Hitomi's contact, she managed to get the rest from her, adding them all... Except Motherloader. With how egregious he'd been texting their recent 'friend', she wanted absolutely nothing to do with his contact information. There was hesitation on whether or not to include Makala in her list of contacts, but she went with tossing him in eventually. He may have been a creep online, but he hadn't done anything in person. Anything crazy, at least... The drink he'd gotten her hadn't been spiked, good first time.

And now, with the previous day's nonsense behind her, Melanie had stuffed herself into another sweater hoodie combo, found some leggings, and gotten into a taxi. Down to the docks, it was... Hat held over her ears for the moment, reading glasses on, she slumped in the seat and checked her LunaTicks feed. Lotta coverage of that Kirara... Was that, even Kirara? Something felt off about her totally-a-rival idol, this time, but maybe she was just tired. Yesterday had been terrible, even a good dosage of makeup wasn't completely hiding the bags under her eyes. That crowd run in and the AI, had just ruined her sleep. What little she did get ended in a nightmare involving her screeching old phone.

"Hhhhh... Mon dieu..." It had been the first time in half a year that she'd had to cancel her stream, that night. Apologies were doled out as necessary, hopefully people understood, even if there were some people upset about her live showing. Something about not coming to see her to get kicked by some blonde... "Heh." Remembering that brought a little life back into her, even if she'd been kind of a bitch to Karina. "She deserved somesing after making me wear zat collar, franchement..." Another yawn was angrily forced down, Melanie sitting up, before checking her phone for Hitomi's contact.

'Bonjour, 'itomi. I am already on ma way down to ze docks, eef you want me to stop zis cab and 'ave eet pick you up, also... So long as you are already not zere. Ozzerwise, I will see you zere, I suppose.'

Probably not the most enthusiastic note to start her day on, but she wasn't going to play like she was feeling great if there wasn't a crowd to impress.

Edited October 8, 2019 by SnakeMomMelissa

[Ether]

The docks, huh? Monika sighed... she really didn't want to leave the apartment after yesterday... she could always just... say she had changed her mind. It was reasonable, after everything that had went down. Lay low for a bit, maybe make a smurf account... back to safe, secure anonymity...

That would probably make Melanie sad, though.

Why did she care? She only knew the girl for like a day... she'd get over it. Just... don't accept the contact request from the streamer's new phone, don't show up to this meeting. All she had to do was hit reject...

"Contact request accepted." Came the automated voice from her outdated phone as she pressed her thumb down on the button. Always spineless, Mother had always hated that. But who cares what that wretched woman thought? Maybe this would be good for her... she didn't see how, but... maybe. It wasn't like being a wallflower had gotten her anywhere past a low tier tech desk job anyway... it wasn't like she needed to put on some sort of vibrant neon uniform or something... she could just contribute in her own way, and let the ones who wanted to be the faces stand out. Yeah... baby steps.

Speaking of steps, she could burn off some of that convention food before it made permanent residence on her ass. On second thought... the docks, huh? It was a bit far to jog... train it is then. She'd just have to exercise off the second day of party food twice as hard. Exhibits with a renowned pilot, was it?

"Err... there isn't an entry fee for this exhibit, is there? Batcon was my extras budget for this month..." Aaaaand send. 

[Phoenix]

"Hmm," Hitomi gave Melanie's reply some thought. They weren't that far from the Sipa Lugal's dock, were they? Whether it was a compak or the metro, people heading for the docks in any of Eupraxia's six cities would eventually wind up in the inner side of the docking bays surrounding each saucer. Both of the main forms of transportation made use of the tunnel system, and both were extremely fast. If they walked from where they were, Melanie could potentially get there first, but that depended on where she was right now. "Thoughts?" Hitomi showed Carmen the message.

Carmen shrugged as another message came in. She smiled and let Hitomi check it first.

"Wha ...? Extra budget?" Hitomi frowned, "It sounds like she's close to the red."

"There is an entry fee, but we're just trying to cover the ad time we bought. I could ask Euphrosyne to wave-"

"I'll pay, it's no problem," Hitomi interjected quickly.

"Or that ... alright. As for picking us up, I think we're close enough. No one's going to be waiting long. That and you should probably gather everyone up before heading inside."

"Right, though I'm not sure if everyone's going to show, yet." Hitomi sent a reply back to Melanie. 'We're good. Race you there?' She followed up with a message to the group as a whole. 'There's an entry fee but I've got everyone covered, so don't worry about that.'

'Hey, I just checked out that Estate thing those Babronies are doin'. You can count me in. I'm already on my way there. And thanks for coverin' our fees, BeeBs.'

"... Irvine," Hitomi scowled. She had her suspicions for why he was so enthusiastic.

[Nanami Touko]

'Race you,' Melanie typed back in, eyeing Monika's message. Before she could reply with her thoughts, Hitomi tossed out her offer to pay for everyone. That was the captain's job, she supposed... Still, fingers typed out, 'I can pay for you, Monika,' and let that sit. Whether or not that would matter in the future, Melanie didn't want one of her new friends thinking they couldn't attempt something over something as trivial as money. Melanie had pockets to empty, and entry fees to something like this weren't going to break her bank even if she paid them one hundred times. She'd cover Karina, too, if the girl needed it...

The drive moved along at its own pace either way, Melanie gently putting her phone into her hoodie's pocket. "Time to... Put on votre idol face, Melanie. Smile for ze camera~"

Maybe she could get herself pumped up... Explain why there was no stream for real, why she'd be late to one today, if she even did one. "Hmmm... Oh! Okie, game face, allons-y." Melanie pulled her hat off and let her ears out, fixing her hair a bit. She turned her phone's camera on, switching to the inner one, practiced her smile for a moment, and...

"'Allo mon amis! Mewlanie 'ere~ I am on ma way to a secret meet up, wis... Ma new team! Oui oui, I 'ave joined up wis Team Odyssey for zis season of Frame Ops! You can look zem up eef you wish, and I 'ope zat you get to know zem~ Zey will be een a lot of ma games going forward. I may even duo wis some of zem on ma streams, mon dieu... Per'aps even... Ze legendary, Keizerin!? Eef you check ze team, you will see, she ees also on eet! Sacre bleu! C'est fantastique, non!? Anyway... Mwah, I will see you all later~ Au revoir, mon amis~" And stop... Smile drop, heavy sigh. Being so saccharine was a talent, it had to be. Post to LunaTicks, grumble a bit, fix hat back onto her ears. "H'okay... Didn't give up ze location zis time. I should be fine."

Edited October 8, 2019 by SnakeMomMelissa

[Afterglimmer]

The next morning came a lot quicker than Friedrich would have liked, even with the roundabout route he took to leave to throw off any possible pursuers once he changed out of his Aska costume.  He didn’t know what was worse, the remnants from yesterday’s stressful events or the lecture Nicholas had prepared when he got back to the hotel.  He was already beside himself with worry at how late it was as well as the news of the AI attack, but cooled off after a few minutes once Friedrich.  Friedrich decided against telling Nicholas about his “involvement” the AI; if he found out about that, Team Odyssey would be finding a sudden vacancy on their roster.

Nothing eventful happened throughout the morning.  Friedrich reported his initial findings on the reports he managed to get through as his intent to investigate the few teams he had looked over.  To cover his tracks, Team Odyssey wasn’t on the list of approved applicants that he had sent back to HQ.  With that matter settled, he quickly shot a confirmation text to Nicholas, who was meeting with some BattleNet reps to get the necessary sponsorship forms, before checking his “Aska” phone.  Hitomi wanted to meet everyone at the docks.  She also mentioned that the entry fee was waived, which Friedrich was thankful for since he was about to use up most of what was left in the budget for their trip paying for that battleship package.  He still had some credits left, but he wanted to hold on those in case of an emergency.  ‘I’ll be there shortly,’ Friedrich replied, adding an emoji of a hawk spreading its wings.

The Aska costume was ready to go, with a few minor repairs and checkovers having to be done on the mask and voice-changer.  Friedrich didn’t want to run into any “surprises” the AI might have left from yesterday.  He quickly sent a text to Nicholas, saying that he was going to out to meet “some very important people.”  It’s not a lie, at the very least.  Otto would kill me if he knew I was meeting a G-Man.  Containing his excitement, Aska left the hotel; hailing a taxi to take him to the location stated with Hitomi’s directions.

[Rothene]

Helena barely got three hours of sleep after heading home. The strange day's events just made her want to play more frame ops at home. Blow up some random pubs regardless of whether her side won or lost. 

When her phone rang, it sent her room alarms buzzing, because it was attached to a contact she grouped under 'Frame Ops priority', and she was loathe to screw up on impressions. In a zombie like daze, the petite girl replied she would go there. Then snoozed for a good extra thirty minutes because she was not bothered with being ten minutes late.

After all, her eyebags were atrocious at that hour. Thankfully with her complexion, it would be less noticeable by the time she got to the docks.

[Sarki Soliloquy]

Another idle morning, only a day next to the Batcon incident.

Makala rolled himself into burrito upon the mattress. Black matts of hair drape out from his scalp, siddling & wobbling perhaps from inquistion in comfort.

"Why would they ever care enough?" He rolled towards his weathered cellphone, the indent of his hand glossed overtime by sweat. Shuffling out of the blanket, his lower half was stained, covered by hot pink tights, Mewlanie's stream insignia (or its vague impression, as if in low DPI) stitched to the bandwidth of his ass. Most certainly custom order.

He was able to share contacts with the rest of the Odyssey. No word unsurprisingly, even if he expected a 2nd meetup point to be disseminated across the team. There was a Babylonian mansion projection being hyped up during the con week. Maybe Hitomi & Linus would opt for a splendid venue. No Mewlanie stream today either. Mewly Mews... I know you're still cheering for me. For, us?

With the AI's insurgency leaving Batcon yesterday, he chalked it up to those tensions. Involved at the epicenter of a contra-federational conspiracy no less. He had the room's hologlass tuned onto various news media & net feeds. Surely, reports would've come out from Eupraxia explaining the 'network anomoly' at Batcon.

"Heightened security this. Babylonian hacker cabals, that. Blah blah. Sweet mamosa Jove, you can't live down the stream snips from yo exhibs! But who knew? FO Ticks're too busy chaff'n lube themselves over the warship circlejerk."

[Xinnidy]

That previous day, Karina had returned home quietly, rejecting Makala's 'wonderful' offer to look up the archive of dubious webcommunities. The rest of the meeting was mostly organizing their contacts, which was expected.

What kept her busy was thinking on how to tackle this to her brother. He definitely heard something, he was in the army, after all. The restrained hype from joining a competitive team was blanketed by Karina's worries on whether she'd be allowed to continue at all. Father would be against it, but it wasn't like his stance on the matter changed, which meant things fell on her brother being okay with it.

After enough dawdling in the living room, Karina went to her room and turned on the desktop unit she used for gaming. It felt best to communicate with her brother in something that was not her usual avenues after the incident... she'd keep her portables to communicate with Team Odyssey, if nothing else.

Karina:
Hey bro...

She fired her message, leaning onto the desk. She didn't feel like turning the lights on, so all that illuminated the room was the screen's light shining unevenly on her face.

Aniki:
Hi
Aniki:
Are you home?

Karina:
I'm home.

Aniki:
Cool, I got the gist from the higher ups.

Karina let her forehead hit the desk, arms crossed in frustration. So Sten knew, probably not a good summary, from the way these thing were.

Karina:
I'm gonna be used as bait... how do you feel about this?

...

There was no response, she didn't like it when Sten went quiet, she much preferred supportive Sten.

Karina:
Bro?

Aniki:
Don't like it at all, this is serious.
Aniki:
I don't suppose I can convince you to drop out from this?

So he was considering it. That was natural. Karina wouldn't give it up, though. The notion of going back to father's house was something she'd never compromise with again.

Karina:
If you're not forcing me, I'm staying. I like our place.
Karina:
Just get this rogue AI, bro! Isn't it dangerous for you anyways? It could be going after you, yeah?

Aniki:
Somehow, I don't think I'm important enough for it to care, also, dealing with a class-A is not my job.
Aniki:
Stay safe, sis. I'm not coming home today.
Aniki:
I'm hoping they do a good job. If anything serious happens, I'll put the brakes on you. I'll know.

...They would need to talk about that later. She wouldn't take a no for an answer, even if it got serious. Karina was too involved in this, and for whatever reason that only compelled her to keep going. She knew Sten wouldn't like it, but still...

That would be it for that conversation. She could stay... that was all that mattered. Now to get her pyjamas and make some dinner...

---

The dawn of a new day.

Karina did most of her early chores systemically, still half-asleep. Clothes on the washing machine, breakfast eaten... she was brushing her teeth by the time a message popped on her device. A reunion, hm? She could go, no problem. The docks were a long walk away, though still doable, compared to others, and she hadn't much to do but a shower. She could take a jog there.

And so she did, after dressing in her usual attire (jacket included, though open and hangling from her shoulders), and making sure the apartment was well-kept, she locked the door and made her way down the complex's elevator.

It was a nice view from up there, if nothing else.

Karina:
Be there in a bit.

She replied to the group, just to make sure they knew to count on her presence, were she to be late. Karina liked her chances, though...

....Hmm? Some notification on LunaTicks. Oh, Mewlanie. Hold up, was she going to haul her fans to the meeting? Karina played the message, and, relieved to hear that wasn't the case, laid back against the elevator's wall. Geez... how could she be so peppy all the time? Inviting her fans to check out the team, however, wasn't too much her cup of tea. Karina promptly disabled her notifications, in case some of Mew's fans decided to remind her about yesterday's blunder. She sighed a deep sigh. Karina was never a charismatic person.

But that was fine, she preferred being talked about than being talked to.

With the elevator reaching the ground floor, however, Karina pocketed her device away and exited, ready for her walk.Shouldn't take too long...

Edited October 8, 2019 by Xinnidy

[Balcerzak]

Linus had noticed a fair number more eyes on him than he was really used to all morning, as he'd been moving about the station on various errands, both personal and Odyssey related. Being entirely truthful, becoming this much of a public figure, in this kind of way was ruffling his feathers a little. The thing with Matsuo would have been fine on its own, but the news reports on what went down at Stratus levied a different kind of attention.

While he'd been hoping to find a good place to regroup with the gang in the afternoon, he'd been kind of striking out. Somewhat discouraged, he'd decided to indulge in a bit of a late lunch, and was lounging not too far from a metro entrance, finishing off the last bit of shake when Hitomi's message came in. The flashy DataDyne building across the street, and some of the more annoying animated billboards lining the sidewalks did their best to bid for his attention, but he shut them out with ease and focused on what was really important.

It was a cross of surprised and relief, actually. He hadn't thought about gathering by the docks, but it made a certain amount of sense. And well, with the promised company that just meant fewer reasons to refuse, even if he'd already been eying a competing venue--which he wasn't. The bit about food and drink was the only disappointment, given he'd just indulged but, well, you can't win 'em all.

"Sounds awesome, on my way now.

P.S. I'm not taking sides on this one. I know better than to play kingmaker with you two. All I'll say is I hope you guys kept the stakes sensible."

It was a very short message, but it covered all important bits.

[Phoenix]

The race was on. With that, Hitomi broke into a jog and Carmen followed her down the corridor. They couldn't check any more incoming messages on a bigger screen until they found another smartglass pane, but that was fine. While they waited for more of the team to check-in, Mewlanie offered to pay Monika's entry fee. That was nice. 'Take the offer! I know I said I'd pay, but this is a good way to build some strong team bonds!' Hitomi sent that to the group as the next wave of messages arrived.

Aska, Helena, and Karina had all reported in and were various kinds of onboard. "That's almost everyone. We're just missing Linus, Sage, and Mack ..."

"You were betting against 'Sage,' right?" Carmen asked, almost overtaking Hitomi as the girl slowed her pace a little.

"Uh, I'm betting Sage will call first but I'm hoping Linus does."

And speaking of the Captain ... "Yes!"

"Yes, as in you lose?"

"Exactly! Kind of?" 'Stakes were neg, but all is well. Just waiting on Sage and Mack now ... for some reason.'

'Serval Sage will rendezvous with you at Dock C-142 a little late.' That message was from Alexis of all people. 'There's nothing to worry about. I'm simply passing this along on his behalf.'

"Alexis?"

"Another teammate?" Carmen asked.

"She's the ward AI from before. I wonder what Sage is up to if she's telling us for him ...?"

13:39, Dock C-142

Eupraxia Grand Station's ship docks had all been designed by somewhat forward-thinking engineers. Rather than have a set number of large docks for large vessels, and small docks for lighter commerce, most of the docks were of a uniform base size, but could be expanded or contracted through moveable infrastructure to accommodate the needs of the time. Docks leased to organizations or individuals shared this versatility and were quite popular as a result. The Sipa Lugal, while not even approaching the scale of a Jovian battlecruiser, was still large enough to present a few unique problems for the exhibit the crew wanted to put on. To make a long story short, the ship needed to be moved to just outside the docks, in open space, though still out of the way and hidden. Dock C-142 was fully pressurized, and the artificial gravity was reduced from the 0.5gs most living on Eupraxia were accustomed to, to the Babylonian preferred 0.34gs. This gave the serfs all the room and comfort they needed to put up a mansion using portable partitions, holograms, and a slew of items from the Sipa Lugal, herself. The entire hangar was in use, with the Golden Kingdom styled Babylonian Estate sitting serenely in the middle of a beautiful courtyard and ranch, beneath a holographic sky. Several real G-frames, one of whom was Thomas, were also present. The backdrop of this vibrant scene was made to look like the inner surface of the shield world, Larsa, and so rather than endless blue skies, a central star hung overhead, and beyond the thick clouds were other landmasses that hinted at a spheroidal, Agarthan world.

Ninos wasn't particularly happy about any of this, of course. He sat at a table in the courtyard just in front of the estate, wearily imbibing some white wine as Euphrosyne and Georgios tried to address the monetary concerns ...

"Trust us," Euphrosyne said, "We'll make back far more than what we've spent so far. We honestly saved a lot by putting together the holograms and robots ourselves." She had her platinum blonde hair held back in a ponytail and wore gray coveralls, tied off at the waist with a white t-shirt. The look was nothing that would stand out elsewhere, but in this particular instance, she looked out of place, even for a serf. Georgios, her brother, also stood out, though for entirely different reasons. On top of standing at closer to seven feet tall than six, he was one of the unlucky crewmen forced to wear the servant costumes. Like the Jovians tended to prefer, the female versions were sexualized, with some cleavage exposure, thigh high stockings and boots, and embellishments all over the place. The male variant was a multi-colored suit of a similar style, though for Georgios, the coat was missing and his sleeves were rolled up to better show his muscular frame. The colorful vest kept this coatless version from looking too plain.

"You idiots are cutting into the team's Frame Ops funds," Ninos noted with a scowl, not buying the profit projections after seeing how much they had already spent. "I'm rather impressed you managed to cut some of your costs, however, I never agreed to let you people put on a show outside the hangar, as well. Why did the authorities even agree to something like this? Furthermore, how did you rope Teoma into it? He knows better than to show off ..."

"With all due respect, Captain," Georgios risked weighing in, "Regarding the funds ... you already bought three warships for the team, as well as two units and equipment for every member. Does Team Nessus really need the rest right now?"

"That doesn't even matter; we're going to give it all right back at the end of Batcon," Euphrosyne threw her hands up. "And as for Thomas? He knows that every little bit helps when it comes to getting along with the Jovians."

"I suppose that's why the women are wearing those ridiculous clothes, as well," Ninos smirked, taking another sip of his wine as Euphrosyne snarled at him, "You may as well set up a brothel on the second floor while there are only a few patrons here. Do that, and I have faith you'll more than make back what you took from me. Spirit of power ... what nonsense."

"Look, asshole! We had the scarabs put together the extra servants and the horses for the ranch, and even the wildlife! It's all homemade!"

Georgios tried to calm his sister down with a gentle hand on the shoulder, but Ninos' laughter had her clenching her fists in the space of a heartbeat.

"House Riaz goes out of its way to create the most powerful and innovative batch of serfs to ever exist, and all they can think to do is flaunt their bodies and scheme Jovians out of a little money. Fine then. Prove to me that you can earn back every last credit at the very least, and then perhaps I'll start taking you seriously. You are undoubtedly skilled on the battlefield, however, in political matters, you aren't even playing the game."

"We'll show you how the game's played, adoptee."

"Easy, Euphie," Georgios winced.

"Both of you go run your little exhibit and leave me in peace," Ninos shooed them with his hand. "Don't let any of your guests approach me, either. I'm not in the mood to socialize with this station's riffraff, right now."

13:42 Dock Transition

Having to pass by one of the metro lines to reach the docks, Hitomi half expected to run into at least one team member on the way to C-142, but there were a good number of people coming through, fortunately, most of whom had nothing to do with Batcon, and therefore wouldn't be pestering them in all likelihood. The trains came and went at incredible speed between the nine tracks on that level. The infamous advertising robots roamed the whole area, colorful, lanky or trashbin shaped things trying to grab the attention of anyone who didn't have special privileges on the network. All professional Frame Ops players were exempt from these aggressive machines, so they wouldn't be bothering Hitomi or Carmen either. The companies and third parties employing these outdated tactics avoided military personnel, both on and off duty, as well. Those poor tourists, though. They had to endure this like no one else in high traffic areas like these.

"How long have you guys had 142 leased for anyway? A few years?"

"A lot longer than that," Carmen explained as they passed over a train speeding by on the tracks. Rather than rails, they were protected by transparent panes on both sides, both of which were device compatible for the odd phone call or network search. "It's a House Riaz dock, so they've been using it since before the Sipa Lugal was even constructed. I think that arrangement even predates the war."

"Sheesh, how much money do you guys have? I couldn't afford to rent two square feet of a hangar for one day, but you've had that spot for almost twenty years?"

"I'm just glad it's not coming out of Ninos' coffers," Carmen sighed as they approached the far end of the tracks, reaching the ground floor. There, passengers were boarding and disembarking from the trains and the adbots of every make were on the prowl. "Otherwise he would be even more upset than usual ... all the time."

"I still think the Lugal should mutiny."

"I know ..."

Around the time they reached Dock C-142, Hitomi got an urgent notification, and her device connected to a smartglass pane automatically, bringing up a notice not too far from the entrance. Others were getting the same notice. This was nothing new or especially noteworthy, they were simply leaving Eupraxia I's jurisdiction. Weapon and esper wattage restrictions weren't as harsh beyond this point, so the notification was warning people accordingly. Eurpaxia I. only had immigration authority beyond this point, being able to allow or prevent anyone from entering any farther into the station at her sole discretion, but Scipio and the private security firms controlled not only the weapons, but also the surveillance systems of the docks.

At the entrance, there was a bit of a crowd building, but nothing like what Odyssey had braved at the cafe. Hitomi looked behind her to see a steady stream of people breaking off from the normal traffic to come to C-142. There weren't any signs or the like put up past the entrance at the end of the large corridor, likely to try to keep things both manageable and Batcon relevant. Hitomi still didn't see how just a handful of serfs could handle this many people, but maybe they had a plan?

Oh right. Just ask. "So, what are you going to do about all of these people? You can't split a hundred people between five servants and ... have that work out ..."

Carmen laughed nervously. "We actually built some serviceable bots to pick up the slack, but Euphrosyne thinks we should have as many real serfs as we can manage ... which wasn't many, admittedly. I can't blame them for not wanting to wear skimpy outfits like those, but we're trying to appeal to Jovian culture as much as we can ... it's a hard balance. Honestly, I want to find Mary. I almost can't believe Euphrosyne talked her into this."

"Is Mary the regal, angry one?" Hitomi asked, trying to match the name to the faces she knew.

"That's her, yes."

13:44 Dock C-142 Entrance

Finally, a familiar face! Hitomi was thinking about Melanie, who she just spotted. Carmen was thinking about Sheridan, who was welcoming people inside and collecting entrance fees. She supposed if anyone ought to be handling that in the early stages of the exhibit, it was her. There was one varan playing bodyguard at the entrance. The Sipa Lugal had four varan marines attached to it, which was a small number, but more than enough for their security needs most of the time. Sheridan was also something of a security measure of and by herself. Little did most people realize, but this particular serf's esper abilities were completely identical to those of Queen Ishtar, the woman she was genetically derived from. She had gone out of her way to follow in the woman's footsteps in every way possible. As such, when her energy reserves weren't being crippled by the station's esper suppression devices, she possessed a biofield orders of magnitude more potent than a commercial-grade harmonizer. This caused anyone within roughly twelve meters of her to experience similar effects to that of a harmonizer. The closer one was, the greater the effect, dramatically lessening the odds of any sort of violence breaking out anywhere near her. Hitomi was feeling it the closer they got, a subtle sense of ease gently washing over her.

"Hey, Melanie! Over here!" Hitomi waved to the streamer, though it was almost difficult to exert herself as they drew closer to the entrance. She felt so calm and mellow, now.

"Carmen, you're here," Sheridan softly called out to her as she let the next group through into the C-142. The woman's silvery white hair was boundless, nearly reaching the floor, and her outfit ... her outfit was the talk of the corridor, and dozens of pics were going onto the network every second. "You should head inside and get changed as soon as possible. We already have some very high profile guests inside~"

Carmen squinted, dubious about that last part.

Edited October 11, 2019 by Phoenix

[Nanami Touko]

It sure was busy around the docks... Just, what exactly was being put on display? They didn't seem like Batcon goers, she couldn't smell them, for one... It must've had to do with what Hitomi had called them for. A lot of crowd, but, considering they probably weren't here for her... Off came the hat, down went the hoodie zipper, just a bit. It wasn't like it was too warm, but being less cooped up helped her feel more comfortable. Out came the tail, and Melanie was full cat, looking about the place and following the crowd, until--

"Ah! 'Itomi!" And someone with her... Someone she didn't recognize, but Hitomi didn't seem like the person to keep bad company. Tail swishing as she approached, she slowly began to feel... Calmer? She wasn't quite sure, maybe getting a bit more comfortable in her wear had a grand effect. Whatever the case, she was fine with it happening, leaning gently against Hitomi's arm as she made it over. "Donc, er... We are 'ere for Frame Ops sings, oui? Zis 'ouse Riaz showing, I am not quite sure what exactly eet entails, you know?" Her tail was very gently moving back in forth in rhythm, this effect was strange and powerful. "I am sure zat you will tell us, eizzer way... You are our très bien captain, after all." Melanie ended up so comfortable she managed to purr, catching herself and blushing a bit. With a clear of her throat, the noise stopped.

[Ether]

It didn't take too long to reach the edge of Eupraxia by metro, and after leaving the fairly bustling station, it wasn't far to walk to the actual edge of the station... a warning popped up on her phone, the usual fare... outside of station jurisdiction means more lax weapon controls, so don't get stabbed ya dingus.

Well, not worded in that fashion, but it was the same general message nonetheless. Once she had hit the docks proper, it wasn't difficult for Monika to pinpoint the exhibit they were supposed to attend... it stood out quite a bit amongst the various pieces scattered across the edge of space, helped in no small part by those... gods, how could they wear outfits like that? Let alone outside... in the presence of people. It would have been enough to send a shiver down Monika's spine, were she not suddenly washed over by a strange feeling of... calm. Well that wasn't right, there was nothing calm about any of this. Stepping back slightly, Monika felt the proper nervousness return to her system. How odd... stepping forward again, it left her. If her mental landscape hadn't already been a minefield, she likely wouldn't have even noticed the change... they must have had a harmonizer installed, which made sense enough since they were technically outside of the law's heavy, heavy hands insofar as security was concerned. 

If nothing else, the soothing calm was making it easier to make her way over to Melanie and Hitomi as she caught sight of the duo.

"Oh hey Hitomi, Melanie. Is no one else here yet?"

[Phoenix]

"Yeah, I think we're the first ones here," Hitomi replied with a somber nod. She wasn't sure how long to wait for the others before heading inside. They had heard back from everyone but Makala and Sage, so that was also weighing on her somewhat. Not that it was ever easy to get a large group of people together in one place at a particular time, but they were awfully close for a first attempt.

"High profile guests?" Carmen asked, but quickly thought better of it. Sheridan tended to expound when it made sense to do so; her vagueness suggested Carmen should go see for herself. "Alright, I'll go get changed in a moment." First, she wanted to sate some of her curiosity regarding the new members of Team Odyssey. Hopefully, Linus would arrive in the meantime, as well.

"This is going to be a glorified maid cafe," Hitomi explained half-jokingly as Monika also made her way over, "Babylonian style."

"It's not actually a maid cafe," Carmen grimaced, "We have more going on than just the estate setting. Euphrosyne could fill in the details. Sheridan, too, actually. I need to get going, though ..." At some point in her attempt to elaborate, she noticed that Melanie's hair wasn't just sporting oddly positioned locks, and that thing swaying back and forth wasn't some kind of strap. "Are those body modifications?" Were they real and fully functional?

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Somewhat gleefully, Hitomi presented one friend to another. "This is Melanie, or Mewlanie if you want to dodge the formalities. She's half cat, and half homebody~"

[Nanami Touko]

"We are 'ere to see a maid cafe? Oh! Monika, bonjour~" Between the calming aura of the area and her friend showing up, Melanie was really relaxing, her purring coming out without her notice again... And she didn't bother to stop it this time. She was just happy to be around here, now. That was, until Carmen got curious. Hitomi made a bit of a display out of things before Melanie could answer, making her smile wryly and sigh a bit.

"Oui... Sank you, 'itomi, but juste Melanie ees fine. Preferred, even... And oui, zey are real. A... Mmm... Bit of an attention grab, I suppose. I stream ze game on webcam, eet 'elps draw een a crowd. And..." She brushed the hair on the side of her head away, revealing... Nothing. A flat plane of skin, no human ears hiding. "Zey are 'ow I 'ear, as well. Eef your next question ees eef you can touch, zen, oui, you can, juste... Be gentle, s'il vous plait." She hadn't met someone that had been rough with her ears, yet. Her tail on the other hand... People just couldn't help grabbing that. Maybe it was some human compulsion.

Edited October 12, 2019 by SnakeMomMelissa

[Phoenix]

Oh little did Melanie know that Carmen had something of a glitch with formalities, one that took entirely too long to conquer. While 'Ms. Moto' was definitely an amusing thing to be called back when the team was first forming, Carmen finally working her way up to just Hitomi was a welcome accomplishment for the latter. Her former teammate seemed to address the problem more easily with callsigns. At least somewhat.

As for Melanie's invitation to touch her ears ... "Don't mind if I do," Hitomi said, going at it first.

"Erm ..." Carmen was at a loss. What odd timing ...

"I know she's not Lyra, but just imagine if she was," Hitomi said, gleefully stroking the tips of Melanie's ears with her fingers, inside and out. "See? They're definitely real~"

It had been about a week since Carmen had seen Lyra in person, and the 3DI, while very modern and useful, didn't measure up to the real thing. Admittedly, sheer curiosity was also weighing in. The Babylonians knew all about the wild body modifications some people would have done to them, and it was generally frowned upon, and Melanie's reason for getting these modifications made were disproportionately mild. At the same time, it was also comparatively innocent. Carmen figured if she ever ran into someone with working animal bits, she'd have wound up in a red light district, somehow.

Carmen decided to take just a moment to indulge and humor them. "Well, if you insist ..."

"You both need and deserve this," Hitomi indeed insisted, letting go of Melanie's ears to give Carmen a go. That was when the streamer's tail gently bumped her leg, pulling her attention downward. "Hmm ..."

"There aren't any ways you wouldn't want someone touching your ears, are there, Ms ...?"

"Not telling you her surname~" Hitomi stuck out her tongue.

"Ms. ... M-Mewlanie?"

[Nanami Touko]

"Ahhh, yoi, 'itomi, I, I did not say you could... Mrrrhhh..." Too much, too calm, Melanie was enjoying this, much as she might protest. She was half leaning back against Hitomi at this point, purring, fully relaxed. "Eh, oui, just no pulling..." People did sometimes, it definitely hurt. "De la Croix, by ze way... And, juste Melanie, s'il vous plait. Honnêtement, 'itomi, you always use ma stream name... I juste went for zat because eet would be cute for l'internet, you know? I would still prefer to be called Mel, or Melanie, een person..." Now that she had a moment of coherent thinking, this wasn't quite how she expected her day to go. They were here for an exhibit, and here she was, drowning in girls, fawning over her ears. Eet could be worse, I suppose...

[Ether]

Monika couldn't help but giggle at the sight of Melanie's modifications being thoroughly... girlhandled? She seemed to both be alright with, and quite enjoying the attention, so there wasn't any real harm in it that Monika could think of... they sure did look soft...

Shaking her head a little to herself, Melanie had enough people going at her ears at the moment. The redhead could give the streamer a pet later... well, unless she snapped out of this when they left the harmonizer field... hopefully not.

"Heehee... someone's popular. As much so in person as online, huh?"

[Balcerzak]

Thankfully the public transit was uneventful, nothing worse than some edge case making a spectacle of themselves and giving everyone nearby secondhand embarrassment. But the destination was soon enough arrived at. Linus was pretty sure the red hair he'd seen when exiting the metro belonged to someone he knew--though they deep in the crowd, and several cars closer to C-142. No point pushing or elbowing to get through, though, he'd get to the destination soon enough just going with the flow, and if it was who he thought she was, well, maybe she'd be a little skittish without Hitomi and her friends around?

Thankfully the small stream of people that peeled off left the bulk of the crush behind, and things became much more manageable. It was hard to say how many were headed this direction with the estate's special attraction in mind. Linus hadn't seen any advertisements, but there had to have been something put out there somewhere, because this did seem slightly heavier than normal traffic for people going about just random other business elsewhere in the docks. Ah, there was a sign now, so close that it had little practical effect of drawing customers, but at least let those who already knew be reassured they were in the right place. And there were Hitomi, Carmen, and the cat, with the redhead he was following having just joined them.

Waving as he approached, though most eyes--and hands--seemed to be on the catears, Linus also nodded briefly in the direction of Sheridan, trying not to stare. That would give the wrong impression... though she certainly would have earned it. Maybe it was her field, or maybe it was just a silly dumb thought to begin with, but he found an easy smile spreading across his face. "Hey, save some for me," Linus joked and laughed, though he actually wasn't intending on vying for a place in line with the ears. The tail happily wagging back and forth was almost another story, catching it almost by accident as he raised a hand to place on Carmen's shoulder, letting it twine briefly through his fingers before freeing it on its merry way again.

"Good call on this, Hitomi," he turned his head and agreed with his partner's judgement, then returned his attention to his other friend. "And you, make sure you go easy on her, can't have you breaking one of our new stars."