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Aeon - The Odyssey


Phoenix
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"No lenses, but it sounds like you have a plan..." Well, if it wasn't a problem, Karina wouldn't fret about it. Surely they had some 'Babylonian magic' they could swing her way. It was just the matter of getting into the costume now... a long sigh ensued, before Karina accepted her fate.

She listened to Euphrosyne with a neutral face. One's pride a dignity were nothing next to their master's... a serf's life certainly sounded unappealing to her, but to some it was everything they knew. Well, this also came with the fact the serfs were created being, or at least some were... used to be...?

Karina would need some lessons on Babylonian history after this.

She wasn't sure she would grasp the mindset, but she could certainly fake it, or at least she felt like she could. It was only a matter of taking a deep breath, walking into a changing room, and...

...

Around five minutes later, Karina stepped out of the changing room, a hand at the hem of her skirt, wishing it had a few more inches of length. It was a struggle to look anyone in the face, but Karina found it in herself to turn to Carmem. "Well, so, about the hair and eyes thing?" Hopefully she could speed the topic past that. It was still embarrassing, Jovian or not.

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"Mmm... I do not know 'oo zis Riaz ees, mais 'e seems important. I shall... Keep zat een mind." She didn't have any lenses, so it was going to have to be whatever their hair dye situation was. Maybe they had an eye dye situation too...? Melanie didn't know, and she couldn't address it without getting dressed first. She jumped into action a moment after Karina headed for one of the rooms...

... But didn't come out right away, even hearing Karina finished. "Ehm... Ahhh... Hrm." Well... It was, on... Just... With a huff and a blush, Melanie peeked her head out, slowly stepping out entirely. "I, er... Well, eet ees on, ben lâ, eet... Ees very tight." Especially for one, very specific area, but given how this dress looked, that was going to be a given from the beginning. Almost holding in her breath, she stumbled over to Karina, hoping the hair situation would be much easier dealt with.

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How had it come to this? What was this, exactly? Well, it was Monika sitting in one of the change rooms, the unfortunate phrasing of Carmen's directive echoing in her head, overtaken by the memory that it had dredged up. Your pride and dignity meaningless, the honour of the family was paramount, was your purpose?

'Just cut out this nonsense, - ... You're going to embarrass us. You're goi- to embarrass me. Wash tha- off your face and put on some proper clot- already.'

It had hit a little too close to home. Which was why what it had come to was Monika, sitting alone in a change room clutching her stupid costume in her clammed up hands, shaking and biting down so hard on her lip that hey had drawn blood. Blood that must have been dripping for at least a minute or two by the time the room outside her little change closet had begun to show signs of life again. The redhead had registered that she was bleeding on the uniform at this point but her body just... wasn't moving. 

"I just wanna go home..." She whimpered softly, cradling the servant's top against her chest as she rocked back and forth on the change room chair.

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Changing Rooms

"We definitely have a plan, Euphrosyne nodded. She immediately walked over to the wall where the entrance to the changing area was located and knelt down over the scarab running lanes. "Just have to call them up here. I usually don't have to deal with the little guys, but Sheridan isn't here ..."

In the meantime, Carmen waited around for the others to get changed, making sure she was available to help anyone that needed help. Within a few minutes, they had their first arriving volunteer maids, Karina and Melanie. The two certainly had different ... attributes. The exhibit wouldn't be wanting for variety at least. "We can probably loosen that up for you, Melanie. To answer the question, yes, we'll get started on your hair and eyes once Euphrosyne's done with ..."

"Why aren't they coming?!"

Carmen winced, wondering if she should try and help or suggest some alternative. Calling Sheridan seemed like one such alternative, but she was still welcoming guests and collecting the entrance fees. They couldn't afford to take up too much of her time, right now.

"Alright, all of you wait here," Euphrosyne made for the double doors in a huff, "I'll be back soon and then we'll finish with your makeup. Just focus on changing and getting comfortable." The doors shut behind her and they were once again down to one serf and a small group of volunteers.

"Once she has the scarabs we'll be nearly done," Carmen explained, "so we'll just focus on the outfits for now." Speaking of which, Hitomi in particular was taking WAY too long. The girl could completely swap between her Battlenet uniform and a flightsuit in just less than ninety seconds. The maid costumes were 'involved,' but they were far from complicated. Then again, Carmen felt she ought to actually try squeezing into one before she made a final call on that point. "Hitomi? Monika? Are you two having trouble? I'm here to help if you need anything ..."

"I'm fine!" Hitomi called back, "J-juuust practicing some maid moves!"

Carmen supposed that made sense, wanting to practice poses and the like in total privacy. She'd never been properly embarrassed in her life thanks to serf psychology, but for this lot, it was another matter entirely. It made her feel almost alien whenever she noticed the difference. For normal people, when it came to exchanging clothing and exposing figures, embarrassment would take a prominent spot beside pride, fear, and excitement. Carmen understood those three well ... just not the former.

Field

Someone was asking about the Cavalier's top speed, now? To say Nero wasn't technically inclined wouldn't be accurate, but the serf was definitely wary of raw numbers, given how situational they all were. Case in point, depending on the environment, a G-frame's top speed varied from 'fast' to 'ludicrously fast.' It was more a matter of how much of its power and propellant could be brought into the equation and what medium they were traveling through. Of course, different people meant different things by speed, and the Jovians were typically concerned with the more aesthetically pleasing stats like combat mobility. That was where things got exciting, and it was what really made the Cavalier such an effective unit, even in very long-range engagements.

Before Nero was ready to clarify, he realized that the one who'd hit him with the speed question was wearing a mask of all things. Jovians had all sorts of random gadgets on them, so Nero couldn't be sure if the mask was a AR-HUD, a camera, some combination of the two, or just a regular mask. It didn't bear on the question, so he opted to leave that matter alone. He couldn't have Euphrosyne or Mary jumping down his throat for accidentally starting something with a patron. "Eh ... depends on what you mean. Combat-wise, you can't even touch this thing at BVR, not even with a long gun. At least a hunter class or a fig couldn't. Even on Larsa-" Might as well use it as a baseline since it really did look like they were inside the shield world, "-this little speed demon tops out at about a thousand two-hundred meters a second close to the ground. Obviously the thinner the air, the less drag and the higher it tops out. And that's not even getting into TK profile shaping."

"It's faster than the Journeyman?"

"Obviously," Nero rolled his eyes at the next one. He didn't know why these people were trying to find the 'better' unit here. They had completely different jobs in the field. More over, their best pilot was using a Hound, which was statistically inferior to both the Cavalier and the Journeyman across every relevant category ... yet he could put both machines down for a long nap even in a two versus one scenario ... if only Thomas wasn't babysitting Ninos, he could come and deal with these people.

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"O-Oui, I am... Going to need zat." Melanie let out her breath, and froze... She almost felt the dress about to burst open, quickly taking another breath in. "Uhmm... S-Sooner, zan later, oui?" Later seemed like the way it was going to be, so Melanie tried to be as careful as she could about breathing too heavily. She was curious about Monika, though... So as Euphrosyne left for their help, Melanie gently stepped towards the door, giving it a small knock. "Monika?"

... ... Wait, was she crying? She was, wasn't she? Melanie knew that sound... Unfortunately, it was very familiar. "M-Monika... Uhm... I am... Er, désolé, eef zis ees not somesing you can do. You do not 'ave to, you know? I was juste... You, you know, you are very cute! I mean zat. I sought zat, eet... Eet would be nice to 'ave us all 'elping out and looking cute togezzer, ben lâ, eef you are not up for eet..." Melanie was feeling terrible now... I should 'ave juste listened when she said she did not want to do zis... Franchement, Melanie... Juste because she ees cute.

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That was... Melanie. She seemed to be sorry for the volunteering and dragging, but unfortunately the damage had been done. Not than Monika really blamed the streamer... she needed to learn to be more assertive in situations like that it seemed, and all it had really amounted to was a small panic attack... and one stained and probably ruined uniform. Oops. Still shaking, the redhead reached over and turned the lock on the door, giving it a slight push but not much more, still clutching the slightly bloodied uniform against her chest as the door slowly creaked open. Giving Melanie an apologetic look, she couldn't stop the sniffle from escaping.

"I'm sorry..."

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She was sorry? What for... Oh! "Ah, Carmen?" Melanie didn't hesitate, dragging the girl out of the changing room. "Monika ees bleeding... Er, do you 'ave a bandage or anysing? What 'appened?" She'd turned back to the red head, trying to see where exactly there was a wound... Nothing seemed obvious. "Did you get 'urt?"

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"Just... bit down on my lip... a bit too hard..." Monika replied, as she was yanked out of the change room, the sudden concern very... unusual to her. Granted, she usually tended to isolate herself whenever an unfortunate episode were to occur, but she didn't have much in the way of close friends regardless. It felt... nice, to be worried after like this. Hopefully it wasn't just because Melanie felt responsible...

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It looked like not everyone could help with this. Carmen was just starting to approach when Hitomi leaped from the changing room, fully dressed in the maid attire and looking duly concerned. "Bleeding?!"

"If it's nothing serious I can handle it ..." Carmen didn't have the confidence in her voice she normally would. They needed to clean up the blood, but she might be able to deal with the wound all on her own. Her waning confidence stemmed from the uncertainty in trying. With a light wound, she ought to be able to ... but maybe it was better to simply fetch a kit. One of the smaller scarabs would have also been extremely helpful here, but they weren't showing up for some reason.

"Kei, are you going to be okay?" Hitomi winced when she saw the blood, "I don't even know how you can bite down that hard ..."

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"Oi, mon dieu... Come 'ere, sit down." Melanie was once again not taking no for an answer, helping the girl out of the changing room and towards a stool to sit on. "Carmen will take care of zat... I am very sorry. I did not sink eet would be zat bad. You can juste come around wis us today, okay? You do not 'ave to wear any of zat. Eet will be alright..." To think it could get this bad for someone... Was she really this bad with peoples' attention? She hadn't been good with the crowd before, but... This was so much smaller, so much more one on one. This must've been something serious...

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“I see,” With that kind of speed, the Cavalier would be able to get in and get out rather easily….in the air at least.  The big question, however, was how easily can it reach those speeds with its customization.  The enemy wasn’t going to wait for them to hit their top speed to get in and out.  Besides acceleration speed, there was another thing that was important to both frames.  “This might be a shot in the dark, but what’s the input-to-output speed for the two frames?” Aska dropped the question he was holding back.  Ideally, the customization wouldn’t make that big of an impact if these two frames were so acclaimed.  Still, he was curious on the craftsmanship of the two frames’ additions and wanted to know just how well these two bad boys were put together.

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"Once... she has the scarabs?" That line in particular got Karina's attention, what were the scarabs going to do about it? It sounded a bit ominous... but not as much as Mewlanie saying Monika was bleeding out of nowhere. "Wha--" She dashed to Monika's door almost as quick as Hitomi leaped out of hers. "Kei, that's..." Karina had to make a conscious effort to keep her reaction subdued. "Y-you don't have to do this, really..."

That was, a bad way to start their volunteer work.

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Monika was quickly sat down on a stool by Melanie, and after a few moments of several others chiming in to check on her once the streamer had vocalized her condition... Monika felt her shoulders droop, the tension in her back starting to subside. Letting out a breath she had been subconsciously holding, the redhead looked around at the assortment of teammates around her, managing a very small smile.

"Sorry for worrying you... I'll be alright, just... a panic attack. It... happens, sometimes..."

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Changing Rooms

"A panic attack?" Carmen was glad Ninos wasn't around to hear that explanation. His commentary was always harsh enough to spark arguments with outsiders and crewmen alike. The others were right, though. Monika didn't need to force herself into something she wasn't comfortable doing. They wanted volunteers not conscripts. "Hopefully I wasn't laying it on too thick about serving Lord Riaz ... anyway, can you hold still for a moment? I'm going to try something. Hitomi, there should be a small kit in the first drawer from the far right side of the counter. Can you bring it to me?"

"Like a first-aid kit?" Hitomi asked, already heading in that direction.

"In this instance ... I suppose so," she shrugged.

Suddenly, the double doors to the changing rooms opened and Euphrosyne stepped through carrying a beige bag in both arms. A lone scarab was riding on her left shoulder and another was perched precariously atop her head as she stepped into the room. "So it turns out the lanes leading to the second floor were closed off. I've got someone looking into it but we're in a hurry now, so I just brought this batch up with me."

"That's at least one hundred, Euphrosyne," Carmen winced. Did they even need a quarter of that for getting the girls ready?

Field

"What, you mean how quickly you can convert or just responsiveness in general?" Nero wanted so desperately to just hijack the Cavalier now and give a demonstration in the hangar. The Journeyman was fine for a demo as well but its mobility was based more on sustained output than acceleration; it could keep up with ships, but couldn't escape a close range engagement as easily as the Cavalier could. Nero knew how to pilot both machines, but unfortunately for him, the Cavalier was essentially Euphrosyne's. In normal G-frames this wouldn't be much of an issue, but these custom models weren't as easy to swap around. Once they fully adapted to the bio metrics of a particular pilot, it was best not to put anyone else at behind the controls. Performance was worse across the board otherwise and repeating the process to get a new pilot to that level could take a year or longer.

"Can they evade a MAC round fired inside three kilometers?" A random guest piped up.

"The Cavalier can, yeah ..." Nero nodded in boredom.

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Linus had given another vague hint that if they needed him, he'd be willing to costume up and play the part of serving serf too, but he'd left it implied rather than explicit. Fact of the matter was, most everyone who he'd heard was filling the role were female, so even if he got made over and dressed up, he'd probably just be sent to try to help Nero explain things to the crowds or something instead, which wouldn't have been the end of the world. But after it seemed like Hitomi was seriously considering throwing her name into the hat, it was probably for the best nobody tried to wring his arm (though they wouldn't have to twist very hard). Having at least one of the captains not tied up in duties meant that if something came up that needed them, they wouldn't be giving Carmen and her friends a bad name needing to drop the act and put out fires for Team Odyssey. If it was just something as simple as Makala showing up late, that probably could've been handled by text, but if Kirara or Alexis or something came calling...

So a bit of a wave, and he parted from the volunteers (and the voluntold). That left Linus to wander a bit, splitting his time between keeping an eye on the rest of the gang and just enjoying the exhibit. He'd answered Helena's question, explaining that the gang was mostly splitting up and enjoying themselves for now, but that they'd be reconvening in the rear courtyard after the 3pm demonstration wrapped up, then made his way over to look at the horses. Then Linus had had half a mind to go check out the rear courtyard early, just to get some eyes on, but a couple of impressive manservants blocked the way and turned him back. Somebody must've been wrapping up some business back there or something. On his way back out of the mansion, he briefly ogled an attractive grease monkey before making his way over to the field for a few moments. The Cavalier and Journeyman were being eulogized, and were definitely quite the pieces of work, but Linus didn't feel like adding on to the torrent of questions and making poor Nero's plight any worse, so he just nodded to himself and moved on.

Spotting Helena again, the poor girl seemed a little out of sorts, not used to the crowds maybe, so he made a point to pick her up, inviting her along to the tables that had been set up near the front courtyard. He wasn't exactly hungry yet, but maybe she was, and he could just order a coffee or a tea or something. It was also about the time he might expect the other girls to have finished their transformations and begin their serving duties, so that wasn't a bad argument for being in the area either. As luck would have it, he spotted Irving already at a table, and the pair went and pulled up some chairs across from him.

"Thoughts so far," Linus asked the man, easing himself into his seat. He turned to Helena to make sure she felt included too, and revised the question. "Either of you, I guess."

 

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"Ben lâ, JUSTE a panic attack?" Melanie was beside herself with this girl. "Look, I am very sorry zat I pulled you een 'ere wissout sinking anysing of eet, but... Juste, a panic attack? Zere ees nossing juste about eet. Are you sure you are going to be okay? Do you need to go 'ome? I can call someone to pick you up..." If she couldn't handle being here, there was no reason to force her to... "I juste... Figured we should all 'elp, but... I do not want, to do zis to you." Karina was out, at least. Melanie gave her a sorry glance, biting her lip a bit.

"Er, you, look good, Karina. Sorry, about zis..."

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"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that didn't 'just happen', Monika. You should go enjoy the exhibit with Linus and the others, at least." Karina  It really didn't help that it was bad enough for Monika to inflict self-harm, even if nothing too serious at the end of the day. Mewlanie's decision to tug her along was poor, and it was fine to say it how it was.

Speaking of, Mewlanie finally seemed to notice Karina was all dressed up, with a passing comment reaching her ears. "Ah, y-you too." It'd be a bit less awkward if there wasn't a panicking girl juxtaposed to that little moment, but that's how it went... "So, uh... while I'm at it, scarabs." Karina had taken notice of Euphrosyne's return, in the middle of it all. The two critters on her head and shoulders were conjuring some concerns in Karina's mind. "What... do we need the scarabs for?"

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"I'll be fine, I promise... it's passed. I just need to... not try that again, that's all." Monika protested, waving her hands frantically in front of her face. While it was nice they were concerned for her, they didn't need to take things quite so far...

"Please, don't let this ruin the day for you guys. I'm okay now... okay?" Monika confirmed once again, reaching out and giving Melanie's hand an assuring squeeze.

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Changing Rooms

"So what's going on, exactly?" Euphrosyne asked, "Where did that blood come from?"

"Got it! I think ..." Hitomi examined the small box first, deciding to open it to check the contents. "No labels on anything ... don't you ever do any brand name shopping? I can't even tell what this tube is or what's inside it."

"No," Euphrosyne scowled over at her.

"Just bring it here, Hitomi," Carmen sighed.

Front Courtyard

"I like it," Irvine grinned as Leto made her way back with his steak, "It's pretty, quiet ... peaceful ... the girls were brought up on milk and honey or somethin', and I can't get over the fact there's just a couple of frames standing over there by that crowd. Oh right!" Irvine paused as Leto served him his filet mignon and birch beer and jutted his arm over at the exhibit's ranch. "Can you believe those horses are actually robots? How'd they--Hold on a sec. Hey, Leto? How'd you guys put those things together for this?"

"I'm not certain, actually," she smiled an apology, "You may want to ask one of the exhibit's organizers, Master Donnell."

"You guys don't share intel?"

"Irvine, this is almost painful for me," Alexis' voice came out of the table, "Leto is a robot, just like those horses you're so impressed with. Not all the servants are real so please keep that in mind."

Having been outed for the sake of Alexis' sanity, Leto's smile widened. "Yes, I was only programmed yesterday morning, Master Donnell. I don't have any information unrelated to my duties here at the estate."

"... right. I gotcha."

"By the way, James just got off the metro. He should be here in a minute or two. I'll be 'lurking' in case anything comes up."

"... right. Ci, madre ..."

Edited by Phoenix
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Aska took a moment to repurpose his original question.  As much as he wanted to say “both”, it would be better if he didn’t.  The upcoming show would reveal the conversion rate if he paid close enough attention, so it was better to ask about the other thing that was harder to notice.  Besides, some of these other questions were either too bland or too obvious.  Why ask about something that anyone who’s going to watch the show will notice quickly.  “General responsiveness.  I’m curious about how the customization’s impact on the general response time specifically, if that helps,” Aska clarified for the pale serf. 

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"Well... Eef you are shore. You would still be cute, Monika." It seemed like Hitomi had things handled, so Melanie returned Monika's little squeeze with one of her own, turning towards Euphrosyne. "What are zese scarabs going to do, again?" She gave the little robots a cautious glance, they didn't look very alarming. "Whatever zey are supposed to do, let us 'ave zem get to eet."

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Changing Rooms

"Fine, have a seat while Carmen handles that," Euphrosyne said, gesturing at the remaining blood, "I don't know if you people have issues with 'bugs' but they'll be taking care of the dye and complexion issue."

"So you're going all the way with them?" Carmen asked, taking the small kit from Hitomi. Probably best to save practicing one of her crafts for later and just use this. "You bit your lip, right? Can you show me?" Once she had the spot, one good dab ought to do, really. As for cleaning the blood, there was a cloth for her skin but the clothing was a lost--"Oh, and can I borrow on of the scarabs? They might be able to clean some of this off."

"Sure." Euphrosyne grabbed the scarab on her shoulder and tossed it over to Carmen. "Now, just hold still while I put them on you. They already know what to do and how to do it. You just need to sit still and let them work. It won't hurt but they will be getting a little intrusive. Just hold your clothing down tight anywhere you don't want them poking around. They're only after your hair and skin." And eyes ... but she didn't want to address that directly just yet. With that, Euphrosyne began placing a few of them on the girls, with one per limb and at least two per head, though Hitomi got saddled with three up there. The serf also took note of Melanie's tail and placed two of the scarabs there.

"You just pass them to each other like that?" Hitomi was surprised these beetle-like creatures were handled so lackadaisically. She wasn't about to call it abusive but surely the little guys didn't enjoy that sort of thing.

Field

"Well, we didn't lose anything from the add-ons," Nero mused, "Ishkurite legs are tricky to work with, though. The balance is all off so even though they respond like you'd expect, in practice you could find yourself making some preemptive corrections. Can be annoying when you're trying to line up a shot and evade potshots at the same time." Nero recalled a BVR engagement from not long ago where the Journeyman's tendency to over-pitch had him focusing more on his balance than his opponent's maneuvers. It took some getting used to. Euphrosyne tended to sidestep AMBAC related issues by relying more on thrusters and zipping around like a missile.

Nero heaved a heavy sigh, figuring he might as well let off some steam. "Change of plans, people. Let's make things more interesting~" Suddenly, the Journeyman's chest began to whir as its systems came online. Nero glanced back at it just in time to see the hatch on the torso slide up and open. "Yeah. This should be fine." Time to put on a little pre-show warm up.

Edited by Phoenix
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Linus chuckled along, "Heh, milk and honey, yeah." But it wasn't full-throated mirth, as he followed up with a somewhat darker thought, ...And genetic and emotional conditioning. It was impossible to turn a blind eye entirely on the sins of the Babylonians, despite their obvious successes when it came to aesthetics and bounty; at least for Linus it was. The revealation that the horses they'd had on display were robotic was unexpected, as was the fact that the current servant who'd stopped by the table was also not flesh and blood. It wasn't that he'd been wholly unaware, necessarily, but there was a difference between knowing there were some sprinkled among the workforce, and picking out which those were when you came to them face to face.

The far bigger surprise, however, was that Alexis had just butted her way into their conversation. The ward went about it entirely casually, like her presence was just a matter of fact, and if Linus hadn'y known better he may have been tricked into thinking Irvine had brought her along with him, some personal digital assistant or something. Unlike her appearance last night, there was no smug face on a monitor, just a disembodied voice... which might have been more offputting, to be honest. Well, this was certainly something they were all going to have to get used to, at least until the situation gets resolved. The mention of James nearly took him back, but then he managed to associate it to one of the missing members. Sage, of course, for better or worse Flambre's impression was certainly not one that could be described with 'forgettable'.

Lockstep with Motherloader, Linus thanked the ward as well, "Thanks for the update, wasn't expecting it. And good luck with your passive surveillance, or whatever you've got planned." He was probably have to take another moment or two to put himself back together, he'd completely lost his train of thought, and any sort of plan for the conversation at hand.

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"Bugs?" And... There were the scarabs. They were... Weirdly cute? Melanie gave them curious glances as Euphrosyne placed them on her, flinching ever so slightly at the ones on her tail... Of course, if they were doing hair, that counted. "O, kay... Zey are, alright, so far?" They were starting to crawl towards her hair, as expected, and it wasn't like they were getting into her clothes with how tight this outfit was... "Heh... Zey really are cute." It wasn't hurting or bother her... Even her tail, and that was painfully sensitive most all the time anyone else was touching it. "Er, Euphrosyne... Oui? Eez zere any way for someone to get a scarab for zemselves? I 'ave never been a pet person, ben lâ... Zey are rubbing off on me razzer quickly. Hee..." Melanie wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but she gently went to pet the one on her left arm, hoping it wouldn't mind.

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Field

"Why don't I show you what a G-frame can really do ... up close and personal~" Nero leaped straight up, and he seemed to keep getting higher and higher until he reached the Journeyman's open hatch. With a smirk and a gesture at the crowd, Nero disappeared into the machine. The hatch closed and within a few moments, the Journeyman's visor lit up a brilliant blue. "Consider it a pre-show demonstration for you early birds."

"Immersion's fully active ..." Nero flexed the Journeyman's fingers and inspected them closely as the crowd reacted, some cheering, others a little on edge. No one was quite sure what this demonstration was going to entail. Some even thought back to the warnings they received from the station's network as they crossed out of Eupraxia's safety net. One couldn't help but be reminded when standing beneath a giant capable of un-quantifiable amounts of destruction with no direction interaction whatsoever. That said ... it was still a very cool machine.

Changing Rooms

"Are they even legal on the station?" Euphrosyne asked in return. She wasn't quite up to date on Eupraxia Grand Station's 'pet policies' but she did know that Babylonians tended to have a hassle getting certain items into port. Granted, that was mostly the Iron Kingdom's fault, given how insanely cunning they were with their traps and other improvised weapons.

"Ichor are mostly legal so you'd think ..." Hitomi chimed in as her hair began to change color. Sure enough, at this rate, she'd be a platinum blonde in a few minutes. "I mean ichor have been around for a really long time, but still ... so many varieties ... "She couldn't help but play around with some of the finished locks, feeling around for any loose residue. Surprisingly there was none. It was as if her hair had always been this color, and even though she didn't feel like they were tugging, the scarabs on her head were even getting down to the roots somehow. These things were amazing!

Assuming legalities extended to at least some types of scarabs, "Well, if they are legal here, you would need to track down a seller and see how much they're willing to part with one of them for."

"Are you selling them?"

"No, but now that you mention it ..." Euphrosyne wasn't going to shoot down the chance to make a few extra credits out of hand. It was at least worth considering. Most people buying scarabs wanted them for ship maintenance and the like, so they would purchase them in bulk. As pets, they weren't particularly interesting, but at the same time they weren't a hassle to deal with, either. They could also be reprogrammed non-intrusively for a variety of tasks. Parting with one from their own stock wouldn't even put a dent in their working capacity, especially since the Sipa Lugal always operated with a small surplus of supplies, ichor, and scarabs. "... we might be able to come to an agreement."

"Euphrosyne?" Carmen interjected with a grimace, "Do you feel that? Did one of the frames just activate?" It wasn't a disturbance in the air or even a tremor reaching the mansion that Carmen felt. It was more a biofield so large that it overlapped and interacted subtely with her own. It was something even the weakest espers could potentially pick up on in the relative quiet of a mostly empty ship hangar.

"... NERO!!!" Euphrosyne flew out of the changing area heading for a different room on the second floor.

"He must have gotten impatient ..."

Front Courtyard

"Whoa, speaking of stuff coming up," Irvine jutted a finger over at the two G-frames in the field. The light from the Journeyman's visor was intense and easy to spot at this distance.

"Is Master Nero starting the show early?" Leto cocked her head slightly at the spectacle about to unfold.

"I ain't done eatin' yet!"

"Strange ..."

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