Aeon - The Odyssey

[Nanami Touko]

Melanie was following after Hitomi's motions, checking her hair, quite surprised by how effective these little guys were. This would make cosplaying on stream way easier... No more wigs, just taking care of her hair and getting them to do things like this. "Er, eef you are fine wis zat, and zey are fine to keep, I would be willing to make an offer for one of zem." Seemed as though that would have to wait, as something had gone wrong. Not that she could feel it, but the serfs could. "Or zis can wait... Zat ees fine."

[Xinnidy]

A seat... it seemed like these scarabs were really going to be used on them. Well, that was about to get uncomfortable. "Ugh... So this is how it is..." Karina wasn't excited at all to learn the prospect that these scarabs would be 'taking care' of her, but she had already accepted the deal...

Suddenly, there were scarabs on her limbs and hair, Karina closed her eyes, hoping against hope to imagine a better spot than where she were at the moment. Constantly trying to ignore the tickling feeling in her skin. Don'tthinkaboutitdon'tthinkaboutitDON'TTHINKABOUTIT. She was desperately trying to call back better memories, of the tryouts... no, wait, the tryouts were horrible! That's why she was here in the first place, roped into this scarab mess! Ugh, if I hadn't flubbed it! What a painful memory... but it did the job of taking her mind away from the current situation. Just, not to a much better one.

Karina was trying to plan how to show herself in full, to make up for her last performance, and couldn't help but think of some immediate changes to her mech's setups. Still, with the tickling on her skin was an ordeal to ignore... well, as long as Karina could keep her eyes closed, she could manage.

"I don't get how you'd call these things cute..." Was Mewlanie really considering getting one as a pet? Geez...

[Afterglimmer]

Yeah, that sounds about right.  Aska had a feeling there would be some balance issues with the legs, but that’s the risk you take with customization.  To his surprise, Nero had decided to end the Q&A and opt to demonstrate the Journeyman’s capabilities early.  Remembering Eupraxia’s earlier warning, the masked man retreated a small distance before activating his phone’s recording function.  He could barely contain his excitement as the Journeyman’s visor lit up.  Seeing the customized frame in action would be more informative than a boring talk session any day.  The pre show would also give Aska some time to personally ascertain the frame's capabilities.  Hopefully, the frame will live up to that serf's earlier boasts...

[Phoenix]

Changing Rooms

"Its fine," Carmen sighed, "I think it's fair to just let you keep one for helping us out with the exhibit to be honest." Carmen was also considering it an advanced apology for whatever nonsense was about to go down. She doubted anyone would get hurt with Thomas so close by, but that didn't make it any less embarrassing to think of Euphrosyne and Nero arguing in front of the guests. She'd managed to treat Monika's lip in the meantime and was putting the little tube of medical paste back in the box. That left Monika with a shallow cut (that was getting shallower by the minute) and a few blood stains.

"That's nice," Hitomi smiled, "I'd ask for one too but I'm not sure if Sensei would mind." Hitomi wouldn't say they were inherently cute, either, but the way they gently worked their magic was certainly had its charm. They seemed to blur the line between insects and robots,  as well. "Can you get them in specific colors? I wouldn't mind one with my own theme."

"You can, actually," Carmen nodded.

"Definitely want one then, hehee~"

The Field

"Huh?" Nero caught sight of Euphrosyne coming straight for him. G-frames had virtually no blind spots within a few hundred meters, but even then the woman's approach was difficult to miss; she was taking advantage of her esper abilities and the lower gravity in the hangar to literally fly over the field and straight to the Journeyman. Moving the same as she would while piloting the Cavalier, Euphrosyne was covering twenty or so meters a second to reach him. "Wonderful," Nero murmured.

"Nero! Don't even think about showing off inside the hangar!" Barely managing to slow down, Euphrosyne's approach ended with her delivering a flying kick to the plate just above the Journeyman's visor. The head actually moved, but only because Nero had reflexively recoiled at the sudden aggression. Euphrosyne grabbed the blade antenna on its head to secure herself. "Get out of there!"

"Hah, no way, you hypocrite. With the kind of mood you're in, the next kick's going to be to my face. I'll pass, but feel free to protest while I give these people a good show." With that, Nero brought up the Journeyman's hand, and it made a grasping gesture at Euphrosyne. With the Journeyman boosting Nero's own abilities orders of magnitude beyond anything a human was capable of, Euphrosyne was gently plucked from the Journeyman's head and held in place by an invisible force in front of the machine.

Euphrosyne sighed, wishing she'd just made a beeline for the Cavalier instead. She'd opted not to because an impromptu sparring match wasn't a part of their exhibit plans anymore than Nero's shenanigans were, and that would only create more of a mess, not to mention putting the guests at risk. Nero had won this round ... "This is ridiculous." Euphrosyne didn't have to use much of her strength to break free; Nero wasn't restraining her. She came down and landed as part of the crowd spread out to make room. Once she was on the ground, she crossed her arms in a huff.

[Balcerzak]

At Irvine pointing his finger, Linus turned to get a look. That was interesting, and fortunately for Linus, unlike the Motherloader, he hadn't ordered anything.

"You know what," he said, pushing himself up from his seat. "Dunno about you, Helena, but I'm gonna go check that out. And Irvine, I'm sure there'll still be some room to see what's going on if you wanna finish up your food first. Worst case, Aska and I can fill you in on the good stuff you missed out on." He had a bit of a smile on his face as he waved goodbye to the team members and the robot maid, then made his way to the field.

It wasn't difficult to spot where the costumed member of the team had pitched his tent, so to speak, and Linus had had every intention of heading over and watching the show while making a little small talk, but another unexpected happened. Euphrosyne came barreling out from the mansion, full throttle, and tried to put a stop to the impromptu demonstration. Her efforts were unsuccessful, and she landed rather close by, so just a small reroute and he was standing beside the sulking serf.

"That's not going to cause any permanent problems, is it," Linus asked, mostly from politeness. Then he followed up with another interest that was on his mind. "And how are the girls doing. Almost done changing?"

[Phoenix]

Changing Rooms

Next came the part Carmen wasn't looking forward to. In truth, she could have stalled a bit longer, but she wanted the girls to know what they were in for if they were going to let the scarabs give them the full serf look. "Since Euphrosyne's busy now, I should show you the next two steps," Carmen began, grabbing one of the unused scarabs from the bag and holding it up to her cheek. The little metallic creature tried to get a foothold, but she held it just far enough from her face that it could only grab a loose strand of hair. "If you're going to be serfs for the afternoon, you'll need your skin and eyes changed, too."

"Umm," Hitomi winced, trying to picture a scarab changing the color of her eyes. The procedure wasn't going well in her head. "H-how's that going to work, again? Changing eye color sounds like straight up surgery."

"I'm going to show you," Carmen frowned, more concerned with the potential reactions than anything. Fortunately it wasn't surgery, just a strange experience.

Front Courtyard

Irvine groaned as Linus headed over to check out the commotion. He supposed it was better to finish his meal. He wasn't getting food this high quality at better prices anywhere around here. It wasn't long after Linus started off that James approached from the exhibit entrance. He looked positively pissed ... and considering he would have had to get passed Sheridan to make it over here, he was probably even more upset before.

Irvine waved to him. "You're late, Sage. What took you so long?"

"Shut up, Irvine," James hissed, coming straight to Irvine's table, "I never said I'd be here at a specific time. And what's going on over there?"

"Relax," Irvine winced, "Like I said, you're late. They're about to start that show of theirs."

"The G-frame demonstrations were supposed to be outside, not in the docks," James noted, his tone dubious.

"Yeah well," Irvine shrugged and then nudged his head toward the Journeyman, slowly beginning to levitate above the crowd.

The Field

Euphrosyne glanced at Linus, trying to remember if she'd seen him before. She quickly pegged him as one of Carmen's friends, and his second question confirmed it. "Things could be better, but for now we can manage. That's to answer both of your questions, just so you know."

"Everything's optimal," Nero's voice reached the crowd from on high. "Now to show you what real combat maneuvers look like!"

Even using just its telekinesis, the Journeyman was able to take off into the artificial sky at high speed. Only the violently displaced air made any sound overhead, leaving an almost ghostly impression as the frame reached the peak of its climb. From there, Nero put his TK maneuvering to full use and propelled himself toward the mansion, aiming to just barely miss the structure, as well as wave hello to Thomas and Ninos. From there, it was probably best to circle back around and make sure the crowd could fully appreciate the high g maneuvers up close. It wasn't the safest way of doing things, and Nero didn't have as much room to maneuver as the backdrop of the exhibit suggested, but he trusted his piloting skills.