Hawlin — Roleplayer Guild

"Frankly, I tire ouf zeis vessels human skinners...ehm" he began, holding a glare in the direction of the skinners who otherwise went back to their work while grumbling various uncoloful things under their breath. "No offence...iz complicated ehn...hrm" Ahnciel backpedaled, clearly out of his element by his casual disrespect though perceptive enough to be aware of his company. "R-regardless, your craft vill suffice" he concluded with a dismissing wave of a hand before clumsily trying to pry the psuedo-stiff binding chemical from the chip, no thanks to the flight suit's oversized gloves. "Iz Ahnciel...I am not fortunate like...you people...to have much more zehn a title to add" he muttered. Though he'd been called a number of names in his time, the story of the name he shared wasn't one he was keen on getting into, especially not with strangers...much less human ones mostly out of concern that it could bring up bad blood.

At one point, the vulpine genebeast glanced up from his work to see his distorted reflection in Jericho's helmet. It wasn't nearly enough for him to see his own quizical expression, but enough of an angle to feel intimidated by unseen eyes watching him. In response, his ears gently folded back before he gestured wordlessly for Jericho to lead on. Though Ahnciel held himself with some strange semblance of nobleness, the animalistic characteristics brashly blurred the line.

Jericho lead Ahnciel to the Black Knight, the triangular craft at the far end of the Hangar, it had three large engines embedded into the corners; and the gentle hum of the crafts' oversized fusion reactors could be quietly heard even outside. Six legs gave it more than enough clearance so that Jericho could stand his full height, and when he came to underneath the center of the ship, he clicked a few buttons on an external console of some sort. Shortly afterwards a hexagonal elevator, large enough to fit four people or so, came down, and Jericho walked unto it.

"Get in?", he half-asked. "It won't bite, Hah.". When Ahnciel did, Jericho pushed a button on a smaller version of the same console outside the elevator, that was on the elevator, and it quickly went up into the ship itself. "Pressurization commencing", a computerized voice said, a few moments later, it seemingly saw that it wasn't necessary and allowed them to move outside the vertical dolly. They walked into the hub area of the entire craft; a large circular room with the elevator in the center. A small table was immediately visible, and Jericho beckoned Ahnciel to take a seat. "I usually use it to interrogate or discuss business, but small-talk is fine too. Actually... Are you hungry? We could go to the kitchen instead and I could make something for you really quick."

Ahnciel tentatively approached the ship in Jericho's shadow, intimidated by the make of the craft. Mainly, the intensional ellegance in its singular design was quite new compared to the cannibalized amalgamations that went into the Winters' ships. Seeing the boarding mechanism filled him with a strange sense of wonder mixed with a light pang of disgust from the lavish detail that went into even the craft's means to enter it. "I know machines do not bite" he mused, following a few steps behind the man but jumping slightly at the rate it rose into the belly of the craft.

Automated voices, intact wall pannels, open rooms. Ahnci had carved apart ships like this one, though it was facinating to see one that was actually running and not painted in blood on the inside. Maybe not quite like this one, as Jericho explained the purpose of the room as well as offering him a seat. "I...szink zeht I can do for now. Zough maybe another time, eh?" he chuckled with a light nervousness to his tone as he circled the room.

Jericho laughed along, appreciating that this non-human has a sense of humor. "Actually, about that. What exactly do you... eat? Consume? Do you hunt? From wherever you come from, do you have farms, or hydroponics or something?" Jericho stopped for a moment, putting his hand to his chin. 

"I suppose my most important question is... what are you? You talked about a fleet, right? Is there... is there a hidden fleet of you... Space-Gremlins? That's what you are, right? Space-Gremlins?", He appeared to start even removing his mask, beginning with attachments on the neck. "Allow me to do this really quickly, yet clear something; If you are what I think you are, I suppose it'd only be fair if you were allowed to ask a few things too. That's only reasonable, right?". He finished with the neck before allowing him to speak and pausing for abit.

Ahnciel paused while tracing gloved fingers across the walls and checking his hand for any trace of filth as he looked over his shoulder when the questions came. "Vee are...workink on hydroponics" he began to answer, choosing to leave out the bit about synthesizing meaty rations while pillaging everything else from human supply vessels. "Hunting iz a way to put how we find most of what we have, but no...no farms yet" he went on as he mirrored Jericho's formality of taking off their helmet by beginning to undo the straps and seal of their clunky suit. "Zehr are means to make nutrient supplements, flavored exquisitely if I may say" he grimly chuckled, since human prisoners had likened their rations to something called 'mushy kibble'. 
It was becoming ever more clear that he couldn't dodge questions forever since the next series of questions regarding what he was didn't leave much room for paraphrasing. "Hrm...zehr vahz a human vessle called 'Triganavia' where my kind vehr made. Iz...gone. Vee took it ehn haf been amassing a bit ouf a flotilla" Ahnciel explained, shedding the flight suit and kicking it aside with little regard before getting back to work with the chip. He chuckled lightly with a swish of the exposed tail which stretched before settling, "Iz good for moral to call it a fleet. Vee call ourselves 'Aylvs', zough I guess 'gene mods' vould be more relevant."

Concluding his work with peeling the mess from the otherwise insignificant piece of circuitry, he turned to expose the porcelain-esque plasteel prosthetic as a section of the shoulder lifted to open a compartment. Sheathing the chip within before it closed, the glint of various tools was briefly visible. "I am sorry, I do not know vaht zeis 'space gremlin' iz, but eit might be interesting to hear about. Soh no, yeh, my few questions..." he sighed, ears flicking as he considered what he was supposed to ask after actually making contact with humans. The 'mission' was so far going better than expected, since Ahnciel had expected himself to simply run out of rations and die alone in space. 'Part two' never occurred to him until just now. "Who...iz in charge ouf zee human fleet?" he vaguely asked as if unsure why he was there or what he was even doing...which was quite possibly the case. "Ehn...hrm" Ahnci tried to continue with a frown and looking down at the floor, "Vell, I suppose zee human fleet has enough ship-skinners ehn mechanics" he musingly concluded.

Jericho laughed while his own helmet finally came off, revealing two inquisitive blue eyes and a short head of blond hair, currently slicked backwards with a diminuitive 'pony tail'. His facial structure was higher class and blueblood in origin, apparently, with sharp and elegant features. Overall, he didn't look half bad in any sense.

"Well, a Space Gremlin is a space monster I heard about when I was a young lad. Sounded just like how you look right now; humanoid... short... fox-like ears and prosthetic limbs... I'm taken aback how accurate those stories must've been. If they really are; I must assume you know a thing or two about spacecraft and mechanical systems in general? But to answer your series of questions..."

He pushed his hand through his hair, before taking his gloves off and setting them on the table. "I must assume there's a central government controlling all you know as 'civilization' back whatever you call home. Humanity... does not. We're just a bunch of splintered tribes fighting over a small pie, really!", he laughed, "For example, I'm the 'chief' of my own little group, made by me and I alone. I have friends and allies, but my enemies really outnumber me I must say. It's.. nice to see that the creations of man apparently get along better then man himself."

"Actually, you call ship salvaging people 'Skinners'? Only makes sense, I suppose. But yes, to answer your first question, I have to answer with a 'nobody' I'm afraid. There are a few groups, though. What kind of people would you be interested in meeting with, Mr... I think Mister, Ahnciel? You.. are a male, right? You seem a bit in the middle but I presumed so."

While listening to his features being described by a different name, Ahnci couldn't help but look about himself. The idea made him curious how old Jericho was, but he didn't feel it was relevant. "I do know quite a bit about mechanical makeup and a bit about anatomy, zough zeht bit may not be applicable" he mentioned before listening to the response to his questions which admittedly made his heart sink. The fleet was often concerned by the organization and coordination of humans, but the news of their strange separation was recieved with a confused expression. "Hm...eit vahz like zeht at first; zee aspiering leading zeh blind and scared. Zehr ver separations, but vee are small ehn our problems are large. It vahz understood zeht vee ver stonger vehn together" he commended with a thoughtful nod, though came off as disappointed since the news of a lack of official control complicated a number of hopes that the fleet had.

Ahnciel's ears twitched, lifting an eyebrow as if the assumption of his gender wasn't completely understood. "I prefer male pronouns...yes. Ehn please, iz 'sir' if anyszink" he chuckled lightly, 'anything' being that he'd taken a ship before and had been granted an official noble title for his service to the fleet...just above the average grunt. "You are male, yes?" he teased.

The Count nodded, "Yeah. Sorry if that was a strange question. In any case, I can give you a rundown on who I personally know of in the galactic neighborhood, if you'd like. If you're part of a people who want to establish a proper contact, it seems like the main thing you're after, yes?". He stood up for a second. "Excuse me."

He walked over to one of the other rooms, with a sign above etched as 'Kitchen'. After some noise, Jericho came back in with two glasses of water. "You're probably thirsty anyway, I know I am.", he followed up with, "You do drink Dihydrogen monoxide, right? Water?" Jack sat down and put the two glasses on the table. "Drink up if you must, I wouldn't give a shit if you had to do it in an undignified manner."

Jericho stopped what little tension there still was in his general physical attitude, yet he still seemed a tad twitchy and blunt. "Actually, another question if you wouldn't mind? What exactly is... your peoples' opinion on Mankind so far? Do you have tales you speak to your young to keep them in line? What about me specifically, do you know who I am?". Jericho's eyes went somewhat wide, obviously wondering if they knew about him in particular at all, although he appeared to doubt it.

Ahnciel nodden in agreement with the assumption that the goal was to make contact. He was a better mechanic than a diplomat, so he was glad that the human was able to discern that much. After Jericho left, Ahnci roamed the room, giving the table a small turn to slightly throw off the feng shui before taking a seat in the chair that had been previously offered. 
"Iz...what?-" he began as a response to the question, assuming it was some kind of question since the term wasn't like what he'd heard until the clarification of the chemical being water. Before he could fully answer, his eyes turned to the glass of clear liquid, widening. At first, Ahnciel looked at the glass in confusion, lifting the synthetic arm to dip a finger into its contents before retreating. As Jericho began his next line of questions, the genebeast sniffed the damp finger before sipping the glass, ears perking. What ensued was a messy display as Ahnciel almost spilled on himself several times in the effort to empty the glass almost in fear of it disappearing.

'Pure water' was never more enticing of a fantasy for Ahnciel than to have actually been met with it in such an amount in one place. He shuddered with a content sigh at the cononclusion, looking from the glass to Jericho and dabbing his mouth on a sleeve to recompose himself. "Ehem...for zeh longest-" he began before having to cough a bit as his haste caused him to choke a bit, "-sorry, for zeh longest time, vee vehr under zeh assumption zeht vee vehr at...war" he concluded, turning the glass on the table in thought. "Zeht humans vehr fierce cannibals zeht ate vehtever zehy could catch and drank blood and...ohzer szinks..." he mused, avoiding eye contact in the explanation after having most of the belief proven wrong in the last half-hour with the offering of pure water being the final nail. "I know your name iz Jericho, zeht you have a ship, and you haf clean vahter...and more ouf it?" he asked, looking up with a hopeful glint in his eyes.

Jericho laughed as Ahnciel fumbled out, he tried to contain himself but he couldn't as the display was simply too humorous. "Terribly sorry, it's just... Pure water really isn't too common where you're from? That's.. sad, to be quite honest. Even the lowliest peasant I can think of can still get pure water, at least from time to time.".

 Jericho regained his composure, "In any case, of course there are disgusting outliers in any group, but... not really, on that cannibal thing.". He paused, thought, then resumed.

 "Not too many of us drink blood or anything. I'm sure there are some who eat... blood pancakes and whatnot made out of animals' blood yet that isn't too common. It's an ancient swedish thing or something, although I'm not good with my archaic history in any sense."

"Although.", Jericho concluded, "I'm certainly very fierce; and I don't doubt that there are humans even stronger and more ruthless then I am. I'm a bounty-hunter or mercenary myself, meaning I won't hesitate to blow anyones' brains out if I'm paid to do it. Of course, I do have my own principles...". He reassured Ahnciel, "You seem nice, so I'll try not to kill you, eh? Feel free to contact me if you ever need protection or... someone 'removed'. I was actually about to do my job when I found you-". Jericho's eyes widened again for a moment.

"Hey, hey, hey, wait a moment. Are you going to go alone while you're on this little diplomatic mission of yours...? Are you allowed to do your own things if you must? If you ever need a fatter wallet, I can certainly think up things for you to do." He elaborated a little on his offer.

 "You said you're good with machines, and my ship here is always in need of maintenance. I wouldn't mind if you took notes about what you saw either; If your people really don't have plentiful clean water, I'll give you access to my own purifier if you really need it." He ended with an offer of pity. "That's just pathetic, and depressing..."

The laughter from Jericho worked a small ashamed blush to Ahnciel's cheeks as he leaned back in the chair to distance himself from the empty glass. He couldn't help but glare at the man who laughed at his display after saying he wouldn't care. "Hydration in zeh fleet iz maintained through compressed hydrogen rebreathers or inhalers...a glass zeis size could sustain five ouf us for a day. Pardon, I...just have not seen it in zeis form" he tried to explain as not to make his people out to be less than 'the lowliest human peasant'. Regardless, his voice trailed off as his demeanor remained sustained while listening to the explanation offered by Jericho to defend his own society.
Explaining what he did offered little more than a wary glance from Ahnciel, confirming a few suspicions as well as answering questions along the line of 'how many ships do you have to skin to get one like this'. The answer wasn't expected to involve money which was soon to be explained, especially after the genebeast was offered a position on the ship. Albeit doing what he already had been, but he was good at it, at least, and was tempted to accept the offer. 

"Vee are told zeht 'money' is a concept made by humans only to subjudate or indulge in; unhealthy for zeh soul ehn causes social discord...I...vould rather abstain from payment. Zough, I vould be happy to help vehr I can...for maybe a place to sleep ehn sustinance?" he offered with a gesture somewhere along the lines of a shrug before clarifying, "Ehn vee haf purifiers...just little vahter to purify. So we condense it to last" 

"Well, money is the root of all sins in my opinion, yet it is necessary. If it was reasonable to go on without it, I would, yet it simply isn't. Perhaps I'm just biased.". Jericho had a short look of guilt in his eyes before continuing, otherwise holding unto his poker-ready face. "Sorry if laughing was severely disrespectful, but I'll continue on from that."

"But yes, a place to rest and sustenance is perfectly acceptable, yet just for that it feels like you'd be a slave to me, which is utterly loathsome in my morality. I'll kill somebody, but making them just a forced extension of my own will is... too much power for me? Hard to explain. There must be some other, periodic way I could repay you if you did come to work with me after the thing with that cyborg is finished. Actually, about him; would you prefer if I ghosted you while he shoved you around to make sure he doesn't do anything too dominating such as cart you off as a test subject? I got the time, for sure."

Jericho then realized he didn't, at least for now. "Well, actually, I really should finish that job I was going to do before I got into this... I can multitask, though. Your ultimate decision."

Ahnciel gave a nod of agreement with the introspective musings about money, understanding the value of the substance for the fractured factions that made up humanity. What may be valuable to one person may not, for another. He supposed money was just the easiest way to keep track of such things that trading simply couldn't. The mention of slavery made his hair stand up. It wasn't his intention, though he figured that it must have been how it came off. In the fleet, service was mostly just done for the betterment of the fleet as a way to earn your worth and rations...that and a sinking ship didn't have much of a future, so it was always in his best interest to do his job for the sake of personal preservation.

"I...ehh, guess I did not see it zeht vay" Ahnciel awkwardly agreed, trying to think of something he wanted other than to be off of the station and be of value while looking for bigger game to impress for the sake of the Thirteen Winters. Though he was about to jokingly suggest getting to wear Jericho's helmet and be called 'sir' for a day, the thought of protection sounded more valuable. "Y-yeah, I vould not vahnt to get in your way. Protection sounds enticink, since I can imagine zehr are much worse hu-..." he began before catching himself in the interest of being polite, "...people...zehn you for me to be worried about" concluding with a single drawn out and awkward 'heh'. He was so out of his element that it was starting to turn into a grim introspective joke.

"Yeah, there's plenty of sick fucks. Slavers, rapists, needless murderers, tyrants... But there are halfway decent people. I'm anything but the good kind!" Jericho let out a hearty chuckle. "ahh, in any case."

"Yes, I'll write down some various contact codes that you can nab my attention with, don't hesitate to call on me from wherever, I'll try to help if I can. As long as it involves the skills I use, anyway, which should be obvious?" He nodded, "I look forwards to whatever you may need me for. Let's go along now though, wouldn't want to get such a big, dangerous fellow such as that tin-man too angry."

"I'll check up on you two from afar, he seems harmless but don't hesitate to bolt and find me if he does anything suspicious. I'll likely be skulking around the 'Tops' hotel and bar if I'm not checking up and following you two, it's close to where we are now. Can't miss it, it's a big building."

Jericho had that same look of mildly worried inquisitiveness. "Actually, you can read, right?"

Ahnciel got a bit defensive with the question. "Ouf course I can read" he simply affirmed, though gave nothing to back up the claim. He knew enough about human 'common' to piece instructions and manifests together. Going through their journals and such wasn't much different, though often included less complex terms. In this, he was mostly self-taught, though his time spent at Triganavia some twenty years ago set a decent foundation for learning. He simply found it regrettable that the context and application of his aptitude was wasted with gutting machines and pilfering crewmen affects. There came a tiny shred of belief in the mission as the idea of what more he could learn in this new, alien environment.

Their time had come to an end and the elevator descended to allow Ahnciel to step back out into the hangar. With a whir from his arm, he pulled his hood up with ears poking out of slits in its design. The effort did little to obscure his features as the tail swished behind him as they approached Reuben who'd been surprisingly standing there the entire time. The aylven skinner thought nothing of a machine standing in place for almost an hour, stopping in front of them and lifting a hand in a deliberate greeting. "Jericho iz attentink to business, I suppose. Eit vahz suggested I accompany you to zeis meetink vith zeh human 'Par'?" he stated in a questioning manner, his composure proper in his understanding of rudimentary AIs and their need for deliberate phrasings. It was hinted that he was like a fish out of water and lacked direction, hoping that the information was transferred to Reuben for the sake of knowing where he was going.
Hawlin Member

The Jaded

Status

Recent Statuses

Bio

Most Recent Posts
