• Last Seen: 1 yr ago
  • Joined: 8 yrs ago
  • Posts: 786 (0.26 / day)
  • VMs: 0
  • Username history
    1. Mr Rage 8 yrs ago

Status

Recent Statuses

6 yrs ago
Current National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255
15 likes

Bio

User has no bio, yet

Most Recent Posts




Name: Hirikawa Reiji

Age: 23

Gender: Male

Personality: Ostensibly Serious. All. The. Time. Rarely cracks a joke and is quick to anger. Doesn't get along well with most other people, but still somehow manages to earn their trust and respect. Holds loyalty more important than anything else, and betrayal as the worst thing you can do, outside of this he doesn't really have much of a Moral Compass. Doesn't drink or smoke, but not for any reason other than he doesn't like the flavor.

Appearance: Reiji has shoulder length black hair that is kept unkempt at most times. He is lean and trim giving anyone who sees him the idea that he is weak but probably very fast, which is true. He is tall for a Japanese man, standing near 6 feet tall, so he has quite the reach with the Katana he keeps on him, whenever possible. His skin is fair and smooth, further eluding to his skill with the sword - If he wasn't good, he'd be dead or covered with scars - or giving the appearance of being untested, which is untrue. His eyes are the type of bright amber brown not commonly found, perhaps closer to honey when seen in the raw daylight. Almost always wears black, but if he deviates it is to wear whites, blue, or grey.

Fear: Oneirophobia - the Fear of Dreams. Reiji has developed the ability to manifest dreams from his target, good or bad, and manipulate them to his will, utilizing visions of grandeur to bolster the confidence of a team mate or tricking a foe into false bravado, drawing on calming dreams to reduce panic or alarm, or simply twisting a good dream into a bad dream. The love of your life leaving you for your childhood best friend, your favorite pet being killed over and over again, being forced to kill your own parents during a special memory.

History: Reiji was born in one of the few remaining rural the countrysides in Japan by his grandparents. His grandparents were traditionalists and keepers of the old ways, teaching him of the Ayanokoji and Yokai. However, this taught belief manifested in terrible dreams. Sometimes they were just nightmares, sometimes they were waking dreams, sometimes they were pleasant. The dreams could last for only a few moments, or he could be locked in a coma-like state for days. He developed his fear of dreams, or Oneirophobia, due the terrifying and uncontrollable nature of his dreams. As a teen his Grandparents passed away and he was forced to move into the mega-metropolis that was the rest of the country of Japan. He quickly adapted to his new environment, but did not bond well with the other students in his school- he was often despondent and lethargic due to a lack of sleeping - being afraid to dream will do that to you. Once he graduated from High School he decided to dedicate himself to his swordplay and went on a journey around Japan to the dojos and learn wherever he could, challenging anyone who would accept. This developed a name for himself and a bit of a reputation. Eventually, he heard of a specialist in America who might be able to help Reiji overcome his fear of Dreams and he moved to New York to meet with the doctor, this is when he was recruited for P.H.O.B.I.A.

Extra: To this day Reiji believes in the supernatural and superstition. Don't ask to see his sword.

Relationships: TBC
Count me in! Oneirophobia, here I come! (Fear of Dreams)
Zim was mostly keeping to himself as the party progressed, other than the Princess seemed to have latched on to him in her cold way while she waited for the chance to meet with the cute girl in the red dress. Then, the moment Zim was waiting for happened, Katya made her appearance. Was it just him, or was she actually glowing? He saw how she was dressed and once again regretted his decision to have come in the parade uniform. He liked what he saw, he had always had a thing for exposed necks and shoulders and the leggings only seemed to extend her legs further, however he worried that perhaps she would get cold. Maybe the parade uniform would come in handy, he could offer her his coat if it came to that. Though, in the back of his head he worried about what the regulations would say about such an action, and both of them not being in proper uniform. He would take the chance, should the opportunity arise. Zim thumbed the hairband tied around his wrist once more and resolved himself, this stupid, and immature, dance he had been doing with himself around his feelings for her was going to come to a close, one way or another, very soon. He had taken the first step with confirming things with Ariin. Now he was going to take the second step in getting closer to the object of his affections. He turned to Elizabeth, setting down the drink he had been sipping and excused himself. She was in the middle of dribbling on about something in her snide tone, Zim stopped listening a long time ago. He was already stepping away from her when she gave a flick of her hair and let of one of her trademark, "Hmph!" Zim paid it no mind as he continued on the way across the room.

Zim took deep breaths to control his heart rate as he took his strides across the room to the wall that Katya had landed at. All the same, he was acutely aware of the fact that he was more nervous about this moment than he had been about going into combat for the first time in Black Star. Zim reached up and scratched the spot on his shoulder where his tattoo was at the thought of his Werk, 'Wish me luck, partner,' Zim thought to himself, 'This is a battle I have to fight alone.' He immediately hated that he even thought that, hoping that he would get the cliche's out of his system before he made it over to Katya. Just a few more steps before he was within greeting range, one more long slow breath. This was it, he clenched his jaw tight like he was about to get punched in the gut, he released the tension as he exhaled.

"Hey there, Katya!" Zim said in an uncharacteristically happy voice. 'Tone it back, fool,' Zim reprimanded himself.

"Listen, I've wanted to talk to you for a while now," Zim said as he settled on the wall next to Katya. He untied the hair tie around his wrist and held it out for her to take, "I think we can call it even now, but I don't really want to give this back to you. I've grown attached to it, or rather, the thought-"

Zim was cut off by the commotion happening on the dance floor. Was that Irina dancing? She was better than he thought she would be... but who in the world would be dumb enough to ask her to dance, then again, who in the world had enough clout to actually get her to dance? Oh, the new girl that Elizabeth seemed pretty eager to be introduced to.

"Anyway, I've grown attached to the thought of having you near me," Zim said, but as he spoke the crowd erupted into a cheer as the girls dancing intensified their frenzies. Zim had no idea if Katya had heard him. When the crowd quieted down again he tried again. "I like having you near by," Zim said again, "You give me a reason to fight beyond revenge." 'Damn, another cliche'' Zim swore at himself as he was once again interrupted by noise on the dance floor. It wasn't the crowd this time, but Irina being... well, herself. 'Poor girl, didn't know what she was getting herself into with that one,' Zim thought to himself. But then it went on too far when the girl went running from the room crying.

"I'm sorry, excuse me," Zim said to Katya as he made his way over to dance floor where Irena was now moving to the wall. "I don't know who that girl is, or what might have happened to cause that kind of outburst, but I think you should leave," Zim said firmly to the woman as she punched the wall. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the flash of Elizabeth's red hair as she ran out into the hallway after the girl.

Elizabeth didn't see which way she had gone, and had already lost track of her, so she wandered for a while trying to find her but eventually was forced to concede. She decided that it wasn't worth going back to the party now that the cute girl was gone, so she went back to her quarters for the rest of the night.
Zim got the invitation to the anniversary of the partnering between Paladin and Ariin, and at first, he had decided that he wasn't going to go, he had more important things to worry about. However, Zim decided that he should go, after all the younger pilot had more or less given Zim his blessings to pursue a relationship with Katya, despite his own feelings for her... that had to count as some sort of friendship, right? So Zim decided to support that with his attendance, besides, there was a good chance that Katya would show up. Zim pried himself away from his obsessive search for proof of life in the framewerks, and got ready when the time came. He wasn't sure, to be honest, about how he should be dressed, this wasn't a formal ordeal, but there were actual invitations given out? So Zim decided, ultimately, to go ahead with the military formal uniform. He dressed, polished the buttons, brass, glass, and his shoes and then finally stopped and adjusted everything to regulation perfection before finally leaving his room.

He arrived at the designated room just a moment or two late, while he was the first of the squad to arrive, besides the hosts, some of the engineering crew had made it before him. Zim looked around at the few that were there and instantly realized that he had overdressed for the occasion. 'Too late now,' Zim thought to himself as he approached the host, 'Better overdressed than underdressed, anyway.'

"Ariin," Zim greeted the fellow pilot warmly, looking into his real eye, he then shifted his gaze into the prosthetic eye, he continued with the same warmth, "Paladin, thank you so much for the invitation. Looks like you guys put on quite the spread, how'd you get permission for all of this?"

They would chat for a moment until other started to arrive, Zim would politely move out of the way so that they could make their greetings, he would chat with whoever approached him. Elizabeth was one of them. Fortunately for Zim, she had also come in some form of formal wear, though it wasn't standard military, it was probably from her home planet.
She made her way in, gave a polite greeting to Ariin and Paladin and then moved on as well, ending up near Zim. "Do these sort of things happen often here?" She asked Zim by way of greeting.

"Not at all, at least not in the time since I have been here," Zim said in response, "Though I understand that Ariin once stole the supplies needed and snuck into the kitchen to make a cake of some sort previously. I didn't partake, but I hear that it was good. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he made all of this from stollen supplies as well."

Elizabeth, who was about to bite into her second cupcake decided at that point to set it down, the thought of a royal princess partaking in something made from stolen military supplies didn't sit well with her. She gave a small frown, as she greatly enjoyed the first one, "Well then," She said as she crossed her hands in front of herself she looked away from Zim to hide her displeasure from him, "I am curious as to when everyone else will show up."

Zim raised an eyebrow at the comment, not suspecting that she cared enough about anyone else in the squad to want to see anyone. Rumor had it that her relationship with Val was not a friendly one... Zim would do his best to monitor that to try and mitigate any damage that their feud may have on the squad.

It was at that time that Ana and entourage entered the room. Like a bouquet of flowers, brightening the room each of the ladies entered in a dress of different colors. Zim was just as surprised to see Inara as he was to see her in a dress. And then the bombshell Dariya walked in like she walking out of his dreams. And just like in his dreams, she seemed to only have eyes for him. "Oh, uh, yeah, I've been busy as well," Zim said, sniffing up a nose bleed, hardly able to form words, let alone sentences, as all of the blood in his brain vacated for a different organ. "Oh, no, that wasn't-" She walked away without hearing what he had to say, she found the food more important than her words. As she walked away, Zim's face finally started to return to a shade of color that might be considered normal for the permanently disfigured pilot. Before Zim could even wake himself from the waking dream he had just encountered Elizabeth grabbed his arm and shook him with excited urgency.

"Hold on, just a second," Zim said as he looked at Elora, he couldn't believe it was really her. He wondered if his and Maria's efforts paid off for Elora and Serah.

"Hey, Zim, Who is that?" Elizabeth pointed at Ana after shaking Zim again.

"I don't know, I haven't met her yet, though I saw her talking to Ariin the other day in the hanger."

"Well, let's go introduce ourselves!"

"Um, Okay?" Zim said, confused on why he was being dragged into Elizabeth's sudden change of character. Perhaps she knew that Irina and Dariya were part of Lorenzo's entourage, and figured that the girl was as well and that getting in good with her would get Elizabeth in good with Lorenzo? It was the best thing that Zim could figure. Zim spoke in a quieted voice, "Let me say hello to Elora and introduce you to her, first. She was why we went on our last mission." He didn't say it, but something definitly wasn't right here.

"Elora," Zim said warmly, "It is so good to see you up and about. Elora, this is Elizabeth, she is a new pilot on the squad."

"Hi!" Elizabeth said quickly, she then grabbed Zim by the elbow and said, "Ok, let's go!"

The reality was that in her head when Elizabeth saw the girl in the red dress enter the only thing she could think of was how ridiculously cute the girl was. It was everything in her power to not betray her decorum and scream "Kawaii!" as soon as she saw her. However, thanks to the countless hours of etiquette classes that were beaten into her, she was able to retain her composure. While Elizabeth lead Zim over to the new girl she chided him, "Introduce me correctly this time, titles and such."

Elizabeth was already struggling to contain herself, she was feeling things she had never felt before and she hadn't even heard the girl's name yet, but whatever it was, she was sure that she loved it. Visions of dancing in white dresses flashed through her mind only to snap to reality when she realized she was blushing, her bright red cheeks matching the mass of red hair on top of her head.

However, Elizabeth would have to wait as Ana had already latched on to Inara. She gave a pout of disappointment, but she steeled herself to be ready to pounce when she had a chance.
Zim, freshly armed with the information given to him by Elise about the situation regarding Serah and Elora, went in search of Maria. Zim checked places that he was sure he had seen her in the past, of course, she was a different person then she was back then, so her habits and patterns might have changed, eventually he gave up the search for her and sent a direct message to her datapad, hoping to track her down that way. The message read: Urgent info about Serah and Elora. Let's meet ASAP. He time stamped it and sent out his location code to go along with it so that Maria could track Zim by his datapad, wherever he went, for a set amount of time. He didn't wait for her though, he continued his search for her, just in case she didn't have her datapad on her.

Zim then got a return message on his datapad. The following message read: "Ok. Time and place. But you better not be screwing with me Zim Hero."

Zim sent the information through the message and went directly there to wait for her. The area was somewhat out of the way, so that prying eyes and ears might not be readily available. While he waited he filled out the survey on the datapad that Elise had given him, he gave her a glowing review, crediting her training and guidance to the victory at the space station. Once Maria showed up Zim got right to the point.

"I understand that you are working towards finding a way to get Serah out of Prison and help Elora somehow, too?" Zim started, "Elise told me, said you weren't being to quiet about it. She wants to help, but she needs help in return. Fill out this survey giving the young commander a good review and she will submit your evidence up to someone who is sympathetic who might be able to stay their execution."

Zim presented it as an ultimatum, it wasn't, but Zim didn't want to mince words or waste any time, he didn't want to give Maria any options. It was a tit for tat situation that held someones job and two peoples lives, a cheap price.

When Maria finally showed at the location, Zim gave her the rundown on what he wanted. She didn't like how Zim presented it as an ultimatum but it looked liked Elise found out about the campaign to help Serah and Elora. And all she had to do was give Elise a good review of her role within squad sigma.

She took Zim's datapad, signed in as her official military id, and got to work on her review on Elise.

"...so Elise wants to help?...honestly, I'm amazed...the kid seemed like a "by the books" kind of squad leader. That and she didn't really know Serah or Elora well enough to make a proper judgement call", Maria then says as she continued to fill out the information on the datapad.

"Yeah," Zim said, "It came up as part of another conversation I was having with her. She knows more about what is going on then I did, anyways. But, she told me she has connections outside of our direct command line that are inclined to help, who apparently have the power to help, provided evidence. Send your report to Elise, and she will forward it to the contact. Personally, I think Ritsu would help, but I suspect her hands are tied. Lorenzo doesn't care enough about any one of us, or all of us as a unit, enough to stick his nose into it. Especially now that we have brought him the Elite Cruxi pilot."

"...don't bring up our P.O.W, with me and Jake in the middle of things and...Katya trying to calm me down recently, I feel like any little thing relating to THAT thing would set me off", Maria slowly said as she continued on the datapad.

"...ok finished", Maria then said. "So...do I just hit the "send" button on here or do you need me to do something else before that?"

"Nope, hit complete and send the report," Zim explained. He had no idea that there were others involved, but he decided to leave the whole remark where it was and move on, "I hope that Elise will be able to help. She seemed confident that her contact could pull it off."

Zim paused a moment while Maria finished the review, "Alright, thanks. Don't forget to have your evidence submitted to Elise ASAP." Zim peaked at the datapad and confirmed that she was done with the review before turning to leave.
@DarkRecon meetingwords.com/8CTgr111mE a quick collab letting you know about what is happening with the information Elise gave Zim in that last post. Anybody else who is in on the investigation, or wants to get in on it, can certainly join in as well.
Everyone was busy with their various tasks around the base. Zim himself had spent most of his free time in the hanger working with Black Star. He felt that he owed the Werk more of his attention now that he had come to realize that, at least to him, Black Star was alive. In his coming and goings, Zim had noticed that he hadn't seen much of the enigmatic Commander. He had assumed it was due to her injuries that she was placed on a reduced labor detail and commanded to bed rest while recovering. Despite this, in his thinking about her absence, Zim came to realize that he had no idea how Elise viewed the Framewerks they piloted. Zim decided then to send a request for a meeting, if nothing else, it would do well to see her. He was pleased to see the approved response very shortly after the request was sent. He viewed the details of when and where and entered it into his datapad.

When the time came to meet with the young commander, Zim arrived a minute or two early and knocked on the door to her quarters. "Private Zim Hero, reporting for our appointment, Ma'am," Zim announced, waiting for a response before entering.

A downcast voice came out from the other side: "Come in." Elise slouched in her chair in an unladylike fashion when Zim arrived. It took her a few seconds to realize he was in the room with her, upon which she made an effort to look presentable, sitting straight.
"You wanted to speak with me, Pilot Hero? What is it?" She asked while leaning on the desk with her elbow, holding her chin up. Her one eye looked at him with curiosity.

Zim cleared his throat as the commander adjusted her positioning and uniform. "Yes, Ma'am. I wanted, in part, to check in with you and see how you are fairing since your injury. I haven't seen you around the base. But, if I am being entirely honest, I am driven to ask about your opinion regarding the Framewerks. So, if you'd rather not discuss your recovery, there are other matters that I wish to discuss." Zim attempted to maintain eye contact with the good eye, but Elise would be able to tell that his attention was shifting between her eye and the red eye patch that covered her injury.

"Permission to speak freely?"

Elise leaned back and gave out a weak chuckle. "I don't mind that. In fact, I have yet to make an announcement to the squad about how I have been adjusting to my current condition. Well, I'll listen to you first. Go ahead." She picked up something resembling a bottle and uncorked it.

"So, any indication of how long they think your recovery will take?" Zim started. He eyed the bottle as the girl uncorked it. He seemed to remember seeing a similar bottle somewhere in the past, he couldn't quite place it.

"Well, it's still going to take some physiotherapy, but I might be good to go in a couple of weeks...Well, not that it matters." She took a swig of the bottle, a small cup, and poured herself a drink. Zim recognized the bottle to be some kind of fruit-based beverage, smuggled to the base illegally. Fortunately, it was alcohol-free.
"Since I can no longer participate in operations. They think I'm some helpless cripple now."

"Really? So what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know. Ritsu suggested some paper-pushing job, but I have no interest in that. Then again, I have nowhere else to go either; no family or friends, and no orphanage wants a war veteran." She took out another cup, and poured some of the drink to it, followed by offering the cup to Zim. "Here, take it."

Zim took the offered cup and took a small sip from it, hesitant. "Thank you," he mumbled after the sip. "I think you could still have an impact on the war effort, on the front lines, as an instructor... but why not a prosthetic eye like Pilot Ariin? Or why not transplant a cloned eye?"

"Prosthetics and cybernetics would interfere with Pa-I mean, Prometheus. The system is...Unique. It's got a lot of power, but it has flaws, and one of them is that it requires a completely biological pilot to interface with it. It also has to be of the same genetic structure, or it would reject the pilot."

"I mean, I won't claim to be an expert, as I was a terraformer before the war found me, but isn't a cloned eye going to be the same genetic structure? Well, I'm sure that whoever told you that is smarter than me," Zim conceded, taking another small sip of the fruit juice. He noticed how she started to say one name and stopped when referring to her Framewerk. Now was as good a time as any to change the topic towards what his true intentions were.

"Speaking of Prometheus, what is your relationship with your Framewerk?"

Elise winced at the question and now drank straight from the bottle, before setting it down.
"Why do you ask that, Zim? They're...Machines. Built to serve and protect. Well, I gotta admit, if it wasn't for Prometheus, I might have already left by now. I just...can't leave him. Ugh, I thought this one was dry," she commented as she looked at the label of the bottle.

"A curiosity of mine, I admit. There seems to be a spectrum in the squad ranging from Utilitarian to Familial. And I must admit that my position on that scale is changing, crazy as that may be. So let me ask you this," Zim said as he set the glass down and inched forward slightly, "Do you feel that our Framewerks have a form of sentience or at least a little free will?"

"You're being awfully specific there, Zim. That sounds like crazy talk. But you know what, I might be crazy." She leaned in again, her hands gripping the desk. "I've felt something in Prometheus. I don't know why, but it reminds me of someone I used to know. Probably just combat stress, but there's that. I do know that I've sometimes made moves I didn't consciously think of. Maybe they have some secret AI to assist at critical moments, but it has saved me a couple of times."

"I've experienced similar 'phenomena' myself, which is why I find myself asking these questions and digging for proof. However, you are the first person I've talked to who has sensed something familiar. Care to share who he reminds you of?"

Elise simply glared at him, obviously not liking how he was basically prodding at her private life. But then, she took a deep breath and sighed. "This is getting really personal, and I might have you sent to cleaning duty for that, but you seem to believe me, so screw it: he reminds me of P-" She hesitated.
"-my father." Zim could see how her lower lip trembled a bit as she said that. "I know that's impossible, but it's how I feel. "

"Interesting," Zim responded, his demeanor showing his apologies at prodding. He didn't need to ask, anybody who looked at the pilot could tell that her father was most likely dead, why else would she be nearing tears? The trembling lips, the grip on the desk. She was barely holding it in. It was obviously time to back away from that direct line of questioning. With this information, Zim would go back and look for anything similar with Black Star, but then again, it might just be a projection if he is looking for someone.

"So what do you think about what happened with Serah and Atty? Given that we both believe there is something to these phenomena," Zim turned the questions another direction, hoping to give his commander a reprieve, "I've looked through the combat data, there was a pretty serious drop in Synchronization rates with all the pilots in the room, but none worse then Serah. Is it possible that when our Syncro rates get low enough, whatever it is that is controlling these machines goes berserk? Meaning that it wasn't Serah who attacked our comrades, but rather Atty itself."

Elise calmed down as the topic shifted, but she was still at unease from the previous discussion. "I've read the reports, but I don't believe them. Serah's not the kind of girl to turn on everyone like that. Must have been a Cruxi trick or something, those damn bugs." She gave an angry glare at Zim and leaned closer as she spoke in a lower voice: "You might know about this, but I have a history with some of the folks here, including upstairs folk. That Colonel who gave us the last mission? I know the guy. I heard him talk with some Galactic Navy folks, about Serah and the other girl, and it's not good. The geezer's gotten flak for acting like a pompous ass and thinking Solaire is his personal playground. The fat cats at HQ are gonna send him a message by executing the two." Elise looked dead serious as she said that, waiting for his response.

"Is there anything that can be done to save them?" Zim asked, his tone matching that of his former commander, "I'm no fan of Lorenzo, brilliant as he may be, but killing two pilots simply to prove a petty point? Who are we fighting in this war, and what are we trying to protect?

"To them, we're just numbers, a statistic. All they want is to use the geezer to build them more weapons to blow stuff up with, and not fiddle around with toys. However, Cain's been arguing against that decision." By now she had stopped drinking, having set the bottle aside as her fiery spirit came back to her. "You know, Maria's been pretty transparent in her efforts to collect data on what happened at the station. If you guys did find anything useful as evidence to show they're innocent, I can send it to Cain."

"Cain, huh?" Zim asked making mental note of it, "I'll pass that information along. Thank you for answering my questions, and thank you for being willing to pass this information along to someone who might be able to assist. Before I go, is there anything I can do to help you with?"

Zim drank the rest of the juice in his cup before setting it down, preparing to leave.

Elise stood up, her shoulders barely reaching over the tall desk fitted for adults. "All I want in return is that you guys vouch for me when I ask to stay in the unit; Ritsu has agreed to let me collect reports on my performance from you guys and see if I'm still fit to stay despite my disability." She handed out a small device with an LCD screen and saluted. "And even if I can't fight with you guys, I want you to continue doing your best. For everyone's sake. Dismissed."

Zim stood up when Elise did and took the device with a nod, "Of course." He saluted and made his way out of the quarter. He needed to find Maria and let her know what was going on, and the sooner the better.
Zim had been spending more time in the Hanger with Black Star now that he knew his partner was 'alive'. Checking for various systematic applications, running diagnostics, calibrating sensors, helping out the repair crew as best as he could as they went through the process of replacing or repairing any damaged parts from the previous combat. The entire right leg had to be replaced, too much structural damage from forcing it to work under such extremes and the fall after making it back to the hanger. There were several armor plates and servo motors that had to be replaced as well from the stress placed on them from combat. The removal of the Assault Pack made Black Star seem so much smaller again, but Zim seemed to think that the Werk was happier without the extra load. There was no real evidence of it, he just felt that way.

He stopped reading through a configuration readout to take a drink of water when he heard the commotion over at the entrance of the Hanger when Ariin bumped into someone Zim hadn't seen before. There were a lot of new faces around the base of late, it wasn't unusual to not recognize someone. However, Zim watched as Ariin and the girl exchanged words and he leads her over towards Paladin. Outside of mandatory meetings and briefings, the last time Zim saw Ariin was when he was waiting to be able to offload from Black Star when they first made it back to the ship. Zim couldn't be sure if it was just him avoiding the other pilot, or it their schedules and paths just didn't cross in the days following their return. But the bad taste in his mouth was only getting worse, and he wanted to get an answer and clear the air before it ruined something.

Zim grabbed his communicator and sent a message over to Ariin, "When you get a chance, can we talk about something? I'd like to ask you a question. I'm over working on Black Star if you have a moment now. - Zero"

Ariin had just arrived at Paladin checking over the installation he paused catching sight of a message. He decided to answer. "Sure I can come right over been busy with simulations and a new part that arrived for Paladin. -Ariin"

While the message sent he hopped down and then carefully made his way around and across to Zim, stopping short of Black Star admiring it for a moment. Ariin had been avoiding the others mostly out of how some people thought he was crazy and others he just didn't know.

Left to his own devices he and Paladin had several deeper conversations also many talks of the future, though both agreeing they were sure Ariin would have with his status as a prisoner. "What did you need Zim?" Asked Ariin as he looked for the pilot emerging from the werk.

Zim climbed down from the cockpit as Ariin called out to him, he would have moved when he saw the response and saved time, but he wasn't entirely convinced he wanted to give up the higher ground. Deciding to see the conversation through face to face (to face? Zim still wasn't completely sold about Paladin, but he believed it more every day). Once on the ground, he let out a low sigh. "Thanks for coming over. Not really sure how to ask it other than to just, well, ask it. So, sorry if this is coming from nowhere..." Zim looked at the hair band around his wrist that belonged to Katya, he sighed again slightly, "What is your relationship with Katya?"

"She's my friend." Paladin flashed an X across Ariin's eye. "I trust her... She's my commander and one of the only people who didn't treat me like a freak now that I have an AI in my head." Paladin flashed a heart now on the screen. "Why do you ask?" Now Paladin and Ariin had given rather contradicting answers...

"I see," Zim said as his focus shifted between the two eyes. Zim wondered what the truth was, which of the two answers he had received was the reality of the situation. Of course, giving credence to the idea that Paladin was actually controlling the cybernetic implant, it could be that both were true. That Ariin had his feelings, and Paladin had its own. "It seems as though you have been close with her now for a little while and I..."

Zim hesitated for a moment. This was stupid. 'You are a grown man, stop acting like such a child, especially in front of someone so much younger than yourself,' Zim berated himself.

Zim's face contorted into a sneer of self-loathing as he finally forced himself to say what was on his mind. "And I have feelings for the commander. But I didn't want to pursue if there was something going on between you two. I mean, you two are closer in age, and seem so close." 'And you don't look like a freak' Zim left off of his reasoning. "Let alone the military regulations that I would be bending in my efforts, assuming that my affections are returned."

"Look even if I did have feelings for her and I do think a lot of her... I couldn't. I'm not a soldier or a volunteer Zim. I'm a prisoner, my sentence? This until I die or until the war is won. I killed two MP's that's life on Mars." He explained Paladin made a frowny face. "I'll admit I've thought about her like that a couple times... Paladin brings her up a lot as part my 'moral compass' whatever that is about. But I'm not gonna be able to do anything my life isn't my own I belonged to Mars and now Lorenzo's project. The only way I get out is if I'm given a pardon."

He stopped a moment and sighed looking Zim in the eyes. "Do what you feel is right... You still have control of your life. I've lost my family, my freedom, and now? I've lost the right to my own private thoughts." He added turning away. "I just have one thing left to do... Die for the cause then I get to be free in whatever comes after that."

Zim's self-loathing passed into confusion and rapidly turned into anger. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. This squad is so messed up, that damned Lorenzo... But even worse then him is your attitude. I will continue my efforts, then. But so should you, if that is what you want to do. You cannot allow your past to rule the rest of your life. Lorenzo may have conscripted you into the Squad, but that means that he has given you an opportunity to earn your freedom. You said it yourself that a Pardon can set you free, then I would do everything in my power to figure out what I could do to earn that freedom. But then again, that's just me, that's the kind of person I am. As such, if you say its fine, then its fine. Thank you for clarifying that for me. However, if it is going to cause you pain in your already terribly miserable existence, then I wont."

"And I certainly don't want you to pass up an opportunity to continue being friends with her on my behalf in either situation, I could never ask that of you, even before you told me of your situation. Understand?"

"Hey whoever said I was unhappy... I get to kill the things that wiped out my parents and I don't have to scrounge and work my ass just to feed myself." He spoke trying to hide his pain. "You think Lorenzo will release me? Zim, I'm a walking science project, he didn't care when Paladin started controlling my body. He would have left me and let Paladin just control my body." Another frowny face from the eye.

"It's not like on Mars. I had an officer who looked out for me, I had a path to maybe getting out. His project got scrapped Paladin and I went to Lorenzo, who I personally think is a madman." He grumbled. "The one good thing about being where I am, you can speak your mind and they have nothing left to do to you." He spoke turning to look at Zim. "I don't think I will be pardoned. I'm not going to stop having friends... But I'm also out here to protect others usually the guy putting himself up in front of danger dies first." He pulling his hood up and stuffing his hands into the pockets of his civilian clothes.

"I'm not letting anyone else get hurt. My purpose is to get make sure you all get futures." He added with the conviction of an older more veteran soldier. Zim might have forgotten that he Ariin stated piloting years ago, he had time to understand his position and make peace with it.

"Well," Zim said after a moment, "The war has to end at some point, one way or the other. There is being brave and there is being Stupid, just make sure it isn't the later. I'm not giving up on you. On any of us."

Zim held out a hand. "Thank you."

Ariin chuckled and took the hand shaking it. "Yeah, no problem... I'm the shield. Gotta be here for everyone." He let go and walked away, heading back towards Paladin wanting to turn on the shield generator at least once.
ariin and zim collab posted.
Elizabeth, having now been properly reported in with Command, had made liberal use of the simulation pods in an effort to acquaint herself with the tactics of her new squadmates by simulating the events of previous combat experiences and exercises. That way there would be fewer variables to learn and manage as they enter real combat. The princess of the Praxus V system had finished up a training session, this time working through the infiltration teams run through the space station attack. The nature of the environment limited her ability to assist in meaningful ways, making it a very frustrating simulation for her. She exited the pod and shook her mass of red hair free from the training helmet and made her way to change back into the standard issue fatigues. Deciding that it was time to eat she made her way to the mess hall, along the way she ran into fellow soldiers from Praxus V, whom she warmly greeted in her diplomatic way, thanked them for their continued service, and continued on her own route. Her face returned immediately back to its rested state the moment she had passed the familiarly uniformed men and women. She stopped before entering the mess hall to adjust her uniform and make sure that it was in up to regulations before entering the room.

It only took her a few steps to realize how busy the mess hall was at that time of day. It shouldn't have come as a surprise, but being Royalty she rarely had to eat with large groups of people, let alone people she didn't know. Her head swiveled quickly, looking for someone from Praxis V or from the squad. anybody would do, just so long as it was someone that she was at least somewhat affiliated with. The first person she saw was Val, the tall hooded figure who was introduced at the same time as Elizabeth. The princess kept looking for someone and failed to notice anyone else from the squad that she could invite herself to sit with. So she left the line to go talk with her. Besides, there was unfinished business between her and the giantess.

Elizabeth sat down with all the grace one would expect of a royal princess. She sat for a moment in silence until her gaze was matched.

"Yeah, I wanna talk to you," she said at last.

The morning had been a pleasant one for Valéria having completed her morning training in Star Fist, a style of hand to hand combat she was not familiar with. The Haath did not train in Star Fist, using their own style of hand to hand combat. Valéria, however, was happy to learn Star Fist and was confident she would pick it up quite quickly.

So when she was done and told she had done fairly well, she was pleased as she headed towards the mess hall to get something to eat as the training had made her quite hungry. Val could be seen sitting in the corner of the mess hall with two other Haath soldiers where she chatted with them happily. Always pleased to be around her own kind. It provided her with the comfort that she was not alone for Haath did not fair well when isolated from others of their kind for extended periods of time.

When Elizabeth sat down at the table she earned looks form the other two Haath soldiers, their facial expressions showing nothing as to what they thinking. But Valéria who had glanced at Elizabeth as she sat down had a feeling she knew what this was about. In fact, she had been expecting the princess to bother her about it. Valéria looking at the other two soldier for a moment and nodded to them once. Who then promptly left to sit at another table leaving Elizabeth and Valéria on there own, much to Valéria’s dismay, but it was a matter of privacy and this didn’t concern them.

Valéria looked down at her food for a moment making Elizabeth wait on propose for a moment before slowly meeting the princesses gaze. Elizabeth’s words earning her a small frown.
“And what does Sister Fullbright wish to speak to me about?” Valéria asked as she adjusted her hood to better cover her eyes. Pretty sure she already knew the answer to her question.

Elizabeth's arms crossed in front of her, and her back straightened even further as she finally got her response from the Haath pilot sitting across from her, "Hmph! I don't like your attitude, Sister." It was stated as such a fact that everybody in the known universe should know it, and anybody who could see their interaction would have no option but to agree with the fact. She reached up and flicked an errant lock of hair back over her shoulder before once again looking down the length of her nose at the non-worlder, having never broken eye contact.

Seeing Elizabeth cross her arms Valéria knew this conversation was not going to an enjoyable one and mentally readied herself. So she did not lose her temper at any insults the princess might give. Not wanting to be put on report within the first week of her new assignment. As it would make her look bad and bring shame to her family name, something Valéria did not want given it would take a lot of work to remove that shame and restore the honor of her family.

But the princess did not make that easy and Valéria felt her right-hand ball into a fist and the left shattering the plastic spork she was holding as Elizabeth spoke the word sister with a tone that she took as quite offensive, not to mention her body language. If Elizabeth had been Haath, Valéria would have issued a challenge of combat and settled the problem there and then. However, Elizabeth was not Haath, all that red hair made it far too obvious, which meant she had to take a more diplomatic approach as Haath social code demanded it.

“Be careful Sister Fullbright. Insulting me and treating me like I’m something you stepped in will only serve to anger me. I am showing basic respects as required by my culture. If you wish to speak with me I expect to be treated with a basic level of respect all humans are entitled to. Otherwise, Sister Fullbright, you can take your leave now and allow me to enjoy my meal with more pleasant company.” Valéria spoke her voice showing trace amounts of anger and annoyance although her expression remained a neutral one.
“Now Sister Fullbright. If you wish to speak with me please acquire me a new spork. So I may continue my meal as we talk.” she said to simply annoy the princess and to get a reaction.

"What is your problem?!" She asked incredulously, one of her finely shaped eyebrows raising along with the pitch of her voice, "Why should I have to get you a spork? I didn't break it." The obvious signs of self-containment barely holding in the other pilot caught Elizabeths attention, it was obvious that she could only control the situation only so much longer before they escalated to a place that she was sure neither of the pilots wanted. The crimson haired beauty uncrossed her arms and stood up from the table quickly and turned sharply sending her mass of hair splaying out wildly as she spun. "Hmp! Forget it. You aren't worth my time. I'd challenge you to a duel in the simulators if I felt you'd even have a chance," She said as she started to walk away, waiting for there to be a few steps of space further between them, never bothering to look back at the Haath pilot as she headed for the exit.

The moment Elizabeth asked why so she had to get another spork. Valéria could not help but give a small smile as her level of satisfaction of annoying the stuck up princess had peeked. Such a simple request and it earned a such a reaction. Valéria would remember this and have to use this trick again. The reaction was quite amusing to watch.

As Elizabeth spoke saying she would challenge Valéria to a duel in the simulator if she felt like she had the chance made Valéria give the Haath version of a mocking laugh. Doubting the princess had the skills nor the will needed to beat her in one on one combat. To Valéria Elizabeth was not worth her time, that and Haath social code, for now, would not allow her to issue a challenge otherwise. The code required Elizabeth to cause actual offence to Valéria’s personal honour or insult her family name.

Once the princess was gone the two Haath soldiers where quick to sit with Valéria again, one even letting her use their spork so she could keep eating. Valéria feeling quite content, she seemed to have gotten under the suck up princess’s skin, best of all she didn’t even seem to notice she was being played.
“Such a bother, my meals gone cold while she made all that noise. I wonder what she even wanted to talk to me about. Meh whatever, if it’s important she’ll try again, of that I have no doubt. Maybe next time she’ll try to be more reasonable.” she muttered to herself giving the Haath version of a snicker before going back to her meal.
© 2007-2024
BBCode Cheatsheet