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Grass of a cyan blue covers the ground, each blade like a tuft of hair; soft to the touch. Wildflowers, some in clumps and some singly making brave attempts at survival, shine in a variety of colors and make a stark contrast to the monotone grasses they attempt to hide within. A steady tract of flat land gives way to undulations that gradually rise into hills to the north, the furry covering of grass giving way to glimpses of magenta stone as it ascends. Waves of purple permeate from the west, as does the subtle aroma of heather. From the east and southeast, a cacophony of as yet undiscovered species of frogs, birds and insects all add their voices to the strangely familiar chorus. Eerily, no sound but the howling of wind, even stronger and more vociferous than that of the nearby mountains, comes from the northeast.
A camp has been set up here. Designed to cause the least damage to the landscape possible. A med tent, a mess tent, a tent for meetings, and several tents of all different sizes are set up for people to live in. There is a fence which surrounds the perimeter with guards stationed in intervals as well as certain openings which are also guarded with towers. Along with the fence is a laser perimeter that will alert security if anything larger than a small insect breaches it.
Visitors to the planet please do not leave the camp without escorts from Danu. Wildlife, plant, animal, or mineral, is not to be removed without permission from the Danu Chroi government. The local wildlife is dangerous, should you not follow the rules and should you be injured or killed, Danu Chroi will not be responsible for your actions.
Arcadia
Ranging in from somewhere from her late teens to early twenties this young woman stands a none too impressive five foot one inch tall. Her skin has a warm honey tan and a trail of freckles dance across her high cheeks and small rounded nose. Her lips are thin and her mouth seems a bit too small but the corners look as if they are well used to turning up into a smile at the slightly provocation. Her hair is a deep amber that is currently pulled into two loose pony tails, her long bangs are combed over to the left but sometimes droop over her eyes.
An electric blue trucker hat sits upon the young lady's head. It is embossed with a pink skull and cross wrenches. Her upper torso is covered by a black shirt and a red leather jacket. Blue jeans and red high top canvas sneakers cover her lower half. Over her shoulder is a canvas messenger bag with the same skull and wrenches motif and a pair of electric blue roller skates with pink wheels.
Zu raises a brow at the girl with the skateboard and notes, "Both, when it suites me. Drunken perv?" He seems a bit confused. The Tupai is perched on a nearby fence with Arcadia seems to be holding a skateboard and talking to him.
Zu
Zu is a bit over average height at 2'5. The styling of his leathery wings is the normal Drakewing meaning he is a decent flier. His ears are pointed similar to that of the elves of human lore. His compund eyes are black at the base level but in most light will reflect a myriad of different colors.
"Well... I mean drunken pervs faps not flaps.... similiar arm movements... but like totally close enough amirite?" Arcadia grins as she sets her skateboard down once again. "So whatcha like wanted ta ask me before I went all duck and cover like?"
James Sterling disembarks from the shuttle and looks as if he's going to head for the city, but spies the Tupai and the young woman nearby and moves in that direction instead.
A shuttle comes in to land.
Zu smirks a bit and replies, "Oh, just thought I'd let you know you were getting a bit close to where the shuttles land. Wouldn't want you getting hurt now, would we?" Seems he's yet to otice Sterling for the time being and extends a wing towards the skater girl, "Forgive me, I never introduced myself. Name's Zu. Councilor of security here on Danu."
Kilroy has arrived.
Shuttlecraft lifts off and heads to its next pickup.
"I am totally not gonna git crushed by some hooped up puddle jumper." Arcadia replies with a frown. The young woman sets down her skateboard once more and places a tenative foot on it. "Danu.... Like Miana's crew?" She asks idly. The woman and tupai are chatting about in the landing area and James seems to be heading towards them. "Like did she ever speak about Cadie? .... Arcadia Pembrook?" She asks as she offers her hand up in reply to the extended wing.
Sterling reaches up and takes a wireless earbud from his ear. The sounds of 20th century Terran heavy metal are vaguely audible through it. He smiles as he looks over the woman and the Tupai. "G'day," he drawls, reaching into his inside jacket pocket and taking out his PDA. "How's things today?"
Out from a shuttle comes... possibly nothing. More likely it's something though, considering the sudden presence of marching band music. Probably coming from that tiny ship. The one about the size of your average deck of playing cards. Flying along on a rather erratic looking path.
Zu thinks on the name for a moment before replying to the girl, "Can't say I remember you, no. That said, you're probably lucky. I remember people I dislike far more easily." To Sterling he smirks and replies, "Speaking of, how're you doing Sterling." He doesn't seem to be serious on that note.
"Huh... Magilla Gorilla." Arcadia murmurs sofly as she sees Sterling for the first time. She picks up her board and looks over towards the sound of the marching band and frowns. "Like.. crank up The Trooper dude."
Sterling pokes at his PDA for a moment and the music emitting from the earbud in his hand stops. He inclines his head at the Tupai. "I know you?" he asks. "Can't tell you aliens apart." He looks down at the young woman. "Heh, you like Iron Maiden?" He pokes at the PDA again and the music starts up again, emitting this time from the PDA itself. Any sound coming from the flying deck of playing cards is effectively drowned out in his immediate vicinity.
As the tiny ship, inscribed with the name Limping Moth on the side comes to a hover a foot or so behind Sterling, the brass band cuts out to be replaced with the sound of crows arguing.
"Yeah dude.. Like earth is totally... Well fuck that. Madien is pretty epic. Totally in to the Ska and like the Punk." Arcadia explains sounding like she has just learned said names recently. The woman nods along with the music till the little ship gets closer. "Huh... like a floating umm ipod or some shit." She nods most sagelike.
Sterling grins. "Earth is pretty epic, too," he replies. He turns toward the tiny ship and laughs, turning down the volume on the PDA. "Hey, Kilroy," he calls. "At least I hope yer Kilroy -- I never met but one tiny spaceship. Hey, this is the place I first met ya, ain't it? The place with the blue grass an' all. Those crows yer way of tellin' me t'turn it down?"
Out of the tiny hatch on top of the tiny ship, comes an even tinier pilot, who hooks a safety line onto the roof and takes a seat, the crows dying down as he does. "Evenin, Sterling. And other folks. Nice little place you have here."
"Her it was pretty cool." Arcadia agrees. She looks over at the small ship and a brow raises slowly. "Man.. that is soooooo fucked up." Is all she will say on the matter.
"'Was'?" Sterling turns a perplexed look on the woman as the PDA reaches the end of 'The Trooper' and starts playing 'Die With Your Boots On'. He glances over to Kilroy. "Eh, y'get used to it."
"Well shit.. like man it is a long story.. but ya know how crusty hobo folks end up here all the time? I was one.. and like for me earth has been gone for like.. forever. So.. no The Punk and no The Ska and no The Metal... but we could like shoot fireballs out of our hands.. and like make wind.. and not like out of our asses." Arcadia explains. "But mostly I like work on engines and shit now. Word to your mother."
Sterling chuckles at Kilroy. "You an' yer explosions. Hey, so now we're back in the universe we left from, you gonna set up that business you were talkin' about back on th' whale?" He frowns at the young woman as she speaks. "Yeah, I got set down here by an old man who's a spaceship," he says, as if that's a regular occurrence. "Said the place was made fer people t'land on and not get pestered by everybody. An' no offense, but I don't believe anybody c'n just shoot fireballs from their hands. Not 'less they were wearin' a bit of tech that did it for 'em." He scratches at his beard thoughtfully. "Wonder if I could get me somethin' like that..."
Kilroy nods at Sterling "Well, if I can ever find a good place to set up shop, that'd be nice, yes. In the meantime, playing tourist in these less turbulent times is kinda fun. Hrm... throwing fire? Could be an exciting project..."
Sterling pokes at his PDA again and the music stops playing. "Hey, yeah, mate, if you c'n figure out how to maybe get some kinda thing like that into my smartsuit, that would be fantastic! An' Joca might pay ya t'set other suits up with it too."
Kilroy nods "Can probably figure out something... no shortage of flammable liquids and solids, plenty of ignition sources, methods of delivery... there's a certain lack of kabooms... still some fun time chemical reactions to be had for this project..."
"I c'n ask Kethren if he's got any spare parts lyin' aroun' we could use," Sterling says, grinning. "Y'know, I never was much fer science growin' up, an' I'm no demo expert -- I hired that done with me PMC -- but maybe I c'n learn somethin' if I work with you." He turns one hand over and looks at his palm, though he's in his civilian wear and not his smartsuit armour. "What a surprise that'd be t'the bad guys, eh?" He pushes his hand away from him, his arm straight out, and points his palm at an imaginary target behind and beside the Moth. "They think they've got ya cornered -- unarmed an' injured, but then: fwoosh! Haha, barbecued bounty!" His eyes sparkle with mischief as he looks back at Kilroy. "Whaddya think?"
Kilroy grins "Well, probably more efficient to explode his legs off before he gets that close. But as a last resort, could be good for a chuckle. Clearly good for morale if nothing else."
Sterling cackles with glee. "Yeah, I'd probably be carryin' the rocket rifle with me anyhow, but that ain't the point. It's style points, mate, and yeah, morale stuff. It's one thing t'beat the enemy, but it's somethin' else t'just annihalate 'em." He gazes toward the city. "Where would ya set up shop ta work on that kinda thing?" he asks. "Might be able t'find a spot on Sanc, too."
Kilroy chuckles "Well, ideally somewhere that I can have a sizable back room with a more... respctable front room. Let's face it, folks who need a condemned building to come down and the more... exotic orders like yours are going to attract somewhat different clientelle. Sanc might be nice, though. Looks like a decent place."
"The deck that Warp's on has at least one place that's available fer rent, I'm sure of it. Dunno how big the shops are, but Warp is pretty big," Sterling drawls.
Kilroy nods "I'll definitely need to get some good machinery. Something suited to letting someone my size make things suitable for you large folks."
"Oh yeah, I guess that would be a problem." Sterling frowns thoughtfully. "Have t'ask around, see what's t'be had." He smiles. "I'm sure we c'n make it work."
Kilroy stretches a bit, pressing something to get some vaguely ominous string music playing in the background. "Well, I'm sure there's some kind of roboticist who could accomodate me. Possibly one of the engineers in the main colony knows something. I can't be the only one setting up shop on the outside."
"You come an' stay with us at REM," Sterling insists, "'cos we're livin' on Sanc now ourselves." He pauses as Kilroy mentions the colony. "You mean on your planet? An' what d'you need a robot person for?"
Kilroy shrugs "Just considering the possibilities for large size manufacturing. Some sort of interface that would translate my own movements to something more suitable for a size that would fit you is one possible direction."
Sterling's expression brightens. "Oh, I get it. That makes more sense than you tellin' me what t'do and me doin' it. Probably some stuff is gonna be more, er..." He holds one hand out flat and wiggles it back and forth. "... fiddly. You know anybody who's good at makin' robots?"
Kilroy nods "There're definitely some... less stable things that you'd want some explosives experience before dealing with. Not that a larger pair of hands wouldn't hurt to have around. Dunno bout the robots, though. I'm sure there's somebody in this galaxy who can do something good though."
Sterling chuckles. "Gotta be at least one! Maybe we c'n find somethin' on the PDA. The network, you know." He takes out his PDA again and begins poking at it. "I never tried t'hire a roboticist before."
Kilroy nods as he takes a running leap off of the hovering Moth. Some mildly dramatic plumetting later, and the cord has sprung him back up onto the deck. "Neither've I!"
Sterling's eyes widen as Kilroy jumps off of the roof of his ship. He makes a motion as if to catch the diminutive demolitions expert, but stops short as the bungee cord springs back. "Jesus, Kilroy, warn me before y'do somethin' like that!" He shakes his head at Kilroy, then frowns at his PDA as it bleeps to get his attention. "Whassis now?" he mutters, looking at the screen.
Kilroy grins "Haven't you noticed that I always tie off to the Moth when I'm sitting on top of her mid-hover?" He does perk up a bit at the bleeping though "Find somethin?"
"No, I never noticed that," Sterling tosses over his shoulder. "You usually park the thing. And nah," he continues, tilting the PDA away from Kilroy as he taps and swipes at the screen a few times, "it's nothin'." He tucks the device under his arm. "I'll do some lookin' later."
[OOC] Kilroy says, "porno text? ;)"
[OOC] James Sterling says, "Why does everyone always assume that?! ;D"
[OOC] Kilroy says, "hehe"
Kilroy nods "Sometimes a head level hovering makes talking easier."
Sterling grunts. "Yeah, I guess." He stares off in the direction of the city again. "I can't remember if they have pizza here," he muses aloud.
Kilroy shrugs "No idea... think this is my first visit to this planet. Nice field, though."
"Yeah, the blue grass is interesting," Sterling mutters. "I hear they got a lot of pretty nasty wildlife here."
Kilroy chuckles "Doesn't take much for the wildlife to be dangerous when you're my size."
Sterling grins. "I bet one of those little kitten ferret things that ran my cigarette butt back to me the other day could make a light snack outta you pretty quick. But you got a spaceship, an' I don't think they'd try to eat that."
Kilroy blinks "Kitten... ferret? That sounds like a rather odd combination. Do mad scientists live here?"
"A couple people have 'em as pets," Sterling explains. "Well, they say they're not just pets, but they ride around on their shoulders an' they look like pets t'me. Far as I know they're normal around here."
Kilroy nods seriously "Huh. Well, every place has its odd customs."
Sterling nods to Kilroy. "Sure do. I'm gonna find out of one of the customs 'round here include fantastic pizza." He glances to the Nemoni. "Wanna come?"
Kilroy stretches as he gets up and pops open the hatch into the ship "Sure, could use a bite."