TEST DRIVE #1

[onemind]

LET'S GET (meta)PHYSICAL WELCOME TO THE TEST DRIVE and thank you for your interest! Though the game hasn't started yet, we've put together a mini-mission with a few different goals for your characters to pursue. In the interest of flexibility and allowing players to experiment with the game mechanics, we invite you to pick your own broodmates, experiment with abilities and specializations, talk to each other and maybe make up some pre-established cr, and generally play around however you like. This test drive will not be game canon, so take this chance to go nuts! For the full experience, we strongly encourage players to write up a short blurb about what their fellow characters might know about them either through shared time on the Station or through the Nest mental link. Handy links can be found at the bottom of this entry if you have any questions or want to place a reserve.           HELINOS TOZ ...is the smallest galactic empire located in the second disk of the Silver Halo Galaxy. For thousands of years, the neighboring CONFEDERATE OF BAL and INIVIAL COR(P) have eaten away at Helinos Toz's territory and now have reduced the once-great empire to a single moon ruled by the Last Empress. Though she is a child who owns little in the way of property on the galactic stage, the Last Empress still holds a precious seat in the shrinking Galactic House of Chairs. From this seat she and her allies have managed to keep a stranglehold on the throats of Bal and Inivial’s expansion efforts into the fourth and fifth disks of the Halo. She has accomplished this task by viciously excising loopholes in galactic regulation. Paradoxical though it may sound, the outer rings view the Last Empress as one of the few remaining heroes for the common man against the absorption of either the Bal or Inivial, a symbol of the dangers the two great empires present and a name and a heritage that even today commands respect. While Bal and Inivial may have radically different galactic goals and famously spend their time hounding one another in the house of chairs, they can agree on one thing: the Last Empress and her tiny moon kingdom are a thorn in their side. In an effort to pluck it, Bal and Inivial have joined forces to do away with the Empress and her moon forever. While a direct attack on the ground empire moon would be an undeniable act of war, and would result in heavy sanctions which would only serve to set their goals back further, there are ways to destabilize the moon without actually putting boots on the ground. Inivial has decided to sacrifice one of their own assets to achieve this: the planet which the moon orbits. Helinos Prime is a cold, dead rock, without it's own atmosphere, as well as the site of a significant Inivial mining operation. It's this very operation that Invivial intends to utilize. By mining directly to the planet’s core, they will harvest a massive amount of heavy elements, cutting heavily into the planet's mass and degrading it's orbit in space-- making it a risk to surrounding inhabited worlds. Galactic regulation demands such a threat be absolutely absolved- by total destruction. Further, it states that these dangers must be dealt with in no more than eight hours, regardless of any other sanctions or treaties. The act itself is quite sterile: a beam weapon located in the first ring which is capable of destroying most planets in a single shot as long as alignment is correct. And once the planet goes, so too does the empire moon. But even getting rid of the empire’s last land holdings wouldn’t do away with the Empress herself, which is why the Confederate of Bal’s massive armada has opted to choose today for a sprawling training exercise in their space above the empire moon. As is their right under the Secrets and Sanctions treaty, they have refused the operation of any other space traffic in that sector until their exercise has been completed. The paperwork is filed, notarized, and finalized. Under the guise of the Bal and Inivial’s mutual animosity, the two super powers mean to trap the Last Empress with the very rules and regulations she’s spent her young life manipulating to keep them both muzzled. In summary: the Last Empress and what remains of her small royal envoy are stuck quite literally between a dissolving rock and the hard place of the Confederate of Bal’s guns with no diplomatic wiggle room. Should the empire of Helinos Toz fall, the majority of the house of chairs will turn in favor of expansion and it won’t be long before the Halo’s outer rings become the stage for a vicious war between Bal and Inivial. Those citizens of the outer rings will find their lives drastically changed as those two powers dash to make opportune land (and space) grabs. If the Last Empress can be saved, she might be able to successfully reveal this act of aggression for what it is, and use it as a way to rally the rest of the house of chairs, around her and the interests of the outer rings she stands for, against Bal and Inivial. YOUR MISSION is to help the Last Empress escape the empire moon before it can be vaporized by Inivial, and to slide her and as many of her retinue as possible through the lines of Bal’s armada undetected.           PROMPTS ONE • DEBRIEF: NOT AS SEXY AS IT SOUNDS You've been given your mission file (see above) and outfitted with the appropriate gear to see it through. Today that means thermal suits designed to withstand face melting temperatures and a small cadre of ships that seem awfully familiar... if you're not mistaken they're the same ships currently in formation above Helinos Toz. You can ask Prince where he got them or Cathaway for some flying advice, but you probably won't get answers that makes any sense. Hopefully some of you know how to fly. Hug your friends, say your prayers, and wave Station 72 goodbye because it's time to... TWO • HITTING ROCK BOTTOM ...sabotage a giant plasma drill! Down on Helinos Prime, Inivial's massive mining operation is a veritable labyrinth of tunnels and substations. Luckily you've been provided with schematics (if you feel like using them), and with some trial and error you should be able to navigate your way to key points in the mining operation. It won't be possible to completely stop the machine from coring the planet, but you just need to buy a little time. Suggested targets are the drill's targeting interface, its coolant systems, and its auxiliary stabilizer vents. How do you do that? Time to use your imagination. On the plus side, no one's around to stop you. Inivial already evacuated their on-site personnel which, come to think of it, might be a bad sign. THREE • HURRY UP AND WAIT With Inivial's drill momentarily on pause, it's time to rescue an Empress. Does she even know you're coming for her? Well, she'll find out eventually. There's room for six extra people on the ships provided, meaning you have exactly enough room to smuggle her and her closest advisers off of the empire moon. You've got six hours before you can (and really SHOULD) leave. Right now it looks like there's time to kill. Get to know the locals, the moon's bustling trade port, or its local population of cute dragonbirds. You have a collapsing planet below you and a veritable wasps nest of ships above you. Enjoy it while it lasts-- or bypass it all and wait for your window of opportunity with the Empress and her envoy. FOUR • INTO THE WILD BLACK YONDER The stealth ships can travel invisibly while in atmosphere, but there's no tricking the sensors of the Bal's ships. Luckily you fit right in-- almost. Pretending to be Bal ships might make the most sense, but what if someone notices you're out of drill formation? Even worse, what if someone detects you leaving the empire moon? No Bal ship is supposed to be down there. You could always try finding another ship to take into space, something with a little bit of stealth or maybe a harmless trading vessel. Then again, no one's supposed to be coming off the moon and into this space at all. Think fast, talk faster, or hope your pilot is really good. FIVE • WILDCARD Honestly? This is your show. Go surfing on some subterranean lava flows while stalling Inivial's mining efforts, try to take all the Empress's gold leaf dining room chairs with you when you evacuate the empire moon, or maybe you're done with this whole mission alltogether and want to try hijacking a ship from the Bal's armada and flying it out into space until this whole thing blows over. There's a whole galaxy out there; what else could be waiting for you?

NAVIGATION • PREMISE • FAQ • GLOSSARY • SYMBIOTIC SKILLS GUIDE • RESERVES

Comments

Keladry of Mindelan | Tortall Series

[tiltings]

[ ooc: Kel has a IOTA symbiote to enhance her physical capabilities. For any assumed CR, Kel adjusted very poorly to having other people in her head, and she's often at odds in what she's expressing physical to what she's thinking and feeling. She isn't sure how she likes the collective, it's not something she's ever encountered before, because she doesn't really see a need to understand only to accept the outcome. She's very determined about doing as she's told and never complaining whatever the work, she'll always accept and make sure her task is done. She's also 100% uncompromising about her morals, stick in the mud. Got a bad habit of getting far too invested in her missions, especially when they concern saving someone. ]

I.

[ She's frowning over the briefing, eyes flicking over the words quickly. A finger tapping at the side of her thigh where she's sat reading it, slight indications of mood as she finishes it off and flicks the papers down again. There's a ripple of sheer displeasure at what she reads. Curls her from the inside out, sets something firm. ] They're heartless.

[ Straightens it out though, as her back goes straight and eyes go up to stand up, nodding her head to said commander in acknowledgment and acceptance of the mission, and turns to go with the others milling out of the room. Turning briefly to whoever might be beside her. ] Are you going to see the ships? I'll come with you.

[ It'll be good to see what they're working with before they head off in them. Standard preparation, but she's got a particular stiffness about seeing this through. ]

II. a

[ It's times like this, that the extra strength comes in handy. She's looking over the panels, and she can understand most of them these days but she's no where near the levels some of the ROTA symbiote enhanced are at adapting quickly or reading situations are these days, but she's not exactly here right now to be clever. She's here to buy time. She looks around once more, at whoever might be beside her, and shrugs. Then she unslung the long pole arm from her back, settling it into a grip to drive down. They hadn't said how to stall for time, just the more it, the better. Nothing for it, then? Breaking it seemed like a good enough plan.

So she turns to whoever is closest, gesturing to the wires and the cooling vents. ] Shall we?

II. b

[ The place is a maze of tunnels, platforms, small control rooms, and larger open floors, and for the most part, the railings help when they step over the pits of lava, open and gaping through metal grids, keeps the worst of the prickling feeling back. She manages just fine, and it's been years, she tells herself, she had climbed Balinor's needle and a dozen other things besides that, since she'd gotten her symbiote. Having the other mental connections helped, not her only option and could manage it by herself but it's... nothing she would turn down, when she makes the mistake of looking down as she walks between two elevated points. It's instant, and feels the small oh no in her mind as her head seems to turn over itself and her stomach drops through her feet. She can feel the metal grate under her feet, looking to it for reassurance but it's not helping as much as she'd like. The heat comes like a solid wall, prickling the back of her neck, her forehead with sweat. She sucks in a brief breath trying to get her head working again, but for a second, she's transfixed by the height.

How high up are they, asks the morbid voice. Had to be a few hundred feet, maybe a thousand. What if the metal melted through, or the destabilization of the planet caused it to tip and she went over the edge? Would her skin sear first, or would her body catch on one of the jagged rocks? Her vision swims a moment as without wanting to, she thinks on it. The thoughts are loud, clambering over the top of saner ones that she clings to as she forces one foot in front of the other. She can work through it, keep moving so she's not just stuck like she used to be when she was younger.

It's hard to pry it out by herself though - but she's not alone in her head these days. So it comes out with a prickling edge. She needs to hear something else right now, other than her own mind. It's not the first time it's happened, and it's where she relies hardest on this -- connection. ]

Anyone? Update? [ Garbled perhaps by distance, and the rush of unbidden vertigo she can't help, but she's not too fussed at the moment who responds to her. Distraction in conversation, or a calmer mind to brace against. ]

III.

[ She settles into somewhere local in the intermediate waiting time. Starts out sitting at somewhere to eat. Nursing a drink, dragging it over a period of time, but it's probably nostalgia that she ends up feeding the strange dragonbirds. She misses her sparrows, for more than just their intelligence and use as sentries, missed the mornings where they'd burrow into the warm spot in her bed when she crawled out of it. So it's a nice reprieve in between the work. Getting something that passed for jerky, and flung it to them, until she's got a few of them around her feet at a park bench. They squabble, and she fusses after them for it, after all, what was this to a griffon? Doesn't mind getting her hands midst them when they go to bite at each other. Snatching the piece that two of the dragonbirds were fighting over and easily rips it two, tossing one each way between them. ] There is more than enough, share.

[ Treats them like they can hear her just fine. Another old habit. Feel free to join her on her bench. ]

IV. WILDCARD
[ Toss whatever you feel like at me! Kel will be keeping her nose down to her work and mingling. If you're unsure, feel free to PM me on this account! ]

( i )

[gonewrong]

[ There is little interest from her in the mission. Not that she does not hear it; she does, and she retains the information, but there are some things that just fall too flat for her. Taking interest in others with absolute selflessness is not something that comes easy for her. There is always an ulterior motive for every action she takes. She has been calculating all her life, it is not a symbiote she is hosting within her that is going to change that. To be honest, hardly anything would change that.

Bambi tilts her head slightly when address, and only then does she drags her eyes over to the woman sitting next to her. A beat goes by, a blink, and then her lips curl into a soft smile. Something that looks harmless and sweet, gentle. Her presence is never threatening. She knows well how to fade easily into the background and knows better to be the sweetest thing in the room, even when the most corrosive acid bubbles in her.

She leans closer to her, non-threatening and slow. Elbow against the arm of the chair she sits on, laying her chin on a cupped hand, fingertips against the soft skin of her cheek. ]

Why? Does it matter what kind of vehicle we take?

[ She sounds genuine, but she might be mocking slightly the eagerness of Kelandry - but does it so well that it doesn't even sound like that. ]

[tiltings]

[ She glances sidelong, papers idle in her fingers, rustling as she balances it on fingertips. They'll slip in a minute, but she catches it with the warn pad of her thumb. Smoothing against the texture of the sheet. Her smile is slight, her expression blank - not strictly out of any idea that she should be wary, just habit. ]

Since it's part of our mission, I think so yes. Besides, I've always had a preference for being as prepared as possible.

[ It's like checking the walls of her once command, working over her tack. She likes to see, to know, even if it isn't strictly her own area. Yes, eager, but she's considers it only so much as being diligent. ]

[gonewrong]

[ Her blue eyes never leave Keladry's face, the gentle smile never sours. Her presence never becomes overbearing nor the way she seems to keep watching, observing, analysing. A sweet thing that bares no fangs nor claws. Like a siren's song, her whole presence is... meek, not quite the word, but good enough. Her head tilts again, softly, as if curious to her words, leaving a lingering feeling of being impressed, even when she really is not. To make others feel great about themselves has always been part of a servant's duty and Bambi cultivated that skill for many years. A sickly sweet poison in disguise.

She cannot help herself to be the way she is (or rather, does not even think about it).

Her fingers drum once against the cheek they lay against. Her smile sweetens. ]

That sounds smart. [ Overeager. ] Maybe we should take a look.

[ Anything to leave a room too full of other broodmates. ]

[tiltings]

[ She's had her maid, Lalasa, for so long, and it tugs at something there. A small, quiet, soft spoken girl, much like this now. Though in truth, she doesn't particularly like being focused on, for the smile she gets now. Didn't like it with Lalasa. Being the only girl for so long meant it happened a lot, but that didn't make it anymore comfortable an experience, so she turns her head away as she let the paper fall from her fingers at last.

Because just the way, she cannot help the way she is, either, honour - chivalry, would not let her. Because in the end, if she's impressing someone or not, she has work to do and she would do it to the best of her ability. Shakes her head, no, not smart. Habit - and years worth of training. Wyldon wouldn't expect her to lose her habits now that they had more comforts. Counters easily. ]

Just good training and being prudent.

[ She packs up neatly, and it's the same in everything. Everything is put away neatly, has it's place. Straightens up to her full height when she stands, twisting a shoulder back to feel it click from sitting so long. ] Ready to go?

[gonewrong]

[ Her mouth forms in a neat, silent "ah" when the girl tries to deflect the compliment, but she does not look surprised nor convinced, though the smile still lingers, soft and placating. A gentle thing, at least looks like it. Observant as she is, she takes notice of the little things that give her away, the way she avoids meeting her eyes, the little shuffle - and, at least for now, Bambi does not care to make her uncomfortable so she eases on the staring, eyes glancing over to the fingers tucking the papers neatly. Takes note of the way she does it, too. Something like comfort in there.

You can tell much of a person by taking note what they do with their hands.

Bambi does not take the lead to leave, however, and waits for her to be ready, to stand and to offer the invitation. She lingers for a second longer before gesture softly over to the exit. She can hear the voices creeping up already and she can't wait to get out, but keeps her cool. ]

Lead the way.

ii. ( b )

[decommission]

[ The response comes in two parts: a faint buzz at first, the connection made by someone still too cautious about linking minds this way. The white noise is soon followed by a more intelligible: ]

Here. Moving. [ His location is sloppily attached and given along with the word here in the form of mental images broken as if by static (moving through vents, heading toward a control room). That initial caution rolls off of him in a wave of tension - he's almost certainly tightening his jaw somewhere while he's crawling around out there, but Steve's single-minded and focused on the mission.

And now this too. By necessity his attention splits. ]

I can head your way.

?

[ Does she need help? ]

[tiltings]

[ She easy to it - in a way, she put it out of the category of things she didn't understand ( the talk of symbiotes, of strange scientific enhancements ) but how Master Numair used to speak into her ear via way of a spell even in the roar of battle. Of course it's more than that. She sees the broken images, in some far off way that is at the back of her mind.

Strange as it is, it's almost instantly the relief she needs, something to replace the sinking feeling in her gut as she forces foot after foot forward on the metal bridge.

Comes through in turn, as she opens her mind to the reply. ] No, I can make it to you. [ His determination, or hers, it doesn't matter which as the broken images of the pit of lava under her feet opens up - not it alone, but the overwhelming choking feeling of vertigo she's working through.

- which isn't helpful, so somewhat apologetic, for what must be as uncomfortable for him as it is for her. ] Old fear. [ Her goal is simple, and somewhat selfish in talking to him, keep herself distracted so she can keep moving. He makes it easier to focus on, instead of the gaping pit under her feet - Gods, just stop thinking about it Kel. Just stop thinking about it. Just one foot, in front of the other. It's a mantra repeated back to herself, and in part to him by the connection. ] Your plan once you reach destination?

[decommission]

[ Bucky jokes that Steve wouldn't know fear if it hit him upside the head, but he does know it. Pushes them away, acknowledges their existence long enough to make the conscious decision that they're less important than whatever else needs to be done. He could say it's a gift from his long dead father, or his brave mother, or the years he lived with the understanding that one bad winter might do him in.

He tastes bile in the back of his throat, reminding himself that Kel's disorientation isn't his own. Holding the connection even when instinct demands that he drop it before he sends something of his own nausea back to her. There's nothing beneath his hands and knees except a few more meters of metal, his exit already in sight. She's moving forward and he doesn't remember stopping. ]

Sabotage. Coolant systems [ That's not a plan at all, that's barely a suggestion - but he's used to figuring things out as he goes. He focuses on the metal underneath his hands, cold and solid. Stable. Sends it forward, echoing Kel's mantra (his mantra) back to her as he continues crawling forward. ]

Wish we had fans like these in my apartment during the summer. [ Discounting the fact that he's yet to see an actual fan. Apparently it takes a bit more than that to keep a place protected against the heat of molten lava.

Figuring it out as he goes. ]

[tiltings]

[ It's at easy out, one she takes now that it's given. ] I've got heat cutters on me if we have any trouble getting in. But I am a fair hand at ripping a door off hinges if it comes to it.

[ Realistically the bridge isn't so long, but it seems to stretch out into infinity. So she concentrates on the wall of the far side instead, even if it means taking her eyes strictly off her feet. Looking down is just compounding the issue at this point. Staring through the grate of the metal just seemed damn near idiotic a reminder.

Better to take this thread of stability he's offering, and run with it. ]

I know what you mean. [ And she draws that up instead, the times she wished most for half of the things she'd seen since she came to the station. An old memory, and it couldn't be more removed to everything they were doing now -- which is why she might share it at all, give them both something to look at, since their minds were feeding back and forth like this. Guilty as she felt for dragging someone else into this mess of old fears. It comes with the vision limited through a visor, the heavy smell of sweat, horseflesh and iron. Of a tourney field, cheer of crowds and most especially, the beating heat of the sun -- compounded under the weight of armour that was heating up in the height of the day, as she pulled her horse around under her, who from the sweat on him, was suffering the same from the heat as she was. ] It's just something you have to endure on the worst days, most of the time. [ never mind that fans hadn't even been invented. where she'd come from. ]

[decommission]

[ The shared memory could've been some historical fantasy straight out of the pictures, only the vantage point is off (vee arr is how he's heard other folks describe the sensation). It's not his memory, he has no control. There's enough disconnect to keep him from becoming too disoriented, a softness to the edges. A horse's gait rocks him in his seat, heat radiating from its flank - but his hands are still flat against the metal of the vent.

Steve sucks in another breath. ]

He knows it too. [ The horse, poor fella. ] He got a name?

[ A grate blocks his path. He pulls an omnitool from his belt and starts getting to work. ]

i. im finally here gomen

[exhuxperation]

[ Hux is of the mind that this tactic is quite thorough. It's probably not right for him to be praising the attackers, but their strategy is neat and tidy. If heavy-handed. But one does what one must– power is hard to earn and even more difficult to keep. The sides are doing what they can in a scramble to the top. However, their mission here is to steal the victory away from both courts, avoiding war in the process. As the brief comes to a close, he continues to sit upright, spine straight and hands folded neatly at the bottom edge of his stack of papers. It's not until the commander has broken the attentions and dismissed them that he moves, a simple roll of his shoulders before he moves his chair back to get up.

There are orders to meet and time already isn't on their side. His leave is interrupted, though, by a young girl's query. Earlier, he'd noted her soft rejection of the enemy's motives. A displeasure from it, curling through head to toe. ]

Those seeking power have no time for gentleness. [ Mercy is weakness and it cannot be allowed. ] This way. We don't have time to waste.

[ And he isn't going to wait for her to keep up, groupthink or not. He's here to come out on top. Failure is not an option. ]

i hope ur ready for this train wreck

[tiltings]

[ He doesn't find her slow to keep his pace with him. Knights after all, were what she trained to keep pace with. Her eyes are fixed forward. The heavy sound of in time boot steps as she lets it sit, an off hand response to his first comment. ]

Then they aren't worthy of whatever they gain by causing the suffering of so many.

[ They'll ruin lives, and for what? To have more resources? If they were going to make money off it, how could they when the people who would pay for such things, had nothing left? No money, no food, no homes. It wasn't the ones who started these fights that paid the price. It was everyone else on the way down. Her refugees, scared, alone, and that was just one realm, let alone so many planets full of people going to be ripped apart by a war.

They had to stop this. It's fixed, marked determination that flexes along the line of her shoulders. Calm, though still, externally, because she was going to get this done. ]

i am 100% ready

[exhuxperation]

[ Silently noted is her keeping pace. Good, good. Well, at least that much is. This topic is something to pass time, even if it's not particularly cheery. ]

And if their glory eases the suffering of their own people?

[ Impending war is never black and white. He would gladly destroy planets to ensure the stability of the First Order. Of his troops, from bottom rank all the way to the top. His crowning achievement. There was everything at risk in doing so; even with the rebel faction being as small as it was. Tenacity is their guide.

Hux will just have to ensure he outlasts every last one. ]

[tiltings]

[ The bite comes back quick. She's too sensitive to this, too open, not in her face maybe, but she's still managing to keep that fixed blank face in place, even the twisting feel rolls off her mind. ]

Did anything in what you read sound like they cared even slightly for that?

[ Because if they did, they could have worked out trade agreements, and war would be the last solution. No one benefitted from it except the greedy, the power hungry. She knew that good kings were seldom good people, the position didn't allow that. That bad people could do good things, and that good people could be wrong, fall from their own pride. ]

[exhuxperation]

What I read does not give me insight on an entire empire's structure.

[ Some of one, yes. The need for expansion, whether because they crave power or glory or both. Or perhaps just resources. Space is an unforgiving place; cold, airless, and stretching on forever. Finding what one needs can be a race. ]

Regardless, we need to extract the Empress. [ Which should be good, right? This is subjective. Turning a corner, they're greeted by the open doors of the hangar. Seeing the ships in a row reminds him of Starkiller, something like home. ]

Have you ever piloted before?

8000 years later I arrive hello

[narcissithstic]

They are beasts, they cannot understand you. [That much she should understand already, but Kylo Ren places little faith in those around him regardless of their affiliation. The universe is pale, fragile enough to shatter under the weight of chaos that threatens to consume, and its diseased state thrives on naivety and ignorance. She is a capable fighter, a stout, hungry heart - that does not mean she's intelligent enough to know better than to talk to animals.

He folds his arms, shifts his stance where he's stood nearby, reflecting the impatience bristling just beneath the surface.]

You should not be wasting time on them. [It's a remark that's made all the more unpleasant by the harshness of his digitally altered voice, cracked and brittle behind that cold, inhuman mask.] They will be dead soon anyway, along with the rest of this world.

this is amazing

[tiltings]

[ They continue to call to at her feet, and when she looks at him, frown fixing for a moment before it smoothed. Not for the first time does she miss her animals - right now, her horse in particular. Peachblossom would show him, just how much they understood, probably by biting him to make him squeak, so that... might not be the best lesson. Or possible even slightly, given who she's talking to. But it's a nice thought to cool the edge of some urge that comes with what he says - to keep them all. To gather up everyone of these creatures, and tuck them -- where? into her jacket? Hope no one in the station notices them screeching out for her kit?

Besides, she's been here long enough, that sometimes people like to pass of all the nasty things out of their mouth as just speaking truth. He's particularly adept at it, it seems, with that cruel voice behind a inhuman mask. ] If that's true, then we should appreciate them for as long as they're here.

[ Counters it, and as ever her face is blank, a crinkle of a pleasant smile in the corner of her mouth that clips her words off any heat. ] Besides, have you ever tried talking with them? They do understand more than you would - ow. [ She makes the mistake of taking her eyes off them. Hungry things, with her hand there, and when she doesn't respond quickly enough, they snap, latching on her fingers in their demand for more. No, no it's nothing to a Griffon, this is more just a reminder that she was busy doing something more important that talking. She draws her fingers up that had gotten bitten by the sharp rows of teeth to suck the blood off. ]

[narcissithstic]

So it would seem. [Pointed and tinged with sarcasm as she recoils to set her fingers to her lips. Often times the universe does not function as scholars or the devout would swear: if there was some grand system of fairness in place, anarchy would not reign or flourish in the absence of an empire designed to benefit every living thing dwelling beneath its shadow. In this moment, however, it only seems right that she finds herself nursing along an aching knuckle.

He's no less smug for it.]

We have a mission to fulfill - one that does not involve coddling this world in its final moments.

[Stop petting the birds already, gosh.]

[tiltings]

[ She fixes him with a blank look as if she didn't know at all what he was talking about. A bird biting her was not ultimate proof of the pointlessness of the universe. Merely that it was hungry. So very particularly, once the sting wears off the bite, not so deep as that, she reaches for another bit of jerky and takes her eyes off him to give the bird that had bit her a bit of jerky. Immediately it butted it's head into her hand, looking for it, giving her an excuse to give it a scratch at it's feather and scales. Tolerated as long as it had something in it's mouth.

Animals were animals. She never expected them to be more or less than that. After what she'd seen, she didn't think there was kindness in making them think like Daine put it - two legger smart. ] Greedy little monster, aren't you? [ It cawed happily, head tilted up into the pet with feathers on display. Someone had been feeding the things long before her for them to be so friendly, was her best guess.

When she turns her face up to him again, giving him a openly pleasant look. Connection or not, she never would get in the habit of expressing much. ] By my reckoning of our mission, we have nothing to do for a few hours yet. [ She still has some jerky left, and their were more mouths to feed, apparently, from their squawking, jumping and nipping at her boots for what was in her hands. ] Why don't you join me, instead? We look more at ease for the people here, keep them calm so we can go about our business easier if that puts you in a better mood for it. [ Sensible, straight forward sort of thought. ]

[narcissithstic]

No. [The start and end of her persuasive argument, apparently. In truth, beyond the obvious disconnect between appearances (he would look ridiculous sitting on a bench, coated in wildlife) he has no desire to draw so close to another of his kind. Symbiotic creatures resonated, reacted; the Force draws every note in, amplifying it, sending it back. It would be taxing at best, and telling at worst.]

I do not intend to stray from our given directives.

II - A

[autophagy]

[ She has been following this girl for a while, mostly because she seemed to know where to go, and Jane isn't precisely interested in whatever the mission is supposed to be. Just tag along, see that she doesn't get killed, go back. And even then, this person's demise wouldn't make much of an impact on her.

Well, as long as her death isn't the prelude of trouble coming her own way, but Jane is certain that wouldn't be the case.

Keladry's words shake her from her thoughts, to which she frowns slightly as the situation sinks in. Right. Sabotage. She rolls her eyes. ]

Know yourself out.

[ Literally, even. ]

[tiltings]

[ It's hard not to feel the roll off, that apathy that Kel herself could not be more removed from. Not just of the people counting on them, but of the work itself. Her hand curling around her cutting tool, she turns to look at her companion - she didn't mind who she worked with in most regards. But she couldn't abide that sort of outlook. Not when there is work to be done. ]

Forgive me, Mistress, do you have a problem with our orders?

[ Carefully said, because if the person at her back wasn't someone she could trust to do their work, then she needed to make plans for it now. ]

[autophagy]

Not at all.

[ The answer is immediate, but a moment later she goes silent. When she realizes that the other girl expects more, Jane sighs and shrugs slowly. ]

I simply couldn't care less about it. I will help you, of course. Just don't expect me to give a damn.

ii b

[adamance]

[Lexa works tirelessly, in part because her speed will help her here. With it in hand, she moves swiftly, planting what she can and dropping what things she can along the way to set up things for the other members of their group. Given the fact that they are ripe for what may be about to happen here, she knows that they can't waste any time. That no one is there to stop them speaks volumes. Whatever will come of this planet, it's going to come swiftly. They can't risk wasting time.

But when the words cut through her consciousness, slowing her to a halt, she has to recognize that the pain in her joints is not just there because she's been working hard. If she pushes herself harder, her body will wear down. They will not be able to remove her from this planet. She will be a forgotten entity, and her people—if she still has a people to return to—will be lost without their Commander, potentially unable to recover from the distance.

Lexa flexes her fingers carefully as she comes to lean up against a wall, eyes closing. She hopes that, if anyone else comes along, that she doesn't appear to be in pain. No, she's communicating. That much had better be clear.]

We're still working. Efficiently, at that. Are you in need of something?

[She sounds impatient. She can't curb that in her voice, but it's not Kel who draws out that emotion from her, but Lexa herself. Having to stop is one risk among many, but she will not succeed without letting her fatigued limbs rest.]