Futuristic &nbsp; Icarus

MackenzieJ

Hiuly of Starmoon · Oct 26, 2022

Ren stood inside the pharmacy in Midtown. She felt a bit bad about what she was about to do and knew she could afford everything, but once the cashier saw her name, it would give away her location. Something she didn't want to. She had been hiding successfully so far and wasn't going to waste it on a few bandages. She observed the pharmacist carefully. Suddenly someone entered and she grabbed bandages, painkillers, band-aids, and some disinfectant wipes as fast as she could. But the pharmacist was more attentive than she had thought. Right as she ran out of the door, she heard him yell: "Thief! Someone stop this girl!" and heard him starting to run after her.

Ren knew she had to get away. Not for her sake, but for the sake of the kids that were currently depending on her. She for sure had more than enough to do once she got back to the small room between two broken buildings in Lowtown. Ren ran towards a big crowd of people since her best bet was to hide in the masses. Maybe if she concealed her blue hair she could completely vanish. So once she was decently hidden, she put her hood over her head and carefully glanced behind her. Only now had she realized that she hadn't heard the pharmacist in a bit and she also couldn't see him anymore. She hoped he had turned around again, so she started walking in the direction of her home in Lowtown.

People always knew when they entered Lowtown. The biggest giveaway was the horrible smell. Though people who lived there were kind of used to it at this point, Ren wasn't one of those people. The smell always made her sick to the stomach. She walked through the rundown streets until she came to a makeshift door she had placed there and entered the space between two buildings.

There were several bunk beds along the walls, each harboring a person who was either sick or hurt, sometimes even both. She got all the materials out she had previously stolen and started working on her current "patients". Most of them were currently asleep, so she tried to be as quiet as possible. During that time she usually had the chance to think or simply enjoy the current moment. Today was one of those days, where she decided to just enjoy the moment and enjoy the fact that she was fairly safe. Nobody was fully safe in Lowtown, but her place was as neutral as it could get down here. Especially since she herself never chose sides. A person who needed her help just needed her help that was all, and the relationship also never exceeded that either. She was also the best doctor around here, so she was much too valuable for several gangs down here, which also gave her the bonus of protection. She was fairly safe here and life was as good as it got when you were acting as if you were poor, though she knew she could never stay in one place for too long. Besides, working on a ship was a lot more interesting than being here. She hoped she'd someday get the chance to work onboard a ship and travel the galaxy and maybe even beyond.

King Krokodil · Oct 26, 2022

Mood ~ Bored

Location ~ Taurus Manufacturing District Offices, Hightown

Time ~ 18:36

Outfit ~ His regular clothes, Pictured.

Soundtrack ~

“And for payment?”
Canine had been sat near the end of a small conference table in the dully lit offices of Taurus Manufacturing Corporation, tucked into a crevasse in the walls, he didn’t like it much, It felt too open, too exposed. ‘It’d be better if it was in a room,’ he thought, ‘Why couldn’t they just of added an extra wall?’. He stopped himself from dwelling on such insignificant things as he was so prone to doing. But he had a point, the dark lighting, drab color scheme, and lack of people felt almost wrong. Uncanny.

He had been discussing a potential deal with the heads of the company whose offices he sat in. Executive types, he’d seen it a thousand times before. Always suited up, presenting themselves. Why always keep up such an appearance? Who’s scrutinizing your every move? Don’t dwell on it. “And for payment?” Asked his superior, A Guy the Spirits called ‘Moshpit’, He’d been through his share, Almost as much as Canine had. At least as much where you could begin to compare the two; Mosh was but a man, his parents felled for being members of the Branch Victoria Separatists, a Religious group that was killed for their beliefs long ago, but mosh escaped the carnage. He’s lost a couple limbs, some fingers, and maybe even an eyeball, but he was quite the battleaxe.

“The pay?” Questioned one of the executives, Might of been a CTO or CFO, canine didn’t care enough to listen. “We’re paying you with our services.”. Moshpit scoffed at the executive, looking a bit like a red crocodile, who, even though a bit skinny, was taller and more stocky than either Canine or Mosh. Moshpit leaned forward in his chair, clasping his hands together. “You can’t expect us to give you our full support to deal with a threat you don’t even know is coming.”. He was talking about the subject of their visit, Taurus had gotten word of impending sabotage, from an unknown source, for an unknown target, from an unknown assailant. The info was sketchy at the least. The executive was visibly offended, throwing his arms out with a stutter, “What do you mean? We have it on good authority we are being targeted, and who are you to disagree? You’re just the thugs with guns.” Mosh had just about had it, he leant back in his chair with a chuckle. “You’re going to wish you hadn’t said that, ‘Sir’.”. He motioned for Canine to get up, as he shoved his chair back under the table. Canine sat up, ignoring The executive’s protests as they left. They walked out of the conference hallway, the squeaking automatic door made way for them as they passed. Walking to the elevator, Canine struck up conversation, “Another day, Another Rich asshole.”, He paused. “Am I right?”, Mosh stopped just shy of the glass pillar that was the elevator shaft, he put his hand on his side. “You could of helped me back there.”, Canine came to a stop aswell, putting his hands to the side, “Oh come on, Man, I had nothing to say. Better to keep quiet then to say something stupid.”. Mosh sighed, before turning to call the elevator. “You couldn’t of handled that, what am I saying.”, Canine laughed, “Maybe not, But better than you could, Hermano.”. They waited for the elevator, the silence only broken by the executive’s muffled arguments still going on down the hall. He took a moment to peer out the glass panels that made up the elevator. ‘Why do rich people love the color white?’ He thought, ‘So drab.’. The arrival of the elevator seemed to revive the conversation, “You know, maybe I should of taken it.”, Grumbled Moshpit. “Better than coming back with our dicks in our hands.”. Canine turned over at him, “You fuckin’ kidding me?” He said to Moshpit, as they rode the elevator down. “I, for one, would rather come home with my dick in my hand than come back suckin’ his. Have some self respect, Nick.”. Nick was Moshpit’s real name, but he hated being called it. Without a word more, they exited the sterile office building before calling their ride to head back to their base, a small office building in the city’s Midtown area. Not nearly as clean or orderly as the one they’d just left, but it was good nonetheless. He sat in the engineering room in his pod after a day’s work, preparing to head into a dreamlike state of consciousness where he was able to access the network of information stored on any devices affixed with a special cable. He had developed the technique of using this dreamspace after many years, exploiting some factors of how AI perceives space and time. He used this dreamscape to brief for his next mission. It also gave him an opportunity to fantasize about what it’d feel like to been among the living, a walking, breathing, human. He liked to play around with the reaches of his mind.

wickedlittlecritta · Oct 27, 2022

3:50
Lowtown

The Red Envelope was in the part of the city that people from Lowtown thought was Midtown, but people from Midtown considered Lowtown. Which meant Lowtown folks thought it was a very fancy casino, and Midtown folks thought it was a very seedy one, and they all lost a lot of money to the mob together.

It was the early hours of the morning, when even the hardcore gamblers had mostly finally ambled off to find sleep. Sasha had left his big, useless muscle boy security guards to their own devices to go take a smoke break in the back alley, and had not been at all surprised to find Kali there, sorting through a bag of obviously stolen goods. She looked up at him and gave him a bright, big smile.

“Hey, Sasha,” she said.

He looked at her, and then at her bag, and then lit his cigarette. “Thank you for not throwing your boxes away in my trash,” he said.

“The least I can do is give you plausible deniability,” she said sweetly. “Do you want this bag of dala horses that came with my SD cards?”

“Bribery,” Sasha said mournfully, accepting the offered bag of fruit flavored gummy candies. Kali was an android, and didn’t need to eat, though sometimes Sasha would forget and absentmindedly offer her snacks as well.

Kali winked at him. Sasha rolled his eyes and slid down the wall of the Red Envelope to sit next to her.

She stole packages from Corp delivery drones, and even though it was something he should probably be interested in stopping, he wasn’t, and so early mornings often found them sitting in this alley, swapping gossip and flirting a little. Sasha usually wasn’t one for flirting, but Kali didn’t want anything from him other than that he kept turning a blind eye to her thefts, and he wasn’t above buying into her little white lies.

“Did you hear about that merchant group putting up a ship for bounty? For the thing eating Lowtown shift workers?”

“Nothing is eating anybody,” Sasha said. “People just got fed up and are leaving.”

“That’s bullshit, and you know it.”

He did know it. They both knew people who had disappeared, and they weren't the kind to up and go without a warning, or a plan.

“I still don’t think there’s a monster eating people,” he said stubbornly.

“It’s something,” Kali insisted. “And there’s a bounty for it. Whole ship. Good ship.”

Sasha shrugged, taking a drag on his cigarette. Kali frowned at him.

“You could try to catch it,” she pressed.

“What for?”

“Sasha. Please.”

“What do I need with a ship?”

“You could sell it. For cash. Or. You could use it to get your family off of that...what did you call it? ‘That miserable hunk of rock’?”

It was Sasha’s turn to frown at her. “They wouldn’t go.”

“Stubbornness runs in the family. I understand.” Sasha rolled his eyes. “Come on. You’re bored. It would be fun. Little a enrichment? As a treat?”

“You,” Sasha said gravely, “Are a bad influence.”

Kali smiled brightly. This close he could smell her, even over the stench of garbage—something a little sharp and electric, and something a little metallic, and something pungent but not unpleasantly like engine grease, and over it all the delicate floral notes of rose perfume.

“I’ll think about it,” he said.

“All I can ask,” Kali said, and leaned over to kiss Sasha’s cheek. He flushed, and she giggled before climbing to her feet. “See you around, Sasha!”

“Be safe,” he told her.

He took another very long drag on his cigarette. Then he let out a big sigh, and pulled his clunky old tablet out of the pocket of his jacket.

18:36
Midtown

The plaza in Midtown that the bounty notice had directed him to was rapidly filling up with an assortment of merc types when Sasha arrived, in his dark, unobtrusive body armor. The notice had suggested teaming up, which he found dubious advice. Safety in numbers, of course, but he hated the thought of getting saddled with some idiot who got them both killed.

Sasha squinted across the crowd, feeling a little extra grumpy—he was usually still asleep this time of day—and wondered if he would be better in the long run by himself.

Holyhalo · Oct 28, 2022

Time: 18:45
Location: Vela Space Station - Midtown

There was always that prickly feeling of eyes on the back of his head. People were watching him, as always. Looking for him? Hunting him? Probably just curious about him. But perhaps not? Michael’s grip on his shield tightened and he shifted it ever so slightly to a more forward angle, just in case he was right. He’d pull out the shotgun if he could but his helmet was using up all the hand space he had left. On edge, alert and uncomfortable, Michael stretched his neck and focused back on the ground in front of him, keeping his eyes as low as possible.

Aside from the rhythmic thudding of heavy armor footsteps, his Salus armor made very little noise. He made a point to keep it in optimal condition as it was the one thing between him and death for the past decade or so. His eyes caught one of the bystanders looking at him and Michael glared at him, only to notice his reflection in one of the shop’s windows. A large, gorilla like figure in size and build, with massive arms for wielding incredibly heavy weapons and massive legs to support the weight of the entire machinery, all clad in steel alloy, titanium and coated with something called wurtzite, all that and then this tiny human head poking out the top of it. Michael could see the joke in that, could see why eyes were drawn to this weird sight. While power armors weren’t a rare sight, seeing one like this would draw attention.

His feet, supported by servo-motors and exo-enhancers, carried him along back alleys and smaller roads towards the main event of today. Michael had picked up rumors about the disappearing people for a while now but he’d never really paid attention to it as it didn’t affect him directly. But that changed when rewards began being offered for solutions. He was affected by those. So he’d dug a little deeper, put some of his feelers out, sort of speak, and learned there was a big reward up in the form of a space ship, although it would probably be shared with whomever you teamed up with to get the job done. And getting out of here for a while sounded like a good idea to Michael. After the last job, his reputation had taken a hit and you didn’t really get good job offers as a bodyguard when your last employer was in a morgue somewhere with half his head missing.

He’d reached the main square where the job was supposed to be up for whoever was interested. He hadn’t noticed it but his breath had become quick and short. Not because the suit tired him out, it couldn’t really do that in a day-to-day situation like a stroll through town. No, the square was the cause. Even with his eyes glued to the floor and mind actively thinking of everything but the large open space he was headed to, he still got hit with it. Taking a deep breath, Michael steeled himself and let his eyes wander forward over the large square, filled with people. It took all of a few seconds for his vision to begin shaking and turn blurry. He took an involuntary step back, his shield moving up to defend him, before he quickly moved the helmet up and covered his head with it. A quick twist sideways put the entire thing exactly in the right spot and armor responded with a quick hiss of air as it sealed him inside of his own little vacuum bubble. His breathing settled down almost immediately

Righting himself, Michael took a step forward, reclaiming the one he’d lost to his fear a moment before and he let his eyes run over the crowd a second time, this time without loss of sharpness or vision. This was the right place. Much too nice for there to be this many armed and mean looking money grubbers. Definitely the right place. Sizing up the nearest group, Michael confirmed that not everyone here was a professional and that many were here because of the lure of the reward, rather than because their skills would benefit a solid and clean solution to the problem presented. How many of them would live to see the next day on Vela? Michael put one massive, armored foot in front of the other and mingled with the crowd as it gathered, looking around, like many others, for some sign of whomever was handing out the reward while also trying to spot telltale signs of career soldiers-turned-mercs that he might be able to join.

Garden Gnome · Oct 29, 2022

Time: 18:46
Location: Vela Space Station - Midtown

While others may not see or understand the true value of a world full of scattered industrial waste, her previous employer was different. The world of Vatalor was a place dominated by a whole handful of self-declared Metal Warlords, and with not much viable competition to wrestle the power away from these scoundrels, their pitiful display of power had gone unchecked. Her previous employer had laid its conquering gaze upon the untold material riches of the scrap world, and the Velghan was one of many that had been tasked to bring the revitalised manufactorums under Avaris’s control. These decrepit factories had produced too much for scum like these and in her employer’s words, “It was time that these resources were put to better use and aid to fuel the corporation in its future conquests.” The landscape that greeted her was a vast sea of wreckage and a variety of droids scurrying about as they scavenged and dug about the numerous mountains of scrap metal and abandoned rubbish left by many. The air was polluted by the smog created by the endless production by the multitude of factories, giving the desolate world an otherworldly glow that caused vision to be difficult if one had no visual aids.

It had taken them three months and four batches of mercenary reinforcements before they managed to wipe out these self-declared warlords and bring the conquest of Vatalor to an end, as the planet’s manufactorums under the celestial’s control. Now finally back in Vela after three long months, Quara was looking forward to taking a break before searching for her next big job, but not long after she took a shower and cleaned up back at living quarters in Midtown, she received a voice message recording from a close contact.

“Hey. Heard you were back in Vela. Long time. Not sure if you’re looking for a new job, but there’s this new big bounty everyone’s talking about. Something big. The reward is an entire ship. If you’re interested, check out the board in the plaza. You know the one.” The message ended there, and Quara’s curiosity was piqued. A whole ship as a bounty for taking out a mark? She had done plenty of contracts but none as crazy such as this. Leaving her quarters, the Velghan made her way to the board, which had already attracted quite the crowd by the time she got there. Seems like just about every mercenary and bounty hunter had their eye on the bounty and with good reason.

RikuXIII · Nov 1, 2022

{Wu Krai: Vela Space Station - Midtown bar}
"Raise 30." The old human said, a slight trimmer in his voice.
Excitement? He had been on the outs, but a good hand could turn that around. Too bad for him Wu Krai had the perfect hand. The Zaru'Pal continued to watch the old man as two other players went, one calling the other folding.
"See you, raise 50." Wu said smoothly, shifting the cigar in his mouth to the side.
"Think you're big stuff, monkey?" The smelly high roller said. "Your still just playing for chimp change."
The high roller chuckled at his own bad pun. Despite his warrior's pride demanding to throttle the man for this affront, Wu smirked.
"You just here to flap your gums?" He said, taking the cigar out of his mouth and blowing a smoke ring. "Or are you gonna show us how it's done?"
"Oh, I'm here to take your money, monkey boy." The High Roller sneered. "Up 250."
That caused the blue lady to fold immediately. The old man looked concerned, but he mumbled call as he pushed more creds into the pot. Another sap folding out, and it was back to Wu. It was clear that the high roller was trying to scare away the others from the pot. There was a slight twitch when the old man stayed in. Wu knew he could take this punk, getting him back in the black. But the problem was...
"Oh, you light?" The High Roller said with mock concern before busting out in a huge laugh. "Looks like you out, monkey!"
His piggy little eyes focused on the thing on Wu's back.
"Unless you got something else to throw in."
Wu's eyes narrowed as he felt the weight of his battle staff a bit more keenly. It was a relic of an old life. A liability really. But something he could never give up, despite it all. Risking it was unthinkable. Best to just back out. But with this hand, was it really a risk?
"Alright." He said, replacing the cigar in his mouth.
He pushed in what coins he had left, the shrugged his staff off his back and dropped it on the table. The high roller reached out for it, but Wu slapped his hand.
"Not so fast, slick." Wu growled. "Show us what you got."
The high roller gave a wicked smile before turning over his cards.
"Read'em and weep, primate!" He shouted, revealing a double quasar.
A great hand, but not good enough.
"How cute." Wu said, not able to keep the mocking tone out of his voice. "But unless they do things backwards from you're from, a low constellation still beats a double quasar, bucko."
The renegade Zaru'Pal beamed as the High Roller turned red. He reached out for the sweet, sweet pot when he became aware of a climbing laugh. The old man was laughing and crying as he put down his cards. Grand Spiral. A damned Grand Spiral. A risky hand that could fall apart against anyone with a nebula. But against star hands...
"You blasted cheats!" The former high roller bellowed, his hand reaching in his coat for something.
Wu struck first. He kicked up with his legs to flip the table, putting more power into his right leg to tilt it to the high roller. That sack of excrement was knocked back, his pocket pea shooter flying out of his grip. The upset led to a free for all. Everyone at the table was grabbing for the flying money as Wu launched himself at the high roller, slamming both fists into the man's solar plexus. As he went down, Wu got in a few more hits to make sure he didn't move again soon. As the Zaru'Pal turned, he saw the old man pick up his battle staff to hit another player. Sighing, he grabbed the staff and ripped it from the old man's grasp.
"Hey, that's mine!" The old man screamed, but got shoved back into a melee by one of Wu's feet.
Backing off to a wall, Wu shook his head as the bar got enveloped in a full on brawl.
"Well...shit." He commented, taking one last puff on his cigar.
Swinging his staff back on his back, Wu took a running leap to grab onto a hanging light fixture. He swung from fixture to pole to fixture, before dropping in front of the door. He dodged a thrown bottle before ducking out the door. Sooooo...he was pretty much penniless. He had reniged on a bet, which would screw up him playing more here. And if the station police got a hold of him, his info would get registered. Well. Time to check on ships heading out of here. Maybe one that was offering pay.

SilverFlight · Nov 4, 2022

"Let's split up." Riley suggested. "Cover more ground that way." She could see her brother was already watching someone through the crowd.
"Good. See you back here in 10."

Vex moved off, sliding between shoulders with agility that did not fit his bulky frame.
The four-armed warrior looked formidable.
"You seem like you can handle yourself in a fight." Vex opened with a nod of approval. His visor reflected her form back at her for a moment, before he dipped his head in respect.
"My parnter and I are looking for a little extra muscle to pick up this bounty before the others do, you interested?"
Then Vex raised his head quickly, as if he had forgotten something important.
"Oh, my name's Vex, by the way." He held out the gauntleted hand, which had four fingers, wrapped in glossy blue armour.

Garden Gnome

Riley surveyed the faces present.
No. No. No. Definitely no...huh, now there's something you don't see everyday. The powersuit clunked its way through the sea of hunters, which parted begrudgingly, if only to save their toes.
"Hey! Hey big guy! Down here!"
Riley was grinning. "All dressed up eh? I'll take you out of you want," she waved her pistol. "My team's gonna bag that mark, you want in?"

wickedlittlecritta

RikuXIII

King Krokodil

Meanwhile, deep in lowtown, in the darkness of an alley the lights flickered. The machines hummed as they akways did but something wasn't right...The flash of a shadow appeared and was gone again. A lone maintenance worker hurried through the darkness. Sweat was beading on the back of his neck, he couldn't be sure of what he was afraid, only that the slow, dark pressure of being watched had not left him since he'd begun his walk about to his humble abode. An empty can hit the floor behind him, and rolled out into the light. He turned and in that moment, he stopped.
Something lunged out of the shadows, claws grabbed him, he screamed once as he was pulled backwards, and the alley settled back into the gentle hum of the machines.

Faeriedae · Nov 4, 2022

The alley sat between three buildings, lined with decay and dirt, holes carved out by the elements in which the trash produced. The ruptures provided just a wide enough gap for liquid to fall into, which allows pretty lines of rust dripping down into the garbage. Multiple layers of trash built up on the ground, as small critters scurry out of the mess only to jump away into the holes. A foul, nose burning stenches the alleyway forcing anyone that steps close to turn away with tears lining their eyes. The smell is strong, sticking to even the walls, and yet it was a temporary safe place for him. The darkness falls around him, hiding his tall form from the crowds of people and the buzzing fluorescent lights. Knelt down in a small ball, one claw cradles his head as his other holds onto a brightly colored fruit undisturbed by the location.

As he forces himself to eat it, the juices dribble down his chin and off his hand, a small snarl like noise gurgled at the back of his throat, but as he finished it The alien hold back the urge to lick his hands clean. The headache which rendered him overwhelmed earlier receded slightly, perhaps a lack of nutrition and water from his travels? Perhaps. Whatever the case was, he needed more and a place to stay as well.

Shmuel · Nov 4, 2022

Aron jerked his head up when he heard a sound that was becoming increasingly familiar: a person screaming in sheer terror before being snatched away. He didn't know what happened to the unfortunate souls that encountered that 'thing' as everyone that had, simply vanished.
He wasn't even certain what that 'thing' was. What he did know is that he had to put a stop to it.

In a dash that kicked up the debris around him, Aron sprinted toward the direction of the scream in the hope of catching a glimpse of whatever was kidnapping all of Lowtown's citizens. Granted, some of them deserved to be taken, Aron thought, but he knew that grace could never be earned and that everyone should be given a second chance. It's not how you start, but how you finish that matters. That was what his father used to say.

Turning the corner, Aron raced into a narrow alley. As a courier, he had run all around Lowtown. Surprisingly, even after five years there were alleys he'd never been in. This was one of them, which was immediately apparent, as attested by the broken pipe that he raked his right arm on.

Aron sucked in air between his gritted teeth and forced himself to slow down. His elevated heart rate would cause him to bleed out if he kept going. Having switched to a moderate walking speed, he recognized the area. A half smile creeped up at his good fortune.

After arriving in front of a makeshift door, Aron lightly rapped on it with the knuckles of his left hand. He applied pressure to his right arm while he waited for an answer.

Hiuly of Starmoon · Nov 5, 2022

(Trigger warning: a lot of mentioning of blood.... and whatever belongs to that type of medical procedure, including almost surgery, as well as mentioning of shots and needles. It‘s described a little though, but not too detailed)

Ren had been doing a routine check-up on her patients who were currently awake, when she heard the knock at her door. She always feared the worst, so she opened the door rather carefully. Though as soon as she saw who was awaiting her answer, she opened fully. "Haven't seen you here in a while". They had never actually interacted, but she had seen him around a few times. That and she could see that his arm was bleeding a lot, so he would need immediate attention. "Leave your weapons at the door. Then follow me, I'll go prepare everything". Those were her main rules, leave your weapons at the door and there won't be any questions asked.

She practically ran to a small room in the back, where she had put a small office and also where she stored her supplies. It was also the only room with electricity. She mentally turned on the lights as soon as she entered the room and went to look for an elastic band and some bandages. She really hoped she wouldn't need anything else, but by looking at how much the wound had bled, the chances for that were pretty slim. Though she was going to explore the wound first, before making hasty decisions. Lastly, she looked for the regional anesthetic shot. She still had those from her school, so she tried to use those as little as possible, though for this it would be inevitable.

She turned around and placed all the materials on the tray on the desk. Ren then gestured to her patient to sit down opposite her. She grabbed the elastic band and walked over to his right side. She was first going to properly cut off the blood flow, so it won't continue bleeding. As soon as that was done she told him to lift his arm, while getting the injection. "I promise, this won't hurt a lot" and with a swift movement, the shot was inside his armpit and she was injecting the anesthetic. Just as quickly as the shot had entered, she had taken it out again.

"Alright, so since you're not bleeding out anymore and we need to give the anesthetic some time to work, we have to do some much-needed paperwork", Ren announced and grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen. "Let's start with your name," she asked and wrote down the answer. They went through the entire patient file sheet like this and as soon as they were done, it was time for the harder part.

Ren turned around and got one of her sterilized scalpels from her material storage. "Alright, lay your arm on the table. I will now explore the wound and see if there's a nerve that's been damaged and find out which blood vessels are broken and whether or not I will need to perform surgery on you", she explained as she got to work. She started off by deepening the wound and started looking around. That usually was the moment her teachers at school used to freak out. After all, no human could do this without a microscope, good thing she wasn't a "normal" human. Looking around in the cut, she could see that all the nerves were still intact. That was a good sign. But just as she had suspected by the amount of blood lost, one of the arteries was damaged. Though now she knew it was the Arteria Brachialis. She'd need to stitch that up, which will complicate the whole procedure.

"Wait here. I need to go get some more stuff", she told Aron and turned around to face her material storage again. She doubted she had any fitting needles for sewing an artery together. She rather quickly found the right thread, but she had been right with the needle thing. She didn't have one that fit. Though she might be able to build one. She grabbed one of her smallest needles and walked outside. One of her current patients had brought a lighter. That would definitely come in handy right now. She grabbed the lighter and walked back in her office, handing the lighter to Aron. "Light it for me please, I need to make a needle for you", Ren instructed him as she looked for two tweezers.

She walked back and started heating the needle up. It would need to get hot enough for her to bend it, but then it will work. After a few test trials, she finally got the needle to bend at the correct angle. She could finally continue to stitch up her patient. She cooled the needle down and put the thread through. Now the hardest part started. Her needle had ended up working and she slowly but steadily stitched up the artery.

As soon as she was done, she got another needle and a different thread and stitched up the skin. "How'd you get this wound?", she asked, ready to do some small talk, now that she didn't need to concentrate as hard anymore. Talking to her patients also gave her a good sense of what was going on here, so she was also in the loop.

"And that was it" Ren announced as soon as she was done wrapping the wound in bandages. She walked over to take the elastic band off the arm and said: "You're free to go home now, just don't put too much weight on your stitches and come back next week, so I can take them out again".

Shmuel · Nov 6, 2022

The door creaked slightly as it slowly opened. The darkness inside kept Aron from seeing who it, but he knew who to expect. He could barely make out something blue in the scant light that filtered in.
The young woman fully opened the door and said, "Haven't seen you here in a while".
Aron lifted his hand away to show the reason for his visit.
"Leave your weapons at the door. Then follow me, I'll go prepare everything".
Aron unstrapped his scabbard and removed from his back. He didn't much care for being without his broadsword, but he didn't expect to be long. He set the scabbard down and leaned it the wall.

After walking past several bunkbeds, Aron followed the Healer into a small room at the end. He watched as she rummaged around for a moment, placed a few things on the table, then pointed to a chair.
Aron sat down and the Healer walked around to his right side, holding a cord of some sort. She tied it tightly above his wound and told him to lift his arm.
"I promise, this won't hurt a lot," she stated, as she pulled out a good sized syringe. It wouldn't hurt as much as the scrape, so Aron wasn't concerned about it.
The shot stung just a little.

"Alright, so since you're not bleeding out anymore and we need to give the anesthetic some time to work, we have to do some much-needed paperwork," she said.
She picked up a piece of paper and a pen, then proceeded to ask Aron some questions.
"Let's start with your name."
"Aron."
She kept asking questions and he kept answering them. When it was beginning to seem like there would be no end to the questioning, the Healer turned around, then turned back with a small blade.

"Alright, lay your arm on the table. I will now explore the wound and see if there's a nerve that's been damaged and find out which blood vessels are broken and whether or not I will need to perform surgery on you."
Aron laid his arm on table and promptly looked away. He wasn't exactly squimish, but he didn't care to know what the inside of his arm looked like.
"Wait here. I need to go get some more stuff."
The Healer searched around some more and left the room. Aron idly looked at the scar on the back of his right hand. He got that one shortly before the Healer showed up.

"Light it for me please, I need to make a needle for you", she said as she handed him a lighter. Aron lit the lighter and held it for her. He watched as she heated up a needle, then bent the tip.
After working on his arm for a few minutes, the Healer asked, "How'd you get this wound?"
A look of slight embarrassment washed over Aron's face as he explained.
"I heard a scream and ran toward it. When I ran around a corner, I didn't see the broken pipe sticking out of the wall. I'll try to be more careful next time."
The Healer bandaged his arm and stated,
"And that was it."
She untied the cord from his arm and said,
"You're free to go home now, just don't put too much weight on your stitches and come back next week, so I can take them out again".
Aron nodded and said, "Thank you," then left.

Being a courier was good business. There was always someone that wanted something delivered, but it wasn't always sage for them to deliver it themselves. That's what where Aron came in. He was fast, really fast. He could defend himself, too.
With a few hours left before he would get tired, Aron would normally check-in at Courier HQ for jobs, but recently there haven't been many jobs at all. Less people around meant less delivery requests. Plus, his arm needed to heal. What a bad night this has turned out to be, he thought.
Reluctantly, Aron headed home.

Holyhalo · Nov 10, 2022

One of the many benefits of the power armor was that there was always space for you, even when there wasn’t. People went out of their way, mostly literally, to make room for you. He found it helpful in places like this, even if it occasionally drew curses from the people that made way. He’d seen some decent looking mercs here and there but most of them were either in a group with other, less impressive looking people, or they made Michael feel itchy, some sort of sixth sense that he relied on more than he should.

As he passed by another group of what looked like teenagers playing at being gangsters pretending to be upstanding bounty hunters, a voice called out to him from next to him. He turned and looked down at the smaller figure of a woman, probably. He nodded down at her. “Yes?” He did his best to not look too suspicious as he adjusted his left hand so that the big shield protected him fully from her approach, just in case that gun she was holding was meant to go off.

She didn’t seem too professional, with all the gun waving and lack of any sort of respect in her choice of words, but he did like her armor, even though he didn’t recognize the make or model. “I heard they were prepping for a party here so I put on my best.” His voice was a little mechanical, a little warped, as it came out of a vox box on the outside of the hermetically sealed suit. It didn’t do anything to mask or change his voice, it just gave it that mechanical touch.

When she invited him to join her team of, in her words, successful people, Michael took a moment to look around over the crowd around them. Nothing really stood out to him, no professionals or obvious military, former or otherwise. It was probably too much to ask for a place like Vela to have many people with a military background who hadn’t been dishonorably discharged or axed for some other offense.

“Sure. Might as well, since you’re so sure of success.” He nodded and gave a little wave forward with his shield, indicating that she should lead the way back to this team of hers. Michael hoped that he hadn’t been lured into something stupid by the professional looking armor and that the gun waving hadn’t been a sign of any sort of dangerous behaviour. At least there wasn’t any itching. The suit’s machinery revved up and the heavy thuds of the power armor followed the woman’s lead.

Garden Gnome · Nov 10, 2022

Time: 18:48
Location: Vela Space Station - Midtown

Not long after she arrived at the plaza to take a look at the board, she heard a voice call out to her. Quara quickly turned her masked head to look at the source of the voice. A bulky armoured form greeted her gaze and like her, he was not like many of the humans milling about them right now. Perhaps, that was why he had sought her out, from one alien to another. He remarked about how she looked like she could handle herself in a fight, and she’d like to think that she does a pretty great job of not just handling herself in a fight, but acing it as well.

The sign of respect as the bulky warrior dipped his head was returned with one of her own as she gave him a customary Velghan greeting that those deemed worthy received. “May the stars watch over you and the Maker guide your path.” He then went on to explain his purpose on why he approached her, to recruit some muscle for the lucrative bounty that had caught everyone’s eye. Seeing as how she hadn’t any confirmed plans to join up with any others yet and that there was no way she was going to tackle this job alone, she decided to take up the armoured warrior at his offer. He introduced himself as Vex, and she completed the introduction by giving him her name.

“I’m Quara. I would be pleased to join your team for this bounty. I can indeed do more than handle myself in a fight.”

SilverFlight

wickedlittlecritta · Nov 10, 2022

A closer examination of the crowd wasn't surprising, but Sasha still found himself disappointed. Lots of kids in gear they'd either made themselves or stolen, too cocky and stupid to realize they were probably going to get themselves killed. A slightly lesser number of guys who looked like they knew what they were doing, but who might try and off you to get a bigger piece of the share. Sasha was just resigning himself to a solo mission when he spotted the tell-tale silhouette of someone in heavy power armor. Which was exactly the kind of thing Sasha was trained to fight alongside. He made his way over to the distinctive figure just in time to see someone in a smaller, very red, power suit and offer the first person a spot on their squad. She brandished her pistol as she spoke, in a way that she probably thought looked very cool, but that immediately made Sasha skeptical of her. Still, she was smart enough to pick out undoubtedly the most useful person in the whole crowd, which counted for quite a bit.

"Does this team of yours have room for one more?" Sasha asked as he drew even with the pair, addressing the smaller figure. Next to the two of them, in his rather worn armor, mask hanging around his neck, he knew he didn't look half as impressive, but the big marksman's rifle slung across his front certainly proved that he meant business. He grinned from the girl in red to the man in the bulky power armor. "My name's Sasha. I'm a marksman." He gestured at the imposing figure in the heavy armor and added with a wink, "That means I'll hit whatever he misses."

SilverFlight · Nov 17, 2022

Riley grinned "No other way." He gestured with a tilt of her head. "Follow me."
Just then another voice cut above the low murmur of the crowds. Riley turned to the new face and looked it's owner up and down.
Her eyebrow arched, but she knew better than to judge by appearances.

She smiled at his quip. "Ha! I like you Sasha. Sure, you're in, come on."
She turned to lead them back to the meeting point.
"I'm Riley. Riley Kane. My brother and I have been mercs on Vela for a bit. Nothing too fancy, but it'd be nice to have away of this rusting scrapheap ya know? I'm sure you're of a similar mind, since you answered the call."

wickedlittlecritta

Holyhalo

~~~

No one could see Vex's expression behind his visor, but his stance straightened and his tail curled just slightly.
"You would? That's great! I mean uh," Vex masked his initial excitement. "Welcome aboard. Um, we should meet up with my partner, she's probably found people to make up the rest of the team by now."

Garden Gnome

~~~

Riley didn't need to see Vex's face to tell he was pleased with himself. Behind him she could see the alien warrior he'd chosen.
"Wow, she looks totally badass. Good job bro."

"You got the guy in the power armour?" Vex nodded with respect. "Nice."
"Guys this is Vex, he's been my partner since we started merc work, and he's my brother.." Riley glanced back at Vex's entirely not-human shape.
"Couple of times removed," she added.
"Try a couple of species removed." Vex added subtly.

"This is Quara." Vex introduced the fighter he found.
"And this is Sasha, and uh, hey, what's your name juggernaut?" Riley asked the powersuit behind her.

After the introductions a short, spotted alien with a bulbous muzzle came around to hand out the info slates. Riley downloaded it onto her gauntlet and raised the projection for everyone to see.
The description wasn't helpful, saying the 'thing' they were hunting was roughly seven feet tall, powerful, intelligent and destructive.

"Last seen near a health clinic in lowtown. The coordinates are here." She transferred the info into their devices.
"So! Let's get a move on!"

Suddenly there was a shout from the side of the square. The crowd parted for a lone figure. He clutched his side, his hand barely covering the shattered ruins of his armour. Riley froze. Claw marks.
"Whatever did that to him...it ripped straight through his armour..." She said gravely.

It took a moment longer to realize he was saying something.
"...Don't go...down there...seal...it off..."
Then, the man collapsed. The crowd began to talk louder as midtown medical staff were alerted.
"I saw that guy this morning, at the lowtown gates," Vex volunteered slowly. "He had four other fighters with him..."

Riley drew in a breath. "Hey team, let's make sure we have our serious weapons...Kay? I'll meet you in front of the gates in 20 minutes."

King Krokodil

~~~

Deep in lowtown, something watched. It watched Aron leave the clinic, followed him part of the way, then, it doubled back. The power grid was connected by a series of circuits running through the station walls. The shadowed figure tore open a panel to survey the wiring beneath, then it took one clawed hand...and tore.
Lights around the clinic began to flicker out, one by one. Only the deep red of the emergency lights, flashing slowly illuminated the grubby corridors now.
Step by step, the creature headed for the clinic door...

Faeriedae

Shmuel · Nov 24, 2022

The front door slid to the side as Aron entered his one-room apartment. He walked to the cupboard/closet, picked up a can of technically-edible 'food', reached into the kitchen to get a spoon and sat down on the end of the bed/couch/dining room table. It took him all of 4 steps to do everything.

After pulling off the lid and going for the first spoonful, Aron's wristband beeped. He looked at the display and noticed it was an alert from Courier HQ. Whenever there was a new delivery, an alert was sent out and the closest courier would respond. However, this wasn't a delivery.

The heading said 'CREATURE SIGHTING' in big letters. Aron tapped on the screen and the full message opened.
'The Creature was last seen in Lowtown, close to the clinic.' He forgot he was holding the can and dropped it on the floor as he bolted out the door. Fortunately, the alert came in before he had time to unstrap his broadsword.

Aron was already 50 meters away from his apartment before he was realized he was still holding the spoon. He tossed it to the side and it landed noisily in an alley as he zoomed by it. The alley was dark and full of trash.

Faeriedae

He understood the strain he was putting on his system at the speed he was going, but Aron could only focus on getting to Ren. Getting his arm stitched up again was a small price to pay if it meant saving her from dying. He wasn't going to let another person disappear to that 'thing'.

Aron pressed in the gems on the ring on his hand and twisted the rings on his necklace. Lights flickered and danced as he drew closer to the clinic. He was preparing for a showdown.

Hiuly of Starmoon · Nov 25, 2022

Running towards a scream. That part stuck in her head for some reason. Even though it's not even something special here in Lowtown, she somehow felt that something else was going on. She turned around and cleaned up everything she had used before.

Suddenly the lights started to flicker and then went out. Her eyes began glowing like they always did at night, to enhance her ability to see. Most people would blame this on a normal power outage, but Ren couldn't shake the eery feeling, that something was really wrong. Her hand went to the only weapon on her, which was her scalpel in her pocket, and she gripped it as tight as she could, ready to cut if she had to. Though she'd be lying if she said she wasn't scared. And at that moment, she also wished that she just could wake up and be in her room at the mansion. But she wasn't. And this also wasn't a dream.

Ren knew she was in danger. But she also couldn't do anything against a threat she didn't know what it was and what it looked like. She quietly walked over to where she had built a hiding space in case something like this happened and hid in the cupboard, hoping that someone would be here soon, who actually stood a chance.

Holyhalo · Nov 27, 2022

Just as they were about to leave for this group, another voice piped up and the owner joined them. Michael began to look him over, trying to size him up but his eyes were drawn to the rifle the man had brought. Despite his appearance, the weapon looked promising. Michael couldn’t place which company had made it but what he could see of it looked well maintained. As he’d just signed up with the woman’s party, he deferred to her for her opinion on whether or not this man would be allowed to join. He couldn’t help a little smirk as the man mentioned hitting anything Michael would miss, although nobody would see it underneath his helmet.

With his second new companion, Michael followed the woman, who introduced herself as Riley. He didn’t recognize the name, despite her claim to have been working on Vela for some time now. Then again, he was sure she’d never heard of him either. He agreed with her on the ‘getting off of Vela’ statement but he wasn’t sure if she could hear his affirming grunt over the noise of the crowd around them. Their little walk soon came to an end next to two very alien looking individuals, although different from each other.

Riley and one of the aliens bantered back and forth for a bit before introductions were made. Riley and Vex, the merc siblings. Quara, the alien. Sasha the cocky marksman. And he’d forgotten to introduce himself when they’d first been introduced… He suddenly realized everyone was now looking at him. Michael blushed, hidden from view by his helmet, and almost in reflex holstered his gun and brought his hand up to his head. He caught himself saluting as he tapped his fingers to the side of his helmet and quickly played it off as a cool greeting instead. “Michael, at your service. I was told this was the party that would be capturing the target first and claim the ship.” He lamely dropped his hand next to him, resting it on the holstered shotgun at his hip.

Another alien came around and handed out information about the target, which turned out to be ridiculously limited. Did that say ‘thing’ in the info? Michael sighed as he read what little information there was before a beep from his wrist told him Riley had sent him a copy. Unlike her fancy projection, Michael’s suit relied on old fashioned screens with minimal hud display in the helmet. He didn’t recognize the place the coordinates pointed to. Before he could determine how to get there, a ruckus drew everyone’s attention to a bleeding man stumbling onto the square.

While people around them began talking, Vex confirmed the info given by the bounty in that it was definitely in lowtown. That narrowed it down to 1/3rd of the station. The most chaotic, narrow-alleyed, layered shitshow of a third. Great, just great. As Riley told them to gear up seriously, Michael wondered if she was going to be ok. The sight of the man seemed to have shaken her up a bit. “If anyone gets lost, just look for the big guy at the gates.” He pointed at himself with a power armor thumb.

As Riley seemed to need some time to prepare, Michael started to head towards the gates. He already had everything he needed on him and if anyone else was in the same situation, they could follow him there.

SilverFlight · Dec 8, 2022

The gates were sealed; massive metal doors that towered above the midtown streets. Some of the local enforcers were there, making sure the street vendours didn't set up shop too close to them.
The gatehouse was manned by a thin, slippery fellow, with reptilian eyes that darted in different directions.
Riley gave Michael a wave as the unique sound of his exosuit's steps reverberated through the ground.
"Hey! Over here!"
She shot him a friendly grin. "Got your big boy guns?"

She set her own rifle against the magnetic suspension port on her back and waved to the gatehouse.
"Vex and the others can follow us in, I sent my brother on a little errand for us. The gear he's getting might help us catch our mark."

The crash of jarring metal echoed through the area as the gates shuddered and the grinding of gears within began to slowly drag them apart.
The smell was apparent straight away, and came on an uncomfortably warm wind.

"Oh yeah, that's fragrance de Lowtown all right." Riley waved a hand in front of her nose.

"Well big guy, let's get a move on."

The streets were practically deserted. A few faces appeared to see who was coming through the gate (who was desperate or dumb enough) but they vanished soon after.
The familiar crunch of trash sounded under Riley's boots, and she put her helmet visor down to help with the smell, and for it's night vision feature.
"The last sighting was down a maintenance hall in sector thirteen." Riley brought up a holo map from her wrist com and showed it to Michael.
"You know it? There's not much there, except one of my contacts spoke of a doctor that's running some sort of clinic...can't imagine what sort of person would try to open a clinic down there...they're either a saint or a monster."

As they walked Riley got a little more quiet. The hunt...was on.
Riley put her infrared scanner on her visor.
"Hold up, heat signatures up ahead...two of them." Riley pointed to a street corner and motioned that they go around it.

wickedlittlecritta

King Krokodil

Faeriedae

~~~~

The creature pushed the door in slowly, it's claws slid off the door handle as it moved past. Huge and shadowy. In the little light that shone in from the hall, flashing its red warning, the glint of sharp teeth could be seen lining a thick, stout muzzle. It paused, and the carefully, it began sniffing the air, drawing steadily closer to the back of the clinic.

Shmuel

~*~*~

Vex pushed the door open and stepped inside the small shop, taking care not to knock anything over with his thick tail as he came in. The items in the shop didn't look like anything suspicious, or illegal, but it wasn't these items Vex had come to see.
"Hey uh...J...J-Bug? My sister called earlier, I'm Vex, I came to pick up an order."
Vex really hoped Juniper was the accommodating type, they didn't exactly have the entire sum needed for the purchase, and when Vex had brought it up Riley had just told him to "Turn on the charm".

"Yeah right, seven feet with a giant tail and claws...easy for her to say..."
He wondered if she had heard about the bounty on the..whatever it was attacking civilians in lowtown. She probably had, it seemed to be all anyone talked about recently.
Vex turned around in the space, and noticed a small but intricate model ship on the counter. He reached out to touch it gently and...knocked one of the ailerons clean off.
"Oh...crap...uh.." He tried to put it back clumsily, but it didn't work.

Emotional Enigma

wickedlittlecritta · Dec 8, 2022

Under his facemask, Sasha frowned at Riley's comments about Lowtown. People live here, you know, he wanted to say. People who process your shit and clean your toilets and make your food. They deserve doctors too. He'd lived in Lowtown for years now, and he liked it. Sure, it smelled. But there was an honesty to Lowtown and its people that Sasha appreciated, that Midtown never had.

But the last thing they needed was a fight, so he held his tongue.

Instead, referring to her comment about there not being much in sector thirteen, Sasha said, "That's why it's a good place for a clinic. Easy to hide. Extra foot traffic's a little suspicious, but I don't think the doc gets enough that anyone who'd try and stop it takes notice. And nobody in Lowtown would snitch." He looked at the fancy map Riley had a second longer to confirm the route in his head, and then added, "It's not far. I know the way."

Emotional Enigma · Dec 8, 2022

Juniper Gael

J-Bug

The store clerk stared at the giant structure of armor carefully stamping through the aisles. He was like an elephant in a fine china shop. Nothing was of any real value so he figured the money maker J-Bug wouldn't mind a few broken pieces.

"Sure, gimme' a minute," He mumbled under a thick white mustache. He picked up an old corded phone and punched in a long string of numbers before continuing his mumbling.
"There's a... uh.." The shop clerk struggled to describe what he saw before him, "...There's a guest here. Says his sister call--" Before the old man could continue there was a hurried thumping coming from somewhere in the store. The boxes of bolts and wires rumbled with the thundering footsteps. A door behind the counter slid open with such a ferocity it tossed the clerk's wispy white beard in every direction. A small woman in baggy cargo pants and a welding face shield stormed into the store. She flipped the shield up to get a better glance and she wasn't disappointed. Vex was the gold mine for armor and bodily homogony. She snatched a metal stool and got up very close and personal to the giant hunk of armor. She climbed up on the stool, her hands eager to touch the quaking machinery. Her fingers jittered with anticipation before yanking on Vex's arm and outstretching it before her.

"Amazing," She hummed, her fingers grazing gently over his armor as if it would break if she were too rough, "Sturdy Chromium? No, Tungsten? With a melting point of 3422 degree Celsius it's one the best metals on Tera to go up against harsh climates but it's so dense it'd kill anyone inside---" June rambled on, her thoughts seeming to leap from one to another on a never ending train, "What kind of metal is this? Not something readily found, I must have a sample--" Her gaze lit up as she leapt from the stool. Ducking under the large guest's arm she crouched to study his tail. She let out an excited squeal, her hands hovering just over the sheen of it's surface. She wanted to yank and bend it just to see the endurance of the armor and how it moved under pressure but she resisted the urge to cause any possible discomfort.

"Braeön? No, impossible - Braeön is such a rarity!"

June stood up, regaining her self composure but there was still a flame in her eyes that refused to go out.
"How much would you say you weigh?" With her mechanical hand on her chin, June studied Vex, "With your height and shoulder frame you can't be anywhere under 280 pounds but with your armor you could be 1000 pounds but then I have to wonder how you're able to move, let alone breathe, in such a heavy exterior. Any human would snap an arm just --"

"Bug," The clerk interrupted her ramblings, "I believe he's here for business. It's best you don't scare him off." The clerk had seen far too many guests get spooked by Bug or even intimidated. Though their newest guest didn't seem like the type to run away from a petite woman with a classic case of word vomit.

"Ah! I almost forgot! Your sister did call about some new trinkets in my arsenal but I also offer upgrades for outdated gear if you'd interested," Her eyes twinkled again, hoping Vex would be interested enough for her to take advantage of his curious armor set. June wanted to pick it apart piece by piece and study each cyber kinetic nerve.

code by ditto

The store clerk stared at the giant structure of armor carefully stamping through the aisles. He was like an elephant in a fine china shop. Nothing was of any real value so he figured the money maker J-Bug wouldn't mind a few broken pieces.

"Sure, gimme' a minute," He mumbled under a thick white mustache. He picked up an old corded phone and punched in a long string of numbers before continuing his mumbling.
"There's a... uh.." The shop clerk struggled to describe what he saw before him, "...There's a guest here. Says his sister call--" Before the old man could continue there was a hurried thumping coming from somewhere in the store. The boxes of bolts and wires rumbled with the thundering footsteps. A door behind the counter slid open with such a ferocity it tossed the clerk's wispy white beard in every direction. A small woman in baggy cargo pants and a welding face shield stormed into the store. She flipped the shield up to get a better glance and she wasn't disappointed. Vex was the gold mine for armor and bodily homogony. She snatched a metal stool and got up very close and personal to the giant hunk of armor. She climbed up on the stool, her hands eager to touch the quaking machinery. Her fingers jittered with anticipation before yanking on Vex's arm and outstretching it before her.

"Amazing," She hummed, her fingers grazing gently over his armor as if it would break if she were too rough, "Sturdy Chromium? No, Tungsten? With a melting point of 3422 degree Celsius it's one the best metals on Tera to go up against harsh climates but it's so dense it'd kill anyone inside---" June rambled on, her thoughts seeming to leap from one to another on a never ending train, "What kind of metal is this? Not something readily found, I must have a sample--" Her gaze lit up as she leapt from the stool. Ducking under the large guest's arm she crouched to study his tail. She let out an excited squeal, her hands hovering just over the sheen of it's surface. She wanted to yank and bend it just to see the endurance of the armor and how it moved under pressure but she resisted the urge to cause any possible discomfort.

"Braeön? No, impossible - Braeön is such a rarity!"

June stood up, regaining her self composure but there was still a flame in her eyes that refused to go out.
"How much would you say you weigh?" With her mechanical hand on her chin, June studied Vex, "With your height and shoulder frame you can't be anywhere under 280 pounds but with your armor you could be 1000 pounds but then I have to wonder how you're able to move, let alone breathe, in such a heavy exterior. Any human would snap an arm just --"

"Bug," The clerk interrupted her ramblings, "I believe he's here for business. It's best you don't scare him off." The clerk had seen far too many guests get spooked by Bug or even intimidated. Though their newest guest didn't seem like the type to run away from a petite woman with a classic case of word vomit.

"Ah! I almost forgot! Your sister did call about some new trinkets in my arsenal but I also offer upgrades for outdated gear if you'd interested," Her eyes twinkled again, hoping Vex would be interested enough for her to take advantage of his curious armor set. June wanted to pick it apart piece by piece and study each cyber kinetic nerve.

SilverFlight · Dec 9, 2022

The young mechanic came at him with such speed Vex involuntarily took a step back.
"What-hey!" He tried to keep still, raising his arms and following her with his visor's blank gaze as she circled, rattling off a long string of questions and comments about his suit.
When she got to his tail he pulled it out of her reach self-consciously.
"I guess no one ever taught you about personal space?" It was more a curious tone than an unkind one. As Vex moved he tried his hardest not to knock things off of the narrow shelves.

She stood, but the avid look was still in her eyes. Vex leaned away from it carefully.
"What? "Weigh"? Guess you don't know about personal questions either. I don't snap because I'm not human."
There it was, she'd been eyeing his armour like a hawk eyed a plump mouse, the "upgrades" he guessed would allow her to take his suit apart.
"Just the weapons today, I'm uh, not too good on cash at the moment. Speaking of that...I don't suppose you'd be willing to take a down-payment for now. I can promise you we'll get the rest in less than a week."

Emotional Enigma

Hiuly of Starmoon · Dec 10, 2022

For a moment, everything had been quiet. Until she heard the door creaking open and the sound of claws dragging off the door. She held her hand over her mouth to muffle any sound that should escape, though she doubted that even if she wanted to, that sound would come out. Ren heard the slight sound of claws gracing the ground, with every step that creature made. This was it. This was her end.

At this moment, she kind of regretted running away. A part of her definitely did. But at the same time, she really didn't want to be the most famous science experiment of the planet again. After all, she knew people were scared of her and what she could do.

The creature sniffing nearby brought her back to reality. And how trapped she was. At this point, she could only wait.