0003: NEW ARRIVALS

[crux_npcs]

Who: New Arrivals, Captain Jack Hollis, Science Captain Urist McEngineer, Graham Baker
Where: Briefing Room
When: Late afternoon
Warnings: None

When awakening, you'll find the area you're in to be very busy. The people in the medical ward are polite and understanding, but firmly refuse to answer questions until the briefing. The same goes for the robots in the hangars. Either given hospital outfits resembling very comfortable pajamas, drone bodies, or their own bodies, they are escorted by polite, unyielding people in red and black uniforms to the briefing room.

The room is large, but not quite large enough for some of the bigger Cybertronians. They've been given drone bodies at least, skinny little things with no real features beyond primitive masks made of paper plates. There's seats for everyone, at least, well-cushioned and comfortable, and the room is pleasantly lit.

A few Security personnel, dressed in their red and black uniforms, stand at ease in the rooms in strategic areas. Three men stand at the head. One is Graham Baker, a slightly nervous-seeming middle-aged man wearing a multi-layered business suit that seems rumpled and oversized. The other two men are dressed in military uniforms, one with the blue undershirt and piping of Command, while the other wears the gold of Science.

[Questions to the NPCs will go in the briefing thread. The rest of the post is there for people to mill about and do whatever with.]

Comments

[soul_sister]

"HEYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyLlllllo!" Someone calls from behind him, the enthusiastic greeting quickly transformed into a ... more reserved one.

A young girl in a nun's uniform steps into his line of sight, shifting a heavy-looking grocery bag from one arm to the other.

"... Are you new in this area?"

[interneet]

The overly-familiar tone in that greeting makes him pause, looking over with far more attention than he gave the rest of the strangers on the way here—

[interneet]

Coif. Habit. Crosses. Brutish strength.

Each feature is taken in much the way one hears the sound of nails being hammered home, his face falling a little more with every successive stroke.

"You live here too?"

[soul_sister]

"Yes..." There's something in the way she drawls it that lends to the thunderstorm quickly building on her face.

"Hey... What's with that look?! I didn't do ANYTHING yet!"

[interneet]

That 'yet' gets a momentary flat stare, before that and the earlier look both get lost in a sigh.

"New this morning. You've been here longer, haven't you?"

[soul_sister]

That gets a frown from her, and a long look down the hallway where he'd come from. "Honestly."



"Two weeks... Not really all that much more settled. But if you want, there's probably leftovers."

[interneet]

That gets a full out pause, and something a little like disbelief.

His name, however, is definitely a peace offering.

"Urushihara.

You're a cook?"

[soul_sister]

It took a second, to register that it was a name and not some bizarre language curse. His expression helped.

"Rosette Christopher..." She offered and scratched at her cheek, thinking about how to answer that next question. "I can handle leftovers, at least. Here, get the door for me."

She nods towards their small housing, not far from the entrance.

[interneet]

Looks at her oversized grocery bag, and back at her—that's too much for one person anyway, so there's someone else?

—and seems to finally, eventually, register that request for the door. A request which would be a lot easier if the operational panel wasn't conspicuously (and obviously) punched into the wall.

"Rosette, the lock's broken. You weren't storing any valuables or anything, were you?"

[soul_sister]

"Nothing but ammunition!" Rosette answers, with a firm nod. They really didn't have time to get anything valuable. "Ah... just get your foot in there and kind of yank back. Don't be gentle, it doesn't deserve it."

[interneet]

"Deserve it or not, it's your front door, isn't it?"

Small hands and small feet have some advantages in small spaces, and he manages to widen the crack between door and frame without too much trouble, manually pushing it back into the wall until whatever circuitry is left kicks in and takes over, opening the rest of the way.

That grinding sound can't be too good though.

"You joined their military?"

[soul_sister]

"Eh... Well. No. Apparently, they're big on school first. I really don't see why I can't do both.... Thanks!"

She sweeps past and sets out groceries, some recognizable some... were deemed "CLOSE ENOUGH."

"Have a seat, I'll have some stew warmed up in a few."

[interneet]

He lingers around the door while she sweeps in, toeing off his shoes and just kind of taking it all in. Chairs and a table and a couch . . .

At her invitation, he takes one of the kitchenette chairs, pulling it back a bit so he can poke at the replicator while he perches there, one leg pulled up, foot resting on the edge of the seat.

"You're not taking them up on their offer? That 'transfer of military status' thing."

[soul_sister]

"Hahaha, that's the thing! I'm not technically, officially, totally, strictly military." Fortunately for them, they'd found the heating elements both semi familiar and more importantly, well marked. Pre-heating wasn't even a THING anymore. In goes the stew!

"It's more of a Church militia."

[interneet]

As she works on real food, he scans through the replicator's options, tweaking a few parameters here, adjusting one or two there . . . and completely nonchalantly pulling out a few sticks of generated pocky when it's done.

"And that's different?"

[soul_sister]

"Enough that I couldn't get out of it!" She slams down a pan with a loud, reverberating clang. She hasn't noticed his new acquisition yet.

"Why do I need to know physics! I don't even know what that is!"

[interneet]

Well it's not like it's more than an appetizer. And given the steady rate he's going through them, he is hungry enough that they're hardly going to ruin his appetite.

"It's pretty useless though, isn't it? Having a soldier who can't pass your army's basic training. No matter who they are."

[soul_sister]

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING USELESS!?" She slams a pan down and yanks up the heat, whirling around to point at him. "No one needs to know about cosines! NO ONE! They are not useful even a LITTLE!"

A beat. "Where did you get those?!"

[interneet]

"What's a cosine?"

He finishes the half-eaten on in his hand, neatly polishing off the lot.

"From your replicator. Seems things like that aren't hard to make."

[soul_sister]

"It's a STUPID thing that just exists for equa- Wait.... Our what? WHERE?" She pauses, her spoon falling back into the pot.

For what it's worth, whoever made the stew did an excellent job. As the sauce starts the simmer, the smell of spices and the stock fill the kitchen.

[interneet]

"On the wall. Didn't they tell you after the briefing?"

There is an odd alcove in the direction of his dismissive gesture, though it's easy enough to mistake it for an inset glass-bottomed shelf, and the buttons above for a decorative pattern.

For his part, satisfied that appropriate amounts of food magic are happening, he flips on his comm, rotating through apps until he finds a search engine to look up 'cosine'.

[soul_sister]

"Who had time for that!?" She had a tiny demon to find, at the time. She investigates it, peering from one angle to the next. It... didn't look like much. WHERE DID THE FOOD EVEN COME OUT OF?

More importantly IF IT IS A MAGICAL FOOD DISPENSER WHY HAVE THEY BEEN PAYING FOR FOOD?! She pokes at one of the buttons........... and then another.................... nothing......................... She rears back to punch the STUPID THING... when the food timer goes off.

SAVED FOR NOW.

"Here, grab three bowls." She points to one of the shelves while she gets her oven mitts.

[interneet]

"If it's your apartment breaking what you want is fine, but don't you want to see it work before that?"

He flips briefly through the holographic entry on cosines first (what's so confusing about that?), only switching it closed and moving to get the bowls right before she needs them.

"Three?"

[soul_sister]

"How can I see it work when it's clearly defective!" She snaps... pausing with the ladle as the bowls are set in front of her. She spoons in generous portions with a heavy huff and a slosh of broth.

"Mm. Chrono should be in shortly."

[interneet]

"Nothing here works if you keep hitting 'Cancel' halfway through commands. Though, I guess if it was switched over to voice commands even someone like you could use it."

There is, for a moment, something a tiny bit wistful in his expression as he takes the bowl closest to him. It's gone even before he turns, returning to the table.

"Chrono's the person you live with?"