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Drakessis

Barely Human

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From before the point of recorded history, human-supernatural hybrids have existed. Ancient stories of them are often passed off as myths and works of great fiction, but many take it as confirmation they aren't alone. The main issue is, very few will tell them that part of what they are even exists. Luckily, there are others who will embrace just what makes a hybrid so different from the rest of society. 

 


{Introduction/Plot} 

 

You've always known you were different whether your parent(s) told you or because you found out on your own. Maybe it was obvious to everyone else too, or maybe it was well hidden. You remember relating so much to those outcast underdogs presented in movies and stories, and maybe you hoped for the day when you could finally be yourself, or when you could finally just fit in. Of course, by sheer virtue of being a hybrid, no real chance ever presented itself; until you came across an odd business card clearly directed to you, a stylized "DT" imprinted on the front in a deep red. It had your name on it, and it stated that there was a job interview for you from the "Dragon Team."  On the back, a small paragraph detailed that your abilities could be useful to the team, and that you could help countless people (while still being well-paid). 


Giving that up would have been an opportunity wasted. However, the address listed on the card couldn't be located through any means you tried, technological or not. But, by some chance, you touched the address just right- and you were teleported right to the interview.
It was an empty, blank room with nothing but a desk, some sort of wall-climbing Roomba, a seat for you, and an interviewer with a voice and appearance that seemed all too familiar yet all too uncanny and unknown at once. After instructing you to take a seat, they asked you various questions both basic (simple tidbits about your life, like your age and family size) and hard-hitting (out of nowhere queries about your stances on things like self-defense and overall morality), jotting down notes and answers before you even gave them. Eventually they pursed their lips a bit and tapped their pen against the seemingly-psychic notes in apparent thought, which you thought might finally be the end of the barrage. Sparing no time to let you speak up or even fidget in your seat, the interviewer's eyes snapped to focus on you as they pulled a gun to your face, their lips locked shut in abeyance. After you reacted their once tightly shut mouth offered a warm smile and they told you that you made the team. Without a chance to question anything, you were teleported into the main lobby of the Dragon Team's headquarters; known by most members as The Training Hall, located on the planet Co:Ten. 


After getting guidance from some helpful employees, you were offered housing in the immense building, and were shown technologies far more advanced than nearly anything you'd encountered before: teleporters, highly advanced medical machinery, incredible weaponry, and far more. Humans and non-humans alike gave you specialized training based on your abilities to strengthen them, be it in combat, defense, evasion, healing, etc. 


Becoming acquainted with the Team, in time, gave you knowledge of divisions: groups based around certain skills or attributes that you could get into by invitation from the division leader or from the heads of the Dragon Team themselves. The most sought after division to be in was the Elites, a group consisting of the absolute best of the best. Despite going on several small scale search-and-rescue missions in war zones and natural disaster zones, you were never invited to join any divisions. That was, until the reveal of the Metal Cross Division. 


It was a division created exclusively for human-supernatural hybrids, to emphasize their abilities and give them teammates who could really understand them. You were promptly invited to join and decided to accept the offer whether it was because you wanted to fit in, or the pay seemed nice, or because you were just curious. 


You were told that the leader was a Dragon Team Elite named Cathryn Scordato. Personally you'd never met her, and if you'd even encountered her before it was just briefly. Rumors flew, and perhaps you believed some or just saw them as ridiculous "ghost stories" to make you anxious. Many speculated that she was far from the first choice to lead the division. Some said that she'd been abandoned by her mother at the steps of a Dragon Cave orphanage for hybrid children. A few whispered that she'd betrayed teammates on missions before. Most bold, however, were those who claimed that this woman wasn't even a hybrid in the first place. 


A few weeks after joining the Metal Cross Division you were told you'd be joining a small team within the Division that would be headed by none other than the very leader of the Division herself. But you'd been sitting in this room with the others just waiting for her and your mission for a while, and it was looking like your leader was running about twenty minutes late... 

 


{Setting} 

 

Settings will be introduced as time goes on, but the main place to know about is Co:Ten. It's a planet inhabited by a fair amount of humans, though many other alien creatures and sentient species (including the species of the leaders of the Dragon Team) share it. Several hybrids have also been known to make this planet their home, due to the various species. It's mainly known for its incredibly advanced technology and mines which produce a natural alloy known informally as Trytanium. The metal is considered to be one of the strongest in the universe, and several Dragon Team weapons, vehicles, armors, and tools are made from it. Anyone who's asked would say that the massive Training Hall itself has support beams and walls coated in the metal. 

 

On Earth, all talk and signs of the supernatural or extremely advanced technology is censored. People like vampire-hunters or ghost-hunters often find government-given advantages and privileges to keep their services of hiding the unknown strong, while cryptozoologists and scientists eager to expose the truth are silenced, have studies labeled as ludicrous, or even convicted falsely of crimes to keep them quiet. This puts supernatural creatures and hybrids at the bottom of the so-called food chain, their existences made, well, non-existent. Any specialized medical services they may require on account of their mere state are either extremely risky to trust or simply not present. Some unlucky enough to look too inhuman and lack access to cloaking technologies or magics often find themselves in lives of hiding and secrecy not unlike that of their fully inhuman kin. Crimes committed in acts of hate for either of a hybrid's sides or against the hybrid for no reason in particular are swept under the rug, with genetic tests and investigating in general wanting to be avoided in simple fear that word may spread. Such issues and numerous others faced on the regular have been known to stir suspicions about the Dragon Team's apparent absence on Earth, though the organization's size and influence in the rest of the universe makes challenging its behavior an intimidating prospect... 

 


{General Rules} 

 

- Keep things PG-13

 

- A minimum of a five sentence paragraph per response please, but longer is preferred unless there's not much to react to 

 

-At the beginning of the RP, everyone will have an introductory response based on the waiting situation to give a quick introduction to their character (people who join later will be given a way to enter by me) 

 

- Word censorship is okay (for example, ****,) but I'd recommend either alluding to it instead/simply not overdoing it

 

- Only one character is allowed per rp-er, but if there's not enough people joining I may change this 

 

- Relationships between characters are okay with the consent of both rp-ers (or by the decision of one rp-er if multiple characters are needed per person) 
         -  I don't need to be informed of this, but there is a chance I could intervene in or out of character if it interferes with/distracts from the plot, overall I would only want something like this to actually make sense in context when there's a chance for it to happen

 

- No godmodding, but there will be some leniency when it comes to combat against enemies 

 

- I'll probably just let people post freely, but if the RP slows down too much or some people post way more than others/post unnecessary things, I may try to organize it differently to help it progress better 

 

- If people need a hiatus they can ask to just drop out for a bit (with no repercussions) or pause the rp if it's for a short amount of time (only because I may have to do this personally and want this to be a fairly interactive RP that everyone who joins will play a part in) 

 

- Present or past tense is fine for posts, just keep it consistent within your own writing

 

- This universe is far more expansive than the introduction. New concepts not initially relevant may be introduced in a second person POV throughout the RP, so participants must be willing to be a part of this world and be willing to accept that there are pre-existing rules in place that may contradict what they want to do and that they must be willing to accept and edit if need be

 


{Hybrid Rules} 

 

My main request for characters is for them to follow a few specifications when it comes to their non-human half:

- No werewolf hybrids because of some species rules I'll be following; vampire hybrids are ok but like all characters the powers will have to be balanced and approved

 

- Cryptids, aliens, undead creatures, and other supernatural/mythical creatures are okay 

 

- This RP assumes there are multiples of Cryptids and such, and that there are spells and such to turn supernatural creatures human (allowing any types of hybrids to exist, along with multiple hybrids from the same type of creature) 

 

- This RP also assumes that these supernatural creatures have human sentience and intelligence or above, so a hybrid being raised by both parents (perhaps with one using a spell or such to remain human/human-appearing) is not unheard of 

 

- No animal/human hybrids, such as part wolf part human, or part bird part human; stick to supernatural creatures

 

- No human/Dragon Cave dragon hybrids, in general I'd say any dragon hybrids should be with dragons that aren't from any sort of existing media (like HTTYD or Yu-Gi-Oh or LOTR or something) 

 

- Feel free to have fun with and be creative with your character's abilities! Everyone/everything is going to be fairly powerful, and I'll make sure to have the enemies match the strength of the group 

 


{Character Sheet} 

 

PM a completed sheet to me if you want to join! 

 

Username: (forum username) 
Character Name: (nicknames okay too, actual name preferred alongside it / if they only like certain people using certain names or something please either specify or wait to bring up that name) 
Hybrid of: (one part human and one part supernatural creature, please / made up species/species adjusted for certain media are okay but can't be too unreasonable, I'd suggest pm-ing me with the species first before trying to make a full fledged character around it) 
Character Age: (eighteen or older please / if your character ages oddly for hybrid reasons please say so here; that being said, no hundred/thousand year olds or adults that look like kids) 
Character Gender and/or Pronouns: (you don't have to say the full specifics of your character's gender, what I mostly want is pronouns for writing's sake) 
Character Appearance: (pictures are okay, but some written parts to accompany it would be nice / this doesn't have to be very in depth but things that might be out of the ordinary that express being a hybrid should be specified / height and stature would be nice too / if the character looks completely or mostly like their non-human part, please also say what a human form would look like to some degree / if you want to describe clothing, keep in mind that it should probably be some form of mission apparel; if you want to use casual clothing don't be surprised at possible drawbacks) 
Powers/abilities/weapons/tools: (no limit, but this will be looked over and critiqued, so make sure the powers make sense for the type of hybrid they are / if they have a certain type of weaponry or tool make sure to list that / a character doesn't necessarily need to have offensive abilities; defense, healing, tech abilities, etc. are fine) 
Personality: (small descriptors is fine, and the personality can be mainly fleshed out while RPing) 
Background: (optional for secrecy purposes, but make sure you have some sort of character background you can reference in the plot for character development / ask me for some lore help if you want to have your character signed up for the Dragon Team from a young age or something / you can specify whether you want the background published with the rest of the character sheet)
How they reacted to the gun: (you can ask to have this hidden as well, but it is not optional to put / if your character tried to kill the interviewer, that's fine but they would have found nothing but a lack of death and a smile in return) 
Other: (anything else you want to add, such as if your character lives in The Training Hall / put any disabilities or drawbacks they have either from being a hybrid or for any other reason here / optional)

Edited by Drakessis

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{Player Characters} 

 

 

Username: Draco8967

Character Name:  Nick Name- #49, Real Name- [Hidden]

Hybrid of:  Human/Demon

Character Age: 29

Character Gender and/or Pronouns: Male

 

Character Appearance: 49 is for the most part human, but his left arm, and slightly creeping on his chest and left side of his face, is demonic. He wears armor almost all the time to avoid people seeing his demon part. His legs below his knees are awkward for a normal human being, making it look like he walks on the balls of his feet all the time. He is fully armored all the way to the head and keeps a helmet on at all times, minus in the most dire scenarios, where his armor will fall off, revealing him fully underneath the armor. (Image close but not quite) He has crimson red eyes, a reddish black left face, chest and arm. He had short-mid black hair and a scar across his face and among his right arm and back.

[Image 1] [Image 2]

 

Powers/abilities/weapons/tools:

Main (4)

Demonic Infusion-Haves the ability infuse any weapon he picks up with demonic energy, but will only use this in dire scenarios as he need direct contact with the weapon.

Demonic Sword-Have the ability to summon the demon sword of otatrion, a dark slender sword capable of cutting though almost most material that is know expect for though class material.

Demon transformation-A last resort ability that changes him into a full demon, but with dire draw back. He controls his body and mind for a short time before he becomes a full demon in body and mind.

Rapid healing-Small damage, mainly from daggers/knife or small weaponry he can heal from, larger weapons will take time to heal from and he can die from it if not stable out long enough for him to heal it off

Secondary(3)

Expert Weaponry-Can use a wide variety of weapons with great skill, thanks to his training expect for a few he still needs to work on. These are Spears, Grenades, claw based weapons and hammers/Great Axes.

Mobility-Thanks to his awkward constants of his legs, he has a a greater mobility on the battle field with jumping, Spiriting, and balance.

-

Sharp Eyes-Haves eyes equal to that of a white falcon, so the requirements for a scope on guns and long range weaponry is not need for him, though his armor does provide assist on aims and targeting assist when needed.

 - 

His armor is made out of a mixture of Carbon steel and tightly weave Kevlar, Making this armor capable of stopping a Stander 50cal bullet from more than 500 Meter, but several shots from the same range of a 50cal with bust right though. It is light enough to maintain mobility, but strong enough to save his life (small/some mid class energy based weapons would be blocked to a degree). Comes with an AI system to help with analyses and speaks on his behalf, and goes by the name of 'Nib'

 

Personality:  Quiet, does not even say a word even to the commanding officers, lets the AI do all the talking for him, this included the interviewer.

 

Background: [Hidden]

 

How they reacted to the gun: Rumors have it he was unnerved by the gun, almost as if death was a laughing matter to him.

 

Other: He and the demonic part of him fights for control over his body, but he for the moment control his body, but only as long as he keeps his emotions in check. If he falls into a rage or depression, his demonic part will take over and anything that stand between him and whoever he is going after will be seen as a target.

 

{~*~} 

 

Username: Lycanious

Character Name: Real Name- Simon Lockett

Hybrid of: Human/Spirit (A.K.A ‘Soul-Snatcher’)

Character Age: 25

Character Gender and/or Pronouns: Male, He/Him Usually (Can be a bit fluid depending on host)

 

Character Appearance: With some patience and careful choices in clothing Simon’s physical form can generally pass for human. Clouded, pale eyes are dealt with by wearing contacts or sunglasses. Short, curly hair has been tampered with and dyed dirty-blonde for so many years even he sometimes forgets it’s naturally limp, pure-white and lifeless. He’s quite tall and gaunt in appearance, and generally found wearing some sort of formal suit regardless of how hot the weather is and how uncomfortable he looks in it. This is mainly to hide as much of his skin as possible, as it has a rather unsightly grey tone to it and doesn’t react well to the sun. Skin that he has to leave exposed is sometimes caked in makeup to give it a more ‘peachy’ colour as an additional measure.

His true form is best described as a silver, faintly-luminous orb of smoke a little bit bigger than a tennis ball.

[Image 1]

 

Powers/abilities/weapons/tools: Through a quirk in his hybrid status the ‘true’ Simon is technically just a spirit puppeteering his own body, which he can leave at any time. While he can’t really interact with the physical world in this form it does allow him to hide as ‘mist’ or squeeze through small gaps and therefore makes him useful for stealthier tasks. His physical body however is completely useless when he leaves it, being little more than an empty shell that will even start to decay if he abandons it for too long.

More specific to his Soul-Snatcher heritage is his ability to possess the bodies of other lifeforms, which can last for a few seconds to a few days depending on the level of sentience and willpower of the host. Awareness of the possession can vary in his hosts, though writing it off as a vivid dream seems to be the most common interpretation of events. Simon leaves no physical traces of possession, and despite his uncanny ability to predict the intentions of those around him he is unable to read the mind of the host so behavioural differences are the most obvious sign of his presence.

Despite his natural disposition towards espionage he has also been investing time into basic medical training and will sometimes be tasked with carrying around the med-kit. He has average aim and isn’t well suited to direct combat, so it’s becoming his back-up plan for assisting the teams he’s been assigned to. He also tends to pack a cloaking device or two to better hide his physical form if he needs to leave it behind for a while.

 

Personality: First impressions of Simon usually conjure up an amicable but rather private sort of gentleman, content to exchange idle pleasantries but quickly turning sour if someone starts trying to pry into his personal life. Those who do manage to get better conversation out of him will soon find that he’s not a very reliable source of information, as opinions and facts seem to change on a whim and never quite line up properly with what he’s told someone else. He is however more than happy to let other people talk about themselves and will actually encourage it whenever the opportunity arises.

Simon reads people well and is a decent actor, finding a lot of success in just improvising his way into and out of situations. He does however have a flair for the melodramatic, and will quickly latch onto a cynical and pessimistic outlook on a situation if things start going wrong.

 

Background: The Lockett family had a lavish lifestyle, inheriting the bulk of their fortune and barely having to lift a finger to maintain any of it. They certainly had an easy life back on Earth that was guaranteed to draw the attention of a passing Soul-Snatcher sooner or later, though to this day Simon still isn’t sure which one of his parents is no longer human. There was no doubt he was anything but a normal child when he was born with his bright blue eyes, curly blonde hair and bubbly personality, so perhaps his parent never saw a reason to risk exposing themselves by telling him.

His less-than-human status eventually surfaced when he caught a bad flu around the age of eight, when he managed to quite literally sneeze himself out of his own body for a few seconds. He was alone at the time, but upon managing to instinctively anchor himself back into his body he of course stumbled to his parents in a blind panic about the experience. It was, however, a dream according to the both of them. Trying to convince them otherwise just made them get angrier and more dismissive, and when he was unable to repeat the incident as proof he quickly learned it was easier to stay silent on the matter. Perhaps he had been hallucinating after all, and he didn’t like how upset it made his otherwise care-free mother and father become.

As he grew older so would the signs that something wasn’t quite right, but Simon quickly developed a habit of hiding them away and trying to convince himself otherwise. The ‘out of body experiences’ were becoming more frequent and lasting longer, putting wear on his physical form and beginning to morph it into the state it is today. Despite it all though he just tried to ‘ride it out’ and live an otherwise normal life, and even when he unintentionally teleported himself into the interview room he spent a good portion of his time informing them that he’d just found the card on the ground somewhere and that they had the wrong guy. Living on Co:Ten in recent months has slowly been coaxing him out of his shell, and while he has made a definite improvement on his abilities he is still quite reserved and reluctant to mingle with others.

 

How they reacted to the gun: He keeps changing the story.

[Hidden]

 

Other: Simon lives in the Training Hall and rarely leaves it premises outside of missions.

 

{~*~} 

 

Username: SarkhanVol

Character Name: Real Name- Zhang Haoyi 

Hybrid of: Human/Mind Eater

Character Age: 23 

Character Gender and/or Pronouns: Male

 

Character Appearance: Haoyi in his base form has the appearance of a rather tall yet handsome young man, noted to be attractive mainly due to how exotic his being 'albino' makes him look with very light skin, a straight mop of shoulder length grey hair, piercing red eyes, and a seemingly perpetual smirk or smile on his face. He stands at around 6'0" flat and has a rather lithe yet athletic frame, though given what his other half is he has little use for his physical attributes. His other-self as a Mind Eater seems to take the form of a silver formless mist that once it encroaches upon a target seems to vanish when in reality it enters another beings body through any open orifices (ie: mouth, nose, ears) 

 

Powers/abilities/weapons/tools: 

Formless- In his Mind Eater form, Haoyi is quite literally a formless mist held together by the consciousness of Haoyi himself which prevents him from being blown away by the wind since he seems to take the form of a non-physical fog of sorts. When in this form purely physical attacks hold no merit against him, though it also makes him susceptible to magic powers. 

-

Mental Rearrangement- The Mind Eaters' true strength and powers come from their natural ability to enter the orifices of their opponents and then directly access their opponents body, more particularly access their brains and souls, once this has been done they have relatively free access to the memories of their target and mess with them as they see fit. They can induce traumas to the opponent, create emotional stints from memories that never happened in the first place, even warp someones personality by altering how their perceived upbringing was. For example, Haoyi can cause someone who might have previously loved insects and spiders to develop a harsh phobia of spiders and insects by giving them a false memory of almost dying from a spider bite, he can make it so that happy memories of being held in their mothers arms turn into traumas of being hit and abused by that same loving mother. Haoyi's powers are derived from the memories of his target, and the more happy or sad memories they have, the more material he has to abuse though obviously the whole process is VERY delicate and requires extreme focus which means any interruptions from say an exceptionally strong-willed individual could throw him off course. 

 

Personality: Haoyi is noted for his rather charming and manipulative nature. Noted for having an eccentric sense of humor as well as a vindictive side makes Haoyi an individual who many distrust for good reason. He tends to behave rather disarmingly however and often seems friendly even when his intentions are anything but benevolent. 

 

Background: [Hidden] 

 

How they reacted to the gun: [Hidden] 

 

Other: [None] 

 

{~*~} 

 

Username: Helja

Character Name: Nickname- Samson Real name- [N/A] 

Hybrid of: Human/Changeling

Character Age: 19

Character Gender and/or Pronouns: Female; She/her

 

Character Appearance: Samson's face is small, smooth and without so much as blemish or line on her small subtle features. Her skin is pale with the slightest of blue tinge to set the colour apart from paper, her hair are a pastel blue that looks too natural to be a mere dye job aside from these factors and her light, almost white, grey eyes, everything about her is under average. Samson's body is light and lithe, so much so one could hypothesize that a good gust of wind could sweep her off her feet and send her far away. The body reeks of fragility and mystery almost as if it isn't even there; something that screams wrong. At a height of 5' 3" she is dwarfed by both her parents, especially the non-human parent. 

 

Powers/abilities/weapons/tools: Unlike her Changeling predecessor, Samson cannot shapeshift into beings she has never seen nor touched before, she cannot change shape based purely on image and must have had prior contact with the subject to accurately perceive it and shapeshift. Aside from shapeshifting Samson has other innate abilities such as the ability to cast glamours, charm beings upon eye contact, and the ability to mimic sounds from beings she shifted into without shapeshifting. Outside of her inherited abilities Samson is a quick study and has learned over 85 languages both dead and not, with the aid of her mimicry capabilities and her high cognitive abilities, it made learning the speech patterns of these languages all more easy and applicable. Naturally reading and writing came after, although the mimicry could help her write the same as the subject it did not give her knowledge of grammar, so her writing can be off at times, however she prides herself in her high literacy and quick comprehension of context clues. Just as she appears, Samson is dreadful with anything having to do with physical excursion and is not too handy in the department of hand-eye-coordination even though Changelings are known for their dexterity. 

 

Personality: Cynical, calm, collected, and callous at times

 

Background: Samson always knew she was a hybrid because she was raised only with her Changeling father. She adores him and learned everything she knew from him, every form she every took, every book she ever read, every language she spoke were all introduced to her by her father. As per tradition Changelings have no names as they rarely remain a single identity throughout the entirety of their long lives, so when her father passed away after many years of life there was not even headstone at his grave. Before he passed he showed Samson her mother's face whom had long passed and requested to be buried beside her. Now that her father's funeral was out of the way she had no where to go before she received that strange business card.

 

How they reacted to the gun: Samson was just lost in thought; This is obviously a test and I know you can read my mind, so I hope we can get along with each other in the future.

 

Other: Samson is name given to a man Samson had shapeshifted into, she usually only ever leaves names for people to give her and never introduces herself with one.

Edited by Drakessis

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{Notable Characters}

 

 

Cathryn Scordato-

The 34 year old leader of the Metal Cross Division herself. Looking at her, the woman's most unusual features would probably be her 6'2 height (backed by a curvy, boxer-esque build,) brown amber-tinted eyes, and the odd bit of hair falling in front of her face, dyed cyan in stark contrast to her black hair; nothing necessarily inhuman, though. Her strongly throat-spoken voice doesn't betray anything supernatural either, with its only prominent definer being an accent clearly alluding back to her southern New York upbringing. Perhaps one could look to her behavior for clues to supernatural roots but, once again, the most unusually usual feature to be found is just her apparent inability to keep a straight face any longer than a minute. 

 

Cathryn's weapons typically aren't concealed in the least; gauntlets and chain-wrapped knuckles clearly display her tools of choice, and a matching belt, which one can only assume must be for flair, proudly displays some capsules that are probably holding something more than empty air, though that wouldn't be too unlikely either. Armor-wise, however, she's lacking. Her shirt seems to be made of some form of resistant material, but her only real armor seems to be visibly metal-tipped boots. Odd choices for combat, but one would be hard pressed to find Cathryn openly regretting her choice of attire. 

[Image 1]

 

{~*~}

 

Senator Vehhr-

[TBA]  

 

{~*~}

 

Nova-

???

 

 

 

Edited by Drakessis

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Location: Assignment Room 38-38-B

 

 

The room was nothing unique; a typical, yet perhaps generously sized, assignment room, with rows of seats that gradually rose towards the back, all facing a large screen that had table-height shelves on each side. Above the screen was a thin display that showed the time in an analog fashion in the top left corner and displayed it digitally in the top right. Below the times was bold white lettering which displayed

 

"M ᴇ ᴛ ᴀ ʟ C ʀ ᴏ s s Dɪ ᴠ ɪ s ɪ ᴏ ɴ

 

across the otherwise black screen, which was nothing particularly odd. In fact, the entire room was nothing extraordinary for one of its sort. The area between the display and screen had a small hemisphere of a hologram projector, and the two shelves beside the screen had a few office products on them: a pen here, a pen there, and a blank notecard or two absentmindedly put down. And, as per usual, the currently mission-leader-free room's only white noise was the gentle rumble of ventilation and the small amount of noise from outside activity that managed to make its way in. All of the electronics (uniform electronics, all vinyl-esque black with silver trimmings), from the lights to the screen, were perfectly silent. Even seats (seats the same pale gray as the floor, glorified growths of the textureless surface) failed to squeak or shift when faced with movement. 

 

It was not a room meant to keep one's attention, perhaps to avoid detracting from the mission at hand or villain-of-the-week being presented by whatever higher-up the agents inside had been assigned to. But even if that wasn't the real concern, the rooms weren't something anyone, save the poor technicians, ever stayed in for long. They were transitional rooms, not meant to be sat in silence in. The Dragon Team, with all its size and influence, valued effeciency, especially with innocent lives at risk, not to mention the dictators and warmongers who weren't going to halt just to allow their defeat to approach. Agents took pride in thinking that a well oiled machine was barely a fair comparison for the Dragon Team. As a shining example of this effeciency, the two clocks had sat, silently climbing in flawless tandem, without fail...

 

...counting the ever-dragging minutes of the Metal Cross Division's leader's apparent absence. And in no less than a second later, in all of their perfectly choreographed harmony, the two clocks shifted up one more minute. That made it twenty. 

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49 lean against the wall of the quite room, close to the door, as the time ticked by. He stayed motionless to any type of motion in the room or any sound, but the visor that is integrated into his helmet to allow him to see out of without people seeing in, flickered green a bit. "49. The Metal Cross Division leader been now twenty minutes late to their own briefing, and you have not move from that spot in the last half an hour. I would recommend moving around the room to stretch your muscles to avoid any possible injures, or any other condition that could be of a possibility of lowering your performance," A robotic voice said from 49's helmet. 49 did not seem to really care that much about his performance, for he did not do what the A.I. recommend for him to do during his wait.

((Mhe sorry for any grammar errors i try to get them all in this short post, but i'm not super great at it.))

Edited by draco8967

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An exasperated huff sounded from another being in the room followed by a 3-second chime that signalled a mobile phone had just turned itself off. Simon glared at the now-blank screen held in his hand, feeling awfully betrayed by the chipped and cracked device he'd stayed loyal to for 5 years, before resigning to his fate and shoving the phone back into his pocket. He glanced up for the first time since he'd taken the nearest seat to the door, tutting at the time displayed on the analog clock before starring around the room for something else to grab his interest. Would it be impossible for the Dragon Team to pin a few tacky motivational posters on the walls? At least it would break up all the grey of the room. Simon did not have the best relationship with the colour grey. It generally just served as a reminder that he needed to cake his face in a few more layers of concealer.

With the camera on his phone unavailable though, Simon had no option but to keep said concealer in his pocket and continue his bored surveying of the room before him. He eventually risked a glance towards the hulking figure of metal beside the door, currently the only other being within whispering range. Pale,  pupil-less eyes starred up into the visor for a moment, wondering exactly who or what was looking out from it. Despite the brief fact or two he'd overheard about this '49' character Simon's current theory was that they were a robot of some kind. A robot that hopefully wouldn't mind someone gawking at him for that last 20 seconds or so. Simon opened his mouth, trying to look like he was just attempting conversation, but found his mind suddenly blank for a topic that would interest them.
"Do...Do you have a charging cord?"
He eventually stuttered, figuring a possible-cyborg might have a recharge pack somewhere on their person.

Edited by Lycanious

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Any conversation or attempt at such was cut short by the loud, decompressing, and almost airlock-esque noise of the sliding metal doors to the room opening. They weren't even fully open by the time a woman rushed in, shoes thudding against the floor with either serious purpose or serious restlessness. Even in motion, it was clear that there was no way that this woman was naturally shorter than 6'2, and sturdy boots with visibly armored metal tops did nothing to lessen that aspect of her presence. On top of that, she'd practically announced her entrance with the not-so-silently cursing out of herself; though, she did stop once her eyes had landed on the figure leaning by the door. She paused for a moment, taking in his appearance and general sort of odd position he'd taken up by the door, before smiling a little and straightening her posture. With a much more relaxed tone than before, she decided to make the best first- well, second with her lateness... really, more like third with that no-so-appealing entrance- impression she could. 

 

"Oh, hey dude." She didn't really doubt which of the assigned agents this was, but still carried on. "49, right?" She turned to look at the second agent. "And... Simon, if I'm not mistaken. Forgive me if I'm wrong, not the best with names, even though I got your guys' files!" Her slight smile grew until she was starting to laugh, and she walked a foot or two towards the screen. "Sorry I'm late, but..." She looked at the clocks and, after some reading, seemed to revert to her more stressed state for a moment. "...twenty minutes." Despite this, she turned back to the agents and just kept smiling. "Hey, that's fine, right? Twenty minutes won't kill you! Just means we gotta get acquainted on the ship, no big deal. And that I gotta hurry up explaining, but that's just me to blame." With a chain and gauntlet-clad hand she pulled out two small devices from her left pocket: teleporters.

 

Agents didn't get their own DTAGPM's (Dragon Team Assigned General Purpose Machines, usually just called teleporters, watches, or D-TAGs) unless they were division leaders, Elites, or simply high ranking enough. Anyone could get a normal teleporter, sure, but there was no way to add anything else useful to it or personalize it. The only other option was to buy one (an affordable one, that was- 'official' teleporters were wildly expensive and cost hours of testing and proving you could be trusted to operate one), but that always ran the risk of either getting caught unlicensed or, even worse, operating on an "underground" signal. While underground signals meant that most machines weren't designed to track their use or even disable them, it also meant that they were highly illegal to use. These teleporters, however, were clearly DTAGPM's, equipped with touchscreens, hologram projectors, and shining with that black and silver scheme the Dragon Team seemed to adore so much. Still pretty close to the two agents, Cathryn tossed one to each of them and spoke. "There you go, all yours. We can't teleport today, huge bummer, but these are also equipped with like, I don't know, space walkie-talkies. Comms? Eh, whatever, basically we can talk through them and see each other's locations. Takes some time to get used to, but you'll have time on the ship. Hook it on your wrist or belt or armor or something." In saying that she pat her pocket, hitting her own device before remembering she needed to pull it out too. Hers had a bulky outside, and from the way she tried to flip it out of her pocket but nearly dropped it in the process, along with the bare device itself's small scale compared to her hand, it was obvious why. She held her thumb to its surface for a few seconds, and the main screen in the room turned on. She beamed at the small success, pushed her hair out of her face (notably, one cyan-dyed lock of hair that seemed insistent on staying in front of her face, especially as she tried to tuck it behind her ear with the probably purposely messy black rest), and gestured to the seats. "I know you've been stuck here, but I just need a few more minutes to give you the mission. So, unless you've got questions or something, take a seat or at least stand in front of one so I can explain what's up."

Edited by Drakessis

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49 caught his DTAGPM that was passed to him, though she did toss it a bit high. The armor head looked at it for a second motionless before he pocket it and stepped away from the door and walked in front of the leader. He stood there afterwards in a military pose, waiting to hear what she got to say to them. It was now clear on why he stood awkwardly against the door as his bottom part of his legs where in the same shape style of a horse legs. However it seems that he is still quick on his legs, rather faster and more agile than a normal human being.

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Simon scrambled momentarily for the D-TAG as it was lobbed in his direction and nearly dropped it in the process. Judging from the wide-eyed expression that followed he was rather awe-struck by the device once he realised what it was, carefully turning it in his hands a few times to check that it hadn't been scratched by catching it. It was rare that he was trusted with such an expensive and easily-stolen device, given his habit of leaving the physical world from time to time. Hesitantly he tugged on the perfectly-fitted sleeve of his jacket until his wrist was exposed and carefully wrapped the device around it, testing how well he could keep it out of sight.

 

The lanky young man remained in his seat as Cathryn called for attention, though he did first send another unsure glance in 49's direction as he shuffled away from the wall. Contrary to the military stance they took on Simon was far more twitchy as he waited for the talk to begin, trying to maintain the perfect cross-legged posture he'd been taught years ago but always pulling at his collar or fidgeting with his hands. He seemed to constantly be on alert, and the unreadable expression of the agent beside him was certainly not helping matters.

"Yes. Erm. I have an inquiry."

Simon announced with a half-raised arm, trying to focus his concerns and impatience on the task at hand instead.

"Are we expecting anyone else? I'm not sure what sort of mission a...Satyr...?"

He trailed off for a moment, taking note of the goat-like legs of the fellow agent for the first time and readjusting his theory.

"...and myself would find in common?"

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Clearly glad that she'd received some sort of response, albeit it just a question she'd asked for, Cathryn walked towards the seats and didn't hesitate a second before responding. "No, not that they've told me." She shrugged. "But, don't worry about it. You guys have been specially selected for this mission. The exact reasons are confidential, of course, but as long as you can prove to be as confident in your abilities as our statistics people are, we should all be fine. And if you're not..." another smile planted itself on her face, just as genuine as before, "...I've got enough confidence in our little squad here to go around." With a few steps back towards the screen, she pressed her D-TAG again so that an formal photograph of... someone, came up. She didn't seem fazed by their appearance. "Alright, let's get started. It's going to be a lot, so bear with me."

 

Within the image, which looked like a fairly formal portrait upon closer inspection, was some alien creature, with a centaur's build but lacking any distinctly human features. The quadrupedal section of their body was nearly camel-like in its bulk and shape, though it lacked any familiar humps and sported a tail that seemed more repitilian in the way it tapered. Their legs were nothing unusual for an ungulate like themself, but that was where the normality ended. The torso rising from the mass of the body had two arms and one head, average enough, but at the ends of the arms were two-thumbed hands that were arguably clawed beneath the gloves adorning them. Their head ended in a snout like a musk deer's, with a defined nose and tusks, and their ears seemed to share some resemblance to the creature as well. Even earrings studded the ears, while a form of decoration made its way around a small collection of horns until it hung between two eyes: two odd, forward facing, tired eyes. Whatever camera had been used didn't seem to have the capability to photograph the eyes, and some odd blur, all at once light-free yet oversaturated, took each spheres' place. Cathryn spoke over the image. "This is Senator Vehhr, renowned leader amongst the Maixons." Vehhr's status clearly showed in the ornate coat and back-covering they wore, along with the formality of the image. Cathryn continued, "You've maybe heard of the Maixons, but whatever you heard was probably about how they won't let us in to some part of the universe, which happens mostly because they're the closest major superpower to Co:Ten. They're pretty strict about who can meddle in their territory, but they haven't started wars in millenia and have actually solved many within their territories, so we've got no reasons to bother them. Not to mention, they could absolutely obliterate us if they'd like. That's because, while they tend to stay away from conflict, they really do not like being challenged or threatened, so they have one of the largest and arguably most powerful military forces in the universe. Which brings me to our mission; Senator Vehhr was kidnapped and is being held for ransom in exchange for one Maixon colony and two Maixon military base planets. Obviously, agreeing to this kidnapper's conditions wouldn't fly for any of us, because the conditions include turning over all researchers, weaponry, and other technologies at these bases and all the wealth and citizens at the colony." 

 

Cathryn flicked to the next images. Beside one scrolling list of crimes and another of locations was pictures of an older, human-looking woman, maybe in her sixties. All of the pictures were taken at odd angles; not a single mugshot, typical of a culprit's presentation, was found. "Nova. If you guys have ever kept up with Elite missions, you've heard of her. She's a form of alien siren, presumably one of the last of her species remaining. Hundreds of years old, and singlehandedly ruling an empire of her own run on forced labor and bloody conquest." She sighed. "Nothing unusual empire-wise, unfortunately, but she's definitely set apart. Under her belt we've got assassinations, kidnappings, and something that, some years back, several councils finally decided to formally label as genocide. Countless deaths in kidnapping Senator Vehhr, too. Her gaining control of these military bases would be absolutely devastating, and there's a very real chance it could allow her to conquer more of the Maixon empire or other major superpowers, which could allow her to manage to weaken and bypass the alliances in place that keep many planets protected from dictators like her. Including places like Earth." She paused for a few moments, as if that'd all been something repeated. Maybe she'd sat through a briefing of her own. She'd grown tense in going over everything, realizing how much responsibility she was dumping on two random agents. But she knew she had to stay positive, and she had to keep these agents willing. "Worst case scenario, that is. But that won't happen, because the Maixons called us to sneak in and retrieve Senator Vehhr. They trust we'll have more success than their Maixon troops. We just need to land on Nova's closest colony to Vehhr, then manage to stop getting chased by soldiers and finally teleport away, since they can't really do anything once we're out of there. Not to mention, we probably won't even be running into Nova. She knows better than to stay in such a risky environment." 

 

Her hands had clasped together, as if the stakes were low and this was some quick mission. "I think that's about it. Oh, wait, I almost forgot. We're not killing any soldiers. I won't allow it unless it's absolutely life and death for yourself. There's some devices on the ship to help out with incapacitating them so that we can teleport them out and into Dragon Team custody afterwards. It might make our jobs tougher, but I'm not saying this for some BS 'it makes us just as bad' reason. Most, if not all of these soldiers have been ripped from families and home planets in drafts or as tribute to keep Nova from destroying these planets. Maybe they've killed people, maybe they've had to do unspeakable things under Nova's command, but they were innocent people. I'm standing by the fact they still could be or are, and as your mission and division leader I'm saying that you're going to have to operate under this assumption too." Another few moments of silence punctuated Cathryn's speech as she took a few breaths and switched off the screen. It was obvious from the way she didn't check back on it that she didn't want to face the clocks again. Though the time still displayed itself on her D-TAG, she ignored it. "I suppose now's a good time for you guys to test these out." Coordinates popped up on the other D-TAGs screens. "It takes a while to get used to these enough to just 'think' your location, so preloaded stuff should work fine for now. I'll be on the only spaceship in the hangar once you get there, once we're all in we'll head off and actually get some formal greetings going on." She pressed the bottom of her teleporter's screen, and, as expected, was completely gone. Meanwhile, two D-TAGs' screens lit up with aptly titled "Hangar Coordinates" and a button at the bottom of their screens, wordless yet subtly pulsating from completely dark to faintly glowing. 

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49 stood in silence as their leader goes over the information of their mission. After that was over she said it would be a good time to test out their teleportation devices as she zipped herself to the hanger bay. 49 turn and looked at the other agent before he reached his hand in his pocket and pressed the button to teleport himself to the hanger bay. When he appeared he saw the spaceship in the hanger their leader have told them to look for, which was not hard for it was the only one there. He went to the ship and waited for farther orders. During his wait time however, Nib, his personal AI was working on having a secure link to the D-Tag for faster usage, but the progress was slow, maybe by the time they reach the planet they were heading to, the AI would have commas up for usage.

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As Cathryn continued through her briefing on their mission Simon's idle fidgeting was soon replaced with a grimace. As someone with a fondness for keeping tabs on recent missions, he was well aware of more than one recount of a horror encounter with Nova or members of her empire.  It was the sort of name that if he heard it in his usual snooping in on conversations it was probably best for him to block out the rest of what they were saying, lest he spend the rest of the day in a somber mood. He grew very still, shifting to what he hoped came off as a more neutral expression by the time she had finished the speech but certainly going through some sort of internal panic. He had no doubt that this was to be a subtle infiltration mission, given the no-deaths rule, but his one notable ability was still very much a wild card at this stage. 

The young man lingered in the assignment room for a while after the other two had vanished. His hand hovered above the pulsating button of his D-TAG, tracing small circles in the air as he seemingly debated whether he actually wanted to tap it. With a small shake of his head Simon finally brought his index finger down onto the screen and glanced back up to find himself suddenly starring at the front end of a ship. Mildly disorientating, but by no means the worst sudden change in perspective he'd experienced. Once he'd finally arrived he wandered into the ship and nearly bumped into the other agent that was already waiting for his next set of orders. This time Simon barely glanced at 49 as he shuffled past, having of given up on trying to get idle conversation out of the guy.  He was more focused on finding a comfortable spot to sit down and start playing around with the settings on his brand new D-TAG. In particular he was hoping to find out if the teleport could be set to some sort of timer, which would save him the pesky trouble of having to retrieve himself later on. 

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The doors to the ship closed diffinitively once every agent was on board, and Cathryn seemed to be taking pride in managing not to lose anyone this early. She left the agents to reach their seats and made her way to the holographic map at the front of the ship, which was visible but not exactly clear from the ship's seats, since the only cockpit of the ship was a decoy to be quickly set up if need be. With the course set but the ship left without clearance to take off, the division leader began to clearly struggle to figure out why exactly it- both the process of starting the ship and the path mapped out before her- wasn't as straightforward as she anticipated. Losing even more time she did the only thing she could to cut mostly her own tension; joke. The smile once again plastered on her face was audible as she spoke over her button-fumbling. "You know, this line of ships is one of our most fuel efficient varieties, despite using most of the same technology as other similar models. The difference? This ship's a hybrid."

 

The map finally seemed to be doing what she wanted it to, but that didn't exactly explain the odd path. With her D-TAG still in her hand she checked it and read what was probably about six notices. Two silenced reminders about the briefing (coupled with what was surely a good deal more on the phone she'd managed to forget at home), some random message about another Elite's mission, and, among the few other insignificant things, a rather significant message regarding her team, apparently triggered by entering the ship based on the time it'd been received. She turned to the agents. "Well, lied on accident. And not about the hybrid thing, if that's what you're thinking. That's the best coincidence I could have asked for. Instead, I got a new message that we're going to have another agent joining us. Wish they'd said it sooner, but I'm in no place to talk, right? We just need to take a detour to a Ryun-II, and then we'll actually set off to the Solar Complex. Nova's territory, that is, since she's apparently got some weird aesthetic to her hell." 

 

Something clicked as she granted the ship permission to fly, and it began to make its way out of the hanger as Cathryn sat down in the right line of seats, cleared off notices from her D-TAG, tried to retrieve the recorded log of her presentation, and thought over if she'd ever heard of the planet Ryun-II before. The ship set off, machinery regulating everything from oxygen to gravity, and within a minute stars were already starting to blur by outside the windows. 

Edited by Drakessis

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((Bump, someone else reply first i have nothing except 49 goes to the armory section of the ship and starts looking though what gear he can bring along, figuring he restricted to mainly a pistol for the time being, dar.))

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(( Fair enough, I guess I'll take the next turn then? ))

Simon chuckled a little at the hybrid comment before trying to disguise it as merely clearing his throat. He remained otherwise quiet as Cathryn concluded her talk to them, save the small yelp he gave as the ship started to take off and he clutched at a nearby chair to keep his balance. For a brief moment he pawed at the chest pocket of his suit, as though checking if something had fallen out, but seemed to relax again after a short breath or two. He found his footing again soon afterwards and managed to step away from the chair as the ship left the hanger, beginning to pace around the area for something to do. 

His immediate thought was to check out the armoury for an idea of what was at their disposal. When he realised that's where 49 was heading though he veered away and decided it was best to stay at the front portion of the ship. Cathryn at least didn't look like she was going to use him for target practice on a whim. Besides, Simon had found a new interest in the holographic map he was now lingering in front of. He'd never heard of a Ryun-II, but he hoped whatever agent they were picking up from there would at least be semi-approachable.

The young man began to wander about again after starring at the map gave him no more clarity to their situation, eyes now instead glued to the D-TAG as he tapped at the screen. He eventually halted just a few steps behind Cathryn's chair, seemingly lost in thought and facing the wall beside them as he adjusted the wristband of his new device. A few seconds had passed when he started glancing over at his newly-appointed leader, very clearly trying to read the screen of her own D-TAG over her shoulder.

Edited by Lycanious

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(( Hey, it's a good little chance for some set up stuff. May implement a type of posting schedule guide soon though; nothing too strict, just something to help people keep tabs on imperative posts. )) 

 

Cathryn had watched as 49 walked off and had glanced up at Simon a few times as he wandered around until he stopped. She gave the moment a while before turning sideways in her seat to look at the agent, with one arm slung over the seat's back and her boots thudding against the floor as her legs landed in a relaxed but almost confident stance. Her other hand gripped her D-TAG, and as she spoke she almost waved it around. "You coulda fooled me into thinking you've got some sort of jinxing powers, heh. You came around asking about any other team members, and now I've got another notice for someone else joining use besides whoever's on Rye-oon... Run... Ray-un... Ry..." She sort of exhale-laughed. "...uh, this planet we're heading to. I wish I'd been able to tell you that up front but, hey, it's my first mission with stranger Metal Cross Division agents and god knows I haven't done the best this far on top of whatever the mission coordinators are doing." Her D-TAG arm relaxed. "Still gotta be optimistic about the actual mission at hand here. I know I've got a good feeling about it."

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49 came to the armory doors and stood fr a second in front of them, before they open for him, and lit up the room. It revealed from under it shadowy cloak, a room full of lockers and weapons behind locked cages, along with a build in hologram target range. He wonder passed the lockers, most of them unmarked, till he came to a locker that was a weapon cage with his agent name on it. Inside was two pistol type and a repair kit. One pistol was a shiny green Nonlethal stun gun, using power cells to fire with 10 rechargeable cells for the ammo and an equipped scope with battery life energy left. Each cell held 14 shots each before needing to change to a fresh battery cell. The other one was a high powered gunpowder based Magnum. Primitive, but effective at close range against light armor units without shields. Anything else he would have to point blink the shot just to do some sort of damage. It held only 7 rounds per a magazine, and only three was in his locker. It Shiny steel and heavy weight with iron cross sight remind 49 of his older days in services.

He grabbed the magnum and unload the clip and disengage the round from the chamber and looked over the weapon. It was fresh and well taken care of, maybe even new. He let go of the hammer and it made a loud chink as it closed, as he slid the magazine back into the magnum and put it on safety, and put it back in the hostler on the side of his leg and slid the other two clips into his side pouch for quick access. Next he grabbed the stun gun and slid it into this other holster on his other leg and slid the extra battery into the other pouch, than he closed the locker shut and started to leave the room. As the doors open in front of him the light behind him flickers a bit, as he turn in a fast motion and drew the magnum and aimed it into the room.

"Whoa there 49. Calm down. It might be some faulty wiring or the bulb just going bad, nothing need for you to get all jumpy over. I do not detect anything around us." Nib said to 49 as he returns back to a calm stance and re hostler his weapon before he left again, as the lights turn off and the door closed behind him. He went back to the main room the commander and other agent was in.

As soon as he came into the room the AI got a bit ecstatic as he said. "Finally got into the system of this 'D-Tag', well at least fr me to use the basic COMS. Let see if this works." The AI said as he linked the coms with his own interface of his programming.

"Testing connection of coms link, Anyone pick this up?" He asked in his AI robotic voice a bit.

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Simon's eyes widened as she turned to face him and quickly darted back to their own screen. Evidentially he'd forgotten that he wasn't wearing his contacts today, which made following his line of sight pretty difficult in retrospect. The young man however still made a show of inspecting his screen for a few more seconds before finally rolling his sleeve back over it, crossing his arms behind his back, and turning to face her properly. He now stood at attention, though perhaps with a more poised, elegant stance than was common of the military types around the Dragon Team base.
"My apologies. I just thought that even for a stealth mission I thought 3 agents was a bit lacking. I'm please to see that Command seems to feel the same way."
For a moment it looked as though Simon had something else to say about 'Command',  but he just shook his head a bit glanced back in the direction of the holographic map.
"And. Ah. I'm thinking it's pronounced 'Rye-oon', personally."
Simon mumbled, twitching the corner of his mouth into what was supposed to be a smile as his shoulders slouched a little. 
 

Cathryn was so-far a welcome change from his previous leader's gruff, no-nonsense style of command. Sure, she didn't seem the best prepared for someone about to be leading them into Nova's territory, but the idle chatter was a good distraction and gave Simon a little bit more confidence in pulling off their mission. He decided to abandon his original plan of pacing about aimlessly for the entire duration of the trip and sunk into a nearby seat before brandishing his D-TAG again. So far he'd only been game enough to mess about with the personalised settings, toggling the volume and trying in vain to adjust the colour-scheme of the screen to something a bit more to his taste.

He was in the middle of trying to decipher the controls for the teleport system when a sharp, robotic voice erupted from his device and pierced through the silence. Simon flinched and hissed through clenched teeth at the sound, quickly bringing up the volume controls again and adjusting it from '100' to 'Mute' before squinting up at 49.
"Yes. Loud and clear. I think I'd prefer a text in the future though."
He grumbled, though was in truth pleasantly surprised that the armoured figure was finally communicating with them.

Edited by Lycanious

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