MechA cademy [IC/PG-13/Co-Hosted by Skaia/Not Accepting]

[ZetaRESP 5]

Erica looked at Sammi up and down, somewhat scrutinizing her soon to be roommate in order to be sure she wasn't paired with someone who may drive her crazy. <So far, no signs of permanent sugar rush...> She looked at her and recalled her from the Finback... it was the girl with the strange name she recalled, but also her name seems not to be that... she hopes it's not a strange nickname she gives herself.

"If you're here to hand out some sort of pamphlet, I'm not interested." Her answer seemed normal enough, though she her doubts with her reference to pamphlets.

"I am Erica Sapphire and I had been assigned as your new roommate." She bowed, as she was supposed to in these situation. "It is nice to meet you again, Ms. Sammi Knett... or do you prefer just Sammi? Because you can call me Rika if you feel more comfortable with short names" She could see her luggage, a big strange chest, was laying in the ground. "I see they did not forget my belongings... at least they handled that properly."

[LordCowCow 840]

"You?! You're my roommate?!"

Kelsey gave a double-take at the exclaimation. She turned around and looked for her new roommate. When she didn't see anyone she was confused for a moment but then a memory from earlier hit her. "Oh, Rosha." She grinned down at the girl she had beaten in the game before. The grin wavered slightly as she felt the bit of disgust that was coming off of the girl.

Already on edge Kelsey couldn't help but get a bit confrontational immediately. "What, something the matter?" She said, sounding a bit frustrated herself. She shook her head. "No, never mind, we're gonna be stuck together for a while so, uh..." She stuck her hand out towards the much smaller girl, for a handshake. "Whatever beef either of us has doesn't matter from here on out alright? This place looks kinda lame don't it? Maybe we could get an arcade game in here sometime." She smirked, unable to keep from the slight bit of snark. Even if she was being friendly she couldn't fully get over the immediate tone that Rosha had taken after all. She wasn't some weakling who'd roll over at the first sign of hostility after all.

Maybe if Stella were here she'd be able to be a bit more diplomatic.

 

---

 

Important OOC for everyone

Spoiler

Since I was away I had to post a bit later than usual. I know this wasn't much and only for Drew, who is away from computer for a bit, but that leads me to...

Don't feel obligated to post only once a week. Too often can be an issue too but if you post a few times per week that's fine (gauge it based on how many posts are between your previous and next post). That being said I know some haven't been posting very frequently so...

Deadlines for this will now be Tuesday. And from here out I'll be keeping track of strikes for missed posts. (Again won't punish Drew as he announced he'd be away for a bit so if he doesn't make this deadline that's fine)

This post is more to set a solid line since most of you have other players to interact with as opposed to myself.

That being said I'll be sure to throw things your way if needed and if you want to do stuff elsewhere and need info feel free to ask. I will mostly be posting for more "scene change/event change" stuff but will also post as NPCs as needed. As well as occasionally tossing out some strange happenings.

That being said next "scene change" beyond anything you do yourselves will be for next day and meeting with the teachers.

 

[yui 574]

"I am Erica Sapphire and I had been assigned as your new roommate It is nice to meet you again, Ms. Sammi Knett... or do you prefer just Sammi? Because you can call me Rika if you feel more comfortable with short names."

"Just Sammi is fine." The formality of first and last name was a pain to deal with. Her roommate's name was Erica Sapphire. She took note of that, so she would never forget it.

"I see they did not forget my belongings... at least they handled that properly."

Yes, at least that was handled properly. Sammi looked at her own things, already unpacked and set perfectly and precisely in their proper places. Only to stop at a book she'd propped up against the wall, on what was now her desk. Its angle was off by a couple degrees. She went over to the desk, and straightened it out. It was a rather plain-looking blue book, though unless Erica could read Kavran, she'd find it rather difficult to tell what it was about. With that small flaw corrected though, Sammi turned to face her new roommate again, and pointed to the side of the room her luggage was in.

"That's your side of the room. Try to keep your things from spilling over into my side. If you need an alarm clock to wake up in the morning, I won't pay it much mind. I don't have a phone, so don't bother asking for my number in case you need to contact me. Any questions?"

[ZetaRESP 5]

"That's your side of the room. Try to keep your things from spilling over into my side. If you need an alarm clock to wake up in the morning, I won't pay it much mind. I don't have a phone, so don't bother asking for my number in case you need to contact me. Any questions?"

"No. It was understood, Sammi." Erica simply bowed at Sammi and went to her chest, which was actually taller than Erica and had several warning labels on it, and opened it up, pulling out a small box with several warnings saying "FRAGILE" and opening it on the corner nearest to the window, revealing it to be a tea set. She also set a small table and a pair of what seem to be pillows instead of chairs. Then she took off the thick mattress off the bed, pulled out a strange mat made of what seemed to be long thin branches and placed them on the bed, then laid a thin mattress over the mat and placed the bed's mattress underneath the bed, not before checking underneath it's clean enough. She knows the whole thing is strange even in her homeworld, but she loves to lay on a less soft bed. "I apologize for this, but I found out regular beds to be too soft and uneven." She finishes making her new bed and goes to the chest and pulls out a few stuffed animals and suddenly stopped, cocked her head and pulled out a kind of old and big white rabbit. "Oh. Usami. You came." She pulled it into an embrace and took a deep breath of relief before taking the bunny and laying it on her bed. After that, she went to large chest and began to undress and swap into her pajamas, which are apparently simply white pajamas with toon carrots as a pattern over it. She also took off her googles and combed her hair so it was straight.

[Skaia 578]

As Stella made the suggestion to go exploring, Kelsey seemed to remember that she had a room of her own to go to. Though she was a bit disappointed, Stella was still glad enough to hear that Kelsey wanted to join the two later, and simply gave a wave to her as she went off saying, "see you in a bit." With her ship roommate gone, that just left Vivian and Stella by themselves now. Stella wasn't usually terribly awkward around new people, though, even by herself. Though, being in the environment that she was in here, having seen the room she just did and now being left alone with someone she frankly still felt some tension around did not help her in socializing with her new roommate. As such, she didn't really know how to proceed in looking for food other than beginning to simply walk away. Thankfully, this tension seemed to be one sided as Vivian started to rattle off about what she wanted to get to eat. 

Stella herself wasn't a fussy eater, in fact she was a very minimalist and generic brand eater at that. As it had turned out, Vivian seemed to be some kind of a carnivore as she had done nothing but suggest different kinds of meat. While Stella didn't think much on it, she stopped and looked at the girl quizzically as she made her last statement. That someone hadn't had a burger in their life was something that the girl couldn't quite fathom given how commonplace they were back home. Maybe she was just a vegetarian? There was definitely a vegetarian vibe she was getting from Vivian. All the same, Stella thought about the question for a moment and said, “well, I’ve never been sad eating a hamburger before, so yeah I’d say so.” Looking at the girl curiously she said, “do they uh, not have those where you’re from?” 

“They do, but meat can get so expensive on Colia that it just isn’t worth it unless you absolutely can’t live without it.” Putting her hands close together to emphasize what she was about to explain, Vivian continued “Colia is covered in dense jungles, so it’s hard to settle land there. We build our cities upward to make up for it, but we still don’t have much room for agriculture, so it’s better to focus entirely on plants since farm animals take up sooooo much space to raise. So all our meat is imported or hunted, making it kind of pricey. But on the bright side, all the other foods are super-cheap!”

Not a vegetarian, just heavy import taxes. She could work with that. Putting her hand to her chin, Stella said, “huh. Well ,when it comes to meat, beef and chicken are probably the most common we have back home, and you can’t really go wrong with them. So, would you want one of those?”  

“I’d love one! Let’s keep our eyes peeled for someplace that sells hamburgers.” Between making all sorts of new friends - even if it was just the one - showing up to such an amazing school, and now the impending first meat dish of her life, this was shaping up to be a real eye-opening, life-changing day! 

"Alright," nodding, Stella took the lead on finding a place for the two of them to go. As they walked around the campus, Stella was on the lookout for different places to get food. While there was certainly a wide variety of different places to eat at, some with food that Stella was more than questionable about trying, she eventually found a place that seemed to fit the bill. A small little building with a large sign on a pole that read, "Burgz Palace." Nodding to herself at the sight of the otherwise generic looking fast food place, Stella looked to Vivian saying, "well, if you're going to have your first burger we should probably go with the basics. And that looks like the place." 

Taking out her phone, she took a picture of the place, and sent it to Kelsey with a short, "found a place," attached to the message. Pocketing her phone again, Stella said, "let's go."

[LordCowCow 840]

"Burgz Palace" Turned out to be rather full of people. There were two lines stretching from the counter to just a few feet from the door which curved around a wall separating the entrance from the rest of the building.

The two ended up in separate lines next to each other, separated by a floating beam of light, which had various food items listed scrolling past as well as the logo of the place. A cartoonish cow wearing a crown.

At first glance one might think that the line was excessive and that it would take a long time to reach the front but the moment that they stepped in the line got shorter. It seemed every fifteen seconds the line advanced up another person and it wasn't long before the two girls were at the front.

There were two cashiers standing there, one at the end of each line, to greet them.

One of them was a bright and chipper young lady with short hair and eyes that seemed to literally sparkle as she spoke. Her smile almost unnaturally large and her teeth gleaming. The other was a dour looking, slightly older, man with long hair and a tired expression. Who seemed to stare off into the distance as he spoke.

Though their manners and tone was wildly different their words were the same. Spoken in unison as the two approached.

"Welcome to Burgz Palace, where beef is king, as long as you got the mooolah we've got the goods. What will be your order today?"

---

Important OOC Part 2, Text-based Boogaloo

Spoiler

As I said I was gonna start using the strike system so...

Champion: 1 Strike
Chaos Sonic: 1 Strike
Keto: 1 Strike

It's possible for strikes to remove it just takes a couple rounds of consistent posting.

 

[yui 574]

At least Erica was a good listener. The girl then proceeded to check her things, pull out a stuffed rabbit, then change into some PJs. Must have been planning for a lazy day in or something. Sammi didn't envy that sort of attitude. Having a day in could be pretty productive, but only if one made it so. Sammi would be lying if she said she had any real interest in getting to know her new roomie any better. They were just two people who happened to be sharing a room to live in, so there was absolutely no reason Sammi had to oblige herself to be this girl's friend. Besides, she had more important things to think about than friendship.

"While you're doing... whatever it is you're up to, I'm going to see if I can't find the school's library," Sammi stated, making for the door. She still had a job to do after all, and the library would be the beste place to study, no doubt. Hopefully she didn't encounter any weirdos along the way.

---

The two were in agreement, then! It was high time for Vivian to try out a hamburger. She and Stella checked out a number of places they were able to spot on campus, and in the end, settled on a place called Burgz Palace. This was definitely not Vivian's first encounter with fast food of course, but burger chains were a bit out of her experience. Stella paused to take a picture, before the two went in. The place was packed, and the line was long. Just as Vivian was about to suggest maybe finding a different place, the line moved. Then it moved again. At what felt like regular intervals, the line kept scooting forward, and before she knew it, Vivian was up to order.

"Welcome to Burgz Palace, where beef is king, as long as you got the mooolah we've got the goods. What will be your order today?"

The menu, right. Vivian had looked it over on the way up to the counter, thanks to the display between the two lines of customers. Even though she knew what she wanted, she almost on reflex ordered something else. "Sala--er, no, one hamburger please. And a medium fry." It felt strange ordering one. It felt stranger when it wasn't even all that expensive. The next part - finding a seat - was a bit more difficult than paying for and receiving her order, but in the end, Vivian spotted an empty table and led the way. She sat down, eyeing the burger. This was an exciting new first!

Time to see what all the hype's about.

And so, starting with the burger, Vivian took her first bite. Her eyes widened in surprise. It had a distinctly different texture from everything else she'd eaten before, not to mention the flavor was something she'd never quite experienced before. There was still a bit of familiarity in it with the veggies in her burger, but that new foreign taste really stood out to her! "It's tasty," she beamed. "I should be careful not to have too many though. I don't want to end up super missing them when it's time to go home." But there was certainly no rule saying she couldn't treat herself to one as a reward every so often.

Yes, that was a good way to help it serve a double purpose. It was her first burger, and her reward to herself for making it to MechA cademy.

[ZetaRESP 5]

Erica saw her leaving and sighed. '<I hope that's not a code to "par-tay all night long"...>'. She was tired after the dance floor made a number on her head and she needed to rest. Besides, she wasn't a nocturne girl, she needed to sleep early and get up just as early. So, she went to her corner and knelt in one of the thin pillows that were next to it and began to ready herself some tea. Reason for this was, of course, she couldn't get herself asleep without a warm tea. She had a heating element that she made and worked with rechargeable batteries. As everything she made, it was kinda steampunk in style. She took her personal blend of tea, which was made to help her sleep and waited for the water to boil.

[Chaos Sonic 442]

From the looks of things, Chase saw that the party was dying down, which at this point, he really didn't mind whatsoever. After all, after speaking with Sammi and getting another drink, he ended up just standing over near a corner and began to jot down a few design ideas and how they possibly could fit into the grand scheme of things of his own mecha he would create.

The gift and the curse of the socially awkward in things like this...

Well, guess it's time to get my things and hit the room. Could actually use a better bed then the one on the ship... he shrugged, putting his notebook under his arm and then proceeded to grab his bag, slinging it over his shoulder and made his way out of the party, just to make it off towards the room he would be bunking in. Chase also ended up hoping that whoever he'd end up getting roomed with wasn't someone who was going to annoy him quickly.

...that would be the last thing I need...

[Skaia 578]

Stella had been to her fair share of fast food restaurants and knew how crowds and the like usually worked in there. However, quite like her room had been, there had been something disturbingly robotic about the way that the line had moved along. Not to mention something unsettling about the uniformity of the two  as they took her and Vivian's order. All the same, the girl got herself a plain cheeseburger, with a small fry and soda. Sitting down with the girl, Stella almost went to go eat her burger though stopped herself as she realized that Vivian was quite hyped up for this moment. Figuring it would be rude to just casually bite into it, the girl kept herself waiting to see Vivian's reaction to the food. Smiling a bit as she seemed to be enjoying herself, Stella then went to go eat her own, raising an eyebrow as the girl made her comment about missing them. "Well, that's not the only reason you shouldn't eat these all the time." 

Continuing to eat the burger, Stella realized something odd. Thinking back about her own home, she couldn't imagine any diners or restaurants without meat in them. Curiously looking at Vivian she said, "so, back on your planet. Do you guys only have like, vegetarian restaurants or something?"

[LordCowCow 840]

The first thing Chase would notice when he opened the door to his new room was the music. Loud, punk-rock music, with some electronic mixed in, was coming out of a speaker next to the bed on the left side of the room. Posters were plastered haphazardly around the walls near the bed and several bags, as well as some instruments, clearly marked the line between the left and right side of the room.

Sitting on the bed was a boy with multiple ear piercings. He was sitting with his back to the wall. One leg stretched out and the other pulled up to his chest as he stared blankly across the room. As Chase entered the boy flicked his gaze over in his direction. "You....oomate...guess." was all Chase could make out over the sound of the music. The boy continued to gaze at Chase with half-lidded and tired looking eyes as if expecting some kind of response.

---

Back in the auditorium the party was just about to be crashed in the most literal sense. The disco ball that the principal had set up had started wobbling violently and, after some time, the rather large ball broke free and started to fall. It came soaring down towards where Xa'tok stood and would have landed upon the boy had no one interfered.

The principal leapt to action, however. He brought his arm up to his face and spoke something into the watch on his wrist.

Suddenly a massive mech hand came crashing through the floor and held position over Xa'tok. Causing the disco ball to crash harmlessly against it.

The vice-principal, turning towards Horace, shouted "Was that really necessary?" To which the pink haired veteran merely shrugged. With a sigh, the vice principal went to the microphone on the stage. "Okay everyone, we need to clean up this mess. Everybody to their rooms now. There will be plenty of time to get to know each other over the school year. You can find your roommate assignments right outside the doors."

---

Third Time's a Charm

Spoiler

Champion: 1 Strike. Will hold off on more strikes for the time being. If need be I'll provide you with something to do next post.

Chaos Sonic: 1 Strike. Will be removed if you can get a post in before next deadline.

Keto: 2 Strikes. atm you have the house leader's thing to respond to as well as the whole....almost being attacked by disco thing. Plus Champion is waiting on you. If you don't post by my next post I'll have to assume you've lost interest and remove you from RP.

VCR_CAT: 1 Strike. Next post I'll have Kelsey move on so that I don't keep the others waiting. I gave the other missed week since you were away but can't this time.

 

[yui 574]

"So, back on your planet. Do you guys only have like, vegetarian restaurants or something?"

"Ahhh... kind of. Some places do have meat items, but between import taxes and all the other factors, like I said, it can get pretty pricey. Some coastal cities have been trying to get fishing businesses started, but the sea life is hard to catch and a lot of our fish are poisonous or have some other things going on, so it'll be a while before seafood ends up on the menu." It would maybe be about ready to go by the time Vivian was done school here and went home for the rest of her service, though. She couldn't wait to see how the fish of Colia wound up tasting when the time came.

Setting her burger down and holding up a single french fry, Vivian continued "We still have other fast food stuff though! Like fries! All you need is potatoes. We can get milk from certain native plants even if the amount isn't anything amazing, so we can make milkshakes too. The menus you can find on Colia still have plenty of options, but I guess I can see why it might be weird for people who are used to meat being readily available."

And it wasn't even like there was some cultural thing against meat, either. Vivian ate the lonesome fry before continuing on her burger. She didn't waste much time finishing it off, one bite after another, and before long at all, it was gone. It was a lot easier to chat between fries than between bites of burger, anyway, and she was excited to finish up her first one all the same.

"Maybe if we get a vacation from school, you could come visit and see the place for yourself!" she suggested, before adding "...depending on the time of year. Or I could visit your planet instead! I haven't been able to see a lot of places since leaving home because it was a straight trip here, and I'd like to see a lot of different planets and people."

[Skaia 578]

Though Stella had only had two conversations about Vivian's home planet with the girl, Stella was starting to think it was a less and less pleasant place to live. If not for the conscription and lack of meet, then what Stella could only seem to describe as a knack that her roommate had to try and push that there were indeed positives to her homeworld. It wasn't as though Stella had actually thought it was some kind of backwater planet, that Vivian seemed  to be a happy and healthy person did enough to disprove that notion. But the more persistent she was to prove it, the less Stella actually felt assured. All the same, as the girl made her comment about vacation and visiting one another's planets, Stella thought on it for a moment. "Well, Kellz and I haven't really traveled ourselves but..."

As Stella thought more about it, she pictured the world that Vivian came from. And no matter what she could only imagine it as a forest with a bunch of huts or tree houses around. That probably wasn't what it was like. But the image didn't seem to get out of her head and Stella wasn't exactly all that much of a forest girl. All the same, she knew it would be rude to just decline the girl. As such, deflecting it to the other statement instead she said, "well, I'm sure the two of us could show you around our home. I don't know if it'll be the most interesting for you, but at least there's a bunch of food places we could go check out."

[Asriel Dreemurr 38]

The Shaman considered at length what had been said to him about the various houses, slowly nodding as each point was brought up. The Steel Hounds (that was the name right?) had a defined pecking order, and seemed to be quite focused on their combat piloting abilities. It seemed a bit of a narrow focus for him, but perhaps that would be beneficial. A narrowly focused perspective to anchor himself amidst the chaos that was soon to surround him. BOMB, meanwhile, being expressed as helpful seemed intriguing as well. He would have to look into them more directly. And then there were the Sun Lizards. He did not appreciate the naming convention for them overmuch, but there was something to be said for socialization. It oft benefited one to come to understand the social nuances of a culture which they were to be acting in, and perhaps that was the sort of environment he needed the most.

"Thank you," he responded after several moments, "that was most informative. I do not think I have made my decision yet, but it has been significantly impressed upon." He dipped his head in a bow to her, and as he stood up noted the fact that there was a disco ball careening through the air towards him. He would have simply gotten out of the way, or else tried to conjure a shield akin to the one he had conjured around his own and the other mecha during their fight with the pirates, but that was rendered unnecessary in the most ludicrous way possible. The Vice Principal didn't even need to order everyone to their rooms in his case, he was already "washing his hands" of this absurdity and making his way out.

On his way down the hall, it further impressed upon him how quiet this place was. On a ship there was always noise coming from somewhere. The atmosphere circulators humming, the sound of water pumping through the assorted pipes to either cool the ship or to be used by its inhabitants, that peculiar sound of the artificial gravity running. On a planet though? All of that was absent. Sure there was the din of activity from the assorted students moving throughout the halls, but otherwise it was nearly silent. He could not even begin to fathom how this was going to affect him in the long run...

When he finally arrived at the room that had been designated his, after a momentary stop to collect the bags of his belongings, he noticed two things. The first was how plain the space was. Clearly it had not been lived in before, or at least it had been well cleaned in the aftermath of its previous inhabitants. The second was his room mate. A male human from the look of things, and fairly tall for his species. He was nearly the same height as the young Chapaaya, which was not common. After some moments, Xa'tok made his way towards the presently unoccupied bunk and set his bags, which seemed fairly heavy and made an assortment of sounds as he set them down, before turning to properly greet his room mate.

"Hello. My name is Xa'tok," he helpfully pronounced it 'sha-tock' for the other. "I pray that the spirits of this place look favorably upon our first meeting." He decided it was not prudent to add the typical "even if you do not" to the end of the greeting. Many of the other species seemed to find that offensive for some reason.

[VCR_CAT 19]

Rosha

"Oh, Rosha." Kelsey grinned at Rosha. Her grin wavered for a moment. "What, something the matter?" She said, sounding a bit frustrated herself and shook her head. "No, never mind, we're gonna be stuck together for a while so, uh..." She stuck her hand out towards the much smaller girl, for a handshake. "Whatever beef either of us has doesn't matter from here on out alright? This place looks kinda lame don't it? Maybe we could get an arcade game in here sometime."

Rosha looked at the hand for a moment, a hint of confusion in her gaze. "Oh right, that human thing," She said and grasped the hand for the shake, though her grip was unpracticed and awkward. "I suppose you're right, though I'll probably be too busy training to be the best pilot for games anymore." Rosha swung off the hanging bar, but with how small their dorm was she didn't have much room to stick any sort of landed and ended landing on the bed with her rear. Considering the rather cement-like texture of the mattress, this wasn't a terribly pleasant experience. "And once more, I agree. I'm used to much more open spaces for sleeping than this! What is this, a prison?! Anyways, did you decide on a house in that party back there?"

[Chaos Sonic 442]

"You....oomate...guess."

Apparently the universe found it both hilarious and full of irony that Chase got stuck with this individual as a roommate. Firstly, the piercing boy had the music, punk-rock by the sounds of it, blasting at full and it was already causing Chase's eardrums and head to hurt. Secondly, the individual's posters were hung without care or organization to it...that would be an eyesore every time he walked into the room. Thirdly, instruments littered the floor...though obviously creating a line between both sides of the room.

Chase, needless to say, was "thrilled" to be in this room with this guy as a roommate...not. He exhaled sharply, though it couldn't be detected under all the noise from the music. Regardless of all this, he attempted to be friendly...it was the least he could do.

"Yeah! I'm your roommate!" he attempted to shout over the music, whilst making his way over towards the unoccupied side of the room. "Chase Weller!"

[yui 574]

"Well, Kellz and I haven't really traveled ourselves but... well, I'm sure the two of us could show you around our home. I don't know if it'll be the most interesting for you, but at least there's a bunch of food places we could go check out."

"That sounds nice too!" It wasn't quite bringing your friends to your home, but visiting a friend's home sounded fun too! And it would give Vivian new places to see, people to meet, and meat to eat. And if it was with friends, what else really mattered? And as long as it wasn't one of those dreary "global metropolis" types of planets where nature was well and truly done for, there would surely be some interesting sights to see while she was there. Even if it was just a species of bird she'd never seen before, or a pretty flower. Based on the ways Stella had described it, it sounded like a pretty normal planet, and that was the visual Vivian got from it. What constituted "normal" was a teensy bit harder to wrap her head around.

It probably meant things like, sunny weather, green grass, plenty of open space. That sort of thing. After the densely-populated Colian cities and the eerily cubic dorms here that were also kind of cramped, she'd definitely welcome the breathing room. But no matter how she tried, her mental image always went back to dense jungles, rainy skies, and vertical cities. Not good. She knew her world wasn't exactly a normal place, even if it seemed perfectly average growing up in it.

"Do you have any pictures of your planet?" Vivian inquired between french fries. "I'm trying my best to imagine what it looks like, but I keep thinking about how mine looks, even if I know it's not a texbook-perfect normal planet."

[LordCowCow 840]

A lopsided grin crept onto Kelsey's face as Rosha shook her hand, calling it a "human thing", awkwardly. She wondered what they did in place of handshakes where the girl was from.

"And once more, I agree. I'm used to much more open spaces for sleeping than this! What is this, a prison?! Anyways, did you decide on a house in that party back there?"

"Funny thing is some prisons where I'm from have larger cells than this." She badly wanted to joke about how Rosha didn't need much space anyway. Only just refraining as she got a message on her phone. Checking it she saw it was from Stella, who had found a place to eat. Getting a bit lost in that for a second she almost missed Rosha's question.

"Oh, Houses. Right. Well, I kinda wasn't paying a whole lot of attention. But I'm here to be a mech pilot so I guess best bet is to go with the military looking one. Bet I'd get along with Mr. Roboto though; seems a lot more fun than the girl. How bout you?" Kelsey snapped her finger suddenly. "Actually, before you answer that, my friend's at a burger place near here do you wanna come with me to check it out?"

---

"Yeah! I'm your roommate! Chase Weller!"

The boy pressed a button and paused the music halfway through Chase's introduction, causing him to shout his name in the now silent room. The boy's lips moved very slightly into what was almost a ghost of a smirk. Then he propped his head up with his hands, putting them behind his head and against the wall.

He looked Chase up and down. "I'm Sid." he said. His voice low, and quiet, with some melancholic tone to it. "You're a real...go-getter, aren't you?" He glanced Chase up and down a bit and let out a sigh. "I'm going to go ahead and say you actually want to be here, don't you? Must be nice." Sid continued to watch Chase through half-lidded eyes.

---

Spoiler

Only strikes now is

Champion, 1 Strike: You got what you needed so I expect to see some posting ASAP, so you don't end up reversing things and making Keto wait on you.

Also, Drew, if Rosha wants to got to the burger place feel free to scene shift us there, a couple of my posts up should have the description of the place.

Oh and Chaos don't hesitate to get dialogue if you want the pace to go faster.

 

[ChampionZero 62]

Kansuke looked up from his bag to see his new roommate. "Kansuke. Nice to meet'cha too, I suppose." He cocked an eyebrow, confused about the spirits thing but not too worried.

Kansuke was familiar with the Chapayaan-- one of their tribes or clans or whatever they were called came to his homeworld when he was little, buying and selling wares for a time before departing again. His father had a sort of begrudging respect for the Chapayaans, the result of which was the string of red meditation beads in his bag. He fidgeted with them sometimes: it was calming.

"Well," he said, "I guess if we're going to be roommates we should lay it out straight. I'm a bit of a hardass about my routine, so if you're up late just keep it down and let me sleep. I'll try not to wake you up early with my morning workout." He undid his shirt as he was talking and shrugged it off, rolling his shoulder and neck muscles stiffly. "I saw your mech during the fight with the Pirates. Nice work out there."

Edited August 27, 2019 by ChampionZero
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[Chaos Sonic 442]

"I'm Sid. You're a real...go-getter, aren't you? I'm going to go ahead and say you actually want to be here, don't you? Must be nice."

"I...guess?" Chase wasn't sure what this Sid guy was talking about at all. He really must've wanted to be here? Didn't...didn't everyone? That really didn't make much sense to him to say the least. Then again, this character seemed off to him to begin with.

"Yeah, I actually want to be here..." he continued, raising an eyebrow slightly. "I assumed most people at the academy want to be here...buuuut given the way you said all that, why am I thinking you happen to be that one who actually doesn't?" Chase lulled it over in his mind on why this kid would even be here if it turned out he really didn't want to be here...though the only option and reason that would be...parents or family forced them to enroll for some odd reason.

Never really got those types of people to be completely honest...enroll in the military or a mech academy as a punishment? Not the best punishment to begin with... he thought.

[Asriel Dreemurr 38]

Xa'tok was ever fascinated with the sheer variety of naming conventions among the humans. He mused, wondering if they were descended from a people that had been like his. He had heard stories of some small holdings of Chapaayans on planets and planetoids, and how they had become different from the tribes while still maintaining some constants within their culture. From what little he knew of the humans, it seemed that they were similar.

"I will try not to disrupt your routine, Hardass Kansuke." At least this one had been kind enough to provide him with a title to use. That made him feel considerably better. "In spite of how late I imagine I will be up, being enrolled in the Naval Officer Preparatory Examinations as well as this academy's pilot program. Not to mention how I intend to foster a relationship with the spirits of this place." He was content to leave the conversation there for now, as he was intent on making use of the bathing facilities before they became overrun by the other students in roughly an hour's time, but the other brought up his "work" on the pirates.

"I only did a Shaman's duty when among warriors, but I appreciate the praise."

[Skaia 578]

Stella went to take a sip of her drink as Vivian gave a response with her usual enthusiasm behind it. The girl wasn't entirely sure what her roommate may have been expecting, and outside of food and she supposed showing Vivian a cityscape - one different from the array of tree houses that were in her head - she didn't really know what they would do once they were there. It wasn't as if Stella even really knew what sites to see or what to do in her free time, spending most of her time indoors anyway. No. That was more a job for Kelsey if anything. 

As Stella started to drift in her own thoughts, the girl was soon pulled back as Vivian had asked pictures of her. Oh. That was a much simpler way of figuring out what Vivian's home was like. Of course, the other girl had asked her first, and so rummaging through her pocket, the girl picked out her phone. Scrolling through it for a bit she said, "no worries. Here. Like I said, it isn't much - really, it might be even less than what you're expecting. But well, it's probably much different than what you're used to." Scrolling through the pictures, Vivian would see that most of the scenery was that of an urban center.

Steel and concrete buildings that shot high into the air, some into the skyline. Paved roads decorated with street lamps and filled to capacity with cars. A small block of grassy area sectioned off from the rest of the city, with its only real similarity to the rest of the images being the amount of pigeons that gathered around. The roads and buildings themselves seemed poorly maintained, yet still functional. There were also a few other things of note that Stella herself realized, much to her embarrassment, as she scrolled through these photos. Firstly, there weren't many of them, and she had very nearly scrolled through her whole library in almost no time flat. Stella was not a habitual photographer after all. Secondly, nearly all of the images in some way either included either herself, Kelsey, or both. The only exception to this being one from the day she had gotten her phone, a picture with her and her father smiling over a birthday cake. Blushing a bit as she scrolled into this image, Stella cleared her throat saying, "well, that's about it. I'm sure Kelsey has more photos if you asked her."

As Stella moved to put her phone away, she then paused for a moment. Scrolling out of her album and instead to her messages, the girl seemed disappointed for a moment before putting it away. Remembering what she wanted before, she looked back to Vivian saying, "oh um, right. I also can't really picture where you live. Or, well, I think I'm way off the mark." 

[ChampionZero 62]

Kansuke made an 'eh' noise and shrugged. "If I'd have been able to head out there..." He shook his head. "Well I mighta made quicker work of 'em but you guys got the job done." He was still perturbed about his yet-to-be-received implants for piloting the Tyrant, but he didn't need to tell everyone he met about that. Not that there was much to tell.

Sighing harshly, he turned back to Xa'tok and almost immediately forgot what he was going to ask as his eyes fixed on the Chapayaan's ears. There was a pause as he tore his eyes down from them and found his train of thought again. "Right: you mind if I have the first shower? Today's been a total grind and I'm thinking the sooner I sleep the sooner it'll be over already..."

[yui 574]

In the pictures Stella had shown, behind herself and Kellz, Vivian could see the world they'd come from. It was very urbanized! A little too much so, one might argue. But in the end, surely that kind of planet had all manner of big-city wonders that couldn't quite fit in the vertical cities Vivian was used to. There was no way it could be all bad. If anything, it was Vivian that was bad since her first criteria had been how green the world would  be. How inconsiderate! This very planet she was on right now didn't seem like it'd be especially natural either, yet it had such wonderful things as MechA cademy and hamburgers. Right. A visit to this heavily-urbanized world would surely be a good way for Vivian to broaden her horizons and stuff.

"Oh um, right. I also can't really picture where you live. Or, well, I think I'm way off the mark." 

"I should share pictures too, right? My pleasure!" Vivian went through the pictures in her trusty camera, after fishing it out of her purse. They were incredibly organized. Pictures of wildlife. Pictures of scenery. Silly pictures that amused her. Those sorts of  folders and more. She'd already shown Stella some of the wildlife earlier today, but now it was time to share some scenery too. And share she did, getting into the appropriate folder and putting her phone down on the table for Stella to see, turning the phone to face her prosthetic-legged friend and scrolling to a new picture every so often. Some pictures were sunny, many were rainy, and a select few were something worse, and suffered poor visibility for it. Many of the pictures were of the dense jungles right outside of her city, but there were also plenty of other things to see in Vivian's collection of scenery pictures. Cities that stretched up and above the canopy of the trees, with many of the things that were present in Stella's pictures. Cars, houses, shops, all that good stuff. The keen eye may have noticed that the city in Vivian's picture seemed a bit cramped though; the buildings were a bit smaller and had some odd architectural features, and any alleys between the buildings were pretty narrow. Some pictures were also taken in spots where Vivian was able to aim the camera downward, to make it clear how high up the cities reached.

Near the end, there were a few pictures of a vast ocean, some of which were taken under the surface, where something - or rather, several somethings - seemed to be glowing. Including one picture taken from the sky, showing that the ocean was dotted with a number of small islands. "I don't live in a coastal city, but I did visit one on my way off the planet to get here," she explained. "There's other things to see too, but I haven't visited those places yet." Overall, it seemed that Vivian's collection was rather thorough about exploring every facet of what the scenery had to offer.

Edited August 27, 2019 by Yui

[LordCowCow 840]

Regardless of Rosha's response Kelsey would head out to find the burger place her friend had told her about. She had to send several texts back and forth with the girl to find her way as she kept making wrong turns. At one point sending a picture she took with what looked like a three-headed chihuahua she found on the street, with a caption of "Can we keep him?"

Followed by a second picture of one of the dog's mouths opened wide to bite the back off a car with another caption "Maybe not."

Eventually, with or without Rosha, Kelsey entered the burger place. She spotted Stella almost instantly and waved to her before she was forced to move on as the line moved with incredible speed.

After getting her food she hurried her way to the table and slid into the seat. "Man, did you see that guy's face? He looked so droopy I thought his face was gonna fall off." She stuffed a handful of fries in her mouth and then asked "Wah oo ot dere?" Indicating the camera.

---

"I assumed most people at the academy want to be here...buuuut given the way you said all that, why am I thinking you happen to be that one who actually doesn't?"

"Whoa you're like a detective." Sid responded with an incredibly dry and sarcastic tone. "Yeah, I didn't want to come here. But the folks didn't really like me spending all my time in the garage or whatever." He rolled his eyes. "Was much better than this cramped place."

With a groan he reluctantly got up from the bed. "Well, set up your shit, just don't mess with my stuff. I'm going to go see if there's any worthwhile scenes in this city. Don't wait up for me. Ugh, I bet there's a curfew too..." With that he grabbed a jacket, tossed it over his shoulder, and left the room. Leaving the door open as he went. Though it was unclear if it was out of laziness or in case Chase wanted to follow him out.

---

Spoiler

So, Cat, let me/yui/skaia know if Rosha is following or not so they know if she's there too. I won't give a strike yet but I'd like if you could be more consistent from here on.

And for Chaos, feel free to follow Sid or not. Either way is fine.