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Post by Lorie Zetros on Jun 4, 2023 11:59:58 GMT
"It certainly doesn't taste like melon," Lorie thought aloud. Everyone here seemed to be wondering about just why the locals called this bread melon bread. It didn't taste like melon, so it was unlikely to have melon in it. Not even artificial melon flavourings. "But it could have a number of other reasons for having such a name. Like how a fine wine like Zwebi is made in the Zwebi province of the Sixth Administered World Alzus." Of course that brought up its own questions. Like how a world populated by nomadic summoner tribes could even create a fine wine if they didn't settle down to plant vineyards. Maybe the Zwebese were an exception and had settled down to develop agriculture? Or perhaps the raw material for Zwebi was a fermented animal product that tasted like fine wine. After all, she had seen a glass of the stuff once. While it had the wonderful muscat taste, its colour and texture were more like creamy yellow milk than the deep red of a wine... In either case, it was irrelevant, because a glass of Zwebi cost more than a tenth of her monthly printer allowance. Maybe if she had enough successes under her belt, she could print one as a small indulgence... Sigi and Freya exchanged words concerning their devices, and the later lamented on how her own heirloom device was destroyed during a tournament. Lorie raised an eyebrow. "So you are a prizefighter then."Lorie honestly didn’t know much about the Intermiddle and its adult equivalents, and only guessed based on the prestige that the tournament held across dimensions. But at least back home on Vindler, local tourneys sponsored by House Hechingen rather than the DSAA awarded purses as well as trophies and belts. The motive was not for simple glory, however, so much as it was a screen to find potential candidates for Knighthood within the Planetary Defence Force. ”Then it is no wonder that someone with your prowess is capable of handling such a rowdy devi-”As if one spoke of the devil, the appropriately named Disastro spoke again, apparently threatening Lorie with vivid focus on her mentioned anatomy and even manifesting some magical projections to make good on its words. ”Sie will not lay a hand on meine Herrin, knave!” Hofud glowed bright, and a small variant of the iconic triangular Belkan shield, golden, manifest itself in front of Lorie’s heart, at least until Frey got her device under control. Lorie only rubbed her nose bridge. ”Ja, he definitely needs to be looked at. I can second Lixue’s skill. During our landing, she pulled off quite the technical feat under high pressure…”Saving the shuttle from crashing thanks to a rowdy pilot while being confined to the passenger bay was no mean feat, suffice it to say. ”She might succeed where they’ve failed.”It was around this time that the pause for the stream on the TV was overridden by some unseen force - possibly that Hephaestion “Overdevice” - and the channel switched to the Admiral’s TACNET line, where she stood in front of the camera, the darkness of space behind her. The Bureau’s fanfare blasted from the TV as the black-clad commander prepared to speak. ”Ah, it looks like the Admiral’s address is about to start.” Schtuegert, Imperial House Sägebrecht’s greatest vassal. Or at least, their bloodiest. One of the few that survived with their Belkan Pride intact. Perhaps it was no surprise that the Last Sanktkaiser came from the suzerains of this House. It was a fitting bookend to the Belkan Empire, as it was Sägebrecht that spearheaded the Treaty of Interlaken, which originally brought the Sovereign Houses together for the first time. And now, their vassal was leading this Bureau expedition... It almost felt like Belka was creeping back into the scene. Lorie turned her attention to the address and quietly listened. [663/4195/5]
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Post by Sigi Winter on Jun 24, 2023 15:06:14 GMT
Sigi munched on her melon bread and listened to the announcement-- it really didn't taste like melon, now that she thought about it--, and kept an eye on Freya out of the corner of her vision. She liked this girl, but she wasn't going to turn her back to that crazy device after it just about attacked Lorie. She couldn't help but wonder how Freya had managed to succeed as a prize fighter with that thing.
As usual, the admiral had a flair for the dramatic. Sigi was relieved to hear that they'd be getting some more time off. Maybe her and Lorie could do something fun until they got their next orders. Lorie seemed to be interested in Earth culture. She'd have to look up fun things to do nearby and ask her later.
The admiral's message finished just as Sigi drained the last of her coffee. "Looks like we've got some time before the next big mission. I guess we're supposed to be gathering intelligence in the meantime, but... Is there really any threat here? The people we saw when we landed were all so weak I was afraid to bump into them. It's hard to believe there's anyone on this planet we need to worry about."
[217/1780/5]
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Post by Freya Fuun on Jun 25, 2023 20:01:47 GMT
Freya nodded in response to Lorie's question. She had never really thought of herself as a full-on prizefighter, but on hindsight, the word prefectly described what she did for a living... As a matter of fact, in spite of Disastro's constant malfunctions, she's managed to get to third place in a few other tournaments she's brought him to. Said malfunctions usually being the reason she's never gone higher then that... that being said, however, the combat style she was forced to take on to even get featured on the top three podium was one that didn't rely on Disastro's unreliable magic, instead opting to use the broom-like device as a melee weapon with the occasional ranged attack or trap thrown in to keep her opponents on their toes.
After Lorie provided further evidence on Lixue's technical prowess, Freya looked down at Disastro's gem before looking back at the blonde balkan he had threatened earlier. "Well then... if she really is that skilled, then I'll ask her to check him out later." She said, giving Lorie and Sigi a soft smile in thanks for their advice.
Not long after, the admiral's announcement started playing. She munched down on what remained of her breakfast as she listened closely to the admiral. She, too, was relieved after hearing they had a little extra time off, meaning she'd have a little extra time to find Lixue and ask her to help fix whatever's wrong with Disastro. She hadn't noticed that Sigi was looking at her, but her faulty device was quick to catch on to the vassal's gaze. Once his master had finished eating, it slowly reactivated, as to not alert Freya of what it was doing, and gently coiled its broom-stick around her arm like a snake, before a green crystal replica of Sigi's head emerged from it's fluffy broom-like tip and stuck its tongue out at her mockingly.
Once the announcement was over, Freya took notice of what her device was doing, and sighed before pushing the Sigi-replica back inside the device's fluff. This wasn't the first time he had done something similar... and much to her inconvenience, it seemed as though it wouldn't be the last.
After Sigi finished talking, Disastro burst out in distorted laughter. [HAHAHA! I KNEW you were the dumb one of the duo! I call dibs on her bones whenever a Hex gobbles her up!] He taunted, before being smacked lightly against the table by Freya. "Shut it." She commanded, causing her device to quiet down for a moment before she continued talking. "...but he has a point. The people here may be weak, but if there wasn't a threat we wouldn't have been brought here in the first place. There might not be anyone we have to worry about, but there's definitely something we're supposed to hunt down... I think gathering at least some information on them could be useful for later missions."
[487/1 603/4]
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Post by Lorie Zetros on Jul 26, 2023 13:40:55 GMT
Lorie watched the address in silence. Not quite reverence, seeing as even the Admiral, though outranking her within the Bureau's system, was still no more than House Sägebrecht's vassal, albeit begrudgingly, the most successful of them all. They were one of the few Great Houses that maintained influence, even after the fall of the Empire. In short, her words were valuable, especially given Lorie's current station. It all sounded good. At least for now, there would be some relaxation before the next truly big assignment. Well... the Section Leader would probably tell them what was up next, when that time came. Sigi expressed her skepticism of whether there really was anything threatening down here. Lorie herself had only seen vague and ominous references to this Hex Menace, from both the initial call to action, the few briefings they've had, and now this address too. No doubt, there were probably more specialised units digging deeper into what they were going to face here. Perhaps there were also others who took up the initiative to inquire with the Bureau regarding what exactly this Hex Menace was that they were supposed to be hammering. But it seemed none of the volunteers in this room had done so. What a strange coincidence. That was, admittedly, embarrassing... Before she could turn to address Sigi's concern, however, that malfunctioning Device jumped in first. Ah, how she would have loved to give it a good smack for daring to get ahead of her. But that was its master's duty. Speaking of which, its master then put it in its place, to give her own two cents. It was the politically prudent thing to pay one's respects to the bedrock folk in a public room such as this. As irritating as it was to have been beaten to the verbal punch, she had no choice if she were to retain her optics. Besides, Freya might make another good vassal, if she and Sigi ended up playing well with each other. "At least, from what we know, the Bureau wouldn't hide the nature of what this 'Hex Menace' is. Perhaps they are being presumptive that we should take the initiative to ask. We feel that is an irresponsible approach, but at this time, we are volunteers such as you. Let us see where we can find more information about our foe."And depending on whether it was a computer system or a person, Lorie might just find an opportunity to get her plan up and running. [391/4586/6]
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Post by Sigi Winter on Aug 8, 2023 14:53:12 GMT
“There’s also the possibility that they just don’t know,” Sigi mused. It wasn’t particularly comforting that the threat they were facing was completely unknown, but then again that also meant it might not be as bad as everyone thought. Maybe this whole thing was some kind of intergalactic misunderstanding and they could all make friends and go home without anyone getting hurt. She knew it was naive to think so, but even if she didn’t really believe it, she wanted to hope for the possibility.
Regardless, she’d have to start doing some work if she wanted to earn her paycheck, and that was an even bigger concern right now. They weren’t assigned to their sections for any of the current missions, but Sigi didn’t want to try to do everything on her own.
“Maybe we should do some scouting of our own. I’ve heard from some of the other girls that there’s a pretty good market near here. I think there’s even a shop that sells parfaits, though I’m not sure how they hold up against the cafeteria’s.” Sigi didn’t actually think they’d find any important information going shopping for local delicacies, but she also had no idea where to look, and would rather try less dangerous places first.
[239/2019/6]
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