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Back to Basic(s) [Closed]

Robert waited casually near the entrance of the Sensoriums, arms folded across his chest as he waited for Meluly to arrive. He'd been serious about learning to pitol...whatever they were called again. He felt as if just wielding a rifle wouldn't be enough in this war they were in now, just like beat cops weren't enough to keep down crime. He shifted his stance slightly, glad that the new rooms they'd gotten allowed him to store some of his gear, so he wasn't stuck carrying his rifle around all day in fear of it being nicked by a less than honest crewmate.

And he would learn and he would do well, he told himself. If not for himself or the crew, for those who needed protecting from the Ohm. And for everybody who hadn't had the chance to fight back, the innocents who were destroyed without even knowing what had happened.

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Luly's taken the time to get over her hangover, and get into something approaching normal shape again. She still looks a little worked-over—more in her body language than her face, given how the darkness of her skin hides any sallowness or bags under her eyes.

"Hey," she says as she walks up. "You ready?"

Rob looked up, startled out of his reverie.

"Oh, yeah. Ready as I'll ever be. Lead the way." He smiles and gestures towards the Sensorium door.

"Check-check," she says, giving him a thumbs up, and saunters into the Sensorium.

A few moments after both have entered, it transforms into a shiny and futuristic but eerily depopulated military base, and both are wearing snug-fitting pilot suits.

Rob takes a moment to gawk at the shiny military base, then to stretch a bit, trying to figure out how flexible he can be in that pilot's suit. Then he gives 'Luly a thumbs up and a nod.

"Ready to go."

It seems pretty flexible—tight-fitted but not vacuum-sealed, with extra stretch in the shoulders and hips. Very practical, very unencumbering.

"I'm going to start you with a Crusader, no weapons. It should be pretty easy to get used to." She leads the way across and through the labyrinthine base, into an armor bay where a pair of identical suits of power armor (http://i35.tinypic.com/dy1u80.png) wait, bereft of weapons.

Robert nods as he follows along. When they get to the power armor he looks up at it, looking it over. It's unlike anything else he's used to...but he's used to things he's not used to, so what does that really mean, anyway.

"Right. Looks...uh...simple enough."

Luly snaps her fingers, and the suits slide open with synchronized hisses. "This is just a limited run, so I'm not going to rig you up with all the life support endurance stuff. So go ahead and climb in... that suit'll all fit with it by default and it'll auto-adjust."

Robert looks over the suits a moment longer before he clambers up into one of the machines with a nod.

"If you say so."

Luly climbs into her own alongside Robert's. Robert will find that it's surprisingly easy to get situated, as the internal systems shift to grip all of him equally. It's almost kind of disturbing.

And the helmet and torso sections come down to seal in place—for a moment there's just darkness, and then the screens flicker to life as a soft hum from the suit's drives starts around him. Loading indicators and then—

Well, it's almost like looking right through a window. The seamless wraparound display even goes down far enough that he can look down somewhat. And then as the systems continue booting up, the Operator Side Effect suddenly kicks in, and all at once he can feel the outer skin of the power armor, and the insides too, muted but definitely there, in weird, half-numb biofeedback patterns...

There's a brief flash of claustrophobia and then suddenly he can see. And feel. That's...well, that's an entirely new sensation. Kind of creepy, but new. He jerks in surprise at it, unable to keep himself from exclaiming.

"Sweet Mary--!"

And the suit moves along with the jerk. It isn't unbalancing, though—in fact, it's somehow like his own body moving, feeding into the prioperception and body control pats of his brain.

"Careful," Luly says, her voice coming from somewhere a little behind his ear. In his vision, her suit is overlaid with a complex, eye-catching, vivider-than-life set of abstract designs. Whatever systems are involved must be dynamically 'painting' it onto her—some kind of easy visual recognition system?

And then the radar systems blink to life—a compact 'minimap' indicator on his HUD and a single targeting glyph (in the 'friendly' designation) pointing to Luly.

"Sorry...sorry. I've never seen anything like this." His voice is full of wonder as he marvels at the vast amount of information that's just there. The most complicated thing he's ever seen has been an airplane, and that's got nothing on this. He moves arm an experimentally, watching, feeling as the other one moves with it.

"This is intense. Give--uh, give me a minute, sorry."

The weird part is that it's so damn intuitive. The HUD displays change in response to his actions—it's almost like there's a thinking mind one step ahead of him keeping everything smooth and properly prepared. And much of the information is tactile—weird phantom thrumming sensations amidst his lower back that match to the suit's energy displays are the most obvious.

"No prob," she says.

Okay. Okay. He can handle this. He takes in a deep breath, slowly calming down as he adjusts to the information and sensation. Right. It just takes practice, is all.

"Okay, so. To walk to I just...move my legs like normal?"

"Yeah. Take it nice and slow, all right?"

And it's—easy. Disturbingly easy.

It really is. He cautiously lifts one foot--and it's as simple as that. Apparently, if you can walk, you can pilot a suit of power armor. He steps forward, then another, slowly increasing to a normal walking speed as he moves in a circle around the hanger bay. A grin comes to his face and he lifts one arm to wave.

"Hey. I think I'm getting the hang of it." Oh, that's neat. His little display lets him know where Luly is in relation to him with a little arrow on one side of the HUD or the other, and then a little green dot on his 'mini-map.'

"There's a reason we use these things instead of tanks," Luly says, the arms of her suit incongruously laced together behind the 'head'.

"I can guess why. I mean, tanks would be a more stable platform but this...this is just amazing." He's moved up to jogging speed now, making circuits still.

"And you can't put a tank through an obstacle course," Luly says, turning slowly to watch him. "Or through part of an arco without having to tear down walls."

"Yeah, I can see that." He comes to a stop and does a few jumping jacks. He's getting the hang of it pretty well now!

"I think I've got it."

"Ready to try something more intense?"

"Uh, I guess so." Not much of a choice, really.

And she starts him in on an obstacle course—a live-fire obstacle course, that morphs into a full-on training exercise.

It's going to be a long day. Here's hoping he's up to it.

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