trans_9 | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Once Jamie had learned his Zoid was aboard the ship, he'd wasted no time heading for the hangar. Despite getting a little...waylaid en route and now suffering an inexplicable hankering for cake, of all things, he'd promptly resumed his search, intent on nothing but his mech.

Poised now in the doorway of the hangar, he peers in somewhat hesitantly. He wants his Zoid to be here, more than he's willing to admit, but at the same time he's a little afraid to get his hopes up and be disappointed. He's still not entirely sure he can trust everything Stacy says - but then again, Vega's Zoid is supposedly here, so there's no reason Jamie's shouldn't be...

And then, he spots her. Standing docilely in a dimly-illuminated berth - huge boxy head angled toward the ground, foreclaws limp, optics glowing faintly blue - is the Geno Saurer.

There's a pause, and then Jamie, well...squeals. He utters an utterly un-masculine noise of glee and sprints toward the Zoid, leaving an almost palpable trail of sparkles and glitter and rose petals and shoujo bubbles and fluffy bunnies in his wake. He clears the distance in practically no time and throws himself at the Geno's hindtalon, clinging to it like some kind of depraved howler monkey.

This is one happy nerdboy, right here.

The Geno - though it's hard to tell if it's actually pleased or not - at the very least responds to Jamie's presence, its optics lighting more brightly as the teen nuzzles its claw and chatters mushily at it: "Oh man I missed you so much. How's my girl? Howsmygirl? Did you miss me? 'Cause I missed you, yes I did..."

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Something's watching from one of the other hangar bays.

Yep, it's the Fury.

Don't worry Jamie, it won't tell anybody. It can't talk and probably doesn't care.

HRALL.

The Fury will be over here asserting its boundaries with a small rumble, just in case the claw hugging might extend in its direction.

Asuka is still spending her time exploring the hangar bay and she spots the little scene. She huffs and struts over, an arrogant grin on her face. She eyes Jaime and his mech and then sticks her hands on her hips with a smirk. Time to establish dominance in whatever pecking order there's going to be for mech pilots around here.

"Mine is better."

Jamie glances over his shoulder at her approach and quickly releases his hold on the Geno's claw, a little embarrassed at someone witnessing his...moment. Just a little, though. Nothing wrong with a man showing his mech some love, right? Right.

He gives the girl a quick, scrutinizing glance. Her bearing and attitude remind him of Leena; rather than be put off by her arrogance, he finds it almost reassuring in its familiarity.

"Oh, yeah? Which one's yours?" There's no challenge to his tone at all; he sounds genuinely curious, if somewhat reserved.

His lack of reaction irks her a bit, but she brushes it off, and jerks a thumb down the row. Unit 02 looms at its full 40-meter height. The bright red and orange paint scheme helps, too.

"Eva Unit 02. First purpose-made combat Eva."

The noise surprises him a little, and he twists around to locate its source. When he does, he can't help but stare. He's never seen the Berserk Fury in person, and its presence is more than a little daunting; the thing practically radiates power and ferocity.

He glances back at the Geno, trying to gauge its reaction. It hasn't responded outwardly, but its focus - that eyes-on-the-back-of-your-head feeling that Jamie could never explain - previously trained solely on Jamie, seems to be fluctuating now between him and the Fury. It's interested in the other Zoid, it seems. Considering the Geno's thirst for violence, and the Fury's...well, being an insane killing machine, this interest might not be a good thing.

Jamie slips to the hangar floor, gives the Geno's hindtalon a reassuring pat and moves, not exactly closer to the Fury, but just so that he can face it more fully.

"So you're the other Ultimate X, huh?" He could be addressing the Fury directly, or he could just be musing to himself. While he's curious about the Zoid, he's not about to go waltzing over to get a closer look at this one uninvited.

The Fury doesn't actually move, but it's definitely eyeing Jamie. The Geno only gets minor interest. It has seen other Geno Saurers, even if not exactly the same, and remembers seeing them. Though it has not actually had the chance to fight one. (Probably for good reason. The Backdraft had plans for those Genos that did not involve being possibly destroyed.) It just falls into the "this is a Geno Saurer or something extremely similar" classification and the Fury is content, for now, to leave it at that unless challenged.

As for the question, the Fury doesn't quite reply. Its eyes flare a little brighter, though, and its attention focuses even more narrowly on Jamie.

That's about as close to a yes as it's going to get.

Jamie raises a brow as he studies the other mech. It's the largest he's ever seen, and while not quite the strangest, its appearance is unusual - thin, lanky, with vaguely inhuman proportions. Kind of surprising he didn't notice it before, really, but to be fair he had other things on his mind when he first came in.

"Eva, huh? Pretty impressive." Not necessarily better, mind you. He has no idea how it performs, and he's naturally biased toward the Geno Saurer as far as personal preference goes.

"Of course it's impressive!" Her voice is confident, strong. She's trying not to let too much of what's been happening aboard lately get to her. She'll be strong. She'll fight back. She won't cry. Because she's Asuka Langley Soryu, dammit and Asuka Langley Soryu isn't weak.

She flashes another confident grin, "Capable of withstanding tactical nuclear warheads - the most advanced war machine on the planet!"

Jamie notes the eye-flare - and, in particular, the sharpening of the Zoid's focus on him. It's a little disconcerting; the Fury's attention is much more noticeable than the Geno's, more intense. Jamie fidgets, shifting his weight uneasily.

"Can you, uh. Can you actually...understand what I'm saying to you?" He knows Ultimate Xes are smarter than regular Zoids, but he's not sure that that intelligence allows for the actual comprehension of human speech. Certainly Bit seemed able to carry on conversations with his Liger, but he was the thing's pilot. And he was, well, Bit. Guy was special in more ways than one.

That, Jamie has to admit, is something to brag about; he doubts any of the other mechs he's ever encountered are capable of surviving a nuke.

"Really," he says thoughtfully, regarding the Eva from his position beside the Geno's claw before glancing back at Asuka. Most advanced on the planet, huh. "Where're you from?"

"Earth, duh," she responds, "MOre specifically, I was based in Japan... Although I'm originally from Germany."

She tosses her hair back, suitably pleased that she's made him pause.

The Fury tilts its head forward a little bit and rumbles again.

It can mostly figure out what Jamie's saying, picking up on certain words it knows and putting them together. Jamie's not Vega, so it's a little harder, but it can.

His look flattens just a tetch at the "duh", though he supposes on some level he deserves it; most of the people he's met in these interdimensional hub places seem to be from one version of Earth or another.

"So are you with the military or what?" She looks a little young for it, but it's not unthinkable, and it seems pretty common in most other universes he knows of for giant robots seem to be used in military applications.

Her grin stays as smug and arrogant as ever as she turns away from him to glance at Unit 02, "Paramilitary, technically. I'm part of NERV, dedicated to defending humankind from the Angels! And I'm their best pilot."

This makes Jamie back up a couple steps; Zoids don't normally move on their own at all, and that the Fury is doing so - even if it's just a head-tilt - in response to him is, again, a little unnerving. It'd be pretty cool if it were any other Zoid, but the Fury is...kinda scary. Jamie chuckles nervously, still unsure if the Zoid is actually comprehending what he's saying to it or just responding to the fact that he's paying attention to it.

"Uh - good Zoid. Y'know I'm not gonna try to get in your cockpit or anything, right? 'Cause if you're like the Liger I know you probably wouldn't like that...you picked Vega for your pilot, like the Liger picked Bit. Right?"

"I'll bet," he says, a little dryly. She's a dead ringer for Leena personality-wise, all right. She might actually be as great as she claims, or she might just be full of hot air.

"What're Angels?" Sounds like a deceptively innocuous thing to need protecting from.

"Angels?" She raises a brow, turning back towards him, "Aliens that were tying to destroy humanity. Of course, they're probably all dead now, too. Good riddance to them."

She scowls, glaring at the wall for a moment, "...but my world's still gone."

Jamie's own expression falters a little, but he manages to cover it with a cautious shrug. "That's what we were told, sure..."

'But I don't buy it', while unspoken, is very heavily implied.

"Hi Jamie!"

Somebody comes running up. Lo and behold, it's Vega. He has a datapad of some kind under one arm.

"Were you talking to Fury?" he asks, noticing where Jamie's looking and Fury's active attention, which shifts immediately to him. It's just as intense, but slightly less fierce.

To the Fury, he says, "It's okay Fury, this is Jamie. He likes Zoids too."

The Fury doesn't seem to respond to that, but continues to watch Vega. Its pilot. It is beyond happy to have its pilot back, as much as it can be happy about anything.

"We're still not getting home anytime soon," her tone is dismissive, expression one of irritation, "It doesn't matter anyway..."

Jamie turns at Vega's approach, vaguely relieved that the kid's here for the Berserk Fury to focus on.

"...oh, hey. Yeah, I came to find my Zoid, and yours kinda...growled at me a little. He seemed to pay attention when I tried talking to him, so..." He shrugs a bit. "I was wondering if he can actually understand what people're saying to him, since he's supposed to be smarter than other Zoids 'n all."

Jamie just shrugs again. "Still, even if there's a chance of going home, 's better than everything just being gone," he says. "And maybe if we do what we're told they'll let us go, eventually." He doesn't sound entirely convinced, though, and his lip is curled a little in something like anger, as though he actually suspects their captors are just going to keep screwing with them indefinitely.

Asuka snorts derisively, "Yeah. And maybe pigs'll fly. I'm not holding my breath."

She leans against one of the supports for the maintenance catwalks with a shrug, looking away from him. She doesn't particularly want to talk about the worlds they've left behind, her brow furrowed as she glares at the ground.

Vega nods. "Yeah, he can. He's pretty smart. Or at least, he can understand what I say to him." Vega shrugs.

He looks up at his Zoid appreciatively. "He can move by himself too, but he's not supposed to do that." Then to the Fury. "You've been being good, right Fury?!"

The Fury remains properly inanimate, which Vega takes as a yes.

Whoah wait, other Zoid. Vega's attention span swings around back to that.

"You found your Zoid, huh?" he asks, turning to look at the Geno now. Vega's eyes are bright with interest as he appraises it.

"Yep, this is her." Jamie cranes his head back to peer up at the Geno Saurer, smiling fondly. His demeanor's a little more open than usual; having his Zoid back with him has lifted his spirits and stripped away some of the apathy and reservation he typically exhibits.

"She's a little different than the other Geno Saurers I've seen," he continues. Not that he's seen a lot of other Saurers, but it's true that they look different from this one. "They're black, and they don't have the missile pods or the crests on their heads..."

Vega nods quickly. "Yeah, I know what you're talking about." He's seen Geno Saurers just as the Fury has seen them. Seen, but no touchy.

"How'd you find her?" he asks, having already taken Jamie's cue that it's a girl Zoid. That's totally cool with him.

"I know the Geno Saurers we found were buried with the Fur-"

Oops! He catches himself a liiiiittle too late.

"Um, I mean, uh, nothing." He gives Jamie a slightly nervous glance. "I didn't tell you that."

At least Sarah's not here to get mad at him, Vega's usually good about not messing up like that. But he's excited! Zoids!

Jamie catches the slip and arches a brow, more at Vega's reaction than anything else. It makes sense - Vega's with the Backdraft and so were the three Geno Saurers that appeared during the Royal Cup; it's not surprising he'd know about them, nor that they were somehow associated with the Fury. This last piques Jamie's curiosity, but he decides to wait until later to pursue it; Vega's giving the impression right now that he's not supposed to talk about it.

"I didn't really find her," he says instead, in response to Vega's question. "That island I was on before I wound up here...her pilot disappeared and somehow she got left behind. I felt kinda bad that she didn't have anyone to take care of her, so I started keeping her tuned up and stuff."

He reaches out to rest his hand on the tip of one of her talons, looking up at her again with a sort of distant, thoughtful expression. "And now she's here with me instead of the Raynos I used to pilot. I guess that means...she's really mine."

"I guess so," says Vega. The particulars aren't incredibly interesting to him, having a short attention span as he does. His focus lies in a different area.

"Have you got to fight any with her?" he asks, a test to see if he can go on with "have you gotten to use the Charged Particle Cannon", "what did you get to fight?", and other related questions. The Geno, Vega surmises, can't be too different from his Fury. They're both tyrannosaur types with similar shapes, and probably similar configurations. The particulars might be different but they're "family" in a way.

"Never really got the chance to. Plus the island wasn't really set up to do big repairs if someone's mech got seriously damaged. I tested her a little, though, to see what she could do." He pauses and then adds, somewhat uneasily: "Fired off her CPC once." The circumstances under which that had taken place had been weird and glorious and kind of unsettling, all at the same time, and he still isn't really sure how he feels about it.

"Really? How'd that go?" Vega has to wonder.

He hasn't really gotten the chance to use the Fury's much at all. What with the Vega you can't do that without armor! and Vega the training dome cannot contain a Charged Particle blast, how many times do we have to tell you?!

Jamie contemplates, scratching his cheek thoughtfully. "...eh. Well, it's...got quite a punch. I didn't really fire it at anything, just shot it out over the water so I didn't, y'know...destroy stuff. She seemed to like it, though," he adds, glancing back up at the Geno. The Zoid sits there placidly, looking as innocuous as a hundred-ton mechanical tyrannosaurus can look.

"Fury really likes to fight," says Vega. "Sometimes it's hard to get him to stop."

He doesn't seem worried about that, though. Why would it be dangerous?

"I like the cannon, but? It's kinda slow. You gotta plan when you're going to use it or you're just leaving yourself open to get all shot up or jumped all over and stuff. And it's bad because your legs're locked down, and you can't sweep with the tail if the vents are open because it has to be straight."

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only