Shore Leave Part 3: The Return Of Stacy

[cityship]

Down on the surface of the planet Zokez II, Stacy's erstwhile (and hopefully much more relaxed) crew began receiving messages over their comm rings and omnicoms.

||Shore Leave is now over, please return to the site for pick up. I repeat, Shore Leave is now over, please return to the site for pick up. I hope you have enjoyed your stay on Zokez II, but all good things must come to an end. Please return to the site for pick up. If you do not return, you will be left behind.||

She means it, too. Better get your butts back to the ship.

[OOC: Please thread amongst yourselves!]

Comments

[morphitudinous]

For his part, Billy had proceeded with all due haste. Throw things messily into a box, change back into the plantsuit, and fly back to the gate. All in a span of twenty-five minutes.

After parking the car back in storage, he waited at the gate to take a few final breaths of a genuine Earth-like atmosphere. And here he found one of the newer crew members waiting.

"This is the worst part of a vacation, huh?" Well...no, not really. It could easily get much, much worse.

[gunslinging.livejournal.com]

"I shouldn't be hating, usually I'd be one of the guys who rolls in at the last possible second," Axl laughed. "But waiting around kind of sucks."

[morphitudinous]

"Do you have the speed to pull that off comfortably?" Just a curious question. He doesn't mean anything by it.

Smiling slightly. Billy found a spot on the ground nearby. "I suppose there's not much appeal in people-watching or tanning. So that leaves thinking as a default activity, right?"

[gunslinging.livejournal.com]

"Speed's what I'm best at. Faster when I've actually got my armor on, but I can't imagine trying to surf in all that." Axl flopped to the ground, sitting cross-legged -- it was a good idea to sit, if they were going to be waiting around for long.

"Thinking, on the other hand...probably not one of my strong points."

[morphitudinous]

"Wow. So your armor has the ability to provide a speed boost?" He smiled slightly at the idea of this person surfing in bulky armor, but hey---he'd seen stranger things in his day.

He shook his head. "That's all right. The sun's not particularly conducive to thinking anyway. Perhaps a few last moments of relaxation would be better."

[gunslinging.livejournal.com]

"Built-in dash jets," Axl explained. "They're pretty standard for reploid armor, actually, but mine are on the more powerful end, and I weigh in a lot lighter than most combat models, so between that and the hover jets my mobility's pretty awesome." Of course, he was a little more lacking in other areas to compensate, but Axl had always figured that it was okay to not take a hit well if you made sure you never had to take it in the first place.

"I'm gonna miss that sun. I never thought less than two weeks without real daylight would make me miss it so much."

[morphitudinous]

"Incredible. I'd love to see them tested someday. That technology didn't exist yet in my world, but I'd thought about it." Yes, you've met a nerd. Isn't it lovely.

Shielding his eyes with a hand, Billy tilted his head up to look at the sky. "I think it's been several months for me. It's always difficult to get an accurate reading on time passed when we're out there. But I agree---it was enjoyable to feel its presence for a short while. The last time we were on a planet, we were far too busy to stop and smell the roses, as the saying goes."

[gunslinging.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't mind showing you sometime," Axl offered. Hey, any excuse to flip around like a ninja in the Sensoriums.

"Months? ...oh, man." It wasn't like the thought hadn't occurred to him -- it was always floating around in the back of his mind. But hearing somebody else saying it made it pop a little more, so to speak. Here's your last chance to set foot on a real planet for who knows how long, hope you enjoyed it.

[morphitudinous]

"I'd enjoy that." He smiled slightly, then nodded. "I'm not sure we have mutual interests, but if you ever want to see something of mine you're free to ask."

Of course, it'd be worthwhile to know what those things were. Maybe soon.

Axl's mood seemed to affect him too. "It's not so bad. We have so much to do, and the missions thus far have been dangerous. That's not something I shy away from, but I need the downtime to recover and train. I know the City and Sensoriums aren't quite the same, but they seem to help most of us."

[gunslinging.livejournal.com]

"I don't think there's a day since I found the Sensoriums that I haven't been in there. Except for while we were down here, at least. I get antsy if I don't get a good fight in every couple days." And that was in normal circumstances; cut off from home, he was considerably more frustrated than usual, and significantly more in need of a good outlet for it.

Not that he was likely to admit that out loud, of course.

"I haven't really looked around the City that much yet, though. Maybe I should start once we get back."

[morphitudinous]

"I'm similarly inclined to train. I won't stand a chance against the Ohm unless I'm always improving, so I found a few quiet spots on the island. The change of scenery was refreshing."

Oh, he hasn't been to the City yet? There's so much to see there. Billy was eager to help. "I'd recommend giving it another look. You may find familiar places from your world."

[gunslinging.livejournal.com]

"Whoa, seriously?" Axl hadn't really given much thought to the City; he'd gone down for warfare training and the Rogue Squadron briefing, but he'd pretty much gone straight to his destination and not gone out of his way to see what else was around.

But if he could find somewhere from home down there...that was definitely tempting enough to merit a better look around.

[morphitudinous]

"Affirmative. Stacy salvaged important buildings from our worlds. We've found temples, schools, and command bases. My team's former base is there."

That had been a most interesting excavation.

[gunslinging.livejournal.com]

Important buildings. Maverick Hunter HQ definitely qualified as important -- some would've said it was the most important place in the entire world Axl was from, and for good reason. But even so...

"I'm...almost afraid to get my hopes too high, honestly," he said, a little sheepishly. But just as quickly, he laughed it off and added, "But looking should be a good timesink, at least!"

[morphitudinous]

"I think I can understand that." Billy had felt the same way about his friends. He'd hoped to see them with every pod release, optimism dwindling each time until he'd anticipated the disappointment. "I hope you see a building of yours, but even if you don't you can find some interesting unoccupied structures there."

[gunslinging.livejournal.com]

"If it's pulling from that many worlds, it'd have to be pretty interesting." Axl didn't have any interest to speak of in architecture, but that didn't do anything to diminish the ooh...shiny! factor.