Performance Tests [OPEN]

[jesus_is_gundam]

While everyone else was busy going shopping down on the planet, Setsuna had more important things to do. Namely, take his Gundam out for a test run.

Everything had gone smoothly, and all systems were functional. Which bothered him a little bit. There had been certain subtleties to the 00, sometimes it would pull on a hairpin turn, an occasional rattle in the cockpit when he pushed past a certain speed... none of those things were there. The suit was perfect. Too perfect. It was almost as if the suit was brand new.

Except the 00 Raiser had been through hell, and the odds of its GN drives being repaired after Exia and 0 Gundam exploded were faint at best. It did have all the hallmarks of Celestial Being's craftmanship, but even so, Setsuna couldn't help but wonder where did this suit come from? And its GN drives? Two more questions to add to the growing pile, and he still had no answers.

"Gundam..."

As he exited the machine, he half expected to have Trudy screaming at him again about him not asking permission before launching previously. As if he needed her permission, or anyone else's, to take his own suit outside. But as he lowered himself from the cockpit to the ground, those concerns went right out the window as he noticed the two suits docked behind Dynames.

...so, he was here now. And off in the distance he could see that Tieria's suit, which had disappeared briefly, was back again. Which meant that the four of them were together again. The thought brought the smallest of smiles to the corner of his mouth, though only for a brief moment.

"Allelujah..."

As his feet hit the hangar floor, he scrapped whatever plans he did have. After all, if Arios, along with its predecessor Kryios, were both here, his comrade was sure to show up soon enough looking for them. Setsuna would just hang out by his own suits and wait for him.

Comments

[a_mere_human]

"Feldt Grace," Setsuna stated quietly to himself as he looked at her. He was going to have to find some way to warn her about Allelujah's memory issues. Still, the look that he gave her might tell her that something was off.

[pinkbridgebunny.livejournal.com]

She gave Allelujah a rare smile as she climbed out of the mobile suit and headed to where the two Meisters were talking. She held the Red Haro in her arms, almost like the way she used to hold Lockon's Haro. She looked over at Setsuna for a moment. "I wasn't able to find anything wrong with it."

Her attention then went back to Allelujah. "It's good seeing you again." She was glad to see another Meister here. They had a full team now, even if one of them was technically dead.

[praises]

"It's almost hard to believe," Allelujah began, glancing once at Setsuna, Feldt, the omnicomm, and then to the gundams. Though the matter of Lockon was still an unsettling one (that probably wouldn't fully hit him until he could see the other meister alive and breathing for himself), it was good to see that Celestial Being had lived on, no matter how fractured it was. That they had wound up together again. For the first time since entering the hanger, Allelujah turned his curiosity towards the towering mobile suits themselves.

"You said Veda was here," the Kyrios pilot mentioned, voice quieting. He assumed it was safe to speak, but secrecy was second nature by now. "Do you know its status?" Did it still belong to them?

"And that unit ..." Allelujah trailed off. Kyrios he recognized, but it was clear his focus was on the sleek orange suit docked next to it.

[a_mere_human]

"Veda seems to be under our control, but we're unsure if Stacy has compromised the system somehow," he answered. His eyes followed Alle's, and ended up settling on the Gundam.

"That's the GN-007 Arios Gundam," he informed him. "Successor to Kyrios."

He looked over at Feldt. "Allelujah recalls being captured and held, but nothing after that," he stated, explaining why Alle didn't recognize his own suit.

[pinkbridgebunny.livejournal.com]

She was quiet for a few minutes as she thought about what he said. It was like what Tieria said. "It's like before, with Tieria. He didn't believe Lockon's death until he confirmed it with Veda."

She then looked back at Allelujah. "Haro has information on Arios if you want to look it over, or you can see the suit itself."

She was always ready to talk about the Gundams, as long as who she was talking to was a member of Celestial Being.

[praises]

"I see." Stacy, the AI they were now under the ordinance of. In theory, anyway—Celestial Being had never done well with the "order" of things, whether they individually agreed or not. Terrorists and all. And if Tieria was with them, they'd in time they'd get to the bottom of what was going on with Veda, which would help a great deal with their security.

He hoped.

For now though, he was alert and listening to Setsuna and Feldt tell him about his own gundam.

"Arios," Allelujah repeated in wonderment. "So Kyrios had a successor." On impulse, he stepped forward, intending to see the unit for himself. Thinking better of going alone, he turned back to his companions. "I'd like to see it for myself, if possible. Feldt, would you like to go? Setsuna, too." Not that he knew for sure if Setsuna would be interested in accompanying them, but he felt it was only polite to offer.

[a_mere_human]

Setsuna looked over at Feldt. "If you're finished with the 00..." then he saw no reason why not.

*whistles*

[hellraiser02.livejournal.com]

"Ooh, ooh, I wanna see, too!" a likely aggravatingly familiar (to two present individuals) voice rang out from nearby. The braid-bearing derp jogged over to this new pow wow of arrivals, a soda cup and takeout bag in hand after his day's trip down to the Shore Leave planet.

Suddenly, Duo slowed and stopped in his tracks when he'd gotten close, giving Allelujah a good, long lookover- silent save the obnoxious sound of his sipping through the straw in his cup. He appeared to be in some sort of deep contemplation.

Finally he gulped down his soda and popped the straw out of his mouth. "Hey buddy, swipe your bangs over for a sec."

/facepalm

[pinkbridgebunny.livejournal.com]

She stopped as she was heading towards the Arios. It took some control not to just facepalm right there. She blinked at Duo's last statement. Just what was he going at. She knew that the other pilot had let her see his suit, but she couldn't let him get near Arios, he should have known that.

"Duo, you know that we can't let you near the Gundams," she said. He should have realized that he wasn't going to get allowed near the Gundams of Celestial Being.

HAHA so alle - setsuna - duo - feldt?

[praises]

Allelujah also paused, looking quite lost for words. He had never seen this boy before in his life, though that didn't seem to bother the raucous if not friendly newcomer in the slightest bit. He was about to pass a surreptitious glance to Feldt, as if to say, "You know him?" (and about the Gundams—) but the odd request threw him for a second time.

"Over?" He reached up slowly to move the already changing sweep of his bangs. Gone was the grey eye, replaced by the gold. Allelujah, however, remained the same.

Sure!

[jesus_is_gundam]

There was only a slight look from Setsuna to Duo, as if to say what was the point of that?

Yup! Duo you've gotten dangerously genre savvy.

[hellraiser02.livejournal.com]

"Zero-Three."

Duo gave a big, wide grin, sipping at his soda again before continuing,

"That's your callsign, ain't it?"

Turning to Setsuna he nodded his head towards the wall-Meister. "So where's Oh-Four?"

Context was overrated, anyway. "And look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way; I'm just sayin'," he belatedly replied in Feldt's direction, as if he suddenly remembered he'd been denied.

o7

[pinkbridgebunny.livejournal.com]

"I can't let you near the suits," she said to Duo. She knew that Setsuna or another one of the Meisters would do something to him before he could get to the suits. She knew that Haro wouldn't let him access the systems in Dynames if he could even get in the cockpit.

She looked back at Allelujah as he moved his hair. She didn't know why he had asked that, but she wanted to have the Meister look over his suit.

oh god he has no idea what's going on

[praises]

"Zero ... three?" Clearly there was something important Allelujah was missing, or that was what he thought, if his expression was anything to go by.

And given Setsuna and Feldt's reactions, he had to assume this was actually normal behavior.

Like any of them do?

[jesus_is_gundam]

Don't look at Setsuna, he had no idea what Duo was on right now. But letting him near Arios was a non-starter.

So. Hard way it was. Setsuna passed a glance to Feldt, then stepped forward and grabbed Duo by the arm and began to drag him off.

You owe him for this, Allelujah.

Duo works in mysterious ways.

[hellraiser02.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, you know. Your codename--"

"Ah--hey! Hey, Setsuna, OI!" Duo growled, struggling away. "C'mon man, just a little peek, it's not like I'm askin' to come up into the cockpit!"

Alas, it was not to be.

[pinkbridgebunny.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Setsuna. Feldt looked back at Allelujah. "That was Duo Maxwell, pilot of the Gundam Deathscythe. That suit over there."

She motioned towards Duo's Gundam. It was an interesting suit, but very different from the Celestial Being units. "He's...different," she said with a soft sigh. "I don't understand him."

[praises]

So he was right. Allelujah knew the Celestial Being gundams—Kyrios, Dynames, Virtue, Exia. Even the successors bore resemblance to those four. But there were other units present, like the towering form of the Deathscythe Feldt pointed to, that could be nothing else but gundams despite his inability to recognize them.

"It's surprising to see units like this," Allelujah answered, starting to make his way to Arios even as his gaze lingered on the shield panels enveloping the dormant black gundam. "And that pilot."

Duo's vibrant personality just didn't match up with the secretive mold Allelujah had become used to in the other meisters.

[pinkbridgebunny.livejournal.com]

"None of the other units here have the GN drives," she said, looking around. "I'll have a report done soon of the Gundam Deathscythe. Duo let me take a look at the systems inside the cockpit. It's no where near as advanced as the Gundams that Celestial Being has."

They finally approached Arios and she looked at the suit. "GN-007 Arios Gundam, the successor to Kyrios."

[praises]

"Not even the imitation drives?" Allelujah responded, growing a tad more distracted as he came to the foot of Arios. He supposed he'd have time for questions about the rest of the unfamiliar units later. For now ... he craned his neck to get a better look, his Gundam having always been the tallest of the four. It resembled Kyrios to be sure, but even without knowing the technicalities of its new specs, the upgrades looked impressive. Allelujah began his ascent to the catwalk, immediately picking on the difference in orientation of the cockpit hatch.

"Feldt," he began, pausing slightly. "Is it the same for you as for Setsuna? I don't seem to remember the things you do." He was trying to be conversational, but he had a point. She sounded familiar with this Gundam already. Had she also experienced more time passed than he had?