[Ic] Lotus In Bloom (Invite Only)

[fishworshipper]

On 8/21/2017 at 11:31 AM, Owlrrex said:

Souna was barely able to disguise her pride at Tacis' words as a deep breath. Foresight. That was what she would be remembered for. A very beneficial outcome. When Tacis did give her neither further questions nor a distinct order to leave, she turned on her heels towards the entrance, only to halt, and then turn back to the Grandmaster. Just now there was something else she had to address - and now was as good a moment as any. 
"Grandmaster, with all due respect, may I inquire if any squad shooting drills are scheduled to precede our next engagement? In the fight against the Infested, firing discipline and coordination have been... fragmented at best." It was hard to find words that weren't accusing, but still appropiately describing the chaos of that encounter and displaying properly her low judgement of an 'each for themselves'-tactic. Sure, battle was always messy, but to structure the chaos and subdue it to your will was to show strength. Not just ride the wave and endanger other Tenno recklessly.
Focused on the Tacis and trying to appeal to him in proper form, she didn't notice Sema behind her, and even if she had - this was important, Souna wouldn't have felt bad for making the Mesa wait if she knew she was there.

 

On 8/31/2017 at 10:56 PM, Temperance000 said:

The private ping from Tacis came as a slightly unwelcome surprise, as he still seemed engross in conversation with Souna.  Still, standing and waiting would only prolong her discomfort.  Sema accepted the hail on her Warframe’s internal comm.s and stood a little straighter. 

Something in Souna’s stance was…abrasive to her sensibilities, but that was a matter for another time.  She pushed the matter from her mind and waited for the Grandmaster to address her at his convenience.

Although he didn't show it, Souna's question almost startled the Grandmaster. Hadn't he dismissed her? Apparently not. 

"I do have plans for such an exercise, however none of the rooms large enough for them are currently equipped to the necessary specifications. I will contact you when that has changed. Until then, if you have no further pertinent questions, you are dismissed." 

A hasty response that omitted a few details, although true enough. He added a reminder to his Warframe HUD, and turned to face Sema.

"Rangemaster Sema," He greeted her with a traditional Tenno bow. "I assume that you're not here for idle conversation."

[Owlrrex]

Souna

Since Tacis had not formally dismissed her, Souna faced Grandmaster with the clean conscience of having the literal rules on her side. If he had really wanted her to leave, he could have dismissed her. He hadn't, so she had taken her chance. It's really his fault, to begin with. 
Still, she now obediently saluated with a fist to her heart, and then turned on her heels, which made her warframe's talons creak on the metal floor, to head for the exit of the bridge. Sema was greeted in passing with a quick, but clearly recognizable nod that Souna tried her best to put the respect into that Sema's position as Rangemaster deserved.

They had seen each other often during the travels, Souna did not neglect any bit of her training, be it simple fitness, shooting a variety of weapons or melee. Many could have noticed by now that Souna's strength was that her skills were all roughly on par with each other, so switching from gunplay to melee and back was no impediment for her. 
Souna thought about going back to exactly that now, training. She hadn't gotten her full regiment of running yet, due to her work on the report, and she valued her endurance as one of her most valuable traits. Running, jumping and playing her varied skillset to the enemy's disadvantage required an extraordinarily long breath, and strong legs. Even if it meant not being able to wear tight dresses. 

Good thing about that was, Souna didn't need to get ready in any way. She had her hands free and her warframe on, that was all that she required to run endless loops around the third deck of the ship, which was not too out of the way but still not as crowded as passing the public halls one deck below.

 

Maina

Maina nodded smilingly to Atlanta, after all this was her area of the ship, and the last thing the green Banshee wanted to do was annoy people. She gave a little wave to the surrounding people, whoever had the time to look, and to Xiu who had offered his help so kindly.
"Oh, I would think so, I mean, you have to love to tinker to be an Engineer, right?" she agreed with him, unknowingly giving away her quite uneducated image of 'engineering'. "If you want to help, maybe we can go to the gardens?"
Eagerly, she pointed towards the door behind the other Tenno and started to lead the way. She had offered help to Atlanta - who she believed would take the offer sooner or later - and also found someone to help her with the bracelets. This visit to the more unfamiliar part of the ship was definitely a success!

Speaking of bracelets, when she had pointed to the door, Xiu had a chance to see that she did indeed wear a multitude of colorful bracelets around both her forearms and wrists, some very thin and only made of colored yarn, others more ornate with different things woven into them - small feathers, metal shards, all kinds of junk. She also wore necklaces of a similar fashion, though those were decorated heavier. If it weren't this loud in the Engineering bay, her steps would be accompanied by a constant clattering of all the things she had hung and strung around her. 

[Dalimir]

On 10/30/2017 at 7:20 PM, Wolfheart297 said:

Having left the training VR rooms, Kat just wandered around aimlessly inside the ship. She was lost in her thoughts, mentaly reviewing Corpus ciphers and OS's. It was her way of staying calm and focused. Without Sallimarius' presence, Kat felt surprisingly alone. Exposed. Vulnerable. Her Cephalon was more than just a simple AI, it was her friend, not to mention one of the few people who could calm her down. Without her Cephalon's soothing voice and jokes, Kat was doing her best to keep her short fuse in check, not to mention avoiding anything that could trigger another of her flashbacks.

So focused she was on reviewing the differences between the previous Corpus OS's that she didn't notice the Nekros as she bumped into him. Her first instinct as she snapped out of her thoughts by the sudden bump was to roll sideways into a fighting position, her Frame's claws stretched out as she was half-crouched, regaining her balance and ready to pounce if necessary, hissing at him like an angry feline. It was only a second after that, when the rational part of her brain caught on, that she quickly regained composure. She stood up straight and bowed her head slightly. "Sorry..." she said before walking past the Nekros, breathing slowly in order to clam her mind.

Dalimir's attention was so split, in between thinking of plans of action to take against Temperance and his Command Crew cohorts; and ascertaining if he was really being followed or not. The feeling gnawed at him like a Condroc's beak. This unfocused state is what allowed him to bump into another oncoming Tenno full-on. After recoiling from the blow and regaining his focus into the here and now, Dalimir looked to the other for the usual mutual apology they would deliver each other. Instead he found a Valkyr with her back against the wall and her claws on full display, in a combat stance, hissing. Dalimir's right hand instantly flew to the handle of Void's Reclamation, his Ether Reaper.

Before he could draw it, however, the Valkyr-user backed down, as if she realized what she had just done. Dalimir withdrew his hand from the handle of his blade, however, he placed his left hand over the other's shoulder as she walked by. "You must be incredibly frayed for you to draw arms upon a random Tenno like that. Hm? Tell me, have you meditated or slept at all these past few weeks? Our endurance may be great, but we all have our limits." His head tilted as he regarded the Tenno before him. "I... Apologize, but I do not believe we have met. Who are you?"

[Achaix]

On 02/01/2018 at 8:19 AM, Astralin said:

Sah frowned as he explained it all to her, 'it would never be the same even after a transplant...' scratching at the space just behind her ear she thought on his words before deciding with a sigh that she'd need help in this journey. "Well if I can only get better then I need you to help, do you have any tips for... acclimating to the prosthetic? Anything that'll help me with twitch reactions that come naturally to a normal limb? I take it that you have much more knowledge about these things given your inclination towards replacement limbs, and as you said the best strategy is to start small." She grabbed idly at nothingness with her fake hand testing the motions once again, to test her neural pathways towards the individual fingers.

Abra would have used his CPID to comission a couple of weights, maybe some specialized equipment, but suddenly had an idea. They were right by the kitchen, weren't they?

"Do you know how to juggle?" He led the way while talking with Sah'jey. "It's an excellent excercise, helped me smooth out movement. Before that, though, we'll do catch with a water capsule - that'll improve reaction time and help you moderate the Herakles model's strength. Don't worry if you burst a capsule once or twice, it won't make much of a-"

The door to the kitchen opened, and the intoxicating odor of dirty fur spilled out, along with more than a few chewed-up jars. Abra stared in horror at the panting Kubrow on a throne of discarded containers, unable to keep himself from completing his sentence.

"... mess."

[Temperance000]

Temperance immediately realized the futility – indeed, idiocy – of resisting Jinx as she dragged him along.  He managed to avoid a graceless stumble as she practically threw him into a storage room, and caught himself against the wall just in time to receive a forearm to the windpipe.

Jinx’s faceplate came within inches of clashing against his own.  “You just love making my life difficult, don’t you,” she hissed at him.  The protective plating folded back, and the unadulterated disdain of her red-eyed gaze bored into him.  “I should have killed you when I had the chance back on the Church.”

For a long, bitter moment, Temperance wished she had, and spared everyone the worlds of complication that had come since.  Then a small, warm flicker of red licked through his thoughts, and the melancholia receded, somewhat.

Jinx turned her attention aside for a moment to address a message to Tacis, and Temperance steeled himself, enforcing some semblance of Tenno order on his increasingly scattered thoughts.  No more room for running.  It was long past time to start facing the consequences of his many mistakes.

+++

Ancilla adamantly refused to be taken in by those big, watery, adorable Kubrow-pup eyes.  With a flick of its tail and a kick of repulsors, her drone twirled away from the devilish little creature, coming to rest at a hopefully-safe distance.  The floating robotic curled in on itself, glowering balefully at Moros and chirruping its displeasure.

It was at that moment that Abra and Sah’jey came through the door and froze, staring at the blissfully messy Kubrow pup in unadulterated horror.

+++

“Grandmaster.” Sema returned Tacis’ formal greeting with a grave bow of her own.  “My apologies for the intrusion.  I have come to deliver a personal addendum to the after-action report on the battle with the Colossus.”

With a neural command, she materialized an optical data drive in her warframe’s palm and offered it to Tacis.  Her next words came across a secure ‘frame-to-‘frame channel, inaudible outside the confines of their helmets. 

“As you are aware, in the course of the battle, Captain Temperance was struck in the back by friendly fire from a Mesa’s Peacemakers,” Sema said, her tone heavy with shame and the willpower it took to force the words out.  “I am ashamed to say that I was the one responsible.  With the assistance of Head Armorer Alaric, I have spent the last several days examining my warframe’s systems and blackbox data in search of any fault that could explain the incident.  I have found none, and must therefore conclude that, barring extraordinary and largely implausible circumstances, the fault lies with me.  Grandmaster, you will find my report quite thorough.  I wish to submit myself for disciplinary action.”

[fishworshipper]

 

Spoiler

On 4/20/2018 at 9:26 PM, Temperance000 said:

"Grandmaster.” Sema returned Tacis’ formal greeting with a grave bow of her own.  “My apologies for the intrusion.  I have come to deliver a personal addendum to the after-action report on the battle with the Colossus.”

With a neural command, she materialized an optical data drive in her warframe’s palm and offered it to Tacis.  Her next words came across a secure ‘frame-to-‘frame channel, inaudible outside the confines of their helmets. 

“As you are aware, in the course of the battle, Captain Temperance was struck in the back by friendly fire from a Mesa’s Peacemakers,” Sema said, her tone heavy with shame and the willpower it took to force the words out.  “I am ashamed to say that I was the one responsible.  With the assistance of Head Armorer Alaric, I have spent the last several days examining my warframe’s systems and blackbox data in search of any fault that could explain the incident.  I have found none, and must therefore conclude that, barring extraordinary and largely implausible circumstances, the fault lies with me.  Grandmaster, you will find my report quite thorough.  I wish to submit myself for disciplinary action.”

On 12/11/2017 at 12:54 PM, Lady_Viper said:

[Jinx] then opened up a channel to Grandmaster Tacis directly, and when she got through said “Sorry for not responding earlier. Now about that request you had, we actually have a problem on that front, two in fact. I’m on my way to you, with our captain.”

 

Tacis accepted the chip, his Warframe digitizing it and analyzing its contents the moment he gained clear possession. Sema's report. As she spoke he glossed over it, noting that the apparent issue was the misidentification of Temperance as a foe. Intriguing. Problematic, too, but workable. 

"Firing upon your captain is a grave offense, Rangemaster." His arms by now had returned to his side. "Any punishment for such a crime must be appropriate. It must be balanced - tempered by the acknowledgement of setting, of circumstance. It must take into account context. After all, striking down a fellow Tenno is a crime, yet if that Tenno sought to strike you down first it becomes acceptable. Extraordinary and largely improbable circumstances have come upon us. The context in which you fired upon the Captain is unusual - the setting bizarre. We stand one hundred strong, in a Tenno-made ship, built for exploration rather than death." 

The speech, until now, was largely bull****. Bought time, used solely to build a solid lie. Tacis regretted deceiving Rangemaster Sema, especially on behalf of Temperance, but needs must. She would, inevitably, talk, and the truth was too dangerous to allow her to spill it.

"Captain Temperance is testing non-standard equipment. A prototype for upgraded Warframe systems, inspired by the telepathic capabilities of the Infested. Based on your report, it would seem that in the horde your Warframe was unable to distinguish these disease-inspired systems from regular Infested, and your Peacemakers acted accordingly. I had warned Temperance to stay off the battlefield, in case this might happen, but he did not listen. I cannot, in good conscience, punish you for an unavoidable crime. However, to keep this test unbiased, the crew must remain unaware of its existence. I must provide some punishment. To that end, you will act as follows: You will manually register Temperance as a friendly target. You will ensure that every other Mesa-user on board does the same. You will then seek out the Captain, and he will provide further discipline at his discretion. You will not speak of Temperance's prototype systems to anyone, even the Master Armorer. Those who must know of their existence already do. You are dismissed."

A hail from Jinx. After the traditional, honorific bow, Tacis turned away from Sema and stepped back to the center console of the bridge, answering her hail as he did so. 

"Explain. What issues have arisen?"

[Lady_Viper]

Moros tried to follow the drone as well as he could, he even tried to jump after it's tail as it flicked in the air. Alas, it was out of his reach and he landed back on the floor on his four paws, which as far as puppy paws go were quite unporoprtinate to his small body and he would have to grow into.

Suddenly the door opened and two figures steped through. Moros, compleatly oblivious that he'd done anything that might be considered wrong, once again sat down, tilted his head and gave a happy little bark. Something that left his mouth opened in something that resembeled a goofy grin as toung hanged out. Looking at the newcommers with playful eyes, he was blissfully ignorant of the so called mess he had made.

----------------------------------------------

A familiar precence flashed with it's existence, and it made Jinx reach new levels of anger. And if it was at all possible, her mood souered even more. That thing could just go and die in her opinion. As it should have done that already. 

Yet here it was, still mocking her and getting on her nerves with its continued existence. Jinx knew better than to trust it. Temperence on the other hand, had let himself be manipulated by it before, and like a naive child would continue to listen to its poisonous lies.

Her internal monolouge about Temperance idiocy and the verious ways she'd like to inflict pain on that thing was interupted by Tacis finally responding.
Jinx gave Temperance one hard shove to the throat with her underarm, a sign to let them know she knew it was there, before replying to the Grandmaster.

"The issue is that our idiot captain whent to talk to our resident paranoid Nekros, alone. They nearly jumped eachother before and now Dalimir wants to talk with me in private. Coincident? I don't think so."

As She finished her sentence, Jinx's faceplate slid into place again as she forcefully draged Temperence with her out of the storageroom and continued their brisk walk.

"Where do you want me to take him?" She asked, while still considering just smashing Temperance against a wall again. It wouldn't help the situation but it would certainly make her feel a little better.
 

Edited June 4, 2018 by Lady_Viper

[Wolfheart297]

On 2018-03-04 at 2:10 AM, Dalimir said:

Dalimir's attention was so split, in between thinking of plans of action to take against Temperance and his Command Crew cohorts; and ascertaining if he was really being followed or not. The feeling gnawed at him like a Condroc's beak. This unfocused state is what allowed him to bump into another oncoming Tenno full-on. After recoiling from the blow and regaining his focus into the here and now, Dalimir looked to the other for the usual mutual apology they would deliver each other. Instead he found a Valkyr with her back against the wall and her claws on full display, in a combat stance, hissing. Dalimir's right hand instantly flew to the handle of Void's Reclamation, his Ether Reaper.

Before he could draw it, however, the Valkyr-user backed down, as if she realized what she had just done. Dalimir withdrew his hand from the handle of his blade, however, he placed his left hand over the other's shoulder as she walked by. "You must be incredibly frayed for you to draw arms upon a random Tenno like that. Hm? Tell me, have you meditated or slept at all these past few weeks? Our endurance may be great, but we all have our limits." His head tilted as he regarded the Tenno before him. "I... Apologize, but I do not believe we have met. Who are you?"

Kat wasn't expecting the Nekros to actually engage a conversation. Not that many people would try to speak with someone who hissed at them and was ready to shred their faces just a few seconds ago. And that, associated with Kat's already nervous state, is what made her visibly recoil when she felt the Nekros' hand on her shoulder, only for her to relax after a second. She nodded slowly. "Oh, trust me. Sleeping and meditating is all I've been doing since our little bump with the Infested..." She then faced the Nekros as her Bast helmet slowly split and opened, revealing her face. "The name's Katherine. I haven't been very social since the journey started, so it's normal we haven't bumped before."

[fishworshipper]

On 2018-06-04 at 4:52 PM, Lady_Viper said:

A familiar presence flashed with it's existence, and it made Jinx reach new levels of anger. And if it was at all possible, her mood soured even more. That thing could just go and die in her opinion. As it should have done that already. 

Yet here it was, still mocking her and getting on her nerves with its continued existence. Jinx knew better than to trust it. Temperance on the other hand, had let himself be manipulated by it before, and like a naive child would continue to listen to its poisonous lies.

Her internal monolouge about Temperance idiocy and the verious ways she'd like to inflict pain on that thing was interupted by Tacis finally responding.
Jinx gave Temperance one hard shove to the throat with her underarm, a sign to let them know she knew it was there, before replying to the Grandmaster.

"The issue is that our idiot captain went to talk to our resident paranoid Nekros, alone. They nearly jumped eachother before and now Dalimir wants to talk with me in private. Coincident? I don't think so."

As She finished her sentence, Jinx's faceplate slid into place again as she forcefully dragged Temperance with her out of the storage room and continued their brisk walk.

"Where do you want me to take him?" She asked, while still considering just smashing Temperance against a wall again. It wouldn't help the situation but it would certainly make her feel a little better.
 

With his shoulders slouching and head tilting down, Tacis sighed. Heavily.

Temperance is proving to be a greater risk to his secret than any of the crew members. He is an experienced Tenno, not some freshly awakened novice. He should know better than this.

He stiffened back up into his standard posture, hands clasping neatly behind his back. "This is... exploitable. Bring Temperance to the Bridge, then meet with Dalimir. Before we can act against him properly, we need to know more about him. Find out what he knows and what he wants. Reveal as little as possible to him, but as much as you think is necessary. For now, be his ally. On your way, Rangemaster Sema may see and report to Temperance for disciplinary action. I have told her that his Warframe is using prototype Systems inspired by the Infested. If you're with Temperance when this happens, I would be interested to know what he chooses."