One half of a duet's entrance

[duetsavvy]

[A white Gespenst lands in Unity Group's hangar, heavily and unceremoniously. This type of Personal Troopers is customized for psychodriver use - are you familiar with the rare Gespensts-TT?

Anyway, the cockpit opens revealing its pilot, a young woman. As well as bags full of personal possessions that she apparently hauled inside the PT as well.]


Hello everyone. I know the timing's bad, but I'm new. I'm Bryanne Eriksen, nice to meet you. I heard a lot of good things so I've decided to join Unity Group - don't let me down, okay?

Me and Rani know each other, we've been at it for a while now. Not a very long while... but still! So.


Let's try to stop some Vagans, shall we?

Comments

[sixteenthgun]

[The Mk. II M is docked in its own station not too far away. Cobray himself looks weary, but at the same time on his guard after Commander Howe's notice at the end of that mission.]

I heard you were from the SSR.

...What made you decide to switch?

[duetsavvy]

O hey, you remembered that? Ha ha, maybe it's a bad time to mention that...


Yeah, the two of us were in SSR. Only for a bit though. But we didn't like how they're doing things, so we just up and left.

What I mean by a bad time is that SSR isn't bad people. Most of them anyway. Now's not the time to hold it against them.

[sixteenthgun]

How they're doing things...

[He repeats, contemplating something.]

They seem to be an efficient force, so far.

[Especially with all the media coverage and such. No doubt there will be a few niggles, but the UG has those too.]

[duetsavvy]

Efficient's a good way to call it.

[sixteenthgun]

...

Still...the SSR's activities garner a lot of suspicion here.

Since you and your companion are from there: I was told recently that some here aren't keen on having secrets kept from them. At the same time, the Unity Group are people you can trust.

[duetsavvy]

Hmm. That sounds a bit counter-intuitive, doesn't it?

I mean, if you want to know all the secrets, you need to be prepared to share yours too.

It's only fair.

[sixteenthgun]

The one who advised me did say that it's strange.

But, Unity Group has faced a number of betrayals since its inception. Some are cautious because of this, others, maybe, excessively so.

[majestic_keiki]

Right. It's good to have some more reinforcements.

[duetsavvy]

Of course it is! Count on me to do my best, and I'm sure Rani will be the same, too. Of course I have high hopes of UG as well!

[majestic_keiki]

Right. [Kei pulls back slightly at abundance of exclamation marks.]

...Rani is from the same group as you?

[duetsavvy]

If you want to be technical about it, no because we're not from any group. At least, not anymore!

But yes, we know each other.

[majestic_keiki]

Well, I knew that you knew each other. I just wondered about how you ended up here. Most people are either from some existing program or are more or less superheroes.

[duetsavvy]

Ah, but that's a story for another time~.

But I'll say this, the fact our units are the same is not a coincidence.

[majestic_keiki]

That's pretty obvious. Especially rare ones like that.

Anyway, welcome aboard. I'm Kei Kugimiya, from Team Rabbits.

[actuallyselfish]

"Good to have you aboard," Dido says, glancing at Bryanne out of the corner of her eye as she disembarks. She squints.

"Wait a sec, " she says. "Didn't you sing on that one 'Interplanetary Idol' show?"

[duetsavvy]

Sing? ... Show?

[An exaggerated bead of sweat forms on her face.]

A ha ha! No, that couldn't possibly have been me, you got the wrong Brye Eriksen.

[actuallyselfish]

"Maybe it was someone else?" Dido mutters, scratching her chin. "I remember she sang "Won't you Come to the Circus with Me?" It had this techno beat? And she was wearing a red clown nose...? You sure that wasn't you?"

[duetsavvy]

Hey! There weren't any clown noses!

...

Oops.

[actuallyselfish]

Dido grins. "Gotcha." She extends a hand. "You can call me Dido, Bryanne. Don't make any jokes about Carthage, and I won't try dragging you to karaoke night."

She takes a look at your data profile on her tablet. "So...you're former SSR: any reason why you switched organizations?"

[duetsavvy]

Hey, I like Karaoke!

[Exaggerated handshake.]

What's this, you have data on me already? But I only just came here.

[actuallyselfish]

"Well..." Dido says with a shrug. "That's a Gespenst-TT, right? There aren't many military groups that are fielding Psychodriver hardware."

She frowns. "So... why are you signing up with the UG? Not that I'm complaining...but we are kind of rivals with the SSR."

[sang_av_helten]

Meow.

And by that I mean we shall do righteous battle with them!

[duetsavvy]

Okay... who put a microphone on a cat?

[sang_av_helten]

The mighty warrior you see before you needs no microphone to be heard!

I am Skald Skogkattson of the line of the Chariot Bearers of Freya! One of the pilots of the Smildon and one of the warriors who slew the Cassowary Emperor in the deserts of Australia!

[Skald puffs up proudly, giving Bryanne an imperious look as if daring her to challenge him.]

[duetsavvy]

Ah. Okay. This isn't a trick? Hello? You can come out now...

[No one comes out.]

Cassowary Emperor, what.

Are you for real?