Iteration Start

[a_linear_mind]

[1]

[A few days before the Unity Group announcement, a knight-like machine enters Fort Alhambra. The pilot that emerges from the machine is a rather scruffy looking young man - who looks like he's been wearing the same jacket for years.]

Let me see if I remember how to do this...uh nice to meet everyone. My name is Willis Clades. I'm just a regular old merc who's been hired by the Unity Group. So yeah, I hope we'll be able to work together well in the future.

[2]



[Several days later, the real reason behind Willis joining the Unity Group was made clear. Willis can be found in the cafeteria with a mountain of empty plates piled on one side of him, full plates on the other. ]

Real food! No more scrounging or having to wash dishes for a meal. This is the best!

Comments

2

[star_of_sad]

Willis?

[Setsuko glances at the huge pile of dishes. It's rather intimidating.]

I'm not interrupting anything, am I?

Re: 2

[a_linear_mind]

Not at all, I'm just trying to enjoy the new perks that come with being a member of the Unity Group.

[A large slice of Pizza is devoured.]

It's a bit of a mess though, isn't it?

[star_of_sad]

No, no. It is not a problem at all.

New perks you say. Does that mean you didn't have any, well...

[Another glance at the food graveyard.]

[a_linear_mind]

Food? Barely any, I was a starving merc. It was all quite tragic really.

[star_of_sad]

... Oh.

I'm sorry to hear that.

[a_linear_mind]

I'm just joking around Setsuko. It wasn't that bad. I just like to spoil myself sometimes.

2

[empress_without_a_throne]

Tell me about it.

[Mizuki's busy slurping up the tentacle of something you'll just have to take the word of marine biologists on it being native to Earth, and with a big broad smile on her face.]

Never had Atlantic cuisine before.

[a_linear_mind]

[Willis has had stranger meals.]

I don't think I've seen you around here before.

[empress_without_a_throne]

Well, fortunately TSEN makes it easy to pay this place a visit.

[She offers Willis a hand.]

Mizuki Onodera, Sakihama base.

[a_linear_mind]

Ah right, don't think I'll get used to that.

[Willis takes the hand.]

Willis Clades, resident of the Fort Alhambra base I guess.

1

[smileys]

Greetings from one regular merc to another, then!

I didn't think I'd be seeing you here.

Re: 1

[a_linear_mind]

M-may Greenfield?

[Well this was a pleasant surprise.]

Yeah same here. Wow, I don't even know long it's been.

[smileys]

Don't try to count. I'm trying not to keep tabs on my years.

But...the last time I saw you was right after that meeting in Genting Highlands.

It doesn't look like you've changed much...at least on the outside.

[She's pointing at that jacket of yours.]

[a_linear_mind]

I'm kind of the spitting image of myself from back then, aren't I?

You look pretty great to me though. Even better in my opinion. I'm sure attaching a number to yourself wouldn't change that.

[smileys]

You know that kind of talk won't get you anywhere. Besides, the only kind of numbers I'd like next to my name are my rank and rewards.

So? What have you been up to all this time?

1)

[break_the_nine]

Oh hey! You're a mercenary? Me too! We can talk shop about how to make people's lives a living hell and misery incarnate!

Except not really because I'm not that sort of guy! I'd feel terrible if I was!

[Leos is going to shuffle over to Willis and whisper conspiratorially to him.]

Are you?

Re: 1)

[a_linear_mind]

Come on, we both know that kind of mercenary is just a stereotype.

[break_the_nine]

Oh yeah! Of course! I mean if you really were that kind of Mercenary you wouldn't look like Oscar the Grouch!

[a_linear_mind]

And if you were that kind of Mercenary you wouldn't look like Ernie.

[break_the_nine]

I know! Isn't life great? We could have a show or something!

2

[kinaesthete]

[The visitor to the base currently sweating her way through a plate of Very Special Inferno Chili nearby looks like Willis' appetite is giving her as much reason to sweat as the spiciness of her meal.]

You know, I've heard eating too much at once when you're undernourished can send you into system shock.

[a_linear_mind]

That's a risk I'm willing to take right now. I haven't had a real meal in weeks.

[It's hard to tell if he's joking or not.]

Aaaah, I'm so happy right now.

[kinaesthete]

Wow, really? I take it you're not here with a regular military, then. At least, not unless your last assignment was really rough.

[a_linear_mind]

Yeah, I was a mercenary before this. It was pretty hard to get contracts with Raven's Nest and The League around.

The life of a lone mercenary was a sad one.

[kinaesthete]

A mercenary, huh? So are you here on contract, or did you enlist with someone?