Meet the folks (a post in several parts!)

[empress_without_a_throne]

[1]

[Mizuki's going about her business recently exclusively wearing her Abyss Empress clothing... and anyone in the Sakihama Base's hangar will notice the DuskBird's got several Solaris mechanics working on it virtually around the clock.  But more importantly-]

Ow.

Ow.

Ow.

[Even if she's just walking down the hall, the Abyssian is frequently wincing or reacting to unseen sources of pain.  And then-]

[Video]



Hello, everyone!  As you may remember, when the Unity Group began combat operations, I introduced to you an unlikely ally: the Abyss Empress herself.  And now... I give you her very followers!  The Grand Vizier Zangango and General Salanshiel!

[The video screen shifts to show the two other Abyssians, who actually are wearing normal clothing and just sort of sheepishly wave at the camera before they start to speak to each other.]

I hope Mizuki doesn't get too embarassed about this.

Well it's a special occasion, hopefully she'll understand.

[What's to understand?  It's just Sara pulling another melodramatic prank... and that's reason enough to storm down the halls!]

[2]



[And after THAT's all been sorted out, Mizuki's still happy about her parents paying a visit.]

So... yeah.  These are my parents... legally "Ichi Onodera" and "Haru Onodera".



A pleasure to meet all of you.  And thank you so much for helping take care of our daughter.



We apologize for the short notice of the visit, we would've let Mizuki know in advance but Sara thought to make it more of a surprise.  That said.... we also didn't come empty handed.

[Indeed they didn't.  In fact, they're carrying several hand-bags filled with sealed containers labeled 'Safe' or 'Sol only'.]

We were hoping to have a meal together with Mizuki, like a family... but we brought along extras just in case anyone wanted to join us.

Comments

2

[cloningblues]

Err...

What is it that your parents do for a living, Mizuki?

Re: 2

[empress_without_a_throne]

[Oh dear. The two of them exchange nervous glances before-]

They're considered "professional subjects of study"... and occasionally emergency power sources at Solaris's HQ whenever we couldn't afford the electric bill.

[There, that's a reasonable way of explaining it without outright saying anything that could be interpreted as "lab rat".]



Right. Yes. We needed a home, and they needed some new direction to proceed in. And thanks to staying together, we managed to have some semblance of stability.

[cloningblues]

Electric bill? How does Solaris' budget look like?

[empress_without_a_throne]

Not... very good. During the conflict against the Great Black Void's creations there was always some source of funding since it was the first line of defense. Solaris wasn't far off from how the Saotome Research Labs are now. Except after the Void's destruction...



Solaris stopped being necessary and fewer and fewer people decided to throw money at us. Even now, the only reason we're able to get back into the giant robot business is thanks to the Unity Group's support.

[cloningblues]

Urk. I can't imagine how it looks to work for an organization that has to cut corners everywhere... At least now you got funding from UG and everything is alright.

So... What's the food? Only stuff Mizuki can eat, I presume?

[empress_without_a_throne]

Food safe for the consumption of Void beings, yes. Though there's plenty to spare if anyone would want to give it a try.



That one friend of yours in the MJP program came to mind. She eats more kinds of seafood than just squid guts, right?

[cloningblues]

That's a good point. Tamaki likes weir- er, unusual food like this. She might be interested.

But first, can you show me what do you have?

[empress_without_a_throne]

Well... "normal" food-wise, we have rice, some pork chops, ground beef, some spices, beans, veggies... a lot of standard stuff.

On the other end though-

[She lifts up several containers full of opaque liquids and bizarre aquatic animals.]

Jellyfish, anglers, eels, edible parts of kaiju -careful, we've been saving that one for a special occasion-, pufferfish, and portabellos!

[One of those things was not like the others!]

[cloningblues]

Why are portabellos among the non-standard stuff? They weren't deep see animals last time I checked.

If I make a mistake on this... um... portabellos in the Uni-'verse are different! ;_;

[empress_without_a_throne]

They aren't, but they're mushrooms and they can be produced without the contribution of sunlight. Mundane but still delicious... and a nice emergency fallback food. Like when my date with Willis went bust because the matre'd thought I was doing cosplay.

[cloningblues]

You went on a date with Willis?

[empress_without_a_throne]

I wanted to figure out what was the deal with his healing factor and he was all "maybe I'll be more open about it on a date" and if it was a free meal and a chance to get at the truth I wasn't going to pass it up!

[cloningblues]

And? Did you find out anything?

[empress_without_a_throne]

Not much... only that prior to joining the Unity Group he spent about ten years being a drifter. I suppose if someone went digging deep enough, maybe they'd find something that could explain his... everything.

But that's also around when Kaiju and the Macross came into the equation, so that could make things difficult.

[cloningblues]

Yeah, that much I kinda figured out on my own already.

Speaking of Kaiju, it's surprising you got your hands on their meat. Isn't it really expensive and hard to get? And illegal in some places?