2024-07-20: Ultimate Chicken Density
- Log: Ultimate Chicken Density
- Cast: Suletta Mercury, Miorine Rembran, Chuatury Panlunch, Ojelo Gabel, Martin Upmont, Till Nys, Aliya Mahvash, Nika Nanaura, Tiko the Goat
- Where: Asticassia School of Technology, Earth House
- Date: 07-20 UC 0099
- Summary: Suletta Mercury moves into Earth House and reaches a state of Ultimate Chicken Density. Miorine Rembran is unimpressed by the woeful lack of poultry surveillance. 'Ma'am this is a Chick-Fil-A. There's no Yuri here.'
<Pose Tracker> Suletta Mercury has posed.
"E--excuse me!!" Suletta had said, rushing into the administration office a full hour later. "Before you blame Miss Chuchu, c-c-can I say something?!"
Everyone told Suletta not to take the blame, but she ran in to take it, anyway. They'd already decided what to do with Chuchu, of course -- but when the Holder stepped in to say she'd gotten in trouble on her behalf, well, they had to ring Suletta's mother and not just Chuchu's several guardians.
... Mom must have said something to them, because they agreed to let them both off with a warning not to start fights, after that.
"You're late," Chuchu groused, but...
) o +
"LP041, Suletta Mercury, pass. MP039, Chuatury Panlunch, pass."
The make-up exam goes much more smoothly.
And when Chuchu climbs out of her Demi-Trainer, she grumbles, "man! I can't believe I had to do it again, too!"
Nika Nanaura laughs, her hands folding behind her head as she walks up to the Demi-Trainers -- and looks to Suletta, climbing out of hers, too. "But you did pretty well for only having one assistant," she says, to the nervous raccoon of a girl.
"M-me?!" Suletta jumps back, pointing to herself. "I-i-it's all thanks to Miss Miorine!!"
"Come on, come on, are you only going to have one person helping you your whole way through?" Nika laughs, good-naturedly, canting her head to the side. "You should make lots of friends, Suletta. Say... how would you like to join Earth House?"
"What?!" Chuchu demands, turning to Nika, as she clasps her hands together in front of her and smiles brightly. Seeing that sunniness, she sinks back on her heel, looking over to her fellow make-up student. "Tch..." She mutters, recalling the way Suletta stuck her neck out for her, even though she could have just let Chuchu take the fall. She turns, and starts to stalk away, and for a moment Suletta thinks she still won't accept a Spacian like her at all.
Until -- "I may be a first-year student," Chuchu says, still not looking at her, "but in House terms, I'll be your senior." She starts fiddling with her Demi-Trainer, as if she walked off to do something important. She didn't, really.
Suletta clasps her hands in front of her, eyes wide. "T--then I look f-forward to getting to know you, C--Chuchu-senpai!" She barks, stiff and upright.
Chuchu glances back to her, and says, "Speak up."
"Y--yes, Chuchu-senpai!" Suletta barks out, louder.
Nika laughs, behind them, covering her mouth with a hand, and looks over to Suletta's assistant. "Don't worry," she assures Miorine. "We'll take good care of your groom, okay?"
A fine thing to tell her when she's stealing her away. Nuno Kargan, Chuchu's other hand, rubs the back of his head as he glances away; he can guess how this will go.
<Pose Tracker> Miorine Rembran has posed.
Miorine is already tapping away on her datapad like this wasn't any big deal for her. "It wasn't exactly difficult - just the basics. It's irritating that we had to come out and do it all over again." She notes to them all drily, as Suletta gives her the credit.
Mostly though, she's disengaged about what follows, after all Chuchu hasn't exactly endeared herself to Miorine Rembran by calling Spacians and thus 'her' a turd.
She has no desire to make nice with her at all, but Suletta does, and Miorine just mutters, "Why even bother?" Before moving back to the datapad, exasperated that Suletta isn't just focusing on what she needs to do.
Her eyes look at Chuchu as Suletta calls her senpai, and there's this glance Nika's way as she assures her that she'll take good care of her groom.
"Just see that she doesn't get distracted."
In many ways, they're doing her a favor taking Suletta off her hands, her room was getting crowded - dealing with Suletta's eccentricities day in and day out.
"Keeping her focused is almost more trouble than it's worth." Miorine marches away, before propping up her Haro scooter, "Come and get your things tomorrow, or I'm putting them in the hall."
Fortunately there's not that much that needs to be accounted for. Without even congratulating Suletta, she starts to speed off back towards her hall, without her.
They're doing her a favor. That's what it is.
Even if she was starting to get a little...
-=-=-
Days pass, time has passed - Suletta has integrated herself into Earth House, Miorine hasn't even yet visited.
Nika had Aerial brought down to Earth House with Suletta's permission, which is probably a relief for Sueltta. They can't really trust Cathedra to look after her, now can they?
Not when weirdos are taking pictures of her and don't need to even inform Suletta.
Right now a maintenance team of Nuno, Ojelo and Nika are looking after it, as the panels over Asticassia shift from afternoon to orange twilight, Nika is enthusing over it, "Incredible! I never knew you could optimize frame action this way." Ojelo scratches his head, astounded, "It's too complicated, I can't make heads or tails of it." In the less equipped hangar, Nika just calls up to the other member of the team in the cockpit, "Nuno! What are the operating systems like?"
Nuno is currently linked in, his datapad looking over the OS as he sits in the cockpit, calling out, "The level of the integration is worthy of the gods themselves. How many first-class engineers did Shin Sei have working on this thing?"
Martin who's walking by, marvels as he overhears it, "I can't believe they had that kind of budget." Nika however, is looking up at Aerial, all smiles and passion as she says to Aerial, "You really are thrillingly mysterious..."
On the other side of the hangar, amidst clucking chickens and bleating goats, Aliya has set up a divination board, as she sits cross legged on a crate. Dropping some jade stones and others beside, she looks upon where they land then points at one, "This stone represents your mother. It's really big." Her hand finds its way to her lip as she notes thoughtfully, "I don't see any sign of your father."
<Pose Tracker> Suletta Mercury has posed.
Suletta collected her things extremely promptly, of course. She'd hate to be a burden on Miorine -- well, more than she already is.
She feels like a burden on Earth House, too... but she and Aerial are still grateful to have a new home. They feel safer, in a place where people are friendlier. (Where most people are friendlier. Chuchu is... coming around?) She can trust Nuno, Ojelo and Nika to treat her family right -- and as for her...
Suletta has never been surrounded by so many chickens in her life before now. She's truly reached ultimate chicken density. It brings her happiness, until...
Aliya's divination is strong, and her shoulders sink, a little, as she leans forward to consider the board. "My father... well..."
It would be nice if she remembered him. Mom says her hair is wild like his, and she has his skin. Mom says he loved her very much. Mom says... "I'm told that he died when I was very young," she picks her words carefully, looking to the board. Aliya doesn't, though -- when she hears that, she looks over to Suletta, with her big brown eyes.
They close, as she adds, with a shade of remorse, "I apologise if I hit a sore spot." Her divination... can reveal things better kept covered, sometimes. She's always been...
"Not at all!" Suletta insists, unaware of any of her gifts, as her eyes widen and she looks over to her again.
"Is this stone... a brother, maybe?" Aliya tries, pointing to another place in the reading -- the stone which has fallen on 'twelve'.
(Eleven, plus...)
"I don't have any," Suletta says, a touch dumbfounded.
"Hmm," Aliya murmurs, bringing a finger up to her lip. "What could it be, then...?" It's certainly something, but... she knows better than to insist, if Suletta doesn't know.
Suletta pauses, and realises: "Can you also read fortunes for people who aren't here?"
"Their birthday," Aliya says. "Just tell me the person's birthday."
But Suletta pauses, thinking back to all her conversations with Elan, and concludes: "... I don't know it."
It's sad... that she doesn't know something so obvious. Did she not think to ask...? That's so thoughtless...
<Pose Tracker> Miorine Rembran has posed.
Guess who else's birthday you don't know, you thoughtless wench?
"What's with all this livestock underfoot!?"
Miorine is currently waving feathers out of her face, having gotten THIS close to Suletta without anyone else noticing.
Just as she's gotten by one another chicken is moving past, and she's rearing up on her heels to avoid it's passage.
Miorine's in her uniform of course, her school bag over her shoulder, as Nika calls out to her, "Oh! Miorine! We were just looking over Aerial right now."
"Then why are there animals wandering all over!" Tiko has started chewing on Miorine's pants leg, which she only notices a moment later, "It's so unhygienic!"
Aliya corrects her, "Tiko isn't unhygienic. Till. Could you?" Till puts a hand on Tiko's head, before Miorine would swat him, leading him away, as Miorine makes a face at the saliva stain on her pants leg.
Aliya looks back towards the stones, "I'm not sure about this one? It's in a position that implies they're tied to you. So it could be someone who likes you? A lover?" She puts a hand to her chin again, "Maybe it's Guel, since he proposed...?" Her eyes turn up thoughtfully, "Oh, but you turned him down."
Miorine walks up alongside Suletta, tone a little stormy after being ASSAULTED by LIVESTOCK, "I see you're all settled in since you're wasting your time on Astrology." Aliya corrects her, "It's not Astrology, it's divination."
"It's useless is what it is." Miorine counters.
<Pose Tracker> Suletta Mercury has posed.
"M-M-M-M-Ms. Miorine?!" Suletta yelps, hopping up when she hears her coming. "T-the animals l-l-live here, too... t-they're really n-nice, y-y-you can pet T-Tiko..."
Miorine was going to swat him, but never mind that.
She looks back to the divination board, hopping back a step. "L-l-l-l-l-likes me?!" She barks, her hands flying up as if to protect herself. "N-n-n-n-no way! T-t-that's not -- i-is that -- d-does he r-r-r-really?!" Is she really talking about Guel? She turned him down...
She clasps her hands together, looking back to Miorine. "I--I'm sorry! M-Ms. Aliya was j-just reading my -- s-s-she knows a lot! D-do you want to try?" She asks, conciliatory. "Y-you just have to..."
But she's so slow to explain how it works.
<Pose Tracker> Miorine Rembran has posed.
"Who would want to!?" Miorine notes of the suggestion that one could pet Tiko.
Whereas Aliya looks at that piece on her board again, seemingly unperturbed by how overwhelmed Suletta is by the mere suggestion.
"Well, there are other reasons to propose..." She does add noncommittally to the idea that he likes her, "... but I'm having trouble with this piece."
Her brow furrows, "And this one here." She looks at the 'twelve' again, "I'm stumped if you don't have any sibl-"
'BEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!'
A very loud bleat interrupts that statement, as Aliya looks sideways, "Tiko, behave." Till is trying to patiently guide the goat back towards the pens, but goats can be quite willful, and he's resisting by digging his hooves in.
"I heard how it works!" Miorine snaps at Suletta, "I'm just not going to waste my time-"
A sudden sound interrupts them both as Aliya throws 'the bones' again, dropping them on the divination board. Upon her lap is now an open datapad.
"Found it - August 16th." "Hey! Don't look me up online!" Aliya looks up at her, "But it's on Quickiepedia."
Aliya looks down at the stones again, "This one represents your father. It's just as big."
A beat.
"Issues. The two of you have issues."
"Why do you need a board when any two-bit gossip around school could tell you that!?"
"And this one..." Aliya continues, a finger gesturing to one outside, "It's fading, but still very meaningful to you." Something dangerous flashes in Miorine's grey eyes, "It has to be your-"
There's a scattering noise, because Miorine just swatted the board off the table roughly.
"-Mother." Aliya finishes, despite a growing alarm. As Miorine takes a breath, and rakes a hand through her bangs as she growls, "How many times do I have to say I don't want to hear it!"
Miorine storms off towards the Aerial, while Aliya gets up, to start collecting her divination pieces, expression inscrutable in this moment.
<Pose Tracker> Suletta Mercury has posed.
"T... Tiko's so soft..." Suletta likes petting the goat, apparently.
Soft and stubborn, but that's okay. It's been so nice, learning about animals. There weren't really many on Mercury.
"H--huh?" She adds, when Aliya throws her bone-stones a second time. "August... 16th? Oh!" She startles, looking back to Miorine. "Y-your birthday is r-r-really soon! M-mine's a few months later, October 2nd..."
She quiets down, though, when Aliya reads her board. "I... I don't have any big issues!" She insists, waving her hands. "N-no problems, no complaints, n-n-none at all!" Does she really believe that? It's polite to say, anyway.
But speaking of being polite --
"M-Ms. Miorine!" Suletta exclaims, seeing her rage. "W--w-wait!" She turns to hurry off, before she pauses, and turns back to Aliya, bowing deeply. "I-I'm really s-s-sorry!"
"You apologise for so much," Aliya notes, focused on picking up her pieces. "... it's okay. It's not your fault."
Suletta thinks it is, though, judging by the way she rushes off to catch up with Miorine. "M-M-Ms. Miorine!" She calls, again.
"Oh, hey," Nika says, turning to them. "We were just looking over the Aerial's... systems," she notices Miorine's anger, and trails off, blinking.
"Here we go," Nuno sighs, behind her.
<Pose Tracker> Miorine Rembran has posed.
Miorine seems unmoved by the softness of Tiko's coat! What kind of monster is she!?
"It's just a date! Who even cares?"
Miorine counters, because... she hasn't had anything to celebrate on her birthday in years, and now worse, it's a deadline. Her deadline on getting out of here - or else.
Aliya just corrects Suletta on the issues part, "This one is her reading." With an even movement of her eyes to Miorine.
The issues are after all, between Miorine and her Father.
Suletta apologizes to Miorine and to Aliya, and Aliya tells her it's not her fault.
Miorine doesn't even acknowledge her apology.
"And? What about the structural damage the Aerial took in the last Holder duel?" Miorine asks tersely, "If Suletta were challenged tomorrow, is the Aerial ready to go?"
Her eyes flick back up to the cockpit with Nuno as she cocks an eyebrow, "Is he even qualified to work on a mobile suit like this?"
Rather than sound offended, Nuno answers, "It's not like we're designing it from scratch. Even for a mobile suit like this, so long as Shin Sei supplies the parts, it's just basic maintenance and repair."
Nika clasps her hands together, trying to mollify Miorine, "I know this hangar doesn't look like much, but you can trust that Earth House's mechanical students know what they're doing." Nika does put on a smile, "We just get very passionate about it."
Miorine darts her a look like she's still quite angry because her Groom seems 'very' distracted to her right now, "Passion isn't going to win us duels. What's the security like around here?"
Ojelo scratches his head, "Security? Well... there's Chuchu." Miorine then pivots with a click of her heels and points at Martin, "You! You're the leader of this House right? I need a full accounting of your security protocols!"
Martin makes a strangled noise, "We... what protocols? We have locks on the doors?" He replies helpfully. Miorine's face twitches, "How is that adequate!?"
Before she pivots on Suletta, and suddenly gets right up in her personal space, "Hey Suletta! Why are you playing with goats when you haven't done anything to secure this hangar!? You think they can't do worse than turning on the heat management system!"
<Pose Tracker> Suletta Mercury has posed.
"I just thought..." Suletta starts, and doesn't bother finishing. Miorine doesn't like birthdays... at all...
(Suletta always looks forward to hers. Maybe this year, mom will spend it with her, like she did when she was younger. Maybe this year...)
Of course she took the idea that she had issues personally -- but luckily, she's too busy rushing after Miorine to be embarrassed at Aliya.
"A--Aerial is okay!" She says, waving her arms as she stops beside Miorine. "Really! Look at her! Everyone's working hard to make her feel better, s-so it won't take long at all!"
Unfortunately for Suletta, she does get Miorine's attention, eventually. (Through no fault of her own.) "M-m-m-me?!" She yelps, leaning back, as if the tiny Miorine could fell her with a single finger-flick. "B-but I d-d-d-dont know a-anything about securing a hangar! E-everyone trusted each other on Mercury!"
<Pose Tracker> Miorine Rembran has posed.
Miorine at one point in her life did, but after a certain day... she no longer did. She can't even look forward to becoming an adult, that agency away from her Father's control.
He doesn't allow her even that.
Suletta insists that everyone is working hard, but Miorine's staring at the arm that Guel cut off in the duel. As if she's going to look away and it's just going to fall off because they buffed out the damage but didn't fix it properly.
But importantly- she's right now pointing at Suletta, "What kind of place is Mercury that you left a state of the art billion gilla piece of equipment where ANYONE COULD TAKE IT?"
Apparently 'trusted each other' isn't even worth consideration. "You could at least go on patrol for suspicious characters!"
cluck-cluck-cluck-cluck-cluck-cluck
A chicken is currently walking by Aerial's feet, out of Miorine's line of sight. Nika suddenly sidesteps, and hides it from view.
"Imagine if someone like Elan just walked in here!"
Obviously HE counts as a suspicious character. Before she turns around towards Nika, "You! Do you know anything about security systems?" Nika cocks her head to the side, considering, "I do. Though we don't have much of a budget..." Miorine then points at Martin, "You!" Martin squeaks in alarm, "EEEEEhaha!" "Get together with her and figure out the most cost efficient system on your House budget."
Nuno sighs as he reviews the data on the systems, "There goes movie night."
Ojelo looks more annoyed, "What makes you think you can just order us around? You're not part of this House."
Miorine turns and stares at him, but looks unimpressed, "Two members of your House were recently involved in mobile suit related bullying incidents, weren't they? You think just because the perpetrators were assaulted, that others won't be tempted?"
"Uh. Well..." He stumbles awkwardly, because he didn't think of it like that, "... there's always stuff like that happening, but it's always really minor. Most of it's not really worth reporting so we just deal with it around here."
"'Not really worth reporting'?"
"Yeah? The faculty's not exactly on our side, and it's always he said, she said."
"So if you had proper security, that means you'd have evidence to back you up if you needed to report something?" Miorine asks.
...
...
...
"Look we take care of our own around here!" He finally utters to try and regain dignity.
"Obviously."
Nika has meanwhile started showing Martin pictures on a cell phone, while he's started trying to use a calculator on his datapad, then comparing numbers, moans as he tells Nika, "I suppose I can get by on just eggs and milk this week."
Nika pats him on the back, 'There there.'
<Pose Tracker> Suletta Mercury has posed.
"N-no one would take Aerial!" Suletta protests. "There'd be no point!"
What she means by that, she doesn't say.
But Miorine demands she go and patrol, and Suletta stands ramrod-straight, hands out at her sides. "Y--yes!" She barks, eyes wide. "I-I'll go right now! Patrol, patrol, patrol..."
Marching, stiff-legged, she starts a patrol through the hangar. (Will she meet Mr. Elan here...? Oh, surely not!)
"Ahh, Suletta..." Nika sighs, watching her go, before Miorine turns her attention to her. And as they're working out their budget --
"Hey, uh... you don't really need to," Nuno leans over, hands in his pockets, to point out to Suletta as she marches past. "We're all here right now."
"M-Ms. Miorine told me to!" Suletta says, still quite stiff. "I have to!"
"Have to, huh," he sighs, shrugging his shoulders as he lets her go.
'MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH,' Tiko bleats, as Suletta marches past.
"T--Tiko, you'd tell us i-if anyone suspicious was lurking around, right?" Suletta stops, to ask the goat.
'MYEEEEEHHHHHHH,' Tiko replies, reaching out to try and nibble on her Holder's sleeve.
"W-wait, not me! Not me, not me...!!"