Ridly Montill's Story

The woman’s conversation with the barkeep continued, and it seemed she’d decided to take him up on his generous offer to work for him. Throwing her an apron, he told her that he expected her to wait tables for him before whispering something in her ear that Hal couldn’t quite catch. And finally, the most important part of this particular conversation came up, which was the actual job. He mentioned that the job had been posted with the Hunter’s Guild, so if he couldn’t manage to talk to the bartender, he could always check in at the Guild’s mission counter to see what the deal was.

The last thing he noted before something else distracted him from all the information was that Bec was given a short break from her duties. However, just as he was starting to reach the latter half of his meal, another girl stood just at the end of his table, eyeing the FOmar over. A bit creeped out by her, Hal turned his head and looked up to her.

“...Can I help you with something?” He asked with one eyebrow raised to indicate just how weird she was acting. It didn’t seem to bother her, though, as she mumbled something to herself and took a seat across from him, Hal continuing to give the girl an incredulous look as she sat. Rather rudely, the girl stuck her hand out and nabbed a small piece of his fried fish, dangling it a bit before plopping it into her mouth. An only child, and naturally having an intense dislike towards sharing in general, Hal’s eyes narrowed as the girl leaned forward and made her ridiculous proposition, one that actually caused his somewhat hard expression to soften. She was serious, was she? Maybe she was right about him needing more protection, but the way she went about it was off. He put one of his elbows on the table and leaned on it as he looked at her a bit more to gauge her before responding.

“Oh, so you own this booth do you?” He stated with a smirk. “Well, I certainly don’t see your name on it. Funny, that. You’d think someone who thinks they’re so important would at least have their name engraved on a table they own, wouldn’t you?” He stopped leaning on his hand as he sat straight up, looking her in the eye, keeping his elbow on the table and his hand up.

“Not to mention the fact that a young little Newman girl like you thinks they can intimidate an older FOmar like me. Please. Maybe I do need the protection, but I think you forget...” Underneath the table, a small fireball was building in Hal’s hand, and with a flick, the girl would feel a small smack and a burning upon her tush. “...Although some of us more support based, we’re not completely defenseless. Especially those of us who have been trained for well over just several years.” The FOmar continued to smirk as he watched her squirm a bit, though the fire would be easy to put out, of course. He had no intention of hurting the girl. After all...

“Either way, I like how bold you were to just come up to me and try to make something like that fly. That means I’ll take you up on your offer and have you stick around, since, after all, us Skyly’s have to stick together.” He stuck his hand out across the table. “The name’s Hal. And you are?”

After listening to her little introduction that was sure to follow, and sure to be all grandiose, even after Hal embarrassed her a little, he glanced to the side momentarily, noting that Bec had been watching the two of them whole time. Funny that she hadn’t stopped his ‘attack’ on the girl. He turned back to his current companion. “Well, Ridly, while I’m sure you’re capable and whatnot...” Hal mentally rolled his eyes, somewhat unsure of her ability, knowing the only thing she didn’t lack was confidence. “...I can tell by the hat that you’re a ranger, and unfortunately, no matter how good you are, we’re going to need someone to take the hits. Someone like a hunter. But, oh, I wonder where we can find one of those...” He paused and turned his head to Bec, then grinned as his eyes settled on her. “...That is, unless she’s already found us. After all, you do seem rather interested in our conversation.”

Hal sighed when Bec turned him down, but perked up a bit when she threw him her player card, smiling back at her. “Booked with Tawny, huh? I assume that’s the barkeep. Well, as it just so happens, I’ve been thinking about trying to get a few jobs from him sometime, since that’s the only lead I’ve got so far. But, seeing as you’re typically his main hunter, I figure I’ll put in all my requests through you.” He chuckled nervously as he stashed Bec’s card and watched her nearly fall over from Tawny’s calling, turning back to his new companion, watching Bec out of the corner of his eye as she went through her paces.

Hal had noted Ridly’s whole speech about street smarts and the like, yawning a bit as she made her overly grandiose gestures. Man, if he could have a meseta for every time he got this speech. The whole thing was starting to bug him. Just because he went to the academy didn’t mean he was some no-good fool who didn’t know what was going on with the world. He was well in tune with how things were. But her assessment of his overconfidence may have been a bit more on the mark than he realized, if only slightly.

Still, the way she’d brushed off and practically not even noticed that he was the one who hit her butt with the Foie agitated him just a bit. If she couldn’t tell something as simple as that, how was she going to perform in the field? He still held his doubts about her. Anybody who brags as much as she does had to be hiding behind some sort of façade...

”Hey, gramps, let’s roll if you want to get anything done. Guild’s open and they got tech for us all.”

Hal’s ears perked up. “Is that so?” He said, looking at his wrist communicator briefly, seeing that there was a message. Must’ve missed it while Ridly was doing all her expostulating, or perhaps when he turned to Bec. Either way, he stood up along with the RAnewearl, stretching a bit before he took a quick sip of his water.

“Yeah, you’re right. We’d best head out. Though, would ya stop calling me gramps? Just because I’ve gone to and graduated from the academy doesn’t mean I’m all that much older, y’know. I’m maybe older just by three or four years than most of you. Gramps is reserved for someone like the barkeep over there,” he pointed briefly before turning back to her.

“Anyways, mind if we stop by the Skyly living quarters? I’ve got something I wanna pick up.”

Fortunately for him, it seemed Ridly was headed that way as well. So, the two headed off, Hal grabbing his staff before he went off to the Science Wing to check out a brand new mag. Though, before he departed from the Pit Stop, he laughed a bit at Bec’s situation, patting her on the back as she passed.

“If you ever get tired of babysitting for Tawny, give me a buzz. After all, I might be in the same boat.” He passed her his own card, winking before he headed off.

Once the two of them made it to the Science Wing, while his companion glanced at the mags within, Hal made a beeline for the person in charge, knowing that there’d probably be a hefty line pretty soon.

“Excuse me, miss,” He said, tapping the blonde FOmarl on the shoulder. She was pretty absorbed in her work, and hadn’t even noticed that the two of them had walked in. “We’re here to grab the mags that Ala promised we’d get. Do ya mind helping us out?” While Hal had learned a little about mags at the academy, he’d prefer getting a few tips from the expert.

Hal scratched his head a bit as he watched the now a bit shocked Tiara fumble with the piece of machinery she was working on, skillfully catching it before she turned around. As she blushed, Hal looked back and became a bit mystified as to how all these people managed to show up at the same time. After the extended period of time that he and Ridly took to get their equipment in their living quarters, he thought for sure they’d be the last ones there. Still, it was a nice surprise, and as Kylli and Bec arrived, the FOmar smiled and cheerfully waved at them. It didn’t seem like they noticed him, though, which was a bit of a bummer, but he didn’t let it get him down too bad. After all, there’d be other times to say hello and commiserate with them.

Once Tiara got her bearings back, she started doling out the mags, mentioning that Ala had set several aside just for them; a fact that greatly surprised Hal. Already had mags in reserve? His initial thought was that something like that was a little suspicious, but he didn’t have much time to muse upon it as his name was called first. Raising his hand, Hal stepped forward, smiling at the meek little Tiara, telling her that she could call him Hal. She seemed to stumble over her words as she spoke to him.

“The is um, your Mag... It’s been authorized and pre-registered in your name... Be sure to take good care of it...”

Hal nodded in response, his previous question seemingly answered by her brief explanation. Still, he couldn’t help but still feel a little but curious as to why they had been pre-assigned beforehand. As the mag hovered over, he grabbed it and gave it a bit of a hug and petted it as if the machine was a new puppy. Right off the bat, he fed it a few antidotes to help build it up before he let it hover back over his shoulder. Sure, it was a bit dorky to act that way, but he knew that although these things were machines, they still had AI, and could still feel emotions, just like a dog or any real pet. He figured giving it some tender loving care would probably be for the best in the long run. After all, the happier it was, the more it’d sync up with him...

The FOmar looked on curiously as Tiara continued to hand out the pre-assigned mags, quietly and shyly mumbling until she got to one hunter in particular, a male cast. At that moment, she perked up, becoming way more audible and way more excited, something that struck Hal as rather odd. Given his first impression of her usual disposition, she wasn’t the type to suddenly lapse into a happy, cheerful mood so quickly. Was there...something about this Nex person that made her so lively? Maybe it was because she was so used to working on them all day, like that cast behind her, who seemed to be called Lucy.

As it would happen, when Hal took a glance over at Lucy, the glow in her eyes returned, and she hopped off the table. Hal was fairly surprised, but it was nowhere near as shocked as Tiara was, the poor girl double taking when she spun around. He thought her eyes might pop out of her head, considering how much she’d been startled today. Eventually, Tiara convinced Lucy to lie back down and go back to sleep.

From here, the rest went off without much of a hitch, other than Bec being what Hal suspected to be her normal, slightly impatient and bratty self. And once everyone had their mags and was ready to head out, he was sure Ridly would have been the same way. But the FOmar had other plans.

“Hey, Ridly. Do you mind heading to the Guild counter and picking up a mission for us?” He asked politely. “I’ve got a few things I wanna ask Tiara. I’ll catch up in a bit, okay?”

Assuming that was no problem, Hal approached Tiara, smiling.

“If you don’t mind, miss Tiara, I’ve actually got a few questions for ya.” He cleared his throat as he prepped his questions, naturally asking them one at a time.

“So, you said our mags were pre-assigned. I found that kind of odd,” He started, circling the girl and running his hand along the table that Lucy was now resting on lightly. “How come we didn’t get to choose our own? ” He stopped, putting his hand on the table and facing her as she answered before moving onto his next question. “Also, I’m rather fascinated with mags and casts, to be honest. It was something I was interested in at the academy, but never really got into. Are there any tips you can tell me about taking care of this little guy here?” He patted his mag and smiled. “And do you mind telling me more about Lucy here? I’ve never seen a FOcaseal before. There weren’t any at the academy.”

Hal simply nodded along to the answers on taking care of his mag, softly grabbing his mag from his shoulder and giving it another pat, feeding it a few more items, this time some monofluids. Sure, fluids were a part of his small addiction, but now that his tech energy capacity had increased through his training at the academy, monofluids just didn’t satisfy his need for them nearly as much. Only difluids and trifluids would do the trick, especially the trifluids. Those things practically sent pleasurable shivers down his spine when he consumed them, his body brimming with energy afterwards. He’d probably better save that for his mag further down the road, if he didn’t want to save them for himself, that is.

Still, as she answered his initial questions, he was surprised at just how shy the girl was. Tiara was practically mousey in personality, shrinking away as he approached her. He shouldn’t have been all that shocked, though. This was a scientist after all, and she probably really did only deal with casts all day. However, while all that was true, there was a certain air about the FOmarl. Something about her just seemed to cry out a profound intelligence to Hal, something that he liked seeing in, well, anybody. Sometimes that sort of thing was quite rare.

Thinking on that caused him to space out a bit, at least until Tiara started talking about Lucy. Again, he nodded along, a bit confused by the term TPC, but understanding the device’s function. He learned a little bit about the energy he used in order to cast techs, but knew that he couldn’t generate it naturally without a fair bit of rest, while Newman’s could regenerate it slowly on the fly. However, once Tiara got deep into her explanation of the device and Lucy’s inner workings, the FOmarl would start to notice Hal’s eyes start to spin in his head a little, the complicated terminology and even more befuddling concepts on cast technology making the FOmar completely lose her line of logic. It sounded interesting, and definitely proved his prior thought, but it was easy to tell she was an engineer at heart, always overcomplicating things to an audience that might not understand. He smiled and placed his hand on her shoulder to make her stop.

“I apologize to interrupt...” he interjected, “...But do you mind if we talk about this over a cup of coffee another time? The girl who’s my partner this time around, Ridly, is the impatient type, and I know she won’t wait up for me.” His expression went to even more cheerful, somehow. “We’ll exchange player cards and meet up sometime, okay? I’d love to hear more. Though I don’t understand a lot of it, the idea of a cast using techs is absolutely incredible and intriguing to me. Not to mention your research into the subject.” Hal handed her his card before taking hers, scanning it and placing it in his pocket afterwards.

Hal went to catch up to Ridly, but just before he turned to leave, he stopped, turning back to the scientist. “Oh, and I think it’s endearing how absorbed you get when someone brings up a topic like casts. Almost makes me forget how shy you are.” He chuckled before he walked out of the science wing and towards the guild counter. And once there, he found Ridly and softly tapped her on the shoulder.

“So, what’d you find for us, miss Apparently Amazing?” he asked playfully, assuming that she’d gotten the missions for the two of them already.

Hal took his ticket as soon as Ridly reached out and handed it to him, taking a moment to read it over as she immediately spouted a few words at him, some of them pertaining to the mission. He ignored her initial snide comment for now, focusing on the ticket. It seemed that there weren’t many details on the ticket itself, unfortunately, which made Hal rather wary. As far as he could remember, it was customary for the client to debrief the hunters they hired before something like this. Then again, considering a majority of them were just starting out, these little quests were probably easy and trivial, something that could easily be carried out without any guidance or forethought. The fact that multiple hunters could take it at any time confirmed his suspicions.

Still, a lost hunter... Hal’s initial reactions were to say ‘This could be dangerous’ or ‘Why don’t we do a mission that actually guarantees us money’. After all, had he seen the list of missions, and if it was up to him, he would’ve done the foraging mission. That was something that involved research, a subject that was very near and dear to the FOmar’s heart. However, he stopped those thoughts for the moment, knowing Ridly would be the type to ignore or dismiss him. He shrugged before placing the ticket into one of the pockets in his robe.

“Well, if those ‘whippersnappers’ think they can best us so easily, they’ve got another thing coming. Even if they do have the jump on us,” he said, grinning. Just because he would’ve opted to avoid the competition didn’t mean he’d shy away from it. Especially when it was throw in his face. “Let’s get going.”

Ridly didn’t even seem to notice Hal’s comment and hurried off towards the portal, an action that didn’t surprise Hal in the least, considering how she acted. Part of him wondered why she was bothering to take him along at all. He would’ve been perfectly fine on his own, but this girl seemed to want to latch onto him, and then leave him in the dust. Perhaps she knew he’d follow, or maybe, just maybe, it was something else. Still, he didn’t have too much time to ponder on such things, needing to hurry after the girl and towards his destination.

“Butts is right,” was all that Hal caught as he strode up beside Ridly, watching her as she made her way down the plank and over the edge. Something this amazing would’ve really intrigued Hal more if it wasn’t for the fact that he’d been around these things a fair bit during his time at the academy. The place was spread out far and wide across the city, and if you were ever to make it to class on time without having to wake up at the crack of dawn, you needed to use one. This one was a bit different, though, as it acted more like a pool rather than a beaming platform. An interesting change, to be sure, but not one that would pique his interest. Yet.

The FOmar silently gave the portal operator a warm, friendly smile and a two finger wave as he walked up to take his step onto the platform.

“You’ll have to excuse my current partner,” he said. “I haven’t known her long, but she doesn’t know much in the way of manners.” He nodded to himself before he turned towards the plank. Taking a deep breath, he took a few steps out towards the edge, peering out at the lush, green forest below. The view was magnificent, even more so than he’d ever dreamed it to be. Was this what Ragol looked like before it was settled? A beautiful natural landscape such as this? Deciding now wasn’t the time to stand idly by to think about such things, he took the plunge, cannonballing into the ‘water’.

Hal managed somehow to land flat on his stomach once he reached the surface, muttering a painful yelp as he hit. Slowly, he got up and dusted himself off, looking to Ridly to ask what they should do next. However, it seemed she was already on top of things.

“Well, I’m prepared. What are you bringing?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got what I need. We just need to find the target,” he replied, petting his mag, who he decided he’d name Sunni, before clutching his staff. And with that, they were off, Hal heading in the same direction as his current companion.

“Y’know, you could’ve picked an easier route,” Hal commented as he and Ridly went through the forest, vines and other assorted plants annoyingly tangling his footing constantly at each step. “Maybe one that, oh, I dunno, didn’t try to trip me every time I try to take a step? Seriously, this is getting more than just a little frustrating.”

He shook his head at Ridly’s response, one that would probably have something to do with how this way was the fastest, or how he should man up about it. He sighed and continued on, focused more on keeping himself from falling over than keeping tabs on his partner. He assumed she’d hold up for him if he needed it, and seeing as he wasn’t nearly as athletic as the RAnewearl, she’d probably have to, begrudgingly of course. After all, he was sure to be proven useful fairly soon. Hopefully.

The FOmar didn’t bother to try to start up a conversation, either. While Hal was rather sociable, he wasn’t exactly the type to just throw out random ice breakers, at least most of the time. When he needed to? Sure, he’d go through with that. But at the moment, those sorts of things were unnecessary. And while he wouldn’t mind answering the types of questions a certain female RAmarl was throwing about with her partner, he’d never been the type to put them out there himself. So, the two of them continued on in silence, unless Ridly had something pressing to add to the conversation, or rather, lack thereof.

Once they reached the downed boomas, Hal took a moment to examine the killed monsters, kneeling down beside them. He might not have been a master tracker, but it wouldn’t take an expert to tell that their target had gotten into a bit of trouble. Granted, it seemed like the fellow could handle himself, what with having the ability to spread this pack of boomas out to take them down one at a time. Hal put a hand on the body closest to him, checking to see if it was still warm. Either way, though, he’d stand up and speak afterwards.

“Let’s get moving. Hopefully he’s not too far off,” he stated, untangling himself from yet another vine before he walked in the direction they were headed before.

As they reached the clearing and heard the rustling of the bushes, Hal sprang into action. Without a word, he moved closer to the RAnewearl and immediately cast his staple techs, Shifta and Deband. The soft red and blue glow of the techs encircled the two of them, and both of them immediately felt stronger. Of course, it seemed that it was all for naught as a cute little Rappy stepped out of the brush, causing Hal to smile and let his guard down.

“Awwww, that’s actually kinda cute,” he found himself saying. A bit girly, sure, but he couldn’t really help himself. He was a fan of cute animals, and Rag Rappies were no exception. “Though, I wonder what it’s doing all the way out here. Usually they---” the FOmar was cut off as the avian animal rushed right by them and back into the forest, and a vicious roar rang out from behind it. The ground shook and trembled as what looked to be a giant ape looking monster emerged from forest, slamming one of the nearest trees down to the ground, practically crushing it.

After a bit of an aggressive display, the monster made a huge swipe at the two of them. And unfortunately, Hal was the closest to the beast, unable to really dodge out of sheer shock. He did manage to slow its swing down a fair bit as it hit him, however, his body hopefully acting as a bit of a human shield for his partner. He flew back about a meter or so, slamming into the ground and sliding a little ways into a nearby tree. He grimaced as he sat there, wincing at the pain.

“Great. It’s only the first day and I’ve already been more hurt than I can remember ever being in my life...” he muttered. If not for the Deband, though, the poor little FOmar would’ve been hurt much more, perhaps even knocked out from the critical hit. Weakly raising his staff, Hal managed to cast a strong Resta spell that mended most of what was broken in his body, and though the pain still lingered, he was at least healed up and ready for action now. Leaning on the tree for support, Hal brought himself to his feet, stumbling forward once he was all the way up. Figuring that Ridly had the monster preoccupied for now, he closed his eyes and began focusing on his next tech, this time, offensive...

Hal was thankful enough that Ridly stepped up and took charge as soon as the FOmar was knocked almost out of commission. To be honest, if it wasn’t for his Resta tech, the poor Force might’ve had to go home and get put in a body cast. Unfortunately, though the injuries were technically gone, Hal had to still deal with the lingering pain from his ordeal, the stinging causing him to lose a little focus as he struggled to concentrate on his next tech. After all, while he excelled at casting, offensive techs weren’t exactly his strong suit, and they usually took a bit of time for him to conjure up, especially when he needed an especially strong version of it.

That meant that Ridly would have to distract the beast a bit more, her peppering rain of bullets helping the situation a little, but doing no real substantial damage to the Hildebear. The Shifta buff did strengthen her shots a little, and it got stunned every now and then, but the monster eventually got frustrated at its inability to close in and started resorting to its long range attack. He could feel it charging up, preparing and ultimately firing a rather strong Foie right from its mouth. Though Hal hoped his companion had dodged it, it made little difference, as the Force had fully prepared his tech.

“Ridly, move,” he stated with a surprisingly commanding and serious tone. Once she was out of the way, either through her own volition or getting hit out of the way by the burst of flame, Hal thrust his hands and his staff forward towards the beast, and a spray of ice shards spewed forth towards it, the icicles from the Gibarta blast piercing the Hildebear’s tough hide a few times before the cold managed to freeze the monster solid. Hal snickered, walking up to the incapacitated beast with a smirk before turning to Ridly.

“Well, I’ll let you do the honours of taking it out however you like from here,” he said. “I’m going to start looking around. Hopefully our target should be nearby.” Hal was mostly using the reasoning that this was the last known location of the hunter, but could have just as easily used any of the information Ridly might of given him, including her assessment of the fire and those tracks, assuming she’d given him that information at one point or another.

As Hal searched the outer points of the clearing, around the brush that surrounded the area, he managed to hear a little rustling where something or someone may or may not have been spying on them. He of course had no idea as to whom or what it was, or whether or not it was really anything at all. Naturally, after the fight with the Hildebear, the Force was a bit wary of any movement within the forest, and he carefully approached the next portion of bushes near the aforementioned noises. However, as he did, his mag, Sunni, started beeping and spinning around, forcing him away from what might’ve been in that direction.

“What is it, Sunni?” He asked, petting it to try and calm it down. But as he did, it seemed to pull him in another direction, one away from those noises and towards a patch of bushes. It pulled him directly towards one in particular, as if to encourage Hal to investigate. Peering inside, he saw something shimmering within the deepest part of the plant. Reaching in, Hal managed to pull out something that definitely could be assumed to be near and dear to their target’s heart, his mag. Sunni hummed and whirled around once he found it, both in excitement and in concern. The poor thing was barely alive now, its eyelense cracked and its power supply nearly exhausted, forcing it to go into hibernation mode. So, naturally, after his discovery...

“Ridly! Come check this out!” He cried out, waving the RAnewearl over. And no matter her response, Hal would say the following.

“Even if it didn’t belong to Gil, I need to get to the Science Wing ASAP and get it fixed. I can’t stand to see a mag like this...” He looked down at it with a sorrowful look, Hal’s own mag beeping and humming in response. He paused for a moment, contemplating the situation until he finally came up with some reasoning that would sink into Ridly’s head a little better. She didn’t seem the sentimental type, after all.

“...Plus, it might have some valuable information. It was near this clearing, after all. Either way, I’ll meet you at the Science Wing, okay?”

Standing up, he pulled his sleeve back and began to type on his wrist communicator, requesting Rio for immediate pickup.

Ridly was slowly starting to grow worn out from the constant leaps and rolls she made, each putting her just outside of of the monster's reach and out of harm's way. Of course she couldn't keep it up forever and the shots from her gun seemed to be doing little other than aggravating it. Bounding back one more time, the Hildebear seemed to have finally given up it's chase, giving Ridly a moment to catch her breath. Or so she thought as she found herself staring into a blistering fire from the mouth of the creature. Not being entirely familiar with it, it was only until the last moment she realized it would be a projectile coming at her and not a streamed blowing of flames. On instinct, she tried diving out of the way, but not quite in time. The blast caught her leg, sending her spinning out of her poised dodge and onto the ground prone.

Luckily for her, a certain partner came striding up behind her, throwing forth a a storm of cold energy. Ridly slowly rose to feet in a wince of pain as she watched the Hildebear being frozen solid before her. At Hal's comment, she wiped a thumb under her nose with a huff, almost feeling as though she had hardly done anything to help in this fight. "Baah, that's good enough," she replied, giving the preserved creature a look over while Hal was led away by his mag.

Finally allowing her attention to stray from the threat at hand, she glanced around the surroundings, being wary of any further wild creatures that may come swinging out of the bushes and right on top of her self. There was a rustling in the bushes and a glimmer of something metallic beyond the obscuring flora. Ridly licked the corner of her lips as she raised her gun to a ready position, being too late to call out to the oddity or warn Hal of another possible hostile. Hearing a shot ring out and come crashing into a tree, she retaliated with a firing of her own. Of course, the wide scattering of her ready shot would only manage to down the branches of a few stray trees. She prepared herself to move, but there were no further shots taken on either of two.

Dashing over to the call of her name, she looked down at whatever it was Hal was digging up. "What are you doing getting all weepy over a toy?" she spoke, letting her shot hang from her shoulder as she lifted her hat a moment, sweeping a hand through her hair with a sigh before plopping it back down on her head, "Whatever, do what you want. Obviously there's something goin' on here or there wouldn't be a reason for someone trying to assassinate us. Worthless, whoever it is."

She waved a dismissive hand over her shoulder. "Our mission is done here. Though, I wouldn't put it past the two airheads that also took the mission to be coming past here and to add to that, one of them had a rifle," she mentioned, pointing two fingers at the splintered tree beside them, "I have nothing else to do here, so I'd rather get back up to the ship. Confront that wench in a safer place. Make the call for two."

At Kylli’s somewhat delayed response to her question, Bec returned the somewhat blank stare as she came to stand on her feet, Montann smirking a little in that way where Bec couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Did she get some blood on her or something? No, that didn’t seem to be it… Somehow, she felt she’d prefer to let Kylli’s private thoughts about the HUnewearl be just that.

“We’re over the opposite side of the forest. It’d probably be best if we head back and get relocated a little closer…” Hoisting the bag onto her back, Bec flipped out her communicator, fiddling with it to request pick up. “Besides, I don’t think Tawny will appreciate letting this meat spoil.”

Folding the device away, Bec gestured Kylli over to the centre of the clearing. It did not take long before swirling blue lights began to envelope them, and the familiar feeling of being broken down into photons and speeding through space like vivid lights overtook each of them. Trails of glowing lights warped and flitted around their eyes, stars whipping past in an instant, along with other, brighter glows sped down towards the surface. Finally, a blinding whiteness began to approach them, before fading back into reality as they burst from the pool of water, landing on the metal catwalk in front of Rio.

“How’s that for service? Got you back here in record time, and kept you in one piece.” Rio smiled cheerfull before remembering her position, breaking into a salute. “Oh, and welcome back Hunters. I trust your mission was successful?” Putting on her best ‘gruff authoritarian voice’, she giggled and stuck out her tongue before giving an exclamation of surprise.

“Oh my! I certainly am popular today! Would you two mind scooting over and turning in to Sienna? I’ve got another couple returning for pick up.” Beginning to tap away at the keyboard, the pool of water quickly began glowing as she started to recall another duo…



As the beam of energy quickly whisked the duo to the surface, they’d find themselves thrown out just in front of both Bec and Kylli, who had quickly managed to shuffle out of the way. Safety procedures declared that retrieval shouldn’t be done until the platform was clear, but Rio had a penchant for ignoring the rules that were a little too stifling.

Glancing over Ridly and Hal, Bec smirked a little at the slightly singed Ridly, along with the dirt-stained yellow robes of Hal. “Aw, did you guys have trouble on your mission?” She teased, the sarcasm in her voice palpable as she snickered. Considering the derisive comments they had earlier, it gave her some smug satisfaction that they’d encountered difficulty.

“Perhaps you’re getting over the hill and should leave the tough stuff to us? Especially if you botched a simple search mission.” Bec laughed heartily, her ego stoked only further by their ‘success’ over the other group.



The monitor crackled slightly, before a heavily altered artificial voice came through, the screen emblazoned by a regal looking capital R.

“Preparations have been made to provide a cover story. For now, avoid confrontation and return to the Vanguard as soon as possible. We will review your failings and determine appropriate action. Return the file to the deposit box when safe to do so, and until we contact you again, we ask that you continue your original task, and blend in as per normal.”

With that, the screen dimmed once more, leaving Lance alone within the forest…

Naturally, Hal was oblivious as compared to his partner, who was astute enough to actually recognize the danger they were in. Barely even noticing the bullet graze the nearby tree, he didn’t understand why Ridly was shooting into the forest, a confused look crossing his face as he watched her stride over to him.

“What are you doing getting all weepy over a toy?” she asked after Hal, lazily sweeping her hand through her hair just before Hal spoke. As he did, there was a certain look of distaste in his concerned expression. How could she call that hurt mag just a toy?

“It’s not just a toy...” he stated. “...Mags are like any pet. Something you need to take care of and appreciate. They’re living things in my eyes, and deserve to be called more than just a simple plaything.” He sighed as he continued to examine the hurt mag, hoping that the damage would be reparable. However, his ears perked up when he heard something rather alarming from his partner.

“...Obviously there’s something goin’ on here or there wouldn’t be a reason for someone trying to assassinate us...”

Hal’s eyes widened as he looked up from the object that had been preoccupying most of his attention.

“...You mean to say...someone just tried to kill us? Just now? Was that why you were shooting into the forest?” He gazed back down at the mag in his hands. “This little guy must be more important than we realize. All the more reason I should be getting this mag back sooner rather than later.”

Hal nodded in response to Ridly’s request to be ‘beamed up’ as well, and brought his wrist communicator back out, adding that in to his request to Rio. And sure enough, after only a few short moments of waiting, a familiar white light enveloped the two hunters, bringing them back safely aboard the Vanguard.

Though the force was still a bit preoccupied by the mag in his hands, he couldn’t help but overhear Bec’s comments towards him and his partner. He sighed, turning to her, at which point the situation at hand with the mag would be obvious. He didn’t know if she shared his sentiment, but surely she would at the very least understand it.

“Look, as much fun as it would be to stick around and talk, I don’t have time for teasing banter right now. I’ve got to get this hurt mag to the Science Wing without delay.” He paused for a moment before realizing he needed add something that might help their case. After all, the thought that they failed would be easy teasing grounds for the HUnewearl, something he just could not allow, more for Ridly’s sake than his own. He didn’t entirely mind the attention. “This mag is the key to that rescue mission, after all. But, Ridly, I trust you’ll come up with an even more crushing reply for us in the meantime,” he said, patting his partner on the back and managing a smile. “We’ll talk later, folks. See ya.” And with that, the force took his leave, nodding to Rio in thanks as he rushed off past her.

“Tiara! Hey, Tiara!” Hal shouted before he even got in the door. He didn’t want to catch her off guard and by surprise again, after all. As he entered, he approached her, holding out the damaged mag in one hand, gesturing towards her.

“I need your help. This mag...it’s uh...it’s pretty badly hurt,” he stated, his voice probably a tad bit shakier than she remembered. He did his best to keep his composure with the rest of the crew, but here, so close to the ward that might save this mag, he seemed to get a bit caught up. “Is there anything you can do to help it?” He gave Tiara that same familiar concerned expression for a few moments before he cleared his throat and added, “Erm...because it has important information for a mission, y’know...” His voice trailed off.

Lance nodded once, giving R a two-finger salute, and then placing the small monitor back into his pocket. Lance turned, pulling out his communicator and contacting Rio for pickup. A few seconds after dialing, a beam of light washed over him, and he was transported back into the Vanguard.

Lance's eyes opened, surveying the people around Him. He barely noticed Hal leaving the room, and when Lance did, a darkness consumed his eyes, followed by an immediate recolor of his pupil. His eyes remained red for a moment, but he blinked a few times, and they returned to their natural golden color. Lance turned to Ridly. "Where's he off to so quickly?". Lance then turned too Kylli after receiving an answer from Ridly. "Hey, I know you. You were in that Bar when that drunk decided to cause trouble. Where'd you just come from anyways, finish a Mission?". Lance glanced at Bec, whom he also recognized from the Bar. He was tempted to just leave and go straight for the Deposit Box, but that'd look suspicious.

"Hmm..." Kylli said, half-absently, half-thoughtfully. She supposed that Bec was right, though she wasn't sure how long exactly it took for meat to spoil. But then again, she wasn't exactly sure how long it might take them to go through the rescue thing either. It didn't seem like anything that serious, but there was always the chance that something weird could happen and delay them coming back. "Alright," She said, her voice light. "Let's go back then." She followed Bec quietly, a bit subdued now, though she wasn't quite sure why. The shooting had been fun - although the afterwards had been a bit less than...her style.

They stood next to each other in the center of the circle, and then light enveloped them, everything quickly shattering into a million pieces. It was hard to think under such circumstances, but Kylli had enough grip of mind to admire all the pretty colors flowing around her and the interesting feel of being broken and transported away, before the sensation was over.

The two of them broke the surface of the pool of water, and Kylli felt herself take a deep breath as if she had actually just come up from a swim and was now breathless. A quick moment and they had landed on the metal catwalk before the smiling girl who had just picked them up and brought them back. Based on her cheerfulness and the quick, sparkling words that she was saying, it was quite apparent that she was rather proud of herself - or at least glad of the company. It was hard to tell which.

Kylli hadn't even had a chance to comprehend Rio's question about their success before Rio's attention switched to another call asking for transportation back. Her instant reaction was to step away from the spot, a feat that she just managed to accomplish before another pair came shimmering from the water - a young man and the tall woman who'd challenged them before. She blinked at them, remembering that they'd taken the rescue mission as well. They were back now and in not so mint condition judging by the state of their clothes.

Bec was smirking besides her, an expression that she followed up with a verbal arrow thrown their way - she'd obviously not been too happy with the brush-off from earlier. Kylli glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. "Immature, aren't we?" She murmured quietly, although she was fairly sure that no one, not even Bec could hear her. She looked at the pair - the man was saying something about being in a hurry, and before she could react, he'd darted out of the room, cradling something between his hands.

...So, dangerous, Kylli thought. A slow smile started to slip across her face and a song began dancing between her eyes again. She glanced at Lance, recognizing him as well - the overly eager hero.

"That's right ~" She said, keeping her voice light. "Just finished a mission." Before, she'd have been more eager to converse with him, but not right now. Right now, she had larger things to deal with. She turned to face Ridly and gave her a smile to make up for Bec's rudeness - although she was fairly sure that it wouldn't work. Her face was probably very predatory right now - very predatory - and Ridly would probably think that she was just adding onto Bec.

"Hi, Miss ~" Her voice was cheery. "Welcome back. How was your mission? Did you guys find the guy?" Kylli glanced at the traces of dirt and then back up into the woman's face. "Did you find something interesting?" Her voice curled on the last word, and her smile grew.

Ridly stared at Hal for a moment with a look crossing between shock and disgust. "You mean you didn't even notice a single thing? Not a person in the trees, not a bullet three steps away from doing through your head?" she spoke in disbelief, a hand raised to her forehead, "You gotta' be kidding! You belong in a lab, not the field." Turning away from him, she stared off into the forest. For one, to keep an eye out for any more disturbances as she waited for pick up and two, she really didn't have much more to say on the topic. He will learn when he gets killed.

"We'll talk about your pets some other time. Let's just get out of here for now," she waved off the topic, coincidentally with the moment that the light picked the both up and whizzed them away back to the station. She landed on the plank with a snarl. Nothing was going right today and they likely wouldn't get paid for the mission since they technically didn't find a person or the body. Not to mention getting toasted and having to put up with a partner who seemed to barely even understand the premise of caution.

And then there was the fact that the first person Ridly had to hear upon arriving were those two bothersome girls. She gave a sniff of disinterest, crossing her arms as she merely glared at their words. Hal seemed so eager to reply, that she let him do the talking as she looked them over. A thought suddenly came back to her. Those two were the only ones that would have known of the mission to retrieve the lost hunter. They had voiced their plans to go looking for him as well and sounded like they didn't care for competition. The red head had a rifle.

"Yeah, yeah, go have fun or whatever," she growled, roughly rolling her shoulder to push off Hal's friendly gesture, "I'll crush her alright."

Someone else showed up behind her from the portal, but Ridly was too focused on something else to bother with greeting him or giving much or a reasonable answer to his question, "Don't know. Don't care." That was her instinctive response for the moment, but thinking on it, it was probably the best as well. If she was to believe her partner, that mag was the only lead they would have on the mission and their only chance of getting paid and a 'successful' marking. No one else needed to know what was on it or where it was going, even though he had already announced it. No one around here especially.

She returned Kylli's smile with a dead pan stare, sizing her up as she approached. The inclination of how she spoke and that sarcastic, mocking expression was all that was left to set Ridly off. Suspicions confirmed. The ginger was in for trouble. "Think you's a joker, ah?" Ridly exclaimed, raising her voice with vicious tones of threat. She lashed out at Kylli, aiming to grab hold of the collar of her clothing once she was close enough. If it went through, she would lift the girl onto her tip toes, wild eyed with no concern for Kylli's comfort. "Just kill 'em, that your solution? Should 'ave checked yourself! I'm naw gonna' let you get even try another shot on me, real talk! Ya's gun or your arm, one of 'em's gettin' snapped!

Kylli's eyebrows raised in mild surprise at the woman's tone when she turned to stare at her - that and her cold stare told Kylli trouble was coming, but she wasn't quite sure why. As far as she knew, her words had been very civil - a little bloodthirsty maybe, a bit teasing perhaps, but not enough to warrant this amount of anger.

But then, maybe she has anger management problems, Something not nice in the back of Kylli's head said.

The voice and the look had been enough warning that when the lunge came Kylli managed to step back in time, leaning backwards to allow for a clear miss. She continued to skip backwards lightly, making note of where the metal bridge ended in case and where the other two on the bridge were, just in case she had to run to avoid the fate that the woman was threatening - it did not sound very pleasant - at all. Kylli liked her arms - she needed them to shoot - and she prized her guns above almost anything else. So she could either run or she could fight back.

She glanced over at Rio and decided against it. Rio didn't need that kind of trouble on her hands - and besides, she could hold her own in physical combat, even if she wasn't amazing at it - all those martial arts lessons had some effect.

Quickly, Kylli holstered her guns and then held her palms up for the woman to see. Everything in her was fizzling for a fight - she could take out this young woman faster than she did the Boomas - two shots - if the woman was tough - and she would be dead. But that was illegal, and she'd have hell to pay for it. And besides, hunting humans wasn't quite as fun as hunting animals - there was always that lack of the pure chase - humans usually didn't use their flight or fight instinct very well.

Despite her pledge not to make the woman angry, Kylli couldn't help but say, "I'd rather not have anything broken thanks." But then, she switched into a more serious mode. She lowered the tenor of her voice and took another step back, her hands still held in mid-air - not only did it look like she was surrendering, but it also kept her open in case she needed to block something - although it did also have the disadvantage of leaving her stomach uncovered. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I - don't plan on killing anyone if there's a choice." She paused and took another step back, still tensed for an attack, although she was praying that the woman would calm down a bit - fighting in these quarters would be very annoying. "I was wondering - still high off the hunt..." She shook her head and then looked very seriously at the woman, locking eyes, willing her sincerity to come through and stop the rampage before it came out in greater force.

"I'm sorry."

Tiara Fornell raised her head from her work, removing her glasses as she set aside the papers she had been working on. Sitting up from the orange seat, she turned towards Hal as he approached, eying just what he had in his hand as she closed the gap between them. In the corner of the room, Lucy’s eyes flashed as she watched the two, her ever blank expression silently surveying them.

As Hal spoke his concerns surrounding the welfare of the Mag, Tiara cradled it in her hand, giving it a few soft taps and listening to the yield. Tracing her hand over it’s surface, she was beginning to get an idea of the extent of the damage, feeling each of the cracks. Still, the soft vibration she could feel was a good sign – It was still operating. Her focus changed as she realised Hal was asking her something, and the intense way she’d been investigating the Mag probably had him worried. Catching his follow up regarding the mission, she pieced together just what he might of asked, responding.

“Although most of the damage is external, the key systems inside seem to be okay… It’ll take a while for me to clean it up, but I should be able to perform a data extraction…” Trailing off as she carried it over to the nearby bench, she grabbed the cable she had used earlier and wheeled over the terminal, speaking to Hal as she did.

“If you don’t mind me asking, do you have any idea how this happened? The damage doesn’t seem to match up to local wildlife…” Tiara mumbled the last part as she brought up a magnifying glass, further investigating the scratches and dents. Though some of them looked like talons or claws, masked within them appeared to be more artificial damage, almost like…

Shaking her head, Tiara set aside the lens, lacking the confidence to back her assertions. Bringing up the cable, she began fiddling with it before sighing at the newest finding. “It looks like the connection port is heavily damaged. It’ll take me some time to remove and replace it… It’s a delicate operation.” Tiara frowned a little, the survival prospect for the little guy dropping considerably with this discovery. Not that she’d mention that to Hal – He seemed as attached to this guy as she would be to Lucy…

Tiara jumped back as she noticed Lucy’s glowing eyes staring straight into hers, her focus into her thoughts having made it all the easier to surprise the scientist. It seemed Lucy had a habit of doing that, but no matter how hard Tiara tried to convince the girl not to sneak up on her, it seemed it would never sink in.

“May I?” Lucy asked, causing Tiara to blink in confusion. “May you what…?”

The FOcaseal reached to the Mag, lifting it up to her head height. Leaning in, her eyes were filled with the soft blue glow, staring deep into the Mag’s lens. She stood like that for some time, Tiara watching in silent curiosity, before taking a cautious step forward.

“Lucy? Are you…?”

“That just about does it.” Lucy spoke, though it was soft, barely more audible then a whisper. The suddenness however, did cause Tiara to shriek a little and jump back, before blushing profusely at how embarrassing her action was.

“Wh-what? What did you-“

“The charges are set, and the package is down. Still, this is a lot of hassle just to detonate one parcel…” Lucy continued to utter the words, interrupting and paying no heed to Tiara’s concerned shakes.

“Still, the guy is paying big money, so I can’t say I-Hmm? Oh, hey there. Don’t mind me, I’m just-“ Lucy stopped suddenly, her eyes flashing once again. After a delay, she continued.

“Did you replace the files? Yes, of course, no one will be the wiser. We can’t have anyone looking too deeply. Hey, we got what we came for, let’s get going.” Lucy continued to reel off the speech, not stopping for a moment as Tiara remained silent, attempting to make sense of the information that Lucy was giving.

“Water. No. No water. Water not right. No. No. Must not water. Man no water. Not water…” Lucy began to repeat herself over and over, descending into gibberish as Tiara began to shake her.

“Lucy! Lucy, snap out of it!” Tiara began desperately rattling the poor caseal back and forth, before finally, the lights in her eyes dimmed, and her speech stopped. Then, slowly, the brightness returned, Lucy looking around a moment.

“I… Tiara, I am sorry to have worried you.” Focusing her eyes onto the scientist, before the blonde FOmarl leapt forward into a hug, holding the FOcaseal tightly.

“It’s alright… You just scared me was all… Are you alright now?”

“Yes… There is no error to my system. I… Feel okay.”

Tiara smiled warmly, nodding. “Good, good, I’m glad. Would you mind going to check on Lawrence for me?” Tiara lightly turned the caseal around, taking the mag from her as she gently nudged her forward. Lucy took a look back at Tiara, before slowly striding off to find Lawrence. With a sigh, Tiara turned back to Hal.

“I’m sorry about that. I’m not sure what happened to her. I’ll work on repairing the mag as soon as possible… W-well, as best I can amongst my other jobs…” Returning back to her timid self, the FOmarl set the mag on the bench, her mind filled with suspicions and doubt…




“Ah-! H-hey! Fighting is strictly prohibited in the transportation chambers!” Rio stumbled out from around her terminal to try and get between the two huntresses, however, a swift arm bridged across her path, blocking her. Bec grinned, keeping her arm up like a barricade as she surveyed Ridly and Kylli.

“Easy there, I’m interested in where this is going. And don’t you think of interrupting them, Mr. Hero~” Bec’s tone was so snarky at the end of it, it was clear that such a title for Lance was not one of respect. Watching Kylli exchange words, the HUnewearl was quick to step in, not about to let her partner skip out on things so easily.

“Yeah, sorry that she’s gonna wreck that ugly face even more!” Bec grinned, her feisty nature probably the last thing that the already tense situation needed. “Come on, you got a beef with Kylli? She’ll wipe the floor with you, old bags.”

As the Hunter laughed heartily, Rio fervently attempted to quieten her with little success, Bec’s braggart nature far stronger than even the cheerful teleporter’s pleading. Striding up to Kylli, Bec gave Ridly a bit of a stare down, challenging – no - DARING her to try something. If anyone thought the RAnewearl had overconfident nerves of steel, clearly, they hadn’t met this HUnewearl.

“And even if she can’t, I wouldn’t exactly let my partner eat too much dirt unless I was behind it. Face it, you’re outmatched, outclassed and outnumbered.” Bec tossed her head a little, continuing to look at Ridly with a mocking smile.

“Basically, you’re out of your league~, but you don’t look like the smart or the respectful type, so I’ll let it go for now.” Waving her hand dismissively, as if Ridly wasn’t even worth her time, Bec turned, feinting vulnerability as she left her back completely exposed… Part of her was confident Kylli would step in and protect her if Ridly did try something, but she was prepared should that not be the case, watching Ridly’s reflection in the mirrored surface of the wall. In this biz, there was no rules against trash talk, but the moment someone tried to turn it physical, guards would step in – and the perpetrator would be the one to cop any fines associated with the transgression.

Lance sighed. Another fight. He was tempted to shoot Bec, then maybe cut her up into tiny pieces, but he was sure that R wouldn't approve of that. Lance simply grinned at Bec, a dangerous gleam in his eye. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Miss Amazing, I didn't know that your inflated ego was almost as large as the Vanguard. But don't mind me, I'm sure that even a Rat could wipe the floor with you". Lance was tempted to grin, but he kept his refined posture, and simply stayed back from stoppng Ridly. Lance grinned. Should he allow Ridly to hurt Kylli? Yes? No? Yes? No?

Lance made his choice. He'd confront Hal later, but he had more important issues to handle right now. "So Miss Ridly? Did you actually manage to hit the person who shot at you and your partner? Or are you even worse at aiming than I thought when I first saw you? Now, do I have to waste my time stopping you, or are you going to step away from the kind lady, who's already apologised before I have to?".

Lance pulled out a Playing Card from his Pocket, an Ace of Diamonds, a small smile on his face. R had given it to him, for unknown reasons, but if anyone decided to snatch or destroy it..... well, let's just say that they'd probably end up in the Medical Ward. He continued looking at the Card, awaiting Ridly, Bec's and Kylli's replies.

There were no further need for words at this point, Ridly though. Both of the duo had forwardly admitted to the attempted assassination in her eyes. One of them being apologetic about it for some strange reason and the other was so full of herself that there was no doubt she was looking to finish the job right here and now. Ridly's fist clenched up at her wiffed grasp, glaring at Kylli with gritted teeth as she barely stood to listen to her explanation and apology.

She wouldn't buy it. That girl was essentially begging for a way out of her wrath. But, through the tirade of threats and intimidation from Bec, something dawned on her. What was that guy saying now? Ridly had never specifically stated that fire had been traded between herself and the stranger in the trees. She wasn't as dim witted as first impressions might give. Something was definitely wrong here.

Her snarl lightened a bit with eyes shifting between the three people challenging her to make the first move. Ridly wasn't about to seek revenge on someone unless she had no doubt they deserved it. This was the case moments ago, but now she wasn't too sure. She clenched a bundle of her loose pants, frustrated with the situation she was in, even if it was her own fault mostly.

"One of you was aiming to kill me out there," she growled, eying her suspects and accusingly pointing at Bec as she walked away, "So, someone better give it up. Now, or everyone's getting hurt." Unlike the neighboring minds, she wasn't seeking to kill anyone. At the least, she want to show them that she was nothing to be trifled with. The problem was that it was even obvious to herself, three on one in a fist fight would not go well for her no matter how highly she praised herself. Empty threats and the hope that someone else would see it her way were her only defenses at the moment.

"You," Ridly barked, turning her hand to Kylli, "You have guns and you knew exactly where I would be in the forest." She gestured over to Lance, "Tryhard here comes in spouting off things he shouldn't know, with a projectile no less." Stomping forward, she followed a few steps after Bec's retreat, raising a fist up with a shout, "And you better keep walking before you get wrecked! Nothin' but a snot nosed bitch looking to make a fool of herself!"

Turning her head, Kylli glared at Bec - oh she just wants to get us chopped up, doesn't she? That little brat... If that woman attacks, I'm gonna let her get hit. Well. At least once. Maybe twice. - and then glanced at the young man as he stepped into the conversation. As he went on, she began smiling slightly at him. He seemed rather nice - and at least he wasn't threatening her, although just the threat itself was enough to irritate her slightly. She didn't want to cause any trouble here - beating someone was fine, but starting fights for no reason - or at least no good reason that she could see - that, she could do without.

Her attention switched back to the woman. She was starting to look more frustrated, but the anger was still clearly present as she began to rant, pointing at Bec, who's back was still turned away from them all. As she spoke, Kylli's eyes slowly grew wider and wider, her eyebrows lifting almost to her bang level.

'To kill her'? Kylli wondered. She glanced around, seriously wondering if she had walked into a mental hospital without noticing or something. To kill her? Is she crazy? Why the hell would -

"You," The woman whirled to glare at Kylli, who took a step back, hands still up in surrender, although she could feel irritation bubbling up now - it was not a standard feeling, nor one that she liked very much. "You have guns and you knew exactly where I would be in the forest."

Kylli felt like rubbing her forehead in frustration. Oh yeah, I knew where you were, but I didn't care. And seriously, do you think that - Kylli stopped herself and pulled herself out of the irritation in time to hear the woman's last words to Bec - very unflattering to say the least.

Wow. Wow. She is - insane. Kylli looked around her again, again trying to confirm if she had walked into an asylum. Currently the answer was still 'no', but Kylli hoped...no.

"You're..." Kylli paused, not wanting to cause more tension, but also annoyed enough to want to put this chick in her place - she probably could. She was almost definitely stronger - and she had range on her side, too. Diplomacy... "You're insane." ...Okay, I guess not. "I don't know what you just went through - that goes for me and Bec - I don't know about this guy," She pointed at the young man holding a playing card. " - But we were out hunting. Boomas. Not humans. Or Casts. Or Newman. We were just doing a job. A perfectly respectable job as far as I know. What you were doing...what you went through - " She shook her head. "I hope it was a lot if it drove you to paranoia and -" She waved her hand around. "Dementia?"

She shook her head again. "We don't know what you went through. We don't know - and, frankly? We don't really care what you went through. I just asked about the mission - not your own little private vendetta against the world or against yourself or - whatever." Kylli looked at the woman for a long moment. "I'm sorry if we offended you. I already said that. I tried very hard to be polite to you. I understand that the way I do things might be offensive to you, but..." She shrugged and shook her head. "I don't think that's a reason to attack me. Yell at me, fine. I can take that. Attack me - in a public terminal?" Kylli looked around the place and then back at the woman. "I'd recommend trauma therapy - or maybe another line of business, if one attack gets you this worked up."

For a moment she paused and then shook her head. "I'm sorry. That was rude. What you do is your business."

Kylli turned and walked up to join Bec, taking a light breath. "Come on ~ Let's go turn this in ~" She glanced at the young man and smiled a bit. "Thank you ~ for trying to help us. I'm Kylli." She jerked her head at the blonde next to her. "This is Bec. Come find us at the Pit Stop if you want to hang out or talk or -" There was a little flash of anger again "- or just get away from the stress and the anger around here." She waved at him and then started walking again.

“I actually think I know just what happened. Well, sort of anyways,” Hal’s assessment made Tiara’s heart leap, a wave of nervousness washing over her. H-had he worked it out? He seemed to understand exactly what Lucy had managed, but for the moment, seemed far more concerned with the content, then the ability that the caseal had just shown. That was… Good. Word couldn’t get out about what Lucy could do. She wasn’t ready yet…

The change in tone and expression from Hal broke her pensive expression, his request catching her completely off guard. No doubt, he believed that his talk of conspiracies had caused it, and was attempting to take her mind off things. Perhaps she should have been more concerned with those theories, but for the moment, her protective instinct over Lucy was clouding her judgement. Regardless of that, Tiara realised she was still yet to respond to Hal’s request, her face tinging slightly before she could finally stammer out a response.

“W-well, I am supposed to work on Bec’s mag…” Tiara looked away for a moment, feeling bad for turning him down. It was a pretty weak excuse after all. Perhaps, had she been more confident in herself, she’d have taken the opportunity. However, the poor introverted scientist was still quite socially inept, and her embarrassment prevented her from taking part in an activity she probably would enjoy…



Through Bec’s boasting, she hadn’t heard Lance at all - not that it would have bothered her at all – nor was she smart enough to work out just what the male hunter had revealed that he knew. What she did hear however, was Ridly flagrant accusations of each of them, along with her jealous (As Bec believed) and embarrassingly bad attempt at both an insult, and a threat. Pivoting on the spot, Bec planned on mouthing off some more before Kylli stepped in, attempting once more to diffuse the situation. Huffing a little, Bec shrugged and put her hands behind her head.

“I’m with you Kylli - This lady’s loco - and I’m not one for picking on the disabled, let’s get out of here”. Standing partly to the side, she allowed Kylli to catch up with her. “Definitely not worth the time dealing with the whack job.” Grinning as she walked side by side with her new partner, the HUnewearl came to stop a moment as the RAmarl turned back towards Lance, introducing the two. Bec frowned a little as she did so, deciding to interject with her own point of view, but instead ended up muttering it under her breath.

“Not that we needed it, bucko…” Mumbling, she began walking in an attempt to get Kylli to follow, to which she quickly did. The Hunter’s guild was now relatively devoid of people, the previous rush ended as the majority of the clientele was still on missions. With that in mind, there was no wait to approach the counter, Sienna having taken a seat and was reading a magazine, feet up on the counter.

Bec ahemed loudly to get her attention, however, Sienna made no effort to move or stand.

“Yeah, what is it?” She flicked through the magazine, not interested in her job in the slightest, it seemed. Bec growled a little, still somewhat angsty from her earlier encounter with Ridley.

“We’re here to turn our mission in. If you’re willing to do it, that is.” Once again, Bec’s sarcasm was creeping heavily into her voice. Unlike Ridley however, something good seemed to come for it as Sienna sighed, checking the mission requirements and that they had indeed brought back supplies, before handing them each a division of the pay packet.

“Take it on down to Tawny and you’re all done, so beat it and give me some peace.” Sienna grumbled, Bec hmmphing at the rude tone and snatching the cheque from her. “Thanks~”

Back at the transport station, Rio was attempting to calm Ridley in her own unique way, asking her to remain calm, reminding her of the rules, and attempting to find positives to the situation. “W-well Miss, at least you came out of it uninjured – and even if the mission wasn’t entirely successful, you probably gained a lot of good experiences down on the surface.”

Pausing, she moved up to Ridley. “I’d say you should be thankful for that, so try not to be too glum.” Smiling cheerfully in an attempt to get Ridley to do the same, the transporter girl went to the terminal, typing some things. “But um, going by the pickup records, I don’t think Bec or Kylli could’ve been anywhere near your location, seeing as they were over the other side of the forest… Just uh, thought you should know…” Speaking a bit softer, she looked to the screen, another request for a pickup coming in as she began bringing them back…

Being declared that she was insane didn't faze Ridly a bit. In fact, the way she saw the situation and their words, the two were afraid of her. Being afraid meant they were no longer any sort of threat. Well then, mission accomplished. Fortunately for everyone, she wouldn't have to resort to violence of any sort. With the current problem solved, she immediately began to settle down, shrugging off the two assumed offenders as they walked away in absolute agreement.

"Some experience," she replied with a wary sigh, the slightest bit annoyed with how frantic she was about keeping everything in order, "I now know I shouldn't let my guard down at any moment. Even where it should be safe." Ridly rolled her neck, stretching out the tense muscles that had flared up during the conflict, muttering to herself, "What a pain. Everyone wants a piece." Hearing that her suspects had been tracked to be a significant distance from where shots had been fired, she planted hands on the monitor and peeked over it's edge to get a look at the map. No matter good of a shot that Kylli person was, there would have been no way to even draw a line of sight from A to B. Ridly stepped back with her brows furrowed and scratching her cheek. It suddenly occurred to her that maybe she had been wrong all along.

Oh well. What's done is done and there was not a chance that she would go running after the two to apologize. They didn't deserve it. Still, she strode her way in the same direction to leave the building and go find the person that was suppose to be finishing up business and collecting payments. Of course her suspicions would be proven as she entered into the Science Wing to find Hal just leaving with his arm around Stutters McCower. Based on his actions in the field, he really didn't seem the type to ever stick to a plan.

"I seriously hope this isn't our payment," she spoke, putting herself between Hal, Tiara and the way out with her arms crossed, "Last I checked, I can't eat co-workers. So, c'mon, what did you do with that mag?"