Second Contract/Contractual Obligations

[lastfeather]

[1]

[Despite the recent failure at Lawdas, the Chalice still managed to gain a trio of new pilots. One of them was looking over the sheer amount of damage done to his machine.]

Well... damn...

[He's just running his hand through his hair with a grimace as he runs through the expenses. Repairs, ammunition, repainting, replacement parts... With the factory blasted to bits, it was written off as a failure and practically devoured his funds. He was going to have to work the everloving hell out of his ass to make up for this mess. He sighs roughly as he watches the numbers fall.]

Bloody Silent Line... Bloody League...


[2]

[The new arrival is at the bar... despite slowly closing into impoverishment he slapped money on the table, collapsed on a barstool and proceeded to make the following demand as he dropped his head to the bar-top.]

Give me the most expensive thing you've got. No. Actually. Give me two of that.

[Clearly his solution to dealing with having his money whittled down... is to waste more of it on coping mechanisms! BRILLIANT!]


[3] - Video/Action

Right... because of this contract I've got... I'm obligated to introduce myself.

[He's rubbing the bridge of his nose. His drinking binge may have gotten the better of him.]

My name's Ryou Kimura, I go by 'Onyx Zero' on the field. I'm a Mercenary of the Raven's Ark. We deal with dispute resolution. So I negotiate with people... violently. There's a lot of explosions and shooting involved.

[He takes a lazy swig straight from a bottle.]

I'll be working with you all... and probably be doing some Merc work on the side.. ..

[He seems to look off to the side, grumbling as he looks through a digital copy of the contract.]

RIght... and APPARENTLY... you get 40% of the pay whenever I go do my job. What is this shit...

So assuming you don't feel morally obligated to bitch at me, you're welcome to help me line your pockets.

Any questions?

Comments

3

[psychosemantics]

Money's hardly an issue here. But a little more of a buffer never hurt anyone. Parts aren't free.

But speakers are.

[lastfeather]

.... I have no idea what you're talking about...

[Ryou's shaking his head tiredly.]

[psychosemantics]

It was a financial joke.

I have my own brand of sound equipment, so, I see a healthy share of the sales. What I do with them is my business... even if it's donating it to keeping this ship afloat. Now if you need speakers... you don't need to pay a penny.

Clearly, you can see what I'm talking about now, right? [[The DJ makes a point to raise his glasses, showing the white out of his eyes.]]

[lastfeather]

Yeah. I think I'm getting it.

[He's scratching his chin a little. Now he has to wonder...]

What's the catch?

[psychosemantics]

What catch? I take care of my people's needs.

[[Also, speaker necessity is rare, as is most musical equipment. He also kind of screwed these people over at one point... Anything to keep them in good opinion of him.]]

2

[the_innocent_blade]

Put both on my tab!

[Kurou knew a kindred spirit when he saw one.]

[lastfeather]

Are people here usually this friendly or are there going to be strings attached for this? Not that I'm complaining...

[Standard reaction. Still. FREE DRINKS.]

[the_innocent_blade]

Nah no strings attached, I've had my own fair share of being down on my luck.

[lastfeather]

... Heh... here's to our pathetic impoverished asses then.

[...]

-THUMP-

[There's the sound of an almost sob here.]

[the_innocent_blade]

[If anyone listened carefully they could actually hear how pathetic they were.]

Here's to that.

[lastfeather]

... I figured with the figures I get for the jobs I do I'd have a lot more money. Be a merc, roll in dough!

[He sighs before he takes a burning mouthful.]

Then I find out how much of my pay gets downright murdered after the job's done! Its like hell taxes!

[He doesn't mention how he tends to spend his money ridiculously on some things.]

3

[not_the_deer]

You're not going to fight us if someone pays you to attack White Chalice, right?

[lastfeather]

Its a part of my Contract. You guys are locked out from my jobs, so I won't shoot anyone on board unless they try to do me in first.

[He raises the bottle towards Tobia lazily.]

I take my contracts seriously kid.

[not_the_deer]

Speaking of jobs, you don't do any technological spying, do you? Just gotta make sure.

[lastfeather]

... Not my forte. I just shoot things. I'm pretty sure I mentioned that.

What brought this up?

[not_the_deer]

Past experiences. We had other AC users on this ship. From the League.

[lastfeather]

... The League.

[Ryou says it flatly. Like someone just farted in the room loudly but refused to fess up.]

Trust me when I say this. Having League pilots on board is asking to have your back stabbed.

They work for their Corporations benefit and only for that. It doesn't matter how 'nice' they are.

[not_the_deer]

Yeah. I found out first-hand when they were trying to steal our tech. Except they weren't really nice about it, either. Just discrete.

[lastfeather]

They didn't kill anyone on the way out from how people talk about them.

I'd say that's pretty nice.

3, video

[emorangerpink]

[Laura responds to the broadcast by the same means.]

I should warn you - there are some people aboard who really, really don't like mercenaries. To the extent they might literally break you in half if you say the wrong thing around them. You should probably talk to their commanders, or the ship's senior officers, before anything happens.

[She imagines a pissed-off mercenary trying to get a guarantee of safety from Ranna or Resnick. Ryou might notice the eye-twitch of a suppressed wince as that image plays out in her head.]

...You should probably have me with you if you do talk to them. I'm Laura.

[lastfeather]

Well sounds like fun times for all... you ever dealt with Ravens before?

Or just common thugs?

[emorangerpink]

We used to have some League pilots aboard. I'm not sure what you'd consider them to count as. But no, I don't know of anyone running in to Ravens before.

[gurrenbrigbonded]

[Speak of the Mercenary-hating devils, and they shall stumble upon your comm transmission! A young fellow in a green uniform shows up an a sub-video link.]

"Fah. Savrashi Merc swine. What has possessed the White Chalice to treat with filth like these?"

[lastfeather]

... You mean you had a bunch of Corporate Ass Kissers on board? Guess that explains a lot of things...

[Like how people reacted to him initially. He's also going to tap on Matthew's sub-link and mute it.]

I'm sorry did you hear anything?

[emorangerpink]

[Ah crap. Laura taps out a quick text note to Matthew: Be polite. I'll talk to you in a bit.]

They were... strange, but they didn't make any trouble. I'm not talking about general sentiment. There's a group aboard with their own culture, in which mercenaries are basically the lowest of the low. ...Like in that interruption there. It'll be fine so long as you can get their commanders to tell them not to pick fights.

...So you're not on good terms with the League?

[lastfeather]

Right. I'll keep that in mind. I'm not the kind of guy to go looking for brawls out of a job anyway.

[He's going to take a deep breath and scratch his head as he ponders how to answer the next bit.]

Hahaha... well not me specifically. The League has it out for the Layered Corporations and Raven's Ark since we didn't exactly bow down to them when they came knocking.

They gave us a deal that essentially amounted to us whoring ourselves out to their top dogs, we told them to stuff it.

Most Ravens hate Collared on principle. Nothing good ever comes out of being a Corporation's pet attack dog. Usually it means you die a lot faster.

[emorangerpink]

Well, they seem to think it's better to stay on the Chalice's good side than not, so you shouldn't have to worry much about them while you're here.

What about your machines? Top secret and off limits?

[lastfeather]

Good to know...

As for the ACs... well anyone with enough money can find out how they work. These things are built from mass produced modular parts the Corporations sell.

[Ryou shrugs at this really. The idea of ACs being off limits is believable for the more paranoid Ravens... but Top Secret? That's kinda ridiculous.]

I'd say it'd be a social faux pas to mess around with them without permission though. So the latter's kinda there depending on who you ask.

[emorangerpink]

[Well he's less protective of them than Alexei and PRIME were, that's for sure.]

Sounds like you'll be doing your own maintenance on them, then...?

[gurrenbrigbonded]

Matthew grumpfaces, but assents to Ericks with a reply text message:

Aff. Did not mean to interfere with negotiations.

[Do you want to RP this?]

[lastfeather]

Yeah. That's on the contract too...

[No free repairs for you Ryou! You will be forever poor!]

.......

[Laura you are treated to the sight of the pilot letting our an agonized groan and gripping at his head.]

3

[gamenojikan]

...If we aid you in your..."side jobs", do we receive more than 40%? And if so, what sort of money are we looking at?

Re: 3

[lastfeather]

Five to six digit figures when they're untouched - even after the Ark takes its share as the middleman.

[Ryou would like to bury his head into a table. There goes his hopes for people doing things for free.]

And if you want to chip in then the extra's probably coming out of my wallet...

[His poor abused wallet. Boo hoo hoo. To top it off he has ammo and repair expenses to deal with too.]

Re: 3

[gamenojikan]

Five to six-are you kidding?!

[lastfeather]

Nope. Not kidding at all.... of course those figures are after the Ark takes its 50% cut...

[Dear GOD! So it may have been DOUBLE that amount?!]

Cutting out repair and ammo costs the numbers can still be pretty big.

[Assuming shenanigans don't happen...]

[gamenojikan]

After it...

...I, uh, might have to come along with you sometimes. Or, like, all the times.

[lastfeather]

... Right. Before we go any further with this.. I need to know about your morals.

Specifically. do you have any?

[A rather straightforward question given his line of work.]

[gamenojikan]

The right of protection against self-incrimination is encoded in constitutions the world over, old and new. And communications such as this one are monitored.

...But I don't think we'll have any trouble on that front.

[lastfeather]

Good to know.

[At least he knows she won't get in the way of the job.]

I'll keep you in mind if some work comes up.

3

[i_like_shades]

That's odd... I don't recall a lot of explosions and shooting.

[He doesn't shoot as much as most Ravens thus not as many explosions.]

On the other note, its not negotiating with people violently. It's more of... A swift and assertive reaction to bullshit, only we're getting paid to react to it.

Re: 3

[lastfeather]

... Yours sounds a lot more professional, I'll give you that.

Haven't been in the Ark as long as you have old bird. Things still blow up hugely around me.

Re: 3

[i_like_shades]

All in good fun, just watch your budget. That last mission cost me quite a bit too.

Re: 3

[lastfeather]

I hear you there...

[Ryou's keeping quiet for a while. Gathering his thoughts.]

I can get why Naiza and I are here... but You...

Something's up isn't it?

Re: 3

[i_like_shades]

Yeah. Let's just say that if I remained back with them, everyone else would have a considerably lower survival rate, including all of the people who paid to put me here. In fact, my last show may have lowered it by a few percent already and no... I don't mean the ones other people give you. I mean the ones you feel when you get shot at.

Re: 3

[lastfeather]

... Shit

Its going to be like what happened at Layered... only worse isn't it?

Re: 3

[i_like_shades]

It might be. Nobody knows till it happens.