02: The Abtaka of the Brotherhood of Manly Souls Opens His Heart to Legend Once Again

[gurrenbrigbonded]

[1]

The events of the past few days– the battle against the final onslaught of the Invaders, the climactic struggle of the Getter Team at Saturn, and the place they departed to– have frankly been epic.

They have also made quite the impression on a certain ex-Jade Falcon, who had not dared to think that such heroism could be possible.

As the White Chalice journeys back to Earth, he can be seen at various places–in his (Tin-foiled) Nova's cockpit on the outer hull, in a vacuum suit by one of the large airlocks, at the observation deck– just staring up at the endless sea of stars as a child would.

http://blogs.voanews.com/science-world/files/2013/01/Under_the_Milky_Way.jpg

Talk to him? Snap him out of it? Play a prank on him?

[2]

Matthew is wandering about the Chalice, looking for the pilots who fought at Saturn, tablet and light pen in hand.

And the most determined of expressions on his face.

[3]

Matthew is sitting by a table in one of the portside lounges, ignoring the cold lunch next to him, and doing something unusual for a frugal warrior from an ascetic caste society.

He is writing on paper. Copious amounts of paper. Some sheets are discarded at his feet, some are set to the side, and all are covered with splotches of ink.

A close examination will reveal them to be...verse poetry?

[4]

Matthew has posted a request on the Chalice Net for all Clan warriors onboard to assemble in Hanger 3 to "Fulfill the debt of honor we owe to the memory of great warriors."

For those of you who show up, Clan or otherwise, there is a gaggle of Clan Wolf/Ex-Jade Falcon warriors and tech caste members about, wondering why the heck they were gathered here. There is no sign of Matthew about.

Comments

Re: 4 | OTA

[gurrenbrigbonded]

So why did Matthew call his fellows of the Clans here? And where could he be? Is he hiding? There are few places to hide in this hanger: a few crates, an airlock, one or two bolted down tables, the cockpit of the Nova behind you all–

Said cockpit suddenly hisses open, and Matthew climbs out, one foot propped up on the edge of the Nova's nose in a fashion that would make George Washington proud. A cockpit headset rests loosely around his neck, a headset that amplifies his voice quite nicely. It seems he boosted his Nova's loudspeakers.

"Warriors, technicians, scientists, laborer of Clan Wolf–of all the Clans! Only a few days ago, we took part in the most important battle of our lives! A battle not for status and glory, nor to restore the Star League: a battle to protect Terra itself! To defend it with every ounce of strength in our bodies, and all the courage in our hearts. To defend it against the foulest menace we have ever encountered, against true, pure monsters!"

Matthew raises up a clenched fist.

"We triumphed, and reduced these monsters to space dust! But who lead the charge against this filth beyond the light of stars, facing down the falling moon of Janus and not backing down?"

He begins speaking in a poetic tone of voice. It looks like Ranna was spot on

"Forward the forces of the Earth Sphere
came: lasers blasting, missiles burning,
against the Invaders: slime-spawned,
all-devouring.

Terra behind, the brave champions charged
through space and star dust, defying despair.
And first to fight, flying far ahead,
Great and Terrible, the Getter Team."

He pauses. "Was this not so?"

Re: 4 | OTA

[hominilupusinexilio]

As if acting in a play long ago preordained, Resnick walked forward and stepped into the empty spot beneath the Nova's nose.

"None deny the bravery or skill of the Getter Team, least of all myself, who taught Madeline Caine mechwarriorship, nor our elementals who schooled her and Laura Ericks in close quarters battle. However it is the Clan way to abhor waste, Mechwarrior Matthew. This includes wastes of our time. What are we to do with these verses you propose to us, as if you had attained the post of Loremaster? Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon already have one."

Take a bit of the glory for oneself then place him on the defensive spot. Good tactics to use against his new rival.

Re: 4 | OTA

[gurrenbrigbonded]

Matthew firms his race against his rival, then defiantly grins at him.

"Indeed! Clan Wolf and Jade Falcon have their own Loremasters! It is the place of these revered leaders to keep us on the path the Great Father and Founder set forth for us! To keep preserved the wisdom and insight of our ancestors! To pay memorial to great heroes: those of our own Clan and those of others lands and places!

Matthew raises forth a drama hand.

"You speak as if I trespass on the role of the Loremasters of Clan Wolf and Falcon, Star Captain Resnick! This is not so! For me to trespass on the work of the Loremasters would be to suggest verses for the Remembrance in competition with their own! This is not so, for where are the verses of these Loremasters revering the Getter Team?"

He meets the eyes of Resnick and a few others in the room.

"When Tyra Miraborg "chose to die/and sent her fighter like a spear/through the Dire Wolf", claiming the life of IlKhan Showers and halting our invasion, her bravery was praised by all Loremasters of the invading Clans! Why then has there been no effort already to memorialize in verse the heroes of the Getter, who saved sacred Terra itself?"

He stretches out his hands in a beckoning gesture.

"Star Captain Resnick speaks of waste, of time frivolously spent. Then I shall be brief. There has been much time wasted already! I see us of the Clans hesitating in this matter like old merchants sorting through produce! When the war council of my former Clan Jade Falcon hesitated to advance on Robyn's Crossing on Tukayyid, it was Star Colonel Aidan Pryde who bid first for the right to take both bridges, shaming his comrades into action with he and his unit's dezgra status!"

He folds his arms behind his back.

"I am Mechwarrior Matthew of Clan Gurren Brigade, the tiniest and newest of the Clans. I have no bloodname, no high rank, and am hardly qualified to act as a Loremaster, as Star Captain Resnick accurately states!"

He juts his chin forward.

"I bid my Clan for the right to commit the exploits of the Getter Team to the Remembrance!"

He casts his glance around. "Now step up, warriors, Loremasters, workers of prose! If my verses are unpleasing, and my status offensive, then do better! Record the deeds of the Getter team in the Remembrance, or stand aside and let Clan Gurren Brigade do what should have been done already!"

Boom, y'all.

[hominilupusinexilio]

"You forget your station, Mechwarrior Matthew!" Resnick called up, gesturing effusively. "And you come dangerously close to impugning the honor of our Loremaster by suggesting that Daphne Vickers might have failed to note such important events! You would do well to not meddle in the internal affairs of a Clan that is not yours."

There, Resnick had positioned himself as defending the honor of the Wolves, and as one of the senior ranking officers present it fell to him, Ranna or one of the bloodnamed Warriors to do so.

Of course Matthew could offer surkai for suggesting that the Wolf Loremaster had failed to note the exploits of the Getter Team rather than respond directly to his own aggression. Then the Wolves would be obligated to at least consider putting verses like his in their Remembrance. But that wouldn't be the actions of a preening Falcon, Resnick thought. It would be the actions of someone who had learned something from time in the Earth Sphere...

Time to regain the initiative.

"Furthermore your statement is false. The Gurren Brigade are a Spheroid..." Well he couldn't say 'mercenaries', not without starting some kind of beef. "...band, not a Clan of Kerensky. To suggest that you can maintain your own Remembrance is to insult the Founder himself!"

[wardeninexile]

Ranna appears content to listen in, her eyes darting between the two. Those from her Command Star, and thus has been with her the longest appear not to be taking sides as well.

For now.

[gurrenbrigbonded]

Matthew is tempted indeed in both directions. If he offers surkai, then his plan to shame the Wolves into writing up something for the Remembrance will be complete.

On the other hand...Resnick rivalry.

Matthew grits his teeth. What should he do?

%%%

BOTH!

"Then where are the efforts of the Loremasters to memorialize the Getter Team, Star Captain? Show them to me, show them for all to see, and I just may offer Surkai!"

He makes a slashing motion through the air.

"And if not, Clan Gurren Brigade shall craft it's own Remembrance, if only to give the champions of the Getter the regard they deserve! And why would we not be worthy to do so, Star Captain Resnick? What qualities do we lack, that you consider us to not be a Clan?"

He is seriously asking you to spell it out?

[wardeninexile]

"I am ambivalent towards the Gurren Brigade crafting its own Remembrance, Matthew, for you are trying to impose your Clan values on a non-Clan organisation."

Ranna crosses her arms and smiles.

"I do find your prose inadequate for something as important to our values as the Remembrance though."

She shakes her head.

"What Clan Wolf does is not privy to those not in our Clan, but I shall tell you now so you may be less presumptuous in the future -"

Ranna looks straight at Matthew.

"I have already submitted a request to our Clan Council about additions to the Remembrance already after the battle. They are still processing the request."

[hominilupusinexilio]

"Futilely, I might add." Resnick said, with his arms crossed. "None believe more in the Clan way of life than me, but if you think you can make a Khan of Kamina, I have a bridge on Tharkad I suggest you bid fo..."

The next thing Ranna said momentarily struck him dumb. But in order to not appear out of the loop he had to wrench the gawking expression off his face and nod. "Aff. Did I not say the matter was already handled?"

[gurrenbrigbonded]

"...Then I offer surkai for my allegations." Matthew replies, a very sheepish expression on his face mixed with a puppyish hurt at Ranna's diss of his poetry.

"All I wished was for their legacy to be remembered."

A moment of awkward anticlimactic silence ensues.