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

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

[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.

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Few are more confused by this than the XO of the Bronze Keshik (de facto if not de jure). He has no answers for any of the other Wolves as to what this could be about. Enlighten him?

Quite the sight aren't they? First time seeing them like this?

(As Matthew turns to look he sees Letriel floating in front of him with her usual smirk. And yes, she is standing in the vacuum of space without any suit.)

[Laura's in the hangar, poring over a handful of manuals and tablets spread out on a workbench in front of her. Specs, controls, and piloting guides... looks like she's boning up on how to operate one of the mechs.

She's pretty focused on it, ignoring passersby.]

Ranna is waiting as well, though she does not appear to be confused.

"Is your Kerensky Vision giving you insight into what this could be?"

He quirks an eyebrow at her, teasing her a bit over her perpetual look of confidence.

"I suspect it has something to do with adding verses to the Rememberance."

"But Matthew is not Jade Falcon any longer. Whose Remembrance would he be adding verses to?"

The reality of it was so ridiculous it probably wouldn't occur to him unless it was spelled out.

"He is not Jade Falcon anymore, nor a member of any Clans. He is also not a Loremaster, or a member of the Clan council. He is, however young and impulsive."

Ranna smiles.

"And this is just my conjecture, quiaff? He may just want us to listen to his poem."

[Paper. It was fabulously low tech.

Tieria picked up one of the sheets in idle curiosity, quickly skimmed its contents, and coolly regarded the stranger after he was satisfied.]

...what are you doing?

Edited 2013-02-09 02:56 (UTC)

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?"

Edited 2013-02-09 03:11 (UTC)

On any other day Matthew would be astounded. Seeing a moon explode from a single beam from a flying metal dragon tends to rework your conception of what is possible.

"Neg, I have seen them before." Matthew says with a shrug. "There are time that I have even stared at them in detail. But looking at them now, they seem to shine anew with new light."

He stares back up at the Milky Way for a moment.

"The universe has always been vast. But I never guessed how much possibility existed within it."

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.

Matthew hesitantly walks up to Laura.

"Technician Laura Ericks?" He asks. "I wish to speak with you. Is this an inopportune time?"

Matthew starts from his reverie, pen drawing a jagged lightning bolt across the parchment.

"Stravag!" He blurts out, his chair nearly teetering over as he bring himself back to the material world.

His blurry eyes come into focus, and he espies Tieria holding some of his draft sheets.

"Do not read that! It is not ready! I must perfect these verses lest I incur dishonor among my fellow warriors!" He wails, flailing his arms about like a spastic Honor-puppet.

Eh?

I've... got a lot of preparation to do, but I should probably take a break soon anyway... what did you want to talk about?

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.

Edited 2013-02-09 04:11 (UTC)

"About your mission to Saturn, with Mechwarriors Mad Caine, Kei Kuruma, and the rest of the Getter Team. And what occurred there."

He pauses.

"It is prying and intrusive of me to ask. The only reason I do so is because I believe–"

He purses his lips, summoning up the right set of words.

"–That times like these, tragic and triumphant in equal measure, full of success and loss, should be remembered."

Edited 2013-02-09 04:46 (UTC)

(Letriel shrugs a little bit. She had seen many improbable things in her long life, so she found the battle more entertaining than surprising.)

You'd be surprised what is possible in existence. You'll come to learn how true that is in time. After all, there was a time your blockheaded race live as troglodytes which looked up at the vastness of space and thought travel to the stars was impossible.

(Letriel after taking a long look at the sight, she closes her eyes. She seems to be focusing to hear something.)

Matthew blinks.

Is she trying to listen to something in the vacuum of space? Preposturous.

Then he remembers how the 'impossible' is a rather fluid concept.

He closes his eyes and tries to listen as well.

(Letriel continues to float in silence before she opens her eyes. She scoffs a little in annoyance. Letriel sees Matthew with his eyes closed.)

You won't 'hear' it like that as there is no sound waves. It is electromagnetic vibrations and radio waves. It's only because I am sending you radio transmissions via Vice that you can hear me. I just have the right biology to pick up on those things.

Edited 2013-02-09 05:23 (UTC)

Matthew blushes.

"Ah. I should have guessed that."

He considers what Letriel says.

"That would mean that you are listening to the stars themselves, quiaff?"

"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!"

Actually, I was listening to the 'songs' of the planets but close enough.

(She looks out on the galaxy but her look is not a pleased one.)

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.

You know, if it was someone a lot more psychotic than me, I bet he'd shove you into the endless void of space. Heck. No one else is around here... No one would ever know... And he'd just watch you float away flailing, wondering if it'll be suffocation or the fear of being stranded out in abyss forever that gets you.

[Ryou's next to you, also suited up against the vacuum. He was now aside you Matthew so you don't have to worry about being booted into the endless sea of stars.]

There's some crazy guys like that in the Ark.

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

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