Kris's arrival was late - but in the end, he had arrived nonetheless.
Soon, there would be two more who would join them - a particularly tall and slender lady made of dark steel alloys and synthetic skin, and a lithe, shorter boy with a prosthetic arm, both of whom looked as though they had definitely seen better days. The unlikely duo was somewhat hard to miss from a distance, due to the prolonged and notably exuberant back and forths between the two. And it wasn't long before they both walked towards the table where the two sat.
"Hey - mind if I cut in?"
From a closer distance, one could recognize the shorter boy as Kris, as he grasped his flight helmet with his other arm as though it were a hovercycle casque. There was a small smirk on his jovial baby face - but even an inattentive observer could easily notice that one of his eyes lacked the same vibrant blue color the other one had, as though it was some kind of failed replacement. If one was to inspect him further, it would become apparent that the complexity of his prosthetic arm looked entirely unremarkable, as though the gaps in its structure suggest that it was built for utility, and certainly not for looks. Something that reflected his entire look, from the holey and ruined leather in his brown coat, down to the plenitude of scratches on his flight helmet. For some reason, it bore faded GMG markings.
On the other hand, his counterpart certainly looked more refined and composed. Amsel's stature was impressive, but that was chiefly due to her robotic endowments. Her eyes exuded a faint artificial glow, an indicative sign of her nature. In spite of the few imperfections one could easily miss with a quick glance, she looked and acted and walked and sounded very much like a regular being of the female variety, almost seamlessly so. Her humble dress shirt wasn't enough to conceal her slender arm chassis, with a plethora of thin wires connecting all of her extremities without them being a hindrance to her dexterous form. Amsel was designed for speed and war in mind - and her entire chassis seemed to represent that. But only a keener eye could notice the smaller repair patches and the uneven plate adjustments and color tonality - she had lived for a while, and her replacement parts, or lackthereof, were proof of that.
In their strange appearance, the unlikely duo seemed to work well in symbiosis. And despite their endless bickering, they appeared ready for discussions.
"I would like to apologise for the hold-up. Livadia is a secluded location and a major shipyard for the Zoners, and the local sec team looks very uptight about any outsiders coming in to snoop around - and rightly so, I suppose."
"Yeah - we both had to go through FIVE different EM security scans - since, y'know..." Kris would gesticulate at his arm with a pointed finger and provided stiff smile, along with a little shrug. "Oh, and we went through a ton of trouble with customs. Apparently, they also thought Amsel was like, a weird hired Core killer robot or whatever-- Ow."
Amsel gave Kris a small nudge.
"I don't think saying the words 'Core killer robot' out loud would be entirely ideal in this current location. Time and place."
"...Except you just... did? ...Erm, anyways. Hi, it's me - Kris. The-- the guy from space. And this here is my secretary-slash-bodyguard-slash-pickle jar opener Amsel. Say hi, Amsel. Don't be shy."
For a hired guard machine with a serious temperament, Amsel looked puzzled, and looked over to the two ladies sitting at the table in sheer confusion. In spite of this, she shyly raised her robotic arm and waved it awkwardly, as her joints whirred happily.
