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HANGER 3A - AMES RESEARCH STATION, KEPLER, 5:16 AM...
A silhouette, drifting by, concealing itself within the hanger doors. Staring. It judged. Guilt came in many forms, in this instance, it had manifested itself into a perverted figurine of a barely memorable individual, a dream dreaming on its own transgression. The figure slowly reached out with its illusive palm emerging from the mist of light, pointing it towards-
:: Wake up. ::
Revenant found herself upon the cold steel floor of the Hanger, laying flat out, she groaned through her mask - reverberating a tired disdained noise of disapproval as she was being prodded by a boot of an individual. She pushed herself up to awkwardly reorientate herself, slowly gazing up to the figure besides her. It was the droid she worked on, it was disguised within a suit, composed of a long coat and a pair of trousers. It held a helmet under its arms, staring at her with its beady white robot eyes.
"Sorry. I tripped. " She lied, trying to save face from spontaneously collapsing in the middle of a hanger. An embarrassing performance. Had she remembered any of it. It was merely an assumption.
:: There is conflicting data. You were fighting them and lost consciousness during a fisticuff stalemate. Human male. Approximately 170 centimeters high. Three minutes ago. I disposed of them when they became distracted by your change of state. ::
"I do not ... recall... How didn't he- Nevermind. Apologies. I will pay more attention next time. "
Emotionless, the droid did not take any regard for personal mishaps. It focused on getting to the point, knowing that they were late for the meet up already.
:: Your sidearm. ::
Revenant took the small ion pistol offered over by the droid, slotting it into a hidden holster under her jacket, laying just above the concealed armor, hiding away the weapon from sight. The droid, placed the helmet on, disguising itself as a Human companion. The pair waltzed off to the bar, although they were fashionably late. Stations, are not quite as small as media makes them out to be.
THE BAR - AMES RESEARCH STATION, KEPLER, 5:32 AM...
Entering the bar, Revenant quietly notioned to her coated companion, speaking in a hushed tone,
"Find me a corner seat, I'll find Wolf. Neural Uplink is still active here, give heads up if we need to get away. Do not use it unless it is imperative, I have a headache. "
Revenant approached the bar counter to await in the small queue of individuals, taking off her mask, clipping it to her belt, concealing it under her draped brown jacket. Being within proximity of random outsiders greatly displeased her, giving a tempered scowl. Still remaining mildly disturbed at the recent incident.
The journey to Ames had been a long one from California to Kepler, overwhelmed with boredom and sitting around his conversations with the mysterious bird just before the meeting and the day before had brought amusement to the end of the dull trip. Laying over on Ames was less than comfortable for Hemlocke as he recognize Kepler far more as Xeno turf than his, even before his run in with Cobra. Ames brought its own set of trouble, the Zoners had grown rather accustomed to Rogues fighting amongst each other, and as such they were barely "guests". Zoners being neutral until provoked aside, Rogues that caused trouble here would be met with a firing squad once they left. The once troubling presence of Outcasts flooding the station putting Hemlocke on edge was replaced by the abnormal Xenos that called the northern front their home. The Xenos had more honor than Rogues, but that didn't say much whatsoever, even though He was on his best behavior at Freeports on account of what the Zoners had done for him, he knew full well he was being watched.
Hemlocke was already in the bar by the time Revenant arrived as he had gone there immediately from his ship, knowing she was late, the only reason he didn't go check on her was because she mentioned some sort of bot to look after her. His piercing crimson optic would have been easy to spot if he had been looking at the entryway when she entered, the bot scouting out a corner seat as instructed caught his attention, and brought his eyes to the counter. Spotting the odd mask clipped onto the person's hip, he shifted his weight onto his left boot, standing up from the table as he made his way around it toward the individual, making a wide sweep around to the left side where he remembered her human eye being, coming into a standing position only a few inches away as his face turned slightly to peer down at the scowling woman, giving a side profile a clean shaven face with his human right eye the focus. Up close, an odd mutation in pigment could be seen within the deep hazel, yellow lines like spokes on a wheel rounding the iris. His arms lay unfolded at his sides, revealing extensive scarring on either bare forearm.
His lips parted slightly to reveal his voice, which sounded much different in person without the growl of faulty commlinks. A dark and calm voice emerged, smooth like ice. Odd for an individual with such a rugged surface.
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Under the guise of displeasure, she was scanning around. A heads up was given to her implant, the companion noticed the male approach her. She glanced to the side, eyeing him coming up. A smirk was had, he was certainly more gruff than expected. Upon closer inspection of her condition, it seems like she was eager to conceal her damage through makeup, presenting herself as relatively nominal, until one glances very closely.
"Had to resolve a... unexpected problem. Why, do you need to be somewhere?"
She switched her attention to the bartender, ordering a glass of wine. An ordinary yet historically classy alcoholic beverage. There were still ties of comfort associated with the drink to her, to surpress some of the ailments of the affliction through the red poison. The rumbling headache remained from the incident in the hanger.
The observant eye traced over the battered woman's appearance, taking in every detail, his gaze only left when she turned her attention to the bartender, to which his left hand retrieved a small PDA from his back pocket. Presenting it to the bartender as he promised to cover the tab in space, knowing she'd likely refill the glass multiple times over. He didn't immediately answer, instead giving a scan of the room, even if the bot was watching, letting his guard down wasn't something he was planning to do in the presence of Xenos.
"Figured."
A to the point and oddly short response and answer in one for he who usually had more to say. His demeanor much different in person, whether that was because of the place they were in or was simply normal was hard to discern without prior experiences. His eyes eventually returned to Revenant, taking up a seat next to her, laying his left arm on the counter facing her, with his left ankle up on his right knee, right hand lay on his right thigh near the odd-looking sidearm attached to the same hip. Seemingly taking up a position that let him see nearly every corner of the room.
His attire was much neater, and certainly much cleaner than one would expect for a rogue, a form fitting black-T, tucked neatly into black pants, with a brown leather belt that was only moderately stained with splotches of dried blood. The unkempt deep brown hair fell over the left side of his face and down his shoulders, masking the faceplate but not the red optic that pierced between the strands. He spoke on the topic again, this time in form of question.
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Likewise, they took a seat too, awaiting for the order to come up. She rubbed her forehead, massaging it in thought, revealing the other side of her face - as well as the augment. Although she had tried to conceal wear and tear, there was still a bit of a rough edge to her appearance from the fight. But for now, she had foregone security in light of disorientation, not committing to observing within this moment, allowing for a brief moment of vulnerability.
"I am not too certain. I must have suffered some form of cognitive concussion from a sudden traumatic blow. I do not recall what happened.
I just... Dropped. My pal took out the visitor."
The order came around, a glass of red liquid was presented before her. She dragged the glass towards her, briefly inspecting the drink before touching it, still pondering about the situation.
"You seem to be dressed more neatly than expected, I was anticipating more stains on you. " A chuff was released, she peered back up to stare at him for a moment, with a smirk across her face.
Taking a break from scanning the room after familiarizing himself with the pal's sweep pattern, his face turned to face Revenant as she began speaking, eyes scanning over every movement, indicated by the roaming crimson. It was rather clear from the attentive gaze, if not downright disturbing stare that the man was listening to each word with consideration. Nor did the normally volatile individual show impatience with a need to interrupt. It was as if another person was present entirely. Analyzing the vulnerability the woman's current state displayed, the look in his human eye changed for a brief moment, a sudden shift that one could easily miss at a passing glance. Before it returned to the slight interest it held previously.
When the glass arrived, his eyes gave the bartender a brief side-eye of inspection before turning back to Revenant, when the woman turned her face to look at him, he looked her directly in the eyes, a thought crossing his mind he had not considered before. When facing each other their optics aligned, his unblinking stare was interrupted as he blinked for a moment to register the new light source directly infront of him, even if dull. Judging by the intensity of the light, his own optic wasn't very refined. Likely meaning it was also sensitive to other sources of light, possibly hinting at why he let his hair cover the left side of his face as it did. After the visual interruption, he brought himself back from spacing out, re-focusing on her eyes for the second time.
That comment, jest or otherwise coming from someone else might have bored or annoyed him, but there was something about the way she spoke, even before this point that made it hard for Hemlocke to find the usual comments about Rogue stereotypes distasteful. Perhaps the remarks being genuine conversation made it endearing. He allowed a brief smirk to cross his face when he saw hers, indicating some semblance of enjoyment. Deciding to return the stereotypical jest.
"Is it really so hard to believe I take care of myself? I anticipated far more circuitry."
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For that brief moment of an interlocked gaze, there was no immediate reaction or change of emotion to the flow. A thought did cross her mind, how primitive he augment he was using. There was certainly some latency to it, at least compared to hers. She pondered where he obtained such a thing from.
Despite usually being tormented by quips that implicate her as a robot, she did not mind the comment he dished back. A brow was furrowed, inquisitive. For the most part, she played it with a measure of stoicness, remaining cool, not intending to earn his ire - especially not in an enclosed space. She rolled her jaw idly, continuing on,
"You may never know. You always seem to be caught up in dealing with undesirables. Do you ever get time to yourself without a worry? I see you're analysing too. I too, feel that an individual will inevitably attempt something on me. A part of me wishes to run away, go far away from civilization, back into the seclusion of a study room. I don't like crowds of people. I can never know who is going to make an attempt. I never felt truly at ease...
Humanity has always lacked this essence of unity, willful ignorance... "
She muttered, picking up the glass, very faintly taste testing it with a light sip, holding the glass in handle. A light sigh was released, lightly fiddling the glass with her gloved fingers in a row of taps. There was some mild shame of holding onto paranoia, but it was necessary. The two times they were grounded by missiles, was a harsh reminder at what is at stake with the various on going schemes.
He sat silently as she spoke, studying how neutral she was, how calm despite the implied trauma received only a brief while prior. It would impress him, had he not already known this to be the woman's normal. What he wasn't prepared for was the barrage of words that hit so close to home base sparked by a mere observation of his constant analysis, it earned a singular blink from him as he acknowledged what was said. Barely catching the mutter at the end. His left hand lifted from the counter slightly, flexing before rolling into a fist to pop the tendons back into place. Some mild discomfort indicated by a slight twitch of his upper left lip. He tilted his head to the side ever so slightly as a response to what she had said, indication he found it intriguing, and without rebuttal.
His eyes glanced across the bar back to the corner seat he had been sitting in when the woman arrived, his right hand lifted from horizontally lay on his thigh to vertical, giving a brief motion toward the table after she mentioned moving to a less crowded area. He really wasn't that talkative in person, his left leg slid off his right knee as his boots touched the ground again, leaning forward toward her briefly as he stood up to his full height, eyes cast down upon her before he did something that was seemingly entirely out of character, evidenced by many conversations and behavioral patterns. His left hand extended underhandedly toward her as an offer, likely caused by the mention of concussion. He finally spoke.
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Following him to the table, despite the recent ambush, her coordination was relatively fine - if not a bit skittish from paranoia. She nodded to her coated companion, who was leaning back against the wall near the table within the corner. With relative calm, she sat down, immediately leaning on her palm, drink in the other hand. She hawked him with a glimmer of curiosity in her eye,
"You really are that curious, hm? What is it that captivates your intrigue, Wolf? Or did you expect something else?"
She took a brief intermission to take another cautious sip, sitting back in the chair.
"Or... Perhaps... There was something more to this, that you are unaware of."
Hemlocke only glanced back to the woman once as they walked, seemingly inquisitive though with that optic it was hard to tell, noting the skittishness but relatively decent coordination despite a supposed concussion, of note he seemingly had no issue turning his back to her. Though his eyes drifted towards her "companion", staring at them as Revenant took her seat, before he sat shortly after. This time with his right elbow propped up on the table, resting his right cheek on his fist as he stared out over the bar from the corner position, seemingly much less concerned with a better vantage point. His human eye looked over his fist to look at the woman's hawking gaze. Listening to her guesses of curiosity.
"Finding the reason for curiosity is a puzzle in its own right."
His smirk slowly turned into a small grin, revealing pristine teeth, odd for a few reasons, one of which being the obvious fights, the other, occupation.
"Something more that I'm unaware of.... and what would that be?"
The man seemed rather pulled in by that odd statement, amused by it, waiting almost expectantly for what would follow that odd choice in dialogue.
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