Feb 17 14:25:21 105 PA

From Chronicles

The current game time is: Tue Feb 17 14:25:21 105 PA.

Kingsdale - Advanced Idea Mechanics

The garage area of Advanced Idea Mechanics is an extremely large single room, with a chemically treated (MDC) concrete floor. The walls, unlike those of the office are completely undecorated, giving the place a spartan, industrial feel. Which is fitting, considering the bustling of activity that is being undergone in this place. Most often, a suit of power armor or two is being worked on and occasionally a giant robot can be seen encased in scaffolding along one wall. At one time or another, just about any kind of job is visible being done. From weapon reloading, to repairs to outright radical modification. And it isn't just confined to robots and power armor, either. The occasionally light armored vehicle and even main battle tank are seen here on occasion. To help with the work itself the ceiling is fitted with huge cranes that move on mobile tracks, allowing them to lift into place things like weapons and giant robot limbs. For working on the latter as well, a massive support construct has been built into one wall complete with a crane of it's own, providing means to lift and secure for repair a robot that is missing both legs if required. Other equipment, from spot welders to laser torches to electronic toolkits can be found on benches and the like all through the area. As you watch, men in exoskeletons, sometimes assited by a vehicle or a crane carry things from two rooms visible down a short yet wide hallway, slipping under large blast doors. These doors close automatically behind whomever leaves, indicating perhaps that volatile materials are stored within.

It's almost creepy how Kesslan keeps poping up like this. All the more so that his arrival, while having been on a hoverbike, was not heralded by any really noticeable noise. The bike having been left outside the Garage for the time being as he was uncertain if he was allowed to bring it in or not left him entering on foot. Of course beyond any noises that may be covering his arrival, another reason his bike may have been overlooked arriving is that it's one of the NG-230 Prowlers. Designed specifically for covert movement.

And it is ultimately the bike itself that brings Kesslan here today, wandering around looking slightly lost, dressed as allways it seems in his juicer armor and carrying the same weapons he seems to bring with him everywhere. For the bike has certainly seen better days, or at least it's battered, worn and in some cases slightly battle damaged exterior has at any rate.

Abnormally, Caliopa is not in the truck, nor working on it. She is lying next to a Royal Enfield Replica Motorbike, with parts of it on a blanket beside her. Dressed in old, torn combats, and a white vest that has seen better days and much oil, her hair is tied back in a long plait that has fallen forwards. Her head is bent over the piece in her hands, and her forehead is wrinkled. Oddly, her eyes aren't on the item, but gazing into space, her hands moving without her gaze following. The bike itself is ancient, battered but the engine parts look almost perfectly maintained.

Inevitably it seems, Kesslan's gaze lands uppon Caliopa. A figure he just barely recognizes compared to his previous encounters with her. Infact he winds up having to actually stop and peer at her with those blank eyes of his a few moments just to be sure he isnt mistaken. Afterall so many of these Atorians look so alike to him, and he's likely not seen Cali dressed this way before ontop of it.

Even once he's relatively certain it is Cali, whom he knows really only in passing contact he maintains his distance for a few moments longer, trying to figgure out what it is that Caliopa is doing. Certainly she gives the apperance of working on the bike to an extent.. and yet.. not. And this of course piques the feline's innate sense of curiosity.

Caliopa 's hands turn the item in them over and over, her eyebrows drawing together in a small frown. She is murmuring to herself softly, apparently talking to the piece of machinery. Abruptly, she blinks, moving her head and putting the item down on the blanket. She addresses it, humour in her voice, "Ain't gonna be that hard to fix you, turns out..."

She lifts her arms over her head, stretching her back, and her gaze meets Kesslan's, her eyes widening in recognition. She manages a grin, her dimples deepening. "Can I help?" Her voice is cool courtesy, but not hostile.

Kesslan earperks slightly at the apparently less timid greeting and behaviour than he had previously noted. Of course part of it comes him not having expected Caliopa to be some sort of mechanic or.. what ever she was. Infact his confusion about what exactly it was she was doing gives him pause long enough to appear at least somewhat creepy as he just keeps regarding her in an apparently blank faced stare. Still, there are some cues that there is more going on for his tail sways casually behind him and his ears perk up bright and alert, that row of ear studs in his right ear in clear view.

It takes him a moment to catch himself before he reaches into his belt pouch, as he has previous times, and pull out the little translator box. "Opferris zalurra fensi jahalai rak-sukur-feh ehhtsharr rr-o-t." "I am seeking some one capable of repairing bikes of the sky." Caliopa 's confidence wavers in the face of the stare and she shifts uncomfortably, moving slightly to a position she can rise from quickly. Her grin fades and her eyes hold a wary light. Her forehead knots and she tilts her head at the first speech, but the second has her rising to her feet, grabbing a cloth in her hands.

"I can fix most stuff, that which ain't broken dead. What's your trouble, mister..." She lets it trail off questioningly, her head tilted to one side, the wary look lurking in her eyes. As she speaks, she rubs the grease from her hands with the old cloth.

Kesslan seems to imitate Caliopa's head tilt, listening as he does to the translation of Cali's own words back into his own considerably different language. For a brief moment he seems to give an almost human equivilant of a frown himself, his ears flattening back as he does so before returning to a mostly upright position. Ever so briefly the sway of his tail stops completely, but then starts up again starting with a slight flick at the tip of his tail that seems to carry itself al the way up eventually until his tail is swaying behind him more or less the way it was before. "Yarjish fastasirr." "Overdue for checkup." he pauses, tilting his head the other way this time, still looking at Cali with those seemingly dead eyes of his "Drasassirr rokta fesir Meeeee ssstaarrrr." "I do not understand this word me star."

Looking perplexed for a moment, Caliopa's forehead creases and she nips her lower lip with her teeth. Then the penny drops and she grins suddenly, her dimples deepening in genuine amusement, "Mister. Tis a title, for in front of your name. I was hinting as to you giving me your name..."

She walks forward slowly, wiping her hands slowly, "What is your ride? I might not have the parts for a service but figure I can get them." She smiles slightly, confidence leant to her by her love of machines. "Mind, if tis something rare, it might take some time."

The first noteable reaction from the feline is all in his ears as they suddenly perk back up as the translation of Caliopa's words roll back at him. But once it's done translating he certanly seems to now fully understand what Caliopa was getting at, if not everything she actually said. "Jarkasit fetisrr." he says as he offers a slight bow, the pause giving the translator time to speak before he's able to continue. "Many appologies." as he straigtens he takes what can only be considered a military parade stance, obviously even in an alien such as himself "Errasti Raran esti ech-Karaskarr Techil Kesslan Osefice." "Spirit Warrior of the Grand Council Kesslan Osefice."

The Pantheran pauses long enough for the translator to do it's job before he continues "Urrarirst manaras jor-si Atorian.. " he draws out the pistol on his left leg suddenly, spinning it around in a flash and offering the butt to Cali "Orust fest rargwar." "I am uncertain but it is supposed to be made by the same Atorian manufacturer as this."

Caliopa tilts her head, listening to the translator, her face thoughtful, "Your friends can't call you all of that, and I don't think I got time to say it over and over, if I'm talking about your ride to you." She offers a hand, pausing and reaching for the pistol instead. She bends her head, inspecting it with a small frown.

After a brief inspection she nods abruptly, offering it back to him, butt first. "Reckon that should be alright then. My name's Cali,..." She hesitates, "Think we met before. There was some talk of eating." She lifts an eyebrow questioningly.

Half returning the bow with a small one of her own, Caliopa smiles, offering her hand to him to shake. "Guess we are formally introduced now, Kesslan?" She speaks the name carefully, precisely. "When do you want your ride serviced? I'll have to charge you labour on top of parts, if it needs any..." She wipes her hands again, seemingly a nervous reaction, before resting one hand on her hip.

Kesslan eyes the hand held out to him with that same almost expresionless stare of his, apparently unsure of what to do. But then those ears perk up again and he holds out his own hand, though he doesnt take Caliopa's, apparently waiting to see what she will do. He's infact so absorbed by this display of ritual he fails to even reply to Caliopa's question, instead simply tilting his head at her, ears perked high.

There is a moment where they both have their hands out, before Cali cautiously moves hers to hold his, "You shake them, as a formal greeting." She speaks carefully, her forehead wrinkling. "A way of showing that you don't have a weapon in your hand, reason being."

That irrisitable sense of curiosity drives Kesslan to ask even as he seems to intently observe this 'formal greeting' these strange Atorians that call themselves Humans use. "Mabri telmastra hajir sepsar? Ushiri yatarr-marrs frepsi-jilamf nestisi ratas?" "But what of claw and tooth? Or other ways to kill some one that is easier if you grab hold of them?"

Withdrawing her hand, Cali pushes both hands into her pockets, "Well, back then, folks didn't have claws, nor fight with teeth. Back centuries, before the rifts, and all. Least, that is what I figure." She offers a grin, warming her eyes and causing deep dimples in her cheeks. "Mostly, just manners and the like."

Kesslan says, "Yirba." "Facinating." "Um-Iktrafel Karnars?" "Old Honourable Tradition?" He asks as he returns his hand to his side once Caliopa seems done doing this odd thing called a hand shake. While the Pantheran does not understand the full meaning of this, he can at least understand the significance of using old traditions, for his own people do. And so it is that Caliopa can at least get some sense from the enigmatic feline that he 'gets it' at least on some level."

Hesitating for a moment, Cali's forehead wrinkles before she nods slowly, "Yeah, that is about it. Stuff we do because folks always do it." She shrugs lightly, "What do you want done to your ride? I'll have to charge you for my time... and the parts it uses, oil and what not."

Kesslan's ears flatten back slightly again at that "Mrritas felsi." "Estimate only." he suddenly seems somewhat uncomfortable mentioning the next part "Brrasrhi arrspet tsasarinam." "Unsure if ability exists to offer proper payment to individual offering mercenary services of worker technical caste."

Caliopa chews on her lip, trying to work that out, her eyes narrowing a little. "You want me to tell you how much, because you ain't sure you got the money?" She questions, checking her understanding. "If that's so, I can tell you the time, if nothing goes wrong." Her face is serious, business being discussed.

Kesslan seems to take a while to consider what his response should be, even well after the translator has finished spouting back to him what Caliopa has said. Perhaps it's that he too faces some confusion on his end of the translation of what Calipa has said. Eventually however he begins to speak once more, this time however with a slightly cautious edge to it. Though if it's fear, or simply a desire to make sure he doesnt offend

Its hard to tell at the moment. "Jirrsa mestilar istr raql msirt-lamish zsrr-lo pshrur ruta." "Not understand bearing of time on services cross clan service requisistions are not the place of warrior caste normality." the pause in his speach is only long enough for the translator to finish saying what ever it is to Caliopa before he continues "Berrgatili terasi mengorr casatar....ili-yajar farstur. " "I have native payment method.. uncertainty exists of value."

Caliopa 's confusion deepens and she moves to lean against her motorbike, resting her hand on the tank carefully. "Uh, the work I do gets paid by time it takes to do. If I say twenty credits for every hour it takes, and we reckon that they normally take four hours..." She trails off, giving him a hopeful look, appealing for understanding. "I can tell you how much your money is worth..."

"Urrsa fasurr." "Understanding is had." Kesslan responds seeming to get what Calipoa was getting at now, the intial concern now gone. Such are the ways of language barriers. Though one might consider it at least slightly odd that here he is displaying all this common Rifts Earth tech, and not a shred of understanding of the actual language one would normally use to acquire it.

Caliopa's forehead stays wrinkled and she nods slowly, her eyes narrowed. "So we got a deal?" She questions, carefully pronouncing each word. "You bring your ride in tomorrow, say, and I'll get it done. The parts ain't going to be much on top, and I don't anticipate no problems." She tilts her head, giving him a thoughtful look.

Kesslan's right ear gives a slight flick, and then his ears flatten back again ever so slightly "Saprisih fara su-jiri mastalan ilis zarra orrtau maj-waquarr umpri ri sazi toso." "Hoped for assesment of trade value costs of work before work completion due to potential limited value of local trade currency."

Caliopa gives him a blank stare for a moment, translating the words into a piece of understanding in her head. "You want to know how much it will cost? The parts?" She questions slowly. "Depends on what parts need changing. You bring that beast in here, and I'll take a look see at him, see how he reads." She pushes off the bike, reaching for a tool on the blanket.

Kesslan spends some time listening to the response from the translator. One that seems supprisingly lengthy given the relatively short period of time it took Caliopa to talk to him. Then again earlier a few seemingly simple words turned out to have some rather complex and round about meaning in her own language. In the end he simply nods and offers a slight bow before turning to apparently leave.

Caliopa scratches her head, watching him leave and then shrugs lightly, moving towards her blanket again and picking up a piece of engine to work on. "Ain't nothing so strange..." She mumbles, bending her head over the item. "Now then, what's choking you, my girl..." The absent look crosses her face as her fingers move lightly over it, and although her mouth moves, she doesn't speak aloud.