Hunter HQ - Commissary

Once the most-used area on the Fort Sam Houston, this area sees a little less usage by the Maverick Hunters, but it is still an important part of the ship. The mundane tasks of the Maverick Hunter Base are carried out here, from clothes laundry and armor cleaning to basic repairs. Mail sent from Neo-Tokyo is sorted here and delivered, and there is a small commisary, primarily for the human residents of the base, though it gets more than its fair share of usage by the Reploids here, as well. The room is seldom busy, but without the functions performed here, life in the Hunter Base wouldn't be quite as easy.

Alloy is sitting with Kalinka on one of the couches. He nods as Kalinka stops talking. "Mmmhmm, okay. So what happened then, Kali?"

Bowie moseys in, heading in the general direction of the mailbox. Both Kalinka and Alloy get a wave and a "Howdy."

Kalinka continues talking to Alloy, in Russian...apparently, the communications Hunter has picked up the Russian language module recently. "<< Well, my friend finished, and then she had to go. So, she had -just- left...maybe five minutes gone, tops. I was sitting there eating, when suddenly -- the window in front of my just...-shattered-...and something whizzed right past my head and lodged into the wall. That's when I got under the table, and called for backup."

Alloy nods to Bowie. "Gudday, Bowie." He replies to Kalinka - in English - with sympathy in his voice. "You don't get much of a break, do you?" he says, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "It wasn't...DeVry this time though, was it." He states more than asks that.

Bowie needs to add that language module one of these days, though considering his mind is in many ways still ajumble, it's probably safer to wait until later. He thumbs through the mail addressed to him - someone else can be 'occupant' this week. Bill, bill, advertisement, promotional flyer, invitation to a dating service(? dang mailing lists), and another bill. Turning his ear to the half of the conversation he can comprehend, he asks, "Whut happened now?"

Kalinka quickly peeks over the edge of the couch where she's currently sitting, as Alloy greets Bowie. Right away, she switches back to English. "Bowie, there you are! I did miss you this weekend...something kind of bad happened. I was having dinner last night in McDonalds, and a Maverick sniped through the window at me."

Bowie says "Yeah, went t'help Hank move in t'his new place." His smile dies as Kali tells him that yet another person has attacked her out of the blue. "Those Mavs are gettin bold."

Kalinka puts a finger up, and gets up off the couch, heading over to a space between one of the chairs and the wall. She reaches back behind the chair, and pulls up...

...the head of Gravity Beetle.

With a smirk, Kalinka explains, "Apparently, this is the one who did it. Bastion met with him today, and brought me back this."

Bowie doesn't even so much as blink at the morbid display. "Ah see. Miss Rigger know 'bout this?"

"Not yet," Kalinka says.

Bowie says "Then tell her. Thank that's the one that got her, too." Pause. "Hank says hi, by the way."

Kalinka grins widely. "Oh, he DID?" she says cheerfully, any thoughts of what happened yesterday behind her for the moment. "I did like him, he was a nice guy -and- a looker too. That is the word, right? A looker?"

Bowie chuckles softly. "Ah thank so. Ah'm sure he'd be flattered." He takes out the useful mail and goes to put the rest in the recycle bin. "Though he's twice yer age."

Kalinka grins. "I know. Derek is probably twice my age, too, but I do think he is hot too...I can look, there is no law for looking." She shrugs playfully. "Anyhow, come on over, I have not seen you all weekend. Stay a while."

Bowie agrees, "True enough." He walks over to the couch, setting the mail on the arm as he sits down. "So how's the shoulder?"

Kalinka rather unceremoniously drops Gravity Beetle's decapitated head back behind the chair with a *thunk*, and she strolls back over to sit down next to Bowie. "It is better. The cast is coming off soon, the doctor says. I had to see him last night for tranquilizers after what happened at the restaurant, so...they have made me kind of 'high', and the arm does not hurt, especially not right now. It feels quite good."

Bowie nods, his smile returning. "Good...just be careful. Might not hurt, but yer still injured."

Kalinka nods. "I will. Hey, I have...one small request," she adds, almost as an afterthought.

Bowie cants his head slightly. "Yes?"

Kalinka smiles, a little bit bashfully...but the earnest look on her face is very genuine. "Could I get a hug? Yesterday, and this is no lie, I did hug everyone I could find...I was just so glad to be alive, and just...just to know I may not have seen anyone ever again, that was so scary."

Bowie leans over, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. A gentle hug, on account of her shoulder. Considering how much the two of them have been through together, this is a request he has no trouble answering.

Kalinka smiles a little bit, hugging back gently. "Thank you," she says softly. "I cannot tell you how scared I was yesterday...I was maybe three centimeters away from not being here anymore, to see anyone again." A terrifying prospect for a young girl who cherishes her friends, no doubt.

Bowie says softly, "Ah unnerstand." As a person who's cheated death twice, perhaps he truely does. He hugs for as long as Kali feels comfortable with it, then releases her.

Kalinka remains sitting there quietly for a long moment, pensive and not saying anything. She hangs her head a little bit, and her slightly-overgrown bangs droop down, partially obscuring her face. "Poor Daddy is beside himself," she murmurs. "I am thinking that I should go back to going out escorted only."

Bowie's smile turns sympathetic as he ventures his opinion. "Might not be a bad idea fer all a us. Too many a us gettin jumped when we're alone."

"Until this weekend, I thought that being escorted was kind of childish," Kalinka admits. "I do now see the, erm, the importance of it, though." She gives Bowie a sidelong glance, as if considering something. The wheels are definitely turning.

Bowie nods. "That's why policefolks usually have partners. When thangs go south, that's when ya need someone t'back ya up. Like you, Chill, and Ah at the hostel. If any one a us wus thare alone, we'd have been in trouble."

Kalinka says, "That, um, that makes perfect sense, when you put it that way. Listen, I have, um...I have proposition for you. I do not know, really, what I can offer to you in return. But if you can think of something once I tell you what I have in mind, then...please, let me know."

Bowie doesn't say anything. Instead, he nods and gestures for her to continue.

Kalinka bites her lip, looking down at her hands, and thinking for a moment about what she wants to say. Then, she glances up at her companion, and remarks... "I would like for you to be my..um, police partner. I -want- to be able to protect you like you protect me...however, I am...you know, not trained in that way and not strong like that. So...if you would do this for me, then I am willing, also, to repay the favor in whatever way you see fit. I do trust you...VERY much. I cannot think of any other Hunter, really, that...I would ask this of. I trust everyone else, do not get me wrong. But...I do think we have...chemistry, in a way. Am I making much sense?" She smiles hopefully.

Bowie falls into one of his long thoughtful silences. Possibly long enough to put her on pins and needles, but not long enough to be oppressive. Finally, he nods. "All right." He extends a hand to her. "Ya got a deal."

Kalinka immediately beams a pleased smile, placing her little hand in Bowie's and giving his hand a fond squeeze before letting it go. "Thank you so much! This means very much to me. And I do feel that I owe you something in return. Whatever I can do, in my capacity, for you...never hesitate to ask."

And so the deal is made, with a smile and a handshake. "Thare is somethang..." Bowie says. "...Ah wus trained as an EMT fer humans, but never fer reploids. If ya could teach me some basic repairs?"

"I can most certainly do that," Kalinka says with an eager grin. "It is not that hard to learn the very basics -- and you would be quite surprised how handy such skills are, especially to my particular division...we are often short-handed in the Medical Bay."

Bowie again nods. "Ah'd appreciate it. Seein as how Ah don't thank we've got much medical trainin in PhoenixFlame."

Kalinka giggles, she's probably a little bit amused by Bowie's accent. "Hey, I have another question, what did you mean about going south? Earlier, you did say that when things go south, it is good to have partner. What things? And why do they go south?"

Bowie gives his friend a quizzical look for a moment, then realizes he's been using colloqualisms again. "Thangs goin south is slang fer a situation turnin really bad really fast," he explains. "Like whut happened t'ya yesterday. Or, say ya pull someone over fer runnin a red light, and it turns out the driver's armed an dangerous. That's whut Ah mean by that phrase."

Kalinka ohhhhhs! "Yes, now I see. Things went all the way south to the South Pole yesterday, I think. I do like your sayings, they are cute, I think."

Bowie breaks into a grin. "English has some colorful phrases, that's fer sure. But Russian has phrases like that too, doesn't it?"

"That it does," Kalinka says with a mysterious grin. "By the way...would you like to learn Russian? I have developed quick-learn program chip...Chill knows how to speak Russian now...it works for him fine! Would you like to have one?"

Bowie doesn't need to think about that long. "So long as it's compatible with an old model like me, sure."

Kalinka looks pretty confident. "I would have to take a look, but I am very sure there would not be a problem. Then, I could...you know, talk to you without the difficulty."

Bowie nods. "Ah trust ya, Miss Kali." His smile waxes into a grin. "Course, Ah could jus babble to ya in Spanish..."

Kalinka gasps, looking mooney-eyed. "I will NEVER leave you alone if you talk to me in Spanish...that is what Derek does to me, and I find that...sooooo romantic!"

And once again, Kalinka takes Bowie off-guard. "Oh." is all he can think of to say.

Kalinka turns an interesting shade of red. "Oh, forgive me...I am being embarrassing." Being -embarrassed- would probably be more appropriate!

Blizzard Wolf arrives from the Hunter HQ - Residential Level.

Blizzard Wolf has arrived.

Bowie doesn't blush, but he is a bit flustered. He refuses to stay like that for long, however. "Then let's pretend it didn't happen an move on."

Joules arrives from the Hunter HQ - Residential Level.

Joules has arrived.

Kalinka is sitting on the couch with Bowie, blushing a little bit. "*ahem* Agreed, yes. Any day you, um, you wish to begin learning those repairs, let me know. And also, let me know when you also wish to get that chip in, too."

Joules

----------------------------------<( Joules )>--------------------------------

Approximately about 6 feet in height, Joules is no taller than the average human. The reploid is completely encased in dark gray armor, edges outlined in black. Hands and face are a lighter shade of gray, the only actual parts of the Maverick Hunter that is exposed. His helmet is almost perfectly round save for two circular gray audio recievers on each side of the head and a black V-shaped crest on the forehead. A verticaly stretched golden diamond lies glowing with power between the 'V' crest. His expression is thoughtful and baffled, blue eyes looking back with a blank stare.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bowie is, as mentioned, sitting on the couch with Kalinka. Unlike her, he isn't blushing. "Whenever's convenient fer ya. Yer schoolwerk comes first, a course." A pause. "Do ya have a pistol, Miss Kali?"

Blizzard Wolf pads in quietly, in his quadrapedal format. he seems to be pondering over something or another and not paying attention to his immediate surroundings quite so heavily as he might typically do... Of course, being a professional paranoid this doesn't mean a whole lot.

Kalinka blinks in surprise, at Bowie's sudden question. "Um...no, I do not," she says.

Joules steps into the immediate vicinity. His footsteps are decievingly light and soft, his frame rather small though with an aura of solidity and fortitude. The reploid cracks a smile as he glances about the area to some familiar, and unfamiliar, faces. "It's good to be home."

Bowie hears the door open, glancing over towards Blizz and giving him a nod in greeting. Turning back to Kalinka, he says "Thank Ah've got somethang in mah own arsenal that'll suit..." And again he's distracted by the door. The gunslinger gives the newcomer a vaguely puzzled look, as if trying to determine if he should recognize him or not.

Kalinka spots Blizzard, and grins at him. "Hello, good evening!" Joules gets a curious look...someone she doesn't immediately recognize. Her puzzled expression matches Bowie's.

Blizzard Wolf doesn't know a lot of people around here still, so he isn't quite as curiously puzzled in general appearance by the arrival of yet another fellow he does not know. Strolling into the room he settles down out of the walk path and nods quietly to all, murmuring a soft, "Good evening..."

Joules cracks a devilish grin in the general direction of both individuals bearing bewildered expressions on their faces. "Bowie, how disappointing. Surely you remember me."

Bowie sighs and shakes his head. "Sorry, but Ah don't. Lost most a mah memory two months back." He musters a sheepish smile. "But Ah guess Ah should know ya."

Joules arches a single brow. "Hrm... memory loss, how unfortunate." He eyes Kalinka. "Salutations Ms. Cossack."

Kalinka smiles. "I am -finally- back from school -- back to stay, this time," she tells Joules. "And it HAS been some time, but you do look familiar! ... Joules, is it?"

Blizzard Wolf, being the new guy, keeps to his own council for a few moments to see waht develops from this conversation, his gaze shifting between Kalinka and Joules quietly.

Joules smiles. "It is Ms. Cossack, it is." His attention drifts to the unknown canine individual observing so quietly. "And who might you be?"

"Blizzard Wolf.." replies the lupie thoughtfully as he regards Joules. "Pleased to meet you..." He inclines his head forward a bit and adopts a somewhat more friendly expression. "I'm relativly new around here, still."

Bowie slips into laconic mode for now, listening to the others while trying to wrack his brains for missing memory fragments.

Kalinka grins. "A LOT has been going on here, some things have changed, Joules. And we have new faces also."

"So I see." Joules returns the nod to Wolf. "It's always good to have more around, we can use all the help we can get."

Blizzard Wolf chuckles softly at this and remarks casually, "I try to be useful..." His tail swishes back and forth a couple of times as he tries to think of anything that he can really add at the moment. ... And draws a blank, temporarily.

"True enough," Bowie agrees. "Considerin the mess the world's in these days."

"Well then." Joules sighs and looks around. "I better be off to greet the others." He walks off. "I will see all of you again, soon."

(Joules leaves.)

"Bowie...can you remember him? How is your memory on Joules?" Kalinka asks curiously.

Bowie shakes his head. "Drawin a total blank," he admits. "Name don't even sound familiar. Guess meybe we don't know each other well?"

Blizzard Wolf regards Bowie curiously as Kalinka says this. He wasn't aware that the Texan had taken a good shot to the head recently, he's not exactly cleared for that kind of information. Always good to keep abreast of these things in the event they become relevant again later, though.

Kalinka shakes her head. "I am not sure how well you knew him, I was still away to school when he was here the first time," she tells Bowie. She frowns, looking pensive. "You know something...there may...there MAY be a way to regain some of those fragmented memories. Some will not be retrievable, but others -may- be."

It was several thousand volts of electricity, actually, courtesy of Bass. That Bowie survived at all is only due to the combined efforts of Dr. Light and both Cossacks. "Thay're comin back, Miss Kali. Meybe not as fast as Ah'd like, but..." He shrugs. "Ah've accepted that Ah may never remember evrythang."

Blizzard Wolf murmurs, "That life persists is sometimes the greatest gift of all..." as he stands up and pads over to a slightly better better place to sit down. Once there he setles back down again and tucks his tail out of the way under an unoccupied table.

As Blizzard sits down, he may notice something odd and out-of-place...some strange object behind a nearby chair, and up against the wall.

Bowie nods his agreement with Blizzard's sentiment. Time for a change of subject. "So, ya settled in, Blizzard?"

"I suppose..." the wolf remarks as he breaks eye contact, glancing at something that caught his attention out of the corner of his eye, then looking back towards Bowie. "I've more or less gotten the layout of here and the Labs settled into my mind, so I won't be getting lost any time soon."

Kalinka is silent for the moment, her shiney blonde hair spilling down around her face as she bows her head in contemplation.

Over in the corner behind the chair, there seems to be something large and metallic. It isn't part of the chair...

Bowie doesn't give the object in the chair a second glance. He's already seen it. "That's good," Bowie remarks. "Easy t'get turned around in the Houston, 'specially the lower areas."

Blizzard Wolf stands and pads into a slightly different position as he regards the metallic object curiously for a moment, just exactly like a lupine who's come across something that he's not entirely certain what it is. "Yes..." Blizzard muses to Bowie, "I got turned around the first time I went down there."

Kalinka mentions offhandedly: "The Houston is haunted. I have a ghost in my room, and there are ghosts on the bottom deck."

Bowie asks "Thare are?" as if this is the first he's heard of it.

Kalinka nods slowly. "The people who were trapped on the Fort Sam haunt the hallways. The ghost in my room is named Athena. She was serving on the Fort Sam when it went down."

"Interesting..." the wolf remarks as he scans the metallic device for heat sources with his infrared vision. He then toggles his eyes back to the normal spectrum to look between Kalinka and Bowie, an interested expression.

Bowie says "Ah see..." His expression turns thoughtful. "If thare's any ghosts in mah room, thay haven't introduced themselves." There's no teasing in his voice, treating the subject with more interest than scepticism.

Kalinka nods. "She does talk to me sometimes," she says. "I will try to send her over to meet you, but a lot of the time we have...communication problem, so it may or may not work."

There's no heat sources coming off the strange hunk of metal behind the chair. It does, however, bear a Maverick signature.

Blizzard Wolf wonders, almost matter-of-factly, "What is a Maverick gizmo doing in the cafeteria?" as he eyes the box, shifting the topic of the conversation abruptly. Mavericks take priority in his mind to ghosts... at least on a general, immediate level.

Kalinka hms? "Oh...that is the head of Gravity Beetle. Bastion ripped it off of him, and brought it back for me to keep," she says. "I am keeping it in here, until I can find wall-space to put his ugly, ugly head on my wall, like trophy."

Bowie gives Kali a smirk. "So that's whut yer gonna do with it?"

Blizzard Wolf muses, "The bug had it coming..." absently as he turns his gaze away from it as if it had a bad smell.

Kalinka grins at Bowie, shrugging a little. "Modify it, maybe. turn it into garbage disposal or water filtration system for Fort Sam. Personally, I think it is a good size and shape to be Daddy's ashtray."

Bowie can't help but chuckle at that. "Fittin end." His good mood returns, as does his smile.

Blizzard Wolf nods quietly at this and muses, "Hmm.. back on the eariler subject..." he pauses and looks left and right. "This is the first time I've heard anything about a haunting of the fort...." He sounds quite serious, not frightened, more intruigued.

"I did not used to believe much in ghosts," Kalinka tells Blizzard. "Not until I did feel my room get quite cold, and I could see her...the ghost in my room. She did look like...hm, like outline of a person. Like someone did trace her shape in the air. And when she speaks, it is...barely even a sound. It does sound like...like...a whisper through a long, long pipe. Hollow. The ghost that I know, she thinks we are the new crew of the Fort Sam, but she does not know what became of the old crew. Also, she does not seem to know she is...well, you know."

Bowie nods slowly. "Most ghosts don't know, frum what Ah hear." Not that he's an authority on the matter.

"I'm afraid that I'm not much of an authority on the matter at all..." the wolf remarks drily as he hunches his shoulders forward a bit. "But that sounds a bit odd... I wonder what became of the.. hmm.. others..."

"All of the crew members did drown, Blizzard. They went down with the ship. At least, that is what history states."

(Kalinka leaves.)

Bowie watches Kalinka go, to catch up on schoolwork or something of that nature. The Texan returns briefly to what he had been doing originally, namely rifling through his mail. Bills mostly, the bulk/junk mail having already been recycled. "Ghosts, huh. Guess Ah shouldn't be surprised. We got evrythang else..."

"All we need now is the kitchen sink...." Blizzard muses as he looks around the room thoughtfully. With a faint smirk he does another infrared scan and, seeing nothing, chuckles at his own paranoia.

Bowie waves a hand in the direction of the kitchenette. "It's over thare."

Blizzard Wolf lets out a soft bark of laughter at that and wanders over to the television to check up on the football scores. No, not American football. Soccer. Hmm. how did Korea do last night? He taps on the remote thoughtfully and watches a channel of scores scroll by.

Bowie glances over in the direction of the TV, quickly losing interest. "Lemme know if thay recap the baseball scores."

Blizzard Wolf muses, "That should come up in about half an hour..." thoughtfully as he scowls at the scores. Drat. Korea lost to Brazil. He leaves the TV on for now, shaking himself and then stretching before he settles down and yawns widely.

Bowie listens absently to the sportscast chatter, little of it sinking in. The bills are stuffed into one of his duster's many pockets. After a minute or two, he stands up to raid the fridge. He should still have a beer in there somewhere.

Blizzard Wolf muses thoughtfully, "I guess if Bastion is up and tearing the parts off of prominent Mavericks that he must be feeling better..." He glances towards the head of the beetle and makes a face as if he smells something nasty.

Bowie rummages through the fridge, jars and bottles faintly clinking together. "Reckon so," is his only response. At last, he finds his last bottle hiding in the back, behind everyone else's leftovers. It's not like he drinks real often. The Texan heads back towards the couch and TV again.

Arafina enters the comissary from the mail hallway itself, a baseball cap worn backwards on her head. Some styles never fade.

Blizzard Wolf's head pops up over the table he was curled up next to and regards the new arrival thoughtfully, trying to place the new arrival's face. So many new/old people coming out of the woodwork from being out on assignments and the like lately.

Bowie glances over as well, giving a wave coupled with a vaguely puzzled frown. It's the look of someone trying to place a name with a face. Oh the joys of amnesia.

Arafina almost immediately heads for the fridge. Bowie may not have much beer left, but the kind /she/ likes is there in abundance, given she buys it and puts it there herself. "Hey," she says, cheerfully, as she takes off her hat. "What'm I missing?"

"Not a lot..." the wolf remarks, "Mind the severed head by the table over there.. Kalinka wants to turn it into an ashtray..." He points towards the former head of Gravity Beetle with a paw and then stands upright, joints shifting to allow for smoothe bipedal locomotion. He strokes at his beard thoughtfully and inclines his head to the new arrival.

"Jus the sports scores," is Bowie's answer. He flops back onto the sofa. stretching out his legs in front of him.

After retrieving the bottle, Arafina peers at the head a moment before shrugging. "I've brought home worse," she says, helping herself to a seat. "Sports? Which one?"

Blizzard Wolf replies, "Football just passed.. Basball will be up in about fifteen minutes..." The scores are currently on Lacrosse. Looks liek Australia beat the tar out of New Zealand today.

Bowie twists the cap off his beer and takes a sip while he's waiting. For the moment, he has nothing worth saying, and so doesn't bring up idle chatter.

Arafina's nose wrinkles. "Lacrosse," she says, eyeing the screen, "is not a real sport. At least it's not golf, though. Is there anything else going on, Hunter-wise?"

Blizzard Wolf regards Bowie thoughtfully.. then he allows, "I'm not particularly certain at the moment.. Do you have anything you can think of?" He says this last part to Bowie, shifitng his gaze.

[Radio: (B) H-Chat] Stealth Nekojin transmits, "Anyone wishing to see precisely how bored I am, meet me at the Vorpal in fifteen."

Bowie says "Aside frum the new ash tray? Not really. Least nothang Ah've been told about."

Arafina sends a radio transmission to Stealth Nekojin.

Arafina receives a radio transmission from Stealth Nekojin.

Arafina sends a radio transmission.

Arafina receives a radio transmission from Stealth Nekojin.

Arafina sends a radio transmission.

Arafina receives a radio transmission.

Arafina eyes the ashtray. "That's a pretty major thing, but hey." She rises, then. "I wanna go see what Kael is up to. He's scaring me."