Explosive Reunion

Explosive Reunion
Date of Scene:	15 March 2013
Location:	Mullonde
Synopsis:	Faruja gets a new soldier in his crew who is a surprisingly familiar face, and a whole load of trouble.
Cast of Characters:	Faruja Senra, Katey Fray

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Katey Fray has posed:
The Holy City.

It's the arse-crack of dawn and a line of young, impressionable looking Templar are being drilled by a trainer at the far end of one of the open courtyards. Various shouts and yells can be heard as they are pitted against one another in sparing matches, or otherwise worked through forms by the instuctors.

Faruja had been called in by one of his superiors, a particuarly stiff-shirted knight who even walks like he's got a pole up his butt. So far, there's been no explination for this early morning change in routine. Not until he comes to the end of the courtyard, stopping near a machine that looks like a steam-punk version of a tank. "So, I believe that after the events out in Dalmasca, that there is an opening in your crew."

Clearly, hordes of undead were enough to shake some people's faith.

"One of our younger knights actually requested assignment to your squad, but it is up to you if you want to grant the request." The man looks at his watch, then grumbles to himself. "Where is that fool girl?"

He slams his hand into the tank, which causes something to rattle around, and then there is a scraping of wheels as a little flat cart rolls out from underneath and a grease-stained Burmecian looks up, blinking through goggles. "You're late." Katey blinks, her eyes looking huge through the lenses.

The man stutters, taking a step back in surprise. "I... most certainly am not."

"You are. I've been keeping busy." She points at the tank, and her now grease-stained robes. She's on her feet, and as much as she might try to stay serious, the mouseling can't help the grin on her face as she salutes Faruja. "Templar Katey Fray, at your service." He probably hasn't seen her since the day of that last battle against the Heartless. She should be dead... right?

Faruja Senra has posed:
Ahh, early morning. Up and at 'em, Faruja thankfully has had just enough time for tea and a morning ritual before heading on out to meet his superior. One that he rather doesn't like at that; the Burmecian has always had a talent for being placed under rather unlikable commanders. At least this one isn't screwing him over for promotions. It's an improvement.

UPon arriving, he tosses a salute to the man, briefly peering at the strange machine. He's rather technologically incompetent. That, after all, was the forte of one of his squad mates. It almost summons a smile to his muzzle.

Until the reminder of the Temple. That has him nearly snarling. "Quite, Ser Humphrey." The bounty on the traitor is large. Wanted alive. Traitors don't get out easy, especially when under Faruja's employ.

A short nod is given to the man, even as his tail flicks his displeasure. Thankfully few humans pick up on the subtleties of Burmecian body language. Wincing as the man slams the large tank, his single red eye goes wide in amazement at the figure who quickly rolls out from beneath the machine. Grease-stained and strangely (to him, anyway) clad as whenever she was in better times stands none other than Katey Flay, one of the people who sacrificed themselves for country, and /him/.

It takes all of his strength not to fall to his knees at the sight. Blinking several times, staring, the male looks as though he's seen a ghost. For all of five seconds, when he puts on his Templar Face. No need to embarrass himself. A firm salute is returned, and a curled tail of amusement. Finally. Someone got something up on that stiff-tailed human. Now all they need to do is yank out that pole~

"My, my, my! A fine candidate by the looks of you, M'Lady Flay." There's brotherly affection somewhere in that voice, as much as he tries to keep it hidden. Starting to pace around the lady mouse, he peers her over, particularly noting the new additions to her limbs with a wince. They'd both paid a price, it seems. But...Faram be praised she was alive. Silently, he says a pray, barely able to keep his composure. On the outside, he's stoic. Inwardly? He quivers in mixed joy and confusion.

"Come now, M'Lady! Tell me something of thy skills, hmm?" As if it's necessary. Still, he needs to know what she's learned since the last time he's saw her, and the motions have to be gone through anyway.

Katey Fray has posed:
The mouse-girl continues to stand at attention after her hand is dropped back to her side, although you can tell that the superior officer is shooting eye-daggers at her, which she neatly deflects with an impish wiggle of her nose. "This one is a troublemaker." He notes with another grumble. "You'd best make sure she doesn't step a toe out of line, or it's both you're hides." There's the inevitable moment of screwing over.

Luckily for Faruja, Katey actually waits for the man to turn his back and start walking away before she sticks her thumb to her nose and wiggles her fingers at him. Clearly, she hasn't lost much of her sense of humor.

Faruja's appraisal gets tilt of her head, With the robes, most of what can be seen is just one hand and foot, but there's likely more machine attached to it. "So... you don't suppose we should warn him that they're about to practice throws..." She taps a metallic, clawed finger to her cheek. Then, just as the man is storming off, he gets barreled over by a young squire who just got tossed by his opponent. Katey turns around, whistling innocently.

"So." She decides now is a good time to make an escape before he finds a way of blaming them. "So, not too upset about my request to be in your squad, then?" She grins, the smaller mouse dusting at a few smudges to her robes that aren't going to come out without a lot of washing. "I figure you might have been looking for a way to get rid of me. I am the senior tech in charge of being a pain in your tail. Unless that position has been filled."

Faruja Senra has posed:
Ahh, excellent. The rat neatly puts the man into the 'political enemy' category. After his experiences in the army, he's not going to let it happen twice. Faruja manages to not react too much. "Understood, Ser, she shan't leave my sight." Not likely, that. But anything to get this jerk off of his tail!

When the man turns about? The rat /grins/. The Burmecian goes silent, stopping to peer as the superior gets close to one of the more martially inclined students. Toss! Landing in a surprised heap, the rather enthusiastic student has the older Templar on his back and in an arm-lock, howling. Apparently the student doesn't like being used as a projectile!

"...Oh, come now M'Lady! As you can see, our /dear/ commander has the situation well in hand."

Taking up his companion's arm, he's quick to escort her away from the crowd of superior and trainees. Once they're alone? He whirls about, wrapping his arms about her and hugging as hard as he can followed by a bonk on the head! "KATEY BLOODY FRAY! You...damnit, where were you? What happened!? I...I thought you dead! Torn apart before my very eyes!" The Templar can't help the tears streaming down from his eye as he shakes and generally double checks to make sure that, yes, he's not imagining this. The poor woman'll be generally rattled about before he lets her go.

A clawed finger points at her nose, grinning despite. "My dear, dear friend, there is no other whom I would have! Come now, let me get a good look at you...'tis thy own work?" Indicating with his tail, of course, the new limbs. At least he doesn't seem too disturbed by it.

Katey Fray has posed:
"As if..." Katey mutters under her breath, nudging Faruja in the side as they walk away. Yeah, let the superiors think that putting her under her former commander would keep her in line. Well, maybe it would a little, but that's mostly a loyalty thing. She wouldn't /intentionally/ try to get him into trouble.

The mouseling lets out a squeek as she's hugged, and returns it quickly enough, laughing. "Missed me, huh?" She gets rattled around for a moment, and then has to blink to clear her head. "Come on, you're going to give me head trauma if you do that." Her smile only falters a little bit as she shrugs. "Well, you saw what happened. That's pretty much the last thing I remember before I woke up here. Took a bit to recover, I guess, and then they had their techs working on these." She waggles her fingers, but doesn't look exactly comfortable with him inspecting the limbs like that.

"I can probably replicate the technology now that I've seen it, but we certainly didn't have this sort of thing back home." She shakes her head, "Anyways..." Yes, let's stop staring now please. "They only just released me back to service. I was causing too much of a bother trying to improve their medical tech, so they figured I was well enough to be put to use somewhere else."

She looks up at him. "Looks like you're mostly in one piece, though." Mostly, meaning she motions at his eye, and then shrugs. "Glad we could do our job." Hey, he might have ordered them out, but some mice are stubborn, and none of them were going to let him fall just for their sake. He was their commander! Rawr! Apparently they developed some of his furvor. "How's your great excuse for a flying garbage disposal doing?" Ahh, there's Katey's wariness of Wyverns and heights.

Faruja Senra has posed:
Faruja rubs the back of his head, taking in Katey's story. Finally, he looks away. "Apologies." Staring /is/ rude! She'll receive a friendly ruffle at the head, clearly intent on mussing up the fur on her head! Ahh, it's been far too long. A smile lingers on his muzzle now.

"Katey. I owe you my life. If ever you need of anything..." He trails off, and the rat tosses her a salute. She did her /duty/. There's a look of honest pride and respect in his gaze.

Smirk. "Lady Arista is as ill tempered and loyal as ever. If possible, even moreso than prior. Worry not, I shan't let her attempt to eat you in thy sleep again." To Arista, just about anyone is food who isn't Faruja. Even moreso those who are small mouse-ladies!

"Any discoveries you have made will be most useful. Particularly in the study of airships. To put it bluntly, I fear that lacking in airpower shall relegate the Church to insignificance. We must grow strong in faith /and/ might."

Katey Fray has posed:
"Hey, stop that!" Katey reaches up and swats down his hand, "You can salute me when I'm dead, okay, not before." She folds her arms and hrmphs, tail twitching. This girl has never been one for playing the role of the proper soldier. Sure, she put on the act, but only in front of superiors who would make her life miserable otherwise.

"You don't owe me anything. You're my friend, and my commander, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Besides, if I lived and you died, Arista would have eaten me. One gulp. That's it. I'm not even a bitesized snack." She mimes her fingers coming together like a set of jaws. "I would have told you sooner, but..." Her metal foot waggles. "I get around pretty well now, though. Better than some of the Templar. I'm tough." She thumbs at her chest proudly.

"Haven't gotten to stick my nose much into airship tech, but I've been working on a defense grid for my refrigerator." Whut? This sounds like one of the girl's hair-brained ideas at work. "You don't happen to know anyone who's an expert on gobbledegook do you? Um... little cute helmeted aliens who raid frige language?" She motions to something even smaller than she is.

"I've got one that kinda broke into my house. I was thinking maybe if we took him up to Montressor, that someone might know him or be able to fix his translator." The female mouseling scratches behind one ear, looking uncertain. "There's only so much you can do with charades, and so far the only word I've figured out is 'pie'."

Nope, her first thought isn't power and glory for the church, but helping a little alien who broke into her apartment. Strange priorities.

Faruja Senra has posed:
Ack! Handswats. Faruja can't help but chuckle. "Alright, alright! Come now, let us not get our tails twisted into a knot, hmm?" The last thing he wants is a grumpy Katey! He'll likely get an automatic pie-launcher to the face.

Wince. The Templar rubs the back of his head nervously. "...Quite. Knowing her, 'twould hardly surprise me to find a bottle of ketchup on her for just such a thing. 'Twould be naught more than a wiggly finger-food to her." Ahh, Arista. /Why/ does he keep her around again? Oh right, loyalty and violence.

Smirk! "The last thing one can question is thy strength, my dear! Wait...for your refridg...why would you...?" Slowly, his grow knits together, Faruja squinting in that familiar way whenever he's questioning the odd engineer's sanity again. As the explaination is forthcoming, his ears go sideways in understanding. "Hmm. Sadly, I cannot say I do. Yes, I do believe a trip to Traverse and the lovely inhabitants of the station would be in order." No better linguists than ones that deal with aliens!

Sigh. "Breaking into the home of a Templar, what is he, a sneakabout? Ahh, well, yes we do need to figure out something. Doth the lost being remain in thy abode? 'Twould hate to see such a person wandering about, confused and lost without even language to rely on." His sounds quite sorry for the guy! To be so far away from home...it claws at his heart.

Katey Fray has posed:
"Do you remember that time that your sister tied your tail into a knot?" Zip. The engineer's brain goes off in another direction. At the very least, she's smart, but sometimes staying on topic can be hard when the brain keeps wating to wander. "And you didn't even notice until it got caught in the door.." Poor mouse, he just aquired a source of embarassing stories.

She might have continued on that trip down memory lane if it weren't for his comment about the Wyvern's tastes. "Oh, I know she keeps a bottle of the stuff around just for me. I am /not/ crunchy, nor do I go well with ketchup, thank you very much." Indignant mouse-huff. "I would go better with salsa." Because that makes any more sense. Oh well, it probably worked in her mind.

"You know, with the recent increase in refrigerator raids in this city, you'd think you'd want to protect yourself, too." The increase being from zero to... one. "Anyways." Carrying on. "I don't think he meant anything by it. He was just hungry. At least, I think so." Her ears tilt in a puzzled manner. "I'm sure he's around somewhere. The last time I saw him was at breakfast. I made him some coffee and left him a pie."

Oh no. Aliens and coffee. This cannot end well.

"I was thinking that since you're always back and forth on your very important church business, that maybe you could take him up to Traverse next time?" She bounces on the balls of her feet. "I've got this project I'm working on, and it involves this really unstable form of magicite that they found in this cave. So, you know, I'm really busy." Yes, she is passing off a possibly dangerous alien to her commanding officer so she can play with science. SCIENCE!

Faruja Senra has posed:
Those ears of the rat's fold back as he hugs his tail, briefly glancing about as if his sister is lurking somewhere. "Oh Lord!" Yup, someone remembers, judging by how he instantly brings face to palm. Siiiigh. His ears flush. "H...hey! She is quite sneaky you know? Oh, I still remember all the others having to yank until it came undone! And that was after Jeffries pulled the wrong way..." Good times!

Somewhere off in the distance, Arista is already licking her lips and glancing at a nearby can of salsa.

"The spicy sort, are we? Mayhap I shall pick her up a touch of pepper then!"

As for the rat's fridge? "By all means, stale sandwiches and old beer for the taking." Someone hasn't been home much!

Smirk. "Still with the pies, hmm? Good, bake me one for when I return, alright? Of course, of course I shall take him. 'Tis on the way, /and/ that does sound like useful work. Do let me know if you discover anything of value." Seems he's fine with handling things himself! The rat's always been the hands on sort as it was.

"Shall I pick you up a souvenir, hmm?"

Katey Fray has posed:
"Yeah." Her expression turns vaguely serious then, looking at him. "Did she make it out? Do you know?" The two girls were likely friends, at least of a sort, when his sister wasn't tending to the Wyverns. Evil mouse-eating beasts. Clearly, Katey knew that the rest of their squad hadn't survived, but as usual, she puts on the happy face and just plows forward. Stubbornness runs in the species.

"Jeeze, you need a girl to look after you if that's all you've got in your fridge." She waggles a finger at him, "And don't you even think about asking me. You're like... a big brother or something. It'd be weird." Cue Nala 'eww' face. Okay, so... Nala kind of turned out to later fall in love with the 'eww' faced icky boy cub friend thing, but Katey? Nope. Definitely brother/friend territory.

"Oh!" Excitement comes back into her voice. "Any kind of scrap from Montressor would be great. I'd love to get my hands on one of their spaceship drives, or maybe ..." She rattles off a few more obscure things, mostly mechanical parts or odds and ends.

Then, there is what sounds like an explosion. A bit of green smoke puffs up from a nearby building, and Katey just stares. "Crap." Clearly, she's involved. "Uh. Listen, I need to go... take care of something." Hopefully she'll send the alien to him... or more likely, he'll find the alien. As she runs... that stick-up-the-butt higher up is fist shaking, yelling out: "Kaaaatteeeeeyyy Frrraaaaaay!"

Faruja Senra has posed:
Faruja's hand clenches, claws running against his gauntlet. "I do not know." Even his jaw sets, brotherly worry written all over his face. It'd been gnawing at him for months. "Many an investigative service have I asked, however...none have reported success in finding her."

Faruja laughs aloud. "Ahh, but I suppose I do! Most oft I find myself residing in Fluorgis with an adventuring company...The Shard Seekers. You should visit some time, they would like you I think. Most are barely more than children, more experienced soldiers about would do them well I think." As for a woman?

"...Mayhap one is in mind." He teases. Nope, he's not spilling it yet!

KABOOM. Wince. He waves her off. "Go, go! I shall see what can be done. Most organizations are not so keen on hiding scrap. And please, do not blow up the barracks again! Lord bless you Katey! I...it's good to see you!"