Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lee smiled at Mastema's sardonic greeting. Yeah, yeah, he was an epic monster who had been hell bent on seeing, not just, Mastema, but his fluffy little wife and spawn to boot, smoldering in a pile of ash at KB's feet. But on the flip side, what sort of epic monster had Mastema been before the ol' ball and chain locked him down? Hmm? A different subject to ponder a different time.

"Well it's nice to hear from you too, Mastema." Lee replied as he experimentally tried to press his hand against the shield. If he was able to pass without incident he was going to try to walk his happy a** through the bubble and see about wandering towards the Citadel proper. Otherwise he was going to wait outside, just as you please, until someone sent a door greeting for him. "As for what I'm doing here, I've actually come about getting some schooling done." Regardless as to whether or not he was able to pass through the Citadel's bubble he was going to have to adjust the shoulder strap of his ruck. The damn thing was thinner on one strap than the other, which made it bite into the flesh harder than it really should be! He'd fix it later, he was pretty sure he still had at least a few feet of leather still hung up in his smoking shack.

"Any place good enough for my brother is good enough for me." Than hadn't planned on Eecheb being around today, after he'd finished reviving one of the greatest legends and evils of the Black Company's history. Than didn't mind the new unit's current silence. It was probably all a lot to take in, and Thanatos had no real way of knowing how his 'modifications' had changed KB without further examination. Still, if the KB unit had any recollection of how much of a menace he'd been, it spoke volumes that Than even let the thing this close to his brother. Looking off in a different direction for a moment, Than's attention was taken by something else. He could faintly feel someone he hadn't before, and yet this one felt familiar.... which wasn't a good sign.

Neither anyone else nor Proto could really comprehend why Nana was at this. Proto did need maintenance, but there were automated facilities that could keep him up, there were many systems he could access to observe what went on in the citadel, and certainly there were people around Nana could have been chit chatting with. Proto was even less communicable than Micha, for the most part. While Nana did her work, Proto did the only thing he could do, keep alert and run the same checks he did thousands of times an hour for months on end. The only thing that grabbed his attention and made him turn his green eye to a far wall was the small power approaching the west tower. It would seem Trilla had found her mark.

With his little assistant gone for the moment. Trilla wasn't slow, so it shouldn't take her long to find her mother. "If my voice brings you that much pleasure then I'll find a different way to communicate with you. You're pushing your luck if you're hoping to learn anything other than how easily a biological body can be ripped apart. I remember our last conversation... I don't remember being particularly convinced I should help you. You seem to be perfectly well off." Lee would find the barrier had the same effect on his hand as it did on the spear, no real resistance to entry. If he passed through, he may feel his newfound arcane abilities being a little disturbed, as the barrier's main purpose was to thwart magical assaults. If he chose to pass through, he would finally see the deserted outer limits of the citadel, with the silver clad main buildings further within, his first 'real' glimpse of the place he'd fought so many times to obliterate.

"Ah, just pass me whatever.... I'll just stomach whatever it is." Needing to eat or not, Than just didn't show much interest in food. Not as much as Eecheb did anyway. This could also be a good thing, because Than would eat it just as well. The entire time, Than's attention appeared to be elsewhere, still drawn to this unfamiliar yet somehow important presence. Really, a random visitor wasn't something that would attract Than's attention, but this one felt different... almost 'artificial' in a way. Than wasn't much of a 'gut instinct' type when it came to mysteries, so he was at a loss to explain to himself why this presence demanded so much attention from him.

Human men and cars wasn't exactly the binary relationship that Proto was familiar with; even something like pride wasn't likely to be intimate to him. He had no more reason to accept Nana's requests than to ignore them, so he took her orders without resistance, even if they did seem unnecessary.

As Trilla came in, Proto watched her the entire time. Her exuberance might not have the same effect on Proto as it did on others, but Proto was familiar enough with people, including Trilla, to judge her mood was 'above average.' Detecting himself being addressed again by Nana, he beeped at her, just as he had when she finished. The only assumption was he was saying 'thank you' and 'goodbye,' for there was no way to tell what else he could possibly be saying. Even his idiosyncratic traits weren't communicable, so long as this was his only way of speaking. As Nana turned to leave, the android once again heard its designation, 'Proto,' from Trilla and turned to look down at her. Her mood was still 'above average.' Although he could only make basic tones, Proto had indeed improved his ability to communicate with the other citadel residents in the time that passed. The sequence of beeps that replied to Trilla were emitted in the same pitches as her greeting, all the rises and falls in tone matched, as if he were parroting her greeting back to her. Then, raising its hand, Proto patted Trilla on the head, gently, mimicking exactly what Nana had done.

Eecheb's arm would be out waiting several seconds before Than seemed to snap out of his stupor, reaching out and taking the container with one hand, but not taking the spoon. "Ah, Thanks." Continuing to look off in one direction, Thanatos moved until he was sitting down right next to Eecheb, on the other side of him from the bag of food. Prying the lid off the container, Than revealed that his not taking the spoon was intentional. Putting the lid aside, Than brought the edge of the container to his lips, tilted the otherside up, and began chugging the soup down like a boss. The entire container wouldn't last much longer than fifteen seconds this way. Than may not have been hungry, but you wouldn't know it looking at him.

Proto's internal workings, whatever they were, noted that the patting was received with, again, above average cheer. Seeing her attention directed to his body and again hearing her voice. Proto leaned a little, turning his head to look himself over. She was right; his reflectivity was up more than fifty percent. No signs of corrosion were anywhere. Chiming his response to Trilla, it was natural to assume he was in agreement, and Proto walked a few short feet over to a nearby workstation, where he retrieved his armaments, putting a small, handgun-like weapon behind his waist, held there magnetically, and donned a small, fore-arm length shield on his left arm. He was now well aware of the new visitor, and that made his job simple, to make sure the little lady didn't come to harm. Turning his apparent attention fully back to Trilla, he extended his right hand out to her offering either to take her with him or to go with her where she wanted.

The door would open automatically after only one tap on it. "Ah, good, come in, dear. That was quick; Trilla must have set a new record." Mastema was reclining with his chin on one fist and several screens in front of him, all of which he was now ignoring. With a somewhat sluggish demeanor, he rose to his feet. "I hope that you weren't in the middle of something..." Of course, Mastema had probably known from the beginning she wasn't. "We have a new visitor today, who just arrived a short while ago, but I'm almost certain he's here to see you more than me."

Really, of all the things to be impressed with.... After fifteen seconds, Than was indeed finished with the soup, not even able to remember what kind it was. Putting the lid back on his container, he passed it back to Eecheb. His sharpened-by-blindness olfaction kicked in and he could tell the next course was fruit. "Well I can't exactly chug this one down. Watching me eat can't be that interesting, so give me a hand. As he'd said before, Than wasn't going to down this lunch, breakfast, whatever it was alone. Using his mechanical arm, which probably wasn't a good idea for fruit, he ate his pieces one at a time, his mind still distracted and waiting to see if the unknown presence was going to attempt anything.

The 'above average' trend was apparently holding. The steel giant's metal hand closed around Trilla's without constricting her. Proto was well aware of his inconvenient machine strength, but learning to control his power output wasn't difficult; thank 010001110110111101100100 for voltage dividers. He didn't know where Trilla wanted to go, or where would be a good place to go right now, but at the very least he could figure there were better places to go than the maintenance room, and as such began leading her out of the tower, the pleasant Fourier transforms of her giggles rippling through his microphones.

"Tegral Kartos..... or more accurately, the man formerly known as the machine that was Tegral Kartos. He's at the perimeter right now now, apparently biological. At least that seems to be how he's remained since resigning his military post." Mastema wasn't interested in knowing the operating hierarchy of Lee's former galactic Navy. Wrapping his arms around Nana's waist, Mastema pulled her back to his front, planting a kiss on her neck before putting his chin on her shoulder. "I've been able to contact him telepathically because of that. In his words, he's here for 'schooling.'" Mastema thought in the back of his mind that Thanatos would gladly school Lee.... in one way or another.

At least Than saw being easily impressed as a virtue. If this was all that was needed to keep Eecheb content, then Than was satisfied he wouldn't grow into a power hungry mad dog like his father.... either one of them. Than was also happy to let Eecheb have the meatloaf; heavy things just weren't his taste. He was content with his fruits, and continued to chomp on one at a time. Soon enough, he raised his brow in curiosity when he unknowningly popped a mango piece into his mouth. What an odd thing to find in a fruit salad.

Far be it from Proto to understand Trilla was just in a good mood, especially when they were merely in the middle of a street walking around. It hadn't taken long to infer Trilla didn't have a particular goal for the moment. That meant Proto needed to decide, and given Nana was obviously in the middle of something else, it seemed best to scout out her other relatives, and what luck, two of them were already together on the opposite end of the citadel. If any unwelcome parties wanted to come across them in the meantime, Proto always had his gun....

"I assure you the appetite is just fine...... or were you talking about Tegral?" Tightening his hold so his forearms pressed lightly against Nana's stomach, Mastema's attention was apparently not on Lee anymore. "He seems to be stalling on the outskirts of the city right now. If he takes as long to get to the center as he did getting to the citadel itself, he's probably some time away...."

"It's fine; mangos are just weird." Than raised his hand, put it on Eecheb's head, and stroked his hair back and forth, or in this case from ear-to-ear. "Yours?" Thanatos was almost done with his fruit bowl, but now he was getting anxious to figure out just what was going on around here. First, a strange presence shows up at the citadel, now Zio was blaring in his ear with one of his self set alarms. It seemed like something else must've been going on at the same time. All Than knew was there pretty much wasn't anything he'd told Zio to alert him of that was 'good.'

Hide and seek of all things. It was only natural considering how vast the citadel was, but Proto was hardly the one who could satisfy Trilla's need for play. This is why he'd decided to track down someone else, seeing as just about any other person in the citadel would be able to reciprocate Trilla's good mood, but not him. Just as he couldn't understand Nana's sentimentality, he couldn't understand Trilla's reasoning. To protect and serve was about all he was good at. But, Proto also knew rejecting Trilla could upset, and though he could find few solutions to pull this off successfully, he knew the worst possible outcome was more likely if he said no. Releasing Trilla's hand, Proto stopped walking and looked down at his charge, waiting for what may come next.

As Nana turned her head, Mastema moved his head up so he was staring her right in the eye, not even an inch between them, and his lips curled in a sinister smirk.... and pressed right up against her lips as soon as she'd turned. "From his current position, it'll take him more than 20 minutes to get all the way here. So don't you even think of trying to make that time any shorter."

Someone in his immediate family was probably the only kind of person that could ask Than 'are you okay?' in a non-sarcastic and not snarky. In fact, after all this time, accidentally poking himself on Eecheb's horns was hardly a concern for Thanatos in any form. "Seems like a bunch of weird things are going on at once. I should make sure everything's all right, starting with whoever just walked in the shield. I don't recognize it, but there's no way it got here undetected." Packing up the fruit container again, now empty, he handed it back to Eecheb and stood up, stretching out a bit. "Come on, grab the bag and let's go check this out." Things just got weirder by the minute. Not only was there everything else, but now Proto was signaling him as well, through Zio. "Uh..... K-Orange, you chill out here for a while, get your bearings, brush up on your knowledge, whatever you want. I don't want you wandering around too much till I have a better idea of what just showed up." It was an orderly and matter-of-factly command, but there was a level of concern in Than's voice for the reborn senior member of the BC. Responsible for his death or not, Than had brought him back, and he intended to take on the responsibility of making sure KB stayed safe while he found his footing.

Proto was already an 'it.' Didn't Trilla know that? It only took a moment to gather the intel needed for this game: hide and seek; it seemed simple enough. And it seemed Trilla was telling him to be the one to find her. It was logical; she'd already tracked down himself and Nana. Still, Trilla seemed intent on ignoring Proto's communication disabilities, so there was only one logical approach to her proposal. As smoothly as he could, Proto raised his unshielded arm, brought his hand to his head, and dutifully plastered his hand to his face and covered the single green eye he used to 'see.' Immediately following, he started beeping in monotone, letting out one tone approximately every second; apparently he was counting.

This just made it all the more fun: when they'd first wed, Nana probably didn't even know how to fit in to the married life, and now she was so familiar with it she could see her fate coming a mile away. And it was watching her realize what was happening that made Mastema enjoy himself. "Oh come now, Nana, you didn't think I was going to let you go see another man without first seeing me...." The rest of Nana's stutters would be muffled and absorbed by Mastema's mouth, as he set about his work, making sure Nana would be ready to talk to Lee in the best of spirits.