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( Formerly a private between Ice and Puddle, but turned Public ORP for Imperial soliders for convenience.)


Not a few hours after the great reveal that they would be team mates, and information that he had hoped never to spill unless his entire country depended on it and it was of his own free will, Talon was walking with his hands in his pockets. He had changed again and taken a shower...But really, you could only shower for so long before the hot water was cold and there was no point in the lather/rinse/repeat when his mind was wandering elsewhere.

Namely, how to apologize for snapping at someone that was curious and asked the right questions, but at the wrong time. Not that he was upset about his reaction; it was justified. You don't spring something on a person and expect them to react in a sane manner. Which was probably why he was trying to find Ranee to apologize to her.

Moe was trailing behind and Cuddles was there too. In fact, Talon was using walking Cuddles as slight cover, though he was probably drawing attention not only as one of the general's bodyguards but as that eccentric guy that walked a Cuttlefish on a rainbow leash. ( Funny story...okay not so funny, it was the last one in the pet store... )

Though, now, after a few hours of just wandering around, he figured he just check once more by the docking hanger to be sure. "Ranee? ...Have you seen Private Kaul anywhere? No? Huh.... Raneeee! " he called out and asked the attending mechanics... that seemed to steer clear of him as well as his ZOID. It was a good thing too...didn't trust these folks here anymore with maintainance after that desert run fiasco...

Ah! A reaction! ... Though Talon did wince and gave a polite salute to the mechanic. It paid ten-fold to be nice to them. "Ah! Thanks.... Heel Cuddles! No pestering the nice men today... " he grumbled and headed for the Neon Redler.


No doubts she was heading home for a bit. He remembered something about a formal gathering... Blech. Smoozing up to people that couldn't dodge a rolling boulder if their life depended on it wasn't his idea of fun. But then it wasn't for fun, it was for formal introductions and casual tea-time gossip. But at night... and dancing. Ooh...dancing...

Climbing the access stairs with Cuddles ahead, Talon somehow managed not to fall backwards. The dear thing on a leash had to count every single bolt in the stairs for some reason, or at least that was Talon's deduction from why the cuttler had to touch every bolt. After a while he didn't really care...though it was a minor delay that he could deal with.


Managing to get up the stairs without a hitch, Talon spied Ranee in a dress... well, in the cockpit in a dress doing system checks. What a deadicated pilot... "Off to the ball, Cinderella? " He asked with a slight grin. "Remember, you have until midnight, then everything turns back into a pumpkin and mice. . . You aren't afraid of mice, are you? "

Light teasing... Then again, he had attacked her verbally quite badly. No doubts he was going to get some physical harm from it. Might as well get it out of the way.

Talon's eyebrow rose when called a 'fairy godfather'. He also yanked at the rainbow leash to keep Cuddles from trying to wander off and 'play' with some important looking controls. Moe popped up on Talon's shoulder and gave a squeak and a hoot of a hello to the pretty lady. "Yes... Actually. I fear that if I let the poor cat to his own curiosity, I'll end up with a bucket with a note attached to it with love from the poor guy that has to try to repair him. "

He sighed, then shrugged, having caught the annoyed and hurt tone in her voice easily. Hell, that was why he was here. At least she got to the point. He gave a half shrug and a very thin smile. "To apologize. " Then added when another tug on the leash occurred, "And to keep this one out of my things for five minutes so I can rest... " A blurble and a hong...and there was now a larger cuttlefish type Zoid on Talon's shoulder, opposite Moe though.

It stared at Ranee curiously and waved a couple of its large tentacles at her in greeting while Talon proceeded to ignore its existence. Somehow Talon was able to scratch the back of his head with all that weight on his shoulders, "It's a real touchy subject, that one was... I hadn't meant to go off, but it was the only think I could think to get you to be quiet. And ...something like that. I didn't think I'd actually find you to be honest. Heh, I have nothing prepared. "

Cuddles hooted and appeared to be blushing, or a couple of his front tentacles were wringing together to display the emotion of embarrassed, curious, enamorous? Yes. Enamorous.

"Cuddles. I acquired him the same time I met with Atelius." He winced as a couple of mechanical dexterous tentacles tugged at his ear. Sigh.. Cuddles was distracted with stretchy human anatomy again. "Which was by far the highlight of that day. " He was beginning to ramble, but he caught himself in time to catch the apology.

Her odd vow of never asking again seemed rather childish. "I suppose not asking for a little while longer would seem better than never asking again. Sooo~~" Talon said with a wide grin on his face, "Have you ever met your Fiance? " Massive subject change, but it was probably for the best at the moment.

Couldn't leave on a depressing note, could he? And when was her party anyways? Hmm...he didn't get an invitation so he couldn't crash it and find out for himself. That would be fun... And Atelius would scoff at him and call him childish if he asked that bird brained flying menace to do it for him. A direct route was needed... Though he got a tentacle and a paw to the back of his head shortly asking that, to which he did utter a soft, bitter, 'ow'.

"To be fair, he's the smarter one of the pair... " He paused when he heard something about an interesting name. Oh...yes...the two old machines did sport some rather odd calling names, but that is to be expected. They've been around a long time from what Talon could gather. Odd names were part of the deal.


He watched her reaction to the change in question and found himself hopping backwards and winding up with a Moe and Cuddle in his arms. They were clinging to each other of course. An angry female was a scary thing. Especially one in a dress in a pretty powerful Zoid. "Okay.. I don't think I knew his name, but I won't mention him again... when you're in a dress in a Zoid that could squish me without even thinking. "

Moe and Cuddles collected themselves, much to the pain of Talon as they decided to fight over who got to sit on his head ( Moe won, but on terms that Cuddle's got his arm. ) "Uh, what? " he was slightly distracted, but he got the inclination that he was being used for something. Live bait perhaps? Maybe something else... He couldn't think of the word, but then remembered that he probably should show up since the General Lady was going to be there.... An eye twitched, "As long as I am coming as a friend and not a bodyguard of the General, I'll come and meet this Cole person thing... He's had his shots, right? "

Talon thought for a moment and sighed, shrugged his shoulders and released Cuddle's from his bounds. The cuddler blinked and slinked away, bored and heading home to sleep... Oddly he was obedient that way. Moe on the other hand didn't give Talon much of a choice and leaped from his head onto the seat behind Ranee.

"I don't think I have a choice... I'm not dressed for a formal event. So why don't you take Moe? I'll grab a change of proper clothes and Tyrant and meet you there if you throw the coords at Tyrant. " He smiled and nodded. Glad they got that all cleared up. Ooh! This was going to be fun!


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Insert Mild Time Skip Here: ( 30 min - 1 hr 30 min ? give or take an hour.)

Also note: Thread is now Open to Public attending the Emperor's birthday party. Happy Birthday Emperor!

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Dressed, there, and feeling slightly out of place in his formalish clothes that didn't have any sort of military insignia on them, Talon had been slightly reluctant to leave Tyrant alone amongst the other Zoids ( live ammunition and all that) but he had to find Moe and Ranee...Hopefully not bump into the General or Shun too soon.

He had a hunch Shun was going to be there, being the good sport he was and all that. Besides... He wasn't in his uniform formal so he was feeling a bit civilianish at the moment. Gah...Ties were uncomfortable, they reminded him of bad days back in school. Oh and liquorish. Talon had thankfully managed to tame his hair for the evening so he looked at least like he belonged in this situation.

Funny...the folks at the door were slightly surprised when he said he was personally invited by the daughter of Nobleman Kaul... Its like they know something he doesn't... Oh boy...

Ranee had taken Moe with her on her way home, she landed in the hanger greeted by servants and the like, a few of the maids quite enjoyed meeting Moe finding him quite adorable. Ranee however was looking for her cat, which in actuality was an exotic male peacock type bird, named Ciel who was looked after by her personal maid. She had made sure to have those at the gate welcome in the green sub geno who didn’t have an invite.

“Come on Moe, stay close you might get lost.” Ranee called, the last thing she wanted was for the mrz to cause mischief when they couldn’t keep track of it. Lifting her dress slightly so it wouldn’t drag she headed toward the elevator to be greeted by a Squawk from the rafters. “Ah Ceil, you came to welcome us home.” Ranee smiled at the brightly colored bird with long tail feathers that flew and hopped upon her shoulder, she began stroking its feathers. The elevator door opened and her personal maid Charlotte appeared.

“Welcome home m’lady.” She gave courteous bow and motioned for Ranee to follow. “Your Father wishes to see you before you before the party begins.” The elevator started moving up.

“Thank you Charlotte,” after all one of the reasons she came was to speak with her father. “Make sure Striker is taken care of.”

“Of course.” The maid said. The elevator doors opened and Ranee headed out to her father’s study, passing all the walls filled with artwork, once again of previous heads of the house and their wives and children and of course some of the various emperors the Kaul House had served. Finally the two largest and ornate doors Ranee pushed them open gently, as a man stared out the window. About a foot and some inches taller than Ranee with black hair and skin slightly darker than Ranees own clothed in the empire’s finest garments. The room was lined with books and a few photos hung on the wall, the one Ranee liked best was the one of her Mother who looked strikingly similar to her.

“Father.” Ranee said with a bright smile that a daughter could only give. Ciel flapped his wings and flew to a chair.

The sound of the voice made the tall man turn with a smile “Welcome home Ranee, you look more like your mother every time I see you.” He spoke walking over and embracing his daughter for a moment “How did you like my surprise?” He asked both hands on her shoulders

Ranee gave a nod “Well you could have told me at least!” she accused teasingly

“Ah but this was much better was it not?” came the reply before she could say another word a male servant came into the room and spoke to Samvath. “It is time to go, Cole will be waiting I expect you to be nice to him, he is your fiancé after all.” Ranee started to protest but was cut short.

As they headed to the ballroom, which was about as extravagant as you could get, on one wall hung a huge mirror to reflect those on the ballroom floor who danced (ie. so the father could always see who his daughter danced with if she ever chose too) down the large flight of stairs came the father and daughter and the smaller peacock sitting on Ranee’s shoulder walking beside each other and Ranee was quickly scanning the ballroom for the one person to avoid and the other whom she grabbed as a deterrent. Where the heck was Talon.

Cornered by a gaggle of something well over their prime( they smelled of expensive perfume, different brands...didn't end well when mixed together), Talon was being as polite as he could to tell them he had to get away. That was when he felt a tug on his pant leg and spied Moe. "Moe! There you are! Did you have a nice trip? ...Where'd you get that bow? ... " A few honks and squeaks, and the octogenarian gaggle of old geese was won over. Talon could escape now.

He did only to find himself once again lost in a sea of brown nose and boring conversations filled with loaded questions. Oh... so this was what an upper class party was like. No wonder they all looked annoyed the entire time. Moe had taken to sitting on Talon's shoulder sporting that obnoxious frilly pink bow with bells on it some maid had thought suited him. He was quite proud of it, Talon loved it for the irony. Then again, that was up to debate as well..

His mind was off on some rather silly monologue when he spotted Ranee descending the staircase with what appeared to be an older man...oh. Her father no doubts. And what a lovely bird she had on her shoulder... Curious. Then again, he also caught wind off the grapevine that the General was here too. Happy times...That would mean Shun would have probably been dragged here too.

this was going to be an interesting night.

"Miss Kaul... May I ask you what happened to my Moe? " Talon said, approaching the couple with a happy chuckle. A polite and formal half bow was given to the host as well as an outstretched hand. "Talon Beaureguard, Sir. Thank you for allowing me to be apart of this evenings festivities. Its a nice change to not be in uniform and just enjoy parties like a normal person. "