Welcome to Gaia! ::

“Other than some damage to your hearing, you appear to be healthy!”

“I am ******** aware of that. Very well.” Tamiya stepped out of a curtained observation spot and adjusted her hakama. She had passed the physical with flying colors, no questions asked and no science bullshit that needed to be explained to her by some quack with a clipboard. She knew that every injury and disease had some meaning, and she hadn’t been sick in ages. She was more pure than she ever had been, and her rituals kept her that way. That was simply how miracles worked.

Sniffing lightly, Tamiya looked towards the crowd which – from before she had gone into her physical 1 painful hour ago (particularly for the drone) had increased in size significantly. Her interest was piqued. There were quite a number of wigglers in the audience… Not unusual for a military get-together, she realized. Tamiya hugged the outskirts of the crowd until a familiar face began to spoke up. It was none other than Regina Marian. She had found the rebels. Bless her tiny, purple heart. Tamiya’s hand instinctively went to her club – this time solid metal and oak. She continued, outlining the rebellion activity. Civisect – Chittentown – the Jadeblood. Yes, they must have been one and the same. The villains who had destroyed her home and ruined her livelihood. Threatened Sinter’s, Larque’s!

Tamiya screamed, “******** YES!” And pumped her club in the area. “DESTROY THE REBEL OPPOSITION!” Her voice was loud and clear – the troll heads immediately surrounding her all looked around to see who had spoken up and swiveled away when they spotted her ghastly appearance looming above them.

She lowered her voice to a hiss as she chanted some protections. This physical turned out to be useful, after all. This would prove to be a step forward for Alternia. Getting the balance back into play… And destroying that mutantblood, wherever they were. She frowned. A hooded figure gave directions, and Tamiya let her dark thoughts recede to the back of her thinkpan. Now was time for action. On the trek she could fantasize.

Tamiya turned to Larque and brightened. There he was, as dry as ever. Her arm was in mid pump, and a last curse escaped her lips before, almost mechanically, the rest of her body followed in turn to face him directly. She clapped her hands together and rested her fingers together, palms at an angle. She was about to sputter a welcome for him – a gushing show of enthusiasm for his support. Mouth open a hair, her eyebrows raised as Larque’s brusque question hit her.

“I—“ She paused for a moment. Was he uncertain of her presence? It seemed unlikely. Perhaps a loaded question. He seemed to simmer, but something was certainly amiss. Bringing up their old home at a time like this? Did he not understand?

“Larque, there can be no goddamn downside to this circus act. They are traitors among us. Alternia can only get better through the sweet, cirque-sewing of traitorous bilebleeders, and I happen to know that a mutant lies low and abominably amongst their profane asses.”

She sniffed in disdain amongst remembering the pink hue at Old Hemisect. Surely the rebels were involved with such travesty. “They are not only a threat to us bitches, but to Alternia and the ******** natural-a** way of things. I see no loss on our part other than well-won war wounds from wiping them the ******** off of the face of this crustchafe planet like the nasty-a** daywalker mold they are. Would you not partake?”

The question was raised with an eyebrow. Tamiya dared him to push her further, out of hesitant curiousity. Her tone was not aggressive (as much as Tamiya could muster with her manner of speaking). Her fingers folded over on top of each other, index fingers at rest and pointed above her pursed lips.

“Susssspicious?” A hissing noise emerged from Tamiya’s throat. She supposed that the military had their reasons for hiding information. That she understood. Wisdom and the protection of secrets was an important part of any institution, but feeling as though he was an outsider must have been Larque’s simple hang-up. Her brows furrowed. He simply did not understand. Where was his respect? Tamiya slashed out with one of her hands and stomped a foot with a dangerously curved frown.

“Tch! You somber woodsman, sad clown! You might hunt alone in a dirtslathering grubhovel away from your shitfellows, but you can no longer afford to treat only your damned self. How ******** selfish of you! To deny the rest of Alternia canopy-hazed solace and bloody sun-peace from a group of dangerous and violent assjack infidels fighting against our most miraculous existence as a chromoclownatic people.”

Tamiya roared. She tapped her palm with her fingers until it whitened under the pressure. “Our army is ******** weak. Resurgence awaits us still with the birthscream of those spectralbleeding civilians willing to fight! For those who esteem themselves to make a goddamn difference and do something. Those with pride, honor. Those who may not cast the first stone if they themselves have something in their shitstorm past that palls their corefire present.”

She reached under her kimono and pulled Larque’s whistle into clear view. She grasped it gingerly with a hand. “I fight for myself, but I also fight for you. Do not forget that we are all serving on Alternia, together. To oppose a united effort to better ourselves, what do you ******** do for our planet? What, Larque? Do you settle the long-deserted lives of the dead and the damned? Protect and lead those who rely on you? Or do you only live to serve yourself?”

At this point, her arms begun to shake. She stuffed the whistle back into her garb. “I witnessed the destruction and tragedy that the rebels caused in the desert. I nearly gave up my life to destroy a monster of most unspeakably unholy origins. You cannot say to me that our near-culling, and the destruction of my home at the hands of those monsters, does not warrant justice. We have them cornered now like scraggly squeakbeasts and you would not jump to see them brought to such justice? Do not be such a fool.”

Her vision seared through Larque’s eyes. She was filled with fortitude from her convictions, and he showed weakness. He finally looked away. Flinching, it was clear that she had dominated this conversation. Larque was not afraid… He was simply rebounding from his incorrect thought pattern. Tamiya understood his weakness. It was difficult to let go of one’s pride for a cause that was often embattled. He would learn in time.

Even as he tried to speak up she spoke out over him. She would not be silenced until her words were deemed fair or he had a fair counter-point which, as she had expected, he did not. Tamiya looked at him with pursed lips, but the chill in her eyes had cooled.

“Very well.” She suddenly reached up and clasped her hand on Larque’s shoulder, giving him a firm nod. “We protect each other for the greater good. We go together.”

The contract was sealed. She looked towards the rest of the crowd dispersing for their stations. She was tough and sharp with the idea of a battle on the front of her thinkpan. Clashing weapons and letting of blood skirted around her thoughts; Tamiya brushed them aside with the pleasant view of Larque’s drawn but handsome face. Some of the ruggedness of the wilderness had rub off on him. She nodded once again and gave a quick breath, now returning to straightening her garb and breaking her seemingly endless eye contact. Fiddling with her robe, Tamiya seemed less militant and more like the troubled teen she was. She took a moment to blink away her encroaching thoughts. There was no room for doubt now. Her gaze returned to Larque, soft now but steadfast.

“Will you join me?”