If someone was to ask Elise about how life as a Frame Pilot would have been a year ago, 'surprisingly comfortable' would not have been her first answer. The skybase that she and the other Pilots lived on was essentially a flying cruise ship, as far as she could tell—and all the luxuries that came with that were just so subtly uncomfortable to her at first. Even now, after a year on The Horizon, things still didn't feel quite right. Regardless of if a lot of the cities across the world had returned to something barely resembling normalcy, being able to sit up here with a clear view of the skies as she ate after spending the four before carefully rationing out rice with her father...

The only thing Elise could really do now was to accept that her current living situation was both a blessing and a curse, if anything. And so here she was, about to start eating a bowl of ramen in the middle of the skies above Tokyo. The base had made the rounds around the world more than a few times over the course of her time here, and it felt just as fitting to eat local cuisine while they were present anyways.

Not like they couldn't while The Horizon was elsewhere in the world, of course, but it was about the principle of the matter... Or something like that.

Of course, it wasn't as if working as a Pilot was all about this sort of life—doubly so, given how she was supposed to head out later today on a hunt. A joint effort with the Japanese government in Tokyo to attempt to reclaim parts of the Saitama prefecture, if she recalled correctly; something more important than the usual small skirmishes with weaker Warped to help get them more used to fighting, at least.

Hopefully the taste and warmth of the broth would calm her nerves instead of letting her stew in her thoughts any more... Or that the others would finish getting their meals before briefing. A nice chat was always nice to help break the tension in the air, and they did have some time to themselves for the moment.

@PKMNB0Y

High above the sky of the Japanese archipelago was none other than the Horizon, a massive sky fortress serving as the mobile headquarters of the stateless organization of the same name, one of the most active contributors in the training and field of Frame Pilots in this bleak apocalyptic era of human history. Although Frame Pilots were the spearhead of the counterattack efforts, a spear wouldn't be complete with its shaft, and thus the skybase was crewed by tireless men and women of various ethnicity and origins all sharing a collective goal of ending the Warped threat and restore order to the ravaged Earth.

One of the aforementioned Frame Pilots was Pyralis Constantina, a girl of Japanese descent who was rescued from a Warped attack by a Greek soldier and subsequently adopted by him. It had been a year since Horizon scouted her out as an asymptomatic Echidna carrier and inducted her into the intensive Frame Pilot training program. Although she missed her adoptive father, Pyra knew that she possessed a boon that few others had and she wholeheartedly believed that it'd be grossly irresponsible of her to not use this power to help humanity push back against the Warped menace. Besides, for all the destruction those monsters had wrought, civilizations weren't cut off from each other; global communications endured, and that in turn alleviated the brunette a bit as she could simply contact Papa whenever she wanted.

Speaking of Nikolaos, she was just done exchanging text messages with him via her gadget-glasses when a certain person entered; Pyra knew her, how could she not? She was Elise Kim, a fellow Frame Pilot and one that possessed a Chi-Mechframe suited for long-ranged engagements just like hers. Since FPs were so few compared to the whole crew demographic, everyone tended to know everyone else. Seeing - and smelling - the finely-cooked Ramen prompted Pyra to partake in the same activity as she stood up to get herself a bowl of rice topped with thinly-sliced beef, boiled egg, and onions, a gyudon to be authentically accurate.

Her order done, she approached the pink-eyed albino, "Hey, Elise, can I join you?" Once the older girl replied, Pyra would sit down across from her then began enjoying her meal. The Japanese comfort food soothing her anxious excitement for the upcoming mission; this would be her biggest operation yet and she needed to perform her best.

Louisa wasn't sure a person's buffet selection was a particularly fair judge of their character, but as she stood examining her plate of beans (plain), rice (plain) and as much tuna (plain) as she could convince the kitchen to give her, she couldn't help but feel like it said something about her character relative to the other Pilots. She wasn't sure how food worked beyond 'maximum carbs, maximum protein', and as one of the oldest Pilots onboard (or so she was told), she felt asking for help would be too embarassing. As a result, her usual approach was to eat when no one else was around.

Unfortunately, today that wasn't an option. She had woken up late, spent an extra hour in the physical training facilities, and had only half-changed out of her workout leotard before realising she barely had time to eat before the briefing. Mechframe sortie days were always like this. She got in her head - probably the nerves - and sleeping or working out was all she could do to keep her mind steady. So, now there was no alternative than joining the others.

Still... given some of the awful examples of human beings she had to eat with back in the evacuee camps, and given in a few hours they would be fighting tooth and nail with aberrant alien lifeforms... having lunch with her pretty smiling team-mates in the luxury dining lounge aboard The Horizon didn't seem so bad.

Walking over to the table where Elise and Pyra were sitting with her plate in-hand, she sat down quickly and smiled.

"Good mor-..."

Wait, what time was it?

"...-I mean, what's good, guys?"

Karaage! Rice! A big bowl of ramen!

Aaah, this was the best!

Her brown hair bouncing with each step, a smile as radiant as the most blinding sunburst on her lips, the wielder of the Chi-mechframe Hinotori practically skipped into the dining area, a tray looking positively overloaded in her arms. Of course, this would hardly be an unfamiliar sight.

For Fukada Hoshiko was something of a black hole when it came to food.

And what better way to enjoy delicious food then alongside her fellow pilots?

Her smile parted into a wide grin as she approached the others. Chatting over a meal was the best, and it felt like a great opportunity to get even closer with everyone.

From the very start, Hoshiko's opinion had been that since they were going to work together, it only made sense to make friends and get to know one another. Being cold and super professional or whatever was no good, especially when they were going to live together on Horizon. To that end, she had spent free time trying to get to know everyone as much as she could. Hanging out was the best way to make friends, after all.

These six months had been surreal, to be honest. Hoshiko never expected to experience anything like this. To be living in a base in the sky. To be teamed up with a bunch of older girls and use a cutting edge piece of technology. But it was a chance to keep people safe, to make sure no-one ever got hurt again.

She had to take that chance.

"Hi, everbody!" declared the brunette, cheerfully, immediately sitting down close to the others and setting her tray down on the table as she did. "This is great, isn't it?! I'm so hungry! Itadakimaaaasu~!"

The following scene could be described as something of an assault on all that was edible, as Hoshiko began devouring her food at a pace that would have seemed impossible to anyone unfamiliar with her eating habits.

"Haaah~" she paused in her rampage against the food world for a moment, a hand to her cheek, "So tasty~!"

One would think that in the six months since she'd been on the Horizon, Norika would have gotten used to the thrice-a-day massacres—and no, there was no other word to describe the phenomenon—in the dining hall. One would be wrong. It was like a train wreck that happened every breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And that didn't include snacktime. She arrived later than the rest of her colleagues, but still witnessed the carnage unfold. She sighed softly, ordering a small bowl of ramen from the chef. The same question floated through her mind every time Norika saw Fukada devouring food like there was no tomorrow: Where the hell did it all go?

She sat a short distance from her comrades. At the moment she couldn't stomach Fukada's overwhelming aura of puppies and sunshine. Norika said a quick prayer before digging in. While Hoshiko opted to inhale anything and everything she could before a mission, Norika restrained her normally gluttonous nature and ate light. Plenty of time to digest a big meal when they got back. Assuming nothing goes pear shaped... Norika thought. She savored the taste. It wasn't anywhere near as good as her mother's cooking, but it was filling.

After surviving in a hostile world full of monsters and other humans doing everything in their power to survive, anything was better than squirrel or pigeon grilled over an open fire. Of course, that was when she was lucky...

She shook her head, as if to unlodge the memory from her brain, and slurped up the rest of the broth. Meal was out of the way, and now all she had to worry about was the briefing.

And doing her best not to strangle Fukada. That was a very important part of getting through the day.

In between inhaling her meal like it would disappear at any moment, Hoshiko caught sight of another one of her fellow pilots entering the dining area.

It was Norika! Hoshiko struggled with her surname a little, so she ended up referring to her as Norika most of the time. To be honest, she was surprised there was a younger pilot then herself on the Horizon even after six months. Of course she'd never asked Norika's age, but the girl was so tiny and cute that had to be the case, right?

She was pretty prickly, though. Hoshiko honestly wasn't sure how to approach making friends with her, but ultimately she'd decided just to try being nice and friendly towards her. Eventually she'd open up a little as long as things went well!

At least, that's how the brunette thought about it.

Thrusting one hand into the air, the long errant strand of hair atop her head bobbing from side to side, Hoshiko waved enthusiastically at the other girl, a bright grin on her face.

"Hey! Hi Norika-san! How are you?" she called to the smaller girl, enthusiastically.

With a small yawn, Seraphima made her entrance to The Horizon's cafeteria. It had been almost a year, and she still was uncertain about the eating habits of the other pilots. She imagined some of the towns people who would pilgrimage to the monastery while she was living on the convent, and some of their manners were no better. However, she had always deduced that they had come to the monastery for free food and relaxation. Many of them were starved and yearned for the nourishment. However, she was certain that food was no luxury on The Horizon. They lived like gods in the oversized ship.

Compared to the convent and the rest of the world, Seraphima felt spoiled beyond comparison. Perhaps, the other pilots had a disregard due to their surroundings. Regardless, it was not her place to judge, even if she did find it a little repulsive. They had their reasons, and the best she could do was ignore them. They had other more dignified qualities aside from their lack of table manners.

Her hand gently tugged at the komboskini around her neck. She had no qualifying reason for why she chose to show it off, but it comforted her nonetheless. She knew what she would be having at the cafeteria. She would have a simple soup. The soups were nothing compared to Sister Iosophia's cooking, but the warm hardy liquid was always filling and comforting. It was also easy to digest, which left her with less energy being consumed by her stomach.

Merde! Norika forced a smile. There was nowhere near enough caffeine in her system to be a nice human being but she had to try. And what made Fukada think they were chummy enough to be on a first-name basis. "It's Dulac," she said bluntly. She did her best to smile more, but it was painfully obvious that it was fake. "I'm fine. Never been better." She glanced at the others.

Norika rarely had many problems with the others. They were kind and friendly, but not to the levels that Fukada reached. She could handle someone being polite. But spending an hour with someone oozing sunshine and rainbows from every fiber of their being? Norika would rather stick her bare arm down a Warped's throat. Fukada wasn't a bad person, but there was only so much happiness that Norika could handle.

@VitaVitaAR

Before she could place her attention towards her bowl of food, Elise found her attention being pulled towards the young woman that had called out to her.

"Ah?" she responded almost instinctively towards her name before turning towards the source—Pyralis, as it were—and nodded with a smile. "By all means, feel free."

The subsequent arrival of the more muscle-bound Louisa was greeted with equal cordiality, and the slight smirk soon turned to a wry smile at the newest arrival's words.

"It's just past noon here," the white-haired girl spoke, motioning towards the window ever so slightly with her head, "but I suppose some people might still consider this morning, no?"

Deciding to not take any further jabs at the other woman's expense, Elise turned her attention towards her food once again...

Only for a certain brunette to burst onto the scene, chipper as ever. The few months she had spent with the girl already had allowed Elise to grow used to her boundless enthusiasm, but the way she seemed to consume food as if it was water was still a bit...

Was 'comical' the right word? Or 'terrifying'? She still couldn't tell which.

"...Right. She certainly comes and goes like a storm," she said, finally pulling her attention away from Hoshiko as she ran off to bother Norika in order to take a few bites of her noodles before they grew soggy.

There were a few moments of silence as everyone present took the time to eat, but after taking the time to savor what was in front of her, Elise took another deep breath and glanced back towards the other Pilots sitting with her.

"I don't think we'll need as much energy as she does for the day, but I guess we'll see soon enough," she said, placing her chopsticks off to the side for a moment. "I heard that we'd be getting split into smaller teams to help the advance force earlier, but they said that they were still in the middle of finalizing who's handling what."

With another sidelong glance towards the other pair off to the side, Elise leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms in front of herself before turning back towards the others.

"You'd think they'd have told us in advance to prepare better or something, though..."

@Izurich@Laduguer

Following Elise's comment, Louisa elected for a strategy of burying her shame quietly in her food. This proved to be a wise choice, as it gave her an acceptable way of hunkering down to dodge the strafing fire of Hoshiko's boundless energy. If she was being honest, out of all of the other Pilots she'd met, she felt the most comfortable with Hoshiko - after all, someone who wears their heart on their sleeve is someone you can trust - but extraversion didn't lend itself particularly well to Louisa's personality, and again... mission days had a way of putting her out of sorts.

She breathed a sigh of relief as the meal wound down and Elise continued speaking.

"Teams? Huh..."

She glanced around the dining area at the assembled Pilots, and crossed her arms.

"Yeah, I guess it would take me a while to figure that out too. It isn't exactly clear how we all fit together..." she said, before realising how that might be construed, and quickly adding with a sudden shift of posture, "Uh, tactically, that is -- we haven't got a clear team coordination yet, I mean."

"Thanks...~" The brunette replied gratefully in that signature rather quiet tone yet lacking in shyness tone of hers, not all confident people had to express themselves via a loud voice after all. Pyra began enjoying her meal but it didn't take long for more people to join the ever-growing group; another Frame Pilot approached them, as expected due to the joint operation that'd be up in a matter of hours.

"Morning, Miss Louisa. Oh, just... making sure that I eat properly before the mission." This particular pilot was Louisa Faye, a noticeably older woman compared to Pyra, amongst - if not the - oldest in their ranks even. Although their time together had been short, Pyra had become accustomed to look at Louisa as a sort of guardian figure of the group, not purely because of her age and life experience, but her personality as well, the fact that her Chi-Mechframe performed the best when situated at the vanguard to take point certainly added to that mentor charm of hers. She was like the glue that held the team together so each of them could perform to the best of their abilities.

Returning to the matter of a confidently loud person though, a prime example of one was here; her presence announced to everyone via that shrill voice of hers, whether they like it or not. Such an overbearing presence could be none other than Fukada Hoshiko, one of the youngest pilots out there. If Louisa was the calm and collected parent figure then Hoshika was the exact opposite, that hyperactive younger sibling who might be too childish even for her age. Pyra didn't really mind, but she'd be lying to herself if she couldn't see how others might be annoyed by her. "Hey, Hoshika... y-yeah, enjoy your meal... I think we'll all need it."

Speaking of being annoyed, that expression couldn't be more visible on one Norika Dulac's face, a Frame Pilot who was actually Pyra's senior in age yet looked the youngest out of everyone here, much to unfortunately short girl's chagrin. Unlike Hoshiko, the flame-bearing Frame Pilot had enough sense to blissfully ignore the blade-swinging snow-haired pilot's presence, just the way the latter preferred it; too bad that it only took a single pestering golden-eyed cloudcuckoolander to ruin everything though. Ah well, her condolences to Norika.

There was another... pilot(?) that she spotted at the corner of her eyes, ah yes, definitely a fellow pilot; Seraphima Drakos was her name if she remembered correctly, a Greek person much like herself. Although in a somewhat ironic twist, Pyra knew her the least amongst everyone present here, but she hoped that would change sooner than later. It'd be nice to have a conversation in her native tongue, that and pilots forming a bond would be beneficial to everyone.

"Uhm... I think it's better be safe than sorry, it'll really suck if our performance dips on the field just because of an empty stomach." Pyra responded to both Elise and Louisa, "Makes sense, considering we have our own specialties. Logically, a proper team should have at least one ranged and close combatant each, cover each other's weaknesses and all that." A tried and true strategy, whether in real life or in one of her strategy games. Of course, sometimes you'd have to make do with what you have, but fortunately, Pyra believed they had a good distribution of Chi-Mechframe archetypes. "I think this upcoming mission is as much a test run as it is an actual operation. The best data is gathered from field practice after all, dangerous as it is." The bespectacled girl then curled a small, encouraging smile, "Nevertheless, let's all do our best. The world is depending on us."

---

Place(s): The Horizon - Dining Area
Time: Afternoon
Interaction(s): Practically all the other members

---

"Hmm." Standing right in the middle of the way as she entered the Dining Area, the first thing Teodora did was to survey the place, trying to see if there's anything interesting going on. The day had been rather pretty quiet and relaxed so far for her; which was fine, she can appreciate quiet days. Still, it can't hurt to have more interesting things too. Of course, she had high hopes that her wish will soon came true, what's with the briefing going to happen about a certain operation and what's not. "Oh, lookie. There they are~" She was technically kind of late as it seemed like the others had already gathered. But then again, there was still time, so she saw no reason to hurry either.

Of course, even if she had been unarguably and without a doubt late, she will still ended up taking it easy anyway.

So she started walking, slowly and with a certain graceful flair to her steps typical of the young scion of a top-of-the-class wealthy family. This wasn't even deliberate, it was just how she had became used to with how she conducted herself. In short, being elegant had became a natural sort of body language for her. She didn't immediately head to where the others were gathered, instead taking her time to browse whatever were currently on offer in the Dining Area. After what can be reasonably called by others as a painstakingly casual process of browsing and picking her food, Teodora ended up with just a small plate of vanilla flan and another small plate of chocolate castella. Despite having a great appreciation for the simple joy of eating, she had always been a rather light eater. Nodding to herself, satisfied after a short inspection of both plates, she then started walking to where the others were gathered.

"Good afternoon, my dear fellows." She said with her almost-always-present light smile and a small playful bow of the head as she arrived to the table. Taking an empty spot, she put down her plates and took her seat, remaining naturally elegant in her conduct as she did so. "Everyone sure is early. My, some of you had even finished already." With this remark, she specifically took a brief glance at Norika and Hoshiko. She let out a small giggle at the interaction happening between the two girls. Norika obviously looked annoyed at Hoshiko's sunshine energies, while Hoshiko seemed like she's either oblivious to or undaunted by that fact. In other words, the usual. "Fufu..." Then she started her own meal, slowly scoping up and eating small cuts out of her desserts using her spoon. Her smile widened as she put the palm of her left hand onto her left cheek, sighing in bliss and looking very much pleased with the sweet treats.

"Quite nice... Oh my, pardon me. Did I miss anything important? Have you girls started on the saucy bits of stuffs already? Hehe~" She finished her words with a small giggle, looking around at the others with the sort of mischievously curious expression as common to her face as her casual smile.

"That's great, Du... ra... um... Durakku-san!"

It was always good to hear Norika was doing well! Sure, she seemed a little strained and distant, but Hoshiko was used to that from the prickly girl. Really, it was just good to hear that such a young girl was still doing fine even though she'd been taken on for something as big as this.

It was a little sad to hear she didn't want to be called by her first name still, especially since Hoshiko had been trying her best to get to know her better. But the brunette would at least try her best with the girl's surname! For some reason, even though she'd gotten okay enough at English, she still struggled with it.

"I'm doing great too, this food is sooooo goood~" she added, cheerfully, as she proceeded to polish off another heaping amount of food. The crispness of the karaage, the richness of the ramen broth... so delicious! She would go back for seconds if not for the fact that they had to go on a mission soon.

"Oh, hey, Teodora-san!" the older girl had just walked in, so of course Hoshiko's hand shot into the air to wave towards her with an exuberant greeting.

@JDubs@Medili

Norika had to agree that the food was good. They had it good here in The Horizon. Three meals a day, the safety of several inches of solid titanium and modern weaponry that could tear apart all but the largest of Warped, and the best and brightest in the world to train, heal, and equip them. "That's better," Norika said. "If we get to the point that I allow you to address me by my first name, consider yourself lucky." She sighed, standing up to her full height. "Just because we're on a ship in the sky together doesn't mean you can be this chummy with me. We're coworkers, not friends."

@VitaVitaAR

---

Place(s): The Horizon - Dining Area
Time: Afternoon
Interaction(s): Small one with Hoshiko & Norika

---

Teodora returned Hoshiko's wave with a much much less exuberant wave of her own. "My, as full of guts as ever, Hoshiko. Always quite delightful to see. And I see that you're getting along very, very well-" her mischievous expression as she said so made it clear that she's making a jab at them, "-with the ever so charming and delectable Domnișoară (Miss) Dulac. Very good. Fufu~" She had always found the interactions between Hoshiko and Norika to be amusing. At times quite rather adorable in fact. "Quite adorable, you two." And of course, Teodora being Teodora, she saw nothing wrong with stating as much openly. In a way, she was perhaps the worse among the seven girls in not recognizing that her words or conducts might cause others to dislike her. She was simply too self-assured and content with herself; painfully so.

And just like that, with her smile still plastered to her face, she continued eating her desserts again. Soon enough, she was done with the small meal and after a small act of taking care of her dental hygiene, leaned back contentedly on her seating.

Nodding her head in silent agreement with the other Pilots' words, Elise took a few more moments to ponder upon the situation before shrugging her shoulders. She had only been apprised of the details of the job because she had been somewhat curious, given the sheer amount of work to be done on a regular basis. Even so, helping to take back a region of Japan was certainly on a scale unlike any they had encountered to date—even if it had been fairly sparsely populated compared to the nation's major cities, that was still a lot of ground to cover.

With their meals winding to a close and the proper meeting time approaching, though, Elise chose to finally finish up her meal and deliver the dishes (now bereft of food) to the cleaning station before heading off to the command room. Better early than barely on time, after all.

---

Situated near the bow of The Horizon, the command room had become a familiar sight to the Frame Pilots—Elise included, of course—and with the appointed time fast approaching, it only made sense that the area was astir. There were multiple people situated behind computers, all of them lined up in rows that curved around towards a view of a massive monitor in the center. In front of that, though, stood a certain woman waiting expectantly for the Pilots to file in. Once they all had, the woman—the owner of The Horizon and their boss, Sandra Morrison—cleared her throat and began to speak.

"I thank you all for arriving here on time. The order of business today will be to give you an overview of the mission ahead," she said, raising one hand as the monitor behind her brought up a series of maps and images of the landmass below. "The primary goal is to aid Japanese military forces located within Tokyo in retaking the entirety of the Saitama prefecture. Given its close proximity to the actual city, doing so will provide a buffer with which the city can use to further prepare for Warped activity should the need arise."

Stepping to the side, Sandra continued to keep her gaze trained upon the group as the monitor zoomed in on the prefecture, pinpointing a few locations on the map and a route leading towards the west from Tokyo itself.

"This is, of course, a joint venture with the nation, so there is no need to worry about having to handle the entirety of this zone on your own. Your focus will be placed towards clearing out the western area here while Japanese forces make headway into the north of the prefecture. To that end, we have divided you all across three teams, each with a different purpose."

From here, the visuals on the monitor switched from a focus on their route to a split segment, showing the separation of the Pilots into the aforementioned teams, their profile shots lined up accordingly.

"Constantina and Fukada: your objective is to scout ahead and clear a path for the Japanese forces assigned to our group to be able to secure the area in its entirety. Place priority on targets that cannot be handled with standard firepower, and if possible, redirect them to areas away from the main force.

Kim, Dulac: take out any Warped that Fukada either cannot handle on her own or that the other team may have either missed or deemed too problematic to engage with their firepower. Coordinate as necessary, and do not hesitate to retreat or call for aid if the situation requires it.

Drakos, Faye, Constanza: protect the main force as they follow after the other two teams. Even in an ideal scenario, there will still likely be large amounts of Warped moving in towards your position, especially as you head further west. Be prepared for anything, including retreat.

If you have any further questions about the objective at hand, speak up now. Otherwise, collect your Chi-Mechframes from the engineering bay and head to the hangar. You depart in thirty minutes; I wish you the best of luck in your efforts. Dismissed."

@Izurich@Laduguer@VitaVitaAR@Mole@JDubs@Medili

_______________________________________________________________

As the other Pilots began to wrap up in the dining area and file out towards the briefing in the command room, Louisa glanced at the smartwatch on her wrist and sprang away from the table without excusing herself, lunging out the dining area door and towards the residential deck. If she was as fast as her average time to sprint between her room and the main deck (two minutes and forty-seven seconds -- not bad, right?) then she could get there, change clothes, and sprint back whilst only being a couple of minutes late. There was no way she was reporting for duty in her gym outfit.

[00:02:30]

Oh, a new personal best -- forget it!

Almost tearing the door off its hinges, she barreled into her room and threw open her wardrobe, pulling out a suit of sleek grey military fatigues and a light jacket in urban camoflague.

[00:03:00]

Pulling a boot onto her left foot whilst running with the other, Louisa left her room open and nearly tackled a member of custodial staff to the floor as she began sprinting back up the auxiliary access stairwell...

[00:05:40]

... to the command room, snapping off a salute and filing into the assembled Pilots as Sandra continued her briefing.

As she listened, Louisa realised her geography was pretty poor. She had no idea where Saitama Prefecture was, but after studying the map on the monitor she guessed the region was to Tokyo what Surrey was to London back home.

She glanced at Seraphima and Teodora as their squad allocation was announced and smiled, but felt her nerves building. That was pretty much the ideal team composition for Grendel's basic combat strategy, but lacking any flight capabilities herself (the added weight of high density plating came at a cost) meant that there was no redundancy for her if the situation on the ground became too hot.

She rolled her shoulders and sighed. No pressure.

It seemed that poor Norika's suffering wouldn't be over anytime soon, in fact, it just got worse with the arrival of that showboating pilot, Teodora Constanza. Pyra was a patient girl, a calm and collected person even during the most intense rage-inducing moments in her games, a feat that required a certain talent for controlling your emotions, but even she had her equanimity truly tested by Teodora. While Hoshiko was no doubt louder than the blonde, at least the Japanese girl did so out of friendliness to cheer up everyone's day, but Teodora... oooh, this Romanian pilot had malicious intentions, Pyra was sure of it; the type of person who put others down with barely-concealed insults and rhetoric to feed her own ego. An insufferable bitch who couldn't even see her own pestiferousness even when it's spelled out right to her face, or more likely, she knew but couldn't care less.

"..." The blue-eyed girl found herself staring a bit too long at Teodora, but then caught herself before the slightly-older girl could notice and silently continued with her meal, focusing on the mouth-watering smell and taste of the beef bowl to get her mind off the attention whore. She finished up shortly after Elise and pretty much did the same thing, returning her empty bowl and tray to the cleaning station then departing toward Horizon's Command Room.

..........
.....
...

The casual air of the mess hall had shifted away to the serious no-nonsense atmosphere of the strategy chamber. A familiar figure was already there even before the first assigned Frame Pilot entered the vicinity; Sandra Morrison, the woman in charge of the whole organization. Though the upcoming task wasn't categorized as a 'major' operation, the fact remained that the boss lady herself was manning the helm, meaning it was important enough for her to allocate her busy schedule for it.

Pyra occupied one of the vacant seats facing toward the central monitor before the briefing began proper. Blue eyes reflected the light off said monitor as Commander Morrison explained the details of the operation: its goal, field conditions, possible threats, and last but not least, team composition. Indeed, the main objective was to cleanse Warped presence from Saitama so it could be reclaimed by human authority. The Frame Pilots would ensure that the Japanese military wouldn't suffer crippling casualties just to reconquer this small part of the former Tokyo Metropolitan Area.

Fukada... Pyra mentally noted her would-be partner's name; the loud brunette who shared an ethnicity with her, wielder of Hinotori, a Chi-Mechframe specializing in close combat and rapid aerial movements, a fitting complement to Infernus' artillery abilities. That's fine really, Pyra didn't have any personal issues with anyone in the room, except for Teodora, however, in the battlefield, even the most annoying pilot couldn't hold a candle to the existential threat of the Warped, thus if it came down to it, she was more than capable of pushing her own emotions aside for cold professionalism. As Dulac mentioned, they didn't have to be friends to be coworkers, common goal begets petty squabbles.

"Understood, Commander," The shorter-haired brunette confirmed Morrison's instructions then proceeded to stand up, "I have no further questions. I'll see you all out there, everyone, let's do our best." Then made her way to the engineering bay to receive her custom-built mechanized biosuit.

---

"...-and that's how you activate it. Got all that, kiddo?" A gruff bearded man curled a smile as he finished his instructions to Pyra; Igor Pachmelnik Zakuskov, one of the many engineers employed by Horizon, a Russian man who lost his wife to the Warped incursions and now dedicated his life to prevent others from experiencing the same fate, no more children should grow up motherless if he could help it. He picked up a peculiar bracelet, purplish-black in color with distinctive fiery-red highlights, emblazoned with the symbol of a dragon's open maw, then offered it to Pyra, "Chi-Mechframe Infernus, all yours. Good luck out there, Frame Pilot Pyralis."

"Yes, I understand, sir." Although Pyra was intimately familiar with the ins-and-outs of Infernus by now, she knew that the engineer was just doing the final checks to really make sure she didn't screw things up right before a combat operation. "Thank you." She received the state-of-the-art device, one that she had spent six months of constant training so far, then strapped the buckles to her dominant arm, the left. With a final nod, the brunette continued toward the hangar, there was no time to waste, especially since she was assigned to scouting duty, the squad at the frontmost of the attack group.

---

Moments later, minutes before departure time, Pyra found herself standing by at one of the launch bays of Horizon's hangar area. She had changed her usual clothes into a black skintight leotard of a similar design to an Olympic swimmer's uniform, the most reliable outfit to serve as inner wear for what she's about to do, and there were no red-rimmed glasses upon her face. Upon the signal for imminent launch, she held her left arm outward, enunciating, "Infernus, blaze forth!"

Flames immediately enveloped her.

Starting from Pyra's left arm, the inferno traveled to cover her whole body from neck to toe, yet strangely they didn't burn her. Instead of disintegrating all in their path as flames would normally do, this conflagration coalesced to shape into a set of biomechanical armored dress on top of her leotard; black in color with a slight purple hue in select spots, crimson highlights carved through trailing tongues of flames; the blouse, knee-length skirt, and socks manifested first before they were followed by the Mechframe's bracers and boots, fitting themselves perfectly onto Pyra's arms and feet, a dark purple orb adorning each of them. The dress was finalized when a tri-pronged shuriken-esque brooch emblazoned itself on her sternum, its orb shining bright orange.

However, it wasn't done yet as three swirling tongues of flame snaked out of Pyra's left palm, forming into a long lance in the silhouette of a dragon's head. Steel-gray and red in color, the weapon could be held reliably by either one or two hands. Her fingers grasped the handle and with a flourish, swung the draconic lance once as flames dispersed from her as the transformation completed. Even still, the occasional wisps of fire remained about her form, although they were completely harmless, merely a visual manifestation of the Core's power.

"..." Breathing out once, she hardened her gaze as the launch door hissed open before her, clearing the way to the wide open sky above Japan. "Pyralis Constantina, Infernus, launching!" With that declaration into the comms, a pair of flaming wings sprouted from each of her boots as the One Born in Fire took to the ether, carving a trail of - mostly harmless - flames in her wake.

---

Place(s): The Horizon - Command Room → Engineering Bay → Hangar
Time: Afternoon
Interaction(s): Small one with Pyralis, Seraphima, and Louisa

---

Thus lunch was concluded and Teodora started walking out of the Dining Area to head for the Command Room just like the others. She was walking rather slowly in comparison though, and thus arrived later than Elise, Louisa, and Pyralis. Not quite late, but not particularly early either. Once inside, she took a vacant seat and then started to look around curiously at the computers-filled room. This observation was then cut short by Sandra Morrison as she began the briefing in earnest. Teodora listened intently to Sandra's words, her usual smile remaining on her face as she digested the information given to them regarding the operation. My, taking back Saitama huh. Fufu, I suppose that will be quite interesting indeed. Oh, maybe they'll even start producing those highly reputed Sayama green tea again once the prefecture is retaken. That'll be really nice~

Her internal musings continued for a while as she listened to the briefing, stopping only after the briefing proceeded to the division of teams. "Ooooh." She openly mumbled as she saw that she'll be teamed up with Seraphima and Louisa. With her ever-present smile in place, she waved at the two while winking, mouthing off a silent 'Looking forward to it' Protection duty huh. Being on the defensive... Heheh, alright, it'll be no biggie I'm sure. The briefing was concluded soon after. She responded to the commander, "Nooope. All good and ready to go, Domnișoară Morrison. I'll get going ASAP, fufu~" With that, she started to leave the Command Room. She walked briskly while remaining graceful, quite eager to get going and excited with the prospect of action. As she walked pass Pyralis, she waved at the younger girl, oblivious to Pyralis' disdain for her. "Fufu, good luck, Pyra. Ooooh, this is so gonna be fun~" She then skipped ahead, slowly gaining speed until she was practically jogging toward the Engineering Bay.

Once there, she retrieved her Chi-Mechframe without delay, eagerly receiving it from one of the engineers. The compact mode of her Chi-Mechframe took the form of a metallic hairband, dark blue in color with the word "Marche au Supplice" engraved in golden letters on the center of the band. She promptly took off the normal hairband she was wearing, exchanging it with the metallic one. Then, she immediately skipped off to head for the hangar with an excited smile on her face. At the moment, her usually graceful movements were overwritten by her excitement as she raced through the place.

Soon enough, it was time for the mission to begin. Teodora stood within one of the launch bays, already changed into her pilot suit. A voice from a speaker then emerged, resounding through the launch bay. "Supplice, this is command. You are cleared for launch. Good luck and God speed." Teodora's smile widened at that until it became more akin to a grin. Fufu, finally~ Quickly, she started the transformation sequence of her Chi-Mechframe, causing the headband to separate into multiple separate pieces that floated around her. These individual pieces then expanded, each transforming into a different part of the frame. A helmet on her head, an armored cloak covering her torso, armored boots and greaves, the hilt of a rapier in her right hand and the grip of a rifle in her left hand, and finally a pair of wings each floating on each of her side. The sequence was then finished with the manifestation of a bright, light blue halo above her head and a flash of light which briefly revealed the outlines of a sphere shaped dome of light blue energy barrier all around her. Along with the completion of the transformation, the airlock of the launch bay was also fully opened, revealing the great blue sky outside.

"Mmmm..." Teodora swung the rapier hilt in her right hand a few times in well-practiced motions before then checking the rifle grip in her left hand. She then nodded in satisfaction, seemingly finding everything to be in order. "Excellent. Fufu, now then~" Short burst of blue flames spewed out of her Chi-Mechframe's wings, causing her to hover a few centimeters off the ground. Teodora licked her lips once, before grinning wide and exclaiming to the communication system, "My, I wonder how many I'll bag today? How exciting! Fufu... Teodora Constanza, Supplice, marching on!"

Another, larger jets of blue flames fired from the wings, instantly propelling Teodora out of the launch bay. A slender beam of blue light took the form of a energy blade out of the rapier hilt in her right hand while the rifle in her left hand unfolded to its full length. Resembling a dark angel, Teodora soared through the sky, a fully confident smile on her face. "Those Warped sooo won't expect what's coming to hit them!"

Saved by the bell! Norika made a beeline for her room, quickly changing into her Chi-Mechframe's inner bodysuit underneath her uniform. A quick examination in the mirror showed her hair still in good condition. Appearances mattered, even when the world was going to hell in a handbasket. Once at the Command Room, she snapped a salute to Morrison before standing at ease. Sure, this wasn't a military organization per se, but given the last six months had involved rigorous training in combat to fight a threat hellbent on wiping out humanity, she would attempt to be professional.

She listened and watched silently. Saitama prefecture. Her grandparents had called it home before they'd fled to Tokyo in the wake of the Warped's attacks. It would never be the home they'd once known, but hopefully they could start fresh when the area was liberated. She took a quiet breath.

Norika glanced at Kim, her partner for the assignment. The taller girl specialized in ranged combat, which meant that Norika was going to have to get up close and personal with the Warped. Not that that was a problem. I just don't want a hole where my spine should be. After drinking in the information she saluted again before heading to the hangar. Personnel bustled back and forth, but Norika was looking for one person in particular.

For the first time all day a genuine smile crossed her face. A young woman pored over something on a workbench, fine tools between each finger. "Sorry to interrupt you, Chiaki," said Norika, "but we're heading out."

Yasuda Chiaki was young for someone so closely involved with maintaining the Chi-Mechframes, but she had a knack for them in ways that nobody quite understood. She was the same age as Norika, but a full head taller. Norika couldn't explain why, but she felt at ease around Yasuda. Her life was in the mechanic's hands every time she went out into the field, and that fact had forged a sort of bond between them; in fact, she was the only person Norika would allow to call her by her first name.

Yasuda smiled at Norika. "Too bad. I was hoping to tinker." Yasuda handed to object--a bracelet-- to Norika. "But you'll be glad to know that we've given Titania a bit of an upgrade. Not quite flight, but at the very least you won't need a parachute whenever you drop into combat anymore."

"Good. I don't want a repeat of the Jubjub Incident." Norika shuddered at the thought.

"Oh, come on, it was only a small one. And besides, Titania took the landing pretty well."

"You try dropping the last half-kilometer to Earth without a parachute, then get back to me." Norika took a step back, slipping the bracelet on and crossing her arm over her chest. "Titania! Dance!" A flash of light emanated from the bracelet. Though difficult to see, armor began spreading across her body from the bracelet before the transformation was complete. She took the faceplate off for a brief moment, giving a smile to Yasuda. "I'll try not to damage her too much."

"I'll hold ya to it!"

She replaced the faceplate and made her way through the hangar, her eyes scanning for her partner.

@PKMNB0Y