DarkRecon

Souls of Steel: A Giant Mecha RP

Jake and Elise

Jake sat inside his framework, Weissritter. His eyes were closed. Thinking. Trying to make sure he did his part to keep his team not only safe but aware of the battle conditions, situation and of course, information.

He may not the strongest of his family, the Armstrongs, but he still had enough of the brains to not do anything stupid. To show good teamwork. Synenergy.

Now, with Elise's help, he was going to show it.

"This is Jake Armstrong in the Weissritter. Ready to deploy. Bridge. Is Elise ready to go?", Jake then asked on the comm line.

Jake heard Elise's voice on the other side. "Affirmative! I'm on the bridge, and deplyoing REC-1," she said, a code phrase coined to describe their plan with using the drones. "Whenever you're ready."

"Roger. Stand by. Looks like we still have to sort out who gets the assault packs here. Not me though. Being the sniper and all..."

Jake did trail off a bit there. He just seemed to think about something.

He then switched to a private line so that only Elise and perhaps others in the bridge area could hear them.

"Elise...were on a private line. I just wanted to ask some stuff before we get rough. For me, such a question is out of the blue but...what did you do to achieve a perfect sync with your framework?", Jake then asked.

Elise was quiet for a moment, and then answered: "...It's because of my father." She seemed somber as she spoke those words. "He was the one who built Prometheus, well, at least the important parts of it. Even after mom died, he continued supporting me. I was proud to be her daughter. He has always been there for me...Even now."

"...I see...the bonds that keep us together...to keep us going...makes sense. It's also one of the reasons why many within the military use terms like "may your souls be as strong as steel" or similar sayings leading to that", Jake responded.

Jake was quiet for a few second before he spoke.

"...Elise...I'm sure you've heard about my military family the Armstrongs. But I'm also sure you've heard rumors about a "black sheep" of the family...it's because I didn't quite live up to the military expectations. Sure, I'm perceptive and smart but with my low sync, I'm not exactly the best in the family. And...unlike you, I've had trouble getting along with my family members...well mostly my mom and dad..."

A pause before Jake spoke again.

"Sadly, I couldn't patch things up with my dad...he was K.I.A...and...my mom suffered a rare sync fault against a Cruxi Ace unit that keeps her sync at zero percent no matter what she did. Still, she was re-assigned to a battleship and is now leading it as it's captain and a team of Frameworks on missions currently...but being in a military family...it's tough holding attachments to anything...but I've managed somewhat..."

Jake let out a sigh before he finished his story.

"...after all...in a war as brutal as this and being in a military family, your life expectancy isn't exactly "great"..."

Elise sighed. "I'm sorry to hear that. I bet most people here have sad stories, but yours is one of the worse ones. Yeah, I've heard of the Armstrongs; they're famed for their contributions to the war effort."

"Yep...rain, shine or even blood...we gave it our all for the sake of humanity...though you were wrong when you said that we were nothing more than a stat in general...were actually a stall tatic...from frameworks to cloning like the homonculus...hell, I've even heard a rumor that there are even robots with human feeling being tested in secret...high command is just trying to find something to end this war...but how long before it happens or it ends up biting us in the ass I wonder..."

Taking a deep breath, Jake then said this.

"And not just the Armstrongs...Mai's mother was the one of the few pilots who helped break that mold for a time...and...well you thought my story was bad, Mai's was worse...when her mom was shot down, high command were desperate for someone who had her abilities...they pressured her into framework combat testing...then came the Helldivers...her split personality problem...doing whatever she was told to do...now this..."

Jake then cleared his throat before he said, "The reason I look out for her because she's like family to me. Hell, even her mom was kind to my family members back in the day. But now...she's got all sorts of pressure on her again. A new mind set. A new sync that she's never experienced before...a new outlook on life I suppose..."

Jake was quiet before he then said this.

"Elise. Do me a favor and keep an eye on her for me during this fight. I'm sure you, your busty wingmen and drunk wingmen would even say that just because your perfect sync doesn't mean your invincible. Mai's seen plenty of combat sure but not in this state of mind and not on this sync level."

"Acknowledged," Elise said. "Assuming radio silence. Over."

Souls of Steel: A Giant Mecha RP

Still alive all. Also Ariamis. If you read this, I left Jake out of my latest post because he's most likely going to be working in sync through Elise.

So yeah, at some point, I have to get back on Discord and start a possible collab between them at anyone else on the bridge of the NOAH when things get going due to the recon drones and such.

Souls of Steel: A Giant Mecha RP

For Maria, thoughts were still distracting her even after the meeting ended.

One of which was Jason being benched on his mission so Lorenzo himself wanted to...do who knows what. But Maria knew that it may have something to do with Serah.

Which started to fill Maria with dread. But it was also one of the sad things she had learned early on even when she first started to train as a pilot.

Those above you just looked down on you.

It was one of the first things that she and six others had learned from Caulder himself. Unlike other leaders slash scientists, he didn't sugar coat it. He told the truth. Even when high command themselves told him when not to.

Now...it may seem like Maria had to say goodbye to yet another pilot...but unlike when she was Seven, saying goodbye was going to hurt.

But was that the right way to live? Just turning off your brain to the point where your just numb to the war around you? Caulder had warned the seven of them at the time to be wary. Sure, such feelings and the thing she feared, attachments, did grant you impressive sync and unimaginable potential.

"But is it worth the price you'll most likely pay? No matter how much brutal physical training and experiences you'll most likely experience, the ones that hit your soul will hurt the worst...emotional pain is ALWAYS worse than anything physical", he had once said.

As Seven, she had accepted it and simply worked on her teamwork with the other six to improve their mission odds with sync rates around averages around seventy percent or so. Back then, things were simple. All that mattered were the orders given and the mission completed. Even if some were "dirty" work.

Now...Maria looked back on it and perhaps realized something...and as she sat there in the Neo Angel, waiting for the call to move out from the NOAH...maybe Caulder was wrong about THAT part at least.

Sure, she was an emotional mess...but at the same time, she was focused. Her sync was perfect now. And perhaps better yet...she made better decisions rather than falling back on suisidal tatics like the "Ash to Ash" protocol. But at the same time, Caulder was also telling her the truth about the emotional baggage it will bring.

At the moment, even she questioned whether or not this was the right way for her. To embrace emotions. To have proper friends as Katya put it. And even the things Elora had told her during that last battle...it was starting to make some sense now.

She had her eyes closed the whole time as she thought about all this. But now wasn't the time to think. Caulder was right about one thing though.

Once the mission starts, leave thoughts outside your mission at the door.

And from inside her black helmit and red visor, Maria then opened her eyes.



"Maria Angel Twilight in the Neo Angel. Standing by in the docking day", Maria said on the comm line, verbally checking herself in.

Souls of Steel: A Giant Mecha RP

Sorry for the lack of activity. I've been planning this mission, and have yet to decide on how it should play out.

@Ariamis

We also talked about it too so yeah...don't forget about me ;_;

Souls of Steel: A Giant Mecha RP

@DarkRecon Yikes, sorry for the slow response! Crazy busy last week, first chance I've had to look at the forum. In regards to origin story, yes, it can remain the same. Though we never really hammered out the details and put that into actual forum posted 'paper'. We should probably work on a collaboration at some point to figure that out. Probably after this next combat would be a good time to hammer all of that out.

@Mr Rage

That's fine. I'm still here too but right now, it just seems that the RP has hit a major slow right now. Still, I have been checking in here at least so I'm still around.

Souls of Steel: A Giant Mecha RP

I think Black Star might be getting a facelift, and also a loadout change... Black Star - Anubis:

Black Star - Anubis

Drop the armor wings in favor of additional thrusters, like the ones on the assault pack that I used before...

Giving speed and stealth, less armor is needed...

thinking about it. nothing official yet.

@Mr Rage

Ohh pretty ^_^

Though now it looks less Gundam-like...still, I'm guessing our mechs still hold the same origin from Elizabeth's company right?

Souls of Steel: A Giant Mecha RP

Sorry bout this double post but I'm going to be away come saturday for the rest of that week. Family vacation stuff. While I will have internet through my iPhone, making posts through it probably will be sloppy so if I do, I apologize in advance for it.

Souls of Steel: A Giant Mecha RP

For Maria, it was a rough night. Not because she partied too hard but because of the incident she was involved in with Elora. She should have figured as much too.

She just hoped that Elora was ok. But not knowing anything hurt the most for her.

At any rate, it was new day and Maria just decided to do what she did best. Train.

Asking for Jake's assistance, he agreed to do some simulations in the V.R. pods to get her up to speed with her perfect sync. Jake admitted that he also needed some training. Said something about focusing on both his sync rate and his own physical body.

Though it wasn't long before both heard the announement to report into the briefing room.

Both Jake and Maria took seats and listened in. For Jake, though, it was no surprise that Fortress was their next stop. After the party, he had decided to see if there was any important news on the war. And the takeover of Fortress was the top of the list.

Pilots and cadets asked the usual questions. Maria, though, kept quiet for once. Usually, she'd had asked for something like intelligence data. Though for Jake, that was THE question for him. You always wanted to know what was coming or what you were going to get into if at all possible.

So when Jake heard Ritsu's order for Elise and Katya making her comment about Irina and her "without knowing more about the enemy's strength and deployment" part, Jake then spoke.

"If I may ma'am. We could always use my recon drones. I had spoke to Elise about this before but if you want, I can have Elise control the drones from the bridge of the ship and have them simply scout the capital out to see what were at least going to be dealing with initially. I know this ship has it's own sensors but the drones will be more accurate with visuals and data analyzing...I know it's weird to request Elise but I still acknowledge her as my superior despite her "demotion" so if you don't mind, I would like to put my trust in her to be this teams extra eyes and ears. Course, we'd have to be cautious. Despite their small size, the last battle has shown that they can be destoryed with precision fire."

Souls of Steel: A Giant Mecha RP

@DarkRecon I mean you saw the size of it? We wrote a lot it's why it took so long.

@Apollosarcher

I did see it. Just felt that it'd never be finished =p

But yeah, I'm ready to move on if we are ready?

Souls of Steel: A Giant Mecha RP

Finally an update ^_^