1. Home
  2. MrSkimobile

MrSkimobile Member

STATUS: Can't write pain without ai, and you can't write Spain without pain either. Coincidence? 5 days ago
Avatar of MrSkimobile

Status

Recent Statuses

5 days ago
Current Can't write pain without ai, and you can't write Spain without pain either. Coincidence?
2 likes
23 days ago
A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.
5 likes
1 mo ago
Sigma is overrated. Tau for the greater good!
3 likes
2 mos ago
*where we're going we won't need eyes*
1 like
2 mos ago
I like putting words in my salad.
2 likes

Bio


About me

Hi! MrSkimobile here. I've been RP'ing and occasionally GM'ing for close to a decade now.
I like RP's that are on the Casual+/Tabletop side, that are preferably original settings. No genre preferences.
This thread holds the full archive of my antics on this site.
Always feel free to contact me. See you around!

RPing

DELTΔ HYPER (Scifi F1 Slice of Life) - Kais Zenix, Supersoldier-turned-Racer

GMing

(currently not GMing any games)

Contributed Articles

Fate: Accelerated (Play-By-Post) Edition

Most Recent Posts

In DELTΔ HYPER (An F1 Drive to Survive inspired Anti-Gravity, Slice of Life, Cyberpunkish/Solarpunkish RP) → 12 hrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay



Thursday June 1st 2094, 2000 EST
Casino de Monte-Carlo, Monaco
The Gaming Floor

“Kais, are you okay?"

"You should worry about yourself more." Kais said as he rejoined Layla in the main hall of the Casino, his talk with Ava still fresh in his mind.

"You spend a lot of time with her lately, I swear. Do not give the tabloids anymore ideas. I understand, she is your age, but seriously, Ava Villarosa is more cold than me. And between us, she will break your heart. Though, when have I ever stopped you.”

"Layla, every time I talk to her I find more problems on my plate." Kais replied. Break his heart? That was the least of his worries. It wouldn't have been the first time either, though he usually did it to himself. He knew better than to dare to get too close to people. And tabloids? Those were background noise compared to that.

"And seriously, you're one to talk... 'When have I ever stopped you?'" Kais huffed and gave her some side-eye, hinting at her no-stopping speeding ahead with her mods. He respected her spirit, for sure, but with their latest neural developments, and all the shady happenings, this was very much a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

“Does she know anything?”

"Hmmm." He affirmed it absent-mindedly, somehow more at ease about it than Layla would likely have imagined. "I'll spare you the details, but she's very much in the same boat as we are. The crash at Luna? She thinks it's no accident, her neural link acted up, like with Amy, and I suspect our problems with ours earlier might be caused by the same... whatever it is. I don't get it yet. But there are strange things happening, Layla, strange... connections." That seemed to get Layla's attention.

“Listen. I’ve had… some weird stuff happen when I was in the ship. The ship is singing a bit more. But not in the way I thought it would. Not here. There were… other things I heard. It was like voices, Kais. I think I can hear them talking about upgrades. I can’t tell why, but it was like a part of me let it in. So I think Valkyrie are pushing here hard for podiums, and Carrera… they’re not a threat.”


Kais listened and noted these new developments. So now her ship's AI was whispering to her about its findings about other ships? Had it scanned them, monitoring these things? Was it talking to them? Whatever might be the case, Kais agreed that Valkyrie and Carrera were no threat, not in that way anyway. "Yes. I feel we can trust them, and Ava, for now at least. But... we should keep an eye on her." Then, his eyes flashed over to the one that had just been talking to his teammate. "As we should keep an eye on Zygon." And just as I will keep an eye on you too. Kais thought.

At that moment Kofi joined in, but Kais felt he was more above board than most, so Kais found his attention a bit preoccupied with their previous conversation. He nodded here and there, mostly when the conversation shifted to cats, but it was clear from his face that his vibe wasn't exactly welcoming at the moment. So Kofi excused himself with suitable grace and pizzazz before long. Kais tracked him like a predator for some seconds after until he felt he was sufficiently out of range, then he instantly snapped back to Layla, and back to business.

"What was Cassie talking to you for?"

"Not everyone's out for something, Kais. We just had a nice chat. But she did mention she wanted to ask you something. I don't know what."

"Then why didn't she?"

"I think your friendly face scared her away, you have a habit of doing that."

Kais tsked. "Weak."

"Oh don't say that," Layla continued, "you looked like you were shooting bullets from your eyes there. Until Kofi came by to talk about the cats..."

"Hmm," Kais nodded and looked around, it felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb here. "I like animals. They don't judge as much."

"So you're going to say yes to his meetup idea?"

"Already got the flight booked." V.I. Assistants were a blessing.


Friday, June 2nd 2094, 0950 EST
Café Villeneuve, Monaco
The High Life...?

Kais disliked Monaco. And that was putting it mildly. The people here. The vibe here. And above all the track. It took immense skill and an exquisitely tuned, sensitive ship to do well here, sure, but the track seemed designed to never allow for any solid dogfighting. Just turn after turn, obstacle after obstacle, never allowing much space for extended jockeying for position. And he wondered how much certain teams paid off the Formula:AG org behind the scenes in favours or full-on unmarked banknotes just to keep it in the line-up. But it seemed to be important to Paul, and Kais liked Paul. More than most, anyway. He had noticed he had more drive here than usual for some reason and, some would say a bit of over-, confidence, and Kais enjoyed it. So he had decided to try and tolerate Monaco for now. Still...

Sounds like you're laser focussed on the racing, and we've come to expect nothing less. What does the rest of this season look like for Al-Saqr, and how are you all feeling about the title chase?

What does the rest of the season look like for Al-Saqr, she said... Kais never really liked Aurora's feigned enthusiasm around him, but she seemed particularly down-talking today, so he felt very much at ease to return the favor. "Well, first we fly hard at Silverstone, then Montreal, then Belgium, Germany, Moa Therma... Until we soar high at Dubai Sky." He shrugged and let his hand drop with a thud onto his lap. "I'm off now." He hadn't even taken off his sunglasses.


After Qualifying
Friday 2nd June, 2094, 1800EST
La Phénix, Monaco

The man had crashed into, and up the yacht's obscenely-extravagant light-anti-G dancing pad, and back out again. There, having crashed straight into a drone-waiter carrying a tray, Kais made his way past, ignoring its now-frowny-faced holopad, and leaned over the guy, stabbing a finger straight at him. "Now who's having a bad time flying, huh?! With your stupid jacket!"

The second one followed soon after. Kais didn't even register who it was, nor what he was trying to do or say. Just that the throw was by the book, and that the guy had even made a nice attempt at a Wilhelm scream. Idiot had probably come to complain how his silk panties were in a twist about his friend, or brag about how his suit was expensive, you know, or that 'a bit rough round the edges, innit?' was probably just a joke, as if racing was a leisure cruise. The amount of pretentious, bumper-babied rich kids in this place. "Putain de royauté, eh..." His eyes glanced across the rest, where certain characters definitely would've stood out to him.

"Anyone else have anything to say?" A couple of security guards hesitantly made their way up to scout out the situation, but he was met mostly with hushed whispers and silent stares, and those said enough. He rolled his eyes. "Should've gone to the other damn party...هؤلاء الناس ليس لديهم أ أدب"

He made his way to the bar nearby and commandeered a prepared drink, hesitated, "This alcohol-free?" "No," the poor waiter trembled, then quickly threw something together, "take this, sir, mock whiskey sou--" Which he did, and downed it in one go. Something lemony or something, and his face couldn't help but twitch a little. So sour, who would drink this stuff?

He sighed. First the casino, then P10 at qualy, and now this. For goodness sake, this entire Monaco thing was an absolute bad luck fest. Where was Nadia when you needed her? She was so busy nowadays. Promotions, promotions. The stress levels on the poor girl. Yes, he better scold her about that later. Management too. What were they thinking?

Some moments later, a voice came up to his side. "Maybe a bad time to enter stage left, but can I borrow that move for our next film?"

Kais stared the lady that had walked up to him up and down for a minute, then admitted "you're not ringing a bell. Who are you?"

"Weaver. Keira Weaver. We saw each other briefly before at Marmolada. Car chase, remember?"

"Tsk." Kais said, waving the actress away. "Highly unrealistic. You don't do vehicular combat at that range. And rockets don't twist and turn like that either." Though he had to admit: how they simply flouted the rules there for a shoot had amused him.

"Maybe yours didn't," Weaver replied, and Kais snapped to her and inhaled sharply as she continued. "But the more modern -and more expensive- ones do, to avoid countermeasures like lasers or flares." Touché, the lady knew her stuff.

"Hmm, progress, huh..." Kais met her gaze. Then, his eyes narrowed a little, issuing a challenge back. "Didn't see any of those at the scene, though..."

"Well, it also just looked good. Rule of cool, you know."

"Stupid rule. Gets you killed faster than you can shout for a medic. But you do you. Makes things easier for those who know what they're doing." He offered a handshake. "Kais Zenix. A pleasure."

And before long the two had settled at the side of the yacht to watch holo-clips. At some point popcorn had somehow found its way into Kais' hands, as he watched the holos like a hawk, dissecting all the questionable tactical decisions her character had made.

"Only hindsight is 20:20, Zenix, even with all the augmentations nowadays."

"Look, plot holes are bullet holes! You have to respect that..." But Kais had to admit it was quite awesome. And that plot twist! He didn't see that one coming. That must've been difficult for this 'Skye', he didn't envy her one bit, that's for sure. That said...

"Why didn't they just send in some battlebots or hyper-missiles? Those are a dime a dozen nowadays. Or gene-specific nerve-agent mosquitoes, if they're working outside of the law? Even we had a couple of attacks like that, spent close to an entire damn season in armor till they were gone."

Weaver shrugged. "Period piece?"

Another drink came to him. Another strawberry, his favorite. Nice.

"You met Ward yet? I think you'd get along. Hey, Beatrix! Get over here!"



Hamid Atlassi @ASAtlassi:

[Image: Hamid dripping, squeezing out a champagne-drenched towel,
somehow still with a smile on his almost obnoxiously handsome face]

"Nothing like a little bubbly during a party. Pro-tip: don't try to prank our supe, and if you do, strawberry shakes calm him down! @ASZenix"

Kais Zenix: [🫡'ed this post] "glad to have been of service."

In DELTΔ HYPER (An F1 Drive to Survive inspired Anti-Gravity, Slice of Life, Cyberpunkish/Solarpunkish RP) → 1 mo ago Forum: Casual Roleplay



Kais took his place in the yellow couch, lemon-flavored tea in hand. As he sat down his hand went to unbutton his suit's jacket, only to realize he was -thankfully- wearing more comfortable clothing again. Picked out by Nadia: beige slacks, brown turtleneck, sunglasses. Very classically '20s Parisian, she said, should work well for the setting. Aurora gestured at his eyes, but Kais waved the DH touch-up assistants away.

"Long night. Don't worry about it. Just shoot."

“Kais, welcome to Monaco, and back to Earth! With everything that happened on Luna, how do you and Layla find the comparison here in the bustling, manic streets of Monaco?”


"Thank you, Aurora, but I think you already know the answer to that. It's a pretty place. The Casino was nice, but I'm not so much a high-born socialite or betting man. I'm a... racer..." Kais glanced away from the camera ever so slightly. "Give me a direction, and I'll go straight at it. No holding back." He looked back at the camera. "That's all."


The long night before...
Truth Ray

A collab with @FourtyTwo


Kais had settled himself at one of the roulette tables, and played around with some betting chips. “Hit me with it,” he nodded at the croupier, then watched him shoot the little ball into the strange carousel, watching it go round and round until finally… a dull click and rattle locked it into one of the number slots. Of all his bets, he won some, he lost some, and though it was all very fascinating in a strange way, at the end of the day, he found it mostly frustrating. And so, he felt somewhat elated when, in the roulette wheel’s gold’s reflection that he couldn’t help keeping a constant eye on, he noticed a familiar face coming his way.

Picking the sight of Kais up, the purple haired Ava Villarosa, complete with her stylish new legs, going well with her lilac coloured dress, was gentle to drift across the carpeted floor. Glass of Moet champagne in hand, she had healed well after the incident, but wasn’t completely at her own best. In the gloriously opulent Casino hall, she was perhaps being more herself than her military version had ever allowed, but she let her hair down. Yet she had her mind on something else. Something since Luna.

“Hey, Kais. Have you got a moment?” Ava asked, offering a hand, the Chilean peeling the Egyptian away, whilst keeping her eye out for anyone else.

“Ava.” Kais returned the greeting, looking her up and down. “You’re active again.” He nodded in approval. “Your legs. They look… sturdy. Good on you.” Or should he have put it the other way around? This was difficult. “Taking a break from the spotlight?” Kais shifted the topic as he glanced at her hand, then took it with the most stately amount his heavy-handedness could manage. Something which, no matter how much black tie he wore, with how challenging he found venues like these and their height difference in addition, must’ve been quite the sight. “Heard you and Bea were getting non-stop attention. Must be getting a lot of questions, after the…” And he looked at her new Wiphala legs. “...incident.”

“Yes, it has been hard. It’s been relentless all day. Someone on my team handles it better than me.” Ava smiled in response, making a comment that was obvious, but just not directly mentioned, “And yes, plenty of questions.”
Holding hand away, Ava walked up past a couple of pillars, up a wide staircase, and up into the second floor, onto a balcony looking down on everything below, staying out of sight and out of view of a camera. Kais was significantly bulkier than her, more than any former soldier, he was refined, capable, yet a product. Ava’s more slender, taller nature perhaps was not what you thought of for a pilot, but the ratios for her legs fit what her true stature was, rather than turning her into a crane.

Walking up against the pillar, she leaned against it, knowing whilst cameras typically would be sprawling, especially in a casino, in this spot they were absent.

Kais let himself be led along. It was obvious there was something pressing on her mind. But in his scouting out the venue as they made their way to the balcony, it hadn’t escaped his attention that they were now in a blind spot, and that, he felt, was foreboding. “Ava…”

“Listen to me.” Ava interrupted. “That crash I had was the same as Amy’s stall in Portugal. I had the same thing happen to me that Amy had, a blank-out. That wasn’t a normal error, something tripped in my mind and I’m not sure what. The symptoms were like what Amy said she experienced. Not that anything at all came out in the official reports, not when my cortisol and adrenaline levels were already blasted sky-high, but I know what I felt, and trust me, there’s something up.” Ava glanced around. “I thought it was paranoia at first, but I gave you insight into your past, and suddenly, this shit seems to come back to me?” Ava didn’t even break. “So what the fuck is going on is my question.” Ava levelled a nuclear bomb of an accusation back, cutting Kais out before had the chance to think, let alone react, frantic.

The veiled accusation hit, and hit bullseye, and for a moment Kais felt his blood pumping, ready to do anything at all. Attacking him, here? But it seemed Ava was more frantic with questions, grasping, and Kais realized that no, she hadn’t picked up on the reason why he hadn’t come to see her at the medical center at Luna. She suspected another party besides him specifically after all. Or rather, she didn’t suspect them yet, not fully.

“You should know, those files I gave you on the chip? One of the engineers found it in some leftover data cached in our ECU upgrade after it came in from Silver Apex. On the down low of course, because even being vaguely around this is a nightmare. I kept it when we scrubbed the thing clean of anything we didn’t need, gave it to you. And now…..” Ava commented, realising over the last few days what had happened, and now dropping it onto Kais, “Something must be up with it. Someone knew about it, knew I contacted you, and…” She sighed. “This spider's web makes no sense to me. Must be someone either at Silver Apex, or worse, beyond. I’m thinking whatever is happening, they’re testing limits, or they’re figuring out what they can push with it, and right in that moment, they wanted to see what would happen. Or you just got fucking greedy. And I can’t believe that. I know you’re made for orders. Yet maybe not quite this.” Ava finalized, knowing in that moment, she most certainly had Kais’s attention.

“The leak came from Apex?” Kais shook his head. Leftover data, or had it been hidden, or even purposefully released? And more importantly: why? “A spy? Sabotage? Bait? Why? What would they have to gain?”

Ava shook her head, unsure even herself, but knowing she had to try the gambit. She had been played, had to be. She was smart enough to realise that, and like with any good intel, she now had to make sense of this, and be direct. No bullshit now. In a place where eyes were on the main floor, and no massive crowds were present, this was the only place to put her chips on the table.

“I think a part of whatever Amy’s setup dealt with, somehow got through to us. Via that data cache. Like… like something of a virus. Doesn’t take much to open, literally barely anything, so whatever your taps were in development, it must’ve triggered something. Something it was looking for, because otherwise, it was harmless. Well, until it hit us.” The bombshell was no doubt a lot to absorb, as Ava checked around the pillar that nobody was eavesdropping, looking back.

“Kais, I know you and Layla had something strange going on, with your neural upgrades. The FIAR can’t because they’ve never flown a hypersonic jet at Mach 10, but I know what it’s like, it feels like your head is about to explode, because there’s something inside you pushing on your synapses. I can tell. But racing is racing, we all do it, everyone pushes what they can get away with… Until this happens… fuck…” Ava realised Kais was confused, uncertain, unsure of what this meant.

“Please tell me you had nothing to do with this, that you don’t want this. Because I know you’ve seen things, I know you’ve dealt with people dying in your arms…and I…I can’t do that again.” Ava’s words were sincere, and blunt, stepped in that remark.

As Kais listened to her, his jaw clenched more with every word she spoke. He knew something about warfare, indeed, including some digital. Even mech-suits could be hacked, after all, so they were taught to recognize the signs of logic bombs back in the day, the little nudges in their computer systems that shifted their power packs or motor sensitivities into the red just enough, or their HUD alerts and stimulant dispensers to subtly redirect their very behaviors. But this was a different time, or so people said. They were at peace now… weren’t they? And at that moment the headaches, overheats, memory bleeds and handling troubles came back to him, and his eyes tensed up. Whether Layla and him had something to do with this?

A whisper escaped him. “I can’t be sure, Ava.” And for some seconds, Kais could only breathe. Kais looked across the casino floor. It may have been a different time now in many ways. But trust was as fragile as it ever was. Were they compromised? Was Ava? “You better be on my side, Ava. Don’t make me regret saying this, or I swear...” He said, forced through gritted teeth, agitated. But he had to speak directly. No bullshit now. Whatever happened, at least the fog of war would be cleared, and the enemy could be dealt with. And he looked from the Casino floor to Ava’s eyes like a hawk… Yes, whoever that enemy turned out to be.

“We’ve had trouble with our neural upgrades. Massive migraines. Neural connections shifting. Seemingly… melding with the ship’s A.I., even connecting with the race networks at times. That stall with Amy? I think our developments might have had something to do with it. I still don’t understand how and what happened with her, if they have the same kind of bond and it triggered something through that, but… it did.”

Kais paused before fully answering her accusation. “But you…?” And he thought back on Layla’s panicked denial on Luna. Could it have been him, then? But even subconsciously, what would he have had to gain? It wasn't like she had gotten in his way. That, and... Another person dying in his arms? And that’s when he knew. “No.” His answer was decisive. “I wouldn't take down someone on my own side.” Then, a look away, and, under his breath, where none could hear. “Not again.”

Ava shook her head, in total disbelief.

“Fuck… fuck.” Ava, usually stoic, usually precise and pointed, sharp as a tack, almost had a break of a moment there and then. He came out and said it, and the weight of it and his mannerisms immediately told her this wasn’t a lie, exhaling hard, gaining her thoughts.

“You think this was Amy’s doing, then, as payback?” Kais offered, his mind now running overtime unraveling potential motives and attack vectors.

“Amy is competitive, I’ll give her that. But even that makes no sense. She’s not so insane she’d cause that in return to keep her place. I hope. Fuck. I knew something was up. Thank you for telling me, but shit….this is playing with fire. Don't do anything with it, because I’ll take your word..this stuff kills people…..and there is no going back now.” Ava was clutching at straws here, not seeing a complete picture, and not even wanting to accept this. But she had to find a way. And that bombshell, a return warhead, felt like it was punching her in the gut.

“What you told me stays between us. It goes nowhere… because the fallout from this will be biblical. For everyone.” She wasn’t sure if the Stuxnet-like file was even an accident. Maybe even FIAR, in a wild, insane way of stopping these kinds pilot bonds, had done this. Nobody had arrested anyone if that was true. This felt even more off the rails. "We'll need to figure out who is behind this first. And who we can trust..." Ava turned back to him. "I have a feeling you aren’t alone in this. Is it you, or Layla too?”

“It’s…” Kais didn’t answer Ava’s question on whether it was him or Layla, not immediately. But Ava would for the briefest of moments have recognized his otherwise stoic mask dropping, his eyes flickering across the floor to his teammate. An admittance. “I have concerns. For her. For Layla. She's been affected most by the developments. But..." And he gestured towards her. “She's not a killer.”

Ava sighed, nodding in return, looking down at the floor, and where Layla was, chatting away to Cassie, before turning back to Kais, the purple-haired Chilean not subtle, but well, at least dressed for a party.

“Which stacks. It’s no secret what her aspirations are…they are noble. For Layla this is her dream, I bet. She has a heavy crown on her head, then. But still, if what you say is true, she is innocent in this.” Ava simply retorted, nodding, in agreement with his worry, his deep-lined concern, before forming thoughts.

Sighing, Ava drank more of the champagne, almost uncertain of what to ask next. The questions were tough, but this was beginning to make sense. But still, why? Did Apex want a backdoor into Al-Saqr, or was Amy trying to mirror her own advances onto someone else to call them out first? When Pandora’s Box of neural intrusion had been opened up, had the AI done something else of its own volition, or was someone trying to poke holes? Was someone else behind the scenes of it all, pushing Amy’s advances onto Layla to see what happened when thrown into the wild, on anyone crazy enough to mess with removing their neural dampers? It all felt unknown. But Ava had some semblance of thread.

“I have suspicions that Amy is in the same boat as Layla given her behaviour was more erratic than usual. Which scares me a lot more. I mean, thinking about you in particular, they implanted your memories, your abilities, your talents to begin with. But nobody’s ever asked if you don’t implant memories, rather, you put an artificial mind into a biological cradle. Blended in what learns faster than we can, with an intuitive, human body. I know that if you wanted a perfect test specimen, genetically, cybernetically, then… it is here in you two. There’s something to be said for that.” Ava replied, looking across, checking Bea couldn’t see her either, definitely couldn’t hear. She did not want her involved in this whole mess.

“Whatever is in your past, whatever it is that brought you here, I know it’s going to make more sense as to what is going on. If there’s something more behind this…..or if it’s just Amy. It doesn’t matter, it needs to stop while we’re ahead. There’s some incredible good that can be done with all of this. But the wrong person gets a hold, and it won’t just be a contractor that uses it nefariously, it’ll be worse than hell on earth. Nukes are nothing compared to this.” Ava did not understate her words- AI research and development was highly constrained for a reason. She knew of the AIs running against other AIs, to kill them on the Dark Web, but even that was a long time ago as people respected the rules now, or at least, made sure the firewalls stayed high. And not breaking that barrier between the brain and AI was almost as obvious to many as not dumping mercury into your bloodstream - not a great idea unless you had some novel application. She sighed, exhaling, thinking.

“Apex pushes pilots, the mods they’re taking on are silly,” Ava elaborated, “but even this by their standards seems stupid. So maybe even Amy doesn’t know what happened. Someone is seeing what comes next. Something Amy hasn’t even realised. It’s out of character, even for her.” Ava added, staying close within the pillar’s shadows.

“The only other thing I can think of is Amy having come from Zygon. That is the only other firm that has anything immediate to benefit. They’d do something like this. But maybe I’m misjudging.”

“Zygon, huh?” Kais rumbled under his breath as he stared back onto the main floor, to Amy... and Han. Yes, he always had an uncanny feeling about her... Something about her, beyond her unreadable mannerisms, something he couldn't quite put his finger on yet, something alien yet eerily familiar. And that, more than anything, made all his alerts go up on red.

“Find what you need to. But watch your back... If this goes into the wrong hands, we are screwed.”

“We already are…” Kais answered with a sense of detached acceptance. It was true, he felt, at least when it came to him. He was born a beast of sacrifice, and it seemed even now that was to be his fate. “So be it,” he nodded. “That’s when I do my best work anyway.” His tone was flat, controlled, but empty in a way.

“Well, it’s a good time to be resourceful then. I’ll keep my wits about me, but I have a feeling whoever it is will not try anything stupid straight after that mess.” Ava replied, she couldn’t help cracking a smirk, almost wondering if she should have expected nothing less since the doors opened. “I’m trusting you,” Ava added. “I wouldn’t go to anyone else about it, because right now, I think something else is going on. And sooner we rule things out, the better. Find the right people to speak about it to. And hope we played our cards right.”

Kais didn’t answer. He hadn’t expected the battlefield to actually find him again to this degree. He felt his heartbeat, controlled it. His hands, not even a tremble, gripped the railing tight, his eyes, never wandered from the scene below.

It was as if Ava could see through to his thoughts, taking his hand, looking up his wrist, right up to where some of his scar tissue still ran through him, unpolished even after all this time.

“Shall we head back?” she asked, as she put them hand to hand, and looked around, noticing if nobody had seen them gone for too long.

And Kais nodded a curt “hmm.” He readied his mind for what came next, and the two rejoined the rest of the drivers before long. The die had been cast. The subplot thickened. And throughout it all, one thought seemed to taunt him: why, of all things, did the next breadcrumb have to be Zygon...?


Soundtrack: Tommy Ljungberg - Full Circle

DELTΔ HYPER
Episode Seven: Roll of the Dice



In DELTΔ HYPER (An F1 Drive to Survive inspired Anti-Gravity, Slice of Life, Cyberpunkish/Solarpunkish RP) → 1 mo ago Forum: Casual Roleplay


"Layla, I want to talk. I was worried and told management about your neural interference. Please don't tell Kais." Nadia blurted out in a single uninterrupted stream. She had practiced it in her head many times so she could finally do it without stumbling.

"You told them." Layla looked up from the charging station, her tone not so much shock, but more a simple processing of what she was hearing.

"I had to." Nadia replied, pleading for Layla's understanding. "With all the things that happened, I was afraid that if you kept pushing..."

"I had to." Layla shot back at her. "I should've won Luna." The whisper slipped out automatically. "I had the most prep, the most experience on lunar terrain, the best synchronizations with the ship I've had in years, the best team putting all their effort into me." She nudged Nadia, though with some hesitation to her motions. "And yet..." Layla's voice turned soft, riddled with guilt. "Not even in the top 3."

"I don't know if it's me or the tech, but..." She swallowed. "I was ready to risk it all, Nadia..." She looked around. "FIAR inspections didn't find anything. The crash at Luna, it wasn't us..." and Layla let out a slow breath. "But..."

"You're afraid that..."

"That I would have..."



"You know," Nadia's father started as he plucked out some weeds from his garden. It had been a while since she was there to watch her family go about their routine. "when I was little over your age. I met your mother patching up backup-generators in the rebuild effort." Nadia couldn't help but roll her eyes a little. Yes, she knew. "And now you're here working on anti-gravity. The world's going fast, isn't it?" "Careful, dear, you're sounding old," her mother looked up from her chores. "Well, it's a good enough time to say that I'd like to see her a little more often in my old age, then."

"It's been a busy couple of weeks," Nadia admitted. But then again, when wasn't it? "Upgrades, R&D, strategy, going over the Luna race."

Her father's smile dropped a little. Nadia knew they all watched the races. She also knew they didn't like them, and last race would've been a stark reminder of that.

"And what else is I'd like her to talk about more than just work sometimes too, you know," her father responded back again towards his wife, though the comment was obviously meant for her.

"Any cute guys at work?" her brother poked at her. And Nadia blushed. "Well, I have met someone nice at the party..." That's right, the party! "They gave me a full-time contract!" And for a while she was teased by her brother. Her mother simply smiled from the window.

But her father's response was not what she expected. "So," but perhaps, she could have guessed, "they've got you dug in now, huh?"

Nadia hesitated. "What do you mean? Is this still about...?"

"I don't like it, what you're messing with." The change in his voice was stark.

"We're doing our best, baba. And we reached a new milestone recently! The upgrade I talked about, it stabilized into the safety margins! No more fluctuations, no more after-midnight tests, my work within the team for that is why they gave me the job, actually!" "It's bad news, hayati, messing with people's souls. I told you. Especially with him. An apple grows from its core, and that man's core is danger. You know this." "This again? Baba, Kais is trying not to be." Nadia responded, and immediately knew she had run her mouth, and not in the good way. "It's complicated," she quickly added, but it was already too late.

"Trying, huh?"

Nadia hesitated and a tense silence fell. She couldn't deny she found Kais intimidating still. She had seen him hanging out after-hours at HQ's gym more often since returning from Luna, 'preparing'. She was afraid to ask for what. And then there was the sensory deprivation, the holographic reflex drills, the Nuba wrestling drills with modded pit-bots that struck her as too militaristic for comfort. He had even asked Layla off-handedly if she could find a way to get one of the AG-backpacks from her space agency associates like the ones they used at the Hamad Spaceport Training Facility, but for high-gravity pressure testing. And not even just for training. For fun, he said.

And yet, at the same time, the other image of Kais came to her mind, where they worked together to try and keep Layla safe when she was risking overheating during the overclocking trials, and Nadia felt torn in two. She forced a small smile. "I know what I'm doing, I..."

"Nadia, I've been there before," her father cut her off as he leant forward, and Nadia could hear the servos in his prosthetic leg whine. "Getting pulled into something bigger than you. You think you can handle it, but you can't. And with him...?" He sighed. "You’re smart, Nadia. Smarter than me. But don't get too caught up in that. Be careful who you trust."

Nadia nodded. She already knew. She quickly took her cup of mint tea, freshly plucked from their garden, took a sip, and changed the subject.



Omar's office room's glass walls turned opaque as Al-Saqr's team principal turned to Nadia. "You went to Paris Uni-2, you know your French, right?"

She blinked. "Yes, why?"

"Good. You're coming to Monaco. Always a better look if you don't have to rely on the auto-translators. Also..." He paused. "I need you to push Layla and Kais. Our chances are slim in Monaco, not with our current ship design. So we'll need to get out of Monaco what we can. We'll use it as an opportunity, to test just how far this AI-bond can go. Luna's got us on the back foot, got Layla hesitating, we'll need to push through that. And I know you're close, talk to them."

Nadia resisted the urge to cross her arms to guard herself. "But... weren't we already crossing a line with the safety mechanisms, not to mention the Portugal interference, would it be wise to take it even further?"

Omar countered with a voice that he kept almost patronizingly calm. "You know Layla and Kais are built more durable than most. It's why we got them on board to begin with. And it's paid off: they handle the risk. But Monaco's a tough beast, and we'll need anything, any leverage to keep us in the race. Testing out our new limits is our best shot. But I'll compromise: you said Layla was able to reach out into the network? What about simply... monitoring it?"

Nadia didn’t answer, but she knew the answer was written on her face.

"We value your honesty and your dedication, Nadia. But we didn't give you a promotion for nothing. You're a valued part of the crew now, and that means keeping the ship afloat and our people safe. I think you know just as well as anyone that Layla's AI-bond is our greatest advantage on that: wouldn't you want them to know if there were under-powered repulse systems on-track? Or... other suspicious activity?"

And Nadia nodded. Of course she did. The amount of data Layla and the AI could crunch now were staggering. Who knows what that might yield. If it helped them stay safe, then, maybe. Still, with Layla's guilt...

"But," Omar cut off her train of thought. "I recognize you are the expert on this matter more so than me, with your... previous experience with it all." He shot her a knowing glance. "So I will put you in the lead on this. I'm sure you'll find a way to start off on the right foot."

Nadia's mouth turned dry. "I'll see what I can do."



In DELTΔ HYPER (An F1 Drive to Survive inspired Anti-Gravity, Slice of Life, Cyberpunkish/Solarpunkish RP) → 2 mos ago Forum: Casual Roleplay

Mare Australe, Luna
Formula Anti-Gravity Lunar Grand Prix
Sunday 21-May-2094, 1700 LCT
Race Day

Soundtrack: Guillaume David - Lost Signal (IXION OST)

The countdown reached green, engines flared up all around, and the G-forces went from negligible to crushing in less than a second. Kais raced against the unrelenting pressure of the track as much as the others, and when Harrison and Jamie flashed past them, both of them, Kais couldn't help but curse. Small beadlets of sweat travelled across his face, every fibre in his his core contracted as he pushed his ship with his mind as if it were a whip, but it was all to no avail. During qualy, he was able to push so much, his handling so much more refined, carried by the muscle memory that came with their so many simulations. But now, in the chaos of other racers around him, he was reminded of just how alien the handling was. The lack of significant airflow around the ship made racing, despite the hum of the pulse drive and mag-array, and the mental beeping of the distance sensors, an experience that was almost


Eerily silent the Al-Saqr/Supercat event had become, despite the fall of Layla and Kais out of the top-3, despite Kofi's pushing into the top-10. A high-fidelity scale replica of the racetrack had been holo-projected on the sports stadium's field, and on it, in sync with the action, racing ships were projected speeding around. Well, most of them... The main screens of the stadium flickered across the various delta-hyper and pilot streams, two of which had now turned to an ominous blue 'Lost Signal' screen. Nadia's face went pale.


[ Red Flag --- !!! --- Red Flag --- !!! --- Red Flag --- !!! --- Red Flag --- !!! --- Red Flag --- !!! --- Red Flag --- !!! --- Red Flag ]

The beeping had turned to the full-on blare of a high-prio alert, the virtual safety ship turned an intense red, and Kais groaned when his ship suddenly dropped with a hefty magnetic pull, the track's AI and mag strip's safety systems tightly gripping his ship, almost dragging him back towards the pits by force.

"Kais, you reading me?" his race engineer's voice came over the comms laced by static. In the distance on his rear-view sensors, gray dust plumes settled down at a ghostly pace, speckled with reflections of light.

"Zeina, status! What's going on, why are we being recalled?"

"Massive crash, Kelly and Villarosa..." Her voice tinged with worry. "You might want to look away on this one."


Kais made his way to the Al-Saqr quarters after his own debriefing and check-up. The biometrics sensors recognized him as he approached and the door slid open. Then it closed and locked again, and their quarantine went in effect. Layla looked up from her hands, her eyes ringed by strain, and she stood up.

"Kais, hey. I promise you, whatever it was, that wasn’t me. That wasn’t even a thought in my head. I… please, please tell me you believe me. I beg you. Kais, I couldn’t. I wouldn’t want this.”

Layla's voice shuddered as she floated into him. Desperate. He steered her away resolutely, his gaze distant as he went to reach for his bag. "You didn't know last time either, Layla." he said, the only emotion to his voice being control. Scrolling through his own holo-tablet to view the reports, Layla's voice broke into a panic.

"This might be a home race....but I would never. Never. Is this what it comes to? This....thing? I have to ask myself that question? Sorry, Kais. I'm so sorry. We were meant to do better, then that.....I don't understand it. The strategy was to deploy at the end, not the start. So I suppose I'm to blame for that too. I cost you with that."

"Compose yourself!" Kais just about barked the order at her as the situation started to get the better of her before he realized: this must've been her first time. Then, with a bit more measure to his voice. "We'll deal with this."

"I... It's just... How do I even fix this? I don't know what to..." Her eyes wandered over the room, scrambling for anything, any straws to grasp, and then settled on her teammate who, for someone usually so hot under the collar, seemed so unusually coolheaded. And at a time like this, no less. "A--Aren't you worried?"

"If it really was an accident, we can brush it off as a systems glitch. Then it'd likely be disqualification at worst. If it had nothing to do with us, we're lucky. If it was someone else..." And Kais thought, we'll deal with that too, then. "We'll have to wait and see what the inspections say."

"I was talking about Ava and Nora!" Her voice cracked.

"Danger comes with the sport. Better to stay ahead of that." Yes, it was as clear-cut as that.

"How can you say that? At a time like this?"

"There's a time for everyone where your number comes up." Yes, no other way about it.

And Layla fell dumbstruck for a few seconds. "This is how you deal with this?" And she sat down as she whispered "This is insane..."

"It's the only way." Yes, it's just how it is.

"Kais, I need your help here."

"It's the only way, Layla..." But, somewhere in his mind, he knew it wasn't entirely true: it was just the only way he knew.

Then Kais sat down, and waited for the end of it all.


Medical Center, Some time post-quarantine

Kais stood at the room at the medical center, his eyes steeling themselves on the door. He had briefly traded words with some of the other pilots he had come across, and at the reception he had gotten a status update from the head nurse. He took a deep breath as if before a plunge, tapped the touch-pad in the door's center, and the door slid open.

"Ya khabar..." escaped Kais' lips as he entered the medical room, hit by the sight that laid out before him. He had hoped he would've been more used to it. He could just about hear her snark something back at him. Except Nora didn't. Not this time. It was strange seeing her drained of all her usual attitude, to see the punk replaced by hospital gown. Now she was just a bundle of bandages and blankets, catheters and scanner patches, skin and bones... or just over half of it. Delicate, in the purest sense, and he got why Layla had been so hesitant, scared, and in the end had asked for him to go alone.

The sight only took a moment for his jaw to clench, eyes to tighten. Old behavior patterns made him walk his way over to Nora's left, where Kais wrapped his fingers around her wrist, though perhaps with a softer touch than one would've anticipated. The pauses between the ba-dumps were shockingly longer than he expected. Yet, her skin felt temperate to the touch, her heartbeat came through clear and steady, and was in sync with her breathing, even despite the sedation. "Good..." signs, he nodded as he let her go. It was apparently to the bots' contentment, as they went back to their original positions - he hadn't even heard them come up to him over his own ba-dumps ringing in his ears, now finally settling down.

Then Kais put down the small container he had with him on her nightstand. He understood it was a customary thing in her part of the world to bring such a gift to the hospital bed.

"So, turns out they've got some hydroponic gardens for research here. Layla pulled us some strings, dragged me around the complex. Swiped you a little something."

In the improvised vase was a flowering plant that was, admittedly, mostly stalk, and a rather tall one in this lunar gravity at that, with a fan of green leaves at the bottom. But at its top there was a crown of white petals.

"It probably won't do too well in earth gravity, if it even gets through customs, but there you go: thale cress. I first thought it was a weed, to be honest, but I tried to pick the nicest one. It's damn hardy, so I think you'll like it. It was either that or potatoes."

Nora didn't answer.

"Get well soon, Nora. See you on the track."


A view on Earth, A little later

The earth outside the viewport was in waning gibbous.

Kais walked up to the bench where Layla had been seated since his visit to Nora. She paid no heed to the view outside. "FIAR just came out with a preliminary report." Her voice was shaky. She had been frantically scrolling through every bit of news that flashed up on her holo-tablet for the last few days now. "Shielding failure on the track." Her caramel skin looked so pale in its light, so tired. "Nothing to indicate the other ships had anything to do with it. Nothing about..." And her eyes ever so briefly flashed to Kais. You know...

Kais sat down next to Layla, and let out a sigh of relief. "One less thing to worry about."

"How is she?" Layla's voice was tight, and Kais knew that despite the news on the official channels, she wanted, most of all, to hear it from him.

"Induced coma. Damaged spine. Right-side unilaterally amputated. She's..." And he paused to think, how to...

"She'll get better, Layla."

And Layla's composure collapsed. Kais had seen her come close to literally breaking down from overheating close to a dozen times now, but never quite like this. Through all her digital filters and mechanical safeties, Layla trembled against his shoulder. Every last microgram of adrenaline she had bravely held back, now dumped into her system all at once. Her eyes blinked uncontrollably, though no tears would come to flow from her prosthetics. Her chest heaved in ragged sobs as her lungs, one of the only few biological systems she still had, frantically sought to cycle themselves with breath. And for the first time in a very long time, she held someone's hand, unafraid to hurt them. And for the first time in a very long time, Kais let her.

After a while, the release slowed down. "I get it, Layla." Kais said as he felt the relief and calm return to his teammate. "Why you do the things you do. Why you're pushing yourself so hard. It must've been harrowing going through what you went through. Then to see others go through it too. I get it. I myself have seen more than I would have, if it'd been up to me. But..." And Kais paused. Layla had put her body and mind on the line. Anything to push the limits. To win, reach new heights, or to risk it so others wouldn't have to? "But it wasn't all up to me. And neither was everything you went through up to you. And neither was this. The world's not safe, not really, not even with all our advancements. Even if we decided we'd want to, we can't control everything... no matter how hard we might try." And though Layla may not have agreed completely, she knew there was a story hidden behind every word.

"But I think you underestimate one thing, Layla." Kais continued. "People are strong. We can overcome." And he thought of Ava and Nora. Then he nodded at the viewport. "Look..." And Layla, finally, looked up and out onto the view on Earth. But Kais saw something else, something much closer, right there in the glass' reflection.

"We may be a bunch of idiots, fighting and bickering, going around in circles, scrambling for anything to keep us going, to find our way." Kais hesitated. He never was very good at this, but... "But we are still going, and that's not nothing." Kais nodded. And Layla nodded with him, the smallest hint of a smile coming over her face. "And you know what? We're going to keep going. And we're going to find our way, too." He took a breath. "Forget all the flashy tech, the big ideals... if there's anything you can be proud of, it'd be that, I think." The world outside simply kept on spinning. "That's what I believe, you know, what makes us..." He fell silent. And then, the smallest squeeze on his hand. "...human."


The way back to Earth proved to be more busy than a moment for introspection. The lunar lockdown had flown by faster than they thought, with all the flight prep and remote meetings with back-home they had to contend with: from Layla's parents, to Nadia, to the various teams checking in and reporting on their own progress, to many, many calls with team principal Omar, to Nadia again. And when they finally returned, Kais' adjustment to Earth's gravity did take some time. Layla had less trouble with it, having simply adjusted a few parameters on her system. Despite the truly awful crash, the world marched on, and soon enough, things returned to business as usual, more or less. And so...

Weeks later...

Aurora's question came as a surprise. The interview had gone smoothly enough up till now. But then they had to ask, and for quite a few seconds after the punch, all that the camera would've picked up was breathing. Breathing. Shifting to sit forward. Searching for the right words...

"What was your reaction to the crash?"

"Look... Everyone gets theirs at some point or another, Aurora. Shit happens. Throw of the die. Best to be ready for it when it happens. But they'll bounce back, Ava and Nora. They got that feel about them, you know? And I'm..." What was the right word? "...thankful to get to race with them again." The usual awkward pause. "That's all."

Soundtrack: DI-RECT - Soldier On

In Scum and Villainy [Firefly/Cowboy Bebop/Star Wars Inspired, Forged in the Dark] → 2 mos ago Forum: Tabletop Interest Checks
[edit: ignore, too little time, but have fun! ☺️]
In Age of Broken Shackles(Soft Sci NRP) → 2 mos ago Forum: Nation Roleplay


Asteroid Base Maza-Colnya
Sector Gama-Yellow
A few weeks ago

Outside of the shielded transpari-steel dome, asteroids floated with a deceptive serenity. It wasn't visible to the naked eye at this distance, but five fleets of heavily-armed battleships patrolled the far, far-off distance in a spherical shell around the base.

The Five sector bosses of the Golden Sun were seated around a round table. Not because they felt themselves equal, far from it, but rather because that way they could keep an eye on each other better. Slugg Pa writhed its body, shaped very much like what earned its species its name, and a psychic message was sent to outside their lavish room. Fast enough, dumbwaiter droids came in to take their orders. Duuk Dremal, the Vrunak warlord snapped his draconic cyber-claws and asked for four shots of their strongest firespiced liquors, impatiently clawing at the table with one of his fingers. Then he raised a performative skål towards each of his rivals, and downed them all one after the other, before leaning back into his chair, and continuing clawing obscenities into the table. Merav-Yla, the once-planetary princess mirrored the black-dressed spy-mistress known only as Shade opposite her, and waved the droids away - contrary to the Vrunak, they didn't have auto-poison filters in their guts. Au Rodan the hologram never took anything except for lag-time before his answers. And Pa, as usual, ordered a small fishbowl-like container with a creature that looked suspiciously like a Vrunak tadpole. Then he reached down with its psychic antennae, and promptly drained it of its mental faculty.

Duuk Dremal looked upon the spectacle with disgust, then kicked off the meeting with a frustration in his gravelly voice that even the Vrunak-to-Galactic Human Basic translator managed to pick up. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get to it, then."

"Calmth," Pa vibed, and the Five felt a sensation like a pressure blanket coming down on their impatience, "the tides are favorable," and thus passed the turn to speak on to Rodan, who proceeded to give a brief update on their joint mining and mercantile cartel in infuriating detail. Several minutes and holo-graphs later, and the conclusion was simple: "This interbellum is very profitable, indeed. Many are looking to rebuild or cleanup. And our networks are of great service."

With that, Pa turned to the spy-mistress in her elegant all-black dress. "So then what news do you bring, Shade? Why did you call our meeting early, and with such urgency?"

The lady in black closed her eyes, and turned nonreactive for a few seconds. One would almost think she hadn't heard the question. But her fellow sector bosses knew better. She heard everything. Lines of encrypted text scrolled across her sternly closed eyelids, information locked away deep inside her brain's cybernetics that she queried only when absolutely necessary - everything to keep her secrets. Her lips fluttered ever so slightly as she subvocalized its decryption in real time. Then she opened her eyes, leaned forward, tented her fingers, and spoke without ever letting her eyes meet any of their gazes.

"Sector Alpa-Red surrounding Tar Yrra is in motion." Shade said plainly. "The probes sent into its rimward region have been rendered inoperative by destructive force. From the few transmissions we got back from them, all we know is that the Cyber-people are awake, and are amassing a great force there. A force not suited for peacetime."

"So the Supremites are gearing up for war..." Duuk Dremal said. "How much intel and influence do we have along their rimward systems?"

"Little," Shade continued, "the systems there are notoriously self-reliant due to a richness in resources. Save for the occasional trade, we have little leverage there."

"We might have soon more substantial, then," Pa said as his fringe shuddered in revelry at the thought of war coming to their systems. War was good for business, after all.

And Duuk Dremal nodded in agreement. Then he turned to face the lady next to him that was dressed in opulence, who chimed every time she moved from her precious metal jewellery, but who had not yet spoken a single word. "Speaking of leverage, what of your... internal troubles, Yla?" Duuk asked, with a mischievous glint in his optical array. Once-Princess Merav-Yla had worked her way up to a syndicate sector boss in record time compared to the others, just a single decade. And with her people's belief and loyalty behind her, no less. But now there were rumours of a rebellion within her ranks. With the wish to return to their older way of life, the one from before their planet found itself in the path of a stray relativistic killshot during the last Reclamation War. And rebellions were a nuisance.

"My people are well taken care of," Merav-Yla responded with a regal grace that may have fooled the others, but not Duuk. He smiled at her being very deliberate in not using the word 'placated'. "Of course. But, if I may offer some advice, from the longest sitting member of this Family to its youngest: gather up these miscontents of yours, and send them to patrol this Supremite warpath," Duuk sat up. "Tell them it is a... expeditionary diplomatic mission. To scout out a new opportunity for settling, or a people to join." Duuk's voice softened, as if talking to himself. "And then, when disaster strikes again, then they will come to understand why we live as we do." The world was ruthless out here. The history of his own people-in-exile flashed into his mind, driven off by the Augustans, and Duuk ground his jaw in barely-contained anger and hate. Yes, there was only one way to climb to the top here. "I will send along some of my mercenaries as an escort." Not his best, of course. But still, he decided, it might be better to keep the princess on his side for now.

And so, the Five continued for a while. As was customary, more small talk and barbs were traded, and they tried to gather some more information on each others' business, get on each others' good side, or bad side, or at least feigned as much. But the real business of importance had been concluded, in lines that were as throwaway as the lives they would be sending off in some weeks time. One more round of drinks followed, then each went back to their protection fleet, and hundreds of bluish-white lightstreaks briefly illuminated the asteroid base as their FTL drives shot them back to their home sectors.


Repurposed Guardship New Hope
Sector Deltha-Yellow
Some weeks later...

Some weeks later, in a different fleet, a different system, and in a very different credit-range, Rasan Do Csina stood in the employment line of the Pauper Ship laughably named New Hope. It had been one of the older vessels of their fleet, one of the Old Guard-ships, from before their motherplanet's destruction. And to be fair, for a while it did serve valiantly as one of their people's hopeful crown jewels. But now it seemed not a single week went by without there being something major that had to be duct taped together, again. Rasan was sure the ship had a future. Just not for him.

So, into the employment line he went. The smell of neurospice was strong here. Around him, holo-ads blared the perks of their respective vacancies, but he had no interest in most of them. No, there was only one that caught his eye: "Join the Expedition: Explore New Worlds! Learn Valuable Skills! Be a Part of Something Greater! Join the Expedition..."

"Rasan Do Csina, call me Rasan," he told the recruiter when he reached the end of the line and scanning drones whirred around him to take some medical scans. The recruiter said nothing as he looked upon the scans, but didn't send him away as quickly as he did with others, so that was a good sign. "Spelling of Csina?" "Doesn't matter." And it was true: the family wouldn't care what he did with their name, just that he'd send them back some credits. "Skills?" "Farmer. Or we used to be, back home." "Any fighting?" "A bar brawl here and there. Why, expecting trouble?" "In this day and age? It'd be foolish not to. And our Princess only wants the best for her people, and that includes safety. Bar brawls you say? I'll put you down as 'trainable.'" "When will I hear back from you?" "Why? Want to get going so quickly?" And Rasan smiled with more than a hint of sourness as he looked around him. "In this day and age? It'd be foolish not to..." The recruiter paused for a second, tapped some buttons, then faced Rasan and nodded. "Approved. Proceed to transport ID:34-75Δ with destination expedition ship Pendant-12. Good luck, Rasan."



In Blackguards! → 2 mos ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay
Hey Red, hope all is well. If you need anything from us, do let us know.
In Age of Broken Shackles(Soft Sci NRP) → 2 mos ago Forum: Nation Roleplay

In DELTΔ HYPER (An F1 Drive to Survive inspired Anti-Gravity, Slice of Life, Cyberpunkish/Solarpunkish RP) → 2 mos ago Forum: Casual Roleplay



The Sofa on the Moon

"Indeed, we're a long way from home! And what would you say about your overall mood at Luna? Lot of rumours abound that there's some extremely exciting developments in Pilot Modifications that Al-Saqr has undertaken over the last five months- how has that felt for you and Layla?"

"Hmm," Kais nodded, "we have had some sync issues with the ship. Last few races were a big headache because of it, yes. But the team have fixed the issue, and the sims and practice runs felt... seamless, so," and he shrugged, "even here," and he looked around, and took a breath, as if to emphasize how utterly insignificantly thin the atmosphere was, separated only by the thin transparent alu-ceramic pane that was his helmet visor, "we'll show the world how far we can go."

The ensuing qualification went well, and Layla and Kais saw their efforts in practice pay off. The speed was somewhat slower and more careful than on Earth, especially during the more dangerous jumping sections, but Layla and Kais looked like they could push their crafts a bit more than most, and eventually came in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

"Kais, an excellent 3rd place, and it seems like both you and Layla are really thriving here in Luna. Do you think you can close the gap to Silver Apex and Southern Cross here, and still show the team has the ability to challenge for the Constructors?"

"We have been practicing a lot for this race, and the improved sync controller seems to have paid off. It helps that Layla and I are... made, for hazardous environments, more or less. Things are in our favor." Kais nodded, "We'll catch up to them."


Garage L-Ball Court, Mare Australe Complex, Luna

"You ready to lose to me again, Zenix?" Layla taunted as she floated down the garage, having scored another point for her and her small team of what few engineers she had been allowed to take to Luna. Kais hadn't really thought too much about it, but with more-or-less permanent residences on the moon, of course other sports besides racing would have eventually found their way here. So too had basketball. It had been one of the first sports that had been adapted, to the point that it was generally referred to as lunar or low-G basketball, colloquially 'L-ball', or so Layla had convinced him. The garage, once used for one of the larger mining rovers, had high enough ceilings for it to make sense trying out a bout. And it was slow. The low gravity made the pace deliberate, but it did allow for interesting and elaborate team-based maneuvers almost reminiscent of dance performances.

"Just don't feel like showing off in some kid's game when we should be prepping for the race coming up." Kais said, stepping off of the holographic field lines they had set up. Why did he let her talk him into these things?

"Uh-huh. Just give it another try, I'm sure you'll like it, just have to get the hang of it -it's very tactical. Or are you scared you're going to mess up the airflow systems again?" Layla replied, referring back to one of Kais' sponsorship vids they shot back in the spaceplane ride (for some reason, all of their sponsors wanted something from them during this race in particular). And that - his first attempt at trying the newest Nomad Nutrition product in microgravity - hadn't gone over too smoothly. Their claims of 'anytime, anywhere' could've used some more low-g-suitable product development, or so Kais coped. Still, their endorsement vid was dropped on the extranet faster than Kais could veto it, and the likes-counter now showed that he and Layla had been seen frantically chasing mocha-flavored droplets of long-shelflife high-caloric nutri-paste by thousands of people too many already.

And so, with that comment, the challenge was definitely on. Kais bobbed and weaved with precision, passing the engineers with ease, so far so good. Then he attempted to dunk the holographic ball through the hoop. A big leap and...! "Oop, too hard!" Layla called after him as he overshot, trying to right himself in mid-air. But without the training auto-adjusters they had back at Hamad, his attempts turned out to be less-than-ideally useful. His instincts had kicked in a bit too hard, and the low lunar gravity had turned his absolute power jump into an inevitable, and rather ungraceful, collision-course with the opposite... well, ceiling.

A small-scale rescue operation ensued, and having finally descended back down, Kais had fast donned his mighty scowl again, and threw the holo-ball at Layla's face where it blipped out of existence.

"Listen. What happens on Luna stays there, you copy?"


Kais Zenix @ASZenix:
[Holo-picture in embarrassing detail of Kais stuck in the rafters wearing the latest Jackals&Co. sports-shirt]
"I've decided lunar basketball isn't for me. Like and share to have a shot at winning this shirt."
#Jackals&Co #Like&Share #L-Ball #AlSaqrRacing #DeltaHyper #FormulaAG
👍🏽😆 RadNad and 8,239 others

In Age of Broken Shackles(Soft Sci NRP) → 2 mos ago Forum: Nation Roleplay
A draft of my civ idea, for your consideration.

© 2007-2025
BBCode Cheatsheet