Scene #2240: Six Captains and a Septette

Owner	Pose
Starbound Flotilla	The Flotilla is not too impressive, visually. It's a bit motley, with a menagerie of ships from multiple species, well-maintained and clearly efficient but often clearly salvaged. The Core Fleet, which is to say, the Starbound Flotilla itself is the center of the whole thing, a formation of six ships that seem to be the largest. Where the others range in size from something like a large bus to the size of a commercial aircraft, the main six craft are more like small to midrange yachts, clearly with mutliple modules. Each has a distinct style. The sleek, fishlike design of the blue Hyltol ship, the ultramodern smooth appearance of the white Apex ship, the blocky, modern appearance of the metallic Human ship, the gray stone castle-esque appearance of the medieval Glitch ship, the yellowed carved mesoamerican temple-like appearance of the Avian ship, and then the Floran ship, which appears to be no less than four other ships bolted together in an arrangement of maximum efficiency. These are, of course, visible from the blue Hylotl ship's broad windows, which is where the beacon and teleport pad has been established. Its interior is lit by eastern-style paper lamps and the walls are decorated with varying bits of similarly vaguely eastern art and wall trinkets, and furnished with classy wooden furniture and paper-like wall-panelling between the wide glass windows. Seft and Moonfin are here. Seft being what appears to be a feminine-designed robot. Mouthless, with an eye-visor displaying two blue dots for her eyes and a molded piece of artificial hair that gives her long princess-styled hair, her appearance is distinctly inhuman but humanoid, in a way that's very different from Septette. As the Glitch member of the Flotilla, she has the most medieval sorts of inclinations, and as such her outfit is a rather matching her hair, a soft blue-ish middleground somewhere between 'princess' and 'casual', a noblewoman's sort of dress. Moonfin is even more obviously inhuman. Clearly amphibian in some way, his eastern sorts of aesthetic extends to himself. His casual wear is all in white, a simple sleeveless shirt, wide cloth belt, and combat-training pants that are accentuated with simply-crafted armbands to give a trainee-swordsman look. Most notable is that his face bears three eyes instead of two, and his light-blue scaly fish skin is broken up by white at the neck, and darker blue fins at his head, taking the place of hair. They've set up a small table here, with some expensive-looking wood chairs around it in varying dimensions. One of them's gotta fit whatever Septette is, right? Moonfin's also already brewing tea, despite Seft informing him that Septette is, in fact, a robot. This is just off to the side of the teleporting reception pad.
Septette Arcubielle	A quiet humming noise originates from the teleporter pad, and slowly rises in volume and pitch before giving way to a loud crackle as the air on the pad is displaced. In its place, Septette fizzles into existence, wreathed for a moment in a bright actinic glow. Clutching her ragged purple cloak tightly around her shoulders, the mechanical girl steps off of the pad hesitantly, but with a disproportionately loud footfall. Despite not physiologically needing to, Septette blinks a couple of times as she quietly scans her surroundings, then swiftly turns her attention to her gracious hosts. Despite the clearly and starkly mechanical nature of the rest of her body, Septette's face is remarkably expressive, and it lights up with a warm smile as she nods to the other robot in the room. "Seft, I presume? Pleased to meet you. You, scaly one, I don't believe I know." There's a distinct wariness in her disposition towards Moonfin, though it's far from hostility. "The view here is wonderful... Yggdrasil is beautiful, but we can scarcely see the stars for its branches. I've never seen so many at once."
Starbound Flotilla	"I am Moonfin of the Hylotl, and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintence, miss. The view is indeed quite lovely; I ensured my ship was designed for the greatest aesthetic pleasure possible, regardless of what our hull engineer claims is best. Speaking of him, I expect he'll be here soon." The fishman says, giving a pleasant sort of greeting-bow. "Please, take a seat if you wish. I've made tea, though I am hopeful, rather than certain, that you might be inclined to partake." He says, already retrieving it and several servings regardless of any particular answer.
Starbound Flotilla	Seft beeps a friendly greeting. "Polite. Welcome aboard the Connoisseur, Moonfin's vessel. He insisted on acting the host." She makes a warbling, awkward noise. "Sheepish. He tends to want to put on a bit of a show." Then she says, "Polite. I believe the Zwei unit will be joining us as well, as they were the one who recommended your candidacy. We should begin with an explanation of the Flotilla and its purpose, as well as roles you might help fill."
Zwei	The teleporter whines a second time as something, or rather someone, much bigger and much heavier comes through. The sound of end-cabon plated feet hitting the floor of the ship is loud and resounding, but not as dramatic as it could be given Asche's towering thirteen foot size. Good thing these ships are pretty room, all said and done. "Greeting, Septette, Moonfin, Seft. I am here for the simple reason of overseeing this transition. After all, it was by my recommendation, and so I would be remiss to not observe personally. I am currently engaging Weiss is other obligations, but I forsee no true need for complex diplomacy here. We are all of us, close in many ways." He abstains from using a chair for obvious reasons, instead lowering to one knee by the table to not loom quite so high over everyone else.
Septette Arcubielle	Arcubielle curtsies towards Moonfin in response to his bow, then lowers herself into a nearby chair delicately- careful not to put to much of her weight on it- before holding out a teacup, perfectly steady, for the gentlemanly Hylotl to fill. "I'm no expert on hull integrity, but the aesthetic choices are superb. I do enjoy a cup of tea; three sugars, if you would." Despite her compliments and polite tone, the Yggdroid keeps one eye on Moonfin- quite literally; her left eye doesn't leave him even as she glances at the teleporter pad. "Ahh, Zwei! Glad you could join us. A shame that Weiss couldn't be present, but you're right- discussions between friends rarely require a delicate touch." Then, looking back to Seft: "Please, do. You have my undivided-" at this, her left eye finally leaves Moonfin and focuses on the Glitch- "attention."
Starbound Flotilla	Seft gives a pleasant nod to Asche, making a polite sort of greeting-beep. "Cheerful. Welcome aboard, Zwei." It says, addressing both/them. "A pleasure to have you. You are correct, I do not think there will be any complex negotiation necessary." The blue eye-lights on Seft's visor waver oddly at the display of inhuman observation between Moonfin and Asche from Septette, but she doesn't comment on it. That'd be rude! Also: Hypocritical.
Starbound Flotilla	Moonfin smiles warmly, clearly appreciating the flattery and the assent to tea. "Certainly." Preparing the tea precisely to her specifications -- Hylotl tea is always incredibly well-made and generally superior, which is why he's not wasted it and is instead using entirely more mundane stuff -- Moonfin leaves it in front of her chair with a stylish, flourished sort of motion and immediately takes his own seat. There are four more un-occupied seats that have tea in front of them, clearly implying more people will be here soon. For now, be begins explaining. "The Starbound Flotilla was founded a short time ago, with just the Core Fleet. However, the greater community of the Flotilla as a whole has grown around the Core Fleet." He makes a pleasant gesture. "We serve as an exchange point. As a mobile mining platform, refinery, manufactory, research facility, and mercenary base, we simply do our best to find mutually beneficial exchange with whoever we can on an interstellar travel basis. A cohesive force for solving problems of all kinds and building the foundation of power to do the same, within the Flotilla and without."
Zwei	It doesn't even need to be asked if Asche wants tea. His body isn't designed to blend in with any kind of anthropomorphic species at all. It's purely for combat utility, and so there is no mouth, and only as much of a face as a suit of powered armour would deliberately choose to present. "There will be plenty of opportunities in future, especially if you choose to accept a partnership with the Flotilla." he states plainly, allowing Moonfin to have the floor for the moment, as is his forte. He casts an obvious glance to the empty seats, having not expected the others to be likely to be present. Moonfin and Seft seem like the ideal matchup to meet Septette.
Starbound Flotilla	And George is now suddenly here. A middle-aged fellow with a scraggly beard and too much hair, wearing a gray jumpsuit with blue stripes at the arms, and a small scrap of red cloth tied around the left arm marked with a white R. He zips in, teleporting with a gentle beam of red light, swaggering over while Moonfin's in the middle of all this. There's another teleportation going on too. "Fishface here dresses it up a lot, though. Sometimes we do bad stuff, sometimes we do good stuff. Associate members like you are basically free to stick to whatever side of things you want, though, so, you hear about us stealing stuff, you don't gotta help out." He also gives a much more casual greeting to Septette. With the cloak on, he can't see the other stuff, but he doesn't seem to mind the inhumanity where he sees it. "Heya newbie, name's George. You got kinda the whole frankenstein-elf look, huh? I dig it. Good to meetcha."
Septette Arcubielle	The little robot girl reclines in her chair and sips the tea gingerly, grasping the handle between two sharp-looking fingers with little difficulty. Septette's eyes dim as she looks down at the table, though the way her ear-fins twitch and reposition themselves intermittently hints that her interest is just as acute as before. She seems content to stay silent and soak up all this new information for now, but snaps to attention the instant she hears the teleporter pad activate: most people would scarcely be able to see her head turn, only noticing that she's looking ahead one moment and glancing over her shoulder the next. Behind that calm and polite demeanor, Septette still has the reflexes of a traumatized animal. Still, it only takes her a fraction of a second for her to realize that George is one of the guests they were expecting, and she slips back into that genial demeanor almost before he can start talking. "I can't harm noncombatants," she says softly, giving the impression that it's a conscious resolution rather than a hard-coded restriction, "but other than that, I'll help however I can." At the 'Frankenstein' comment, she merely seems confused, but decides not to press it. "Pleased to meet you as well, Mr. George."
Starbound Flotilla	"Big Metal friend isss right!" Biteblade, the Floran member of the Flotilla, didn't teleport onto here, so where did they come from?! It is a mystery, really, they've come from somewhere else on the ship entirely. Their long green leaf-hair rustles, but their mouth hisses with each word as they bound on in. "We find jobsss, do work, everywhere! Don't fight where don't have to fight, isss how thingsss are. But, fight, if have to! Mossstly, do ssscience, sssalvage, indussstrial work, mercenary fightsss." The words are in a savage dialect, but the Floran does seem to understand the Flotilla's way of working intimately. "Floran name isss Biteblade, good to meet. Have many friendsss like you in Flotilla! Cyborg, robot, all kindsss."
Starbound Flotilla	Albert, on the other hand, does come in on the teleporter. The apelike humanoid, bearing brownish fur over slightly blue-tinted flesh tones, is wearing his proper military uniform. It's a harsh crimson, with an asymmetrical front-panel closure and a wide belt. "There is rarely a tactical advantage to harming noncombatants as a small squad like our own." He says, grunting at the end in a distasteful way. "I am the combat leader of the squad when deployed. Captain Albert Petrov, ma'am." He gives Septette a salute as he goes to sit. "You will not be ordered to act against that restriction."
Starbound Flotilla	Moonfin retakes the floor. "I've the impression that you have considerable combat ability. You can take any particular roles you are qualified to offer, but we often deploy with a certain sort of need. We are many things, men and women of varied expertise, but a jack of all trades may find himself the master of none. Your assistance in our more dangerous salvage, mercenary, and similar jobs may find you well-rewarded."
Zwei	Asche inclines his massive head in the vague approximation of a gesture of assent. "It is as I presented to your discretion. Some members of the Flotilla engage in less reputable pursuits, but within what can be firmly established as a gray area, rather than senseless violence or the cruel mathematics of poorly executed military strategy. Furthermore, you are under no obligation to pursue anything you find objectionable. You will receive what you put in. As long as you share information and potential tasks of worth, you will be rewarded with the same. If you can be trusted as backup when needed, you will have your own. There is much work for someone built for combat, even though the Flotilla's purpose is not primarily that of a soldier's."
Septette Arcubielle	Septette perks up again when Biteblade and Albert enter, and nods to them respectfully in turn before hearing what they have to say. She smiles slightly, looking a tad relieved at Albert's reassurance, but doesn't bother introducing herself- after all, they clearly know of her already. "I cannot offer nearly as much in the way of destructive power as Asche," she says to Moonfin in between sips of tea, "as none of my weapons were intended to be used against heavily-armored targets. However, I excel at drawing attention away from my allies and at, quite simply, not dying. This chassis was designed to withstand protracted combat without repair or resupply. You can feel comfortable sending me into situations where there is a high risk of physical harm." "As for other skills- while not familiar with many of the diverse technologies in the Multiverse, I can repair and construct a wide range of devices, and have some skill with elemental magic as well."
Starbound Flotilla	Pavo, the last member of the Flotilla, arrives as well. "Aye, ye'll find ye a fair share then! We got a lot of machines ye can put ye skill to." The bird-woman is a full on human-sized avian hominid, covered in red feathers, wearing something rather casual -- just a black sleeveless sort of thing with a nice shirt, her talons left uncovered by any shoes -- that shows the splotch of white under her chin, running down her neck. She seems to also be some kind of pirate, apparently? "And plenty of fire for drawin'! We do our engineerin', our industrial work, sure, but the important part's findin' lubbers in need of some of our generous greed reduction services." Then she squawks out a laugh and thumps down casually into a seat, swigging tea like it was rum and saying, "I'm captain Pavo! Welcome aboard, matey! Unless ye fool enough to back out now, ye can look forward to all the loot ye ever need for ye troubles." Looks like the whole gang's here now.
Septette Arcubielle	Septette eyes the pirate-bird with keen interest, and nods as she lays her hands palm-downwards on the table. The cloak falls off of one of her shoulders, showing a flesh-tone ribcage-like structure of curved metal plates sprouting from a jagged black 'spine'. Nestled inside the ribcage and visible through a couple of the slats is a red sphere that gives off a dull, steady glow. "I was already willing to take the offer when Seft first presented it to me," she answers, "and now that I know more, I've only become more eager to do so. I'd like to formally accept, and become an associate member of the Flotilla." She doesn't look entirely sure whom to make eye contact with at the moment, and she looks in turn to each of the captains sitting at the table before glancing at Asche and smiling. "Pavo, you needn't worry about my becoming greedy with the loot. I seek the allies and resources to help keep my world safe, now that we've been thrust into the Multiverse. Personal wealth is not my primary motivation."
Starbound Flotilla	George chuckles, nudging the Flotilla's own robot girl obnoxiously. "Hear that, Seft? She's magical. A robot that uses magic, huh? Wonder what we could do with a robot who can cast magical spells-- /wow okay fine I'll shut up/." Seft hasn't looked away from Septette, but she is currently pouring her own tea into George's lap. Looks like he's intentionally hitting a nerve. And also that these people might be a bit crazy. Seft, for her own part, makes a pleasant-sounding beep as her eyes now display a stylized '^_^' sort of expression. "Cheerful. Wonderful, we can always use another set of hands around here that has some good maintenance ability. I imagine Pavo will be entirely pleased to take your share of 'loot' as an exchange for assisting in keeping your world safe." Her eyes flicker briefly and its expression grows more serious. "Grim. We understand the severity of danger to worlds. If you assist us, we will assist you when the time comes. It is the nature of our Flotilla. You may depend on us for requisite resources and mercenary work to assist your world against threats it faces."
Septette Arcubielle	Septette clamps a hand over her own mouth and scrunches her eyes shut, shaking a little as a muffled synthetic giggle escapes her. "This seems like a healthy group dynamic," she remarks after calming down a bit. "Anyone whom you can pour hot tea onto is clearly a good friend. I look forward to getting to know you all better!" Finally finishing with her tea, the cloaked robot sets her cup down and nods at Seft. "So far, we've been lucky enough to avoid attracting attention from anyone with hostile intent. That will not last forever. ... Please, do contact me or set up a teleport beacon if you feel that you could use my help. When it rains in Etria, it pours, but most of the time I am bored out of my cranial case."
Starbound Flotilla	Biteblade says, "Flotilla isss team, sssometime issn't really friendsss. Mossst, though!" The little plant-person smiles wide, baring all those rows of sharp carnivore fangs. "You get ready for day when sssomething happen. Sssomething alwaysss happen, every place. Smart! Preparation, vigilance! You help Floran, then, Floran someday come ssstab all the badguysss. Isss a deal! Good deal for new metal friend." Moonfin retakes the floor. "Good. I believe our Core Fleet seems to be in agreement. We'll send you contact data and provide network links. It's been a pleasure, miss, and I hope to find mutually beneficial exchange very soon." The fishman does another quick bow-like nod, and offers the use of his own teleporter to get back to wherever Septette needs to go.