Scene #7958: THEY HAVE A BASE ON IT / WE NEED A BASE ON IT TOO!

Owner	Pose
Staren	WONDER A prospective expedition begins with any new members having a chance to come by the tower for cake. Coming in from the rain and finding one's way to the tea room, Ren has put up pink streamers and balloons and a CONGRATULATIONS!! IT'S A GIRL banner, but no one is present to explain. There is a great big strawberry cake with strawberry icing, though. Then it's a short journey to the Vast Marshes warpgate. THE VAST MARSHES An endless poison swamp. It's terrible. Staren is in a 25 foot tall robot that looks kind of stocky and is equipped with water propulsion to drive it through the swamp to the next gate. HUFFMAN ISLAND The gate empties into shallowish water just offshore -- deep enough that any marine vehicle that can go through the swamp can come through without issue, but not so far as to be inaccessible to a swimmer. So the first sight is... a beach! All is quiet for several seconds, and then there's the sound of cannons in the distance, as someone is fighting, somewhere.
Rita Ma	Rita emerges from the Warpgate to the swamp with a smile on her face (no cake was taken, for Reasons). She's wearing her typical open cropped jacket, buttoned blouse, and pleated skirt ensemble: neat and wholesome, but not fancy. But surely that's no good for diving, right? After greeting her with a wave, Rita hops up onto the shoulder (or nearest equivalent) of Staren's mech with somewhat alarming agility to hitch a ride through the awful marsh. The first few moments pass in relative quiet. Only after a bit does she speak up. "We've worked together a lot, Ms. Staren. But I'm not sure I'm any closer to knowing you. Even though you know me in some ways I wish you didn't." Another short pause. "Mmmm. Maybe I'm just not used to 'professional relationships'. Can you tell me more about yourself, besides that introduction? ... No, maybe that's the wrong question to ask." Once they're through and into the shallows of Huffman Island, Rita dismounts onto the sand (even though it's still a good distance away), then turns back around to regard the robot thoughtfully. "Instead... what's a good way to get to know you, Ms. Staren?" The cannonfire in the distance makes her flinch, but only a little. She uneasily shrugs it off a moment later. "Oh. And did you have any idea where we'd be looking? Exploring is probably all I'll be good at, but... is just anywhere fine?"
Midway	The beach is not unoccupied when the survey team arrives. Slumped in the water, smoldering and sparking, is a grievously damaged humanoid robot, its legs ending in points rather than feet. It rests on its side, half-submerged, its exposed wing mangled and the underslung jet engine smoldering. The chest compartment is open, its pilot gone. The person who is here is far too large to have piloted it. The Princess of Progress, in all her ghastly glory. Ghostly pale skin, impossibly long shock of wavy white hair, faintly glowing crimson eyes, and horns. It's all there on a figure that exceeds three meters in height, currently hunched over the machine. She drives her hand through one of the armor plates, then tears out a fistful of sparking components, examining them with a bemused expression. These part are discarded, scattering into the water lapping around her feet. She turns slightly in acknowledgement of those emerging from the warpgate, just enough to stare with one crimson eye for a moment before she returns to gutting the machine in front of her. By the chunks of metal and armor scattered in the sand, she's been here since it crashed.
Staren	Knowing her? Staren considers this. "What does it mean to 'know me'? I guess everyone kind of forms different pictures... sometimes, I hear how people see me and it sounds so wrong. Where do I start? ...I want to help people. I hate lying, and I'm bad it anyway. I like solving problems. I chose a career that involves a lot of fighting... but having to fight all the time is actually tiring. It's usually not fun... I didn't really WANT to, but I often felt morally obligated to. And I wanted to be good, you know? ...Is that helpful?" The Princess of Progress is here. Staren looks at her a moment, but with no immediate attack forthcoming, her own mech climbs onto the beach shelf. "A way to get to know me? Hmm, I'm not sure what would--" "Is that ANOTHER MECH?! Ohmigosh!" Sitting next to Staren in the copilot's seat is Knight of Storms, a teenage girl. (After mentioning that she didn't have clothes for a water mission, Ren poofed her into a plain but servicable one-piece with the word GIRL printed across the chest and then started giggling incessantly.) She's now standing up from her seat excitedly to try and peer through the cockpit glass at Midway and her find. Leaning over the controls and pressing her cheek up against the glass to see. "That's, um..." Staren's not sure where to begin. "That's Midway, the Princess of Progress. The focus of conflict on this zone has attracted her." She looks to Rita. "Have you met?" Staren is absolutely keeping one hand on the gun controls and keeping Midway in at least her peripheral vision. Just in case.
Rita Ma	"It is helpful, Ms. Staren! Thank you," Rita says with a characteristically sunny smile. "I think I know what you mean. I don't really enjoy fighting either, but..." Rita notices, but does not recognize, the Princess of Progress. It's possible that she'd initially assumed the towering, pale figure was just another elite answering Staren's call. Maybe she's repairing that machine? It's the sound of sparking electronics being torn free, a moment after that initial assumption, that brings it into doubt. Rita looks back over her shoulder, eyes widening slightly. Her body tenses. Even not knowing that this person is Midway, their ominous bearing is hard to ignore. She is scared, of course. It's obvious. But something drives her to approach anyway, keeping as bravely calm a demeanor as she can. Her hands are clasped behind her back. In a more formal tone than her usual: "Um, excuse me? Are you here to help Ms. Staren, too? It's nice to meet you." A polite little head-bow follows. "I'm Rita Ma." She's trying her best to be plucky and earnest, but there's something tensely forlorn about it. Even before Staren's introduction, she's aware of the possibility that this could go very poorly, but resigned to doing her best anyway. "Oh. Ms. Midway... It sounds familiar. I think I heard her talking on the radio, once or twice." Her eyes open just a tiny fraction wider.
Midway	If Midway's identity was ever in question before, it is cemented when she speaks. The voice is distinctive, as is the haunting resonance behind her even monotone. She does not turn to address the girls who question her. Rather, she continues her work, planting a hand on the mecha's torso and wrenching with the other until the machine's exposed arm tears free. Her posture straightens, examining the cutting claws that form the fighting machine's hand. "I am here for my own reasons," The hand is turned over and she sinks her fingers into the armored plates of the wrist as if they were made of butter, tearing it open to examine the internals, "The actions of surface-dwellers rarely concern me." She pauses, though, turning enough to regard Rita by staring down through her bangs. With her jawline completely concealed by a brace of glistening black thorns, it is only the slight narrowing of those crimson eyes that give any hint at all to her mood. "She has the right of it. I am Midway. Admiral of the Abyssal Black Fleet. The Princess of Progress. Ultimately; I am War." When more cannonfire is exchanged in the distance, the Princess raises her hand, gesturing towards the thunderous reports, "And what an offering you have provided me."
Staren	Staren can't help but return Rita's smile. Midway's presense is a concern, but if she's not attacking openly... perhaps Staren is simply too hopeful. She takes her hands off the controls and powers down the mech for the moment, before opening a hatch above the cockpit and climbing out. She stands on top of the 'shoulder' and then begins climbing down. Knight, eager for a look, climbs out as soon as Staren's clear of the hatch, and then starts climbing down, only to make a sudden, jerky movement that sends he sliding down, scrambling to catch on to a handhold. "Cold water!" She ends up with her fingertips clinging to a chest laser barrel, the tips of her toes baaarely making contact with a skirt armor plate. Staren, briefly alarmed the human was falling, processes this and then just gives Knight a look. "...Oh, right." The human blushes and climbs down the rest of the way with more care. Staren, once she reaches the water level, just... floats over it with magic flight, her coat billowing dramatically as she tries to look confident and turns towards Midway. "That's right. In a way, hasn't this expedition, and my push to expand the Concord's territory, done you a great service?" "COLD!" Complains Knight as she dips a foot in and then immediately pulls it out, slightly undermining the serious tone. "...I can't remember the last time I went to a beach. I'll get used to it." She starts sloooooooowly dipping into the water to acclimate.
Rita Ma	"The actions of surface-dwellers rarely concern me." "That's good," Rita answers without thinking, though a dissatisfied twitch of her lips betrays that she might like to have phrased it better. Though "I am War" increases her tension for a bit again, overall she seems to be relaxing. She keeps up eye contact with the towering Princess, despite everything. Ordinary brown. Her posture reveals a lot; her face comparatively little. This is a feeling she is vaguely familiar with. Familiarity doesn't diminish it, but it does become easier to handle. Hearing(?) Staren approach, Rita holds out a hand slightly to her side: 'stop'. If something does happen, it seems she wants to be alone at the epicenter. "It makes sense now that I've seen you. You were helping the Union Santiago, weren't you, Ms. Midway? You match the rumors on I heard on the shortbands." After allowing a little pause: "Thank you. I know they need all the help they can get." "I'd be happy with them staying on the surface, and you staying below." 'Them', not 'us'; she doesn't speak for herself. "But Ms. Staren, I think, wanted to search the shallow water for resources to fuel her side of the conflict. Is that okay? Or did you intend to use everything below the waves yourself?" Again, the more formal tone. It doesn't quite suit her.
Midway	"Ultimately," Midway states as her attention returns to the mech's arm in her hands, "The sea and all things in it belong to me as a matter of course." She shifts, swinging the arm out and releasing it in a throw out into the water, "What you have done is draw attention to a trove I was unaware of. The Sea is vast; it is easy to lose track of things even for me." Out in the waves, a bleached white sphere nearly as tall as the Princess breaks the surface. The surface splits open, revealing a great maw of blunted human-like teeth, a burning coal of scarlet at its core. The mech's arm lands in this mouth, which closes and the sphere sinks back out of sight. Facing down Midway is both similar and different from facing down other monsters; and she is undeniably monstrous more in action than in form (which is also fairly inhuman if only going by how tall she is, much less the horns). The eye contact is maintained for several long seconds until both she and Rita seem to reach a decision without exchanging words at all. "There is far more here than I could feasibly utilize on my own," the Princess admits, closing her eyes, "Take whatever you wish." Her attention returns to the downed machine she's been dismantling, placing her hand on the wing and wrenching in one swift motion. The wing tears free in a shower of sparks and she upends it, prying the jet motor off-- then discarding the wing itself, "The Santiago served as an inroad towards a different project. It seems that world is quite in need of certain resources."
Staren	Staren's seriousness is further undermined as she gets 'ssh sweetie, the sea monsters are talking'-ed. (She does stop though. Rita gives off sort of a 'I am doing this because I percieve a threat that you don't' vibe, like an animal, and a subconscious part of Staren's brain thinks it had better understand what the threat is before it disregards the warning.) It breaks her composure and leaves her looking anxious. "Well..." She looks away from Midway, rubbing her arm, then looking at her again, trying to maintain seriousness. "I do want to explore and see what's down there. But wrecked war machines aren't the only resource under the sea. I don't..." She was going to say, she doesn't mind Midway observing the surface, but there's that sense that Rita knows something she doesn't, again. After the Princess of Progress speaks, she rallies. "I appreciate that we can coexist." She's earnestly happy about that, but then she takes a deep breath, steels herself again and takes a more serious tone. "Drawing you to that which you were unaware of is a service, nonetheless. And it's the one I'm most willing to trade. You want to encourage me to find more resources for you, yes?" She also gives Rita a curious look. "The Santiago?"
Rita Ma	Rita's eyes first leave Midway's to glance over at the bleached sphere emerging from the waves. She doesn't turn her head. Surprise registers on her features for just a moment; then it's smoothed back down into her very deliberate formal flatness. "'The Abyssal Black Fleet,'" Rita repeats. It's more observation than question. Her gaze snaps back to Midway's face soon enough. The silent decision is reached. When the Princess finally shuts her eyes, Rita's posture relaxes. "Thank you, Ms. Midway. I know she'll put it to good use." (By which she means, use that she isn't sure she approves of, but that Midway certainly will.) Rita first takes a step back, then turns and walks away from Midway. A statement, and a question, give her pause a moment in. "My world needs lots of resources. You're right. Whatever you can do to meet those needs, I'd be thankful for." A slight pause. "There are things down there that don't think you own them. But I think you found that out already." She resumes walking. The further she gets from Midway, the more that odd demeanor relaxes back into her usual cheer, with an undertone of relief. "Come on, Ms. Staren. Let's go diving, okay? You've been before, haven't you? It's really relaxing, in places like this." That she's calling a warzone's ocean "relaxing" hints at the conditions she's used to. To Staren, as they approach the shore: "A really big ship on my world, where a lot of people live. I heard it was falling apart; a lot of those ships are. Some nice people from the Multiverse helped. Otherwise... ...well, let's just go diving, okay?"
Midway	"I will not stop you," Midway clarifies, lobbing the engine out to sea for her parasite to collect, "Explore the depths as you wish." Her head turns just slightly towards Staren and her swimsuited guest testing the waters further back, "Should you wish to join me less temporarily, you need only sink." Planting her hands, she tears the mecha's torso apart with a screech of stressed metal, then plunges her hand into the sparking guts once more. Moments later, she draws out a boxy metal object covered in glowing lines. Wrenching it, she snaps the cables connecting it to the hull. It's clearly some sort of power core. "Regardless of the offerings you make to me, I will not align myself to your cause in anything but a temporary measure," the Princess states as she examines this new device, "As we discussed prior. Consider my presence here... a wild card." "A storm. A disaster. Ally to none. But perhaps advantageous." While examining the cuboid, Midway pauses, her eye swivelling towards Rita again, "Animals have no concept of ownership. They eat. They survive. Or they die. Whatever idea of territory they may possess is driven entirely by their physical needs. Humans could learn a thing or two from this."
Staren	You need only sink. Staren shivers. After seeing a mad, exhuman version of the 'aunt' she once knew as a child, and a confused teenage version of her own mother, it is all too easy to imagine that there may well be a 'sunken' Staren out there somewhere. The Princess of Progress restates her intentions. Staren nods. "I'll let you know next time I find a trove to lead you to... if it's advantageous to both of us. ...Until then." She gives another little nod, and turns to Rita, floating after her. "Ah... I actually haven't gone diving for fun." Staren says. Swimming after Rita, Knight mutters about the cold and adds, "Neither have I! But that sounds fun!" Staren smiles. "Yeah... Yeah, I could do with some fun. Thanks, Rita. Let's go diving." She can readily procure whatever equipment they need.