Mobile Section 34

[Tengu_temp]

Located in one of the less densely populated parts of Kranagan, the building of Mobile Section 34 is not of a very impressive size - it's closer to a police station than headquarters for an important military division. At least there is a hangar for one helicopter at the back, and the close thin forest would probably be a good place for the forwards' training... forwards who, just like everyone else, have just recently became the members of the section, but who, unlike some, have not shown up at the first day of their new jobs yet. Well, it's still morning, they still have a short time till the opening ceremony - which will be probably the first time most of the section's members will see each other.

Inside the building's main hall, where the ceremony will take place, currently there is only a single person - a tall and rather thin man in the TSA's uniform, somewhere in his thirties or fourties, with short green hair, kinda spiky and strangely messy for a military officer. He's sitting on a chair, his head thrown back and face covered by a book entitled "Literature of Earth - late reneissance". He's apparently asleep.

(No, Section 34 is not named like this because there are other 33 sections currently operational. The numeration is just weird.)

[Terraoblivion]

The man was not allowed to sit alone for long. A while before the ceremony was to start a teenage girl with short ice-blue hair entered the room and went to stand roughly in the area where they would be addressed once the ceremony would start. Having taken her spot she looked around a bit nervously before, trying to smooth out a few invisible wrinkles in her uniform. Having done that she started standing as formally as she could, never once seeming to think about the peculiar thing about doing that in a room that was empty except for a sleeping man. Her eager, wide-eyed expression, tinted by a case of nerves as it was, did little to dispel the very strange image of attempted military conduct she presented as she stood there.

[Drascin]

The door of the building opens quietly, and an unlikely pair enters the hall. While entering, walking in a way that made obvious she really wasn't used to the uniform, the tall woman looks around quizzically, with that kind of unmistakable "I'm suppossed to go somewhere but I have no idea if this is really it or I got completely lost" newbie look in her face.

"Um... according to the directions, it's supposed to be here, Chen. But it seems there's no one... ah" Taltha notices the girl in the middle of the room, and then the sleeping man.

She stands there for a moment, unsure of what to do. Then she approaches her.

"Eh... excuse me... eh, ma'am. Is this the building assigned for Mobile Divison 34 of the TSA? I'm supposed to be one of the trainees that get started today..."

Taltha is obviously completely out of her element here - she doesn't know how one is supposed to greet militarly, or things like that. In fact, she hasn't even noticed the other girl is also wearing a trainee uniform. All this stuff evidently makes her a bit nervous.

[Terraoblivion]

The girl turned to face the newcomers, even beginning a small half-bow before she realized that the woman had said she was a forward as well. "Ummm...yes it is." She looked nervous for a moment before finding the letter telling them where to show up and unfolded it. "At least i checked the address several times. And we both showed up here so i think i headed right. I hope at least." She handed the letter to the other girl, before managing a nervous smile and saying what is very clearly a rehearsed line. "I'm Private 2nd Class of the Air Mages, Mireio Satria. I look forward to working with you."

[Nerd-o-rama]

Behind Taltha and her partner, another teenager walks in, uniform tie askew and struggling with her green hair. As she walks, she apparently gives up on her last-second attempts at styling and quickly pulls it into a ponytail, obviously irritated.

The annoyed look on her face brightens into a smile when she sees the others, though. "Oh, hey! You all must be the other forward trainees! How's it going? I'm Tara," she effuses.

[Drascin]

"Ah, good then. I worried I might have got the address wrong" Taltha's voice softens up a little - well it seemed she had got it right, after all. Also, apparently this girl would be one of her companions. Taltha sizes the girl, down to... more down, I guess (it *is* a thirty centimeters difference after all) in a second. She also smiles, and her smile is also a weak one, but in her case is more of the kind that isn't really used to trying to smile for others but is still trying to be courteous.

"I am Taltha Oresia, engineer. I'm still not entirely sure of how military ranks work, or if I have one already or not. It is a pleasure to meet you, and look forward to working with you"

She extends her hand tentatively - most working meetings were preceded by handshakes, did this social norm hold up in the military as well, she wondered? - and tries to act her best ladylike persona.

And then the tornado hits the room.

Taltha turns to the new girl, still a bit confused, but starting to get her act a bit together.

"My name is Taltha. It is a pleasure to meet you." Taltha's dextrous hands go towards Tara's head in a rather... motherlike gesture, and start helping her style her hair a bit - she seemed like she might want some help there. "But please, lower your voice" she points softly at the sleeping man.

[Terraoblivion]

Taking Taltha's hand, Mireio shook it. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Oresia. I am sure you have a rank and that our officers will inform you of it soon." She shyly returned the taller girl's smile. She wasn't used to being the one experienced and asked for advice like this and she had to do her best.

Then her train of thoughts was interrupted by the short, noisy girl showing up. The rather less spotless appearance caused a brief moment of doubt as she wondered whether to speak in favor of proper military conduct, warn her of what a sergeant might do for her appearance or just let it slide and hope nothing came of it. After standing for a moment with an uncertain look on her face, she chose the last as her face brightened into a smile at the newcomer as she went into her rehearsed expounding on her full rank. "We are. I'm Private 2nd Class of the Air Mages, Mireio Satria."

[Nerd-o-rama]

Tara waves off Taltha's help good-naturedly, deciding it's not really worth the effort at this point, before looking startled over at the sleeping man. "Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't realize I was shouting, she says, not all that much more quietly. She gathers herself into something resembling attention while attempting to straighten out her uniform in a very brief panic. "Ahem. I'm Private Second Class Tara Severn. It's nice to meet you," she tries again, more quietly.

[Terraoblivion]

Mireio knew how this was, the worry over presenting yourself well enough to others. As Tara tried to straighten her uniform she tried so as well, though unlike Tara there was nothing to straighten other than the slight creases her last attempt at straightening it had created. "It's nice to meet you as well, Tara." She smiled weakly as she tried looking for some more to say to finish the lame line she had just given. After a few half starts she just gave up and stood there quietly with the other two forwards.

[Drascin]

"My rank will probably be whatever the lowest step is in this particular organization. I just joined, after all" Taltha's voice starts to recover her usual neuter softness, distracted by the conversation and the possibility to learn new stuff. "I've always just been Taltha, or Miss Oresia at most, so this feels... strange. Also, that" she points towards her - by this point probably bored silly - familiar "is Chen. We're still rather unknowledgeable when it comes to military affairs. Please help us a bit" Taltha bows at the other two gracefully.

When she gets up, she looks around, inquisitive, her trail of mind galloping much faster than her awkward mouth could ever hope to follow.

"Um... by the way, do you happen to know what we're supposed to do here? My letter only said something of an opening ceremony, but there doesn't seem to be enough people here"

[Terraoblivion]

Mireio grew more relaxed as the conversation went on to topics she knew about and not just greetings. "On the other hand you haven't joined the ordinary troops, so it is possible you will have a slightly higher rank than most recruits." She nodded slightly to the taller girl before turning to face the catgirl. "Nice to meet you as well, Chen. If either of you have any questions about the military i will try to help as well as possible."

She shrugged slightly at the scientist's question. "They are probably just late. Our commanders are likely detained by important matters. I don't know who they will be, but they will be veterans with many jobs and unique skills. Possibly even members of the former Division Six." She hoped that was the case on all counts. It would not look well if they had all come to the wrong place.

[Dragoon]

Lucius had slept in later than usual. The letter had surprised him. After waking up and realizing that if he wanted to make a good impression by being earlier, he would have to move it. Putting on his uniform without much though as he took, off, making sure to bring his drawing pad with him. He might find something of interest to draw there.

He walked in to see that four other forwards had reached there before him. Taking a deep breath and seeing a pause in the conversation, he walked over and with his higher than usual for a guy voice, "Hello, I guess we are all in this together, correct? I am Private 3rd Class Lucius Rosenberg, um, who's that guy?" Pointing at the sleeping older man.

[Drascin]

She shrugged slightly at the scientist's question. "They are probably just late. Our commanders are likely detained by important matters. I don't know who they will be, but they will be veterans with many jobs and unique skills. Possibly even members of the former Division Six." She hoped that was the case on all counts. It would not look well if they had all come to the wrong place.

Taltha caught herself before answering in her usual logical fashion. It was pretty obvious from what she knew of recent Midchildan history that the aces from former Division Six would most certainly not spend their time with a random squad of trainee mages - for starters, most of them were already in positions of high power in the system. However, the girl in front of her looked so eager and happy at the thought that Taltha just could not bear the thought of dropping that bucket of cold water over her.

"Indeed, let us hope so", she said instead, before noticing the new aggregate to the circle of forwards.

He walked in to see that four other forwards had reached there before him. Taking a deep breath and seeing a pause in the conversation, he walked over and with his higher than usual for a guy voice, "Hello, I guess we are all in this together, correct? I am Private 3rd Class Lucius Rosenberg, um, who's that guy?" Pointing at the sleeping older man.

"My name is Taltha Oresia, and this is my familiar, Chen. If you're another of the new memebers of Division 34, then yes, you are correct. It seems we're your partners. It is a pleasure to meet you" *little head bow*

"As for him... we do not know. He, however, does not look like he had a good night. Let him sleep pecefully for the moment - the upcoming ceremony will likely wake him up whether he wants it or not"

[Terraoblivion]

She nodded quite eagerly at Taltha's expression of hope at one of the heroes of Division Six being the commander of their unit. This was immediately interrupted when she noticed the newcomer and resumed her formal position from earlier. "Good to meet you, Private Rosenberg. I am Pivate 2nd Class Mireio Satria of the Air Mages and like Taltha said we will all be working with you." Her speech had a short break as she glanced at the sleeping man. "I don't know who he is or why he is sleeping here, however. Most likely he was early and is going to wake up once the opening ceremony starts."

[Tengu_temp]

Shortly after Lucius the door open again, and not one, but two people enter the hall - a boy and a girl, both looking around 16-17, and both possessing blue eyes - although their features are a bit too different for them to be related. Probably.

The boy's strawberry blond hair is long, and combed to cover his left side - because, when his left eye shows, it turns out to be completely white and unseeing. He smiles friendlily seeing everyone gathered here. "Hello, everyone. It seems that the whole section is slowly starting to gather."

The girl, on the other hand, doesn't say anything and simply looks at everyone calmly. She's almost a head shorter than the boy, and she has shoulder-length green drill hair. Hmm, might she be from a high-class family?

[Dragoon]

Following Taltha's lead, he gives a head bow to both Taltha and Mireio in response. He's about to ask about the familiar when the two new people walked in. Lucius turned and stood at attention. Now, knowing my luck, these two won't be big on proper protocol.
"Excuse me, sir, madam, if you don't mind me asking, are one of you two prehaps our group leader?"

[Terraoblivion]

The two newcomers seemed to know what they were doing and more about what was going on. This leaded her to instinctually salute them, the suspicions of Lucius only seemed to strengthen her own. "It appears so, sir, ma'am. Private 2nd Class Mireio Satria of the Air Mages. Five forwards have shown up as well as somewhat older man who is currently sleeping his chair."

[Drascin]

Taltha turns to the newcomers and looks attentively at them, sizing them up like she had done with the other privates. Seemed that the others were already asking the logical questions, so she preferred to stay out for a moment and listen. She also tried to follow the lead and do something that vaguely resembled a salute, but it really didn't look much like one, to be honest. Quite comical in a cute way .

[Tengu_temp]

The boy responses with his own salute, albeit not as formally as Mireio, and shakes his head.
"I don't think so, unless any of us received a sudden surprise promotion. Since all five of you are our forwards, we will be your mission control - so I'm looking forward to working with you! My name is Albin Subok, and my friend is Melina Doremi. She doesn't talk a lot."

Melina nods her head slightly.
"...That is correct."

[Terraoblivion]

Mireio nodded as she relaxed a bit, she wasn't talking to superiors it seemed. At least not high-ranked ones. "I look forward to working with the two of you as well, Albin, Melina. Does either of you know anything about the purpose of this unit?" She looked over the entire group trying to seem if anybody had anything to add, a sparkle in her eye as she thought about the possible duties that could be in store for them.

[Dragoon]

Realizing he made a slight misjudgement, Lucius relaxes and stands down. "Well, it is nice to meet you two, Albin, Melina, my name is Lucius Rosenberg. Now then I guess all that is left is the commander." He eyes the sleep man, wondering if perhaps he is the leader.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Ah! I'm spacing out again!

Tara shakes her head and tries her hand at being demure again. "It's nice to meet you all. I'm Private Second Class Tara."

She turns to the female bridge bunny. "Melina, right? The silent type. Yeah, I try for that myself. It's just so much more...cool to be the strong quiet kind, you know? Better than chattering away all the time like some kind of moron. Poise and grace, not just jabbering and yammering and generally making a nuisance of yourself. How long have you worked with the military? Have you ever served on a ship?"

You should probably stop her soon, because it doesn't look like she's going to on her own.

[Terraoblivion]

The enthusiasm of the girl overwhelmed her. Coming in without all the worries she herself felt and just starting to talk to others like that. Mireio found herself thinking about how full of life and energy the girl was. Blushing slightly at the thought, she shook herself out of it, Tara didn't seem to want to bother others with constantly talking, but she was doing it.

The sheer flood of words coming from Tara's mouth made it hard for her to cut through it. "Ummm...Tara. I don't think she actually wants to answer all those questions..." As it didn't appear that Tara was about to stop she tried raising her hand slightly to call attention to herself. "I'm not sure she managed to catch them all either...And weren't you just talking about the virtues of being quiet..."

[Tengu_temp]

Albin shrugs his shoulders.
"That might be him, but do you think that the whole section has already gathered? Eight people is not that much, after all. I expect to see more of the backyard staff than just me and Melina, at least. As for the purpose... emergencies. Emergencies where ordinary armed forces will simply not do, and a small group of specialists is needed instead. That is my guess, at least - but I don't think if we will be doing community work here!"

Melina patiently waits for both her friend's and Tara's monologues to pass before answering the girl's question.
"No, I've graduated from the academy recently. But I wouldn't mind serving on a ship if an opportunity arises."
She gives Mireio a look, half in the 'so you noticed it too' and half in the 'don't explain the joke, please' way.

[Drascin]

Taltha just stays aside from the conversation, for the most part. She preferred to watch, and listen - you learned much more that way. Still, she guessed she should at least introduce herself to the newcomers, but it also seemed everyone had already finished the introductions before she could act on that thought, and it might seem out of place now, and... ack. Why do I find social interactions so hard? It is nothing but a set of protocols!

So she just resolves to go with her first idea - keeeping near the other girls, watching, and learning. She was going to spend a lot of time with these people if she had understood things right, so she better start trying to know them.

[Artemician]

With her eyes still resolutely shut, Chen mewls in an amused fashion.

"Introductions? You've never been the sort to try that before, Master.

She shakes her head briefly, opening her eyes and taking in the misfit group with her eyes for the first time.

"Only four out of five voices matched correctly. Ptshaw!"

Turning to face Taltha, she twitches her whiskers, and laughs. How this sort of sound could come from a feline's vocal chords remains a mystery.

"If you're not going to introduce yourself, Master, I'll be relieving you of that liberty soon enough."

[Tengu_temp]

Suddenly, you hear a loud ringing noise - it sounds suspiciously like an alarm clock. The man in the chair starts to move! He reaches into his pocket, turning the noise off, and stands up slowly, removing the book from his face and closing it. The face in question is long and rectangular, with eyes obscured by reflecting round glasses and, for some reason, almost permanently wide open mouth. He looks around all the gathered.
"It seems it's time to start the welcoming ceremony."

[Artemician]

Cut off before she could speak, Chen only smiles thinly, and settles back on her haunches to observe the chair-man.

"An amusing character", she notes to herself, scratching the itchy spot behind her right ear. "Why do I have the feeling this is all going to end in tears?"

[Terraoblivion]

Suddenly realizing that the man had woken, Mireio spun on her heels to stand attention. Her facial expression became the most eager attempt at a dispassionate military expression any of the assembled were likely to have ever seen.

[Drascin]

With her eyes still resolutely shut, Chen mewls in an amused fashion.

"Introductions? You've never been the sort to try that before, Master.

She shakes her head briefly, opening her eyes and taking in the misfit group with her eyes for the first time.

"Only four out of five voices matched correctly. Ptshaw!"

Turning to face Taltha, she twitches her whiskers, and laughs. How this sort of sound could come from a feline's vocal chords remains a mystery.

"If you're not going to introduce yourself, Master, I'll be relieving you of that liberty soon enough."

Embarrassed - and completely failing to hide it -, Taltha retorts through the mental link: "Shut up, Chen. You know full well this whole social protocol stuff is very taxing for me! Half of it makes no sense, and the other half is so needlessly complicated, I always feel I'm going to mess up!"

Then she turns to the sounding clock and the waking man, thankful for having a distraction. She freezes at the look of the man. Okay, she didn't know what to expect of the officers, and certainly she didn't have as high hopes as the young Air Mage, but whatever her expectations were, they were not this, most assuredly. Still, she was not going to mess up, and keeps her expression appropiately neuter, again preferring to wait and see.