Idlaide - The Rays of Fortune

[Quiet One]

As the two got in, Max saw them quickly get the hang of their Rays' controls, albeit with some help. Wayne had made the right call by immediately simplifying his interior, while he could see through the glass that Cynthia was being directed by her Ray using flashes of color. He smiled at that. Good. It should teach her she'll have to rely on her Ray just as much as herself. Greg, he saw, was one of the first up, maintaining a steady hover and waiting patiently for everyone else. The Rays created only a small hum when they lifted off, the hum blowing lightly at the grass as a child might blow at a dandelion.

 

[Heron]

Yukiko looked around anxiously at the others as they boarded their Rays and began to take off. She hesitantly tapped on the side of her ship. "Ummm, open?" she asked, then stepped back as a panel lifted out, revealing the interior of the ship.

It was tiny, with only a pilot's chair in front of a huge dashboard of controls. She touched the inside of the ship, and it rippled, changing from grey to a soft white, and the lights changed to a pale blue glow. Yukiko sank into the chair, noticing how it became more and more plush the longer she stayed in it, and seemed to heat up. A simple steering mechanism lifted out from the dashboard and the girl gripped it tightly, noticing how the door shut with a hiss as she did so.

A button beside the controls flashed and Yukiko pushed it, gasping as the ship began to emit a low hum. A seat belt wrapped around her torso and waist, and Yukiko reached out to pull up on the controls.

After all, she had watched some of her brother's training.

Demeter slowly lifted into the air, with a half-excited, half scared-shitless girl on board.

 

[egglegg]

Elijah looked up from his Ray when he heard Max speaking again. What colour should he pick? It didn't really matter much he supposed, he would never see how it looked anyway.

He thought a nice grey would suffice, and so he picked one quickly, watching in awe as the ship changed it's shade of grey, speckled over with a slightly bluer version of the same shade. He hardly noticed the speckles and the effect was lost on him but it was quite pleasing to look at.

When instructed to get inside his Ray Elijah did just that, quickly hopping inside the cockpit. It was a relatively small room and as was suggested he requested that Augustine simplify the controls from numerous butons to simple leavers, a few diles and way less buttons.

"There we go... That should do." He sat down in the chair that was provided and placed his hand on the lever which he was sure would start up his Ray. "Alright then Augustine. Lets get you up in the air." Carefully he pushed the leaver up.

Augustine's engine began to hum and slowly she rose into the air. Not very high mind you as Elijah was quite tentitive. He didn't want to go shooting off upwards by accident.

 

[Reaper Jack]

Jorik's gaze wandered around the inside of the cockpit, marvelling at the individual instruments and choices.

"Leave these all out for me Freyja, I'll have a decent look around when we're not being given orders, sound good?"

A control panel to Jorik's right chirped merrily in response, making him smile at Freyja's agreement, she was a jovial creature, though he could sense her intellect behind the amiability. He decided to test a few things. Shifting his left palm over the ball of the left control panel slightly, he got Freyja to turn left, stopping when she was pointing towards the Idlaide. Jorik was happy with the simple manoeuvre, nodding his approval before waving at Max through the cockpit, letting him know he was simply testing his Ray and himself.

"That's all good then. Freyja, please be sure to correct my movements if you feel it necessary, I won't pretend to be an expert on flying you."

The control panel chirped again, less merrily and more serious this time, but still with that jovial sound behind it.

 

[Disgruntled Goat]

Marissa had been sitting on the wing of her Ray, letting her legs swing freely below her as she continued trying to get the coolant off of her face with a tissue she'd had in her pocket. The orange goop wasn't harmful by any means, but it was starting to congeal, so she wanted to get it wiped off before it dried completely. Fortunately, her tissue and a little spit were doing the job, whilst Tequila Sunrise continued to hum quietly. "You buzz like a fridge," muttered Marissa as the Ray responded with a cheerful whistle, designed to irritate its pilot.

Satisfied that she'd gotten the coolant off now, Marissa rapped on the cockpit with her knuckles. "Alright, Teqi, open up," said Marissa, being met by a quick series of beeps as the dome rose up and gave the girl access to the commands. Marissa stared into the cockpit for a moment, taking in the black leather-like interior, a stark contrast to the bright colours outside of Tequila Sunrise, but giving the ship a more serious, adult feel. It wasn't just some brightly coloured child's toy, after all, this was a Ray, and it was Marissa's Ray, so it had to be able to get the job done as well as its pilot did. Wrapping her fingers around the inside lip of her Ray's cockpit, Marissa gave a quick grunt and vaulted straight into the cockpit, landing in the seat and feeling the craft drop a few inches on impact, as the Ray made a few derogatory beeps, followed by a low whistle.

"Oh, shut up," muttered Marissa. "I am not that heavy. You should just be glad you didn't get stuck with one of the guys." She stared down at the myriad combinations of control panels and buttons in front of her, before reaching up and tugging on the cockpit lid as Tequila Sunrise lowered it down and locked it shut. "I don't need all of this crap," said Marissa, waving her hand dismissively to the controls. "I want a single joystick between my legs wi-"

Tequila Sunrise responded with a shrill high-pitched beep as Marissa groaned. "I heard it too. Just get your mind out of the gutter for one minute and do as I tell you. Single steering shaft, centrally positioned, with two foot pedals, one on the left for breaking and one on the right for accelerating. Then I want a button on the shaft of the joystick for elevation, along with a trigger on the underside for your basic weapons and a large button under a cap on topside for the heavy stuff. Did you get all of that, or were you too busy laughing at the word shaft?"

With a low hum, the ship's interior lights dimmed, and Marissa almost felt like the ship had been insulted. A few moments passed and she saw blinking lights on the dashboard vanish, as a large joystick and two foot pedals appeared on the base of the cockpit, as demanded. It was quite an old-fashioned layout, but she'd always been fond of the classics. "That'll do," she said, staring at the black metal dashboard. "Ah, don't leave it blank. Give me an odometer, a speedometer and a few other meters too, so I can keep an eye on how you're doing." The dials appeared on the dashboard as if emerging from inside of it and Marissa took a moment to study each of them. "I guess these are all pretty much optimal right now? Someone gave you a tune up before this morning, so this is how your core temperature is meant to look, right?" The Ray blinked its internal lights in agreement.

"Great," said Marissa as she took hold of the steering shaft and held down the button on the side. She dipped the stick towards herself, tilting the Ray's nose upwards as it began to climb. Once she was about five metres up, Marissa turned the stick to the left, causing the Ray to follow suit, before swinging it around to the right, too. "Easy enough, right girl?"

 

[Quiet One]

As everyone got in and started their Rays up, some hovering only slightly above the ground, while the spunky redhead shot up highest of them all, Max couldn't help being a bit impressed. Bonding with a Ray was at the same time the easiest and most complicated thing in the world. Getting them to follow and accept the arrangement, assessing the personality they created to respond to you - that was the easy part. The challenge came from actually working with them, although Marissa seemed to have her own unique set of challenges with her playful Teqi.

"Alright everyone, that's good!" Max said, pressing the broadcast button inside Idlaide to make his voice ring across the field. "That's good...Now follow me and we'll get you settled in."

He pulled back on one of Idlaide's levers and pulled forward with the other, raising them both up so the large, beautiful ship raised up so high Teqi could now fly under her. It also turned in the direction Max moved those levers, spinning around quicker than something as big as his Ray should have been capable of doing. Size thankfully didn't slow them down.

"Now everyone forward and follow me. Trust me, you'll know the destination when we get there."

He led them past the field, over a budding forest of saplings, and across a massive river. Ellesandis was only about thirty years out of full terra-form, so the trees hadn't gotten time to grow up properly. Everything else, on the other hand, had sprouted up with ease, including the Ray factory, and the moss that now covered its front. The building was massive, the sort of grandiose scale one typically saw in Rivas' business district. The difference was that this building was completely alone. It stood in the middle of the field with a monstrous landing strip and absolutely no other buildings anywhere around it. There used to be housing for the factory workers, but after the Rays were discontinued they all but disintegrated from neglect. A few weathered beams were all that remained of them.

At the front of the factory, leading out onto the runway, there was a pair of hanger doors pulled wide open. Oswin Juenva Jones was there watching them come, smirking to herself as she observed that not all of them were natural fliers. Her ship Cerberus sat next to her at the entrance, its black, red, and yellow coloring contrasting greatly with the pale green grass. Max instructed everyone to land and lowered his ship next to hers.

The building wasn't exactly friendly. A few of the windows in front were missing, but the inside was relatively intact. It would serve as live-in quarters for the new recruits until their Rays were big enough to sleep in. The mess hall still functioned, as did other more important facilities. In all the history of Rays no Ray had ever agreed to build a bathroom in its hull.

"Come to see I'm not screwing up too bad, huh?" Max asked Jones as the cockpit opened up and he started stepping out.

"Just want to introduce myself, though I'm sure the ones from Paipas have heard of me after that disaster in New Jerusalem," she replied. Max remembered that. It was a big religious flare, almost a holy war in and of itself. Jones' help in the matter was public, while his and another pilot's were more behind-the-scenes.

"Fine. Shake hands. Be friendly. Then I show them around," he said. He then leaned over and whispered to her. "Also, go easy with the young girl. The little one. She's here under a me-like situation."

 

[Lyra Meiko]

Before starting to follow the careful guide of her ray, Vincent, Cynthia watched as the others rose from the ground. Again, she didn't want to be the first, and it seemed that being second came with pressure, so a few after would be good. She would be content with her actions as long as she was not the last person to rise from the ground.

So, she carefully let her eyes follow each ray from the ground to the sky. Numbers ran through her head as she calculated how far up they were moving. Although she did not look like she would be, she was really great at math. Most didn't expect this from a pretty girl like herself, but it was true. It was one of the most helpful skills she had when she was working with her father.

She shook her head slightly as her father crept into her thoughts once again. He always seemed to take up her mind, wither she liked it or not. Vincent let out a quiet beep to disrupt her thoughts. She was slightly happy that he did, shook her head, and began following his directions. His color coated directions were quite clear and helpful. Whenever she did not push a lever enough, he would whistle to ease her on. Whenever she pulled something for too long, he beeped to stop her.

Although she did not realize it, she was under his command more than he was under hers.

Once given the directions, Cynthia guided Vincent to follow the rest, and he helped her figure out how to guide him in the first place. Her eyes drifted from controls to the window and back again. Normally, they would stay on controls, only giving her eyes a second to look at the scenery in front of them. That is why she was a bit surprised when they were in front of a building, one that had a similar building style to the massive buildings in her home city. A wind of home made her gasp slightly. Although, she could not tell if that was relief, or sadness. I mean, she did come here to get away.

 

[Orbital]

Trent was the first to take off after Max. He barely had to move the controls. Axor moved exactly as Trent wanted him too. Except Axor thought it would be funny to list 180 degrees to the right and fly sideways. Trent tried to fight it but gave in after several seconds. "You're a pain in the ass you know that?" He said to the Ray. They followed in formation behind Max all the way to the factory. Slowly Axor rotated to being right side up. As they came within sight of the factory Trent frowned. He pressed the button to communicate with other rays. "Looks like your factory got into a fight with a forest, and lost." He said in a satirical voice.

 

[Reaper Jack]

Jorik was happy with Freyja, and she with him. He'd got to grips with the basic controls and manoeuvrability of the craft, Freyja helping him along by providing the controls that were both familiar and nostalgically relevant to him, not being dissimilar to those he had used on his seafaring ship.

He pushed down on the right control panel, raising her up to the same level as the Idlaide; using his right foot, he pressed down on the pad, raising his speed to match that of the larger Ray, he pulled his foot off once that was achieved, with these controls, the floor panels weren't traditional accelerators and brakes, they were much closer to simple 'speed up' and 'slow down' pads, maintaining whatever speed the craft was at when the panels were released, if they truly were the same as those he had used before, he could tap each one once to either fully speed up or come to a halt as well, so he didn't have to fine-tune every step of his foot.

Freyja followed the Idlaide without fault; her dark green to black coat shimmering in the Sun; Jorik still wondered at the bigger Ray, thinking about how Freyja would one day, if he piloted her well, also grow to that magnitude, and from there even bigger. An old ship classification manual came to his mind, it classed ships by size, M5 being the smallest. M4 was larger but still little more than a PT Boat. Right now, he would class his Ray as an M4, and Idlaide as an M6, the more unique classification that covered ships larger than M3s but smaller than M7s, which were in turn smaller than M2s, he had no idea why the M6 and M7, and for that matter, the truly unique M8, were situated inbetween M2 and M3, perhaps they were classifications that hadn't existed until later.

Setting Freyja down on the grass to the left-rear of Idlaide, Jorik opened the cockpit hatch and hopped down onto the grass, standing by the Ray, patting her hull gently.

 

[Daws Combine]

Wayne smiled as he heard the order to follow after Max. Great. He could barely scratch the controls on this thing and he was already being told to fly it. He wrapped his hand around the stick, sighing as he tapped the button to elevate just enough to take them a few feet off the ground. "Yo. I'm got gonna pretend I know how to work you, and I'm not gonna act like it'll be easy to learn. Could you help me out, a bit? We need to follow the Big Guy without crashing. I'm gonna try my best, but feel free to correct me if I fuck it up, got it?" A series of various beeps and lighting changes occurred, causing Wayne to laugh to himself. "Call me whatever you want, PG. I'll start kicking ass yet. You'll see." At least this Ray was giving him a goal. Not a solid one. Not a difficult one. Hell, barely even a challenge, if he really wanted it. But he had to earn both this things respect, and his ability to fly. You see, they both seemed to operate very similarly. Like Wayne, Persona non Grata only seemed to do things willingly once respect was earned. If they truly were alike, that respect would be easy to earn. Wayne knew exactly how HE would earn his respect, so he had a rough idea of how PG would want it to be earned.

He started after Max, with Persona non Grata making adjustments to prevent them from crashing, every now and then. He looked a lot better then he really was, flying that thing. At some point, they would have to work out a more familiar control scheme, for Wayne. This simple layout was nice, but Wayne was still having way too much trouble. When Max landed, Wayne touched his own Ray down roughly thirty meters from the boss, wiping the sweat from his brow. This stress would be great, for carving. He always carved better when he was stressed. He wasn't at all sure why, but he didn't question it. That little quirk of his is what made him all of his money, before.

His Ray opened up, allowing him to step out and survey the scene Max had dropped them into. This place wasn't a tourist attraction, that's for sure. He could feel the oppressive vibe practically forcing it's way into his skin. It gave him shivers. He drew his knife, feeling around for his statue before he remembered. Richie McSlave owner chick still had it.....

 

[WhoopDau]

Greg followed Max once the order was given. It was a struggle to control Pluto; flying a helicopter was difficult, but flying a ray was just another level. The shape of it was odd, and would take some time getting used to, so Gregory didn't take any chances. He stayed behind the pack of fliers. He was somewhat afraid of landing, it was always nerve racking whenever he had to actually land a helicopter.

He ignored Trent's joke on the stupid factory.Watching Jorik, Wayne, and Max land, he gulped before he tried to slowly dive down.

After semi-falling to the ground below, and somehow managing to pull Pluto back into a small hover. "Thanks for the save..." He muttered, Pluto responded with a quiet hum and ding, he blushed in embarrassment. He let his red face cool down before stepping out of his ray

 

[Danika]

[Side note : From this moment on, Solange shall be speaking English. If she does speak french, I shall note it down that she is or actually put the words in french.]​

Solange stood close by and watched as so much went on around her. Eventually she wandered back to her Liberte and leaned against him slightly. Arms crossed over her stomached, she felt her mind begin to take various notes of the other pilots. Eventually she would learn their names and ages, then create actual files of each one to keep. Granted these files would be kept in her head, not in some book or on an electrical device. But why would she keep notes on them? To be honest, she was unsure of the answer herself; just a hobby she had picked up over the years. There were so many files locked away in her mind. There was even a whole cabinet meant specifically for the Rays! Though as she turned her head to glance up at her Ray, she knew that she would have to make a drawer just for him. No other information would be stored there, except for what she learned about him. As though sensing her thoughts, she felt a small vibration move through Liberte. "Oui, Liberte. You are very special, and so you shall have a special place in my heart and mind." Another vibration and a single beep was the response she had received from him.

It was the sound of Max's voice that made her turn her head and realize that she had been staring at her Ray for quite some time. All of the Rays had chosen their pilots, gaining their names and changing into whatever assortment of colors suited them all best. Seeing the bright colors appear on most of the Rays had Solange cringing. Loud, vibrant, bright colors had never be a favorite of hers. Even now she was wearing clothing that was either neutral in color or a darker shade of an actual color. It was her mother that loved being draped in colors that would be perfect for spring and summer. Even the woman's hair tended to have some sort of bright streak running through it; she had always found plain, white hair to be so boring. Thinking of her mother, Solange remembered when her mother had put a bright streak of pink into her hair. Once she had looked into the mirror, seeing the bright pink mixed in with her beautiful white strands, she had let out a bone-chilling scream. The servants had thought that she was being murdered! In truth, she had just hated seeing that damn color on her. Thankfully her mother, nor anyone else for that matter, had tried to do anything like that again. And if anyone even came near her with some sort of bright clothing, she would draw in a deep breathe to signal that she was about to scream again.

A single beep pulled her from her thoughts, forcing her to realize that she had forgotten what she had been ordered to do. Thankfully watching everyone do their best to get into their Rays helped her along. Turning, Solange looked up to Liberte and smiled. "Shall we see how perfect you are?" Taking a few steps back, her hands falling to her sides, she could feel a sort of energy coming from the Ray. Inside she knew that he could understand her perfectly and was just as anxious to take to the skies as she was. Just how long had they been sitting there? "May I?" She held out a hand toward the ship and at once it opened. It was amazing to her how fast her and Liberte had grown fond of one another. It seemed as though some sort of celestial being had created them specifically for each other; like it was fate. But of course, Solange did not believe in such things. If she did then she would have followed her mother's wishes and never ended up where she is now.

Moving with the grace that flowed through her dancer's body, Solange hoisted herself up and settled down into chair provided for her. "Merci, Liberte. I am settled in." The top of the cockpit closed and she was encased in darkness for a moment. Was it supposed to be as dark in there as it was? Perhaps she had been meant to say some word to illuminate the cockpit. "Liberte?" A single beep was all that she was given in response. "Liberte, am I right in assuming that a single beep means yes?" Once again there was that one beep. A smile crept over her lips in the darkness as her hands gently stroked the seat she was on. "Then a single beep for 'yes', double beeps for 'no', and we can figure out the rest later. Now, may I please have some light and the cockpit glass transparent?" There was a single beep as the glass became transparent as it was meant to be. Already there were Rays lifting upward from the ground so that they could begin learning all that was needed. Hazel eyes dropped to the completely black and empty cockpit. Wait. There was nothing there at all! No buttons, no dials, not even some sort of switch or lever. Then how was she to fly Liberte?

On the dashboard in front of her, three long screens came to life. Moving forward to inspect it much closer, Solange realized that the screens were in fact built into the dashboard. They had been there all along, but due to how close in color everything was, she had not been able to detect them right away. At once various things began to appear on the screens: read outs for the environment around them, tracking of the other Rays, information on what weaponry was available and how much was present, readouts of her vitals were kept in a small box on the bottom-left corner of the left screen. So much information was displayed to her at once, it was truly an amazing overload. "You know Liberte, if these screens are going to be present at all times, I will have to place some software of various languages for you. That way you will be able to type out any and all responses to me." Liberte's body began to hum to life at her words. On the right screen various buttons and dials appeared, all labeled properly so that she would not be confused on what was what. But the best thing of all about them? They were all capable of responding to her touch! Solange had to resist the urge to giggle with excitement and joy at the whole situation. Instead she schooled her features into the usual cold mask she preferred wearing and sat back in her seat. Underneath her hand, she felt the armrest begin to shift around. Once everything was quiet again, she lifted it up to find that there was now a single joystick with a flat head. This allowed her to keep her hand upon it and move the ship as she pleased. No clunky joystick between her legs or any sort of steering wheel for her! Oh no! Liberte wanted her to be flying him with ease and style.

"We best not dawdle any longer, Liberte. It seems they are all ready to leave without us. Shall we catch up?" Various readouts came to life as Liberte's engines ignited, slowly lifting her into the air. It was a bit unsettling at first, considering she had no real flight training, but Liberte knew to take it slow. He took her to a reasonable height than waited for her to try out the controls; making sure to get a good feel of the sensitivity and how they operated. After a few moments of such, Solange felt she was fully ready to join the others.

Making sure to keep a distance from them, for she did not fully trust any of them to not hit her Ray, Solange followed after the other pilots and Captain Fouxet. With each minute that passed with them in the air, she could feel the tension slowly leak away from her body. Being up with Liberte was not frightening. She could sense how relaxing it was to be in a ship on one's own and have complete control over it. But due to the primal fear of dying, she knew that it seemed to him that she was not enjoying herself one bit. So as they flew, Solange took to describing how it felt to be flying with him. Telling him of how free it made her feel. How happy she was to be his, and for him to be hers. And it seemed that Liberte was enjoying the small talk very much.

It did not take them long to reach their destination: A large building that seemed in the process of losing a war against nature. Liberte landed with ease, the screens going blank before shutting down. Solange swept her hand over the dashboard, thanking Liberte for his help. Once the glass was open, Solange slid her way down the front of Liberte's nose and landed on her feet easily. She looked back at him, placed her hand on him in a small stroke, and then moved away from him. "Be a good boy whilst I take more notes." Liberte gave off a beep as his pilot walked away from him. And even as the distance began to grow, though not by very much, Solange could already feel herself missing the Ray. She didn't want to be away from him just yet. They were only starting to get to know one another! There was still so much that she needed to talk to him about, so much she wanted to learn. Perhaps whatever it was they would be doing would end quickly; allowing her to return to Liberte.

As she neared the captain, she took note of someone standing next to him. A woman that seemed very familiar to her the closer to she to them. It took till she was standing near them to realize why the woman looked so familiar to her, she had seen her on the news back home. The woman's face had been everywhere for quite some time. But with what she had done, it had been no surprise at all. Her brothers would be so envious to learn that she was about to meet the woman they had talked about for quite some time. She even had reason to believe that one of them may have a fondness for the female pilot.

 

[Quiet One]

Jones stepped forward and offered a stern, firm handshake to each new pilot in turn. The hand was a little softer when it got to Yukiko.

"Oswin Juenva Jones. If you ever get tired of Max (as we all do from time to time) feel free to come to me. And this is Cerberus," she added, gesturing to the large Ray next to her. The purring emanating from Cerberus's engine sounded more like a canine growl. "Don't let him intimidate you. That's just how he says hello. It's not even an angry growl. When he's angry, you'll know it."

"And I've known it, eh big guy?" Max said, looking up at Cerberus. A light hum was added to the growl about halfway through, his way of agreeing. "So, that it?"

"For now," she replied, staring into the factory. "Going to give them the tour?"

He nodded and Jones began climbing into Cerberus. Max knew she liked to fly to one of the uninhabited moons for solitude. What she did during that time alone Max had thought about many a time, but never got an answer.

The inside was even more disturbing than the outside. It was a graveyard of aborted Rays. Ships in various stages of production sat on massive, still conveyor belts, while others hung overhead on stiffened mechanical arms. Some of them had been completed, but lacked the AI core, and were nothing more than bodies without brains. They sat helter-skelter, a few pushed up against the walls. A walkway was set between the two assembly lines, leading down to what surely used to be management offices. The lights were on, but they were a dim yellow. Their footsteps echoed in this mausoleum.

When they got halfway through the main factory floor Max's wristband, followed by everyone else's, beeped and a countdown appeared, set for 28 hours, a Rivan day.

"Don't worry. The tour's only a few minutes," he said passively. He wasn't worried about his own clock, so pushed for the others not to be either.

"A space near the very end of the factory, where the offices are, has been set aside for your Rays," he continued. "They'll line up there. And don't worry, they'll fit. There's plenty of space to move around, even with that dangling ship. Honestly, you'd have to be the worst pilot ever to hit it. Now we've planned out beds in the old offices, and something like normal living conditions, but if you want to come out here and sleep by your Ray by all means. We encourage it, in fact. Will help with the bonding."

He showed them the offices. Clean, but neglected. There was no sign of rot or mold, just a little dust. Pilots usually weren't good at housecleaning. On the floor were twelve sets of twin mattresses and sheets and pillows. There was also twelve h-vids for entertainment.

"We've hired some cooks to staff the kitchen, and dinner's in two hours," he said. He elected not to mention that it was a gift of lobster from Yukiko's family, as an anticipatory celebration of their son joining the Rays. But she would surely find out later. "Bring in your Rays to stop your counters and look around. - Oh! Almost forgot. Bathrooms are stocked with a full shower, and are down the west wing."

 

[Daws Combine]

Wayne flat out refused to touch Jones' hand. Instead, he simply gave a dead stared nod, keeping a hand on his Ray at all times. He noticed the empathy towards the child and couldn't help but give a wicked grin. There had to be at least one. One unwilling pilot. Maybe they would get along. The unwilling and the unwelcome. Had a nice ring, to it... When Max started off for the tour, Wayne was a safe distance away, lagging by roughly twenty feet at all times. He absentmindedly listened to the dime-a-dozen standard fare tour guide crap. He was memorizing every important detail. Kitchen, Offices, Bathrooms. That was all he would need. When he heard that chefs were preparing dinner, he laughed. He cooked his own meals, thank you. Nobody else could make it quite right. What was "IT", you might ask? Flip a coin. It's either everything, or anything. Another quirk, of his.

Once the tour was over, he started off to the kitchen. He was gonna be damned if he didn't get started, as soon as possible. Once he barged his way in, he started shouting. "Nobody bother me! Nobody touch my food! Nobody touch my knife, lest it find a new home in your neck, got it?!" The chefs glanced at each other with concern, for a second, before returning to their work. Wayne smiled. At least they'll keep out of my way. He immediately got started, grabbing a random assortment of ingredients and slathering the nearest piece of raw meat, with them. He then tossed it into an empty pan, sprinkled it with vegetable oil, tossed it onto the stove, and started working on a salad. Each cut was made with his rusty combat knife.

 

[Quiet One]

As Wayne stormed off to the kitchen Max chuckled to himself. "Suppose I should have mentioned that the kitchen was open to anyone that wanted to cook in it. The chefs are mostly just here for a little gig, temporary. Ah well. Guess all I can hope for is that he doesn't alienate them too much for when they get back home. Don't want tabloid rumors starting up before anyone's even trained."

"Nobody bother me! Nobody touch my food! Nobody touch my knife, lest it find a new home in your neck, got it?!"

He sighed. "Ah hell. Suppose they'll blame me for that."

He sighed and walked back to Idlaide. He was done dishing out lessons for the evening anyway.

 

[Lyra Meiko]

Although they were moving a bit quickly, with the help of Vincent, Cynthia was able to follow all of the instructions on where to land and such. Then she exited and listened to the heads talk for a moment, interacting when it seemed formal to. Vincent remained close behind her. She didn't really notice, and she probably would not until they spent more time together, but Vincent liked to stay closer to her then some other rays did with their owners, regardless of her bossy and cold attitude to him. It was an understatement to say that Vincent was a little passive.

As they went on the short tour, Cynthia forced a content smile on her face, but she was very upset about where she would be living for what seemed like a long while. This was really a large step down from her wonderful childhood mansion. In was a large cream building with sky high roman style pillars. There was a brick fence around it that kept out unwanted visitors and a large garden that she played in when she was a child. Maids and workers traveled up and down the multiple stories every day to tend to her lovely hands. It is also important to mention that this home, was only one of her families many seasonal homes, this one was simply her favorite and the one they lived in the most. Oh, how different this building was to that. It would probably take a while before she would be able to adjust.

To make things a bit easier for her, she memorized the pin point location of each important room, meaning like the bathrooms and kitchens and such. She didn't expect to get lost in this mess of a factory, but she didn't want to risk it either. This was what she focused on, forgetting all about the foreign object the other pilot told her to keep safe and was still in the secure pocket of her fuzzy jacket.

 

[Heron]

Yukiko smiled at Jones' handshake, then quietly followed the rest of the group. Her ray had practically auto-piloted them while she sat terrified in the seat clutching the armrests tightly. She kind of hung near the back while Max led them around, looking nervously at the large building. "This is my home now," she murmured. Her wristband heated up a little and she wrapped her other hand around it, a tiny smile forming on her face at the comfort it provided, though the countdown timer that suddenly appeared worried her. She'd ask about it later, as she had no idea what it was for, and couldn't remember that from the limited amount of training she had watched Katsuko do.

Her stomach rumbled at the thought of dinner, and she watched a little apprehensively as one of the other pilots took off at the mention of it. Is he going to get first dibs? she wondered, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her pants. Then, realizing that the tour had paused, she raised her hand. "Excuse me, but what is the timer on our bracelets for?" Yukiko asked, pointing to the silver band with the countdown.

 

[Quiet One]

Max paused on his way back down the factory floor. He had been getting ready to leave, and now he felt like he could kick himself. That was right. She hadn't come here to get a Ray, so it made sense that she didn't have the inside scoop.

"The countdown's how long you have left to live, unless you get back to your Ray," he said over his shoulder. "It's why I said to hurry and bring them into the factory, otherwise that wristband will kill you. When you get within five meters of it the countdown will stop and you'll be fine."

 

[Heron]

Yukiko gasped. "You're saying... that it would kill us? Why? How? Then why would anyone volunteer for this?" she asked, looking around at the other pilots. Her eyes widened a little more as they took in the seconds ticking by on her watch. "I... I need to get back to the ray," she added, all but running out to her ship. She sighed in relief as the countdown went away, climbing inside the ship and crawling into the chair.

Demeter automatically shut the door and put on Yukiko's seat belt, and the girl leaned back, holding onto the armrests tightly as the ship began to hum.

 

[Lyra Meiko]

Cynthia was interrupted from her thinking as she watched the youngest of the pilots learn for the first time some of the information that mostly everyone was aware about before they accepted the opportunity. Cynthia had not paid too much attention to this girl up until now, but once she looked at her she had a slightly disgusted look, that lasted for just a moment, and then was covered by her calm composure once again.

Cynthia didn't like children, in fact, she hated them. Although this girl was a bit older than she would consider a child, she still had a face that made her feel like she was included in the pool of children she despised.

She would never try to explain this to someone, because she felt like no one would understand, but Cynthia believed that society put children on an unearned position of greatness. When choosing between the life of a well functioning adult and a young child, most people would choose the child, but Cynthia would never. An adult who worked their entire life to achieve greatness deserved their life more than a child who had an unknown future. This hypothetical child could be a potential murderer, but most would still choose the unknown journey of the child.

Cynthia simply sighed and ran a hand through her flowing black hair. She had a bad habit of setting herself off into inner monologue style logical rants. That would not be good while driving Vincent, so she had to practice focus. She used to practice meditation at home, so she figured she would probably have to start doing that here as well, in secret of course.