| Zelan Gets a Job | ||
|---|---|---|
| Summary: Zelan finally meets Raven... And finally gets a job she doesn't hate!    |
There's a rustling in the tree above, and a nearby black-haired woman shouts. "Wait, don't!" but it's too late. Another voice shouts "GERONIMOOOO!!!" and a blue dragon in a red Star Fleet uniform falls at a rapid pace from the tree, hits the ground, and proceeds to tumble over Zelan. Stunned, the little dragon kind of lays there for a moment. Zelan was clearly, CLEARLY not expecting anything remotely like this. There's barely a glance with her eyes towards the voices before there's suddenly a SMALL DRAGON ON HER! There is, predictably, a shriek. Less predictable is the lighting surrounding her hands as she reflexively tries to defend herself, shoving at the dragon to get it off her. The aforementioned black-haired woman runs up and picks up the dragon. "Sorry about that." she hehs. "Nova here is always trying to fly and well, sometimes she doesn't look before she leaps." Zelan scrambles up to her feet and looks at the two wide eyed for a moment as she tries to calm herself down, slowing her breath from the near hyperventilating that it was. At last, she closes her eyes as she takes one deep, slow breath in, then out. Finally her shoulders relax as she opens her eyes and tries to smile. "Hey, uh... Yeah, no worries... It, well, happens with... dragons? Right?" Yeah, she looks absolutely completely not confident in what she just said. Rave skritches the still unconscious dragon behind the ear. "Just this one. And her mate. Their wings are too small, but she's a determined one." She chuckles. Zelan nods, slightly bewildered looking still, then sits down a bit hard again on the grass, though it doesn't look like she was unprepared for the landing. "Uhhh.... well... sorry about the... slight overreaction... I really... didn't think. Like, at all. You know how it goes..." She glances at Nova. "Wings, but can't fly... She come from a lower gravity and or a higher atmospheric pressure world, then?" Rave blinks. "I um.. actually don't know. Ugh, you're getting heavy." she sits down with the dragon curled up in her lap. "Name's Raven, by the way." Zelan finally flops down back to lie down on the grass again. "Zelan Darkflower. Former head of yadda yadda yadda, nothing about my past actually matters here," she says slightly miserably as she looks back up at the clouds. Rave arches a brow. "Yeah, that's not true. Of course it does." she smiles a little. Okay, coming from her, that's saying something. Zelan frowns and says, while still looking more at the sky than at Raven, "Former head of design team Petal of Magus Spaceworks." She glances at Raven with a look of mild frustration, expecting a full lack of any sign of recognition from her. "Aaaaand how much does that mean?" Rave smirks a bit. "I own a design and manufacturing workshop and work as a contractor. So a lot, actually." The little blue dragon stirs a bit and murmurs something about vampire sheep. Zelan blinks as Rave mentions her work. She sits up and opens her mouth slightly, then frowns. "Wait... wait, don't tell me... Your sister is Ari and your daughter is dating someone named Alexa?" Rave can't help but laugh. "You've heard of me, then?" she keeps snickering. "For a big city, it's damned small world. Hopefully you didn't hear anything... too terrible." Zelan smiles weakly. "Only that you weren't well when I talked to your sister?" She sighs and shakes her head. "Neither one of them ever gave me a name, though. Both also mentioned they'd give you my contact information... did that ever actually happen?" Rave winces a little. "Well, unfortunately Ari was right when she said I wasn't well, and my health probably distracted her from giving me any info." Definitely not going into details. "Why? Haven't been able to find work? Zelan frowns, quietly saying, "Sorry, I should have thought of that..." Then she shakes her head as she speaks in a more normal tone. "No... Not unless you count retail work, which, frankly, I don't. It keeps me from starving and little else." Rave grins. "I don't either. Got any drawings or pictures of your work? Zelan holds up and hand for Rave to wait a moment as she stands back up again. She starts making some motions with her hands before holding out a hand palm up. Above it now floats a glowing image of what appears to be a starship of some sort. The overall design is in a T-shape, with engines at the base of the T, and two large, six pronged devices that are likely massive weapons at the front. "Twin Hydra class destroyer. It utilizes two Chaos Arrays, allowing it to punch well outside its weight class. Not a solo work, of course, but I was the project lead." She closes her hand and starts making the motions again, this time revealing what appears to be a much smaller vessel. "Ceres cropduster. Utilizes specialized pods to spread a spell across a field as it goes for species targeted pest extermination and crop fertilization." Rave nods her head a bit, appreciatively. "Very nice. Well, I don't work to much with ships, but I'm always looking to branchout." The dragon flips over onto her back. Not sure if she's still unconscious or just faking it for belly rubs at this point. Lee strolls toward the shore with cheery demeanor and bouncy step. Across their chest and Jackson-Pollack-esque tactical vest, Lee wears a band of cloth bearing their wares. Today it looks like bracelets and necklace pendants of loose-weave gray cloth frozen into fluttery shapes, lightly tinted in a way that shifts between two colors with the angle. Noticing Zelan, Lee raises a hand and calls to her, "Heya, Ze-" Lee finishes with a more quiet "oops" on coming over a rise and noticing the dragon reclining there. Zelan shrugs lightly. "Magus Spaceworks is primarily involved in starship manufacturing, so most of my work is involved in that, however we also have a fair amount of smaller systems, including sensors that can be small enough for handheld use." She produces her phone from a pocket, and taps her glasses with it. "My eyesight is fine. I made these as a display and peripheral to use in conjunction with the systems and sensors on my phone." At sound of the familiar voice, Zelan glances up towards Lee and give them a wave. Rave nods a little. "Sounds good. Well, if you want to get out of retail, I could use the help. I pay pretty well, too." she chuckles. Rave looks up and waves a little to the newcomer, other hand idly rubbing the smiling in her sleep dragon. Lee glances down curiously at the sleeping uniformed figure while wandering on over, then on coming closer, flashes Rave a smile. "Heya." Lee says, more quietly this time. "Ooh, Zelan, you making some industry contacts here?" Lee then adds cheerfully to Rave, "I'm Lee, by the way, just some wandering nut. Don't mind me if you're talking serious business here." Zelan's eyes widen considerably as Rave more or less states openly that she does need the help, and the pay as well. "Really? I would be eternally grateful to get myself out of that damn clothing store! Don't worry about the two week notice thing if you need help immediately, I'll just up and walk out of that place if you need me." Actually, she sounds like she might do that even if Raven doesn't need her immediately. She blinks and nods to Lee, saying a bit dryly, "Well, I'm certainly hoping to. All my leads have pointed to Raven here, and I was honestly beginning to lose hope on the whole situation." She lets out a sigh as she looks back to Raven. "Sorry, sorry, I've had a pretty lousy time since I got in this city. I was... supposed to be on vacation right now. But no home bank account means I need to find work, and it's been driving me up the walls lately that I've not been able to do more than try to explain to women why they aren't actually the size they think they are..." Rave nods a little. "It can get rough." She looks up at Lee. "Raven. Nice to meet you." she smiles. Lee grins at Zelan's enthusiasm, then looks more somberly between her and Raven as Zelan recounts her situation. "Nice t' meet ya too, Raven," Lee replies cheerily, apparently not thinking anything of the name. "The recent retail work'll be good for your real career, though, Zelan," Lee says with a smile. "See, ya get some customer who wants to fit the hundred-meter ship in a seventy-five-meter hangar, and you've gotta explain that all the slimming curves and strategically-placed stripes in the world aren't gonna change how geometry works." Zelan sighs again, shaking her head. "You don't have to tell me," she says in reply to Raven. Lee's comment gets her to raise an eyebrow. "...Urg... no, the equivalent of that is more 'I want all these features, oh, but the budget is only a third of what is required for you to do that at cost of materials.' Beleive me, I have flat out turned down some impossible design challanges." Rave grins. "Well, I don't take on impossible stuff. Or things I just don't have the resources for, you know? I'm pretty budget minded and all that, but can sure use the help, too. "Oh, gotcha," Lee remarks to Zelan. "Yeah, not a good idea t' blur the lines between 'discount' and 'gift'. And sometimes hard to figure out if someone's seriously ignorant about the market or just really cheap." Lee looks to Rave, "On the other hand, figuring out some creative ways around some self-imposed limits can be fun, right?" Zelan slumps slightly. "Yes, there is that fine line between 'challenging' and 'freaking impossible'. Like wanting a capital ship with low specs for the cost of a fighter because, you know, it doesn't need to do as much as a top of the line vessel would." She rolls her eyes, then straightens up as she looks to Rave again. "Well, I am more than willing to help, Raven, and would greatly appreciate the chance to do so for a reasonable rate of pay." Rave smiles. "Well, I have more than reasonable, don't you worry abut that. Plus it's better than any store. Right now it's more personal projects but I'm hoping to get out there more, you know?" Lee grins at Zelan's example, then keeps quiet for just a moment until Rave explains the offer. "'Personal projects'?" Lee says inquisitively, bouncing on the toes of their sandals a little. "Is this like your company's so fabulously wealthy you can just try something 'cause it seemed like a good idea? Or are ya talking something you build without an order, but knowing somebody'll like it enough t' buy it?" Zelan glances at Lee's question, wondering the same, but then she just shrugs lightly. "Hey, I'll take small projects over working with clothing any day. I'm an engineer, not a fashionista." She looks down at her fairly casual current clothing, and frowns. "Well, I do enjoy being fashionable more often than not when I can, but..." Rave grins. "Company? No. Hardly. Me? Yes I can pretty much do whatever I want," she chuckles. "Either way it'll keep anyone busy." "Gotcha. Fabulously wealthy individual," Lee says cheerfully. "Good for fashionable clothing money and even better for creative freedom!" Lee peers at Rave with mock suspicion, "Unless you're the sort who insists everything you buy is green, shiny, comes in sets of threes, and is purchased on a Tuesday?" Zelan blinks once. "Well, I suppose I did get the impression that it was going to be a more personal assistant kind of thing from your sister... So I shouldn't be surprised at that. But I would greatly appreciate the ability to use your workshop to experiment for my own project... Oh, I probably should mention, what I specialize in tends to be systems that combine magic with mundane tech. For instance, those sensors on my phone include those for various types of magical energies... which are woefully inadequate for this universe." She then glances to Lee with a raised eyebrow. Rave chuckles. "Personal assistant? No way. I actually want to create, so you'll have freedom and stuff. I just need help with some projects I have lined up. I have a dragon for a personal assistant. Not this one, but her mate." Said dragon does giggle a little. Guess she's awake after all! "Heya, snazzy-dressing partner to the personal assistant," Lee offers cheerily as the dragon reacts. "Sounds pretty cool to me," Lee remarks to Zelan. "Not every day ya pick up a wealthy patron who appreciates the work ya specialize in." Zelan smiles to Raven. "Yeeeees. I think I would like very much to be working for you." She then glances down at the giggling dragon. "I thought it was odd that that shock spell knocked you out for so long." Lee's comment gets a grin from Zelan. Nova stretches out a bit. "Well, it was quite a good nap, I think!" she smiles. Rave just shakes her head at the dragon. "You're a ham." she chuckles. She then thinks a moment. "Patron? Never thought of it that way. I kind of like that." Looking from Nova to Zelan, "Shock spell?" Lee asks with a frown. "Wasn't an accident involving unexpected greetings and some self-defense magic, was it?" "Rich patrons're pretty important in the arts. Lots 'f famous stuff never would've gotten designed if somebody hadn't thrown some money up in the air and said 'You look creative- Make me something beautiful!'" Zelan raises an eyebrow at Lee. "Actually, yeah, that's pretty close to it. Nova here landed directly on my stomach when I was a bit absent minded... I... might have overreacted a little." She then tilts her head slightly. "Patron... Huh. Well, I suppose Matron would be more accurate in this case, but... I can't say I'd say no to that kind of work relationship." Nova blinks at Raven. "Did I fly? At all?" Raven shakes her head. "Not this time, sorry." she gives the dragon a hug. "Well, yeah, I mean, as long as you do work, things'll be good. I've had plenty of lazy employees and don't care to repeat the experience. "Note to self: do not sneak up on Zelan," Lee remarks with a grin. "I might accidentally help with that flight experience if somebody small surprised me," Lee says to Nova, "but not gonna do any zapping kinda stuff unless I'm really creeped out." Zelan straightens herself up again. "Just let me know if I'm close to not pulling my weight. I'll do my best to not disappoint!" She glances at Nova's pondering of if she flew. "...Maybe some sort of gravity lowering assist device? A belt or something?" Her gaze travels back to Lee again. "Well, at least don't land on my stomach before I know you're there." Nova rolls over onto her stomach and flaps her too-small wings. "But, I'm a dragon! I should be able to fly without assistance." Raven chuckles. "Maybe one day." she looks back to Zelan. "Well, then consider yourself hired. We can go over pay and stuff later." Lee regards Nova thoughtfully while Zelan speculates on a solution. "Gotcha," Lee then cheerfully agrees with Zelan's request. Lee smiles at the word from Raven and offers Zelan an encouraging clap on the shoulder. Zelan slumps once again, though this time in relief rather than exasperation. The smile on her face is broad and genuine, and she gives Lee a quick smiling glance at the clap on her shoulder before looking back to Raven again. "You have no idea how much of a relief this is... I'm going to call in to that clothing store and tell them I quit, then I'm going to... heck, I don't know. If you want me to start today, I will, otherwise I think I'm just gonna go have a night out on the town to celebrate!" Rave laughs. "Go celebrate. We can start on Monday." She gets out her PDA and shows Zelan all the contact information. Nova gets up and stretches, then rambles over to Lee, sniffing the air around them. "Lemme know if ya need any help celebrating," Lee remarks playfully. "Haven't checked out anywhere near all the clubs in the area, but pretty sure I could think up all kinds of dumb things to do without alcohol." Crouching, Lee says to Nova, "Oh, 'n case ya didn't catch it, my name's Lee. And whatcha think of helium balloons?" Zelan looks over the information on Raven's PDA, her eyes flicking off in odd directions as she does so. "Got it, it's all stored now," she says before looking back up. With a look at Lee, she grins. "I don't think I need 'help' per say, but I certainly won't deny company! And why do you want to exclude alcohol?" Nova thinks about that a moment. "Too bitter and chewy for my taste. I prefer titanium steak with shaved copper seasoning smothered in a gold sauce." Rave chuckles. "Excellent. Just so you know mainly I work on guns and armaments mostly, as they're quick and well, I like guns." she smirks. "They're kind of my thing. But like I said, branching out." The Doom Marine trudges through the grass of the park looking somewhat restless. Ever his twitchy self, his helmet covered face scans the area attentively as if expecting something, anything, to appear unexpectedly. All he finds instead is a strange group of people gathered and having nothing else to do, the man in the green armor begins to walk towards them. Just in time to hear Rave's last remark no less. "Did someone say guns?" Comes the garbled voice of the Marine as he talks through the radio of his helmet. "Uh... huh," Lee remarks to Nova with some confusion. "Sounds like ya have some expensive tastes. Meant helium balloons for some low-tech levitation. Maybe a physics person could tell ya how many that'd take?" Lee looks up to Zelan. "Not a real big drinker, myself. But thinking up stupid things t' do is a lot easier drunk. Doing it sober's the real challenge." As the Marine speaks up, Lee glances in his direction and raises a brow uncertainly. Zelan raise an eyebrow and takes a couple of steps away from Nova. "Aaah, well, I'll have to built a couple of the personal scale weapons I've put together over the years, then. I've made an array of small arms that can-" pauses mid sentence as the Doom Marine walks up, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "Uhhh.... I'm not... really in need of a challenge at the moment," she says to Lee without looking at them. Nova nods a bit, taking a Star Fleet communicator out of her satchel and starts munching on it like a cookie. "Well, it could work temporarily, but eventually I would get too high and the atmospheric pressure would cause the balloons to burst and then I couldn't control my descent." she nods. Rave looks towards the new voice. "Yes, yes I did." she smiles, patting the holster on her thigh. "Kind of my specialty. Nice armor." she smiles. "Thanks." Answers the Marine to Rave and glances down towards the weapon strapped to her thigh. Hard to tell if he recognizes it or not considering his helmet with the slightly cracked visor is covering the entirety of his face, though he's definitely putting attention to it. He looks up to Rave's face and then scans everyone else gathered there. "By all means, keep talking about guns. I want to hear all you got to say." Lee remains crouching at Nova's level but offers the marine a smile and a wave. Lee doesn't seem all that thrilled with the subject of guns, though. "That's why you'd need t' run the numbers, Lee says to Nova. If it's just right, not taking ya up or down, that'd let ya move around under your own power, right?" Zelan looks slightly distraught by Nova's eating habit... really, more at that than the marine's appearance. "Aaaah, well, yeah, I um... The ones I've put together involved ways of compacting a spell into a small handheld device... They didn't really have to be guns, per say, but it was agreed that that would be the most efficient form, allowing for ease of aim and triggering. So... no bullets, a magic battery, and only a minimum of magical training required to pull it off. We've made leaps and bounds in the last few decades at reducing the size... we can now make pistol sized ones that are capable of firing weak spells upwards of forty times, depending on the user." Nova considers this. "Maybe, but I'd have to measure the gust my wings create." she nods, taking another bite of communicator. Rave grins at the Marine, taking out her sidearm. "Ares Predator mark four from my world. Modified, because I never deal with just stock. Got a whole collection of different ones in my shop and at home from all over the multiverse, and some I created myself from scratch." She looks at Zelan. "That.. that could be incredibly useful, actually." The Marine turns his gaze slowly towards Zelan when she begins to talk, or even gush really, about some of her creations. He takes a moment to stare at the dragon creature apparently eating electronic devices before he does that same slowly deliberate gaze towards Rave. He looks intrigued, or at least, its safe to say he's interested in the talk judging by his body movement. "Huh." He says simply. "You guys got shops around here? I could use stocking up." Lee does watch Nova crunching communicators like cookies, but doesn't remark on that. "Sounds like a good thing t'know," Lee says cheerily. "So do you work for Raven, too?" Zelan grins to Raven. "Well then, I guess we know what my first project for you is going to entail. We'll of course go over details Monday." She looks to the marine for a moment before looking to Raven again. She'd be more likely to answer that question, given the nature of what they were discussing just before the marine's arrival. She does, however, glance back to Lee and Nova. "We could figure that out by the surface area and your muscle strength easily enough, probably." Nova shakes her head. "No, I work for her sister, Ari. My mate Quark works for Raven." Rave nods at the Marine again. "I have one. With a storeroom full of weapons. Also if you need anything custom made I can do that as well, including custom ammo." she grins, rather enjoying talking weaponry. The soldier leans his head back a little at the answer and though that visor of his continues to cover his head, by the way his body shudders slightly its easy to see that he enjoyed that answer. "Oh ho ho, baby." He chuckles darkly, his voice almost sounding demonic due to his garbled radio. "Now you're talking my language. Where's this at so I can.. partake.. on your inventions. I'd be more than glad to test them out for you." Lee blinks at Nova's explanation and at that looks up quickly to Raven with a worried expression but still doesn't rise from the crouch. "Oh," Lee says uncertainly, rubbing the back of their neck. "How...uh... are the sisters getting along?" Zelan tilts her head. "Custom ammo... now there's a thought. Might not be cost effective, but the results..." She shakes her head slightly, then raises an eyebrow and takes a step back from the marine, by now creeped out slightly. Nova says, "Oh, just fine, actually. Granted there's a bit of a healing process, but they'll get there." she smiles toothily." Rave grins. "Finally, Someone who appreciates a good weapon! Where have you been hiding?" she chuckles, taking out her PDA, bringing up an address and showing him the screen. "This is my contact info, including my shop. Feel free to stop by, you can tear up my in-house firing range." "You don't want to know, sister." Answers the soldier to Rave when she asks where he's been hiding. Although he keeps his origins vague, he's clearly enjoying finding a kindred spirit here and nods when Rave shows him her address. The Marine pulls out his own PDA that's apparently attached to his armor and copies the info. "Hm, I'll Rip and Tear alright." He chuckles and slides the PDA back into his chest piece. "Thanks, I've looking for a good supplier around here. Couldn't find anything but magic shops and old fashioned blacksmith. Felt like I was stuck in one of those Arr Pee Gees for a while." "Oh, okay. Guess that's a good thing," Lee says to Nova, still looking a lot less cheerful and confident than a little while ago. "Aaanyway," Lee adds quickly, "So whatcha do for a living? Alloy tasting?" Zelan, in the meantime, gets a bit more quiet as Raven's conversation with the marine continues. She glances back towards Nova and Lee, but decides against butting back into their conversation. Nova giggles. "Ari's assistant! We've been over that. I just eat metal, is all. Though I hear other dragons eat gems." she nods. Rave smirks a little. "Yeah, you kind of get used to that after a while. I think mine's one of the few actual just tech shops in town. Name's Raven, by the way." The soldier nods in agreement. "Yeah, it's been.. trippy." Such sums his experience thus fare in NeoTokyo. He then hesitates when Raven introduces herself, apparently not all that well versed in proper pleasantries. "I am.. uh.." He stutters, does he not know his own name? "People.. call me Doom." Pause. "Nice to meet you." "Yeah, ya said that," Lee agrees. "Was just curious what kind of assisting." Lee motions to the sash decked with bracelets and necklace pendants. On closer inspection, the tinted frozen ripples are actually pieces of fiberglass window screen cemented into shape. "I do recycled art, myself." Nova looks around for a moment, then decidedly sits on Zelan's feet. "Oh, any type really. Setting appointments, fixing stuff, welding rafters in the club." she smiles. "Recycling is good! So's art! So I guess you got the best of both worlds." Zelan raises an eyebrow at the man's mannerisms, still well offput by them. She remains silent, however. Well, does until Nova sits on her feet. "Uhhh..." she says. "Okay, what's with your obsession with landing on me?" Rave nods a little. "Doom, huh? Well, I can respect a code name. Nice to meet you, too." she smiles. Sure, a code name. The Marine supposes that's what that name stands for. Doom then stands still for a moment and begins to wobble slightly looking as if he's losing his balance. "So." He says suddenly and stops wobbling at the same time. "Have you guys been at the Badlands?" Lee glances up in mild confusion at Raven as Nova mentions the club, then looks back to Nova. "Gotcha, Sounds like doing a little of this 'n that'd keep things interesting," Lee says. With Zelan's observation, Lee offers to the dragon, "Welcome to sit on my shoulder if ya wanna be eye-level with everybody." They let someone else take the Badlands question, instead remarking to Nova, "Yeah, I think storytelling's what ties the up-cycling and the art together." Nova looks up at Zelan. "Last time, I landed on you. This time I decidedly sat." she grins, then looks to Lee. "Storytelling in up-cycling?" Zelan makes a slight face at the mention of the Badlands. "I've been told it was a place to avoid at all costs, so... no, I have not." She then glances down at Nova again. "Might I ask why, in any case?" Rave nods. "I have. Been a while though. Need to finish my body armor so I can go back at some point." "Its the most fun I've had here by far." Continues Doom about the Badlands. "Almost feels like back at home. Almost." His head twitches a few times, it looks as if he has issues with involuntary spasms, though he gets them under control soon enough, just in time to hear Rave's comment about her armor. "I'm no blacksmith or anything, but maybe I can help with that. This suit of mine has a lot of stored info about armor used by the infantry of my world." "Yup..." Lee agrees with Nova but glances up to Zelan. "Yeah, if I were in your position, I'd wanna be sitting somewhere t' have a conversation without anybody having t' stretch their neck." Nova is still looking up at Zelan. "Because they looked comfy!" she grins cutely and toothily. She then looks at Lee. "Well, yes, but I fell a little while ago. I think I may stay on the ground for a little bit. I need to stay mostly uninjured if I'm going to have a brood." she nods. Rave looks over the Marine's armor and nods, noticing the spasms but she does have an idea where they came from. "Yeah, sounds good. Plus I could probably fix your visor pretty easily. If you want to keep going to the Badlands you'll probably want to see a bit more clearly." Doom holds a hand to his slightly broken visor. "Maybe." He says simply. "I've tried to fix it before.. nothing seems to work." His hand begins to shake a little bit more violently this time and he holds it by the wrist. "Excuse me, I.." From under his helmet, his voice becomes garbled and he starts to hurriedly back away. "Need to go.." Hey, when nature calls.. | |
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