witchesreign | The Raha Cup

Entry tags:

The Raha Cup

[The day is a bit cloudy, and wind on the water is around eighteen knots. The harbor is bustling with townspeople and visitors. Temporary stalls have been set up selling mostly food and drink or merchandise for the three Raha Cup yacht teams.

[You might need to shove a few people to get right on the waterfront, but the view of the boats in the harbor is well worth it. Once the race begins and the boats are clear of the harbor, remote control boats are available for rental; the race is expected to take two hours.

[At the nearby Balamb Hotel, there is a large TV screen set up outdoors with seating available. Hotel staff are running an outdoor bar for the occasion.

[Throughout the area and within a couple of blocks of both the waterfront and the hotel, a combination of SeeD, Cadets, and uniformed Balamb militia and police are posted as security, in response to threats received by the town council. Normally this event only has police security, so the townspeople seem to resent the need for this increased show of force rather than the fact that they're around at all.]

(OOC: Free-for-all! Feel free to make your own threads as well as using the location threads. NPCs may hit your characters up. You may have your SeeD/Cadet character hired as security if you choose; they will be in uniform, and will be on for half hour shifts so they have time to enjoy the event as well.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[There is absolutely no way to see a more irritated moogle than right here, right now. Not only were his studies over the past month utterly inconclusive, but several of his instructors insisted that he needed to do some missions to pass his classes and write off his repeated absences as "Garden-related", despite how heavily he was researching the Time Compression.

No, of COURSE, they should leave that to the do-nothing jerkoffs at Esthar! Figures, the one time the solution to a problem POSSIBLY comes up, they have to go and break reality, and then kill the guy.

As the icing on the cake, every time he's been in public on this trip, he's been swarmed by kids cooing and tugging at his ears and pom, thinking he's some sort of cute mascot for the races.

As of such, he spends his shift guarding the hotel in relative silence, sporting the absolute sourest look on his face possible.]

[Luckily for him, he's got a shift with Blues this time, which means he can stand there soured in silence. His robotic partner isn't going to bother him.

What he is going to do is whistle that song of his, tilting his head to any curious looks he gets.]

[No, he can't. To someone in a bad mood, the sound of whistling is like nails on a chalkboard. He bites down the irritation, though, occasionally glancing over before he finally speaks up.]

...Guess it's obvious why you're the Art and Music teacher, kupo.

[There's an awkward pause, then a sideways glance.]

Is this some sort of way of getting back at me for missing classes I've proven I don't need to take, sir?

[Excuse you, his music is awesome. And he was just trying to help in his own little way.]

I'd be a hypocrite if I tried to lecture you about missing class, so no. I'll leave that to anyone else who feels they need to. If you really needed the help, you would've come to class, so unless you ask me personally, I assume you can handle your firearms.

[And, perhaps blissfully, he can see that his partner is not in the mood to hear more, so he lets the silence settle back in. He does adjust his sunglasses some, sweeping a simple scan around the area.

Still clear.]

[Maybe if he was in a better mood he'd appreciate it. Blues does have a nice whistle.

That said, he nods, glancing around himself. Nothing really out of the ordinary.... save for another kid that squeals about seeing "the fluffy teddy bear!" again that he has to do his best to try to keep calm near. Yeah, she's headed this way. Great.]

Edited 2013-08-12 19:50 (UTC)

[As the girl comes over, Blues is suddenly there between the two of them, a hand on her head and a soft, gentle smile that -- if Emias has done his research -- is a bizarre and strange occurrence for the Instructor.

He kneels down a little to her level, pushing his sunglasses up so she can see his eyes.]

He's on duty right now, which means he has to stay focused so he can protect you and your parents and your friends. You want everyone to be safe and protected so you can have fun, right?

[The little girl nods and Blues's smile widens a bit.]

Then you need to let him do his job. Which means no pulling on him, okay? I'm sure that hurts, and you wouldn't like it if someone pulled on you until it hurt, would you? If you and your friends want to play, why don't you take Tango?

[The green cat approaches the girl carefully, meowing cutely. After a moment's hesitation, the girl pats his head, then giggles when he puts. She waves at the "nice and fluffy and tough teddy bear," then picks up Tango and runs off with him.

Blues takes his spot back next to Emias, pulling his sunglasses back down.]

[Sadly, his research has been entirely on the Compression, not on Garden staff or Sol Invictus. That said, he DOES gradually relax when he realizes he's not gonna get tugged on. Thank the scions, finally he's not being treated like a stuffed toy.

All throughout that, he sells what Blues is suggesting, not moving about except to glance around for anything out of the ordinary, before letting out a deep sigh when the girl has moved on and the instructor has taken his position again.]

Thanks.

[It's a simple, single statement, but heartfelt.]

I saw them pulling on you earlier, and how you did your best to tolerate it even when they got a bit rough.

[The sweet, gentle voice is gone, replaced by the calm, even tone he had before. When you actually ask around about him, Emias, videotape people's expressions when you say how doting he was acting.]

All she needed was it put in her terms. Hopefully, they'll all get the news and stop doing that.

A mercenary doesn't go back on the terms of the contract. If that means acting like a sincere, disciplined military moogle instead of getting upset at being treated like a giant plushie...

[He gives a shrug.]

You do what you gotta do, kupo.

[Maybe it's not the BEST way to look at things, but it's definitely better than some of the alternatives.]

Just because you have to act professional doesn't mean you have to be a playtoy. A "disciplined military moogle" has every reason to tell the children they need to not be touched or tugged on if they're going to do their job.

[Do you know how many kids tried to grab at Tango before he told them no? Tango may not scratch like a real cat, but they have to learn sometime.]

[That gets a bit of a chuckle, the moogle shaking his head.]

I have problems running my mouth, some of the other instructors can tell you. I figured it was the safer bet to endure it instead of saying something to them after I was already annoyed; the last thing ANYBODY wants is me going off and saying something I regret afterwards, kupo.

[...Seriously, all it would take is him getting on the case of a single person about their "damned hume-spawn" and offworlder tensions would spike through the roof again.]

[That is a good point. Blues nods slightly, approvingly.]

You shouldn't have to worry any more today, at least. Tango should keep them occupied for a while.

Is that... you know, safe? I know how rambunctious and playful cats can get, kupo, so trying to envision one made out of metal acting the same way...

Don't worry. Even if he wasn't programmed with the Three Laws, Tango knows how to be gentle around humans. They're safer with him there than not.

"Three Laws"?

[That causes the moogle to give a blank, confused look. Even the mooglecraft in his world had only gotten to the point of 'machine suits', not artificial intelligence.]

Edited 2013-08-12 21:05 (UTC)

The Three Laws of Robotics, restrictions programmed into robots to try and prevent problems.

The First Law is that a robot cannot harm a human. Even if he was that rowdy, Tango couldn't hurt them anyway. His programming wouldn't let him.

Edited 2013-08-12 21:09 (UTC)

[There's a bit of a nod, and then consideration. Several minutes later, he finally comes up with a question.]

What's defined as "human", where you're from, kupo?

Where I'm from, humans are the only sentient race in the world aside from robots. So there, if you think on a fully sentient level and are flesh and blood, you would be considered a human.

The other races here may or may not fall under that programming -- we haven't had a chance to check.

[With that bit of info, he can probably guess the other two Laws... or at least one of them. However, his curiosity gets the better of him.]

Well, you're looking at an opportunity to find out, kupo. Have him try to hurt me! If he can't or won't, that means I'm human by that programming, right? And if it covers me, then it'd cover all the other sentients, kupo.

[He still doesn't seem to have picked up that Blues is the exact same sort of robot as Tango is, or the fact that he's on duty and asking a superior officer, also on duty, to attack him. No, all he's focused on is 'we can get an answer to this question'.]

Edited (slight rewording) 2013-08-14 14:51 (UTC)

[For his credit, Blues seems completely unphased by the request.]

If you're volunteering, then we can see if Tango will bite you.

[Well, it would be nice to know for Tango. Especially with Sol Invictus around.]

But we'll wait until after we're off-duty.

I can't exactly say a big metal cat chewing on me would be pleasant, kupo, but that's why we keep Cure magic in stock.

[He blinks, suddenly realizing thatoh yeah, they were on duty.]

Whenever you're free, then. Can't be worse than being a kid's teddie-moogle.

(no subject)

whistleconcert - 2013-08-14 23:04 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

tiamat_shot - 2013-08-15 18:47 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

whistleconcert - 2013-08-20 19:52 (UTC) - Expand

[QUICK THERE'S A MOOGLE LET'S GO AND HARASS IT.

Espio's on break when he comes up, with something of a smirk. Oh, yes, he's seen the poor guy being fussed by kids...]

Aw, I never took you as the type to enjoy playing with the kids. They seem to really like you.

[Emias opens his mouth, several times, about to cuss up a storm at Espio, but each time the rational part of his brain tells him that, like it or not, the chameleon is his superior. The thought of further punishment shuts him up before he says anything, each time.

So he settles for the iciest deathglare that he can muster.]

[Which... only prompts an amused snicker.]

You done pouting adorably, fuzzball?

You haven't been around in a while. I just thought I'd say hi.

I've been doing research.

The guy might've been a total nutcase, but there had to be SOMETHING in what he was planning that can unravel this whole Time Compression thing, kupo.

[He's not really in the mood for explaining further than that, but he knows Espio is smart enough.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only