~DING! The elevator doors to the cozy main room aboard the Chalet Station open, and out walks an absurdly tall, twisted and overall bizarre Nidus Warframe.
In this creature’s clutches is a long, wide tray with piles upon piles of cookies, sandwiches and other goodies that the Warframe was attempting to avoid drooling on.~

Kapak:
“Oh my,” the Warframe growled through a surprisingly functional mouth, “this stuff smells too good. Don’t eat don’t eat don’t eat...”
The Warframe spoke to itself as it laid the tray onto a table in the center of the room.
“Ah. There we go. Now I just need some people to show up to prevent me from eating all of this deliciousness... I guess people should be arriving soon!”
Kapak looked at a clock mounted on the wall.
“I hope Leks gets here soon with all that tea! Can’t have snacks without a drink, I tell you.”

/Lekalis/

Rampant possibilities ran ripe through the Strider's mind as he patiently waited at the bottom of the Elevator; it seemed these devices took forever to come down and go up, and were always too crowded... even when he was alone.
Just as the fibres of his patience were about to snap and he reasoned a vent looked breakable enough, a dull thrum announced the arrival of the Elevator back at the base of its channel. Lekalis didn't hesitate as his battered Loki Prime slipped into the tube and easily flicked a toe up to poke at the console, beginning the delivery of himself up to the predescribed locale for tea.

Tea, of which, was held heavily in his arms; laden with a familiar and simple iron dish whose corners were chipped and jagged, and its surface more than a bit warbled... But it was familiar. He knew its grooves and awkward slants, so that the variety of tea still steaming in equally iron cups, all stayed still but for the slightest of wobbles in movement that only served to stir and brew the substance further.
Unlike most of Lekalis' proceedings, this setup was a bit more extavagent; Ruk's Klaw, Lunar Pitchers, and all measures of ingredients were arrayed throughout in a wreath along the dish. Small red berries were laced throughout like so many little lights. The oils of the berries glistened in the lights that passed over the Strider and his array of tea as he ascended within the Elevator shaft.
[1/2]

[2/2]

For once, the ascent was short and joyous; Lekalis' heart was unburdened by any woes, rather, he was all afloat in all measures but the physical as his half-horn helm wilted to one side in surprised delight at the 'DING!' of the Elevator's arrival.

The doors opened, and Lekalis stepped through with his tray full of tea, and spied the table just as the metal dias began to wobble precariously; there was a flicker of orange light as a Decoy apparated beside a Nidus, and another whirl of sunny twinkling as the Strider Switched with the Decoy to drop the tray rather gracefully but... loudly, beside Kapak.

Who, with much glee and perhaps some exasperation, Lekalis finally acknowledged with a spriteful pirhouette of a bow.
"Apologies : The rain delayed me."

Leveret
The food had been the part that stressed Leveret the most in preparation for this event. He wasn't used to potluck-style gatherings, and the canned fish and stolen rations his defector friends made do with at their dojo-turned-base seemed inappropriate.

He'd settled on bringing a variety of Cetus fish, salted and spiced and roasted on sticks to create an enticing aroma unmatched by anything he'd normally encounter.

The elevator ride was itself exciting, full of the smells of all the other foods already carried upwards inside it.
[1/2]

[2/2]
At the top, the battered orange and white frost squeezed eagerly through the still-opening doors into the room beyond.

"Hello hello!" he said loudly, excitedly spying a table full of goodies and some of his Tenno friends already waiting! Placing the fish-stacked black metal pan on the table, he first moved to Lekalis to give the battered Loki one of the standard Steel Meridian handshakes, which quickly ended with a powerful hug, another of which he bestowed upon Kapak soon after.

"Looks like not everyone is here yet," he commented, "hopefully folks will arrive soon!"

Rize
"Woah woah careful, just a little further." Rize told herself as she was bringing in a small tower of meat from earth, mars, and other places which were wobbling ever so slightly which made her nervous wanting to make the best first impression she could. Waiting for the elevator to come down she wondered who she would be meeting. DING "Finally, elevators always take forever. SIGH Oh well time to get up there before something bad happens." Rize said as she got into the elevator carefully then hit the top button with her foot which almost made her fall over with the tower of meat for this party. And then the elevator reached the top floor far faster than it did coming down for some crazy reason. Rize then exited the elevator only for her to start falling over. "WoahwoahwoahwoahWOAH. LOOK OUT!!" Rize shouted as she began to toss the containers with the food onto the table with skill you normally would expect of a tenno using a warframe rather than a red veil member. "Woo, that was rather close. heh Nice to meet you all i'm Rize. Forgive the introduction i really wanted to make a better one but i was starting to lose my grip on the meat i brought." Rize said slightly cheerful but mostly out of breath while falling back somewhat exhausted.

Kapak:
"Ah, excellent!" Kapak cracked a smile across his cherry-like head as the faint aroma of the tea escaped from the vessel Leks had set upon the table. The thud had indeed startled him, but just a tad.
Kapak watched, leaning against the table as Leveret approached the group, giving the familiar Frost a grin and a solid nod. Once the Nidus received the embrace of Leveret, he couldn't help but stiffen up awkwardly.
"Uhhh... thanks Lev..." Kapak choked on his words, "good to see you too."
The Nidus' breathlessness was not a result of Leveret's tight squeeze, but rather his awkwardness when it came to physical acts of affection that were greater than a hearty handshake.
As Rize entered the room with his meat, Kapak couldn't help but drip nearly a whole bucket of saliva from his jaw onto his own feet.
"Ah, yes, Rize, very nice to eat- I mean, meat... er, meet you!"

Sudoko Anirab
"...I'll probably never be allowed back there again..." Sudoko would approach the elevator, carrying a plate filled with Dusky Headed Virmink and Vallis Kubrodon meat. Pressing the button he'd wait... And wait... Until finally
DING "There we go!" He'd step inside the elevator and head up, being especially careful to not drop the food. Once he heard the second ding, he'd enter the room "
"Heyo! I'm not late, am I? Where do you guys want the food?"

//Runner

Guests, dinner, a feast? What was it again? The words ran through her mind as she shakily carried a few ornamental dishes of savory cooked Murkray and Charc Eel, even if her Banshee was holding it in her stead, the shaking wouldn't truly stop.

Very... delicious food. She shook her head as she entered another elevator, as she turned around... Runner realized Striker was beside her the entire time, shoving a plate or two into the Para Carrier's grasp.

"ELL-A, TROU-BLE?" Her carrier would parse, its robotic tone revealing its childish intellect.

"No Striker, I just need a helping hand."

"STRI-KER, NOT- HAND."

"...Your... beam... Striker."

The elevator ride wasn't as adventurous, but as the doors opened, her shaking would increase, she strode quickly, Striker saving some of the plates that fell, weighing him down with its pick-up beam, all the way to the table, where most of it sloppily slid across to escape her hands.

"G-Good- He-Hello!"

The Banshee quickly jolted away from the table, retreating with her Carrier to a 'less stressful' distance.

KAMOS & ATELA
Well, just Kamos. At first glance. He exited the elevator himself a bit after Sudoko, because he had to, y'know, wait for it to come pick him up. Why was this elevator so slow, and why were people going in one at a time? Whatever. The Rhino surveyed the room as he walked/stomped in, taking notice of Lev and Leks almost immediately. And y'know, there were others, but those two in particular. He stepped aside from the elevator and stood there, sort of surveying the room for a moment. If anyone was paying very close attention to the table, they might maybe possibly see a salad that wasn't there moments ago. Made of all sorts of various Earth plants, it didn't look too bad. Still just a salad, though.

The reason for its sudden appearance would become clear, when someone else entered. Well, 'entered' wasn't the right word. Atela had, in fact, gotten here long before Kapak, through the power of vents and invisibility. She placed the salad whilst invisible, and moved back to the corner she had been waiting in this whole time, before uncloaking. And just like that, the duo was here. Kamos wandered over to where Atela stood a moment later, and the two nodded to each other and stood there in silence. Looks like people were arriving, finally.

Kapak:
The Nidus waves at Sudoko.
“Hello! Right here is fine,” Kapak said, patting an empty spot on the table. Kapak frowned as the invisible salad appeared from seemingly nowhere, and he shifted his hand to point at a different vacant spot.
“My name’s Kapak, and welcome to our party!”

Sudoko Anirab
Sudoko nodded and placed his plates of food there. "Hello Kapak! It's nice to meet you." After placing his food down, he'd put his hand out to handshake Kappak

Leveret
Releasing the tall Nidus with a chuckle, Leveret stepped back and surveyed the newcomers. Most of them he didn't recognize, but he did spot a certain Rhino!

"Eyy, Kamos!" he said cheerfully, moving towards the next victim of his signature rib-crushing bear hug. "And this must be...Atela, yes?" he asked, giving her a friendly and solid pat on the shoulder.

Vuko:
From the nearby balcony window came three rhythmic sounds.

Knock
Knock
Knock

Behind the window stood a Youkai Ivara, colored in a wide variety of grays with rose gold finishes. On her back: a big red sack suspended with a white string over the shoulder. On her head: a red hat with a white pom-pom.

The character seemed to be in a jolly good mood, quickly switching his balance between the right and the left leg, and adjusting the sack every so often with the accompanying sound of glass hitting glass.

KnockKnockKnock

The Ivara repeated the knock on the window in a much higher speed, seemingly a bit annoyed that no one has opened it yet.

Sudoko Anirab
Looking over at the window, Sudoko would forcibly shake Kapak's hand before walking over to the window and opening it
"Hello! Did you bring food?"

Vuko:
Not even bothering to answer, the Ivara forced her way into the room pushing anyone out of her way.

“KAPAK!” A male voice rang out from within the frame as the Ivara made her way towards the Nidus, extending the one free arm into a bear hug.

Rize
"It's nice to meet you to... i'm sorry i don't believe you said your name. Well i'm glad that all the meat won't seem to go to waste." Rize said before taking a few steps back to see what was about to unfold.

Kapak:
"Ah ye-" Kapak watched almost stupefied as the newcomer gripped his twisted, Infested hand and pumped it before walking away.
"Well I n-" Kapak stiffened up once more as Vuko's Ivara suddenly seemed to pop up next to him, delivering the Nidus another hug.
"Voiddamnit- hi Vuko. What's this you got on? A costume? And gifts?"
Kapak looked over Vuko's shoulder and waved at Sudoko to come back over.
"Pardon my friend here, Sudoko," Kapak said sheepishly, "but Vuko's always been quite the fellow, eh?"
Kapak delivered a small, friendly punch to the Ivara's shoulder before leaning in close and whispering, "Better not have brought anything with those Voiddamn amphetamines or THC. If things get out of hand in this place, Disruptis will kill all of us. Well, he won't, but the /RU administration will."

Sudoko Anirab
He'd shut the window and turn around "It's all good, and uh... Is your hand alright?"

KAMOS & ATELA
While the Warframe couldn't exactly communicate facial expressions, it looked like Atela was glaring at Leveret during the shoulder pat. She didn't bother preventing it from happening, but it was clear that shoulder pats were not wanted here. Kamos went along with the hug, returning with equally rib-crushing strength.

"Hey, Lev. Been a little while." Kamos grunted, with some degree of friendliness. He and Atela were both leaning against the wall once again a moment later, Atela keeping an eye on the rest of the room.

Vuko:
“Now now, don’t be so dramatic. I’m all well and good within the laws this time!” He delivered in a happy tone.

“And pardon my manners. Vuko of house Drakkainen.” He exclaimed with a light bow towards the fellow who opened the window.

Without waiting for a response, he walked over to the nearest table and begun emptying the contents of his bag onto it.
Quickly, the table begun to fill with clear glass bottles, each about .3 of a liter. The colours of the liquids inside like a rainbow, from bottles filled with a bright, happy red, to ones in a vibrant, almost pink-ish, purple.

*Sudoko Anirab
"Sudoko Ani-" Noticing Vuko walk towards the empty table before he could reply, he'd look over*
"Ooh... What are those for?"

Disruptis:
It’s alright, everything’s fine.



A very rare voice boomed inside Disruptis’s head as the black and yellow Limbo made his way down to the meeting place. In his arms was a bag full of disposable ferrite utensils. He was supposed to have shown up before anybody else had, but he figured it was much too late for that now.

As he raced through the halls of the Epithetikos block, he couldn’t help but shake the feelings of unease he was being supernaturally fed.

Kapak:
Kapak left Sudoko and Vuko to chat while he moved over to talk to Rize.
“The name’s Kapak,” the Nidus said, picking a piece of meat off the pile on the table and depositing it into his Warframe’s skeletal jaw.
Kapak took a moment to look around the room, taking advantage of his Nidus’ absurd height. He scoured the heads of everyone to see who had shown up and who hadn’t yet.
Leveret, Lekalis, Ella, Kamos, Vuko, Atela and the two newcomers. Strangely, Disruptis still hadn’t shown up, but that was no surprise. That void-headed dope was always either fashionably late or stupidly late. Cev might’ve been with him, or maybe he was out doing something somewhere else in the System. And of course, Isa... parties were definitely not the Corpus Tenno’s scene, but Kapak has figured she’d at least come to deliver some of her Nutrition Bricks.
Still no sign of Muro, who he figured would’ve come with Vuko.
Kapak shrugged to himself and grabbed a handful of meat, throwing it into his maw and sealing the lump whole. The others Would come, eventually, perhaps. And who knows who other newcomers may appear?

Jay’kin was operating his warframe through the hallways. Attempting to make his movements seem fluid as possible as he’d begin to silently stare at the area around him.

“Oh boy... this is the right place, right? I don’t wanna interrupt the grinner if they’re having curfew.. wait I’m suppose to do that.. I mean it would be rude.” He began saying in his head, the six foot piece of metal beginning to appear against a door; watching it open as Jay’kin would begin to look around the area.. seeing many different Tenno.

“Mother scrap... that’s a lot of people. Bugger. What should I do?... This is making me more sickly then a Nox.”

A loud WHIRRING was heard as Bugger spoke inside his head in this annoying, hoodlum like voice. “YO, YO, YO! Just be chill ku-bro- we will be as cool as a arctic eximus! Perhaps you should say hi man?!” Bugger bugged out after saying such loud things.

Jay’kin gulped and nodded, whispering. “Y-yeah you’re right... h-here is go.” He’d take his first step into the room and suddenly he trips. Falling face first, yep... this was it. His social curse begins.

Lupin:
"Hmmm, Huginn, did you run a proper verification on the location?" Lupin asked over the internal communications.

Huginn:
"Indeed. Triple checked, Sir." -The melodic low voice of the cephalon responded.

Lupin:
"Why am I then watching a warframe sliding face first into a room?" He added in a slightly bemused tone, pointing a single gold gilded fingertip of his Ramses Inaros over at Jay'kins position from across the room.

Lupin had arrived shortly after the other Tenno and had walked out the ever-too-slow elevator just in time to catch a door slide open to let in the less coorditated Tenno. He then survey the room and spotted some well known guises, which confirmed the locale was indeed correct.

He stepped off the elevator to allow it retreat back down, clutching onto the wrapped box with his good arm, worrying the contents be disturbed in the slightest. His free arm found a comftable spot behind his back as he waited to be greeted and introduced into the party.

Muro & Aurelia:
In the midst of all the conversation, the elevator had returned to the ground floor, allowing the next pair of attendees, a Tenno and a green MOA, to enter and begin their ascent. As the elevator sped upwards, the Tenno shifted his weight, his arms burdened with what looked like an explosion of plant life.

Muro:
"Are you sure they're going to like these?" He asked the MOA, his face obscured by the many blooms he was carrying.

Aurelia:
"Of course they'll love them, will you stop worrying?" The MOA responded incredulously. "Anyone would think to bring food, but no one would think to bring something like this!" Though it wasn't visible through the Warframe's helmet, Muro rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

Muro:
"You can say that again." He murmured, before shifting his grip again. The MOA snapped its optic sensors upwards towards the Tenno.

Aurelia:
"I heard that." She huffed. "And please Muro, for void's sake be careful with those. If a single one of those arrangements are out of place I will hold you personally accountable." Muro almost couldn't hold back a chuckle at her threat.

Muro:
"Yeah, yeah." Just then the elevator jerked to a stop, signaling that they had arrived at their floor. As the doors opened, the the veritable cascade of floral scents that the elevator had been containing spilled into the main room. Muro decided to take initiative and step out into the room, though he couldn't really see in front of him. "Hey everybody! Sorry we're late." Aurelia entered behind Muro, flanking him on his left. (1/2)

Aurelia:
“Yes, yes, many apologies.” Aurelia had the MOA proxy bow, briefly showing the festive red ribbon that had been tied around what passed as the MOA’s neck. Looking around for a brief moment, Aurelia spotted a fairly empty table. “Muro, there’s a table approximately four meters in front of you. Be a dear and carefully set those arrangements down there. Muro grunted affirmatively and slowly strode in the indicated direction, carefully testing his steps to ensure he didn’t trip over anything. While he was occupied, Aurelia noted a few familiar faces and strode towards them.
“Good evening Vuko, and you as well Kapak. Glad to see we aren’t the only ones who are late.”
(2/2)

Disruptis:
Disruptis dodged passed a couple scientists pushing a cart of hazardous vials as he continued down the bustling hallway. His ‘frame attracted a lot less stares than usual: a sign of changing times. /RU HQ was getting used to the regular sight of Tenno working around them.



The voice boomed again, effectively hijacking all other thought processes. Look, you could start giving me clear explanations any day now, that is an option. You don’t have to do this, the Tenno ‘thought’ back. Not that it ever seemed to do anything.

Then the Limbo caught a look at the wall around the corner, and did a double take. There, on the regular ferrite and alloy, was a glowing yellow crack.

The crack seemed to extend infinitely into the wall which constantly churned like an event horizon on an orange and red hue. It was by far the weirdest thing Disruptis had ever seen. He swiftly placed his baggage on the floor and ran a hand over extraterrestrial apparition, only to find it cleanly enter the hole. Curious.

|Bugger|

The AI whirls into life in Jay’kins head; beginning to speak. “Scrapper! You friggin nailed it! Way to cause a uproar home-ducat! Now get up and show these cool kivats how nice you’re! Oh by the way, some desert dude is pointing at you.”

|Jay’lin|

“Thanks Bugger.” He said in a slightly embarrassed voice; he moved his arms up and went into a push-up position, placing his knees against his stomach before springing back into life with a wild jump. The air around him vibrating with force before he went into a full squat and afterwards stood up; looking over towards the strange warframe with very weird toes. (Inaros.)

“Oh umm. Hello there! M-my name is Jay’lin. I was brought here because of a party I believe? I mean, I think that’s why everyone is here.” He looked around, giving a metallic fake laugh. @Vosen

Vuko:
“Just an assortment of my personal produce.” He responded without even turning his head to Sudoko, continuing to organise the bottles until they formed a neat rainbow. “There. Done.” Vuko let out in a satisfied voice.

The Ivara then quickly left the table, clearly ignoring and trying to get away from the conversation, maybe finding it boring, dull, or who knows what. The warframe started to make rounds around the room, trying to spot any familiar faces, which there was surprisingly little of.

First he found Lekalis, but.. well they’re not really talking, and for good reasons.

Close to him was Ella, hidden away in a corner. Not much to talk about with either, so he just politely nodded to her.

Then there was Kapak again, stuffing his face hole. If Vuko had to know one thing about him, is to not stand between him and a meal. So not much to do there either.

Sure, there was way more people, but did he really want to interact with them? Maybe later... Propably once the party kicks off properly. Or maybe give them a chance...?

He was about to choose a random individual to go and ‘socialise’ with, but then came another elevator ping. And who would’ve guessed - inside is his brother and his brother’s cephalon. Just like that Vuko was off towards him, his right hand going for the bro-liest of handshakes.

Lupin:
The gold-gilded helmet of the Inaros betrayed no emotions, but the shifting glint off the metallic surface remarked a subtle and calm nod, followed by cursory glance at their warframe.

"Yes, of course." He unfurled his arm from behind his back and offered a handshake. "You may call me Lupin." He took a brief pause as his sight briefly travelled over to the main table, then back to the Tenno beside him. "I'm see the gathering is far more informal than anticipated, will leave plenty of time for cordialities."

"Are you one to socialize often, Jay'lin?" He asked while awkwardly motioning with his cargo-weighted arm that he'd be walking towards the main table. "Personally, it is my first time in Tenno company for social reasons, since... hmmm... well far too long."

Jay’lin

“N-no sir. Usually I’m just on Cetus trying to help the people and making sure the threats of the solar system are kept at bay. I’m kind of... on my own journey you see!” He begins to take the hand slowly; cuffing it in both his metallic fingers and beginning to shake roughly, keeping his grip firm before following Lupin.

“Perhaps we can meet some new people here?! I’d love to uhhh... errmm. Socialize? I mean I can try to do something new.” He shrugged, thinking inside his head.

“Scrap, I sound like a total cluts right now. Maybe going back to my orbiter and crawling out my skin will be a better option.. I’m already here though so I guess nothing to lose here.”

@Vosen

Leveret
Soon running out of people he recognized, Leveret turned to the growing number of newcomers in the room.

“Rahm, so many new faces!” He exclaimed, approaching one pair of Tenno he hadn’t met before, starting with the gilded Inaros.

“Hey there!” He said with a hearty shoulder-pat. “You two new around here?”

Lupin:
"Well, in that case, I would suggest you start loosening up. Did I not say to call me Lupin? The only one calling me 'Sir' these cycles is my cephalon." He added in a softer tone as he laid the ornate wooden box on the table, though the raspy low voice emanating from the warframe betrayed little of the intended kindness.

"How about a game of Komi? I have do find it to be a great-" His slow speech was interrupted mid-sentence by the Frost patting his shoulder. "-way to break the ice." He finished while slowly turning around to face them.

"Ahem- I cannot speak for my new acquaintance, but this would indeed be my first time in a gathering of this institution." He offered a cordial handshake while gracefully side-stepping to leave the now ajar box holding the Komi set. "I'm known as Lupin." He added, leaving ample room for both new acquaintance to introduce themselves.

Disruptis:
Disruptis paced down the eerie halls once again. His focus was glued to the special synoid gammacor mounted onto his hand. It was feeding him information about the recently scanned abnormality he had left to security.

15,502,600,000 cubic meters? Muck, that’s the max limit on this thing. It’s probably even bigger!

He mulled over these thoughts as he called an elevator. Today was an open house. That meant inviting a bunch of Tenno interested in the /RU corporation, and possibly people who were just interested in having a peaceful moment for once. First impressions were key.

Disruptis straightened the white tie hanging around his Limbo’s collar. He would have to worry about the whole rift-inside-the-wall thing later, now was time to enjoy the company.

Jay’lin.

“S-sorry sir! I won’t let it happen again.” He’d begin saying, twirling his metallic thumbs together in a very shy fashion. His head hanging low as he’d begin speaking up.

“Komi? Oh sure. I’ll play! The kids on Cetus love playing it with me.” He’d give a very passionate nod of his head and a thumbs up before the frost came up and introduced himself. After Lupin spoke , the soft-hearted boy begins speaking.

“New! Very new actually, first time I got invited into a party. Umm, I am Jay’kin! Nice to meet you snow dude!” His whole world crashed... why did he say that? Why would he say something so -STUPID.- He’d begin face palming, making his warframe do the same thing as Bugger began to speak.

|Bugger|

“Aye Bro! You really knocked it out of the gambit there did ya? Yeah, I think all those days of sleeping led you to be a big mess, scrap-bro. Perhaps another nap would do good?”

Jay’kin

“At this point in time, Bugger. I don’t think sleep can save me from the embarrassment I am about to receive.”

Leveret
“Ahaha! Snow dude!” Leveret chuckled. “My name’s Leveret. Jay’lin and Lupin, eh? Good to meet you two!” He said, giving both Tenno each another pat on the shoulder.

“Go ahead and meet some folks! We’re pretty friendly. Eh, most of us.” He said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Don’t be intimidated by that big nidus over there. I swear we’re a couple bugs away from being friends at this point.”

KAMOS & ATELA
The two have taken a seat in one of the corners by now, mostly just watching the group mingle and converse amongst each other. Both the Rhino and the Ivara seemed content with staying out of the fray here. Judging by very small movements and gestures, it would seem the two were speaking to each other. About what was unknown, as they were likely talking too quietly for anyone to hear, but they spoke. There was the occasional glance toward the salad from Atela, but that was about it. Generally, it would seem the two were currently staying out of this party right now.

Lupin:
Lupin gave out an easily misconstrued sigh of sympathy for the nervous newcomer, who had yet again called him 'sir', but let the slip-up pass without further comment at the risk of cursing them with further social awkwardness.

"None of mine, I hope." He let out a single bout of chuckle, one which might just as well have been a scoff, at his own bug joke. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Leveret. And worry not, there's a plethora of guises picking my interest; I simply prefer to take my time digesting the encounters." He said with a coy smile behind the 'mask', he wasn't one for comedy, but mixing social gatherings and wordplay were one of the few small treats left unfazed by the passage of time.

"I would be delighted to have you join me for a game of Komi afterwards, if that would interest you, Leveret." He added, as he turned back to the table to slide the box' lid completely off. "And please, use the spare sets freely." He offered at last, as he pulled one of four Komi boards crafted in full Orokin fashion; the grey marble inlaid with gold filigrees matched the black and white pieces, each with a meticulously engraved sun or moon on their surface, matching their respective colors. The board pulsed with faint cyan energy as the magnetic surface sprung to life, demanding it be played.

"The first move will be yours, Jay'lin." He pointed out while handing them the small compartment filled with the black pieces.

Kapak:
“Komi, eh?”
As if right on cue, the bloated, looming frame of Kapak descended over Jay’lin, Lupin and Leveret. The Nidus rested a bony hand on the shoulders of both the Frost and Inaros. He cracked a wide, mischievous grin on his face, saliva still dripping from the Warframe’s skeletal maw- looks like Kapak had been gorging himself with food once again.
“That’s a nerd game,” Kapak spoke, shifting his head to alternate between looking at Jay’lin and Lupin, “for big nerds to play. Last time I saw someone playing this dumb Orokin waste of time was in Orcus... some weird Excalibur who didn’t speak to anyone was just sittin’ in the middle, playing anyone who decided to sit down next to him. Muckin’ nerd I tell you.”
Kapak snapped his finger as he raised it from Leveret’s shoulder, pointing towards the others.
“Know what a real game is? The Index. That’s right, a REAL game where only the toughest, meanest fathermuckers can spill enough blood to win.”

Sonera
Just then, the Nidus will feel a sudden weight on to his shoulders and if he, or the people around him look up, they will see a little child that can’t be taller than ~1.50m, wearing a bloody silly grineer mask and dressed in a trashed out basic transference suit that looks like their owner got dragged through thorns, mud and bushes. A evident smirk is growing across her face as she plops down to sit on the Nidus’s shoulders, her legs dangling from around his neck.

“Ey ey!”

I boost with that cheerful and excitable tone, my right hand dropping down to trace a circle pattern on top of Kapak’s sticky head

“Index good! Index fun! But Rahtuum where it’s at! Yes yes! Just takes a beat of sneaking to grab that channel, yes yes! Also! You should eat more vegetables….your skin full of pores”

I chuckle under my breath as I start poking the flesh on the back of his head

Lupin:
Were his frame to have any facial features besides four imperturbable eyes, a single eyebrow would've been raised to the eccentricity of the two newcomers to the conversation. Instead, he seemed unfazed by the sudden carefree energetic attitude of the Tenno in the flesh.

"Do not misunderstand, I have partaken in my fair share both of those 'games' for entertainment -and sustenance. Komi is, however, the superior challenge in terms of strategy and forethought. Though perhaps that is more so on the opponents." He quipped at the end, the tone barely managing the intended implication of a 'wink'.

"However, if you do not mind me derailing the conversation-" He added quickly before the 'best game of the Origin System awards' could continue. "-I was not expecting to see operators walking the floor at this party. I must say I am quite disappointed to have missed the opportunity. Though I must say, it is a pleasure to 'see' others in the flesh." He added, with a soft nod at the Tenno.

Kapak:
"Well, I mean, how the muck else were you going to eat all the food we got here, eh? Not every Warframe has a functional digestive system complete with an oral aperture!"
Kapak picked at something in between his teeth, shifting uncomfortably to support the Tenno sitting on his neck.
"Sonera stop poking my Voiddamn 'pores'!"

(Jay’kin)

He gulped slowly from his pod; realizing a lot of people were center massing upon him. He began focusing upon the game, nodding at Leveret for a moment before addressing Lupin.

“So I see you’re much of a knowledgeable person; I’ll be glad to take you on.”

He said with determination. Putting one of the black circles in the center of the board. Letting himself have a head start, although he knew very well he could be boxed out almost instantaneously in the next three rounds; he has a plan and that’s all that matters.

“Let this game begin, shall we?” He said with a good mood towards his voice; taking notes of all the different people now and even a operator. Maybe he should’ve got out of his own metal shell, but who knows? Perhaps this party was warframe only... or not. He didn’t know any better and his stomach was telling him to leave before he embarrasses himself.

Elizabeth.
The doors slide open and nothing is heard for a span. Finally, an armoured Trinity Prime with an angelic halo steps forward and immediately stops, surveying the room with a measured stare. In a deliberate motion, the conduit drops her arms to the twin handles of matte gold Akbolto, the body language of hesitation clearly audible ere the door behind her slides shut. Jumping slightly, the Trinity transforms her surprise into motion and steps out of the walkway and across to observe the Komi board from afar.

Leveret
“Aha! And here he is now!” He said cheerfully as the massive Nidus approached. “Hey doc. Keeping yourself away from the goodies so far?”

And then suddenly a Tenno appeared on his neck. “Woops. Looks like you got a little clinger-on. Lemme get that for ya...” He said, standing on his toes to grab Sonera around the waist and lift her down.

Lupin:
"A classic opening." He placed a sun piece in the spot diagonally adjacent to Jay'lin's piece with practiced elegance before turning back to Kapak.

"Customarily, one would not show their 'true self' without first establishing proper diplomatic relationships." He replied with a tone fitting of a teacher addressing their class. "Nor was I concerned by the nutritional value and quality of the food; I had taken it to be a 'token gesture' for the festivities. That is not to say I did not come prepared-" He added as a small swarm of seven gold and black beetles crawled out of the warframe's neck joint and marched down one arm to reach the table with military coordination; the well trained soldiers continued onto the nearby meat slab, pinching tiny pieces before returning triumphantly towards the Inaros.

Elizabeth
*The Trinity draws back in shock, then sidesteps with all the silent, lithe grace of her kind. Knowingly or not, she finds herself flitting across to the foodstuffs. Pausing there, she examines her surroundings a second time, one silver-gold hand raising to fiddle with an ornament of her helm's circlet, but stopping short, she resumes her hand to her side and shifts from one foot to the other.

At last, however, she lowers herself to both knees and rests her hands in her lap, the Warframe assuming a strange calm befitting of the regal, scarlet cloak that half-curls about her side. Noticeable now is a large greatsword slung between her shoulders, the edge keen and cutting a thin groove in the floor before its owner settles.*

Muro:

After what felt like an eternity of stumbling blindly forward, Muro felt the thud of a table against his leg. Sighing in relief, he began to set the collection of flowers on the table. He still didn't understand why Aurelia had to go and prepare so many of these arrangements, but at the very least he was happy to be done carrying them. Hearing footsteps approaching him, Muro turned around to see Vuko striding towards him, arm outstretched.

"Vuko!" he said loudly, joyously walking towards him. Muro returned his handshake tightly before pulling him in for a brief bro hug. "Sorry we're so late, Aurelia wouldn't let us dock until she had finished her gifts." Pulling back a moment, Muro looked over Vuko's shoulder towards the rest of the room, noting the unfamiliar faces mixed in with his friends. "Hey, who're the new people?"

Jay’lin.

He vigorously thinks for a moment; beginning to calculate every movement he could. The shy Tenno suddenly gaining this vigorous and intense aura towards him; he takes another one of his pieces. Placing it vertically towards the diagonally placed solar piece.

He had his hand on his jaw now, upcoming knowledge and plotting against his newfound aquitance Lupine. Murmuring his next moves towards himself.

Lupin:
Without a hint of doubt, he placed the next sun piece against the edge of the board, starting to circle around the moon formation. [ https://i.imgur.com/vIEV3Y4.png ]

Meanwhile, the scarabs steadily crawled back over his arm and in through the joints and lids on his gilded exterior. "Quite gamey with tones of ferric dust. Martian wildlife?" He murmured audible, but for himself. "Homely even." He added with uncharacteristic warmness to his tone. "What about yourself then, Kapak? I can't imagine your fleshy vessel is any more comfortable than mine own, you claim it only logical to come in the flesh, yet you yourself did not." He added, with transparent curiosity.

Sonera
A cheerful chuckle bubbled up from my throat as the Nidus yelled at me, trying to stop me from my fun. ”No no, can’t stop, no no” My head lifts up as I see the sand-smelling Frost approach and stand up to grab on to me. A deep pout shifted my happy expression, like a toddler being picked up when behaving wrong.

“No fun no fun!”

I boom with my arms crossed over my chest as the Frost set me down, the face behind my mask showing clear displeasure! But…as always, my focus doesn’t stay as long ”No no, let it flow…like Clempo’s tea!” I chuckle to my own thoughts and shift my gaze towards the gathering, or more precisely, towards Lupin. I let out a low hum, tilting my masked head to the side as a delighted grin spread across my lips.

“Oh? It’s a eating gathering no? How you eat in those bulks?! And…not very friendly to walk about in your carnage machines hmmmm?”

I grin at the end of my lightly spoken words.

“Well! Not counting these guys”

I add, pointing with my thumb at the Nidus as one of “these” guys, like some sort of race hate. But in fact, talking about those that have no operator to come out as…at least…as of yet!

Vuko:
He returned the brief hug with an obligatory pat on the back, quickly letting go afterwards. The Ivara also greeted Aurelia with a light, courtly bow. “Oh, I pity you then. Can’t imagine what kind of hell Ide would’ve had me go through. And I have no idea who these people are, probably some new /RU employees.”

Upon hearing over people speak of Komi, he visibly shivered. “Oh void, they have no idea how to have fun properly, do they? Let’s go and show them how to have some fun. What do ya say?” Vuko nodded to Muro in question.

(Jay’lin)

He decides to make a power move. Placing his Komi piece right on the one on top. Beginning to smirk in his pod as he’d say.

“Your move Lupine, This is getting exciting scrap-bro!” He chuckled, the shy boy getting out of his shell now as he enjoyed the festivities. Wow... being around people is kinda nice for once.

Muro:
"Huh. Guess I missed the memo on that." Muro shrugged. "Sure, I'm with you. We should try to grab Kapak too if we can. Something tells me he'd be into whatever you have in mind." Muro paused for a minute, as Aurelia walked up to join the pair. "Oh yeah," he began, turning to face his Cephalon's proxy, "Aurelia, do you mind having someone else help you set these things up? I think I saw Sonera around here somewhere."

Aurelia:
"You're hilarious, you know that?" Aurelia said dryly. "I'll just- " However, Muro was only half-listening, focusing instead on scanning the meeting room.

Muro:
"Ah, there he is." He interrupted. "Hey, Sonera!" Muro shouted. "Mind coming over here for a sec? Aurelia's got a job for you!"

Kapak:
"Ha!" Kapak laughed at Leveret, "On the contrary, my belly is already filled with such delicious morsels... but there's always room for more."
Kapak waved his hand at Sonera's remark before scanning the room once again, spotting Elizabeth's sword's mark on the floor.
"Oh you gotta be..." Kapak looked the other way... fortunately, no Disruptis yet.
"HEY YOU!" Kapak shouted across the room, "YEAH YOU IN THE TRINITY! THE MUCK'S UP WITH YOU, EH? LOOK AT THIS MESS!" Kapak splayed his hands to the floor where the line the blade had carved sat.
Kapak shook his head and turned back to the crowd.
"Heyo... anyone here know how to fix floors by any chance? You know how /RU is about keeping the facilities clean..." Kapak said, pointing to the floor in order to draw attention to the mark if anyone was listening.
"They've got real sticks up their anuses about protocol... Disruptis will have a mountain of paperwork to deal with if we don't clean this up. And I imagine we'll get in trouble too!"

Vuko:
After pondering shortly on what Muro said he adds. “That might be a good call. He’ll probably know where everything is. I’ll go get him.”

The Ivara quickly made its way through the crowd, as the tall Nidus was quite easy to spot, like a beacon on the sea. He then tapped Kapak on the shoulder, with a query in mind. “Are we still waiting on someone or can we get this party going? I’ve been thinking of loosening up the atmosphere with a little beer pong tournament.”

Leveret
The frost chuckled and gave his taller counterpart another friendly shoulder slap - though he had to reach a bit to get up there. “Eh, well don’t forget to try what I brought. The Karkina is soaked in butter. You won’t believe the favors I had to pull from Geordie to get a hold of the spices and stuff.”

“Hmm? Who’s this?” He asked after Vuko approached. “You new around too?”

Vuko:
Being asked a question threw him off course a bit, as he was waiting for his friend to answer. With a quick glance he did however manage to locate the source of the question - a white and orange Frost. “Uhh.. yes. I mean no. I’m not new.” He said with a rushed voice. “You a friend of Mr. Mustache right here?” The Ivara asked while pointing at Kapak delicately.

/Lekalis/

A rush of new faces and a flutter of fracturing and fermented odours barraged the senses of the Strider as he stood a bit stiffly at the onset of so many curious faces. Both, familiar and new were frightfully but intoxicatingly intriguing as he stood there, his various augments aglow and humming in such tandems to his own idle musings that the difference between his vox and the countless instruments was only minutely distinguishable from one another. Like the harmony of an ocean's waves upon a shore, and the running of a river nearby.

Touch did rouse the Strider, but for a moment, as his arms rose weakly in an echo of the embrace Leveret gave as the Strider stood a bit dumbfounded still, as his sunny eye glimmered and flickered over the various Warframes.
It had been so long since he'd seen such rapturous splendor amidst those faces he might call comrades. His distant heart rose and fluttered enough to send his head in a tizzy as he took a few steps back from the commotion, to find some reprieve from the noise and social ecumene's before him.

He muttered some distant hello's and goodbye's until he found a seat, upon the floor neath the window Vuko had invaded through; The Strider's hands fidgeted over his sash and produced a familiar iron cannister that shook in his prosthetic hand, while his good hand procured a triad of iron cups which he set afloat beside his lazily sat form.
In some measure of recollection, he methodically saw to pouring out a hot, bubbling and clear liquid into each iron cup as his eye watched the proceedings in a humming, droning silence.

Lupin:
"Hmmm, Ko... Ko in two... Ko in two..." He mumbled to himself cocking his head to one side as he surveyed the board. "An aggressive move, yet you don't strike me as one to maintain such offensive fervor." He added while fidgeting with a sun piece between his fingers. "Ah, of course." With equal restrained enthusiasm he placed the piece completing a solid 3-piece string. [ https://i.imgur.com/xc445yD.png ]

With the move in place, he turned his head back towards the rest of the amassed party, only to find the others had been drawn away. There was nothing he could do to salvage the floor at the moment, lest he offer the stack of credits to hire a dedicated crew. Instead, he focused on the table overflowing with food and the mention of alcohol, which he now caught the fragrance of in the air.

"Take your time with your move, I shall return shortly. I think it high time I shed away from my gilded companion." He informed Jay'lin, pushing himself away from the table and board, making his way over to the the outside-facing wall; he gave the mysterious figure an acknowledging nod before knelting a comfortable distance away, certain not to disturb them, proceeding then to take on a more comfortable meditative position. Wisps of deep purple energy briefly spewed from the warframe's back as the elegant frame of a young man emerged materialized.

The black-haired tenno took a moment to straighten out his long flowing suit and properly affix the shoulderpad. Taking one more moment to check his reflection on the nearby window, he found himself pleased with the highlight upon his svelte figure and sharp facial features; he held his hands behind his back, and returned to the party with a stern and heavy, yet graceful step. [ https://imgur.com/a/gXFStbA ]

Leveret
Before he had time to listen to the Ivara’s response, Leveret spotted Lekalis’ distinctive warframe pushing quietly through the growing crowd to come to rest by the window.

He recalled how the fellow Steel Meridian member had seemed distant during his hug earlier, and decided it would be a good idea to check on him.

He meandered over and plopped down on the ground nearby, not too close so as not to bother Lekalis, but also not too far away. He was still working on the whole ‘boundaries’ thing, but he was confident he’d picked his spot well - at least this time.

Should Lekalis glance in his direction, he would offer a quiet thumbs-up and head tilt, as if to ask, “you good?”

/Lekalis/

The Strider didn't seem to acknowledge Leveret's presence as he filled one cup, then the next. Not a one overflowed, and each had a equalized rise of fluid; a soft sizzle brimmed and frothed at the lip of each hovering cup as the Strider's vox sparked up in its signature and staticky filter.
"Hello Leveret."
Lekalis agreeably accomodated the Frost's sittings with a bow of the brow. The red braid on his one good horn bobbed and danced in the motion.

"Would you like : tea, chatter... silence?" He inquired humbly as his eye finally broke its attentions to look at Leveret,
"It has been awhile : unfortunately, sadly... You look happier out of the rain." The Strider's hands moved as if posed about by some puppetteer, each finger twitching and wrist moving as if tugged along by a string. Graceful still, in a curious, mechanical way as he produced a lock of Ruk's Klaw roots and a root like ginger in his hands. He held them ready, as he waited for Leveret's answer.

(Jay’lin)

He made his third move, fitting his aggressive play style. He placed the black piece onto the bottom of the middle piece/ opening two more pathways for victory. He awaited with a smile for his friend to come back.... but realized something; his friend got out of his warframe.

He gulps, watching the black-haired boy adjust himself as Bugger began to speak.

/Bugger/
“Yo, I know what you’re thinking! Change man! Live a little!” Bugger commented, beginning to get ready for transference.

/jay’lin/

“You’re right... Lets do this! Cowabunga it is...” He got up from his metal suit and placed it against the nearest wall. Taking a deep breath, he’d begin to brighten from his frame before materializing in a very matter-like manner. White streaks of puffy clouds slithering from his form as the boy appeared. Deep amber eyes filled with the fiery passion scanned the room, a parted black hair cut with a nice combed over look on top of his head. He wore the basic garbs of a villager from Cetus, seeming to have gained some of their armor from before.

“Oh wow... I feel so tiny, well... back to some Komi.” He went back to his side of the seat, smiling slightly and awaiting Lupine to come back eagerly.

(http://imgur.com/a/Fxblxfi)

Leveret
“Well, I mainly came over to check in. You seemed kinda out of it.” He said, settling cross legged with his back against the wall. “Tea would be lovely, thank you. As for chatter or silence, whatever suits you. I’m fine with either.” He said.

With a flash of orange-gold light, the Frost’s body dropped slightly as Kinsey sat forward and separated themself from their frame. “There we go! That’s a bit better for tea.” They said, grinning, a friendly sparkle in the eye that wasn’t covered by the grineer-esque device. (Whether it was a patch or some visual device it was hard to say.)

Kapak:
"Oh, so everyone's coming out of their Warframes, huh?" Kapak stood up straight, hands on his hips.
"Well, I guess I should join in!"
The Nidus' chest and Infested boils began to glow brightly until...
until...!
Three maggots popped out of the swollen nodes in the Nidus' flesh.
"You think I'd just pop out like a FOOL just like that? HAHAHA!" Kapak howled and threw his head back, his jaw open wide to reveal a dark, mysterious glow from deep within his throat.
"Well, enjoy your Komi game," Kapak wished to the two now exposed Tenno before scurrying off after the maggots that had now threaded their way through the rest of the party.
"I'll join you guys in a bit!" Kapak yelled at Vuko and Muro as he passed them by, "gotta deal with some... ergh!... stuff!"

/Lekalis/

The Strider looked to be stricken for a moment, as Leveret removed his self from the Warframe; Lekalis supposed it did seem like what most were making out to do... it made sense.
"You know... I never knew : Why, how... what. Tea I made." he admitted as he nodded once in kind to Leveret's declaration.

The Ruk's Klaw roots were already so fine, and the power behind the Loki Prime's digits so great, that the substance was ground to a powder with a snap of his fingers. The pale substance trickled out and covered the liquid, ceasing its frothing nature with a veil of bone-like powder. The next were shavings of the ginger root, which the Strider idly clove free with the nail of his good hand as he spoke on,
"I made tea for myself : alone, dark, silent... For the longest time. Between deployments, between bloodsheds." The Strider shrugged and the root has been finely sheared off into the cup, gone in his hands. Now, he dipped the slightly ashen hued little finger of his good hand into the brew; the finger was far from little, rather grotesquely long like a spine on a fish... but it slid through the powdery veil and began to stir.

"I used to be so... Good. With crowds : communes, forums, festivals..." The Strider hummed, sadly, and pulled out his little finger and examined the slightly viscous substance with some scrutiny.
"... But... those times are like... dreams. Now. Distant but waiting : on the horizon, behind the closed eye, the dead mind." The Strider's hand stiffened, and looked to Kinsey now with some bemusement, before shuddering like a cat spritz'd with water.
[1/2]

[2/2]
"Soon, I'll have forgotten it all." Behind the synthesized drag of his vox, it was hard to tell whether it was a long melancholy or long desired exaltation as he let his Loki Prime's limbs rest out in its lap, as the familiar phantom white limbs of Lekalis' Operator flickered out amidst a mist. More flush, with rosy hues on the joints: knuckles, wrist, digits... The harsh jagged cuts of chitin and plugs for unknown fluids weren't gone, but galvanized in scar tissues.
The Strider's fair wrists were loosely bound in jade, each holding a strong red ribbon, the size of his lithe arms themselves, flowing back to his elbow where another jade band rested easily about the slim elbow.

His fingers moved with an almost hypnotizing flair, there were trinkets and baubles of bronze and jade and ruby again, set about his long willowy fingers whose porcelain nails clinked quietly upon the iron cup, cradling it within a cage of pale flesh and jade binds.
"I will forget : this tea, these faces... These... warm. Times." there was a soft fizz and crackle of radiation that microwaved the tea to warmth again.

The arms extended out, holding the teacup in both hands, out to Kinsey. The limbs looked weak, but stronger than the skeletons they'd appeared in the past.
The hands still shook with some small strength that struggled to hold the cup aloft.
"So will you. Like tears : in rain. It frightens me."

Kinsey
Lekalis’ words were, as always, deeper and more meaningful than they’d expected. And oh, yes, they hit close to home. Combined with the intricate process of making the tea, Kinsey found their attention pulled away from the rest of the group almost hypnotically.

And when Lekalis’ operator slowly materialized, they fought off both the feeling of being woefully underdressed in comparison, and also the urge to grab a thick wool blanket and bundle Lekalis up all cozy and safe.

Kinsey quickly accepted the tea, culling it in their grubby hands and letting it warm their fingers.
[1/2]

[2/2]
They were silent for a while, contemplating what Lekalis had said. The rest of the party seemed so far away.

“I worry about forgetting things too.” They said finally, quietly. “All the defectors I’ve worked with. It’s hard to keep all their faces apart after they’re...gone. I keep pictures of all of them in my orbiter.”

They took a cautious sip of tea, watching Lekalis over the rim of the cup.

“We’re here to help you, though.” they added. “At least, I am. My whole team, too. That’s what friends are for, yeah? We might not always be around, but we are right now.”

Disruptis:
Ding. The elevator doors opened to reveal a Disruptis very much lost in thought. As advertised, he was inside his typical black and yellow limbo, with the dainty addition of a white tie. He stood there pondering for a good couple of moments.

Then with a quick change in stance, the Limbo briskly walked into the room and took in the sights and smells. Everyone was here. Everything was perfect.

“Hey hey HEY!” He shouted ecstatically, “now this is what I'm talking about!”

Disruptis swung his bag of cutlery and plonked it right on top of the table. Lekalis was here with his tea, Muro and Vuko were exchanging manly pleasentries, Sonera was acting as free spirited as ever, Leverett was here with a sunny vibe, and Kapak was here… getting involved in more infested shenanigans. Even Kamos and his rare friend Atela had come out. And oh… the newcomers. He'd love to make rounds and get their stories the most. His adventurer’s heart was easily kindled.

Disruptis scanned the crowd for his favourite golden Saryn, but didn’t manage to find her. He clicked his tongue. Well, I guess not quite everyone.

For now, he'd settle for his friends’ greetings. “Vuko, Muro, Kappa, Sonera, Lev, Lekalis, Ella, Kamos! Glad you could make it. Hands up!”

He chased after each member and tried to give them one of his signature quick high-fives.

//Runner

She nodded back at the strangeful nod, while quickly matching her five with Disruptis’ with a startled noise. After a moment of collecting herself, she began watching as some began to shed their frames to witness their dreaming selves. For a long moment, there was a pause in the Banshee's actions, as if itself was to judge whether to shed its precious controller. Standing against a wall, a small, lithe form would shakily waltz from her frame, a hood drawn over her hidden face, clothe of orokin origin would sway in her stead, feathers swaying of regal breeds, the longest of her shoulder, and of one peeking out of her hood, of an earthly aurora.

She would approach the table of mouthwatering goods, her stomach growling for a feast to digest as she began to sit, slowly descending like an elegant avian.

She took a plate, beginning to take her own pieces, pointing to far off pieces for her Carrier to fetch. The Carrier spoke aloud to her with each request, much to her dismay.
“EL-LA, REQ-UI-”

“Y-yes, you dumby! Quiet!” She hissed, tugging the sentinel back to her side once she had what she needed, listening in on the Strider’s words, exchanging a gaze of his pale arms, a hidden nostalgia presenting an expression of what was before.

Kapak:
“OH HI DISRUPTIS IT IS VERY GOOD TO SEE YOU MADE IT ISNT THE CEILING VERY NICE YES THE CEILING IS VERY BEAUTIFUL I SUGGEST GAZING AT IT,” Kapak spoke rather loudly as he stopped chasing his maggots. He shuffled, trying (but of course failing) to conceal the long scar on the floor using his feet. He was only successful in covering about a quarter of the entire mark.

/Lekalis/

"Yes... You are : Here, present, aware. Around. Of sorts." The Strider nebulously agreed to the assurances of Leveret as the arms withdrew and delicately moved another of the iron cups to float before him. The nails, as refined as they were and as fragile as the limbs of the Strider appeared, looked impeccably proud and strong; a subtle pattern like scales had been engraved upon the surface using what looked like old dust, that caught the lights ever so slightly and shimmered with some distant Orokin radiance.

Suddenly, the Strider gently exclaimed with some surprise,
"Ah... I'd almost forgot!" His hands moved with haste, but still retained a characteristic grace to the way his arms flowed and peeled away at the sash bound about his Loki Prime's chest, and held a cup of small seedlings in his palm. Their shells were hard, but green, and looked almost like Old Earth Sunflower Seeds, though some might know their tougher exterior and greenish hue to be the adolescent seeds of Ruk's Klaw.
Even as Kinsey drank from the tea, Lekalis' hands moved and popped the shell of each seed to drop the sharp smelling seeds into the brew; most dissolved, though some still fell to the bottom of the cup to be had later.

The sudden blanket over the flavor was very apparent; the spice and kick of the ginger and Ruk's Klaw was reined back by those dissolved seeds, covering the otherwise spicy tang with something pleasantly sweet. Like honey and barley. It was a homely flavor, though the undertone of kick tasted almost like a pleasant twist on some Grineer Grokdrul brew.
[1/2]

[2/2]

The Strider's form was still, as the phantasmal limbs rose and flowed from one space to another like a blade of grass in a stream; though his arms never leant forward to leave the corpus of his Warframe.
"Much better. You're a good friend : humble, honest, here." He swiftly recalled the topic at hand as his mistsome arms fell back and phased into his Warframe, where there was hardly a stutter in the transfer of motion as power returned to the Loki Prime; he looked to Disruptis, then Ella in kind with a measured wave of his prosthetic hand, while his good hand idly rummaged about in his sash.

"How are you, then? I have never heard you worry about yourself."

Kinsey
The change in flavor was a pleasant surprise. They found it tasted more familiar with the addition of the seeds. Kinsey savored it for a moment, nodding in satisfaction. "You make amazing tea, Leks. As always."

"Heh, well, I dunno about humble. But I take care of my friends, you know?"

Another sip of tea. "And yeah, I've been doing pretty good. Plenty of Steel Meridian business to keep me busy, along with other stuff. Never a dull moment at base, either, what with the two ghouls we picked up recently. Haven't been cleared yet health-wise but rahm, they're quite a pair. Inseparable."

Kinsey glanced at Lekalis, who was now back in his frame. "You should stop by some time, come meet the team. I think they would all like you."

Elizabeth
Looking up from her meditation at least, the Trinity Prime glances over her shoulder at the gouged floor and, soon after, shrugs her much belated reply. A demure, quiet voice projects itself from within the Warframe,
Elizabeth:
"Apologies... ... ... Reading ...."
And with that, the Trinity resumes her silence. After Disruptis' antics to protect the scarred flooring from view, she begins to realise the gravity of the situation and a redheaded girl shifts from within the Warframe. Rubbing sanguine eyes with an armoured hand, she wields only a hefty, dusty, leather book in her off-hand. Clearing her throat, she looks up and smiles with heartbreaking-wide eyes, whispering up to the Nidus,
Elizabeth:
"...Books make me ... careless ..."

She then hugs said book to her chest and scuffs at the floor ineffectually with her tiny boots, a macabre, stuffed pobber dangling from her skirt and writhing wildly as her leg swings. The creature's expression is forever frozen in death as one of absolute terror.

Lupin:
He had taken his time to return to the table as to fully appreciate the party with his own senses, unfiltered by transference. His hands only broke free from each other's grasp to inspect the odd item on the table, to take in the texture and weight of the mouth-watering baked goods. Upon returning to the board, his eyes methodically scanned his opponent: an impeccable skin, devoid of void burn scar, a certain wild fiery defiance in their eyes, the well-maintained armor and neatly combed hair which spoke of dedication and attention to detail.

"I must say, I'm delighted to see you've chosen to join me in meeting eye to eye. The occasion to share time away from them and in the company of peers is often rare, and seldom pleasant." His voice was smoother in person than it had been through the somatic link, yet still carried a certain coarseness that betrayed the juvenile nature of their 'race'. Only once the contrived attempt at pleasantries had expired did his eyes break away from his opponent and return to the board.

"A relentless offensive indeed, how quaint." He mused with earnest amusement as the faintest of smiles curled the edge of his lips. "Forgive my bluntness, but are you one to find yourself unsure on the defensive?" He asked with curiosity as he placed his next piece to the top right of the center piece, threatening the first piece of the match. [ https://imgur.com/2zEPi9A.png ]

Disruptis:
“Hmmm.. Yes! I see!” Disruptis responded, looking at a spot on the ceiling over where Kapak stood. He chuckled as he went along with the strange dialogue. “Very interesting… and most suspicious. Kappa, what have--”

A tiny yellow crack peeked out of the ferrite ceiling. It was almost unnoticeable if one hadn’t very coincidentally looked at the spot.

“you... uh-- is… um…...”

Disruptis tilted his head and gulped. “Actually, I think the floor is much better!” He smoothly interjected, lowering his gaze to the surface, “look at its magnificent sheen and--”

...then he saw the thin groove sliced neatly by the greatsword.

“Oh… my… VOIDDAMMIT! What happ-”

He didn’t bother finishing the sentence; He was only speaking to himself, after all. The Tenno got on the ground and helplessly attempted to buff the mark with the cuff of his technocyte sleeve, but to no avail.

“Okay you know what? It’s fine. Yeah. We have insurance… or something like that. Yes. Mhmm.”

Leithon:
The door opened, revealing a black and orange Mesa. The Warframe looked around the room at the people inside and what was there. Instead of walking to someone in hope of a conversation, the Warframe walked on a decided path - one that would (hopefully) take him past the least amount of people and into an unoccupied area of the room. He kept his head down, not wanting to make any eye contact with anyone, as an interaction would surely occur then.

//Runner

Ella simply nodded to the sanguine wave, slowly turning her head back to the feast, making her form smaller than before. She gently tugged the night-blue scarf-hood down further as to not catch the eye of another Tenno, biting into a piece of Murkray.

Vuko:
In a spell of confusion, suddenly from being in the middle of a conversation he was left all alone, standing in the middle of the room. He just looked around, raising his hands in a ‘what de fuc just happened’ gesture.

Then, to make it even more confusing, entered Disruptis. Almost like he was some kind of rock star, giving high fives to everyone. With little to do, he just raised his hand to receive one.

“You know what. I’m just going to go have a drink.” He said thinking out loud, in a resigned voice, seeing the entire fiasco going down.

Vuko swiftly made his way towards the closest wall. As he neared it, a mist of cyan energy formed behind the Ivara, quickly forming into a Tenno.

It was a boy, neigh, a young adult, adorned in the finest of Orokin armoury. Light delicately bouncing off of the pale gold spikes, cloth moving in tandem with him, as if the Tenno was the wind given form. His hair was the color of the ocean during the fiercest of storms, shimmering between blue of the deepest of trenches and cyan of a warm shallow sea. And his eyes, if one was bold enough to look into them, were a dull amethyst, a stone once shining with radiance and vibrancy, but dulled by time and experience.

Vuko left the warframe next to the wall, and went to mingle with everyone with confidence in his step. But first, just as he said, he made his way back to the table he had set up before and poured himself a glass from a bottle with shiningly green liquor.

Sudoko Anirab:
Staring at the bottles and contemplating what would happen if he decided to chug one, Sudoko thought thought to himself what Onkko would say, and pondered how many more "infinite realities" could there be if he decided to down a bottle.
Looking around, he'd shout "Yo, drinking contest anyone?! First one to not pass out or hit the ground loses."
Staring at the drink, Sudoko would exit his Warframe and grasp a bottle between his mortal hands before speaking.
"And to make it even more interesting, let's do it in our fleshly forms, yeah?"

Leithon:
Upon reaching the area he was walking to, a soft amber glow radiated from the front of the Mesa, which dropped down to its knees. Standing in front of it was an adolescent. His hair was onyx, with rust-orange highlights scattered about it. A slight pumpkin tinge adorned his irises. He sat down, staring at the ground, not wanting to get involved with this stupid proposal.

Kapak:
The Nidus sighed.
"I'm terribly sorry Disruptis, but... well, you know. Newcomers and such. They don't know what it's like." Kapak rested a hand on the Limbo's shoulder.
"I know how the administration is probably breathing down your back about a ton of things already..."
Kapak trailed off before snapping his head around to face Vuko. Of course, the Nidus could smell things almost as well as a Kubrow.
"VUKO! WHADDAFRIK YOU THINK YOU DOIN' WITHOUT ME, EH? LET'S GO, EH?"
Kapak waddled over to Vuko, with balled hands raised to his pits and his knees bouncing up to his waist as he enthusiastically crossed the room, likely bumping into a few others as he moved. As soon as he arrived at the table, Kapak grabbed one of the bottles and slammed the entire thing down- within seconds, an entire bottle of red was gone.

KAMOS & ATELA
The two remained in the corner, sitting side-by-side, watching this absolute fustercluck of a party take place in front of them. Now the partygoers were drinking, and there were just... so many unfamiliar faces. Why did they even show up? Atela had delivered salad, but no one's actually had much in the way of food. The two continued to quietly speak to one another, far too quiet to be heard over the party. They hardly seemed like they were particularly friendly, at least right now. This whole situation was weird, okay?

Vuko:
“WHOAWHOAWHOA” Quickly came out of his mouth hearing someone scream about passing out from drinking and making it a challenge. “Have you no taste?” He tried to persuadably say to Sudoko. “That’s not how you drink this stuff... and it’s much stro- KAPAK WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Vuko started halfway though, with a terrified face, as he saw the Nidus down and an entire bottle. “THIS STUFF IS SIXTY PERCENT PURE ALCOHOL!”

Sudoko Anirab:
Staring at Kapak with his jaw agate, Sudoko completely ignored every word which came out of Vuko's mouth after he said "taste"
"...The absolute mad lad.. I LOVE IT!" He shouted before blasting the lid off the bottle and chugging. It consumed the colored and probably delicious substance, one the bottle was empty he would smash it against his Valkyr Prime in excitement "Wow, what a rush, I could really go for a second, third, maybe even fourth one! Anyone else?" He'd opt back into his Warframe before putting his hand on his head and feeling a bit dizzy "Woosh... Might've overdone it..."

Elizabeth
With the departure of Kapak, the Tenno Elizabeth shifts subtly over to Disruptis' side, remaining silent, hands clasped over her large book that must weigh a fifth her own mass. For a moment, she is left staring in dejection towards her beloved Trinity, until she reaches up and tugs at the Limbo's finger, head tilted up with an apologetic glint in her eye. With his attention captured, she offers consolation thus;
Elizabeth:
"... Book?"
The proffered literature was liken to a desperate gift at Christmas-- unwrapped, ancient, the entirety of its value twisted up in gut-wrenching sentiment on the pale girl's side.

/Lekalis/

With a sigh through The Strider's gill-like vents, he nodded solemnly to the offer,
"Mmm, yes, maybe... I do miss the Meridian, and Cressa..." He hummed quietly, the shifting in his sash swiftly devolved to simple idle fidgeting as he pulled out the iron cannister from before and set it out below the hovering cups, which he then tilted over so the fluids would return to the container.

"... Ghouls, though? Dangerous, voltaile, literally explosive." Lekalis huffed, pluffing his shoulders in a shrug,
"You are bold." He mused with a small chuckle as his movements became quicker and, while they had been inherently graceful before, an art returned to their locomotion. A direction, of sorts.

"Perhaps I shall come by sometime. If I remember." he poked lightly at his own worries as he pushed himself up and returned the iron cannister into his sash in a singular sweep. Cups, too, were slipped almost unnoticeably back into his sash.
"I am feeling... : Better. Thank you." The Half-Horn Loki bowed his broken crown with some swelling pride as he rose and slipped his arms lightly into where the sash crossed his breast.

Quietly, Lekalis motioned for Kinsey to follow him as he began to stalk his way across the walls of the party; his sunny eye switching between Kamos and Atela, and The Runner. As well as the enticing spurts of debauchery being carried out at the core of the room. There was a (dangerous) pondering yearning in his gaze, as he watched the drinks get downed.

Kinsey
“Well, they seem...surprisingly calm. Like apes. The only upset was when we tried to separate them for the medical, uh, whatever-the-muck Hod gets up to with his sensors and wires and shit. So long as we keep ‘em together, they’re fine. So far, at least.”

Seeing that Lekalis was packing up his things, Kinsey quickly finished their last few sips of tea and passed the cups back before leaning back - and sinking into - their frame.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” Leveret said as he stood and rolled his shoulders, “And don’t worry about forgetting. I’ll pester you about it if I have to.”

Hoping to rejoin a bit of the revelry and spend more time with Lekalis -who he hadn’t seen in... void knows how long, he followed the quiet Loki as he crept about the edge of the party.

After all, what was the job of an extrovert like Leveret, if not to adopt and care for as many introverts as he could?

/Lekalis/

"Some of the ideas I am getting : it may be best if I do forget them." Lekalis teased playfully as he stole a brisker stride from Leveret as his motions became like a shark to a school of fish.
"Did you know : I used to drink Grineer, Corpus... some Orokin, even, under the table?" He mused as his good hand curled up and pinched at the hem of his scarf about his neck. The Strider's staticky vox cleared its throat, sounded more like a speaker getting unplugged than anything, as if he were testing his throat.
"I remember I had to play : Stoic and sober for the Grineer. Tipsy and witless for the Corpus... The Orokin..." Lekalis' tone drew dire as his vox popped and he twisted the cylinders jutting out of his occular augment,
"... It was fun, playing the fool."

The Strider's path had him pass by Kamos and Atela with another small wave,
"Hello there..." He offered halfly invitingly as he continued on, watching them from his periphery to see if they might follow.

KAMOS & ATELA
"-so I realized it was a trap, but half of the operatives were dead by then..." Atela seemed to be explaining something to Kamos, which only became audible as Lekalis walked by. Kamos seemed to be nodding in response, noticable even before Lekalis was close. This conversation's probably been going for a while. Atela stopped talking, though, when she saw the Loki was here. She became silent, and merely kept an eye on Lekalis.

"Hey, Leks. Long time no see." Kamos responded to Lekalis, albeit almost uncharacteristically quietly. He would normally be speaking much, much louder than this. He raised his hand in a bit of a wave, again something unusually calm for him.

/Lekalis/

The Strider's path ceased then; catching the hint from the pair, he turned and faced them with a slight and sassy shifting of his weight from one leg to the other as his arms relaxed about his waist.
"Verily." He agreed curiously; Warframe's were usually hard to read, given their statuesque forms, but there were tells in everything. Even still, Lekalis was making more assumptions off of what he wasn't seeing than anything else. Their steely silence wasn't too uncharacteristic from Lekalis' recollections, but it was still unsettling and perhaps a bit saddening.

But, the chip and cheer of The Strider didn't wan much as his attentions settled on the solemn pair.
"Curious : You're enjoying the party? the dining? the company?"

Leveret
“Oh? Do tell!” Leveret queried, his buried rebellious side starting to surface a bit, feeding off of Lekalis’ playful mood. If Lekalis was the shark, Leveret was a tiny fish following in hopes of tasty scraps.

“No way!” He said with a laugh. “Oh how I would pay to see that! Not gonna lie, I’m surprised. You don’t seem the rowdy type.”

He fell silent while Lekalis spoke with Kamos and Atela, but that little spark was still bubbling up, and he was starting to really hope to get in on some fun before the party ended.

KAMOS & ATELA
"Not... really." Atela answered with a sort of... disinterested tone of voice. She looked over at Leveret for a moment, shrugging and turning back to focus on Lekalis. "I was expecting something a bit quieter, I suppose. Now everyone's drunk and yelling."

"I mean, I'm not against yelling and stuff, but I just dunno." Kamos followed up, after Atela was finished. He seemed less like his usual stoic, sort of vaguely angry self. He seemed a lot more calm. Lekalis and Leveret would probably both know he didn't act like this in combat situations. Maybe it was somehow related to Atela's presence. Regardless, Kamos and Atela both stayed where they were, surveying this party.

/Lekalis/

"Later..." Lekalis purred halfwise in reply to Leveret's bubblesome glee. It was inspiring but... The duo before him held his rapt intrigue as he let his helm wilt to one shoulder, the good horn's braid touching his good arm.
"... Perhaps we can gather we : gloomy, dramatic, fools. Together, find a suitably : gloomy, dramatic, foolish locale to mull about in?" The Strider's tenor was unburdened by static, and now seemed stimulated by the appeal of yet more comrades in arms.

The Strider's good hand expertly flourished into and out of his sash to produce the two cups he'd emptied just before, flashing them out with such speed as to make it seem nigh like an illusion. Yet an after image of the iron seemed to linger, even after the invitation was proposed.
"I'd a mind to join the drinking... But I imagine Kapak might spoil the competition." Lekalis teased the Infested Warframe from over his shoulder, knowing he would most likely not hear. The slight curl to the Loki Prime's scarred helm caught the backliight glow of the room, and the grisly wounds of shrapnel that had gored the Strider's helm seemed to flicker like the needle teeth of a cat's smile, or an eel in a brackish pond.

"My brew isn't inherently : toxic, alcoholic... Kicksome. But with enough Ruk's Klaw, a drop of Grokdrul..?" Lekalis shrugged, his words turning from a staticky rain to a rolling river that poured over every word with grace and allure.
"... I'm going to see if I can't : rally, grab, entice... More fellows to be jolly with. Shall I count you among them?" The Loki Prime shrugged indifferently and eased unto his backfoot as his sunny eye flickered and glanced about the party; eyeing other members he thought to steal out for some midnight trist.

//Runner

The commotion towards the drinkers seemed to affect the songbird of a Tenno, there was a sound mechanical whirring around her head, she went back to her eating, looking about the room in cautious fashion.

KAMOS & ATELA
"Sure, why not." Kamos answered, leaning forward to stand up. Maybe something a bit quieter would be a nice change of pace. Atela shrugged again, getting to her feet in one fluid motion. Kamos was much less... graceful about this, just preferring to stand up like a normal person. He was never one for doing anything even slightly elegant. May as well get to the point, right? The two stood side-by-side now, seeming to be on board with this.

"Not sure if tea is a good idea, if it means leaving transference. Seems like a few other people are, though." Atela gestured around the room, as if to prove her point. No one here who's worked with either of the duo would have ever actually seen them as Operators, so this might be the first time either of them would willingly shown themselves.

Leveret
Even as the little pack of fish grew around sharklike Lekalis, Leveret managed to keep his excitement in check. He almost slipped away from the growing group to join the louder pack of partiers, but he reminded himself of how long it had been since he’d been able to spend any time with Lekalis. He could still hardly believe he had seen him again, after so long!

“Well, you don’t have to, but Leks is famous among friends for his excellent tea. It’s worth a sip, if anything.” Leveret said encouragingly.

/Lekalis/

With the ease one might swat a fly, Lekalis batted aside the notion with a small and easy chuckle,
"I haven't supped my own tea in a very long while. The tea helps : warmth, smell, weight... It all culminates to a sensation." The Strider assured them, as he reached out to pat Kamos on the shoulder and held a hand out to Atela.

"I understand : the comforts, the safety, the home that is a Warframe. Better than most..." Lekalis let his voice fall humbly to a softer note and manner as he bowed his brow and waited to be recieved or ignored.

Disruptis:
“Thanks for looking out for it, Kappa. It’s fine though, I kinda expected that something like this might happen. I did make a few arrangements,” Disruptis reassured.

Then a small hand tugged on his finger. He turned around to see a red-haired girl offering him a large book of some sort. It only took Disruptis’s naramon mind a couple seconds to search for the sword mounted to her Trinity’s back and make the connection.

C...cute…

His Limbo went prone as an operator exited its chassis. The Tenno wore an equally flashy black and yellow suit with the hood down, revealing his jet-black hair and the disarming smile tugging on the corner of his lips. ((#portraits)) He grabbed the book with both hands and gently pushed it back to Elizabeth.

“Don’t worry, I don’t need this. Instead--” he began to interject, until he tried to remove his hands.

They held fast with a steel grip, and not by his own will either. He knew what cue this was.

Muck.

“Uh, eheh. Actually, do you mind if I open it?” Disruptis sheepishly requested, embarrassed that he had to change his mind in such a situation.

Kapak:
“Sudoko you psycho,” Kapak shook his head as he set the empty bottle on the table, “you cannot drink the whole thing just like that! I’m in my Warframe! I’ve got a much larger body so it is far more difficult for me to become inebriated.”
Kapak turned and grinned at Vuko.
“Me though, well, you know me.”
Kapak reaches across the table using his large wingspan to grab a handful of assorted foods and quickly devoured the load.
“What an excellent party! All this food has made it extremely worth it!” Kapak clapped his hands enthusiastically.

Vuko:
He just looks at the Valkyr disappointingly, shaking his head, all whilst sipping the green drink.

Elizabeth
Relief washes over her expression at the initial rejection, but it is short-lived and a wordless tug-of-war commences as she hesitantly tugs back with feeble strength but overwhelming determination. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Elizabeth deliberately reverses her pull and presses the book up into the arms of Disruptis, the red-eyed girl muttering as untamed locks of hair drift to shadow half her countenance,
"It's ... um ..."
And as though a dam burst, a wave of words wash forth; with every syllable, she appears less a girl and far more a dignified lady - nay, a duchess, aloof and speaking critically of another ruler.
"... It is literature of the highest caste, penned by authorship long forgotten to the ages past; 'tis of forbidden love, much oppressed by all families involved; the ending hath bitterness, pain, and death; truly, one might correctly scribe that these pages conceal an ageless drama of love, romance, and pain..."
*On and on she divulges, but one would be hard-pressed to call the review 'rambling.' Looking over the book, it is savaged by the careless touch of time; battered and worn, this copy seems to predate the Orokin Empire entirely. The title is faded and worn on the cover, but on the inside is clearly read; 'The Complete Twilight Saga, Volumes 1-9, by' here, the authors' names are smudged, but after a moment's focus can be discerned, 'Stephen Meyer (1-3), Bram Stoker II (4-6), and John Galt (7-9).'

Settling on her tiptoes, the Tenno falls silent as her words are concluded and contents herself to grasp the spine of the novel as though supporting its pages, permitting Disruptis his 'opening of it,' yet scrutinizing him to ensure nothing foul befalls her precious book.*

//Runner

Ella watched the raiding Warframe arm, taking a heap of food without a second thought, watching a piece of her meal go along with it. With most of the food gone on her plate and her stomach appeased, she leaned to her left, slowly pulling out a large PDA, booting it up quickly to distract herself from the words and talk around her.

She produced a filament of wire, plugging it into a slot on one of its four corners, and then apparently to her right ear, and then her left. There was a long sigh, as music began to drown the rabble out.

Vuko:
“So...” He turns to the soon to be drunk Kapak, placing the empty glass on the table. “Where’s the music?”

“The party is getting a bit too stale for my liking.” He added after a moment of pondering.

Lupin:
What had started off as a distant murmured exchange of pleasantries had grown into an invasive rumble. It was the offer of hand-brewed tea, however, that finally broke his concentration on the battle and his opponent; the illusion of warmth spread through his throat in jealous anticipation. His gaze lifted from the board and locked onto the hypnotic movements of the battle-worn Loki.

"You will have to excuse me..." He trailed off as his feet dragged him away from the table, hands dubitative to reach for each other, his body slowly lured by the ghost at the center of the party. He edged closer and closer, the spell making slow progress against his well-practiced restraint; visage contorted in the struggle to discover a fitting expression to match it's master's heart.

Sonera
“Huh?”

I hummed as I heard my name being called, causing me to lift my head towards Muro and then to the spot he was pointing at Aurelia? Who? OHHHH THE LITTLE CUTE MOA!” This unnatural smile spread across my lips, like a child when it gets it’s most wanted gift! “Yes yes!” I yell out, practically at nobody, and quickly dart through the crowd, towards the Moa.

With one last swoop, I land just in front of the Moa, my posture firms up and I smack my forehead like a good soldier

“Private Sonera reporting for duty sir! Mam? Moa? Cutie? BAH! I’m here!”

I eventually settled for the last bit, chuckling out loud at my own racing mind.

Leveret
Seeing Lupin drawn by the suggestion of tea, Leveret motioned for him to come closer. “Join us! Join us!” He said welcomingly, “Leks makes the best tea you’ll ever taste. It’ll be a bit quieter than here but you won’t regret it!”

Disruptis:
Disruptis listened to the Tenno’s synopsis and partial analysis of the book with curiosity. Less in the contents of the story, but more in the age of the tome. It was an artifact, and Disruptis was an avid explorer at heart, so the pages of something that old were a treasure to behold. He almost wished he had accepted it.

Eventually, Elizabeth held the book open to him to give him a look. Disruptis’s gut was punched with another uneasy feeling, already predicting what he’d find inside. He touched the pages gingerly at first, but after rifling through a few the yellow Tenno quickly resorted to using his thumb to quickly flip through them. A flash of yellow peeked out from one of the pages.

Uh oh.

“Ah, yes!” Disruptis announced with a hint of nervousness. He grabbed both of the covers where Elizabeth’s hands were holding and closed the book.

“Sorry, what was your name again?”

KAMOS & ATELA
The two stood there side by side, waiting on everyone else. Kamos had a far more relaxed and calm body language than he would ever have normally. Atela, meanwhile, looked quite on-edge. Whereas Kamos returned Lekalis' pat with his own pat on the shoulder, Atela hesitated quite a bit before shaking Lek's hand. She really did give the impression that she didn't want to be here at this party. She did extend her own hand in a handshake eventually, after making sure Lekalis wasn't a threat at all.

"Look, all I'm saying is that we'll be far more vulnerable without the Frames. Chances of some sort of incident injuring or killing someone would be significantly higher as an Operator." Atela explained in response to Lekalis, in a voice that gave the same impression that she wasn't particularly interested in being here. Vaguely annoyed, really. Not at Lekalis, just in general. "And now that everyone is drunk, that's only going to get even more likely."

/Lekalis/

Again, the Strider nodded and delicately curled his prosthetic hand's fingers over Atela's own Ivara frame's digits; his sunny eye seemed brighter as he giggled lightly,
"I agree completely. But..." Lekalis shrugged and patted Atela's hand one last time before letting his fingers slip free of her grip (his own had been markedly light, in case she so desired to depart preemptively from the handshake.)

The Strider glanced over his shoulder to the participants at the center, in their social deleriums, they seemed rather distracted... though, like flotsam to a tide, a new fellow seemed to be making his way over.
Quickly, Lekalis returned his attentions to Atela and his hanging sentence,
"... But, they seem... shall we say : inebriated, inaccurate." Lekalis shrugged again as his sunny eye flickered in some semblence of a wink as he reclined back to rest his weight upon one leg, and his arms rested easily about his sash yet again.

"Regardless, you don't have to : remove yourself, risk injury, or death. Just some teatime chat, if'n you'd like." He hummed the last and turned away from the pair, glancing to Lupin with a small beckoning wave to follow as the Strider continued his striding about the room; a familiar warming gaze settling on Ella, as Lekalis stared at her as a cat might eye a canary.

Muro:
Muro was caught slightly off-guard with Disruptis' sudden appearance, but offered his hand for a high five all the same. He couldn't help but laugh at how upset Disruptis was at the crack in the floor. For the life of him, Muro couldn't figure why Disruptis would seem so high strung at a time like this. Shrugging it off, he couldn't help but smile as Sonera answered his call and started bounding towards them.
"Well, I think I'll leave you two alone. Talk to you later!" Muro started wandering away from his Cephalon towards the middle of the room, As tempting as it was to join Vuko and the drinking party that seemed to be kicking off at their makeshift bar, Muro didn't share his brother's fondness for alcohol. Rather, he strolled towards the growing tea party, which seemed the be the tamer of the two options. Drawing close to Lekalis, he tried to casually catch the Loki's attention.

"Hey Lekalis, mind if I join you?"

Aurelia:
Aurelia stood there, quietly grumbling to herself as her Operator went off to mingle with the other Tenno scattered throughout the room. She couldn't believe that he just... left her there! She didn't have long to dwell on those feelings, however, as it took Sonera mere seconds to make it to Aurelia's location. As always, the Wukong's boundless enthusiasm both impressed and befuddled her. 'Oh well.' She thought to herself, 'At least he's willing to help.' Drawing the MOA up to its full height, she addressed Sonera.

"Just Aurelia is fine, Sonera. In truth, I could use your help. See these flower arrangements?" She motioned to the table, still covered in a dozen or small, but vibrantly colorful arrangements of plantlife, held in crystalline vases. "I need some help decorating the room with them. Would you mind walking with me as I pick out some locations? I would do it myself, but as you can see, I lack the ability to carry anything."

Lupin:
His countenance finally relaxed at the acknowledging and welcoming gesture, the secretive calm returning to his eyes and lips. He returned with vast steps and a near mechanical grace. They leaned closer to Jay'lin, who had yet to make their next move.

"I am afraid you have no more winning moves; and while the prospect of a good Komi match with your company is indeed not beyond the realm of possibilities, my time, and perhaps yours too, would be better spent enjoying a cup of freshly brewed tea." The veredict was delivered with no trace of emotion for the opponent they considered defeated already, if not for amicable kinship. Without further ado, he turned away from Jay'lin once more, silently following after the phantom brewer.

Leveret
While waiting for the little school of soon-to-be teadrinkers to gather, Leveret had an idea. Why skip on getting a bit buzzed while hanging out with Lekalis, when he could do both?

Ducking away from the growing swarm of quiet Tenno surrounding the battered Loki, Leveret swiped one of the bottles of colorful liquid from the table - naturally grabbing one in the yellow or orange range - and returned to the group with his excitement barely contained.

"So, Leks, we just gathering up all of the gloomy folks to drink tea together? Have you got enough cups?"

Elizabeth.
Taking her book back with a demure smile, Elizabeth folds her arms about the novel and hugs it tight to her chest, swaying on her left foot as an eyebrow arches regally in an unasked inquiry, staring ever downwards. Shrugging in finality, she raises her gaze to the Tenno and whispers quietly,
"... Elizabeth. Simply Elizabeth. I ... love book. Books, ah, that is. Especially made of paper. I collect ... and write ... and read ..."
Drawing back a step, she glances about and gestures to the centerpiece of the gathering, suggesting,
"Tea, mister - ...?"
Trailing off, she gestures with one hand, her head canted in quiet wonderings.

/Lekalis/

"Always room, my friend..." He spoke before his sunny eye found Muro; he couldn't say he recognized the fellow, and it certainly gave Lekalis some pause as he took the time to drink in the details of the Tenno with a slight tilt to his crown.
Curiously, he stood at a fair tangent from Ella, but he decided to eye Muro head to toe.
"... Apologies : I do not recognize you, remember you? Have we met?" Lekalis chuckled with some bashful bemusement as he stroked the sash that was drawn across his chest.

"Hmmm..." He noticed Lupin, too, and nodded to the other haunting Tenno that had decided to follow as well.
"... You, as well; I don't believe I know your name." Lekalis hummed and then chuckled, shaking his head,
"I apologize." He drew out the word with a sweet tune, the statick of his vox offering a hiss like rain to his tenor.

Muro:
Muro laughed somewhat nervously. He could have sworn they had been introduced before, but maybe all this time had dulled his recollection of the past.

"Yeah, I'm Muro. I was in the Remnant, same as you. Don't think we ever really worked together back then, except at the very end..." Muro visibly shuddered. Of all the battles he had been in, that was one he wished he could forget. Just then, a scene from his past flashed into his mind. "Wait, do you remember a Tenno named Dormin? I think you and him were having an argument a long time ago, and I kind of stumbled into it. You ended up throwing a tea cup at me." Muro chuckled at the memory, seeming so far in his past it almost felt fake. "Gotta say, I was glad to hear you survived that last fight with Vey Hek. Gonna need all the help I can get to pay that mucker back for what he did." For a moment, Muro's voice dropped from its usual laid-back tone, his words tinged with an almost caustic anger. However, the moment left as quickly as it came, and Muro's posture visibly relaxed.

"Ah, but that'll come later. For now, I'd love to try some of that tea you're so famous for."

/Lekalis/

There was a moment, as Muro spoke and Lekalis listened, that the glowing eye of the Strider waned. Like a star seconds before a supernova, the orange light honed in and bored into the Tenno with the intensity of a gamma ray burst.
"I remember : Dormin, an argument. The Remnant... a massacre." He muttered quietly, his joviality seemingly snuffed as he spoke,
"I did not survive : Fire, and blood... An ocean of rust and dead harvest. A Corpse, a Glint, an Eater..."

Lekalis shuddered and his fingers wriggled, the sunny eye seemed to refocus,
"... No, the Remnant died. So did those memories." He affirmed with a growing spriteness to his tone as his good hand rose and twisted the cylinders jutting out from his occular aide, his gills hissed out some excess heat and he stalked onwards, past Muro.
"I don't believe you have tried my tea : I hope you did not drink the tea I threw." He hummed with a small chuckle, the flicker of before all but forgotten as he produced some iron cups in the palm of his hand and let each begin to orbit his person as he strode on.

//Runner

As the sanguine eye gazed over to the songbird, he could see a Striker orbiting about Ella, not looking in any true direction, than simply; mimicking a planet's nature. Ella on the other, was unparticipating as ever, tapping about her unique PDA .

With the commotion having hopefully died, another mechanical whirring sounded about her.

Lupin:
For the brief moment that the memories of old battles and lost companions lingered in the air, his kunzite eyes dimmed to melancholic dull amethysts. One hand twitched with the desire to reach out in consolation to the veterans beside him, yet was held in the iron grasp of its twin.

The light returned to him just as quickly, a brilliant nebula spreading through the vast murky space. He scoffed with amusement at the subtle humor, a flash of a toothy smirk creaking past his lips before quickly dissipating into a faint curve.

"In the olden times of war and empires, perchance, we have crossed paths." He picked up on the prior topic, re-introducing himself as he closed the gap with the group. "If it were, you must forgive me, for it escapes my memory too. And were it not the case, it would be a pleasure to make your acquaintance nonetheless." He offered a handshake, his palm turned slightly up to expose his arm. "You may call me Lupin, if it would please you. And should your memory fail you, you will find no lack of kinship every time you were to pose that question." He added in an attempt to put the battle-worn Loki at ease.

"Either of you, that is." He said, extending the prior introduction to Muro, though their offer of a hand shake would have to wait.

/Jay’lin/

He was staring at the wall for a moment, just silently. No movement, no voices. Just this bleak, hollow stare. His orange pupils correlating towards the steel-wall with perhaps festive decoration. Something ticked in his head vigorously, this tapping in the walls. It pecked slowly with a metaphorical finger inside, the sound like a finger repeatedly poking a chalkboard.

||Wall||

“In my head... in my head... in my head.” With each tap, those words repeated. The wall beckoning Jay’lin over like a toy to a child. Nobody else could hear the tapping but him, it was slower now before.... a sharp scream was heard, a lot of screams and the sounds of fire coming from the wall; yet only Jay’lin saw this.

||Jay’lin||

He was staring with bewilderment; obscure thought twisting his brain waves before he mumbled towards himself. “Not again...” as he’d use his powerful sense of mind to tell himself this was a hoax inside of his head; yet the void energy inside of him told them not. He begins to chant something in his head,

“One, two... away, one, two... away...”

He’d begin saying in a whisper like voice as the banging and screaming got louder, before it all halted. His eyes widening as the sounds came to an absolute halt, he stared at his Komi board and realized he had lost; his breathing faster then usual as he’d simply close the Komi board up and begin to just slump in his seat, relaxing. Trying to cooperate from his mind playing tricks.

Leithon:
The Tenno was just sat there in a barren corner of the room, watching everything happen. Every so often he would look behind him at his Mesa - whose colours were extremely similar to that of his own: onyx and a rusted orange. He preferred his loneliness, as social interactions (or interactions in general) never ended well for him or anyone involved in it.

Disruptis:
Disruptis placed hand on his hips and flicked the other. “Disruptis, by the way. I’m hosting this joint. And su--”

Before he could finish, the elevator slid open again. This time instead of a Tenno, a white kavat with pale-blue highlights proudly stood at attention. In his mouth was some sort of cylindrical device that looked like one of the canisters on a gammacor.

Disruptis’s gaze wiped around to rest on the feline. “Ah, just what I needed! Thanks Frost!”

The kavat lumbered over to the Tenno’s open hand, his shoulder blades bulging out of his back with every step. Disruptis transferred back into his ‘frame and received the item.

“You go ahead Elizabeth, I’ll join you in a sec,” he said, then flicked the synoid gammacor at his waist up into his arm. With a small click and a twist, he removed one of the three cylinders already on the weapon and popped in the new one. The gammacor gave a series of beeps at different pitches.

KAMOS & ATELA
The two glanced to each other for a moment, before following Lekalis again. What was this Remnant they kept talking about? Kamos shrugged, and Atela just sort of disregarded it. They didn't really say anything else, really just sticking with this group of people. A lot of people wanted some tea, apparently. Or maybe it was just the oppritunity to get away from the loud, drunk party everyone else here was having.

Leveret
Lekalis’ mention of things long past made Leveret grow somber. He’d only been half-listening, but his tone was...sad.

Leveret moved in closer and put a reassuring hand on Lekalis’ good shoulder. “Hey,“ He said in a low voice, hoping to change the subject to a less grim one, “Looks like you’re gathering quite the crew here. Need any help setting up?”

/Lekalis/

"Ah, perhaps we did!" He agreed to Lupin cheerily, The Strider's half-horn helm cocked back to glance at the Tenno's dusk berry hued eyes that did glimmer with only the barest of differences to a memory of somber, stable, and satisfiying times. It was enough to hold Lekalis' attentions for a time to bow his brow in kind to the introductions.

"Lupin, Lupin : noble, fierce, yet friendly. A good name..." He commented kindly as his good hand reached out to clasp Lupin's hand before pausing, the fingers twitched away and rested aside from the Operator's hand, while a familiar flicker and slumber settled over the Strider's form.
As before, a pale limb misted out from his Warframe; phantasmal in the staticky glow of its white skin. Albeit, it looked to be more... solid than before. The jade band about his wrist and elbow shone more apparently, and the red ribbon between them was markedly bold in its hue.

Lekalis' long fingers and slight extensions of limb were all the more apparent as his fingers curled delicately about Lupin's hand. Soft like silk, the digits had a density more like a porcelain doll than flesh and bone.
"... The pleasure is mine, Lupin." He spoke at last as the hand, as delicate as it seemed, managed to shake Lupin's hand with grace and fluidity that inspired some soothe in Lupin's own skin. It was almost euphoric; acupuncture, somatic therapy, or herbal remedies all seemed so... pointless in the wake of the undeniable Vazarin sooth that flowed out from the Strider's hand.
[1/2]

[2/2]

The sensation and allure therein vanished as Lekalis hand slipped away like water, and found refuge back in the battered Loki Prime, which now powered up again.
The Strider's Sunny eye didn't leave Lupin's own as Lekalis' hands moved to produce several iron cups from his sash; 6 in total, 3 in each hand. He held them up to Leveret, which now took the Strider's attention to look at the comrade at his shoulder,
"That would be wise, Leveret; take these beneath the window... take Kamos and Atela over as well : comrades, Ceres... You three have much to catch up on, I think."

Just as long as the introduction seemed, The Strider's motions now had him moving on and towards Ella in no real haste as he kept his helm faced conversationally towards Lupin, should he follow still.

//Runner

Ella let out a sigh, as she finished her tenth consecutive victory of Komi within the PDA's screen, taking the wires out from her hood, what point was there to stay any longer; she was always a shadow.

Ella gently pushed her plate back, standing up to stretch vigorously with a groan, her body bending back into shape after having hunched over her PDA for so long. Then there was a throbbing pain in her head.

She lurched forward, barely stopping herself from tripping into the table, holding her head for a moment, before turning towards her Banshee on a particular wall.

Lupin:
He could keep Lekalis' hand any more than the mountain can keep the river from running. His hold was solid, yet loose around the velvet touch of the entrancing spirit. The fleeting sensation held his hand hostage for the briefest of moments, before it returned to its comforting hold with a mechanically smooth movement.

His eyes had barely began to adapt to the delicate figure and the figure was gone. A flash desperation crossed them as they scoured the surface of the scarred warframe, yet the landslide quickly settled into stone-cold restraint.

"Where did you learn to make this tea, so rumored to enthrall people?" He deviated the conversation to regain his stoic focus, as he followed Lekalis towards the unsuspecting Ella.

/Lekalis/

As he walked away from Leveret, he let the three teacups hover off from his Warframe in a trail for the Frost to pickup later, as Lekalis slipped two of the iron cups still remaining back into his sash. In the same stroke, his freed fingers plucked out a root and flower of Ruk's Klaw; both were set into the last cup and were crunched beneath his thumb. Ground to a paste and powder that still didn't stick to the Strider's thumb.

"I watched a Glint on the Red Sea. The way debris lingers : pecked by birds and scorched by sun upon the surface, fish beneath the waves, a return to sediment and soil." Lekalis waxed on poetically as he produced the iron canister yet again, in his prosthetic; the cap flicked off but was caught between to careful fingers before it fell. The tendons of the prosthetic limb moved with their own rigid grace, as they held the canister and poured it into the iron cup while Lekalis scarcely missed a beat in his stride towards Ella.
There was the barest sense of urgency noticeable in his longer steps, and in how he broke the simple speaking distance he'd retained with Lupin t'ill now.
"The tea is easy. The people are... difficult." He added over his shoulder as he approached Ella, teacup in his palm with his thumb stirring it in fair haste.

The Strider cast out a message as he neared Ella's flank,

The brew had rapidly eskewed in colors white and green and now white again, with a subtle whorl of green to its nature. A familiar and sharp scent wafted away from the warming tea, a scent alike to dried mint leaves floating on milk.

Lekalis turned halfly to Lupin and motioned for him to keep a distance.

Leveret
The grubby wrapping dangling from Leveret's broken helmet swayed as he gave a nod, gathering the cups in his (less delicate) hands and motioning for Kamos and Atela to join him by the window.

"Promise you'll come over soon, Leks, or folks will start wandering off!" he said in a cheerful tone, gripping the three cups by the rims with one hand and the bottle in the other, moving to the window and glancing back to make sure Kamos and Atela were following.

Kapak:
"Music, hmm?" Kapak smiled at Vuko, "you want music eh? I suppose I can see if Disruptis will let Helminth blast some of my jams on the PA system. We'll see though, I seem to recall Disruptis being a bit... unnerved around Helminth. I mean, sure, that's everyone it seems, but Disruptis isn't unnerved easily."
Kapak grabbed another bottle of the drink with one hand and another handful of food in the other. Kapak's hand twisted itself in such a way to maximize the amount of morsels he could contain in his grasp.
"Good thing Garhul isn't here to compete for food with me," Kapak smiled, before waltzing over to Disruptis. The Nidus stopped dead in his tracks, frozen still at the sight of the cold-looking Kavat.
"Um..." Kapak managed, his feet and arms locked mid-stride.

Vuko:
While waiting for Kapak to answer, something quite curious happened. An icy Kavat has entered the scene. Something in Vuko has immediately tensed up on his sight, and his behaviour changed. Just then has his friend finally responded, but it seemed the music was no longer his concern. As Kapak turned to Disruptis a cyan mist enveloped the Tenno, his warframe suddenly replacing his body. Now as Ivara, he lifted the glass up to his visor and with a curious look eyed it.

Then, out of nowhere he rotated 270 degrees and chucked the glass at insanely high speeds towards the Loki. It whooshed millimetres past his head an crashed into the wall, shattering into a million pieces, each one tiny as a grain of sand.

Vuko then acted as if nothing had happened, and went over to Disruptis. With a voice full of anger, as if he was disturbed from his well deserved break, he asked with a sigh. “Why is it here? What went wrong again?”

KAMOS & ATELA
Neither of these two were anywhere near as cheerful as Leveret may have been, but both seemed significantly more at ease. It was certainly a bit less... crazy, over here. They followed behind Leveret, and both stood next to each other by the window. Atela kept an eye in the rest of the party, just in case anything got really out of hand, but Kamos was mostly ignoring it by now. It didn't immediately affect him, so...

"I didn't expect things to get like this this quickly. Maybe eventually, but... dunno, it just sorta happened." Kamos gestured to the rest of the party, and all of the generally weird stuff happening here. He seemed like the kind of person who would enjoy a party like this, but that clearly wasn't the case here.

//Runner

Even with the gentlest subtly that was Lekalis' propsoal, it did nothing to quell what was to happen next, especially from the thrown glass that nearly pegged her.



"GYAAAH" She cried out in surprise, accidentally ripping her hood back as she threw her precious PDA into the air. Her azure, pony-tailed hair flew free of its night-blue cave, the beautiful auroric feather that had been peeking out now swaying upwards in victorious lift, her aurora colored eyes flashing wide in shock and surprise.

The portion of the right half of her face was plated in a regal cybernetic implant, three progs, that of a winged symbol on what was to originally have beem here ear, now a circular plate coarse with her head, fanned out, as if detecting for predatory words, or simply, in surprise. The rest of her right face was twisted from some violent somatic link in her previous age, but, to save, the right was beautifully untouched.

A cognitive relay lit up, small lights playing in pattern as Striker glided over to catch the now flashing PDA, wire still connected.

Without a second thought, she covered her face with her hands, grasping behind her head at the night-blue hood, before successfully cowling it back over her face, nearly entirely this time in forzen panic.

/Lekalis/

More by instinct than any true cognition, Lekalis' helm moved and watched the cup fly past his helm; his prosthetic reached up in an attempt to catch the glass but the elbow locked in place and the skeletal fingertips did littlemore than give the glass a slight spin before it smashed against the wall.
The Strider hummed worriedly as he looked to the glass, then to Vuko, and at last, to Ella,
"Oh dear..."

All the same, he shuffled forward into the periphery of the Runner and tried to catch her eye with his own before letting the cup float a respectable distance from her.
"... Here you are : simple, soothing. Drink it : slowly, carefully. It is hot." He informed her dutifully before patting her on the shoulder.

The Strider didn't linger long as he rather immediately saw to kneeling before the grains of glass; he used his good hand to snap the prosthetic back into motion, and then began to scoop the shards of glass into the palm of his hand.

Leveret
Just as he looked back again at Kamos and Atela, motion caught his eye as a bottle flew through the air. Had he been closer, he would have tried to block the bottle-turned-projectile, but at his current distance, he could only watch as it whizzed by Lekalis' half-destroyed helm.

Leveret's jolly excitement bubbled with traces of anger as he fumbled the cups onto the closest surface - whether it be someone's hands or a table, he didn't care - and roughly set down his own bottle nearby.

"Who threw that?" He called to the party at large, moving to help Lekalis clean up the mess.

Kapak:
"...Kavat..."

Muro:
Muro's head jerked towards the sound of the cup being thrown, noting by body posture that Vuko was likely the one who threw it. He was about to walk over to him and ask him just what in the Void's name he was thinking, but watching him march over to Disruptis made him hesitate. Even without seeing him throw the glass, he had known Vuko long enough to tell something had upset him, though Muro wasn't quite sure what. Shaking his head for a moment, Muro strode towards Vuko and Disruptis, who seemed to be in the midst of an intense argument.

"Vuko, what's the deal? Something wrong?"

Lupin:
The hyaline projectile had, fortunately, traced its trajectory far from Lupin, but that had not stopped his instinctive reaction to tap into the void; sommatic scars flashed with violent violet energy, encasing its master in a skin-tight chrysalis. Eyes drawn to the cloud of dust, his muscles tensed up in anticipation for combat. Shield unwavering, Lupin beamed a stern gaze that demanded explanations at the culprit, but found their attention had already been drawn elsewhere.

He would have to allow Muro to lead the questioning, however, as they seemed to have beat then to the initiative.

"Are you unharmed?" He asked warmly at Ella, keeping comfortable distance while giving her a cautionary scan for glass ricochet

Vuko:
His posture cloed, arms crossed, as he was waiting for some kind of answer from Disruptis. Before he was given a proper explanation however, Muro interjected. “It’s /RU business.” He added without turning towards his brother. “But since you are here you might as well drag that lying snake’s ass here, since it’s probably all his fault.”

Muro:
Muro cocked his head slightly, caught off-guard by Vuko's curt remark. "Dunno if you noticed bro," he began indignantly, "but I'm part of /RU Corp too these days." He caught himself before he could continue, reminding himself that getting hot under the collar wouldn't help this situation. "Listen Vuko, I get that you're mad, but I don't know who you're talking about." He turned to Disruptis, who was being rather quiet. "Mind filling me in Boss?"

/Lekalis/

"Vuko." The Strider replied simply, stiffly, the static in his vox not helping the robotic measures of his musings,
"I believe : he does not like cats, this glass, he has a touchy funny bone."

The glass eventually was scooped up and deposited into The Strider's sash as he eventually stood up and wiped his hands clean of the debris, before looking off to Vuko with no small measure of distaste. The Loki Prime's modified chassis whirred and hummed as he rolled his shoulders and fixed the sash about his neck.
"Vuko? Vuko. " Lekalis' words were measured and level, but there was a noticeable undertone of irritated insistence in his voice as he strode up and brusquely jabbed a finger into Vuko's shoulder.
"You almost hit me. Why?"

Kapak:
The Nidus unfroze after what seemed to be an eon, and appeared to be completely unaware of the incident between Vuko and the now deceased glass object.
Kapak wiped his brow as he walked up to Disruptis, standing beside Vuko, Lekalis and Muro.
"Voiddamnit, Dr. Frost," Kapak shook his head as he passed the Kavat, no longer seeming to be afraid of the Technocyte predator.
He was about to speak, his mouth open and finger raised when he stopped, realizing the current mood of the situation.
"I'll uh, wait." He took a small step back to let Vuko and Disruptis sort things out.

KAMOS & ATELA
Atela had taken the cups from Leveret as he had tried to find somewhere to put them down. She was unsure of what to really do with them, so just held them as she and Kamos watched this whole thing unfold. Why can't things just be nice and peaceful for a few minutes?

"Y'know, I might actually try that tea. People seem to be interested in it. That, and I know Leks knows what he's doing." Kamos said quietly to Atela, likely too quiet for anyone else to hear. "Besides, I've been in the pod for a while. Good to get out every once in a while, y'know?"

"I mean, I still think we shouldn't be here in person, but... worst-case scenario, we can just hop back into transference." Atela responded after pondering it for a moment, now holding the tea cups in both hands. She was leaning against the window now, whilst focusing on this whole thing between Lekalis and Vuko. "And, I'll be honest, I'm intrigued by this tea."

//Runner

Ella took the cup as best she could, the throbbing pain in her mind coming back with a vengeance, she groaned a bit, before blowing away the steam, drinking its hot contents cautiously.

A moment would pass with her listening around, and to Lupin's warm voice. She let out a sigh as she loosened her grip on the moon-lit cloth hiding her gaunt cybernetic head piece.

"EL-LA, TROU-BLE?" Striker inquired dutifully in addition to Lupin.

"I... I'm... f- fine, t-thank you." She said shakily to both, though more in compliance to Lupin, her voice a soft beautiful hum. Striker lowered the PDA to Ella's reach, though its master didn't seem to notice as she began shrinking away from the scene and the room's midst, still clutching the right side of her head, the other hand holding the contents of the tea.

To Lupin's scans, a number of glass bits seemed to have harmlessly lodged into her hair, though a select few seem to be causing problems with the prongs on her metal ear; a faint whine, like that of a small motor, or servo attempting to move a vain, hopeless attempt.

Ella would sit down, resting her legs to one side, somewhere less populated, though still away from the nearby walls, attempting to pick at the bits.

Disruptis:
“Whoa, wait wait wait!” Disruptis protested, throwing his arms up defensively. “We talked about this Vuko. That mishap was my and XerAI’s bad for not giving good enough instructions; The team was just trying to hold down a sleepwalker. They had-- well…”

The Limbo reconsidered his wording with a special doctor in mind. “Most didn’t know you were actually awake. Doc-- er… Frost was just doing his job. Look, can we all talk about this later? He was just here to deliver a gamma module to me. Plus, this is something that’s not really easy to discuss here.” Disruptis jabbed at Kapak’s gut with every emphasis, hoping everyone would get the hint to keep Frost’s identity a secret. None of the guests needed to know what an abnormality was, and hopefully none would find out. The fewer the better.

Meanwhile, the icy kavat nearly jumped out of his fur when the glass was thrown, and was now slowly retreating back into the elevator with his head lowered. It seemed to want out of there, and fast.

Vuko:
“Then why do you need said module-thing in the first place?” He asked grumpily, clearly not happy about something. “I can smell that something’s not right. And that it’s all somehow his fault.” He cocked his head, pointing at Lekalis. Vuko continued to stare at Disruptis, waiting for some kind of explanation.

Lupin:
Stealthily, a subconscious silent gulp passed his throat with honest jealousy as he watched Ella's anxiety visibly wane with each sip of the tea. His visage betrayed no emotion, yet hues of rain and fire fought for dominance in his eyes.

"I am relieved for it, but you do have... debris on you." He gently and cautiously pointed out. "I fear some of it might have already clogged your augmentations. May I?" He offered with an open palm, an aparent distance still cushioning their interactions.

//Runner

With a rather rabid grace, she failed several times in picking away some of the glass, causing a few cuts to leak crimson from her fingers as she did her best to prevent it.

“I... er...” She trailed off at his offer, considering another Tenno to help her. She shakily began to drag her hood back, her cognitive relay blinking, and in some order of acceptance, Striker flew over to the sanguine Strider, offering his aid with an offered voice.

“STRI-KER, HELP, STRI-DER, CLEAN, DE-BRIS?”

Meanwhile, Ella finally nodded to Lupin, staring shyly away, her prongs still struggling to untangle themselves, causing her great discomfort. “Y-yes, I w-would like y-your help.”

Lupin:
"Excuse me, then." He let out politely accompanying tranquil steps forward. Slowly, with the offering hand held against his chest, he closed the gap, eyes held on her recoiling visage, searching for signs of discomfort. Cautious fingertips reached out and were held just shy of contact.

"A fore-warning: I will use void energy to ensure no further harm befalls you." He added, taking a brief moment to let her adjust and respond, as the misty energy rolled over his skin, slothful dusk wisps reaching out to Ella from his outreached hands.

He tested her reaction with the gentle tap of the back of two fingers against the scalp behind the prongs. A brief analitical pause anticipated his attempt to delicately guide the mechanical sensors with one hand, the other focused on locating and extracting the stranded saboteurs.

Eyes shone brightly as he continued to channel the void, sending the sommatic scars that framed his face into a writhing frenzy that appeared to remain undetected by their host.

Leveret
Although he was feeling pretty confrontational himself, Leveret appreciated that Lekalis had taken the initiative in confronting Vuko. Still, he hovered near the Loki's shoulder, ready to step in if anything happened.

He hoped this could be resolved quickly and quietly, though he found his mood was already starting to sour.

Disruptis:
“What?” Disruptis responded, “N-no… it’s just that… that...”

Well, now he was in trouble. He had to either make up a cover story quick, or go ahead and alert everyone to the mysterious yellow cracks. He didn’t want this to fire up any further, but a feeling deep in his gut told him that might not be as easy as he hoped.

…

Dr. Frost
Being a kavat wasn’t easy in /RU Corp. The constant paperwork and self-monitoring is tremendously tiring, let alone needing to act like a normal feline in the presence of someone not acquainted with the teleporting tentacle monster in sector sixteen. It was a hard life, but one Doctor Krisi Frost refused to back down from.

However, moments like these were certainly quite persuasive.

The doctor didn’t know whether to stay or leave. On one hand, he wanted to get the absolute muck out of there, but on the other, he wasn’t sure if that was going to raise a red flag practically begging the agitated Ivara to hunt him down. Void, he was only drafted to deliver the capsule because everyone else was too afraid to approach a few Tenno.

Frost, on the other hand, was just afraid of one. One, who just so happened to be there.
Ohhh scraaaaaaapppppp….

Sudoko Anirab:
Realizing that his time before passing out was short before passing out and wondering how he hadn't already, Sudoko would look around the room and admire all the wonderful faces. Attempting to steel his nerves, he'd walk up to the table in his Valkyr Prime and stand on a chair before wandering onto the table, most likely accidentally shoving a few people and knocking platter or two off the table due to his disorientation
Hic "Guyysss... Thank youu for the wonderulll timee, this was awesome sauce like amazing boss! Youuu were old wonderfull, especially youu Vukoooo! You wonderful... If I weren't about to pass out, I could kiss ya! Thank you alll for putttinggg up with my anticsss, and I hope to see you whenever, if I ever wake up." Sudoko managed to muster sentences, slurring multiple words and probably saying a few... Repugnant things. Once he finished, he'd fall forward on the table, throw up sounds being heard through his transmission feed before officially passing out.

IIJay'KinII

Jay'kin would suddenly just..start snoring; he was drooling from his mouth and his warframe was holding him in a embrace; trying to keep him warm in the cacoon of burly..metal-flesh it was. Even if it was a skinny excalibur; it did it's best to simply give him the comfort of his well-needed sleep.

Disruptis would soon find his efforts futile. All his efforts futile, actually. Every single one.

The universe is very mysterious; It does a lot of unexplainable things. Matter of fact, that’s why the Response to the Unknown Corporation even was founded. Some things they can control, but their strength is still limited. An entire armada of Tenno bombarding one abnormality is much more powerful than everything /RU has to offer. Yet, they still must maintain secrecy in order to prevent anyone from creating things beyond their realm of knowledge. Those creations may backfire and throw the entire system into crisis. Then they’re really screwed.

Case in point, now.

BOOOOOM!!!!! The entire room shook with the ferocity of a nine-point-two magnitude earthquake. Glasses and teacups shattered in sprays of deadly shards. Warframes and Operators alike were thrown around like toy dolls. Food was both smeared all over the floor and sent careening up to the ceiling. The elevator’s base screeched in protest before under pressure, sending Dr. Frost to a quick demise. Even the walls warped and bent like the inside of a crushed Corpa-Cola can. In the center of it all, was a crack.

Or rather: an orange gaping hole outlined in yellow that spanned the width of the entire ceiling.

Inside its fiery vortex lay a flat event horizon, impossibly stretching to some unknown plane of reality not known to anyone in the universe. It yawned with unimaginable power and sent a deafening hissing sound through the ears of all Tenno.

‍
Disruptis:
"OH UNHOLY MOTHER OF FU--"

Disruptis was cut off when his helmet slammed into a sharp section of the wall and sliced his head clean off. Blood gushed forth from the trauma and streaked across every surface the limp Limbo was then tossed against.

//Runner

She nodded silently, tilting her head down as she sat up straight, closing her eyes. Each grain and piece of the shattered cup were slowly found by the tendrils, levitating away from her azure mane, and eventually, with effort, from the bearings below the metallic circle of an ear.

After a time of focus, Lupin would begin to feel a calmness, a refreshing feeling unlike anything before. These senses slowly coalesced into an awareness of air calmly caressing his tendriled hand, transforming into soothing aura emanating from Ella.

Each glittered fragment seemed to shine on its own, as he watched his violet traces leading upon her mane, to be met with faint bright blue coils bridging at each little fragment plucked.

For a moment, it was if he was seeing into her, as she to him...

A flashing pair of gold and crimson orbs clashing,ramming into one another bodies, leaving sparkling fragments of themselves behind, then disappearing within a split second.

An ire no longer prevalent, quiet, fickle fluxed with every discovering movement of Ella.

A gloomy, blue moon, hiding away, outshined by a sanguine sun.

Eventually, each bearing of their respective prong would come free of the shrapnel, flexing in unison, then folding, then unfolding back to its winged shape.

Kapak:
“Yo, Sudoko, you aight?” Kapak turned towards the drunken Tenno while the other talked, watching as the Tenno collapsed.
“Voiddamn, dude. He’ll... probably be fine.”
Kapak shrugged as he walked towards the table and lifted the Warframe up and plopped it down in a chair, its head killing about like a rag doll.
As he did, the portal opened, sending objects flying across the room.
“WHOA!!” Kapak quickly extended a bony claw from the back of his hand, stabbing it into the floor to steady himself from being sucked into the massive disturbance that now lurked above the room.
“Everyone hang on!” Kapak yelled above the winds caused by the shifting air, “try to make it to the elevator if you can! Get back... ugh! ...to the main facility!”

Kapak watched as Disruptis’ Limbo’s head was sliced off and the corpse rolled past him.

Leveret
As always, Leveret's first and only instinct was to protect. Losing his footing as the room shook, Leveret wrapped one arm around Lekalis and held him in a near-crushing embrace while he scrambled for something to grab with the other. "Please tell me you can do that wall-sticking thing!" he cried, wedging one foot and his free hand into creases in the crumpling walls.

"I think I heard the elevator fall!" Leveret called back towards Kapak, "Either way it's not safe at this point! For all we know it's open to space now!"

/Jay’kin/

He’d go eye widened; beginning to actually wake from his slumber before in one vivid motion he’d begin to transference back into his warframe and materialize his weapon of choice. Summoning his crossbow before shooting at a nearby wall, quickly running towards it and grabbing onto the two objects with vigourous force. Yet a Komi board would fling towards him and knock him off balance: now holding only one.

“Oh SCRAAAAAAAP!”

Elizabeth
Having never mustered up the courage to join the conversations surrounding the tea, Elizabeth merely retreated into the sanctuary of her Trinity. Unperceived to all others, she kneel; within her gleaming conduit of metal and flesh, a lonesome girl closed shut her eyes; deep behind the masque of Life, an imagination slaved furiously to revive a dying heart. She paid no heed to the world, and when the maelstrom of chaos came, she embraced with open arms the touch of her long-lost lover: the Storm itsel-..

Interrupting her pensive posture was the first tremor; in the heartbeats afore the next, Elizabeth was all ready twisting into motion-- lithsome and neat, she evaded near-certain death and began flicking herself rapidly here and there without rhyme or reason. Seeking escape from inescapable plot devices, she was doomed from her arrival; and so it was, as the walls and floor shattered into shards, she zigged when she should have zagged ...

... Ferrite tore through and savaged her noble frame, and she was pinned to the fast-disintegrating floor. Sinking to her knees, she kneel; and with a smile on her sanguine lips, she embraced her long-lost lover: the Storm itself.
Heralded by her final thoughts, the arrival of Elizabeth into the heavens was all together less momentous than she would have liked.

Lupin:
The strain of his powers loosened, an entrancing dance between the two Tenno remained unseen to all others. As the last shard was removed, he witnessed the wings of a bird of myth take form for a split second. His hands still didn't shy away from her, entangled by force or simply by will of their own.

Gravity's lapse went undetected in the most crucial of moments, breaking the spell over Lupin and sending him flying across the room.

"What in the Void is-" He was cut short as he collided mid-air with one of the tables, now devoid of their feasts and gifts. With a loud crash and crack, he felt his chrysalis shatter like glass, ribs snapping in half as the now jagged edge of the metallic furniture cut deep into his chest. He burst into a cloud of twilit fumes, his essence back safely within the metal casing.

The until-then vacant warframe had, much to his dismay, already been propelled off the wall it had been resting against, and into the gaping maw that offered certain doom. No sandstorm, nor myriad of void-infused beetles could prevent this fate, and yet there was no lack of futile attempts by such methods.

A sand cloud slowly drifted upwards.

Muro:
The lack of explanation of Disruptis' part was aggravating, to say the least. As more and more people joined their conversation, all of whom seemed to know a lot more about what was going on than he did. In this instance, however, he didn't have time to sulk. The explosion that rocked the room sent Muro flying back towards the wall, the durability of his Hydroid frame the only reason the shock didn't knock him unconscious. Immediately his eyes were drawn to the fiery rift that had appeared in the ceiling. Muro hadn't the slightest clue what it was, but his instincts told him one thing: RUN.

"Aurelia!" he practically screamed into his comm link. " Get the Liset to my location, now! Cut a hole into the station if you have to!" Her response was immediate.

Aurelia:
"Already on its way, darling!" Truly, it was in times of crisis where Muro and Aurelia worked best together. No sass, no time for jokes, just solid teamwork. In truth, the shock of the fissure opening up had completely fried the MOA proxy she had been using. Like her Operator, she had no idea what caused it, but one thing was clear: it was time to leave. Within moments the Liset was docked on the side of the station, a myriad of tools working at cutting through the thick outer walls of the station. "Muro, its going to take me a moment to make an opening. Look for a hole along the eastern wall of the room!"

Muro:
"Got it!" he barked back, trying to brace himself against the pull of the fiery void that loomed above him. Muro looked around the room at the various faces he knew in the room, his family amongst them. He couldn't lose them. Not again. Summoning up all the strength he could, he let out a yell that he could only hope would be heard above the roar of the rift.
"VUKO! KAPAK! LEKS! EVERYONE! GET TO THE EAST SIDE OF THE ROOM! NOW!" The panicked yell shook Muro to his core, though he wasn't sure it even reached the others. All he could do now was pull himself towards the designated wall, hoping that Aurelia could breach the wall before the entire station came down on them.

Kapak:
The Nidus summoned another boney spike from his other arm, puncturing the floor with it to gain additional stability.
"Ugh," Kapak said as Disruptis' Limbo disappeared into the violent storm, "there goes the one guy who knows what to do in this kind of situation!"
Kapak dug his boney toes into the floor, climbing sideways against the pull, towards the sound of Muro's voice.

KAMOS & ATELA
The two had been just watching this party, when all of this stuff happened. One second, it was just a loud party. The next second, though... The two knew what to do. They had spent countless hours preparing for almost every eventuality. This was no different. I mean, there was still a moment of panic as both were knocked off balance, but Atela managed to keep Kamos on his feet when he nearly tripped. Now holding onto the wall as things got worse and worse, Kamos glanced at the window and nodded to Atela.

"EVERYONE SHOULD HOLD ONTO SOMETHING!" Kamos shouted, before... kicking the window into a bunch of tiny shards and exposing them to space. Immediately, the decompression launched the two of them out of the station. Just like Sedna, yep. Well, part of that mission. The both of them held onto each other, as Atela focused on making contact with their liset and getting their Archwings over here. At most, they had a few minutes before the life support on their frames failed, and they would be forced out of transference. Nope, they weren't losing their frames like this.

Vuko:
As he awaited, annoyed, for everything to be cleared up, he was just standing there, tapping his foot against the floor.

And then the ceiling went kaboom. His frame being so close to the epicentre went flying accords the room, hit a wall, and slid down into the corner. “I TOLD YOU IT’S ALL LEKALI-“ He started shouting to everyone in the room, but his rant was short lived as a bigger piece of the ceiling flew right towards his head, squishing it into a purée.

Kapak:
"Muck! Vuko!!" Kapak reached out as he watched his friend's head get squished.
Things were falling apart way too fast. Kapak continued to crawl across the floor... he was almost there...
The pull of the anomaly in spacetime overcame the Warframe. With a flash of energy, Kapak's flesh both scorched and froze at the same time, and his torso separated from all four of his limbs, still fixed to the floor.
"Muuuuucccckk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Kapak screamed as he flew into the orb of darkness.

Leveret
The frost didn’t get a chance to hear Lekalis’ reply, as a piece of shrapnel embedded itself in his back, jutting from his chest covered in orange-gold fluid. His head slumped forward and the lights on his frame went dark, before he lost his grip on Lekalis and flew into the gaping yellow maw.

...

.....

..........

Onkko:
"And that, Surah, is why I would not advise organizing a party with those specific people on that specific day."
The Quill shifted in his seat on the ground across from Disruptis. The soft tinkling of Sentient-bone wind chimes echoed throughout the cavern as Onkko reached over to pour himself another cup of chimurr.
"Kruna metta, another drink?" Onkko outstretched his earthen jar to Disruptis' empty cup.
"I tell you, it is most helpful to both of the things we represent to exchange information. The Unum is always there to protect the lives of those she deems most righteous. Where your technology fails, the Unum's wisdom upholds."

Disruptis:
Disruptis’s jaw was open so long it had probably swallowed some flies.

The two sat in Onkko’s primary den built into the cliffs of Cetus. Warm rain fell outside in thick sheets that pounded against canvas flaps and hard rock, now only accompanying the faint howls of wind. Disruptis’s mind swam comfortably in the calming atmosphere. It was his favourite, and Onkko most likely knew it.

/RU Corp never seemed to get the opportunity to work with the Quills, so Disruptis had painstakingly scheduled a visit to see if he could snag a little prophecy. He didn’t feel like the Quills would help him with anything, as their avoidance of the corporation was pretty deliberate at this point, but he wanted them to at least acknowledge it. Instead, Onkko told him a tale of a feat they had already accomplished for them. They had prevented this… catastrophe.

Not a single sound escaped the yellow Tenno for a solid few seconds.

“...”

His lips moved in genuinely flabbergasted telegraph.

“...what!?!?!?”

Onkko:
“Hmm. It seems in one reality you processed this information much better.”
Onkko shook his head, his expressions hidden behind his mask. He retracted his vessel and set it back on the ground beside himself.
“The Quills do not act openly, Surah. We work from behind the system’s stage. We watch and anticipate, and when it is needed, we act. The truth is, you have had our help since the very beginning. That bizarre occurrence is one of the many universe-ending events that have a chance of happening every single day. Your company has never had and never will have the means to deal with an event of such a magnitude. But the Quills may prevent it by altering the presence and actions of the people who go about their lives, leading up to such an event.”
Onkko stood up and bowed respectfully before beginning to clean up his cups. How did the Quill even drink his tea when he had that mask on all day?!
“Yes yes,” Onkko answered Disruptis before he could ask, “that... ‘vortex’ from that point on would have gained sufficient gravitational pull to end the known universe in less than one second. The only thing left would have been the Void. Now, I’m afraid your departure is nigh, Surah. Do you have any last questions before you leave?”

Disruptis:
Disruptis pondered for a moment, then let out a long sigh.

“Fine, fine. I guess you win,” he conceded.

He set down the earthen cup resting in his grasp and got up from his stool to pace. To be honest, Disruptis wasn’t exactly foreign to the idea that some of the events surrounding the corporation’s success weren’t coincidental. There’s no way he could easily pinpoint the Quills hand, but /RU did run into some very lucky circumstances which would’ve taken them in a separate path altogether had the outcome been different.

“Well,” Disruptis finished, stopping in front of the doorway. A smile faltered on his lips. The Tenno wanted to ask something niche and light-hearted, like what his chances were at getting a girl. But, he couldn't. He knew what he truly wanted to ask, but he wanted to be serious about it. Some vague prophetic answer would’ve left a bitter taste. But… he needed to ask it. After all this time, he needed to know. Know that his life had direction.

“Was it…” Disruptis hesitated, bringing his gaze up to the Quill's, “good… that the Orokin Remnant failed?”

Onkko:
The Quill tilted his head at Disruptis.
“Ah. The Orokin ruin that fell from the sky, in several ways. Hmmm.”
Onkko turned away from Disruptis to set the Ostron drinking set onto a nearby table, brushing away several dusty Sentient Amp parts to make room.
“Perhaps. Well, since that future is no longer to be in this reality, I suppose there is no harm in clarifying some things. In one reality, Mataeru, your Dark Tenno leader seizes conteol of the System but at terrible cost. In another, your newfound family brings long lasting prosperity, peace and unity to the System. The Unum’s gift is sight, but not assurance. The tale that you write is your own, Tenno.”
Onkko waved his hands to the side as if to an invisible audience, before tossing Disruptis a small engraved disc of Auron. On it’s rounded face was the carving of a feathered quill.
“It is everyone’s tale to write. Now, I know for a fact in that head of yours you can’t help but wonder about a possible female companion in your own future, hmm?”
Onkko stood behind his counter and planted his hands in his hips.
“That is knowledge that you will discover for yourself. Now, begone! I have customers waiting and night is upon us! The Eidolons wait for no man!”
Onkko shooed Disruptis away.

Disruptis:
Disruptis gave an amused laugh. “Of course you knew I was thinking that. I probably asked you in a different reality! Muck!”

The Tenno flipped the coin over in his fingers, taking a moment to digest all he had heard. He pivoted in a circle with slow strides, his head now hunched over in more serious thought. After four turns, he leaned upon the mystical doorway one last time.

“You’re right,” Disruptis said, bringing his face once again up to the starry night sky. The gentle wind and soothing rain fell reassuringly on his skin. Spurts of water erupted from impact with the raindrops, causing him to squint his eyes.

“I think,” he clenched the auron disc, “I like things better this way. With the pen in our hands. No one has to write it alone, but no one gets to write it for you.”

He stepped out with final closure resting on top of his heart, and the door cranked shut on a very peculiar reality.

[END RP]