2010-12-22 - Have A Merry Ernula Christmas!

Entering colonies unseen isn't really the hardest thing to do anymore these days. But where a person like Ascian hides a gigantic Orbital Frame - that shall forever remain to be a riddle. Well, unless it comes up at some point - either way, he couldn't just park it in the spaceport. But wherever he hid it, and whatever will happen to it, the point remains the same, the BAHRAM framerunner himself is wandering the old streets of Elpis, a big brown leather coat covering his normal military uniform and his hands stuck deeply into its pockets. He looks like he is cold. And that is perhaps to be expected, since this olden German-like town is celebrating the coming of Christmas in the way that only few Colonies have the funds for to celebrate. Snow.

The white frozen crystals of water slowly come drifting from the skies, ejected from a series of large transports that float overhead now and again. The temperature is somewhat chilly, but not really /that/ cold. But for someone who is used to never actually stepping outside of a warmed cockpit - or being in the Sahara for his missions - this is definitely not the greatest of weather. Ascian mumbles something under his breath and comes to a halt in front of a small stand. They are selling sausages on bread. Not hotdogs - but frankfurters with curry on them. They're warm, and he could see the steam coming off of them behind the glass inside of the rotating machine. "One please." He raises a finger to emphasize this number, and waits as the man behind the little stand gets to work.

As a Trailer, it's considerably less difficult for Ernula. The Castrato is parked at the spaceport, its cargo hatch opened, while two blondes clad in fur coats unload its cargo into the waiting hands of spaceport workers. They're having a conversation, it seems, about how great it is to manage this delivery. Seems that this shipment was all donated toys and clothes. But, there are only two androids managing the unload. The remaining four have scattered into the colony itself. Perhaps Ascian has seen one of them. A teenaged blonde in a cute winter dress and fuzzy coat, accompanied by floating black rabbit plushies, with a rabbit-themed winter cap, marvelling up at the falling snow in *rapt wonderment*. Or perhaps he saw the one near the park, cheerfully building a snowman with some local children. Or perhaps he's noticed the two identical, identically dressed ones sharing a soda not three feet to his right as he orders his frank. Wait. How is this girl appearing everywhere? Identical sextuplets?!

The fact that there had been similar looking girls in different locations throughout the colony had not actually gone noticed by the man; which is odd, as he normally has an incredibly keep eye for detail. He seems somewhat distracted. It is only when he gets given his curried sausage on a bun, and has paid the clerk for his services, that he realizes there are people even next to him. The framerunner takes a step back and turns his head slightly, noticing what he conciders 'twins', and ponders striking up a conversation. He was here to relax, to take a load off, and to get away from the Amenthes for a little while. Halucinations and all that.

He moves his sleeve along his arm for a short moment, checking his watch, and then does just that. "Good afternoon, young ladies." he begins, having set his watch to this colony's time upon boarding. It was starting to lead towards the evening, so a few of the streetlights were starting to slowly burn to a gentle yellow light. He takes a bite of his snack, finishes consuming the piece, and then proceeds to speak. "You two from this colony, or simply taking a vacation?" He inquires.

Chatter stops, and both girls turn enough to blink over their shoulders at the long-coated man addressing them. They're soon accompanied by no fewer than four small, floating black bunny toys that all share blank, almost confused expressions. Ernula glances at herself, then both androids turn to fully face Ascian with bright smiles, "Actually, we're not from here," one says. The other pipes up, "We're actually delivering something for the charity program." Shift again, jesus christ where'd that third Ernula come from, "But since the unload only needs two, the rest of us decided to look around!" The newcomer seems to be the snowman-building Ernula, as she's dusting snow off her ungloved hands as she speaks. Like the others, this one is also accompanied by voiceless robotic black rabbit plushies that dance around on her shoulders, batting at snowflakes, "I've never seen weather like this in a colony." another chimes, "It's really pretty~!"

When the third one joins, the rather mellow look on Ascian's face temporarily turns into a worried look. Twins was not too uncommon. But triplets - that triggered a memory, explaining the microexpression of rememberance and sadness, which gets corrected to a somewhat forced smile. "It is rather unique." He admits, chiming in with the last one to speak before turning his attention to the floating bunny toys. He knew of Haros, but these things were new. But he shrugged it off mostly because he simply doesn't keep up at all with childrens' toys.

He then turns towards the one who'd spoken to him about the charity program. "Oh? A charity program?" He inquires, then lets his gaze skip to the one who'd claimed they were not from around here. In a ways, due to the rumors he'd heard about this place, that gladdened him. But at the same time, that made him suspicious. "Where are you from then? If you don't mind me asking?"

"Ernula! Ernula!" Is she calling herself? No, it's a fourth identical girl, waving her arms and she dashes down the sidewalk, "I found something cute!" She hits a patch of ice and loses her footing, sliding in amongst her sisters face-down - Though, evidently, uninjured, as she starts laughing. Rolling over in the snow, she holds up her hands, clutching several pairs of fuzzy mittens, "They go with our hats!" "Wow, they do~!" "Good find, Ernula!" Wait, wasn't this one calling someone named Ernula? While two help the third to her feet, the fourth glances back towards Ascian, "Hmm~? Oh!" She folds her hands lightly, "Well, we're with the Trailers, so we deliver stuff all the time for the Valstork family's business." With the fallen android on her feet again, one of the still-standing ones pipes up while trying on her new bunny-themed mittens, "We came from Ceres though!" And another, "Out past Mars, this side of Jupiter?" "That Ceres."

The Valstork family. Why did that name sound familiar? It doesn't take long for him to remember Kazuma - the guy who'd gotten so incredibly upset at him calling the Trailers 'trailer trash'. But he was in no mood to start kicking up a fuss. Instead, he continues to be somewhat confused by the fact that there were multiple girls named Ernula here, and they all looked the exact same. Ascian raises his hand up to his head and hesitantly scratches the back of his neck whilst he tries to wrap his mind around the situation playing out in front of him. In the end though, he simply smiles. Had the girls not picked up the fallen Ernula, he'd liked have offered his hand.

"I know of Ceres." He claims. He had a mission to go to Calisto soon, to check up on BAHRAM's mining operations. He'd heard they'd been running into some issues. "So. Please, explain to me." He moves his hand away from his neck and instead places it to his chin, supporting that arm with his other by placing his other hand underneath the elbow. "You are all called Ernula, and you all look alike." He didn't want to offend them by asking 'did your mother really hate you or something?'. Instead, he just gives an inquisitive look at them, throwing a momentary glance at the mittens in between. He still smiled. Yes, those would look cute on the little blondes.

In turn, each Ernula pulls on her mittens. They're white, with gripping pads on the palms and fingers which resemble pawprints. So, in essence, paws to go with the bunny ears on their knit caps. The girls chatter excitedly amongst themselves while the fourth one grins, listening intently to Ascian as he states what he knows. The expected question 'What gives?' doesn't happen, though, and she frowns slightly at the vague gesture she gets instead. She props her hands on her hips and tips her head back, eyes closed, "We're all Ernula. If you're thinking I'm human, you're wrong." Leaning forward slightly, she uses a finger to pull down her eyelid. It might be considered an insulting gesture, if she weren't trying to draw attention to the unique structure of her eyes. The little servos and lenses are easy to see with a close look, "See?"

"I make few presumptions like that." God, if he'd never learned to stop thinking people are always going to be human, the experiments he'd seen surely would have stopped such thinking flat. When the girl pulls up her eyelid, Ascian frowns for a mere fraction of a second, before he realizes that she is trying to show him something. He steps closer and slightly goes through his knees so he is more at her level so he can see properly. "Magnificent." He utters with an amazed look on his face. "So I must ask of course. Cyborg or robot - or something more unique than that?" He is not foolish enough to believe that those two are the only options.

He gets back up and takes a step back, not wishing to intrude on the girl's personal space, and continues to treat her with the same curtesy he woulda human. She may not be one, but that didn't mean he'd have to start treating her like an animal. Sure, perhaps in another situation, he may have. But the fact that she still looks like a mid teen, and that she reminds him of the experiments he'd seen, simply block any such ventures from his mind. "And are you all like, linked up - since you are all Ernula?" He continues to ask questions. Ascian could not help it - he was the son of a scientist after all. Again he looks at the rest of the 'girls', who are looking at the bunnypaw and bunny ear hats. "Where did you buy those? I might have to buy a pair for my sister." He's become good at hiding the sorrow when he mentions her. Or rather, he'd convinced himself she must still be alive somewhere out there.

Ernula leans back, taking a moment to tuck her hands into her own mittens like the other three had. Glancing over her shoulder, she grins, "Hey Ernula, these are a perfect fit! Where did you get them?" The snow-covered android perks up, "Huh? Oh, there's a lady about half a block that way-" point "-that's making lots of things. There was a scarf I liked too, but there was only one of them." The closest Ernula to Ascian turns back to him with a grin, "There you go!" When details are asked, she flexes her hands inside her mittens, then folds her arms and steps right past him... to the frankfurter stall, "Six please!" She's quickly joined by one of the other three, "Oh, Ernula and Ernula would love these. I'll run theirs back to Castrato right away." It's an entirely different android that answers Ascian's question: "I'm an android. We all are." The Ernula next to her frowns, "Robot is *okay*, but I prefer android." "Robots don't usually think for themselves." "And yes, we are linked. We're all Ernula." SUBJECT CHANGE: "What's your sister like~?"

"That would explain how you pick up a conversation so easily others started." Ascian turns as another Ernula explains what they are. "And android fits me just fine. Though I think I'll just continue to refer to you as Ernula and stick with that." He glances at the little black rabbit plushy and nudges his head at it as if asking 'what's up with that thing', now that it has come out that she is an android. But as he doesn't actually word his question, he believes it to be fine to change the subject as they ask - whilst throwing a glance into the direction he'd been pointed to when it came to the origin of the cute mittens and hat.

"My sister huh?" If Ernula was good enough at reading people, she could probably see from his eyes that he missed his sister, because the emotion of sorrowful longing appears for a good moment. He tries to hide it with a smile ever still. "She's not too unlike you in personality - I suppose. Energetic, cute, bright." Although at times it had been quite different. "Other than that." He keeps that hand at his chin and rubs it, as if he had a beard there, looking mightily ponderous. "She's someone who makes sure her loved ones stay on the right path." He could really use someone like that, because currently - the only path /he/ was on, was that of destruction and evil. "Though she did get physical sometimes." He turns his head and points at a nearby newspaper stand by nudging his hand towards it. "She loved bopping people with newspapers."

"She sounds nice!" Ernula clasps her mitten-clad hands together, eyes starry, "She must be a fun girl to be around!" The Ernula beside her frowns a tic, "You miss her, huh? Well.." She rubs her hands together, then pulls off her mittens and hands them over, "If she's like me, then these should fit her just fine! I can always get another pair, so it's okay." Big smile, "After all, it's christmas time, right~?" Even androids can understand 'the thought counts', it seems. Or maybe it's just because Ernula is substantially *old* for an android. Behind Ascian, Ernula pays for her meal and hands half of it to herself. Somehow, they determine which of the pair will take off for the Castrato, such that only one actually walks away. The remaining girl - Lord knows which one it is, by now - steps back around Ascian to pass food to her sisters. "It's okay to hit people with newspapers," she comments brightly, "Gotta knock you boys in line somehow, right?" "Sometimes I do that too, but with Castrato." "We're Hi-Rounder pilots, see." Must be their term for robots, or jets, or something like that.

"Boy do stupid things now and again." Ascian replies, kneels down and accepts the mittens. He knows that he is in no position to refuse - that'd be rude. "So they need to be put into their place, or be reminded that they are doing stupid things." He chuckles, he'd never been able to talk about his sister like this to anyone amongst the Divine Crusaders. And being given a gift for her just like this was truly heartwarming. Perhaps he should rethink his stance on the trailers after all? He continues to kneel amidst the many Ernulas, having trouble following where they are all going, or what they are up to.

"But thank you." He hugs the mittens to his chest for a moment, then stuffs them into his pockets. "One day, I will surely repay you for your kind gift. I promise you." He nods sagely as he claims this. A promise from Ascian was something rarely broken. Just as long as it didn't go against his orders. "And you are right, it is Christmas." He wished he had something to give back right now. But he had nothing. "So - I must ask, what is the Castrato? I must admit, I have never heard of Hi-Rounder pilots." The fact that this girl was an andriod made it so that he wasn't at all surprised that this girl was a pilot of some sort. And age didn't matter, that was for sure - a realization he'd come to after seeing the crew of the Argama.

"Think nothing of it!" Ernula beams -- All of her -- "T'is the season, after all." One of her speaks up, "I'm going to get some hot drinks, I'll meet you guys back at the Castrato with the others, okay?" And then she takes off as well, and the trio exchange waves. Now, Ascian is left with only two blondes for company. But, some might argue that even one Ernula is too much energy for one person. One of them folds her arms, "Yeah, sometimes boys get really rowdy, so we girls have to knock some sense into them." "Castrato is my Hi-Rounder!" her mood changes in an instant, "It's like the robots or Valkyries you see around." "They're just called Rounders where we come from." So, the colony on Ceres must be pretty obscure then. "And the really good ones are Hi-Rounders!"

"So that makes you a really good pilot - or your unit really good. I'll just presume both." Ascian notes and turns his head to follow some of the Ernulas until he is indeed left with just two of them... her... whatever. "I have a big robot myself." He claims proudly then, grinning widely, keeping his balance in this kneeled position by putting both of his arms against his knees. One hand however comes up though as he covers one side of his mouth with a flat hand and whispers conspiriously; "But she's hiding." He shifts his eyes about a little to be a bit more animated about this, before he finally returns his arm back down.

"So. You work for the Valstork family huh? How is that? I am afraid I only know of young Kazuma, personally." Well, younger than him anyhow. "We had a meeting on board of the Argama once, and if I remember correctly, I met him a few other times." He pauses for a moment. "What is it like, working for him?" It is obvious that he is trying to stay away from the subject of his sister now. She'd been right earlier, he missed her. He missed her a lot. And it isn't hard to read that this is the only thing that is /really/ on his mind at the moment.

"I like to think it's a little of both, myself," Ernula grins, "Castrato has a pretty sizable cargo capacity, so that's why I do delivery work too." When Ascian mentions his own machine, and that it's hiding, the second Ernula perks visibly. The two look at each other, then grin, "Oh, so that one's yours?" "Don't worry, we won't tell~." No they don't really know where it is. It's actually more likely Ernula is just teasing the poor guy. "Mister Kazuma is a really nice man," she says brightly. The other joins in, "He's a little stern, but he's really caring I think!" "He was very concerned about me during the Balmarian war." Ernula doesn't press the issue about missing his sister. No sense in torturing the poor guy with his own memories. "He takes his work pretty seriously, but since he's helping others, I kind of admire him for it."

"Taking things serious huh? Yeah, that sounds like him." Ascian muses, wondering how the guy had gotten his hands onto this squad of android girls. A squad of girls that claims to have seen Amenthes. He raises an eyebrow at her. "You saw her?" he inquires. "Guess I should hide her better next time." He sounds worried. He is taking this girl's words serious, even though she had been gridding when she'd claimed as such. "I'm glad he's caring - and that you all like him. He must be lucky, a single boy with a cute Ernula to help him around - all you Ernula." It is hard to adjust his speech to speak of her in the correct form.

The Ernulas titter behind their hands -- Wait, both of them have mittens. Ahh, the one who gave up her mittens must have been the one that just left. They don't say anything about his Frame, or Rounder, or whatever it is because they're funtionally just trolling him. Instead, Ernula changes subjects, "He's a good man, Mister Kazuma." "Also, it's okay if you talk to me in the signular." "Humans are used to talking that way, and sometimes I even do that too." Big smiles.

Yes, Kazuma was a good person. Definitely a better person than Ascian. Because behind that smile, lies a Divine Crusader who has taken some wrong steps in life - since he has no guide. And people who'd move along with him, would surely end up badly, or twisted. Knowing this, Ascian simply smiles as she speaks of Kazuma. "I'll see what I feel comfortable with over time." He doesn't go further into that subject. "So, you had to face the Balmarians too huh? I hope you were not unlucky enough to fall under their mind-twisting games." He looks worried. Because that, in a way, was what he'd feared. That his sister had become one of them.

"Oh, no!" Ernula smiles. The second girl glances aside, tapping her duplicate's shoulder and pointing, "Those kids have sleds. I'm going to go play with them." "Alright, Ernula!" And then there was one. With her hands tucked behind her back, the android girl rocks lightly on her heels, "I wasn't mind-controlled or anything but the Balmarians. I just died once or twice." Okay, just once. But really, when you're caught between two different, equally enormous barrages of lasers, there's really nothing else you CAN do.

"Died once?" Ascian looks worried for a moment. That didn't sound good. "You sure mister Kazuma is taking good care of you? Because letting one of you die..." He doesn't finish that sentence, realizing that it would be rude to continue to claim that he 'doesn't sound like he's too great of a person'. "Never mind. Things happen in war. I am sorry for your loss of... yourself." He utters instead and stands up so that he is properly standing before the singular Ernula that is still before him. "I was there too, but I do not think we were in the same place. I'd have heard your voice on the radio." And that was probably a good thing. If she knew who he was - what he'd done there, she'd probably be looking at him with completely different eyes.

"Oh it wasn't Mister Kazuma's fault," Ernula waves that off immediately, "And I rebuilt the Me that I lost, so it's really not an issue." A self-replicating android. This could be serious. Then again, there's a reason Goddiver considers her *illegal*. She stiffens slightly, eyes getting a little distant. It's a very brief, but noticable and weird reaction to something. Normalizing quickly, Ernula bows her head slightly, "Oh, we're done unloading. I'm going to head back now." She never did ask his name, but it's not really on the forefront of her mind. If he wanted to be known, he'd have told her. Everyone has their secrets.

After all, Ernula thinks, 'Master' is the same way.

No, Ascian is not one to keep his name a secret. In fact, he is absolutely /awful/ at keeping secrets. It is simply that he hadn't though of the fact that he had not mentioned his name until she prepares to leave. He steps to the side a bit as she bows her head at him. "Ah, right. You should go then." He claims, just before this realization comes to mind. "The name's Ascian by the way - Ascian Luddite." If you ever meet someone with that as their last name, my sister that is, could you contact me?" He grabs something from inside of his jacket, and ends up giving her a little piece of paper with numbers on it, as well as his name and email address. "The numbers is my radio frequency." He adds. He hopes she'll take the card.

To make sure she has time to do so, he ends up wandering a little towards the spaceport, alongside her. He puts his hands in his pockets again. "Rebuilt her? Well, I am glad it can work like that. Which reminds me. How come all of you work for him? Is it because you are all linked that you are exactly the same - or do you just all like his company?" It is hard to imagine a flock of similar girls all for one man - and no jealousy being involved. At least, that is the kind of relationship he /pictures/ this girl has with Kazuma.

"Ascian Luddite, huh?" Ernula considers as she takes his card, looking it over. The data is already stored, but she tucks it away inside her pocket anyway. "Okay. I'll keep my ear to the ground for any other Luddites." Wait, wasn't that an insult for people who hated technology? How awkward~. With the card stashed, she stretches her arms up and folds her mitten'd hands behind her head, "Well~... I don't work for him, specifically." Leaning her head away from Ascian, her eyes no less are on him, "It's more like... We're both Trailers. I'm an Independant, and because of the Balmarians, a lot of his work piled up, so now I'm helping him out." With a shrug, she closes her eyes and grins, "I like to think of us as friends, the Trailers. If one of us needs a hand, the rest should be willing to help out however they can! So that's what I'm doing for Mister Kazuma."

"Ah. My appologies. I thought..." Oh wait, he hadn't actually worded what he'd thought her relationship was with the guy. It's just the way in which she'd spoken about him that he'd gotten the wrong impression. Or perhaps his mind was simply in the wrong place. Either way, he shakes his head - as if he were saying 'never mind'. "It's good that you are helping people out in these troubled times." The subject is changed away from the misunderstanding instead. "The Trailers - Friends. Heh." He smiles. "That works. I presume with that - you'd never find yourself outside of the trailers huh?"

Ernula laughs, "You thought what? That he was my boyfriend or something?" She shakes her head, "No, no, he has a girl. A human girl! I just respect him." Though not as much as Master. When it's brought up if she'd leave the group, her face becomes one of concentration. "Mm... I'm not sure. I like the people I've been meeting. But if Master says I have to leave, then I will." She shrugs, "I wouldn't like it, but Master's orders always take priority."

"The girl that is with him? I thought that was his sister." Ascian lets out an interested sound. He did remember that Kazuma had spoken of his sister to the guard, before he'd come in to meet with him in the brig. But then Ernula suddenly says something interesting, that can only result in one question; "Master?" He could not help but think back of when he'd met Haman Karn, and the poor NewType 'pet' that she kept as he 'greatest achievement'.

Now, Ernula has very little in common with Puru. For one, she's too old to be a Puru. "Oh, there's another one other than his sister, Macchan. She's really nice, too." If a bit mysterious. Ernula doesn't quite understand her yet. When Ascian starts asking more about Master, the android ... doesn't say a thing. She just grins and picks up her pace noticably instead.

Ascian may not be as 'young' as Ernula looks, but he can keep such a pace easily. He's a soldier after all. Maybe not an android, but he can keep going for a while. "I see." Macchan. Macchan. Mac. Macua? He'd heard that name a few times during encounters with the Balmarians. "I see." He isn't sure though, so he doesn't continue on that line of conversation. Instead, he tries to press the topic of 'Master'. "Who's your master?" He asks. "Or rather not tell?" The grin made him curious.

There's the spaceport, and that strange blade-handed blue machine perched on a launch pad, surrounded by chatty blondes, must be the Castrato. One of them waves, and Ernula waves back at them as she comes to a stop. She hops up onto the railing of the overlook, then spins around and leans forward. Like this, she's just above Ascian's eye level. Still wearing a grin, she raises one finger beside her face, "Master is Master. That's all I'll say~." Wink. She then hops once, backwards and down about ten feet to the level of the spaceport platform itself.

There's the spaceport, and that strange blade-handed blue machine perched on a launch pad, surrounded by chatty blondes, must be the Castrato. One of them waves, and Ernula waves back at them as she comes to a stop. She hops up onto the railing of the overlook, then spins around and leans forward. Like this, she's just above Ascian's eye level. Still wearing a grin, she raises one finger beside her face, "Master is Master. That's all I'll say~." Wink. She then hops once, backwards and down about ten feet to the level of the spaceport platform itself.

Ascian is left standing at the railing, looking down as she hovers down towards the other Ernulas and what he presumes to be the Castrato. "Guess that's another one of space's mysteries I'll never find out then, isn't it?" He whispers to himself, smiling. Then it dawns on him. Wait. Android. Master. Who would an android refer to as its master? And with her looking like a little girl. The youth reaches a hand up to his hair and puts his palm against his forehead. "Some perverted creator there." He whispers to himself.