welcome to omega, round two.

[ceoqueen]

who. everyone!
what. in which the new arrivals join the outsiders.
where. landing pads for new arrivals, who then head through the markets to the residential area.
when. today!
warnings. n/a

This time, when the shuttles arrive, the landing pad isn't so empty. There was no saying these people wouldn't show up again, and though Aria isn't going to be happy that they appear to be coming on a schedule while the rest of the system is grounded, there doesn't appear that there's much to be done about it. A group of her batarian agents are there to escort incomers off the ship; some are taken aside for questioning, but when it's clear they know nothing of their origins, they're let go. Some new arrivals may notice that these shuttles don't simply depart -- a number of them are escorted off by other shuttles, deeper into the station.

After that, though, there's little the batarians can do about them. They're sent towards the residential district by way of the markets and financial sectors. The housing areas they arrive in aren't in the best of shape; while there are other outsiders to this galaxy already at work trying to repair the damage, others aren't bothering with it at all.

This is Omega. If you don't find some way to pull your weight, you'll be dead in no time.

Comments

open like ... an open thing.

[articletwelve]

[ Settling in has taken time, but when it comes down to it, Wash thinks it could have been worse. Considerably worse. Though he's still getting used to being around so many other people (or, well, aliens), he can't say it's a bad change. It's dangerous, sure, but he'll take danger over the crushing emptiness that was Sacrosanct.

He's done some work in the residential district, enough to earn some credits to his name. York's got her own thing going on, but for now, all Wash really cares about is keeping themselves fed and armed. On those ends, they're doing well so far -- but he knows they need to upgrade to the local arms if they stay here long-term.

But for now, he needs cat food.

At the moment, he's wearing most of his armor, but he'd foregone his helmet -- it's easier to go food shopping without a HUD in his way, he's found. He'd picked his way through the market until he'd found a stand selling fish, or at least something claiming to be fish, and he's engaged in a conversation with the volus behind the counter. ]

No-- look, I just want fish, okay? Fish. Are you sure these are right?

the opposite of closed!

[cosmosic]

[With arms loaded with groceries and necessities and her pocket lighter than she'd like after all her hard work since arriving, Ino walks by the vendor Wash is currently conversing with one of those fat, masked guys.

She seems to recognize his armor but hasn't seen his face yet, so it takes a moment for her to actually realize it's the guy with the cute cat she had talked to upon first arriving on Omega.

And she'd wave but her arms are full. She'll make herself known with a loud greeting anyway.]

Hey~! Wash!

Re: open like ... an open thing.

[fightforthelost]

[And just a few feet away also buying some fish is Commander Effing Shepard. The little commotion caused by Wash being a little confused about the fish gets his attention. He glances over, notes the armor -- doesn't look like anything from the Alliance -- and then cuts in.]

Striped Dartfish. What were you expecting out here in this dump? Goldfish?

[He knows his shit when it comes to fish, alright?]

Closed

[thereclaimer]

To say that the Master Chief...stuck out a bit among the new arrivals was an understatement. He wasn't the only one that appeared to be military and he wasn't the only one in armor, but he was the only one who fit both those properties and was also built more like a krogan than a human. He was on guard throughout the conversation with the four-eyes aliens (batarians, apparently) before they eventually directed him towards the residential district of...wherever he was without much in the way of answering any questions he had.

He doubted he was going to get any info out of them (and felt like the feeling was mutual), so he was about to leave the landing area when something caught his attention.

"What is that? A credit chit?"

"It was on that shuttle," the batarian agent said to the other, gesturing back towards the spacecraft. "I thought I saw a hologram in it, but it's not like any VI I've ever seen." When he gestured, the Chief caught a glimpse of what was in the agent's hand - a chip. More than that, one he recognized. A data crystal chip, of UNSC design. The Chief stopped dead, hesitating for a moment as the two batarians continued inspecting the chip, trying to figure out its purpose.

Closed

[letmepick]

Well this had certainly been an enlightening day.

Especially when there were a lot of 'hows' to be asked, and unfortunately zero explanations Cortana can find while lying around some unknown shuttle like a discarded clip. To say this wasn't normally how anyone would want to treat a highly advanced AI would be a gross understatement. At least it did allow for some observation, and what she found was far from what she hoped to gather. There were aliens, but nothing she could remotely recognize. It was possible they were an unknown Covenant species, but unlike the others patrolling Requiem there weren't that many that came off as hostile.

At least the shuttle flight was a short and relatively peaceful one. The other passengers seemed much more concerned of their own problems that when they did land, Cortana was the one left behind. "Great." Cursing under her breath a bit, now she had to contend with trying to figure a way off the shuttle and find a platform that might give her some answers. Importantly where she was and where Chief managed to run off to without her.

And in an instant, it seemed like she got her wish. An alien, batarian from what she had managed to gather, found her chip and picked her up-so far so good-but before she could pipe up and ask some of her questions, the batarian was already off with his friend as they both failed in guessing what her data crystal chip was. It was embarrassing to watch.

"Boys, do you mind not waving me around for two seconds?" Finally getting a word in, Cortana's avatar flashed on, taking the batarians by surprise. "Much better."

open to everyone

[mathemagician]

In an instant, the weight of his best friend's body was gone from his arms and Kengo Utahoshi was no longer on his way to the Rabbit Hatch. It seemed as though he'd lost his breath, gasping in air and grasping at the empty space in front of him. While he'd thought it was a problem with his vision at first that he was seeing something completely different, the sound of his shoes on the floor of the shuttle and the rustling of other people near him made him realize that it wasn't just him hallucinating. -- everything was gone. ... where...?

By the time his mind began processing what was going on, the shuttle had stopped at the landing pad and began unloading, Kengo rushing out ahead of everyone before he even though about where he was going. In one hand, he tightly grasped the handle of the case he carried with him everywhere, containing powers for a system used by a someone who was no longer living. The completely unfamiliar environment and the variety of races and strangely dressed people around him were ignored for the moment, his mind in too much of a panic.

No... No, he couldn't be here. He couldn't be anywhere else. He had to figure out where his friend's body was. If he could just get Gentarou back to the Rabbit Hatch, he could save him! Even knowing in his heart that his best friend was dead, Kengo turned a circle and searched the faces around him, then glanced over the rest of the area, his body shaking. Another one of his headaches from overexertion seemed imminent.

"Kisaragi!!" Kengo yelled for the other boy, his breath nearly panting as he tried to fight down the panic. As if on cue, the first pangs of pain hit him, his free hand quickly moving to his head as he stumbled from where he'd stopped, making a soft noise in response.

I need to find him... he has to be here... I can still save him...

[tradecraftdude]

"Aaah!"

Marco jumped at the sudden distraught yell; he was already seriously on edge, still in the middle of his own information overload and just about as disturbed at trying to understand how and why he was separated from everything he knew. Once he saw the source of the noise that spooked him, though, his adrenaline level dropped from fight-or-flight back down to a mild panic. At least it was another human. Right?

"Hey, what the hell's your deal, dude??"

open

[tradecraftdude]

None of this made any sense to Marco, but life hadn't made sense for days. The adrenaline spike from waking up in the middle of being kidnapped by aliens had long since worn off, because he had a friendly shuttle ride with strangers to bring himself down into a nice, calm, rampaging internal panic. Was this all part of the Yeerk thing? Where did all his friends end up? How was he going to get back? How was he going to stay alive?

Yeah, that.

He did his best to play as dumb as humanly possible while getting manhandled by some truly freaky looking freaks, and it seemed to have worked pretty well; before long, he was sent off to fend for himself in the wild, wild west markets. So here he was, an incredibly lost teenager in jeans and a rumpled Doom t-shirt, wandering around with his hands in his pockets and trying not to gape too much. He stuck near other groups; not so close that they'd think he was trying to squeeze in with them, but not so far away that he'd be easily identifiable as a loner.

Who was he kidding here? Based on what he's seen so far, humans seemed to be a pretty rare sight. Hopefully, that didn't make him a fine specimen for collection. Or a delicacy.

[noscope]

None of this really made sense to North, either - and he was the one that had been here for a while already. But there was nothing more out-of-the-ordinary-looking than a kid walking around by himself with his hands in his pockets, and he .. might have to go comment on it.

(Because he was kind of a boyscout, and if the kid needed help, then who was he to .. not offer it?)

This time, he wasn't in armor; he'd managed to find some clothes that made him look more like he belonged here, and that was just fine by him because he was tired of people coming up to him and gawking at how "different" his armor was compared to everyone else's.

"Lost?" he asked with a small half-smile.

let me know if this is okay :D

[neverknocks]

York knows a kid trying not to panic when she sees one, and to his credit, this kid looks more composed than York would've been when she was that age. This place is a hell of a lot more immediately dangerous than Sacrosanct was, and okay, she's got a soft spot for kids. She can't just leave the kid hanging, especially when it looks like he's got the attention of a couple of nasty-looking batarians. York hasn't been here that long, but she already knows the batarians around here at least are almost unanimously bad news.

It probably doesn't smooth things over too much for a human to be interjecting, because she's pretty sure those four-eyed fuckers are shooting her the batarian equivalent of a dirty look, but she just gives them a smug grin as she steps up alongside Marco.

"Hey, back off. The kid's with me." York flashes her teeth at them, and maybe they wouldn't have thought twice about pressing the issue with her if she weren't in armor, sans helmet. She hasn't managed to afford any new armor yet, so she's still stuck with the bulky old Freelancer armor, but hey, at least it looks intimidating. They shuffle off, muttering discontentedly to themselves, and York glances down at the kid with a smile that's meant to be a little friendlier. There's something about the kid that looks weirdly familiar, but she can't quite place him yet.

"Hey, you all right, kiddo? Figured those guys weren't exactly buddies of yours."

Open all over the place

[herewegoto]

Omega. Well, that was unexpected. Kasumi had slipped off the shuttle as soon as it touched down, hood up and features firmly obscured. Technically, she knew she'd made a return trip from the city of Abax before. Almost a year trip, in fact. The difference? She hadn't remembered the fact she'd ever left. Now, though? Well. There was no way to be sure there was nothing missing, not without an outside confirmation, but something was there. A big step up from nothing.

Weird.

Certain something- very likely Shepard related- had to be up, Kasumi slipped into the shadows, scouting out the new arrivals and natives a like. She could dig deeper later, for now that had to be someone interesting looking to pry into.

[ooc note: if your character is dressed at all oddly or freaking out, feel free to assume Kasumi approaches them.]

[anarrowtotheeye]

When he heard that a second ship of refugees had arrived, Dun immediately headed over to the landing pad with the faint hope that perhaps a line of transport had been established to and fro from Omega, and he could return home. Sadly, he was to be disappointed. Just another bunch of clueless and panic faces. Why did he even bother.

Well, if anything perhaps he should keep an eye out for anyone familiar. He'd rather not have his Cousin here to suffer with him but if Cao Cao and/or Yuan somehow find their way here, than it's up to him to locate them as soon as possible and brief them on the situation.

He's not very inconspicuous though; he's already standing out enough with the podao sheathed at his side, but it's that piercing glare that's searching the crowd that'll get Kasumi's attention. It's almost as if he's watching every step everyone makes.

[thereclaimer]

Walking through the landing bay shortly after exiting the shuttle himself, the Master Chief found himself with more questions than answers. So consumed he was by questions about what this station was and how the hell he was going to get off of it and back to Earth that he almost didn't notice that he wasn't alone.

An eye scanned his HUD and saw nothing - whoever this was, they were good enough to approach him while staying quiet and avoiding his motion sensor entirely. If his senses weren't as good as they were, he probably would've missed them. He turned and saw nothing. His eyes fell to the shadows and narrowed just briefly - again, he almost didn't catch the figure skulking in them. Whoever this was, he had to admit. They were good.

"Can I help you?" He asked just slightly sardonically. Any other situation, he might've indicated that he was kind of impressed. Right now, not so much.

[dowhatittakes]

The new arrivals gave Liara reason to investigate, curious as to if the next round might perhaps bring in more of the Normandy crew from beyond Omega's dirty walls. Wandering around she only caught a glimpse of what she thought might've been a quarian slipping off into a dark area, so she followed.

Perhaps it wasn't the wisest of decisions on Omega but Liara was more than confident that she could handle herself in such a situation.

not that i'm A WEEK LATE or anything

[chose]

Trying to play diplomat is incredibly taxing. It's just not her speed. unfortunately, Shepard feels forced into that role a lot lately - she had hoped it was over, what with the races united, the fleets gathered, but nope - dropped off unceremoniously and without explanation, along with dozens of others, and she can't shake the need to try to organize, take care of them all, whether they're friends or not.

So here she is. trying to make a habit out of greeting the newcomers and assuaging their fears and confusion right out of the gate, introducing herself (sans armor), trying to keep track of them all in her head...

Proud to serve, but...yeah. Taxing.

Re: Open all over the place

[spacecancer]

Watching the newcomers wasn't quite a matter of idle curiosities. Much of it is looking for patterns, similarities, answers in some form or another; not that there were any to find. The drell watches from a catwalk near the landing pads, careful to stick to the shadows.

Though, to Thane's credit, he doesn't strike a very suspicious chord, casually leaning against the rail. On the off-chance that someone did see him, he looks more like a curious bystander than an assassin reading the crowds and taking in what he can.

He doesn't expect company— a good vantage point in some nice shade is a little more subtle than the Omega mercs usually go for.

open!

[techburst]

[of course, it's omega. why wouldn't it be omega?

she steps across the landing pads tentatively, eyes carefully surveying the area. she'd been on a mission with her sister - and given the fact that she doesn't immediately see her, she can't help but to feel the worry crop up in the middle of her chest like an icy shard.

zo, where are you?

she brings up her omni-tool, stares at it for a moment before dismissing it again, huffing lightly behind her helmet before she decides to take it off. there's no reason for her to keep it on, really, even though it isn't protocol for an n7 to walk around without it when they're supposed to be on a mission.

she's pretty sure that this dictates a little bit of exception to the rule.]

[thereclaimer]

[As the Chief is scanning the landing bay, he briefly stops when he sees one person. He doesn't recognize them at all, but still, her armor catches his attention for a couple seconds - it's not MJLONIR or any UNSC design he can recognize, but it still vaguely reminds him of armor he'd seen his fellow soldiers in, both SPARTANs and otherwise. He's ready to just dismiss it as a coincidence and move on when he sees the gauntlet appear over her arm and then vanish.

That gets him to pause again. He's seen multiple people with that thing. If he had to hazard a guess, he'd probably say it was important if it was so common. Not seeing any better alternatives presenting themselves to him, he takes a few steps towards her. If his guess is right and she is military, then maybe he can get a couple answers from her easily. Once he's close, he doesn't waste any time.]

That device. [He points to the omni-tool now in her hand.] What is it? [He was never one for long introductions.]

[electricslash]

[ By the time Zoe gets out of the landing pads, it's with more than a few scratches. She hadn't taken well to Aria's batarians, and even though she knows Omega's one rule as well as anyone else, that doesn't mean she's about to listen to a batarian tell her what to do. Honestly.

It's the sword that finally does it. She's been looking everywhere for that familiar armor, but it's not until she catches sight of the sword sheathed on the woman's back that she knows she's finally found her.

Never mind that there are a good half-dozen people between the two of them. Not much can stop Zoe from yelling. ]

Benj--? Benji!

Open | Chief + Cortana

[thereclaimer]

"We need to find a terminal. We'll try the market sectors first."

A waypoint was set up on his HUD and the Chief was on his way. He and Cortana could only discover so much about this station from looking around - letting Cortana into its systems would expedite things greatly, as they always did whenever the two found themselves stumbling over some Covenant ship or Forerunner world of some kind. Granted, those always tended to be less...crowded than this station was.

He didn't want to attract a lot of attention to himself, but it was kind of difficult, being taller than almost everybody (he kept getting stares from some kind of vaguely reptilian hump-backed species that was about as big as him in armor - he made a note to himself to not piss those ones off if he could avoid it) and his MJLONIR armor sounding off whenever he took a step. As he arrived at the markets and began walking through them, he eventually noticed something - he was having kind of a hard time finding a terminal that looked like Cortana would be able to interface with it. But he was seeing a lot of people with golden gauntlets appearing over their arms and then suddenly disappearing as quickly as they'd appeared.

"Maybe one of those gauntlets is what we need," he wondered aloud as he came to a stop.

hello again. starting fresh okay?

[noscope]

If Chief was looking not to attract a lot of attention to himself, he was out of luck - just for the fact that he was at least a good foot and a half taller than anyone else on the station. North wasn't small by any means, but outside of his armor, he was even smaller than he would have been otherwise, and next to a Spartan ..

He did look a little small.

But there was no mistaking that armor, even if he wanted to try to ignore it. And as far as he was concerned, anyone that may have had any connection with the Project? He needed to speak with them, despite the niggling feeling in the back of his mind that it wasn't going to get him anywhere.

Theta, though .. Theta was practically thrumming with excitement once North noticed the other man in armor.

North! Is that someone we know? Do you think -

I'm not sure, Theta. But we'll find out, all right? Just remember to stay quiet until I say it's okay.

Because he had the feeling that he was going to need to keep his AI under wraps for a little while, at the very least.

North approached the larger man, overhearing him talk to himself and unable to keep from interjecting with - "An omni-tool, you mean? I think that's what they're called. You should have arrived with one."

open as can be

[electricslash]

Zoe had never been out to Omega before, but so far it seemed like all the stories she'd heard about it were true. Granted, most of those stories had been about how it was a hive for scum and villainy, a melting pot for the scoundrels of the universe. All of which she could deal with, if it wasn't for the batarians.

Normally, she would have taken her helmet off soon after disembarking-- she's always hated wearing it when they're not on a mission. But she can't help but hear her sister's voice in her ear, reminding her to scout out the area before taking any chances.

With a huff, Zoe flicks open her omni-tool and enables her cloak, darting between one person and the next. She can't stay cloaked for too long before she has to let it recharge, but it'll help her move around easier. Benji's gotta be around here somewhere, and Zoe's gonna find her. That's how it works.

In theory, anyway.

[ ooc: Zoe will regularly cloak and decloak for a few moments at a time; I don't have any armor icons yet, but she's wearing this! ]

[mathemagician]

By this point, Kengo had finally started to calm down just enough to survey his surroundings. The only thing he could think of was that the gate between the Rabbit Hatch moon base and Amanogawa High School had somehow malfunctioned, sending him somewhere else entirely different. While he regularly dealt with creatures manifested from cosmic energy and humans who were enhanced by it, he'd never seen anything quite so... alien. This technology didn't look familiar to him at all, either. More than anything, it looked like something that Kengo would attempt to build on his own.

Keeping the handle of his case still tightly clasped in one hand, Kengo had decided to avoid giving any attention to the strange object on his wrist or his case for the time being. Attracting less attention to himself was a priority, especially when the bright blue of his Amanogawa jacket stood out considerably against people dressed in armor.

Kengo stood off to the side of the group of new arrivals, keeping his back against a shipping container as he glanced over the faces of those in front of him. What were the chances of finding someone he recognized? Everyone that could have come with him had been left behind at Subaruboshi... and Gentarou's body... where was that?

While he'd been staring into space, a subtle change in his field of vision had happened -- it was a small enough flicker that he wasn't sure if he was seeing things or not, but it had seemed like someone nearby had entirely disappeared from view. It made him stand up a bit straighter, turning his body in the direction of where he'd seen that person. Without thinking about whether it would actually work or not, he swiped his hand through the air on the off chance of touching something.

There was a small, very unsure part of him that wondered if had something to do with the Stealth switch, and the hopes that perhaps Fourze was the one using it. Even though it wasn't like Gentarou at all to do something like that, thinking straight wasn't something Kengo was capable of at the moment.

{ooc: Is this doesn't work, let me know and I shall change it.}

bruce banner | open

[itsnoteasybeing]

[ Just when he had gotten into the swing of things at Stark, this happens. The crowd forces Bruce off the shuttle and into the teeming masses that is the landing pad of Omega, and he doesn't really get the chance to find his bearings before the Batarians are after him, one question after another. ]

Honestly, you're talking to the wrong guy. [ He says, in the process of trying to evade questions such as who he was, because that's the one thing Bruce doesn't want to answer. ] If there's anyone who has answers, why don't you try asking them?

[ Slight annoyance, but still, and the Batarians finally let him go, though its not without discomfort, and Bruce finds himself wringing his wrists, rolling up his sleeves. As new and unfamiliar as the station is, his senses and composure were finely put together that he doesn't fall apart, though he can feel his anxiety going through the roof.

There were specific names he should have mentioned, but that would mean more attention, and for all he knew, Tony Stark wasn't here. ]

So much for a welcoming committee.

[herewegoto]

On Omega, the committee's usually a few blasts to the face. Or at least a punch to the solar plexus, on special occasions.

[Considering the situation, the voice was maybe just a little too happy and upbeat, but details like appropriate reactions didn't matter much to Kasumi. Whatever shadow she'd been slinking through before, she'd paused enough to watch the human and batarian's interact- maybe those spectres were having an effect on her, if she was keeping an eye on that kind of thing- and couldn't help stepping into the light at the muttered commentary that followed.]

But today? It's a challenge to even get someone to spit on you. Guess the city just isn't what it used to be.

natasha romanoff | open.

[debts]

[ Out of the frying pan, into the fire. (Isn't that the saying?)

It's one thing to find yourself in a deadzone, ten miles out from the nearest border of a friendly country with a injuries a plenty and only three bullets left. It's another thing to find yourself catapulted into what Natasha can only assume is — this, somewhere that's definitely not the Earth she knows. (Sure, she has a rudimentary understanding of astrophysics, but pare it down any finer than that and even Natasha's eyes start to glaze over). Rare that she gets dropped somewhere without a briefing file about what to expect and who to expect, but that's fine. The Black Widow is nothing but adaptable.

The facts. Those come first. The omnitool is going to get some getting used to, but it seems to translate well enough; there are five or so main species she doesn't recognize, but each have characteristics that are defining enough. She's seen plenty of weaponry -- some concealed, some not -- which means that, guessing at the amount of technology around this place (Omega?), it's not always this friendly. Or this quiet.

She stretches her neck this way and that, momentarily distracted as a shuttle flies by and makes its landing, a hand cupped over her eyes as she follows it with her line of sight.

Maybe she should have watched more of those science fiction movies Clint likes so much. ]

Opennnn

[keelahselai]

When she stepped off the shuttle to Omega, it was all she could do not to groan. Or cheer. Or.... She's not sure, but it was something a little bit overwhelming. And then it was hard to be sure if she should be worried that she was even considering being happy to see Omega.

After all, it looked much the same as it did the last time she was there: dark, dirty, noisy in the worst kind of way, and today crowded with batarians herding everyone out of the shuttles. She hadn't laid eyes on a batarian in well over a year now and couldn't say she had missed them.

That she had no memory of ending up on a shuttle in the first place was the least of her worries now. She never remembered going into or leaving Abax, either. This.... It was depressingly familiar.

The shotgun in her hands was what stopped her being approached by what had to be Aria's people to begin with, certainly - glaring, though, was obviously unappreciated - and it wasn't until she was out of their way and moving deeper into the station that she re-holstered it and went for her omni-tool. If she was on Omega, either someone she knew would be there, or there would be something useful to pick up on.

But she did at least make sure to have her back up against a wall before she paid too much attention to her arm and not her surroundings - some lessons had started to stick.

hello fellow tech engineer with health issues

[mathemagician]

By this point, Kengo was rather sick of trying to find his way around the large group of newcomers. It was obvious that the body he'd been holding when he'd been transported to this new place hadn't come with him and there wasn't a single Amanogawa uniform in sight other than his. None of this was surprising, but it was certainly frustrating to be plucked from his world in the middle of a battle when he was the only person on his side to still be conscious and able to fight. (Though with all of his health issues, it wouldn't have been a very good effort considering who he was going up against.)

The halls of Omega were just as dark and suspicious looking as he had expected from glancing down them while standing at the landing zone. Great. The last thing he needed was to lose anything he came with and he was sure that his age and appearance would make him an easy target. Not to mention the fact that he was human.

When Kengo started past the person leaning against the wall, he'd nearly stumbled over himself to stop. It seemed like this was one of the more human looking individuals he'd encountered so far, or at least more humanoid than the four-eyed creatures or the hump-backed ones in armor. Keeping a few feet away, Kengo glanced over the bright orange object on the other's wrist, before glancing down at the unactivated device on his wrist. Maybe that was what this was -- the thing that allowed him to understand everyone else.

Though talking to people was never Kengo's strong point, he also felt it was important to take advantage of a situation. "... excuse me." It was really uncomfortable, struggling to be polite. Raising the hand that had the unactivated omni-tool system on it, Kengo tapped it with his other hand (which was still holding a small black case -- there was no way in hell he was letting go of that). "Is this what you're using?"

He'd also not attempted to activate it on his own, on the off chance that it was something dangerous.