(open) with that soul to sell

[sparsity]

Who: mikazuki (sparsity) & various & you!
What: THIS, boy and mecha are reunited. (EDIT: now a catch-all for other prompts!)
When: early april. (EDIT: and through may)
Where: thesa station - hangar deck, space, observation room! (EDIT: now on el nysa, inn wyver, mikazuki's residence)
Warning(s): mentions of kidnapping events, probably some blood. now ft. domesticity.

I. THESA STATION

[ Show us we can trust you, and he shall fall back into your capable hands.

It crosses his mind, from time to time. That promise in the face of a promise. What strength he possesses had been given to him by such things — promises. His home and heart destroyed by a force far more common than the Storm, that was all that was left. And when he had the chance to trade his compliance for another life, his, and everyone else's, he seized it. Sunk his fingers in and clawed his way back, too chaotic and exhausted with dissatisfaction to give up. Mikazuki takes because it is the only way he knows how to give.

No matter how much things stayed the same. He doesn't know what he'd proved by going through the same motions he was always going through, knuckles upside his face and blood in his mouth, deaths that remind him of being fifteen again, but this trip to Thesa yields something different.

Barbatos is no longer under Darma's lock and key. ]

A. HANGAR STATION — THE BLOOD AND SHIRTLESSNESS OPTION
[ Usually standing dormant, Gundam Barbatos cuts an intimidating figure among the Natha mobile suits. Elongated limbs capped with golden claws and notched with inhuman joints, horns jutted from atop its brow like a devil. Its pearly white color shines in the light of the bay, every seam, facet, and angle gleaming as if new.

Finding Mikazuki here with it isn't unusual, his visits with it in tandem with his visits to the stasis unit. He comes here often despite months and months of no changes in the suit's status, always quiet and standing sentinel. Like he's drawn to it by a force that can only be called fondness, stronger than any gravity. But today, the cage mount the machine is usually fixed against is lowered, two maintenance catwalks closed over its chest unit. ...And Mikazuki is no where to be found despite the area looking as if it's in launch prep.

At its front, the forward-facing cockpit hatch yawns open, and there's the sound of rustling around coming from inside. A loose shirt and jacket come drifting out, discarded, but caught harmlessly in the low gravity of the bay. Also an empty space capri sun, and a power bar wrapper...

Because that's not weird. ]

B-THE FIRST. CATAPULT DECK — THE JOYRIDE OPTION (CASUAL/NEW CR)
[ When he finally gets situated in the machine, however arduous a reunion that might be, Mikazuki requests a code for launch clearance once he figures out he's allowed. He's done his waiting, and among all the violent human familiarity and the planet's alien freedom down below, this is what he knows. However unassuming his disposition is, he's quick to grasp at it and hold tight now that he's able. Nothing has to flood back to him — it's already all there.

There's a great lurch and hiss of metal that rocks the catwalks as the cage disengages from the hangar wall, pistons whirring. A static clip fills the immediate area as Mikazuki activates his comm. Voice as mild as always despite the way it booms from the Gundam: ]

You'd better get in here if you're staying.

[ A pause. ]

They're about to let all the air out.

[ You know, no pressure. ]

B-REDUX. CATAPULT DECK — THE JOYRIDE OPTION (CLOSE CR)
[ Maybe it's all of that above, but he's not yet climbed into the suit despite being attached to it by neural system implanted at the topmost curve of his spine. It might seem a brutal, nearly inhuman thing to share synapses with a machine, to share his retinas and his cerebellum, all the blood in his body, but he wears it well. Wears it like it's pumped some of his own colors back into him, vibrancy in every one of his harsh angles.

Hanging out of the cockpit, cord curled in a wide arc behind him, he grasps the hatch with one hand to keep his balance upright and holds his other out. ]

Come on, I'll show you.

[ Be brave. You basically asked for it. ]

C. OBSERVATION ROOM — THE CHILL EXISTENTIAL OPTION
[ He's been told gaining access to this place is also a measure of trust by the Natha's standards. Mikazuki could be curious about that in itself, but he finds that he isn't, brain too full of a comfortable mechanical hum, alive with the presence of the machine he shares his strength and existence with. That's plenty enough for him, giving him a peace he hasn't known since waking up months and months ago. All the metal in his blood is singing, the natural violence of it satiating.

Not as though he looks the part, perched on the rails by the vast panels of glass overlooking the space outside as Thesa orbits El Nysa. Up this high and with no competitive light to silence them, the stars roar out against the sky. Small in comparison to that darkness, his shoulders slope, eyes reflecting the pale, celestial blue glow of the room. He's fixed on no one point, not searching for familiar constellations when there are none.

He only knows them thanks to Barbatos' guidance system, anyway.

With everything awash in that calm color, there's a lot to look at around him too. Consoles meant to track the activities in the hangar, programs monitoring the station's axis and velocity, research materials, projections of star systems thrown about. Out of the blue, he ventures to anyone partaking: ]

If it's hard for you to study like this, I'll go.

[ Despite not being loud or disruptive, he feels it, momentarily personal. The space at his side is so achingly empty that nothing else here is louder to him. ]

Comments

[sparsity]

[ Mikazuki isn't so protective over the machine that he's going to kick up a fuss about the touchiness. In fact, he has a keen eye on it, because Rocket looks like he knows what he's doing, and Mikazuki is a fighter, not a mechanic.

And his mechanic is recently back to being pod-bound. ]

Galaxy? [ Like, a whole one? ] Even the ships back home wouldn't make that.

[beatupgrass]

[Rocket balks for a second.] Wait. You're tellin' me your people can build this, but they can't manage interstellar flight?

[He turns back to the control panel, and then back to Mikazuki, seeing them both in a new light, and being a little bit (and unnecessarily) indignant about it.] What d'you even use this thing for?!

[sparsity]

[ Luckily the scorn kind of pings off his skull, which is plenty thick enough for it. One brow quirked, he leans forward in his seat to pull up a new control mode. At his back, there's a thick cable wired from his spinal column to the seat. ]

What else? To fight.

[ It's not a ship, it's a weapon. ]

[beatupgrass]

[It takes him a second to draw the right conclusion- as advanced as society is in the wider galaxy, no matter wanders around using battle-mechs to fight their battles, except maybe on Sakaar or one of the wilder planets.

This is new terrain. He takes in the set-up, the seat, Mikazuki in the seat.] Ohhhhhh. [He drawls the word out and then, with much delight:] Heh. Now this would've been nice to have when we were fightin' Ego. Hindsight, man. I gotta remember this for the future.

[sparsity]

[ He is nothing if not a helpful trailblazer when push comes to shove, if "shove" was actually blasting something in the face at high speeds and as efficiently as possible.

When it dawns on Rocket is when a smile finally flicks over his face. ]

You want one?

[beatupgrass]

No frickin' clue what I'd use it for unless I gotta fight another livin' planet, but I kinda do.

[What he really wants is an M-ship on the off-chance space exploration will be encouraged one day, but since that seems to be a pipe dream for now, he settle for something he can brag over.] You never know when you might need extreme overkill.

[sparsity]

[ ...another ]

You fought a planet?

[ Like, a whole one? Part of him has a cool and collected exterior to maintain, but the harebrained aggressive teenager part is looking too curious for its own good. ]

[beatupgrass]

[yeah like it's hard?]

An actual living planet. Totally a thing, apparently. [He'll leave out the "actually Quill's dad" part. That part is weird.]

[sparsity]

[ All of it is weird but his bar is... it's decently high. ]

Did you win?

[ Tell him more. ]

[beatupgrass]

[Honestly, he has no idea, and has almost 0 faith in Groot's ability to set the bomb.

But his entire universe just got eaten by a cosmic storm and no one is here who can call him on his bullshit at the moment.]

If I didn't, I wouldn't be here braggin' about it.

[sparsity]

[ If anything, Mikazuki is alarmingly face value when something sounds awesome. ]

Huh, sounds interesting. I think we could take a planet. Right?

[ Around him, the machine gives a sort of hot-blooded thump, like an agreement. Forget that the robot just seemingly responded — it lurches to a stop and shudders, locking onto the launch rails. Ahead, the deck illuminates, and beyond that, space. ]

Looks like that's it. Ready?

[beatupgrass]

[Rocket looks around, ears flicking a bit in confusion with gives way to excitement as he grabs hold of something to keep from falling over in his glee at the forward movement.]

Oh hell yeah. Let me see if this thing's still just as impressive in action.

[sparsity]

You got it.

[ One potentially violent joyride, coming right up. Foot to the propulsion, he pulls back on the controls once he's sure the force isn't gonna turn Rocket into a hamburger. ]

Gundam Barbatos, going out.

[ The track green lights, and Mikazuki just guns it out the gate, going from 0 to a hell of a lot of Gs in no time at all.

While the cockpit isn't completely unaffected by the force, it's obvious it's meant to protect squishier beings well, an automatic balancing system taking effect as soon as the thing hits open space and takes a sharp veer "upward". It's smooth, but the verniers are roaring. ]