((Logged 6/13/2000))

Bart's Hideout, Foot Entrance
Contents:
Har
Luka
Aeria
Lia
Ryan_Jackson
Hiryousei

Ryan_Jackson turns to head for inside the base, visibly concerned. He stops for 
a moment at the new voices. "Hmm?", he calls out aloud.

Lia turns slightly, the motion sluggish. "Ryan, could you take her to see 
Sigurd? I'll greet our guests..."

Har kind of edges along the door and looks in, since Lia was so nice to leave it 
open.

Ryan_Jackson nods, angry at himself for stopping to greet who knows what or who. 
"Immediately!" He steps into the base.
Ryan_Jackson has left.

Aeria has left.

Lia smiles, her right arm twitching due to a suit malfunction. "Hello there... 
Please, come in..."

Luka enters with a small measure of hesitancy. "I do apologize for intruding, as 
Sigurd did not wish for--" She blinks at Lia. "This will not do. May we come in 
officially for tea? We need to speak with you, and it seems as if we can 
assist."

Har 's attention is caught by Aeria. He pokes at Luka. "Um... *Luka*!" And grins 
at Lia. "Hey, long time no see! What's wrong?"

Lia blinks, then nods, "Assist?" Her tone is hopeful, "Please, come in... We can 
have tea in the Dining Hall." She turns slowly, grimacing as confused signals 
from the suit cause her leg to spasm painfully. "I would be most grateful for 
any assistance you can render..." She smiles to Har, "Indeed it has been... This 
way, please."

Luka strides in, a frown settling firmly into place. "This will -not- do." She 
scoops up Lia around the shoulders with a firm arm, nodding Har towards the 
girl's feet. "Help me carry her down. Easy does it."

Lia blushes slightly. "Oh my... If we are going to deal with my problems, then 
we should adjourn to the guest room... Turn right at the intersection and head 
south until we get to the end of the hall..."

Har was looking down the corridor where Aeria ran off. "But *Luka*... that was--
" He jogs over and lifts up Lia's feet easily. "No problem, down the hallway 
right?"

Luka sighs, staggering slightly as she walks. After a few steps, the weakness 
firms, and she lifts Lia easily. "Correct."
Luka has left.
Lia has left.


Guest Room
Contents:
Aeria
Luka has arrived.
Lia has arrived.

Luka nudges the door open, carrying Lia by the shoulders. As she sees Aeria, she 
stops in her tracks before recovering and assisting the girl onto the bed. 
Dusting off her hands, she blinks. "Is... it you?"

For one who should be in a worse condition, Aeria is still up and about.  Wide-
eyed and curious, she wanders around the guest room, looking at the beds.  
Shifting the covers.  Looking under it.  Not with an intention to find 
something, but.. More in a childish curiosity and confusion as to where she is.  
Shuddering all the while, she walks over to the standard upon the wall, her 
steps stumbling, as she stares at it blankly.  Looking rather confused all the 
while.

Lia settles onto the bed, grimacing slightly at the pain of the random spasms.

Har tries to set Lia down gently but Aeria grabs his attention first. He holds 
out a hand and says gently. "Hey... c'mere. C'mon."

Luka looks down to Lia, patting the girl's head in a distracted reassurance. 
Then, glancing back to Aeria and biting her lip, she murmers, "Please? It's you, 
right?"

Aeria doesn't even seem to notice anyone else is even -here- yet.  She suddenly 
merely blinks, a light of brilliance dawning in those palest blue eyes of her, 
and she -giggles-.  As brightly as one might to a joke or a lovely day.  And she 
turns her gaze momentarily to Har, and to Luka, and beams, most brilliantly.  
And with that brighest giggle once more, she takes off at a dash, running out of 
the room, down the hall.

Aeria has left.

Zecks has arrived.

Luka begins to dash through the door in a panic, almost crashing into Zecks. 
Frowning, she tries to push the machine aside without an initial recognition. 
"Shoo."

Zecks has left.
Luka has left.

Har almost leaves with Luka but sighs and sits down on the bed. "Heya, long time 
no see. So what's wrong?"

Lia sighs, falling back limply onto the bed and concentrating slightly. The 
whining diminishes, and the smoke ceases as her body goes completely limp. A 
warning 'beep' comes from near her side. "My suit... it's malfunctioning..." She 
tries to gesture towards her torso, but cannot move her arm. "Need to take off 
the sweater and pants... Release catch is on the right side, near... warning 
light." It's obvious that the weight of the unpowered suit is interfering with 
her breathing.

A frown crosses Har's normally sunny expression. With an apology, he leans over 
and starts to carefully remove the weight of the clothing. "Your suit? What are 
its components like?"

Lia lays there limply, unable to speak as all her energy is devoted towards 
breathing, short, sharp drgging gasps.

Har pulls off the pants and sweater. He taps the release catch and parts the 
suit over the girl's lungs. "Right. Is that better?"

Lia nods, sighing and blushing bright red as she is now naked inside the suit. 
"Much... Could you help me out of it and give me the sheet to cover myself...?"

Har blinks. "Oh yeah, sorry..." He blushes himself and hands the sheet over to 
cover her, trying to help remove the suit without touching or eyeing anything. 
"Sorry, grew up with a lot of sisters."

Lia smiles, "It's okay. Although, admittedly, there is someone I would like to 
have see me naked first..." She blushes faintly, then turns to look at the suit, 
with much effort. "How is it?"

Har shakes out the suit and holds it up as he studies. "This thing is 
impressive. Hold on, let me check it out." He spreads it on the floor and begins 
to examine the components. "You okay now? First off, what's the basis of this 
thing, and what sort of problems were you having?"

Lia shrugs slightly, "I don't know... It was locking up and twitching me... I 
think I ran it over it's maximum load tolerance... The computer warned me of 
that, and it's the only thing I can think of..."

Har lifts part of the suit to better examine the machinery. "This one here is 
the main CPU, right? Then there are these little cpus here and here... It just 
looks like you wore this thing out pretty badly. What does it run on?"

Lia shrugs, "Solar power, mostly... I don't understand why it wore out though... 
I didn't think I was THAT weak..."

Har hmms happily to himself as he identifies the errant circuits. "Oh this is 
easy. I want to get my friend in here to double check this, but we can do it 
without a problem. Sit back and relax."

Lia nods. "I don't have much choice. About all I can do without the suit is lay 
here and look vulnerable..."

Har glances up and frowns. "You going to be okay? Health problems, right?" He 
grabs his gloves and fits them on before starting the first of the repairs. "So 
this is where you got to, good. You doing all right?"

Lia smiles, "I'm okay. Everyone here is ever so nice to me, and I met a truly 
wonderful young lady named Senchei with whom I have become fast friends... She's 
the one I was referring to earlier..." She blushes slightly. "Yes, health 
problems... I'm terribly weak without the suit..."

"Senchei huh? Yeah, I've run into her." Har pulls up his knees and spreads the 
suit on them while he works. "I would've come to visit you sooner, take you to 
have some shrimp sometime, but these guys here don't like who I work for."

Lia smiles and nods faintly. "Well... I'm used to my friends having differences 
of opinions. Senchei and Sigurd don't get along very well..."

Har frowns slightly. "Have they met many times, or does he just talk about her?" 
He fumbles out a tiny screwdriver and pops out a fried chip. "There we go."

Lia shrugs slightly. "I don't know... I only have their mutual assurances that 
they do not get along well to go by..."

Har laughs suddenly. "Yeah, I wouldn't imagine they would." He frees his other 
hand to nudge two circuits into place. "How long have these problems been going 
on? A gradual thing or a sudden exertion you had to do?"

Lia sighs softly. "Sudden exertion... It happened when I went to prop Sigurd up. 
I was holding him up and the suit smoked lightly... Me carrying that young girl 
in here was what made it as bad as it is..."

"That young girl? Oh, Ae..." Har narrows his eyes and hums discordantly as he 
concentrates on another circuit. "Did she just get here?"

Lia blinks, filing away the partial name for future reference. "Yes... I found 
her wandering in the desert, poor girl... Sand-sick, it seemed. Do you know 
her?"

Har sets down the screwdriver and picks up a tiny pair of tweezers. "Yeah, you 
could say that I do. I've been worried sick about her. You guys saved her then?"

Lia smiles, "I did, and now I'm doubly glad I did. I couldn't stand for her to 
be hurt..."

Har nods and hums some more. "Could you do me a favor? It's really important 
that she's all right, and gets fed and taken care of. Sigurd's not going to want 
me and Luka to stay around so if you could keep an eye on her too?"

Lia nods. "I can most certainly do that... Could you do me a favor? Tell Senchei 
I miss her, when next you see her..."

Har turns the suit over and works on the acuators in the arms. "No problem. I 
know she likes you too. Hey, thanks for helping to patch her up the other day."

Lia smiles. "My pleasure, believe me... She needs to have her bandages changed 
and her wounds cleaned periodically, so try to get her to do that, okay?"

Har chuckles. "I'd be lucky if I could get her to stay still. But she can get 
medical treatment without a problem, so it shouldn't be too bad." He stretches 
out one of the arms and mock-flexes it. "Now, I don't have any parts to modify 
this thing to prevent a repeat--I don't even know if I can, really, without my 
friend's help--so once it's fixed you have to be careful."

Lia nods. "I will."

Har chuckles.

Lia smiles. "Thank you."

Har wraps up the suit and hands it back. "Here, try it on and flex your arms." 
He politely looks away.

Lia ums... "I can't get into it without help...", she admits sheepishly. 

Har grins and sits on the bed. "Don't worry about it. I have a lot of sisters, 
remember?" He carefully shakes out the suit and holds it out for Lia to thread 
her arms into.

Lia smiles, reaching out and touching a control on the side of the suit. The 
arms retract and seem to vanish, leaving an open clamshell to work into. She 
holds her arms up, letting the blanket fall away and waiting shyly for you to 
lift her into the suit.

Har grins. "Wow... I wish I could study this later." Grabbing Lia carefully 
without an invasive touch, he lifts her up and sets her into the suit. "There we 
go..."

Lia smiles, reaching down and touching a control, causing the suit to whirr to 
life and close around her, the arms and legs sprouting from it as it adjusts 
itself to her. Soon a soft 'beep' is heard, and she sits up, testing the flex of 
the suit. "It works beautifully... Thank you." She rises and proceeds to slip on 
the rest of her clothing, wouldn't do for anyone to walk in on us like this...

Har grabs his seat on the floor again. "Check it out. Try some lifting motions 
okay?"

Lia smiles, and lifts the tea set, setting the kettle on to boil and preparing 
cups. "Working beautifully... Again, many thank yous..."

Har looks towards the door in worry again. "I really hope they don't let her run 
off into the desert. She's going to get hurt. Maybe I should look for her..."

Lia smiles, "They won't let her go without making sure she is okay first..."

Har leans back and starts taking off his gloves. "Okay, if the suit starts 
acting up again let me know, all right? That thing is pretty delicate work--too 
many people do Gears these days, nothing nice like that."

Lia blushes and speaks softly, "If... If you want to look at the suit in more 
detail later, you can..." She blushes deeper, "But I'll need someone to keep an 
eye on me while I am without it... So if you could find a way to get Senchei 
here...?" 

Har grins. "Hey, can I grab a cup of that when it's done? Thanks. Sure, I'll 
drag Senchei down here to get a look at that."

Lia nods. "Please, help yourself. I'm afraid I need to take a bit of a catnap 
though... All the exertion of just breathing without the suit is draining..."

Har gets to his feet. "Sure. You should rest, and I should go looking again. 
Take care of yourself ok?"

Guest Room
Contents:
Lia
Aeria has arrived.
Har has arrived.

Har grins and swings Aeria inside, letting her go on one of the beds. "Hey Lia, 
you don't mind right if she stays a while, do you? Got to get my friend here 
back up to full health." He looks around for a box of cookies, or something 
otherwise yummy.

Lia grins, producing a plate of fudge, and a pitcher of lemonade. "Will this do? 
I can get something more filling if you want..."
Lia smiles. "I don't mind if she stays. It'll be nice to have the company."

Aeria sits down lightly on one of the beds, and grants a light, distant little 
yawn.   As she catches sight of the plate, she beams, holding out her hands as 
if to take the plate, although Lia stands a bit away still, "I.... Its fine."  
Her words are startlingly clear, for her, and seemed to take effort to utter.  
After a long moment she seems to remember, "..Thank you."

Lia smiles fondly, sitting the plate in Aeria's hands and pouring a glass of 
lemonade. She sets the glass and the pitcher down on the night table next to 
what will be Aeria's bed. "Here we are. You can stay in this bed, okay?"

Har sits down next to Aeria and grabs a piece of fudge for himself. "Thanks 
Lia." He nibbles on it and grins at Aeria. "This is great! So what's this I hear 
about parts?"

Aeria nods enthusiastically, but grants no sort of a verbal response.  That's 
probably because she's already taken a bite of fudge.  Strange, for one who 
insisted and acted like she was fine, how famished she could be.

Lia smiles. "We turned the robot into separate pieces, because it is always 
getting us into trouble. Then we left it near the Gear outside, which I assume 
is the one you came in?" She smiles and watches you eat. "I'm glad you like 
it... It was my first time working with such rich chocolate... Pirates get 
better supplies than housemaids do."

"The robot? Great!" Har munches some more on the fudge. "I had an order out 
looking for that thing. I thought it was up in Solaris, but this is even better. 
Maybe I can fix your suit up later?" He offers the glass of lemonade to Aeria. 
"Not too fast, don't choke yourself."

Lia nods, "That would be nice..."

Aeria practically stops eating entirely at those words.  And carefully chews the 
last bites.. She takes the glass of lemonade and drinks a bit of it.  And then 
returns to scarfing fudge, distracted, for the moment, by looking at the design 
on the wall.

Har drinks some lemonade himself. "We should go soon. I'm worried about Luka." 
He turns to Aeria and gives her a sideways hug. "We'll be back soon, ok? Make 
sure you're okay until then?"

Lia nods. "I'll stay here and we can get to know one another, unless you'd like 
me to come with you to fetch Luka? Or will you be heading home for the night?"

Aeria grants a beam to Har- she'd return a hug, but.. That would probably result 
in spilling lemonade all over.  And even she sees that one coming.   Instead, 
she merely nods, "I understand...  And what reason is there to worry of me?  
Instead!  Make sure Luka rests.  She'd be happier... And feel better if she 
did!"  She smiles brightly.  And takes another bite of fudge.

Har gets up and grabs a piece of fudge for Luka. "All right. See you both soon 
then! And take care." With a final bright grin, he trots off down the halls.