Human Edge

From one of the mech bays can be heard a non-descript male voice, seemingly in conversation with a voice that goes unheard, but upon a little listening, it becomes clear the overheard voice is a man talking to a battlemech.

"It looks like you've been around for plenty of dances, my friend," Bruun says, scratching his short, ashy blonde beard. "You've probably had lots of names over the years, but you outlasted all those pilots, eh?"

A little ways away, Brunn can probably here another's man voice.

"....and then Kerensky smashed through the palace doors in his Atlas and demanded the great betrayer surrender."

An Atlas? I'm sure it was an Orion. Was it Instructor Davies who said that? Felicity set down her paint brushed as she crossed her arms and tilted her head, trying to remember. She soon gave up. Whatever.

As she was now distracted she shifted a little to the side to peek back into the main hangar space. That would let her see who was talking. For the moment she remained beside her mech's left foot with a tin of paint inches from her own.

James continues the story of the conquest of Terra. Upon describing the execution of Amaris, Mata breaks out into applause with a rather loud "Yay!"

"Tell me another one. One about the Wolf King and the evil vipers."

"Maybe. But this story isn't over yet."

Cute kid. Felicity smiled to herself before ducking back behind her Phoenix's legs to continue painting. From prior experience or other wisdom she had had the sense to put paper down. Most of the work had been done by a large spray painter, but she was using the brush to go over bits.

From his bay, Bruun had caught pieces of the other man's story and, patting his mech on the foot, said "Blondie, I'll catch up with you more later."

He wandered out toward the voice, right past where Felicity was working without seeing her, and clanged a greeting on a bay door when he spotted James and Mata.

"Hi there, uh, Hall, was it?" Bruun says from the doorway. "Good story. One of the classics, eh?" The older man smiles. "Hey there, kiddo," he says, nodding to the girl.

"And then, Kerensky gathered the SDLF.." James gets up as he sees the Mechwarrior approach. He bows to the man. "Mechwarrior Bruun. Thank you for that. It was one of my favorites as a child. And simply James is fine."

Mata waved. "Hi."

James continued on. "I hope I didn't disturb you. I was just telling Mata few stories before bed. And... well, the mechbay feels more at home than the cabin."

Mata nods. "Only the pirates got their own rooms before. This ship is amazing."

"Don't worry over much about disturbing me, James. I been doing this a long time, and it'll take a lot more than you and this one," he says, returning Mata's wave, "to bother me."

"And please, just Bruun. Folk who like to hear titles
around their name have a much shorter life expectancy than I plan on." He scratches at his beard thoughtfully. "Sometime we'll have to share some stories. I reckon I've done a lot of things, but only dealt with pirates once or twice."

James nods. "I'd happy to. Though I am afraid have no real stories of myself. Just tales of the glorious past."

"And the animals."

James chuckles. "Yes. And tales of the animals. I would love to hear your stories though. Mata is going to be a warrior someday."

Mata nods. "I have aerospace pilot and Mechwarrior blood in me. So, I'm not sure which kind yet."

Whilst still vaguely listening to the chatter nearby Felicity was keeping herself busy with dextrous brush strokes across her baby's left foot.