Beskar'gam for Hyperion [Mandal Hypernautics/Invite]

[Anija Betna]

At that, Anija frowned for a moment. "Well, I should think we need to forge the rest of the plates. The Active Camo can be installed once those are in place." She hefted a small crate. "I've got a stock version of the Hyperion Combat Power Pack and the Combat Helmet right here, which I can easily make my upgrades to." She grunted and hefted the crate onto the worktable. "Did you want to remove the armorweave bodyglove during the forging process..?" she asked [member="Arrbi Betna"] after a moment.

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"I will in a second," he said, starting to regret what he was about to say. "But before we do, let's turn this on so we can make sure all the wiring is right, first. That way, if something isn't working, we can fix it immediately without having to pull off plates and armor."

He was starting to get a bad feeling about putting electricity through the suit. The itchy part he'd felt earlier on his buttock came back to his mind. Was it really just an itchy spot? Or was it a bare wire? He shoved the thought away. He was overthinking it, he felt. Betna was sure it was just an itchy spot on the armor. New suit, new design, new armorweave. He just hoped he wasn't wrong.

[member="Anija Ordo"]

OOC: LOLOL for whatever reason I tagged you, Ayden. That was a megaderp on my part.

 

[Anija Betna]

She considered that for a moment, and then nodded, even as she sensed his hesitation. He was nervous, and she wasn't sure why. "Arrbi... you nervous or something? It should be fine. Is the suit chafing anywhere?" She frowned for a moment and leaned closer to check, lightly running her fingers down his chest and stomach. then she moved behind [member="Arrbi Betna"] and did the same thing. When she reached his waist, she carefully traced her fingers down over his shebs as she checked for loose wires, or any that had missed it's channel in the suit. After a few seconds, she found it, and grunted as the end of the wire punctured her hand slightly. "Think... I found it..."

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"Found what?" he asked as she pulled something on the back of the suit near his rear end. "Yes, that's my shebs. Oh, a wire, okay, electrocution would not be fun at this point. And here I thought you were looking for an excuse to look at my tail end."

He was being ornery and he knew it. He loved teasing her off and on. That was just his personality, truth be told. Despite the playful teasing, he loved doting on her and being sweet on her. Seeing a smile or knowing she was happy made his day. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to ask, but each time he felt the urge to ask, his tongue tied up in knots. Like now, for example.

"Um, Anija I..." he said, wanting to ask but finding his tongue knotting up yet again. "I... I'm really hoping this all works out perfectly. I know how hard you've been working on it and... well, with you're calculations and the work you've put in, I'll be sincerely shocked if it doesn't go right the first try."

A Casanova he was not, it seemed.

[member="Anija Ordo"]

 

[Anija Betna]

She made a slightly frustrated noise at his attitude and smacked him lightly. "I can always put the wire back.." she threatened lightly. Chuckling, she shook her head at him. But, he was right, she'd taken the opportunity to get a good look at his shebs in the process. She was glad he'd come by to check on her. Because if she was being honest with herself, ANNE got a little... bossy when [member="Arrbi Betna"] wasn't around. She wasn't sure if that was some programming bug or what, but it was annoying. "Well, I do try," she said after a moment as she leaned over and kissed his cheek lightly before going back to work. "But, you also have to remember, this is a prototype, and besides my own beskar'gam, I've not done much armor building before." She looked up at him for a momnt as he paused. She got the distinct impression he'd been about to ask her something impodtant. And he'd stopped himself. She wasn't sure why. She finished fixing the wires and then set her tools down and stood, giving him a deep kiss as she did so. "Was there something you wanted to ask me?"

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"Yeah, there was," he said, a little out of breath from her kiss. His mind worked quickly, trying to figure out a way out of the situation he'd found himself in. At least, as fast as it could after a kiss like that. "I... uh... I can ask later, though. It's not hugely important. I mean, it is, but it can wait a little bit."

He shook himself free of the hold she had on him, something she probably didn't realize she could even do to him, and twisted this way and that in the armorweave suit. Everything seemed to be in order, nothing seemed out of place, and it all seemed to be safe to him. The way he figured it, why not try it out?

"So, do we wanna plug this in and test it? The sooner we test it out and make sure it's all good, the sooner we can grab lunch after," he said with a blatant wink and grin. He'd gotten reservations at one of her favorite restaurants in the city in an attempt to get her to relax a bit.

"I booked your favorite place," he added.

[member="Anija Ordo"]

 

[Anija Betna]

At his evasive reply, she gave him a sideways look. there was most definitely something he's wanted to ask. And despite what he'd said it did seem important. For now though, she decided to let the matter rest as she checked all the wiring one last time, using a scanner to make sure all the wires were threaded into their proper channels according to the diagram. She didn't want to cause [member="Arrbi Betna"] undue discomfort. With that in mind, she did yet another check to make sure the wiring was in place before she looked up and nodded.

"Aye, I think it's all set to go. Let's hook up the power supply..." This, she'd had waiting on the table next to the fabrication machine. Frowning slightly, she picked it up and turned it over in her hands before nodding to herself. Stealing another quick kiss, she carefully connected the leads to the power output ports on the armorweave suit. After she carefully connected the last lead, she turned on the power supply, and watched as the lights on it flickered from amber to green over several seconds. "We'll still need to forge the plates and then add the wiring to it before we give the whole thing a final test run. But what do you think so far, cyare?"

The mere mention of lunch set her stomach rumbling and she laughed lightly. "Guess I do need to see about food soon..." She pointedly ignored any of ANNE's comments on the matter. "You know, it's been ages since I've been there."

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"So far, so good," he said with a smile. "And, yes, I know it's been a while, which is why I set up reservations."

Betna felt rather proud of that fact. He was a tough, seasoned, and able warrior. He'd fought on countless battlefields and bore the scars from them, the most prominent one bisecting his face over his right eye. He'd fought Sith and Jedi, survived a falling building, and once even destroyed a floating city.

But romance turned him into a blushing schoolboy, all jitters and afraid he'd mess up somehow.

He wasn't clingy, per se, he just... didn't know what to do most of the time. Should he dote on her? Is he doting on her too much? Was he too cuddly? Not cuddly enough? Did he remember her favorite foods? Was that the right favorite food or did he get it mixed up? He was so clueless at times, especially now that they'd become far more intimate.

Which is why he hadn't noticed the bare wire inside the suit.

Anija had found the one that had scratched and pricked him earlier, but this one was smoothed and curved. It didn't prick, it didn't jab. It was flush with the suit, which was flush with Betna's back. Which meant when the suit powered on, Betna was electrified by more than Anija's presence.

"AAAAAAAHAAAAAARRGGHHHHAAAHAHAA," he managed to gurgle-shout out as the electricity gave him the third electrocution in his life that he could remember. To his credit, he kept on his feet, but his arms immediately reached up to try and grasp the back of the suit and locked into place. "AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRAAAAAAAOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFFF!"

[member="Anija Ordo"]

 

[Anija Betna]

At his pained cry.... almost scream, Anija winced. She had checked the damn wiring diagram three fething times! With a muttered curse, she hit the kill switch on the power supply and slipped an insulated glove on before she reached up to disconnect it. With a twist and a tug, the connector came loose. dropping it on the worktable, she quickly pulled off the glove and then reached up to touch Arrbi's shoulder. "Ar'ika...? Can you hear me... Can you move?" Her voice was filled with concern, and she was mentally kicking herself. that wire should have been accounted for. She'd checked it. And now he'd been hurt.

Cursing under her breath, she angrily kicked at the table. She knew it wouldn't make it better... but it made her feel better - at least until she stubbed her toe. Cursing all over again, she brought up the wiring diagram and studied it intently, zooming in on the area where she'd seen his hands move to. Then, she picked up the scanner and ran it again. There.... the one wire had missed the channel by only a millimeter or two. But it had been enough.

Chewing on her bottom lip, she gripped his shoulder. "Do you want to go get lunch and then come back...?"

[member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

Betna slowly flopped over as the power died, the electricity letting his body go. He laid there a moment, his muscles twitching slightly as he caught his breath slowly. After a few moments, he raised one hand up in a fist, thumb extended and pointing upwards.

"I'm... okay," he said after a moment, his voice a little shaky. "Not as bad as the last time I got electrocuted, but the last one I saw coming."

Betna put his hand down for a moment and then sat up. He pulled himself up by the table edge and sat down on the tabletop. Shaking his head a little bit, he managed a small grin.

"Lunch later," he said after another pause. "Let's get that wire fixed and get the rest of it finished. No need to stop because a minor setback, eh?"

[member="Anija Ordo"]

 

[Anija Betna]

Shaking her head at his... tenacity, she merely grinned. "Aye... I want to get this done." She helped him up and snuck a kiss as she did so, her fingers cradling his cheek for a moment as she studied his face. "Sure you're ok, Arrbi?" She gave him an encouraging smile and then picked up her scanner again, fine tuning the settings as she did so. With that done, she leaned in close and kissed him tenderly as she ran the scanner up and down his body. She knew it wasn't going to be easy to find the wire. After a few moments she found it, her hands reaching around to rest on his lower back as she leaned on his shoulder. "I'll need you to at least unzip the top of the bodyglove, down to your waist so I can fix the wire..." she said softly. Privately though, she was also wanting to get a good look at him. As he'd already accused her of doing earlier.

[member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"I'm fine," he said with a grin as he returned the kiss.

Betna then undid and pulled the bodyglove down to his waist as he was told so Anija could fix the loose wire. While this wasn't exactly something he'd done before, at least as far as fixing a loose wire, he'd had to do this particular bit more than once before. Mainly for armor fittings, but also for when he'd been injured.

As he stood and let her fix the wire, he did what he often did at times. He rediscovered old injuries and remembered others that had occurred. There was nothing hugely major, aside from the area on his thigh that had been impaled on Manaan, but it was the number of them. He sometimes wondered how he was alive at times. He spotted the burn marks on the front of his left shoulder, courtesy of a Sith soldier, now long dead. There were other spots, too. Burn marks on his arms and chest where the armor hadn't quite stopped a blaster. A few lines of thin scar tissue were he'd gotten a little too close to a knife or blade. Along his back was a few, small pucker marks. He'd caught a bit of shrapnel when he was a teenager on a battlefield he really couldn't remember. He just knew it was hot and that some of them had gotten infected, which had hurt even more than getting them in the first place.

He tried not to dwell on the scars too much as they brought back the memories of the wars he'd been in. He hadn't been in many, but he'd been in enough. He'd have nightmares again tonight, he knew that much, but he didn't need to have the waking ones right now.

"Have you found it yet or are you just back there looking at my shebs?" he joked, distracting himself from the memories.

[member="Anija Ordo"]

 

[Anija Betna]

Moving behind him, she carefully ran her fingers down his back as she checked for bits of broken wire. Slowly, her fingers traced over the scars she found there. She wasn't as skilled as some in reading emotions... but Arrbi's hit her like a sucker punch to the stomach at times. And now was one of them. She sucked in a breath and lightly traced her fingers over his bare back again before she carefully straightened out the bodyglove one section at a time, running her fingers over the inside. it took her a few minutes, but she finally found the wire. When she did, she carefully removed it and re-threaded it into the channel a little at a time to make sure it didn't poke through.

When she'd finished, she moved around and hopped up on the edge of the table, her fingers still tracing along his scars for a moment as she tried to help him calm down. To that end, she gently began massaging his lower back for a few moments before she sat back helped him guide his arms back into the upper half of the body glove. She took a deep breath and slid off the edge of the table where she met his gaze. "Try it now. I hope to Manda I fixed the last one...."

[member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

Betna felt Anija's hands on his back as she ran her fingers over the old scars there. Lines and burns and pucker marks dotted the flesh there. It felt strange to have her feel them and find them, but in a good way. Partly because it felt nice on his skin, partly because it felt like he was... sharing, in a way. He didn't like to talk about what he'd done or what he'd seen in the combat he'd been in, but the scars could say what he would not. 'I was there,' they said. 'I fought and was hurt and lived.'

He enjoyed the feeling of Anija's hands as she massaged his lower back a bit. He'd been a warrior and a soldier since he was twelve and fought on battlefields since he was about fourteen. He was twenty four now and half a lifetime's worth of fighting and carrying gear and using his muscles until they tore took a toll. His back was always in knots, but he was too stubborn, and embarrassed, to go and have someone massage the muscles there. When Anija stopped after fixing the wire and helped him back into the suit, he turned and gave her a kiss and a smile in thanks before speaking.

"I think it'll be fine now, cyar'ika," he said as he rotated his shoulders to get the suit to settle right. He could still feel her hands on his back and didn't like how the feeling was slowly fading away, admittedly. "Go ahead and plug me in. Let's see if we have a shocking result or not."

He was mostly joking, though a little part of his mind was ready if another jolt of electricity shot through him again.

[member="Anija Ordo"]

 

[Anija Betna]

She studied his face for a moment, her fingers tracing his cheek lightly as she did so. "If you're certain, Arr'ika." That being said, she moved back around behind him, doing one more pass with the scanner to make sure she'd gotten all the wires placed properly this time. As far as she could tell, they were. Taking a deep breath, Anija carefully picked up the power pack, and carefully reconnected the wires. For now, she left the power pack sitting on the table. At least until they'd discovered whether it was actually wired correctly. Frowning slightly, she tried to ignore as ANNE quoted her the statistics. With a deep breath, she flipped the power pack on, watching Arrbi for a reaction.

[member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

Betna watched Anija get everything reconnected and ready with a mild grin. As she finished up and flipped on the power, he braced himself.

In an instant, his body froze and his arms rose up and contorted as they had before when the wire had electrocuted him. His face formed a rictus of surprise and pain as his hands spasmed, trying to pull the suit off as they had before. For a moment, it looked like his legs would buckle from beneath him, causing him to fall to the floor.

Then, suddenly, Betna bent over slightly and covered his arms over his stomach. The mask of pain turned to one of laughter and the apparent spasming stopped as it turned into heaving laughter.

"You... should've seen... your face..." he gasped out between deep laughter. "Dumb move... on my part... but still... kinda funny..."

He laughed for a minute or two more and slowly straightened up. Still chuckling, he twisted and turned a bit, double checking the suit he wore.

"Everything looks great, cyar'ika," he said with a chuckle and a wide smile.

[member="Anija Ordo"]

 

[Anija Betna]

Anija stared at him slack-jawed for several seconds, before she hauled off and punched him lightly but firmly in the arm. "[member="Arrbi Betna"], if you ever do that again, I swear to the Manda..." she threatened lightly. "Just about gave me a heart attack..." She took a few moments to steady her nerves by helping him back into the body glove the rest of the way. Then, she carefully tugged here and there to smooth out any wrinkles. "Seems to fit alright now. I've been able to have some of the plates forged, so those are ready, just need to finish the rest and get the ones we have fitted to you.." She hefted the helmet after a moment. If he was familiar with the Hyperion Combat Helmet, he would recognize it. The main difference now was that it was made from mostly beskar instead of the normal material. Passing the helmet to him, she gestured. "Try that on for size."

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"Totally worth it, though," he said with a wide grin as he lowered the helmet down over his head.

It fit him fine, but it was a bit different. Not in a bad way, just in a different way. He'd only ever worn the helmet of his beskar'gam and that was really it. A different helmet with a different style and layout and a different weight was very odd to him. It sat different on his head and the weight wasn't in the same places as his old one. It felt very strange, but he figured this wasn't his armor so he'd do his best to make sure it was working fine.

"It fits, though it feels a little strange," he said after a moment. "Not a bad strange, just a strange strange. Makes me realize just how long I've been wearing my old buy'ce."

[member="Anija Ordo"]

 

[Anija Betna]

[member="Arrbi Betna"]

She smacked him again with her free hand as she adjusted the body glove a couple more times before reaching back to grab the first of the plates. When she had it in hand, she turned and began to carefully attach it to the body glove via the attachment points and the hardware on the back of each plate. The hardware allowed each plate to shift as the wearer did without binding up. She regarded him for a moment before carefully slipping an arm around his waist to hug him close for a moment before she began attaching the backplate.

"If you're interested, and want one... we could get you a new buy'ce or upgrade the tech in the one you have."

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"I think mine is fine for now," he said after a moment or two of thinking. "Though we can run through and make sure it runs fine later on. I never did work out the kinks in it, I just worked around it out of laziness."

Truth be told, he was rather attached to his old gear. It was an heirloom of the Betna clan, handed down from father to son since time immemorial. It had gone through hell and back, been refitted countless times, been repaired innumerably, and probably had less than an ounce of the original material that had first made the armor generations ago...

But it was still his ancestors' armor.

Sure, he'd tweaked it a bit, but so had many others that had worn it. There were data files in the helmet from decades ago, though here and there he'd found gaps in the data, either from corrupted files, damage, or lazy forebears. It wasn't that he didn't want anyone to mess with it, it was just that he was so used to the thing that he was afraid readjusting to a new system could get him in hot water in the wrong situation and if he ended up wounded or killed on the field, Anija would kill him he was certain.

"How's the suit systems working out?" he asked as he hugged her and felt the back plate being attached. "Everything is green on my end. Same on yours?"

[member="Anija Ordo"]