The SwordKnight greets him merely by gleaming in the afternoon light, the whip tails' sharpened edges occasionally sparkling deceptively. Stratski pauses at the foot of the monstrosity he pilots, squinting up against the might of sunlight to stare at the metal hull. Leaning against the frame, he winces as his shoulder let him know how angry it is at the moment. With a bullet still lodged somewhere within the sinewy muscle and bone there, it isn't a surprise. He only prays he won't have to explain the injury to anyone. How could he explain why he helped out a surface dwelling -Lamb-? Looking up toward the metal cranium that functioned as the SwordKnight's head, the pilot sighs quietly. "Why can't life just be simple?"

Why is it that a Gear seems so much more of a companion than an actual human being? As if realizing he is speaking to an inanimate object, he shakes his head and proceeds to climb into the cockpit. Time to head home to Solaris.

Even still, her face keeps coming back to him, that girl he'd seen in Dazil, Merissa. She reminds him so much of someone he knew once upon a time. Flicking switches, adjusting the gear shaft, feeling the familiar shudder of the SwordKnight growing mobile and powering up boosters... all of it is done by rote rehersal, and without thought, just instinct. It leaves plenty of room, though... for his mind to keep wandering back to her.

Arielle.

"Damned Lambs... " he hisses, even if he really doesn't mean it.