RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 16.1] Hanako's World

Retreat

Sune and Cherry walked towards the atrium of the Retreat. A two story shinto building surrounded by immaculately groomed shrubbery. The stone path they walked up was made of various pieces of slate fitted together. The irregular stone patterns offered a contrast to the orderly appearance of the grounds.

They were greeted by a young slender Yamataian woman with raven black hair. She wore a forest green kimono that was embroidered with silver thread in a pattern along the edges of various trees and flowers.

Bowing she said "Welcome to the Retreat. My name is Ayumi. If you will follow me I will show you to your quarters where you can change."

Sune returned the bow, "Thank you, I am Jalen Sune, and this is my ship mate Cherry."

Once they passed through the atrium the rest of the retreat was spread before them. They passed a number of groups who were exercising, or meditating together. They were shown to a small one story house. There were two bed rooms in the back, a bathroom, and a common room. The rooms had only the bare essentials. But then they would not be spending much time in the house.

"There are kimonos for you in the sleeping rooms. When you have unpacked and changed some outside and I will lead you to your first station."

Beach - Booze Hunt

At the command of "double time" Misato jumped to and tried to keep up, but the sand was slowing her down. With her feet being drawn down into the sand, she tried to come up with a way to move quickly, when she saw how Helen was almost hovering across the sand. With this new way of moving she could keep up. She felt out of place moving about in her swimwear and the skirt. All she ever knew was her uniforms.

As she entered the Bar she looked at the menu. She stood at attention while she waited for the bar tender to reach her little group. She knew she wanted to try a good deal of what was listed up on the board. The Margarita that Helen mentioned was going to be her first drink, she knew that much.

Beach - Bar

Mitsuko carted her bag along as she followed her superior toward the beach. She was trying not to look so worried, lowering her eyes to focus on Helen's feet instead of attempting to look in every direction at once. She blinked when they were lead off the pavement and into the sand, slowing down before cautiously continuing. Murakami could only take a few of these halting steps before she was hurried along by Helen. She complied with a squeak, mimicing the others by taking to the air before settling back onto her new sandals at the bar.

She took a few moments to get used to the sand under her, twisting her body a bit as she peered down at it. Mitsuko poked at it with the toe of her sandal before shrugging and looking back up. Helen seemed rather intent on studying the menu, so she took a good look as well. There were quite a few oddly named items available, some of which even made her blush. She switched to examining the bottles on display while they waited. Murakami attempted to connect to any wireless network available locally to cross reference the drink names with the alcohol on display, curious about what, exactly, the officer was about to make her consume.

Beachfront Swimwear Shop

Konoka spotted Mitsuko, Misato, and Helen leaving for the beach bar. She grasped Bors by the arm. "Hey, you wanted that margarita, right, Riko-san?" she grinned. "Let's follow them!" She called to the others in the group, "Natsumi-san! Kurita-san! C'mon, we're leaving - it's margarita time!"

She laughed softly, "I've learned its always best to follow the Nepleslians where drinking is concerned."

Beach- Bar

One Konoka's group got to the beach bar, Konoka found a seat near Helen's group. "There you are!" she smiled at them. To the bartender, she grinned, "It's a margarita kind of day off. Can we get some, please?"

Beachfront Bar

Upon the arrival of the others, Helen looked around, and looked to her fellow crew members, and for the first time in a while, authentically smiled as she turned to the bartender and gave a nod; "You heard the woman, margaritas for everyone here." Helen spoke, gesturing to her group as she put down her KS card. "Just open up a tab, and we'll go from there." she stated, before speaking "My treat everyone." as she then spoke once more, this time to the bartender; "And bring a straight shot of the tequila for each person as well, two for me." With that, Helen was dead-set on making the vacation enjoyable from there on, and her Nepleslian soul within her Nekovalkryja shell knew that alcohol was the key to it. "Everyone, feel free to experiment, order what you'd like to try out." she advised those gathered, as she waited for the bartender to start serving out beverages.

Beachfront Bar

"I'll join you all in a minute" Bors said wiggling himself out of Konoka's grip, " Let me change real fast and I'll be right there."

Darting off to a nearby changing stall,Bors stripped off his uniform and put on his new swimsuit. Folding his uniform back up he diciding to keep on his undershirt until they got to the beach. After changing he went to go join the others, moving a bit quicker once he felt the heat of the sand on his feet. Once inside Bors grabbed a seat at the end of the bar, and glanced over at the rest of the crew and debated wether or not Nekos could get drunk and reasoned he should try and limit himself so he wouldn't make to much of an idiot of himself.

"Extra salt on mine" Bors said to the bartender making the margaritas, "and also a lemon wedge if you got any back there."

Leaning back in his chair Bors waited for his drinks thinking to himself that this leave may not be to shabby after all.

Beachfront

Down by the water, Hanako shared her beach ball with some children for a while, bouncing the ball and forth for a while, and then returned to the shady cabana where she could see Ramiro was sleeping or at least resting. She set the ball down and went out to the water and waded into it, taking a few moments to prepare herself for submerging herself past her thighs. The water felt mild and pleasant on her skin and the waves were coming in nicely and she felt the sand slide under her feet as the ocean moved around her. The water was a little loud and drowned out most of the voices from the shore. In the distance she could see sailboats out on the sea. After a bit of playing around balancing herself and avoiding splashes by turning her back to the waves and hopping, she began to swim on top of the water, keeping care to go against the current so she wouldn’t drift too far away from Ramiro.

Retreat

Sune and Cherry spent the better part of the day participating in a variety of group and singular exercises. Each had a session where they spoke with one of the acolytes about themselves, and their feelings. Sune walked away from his session feeling as if he had just completed a long distance marathon. At the end of the mandatory sessions, the two of them sat at a table and ate their evening meal.

Sune excused himself after the meal to go for a quiet walk. He returned to the house cleaned up in the bath and went into his room. The house was quiet and he saw no light from Cherry's room.

As he stepped into the room, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around him, as Cherry's voice whispered in his ear. "Sune-San... it is about time the two of us did something that is good for the spirit and the body."

Sune could tell from the feel of her body against his robe that she was naked. It took him a brief moment to consider her proposal, and came to the conclusion that he had been too long without close contact with a person. He turned towards Cherry and looked at her face taking note of how the moonlight cast shadows across her features.

He picked her up in his arms. "I agree with you wholeheartedly." he said as he carried her to the bed. For the next several hours, they enjoyed experimenting with a variety of pleasures and passions between two people.

Beachfront bar

Natsumi had ended up seated next to Konoka at the bar. She had been glad she had bought sandles for the short trip across sand alone, her boots would have just slowed her down in the shifting, soft ground.

Now she sat staring at the rows of assorted fancy bottles behind the bar. She had really no idea what was in them and decided that Konola must have known what was best with the level oc excitement to her order.

"I'll have one too" Natsumi said to the bartender. " What she's having. A margarita" she said and smiled.

Beach Bar
"Wha- you're treating, Klein-san?" asked Konoka. "Awesome! But are you sure you have enough KS for such a large group?"

She didnt want to take advantage of her superiors kindness, especially because such kindnesses were so seemingly rare for
Helen. But this WAS the first time she'd seen Helen be so social, so she supposed she should encourage it.
"You know, I've actually never had a margarita before," she turned and told Natsumi. "But if Klein-san says its awesome for this occasion I think I agree with her."

Beachfront Bar

"No problem on funds, don't worry about it at all. I mean, as long as you don't do something crazy like buy the whole bar, we're fine." Helen spoke, as she released a bit of a laugh, and the bartender went about setting up the tequila shots she had asked for. Along with her shots, she watched as the bartender set up a shot for each crew member present. "Thank you." Helen spoke to the bartender, as more drinks were served, and as they were served out, Helen turned to her two travel companions.

"Mitsuko, Misaito." Helen addressed the two nekovalkryja, as the bartender poured a pair of shots, one for each of the nekovalkryja. Helen held up her own shot glass as she looked to the pair. "I would like it if you two were to try this beverage, it will be a good start to our rest and relaxation." she explained, before she held the glass a little higher; "To our good health and your expanding horizons, now, you put the glass to your lips, don't smell it, and you just throw it back and let it all go down your throat and swallow it all down in one go." Helen explained, before she did just that, then returned the shot glass to the counter with a resounding 'CLACK' as she spoke; "Another bartender, once you're done with serving the margaritas."

Beachfront Bar

Murakami was pulled out of her research as their first drink arrived. The science of mixed drinks was surprisingly complex, and alcoholic beverages in general were rather fascinating. She hadn't had quite enough time to thoroughly investigate tequila and margaritas, but she seemed a bit reassured. The chemistry told her this wouldn't be too bad. Besides, she thought as she lifted up the shot glass to peer at the liquid, this serving size was rather tiny. It shouldn't be all that bad.

She didn't have long to consider it before Helen's instructions turned into a demonstration. Mitsuko didn't want to disappoint her, so she hesitated for only a moment before quickly following her example. Setting the empty little glass back onto the bar, there was a brief pause...before she began coughing and leaning against the bar for support. Murakami tried to compose herself as she looked for something more pleasant to wash that down, but the margarita that appeared in front of her did not look at all comforting.

Beachfront Bar

Bors gave a nod of thanks to bartender as his drinks were placed in front of him and reached for the shot and lemon wedge. Placing a pinch of salt on the back of his and he licked it off and downed the shot, and quickly took a bite of the lemon wedge followed by slight grin spreading across his face as the flavors mixed in his mouth. Setting the empty glass down in front of him and pushing it forward, Bors grabbed the margarita and took a healthy gulp from it, "Not bad for a non Nepleslian" he said jokingly to the bartender.

Reaching into his bag Bors put on his newly acquired shades and fished his E-cig out from his uniform, and turned around so that he could see the beach and ocean behind him. After taking a quick puff from his E-cig, Bors sipped on his drink and looked across the beach admiring the scenery and did a bit of people watching, checking out the sunbathers and people playing in the water. Polishing off the last of his drink Bors set his empty glass down behind him saying "I'll take a beer when you get the chance barkeep, whatever's the most popular." As he waited on his next drink, Bors glanced at his exposed arms wondering if any of the local ladies had a thing for tattoos.

Beachfront bar

Natsumi eyed the brightly colored drink that had been placed before her. The thick bright red liquid was quite pretty to look at, she almost didn't want to mess it up. She was detracted from her drink for a moment as Murakami coughed up a lung, but soon turned her attention back, picking up the glass and bringing it to her lips.

The flavor hit her as she took a sip. First the salt on the rim of the glass, then the flavors of the drink... "Oooh!" she almost squeeked, then took a second, much longer sip.."It's good!" she said, smiling to Konoka, then set about drinking the entire contents of her glass!

"Mmm can I have another, pleasse?" she asked the bartender

Beach - Bar

Misato looked at the little glass that sat on the bar before her. She knew that she was suppose to drink it, but she wasn't sure she was ready to take that leap. As Helen gave her instructions on drinking it, Misato became very interested in what it would smell like. She raised the little glass to her nose as she watched Helen slam hers down. The smell was most interesting, best describe like the smell of the cleaners she used on her gun to clean the scorch marks out of the barrel cambers. Shrugging she poured the liquid into her mouth, and quickly swallowed. The flavor wasn't half bad, but the liquid fire that rolled down the back of her throat was startling. Taking a sharp intake of air she slammed the glass back down onto the bar.

Smiling she looked to Helen and then to her roommate, oh the look on Mitsuko's face, it was dear. Giggling, "Mitsuko'san you look like you just swallowed a bug, it wasn't that bad." She turned to Helen, "Ma'am am I suppose to feel warm and tingly all over?" The fire had faded to a nice warmth that flowed out from her tummy.

Beachfront Bar

Helen watched as the two nekovalkryja had their two distinctively different reactions to the drink, and watching that made the older neko laugh in good spirits. "Yes, it is supposed to be quite warm, and that feeling is what is giving Mitsuko a problem." With that, Helen dug in her bag before producing a bottle of water which she presented to Mitsuko, "Here, take a drink, you're going to be needing what Nepleslians call a 'chaser', called such, since it is meant to be something to be ingested to follow behind the first drink." Helen explained, as she thought on the matter. "Personally, Mitsuko, to go with the tequila, I'd recommend a glass of juice." Helen spoke from experience, before she let Mitsuko finish out her recovery, as she looked to the other crew members.

There was a distinctive feeling of being at ease which came over Helen, as she actually allowed her self to relax for the first time in what could have been years. Perhaps it was the drink, appealing to her Nepleslian heritage, or perhaps it was the moment of being at the beach with shipmates, maybe both. It did not matter much to Helen, as she grasped her margarita and took a sip, a sip which was followed by a grin. "You know Misato, if you like the taste, order another, I think we're going to be here a while, you won't have to worry about walking much." There was a small laugh which Helen released into her glass at that point, as she indulged in the moment.

Beach Front - Bar

With a slightly scary giggle Misato ordered two more shots of Tequila. While she waited for the shots to arrive she drank a little of her margarita. She was concerned with Helen's statement about walking, why would that be too much of an issue? She'd been walking since she first cam out of the clone tank.

She watch her roommate and wondered about what happened in her life to cause Mitsuko to be so different then herself, on that note why aren't all of us neko's the same. As she finished her margarita Suzume turned to speak to Helen, but the booze had reached her head, causing a slight dizzy spell and almost caused her to fall. Grabbing the bar she ignored her movements and asked Helen, "Uhh.. Ma'am why aren't we all the same? I mean we all start the same... Right?" Her two shots arrived so she took a second to drop one of them down her pipe, "don't we all come from the same genetic material, so we all should be the same." As to make her point she killed her second shot and set it next to the first, gesturing to the fact they were the same glass.

Beachfront Bar

Mitsuko caught her breath, adjusting her floppy hat before it tumbled off her head from her coughing fit. She swallowed hard, gratefully accepting the water from Helen and taking a few gulps. Just watching Misato down two more of those shots made her go a bit pale.

"...if...if we were all the same..." She cleared her throat. "...then we'd all make the same mistakes, fail at the same points, and would never even be able to figure out why." Murakami took another sip of water. "...we'd be machines, not people."

She eyed the margarita, now that she had recovered...warily sniffing at it before even attempting a sip. Mitsuko would likely be nursing this one drink for a while...

Beachfront Bar

"Well, you and I are not the same, I was born." Helen spoke in reply to her travel companions, as she cradled her margarita glass in hand, and peered into the pale green slush as she still smiled. "Though, I do know a thing or two about these bodies we're in, and I can tell you what is what." Helen started to explain, before she took a sip off the slushy beverage, which made her smile linger all the more.

"I'll put it this way." Helen spoke, as she reached over the counter, and focused her gravity manipulation upon a lime, before it moved into her hand, then she did the same with another lime, and held them both up. "These are both limes, they look pretty much the same, but they likely grew from different trees, had minor genetic variations which were regulated by the grower. The same goes for nekovalkryja, just the same really, and the differences are within the boundaries and guidelines set by the manufacturer for the purpose of field viability and compatibility with equipment... Bartender, another please." Helen spoke, gesturing to her shotglass which sat empty, but for only a moment. "As for those glasses, you can't see it, but they're different. Molecules and the such, you know."

Helen's hand abandoned her margarita, before she took a shot of the tequila, which made her finally feel a tingle through her body. Inwardly, she cursed the synthetic flesh once again, but shrugged as she began to feel the tingle of a buzz. "Differences like that makes everyone different enough to be individuals, but same enough to be the same species. Though... yes, we're all machines with a purpose, and really, being a machine is not bad at all." Helen's smile turned into a devious grin. "I mean, I'm a fully synthetic life form built from the subatomic level that was loosely guided in physical parameters by my original DNA. In the process, look what I got." Helen spoke, as she brought her hands to her chest and cupped the ample flesh there. "Pretty looks, that will last forever. For what price? I just have to serve and perform my duty, and what does that duty get me? Enough money to pay for my drinks and your drinks."

Beach Bar
"......And I'll drink to THAT, Klein-san!" Konoka grinned, and gulped down half her margarita. "....Whoah. Man, that's good. Dis was an excellent idea, Klein-san".
To Misato, she added, "Variety is the spice of life. Some of us are born loud and a lil' hyper, like me. Some cool as a cucumber, like you. Some introverted, like Murakami-san here. It's proof that our creators have faith in the benefits a variety of personalities bring to the group.....haven't you n-noticed how FUN having lots of different types of people has made today? Without individuality, we would never stumble on amazin' ideas like margaritas. Because we'd all have Tha same old ideas all da time. "

With that, she gulped down the remaining half of her margarita, and asked Natsumi, grinning, "I meanz, so far dis margarita thing is fun, right? I never would've thought of it." With that, she commenced a giggling fit and tried to signal the bartender for more. "Woohoo!"