RP: YSS Miharu Mission 2, Aftermath

"Man! Everybody's s'fuckin' talented on this ship." Asher chuckled as he sliced off a piece of cake, a big piece and then slid the knife under it. With the knife he placed the cake on a plate, and then with that aside he made an equally big piece. Then did the same with another piece.

"A big piece, fo' a woman wit' big sound." Asher gestured to the second cut piece that belonged to Yukari. Then he picked up the first plate with one of his hands and gestured it to Miyoko.

"And a pretty piece, fo' a woman wit'a pretty face." Asher grinned.

Miyoko flushed at Asher's compliment--whether from anger or embarassment, she herself wasn't sure. Being complimented was a new enough experience to her that she barely knew how to react at all; she finally settled on giving Asher a rather confused-sounding "Thank you" as she took the plate. She hesitated, not yet taking a bite. She didn't want to seem like she was rushing into it. Besides, she wanted to see Yukari's reaction to this legendary cake.

"Mm," Sanjuro grunted a reply to Yoroko. He was not deliberately being dissociative...his attitude was rarely ever on purpose, after all. Sanjuro just seemed, at the moment, occupied with several other thoughts. Not surprising, given the stunning turn of events. But, the medical officer was more or less at ease, more so than a select few of his peers. Yamatai was still safe and sound, which meant in turn that Central Uesureya had remained untouched.

Never the less, Yoroko's question seemed to take Sanjuro out of his concentrated state. He shifted in his seat and leaned forward a bit, giving Asher a stolid gaze as he handed out plates of cake. Sanjuro asked for none, however...the way this loud Westwood cut his cake was horrendous, large and uneven and all over the place in general. If Sanjuro were to have any cake, it would be on his own terms.

Yukari bowed as she was given a piece. The heavy aroma wafting up from the cake was already enough to stifle some the mental complaints fighting for conscious, active space in her brain.

As the guitar hung off her shoulder, Yukari took one of the small forks provided with the small glass dish. Her eyes followed the cake as she raised it closer to her lips.

Tom was right. She could not control things outside of the vessel. Instead of crying, tossing a tantrum and generally being unpleasant to be around, she should focus on what she could control. The cake was one such thing.

She would cry more later. But that would be with Tom, where they could talk about it.

Is there not a saying on Nepleslia about this situation? "Might as well eat cake?" The Nepleslian culture is very adaptive.

She did not hesitate to try a bite.

" ... Ah."

This ... this cannot be. The sticky raspberry filling exploded tartly inside her mouth over and over as she quietly put the cake down. The chocolate, smooth and incredibly rich, made her feel heavier and slower, but in a way that felt good, as she approached Tom. The moistness of it all was invigorating; she thought a glass of water could be no more life-giving than that cake.

There was much, much more she wanted to think about when it came to that cake. Instead, she almost grappled Tom and gave him one hell of a chocolate-raspberry-flavored kiss, complete with her body melded to his for those long 12.4 seconds, her raspberry to his chocolate.

She brushed her hair from her face, blushing a little, then turning to Miyoko. "It is a small piece of heaven, Miyoko-san, but it is a particularly sweet one Tom has made. Please enjoy it."

Miyoko felt a bit let down. After all that build up, she'd been expecting more from Yukari's reaction somehow. Still, upon taking a bite from it, she was rather pleased. It wasn't quite worth Yukari's dogged devotion earlier, but it certainly wasn't a bad cake. She felt like she'd be letting Yukari down if she ate it with anything but her utmost enthusiasm, so she made a show of savoring it. "It... is very delicious, I agree."

(( Let some professionals show you how food reactions are done. ))

Asher cut himself a piece, and then slid it on his plate.

"A'ight, let's down this thing." Asher said as he cut off a big piece, stuck it in his mouth and chewed. His mouth curled in a smile.

"Dmn, mrhis sss' fuhggin' good." Asher chewed and then swallowed. His fingers slowly began to forget the pain that had been plauging him.

Yukari smiled wide at Miyoko, as the cake was slowly eaten up. Vanilla bean ice cream was added to the mix eventually, and it was not long before the crew had eaten their fill, with champagne thrown in for good measure. About half remained when the Shosa stopped everyone and asked for their attention.

"When this party was planned, a rule of 'no gifts' was implemented, so as not to burden others. However, when that rule was established, I had no intention of honoring it. I apologize, Miyoko-san." She bowed to the Hei.

The Shosa had apparently planned this, as she went to a couch, removed the cushion, and took out a small, flat, red box wrapped in shiny rainbow-colored paper with a gold ribbon around it. She smiled wide as she approached Miyoko, holding the box in her hands. "This is from me to you, Miyoko-san. Happy Creati — ah, Birth Day!"

Miyoko looked at the box, a bit surprised at Yukari springing it on her this late. She set her dirtied plate aside and took the box in her hands, trying not to notice that everybody's attention was turned toward her thanks to Yukari's announcement. "Wow, er, thank you..." She looked up to Yukari uncertainly, not sure how things progressed from here. "May I open it now, or...?"

Nyton continued to work in his room. Some could say he was being overly cautious. However when one enters the lair of one who would commit genocide, there is no shortage of precautions one should take. Reviews were made on all information he could access concerning Nekovalkyrja of all types. Combat capabilities, regeneration, culture, Samurai, everything that he believed might be of use.

"Miharu, I want all information about the VAW confined to this ship only. I don't want it shared with SARA. It is still experimental, not ready for distribution. I don't want any of the data being shared out though. Just scrub it from the system and restrict it." Nyton said while he continued to pore over files.

"Claymere-Shoi, are you certain you want to limit the VAW after you worked so hard to develop it?" Miharu replied.

"Yes, it is still my design. I can do what I want with it for now. I'm not done with it and it still has not seen any combat action." Nyton lied. I'll be damned if I let a weapon of my design be used by those murderers. I can't restrict it forever but I can limit it for now. he thought to himself.

"I will have to ask the Taisa for her approval, Claymere-Shoi." the MEGAMI replied.

"That is fine." Nyton said while he pulled out his custom weapon grips.

Yoroko watched as people began to eat the cake, and slowly began to put the pain behind her. Life isn't over yet, I can't do anything about it now anyway. Yoroko thought after she grabbed a slice of cake and ate it quietly. Once her cake was finished Yoroko watched as Yukari handed Miyoko the present. I should have done something as well. Yoroko thought as she waited for Miyoko to unwrap the gift.

Tom licked the remnants of Yukari's cake kiss from his lips. That, combined with the power of her song and how she had changed so dramatically, embracing energy rather than despair, left him with a giddy mix of emotions.

Happy... he wiped the last bit of cake from his face... and horny...

...horpy? Yes, he felt extremely horpy at the moment.

He shamelessly snuck a peek at Yukari's backside while getting himself a piece of cake.

"Happy birthday, indeed."

The mention of gifts dawned on Sanjuro as Yukari brought her present to light. For a moment, Sanjuro seemed to gaze off into nothingness, his eyes narrowing and his expression displaying that of a deeper thought...but that quickly passed as, in another flash of movement, the medical officer produced his datapad and began to tap away at the small contraption.

Kotori meant to check in on Sora, but questioning Miharu on her niece's whereabouts and finding out she was cooped in her room writing a message to her grandmother had Kotori abandon the idea. There was still, after all, the matter of returning to Yamatai to meet with the Ketsurui family.

The black-haired nekovalkyrja made her way to the stairs, but heard voices drifting up. She remembered that the people downstairs had meant to party. Her mouth twisted in a grimace - if they had salvaged something despite learning of how things were unfolding in the Empire, she didn't want to spoil things by showing up. Kotori showing up around her subordinates had the unfortunate tendency to choke any levity.

Sighing, the Taisa returned to the officer quarters on this side of the Miharu and opened the trapdoor to the chute which granted access to the sensor dome. After shutting the trapdoor behind her and sliding down, Kotori made her way to the bridge.

"Is anything the matter, Taisa?" Sanri turned to look at the ship's commanding officer as she crossed the door's threshold.

"Can you tell me if we've had any new messages?" Kotori asked as she walked to her command seat and settled in, drapping her arms over her armrests.

"Nothing so far except the routine checkups from the Pelican," Sanri returned amiably.

"Tell the Pelican that we have business on Yamatai. If they would be so kind as to tow us there while working on Miharu, it would allow me to attend a family reunion in Kyoto."

"Hold on," Sanri turned her attention to her console and her hands flew across her interface for a minute before she nodded. "The Pelican's commanding officer was very forthcoming. Miharu is already properly secured. They will soon warm up their fold drive system to make the trip to the Kikyô star system."

"Good," Kotori nodded in satisfaction. "Convey to them by thanks."

* * *

Minutes later, The Pelican made its fold jump, its course set for Yamatai.

As the ship hurtled toward Yamatai, Yukari bent over some and smiled coyly. "Of course you can open it!" she said to Miyoko. "It is just for you."

"Er..." Miyoko started to explain her reasoning, but shrugged and gave in. She looked at the package analytically for a moment, not sure what the protocol was for these things. Would ripping it open seem too eager, or would she be seen as anal-retentive if she carefully unwrapped it? After a few moments of consideration, she decided to take the pragmatic route and open it efficiently. Gripping the edge of the paper, she tore it off of the package in a single movement.

"There ya go! Rip it apart!" Asher said excitedly, he looked at the package being torn away from it's wrapping.

"S'what is it?"

The shiny paper torn away, Miyoko lifted the red box's lid.

Inside the box's white interior, tied down with a bit of taped ribbon, was an Alice band. It was exactly like the one Miyoko was already wearing; same color, same shape. On the inside right, however, there was an inscription. There was another on the other side. Both were in hand-written Yamataian.

Right inside ear said:

Congratulations for your survival! — Yuka

Click to expand...

Left inside ear said:

Suzuka Light Industries

Click to expand...

The band, when picked up, was certainly heavier than the plastic one Miyoko normally wore. But it wasn't too much heavier — it was about 100 grams, at most, so it would stay in her short hair easily.

It was made of something different, too. A thin dark grey line was on the edge of the top part, but not on the sides. And it caught the light differently, with less of the plasticky shine and more of a soft, smooth reflection.

Yukari watched with nervous anticipation.

Miyoko lifted the band up, turning it over in her hands to read the inscription. "'Suzuka Light Industries,' hm? Well, you might have a while to go before you work your way up to starships and guns, so I'll take this as a starter." She grinned, pulling off the old band to slide the new one into place.

"Well, how does it look?" she asked, fully aware that the new band was essentially a replica of the one she'd just taken off. Though she already had three of them, she was glad to see Yukari forgetting her worries for the time being--if Miyoko ruined her mood by coming off as ungrateful, she'd never forgive herself.

Sanjuro, whom had been absorbed in his datapad, took a moment away from his furious tapping to watch Miyoko open the tidy little gift. He watched with surprising focus, taking the moment to also relax into the back of his chair. He looked almost anticipated...at least until the gift, a hair band of all things, presented itself.

Sanjuro's gaze of wonderment slowly melted into one of slight confusion. He exchanged glances between the hair band already on Miyoko's head...and the one in her hand. He narrowed his eyes back to her old one...then to the new one. A blink or two. Another double-take. A furrowed brow.

"...they look exactly alike. Identical to your old one."

"It was difficult to make it a copy of your current one," Yukari said. "It is called an 'Alicia band.' It is more than it seems. Everyone, please watch."

Yukari stood behind Miyoko. "Miyoko-san, think the following words: 'Alicia, new style.' Then imagine the pattern of golden rope inside your mind."