(Mini-JP between Moonman, Fian and FM)
Oh god no. Fian thought as he heard the sound of fat boy detonating from John Hawkins rear end. Even before he could take his last breath of air, he was assaulted by the aromas of a thousand sewers. Quietly getting off the bench, he walked away to the other end of the canteen, his escape muffled by the sounds of John's own gastronomic adventure.
Soreta couldn't believe what she just breathed in. Even the worst of Nepleslian grunts were above open flatulence. She was fuming. In short order, she got up, stepped behind Hawkins, hit him upside the head with a well-recognized Yamataian technique, picked up her food, and followed in Fian's direction. Most of the other marines followed suit, although Soreta was the only one who hit him.
A group of marines were waving at Fian from a table; it consisted of some of the men he worked with during the VR Simulation. They had not had an opportunity to talk with him because he kept walking out of the room after each simulation. Feeling welcomed and rather eager to be distracted of huge concentrations of methane gas, he sat down next to them.
Soreta recognized the men from Epsilon Team - they were skilled, if not 'special' in the sense that she was. Sitting next to Fian once again, she softly resumed eating; unless she was called on, she had no reason to speak.
It has been a while since Fian had casually talked to the rest of the marines. The men were quite friendly to him. Somebody cracked a joke about a flaming marine and everybody laughed... For a while, then a stunned silence only perpetuated by the Vel Steyr's solo guffaw. Even that did not last very long either when he found out that nobody else is laughing. Something was wrong... Something was wrong to his right.
Soreta simply smiled.
Fian fell off his stool.
In the few moments he took to compose himself from his long sprint, Rico quickly glanced around the room in an attempt to spot some of his comrades. He found Fian amongst the crowd and attempted to wave him down...however, before he could do so, he was witness to the odd chain of events leading from a quick relocation away from John to Fian clumsily falling from his stool. By that time, however, Rico had moved close enough to assist his friend back up. "Careful baby, that's a good way to crack your head. Wouldn't want that to happen before you got your promotion, eh?" Rico laughed loudly, patting a hand on his back before briskly taking a seat across from him.
Fian was rendered speechless for a while. He was positively shocked that Soreta would be sitting with the marines, worse, sitting right next to him! The marines from Epsilon had also heard what Rico said and had started ruffling the stunned Vel Steyr.
"Vel Steyr and Sanoroma...it's good to see you can rely on one another." A smile from Soreta, who seemed highly amused at the exchange that just took place.
Rico flashed a sly smile as the gaggle of marines began to murmur and wave congratulations at Fian. He then looked back to Soreta for a moment, before speaking again. "Yeah, you heard right! Mr. P2C Vel Steyr just got a little bump in rank for his damn good leadership."
Soreta's next statement was rather cryptic. "Fast promotions are a common thing for soldiers like the two of you."
Fian had to take off the pressure. "And you too! P1C Sanorama!" He said, shaping his hands like a gun and pointing at Rico. And then he turned to Soreta. "And you, what brings you here with the grunts?"
Soreta was blunt. "I don't like Wazu; he may have what it takes, but I'll be damned if I can spend any more than 10 minutes around him." The statement was more true than she made out.
Rico laughed softly at Soreta's statement. "Aww, what's wrong with the Lieutenant? I think he's a swell guy...knows talent when he sees it," he said with a proud look on his face.
"Ah." Fian replied turning back to face Rico. He still felt uncomfortable near the Yamataian trained Geshrin, he still cant see her eyes! "How do you feel, Rico?"
Rico waved his right arm dismissingly at Fian, showing that it was in working condition. He did not know whether he was talking about the arm, or the drug treatments...although, Rico would've rather just talked about his arm. "Good as new baby. That Gran might be worth havin' around after all."
---
Abruptly, Soreta changed the subject. "So who do you like for the airbike race in FC next week?"
"Airbikes, eh?" Rico said, raising an eyebrow slightly. Rico himself had some experience with airbikes...a throwback from his days in Nepleslia. "My money's on Red Terrelso...guy's got talent, and none of those old farts can keep up."
"I trust El Pacino to win." Fian said, trying to recall what he heard from one fellow marine a long time ago. He was not a fan of airbikes, but he felt there is a duty to at least make the diplomat comfortable. "The latest Zen Arms hoverbikes may be statistically faster, but you don't know what kind of modifications that guy did on his horse."
Soreta shook her head with a smirk. "Hardly...I hear Victory's coming back into the ring with some new sponsor, and none of the newer guys could hope to match him. It's just a rumor, though."
This time it was Rico's turn to change the subject. "So, ya like airbikes? What else do you like?" Rico said, adopting a much smoother smile as he leaned a bit in her direction.
"It almost sounds like you want to get kicked in the groin." A knowing smirk stretched across Soreta's face
"Whoa whoa baby. I try not to get physical until the second date," Rico said with a chuckle. "Although, if you're that desperate I can make...a small exception."
"Cut it out Rico." Fian said, raising his voice a little. "I don't think you are ready to go back to the medibay yet."
Rico glanced at Fian with an odd look for a moment before leaning back a bit. He was a little put off by Fian's comment...but he put that aside as he shrugged. "...fine. Maybe some other time, eh sweety? Me and Fian do have to keep up appearances."
Soreta seemed less than enthused at that idea. "Maybe someday you can go to Kyoto and find a neko who'll have you...that is, if Ally doesn't decide to erase all records of your existence. There's a reason Kessaku IES types aren't programmed for sexual relations..."
Fian felt that this was going to escalate into another argument and sure enough, somebody might just get hurt. "That's enough, Soreta. Rico will always be Rico. You don't want to raise a ruckus when the captain is this near starting the meeting." Fian paused to look at the plates on the table. "Enough talk, eat, before the captain begins."
Rico, again, gave another odd look through his smile. What is with all this crap I'm getting for Ally? She's a fuckin' computer... Rico took a moment to find something to say...he was running out of quips, and somewhere along the line the conversation had turned completely around. He suddenly smiled at Soreta...not so much a flirtatious smile, but an impressed one. "Heh. You're good. Fine...I'm done."