RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 20] Strangers (Essai Dreamworld)

Cabin 3
Takeyu tossed and turnerd in his bed, pulling the sheets over himself as he slept peacefully. His alarm repeatedly went off, having had been going off for nearly an hour and thirty minutes now, as he typically would wake up before most others and check the ship over before breakfast - that didn't happen this time.

Posted for Kyle

Wardroom

Chieko managed to get a large portion of her breakfast done before interjecting into the conversations again. "I will also be heading out there," she commented, "Too many questions still and not enough answers. It won't do for this student of knowledge to pass such things up."

Wardroom

Murakami gave her roommate a weak smile in response. "I suppose if I have to go, I'd feel safer with you two. We should all stick together." She glanced at Bors, then twisted to look at Sune as well, right as Hanako was leaving.

Wardroom

"Well you don't have to come, but I bet it would be nice to get some fresh air. Plus," She leaned closer and whispering in Mitsuko's ear, "I have a feeling this place is not up to good, and i'm going to get to the bottom of it. So help them if they stole my dreams..."

Wardroom

"We do..." Natsumi replied to Sienna, but frowned a little. "But it still scares me" she went on. "What I don't know is that if when I die I just wake up in a new body, or if it is just a copy with all my memories, but the original me is really gone" she chewed at her lip, looking down at her mostly finished breakfast.

"I'm not sure if that's even making any sense or not" she shrugged, scooped up the last bits of egg, meat and vegetables and stuffed them into her mouth.

Once she was done, Natsumi cleaned up her place, "I'm going to get ready to go. Are you coming out with us today?" she asked Sienna. She didn't have much to do to get ready, just get her hat and her sidearm and go down to the cargo bay and she would be set.

Wardroom

Sienna slowly stopped chewing, pondering Natsumi's response. She'd never thought of it that way, and it somewhat surprised her that she hadn't. She raised her eyebrows pensively, her eyes drifting slowly away from Natsumi's and unfocusing to some nebulous area behind her. After a beat, she felt a little silly for asking the question in the first place.

"No, you're making perfect sense," she replied, looking back at the Nekovalkyrja and going back to devouring the dwindling portion on her plate. "I guess that would be incentive enough to stay alive."

Perhaps she was somewhat off-base with her initial impression of these gynoids. Humans were afraid of what, if anything, came after their death, and thus the concept of an afterlife, thousands of years in the past. There were numerous iterations of it, but they were all equally fantastical and beyond all ability to empirically test, thus their existence was impossible to prove or disprove, keeping them entirely a matter of faith. Was there any difference between herself and at least this one Neko? Natsumi very much desired to stay alive for the same reasons a human did - she feared not knowing what would happen to her should she cease to be. At the least, she found herself looking at Natsumi in a different light.

Sienna finished eating before Natumi did, and sat there a few moments more in quasi-deep thought, rubbing the rest of the sleep from her eyes and letting her breakfast and coffee reinvigorate her. She didn't feel completely refreshed, but at least now she had a little boost to get her started.

Her attention came back to her surroundings when Natsumi noisily started to clean up her plate and rose to her feet. She raised her eyebrows and looked around the room in response to the Neko's question, watching the rest of the crew start to slowly drift back out of the galley to prepare for the day ahead. "My quick answer would be no," she answered her with a sigh. Then she turned her eyes back to her. "But then I'd just realize that whatever's screwing with our minds can get to us just as easily in here, so I may as well go see what it is, huh?"

Wardroom

Sune was surprised by Hanako's comments. That she would let a dream influence her life in such a strong way troubled him. Dreams were not real, they were the minds method for coping with events. Most of the time they were pleasant and served as a method of letting the brain rest. Nightmares such as the crew were talking about were usually reliving traumatic events. However, the odds of most of the sleeping crew having bad dreams was astronomical. So the only alternative was an outside influence.

Having finished his meal he stood up and took his dishes and put them in the receptacle and made his way down to the cargo hold.

Deziarra took her dishes and put them in the receptacle shortly after Sune did. She returned to her seat and continued listening to the conversation. If she was going to volunteer, this was the moment to do it.

"I was like to come too," she said. "Examining the planet first hand would give me better idea what is going on than being told about it. What are we going to call this star system and this planet?"

Wardroom

Mitsuko blinked at the whisper. "Stole your...? I don't think that's possible. Especially not for Neko on a Star Army ship." She shook her head. "...I think everywhere we go, besides Yamatai, most people will be up to no good. Maybe even there..."

Careful there, talking about the homeland like that can lead to bad things. "Misato stuck her tongue out at her bunk-mate. "But you're right, if you weren't there wouldn't be any need for folks like me and Bors. Any who..." She finished the last of her food and chased it down with the dredges from her coffee mug, "We better go get ready, I got to talk to at least the XO before we go, but I would suggest you grab your AMES maybe put it in a backpack..."

Misato stood and put her dishes away, before walking up to Sune, "Sir, I was wonder if Me and the two others that are going out today could ware civy cloths, might help us blend in and the folks here feel more comfortable with us."

Wardroom

Natsumi nodded, "Yeah, I'd like to find out what's causing all this too" she replied to Sienna. "I don't look forward to another night like the one we just went through, even if it's all just in our heads" she frowned just a little.

"Meet you in the cargo bay in a few minutes." she said, then was off.

She quickly went back to the cabin she shared with Bors and grabbed her hat, setting it carefully atop her head, making sure it was seated properly, then she grabbed her pistol in its holster and strapped it onto her belt.

Withdrawing the weapon, she checked the energy level on the power cell currently inserted into the grip, full. She then put it back and snapped the safety strap in place before checking the levels on the second cell she would be taking, also full.

Satisfied with that, Natsumi gave herself a quick once over in the mirror, making sure she was still presentable and crisp before departing from the cabin.

Less then a minute later, Natsumi stepped into the cargo bay and waited for the others.

Wardroom

After finishing the last bit on her meal, Chieko got up with her plate and tapped Izokia on the shoulder. "See you down in the Cargo Bay," she winked, then went to dispose of her plate and utensils in the provided basins. Once finished with that, the scientist politely made her way out of the area and down to her cabin.

Cabin 6

Hoping things will settle on the ship at least, the academic started to unpack her things into the empty locker: hanging things hung properly, folded things in their own place. Her Harisen she placed on the desk, leaning against the wall standing on its cloth tape wrapped handle and one of the fan edges. Chieko then took a photo of her holding her, then, five-year-old little brother while in her duty uniform, with their parents standing on either side behind them, and added pushed it neatly into a seam in the door to hold it in place at eye level.

The young Minkan then closes her locker, with everything where it needed to be and started to check her NSP, to make sure everything was in order. Once finished Chieko realized that the sheets she had started to wash from last night were likely still in the dryer. With that in mind, she wondered if she ought to go deal with that first.

Wardroom

Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand as she stuffed in the last bite, Sienna wordlessly nodded to Natsumi and stood up. Still chewing, she gathered up her dishes and took them over to the bin with the other dirty ones, and made her way out and back to her cabin. She guessed she had plenty of time to at least run back and be sure she was equipped as well as she could be, plus straighten up her ragged appearance a bit as well.

Cabin 6

The door to the cabin swept open with a soft whoosh. Moving to step across the threshold, she stopped with her foot an inch off the ground as she noticed the dark-haired scientist already inside. A quick survey of the room revealed that she had made herself at home, and it wasn't much of a leap to deduce that she was the one to whom the effects from a couple days ago belonged.

After her pause, she finally stepped inside and looked around, pressing the palms of her hands on the outside edges of the small of her back, then let her eyes come to rest on her new bunk mate. "I kinda guessed they weren't about to let me have a room to myself for long," she said, her appearance and tone too vague to quite be sure whether her statement was a complaint or a noncommittal conversation starter. Only the slight smirk on her face made it seem that the latter was more likely.

Wardroom

Ayumi was at a loss. The crew moved seamlessly around her. She looked up at Izokia from her much played with, but hardly touched, plate. In a soft, almost shy voice Ayumi initiated conversation for the first time since she arrived on the Eucharis.

"Izokia-hei, was your dream also disturbing?" She asked, her tone betraying how curious she was about the matter.

She could tell herself dreams were only dreams as long as she wanted, but from what she could hear there were many people who had been disturbed by their dreams the night before... Something was going on.

Ayumi was unsure how to communicate that being alone in the medbay made her uncomfortable, not that she didn't like being alone, or that she didn't like having the room to herself- She just didn't like being cut off from the information which the rest of the crew was learning.

"I would like to learn more about this planet." Was what she decided on.

Cargo Bay

The lights went from a dim red to a bright white in the cargo bay as Hanako entered through a hatch on deck four via the main passageway, following the catwalk around the edge of the cargo bay past containers and chain-stayed palettes and passing cranes and boxes and stashed gear. After all this time, between the scents of cardboard, dust, and wood, she noticed she could still still faintly smell the sea water from Azorea that had flooded the cargo bay on the Eucharis' first mission, some five years earlier. Dressed in her crisp, clean duty uniform complete with glossy black heels and a well-provisioned pistol belt, she carefully floated down past the ladder near the rear door-ramp and waited for the others.

Cabin 6

The young Minkan looked up from her thoughts when Sienna spoke, "Yeah, in the end we're on a war ship, and with a rather popular command." Chieko rubbed her face a little then slapped, eliciting a rather large, uncovered, yawn. "You're the civilian they had picked up a couple days ago, right?" she then inquired, "How has the Empire's hospitality been so far? Present intrusion excluded, of course - sorry about that."

Cargo Bay

"Yamashiro-Hei ready for the away mission" Natsumi reported crisply and bowed as Hanako came into sight.

She wanted to make sure she did her best during the mission and had no intention of letting the Shosho down, especially now that they no longer had Ramiro aboard the Eucharis. He left big shoes to fill and it was up to her to do her absolute best to fill them.

To that end she had made sure to waste as little time as possible getting ready and down to the cargo hold so she would not have any chance of being late.

Cabin 6

The smirk on Sienna's face grew a little as she shook her head dismissively. "Ain't no reason to be sorry," she said, brushing off the scientist's apology with a casual wave of her hand. She closed the door behind her and ran a hand along the door frame, pointedly admiring the impeccably clean, sleek lines of the ship's construction. "Seems like they've been cramming so many uniforms on this ship the last twenty-four hours I should just be thankful they didn't gimme a sleeping bag and toss me in a hall somewhere."

She turned around again, moving across the room to where her belongings sloppily spilled out of her capsized bag on one of the desks. "Hospitality's been great," she continued as she moved past her new roommate, scanning the room and taking stock of what the scientist had brought with her once she had her back to her; the most obvious thing being the weird-looking Yamataian fan with the funny symbols and pictures on it. Sienna had no idea what purpose such a novelty might serve, though she surmised it must be a memento or some other sort of sentimental trinket. She'd also caught a glimpse of a photo the scientist had stuck in her locker door, but she'd closed it before she had a chance to get a good look at it. In one continuing motion, she went to rummage through her own belongings, meager and simple by comparison, and continued to speak, positioning the Minkan to the side of her, off of her right shoulder. "Hot showers, clean bed, meals I'd have literally killed someone to get my hands on before, and of course," she said as she turned her face toward her with a wry expression, and tapped the side of her head. "Nighttime entertainment."

Cabin 6

This girl really was carefully metered, despite how she spoke; Chieko began to think she may very well be an interesting social project to take on. She then watched the Nepleslian walk around while thinking of how metered an approach would be required. "I don't suspect you would end up in the hall," the scientist smiled, "even social custom would not allow for it."

The young Minkan's cheeks however, reddened a little at the mention of 'nighttime entertainment', and she looked over at the top bunk that still only had the mattress and nothing else. "Sa- The dreams aside," Chieko stumbled, but still with a smile, "it's good to know that you are being treated properly, wouldn't want us to seem uncivilized."

Cabin 6

One of Sienna's eyebrows twitched upwards a tick as her smirk broaded a little into a small, inquisitive grin when the scientist's cheeks reddened. She had no way of knowing exactly what brought about a self-conscious reaction, but whatever dream her new roommate must have had was likely less disturbing than her own, and more embarrassing, at least when made public. Though she had no intention of pressing further, the Minkan's continuing reply didn't give her the chance to.

Her mention of keeping up a "civilized" appearance made her grin broaden even further, its character subtly changing from curiosity to almost snakelike amusement. "'Course not," she replied. "Wouldn't want that." She turned her eyes back to her belongings just long enough to find her utility knife and multitool, still with the grin on her face. Putting her tools in her jacket pocket, she adjusted her snug blue t-shirt and put her boot up on the chair, checking that her only weapon was still set firmly in place with both hands. She pushed her hair from her eyes and looked up at the Minkan once more. "Sienna," she offered in simple introduction, putting her foot back on the floor and offering a calloused, deceptively strong grip of a handshake.