Ghetto-Rigged Tiki Bar
Jax waltzed over to the bar after he finished setting up trash cans, drawn by the sight of his much-beloved pina coladas. He removed his straw hat, now only clothed in a pair of shorts, and swept up one of the hurricane glasses.
"Not bad, Wazu!" he praised, plucking the cherry off the top and tugging it off the stem with his teeth. "Buuuuuut..."
Jax reached over the counter and pulled up one of his handles of rum he'd purchased, then proceeded to pour way more than recommended into the glass. He took another big gulp and purred.
"Now we're talkin'!" he sighed, leaning back against the bar to see how the preparations were coming along. That's when he noticed Freyja, the blue one... looking... blue...
...He hated himself sometimes.
Regardless, he hadn't spoken to her much at all, like, ever. The first actual conversation he'd ever had with the infantry woman had been today. Jax took a moment to observe. From his limited experience, he knew for certain that she was by nature a relatively cheerful sort. So, it wasn't just a natural bad mood like Candon. No, there was clearly an external cause. Come to think of it, she seemed happiest when around Jun-
Oh... Junko... The same Junko that he hadn't seen since the ship left Yamatai.
Okay, but for real, was it some sort of sick Yamataian custom to ditch your ex without even a simple phone call?! Him, Tsuguka, possibly Mehitabel (as he was unsure of the nature of their relationship), and now Freyja! For Yui's sake, they had standard issue communicators!
Glancing at Freyja, Jax knew exactly what was about to happen, because he'd done it himself, quite a bit. As an NCO, he felt it was part of his job to notice things like this amongst the enlisted. Wait, was he becoming... mature and responsible?! Screw it. Questions for later.
<Starting heavy, are we?> he asked the neko telepathically, taking care not to make it look like he was talking to her, to prevent causing a scene and possibly embarrassing her. He also avoided addressing the issue directly, just in case he was wrong, and like, she was sad because of the season finale on some Nepflix show.