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Fuzzy catgirl brain reacted somewhere between the second and third choice. "O-oh, Jax-san.. I didn't think you were this forward." She said shyly, cheeks turning darker blue.
In the darkness, Jax's own intoxicated brain went into over drive. This was not good. Unlike Freyja, Jax hadn't forgotten that they weren't alone on this beach, and as cavalier with nudity and sexuality that Yamatai was, he had a feeling that this wasn't appropriate even by their standards.
Her hand felt something hard between his legs. "Why did you bring your NSP to the beach?" Freyja asked curiously. After a more thorough examination, she jerked her hand away.
"That's not a gun. That means..." She trailed off, thoughts slow from the alcohol. Her eyes widened and she started to giggle. "You like me. You're pretty cute yourself."
Jax stiffened, the fur on his tail raising on end when he felt something grip him in a very non-PG fashion. Oh shit, this was bad! Everyone was probably getting the wrong impression. Superior officer taking advantage of a (more) drunk subordinate?! Hell no-
Then, the darkness was lifted, and before Jax could react, a pair of full lips crashed into his. Then, he positively melted, forgetting all about his previous fears. Pushing himself up on his hands, he inched himself forward so that Freyja wouldn't have to crane her neck, stopping directly above her. He returned that kiss fully, his heart racing at a thousand light years an hour.
Oh god, this was wonderful. It had been so long since he'd last held a woman close like this. So long since he'd felt a pair of lips on his. Freyja had been right, he did like her. A lot. Why try to hide it? Of course, there would be obstacles, but there were always obstacles. Freyja was still very drunk, and emotionally distraught from a breakup that had occurred mere hours ago, and probably had zero clue what was happening at the moment. Besides, what was the worst that could come of this? A rape charge? All of her infantry friends beating him to within an inch of his life? Pfft...!
Jax immediately rolled off of the neko, his ears flattened in shame, and a dazed, horrified look about his features.
"Nope!" he muttered out loud, standing up and heading to his shirt, which was still hanging up nearby. He plucked it off the branch and walked back to Freyja, laying it over her nude form.
"Nope!"
Bar
Jax briskly walked to the bar, ignoring everyone and reaching behind the counter for a bottle of Lorath wine. He didn't bother checking what kind it was.
"Nope!"
The nekojin turned on his heel and began walking towards the forest, uncorking the bottle and knocking it back, gulping down the liquid like his life depended on it. Jax disappeared into the trees.
"Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope!" his voice died off as he got further and further away from the party.
Faced with the choice to get between Jax and his self-medication or to help Freyja with damage control, Tan Ann Pan decided to go with the one who wasn't holding a bottle of Lorath wine. She stepped over to Freyja and assured her, "I'm sure that whatever that was, it had nothing to do with you." She added, listening to the receding technician, "The lad doth protest too much, methinks."
Tan offered a hand to help Freyja regain her feet, not that it was necessary.
Freyja blinked and sat up, staring at Jackson's retreating form until she couldn't see him anymore. She felt like she should be insulted, but she just felt dizzy. Her gaze rested on a hand in front of her. Tan was met with confused looks, Sudden understanding dawned on her. "You! You're the medic lady with the weird sense of humor." She said with a smile.
She slowly reached out to take the medic's hand and pulled herself to her feet. Jackson's shirt fell to the ground, exposing her again. Her tail tried to pick up the shirt, but she kept missing. She started to get frustrated and just bent down to pick it up. "He left his shirt," Freyja said, handing it over to Tan.
Her attention returned to the bottle of rum she had put down. She picked it up and took a drink. "Mmm, happy juice!" The Neko said with a giggle. She saw Mehitabel and walked towards her on shaky legs. "Feathers! Dance with me." She yelled. "I'm in my birthday suit. Is it my birthday?" Freyja asked a few steps from the Elysian. She closed the gap and threw her arms around her friend.
"I love you, vegetable. No, dirigible!" She pulled back and looked into Mehitabel's eyes. "Don't leave me." She said forcefully. Then she started sobbing and put her head on the other woman's shoulder. She couldn't remember exactly why she was crying, but she knew she was hurting inside.
Tsuguka made a series of confused arm gestures, visually going through a range of emotions despite that face remaining the standard befangled grimace. She was certainly trying to speak, but no actual noises were coming out, like the galaxy’s most furious mime act. Extreme adherence to protocol just about held the screeches back, since that would mean yelling at a superior officer, but she also had an intense brooding fury of frankly undignified levels.
The red neko was just really damn happy about that fish.
Taking Tan’s refabricator comment, she seemed to physically grasp it and then redirect a finger towards Candon in turn. Mehitabel got a parting of the palms, as if to say ‘that isn’t the point!’. Reaching up in the air with both arms, bunching those claws into fists, and then swinging them back downwards to her sides, Wazu only got a look of ‘It’s too late for that!’, accompanied by an indeterminate random squeak.
Then, just looking into the floor, for a pace…
A deep breath…
“Shikata ga nai!” A pointing finger curving around and upwards into the air before her face, bulldozing through the rage with a particularly unhinged smile. “Would anyone like some sushi!?”
Masumi almost stood and left the area when Freyja and Jax had fallen near the fire, but she settled back into herself when the couple had parted ways. It made her uncomfortable to be around so many people having such varied experiences and she wanted nothing more than to listen to Taii Yamashiro or Takao sing and serenade them all.
Despite this, she looked up to those surrounding the fire and at the bar while she swirled the sand with her fingertip. Before she could look away, she thought she had made eye contact with one or more of them and smiled apprehensively, then looked back to the fire before she needed to make any more contact in any other way with them.
Ramiro watched the events proceed around him, not really sure how to react. Mostly, he just stood there sipping his drink, unable to look away. It was like any other situation where you're watching someone rush head first into a bad decision, like when a friend has decided that they're going to try and shoplift, or want to see how much air they can get running their speeder up a self-built ramp. All you can do is lean back, sip your drink, and hope it doesn't go too badly.
It was when he saw the blue, naked Neko pull the other one to the ground and kiss him that he gave his first visible reaction to what he was watching. One of his eyebrows raised slightly and as he said blankly, "Well that's an EO violation..."
Ramiro downed the rest of his beer and was about to begin choosing another drink when Jax rushed by, grabbed a bottle, and rushed off into the woods. Leaning over to check his supply, he quickly realized which bottle was missing. Ramiro started to let out of serious of low, soft chortles which quickly grew louder until he was bent over into a full, deep-stomach roar of laughter.
"That poor, dumb bastard," Ramiro managed to choke through the laughter. "He..." Ramiro's speech was interrupted by another bout of laughter. The alcohol might finally have been getting to him as he fell backwards onto his butt, and then literally started rolling back and forth, clenching his sides as he continued laughing.
"He... Hahahaha. He took the hallucinogenic wine," Ramiro managed to force. "He's gonna be seeing some crazy shit." There was one more loud bout of laughter before Ramiro started calming down, sighing as he let his head fall back into the sand. "Oh man," he said just before he let out one more small chuckle.
"Someone should probably make sure he doesn't kill himself though." Ramiro started to snicker as he let out the next line, "Or, you know... Hehe, tries to have sex with a tree."
"Ah, Freyja-hei," she gasped in surprise, experiencing full-frontal neko nudity for the first time in a while. Mehitabel managed to raise her arms for a hug, and eventually support no doubt, considering how tearfully intoxicated the other woman was. She supplied hugs, "There there. Did you see Natsumi-taii had brought a karaoke machine? Why don't we try taking turns singing?"
Seeing Tugs go through several stages of anger all at once on the other side of Freyja's body, Bel briefly wondered if any of them would survive the explosion. When she finished screeching and shouting, the Elysian was starting to accept that all of them were going to die and thought how good it was they'd all had recent ST backups... She shot Candon a 'concerned for your safety' gaze, eyes wavering.
"The very same..." Tan Ann Pan folded up the shirt, walked back, and tossed it over the bar. Freyja was far more out of it than she'd anticipated, and it seemed Jackson would be very soon, as well. Leaning against the makeshift bar carefully, she peered over it at Ramiro, and said, "Too bad. Now that it's gone, I almost wish I'd tried it. I don't think I'll be able to track him down, now, though; it's a jungle out there."
She glanced back at Tsuguka, and after reading her for a moment, decided not to answer 'yes', after all.
Jax walked for what seemed like forever, his mind racing, with no particular direction. Anywhere that got him away from that fiasco with Freyja. All he'd wanted to do was dance and help the young catgirl take her mind off of her ex. But, it seems history repeats itself, because they'd ended up drunkenly making out. He'd met Umeshu in that exact same way, except this time there was less crying.
Freyja was probably even more heartbroken at this point. God, he was a dick!
"Well, what was I supposed to do?!" he slurred angrily to himself. "Take advantage of a drunk girl?! Damned if I do, damned if I don't! The other's are probably talking shit. It's probably acceptable to bang someone in front of your crewmates! Argh! Fuck you, Yamatai and your sex-crazed culture!"
Feeling the need to rest, Jax sat against the trunk of a tree. Little glowing insects were floating around, and with the blue glow of the moon overhead, it made for quite the scene. Jax starred out, not really paying attention to anything, for a few minutes.
*SNAP!*
Jax nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the sound of someone stepping on a twig. He was not prepared for what he saw when he looked up. His jaw dropped, and the bottle of Lorath wine fell from his hands. Thankfully, there was only about a quarter left. He shakily raised a finger to point at the newcomer.
"Y-You!" he stammered in surprise.
"Konichiwa, Jax-san!" Umeshu beamed at him. There she stood, hands clasped modestly in front of her, in her traditional samurai getup. So prim, so proper, so timid. So beautiful. A lump welled up in Jackson's throat, and pretty soon, he was sobbing hysterically. With a shaky grin, he stood and ran to the plum-hued neko, intent on wrapping his arms around her and holding her for the rest of eternity, so she could never leave again.
"I-I thought-! Me-! You-!" he bawled, unable to form a sentence as he gripped her tight and buried his face into the front of her yukata. Just like before, he felt her fingers gingerly stroking behind his ears.
"Shh... It is okay, Jax-san. I am here." Umeshu soothed quietly as she stroked his head. When they each pulled away, Jax wiped his tears away and sniffled. Umeshu began to float using her gravity manipulation. "Fly with me?"
Jax, filled with warm joy, laughed and began floating as well. Umeshu gripped his hands, and together they shot up into the sky. Higher and higher they went, never breaking eye contact. It was quite a shock to Jax when he realized that they were beyond the atmosphere of the planet, amongst the stars. He nervously chuckled, wearily eyeing the planet far below.
"Hey, you know, I don't think it's safe to be so high! Wait, how exactly are we breathin-?"
"You betrayed me." Umeshu cut in suddenly, her warm smile gone. Right now, she looked like Tsuguka, which didn't fit her at all. Jax felt his blood run cold and his ears flatten.
"W-Wha-?"
"YOU BETRAYED ME!" screamed the bridge bunny, baring her fangs at him.
Wait, fangs?!
"I LEAVE FOR A YEAR AND YOU'RE ALREADY SLEEPING AROUND WITH THAT BLUE WHORE! WHY, JAX-SAN?! I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME!"
Jax was on the verge of tears.
"Umi! I do love you! But-! I t-thought you-! You didn't t-tell me you were-!" he tried to explain, unsuccessfully.
"Hmph. I guess it was a mistake to return, after all. Goodbye, Jax-san." Umeshu said bitterly, her face having contorted into something demonic, with glowing, red eyes and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. If Jax hadn't been so emotionally distraught, he might have thought something was amiss. Then, Umeshu released her hold on him, and he began falling at breakneck speed towards the surface of Hanako's World. Down he fell, limbs flailing, screaming in terror, unable to fly for some reason. When the hard ground raced up to meet him, he clenched his eyes shut and waited for the end. He felt the impact, but it wasn't as devastating as it should have been.
Jax, who was previously running around like a chicken with his head cut off, lost his footing and tumbled to the ground.
Jax felt himself lying on his back. Slowly, the catboy opened his eyes, and saw a burly figure standing over him through the haze.
"ON YOUR FEET, SOLDIER!" Barked the man in a gruff, commanding voice. Unsure of where he was or why, Jax clamored to his feet and took in his surroundings. The man who'd been yelling at him was encased in old-style Nepleslian power armor, and carried an assault rifle. There were three others with him, two females and one male. Jax was speechless, but before he had time to piece things together, the first guy shoved a grenade launcher into his hands. "MOVE OUT, SOLDIER! WE'VE GOT MISHU FILING INTO THE CANYON!"
Jax looked around to find that he was, in fact, in a dusty canyon. Not unlike the one on UX-1 a few Eucharis missions ago. He didn't have time to dwell, because aether bolts began flying. Adrenaline pumping, he followed the four armor-clad infantry behind some rocks, where they began opening fire on several Mishu soldiers wearing their own power armor. Jax initially wished he'd brought his Mindy instead of a pair of swim trunks, but at least he had a grenade launcher.
Jax was knelt behind a tree, pointing finger guns off into the brush and making explosion noises with his mouth.
Minutes later, the canyon was silent, and filled with dust from explosions in the loosely-packed earth. Jax finally took a moment to examine his four new allies. When he figured it out, he gasped with delight.
"Oh my god! Phalanx Phillip?!" he breathed, grinning ear to ear. Phillip took off his helmet and grinned.
"Good fighting there, soldier! Another point for Armor Squad Alpha! That oughta piss off Flurzarg!"
"OORAH!" the others cheered. Jax beamed, glad to be recognized by his childhood hero.
"Thanks! Holy shit, it's such an honor! I loved your show as a kid! It's what inspired me to join the military! You know, despite abject poverty."
"A fellow soldier! That's good! What's your specialization, Marine?" Phillip chuckled, shaking Jax's hand, the contact nearly sending the nekojin through the roof. Jax chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head.
"Er, I'm not a Marine, actually. I joined the Star Army of Yamatai. I'm a starship technician." he admitted to his idol. He'd expected some friendly taunt from the other man, but was heartbroken to see grave disappointment. Phalanx Phillip scowled at him.
"Feh. Pathetic. So, you went and joined the Yamies?" Phillip's face suddenly contorted into that of Jax's father. The older man looked nothing like Jax, with a square jaw and a Marine haircut, except for his sky-blue eyes. "You're a disgrace, boy. To your family, and Nepleslia. The only reason I haven't disowned you is because your mother insists on keeping your traitorous ass around, hoping you'll change. But I know the truth; you won't change. Go on, get out of here. You aren't Yamataian, even if you're now officially a citizen. And you sure as hell aren't Nepleslian. You're nothing."
Jax wept angrily. He was about to get into yet another shouting/boxing match with his father, when the scream of starship engines drowned out all noise. Jax looked up to see the same Rixxikor fighters from UX-1 bearing down on him. They opened fire, and the world became dark and dusty.
Jax opened his eyes again, and looked around. He couldn't see anything through the thick dust. Slowly, he crept forward, on the lookout for threats. As he moved, the dust began to clear, and he came upon a scene straight from his nightmares.
It was the entire crew of the Eucharis. Lined up in a row, on their knees, with a Rixxikor firing squad set up in front of them. Hanako, Natsumi, Candon, and some of the older or more experienced crew were keeping a stoic face, trying to instill a sense of calm in the others. But there was still the undercurrent of fear, knowing that this was the end, visible within their eyes.
The nausea in Jax's stomach was soon replaced with boiling rage. He roared ferally and ran, suddenly finding his longsword in his hands.
"NO! YOU WON'T TAKE THEM FROM ME! I WON'T LET YOU!" he screamed at the top of his lungs with a manic look in his eyes as he drew his sword back for a mighty swing. However, it seemed like no matter how fast he ran, they only seemed to get farther and farther away. But despite this, he never stopped fighting. He pushed himself to his limits and beyond. He would not let his family- the first people in years that made him feel welcome, made him feel wanted and useful- die.
Jax was sprinting through the forest at full tilt, in the opposite direction of the beach. Well, as best as he could under heavy hallucinogens. His foot caught a root, and he face-planted.
His face hit the dirt, and he heard the sound of several guns discharging at once. Jax froze, unwilling and unable to move. The world around him became dead quiet. He lay in the dirt, choking back tears of anguish, knowing that he was now all alone in the universe, and it was because of him.
Jax sensed a presence nearby, and slowly cracked open his eyes. His jaw dropped. They were all standing around him, glaring down at him with pure hatred.
"Unacceptable." Candon spat first, breaking the silence.
"You are worthless." Hanako said sternly, every syllable hitting him like a freight train.
"You call yourself a soldier?" Natsumi asked venomously.
"Figures. He's not one of us. He's a stupid boy who only joined the Star Army because he had no other choice." Tsuguka mused. Jax looked between each disgruntled face, too shocked for words.
"All you are is a wrench-monkey." Freyja said next. That hurt worst of all. "We all were born ready to kill. We are the epitome of strength and skill. I learned to do battle within the first year of my existence. How did you spend your childhood? Watching cartoons and drawing?!"
"Just a goofy Nepleslian from sheltered, ordinary beginnings. You aren't a hardened warrior like the rest of us. You'll never be." Mango chimed in.
Jax curled into a ball and cried. They were right, all of them. They all had some cool history involving great feats of heroism and general badassery. All he had were stories of falling asleep in algebra. Combat terrified the hell out of him, and still made him wake in the night drenched in a cold sweat. He was a lie. Behind the constant jokes and optimism, he dreaded every deployment, wondering if he'd come back alive. He did it so he wouldn't seem like the only one freaking out. He didn't want them to think he was weak. But it was clear he wasn't fooling anyone but himself.
"I'm sorry!" he whispered between sobs. Then, the world went silent once more, replaced only by the sounds of someone typing on a keyboard. His anguish turning to curiosity, Jax opened his eyes, and found that once again, the scene had changed.
He was lying on a cold, linoleum floor. Twisting his head around, he found that the room resembled a college dorm. Not that he'd ever gone to college, but from the pictures he'd seen, this looked like college.
In front of him, sitting at a small desk, a young man was typing away at a computer that looked absolutely ancient compared to the futuristic data pads everyone carried around. Upon closer inspection, Jax found that the man looked sort of like Flynn, but younger, and was dressed in jeans, a tee shirt plastered with the name of some fantasy world called Galveston, and brown western-style boots. For some reason, the man seemed oblivious to the fact that a blonde catboy in a swimsuit had appeared on the floor next to him.
Unsure of how the man would react to his presence, Jax quietly stood. Then, the man spoke.
"Heh. Premature status update, Wes! Falcons choked so bad!" chuckled the man quietly. Jax cocked an eyebrow. What the hell was a WES?! Who the hell were the Falcons?! Jax peered over the man's shoulder, and almost choked himself when he saw the webpage's URL. Star Army?! Like THE Star Army?!
Oh god, that meant-! Oh god, how could this be?!
All this time, Jackson had been joking about "omnipotent sci-fi geeks" controlling their lives, about everyone in existence being a character in an online role-play. He tried not to believe what his eyes were clearly seeing. But then, he saw what the man was typing. He was typing all of Jax's thoughts and actions as they occurred! Jax's mind went blank in the presence of...
...His creator. The god of his universe.
When the initial shock worn off, Jax became violently enraged. He snarled and tried to swipe the man's face with his fist. To his disappointment, his hand phased right through, like he wasn't even there. Jax suddenly felt a force pulling him back away from the computer, into a dark tunnel.
"YOU BASTARD! YOU'RE DOING ALL OF THIS TO ME! I HATE YOU WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING! I WILL USE EVERY RESOURCE AT MY DISPOSAL TO FIND A WAY BACK HERE!"
Jax clung to the edge of the tunnel, not ready to head back just yet! He wanted his sadistic creator to know just how much his creation loathed him.
"AND WHEN I DO, I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL SMILE UPON YOUR FACE AS I STRANGLE YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS! I WILL LAUGH AS THE FINAL LIGHT IN YOUR EYES EXTINGUISHES! THEN, I WILL DANCE ON YOUR GRAVE! FUCK. YOU."
Forest
Jax lay on the ground, spread eagle, facing the sky, twitching slightly, and muttering nonsense under his breath.
Natsumi had settled into the bar by Ramiro, her karaoke machine quiet as she too watched the goings on around her. It seemed there was little interest in music and singing at the moment and people were getting a bit emotional.
"Well" she said, frowning slightly. "That was...awkward" she commented and glanced at Ramiro. "So. . . whats good to drink?" she asked, thinking it time to get a little lubricated before trying a round of karaoke singing.
With the fish still burnt to cinders behind them, and the others apparently too nervous to answer Tsuguka even with an offhanded 'yes', it became obvious that the red lynx would need to find another distraction. If she didn't pull herself together, this was going to end in a the sort of wrestling move that that made the gyoza incident look tame and reasonable in comparison.
That, and it did rather strike her as odd that the blue soldier was currently naked, and crying into the mousey clerk's shoulder. Jax seemed to hit the drink particularly heavy after the last pause in music, so she could only assume that the three were directly related.
"This isn't good... Nito Hei Feathersu..." The collapsed chain of protocol was so bad at this point that the angular red tiger had broken down into a sort of extra-ethnic, raspy, slightly cat like accent. Eyes narrowed to mere slithers of green. It was the expression of admitting defeat on the 'fun' front. "Jackson Heisho is the same rank as me, you know... Maybe I should go after him..."
The basic idea was that he evidently found her scary, and thus not attractive, making a good candidate for talking him down. She hadn't been paying attention to the part about hallucinogenic alien wine, through.
A short hop was made before flying into the air, displaying a weird launch trajectory like a guided missile. One could probably say something romantic about a night time soaring amongst an ancient forest and the twinkling blue stars, but Tsuguka was slightly drunk and space-weary, and thus could only think of an immense ball of broccoli, blotting out the parent star. Felt nice to feel the warm breeze in her hair instead of dying of hypoxia, through.
Eyes set to heat vision. Mission-neko became utterly tranquil without even realizing it.
Wazu watched the red one bound off, only vaguely realizing her sushi question was not rhetorical. ~Another neko chasing after Jax? I wonder what he is doing to these women to have them throw themselves at him?~ He thought... Though that might be a question better researched later.
He would end up turning his back towards the fire, still sitting on the sand as he waved to Natsumi, "What are you going to sing?!"
"I mean, anything is good," came Ramiro's response to Natsumi. He leaned up slightly so he could see under the bar from his place lying on the ground. "We've got beer, wine, vodka, rum, tequila, whiskey, scotch, bourbon, more vodka, sake, more rum, more wine, liqueurs, gin, vermouth, juices, still even more vodka... I can basically make you anything under the sun. The only think I lack a sufficient quantity of is mixers, and there's no soda. Other than that though..."
Ramiro finally steeled himself to stand up. He brushed some of the sand off of himself, but he quickly realized that his back was now completely sandy. Not wanting to get the sand all over the bar, he took a few steps back and simply took the shirt off, leaving only his swim trunks on, and tossed the now inside-out shirt next to the ice box.
"So what are you in the mood for? Fruity? Strong? Simple? Complex? Sweet? Smooth?"
Candon considered running but knew he'd only make things worse when she'd catch him. To his surprise the fist he'd so patiently been waiting for didn't come. Instead she left after Jax, possibly to console him, but Candon would doubt that Tsuguka would be successful. Regardless, the social training would be of value to her future interactions, in his opinion.
Candon exhaled, unaware that he'd been holding his breath. Looking back to Mehitabel he couldn't help but smirk as he noticed the drunken Freyja draped over her. He didn't want to order Freyja to purge the alcohol from her blood, It would be unethical to pull rank in the current setting without a much better reason than a desire for her to not regret the night come morning. Fortunately his mother had helped him in the past with a subtle usage of innate telepathic ability. To him it was only theoretical since he'd never tried using it like this.
Creating a telepathic link with the emotionally compromised woman Candon began to transmit a certain calmness that he often kept running as a background program in his mind when he was stressed. There was no message attached, only the emotion was sent.
Freyja stopped bawling on Mehitabel after a few minutes. A sudden feeling of calmness washed over her, and suddenly she realized her eyes hurt too much to keep crying. The suggestion of singing perked her up a little. She lifted her head and looked into Bel's eyes. "Really? We can sing?" She asked hopefully. "I want to sing." Freyja's eyes lit up, and she smiled.
Her heart still ached, but all she could think about now was singing. She leaned in and kissed Bel, just a short little peck. "I'm going to sing!" The neko giggled. She didn't know exactly what. Her sense of euphoria was starting to return, and she really wanted to sing.
"Ooh, I know! Let's sing together!" Freyja said, bouncing happily up and down. "What do you want to sing?" She released the Elysian and turned to Natsumi. "Floofy-taii, what should we sing?"
Okay. That had been a wild ride. By now, Jax had figured out that he must have drank almost an entire bottle of hallucinogenic Lorath wine. He'd obviously dropped the bottle somewhere during his trip, but he'd been in high school once, and had dabbled in LSD once or twice. Obviously, Jax was past the "peak" and would slowly return to normal over the next couple of hours. Due to the sudden, unexpected effect of the drink, he'd had a bad trip influenced by his sour mood. He was glad it had all been an illusion though. Seriously, what creator gives himself a lame username like "Blizzard"?
To prevent another "bad trip", he simply sat against a tree, watching the dancing colors and textures, and trying to have fun with the occasional apparition that still appeared to him. As of right now, "Candon" was standing in front of him.
"Candy-Man!" He greeted with a horrible slur of his voice. Why someone would mix hallucinogens with alcohol was beyond him, but he was grateful for it none the less. "You're such an asshole. Nah, JK boi! You're cool. Kinda wish we could actually hang out sometime and do something that didn't involve me giving you money or building weapons. Like maybe go watch an airbike race, or go... fishing? I guess? You like fishing?"
Then, "Candon" dissolved, and he giggled like an idiot. For another few minutes, he sat in silence. For grins, he turned on his ultra-violet vision to see what the world would look like then. That's when he noticed a lone shape floating across the sky. Too small for a starship, too large for a bird. Probably a neko, and definitely another apparition. Jax studied how the object flew. Straight, like an arrow. Practical and efficient.
Tsuguka. Because if he were sober enough to fly in a beautiful night sky like this, he'd be twisting and turning and doing loops and shit. Jax waved and beamed to the apparition.
"Hi Tugs!" the catboy called up to the passing neko.
Tsuguka landed like an animation cell lazily being dragged into scene, barely even disturbing the sand below her feet upon landing. Flying with a straight back and crossed arms was really the only sensible way to do it. Booze might be making her a little woozy, but this was no time for looking sloppy... And then there was Jax, slumped against a tree, intoxicated eyes like big blue marbles. She found him difficult to predict and communicate with at the best of times, but if this was his reaction to a simple drink, then the red neko really had no idea what was going on inside that head.
"Jackson-Heisho, I trust you are well?" A soft, if rather flat, tone, head arcing slowly to one side. They didn't want to startle the blonde cat boy, like on so many other occasions. "It would be against my good conscience to leave you out here half-dead. But why did you leave the party?"
She had a vague idea of the answer. Coming to rely on another person, and then having that person retreat away from you, it was difficult. But that also made his decision to be even more alone illogical, at least to her eyes. What even happened between him and Freyja?...
Fun. Fun probably happened. Fun always ends badly.
Jax looked confused for a moment. So far, none of the hallucinations had actually spoken. However, he knew that trying to resist the trip would only make things worse, so he rolled with it. With a chesire grin, he replied:
"Yeah, I'm fine. Grabbed a random bottle of Lorath wine before coming out here. Turns out it was the hallucinogenic type." he drawled, stretching out and resting his head in his hands. Tonight, Jax had decided to use the random apparitions as a way to vent his innermost thoughts. And since he still thought that the Tsuguka before him was artificial...
"To answer your other question, I left before I could make a mistake that would have hurt someone. Freyja's a nice, rather attractive girl, sure. But right now she's hurting because Junko left her right before we came to the beach. She's not really ready for another relationship so soon, and I don't really want a relationship with her. I'd rather keep things semi-professional, considering I'm a superior officer and there's a chance I may have to order her to do something dangerous in the future. Couldn't live with myself if it came to that. It would have been even more cruel to lead her along and ditch at the first opportunity. So soon after another breakup? It would have destroyed her. She doesn't need that when we're about to head out on a mission. And, not gonna lie, I think she and Mehitabel look adorable together."
Jax yawned, trying to think of what else he could say to the "hallucination". He had a few things, but he wondered if this hallucination would drop kick him just like the real Tsuguka. It could already hold a conversation. It wasn't that much of a stretch. But, the alcohol urged him to do it, and he obliged. Besides, drop-kicking or not, this wasn't the actual Tsuguka.
"You know, I've always wondered how a thing between us would work out. I know, kind of lame that I ship myself, but I think it could be kind of fascinating! You're not bad looking at all. My god, you have some of the best legs I've ever seen in my life, and I kinda like the way a toned woman looks. But like, you're focused, dedicated, responsible, well-organized. I'm... none of that. The whole yin and yang concept is way more fun to think about than dating someone who's just like you, ya know? Plus, we're both still lamenting over our ex girlfriends, and we're both the same rank..."
Jax tilted his head back and laughed.
"Oh god, I can't believe I just said that out loud! Eh, but at least you're just a figment of my imagination and not actually Tsuguka..."
"Of course we can sing!" Mehitabel chirped in reply, smiling as Freyja recovered enough to be excited about something that wasn't sobbing. Sure it was only papering over the cracks, for now, but if she could only help her have a good time, maybe the blue neko wouldn't stay so blue. The kiss was a surprise. Only their mutual states of intoxication kept the Elysian from turning a dark(er) shade of embarrassed red. Tipsyitabel presumed it was a friendly thing, between comrades.
What exactly was on the karaoke machine was up for discovery! It looked like it probably had a substantial reserve of musical options to choose from... But only one song came to mind as it was her turn to tug at Freyja's waist. "Ohhh, you want to sing with me? You might not like the same songs I do, Freyja-san," she mumbled, pulling her towards the machine. She scrolled quickly through the selection options until the right song rolled around, and with her wings fluffed up a little she stuck a mic in her companion's hands.
"We just have to read the words on the display!" she said determinedly as the music started...
Breeze ran through the trees, blue moonlight stained the landscape, and Tsuguka remained absolutely still whilst pondering such a frank exposure of her boyish comrade's deepest feelings.
First idea was to play the part of a hallucination, vanish back into the shadows, and deny all knowledge later. It would be easy enough. Maybe a little volumetric projection, so she could pretend to be someone unrelated like Mango, or even Natsumi. But, wasn't that cruel? Wasn't it a little arrogant just to dismiss someone's feelings out of hand, because you figure your own moral doctrines and life choices are superior? If Jax didn't even know what was going on, it hardly counted as him asking her anything poignant...
"...Are you saying that I'm not a nice girl?" The crimson woman spoke in a typically dry tone, thudding down onto her butt at his side, sitting below the tree. A rather vulpine smile crossed her face, amplified by the dim lighting into something outright vampiric. If he really wanted to peer beneath that veneer of sternness, he was going to get it full force. "You could at least tell me that when you aren't covered in sand, and sweating out of every pore."
A short pause. She was trying to remember the first time she had seen him, and all the things that had changed since. It seemed like Jax had grown more confident, his ambitions more complex, but was unique amongst the team in that he never ceased to act so... Well, unsophisticated about it all. It was only this weird, hidden little confession which had opened her eyes to the person that the 'boy' actually was.
"I'm joking, of course. To be honest, I never really thought about it. You're so good with other people, that I figured you'd already have another fling going." Sand between her toes. Normally irritating, but now a welcome distraction from the concept of talking about real feelings. "What you had with Umeshu-Taii, well... Things that burn the brightest burn half as long, it seems... But I would be lying, if I said you didn't inspire what I had with Taharial-Hei, either... Maybe it's the ship, too. For both of us... I mean, it feels like you have to experience everything, before you are finished..."
Would it really work between them? She had a hard time even coming up with a plan of action. She liked his goldenrod hair, that constant chipper smile, and that complex smell of dingy engine parts. But Tsuguka wasn't really in touch with her emotions enough to know what that meant. If this was going to be a decision, she wanted Jax to at least have the confidence to ask her when he had two brain cells to knock together.
"Is that really what you want, through?... I did kick the head clean off a Rixxikor, once..." A renewed smile, looking back to him with voracious eyes. "Imagine what I would do to you in bed, my blonde little cat boy~"
Great, now the drink was talking again, and she was doing 'fun' too...
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