RP: YSS Miharu Mission 3, Aftermath

Tom slipped into one of the stalls and began to shower. It seemed that Kotori would wait for later to debrief them all, so the engineer considered his options for the rest of the day.

All of them involved Yukari.

"Miharu," Tom said over the noise of the rushing water. "Where is the executive officer located? I would like to visit her. Is permission granted for that purpose?"

"Suzuka Yukari-Shosa is presently on the bridge" Miharu replied, the ship computer's voice echoing strangely in the shower room. "The Taisa has left the ground team's combatants to rest the remainder of the day and you are considered part of the ship's senior staff, so, I do not think your presence on the bridge would be unwelcome."

Being bumped into was quite a surprise for the small neko. In fact, it was so much of a surprise that Masako had let out a rather adorable squeak of surprise and alarm before twisting around to look at what had rear-ended her. A frizzy-haired brunette was a surprise to the Warrant, but the floating name tag...while helpful...was also a bit strange. "Ah..." she began only for the other sprite to scold Akiko. "It's no," she started to speak again, only for the piece of armor to connect to her head. Given the speed of Akiko's bow, the armor piece had enough for to be painful. In the end, the statement Masako was trying to get out would just end with "Itai."

Rubbing her head, the pitch-black eyes of Masako seemed to focus on Akiko for a while as her pained expression began to fade. "R...really, it's no big deal," she replied as she waved her free hand at the sprite. "Just be careful of your route next time," she lightly scolded. "In fact, just follow me," she stated with a small smile. "I'll warn you if anyone gets in your way," she explained. "It seems like those pieces could be salvaged, so it would probably be better to take them to the Fabrication Rooms rather than anywhere else," the small Neko commented.

Despite what her injuries has shown, Camellia was largely not that bad off, just dehydrated and malnourished. The aid she's received has largely done most of the extensive work, recovering both her lack of fluids and nutrients. While she wasn't hurt that much to warrent a continued stay in the medical bay, she stayed mostly out of self paranoia that she's still not one hundred percent.

Nyton eagerly washed himself off in the decon shower stall he chose. As water ran down his face the stinging sensation reawakened from the cut over his eye. The skin around the cut which had been burned intensified that feeling. If the skin healed into a scar it would be a proud one. After all, he got it from supposedly battling with Eve. Or at least a powerful stand in.

The battle had been difficult and even for the Nepleslian it had challenged him. It was easy when all he had to do was just shoot at the enemy and kill them. It was harder when you had all the lives of everyone under you in your hands. Nyton had learned from his grandfather the importance of taking care of his soldiers. Despite all his efforts he still managed to lose two and get nearly everyone injured. The unnamed pilot of Red-1 had been lost due to his clumsy maneuvering and Aoiko out of his carelessness. It felt as though the blood on his hands would never wipe off.

Determined to shake it off Nyton looked away from his hands and kept washing. "Tom, so one hell of a mission eh? I have to admit we couldn't have gotten through without you and not just down in the reactor. You really managed to stand up and take charge when I needed you. Good job." he said, calling out over the sounds of rushing water to the Raltean in one of the other stalls.

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"Thank you Itto-Juni-san!" Akiko said, eagerly following after Masako. She quickened her step and Shizuka was about to call out a warning, "Akiko-chan, you're moving too-!"

CLONK!

In Akiko's excitement she had failed to gauge her speed with Masako's before Shizuka could grab her. Akiko ended up bonking the piece of Armor right on the back of Masako's head. "-fast..." Shizuka finished before putting a hand to her face. Akiko for her part managed to fall down and land on her butt, crying out 'itai!' as she did so but still not dropping the pieces. It might have seemed comical if only Masako hadn't kept being on the receiving end of the physical humor. Shizuka bent over and took the arm shield that had been Akiko's nemesis to being able to see. "Akiko-chan what is the matter with you?" Shizuka scolded.

Akiko looked up at Masako and Shizuka and could barely hold back her tears. "I-I'm so sorry.... I'm so sorry....I-I just can't stop thinking about what h-happened...."

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Meanwhile back in the medical center Sanjuro was finishing up preparations for moving personnel. "Alright, Azumi, if you can maybe enlist some of Mara's fan club there, I want you to move her to a mobile chair and take her down to Miharu's lab. There should be an open hemosynth tank there for her. I believe she would much rather have her legs regrown sometime today rather than tomorrow. Miharu, please guide Azumi to your medical center. Ryoko, Kasumi, I want you two on standby here should either Nakamura or Hasegawa stir." he then announced to the crowd.

The doctor then looked over at Takuma who was still being treated for his arm. Already the pain had subsided and was replaced by a stinging sensation of growth. "I want you to head over to the other medical lab as well. You can finish regrowing the rest of your arm quicker if we get you into the hemosynth chamber there as well."

"Tom, so one hell of a mission eh? I have to admit we couldn't have gotten through without you and not just down in the reactor. You really managed to stand up and take charge when I needed you. Good job." he said, calling out over the sounds of rushing water to the Raltean in one of the other stalls.

Click to expand...

"Thank you sir," Tom replied. "But it was a team effort. I did only what I had to do. But failure would have been unacceptable... we had to justify the suffering and loss we went through."

He rinsed his hair, letting streams of water branch and flow from his blonde strands. He stared down at the drain on the floor, letting the water pound and massage the back of his neck.

But then the water in his shower turned off suddenly, and he leaned up, his eyes peering over his stall into Nyton's. The orbs of his eyes were hard, and his voice was lower, enough for Nyton to hear but not over the sound of the other stalls.

"Nyton, please listen to me. I want to apologize."

Nyton saw Tom poke his head over the stall and looked up at him rather than using his peripheral. Nyton had almost finished washing himself off. Should Kotori require anything he wanted to be immediately available for her. At the same time he almost rather hoped she would. There were lingering thoughts in regards to her that had not been resolved yet. "Apologize? Apologize for what?" he replied, puzzled.

"After our first mission, when Mara was injured, when I dragged her out of her armor... I resented you. I thought you were inhuman because you had given up on her for dead."

The cold in his gray eyes was like that of a blizzard, a chilling, fierce force of nature contained within the two orbs.

"After that moment I considered what you were, something to avoid at all costs. I swore to never become like you, what I viewed as a man of war, concerned more about statistics than the lives of those under his command."

He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath.

"But... something about you changed... I do not know when and I do not know how, but this mission has shown me how utterly, terribly wrong I was about you. You are a good person, Nyton Claymere, a man who is willing to sacrifice himself, risk the mission even, for the lives you hold in your hands."

His head tilted and he grimaced, as if he had been struck by something, but he continued regardless, his words pained.

"I am not a good leader. When presented with the same situations you dealt with this mission, I held the lives of my subordinates, the lives of the prisoners like a deck of playing cards, calculating the best odds for success regardless of the consequences. These tough decisions I am unfit to make because I am a hypocrit."

His eyes opened once more and they locked on to the Nepleslian again.

"For that, I apologize. And I apologize for holding you in such a negative light, Nyton. Please forgive my insolence."

Finishing her quick shower, Rin shut off the water. She then peeked out. It seemed the others were still showering, so she quickly scurried out to retrieve a towel to dry herself off. The sprite hoped that nobody had any perverted prying eyes, like Tom... as she toweled off in the corner.

Nyton looked ahead of him for a moment as he absorbed Tom's words. It had not come as surprising to him that the man had harbored such resentment. With a bit of a sigh Nyton closed his eyes while looking down a bit. "Tom, you had every right to feel as you did about me. During that mission I was rushed, angry, in pain, and in the heat of the moment. That still doesn't excuse me from what I did and I have regretted it ever since." he said quietly but in the hopes that Tom could hear him.

"Don't be so hard on yourself though for making nearly the same decisions and mistakes. The position you were in was difficult and being on Bowhordia I doubt made it any easier. You had to face your demons and I had to face mine." Nyton continued, looking up at Tom again. "There may be a time when the life of one soldier must be lost for the sake of five others. Ten for twenty, twenty for a hundred, even a whole ship for the sake of millions. That is the burden of command which we feel at times. The life of one cannot really be measured numerically but the numbers are there. All the living can do is make sure those numbers were not for nothing."

A ghost of a smile could be seen on Nyton's face now. "Apology accepted so don't give it anymore thought. Sometimes friends do things to upset each other." he replied before stepping back into the stream of water to rinse off the last of the soap quickly.

Nimura soon joined Rin in the changing room, coolly taking a towel and drying herself off. The sprite's dark hair was straight and slick against her head from the shower and she didn't look the least bit self-conscious.

Grey eyes briefly went to Rin, studying her a moment before Nimura continued drying off, lifting one leg with a bent knee to wipe it without having to bend down. She barely even shuffled or balanced to maintain her equilibrium.

"Thank you, sir."

Tom reflected on Nyton's forgiveness and slid back down into his stall.

But it was not long before the eyes once again peered down from above the stall, a glint of mischievousness and the stretching of a cheek symbolizing a smirk.

"So, now that that's been cleared up... why haven't you and the Taisa... hm... confirmed your relationship?"

As the nurses prepared to move Mara onto a mobile chair Sanjuro wanted to make another round before the shift. He approached Camellia's bed and gave her a quick nonchalant look over. "You should be fine now. Unless you have any other complaints you may be discharged." he said simply before moving on. There was still a lot on his plate and he still had not gotten out of the Armor. He refused to show it but it was not how he preferred to operate.

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Nyton stepped out of the water stream in time to hear Tom's inquiry. For a second he was actually confused, the sudden change catching him off guard. "Ah, confirmed?" he stammered, still trying to recover.

"Confirmed what relationship? What do you mean?" he asked looking up at Tom again.

Tom stared incredulously at the Taii. How was this possible?

"You can't be serious," he said. "You're at Kotori's side all day, practically. You comb her hair. No, she let's you comb her hair. Don't you have feelings for her?"

Rin returned the look to Nimura, though only for a brief moment, before she looked down at the ground, blushing. She envied Nimura for the self-confidence.

"Ano..." she whispered, but then shook her head. It felt like something should be said, but Rin couldn't think of a thing to be said.

She hurriedly finished toweling off, her hair still quite wet (though it always looked like that), before she went to retrieve her uniform and started to dress.

Nimura didn't dignify Rin's attempt to address her with any sort of attention, though she surely must have noticed. The dark-haired sprite also went to the lockers to slip on her uniform.

Yes, Nimura had self-confidence... but she also was somewhat aloof. To Rin's knowledge, the only person Nimura really spoke to on a frequent basis with her twin sister Ichigo... and even those conversations were brief, to the point and telepathic at that.

Nyton did not know what to say to Tom. He knew what he meant but it was not an easy thing to answer since he himself did not know the answer either. At the same time there was an easy answer presentable enough. "Of course I do. She is a good friend and confidante. I trust her implicitly." he quickly replied.

"Oh Come on!" Tom slid down and punched the divider between their two showers once before jumping back up. "It takes more than that to trick a Raltean. We are a very empathetic peoples, you know."

He gently wagged his finger over the stall.

"My friend, I want to help you but you do not let me. What is the matter?"

The Raltean's enthusiasm made Nyton uncertain. Why is he all excited about me and Kotori? he thought to himself. "H-help me with what? I am un-uncertain I know what you are talking ab-b-bout." Nyton managed to say when he turned the water off. The cold had immediately hit his skin and made him uncomfortable but it wasn't just that which was making him stutter all of a sudden.

Rin continued dressing in silence since Nimura didn't talk... as usual.

Only a few moments pass and Rin was nice and dressed. She breathed a sigh of relief now that her more intimate parts couldn't be seen by the world. She brought her lavender hair over her shoulder and proceeded to run her fingers through it. It was a poor subsitute for a brush, but it worked.

The sprite guessed it would be best not to hang around a showering area. She bowed to Nimura before proceeding out of decon, still 'brushing' her hair. However, once she was out in the hall, Rin stopped, with no idea what to do with her freetime.