RP: YSS Miharu Mission 5, Aftermath (3rd day)

Alright! Kyou was awakening, which meant breakfast time was nigh. All he had to do was wait for her to rouse up a little more, and they could suit up and head to a kitchen. Asher felt a bit of glee twirl around in his stomach as it silently reminded him that he was hungry. Yet, as soon as he felt the Neko's face dig into his chest a little more, he knew that he had been latched. Food suddenly became a dream, and likely not the one Kyou was having.

He could have pushed her off the bed, or even shook her awake, but something felt almost innately wrong with rousing her in such a way. What was worse, was that Asher's distractable mind was getting drawn off. As comfortable and gentle this repose was, the Malifarian was getting bored. He needed something to occupy himself, or otherwise he'd start dry-humping Kyou to half wake her up, and half past the time.

Then, he saw it! Something that could surely tickle his itch. There was no doubt, that nothing entranced him more in close-proximity than those things! Sure, Kyou may wake up as a result, but honestly, he'd fondled them before, why would she care too much now? That was Asher's reasoning, and that was all the more purpose to grab one. From it's position over her side, the man drew back his hand, lifting up and in. He went for the kill.

At that moment, he couldn't help but remember doing the same thing to the neighborhood dog back in Malifar on Yamatai. He'd poke them intermittently, making them twitch on the animal, and he even took to playing with them, feeling the texture between his fingers. He didn't know why, but they were probably the most attention-grabbing animal feature in existence.

So, Asher occupied himself, poking at the tip of Kyou's cat-ear, wondering if it would twitch or flick like the dog's did.

Nyton looked at Erika and forced himself to smile slightly. "Negative Kagami-Chujo, thank you for all you have done." he replied. It was like he had told Nimura the day prior; seeing the effects of the impression even if it worked to his advantage was unsettling.

He then looked over at Tom. "I just came over to see how you are doing Freeman. I wanted to talk with you for a bit. I had hoped I was not interrupting anything."

Yuzuki dropped her gaze, flicking her ears down slightly, as if the noise hurt. And it did. It echoed around the armor bay, bouncing around like a wraith’s wail. It disrupted the sanctity of this place, but Yuzuki did not begrudge it – she felt very keenly Cho’s pain. It was real. As real as anything that had happened over the past few days. It was a strong eddy in the current that had been pushing everybody along, and there was nothing to be done about it.

For a moment, she looked to Tori, as if seeking support, but Yuzuki was aware enough of the other sprite’s temperament that she knew it would likely never come. She looked back up to Cho.

“It was her decision,” Yuzuki offered slowly, “She loved us, so she gave her life in exchange for ours.”

Pausing to examine her own words, Yuzuki, unable to look at Cho directly for fear her own pain would show too visibly, took a few uncertain steps towards her, looking at the ground – or the wall – or anything else but the crying sprite.

“Yelling won't bring her back,” she said, examining a particularly interesting scrap of metal on the ground, “And crying won’t help anyone. The only way to justify her death is to live the life she valued. Her soul isn't gone, because it’s her gift to us. She wanted us to live and have a chance at something. She’s not dead so long as you remember her - so long as we remember her. So, please don’t cry.”

@Nyton & Tom:

Kasami gave them both a slight bow instead of speech since Nyton had turned the conversation back to Tom and then turned to leave.

The nurse and her wheeled tray soon after exited Yukari's room to head towards the offer rooms and offer the Tom-peeled fruit bowls. She stopped by Nyton, though, and inquiringly offered him one of the bowls in a silent, unobstrusive 'would you wish for one, Sir?'

Nyton looked at the nurse and accepted a peeled orange from one of the bowls. He smiled and nodded but declined the rest of the bowl.

"Thank you."

The nurse nodded and then went on her way.

Cho's head swayed as she helplessly looked around for some other answer that wasn't there. Her eyes finally came back to Yuzuki, and she tried to cut off some of her sobs.

"I, I ... I won't forget her," Cho said, harshly cutting off her own sobs with loud swallows and tensed muscles. "None of us will! But where are we going to go now, Yuzuki?" Her voice got louder again. "What are we going to do with our lives?"

She stopped herself, took a shuddering breath, then started over. "We're ship sprites, no matter what the laws say," she said, eyes stuck to the little patch of deck in front of her red-booted toes. "What are we supposed to do?"

After extending a polite bow to those leaving, Tom turned his attention to Nyton.

"Well, Yukari went to see Kotori," he said. "I was just about to step out to check on the technicians on the Hoshi, but I wasn't in a rush."

Tom was still in his hospital gown, but didn't really seem any worse for the wear. The near-constant rest had been very revitalizing for his condition.

"I see your recovery is coming along well," he offered.

ON:

Yukari should have had a lot on her mind. Kotori. The fleet. SAINT. The war.

Instead, after seeing Kotori peacefully fall asleep, a happy little feeling occupied Yukari's focus. That feeling turned into thoughts of Tom, of the wedding — and herself.

She had a choice to make, and she needed Miyoko to help her, she thought as she walked down the medical wing's hallways.

Miyoko, too, didn't have much on her mind... although for rather different reasons. The rest of the previous day had been spent visiting people, and she'd still had some time left over, which hadn't gotten any better with the coming of the next morning. She'd taken care of what duties she could find, but with the Hoshi sitting in a hangar, there was very little to worry about. So, at the moment, the Yamataian was simply meandering, keeping an eye out for anything that might provide a temporary diversion.

Turning a corner to nearly run face-first into Yukari seemed promising. Miyoko took a step back and dipped an informal bow. "Good morning. I hope you're feeling better?"

Yukari blinked as she bowed. This day is a lucky one! She was smiling as she came up. "I am, Miyoko-san. How are you? Hoshi is well, too?"

Miyoko nodded. "I'm fine, and the repairs on Hoshi are progressing well... its new design doesn't seem to be slowing the repair crews down much. If anything, there's not much to do, although that is in comparison to the days leading up to the Blue Rift..."

Yukari laughed. It seemed a strange thing to do, but Miyoko brought it out of her. The Yamataian's power of observation produced a very good point. "For once, perhaps it is good for us to be idle!"

"If there's anybody in the universe who deserves a rest right now, it's probably this crew," Miyoko agreed. "With most of the crew still recovering and most people's personal belongings destroyed, there's not much diversion to be found, though. Once everybody has recovered, I think there will be more. A victory celebration is in order, I think... and funerals for the fallen and the lost." She added the second part reluctantly, trying not to dwell on it too much.

"Attention will be paid to the living and the dead," Yukari said, the last part also weighing on her, though she paused before saying anything more, as if holding a swift moment of peace. "For now, we can do only so much. It is a time of great change, after all; the longer we have to adjust, the better."

Miyoko gave another nod at that, then fell into step alongside Yukari, not wanting to block up the hallway for too long. "Well, with that aside, how have you been?" She paused a moment, then smirked and added, "I noticed that you weren't in your room and Tom's door was shut whenever I thought about visiting you two yesterday, so I expect that you have been well-entertained," in a teasing tone.

Yukari blushed as they walked, looking off in the distance. "Cruel," she said in Yamataian, smiling sheepishly. "Tom and I reminded each other what we looked like, yes. And we slept very well, thank you. I do not suppose you found the endearing embrace of Ashitaka-Heisho, did you?" The Neko smirked.

Yukari's counter-teasing nearly gave Miyoko an aneurysm just from the mental image, but she managed to keep her calm and very carefully reply, "The Hoshi may be small, but I find that she still has room to avoid certain people if you want to. I did visit as many people as I could yesterday, though. In the circumstances, I think it's best that everybody remembers that we need to look out for one another."

"Mm," Yukari replied, then looked briefly at Miyoko as they walked. "That is what makes you belong with this family, Miyoko-san. We all must care for each other." She returned to watching where she was going, and used the brief break to speak up. "With that in mind, do you have time later today to assist me?"

Miyoko nodded in response to the question. "Certainly. Like I said before, with the Hoshi locked up in the Mokuren's belly and their medical staff taking care of our wounded, there isn't much to keep me busy. It would be a welcome diversion."

" ... " Yukari slowed to a stop, and in a conspiratory fashion gestured for Miyoko to join her near the wall of the ship, where she spoke quietly. "It is not entirely acceptable, what I am about to ask you. If you feel offended, you must not let me push you, yes?"

Miyoko gave Yukari a quizzical glance at that. Under the circumstances, that question could mean anything from sedition to... well, after the crack about Yukari and Tom's bedroom life, Miyoko didn't even want to consider some of the alternatives. "Well, it can't hurt to ask," she finally said after a few moments. "What is it?"

" ... I want to return to a body with Nekovalkyrja appearance," she said, slowly. "One that has genetic tattoos that are not barcodes."

"Ah." Miyoko pondered the question, then nodded. "I believe it shouldn't be a huge issue to avoid the tattoos. That should be fully possible with a Yamataian body. What did you have in mind?"

Yukari paused, looking around first before she continued speaking. "It might be better if I showed you telepathically. Is that acceptable?"

Miyoko nodded at that. "Yes, that would work fine."

The image Miyoko was presented with was an actual Neko, one that looked very much like Yukari, save for the conservative one-piece bathing suit she wore. The tattoos she was talking about were not ones missing, but ones added — on her right arm, a sleek, scaly black eel lazily wound around until just before her wrist bone, its mouth opened to show several rows of sharp, tiny teeth with a single beady yellow eye. The image moved closer to the leg — there was a fish, a large shimmery salmon, wound around the outside of her thigh, so its head ended in the middle-front of it.

Miyoko took a few moments to consider the image she was presented with and turn it around in her head before responding. "Well, the tattoo itself shouldn't be difficult. Creating a body without the genetic tattoo on its back might if you would prefer an NH-29 over a Yamataian with a nekovalkyrja appearance, but I don't think it would be impossible."

Yukari had not considered dropping the Ketsurui Zaibatsu tattoo because it mostly was invisible to the eye, and she only wanted to push the bounds of possibility so far. Though she liked the idea very much, she stuck to her plan. "The genetic barcode can remain, so long as the other tattoos are possible."

"The other tattoos should be fine. The tank should be able to create them along with the body if we can provide a digital representation of them." Miyoko gave a slight shrug as she continued to consider the arrangement. "I think it would look better without the normal genetic tattoo, but I'd have to investigate the regulations around it. It's not an area that I'm familiar with off the top of my head."

A giddy smile creeped onto Yukari's face, and she took Miyoko's hands into hers, squeezing them. "It is fine. The other body art is what matters most. Miyoko-san, thank you, thank you for this! If I am to be married, it will be as a Neko, appearing as I want to appear, and I will have you to thank for it."

It took a moment for the full weight of what Yukari had said to percolate through Miyoko's mind. "Wait..." she finally interjected once she realized just what the woman was getting at. "You and Tom are...?"

Yukari nodded, squeezing and shaking Miyoko's hands, her smile only growing. "Yes!"

Miyoko faltered for a moment, looking rather stunned, but finally gave a soft laugh. "Oh, well. Congratulations!" She returned Yukari's smile and added, "Wow, um. That explains yesterday, too. Now I feel horrible for joking about it. If that is how you want to get married, I'll certainly do my best to make it happen."

"That is all I can ask for, and all I desire," Yukari said. Miyoko could see the energy the Neko had. Yukari was teeming with excitement about all of it! Containing herself was not something she was about to do. "Do not feel bad about any of it. I am so happy you can help!"

"Wow. This is embarrassing, but I know next to nothing about weddings." Miyoko hadn't really realized that before now... weddings were sort of a thing she was vaguely aware of, but she'd hardly met married people at all, let alone been there when it happened. "Do you know when it will happen?"

"Very soon," Yukari said, then bit her lip. She was not sure of that. "I believe it will be soon. We do not want to wait. After all we have gone through, waiting seems impossible. We cannot wait, for what will tomorrow bring?" The Neko was trying to consider one thing at a time. All of the details of a wedding would not be determined in a day.

"Of course," Miyoko said, giving a thoughtful nod at the whole situation. "Well, I'll have to check into the feasability of that body soon, then. I'll try to have you an answer by tonight, or tomorrow at the latest. I expect that there will be plenty of other planning to take care of, so I'll do my best to get this step out of the way painlessly."

"Mm," she replied. Yukari gave Miyoko's hands another squeeze, shook them once, then let go. "I cannot describe you what this means to me, Miyoko-san. Thank you." She bowed, as deep as she could while standing. She actually stepped back to make it deeper.

Spending her entire life in military situations where she was almost always at the bottom of the food chain, Miyoko wasn't used to having people bow to her. The experience made her feel a little embarrassed, and she gave a soft laugh. "It's fine, it's fine. Since you seem to have a solid idea of the tattoos, if you could get a 2d image of some sort to me, I can start working with Hoshi to prepare your new body. And please, let me know if there's anything else I can do to help."

"I will," Yukari said, rising from her bow. "I believe the images can be found in Mokuren's databases because of their age. I will find them. ... Thank you again, Miyoko-san. I should go. You and I, we now have more in front of us to accomplish, yes?" Yukari almost laughed at the very thought. Days ago, so many of her family died. It was hard to not feel good about something.

"Yes, I imagine you're very busy all of a sudden... and we'll all probably be even busier once we get back to Yamatai, so it's probably best to enjoy this while it lasts." Miyoko took a step back. "Well then, I won't keep you. Once you get the images to me, I'll let you know when I'm ready for you to transfer to your new body."

"Understood!" Yukari said, snapping to attention, eyes glittering. "You will have them within the next two hours. Until then, good day, Juni-san." She winked, then artfully spun on a heel, making her way back down the hall before taking a sharp right, heading for her room again.

END

Kyou was just starting to doze off again, quite content with her ability to go to sleep that easily, when she felt a light touch on the tip of her ear, automatically batting her ear without even thinking about it, satisfied when the feeling went away. As she started to doze again... THERE IT WAS. WHAT WAS THAT ANNOYING FEELING.

Her ear started to flicker, going several times before finally settling down again, the sensation gone at last. Her not entirely conscious mind wasn't sure what the hell that feeling was, all it cared about was that it was annoying, and it seemed to go away if her ear flicked a bit, so she was content once more.

She was finally dozing again, almost asleep again at last, nuzzling her face deeper into Asher's side one last time, determined to get back to sleep this time when... WHAT IN ALL HELLS WAS THAT FEELING. This time there was no hesitation, just an automated swing of the arm in the general direction of the sensation, ear batting like crazy. it was accompanied by a sound reminiscent of a cat, but what exactly that sound was could only be determined by a computer replaying it, not by anyone involved.

"Gah!" yelped Asher as Kyou swapped up at his hand. It surprised him at first, what with the sudden movement after the enjoyable poking moments. Though, the surprise passed quickly in a quiet moment of chuckling. Kyou was adorable in her own little way, which he guessed was a part of being a Neko. What with having so few years in a body like that. He had expected a little more of a violent reaction, but this was nice too. There was still a little curiosity to the sound she made, which was doubly cute, and almost made him laugh.

He felt tempted to continue, perhaps play with her ear a little more, but that expected reaction seemed a little more possible with that. While he usually would just go right into it, he knew his body was already in bad shape. That sort of decision actually made him feel a little wiser. A somewhat less tampered Asher would've disregarded that fact. Probably would've jumped right in. Not this Asher. This Asher was like a wolf. Calculating. Vicious. Loyal to a fault. And! Completely aware of a situation that could be dangerous, like this one.

The thought made him cease to think about playing with Kyou's ears. His arm tucked behind her again, and drew her body in, like her head had dug into him, marking the end of his play. The warmth seemed to idle him a little more, making room for thought. Who was he, really? For all intents and purposes, he was Asher Orkin Westwood. But there was already an Asher out there, older than himself, probably even further along in life. This Asher was already feeling different from what he was, somewhat separate from his old life in a few ways. He hadn't seen his mother and sister in so long, he wondered what they would think if he'd just show up.

No... That mother and sister were not his. That was the real Asher's family. His apartment, to which he lived in before he joined the Star Army, was not his. All of his things, were no longer his. Even the memories he had, were technically not his anymore. If not Asher Orkin Westwood, who was he? All this idle thought began to cause him to tense up, and his body and muscles began ache again.

Who am I? wondered the man, drawing in Kyou tighter, in an almost instinctive move. He looked down at the woman in his arms, and considered posing that question to her, but then, what good would that be? Kyou didn't know Asher, she knew the clone. To her, this Asher was the real Asher, while the other would seem like some copy. He knew the answer she'd probably give, knowing all of that. Besides, it was best not to bother her with that kind of identity crisis. Like everything else. His father's death, his loss of everything, and the deaths of those he considered friends, it all went away, pushed down as those idle thoughts that didn't need to be thought about.

"Hey." grinned Asher, resting his nose on the crown of Kyou's head. "Ain't there somethin' 'bout Nekos who sleep in or somethin'?" He pat her butt a few times. His hunger was beginning to get the best of him. "Spankin's or somethin' like that?"

Kyou's head tilted up to look at Asher, eyes slitted open, and a very disgruntled look on her face, though she was still firmly attached anyway. "I sure as hell know what they say about what happens to people who wake us up though. And it involves lots of pointy and or sharp objects." Burying her face again, Kyou tried to doze off, but was apparently a bit too awake at this point. "Fucker. What's so important this morning that you needed to wake me up? More nurses to pinch today or something?"

After wandering the Mokuren for a while, Kai finally found somewhere to get food. Quietly, he had gone about procuring himself whatever was available, and then proceeded to quietly stuff his face. if there were others around, Kai ignored them, somewhat absorbed into his little world. it had been a strange day, and night, the previous day. Not that day or night had any true difference, but his body still worked on a 24-hour schedule, and most of the Miharu's crew had the same 'day' schedule as his.

The talk with Yuzuki, and subsequent time spent in bed, just holding one another, talking a little, before falling asleep (Yuzuki from exhaustion, Kai, simply because he had nothing better to do and didn't want to disturb Yuzuki). He realized that that was something that needed to be discussed with Yuzuki- the mutual attraction. It was obvious that they were something akin to an 'item' or 'couple', but, Kai's brain still hearkened back to his old life, first on Yamatai, then on Tami, and the different culture civilians had. Back then, it had been important to ask people out, and make sure it was officially, verbally agreed upon before a pair could consider themselves such.

However, here, it was different. They had never said anything, and it hadn't been an exactly long period of time since they'd began to have feelings for one another. In fact, just a short number of hours ago, he hadn't been sure. And now, he could no longer see any kind of doubt, but part of him still wanted that confirmation. But should he ask her? Would she be offended at the question?

Kai shook his head. There was no use worrying about it. He quickly finished up his meal, and got up, putting his tray away, before walking out of the mess. Kai suddenly decided that he needed to take a shower, and began to search for one. Hopefully this ship had a real shower, and not just one of those public baths.

"You look like you have recovered well too, Tom." Nyton replied, using the other man's first name. He was still wearing his hospital gown. A slight limp was visible with each step along with the new skin where his face had been damaged. "If you want I can follow you. I just needed to get up and move around. I also wanted to talk to someone but right now I doubt Kotori-dono is in any shape for more than one visitor at a time. Let Yukari have her time with her."

There was no pain to his voice but a slight edge could be noticed. "Besides I am still too busy processing everything that has happened. I am in no shape to see either Kotori-dono or confront Melisson."

"Bitch, I'm hungry." growled Asher response, but not loosening up on Kyou just as she did on him. He rested his chin on her head, his chin spike bending to point at the other end of the room. His chin rubbed in on her head, making little circles. "Am I gunna haveta' heave ya all tha' way t'tha' kitchen, 'cause my stomach iss' gettin' meana' n'meana' by tha' second." He looked at the uniforms on the floor, "N'ya gunna' have t'put on that skimp uniform 'fore we go out, too."

Rin plopped down into a chair in the cafeteria, with a plate of lovely food. She began to dig in, but stopped after only a couple of bites. It just wasn't quite the same as it was on the Miharu. It certainly wasn't Tom's cooking, and it also wasn't the same as any of the caretakers she had known. Her mind drifted back to familiarities of her lost home and she felt a couple of flicks to her heartstrings. She gave a long sigh, before shaking her head.

No, she would not show such weakness when surrounded by the enlisted of the Mokuren, amongst other people.

As Rin went back to slowly, and with a bit of unhappiness about the quality of the food however subjective that may be, putting the food into her mouth, chewing, then swallowing. Defiantly not reminiscing, she had to think of something else to, well, think about.

Her thoughts briefly touched on the annoying uniform that she had to wear in place of the hospital gown and for the lack of any of her own clothes. How could anyone have worn something so stifling? She let out a "hmph'" as she took another bite of food.

Kyou grumbled into Asher's chest, lightly bumping her head against it repeatedly. Nonetheless, she couldn't deny that she was more than a little bit hungry herself; healing is a draining process, to say the least. "Fine, I guess we can go eat then, since you're asking so nicely." She paused, making a pouting face. "Do I have to wear clothes though? These people are old school, I'm sure they've seen stranger things. And I'm not all that fond of that uniform. It's too tight."

"We're on a military ship, babe. If tha' Captain saw you walkin' 'round in y'jammies like that, she'd turn y'brain sunny-side up, n'sop up them yolks wit' some toast." warned Asher, slightly fearing the wrath of a semi-god, himself. He grinned a little bit, nuzzling his nose down on her head again. Once again, his nostrils were introduced to the docile scents of shampoo and sex. "If y'want, I cn'juss' go find a guys uniform f'ya. Ya'd look a lil' weird, what wit' tha' fact y'notta' guy, but I'd be willin' t'hunt one down f'ya."

For once, Yuzuki actually had an answer.

“We keep serving the ship,” she said, finally looking Cho in the eyes again. It was becoming easier, and Yuzuki wondered vaguely if she were getting better at this whole leadership thing. “So long as the crew are alive, the Miharu isn’t completely gone. After all, we are the Miharu-ke no nakama. And the Captain and the Shosa are still in command. They will tell us what they want us to do, when they have recovered enough to come back to work.”

Yuzuki bundled the bit of rag so that the clean side was prominent, moved forward, and gently wiped Cho’s tears away.

“We’ll see what comes next when they recover, so I don’t worry about it, anymore. Would you like to help with the armors? We don’t have enough parts onboard to fix all of them, but I want to get as close to finished as possible.”

Tom nodded solemnly.

"It's to be expected, isn't it? We've really been through a lot, and it's probably going to be hard to process for a while. Simply trying to understand the scope of all this is hard enough."

He turned and began his leisurely walk toward the Hoshi. It seemed that the engineer enjoyed the slow pace.

"I feel like I should be sharing a game of cards with friends over a bottle of Nepleslian whiskey. In other words, I feel a bit like an old man. Heaven knows I've got more than enough war stories in that one day to last a lifetime."