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

Asher stopped at that, rather suddenly, almost as if he had been finally nipped in the bud. He watched Kyou walk for a moment, before he surged forward, snaking to her side and leaning up to look back at her.

"That a challenge, babe?" said Asher with an excited grin, somewhat enticed by the opportunity to be shot at. He took his seat back at the table next to Rin, "'Cause, uh, that sounds like a chance t'see if y'cn shoot worth a shit!" He laughed, twirling his fork between his fingers, scooping up some eggs and putting them in his mouth with rapidly graceful move. "Whihch youh cahn't." taunted Asher, with food in his cheek.

Rin quietly sat as she continued to mull over her life views among other things, until Masako returned. The sprite looked up to the question and nodded. "Hai, Kurohoshi-Juni. I'm okay. Just an upset stomach is all. Maybe I got too much food for its first test run."

She then glanced the others who were returning, especially Asher. His whole attitude and manners were so... child-like but more vulgar. Rin was almost happy with that, as it eased his placement further into the 'enlisted are incompetent' category.

Tom rubbed his chin, as if contemplating something, then nodded briskly.

"Yes. It's good to be flexible."

They were quickly approaching the location where Hoshi was stored. The sheer size of the door to the bay itself reminded him of just how small Hoshi was in comparison to her host.

"So, what are you doing after all of this?"

And so, Kai had come full circle. Once again, the armor pilot found himself standing outside the Hoshi. This time, instead of worrying, he simply observed the ship, and the changes that had been made in the past day. it looked just a little cleaner, just a little nicer, getting closer and closer to being complete. Kai closed his eyes, and remembered the Miharu, the ship that Hoshi had once been a part of, his, and the rest of the crew's, late home.

He recalled the first time he had seen the ship, almost as if it were another life- well, it was, technically, he had died once since then. Died, and lost something, but in the end, he felt, he had also gained. Gained some insight. Gained a new lease, a new chance, a new time. he had died, and been resurrected, and helped to save what was left of the Miharu and its crew. And there was one of those crew in particular he wanted to meet.

Redheaded, and stubborn. Knowledgeable, but unsure of herself, yet she wasn't afraid to open up to people. At least, to people she trusted, and she had opened up to Kai. Yuzuki was, and had been, on Kai's mind for quite a while.

Kai took a step, and began moving forward. Filled with surety, cleared of doubts. He wouldn't worry, not now, not after all this. Kai had a target in his sights, and he aimed to get it.

Nyton's gaze shifted slightly as though he were now focusing on some distant object. "Continue to support Kotori-dono. This mission is still coming to a close but once it has finished there will be another. Whatever that next mission may be I will be there for her." he said.

The man turned to look directly at Tom now and smiled. "It is where I want to be. I understand that now. In whatever direction she goes I cannot think of any other direction to take." he finished with determination.

As Nyton spoke to Tom the former Nepleslian could not help but feel better. Was this the effect that made so many gather to him? Something as simple as talking and being able to lower ones guard? There was something that suddenly welled up in him and the only way it could be expressed was competitively.

"Want to race for the door?" Nyton suddenly challenged.
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The pool on the Mokuren was larger than Ayumu had imagined. Then again she had never been on such a large ship. She had heard about the pool from the crew of the old fleet and had finally determined to take some time away from her work to relax. If only for just an hour. The medical center would not fall apart without her.

So Ayumu departed. She tracked down a Star Army bathing suit and changed into it at the changing room there. She took a second to take in the fact that there was a swimming pool on a battleship before setting down her towel and other belongings. So caught by surprise by the sight she was that she did not realize there was already someone else swimming there. At that moment she was afraid that she may be disturbing someone else's private sojourn.

Masako gave Rin a worried expression before slowly nodding. "Very well, Rin-hei. If it gets to be too much, please see one of the doctors," Masako replied as she began to politely eat in front of everyone. Using chop sticks, she grabbed a bit of fish her and a morsel of rice there. She made sure to chew each one thoroughly before swallowing and obtaining more from her plate.

It was as different from Asher as anything could be, but the Warrant Officer didn't even seem to pay attention to Asher's method of food consumption. "How are you two healing up," she asked Asher and Kyou after a while.

Nyton said:

So Ayumu departed. She tracked down a Star Army bathing suit and changed into it at the changing room there. She took a second to take in the fact that there was a swimming pool on a battleship before setting down her towel and other belongings. So caught by surprise by the sight she was that she did not realize there was already someone else swimming there. At that moment she was afraid that she may be disturbing someone else's private sojourn.

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Yukari heard the echo of things being put down onto one of the glass tables that ringed the pool. She slowly turned her head — "Kazuko-san!"

She stopped floating on her back, instead gently paddling toward the pool's edge. She had on the black sports bra/bikini bottom combination that was standard issue on Star Army vessels. She had been unable to find anything else.

"How are you?" Yukari asked in Yamataian, smiling as she reached the pool's blue-tiled edge. She grasped it with her hands, bobbing in the water a little. Despite Ayumu "disturbing" her, she was grateful for the distraction.

Kyou sat down, eating at a decent pace, pausing in her glaring at Asher and eating after only a few moment, chewing quickly to clear her mouth before answering. "I'm actually almost fine, no thanks to this barbarian. My collarbone is still a bit sore, but that's about it at this point. Won't even scar, you know." She quickly grabbed another bite, voracious now that she'd actually started eating. She then suddenly realized she'd forgotten something, and put her chopsticks down, quickly swallowing again. "I almost forgot! Rin-san, here's the tea!" She passed it over to Rin, careful not to spill any.

"I will," Rin assured Masako. Seeing that Kyou was back, the sprite was thinking that the blue-haired neko had forgotten something just before she then offered the tea.

"Oh, a-... arigatou." Yes, that was the right word given the situation. Rin grabbed the drink and took a long sip. It was hot, but it certainly felt nice to get some more liquid into her tummy. The only problem at this moment was now how to classify Kyou in the grand scheme of competency, since, somehow, she hadn't forgotten.

Asher snerked a smug look on his face as he eyed Kyou in return. It was almost enough to make someone nauseous. The man was indeed full of himself, and indeed played a little too much, but that was just his way. He continued to eat a little more, this time swallowing before responding to Masako's question.

"This'n 'ere's a fighta' when she gets tha' swing a'how y'supposed to work it." said Asher, pointing at Kyou, "Besides nearly been eaten by a big fuckin' fly, I'm pretty sure she's the reason why m'chest still hurts. Tha' girl cn'buck." It was somewhat vague, but more knowing people might understand what he meant, Kyou for example. Though, what seemed to be grabbing his attention more and more was the withdrawn Rin.

She seemed resistant to conversation, so he did what most rational Westwoods would do. He cupped a hand on her shoulder and shook it.

"C'mon, gearhead! Cheer up! We juss' survived tha' deadliest battle this side a'tha galactic centah'. N'you wasn't half-bad, y'know? Got shot by a full volley a fuckin' Mishhu, and covered us. Like steppin' outta' shit n'smellin' like daisies." said Asher with a grin as he grabbed his rice ball, "Y'r alright in my book."

While at first uncertain as to who it was in the pool Ayumu noted the individual did not appear to be upset at her arrival so she relaxed a little.

"Kazuko-san!"

"How are you?" Yukari asked in Yamataian, smiling as she reached the pool's blue-tiled edge. She grasped it with her hands, bobbing in the water a little.

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Ayumu recognized Yukari's voice and face as she neared. "Excuse me if I have interrupted you Shosa. I was distracted for a moment and did not realize you were here. May I join you?" she said followed by a bow.

Yukari nodded. "Please do! It is a very big pool."

The music overhead changed to include shakuhachi. Yukari left the pool's edge and swam toward the center. "It is colder than a normal pool, however!"

Rin was just barely able to prevent her tea from spilling as she was shaken, before her mind came to a screeching halt at a confusing input, a compliment from an enlisted. For a couple of seconds she just sat there as the gears in her head restarted. The first output that it could come up with was for her cheeks to blush, followed by a, "A- a- arigatou gozaimasu, We- Westwood-h-hei."

The words almost stung her mouth as they came out, but they had to come out. Again, Rin's conversation with Hinoto came up. This compliment, already good enough in and of itself knowing that her work didn't go unnoticed, but it felt even better hearing that from the crew that she truly was doing her job and protecting them, as Miharu would want.

"Arigatou gozaimas my ass!" said Asher, his voice switched slightly to speak Yamataian more comfortably before coming back to his regular Nepleslian accent. The Yamataian took a bite out of the riceball in his hand, "Youh dohne uhs prouhd, geahrhead. I'm sure Kyou n'Kuhro-Juni'll ahgree 'dat you's as Black ass' any otha' Black Knight, even if y'ahre one ah'Free-bosses' wrench-wenches." He swallowed before looking back to Kyou and Masako, "Hell, you all done real good." said Asher with a grin, "As bad as dat' battle wass', we proved 'dat Miharu ain't no name t'look down on!"

Tori rolled her eyes inside the armor. "You don't know what she's doing. Just because the Juni's hot doesn't mean she's fucking him all the time, and if she isn't doing that, then whatever you want her for is probably more productive. Ping her or something. ... Heisho."

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"Chigai Tori!" Then Yuzuki smiled. "She wouldn't want to fuck him all the time anyway; she'd have to let him up to cook!"

Then, surprisingly, Yuzuki began to giggle. The giggle turned into a laugh. It was lilting, but not obnoxious; it melted her tension, and for once the sprite - the girl - slacked her shoulders. She waved a hand back and forth in front of her face, as if to dispel the sound of it as if she would the smoke from a fire. It didn't help much.

"And don't call me Heisho," she punctuated, winding down after a little, "The last thing I need is to be reminded. I'm not wearing the pin for a reason, you know?"

Kyou almost choked on her food as she had to hold back a laugh at the expression on Rin's face when she received Asher's compliment. She nodded her head though, forcing herself to agree with Asher, since for once he was right. She swallowed again (since unlike Asher, she wasn't the kind of person who would talk with her mouth open), and nodded at Rin. "He's right, Rin-san. You really did a great job back there. And that goes for you too, Kurohoshi-Juni. I heard you did some impressive things defending the ship while we were gone."

Even Tori laughed at that. It took a moment because it came from Yuzuki, who normally was not so funny, but that was a good one, and Tori had to reply with several chuckles.

Cho was taken aback. Was it OK to talk about officers quite like that? She wasn't sure, and her laughter reflected her nervousness.

When the laughter died down, Yuzuki made her point about her rank. Tori normally would have replied with a "whatever," as she preferred the impersonality of rank for higher officers. But after a crack like that? She just smiled, despite herself.

"Sure, Yuzuki," Tori said without extracting herself out of the armor. "Still. You should go find her if you want to talk to her so much."

"Thank you Shosa!" Ayumu replied as she removed the pool sandals she was wearing. Ayumu wore the same standard Star Army bathing suit as Yukari. Since all her personal belongings had been destroyed there was little else to fall back on. Her hair was short enough that it did not need to be tied back so it flowed freely behind her.

Ayumu checked the temperature of the water with her foot and confirmed the temperature. Without any hesitation she then used her anti-gravity to float up several feet from the edge and dove in. The cool water was refreshing to her as she swam deep before rising back to the surface.

"Oh that feels good!" the nurse stated after she surfaced. Treading water she then swam closer over to Yukari. "I take it you needed to relax too, Shosa?"

"You're right. I should."

And that was supposedly that. Yuzuki slid off of the edge of the crate, alighting nimbly and brushing dust and metal shavings off her butt afterwards. The bay was clean for the most part, but there had been a lot of restorative work going on, and some of the bulkheads and overheads were still having wiring redone. The floor had been swept but the rest of it couldn't be answered for.

"I'm going to go," Yuzuki stated, and then followed with a more empathetic, "Don't pull each other's hair out while I'm gone." She gave Tori, who was now in a position to see, a signifigant look. It said, 'I know you wanted quiet; I wanted quiet; but here she is, so be nice.'

Then, she turned and went.

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The Mokuren seemed larger than the Miharu, and much superior in size to the Hoshi. It gave the impression of bigness; the corridors were wider, the ceiling was higher, and where they were visible the conduits and other minor workings of the ship seemed to require more space than what was normal on a modern vessel. The terminals were even hardpoint, and it made Yuzuki wonder if there were any femtomachines in the atmosphere at all. As she navigated through the passageways, it was notable that she didn't have to brush past anyone. They had their own side of the passage to walk on.

In short, even though the Mokuren was an Empire vessel, Yuzuki found herself acting like a tourist - looking around at the place, and checking into panels that were open for periodic maintenance, feeling incredibly out of place but remarkably curious despite that. During her first soujourn, the sprite had only seen the passageways between the hangar bay, and the Chief Engineer's office. Now, she wanted to see engineering.

But it would have to wait; after stopping to ask directions a few times, Yuzuki managed to haphazardly meander her way into the Mokuren's medical bay, where she stood in the doorway for a few seconds, scanning beds.

"Hey," she asked one of the nearby green-panels, "I'm looking for Suzuka-Shosa."

It was only after the look she got, that she realized she was speaking to an officer. It seemed impossible that there were officers on other ships, but now that she thought of it, there had to be. And Yuzuki wasn't wearing her rank. She grasped at straws.

"Ma'am?"

Asher's commentary on Kyou's disposition nearly caused the poor Warrant Officer to choke. Coughing slightly, she grabbed her glass of water and drank deeply to get her food down. Masako may have been inexperienced with more 'adult' amusement, but she was still a Neko. Ichiban was a good five years or so ago for her, but she had still heard it all.

"Y...you're already..." she began, slightly flustered before clinching her jaw and clearing her throat. "I...I see," she responded a bit calmer. Watching as the Malfarian male turned his attentions to Rin, Masako sighed slightly and started eating again. Part of her wondered if concentrating on her work was such a great idea after all. She had plenty of people she could call friend and she'd never felt the need to go looking for 'companionship'. Maybe I'm defective, Masako couldn't help but wonder before Kyou got her attention.

"I didn't do much but bring the heavy artillery," Masako replied humbly. "It was enough to hold the defensive line a little longer," she stated with a small shrug.