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

Rin looked back and forth between Kyou and Asher, before a fuse seemingly blew in her head this time. One could almost see the smoke coming off the top of her head, as a sprite within the sprite's head ran down to replace the fried component. All the Rin could do was make a few sputtering sounds as she tried to formulate some words, while her cheeks continued to redden in embarrassment.

Asher leaned over Rin and slapped Masako on the back jovialy, laughing after he swallowed the next bit of his riceball which he held in his other hand. He leaned back in his chair, and looked at all three of them with his hands in the air. The way he looked at them, it was like he figured they were crazy.

"What tha' hell. Modesty? Humility? Composure? C'mon! You all need t'be braggin' how we bagged one a tha' most dangerous livin' things in tha' fuckin' universe!" said the Malifarian, pouring himself some of the tea into a cup. "Rin, we already said it, y'got some serious balls on ya, f'what y'did out 'dere and what y'did f'tha' Miharu. Kuro-Juni? You fuckin' killed Meni singledhandedly, with a fucking laser sword you got off her last dead body, 'an did 'er in in a room dat' wass' on fire!. Not only did you act as tha' fuckin' hero who made sure we got out alive, but I'm pretty sure you're tha' reason why we ain't dust n'echos. So you betta' start braggin' on y'self, or I'm gunna' do it for ya." He pointed at Masako, showing his seriousness in the matter.

He turned to Kyou, and sipped his cup of tea, giving her an admiring stare as he washed his dry throat. The man emptied his cup and set it back down on the table, before resting his chin on his hand, staring dreamily a Kyou, a goofy grin on his face.

"And you? You was amazin' tha' whole god damn way, start t'finish." Asher said, grinning his approval on her, shaking his head at Kyou's own lack of boasting, "For a Santo-Hei who supposedly ain't s'pposed t'know shit, you fight like a fuckin' Ace. Amaya's Gate, tha' Takumi, fightin' Eve on tha' Miharu, and even on 'dah Shuverlushralothabola! You're just as badass ass' these to right 'ere." He looked to the table as whole. "All of you should be fuckin' proud! N'y'got every right t'show it! N'anyone who says otha'wise, cn'blow me!"

Tom grinned at Nyton's challenge.

"Sure," he said as he paused in that spot, tensing his legs in preparation. "There's no better way to test that new knee of yours, after all."

The grin faded to a self-assured smirk, as if he was pushing the Taii on.

"Don't expect me to go easy on you," he added. "Just don't demote me when I beat you."

He lifted his hand and pointed to a red panel on the center of the door.

"First to touch that wins. On three."

Tom bent down a little, dangling his arms in front of him.

"Three. Two. One. Go!"

Of course, the engineer had no intention of winning the race and hurting Nyton's pride. He would keep it close, but, barring the Taii tripping over himself, he'd let the man win.

Gallant said:

"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?"

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The officer, thankfully, recognized the new kind of engineering suit as one from the new vessel that had plucked the fleet from its timeless void and brought it back to reality.

"You must be from Kotori-sama's vessel," the Neko replied in Yamataian that sounded oddly like Yukari's accent, before bowing slightly — more than she had to. Kanji appeared over her cherry-blond hair for Yuzuki's benefit.

Chief Medical Officer Rena Suzuki-Shoi.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, but please forgive me. I do not know where the Shosa is at this time. However, Mokuren can locate her for you. Mokuren?"

The computer signaled back from a blue, evenly lit orb floating between the two Neko.

"Can you guide the Heisho to the Shosa's location, please?"

The orb pulsed with unnatural blue light, then turned flat, presenting white text on itself.

The Shoi looked up from the volumetric tablet and smiled. "My apologies for the delay," she said. "Is there anything more I can help you with?"

Nyton chuckled a bit. "And face getting demoted by Yukari? I think you have me checked there." he replied while getting ready. His knee protested as he knew it would but he didn't care. In this friendly sport he just wanted to run.

"Three. Two. One. Go!"

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Nyton ran and gave it all he could which at the moment was not much. The energy expenditure plus the fresh recovery made his stride visibly wobble. Nyton found himself almost forcing himself to focus on maintaining his balance. Despite all of his effort it became obvious that even as he ran through his limp that Tom was letting him win. By then Nyton had reached the goal and slowed down enough to reach the target.

Nyton did not touch it. Instead he stopped and faced Tom.

"Okay Tom, I know you can run faster right now with me being on a poor leg. If you will not take me seriously then maybe I need to up the ante." he said, breathing heavily while hunched over. He smiled the whole time though and despite being obviously more winded than he should be he stood upright and brought his hands up to the ready. "Come on big guy, you know me better most people now. I hate to lose but I don't like being allowed to win."

It was clear that Nyton was tired but he was having fun and quite serious even if it meant risking a little more recovery time. "Show me what you got!"

Gritting her teeth at the back slap, Masako snorted lightly as she listened to Asher and continued to eat. The way he explained it made it seem like a completely different fight from what she had experienced. Most of that fight had been by the skin of her teeth and not one damn bit heroic.

"There would have been no victory if it had not been for Gunshin-hei's timely arrival," Masako stated calmly after swallowing a bit of fish. "I probably would have died a third time if it hadn't been for her," the Warrant Officer explained.

"Therefore, while I appreciate the gesture, my humility is understandable. Besides, I was only doing my duty."

Kyou shrugged, still not entirely agreeing with Asher, but willing to cede the point for the moment, just so she didn't have to argue the fact any more. However, she did look at Rin with a bit of concern, a concerned look on her face. "Rin-san, are you okay? If you're not feeling great, you don't have to stay here." She didn't want to ruin whatever is was she seemed to have done to fix the problem between her and Rin (though she still didn't know what the problem was in the first place).

"Sheesh! Y'act like y'can't appreciate tha' fina' things in life." groaned Asher, before going back to his plate, finishing his rice-ball. The soldier shook his head, seeing as how his little rendition of the battle went over like a bad party. "Y'guys could at least smile a little, tits look good wit' smile, y'know." said Asher, in an almost sagely tone, then sticking some food in his mouth. "I mean, what else d'we have left afta' all 'dis but smiles?"

Her brain finally finishing the figurative rebooting process, Rin looked up to Kyou and almost saw her in a different light. This had been by far the most time Rin had spent with enlisted personnel, excluding time on away missions like in the Rift, and Kyou has shown relatively little stupidity and did seem quite concerned for the sprite. This was in addition to the fact that the blue-haired neko also recognized that Rin's achievements, a rare thing coming from someone that wasn't a part of the sprite family or otherwise part of the engineering team.

"I'm fine, Gunshin-hei, really. I'm feeling better now, actually."

Rin then took a quick glance at Asher, sizing him up again. Kyou was probably just an exception to the rule, as Asher still seemed to embody many of the traits Rin had pinned to enlisted; he was childish, almost seemed to lack respect what with smacking, however friendly it was, a superior officer, amongst quite a few other issues. Still, he wasn't all bad... just mostly. The sprite had certainly liked the compliments.

She took another sip of tea.

Tom looked at Nyton for a moment, raising an eyebrow in the process. He opened his mouth to speak, but decided against it. There was something in the former Nepleslian's eyes that he recognized.

The glint in there wasn't malevolence. That was a no-brainer. Hurt pride? No, it wasn't that either.

This was a bonding experience, a release of testosterone shared between two grown men. Two men who had gained respect for each other, and a silent understanding.

Tom smirked and took position at the ready, holding his hands up near his chin.

"Still have that Nepelsian in you, huh," he said. "Don't try to beat me up too badly."

Nepleslia, Roger Wilco City, YE 25

"What's the matter boy?"

Silence.

"Cat gotcha tongue then."

Silence.

"Ya can't keep up the silent treatment boy. Somethings eating ya."

"It's nothing."

"Nothing, huh?"

Nyton Claymere had occupied the workout room for over an hour. As a teenager he came here to exercise and train. This day for the teenager was different. There was a tense rage inside of him. Just brushing against it spurred him on. But no matter what he did, push ups, crunches, pull ups, or even miles run it just was not enough to exhaust him from what he felt. There was still something in his chest raging in him.

Now Nyton's grandfather was here and it bothered him. Instead of addressing it though he just continued exercising. At this point he was just shadowboxing. There was no impact to the series of strikes he was sending out but for whatever reason the flow of energy seemed to be soothed best in this manner.

"Yer looking a bit sloppy there boy." came Thomas's rebuke. Nyton shrugged it off. He didn't care now. He just wanted to keep it up and hope the energy left him. "C'mere boy. I think I got the answer to what ails ya."

At this point Nyton had become somewhat furious. The energy had now tapped deeper into his emotions and unsettled him. He didn't know what Thomas was offering and he didn't want to know. He just wanted to fight.

"Show me what you got!" Nyton challenged while squaring off.

Five minutes later it was all over. The energy was gone and for the first time in days Nyton felt like himself again. Even better now. It was as though during that brief exchange he grappled with more than just his grandfather but with the problem itself. His mind had focused and pushed everything out. The emotions had drained and the stress was gone. Relief from the energy having left was felt and he could smile despite the bruises and black eye. Having trained to focus in combat for so many years it made sense that tackling some problems required more than just a mental effort. Sometimes it required a physical one as well.

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The Present.

"After seeing the moves you have been pulling? I don't think you give yourself enough credit." Nyton replied while he watched Tom line himself up. There was little energy to spare for fancy moves so he kept it to a boxing match. With a grin he decided to move in with a flurry of punches while keeping his weak knee behind in case Tom decided to try kicking it.

As if on cue, right at the beginning of Nyton and Tom's small scuffle, the door they had raced up to slid open, with Hinoto stepping in.

Hoshi's avatar stopped and raised a pale eyebrow at what was, to her, a very infantile display. "I cannot stop your lack of sense with forcefields here, but I can drag the both of you back to your rooms by the ears," she sent, scolding them telepathically.

Tom felt his blood start to race. He knew there was no real danger to what they were doing, but his subconscious was in high alert at the threat in front of him. The lesson's of the gate were still fresh in those hidden corners of his mind.

The wires of his muscles wound taught in preparation of the first punch.

It came, and Tom raised his forearm to parry the blow, but the Taii followed with another jab from his offhand, an aggressive move that would have bruised his face had he not decided to open defensively.

Instead, he dipped to the side, dodging the attack but also forfeiting a counterattack of his own to free up a bit of space. The Raltean wasn't going to throw anything until he knew more about Nyton's boxing style.

His eyes darted to Nyton's subtle nursing of his leg. The injured leg was an obvious target, a potentially damning weakness, and Tom surmised that his opponent's movements and shifting of weight would depend on protecting it from harm.

He shifted his weight to absorb a body blow from the Taii and was just about to return one of his own when Hinoto's telepathic voice broke his concentration... and his guard.

Instinctively, he turned his head just a bit to acknowledge the newcomer.

And Nyton clocked him one in the face.

Staggering back, with his hand out in front of him, he waved at the Taii, but his words were obviously pointed at Hinoto.

"Dammit! Don't do that!"

"I do smile Westwood-Hei," Masako replied as she gave the man a side-long glance. "But what do smiles have to do with breasts?" the Raven-haired Warrant Officer suddenly asked. "One's on the face and the other's on the chest, normally covered. I'm starting to think you have a bit of an obsession." the smallest of the group replied with a raised eyebrow before turning back to her food.

That only helped to hide the lopsided smile at the antics. Kyou's concern for Rin caused Masako to glance over at the sprite for a moment. Rin didn't seem to be very talkative compared to Asher or even Kyou. That worried Masako a bit, but she had not spoken with the sprite enough to feel comfortable striking up a conversation. Yet another result of her being too 'serious' it seemed.

So instead, the Warrant Officer decided to give the sprite an adorable, yet comforting smile.

"See? Right there." said Asher, pointing at Masako's chest as she smiled. "It's a combo, Kuro-Juni. I'm not obssesed wit' tits, per se, but tha' female form at that. A smile juss' helps tha' body look so much betta'. Iss' a lil' known fact, but smilin' doesn' juss' make y'look cute, but it also makes y'look a little more sexy. So be careful." The Malifarian elbowed Rin in the ribs with his own smile turning smug at Masako, "Rin might fall for ya."

Nyton's attack had been quick; as fast as his tired body could manage. The focus of adrenaline and aggression helped him to forget most of the discomfort in his knee. He noted that Tom was on the defensive and felt his spirits rise. Tom tended to study an opponent and wait for an opening. It was his nature to do so during battle and meant that he was being more serious now.

While the assault continued Nyton tried to prepare himself for what the counterattack that he knew was coming until he was interrupted.

the door they had raced up to slid open, with Hinoto stepping in.

Hoshi's avatar stopped and raised a pale eyebrow at what was, to her, a very infantile display. "I cannot stop your lack of sense with forcefields here, but I can drag the both of you back to your rooms by the ears," she sent, scolding them telepathically.

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The sudden arrival of Hinoto momentarily blunted Nyton's attack. He still managed to follow through but with less strength than what had been intended. It was still enough to stagger Tom when it connected. However the connection had only come about due to the avatar's interruption.

Staggering back, with his hand out in front of him, he waved at the Taii, but his words were obviously pointed at Hinoto.

"Dammit! Don't do that!"

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Nyton stopped, the match obviously paused, and let down his own guard while he faced Hinoto. "Hinoto did you read too many yaoi comics or do you simply not understand men? You interrupted us and completely threw off Freeman from his counteroffensive. Now I need to let him have a free hit."

Hinoto turned a look toward Nyton, and she suddenly seemed to have more in common with an irked tiger than an helpful ship avatar.

"What I understand," she began in a no-nonsense tone of voice. "Is that this sparring session was not authorized by two commissioned officers. The participants involve two individuals which are still convalescing. Both individuals are also part of my crew, and as a ship's avatar, I object to my crew punching and kicking the stuffing out of each other."

She gave them a sly look and upped the ante. "Of course, as a Taii, you could pull rank, but I would contest such an order, which would require a formal reprimand and bringing it up to the next person up the chain of command: the Shosa. I'm sure the Shosa would be keenly interested to know of the infantile display two of the ship's senior staff are having in the middle of a corridor to be seen by all passerbyes."

"However," she made an offhand gesture, smiling faintly. "If you should suddenly behave yourselves and look more the part of disciplined subordinates of our prestigious Ketsurui princess... this wouldn't be an issue. I would also be secure in my worry that my crew is recuperating well, and not being hurt any further than they have already been."

Rin finished her long draw on the tea with a content sigh. As she went back to looking at the group, and not the bottom of her tea cup, her eyes landed on Masako and her smile. Rin blinked, slightly blushing again. What was that smile for? Had she missed something? Then came the elbow from Asher and his comment. Rin turned to look at the Malifarian then back to Masako's smile, blushing darker.

"K- Kurohoshi-Ju-Juni?" the sprite sputtered out. Was Masako doing this... 'flirting' thing? Some sprites of course liked to flirt and mess around, but Rin was not one of those. She found too much satisfaction in work for that, not to mention she was probably too dense to notice flirting.

"Aw haw haw!" laughed Asher, leveling his head with Rin's to look up at Masako side-by-side. "Y'already winnin' 'er ova', Kuro-Juni! But c'mon, who could resist 'dat smile?" One hand pointed at the armor commander, and his other came up beside the engineer's head, and made a framing gesture for the Juni's sake. "... and 'dis innocent face!" He was already getting more trouble started, and his grin was enough to show it. "You two iss' a'shy pair made in 'eaven!"

Then, Asher's face gained a begging light, his lip pouting, and his brow furrowing. He pointed a finger towards Rin's cheek, "C'mon, Kuro, y'wouldn't want t'see tears a a'disappointment on a face like 'dis, wouldja'? Y'wouldn't break her heart so coldly, wouldja'?"

Well, that earned Asher and elbow to the ribs plus glare from a certain Warrant Officer. "I'm doing nothing of the sort, Westwood-hei," Masako snapped before looking towards Rin.

"No offense, Rin-hei. But I'm much to inexperienced in that sort of thing to be casually flirting," the Raven-haired Neko stated quickly.

There was a long pause before she turned her gaze back to her plate. "Besides, I've been pondering lately. I've been reading some disturbing news on the Pantheon about the front lines. It sounds like they need all the experienced officers they can get so I've been wondering if I should transfer to one of the Planetary Infantry Battalions," she stated. "Getting involved with anyone would be the last thing I would want to do if I did transfer."