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

Kyou couldn't keep a faint smirk off of her face at Rin and Masako's reactions to Asher's suggestion that there was flirting going on. If anything, most people would probably think that Asher was the one flirting, though she knew him well enough to recognize this was just him. She was interested in what Masako was talking about though; Kyou wasn't all that fond of space based combat, the idea of transferring to a land based force sounded rather appealing.

After having stared at Mefpralphra, an irked tiger didn't give Nyton pause to blink. He watched Hinoto as she circled him with her argument and looked away only to steal a glance at Tom to try and read his demeanor in this. Nyton himself merely retained a neutral countenance which was difficult now that he was beginning to try and catch his breath again.

"I do not think I have to pull rank in this matter, Hinoto-san. First off, this sparring session was approved by two commissioned officers: Freeman-Juni and myself. Second, we are recuperating. Rather than growing stiff and inactive we are stretching our legs and conducting physical therapy. Third, and I suppose more difficult to understand, some injuries are not physical in nature. As such I required Freeman-Juni's assistance because I trust him to aide me in my physical and mental recuperation. Fourth, I doubt that such 'infantile' displays would be thought of as such since sparring and combat is very highly ingrained into the military culture of the fleet." Nyton countered while breathing heavily.

"Since not all would understand, as you have helpfully suggested, then Freeman-Juni and myself should remove ourselves to a more private location to prevent any such misunderstandings and not cause the princess to be seen in ill light." he then concluded, finally catching his breath. "I still owe him a free hit."

Hinoto eyed Nyton, ears flicking. The white-haired nekovalkyrja seemed slightly surprised by how Nyton had argued back - maybe something about the man acting reasonably about it.

Then again, as Nimura noted earlier, Nyton wasn't exactly the same either.

"He's a warrant officer," she finally countered. "You need two commissioned officers to endorse a sparring session."

"But what if she transfa'd witcha', huh?" said Asher, wrangling the situation back in place with both hands, which he held out in a explaining fashion. "You'd have someone close t'ya when y'had t'be cold t'everyone else, somebody t'keep y'warm on 'dose chilly planetary nights. Why let it be someone else 'din someone otha' than Rin? I mean look at'er! She's tough n'smart, n'she's plenty proved she's a real soldia'. Why deny it? Why wound her so!" He gave that a little dramatic flair, gesturing to Rin strongly, "I mean, I got somethin' like 'dat, someone, yeah? Don'tcha think iss' 'bout time f'you t'have tha' same thing, Kuro-Juni?"

"Hm, you are correct Hinoto-san. No offense Freeman-Juni for while I am certain you could earn a commission soon I do not think it will be in the next few seconds."

Nyton paused to think. He was no longer as winded so his posture was straight again. A couple of breaths later and he had an idea.

"Very well then, since we are still on the Mokuren then one of the officers here should suffice since it would be within their jurisdiction. It was never specified what crew an officer would have to be from." he then said before addressing the ship's KAMI.

"Mokuren, could you connect me to a commissioned officer aboard the vessel who is not from Hoshi, is not otherwise busy, nor is sleeping or engaged in some activity requiring privacy and preferably from medical if possible?" Nyton requested.

Rin looked back and forth between Masako and Asher once more. Masako had made her point that she wasn't flirting with the sprite, and Asher wasn't getting the point. Rin was about to elbow Asher, as he had done multiple times, but stopped when he complimented on her supposed qualities.

"E-etto, Westwood-hei..." she spoke up quietly. While she wanted this to stop, as Masako seemed to want, she didn't exactly want the compliments to stop either.

Tom rubbed the swelling red spot on his left cheek with a half smile as the two officers discussed protocol. It seemed the engineer was taking things in good humor.

"Can't we make me a temporary Shoi or something," Tom offered with a chuckle. "I promise I won't run off with it after the sparring match."

The sharp pain was relaxing into a dull thud, and Tom moved his hand away from the bruising spot, opening and closing his jaw instead.

"On the other hand, officer's school is really boring..."

"I briefly considered trying that but I did not think I had the rank or authority to do so." Nyton quickly messaged telepathically to Tom.

Nyton did not have to wait long before the KAMI replied:

"Chief Medical Officer Suzuki Rena-Shoi declines permission to spar to the individuals Nyton Claymere (ranked Taii) and Tom Freeman (ranked Santô Juni). She also promises prostate examinations to said individuals if they go around her and ask another of the Mokuren's officers."

Hinoto blinked. "Prostate exams? Isn't that-" The neko's cheeks flushed pink. "Oh."

Tom's merriment dissolved quickly under the repeated stonewalling of the simple request to spar. With a sour expression on his face, he huffed angrily.

"This is stupid," he said. "If everyone is so keen on ruining our bonding experience, then I have better things to do. Taii, I'll see you later."

Unimpressed by Hinoto's cute reaction to the prostate examination remark, Nyton just shook his head as his own mood began to turn to exasperation. "It would seem so, Freeman. Looks like you will have to collect on that free hit another time." he said with thinly veiled frustration. With Tom leaving to go pursue better things there was now only himself and Hinoto present.

Not particularly pleased with the avatar but aware that she was only doing her job, much like the medical Shoi, Nyton dispelled his frustration. "Are you otherwise preoccupied with some other matter or do you have some time to talk, Hinoto-san?" he then asked calmly.

Looking utterly undisturbed/guiltfree at ruining Tom and Nyton's 'bonding moment', Hinoto answered Nyton with: "I was going to visit some of the convalescing. So, yes, I can talk."

"Good. I wanted to know what the current status of Hoshi and the fleet is. I kept myself out of touch to focus on recuperating. Now that I am feeling more lively I should see to getting back up to date." Nyton stated.

"I know I could always bring up a volumetric window and get some cold stats but I wanted to get a better impression on crew status and morale. I figured since you have been awake the whole time you may be able to fill me in." he then clarified.

"I have little information to provide on the fleet itself," Hinoto answered Nyton. "The Shosa would be more aware of such. For my part, all I know is that the Mokuren itself is inside the Claw nebula, harvesting materials, with its technician staff busy effecting an improvised refit of this battleship to more recent specifications."

Hinoto's brow furrowed. "The Mokuren and the 24 other surviving Yuumi battleships are likely doomed to being decommissioned and stripped down for materials so I was left wondering why they bothered for a time. I finally surmised that being kept busy helps the crew not dwell on certain things. I'd also suppose that if we did encounter the NMX in compact, semi-refitted older ships are better than just old ships."

Nyton acknowledged the information with a nod. "What of the Hoshi? How is she in terms of function at the moment? Along with ship status how is our crew faring after the casualties endured from defending the ship?"

"Of course she's a real soldier and a good one at that," Masako retorted as she seemed to get flustered over the whole melodrama Asher seemed to be laying on them. "She proved that ten times over in the last mission," she continued before sighing and pulled a bit of fish away from her plate to eat.

Silence answered Asher for the rest of his jabbering as Masako's cream-toned cheeks burns slightly red. For the moment, she seemed to take solace in the fact that her food made her mouth too busy to even attempt to counter it.

"Hoshi wasn't badly damaged to begin with," Hinoto answered the Taii. "Most of the hurt she suffered were armor or structural stress from collisions... so most of the efforts past redressing that were tied to maintenance and removing signs that there had ever been a firefight on board. The tinkering still going on now is power armor-related."

"Mishhu corpses were cleaned up. We still have corpses of our dead waiting for reprocessing - but Melisson occupying our single HS tank slowed that process down."

"There was some friction with the Mokuren's engineering teams regarding us being sprites when it came to uniform replacements - Yuzuki in particular had an issue with panel colors. I think the consensus is that we generally don't like the older uniforms. They feel slutty."

"The sprite crew in general is a bit shellshocked and trying to decide how to move forward. How to cope with the loss of Miharu and our other sisters - in some cases staples of our existence that had always seemed to be there for us, suddenly lost and gone. We're... finding a way."

The pale nekovalkyrja nodded. "We get through tough scrapes and make things alright," Hinoto said more softly. "It's what Miharu did, and what we'll keep doing. She loved us, died for us, and we'll make sure her faith in us was well placed."

Asher looked down at Rin for a moment at the mention of his name, but seemed to pay it little mind. Masako's reaction was too delicious; sweet, bitter, and utterly satisfying to his tongue's impish palate. The Malifarian had no intention going in reverse now, no matter the consequence, further enjoyment was seemingly worth whatever Masako could do to him. So he leaned back again, putting his head right next to Rin's.

"Seems like she's taken a lot of notice of ya, gearhead." Asher grinned wide, looking down at her, "She must juss' be too shy t'admit 'er feelin's. Kuro-Juni's always been like 'dat, really locked up, wrapped up n'er work. She respects hard-worka's, n'it looks like she respects you.

His foot touched the leg of Rin's chair, and his hands wrapped around the back as he slid that chair closer to Masako. The Malifarian then leaned back a little bit.

"Why don't ya cut tha' important life-makin' decisions and tha' professional air? So you cn'see what iss' making you miss." commented Asher, looking at the both of them.

Nyton nodded solemnly in response to Hinoto. "I know the sprite crew will endure somehow and they will not have to do so alone. Freeman is good at bringing people together and I am certain he will do his best. Him and everyone else once they are recovered." he responded. With a serious look he fixed his eyes on Hinoto's.

"I wish I had appreciated her humor better when I had the chance. I regret not having done so. Regardless of how others may define life, Miharu was alive to all of us. She lived and imparted us with the gifts of that life before she died. Not just the gift of her sacrifice but every moment spent with her while she lived. I am grateful to have served along her." he stated before he took a deep breath.

"With all of the focus on Miharu's passing and from what all has been endured I do not want you to think that you are alone either, Hinoto-san. In fact I must thank you for what you did. Had it not been for your actions I would have remained Melisson's servant throughout the operation. Instead of dealing with two operatives we only had to deal with one. You made a hard decision with a nearly impossible solution. Thank you." he said.

Rin stared up at Asher and quietly blushed darkly. Masako just said she wasn't... but Asher thought... but.... The technician had no idea what to make of this whole situation. She knew Asher was childish but she didn't want to risk hurting Masako if the statements were true.

Having no idea how to address all of this, Rin just bowed her head and stared down into her tea cup, taking a small sip.