RP: YSS Miharu Mission 5, Aftermath (4th day)

[Nyton]

Nyton took a deep breath as he stared at the wakizashi blade. He felt a wave of relief at not having been run through but he was curious as to what brought this on. Obviously there would be no advancement just yet.

"Very well Shosa but do not make any sudden moves. I do not want Kotori-dono to commit something she may severely regret once she has become rational again." he said before turning to Tom.

"Come on Freeman. Explain to me what happened once we are further up a ways." he said with neutral countenance. He was not about to judge Tom despite what appeared to be a cowardly display. For him to see Tom cringing like this was certainly not like the brave warrior he knew existed. It had to be a deep felt fear that had struck him.

Nyton wanted to get to the bottom of this.

 

[Tom]

The two made it out of the hallway and into another room, an empty laundry area with a metal table the two could sit at. The shaken engineer took his seat slowly, then put his elbows on the table, taking his head into the palms of his hand, staring at the table between the gaps his palms made.

"I hurt the Taisa," he said simply. "I went to her room to apologize for stealing Yukari from her. I wanted Nyton... I wanted her forgiveness, to try to start mending our relationship, but four years is a long time... she had good reason to refuse. The conversation escalated... we started arguing, almost coming to blows. Yukari came in, tried to fix things, but the Taisa ordered us away."

He pushed off the table, reclining into the chair, his hands clenching into fists.

"It's my fault. I'm this constant thorn in her side, and no matter what I do, I just make things worse! Can you imagine what that feels like?!"

A white-knuckled fist pounded into the armrest of the chair.

"Damn it!"

 

[Doshii Jun]

Yukari nodded and stood vigilant by the door as Nyton and Tom left.

When they were out of sight, she slumped against the wall and slid down to her bottom, knees in front of her. She let out a long breath, more of a huff or relief than a sigh.

" ... "

She glanced at the clear sword still impaling the door. Should she push it back in? Move the door to jam it there, so Kotori could not draw it again? Kotori had two swords and this was the smaller. Perhaps she could press on the sword's spine and cut down the door until it was embedded into the floor.

None of those seemed to be good ideas, after thinking a little about them.

Yukari did not know much about the Samurai, but she recalled blood had to be drawn before a Samurai could resheath their sword. Did Kotori follow that restriction? She did not want to find out.

" ... I am sorry, Koto," she said to the sword.

 

[Nyton]

Nyton listened calmly and nodded his head as he followed along. He assumed his thinking position after Tom mentioned trying to imagine the situation they were in. Even when the other man slammed his fist and cursed he listened quietly.

"Actually Tom, I can imagine. I have been on both ends now. If you recall when we were brought together I realized I had been doing the same thing." Nyton finally said with a nod.

"I was reserved hostility towards Yukari and perceived her as a threat between myself and Kotori. At the same time I was being that thorn to Yukari which she perceived me to be. As foolish as it was though I think we were able to resolve it. I do not hold her with the same contempt or hostility." he explained while he dropped his thinking pose.

"However, that was based off of a misconception and I can admit I feel rather foolish over it. This situation has a lot more intensity. Kotori loved Yukari and I recall there being a sense of abandonment by her. This situation is much worse and cannot be resolved by a simple few revelations. There are deep set emotions here that require time to heal from. It is like trying to fill a deep trench over a mile long in only a day with a shovel." he then added.

"Let me ask you something: What was the escalation point? There was a subject you two broached that neither wished to budge upon, was there not? Something that made you two argue besides the forgiveness. Think back and go over the conversation. Either that or I ask the KAMI to replay the scene for me."

 

[Tom]

Tom shot a cold glare at Nyton at his mention of accessing the KAMI records.

"Don't look at the KAMI records. You'll just bring further shame to us both, and I can guess how the Taisa would take to you snooping around."

Some of his anger was bleeding off, it seemed, but at least it gave him focus.

"With that said, I got angry at her because she said she wanted to move on and I didn't believe it. As you said, Kotori loved Yukari, and there's no moving on from four years... I pleaded with her and then challenged her to bring the 'silly' drama to an end... that pissed her off and she yelled at me, ordered me out... I saw she looked like she wanted to attack me but I stood my ground. Then Yukari came in."

The Raltean stood up quickly, walked over to the wall and smacked his back against the metal with a dull thudding noise. He crossed his arms, let out an angry huff and continued.

"Emotions got the best of us both. She said some hurtful things to me, too. I was willing to take a beating, anything, to just get her to open up some... ARGH... it is a silly drama, but she doesn't have a monopoly on the pain it causes!"

More breaths came out in angry snorts and grunts.

"Sure, I fucked her up, but I was a man about it and bared everything I had to her... that apology was genuine. And I get she's still devastated, but that's no reason to pull rank and privilege and use it as a shield to hide behind! That's not how you solve problems!"

The engineer threw his arms up with such anger that it caused the hair on his head to shift.

"What? Does she think I'm not hurting almost as bad? How do you think it feels to know you're probably one of the main reasons she's been miserable for 4 years?! I practically ruined her life! I was misguided, but I saw the light, with her help even! And now, when I try to act on it and help her, I'm the human who can't possibly know how she feels? FUCK THAT!"

 

[Nyton]

"I did not mean any insult when I was thinking of reviewing the scene. I merely wanted to be sure you did not overlook anything, not that you may be lying or anything." Nyton replied evenly.

"I do not fault your anger at this. The words used were inflammatory and it is not fair to have rank pulled in an unprofessional way. Your feelings in this matter are genuine and also commendable for wanting to settle matters positively. However," Nyton paused here to take a quick breath.

"However it is not your place to say whether or not Kotori-dono will forgive you or not. She may not recall at this moment but she is just as human as you are. Her emotional state can be as tormented as any human. So while she may not have used her rank correctly as you state, she also is in a condition that is unable to process what has happened."

Nyton crossed his arms and paused briefly so as to not lose the momentum of his words. "I still do not know what exactly it was that you two reached an impasse on but whatever that was it does not give either of you the right to demand something from the other. I know it tortures you to know that you caused Kotori-dono misery by your relationship with Suzuka but you can not force her to forgive you."

"You attempted to make your peace and it was rejected. Do not make your misery dependent on Kotori-dono. Only Kotori-dono can let go of that anger and begin to move past it when she wants to. Trying to force it any sooner will not accomplish anything. You two must move on and not allow yourselves to be held back while Kotori-dono remains in the dark. I am not saying it will be easy."

"If you truly wish to apologize then do not hold this against her. When she is ready to make peace and approaches you then welcome her openly. Keep none of this in mind when she does and allow her back into your lives." Nylon then concluded.

 

[Tom]

Tom contemplated Nyton's words, having returned to an arms-crossed lean against the wall. He chewed on his lip, then took a few very deep breaths.

"You're right," he finally admitted. "I need to focus on my own life with Yukari. But I am done apologizing and I will not be cowed into behaving like someone I am not. I will be receptive to Kotori should she approach me, but..."

He shook his head, his eyes closed.

"I fear it will be many years, if ever, before we speak on friendly terms again."

 

[Nyton]

Nyton looked at Tom and sighed. "Well if that is your choice. Just remember that if you truly do feel remorse over the torment you put my princess through then at least find a means to coexist while we are on mission." he said.

"By the way I still owe you that free shot so if you want to get that out of the way in lieu of feeling anger towards Kotori-dono then feel free to cash in."

 

[Tom]

"You misunderstand me," Tom said as he opened his eyes. "I don't think the Taisa will forgive me for this mess. Me dwelling on it, however, will only do more harm. The ball is in the Taisa's court, so to speak."

A chuckle then came out of the engineer as he considered Nyton's offer.

"No need for that. You've lent an ear to my little explosion back there and helped me get over it. I'm still pissed, but I'll deal. Besides, it's not like I want to give Hinoto or the Taisa any ammunition right now."

 

[Nyton]

Nyton realized he had misinterpreted Tom and shook his head. "Ah, you are right. My mistake."

"Very well then lets go to Suzuka and discuss the next step. I do not want to leave her or Kotori-dono without finding some resolution." he then said.

 

[Tom]

"Ok."

The answer was as short as it needed to be, as Tom followed Nyton back into the hall.

 

[Gallant]

"Well, that looks sharp," a certain redhead offered, stopping a few feet from the door, the sword, and the distraught, slumped form of Suzuka-Shosa.

The sprite had changed into something more formal - a dress uniform that was archaic by today's standards, but nevertheless common for officers and higher enlisted on the Mokuren. The little heisho pin glistened primly, the panels were perfectly clean, and the tight skirt material stretched just slightly around her waist.

The Shosa looked so strange to Yuzuki; maybe like Yuzuki, curling naked in a decon room, had looked to the Shosa what seemed like it must have been a year before. The recollection sent a sort of foreboding shiver down the engineer's spine, but she shrugged it off and - despite the obvious care she had taken with her appearance - settled down against the wall beside the forlorn, hunched figure of her mentor.

"Not a good time to visit the Taisa, then?" the sprite asked quietly, with a sort of sarcasm that was more ironic than insulting.

 

[Nyton]

Nyton returned with Tom, his face with a grim expression towards Yuzuki.

"That assumption would be correct Yuzuki-san." he said before looking at Yukari.

"Shosa, I have something of importance to brief you and Freeman on. We need to discuss this elsewhere to allow her highness time to recuperate. Let us all depart." Nyton stated before he glanced up at the wakizashi that had nearly run him through earlier. Without any hesitation he carefully traced the protruding sharp edge of the blade with the fingers of his left hand and allowed them to be cut open.

"The blade of the princess is no less deserving of the honor given to the most humble Samurai. Accept this along with my sincerest apologies for my disturbance." Nyton said, not so much to the occupant within but to the blade itself while his blood washed onto the edge.

 

[Gallant]

ON: VR ROOM, MOKUREN, SOME TIME LATER

It hurt.

Yuzuki had been walking through the simulations that, for a normal Nekovalkyrja, would by now have been second nature basic familiarization courses, and she was losing miserably. The first wave of enemies had taken most of her ingenuity and skill to defeat, and they had manged to breech her shields to scar her armor, leaving hot black calligraphy smeared across the Daisy armor's green paint. Now she was facing down the next wave from behind a low bunker, cradling her APR and working out her plan of attack.

Yuzuki had checked the times for this simulation, and Tom Freeman wouldn't even have blinked at these odds. Masako hadn't even taken damage at this point. Nimura would have already been on the fourth wave. To say that the experiance was humbling would have been an understatement; Yuzuki felt every inch of her ineptitude. If she was going to be infantry, she would have to do better than this.

When the screech of the mishhuvurthyar 'ripper' armors peirced the silence of the battlefield, she braced herself for inpact.

The first few rippers passed over her position on the ground without noticing her; Yuzuki waited until nearly the last one had passed to stand up and engage her power armor's gravimetrics. As she gained altitude, she took a deep breath. It lasted barely a second.

Then, she hit the thing in the back and jabbed down hard with her armor's plasma torch, the lance of energy easily passing through shields and biting into armor. The small brain slave piloting the armor died instantly, incinerated. Yuzuki kicked off as the opponant's armor crashed into the battlescarred ground below and turned her rifle on the remaining five.

Another went down, blasted from the sky by the concentrated, white bolts of energy, but the others scrambled in all directions, attempting to gain some sort of crossfire. Shifting her inertia, Yuzuki swerved around their return fire and bolted into the forest of shattered buildings that had once been the thriving capital of Nataria Prime. Here was where she would have to excel, and Yuzuki knew it; weaving through the rusted girders and crumbling masonry of what had once been the most beautiful city in space had been where she had taken the most damage during the first wave. The computer simulation was just better at deception than she was. So when the next Ripper popped out unexpectedly from behind the corner of some ancient edifice, she was, ironically, expecting it.

Rather than trying to swerve, Yuzuki blasted into it at full tilt, the shield attached to her arm leading, machine gun fire screaming off of the zesusium metal and dinging off of her helmet every once in a while. But it didn't matter - the straightforward approach had worked, and soon there was another broken, slagged mishhuvurthyar corpse tumbling from the sky, impaled by her gauntlet's impromptu aether lance.

With four left, Yuzuki came to a full stop, hanging in the air near a broken statue of Yui-sama, arms spread wide to accept the adoration of a whole world, but with only one arm and the lower half of her head remaining she did not seem quite so worshipful anymore. Yuzuki, however, took some comfort in the cover it gave her. Then she engaged her cloaking device, and deployed the two probes stored snugly against her armored pauldrons and sent them out, questing for a better angle on this square. The butt of her rifle firmly against her shoulder, and the air shimmering around her, Yuzuki tried to control her breathing so that the strain on her circulatory system would not be quite so great. The armor's insert massaged her shoulders, her chest, her stomach, trying to ease away the pain throbbing there from the shots she had taken on the first wave, but it couldn't ease away the shame. No, Yuzuki wouldn't let this game beat her.

This was the area where she would make her stand.

She saw the first Ripper coming, straight into the square from one of the four entrances, hanging low to the ground. Yuzuki lined up the shot quickly, but hesitated - the four rippers that remained had split up. She could see two more behind her, and another coming up from the other side. Remembering that this was a test, to see how clever she could be under pressure, Yuzuki directed the probes to shadowing the two solitary rippers - the one at her fore, and the one to her side. Then, gradually, she drifted away from the edified Yui-sama, and towards some rubble nearer to the ground, where her imaging signature might not be as easily picked up by active scanning.

The rippers converged and began active scans; Yuzuki's HUD identified her as a target, but the rubble was enough to confuse them for a few seconds before the probes began giving off similar active scan signals. She could see the rippers hesitate, pausing in the air as they conferred telepathically.

She dropped the first, and then a second, with perfect headshots before they caught on - then she had to duck and swerve back into the steel forest.

They followed, and the world around Yuzuki exploded - literally exploded - in shrapnel and flack, thrown up from the machine gun fire and the miniature missiles which she narrowly avoided. Yuzuki braced herself and dove shield-first through a plaster wall, into a shattered department store, searching doggedly for some sort of cover from their superior weaponry. Mere moments later, two more impacts and the bursts of shattered masonry warned her of the arrival of her pursuers.

The resulting firefight tore up the store. Old shelves half-rotted burst apart in shards of ancient wood, throwing all manner of consumables around like snow, riddling the floor and the ceiling and the far wall with bulletholes.

The chaos allowed her to stealth properly; she moved, slowly, around the edges of the place as the firing died off, gently drifting over the shattered remnants of humanity's commerce. The ripper armors had stopped firing, and were scanning around, actively, trying to find her. Her armor warned her of their projected search pattern, and she tried to avoid it as best she could.

One of them noticed, raised his rifle...

But Yuzuki shot first, and the heavy machine gun burst into molten slag, peppering the ripper with red-hot metal liquid. Before the firefighting could begin again, Yuzuki found herself on the receiving end of a raging charge that would have crushed an unarmored person; she felt crushed. The armor showed red in the chestpeice, in the shoulders, near the waist, and the bruises and wounds she had taken fighting the first wave revitalized in a surge of sparks and pain.

She blinked, dazed momentarily, as the Ripper armor grasped hold of her shield arm and yanked. There was a faint keening noise as her arm nearly tore out of the socket, the hemosynthetics and the skeleton of her armor just barely saving her from dismemberment. With an animal screech, Yuzuki unloaded her APR directly into the chest of her assailant, and gradually the pain stopped.

But there would be no rest; as soon as it was apparent the first Ripper had lost, the second ripper leveled the railgun and began to fire. Heavy slugs tore up the dead ripper, and Yuzuki found that her defeated enemy was now her new savior. Though her body was bruised and she could hardly feel her arm, with great effort she hefted the bigger armor and braced her rifle over its shoulder.

There was a brief and turbid firefight, but in the end Yuzuki stood among the rubble, battered and bruised, her armor scarred, but her victory in hand. Full of pain and bittersweet joy, she stumbled to the edge of the destroyed seventeenth story and stood there, surveying the territory.

The first salvo of railgun fire from the next group of Rippers tore her apart, ending the simulation.

 

[Kokuten]

The simulation had reloaded; it was a somewhat different simulation this time; the location was different, as well as some of the parameters.

This was a more organic scene, on a bustling city street in the heart of Yamatai, with the sun sinking low over the horizon. Yuzuki was nestled on the fifteenth story of a glass-paneled high rise, crouched without armor, and cradling a high-powered energy rifle against her shoulder as she waited for sunset. The object of the simulation was simple; out of the crowd below, Yuzuki was tasked to identify only one subject, and to take it out with as little mess as possible. So far, she had successfully destroyed two city blocks, had caused a complete panic every single gunshot, and had also been killed several times by the authorities before even sighting in on her intended victim.

It had not been a very successful string of simulations.

She adjusted the scope of the rifle one more time, sighting on a decorative fountain in the center of the open walking street she was overlooking. It was several thousand meters away, but the equipment was accurate. This was just her nerves playing on her. Knowing that didn't help any, though. She drew a deep breath and focused harder on the crowd beneath her, searching them over, again and again.

As Yuzuki operated on sighting her weapon, she'd feel the cold bore of a pistol poking into the back of her head. It pressed, but not with enough force to actually move her. A short mocking chuckle followed, breathed through a closed mouth to signify somebody was playing a little joke on her.

"Bang. Somebody juss' died. Again." went a familiar, and very cocky voice from behind her. It was Rolf, and quick glance would confirm it, floating in the air whilst pressing the gun to her head. He had hovered towards her quietly and caught her unaware.

"So?" Yuzuki challenged, bristling as she turned her head from the contemplation of her scope to glare down the gun barrel, her ire up from the sudden insult to what little was left of her pride today. "I'm going to keep trying until I win. What's wrong with that?"

"I cn'admire 'dat, yeah." grinned Rolf, dressed in what seemed full wet-gear, carrying a heavy, destructive load-out of grenades and other weapons innappropriately styled for this kind of conflict. His fit came to floor silently before he pressed the barrel of his gun into Yuzuki's nose. "But Chiharu, you suck. F'fucks sake, kid, y'even know who y'lookin' for?" He looked over here, at the window, "An what tha' hell y'doin snipin' right above tha' street?"

Yuzuki moved back slightly, a motion which saw her lean away from the rifle, onto her other elbow, and scowled. "I do, and I'm waiting for him to enter his apartment. What, do you think I'm going to shoot him in the center of the street?"

The pistol spun on one finger, before holstering back onto Rolf's side. The geared-up soldier took a view steps towards the window, before checking the street below. "I could only guess from what all tha' fuck-ups that gotcha' t'this point. What tha' hell you doin' this for, anyway? Y'an engineer, 'dis kinda' shit's fo'people who got it signed and designated as 'dere job. Y'tryin' t'do somethin' that takes years a'experience f'someone t'do all tha' time, or at least months a'plannin', 'specially if you ain't lookin' forward t'dyin' again. Hell, my best idea would be t'rig 'is door wit' an explosive, set a little trigga on tha' knob, and boom, one dead motha'fucka. It ain't got tha' finesse a 'dis business, but it seems a whole lot more fun than gettin' y'ass kicked ova' an'ova."

Yuzuki scowled at him. Yuzuki scowled at the crowd below her, and the rifle, and maybe life itself in a metaphorical sense. Then she smacked the butt of the rifle aside peevishly, rolled off of her stomach, and sat up.

"I'm doing this because it's something I want to learn," she stated in a somewhat less confrontational tone - apparently, deciding to give up had liberated her from that particular tiff. "I don't care how long it takes regular people. I will learn quickly."

The Malifarian at the window looked over his shoulder at Yuzuki, seeing her toss aside the idea of completing the simulation. He turned on his heel and walked on over to her, looking down at her from his standing position. His brow arched as he appeared to be giving her some thought. Then, after all of that, he simply ploped down in front of her, both hands on his knees as he sat indian-style.

"Y'bitin' off mo' than y'can chew, 'specially wit' tha' kinda' experience you got, an doubly wit' what y'tryin' t'do. If 'dis iss' s'pposed t'be learnin, then y'startin' out wit' exams." said Rolf, his blood-red gaze boring the point across. "If y'want t'learn quickly then y'start wit what y'know y'can do before y'try all 'dis fancy shit. Besides, doin' this by y'self iss' like fightin' tha' Battle of tha' Blue Rift on y'on. Whateva' y'gunna be assigned t'do, 'specially wit y'job now, iss' gunna be wit' a team."

Yuzuki pulled a leg up, glancing out over the city that sprawled beyond the window, where the last lights of a dying sun glinted off of a thousand panes of polished glass. "I thought I would try on my own before asking for help. The information is there - I know it. I just... thought I'd try."

"Take it from experience, Yuzu. This lone-wolf, secret-agent bullshit? It's f'people who've been in teams, and done enough shit that 'dey know how t'do the otha membah's works on 'dere own. This iss' a military, all our tactics, fightin' an' killin' f'whateva we need t'do, iss' based on teamwork. B'fore you go dustin' y'knuckles on somethin' like this, y'need t'learn how t'do it wit' otha' people. 'Cause, believe or not, tha' hardest part a fightin' a battle, iss' learnin' how t'operate smoothly with otha' people." explained the Malafarian, shrugging his shoulder as he leaned back a bit. His hair bobbed back, revealing a knit hairline across his fore-head. "Y'got what it takes, Yuzu. I've seen y'fight. But this?"

Rolf threw his hand out towards the building opposite of them, supposedly where the target was going to show up.

"This really ain't tha' way t'make ya a betta' soldia." he reasoned.

That elicited a very faint smile from the engineer, the first she'd shown the whole conversation. Lifting her hand and curling her fingers into a makeshift gun, she sighted down her index at a certain window on a certain floor of that building, and - bang - pulled the trigger.

"It's a good view, though," she stated as her invisible, make-believe bullet sped away. "I just wanted to see what an operation on a planet was going to look like. On a real planet with people and everything - not some rubbled ruin or base in the middle of nowhere. I suppose it's just distracting me. I think after this, I'll go back to the basic combat simulations."

"Atta' girl, work on tha' basics and build up. Y'only take up tha' big shit when y'got no otha' choice. But... Why y'tryin' so hard, though? Tired a'bangin' y'wrench on tha' engines?" asked Rolf, hoping to get some answers for the reason why Yuzuki had taken such a difficult simulation. "Is Rin gettin' on y'nerves? Tom? Tom's happy-go-lucky shit iss' a lil much sometimes." The soldier began to get a little distracted, "I mean, seriously, how can y'be so happy all tha' time? Iss' disturbin'."

"He's got the Shosa," Yuzuki replied, returning her hand to her knee, clasping it close as she returned her attention to Rolf, her expression returning to one of depressed neutrality, perhaps even defeat. "And I don't think he's actually that happy, he just wants people to think he is, so they don't feel bad."

"Now that's depressin'." said Rolf, somewhat coincidentally spoken in turn with her face. "I can sorta identify though, but I don' go around smilin' in stuff." He held his hands up in the air, and squeezed imaginary breasts. "I use mo' action."

His hand suddenly began to waving side to side, shaking his head, sending his wild hair waving side to side like his hands.

"Anyway, the fact is, y'need help if y'wanna learn this shit, and if y'especially wanna' learn it fast." the man took his point forward as he held up a finger. "So, here's tha' deal. I'll..." He pressed a finger on to his chest. "Help you." His finger then pressed on her chest, drawing a little circle. "How's that sound?" His finger continued to draw circles.

Rolf's finger trailed across the flexible black mesh of Yuzuki's bodysuit for only a few moments before she brushed it away gently, her eyes narrow, sky-blue crystals beneath a couple of skeptically raised eyebrows. "It sounds like you said 'deal.' What sort?"

"Not like I'm gunna ask ya t'blow me or anythin'." went Rolf, shaking his head dismissively, "Unless..." The Malafarian gave her a coy smile.

"A little inappropriate," Yuzuki stated, her gaze boring a hole - she was apparently becomming adept at the art of looking through people instead of at them - into the infantryman. "Given the circumstances, if I'm not mistaken, you should be sexed enough already. Small ship. People talk."

"Oh, right right." went Rolf, his face twisting into what appeared to be his restraint of laughter. The gaze helped him hold it back, as it seemed she was being entirely serious, but the concept of a limit was almost too much. "How could I f'get, Kyou filled m'sex meter all tha' way full." He leaned forward on his hands, a snerk escaping on his lips.

Rolf paused, giving her a harder look with his left eye, as if thoroughly inspecting her. "Are you a virgin, too?" He was biting his lip by that point.

"So what?" the engineer snapped, her locked gaze broken suddenly by a hard blink, and then another as she shifted her attention away to the skyscraper-broken horizon. "It's not like I have to have sex, just because I can."

"Y'sound like a virgin, too." said Rolf with a little sing-song tone in his voice, before crawling forward a bit, invading a bit of personal space. "Thass' prolly what Kyou thought 'fore I tore her ass up on tha' couch." His grin suddenly became a little more malicious, "I wonda' if you'd think tha' same thing if it happened t'you."

The look that Rolf received from the engineer was uncomfortable, in mild language. She looked off at the tower on the far side of the square, and then back at Rolf in silent contemplation. The only change was a slight ear-prick, as if she were considering something, or listening intently, the reddish fur on the backs of them showing a little more from the shift in position. Then, she smiled back at him; somewhat unsettling considering her usual sullenness.

"You won't find out, I don't think."

"Oh yeah?" grinned the man, tilting his head to the side a bit. He held up a finger and flicked her ear, a motion which made her flinch it away. "Y'know, I wass' juss gunna' help ya learn t'fight betta'." He leaned forward a little more closely, his smile level with hers. "But it seems like y'need a lil' help in figurin' out otha' aspects of y'race."

The engineer shifted slightly in place, dropping her knee to the side and propping a hand out behind herself. Her personal bubble already popped, Yuzuki angled her head to the side slightly, then bobbed around to sweep the wayward, wire-thin strands of copper away from her eyes. The look she fixed Rolf with was a challenge, but the smile and the faint blush, starting at her neck above her uniform's collar, undermined it somewhat. "I don't need your help, like that."

"Oh! But y'can't do it by y'self!" the aggressive Malifarian leaned forward further, pushing himself over her. His other hand went to her shoulder, gently sliding down the arm to her elbow. "It don' count if y'don't got any help, yeah?" The expression on his face was absolutely devilous, hinting to his lustful desire, and his mischevious, unabiding nature. "And I'm tha' best help 'dere is."

Yuzuki didn't move. She hadn't frozen, but the girl did tense somewhat, the vague smile assuming a more uncertain air. "That's difficult to believe."

Rolf's hand trailed down from her arm to her waist, and then down to her thigh. His fingers wrapped around it, and pulled it up as he gently pushed her down onto her back. A predatory glint shining over his eyes as he seemed to be going for the kill. "It's easy t'believe once y'know." he spoke defiantly to her resistance, "And once y'know... Well, It's hard t'forget."

It was at that point that the engineer seemed to give up on resistance, instead bunching her hand onto a bandolier with several grenades, across the infantryman's chest. Yuzuki pulled him down, holding him close and returning his predatory smile.

"You're a pretty good teacher, then," she stated, their lips just inches apart.

The Malifarian took the pull and the closeness as signal enough, and his lips dipped down onto hers, pressing them together. "Then let tha' lesson begin!"

Immediately Rolf felt the odd sensation of a cold NSP bore poking into the side of his chest. It pressed, but not with enough force to actually displace him as he straddled the engineer. She pushed him away slightly with her off hand, seperating their lips, enough to show him the mocking smile.

"Why?" the engineer teased, "I'm a quick learner, you know. I was trying to figure out how I was going to get close enough to my mark to kill him without raising the alarm, and you've given me the perfect plan. You're really good at this after all. Now if you will excuse me, I have a simulation to finish. Buh-bye."

Bang.

 

[Gallant]

Yuzuki leaned forward out of the armchair where she had been connected to the SPINE in the VR room and rubbed at her face.

After the incident in front of the Taisa's medical quarters, Yuzuki had gone straight to simulations and hadn't even bothered to change out of the white dress uniforms of the Mokuren. They were relics, but she had felt it appropriate at the time. She had wanted to talk to the Taisa - perhaps it would have brought her some answers, or at least some closure - but now that she looked back on it, with a clearer mind, it probably wouldn't have helped any more than talking to the Shosa had. Just a bunch of useless talk, and then some sort of pat on the head. A pat on the head wasn't what Yuzuki wanted right now.

When she glanced up at the room's other occupant, she flicked her ears back and frowned, just slightly.

Rolf had been quietly watching Yuzuki's progress through a small volumetric window. After being shot out of the simulation, he had ejected himself and simply took to floating around the room, dragging the little view window with him. After the Neko had decided she was done for the moment, he scrunched up his viewport and sent it off before curling his back and looking down at her from his heightened position. The soldier kicked off from a near-by corner, and hovered on by Yuzuki, patting her on the head as he went.

"Good work, Zuki, you pick this shit up pretty fast." grinned Rolf as he went on by like some cloud consisting of vulgar and barbaric particles. "I'll give ya... B+."

Pushing the stray strands of hair out of her face with spread fingers, Yuzuki flopped back into the armchair and crossed her legs at the knees as she watched the gaseous Rolf float on by. "Only that?"

"A+ would mean y'did perfect. I said y'picked up on it quick." the soldier turned in the air, simply letting his limbs hover out. Rolf gave her a little shrug, with a very plain stare, "I saw some room f'improvement, especially in y'approach. Y'need t'go out an' fuck a few people so y'cn work on that angle, but still, pretty convincin'."

"Oh," Yuzuki replied dryly, tapping her chin with her index finger in complete deadpan, "I thought you meant the combat. I guess I'll just have to go and find a pair of boyshorts and lounge around near the male berthings for a while."

"Y'combat was lacking, too. Y'lackin' a little focus, from what I cn'see. Maybe y'thinkin' too much, a'somethin', I dunno, but y'ain't pullin' the moves I saw you pullin' on tha Shlushaverothathukawoka."

At the mention of the name, Yuzuki blinked. "The what?"

"Y'know, the Slevorathavorothaborkahoe."

Now here was a puzzle. Yuzuki frowned deeper, kniting her eyebrows together in a splendid example of 'skeptical'.

"Sheesh, fuckin' mishhu ship names. Tha' fuck eva'." groaned Rolf, shaking his head in mild frustration. "Anyway, don't do what you said you was gunna' do. You go trailin' aroun' in tiny boy-shorts on 'dis ship? Y'gunna get more than a few people. None too gentle, eitha'. Chiharu help ya if tha' nurses find ya. I heard they ain't to good t'virgins. C-, pick y'targets more carefully."

The pressure on the bridge of her nose relieved, Yuzuki gave Rolf a decidedly blank, open look of surprise. Apparently the hundred-yard-stare wasn't the only expression she'd been practicing. "So who should I fuck?"

"Hmmm!" hummed Rolf, spinning around in the air, putting Yuzuki's stare on his back. "Iss' gunna have t'be wit someone who ain't gunna pop out six extra dick-tentacles on ya. Someone y'trust, someone y'know, and someone who knows what they're doin'." He kicked off one of the walls, heading straight for her. His hands caught the edges of her VR Pod, and he leaned his head back, giving her a coy stare, upside down. "Who d'ya know who's like 'dat?"

Yuzuki folded her arms and cast her eyes roaming in mock thought. "So you're saying if I can just seduce Freeman-Juni away from the Shosa?"

"No." Rolf immediately thumped Yuzuki on the nose, "Y'don' turn y'self inta' a home wrecka'. If y'gunna wrap y'thighs around someone's head, y'do it t'someone who ain't committed."

The sprite smirked very slightly, then offered, "Claymere-Taii talks too much."

"Clay-boss? I guess he does..." went Rolf, not quite understanding what that meant, but having an idea. "What about Naka-boss? He's always given ya these looks like some kinda' sad puppy. Y'might help'm realize he's a man."

The smirk disappeared just as quickly as it had dawned, and the poker face went with it. Suddenly, she looked just as she felt; the girl opened her mouth, as if she were going to say something, but then her lip twisted slightly in unease, and without saying anything, or explaining, she fell silent.

"Oooh?" Rolf grinned rather mischeviously as he leaned in a little more, "Looks like tha' attraction ain't juss' one way, huh? C'mon, y'cn tell ol'Rolf. I won't judge ya f'diggin' girly-guys." The soldier chuckled, his body shaking a bit in the middle of the air, bending his head back so he didn't breath it all right in her face.

"He's not girly," Yuzuki asserted, all her mirth gone. Clearly Rolf had stepped into deeper waters than he'd imagined originally. "He's polite, and he's nice, and well..."

"Awww!" laughed Rolf, mistaking her lack of energy for embarassment. He pressed his palms on her cheeks. It elicited exactly the response he might have wished, except magnified. Her lip curled. The playful bat of the hands was actually a slap, and a stinging one.

"Don't laugh at me," Yuzuki snapped, frustrated. "It's not funny!"

"Aw c'mon." chuckled Rolf, shaking his slapped arm a little bit with still a playful grin on his face. "Bein' in love ain't nothin' t'be embarassed 'bout, kid! Don't mean I won't poke at ya, still. I don' think he's much y'type, but if y'dig him, y'dig him." He poked his lips out, puckering them up, "It's juss'. so. cute."

The engineer stared at Rolf in barely restrained rage. Then, she blinked. And she blinked again. Letting out an almost animal snarl, Yuzuki wiped at her eyes, settling back in the chair out of useless and unspent frustration. The change was abrupt, but certain. The girl had passed from playful - or as playful as the engineering Heisho could get - to angry, to crushed, in a matter of moments.

Rolf's brow jumped, or dropped depending on one's viewpoint, and his face twisted a bit in confusion.

"Ey, Yuzu, you 'aight?" the soldier kept a quiet discerning gaze on the girl, not moving any closer as she had seemed extremely upset already. "Is there somethin' else goin' on?"

"No," was her quick reply. "No. I'm just an idiot."

That brought a little more confusion to Rolf's face as he slowly spun himself around to being right side up.

Looking up at Rolf, Yuzuki blinked a few more times, to clear the rest of the moisture out of her eyes, and said, "I have a serious question I don't want you to joke about. I swear if you do, it won't end well."

"Man, try not t'make it so temptin' then." said Rolf, pointing double-gunned at her before holding his hands out in a helpful manner. "Go ahead, kid, shoot. I'll save tha' snarky shit for tha' fifth-quarta'."

Satisfied, though perhaps not completely convinced, Yuzuki dropped her gaze back to the ground. "I kissed him. We slept together. Not... you know, like that. He's trying to be a gentleman, I think. But... oh, how do I explain this? I cut his hair."

With a bit of a mad little smile, and a wave of her hand, Yuzuki dismissed that explination. "No, well, obviously I didn't. I don't know if you remember, but when he came back, there was some time he didn't remember. A very small amount of time. Nothing really happened, you know, but I felt... I wanted..."

Pausing slightly in her explination to glance back up at Rolf, Yuzuki stated, "I want a male's opinion. Nakamura says he feels the same way, that he always felt like that, but I don't think he really did until that moment. So if you were in his position, if you came back, and I... well, if... all of that never really happened."

"Well," she finished, "What would you be thinking?"

"Y'sayin', like... What happened t'me? Wakin' up wit'out a memory a'two years?" reasoned Rolf.

"No," Yuzuki replied, then put her hand over her chest for emphasis. "He told me a lot of things, how he felt and what he wanted. But he doesn't remember it. It isn't like he went and woke up two years in the future, and a dozen light years away. He's here, right now, but... I can't tell him that he told me those things. I don't know what he'd do."

"What'd I do in 'dat position..." Rolf put his hand under his chin, bending his chinspike up. "Well, I didn' remembah it, I'd try to. When y'follow somethin', y'follow it right next t'ya heart, no half-assin', no hesistation." He slowly began to rotate on his back again. "Love's a fickle bitch, that's why y'gotta grab'er by the snatch n'juss do it. If y'really love tha' guy, then y'go to'em, an y'see if that love's still there. If y'don't, then just move on. Trust me, Kai ain't the only gentlemanly nice guy," He finger quoted that last phrase, " and he sure ain't the last one y'gunna meet."

He spun around again, and slapped his hands down on Yuzuki's shoulders.

"I seen you act out there in tha' fight, and y'know juss what t'do in tha' face a trouble. Kai's too much of a shy boy-toy t'bring the balls in, so iss' up t'you t'find y'happiness in this. Hesistation's only place is in battle." he finished. Beneath the weight of Rolf, Yuzuki groaned.

"I was afraid of that," she said.

"Eh? Afraid y'd have t'do it y'self?"

"And decide everything, yea." Yuzuki wiped the last of her sorrow off her cheek onto a thumb, then rubbed it together with her index finger, eying the dampness. "I'm going to leave the Miharu, soon. I don't think he should."

"There is no--..." Rolf caught himself on that, rubbing his chin, before grooming his ruffled chin-spike. "You sayin' that whereva' y'goin', y'don't want him comin' witcha?"

Yuzuki gave the briefest of nods.

"Ooooookay." Rolf shook his head, "Now y'not makin' sense. Y'want t'be wit'm, but y'don't want to be wit'm."

Re-folding her arms, Yuzuki sighed, and it seemed that in doing so she was shedding some sort of weight. Her shoulders slacked. "Exactly. I'm not making sense. You get it, now? I don't know how to deal with this."

"Awright, then run this by me. Wass' more important t'ya? Where ya goin', or where y'are?" asked the Malifarian, idly twisting in the air again. Yuzuki seemed to consider this question, turning it over in her mind's eye for a little while.

Then she answered, "I'm not sure where I'm going, exactly, I only know that it's going to be dangerous and necessary. As to where I am, I don't feel like I can do much more here. Well, I can, but I don't feel like I can stay anymore with a clear conscience."

"Y'didn't answer m'question. What's more important t'you?" emphasized Rolf, show his lack of personal boundaries by grabbing the edge of her pod again, and pulling himself near her face. The seriousness in his tone was only offset by the silliness of the fact of him being upside down again.

"Ahead," Yuzuki stated, not quite as poetically as before, returning to her deadpan.

"Then why can't Naka-boss go ahead witchu'?" asked Rolf, a small heat building between the intensity of their expressions, Rolf's passion, and Yuzuki's apparently lack thereof.

"Because there is a high likelihood that we are going to die."

"So, what? I'll tell you this. There's no worse pain than not bein' there when someone dies. Y'neva see their final moments, and y'neva can reason y'self t'know y'did all y'could to keep them from dyin'." the Malifarian's eyes narrowed, "If y'really want Naka-boss, then you'll take him witcha', but if he ain't even worth the weight of the comrades that die alongside ya anyway, then fuck him, and fuck whatever else is dragging you down."

It was difficult to tell how the Malifarian was affecting Yuzuki just at that moment; she had calmed, and with that calm, she had resumed her careful facade of seriousness, like the empassioned, frustrated Yuzuki of minutes before had almost never existed. Instead, she tilted her head slightly, a few strands of unruly red slipping from behind an ear, again.

"What do you think of Kyoufuu? What are you two going to do?"

That was a question that caught Rolf off guard.

"What? Gunny? What d'ya mean what are we gunna do?" asked the Yamataian, not even sure what Kyou had to do with this. "Y'mean, fuckin' wise? Or fun wise? I mean, we screw around, yeah, and then we screw around, but what about it?"

"Y'really want Gunny?" Yuzuki carefully mimiced Rolf's accent. "Or do you just screw around?"

"A'course we juss' screw around!" laughed Rolf, finding her sudden accent funny, before spinning off again. "Gunny's my friend! She's great! We just fuck-off all tha' time--!"

The engineer nailed Rolf with a finger-fired, hypothetical bullet. "What if she wanted you? For a long, long time? Like the Shosa and the Juni."

"Tch, like 'dat would happen. Gunny's smart, quick, and funny. Trust me, when she gets off this shithole ship, she's gunna' do a lot betta' than me. Though, uh... Heh heh..." Rolf flexed his muscles, "I can't blame her f'partakin', right?"

"So that's how it's supposed to go?" The blue eyes flicked from one of Rolf's to the other.

"Gunny's two years old, fuck!" groaned Rolf, shaking his head, "I wantcha' t'take a long long look at me, Yuzu. I wantcha' t'really think about it. Do y'think y'cn do betta' if it were you? Eh? I'm a guy whose biggest aspiration's tha' next fight ee' gets in. I don't give fuck about politics, or the war, or any a'dat shit normal folks care about. Shit, I've been in this military for wass' probably been 'bout 5 or so years. I'm still a Santo-Hei, and y'know what?" The soldier pulled himself back in again, getting nose to nose with Yuzuki. "I don' give two fucks. As long as I kill somethin' witin' the month, I'm good."

Then, he pushed off of the pod, idly flipping through the air as if there were truly no gravity at all.

"But Gunny? Gunny's got a mind f'that shit. She's all on 'bout tha' world and what goes on. She's actually got dreams, an' a future. She's got tha' looks of a knockout babe, even f'a Neko, and she got tha' brass-balls of a potential offica."

Yuzuki adopted a posture that echoed, strangely, of Claymere-Taii, with her hand on her chin and her eyes narrowed just slightly as she considered Rolf. However, instead of a long-winded explination of her thought processes, followed by a tactically relevant dissimination and dissection of all aspects of the subject, Yuzuki only asked, "So you don't think you'll keep up with her?"

"Fuck, y'know how fast people get promoted in 'dis army? 'Specially tha' Nekos. I told ya, I been in this busines f'five or fuck, I don't know how many years, and I'm still a Santo-Hei, and I'm sure Koto-boss ain't got no drive to put me higher 'than' a Hei. Kyou? She's got tha' potential t'be someone, a Juni, a Shosa, a Taisa." Rolf shook his head at that, his body finally slowing down to a halt, allowing him to recline, and stare at the ceiling. "I don' know what kinda' future I got, but I'm pretty sure Star Army Logistics iss' gunna much different plans f'tha two of us."

Yuzuki plucked at the snow-white collar of her cerimonial dress uniform. "I was going to ask the Taisa for permission to follow the Shosa to her next command. I am sure you could request the same thing."

"Fuck, anywhere is better than here." chuckled Rolf, letting his arms float loosely.

"Careful," Yuzuki chided, "I'm still a Miharu. You're talking about my mother, technically speaking, and 'those are fighting words'."

"Last time I checked, kid, I was ridin' y'momma before you was born." said Rolf, in a somewhat suggestive tone.

Tapping her chin idly, Yuzuki noted, "I'm also not a kid. I am one year old now, I think."

"Y're a kid juss' like near all tha' otha' sprites on 'diss ship are kids." groaned Rolf, before offering a smug smile to Yuzuki, "I'm twenty-four times y'age, and I know a lil' virgin fruit-bat like you iss' a kid."

Yuzuki was not precisely sure what a fruit-bad was, but she knew it probably had something to do with her age in context, so she frowned and glared, just a little bit. She wasn't really all that angry though. For some reason she didn't really feel much of anything strongly just at the moment.

"Asshole," Yuzuki ventured, trying out the word for what could possibly be the first time.

"Heh heh heh." chuckled Rolf, spinning around and 'swimming towards her. "Y'know, t'be honest, Yuzu, I only know ya name 'cause tha' AIES lit it up f'me durin' combat. We aint' actually introduced eachother." The soldier extended his hand, "Rolf Eastwood, formerly Asher Orkin Westwood."

Yuzuki took the hand with a grip that was surprisingly weathered for a nekovalkyrja.

"Miharu Yuzuki," she stated, "And I'm not a sprite, anymore. I'm the senior engineering Heisho. It's OK to learn my name."

"Is y'momma a MEGAMI?"

Yuzuki's ears flattened back balefully.

"Yes."

"Y're a sprite."