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

"Lets inform them of the impending action then. It will give them something to look forward to. If anything it will at least take their minds off the loss for a while. I am sure the Taisa will be appreciative of the enthusiasm of the crew despite the circumstances. At the same time she still mourns and has not had much chance to speak to anyone of it. Our crew especially." Nyton replied.

She would always think about others. I wonder if that 'concerned ear flutter' she would do was real? he thought absently while observing her.

"Is there anything else?" he asked.

Hinoto shook her head. "I believe you've determined everything you needed in light of this situation; but before going on you may want to update Freeman-Juni before he gets too far ahead with his newest amplifier project."

"Alright then. Let me know if you need anything from me." Nyton replied before he did a quick search for Tom to locate him. When he found the engineer he began to depart for his location.

Get your people working on restoring functionality to Surtur's cockpit and providing it a proper power source for the psionic amplifiers mounted on it. Follow that up with fixing Vermillion and reproducing Surtur's amplifiers to work on it as well."

Click to expand...

Tom had given himself a bit of a head start while the other's machinations were forming. As he stood next to the hulking beast that was Surfur, window after volumetric window displayed information on the ship's status, as well as suggested modifications that would fit the Taisa's demands.

Tori, Cho and Yuzuki had been given notification regarding the upcoming project and a general call for volunteers had also been issued, which, judging by the engineer's constantly pinging inbox, had been very well received.

Despite the project before him, looking at Sutur was a nagging reminder of just how radically circumstances had swung in the last few days, no, the last few hours.

With a shake of his head, he refocused himself, toolbox in hand, and then climbed up the side of the ship.

Nyton's query came soon after.

Nyton quickly replied back as he moved.

Though Nyton moved quickly, he did not gain the high ground first; the first person to Tom Freeman was Miharu Yuzuki. He would probably arrive before Tori and Cho, but Tom's summons had caught the leading Heisho in a particularly restless mood and so she had armed herself with her own equipment - an aether torch that looked a lot more like a weapon than an actual weapon would have, and a red-paneled jumpsuit that in Star Army tradition was a little more skintight than was strictly necessary.

She walked up to the foot of the Surfur, with the machine-gun looking thing over her shoulder, and looked up to Tom. Her stance didn't give any real indication of her mood, but Tom would catch the hint of a smile, anyway.

"What do you think?" the Heisho asked, "Rumors are flying, you know. People say something big's about to happen, and now we're working on getting this thing running again. What's up, Juni?"

Tom closed the chat window after Yuzuki announced her presence. He couldn't help but grin at the load the sprite was carrying.

"Well," he said, as he slapped the metal side of Sutur with his open hand. "We've got to repair this baby's cockpit first. Here, I'll send you the file."

Yuzuki wirelessly received the details of the project to her brain.

"As for the news, I've seen enough ups and downs to ride a rollercoaster these last few hours, so I guess, yeah, something big is going to go down. The Taii's on his way here. Maybe he'll update us on the details."

Yuzuki processed.

She could have summoned the volumetric windows, but the information was now internal, so that was unnecessary. She read quickly. It was like watching someone jump straight to REM sleep - then Yuzuki opened her eyes and hooked a hand on the lip of the cockpit. She pulled herself up, leaving the aether torch on the ground at the foot of the ladder; she now had a general idea of what would have to be replaced and it wouldn't require cutting.

Once actually in the cockpit, she narrowed her gaze in agitation and glared around the place like some sort of rare, greasy predator looking for an askew wire.

"I want the short version first," she said in the meanwhile, her voice level, her delivery direct and in her newly adopted deadpan. "I'm too young to die of boredom."

The brief silence lasted one second. Two seconds. The third second found her looking up at Tom, instead of at the equipment.

"I'm joking. Laugh please."

Nyton made his way to the bay. This is a good time to get away from Hinoto. This 'familiarity' is uncomfortable. I may need some time to work this through before I do something I may regret. he thought as he recalled the scene. His memory chip pointed out the physical habits that needed to be reigned in.

When he arrived he then waved over to Tom. "Freeman, how goes the work on Surtur?"

Yuzuki's deadpan statement got a blank look from the engineer, and he was about to respond to it before the sprite told him that it was a joke.

Despite the flash of a smile, it was used in an effort to ease the sudden awkwardness that had arisen more than anything else.

"Eh, it saves time," he said with a shrug of the shoulders before quickly changing the conversation. "At least it's nice to have some work to do, right?"

When Nyton entered, Tom returned the wave from his straddling position on top of the animal-like mecha.

"I figured I wanted a rodeo picture or something before I got to serious work," Tom joked halfheartedly himself, noticing how strange he must have looked riding the thing. "In all seriousness, though, I've been planning more than doing up until now, although I think we'll be able to start once everyone falls in."

Nyton took the view of Tom straddling Surtur in stride. "Not much more to say. Hinoto and I went over the ship and I was going to give my report to the Taisa. I thought it a good idea to stop by to let you know and get an update from your end."

He then looked around and nodded. "From what you just said then I suppose that is the short of it. It has not been long so I doubt anyone was expecting a full refit already."

"Depends on what you mean by 'full refit'," came the answer from inside the cockpit as Yuzuki leaned forward from the chestpiece area, craning her neck a little bit to look down, so that she appeared at a sort of angle. "If you want this thing to fly straight, you might be disappointed."

She smacked the side of the cockpit a few times.

"This frame'll probably never be the same - we'd have to fabricate an Akuma and then parts-salvage, but we don't have anything except the structural analysis of this one to go off of - we don't produce these things, so it's all reverse-engineering.

"If you want the amplifiers online, that's simple enough, but it'll take more power than the reserve power can provide. There's this installed amplifier on here, but it's completely shot, and I don't know how it works, exactly. It doesn't appear to be Yamataian by design so I've nothing to work off of. I could rig up one of our emergency aether generators to provide the power, instead, but that might destabalize faster-than-light travel, the shielding, and possibly even gravimetrics too. I won't know for sure until I test it."

The sprite - or, rather, the Heisho, since she was finally, notably wearing the rank pin - scratched behind an ear, appraising Nyton. Here was the technician in her regular habitat, confident and almost peerless. She gave him an almost rakish smile.

"If you want them online, I can do it. It might not fly straight ever again, but it'll make your brain explode from halfway across the galaxy, and I can garentee the wavelength will be consistent."

Her attention shifted up, and she braced herself on the frame so she could arch her back a bit and look - upside down - up at Tom Freeman.

"What do you think, Juni?"

"Well it would seem you two have this well in hand. I need to go and give my report to her highness. Excuse me." Nyton said before he departed. Having tarried long enough he hurried to return to Kotori and deliver the overview of Hoshi along with Hinoto's opinion of their status.

The smile did not so much fade as drain. The curt manner which had answered her enthusiasm (which was not affected, but actual) deflated her visibly, so that when she did re-enter the cockpit, all she did was slump back into the pilot's insert.

"I guess I should have just let you talk."

It was like a zephyr of happiness had caught her up for one brief moment, and then dropped her back into some leafy pile of sobriety.

>Hoshi Bunk Quarters

It was a little later in the evening, and people were getting done with their daily duties. Rolf himself had spent near all day immersiving himself in battlefield simulations, setting himself to different scenarios and doing all out fighting. For the first few hours he ran standard combat simulations where he replayed skirmishes from previous battles. Another few hours were spent dueling with high-class power armor pilots, namely Meni and Mani, sometimes Masako. When he got tired of the 1:3 Killeath ratio, he moved to more sandbox and havoc causing persuits. Though, at the end of the day, he was all peetered out with the simulations. Even a fight-hungry soldier gets his fill from time to time, and this one was stuffed.

So now, he stood in wait by the door to the room he had been using since the Hoshi's interment into the Mokuren. Since he had done: A. Most of what a responsible soldier should do during the day, and B. Nothing disruptive, it was time to do something disruptive. That's why he was by the door at this time of 'night', and by the door, one means above it. Patiently and carefully placing himself just above the entrance, Rolf had a pair of teal, striped panties on his face. He was lying wait for someone to enter into the room.

Kyou, having finally become bored enough to give up on looking for recipes, had finally decided to look into a simulation to distract her from the fact that she'd lost all of her kitchen stuff. The prospect of shooting and/or punching people repeatedly seemed like a good distraction, so she only hoped that it was empty at this point. She opened the door into her room, wanting to get changed before she went to go work up a sweat. She stepped through the door into her room (thankfully empty), and turned towards her clothes.

Gunny. thought the Malifarian, his legs bent a bit. The features behind the cotton-cloth underwear showed signs of a devious grin. Perf--...

Before Rolf spurred himself to action, he noticed that she was reaching for her clothes. This offered double oppurtunities. One, to see Kyou willfully naked in all her usual splendor; it was no lie he liked to see her naked, somewhat moreso than other Nekos. Two, a more ideal time to scare the daylights out of her; it was no lie he liked to scare the daylights out of people, somewhat moreso than other people.

A cold sweat broke out on his forehead as he comtemplated this, but the strain came more of either jump 'now' or jump 'later'. If she even caught sight of him for a second the surprise may be marred, but the juiciness of jumping her mid-dress was almost too tempting. His muscles were tensing, and any more time spent like that would cause him to strain himself.

So, he waited for just a few seconds, but decided not to chance any more than he already had. He sprung forth from crouched corner, and let out horrid yell of bloody murder!

"HAAUUU--...!" wailed the Malifarian as he tackled the Neko to the ground like some panty-equipped berserker.

If nekos had less control over their bowels, Kyou would undoubtedly have lost control for at least a few moments there, just out of sheer surprise. She'd had more then enough of enemies who could hide from her and attack from nowhere on Amaya's Gate, and she'd been under the impression such attacks wouldn't happen on her own ship.

Thankfully though, her reflexes, which had undoubtedly saved her life at least once during the fighting, kicked in at full force, her entire body dropping to the floor to hopefully avoid whatever menace it was attacking from behind. She was going to try and figure out what it was, but caution was a much better survival trait then curiosity after all.

"--UUUGHFUCHMOPHK!" went Rolf as he sailed right over the ducking Kyou and landing face first onto the floor, and catching the smooth surface with his nose. With his anti-grav still relatively in check, he began to roll foward, hitting his face on the floor everytime before slamming right into the opposited wall. The Malifarian clone's body fell limp at that, he went somewhat lifeless onto the floor.

Kyou was already starting to come back up off of the floor, her well honed combat instincts telling her that the floor was a bad place to be. She paused part of the way up though, noticing the identity of her unknown assailant as his path of destruction ended up with him limply against the wall opposite the door. "Asher? What the hell are you doing jumping me from behind?"

"Tha' mo' 'propriate phrasin' f'that would be, 'Rolf, why don'tcha jump me from behind mo' often?'" went Rolf, putting one finger in the air, despite his face still being firmly planted into the floor. His whole everything hurt from that harsh landing, and even with it being the fifth day, he 'still' hadn't healed one-hundred percent. He pushed himself up, and turned over, getting his back flat against the wall. "Don'tcha think so?"

"And why would I be calling you Rolf, or asking you to jump me from behind? After all, this doesn't seem to be ending all that well for you- though that's almost reason in itself for me- and I don't recall giving you a nickname." Kyou rose the rest of the way to her feet, and cocked her head at the man still planted onto her floor. She wasn't quite sure why he was just sitting there, but better down there then up behind her again.

The panties that were on Rolf's face had ruffled themselves to the side, half obscuring his face rather than working as a mask. So he readjusted the teal-striped underwear to a more appropriate position.

"I guess it ain't quite common knowledge yet, but my name ain't Asha' no mo." noted Rolf as he began to push himself up off of the floor. "Had a long talk wit' Koto-boss, found out some things, an', y'know. Decided t'make some changes, yeah? So now, instead a'Asher Westwood, I'm Rolf Eastwood. Juss' a little difference, y'know, so it don't link me too much t'tha' otha guy."

Something about this situation was bugging Kyou, though she couldn't quite figure out what it was specifically. Just something about the way he looked... It wasn't important. "Isn't the other guy still missing though? I mean, for all you know, you are the legitimate one at this point." That nagging sensation just wouldn't go away. He was just wearing his uniform and a pair of panties, after all, nothing strange about that coming from him. She'd just have to let it be.

"Probably, but there was... a lot 'dat I missed, y'know?" Rolf said that slowly, before pulling the panties off his face. His expression did seem a little wistful, but his grin quickly ran up the edge of his face as he lobbed the underwear at her. "Here, 'dese are yours." He gave her an innocent shrug, as if robbing her underwear was really no big deal. "Spent twenty minutes in 'dat corna'."

"...." Kyou deftly caught her panties as they flew towards her, the nagging sensation finally solved. "And why, exactly, did that constitute reason to steal them?" Her face wasn't unhappy, but more of a total lack of expression that didn't bode well for Asher's continued existence, as Rolf or otherwise.

"Ah...." Rolf's grin weakened, as if the armor of his boisterous personality recoiled from a glancing hit. Still, he needed to throw out a reason to her. Slowly, his shoulders came up with another shrug, hands coming up into the air just as slowly before stopping at their defensive peak. His face read 'I dunno!', but his mouth said, "You... smell nice?"

"Is that really the best excuse you could come up with? First you fail at ambushing someone, now at making excuses. This just isn't a good day for you." She folded the panties in her hands and set them down on her bed. Though her face was still completely straight, her eyes gave the lie to her expression, laughing plenty for the whole body.

"Oh yeah?" Rolf's weakened grin strengthened a bit, a little cunning entering into his eyes. He strode over to her in three dramatic steps, snatching up her hand in melodramatic fashion, clenching it tightly to his chest. "Kyoufuu!" He said aloud, strong and direct, going down to one knee as if reenacting a scene from a play. "I can't hide it no mo'! It wass' my undyin' love f'you that made me snatch up yo panties! I couldn't think a'snatchin' anyone elses but yours. Any otha' pair, nestled so carefully on m'head, doesn't incite as much joy as tha' pair that ignites m'burnin' passion f'you!"

Kyou's right eyebrow, just the one, drew ever so slowly up her face. "That... that is either the most horribly contrived recovery I've ever heard, or one of the most corny and horrifically amusing admissions of love, and I'm not sure which of those prospects disturbs me more, coming from you." He would notice, however, that despite her words, she wasn't moving to take her hand out of his grasp, or being anywhere near as cruelly brutal as she potentially could have been, as silly as Rolf was acting. "Would you like to try this one more time?"

Rolf shot up into a standing position, his fingers still wrapped firmly around her hand. He seemed fully intent on taking her up on her offer. So, he pulled her towards him, bringing both their bodies together. The hand around hers placed it at his waist as his other hand went up her back. The gaze he gave her went from playful to a kind of smug sincerity.

"I'm a man a'tastes, Gunny." said the man, his head tilting to the side gently, his grin ever present. "I only pilfer panties from tha' most... appealin' a'specimens. And you. You, babe, are very appealin'... If I could dare say... Tha' mos' appealin' specimen on 'dis ship. Gettin' any otha' pair a'panties iss..." He shifted himself to her side and placed his cheek against hers and threw his hands forth as he were showing her the galaxy for the first time. "... incomparable."

Kyou blinked a little, sorting through the short man's sppech in response to her, taking her time to make sure she'd understood it properly. What she came up with was that, in his own roundabout, immensely strange way, it most certainly sounded like he was saying he liked her more then just a bit. And roundabout phrasings or not, that was the kind of thing that at least deserved an honest response.

"I... I'm not sure what to say to that. It's... thank you, I suppose, since that definitely seems like it is meant as a compliment. I have to admit, I don't object too much to the idea of you stealing them every now and then. But, ah..." She was rather blatantly floundering for words at that point. Despite having spent plenty of time talking to people about how to respond to the advances of others, she obviously hadn't taken her own advice to heart all too well.

"Oh?" Rolf's eyes widened in a way of surprise, though it was obvious that it was an over-exaggerated sentiment. He turned in on the girl, his arm still around her, but closing in on her face in inches. "But, ah... What, eh?" He leaned in but a tad closer, his eyes narrowing as his grin widened. Despite the mischevious look on his face, his eyes spoke of the sincerity he had someone what mockingly thrown around before. "Somethin' else you'd like t'share wit' tha' class?" He made an effort to thoroughly mouth out the next part. "Miss. Gunshin."

"What? No! I just... I don't know what I was going to say. I just blanked out on it." Kyou blinked when she noticed how close his face was to hers, apparently having been too distracted by whatever thoughts she had to notice their proximity until just then. "Really it was nothing." She paused, the hesitation obvious. "Why, was there... something else you wanted me to say?"

Rolf's grin twitched right there, and then weakened somewhat.

"Naw." He said, shaking his head gently, before drawing back off her, with a someone solemn air. The man appeared to have dropped off for the moment, "Well. Maybe somethin' along the lines of..." The strong, dark hands of the desert Yamataian went up to his sides as he gained the posture and face of a wistful schoolgirl. "... Oh, Rolf! You so sexy! Juss' rip 'dese stupid clothes off'a me and ravage me wit' y'body!" With that, he widened his stance, put a hand to the back of his head. "'Cause y'know I'd go f'it, babe."

"I..." Kyou hesitated again, her face sliding back towards it's earlier emotionless look. "I guess..." Then, with pretty much no warning, she punched Rolf in the chest, just shy of hard enough to leave a bruise on most people. "Come on. It's not going to be that easy to get me to help you out. You have to earn that one. Not just trick it out of me when I'm vulnerable and being honest with you." She rested the same hand she'd hit him with on his chest then. "However... I do appreciate what you said. Really. It means a lot to me."

Rolf paid dearly with that strike, as his sternum still ached from his injuries, and now it ached even more. The sting rested just under the surface of his skin, and he did well to hide it. Her hand, despite resting a bit over the spot she had just struck, made the pain lessen somewhat. The clone of a Malifarian picked up his hand, and ran it up her foreman, gently grasping her hand.

"So..." He started, with a little chuckle, just to lessen the pain a bit. His eyes downcast on her fingers, before looking up at her. "What if I wass juss'a lil' more serious then, eh? Maybe if I said, ah... 'Gunny, I nab y'stuff 'cause y'comfortable wit it, an I know that, but iss' mo' of how much I love y'scent." He laughed a little more, both their hand's bouncing on his chest a bit. "But that smell a'you." His hand loosed from hers and he pulled her close, this time in a full embrace, his nose just nestling in her hair.

"Tha' smell reminds me a'every aspect that drives me nuts 'bout you, Gunny. Reminds me a tha' hours we spent talkin' on tha' decks a'this place, tha' battle we fought, and that irresistable body a yours." he spoke to her in encrypted telepathy, "Not even tryin' t'be dirty. Y'body gets me goin' like an aether engine, baby. I juss'... don' know why... but I'm fuckin' crazy about you." He drew himself back at that, clapping his hands on her shoulders.

"Juss' thought y'should know, yeah?"