Zonr_0
Inactive Member
Passageway outside Medbay
Eli cleared the entrance to the medbay, a little surprised to see Freyja following behind him, but he smiled back at her regardless. "Well- that was certainly more excitement then I was expecting to deal with already." he mused. "Was your first day anything like this?"
Seeing him smile at her caused another twinge, Freyja knew for sure the problem at that moment. "Uhh... My first day I was interviewed by the CO, then I went to dinner with the crew. My first day was very calm and relaxing, other than dealing with a lot of people I didn't know, and having to leave my fighter behind." She watched him carefully, trying to figure out why she liked him so much.
"Mm. Sounds difficult in its own way then, I suppose." he nodded. He wasn't walking particularly fast to the zero-g passageway: he was enjoying the chance to relax a little bit and calm down from the earlier adrenaline rush. "Yeah, my interview wasn't particularly notable, the Taisa was mostly worried about why I joined a ship fresh out of basic instead of going through full specialization training."
"My interview wasn't all that important, it just was 'you know we don't have room for a fighter group' and me nodding and hoping to stay aboard and not get ship of somewhere else." She walked with him and reached out and grabbed his hand, not realizing what she was doing until she felt the warmth of his hand.
"Hmm. I think I can understand that." he replied, a little surprised at the sudden presence in his hand. He really wasn't sure how to react: he had no idea what kind of implications the gesture meant in a Yamataian context,. He decided to play it safe by not mentioning it for now, but he did glance at Freyja out of the corner of his eye, and tried to read her expression as he spoke. "Anyway, I'm glad that it seems that everybody involved seems to have come out of it alright, although I suppose we won't know for sure about myself for awhile."
her little mousy heart leapt into her throat when he didn't pull his hand away, 'maybe he likes me too. Do I want that? Why is this happening? EEP, What is going on...' "Uhh at least most of us did." She muttered before going on louder, "Yeah I'm glad that you're not sick and dying, and I'm also happy to see that Kata' is on her way to getting better."
"Well, that makes two of us!" he paused, "wait, what did you say before that? I didn't quite catch it."
Her face turned beet red when he asked, "I said at least most of us did," she looked down at her feet. her eyes drifted to their hands after a second. Why is he holding my hand? is there something in his culture that meant something different than mine?'
Eli looked at Freyja, looked at her blush, looked at their hands, and finally the wheels began turning in his head. Oh dear. He had mentally prepared himself for any social situation that he thought may come up during his tour, but this never even crossed his mind. He literally had no idea how to deal with it, and decided the best course of action was to play dumb for now.
His voice took on an unusual slightly nervous quality. "You seem to be doing better now though. Must have just been the stress."
"Must have," she tried to put a smile on her face; it was a mild failure but the hints could be there, 'I apparently had never dealt with those issues before." She didn't know what to do, she was torn between telling him what exactly was going on, and hiding. ' he doesn't know or understands does he? Oh noes, what if he thinks I'm holding his hand because I'm... I have no clue why I'm holding his hand, let alone what he thinks.'
If Eli was really being honest with himself, he didn't know what he thought either. If she were Elysian... he started, letting the thought die but knowing how he would have finished it. He was conflicted, and he knew he would need more time to think about this. It was early days though: they had in reality only just met after all (even if they ended up going through quite a bit already). There would be days to think and explore this. He unconsciously gave the hand a gentle squeeze.
He smiled at her, "Well... sometimes emotions can be complicated things. I know I don't always understand them or have the answers to my own" he hoped the vague statement carried across the intent.
the squeeze to her hand lifted her heart, maybe he did understand and care for her, then he spoke. Freyja's eyes went wide, He doesn't, that is what he just said right? it had to be.' the feels attacked again, but this time it was in her chest. She looked for a way to excape before the tears did. But I'm trapped,' She looked down at his hand holding hers.
Oh dear. He spoke slowly, as if choosing words very carefully. "I mean- sometimes you're suddenly hit with a realization and it's so sudden you don't really know how to react yet." He was no good at this sort of thing. In truth, he didn't really have any experience with it. "and it's a beautiful feeling, but very confusing and uh.." he was going somewhere with this, but he kind of lost it. "uh, it goes against long held beliefs but...uh" the veiled metaphor really started to break down. "they're pleasant- the feelings that is- and you think about exploring them more but um..." Oh creator this is awkward. "well, and..." he would keep rambling if Freyja didn't cut him off.
As he rambled on, her eyes started tearing up, he was becoming a blurry squiggly ghost and that just made her hurt even more, it was like he was fading further away.
"Oh hells Freyja." he dropped the honorific completely and hugged her. He was completely caught off guard by the tears. "Come here, what's wrong?"
When Eli grabbed her and embraced her, it opened the floodgates; she didn't have a clue what to do or what to feel and she started sobbing. The only thing clear was that these feels sucked and she didn't want to have them any more. "I (sob) j..just wan..anted (sob) I... (sob) don't ... Knoooooo" she faded into sobs.
Not for the first time today, Eli panicked. He was going to get used to it at this rate. "Come on, let's get you out of these scrubs at least and into something more comfortable." he said gently. He didn't really know what else to say or do. "Also:" he scratched his chin as he started to feel Freya's tears through the medical gown. "I have no idea what you're saying right now." he admitted sheepishly.
She couldn't see much through her tears, and she wasn't quite sure what he wanted. She did read one of those trashy Nep novels that the technicians back on Vicky had laying around. Why did he tell her that he didn't like her just to turn around and try to get her into bed? This of course set off a whole new wave of even louder tears and sobbing which echoed down the passageway.
Eli opened the door to the cabin Freyja shared with Kata' and gently led her to the bed and spoke softly. "Are you going to be alright if I leave you to change into your uniform? I'll be standing outside, just let me know when you're finished."
Her fears seemed to be confirmed as he lead her to the bed, but then he spoke. She really didn't trust herself to speak, so she just nodded. She had one more full body uniform left, but she also had those skirted ones. The memory of a few hours ago with the skirt flashed to the front of her head and she started sobbing again.
Eli looked at her again with dismay, still not knowing what was wrong. "Alright, I'll be right outside. Will you let me know what's wrong after you get changed?" he moved towards the door.
She didn't know what to do, she was close to being able to hide in her cabin but he stopped at the door, so she nodded.
"Alright." he turned to face her and gave her a warm smile. "See you soon."
Once the door slid shut she fell over into the bed, and flung her glasses onto the wall side of the bed. She forced her face into her pillow and truly started crying at full force with muffled sobs that could probably be faintly heard outside the cabin. She didn't want to move and she thought that maybe she could just lay there and die. no... he would just go get the CO or Sunflower to find out if I was ok in here. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO!?' after a good ten minutes the crying had slowed down to an occasional quiet sob, and the tears dried up leaving little salty lines down her face. She knew they had to get down to the cargo hold, so she rolled out of the bunk and slowly got dressed. she didn't realise it but she put on the very uniform that started it all a few hours ago. Her sobs had faded down to a minor hiccups, as she opened the door.
Eli had just began to worry a little when the door opened and he smiled at her as she appeared. "Hey, do you mind if I come in for a bit so we can talk?' he was still dressed in scrubs, but any embarrassment about it seemed to be overridden by concern.
She nodded and sat back down on the bed, and noticing the huge wet stain on her pillow she slowly reached over and rolled it over. Hopefully he didn't see it.
He had in fact seen it, but expected it from her earlier behavior and sounds from outside. He sat on the bed and looked up at her. "What's wrong? Is it something I said?" given at how spectacularly bad the indirect method seemed to have gone, he resigned himself to having to be a bit more direct.
Freyja fought down the urge to start crying again, "Yes... in a way..." she spoke very quietly, he would have to listen carefully. "and maybe it was me, I don't understand the things...I'm... feeling." She stared intently at the carpet where it met the wall, there was a small bit that didn't align just right.
Eli nodded, he suspected as much. "Freyja..." he started. He wasn't sure how to finish this sentence just yet but forged on ahead. "if it makes you feel any better, I don't either."
There was a huge lump in her throat making it very difficult to speak, "I think.." Her sentence stalled out almost before it got started. She tried to swallow the lump down, but failed, " Think that, You might be...I mean..I might..."she just stalled out completely this time, her war to prevent breaking down again, was starting to swing for the worse.
"Freyja- I have no idea what you're trying to say." he said softly with a reassuring smile.
The last nerve in her brain snapped, "I like you, you ass. I don't know what to do, and you said you didn't like me back!" she yelled at him, she didn't realize that she could ever be so forceful outside a cockpit. She brought her head down and brought her hands up to meet it and cover her now teary face.
Eli had finally figured it out a few minutes ago, but it was still shocking to hear it, especially in such a forceful and direct way. Her sudden snap was surprising, adorable, frightening, and a plethora of other emotions and it stirred something inside Eli. Eli let these emotions wash over him for a few moments before replying in his quietest voice yet. "I never said that."
She spoke through her hands, "yes you did.. you said it was complicated and against your beliefs". The was a slight sob at the end of her statement. A few tears dripped down her arms to her elbows soaking into the soft material of the skirt.
"No, I'm interested, I just-" Eli frowned, flustered. "I just, I uh..." he turned several shades more red. "it's just that in my culture, relationships with non Elysians are..uh... taboo, and I'm struggling with the fact that I like you despite that fact, and it's early and I don't want to seem unprofessional and I've never had a relationship before and..." Eli began blabbering again. Freyja wasn't the only one who could ramble and be awkward, he was just better at hiding it usually. Now, the roles almost seemed reversed. "...and I don't know how to act, and I'm scared of things going wrong, and it challenges my beliefs and my culture, and I want to, but I'm scared and, and..."
Her hands dropped down to her lap when he started, She stared at him with a dumbfounded look on her face. At first she was about to yell at him 'how dare you toy with me like that' but as he continued she saw the very same thing that must have been on her face not too long ago.
Her chest started pounding again, the hurt in her chest relight. She didn't realize that she was speaking or what she was saying or that she cut him off, at first, "If you are toying with me..." She looked around the room, for the first time not looking for a place to hide, maybe for something to threaten him or maybe for an answer on what to say or do right now.
"Toying? What do you mean?" It didn't seem to translate well in Eli's flustered state.
Her face stood completely neutral, "I mean... I don't know what to do with these feelings, and if you are saying what you are saying to be kind and try to hurt me less, then please stop and leave me be." She took a deep breath before continuing, "If you are telling me this as a joke, I don't know what I will do, I don't think I could live with it." her face dropped and she looked at that awkward spot on the carpet, her voice seemed to drop back to the mousey girl, "if you are telling be the truth then... then..." the sound of the words seemed glitchy like she was having trouble making the sounds right. As if she almost have forgotten how to say them.
"A joke? I wouldn't insult your honor like that!" he frowned and then added softer: "and no, I'm not saying that just to be kind. I do legitimately like you, I just..." he was frustrated with himself and his own bigotry that was right in front view of him because he honestly did like her. It was frustrating that he had to fight through his own culture's viewpoint to express that. "my culture is xenophobic and I thought I considered myself above most of it, but..." he sighed. "I'm discovering I'm far weaker than I had hoped in that regard, and you're challenging my every preconception, and it's wonderful, but terrifying."
The only reaction that popped up on the command prompt was to start giggling. She didn't know why it wasn't funny at all. "I really don't know what to say.." she spat out between bursts of giggles. "I was taught that I was a weapon, a tip of the sword. all things were secondary. I was taught to socialize and to interact with others, I was never taught to deal with feelings." Her giggle fit caused her to fall over on onto his shoulder.
"Hey! I-" he stopped and joined in her laughter, putting his arm around her as she fell ontop of him. "Ah well. I never really learned how to deal with it either, so I guess we're on relatively even terms here."
She snaked an arm around his and hugged it tight to her. She tried to choke down the giggles, "I'm sorry I broke down like that... It was unseemly." her giggles were stabbed in the guts with that statement, she looked up at him, hoping he would forgive her.
Eli snorted. "It's alright. I wasn't exactly being particularly clear either." he looked down at her and was silent for a moment before he blushed and coughed, and then realized again he was still in scrubs and blushed further. "um..right, uh, we're supposed to report to the um..cargo..bay, right? But I should change first."
Pointing to the opened locker, "You could borrow one of my uniforms, then we can try the passagway again." and like that the giggles and the blushing returned.
Eli looked at Freyja blankly. "Do you really think I'll fit in one of your uniforms Freyja?" he supressed a smirk trying to keep a faux-stone-serious face.
She reached for her glasses and put them on, luckily they were not scratched. Freyja got up she tried to wipe the salty lines off her face, failing that she gave up gave him a wink and walked out of the room, "never know..."
Eli smirked and followed. "You know where my room is right? I'm rooming with Tanaka-Hei" he gestured vaguely and then started leading the way.
"Yes I remember that, I saw the roster notice, I was checking to see where Kata' was going to be be staying." She followed the winged man across the lower lounge. "Uhh.. Why are you asking me?" she blushed brightly when she asked.
"Er, well, I need to change and you were lea- nevermind." Eli finished with his now familiar flustered voice, as he opened the door to his room. Near his bunk, a picture frame flashed between various scenes of Elysia Novus and a few pictures of his family. His side of the room looked very neat and tidy, partially because it hadn't actually been lived in yet, and partially because of a meticulous attention to detail. Eli pulled out a clean new duty uniform and set it on the bed.
Freyja's eyes snapped on the picture display, she had her glasses access the things memory core and download the images to them. She was able to look through them at her own leisure, though she did feel a little bad about using her SAINT skills like this, on him. after a brief thought she deleted them. "Who are they?" she said pointing at the group picture.
"Hmm?" he picked up the frame and froze it on the picture of his full family and moved closer to Freyja. "Me, Abigail, Brasus, and my parents." he switched the displayed picture to the more recent one. "And this is my remaining family and I right before enlistment."
She looked at the two images, Freyja saw that there was two missing persons. " Uhh.. what hap.... They are beautiful images, I would show you my family but, well..." She tried to look away, she knew that those missing must have had something to do with the war.
"NMX." he said simply. "It's alright." he placed the picture frame back on its stand and returned it to the slow cycling rate. He smiled wistfully at some old memories. "I will have to write Abigail next chance I get. I promised her I would write once I got assigned to a ship."
"It was hard on a lot of folks, I was created just after the battle for Yamitai, though the war was over before I really got out here." She thought for a moment, "Is Abigail you sister?" she asked a little concerned, even though she truly doubted he would do anything like that. That damned trashy Nep novel.
He nodded. "She is. Brassus was my brother as well." he moved over to the bed where the uniform was and began trying to untie the scrubs in the back while he spoke. "He was the pride of the family, brought us quite a bit of honor, probably the reason why we were elligable for the caelisolan body upgrade so early."
She watched him as he undressed, it took a few seconds before the cog clicked over and she blushed and spun around, "Uhhh...He sounded like he was a fine man." She slowly turned her head to try to sneak a peek. she blushed heavely.
Eli hadn't even really considered Freyja's presence when he had started undressing as distracted as he was by the conversation, but he was in the middle of changing now and it was a bit too late to ask her to leave now. He tossed the scrubs behind him without thinking and threw the shirt over his shoulders onto his torso while he spoke. "He was a very good man, and now the task of bringing honor to my family falls to me." he sounded not entirely happy about this fact.
She was too busy watching him strip to realize that he chucked the scrubs right at her head. Whapp! "OOF" She nearly fell back but she did have her glasses fall to the floor. She panicked: all of her reports and intel so far were on them. "My glasses!!" she dropped down and started sorting through the clothes. The glasses must have bounced off under the bunk but she couldn't find them. Not that she needed them to see exactly, but... all of the data!.
"Oh sorry, did I hit you in the back of the head? he turned without thinking, his shirt still not fully closed in the back and still quite pantsless. He didn't seem to have realized that he just flashed her as he bent down to pick up the glasses that had skidded past his feet. He stood back up and handed them over, suddenly realizing that he was facing her. He flipped an immediate 180 degrees and promptly began the process of putting on pants.
' oh he has a cute butt, WHAT?! WHERE DID I LEARN THAT FROM?!' She quickly took the glasses and turned around and attempted to burn a hole in the bulkhead with her eyes."Uhh........ What... uhh... yeah.....pants..." Each word got successfully quieter.
Eli finished getting dressed and turned around and made a big deal of clearing his throat. "Right. So..eh...cargo bay, yeah? Right. Cargo bay."
Freyja snapped around in military precision and stepped out of the door, "Yes... Cargo bay... where cargos... bay..right." She lead the way to the Passageway. with a step she floated out into the open space before turning and offering a hand to Eli.
Eli had no idea what the future held or if the weight of his people would be too much to bear, but seeing her floating there, he felt a part of him that hadn't stirred in a long time. That part of him- that mischevious little Elysian boy- shoved Eli forward and into the passageway, and into her awating hand.
With a mousey giggle she pulled him down the corrador.
Eli cleared the entrance to the medbay, a little surprised to see Freyja following behind him, but he smiled back at her regardless. "Well- that was certainly more excitement then I was expecting to deal with already." he mused. "Was your first day anything like this?"
Seeing him smile at her caused another twinge, Freyja knew for sure the problem at that moment. "Uhh... My first day I was interviewed by the CO, then I went to dinner with the crew. My first day was very calm and relaxing, other than dealing with a lot of people I didn't know, and having to leave my fighter behind." She watched him carefully, trying to figure out why she liked him so much.
"Mm. Sounds difficult in its own way then, I suppose." he nodded. He wasn't walking particularly fast to the zero-g passageway: he was enjoying the chance to relax a little bit and calm down from the earlier adrenaline rush. "Yeah, my interview wasn't particularly notable, the Taisa was mostly worried about why I joined a ship fresh out of basic instead of going through full specialization training."
"My interview wasn't all that important, it just was 'you know we don't have room for a fighter group' and me nodding and hoping to stay aboard and not get ship of somewhere else." She walked with him and reached out and grabbed his hand, not realizing what she was doing until she felt the warmth of his hand.
"Hmm. I think I can understand that." he replied, a little surprised at the sudden presence in his hand. He really wasn't sure how to react: he had no idea what kind of implications the gesture meant in a Yamataian context,. He decided to play it safe by not mentioning it for now, but he did glance at Freyja out of the corner of his eye, and tried to read her expression as he spoke. "Anyway, I'm glad that it seems that everybody involved seems to have come out of it alright, although I suppose we won't know for sure about myself for awhile."
her little mousy heart leapt into her throat when he didn't pull his hand away, 'maybe he likes me too. Do I want that? Why is this happening? EEP, What is going on...' "Uhh at least most of us did." She muttered before going on louder, "Yeah I'm glad that you're not sick and dying, and I'm also happy to see that Kata' is on her way to getting better."
"Well, that makes two of us!" he paused, "wait, what did you say before that? I didn't quite catch it."
Her face turned beet red when he asked, "I said at least most of us did," she looked down at her feet. her eyes drifted to their hands after a second. Why is he holding my hand? is there something in his culture that meant something different than mine?'
Eli looked at Freyja, looked at her blush, looked at their hands, and finally the wheels began turning in his head. Oh dear. He had mentally prepared himself for any social situation that he thought may come up during his tour, but this never even crossed his mind. He literally had no idea how to deal with it, and decided the best course of action was to play dumb for now.
His voice took on an unusual slightly nervous quality. "You seem to be doing better now though. Must have just been the stress."
"Must have," she tried to put a smile on her face; it was a mild failure but the hints could be there, 'I apparently had never dealt with those issues before." She didn't know what to do, she was torn between telling him what exactly was going on, and hiding. ' he doesn't know or understands does he? Oh noes, what if he thinks I'm holding his hand because I'm... I have no clue why I'm holding his hand, let alone what he thinks.'
If Eli was really being honest with himself, he didn't know what he thought either. If she were Elysian... he started, letting the thought die but knowing how he would have finished it. He was conflicted, and he knew he would need more time to think about this. It was early days though: they had in reality only just met after all (even if they ended up going through quite a bit already). There would be days to think and explore this. He unconsciously gave the hand a gentle squeeze.
He smiled at her, "Well... sometimes emotions can be complicated things. I know I don't always understand them or have the answers to my own" he hoped the vague statement carried across the intent.
the squeeze to her hand lifted her heart, maybe he did understand and care for her, then he spoke. Freyja's eyes went wide, He doesn't, that is what he just said right? it had to be.' the feels attacked again, but this time it was in her chest. She looked for a way to excape before the tears did. But I'm trapped,' She looked down at his hand holding hers.
Oh dear. He spoke slowly, as if choosing words very carefully. "I mean- sometimes you're suddenly hit with a realization and it's so sudden you don't really know how to react yet." He was no good at this sort of thing. In truth, he didn't really have any experience with it. "and it's a beautiful feeling, but very confusing and uh.." he was going somewhere with this, but he kind of lost it. "uh, it goes against long held beliefs but...uh" the veiled metaphor really started to break down. "they're pleasant- the feelings that is- and you think about exploring them more but um..." Oh creator this is awkward. "well, and..." he would keep rambling if Freyja didn't cut him off.
As he rambled on, her eyes started tearing up, he was becoming a blurry squiggly ghost and that just made her hurt even more, it was like he was fading further away.
"Oh hells Freyja." he dropped the honorific completely and hugged her. He was completely caught off guard by the tears. "Come here, what's wrong?"
When Eli grabbed her and embraced her, it opened the floodgates; she didn't have a clue what to do or what to feel and she started sobbing. The only thing clear was that these feels sucked and she didn't want to have them any more. "I (sob) j..just wan..anted (sob) I... (sob) don't ... Knoooooo" she faded into sobs.
Not for the first time today, Eli panicked. He was going to get used to it at this rate. "Come on, let's get you out of these scrubs at least and into something more comfortable." he said gently. He didn't really know what else to say or do. "Also:" he scratched his chin as he started to feel Freya's tears through the medical gown. "I have no idea what you're saying right now." he admitted sheepishly.
She couldn't see much through her tears, and she wasn't quite sure what he wanted. She did read one of those trashy Nep novels that the technicians back on Vicky had laying around. Why did he tell her that he didn't like her just to turn around and try to get her into bed? This of course set off a whole new wave of even louder tears and sobbing which echoed down the passageway.
Eli opened the door to the cabin Freyja shared with Kata' and gently led her to the bed and spoke softly. "Are you going to be alright if I leave you to change into your uniform? I'll be standing outside, just let me know when you're finished."
Her fears seemed to be confirmed as he lead her to the bed, but then he spoke. She really didn't trust herself to speak, so she just nodded. She had one more full body uniform left, but she also had those skirted ones. The memory of a few hours ago with the skirt flashed to the front of her head and she started sobbing again.
Eli looked at her again with dismay, still not knowing what was wrong. "Alright, I'll be right outside. Will you let me know what's wrong after you get changed?" he moved towards the door.
She didn't know what to do, she was close to being able to hide in her cabin but he stopped at the door, so she nodded.
"Alright." he turned to face her and gave her a warm smile. "See you soon."
Once the door slid shut she fell over into the bed, and flung her glasses onto the wall side of the bed. She forced her face into her pillow and truly started crying at full force with muffled sobs that could probably be faintly heard outside the cabin. She didn't want to move and she thought that maybe she could just lay there and die. no... he would just go get the CO or Sunflower to find out if I was ok in here. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO!?' after a good ten minutes the crying had slowed down to an occasional quiet sob, and the tears dried up leaving little salty lines down her face. She knew they had to get down to the cargo hold, so she rolled out of the bunk and slowly got dressed. she didn't realise it but she put on the very uniform that started it all a few hours ago. Her sobs had faded down to a minor hiccups, as she opened the door.
Eli had just began to worry a little when the door opened and he smiled at her as she appeared. "Hey, do you mind if I come in for a bit so we can talk?' he was still dressed in scrubs, but any embarrassment about it seemed to be overridden by concern.
She nodded and sat back down on the bed, and noticing the huge wet stain on her pillow she slowly reached over and rolled it over. Hopefully he didn't see it.
He had in fact seen it, but expected it from her earlier behavior and sounds from outside. He sat on the bed and looked up at her. "What's wrong? Is it something I said?" given at how spectacularly bad the indirect method seemed to have gone, he resigned himself to having to be a bit more direct.
Freyja fought down the urge to start crying again, "Yes... in a way..." she spoke very quietly, he would have to listen carefully. "and maybe it was me, I don't understand the things...I'm... feeling." She stared intently at the carpet where it met the wall, there was a small bit that didn't align just right.
Eli nodded, he suspected as much. "Freyja..." he started. He wasn't sure how to finish this sentence just yet but forged on ahead. "if it makes you feel any better, I don't either."
There was a huge lump in her throat making it very difficult to speak, "I think.." Her sentence stalled out almost before it got started. She tried to swallow the lump down, but failed, " Think that, You might be...I mean..I might..."she just stalled out completely this time, her war to prevent breaking down again, was starting to swing for the worse.
"Freyja- I have no idea what you're trying to say." he said softly with a reassuring smile.
The last nerve in her brain snapped, "I like you, you ass. I don't know what to do, and you said you didn't like me back!" she yelled at him, she didn't realize that she could ever be so forceful outside a cockpit. She brought her head down and brought her hands up to meet it and cover her now teary face.
Eli had finally figured it out a few minutes ago, but it was still shocking to hear it, especially in such a forceful and direct way. Her sudden snap was surprising, adorable, frightening, and a plethora of other emotions and it stirred something inside Eli. Eli let these emotions wash over him for a few moments before replying in his quietest voice yet. "I never said that."
She spoke through her hands, "yes you did.. you said it was complicated and against your beliefs". The was a slight sob at the end of her statement. A few tears dripped down her arms to her elbows soaking into the soft material of the skirt.
"No, I'm interested, I just-" Eli frowned, flustered. "I just, I uh..." he turned several shades more red. "it's just that in my culture, relationships with non Elysians are..uh... taboo, and I'm struggling with the fact that I like you despite that fact, and it's early and I don't want to seem unprofessional and I've never had a relationship before and..." Eli began blabbering again. Freyja wasn't the only one who could ramble and be awkward, he was just better at hiding it usually. Now, the roles almost seemed reversed. "...and I don't know how to act, and I'm scared of things going wrong, and it challenges my beliefs and my culture, and I want to, but I'm scared and, and..."
Her hands dropped down to her lap when he started, She stared at him with a dumbfounded look on her face. At first she was about to yell at him 'how dare you toy with me like that' but as he continued she saw the very same thing that must have been on her face not too long ago.
Her chest started pounding again, the hurt in her chest relight. She didn't realize that she was speaking or what she was saying or that she cut him off, at first, "If you are toying with me..." She looked around the room, for the first time not looking for a place to hide, maybe for something to threaten him or maybe for an answer on what to say or do right now.
"Toying? What do you mean?" It didn't seem to translate well in Eli's flustered state.
Her face stood completely neutral, "I mean... I don't know what to do with these feelings, and if you are saying what you are saying to be kind and try to hurt me less, then please stop and leave me be." She took a deep breath before continuing, "If you are telling me this as a joke, I don't know what I will do, I don't think I could live with it." her face dropped and she looked at that awkward spot on the carpet, her voice seemed to drop back to the mousey girl, "if you are telling be the truth then... then..." the sound of the words seemed glitchy like she was having trouble making the sounds right. As if she almost have forgotten how to say them.
"A joke? I wouldn't insult your honor like that!" he frowned and then added softer: "and no, I'm not saying that just to be kind. I do legitimately like you, I just..." he was frustrated with himself and his own bigotry that was right in front view of him because he honestly did like her. It was frustrating that he had to fight through his own culture's viewpoint to express that. "my culture is xenophobic and I thought I considered myself above most of it, but..." he sighed. "I'm discovering I'm far weaker than I had hoped in that regard, and you're challenging my every preconception, and it's wonderful, but terrifying."
The only reaction that popped up on the command prompt was to start giggling. She didn't know why it wasn't funny at all. "I really don't know what to say.." she spat out between bursts of giggles. "I was taught that I was a weapon, a tip of the sword. all things were secondary. I was taught to socialize and to interact with others, I was never taught to deal with feelings." Her giggle fit caused her to fall over on onto his shoulder.
"Hey! I-" he stopped and joined in her laughter, putting his arm around her as she fell ontop of him. "Ah well. I never really learned how to deal with it either, so I guess we're on relatively even terms here."
She snaked an arm around his and hugged it tight to her. She tried to choke down the giggles, "I'm sorry I broke down like that... It was unseemly." her giggles were stabbed in the guts with that statement, she looked up at him, hoping he would forgive her.
Eli snorted. "It's alright. I wasn't exactly being particularly clear either." he looked down at her and was silent for a moment before he blushed and coughed, and then realized again he was still in scrubs and blushed further. "um..right, uh, we're supposed to report to the um..cargo..bay, right? But I should change first."
Pointing to the opened locker, "You could borrow one of my uniforms, then we can try the passagway again." and like that the giggles and the blushing returned.
Eli looked at Freyja blankly. "Do you really think I'll fit in one of your uniforms Freyja?" he supressed a smirk trying to keep a faux-stone-serious face.
She reached for her glasses and put them on, luckily they were not scratched. Freyja got up she tried to wipe the salty lines off her face, failing that she gave up gave him a wink and walked out of the room, "never know..."
Eli smirked and followed. "You know where my room is right? I'm rooming with Tanaka-Hei" he gestured vaguely and then started leading the way.
"Yes I remember that, I saw the roster notice, I was checking to see where Kata' was going to be be staying." She followed the winged man across the lower lounge. "Uhh.. Why are you asking me?" she blushed brightly when she asked.
"Er, well, I need to change and you were lea- nevermind." Eli finished with his now familiar flustered voice, as he opened the door to his room. Near his bunk, a picture frame flashed between various scenes of Elysia Novus and a few pictures of his family. His side of the room looked very neat and tidy, partially because it hadn't actually been lived in yet, and partially because of a meticulous attention to detail. Eli pulled out a clean new duty uniform and set it on the bed.
Freyja's eyes snapped on the picture display, she had her glasses access the things memory core and download the images to them. She was able to look through them at her own leisure, though she did feel a little bad about using her SAINT skills like this, on him. after a brief thought she deleted them. "Who are they?" she said pointing at the group picture.
"Hmm?" he picked up the frame and froze it on the picture of his full family and moved closer to Freyja. "Me, Abigail, Brasus, and my parents." he switched the displayed picture to the more recent one. "And this is my remaining family and I right before enlistment."
She looked at the two images, Freyja saw that there was two missing persons. " Uhh.. what hap.... They are beautiful images, I would show you my family but, well..." She tried to look away, she knew that those missing must have had something to do with the war.
"NMX." he said simply. "It's alright." he placed the picture frame back on its stand and returned it to the slow cycling rate. He smiled wistfully at some old memories. "I will have to write Abigail next chance I get. I promised her I would write once I got assigned to a ship."
"It was hard on a lot of folks, I was created just after the battle for Yamitai, though the war was over before I really got out here." She thought for a moment, "Is Abigail you sister?" she asked a little concerned, even though she truly doubted he would do anything like that. That damned trashy Nep novel.
He nodded. "She is. Brassus was my brother as well." he moved over to the bed where the uniform was and began trying to untie the scrubs in the back while he spoke. "He was the pride of the family, brought us quite a bit of honor, probably the reason why we were elligable for the caelisolan body upgrade so early."
She watched him as he undressed, it took a few seconds before the cog clicked over and she blushed and spun around, "Uhhh...He sounded like he was a fine man." She slowly turned her head to try to sneak a peek. she blushed heavely.
Eli hadn't even really considered Freyja's presence when he had started undressing as distracted as he was by the conversation, but he was in the middle of changing now and it was a bit too late to ask her to leave now. He tossed the scrubs behind him without thinking and threw the shirt over his shoulders onto his torso while he spoke. "He was a very good man, and now the task of bringing honor to my family falls to me." he sounded not entirely happy about this fact.
She was too busy watching him strip to realize that he chucked the scrubs right at her head. Whapp! "OOF" She nearly fell back but she did have her glasses fall to the floor. She panicked: all of her reports and intel so far were on them. "My glasses!!" she dropped down and started sorting through the clothes. The glasses must have bounced off under the bunk but she couldn't find them. Not that she needed them to see exactly, but... all of the data!.
"Oh sorry, did I hit you in the back of the head? he turned without thinking, his shirt still not fully closed in the back and still quite pantsless. He didn't seem to have realized that he just flashed her as he bent down to pick up the glasses that had skidded past his feet. He stood back up and handed them over, suddenly realizing that he was facing her. He flipped an immediate 180 degrees and promptly began the process of putting on pants.
' oh he has a cute butt, WHAT?! WHERE DID I LEARN THAT FROM?!' She quickly took the glasses and turned around and attempted to burn a hole in the bulkhead with her eyes."Uhh........ What... uhh... yeah.....pants..." Each word got successfully quieter.
Eli finished getting dressed and turned around and made a big deal of clearing his throat. "Right. So..eh...cargo bay, yeah? Right. Cargo bay."
Freyja snapped around in military precision and stepped out of the door, "Yes... Cargo bay... where cargos... bay..right." She lead the way to the Passageway. with a step she floated out into the open space before turning and offering a hand to Eli.
Eli had no idea what the future held or if the weight of his people would be too much to bear, but seeing her floating there, he felt a part of him that hadn't stirred in a long time. That part of him- that mischevious little Elysian boy- shoved Eli forward and into the passageway, and into her awating hand.
With a mousey giggle she pulled him down the corrador.
