RP: NSS Acadia [Post Mission 3]: R&R (Rest and Rations)

"Hey, I didn't do nothin'!" Sam barked guardedly at Suku. She really hadn't, and knew she was going to get the stuffing beaten out of her anyway. Life is so unfair, she thought.

"...hey, wait a minute." She frowned and rubbed her scalp. "She said that puddin' was from the MC... maybe there was somethin' in it. Booze, I guess. Booze puddin', what the hell?"

When Suku came, ALex saluted. She was kinda trained to do that. Alex finished chowing her last bite before speaking. "It is true petty officer. Not me not private Oliver gave her anything alcoholic. And if I spotted someone giving her alcohol deliberately, he would be toothless by now." she said with now calm voice. Red colour almost completely dissappeared from her cheeks and she calmed down.

But true is. If that pudding was for MC it could have some kind of alcohol in it. It won't be much, but for little girl it would enough. Rum maybe? That could be in it.

"You fucking, brain-dead idiots!" Suku growled at the other Marines, she couldn't believe these people. "How could you let her eat Rum Pudding?!" The Medical Officer had her hands raised up as if she was about to strangle the two Marines that spoke in their defense. Before she could get to a neck, though, a small thought interrupted her mind.

Wait, why the fuck is Vel Steyr ordering alcohol, anyway? thought the Medical Officer, He's too fucking scrawny to not take it like Carina. That moment of peace didn't last long as Suku's hands went right for Sam's collar. Her anger renewed with her focus on the nearest person she could punish.

"When you're watching a fucking Kid, you usually make sure they're not sticking something in their mouths that they're not not supposed to, or is thinking new to you?" insulted the Medical Officer in her usual anger.

What Suku said was true. Carina was in Sams and Alexandras care. They should make sure. Alex looked in the table in front of her embarrased again. Even her smile was gone for a while.

"I am sorry Petty officer. You are right we should make sure what she ordered. It won't happened again." she said with soft voice. Now who the hell could give a small kid a rum pudding? Or whatever it was. She turned to Carina. "Hey big girl. Who was the nice soldier that gave you that food and drink?" she asked with softe smile reappering on her face.

Sam was much bigger than Suku, including her hands, which easily enclosed the medic's when they went for her collar. She surged to her feet, holding Suku's hands away from herself.

"'scuse me for not freakin' out when a little girl eats puddin'," she growled in return, her dark blue eyes boring into Suku's face. "I didn't know there was booze in it, an' neither did Alex, or we woulda done somethin'. So get the fuck off my case. Can't have been that much in there anyway, just keep an eye on her an' she'll be fine."

"Oh, really? You didn't know?" Suku looked innocently at Sam, as if suddenly understanding the situation. Despite being a man, Sam had a womanly feeling grip, but Suku tossed that thought out of her mind as she pulled her hands from that grip. She leaned back and put her hands on her hips.

"Well, that just makes everything yippity-do-dah. Oliver, sweetheart, why don't you go get her some Hard Lemonade? Because that barely has any alcohol in it either." Suku said, her expression slowly degrading with her obvious sarcasm, "Because giving a seven year-old alcohol is perfectly fine since it does absolutely nothing to her developing brain, you fucking moron! What you did was about as stupid as giving her a bottle of green stuff and thinking it's watermelon juice!"

"I didn't give her shit, none of us knew there was booze in there. Go make trouble somewhere else." Sam was still glowering at Suku from underneath her thick, furrowed eyebrows, her eyes the only real light on her face.

"I took it." Carina said, sounding proud of the fact she had. "Off'a tha' girly man's tray m-m-meant for him." she stuttered slightly. The little girl yawned loudly, and then tried to wrap her arms around Suku, laying her head on the medical officers chest. Carina almost seemed to snuggle into the hot-tempered petty officer a look of complete contentment on her face.

"M-momma...I'm sleeeeeepy." she mumbled, yawning again, this time though it was a quieter one as she twisted her head about slightly to get more comfortable. Calling Suku that though... seemed she really didn't have a head for it like the Vel Steyr it was meant for.

"Mo--Momma?" Suku was thrown completely off her balance of anger and rage, and was dumbfounded as the little girl snuggled up to her. The Medical Officer wrapped her arms around Carina and held her in place, keeping the drunken child comfortable. "Alright, sweetie... You just sleep it off..." For the second time in that day, she gave a genuine smile.

When she looked up at Sam, she regarded him with a plain face, deciding to give up the argument as a whole. With that, she turned back to her meal. She loosed one of her arms and began eating one of her sandwiches, her mind going elsewhere.

Momma... Suku thought, still not quite back on her guard just yet. It began to sink of the implications of the little girl seeing her in that fashion, but then she shook her head, She's just drunk, she doesn't mean it.

"...aww." Sam's face softened into a smile as the tiny girl and the angry medic embraced each other, and she snuck in another fond ruffle of Carina's hair before she was completely kidnapped by her mortal enemy. Crisis averted, seemingly, for now, she sat down once more and nursed her whiskey with a sigh of contentment, waiting for the briefing announcement.

Rico caught Ran's tossed item, narrowing his eyes on the object in curiosity. "Wha's this...?" The sergeant asked, unfurling the garment and snorting a short laugh when he realized what they were. "Tch, yeah, like I don' see enough a' these," Rico boasted, scrunching the article of clothing into a ball and haphazardly tossing it over his shoulder as he looked over to Fian. "MC's right, baby. I got me some medals to be accepted."

Attention! All marines report to the Cafeteria for debrief.

Click to expand...

Anselm looked up from his disassembled HHG with a furrowed brow, shurgging the marine quickly put the gun back together and checked the operation with a slight frown before slamming a clip home and holstering the weapon in its holster slung low on his back. Throwing on a set of pressed and barely used fatigue slacks and a heavy BDU jacket over the full piloting suit he prefered to wear instead of the normal uniform.

"Wonder who's gonna get shot this time," the albino mused, pulling on a pair of boots and walking out of his bunk, heading for the cafeteria.

Talbain mulled over what to do for a moment before the Chief made the decision for him. He started making his way to the cafeteria while making sure to pass by the multipurpose rooms to see if Viktor was still in one of them.

Master Chief Fian Vel Steyr took the rostrum on the stage at the end of the Cafeteria. As per his orders to the caretaker staff, the ambient lights were dimmed and a spotlight was cast over the MC. Fian begain his speech on a solemn not. "Gentlemen, you now know firsthand that we are in a state of war with the NMX."

Here a volumetric screen appeared showing the critically wounded or dead marines as a result of the previous operation. While it was a short list, the names included Avel Sitkeas and Keladrian Santhis. "As with all wars there are casualties, the good men and women that we have lost in the service of the Imperium."

"A toast, please." Fian raised his small bottle of whisky and took a sip.

"Gentlemen we can only drink while we are alive. I want all of you to be at your best ability when the time comes to prove yourselves. Being in the army is not about throwing your life away, but finding out how much it is worth. But if in that process you find that you have to buy it, please be sure not to sell yourselves short." The MC was still sombre here.

"To that end, once the awards ceremony is over there will be a shuttle service available to take any interested parties planetside for shore leave. To those who aren't taking advantage of this offer, I will be conducting a 'special training' to pass time." Here his mood lightened, and a small smirk could be seen at the last line.

A catchy patriotic song started playing in the background, making the situation a little upbeat. "Lets get on with the show. P2C Viktor Kingston, P2C Anselm Wyatt and P2C Seigmund Talbain." The spotlight expanded to include the rest of the stage, it and the MC both highlighted a line marked with duct tape that stretched across the stage. "Fall in!"

Sam quieted as the lights dimmed, and she focused her eyes on Fian, listening to his speech. She grimaced when he called Avel's name and touched the HHG in its holster at her side, remembering how she'd made the snap decision to 'defend' the rest of the ship from the wild woman. She still felt guilty, wondering if she had done the right thing by gunning her down.

She cheered when her fellow marines were called up to the stage, thinking all the while. Shore leave? Eh... guess I'll go. Can get me a hotel an' take this stupid-ass shit off... an' watch my shows.

Edward looked to the stage and focused his attention on the MC, when the toast was called for he did not have a drink, so he instead raised a forkful of food and took a bite, he did not smile, the sombre mood was infectious. As the names were called out his mood lightened and Edward paid careful attention, he clapped politely for every marine that took the stage.

"Fall in!" said the Master Chief.

Phaedra sprang bolt upright in her seat, bewildered. For a moment she forgot where she was, her surroundings slowly filtering through the haze before her eyes. She was still in the mess hall, and most of the crew had re-assembled there for the award ceremony. The Master Chief had called several of her squadmates up onto the stage and all eyes were focused upon them. Fortunately, this meant that most of the crew failed to notice Phaedra's sudden awakening.

And then the headache came. Phaedra grimaced and massaged her forehead with her right hand.

"Dammit; that was foolish," thought Phaedra, agitated at the circumstances she brought upon herself. She clenched her jaw and willed the pain away; she wasn't going to ruin something as important as an award ceremony because she drank too much.

Despite feeling like her skull was going to split in two, Phaedra managed to turn her grimace into her normal deadpan expression. She folded her hands infront of herself on the table and watched the proceedings with great interest.

Ran was leaning against the wall next to the door of the Cafeteria, slowly sipping a cup of whiskey, thankful for the fact that the caretakers had dimmed the lights in the room down. Probably being used to hating the rising sun when awaking in a hangover, the Chief hated bright lights and preferred dim lighting.

The Chief raised his glass and sipped his whiskey when the Master Chief asked for respects to the dead, partially out of genuine respect and partially out of a willingness to get drunk quicker.

Finished with his long swig, he watched the Marines called fall in, and upon the Master Chief's message regarding shore leave, decided to stay on.

Talbain observed the moment of silence near the doorway he had managed to get in before everything started. He didn't have anything to toast with so he stood in silence as the roll of names went by. When the Chief called out fall in he couldn't help but notice Phaedra's sudden movement. "Caught a napper" he thought to himself right before making his way up to the stage and taking the position of attention behind the taped line. The fact that Vel Steyr had called him P2C wasn't lost on him either.

Harrison raised his tiny little bottle of whisky in salute to the little cadre of soldiers called up to the Thin Silver Line at the front of the group. He upended the little bottle as soon as he was done holding it, and took a swig of the bottle.

"Congratulations, guys," The ex-merc said, still grinning.