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RP: 188604 [Pre-Bigger Problems] Post-meeting Meet-up

R

Rizzo

Masumi had walked the streets of former Osman City for a long time after her odd time spent using a different name and a cover story for the first time. The sun had long since risen over the murky green sea and touched the dusky orange dunes far inland. Masumi had seen the tourists and locals alike come out for the day and spent her time in the city in odd, interesting ways for the majority of the time without Candon, but when he was finally free of the meeting he hadn't a clue of where she was.

He telepathically reached out to Masumi through his communicator, "The meeting has ended, it's bad news. Where are you?"

Though she may have already known where she was and that Candon was not around, she turned about anyway, as if she would see him and was gaining her bearings all in one motion.

She replied in kind to his words with a telepathic communication, "Near the palace past the shops and restaurants. I'll be on the front steps."

He looked towards the palace in the distance and began his journey, looking for his pink-haired companion the whole way. In the back of his mind he wished he could call her more than just his girlfriend, companion, or lover but couldn't bring himself to ask what they really were. He was knew he loved her but the words to express what he felt were hard to conceive. Granted, he was generally in tune with his emotional side about as often as a cactus was found to be huggable.

Approaching the steps she'd claimed to be standing on he found no traces of pink, though hair bore no consistency when volumetrics were involved. He looked for what he knew, a curvaceous, dark-skinned beauty with... gray hair now?

He approached the woman with a bit of reserve. "Excuse me, miss," he played dumb, "I'm looking for a pretty girl, do you know where I can find one?"

A smile quickly found itself on Masumi's lips as she heard Candon's reserved tone. She thought back to the recent memories of the planet and the smile widened.

"I know of some establishments where that could be arranged," she said as she looked up at him from beneath her grey straight bangs. "Unless I'm enough for you."

Candon laid his hands her shoulders. He couldn't imagine being with anyone else. "You're all I could ever want," he claimed, leaning forward to kiss, "sorry to just leave you alone like that."

The scientist's eyes creased as she smiled at Candon and said to him, "You never have to worry about me being on my own. I know these past few months..." she thought on it and corrected herself, "This past year or two we're always together but," she said, "you don't have to worry."

Candon's mind froze, his body stopping. Worrying was his innermost trait, what drove him to want to know every secret his potential enemies kept and keep tabs on what they were doing. Anxiety was a commodity in endless supply to him. Just the word itself induced worry and panic.

"Sorry, I just- you know... worry... a lot, about everything," he confessed, "I know you can handle things by yourself, I trust you. Completely, I trust you... it's people I don't trust."

Something had alerted her to a distinct stiffness that had overcome him once she started talking. Her infatuation with him and how he made her feel in that moment, though, dissuaded her from having too many concerns about the cause. She was almost ready to go in for a kiss of her own when he showed his concerns more apparently, through his words. Her lips pursed, but not in an anticapatory kissing gesture, instead in thought while she clasped his hand and walked with him up the steps.

"Tell me more, Candon, about the people you know you can't trust... And then about the people you don't want to trust." Masumi said, trailing off once as she changed tone to denote the heavy difference between the two.

"Well, I can't trust SAINT secretaries because they blow my cover with diplomacy, politicians won't be honest with me, Jack is outsourcing labor so I find it hard to believe he's invested here...," Candon paused, "this might not sound right, so bear with me... I don't trust sentient beings in general. They lie, backstab, and destroy what others make... all things I do."

His breathing slowed to a crawl as he forced himself to admit to Masumi who he trusted the least, "I don't trust myself to make the best decisions when other people are involved."

Masumi gripped his hand softly as they entered the main doors of the derelict former palace that Uso had once used as her center of stellar observations and other matters of importance. It was sparsely furnished and completely empty, so Masumi took them through the front foyer while she spoke.

"I don't even know if I trust myself, either, Candon," Masumi said, not quite realizing the gravity of Candon's past and how that affected his present and future.

Continuing to walk with Masumi, holding her soft hand in his. The touch was as electrifying as the first time he'd touched her. "Maybe that's the way it's meant to be," Candon mused, "it has taken me years to learn to be confident, or at least seem like I am."

Masumi nodded, eyes bright underneath her straight bangs. "I am happy with who you are now and how you think of yourself. None of us are inherently perfect, though. You understand that, right?" she asked, nudging into him gently with her shoulder.

Letting go of her hand he slipped his own behind Masumi's back, laying it on her waist. Candon couldn't help but smile with her there.

"All too well, " he answered, then chuckled, "it makes me wonder how I found the most perfect woman."

Trying to hide the splash of smile that grew on her face for a moment, she swayed her head back towards him a moment later and leaned the side of her head against his shoulder while they perused the many little intracacies of the palace's innards until they were up to the only upper floor and were inside an incredibly open room due to the huge hole in the ceiling that spanned tens of feet that had been somewhat shoddily replaced with a wooden roof. There was science equipment spread across the table near a series of varying telescopes.

Masumi had left Candon's immediate side and had picked up a small holoprojector and then looked to Candon, asking, "Should I turn it on?"

Candon saw no danger, or owner for that matter. It looked like the palace had been abandoned, making the projector salvage. Even if they were trespassing there wasn't much anybody could do about it.

"Seems fine," he observed, "light it up."

She opened the holoprojector's last image, which was a drone control system being worked on a designer named Naida. Masumi crinkled her nose as she looked at the model and then moved a few things about to see more of the design. Her eyes digested what she was looking at and moved to Candon's.

"I could make stuff like this, you know. I could study under Wazu a few weeks and I can start to find ways to help you, your company, Uso if that makes you happy," Masumi told Candon as she closed the holoprojector and took out her science scanner and began examining different parts of the lab in between looking back at Candon, pink hair swinging in the air as she did.

The swinging of hair was distracting, hypnotic even. Candon had almost missed the question. It was a funny little question, achieving happiness through engineering. He laughed quietly.

"You score yourself a rich boyfriend and ask him for a job?" he teased jokingly, "I think we can use all the help we can get these days, you could help a lot with the engineering teams. Most of them don't have your kind of training. In fact, most of them are here because they couldn't make the cut in other companies... what would make you happy?"

"There's no way to be sure I'll make the cut, either," Masumi said as she closed the scanner, a little less than self assured, though she didn't let that dissuade her from planning and plotting and trying. "But I'll see if that makes me happy, but I... I really don't know how to answer your question."

She went back to his side and bumped his hip with her own yoga-pant fitted one. "I know scoring myself a handsome boyfriend is one thing that made me happy. I can see that being enough to keep me happy the rest of my life, Candon." She had stayed where her hip had met his and her eyes glittered from beneath her cotton candy bangs. Her jaw jutted forward slightly and she breathed in quickly before her eyes shifted to his lips.

She stayed there while she told him, "Nothing can take that away."

The hardened man's heart had completely melted with a joy greater than passion. For the first time in years he had dropped his guard entirely. Turning to face her he pulled her close, moving his offhand to caress her face while his other traveled up her spine. He leaned forward once more, this time with no intention of backing away.

He would kiss the woman he loved with an insatiable passion, a product of the love growing inside his heart that pounded hard enough for her superhuman ears to hear.

Masumi was capable and willing to adjust her body to better form to the contours of Candon's own embrace, but she wasn't ready for the unbreakable bond that she realized had formed over the course of months in a fashion stronger than she had known was possible.

Emotions coursed through her that made her all the more attached to the moment in time with him. There was a closeness about their person that she had once yearned for in unspeakable amounts but the kiss, the lust, the passion there was somehow overshadowed by the love. She pushed back into the kiss and let her fingertips press into the solidity of his back as she did.

Time stopped as the moment became a minute and onward as their passionate expression progressed to the nearby desk.

As the passionate cycle of escalation began Masumi would be the first to point out the obvious, "Can-Candon..." she bit her lip, then smiled as she looked at him after making him pause in the adventure they were becoming consumed in. "Let's think about taking this somewhere with sheets." She lifted a hand to show the thick layers of soot and dust on it from merely setting it down on the desk.

"Damn, I hate planets," Candon swore as he began forcing his libido into a state of suspension. "We can make it back in time!" Candon declared as he took Masumi's hand. The two clean cut Yamataians would race on foot to the two seater YV1 they'd arrived in earlier to flee the dusty planet enroute to the space station penthouse they called home for the time being.
 
Location: Executive Penthouse
Time: 1523 hours


Their sleep schedule had been quite odd during their first week in orbit. Jet lag stretched over the course of a hundred light-years had barely affected them, but to no surprise give the couples occupation as interstellar super soldiers. The amount of time they spent in bed their first week on 188604 couldn't reasonably be blamed on the change in time zone.

Under the transparent durandium ceiling Candon and Masumi lay beside each other exhausted but wide awake, lazily cosseting and petting each other as they watched the planet above turn. Two outfits lay on the Ottoman by the foot of the bed folded and stacked neatly under footwear.

The look and feel of the penthouse was a very modern and clean blend of white marble and stainless steel. The lighting was dim so they could get the best view of the planet above.

"There's beautiful about it, despite all the dust and discord," Candon commented on the planet above them, "the NMX are coming here. That wannabe Elysian empire is forcing us to participate in a fleet battle, that's what the meeting was about. I'm calling in everything we have. It's going to get really bad."

In the faint reflection of the transparent ceiling Candon would be able to see Masumi bite her tongue gently as she breathed in deeply, "I don't want to be there... At the meeting. But I'll participate if that's what is required."

Candon sighed heavily, to him requirements were for armies and corporations not his lover. "I wouldn't force you to do anything violent for me," Candon promised, turning to look directly at Masumi, "whether you help with this or not, I will still love you."

Her head moved a bit so that she was tucked into him and followed where his gaze had been earlier, to the ceiling. Her eyes softened as they settled on Candon's complete form as his legs entwined with hers. The sheets lay tossed to the side and the plush duvet, at the foot of the bed.

When he said the word violent, though, a fleeting thought ran through Masumi’s mind. Would it be possible? she wondered. Would the two of them always be required to be violent?

"This is different," is all she said. Contextually, though, it wasn't apparent how it was or what it was different from. "I have no inherent need to be violent, but I do not detest it. I am Neko, Candon. I can be there to protect you in the same way you do so for me, especially if that means there will be violence." Her eyes moved away from the faint reflection and to his tangible self in front of her.

"Have I told you today how much I like looking at you, Love?" It was blunt, cute, and most of all, genuinely said.

"You know, I had a feeling but I wasn't sure," Candon answered with playful sarcasm, as he rolled onto his side. Stroking his hand across her sheet covered hip up to caress her chest he smiled coyly. "Have I ever told you it kills me I can brag about you to all my friends out here?"

Masumi didn't realize how happy that would make her to hear, but a wide smile filled her face. Her body moved so that her whole front pressed into his as she faced him more fully. One hand of hers found its way over a ridge of his abdomen, and then smoothly seemed to glide over the rest of his muscled torso until she was holding his far hip. She gripped him there gently and pulled closer to him.

"The only people I can brag to about you fear you," Masumi commented, not teasingly or somberly, but in a frank way before the tone of her voice changed. "But the only friend I want is you."

Tears welled in the corners of his eyes as as he laid his head on her chest. He felt so unworthy of Masumi’s love it was painful. People feared him for good reason.for good reason, he knew how dangerous he was. It was why he'd pushed so many people away from his life, he'd even tried to push the love of his life away when they met, keeping her around as a pack mule for additional equipment and scientific assistance. There was no question of whether he deserved her, because he knew he didn't.

"What do you see in me?" he asked quietly, trying to keep an even voice, "I'm just a killer, a liar, and now a warlord. I don't deserve you."

Overwhelmingly, Masumi wanted to hold Candon close and put her lips to the top of his charcoal black hair and kiss it until she could tell the feelings connected to Candon's words were gone. The feeling both overwhelmed her and she wanted to reconcile it. Instead, she put her forehead to his and closed her long-lashed sapphire eyes and held Candon's body close to hers.

"I see more than those things," Masumi told him in a gentle whisper. "It's okay, though, if you don't. It doesn't matter if you don't believe yourself to be anything more than those things, Love. You should know," she said, releasing from pressing against his forehead with hers, "I believe in enough for more than the both of us. I always will too." She reflected on his words and almost felt warm droplets in her eyes as she realized the honesty to her next words, "No matter how much killing or lying..." She thought, then there was a lightness to her next statement, "Or warlording over Elysians and NMX and anyone. I will never stop believing in you."

He couldn't stop the smile she brought out of him as he looked up into her eyes, bright and blue. They urged him to keep up the work he'd started so far from home without her even knowing. And with war so close the boost in confidence was coming just in time. Kissing her ample bosom he finally concluded, "If we're going to battle we'd better-"

A small little utterance came from Masumi as she managed to look away from Candon's eyes for a small second while she looked down, at where there was nothing covering what she lusted for in that moment. And, so, she cut him off before he could tell her the models they would be piloting or the gear they needed. Her eyes spoke of want and her hands found purchase while she spoke out.

"One more time?" she asked before he could finish his sentence.
 
Location: FMS Dealership
Time: 1630

The temporary FMS dealer occupied a single hangar in sector 1, still the only open sector. The right side occupied by three of the infamous U-1 variable mecha sporting different loadouts, one still in jet form, and the right dominated by an arrangement of accessories with a single YV1 interceptor in the far corner by the closed bay door.

Finally clothed in nothing more than a teal skin suit with a drop holster and a standout dark grey butt/fanny pack. Being out in space with little more than a hundred pounds of Zesu armor, aether weaponry, and nothing much in between, one comes to appreciate the utility of something to store small cargo in.

Candon wore a spacesuit with more utilitarian features. Pockets lined the suit from shoulders to legs on the urban gray pressure suit, his PiCo bulged from the pocket on his right leg. His flat black NSP was home under his left arm.

Masumi strayed a bit from Candon as they walked, towards the mecha. "I'm ready for my first go. The manual seemed to be a bit sparse. Did you say a teenager wrote it?" Masumi put a hand on the stocky U-1's massive footless leg. There was a glow to her blue eyes just about every moment she looked at Candon, but there seemed to be a similar one as she looked the overly large variable mecha over.

"This will be fun," she said, spinning around to face him once more. Eyebrows knit together and her hand went to tug at the zipper in the center of her turtleneck collar. "I'm guessing a teenager didn't want to have to strip every time he got into this thing. I can keep my clothes on, right?"

"I think so," Candon answered, "most of the pilots I've seen wear something similar to what you're rocking."

Masumi half giggled and asked, "Is that so? I guess I'm part of the crowd, now." She looked to the Wahoo, now, and focused on Candon's fighter. "You always seem to have the best taste... Does this one have a name?" She moved close to him, resting her chin on his shoulder as she looked over the starfighter.

"It's a weird one, the guy named it after a fish. The YV1 'Wahoo' Interceptor..." he replied.

"But is it a flying fish that it was named after?" Masumi asked, raising her chin up to turn to him.

Candon thought about it for a moment. "I-I don't think so, but it's a pretty fast fish. One of the fastest in Yamatai's oceans, so he says," he answered, then rambled, "he could have called it a barracuda... those are fast. It's just not a very intimidating name... 'fear my Wahoo'- no, it's just not there."

Masumi took a step ahead of him, almost so that Candon could take in her exceedingly sly smile, "What if yours was named Kōku Wahoo, Love?" She tilted her head and her teeth showed past her pink lips.

Candon laughed with attempted reservation. It was definitely generic enough for him. "Yes! Flying Fish, I love it," he said with jovility, "it's perfect, that one's going on the hull."

Masumi tilted her head side to smile while her face lit up and then her peripherals caught something. At that point a salesman approached, obviously racing another of his another of his colleagues to the couple in space gear. Masumi glided behind Candon a small amount and turned away from the man.

"Good evening," he called, "I'm Lenny. If your lookin' for a two-seater these U-1s are the way to go."

Masumi coughed, "I think we'll be piloting separately." She looked to Candon for confirmation rather than Lenny.

"Yes, separate rides for the battle in a couple days," he confirmed, then realized by the salesman's face that he was among the majority that weren't informed yet of the coming conflict, "... it'll be great for business." The distraction of money missed the man completely, his face blank with concern for the future.

"Alright, Lenny, here's what we want. I'm getting a Wahoo, and I want it custom made to fit the dimension of a pilot wearing this," he directed the man, pushing a data chip into his hand which contained the dimensions of his Spectre powered armor, "this fine lady of mine will be taking whichever she prefers, and if it's a U-1 I want it insulated using our patented method. We will want guns when we return from our test flight...test flight... hey, are you still with me?..."

Lenny's face was still as blank as when he heard 'battle' mentioned. "Lenny, this is important," Candon tried getting through, "..... are- um... could you, ya know... just give me a sign if your getting any of this."

Lenny's head bobbed affirmativ- no, negati- it really wasn't following a clear path. The older colleague who'd previously lost the foot race started laughing from behind his datapad. He patted Lenny's shoulder as he stepped in for the shocked salesman. "Go get some coffee, Lenny," the bearded salesman directed with a nudge towards the cluster of desks they worked from.

Masumi chuckled from behind Candon very quietly for his ears only. For his part Candon couldn't decide whether to laugh or apologize for causing

"Sorry about that, Lenny gets weird when we talk about what these fighters are made for," he excused before introducing himself, "I'm Tim. I'll make sure your fighters are built your way, sir. Ma'am, would you like to see inside the cockpits?"

Masumi pointed with both fingers to the 40K KS production model U-1 and said, "I'd like to be fitted."

"Certainly ma'am, I can get you set up with one and a Pilot Companion AI to get you flying today.. oh, and 'fitting' for a mecha is just a seat adjustment," Tim explained, "let's go next door, I think we've got a couple ready for sale. These are just decorative."

Candon would take Masumi's hand as they followed the more confident salesman. He was loving the trip so far. Guns and metal never let him down, and now he was sharing it with someone he loved.

As they took a connecting door to the hangar next door they would find it filled with the two fighters in a variety of different colors. "If you don't see a color you like we can paint one for a thousand DA," Tim offered.

Nodding, Masumi held on to Candon's hand as they walked in and her eyes fell on two different colored U-1's. She made a mental note of her inability to decide between two. Instead of choosing immediately, she would ruminate on it. Until she knew, she wanted to hear from Candon which color he wanted.

"I'm looking for a simple black paint job that doesn't reflect light," Candon stated. Masumi huffed jokingly, shaking her head. Things sometimes were simplified to an extreme by Candon.

"We actually have one fresh off the assembly line all primered up," Tim informed, "you want any decals or art?"

"Shark teeth," Candon answered briefly, "and Kōku Wahoo on the tail."

"And a PA seating system. We'll have it done," Tim responded, matching Candon's brevity. "I've a U-1-02a you might like little lady. It's been pinked out like you wouldn't believe, everything is either hot pink or glossy black..."

Making a small little utterance first that sounded like a yelp at the word hot pink, Masumi said, "No, thank you on the former. Black it will be." She had gotten closer to Candon once more and then asked the salesman, "Tim? Can I get in matte like his, just on the front plate maybe a design of a very roughly painted and open circle, instead of the flowery one it has now. That is all I want and thank you." And Tim nodded, typing into his datapad. Masumi said, "Manabu is the right name, I think. It's what I'll be doing."

To Candon, she turned her body, "When can we fly?"

"Just as soon as we're paid, I guess," Candon answered, "I guess mine will take a while while they change seats and stuff. I guess I can ride with you, or take the two-seater we've been using."

Masumi's face blanched for a moment. It was one thing having her own life in her hands, now she had his, or at least she would once they were up in the air and out in space. A second later, though, the Neko nodded her head, "I would like to fly you around. It will be," she looked for the words. Not knowing whether she would end up killing both herself and her boyfriend made it, "...interesting."

Candon rolled his eyes, "I won't scream, not for any barrel roll or loop."

"Sounds like a promise to me," Masumi replied with nod.

"It about 200,000 Arkmarks but I'm sure you'll be back for equipment," Tim began talking finances, "how will you be paying?"

Candon reached into a belt pocket and handed to Tim a black plastic card with a blue stripe on the edge with a magnetic strip. The salesman was hesitant to even touch the payment since he was aware that those cards were like a blank check from the president of the corporation, giving Candon the appearance of being far more important than he'd initially thought.

"We'll have your U-1 fueled and taxi'd for you, ma'am," he stated, "when you're ready for us to paint just bring it by. I'll get you a PiCo right now." He headed back toward the other hangar. Down the row of fighters a man in Impulse powered armor with strategically placed yellow and black caution stripes approached a U-1 with device that looked like a small cannon. Taking aim at the space plane a field of distortion enveloped the front landing gear causing the ship to roll forward.

Placing a hand around her waist Candon commented on the new pilot. "Smart, beautiful, caring, and a fighter pilot... I am totally bragging about you."

"I won't stop you," Masumi said, hips swaying lightly against him as she did as they watched the variable mecha move towards them.
 
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