YSS Kaiyō
Wardroom
6日 2月 YE 39
0600 Hours
The hustle and bustle that was the norm for the Kaiyō crew was anything but slow on this day as those on the ship had much to do, as was standard. Soon after breakfast they would go about cleaning the ship, then they would begin their daily regimented training. But for now, they were obliged to sit down and enjoy their breakfast items.
Anastasia, not a usual early bird, wandered into the Wardroom in a sleepy manner. It was rare that she got ready and to breakfast before her energetic roommate. She took a look around as she made her way to the morning buffet. It looked like she skipped the comb that morning, partially damp black hair strung over her face. Her dark cobalt wings dragged lazily behind her, just a few inches away from the floor.
A rare sight entered the wardroom. The young Nepleslian boy walked in quietly and moved to grab something to eat. He normally was either training this early in the morning... or sleeping. There was no in between, that is till today. He stifled a yawn as he grabbed a few things and got himself some tea and moved to find a place to sit.
The somewhat timid XO made her way down from her shared quarters, her hair uncombed and wet compared to how it usually was and she looked like she had only just awoken. Her uniform in contrast was crisp and clean with the skirt ironed to a content level. She made her way to the buffet line quietly and looked over the morning's selections.
But then, there was Yoshida, who practically slid into the wardroom as if she had been running down the hall. Or floating. She looked like she had just taken a shower, changed, and combed her hair, all in the space of about ten minutes. She of course scanned the room like a predator searching for its prey before she finally grinned and bounded her way over to poor Anastasia, where she once again did the smooth criminal slide just before running into Anastasia, applying a firm hug to her friend.
Anastasia lifted her head a little bit, hearing the incoming Neko. She had gotten used to this by now, and lazily lifted her good wing out of the way while grabbing some food off of the buffet. She was hugged, moving the dark blue wing out of the way in time. She responded in a dull tone, still drifted away, "Moooorningg Yosh," She took her plate full of morsels and found herself a seat at a table with Orion, likely dragging her roommate with her.
And then there was Meissa. All in her usual glory and average morning look that said 'I just rolled out of bed two minutes ago.' Oh well. At least she kept her uniform clean this time around. She glanced around the room. No Mat...eh. She decided to slip in at the table with Anastasia and Yoshida.
"Morning. Mind if I just..." Meissa shoveled some food onto her plate and plopped herself into the chair beside Anastasia and Yoshida, and took a huge swig from the water canteen she carried with her at all times.
William looked around quietly and found a secluded table off to the side of the room and made his way over to it. He sat down quietly drinking his tea, and watching the others.
Yoshida similarly, but with only one arm, loaded a plate with goodies like the legendary steam buns, while the other remained firmly around Anastasia, this gave her just barely enough time to load it to her heart's content before she was dragged away due to her serious inability to release that hug. "Mornin' Ana! Sleep fine? Hi to you too Meissa!" Once Anastasia finally sat down the Hei let the technician go so they could both actually enjoy their meal without limbs getting in each other's way. She also gave a very enthusiastic wave to the samurai boy in training sitting all by his lonesome as she stuffed her face.
Anastasia gave a quiet and long yawn, not yet awake. "I slept like a rock."
William looked around, thinking that Yoshida must have been waving at someone else. When that turned out to not be the case he smiled softly, and held a hand up. Then quickly returned to sipping his tea.
Mat was late to breakfast today, as he had not woken up on time, and had rushed down to the mess hall after taking a shower. His hair was still wet and as he walked briskly in it flopped around slightly, spraying small glistening particles of water all around his face. He surveyed the choices for food before picking up a plate of pancakes before noticing Meissa and sitting down across from her. "Good morning Meissa."
Misaki took her food and walked to an adjacent table, sitting down and quietly beginning to eat. She stopped for a second only to yawn before blinking and looking to the entrances then back to her food again.
Orion got himself some pancakes over at the buffet, still in his usual morning semi drunk state, and made his way to the table.
"Aren't you looking fabulous today." Meissa teased. She knew she looked horrible. Quite frankly, she didn't care. She never cared. She did, however, reach over the table and flip Mat's floppy bit of hair around a few times.
Boing. Boing. Hehe. That was great.
Mat poked Meissa's hand away from his hair. "Stop iiit... I'm trying to eat. And what do you mean I look 'fabulous?' I didn't do anything different I think. You look nice though."
Meissa subconsciously ruffled her feathers. "The same reason why I said you look fabulous is the same reason why you said I look nice." She winked, shrugged, and started eating.
Anastasia took a look around, quietly eating a steam bun. She noticed the lone souls wandering about the board room, including their XO, wondering if the Taii would grace the meal with her presence. She noticed Orion and had a quiet laugh, before looking back over at Meissa. She hadn't quite warmed up to being social yet, but wanted to get to know the crew better.
Yoshida looked between the two, Mat and Meissa, as she silently came up with a ship name for them. For the moment she let the poor lonely people be poor and lonely, for this was much more important. "So are you two dating now?" This caused Meissa to giggle for a bit. Take that, Mat!
Mat did a double take at the question, what on earth could give that impression? He had never thought about this kind of thing . "I... I uhhh... I've never thought about it. I mean, Meissa is nice and uhhh..." At this Mat blushed a little, "Really pretty. Why would she be interested in me at all?"
Meisisa, of course, was waggling her eyebrows at him the entire time.
William raised an eyebrow at the table. He quietly stood and refilled his tea, before walking back over to his table. As he sat down again he closed his eyes and crossed his legs, quietly meditating, and practicing in his mind.
"No?" Yoshida asked, a bit confused. She was sure those two were at the very least, thinking about dating from the way meissa was acting. Maybe she was just seeing things, like the shipper fandoms that go around arbitrarily pairing anime characters together. "Just looked like it to me!" She took another bite of steam bun before giving anastasia yet another hug, pretending to be tired.
Meissa leaned towards Yoshida. "He has no idea." She whispered.
Misaki sipped at her tea, looking over to the table near to her before looking back to her food, which was starting to dwindle.
Orion chuckled from the other side of the table, hearing the sort of akward conversation going on. First time anyone had actually seen him chuckle.
"Ah." Was Yoshida's only response as she shook her head and giggled, before glacning to Anastasia. She was still a little weird with her about what happened on loveday, it was probably going to be eternally awkward. If only for herself towards Anastasia, on the inside.
Anastasia didn't seem fazed that much, zoned out from the rest of the conversation going on around her. Her emerald eyes were looking out into space between locks of black hair. She looked tired, still.
Taii Teien Eden had exited the bridge and asked Boss before she entered the wardroom, "So what's for breakfast?"
"A lovely array, Taii," came Boss' reply. "We have pancakes, sausages, bacon, and eggs scrambled to perfection. Would you care for me to alert the crew you will be arriving shortly?"
"No, no. Not necessary," Eden had said. "I'll say hello myself."
When the door of the wardroom slid open, she stood stalk still, waiting and wondering if there would be any salutes.
Yoshida, to her credit, shot up upon spotting Eden and quickly muttered "O-officer on deck" before giving the classic Yam style bow.
Anastasia turned her head to see the incoming captain, and stood up to face her, having Yoshida unlatch from her side. She have a respectful bow, quiet as usual. "Good morning."
Meissa, also to her own credit, made sure to carefully push out of her chair and not look like as much of a mess as Yoshida did. She gave Eden a firm salute this time. Her last salute she delivered when Eden appeared was pretty bad. She decided to not look terrible this time.
Misaki looked up and stood up groggily and bowed. As she came back up she rubbed her eyes before idly saying, "I wondered when you were going to get here."
Mat stood up and lifted his hand in a rough salute.
Orion stood up and saluted aswell, swallowing what he was chewing on.
Eden bowed, slowly, a bow that looked respectful in its lack of speed.
The Taii smiled widely when she had come back to standing erect and asked the crew with the smile still tugging on her lips, "How is everyone this morning?"
Yoshida gave a thumbs up and a big grin in awnser. "I'm doing fine but I'm pretty sure Ana is sleepy from sneaking out to work on the power armor or something!" Her tail swished around and swatted Anastasia playfully as she spoke, her hands quickly placing themselves behind her back as she stretched up to appear as tall as possible with her feet before finally sitting back down. Anastasia nodded, quietly.
"You know. The usual, Taii. Same breakfast, same routines, same oblivious dork." Meissa flicked Mat on the forehead, as if driving a nail of information through his skull that was no doubt infused with lead based on how dense it was.
Mat let out a sharp "Ow."
A voice floated up from the staircase. "Who's the dork again?" A head appeared from below-the duality of eyes and reddish brown hair marked the speaked as Arbitrated for those who haven't recognized her voice by this point. Standing with her torso but not her legs visible, she noted Eden's presence with a calm salute, as well as a, "Taii." Resuming her trek to being only slightly shorter than Yoshida and Eden, the cherry-winged Caelisolan meandered into a chair not adjacent to anyone else's. "Sorry about this, had some issues sleeping last night..." Having done her ST backup on the second, less chaotic day of the two designated for the nonmandatory process, in the event someone or something managed to kill this nerd she would at least come back to Seinosuke's face.
"You!" Meissa shouted back, face towards Arbs, but eyes on Mat. She walked away from the table and back into the buffet line. More food was to be had. Something healthy, maybe. She felt too stiff in the joints lately. Probably from having too much grease.
The Chui sat back down, and took a small sip of her tea before taking another bite of her pancakes. She looked up at Eden and made a smile after she swallowed before looking back to her food.
William was of in his own world, training and practicing. That is until his mind began to wander. Thinking of someone... "No..." He scolded himself, breaking his train of thought. As he looked up and realized that he had missed the Taii's entrance. "Oh no..." He whispered to himself. He looked around embarrased by his mistake and he stood. He silently walked over to the Taii and bowed deeply. "My appologies Taii... I was not paying attention, it won't happen again..." He said ashamidly.
"I don't fault you for it, but on a Star Army vessel abiding by Star Army obligations is necessary. I know you will in the future, I am sure." Eden spoke to William with a straight face, but as she looked around the room, she smiled once more. "I'm glad everyone is enjoying themselves to some capacity or another. Please, have fun with your reprieve from work for the moment to continue to have moments together that only bring you closer together. I and the XO have some work to get done, but if you have any questions to ask me, please do not hesitate to approach me with them."
With that, Eden walked over to Saki and put her hand on the XO's and said telepathically, "Saki, how are you this morning?"
Somewhere in the depths of her energy-deprived grey matter, Miss Shan realized that there was a lack of food in front of her, prompting a chain of events that included removing herself from the furniture and the proceeding to the buffet. In order, she acquired three helpings of eggs and a single pancake-arguably a bit much for one of the smol's stature, but she somehow always managed to eat it by the end of the hour.
"How do you have sleep issues?" Meissa asked Arbitrated. "You're taking naps all the time." She grabbed herself something healthy this round...or at least wanted to. But that chocolate doughnut looked so good.
Temptation was a bitch, Meissa decided. Maybe somewhat like her current behavior.
William blushed with embarrassment frowned. "Hai..." He said soflty, before quickly retreating to his corner. "Well... that sucked..." He thought as he started pushing his cup around like a child who had been scolded.
A quick response was recieved from the bird with the most firepower: "Rarely... I don't know what happened last night, though. It was.... rather unfortunate and disorienting." The tiny one returned to her previously-self-designated rump supporter with food in tow. It wasn't incredibly obvious unless someone were to have intensive knowledge in humanoid body language, but she was thinking about something that simultaneously pleased and maddened her-one emotion likely obvious to any observer, but not both.
"Bad dream?" Meissa asked. It appeared she managed to fight off most of her temptation this go around. This time, her plate had a few fresh fruits on it, and a nice bowl of cereal as she sat down again, this time next to Arbitrated. Of course, the doughnut remained. "...Say, there's a thing that's been bugging me ever since four days ago."
Meissa leaned forward a little bit, a few degrees, something that to a bystander would only look like her shifting weight, but to Arbs, was Meissa consciously shifting forward. "Have you ever felt lonely before?"
Saki looked up and responded to the Taii through touch, "Good, you should get some food and sit with me." She smiled almost closing her eyes as she did so.
Eden pressed her lips together as she tried to contain a wider smile then she had been sporting before. She walked over to the buffet and picked out some sausages and scrambled eggs, leaving the pancakes untouched. She wasn't especially hungry, Neko rarely were, but she liked the taste of things that came from animals more than flapjacks and carbs.
When she was done getting food, the Taii walked back towards the XO's table, but stopped halfway there and replied to Meissa's statement after eavesdropping.
"What's been bugging you, Nito Hei?" Taii Teien Eden asked.
"Trying to help a friend out." Meissa replied. The truth wasn't that far off, she told herself.
"Hm. Sometimes." Taking a measured portion of the mountain of eggs she had earlier stockpiled, Arblebarble shook herself proverbially and partially out of a talking mood.
"No, like, really lonely. Like you see people all around you, but for some weird reason space distorts so that it feels like you're trying to flag a ship down from an asteroid, but no one hails your distress signals?" Meissa replied. She bit into that doughnut. It was warm and fluffy. Didn't taste of guilt at all.
A slightly colder response-still warm, but not as warm: "No, no. Not like that, really. I've been rather content with myself being by myself for a significant amount of time. Not to say I do not enjoy company, or something similar, but no..." Measuring out some of the pancake and stacking a bit of egg on top, Nerdbitrated took the solid concoction to her food-hole, effectively shutting her up for a short time.
Oh god. It was a dark chocolate doughnut. Meissa made a face. She chewed, washed it down with some of the stuff from her canteen, and raised her canteen up...gently setting it down on the table.
"Change of topic. You think I'm making a terrible choice or no?" she asked.
Anastasia looked up at the Taii as she approached the table with Meissa and Arbs, giving a somewhat weak smile.
The Taii smiled back at Anastasia then looked back to Meissa with a rather concerned look on her face. The look was only there for an instant as it was replaced quickly by a discontent, but rather stoic face that lacked the true emotions she felt.
"Mmmmm?" The smolest of smols cleared her throat. "Whaddaya mean?"
"Pursuing my course of action. You know, dating Mat, doing whatever people who date do...that kind of stuff." Meissa replied. A small spot of blush began to creep into her complexion.
"Creating relationships is no small feat, Meissa. Let Arbitrated Shan come to those conclusions with her crew on her own," Eden said, adding to the conversation.
"Oh, now I'm just asking her for advice." Meissa replied. "I realized I, err...felt things for Mat a few days back. So now I'm stuck at this impasse on what to do. And unfortunately this time around I don't get a bunch of explosives and an Aether Beam, with a Mindy to boot, in order to blast my way through this wall."
Oh, did she wish she did have that. Actually screw that, give her a whole Plumeria to ram through the wall with. Or an entire battleship. Yeah, that would be great.
Shan, meanwhile, passed a look to her CO that implied heavily "Thank you." She didn't really know what to do with this sort of stuff... Unlike other girls she has a... 'disconnection' when it comes to emotions-not complete but significant.
"We are experts at a lot of things, being a part of Star Army, but that does not mean we are experts at love," Eden said, eyes closing as she thought on that. "I must be going, come to me if you have anything at all to speak about. I'll be eating with Norogumi-Chui."
After she had said that, she went over to the table that Norogumi Misaki sat at and gave her a quick smile, yellow eyes alighting at the sight of her.
Yoshida smiled and waved at her captian as she went off to sit with her target of fraternization before she turned back to Anastasia and tilted her head, letting out a 'hmmm' in contemplation. She was silent for several moments as she stared, slowly eating one of those delicious steambuns. She swatted her freind once or twice with her tail before swalloing and taking a breath. "You sure you are allright?"
Anastasia looked over at Yoshida, snapping back to reality. Her emerald eyes shrank back down to normal as they focused. "Yeah... not entirely sure if I actually slept last night."
Yoshida did not seem to apreciate that awnser in the least. "But whyyy? Am I going to have to tie you to your bed to make sure you get an actual night of sleep or something?" She sighed and giggled, shakking her head at anastasia with a grin- but there was a little worry in her eyes. "Something bothering you?"
Anastasia smiled, chuckling over Yoshida's jokes. The smile on her face faded into a neutral expression after a moment, before she went quiet again, looking around, and quickly sneaking a look at Orion. "...I'll tell you later, Koko." Yoshida sighed quietly in releif to this, nodded, and went back to finishing her food, but still kept one eye on Anastasia.
Saki tapped the chiar next to her as she pretty much finished her food and chased it with her warm tea. She looked back into the gold with her violet eyes as if to establish a visual connection between their souls.
Eden look back at Saki while she placed her fork back down after lifting it momentarily.
"What is it, my sweet?" Eden asked now that they shared a telepathic connection.
Misaki leaned her head onto the Taii's shoulder, "Nothing, I just like laying on you." She intertwined her close hand with Eden's free hand.
William looked around and down at his watch... It was almost time for training again, and had already made an ass out of himself. He quickly and quietly tied his 2 katanas and 2 kendo swords to his waist and put up his cup, and hastily made his exit as to not create another incident.
Eden looked around the room, then back at her XO, thinking about the implications of the two of them showing outward signs of affection. More than wanting to avoid embarrassment, she wanted to avoid making Saki anything less than happy.
"I couldn't feel the same way any more than I do, my sweet," Eden told her through their link. She looked at those stunning violet eyes she loved so much and then her cheeks were pushed up by a smile.
Meanwhile, Carter was off in his own little world at the table adjacent to the majority of the crew. He'd been one of the first in the wardroom, and had long since finished his breakfast. He was now busily writing in his notepad, with a glint in his eye and a grin that could only be described as worrying.
Now Meissa decided it was a good time to bring up another topic with her cabin-mate. She kept her voice down, so only the two of them could hear. "You haven't been talking to me much, even though we meet nearly every day. Are you...avoiding me?" she asked. She had her suspicions, of course.
"Hm? In a way, sometimes. Most of the time we are in different positions of the ship, but... Something about you is off-putting." The way she said that, cooly and calmly, it's like she didn't feel like hiding her intent. Not always a good trait but not always a bad one, either...
In this case, by how Meissa leaned back in her chair, it seemed to be a good thing. "Well, I do appreciate your honesty. To be honest a lot of people find me a bit off-putting. I'd say for good reason, too. Being a martial artist like me just sort of gets you sideways glances, like people always think you're gonna roundhouse them and kick their heads right off." Her wings rose up and lowered back down. "But they're all scared for the wrong reason. Unless I horribly hate you, which I don't, or I have orders to harm you, which I don't either, there's no reason to be scared. It's all part of the job. Like how you sort of enter a zen state when you slam away on enemy ships with those guns. All part of the job."
She swirled whatever liquid was in her canteen around. "Again, appreciate your honesty. Most other people would just straight up lie, or dampen the truth so much if you dampened a missile launcher's lock range by that much you couldn't hit a target two centimeters in front of you."
"Hm." The smol one stayed mostly unimpressed on the outside. "It's less your training, really... Mostly it's just, how you seem to be so cavalier about death, and constantly taunting it... Not even as just another soldier but, you single-handedly hold enough firepower to destroy a frigate, on your person... How do you take to that pressure so coolly?"
"Well, not many people ask that one." Meissa stopped swirling around the liquid and caught the bottle in her hand. "I just don't care about death, really. Too many people freak out about when or how they're gonna die, and if they can stop the clock."
Meissa popped the top off the canteen again, took a swig, put the top back on. "People get so caught up in that they forget how to live, you know? Just always constantly scared about dying, that their entire goal is just not dying."
"I say though," Meissa rebutted, "is 'not dying' really just living? Do you really live by not dying? Sure, you can argue that. But do you feel alive by 'not dying?' You can argue that a potted plant is alive because it's not dying. But it's not really doing anything with its life, is it? Only just doing what it should do, going through the same daily routine every single day, confined to its pot. It lives a boring and stale existence, dictated by the fear of death."
"Hm. I understand what you're trying to say, but it's not just your life I'm concerned about... It's the lives of everyone else in the squad. If you go up, they'll be hit by the force... It's not necessarily fear of my own death that has me worried. It's that I can, through actions or inaction, cause those around me to perish." Shan shook herself slightly, a shiver as if attempting to wiggle out from some sort of weight.
"Now the question comes," Meissa replied, "to what extent are you willing to act? If nobody acts, because nobody wants to die or wants anyone else around them to die, we'd still be docked at base. So, will you be the one to make the move, or will you let someone else make the move?"
"That," Leaning back slightly as another part of her meal digested, the weapons operator paused temporarily, "Depends on the action. If the action requires a specialist and said specialist is available, ecpect me to call them down."
"What if the action doesn't require anyone special, though? What if it just requires a person to act and nobody does it because they're all scared of a negative outcome that might result?" Pop. Drink. Put the lid back on the canteen.
"Then I'd do it if need be. I wouldn't go in guns blazing unless I was forced to but... Collecting information. How to get in, get out, what I'm actually supposed to be doing. If you say it's time sensitive then why are you calling for me? My time management capabilites are subpar at best."
"Well, everyone's called upon some time to do something they wouldn't normally do." Meissa replied, already beginning more in-depth analysis of her cabinmate. Passive. Timid. But with a will that probably would do what it took, if she had to. Admirable.
"True." Said cabinmate seemed to find little to elaborate upon at the time, thus giving a single word resoponse. Of course she'd sacrifice herself for those close to her-she needed to do so when she was but a child, and made a wrong turn or three. She moved her right hand below the table, gently tapping a scar on the side of her waist.
"I mean, let's be honest here." Meissa replied. "In some ways I'm totally and utterly insane and I should be in an asylum. But am I really insane? Some say I'm horrifically nihilistic and I should value life more and whatever. Not be such an idiot and do so many hot-headed things. But I say, what is life without slamming your face into a wall now and again because you tripped?"
"Hm. To each, her own... What's in that, anyways?" Gesturing with her left hand as her right reappeared, Arb indicated Meissa's canteen.
"Oh, this?" Meissa shook the canteen around. "Nasty, bitter herbal tea. I dumped four packs of sweetener into it and it still tastes like rusty dirt. But amazing for your health. This is what the fountain of eternal youth tastes like, Arbs. Want some?"
"Iiiii think I'll pass, actually. Although, Miss Meissa, thanks for spurning me to think about something similar-I should start carrying a flask or something of water with me more often."
"If you want, you can steal my spare," Meissa offered. "I never put anything in my spare unless if I lose this one."
"I'll be alright, thanks though..."
Eden's ears had picked up all of the conversations in the wardroom and she looked to Saki, thinking to her XO, "Breakfasts are so much more serene when alone with you."
Saki nodded, and continued to look with her piercing violet eyes. "Being together, alone, and to ourselves always helps." She giggled audibly and went back to her leaning.
"This is nice, in its own way," Eden mused to her telepathically. "I like one more than the other, though. You are finished eating and I'm not necessarily hungry for any more of this, though the eggs were phenomenal and sausage wasn't bad. We have to thank our cooks..." She then stood and pushed out her chest, stretching her back. "Let's go," she then said aloud.
Misaki stood as Eden did and mimicked her chest movements to the letter and audibly spoke, "Yes, love." She didn't care about the uniform, or was she just making it known?
Eden smirked, then walked ahead and out the wardroom with a salute to her crew before leaving completely, Saki close in tail.
Finding her time almost up, her plate empty, and the conversation finished, Miss Shan busied herself with cleaning up the various dishes and silverware that had been used by herself and her crewmates before returning to the lounge.
Wardroom
6日 2月 YE 39
0600 Hours
The hustle and bustle that was the norm for the Kaiyō crew was anything but slow on this day as those on the ship had much to do, as was standard. Soon after breakfast they would go about cleaning the ship, then they would begin their daily regimented training. But for now, they were obliged to sit down and enjoy their breakfast items.
Anastasia, not a usual early bird, wandered into the Wardroom in a sleepy manner. It was rare that she got ready and to breakfast before her energetic roommate. She took a look around as she made her way to the morning buffet. It looked like she skipped the comb that morning, partially damp black hair strung over her face. Her dark cobalt wings dragged lazily behind her, just a few inches away from the floor.
A rare sight entered the wardroom. The young Nepleslian boy walked in quietly and moved to grab something to eat. He normally was either training this early in the morning... or sleeping. There was no in between, that is till today. He stifled a yawn as he grabbed a few things and got himself some tea and moved to find a place to sit.
The somewhat timid XO made her way down from her shared quarters, her hair uncombed and wet compared to how it usually was and she looked like she had only just awoken. Her uniform in contrast was crisp and clean with the skirt ironed to a content level. She made her way to the buffet line quietly and looked over the morning's selections.
But then, there was Yoshida, who practically slid into the wardroom as if she had been running down the hall. Or floating. She looked like she had just taken a shower, changed, and combed her hair, all in the space of about ten minutes. She of course scanned the room like a predator searching for its prey before she finally grinned and bounded her way over to poor Anastasia, where she once again did the smooth criminal slide just before running into Anastasia, applying a firm hug to her friend.
Anastasia lifted her head a little bit, hearing the incoming Neko. She had gotten used to this by now, and lazily lifted her good wing out of the way while grabbing some food off of the buffet. She was hugged, moving the dark blue wing out of the way in time. She responded in a dull tone, still drifted away, "Moooorningg Yosh," She took her plate full of morsels and found herself a seat at a table with Orion, likely dragging her roommate with her.
And then there was Meissa. All in her usual glory and average morning look that said 'I just rolled out of bed two minutes ago.' Oh well. At least she kept her uniform clean this time around. She glanced around the room. No Mat...eh. She decided to slip in at the table with Anastasia and Yoshida.
"Morning. Mind if I just..." Meissa shoveled some food onto her plate and plopped herself into the chair beside Anastasia and Yoshida, and took a huge swig from the water canteen she carried with her at all times.
William looked around quietly and found a secluded table off to the side of the room and made his way over to it. He sat down quietly drinking his tea, and watching the others.
Yoshida similarly, but with only one arm, loaded a plate with goodies like the legendary steam buns, while the other remained firmly around Anastasia, this gave her just barely enough time to load it to her heart's content before she was dragged away due to her serious inability to release that hug. "Mornin' Ana! Sleep fine? Hi to you too Meissa!" Once Anastasia finally sat down the Hei let the technician go so they could both actually enjoy their meal without limbs getting in each other's way. She also gave a very enthusiastic wave to the samurai boy in training sitting all by his lonesome as she stuffed her face.
Anastasia gave a quiet and long yawn, not yet awake. "I slept like a rock."
William looked around, thinking that Yoshida must have been waving at someone else. When that turned out to not be the case he smiled softly, and held a hand up. Then quickly returned to sipping his tea.
Mat was late to breakfast today, as he had not woken up on time, and had rushed down to the mess hall after taking a shower. His hair was still wet and as he walked briskly in it flopped around slightly, spraying small glistening particles of water all around his face. He surveyed the choices for food before picking up a plate of pancakes before noticing Meissa and sitting down across from her. "Good morning Meissa."
Misaki took her food and walked to an adjacent table, sitting down and quietly beginning to eat. She stopped for a second only to yawn before blinking and looking to the entrances then back to her food again.
Orion got himself some pancakes over at the buffet, still in his usual morning semi drunk state, and made his way to the table.
"Aren't you looking fabulous today." Meissa teased. She knew she looked horrible. Quite frankly, she didn't care. She never cared. She did, however, reach over the table and flip Mat's floppy bit of hair around a few times.
Boing. Boing. Hehe. That was great.
Mat poked Meissa's hand away from his hair. "Stop iiit... I'm trying to eat. And what do you mean I look 'fabulous?' I didn't do anything different I think. You look nice though."
Meissa subconsciously ruffled her feathers. "The same reason why I said you look fabulous is the same reason why you said I look nice." She winked, shrugged, and started eating.
Anastasia took a look around, quietly eating a steam bun. She noticed the lone souls wandering about the board room, including their XO, wondering if the Taii would grace the meal with her presence. She noticed Orion and had a quiet laugh, before looking back over at Meissa. She hadn't quite warmed up to being social yet, but wanted to get to know the crew better.
Yoshida looked between the two, Mat and Meissa, as she silently came up with a ship name for them. For the moment she let the poor lonely people be poor and lonely, for this was much more important. "So are you two dating now?" This caused Meissa to giggle for a bit. Take that, Mat!
Mat did a double take at the question, what on earth could give that impression? He had never thought about this kind of thing . "I... I uhhh... I've never thought about it. I mean, Meissa is nice and uhhh..." At this Mat blushed a little, "Really pretty. Why would she be interested in me at all?"
Meisisa, of course, was waggling her eyebrows at him the entire time.
William raised an eyebrow at the table. He quietly stood and refilled his tea, before walking back over to his table. As he sat down again he closed his eyes and crossed his legs, quietly meditating, and practicing in his mind.
"No?" Yoshida asked, a bit confused. She was sure those two were at the very least, thinking about dating from the way meissa was acting. Maybe she was just seeing things, like the shipper fandoms that go around arbitrarily pairing anime characters together. "Just looked like it to me!" She took another bite of steam bun before giving anastasia yet another hug, pretending to be tired.
Meissa leaned towards Yoshida. "He has no idea." She whispered.
Misaki sipped at her tea, looking over to the table near to her before looking back to her food, which was starting to dwindle.
Orion chuckled from the other side of the table, hearing the sort of akward conversation going on. First time anyone had actually seen him chuckle.
"Ah." Was Yoshida's only response as she shook her head and giggled, before glacning to Anastasia. She was still a little weird with her about what happened on loveday, it was probably going to be eternally awkward. If only for herself towards Anastasia, on the inside.
Anastasia didn't seem fazed that much, zoned out from the rest of the conversation going on around her. Her emerald eyes were looking out into space between locks of black hair. She looked tired, still.
Taii Teien Eden had exited the bridge and asked Boss before she entered the wardroom, "So what's for breakfast?"
"A lovely array, Taii," came Boss' reply. "We have pancakes, sausages, bacon, and eggs scrambled to perfection. Would you care for me to alert the crew you will be arriving shortly?"
"No, no. Not necessary," Eden had said. "I'll say hello myself."
When the door of the wardroom slid open, she stood stalk still, waiting and wondering if there would be any salutes.
Yoshida, to her credit, shot up upon spotting Eden and quickly muttered "O-officer on deck" before giving the classic Yam style bow.
Anastasia turned her head to see the incoming captain, and stood up to face her, having Yoshida unlatch from her side. She have a respectful bow, quiet as usual. "Good morning."
Meissa, also to her own credit, made sure to carefully push out of her chair and not look like as much of a mess as Yoshida did. She gave Eden a firm salute this time. Her last salute she delivered when Eden appeared was pretty bad. She decided to not look terrible this time.
Misaki looked up and stood up groggily and bowed. As she came back up she rubbed her eyes before idly saying, "I wondered when you were going to get here."
Mat stood up and lifted his hand in a rough salute.
Orion stood up and saluted aswell, swallowing what he was chewing on.
Eden bowed, slowly, a bow that looked respectful in its lack of speed.
The Taii smiled widely when she had come back to standing erect and asked the crew with the smile still tugging on her lips, "How is everyone this morning?"
Yoshida gave a thumbs up and a big grin in awnser. "I'm doing fine but I'm pretty sure Ana is sleepy from sneaking out to work on the power armor or something!" Her tail swished around and swatted Anastasia playfully as she spoke, her hands quickly placing themselves behind her back as she stretched up to appear as tall as possible with her feet before finally sitting back down. Anastasia nodded, quietly.
"You know. The usual, Taii. Same breakfast, same routines, same oblivious dork." Meissa flicked Mat on the forehead, as if driving a nail of information through his skull that was no doubt infused with lead based on how dense it was.
Mat let out a sharp "Ow."
A voice floated up from the staircase. "Who's the dork again?" A head appeared from below-the duality of eyes and reddish brown hair marked the speaked as Arbitrated for those who haven't recognized her voice by this point. Standing with her torso but not her legs visible, she noted Eden's presence with a calm salute, as well as a, "Taii." Resuming her trek to being only slightly shorter than Yoshida and Eden, the cherry-winged Caelisolan meandered into a chair not adjacent to anyone else's. "Sorry about this, had some issues sleeping last night..." Having done her ST backup on the second, less chaotic day of the two designated for the nonmandatory process, in the event someone or something managed to kill this nerd she would at least come back to Seinosuke's face.
"You!" Meissa shouted back, face towards Arbs, but eyes on Mat. She walked away from the table and back into the buffet line. More food was to be had. Something healthy, maybe. She felt too stiff in the joints lately. Probably from having too much grease.
The Chui sat back down, and took a small sip of her tea before taking another bite of her pancakes. She looked up at Eden and made a smile after she swallowed before looking back to her food.
William was of in his own world, training and practicing. That is until his mind began to wander. Thinking of someone... "No..." He scolded himself, breaking his train of thought. As he looked up and realized that he had missed the Taii's entrance. "Oh no..." He whispered to himself. He looked around embarrased by his mistake and he stood. He silently walked over to the Taii and bowed deeply. "My appologies Taii... I was not paying attention, it won't happen again..." He said ashamidly.
"I don't fault you for it, but on a Star Army vessel abiding by Star Army obligations is necessary. I know you will in the future, I am sure." Eden spoke to William with a straight face, but as she looked around the room, she smiled once more. "I'm glad everyone is enjoying themselves to some capacity or another. Please, have fun with your reprieve from work for the moment to continue to have moments together that only bring you closer together. I and the XO have some work to get done, but if you have any questions to ask me, please do not hesitate to approach me with them."
With that, Eden walked over to Saki and put her hand on the XO's and said telepathically, "Saki, how are you this morning?"
Somewhere in the depths of her energy-deprived grey matter, Miss Shan realized that there was a lack of food in front of her, prompting a chain of events that included removing herself from the furniture and the proceeding to the buffet. In order, she acquired three helpings of eggs and a single pancake-arguably a bit much for one of the smol's stature, but she somehow always managed to eat it by the end of the hour.
"How do you have sleep issues?" Meissa asked Arbitrated. "You're taking naps all the time." She grabbed herself something healthy this round...or at least wanted to. But that chocolate doughnut looked so good.
Temptation was a bitch, Meissa decided. Maybe somewhat like her current behavior.
William blushed with embarrassment frowned. "Hai..." He said soflty, before quickly retreating to his corner. "Well... that sucked..." He thought as he started pushing his cup around like a child who had been scolded.
A quick response was recieved from the bird with the most firepower: "Rarely... I don't know what happened last night, though. It was.... rather unfortunate and disorienting." The tiny one returned to her previously-self-designated rump supporter with food in tow. It wasn't incredibly obvious unless someone were to have intensive knowledge in humanoid body language, but she was thinking about something that simultaneously pleased and maddened her-one emotion likely obvious to any observer, but not both.
"Bad dream?" Meissa asked. It appeared she managed to fight off most of her temptation this go around. This time, her plate had a few fresh fruits on it, and a nice bowl of cereal as she sat down again, this time next to Arbitrated. Of course, the doughnut remained. "...Say, there's a thing that's been bugging me ever since four days ago."
Meissa leaned forward a little bit, a few degrees, something that to a bystander would only look like her shifting weight, but to Arbs, was Meissa consciously shifting forward. "Have you ever felt lonely before?"
Saki looked up and responded to the Taii through touch, "Good, you should get some food and sit with me." She smiled almost closing her eyes as she did so.
Eden pressed her lips together as she tried to contain a wider smile then she had been sporting before. She walked over to the buffet and picked out some sausages and scrambled eggs, leaving the pancakes untouched. She wasn't especially hungry, Neko rarely were, but she liked the taste of things that came from animals more than flapjacks and carbs.
When she was done getting food, the Taii walked back towards the XO's table, but stopped halfway there and replied to Meissa's statement after eavesdropping.
"What's been bugging you, Nito Hei?" Taii Teien Eden asked.
"Trying to help a friend out." Meissa replied. The truth wasn't that far off, she told herself.
"Hm. Sometimes." Taking a measured portion of the mountain of eggs she had earlier stockpiled, Arblebarble shook herself proverbially and partially out of a talking mood.
"No, like, really lonely. Like you see people all around you, but for some weird reason space distorts so that it feels like you're trying to flag a ship down from an asteroid, but no one hails your distress signals?" Meissa replied. She bit into that doughnut. It was warm and fluffy. Didn't taste of guilt at all.
A slightly colder response-still warm, but not as warm: "No, no. Not like that, really. I've been rather content with myself being by myself for a significant amount of time. Not to say I do not enjoy company, or something similar, but no..." Measuring out some of the pancake and stacking a bit of egg on top, Nerdbitrated took the solid concoction to her food-hole, effectively shutting her up for a short time.
Oh god. It was a dark chocolate doughnut. Meissa made a face. She chewed, washed it down with some of the stuff from her canteen, and raised her canteen up...gently setting it down on the table.
"Change of topic. You think I'm making a terrible choice or no?" she asked.
Anastasia looked up at the Taii as she approached the table with Meissa and Arbs, giving a somewhat weak smile.
The Taii smiled back at Anastasia then looked back to Meissa with a rather concerned look on her face. The look was only there for an instant as it was replaced quickly by a discontent, but rather stoic face that lacked the true emotions she felt.
"Mmmmm?" The smolest of smols cleared her throat. "Whaddaya mean?"
"Pursuing my course of action. You know, dating Mat, doing whatever people who date do...that kind of stuff." Meissa replied. A small spot of blush began to creep into her complexion.
"Creating relationships is no small feat, Meissa. Let Arbitrated Shan come to those conclusions with her crew on her own," Eden said, adding to the conversation.
"Oh, now I'm just asking her for advice." Meissa replied. "I realized I, err...felt things for Mat a few days back. So now I'm stuck at this impasse on what to do. And unfortunately this time around I don't get a bunch of explosives and an Aether Beam, with a Mindy to boot, in order to blast my way through this wall."
Oh, did she wish she did have that. Actually screw that, give her a whole Plumeria to ram through the wall with. Or an entire battleship. Yeah, that would be great.
Shan, meanwhile, passed a look to her CO that implied heavily "Thank you." She didn't really know what to do with this sort of stuff... Unlike other girls she has a... 'disconnection' when it comes to emotions-not complete but significant.
"We are experts at a lot of things, being a part of Star Army, but that does not mean we are experts at love," Eden said, eyes closing as she thought on that. "I must be going, come to me if you have anything at all to speak about. I'll be eating with Norogumi-Chui."
After she had said that, she went over to the table that Norogumi Misaki sat at and gave her a quick smile, yellow eyes alighting at the sight of her.
Yoshida smiled and waved at her captian as she went off to sit with her target of fraternization before she turned back to Anastasia and tilted her head, letting out a 'hmmm' in contemplation. She was silent for several moments as she stared, slowly eating one of those delicious steambuns. She swatted her freind once or twice with her tail before swalloing and taking a breath. "You sure you are allright?"
Anastasia looked over at Yoshida, snapping back to reality. Her emerald eyes shrank back down to normal as they focused. "Yeah... not entirely sure if I actually slept last night."
Yoshida did not seem to apreciate that awnser in the least. "But whyyy? Am I going to have to tie you to your bed to make sure you get an actual night of sleep or something?" She sighed and giggled, shakking her head at anastasia with a grin- but there was a little worry in her eyes. "Something bothering you?"
Anastasia smiled, chuckling over Yoshida's jokes. The smile on her face faded into a neutral expression after a moment, before she went quiet again, looking around, and quickly sneaking a look at Orion. "...I'll tell you later, Koko." Yoshida sighed quietly in releif to this, nodded, and went back to finishing her food, but still kept one eye on Anastasia.
Saki tapped the chiar next to her as she pretty much finished her food and chased it with her warm tea. She looked back into the gold with her violet eyes as if to establish a visual connection between their souls.
Eden look back at Saki while she placed her fork back down after lifting it momentarily.
"What is it, my sweet?" Eden asked now that they shared a telepathic connection.
Misaki leaned her head onto the Taii's shoulder, "Nothing, I just like laying on you." She intertwined her close hand with Eden's free hand.
William looked around and down at his watch... It was almost time for training again, and had already made an ass out of himself. He quickly and quietly tied his 2 katanas and 2 kendo swords to his waist and put up his cup, and hastily made his exit as to not create another incident.
Eden looked around the room, then back at her XO, thinking about the implications of the two of them showing outward signs of affection. More than wanting to avoid embarrassment, she wanted to avoid making Saki anything less than happy.
"I couldn't feel the same way any more than I do, my sweet," Eden told her through their link. She looked at those stunning violet eyes she loved so much and then her cheeks were pushed up by a smile.
Meanwhile, Carter was off in his own little world at the table adjacent to the majority of the crew. He'd been one of the first in the wardroom, and had long since finished his breakfast. He was now busily writing in his notepad, with a glint in his eye and a grin that could only be described as worrying.
Now Meissa decided it was a good time to bring up another topic with her cabin-mate. She kept her voice down, so only the two of them could hear. "You haven't been talking to me much, even though we meet nearly every day. Are you...avoiding me?" she asked. She had her suspicions, of course.
"Hm? In a way, sometimes. Most of the time we are in different positions of the ship, but... Something about you is off-putting." The way she said that, cooly and calmly, it's like she didn't feel like hiding her intent. Not always a good trait but not always a bad one, either...
In this case, by how Meissa leaned back in her chair, it seemed to be a good thing. "Well, I do appreciate your honesty. To be honest a lot of people find me a bit off-putting. I'd say for good reason, too. Being a martial artist like me just sort of gets you sideways glances, like people always think you're gonna roundhouse them and kick their heads right off." Her wings rose up and lowered back down. "But they're all scared for the wrong reason. Unless I horribly hate you, which I don't, or I have orders to harm you, which I don't either, there's no reason to be scared. It's all part of the job. Like how you sort of enter a zen state when you slam away on enemy ships with those guns. All part of the job."
She swirled whatever liquid was in her canteen around. "Again, appreciate your honesty. Most other people would just straight up lie, or dampen the truth so much if you dampened a missile launcher's lock range by that much you couldn't hit a target two centimeters in front of you."
"Hm." The smol one stayed mostly unimpressed on the outside. "It's less your training, really... Mostly it's just, how you seem to be so cavalier about death, and constantly taunting it... Not even as just another soldier but, you single-handedly hold enough firepower to destroy a frigate, on your person... How do you take to that pressure so coolly?"
"Well, not many people ask that one." Meissa stopped swirling around the liquid and caught the bottle in her hand. "I just don't care about death, really. Too many people freak out about when or how they're gonna die, and if they can stop the clock."
Meissa popped the top off the canteen again, took a swig, put the top back on. "People get so caught up in that they forget how to live, you know? Just always constantly scared about dying, that their entire goal is just not dying."
"I say though," Meissa rebutted, "is 'not dying' really just living? Do you really live by not dying? Sure, you can argue that. But do you feel alive by 'not dying?' You can argue that a potted plant is alive because it's not dying. But it's not really doing anything with its life, is it? Only just doing what it should do, going through the same daily routine every single day, confined to its pot. It lives a boring and stale existence, dictated by the fear of death."
"Hm. I understand what you're trying to say, but it's not just your life I'm concerned about... It's the lives of everyone else in the squad. If you go up, they'll be hit by the force... It's not necessarily fear of my own death that has me worried. It's that I can, through actions or inaction, cause those around me to perish." Shan shook herself slightly, a shiver as if attempting to wiggle out from some sort of weight.
"Now the question comes," Meissa replied, "to what extent are you willing to act? If nobody acts, because nobody wants to die or wants anyone else around them to die, we'd still be docked at base. So, will you be the one to make the move, or will you let someone else make the move?"
"That," Leaning back slightly as another part of her meal digested, the weapons operator paused temporarily, "Depends on the action. If the action requires a specialist and said specialist is available, ecpect me to call them down."
"What if the action doesn't require anyone special, though? What if it just requires a person to act and nobody does it because they're all scared of a negative outcome that might result?" Pop. Drink. Put the lid back on the canteen.
"Then I'd do it if need be. I wouldn't go in guns blazing unless I was forced to but... Collecting information. How to get in, get out, what I'm actually supposed to be doing. If you say it's time sensitive then why are you calling for me? My time management capabilites are subpar at best."
"Well, everyone's called upon some time to do something they wouldn't normally do." Meissa replied, already beginning more in-depth analysis of her cabinmate. Passive. Timid. But with a will that probably would do what it took, if she had to. Admirable.
"True." Said cabinmate seemed to find little to elaborate upon at the time, thus giving a single word resoponse. Of course she'd sacrifice herself for those close to her-she needed to do so when she was but a child, and made a wrong turn or three. She moved her right hand below the table, gently tapping a scar on the side of her waist.
"I mean, let's be honest here." Meissa replied. "In some ways I'm totally and utterly insane and I should be in an asylum. But am I really insane? Some say I'm horrifically nihilistic and I should value life more and whatever. Not be such an idiot and do so many hot-headed things. But I say, what is life without slamming your face into a wall now and again because you tripped?"
"Hm. To each, her own... What's in that, anyways?" Gesturing with her left hand as her right reappeared, Arb indicated Meissa's canteen.
"Oh, this?" Meissa shook the canteen around. "Nasty, bitter herbal tea. I dumped four packs of sweetener into it and it still tastes like rusty dirt. But amazing for your health. This is what the fountain of eternal youth tastes like, Arbs. Want some?"
"Iiiii think I'll pass, actually. Although, Miss Meissa, thanks for spurning me to think about something similar-I should start carrying a flask or something of water with me more often."
"If you want, you can steal my spare," Meissa offered. "I never put anything in my spare unless if I lose this one."
"I'll be alright, thanks though..."
Eden's ears had picked up all of the conversations in the wardroom and she looked to Saki, thinking to her XO, "Breakfasts are so much more serene when alone with you."
Saki nodded, and continued to look with her piercing violet eyes. "Being together, alone, and to ourselves always helps." She giggled audibly and went back to her leaning.
"This is nice, in its own way," Eden mused to her telepathically. "I like one more than the other, though. You are finished eating and I'm not necessarily hungry for any more of this, though the eggs were phenomenal and sausage wasn't bad. We have to thank our cooks..." She then stood and pushed out her chest, stretching her back. "Let's go," she then said aloud.
Misaki stood as Eden did and mimicked her chest movements to the letter and audibly spoke, "Yes, love." She didn't care about the uniform, or was she just making it known?
Eden smirked, then walked ahead and out the wardroom with a salute to her crew before leaving completely, Saki close in tail.
Finding her time almost up, her plate empty, and the conversation finished, Miss Shan busied herself with cleaning up the various dishes and silverware that had been used by herself and her crewmates before returning to the lounge.
