RP: YSS Miharu Prologue, Day 3

"Eh, sorry, what? Oh." Leutre woke from his daydream with a start. Turning to the source of the voice he spotted Amagasaki. "Did you say something? Oh right, I remember. Sure I'll help you out later... So long as it isn't too much work." He laughed to himself a moment, but then gave her a serious look. "But really, anything for a fellow gearhead."

He was about to turn back to his thought, but stopped to look around the table. Almost everyone seemed to be engrossed in one conversation or another. Da was right. Even out here, crews are really just big families. I can only wonder if this one will become mine... Nyton aside, that wanker.

Mara giggled at seeing Chigusa talk 'up' to the Miharu. "You know, the computer really isn't up there. She's all around... and I don't think the Akina's KAMI can hear you from here: we had to make her forget about your transfer."

Chigusa giggled. "I know that, of course. Looking up is more of a way for me to physically signify that I'm not talking to anyone at the table." Chigusa decided that, for the time being, Mara would make a good acquaintance. "Mara, will you be my first friend?" She struggled not to laugh as she said this - it just sounded so.. cheesy!

"I dunno. Picking a sprite for your first friend sound pretty desperate." Mara said and then gave the young yamataian woman a sly look. "I'll be your second friend. Now, you just have to find your first."

Chigusa thought that was absolutely adorable. "You're so cute!" After taking another bite out of her tuna-steak, chewing politely and swallowing, she looked back to Mara. "Okay, who would you suggest I nag?"

Mara pointed discreetly at Tomi. "Saito-san has a wry sense of humor. I'm sure you could get along with her."

"Thank you, Mara." Chigusa replied, happily. "You've been such a big help to me today. Really, thank you very much!" She took another bite out of her meal. She was acting so polite now - Was what she was doing earlier merely for attention?

A moment or so passed in uncomfortable silence. Yukari, not much of a conversationalist, felt someone had to say something to break the ice.

Her tongue, however, felt slow and sticky. Sounds would not pass over it properly; she would make small "eeps" and "arrps" if she tried to speak now. She wished she could blame Tom, but she took a drink of water and the problem was solved.

'What is everyone's favorite Mishhu?' No, that is not funny. 'Has anyone read a good book lately?' No, we have no time to read. ... 'Kurohoshi-Juni, what was it like being on the Mikomi?' That is too personal ... aiyaa, there must be something! ...

" ... Taii-san, will we be having dare parties similar to those on the Sakura? If so, I wish to opt out of kissing Claymere-Juni's penis again."

Suddenly, dinner seemed to stretch into infinity. Yukari quickly stuffed her mouth with bruschetta.

Mizuho snapped to attention quite suddenly with a gasp.

"...my... my appologies Nyton..."

She at last noticed the food before her. Tuna, which she was never terribly fond of, but oh... it smelled good. She sampled it lightly, a delicate, nibbling motion. And found it, in fact, very good. And set to eating much, much less delicately. She, for the time being, virtually ignored the presence of Chigusa, despite Kotori's introduction. Actually, she hadn't heard Kotori's introduction.

Pausing from her eating, she gave a weak smile.

"This is transcendant. My compliments to the chef." Towards Nyton, she cast a level gaze, and spoke much more softly. "Did I... miss anything? I still get flashbacks..."

Another bite, this time taken more slowly. "They scream, and they never... never stop screaming."

Kotori giggled, the sound much like tinkling bells. She leaned over to Yukari's side and pressed one hand on her shoulder.

"Believe me, if we do a party with dares, I'll try to have it be bearable," Kotori assured her executive officer, though Yukari's suggestion made gears turn in her mind. Kotori had attended to two of the Sakura's dare parties and both had sort of appalled her... but Hanako had pointed out that a perverted crew would submit perverted dares while another crew could behave differently.

It was suddenly Kotori's hope that her crew would be above the kind of antics Hanako allowed to indulge her crew in. She had to admit, though, that dare parties made for terrific icebreakers - they were a good and effective way of having people open up to each other.

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"You are most welcome," Mara nodded to Chigusa but then caught Mizuho's comment about people screaming.

"You'd think they'd need to catch their breath sometime... and if they keep screaming, don't their voice ever grow hoarse?" Mara lightly told Mizuho, really having no idea of what the other was talking about.

At Mara's remark, Mizuho clenched her fists and unclenched them, eyes defocusing.

"Voices cant go hoarse. They're dead. Can't stop screaming. They're staring at me, they're all staring... staring..." Mizuho was trembling, not really taking any care to keep quiet. It was coming back thick and heavy, these things she struggled so hard to keep at the back of her mind.

"They're dead, they're all FUCKING DEAD!" With a rising shriek, she smashed her hashi down viciously against the meat, incidentally with enough force to shatter her plate, scattering it in several directions, and send shudders through the table.

Trembling visibly, she rose, backing up, nearly tripping as she overturned the chair, then cast herself away from the wardroom quickly as her feet could carry her, soft whimpering plainly audible before she vanished into the halls.

Nyton watched the event as Mizuho ran down the hall. Her voice and words still resounded in his ears. Uh oh. This looks familiar. Nyton thought to himself. The words regarding his penis and the affection it received during the last dare party was forgotten as he stood up and finished swallowing his food. "If you will excuse me for a moment minna-san. Please allow me to attend to Mizuho-san's er, distress. I have had some prior experience dealing with this." he said as he stood Mizuho's chair back up. "My grandfather has an occasional outburst like this at times." he continued before he walked out the wardroom to follow Mizuho.

Yukari looked to Kotori as Mizuho stumbled away. "Should I console her?" she said telepathically to her.

Mara cringed away from Mizuho, clearly surprised about the vehemency of the outburst.

As Kotori gave Yukari a slight shake of her head along with a private "Let Nyton handle this," Mara rose from her seat. "I'll go apologize! I was flippant and really had no idea what she was talking about."

"No you won't." Kotori quickly countered. "Sit down Mara."

"But why?" The sprite blurted out.

"Because Yukisato-san needs space. Sending Claymere-Juni out is already gamble enough. She hasn't been on a Star Army ship for a long time and it probably evoked bad memories. Very bad memories." Kotori said, making eye contact with Yukari once before looking back to Mara. "Now, sit down."

"Yes Taii." The sprite sat back in her chair, though she obviously still felt guilty.

"Woe betide the souls inside, the grave so cold and grim. The mourning glory hides a story, and sings a ghostly hymn." He quietly changed. With a smile he crossed his arms. "Ah, there's nothing truly like a good tussle with one's inner demons, I always say. We wanderers learn to honor life precisely because it brings against us it's most formidable weapons."

As he mused to himself he noticed the mood around the table as a sober one. Standing up, he clapped his hands twice to catch everyone's attention. With a cheery voice he said, "But all that business has cast rather a gloom over the meal, hasn't it? Back on the previous topic, I think a dare party sounds like a fantastic idea!" Still smiling he muttered through his teeth, "And Goddess knows that this crew could really do with some unwinding."

Nyton strode briskly but not too fast so that his approach would not be misconstrued. Right now he felt that he needed to make himself as unthreatening as possible even as he followed Mizuho indiscreetly. Rather than stopping her he decided to wait until she found somewhere to come to a halt herself. Inward his mind ran over events that he could use as reference to this episode. Episodes. That is what mom would call them. Grandpa was suffering from an 'episode.' he thought.

Nyton was maybe five years old when he encountered the first of grandpa's 'episodes.' The old man had woken the entire household up but not before Nyton had seen him first. A late night snack while doing a combat crawl was his adventure. He imagined himself sneaking through enemy terrain on his way to the mission objective of securing forbidden cookies in the kitchen. When his grandfather saw him Nyton thought he was in trouble but this was different. Instead his grandfather began to shout at the top of his artificial lungs: "ENEMY IN THE WIRE! ENEMY IN THE WIRE!!" and began to charge him. Nyton had scrambled to duck underneath a table all the while screaming in terror. When the table was lifted up and thrown off to the side he continued to scramble underneath another piece of furniture. Before he could get away though he could feel the cold metal fingers of his grandfather wrap around his ankle and retrieve him. When Nyton looked up he didn't see any sign of recognition in his grandfather's face. The next thing he knew his grandfather had released him. His body then fell over to the side and collapsed in a heap as though his power switch had been turned off. Nyton's father had arrived with a special cybernetic disabler that had been calibrated to send the cyborg into paralysis without shutting down the life support functions on his body. Nyon's mother was then checking him out to make sure he had been unhurt and hugged him to comfort his tears. After he calmed down his mother had taken some time to give a lengthy explanation as to what had just happened to his grandfather. "It's not his fault. He has these episodes. It's as though he's in a bad dream and he's still inside it. Please, try to understand Nyton. Your grandfather still loves you." It wasn't until a week had passed before Nyton would talk to his grandfather.

That had been the worst of them. There would be others but none as terrifiying as that one. Although I think the worst part about it was when I started to get nightmares from that as a child. Then there was that time that Manny died right in front of me... Nyton shook his head and dashed the memory away. Not now. First I need to find Mizuho and see if I can bring her out of the memory.

Masako blinked at Nyton had suddenly spoken to her. She had opened her mouth to speak up, only for Mizuho to start talking to Nyton. The whole event happened so suddenly to the young neko that she could barely comprehend it as the former Star Army officer screamed and rushed out of the dining hall.

Confused slightly about what had happened, she looked over towards Kotori as she seemed to have an explaination. Bad memories on a Star Army ship. the raven-haired neko thought as she looked towards the direction Mizuho and Nyton went and then back at her plate. Like what happened at the Mikomi...that's probably it, she thought as she took another bite of her tuna steak with a frown. Just thinking about it curbed her appetite, but she continued to eat what was in front of her. After all, Tom had put his heart into making this delicious meal...she couldn't be rude and let it go to waste.

Will we become like that one day. she thought out of worry and concern.

Tom happily chewed his food, soaking in the compliments his wonderful cooking had received. Not only was it delicious, it had really brought a good vibe into the room!

The conversation was great, too. He got to share details on his performing background with the others, as well hear some very interesting comments about dare parties.

Kissing a penis? Yeah, free love and all that, but damn!

The thought made him grin. Maybe Yukari'd...

Nevermind that. This was great. Just like home. Tom took care to bask in the glow, thinking that this dinner could be the last time for such lighthearted festivities.

He looked over towards Mizuho...

"Voices cant go hoarse. They're dead. Can't stop screaming. They're staring at me, they're all staring... staring..." Mizuho was trembling, not really taking any care to keep quiet. It was coming back thick and heavy, these things she struggled so hard to keep at the back of her mind.

"They're dead, they're all FUCKING DEAD!" With a rising shriek, she smashed her hashi down viciously against the meat, incidentally with enough force to shatter her plate, scattering it in several directions, and send shudders through the table.

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...and just like that, the serenity was shattered.

Looks like I was right--a bit too soon.

That was the single thought that crossed Tom's mind. How ironic.

The emotions that rolled through him arrived in his stomach before the slice of tuna he was swallowing. It was a weird mix of compassion for Mizuho mixed with disdain and outrage over the wanton destruction of a precious moment. How difficult a mixture to grapple...

All Tom could do was smile and stand up.

"Well, that was unexpected," Tom began as he starting cleaning the obliterated space where Mizuho had been eating. "What an unfortunate moment of weakness for our friend, and at such a bad time too! But that is what I made extra steaks for!"

He stacked the shattered dishwear and chunks of tuna in his palm.

"Give me a few moments and it'll look like nothing's happened at all. Our friend can return without a loss of face. Such matters are best discussed in private anyway."

He nodded to Leutre as he talked. "Yes, I do agree. Excuse me, please."

He hurried out of the room, back to the kitchen.

Kotori leapt on the opportunity to change the mood as well. "Well then, if we are to make a dare party, what sort of dare do you people think we should theme our dares on?"

Tomi sat, passively still, through the outburst. It was rude to stare, but the consolations of a complete stranger would sound so empty as to be a mockery of whomever Mizuho was recalling. Of course, if these outbursts continued, it would probably fall upon her as the ship's medical officer to deal with it. It looks like I should add reading up on Yukisato-san's medical records to my to-do list...

Pushing the thoughts aside, she perked up at the mention of a dare party. Always a good chance to find out who the easy targets for mischief are. "That'd work, I guess- though I really don't have enough experience with them to suggest a theme. Preferrably something not entirely tasteless, though." Recalling Yukari's comment, she took on a tone of grave seriousness, "I have this horrible tendency to confuse 'kiss' and 'bite off' in such situations, you see."