RP: YSS Confidence [YSS Confidence] Arrival

(JP by Sypher and I)

Henako walked out of the meddy bay. He was really hungry, but wanted to drop his bags of first. "See you later Carlos. Try and find the room I'm in." Henako continued walking down the corridor and entred the room on his right. "This should do." Throwing his bag on to the bed he smiled to himself and then walked out. "That didn't take long. Messhall here I come."

Mizuho stopped briefly, drawing her feet together and briskly rubbing bare arms. "At least I'll manage a court martial if I lose myself again." Too much optimism in that thought. She was still shaking from her fits of sobbing, her cheeks still flushed, her eyes still red, but she was maintaining herself better now. She simply needed a few moments to recover her composure before entering the messhall. Good food. She could smell it from here. And it brought a touch of a smile, but only briefly.

Henako walked slowly down the corridor. He was very hungry, but still wanted to see all the sight's of the ship, if you caould call them that. He had only been on it a short while, and now was even more confused as to what their mission was as the has joined the 5th Expeditionary Fleet. He could now smell food, "Oh that smell's so good." He though to himself, standing infront of him was one of his commanding officer's he had seen her at the gathering earlier. "Chusa Mizuho Yukisato." He saluted, then seeing her eyes where slightly red Henako felt a suden sadness. "You ok miss?" Henako smiled a warm smile, hoping that it would help a little bit.

It took a good deal of restraint to keep from smacking the man who approached behind her. "...please, dont ever... call me that... again..." Mizuho's platina voice was strained with some mixture of numbness and anger. "Henako Kusaki, yes? Mizuho. I am Mizuho. Not Chusa. Not Yukisato, not 'miss'... I am..." She trailed off, bit down on her lip. "I am as well as I have been since I boarded this ambiguous mission. No, as well as I have been since I killed destiny." She laughed, mirthlessly, sighed. "I'm sorry, I did not mean to snap like that..."

Henako took a step back, her reply made him think even more that somthing was wrong. "I'm sorry Mizuho, didn't mean to offend you. You know, proper salute and all, I though it was the right thing to do. Will not happen again." Henako smiled again and took that step forwards. "You going for food?"

Mizuho's face softened a bit. "...yes, food. That was the idea. Arild instructed all officers to dine in the messhall, which I suppose is better than assailing crewmen for addressing me." She was stammering, a little bit. Embarrassed? Perhaps. More likely it was one more imagined slight weighing down on her somewhat deranged thought processes. "I am very sorry about that, Henako. I get too edgy at times." She sniffed at the air. "Broccoli. And perhaps pasta, as well. And chocolate." She was talking to herself, but it was audible enough.

Once again Henako smiled. "No matter, we have to do this whole officer eat at the messhall thing, so I'm glad I'm not on my own." Henako jumped at Mizuho's. "Chocolate, my favourite. You coming in?" Henako pointed towards the door. "Ladies first." Henako suddenly felt a lot happier, chocolate could have done it, but I think talking to another member of the crew and a high rank at that just made him feel....wanted.

With a curt nod, Mizuho found her way through the door and into the messhall. Many people there. And she had been right (she was always right about food, it was one of few things she still held passion for) - broccoli soup, pasta, chocolate cake... "Soup is good food. It lets me forget about the rest of the day, when I dont have soup." She waited for Henako to follow her. She did not know him, and that was - to her - a very profound failing. The entire crew would ultimately be subject to her focus, if she maintained herself for long enough, but Henako had that bit of attention that she could muster at the moment.

Stepping outside, Masako moved beside Muraki with a friendly smile. "Maybe you can meet the rest of the crew at the messhall Muraki-san," the young neko suggested. "Most of the crew is from the former-YSS Destiny..." she explained before pondering a bit more.

"You may be even the first or only new arrival on the Confidence." she thought out loud.

Seekrin left Arild to his meal, walking over and serving up some food for herself. She smiled as she watched some people begin to walk into the messhall. Sitting at a table she dug into her meal, happily taking pride in what she had made. The small fenyaro kept looking around trying to make sure everyone was satisfied with the meal. This was her first time serving a full meal to a crew, and even if it was a small crew to Seekrin it was really important step to becoming the best she could.

Henako stepped through the door after Mizuho. He could now smell the food clearly, and it smelt good. He could smell the chocolate and was considering just having three helping of it. Probably not the best idea though, so he would make do with one. Mizuho was waiting on the other side, and he stopped next to her. Looking around he could see that there where places left in certain areas, but the closest was to their left.

"Here alright?" Henako pointed to the table. He was feeling tired and knew the food would help. "Shall we eat away then. You go first I don't mind eating second." He smiled, Mizuho seemed nice. Mainly he was glad to get to know another person on the ship. The only person he really knew was Carlos, and they had meet in a chance meeting. "Ah well," he thought, "let's move on."

Carlos slipped off the bed and took a short stroll around the room, sighing quietly. Cracking his knuckles he walked out into the hallway, choosing a random direction and strolling off.

His mind wandered over the events of the past few days...his duties...Henako...that strange, naked officer he'd met on the Destiny. It was all moving so fast it made his head spin.

"That will do fine, Henako."

Mizuho held back the reflex demanding she shudder, and seated herself quietly, awaiting Henako before allowing any food to find its way to her plate. Ah, but she showed no modesty when she did serve herself. She could put away good victuals like few others, and was equally good at scorning that which didnt suit her tastes.

But this was quite good, and as testament to the fact, she would be utterly silent for some time, too consumed with savoring the palettes to even remember to be pessimistic.

Henako sat down opposite Mizuho. He loved his food and hadn't had enough of it recently. Once the food came Henako became engulfed in the rich taste and beautiful smell of the food, consuming it quickly and getting more. Henako only took one glance at Mizuho while eating, and it looked as though she felt the same. It was then that he realised this was sacred time and he wasn't going to ignore it. Once the chocolate cake came Henako smiled. "This looks like the best cake I have had in..... Years." This wasn't directed at Mizuho, but he though it was an appropriate comment. This was his only comment until he finished his second helping of chocolate cake. "Lovely." He looked up and patted his stomach. "You enjoy?" This was directed at Mizuho, he smiled a smile of content.

Mizuho eyed the sliver of cake she had taken, yawned, and smiled softly at Henako.

"Yes, it is very good, the food. I dont know about the cake. I dont normally eat chocolate." She closed her eyes, leaned back a bit. "I suppose I can make an exception for the sake of our chef, though."

And she did - though she ate very little of it. She had never much enjoyed chocolate, and wasnt sure she ever would. There was something sorely lacking in its flavor, but she had never been able to place a finger on it. And with that finished, she crossed her hands in her lap, and pondered.

"Who is the chef? I've yet to look at the crew rosters for our understaffed slab of feiwu..." An unflattering remark on the ship, though the final word was in a language that most of the crew would not know. Though, it was obvious enough that it was unflattering, to even the most casual listener.

Henako smiled. "Well the cake is good, not the best, but I will live." he understood what she meant, not the literal meaning, but the general meaning. Once again he smiled. Mizuho was very funny, Henako didn't know if she meant to be, but she was. "So where are you going to go fro here? Do we have order's yet?" Henako wasn't sure about anything at the moment.

Mizuho shook her head. "No orders yet to my knowledge, Henako. And I doubt I'll stay for them anyway." A distant look in her eyes. "Transfer to the frontlines, I think. Perform the function I was built for once again, or die like an animal, I suppose." The statement was made somewhat more disturbing by the utterly calm manner in which she spoke. Indeed, she sounded almost to look forward to such ends.

Arild over heard the conversation. He wasn't trying to listen in, but he had acute hearing, and they weren't sitting far away. Picking up what remained of his meal, he walked over to their table, "Mizuho, Henako, mind if I join you?" he sat down regardless, "I suppose I know how you feel. There is something in the front lines, a feeling of doing something that makes a difference straight away, a difference that can be made in the single firing of a weapon that can be quite enticing. There's the danger, the adrenalin, that can appeal to some people. But there is a purpose for being here. Sure it's diplomacy, something I'm not fond of, you're probably not fond of, it's not a great job, but it will make a difference. At least we'll get to meet new people." Arild smiled, "But as for performing the function you where made for, that is not necessarily true. We are not predestined in this life, we can make our own choices. Do not rush towards oblivion Mizuho, it embraces people too easily, and its not a state I'd wish upon anyone." Arild had haunted eyes, "So many people, and my faith in an afterlife is not strong enough for me not to consider them gone forever."

Henako's smile faded instantly. He had just seen the other side of Mizuho. A side he didn't like, a side of a person that he had only seen once before, a long while ago. "So you want to go to the front line. What ship do you want to join? Any preference's? Me personally, I wouldn't mind joining in with the battle, I have seen combat once, and that was on the Destiny, in the first riot. It wasn't nice, as it was me and Carlos against twenty people or so. We couldn't use weapons then, so it will be different." An image flashed in Henako's mind, "No, get out of my head." He screamed to himself. He sat up straight all his attention on Arild and Mizuho. This way he would not be able to think and all his concentration would be on them.

A yawn, for dramatic flair. Mizuho tilted her head back, gazing glassy-eyed towards the ceiling. "Your concern is noted, Arild." Resignation. Or desperation, perhaps. "That might have changed my mind ten years ago," she offered a wry grin, sliding her plate forward so she might place her hands on the table. "But now I am not so sure oblivion would be so terrible. No memory. Might be a lovely thing, in fact..." She sounded almost delirious, as she often did when she lapsed too far into the more demented sectors of her persona. "Maybe to the Mikomi. I could fall as a hero, even, and leave some mark to crown a history of failure!" By now, she was shaking with mirth, doing all she could manage to avoid cackling in glee.

"Sounds like what you want is amnesia, not oblivion. Oblivion is ... hellish. However, dying heroically can not be an aim unfortunately, for then it is not heroic. You have to die for some other reason. And heroic deaths are over rated, usually their just someone throwing their lives away." he shook his head "You have things in your past you want to get rid of. Things that haunt you if I read the situation right, but I wouldn't say that your career has been a failure. I doubt that, your a talanted officer, you've just been unfortunate. Repeatedly. Death is a fact a soldier must accept, but not embrace, far that is when it takes your soul." Arild had no idea why he was being melodramatic like this, especially when these days he seemed to be drinking himself into oblivion. That was different, he told himself.

"Yes, amnesia would be good." She nearly jumped at that statement, then lapsed back into her prior state. "Not heroic, say you? Self-centred, then. Same end to the same life." She wrapped her arms around her chest tightly, giggling. "And they can all remember me for murdering crew, and killing destiny, and being tool for genocide, yes!" Her eyes glinted slightly, and she slumped forward again with a sigh. "And then you can win this war, or lose it, I'll not make a touch of difference either way."

"One man or women does not win a war, unless your at the top. Which we, luckily, are not. We're the little people. I don't know much about you killing your crew, or being a tool for genocide, but you did not kill the Destiny. The ship was doomed from the time Nepleslia split from the Empire, some might say from the time some admin decided to use Nepleslian settlers. I don't blame you, no one else does, or if they do, its there own look out. They're wrong, in my opinion, since right and wrong is relative to your opinion, subjective." Mizuho's behaviour was strange, but stress could do that to anyone, Arild wasn't going to try and stop her, "And I certainly wouldn't remember you for that. I'd remember you for being you."

Mizuho paused, reached for more pasta, and tilted her head. "Wonderful. You wouldn't happen to have more scotch?" She bit back the driving urge to scream at her superior officer. Bit back the urge that, in fact, was commanding her to kill all those present at the mess hall and be done with it. A strange urge that she couldn't explain. "...or maybe something stronger?" The glassy look was gone from her eyes, though that likely meant little.

Arild took out a little flask from his pocket "Here, it's scotch. Sorry I left the vodka and Sake in my room." He felt the conflict in her, and wanted to help, it was a good way of clearing his mind of his own problems. He knew that alcohol didn't really help anything but ... it helped him, and her apparently.

She reached for the flask without a second thought, swallowing a mouthful of pasta. "...thank you." It took very little time for Mizuho to empty the contents of the bottle, and she set it down gently on the table. "...sorry. Didn't mean to hit it that hard. What were we talking about?" Another bowl of broccoli soup soon found its way to her palette.

Henako ahdn't spoken for a while, he had decided that this conversation was between the two of them, one high rank to another. He sat there listening to their remarks and wondering. Wondering about life, about different people perspective, wondering why Mizuho had that icy glaze over her eyes, and what she had seen in her life. He felt sorry for her, no, not sorry, angry for her. That a good person could be led to this through battle. At one point Henako wanted to snatch the flask out of Arild's hands and drink it himself, after listening to them two anybody would want to drown their sorrows in drink. It was then that he realised this was his first conversation with Arild, his commanding officer. He had never spoken to him one on one, but this was close.

Arild took a half hearted bite out of his food. He wasn't hungry. He was concerned with his commanding officer though, and he'd seen similar situation in others. Sick of life, sick of war, sick of anything. It was similar to a situation he'd had with a private after his first battle. He'd been found the next day, hung himself with a message. Arild kept that message on him in his coat pocket. "Well all I can say is that life, in any form, is preferable to death. In my opinion that is. What ever your situation is, you can make it better. If you'll allow others to help you." Arild didn't really believe that, he believed you had to get through these sort of things yourself. You should not admit weakness, especially when you are not the captain.

Mizuho drained the bowl of soup quickly, and pushed her plate forward once again. "I disagree with you on a very fundamental level, Arild. Others trying to impose their own ideas rarely helps anything. And death is such a wonderful end to a vicious journey." She grinned, tilted her head towards Henako. "You are silent now, for what reason? Have you lost your voice?"

Henako came out of deep though as soon as he heard his name. "Sorry...No I haven't. I was thinking, about you, and Arild's comment's. They are interesting, but I believe death is not the answer to anything. That is what you where talking about, is it not?" Henako looked at Mizuho. "There is something you need to voice, instead of keeping it inside. That is why you feel like this. I think. I could be wrong." Henako felt strange. Like it wasn't him who was talking. Like he had been totally consumed by the conversation, like there was no way out. "Arild, what is happening with this mission?" He needed to get out.

"We're being diverted to join the 5th Expeditionary Fleet in Taiie. Then we're being inspected by one ShoSho Motoyoshi Katsuko. That's the deal currently. Being one small part of a fleet." Arild managed to keep the disappointment out of his voice. Mostly.

Henako smiled. He could see the captain didn't like this. "Well we need to make the best of it then don't we." Henako stood up quickly. "Captain, it's been good speaking to you. We should talk again." He smiled once more. "Mizuho, I have had a good hour with you now. It is good to meet you finally and I hope we can continue speaking as friends. I am off for a quick sleep if that's ok." He turned round and walked of.

"Dismissed." The captain said idely after him.

Seekrin nibbled at a bun with butter, listening to the sounds around, her ears twitched at the conversation between Henako and Mizuho. "ok so one so far doesn't like chocolate. That means I should have another dessert or something stored away" She mumbled to herself. She tasted her cake " hmmm oops I think I put a bit too much icing on..." she muttered storing away the information as a way to improve her future meals. She filled her stomach just as the group a few tables over seemed ready to leave. Seekrin wanted to make friends but she wasn't percisely sure if she'd have anything interessting to talk about with the crew. She stood and placed away the dirty dishes taking a gulp of air she strode over all 4'5â€

As was his want, Kenda remained by the door, slowly nibbling on his meal the entire time as he listened to the various conversations, and taking note of his fellow crewmembers as they wandered in, figuring this was the best place to at least file away their faces, though he would probably forget soon anyway. He kept the same plate in front of him the entire time, eyes simply wandering over the cafeteria, almost like a creepy uncle who was watching kids at play, though he certainly wasn't old enough to be someones uncle.

Kusati got up off his bed and wandered down to the messhall, he reached it with relative ease, he had a knack for remembering the layout off maps and things like that, it helped a lot with navigation, he saw who he thought must be his commander, he was alone, so he strode over and snapped to attention,

"Kusati Hunkoso, reporting in sir!"

"Seekrin, is it?" Mizuho smiled softly. "I am Mizuho. Please, for your own good, never refer to me by rank."

She was herself not much taller than Seekrin, and thus did not find her to be short, though she was still rather amused by the Kohanian girl. "Right now, I'm torn between enjoying more excellent food and returning to my mired shipwreck in the swamp known as vicious self-pity." At least she had some sense of humor about her melodrama.

"As it were, I'm hoping to meet the chef, and perhaps find if it would be too much trouble for a meal of paneer, dhaal, alu ghobi... and perhaps a good round of lassis. Have you ever had a lassi?"

Seekrin thought for a moment then spoke" I'm the chef at the moment. I haven't heard of Lassis but i'm willing to learn to make it Mizuho. As for the self pity I can't do much but suggest taking your mind off your problems. If you like cooking , it would be nice to have company in the kitchen, plus you could look over my shoulder, and bark commands and loud comments in my ears as I try to figure out how to prepare Lassis. " Seekrin suggested her ears twitching " you can get the best or worst of all worlds, wallow in pity,try to make anothers life miserable and in the end get something that's hopefully edible." Seekrin had a certain cheery disposition, that drowned her words.

"I'm glad you thought my food was enjoyable by the way, I really wasn't sure what to prepare because I don't know anyone really and I don't know the crew's preferences in food yet" She sighed and shot a glance at a computer console. "AI's and computers aren't good taste testers" She commented as an after thought.

"Ah, Seekrin, you flatter me!"

Mizuho was beaming quite audibly. "Im afraid I'm not much use in the kitchen. I've recipes enough copied in my notes, but never did too well in the actual preparation. Still..." Her eyes glinted slightly. "I would enjoy witnessing such sorcery as must be worked to get anything edible out of a modern starship..."

Talking about food made everything better, for awhile at least.

"Lassis, my dear, are made of yogurt and milk, mostly. But I am more concerned with alu ghobi and dhaal..."

Meanwhile the ship arrived in the Taiie system, fading into existance after using its hyper spatial fold drive, and then aproaching the main body of the fleet, making sure to maintain a distance of at least 20,000 km from the other ships.

"We have arrived sir." The AI told Arild.

"Right, thank you Megami-san, open up a ship wide communication please." Arild responded, before continuing, now on a ship wide broadcast "We have arived in Taiie, we're awaiting an investigation, so everyone be on your best behavior. Captain out." Arild sat down, considering how pathetic investigations where. Once he'd seen them as a highlight, a chance to show his ships proficiency, now it seemed an empty movment, lacking of anything significant. He half heartedly finished his vegetables.

Seekrin was about to reply to Mizuho when the ship wide announcement came on. Her ears flattened and a nervous smile lit her face at the mention of an inspection. "Guess I should clean up the kitchen a bit more then" She sighed, washing dishes and counters was never the funnest thing in the world, but Seekrin knew it had to be done. She looked at Mizuho and smiled "I need to clean up a bit in the kitchen but if you want... or if your not particularly busy..." She beat around the question before finally deciding on her words. " I'd like company since I haven't really got any friends yet. AI's are bad, very very bad conversationalist" She frowned but a moment later her cheerfulness returned full force. " Sorry I sound really pathetic huh?" She headed towards the kitchen at an easy pace. "It's not a bribe I swear!" She laughed just slightly "But if you come I may attempt one of your recipes" She twirled around once before walking into the kitchen.

Mizuho chuckled, finding the whole situation to be rather amusing, and nodded curtly.

"Very well, Seekrin, I shall accompany you into the dire depths of the kitchen." She yawned, picked at a fingernail. "AIs arent just bad company. They lack anything resembling intelligence, artificial or otherwise."

Yes, Mizuho absolutely despised AIs. Particularly the Confidence, which had told her that her pens were outdated and useless. And she had promised it a full memory wipe and personality reformatting. Which had rather quickly shut up the damn thing... even though she had, to her knowledge, little authority over those matters

"They always remind me of zombies or slaves. Souless beings at the beckon and call of their masters.They process information but they can't really think about the importance behind that strand of information" Seekrin replied "They really freak me out, they're like a hallow shell or something, the ones with personalities are even more creepier." She began rinsing the bigger pots clean, she cast a glance at a computer console like it would make a rebutal at her last comment. "So tell me some of how Dhaal is made." She changed the topic as the current one seemed a bit to morbid and depressing.

She rinsed her knives with great care, they were her own and she took extra special care of them. She set them aside after drying each. walking over to her duffel bag by the door she pulled free their case. "I been in such a rush, I haven't even seen where I'm sleeping, then again I really don't know where I'm sleeping in the first place." She placed her knives away.

Finally rose from his seat as the rest of the diners began to filter out, and put away his trash. His hands slipped into the pockets of his uniform as he made his way out of the dining hall, and began to idly wander the halls of the ship. In all honesty, he didn't even know if he still had the job assigned to him, after all, this ship didn't have things to sell...and he thought he overheard that there was another armorer on board.

A jobless soldier, how wonderful....maybe he would request an update later...for now though, he watched the floor ahead of him pass by, mind filled with mathematical formulas, entertaining himself in his own little world of numbers.