Mi walks into the cabin purposefully, and glides the gun from her waist-pouch, pointing it towards the captain of the ship, barely contacting his head.
The feline stops what he was doing as he senses the gun barrel. "oh great..." He groans.
She draws away the gun quickly as she notices the insignia on his shirt. "Heh, sorry for the scare, 'guess you're on my side ... this time."
He grumbles. "sheesh ... so nice of you to look before blowing my head off." He pushes some buttons and goes about his business as the ship begins moving again.
"Hey, that's not fair! It's your own fault! This vessel didn't have any markings on it ... I had to check. How was I to know you wouldn't be worth some money?" She smiles in attempt to lighten the situation.
"yeah... well I have a supply run to do so please leave... I don't need my boss to think I'm having fun on the job..."
She raises an eyebrow, somewhat glaring at him, and turns to leave, hitting him in the head with a wingtip. "Sorry... my wings have a mind of their own." she says as she walks off, giggling.
He sticks his tail out straight, tripping her. He smirks. "sorry my tail has a mind of it's own.."
She rolls over, hands behind her head, and smiles up at him. "I like you, kid. Hopefully I'll continue to see you without a price on your head ..." She gets up, and walks from the main cabin. "humph... hope so..."
* * *
Yu walks through the alley, sadly looking down at the card that held everything she knew about where he had gone, and remembered her encounter with the supposed place. No one was there, no one had been there, and it seemed no one would be there, which only made Yu wonder what had happened, and how he could have left her behind without intending for her to ever see him again.
She turned suddenly as she heard a strange sound from the alley, and realized too late she was in the wrong place at the wrong time... but then again there was never a GOOD time to encounter a Venomin. She looked from side to side of the alley, thinking of any way out of the situation .. but the exit was too far and the Venomins were too close, and by the time her fight or flight instinct might have kicked in, they had already noticed her.
"what is ssssssuch a prrretty thing doing herrre?" one of the scaley Venomins smiled, flicking his tongue at her.
"Not doing anything here long if I can help it!" She said, backing away from them slowly, looking back towards the alley exit.
A cheetah walks between two other Venomins. he waves his gun in a casual manner. "ahh... me and my friends haven't had the company of a nice girl like you in the longest time..." He smirks at his casualness.
Yu looked forward, startled. "AX!" She yelled as she ran, tackling him. "God, how could you leave like that, without me, and gave me the wrong address .. what, were you TRYING to loose me ... Ax?" She finished softly, looking ready to cry.
He looks at her like she'd gone nuts. "What? Get her off me! I like girls who come willingly but sheesh!" The first Venomin grabs her off of Ax.
"eh---hey! what the hell, Ax? You jerk- you forgot me?" She glares at the Venomins around him, and looks confusedly at Ax.
"I've never seen you in my-life-girly..." he waves his gun with each word.
She stares at him blankly, and finally decides to cash in her chips. She kicks him, slamming him into the other Venomins and the Venomin holding her into the alley wall, and makes a run for it past the pile of downed reptiles. One of the downed Venomins grabs her ankle, knocking her down, her headband falling off her head and clattering against the ground past her. She falls to the ground with a thud, and glares back at it, yelling, "Get your PAWS off me you filthy SNAKE..." And her eyes begin to glow strangely, and the light of the alley begins to grow unnaturally.
Ax's eyes widen as he scurries behind a trash can. “Shit! this ain't good!” he thinks.
The light becomes momentarily blinding, and then suddenly the air is clear once more, and each Venomin and the girl lie still on the ground, the Venomins dead, the girl merely unconscious.
"Fuck..." He brings out his communicator. "Hey, Ikaras! Yeah, you, JACKASS, my three associates are dead and I got a girl here that Andross would be interested in...(pause)... yeah, alright, see you in 8 minutes.." He walks over to Yu and hefts her over his shoulder leaving the other three to rot.
* * *
Mai looks up from a half- assembled rifle, and fumbles it when she notices someone at the doorway. "aw .. shit .." and it goes clattering to the floor. "um .. it's not what it looks like ..." She says nervously. "I'm in artillery ..."
"I... I can see that by the rifle..." Corqren chuckles nervously.
She picks it back up, and begins dissembling it again. "I'm just practicing .. and knowing you’re surrounded by enough firepower to blow up the base is kinda fun. ... " she says as she drops the last piece of the rifle to the ground with a slight 'clang'.
"Ah... well... I get nervous when surrounded by enough firepower to blow up the base..." He scratches his head. He's in his uniform and it appears that he was out with the others doing laps.
She looks behind him, and looks back at him again. "What are you doing, anyhow, playing hookie?" She says, picking the pieces back up again to reassemble them.
"No. I got off. our leader was having trouble with some new recruits and we got some time off."
"Heh ... a little private like you, what are you doing in the armed forces? ... " She pauses, clicking the final piece into place, and turning it to lock it in. "You must be in the air farce ... that's the only boot camp I could imagine you surviving ..." She smiles towards him. "Sorry ... I shouldn't be talking .. you might be above me someday ..."
"Heh... with the way I react to things... I'll be kicked out soon..."
She looked at him with confused compassion. "Well ... why'd you join then ... and you can sit down if you like." She smiled, and screwed a sniper attachment onto the end of the rifle, and unscrewed it again, seeming to enjoy fiddling with the firearm like k'nex.
He sits. "Well... I joined for my own reasons...." he sighs. "I'd rather not get into it."
She was still smiling, concentrating on dismantling the rifle again. "That's alright ... people have secrets, and want to keep them. It's natural." She tossed the last part down again, and looked at her watch. "YES! 23 parts in 22 seconds ... " She grins and looks up at him, and stops suddenly as she realizes he probably would find her to be slightly 'off' for her reaction.
"Uhh... whoa... I did the same thing in 2 minutes..." *sweatdrop* "Even though they'd never give me a gun like that in combat...."
* * *
She runs her hand through her hair, and suddenly wishes she hadn't, and can fully imagine how funny her hair must look now- sticking up, and black. Cow-lick from hell ... and she thought bitterly to herself. "Remember, washrag? ... hair not washrag ... hair not for wiping off gun-oil ..."
"Well of course not .. this is a semi-automatic lightweight rifle, titanium hollow casing bullets, and has the ability to have a tripod, silencer, and targeting attachments- including a laser sighter and ... erk." She trailed off as she realized who she was talking to. "He-heh ... sorry" ...
He looks at her like 'whoa she knows her stuff' and chuckles. "Heh.. sorry I'm not too into guns.."
"Well .. sorry for getting technical ..." she smiles. "What do you do anyhow? .. You haven't said."
"Oh I'm just a 'greenie' -you know, inexperienced... the guy everyone says would hurl if he even saw blood..." He sighs. "I'm just in this place to fly..."
"Well .. you should have expected some ... it's the military and all." She sets down the last piece of the rifle gently. "The purpose of the military is to kill and to defend, sometimes at the same time, other times not ..."
"Yeah... You did that pretty well blowing that Venomin away with your bazooka..." he wipes his forehead as if the temperature had jumped 40 degrees.
"You were in that battle?!" She looks at him, nearly glaring. "And I'm not just some stupid 'bazooka girl' like you must have heard from all the idiot recruits you must 'hang' with ..." She threw a piece of the rifle she had been holding against a nearby box in frustration as she got up.
He stands. "Sorry... for ticking you off..."
Mai looked at him without the glare she had before, but still looking flustered. "I'm not just a girl with a gun, and I'm not in it to kill people, and I'll tell you this once- death isn't glorious ... even if it's the enemy." She cut off sharply, and walked out the door, leaving the dismantled rifle on the ground.
"I know..." he exits after picking up the gun and putting it in her chair.
* * *
Mi looks down from where she hung above the doorway. She snickered inwardly at the absolute childishness of her actions, but told herself, "the hell with it. I'm gonna have some fun .. I've got enough money for now ..." And had planned exactly how to get back at the young pilot. She simply had to wait until he went on break, and she'd jump him. he'd never expect an attack from the ceiling. She grinned widely at the thought of it.
"And so I tripped her, god was your cousin mad at me!" Mi shen chuckled as he walked through the door, Corqren following behind him.
She frowned slightly. "Ack ... a witness ... oh well." She tapped Mi Shen on the shoulder, and waved down at him. she said a quick, "hi" before tackling him, and both of them landing on the ground, her straddling his chest and laughing. "Bet you didn't expect meeeee" She grinned, thinking, "mission acomplished."
"AH!" he yells as he recognizes her. "You!"
"Ummm....? Should I leave you two alone?" Corqren stands with his arms behind him.
"No- my name's 'Mi' " She smiles innocently.
"Would you kindly get off of me, Mi?" Mi shen glares.
She crosses hers arms, leaning against him. "What? Can't you fight off a little girl like me? Or maybe you don’t WANT me to." she grins evilly.
"Mostly cause I don't want to set a bad example for my brother..."
"Brother?" She looked over, surprisedly. "Well, in that case- nope .. nevermind I won't say it." and she laughs at what is obviously an inside joke, and gets off him, sitting calmly on the ground next to him, chuckling, arms behind her head.
He sits up. "God... normally I'd want to fight a girl but, nah."
Corqren is still standing there. "Well you're still sore over the fact that Lyn whooped ya last time?" he turns his head to the side.
"NO! Besides she cheated by throwing dirt in my face..."
Mi looks on, smiling, allowing them to go on with their little fight.
Mi Shen gets up. "Sheesh.. next time try not to tackle me to the floor..."
She pops up beside him, apparently out of nowhere, and cups her hand to whisper to him. "Well next time I'll just start a threesome instead, okay?" And she winks at him, not as an actual promise- but to see his reaction.
"Wha?!" he's taken aback.
She snickers softly at him as she takes a little float-like hop backwards, and continues to look at him. "Lighten up-you won't survive me at this rate ..." she smiles.
He raises an eyebrow at her.
“Hey .. what’s your name, anyhow?”
“Mi.”
“Yes, you.”
“No, Mi.”
“Stop that! WHAT’S YOUR NAME?”
“IT'S MI! MI SHEN!
“... oh ... well this'll be 'fun' ... and what's your brother's name? I hope it's not 'you' ... " she smiles. "though, he doesn't look related to you ..."
"Corqren... so you have anything else you can do besides straddling me?" He walks over to Corqren and punches him in the arm softly. "I gotta show you some new maneuvers..."
She smiles, laughing inwardly. "Oh ... you could say that ..." And she reappeared next to him and Corqren. "Does this count?" She continued to smile as she reappeared strangely standing on the wall as if she were on the ground. "Yeah ... there are a FEW things."
"Hmmm... well I gotta take my brother to the simulator... so if you'll excuse me, Mi..." He pushes Corqren ahead of him as he goes off to the simulator.
She waves happily, "Bye, Mi Shen." and disappears.
* * *
Corqren sagged against the wall of the VR chamber, feeling ill as his instructor yelled at him.
"Tarzail! How do you expect to fight in battle when you can't come to kill a hologram without getting sick! You'll never become a fighter like your cousin!"
Corqren sighed as Lyn was held over him as a better soldier. "I... I just don't have the stomach for it, sir!" Corqren swallowed as he removed his VR gear. He stepped out and was smacked across his face by his instructor.
"Get ahold of yourself! If I had my way about it you would have been out on your ass the first day you came!"
Mai touched the pad for the door, walking in without any clue as to the situation. "Hey, they said I was wasting too many bullets at the range and to try the VR room-" she stopped as she heard the tail end of the instructor's rant. She cringed slightly as he slapped Corqren, and soon forgot exactly what her rank was. "Hey! That's not right! The hell are you doing, hitting a private? You're probably doing that because you can't deal with someone as high as you."
"WHICH, UNFORTUNATELY, young lady, you are not, STAND DOWN."
"Young lady? MY ASS! I'm not a ‘young lady’ and I'm not so far down I have to take this from some idiot air FARCE instructor!"
"I'll have you court marshaled!"
"TRY ME!"
"FINE!" and he picked up a nearby phone. It was only then it occurred to Mai what she had done, and the expression drained from her face.
"Sir please stop..." Corqren pleaded from beside him.
She gritted her teeth, finally losing the slight adrenaline serge that had pushed her to the confrontation. "shit" she said softly, under her breath.
Corqren stands there with one side of his face red.
Mai looks down at the ground bitterly as a few troops show up from the same door she had come to.
"Escort them to the brig!" The instructor bellowed, his pride noticeably damaged.
Mai looked at him coldly, and went with them silently. "Come on Corqren .. sorry to get you into this ... it's better if you just go along instead of standing there ..."
Corqren nods shakily. "..." He follows.
* * *
Mai fell into the prison cell as one of the guards had the nerve to push her in. She got back up momentarily, and was yelling down the hall towards them, "DAMN PRIVATES! I'll have your rank for that!" But she knew she was bluffing them, and sat down in a heap near the front of the cell, exhausted from the adrenaline low.
"Sorry Corqren .. I really blew it for you back there ..."
"It's ok..." he rubs his swollen cheek. "T...thanks again... I wouldn't have done anything about it.. I didn't do anything about it...." He sighs and sits on one of the 'beds' there.
Her tail sways behind her uneasily, and she stares towards the hallway. "Yeah, but in that case, nothing is better than something. You can't get kicked out for nothing."
"My brother's going to be wondering what I tripped on this time..." he rubbed his arm dejectedly.
"Why not simply tell him the truth?" She turned to look at him, looking worried.
"Then he'd get in trouble for going after the instructor..." He sighs. "I just can't win... If I stay quiet and lie to my brother, I get hurt and nothing else happens... but if I speak out or tell him the truth I'll probably get kicked out and he'd get in major trouble..."
Her ears flopped backwards a few notches, and she thought about the situation deeply. "I'm sorry ... I've caused more trouble than before for you ... " She looked back at the hallway again, and was beginning to sound depressed. "If I loose a rank .. then I couldn't hope to touch a gun ever again ..." she sighed. "Let alone the sniper rifle ..." Her ears drooped further.
"I know I sound material .. but ... it's not that." she shakes her head quickly. "It's just all I have. Guns are all I've ever known. I couldn't do anything else if I left the military- you could do so many different things with your skills."
"Heh... right... like getting sick after seeing someone get killed or shot or something along those lines?" He sighs. "Learning to fly is all I have... I need it to get home..."
"Heh ... those reactions remind you that you're human ... so that would mean, you're human, and I'm not. ... I'm just a nicely packaged killing machine." she states, almost just to herself, bitterly.
"I'm just over sensitive to things...."
She shakes her head. "No .. you're just being compared to people who are UNDER-sensitive ... "
"Hmm..." he lays on the cot. "Well we may be here a while... so you should probably get comfortable..."
Mai looks back at him, seeming tired. "Yeah ..." She said as she pushed herself off the ground, and laid on the other cot in the cell. "I might be the same rank as you come tomorrow ..."
“I’m sorry ...It’s my fault ...”
She waved his comment aside. “It was my decision to help- or hinder, in this case. We just have to wait for what comes-“
Well … Lyn came. She came stomping down the isle between the cells of the brig and looked into their cell angrily, “Corqren? -The hell did you do this time?”
Mai raises her hand silently, opening one eye to see who the person was.
“Lyn, get that dirty joke out of your head this instant!” Corqren said as Lyn smiled perversely.
“Still, what happened? Looks like you got in a fight with a rake …”
“Yeah, the rake’s name is Mr. Faro ...” Mai said to the air, her eyes once again closed.
“Your combat instructor? Okay .. I’m gonna have to kick some ferret ass …”
Corqren whimpered, “No, don’t don’t don’t …”
“Okay, first tell me what happened before I kick Mr. Ferret’s ass.” She says, grinning maliciously.
“He slapped Corqren-case closed, now get us out …” Mai said absently.
“Hmm. Well, I guess that does deserve him to be at least kicked in the balls.”
“God …. Are you ASKING for a demotion?” Mai looked at her uncertainly, raising an eyebrow.
“Hey, I’m a higher rank than him and, no one picks on my little friend like that …”
Mai shrugged. “Oh .. and it’s not .. actually Corqren’s fault we’re here …”
“Eh-heh … did you start a riot?”
Mai grinned nervously, “Nope .. I didn’t even touch the guy. But I came close to decking him …”
“I wouldn’t have blamed you if you did- Mr. Faro’s had a rap of being an ass, and a lot of his students have decked him in the past- coincidentally, those guys never passed …”
“I was just in there for practice …” Mai explained. “And he was being a prick, so I chewed him out, and figured out a little late he was actually a higher rank than me.”
“Well … I’m a higher rank than him, and I could kick his ass and kill him and they wouldn’t care …”
“Well at least the former, but probably not the later …”
Lyn opens the door, “By the way, you guys can get out now …”
“Well you hadn’t DONE that up until now …”
“Well … I thought it was cute seeing him in the fetal position.”
“Gahh.” Corqren sits up and gets out. “That’s not funny!”
Mai just looks at Lyn with a raised eyebrow before she left the cell.
“Oh yeah, I’m gonna take you to your brother, he’s been worried …”
“Oh no … not your motorcycle.” He whimpered.
“Oh come on, I haven’t crashed … in a while.”
They walked off, and Mai stood near the cell, thinking about the days events.
* * *
Mi Shen twitched slightly as he felt the touch of cold metal once again against his skull. His head turned slightly, remembering the feeling.
“You’ve got a price on your head, boy.”
“Ah .. I blow up ONE station and they hold it against me for life …”
She withdrew the gun and pitched it behind her as a sign of her good intentions. “You’re lucky I like you …”
“Ah yeah .. how lucky I am …”
“Hey .. “ she thought for a moment. “You didn’t try anything .. you weren’t even panicked-YOU LIKE ME!”
“I do not!”
“do too!”
“not!”
“too!’
“not!”
“too!’
“NOT!”
“mmgfh! MGR!” Mi and Mi Shen heard as they turned. A figure stepped out of the doorway’s shadow slightly, holding a clawed hand up to Corqren’s mouth, obviously intending him as a hostage.
Mi walked towards the stranger purposefully, “Who’re you? What’re y-“ she cut off shortly as she felt the blowdart hit her arm.
“I have no need for you girly, it’s your little black haired friend I want … “
Mi growled slightly as she fell to one knee, and glared up at him with unearthly black eyes.
Ax felt a slight movement of the air, “Who-aaa!” -just before he was slammed, unconscious into the wall of the cabin by the force of Mi’s gravity magic. Mi peered forward blankly a short moment before falling face-first, just as Ax had, onto the floor of the cabin.
Mi looked up at the blurred outline of two indistinct figures. She immediately knew who one was though. "I should have killed you when I had the chance Mi Shen ... less trouble that way ..." she said softly, almost mumbling. She chuckled.
"ahh... but then you wouldn't have the fun of almost blowing my head off... by the way the guy who shot you with that dart is in the cargo hold..." he smirked pointing a thumb behind him
"Really?" She said as she lifted herself up onto one elbow. "He's not DEAD yet? I can fix that ..." she said with an annoyed smile on her face.
"no... no you will not kill him... I gotta take him back to base for questioning... oh yeah... COULD you have thrown him any HARDER against the wall? I ALMOST had a hull breech...."
"I would have taken him with us at least ..." she glared into the air at the thought of the situation. "Besides ... I wasn't exactly thinking, it's more like reflex ... and I didn't want you getting hurt ..." She lay back again the cot.
"Hmmm... well I could have killed him in one glance but he kinda had my brother with him...." nods his head at Corqren
"Sorry ... I didn't think about you." She looked really embarrased for that mistake. "I just didn't want Mi Shen hurt .. or even dead." She closed her eyes, able to sleep knowing the situation was being handled.
* * *
The door of Ax's cell swung open slowly at first, and then completely, the silhouette of a girl standing in the doorway, and the once-guards were sprawled on the ground, strangely unmoving ...
Ax looks up from his place on the cot. "hmm? Took yah long enough..."
"Heh. You're acting as if I HAD to take this assignment ..." She walked into the light, sweeping back a part of her hair, and looking towards him with an air of superiority. "It was a challenge, that's all." She smiled, walking towards him. "It's your own fault for being captured ..."
"heh..." he laughs spitefully. "I didn't know he had someone who knew GRAVITY magic..." He gets up and walks past her, stopping at the guards. "you going to leave them there?"
"Yeah- they should be out a few weeks .." she smiles. "They won't make a move- they CAN'T."
"hmmm...." He points his hand at the guards and lets loose a burst of fire, leaving piles of dust where the guards once were. "now they won't move EVER..."
She shivered slightly at his show of force, and looked at him strangely. All she said was, "That wasn't necessary ..." before walking out and past him.
"So get your ass moving! We've got to get back to base- even I'd be captured again if they call enough reinforcements ..."
Ax checks himself. "Hmm..! God dammit!" he turns back. "Asses still have it!"
"Have what?" She turned around, looking slightly annoyed.
"My blowgun!" he shouts behind him. "I ain't leaving it behind either!"
"We don't have time, and it's too much of a detour! Besides, they must be easy to find- just use a straw .. or did you get yours out of a cereal box?" It was obvious she didn't think highly of his weapon.
"I AM NOT LEAVING WITHOUT IT!" he growls, still walking
"You're gonna get yourself killed!" She pulls him back by his collar. "And I can't afford to jeopardize this mission, 'assasin' "
"I... will... not... leave... yet..." He glares at her full in the eyes.
One of the Venomins behind her hisses out in deep annoyance, "Chi’ldrrren ... Interrrrogator, what asssssassssin wantssss, he'll get ..."
Yu glares back at the Venomin, releasing Ax just as he was tugging, to make him fall sprawled to the ground. "Fine. Get yourself killed then.”
But the Venomin added, "And we cannot returrrrn without him eitherrrr." Yu glared fully at the Venomin then.
He smirks as he gets up and runs down the hall. "heh..!"
She glowers down the hall where he had run off too, but waves him off, holding her head from the confrontation.
He grins evilly as he runs back, shoving something in his jacket, his hand emitting slight smoke. "Got it."
"Fine ... " she sighed, noticing how much he looked like a kid just then ... "Now that the baby has it's toys, it's time for it to get home for a nap, so we don't all take a dirt nap instead." She said as she walked off.
He glowers at her and follows, nudging one of the Venomins,"Well the babysitter shouldn't babysit if she has that kind of attitude or the 'baby' might just run off..." the Venomin chuckles nervously.
Yu keeps walking down the hall, "I heard that- and the babysitter's in it for the money and the status- just you remember that ..." She exited the compound ahead of the others.
* * *
Mai looked out the window nervously, and felt the sweat drip down her forehead and closed the panel quickly, and fumbled to undo the seatbelt now that they were out of the atmosphere. She hurriedly exited the passenger bay as fast as sapiently-possible, calling back to the rest of the passengers. "If anyone plans to follow me they better not surprise me unless they want their brain pierced by my handgun!" She then tapped the door to open it, and ran towards the cargo hold and the most safety any multi-ton rocketship could ever give her, which wasn't much even then.
A couple of the privates chuckle at each other mock-daring each other to go and surprise her. "Hey tarzail, I can't believe you went to sleep during take off!" one of them nudges him awake. Corqren mumbles about not getting enough sleep.
Mai settled herself against the containers of the cargo hold- her usual pass time sprawled over the floor before her- her repeater sniper riffle with add-ons still unassembled. Her ears flicked occasionally from the sheer terror of the knowledge of being in space. she tapped the handgun sitting next to her.
"Not enough sleep...? well and all this time we thought you were a virgin!" A bunch of them start to laugh. "And aren't you assigned to do checks on the cargo...?" the guy nudges one of the others winking at him. a whole new burst of laughter rings out.
Mai picked up the handgun quickly, her arm shaking slightly, and her eyes widened as she realized who had come in the door. She pitched the handgun against a nearby container. "Shit .. Corqren .. I'm sorry." She laid her hand back to the ground near her, picking up a piece of her gun distractedly.
He lets out a sigh of relief as she chucks the gun, visibly sweating. "phew... god Mai.. don't scare me like that... I've already had a gun pointed at me, ready to kill, within the last couple days..." he swallows and starts to check the cargo.
She brushes her hair back, and the bangs flop back just above her eyebrows again. "Sorry ... I'm just not comfortable ... in anything ... in space... " She began to assemble the rifle out of habit. "I don't trust anything in space, especially when built by the lowest bidder ..." She chuckled slightly.
He chuckles slightly. "Ah... yeah.. I know what you mean... I nearly had a hull breech on the ship I was on a couple days ago... but it was ok.." he stops and looks at her. "why are you so scared of space anyway?"
"Heh ... just .. the idea that .. space is nothingness .. and even in the deepest bowels of a ship, you're still so close to being dead ... just on the other side of a few sheets of metal is nothingness ... hehe." She looked down at the rifle, and slid in next to the handgun. She wiped some sweat from her forehead. "And that one tiny screw holds the decision of your life or death ... I probably saw too many repeats of the explosions of Apollo I and challenger missions ..."
"Ahhh... I see..." He sighs. "well I've had time to get use to it.." he smiles. "but not so much on these kind of ships. I'm more used to Mi Shen's cargo ship. It's alot safer..."
" ..." she was quiet for a short while in thought. " ... I'll never get used to it ..."
"Hey? Did you guys hear? Mr. Faro's gone!"
"seriously?"
"yeah, I heard Lyn 'took care' of him, permanently!"
Corqren listens, smiling.
Mai's ears perk up as she heard voices outside the cargohold.
"And that new teacher? M-r-ow!"
"Yeah .. I heard she doesn't give homework, but that she gives certain students 'extra assignments' "
Mai blushed slightly at the commentary.
"Yeah .. but she's nothing like Lyn!"
"Nowhere as big at least!"
"Yeah .. but doesn't Corqren have dibs on her?" one said sarcastically.
He stops dead in his tracks. "erk"
They heard laughter. "Really? I would've assumed he was gay!"
"Nah- he's not ... and I heard he's got himself a little vixen!"
"really?" they paused a sec. "BAZOOKA GIRL?!" and they laughed louder, and Mai's ears drooped in anger.
She blushed slightly.
He blushes and checks. "guys don't know what they're talking about..." sweatdrop
"Yeah ... well Bazooka girl's taller than Corqren ..."
"Not just taller! 'bigger'!" they all laugh, and Mai blushes more, looking more ticked as well.
"I...I'm done now Mai... I'll come back later if you want me too..." he sighs knowing he'll get ragged on for coming out so late.
She smiled, and shifted her position a little. "Thanks Corqren." She said, still blushing a lot.
"You can if you want ..." he watched him leave the cargo hold and thought about the conversation she had heard ...
"ok..." he exits with a bunch of "Wwwwoooo's!!" greeting him. "Would you guys please stop it...?" he squeaks out.
Mai smiles. "I wonder if he really likes me ..."
"What took ya so long Corqren? did you really 'check the cargo?' " they laugh at him and he sighs loudly walking back to his seat.
Mai blushes at the group's further comments. "Well .. I know I like him at least ..." She looks at the doorway, feeling sorry for Corqren.
"WOULD YOU ALL JUST KNOCK IT THE FUCK OFF?!" Corqren yells and they all stop laughing abruptly
Her face goes completely red and she coughs, thinking at a furious rate. "He'd only be mad ... if .. he liked me?" She looks down at the ground, smiling.
"Hey guys I think we hit a nerve!"
"More like his entire system!"
"So he DOES like her!"
"Heh! he's too chicken to do anything though!"
Mai taps the door to open it, and leans against the doorway, with a strange expression between a glare and a smile. "So .. which one of you was it that made up 'bazooka girl'?"
They all whistle.
She gives a strangely cheery smile. "Well, then I guess I'll just have to kill each and every one of you for making that name up." She looks at them with a completely serious expression.
They all point to a guy between them all. the guy looks at them like 'Hey! traitors!'
"Thank you." She immediately decks the guy, and glares at the rest. "Now, you either leave, or I'll have to pound you all for interrupting my work in the cargo hold- unless you'd like a nice close look at my heavy assault gauge sniper rifle." And an evil grin crosses her face.
They all run off.
* * *
Ax walks by her casually and stops, looking at her for a minute. "You like me, don't you, Yu?"
She twitches slightly, "Did you consult your own fire or did you have to borrow Rei's?" She looked almost ... uncertain of her answer.
He cocks an eyebrow at her. "noooo... I just have a gut feeling."
"Are you sure that it's not coming from your pants?" She smiled, not willing to believe him.
"Nooo..." He pulls her to him and liplocks her.
"Mmm...?!” Yu looks at him, startled by his actions, and feels herself slipping out of consciousness. She looks up at someone, so like, yet unlike Ax, as he spoke, "just .. shutup brat." he said calmly, as he kissed her. Her vision returned to normal again as her lips no longer met Ax's. She looked at him, for a moment feeling confused without knowing why, and felt the world tip backwards as her vision darkened.
"Ax .. from Titania ..." she said to herself, wondering how she knew ... why she knew ... what the difference was.
He caught her as she fell. "Yu! Ahh fuck..." He taps her cheek lightly. "Yu...Yu...?!"
" She grinned, thinking, "mission acomplished."
