Chapter 22:Terminus Pluvia [Earth]

[Strike Zero]

- Elya -

It was all Elya could do just to stare dumbly at the armored young man for several moments. Then she lowered her gaze and smiled warmly.

"Oh, Masamune... thank you..."

Strike raised an eyebrow as he studied Elya's demeanor. If he didn't know any better, he'd have thought he saw slight blush spread over the young girl's cheeks. But, he quickly shook the thought away.

"If there's nothing else for the moment..." Strike said to Elya, "then get some rest. Masamune, let's get out of here."

He started for the door, but stopped halfway and gave one final glance back at the magenta-haired girl.

"I'll see you again," Strike said.

Elya smiled. "I hope so."

Strike's raised his brow again, surprised. Then he turned and headed out the door, leaving the former-Knight be.

[Cybaster]

-Masamune-

Elya's smile and the hint of a slight blush thrown his way suddenly threatened to blind Masamune's other eye as well as he scratched his head, smiled wryly, and scratched his helmet --- he's never seen Elya smile brighter, and while he liked seeing it, he was trying hard not to let Strike see his own awkward reaction at the same time. Masamune sighed; He had a feeling he was going to be acting this way for a long, long, long time.

Nope, Masamune frowned quickly, still not good at talking to girls who aren't trying to kill me. Imbecile!

Flustering slightly in turn and trying to show Elya that her smile was appreciated (while trying not to show Strike this in plain sight), Masamune nodded and began turning towards the door, hurriedly trying to say something and recompose himself before he really started blabbering like an idiot in front of Elya. "Y-you're welcome, Elya." Masamune answered gently, and waved at Elya once while walking towards the door. "I'll s-see you later. Just call for me if, well, if you need anything. Or j-just want to talk. Or something...y-yes, um, I'll come back either way."

[Strike Zero]

- Elya -

Elya nodded, still smiling. "Sure thing. You got it."

Strike, meanwhile, had paused just out of sight outside the door, just to make sure that Masamune actually did leave. What he heard drifting out from inside as the young man said goodbye, however, granted him the first flicker of amusement he'd felt in what felt like an age. When Masamune finally did emerge from out of the room, Strike gave a low, evil-sounding chuckle.

"Careful there now, imbecile," he remarked before starting down the hallway back to his own quarters. "You just might start getting her to like you if you keep that up."

[Sume Gai]

Tallis Stenner

Tallis had naturally missed any and all signs that there was a confession coming and when it did come she stepped backwards in utter surprise. "Er... uh... um..." her mouth tried to act without her brain. She didn't honestly know how to react. She hadn't even known his name till a few seconds ago; of course she didn't know whether she liked him.

a dozen things raced through her mind. She remembered her feelings for Wan and felt guilt for even entertaining the possibility. She remembered Kizu's promise which had echoed emptily the previous day and the sincerity she hadn't noticed than. She recalled the nagging familiarity about the boy which she'd dismissed earlier. In the end she didn't know what to say.

"I-I'm Sorry; I d-don't know what to say."

There was a genuine apologetic tone to her voice which she hoped he didn't take the wrong way.

[legacygundam]

Turning to the new person who had just strolled up, Kyle changed his stance and gave the man a quick salute as well. "I am Ensign Kyle Raikou, recently transferred to this unit. As for the Huckebein, yes, the GN rifle was added to compensate for its lack of long range weapons. It has a fair arsenal of close weapons as well. May I ask for the name of the person who has asked for mine?"

[hellbore]

- Juuso Eljas -

Taking in the generals words, Juuso sensed that the general was being honest, something he was not prepared for. Picking up the thick file, he saluted again and excused himself. He carefully composed his features to a neutral expression, not wanting to show how pleased he was with General Aelfhere's decision.

Still outside were his three bodyguards, eager to know what had transpired inside the office. Juusoo dumped the heavy file into Dan's arms and Hendrik was the first to speak up. "Sir, what did the general want with you?"

Juuso didn't answer and led the three outside before turning to them. Still outwardly calm, Juuso replied, "I have been made leader of the Eagle Team," he displayed the patch Garmin had given him, "and promoted to Major."

The reactions of the group were best described as -> -> . They were overjoyed at their commanders success and let out in great whoops of jubilation. All four men then returned to their quarters, Juuso to read over his file, which he took back from Dan, and the members of the Practice team to share the news with their Giganos comrades.

[Kylern]

-Kylern-

He was just a tad confused as the guy called him sir... "I think your confused... I'm not your commanding officer. I'm just one of the Gundam pilots here but if you want something to do then move your Huckebien into the Ceres and wait for orders like the rest of us." He was a Sgt. and not really much else so getting any sort of respect was a little much.

"As for him, he's Zangetsu and another Gundam pilot." Of course Kylern's mind went straight to Bleach at the name and laughed mentally at it. And the other dude had been Zaraki, yet another Bleach character. Maybe Ichigo was here as well...

[legacygundam]

"My apologies, but I was taught that anyone of a higher rank than me should be called sir. If I didn't....." Kyle trailed off, his mind remembering what had happened to him whenever he had forgotten to call his superiors by sir.." no, never mind, it doesn't matter. I will do as you have requested and move my unit into the Ceres. After that, I guess I'll head to the medical bay to give the doctor's my medical info. I'll leave the data on this disk in your hands sir, what you do with it is up to you." Saluting them both one more time, Kyle turned and went back up into his unit, its eyes glowing red then green as it booted up.

Moving the controls forward slightly, he moved the unit forward at a walk towards where the Sergeant had directed him to go. Once inside, Kyle password protected the OS and shut down the unit, then exited it. Based on his knowledge, the medical bay was down the corridor on his left, so that's the way he started going. His thoughts drifted back to his training, where one word kept coming back to him. "Survive".

[chiku_shou]

-Aile Temple- (Excalibur infirmary)-

Making friends were easy, losing them were however was painful. She had seen far to many of her friends die already, far to many had left her to make that faithful journey from which nobody returned. Van would have been Lyon's age now... always a ready smile and shine in his eye. He hadn't been related to Aile but she had always viewed him as the little brother she never had.

"You don't say much do you little sis? We'll I've always thought you were a good listener." Aile chuckled and took a big chug from a bottle of questionable content. Yes, Lyon had always been a good listener....

[Omega]

-Luna-

She then led Zaraki to the infirmary, where her gaze eventually fell on the bedridden Lyon with Aile nearby...

"Aile... how is she?" Luna asked, worry somehow creeping into her voice.

[Nero]

-Kizu-

He noticed that Tallis was rather shocked when Kizu voiced his feelings for her, then seemingly reject him...

"I... guess I owe an explanation, Huh?" He caught the apologetic tone in her voice, and figured it'd be best to explain how he developed these feelings.

[Sume Gai]

Tallis Stenner

"Explanation?" was such a thing even possible. Tallis was again unsure what would be said. She was tempted to say no; to escape back to figuring out the Angelg. But his sad expression stayed her retreat. She couldn't help to admit the dissapointed look on his face was.. cute.

"OK..."

[Nero]

(These are Kizu's 'memories'... if you have any objections, PM me)
-Kizu-

"Well... We ran into each other on a few occasions, the ones that stand out for me was the academy and our encounter at Wake Island... you probably don't remember them... but I eh... tried to help you out on getting the hang of piloting at the academy... but later when we met again, after your brother's death, I wanted to help you become a pilot again, but Wan stopped me and said I shouldn't help you; that he'd do it himself..." His head lowered at that.

"Then came the fight at Wake... I went to congragulate you on finally becoming a pilot... Wan stopped me then too..."

[Sume Gai]

Tallis Stenner

There had been a lot of boys who tried to help her in her embarrassingly short stint in the Fandom Military Academy's Pilot program. All their faces were a blur and she could understand forgetting his. In addition it seemed this boy had followed her throughout her career though Wan had kept him away. He'd always been stubborn so it didn't surprise her too much.

"I see... so where have you been since then?"

there was a hint of nervousness in her tone she was starting to think he might be some kind of stalker...

[Nero]

-Kizu-

"I fought this one Gundam at Wake and was knocked into a coma from which I recently woke..." He caught the nervous tone in her voice, and decided to alleviate her fears. "I'm not a stalker, so please don't worry. Just wanted to see how you were doing was all for the earlier bits." He then decided to shift the conversation in a different direction.

"Interesting machine you have here..."

[Sume Gai]

Tallis Stenner

her fears were not allayed by his assurance after all anyone could simply say that. then thankfully the topic shifted to the Angelg.

"oh isn't she great!"

the gender could not be argued. Even though it was a 40 m tall robot it was wearing a skirt and had a bust.

"she's called the Angelg and she's got a beam bow a saber and the shield on the right arm hides a weapon which sprays these bean shots shaped like daggers"

she wasn't sure why this was so exciting bot for some reason it was.

[Nero]

-Kizu-

He could tell turning the conversation towards the Angelg was a smart move. He seemed a bit confused by the feminine look of the machine, and the glow of pink that came from her talking about it caused him to relax his guard, though he was surprised at how easily she'd make him do that... only one person could do that to him.

"You remind me of my mother in more ways than one..." He seemed a good deal more relaxed than usual... that is, until he realized someone else was in the room with them...

"You must be the one most important to him..." Came a voice hidden by the shadows followed by a sound Kizu knew was the readying of a gun. and when a red light came to rest on the young woman's back, he knew what was going to happen.

"LOOK OUT!!!" He then tackled Tallis out of the way, only moments before a gunshot rang throughout the area.

"WHO'S THERE?!" Kizu shouted before he got up and drew a gun from within his jacket. "Tallis... when I give you the signal, run for the exit, okay?" He spoke with a mixture of seriousness and concern finding their way into his voice.

The voice responded... "The Black Knight... and you're getting in my way!"

[Sume Gai]

Tallis Stenner

His comment about her being like his mother kind of worried Tallis but all that was forgotten as a second voice came from behind her and before she could understand she was tackled as a gunshot rang out.

she didn't know what was happening but when Kizu told her to run she nodded and began glancing around for a place to go. It was hard to choose since she didn't know exactly where his voice was coming from

[chiku_shou]

-Aile Temple- (Excalibur infirmary)-

Aile looked up at Luna with intoxicated eyes. She had already finished most of the bottle and she had been drinking heavily the day before as well. This was not unusual for her but that didn't mean it was acceptable behavior for a pilot.

"She's not very talkative... but I think she's... doing okay commander." Aile responded, a slight slur to her voice evident. Rising from her chair to salute Luna she forgot all about protocol again as she spotted the man that entered the room with the commander. She didn't recognize him, although that might be because of the alcohol she had consumed.

[Zangetsu]

-Zaraki-

Looking Lyon over a grin grew on Zaraki. "So Captain, I guess that means I'm in charge of the troops, right?" he asked turning to Ramius. "Seams like it could be fun to be the boss for a little while. What do yah say? I won't go too overboard."