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 Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 11:37 am
Captain Jas Sturm ████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ █████ "There always are." The tall blonde shrugged as she handed over her dishes before tugging absently at her tie while looking at her distorted reflection in the back of one of the plates. "Gorram tie never sits straight." Striding out of the kitchen, Jas pulled her tie from under the vest she wore and began untying it again. Then, once the piece of fabric had been straightened out and laid over her neck properly she began tying it again, peering down at it and muttering to herself. ████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ █████
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 1:11 am
Fayra Gardiner
"Uhm, do you want some help with that?" Fayra set her dishes aside and turned to face Jas, waiting for permission before just grabbing her captain by her neckwear. She looked up at Jas, eyes traveling over her face with interest and little more assertion than she'd shown before.
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 1:25 am
◣ Jaden Chu ◢ 【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】"Always." Jaden nodded and grinned before heading up the ladder with the box of Aria's things since Aria no longer needed hir help. Once standing in the corridor, the ship's muscle stretched slowly, joints popping loudly, before striding into the eating area while carefully stretching out cramped muscles in hir hands. Not surprisingly, Jas was fiddling with her tie yet again. What was unexpected was the fact that the dishes had already been washed and were drying in a rack. That and the fact that ze could have just sworn that Fayra had offered to help Jas with her tie. Jaden blinked and goggled at the sight for a second before grunting a greeting as ze dropped the box on the table then leaned across the counter and under a shelf to snag a dangling list from where it had been stuck to a cabinet. 【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 3:10 am
Fayra Gardiner
Midorikawa Aria
With her hands clean and dry, Fayra gently took hold of Jas' tie once the captain had relinquished it to her. It wasn't obvious, but she accepted the ends of it gingerly so as to avoid contact with Jas. Her eyes narrowed for a moment as she remembered how to do this and in a few short seconds she had gotten it into the right knot.
"There." Fayra looked up with a little smile, releasing the tie to drop against Jas' chest.
Mere seconds after she'd released the tie, Aria arrived in the common room as well, geta thunking on the metal to announce her presence. "All my favorite people."
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 3:23 am
Captain Jas Sturm ████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ █████ The question had been a bit of a surprise, which left Jas nodding mutely for a moment. Jaden's boots on the deck reminded her of the fact that they probably needed to leave soon and Jas cleared her throat. "Thanks." The tall blonde said as she leaned forward and down slightly to make things easier for Fayra. It had been an automatic motion borne of habit from letting Aria fix her ties. "Gorram things are impossible to get right, I swear." Clearing her throat again, Jas straightened at the sound of Aria's geta on the deck, her tie sliding the rest of the way from Fayra's hands. The tall blonde somehow managed to just barely not look guilty for no apparent reason when she turned to face the Companion. "Are you ready to go?" ████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ █████
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 10:44 pm
Midorikawa Aria
One of Aria's eyebrows moved just ever-so-slightly upwards. To most people it was nothing, certainly not a reaction to Fayra taking care of Jas' tie. Especially when Aria's mouth curled into a smile that seemed genuine enough. Her grey eyes took in Jas' clean shirt and she nodded.
"Yes, are you?" Once Jas was close enough the companion slid her arm into hers. Her head turned to look at Jaden now, smile still gently there. "Jaden, take care of Fayra."
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 10:57 pm
Captain Jas Sturm ████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ █████ "Thanks to the good doctor." Jas said, nodding before glancing at the box Jaden was lifting off of the table. "I take it as you'll want to take the mule?" ████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ █████ ◣ Jaden Chu ◢ 【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】With a soft grunt, Jaden lifted Aria's box of things onto hir shoulder and started to head toward the stairs down to the cargo bay. Pausing, she turned and grinned at Aria. "Of course. I let 'em break my nose for me for her, didn't I?" the muscle-for-hire quipped before heading out of the room and down to the cargo bay. Once down there, ze strapped Aria's box along with a couple of empty crates to the back of the mule. With any luck those crates would be at least partially full by the time Jaden and Fayra returned from sightseeing. Boots ringing against the deck, Jaden strolled over to the panel that controlled the cargo bay doors and opened them in preparation to head out. Ze watched the main door lower and the inner doors slide aside for a moment before strolling back to the mule. 【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 11:24 pm
Midorikawa Aria
Fayra Gardiner
Aria lead Jas out into the docks of Sihnon, walking at the medium pace her clothing and shoes forced her to move at. She'd proven more than once she was capable of running in her fancy getup, but as she wanted to look her best when they arrived at the Okiya they would have to walk slowly.
As soon as they were more than a few steps away from the ship, Aria stopped and adjusted Jas' tie.
--
Fayra turned to the sink, washing the last couple of plates that Jas had brought from the deck and then let the sink start to drain down into the secondary tank. It had been clean when she'd started to wash, coming from the first- now it was still suitable for flushing and would be used a second time before being fully flushed into the waste.
With the dishes all clean, the medic strolled to her quarters and grabbed her bag then found her way to the cargo bay where Jaden was finishing loading things up.
"Jaden, did you need anything for your nose?" Fayra of course meant pain meds, but she still didn't know the muscle well enough to know if she would want to tough through it or not.
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 11:46 pm
Captain Jas Sturm ████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ █████ Jas followed Aria out into Sihnon, wearing her paired pistols under the formal jacket she wore, but still somehow managing to look dangerous. It could have been the long knife strapped to her thigh or it could have been the warning glares the tall blonde gave the few men with the courage to start approaching Aria. Either way, they went unharassed on the docks and even the vehicles zipping about went around them despite how slow they were walking. When Aria stopped and reached for her tie, Jas automatically leaned down as she had for Fayra while the companion adjusted her tie. Then, before Aria finished letting go of the length of silk, the tall blonde gently caught her hand and gave her a smile of thanks. A split second later that smile of thanks turned mischievous and Jas brushed her lips across the back of Aria's knuckles in an age old gesture. As she did so, the captain noticed a flash of unusual movement out of the corner of her eye, headed directly for her ship. ████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ █████ ◣ Jaden Chu ◢ 【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】Jaden had just turned to look up at Fayra's approaching footsteps before a patter of bare feet on metal announced the presence of someone else in the cargo bay. That second of warning was the only warning Jaden got before something heavy crashed into hir back and a pair of legs wrapped themselves around Jaden's waist. " Guh-guh!" announced a voice in an excited tone, loudly enough that Fayra probably could have heard it up in her quarters if she had still been there, right next to Jaden's ear. " Nihao ma!" The figure clinging to Jaden's back shifted and a moment later Jin-Li was peering over the muscle-for-hire's head at Jaden's face upside down with hands and feet balanced precariously on Jaden's shoulders and head. As usual, Jin-Li was grinning and covered in dust and grime. Then, before Jaden could reply, the mechanic launched herself off of Jaden's shoulders and onto the mule, landing on the seats and rolling before popping back up, sitting cross legged in the passenger's seat. 【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 12:07 am
Midorikawa Aria
Fayra Gardiner
"Are you ready to be inspected? You know she doesn't really approve of what I do."
Funny, coming from her mother who had passed on the genealogy of working as a companion. She didn't approve of the fact Aria made a living working on a cargo vessel as well as working as a companion. The irony wasn't lost of Aria, but then Aria had never regretted her choice to carry on the family profession either.
"You do clean up nice though." Aria slid her fingers down Jas' sleeve, smoothing an invisible wrinkle out. Her touch was light and gentle, bordering on a tickle.
--
Fayra was at a loss for words, not sure what to make up the stranger climbing on Jaden. It, well unsurprisingly, it made her nervous. She really didn't want to be bowled over in a hug by this person. Instead of going down into the cargo hold, she hesitated at the top of the walkway down, hoping that if this person -was- going to accost her, she would have the distance of the stairs to figure out what to do.
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 12:23 am
Captain Jas Sturm ████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ █████ "Your mother's not as bad as my Drill Sergeant was." Jas said reassuringly, patting Aria's hand lightly with her free hand. "And your mother can kiss my a** for all that I care about her approval. We do important work sometimes and this is just as much of a profession as hers is." The captain watched Aria's fingers smooth out that invisible wrinkle before meeting her eyes again with a smile. "You should have seen me in my dress uniform at graduation. Maybe I should dig that out again to visit your mother next time." ████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ █████ ◣ Jaden Chu ◢ 【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】"You are lucky, little cousin, that we now have a doctor." Jaden mock-growled at the figure sitting on the mule. "A little bit of warning would prevent the whiplash you are so fond of inflicting on me." Jin-Li shifted and rocked back and forth once before following Jaden's gaze up at Fayra. She started to unfold from her seated position, clearly intending to go inspect this new person, before she caught Jaden's abrupt head shake. "Hiiii!" the new mechanic called, waving at Fayra hard enough that she almost lost her balance, teetering dangerously on the edge of the passenger seat. "Jas- jie-jie sent a wave and told me she needed a mechanic. I'm Jin-Li. Are you the doctor? Did you give Jaden- guh-guh the black eyes? Ze looks silly with them. They sort of match, but they're all lopsided-ed and splotchy-splotchy." "Don't mind Jin-Li, doc." Jaden called up at Fayra. "She won't hurt you and for all I know, you might not see a whole lot of her after now. We should get going, though." 【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:51 pm
Midorikawa Aria
Fayra Gardiner
"That might be something to see," Aria returned Jas' smile. She hadn't known Jas or the family well enough to attend Jas' graduation at the time. Their friendship had grown during the captain's time in service, not her time at academy.
Her attention swung to their surroundings as they left the docks and started into the portion of the city leading to where the Okiya was. Midorikawa Okiya was wealthy in it's own right- with the backing of the Companion's Guild it had carved a hanamachi style neighborhood in the city around itself. The buildings were in Earth-that-was Japanese style; shops, houses, even reader screens were styled to match this. Tall cherry trees, past the stage they were in bloom, lined the walks with their red leaves and heavy branches interlacing over the road.
--
Fayra was watching Jin-li and didn't see the shake of Jaden's head which saved her from having her space invaded. At least for now. Since it seemed the mechanic was going to remain in her seat on the mule, Fayra descended to the same level so that they might get a better look at one another.
"It is a pleasure to meet you," Fayra smiled a little. "No, I didn't give hir those black eyes. I'm not really a violent person. More of the patching up afterwards person."
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 12:06 am
Captain Jas Sturm ████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ █████ Entering into the area around the Midorikawa Okiya had always been a strange experience for Jas. Even just being on Sihnon was an experience - no matter how many times Jas docked her ship in the port - for someone who had grown up on Londinium. The two might have been the capitals of the Core, but they were culturally and architecturally completely different places because of who had settled them. And, of course, the tall white-blonde captain stuck out like a shining nail in an area like this. Jas took advantage of the fact that she was clearly an outsider to enjoy the architecture and the landscaping of the neighborhood. Trees cultivated for decoration were fascinating things to her, having seen very little of trees as a child and even less of the decorative kind since joining the Alliance military. ████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ █████ ◣ Jaden Chu ◢ 【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】"You are a doctor!" Jin-Li grinned triumphantly. "That's good. I like Jas- jie-jie, but she's not very good at being a medic. She's a better pilot. She's the best pilot ever, really. Aria- jie-jie likes you, doesn't she? You're more like her than them 'cause you're not all punchy." With that, Jin-Li popped to her feet and opted to run around the cargo bay with her arms held out like a ship's wings and making engine noises. She made a few circuits of the area, leaping over crates as often as she went around them, before disappearing through the hatch leading to the infirmary and non-crew quarters. Bare feet could be heard pattering around back there for a few seconds before the sound of Jin-Li completely disappeared. "Well, that's Jin-Li. Mei-mei's a bit weird, but she's the best mechanic out there. Cap likes her and likes keeping an eye on her." Jaden grunted after a moment before gesturing to the passenger seat and climbing aboard the mule hirself. "We should get going." 【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 12:47 am
Midorikawa Aria
Fayra Gardiner
The beauty of the neighborhood the Okiya was in was the beauty that Fayra had grown up in. Yes, she was a member of the Companion's Guild, but her training had began from the earliest days she remembered. Even so, it's loveliness wasn't lost on her.
"I wish it was spring," Aria stated with a little bit of a sigh. "I love to see the trees in bloom."
Finally Aria and her strange clothing fit into the setting she was in. It didn't make her any less lovely- wherever she was Aria managed to stand out. But her kimono was suited to the old-styled buildings.
--
Fayra turned where she stood, following Jin-li's circuit around the room for a round and a half, then brought her attention back to Jaden on the mule.
"Yes, I'm ready."
She settled into the passenger seat, hands tucked beneath her knees. Strangely her immediate closeness to Jaden didn't seem to bother her much if at all.
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 12:58 am
Captain Jas Sturm ████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ █████ "I'll try to get us a job out this way next spring." Jas said after a moment of watching her first mate. "We've got a string of jobs lined up that should give us a cushion for a while if we want to stay somewhere." Given Aria's relationship with her mother and the planet itself, Jas was a bit surprised to hear the other woman mentioning actually wanting to visit the planet at all. Generally she tried to avoid landing on planet unless Aria had to as a Companion just as she did for Londinium, but picking up a job that would pay for the fuel to get to the planet wouldn't be that hard the following spring. They could bring cattle or meat in from the Border planets or something. If Aria wanted to visit, Jas would figure something out. It wasn't like she or Jaden really cared much where they went when they went there. ████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ █████ ◣ Jaden Chu ◢ 【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】Once Fayra was settled, Jaden kicked the mule bike to life and guided it out of the ship. Outside, ze dismounted and trudged back to shut the inner doors before rejoining Fayra. Silently, Jaden drove the mule through a different route than the one that Jas and Aria were taking to the okiya. The path the mule-bike could drive on through that neighborhood was more roundabout, almost as scenic and just as crowded as anything else. Before long, ze was knocking at the back door of the okiya with Aria's box balanced on a shoulder. Jaden had parked the mule-bike as close to the wall as possible in the narrow street-alley and had left it with Fayra to deliver the box. 【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】【✪】
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