Gles
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20日1月YE 47
YSS Kaiyo II
In Orbit Above Nepleslia
~1.5 hours after ground crew returned from Funky City
Urban missions were a completely different beast. The clean air cycled throughout the ship was the flavor of ambrosia when compared to the caustic atmosphere of Funky City. As is often the case with the Kaiyo team, a lot had happened on this mission. They retrieved the information they sought, though unfortunately, they couldn't immediately act on it. But it was another mission to look forward to. For the time being, the crew had their hard-earned rest to look forward to.
In the ship's armory, leaning back on a swivel chair was Sif, still dressed in her disguise sans the cloak and jacket, which were draped on an empty seat next to her. The bloodstain on the back of her green shirt over her right shoulder blade was the only indication of that nasty nail-studded hammer injury she suffered.
She had the armory to herself, and on the metal table in front of her was a disassembled impaler rifle neatly arranged by parts. It was the very one she brought on to the mission, along with the radiant pistol awaiting its turn in the corner.
In her hands were the firing mechanism and a rag. With practiced motion she polished the device to a shine. "It wasn't that long ago, was it?" she spoke, seemingly to no one in particular. "I'm sure you're happy to not be stuck in that dreaded place anymore... If Nari could see you now, all clean and most importantly, sterile."
The air filled with a soft, clicking as Sif flicked the trigger repeatedly. "Gliding smooth with high-grade grease." She put the mechanism down on the table and picked up the barrel.
"Good, you're not bent. I was worried you got damaged when that building fell. Your casing saved you, didn't it?" she'd chuckle as she inspected the length for any new scratches before wiping it down. "I should put you through proper calibration, shouldn't I? We'll get to that once you're all put together. Got to make sure you don't veer off-center, after all."
Sif could hear the door hiss open, and steady footsteps followed, then suddenly stopped. "Oh!" came a familiar voice--Molli's. "S'right, y'said yer were comin' here..." The Neko could hear the faint sounds of hurried exertions, and turning to face Molli, Sif caught her just as she'd slipped an arm back into the sleeve of her form-fitting bodysuit--Hoshi's present from the holidays last year. With eyes now on her, and potentially on her uncovered stomach and exposed sports bra, un-Yamataian embarrassment swiftly set in, and she hastily covered herself with cheeks that were almost as red as her metal eyes.
"Jus' came t'clean m'wheelgun," Molli held up her shoulder holster, where the small snub revolver was holstered. She walked past Sif, pulled up a swivel chair from across the room, and sat on the opposite side of the table. "...Y'doin' alrigh'?" Molli's eyes darted to Sif's shoulder, while a hand went to her own stomach--she needed to get those bandages changed soon.
"I'm doing alright, but I'd be looking to get a good soak once I'm done," Sif answered, adjusting her seat a little to accommodate her crossing a leg over her knee so she could gently set the part she was working on on her lap. She reached into her pocket and placed three slightly bent nails on the table, each with dried blood up to the heads. "Hemosynth worked the moment I pulled these out. I'd say I'm good as new, and I got new souvenirs for the collection" she said, smiling.
When Sif took a closer look at Molli, her face showed more worry. "What about you though? Don't you need a blood transfusion? You've lost quite a bit of blood yourself."
"Ah'm fine. Got treated when we came back," Molli said. She unloaded her revolver and stacked the bullets in a neat row, then reached for a rag and brush. It was true that she probably needed more blood, but Molli didn't want to admit that, didn't want to look vulnerable in front of her much more durable colleague. She started to disassemble the revolver, popping the cylinder out and scrubbing the chambers with her brush.
"Y'collect shrapnel?" Molli asked, eyebrow raised. Sif got the sense that her hobby came off as weird to her friend, whose intonation suggested it more than words could outright.
"Well," Sif started to answer, waving a hand lazily in the air, stalling for a bit of thinking time. "It's more of collecting things that made an impact." She laughed a little, considering the context of those three nails.
Molli rolled her eyes, uncertain of whether or not she'd just heard a corny joke about a shrapnel impacts.
"Though this is the most literal example." Sif leaned back on her chair. "It's a shame I couldn't get the rest of it though. The guy that got me had a meat tenderizer with nails welded on the face. I thought that was pretty ingenious, a hammer and nails all in one. People from your city get really creative, don't they?"
"Nuffin' creative 'bout ah ganger what thinks hammerin' nails intah his face looks tough," Molli said, huffing. "Buncha whacked out speed monkeys, ah'd be glad they're all dead if it changed anyfin'." she scrubbed the barrel of her revolver vigorously, her face contorted in concentration, or maybe annoyance. "Betcha glad we're off that hellhole, eh?"
"Hmm... I don't know, feeling like I'm still missing a lot of the Funky Town experience," the Neko replied, taking her rag again and resuming wiping down her weapon's barrel assembly until it began to shine. "Air quality sucks, but I got to admit, it has sights I never expected to see." She chuckled, lifting the assembly slightly above eye level, inspecting for any visible cracks or stubborn debris with one eye closed and the other completely focused on the part.
As she slowly rotated the assembly, watching for changes in its reflectiveness in search of signs of any dents, she continued to say, "Like the haze when it rained. The glow from the signs, it all looked like frosted glass almost. Not to mention the chaotic architecture of structures upon structures built over each other, like a mirror of the evolution of life. Brick by brick placed atop of surviving foundations."
Sif set down the assembly on the table, having completed her inspection. If Molli were to glance over, she'd see Sif's eyes were wide with an almost child-like wonder as she recalled the vistas from the mission. "There's so much I still want to see over there."
Molli had bitten her tongue during Sif's ruminations and kept her hands busy with the revolver. The barrel couldn't possibly shine any brighter, and there wasn't a trace of gunk in the cylinder anymore. The Nepleslian jimmied the hammer out of the frame and started to push her brush into the gap. "S'nice for tourists," she said without looking up from her work. "Try livin' there, yeh opinion migh' change," Molli stressed the odd word here or there as she put more effort into cleaning her gun. She couldn't imagine there was much debris left after a minute of effort.
"Yeh might be fine, come t'think. Nekos usually ran things on th'streets, where ah lived," she said. "In my sector, t'least. Dunnae know how're why they end up there, but loadsa kids wanna work for 'em." There was a hint of resentment in Molli's voice, but without eye contact with Sif, it was hard for the Neko to guess if that animosity was directed at her, or the Neko in her past.
The bitterness in Molli's tone wasn't lost on Sif, who felt a pang of guilt when Molli brought up a glance of her life. It felt a little awkward. There she was, praising the sights, but for someone who had to live her life in that city, Molli would have a lot more experiences there. A lot more bad ones too. She should have anticipated something like that. It was such a common trope in her readings, how could she not have thought to watch out for it here.
"Sorry..." Sif said, looking down at her disassembled weapon as she set the barrel assembly on the table, looking a bit shrunken in her posture. There was no real way to navigate the minefield she found herself in. If she said anything out of line, or something that might be taken the wrong way, it could seriously hurt the friendship they shared.
And yet... At the moment Sif realized something. She never did ask much about Molli's past. Was it out of consideration to not pry into a friend's life, or was it because Sif herself wouldn't have anything to talk about in exchange? She was only a week out of the academy when she got introduced to Molli after all. But thinking about it now, Sif didn't know much about her closest companion on the ship. Realizing that just made the guilt feel a whole lot heavier.
As she began to put the Impaler rifle back together again, she glanced back up at Molli, debating whether to raise the question that started swirling in her head. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked in a hushed tone that suggested that Sif would have been twiddling her thumbs if she weren't already putting a particle rifle back together.
There it was-- the question Molli knew Sif wanted to ask in the hope of salvaging what was, in her friend's mind, a way to build a bridge to understanding. The Nepleslian set her revolver down and resisted the urge to sigh, because she absolutely hated talking about herself. But she hated Sif feeling bad more.
"Bout m'life on Funky City? Sure, ah guess... S'hard place fer ah kid, s'why ah were lucky m'mam 'n pawp were good people. He's ah mechanic, she's- she were 'n airbike racer," Molli said, a faint smile forming at her lips as she reminisced.
While Sif only gave quick glances towards Molli as she worked to put together the more sensitive parts of the gun, a smile had grown on Sif's lips. "I guess you really took after your folks," she said. There was enough media Sif's head to imagine a scene on how Molli's parents got to know each other. Though admittedly it was easy to envision. A mechanic and a biker would naturally meet. And if watching those shows taught her anything, a common interest was a good spot for a spark.
Moli shrugged, not disagreeing, but not quite sure if Sif's assessment was accurate. "They didn' keep me off th'street, s'hard t'live inna city wivout doin' that, but...ah didn' feel like joinin' up wiv any gangers like m'choom, Jack." The blonde man Sif may or may not have recalled in that pharmacy, a smooth-talking con artist that Molli cut ties with for reasons Sif still didn't understand.
As the click of another component snapping into place sounded, Sif picked up another part, but leaned back a bit against her chair so she could look Molli eye to eye. "That guy that you followed out the store, right?" she asked at the mention of Jack. Oh yes, that guy made an impression, just from the perceived closeness he had with Molli. Of course when they first met, Sif was ready to deck him.
Sif chuckled at the memory and added, "You two sure seemed close. Although the way he approached, I was this close to tackling him."
Molli snorted at the mental image of that, "Be doin' him a favor, guy's obsessed with Nekovalkyrja, 'n yer..." she gestured vaguely in Sif's general direction. "You." She kept shoving the brush into the gap of her revolver frame, where the hammer used to be. "Always dreamed 'bout goin' off t'Yamatai, seein' all th'girls there. Thought they'd go fer summat exotic like 'im."
Sif couldn't help but let another chuckle escape, as she waved a hand dismissively. "I doubt I'd make that much of an impression, he had his eyes locked on to you the whole time." She flashed a smile before quickly and clumsily switching topics in an attempt to have her teasing slip underneath it. "He probably won't be wrong. Plenty of stories where a guy finds himself in a sea of girls and starts building a harem for himself. Although, that might be more trouble that it's worth."
"Surprise--'e loved those. Choffer thought 'e'd get 'im one on Yamatai. Ah dunnae see the appeal," Molli said, having become uncharacteristically animated at the shift in topic, which is probably what Sif had hoped for. "Yer supposed t'think yer th'guy, but they're always so borin'! Ah always liked th'girls more! They're more interestin'! Focus on them! Like th'tough ones that dunnae take crap from noone!" Molli's passionate plea to an audience of one carried with it an equally strenuous scrubbing of her pistol's frame, which was so intense that she'd actually started to get metal flakes onto the rag, to which she cursed beneath her breath.
"Anyway...th'lad just ent seen me inna year, 'n ah didn't keep in contact. If ah gave 'im a few more minutes, 'e'd have noticed you 'n th'others 'n..." Molli's voice trailed off a little, "...stopped payin' attention t'me."
"Well, that's when you hit him over the head with a newspaper," Sif said, making a chopping motion with her hand. "It's a bit cliché, but even a gentle tap will pull you back to the real world."
"Ah'll keep that in mind, karate queen," Molli replied wryly, having leaned back out of instinct once Sif demonstrated her chop.
As the Impaler rifle was fully assembled, Sif aimed it towards the corner where the wall met the floor, doing some preliminary checks on the frame. "Oh! Before I forget, if you got one of those harem genre shows you really like, but want to see more focus on the girls, I'm pretty sure I can find something for that. I don't know if you looked into the fan fiction side of things, but there's a ton of stuff. From pairing up two or three girls together or just cutting out the guy all together. It does get pretty... untamed in certain circles though."
The insinuation was enough to make Molli's eyes rapidly whir open wide as a crimson flush blossomed in her bronzed cheeks. "W-Wuh- Y'sound like y'got experience wiv that kinna...material," she said. "Ah were just givin' an example. Ah'm more inna...racin' shows." There was a slight pause, "...Never asked whatcha were into, come t'think...just figgered ya liked big robots," Molli referred, of course, to the mecha buildkit she'd purchased for Sif during the holidays last year.
Sif had a wide grin on her face. "It's a lot harder not to stumble into those things when you get into reading online." Though she kept most of her reading materials to herself, she didn't feel the need to deny the fact that she has indeed had experience with that kind of material.
"Got any kindsa stories y'like most?"
"I try to not restrict myself to certain genres. What matters is if it's a fun read. A lot of people take it too seriously though, to the point they get into fights about it."
Molli quirked a brow, "Fights over books," she said with a scoff and disbelieving shake of her head. After fighting for her life for the past year, the idea that people could get worked up over something so petty was strange to her. "People got too much time these days..."
"Oh! And speaking of big robots, the kit you gave me last year?" Sif said, "I convinced one of the engineers that worked on the Shieldmaiden to build a small display case for it from my mech's scrap. It's now preserved in battle-tested metal, completely safe from harm."
The Nepleslian was stunned, her mouth slightly agape with surprise. She expected Sif to like it, but to like it that much? The flush in her cheeks deepened.
From a wide grin to a soft smile as Sif put the rifle down on the table, she rubbed the back of her neck. "I know it'll sound corny, but, well, I consider your gift to be especially valuable to me so it just felt right."
"N-Nah, nah! Donnae sound corny at all!" Molli said, her grin mirroring Sif's. "Ah'm...ah'm glad y'loved it that much. Gotta show it off t'me sometime." Molli began to tap the table quietly while her leg twitched beneath the table. "Maybe...we could read summat together in yer quarters after?"
"You want to read with me?" Sif asked, eyes practically glimmering. "I'd like to! I'm sure I got some paperbacks that you might like." Though it may need to be a careful selection when she lays out some of the books, she was sure there were a good number of options that wouldn't be considered extreme. "And if I don't, well, I know where to go on the net to look for one that might."
"Sa date then!" Molli said, before clearing her throat, "Ah mean- Ah'll setsa date. Tomorrow?" Her disassembled revolver was more or less glistening, but now forgotten on the table in many individual pieces. "Or any time y'want. Ah'll work around yer...whatever ya do on th'ship." She started to fit the cylinder back in.
Sif leaned towards Molli, setting her elbows on the table and her head on the back of her hands as a grin began to form. "It's a date then," she repeated with a chuckle, grabbing the chance to tease the Nepleslian without a moment's hesitation. "Tomorrow sounds good, an hour after our usual duties to get freshened up and comfortable."
The cylinder that Molli tried to force into the revolver frame abruptly popped out, rolled across the table, and fell to the floor. But the Nepleslian wasn't concerned about that, her attention was on Sif's smile. She'd seen her Nekovalkyrja comrade smile countless times, but today, seeing it felt a little more special in a way that couldn't be described. "Ah'll...seeya then," said Molli, answering Sif's smile with a sheepish grin, "Ah'll letcha pick out whatcha wanna scroll through- Er, page through."
There was a look of surprise on Sif when Molli abruptly dropped the cylinder of her gun. Did she actually get Molli flustered with that? Maybe the things they write in the books actually have an effect on people. Chuckling to herself, Sif leaned down the table
and picked up the part and offered it with an open hand. "Alright, I think I have a few you might like then, taking in your preferences."
Molli reached over to closer her hand around the cylinder, and for a moment, let her fingers rest in Sif's palm. Flushed as she was, Molli couldn't feel nervous enough to avert her eyes from Sif's, which were the kind of green you'd see in a picturesque meadow. "Sounds...sounds good," she said, pulling her hand away at last.
They carried out the rest of their duties in silence that evening, both pondering the stories they'd read together in the future, while ruminating about the one they'd been penning together.
YSS Kaiyo II
In Orbit Above Nepleslia
~1.5 hours after ground crew returned from Funky City
Urban missions were a completely different beast. The clean air cycled throughout the ship was the flavor of ambrosia when compared to the caustic atmosphere of Funky City. As is often the case with the Kaiyo team, a lot had happened on this mission. They retrieved the information they sought, though unfortunately, they couldn't immediately act on it. But it was another mission to look forward to. For the time being, the crew had their hard-earned rest to look forward to.
In the ship's armory, leaning back on a swivel chair was Sif, still dressed in her disguise sans the cloak and jacket, which were draped on an empty seat next to her. The bloodstain on the back of her green shirt over her right shoulder blade was the only indication of that nasty nail-studded hammer injury she suffered.
She had the armory to herself, and on the metal table in front of her was a disassembled impaler rifle neatly arranged by parts. It was the very one she brought on to the mission, along with the radiant pistol awaiting its turn in the corner.
In her hands were the firing mechanism and a rag. With practiced motion she polished the device to a shine. "It wasn't that long ago, was it?" she spoke, seemingly to no one in particular. "I'm sure you're happy to not be stuck in that dreaded place anymore... If Nari could see you now, all clean and most importantly, sterile."
The air filled with a soft, clicking as Sif flicked the trigger repeatedly. "Gliding smooth with high-grade grease." She put the mechanism down on the table and picked up the barrel.
"Good, you're not bent. I was worried you got damaged when that building fell. Your casing saved you, didn't it?" she'd chuckle as she inspected the length for any new scratches before wiping it down. "I should put you through proper calibration, shouldn't I? We'll get to that once you're all put together. Got to make sure you don't veer off-center, after all."
Sif could hear the door hiss open, and steady footsteps followed, then suddenly stopped. "Oh!" came a familiar voice--Molli's. "S'right, y'said yer were comin' here..." The Neko could hear the faint sounds of hurried exertions, and turning to face Molli, Sif caught her just as she'd slipped an arm back into the sleeve of her form-fitting bodysuit--Hoshi's present from the holidays last year. With eyes now on her, and potentially on her uncovered stomach and exposed sports bra, un-Yamataian embarrassment swiftly set in, and she hastily covered herself with cheeks that were almost as red as her metal eyes.
"Jus' came t'clean m'wheelgun," Molli held up her shoulder holster, where the small snub revolver was holstered. She walked past Sif, pulled up a swivel chair from across the room, and sat on the opposite side of the table. "...Y'doin' alrigh'?" Molli's eyes darted to Sif's shoulder, while a hand went to her own stomach--she needed to get those bandages changed soon.
"I'm doing alright, but I'd be looking to get a good soak once I'm done," Sif answered, adjusting her seat a little to accommodate her crossing a leg over her knee so she could gently set the part she was working on on her lap. She reached into her pocket and placed three slightly bent nails on the table, each with dried blood up to the heads. "Hemosynth worked the moment I pulled these out. I'd say I'm good as new, and I got new souvenirs for the collection" she said, smiling.
When Sif took a closer look at Molli, her face showed more worry. "What about you though? Don't you need a blood transfusion? You've lost quite a bit of blood yourself."
"Ah'm fine. Got treated when we came back," Molli said. She unloaded her revolver and stacked the bullets in a neat row, then reached for a rag and brush. It was true that she probably needed more blood, but Molli didn't want to admit that, didn't want to look vulnerable in front of her much more durable colleague. She started to disassemble the revolver, popping the cylinder out and scrubbing the chambers with her brush.
"Y'collect shrapnel?" Molli asked, eyebrow raised. Sif got the sense that her hobby came off as weird to her friend, whose intonation suggested it more than words could outright.
"Well," Sif started to answer, waving a hand lazily in the air, stalling for a bit of thinking time. "It's more of collecting things that made an impact." She laughed a little, considering the context of those three nails.
Molli rolled her eyes, uncertain of whether or not she'd just heard a corny joke about a shrapnel impacts.
"Though this is the most literal example." Sif leaned back on her chair. "It's a shame I couldn't get the rest of it though. The guy that got me had a meat tenderizer with nails welded on the face. I thought that was pretty ingenious, a hammer and nails all in one. People from your city get really creative, don't they?"
"Nuffin' creative 'bout ah ganger what thinks hammerin' nails intah his face looks tough," Molli said, huffing. "Buncha whacked out speed monkeys, ah'd be glad they're all dead if it changed anyfin'." she scrubbed the barrel of her revolver vigorously, her face contorted in concentration, or maybe annoyance. "Betcha glad we're off that hellhole, eh?"
"Hmm... I don't know, feeling like I'm still missing a lot of the Funky Town experience," the Neko replied, taking her rag again and resuming wiping down her weapon's barrel assembly until it began to shine. "Air quality sucks, but I got to admit, it has sights I never expected to see." She chuckled, lifting the assembly slightly above eye level, inspecting for any visible cracks or stubborn debris with one eye closed and the other completely focused on the part.
As she slowly rotated the assembly, watching for changes in its reflectiveness in search of signs of any dents, she continued to say, "Like the haze when it rained. The glow from the signs, it all looked like frosted glass almost. Not to mention the chaotic architecture of structures upon structures built over each other, like a mirror of the evolution of life. Brick by brick placed atop of surviving foundations."
Sif set down the assembly on the table, having completed her inspection. If Molli were to glance over, she'd see Sif's eyes were wide with an almost child-like wonder as she recalled the vistas from the mission. "There's so much I still want to see over there."
Molli had bitten her tongue during Sif's ruminations and kept her hands busy with the revolver. The barrel couldn't possibly shine any brighter, and there wasn't a trace of gunk in the cylinder anymore. The Nepleslian jimmied the hammer out of the frame and started to push her brush into the gap. "S'nice for tourists," she said without looking up from her work. "Try livin' there, yeh opinion migh' change," Molli stressed the odd word here or there as she put more effort into cleaning her gun. She couldn't imagine there was much debris left after a minute of effort.
"Yeh might be fine, come t'think. Nekos usually ran things on th'streets, where ah lived," she said. "In my sector, t'least. Dunnae know how're why they end up there, but loadsa kids wanna work for 'em." There was a hint of resentment in Molli's voice, but without eye contact with Sif, it was hard for the Neko to guess if that animosity was directed at her, or the Neko in her past.
The bitterness in Molli's tone wasn't lost on Sif, who felt a pang of guilt when Molli brought up a glance of her life. It felt a little awkward. There she was, praising the sights, but for someone who had to live her life in that city, Molli would have a lot more experiences there. A lot more bad ones too. She should have anticipated something like that. It was such a common trope in her readings, how could she not have thought to watch out for it here.
"Sorry..." Sif said, looking down at her disassembled weapon as she set the barrel assembly on the table, looking a bit shrunken in her posture. There was no real way to navigate the minefield she found herself in. If she said anything out of line, or something that might be taken the wrong way, it could seriously hurt the friendship they shared.
And yet... At the moment Sif realized something. She never did ask much about Molli's past. Was it out of consideration to not pry into a friend's life, or was it because Sif herself wouldn't have anything to talk about in exchange? She was only a week out of the academy when she got introduced to Molli after all. But thinking about it now, Sif didn't know much about her closest companion on the ship. Realizing that just made the guilt feel a whole lot heavier.
As she began to put the Impaler rifle back together again, she glanced back up at Molli, debating whether to raise the question that started swirling in her head. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked in a hushed tone that suggested that Sif would have been twiddling her thumbs if she weren't already putting a particle rifle back together.
There it was-- the question Molli knew Sif wanted to ask in the hope of salvaging what was, in her friend's mind, a way to build a bridge to understanding. The Nepleslian set her revolver down and resisted the urge to sigh, because she absolutely hated talking about herself. But she hated Sif feeling bad more.
"Bout m'life on Funky City? Sure, ah guess... S'hard place fer ah kid, s'why ah were lucky m'mam 'n pawp were good people. He's ah mechanic, she's- she were 'n airbike racer," Molli said, a faint smile forming at her lips as she reminisced.
While Sif only gave quick glances towards Molli as she worked to put together the more sensitive parts of the gun, a smile had grown on Sif's lips. "I guess you really took after your folks," she said. There was enough media Sif's head to imagine a scene on how Molli's parents got to know each other. Though admittedly it was easy to envision. A mechanic and a biker would naturally meet. And if watching those shows taught her anything, a common interest was a good spot for a spark.
Moli shrugged, not disagreeing, but not quite sure if Sif's assessment was accurate. "They didn' keep me off th'street, s'hard t'live inna city wivout doin' that, but...ah didn' feel like joinin' up wiv any gangers like m'choom, Jack." The blonde man Sif may or may not have recalled in that pharmacy, a smooth-talking con artist that Molli cut ties with for reasons Sif still didn't understand.
As the click of another component snapping into place sounded, Sif picked up another part, but leaned back a bit against her chair so she could look Molli eye to eye. "That guy that you followed out the store, right?" she asked at the mention of Jack. Oh yes, that guy made an impression, just from the perceived closeness he had with Molli. Of course when they first met, Sif was ready to deck him.
Sif chuckled at the memory and added, "You two sure seemed close. Although the way he approached, I was this close to tackling him."
Molli snorted at the mental image of that, "Be doin' him a favor, guy's obsessed with Nekovalkyrja, 'n yer..." she gestured vaguely in Sif's general direction. "You." She kept shoving the brush into the gap of her revolver frame, where the hammer used to be. "Always dreamed 'bout goin' off t'Yamatai, seein' all th'girls there. Thought they'd go fer summat exotic like 'im."
Sif couldn't help but let another chuckle escape, as she waved a hand dismissively. "I doubt I'd make that much of an impression, he had his eyes locked on to you the whole time." She flashed a smile before quickly and clumsily switching topics in an attempt to have her teasing slip underneath it. "He probably won't be wrong. Plenty of stories where a guy finds himself in a sea of girls and starts building a harem for himself. Although, that might be more trouble that it's worth."
"Surprise--'e loved those. Choffer thought 'e'd get 'im one on Yamatai. Ah dunnae see the appeal," Molli said, having become uncharacteristically animated at the shift in topic, which is probably what Sif had hoped for. "Yer supposed t'think yer th'guy, but they're always so borin'! Ah always liked th'girls more! They're more interestin'! Focus on them! Like th'tough ones that dunnae take crap from noone!" Molli's passionate plea to an audience of one carried with it an equally strenuous scrubbing of her pistol's frame, which was so intense that she'd actually started to get metal flakes onto the rag, to which she cursed beneath her breath.
"Anyway...th'lad just ent seen me inna year, 'n ah didn't keep in contact. If ah gave 'im a few more minutes, 'e'd have noticed you 'n th'others 'n..." Molli's voice trailed off a little, "...stopped payin' attention t'me."
"Well, that's when you hit him over the head with a newspaper," Sif said, making a chopping motion with her hand. "It's a bit cliché, but even a gentle tap will pull you back to the real world."
"Ah'll keep that in mind, karate queen," Molli replied wryly, having leaned back out of instinct once Sif demonstrated her chop.
As the Impaler rifle was fully assembled, Sif aimed it towards the corner where the wall met the floor, doing some preliminary checks on the frame. "Oh! Before I forget, if you got one of those harem genre shows you really like, but want to see more focus on the girls, I'm pretty sure I can find something for that. I don't know if you looked into the fan fiction side of things, but there's a ton of stuff. From pairing up two or three girls together or just cutting out the guy all together. It does get pretty... untamed in certain circles though."
The insinuation was enough to make Molli's eyes rapidly whir open wide as a crimson flush blossomed in her bronzed cheeks. "W-Wuh- Y'sound like y'got experience wiv that kinna...material," she said. "Ah were just givin' an example. Ah'm more inna...racin' shows." There was a slight pause, "...Never asked whatcha were into, come t'think...just figgered ya liked big robots," Molli referred, of course, to the mecha buildkit she'd purchased for Sif during the holidays last year.
Sif had a wide grin on her face. "It's a lot harder not to stumble into those things when you get into reading online." Though she kept most of her reading materials to herself, she didn't feel the need to deny the fact that she has indeed had experience with that kind of material.
"Got any kindsa stories y'like most?"
"I try to not restrict myself to certain genres. What matters is if it's a fun read. A lot of people take it too seriously though, to the point they get into fights about it."
Molli quirked a brow, "Fights over books," she said with a scoff and disbelieving shake of her head. After fighting for her life for the past year, the idea that people could get worked up over something so petty was strange to her. "People got too much time these days..."
"Oh! And speaking of big robots, the kit you gave me last year?" Sif said, "I convinced one of the engineers that worked on the Shieldmaiden to build a small display case for it from my mech's scrap. It's now preserved in battle-tested metal, completely safe from harm."
The Nepleslian was stunned, her mouth slightly agape with surprise. She expected Sif to like it, but to like it that much? The flush in her cheeks deepened.
From a wide grin to a soft smile as Sif put the rifle down on the table, she rubbed the back of her neck. "I know it'll sound corny, but, well, I consider your gift to be especially valuable to me so it just felt right."
"N-Nah, nah! Donnae sound corny at all!" Molli said, her grin mirroring Sif's. "Ah'm...ah'm glad y'loved it that much. Gotta show it off t'me sometime." Molli began to tap the table quietly while her leg twitched beneath the table. "Maybe...we could read summat together in yer quarters after?"
"You want to read with me?" Sif asked, eyes practically glimmering. "I'd like to! I'm sure I got some paperbacks that you might like." Though it may need to be a careful selection when she lays out some of the books, she was sure there were a good number of options that wouldn't be considered extreme. "And if I don't, well, I know where to go on the net to look for one that might."
"Sa date then!" Molli said, before clearing her throat, "Ah mean- Ah'll setsa date. Tomorrow?" Her disassembled revolver was more or less glistening, but now forgotten on the table in many individual pieces. "Or any time y'want. Ah'll work around yer...whatever ya do on th'ship." She started to fit the cylinder back in.
Sif leaned towards Molli, setting her elbows on the table and her head on the back of her hands as a grin began to form. "It's a date then," she repeated with a chuckle, grabbing the chance to tease the Nepleslian without a moment's hesitation. "Tomorrow sounds good, an hour after our usual duties to get freshened up and comfortable."
The cylinder that Molli tried to force into the revolver frame abruptly popped out, rolled across the table, and fell to the floor. But the Nepleslian wasn't concerned about that, her attention was on Sif's smile. She'd seen her Nekovalkyrja comrade smile countless times, but today, seeing it felt a little more special in a way that couldn't be described. "Ah'll...seeya then," said Molli, answering Sif's smile with a sheepish grin, "Ah'll letcha pick out whatcha wanna scroll through- Er, page through."
There was a look of surprise on Sif when Molli abruptly dropped the cylinder of her gun. Did she actually get Molli flustered with that? Maybe the things they write in the books actually have an effect on people. Chuckling to herself, Sif leaned down the table
and picked up the part and offered it with an open hand. "Alright, I think I have a few you might like then, taking in your preferences."
Molli reached over to closer her hand around the cylinder, and for a moment, let her fingers rest in Sif's palm. Flushed as she was, Molli couldn't feel nervous enough to avert her eyes from Sif's, which were the kind of green you'd see in a picturesque meadow. "Sounds...sounds good," she said, pulling her hand away at last.
They carried out the rest of their duties in silence that evening, both pondering the stories they'd read together in the future, while ruminating about the one they'd been penning together.