"Oh... umm... sorry! That's just how everyone else likes it... so... I'll remember next time!" Steve replied, embarassed and somewhat terrified Saigo was going to have Watsas neuter him with a machete for his failings.
He quickly prepared another cup of tea, cardamine free and set it on the table next to Saigo.
Naomi shrugged, shifty eyed as she watched Steve. She was not sympathetic toward him in any way, shape, or form.
"I'll take that cardamine tea then." A crass voice pierced the bar scene with a hodge-podge accent hinting at a Kusari and Liberty background. It originated from a young, but very large woman. She walked herself up to the bar, the swaying of such a large set of hips being an odd sight amoung the comparably tiny figures around her. She leaned up onto the bar, saying
"Heya Steve."
Not like there could have been a more awkward situation at the moment, with the three hundred and eight pounds worth of Akiko Wantanabe leaning seductively (possibly failing at that) onto the bar. Of course going for Steve could only convay how desperate she was...
And then... something miraculous happened...
Steve had met the first woman... ever... he did not want...
Had he not been so overwhelmed by conditioning implants, memory replacement, and a dogma of honor which permiated subtly through his usual womanising, he would have screamed and fled to scrub out his corneas with bleach and pretend the woman was a bad dream. His honor however (to the dismay of his sentient thought) forced him to stay...
"Oh... erm... h..hello there..." He said, the malcontent evident in his voice. "You want this?"
He handed the large woman the cardamine tea, and waited... waited for the storm to begin...
Misao was barely feeling her body anymore, as if in a dream, her movement in slow motion, she couldn't even feel the ground she was walking on, giving her the impression she was floating. She laughed a bit hysterically, a clear crystaline laughter of child, as she followed Saigo, but her mind was still conscious enough to ask, in a mumbling,
"w.. what is cardamine?..."
And there it was. The usual expected tones of the voice that signaled another Akiko failure at seduction. The eager smile faded back into a more or less 'wise ass' smirk as she took the cup from the man. She could easily guess his current state of mind and leaned back down onto the stool.
"Impressive... to see such a cold responce from... him" Akiko thought as she sipped her tea. Still hanging onto the delusion that she could appeal to probably anyone, she threw a wink at the barkeep, who shuttered in responce to the gesture.
However, Akiko's good sense of hearing (well eavesdropping) did catch something of intrest out of the room. A strange laugh followed by some mumbling she couldn't make out.
"Hunh...What was that?"
On the other side of the room she saw two women, one seeming rather intoxicated from something.
The stool on which Akiko sat creeked in disapproval of it's occupcant.
"mmmm..." Steve whimpered. Despite this woman's size, she and him were alike. Both lonely, lost, and scared apparently... and she was still a Chrysanthemum...
It was that logic which began a series of events that would lead to much discontent in Steve's future. Realising that the woman was emotionally hurt by his inital rejection triggered his Consortium-issued subliminal propaganda and conditioning. As with any Consortium troops, he was subconciously bound to serve them unquestioningly... even if that meant sacrificing his own life in combat.
Having his pelvis crushed was a small price to pay to fufill his hardcoded prime directives of keeping the GC happy...
"So... what is your name, miss?" He asked, this time with a softer, gentler tone. While he conciously did not want, there was no way he could resist the will of the Consortium. "You have beautiful eyes, you know..."
*It was not often that Ainu Depot was vistied by one of Lady Kurisho's operatives, but there was one on station, having not been seen for more than a few weeks by anyone. As was usual she had stoped and left a report in Lady Kurisho's office where she knew only the Lady would find it and know who it was from. And of course the 'aquired' bottle of high grade vodka would not go unoticed as wwas left for the Lady Kurisho as well.*
*Another stop at one of the more quiet and less used sections of the depot, she changed from her usual combat flight gear into more traditional wear for a Kusari woman, she heads towards the Tea House, having recieved word that Lady Saigo might be in attendance as well.*
*She glides through the doors almost silently, and that she got past Steve's 'sensors' while wearing her usual weapons, a pair of Katana's and a Wakizashi, placed in the Obi of her dark green Kimono might speak of her skill or that Steve was just a little busy now with Akiko over by the bar.*
*She looks around for a moment with the same cool nuetral expression that she is almost always seen with. Some of the security have whispered in the past that she might not even be human with this womans lack of expression as often as they seen her in the past. At the moment she is looking around to see who is in attendance in the Tea House, and more specificly where either Lady Saigo or Lady Kurisho are at today.*
To really no one in general, but still as a politeness she Greets those nearest to her with a slight bow. "Konichiwa."
Lady Kurisho is at her normal corner table, going over some field and command reports with a distressed look on her face.
She slams down one of the coms pads on the table in anger, then picks it back up.
''Get a load of this feldercarb !!'', she states in a raised voice, shaking the com pad in the air.
She reads a report aloud, to anyone that seems to be listening or that is within yelling range. Most of the report is a dull detail entry about the missing box and how it could not be located.
She pauses a bit then reads a bit louder a side commentary left by one of the report's author:
" On a side note to the GC command: It seems that the women that are stationed on Ainu Depo are not capable of the simplest search and recover. We recommended sending another crew to do an additional Security, a crew that contains Men. "
She slams the data pad down on the table again, making a comment on how the author of the 'side comment' must be a KNF agent and he or she just signed their own Death Warrant.
Glancing around the station, she gives Taii Shikyo a slight nod.
I advise against drinking that vodka. The Bhut Jolokia spices have not soaked long enough.
She leaves her corner table, making her way across the room until she reaches the bar. Reaching around the counter, she picks up a bottle of booze, pours herself a shotglass and then returns to her seat.
"So, this is the place she invited me to..."
With a slightly amused smile on her face, Juliet, dressed in a tight, no-nonsense pilot suit (which still had some kind of aesthetic look to it, strange as it may sound), stepped into the entrance of the tea house, with her smile even more widening when she was asked to hand over her gun to the entry ward. Of course, she complied - stirring up trouble was the last thing she had in mind, especially in this place.
It was hard to say whether she was of Kusarian or rather western ethnicity; she certainly moved with the light steps of a Kusarian woman, yet good eyes could see that there was something odd about her.
Doing a slight bow followed by a "Konnichiwa", as it was custom in Kusari, she stepped out of the entry zone and steered towards the bar.
"Tea, please." she said to Steve, in a friendly, yet controlled voice that left little doubt that she wouldn't be as friendly if he started screwing with her, while sitting down on one of the ends of the bar table.
Akiko slowly drank her tea, grinning and looking right at the barkeep.
"My name's Akiko," The rotund woman responded, her rosey cheeks now clearly showed signs of blush.
"Aww... thank you. That's one of the nicest things someone's said to me in a while, you know?"
Nervous, she looked down into her tea cup and back up at Steve, brushing a strand of her long black hair out of her face. She seemed oblivious to the others in the bar for a moment.
The sudden softening of his voice and personality was not expected, usually Akiko doesn't get that far...