Gundam: Wrath of the Stars IC

[DoctorFaust]

Yuuki doesn't return the salute and stares at Akiba with a rather sour look on her face. "We know, Akiba. We were just at battle stations for three hours because the captain thought we were going to have to launch to get the Lieutenant back. After Athrusa and me sortied twice today, including against pirates that wanted to kill us."

Her voice softens, and Yuuki sighs and puts a hand on Akiba's shoulder. "Look, I'm sorry for snapping at you. But we're all really stressed out right now. The three of us have basically spent the last eight hours shooting or being shot at. And god knows, I want Agiras back a lot. She helped calm me down a lot and got me a little more confident the first time I had to pilot the Shura."

"But there's nothing we can do right now. And if I have to spend seventeen straight hours worrying about people dying I might literally have a heart attack."

[Nova_Eclipse]

Akiba smiles a bit when Athrusa gives him a hug, and Yuuki puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder. He gives IVan an apologetic look.

"Sorry, sir." He eyes IVan for a moment, and the look changes from apologetic to sympathetic. "You know none of this is your fault, yeah? Nobody's blamin' you, and the first person who tries is gonna get a swift beating from me an' about a dozen angry Marines, including a very P-O'ed Grahn. He wants to have a drink with you, when your schedules next line up for off-duty time, by the way. He asked me to deliver that message for him."

He reaches up and squeezes Yuuki's hand gently once, then releases it.

"I've been on combat standby the whole time. Captain made me stay in the Gyro earlier instead of coming to the bridge, just in case. I'm not much good in space right now, but if someone tries to attack from station-side, they're gonna have a bad time. I wish she'd have let me go with you and Athrusa, but somebody had to be on guard duty." He looks thoughtful for a moment.

"Hmmm...come to think of it, I think I heard some of the Anaheim eggheads talking about some Holofig clusters they managed to snag from the market here a little bit ago. It's...kinda like a board game, but uses these little holo-minis with different stats and stuff. You can do all kinds of different games with those. I might have to pull in a favor, but I think I could get them to loan 'em to me. Whatcha think?"

[Merilan]

"Yeah. If anyone blames you, I'm going to also give them, um--" Athrusa pauses, realising she's probably one of the least terrifying people on-board. "Well, I'm going to get really mad! I might even use... strong language!"

Athrusa you haven't even so much as said a 'heck'...

"Thanks for being there too, though, Akiba. None of us can do this alone, y'know?" But he starts speaking about a Holofig... she tilts her head, clearly not familiar. "Ooh, that sounds pretty fun. I'd be up for trying that if you can get it, what do you think, guys?"

[DoctorFaust]

"Yeah, I guess that sounds interesting." Yuuki replies. She looks skeptical for a moment, but eventually shakes her head and smiles.

"I mean, yeah, I'm up for it and Holofig does sound fun. Actually sounds a lot like the original version of chess."

[Nova_Eclipse]

"What about you, L.T.? You in?" Akiba asks, lifts his mug and shakes it invitingly at IVan. "I'll even get you a mug of this stuff, if you want. Dunno what they call it around here, back home it's called d'ha'kri. No idea where the name came from. Translates roughly to 'Sweet Comfort'."

[Snowbluff]

Lt. IVan Tessera

"I'll remind you that I'm indifferent to who is to blame for what happened," IVan lied coldly. It was more important to him that he maintained the air of a professional soldier than it was to socialize with the crew. He didn't think allowing the others to humanize him would make him feel any less deficient as a pilot. "However, the offers for drinks are appreciated, even if I cannot accept. My medication doesn't interact favorably with alcohol." He takes a seat with everyone. "I'm up for anything."

[Nova_Eclipse]

Akiba raises an eyebrow at IVan teasingly for a moment, then chuckles.

"Well then, it's your lucky day, Lieutenant," he says, standing up and nodding to Yuuki and Athrusa. "There's no alcohol in it. Give me a few minutes, and I'll have a game for you."

He saunters off, disappearing for a few minutes, before returning, true to his word, with what looks like a small equipment cube on casters. He wheels it over next to the table, and pops the lid open. Inside, laid in foam, are 48 small cylinders in a tray. Under the tray is what seems to be a dataslate.

"The egghead I'm borrowing this from said they pooled together with a few others to get the upgraded dataset, so there's a bunch of different games that can be played with this. Who wants to pick what to play first?" He asks, taking the dataslate out and waving it at the trio.

[Merilan]

"Huh... what're these cylinders for?" asks Athrusa, reaching up to peek into one, then looking down towards the dataslate. "Let's see, let's just start with something simple and fast so we're used to the pieces? I assume it's, like, pieces to be used fore ach game."

[Nova_Eclipse]

Akiba nods at Athrusa.

"They project the piece types based on the game chosen." He taps the datapad and it comes up with a list. He scrolls through for a moment. "Hmmm, something quick....Lunar Smash, maybe? Only 5 types of pieces, and it seems like it would go pretty quickly...."

He pauses for a moment, and....his eyebrows raise.

"I....think we should maybe get the Captain to get us a set like this. Look."

He takes out one of the cylinders, and a small image projects up out of it. The image is clearly a mobile suit, one the others have probably only seen in history books, a GM.

"I didn't know they could do this, but....might be interesting for planning out our tactics...."