/takes the huntress out back and buries it (jan mingle pt. II)

[scrubscrub]

Who: Anyone on the SS Huntress! Crew and visitors.
Broadcast: N/A
Action: SS Huntress
When: More of January! We got three new crew mates and it will be messy.

IT'S ANOTHER MINGLE FOR OUR EVER-EXPANDING SHIP.

Also, we need an update on how well Koala is doing at pinball.

God, help this ship.

Comments

[ino]

[ ... She gives him a bit of a flat look. ]

I know you said you don't care if people like you or not, but you do have to live with them from now on, so. Leave some of the things that are meant to be public property for everyone to use, okay?

[eyeforaneye]

[ But if he has all the guns then he'll be safer from their hate; you're not thinking this through, Ino. ]

I'll figure out how to coexist with these people. I'll read how they react to things. [ So he says, but he's pretty socially stunted from general isolation throughout key developmental periods in his life. ]

[ino]

Or you could just ... practice common decency ...

[ She trails off, though, because like that's going to happen. ]

[eyeforaneye]

[ ... yeah, think that over. ]

My way will work better.

[ino]

[ She puts a hand to her forehead, clearly holding back about a thousand not-very-nice comments. Takes a deep breath.

Aaaand changes the subject. ]

Well. Any other questions?

[ About the guns, that is ]

[eyeforaneye]

[ He is definitely fine with a subject change. ]

Do the guns need to recharge or regain their energy somehow?

[ino]

From what I understand, these can get overheated if you fire them too often, too quickly.

[ She looks at the barrel curiously ]

And then they'd need to cool down and recharge. But as long as you can, you know, aim, you shouldn't have to keep firing so often like that.

The other type of gun has to have its ammunition refilled, though. They come with a limited amount of projectile bullets.

[eyeforaneye]

[ Again Sasuke inspects the gun, clearly questioning. There must be some wear and tear on it that requires eventual replacement of parts or of an energy source. ]

It's obvious that that won't be an issue, assuming I use it at all. I'd still prefer a bow over this.

[ino]

Yeah, yeah. Well, I doubt it'll be very long before we stop again, so you can hopefully find something you'd like better there.

[ Though with their luck they'd probably stop on some kind of anti-weapon planet ]

Like I said before, though, the majority of dangerous situations here so far has involved being able to maneuver the ship out of danger or fire the ship's weapons instead. There's not a lot of personal conflicts or enemies that can be fought one-on-one.

[eyeforaneye]

[ The planet of cooks. ]

Then it seems that trying to gain mastery over those controls should be my next priority. [ Right. He doesn't even know what a car is. ]

What sort of danger?

[ino]

With your augment, that might be ... well, we'll see.

[ She frowns. Not that she doesn't think Sasuke couldn't learn eventually, but the augments make it very difficult to learn stuff outside of their own job, so ... ]

We've had an unidentifiable enemy fleet attack us twice. We've tried everything to figure out who they are, what they want -- nothing. We've managed to get them off our trail since the last attack, but I've organized some drills with my ship and the other ships willing to cooperate to practice what we need to do if they somehow show up again.

[eyeforaneye]

[ She doesn't need to finish saying it, not when he already knows. His skill-set is very much predefined -- and remarkably useless, in his opinion -- but it isn't about to stop him from expending all his energy to try. ]

An enemy fleet? [ That changes things. ] And it was a full-out offensive? [ Or did it seem arranged. ]

[ino]

We caught them following us multiple times, but ... their ships are able to hide their presence from the sensors in the ship, and -- from people who might be able to sense them otherwise. They kept disappearing without answering our calls or doing anything. Finally, they appeared out of nowhere and attacked.

We're lucky no one died that first time, honestly. We were more prepared the second time, and we were able to escape under some cover, but they mean business.

[eyeforaneye]

In that case it's strange that you're the first I've heard about it from.

[ This is essentially war to him and should be addressed as the top priority, and it's only now being mentioned somewhat offhandedly? This place messes with people's minds. ]

When was the last time they were seen?

[ino]

Yeah, well ... a lot of people didn't take it all that seriously, somehow. You wouldn't believe the response when I called for those drills in those first place. Most people either called me "too bossy" or basically said they didn't feel like it.

[ She folds her arms across her chest, looking a bit irritable now. She's definitely not still bitter about that, nope. ]

But the last time we saw them was back in September, so it's possible most of the people you've talked to arrived after that.

[eyeforaneye]

[ It's hard to remember sometimes, despite how many hours and days they've both put into escort missions, that there are civilians who operate outside the expectations for shinobi. He'd been so drawn into the battles of their world, the fate of ninja as a whole, that it'd been easy to forget about life outside of it.

A number of these people aren't trained fighters and even more of them are unused to formal organization in warfare. Hn. ]

Then they're acting foolishly. [ He's definitely on Ino's side with this one. ] Is the size of those ships comparable to these, and how many did you count in combat? [ Straight into his own military mode. ]

[ino]

No kidding. Well, they probably just didn't want to take orders from a girl, or something stupid like that.

[ Grumble, grumble. ]

They were about identical to us in size, number, and capability, as far as their weapons and shields. They just obviously had more skilled pilots on board. The only difference was ... well, we got knocked into a nebula -- it's like a weird kind of cloud, but in space -- during the last fight, and being in it completely cut off all our power for a few minutes. No lights, no weapons, no anything. And it even disrupted the communications from Atroma for awhile. But they seemed completely fine, and they just turned around and left the way they came.

[eyeforaneye]

[ Okay, putting aside the space cloud for now because he obviously needs to research that later... ]

... they forced everyone here into that kind of situation and then people didn't want to organize a new effort against them in the future because you're a woman? How completely idiotic.

[ Say whatever you want about Uchiha Sasuke but he treats men and women pretty equally badly and sees zero place for recognition of gender on the battlefield or when someone has a good plan. People potentially not listening to Ino because of it after a full-scale attack is pretty fucking nonsensical. ]

I'll aid with your drills.

[ino]

A lot of people here come from places where women aren't allowed to do anything, except have babies, I guess.

[ But she does feel better, now that Sasuke also thinks it's stupid. ]

Think you can convince the rest of your crew to join in? We can't exactly practice if the pilots aren't piloting, and stuff like that.

[eyeforaneye]

[ Right, okay, tell that to Sakura or Karin who saved his life multiple times or to Tsunade who brought him out of a coma or to the Mizukage who almost melted him. And don't get him started on Kaguya.

Underestimating a woman is one of the last things you may ever do and he is well aware of that fact. ]

Negotiation isn't my strong suit but I can present the case.