driftfleet | [action] not-so-secret completely off-season santa

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[action] not-so-secret completely off-season santa

Who: Okita vs Everyone
Broadcast: No
Action: Everywhere on the Fleet
When: During the drift

[He was asleep for so long that he had very little time on the planet. But he only needed a little time to get what he needed. Just after the drift begins and the planet is a distant spark on the horizon, he starts flitting from ship to ship and cabin to cabin to find people.

Action for Goldstone
For the members of his crew, he has a little gift for everyone. He'll be coming by crew cabins or finding people at their stations, anywhere they are, so he can deliver a little handwrapped present with a smile.

Action for the Fleet
With his main gifts given out, he'll start shuttling over to ships at random. Wonder what that noise is in the cargo bay? What about that weird banging noise in the kitchen? Well it's the Fleet's resident samurai, piglet in tow, and he's leaving little gift baskets for each ship - candy, non-perishables like dried fruit and canned goods, shower gel, a flamingo hat, random weird junk like these things, etc. Whatever he could buy down on the planet, he's stuffed into baskets and is leaving them on every ship for everyone.

Or you could find him wandering the Iskaulit with Saizou trailing behind passing out brightly colored candies. Who knows what flavors they are - maybe Floot Loops.]

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Then I'll have to think of the nicest way to ask.

As for him? I found him in a treasure chest under the sea.

[Which is mostly true. Saizou perks up when Mantis beckons to him, then trundles forward in hopes of getting either some petting or some food.]

But originally, he is my pet from home. His name is Saizou.

Manners are a cornerstone of society, even in this mess.

[Small pig. Pink pig. Mantis sets down the basket on the floor and tries petting Saizou behind the ears. Dogs and cats like that kind of thing, so a pig can't be too different. He can't even remember the last time he ever saw a live pig, let alone touched one.]

Hello Saizou. You have a lot of growing to do. Mine is Psycho Mantis. I'm a resident on the Bishiop.

[He laughs a little at that. It's such a normal thing to say, and yet it seems so absurd being said when they're all being watched 24/7 without their permission. Their audience certainly doesn't seem to care about manners.]

I suppose that's true.

[Saizou seems a little taken aback at first, but slowly he leans into the scritches, closing his eyes.]

You have a wonderful way with animals, Mantis-san. Did you have pets back home?

[The audience can care as much or as little as it wants. Mantis had some standards, limited as they may be. The laugh gets him to smirk, though.]

Being trapped in space on wandering ships does not excuse people from the basic rules of dealing with other people. Some rules being easier to adhere to than others.

[Oh! He wasn't sure that would work, but he is glad it does. Nice pig gets plenty of scritches around the ear and neck region.]

None. I never had the stability of residence to justify that kind of thing. On the other hand, animals tend to be easier to deal with than people. They only want food, drink, a soft place to sleep, and the occasional polite company.

Mm, I do agree with that.

[And so he'll finally pop out from behind the wall and stand, hands clasped behind his back. He can't feel all that bad about breaking and entering since he's doing it to be nice and all.

Saizou seems to like Mantis so far, oinking quietly as he accepts the affection.]

You'll find that he can be quite the handful actually. This particular piglet has a fiery personality and gets into a bit of trouble now and then, but that's why I like him.

[In response, Saizou snorts, almost like he's laughing to himself.]

[Mantis is not one to judge mischievous behavior too harshly given his line of work. He looks up from the piglet, wondering what kind of man thinks sneaking around and leaving gift baskets is good conduct.]

You have to earn the trust of an animal to get that kind of knowledge about them. How bad could one little pig be?

[He goes for petting down Saizou's sides. The success thus far is making him feel relaxed for once.]

Thank you. For the basket. Not many people engage in the softer side of misbehavior like this.

He used to destroy our entire compound so he could try and get his siblings out of their sty.[Time to count off on his fingers; there goes one.] He headbutted a new recruit into the river. [Two. But that one was technically soooort of Okita's fault.] He's chased several men around the building when they woke him from a nap. [Three.] He's chewed a hole in a wall in order to get to the other side where food was. [Four.] I'm certain there are more, but those are main ones.

[Such an innocent good pig though, look at him. He's so happy as he's getting scritches all over.]

But don't worry about the basket. It's fun for me to do things for others.

[Mantis laughs with all the wickedness that comes into it naturally.]

Gooood pig. Show the humans who really runs the house.

[He wouldn't mind having a pet bent on destruction like that at all, really.]

Little acts of kindness are easier to do and spread around than grand and sweeping gestures. Lazy and simple tends to get the most done.

[He laughs as well, but it sounds much more innocent than Mantis' laughter. He isn't used to having people praise Saizou for his destructive bent. The piglet doesn't seem to care though and he flops over onto one side.]

As long as everyone thinks you're lazy, you're much less likely to be caught as well.

[It was the one thing Saizou never learned. He always went at 210% wherever he went.]

Other than in this case, of course.

[Mantis might honestly pet this pork belly all day. It's such a rare treat in his world. So many long strokes over Saizou's stomach.]

Precisely. A well cultivated personality can hide all manner of traits no one would come close to suspecting.

[Something he knows well. Appearance and social cues are everything in being seen as trustworthy.]

You weren't as careful as you could be. [And Mantis has his own skills that make hiding very difficult indeed!] Spaceships are hard to hide on.

[It's odd to find someone who is so honest about understanding, but Okita lets it slide. He isn't sure if he wants to know that someone else is like him on this Fleet. Having just one of him is hard enough.

Instead, he smiles and inclines his head in agreement.]

Yes, unfortunately they are very hard. I miss the days of wooden ceilings. They provided such excellent crawl spaces and hiding spots.

[Mantis has cultivated a few public faces to show off depending on the company he's with, though not to the depths and lengths as one of his coworkers. The brief memory of Decoy Octopus sends a pang through his stomach, and he tries picking up Saizou.]

Classically trained, are you? I sneak around a lot in my line of work.

[Whoa, Saizou is not cool with being picked up so suddenly. The piglet squeals and kicks his legs, trying to run.]

Mm, not as such. What did you do for your work?

And Saizou, it's fine. Calm down. [Saizou goes from squealing to grumpily oinking in protest, his legs hanging limp.]

[He makes an equally surprised noise and holds Saizou out at a little distance.]

Soldier. Specialist in psychological warfare.

[He sits down on the floor and sets the piglet down on his lap.] There are easier ways to get bacon, I promise. You won't get hurt here.

[That catches his interest, but he tries not to let it show on his face. Instead, he moves closer and crouches down, balancing on the balls of his feet, elbows on his knees and chin in both hands as he watches Saizou settle down in Mantis' lap instead. This is far more agreeable to the piglet since he really only lets Okita carry him around.]

He and his family were raised for food, so when strangers pick him up, he gets nervous.

[With one hand, he reaches out and pets Saizou's head right between the ears with one finger.]

It must have been difficult being a soldier. Was your war a long one?

[Mantis is a man of practicality, and sometimes practical is sitting with a pig. He's glad to see Saizou settled down after all that noise.]

Oh. Then I stand by what I said. There are far easier ways to get bacon.

[He turns his head to Okita, wondering what else he can see in the man's face and the way he carries himself.]

Never in one war or another. My role kept me on the sidelines both on and off the field. It kept me...safe. Mostly.

[Safety was a variable, subjective thing. For himself, he was safest when he was engaged in battle, using his instincts to carve a path through the enemy. For others, that would be the worst place to be.

Okita smiles when Mantis turns to face him, tilting his head slightly to the right as he listens.]

I agree. That's one reason why I took him in as a pet. [He runs his finger from Saizou's snout up to the top of his head and the piglet grunts, closing his eyes.]

But you say mostly - so there were times when you had to enter the fray?

[He sees politeness, but also the vague hints that Okita is probably better equipped for fighting than most. He does like to sneak around ceilings. That's a very old fashioned kind of thinking.]

Lucky pig. One day you'll be big and fat. That's what his kind does.

[He nods at the question.] You end up constantly aware of your surroundings, but my strategy has always been to end the battle before it can really start. In the process, I can terrify quite a number of people.

I hope so. I'd like to see what happens when he gets big and fat.

[Saizou grunts in protest as if to say he'd never get "fat," just appropriately rotund.]

...Terrify? [That's an odd choice of words.] What exactly do you do on the field?

He'll be harder to pick up. Possibly more dangerous when he breaks into a run.

[His shoulders shake at the little snort. It is precisely what a pig should sound like, and yet so ridiculous.]

Psychological warfare specialist. My job is to frighten the enemy so they can't fight back.

[Okita laughs. He'll always try to pick Saizou up, even if he gets to be 200 pounds. The laughter is tinged with sadness at the edges though. He knows he'll never get to see that in his lifetime. Saizou will have to live on without him soon and he unconsciously touches his chest with his fingertips as he laughs.]

I do hope so. And is that a specialty in the future? We certainly didn't employ an entire person or persons to do that job for us when I was around.

[Mantis notices a bit of those changes in how Okita holds himself up. He's been doing similar gestures since he arrived.]

I always seem to be on the edge of the future. Sometimes I go into battle directly to deal with people, mostly I stay away and advise many others on what to do. In either scenario, victory follows those who follow my advice.

So you're like a good luck charm then.

[He moves his hand once he realizes it's there, resting his chin in it instead, leaning his elbow on his knee.]

If victory were guaranteed for those who followed your advice, you must have been quite popular.

An expensive one, too. People would pay good money to have me on their side.

[Mantis is back to smoothing pats down the pig's sides.]

Popular enough that an old friend found me with a brilliant idea. It was also completely stupid, but he promised a lot of carnage to follow if I joined in, and that's good enough for me.

[Carnage, huh? That piques his interest and also makes him a little more cautious. It sounds closer to Yoshida's philosophy than he likes.]

So did you win that one, too?

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Sorry about the late reply!

np! i was afk pretty much all week

Busy bees never sleep. orz

but after tomorrow!! i finally have a day off

YASS

CHRUST I'M LATE AGAIN - my day off was not a day off at all /cries

/hug It happens to the best of us. There's always tomorrow.

haha tomorrow is work orz

Same here! We can both tag when the day is done.

hopefully - i work until 10pm orz

Oh no! That's a long shift.

It never endeeeeed

/fans you survived

NOW I DID omg it finally ended yesterday

YASS

\o/ Just in time for it to start again this week 8D

I hope you're sleeping well in the midst of all this!

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