[Open] Stuck in the middle of the 28th and the 1st

[padadin]

Who: Shiro and you
Broadcast: Yes, fleetwide (morning)
Action: Yes, later at the Iskaulit (evening)
When: Today, March 1st

Hello. This is Shiro, captain of the SS Blameless.

[An introduction he's made before, but hey, you never know when someone new may be getting this. Or someone he's spoken only through text. Anyway, Shiro's sitting on the pilot seat, both hands quite busy as he speaks: one with a mug of tea, the other on his dog's head, which happens to be on his lap right now. Procyon is finally tall enough to reach him, yay!]

I wanted to talk about the security systems on the ships. We were boarded quite easily by those cannibals some months ago, although to be fair our ships were damaged. Recently I've talked with my crew about the possibility of security cameras in the ship's system, and I'm happy to report that thanks to the combination of our communication and engineer officers, we managed to install--

-POP!-

[Shiro's super serious talk is suddenly interrupted by a flutter of confetti exploding above him, and a colorful banner rolling behind the pilot's seat. As Procyon shakes his body to get rid of the confetti, Shiro turns around to see what's going on.]


[...yeah, Shiro is not amused, and it shows. Leap year baby jokes get old fast. He's about to say something else to the camera, but gets interrupted again, this time by an enthusiastic Lance that glomps the hell out of him.]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHIRO!

Lance! You said we would say it together! [Keith enters the screen too, ignoring Lance sticking his tongue out at him and putting a birthday hat on top of Shiro's head with a smirk. Little shit.] Happy birthday, Shiro.

I found this by the door. [Ulaz is the last one to arrive, and leaves a box on the console before turning to Shiro.] Happy birthday, Shiro.

Thanks guys, I--

Is that Atroma's gift?

OOOH! SHIRO, YOU HAVE TO OPEN IT! OPEN IT, OPEN IT!

[Shiro turns to look at the banner again and, after considering Atroma's history with gifts, he reaches the most obvious conclusion.] No.

Come oooooon, Shiro, don't be a spoilsport!

[So Lance being Lance, he takes it upon himself to open the box and take out the gifts. Shiro immediately pinches the bridge of his nose when the teasing starts. They're, of course, kiddy gifts. For the 6 year old. A wolf onesie, glow in the dark stars, a coloring book about space with crayons, toy rockets, the plush of a weird looking alien that a VERY PALE Shiro gives to his dog without a second thought and a NASA kids' program sticker that Lance sticks to his chest. And while the boys keep snickering at the presents, Ulaz -who's been keeping a very good poker face- notices something and reaches inside the box.]

You seem to have forgotten something. [He takes out a book, and proceeds to read the cover with the same poker face as before.] "How to get your sex drive back" by Alicia Gray. The most successful ways to increase a man's libido and--

[OH, LOOK AT THAT, THE FEED IS SUDDENLY TURNED OFF. Oops? (The gifts btw.)]

------

[In the evening, you can find Shiro and the others in the Lion's Den, the space they have in the Iskaulit. Time to party! There's food, drinks and 6 year old jokes, like the cake being decorated for children and a game to put the tail on a donk- no, wait, a lion. Don't ask.

Shiro will socialize with everyone, drink some beer and maybe even dance a bit if you convince him. Come wish him a happy birthday!]

Comments

[passingthrough]

Oh, I bet you ask all the girls that. [Teasing as she reaches out and waves her hand through that beer of his as if it doesn't exist.] You could say I do. I'm a mutant born with an X-gene that manifested powers at puberty, yadda, yadda.

[padadin]

[Why does everyone insist on flirting as a joke around here? First Kirk, now her. He used to be hit on a lot back home, before the whole war business, so he isn't always precisely amused by it.

But then she does her thing and... wow. Shiro raises both eyebrows - there isn't much that can surprise him nowadays, but what she did reminds him of something.]

You can phase through things... like my lion.

[passingthrough]

[First of all, it's not a joke when Kirk does it. Second of all, this was her shtick long before she met that guy! Totally. Check her copyright date!]

You have a phasing lion? [GDI! STOP STEALING HER POWERS, EVERYONE! First Tyki, then the other version of her, then Nico, Vision, and other people she's blanking on right now probably. Cut it out!]

[padadin]

A huge semi-sentient robot lion, to be exact. You haven't met anyone from my world yet? [He sounds amused. With so many fantastic home worlds in the fleet, he doesn't always get to do the shocking.] The Black Lion's phasing is more like a battle technique than a power she could use whenever she wanted, but you reminded me of her just now.

[passingthrough]

No, I have. I know Keith. And I've know people who fight in big robot things in their homes. [Neil, Lyle, Suzaku. All of them back in Marina though. But those were people-shaped.] But...phasing. [Practically pouting.]

[padadin]

["People-shaped"... hahaha, funny story you see...

But wow, pouting. Oh, Kitty. Shiro chuckles.]

Like I said, it's more like a special move she some times can do. Not a power on demand. Is there anything you can't go through?

[passingthrough]

Oh, sure, Tell me about how my power isn't special and then ask for my weaknesses. [This time it's more teasing than pouting.]

I couldn't get through the dome that held us all in at the prison. But it was also a figment of everyone's collective imaginations more or less, so I'm not sure that counts.

[padadin]

I think your power is amazing. It would make stealth missions so much easier. [There, better now? He nods at the answer.] So once again, the final limitations are imposed by our kidnapping overlords.

[Just... weird sense of humor of his part there...]

[passingthrough]

[Okay, yes, that improved things.]

They take all the fun out of everything, don't they? They also prevent me from shorting out the ship systems. Normally phasing through circuitry shorts it out whether I want it to or not.

You want to try it? My power I mean.

[padadin]

That sounds useful and bothersome at the same time. [Poor circuits, honestly.] But yeah, they do. Many of the functions of my armor destroyed when I got here, and everyone was missing their weapons. [Thank goodness his arm didn't count for that.

Shiro's eyes widen at the suggestion.] You can do that? Make me phase too?

[passingthrough]

Pretty much. [She doesn't want to send them all spiraling (or just drifting) to their deaths, but it might be a way to attack the Atroma. Somehow. Okay, maybe not. Really, she just hate the level of control they have over something as basic as her bodily functions. Her powers are every bit as much a part of her as her vision or sense of hearing or kidney function.] And they took my weapons too. I had to work on getting them rebuilt. [Hey, she can have weapons and powers. Well rounded fighter!]

[She smiles at his reaction.] I can do that. It does require some literal hand holding though. [She offers her hand to him.]

[padadin]

[Shiro approves of well rounded fighters! But right now, something more important has his attention. He does grab her hand, using his human one and not the prosthetic, just in case her machine destroying side effects apply here too.]

I don't mind a bit of hand holding for what sounds like one pretty impressive birthday present.

[passingthrough]

I'd argue just holding my hand is gift enough, but there is more to it.

There. [He's phased. Well, they both are and it feels a lot like nothing. He probably didn't even notice the change of state.] Go ahead and try to touch something. [That shouldn't really feel like anything either, but sometimes the mind fills in a sensation where it thinks one should be. She's had people call it tingly or icy or even itchy.]

Just don't let go of me while you're doing it. [Because that's a good way to lose that hand.]