trans_9 | The more things change...

Zouichi had taken a few wounds during the mission, but nothing that he would deem serious enough to require medical treatment. He'd already begun to heal, and he estimated that by the time tomorrow rolled around, he'd once again be at full strength. This was not, of course, true of everyone who had fought on that moon -- those who had lost their lives, for instance.

But for him, intense combat was the norm. There was no sense dwelling on loss of life or regretting the past, and there were no nightmares about the dead or dying. There was only the future, and the battles to be found there.

So it was back to business as usual: maintenance on the HDC, clearing stray leaves off the front steps and caring for the flowers... and teaching his pet parrot some commands. Today, however, Alan seemed more intent on rolling onto his back and demanding to be picked up. So Zouichi settled back in the shade of a nearby tree instead, playing with the bird and occasionally wondering where he'd picked up all these new phrases that sounded suspiciously like Lash.

Maybe if Howard showed up, they could look for odds and ends in the City.

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"Well, I can't die yet -- I still have a mission to accomplish. Besides, if I get taken out by someone, I'd rather it wasn't a giant bug. I did have a close encounter with a few of those new Ohm, though."

Zouichi was getting rather used to the perpetual weirdness that surrounded Splicer, but Alan fluttered his wings briefly, repeating Lil's giggle. "I'm the great wunderkind," he said, in Lash's voice.

Splicer raised a brow and smile, "I would have killed you if you died." Yes, the irony if killing someone after dead, it was a classical joke he'd never get tired of. At the mention of the new Ohm he frowned, "Yeah, I saw those. They reminded of a weird cross between protoss stone sentinels and zerg behemoths... It seems they are upping their strengths."

Lil giggled in return at the sound of Alan, "Haii great wunderkind~! I'm Lil!"

"You'd bring me back to life just for that? How vindictive."

Zouichi nodded. "And adapting their strategies to our own. They tried to gang up on a few of us while we were down on that moon. They were pretty tough, too -- took quite a few hits to down one of them."

"Alan," announced the parrot, still eyeing Lil curiosly.

At this point, Lil simply floated towards Alan, putting one of it's small hands to her mouth as she floated idly around, 'eying' him curiously. "Alan, pretty! Hai Alan!" She wave cheerily at him.

Splicer laughed and shook his head, smiling over at his friend before pulling out a cigarette, lighting up, taking a nice, long drag and offering one to Zouichi before speaking.

"So I saw. Took a more than one full barrage from all my and my ship's weapons and then some to take care of the ones down on the ground. Sorta wish we had a battalion of Siege Breakers and Battlecruisers on our side right about now."

He looked up in thought, wishing they had a larger crew for a moment before shaking his head. "Things are going to get rougher from now on. A victory's a victory however, and hopefully that will lift everyone's spirits high. Good morale can go much farther than any weapon."

"Tell me about it, I blew up my Nightmare."

Zouichi shook his head at the offer; cigarettes were more Splicer's thing. Be he did smile a little cheekily. "Well, you're welcome to quit if things get too tough. I'll pick up the slack for you."

Alan hopped down to the ground, rolling over in the grass and flapping his wings to get himself back upright. "Hiii. Tee hee hee!"

"Hee~ Sevee Alan's cute!" The small doll followed Alan around, floating idly over him.

Splicer smile, then laughed heartily and shook his head, "Ha! The day I quit is the day I die buddy. I was made for this. Can't say I don't enjoy and would like some peace for the sake of the crew, but war is all I know and probably ever will know." He grinned, taking a nice drag from his cig before placing his pack in his jacket.

Alan hopped along the ground, hiding behind leaves and seemingly enjoying the chase.

"Made for it, huh? And people say I'm depressing." Still, he was much the same way. Zouichi was far more likely to die in battle than of any sort of natural causes.

"What are you going to do now that we've got a lull? Anything in particular?"

Lil follow cheerily, the small doll floating after Alan and hiding behind leaves and other random things in the area. This was entirely fun for the little doll.

Splicer chuckled, "Hey it's not depressin', jus' the way things are. And as far as what I'll be doin'? No idea yet. I want to go check if the ship recorded the battle so I can go over the new Ohm from different areas on the field, but if I can't get that, probably relax for a while. Who knows."

Alan ducked under a larger leaf, grabbing it with his feet to use almost like a makeshift blanket. Whee!

Zouichi nodded. "I'll probably add my own account of the battle to the database later, but I wasn't party to the space battle or the conflict back here on the ship. Other than that..." He shrugged. "Business as usual, I guess."

Lil giggled and sat on the grass nearby him 'looking' at him curiously as she tilted her head to get a better look. "Alan going sleepy?" She asked cheerily.

"Heard more of those Leviathan things showed up. Musta been one helluva battle." He took another drag of the cig and relaxed against the tree. "Wonder what command will be doin' now. People might not want to sit still after that battle. We keep givin' em leeway, they'll find more ways to try and push us back an' all."

"Sleepy," Alan chirped, rolling over. Maybe he was just mimicking what he saw Howard and Allenby doing; Zouichi himself didn't really do much sleeping.

Zouichi frowned a little. "Yeah, I can imagine. But I hope we'll be taking a more proactive role now, instead of waiting around for other people to ask for our help. Otherwise, we may have more to worry about that just those new Ohm models."

Lil giggled and grabbed a leaf, mimicking what Alan did. "Sleepy~" her voice cheery as she rolled over as well.

Splicer sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "No kidding. I'll be lending a hand in repairs for the time being, I'm sure the boys and girls at the hangar will be needing a hand gettin' things back in workin' order an' such. And hope that command has the situation thought out..." That, however was expecting too much sometimes, coming from experience anyways.

The more things change...

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