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[09:55] <Claire> After the taxi ride and dropping her suitcase off in the dorm room, Claire, Tisiphone, and her own personal blonde-haired limpet trudge toward Lt. Strommons' office, where she presses the button to trigger the chime.
[09:59] <Ikiryo> "J-Just a moment." Lt Strommons stammers from inside the room.
[10:04] * Claire blinks, glancing down at Epsilon. "Weird," she murmurs, settling in to wait for the all-clear.
[10:07] <Ikiryo> There is a few sounds of hurried movement before the door opens. Lt Strommons is there, her lipstick smudged and the window of her office open behind her. "Good to see you Cadet." She smiles, all buisness again.
[10:09] <Claire> "Glad to be home, Ma'am." She throws a quick salute. "If you have a minute...can I talk to you, though?"
[10:11] <Ikiryo> She nods. "Of course. I"m always here for my cadets." She looks to Epsilon. "And thier literal hangers on."
[10:15] <Claire> She grins slightly, and drops a hand to ruffle the girl's hair. "Thanks." Once safely ensconced in the office, with the door shut, she sighs gently. "I, um...I assume you've caught up on all the...fun we had on our assignment, Ma'am?"
[10:17] <Ikiryo> "Fun is a strong way of putting it, yes." She nods
[10:18] <Claire> "Didn't want to swear," she mumbles, looking away for a minute.
[10:19] <Claire> "Ahm...anyway, I'm just...I worry. Did we do the right thing? With any of it?"
[10:24] <Ikiryo> "Do you think you did the right thing? Or at least the best you could with the situation?"
[10:25] <Claire> She sighs heavily. "On the surface, sure. Help Tia knock out a smuggling ring, help a village of locals get out from under them, fix the sabotaged equipment... But after that? I'm not so sure."
[10:30] <Ikiryo> "If you want to talk it through, I'm willing to listen and provide feedback."
[10:39] <Claire> She nods. "Thank you, Ma'am. I think...a lot of it just is that, y'know...agh, I can't get the right words," she complains. "I think...well, they were pirates. Even if it seemed more like they were just...playing at it, than actually performing any devious acts these days."
[10:39] <Claire> "And then the whole thing with Tazzari flipping out over the doctor guy--I didn't even want to do anything with him, but she probably would've gone flat out nuts if we'd left him there, she's so fixated on his cyborg work. But I don't know if that was the right call, either..."
[10:39] <Claire> She slumps back in her chair. "I feel like we screwed up big-time there...but nobody's said anything about it yet."
[10:44] <Ikiryo> "What makes you think you messed up?"
[10:47] <Claire> "All of it, I don't know." She sounds increasingly frustrated with herself. "It should have gone...different. Bring Grace's people back here, get the ship her dad stole back, just should have left them all alone anyway and given Tia their location...I don't know."
[10:50] <Ikiryo> "So you are angry for going outside the strict rules of the TSAB?"
[10:51] <Claire> "...I guess? I'm not sure. I think I'm angry because it just...I feel like it could have been better, but I don't know HOW."
[10:54] <Ikiryo> "And what would have happened if you'd tried to bring the pirates in?"
[10:55] <Claire> "They'd probably have tried to cut and run, even with Tia's help." Her voice has shifted to grumpy with a dash of petulant.
[10:59] <Ikiryo> "So you would have made an enemy of them and you are uncertain to have managed to have caught them?"
[11:03] <Claire> "...Yes. Probably. But aren't we supposed to do that with pirates? I don't know...Grace is awesome. I'm glad to have her as a friend." She smiles, slightly ruefully, looking up at the LT. "It's never easy, is it?"
[11:04] <Ikiryo> "Of course not. This isn't a fairy tale. The right answer isn't just sitting there for the taking." She smiles, suprisingly warmly.
[11:05] <Claire> "Yeah." She nods. "It's kind of funny...you know where I came from, what my parents do. You'd think I'd have known that already."
[11:08] <Ikiryo> "Look at it this way: What good game of this?"
[11:16] <Claire> She blinks. "Uh. Got a friend, kept Tazzari from losing her mind again, prrrrobably made sure that Grace's family's going to keep up their supposedly altruistic bent, and...didn't have Tia ready to throw us in the brig?"
[11:19] <Ikiryo> She nods "And what Bad came of it?"
[11:19] <Claire> "...Potential future stuff that may or may not actually happen, I guess?"
[11:20] <Ikiryo> "So 'Nothing concrete'" She raises an eyebrow.
[11:20] <Claire> "Yeah. Uh--yes, ma'am."
[11:22] <Ikiryo> "And did you have to do anything you can't forgive yourself for in order to get this?"
[11:24] <Claire> She takes a moment to actually think about that. "...No, ma'am."
[11:25] <Ikiryo> She nods "That is what I'd call a success then." She smiles, though it doesn't reach her eyes. "There are a lot worse ways it could go."
[11:27] <Claire> She studies her CO for a long minute, then nods quietly. "Yes, ma'am. I'm sure of that."
[11:28] <Ikiryo> "Then be happy it went well rather than sad it could have gone better."
[11:28] <Claire> "I'll try, ma'am. I'm sure it'll happen with time."
[11:31] <Ikiryo> She nods. "Alright. If you want to talk about it, I am always here."
[11:34] <Claire> "I'll remember it. And thanks for listening to me whine, ma'am." She manages about half of a self-effacing grin.
[11:38] <Ikiryo> "I'm a teacher as well as a commanding officer. Listening to teenagers whine is half my job." Her smile gets a bit cheeky for a moment.
[11:38] * Claire giggles.
[11:39] <Ikiryo> "Now, go have fun. Classes start up again in three days."
[11:39] <Claire> She nods. "Will do. Thanks again, ma'am."
[11:40] <Ikiryo> She nods. "Dismissed."
[11:42] <Claire> She stands up and offers a quick salute, then departs with Epsilon. At the door, she smiles, and looks back over her shoulder. "Oh, and Ma'am, give your man my regards~" She slips out the door immediately after, laughing.
[11:44] <Ikiryo> The LT sits there is stunned silence, turning red.
[11:53] * Claire keeps up her giggling even after the door slides shut behind her.
[11:54] <Ikiryo> Her blonde barnacle keeps hugging her, grinning
[11:58] * Claire ruffles Epsilon's hair again. "So it looks like, with you guys meeting us at the spaceport and all that, you're more free to move around. Whatcha want to go do?"
[11:59] <Ikiryo> "Just hang about." She grins. "That and be so precious and adorable you hug me~"
[12:05] <Claire> She laughs out loud. "Have no fears on that front. C'mon." She half-drags, half-carries Epsilon to Claire's own dorm, where she settles in on the couch with one arm around the blonde while the other flicks on an AR window tuned to local entertainment for some background noise.
[12:05] <Claire> "So tell me about your trip," she invites.
[12:08] <Ikiryo> "I shot a clown in the face." She grins
[12:09] * Claire snorts. "Okay, you'll have to explain that one, because that sounds *hilarious.*"
[12:10] <Ikiryo> "Why should I? It's better as a mystery~" She smirks.
[12:12] <Claire> "Because it sounds like there's more story behind it that could make it even more funny."
[12:15] <Ikiryo> "Alright. So I shot the clown in the face because he drugged Delta with a pie."
[12:17] <Claire> "...What." She blinks. "Did...you guys get sent to a circus or something?"
[12:17] <Ikiryo> "No. That would be silly. It was an amusement park." She grins.
[12:18] <Claire> "...Uh huh. What were you supposed to be doing there?"
[12:21] <Ikiryo> "Mapping. I think mostly it was because they wanted to punish Ainlinn by putting her in the mascot outfit. She got stuck with that."
[12:23] <Claire> She goes utterly speechless for a long moment. Then: "*Please* tell me you got pictures."
[12:24] <Ikiryo> "I do!" She girns "I might even give you some later~"
[12:25] * Claire giggles. "Yay," she cheers, hugging her tightly. "We got sent off to do mapping, too. Only we ran into pirates."
[12:27] <Ikiryo> "There were pirates there too. They were part of one of the rides~"
[12:32] <Claire> She snickers. "Nice. Yeah, these were real. Smugglers, nasty pieces of work. Even had some of the locals joined up and harassing their own families."
[12:33] <Ikiryo> "Right. So you didn't have lunch with those Pirates." She nods
[12:34] <Claire> "Just one. Sorta. But Grace was...weird. Kinda like you," she teases, giving Epsilon, another squeeze.
[12:35] <Ikiryo> "...kinda like me?" She pouts.
[12:35] <Claire> "Not as cute or cuddly."
[12:36] <Ikiryo> "Good. Or else I'd need to deal with her. I've got a monopoly on cute here~"
[12:36] * Claire giggles.
[12:37] <Claire> "But...well, she has this weird style of magic where she can make a...story, I guess, come true. Kind of. Like, okay, I'm explaining it bad, but it's like this: she made herself out to be a pirate, and her magic helped, so she had an awesome coat and knew how to use a pair of pistols and she could...kind of bend probabilities so she came out on top like some sort of hero of a story. You get what I mean?"
[12:38] <Ikiryo> "Not at all!"
[12:39] <Claire> She chuckles. "I'll show you some footage some time."
[12:43] <Ikiryo> "Alright. Anyway, we had to map the tunnels under the place while Ainlinn acted as mascot!"
[12:46] <Claire> She nods. "That sounds neat. Did you find anything in the tunnels?"
[12:54] <Ikiryo> "Evil clowns."
[12:55] <Claire> "Right. Remind me never to go to whatever park that was."
[12:56] <Ikiryo> "It's alright. We shot them all! Well, except for the one that Delta stabbed and the one that Panakeia blew up with a demolition charge."
[13:00] <Claire> She stares for a short while. "...I'm beginning to see why the Strategos had all of you along with him."
[13:02] <Ikiryo> "If it helps, it was a gaint robot clown that Panakeia blew up. The one Delta stabbed was alive though."
[13:04] <Claire> "Well...I meant more that you guys sound like you work together really well."
[13:04] <Claire> "Don't take this the wrong way, though, but I'm super-glad you're all here."
[13:08] <Ikiryo> "Well yeah. If I wasn't here I'd be back home becuase I shot you in the face. I like your face too much to want that~" She grins and hugs Claire tight
[13:09] <Claire> She smiles and hugs her too. "Thanks. I like your face, too. And I hope that some day, you *can* go home. Much as I just want to keep you."
[13:10] <Ikiryo> She grins. "You can't get rid of me that easily~"
[13:10] * Claire chuckles. "As if I want to."
[13:12] <Ikiryo> "Good!" She clambers onto Claire's lap to keep up the hug. "Anyway, they were smuggling drugs or...medical supplies or...something illegal. Pana got real angry but I wasn't really paying attention."
[13:15] <Claire> "Ah." She nods, helping Epsilon find a spot comfortable for the both of them. "From what I know of her, that does make sense."
[13:15] <Claire> "The people we found? They were stealing food from a little farming village."
[13:16] <Ikiryo> "...jackasses."
[13:17] <Claire> "I know, right?"
[13:18] <Claire> "Altea made a friend there and her *brother* was one of the smugglers. He'd tried to fake being kidnapped so she wouldn't know he was doing it!"
[13:20] <Ikiryo> "Double jackass." She nods
[13:21] <Claire> "Yeah. We didn't blow anything up really, but we beat him up pretty good. And Eris hacked into their stuff and got all the smuggling routes and everything. Enforcer Tia came out to bust the ring wide open."
[13:23] <Ikiryo> "Cool. Ainlinn blew up a shop. That wasn't related to the mission. It's just where they had the uniform while she wasn't wearing it."
[13:24] * Claire laughs out loud.
[13:26] <Claire> "So is that why she's hiding away, probably sulking?"
[13:28] <Ikiryo> "I dunno. We don't talk much." She shrugs.
[13:30] <Claire> "Fair enough. I'm sure 'lexa's going to be hounding her soon anyway."
[13:31] <Ikiryo> She nods. "Puppy love~" She stick out her tongue.
[13:32] <Claire> Her eyes widen and her mouth drops open in surprise, and then she starts to laugh. "Oh, you--" she gets out, then starts to tickle her.
[13:33] <Ikiryo> She giggles, flailing. She's very ticklish...