Watching Yute (12 page)

“
Nice boots.” What the heck
was that?! Nice boots? Okay for the next cheesy pickup line, ask
her if it hurt when she fell from heaven!

Cheryl looked down at her civilian
boots. “Oh, sorry, I’m waiting to get some new regulation ones. My
old ones were toast. I didn’t think it would be a big deal, since
I’m not on duty right now.”

“
No! No no, I was serious.
They’re cool. I’m going to…Uh, get breakfast.” Yes, just get out of
there before you make a further ass of yourself. She turned to
leave, but not before Cipriana spoke up.

“
I hope you don’t mind, I
suggested she take the bunk next to you, since you’re both
relatively new here, you might have lots to talk about.”

Cassidy cocked her head. “Kay!” she
said in a voice that came out sounding a little frustrated. This
was karmic. Cosmic justice for teasing Jim. Snap out of it. She’s
not that cute. Think ugly. Take one last glance before you go.
Think ugly. Bleh. Look at her once more then go.

Ugly like a box of kittens! Just get
out!

Cheryl turned to Cipriana after Cassidy
left. “Do you think she wants me to move?”

Cipriana only smiled softly, and shook
her head.

Cassidy walked into the mess, and saw
Jim attacking a bowl of corn flakes. She grabbed a cookie and sat
across from him. With an intense expression of disbelief, she held
the cookie out between them. “Eh?”

Jim chewed, looking suspicious of
Cassidy’s meaning. He swallowed, and pointed his spoon at her
casually. “Shut up with the cookies.”

“
Nuh-uh. Eh, no. I don’t
care about your cookies. What about my cookies?”

Jim burst into a stifled chuckle. “I’m
not interested in your cookies.”

“
What do you know about this
new girl that arrived last night?” Before Jim had opportunity to
respond, she answered herself. “Right. Nothing. You were on shift
with me when she arrived, you know less than me.”

“
Yeah. I’m feeling kind of
clueless right about now. Our new person’s here, and it’s a
she?”

Cassidy stuffed a bite of cookie into
her face, and chewed, nodding a sharp, small nod, eyes
wide.

Jim swallowed another spoonful of corn
flakes. “And this is a problem?” He felt that the teaser was about
to become the tease-ee.

“
Yes. No. Absolutely. Not. I
think.”

Jim smirked, and looked around,
lowering his voice. “Could she be… hot?”

Maintaining her grievous, intense
expression, she tossed a cookie crumb at Jim, and nodded. The crumb
bounced off Jim’s head, and landed in his bowl.

“
Nice.” He ate it along with
more flakes. “And you’re this hot and bothered?”

“
I’m disciplined dammit.
That’s half of what upsets me.” She finished her cookie, and darted
off to get a couple more, and returned in roughly a
second.

“
You’re bothered because she
bothers you?”

“
Yes. There’s
professionalism to be considered. I can’t be drooling all over a
co-worker. That was the great thing about dating a civilian, I
could be as unprofessional with her as I wanted.”

“
And that turned out so
well.”

Cassidy grunted. This was the first
time Brandy crossed her mind in a while, and it was thankfully
painless. This only brought up another negative thought. “I don’t
want to be playing rebound on the first cute thing that gets in my
way, either. She’s probably straight anyway, odds are.”

“
If you were going to
rebound blindly on someone, you’ve had plenty of chance to do that
already.”

True, true. Cipriana was surely a nice
eyeful. “Okay, well, there’s still the professionalism
aspect.”

“
Want the male solution to
getting her out of your head?”

Cassidy bore a decidedly skeptical
expression. “Huh?”

Jim leaned in like he was gong to
impart a great trade secret. “Get yourself some porn, and work off
some tension. Reduce this girl’s attractiveness to something
separate from reality, separate from the person, and just look at
her as a person who happens to have porn for a body.”

Cassidy stared a stern look into Jim’s
eyes. “That’s idiotic.”

“
Oh- Hi, Cassidy!” Cheryl
approached from behind. Cassidy’s expression turned to that of a
deer in headlights at the sound of Cheryl’s voice.

Jim smiled. “Oh! You must be the new
one! Cassidy, introduce us, will you?”

Cassidy shot Jim a cold glance, then
put on a cordial face. “Cheryl, Jim. Jim? Cheryl.” That wasn’t so
hard. Have a little look, it’s natural to look at someone when you
talk to them. Just don’t stare. The initial impact had worn off. It
didn’t stop Cheryl from being a tiny bit mesmerizing though.
Cassidy sighed deeply. “I think I’m going to take a bit of that
advice Jim. I’m going to go have a shower.” Cassidy stood, and
nodded in a friendly way to Cheryl. As she backed away from Jim,
she made the ‘I’m watching you’ gesture, holding a cookie and a
half in her hand. He’d better not say anything.

Cheryl sat down across from Jim. “She
feelin’ alright?”

Jim gave a very small chuckle. “Nothing
some cookies can’t solve.”

“
Are you and
her…?”

“
Heh. No, We’re not
romantically compatible in the slightest. She’s my watch partner
though. She’s fun. But feeling particularly squirrelly this
morning.

The shower cooled Cassidy’s head
significantly. Staring at water dribble off your face and onto the
tile for a while was always meditative. One of those little silly
aeki lizards wandered into the stall from under the partition, and
tried to dodge droplets, ending up on the wall.

A good honest little crush might be
just what Cassidy needed right now. Brandy wasn’t bothering her
much now. A little harmless, pointless crush could be a good
distraction. Even if it went nowhere. A cleansing of the palette as
it were. The lizard decided that the lower wall was still under too
much threat of droplets, and wiggled its way up half a metre or
so.

She can have a crush and keep it to
herself, look a little bit, and still remain professional and
friendly. She leaned down to look the lizard in the eye.

“
She’s just cute, huh? I can
handle that.”

Cassidy walked back into the barrack in
shorts and a tank for sleeping in. She toweled her hair, with her
hat hanging off her pinky. Cheryl was laying on her own bunk,
writing into a little book, and Cassidy found herself unconsciously
walking slowly, giving her time to look at Cheryl longer. She dried
her hair with vigor, as if the flurry of hair and terrycloth would
hide her eyes, in case Cheryl looked up. Damn those shorts of
hers.

“
Oh, Cassidy,” Cheryl
suddenly said, “Where are the towels, anyway? I really need a
shower. I got kind of dusted by sand when I got here.” Oh great,
put that image in her head now. First the shorts, now she wants a
shower. Fine, fine, behave. Don’t be such a freak.

Cassidy put on her hat under the towel,
and tied her hair back like she usually did, then tossed the towel
at the hamper. She pointed towards the supply closet. “Just inside
the door there, on the right side. Gotta kind of peek around the
edge.”

“
Thanks.” Cheryl smiled
politely, and then went back to her writing.

“
Taking notes?” Cassidy
said, settling into bed.

“
Hm?” Cheryl looked at
Cassidy, then back at her little book. “Oh. Hm.” She sounded like
she had been caught in a guilty pleasure. “Just my diary. I know, I
know, I’m a little old for a diary, but…”

“
Nah, that’s cool. I guess
it’s a good way to decompress your thoughts.”

Cheryl nodded. “Well put. It’s...
therapeutic.”

“
And cute.” Cassidy said,
with a tone that almost sounded grumpy.

Cheryl closed her diary and held it up
to look at. “What’s so cute about it?”

Cassidy stifled a soft laugh, and
rolled over to go to sleep. “Nevvvvvermind.”

Cheryl shrugged it off, and went back
to writing for a moment. “You wear that hat when you
sleep?”

Cassidy smiled contentedly, wide enough
that Cheryl could tell even though Cassidy had her back turned.
“Yup. It’s my hat.” The words were laced with affection for her
headwear.

“
Cute.” Cheryl said. “Is it
your teddy bear?”

“
You don’t wear a teddy bear
on your head all day.” Cassidy giggled a little. “Imagine if people
did? Could you just see drill formation with everyone with a teddy
bear on their head?”

~~~

Kirison was back home. After taking a
blood sample to check on his ‘insurance policy’ he got to work
formulating some toys. Toys to assist Elder Horad and his little
militia in the quest against those ‘occupying’ the Yute temple, and
holding back the ‘strength of the Aguei’.

Since Kirison had no intent on going
there himself, he needed to be able to send a very specialized,
tiny device. While he was at it, he might be able to supply a
tactical advantage.

The problem was that his equipment
would blatantly give away that the spirit thing was a huge load of
B.S.. So, it was arts and crafts time. A convincingly designed
trinket would be able to carry the nanites, but the next decision
was what manner of Aguei charm would be convincing.

He popped onto the net, looking at
various Aguei crafts. Hmm. Wood looked like an ideal medium. The
porous nature of the grain would give ample elbow room for nanites
to work without making any outwardly visible marks. Yup yup, wood
was the trick.

But what design? A figure? He didn't
have the skill to carve something like that. Something more
abstract. Heck, it didn’t even have to look entirely accurate.
After all, this item was going to be ‘magic’, capable of things
that even Horad hadn’t considered. Such a token would almost be
expected to look unique. Ha. Yes. It was coming
together.

~~~~~

:::C /14

~~~~~

Cassidy awoke. Her eyes opened
gradually, and she found herself looking across to Cheryl’s bunk.
Cheryl was sleeping. And adorable. Cassidy scorned herself silently
and sat up. Ahead of her was Cipriana’s bunk, and she was in it,
meditating, with the butterfly design behind her on the wall as if
it were supervising. She opened her eyes. “Good morning,
Cassidy.”

Technically it was afternoon.
Cipriana’s presence told Cassidy as much, since it meant morning
watch was over. “Hey Cip” Cassidy said groggily. She looked back at
Cheryl for a moment, and started putting herself
together.

Cipriana gently nodded towards Cheryl,
and looked to Cassidy. “Is that going to be a problem for
you?”

Cassidy chuckled softly. Cipriana
didn’t miss a thing. “Nah.” She stretched. “I’ll soldier through.
If I can’t be professional, it’s my problem.” Cipriana only
commented with one of her soft smiles, and then closed her eyes,
returning to meditation.

Cassidy cleaned up, and hit the mess to
grab a muffin and a shot of OJ. Alan was there, and mentioned that
he’d be doing a fresh load of cookies later on, but told Cassidy to
keep it under her hat, and not to tell the ‘stupid greedy apes’.
She munched her little breakfast, and pecked around the net on her
terminal a bit.

Karl passed by, and it reminded her
that she had to look up 'hot Karl'. Her discovery almost caused her
to spit a mouthful of muffin.

“
Huh?” Alan asked. Cassidy
was still forcing down a case of the giggles, and just waved Alan
off “N-nothing.”

Feeling an abundance of energy, she
grabbed one of the wooden spears and headed out for the ‘exercise
square’ Maxine had shown her before.

It was a short distance from the base
when Cassidy saw Marcus, sitting on the ground, meditating much in
the way that Cipriana often did. “Hey, Chief.”

Marcus opened his eyes with a warm
earthy smile. “Oh, hey Leftenent Cassidy. How’re things
going?”

She replied in a similarly easygoing
tone, without breaking stride. “Can’t complain.”

“
Good good. Oh, by the way,
Armil’s coming for that blessing tomorrow.”

“
Ar- Oh yeah, the Grand
Elder! That’s tomorrow? Maxine told me about that, and told me to
reprimand you for not telling me.”

“
Ah, oops.”

“
Yeah. That’s sorta the kind
of thing a person likes a heads up about. Did you tell Cheryl
yet?”

“
Oops. Again. Well, I’m
doing her first shift tonight, like I did with you. I’ll get her up
to speed.”

“
Tsk tsk, Marcus. I’m going
to have to mark a demerit on your record if this kind of thing
keeps up.”

Marcus chuckled. “Yes, Sir!”

She giggled back, and continued on her
way. Marcus closed his eyes, and resumed meditation.

“
Don’t forget!” She called
out several metres later.

“
Yes Sir!”

Cassidy made it to the square to find
Maxine already there, doing her ‘tai chi with a stick’ thing.
“Aha!” Cassidy said, surprising her a little, “I have found you!”
She imitated bad old martial arts movies. “At last I can avenge the
dishonour you have committed to my xylophone! You must do battle
with me!”