shiningboxofjustice | Valentine's Day CMO

[With the way Athrun is standing, the first thing he sees is Enterprise's skirt. And with the way it's hiked, a whole lot more than that.]

GAH!

[Athrun instinctively leaps backwards -- and smacks into the wall behind him. Luckily for him, he caught it all on the back, which spread out the impact and left him unhurt. Just very, very surprised. And for once in his life, clumsy.]

What the hell is this?!

[Once he gets his bearings back, Athrun grabs the lid and throws it open, revealing the girl inside. Of course, at the same time, he sees the card and what is written on it. Immediately his cheeks burn bright red.]

Oh, my God, give me strength...

[His eyes trail back to Enterprise with great trepidation. He looks extremely sheepish as he shifts around and starts working to untie her.]

[For what little it's worth, it looks like Enterprise shares his sentiments, because she's still struggling a little while he deals with the shock of finding her like this. She also catches where his eyes drift, and the embarrassment only worsens for her from there.

When one arm is free from her lacy, ribbon-y bonds, though, she carefully takes the gag -- a rather tightly wound ribbon unconnected to the stuff that held the rest of her taut -- out of her mouth. Wincing and taking a deep breath as she gets her other arm free, she fumbles her way out of the box to give Athrun a better angle to deal with her ankles. She feels sore -- maybe just a bit stiff from being stuck in there; nothing to worry about long-term, but that she had to be effectively shipped to Athrun's doorstep at all...

Someone needs to keep better tabs on that prankster. This is just getting ridiculous now, and Eugen being as unhelpful as she is doesn't help. She sighs, opting to not say anything and spare them both the horror of dealing with this until they weren't dealing with her binds.]

[Once he's unbound her arms, Athrun backs up to let Enterprise get out of the box. He then gets to work untying her legs, now thankful that he can no longer see beneath her skirt. He fumbles with the knot a little bit, but eventually pulls it apart.]

OK. Did I miss anything?

[Enterprise rubs her ankles before getting back up, her expression wry as she recollects herself from her rather... boxed in ordeal. There's still a faint red on her cheeks as she looks to Athrun, busying her hands with making sure her skirt stays down.]

Before I get to that... have you heard of a certain quirk Saratoga has?

[She quietly hopes that this isn't the first of it for him. It would make explaining why she ended up in that state so much easier...]

[Once done, Athrun stands back up to his full height. He shifts weight from one leg to the other so that he can stretch them a bit after spending as much time as he just did squatting.]

I want to say she's the prankster among your carrier group.

[He knew that one of the younger-looking carriers had a penchant for pranking people. He also knew it wasn't Langley, since she was too serious for that.]

[That makes it a LOT easier. Enough that she ends up letting herself fall flat on the floor for a good long moment before she finally stands back up. Enterprise knows Athrun's not gonna like how this sounds -- but he needs to know.]

Apparently, Saratoga thought you needed some cheering up.

By that turn, she also thought gift wrapping me to you like this was the best way to do it.

[Athrun just. Lets out a sigh.]

I suppose some discipline is in order, in that case. I'll have to think about that.

[He casts one look back at Enterprise, then out toward the horizon.]

If you'd like, I can walk you back to your quarters.

[He figures she'd appreciate the chance to fix herself up.]

[Enterprise looks him over for a moment.] I'd like that, but...

[Something was definitely different about the air he gave off today. She'd heard scant details of the wars he was thrust into, but whoever she talked to never really gave much context about what drove him into service. She couldn't just ask it of his friends, either; she was a stranger, and more than that, they probably had their own lives to deal with. They don't need a soldier bugging them for intimate details of a friend's life. It's not good for trust.]

Looking at you now, I feel she was trying to be some given definition of 'helpful'. [As helpful as an awful prankster could be, anyway.]

[Athrun, on the other hand, was more willing to consider Enterprise as something more than a stranger. Which is why he doesn't mind bringing up what he's about to bring up.]

It's entirely possible she knows the significance of today for me. That much of my personnel files should be declassified, so she definitely could have read up on it. Or she was paying close enough attention to the news.

[He shrugs.]

The truth is, well...today is the anniversary of my mother's death. She was on Junius Seven when...

[He trails off, though it probably doesn't need to be said. The use of nuclear weapons, especially against a civilian target, would have been a big deal anywhere in the world.]

[It takes a bit for that to sink in; when it does, but one thought crosses her mind:

The nukes.

It had once been said that nuclear energy only created the urgency to solve an existing problem. Enterprise finds herself echoing those words in her head as, instinct and habit telling her to simply grip his shoulder in solidarity, her heart ached for something more than a simple gesture of good faith. After hearing of that, what her heart needed mattered more in that instant than what she was so used to doing with other soldiers.

It is with that thought in mind that she wraps her arms around him in a tight hug -- a gesture she spared for her own sister in her final moments at sea.]

...no person should ever have to witness that kind of hell first-hand.

[Athrun tenses up out of surprise. Enterprise hugging him like that was unexpected. He had expected some show of solidarity, but not that. However, his muscles relax after that initial surprise has passed, and he returns the hug, resting his chin on her shoulder.]

It's, um, more of a scar than a wound now.

But...thank you all the same.

[It feels good like this. He can feel the warmth from her body and her arms, and it's a reassuring feeling.]

[Her hold on him tightens as she lets that sink in -- only for a moment. But the message is clear, she hopes. He shouldn't need to be told about her own loss. Thanks isn't needed; that he's still moving forward in spite of that is enough.]

If it ever feels like that scar is being forced back open, just tell me. [That's the most she says on the matter as she lets him relax into her hold.]

[Athrun holds on for a little while longer. Eventually, when he decides he's spent long enough like this, he lets go and steps back.]

Are you ready to get going?

[He seems ready and maybe even slightly eager to escort her back to her room.]

[There's a bit of her that's hesitant to let go -- but things like this can't last forever. That, and she doesn't want to make a scene that Eugen would be more than willing to tease her about later.

So she lets him, and fixes her hat.] Any time, Athrun. [...She pauses, and eventually adds, as she starts towards her room--] I'll try not to be long. We can't afford to waste too much of the day, after all.

[If Saratoga's going to do this to her, then she might as well take this and run like the wind with it. At least, that's the rationale for her doing this, anyway.]

Well, my phone isn't blowing up yet, so don't feel pressured to rush.

[He offers a wry smile at his remark. It's the closest he gets to telling a joke. However, it's also true; if he were really needed, his phone would be blaring at him constantly.

With everything settled, he gestures for her to begin walking.]

After you.

[As she nods and takes those steps towards her own room in the dorms, she smiles a bit more content; if he was able to at least poke fun at things, that meant he was getting somewhere.]

Maybe there will be other reasons for it to be busy in the future... [She trails off a bit at the end there, but tries not to draw too much attention to it as they go. With the trip mostly in content silence, though -- accounting for the occasional bit of awkward dancing around things when they run into some of the other shipgirls, anyway -- she eventually comes to a stop at the door to her room. It doesn't seem to stand out all that much, other than the mail slot. If nothing else, it meant she was practically-minded about things.

Enterprise looks to Athrun again.]

Ah, right... did you have any particular plans for today? I'd like to make sure before I make my own offerings.

[The comment about Athrun's phone manages to sail over his head this time. Really, it was a miracle that it wasn't ringing off the hook. He's a young man, a war hero no less, and very handsome, taking direct command over hundreds of girls on a base located on a tropical island. However, Athrun hasn't exactly been giving his phone number out to people, and he isn't listed in the phone book, either.]

Hm?

[Athrun turns his head to look at Enterprise when she asks her question. This time, he catches on, and he looks rather surprised.]

Ah. Er, no. I have nothing planned for the day.

[The only plan Athrun has for the day is writing a check to Reverend Malchio's orphanage and putting the donation in his mother's name. Not much of a time sink, that.]

If that's the case, we could head out and spoil ourselves for today. Or we could try making something nice in the mess hall. I wouldn't mind either choice here.

My shift isn't until later, if you're worried about that.

[Work is work even though it's a nice day to be spending time with others, after all... but she did make arrangements with Hornet and the other Carriers to ensure a relatively free afternoon. The night shift was one she felt best suited to take care of, anyway. She felt at home confronting much riskier environments more often than not.]

Ah, but mine...

[Worth noting: Athrun hasn't used a single vacation day or sick day since coming to this base, so he absolutely has the liberty to do so.]

...You know what? Never mind what I was going to say. I can use some of my PTO for today. Let's go to town.

[He's getting the chance to spend Valentine's Day with an attractive woman. He already had no plans except to do something in memory of his mother. Even someone who is as much of a workaholic as he is would be a complete idiot to turn that down. And he can still do something for his mother while he's at it.]

I'll just be a moment, then. I'd rather not go out of the base looking like this.

[Enterprise, hoping he won't have too many objections to the idea of waiting some more, opens the door to make her way inside. One might wonder why she'd need to change out of those clothes -- they were plenty good enough as is -- but then what she wore counted as her uniform. The least she could do is not look like she's married to the seas even when she's not on-duty.

That being said, there's still a bit of time before she gets through the door proper if he ever feels the need to speak up and get her attention for anything.]

Oh, uh.

[Right. Clothes. That was a thing. Athrun is wearing his own uniform, after all.]

I'd better go back to my place to get changed, then, too. Let's meet in, say, half an hour at the parking lot entrance?

Valentine's Day CMO

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