[D4, EM-LM, Patrol] Grumpy victors patrol

[Gianna Rains]

"You've got to get over this, Lights," Gianna says over the general channel as their mechs stomp out on patrol early in the day. "If anything, you should be upset that we didn't get more to salvage from those stubborn mechs," she adds. Internally, Gianna sighs. Stupidly, insanely stubborn, she thinks.

"But Make It, what if I'm losing my touch, my edge," she groans. "I got the head shot, bam, first try, and it was all down hill from there!" Animated as she is in this conversation, the fiery redhead, like her lance leader, pays close attention to her instruments and doesn't rush anything. They're veterans and don't believe in taking chances.

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I'm happy to roll the D20 or wait for Waffle to do so when he's up. Yuusha, do you want the D20 asap?

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

Meanwhile in another channel.

Hoops: "Do we really need to be doing this? Wouldn't you rather be in bed or hanging out with your new boyfriend? It was just one fucking combat."

Goo: "One combat where you didn't hit a single target and hopped around like it was your first day on the sticks. YES. I would rather be in bed right now. But I am trying to change and be better for my lance and company. You know the rules, you eagerly agreed to the rules years ago. The person with the biggest fuck up gets heckled and the person who missed the most targets get heckled. This time that is you but I understand yesterday was tough for all of us, so do this patrol and get more used to your new mech and I will make Pickle back off this ONE time. Because if you end up pulling that kind of shit in a populated area, if you fuck up and level a school or apartment complex getting benched is going to be the least of you problems. You have point so switch over to the other channel and get moving."

Mei switched back to the general channel and waited for Gianna to finish.

"Sorry about that LT, just needed to sort some things out. It's great to get to you run with, same for you Light's Out, I hope you're both having a great morning."

((Roll for patrol events: D4 EM-LM patrol with Gianna: 1d20 15 ))

[Gianna Rains]

"Happy you're here, Mei," Gianna says, not much for formality save when it's required.

"Yeah, she's really happy," Lights Out chimes in with cheerful mockery. "She missed you last night," she adds, giggling.

"Grace!" Gianna yells, horrified enough to not even use her lance mate's treasured call sign. Which tells the redhead clearly she'd gone too far this time.

"Er," Lights Out says after an awkward silence, flustered by Gianna's reaction. "Sorry... Gianna..." The mechwarrior's tone suggests she's literally hunched in her cockpit like a scolded dog. "I, um... I'ma get a few strides ahead, make sure my handling is still fully responsive." And the Dragon accelerates its pace as the Crusader slows slightly.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

Though no one could see it Mei was smiling widely.

"Aww, I missed you to Gi, my nights have been...kinda crazy lately. The last few days have been a whirlwind but I'm glad we could do this together. What have you two been up to?"

Hoops: "Crazy loud." Hoops sprints ahead then stops and turn, taking a mental shot at Light's Out then hopping away and starts running back towards the group. "Turtle said his headphones stopped working last night and..."

Mei: "OK that's enough, thank you Stella."

[Gianna Rains]

Gianna, recovering from her freak out, quietly replies, "Um, not... a lot. Just generally keeping busy..." Inside the cockpit her head is bowed the little amount her helmet allows, wishing she could hide and knowing the way she's acting is only going to make Mei ask questions.

Merde.

Lights Out continues on her sullen way, knowing Gianna will be mad at her for a little while but will cool down. In the meantime, she notices Hoops' maneuvers and does a bit of thinking two can play at that game, making her path more complicated and taking torso twists at unexpected times like she was sighting up on the other Angels mech.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

Mei maneuvered along side the larger mech and turned to look up at it is if looking at Gianna's face.

"OH? You don't sound very convincing you know? I can practically see you blushing from here. Come one, what did you do?" She asked teasingly. "Tell me a story of what sweet Gianna has been doing that is causing her embarrassment and I might tell you something I know that might interest you. Something about you."

Hoops saw that she had someone to play with and a sigh of welcome relief was heard on the comms as she accidentally keyed her mic while trying to avoid Lights' line of sight. She punched her speed up and weaved between the trees and over a hill out of sight though still very much on their radar.

[Gianna Rains]

Gianna, thankful at least that the others were wandering a bit, sighs and quietly answers Mei.

"It... Might be. That last night I was kind of tipsy... And was looking for someone's room..." She doesn't want to say it out loud, leaving it at unsubtle implication. "But I went to Lights's room by mistake," she says, a little more confidently. "Which is..." she rushes to say, "probably for the best. I... I shouldn't get ahead of things, right?"

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"OHhohoho. Did you now? Come on, out with it. Who's room? I wonder if it's the same person who was talking to me about you. Is Gianna Rains about to make a love connection? Hmm?"

Mei tried to dangle her information like a carrot, knowing Gianna was oft to clam up on a subject. But she also knew that pressing too much would have the same effect so she offered her a temporary out.

"The only alternative is having to listen to all the sordid details of my life this past week."

[Gianna Rains]

"I um... Wait, what? Someone's... about me?" Gianna had been blushing in her cockpit, figuring she was going to have to come clean with Mei, but then this new information totally blindsides her and she isn't sure what direction she's going.

"I, er... Mei, are you... Sure?"

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"Oh yeah, very sure. I think you two would be a really good fit for each other as well." A wry smile on her face. "i will tell you my secret if you tell me yours. "So come on, who's room?"

[Gianna Rains]

"A really good fit? Um..." GIanna sounds exceptionally nervous, more so even than Mei would think is in character for her.

There's a long sigh over the comm channel. "I was..." Mei can hear the nervousness even in the trail into silence.

After a very deep breath, with a long, slightly ragged exhale, Gianna quietly says, "I wanted to go to your room."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

THE FUCK!?!?!

Mei's Talon groaned as she skidded to a stop and her hands went to her face. For a moment there was only silence as she gathered he thoughts.

Really? Finally? What about John? WHAT ABOUT RICHARD!?!?!

Mei tired to sound casual when she spoke but wasn't entirely successful in hiding her excited curiosity.

"Really, so what stopped you?"

A long sigh crossed the channel and Hoops began to speed away from the nonsense that was about to ensue.

[Gianna Rains]

"Well, I... I had had a little too much to drink, I guess..." Mei can hear the embarrassment in her voice. "I went to Lights's room by accident."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"That's a shame, must have been fun you though right Lights? Well drunk or not you know you are always welcome in my room, we can just hang out or you can dig through my closet or we can just...TALK." She said with all the subtlety of an Atlas. "I mean, I've been trying to "talk" to you for a while but a lot has been happening lately and you have always seemed a little nervous about talking though I think you could really use it."

Mei shifted back into gear and raced forward to catch up with Gianna.

[GM Yuusha]

A flock of birds took up into the air as the mechs raced past. It was otherwise quiet.

[Gianna Rains]

"That's a shame, must have been fun you though right Lights? Well drunk or not you know you are always welcome in my room, we can just hang out or you can dig through my closet or we can just...TALK." She said with all the subtlety of an Atlas. "I mean, I've been trying to "talk" to you for a while but a lot has been happening lately and you have always seemed a little nervous about talking though I think you could really use it."

Mei shifted back into gear and raced forward to catch up with Gianna.

Lights Out either doesn't hear or is committed to staying out of Gianna's way right now, continuing her playful "patrolling" with Hoops.

Gianna gives a small sigh that's caught by the comms channel, then says softly, "I wasn't... I'm not sure exactly what I wanted. I just... Knew that I wanted to see you. Saw some other folks, celebrating the promotions for Cat and others, and that was nice... But then I needed you. I... I'm not sure what would have happened, you know... If I'd made it to your room."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

It was Mei's turn to sigh.

"Gi, please, give me some credit. If you came to my room drunk NOTHING would have happened; I'm not an ass. So if your worried about making decisions you're going to regret then don't. It as months ago but I told you that your friendship is more important to me than anything else I might be looking for and I'm not going to let either of us fuck that up.

But if part of you wanted to come to my room and part of you worries about what could happen it sounds like you have some unresolved feeling about me. So what's up?""

[Gianna Rains]

There's a relatively audible gulp over the comms channel, a moment of silence, then Gianna starts speaking very methodically.

"I think... Maybe... That I'm ready... For a relationship," she says tentatively, like she's really not convinced that this is what she thinks. "Which... I haven't really had. Since..." Mei can imagine Gianna gesturing to the mech she's piloting, given who Gorgeous George represents.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"Gi I want you to know I am really proud of you, I know it wasn't easy to say that. The fact that you want to take that step or even just want to want to take that step is really big. I'm also really honored that you would share that with me.

So as your friend let me ask you, what are you looking for in a relationship? Remember that it's OK and normal to date a few people before settling, so to speak, with someone. There might be no one on the ship right now who you click with or you might click with someone right away and either is OK."

God this isn't going to be easy. If she's actually thinking of me what is she going to think when she learns about John?

[Gianna Rains]

"I don't... I don't know if I know, Mei. I just... It seems like, since Princess came and I knew... home is gone," she says with bitterness, "Now, when I look at people, it's not as a way to release, it's... other things," she says, her voice turning notably sad. Then after a pause, a quieter but grumpy version of Gianna's voice says, "And you, and your stupid knitting..." After another pause there's a faint sound like a sniffle.