Gym Halpern
Nash Tavros
Michael Angellus
Devin Virell
Kayla Luspark
SHe looked at what was there as more people were arriving. Then someone started to approach as she heard the sound of her makie droid. The small box detaching from the cargo compartment as it stretched out its arms before flying over towards her should. Offering an extended arm as the hand and Susanoo did the same bumping their fists from the safe travels. Her eyes were scanning more the other people who were there as she began to walk around and see some of the others. Only adjusting her bag when she went and pulled a glove from her pocket to slip it on as the embroidered on the back. THe small memories of her last conversation came to her before she was heading out here.
The air in the ready-room was cool and still, humming with the latent energy of the starfighters in the hangar beyond. Data-screens cast a pale blue glow over Commander Unchou No-Kami's sharp features, her focus absolute as she delivered the final mission parameters. Ensign Susanoo Tsukuyomi stood at a perfect, unwavering attention, her world narrowed to the sound of her Commander's voice. "...Your primary function is to be our eyes and our fist. You will observe, you will assess, and if the situation demands it, you will act with decisive force. The Hidden Path are allies of the royal families family, but you are a Wolf first. Never forget that. Understood?"
She looked at the commander and gave a nod of her head to that."Perfectly, Commander," Susanoo's reply was immediate, solid as their jade crystasteel. The official briefing was over. The silence that followed was different, thicker. Unchou's posture shifted, the rigid line of her shoulders softening a fraction. The commander's mask didn't slip so much as it reconfigured itself into something more intimate, more potent. "Your birthday is in three days," Unchou said, her voice lower now, a tone reserved for these private moments. "You'll be alone in the dark between stars. An unacceptable time for a Wolf to be without a reminder of her pack."
From within her tunic, Unchou produced not an official dispatch or a data-chip, but a long, slender box of polished black lacquerwood. She held it out, not as a superior issuing equipment, but as an offering. Susanoo's discipline held, but her breath hitched almost imperceptibly. A gift. This was uncharted territory. She accepted the box, her large hands surprisingly gentle. "Commander, I… this is not necessary." There was a snap response almost prepared. "I decide what is necessary for my Wolves," Unchou replied, her voice a soft command. Her eyes, usually so focused on strategies and outcomes, now fixed on Susanoo with an intensity that felt like a physical touch. "Open it."
Susanoo obeyed. The lid hinged back without a sound. Nestled on deep crimson silk lay a single glove. It was crafted from the finest black bofuri silk, impossibly soft, yet radiating a sense of immense durability. Upon the back of the hand was an exquisitely embroidered emblem in silver and platinum thread: a stylized wolf's head in mid-howl Unchou's personal sigil since the academy. "It will interface with your Kabaneri's systems," Unchou explained, her eyes never leaving Susanoo's face. "It will make you faster, sharper. A fractional advantage that could mean everything." She paused, letting the practical explanation hang in the air before delivering the true thrust of her message. "But its true purpose is not to control your fighter. It is to remind you who controls
you."
Unchou took a single, deliberate step forward, entering Susanoo's personal space. The air crackled with the intimacy of it. She reached out and, with a slowness that was both possessive and reverent, traced the line of the silver wolf on the glove. "They will look at you out there and see only what you show them. A giant. A warrior. A weapon. They will not see the truth." Her voice dropped to a whisper, meant for Susanoo alone. "They will not see the woman who was told she was too much, only to become more than any of them could ever handle. They will not see the strength I saw in you when you were still trying to hide from it."
Her fingers lingered on the embroidery, then drifted up to gently brush against Susanoo's wrist, a spark of contact that was electric in its rarity. "Your difference was never a weakness, Susanoo. It was the raw material from which I forged the most loyal weapon in my arsenal. Your doubt, your feeling of not belonging anywhere else… that is your strength. It binds you to me. It ensures you will always have a home to return to." She finally looked up, her dark eyes capturing Susanoo's completely. "You take this half with you. I keep the other. When you feel the void of loneliness, when you are surrounded by those who do not understand what we are, you will look at this and know. Your other half is here, with me. Your victories are my victories. Your glory is my glory. And your return…"
She let the word hang, a promise and a threat woven together. "…is my requirement. Not for the Commonwealth. For me. Do you understand the gift I am giving you?" The use of 'I' and 'me' was a deliberate, devastating weapon. It was not a commander's order. It was a claim. The glove was not a tool; it was a token. A symbol of a promise that was both her shackle and her salvation. Susanoo's fingers closed around the glove. It felt less like leather and more like a second skin, an extension of Unchou's own will. The weight of it was immense, a tangible manifestation of the only thing that had ever given her life meaning: this woman's approval, her possession.
"I understand," Susanoo breathed out, her voice thick with an emotion too complex to name. "I will carry this with me. I will fight in its name. And I will return to make the pair whole." A slow, approving smile touched Unchou's lips, a rare and devastating sight. It was a look of pure, unadulterated ownership and pride. She let her fingers trail from Susanoo's wrist one last time, sealing the promise. "See that you do. Dismissed, my White Wolf." The endearment was a final, gentle blow. "And happy birthday." As Susanoo turned to leave, the single glove clutched in her hand felt like the most vital piece of her flight suit. It was a vow etched in leather and silver. A promise to conquer a sector of space for the woman who had taught her how to conquer herself. It was the only inspiration she would ever need.
She came out of the memory as she heard someone speak to her and was about to answer... then he was gone and chasing some guy to talk with him. "Hmmmm strange." She said it while walking and someone asked another question as she was walking and it was a good one about what they were going to do. Meet or wait. She stayed there though while crossing her arms as the makie droid returned information from its scans to her interface with the readouts showing. more about the fighters. The X-wings were at least looking better then first impressions but she still questioned it.
