Space...
The final frontier.
These are the voyages of the starship Aqours. It's continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations...
To boldly go where no idol has gone before!
"Chika-chan! Are you narrating to yourself again?"
"Eh?! You-chan! You're ruining my daydream!"
You let out a friendly laugh as she hopped onto one of the infirmary's beds, kicking her knees freely."But you're the one who told me to come at the end of my shift. Shouldn't the doctor be ready to see her patient?"
Chika frowned at her as she stood, her hands reaching for the various medical implements she had attached to her belt as she walked over to You. "You could've at least knocked," she muttered as she began the physical.
"I apologize for the disturbance, oh fearsome daydream warrior!" said You, bowing with hands together in supplication.
"Now you're just making fun of me," replied Chika with a pout. "Now hold still, you know how sensitive these things can be."
You grinned. Indeed she did. During their time at the Coalition Academy of Astronautics, Chika had often used You as a guinea pig for various routine medical procedures, returning the favor by peer evaluating her piloting skills in a myriad of spacecraft. These little exchanges had provided You some informal training in first aid, while Chika had learned how awful most pilots were when compared to You.
"Still though," remarked You, "Idols in space?"
"Absolutely," nodded Chika. "Just like space, idols have no limits!"
Running her fingers over the bridge's tactical station, Dia sifted through multiple theoretical scenarios to gauge proper and realistic responses for the crew of their little ship, all the while trying to ignore the asinine exchange of words flying around the bridge. When her eyebrow twitched involuntarily, she knew she had failed.
"I spy, with my little eye... something that begins with S!" declared Mari, spinning nonchalantly in her chair.
From another corner of the bridge sat Kanan, idly humming in thought as she leaned against their secondary sensors console, drumming the top slowly but rhythmically with her fingers. "I wonder... is it star?" she asked.
"Nope!"
"Is it... space?"
"Nope!"
"Hmm..." Now Kanan was stumped. Other than the light of the system's crimson sun and the pinpricks from distant stars, the main viewscreen was filled with nothing but the inky blackness of the void. "I give up. What was it?"
Mari giggled and turned her head to the only one of the three actually trying to do something productive. "Sexy Dia~!" she practically sang.
That did it. Dia's fist came down and slammed the console she was at. She sent a withering glare at the blonde, who shrugged it off with an immunity built over a lifetime. "Captain," stressed Dia through clenched teeth, "Perhaps we should focus on our duties instead of playing these mindless games."
"Absolutely not, Commander," replied Mari, emphasizing Dia's lower rank. "Given the simplicity of our current duties and the infrequency of anything actually happening in transit, these little games are all that's keeping us awake."
"What a respectable attitude for a commanding officer to have," replied Dia dryly.
"Isn't it?" smiled Mari winningly. She turned to Kanan. "Your turn!"
"Okay, okay. Let's see..." ruminated the blunette. "I spy, with my little eye... something that begins with S," challenged Kanan.
As Mari started guessing this latest object, Dia slapped a hand over her face, shaking her head in disbelief of her fellow officers.
She could admit to enjoying the camaraderie, and the banter, and the casual advances, but they really should have been doing something constructive.
...On the other hand, they only crewed a small sector patrol boat, one among hundreds. Maybe they really didn't have anything to do at the moment. Unlike Dia. Because Dia could always find something to do at any given moment of the day. Like her simulations that she wasn't doing.
She briefly pondered over wearing earplugs while working alongside them, but came to the correct conclusion that Mari wouldn't allow it. Sighing, she emerged from her temporary bubble of sanity just in time to hear Kanan's answer.
The blunette smirked and shot a lazy yet smoldering stare at the green-eyed ravenette. "Sensual Dia," she purred.
Dia's face blushed red, and she did her best to shrink into herself as the flirtations and innuendos kept coming.
Yep. Just another bridge shift with her two best friends.
"...And while the beta couple was nice to have around and offered a different dynamic, I just don't think they were as compelling as the main pair, zura. Still, it's a very unique take on a genre usually filled with angst and repression, zura."
"I agree on all counts, especially on the beta couple," replied Riko with a nod. "I think it would have been stronger if they just weren't around quite so often, or maybe introduced later than they were." She paused as the pair arrived before Riko's quarters, the redhead punching in her room code before the door slid open with a silent whoosh.
As Riko entered, Hanamaru waited by the door, uncertain as to whether or not she should follow. She clutched her personal tablet close to her chest.
"It's all right Hanamaru-chan," said Riko with a smile, "You can come in." The brunette beamed and entered the room proudly as Riko grabbed her own tablet from her small desk."Now let's see..."
Hanamaru took this time to look over Riko's half of the room. Unlike her own quarters, Riko's space was neat and tidy, with a proper place for everything. A small frame on the shelf above her desk held a family picture alongside a snapshot of her in azure graduation uniform. Then her gaze shifted to the other side of the room.
Hanamaru blinked as she beheld the other half of the room. It was practically bare.
The lack of personal effects conjured up memories from her time at the academy, only a short while ago; memories of her, and a redhead, and a blunette as they endured the trials of daily life. The one memory that stood out in particular had been of Hanamaru and her roommate as they visited the living space of their third. The setup then was practically identical to the setup that was arrayed before her now.
Before she could comment however, Riko offered up another recommendation. "If you liked The Faraway Romance of Sisters, you might enjoy Newsflash!. It's another romantic comedy between a reporter and her camerawoman, but it has elements of political thriller in it later on."
"Oh, that does sound interesting," remarked Hanamaru. She held up her tablet to Riko's, a small smile crossing her face as she tapped the notice to accept the file Riko was transferring over. "So what do you think of Garden of Glass, zura?"
"Oh I absolutely love it!" replied Riko, practically squealing in delight. "I read everything you gave me last night and I still want more!"
The brunette giggled. "There's plenty more where that came from, but it's only source node is on the other side of the sector."
Riko let out a soft sigh. "I guess that means I won't be getting any more for a while then," she noted sadly. She returned her tablet to its proper place, then guided Hanamaru out of her room towards the ship's mess hall.
"Not necessarily, zura. If you'd like, I can speed up the process," offered Hanamaru.
"What? Aren't you not supposed to do that?" As much as Riko wanted more yuri material in her life, she really didn't want the ship's communications officer to get in trouble with the captain. Or more likely, get in trouble with the commander.
"I'm not doing anything irresponsible, zura" she retorted, "I'm just prioritizing traffic from certain comm buoys." She gave a playful frown. "Unless you don't really want to find out what happens, zura...?"
Riko chuckled as they walked. "Well, I suppose it would be rude to turn down such a kind offer."
Hanamaru nodded. "Anything for the sake of more books!" she declared.
Ruby smiled happily to herself as she practically skipped along the corridor, a folded pink apron held in her arms as she made her way to the mess hall. The duty shift was just about to roll over, and the redhead wanted to be sure her shipmates got a half-decent dinner for the night. Technically it was You's turn to cook, but the brunette was otherwise occupied with getting a physical. So Ruby, having a more flexible schedule than most of her friends, decided to take on the responsibility all by herself.
Of course when she arrived at her destination, she found a rather unexpected and potentially unwelcome presence.
"Yoshiko-chan!" yelped Ruby, startled as the apron fell from her grip.
"Oh, Ruby!" The blunette smiled as she looked up from the boiling pot, a fistful of garlic held up menacingly in one hand and a mixing ladle in the other. "You're early. I guess someone couldn't wait to taste the great Yohane's cooking?"
Ruby's eyes watched with silent horror as Yoshiko dropped the garlic pieces into the pot, the sounds of bubbling increasing in both frequency and intensity. That was not a good sign. Ruby swallowed nervously. "I... was actually going to make dinner myself. I-I told You-chan I would do it for her, s-so-"
"You don't have to worry about that," interjected Yoshiko. "I've got dinner covered." She reached behind her to grab a large bag of flash-frozen chicken wings (Now with Edible Bones!), holding it up with both hands with a grin. "Tonight, we shall dine upon the Wings of a Fallen Angel!"
Ruby sweatdropped. "Then... would you like some help?" she asked hesitantly.
"Sure!" replied the chef as she tore into the bag viciously. "Could you grab the six pound bar of kalka bean chocolate from the fridge? And the spiced rum too."
The redhead gave a weak smile and nodded, hanging her head as she went to fetch the requested items, resigning herself to a terrible dinner and the subsequent looting of her roommate's snack stash (Which was never fun to do. Hanamaru got pouty if her food was disturbed, and a pouty Maru was a mean Maru.)
Yoshiko unceremoniously dumped the entire bag of wings into the pot, which was quickly followed by a liberal sprinkling of cinnamon. "By the way, remember the solar sail maintenance you mentioned yesterday? I had some spare time, so I looked into it for you. They should all be perfectly realigned."
"Really?" asked Ruby in surprise. "Thank you, Yoshiko-chan!"
The blunette nodded as she stirred. "Yep! Feel free to check it over when you have time though."
Ruby made a mental note to do just that, though she doubted it was necessary. Whenever Yoshiko offered to help with something, she always seemed to perform at standard, usually excelling. Ruby often wondered just how diverse Yoshiko's talents were if they could include things such as solar sail maintenance, compiling trinary database applications, and identifying art forgeries. Sometimes she wondered where and how Yoshiko had acquired her talents, but more often than not, she shrugged it off and concluded it was just the natural consequence of her friend's periodic relocations throughout her life.
"And now," declared Yoshiko after pouring most of the bottle of spiced rum into the allegedly edible mixture, "It's time for the secret ingredient!"
Ruby winced and watched with dejection as the blunette dumped the entirety of the six pound chocolate bar into the pot, sighing silently.
Alas, if only cooking was one of Yoshiko's many talents...