"Lieutenant Flyheight, sir?" Nightfalcon saluted and snapped to attention.
"Yes?"
"Sir, could Raven and I have a competition to see who's better at piloting? Only if we have time, sir…"
"Sure. I'd love to see the only female pilot of the Guardian Force beat Raven in a piloting competition." Van winked at her, and she smiled back at him. "And you really don't have to call me Lieutenant, Nightfalcon. I'm fine with just 'Van'."
"Ok, Lieu-… Van," she said, and was honored that The Pilot Who Beat The Death Saurer thought of her as an equal.
"Hey, how about I get the courses set up right now?" He was very eager to watch the two finest pilots in the GF (besides him, or so he thought) duke it out in a course of sheer skill. Even though Van told Nightfalcon that she didn't need to look up to him as a superior officer, she was still very respectful.
"Thank you, sir," she said, automatically adding the word 'sir' into the thanks. "I'll go get Raven!" and with that, she flew out the door. But a moment later, she poked her head back in, saluted, said "SIR!" and smiled, and flew out again. Van chuckled at her. She brought something new to the Guardian Force. Humor. Or maybe a sense that they were invincible. No, both.
Raven was still asleep when Nightfalcon knocked on his door. She waited for 45 seconds without a reply, knocked again, and the door opened. Shadow stood there, looking at her with his big blue eyes.
"Hey, Shadow, where's Raven?" Shadow stood aside to let Nightfalcon see his master. He was sound asleep, snoring, hanging off his bed by a leg and an arm, and drooling. (A/N if you can't picture this, please try. Very interesting mental image. O_~) it was comical to her, and she giggled a bit.
"Rrraaaarrr *please, come in*"
"Oh… uh, ok Shadow…" She smiled at him. Shadow trotted over to the edge of Raven's bed as Nightfalcon sat down on a chair. Shadow nudged Raven gently with his nose, and Raven swatted him away. Nightfalcon heard him mumble something like 'Stupid Organoid…'.
"Oh- six-thirty, soldier," Nightfalcon said. With this, Raven's eyes popped open to stare right straight into her sweet face. She looked serious, ready-to-hurt-if-not-kill. Then she spoke very calmly; "Wake up. We have a competition to attend to."
He sprang up from his resting place and fell over. She burst out laughing and he glared at her. Nightfalcon glared right back, but Raven…… he started smiling… a very odd smile… then he shook his head and snapped, "Hey, what're you doing in my quarters?"
"Shadow invited me in…" she blushed, because she knew she shouldn't be there… Raven was still in his boxers…
"Well… get goin' 'til I'm ready…" he said, and blushed too. She walked toward the door slowly. He watched her and waited until she was gone. Then he started to dress very quickly.
"HEY!" He caught up to her in the hall. She looked at him, surprised. She also shrunk back a little, thinking she had done something wrong.
"Don't worry, I usually don't bite," he said with a wink. Nightfalcon looked up at him, and smiled.
"Nice pick up line," she grinned.
"WHAAAAAT!?!" He looked insulted, almost. But there was a gleam in his eye that told otherwise. He furrowed his brow and asked what that was all about.
"I know you know, Raven."
"Know what?" he asked.
"You know there's something about me that's different. I feel it about you, too." At this, she walked faster, and he completely stopped, bewildered. He couldn't say anything. He just followed slowly to the course setup.