Chapter 11 - Tour Guides

Shion and Topaz had officially become tour guides for the time being. Topaz wasn't sure why, but she felt very excited at the thought of this. It was the first time she'd been asked to show people around since she left Fifth Jerusalem. The moment she thought about it, she began to feel extremely homesick. Hmm... I wonder what everyone's doing right now... I really miss 'em...

"So... Ziggy? MOMO? Are you both ready to begin your personal tour of the Elsa?" Topaz asked with a semi-sad tone and a forced smile plastered on her small face.

"Um... Topaz? Are you doing okay? ...Anyway, what do you all say we check out the Catapult first? That way, we can start our trip with the place you were at first," suggested Shion to the new passengers.

Ziggy answered, after briefly talking it over with MOMO. "Sure. That sounds like a good idea to me. Should we head over now?"

"Of course! Let's get moving, everybody! To the Catapult deck!" Topaz exclaimed. She found that acting happy helped her mood.

The small group of four made their way through the large ship to reach the Catapult. There, Shion and Topaz gave Ziggy and MOMO a brief description of their current location. Topaz, along with Ziggy and MOMO, learned that Shion had somehow gained experience operating a crane from the ship she had previously been aboard. They headed back until they reached the B2 Lounge, where Ziggy decided to put up his maintenance bed after a suggestion from Shion. Afterwards, they entered the Hangar 1, where the A.G.W.S. units were kept.

"This, my friends, is where we keep our A.G.W.S. units. For safekeeping and maintenance purposes. See that silvery, purple one over there? That's mine," Topaz said with a proud grin on her face as she pointed to the A.G.W.S..

Shion added, "That's right. Mine is the pink one over there," as she pointed as well.

"Your A.G.W.S. looks to be in good shape, Shion, but Topaz... Yours doesn't look very good. What happened?" Ziggy asked.

"Ah... Well... It's a long story. I'll tell you about it later, if you wanna know that bad," Topaz responded.

"They're both very pretty, but... whose unit is that?" MOMO asked as she pointed to the remaining mech.

Shion answered, "That's the Elsa's A.G.W.S.. I think that chaos is the pilot. At least, that's what Topaz said, right?"

Topaz said, "You're right about that! Hammer told me that he was the one who built it. He said that he built it using spare parts that he found scattered throughout a bunch of different battlefields! It's amazing! Anyway, let's continue on, shall we?"

The group passed through Hangar 1 to the room where KOS-MOS' maintenance bed was kept, along with KOS-MOS herself. Here, a brief conversation took place about KOS-MOS sleeping and the dreams she might have. Afterwards, the four continued back through Hangar 1 to reach Hangar 2. At the end of the description, Shion mumbled something about how Matthews wouldn't say a thing about what parts made up the accelerator room. Shortly after, Shion and Topaz led MOMO and Ziggy to the two cabins onboard the ship.

"This is Cabin 1," explained Shion, "it's where the people of this ship stay."

Topaz added, "It's also where Allen and Commander Cherenkov stay."

"It looks like it gets very crowded here; there are lots of magazines scattered about. I'll have to clean it sometime!" MOMO said with a giggle.

The group proceeded to the second room--Cabin 2. Here, another short conversation took place.

"This would be Cabin 2, where Shion and I stay," Topaz instructed.

"You'll be staying here, too, MOMO," Shion added, "I'm sure the three of us will be good roommates!"

MOMO answered, "Yes! I'm sure we will be, too!"

At the end of her sentence, MOMO added the same innocent giggle from before. Topaz was starting to notice that she did this often. She didn't know why, but it was starting to annoy her. Ugh. What's her deal? She better not do that again... I'm seriously starting to get tired of it. I've never been able to stand people like that. It didn't seem to bother anyone else, so she decided to let it go. Topaz then instructed Ziggy and MOMO to follow her and Shion to their next destination.

In the kitchen, the four teammates saw KOS-MOS washing the dishes at the sink. Topaz was shocked that so much time had already passed since they left the restaurant. MOMO exclaimed that she would help, too, then she did the one thing that Topaz despised the most. She did the same innocent giggle as both times before. Topaz was beginning to think that it sounded false, almost forced. WHY WON'T SHE STOP?! The others think it's cute... I don't see how, though! It's obvious that it's forced! Damn, this girl's starting to irritate me!

After shaking off her anger, Topaz followed Shion's instructions and headed to the Elsa's bridge. Shion then gave a brief lecture over what the various consoles around the bridge did. Ziggy and MOMO gave their input every now and then, and Topaz was truly astounded how much the horribly giggly Realian knew about the anatomy of ships. They had been on this tour for a while, so Shion decided that it was time to call the tour to an end. Ziggy returned to his room to set up his maintenance chair, and Shion went to go help KOS-MOS with the dishes, which left Topaz stuck with MOMO for a while.

"So, Topaz, how long have you been on this ship? You seem to know about the crewmembers and the ship really well!" MOMO asked Topaz, obviously trying to make small talk in an effort to break the silence.

Content with the Realian's lack of a giggle, Topaz answered, "I just recently boarded this ship, myself. The crewmembers and I talk a lot, that's all. I learned all the stuff I did from them. Of course, I've built a few ships, myself, so that may have helped a bit..."

"Really? I didn't know that! That's amazing! Heheh-" MOMO was saying, as she was cut off mid-sentence by Topaz interrupting.

"Stop. Now. I'm so damn sick and tired of that giggle! Just... STOP!" Topaz yelled at the now shaking Realian. Just as she was about to reach over and smack MOMO, the door slid open and Shion walked in with a perplexed look on her face.

Shion asked,"...Huh? What's going on here? Topaz, what're you-"

Topaz interrupted, "Nothin'. I was just... gettin' up to go to sleep. Goodnight," as she headed over to her bed, completely ignoring the tears that one could clearly see welling up in MOMO's eyes, to try and fall asleep. She hadn't slept in a while, so she was able to defeat her anger and fall asleep after a few long minutes of trying.