Chapter 72 - Raw Clown-to-Clown Communication
BakaSmurf
Only Human, After All
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Chapter 72 - Raw Clown-to-Clown Communication
===
Joe finished polishing off the omurice that had been presented to them as though it were mana from the gods. It was… Fine. It would have been a lot better had it not had what seemed like an entire half a bottle of ketchup dumped on it, for sure.
Privaty finished forcing down her own plate—the sheer quantity of sweetened tomato sauce seeming to be a bit much for her as well.
Luckily, Cocoa hadn't stuck around to watch them eat, the other patrons needing to be tended to, so Joe didn't have to deal with Privaty probably getting mad at him for rightfully informing the little pinkette that sometimes, less is more.
Instead, after they'd finished and quietly exchanged some opinions on the meal they'd just shared, they were approached by a thoroughly put-upon Anis, all dolled up in her maid uniform.
On account of her typical mode of dress—that is to say, with her chest looking about ready to fall out of her frighteningly low-cut tank top, Joe would have expected Anis to be done up like a typical sexy anime maid.
Instead, she was wearing a dress that was little other than an even more plain version of what Ade wore. It was, honestly, nothing worth writing home about. Anis just looked like a normal, like, actual professional maid. Headband included.
"Uh," Anis started, making a point to not look directly at Joe. "So, uh, you done with that?" She lamely inquired as she pointed at the man's empty plate.
As Joe was about to respond, a girly cry of "Noooo! Aniiiis!" sounded out, followed by a series of loud, heeled footfalls-
And a crash that damn near took Anis down as well.
Shrieking as she barely caught herself atop the toes of a single foot—demonstrating the inhuman degree of control Nikkes had over their bodies in so doing—Anis balanced like a ballerina might mid-dance, with a leg outstretched to counter the weight of her torso being almost parallel to the ground, backwards.
Impressively, Anis was settled back atop both of her feet in a display that actually garnered claps from the other patrons. That, along with some lighthearted chuckling, and even coos of endearment at the tableau playing out before Joe and Privaty's table.
One might've expected a degree of concern, rather than amused laughter, given how hard the other girl just ate hard shit on the floor while Anis only just barely avoided joining her. Yet-
"Ohmygosh, are you okay!?" Privaty was quick to rise to her feet and stoop over, clearly aiming to help the yet-unidentified maid up.
"-Anis!" The new girl cried out as she inelegantly stumbled to her feet before Privaty could set hands on her, however. "You're supposed to say: 'hello Masters! I'm so happy you came to visit us today! Was your meal positively scrum-diddly-umptious? What would our beloved Masters like for dessert?'"
HOLY SWEET MOTHER OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY.
The newest maid, in sharp contrast to Ade, Cocoa, and Anis was, shockingly, actually dressed in the skimpy anime maid dress Joe had low-key expected from Anis. This would have been noteworthy on its own, yes, but pretty girls were common enough in the Ark for such to have become a somewhat unremarkable sight.
She had long, flowing pale green hair—very nearly green-tinted platinum blonde it was so light—tied up in cute, messy loops atop a pair of streaming thin twintails.
Her crown was naturally adorned with a set of antennae-like ahoge whose tips intersected to form the outline of a cartoon heart over her brow. Said brow itself was accentuated by blunt, neatly-trimmed bangs.
Yet this was not the most noteworthy aspect of her appearance.
She had large, sweetly glimmering, downright arresting magenta eyes, framed with thick lashes which came to a gentle, downwards slope that presented a kindly air about the girl. Her fair-skinned, soft features only further impressed upon the observer the suggestion that she could only be a sweetheart of a lass.
This too, was far from the most striking thing about her looks. Rather, what stuck out about her most aside from her top-tier beauty…
Was the fact that, despite being about Privaty's diminutive height, her chest rivalled Rapunzel's in how each were the size of her head.
To say nothing of how her shirt was DANGEROUSLY low cut to the point where Joe was genuinely shocked that nothing was peeking out over the rim of the fabric, yet at the same time, it was clearly under-sized given how she wasn't just spilling out over the hem of the top, but the buttons, the poor two buttons holding what looked to be a button-down tube top shut were dying.
The strain, the strain on her buttons was ruinous. They were about to fail, they were visibly about to fail, Joe was about to watch this poor woman's top explode off of her and see her endowments just flop out in front of the entire goddamned establishment and how hadn't they already popped out just from that horrid crash to the floor?
She'd landed flat on her face—or as flatly as a woman as intensely well-endowed as she was could—that shirt shouldn't have been able to contain such an accident! How was it still holding up!? Holy shit-
"N-no!" Anis protested, grimacing as she continued to not look Joe's way. "H-He's-"
"Anis!"
The stacked and skimpily-dressed verdette leaned over in a motion which really should have defeated her minuscule and entirely unsupported top.
"Being a maid means always being considerate and welcoming to all our patrons! No matter who they are! You signed up for the job, you must have wanted to smile for customers and make their day, right?" She inquired with an innocent smile which so terribly ill-suited her manner of dress.
"B-But, Soda, he's my Commander!" Anis cried under her breath, her face rapidly turning the colour of the ketchup Cocoa had put way too much of on Joe and Privaty's omurice. "I-I live with him and have to see him every day and-"
"He's your-" The verdette, evidently and shockingly appropriately dubbed 'Soda' given Anis' possible interest started, turning to examine Joe for the first time. "Oh, oh! Oh wow! You weren't kidding! He really is handsome!" Soda declared.
While Anis looked like she wanted to die, Joe rather suddenly felt as though he were in danger. Yet, not seeming to sense the same peril, Soda simply continued on unabated.
"But you said he always looked kinda mean and scary even though he's 'actually super nice,' Anis! He just looks like a big ol' surprised lion! Like a big cartoon kitty cat!" Soda chortled cutely. "Well, if you're friends with him, that should mean you're already comfortable around him, right? So go ahead! It should be easy for you to be a proper maid for him!"
Joe could barely remember the last time he was compared to a lion in appearance. Was it the scowl? It was probably the scowl. It wasn't his fault his face was born like that! His resting bitch face was genetic, damn it!
She circled back around Anis, and gave the beleaguered blonde a light, encouraging push on the back, as if urging her onward.
Anis, for her part, very clearly rued the fact that Joe, of all people, was her first customer. Likely for a number of reasons. Including those relating to the fact that getting her to simply clean up after herself back at the Command Centre was akin to pulling teeth.
He was going to remember this the next time she tried to bitch and cry about tossing her empty cans in the trash, and not leaving her used socks draped out over the TV for some demented reason.
At any rate, Anis grimaced, even as she attempted to press it down and present a strained smile of pain to Joe and Privaty. She assumed a far more girly stance than was usual for her, bringing her knees together, heels apart, and keeping her elbows locked at her side as she lifted her hands, she…
"H-h-h-hello, M-Masters," She tried her best. "Y-you… Are you done with your meals?"
"Yes," Privaty declared for the both of them, having since returned to her seat. "If you'd please clear the table for us?" She asked quite prettily in a way that redoubled Joe's feeling of being in imminent danger.
"Y-yes, Masters," Anis shakily stuttered out, ears and cheeks tinged red with embarrassment as she scooped up the plates and rapidly about-faced to rush to the kitchen area—catching a stray encouraging thumbs-up from Soda as she did so. Soda was quick to follow the blonde, rapidly leaving Joe and Privaty alone again.
Privaty's head whipped around quickly enough that Joe was genuinely shocked the motion hadn't produced an audible 'snap.' Further, the glower she presented to him could melt steel.
"I-I didn'-t-" Joe started in a feeble attempt to defend himself, because, no, yeah, he'd just out-and-out stared, since, well, holy shit.
"Don't you dare act like you weren't looking hard enough to notice the beauty mark on her mondo sweater puppies!" Privaty immediately and furiously snapped at him under her breath.
-Wait, "Wha- there was a beauty mark-?" Joe started, genuinely surprised.
"I knew you were looking!" Privaty immediately snapped forward, setting her palms on the table as she shot daggers at the man with her big, golden eyes. "I knew it! You're all obsessed with big, bouncy, back-breaking badonkers to notice something like that, aren't you!?" She demanded of him, under her breath, of course, lest she make a scene.
Joe recoiled, leaning back, so pressed that it didn't occur to him to note that it was Privaty that had been looking closely enough to notice that. "I didn't even-!"
"Just admit it! Admit that you're a big boob lover! You... You milk cannon fanatic!" Privaty demanded of the man, her eyes having a… Some kind of glint to them he couldn't quite parse. "I bet you'd go nuts if you saw me dressed like that and I had big jello boulders ready to fall out of my top like that, wouldn't you!"
Did she just call them fucking 'milk cannons' and 'jello boulders' then just move on from that without missing a beat, what the fuck Privaty?
Immediately distracting him that from, however, the Commander was almost sure for a split second that the glint in Privaty's eye as she made that accusatory inquisition was one of almost desperate anticipation, but what kind of sense would that make?
"Why are you so fixated on this!?" Joe demanded of her in turn, leaning forward and straining to keep his voice low, even despite his mounting stress. "Would you chill? It's not my fault she's dressed so provocatively-!"
"So you do find that tiny skirt of hers provocative!" Privaty declared with wide eyes. "You admit it then! You'd kill to see me dressed like that with my big honkers- I mean my gazongers aren't big! I'm not hiding anything under my shirt! Shut up!" She demanded of him.
The twintailed blunette dropped back into her seat and, as though hiding something and with a scandalized expression, encircled her arms over her, again, visibly modest chest.
"Privaty what the fuck are you talking about!?" Joe, once again, demanded of her in turn.
"You're the one that suddenly brought up my chest!" Privaty cried in horror.
"No I- You did- What the fuck are you-!?"
"You were thinking about how big my jiggle-jogglers are! I mean they aren't big! I don't have anything to hide, stop looking!" Privaty commanded him, despite the fact that he wasn't.
"Privaty, what the fuck are you talking about!?"
The two's idiotic argument was cut short by Anis warily approaching the table again, clearly put-off by how the pair seemed to be bickering under their breath. This time, she was holding another plate, this one with a big, perfectly-formed scoop of decorated ice cream resting atop it.
Once more, Soda was following shortly behind her, giving her encouraging little back-taps and smiles.
"Uh-um, your Commander appreciation dessert…" Anis grumbled quietly.
"Anis!" Soda started with a whine. "You need to cast the magic spell on it!"
"Please God no…" Anis also whined, looking as though she'd been ordered to walk the plank.
"Aniiiis," Soda doubled down on the whine, lightly pushing on Anis' back, as though encouraging a nervous child to jump in a swimming pool for the first time.
Joe just stared at Anis.
Anis just stared at Joe.
After a moment, Anis braced herself, swallowed her pride and shame in equal measure, and-
"Become super delicious!" Anis suddenly struck a magical girl pose. "Coochie, woochie, coo!" She finished by holding her arms at their full extension, framing the ice cream scoop with her fingers encircled around it in the shape of a heart, her expression…
Was actually quite lovely. Anis, holy shit, actually had a really nice smile. Like, oh shit, wait, since when was she so pretty, what the Hell, where did Joe's weirdo girlsmell gremlin go, why was his heart skipping a beat seeing her eyes sparkle like that? Wha-
While Soda clapped excitedly and cheered Anis on, the blonde just covered her face, lightly cried in dismay into her hands, and spun on her heel to flee the scene of her own self-immolation.
Soda wiped out trying to go after her, but quickly recovered, somehow still not having popped out of her undersized and horribly strained top despite the hard tumble. She speedily continued off after Anis, trying to encourage her all the while.
After a few moments, Privaty took a shallow, bracing breath, and said: "...So, that's your subordinate?" She inquired.
"Uh," Joe shifted to refocus on the twintailed blunette. "Yeah."
There was a small pause before she continued. "She seems nice," Privaty noted with a little, appreciative smile.
"...Yeah, she can be pretty nice," Joe reflected on how Anis had made a point to wait for him to wake up, while he was out in the Northern Base after he got hurt. The understated way in which she established that she had his back, and would stick by his side if Rapi couldn't for some reason. "I know I can trust her when shit goes down, even if she can be a bit of a head-ass at times."
"Mm…" Privaty hummed in consideration of his point.
After a few moments, Joe noticed that she was focusing—intentionally or not—upon the ice cream. With a small smirk, he reached out, and pushed the dish closer to her.
The little lady's eyes went wide at the gesture, and Joe simply instructed her "Go on," he offered it to her.
"B-but it's for you," Privaty asserted, seemingly genuinely surprised. "Since you're a Commander…"
"And it'd make me happier to see you enjoy it than eating it myself," the man asserted honestly. He liked ice cream well enough, but he liked seeing pretty girls smile more.
There was a beat in which Privaty started to blush again, but, rather than get defensive or grumble or growl, she accepted the dessert with a small, strained 'thank you,' and dug into it with the tiny provided spoon.
Rather quickly, her expression brightened up, clearly enjoying the ice cream, Privaty wound up entirely absorbed in the sweet treat.
Today wasn't such a bad day, really.
Joe and Privaty parted ways once it was time for him to return to the Outpost. She seemed a little expectant of something, and annoyed for a moment when the man started off for the elevator.
She didn't press anything, and demanded that he not worry about it as she about-faced and started off on her own in an aggravated huff.
It was a fine outing at any rate, and Joe was becoming increasingly glad that he seemed to have a good friend in the little, somewhat temperamental and kind of endearingly dumb beauty.
Quickly enough, he found himself stepping back into the Outpost, and with his hands deposited into his pockets, he ambled on to the Command Centre.
He blinked in some small measure of surprise upon spotting an out-of-place white blob next to the front entrance. Then, upon getting closer, he was able to make out that it was Snow White. Kneeling next to the front doors, eyes firmly locked on the ground in front of her.
Joe blinked once more, this time quite owlishly… Then, he noticed the sign hanging around her neck declaring 'I acted inconsiderately of others circumstances and behaved the part of a mean-spirited, immature child despite my age.'
The Commander had stopped, and just stared blankly at the Nikke, who shamefully kept her gaze fixed on the ground, expression heavily strained in equal parts fear and dismay.
There was a beat before Joe just marched into the front doors, calling out: "What did she do!?" He immediately recalled a few specific moments from their past together aboard the Avenger, the few rare moments wherein Rapunzel got genuinely mad.
He noticed, but didn't acknowledge the way Snow White flinched at his words. Snow White was usually pretty cool, but when she fucked up, she had a tendency to fuck up.
He could only imagine what had happened to warrant Rapunzel going full pissed-off Italian Catholic nun on her.
Chapter 72 - Raw Clown-to-Clown Communication
===
Joe finished polishing off the omurice that had been presented to them as though it were mana from the gods. It was… Fine. It would have been a lot better had it not had what seemed like an entire half a bottle of ketchup dumped on it, for sure.
Privaty finished forcing down her own plate—the sheer quantity of sweetened tomato sauce seeming to be a bit much for her as well.
Luckily, Cocoa hadn't stuck around to watch them eat, the other patrons needing to be tended to, so Joe didn't have to deal with Privaty probably getting mad at him for rightfully informing the little pinkette that sometimes, less is more.
Instead, after they'd finished and quietly exchanged some opinions on the meal they'd just shared, they were approached by a thoroughly put-upon Anis, all dolled up in her maid uniform.
On account of her typical mode of dress—that is to say, with her chest looking about ready to fall out of her frighteningly low-cut tank top, Joe would have expected Anis to be done up like a typical sexy anime maid.
Instead, she was wearing a dress that was little other than an even more plain version of what Ade wore. It was, honestly, nothing worth writing home about. Anis just looked like a normal, like, actual professional maid. Headband included.
"Uh," Anis started, making a point to not look directly at Joe. "So, uh, you done with that?" She lamely inquired as she pointed at the man's empty plate.
As Joe was about to respond, a girly cry of "Noooo! Aniiiis!" sounded out, followed by a series of loud, heeled footfalls-
And a crash that damn near took Anis down as well.
Shrieking as she barely caught herself atop the toes of a single foot—demonstrating the inhuman degree of control Nikkes had over their bodies in so doing—Anis balanced like a ballerina might mid-dance, with a leg outstretched to counter the weight of her torso being almost parallel to the ground, backwards.
Impressively, Anis was settled back atop both of her feet in a display that actually garnered claps from the other patrons. That, along with some lighthearted chuckling, and even coos of endearment at the tableau playing out before Joe and Privaty's table.
One might've expected a degree of concern, rather than amused laughter, given how hard the other girl just ate hard shit on the floor while Anis only just barely avoided joining her. Yet-
"Ohmygosh, are you okay!?" Privaty was quick to rise to her feet and stoop over, clearly aiming to help the yet-unidentified maid up.
"-Anis!" The new girl cried out as she inelegantly stumbled to her feet before Privaty could set hands on her, however. "You're supposed to say: 'hello Masters! I'm so happy you came to visit us today! Was your meal positively scrum-diddly-umptious? What would our beloved Masters like for dessert?'"
HOLY SWEET MOTHER OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY.
The newest maid, in sharp contrast to Ade, Cocoa, and Anis was, shockingly, actually dressed in the skimpy anime maid dress Joe had low-key expected from Anis. This would have been noteworthy on its own, yes, but pretty girls were common enough in the Ark for such to have become a somewhat unremarkable sight.
She had long, flowing pale green hair—very nearly green-tinted platinum blonde it was so light—tied up in cute, messy loops atop a pair of streaming thin twintails.
Her crown was naturally adorned with a set of antennae-like ahoge whose tips intersected to form the outline of a cartoon heart over her brow. Said brow itself was accentuated by blunt, neatly-trimmed bangs.
Yet this was not the most noteworthy aspect of her appearance.
She had large, sweetly glimmering, downright arresting magenta eyes, framed with thick lashes which came to a gentle, downwards slope that presented a kindly air about the girl. Her fair-skinned, soft features only further impressed upon the observer the suggestion that she could only be a sweetheart of a lass.
This too, was far from the most striking thing about her looks. Rather, what stuck out about her most aside from her top-tier beauty…
Was the fact that, despite being about Privaty's diminutive height, her chest rivalled Rapunzel's in how each were the size of her head.
To say nothing of how her shirt was DANGEROUSLY low cut to the point where Joe was genuinely shocked that nothing was peeking out over the rim of the fabric, yet at the same time, it was clearly under-sized given how she wasn't just spilling out over the hem of the top, but the buttons, the poor two buttons holding what looked to be a button-down tube top shut were dying.
The strain, the strain on her buttons was ruinous. They were about to fail, they were visibly about to fail, Joe was about to watch this poor woman's top explode off of her and see her endowments just flop out in front of the entire goddamned establishment and how hadn't they already popped out just from that horrid crash to the floor?
She'd landed flat on her face—or as flatly as a woman as intensely well-endowed as she was could—that shirt shouldn't have been able to contain such an accident! How was it still holding up!? Holy shit-
"N-no!" Anis protested, grimacing as she continued to not look Joe's way. "H-He's-"
"Anis!"
The stacked and skimpily-dressed verdette leaned over in a motion which really should have defeated her minuscule and entirely unsupported top.
"Being a maid means always being considerate and welcoming to all our patrons! No matter who they are! You signed up for the job, you must have wanted to smile for customers and make their day, right?" She inquired with an innocent smile which so terribly ill-suited her manner of dress.
"B-But, Soda, he's my Commander!" Anis cried under her breath, her face rapidly turning the colour of the ketchup Cocoa had put way too much of on Joe and Privaty's omurice. "I-I live with him and have to see him every day and-"
"He's your-" The verdette, evidently and shockingly appropriately dubbed 'Soda' given Anis' possible interest started, turning to examine Joe for the first time. "Oh, oh! Oh wow! You weren't kidding! He really is handsome!" Soda declared.
While Anis looked like she wanted to die, Joe rather suddenly felt as though he were in danger. Yet, not seeming to sense the same peril, Soda simply continued on unabated.
"But you said he always looked kinda mean and scary even though he's 'actually super nice,' Anis! He just looks like a big ol' surprised lion! Like a big cartoon kitty cat!" Soda chortled cutely. "Well, if you're friends with him, that should mean you're already comfortable around him, right? So go ahead! It should be easy for you to be a proper maid for him!"
Joe could barely remember the last time he was compared to a lion in appearance. Was it the scowl? It was probably the scowl. It wasn't his fault his face was born like that! His resting bitch face was genetic, damn it!
She circled back around Anis, and gave the beleaguered blonde a light, encouraging push on the back, as if urging her onward.
Anis, for her part, very clearly rued the fact that Joe, of all people, was her first customer. Likely for a number of reasons. Including those relating to the fact that getting her to simply clean up after herself back at the Command Centre was akin to pulling teeth.
He was going to remember this the next time she tried to bitch and cry about tossing her empty cans in the trash, and not leaving her used socks draped out over the TV for some demented reason.
At any rate, Anis grimaced, even as she attempted to press it down and present a strained smile of pain to Joe and Privaty. She assumed a far more girly stance than was usual for her, bringing her knees together, heels apart, and keeping her elbows locked at her side as she lifted her hands, she…
"H-h-h-hello, M-Masters," She tried her best. "Y-you… Are you done with your meals?"
"Yes," Privaty declared for the both of them, having since returned to her seat. "If you'd please clear the table for us?" She asked quite prettily in a way that redoubled Joe's feeling of being in imminent danger.
"Y-yes, Masters," Anis shakily stuttered out, ears and cheeks tinged red with embarrassment as she scooped up the plates and rapidly about-faced to rush to the kitchen area—catching a stray encouraging thumbs-up from Soda as she did so. Soda was quick to follow the blonde, rapidly leaving Joe and Privaty alone again.
Privaty's head whipped around quickly enough that Joe was genuinely shocked the motion hadn't produced an audible 'snap.' Further, the glower she presented to him could melt steel.
"I-I didn'-t-" Joe started in a feeble attempt to defend himself, because, no, yeah, he'd just out-and-out stared, since, well, holy shit.
"Don't you dare act like you weren't looking hard enough to notice the beauty mark on her mondo sweater puppies!" Privaty immediately and furiously snapped at him under her breath.
-Wait, "Wha- there was a beauty mark-?" Joe started, genuinely surprised.
"I knew you were looking!" Privaty immediately snapped forward, setting her palms on the table as she shot daggers at the man with her big, golden eyes. "I knew it! You're all obsessed with big, bouncy, back-breaking badonkers to notice something like that, aren't you!?" She demanded of him, under her breath, of course, lest she make a scene.
Joe recoiled, leaning back, so pressed that it didn't occur to him to note that it was Privaty that had been looking closely enough to notice that. "I didn't even-!"
"Just admit it! Admit that you're a big boob lover! You... You milk cannon fanatic!" Privaty demanded of the man, her eyes having a… Some kind of glint to them he couldn't quite parse. "I bet you'd go nuts if you saw me dressed like that and I had big jello boulders ready to fall out of my top like that, wouldn't you!"
Did she just call them fucking 'milk cannons' and 'jello boulders' then just move on from that without missing a beat, what the fuck Privaty?
Immediately distracting him that from, however, the Commander was almost sure for a split second that the glint in Privaty's eye as she made that accusatory inquisition was one of almost desperate anticipation, but what kind of sense would that make?
"Why are you so fixated on this!?" Joe demanded of her in turn, leaning forward and straining to keep his voice low, even despite his mounting stress. "Would you chill? It's not my fault she's dressed so provocatively-!"
"So you do find that tiny skirt of hers provocative!" Privaty declared with wide eyes. "You admit it then! You'd kill to see me dressed like that with my big honkers- I mean my gazongers aren't big! I'm not hiding anything under my shirt! Shut up!" She demanded of him.
The twintailed blunette dropped back into her seat and, as though hiding something and with a scandalized expression, encircled her arms over her, again, visibly modest chest.
"Privaty what the fuck are you talking about!?" Joe, once again, demanded of her in turn.
"You're the one that suddenly brought up my chest!" Privaty cried in horror.
"No I- You did- What the fuck are you-!?"
"You were thinking about how big my jiggle-jogglers are! I mean they aren't big! I don't have anything to hide, stop looking!" Privaty commanded him, despite the fact that he wasn't.
"Privaty, what the fuck are you talking about!?"
The two's idiotic argument was cut short by Anis warily approaching the table again, clearly put-off by how the pair seemed to be bickering under their breath. This time, she was holding another plate, this one with a big, perfectly-formed scoop of decorated ice cream resting atop it.
Once more, Soda was following shortly behind her, giving her encouraging little back-taps and smiles.
"Uh-um, your Commander appreciation dessert…" Anis grumbled quietly.
"Anis!" Soda started with a whine. "You need to cast the magic spell on it!"
"Please God no…" Anis also whined, looking as though she'd been ordered to walk the plank.
"Aniiiis," Soda doubled down on the whine, lightly pushing on Anis' back, as though encouraging a nervous child to jump in a swimming pool for the first time.
Joe just stared at Anis.
Anis just stared at Joe.
After a moment, Anis braced herself, swallowed her pride and shame in equal measure, and-
"Become super delicious!" Anis suddenly struck a magical girl pose. "Coochie, woochie, coo!" She finished by holding her arms at their full extension, framing the ice cream scoop with her fingers encircled around it in the shape of a heart, her expression…
Was actually quite lovely. Anis, holy shit, actually had a really nice smile. Like, oh shit, wait, since when was she so pretty, what the Hell, where did Joe's weirdo girlsmell gremlin go, why was his heart skipping a beat seeing her eyes sparkle like that? Wha-
While Soda clapped excitedly and cheered Anis on, the blonde just covered her face, lightly cried in dismay into her hands, and spun on her heel to flee the scene of her own self-immolation.
Soda wiped out trying to go after her, but quickly recovered, somehow still not having popped out of her undersized and horribly strained top despite the hard tumble. She speedily continued off after Anis, trying to encourage her all the while.
After a few moments, Privaty took a shallow, bracing breath, and said: "...So, that's your subordinate?" She inquired.
"Uh," Joe shifted to refocus on the twintailed blunette. "Yeah."
There was a small pause before she continued. "She seems nice," Privaty noted with a little, appreciative smile.
"...Yeah, she can be pretty nice," Joe reflected on how Anis had made a point to wait for him to wake up, while he was out in the Northern Base after he got hurt. The understated way in which she established that she had his back, and would stick by his side if Rapi couldn't for some reason. "I know I can trust her when shit goes down, even if she can be a bit of a head-ass at times."
"Mm…" Privaty hummed in consideration of his point.
After a few moments, Joe noticed that she was focusing—intentionally or not—upon the ice cream. With a small smirk, he reached out, and pushed the dish closer to her.
The little lady's eyes went wide at the gesture, and Joe simply instructed her "Go on," he offered it to her.
"B-but it's for you," Privaty asserted, seemingly genuinely surprised. "Since you're a Commander…"
"And it'd make me happier to see you enjoy it than eating it myself," the man asserted honestly. He liked ice cream well enough, but he liked seeing pretty girls smile more.
There was a beat in which Privaty started to blush again, but, rather than get defensive or grumble or growl, she accepted the dessert with a small, strained 'thank you,' and dug into it with the tiny provided spoon.
Rather quickly, her expression brightened up, clearly enjoying the ice cream, Privaty wound up entirely absorbed in the sweet treat.
Today wasn't such a bad day, really.
Joe and Privaty parted ways once it was time for him to return to the Outpost. She seemed a little expectant of something, and annoyed for a moment when the man started off for the elevator.
She didn't press anything, and demanded that he not worry about it as she about-faced and started off on her own in an aggravated huff.
It was a fine outing at any rate, and Joe was becoming increasingly glad that he seemed to have a good friend in the little, somewhat temperamental and kind of endearingly dumb beauty.
Quickly enough, he found himself stepping back into the Outpost, and with his hands deposited into his pockets, he ambled on to the Command Centre.
He blinked in some small measure of surprise upon spotting an out-of-place white blob next to the front entrance. Then, upon getting closer, he was able to make out that it was Snow White. Kneeling next to the front doors, eyes firmly locked on the ground in front of her.
Joe blinked once more, this time quite owlishly… Then, he noticed the sign hanging around her neck declaring 'I acted inconsiderately of others circumstances and behaved the part of a mean-spirited, immature child despite my age.'
The Commander had stopped, and just stared blankly at the Nikke, who shamefully kept her gaze fixed on the ground, expression heavily strained in equal parts fear and dismay.
There was a beat before Joe just marched into the front doors, calling out: "What did she do!?" He immediately recalled a few specific moments from their past together aboard the Avenger, the few rare moments wherein Rapunzel got genuinely mad.
He noticed, but didn't acknowledge the way Snow White flinched at his words. Snow White was usually pretty cool, but when she fucked up, she had a tendency to fuck up.
He could only imagine what had happened to warrant Rapunzel going full pissed-off Italian Catholic nun on her.
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