You Know What Assuming Does...

Fuel: check.
Supplies: check.
Shore leave: check.

The new recruits had recently been carted onto the ship, and were getting settled with the other privates. As for her, she intended on staying far away from them. She was also sure to dress herself down, wearing nothing that would easily give away her rank or station. New recruits were always hit and miss with her. Most avoided her like the plague, as though the act of her simply looking at them was going to cause them to spontaneously combust. Others saw her as a challenge, wanting to proof something to her, or themselves or their comrades. Usually such interactions ended badly. Given that Ryori wasn't very good at being social, she just tried to stay out of the way.

Currently, she was in the training room. In sweats and a sports bra, with sports tape wrapped around her hands and feet, she was beating into a punching bag that was fixed to the ceiling and the floor. She wasn't really going to town on it. Rather, she was punching it somewhat casually, mostly just interested in breaking a sweat and having a decent workout.

The speakers were blasting hard rock music, setting a rhythmic beat for her fists. She kept herself moving, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet as she circled the bag. If anyone came in, it would be easy to assume she didn't notice through the music and the workout. She never turned her head, nor took her eyes off her target. She had a healthy gleam of sweat on her body, and her hair was fighting free of her long ponytail.

Relatively speaking, she was in a good mood. She'd taken out a few Cerberus soldiers recently, and gotten to spend time with Nox for the first time in many long weeks. Going back to Earth gave her time and opportunity to see Abel as well, the closest thing she'd ever had to a father figure. The only one she'd not gotten to see recently was Alain, who was freshly graduated from training and set on his first assignment. But, he made sure to call her from time to time, which helped. So all things considered, she was feeling very much at ease and content. Only time would tell how that might affect her sociability...

He actually would have done a fantastic job of blending in if she hadn't already known who he was. Though she appeared to not be watching him, her peripheral vision had caught enough of him to recognize him as one of her new recruits. Kael Varner, private marine. He came highly recommended, though not without a disclaimer. Loyal, obedient, and hard working, he was often described as being somewhat overeager in his desire to be efficient. He tended toward extreme methods, though so far nothing big enough to get him in trouble with the Alliance. She figured: why not? She preferred soldiers who were dedicated to getting the job done no matter what, and though she preferred to stay away from some questionable missions it wouldn't hurt to have an ace in her back pocket that she knew wouldn't balk at a hard order.

When her routine was finished, she calmly went to get her water bottle. She was breathing heavy, but not hard. Now that she was holding still, he might notice a few more things about her if he was paying attention. Beneath the back of her sports bra her skin was raised and slightly discolored in places. Scarring... and lots of it. He would only be able to see bits and pieces of it, but there was evidence to prove that the marks were from whip lashes; so many that they covered her upper back almost completely in scar tissue. There was also a tattoo on the underside of her right wrist, though the elaborately flowing script was difficult to read from far away.

As she squirted water into her mouth, Ryori realized that this recruit didn't know who she was. She didn't particularly care about that, but it didn't go by unnoticed. She figured she should greet him. Ryori wasn't much for socializing, but she'd gotten better over the years. She could hold a conversation now without wanting to drill her face into a wall. Well, no, that wasn't true. But, she could hide that desire a lot better now. Turning down the music just enough so that she wouldn't have to yell, she gave him a small friendly smirk. "Didn't take you long to find your way around." It wouldn't be hard to assume that he was easy to pick out, lost or not. He was a new face, where most people here generally knew or at least recognized everyone else.

"How are you liking her so far?" Obviously, 'her' was the ship. They'd been flying long enough now that the new recruits would have had time to get settled in their bunks and start exploring a bit. Ryori was obsessive with her cruiser, keeping it very well maintained and outfitted. She was always curious to see what new comers thought of it.

OOC: Permission to join given by Ryori and Kael.

IC: Near the Drive Core in the Engineering floor...

"And this is our drive core," stated Lieutenant Harris, the head of engineering within the SSV Ravenwing. Leto looked towards it, through the glass panel, and shielding that happened to keep it's radiation from killing everyone on board. Harris smiled as Leto's sapphire hued eyes roved over the drive core as if he was trying to figure something out about it, like he had never seen one this big before. "How often do we perform maintenance on it?" asked Leto as he looked towards Harris. "This Drive Core is pretty solid in terms of maintenance. We usually perform routine maintenance of it once a month to make sure it's still in generally good working condition, as well as to replace any parts that are worn out or needing fixed," the lieutenant said in response to Leto's inquiry. Turning his eyes from the drive core back to Harris, whom happened to be about four years older than Leto himself, the young man smiled, and then looked towards the reactor once more through the glass paneling. "The radiation coming off the Drive Cores is always such a cool sight to see," he said. "I've only ever seen one Drive Core, and it was during my time at Oxford doing my thesis on warp technology. My Brother whom was in the Alliance prior to joining C-Sec on the citadel, managed to get his ship's captain to dock at Oxford, so I could spend a day studying the Drive Core, and talking to their engineering officer. It allowed me to get my thesis done, and gave me a great opportunity to study a real live drive core in college."

Harris nodded, and then said, "Well, you'll get plenty of time to fool around with the ship's calibrations on the drive core with me training you. I did read your thesis on warp technology and mass effect fields prior to getting you assigned to this ship. It was most enlightening, and I feel that you're knowledge on it was more than sufficient to get the colonel to have you assigned to work on the ship's Drive Core, as well as the rest of the engineering that goes on down here."

Leto smiled at the compliment, and then said, "Well, thank you for that. I did work hard on that thesis, and I will work even harder on this Drive Core to help you make sure she's maintained as well as possible." Harris grinned, and then said, "Why don't you go explore the rest of the ship, and then come back one you've seen it, and we'll get started." The young lieutenant brushed a hand through his short brown hair, and then turned around and left Leto to his devices near the Drive Core. Nodding, Leto took one good look towards the Drive Core, and then smiled. "I think me and you will get along just fine," he stated to the machine, before taking off towards the elevator in order to see the rest of the ship, other than engineering.

As he meandered through the various rooms, finding his way around, he managed to find the weight room which had a woman, and man in there seemingly speaking to each other. Shying away from it at first, something caught his attention in their conversation. It seemed the man was asking what the lack of discipline was about. Leto did notice that as well, and it didn't really bother him. He wasn't too formal with his engineering instructor, the guy didn't even want him to salute him anytime he was there, given the fact that he was his superior officer, and Leto should have been saluting him. But Harris didn't seem to even care about the lack of decor on the ship in terms of military and alliance etiquette. Listening in on the conversation from outside the door to the weight room, Leto finally turned to walk into the weight room...

Trivial? He arched an eyebrow as he listened to her explain the reasons behind the lack of following proper etiquette upon the ship. He was so focused on her that he scarcely noticed the new arrival. The fact that this practice or lack thereof was actually common place only served to baffle the recruit. Doesn’t matter once you’re out in the black?

He shook his head slightly. “I disagree. Discipline and proper etiquette would be all the more necessary out here in the black as you call it.” He shook his head again.

“I’ve heard the horror stories at how much of a hard ass the colonel is,” he spoke honestly so wrapped up in his baffled state that he did not consider what he said before he said it. “To find out that the discipline instilled through training is allowed to slack just sort of contradicts what I have heard.” He started to wonder if he had gotten assigned to the wrong ship. Surely whoever allowed their subordinates to act is such a casual manner had to be fundamentally flawed.

He was subconsciously grateful he did not voice that last thought. His eyes remained focused upon Ryori as he grew quiet. The sudden realization at his prattle became evident. However, he seemed to prideful to admit his mistake and instead simply stood tall and awaited her response.

Ryori couldn't help but smirk a little when Varner referenced the supposed "horror stories" about her. It was a dry expression, one that portrayed more resignation than pride. However, given that she was not prone to talking about herself -- and in fact detested doing so -- she let him steer the direction of conversation onward. He had been completely molded by the military. The perfectly disciplined soldier.

It seemed Leto, too, was quite interested in this discussion. So much for keeping away from the greenlings, she thought wryly to herself. This one seemed more welcoming to the lack of formality, which wasn't surprising. Leto was still a soldier of the Alliance, but not like Kael was. While Karme had gone through his basic training, his job for the military was more academics and support, while Varner's was heavy combat. The engineer contributed his commentary, which Ryori acknowledged with a nod.

"That is certainly another part of it as well," she said. Reaching down toward her small towel, she wiped off the newest bit of sweat that had accumulated as her body cooled itself down. Thinking a bit to herself, she considered Kael. The colonel was more than familiar with the type of military that shared his mindset. Turning back to address him, she advised, "Discipline is absolutely important. But like with all things, it is about finding a healthy, reasonable medium." The comment was more for arguments' sake than anything else, but she knew that this would be a lesson best learned through experience.

Standing, Ryori beckoned both of them to follow her. "Come. I want you to test something for me." She had little doubt that either would refuse. Even if they didn't know who she was, they had to know they they were likely outranked by at least ninety percent of the ship's crew. Besides, after a certain time spent in the military, you didn't have to see a badge to know when you were in the presence of a superior officer. Sometimes, you just knew.

With her towel flipped over a shoulder, she lead them effortlessly through the labyrinth of hallways that structured the ship. They made exactly one pit stop in what appeared to be a small lounge area, where Ryori retrieved a six-sided box from a cupboard of games. There were a fair number of crew mates lounging in the room, playing billiards or sharing a drink. Most of them turned in their direction when they entered, and most of those individuals either nodded or waved, but nothing else. Box in hand, Ryori led the pair out again.

After a couple minutes they found themselves on deck. There were easily fifty people in the narrow room, each at various stations performing their individual duties. Almost no one even looked to acknowledge that someone walked in. The only ones who did were those closest to the door, and they immediately turned back to their work. The top ranking officer on deck that they would recognize would be Commander Shishido, Ryori's second in command. A stern, expressionless woman of Japanese descent, she noted their arrival with little more than a passive glance before going back to her observation of the ship.

Finding an unoccupied desk somewhat near the doorway, Ryori invited both of them to sit with her. She set the box on the table and removed its lid, revealing a board and necessary components for a Chinese Checkers game. "Dibs on green," she commented idly as she removed the board from the box and collected the emerald colored marbles. Setting them in their proper starting divets, she told Kael, "There are exactly eight hundred twenty-three crew members that occupy this ship. A fair majority of them find their way onto the deck for one reason or another throughout the day." Especially on a day like today, when they were preparing to take their leave.

"For the next.. however long we play for, I want you to just do what you were trained to do insofar as military formality. Nothing else. Just play with us and be true to your training." Reaching into her pant pocket, she pulled out some cash. Counting out about twenty dollars in small bills, she gave them a slight grin. "Oh, and we always play for money around here. Just so you know." This shouldn't be a big deal to either of the two men. They were currently enjoying free time, and games and friendly gambling were both permitted during such times. Presumably, they would both follow suit and procure a few smaller bills of their own to play with. The money rules were pretty simple: Every time you jumped another person's marble, you got to steal a dollar from them.

The point of this was very simple. Every time a superior officer came on deck, all Kael would have to do is stand at attention, salute until he was dismissed, and then return to the game. A simple task, one that she was sure would come quite naturally to him, and at first it would be very easy. However, after an hour of playing there would have easily been a good one hundred visitations to deck, all of whom would have been a superior officer to them both. The math showed that to average out to more than one salute every minute.

Standing was such a small task, but do it enough times over the course of an hour and even a soldier like Kael would start to feel it. It would be tiring, having to sit and stand so often. On top of that, his turns on the game would have been lagging as he paused to salute someone, and then would have to refocus himself on the game before being able to make his move. In addition, Ryori subtly tested his observation with the distractions. Having retrieved a small datapad from the desk, she would occasionally make a notation on it without revealing what she was doing. When he turned around to salute someone, she would occasionally either move one of his dollars to hers or Leto's pile, or move a piece on the board to a different location. She didn't do these things every time he turned around, as she didn't want to be too obvious, but she was curious to see if he would even notice between all the standing, saluting, and refocusing on the game if he'd even notice that a marble or a dollar would move here or there.

And so they began to play the game, as Leto had followed Ryori and Kael to the bridge where so many officers would be entering and exiting during their play time. The young engineer smiled as he started to play the game, and would carefully think of each move, placing his own pile of money upon the table as well. Watching what Ryori started doing, when Kael was standing and saluting, the young engineer give her a sidelong glance, seeing exactly what her point was. By using so much protocol, he could be missing important changes, pertinent information, and the like. Slightly nodding at her as they continued to play the game, Leto would watch carefully as to what she happened to be doing, moving his pieces when it was his turn, and waiting patiently while it was the other two's turns.

As the game progressed, Leto grinned even more, seeing the various pieces of the game shift and money shift as well during their time playing it. This man is too strict with protocol, thought Leto, but then again Ryori had it right, Leto was more of the academic type while Kael was more of the militant type. They both had the same basic training, but it split off when Leto went into Engineering, and Kael went into Ground Combat.

Waiting for Ryori's lesson to be finished, Leto would look towards Kael, moving his pieces while the game continued to progress, and once it was finished, sat back to view and see whether he would win or lose depending on Ryori's movements, and Kael's own movements, which were most certainly lagged given the particular protocols he happened to be observing during the entirety of the game...