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There were too many people both in the lounge and centered around Kaz. It was like dealing with pigeons: the first one had shown up then a second and a third and before too long there'd be a whole flock of them cooing, cawing, ruffling their feathers and making nuisances of themselves. Cait had stumbled onto the conversation as Takai was making his exit, trading pointless questions and observations about the bureaucracy of paramilitary life. Annoying yes but bearable if only because she was another English speaker.

Then it was Yukako, the new girl Kaz was only barely aware of. In all honesty she had registered not as a face or name but as a presence. There had been an empty room that Kaz sometimes walked past and maybe two days ago it had suddenly not been empty. Yukako had addressed her using one of those stupid honorifics that had little reason to exist and it took all of Kaz's will not to snap at her. [color=Firebrick]"Hey. I'm doing okay."[/color]

Look at her playing nice with annoying strangers, following the rules instead of just snapping at the shorter woman.

There wasn't time to follow up before Naomi shoved her way into the conversation. This new interruption was handled with noticeably less grace than the previous two. [color=firebrick]"Who the fuck is Shunshun?"[/color] She asked in English, unwilling to make the shift into her non native language.[color=firebrick]"Do you mean Takai? Cuz you just missed him."[/color]

Who even was this woman? Naomi something or other, one of the mega billionaires that were hanging around the NSF like fucking tourists. Why two obscenely wealthy women were pretending to be soldiers Kaz would never understand. Dai at least had a military history but as far she knew this socially inept little heiress (and little was the perfect word for her) had worked as a glorified security guard.[color=firebrick]"Next time can you wait before just barging in?"[/color]

[color=firebrick][i]You dumb cunt.[/i][/color]

The last part went unsaid thanks to sheer effort. Kaz turned her focus back on the new girl and went on with the introductions. [color=firebrick]"So Yu, what's your job around here?"[/color]  
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Going to the range was a formality at this point in Daiyu's life. With all her years of practice and the highly expensive augments crammed into her body it was simply impossible to miss a paper target unless she wanted to. The sterile noncombat conditions lacked any distractions to contend with or civilians to watch out for, no tricky cover that might deflect a stray bullet into some poor noncombatant. Everything that could have made the situation interesting had stripped away so that there was no point in bothering. 

So why even show up? Because at the moment there was simply nothing better she could be doing. The National Security Force had one major similarity with her careers in the Yakuza and JSDF: there was a lot of hurry up and wait. She had to be on base on the off-chance there was some need for a sniper and until there was some need for a sniper she'd be stuck on base. Target practice was something to pass the time and if Japan was paying for the bullets there was no reason not to use them.

She could have sought out some of her fellow agents but what was the point in that? Most of them were boring, straight laced career military types who had bigger boots than they did brains. There were a few interesting ones here and there but most of them fell into the same category of blind patriotism or pressing need to feel like they were making a difference.

So Dàiyù kept shooting. The rest of the magazine was emptied while she was watched by one of the Americans that were infesting the NSF like rats. Which one was he, Chris? Yes that was him, the Army man with poor Japanese. [color=Mediumseagreen]Well if a Yankee likes my shooting then it must be incredible."[/color]

She had responded in perfect English, her accent vaguely New Englander thanks to the influence of a tutor from Massachusetts.[color=Mediumseagreen]"How's it going, Rambo?"[/color] Typical American special forces guys got American action hero names, she didn't make the rules.  

The Director's voice came as unexpected but not unwelcome surprise, Dai slipping her pistol back into its holster before motioning to Chris. [color=Mediumseagreen]"Walk and talk with me? Im curious about why someone would join the NSF only to spend three months riding the bench."[/color] She chuckled as if to show the jab had been in good faith. Chris was an interesting one, an outlier due to his nationality. If Dai could figure out some of what made him tick the day would be a success. 

[@MK2] [@Landaus Five-One] [@BCTheEntity]