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She'd missed her opportunity. Norika had beat around the bush and failed to interact in any meaningful way with her fellow pilots. She'd tried, but each attempt had ended in some awkward conversation. "Nice weather we're having." "Been a long day." "Hey, you gonna finish that?" That last one had been spectacularly embarrassing. Asking Fukada if she was going to finish a snack was like asking if the sun was going to set in the west.

But life went on. Birds flew and fish swam. [i]The Horizon[/i] left Japanese airspace and headed for a new location.

And now, here she was in the middle of Australia with Xuan-Yu Lang. Definitely not how she wanted to spend her day, but orders were orders. She'd remained silent when the orders were handed down, but once in the privacy of her quarters Norika had let loose a string of curses that would have made a sailor take notice. To say she wasn't very keen on this whole mission was an understatement. Once suited up and armed, Norika did her best to maintain a cold exterior.

Now, standing in front of some kind of abandoned facility, she was in a slightly better mood. The dry heat sucked, but the mission ahead seemed promising. Norika flipped her revolver open and began inserting rounds wider than her thumb into the cylinder. "Can I trust you to watch my back without tripping me?" asked Norika. Her tone had an icy edge to it. She still hadn't let their little interaction a few days ago go.

[@ERode]