Near Side 3, Four Days Ago.

"How does it feel Ensign?"

"It's..not bad..acceleration is good, and it's pretty agile. Tired of shooting dummy balloons though."

The voice came through crackling, but from the visage of the Pegasus (Blanc Rival refit) Charlegmane, Captain Varden Brousse saw everything he needed to. However, testing was the least of his concern as he saw Florus St-Jacque's face on the screen in front of his eyes. "That's quite comforting to hear, however, we need you to return to the ship Ensign, we've just got new orders. We're headed into Side 3 it seems.."

Varden Brousse was just a shade under 30, young to be in command of a ship. However, the former member of CEU's former Garde Impériale thought this was some form of compensation for the injuries he suffered at the Battle of Luna. It wasn't bad in space, but Varden Brousse had to use a cane to keep himself upright..but for now, he briefly worried about Florus St-Jacques.
The man had largely grown quiet, barely speaking outside of testing the G-Bouncer since the Battle of Side 2. However, losing your best friend, and the rest of your squadron had that effect.
------
Much to the annoyance of Captain Brousse, by the time they arrived at the colony, and the Charlegmane arrive at the base, word had leaked about the incoming ship. Amidst rumors they were from a secretive project being run by the Union, majority of the base had been told to stay away from the ship.

Much as the Captain didn't like gravity, once they crew began to disembark, Captain Brousse lead the way, followed by the Lt. Preach Moses, and Ensign Florus St-Jacques. The latter of whom began to build some measure of fame for taking on one of the Commonwealth's newtype pilots in the battle of Side 2. Not only did Florus emerge as the sole survivor of the Charlegmane's Hollywood squadron, but he killed a newtype, all of her bit mobile suits and downed a ship as well before nearly dying himself. Annoyingly, word had spread throughout the base about Florus, and that he was supposedly the pilot for a new prototype mobile suit, with tech the rest of the Union didn't get.

"Hey, you okay Florus?"

The voice came from Preach, and it made the younger, shorter man shift, looking at the man as he adjusted his glasses with his index finger. "Yeah? I guess." Florus stopped speaking as he looked over his shoulder and saw that the G-Bouncer was being unloaded from the hanger of the battleship. "Man, why are you leaving that thing white?" Without thinking twice, Florus shifted, looking at Preach before looking back towards his G-Bouncer with a partial smile. "I kind of like all white. Makes me feel hopeful when I see it." At that moment, Varden reached back, tapping Florus St-Jacque on the calf with his cane before settling it down harshly to the concrete in front of him. "Gentlemen..it looks like our comrades are here. So Florus, I'll leave you to it, and Mr. Moses, won't you come with me? I need to get out next set of orders from General Young."

That caused the young man to blink, shifting a hand up to run through his shaggy raven locks as he looked at the two men walking away and briefly, briefly for a moment he wanted to scream in annoyance. However, that was held down, pushed aside as Florus St-Jacques stood there, quite baffled in both posture and facial expression at this turn of events. "What..why? Why did you just drop me like a sack of puppies?" For a man who reportedly fought like the devil at Side 2, he sure didn't act that now, not at all..plus, who the hell was he supposed to meet here? Right out on the tarmac next the ship?

It couldn't be helped. The new orders that they would comprise an escort for a person of special import had come shortly after Josephine's performance test. Elizabeth let out a deep sigh, hoping for relief but finding only unshed anxiety with the next inhalation. She had hoped she would be able to work on the ZAKU a bit after the test, while Philippa sent the results to their superiors. There would be no time for the luxury of maintenance now. It wasn't as though she should be surprised, the Eberhart Quintuplets were a feature of such eccentricity in their father's machinations that it only seemed logical their superiors would want to impress anyone they deemed of a little importance with their presence. Ornamentation more than merit, Elizabeth sincerely doubted whether or not their individual names were even included on the report given to the visiting VIP's command at all.

"Who do you suppose we're meeting?" the sweet bell of a voice snapped Elizabeth from her reverie, turning to see Caroline making her way toward the tarmac, still in her lab coat, heels clicking sharply on the tarmac floor.

"I don't know." Elizabeth admitted, noting her sister's just-out-of-work appearance, she felt decidedly less put out by the fact she hadn't removed her coveralls. Caroline frowned at her sister's response.

"He's... oh, some guy." Susan and Philippa had joined them, the former quint decidedly disinterested in any mission their superiors may have put on her desk. And Susan's deep yawn indeed seemed to indicate she had been busy napping at said desk rather than getting any real work done. Philippa's face dropped into a deep frown at that.

"His name," She said matter-of-factly, "Is Ensign Florus St-Jacques. He's a military hero."

"Well, I hate him." Josephine had at last joined them, still in her pilot suit, "Can't even get feedback on how the testing went at all-- did a great job on the gun too, Liz."

The girls were jostled from their conversation by the crisp announcement over the tarmac-- their presence was required. Immediately. With sudden adoption of practiced poise (and an annoyed groan from Josephine) the five made their way to the determined place.

It couldn't be said any of the five sisters found Ensign Florus St-Jacques impressive at first sight, with his dark, shaggy hair and standoffish position. Caroline may have smiled warmly at him, and Susan offered a diplomatic smile, but the other three looked at him, stone faced-- Josephine's was more of a scowl.

"Hello, Ensign St-Jacques." All five said in unison. The cadence of them all together was eerie and unsettling.

"Thank you," said Susan.

"For joining us today," said Philippa.

"Please allow us," said Elizabeth.

"To escort you," said Caroline.

"To your accommodations," said Josephine.

"Sir." They finished together.

To be entirely honest, Florus St-Jacques would rather be doing more testing with the G-Bouncer. However, the look on his face dropped when he saw the quints, and the sudden realization they were in fact Quints. His brows furrowed, and Florus raised a hand to cover his mouth as he counted. One, two, three, four..five? And they were all identical, which caused a greater confusion for the young man as he dropped his hand, and retained the baffled expression. If it wasn't for how eerie they had spoken he might not drop the look on his face, and drop he did as it gave him quite the fright for a moment. However, as he remembered his manners, Florus raised his left hand. Saluting the group, he'd quickly break into a wide smile. "It's Florus, only my Captain calls me Ensign." What he didn't say was that it was because he actually flipped off the Charlegmane's CIC, which got a stiff warning.

Still, his grey eyes shifted, looking from Susan, to Philippa, Elizabeth, Caroline..and stopped when he looked at Josephine. Those eyes shifted, looking over her pilot suit before he flashed a grin. "Sorry? The briefing said you were all sisters, but uh..not identical?" He didn't quite mean to look at them like he would a movie monster, they were far from that. "I'm sorry if it's a pain to pull you away from whatever they had you assigned too, but when you find out more, I think I'll know more too. I'm just the test pilot for this big white pile of fun." Motioning with a free hand, Florus turned halfway towards the G-Bouncer as it was being moved to the closest hanger.

"It's called the G-Bouncer, and if you want to know something about it, I'll tell you..long as you promise to keep it secret okay?" Finished with a half joke, half teasing manner, as Florus looked at Josephine with that same half grin, half smile he was wearing. Yeah, even Florus was fairly sure that was a little illegal. Still, at least they hadn't really pointed out he was pretty young to be a test pilot, which mean they might not know his entire background. Thank goodness for that.

"Really, no need to salute, or be all fancy with me...as long as you don't call me Flo. Then it's Ensign Flo.." Hey, hopefully somebody would laugh at that, he sure did, internally. God, he wasn't very funny, was he? Not even Florus could answer why he was nervous, he didn't feel like this while fighting, what gives?

They were used to it, awe mixed with discomfort at the first sight of them. Florus' reaction was not unexpected... but it was disappointing. Elizabeth, Philippa and Josephine frowned deeply at the way he covered his mouth with his hand, though quickly snapped to attention to return his salute when it was performed-- at the same time. Identically. Again. Josephine's brow furrowed when the Ensign smiled at her, and didn't return the gesture in kind.

"Yes, Sir," said Philippa then, "My name is Philippa Eberhart. My sisters... Susan, Josephine, Elizabeth and Caroline." She pointed out each in turn with a graceful gesture, "Your presence here honours us, we--"

"Yeah, it's a pain in the ass," Josephine said then, flipping a long cascade of pink-blonde tresses over her shoulder with an irritated expression, "We were really pulled away from work to babysit you while you piloted that... that..." She trailed off then, looking at G-Bouncer for the first time. Admittedly, the machine impressed her, and she was a little jealous Florus would get to ride in it. Philippa gave her a sharp look. Caroline tilted her head as the Ensign continued.

"U-Um," She said meekly, "I don't think you should do that... you might get into trouble..."

Josephine rolled her eyes. She did want to know more about the G-Bouncer, and-- she was pulled from her thought by Florus' gaze. Why did he keep smiling at her? It was creepy. She raised a brow at him. None of the quints laughed at his joke.

"Well, I guess that's alright with us," Susan said, clearly bored with the whole thing now, "Maybe Josephine or Elizabeth will get to work with it later?"

She waved a hand lackadaisically. She clearly didn't care either way.

"Will your testing begin immediately?" Philippa asked, "Or will it be beginning at a later time?"

"We've been testing for the last week. Basic stuff on suit performance..but, here comes the fun part."

Fun is a selective term, really. However, he turned his gaze to Philippa, frowning on the corners of his mouth as he shrugged, "Come on, I'm not that old..don't call me sir. I'm barely twenty!" It did upset him a little bit, but still. "Look, I know what you're thinking.." Those grey eyes shifted, looking back at Josephine and for a moment he considered not saying it, "..But you're thinking "why me? Why do I have to work with this jackass, a supposed hero who gets a shiny prototype and a generous assignment?" I'm not a hero, and not a jackass." Those eyes shifted, turning down for a moment before he looked back up at the fellow pilot, with a far more serious look behind his pupils. "Lost my best friend, lost four other close friends and nearly died, got the surgical scars to prove it too."

Far as more testing, Florus considered for a moment before he turned back to Philippa and shrugged, "It can start now if you want. However, it's time for live fire testing." That wasn't quite what Captain Brousse told him to do, but Florus felt he needed a run against live fire to understand how the G-Bouncer would operate. However, he did understand the need for safety. "Simulation though, so they're going to bring the G-Bouncer and hook it up to your mobile suit, if ya want to help with that, of course." As he finished, Florus turned away from Philippa, his eyes shifted to Josie, briefly looking her over as he finally responded to the babysitter quip.

"I don't need a babysitter..look, I'm not entirely comfortable having new partners. Don't quite understand why it's being done, but I'll try to make things as smooth as I can on my end." He meant that too, and for a moment Florus looked over at Elizabeth, Caroline and Susan..before back to the pilot.

"However, I'm more than happy to take you on, one on one at any time."

The sisters all looked at each other uncomfortably for a moment, a long, awkward silence settling heavily between them after the weight of Florus' words. The truth behind them. Josephine lowered her gaze at that, unable to look the Ensign in the face now, ears pink with shame. Thankfully, Susan broke the silence with an authoritative clearing of her throat.

"If you don't want to rest up a bit first, that's fine-- Liz." She said, looking behind her, catching her sister's eye. Elizabeth pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, brow raised questioningly. Susan nodded to her and looked back to Florus, "Elizabeth will help you guys out with setting up the G-Bouncer with our Mobile Suit, by your permission..." She tossed her hair, making executive decisions annoyed her, "When you're finished maybe you could brief us on anything your superiors saw fit to let us know."

There was a pause after that last statement, as if the sisters were kept around more for novelty than any real military purpose. Josephine's eyes flashed dangerously when Florus spoke next, gaze meeting his with haughty indignation.

"You're not comfortable?" She hissed, grinding out the words, "Fine. I'll accept your challenge. Bring it on, sir."

Florus almost made a quip about Josephine making him comfortable, but for the man, he held his tongue. Instead, the hissing of her words made the man flash a toothy smile. Clearly excited at the prospect of her so eagerly fighting him, and the tip of his tongue slipped out, licking across his now drying lower lip. "Good..I'm looking forward to seeing just what type of pilot, and woman you are."
Florus St-Jacques felt that fighting was an easy way to figure somebody out was to simply fight them. However, he'd begin to walk towards the hanger where Josephine's ZAKU and his G-Bouncer were and his grey eyes gleamed. "I won't hold back, just because we're supposed to be together now." As he looked over his shoulder, the man gave her a shrug of his shoulders before he'd nod his shaggy haired head, "Feel free to work on G-Bouncer in whatever way you want. I need to get my pilot suit from the cockpit anyway." It wasn't a typical place to keep it, but Florus would move with purpose.

"Well, Josie? Shall we?"

Teasing the woman for a bit, but once Florus St-Jacques entered that hanger, he went to the hanging wire and took it up to the open cockpit of the G-Bouncer to fish out his pilot suit, and helmet. As he took it back down to the ground, the man was lost in thought as Florus briefly gave Josie a side long glance of his grey eyes. That is before he'd move to go to into an office on the far wall before he shut those blinds closed.

Even as the man changed into his pilot suit, he felt himself feeling a bit nervous. So, as Florus took a deep breath, slowly exhaling while he counted to ten, the shaggy haired man emerged from the office. Clad in black on red/white, the man offered a half smile as he began to walk towards the G-Bouncer. Perhaps most notable was the fact he hadn't really bothered to zip up the pilot suit all the way. Leaving it just under his collarbones as his left hand clenched his helmet firmly before his eyes would go to find Josephine, wanting to tease a bit more.

"If I beat you, you have to stop calling me sir, m'dear. It's so incredibly formal."

Josephine felt her eyebrow twitch at the man's broad smile. Yeah, she hated him. Hated this entire situation. Hated that this cocky ass got to pilot the G-Bouncer... well. A lot of that was deserved to, and for as irritating as she found Florus, she wouldn't mock the moss of precious friends. Her heart clenched almost painfully in her chest as the thought of her sisters crossed into her mind. She took a flinching step back at the flash of his tongue across the crescent of his lower lip, his leer and words making her fight the need to squirm for the glimmer of an instant. She shared a glance with Elizabeth, who likewise furrowed her brow in return. She followed Florus to the hanger where the Mobile Suits were kept, doing her best to fall into place beside him, so as not to let him think he was better than her.

"Lizzie will make sure it's in tip-top shape," Caroline attempted to diffuse the tense situation, to no avail. Elizabeth let loose a sigh and walked in the opposite direction. Josephine crossed her arms defensively when Florus spoke again.

"Who are you calling Josie, Sir?" she bit out, the nerve of this man. Blue-Green eyes followed him as he made his way to the office, she didn't need to change, she was already ready thanks to his untimely arrival. When he emerged the girl started, and quickly pushed a lock of hair behind her ears, what was the matter with this guy? She gave him a side-glance before turning her back to him brazenly.

"W-what ever. You won't win, anyway."

Florus had some problems, sure, but, this was how he learned to cope with everything. So as he saw Josephine turn around, the man tried to avert his gaze, but failed as he did look her over prior to the man reaching up with his helmet. Slipping it down over his head as his hands went to lock it into place, that clear visor his protecting his face as the taller man grunted. Stretching for a moment before he'd place a hand softly onto Josephine's shoulder before Florus leaned over close to whisper to hear. "Does that mean you won't be holding back?"

Teasing again, but he found it amusing, even if he wasn't quite sure why he was doing it. "Because I won't be holding back either, I'm going to come at you hard. It might be rough to take, so..sorry in advance." Pulling away from her, the man began to hum. Singing under his breath to calm himself down as he stuck his foot into the step connected to the wire, holding onto it tightly as it began to pull him up. High into the air before Florus St-Jacques vanished into that cockpit and settled himself into the seat as it began to close. And when the monitors flickered over to a soft blue the man leaned back in his chair.

"So..do we just wait until the program loads, and go at it like normal?"

This was going to be fun, wasn't it? Nothing like a good fight, simulated or not, to blow off some steam.

Josephine collected her helmet as she made her way to her ZAKU, and was about to reach her hand out to grasp her suspension wire, when she felt the warm, sturdy weight of Florus' hand on her shoulder-- she flinched. What... did he mean by... Josephine took a sharp intake of breath as the Ensign cooed to her, an embarrassed pink rising up her neck, through the suit she wore to colour her cheeks. Her lips parted silently, as if she were going to say something, before closing again. She swallowed and finally spoke.

"I... I'm going to take this simulation seriously," She ducked her head, embarrassed by the way her voice shook. She brought the helmet to her head, taking hold of the wire.

"You better not underestimate me." She said more confidently this time, settling herself in her Mobile Suit's cockpit, comforted by its familiarity, an almost nestling sense of pleasance taking her as her as the systems started.

"The program should load first," She said with an obvious smirk, "Wouldn't wanna fuck up your suit too bad."

She was itching to have a go at this sleazy git now.

As the program loaded, Florus St-Jacques was singing, loud enough for it to catch over the audio. "In a little cafe..hmmm?" However, it was the remark about not underestimating her that made Florus St-Jacques raise an eyebrow for a moment as he sat back while settling his hands on the control sticks with slow, controlled breathing. "Funny thing, last woman I fought I ended up killing." It was said dryly, but his shift in tone was him beginning to relax. Indeed, as the screens faded to black before lighting up with empty stars in front of Florus everything briefly felt okay. Felt right, like he was going to be okay in the end. Freed from a burden he never wanted, never asked for.

That moment when he was alone, with nothing but the deep breathing and the still silence was the greatest comfort he could have for himself. It made him forget all about Side 2, this woman, just the man alone with his machine. In the simulation, the gleaming white G-Bouncer moved, it's three main thrusters flaring brightly. All of it's obvious weapons were held, the mobile suit's DDOS rifle in it's right hand, and on the left arm was mounted it's shield. G-Bouncer's green Shiguru blade extending from the front of that shield, almost innocent looking and it's beam sabers resting on both hips as Florus hummed to himself. "I only lie when I love you..now, where the hell are you?"

Josephine took a deep breath in the cockpit of her ZAKU, her heart already beating much too fast from the mere trek to the machine. She smiled as the simulation loaded, she thought of her sisters, following her to the military even though they didn't have to. Susan commanding their ship, Philippa a real organiser. And Caroline took care of them all. She would always be grateful to them, always protect them, and with every battle she had to prove she could do that. She was worthy of that privilege.

This ZAKU, it was Elizabeths' baby. Josephine may have had the talent to pilot it. The training, but Elizabeth, she lived for this machine. The sound of Florus' singing cut through her feed for an instant, and she tsked. Was he not taking her challenge seriously? He was making fun of them!

"Joey, are you sure?" It was Elizabeth on the comms, Josephine felt the rush of blood to her ears.

"Yes," She said, "I have to do this."

The beam of her ZAKU's sword hummed, and she slashed it through the air once, testing the swing. Another bated breath. The Simulation had loaded.

"GET READY!" She cried, rushing forward to swipe at the G-Bouncer.

"Tch..behind me?!"

The white machine shifted, veriners burning as it spun around while the left arm moved. Bringing that shield up to catch the strike solidly on the middle of the armor, as it crackled and sizzled the man narrowed his eyes. Shifting his head, he'd look around until he found a debris field and the man flashed a smile on the corners of his lips. Pulling on the controls, the G-Bouncer would spin away from the ZAKU's weapon carrying arm as it's wing binders opened up, aiding the move with a bright blue flame before the suit would shoot straight up.

Rolling over, the man would take it directly for that debris field. "Sorry, but I want to see what you can do first." Florus had a plan in mind, and he knew that the ZAKU was the much heavier suit, his G-Bouncer was a scant 38 metric tons, compared to Josie's 89 tons, so he had no want to take her on straight up. Granted, if he was using Sword Calamity still, he'd give her a proper pounding.

"Come on baby, I ain't gonna make it easy on ya!"

Josephine's sword collided with the G-Bouncer's shield, and though the fight had just begun, she was already irritated. She hated this guy on principle, and it fueled her desire to win more than for the distinction of her comrades. She let out a shrill growl of frustration at his parry, bringing the ZAKU's beam sword down on that shield savagely again and again.

"You'll have to do a lot better than that, then!" she spat, a soft gasp escaping her lips as his quick escape lurched her forward a bit, and too slow and heavy to right herself, clumsily shifted her machine to the debris field. She shouldn't follow, she knew, he was baiting her. She forsook her sword for the ZAKU's assault rifle, shifting carefully sidelong for a good shot at the G-Bouncer as it fled.

"I won't let you get away," She breathed, shooting once at Florus to offset his trajectory to the debris field.

"Oooh, another second and you might have gotten my shield."

She was quite angry indeed! Meanwhile, Florus was controlling his temper with slow controlled breathing as he heard the warning klaxons blaring about the incoming shot. As the verniers flickered, the G-Bouncer pulled upright as Florus jerked hard on the controls. Those wing binders opening again as the suit spun hard in place and briefly, he was happy he couldn't feel the effects of that move or Florus St-Jacques would be spilling his lunch everywhere.

It caused that white mobile suit to suddenly snap around as that shot passed between the legs of the mobile suit before Florus squeezed the trigger, twice. Purple particles causing those drilling beams to unload at the center mass of Josie's ZAKU. "Watch your temper, you won't beat me being that angry!"
Still, there was something he liked about her being so angry. What the hell was wrong with him?

"Shut up you dick!"

The response was terse and uppity, with haughty inflection indicative of a thoroughly riled opponent. Josephine saw the retaliation too late, and in her attempt to guard, lurched forward again, the move ungraceful but doing its job.

"I'll show you!" She growled through her comms, she knew Florus was playing with her, but her desire to shoot at his mobile suit knowing the cocky ensign was inside was just too powerful in her mind to resist his goading. She unleashed her beam axe, a swift rush at the G-Bouncer's location was all she needed. She knew she was too large, too slow, but the ZAKU was strong and she would only need one good swing to cleave through Florus' defenses adequately. But it was risky, if she missed, her back would be wide open. It wasn't the gamble of a soldier, but still she took it, the gentle hum of the axe buzzing through the air as she took a hard, heavy swing straight down.

Florus was almost beside himself with how aggressive she was, had Josie really lost her temper that much? However, there was one way to end this fight. Indeed, the G-Bouncer shifted to match her charge, a move just as reckless as that shield once against was brought up. The right hand left go of the DDOS rifle, and went to the tip of the shield, pulling free that Shiguru blade at the last possible moment as Florus willingly gave up that left side. The shield crackled before it burst through and her axe cleaved through the left shoulder entirely.

However, Florus made his move, as that glimmering green blade was driven forward, a single stab aimed at the cockpit of her ZAKU Warrior as the man narrowed his eyes. "Got you!" Grinning behind the visor of his helmet, Florus St-Jacques felt his blood rushing, his excitement carrying him a mile a minute. If it worked, the man would give a sigh, as fun as that is. He saw potential, real potential in the woman to be really good.

The beam axe swung in a wide arc straight down, she felt the clean cleave of the G-Bouncer's shoulder as the machine's shield broke under the magnificent force of her swing, the sizzling crack of broken metal and wire a loud cacophony about the tarmac as Josephine's ZAKU was offset forward by the heavy pound of her swing, losing balance to tumble forward, and catching at the mech's knee as she leaned on the axe. She had landed the blow, but it was too late. Florus' blade had her vulnerable at a straight stab to the cockpit of her ZAKU. The simulation was over, and she had lost.

"D-Damn it..." She breathed, laxing in the afterglow of her error. Of course she wouldn't be able to beat him, she was vastly less experienced than he, and yet she had clung to the hope she'd be able to best him, for her sisters and herself being dragged out to act as nothing more than a novelty to a so-called-important personage. The opportunity to prove herself, it seemed, had passed like the last dying flash of a star, one of many too numerous to individualize.

For a brief, glimmering moment when he ended that fight. Florus's facade had dropped. His voice had changed from joyful, taking on a much more serious, nearly angry tone. However, once those screens darkened, and Florus was left alone, heavy breathing coming from his mouth. Even as that cockpit opened and he took the wire down to the ground he was lost in a world of thought.

Turning his eyes to Josie's ZAKU, the man thought about what he would do. Coming to a choice, Florus unlocked his helmet, pulling it off as he let it fall with a clatter to the concrete below as his grey eyes stared a life near her ZAKU. For whatever reason he couldn't quite make out, maybe he was being a good comrade? Florus stepped up on it and as the machine whirred into life he would loosen the collar of his pilot suit and unzip it a bit. He had been sweating a bit too much for his own liking anyway.

As the machine settled high up into the air. Florus began running his hands over the ZAKU, finding the small emergency panel where he could force open the cockpit of Josephine's machine. Indeed, once it opened up, Florus St-Jacques ran his hands through his hair once before the man climbed up on the entrance ramp. Those eyes found themselves looking directly at the woman as he offered a soft smile while extending his left hand to her.

"..I was taking you completely serious Josephine..so why don't you take my hand, and let me show you just how good I can be to you?"

It was only after he said it, did the man cringe for a moment. Realizing that could be taken entirely different than what he intended. He was speaking as a teammate, comrade of course.

Josephine's breathing came out in ragged pants as she regained her calm in the quiet black of her cockpit. The fight was over, and she lost. Of course she lost-- she failed not only herself and her superiors, but her sisters as well. Caroline would need to make sure she wasn't hurt-- and Elizabeth's ZAKU! She was certain she'd have to take another look at it now. She could already hear Philippa's scolding. Maybe even Susan's lecturing. Josephine swallowed hard, removing her helmet to let it fall limp by her side, taking the quiet to compose herself. It was hot in the cockpit now, adrenaline and confinement heating the space. She unzipped her pilot suit down to the navel, flesh begging for the caress of cool, refreshing air.

The girl jolted when she saw the cockpit open, her opponent standing in front of her, he looked... apologetic? No. She still didn't like this guy, he was... just an inconvenience. Blue-green eyes darted from his chest to his face, a fetching pink colouring her cheeks when she realized she had been staring. She gaped at him when she heard what he had to say, looking from his eyes to his hand in disbelief. This guy just kicked her ass... and now... was he asking her out?

She stood shakily, stumbling forward a bit as she tried to avoid his hand.

"I-I can get out by myself," She said, flustered, "I'm fine..."