[DragonKnight]

"M-maybe I should go apologize. Maybe he'll forgive me. Hopefully." Ryne said as he got up and went to the cafeteria, knowing Carter would be getting dinner around this time. He looked for Carter and spotted him. He walked over, trying to think of the right words to tell him. "C-Carter?" He asked softly.

[stoichornet]

"No, I'm fine," Han-jae replied. "Working. Getting evaluated to do stuff. Learning things." He munched thoughtfully on what he'd managed to pick up in the chow line- potatoes and meat and something that looked like it might have been a vegetable in a previous life. "Biology, mostly. It's not my field, but whatever- who said this job wasn't educational?"


"Oh. Stein from Supply says your unit gets an armor servo upgrade this week. Nothing flashy but at least the suits will handle slightly better. So that's all the fascinating stuff from the armory....You going to the firing range later?"

He heard Ryne's tiny voice and glanced back over his shoulder briefly. Again, this was not his business, and he felt awkward to be listening.

[SimonBrownMpreg]

"Biology?" Carter echoed with a raised eyebrow. "Is that code for something?" Working... Evaluated... Biology... Carter narrowed his eyes at the Specialist before suddenly exclaiming with a huge grin. "You got accepted into Project Restoration, didn't you?! Oh man, congrats! Forget the firing range; this is way more interesting! Did they give you an assignment already? Is it someone good? Easy on the eyes?"

The little breeder's voice also got his attention, and it put an immediate scowl on his face. "What do you want, kid?"

[DragonKnight]

Ryne whimpered under Carter's tone. "I wanted to come and apologize to you." He said as he rubbed his belly to keep himself calm. "I'm sorry for what I said. You don't deserve what I've said. I-I'm sorry." He apologized.

[SimonBrownMpreg]

"You're right, I didn't deserve any of it. You had a lot of nerve accusing me of knowin' jack shit about Sovereign. I don't know what got into you, Ryne, but you've been nothin' but drama since I got back. Fighting those alien bastards is hard enough." Carter glared at his meal, jabbing the baked beans with his spoon. "Look, I'm gonna need some time, all right? I dunno if I have the energy for this."

[DragonKnight]

"O-okay. I'll be home I guess. See you sometime." Ryne said as he walked away to the breeder quarters when he noticed one of the Sovereign researchers walking by. He thought for a moment before he went up to him and talked about what he noticed.

[stoichornet]

Han-jae hoped that that ended his run-ins with Carter's domestic problems for the day, but the sergeant's enthusiasm was infectious. "Yeah, I was lucky when I got my assignment- I got someone I'd at least already met and sort of know, although I sort of wish it was under better circumstances. You know Piras?" He took a bite of the chow. "Braid? Interest in....most things out there? Yeah, that guy."

Han-jae sighed, giving the vegetable-in-a-previous-life another poke before deciding it was probably edible. "So, yeah, I had no idea they had to get stuck with so much...stuff. Although I assume it's necessary to prevent organ rejection and all that other fun shit."

[SimonBrownMpreg]

"Piras with a braid, huh?" Carter mulled that over a minute while shoving a spoonful of mashed potatoes into his maw. "Oh, I know that guy! He was assigned to Warrant Officer Briggs. I got an alert on my tablet last night that he died. He was in my unit. Briggs was a damn fine soldier, man. It sucks we lost someone like him." They shared a moment of silence before Carter chugged at his glass of water.

"It's tough bein' a breeder. Might not be down on the surface fighting Sovereign, but they've got their own battles for sure. I've been assigned to enough of 'em that I picked up a few things." He started counting off on his fingers. "They get shots for fertility, for hormones, antibiotics, bio-chemical stabilization, white blood cell moderation, fetal development, vitamin supplementation... Some of them start t'get scars after so many frequent injections. I don't think I could do it, man."

[stoichornet]

It was odd that Carter would choose the "damn fine soldier" wording that he'd heard the Commander use earlier- on second thought, not so odd, since it seemed to be a natural construction in English, but Han-jae wondered briefly what Briggs had been like as a person. Obviously self-sacrificing enough to do something to help his unit at the cost of his own life, but maybe he'd never know. It was probably for the best.

"...heh." Han-jae found Carter's last statement funny. "Being ripped into bite-size chunks is a normal workday hazard for our guys on the ground and not something to worry about, but needles? Nooooooo. ...The world's a weird place." He finished his plate and took a second to check his tablet. He still had other paperwork floating around out there- more specifically, a request for actual frontline duty, which might possibly be the worst idea he'd ever had, but at least it would be different, right?

"That said, I'm pretty sure I couldn't put up with that either. Without punching someone." He considered the situation.

[FolkMaster]

"Listen, fellas, you can recover from the prick of a needle. In fact, you get used to it fairly quickly. I don't think anyone could ever get used to a Sovereign biting off their limbs." Piras' voice came from behind Han-jae as he approached with his own tray of food. Since his talk with Ryne ended so abruptly, he decided to run down to the cafeteria and see if he could still catch his new partner. He grinned and sat down next to Han-jae. "I wondered why my ears were burning."

Piras thought about asking if Ryne actually made it down here, but he somehow got the impression that the soldier didn't want to talk about the blond breeder. "I mean, is it a walk in the park? Not exactly. I was an emotional powder keg during my second pregnancy. You have to share your body with these little creatures that make you hungry and hot all the time, ruin your balance and skin, and then they start kicking you all hours of the night. Giving birth is a whole other story. But for all that grief, I get all the meals I want, a hot bath every day, a warm bed every night, a roof over my head, and the protection of your soldiers. Being a breeder is the easiest of the two."

[SimonBrownMpreg]

Carter nearly choked on his food when he started laughing. "You have a good point! Getting stuck with a few measly needles pales in comparison t'losing a hand or an entire leg. I'd be a worthless lump without any of my limbs!" He could easily tell this was Piras without any introduction. The guy actually looked pretty good, even if he wasn't the petite type that Carter liked. "Glad t'finally hear a breeder put things in perspective. M'not gonna argue that it's easy being as heavily pregnant as some of you get, but it's not a battle to the death. Of course, you've got the common sense of a soldier. You're lucky, Han! When you get accepted into a unit, Piras here might actually be sympathetic to your responsibilities."

[DragonKnight]

"Sometimes it's not easy. Breeders have to have those needles and checkups or else the babies will die. Or worse." A random soldier explained as he overheard the groups conversation. "I had a little breeder once who I loved being with. One day, we got in a fight and forgot about the appointment. I lost him and the babies." He explained.

[DragonKnight]

(Bump)