This time everyone snickered at him. We arrived just in time as Scoutmaster Yoshi yelled out for us, he soon spotted us and waved for us to hurry up. ...e ran excited for cake and ice cream! Inside on all the tables were plates with a slice of marble cake and a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a glass of lemonade. I knew from my talks with Scoutmaster Yoshi that Ms. Akiba’s budget was tight but that was alright! Hiro, Yoichi, Hunter, Natsumi and I sat at the ‘Birthday Boy’ table, with the rest of. He had his legs spread apart, and was leaning back into the couch with a beer resting on his knee. I caught myself staring and went back to concentrating on my joint / beer combo. "So how's college been treating you?" he said suddenly, looking over at me with his dark hooded eyes. I gave him some generic bullshit about how I was having a good time, and learning a lot in my classes. I was kind of rambling as I caught myself looking him over once again. He nodded and went to the kitchen for. “Sir, the last department has reported in. All systems are at maximum efficiency, with the exception of that one laser array. The ship is as ready as she can be under the circumstances.”“Very well.”“Sir?” the young Weapons Officer said.“What do you have, Guns?”“Sir, as ordered, I have gone over the diagram of that Elois Class destroyer. Every description of the ship that I could find mentions that she is well built, and her designers had tried to correct every inadequacy of earlier models.. The woman looked straight into Helen’s face as the others abandoned her. Helen knew that she was being studied, that her pain was being enjoyed and she screamed again as the sharp tip of a fingernail was pushed hard into the now rapidly softening button. Helen felt as though the woman was trying to cut her and could feel the hot tears streaming down her face as she wept in pain, then the woman stopped as suddenly as she began and stepped back, Helen relaxed although still held by firm.