Daggers and Diplomacy: Saskia and Masaru's joint mission

She was busy trying to hide her blush when the captain spotted one. Finally, a distraction. She nodded and crouched down. "So what are we observing? I can get in closer if we need to." She peeked over the edge and down at the human. "Hrm... what ARE they exactly?" She wondered.

"Well, they don't hold the reiatsu a Quincy would normally have...so they may be a fullbringer or a bount." He answered, watching the human walk across a crosswalk when it was safe to do so.

As he tried to get a sense on what the human was, he remembered the deal he and Saskia had had. He'd told her his...interest. "What about you?" He asked, he really didn't want to pry into her business but he'd allowed her to do so...so...it was fair? "Who was the someone...you like?"

"Hrm... Fullbringer or Bount huh?" She peered down... It didn't look like one of the two she really didn't want to see.... "Hrm.. interesting.. .should we follow them or...?" She looked over her shoulder. What was he staring at her for? Hrm.. Wait.. was he thinking - "Eh?" she startled, blushing a little. "Um.. n-no one.. I was.. just making that up to get you to talk... Really, there's not anybody I like.. um.. I mean.." she groaned, sinking a little bit. "There's... kind of someone? But I... I don't know..."

Masaru raised a brow, "Who?" He asked, "If-If you don't want to talk about it though that's fine. It's none of my business anyway." He said, trying to reassure her that if she didn't want to talk about it she didn't have to.

"And I guess we follow and observe." He replied, answering her previous question.

She sighed, resting her face in her hands. "N-no.. you told me all that stuff because I promised... you have a right to know.. if you want to anyway... Um... Well... I dunno, I see lots of people..." She blushed. "Um...I date around I guess." She didn't want to come right out and say what she was sure gossip said for her. "But uh... I guess... I went to a bath house with someone and things got... intimate.." she looked away. "But.. but it was just screwing around... I know she doesn't think anything of it. I'm not SURE I think anything of it... But usually I don't... keep thinking back on an.. event... like that." She groaned, forgetting the targets. "It's weird... that I'm even thinking about it..."

So something had happened between her and another woman she couldn't let go of. "I see, well if you can normally not think back about those moments but you can't let go of this one...maybe you should try to...go for it? If that one moment sticks out to you maybe you should try to see if the other person feels the same, grow closer to them." He was trying to help, but then again...he wasn't the best at this. "Maybe you should spend more time with that person and see how strong the bond between you is and try to see if you can move on from there?"

He thought, all the while keeping his attention on the human as he tired his best to give Saskia advice.

"I'm not the best at this kind of advice, I'm not really good with anything involving relationships in general...but maybe that could help you and that other person?"

She listened and nodded.. "But.. I dunno.. what if I make a move and I DON'T feel anything? Or what if they decide that if I'm going to get attached we can't even screw around anymore?" She blushed, but now it was too late to stop. "I mean...she's.. a lot of fun... and... uh.." she bit her lip a little. "I DO spend a lot of time with her actually... she's um... my.. captain.." she buried her head in her hands. Oh god why did she even say that?!

Her captain?

So Saskia may have feelings for Kira Ketsuken.

"If you're worried about that then maybe..." He thought, "For now maybe you should just try getting closer to her, learning more about her and spending more time with her. Maybe try to spend more time together outside of work? Just spend time together like friends would and then...then try to see if those feelings are still there."

He couldn't really give her advice on the screwing around part, as he had absolutely no experience in that area...

She looked up at him, still blushing. "I do spend time with her... I try to find out more about her... It's just... she... I mean.. I KNOW what we did wasn't special to her... I mean, it's not.. not like I've never done that with anyone else... Just... when you've got two people who sleep around... what do you even DO if one has feelings for the other?" she groaned, curling into a little ball. She just wanted this to go away...

Masaru watched as Saskia withdrew into herself. She was in a predicament...Was there any way for her to turn that moment that she felt she knew her captain believed wasn't anything special and make it that way? Unrequited feelings...

He wanted to help her, he really did.

Carefully, he moved to place a hand on Saskia's shoulder in attempt to comfort her.

"I don't really know what more I can say, but I want to help." He said, "I can see how hard this is for you although I've never really experienced what you're going through first hand."

He tried to think, to think of something that may at least help a little.

"Maybe just...hmm..." He truly was terrible at this wasn't he?

She looked up at him, giving a weak smile. She knew he was just trying to help. "I know... It's... it's a weird predicament... It's not normal to try and figure out 'did it mean anything when we had sex', I know that..." she shook her head. "I.. I don't even know why I'm making a big deal out of this.. I mean.. I'm not even sure it means anything to.. to ME... I don't... need to be getting myself all bent out of shape about this on a mission." She said, her voice anything but convincing.

"It's fine, Saskia." He tried to reassure. "You have a lot on your shoulders, it's bad to keep it bottled up trust me on that one." He said with a mild chuckle. "If you feel you need to talk about it, vent about it even that's fine. I may not be able to give the greatest advice but I'm willing to listen." He added, just before sensing that human again. Looking down, it seemed the person was looking around for something now. What though? Did they sense them? Well, unless that human could jump up here and find them they wouldn't really have much luck.

She sighed, standing up. "You're... right.. thank you... And my problems are silly... they really are... " she said. "I mean... I have a maybe crush on someone I'm sleeping with. Not really a critical emotional issue." she said with a shrug. She turned her attention down below. "So um... should we... get on with the mission?" she asked, still a little embarrassed.

"It's no problem, if you feel like you need to vent though, no matter how silly you think your problems are; then you should vent. It helps, it's a lot easier than keeping your problems bottled in." He responded, just before his eyes returned to the human who'd just turned down an alleyway before shooting off. "We need to follow." He said, moving from his current position to follow after the reiatsu of the traveling human.

They were using a move similar to shun po, but it wasn't that. Masaru didn't know if this was a Fullbringer or a Bount just yet. That would need further investigation.