Hard Lessons (Davis, Faust & O'Reilly)

[Stone, T.]

0800 Hours, August 4, 2542 (MILITARY CALENDAR) /
Berthing Area, B-Deck, aboard UNSC Vengeance,
in slipspace en route to Zeta-Zorata System

Stone stepped out into the common area from his compartment, a datapad clutched tightly in his hand. Lieutenant Durant had sent him a message to inform him of scheduled training in the simulator later that afternoon, to which he was extremely thankful. Second Platoon's replacements hadn't had any time to acclimate to their new unit as they were hastily tossed into the freezers to join their brothers and sisters in an extended period of hibernation. Yesterday the entire company had been thawed as Mike and November's cards got pulled to be frozen in cryo.

There had been some awkward introductions by the replacements to the platoon's vets, and he wasn't quite sure the new people were quite settled in yet. He glanced into Third Fire Team's compartment and spotted everyone in there, much to his satisfaction. Before the training event later he wanted to get some quality time with his new team leader, Lance Corporal O'Reilly. So far she seemed to be capable despite being green to the billet, and while he would never openly admit it, he was keenly interested to see what she was made of.

The Sergeant turned and walked over to the compartment. "Lance Corp'ral, if ya ain't doin' nothin' important, fall in on me," he ordered, his voice a low growl. With that, he turned and made his way over to First Team's room without bothering to check if she had fallen in behind him. If she hadn't, he'd give her hell for it in a moment.

"Davis!" the NCO bellowed. "Git'cher ass out here! On the double!"

Stone waited until his assistant squad leader stepped out of his berth. Davis smartly snapped to parade rest and awaited whatever it was Stone had in store for him. The grizzled NCO pointed to O'Reilly with a single meaty finger. "This is Lance Corp'ral O'Reilly, 'n she's as green as they come ta bein' a TL. Yer ass is gon' show her the ropes 'n git her squared away," he said, and then turned to O'Reilly. "Lance Corp'ral, meet Corp'ral Davis. He's Firs' Team's lead 'n my second-in-charge. He'll teach ya everything ya wanna know. Ya show him the same courtesy ya show me or I'll show ya that that airlock business I was sayin' ta Lance Corp'ral Fuckwad back in the hangar won't no joke."

Stone's eyes shifted between the two of them for a moment, and then he nodded. "Git Faust out here too. Might as well let'er meet the other TL in the Squad. 'N don't worry, she's always that angry." With that said, Stone returned to his compartment, pulling the curtain shut behind him. He sat on his bed and set the datapad down beside him, residing to listen to the exchange between the three team leaders from afar.

There was a reason he ordered Davis to mentor her. Davis was a capable fire team leader and a damn good Marine, but if he was to move on to greater things in life, he needed to be more than just a good TL. He glanced down at his datapad, the message from Durant still open for him to read. The last lines of the message had been what spurned his decision.

P.S.: 3rd Bn, 16th Mar are searching for experienced NCOs to replace their fallen brethren. I heard there is a Sqd Ldr billet open over there. Skipper informed me it's a guaranteed promotion for the Marine that volunteers and he wants the Marine to come from 2nd. I'd like to know who'd you recommend for the spot. Davis or Faust?

[Faust, M.]

Faust was not in fact in the compartment. She happened to be a great mood, a fantastic mood, a rare non-angry, non-shout at everyone and everything mood. Michelle walked in with her armed wrapped around a tall muscular looking man with black hair with the letters ODST on the front of his shirt. Faust had an arm wrapped round her as well. To the vast majority this would be a deeply shocking revelation.
They pair arrived just in time to see Stone disappear into his compartment, she noticed the new Lance Corporal was out with Davis. She rightly assumed this happened to be an ice breaker.

"Hey guys." She said still holding onto her companion. "I... I..." Faust stumbled to explain her current friend or very friendly acquaintance. "This is Harry." She indicated to the ODST next to her. "We're a... A..." She shook her head for a briefly. Fortunately, the ODST happened to be on standby. "What she means to say is.." He was suddenly interrupted by Faust. "We're getting married! She grinned wildly from ear to ear, in fact the pair of them did. "I mean we are engaged to be!" The pair of them said at the same time.

This was a sudden revelation, Faust had been secretly dating someone. The story behind it happened to be considerably funny one. It started out as an aggressive series of boxing matches. Well one thing led to another and to put simply, here they were now. Michelle looked incredibly pleased with herself.
"So I'll see you later." Michelle told her other half, the pair hugged each other but it was clear they wanted to display their affection more to one another. "You can count on it." He smiled, dipping his head to the other occupants before making an exit.

"Isn't he amazing?" She declared in a happy voice. "Sorry time to get back to business." The marine looked around at her comrades. "So what's going on?" She still smiled, pleased with the events of the day. Pleased with life and for once not annoyed. She briefly toyed with the idea of reverting back to yelling, but her heart just was not in it at the moment.
Later, later. After all she had a reputation to maintain.

[O'Reilly, C.]

O'Reilly was busy shining her dress uniform's shoes. The rest of the fire team was off doing whatever it was that they did in their free time. She had begun to pack up her supplies when Sergeant Stone looked in.

"Lance Corp'ral, if ya ain't doin' nothin' important, fall in on me,"

She stood up quickly at that, following the sergeant with a 'yes sir'. She waited patiently as he called out her fellow team leader, Davis. "Lance Corp'ral, meet Corp'ral Davis. He's Firs' Team's lead 'n my second-in-charge. He'll teach ya everything ya wanna know. Ya show him the same courtesy ya show me or I'll show ya that that airlock business I was sayin' ta Lance Corp'ral Fuckwad back in the hangar won't no joke." O'Reilly nodded, both to the Sergeant's order, and to greet Davis. She put her hand out.

"Nice to meet you, sir. I'm Lance Corporal O'Reilly, the new team leader."

When the Sergeant mentioned Faust's anger, O'Reilly braced herself. The ODST team leader on the operation that gave her her rank was much like what she could glean about Faust's personality. He had been a very angry man, but he was alright. Imagine her surprise when Faust came around the corner with a big grin on her face. O'Reilly's brow rose. This was.... unexpected.

[Davis, E.]

Davis was still fighting off the hangover he had been nursing after the party, and still grinning like an idiot every time he thought about the fact that he had gotten away with it. His team was in tact, his reputation was never better, and things were good. Other than the pounding in his skull every time he moved. That was not good, but it was well earned and he was quite sure that he was better off than most of the MA's he had dealt with. It was all in good fun, though the Marine MPs didn't seem to think so. His side was still bruised from the beanbag round.

When Sergeant Stone bellowed for him, the yell reverberated through his skull, around the room and back through his skull again making him wince so many times he was quite sure he looked like he was convulsing. He wouldn't say anything about it though. He took another drink of water from his hydration system and moved out to the common area for what he assumed was another ass chewing. He hadn't received many lately, and he could only assume he was due. It also made sense for the sudden outburst of yelling.

When he found a new Lance Corporal who was to be in charge of a team, he was pleasantly surprised. Someone to actually train into his equal would be a good place to start. The fact they were going to need to bring Faust in was only natural. For some reason women seemed to understand each other better than men. It would likely be easier to train in the new girl if Faust was on board as well. Which would be fine as long as the german wasn't in her typical mood. Or maybe it would be better if she was. Davis wasn't sure over the sound of his own brain pounding.

"I suppose we should find Faust," Davis muttered as Stone walked away. "Good to meet you Lance Corporal. We'll get Faust out here and get this shindig started."

Faust was kind enough to present herself. She also presented her fiance. It was like being struck by lightning, twice, in the same place. Faust hated men. In her defence, she hated everyone, but Davis always figured she was the type of gal who had the same taste he did. To see her with an ODST was almost more damaging to his brain than his hangover. He knew he should say something but he just stood there with an expression he assumed conveyed his incredible amount of incredulity.

[Faust, M.]

The surprised silence or more accurately stunned silence, initially threw Faust. She narrowed her eyes slightly, wondering what if anything out of this happened to be so shocking? "This is the part where you go congratulations." She explained, her voice holding a small stern tone to it. Some things never change, like Michelle's good moods lasting for more than five seconds. Faust largely kept her own council when it came to private matters, particularly personal ones. No one even knew she was seeing someone, except for a tiny rumour spread by a little RTO.

After a few moments of stunned silence Faust started laughing, hysterically. "You should see your face Davis!"She had to prop herself up against the wall until the giggle subsided. "Harry's an old friend from my home world." She explained, occasionally being interrupted by another bout of laughter. "We've already pulled this on his squad." She went on to explain how the pair of them went way back. It seemed somewhat unnatural for Faust of all people to of made a joke, or what at least was her idea of a joke.

"Wonder who else might fall for it?" She questioned, once more coming across in a joyful mood. "Right back to being professional." Her voice grew sterner. "What's going on? And why?"[/b]