fh_trips | The Crown Princess - Monday [Cabins and Lido Deck]

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spring break 2009: crown princess cruise

The Crown Princess - Monday [Cabins and Lido Deck]

It was a beautiful day in the Caribbean! The sun was bright in the cloudless sky, casting no shadows on the open section of the Lido deck: Sunbathers beware. Luckily, the Horizon Court offered umbrellas at some tables for the sun shy.

Near the pools were large lettered signs discouraging guests from diving or jumping into the water due to the lack of depth.

[OOC: Cabin Listing | Ship/Shore Post | Cabins Thread | Pool & Bars | Terrace]

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She shuddered theatrically. "Ugh, that. Have you ever actually thought 'bout that? A frown would look mental if you actually turned it upside down on your face--smiles don't look anything like a frown at all, so it'd just be weird."

"I thought it was just an idiotic thing period," he said, nodding. "If I'm pissed, turning my frown upside down or smiling ain't gonna do a damn thing but piss me off more."

"Exactly!" she chirped, making little waves in the water with her hands. "Telling someone to just get over the bad mood? Is so only going to get that bad mood directed at them, and giving us a target!"

"I'm always up for decking someone," he said thoughtfully. "It's cathartic."

That got a sigh.

"Too bad a lot of people here can't take a real punch," she said mournfully. "I mean, I'm not a heavy hitter like some of them, but it's really annoying when you want to hit someone and can't 'cause they'd go down like a load of bricks and then you'd be in a load of trouble."

"I'm actually surprised more people can't take punch considering some of the worlds they come from," he remarked. "You'd think they'd need to have some pain tolerance to go along with self preservation skills."

She nodded.

"It's weird. I mean, seriously, I don't get how a lot of people survive with such a wimpy tolerance."

"I'd almost wonder if the wimpiness wasn't a defense mechanism," he said thoughtfully. "Go down on one punch, get left alone and flee."

That got a twitch.

"I know it's true in at least one case," she said, aiming for cheerful. "And I kinda think it's revolting anyway. It's not like you can count on your enemies being kind enough to leave you alone once you go down."

Lee, wisely, did not question that twitch. He, unlike someone, had self preservation skills, invisible as they were at times.

"I'd actually try to run away before I stayed down and played dead."

Clever, clever boy!

"Precisely!" she said, "I mean, there's almost always a better choice than going down because you don't want to fight back. Seriously, if you're going to go down anyway? Totally better to at least try to either get away, or fight back, instead of counting on the enemy to be nice enough to leave you alive. It's sloppy thinking."

"And sometimes deadly," he said. "I haven't met too many merciful people in my life."

"It's either death, or capture and torture and interrogation for us, once you're past the D rank missions," she said, making a face. "It mostly depends on if you're going against another shinobi country, or just dealing with a bunch of jumped up brutes. Most of them don't know enough to get all the useful information out of a ninja."

"That's about what it is with our military just with different ranks and no ninjas," he said lightly. "At least, none that I know of. We could probably do with some ninjas."

She grinned. "Ninjas ought to be everywhere--and I wasn't putting your military down, no way, I just don't know much of anything 'bout it."

"Oh no, I didn't think you were," he said and waved a hand. "Not at all. It sounds a little more regimented than what you describe. That has its pros and cons."

"We're in the same teams at least 'til all of the members are Chuunin, after that, it depends on the individuals within the teams--if they want to stick with their squad, if they want to go into a more specialized field, or head into ANBU. And Jounin are much more likely to be moved around at will because they're supposed to be able to be the best at adapting to whomever they're working with," she explained. "So it gives you a good bit of time to get to know how to work with them, and it creates a solid baseline of what your team is good for, you know? I mean, there's powerhouse teams, ones that a better at sabotage, espionage, tracking..."

Ino shrugged a bit. "We've got to obey orders, and get the mission done no matter what, but other than that we're allowed a lot more leeway in how, and what we do."

"Wow," Lee said after she'd finished. "I can hear a lot of similarities to the military what with the specializations and the ranks. Some units are really free, especially the stealth guys that have to move around, get behind enemy lines but the straight pilots and cavalry are very regimented in that they've got about one overall objective, of course."

That got a slightly uncertain nod. "We're not, I don't think, really meant for wars in the sense to loads of people all in one place? Our wars tend to be more guerrilla-style. Too much individuality, and not all fighting styles ought to be anywhere near the same place at the same time."

"A lesson a good many leader could learn," he said and laughed ruefully. "My dad's a commander so I hear a lot about this. Some people want a full force frontal assault so they leave vital areas weakly guarded and if that assault doesn't work, we're frakking screwed."

Ino made a face at that. "I mean, I'm no commander, but even I know that's dumb. Front assaults look impressive, but they're totally not always the best route."

"Well, most commanders are blowhards only interested in showing how much power they have," he said. "All will tremble at their feet."

"...your commanders are a bit different than ours," she decided, after a long moment of staring.

"Yeah, I'm not surprised," he said. "We haven't been at war in a long, long time. My father says their complacent now."

She looked rueful. "Two major wars, an invasion, and an attack by a demonic force of nature--that's all that's happened in the last, like, thirty-five years or so. Not counting usual missions for clients. I think anyone who was complacent would die pretty quick."

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