Memori quietly picked up her beer and slowly sipped at it as she gazed around.
"I wonder if I look like I'm trying to pick up." She thought to herself, then discarded the idea.
It didn't matter, she was old enough to say no and this bar seemed to have a pretty cool clientele. The only thing that did seem to draw attention to her was her camouflage clothes, and well, there was nothing to do about that.
What surprised her was what the female bartender said to her. "Are you with the other lady who came in earlier?"
"Who? What?" Memori said surprisedly, looking up from her drink. "No...I came alone. Why?"
"Another lady came in dressed like you, dressed in the same kind of clothes. I thought maybe you two were on weekend leave from the army corps."
"Oh? I didn't notice her. Unless, she has long tied back blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes, I don't know her." Memori chuckled.
The Bartender laughed a bit nervously and pointed across to the far end of bar. It took Memori's eyes a few minutes to adjust so she could see, but when she did, she was in for a shock.
Sitting at the far end of the bar, talking to a group of other ladies was Marilyn Carry. She was dressed in fatigues too, but looked completely at home here, and seemed to be having quite a nice (and lively) conversation with the other ladies.
Memori froze...but then her mind began to do quick calculations.
"Must not stare...must not stare...Marilyn can tell when someone is watching. I will turn around and quickly pay for my beer and leave. I don't want her to think I'm following her."
Memori slowly began to twist her head away, but to her dismay the blonde turned around and looked right at her before she could turn away!
Their eyes met and Marilyn got a shocked look on her face. Memori jumped and turned around suddenly. She put some money on the table and got up to go. Unsurprisingly, she had no more than turned around, when she came face to face with her leader, smiling right at her.
Marilyn was still fast, even without her power of turning 1 second into 10.
"Um...hi Marilyn-sama..." Memori laughed nervously. "How are you?"
"I'm fine..." Marilyn grinned and wiped Memori's forehead, "But you look like you've seen a ghost."
"Um...I wasn't following you, Honest!" Memori blurted out.
"Well, that's good." Marilyn giggled. "However, I am surprised you came here. How long have you been coming, Memori-chan?"
Memori looked down and knew she was like a fish out of water here. "Um, my first time actually."
"Oh? How did you know about this place then? Wait, you asked my chauffeur to take you to a place with 'no guys' right?" Marilyn smirked.
Marilyn had a habit of being dead-on about her team mates. This was one of those times.
"Oh, if only I had tomatoes as red as your face." Marilyn said. She sat down on a stool and turned to the bartender.
"Two more beers, Janice." She said.
"Coming right up!" Janice said cheerfully.
Memori slowly took a seat again.
"I didn't know, you...um, swung that way, Marilyn." Memori said softly.
"I don't advertise it, but yes." Marilyn said gently. "Call it being raised by men and hanging with a crew of mainly boys. Yes, girls are more to my taste. And before you ask, the ladies over there are just acquaintances, not my lovers. No need to run a check on their identification."
Memori grimaced at that and shouted. "Mou! I only did that before for your protection! It was a one time thing, and the people then looked..."
She was cut off by Marilyn's laughter.
"Same old Memori. Always worrying more about me, than I do myself. What WILL I do with my bodyguard, now that the fighting's over?"
Memori looked down again. "Marilyn, I'm s..."
"Don't start that again!" Marilyn said sternly. "Didn't we all promise not to apologize to one another anymore? And weren't you the one who 'recommended' that rule so strongly? It's time to look towards the future. We can't live on what we wanted before."
"I know. I know. I just wish I had a plan for what I can do. I have no dreams - and that's a problem." Memori said softly.
Janice placed two mugs of beer near the ladies and walked away to leave the girls alone.
"I'm sure you do have dreams." Marilyn said calmly "however, you just haven't fully realized them yet. And there is always room for new dreams. I have new dreams too now. And maybe these are more golden then my old ones, who knows."
"Maybe, you're right." Memori sighed. "I just wish I had a road map for life."
"Memori, that's your problem. And it's partially my fault." Marilyn said.
"What do you mean?" Memori said surprised.
"Your whole life I've been giving you a set order of guidelines to follow. A path and a goal... Everything has been set by me. However, the fact is, no matter how the fights panned out, some day this fighting WAS going to end. If not at this match, then when? Hell, we didn't even have a plan for the blank talent Memori. The blank talent - which would have given us any talent we wanted. What would have I wished for? More martial arts ability? That's just rubbish. Which God Candidate would we have chosen? We barely knew our own."
Marilyn took a long drink of her beer and looked back. "In the end though, we are together. And I reckon those ties will never break. We are family, if not physically, then emotionally, and you Four must know that. However, your dreams shouldn't consist of just serving me. I want more for you four. Of course, we may need to go to Oz to get poor Baron a brain first, but that's another issue."
Memori nodded to all Marilyn was saying, but then a question came to her mind.
"Ne...Marilyn-sama, I thought you always wore your dresses to public places. Why are YOU in your combat clothes?"
Marilyn grinned. "In my fancy high-class Pierre Lacross dresses? Please. In those dresses, I am Marilyn Carry, daughter of a high class business man with a reputation to uphold. In this outfit, I'm just Marilyn - another one of the girls. Which is why I always wear these clothes to this club."
The music selection changed around then to a new type of music, this one was older 60's and 70's American music. The first song was Eric Clapton's 'Wonderful Tonight.'
[It's late in the evening...
She's wondering what clothes to wear...]
Marilyn smiled at the words. "How attro pro."
Memori giggled and nodded.
Marilyn suddenly got up and put her hand out. "Would you like to dance, Memori-chan?"
Memori looked at her surprised and a little embarrassed. "Me? Dance...with you?"
Marilyn smiled and kept her hand out. "You're the only girl sitting in front of me. Come now, this is a place for girls to enjoy themselves. Relax a little dear. It's what you came for."
Memori looked up into Marilyn's smiling face and gave in. Something inside her lifted away as she took Marilyn's offered hand and walked with her to the centre area where other girls had begun to dance with one another.
Marilyn gently wrapped her arms around Memori and began to waltz her gently across the floor. Memori had learned a bit of dancing before too, and was able to follow her, but it was the first time she had done it for purely personal reasons.
