"Oh, just curious." She takes another bite of her apple and pauses to swallow before continuing. "How often do you get off-base, aside from missions?"

: As often as I can without getting in trouble. Usually go down to a bar in town to pass the time.
"Thanks scooch. My names Ash. I just joined Mjolnir's flight last night. Whats your handle?"
Ash offers a handshake.
Your offer is rebuffed.

: Excuse me?
Tippy enters the Mess and wanders over to Raiden. She takes a seat near Xiaomei.
"Hey. How are you holding up?"

: Same as always.
She tilts her head towards the other three pilots.

: I'm probably not the one you should be asking, though.
A few feet away, Kommandant is offering his condolences.

: -She went down defending our country, the least we can do is look for her the same way we would one of our own.

: The least your people could have done was support us so she didn't go down in the first place.

: Look, I know you're upset at Crash. I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be if I were in your shoes, but I do think you're being a little hard on him right now. Thanks to your success yesterday, the Goths are putting the brakes on their air deployments, which means our rescue efforts can operate under much less pressure. We'll bring her home.
Yamashiro mumbles something under her breath and looks at her food.

: We appreciate that you're trying, we really do.
"It could've gone better. I doubt you've ever met Roger but he's not here anymore, and Matsumoto is presumably a POW now. I was one kill shy of an ace too, it would've been nice to reach 30 that way."

: Aw, that sucks. Oh well, maybe you'll get that 30th kill on your next sortie.
A metaphorical lightbulb goes off above her head.

: Of course, in the meantime, I'm free to catch up!