Neither slowing or stopping he continued on the same path. He didn't like anything about the exchange that just transpired. Not only was his hope of ever having anything with Tess was shattered but Casper had made him look like a real dick. You never had a chance witha girl like that anyways. He told himself.

As Rin stepped out into the hallways she tugged her white tank top over her olive drab bikini. Closing and locking the door she stuffed the key into the pocket of her denim shorts. "Is that really necessary?" she groaned when she saw his pack. "This is supposed to be a vacationn you know." she added and started down the hall.

"Boys" groaned Tess, rolling her eyes in exasperation and walking away to find something to eat. A moment later a bread roll hit Richard in the back of the head with a decent amount of force.

"Yup! But this time, because its vacation, I packed it with snacks." Marcus said with a grin, shrugging the bag straps over his shoulders and straightening his shirt when it was pulled this way and that by the change.
"You look nice. Should we go find Tweedledee and Tweedledum?" He prompted when he caught up with her.

Richard was sitting at a tiki bar guzzling a beer when he felt the object slam into the back of his head. "Are you fucking serious?" he grumbled while turning around. He knew who it was without even looking. Catching a glimpse of her he shook his head. "Maybe you should pursue baseball instead of piloting." he remarked turning back to his beer.

Chuckling she shook her head. "Snacks, grenades, sunscreen, pistol... The normal vacation stuff." she teased him with a nudge. "Yeah, we better make sure they aren't killing each other or anything." she sighed.

"Hey don't mock my safety net. One day its gonna save your ass" Marcus said in response to her skeptical remark, an arm around her shoulders.

Tess flipped Richard off with a smile before falling into a seat next to Casper and digging into a breakfast like she thought someone was going to take it away from her at any second.

"Always talking about my ass, it's like that's the only thing you can think about." she joked. When he put his arm around her she leaned in closer and kissed his neck. "So anything in particular you wanna do today?" she asked.

"Well when you present it in such an obvious way can ya really blame me?". Lamented Marcus dramatically, pausing when they came out into the open and looking up at the almost to bright sun with a frown. " I have no idea...preferably something that doesn't involve me drowning, "

"Your swimming has gotten a lot better. Besides, you have a sexy swim coach!" she said with a wink. She took only a moment to glance around before grabbing his hand and dragging him along. "I bet they're down here getting some food." she said looking towards a group of restaurants and bars.

Grumbling Richard turned back to his beer. "Another." he said to the bartender, a woman with tan skin and dark hair and eyes. When she brought him his beer she smiled and asked. "So your an officer?" noticing his dog tags. "Yeah." he said half way brushing her off. "You are a much better customer than most officers, they're usually drunk and rude." she went on. "Thanks. I'm just not in the mood for that kind of thing. Besides, I wouldn'tewant to ruin your day." he told hera cracked a small smile.

"Food, so lame and unimaginative". Marcus chuckled as he allowed himself to be pulled along. They had only walked for a bit when Tess seemed to appear out of no where on Marcus's left.
" hey! Wow you guys took your sweet time " she said brightly, pretending not to notice the way Marcus turned in her as if she were an attacker. "Hope there are no obvious hickeys this time, as fun as they are to give you shit about its starting to feel like you're just rubbjng it in everyone's face."

"Hey, gotta mark your territory!" Rin teased as she looked over at Tess. Glancing around she noticed Richard was no where to be seen. "Hey, what did you do with Catch?" she asked with slight concern.

Richard had left the tiki bar a moment ago and decided to check out the beach. Beer and cigar in hand he sat in a wooden chair watching the waves.

Tess shrugged. "No idea, we were just talking when Cas showed up and they had some weird manly showdown. Anyways, Cas being Cas I think he made Catch feel like an ass and off he stormed. Yes, I know that sorta rhymed.".

"Casper is here? God everyone look out for the not so friendly ghost". Marcus muttered to himself under his breath, looking around over the sea of people now for either Richard or his squadmate. " look why don't you two check the bars I'll check by the beach."

Rin groaned. "Great, they were probably having some kind of pissing contest and those always end in hurt feelings." she grumbled. Nodding to Marcus she split off with Tess. "I think he just gave us permission to bar hop." she mused. She hadn't known Richard for long but he seemed like a nice guy and what she had experienced of Casper she realized what an annoying twit he could be.

"Hey hes not that bad" Scoffed Marcus as he left them, waving before turning and heading down the path to the water. It didnt take him long to catch sight of the man. Even though he didnt really know Richard well, he was easy enough to recognize and once he had spotted him Marcus walked right up to him.
"Hey, Hows the sulkin." He asked conversationally, dropping his pack and taking a seat on the sand next to him.

"Guys are such a pain" Muttered Tess. "Cant even been friends with two without them sizing each other up, I swear I though he was gonna try to tackle Cas at one point." Pulling her hair back, Tess walked alongside Rin and kept an eye out for anything familiar.

"The beer is good, the sun is warm, and the view is great. I can't really complain." he said with a bitter undertone. He wouldn't try denying or hiding his sulking at this point. He just didn't give a fuck.

Rin chewed on her lip softly, thinking of how she should say what was on her mind. "I know your not the type to tramp around but maybe consider how your acting around these guys. Richard obviously likes you, and if he sees you with Casper that's gonna bruise his ego and shatter his heart. Guys act tough but they're really sensitive, especially about this kind of thing." she said seriously. It wasn't that she was trying tollecture Tess but that she genuinely wanted to help.

"Yeah...totally got me convinced." Sighed Marcus. He sat in silence for a bit before pulling a water bottle out if his pack and opening it. "Wanna talk about or are we just gonna bs here till they find us?"

Tess looked pointedly over at Rin. "If he likes me, then he should do something about it. Really it's not like I'm actually looking actively fit anyone else. And Cas? Pretty sure he's hooking up with Phantom or whatever his name is. We're friends, that's it. Am I not allowed to have friends that are guys while the cigar chewing shirtless idiot is watching?"

Richard quietly puffed away at his cigar, lost in thought. He didn'trreally want to talk about it but he appreciated Marcus trying to help. "Just glad I'm not the poor bastard who has to be in a squad with a prick like Casper." he remarked trying to lighten the mood a little.

Tucking her hands in her pocket she half heartily glanced aaround at the bars as they passed. "I'm not saying you can't have other guy friends..." she mumbled. "It's just,did you do anything with Casper when you were around Richard that would make him think you two were more than just casual buddies? I mean Catch might be holding off till it seemed like a good time. You can't exactly fault a guy for not blindly jumping into something. And if he is putting that much thought and effort into it then he ccould understandably be that much more hurt. " she rambled." but maybe I'm reading to much into it. "

Marcus shrugged. "Eh, he's not that bad. He just likes to feel like he's got some control. Some psych thing or whatever. Really? I just think he's a dick to people so that if they go, or he does, there's less of a mess. Heard him talkin about that with Kyle one time."

"Not really...I mean, we hugged and are pretty familiar with each other. Still though, woukd Marcus flip out if you hugged a guy and kissed him on the cheek?". Tess challenged, " besides he's always making eyes at other girls and walking around shirtless and shit. Oh! And being really classy with innuendo by the way. It's riveting conversation. ". Here she made a face before sighing boredly

With a huff he stood up and turned to walk along the waters edge. "I guess it doesn't exactly matter now, what's done is done." he concluded. He was all out of sorts and unsure what he should be feeling anymore.

"Honestly, he probably would. Maybe not on the outside but I very much doubt he'd be happy about it." Rin admitted honestly. Running a hand through her hair she stopped and turned to Tess. "The point of all this being guys are emotional idiots that are confusing and frustrating." she sighed.

"Yeah well, you say that as much as you like" Marcus sighed, finishing his drink and storing it back in his bag before getting up to follow along. "Anyways, when I asked if you wanted to talk about it, I meant this whole thing with Tess. I'd be lyin if I said I havent noticed anything going on there. Hell half the ship knows. Are you ever gonna do anything about it? Other then flip out when she touches another guy, I mean." He assumed that Cas had been his normal handsy self and that had been part of what had freaked Richard out.

"Yeah I know" huffed Tess, clearly burnt out on the subject. "Look I'm not seeing him anywhere, you think Marcus found him and they're having a manly bonding conversation or whatever?"

Eventually the four reunited on the beach and while things were still off between Tess and Rich, they managed to salvage the rest of the day and have a good time. By the end of it they were all pretty wiped out, Tess from not sharing more then three words with Rich at a time. Richard from 'not caring' about Tess and the guys she knew. Rin from swimming and reteaching Marcus to swim, and Marcus from drowning.
The next day started similarliy to the first, but with promise that maybe it wouldn't be so rough and full of middle school level drama.

Marcus was already up and out in the outdoor dining area by about eight, having spent the night sharing a room with Casper. Originally he had started out in his and Rin's, until about 2 am when Tess had come marching in and demanded girl talk time. Disgruntled and with wounded pride at being kicked out of his own bed and room by a tiny blonde pilot he had tracked down Casper and invaded his privacy by crashing on his couch. Now though, he was struggling to stay awake at a table with a coffee in one hand with an empty plate in front of him as he waited for someone else in his group to show up.

Tess was up and waiting for Rin to finish in the bathroom, having perched in one of the chairs by the window with her legs crossed and her chin propped in one hand.
"Thanks again for letting me crash here." She said after a bit, loud enough to be heard through the bathroom door. "And sorry for kicking Marcus out, kinda feel bad about it now..." Were those carriers on the horizon? Tess frowned, leaning forward slightly to try and get a better look at the horizon line over the water. There was something moving there, faded almost smudged really. Like stealth tech or whatever. Huh, odd.

The previous day had dragged on for Richard. The constant awkwardness between him and Tess had been frustrating to say the least. After a nights rest though he felt better about the situation. At least that, hopefully, they could move on. Dragging himself out of his room he headed down for breakfast. Seeing Marcus he sat down. "you look like shit." he remarked.

Standing in front the mirror Rin quickly drug a brush through her hair. "No problem, anything for a friend. Though don't think you'll ever hear the end of it from Marcus." she said then pushed the door open. "feeling better?" she asked.

"Yeah well, I feel like shit so Im not to surprised." Yawned Marcus, scratching at the beginnings of stubble along his jaw as he blinked blearily up at Rich. Muffling his yawn with one hand, he leaned back in his chair and stretched his other arm above his head. He considered warning Richard that Casper was around, but figured it was unnecessary. Last night, or was it that morning, he had had a talk with the other about the whole situation and despite casper finding a retag amount of humor in it all he had promised to keep his distance. "If Im shit, you're not much better off. Whats up with you?"

Tess laughed a little, looking away from the hazy shapes as Rin came out of the bathroom. "I don't expect him to, he still gets on my case about stuff from forever ago. youre boyfriend has a grudge problem. Yeah, I'm okay. It's just frustrating is all." With a sigh she pushed herself out of the chair and to her feet, tugging her hair back in a ponytail and casting one more glance out the window.