SRWU: Original Characters Donut Steel

[kinaesthete]

1. Hangar, night
It's pretty late to have business in the hangar, isn't it? Things have been quiet, the maintenance crews aren't working double shifts in the aftermath of a battle, and whatever brings you here, you probably expected to be the only one around. However, there's light and signs of movement, from a room near one red mobile suit. And when you're nearby, a cry of distress!

Yet if you investigate, the young woman you heard is nowhere to be seen. Instead the room contains a couple of maintenance drones, wheeled tripods with unusually human-looking arms attached. They're holding something over a workbench - something that looks like it's freshly become two separate somethings. Why would anyone have left these on? But then, one makes a sound.

"Damn it..."


2. Gym
There's a new person in the gym, going through a workout that looks half like a dance routine and half like a martial arts kata. From the looks of her, it's something she does a lot, judging both by her physique and the expression of relaxed concentration she's wearing. Offer to spar, or catch her as she's cooling down?


3. Cafeteria
That woman from the gym obviously worked up an appetite. At least, she's in the queue for food, but she seems strangely reluctant to take it. She's stopped in front of the section for an admittedly... unusual menu item, looking indecisive about whether she wants to risk it. As you get closer, though, you can hear that she seems to be talking to herself.

"No. ...I don't care, it looks disgusting. You don't have to deal with the aftertaste."


4. Action
In the chaos of a large battle, someone's gotten the drop on you! You may be oblivious or you may have caught on just too late to react, but there's an enemy behind you lining up a shot, and they fire before you've a chance to dodge...

"Watch it!"

...and they hit a shield - a red canopy that appears in a split second between you and your assailant, like a parasol unfolding! It takes the shot, though from the looks of it, it won't take many more...

The red mobile suit that deployed the shield is speeding towards you, its pilot back on the comms. "My rifle's drained! Got a plan before the rest get here?"

Comments

3

[star_of_sad]

[Okay, talking to themselves is one thing, but this conversation seems to imply a whole new level of crazy. Setsuko is reluctant, but she just can't herself...]

Excuse me, is everything alright?

[kinaesthete]

Ah - sorry. I'm on the phone.

[Setsuko doesn't... see a phone, but hey, handsfree tech is a thing. The woman points at the dish on offer. It's something pretty unusual to be featured on the menu, but maybe...]

Don't suppose you've had this before? Is it as bad as it looks?

[star_of_sad]

Oh. I'm sorry for intruding then, my apologies.

[What a mundane explanation. Now Setsuko feels stupid.]

No, I didn't. It doesn't look very good, so...

[kinaesthete]

See? [...It doesn't seem like she was directing that at you.

And now she's gone quiet. Looking at the dish, as if weighing its obvious unattractiveness against some other factor... before taking it on to her tray with a small sigh.]

Oh, and you're not intruding, sorry. It was rude of me.

[star_of_sad]

It's okay, really.

Umm...

You don't seem too happy about this dish, is it a punishment?

[kinaesthete]

More like a dare.

Well, it's good to try new things, right?

[star_of_sad]

I suppose...

It's a dare with the person you talked just now, isn't it.

[kinaesthete]

My sister, Liz. She...

Here. [Cathy takes off the small glasses she wears, hands them to Setsuko to put on.]

[star_of_sad]

Oh? Is it really okay?

[Time to put those on.]

[kinaesthete]

Don't worry, I don't need them to see.

[The glasses aren't prescription - Setsuko's vision is unchanged. Except that now, when she looks at Cathy, there's another woman beside her - similar in height and build, but with long black hair. There's a certain family resemblance despite the difference in colouration.

The new person waves.]

That's Liz. She's too curious for her own good, sometimes.

Oh, and I'm Cathy.

1

[majestic_keiki]

[The sound had an audience. A rather puzzled audience.]

Who said that...

[anewmachine]

Huh?

[A camera on one of the tripod bots pivots.]

Oh! Sorry! I forgot to turn the sound off. Me, I said that.

Hello.

[Now that they know who's appeared, the armbots move to put down the thing(s) they were holding. Kei can see it appears to be a small model robot.]

[majestic_keiki]

Hello.

[Kei moved a bit closer to see the robot more closely, looking between it and the tripod bot that responded before.]

Which one is 'me'?

[anewmachine]

Oh, neither. I'm out there. [The armbots point out through the door, at the red mobile suit standing dormant nearby, then wave.] I'm Liz, in the Rose. I'm just remoting these.

I've seen you somewhere before.

[majestic_keiki]

So are you inside the mobile suit? Or...?

[Kei kept a straight face as she asked, not letting the fact that the girl had apparently just declared that she was a mobile suit faze her.]

Either way, I'm Kei.

[anewmachine]

My server block's in the cockpit, yeah. I'd wave, but I'm not supposed to move around unnecessarily.

Kei, Kei... oh, Kugimiya? You pilot one of the ASHMBs, don't you?

[majestic_keiki]

Yeah, that would probably be a bad idea...

And you're right, I pilot Purple-2.

[anewmachine]

I'd love to see it some time! Some rumours get around, but most of the details seem to be classified. It'd be great to get hands on knowledge.

I can show you around the Rose, too, if you'd like.

[majestic_keiki]

It needs a lot of maintenance so it has its own hangar to make room for it. And to control who gets access to it so people don't learn about the classified bits. At least I would imagine that was it.

And thanks for the offer. I haven't been here for very long.

[anewmachine]

Awww, I probably won't be authorized, then. The Rose isn't classified, at least. You might need to sign an NDA if I really want to show off, is all.

So you're flying the nest too, huh?

[majestic_keiki]

I was assigned here after graduating the academy. I'm a soldier of the Global Defense Force and this is where my duties are.

[anewmachine]

Graduating? Huh, I'd have guessed you're younger than me and I'm not finished college yet.

And hey, it may be for work but it still counts! I suppose your family must be worried about you enlisting, though.

[majestic_keiki]

The MJP is special, we enlisted at an early age and graduated after seeing battle for the first time.

And I wouldn't know...

[anewmachine]

Ah... sorry. There I go, making assumptions...

I suppose you must be pretty talented, though, to be scouted early like that.

[majestic_keiki]

I guess that's one way to put it.

2

[ben_dixon]

That's pretty cool! What was that?

[kinaesthete]

A few different things! It doesn't have a specific name. Self defence, tai chi, that sort of thing.

You're a pilot, right? They must have given you some training in basic.

[ben_dixon]

Oh, you betcha. Not meaning to brag but...

*Kakizaki starts to shadowbox a bit. Then do the crane stance from karate kid.*

I know kungfu

[kinaesthete]

Oh? You'll have to show me your moves some time. I haven't done much with the Chinese stuff.

What's your style?

[There may be just a teeensy hint of skepticism there.]

[ben_dixon]

Oh, a bit of this, a bit of that. Crane style *he does the crane stance*, drunken boxing *he acts drunk for a while*, eagle claw *he turns his hands into a claw and slash around a bit*

...or was that tiger claw?

[kinaesthete]

I don't know. I think it depends on the movie.

[ben_dixon]

Mo... movie? Why would you ever think that I only know martial art from movies?

[kinaesthete]

Let's just say your drunken boxing looked the most practiced.

3

[cloningblues]

And here I thought only Tamaki eats this stuff.

...Are you talking to yourself?

[kinaesthete]

To my sister. She likes to... experiment.

You know someone who eats stuff like this regularly?

4

[a_linear_mind]

Whew, thanks!

[The white machine picks up a nearby beam rifle and fires a few shots into the surprise assailant.]

Absolutely not, I was just kind of improvising here.

Re: 4

[kinaesthete]

Well, beam sabers don't need ammo. We'll pick a direction, make a break for it, you clear a path with that and we'll cut down anything that interferes. Which way?


There! [A second voice joins in on the comm, and a marker appears on Willis' HUD.] There shouldn't be many of them, but ration your shots!

[a_linear_mind]

E-eh wait how are you on my HUD!?

[Despite his panicked voice Willis forces Strahlend forward towards the direction of the marker almost immediately, taking very careful shots to ensure that he did not waste too many rounds.]

Is this really the best idea?

[kinaesthete]

I don't know. I'm improvising.

[Cathy picks up the shield she deployed and wields it as an actual shield, readying a beam saber in her other hand, keeping the Rose running just behind the Strahlend. The way ahead looks clear, for now...]


Would you have preferred I point, so they'd know which way we were going to go?

[a_linear_mind]

Come on, there's no need for that kind of tone. Look, we're in the clear now.

[kinaesthete]

As far as we can tell.


I can't see anything...

[Suddenly, a beam shot strikes from the concealment of a hill nearby! The Rose interposes its shield just in time, but that's as much as it can handle. Cathy tsks as she purges the fabric of the shield, reattaching the spent drone to the Rose's arm.]

Cover us, we'll take them out before they can fire again!

1

[whats_a_good_end]

[Yeah, Ana's seeing something weird that she's never seen before, and considering how late at night and how private it is, she's almost wondering if she shouldn't just turn and leave. But those two words add a lot of context, and so...]

Are you okay?

[anewmachine]

This was a special edition!

Maybe I can still fix it...

[It sounds like a perfectly ordinary voice, just coming from a speaker somewhere on the tripod bots. While it speaks, the arms hold the items up to the cameras atop the tripods for careful inspection. Ana may recognize them as an armless model robot, and its left leg.]

[whats_a_good_end]

[At the sound of a second voice Ana turns to try to find it and- alright... things are starting to fall into place. She's still confused about some of this, but talking about fixing stuff? Dislimbed model robot?]

You broke something?

[anewmachine]

My limited edition Perfect Grade Tacit Ronin! I finally got some quiet time to work on it and I snap the hip joint!

I might be able to salvage it, but what if it won't articulate properly? I knew I should have asked sis for help...

[It sounds like the owner of the voice has completely overlooked the fact that all you can see is a pair of robot arms on wheels. She's certainly not rushing to explain herself.]

[whats_a_good_end]

[Okay. This is all about some jaepla. The situation is at least a little less confusing now so hooray for figuring out context! This is still plenty bizarre all the same though but at the very least, Ana knows there's someone in need of help and it's help with something lots of people face. No say she can just turn and leave now.]

Well, then we'll just have to make sure to do it properly then, right? You said you might be able to fix it, so let's not worry too much when we can still set things right.

[anewmachine]

You're right.

[The right arm holds the leg up to its camera. You can only presume, since there's almost no body language to indicate, that it's peering at it.]

It's a clean break, and it hasn't cracked the casing around it. I'm not sure how to fix the joint, though.

[whats_a_good_end]

[Taking a few steps closer to examine it, Ana's doing her best to try to apply her own experiences into this foreign territory for her. It's kinda difficult, but when your job involved testing machines and often crashing them, sometimes your daily activities teach you a little about performing repairs. And finally...]

I think I have a plan. I can't promise it'll be a perfect fix, but hopefully nobody just looking at it'll be able to know the difference.

We're gonna need a very small, precise drill for it though. And some kind of adhesive... and a small "splint" to put inside the leg.