For last_free_city

[tempus_fixit]

[1]
[A workshop in the Foundry District. Maybe it's a random machine she's working on. Maybe it's a war machine. Maybe it's a mech. Maybe it's YOUR mech. In any case, a sixteen year old girl is the one that seems to be doing the repairs you asked for.]

Just leave it to me! I'll have this thing running better than new in no time!

[BZZZAP.]

...Uh oh.

[2]
[Battle! You're fighting her, or the two of you are fighting a third opponent. She ignites both her hands with backwards snaps of her wrists, dropping into a stance and scowling.]

You ready?!

[3]

[One of the villas. Lucca's room looks like Leo Da Vinci's library punched it; books, scrolls, papers, models, bits of equipment in mid-repair, metal bits and glowing crystals lie scattered everywhere. Lucca herself is lying on her stomach on the bed, oblivious to the mess, reading a novel.]

[...Wait, does the title actually read "Love's Unbound Sequence?" Really?]

--HEY! [Book goes flying as she notices you looking in.] Haven't you ever heard of privacy!?

Comments

1

[super_woolf]

[Oh no you did not just break his robot.]

What was that?

[tempus_fixit]

Nothing, nothing! Just a little, uhm, you know, these things make sounds--

[There's a louder ZORRCH and a small fountain of sparks from the open door she's working through, and she yelps and half-dives into the hatch to stop it.]

Just--aah! Just a short circuit in the weapons tracking logic wiring--OW!

[Zzt. Zzt.]

[super_woolf]

You SAID you could handle this!

[tempus_fixit]

And I can! [Her retort echoes through the skin of his mech as she continues to make her emergency fixes. Power it off, check the circuitry for damage, see if there's a problem with the...]

[Oh. So THAT's what happened to her 3/16ths hex wrench.]

Think I found the problem! [Cheerful in her update this time!]

[super_woolf]

You'd better have...

[tempus_fixit]

[Clatter, clang, clong...]

There's always a few hiccups in maintenance, but I never send anything out if it isn't in perfect battle-ready condition. Okay, tracking system should be good now!

Let's see now, shield generators are good, ion drive functioning within ninety-eight percent, life-support--wait, he's not a methane breather. Gonna have to re-calibrate that...

[super_woolf]

This isn't gonna be an ongoing problem, is it? I need this thing in working order.

[tempus_fixit]

No, I don't think so. The initial wiring problem came from thermal expansion and ductility changes doing re-entry. I fixed that in the first half-hour. I extended the connecting coils a little so that won't happen again.

[super_woolf]

Really? That's been a problem for ages.

2

[just_some_meddler]

[In an almost identical motion, Ciel produces not flames but no less than six swords, held between her fingers.]

I don't think they'll go away if we just ask nicely.

[tempus_fixit]

[Hmm.]

Nope. That's okay, I've got an idea!

[She spins and throws a jet of flame out... at Ciel's swords? The metal catches the energy, leaving them wreathed with flame like universe's deadliest war fans.]

[Dual techs ftw.]

[just_some_meddler]

[Ciel jumped into the midst of the enemy with no regard for personal life or limb, becoming a whirling dervish of fire and blades. Despite all the screams and bloodshed, it was almost beautiful.]

[tempus_fixit]

[Lucca has her own battles to fight. An encroachment of monsters from the rear falters only a second as a small round object bounces between them. Their puzzlement is the last thing that lights up their temporal lobes before it and the rest of their physical composition are scattered by a huge explosion.]

[Lucca unholsters her rifle, ready for the next round.]

[just_some_meddler]

[And there was much kicking of ass by very dangerous teenage girls.

Afterwards, Ciel sat down and wiped blood out of her eyes. As much of it was hers as was the enemy's. Her wounds were closing up before Lucca's eyes, though, and she seemed basically okay.]

Well, any doubts I had about YOUR competence have been firmly laid to rest.

1

[needtobecleaned]

[That didn't sound good. At all. Especially for an ES. Maybe the sound would be more acceptable for an A.M.W.S. or and A.G.W.S. but definitely not for Dinah.]

Please be careful. Dinah is a specialized piece of equipment.

[Maybe KOS-MOS shouldn't have asked anyone to check Dinah over. She should have just synced up with the system and done a diagnostic on her own.]