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

[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.