Return of an OC after some very heavy changes! (for SRW Uni)

[whats_a_good_end]

[1]

[It's early morning.  The period of the day that Ana likes to sleep through until at least 10 AM when she's not on-duty.  And unfortunately, something loud just... isn't letting that be how things are today.]

How... how can anyone put up with this?!?  You'd think there'd be some kind of 'quiet hours' in place here!

[2]



... Alright!  Some red there, a streak of green there and-

[Later in the day though, Ana's in much brighter spirits.  She has some classical music playing from a speaker outside as the cold, metallic fingers on her right hand running across a canvas.  She's fingerpainting.  Fingerpainting with her cybernetics, and enjoying it greatly.  And finally she adds one upturned curvey line to the bottom of it and then turns around and shows it to you.]

What do you think?  Does it remind you of anything?

[3]



[Not long ago, bad things happened during a mission.  Things that wouldn't sit well with many people, Ana included.  She tried to power through it and continue her dexterity training by playing a melancholy little song on her guitar, but one mis-strummed string too many and she has to stop.]

... Why...

[She puts the instrument aside, hands balled up into fists on her lap.]

Why would anyone or anything think that what happened out there would benefit anyone in the long run?  Maybe I don't see it, I'm still new at this combat piloting thing, but... I'm just not seeing it.

Comments

1)

[not_a_prize]

Eh... you'll get used to it. It usually dies down in about an hour or two.

[This coming from the one who's far too used to waking up early in the morning.]

[whats_a_good_end]

Some people just really like the start of the day, don't they?

[not_a_prize]

Maybe you should give it a shot lazybones.

[Peola gives the blonde a small grin and nudge.]

Seriously I've seen rocks more energetic than you in the morning.

[whats_a_good_end]

[That gets Peola a bonk on the head with her pillow.]

I'm not a morning person, alright? At least not when my job requires me be one!

[not_a_prize]

[Peola was promptly whapped on the head by the pillow, it doesn't do much to remove the bluenette's grin - though it does mess with her hair.]

Baaah, excuses. Its like yesterday was exhausting for you or something!

[whats_a_good_end]

Days usually are! That's why people go to bed at the end of them to recover their strength. Or are you just a robot unaware of that?

[Moaning and groaning, she gets out of bed.]

There, happy?

[not_a_prize]

Nope. Just used to getting up early, believe me when I say it helped me out a lot when I was younger.

[Peola chuckles as she moved over to Ana as she put a hand to the blonde's shoulder.]

And yeah, I'm getting there. Lets see about cheering you up too.

[whats_a_good_end]

I'll be fine. I'll just have to start my day early and make up for it with, like a glass of orange juice or coffee or something.

Unity Group bases have kitchens like that, right?

[not_a_prize]

Ahahaha... ye..es...

[She laughs nervously at this. She still remembers the toaster incident, nobody who had seen the mess had ever let her live it down.]

I'm pretty sure everything's working again so...

[whats_a_good_end]

What broke it in the first place?

[not_a_prize]

Well it definitely wasn't someone who put a cake in a toaster or didn't know metal was not supposed to be in microwaves. I mean... everyone knows that cake isn't meant to be in toasters right? And putting metal in microwaves is just silly!

Aha... ahahahaha...

[whats_a_good_end]

... That happened?!? You...

[Oh boy. Where's this going to go?]

... You had to deal with someone doing that too? I still remember when my big brother pulled that at home one Boxing Day. He was all "we don't need the servants to cook breakfast for us" and almost burned the whole place down!

[not_a_prize]

Y... Yeah! The person didn't even know what they were doing! I mean... toasters are obviously just meant for bread right? How could they even think of trying to shove an entire cake in there?

[Cringing inside so hard.]

[whats_a_good_end]

... Well...

This place is still better than home. Amazingly you might think, but it's true.

[signalsfromspace]

1

The source of noise is right there.

"Wake up! Wake up Ana! WAKE UP!"

Sumika tries to pull the sheet off Ana.

"Wake up or you'll be late for... something! Early training! Morning role call!"

WORST ROOMMATE EVER

[whats_a_good_end]

I hate the day OFF! I just got done with late-night exercises not even five hours ago!

[Her hands cling to the sheets as tight as possible. Too tight though, on account of that robot hand. Some of the fabric begins to tear. Unfortunately, this was not a rare thing for Ana.]

Let go already! They said this was the last one they'd give me without docking some of my pay!

Re: WORST ROOMMATE EVER

[signalsfromspace]

"Eh? E-eeh?"

Shocked Sumika lets go of the sheets. Maybe because resistance she feels is more genuine than Takeru's.

"Day off? But it's not Sunday..."

[whats_a_good_end]

[Sheets recover, Ana takes a moment to inspect the damage. It's not good, but with some needle and thread it could be at least mended. She told herself to think of it as more dexterity training for her hand.]

Soldiers don't have fixed schedules like that. And besides, I also have to help the researches gather data about the Breaker. That included testing performances at late hours in unideal circumstances.

[signalsfromspace]

"Is... is that so? Ha ha ha... sorry."

Sumika smoothens the sheet and tries to fold in in such a way that the damage is invisible to the naked eye.

"You really have it this rough?"

[whats_a_good_end]

Don't worry about it. I'll... fix it later today after I get some thread and a sewing needle.

But yeah... this really wasn't what I intended to really do with my time in the ESUN. I mean, I knew the risks that I'd be taking as a test pilot-

[And her cybernetic right hand and left middle and index fingers were proof of that.]

But being part of the Unity Group's different from even that. I mean, this place even has a lower casualty count than the Breaker Program did. And that place was just testing the machine... the Unity Group's a dedicated combat group.

[signalsfromspace]

"Really? But you just said it yourself it's testing! Just driving robots around, right? Are aliens trying to eat you?!"

Sumika's hair antenna stands upright like if she too was an alien.

[whats_a_good_end]

Nothing quite like that, no. But there's a lot of data that needs to be replaced, and mine is the only Breaker left. Stress tests for pretty much everything are the order of most days.

Mundane, but dangerous. Even in this day and age test pilots still have to risk their life when trying to help develop new technology.

[signalsfromspace]

"Why does it have to be so dangerous? Promise me you won't die in a freaky accident, okay?"

[whats_a_good_end]

No promises. I've been lucky so far, but I'm walking around with reminders of what can happen on me as it is.

[signalsfromspace]

"Geez. Now I have no choice but to spend the whole day worrying, you know that!"

Sumika's cheeks puff up.

"You could've at least said 'It's a promise!', even if it was a lie."

[whats_a_good_end]

I'm sorry, but I can't. It's dangerous work but someone has to do it... and with all the crashes I've been in, those I've lost friends in, I've made my peace with it a long while back.

But, like I've said, I have today off. So there's at least that.

[signalsfromspace]

Sumika looks like if a light bulb just flashed over her head.

"That's right! I'll have to make eeeextra sure that no one is bothering you while you're sleeping, Ana. Leave it to me."

[whats_a_good_end]

The way you're making it sound I'd rather not leave it to you!

[signalsfromspace]

"Come ooon, please! No one will even think about interrupting your sweet dreams while I'm guarding the gates~!"

[whats_a_good_end]

You're the one in the greatest danger of doing that in the first place!

[signalsfromspace]

"No I'm not. You're being mean!"

2

[majestic_keiki]

[Rather than answer, Kei moved to look a bit more closely first. Maybe it did look like something, after all.]

[whats_a_good_end]

Anything come to mind?

[She tilted the canvas one way and then the other playfully.]

I'm not so sure myself, but that's the great part about art like this. Anyone's interpretation is right!

[majestic_keiki]

I'm not sure...

[She looked for a bit longer.]

I mostly only see Izuru's art and that's all superheroes...But maybe it looks a bit like a Savage. You know, the Arm Slave.

[whats_a_good_end]

A Savage?

[She turns the painting around and gazes at it.]

... I can't even remember the last time I looked at one of those. Weird.

[majestic_keiki]

Maybe it's based on who's looking.

[whats_a_good_end]

Well that's certainly true.

You think a Mithril pilot would think it looks like an AHSBM?

[majestic_keiki]

Maybe or perhaps they'd think of something that isn't a mecha at all. Like...A frog maybe? Or a dinosaur.

[whats_a_good_end]

Who knows. It might even say a lot about how different pilots see different things.

[majestic_keiki]

Maybe. Or how people do in general.

[whats_a_good_end]

And that's what makes art great, doesn't it?

Even a bunch of random colored lines on white can remind people of things. The power of imagination at its finest!

[majestic_keiki]

Right...I'm not really used to art. At least not the visual kind, I'm more used to music and books.

2

[a_monetized_mind]

It...

...Well...

...You had fun, right? That's what really matters.

[whats_a_good_end]

More than just having fun.

[She wiggles all her right hand's fingers around.]

Still need to get accustomed to having these.

[a_monetized_mind]

Mmm...I've never had to get visible augmentations like that...

...Maybe you could try videogames, or something?

[Neatly sidestepping the issue of the art's quality.]

[whats_a_good_end]

Never a fan of them, actually. Fingerpainting's just so much more cathartic.

[Unfortunately Jen, you're not getting off that easy.]

Now come on... does it remind you of anything? It's just a crazy mish-mash of lines and blobs but does it look like something else?

[a_monetized_mind]

Ummm...

[Drat, how to deal with this...Jen's no art critic, but she's shared drinks with many of them. Or delivered boxes of questionable content for them.]

...Well...A painting doesn't have to look like anything. But...if I had to pick something...

...The honeymoon phase of a relationship?