MissingNo
Inactive Member
The CSS suit wasn't made to take punishment. Tweak's suit had taken more punishment than it should have under any circumstances. While the rest of the team was sent to the station's medbay for treatment for various injuries, she set off on her own, favoring her burned foot as she strode straight from the shuttlebay to the Freespacer shrine. There she would be able to check her wounds and heal up properly, as it was the only place on Cirrus publicly accessible that didn't have cameras. The burns on and punctures in her suit made personnel step away from her as she passed, not particularly wishing to obtain their daily dose of Freespacer radiation from the damaged one. Tweak, while not radioactive, was still grateful for the avoidance.
Infection. Amputation! What era do we live in, the Dark Ages? I swear, I only bled for an hour to half past that, and they think that's reason enough to bring out the bonesaws! though Kokuten, the chilling idea of losing his leg to a minor bullet causing his stomach to churn. For now on, I will be carrying proper medical equipment on our patrols, otherwise these medieval medics will shear the limbs off of all my squad members!
As he pondered this, limping down the hallways at a decent pace, he spotted Tweak. Even if she was a Neko, she had come out much worse for wear than him. Ever since he had been interned to the medical bay he wanted to check up on all those who had been wounded in the mad escapade to the control room.
"Ah! Ms. Tweak!" Kokuten called, trying to catch the attention of the isolationist Neko.
Pausing a moment, the blank visor of the 'Spacer neko's helmet turned to look at the medic over her shoulder. She didn't say anything, but waited until Kokuten had a chance to catch up to her.
That would take a while, as the Captain lacked the capability to go any speedier than a brisk walk. His leg was still wounded, and any excess force (like the kind he applied repeatedly during the mission) would cause the wound to open again, and send searing pain up his leg. At any rate, he was able to catch up to Tweak.
She noted his limp as he approached, her ever-helpful TacOpSys telling her what the injury was and where it was located. "Shouldn't you be in the medbay with the others?" Tweak murmured, lifting her visor with a gloveless hand. Both hands had been replaced, and appeared quite unharmed.
"I am fine, I only needed a disinfectant and some painkillers. I am not one who can afford to sit idly while doctors of questionable degree try to saw off a perfectly good leg." said Kokuten, running a hand through his hair. He smiled at the Neko, noticing she seemed to be somewhat better than he expected. "I am glad you are alright! I thought to come and check on you, but you seemed to have recovered exponentially from the damage I heard you incurred on Fortuna."
Tweak blinked. "A...a little," she said. Most of her injuries were internal, how did he...? She didn't ask, and just kept walking. They arrived at the large door to the equipment closet that had been converted (or taken over) for a Freespacer shrine and Tweak peeked in before entering.
The place was dark, only the twinkling LEDs and several blacklight tubes shining here and there with the various designs painted on the walls and some of the junk piles (or sculptures, or individual shrines...it was difficult to tell here) reflected various wavelengths of light back, some even beyond normal human sight. Tweak's eyes altered their visible light range to adapt to the dim conditions, and she picked her way along the wall around the decor to the right of the door and sat down amidst a stack of metal crates and welded scrap metal that created an alcove shelter from any cameras that may have been added without the permission of the local mechadruidess.
"This place, it never seems to get old." mentioned Kokuten, observing the cultural designs and art so customary to Freespacer design. It was as if stepping inside one of the Free State's own ships and taking a tour, like he had done years ago when he had (momentarily) met Tweak. At any rate, he found a spot next to her, glad to rest his leg from the strain of walking. "The shrine must mean a lot for you to visit it so much."
Tweak removed her helmet, then noticed Kokuten there with her. She frowned a little, waving a hand at him to back up, keeping it up until he was just outside the alcove. While he was close, however, he might have caught the smell of something cooking, or recently cooked but now cooled. Setting her helmet down, Tweak carefully took off her hat after checking to make sure the shrine door had closed and ducking back behind the walls of the alcove.
The Captain would catch no scent, as the smell of his own blood still heavily clung in his senses. Though, he was not blind enough to not notice that the Freespacer required her own space, so he hobbled over, and away, quietly asking her to forgive his trespass. Without disturbing the sanctity of the room, he tried to move his boot-wearing feet over as subtly as possible, only to cause strain to himself in the process. At any rate, while he waited, he figured to make a small check of his eyes, as they had locked up momentarily in the previous mission.
With a small sensory thought, the fastening servos around his left eye released, allowing the remote eye to fall out of his head. He observed the cybernetic eyeball with curiosity, making use of his right eye's low-light functions to inspect it. It should have been strange sensation, looking at yourself while looking at your eye which looked at yourself. Though, it was something the Doctor had gotten used to it in using the model of cybernetics he had been provided by his family.
The armor plates were removed next, leaving Tweak in a perforated black undersuit that still hung loosely on her. Well, it did before. Now, where armor plates had weighed the material down, the suit now moved with Tweak as if it were stuck to her, crinkled in places like heated shrink-wrap.
Visibly uncomfortable now, Tweak turned to face the back of the alcove. Undoing the closures, she slowly pulled the suit down from her neck, wincing as it reached her shoulders. There was a crackling and a sound like velcro being peeled apart as she pulled it away from her shirt, which was now scorched and blackened. Worse, large sections of her suit had melted into the material of the shirt. When she got to her arms where there was no cloth to separate herself from the suit, she had to peel it directly from her skin. Fortunately or not, the vents on her upper arms were kept from plugging by the sleeves of the tee, so the heat damage was only skin-deep. The cotton shirt, once out from beneath the undersuit, released a pungent stench of burnt material. Neko skin, however, had only a weak smell when scorched, but it did shrivel. Scar-like tissue was left in the wake of the suit's removal all down her arms and underneath her shirt. Tweak let the upper part of the suit fold over at the waist and shivered. This was the first time since the mission began that she had been allowed to cool off.
The Captain turned his eye over so that it looked back into its own socket. With a free finger he picked at small debris that seemed to be caught in place of the servos. As he worked, he considered if his time was more beneficially spent filing a report, or at least check on everyone and ensure all equipment is returned properly. Though, he figured it best to allow himself a small break past the nerve-wracking mission he had just taken a part of. If Tweak intended him to sit alone, he would've been fine with it, as long as no one would ask him for orders, or expect him to do things that went against nearly every value he stood for.
Tweak sighed. Burns were something that were not quickly regenerated. Her eyes fell as she looked over her arms, then slowly pulled the suit further down and stepped out of it. Her legs had fared better; though the heavy material her board-style canvas shorts were made of was thicker, it still scorched. But at least the suit hadn't been allowed to touch her skin. Even so, the heat had still burned her, she could feel it. She shook her head. If she wanted to heal this, it wouldn't be easy.
Kokuten squished the small metal bits of what was in his eyesocket between his fingers. Most of it was just build-up from lack of maintenance, the Captain rarely ever felt the urge to do self-maintenance these days, especially with his new occupation. At any rate, he popped the left eye, the servos locking it back into the socket. Then...
Thwop! went his other eye as he popped it out of the socket. The Nepleslian's ocular cybernetic rolled in his hand for a moment, before righting itself to look back up at him. A green LED stared up at him, brightly illuminating the dim lighting on his face. Like he had done before, he began to inspect the eye, and then giving a look in the other eye-socket.
The neko leaned against the back wall of the alcove and slid down to sit on the floor, kicking the remains of her borrowed suit away from her while she rested her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. What was she going to do about this? The stress of the day was still held back, but all that really did was make her feel rather dull in the brain. At least it prevented her from going crazy...
Whir. went Kokuten's free eye, the tiny ball servos which rotated it causing it to jerk in his hand. This surprised the Doctor, because his brain wasn't sending any messages for his eye to jerk, nor did he feel any twitching sensations. It was problem, likely due to more debris in his eye socket, probably blocking the remote transmitters that controlled the ocular cybernetic. So, with a free finger, he worked at the inside of the cavity, trying to clear up any residue.
However, the rogue eye had other intentions, as it jerked in his hand again and fell on the floor. Such actions were dizzying, as he could till see out of it, and watching it's movements was like failing to launch a drop properly off a ship. Luckily for him, the eye didn't go anywhere else for a moment.
Get back here... thought the Captain, reaching for his eyes, but before he knew it, the cybernetic rolled away from him and into Tweak's alcove. Ah! No! Not there! He went on hot pursuit, trying to catch it before it had the chance to invade into the structure, but to no avail. Tweak would be having a small glowing visitor.
Normally, Claire swung her arms rather widely when she walked, giving the impression she was about to break into dance at any given moment. Today, her right arm was rather still. The knife going into her had hit a pretty critical muscle and it was likely going to take the rest of the day for the treatment to start being effective. Having her wounds tended to reminded her of the squadmate she had fought alongside against Bell, who had gotten it considerably worse. After asking around, she finally got it out of someone that they had seen Tweak around the shrine. She had almost asked what that was but then remembered running into the colorful spacer that used to be their captain in a rather embarrassing state of undress.
Claire, being the caring sort that she was, felt concerned and wanted to make sure that her newest acquaintance was doing alright. After getting lost once in the hallways that she wondered if Cassefin only made to confuse people who didn't have their maps on hand, she slowly approached the shrine. Her mind was still a bit tired as well as her body after the ordeal, but she remembered her manners in time. Sort of. She was already halfway inside when she called out to her spacer friend. "Tweak? You in here, dear?"
Dark red eyes watched the bright green one trace its way over the floor until it bumped against the wall next to her. She was decent, so it wasn't an invasion of that sort and she wasn't mad. If anything, she felt a distant annoyance. Was he trying to spy on her? Tweak reached out to pick up the eye, but the voice from the door to the shrine stopped her mid-action, feline ears perking up in alarm.
Oh no nonono... She looked around for her hat in a panic. It was hidden under her suit, where she had dropped it on the floor before kicking the black suit over it, out of sight. In a last-second effort, she picked up her helmet and plunked it on her head, visor still down. Then she sat back down and tried to look as small as possible in the alcove, forgetting that she still had visible burns running down her exposed forearms and calves. As an afterthought, she picked up the eye and held it in her fist.
Unfortunately, Claire did see the last second of Tweak's panicked placement of a helmet. While she didn't see what the spacer was trying to cover up, she did notice that she was obviously trying to hide something. Claire's eyebrow went up as she stopped just inside the door. There was a moment of silence before her eyes wandered and noticed the burns. "Oh no... that looks pretty painful, hon. Hasn't it been patched up yet? I mean, I've already had my wounds treated..." After a short pause, Claire also added, "Did you burn your face or something too? You don't have to wear the silly helmet in here, ya know."
Kokuten looked up at Claire as she came in, and he himself began to panic. There wasn't much he could do at the moment. If he tried to apologize for his eye getting into her alcove, he'd look like a voyeur. So, the Captain took just covering up his right eye socket with his hand, the other, glowing green eye staring up at her, and then over at Tweak.
Had Winters not noticed him? Perhaps she did not want to. Either way, it served the Captain well enough to assume a more normal position so he'd seem less distressed. Though, he tensed visibly as he heard Claire ask about the helmet.
"Ah! If I may... Tweak generally feels..." the Captain thought for a moment, searching for the right word, "Uncomfortable without a certain kind of headwear. I'm guessing she can't find her hat, and is just wearing the helmet as a sort of substitute."
The burns were nothing more than scars by now. Scars that covered all of her arms down to her forearms and up under the sleeves of her oversized tee-shirt, but still only scars and not the second-degree burns they used to be. Tweak shook her head at Claire's question, loosening up her position a little as it became clear that looking small had failed. The helmet turned toward Kokuten as he attempted to explain her headgear retention, then nodded rapidly in a 'yeah, what he said!' acceptance of his answer.
Claire folded her arms. She was a little spacey at times, but even she knew a cover-up when she heard one. Thinking back to their recent mission and what was said then... She briefly looked over at Kokuten to see him behaving oddly as well. As far as she knew though, he was fine. She turned to Tweak, "Uncomfortable? That helmet is uncomfortable, dear." There was a slight pause before Claire unfolded her arms and placed on hand onto her hip, "Unless, of course, this 'discomfort' of yours has to do with why THAT woman kept calling you 'kitty'..."
There was an uncomfortable silence for a few moments before Tweak shook her head, this time slowly. "Mymy--- my hair...Helmet head..." she said, barely loud enough to be heard through the aforementioned item. "And stink-stink-stinky..." Behind the visor she clenched her eyes shut; she was stuttering again. Wrong thing to say! The smell was still hanging around. Or, rather, the smell of burnt cloth, since cooked neko didn't have a particular scent.
"From what I understand." Kokuten started where Tweak failed to explain, and then stopped, his one eye staring at Claire for a moment. A thought crossed his mind. One that reminded him that he was not adept at lying, but half-truths? Why, he half-truthed all the time with patients, as most of the time they did not need to know the entire truth.
"Cat ears." was what Kokuten said, "Ms. Tweak has a set of bat-like ears that resemble a cat's ears." He looked over at the Freespacer, the eye in her hand jerking slightly with his head movement. "It's probably why she feels secure with a hat on her head, most Nepleslians would likely not give her the time of day and assume she's some kind of Neko."
Claire sighed. She didn't like being lied to, though perhaps it was understandable. She hadn't yet earned their trust, or at least she didn't think she had yet. "Oh sure, that makes s- no it doesn't." Claire frowned a little. "Tweak. I was there with you the entire fight. At no point did your helmet come off. Neither of us saw your ears." Claire's other hand rubbed the sides of her nose's bridge briefly.
"Look, I didn't come in here to interrogate you, and I'm sorry for my question... But I would appreciate you being honest with me... we are comrades after all." There was a short pause, "And I'm not going to tell anyone about this either... so don't worry." Claire could just see some of the other squadmates just going on with their friends about what's under her hat. Claire wasn't going to force her, but...
Tweak looked down at the floor past her knees. She didn't like doing this. Hiding was one thing...you were either found or hidden. But lying just felt dishonorable. Like being found and yelling "You didn't find me!" and hiding in the same spot even when someone knows you're there...oh. There it was. Her knit cap. The tassel of one of the chin ties poked out from under the pile of CSS suit material, invisible from above. She pushed away from the wall and moved over to the pile on her hands and knees, a two- or three-step trip, took hold of the tassel and pulled it to her as she rolled back to her sitting spot against the wall. The hat was in the same condition it was when the fight started, even when she had put it on earlier that day before the mission. Tweak pushed a concealed button and the LED lights around its crown lit up and began twinkling.
"Nepleslians hate nekos," she said softly. "People will hate me." While she held her hat in one hand, the hand with Kokuten's eye (the optics pressed into her palm) went to her chest, to a set of metal-trimmed crystal tags that still hung around her neck by a steel cord, framing the red gear tattoo between her collarbones.
An audible sigh escaped Kokuten's lips as he watched Tweak move over to her item. He looked off into the darkness for a moment, before returning his gaze up at Claire.
"I met Tweak a long time ago, before the Kennewes Offensive." the Doctor rubbed his chin idly, "Do you recall the first contact between the Neplelsians and the Free State? Well, I was there, and so was Tweak. As it was reported, the meeting was awkward, but what was kept from the mainstream media was the appearance of a Freespacer that resembled a Neko. When my comrades first spotted Tweak, they made sure to make her feel unwelcome as possible." A frown spread on Kokuten's face as he looked over at Tweak once more, a hand still over the empty eye socket. "She learned of our prejudices in a very hard way."
Claire had sort of already guessed what Tweak was hiding with a combination of Bell's taunts and Tweak's obvious cover-ups. But she held off on her initial response when Kokuten piped in and started giving her a history lesson. She felt a little annoyed at the interruption at first, but became more understanding as she was informed of Tweak's situation. Claire felt a pang of sympathy, but wasn't sure that Tweak wanted to hear that. Most people she knew tended to dislike being felt sorry for. After a couple of silent moments of mulling over how to respond, Claire let her arms rest at her sides as she turned to Tweak.
"I don't hate you."
The neko was quiet again. While the helmet was aimed downward, her eyes were watching Claire, trying to decide. The Geshrin woman didn't have anything particularly bad in her notes...in fact, the only thing Tweak found immediately objectionable was how close Claire seemed to be with Cassefin. A memory from the trip down to the sinkhole being the more recent one, though Cass didn't seem very friendly. Then again, she was aloof to practically everyone.
Multi-colored LEDs made patterns on the faceplate of the helmet. Tweak put the hat down and pulled her helmet off. She was right, she did have helmet-hair. Most of the time, her hair only had a few strands visible beneath the knit cap and she had stopped wearing the bandanna for the most part. Not many people knew her hair color or whether it was her real one. But the dark green-with-light-green-streaks was natural. From beneath it on either side, dark green-furred ears flicked, free for the first time in days, if not longer...or since she last had a shower. Which had been that morning. She ran a three-fingered hand through it, then looked up at Claire. "And now?" she asked slowly.
Claire felt her muscles tighten a little out of habit. Usually seeing a neko was a bad thing to most Nepleslians, and there was that whole incident in Fortuna where she was brought in to Cirrus. (Which, as an aside, she really hoped Tweak didn't know about her beating a neko's head and emptying half of her clip into it.) But there was also a better moment she experienced with their kind. In fact, she owed one... and at that point the train of thought was forcibly shut down almost automatically, which startled her a little. Back to the issue at hand though...
Claire took the last step between them and knelt down so they were eye to eye. "Tweak, you saved my life numerous times this last mission. If it wasn't for you, I'd be gone and that woman would probably still be free... I don't care what you are. I think of you as a wonderful ally. And maybe a friend, if it would please you."
Taking a breath, trying to relax herself, Tweak nodded. "Okay." Another friend. Hopefully. Well, Kokuten wasn't a bad person, so maybe this was a chance that was worth taking. Now, should she tell Claire...? Tweak glanced down at the book-like case in the holder that used to carry her journal that was still hanging from her belt. A stab of delayed panic didn't even give her time to tense up before it was gone as she realized that the device could have been damaged at any time during the fight with Bell. I need a backup! she thought, flagging that as a task for her next spare time. Looking up at Claire, the neko tried to smile, still nervous about this. "Maybe you can protect me too, sometime..."
The air, it felt somewhat tense past the softness of the moment. Kokuten rubbed his chin-strap beard with his eye-covering hand, revealing the empty eye-socket mindlessly.
"Heh," he chuckled, a thought coming to mind, "It's difficult to protect someone who's quite capable of handling three Uniques on her own."
Claire felt a small smile form on her lips as Tweak gave her suggestion, only to have it turn into an exasperated expression as she chuckled due to Kokuten's interruption. While he had pretty much pointed out what had come to her mind first, she was sure Tweak meant non-combat protection, however that would manifest.
Claire's musing was interrupted by a familiar growling noise. It wasn't loud enough for others to hear, but she knew what it meant. She was reminded of something Tweak had been muttering about on the way back, "Hey, are you still hungry, dear? I just restocked our kitchen with my last paycheck and I can make you something to eat if you'd like."
Tweak's smile grew a little less nervous and she nodded. "Hai!" She put her cap on and tied the strings, then picked up her CSS suit and rolled it all into a ball with the plates inside it. With that ready to go, Tweak walked over to Kokuten and held up his optical implant. Then she noticed her arm. The skin on both of them from wrist to shoulder was unnaturally shiny and rippled with scars now. After a moment she realized she'd frozen, so she forced herself to continue what she was doing and nodded at Claire when she was ready.
As if it had a mind of its own, the eye's ball-bearings rolled sharply, speeding itself off of Tweak's hand. Though, this time, the eye wasn't so lucky as the Doctor snatched it out of the air.
"Thank you, Ms. Tweak, I apologize for that." he smiled at her warmly as his finger rubbed off whatever debris was left on the transmitter in the socket. When he felt that he had gotten most of it out, and his eye stopped jerking, the Captain popped the cybernetic back in place. Then, he rolled both eyeballs around in his head for a moment before stopping them on a focused point, regaining their alignment.
Tweak nodded at Kokuten with a smile.
"Come on, if we take too long Cassefin will come barging in and demand to know where we get our stock." Claire smiled. Of course, since she got it herself it really wasn't any of her business but she felt that wouldn't stop the administrator from throwing a fit first.
>END
Infection. Amputation! What era do we live in, the Dark Ages? I swear, I only bled for an hour to half past that, and they think that's reason enough to bring out the bonesaws! though Kokuten, the chilling idea of losing his leg to a minor bullet causing his stomach to churn. For now on, I will be carrying proper medical equipment on our patrols, otherwise these medieval medics will shear the limbs off of all my squad members!
As he pondered this, limping down the hallways at a decent pace, he spotted Tweak. Even if she was a Neko, she had come out much worse for wear than him. Ever since he had been interned to the medical bay he wanted to check up on all those who had been wounded in the mad escapade to the control room.
"Ah! Ms. Tweak!" Kokuten called, trying to catch the attention of the isolationist Neko.
Pausing a moment, the blank visor of the 'Spacer neko's helmet turned to look at the medic over her shoulder. She didn't say anything, but waited until Kokuten had a chance to catch up to her.
That would take a while, as the Captain lacked the capability to go any speedier than a brisk walk. His leg was still wounded, and any excess force (like the kind he applied repeatedly during the mission) would cause the wound to open again, and send searing pain up his leg. At any rate, he was able to catch up to Tweak.
She noted his limp as he approached, her ever-helpful TacOpSys telling her what the injury was and where it was located. "Shouldn't you be in the medbay with the others?" Tweak murmured, lifting her visor with a gloveless hand. Both hands had been replaced, and appeared quite unharmed.
"I am fine, I only needed a disinfectant and some painkillers. I am not one who can afford to sit idly while doctors of questionable degree try to saw off a perfectly good leg." said Kokuten, running a hand through his hair. He smiled at the Neko, noticing she seemed to be somewhat better than he expected. "I am glad you are alright! I thought to come and check on you, but you seemed to have recovered exponentially from the damage I heard you incurred on Fortuna."
Tweak blinked. "A...a little," she said. Most of her injuries were internal, how did he...? She didn't ask, and just kept walking. They arrived at the large door to the equipment closet that had been converted (or taken over) for a Freespacer shrine and Tweak peeked in before entering.
The place was dark, only the twinkling LEDs and several blacklight tubes shining here and there with the various designs painted on the walls and some of the junk piles (or sculptures, or individual shrines...it was difficult to tell here) reflected various wavelengths of light back, some even beyond normal human sight. Tweak's eyes altered their visible light range to adapt to the dim conditions, and she picked her way along the wall around the decor to the right of the door and sat down amidst a stack of metal crates and welded scrap metal that created an alcove shelter from any cameras that may have been added without the permission of the local mechadruidess.
"This place, it never seems to get old." mentioned Kokuten, observing the cultural designs and art so customary to Freespacer design. It was as if stepping inside one of the Free State's own ships and taking a tour, like he had done years ago when he had (momentarily) met Tweak. At any rate, he found a spot next to her, glad to rest his leg from the strain of walking. "The shrine must mean a lot for you to visit it so much."
Tweak removed her helmet, then noticed Kokuten there with her. She frowned a little, waving a hand at him to back up, keeping it up until he was just outside the alcove. While he was close, however, he might have caught the smell of something cooking, or recently cooked but now cooled. Setting her helmet down, Tweak carefully took off her hat after checking to make sure the shrine door had closed and ducking back behind the walls of the alcove.
The Captain would catch no scent, as the smell of his own blood still heavily clung in his senses. Though, he was not blind enough to not notice that the Freespacer required her own space, so he hobbled over, and away, quietly asking her to forgive his trespass. Without disturbing the sanctity of the room, he tried to move his boot-wearing feet over as subtly as possible, only to cause strain to himself in the process. At any rate, while he waited, he figured to make a small check of his eyes, as they had locked up momentarily in the previous mission.
With a small sensory thought, the fastening servos around his left eye released, allowing the remote eye to fall out of his head. He observed the cybernetic eyeball with curiosity, making use of his right eye's low-light functions to inspect it. It should have been strange sensation, looking at yourself while looking at your eye which looked at yourself. Though, it was something the Doctor had gotten used to it in using the model of cybernetics he had been provided by his family.
The armor plates were removed next, leaving Tweak in a perforated black undersuit that still hung loosely on her. Well, it did before. Now, where armor plates had weighed the material down, the suit now moved with Tweak as if it were stuck to her, crinkled in places like heated shrink-wrap.
Visibly uncomfortable now, Tweak turned to face the back of the alcove. Undoing the closures, she slowly pulled the suit down from her neck, wincing as it reached her shoulders. There was a crackling and a sound like velcro being peeled apart as she pulled it away from her shirt, which was now scorched and blackened. Worse, large sections of her suit had melted into the material of the shirt. When she got to her arms where there was no cloth to separate herself from the suit, she had to peel it directly from her skin. Fortunately or not, the vents on her upper arms were kept from plugging by the sleeves of the tee, so the heat damage was only skin-deep. The cotton shirt, once out from beneath the undersuit, released a pungent stench of burnt material. Neko skin, however, had only a weak smell when scorched, but it did shrivel. Scar-like tissue was left in the wake of the suit's removal all down her arms and underneath her shirt. Tweak let the upper part of the suit fold over at the waist and shivered. This was the first time since the mission began that she had been allowed to cool off.
The Captain turned his eye over so that it looked back into its own socket. With a free finger he picked at small debris that seemed to be caught in place of the servos. As he worked, he considered if his time was more beneficially spent filing a report, or at least check on everyone and ensure all equipment is returned properly. Though, he figured it best to allow himself a small break past the nerve-wracking mission he had just taken a part of. If Tweak intended him to sit alone, he would've been fine with it, as long as no one would ask him for orders, or expect him to do things that went against nearly every value he stood for.
Tweak sighed. Burns were something that were not quickly regenerated. Her eyes fell as she looked over her arms, then slowly pulled the suit further down and stepped out of it. Her legs had fared better; though the heavy material her board-style canvas shorts were made of was thicker, it still scorched. But at least the suit hadn't been allowed to touch her skin. Even so, the heat had still burned her, she could feel it. She shook her head. If she wanted to heal this, it wouldn't be easy.
Kokuten squished the small metal bits of what was in his eyesocket between his fingers. Most of it was just build-up from lack of maintenance, the Captain rarely ever felt the urge to do self-maintenance these days, especially with his new occupation. At any rate, he popped the left eye, the servos locking it back into the socket. Then...
Thwop! went his other eye as he popped it out of the socket. The Nepleslian's ocular cybernetic rolled in his hand for a moment, before righting itself to look back up at him. A green LED stared up at him, brightly illuminating the dim lighting on his face. Like he had done before, he began to inspect the eye, and then giving a look in the other eye-socket.
The neko leaned against the back wall of the alcove and slid down to sit on the floor, kicking the remains of her borrowed suit away from her while she rested her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. What was she going to do about this? The stress of the day was still held back, but all that really did was make her feel rather dull in the brain. At least it prevented her from going crazy...
Whir. went Kokuten's free eye, the tiny ball servos which rotated it causing it to jerk in his hand. This surprised the Doctor, because his brain wasn't sending any messages for his eye to jerk, nor did he feel any twitching sensations. It was problem, likely due to more debris in his eye socket, probably blocking the remote transmitters that controlled the ocular cybernetic. So, with a free finger, he worked at the inside of the cavity, trying to clear up any residue.
However, the rogue eye had other intentions, as it jerked in his hand again and fell on the floor. Such actions were dizzying, as he could till see out of it, and watching it's movements was like failing to launch a drop properly off a ship. Luckily for him, the eye didn't go anywhere else for a moment.
Get back here... thought the Captain, reaching for his eyes, but before he knew it, the cybernetic rolled away from him and into Tweak's alcove. Ah! No! Not there! He went on hot pursuit, trying to catch it before it had the chance to invade into the structure, but to no avail. Tweak would be having a small glowing visitor.
Normally, Claire swung her arms rather widely when she walked, giving the impression she was about to break into dance at any given moment. Today, her right arm was rather still. The knife going into her had hit a pretty critical muscle and it was likely going to take the rest of the day for the treatment to start being effective. Having her wounds tended to reminded her of the squadmate she had fought alongside against Bell, who had gotten it considerably worse. After asking around, she finally got it out of someone that they had seen Tweak around the shrine. She had almost asked what that was but then remembered running into the colorful spacer that used to be their captain in a rather embarrassing state of undress.
Claire, being the caring sort that she was, felt concerned and wanted to make sure that her newest acquaintance was doing alright. After getting lost once in the hallways that she wondered if Cassefin only made to confuse people who didn't have their maps on hand, she slowly approached the shrine. Her mind was still a bit tired as well as her body after the ordeal, but she remembered her manners in time. Sort of. She was already halfway inside when she called out to her spacer friend. "Tweak? You in here, dear?"
Dark red eyes watched the bright green one trace its way over the floor until it bumped against the wall next to her. She was decent, so it wasn't an invasion of that sort and she wasn't mad. If anything, she felt a distant annoyance. Was he trying to spy on her? Tweak reached out to pick up the eye, but the voice from the door to the shrine stopped her mid-action, feline ears perking up in alarm.
Oh no nonono... She looked around for her hat in a panic. It was hidden under her suit, where she had dropped it on the floor before kicking the black suit over it, out of sight. In a last-second effort, she picked up her helmet and plunked it on her head, visor still down. Then she sat back down and tried to look as small as possible in the alcove, forgetting that she still had visible burns running down her exposed forearms and calves. As an afterthought, she picked up the eye and held it in her fist.
Unfortunately, Claire did see the last second of Tweak's panicked placement of a helmet. While she didn't see what the spacer was trying to cover up, she did notice that she was obviously trying to hide something. Claire's eyebrow went up as she stopped just inside the door. There was a moment of silence before her eyes wandered and noticed the burns. "Oh no... that looks pretty painful, hon. Hasn't it been patched up yet? I mean, I've already had my wounds treated..." After a short pause, Claire also added, "Did you burn your face or something too? You don't have to wear the silly helmet in here, ya know."
Kokuten looked up at Claire as she came in, and he himself began to panic. There wasn't much he could do at the moment. If he tried to apologize for his eye getting into her alcove, he'd look like a voyeur. So, the Captain took just covering up his right eye socket with his hand, the other, glowing green eye staring up at her, and then over at Tweak.
Had Winters not noticed him? Perhaps she did not want to. Either way, it served the Captain well enough to assume a more normal position so he'd seem less distressed. Though, he tensed visibly as he heard Claire ask about the helmet.
"Ah! If I may... Tweak generally feels..." the Captain thought for a moment, searching for the right word, "Uncomfortable without a certain kind of headwear. I'm guessing she can't find her hat, and is just wearing the helmet as a sort of substitute."
The burns were nothing more than scars by now. Scars that covered all of her arms down to her forearms and up under the sleeves of her oversized tee-shirt, but still only scars and not the second-degree burns they used to be. Tweak shook her head at Claire's question, loosening up her position a little as it became clear that looking small had failed. The helmet turned toward Kokuten as he attempted to explain her headgear retention, then nodded rapidly in a 'yeah, what he said!' acceptance of his answer.
Claire folded her arms. She was a little spacey at times, but even she knew a cover-up when she heard one. Thinking back to their recent mission and what was said then... She briefly looked over at Kokuten to see him behaving oddly as well. As far as she knew though, he was fine. She turned to Tweak, "Uncomfortable? That helmet is uncomfortable, dear." There was a slight pause before Claire unfolded her arms and placed on hand onto her hip, "Unless, of course, this 'discomfort' of yours has to do with why THAT woman kept calling you 'kitty'..."
There was an uncomfortable silence for a few moments before Tweak shook her head, this time slowly. "Mymy--- my hair...Helmet head..." she said, barely loud enough to be heard through the aforementioned item. "And stink-stink-stinky..." Behind the visor she clenched her eyes shut; she was stuttering again. Wrong thing to say! The smell was still hanging around. Or, rather, the smell of burnt cloth, since cooked neko didn't have a particular scent.
"From what I understand." Kokuten started where Tweak failed to explain, and then stopped, his one eye staring at Claire for a moment. A thought crossed his mind. One that reminded him that he was not adept at lying, but half-truths? Why, he half-truthed all the time with patients, as most of the time they did not need to know the entire truth.
"Cat ears." was what Kokuten said, "Ms. Tweak has a set of bat-like ears that resemble a cat's ears." He looked over at the Freespacer, the eye in her hand jerking slightly with his head movement. "It's probably why she feels secure with a hat on her head, most Nepleslians would likely not give her the time of day and assume she's some kind of Neko."
Claire sighed. She didn't like being lied to, though perhaps it was understandable. She hadn't yet earned their trust, or at least she didn't think she had yet. "Oh sure, that makes s- no it doesn't." Claire frowned a little. "Tweak. I was there with you the entire fight. At no point did your helmet come off. Neither of us saw your ears." Claire's other hand rubbed the sides of her nose's bridge briefly.
"Look, I didn't come in here to interrogate you, and I'm sorry for my question... But I would appreciate you being honest with me... we are comrades after all." There was a short pause, "And I'm not going to tell anyone about this either... so don't worry." Claire could just see some of the other squadmates just going on with their friends about what's under her hat. Claire wasn't going to force her, but...
Tweak looked down at the floor past her knees. She didn't like doing this. Hiding was one thing...you were either found or hidden. But lying just felt dishonorable. Like being found and yelling "You didn't find me!" and hiding in the same spot even when someone knows you're there...oh. There it was. Her knit cap. The tassel of one of the chin ties poked out from under the pile of CSS suit material, invisible from above. She pushed away from the wall and moved over to the pile on her hands and knees, a two- or three-step trip, took hold of the tassel and pulled it to her as she rolled back to her sitting spot against the wall. The hat was in the same condition it was when the fight started, even when she had put it on earlier that day before the mission. Tweak pushed a concealed button and the LED lights around its crown lit up and began twinkling.
"Nepleslians hate nekos," she said softly. "People will hate me." While she held her hat in one hand, the hand with Kokuten's eye (the optics pressed into her palm) went to her chest, to a set of metal-trimmed crystal tags that still hung around her neck by a steel cord, framing the red gear tattoo between her collarbones.
An audible sigh escaped Kokuten's lips as he watched Tweak move over to her item. He looked off into the darkness for a moment, before returning his gaze up at Claire.
"I met Tweak a long time ago, before the Kennewes Offensive." the Doctor rubbed his chin idly, "Do you recall the first contact between the Neplelsians and the Free State? Well, I was there, and so was Tweak. As it was reported, the meeting was awkward, but what was kept from the mainstream media was the appearance of a Freespacer that resembled a Neko. When my comrades first spotted Tweak, they made sure to make her feel unwelcome as possible." A frown spread on Kokuten's face as he looked over at Tweak once more, a hand still over the empty eye socket. "She learned of our prejudices in a very hard way."
Claire had sort of already guessed what Tweak was hiding with a combination of Bell's taunts and Tweak's obvious cover-ups. But she held off on her initial response when Kokuten piped in and started giving her a history lesson. She felt a little annoyed at the interruption at first, but became more understanding as she was informed of Tweak's situation. Claire felt a pang of sympathy, but wasn't sure that Tweak wanted to hear that. Most people she knew tended to dislike being felt sorry for. After a couple of silent moments of mulling over how to respond, Claire let her arms rest at her sides as she turned to Tweak.
"I don't hate you."
The neko was quiet again. While the helmet was aimed downward, her eyes were watching Claire, trying to decide. The Geshrin woman didn't have anything particularly bad in her notes...in fact, the only thing Tweak found immediately objectionable was how close Claire seemed to be with Cassefin. A memory from the trip down to the sinkhole being the more recent one, though Cass didn't seem very friendly. Then again, she was aloof to practically everyone.
Multi-colored LEDs made patterns on the faceplate of the helmet. Tweak put the hat down and pulled her helmet off. She was right, she did have helmet-hair. Most of the time, her hair only had a few strands visible beneath the knit cap and she had stopped wearing the bandanna for the most part. Not many people knew her hair color or whether it was her real one. But the dark green-with-light-green-streaks was natural. From beneath it on either side, dark green-furred ears flicked, free for the first time in days, if not longer...or since she last had a shower. Which had been that morning. She ran a three-fingered hand through it, then looked up at Claire. "And now?" she asked slowly.
Claire felt her muscles tighten a little out of habit. Usually seeing a neko was a bad thing to most Nepleslians, and there was that whole incident in Fortuna where she was brought in to Cirrus. (Which, as an aside, she really hoped Tweak didn't know about her beating a neko's head and emptying half of her clip into it.) But there was also a better moment she experienced with their kind. In fact, she owed one... and at that point the train of thought was forcibly shut down almost automatically, which startled her a little. Back to the issue at hand though...
Claire took the last step between them and knelt down so they were eye to eye. "Tweak, you saved my life numerous times this last mission. If it wasn't for you, I'd be gone and that woman would probably still be free... I don't care what you are. I think of you as a wonderful ally. And maybe a friend, if it would please you."
Taking a breath, trying to relax herself, Tweak nodded. "Okay." Another friend. Hopefully. Well, Kokuten wasn't a bad person, so maybe this was a chance that was worth taking. Now, should she tell Claire...? Tweak glanced down at the book-like case in the holder that used to carry her journal that was still hanging from her belt. A stab of delayed panic didn't even give her time to tense up before it was gone as she realized that the device could have been damaged at any time during the fight with Bell. I need a backup! she thought, flagging that as a task for her next spare time. Looking up at Claire, the neko tried to smile, still nervous about this. "Maybe you can protect me too, sometime..."
The air, it felt somewhat tense past the softness of the moment. Kokuten rubbed his chin-strap beard with his eye-covering hand, revealing the empty eye-socket mindlessly.
"Heh," he chuckled, a thought coming to mind, "It's difficult to protect someone who's quite capable of handling three Uniques on her own."
Claire felt a small smile form on her lips as Tweak gave her suggestion, only to have it turn into an exasperated expression as she chuckled due to Kokuten's interruption. While he had pretty much pointed out what had come to her mind first, she was sure Tweak meant non-combat protection, however that would manifest.
Claire's musing was interrupted by a familiar growling noise. It wasn't loud enough for others to hear, but she knew what it meant. She was reminded of something Tweak had been muttering about on the way back, "Hey, are you still hungry, dear? I just restocked our kitchen with my last paycheck and I can make you something to eat if you'd like."
Tweak's smile grew a little less nervous and she nodded. "Hai!" She put her cap on and tied the strings, then picked up her CSS suit and rolled it all into a ball with the plates inside it. With that ready to go, Tweak walked over to Kokuten and held up his optical implant. Then she noticed her arm. The skin on both of them from wrist to shoulder was unnaturally shiny and rippled with scars now. After a moment she realized she'd frozen, so she forced herself to continue what she was doing and nodded at Claire when she was ready.
As if it had a mind of its own, the eye's ball-bearings rolled sharply, speeding itself off of Tweak's hand. Though, this time, the eye wasn't so lucky as the Doctor snatched it out of the air.
"Thank you, Ms. Tweak, I apologize for that." he smiled at her warmly as his finger rubbed off whatever debris was left on the transmitter in the socket. When he felt that he had gotten most of it out, and his eye stopped jerking, the Captain popped the cybernetic back in place. Then, he rolled both eyeballs around in his head for a moment before stopping them on a focused point, regaining their alignment.
Tweak nodded at Kokuten with a smile.
"Come on, if we take too long Cassefin will come barging in and demand to know where we get our stock." Claire smiled. Of course, since she got it herself it really wasn't any of her business but she felt that wouldn't stop the administrator from throwing a fit first.
>END
