Chapter 16 - We Are Ready To Walk Again

[photonicfighter]

[Action A - 458 Stone Street, Morning]

[This morning's mail had a package in it for Dakki, and she greeted it with the usual enthusiasm that she greeted packages addressed to her.]

I've got something! It's here! I've got something!

[...which is to bring it to the kitchen table, tear off the packaging, and prepare to share it with everyone. Out comes a compressed blue item cube, that then immediately blips away in a flash of blue nano transformer light. And in the next instant there's a visor-like set of goggles upon Dakki's face.]

Oh!

[It's a bit disorienting at first. It's her own pair of goggles from home, but they're still configured for her previous audio and visual sensors. So there's some rapid blinking of her remaining active eye, and a hand comes up to start making some adjustments.]

Well there's something I didn't know I missed until it was gone....

[Action B - Neutron Diner, Lunchtime]

[Why not do something a bit different today? Rather than just fixing herself a sandwich at home, Dakki took it upon herself to have lunch out instead. Just a simple cheeseburger and fries, with a chocolate milkshake to drink... But it felt like a treat. Even if the most she could taste from the food was salty and greasy, the milkshake had a flavor profile more suited for her CAST senses. Sweet, creamy, a sense of vanilla, a sense of chocolate... She seems a bit lost in her own thoughts as she eats, but if she spies anyone that she recognizes? She'll be perking up and waving them over.]

Ah! Hello! Come on over, why don't you have a seat?

[Action C - 458 Stone Street, Afternoon/Early Evening]

[The "novelty" of wearing Mayfield clothing again is starting to wear off, and Dakki would much prefer to have her armor back on... if it weren't so dinged up and scorched and filthy. So that was this afternoon's project. Her armor was laid out in pieces on the front porch, and she was meticulously scrubbing out the dirt and buffing out scratches by hand. Every so often she stops and frowns and looks discouraged, but it's not long before she's back at it again.

Although there are also occasional periods of staring off into nothing and scrubbing very, very slowly. This is a CAST with a lot of things to process, it seems.]

Comments

[cosmicbond]

Ahh! Dakki!

[Gen's grinning. He needs a good meal after the rough day he's been having. But a meal with a friend is even better!]

How's it goin'?

[photonicfighter]

Gentarou! [She pulls her plate and her milkshake a bit closer so he has a spot on the opposite side of the booth, if he wants it.]

Things are alright. Better now that there's a friendly face here! How're you doing?

[cosmicbond]

[He'll take that seat gladly.]

A bit sore. I hadta get up early to get those newspapers out. And my bike ain't exactly great.

But I can forget about that because I've made a lot of friends here.

[photonicfighter]

Ohh... they've got you doing newspaper delivery, I see... do they have you covering every street? [She looks a bit concerned. That's a lot of work for a young man that may not have been used to that sort of thing.

The talk of friends widens her smile, though there's a hint of sadness to her eyes. Well, eye. She's only got a left eye at the moment. The right is glassy and blank.]

I think a lot of us have made a lot of friends. Although more and more people are being droned, lately... have you noticed? It's a pity....

[cosmicbond]

I think they've got a couple of others, though i ain't met them. So I'm not alone out there.

[Even though, he could totally take it.]

Yeah, I've seen it.

[He'll frown a little bit.]

But that just means I gotta work harder to figure out a way to help them. E-even though plannings not my forte.

[photonicfighter]

Lucas was doing newspaper delivery too, last time I checked. He has a... tea table that gallops like some sort of animal, though, so I think it's a bit less hard of a job. [It's funny to think about, and she laughs.

Gentarou's resolve is very encouraging.]

Planning's not what I'm good at, either. Give me some orders, and I'll do everything I can! But planning... [She shakes her head and picks up her milkshake.]

...I think we'll help everyone, in the end, by shutting this place down. Somehow.

[cosmicbond]

A tea table?! Wow, I hafta see that!

Sounds about right. Once my gear comes in the mail...I'm sure I can start thinking better.

[photonicfighter]

Keep an eye out around town! You never know when it'll go galloping by.

[She takes a sip of her milkshake, making an interested noise as she does.]

Mm! What kind of gear are you waiting for?

[cosmicbond]

I'll make sure ta do that then.

My Fourze Driver. And hopefully some of my Astroswitches.

C

[noluckduck]

[Clover was just walking home, but that armor catches her eyes. So, she just sort of... casually wanders over...]

Yo.

C

[photonicfighter]

[Dakki doesn't take immediate notice that Clover's there. She's scrubbing at some particularly ground-in charred substance on a piece of shoulder armor, and her right side is turned to the girl. There's some definite lag time between the "yo" and when Dakki lifts her head and notices.]

...oh! Clover! Hello! I'm sorry, I didn't see you there.

[The reason for that may be more obvious now that Dakki has lifted her head. Her right eye is a clear white blank, and it looks like her ear-antenna mechanisms were recently patched up.]

[noluckduck]

[Oho. Clover's eyebrows rise.] Doin', uh, maintenance?

[photonicfighter]

Something like that.

[Still smiling, she dips the old toothbrush that she was using into a container of water, rinsing out dirt and grit.]

You pick up a lot of dirt, running through a wasteland. And getting bombed on the way back out of it.

[noluckduck]

... Oh, fuck. Was it one of those portals?

[photonicfighter]

Yeah. One of those ones. One of my housemates checked out the desert one, and another ended up on a... flying machine of some sort.

[A bit more scrubbing ensued. That darned dirt was coming off bit by bit!]

...did you check any of them out?

[noluckduck]

... A flyin' machine? Haven't heard about that one.

[Ah. The question makes Clover frown.] Yeah. The last one, I think.

[photonicfighter]

Apparently. I haven't asked Chen too much about it.

[The answer makes Dakki lift her head higher, looking faintly concerned.] Oh. That one. I'm glad to see you made it back alright.

C

[a_clockwork_melody]

[Soon enough, footsteps sounded from a short distance away, Aurica coming home from school. She never really got lost in this part of town, but the recent erection of a tower in their backyard helped her find the way faster nowadays.

She noticed Dakki on the porch but didn't say anything yet, noticing her not!mom was busy with something as well as being curious with what she was up to.]

C

[photonicfighter]

[Her hearing isn't quite up to the standard that it used to be. Aurica is almost all the way up the front walk before Dakki lifts her head and takes visible notice of her. And before that, she hadn't even been doing very much. Just polishing a piece of leg armor that had gotten about as shiny as it ever would.]

...Aurica! Welcome home! How was your day?

C

[a_clockwork_melody]

Oh, the same as usual. [There isn't much to be said about the day-to-day changes of being in high school, even if the experience itself is a welcome change of pace and something for Aurica to busy herself with, learning of this era.]

..Well, I have a new History class with someone who has his words appear in our heads instead of talk normally. He called himself Death? And we have to write about our own world's history for homework now. [No, she isn't fazed by this at all.]

C

[photonicfighter]

...history class sounds interesting. [She hadn't really met Death, not in person. Seen him in passing, perhaps, but not engaged the fellow in conversation. So... this was certainly a strange-sounding day at school. But if Aurica was happy...]

That sounds like an interesting homework assignment. Will they be shared with the class, or will the teacher just be collecting and grading the reports?

C

[a_clockwork_melody]

I think just collecting them. He said extra credit for drawings though.

[She would be happier about it, though once she sees the leg armor piece, and what Dakki apparently seems to be doing, she frowns faintly.]

♪ BGM: Your Feelings (R)

Ne, Dakki?

C

[photonicfighter]

Drawings. I hadn't expected that. I'm a little glad that's not my assignment, now. I'm not very good at drawing.

[Aurica's concerned half-question made her suddenly aware that she was still polishing that piece of armor. She looked down, looked back up again, and then sheepishly set the cloth aside. She ran her fingers over the pockmarks, instead.]

...I might just have to get used to it being a mess. But it looks a bit nicer with the dirt gone, and the scuffs rubbed out... right?

C

[a_clockwork_melody]

Mm...

[Not saying much else, Aurica walks over to where Dakki's sitting, and sets herself down beside her, looking at the state of the armor.]

I don't think I can help with that either, not without some materials from back home.

[Back home... She found herself still using that phrase, even if she meant the world she came from.]

..It still feels unreal to be here again, like this. I didn't believe I would get a second chance.

C

[photonicfighter]

[Seeing Aurica moving in to have a seat, Dakki edges over to give her more room.]

Mm? You know how to repair armor?

[Talking about "back home" was common enough in Mayfield. It didn't give Dakki pause.]

It's a little strange to have you back, too, if I'm being honest. I didn't think that you would. I hoped, but... well, only a little? It's not always a very nice place.

[She sets the piece of armor down with a small sigh.]

...a "second chance" is a funny way to put it. What do you mean?