Dream of Prometheus » Places

         "Hey, bro?" Vivi called out as she knocked with a hard fist, then shoved her face into the camera embedded into the door. She leaned over and gave the camera a little salute with two fingers then moonwalked backwards to wait with her arms crossed and legs apart. "Yo, It's Vivi! C'mon, open up! It's important!" No sign of activity. She walked back up to the door and was about to beg when it clicked and slid open. Vivi fist pumped as she glided through the door and into Nao's apartment, dumping the bag on the kitchen counter and proceeding to whip out the bread and butter. The sound of unclad feet on tile barely cut through her music as Nao staggered through the doorway, his violet eyes glued to the hidden object in his palm.

"So...you wanted to make a sandwich," he croaked, fiddling with the unknown contraption with a thin silver instrument. His lanky figure leaned over the small glass dining table as his gaze darted to the back of her bobbing head, "Don't see what's so important. You don't eat." Another sandwich without crusts plopped onto Vivi's leaning tower and Nao observed her behavior warily, before shrugging it off and continuing what he was doing. "Are you trying to set a record? Should I be filming?"

"You can if you want to," Vivi chirped and twirled the knife around in her hand in a blur, "This is the day we save Prometheus."

Clatter.

"Sorry, what?"

"Ha, I told you it was important! The Wardens are recruiting a team to go explore Styx and find the source of the radiation," the Atalanta Vi explained as she spread peanut butter with the flair of a master chef, "I thought we could do it together. Haven't you been checking yer voicemail? Anyways, we have an hour to suit up before we have to be at the Ein Hangar, so I'm making as many sandwiches as possible in the next ... seven minutes because I calculate that it should take 28 minutes to reach the Ein Hangar with the extra mass - being you - on my back." She stabbed the butter knife through the sandwich pile and turned to him eagerly. Nao was still looking into his hand.

"Short notice," he grunted. He was still in his ratty old black dressing gown.

"Couldn't be helped. The call for recruits was a week ago - and you cancelled game night. I think you only let me inside because you saw that I had a bag. So are you coming or what, bro?"

Pause. "Think I'm going to have to go with 'or what' on this one, Vi."

"AW, C'MOOOON!" Vivi's knees collapsed and she grabbed the table in a begging manner. When she received no response she straightened and turned to the counter, continuing her task. "Then you can bet yer ass I'm gonna be making sandwiches 'til I go, cos there isn't anyone else who'll do this for you." As bitter and cutting as it sounded, she only said the truth. It wasn't like Nao was going to go out of his way to prepare food that couldn't be easily stuffed in the microwave. "I just thought we could do something fun, y'know? I'm bored of doing this shit myself. Even speed run isn't as fun as it used to be. You've got to update the tracks already."

A soft, metallic bark came from behind her and she glanced over her shoulder to see something small and silver running in circles on Nao's palms. She slowly set down her knife and walked over. Nao looked up with a sly smile, "Hold out your hand." Vivi did without question and the robot dog leaped from Nao's hands to hers. She stared.

"Why do I want to put this in my mouth?"

"One, don't." Nao advised, "Two, because it's cute. That's what I was going for." He sounded almost proud.

"A device that makes machines hunger," Vivi wondered as she peered at the puppy, "... Sweet!" She looked over to Nao who had slumped into a chair and was rubbing his eyes, then her mood dropped again. "You really not coming?" He shook his head. "But the sandwiches!" She drew attention to the collapsing pile with a grand gesture and Nao just shrugged.

"Share them with the others at the field trip. You really should make new friends."

"I didn't need friends when I had you." Had. Out of every long and awkward pause that had ever been, Vivi had taken the cake with this short sentence. Programmed to be honest at all times, Vivi's words were always true - whether factually, or whether she meant them. At last Nao sighed and stood, moving to the doorway.

"Clean up when you're done," he said, "And good luck with... does Dad know you're going?" He left before Vivi could answer, leaving her alone with a failed sandwich ladder and a robot dog in danger of being bitten in half.

~~~

The Ein Hangar, right on time, as always.

Vivi switched off her music and looked around at who was already there and eventually arriving - some glum looking schoolgirl, another young woman with somewhat cold eyes, that badass human Warden and the impressive looking Vanadas, a - hey, is that seriously an Aegis? Does this mean she gets to make a wish? - and last but not... or actually, yeah, last and least, a rather bland looking man. All in all... a pretty dull turn out. She just waved or made a finger gun at anyone who looked her way and tried not to feel uncomfortable about the bag of sandwiches slung over her shoulder. It was only full of half the sandwiches she actually made, because taking all of them felt silly even for her and she made them to begin with. She let out a quiet whistle and turned the volume on low as she lazily skated in circles far from the others, doing little jumps and twirls, getting slightly more extravagant as she grew more excited. She was going to have her own adventure... perhaps she could finally forget the Okuma family with it.