The silence was calming to both of the individuals present, and neither said a word for several minutesâŠscared that saying anything might break the illusion of stillness, of time stopping, like it often did. Selfishness. Time stopped for no one.
Reaching over the back of the pristine couch, her finger tips, hand, wrist, arm, shoulder, neck, face and dirty blonde hairâŠall caught the icy blue glow of the fish tank, her pouting lips curled to an interested smile as she momentarily hesitated beforeâ
âDonât.â *Tap tap*
When the amphibian swam away to hide in the faux-reeds, the ice gaze and interested face continued to gaze up at her own reflection, like it had expected something to change, for only but a moment. âSuch a monster, such aâŠmonster. Heh.â A hand reaching up, she stared intently into the eye of her reflected self, feeling for a moment that she might smack the glass and break the surfaceâŠbut, she wouldnât do it. Instead, she comforted herself by running her hand through her hair and over the tight ponytail.
Pulling away from her position on the couch, fixing her wrinkled dress shirt, she stepped up to the table and pulled the heavy helmet off the surface. Easily bringing it to her face, she examined it carefully before turning it over and examining it carefullyâŠagain. âI donât like the look of the repairs, really I donât.â Muttering this, she restlessly tapped her foot on the floor, before setting the helmet back downâŠfor only a moment, before picking it back up, going over to the fish tank, and tossing into the open at the top. Watching, with rapt interest, the important piece of technology sink quickly to the bottom.
âNot much use for that, really, there isnât much of a brain to protectâŠnot even much of a face.â
From across the room, a figure sat in the darkness of their end of the room. From where they sat, on the other side was a dark figure blotting of the light blue glow of the fish tankâŠthis dark figure, feminine figure was a friend, a friend whoâd throw an expensively modified helmet into the fish tank for no apparent reasonâŠ
âYou saw the water-proofing.â A statement, not a question.
And in returnâŠâDo you think I would have tossed it in if it wasnât?â A question, not an answer. Rhetorical, however.
Standing from their seat, Bravo groaned as a dull pain shot up their back uncomfortably, a pain that reminds a person that they were still human. No armour could protect you from the natural ache that came from sleeping in an uncomfortable position, even with the specific material padding the insides. Their âfriendâ laughed in her seat, sinking comfortably on the couch, and watching at Bravo walked around to the fish tank to pull the helmet out.
The amphibian made its appearance, briefly, as if recognizing its ownerâŠbut quickly hid when pebbled scattered as the helm was pulled from the bottom. Water poured out of the helmet and back into the tank, but still, a good number of droplets scattered across the floor as they held onto it firmly. Seeing the water accumulating on the floor, Bravo groaned again.
Their blonde âfriendâ watched with interest as the individual tried getting rid of more water, having given up on the trying to keep the floor as dry as possible. Then, holding the helmet up, Bravo seemed to have decided to forgo this entirely. Placing the helmet on with an audible *click*, the blue light accents lit up, giving the room a slightly different blue glow.
âHow are the upgrades, really? Either you actually believe you got what you paid for, or you enjoy getting shafted for such a shoddy job.â
No words, literally no words for this sort of comment.
âI could do better upgrades for the fraction of the costâŠ?â
âOut of the question.â
A turn and an offended huff, before a long momentary silence, âIf you come crawling back to me, regretting your decisionâŠIâll have you lick my entire high heel collection clean before Iâll consider upgrading any of your shit.â Somehow, this got both of them grinning at the absurd imagery, though Bravo didnât see much of a reason why they should have seen this as funny.
As soon as this friend went over to use the bathroom, Bravo tapped into the helmetâsââYou are requested to report to 1348 Normandy, District 83.â The mechanical voice of N rang out loudly in the helmet, prompting itâs wearer to calmly lower the volume. Get to the indicated location, on the double. Doing a quick check-up the armour they currently wore, little to no damageâŠ
âGetting ready to go somewhere?â Buddy blonde asked curiously from where she stood in the doorway.
âYes.â
âYes, andâŠ?â
âI will meet with the rest of my team.â
âAlright, Iâll walk you half of the way there. Feel free to shoo me when I really got to fuck offâŠâ
âYes.â