Frustration

[abugslife]

[After the return from the attack on Shadow Mirrors, Scaraber is severely damaged - a result of the fight with Teremun. It's located in Sakihama's hangar for the time being, the one closest to the operation area. Hetepheres watches as several of her beetle-like technicians ascertain the damage, one of them holding his (her?) head and shaking it.]

We have recovered Lamia Loveless, and the enemy base was destroyed, as planned. The mission, technically, went better than expected...

[Despite her words, something is not right. Hetepheres, who usually keeps her face stone cold, is seething with barely constrained anger right now.]

High Commander Teremun... You really should have killed me. You will regret your decision.

Reflections on a battle, and of one's self.

[whats_a_good_end]

[1] (for people who participated in Penance Due or are coming to help pick everyone up afterwards)

[Well... things had certainly happened, but what little that had been learned from this trip just raised further questions without any possible leads.  And with nothing better to do, Ana's been trying to explore what she can of the building that Jason Ortiz had been waiting for them by.  If it was where he lived, clues might've been there... but between all the fighting and Thomas's powers going haywire it's really just become an exercise in lifting up rubble and putting it aside.]

What could he have possibly done?  Ortiz was helping out here at least to some degree.  If it was atonement for some past sin... if it was as bad as Thomas said then we would've heard about it, right?  You can't make enemies with that kind of deep-seated hatred and not get other eyes on you as well...

[In the midst of her searching though, she winds up uncovering a few broken pieces of a wooden object.  It's not had to guess they were originally had a more human-like shape... like some basic doll that was left behind here for one reason or another.  Ana stares at it for a moment before continuing on with her fruitless labor.]

[2]



[The doll's still on her mind when the team's finally brought back to base, and along with contrasting images of the fancy, expensive kinds that she'd had as a child.  The whole trip to India contrasted with her wealthy beginnings, really... and even after being disowned she'd never experienced that kind of poverty or seen it firsthand.  It's almost enough to start feeling grateful to her family for all those years of support before they'd thrown her out.  Enough to make her actually pick up a phone to call them.   Considering her working with the Unity Group, she'd probably even be welcomed back as the prodigal child.]

...

... But to them it's about "family calling" and "tradition".

[Rekindled appreciation for a good childhood is enough to pick the phone up, yes.  But that's all.  Back down the phone goes, Ana heading off back to her room to rest.  She's got another shift scheduled at the cafe in a few hours.]

The closer I get to what they want from me, the more I'm getting away from what they want me to believe.