The Shell Shock of ShelLancer's Pilot...

[actuallyselfish]

[1]

In the wake of the attack by the dimension conquering Indalph, Dido Sybil, previously an unassuming Solaris technician chief, piloted the ShelLancer machine so that Mizuki and Ken could form the combining mecha known as Sol-Savior.

A few days after the attack, Dido is walking through the hanger bay in orange mechanics overalls, carrying a roll of artificial muscle fiber looped around her shoulder.

She stops for a moment, and stares up for a time at the machine she rode in, scorched and dented here and there by the fury of combat.

Goosebumps stand out on her exposed arms. Her throat works, and she clamps a hand desperately over her mouth with a moan.

"Nope." She says. "No Way. No No No No..."

She turns around, on the verge of panic, and starts speed-walking away, breathing rapidly.

Help her calm down?

Comments

[ugyuuya]

[Rounding a corner VG walks into the distracted technician. Catching himself with the wall with one arm and Dido in his other to keep her from falling he begins to speak with his normal aggrandized tones before falling to a more subdued voice near the end of his sentence as he guides her to a seat.]

Well I was on the way to the showers but if you're so overtaken by my charm that you can't wait... what happened, are you alright?

[actuallyselfish]

"I'm fine!" Dido says, far too hastily for that to be true. She tries to pull herself out of VG's grip, but only half-heartedly.

"I just need some fresh air, is all. A breather, a break, a walk to clear my head, or some water...I'm babbling aren't I?"

[ugyuuya]

Yes, pretty badly too. Everyone's heard about what happened so I'm willing to guess it has something to do with that?

[VG looks around the busy hanger before ducking back into the hallway he came from and selecting two drinks from a vending machine. He hands on to Dido as he comes back and begins talking.]

Though I have a feeling you might prefer if we were to take a bit of a walk outside? Further from prying eyes and curious ears while you discuss what is pretty obviously bothering you.

[actuallyselfish]

"A technician and a pilot going for a walk? Think of how people will gossip!" Dido tries to joke; her heart's clearly not in it.

She lets herself be led outside. She cracks open the drink in her hand and sips.

"So...what now?"

[ugyuuya]

[VG takes a seat leaning against a rail as he sips his own drink.]

Now we have options, I can play up the flirting angle if that will help you feel better or I can listen while you try to work out whatever it is that is ever so obviously bothering you.

I think the latter would help more but it's your choice.

[actuallyselfish]

"...Answer me something first, before I get put on the leather couch." Dido says, setting the drink down on the rail and turning to face VG.

"There's a lot of urban legends about the TSF fighter jocks, the "Eishi"; you hear mecha techs whispering about them a lot. They say, among other things, that you go through complex hypnotic therapies and drug treatments that suppress your sense of fear."

She meets his eyes. "Is all that true?"

[herodrawing]

Ahh! Are you okay?

[Izuru does his best at trying to calm people, which is running up to Dido really quickly.]

[actuallyselfish]

"Whoah!"

Dido sees you charging at her out of the corner of her eyes and twitches. That twitch turns into a trip, and she goes tumbling right onto her rump.

"OwOwOw..."

[herodrawing]

Oops...

[Izuru realizes he's doing the opposite of helping.]

Are you hurt? Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you or anything...

[actuallyselfish]

"Well, you did." Dido say, grumpiness taking the place of her panic attack for the time being.

She brushes some dust off her coveralls. "So what exactly were you hoping to do?"

[herodrawing]

Sorry...

I thought you were having some kind of nervous flashback like veterans sometimes do.

[cloningblues]

[Asagi watches that display from a distance. He only approaches when Dido starts to get away.]

...Do you need a medic?

[actuallyselfish]

"No. No medics. I'm good." Dido says hastily. "Sorry, I gotta go and do...things! Important things!"

She tries to brush past you.

[cloningblues]

Are you sure? You look like you're horribly scared of something. Or stressed. And believe me, I know stress.

[actuallyselfish]

Dido stops, and looks over her shoulder. "Really? I always thought that you were one of those...cool kids."

[cloningblues]

Well... The cool kids get stressed out too, you know!

[Quick Asagi, change the topic before you completely break your own facade!]

Was that your first real fight?

[tillallareone]

[And who else couldn't feel that he needed to help other than one of the Smallest Autobots ever? Next to Red Alert he had the best 'ears' in the business and he heard Dido's little panic attack. His expression became alarmed to say the least when her breathing and heart rate picked up because he was pretty sure those weren't supposed to go that fast!]

Uh.. Hey! Dido? Dido Sybil right?

[Bumblebee was as careful as a man who was walking on eggshells, taking a few strides to catch up to the speedwalking mechanic before slowing his pace considerably - doing his best not to stifle her and make things worse.]

[actuallyselfish]

"Whoah!" Dido sees the shadow fall over her, and hears the footsteps, so she's not too freaked out. She looks up.

"Uh, that's right. Dido Sybil's the name, repair work's the game. You're, ah, Bumblebee, right? One of the Autobots?"

[tillallareone]

Yup, that's me. I heard about how you helped Ratchet out. Takes a lot of grit to be able to do something like that.

But... yeah moving on from that... are you alright? Your vital signs did a jump a few seconds ago... they're still going pretty wild.

[actuallyselfish]

"It was no big thing, really." Dido replies, flattered despite herself. "I mean, it's easier to fix up the innards of a giant robot when it can tell you when you're doing something wrong."

"And I'm fine." She adds hastily. "I was just..."

She glances up at where ShelLancer is and her heart-rate shifts up a gear again.

[dolorous_sensei]

No! Don't tell that your internal injuries have just caught up by now! Don't die, miss!

[actuallyselfish]

"Oh god!" Dido says, touching her belly and trying to judge the state of her innards. "I don't think I got damaged during the fight with the Indalph...but what if all that acceleration crushed my organs? Maybe that's why I'm feeling nauseous!"

[dolorous_sensei]

That is definitely a possibility! That's the problem with super prototypes with their acceleration and high g-force! Only chosen people can pilot them! Ordinary people like us shouldn't touch it!

[actuallyselfish]

"Why are we even here in the first place?" Dido wails. "We should have become doctors or lawyers like our moms wanted!"

[dolorous_sensei]

You know, I could've been a plumber. But then I heard the recruiter said about what a good career the military is, and what good dental plan they have...