Could have gone a lot worse....

[actuallyselfish]

After the battle in Paradigm City, the Sol Machine known as ShelLancer trudges it's way back into the hanger bay, docks in a gantry, and powers down

A weary figure in mechanic's overalls clambers out of the cockpit, and after a bit of flailing, descends on one of the cherry picker platforms.

"What the heck was I thinking?" Dido groans, slumping down onto a bench. "I panicked, made stupid calls. And that Decepticon leader thinks I'm a turtle ninja transformer now...!"

She smiles. "...but Hot Damn, I saved some lives out there! Not bad, Dido. Not bad at–"

She looks up at ShelLancer...and finally notices the major damage it's taken: melted armor, broken off spikes, and an endless amount of scratches and dents. All of which needs to be fixed.



"–AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Comments

[tiger_ken]

Not so easy to avoid scratching the paint work, is it?

[Ken is in so good a mood he's snarking.]

[actuallyselfish]

"Bite me." Dido says, face ensconced between her knees. "You're saying mean nasty ninja words and I'm not going to listen to them..."

She tries to ignore you for a little bit, then groans.

"Truly, I've become what I hate."

[tiger_ken]

Never knew 'paint work' was part of the exclusive ninja vocabulary.

But how'd you feel out there? I only just got covered on what happened - didn't even realise you guys had gone.

[actuallyselfish]

"It was, as always, a humbling experience." Dido sighed. "Got shaken around, picked up some bruises."

She brushes at her wild, frayed hair. "The static from ShelLancer's Lance Shock made me go poofy for a bit too. All in all, I hope I don't have to sortie again any time soon."

She hesitates. "And yet..."

[herodrawing]

You're a hero!

[Izuru starts to sketch Shellancer, immortalizing damage it took.]

[actuallyselfish]

"No, I'm not!" Dido wails. "I'm not a hero! I'm really not a hero!"

She narrows her eyes. "What are you drawing?"

[herodrawing]

I'm drawing a picture of your mecha, as it returns from battle wounded but victorious!

It will be remembered the way it is now.

[actuallyselfish]

"Noooooooooooo...." Dido replies. "Please don'tttttttt...."

[cloningblues]

A turtle ninja transformer? How did that happen?

[actuallyselfish]

"Ummm..."

Dido takes a break from her nervous breakdown to appear sheepish. "I well, uh..."

She points to a purple, familiar logo hastily stenciled on ShelLancer's shoulder armor.

"...tried to disguise myself as a Decepticon? It seemed like a cunning idea at the time?"

[cloningblues]

You tried to trick the Decepticons. Robots who deceive others so much it's even in their name.

[actuallyselfish]

"Hey, I'll have you know it worked for a few seconds!" Dido says with defiance, jabbing a finger at Asagi.

Then she wilts.

"As it turns out, Megatron likes to shoot his underlings whenever they annoy him."

[majestic_keiki]

...How did you react to the units after that last battle in La Gias?

[actuallyselfish]

"...I was too busy dealing with the aftermath to even have a reaction." Dido says, after a moment of thought.

"But This! This damage is gonna take at least 50 man-hours to repair! And millions in cash! And it's wasn't some strutting devil-may care fighter jock that wrecked this baby..."

She buries her hands in her face. "It was me! Dido!"

[majestic_keiki]

50 man-hours doesn't sound too bad.

And you helped save a lot of lives out there, even if it damaged the robot.

[actuallyselfish]

"True..." Dido says with smile. That smile turns to a grim frown.

"But what would all the other UG techs say, if they saw me now?"

[empress_without_a_throne]

Oh don't be so dramatic.

[actuallyselfish]

"...okay, that's fair." Dido says, calming down a little.

"But still...it feels like I've violated my principles as a technician! Bringing in a wrecked mecha and dumping it on the laps of my fellow techs without regard for their feelings...I'm no better than the rest of you mech jocks now!"

She scratches her head. "Erm...not that I look down on Mech Jocks or anything like that."

[empress_without_a_throne]

You shouldn't look at it that way... it just makes everything sound so... confrontational between everyone here.

You went out in a machine you helped build. You used it to the best of your ability, even helped save lives. Getting it damaged just came with the territory, and even then it still returned under its own power. Don't take from it that you're being a hypocrite... just take that now you understand the kind of dangers a pilot faces... and keep in mind how your own sorties went before flipping out over someone bringing in a machine sporting similar damage.

[ugyuuya]

So the brilliant plan backfired a bit on you?

[VG walks over to Dido with his usual confident swagger.]

Seems like you did alright for your first time out and you were out there in a heavy armor-type mech so it's not like you're going to come back unscathed. The other techs will understand and I think you'll be pulling lead on the repairs won't you?

[actuallyselfish]

Dido snorts. "Probably, yeah."

Calming down a little, she arches an eyebrow at you. "Anyways, it seems I'm a battle-tested pilot now. Do that mean you and the other mecha jocks are gonna try and haze me?"

[ugyuuya]

Not quite, we try not to do that too much but some people are just so much more fun to tease than others, like Tarisa.

As for why I came by I figured I'd see if you were doing better than last time since it shook you up so badly before.

[dolorous_sensei]

Congratulations, you're a pilot now!

[actuallyselfish]

"Aren't you cheerful about this?" Dido mutters. "I guess you're one of those folks that enjoys the suffering of others?"

[dolorous_sensei]

No, I'm just... Well, now you're saying it, you're making me feel bad about it, sorry.