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

[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.

[actuallyselfish]

Dido holds up a hand to her forehead in a girl scout's salute. "I'll try, Mizuki: I'll try."

She smiles a little. "But enough of me: we got Setsuko back! And it looks like she has some kind of dimension shifting power!"

She blinks. "Do you think if she learns to control it, we could use it to find Sara?"

[empress_without_a_throne]

I'd rather not force her into something like that. Setsuko's been through a lot recently... the last thing she needs is someone putting pressure on her to use these powers of hers to find someone else... especially when we have no idea if her dimension-shifting powers would help.

If she gets used to them or offers it to us, sure. That's one thing. But I'm not going to try to force her to do this for us.

[actuallyselfish]

"But–!"

Dido chokes off what she was going to say. "Yeah. It's the same thing you've been telling everyone lately: help others, but don't break yourself in the process."

She twiddles her thumbs. "Still...do you think we should ask around for an expert in dimensional science?"