kuriboh
ZMF 
Registered Newtype
Is Miang. Maybe.
Posts: 1,738
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Post by kuriboh on Nov 16, 2009 1:24:37 GMT -5
In the hours following his meal, Florian found himself with little to do. His headache had faded somewhat - enough to pass inspection, at any rate - and the station was very very small, which meant there were few places to wander. Which meant the boy was bored. He'd stared out the window awhile, but found that very lonely, so he went to the hangar where a crew of mechanics were swarming up and down the handful of Mobile Suits.
Their pressures felt strange to him, the way the gravity felt strange - different, but not unpleasant. He didn't know how long he had waited up there - one of the many advantages to being small in a world of adults was that it was easy to hide somewhere out of the way. So he was content to stay where he was, watching the life below him, and enjoying the faint tickle it left in the back of his mind.
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Post by pinksoyuz on Nov 16, 2009 2:48:19 GMT -5
Nadia's stomach seemed to be tolerating the food that was served in the way station's mess hall, but it and the numerous other meals she had on Zeon ships and buildings always reminded her-- no, made her long for the food that she enjoyed every day back on Earth. Thinking of mom's cooking, the middle aged woman passed through the corridors gripping one of the transport handles and humming the tune Pachelbel's Canon. While Nadia did promise herself that she'd get some shuteye after the meal, she couldn't help but rely on her old habits and avoid resting right after a meal. She reasoned, An extra twenty minutes awake isn't going to change much. Then it dawned on her that this exact same thought process usually lent itself to her bouts of sleep deprivation. Oh well, she thought.
Rounding the last corner, Nadia found herself in the hangar and instantly recognized a sight that she hadn't witnessed in quite some time. She gripped the rail and pulled her body forward, letting inertia carry her silently through the zero gravity atmosphere before she planted her feet solidly on the metal catwalk a few meters behind the small figure. Nadia couldn't fathom a reason why there would be a such a young person on board a station right in the middle of a conflict.
"Excuse me," she called out, taking careful steps toward the child, "are you lost?"
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kuriboh
ZMF
Registered Newtype
Is Miang. Maybe.
Posts: 1,738
|
Post by kuriboh on Nov 16, 2009 8:09:11 GMT -5
Florian had completely zoned out in his observations, content to let his mind and feelings wander about as they chose. Part of him recognized mental fatigue, but he didn't particularly care. Shiv probably would have told him to go to bed though.
And as that thought crossed his mind, a woman's voice called his attention back outwards, and the boy looked around a bit for the source. It had startled him. He had thought, perhaps, it was Siobhan, but no - the voice was very different. He finally looked behind him, blinking his big green eyes at Nadia and staring awhile before finally shaking his head in answer to her question. He pointed to his Dom.
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Post by pinksoyuz on Nov 17, 2009 0:19:44 GMT -5
She couldn't help but be taken aback by the child's appearance. His eyes reminded Nadia of her own, only far more luminous, and his raven black hair wasn't too unlike that of the female's teenage years. What shocked her the most, however, was the rank and insignia of the Principality's Mobile Assault Force. What was a child doing brandishing military insignia? It didn't seem like a joke either, since the uniform that the boy wore seemed fitted to his form. Certainly Zimmad wouldn't have a child test pilot its prototypes, nor would any sensible military this day and age utilize child soldiers. To Nadia, something was definitely amiss.
Wait, what is that? The insignia right there, I haven't seen it before. Maybe that's it?
Finally closing her agape mouth, Nadia furrowed her eyebrows trying to decipher the particular emblem emblazoned on the child's uniform, but the answer eluded her mind. Pointing at the particular spot, Nadia asked, "What is that on your uniform?"
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kuriboh
ZMF
Registered Newtype
Is Miang. Maybe.
Posts: 1,738
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Post by kuriboh on Nov 17, 2009 0:53:33 GMT -5
Florain's brows creased. He'd have to answer, but he didn't know how. Without something to write on, his hands almost instinctively flew into action, spelling out "F-L-A-N-A-G-A-N" in a matter of seconds.
On the other hand, he knew the likelihood of the woman before him understanding such gestures was slim. But he didn't have Siobhan around to translate. He chewed his lower lip a moment, a worried glance looking between the woman and this mobile suit.
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Post by pinksoyuz on Nov 17, 2009 2:28:50 GMT -5
"Fla... Flan... Flanag...an. Flanagan." The Azores woman slowly but surely said what the young boy was signaling, but she wasn't too familiar with the name. "Flanagan?" she finally said inquisitively, making it obvious that she knew little about the name.
Naturally, Nadia wanted to ask the child further questions, but his unsettled facial expression and seeming inability to respond verbally would dictate otherwise. Not one for causing any undue stress, Nadia took a step forward as if to pat the boy on the head, but instead crouched to come down to his level, taking notice of the name stitched onto the uniform. Florian, she thought to herself.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to trouble you like this," apologized the woman. She looked away for a moment to recollect her thoughts, carefully choosing her next words. The inability to naturally talk to younger children would certainly have been an amusing thing to witness had she not been the one suffering from the inconvenience.
Letting out a subtle sigh, the Zeonic test pilot looked back at the boy with an earnest smile, hoping that he wouldn't take particular notice to her exhausted state. "Um, well, I'm private Adelaide, but you can call me Nadia if you'd like." She paused for a moment and then went on, "and I see your name is Florian. Right? Oh, and here."
She reached into one of the many pockets and pulled out a wrapped bar of chocolate and allowed it to float motionlessly in between the two. Nadia's uneasy smile reflected her doubts on whether or this was an appropriate gift, but it was worth a try.
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kuriboh
ZMF
Registered Newtype
Is Miang. Maybe.
Posts: 1,738
|
Post by kuriboh on Nov 18, 2009 20:33:28 GMT -5
He nodded happily, a tiny bit giddy that she knew basic sign language, but his face just as soon fell at her ignorance of where he'd come from. She was nice, however, and that calmed the boy in turn. He watched passively, her troubles passing quickly across her tired looking face, nodding at his name and smiling at hers.
Nadia was a very nice name, he thought. And a nice person no less as she offered the sweet.
There was a lesson, somewhere in the back of his mind about strangers and candy, but the woman had a uniform similar to him, and so he felt alright in taking it. Shyly, he spelled out a 'thank you,' then proceeded to unwrap and take a small bite, savouring the candy. He very rarely got chocolate.
A bout of curiosity crossed his mind, and he turned to the mobile suits, pointing at them, but looking at Nadia and tilting his head in questioning. Which was hers?
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Post by pinksoyuz on Nov 21, 2009 3:32:30 GMT -5
A smile formed on Nadia's lips after watching the boy take delight in the treat. He's still a kid, she thought. What are they doing sending him out into a battlefield? She continued to hide her concerns behind her smiling veil, but the sight of the boy enjoying the treat was something else. And for a second there, Nadia had shared in his happiness.
Sensing Florian's curiosity, the woman pushed herself along the railing and crouched beside the young lad. She lightly gripped his hand and guided it from one end of the hanger to the other and eventually stopped at the utilitarian Zaku.
"There it is! That's what I pilot, Florian. It's the Zaku I Minovsky Particle Scattering Equipment Type." Pausing for a second, Nadia added, "or just the Zaku 'Imp-set' for short."
Now that she thought about it, the mobile suit really was a sore in her eyes. All the unappealing qualities of the Zaku, only magnified. The snout and mono eye were still there, but the number of external connections exceeded that of the standard Zaku's. It almost looked like some skeletal version of the Zeon's bountiful mobile suit, as if one couldn't have been bothered to route the piping and wiring internally. So instead said items were haphazardly placed all over the mobile suit. And that cancerous looking equipment on its back...
Oh, how these realizations surfaced at the oddest times.
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