Phase Eleven: Keep Calm and Drink Tea

[emorangerpink]

1. (the hangar)

[After the chaos of the fight, the hangar crew are working overtime on cleanup duty. Laura's pitching in, flying around in The Great Pretender, righting fallen mechs and clearing heavy objects.

For now, though, she's in the open cockpit of the Knightpolice she's been working on in her own time for the last while, and which came

Comments

2)

[aceshighhealer]

Hi, Laura~! Were you the one who helped fix up my Striker-?

(And she experiences a double-take upon seeing Laura in a cast.) Waaah! A-Are you okay? What happened? Do you need me to heal you?

[emorangerpink]

Hi, Yoshika. I'm okay, something fell on my leg in all the confusion, is all. My armour's already healed it a lot, so it's probably safer to leave it to work, but thanks.

I didn't see your Strikes, though. I was trying to clear the hangar and let people launch to help the fight and help out in the city. Were you out in the battle itself?

[aceshighhealer]

Anytime. You were outside during the attack?

Yeah I was, and my Strikers were damaged a bit by Gen; he kicked some circular devices that had clamped around them off, and...

(They're called cylinders Yoshika, but yes.)

[emorangerpink]

[Laura shakes her head.] I was working in the hangar. The first shot knocked an equipment trolley over and in to me. Literally before I knew there was an attack I'd been injured.

I was just lucky I could summon my armour and start flying right away. Between shock and the work of trying to clear out the hangar and get things ready to launch again, I almost didn't notice the pain until my armour had already started healing it.

You got through it without any injuries, yourself? It sounded like things got pretty rough out there.

[space_mcgyver]

Work, work, work.

[An appropriately named Works GINN is busy pushing up another mecha into standing position. Lowe appraises the damage done, and sighs mentally.]

Hello mr Overtime, we meet once again. Huh, what's this smoke?!

Laura? Is that you?

[The machine turns in the Knightpolice's direction.]

[emorangerpink]

Hi Lowe!

[Laura can't actually stand up to be visible over the cockpit block, or make the KMF wave at him without closing it up, but the radio still works.]

It's just steam, don't worry. Nothing's on fire. How's the cleanup going on your end?

[space_mcgyver]

Messy, but not that bad... now firefighting in the city, that felt bad at the time.

But it turned out okay in the end. Feels like we made a difference, y'know?

[emorangerpink]

I hear we really dodged a bullet, all right. Down there, up here. For all the damage, not one casualty in the end. And some of that has to be thanks to our pilots...

2

[chozo_girl]

Who?

[Voice from nowhere - no, from upside. Looking up, Samus is there on a branch, looking down. Turns out, the tree Laura is under happened to be housing a bounty hunter in thought, so she heard Laura's mutters]

[emorangerpink]

- Oh, Samus.

[Laura leans back further, enough to meet the hunter's eyes.]

...My parents.

[chozo_girl]

I see.

[Samus jumps down to stand besides Laura]

How long has it been since you had contact with them?

[emorangerpink]

Almost five years, now. Before my illness.

2

[mecha_eihwaz]

Oh no...! Laura, what happened to your leg? I'm sorry, I should've been here with you...

[emorangerpink]

Ah, Lily! Don't worry, it's nothing serious - just a broken leg, it'll heal up quickly thanks to my armour. It was so quick I don't think anyone being there would have helped, anyway...

What about you? I heard you were out in the battle? You weren't hurt, were you?

[mecha_eihwaz]

Only light damage, and thanks to a healing spell it all healed anyway. Magic sure can do amazing things at times! Um, as well as horrible things, if it goes out of control or is used by bad guys...

[emorangerpink]

Thank goodness. There was so much confusion I wasn't sure what had happened...

And at least this time things worked out, right? If I've been hearing right. I'm only sorry I couldn't help in the fight, myself.

[perfect_frost]

[When the hell did Ciel get there, and how long has she been peering over Laura's shoulder?]

Well now, what's gotten the young lady so very flustered? [She asks, a little pointlessly; it would seem she's already read the tablet, as she's looking down at Laura with a wan smile.] Surely your leg isn't bothering you 'that' much.

[emorangerpink]

!

Ah - Ciel. Ummm. No, the leg's just itchy. I've never broken a bone before, actually - I'm glad to know it'll heal faster than for most people, I'd hate to have to deal with the cast for too long...

[Avoiding the question? ...Well, perhaps wondering just what Ciel's read, and what she's going to say about it...

The tablet seems to contain notes for a speech or message... one Laura can't seem to decide how to word, because it jumps around between reassurances that she's alive, apologies for not having made contact sooner, angry recriminations that they haven't contacted her... Just what she's trying to say is much less clear than how difficult she's finding saying it.]

[perfect_frost]

[Ciel nods a little and taps her thumb to her index finger thoughtfully.] Yes, broken bones are no fun. Though if your here in the Arboretum, it doesn't seem like it's slowing you down too much.

Am I safe in assuming this message is meant for your superiors?

[emorangerpink]

I heal faster when I'm in armour, so it's already not quite like a fresh break, and I can float to keep my weight off it then, too. The doctors still want me to take it easy, though.

Er... no, I haven't had superiors in... a while. It's to my parents.