A Troubled Soldier 01
Dec. 13th, 2024 09:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theriflespiral posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
vivalaI: Delivery to Elysium
Elysium-the-city was far larger than Natalia had first assumed. Not that this was a problem for her-- a day or two among the rooftops, and she would know this place as well as anyone who lived here.
For now, though, she was momentarily relying on a map she kept carefully tucked away, and an address on a box with a memorized order form (and countersign, and counter-countersign, easily handwaved).
Being a delivery girl was hardly a novel cover, but it was precisely because such things were ubiquitous that it was easy to slip into the role as she came around the service entrance. Add perhaps a touch of bitter expression at the cold-- she didn't even have to try for that one-- and things would, hopefully, work just fine.
II: Blames Her Tools (Vault)
Natalia, after spending the better part of a day hitting targets from as extreme a range as the Vault could afford, was now overhauling her rifle, first cleaning the inside of the barrel with a cloth and a cleaning rod, and then disassembling it, screw by painstaking screw.
The casings were drying on a separate cloth nearby, with the scent of soap and water, waiting for an oven to finish getting up to the proper temperature.
It took up an entire gunsmith's bench, between the disassembly and the casings waiting for annealing and rolling and fitting and loading, but there was something to it. A peace, in an artisan's craft.
She looked at the tool rack above her and clicked her tongue.
She would have to go hunting for that particular tool.
Okay. Smooth hair. Stand properly. Act like you're supposed to be here.
Time to go among the other workbenches. Or workshops, if she had to.
III: Wildcard
Bug Natalia because she looks suspicious or because you need something.
Elysium-the-city was far larger than Natalia had first assumed. Not that this was a problem for her-- a day or two among the rooftops, and she would know this place as well as anyone who lived here.
For now, though, she was momentarily relying on a map she kept carefully tucked away, and an address on a box with a memorized order form (and countersign, and counter-countersign, easily handwaved).
Being a delivery girl was hardly a novel cover, but it was precisely because such things were ubiquitous that it was easy to slip into the role as she came around the service entrance. Add perhaps a touch of bitter expression at the cold-- she didn't even have to try for that one-- and things would, hopefully, work just fine.
II: Blames Her Tools (Vault)
Natalia, after spending the better part of a day hitting targets from as extreme a range as the Vault could afford, was now overhauling her rifle, first cleaning the inside of the barrel with a cloth and a cleaning rod, and then disassembling it, screw by painstaking screw.
The casings were drying on a separate cloth nearby, with the scent of soap and water, waiting for an oven to finish getting up to the proper temperature.
It took up an entire gunsmith's bench, between the disassembly and the casings waiting for annealing and rolling and fitting and loading, but there was something to it. A peace, in an artisan's craft.
She looked at the tool rack above her and clicked her tongue.
She would have to go hunting for that particular tool.
Okay. Smooth hair. Stand properly. Act like you're supposed to be here.
Time to go among the other workbenches. Or workshops, if she had to.
III: Wildcard
Bug Natalia because she looks suspicious or because you need something.
Re: Natalia Gains Sickness II
Date: 2024-12-29 02:23 am (UTC)Natalia looks, and then, blinks. "An impressive bit of hardware, though gaining it cannot have been pleasant. But it is you now, I think you mean to say."
Re: Natalia Gains Sickness II
Date: 2024-12-30 08:03 am (UTC)She tapped the orbit of her left eye again. "This? A correction of a deficit from my6 birth - the real difficulty was the calibration and the training that went with its use."
She shrugged. "I do not remember the implantation specifically."
Re: Natalia Gains Sickness II
Date: 2024-12-30 08:45 am (UTC)The eye especially made an irritating amount of sense. The worst part of any new tool is always all the training that goes with it. "-- Any issues with maintenance? I-- can't claim to be prostheticdoc, but at least I can try to ask around if it's needed."
Re: Natalia Gains Sickness II
Date: 2024-12-30 04:53 pm (UTC)She had had many reactions to the sight and knowledge of the eye, ranging from outright disgust and anger to dismissal. Curiosity of this kind was rare. "Thus far, no. It will not be due for a charge for... decades. I avoid putting my eyes in the line of fire for obvious reasons. And well," She actually laughed softly. "A round that hits my eye is going to cause me more trouble than just damaging the circuitry."
Re: Natalia Gains Sickness II
Date: 2024-12-30 08:22 pm (UTC)She did, however, have a similar soft smile in place at Oki's gallows humor.
Re: Natalia Gains Sickness II
Date: 2025-01-03 02:34 am (UTC)She clasped her mug and let out a soft, but remarkably feminine laugh.
"I think tonight, I may have made a friend, for I have certainly found a colleague."
She raised it, then drained it - fast.
One swallow and a muffled burp later and she leaned back in her chair, head once again tilted, but her eyes on Natalia.
"Would it be rude to ask - how long has this been your profession?"
Re: Natalia Gains Sickness II
Date: 2025-01-03 03:37 am (UTC)"As for how long? eh.... About a year, before--" here, again, she taps her neck. "Then, after, from about three months ago, aboard the Mad Archer, then the Hand to Mouth, for as long as we kept her."