Gles
Active member
YSS Kaiyo II
VR Room
12/9/YE 46
It had been only a day since the YSS Kaiyo II left the smoldering ruins of Cauldron Lake's underground NMX base behind them, and the spirits of the crew were soaring on the high of another massively successful operation. The trio of infiltrators (who still carried the moniker 'jakuhai,' or 'young and inexperienced' among the cheekier members of the crew) that made the operation possible could not celebrate their success this time, however. Their original bodies needed to shake off a week's worth of lethargy before the next mission, and the dutiful captain wanted them fit and ready to fight as soon as possible. The virtual reality chamber was thus given over to the trio for as long as they needed, an exclusive privilege that made more than a few of their fellow soldiers a little envious.
The program that Molli chose to run, in lieu of asking for her companions' opinions, was that of a massive circular stone platform in the middle of a lake at sunset. She chose it seemingly at random, but soon found its serene gusts of wind and ambient cricket chirps highly annoying, given her current struggle to walk more than five steps without collapsing -- an inexplicable setback from her body's normalcy the day before, later judged to be a result of residual adrenaline from her previous body wearing off.
"Hnngh... Hah... H-Hngh..." They'd only been exercising for a few minutes, but Molli's face was already drenched in sweat that stained the neck of her plain white t-shirt. She was trying to push herself off the ground. Again. "Ah wish...ah were...uh nekky...still..." she hissed in frustration and anger, at her own weakness, at the loss of a better version of herself.
"It takes some time to get moving again after such a long nap...so to speak." Rio muses as she offers Molli a hand up. Her own body felt incredibly stiff but she had not experienced the same struggles her Nepleslian senior had. "We just take one step at a time....just like we did down there right?"
Molli contemplated slapping the hand aside and trying her damndest to push herself up, but that intrusive thought remained just that. Still, there was a hint of resentment in her cybernetic eyes from being helped to her feet by a junior. Molli's knees wobbled, and she had to lean against Rio to stay upright. "...Yeah," the Nepleslian murmured, "How're yeh alrea'y canny-like?"
"Might be because nekovalkyrja bodies are expected to be in storage sometimes," Sif answered, continuing her squats a couple of feet away. Much like Rio, Sif was not experiencing as much difficulty with her motor functions. However, she did have a head start with getting her body reacquainted with movement, having had to restrain a certain NMX armorer she had been talking to. Though it was more accurate to say that she was trying not to get restrained herself. As mad as Nari was, she was also surprisingly clingy behind closed doors, and Rem was standing by, amused at the sight.
"And the healing factor might have helped too," the Azure-haired neko added as she finished her reps. "In your case... you were in a body that was completely different. I guess you can think of it like..." Sif paused to think of a comparison. 'Using someone else's glasses' might have not been the best way to put it. "It would be like using someone else's mech. After a couple of weeks piloting that, going back to your old one would need some getting used to again, right?"
"It's cause ah'm human," Molli said dryly, "Ent gotta sugarcoat it. Weren't made t'be put on ice..." She realized she was starting to whinge a bit too much, and shook her head. "Whatever. Ah just gotta..." The Nepleslian, using Rio as a stand, took a shaky step forward, "Git used tah m'self...again..."
Rio dutifully held onto Molli for every step taken, her tail waving about behind her to assist with both of thier balances "Sif is right. But that should not take long. It's your body after all. You know it best." she comments "Besides. We've got time before the next mission."
"That's right!" Sif chirped, "Plenty of time to get comfortable!"
Comfortable. Molli's body might have been healthy, if lethargic, but her state of mind was anything but comfortable. "Ah still gotta remind m'self ah ent Myga. 'N ah pat m'butt 'cause ah thought uh tail was there this mornin'," she felt her cheeks flushing as the words spilled out, "Do yeh have th'same problem?" She hoped she wasn't the only one suffering that disassociation. Morgana warned her it'd be the case for not getting the memories of her life as Myga erased, but the symptoms only emerged this morning.
Rio hummed for a moment as she thought over Molli's words even as they continued thier walk around the platform before she finally admitted "I expected to see Sahty in the mirror this morning. Despite knowing better. Though...to be fair it was still us?" Rio tilted her head in thought as she tried to properly voice her thoughts "No matter if it was for just a short time...that's who we were right?"
Sif rubbed the back of her neck, debating with herself on how much she would reveal of the strangeness resulting from the swaps. "At first, I expected my tail to be a lot warmer and fluffier, but now that I'm back to this body, I'm surprised how fluffy it actually is," she said, combing the tail wrapped around her waist. "And I sometimes hear myself think in Cynea's voice," she added with a half-hearted chuckle. "I'd like to think that just means that she's still a part of me. Which... I guess she is me."
"Eh...yer tail looked flully in both bodies," Molli said, scratching her head, "S'prolly somefin' only nekos ken tell..." She never bothered to touch Cynea's tail, there was no reason to, and she'd be far too embarrassed to ask to give Sif's a feel. It would probably remain a mystery for the rest of her days. "S'good t'know ah ent th'only one feelin' like two persons," she added, clearly relieved that her struggle was a shared one.
"Yeh don't regret rememberin', do ya?" she asked as she continued to take small baby steps to rebuild the strength in her legs.
"It could be. I can tell the difference between mine and Sahty's tails. Her tail was not as soft." Mused Rio regarding neko tails before she answered Molli's more serious question "I don't. I think it should be remembered. What we saw down there was too important to just forget. One more reason to end the Mishhuvurthyar..."
"I don't regret it either," Sif nodded. "Besides, the experience would make a great story, don't you think? And all that stuff we learned down there, we could use that in the future. I bet I could still field strip any NMX weaponry we'd find." She beamed a smile, but somewhere deep down, part of her did want to forget at least some of the things binding her to that life, if only to make the uncertainty go away.
It was the same answer they'd given yesterday, more or less, and just like that day, Molli couldn't give an answer of her own. She wanted to remember Hihja and the others, but it was hard to live with the knowledge that she'd made her captain suspicious of her loyalties. Everything was easier when she didn't realize some Mishhu wanted to end the war, and that the NMX neko weren't all monsters. "D'ya think we saved enough of our-" Molli stopped herself from saying "our sisters," and continued, "Our prisoners?"
Rio picked up her pace slightly, wanting to help Molli go farther faster "We saved as many as we could. I'm sure there will be more. I just hope they come understand the truth." Rio tried to give a smile despite the topic "They may be angry for a while but at least they are alive."
"Don't get hung up on that," Sif said, her smile faltering. "It's not good for your mind thinking about if you're doing enough. Someone told me that during training. It gets into your head, and makes you doubt yourself."
"Kinna hard not when we gots 'em wiv us," Molli countered, her voice dry and sardonic, "...Yer right," she let a hand fall to her chest, where Hihja plunged a knife into Myga. Sometimes, she could feel an icy phantom pain there, as evidenced from her brief wince. "Ah'm jus' glad yeh both got out alrigh'," she said with a mote of appreciation, "Even if Rio got grilled a lil'," Molli gave Rio's shoulder a squeeze. "Ah'm glad th'captain got you two."
With a scoff Rio gave Molli's back a playful whack "You got grilled the same as me!" she couldn't help but give a bark of laughter "I don't think I'm grilling anything for a while after this mission!" Rio gave Molli's back another, gentler pat "I'm glad I was assigned to this ship and this crew."
"Speak fer yerself, ah could use a grilled munchie," Molli replied, and by now, she'd managed to walk to the edge of their stone platform. "Mmkay. Lemme jus'..." Molli stopped leaning on Rio, and for several tense seconds, she wobbled in place like a rickety bridge that threatened to break into pieces. Though her balance was tenuous at best, Molli managed to stay upright with her arms extended out. "W-Whew..."
Sif sat on the ground, legs crossed and hands on her knees. A small break wouldn't hurt while they were talking. "Getting grilled AND getting stabbed in the chest," she added. She hadn't been injured, which was a miracle with all the fire whizzing past her, but that only made her more anxious since that was for sure going to make her next injury that much bigger. "I wonder... are they going to keep our NMX bodies on the ship? They're not just going to reprocess them, right?"
"I don't think I really want to think about that too much..." replied Rio. She continued to stand beside Molli, ready to support her again if she needed it.
"Ya ken...ask..." Molli said, her voice strained from the effort of multitasking standing on her own and talking. "But...prolly. Ent got any...use for em." Her tone was impartial, as though shse wanted to put distance between herself and the alternate persona. "Least this body didn't get mangled fer once," she said, referring to her distressing tradition of being wounded in some way during a mission. Being half-burned and stabbed close to the heart was up there with having an arm ripped off, but another body bore that damage. "Feels good t'feel good."
"It's just a shame though..." Sif said, a bit more quietly as she stared at the floor. "I guess it'd be more of a waste of resources and space to keep her frozen here..." Her thoughts redirected inwards for a moment as Sif wondered if Cynea could have been given a consciousness of her own. She was aware of the regulation about only having one instance of a person at a time, but she got to thinking about the what ifs. And if that body was going to be reclaimed or recycled, what form would it take?
"It's for the best. The mishhu used those cobbled together scrap vats remember? I'm sure all three will get a good look at before anything is done with them. Make sure nothing nasty was picked up or inserted in them. Besides our two bodies got trashed." commented Rio, referring to how badly injured both Sahty and Myga's bodies had been.
"Sides, ah only care about you, not Cynea," Molli added, and she turned her gaze to the lake with conspicuous swiftness. "Yer important to me, an', uh...th'ship," she found it harder to stand for a brief moment. "You 'n Rio, ah mean."
Sif nodded to Rio's words. Who knows what nasty things could have been in the code, or the bodies, health wise. The place was far from sterile. Though she had to do a double take, her mind taking another pass at Molli's comment, to which made her chuckle and blush a little. "I didn't know you felt that way," she teased. "I guess I did swear to be your arm, didn't I?" Sif stood up and walked over to the pair, trying to distract herself from her own worries.
"Yeh, when it were missin'," Molli said with a huff as she raised her cyber-limb and rotated its hand in a smooth three-hundred and sixty degree motion, "But, uh...ah ent complainin'. Thanks fer comin wiv me t'day." It wasn't a secret that Molli was the only one who needed physical therapy, "Ah should be fine on m'own 'fore long. Once ah start..." she bent over, struggling to reach her toes, "...gettin...th'kinks out..."
"It's a good chance for the three of us to be around each other." Rio chimed in as she followed along with Molli "Besides...this is really nice. Talking and being together. No nasty mishhu, no gunfights or near death experiences."
"Yeah, just getting some time to decompress after everything is really nice. And, honestly, it's a lot less intimidating with just the three of us," Sif said with a slight nervousness. "I still get the nerves around everyone else."
"Like th'princess?" Molli quipped, shooting up straight -- and nearly falling over as a result. "Nothin' leaves here, alrigh'...but she scares th'crap outta me." It was a comment made in jest, but there was a hint of truth in her voice, and her shifting eyes.
Rio is quick to stretch out a hand for Molli to keep herself from falling if she needed it "I get that. It's...like there is a weight on your shoulders right? To live up to the standards they have set."
Sif was relieved that she wasn't the only one to be daunted by their seniors' presence. "Right! They've already gone through and accomplished a lot. It's hard to stand next to them without feeling like a social butterfly, or a brown noser."
"Pfftch, yeh don't gotta worry 'bout that. Ah think everyone knows y'both're competent," Molli said, with a grateful nod to Rio for her timely catch. "Nekos're built tah fight, 'n yeh've been fightin' fine." She wanted to add 'unlike me,' but merely bit the bottom of her lip. "So dun worry, yeah?"
"It's true we are made to fight...but you're right beside us. I think that's more impressive." chirped Rio as she reached out to pull both Molli and Sif into a hug "I know we'll live up to their expectations together!"
As she was pulled into the group hug, Sif wrapped her arms around the other two as well. "We'll rise to the top so we can stand beside everyone without feeling awkward!"
Molli wasn't in a position to resist a Rio hug even if she wanted to, and the smaller woman pulled her in without much effort. "Righ'... Ah like th'optimism," Molli's typical wryness was tempered, if only slightly, by the warmth of good cheer. "Now make sure ah don' fall on m'ass while ah stretch." With her attempt at a motivational speech concluded, their evening continued in much the same manner as their initial entry into the simulator: with a great deal of struggle on Molli's end that was tempered by the helpful hands and words of her comrades and friends. The trio knew that no matter what form their souls inhabited, they would always be there for each other.
VR Room
12/9/YE 46
It had been only a day since the YSS Kaiyo II left the smoldering ruins of Cauldron Lake's underground NMX base behind them, and the spirits of the crew were soaring on the high of another massively successful operation. The trio of infiltrators (who still carried the moniker 'jakuhai,' or 'young and inexperienced' among the cheekier members of the crew) that made the operation possible could not celebrate their success this time, however. Their original bodies needed to shake off a week's worth of lethargy before the next mission, and the dutiful captain wanted them fit and ready to fight as soon as possible. The virtual reality chamber was thus given over to the trio for as long as they needed, an exclusive privilege that made more than a few of their fellow soldiers a little envious.
The program that Molli chose to run, in lieu of asking for her companions' opinions, was that of a massive circular stone platform in the middle of a lake at sunset. She chose it seemingly at random, but soon found its serene gusts of wind and ambient cricket chirps highly annoying, given her current struggle to walk more than five steps without collapsing -- an inexplicable setback from her body's normalcy the day before, later judged to be a result of residual adrenaline from her previous body wearing off.
"Hnngh... Hah... H-Hngh..." They'd only been exercising for a few minutes, but Molli's face was already drenched in sweat that stained the neck of her plain white t-shirt. She was trying to push herself off the ground. Again. "Ah wish...ah were...uh nekky...still..." she hissed in frustration and anger, at her own weakness, at the loss of a better version of herself.
"It takes some time to get moving again after such a long nap...so to speak." Rio muses as she offers Molli a hand up. Her own body felt incredibly stiff but she had not experienced the same struggles her Nepleslian senior had. "We just take one step at a time....just like we did down there right?"
Molli contemplated slapping the hand aside and trying her damndest to push herself up, but that intrusive thought remained just that. Still, there was a hint of resentment in her cybernetic eyes from being helped to her feet by a junior. Molli's knees wobbled, and she had to lean against Rio to stay upright. "...Yeah," the Nepleslian murmured, "How're yeh alrea'y canny-like?"
"Might be because nekovalkyrja bodies are expected to be in storage sometimes," Sif answered, continuing her squats a couple of feet away. Much like Rio, Sif was not experiencing as much difficulty with her motor functions. However, she did have a head start with getting her body reacquainted with movement, having had to restrain a certain NMX armorer she had been talking to. Though it was more accurate to say that she was trying not to get restrained herself. As mad as Nari was, she was also surprisingly clingy behind closed doors, and Rem was standing by, amused at the sight.
"And the healing factor might have helped too," the Azure-haired neko added as she finished her reps. "In your case... you were in a body that was completely different. I guess you can think of it like..." Sif paused to think of a comparison. 'Using someone else's glasses' might have not been the best way to put it. "It would be like using someone else's mech. After a couple of weeks piloting that, going back to your old one would need some getting used to again, right?"
"It's cause ah'm human," Molli said dryly, "Ent gotta sugarcoat it. Weren't made t'be put on ice..." She realized she was starting to whinge a bit too much, and shook her head. "Whatever. Ah just gotta..." The Nepleslian, using Rio as a stand, took a shaky step forward, "Git used tah m'self...again..."
Rio dutifully held onto Molli for every step taken, her tail waving about behind her to assist with both of thier balances "Sif is right. But that should not take long. It's your body after all. You know it best." she comments "Besides. We've got time before the next mission."
"That's right!" Sif chirped, "Plenty of time to get comfortable!"
Comfortable. Molli's body might have been healthy, if lethargic, but her state of mind was anything but comfortable. "Ah still gotta remind m'self ah ent Myga. 'N ah pat m'butt 'cause ah thought uh tail was there this mornin'," she felt her cheeks flushing as the words spilled out, "Do yeh have th'same problem?" She hoped she wasn't the only one suffering that disassociation. Morgana warned her it'd be the case for not getting the memories of her life as Myga erased, but the symptoms only emerged this morning.
Rio hummed for a moment as she thought over Molli's words even as they continued thier walk around the platform before she finally admitted "I expected to see Sahty in the mirror this morning. Despite knowing better. Though...to be fair it was still us?" Rio tilted her head in thought as she tried to properly voice her thoughts "No matter if it was for just a short time...that's who we were right?"
Sif rubbed the back of her neck, debating with herself on how much she would reveal of the strangeness resulting from the swaps. "At first, I expected my tail to be a lot warmer and fluffier, but now that I'm back to this body, I'm surprised how fluffy it actually is," she said, combing the tail wrapped around her waist. "And I sometimes hear myself think in Cynea's voice," she added with a half-hearted chuckle. "I'd like to think that just means that she's still a part of me. Which... I guess she is me."
"Eh...yer tail looked flully in both bodies," Molli said, scratching her head, "S'prolly somefin' only nekos ken tell..." She never bothered to touch Cynea's tail, there was no reason to, and she'd be far too embarrassed to ask to give Sif's a feel. It would probably remain a mystery for the rest of her days. "S'good t'know ah ent th'only one feelin' like two persons," she added, clearly relieved that her struggle was a shared one.
"Yeh don't regret rememberin', do ya?" she asked as she continued to take small baby steps to rebuild the strength in her legs.
"It could be. I can tell the difference between mine and Sahty's tails. Her tail was not as soft." Mused Rio regarding neko tails before she answered Molli's more serious question "I don't. I think it should be remembered. What we saw down there was too important to just forget. One more reason to end the Mishhuvurthyar..."
"I don't regret it either," Sif nodded. "Besides, the experience would make a great story, don't you think? And all that stuff we learned down there, we could use that in the future. I bet I could still field strip any NMX weaponry we'd find." She beamed a smile, but somewhere deep down, part of her did want to forget at least some of the things binding her to that life, if only to make the uncertainty go away.
It was the same answer they'd given yesterday, more or less, and just like that day, Molli couldn't give an answer of her own. She wanted to remember Hihja and the others, but it was hard to live with the knowledge that she'd made her captain suspicious of her loyalties. Everything was easier when she didn't realize some Mishhu wanted to end the war, and that the NMX neko weren't all monsters. "D'ya think we saved enough of our-" Molli stopped herself from saying "our sisters," and continued, "Our prisoners?"
Rio picked up her pace slightly, wanting to help Molli go farther faster "We saved as many as we could. I'm sure there will be more. I just hope they come understand the truth." Rio tried to give a smile despite the topic "They may be angry for a while but at least they are alive."
"Don't get hung up on that," Sif said, her smile faltering. "It's not good for your mind thinking about if you're doing enough. Someone told me that during training. It gets into your head, and makes you doubt yourself."
"Kinna hard not when we gots 'em wiv us," Molli countered, her voice dry and sardonic, "...Yer right," she let a hand fall to her chest, where Hihja plunged a knife into Myga. Sometimes, she could feel an icy phantom pain there, as evidenced from her brief wince. "Ah'm jus' glad yeh both got out alrigh'," she said with a mote of appreciation, "Even if Rio got grilled a lil'," Molli gave Rio's shoulder a squeeze. "Ah'm glad th'captain got you two."
With a scoff Rio gave Molli's back a playful whack "You got grilled the same as me!" she couldn't help but give a bark of laughter "I don't think I'm grilling anything for a while after this mission!" Rio gave Molli's back another, gentler pat "I'm glad I was assigned to this ship and this crew."
"Speak fer yerself, ah could use a grilled munchie," Molli replied, and by now, she'd managed to walk to the edge of their stone platform. "Mmkay. Lemme jus'..." Molli stopped leaning on Rio, and for several tense seconds, she wobbled in place like a rickety bridge that threatened to break into pieces. Though her balance was tenuous at best, Molli managed to stay upright with her arms extended out. "W-Whew..."
Sif sat on the ground, legs crossed and hands on her knees. A small break wouldn't hurt while they were talking. "Getting grilled AND getting stabbed in the chest," she added. She hadn't been injured, which was a miracle with all the fire whizzing past her, but that only made her more anxious since that was for sure going to make her next injury that much bigger. "I wonder... are they going to keep our NMX bodies on the ship? They're not just going to reprocess them, right?"
"I don't think I really want to think about that too much..." replied Rio. She continued to stand beside Molli, ready to support her again if she needed it.
"Ya ken...ask..." Molli said, her voice strained from the effort of multitasking standing on her own and talking. "But...prolly. Ent got any...use for em." Her tone was impartial, as though shse wanted to put distance between herself and the alternate persona. "Least this body didn't get mangled fer once," she said, referring to her distressing tradition of being wounded in some way during a mission. Being half-burned and stabbed close to the heart was up there with having an arm ripped off, but another body bore that damage. "Feels good t'feel good."
"It's just a shame though..." Sif said, a bit more quietly as she stared at the floor. "I guess it'd be more of a waste of resources and space to keep her frozen here..." Her thoughts redirected inwards for a moment as Sif wondered if Cynea could have been given a consciousness of her own. She was aware of the regulation about only having one instance of a person at a time, but she got to thinking about the what ifs. And if that body was going to be reclaimed or recycled, what form would it take?
"It's for the best. The mishhu used those cobbled together scrap vats remember? I'm sure all three will get a good look at before anything is done with them. Make sure nothing nasty was picked up or inserted in them. Besides our two bodies got trashed." commented Rio, referring to how badly injured both Sahty and Myga's bodies had been.
"Sides, ah only care about you, not Cynea," Molli added, and she turned her gaze to the lake with conspicuous swiftness. "Yer important to me, an', uh...th'ship," she found it harder to stand for a brief moment. "You 'n Rio, ah mean."
Sif nodded to Rio's words. Who knows what nasty things could have been in the code, or the bodies, health wise. The place was far from sterile. Though she had to do a double take, her mind taking another pass at Molli's comment, to which made her chuckle and blush a little. "I didn't know you felt that way," she teased. "I guess I did swear to be your arm, didn't I?" Sif stood up and walked over to the pair, trying to distract herself from her own worries.
"Yeh, when it were missin'," Molli said with a huff as she raised her cyber-limb and rotated its hand in a smooth three-hundred and sixty degree motion, "But, uh...ah ent complainin'. Thanks fer comin wiv me t'day." It wasn't a secret that Molli was the only one who needed physical therapy, "Ah should be fine on m'own 'fore long. Once ah start..." she bent over, struggling to reach her toes, "...gettin...th'kinks out..."
"It's a good chance for the three of us to be around each other." Rio chimed in as she followed along with Molli "Besides...this is really nice. Talking and being together. No nasty mishhu, no gunfights or near death experiences."
"Yeah, just getting some time to decompress after everything is really nice. And, honestly, it's a lot less intimidating with just the three of us," Sif said with a slight nervousness. "I still get the nerves around everyone else."
"Like th'princess?" Molli quipped, shooting up straight -- and nearly falling over as a result. "Nothin' leaves here, alrigh'...but she scares th'crap outta me." It was a comment made in jest, but there was a hint of truth in her voice, and her shifting eyes.
Rio is quick to stretch out a hand for Molli to keep herself from falling if she needed it "I get that. It's...like there is a weight on your shoulders right? To live up to the standards they have set."
Sif was relieved that she wasn't the only one to be daunted by their seniors' presence. "Right! They've already gone through and accomplished a lot. It's hard to stand next to them without feeling like a social butterfly, or a brown noser."
"Pfftch, yeh don't gotta worry 'bout that. Ah think everyone knows y'both're competent," Molli said, with a grateful nod to Rio for her timely catch. "Nekos're built tah fight, 'n yeh've been fightin' fine." She wanted to add 'unlike me,' but merely bit the bottom of her lip. "So dun worry, yeah?"
"It's true we are made to fight...but you're right beside us. I think that's more impressive." chirped Rio as she reached out to pull both Molli and Sif into a hug "I know we'll live up to their expectations together!"
As she was pulled into the group hug, Sif wrapped her arms around the other two as well. "We'll rise to the top so we can stand beside everyone without feeling awkward!"
Molli wasn't in a position to resist a Rio hug even if she wanted to, and the smaller woman pulled her in without much effort. "Righ'... Ah like th'optimism," Molli's typical wryness was tempered, if only slightly, by the warmth of good cheer. "Now make sure ah don' fall on m'ass while ah stretch." With her attempt at a motivational speech concluded, their evening continued in much the same manner as their initial entry into the simulator: with a great deal of struggle on Molli's end that was tempered by the helpful hands and words of her comrades and friends. The trio knew that no matter what form their souls inhabited, they would always be there for each other.