The Pristine Condition
Notable Characters Involved: Pristina (Daemon/Rookie), Zoa, Deva, Savior
The sounds of guns blazing scattered within the vicinity of four Arsenals against a titan sized Immortal. As the new promising rookie, Pristina moved hastily towards the mechanical menace to get a better aim with her machine gun. Within a few seconds, the Immortal retaliated with a barrage of octagonal shaped missiles , raging against her newly named Arsenal, "Death Star".
"Shit!" she groaned, slamming her fist against the
panel of her dilapidated mech. Her eyes looked around for a healing canister, and to her luck, found one. She slammed her boost panel to propel her towards it in a desperate attempt to to preserve Death Star.
Unfortunately, it was much too late for her. With one last missile, the arsenal was thrashed into the pavement, forcing her to eject from her seat before it broke into a debris of broken wires and torn through armor.
Disgruntled, Pristina raged at the machine, and as a last ditch effort, threw one of her feeble grenades at the immortal. Her heart beat against her chest rapidly. It felt as though everything was moving in slow motion, as her inevitable loss was near. Her vision was a bit blurry from all the dust particles that flew. The ground shook as if there was an earthquake, shoving her back against the ground.
"Woah,Rookie! Are you alright!?" Deva's voice pierced her sensitive ears through the communication device.
"Ugh...what is it!?" she shook her head,as if to shake is voice out of her ears, patting the dust off her teal and blue battle suit. Once the dust settled, a mechanical
corpse lied before the team.
Another man named Zoa chimed in. "H-hey! Just because you got the last shot in, that doesn't mean you get to be rude! We were worried about you!" he said.
Her heart slowly returned to a normal pace, while a million thoughts ran through her mind..until she heard what was said. Her bottom lip dropped slightly, a look of befuddlement washed across her face. "You mean...I killed it?"
Zoa chuckled lowly. "Don't tell me you didn't know? Oh man, you are somethin' else,Rookie!". He shook his head. "At any rate, we're glad you're ok down there. Right,bro?"
Deva nodded and sighed. "Not gonna lie, I was a little worried. I'm a little jealous though. I really wanted to be the one to strike the final blow against that immortal! Ah well."
Pristina bit her lip and looked to her side. It was only a lucky shot, a "spiteful" blow. She had lightly clenched the dust and rubble underneath the palm of her hand and
closed her eyes,until the sudden sound of multiple footsteps headed her way. "Hm?" she opened her eyes to see two men both extending a hand to her.
"Hey,you can sleep later. Right now we need to find you a ride back to the base." Deva said cheerfully. "Once this is over with, how about we get some ice cream? Well, except for that guy." he used his free hand to point his thumb to the guy next to him. "Who invited him anyway..?" he muttered.
Savior cleared his throat. "Ahem. I believe I was invited by the rookie. At any rate, come now,rookie. " he extended his hand further out, until he was interrupted by Deva.
"Hey, don't mind this guy. You're one of us,Rookie! Right?" he asked smoothly.
Pristina finally sat up and rolled her eyes at the both of them. They were bickering the entire time on their way to the mission, and now they were going to start it all over again. "No ,thank you." she sighed and slowly but surely got back on her feet, wiggling her body to shake the sand off. While removing the dust from her cinnamon brown face and autumn brown hair,she went
from a mildly irritated expression , to a very curious one once she caught on to what Deva offered. "...Ice cream huh?" a small curl at the corner of her mouth formed. She thought fondly of all the flavors at the ice cream parlor...caramel...mint...or the BG Special—a little rum over some vanilla ice cream.
"Yeah! Zoa, me,and you. It'll be a nice break from all what went down today. After that,you can do whatever you like." he spoke. "Hey, Zoa! You call that ride for Pristina yet?" he spoke through his communications device.
"Yeah. It should be here right about...now." Zoa waved to Pristina. How'd you know I was calling her a ride anyway?"
Deva chortled. "Sounds like something you'd do ,and something you know I'd want you to do."
Zoa and Deva laughed almost in sync with one another. It was almost as if they were twins at times. It was weird, or at least Pristina thought so. "Sorry to interrupt your little brotherly bond, but my ride's here." she casually waved to the three men and boarded the
airship that was sent to collect her arsenal. "Thanks,by the way." she nodded to the three men as she folded her arms ,the door to the airship closing.
Within the ship, Pristina took a seat nearby and sighed in relief. She wasn't exactly a "people person",and only enjoyed doing her job for the most part as a mercenary. People exhausted her. She found them to be pompous,annoying,self-absorbed,needy,dishonest the more she interacted with them. Being thrown into a war after a few weeks shy of awakening from some lab wasn't the ideal life for her, and she didn't exactly know just who to trust with those thoughts,and she kept to herself most of the time as a result. She rested her face between the palm of her right hand, resting her elbow on her knee. The sounds of jets blasting and revving engines within the ship slowed down, the entrance she came from reopening and revealing she had returned to the base.
"Yo! Rookie! Over here!" Zoa called, the two bronze haired brothers waving near the entrance of the ice cream parlor.
She took a deep breath and got up,but went to grab
something that looked like a pouch from the entrance of her leveled arsenal, and then began walking toward the two brothers. "Great. Let's go. I'm starving." Pristina's stomach rumbled a bit. "Although ice cream wouldn't fill her stomach, it would make her feel a bit better about today.
The three entered the room and sat down. Deva sat in the middle, while Pristina and Zoa sat on the opposite sides. The digitize menu appeared underneath the transparent bar. Pristina looked through the list of options on her digitized menu and pressed for a combination of chocolate,caramel,and vanilla,and hit "Enter". Zoa and Deva both placed their orders at once. The machine simply transported their order directly at their tables as the menu shut off. Pristina's eyes had a glint of excitement when her order arrived, sighing. She casually dipped her spoon in her multi flavored dish, scooping a small portion of caramel ice cream and taking a savory gulp.
The rattling sound of plastic pierced Pristina's ears all of a sudden,and she turned and saw Deva fidgeting with a bag of chopped peanuts.
"Nothin' like bringing your own condiments." he
chuckled nervously. It wasn't the classiest thing to do, but when they were poor,the two brothers would bring all sorts of food and assortments to save money. They were making enough money to where they didn't have to do it anymore, but for Deva,old habits died hard. His hands couldn't manage to open it. "These darn packets.." he grumbled. He looked in her direction,noticing her staring at him. "Uh,hey..is something wrong?"
"Are those...peanuts?" Pristina asked. Her eyes glinted with a hint of curiosity in them.
Deva raised a brow. "Uh,yeah?" Without trying so hard,he managed to open the packet while being distracted by her question. "Wait a minute...would you like some?" he laughed lightly. "Here." he poured half of the packet on his own ice cream and gave the rest to her in her hand gently and smiled. "There you go."
Her eyes softened just a bit, and smiled back at his kind gesture. "Thanks..." she took the packet and sprinkled the rest all over her treat..but not before pulling out a bottle of brandy and putting just a little on the top. "BG made such a big deal about this...I wonder
what's the fuss.".
Deva and Zoa both widened their eyes and simply stared at her.
"H-hey! That's alcohol!" Zoa pointed. "Where'd you get that from?"
"That's not just any alcohol, that belongs to the big man himself, BG! Don't tell me you swiped the liquor straight from the old man,rookie?"
Pristina simply shrugged her shoulders. "Meh,I was gonna bring it back. He left it on a a bench one day so I took it. By now he should have a new one."
Zoa shook his head. "Pristina, that's not very ethical."
She furrowed her thick brows and sighed at Zoa's comment. "You are such a nerd-baby, Zoa."
Deva nearly choked on his own toppings laughing at the two of them interacting. "Haha,he is a bit of a baby, and a nerd!"
"Deva!" Zoa shook his head and sighed. "Who's brother
are you anyway? Hmph."
"Heh. Maybe he's just jealous because he's not old enough to drink alcohol yet." Pristina teased, and smirked.
"I'm 23!" Zoa pouted a bit, fumbling through his scoops of ice cream with his spoon.
Amused,Deva chimes in. "Yeah. He might look and even act kind of green,but he's man. But I know you're just teasin' him,right?"
"Yeah, I'm only teasing, Zoa." she waved to him, and then offered Deva a chance to dribble brandy over his ice cream. He took her offer and grabbed the the bottle to put some on his own treat,sitting it back at her side on the bar.
"You got some serious moxie, Rookie. I wouldn't want to get on your bad side on the battle field or a roast session." he laughed and rested his spoon down into the dish, leaving behind an empty plate. "Ah man,that was pretty tasty! Thanks for taking a break with us." he stood from his seat,took his tray to a panel across from it,and watched it dissolve. Pristina followed after
him,and did the same.
"I will never get used to that." she shook her head.
Zoa placed himself at the end of the two to throw away his empty dish as well. "Where does it all even go?"
Deva shrugged. "I don't know. It's weird so I don't think about it." he gave a faint chuckle. "Well, we gotta jet on outta here,Rookie. We have other obligations to tend to. Again, it was nice hanging out with ya." he offered his gloved hand to shake.
She slowly extended her hand to shake his own. His handshake was firm,friendly, and rather brief. "Like wise." she spoke softly,nervously placing her free hand at behind her head. Zoa soon followed after to give a more vigorous handshake.
"Yeah! If you see us around, don't be a stranger! You know,outside of missions and whatnot. Well, I'm off. We gotta go add our earnings to the orphanage. Thanks for recruiting us again,rookie!" he gave a toothy smile,and then waved as he walked away. It was only Deva and Pristina inside.
"Now that Zoa's gone...wanted to say somethin'. Don't beat yourself up over things like that."
Pristina's face looked genuinely puzzled. "Things like what?"
"You know, what happened today. I know you didn't want to trash your arsenal like that. It's embarrassing, especially as a rookie in front of veterans...but what I am sayin' is—learn form your mistakes instead of abusing yourself over them. If you keep worrying about saving face, your face will wind up in the pavement because you aren't focused on the mission at hand." he placed his hand on his hip. "I know it's not any of my business,and I ain't trying to lecture you. I just wanted to let you know that I get why you were upset."
Her brows arched,and her lips lightly parted. She tried to speak, but her thoughts couldn't transfer properly into words. Pristina closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Hmm. Perhaps you're right...". Her ego was tampered with during that battle, and she had let it get the best of her. She had always wanted to be in pristine condition every time she went on the battlefield,and this was her first time feeling her sense of pride being damaged. "I could have gotten one of you hurt as a result of my
pride...I got too cocky, I should have strategized better and healed myself earlier. I'm so sorry." she bit down on her full bottom lip and looked away from him.
Deva looked shocked. It didn't go the way as planned. She was supposed to say "Ok" or "Thank you", and that would be that. His brows lowered and his forehead crinkled into a state of worry. "No no no no! Rookie,what are you doing?!" he moved over to her side. "Look at me. Don't sweat it! Just be more careful next time. Besides, Zoa and I can take care of ourselves just fine. I was just more worried about you, I swear!" he said in earnest.
She opened one of her eyes and looked in his direction. "Why would you worry about me? Isn't it every man out for himself here?" she said sourly.
"Cause you're our favorite rookie! Besides,I don't really feel that way like some of the mercenaries. We're all fighting for the same thing, so why not stick together when we can? We bought you out here because we wanted to cheer you up,yknow? ...So, don't undo all our hard work!" he wagged his finger at her playfully and
gave her a stern look as he folded his arms. "That's an order." he said in his best Brigadier General voice.
Her eyes squinted at his impersonation. "Man, you are corny as hell." she said with a straight face,staring him down. Pristina's throat started to feel strange,as though it was being tickled from the inside. Her voice sounded like static,as if she was coughing, until a burst of laughter erupted from her mouth.
He bursts into laughter alongside her. "Hey! I'm not corny, I'm cool! Zoa's the corny one! Well, I'm glad you're in good spirits now. Just remember my advice and take it easy until next time,rookie—I mean, Pristina." he gave a big smile and a thumbs up.
Pristina nodded and warmly smiled back at him. "Good looking out, Deva." she spoke gently. Her body began to feel a bit warmer after laughing so much. "I uh, well, I gotta go see how much it's gonna cost to repair my arsenal. See you next time, cornball." she kindly waves to him.
"See you later, peanut-head." he casually joked. He had said it so fast she hadn't even noticed until he waved an walked off.
"Hey! Peanut head?! What the hell!?" she exclaimed.
By the time she had figured it out, Deva flew off in his arsenal ,after his brother.
She shook her head and sighed. Her body felt warmer, and lighter than she had felt before she shared a chat with the two brothers. It felt new, it felt strange, but she wasn't going to question it. At least not right now. Her mood had changed for the better. She folded her arms and went to check the damages. "I guess today wasn't so bad...they weren't so bad,either." She thought to herself.