Lilac grunted as she pushed the large box, making just enough room for her to squeeze through between it and the other boxes and get out of the maze of crates. Dusting off her hands, she sighed as she stepped out of the storage warehouse yet again, after being stuck in there for what almost felt like hours. Only because it had taken her a while to find the quartermaster inside. It didn't help that people were constantly moving the crates around. And after having to move some boxes around, she had finally found him deeper inside where he was inspecting some wooden crates that had been tucked away in a corner. Then she had to wait for him to finish working on those before he finally took the manifest from her and looked over it.
And now she was stuck with another manifest. One listing some equipment and miscellaneous gear some patrols had found in the flooded part of the city that had washed up onto the shore. Most definitely from a cargo ship that got intercepted and sunk by the machines. Something that unfortunately happened all too often.
"Let's see..." She rubbed her face with a groan as she stared at the screen. "Guns, gun parts, some melee weapons, and materials. Hmm, Weapons Trader will be happy for a while." She mumbled, seeing as how he wouldn't stop complaining about not having supplies to maintain or repair weapons properly. "What else, body armor, clothes and blah, blah, blah..." She lowered it and turned it off, rubbing her eyes with a sigh before attaching the tablet to her belt. Leaning against a scaffolding support beam, she closed her eyes for just a moment.
A minute later, she heard the clinking sound of bullets and footsteps from behind before they stopped next to her. "Hard at work Lilac?" She heard a strained male voice ask next to her. Peeling her head off the beam, she opened her right eye and glanced to the side to see a male Resistance member standing next to her. Who was staring at her with a raised brow and wry smile, three large ammo crates in his arms.
She blinked at him slowly before puffing her cheeks up and blowing out a breath with a shrug. "Meh…" She replied, her eyes drooping as she leaned further against the pole.
He rolled his eyes. "Well, seeing as how you aren't busy, could you lend me a hand?" He asked with a grunt as he hefted the large boxes up for a better hold, almost falling over. "These things are heavy and it feels like my damn arms are about to pop out of their sockets." He grumbled.
"Alright." Lilac sighed, peeling herself away from the scaffolding, and grabbed the top crate, carefully taking it off. While he held onto the other two.
Getting a good hold on it, she winced when the wood dug into the palm of her hands as she lifted it up, before moving over to a pile of other crates. Easing the crate down, she let go and stepped back, while the man stumbled over and groaned, bending down and placing the two crates down before standing up, rolling his shoulders to get the kinks out of them. While Lilac opened and closed her hands and rubbed some of her now sore fingers which had gotten crushed a bit under the crate when she had placed it down.
The man huffed and sat down on the crates, adjusting his watch cap. "Thanks for the help Lilac." He groaned out, wiping at his brow with his arm, not that he needed to.
"Mm-hmm." She acknowledged tiredly as she shook off her hand and gave him a deadpan stare. "You really need to stop grabbing more than you can carry, you know. Cause if you drop those, you'll be lucky if we don't have to clean up what's left of you off the floors and walls." That, or he would be picking up every individual round and whatever else there was with his bare hands. He huffed and waved a hand at her before turning away, grumbling to himself.
Lilac rolled her eyes and headed over to an open seat and sat down on it. Closing her eyes and slowly breathing through her nose, as she traced a finger along her repaired palm, where the damaged skin had been patched up after what had happened the other day. She opened her eyes just a bit and stared at her palms. She could just barely see the thin pale outline of where the new synth skin had been hastily applied.
It had been a long time since she had last had an… outburst like that. She usually kept a good hold on those emotions, keeping them hidden away. But seeing the body of the woman she had spent time with and enjoyed being around had brought up many unpleasant memories that Lilac wanted to forget, but ones she couldn't bring herself to delete.
Lilac chewed on the corner of her mouth, tracing her fingernail along the outline of where one of the large cuts had been. I never did find that thing she kept talking about for her. Dam- Dang, what was it called again? She scratched at her palm. The… Vio… Violin? She closed her eyes and dived into her memory storage and started searching through it until she finally found the file where the woman had first brought it up.
"Hey Lilac-'' Lilac gasped as it played automatically and quickly paused it, the frame freezing on the woman's warm smile. The one she always had when they hung out with each other as if there were no worries in the world. Lilac took in a shuddering breath as she stared at it, those dark blue eyes staring right back at her, filled with life, unlike the ones she had seen just a few days prior. Causing Lilac to feel a twisting feeling in her chest. She turned away before closing the memory, not wanting to hear the dead woman's voice.
She backed out of her memory storage, leaving her walking around in her system space. She tried to think of how she would even find a violin, let alone where she would find one. Let alone if there were any in the city. There was also the fact that Lilac didn't even know what a violin looked like. All she knew was that it was some kind of... instrument. And she didn't know anyone who might have an idea of what it is. Lilac blinked when a memory file floated past her, the image on it being the android she had recently met. She stopped it and moved over to it, playing the memory.
"Lilac, come on. We should at least cover those up." The man's concerned voice rang out, showing him trying to cut off some of his scarf with his knife so he could wrap up her hands before Lilac saw her hands reaching out and stopping him. She sat down and crossed her legs under her as she watched it. Letting her shoulders relax as she listened to his voice again for the next few minutes. Her eyes slowly widening as she did.
Wait a minute...
Lilac didn't get the chance to think about it further and was brought out when someone nudged the side of her head with their elbow. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times before looking to her left to see a female member staring back at her with a grin under her dark green hood. "No time to get lost in your head, Lilac!" Her grin widened a bit more as she dipped her head down, shadowing her eyes under her hair as she leaned close to the girl. "Not unless you want 'ol hard eyes to get ya!" She said with a sinister tone, showing all of her teeth.
An unwitting shiver ran through Lilac's body along with a spike of fear, before she glared at the woman who threw her head back and started cackling as she walked away. While the man just shook his head and got off the crates, stepping out of the way for her as she placed down the crate in her hands, her cackling turned to quiet chuckles. "Oh man, that was funny." The woman sighed, wiping her eye with a finger.
"Hmph," The man crossed his arms and smiled. "Didn't you get caught by him a while back or something? I don't remember you laughing back then." He said. Making the woman gasp and whirl towards him, pointing a finger at his face.
"I did not!" She growled.
He took a step back and cupped his chin, with his smile still in place with a thoughtful look. "What was it that you did? Oh, yeah!" He pointed his finger at her. "You tried to drink an entire crate's worth of alcohol when no one was looking." He took another step back when she swiped at him before she charged at him with a growl. Lilac let a tiny smile slip out, remembering that exact incident. Especially when the woman had tried and failed to escape, only to slam face first into a wall in her drunken and panicked state.
Lilac stared at the duo as they started bickering and fighting with each other before deciding she needed to get a move on. Sitting up, she moved over to the ladder and sluggishly grabbed the bars before climbing up. Her head leaned a bit too far forward though, causing her to hit the top of her head on a rung. She grunted and flinched, leaning back with a hiss and rubbing the spot with a wince before glaring at the ladder, and then cautiously continued her way up. Without hitting her head again.
Getting up onto the catwalk, Lilac massaged the spot on her head while tucking in a loose part of her shirt with a sigh, before running her hands through her hair and walking over to the gate that was the entrance and exit for the storage area. Though not before giving the ladder a light kick that dented it a bit. Which made her feel a bit better.
Pulling on the chain link door and pulling it open. She stood aside for a moment to let a few people pass before going through herself and closing it behind her.
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The male android who had been sitting near the door previously was gone and sitting in his spot was one of the other camp managers, who just about always spent her time sitting in her chair next to the gate. She was currently humming a quiet tune to herself, slowly moving her head side to side as she did. The woman turned her head at Lilac as she walked by, giving her a nod in greeting. Lilac gave a half-hearted wave in return.
Stopping near the ladder, Lilac sighed and leaned back as a few androids were carefully lifting up a few small crates. Blocking her from using the ladder. Lilac watched as the man pulled another crate up and eased it down, and then rinse and repeat for the next couple of minutes. The sound of people chattering and working filled the air. Among all the loud noise, Lilac thought she heard someone gasp, but ignored it. She then heard footsteps approaching from behind her.
"Lilac! There you are!" Lilac went to turn towards the voice, before a hand grabbed the back of her hood and pulled on it. Lilac gasped and choked slightly as she was roughly pulled away from the ladder, her arms swinging forward to try to reach for it, while she tried not to stumble and fall over. The person pulling her not taking notice of her surprise or not caring.
Why!? Lilac stared at the ladder with longing as she was dragged away, the man who she had been standing next to turned his head and watched her get dragged by her hood with bewilderment before turning away with a shake of his head.
"I got her!" Lilac managed to regain her footing when the person dragging her stopped and let go of her hood. She grimaced and rubbed her throat, before a pair of hands then grabbed her shoulders and quickly turned her around and pushed her down, so she was sitting on her knees. Lilac blinked at the sudden slight dizziness before her system reoriented itself and she rubbed her eyes before she noticed the person she had been forcefully sat down next to.
"Oh…" Lilac shook her head as her small amount dizziness went away. "Hey Mizuna." She greeted the girl with a smile.
Mizuna paused in her tinkering with the blowtorch in her hands, the bulky combat model glancing down at Lilac through the bangs of her short black hair. She stared at Lilac for a second before her hard eyes softened and she gave Lilac a subtle nod and a quiet grunt in greeting behind her red scarf before going back to messing with the blowtorch in her hands.
There was a scoff. "What, no hello for me?" Lilac turned to the owner of the voice and person who had dragged her so violently over. Her friend Daisy. Who was staring at her with a pout and arms crossed over her chest.
Lilac rolled her eyes. "Hi, Daisy." She sat up and crossed her legs under her. "How was your guys' scouting mission to the forest?"
Daisy's mouth twisted into a frown as she shrugged and sat down with a groan. "About what you would expect by now. The machines there are still super hostile, and they still keep yelling their heads off about their 'king' or whatever as usual." She grumbled, scraping some dirt off her boot.
Lilac nodded at that. They had been probing the forest next to the city and the desert every couple of months for the last year trying to find a way into the deeper parts of the forest. Unfortunately, they hadn't really made much progress getting into the forest due to the machines that lived there, which attacked everything in sight. Last Lilac had heard, Anemone was possibly thinking about putting a hold on scouting missions to the forest since they had lost a few people because of them and with little progress being made.
Though they did finally manage to get a little bit deeper into some parts of the forest thanks to an odd group of machines they had met not too long ago. Lilac still remembered the slight panic that was caused when the leader of the machine village had walked right into the camp, waving a little white flag around, asking to speak with the person who ran the camp.
And now they had a pretty alright alliance and trade going on with Pascal and his group. There were still a few androids who weren't happy they were trading supplies with machines, but Anemone made sure to emphasize that they couldn't be picky about where they got spare parts these days. And that having fewer enemies was always better.
"So how about you, hmm?" Lilac blinked and looked at Daisy, who was looking back at her with a smug look on her face, her head sitting on her palm. "Miss, I'm on probation again." She teased.
Lilac glared at her, crossing her arms over her chest. "What makes you think I'm on probation?"
Daisy's grin only grew wider. "Maybe because we saw you sitting at the table next to Anemone when we came back yesterday. You looked so adorable with the look you had on your face! Like you were about to shred those papers to bits!" She teased while mimicking tearing a piece of paper with her hands.
Lilac blushed and looked away in embarrassment and suppressing a shudder. She wasn't sure why, but for some reason, Anemone was insistent on using paper documents for all of their intel and reports. And it was so annoying because she had to write everything down herself, which took forever.
"So... what'd you do to get in trouble again?"
Lilac harumphed and crossed her arms while keeping silent and turning her head away, hoping that if she stayed silent Daisy would leave it be. But the other girl just continued to stare at her. So Lilac huffed before grumbling it out.
Daisy leaned forward, turning her head so her ear was facing towards Lilac, saying nothing with an expectant look.
"I snuck out again..." Lilac grumbled with a roll of her eyes. Keeping her eyes on her lap, she could now feel Mizuna's disappointed gaze now burning into her side.
Daisy leaned back with raised brows and smiled. "Geez, really?" Her eyes widened while her smile grew wider before she scooted herself closer. "Ooh, ooh! Did you find that guy again!?" She asked. Out of the corner of her eye, Lilac saw Mizuna go stiff and stop working on the blowtorch.
"No…" Lilac mumbled a denial. Though even to her ears, it wasn't convincing in the slightest.
The blowtorch in Mizuna's hand slammed down on the wood boards underneath them, making both girls jump and look at her. Lilac froze and swallowed nervously under Mizuna's gaze, who was staring at her with a hard look. Before Mizuna's expression softened. "Lilac..." Mizuna said her name plainly with a rumble.
Lilac winced and shrunk away from the combat model, but Mizuna's firm gaze remained on her. Lilac sighed and her shoulders sagged. "Yeah, I met him again..." Mizuna's eyes narrowed. She hadn't been happy when Lilac told her about him when she found him in the bookstore. Scolding her for trusting him so easily. And looking back at it now, Lilac kept wincing at how she just decided to tag along with some random android she met. But she couldn't help it at the time, she didn't really have anyone who shared her same interest in collecting stuff.
"Did you ask him what model he is!?" Daisy butted in suddenly, bouncing in place. Cutting off whatever Mizuna was gonna say. Mizuna shot a glare at the excited girl before shaking her head with a quiet sigh and looking away.
Lilac went to get Mizuna's attention but she was already focused on the blowtorch again. Lilac scratched her cheek before turning to Daisy with a sigh. "No Daisy. I didn't ask him. Besides, isn't it considered rude to ask that?"
Daisy rolled her eyes. "And when did you start caring about that? You've asked plenty of people what models they were."
"That's because they were newer or recent models." Lilac grumbled. Lilac couldn't deny that she had been dying to ask the guy what model he was, especially with the few things she noticed, but she held back from doing it. Mostly because he gave off the air of an older android and some of them would get all weird if you asked that question. Saying that it was inappropriate or rude. Then there were the few who didn't really care and would just say it before moving on. Maybe he would be the latter? He did seem pretty calm from what little time she had spent with him. That and tired.
Daisy groaned and slumped before sitting up again. "Well, I still think he has to be an Archeologist model or something from those Reclamation Investigation Committee guys!"
Lilac sighed again. Daisy had been insistent on that theory ever since Lilac told them about the guy. "I guess? But when was the last time they even deployed anyone here?" She asked. Cause last time she checked, no one from the RIC has been deployed to Japan, since it's been in machine control for a long time. That and he told her he came over from the night kingdom, that and the Resistance uniform he was wearing.
Humming, Daisy tapped her chin in thought. "I dunno, maybe he got left behind and has been wandering around by himself?" Lilac slowly nodded at that. It would explain how he knows about the stuff he's told her so far if he was a Researcher model and had been part of a failed descent mission across the ocean. But he came off as more of a combat model to her, which didn't line up with what she knew about YorHa scanners or Army of Humanity Researcher models.
The scanners from what little she had heard about them were that they were more curious about the old world data, while the Researcher models were usually obsessed with obtaining old world data since it was their job. Him on the other hand? It felt more like it was just something he had picked up like most androids do. That, and research or archeologist or whatever they're called models are far and few these days, with most probably sitting up on the satellites or near androids strongholds. So the job of collecting old human data usually fell onto combat models or whoever else was out in the field in hostile territory.
Daisy perked up. "You know, I forgot to tell you guys, but you remember Pieris?" Lilac nodded. How couldn't she forget about the weirdo? The guy was constantly going off about his conspiracy theories or whatever his fried circuits thought up. Daisy continued. "Anyways, he told me he found an old android camp months ago. Like, really old. And he said it was used as an outpost for those guys, and it had a bunch of documents too!"
Grimacing at how loud Daisy had been when she said that, Lilac pulled on the collar of her shirt while looking around with an anxious look to make sure there weren't any officers nearby that had heard her before turning back to Daisy with a glare. "Daisy! You know we're supposed to turn that stuff in!" She whispered harshly at the woman. Since any and all information involved with the Humanity Preservation Act were to be turned in immediately and sent to command. And if you were found withholding that kind of info, you'd be lucky to only get a slap on the wrist
Rolling her eyes, Daisy waved an uncaring hand at Lilac. "Oh relax. He did," She paused and grinned. "Though, after making copies of them of course."
"Of course he did…" Lilac groaned, running a hand down her face. The man was obsessed with collecting documents, especially old world documents, even though half of the stuff on them made little sense most of the time. Lilac was just glad he had stopped bothering her about a year ago after Mizuna had a talk with him. She still wasn't sure what the Mizuna had told him that made him flinch every time he saw Lilac.
Daisy then gasped, making Lilac jump and Mizuna pause on her tinkering. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I forgot! Something really important happened today!" She exclaimed. Holding her hands against her face with an odd smile and letting out a shuddering breath, with a glint in her eyes that Lilac was all too familiar with.
"Daisy…" Lilac slowly scooted herself away from the girl and closer to Mizuna, pressing herself against the combat model's side. Not really wanting to deal with Daisy's excitable nature right now.
Daisy waved her hands in front of her. "No! This is important!" She then looked over at Mizuna who was still working on the blowtorch in silence. "Hey Mizuna, put that down for a sec, you gotta be a part of this!" Daisy said as she started reaching her hand out to take it from Mizuna.
The blowtorch suddenly came to life in Mizuna's hands, the flame just barely grazing Daisy's outstretched hand and fingers, burning her glove a bit while making her yelp and fall on her butt. Daisy looked at the quiet combat model with wide eyes and a wary look. Mizuna didn't really show any emotions on her face as she held the blowtorch up, staring at the flame before turning it off. She turned her gaze to Daisy, staring down at the girl. And even with Mizuna not looking at her, Lilac still couldn't help but shudder.
Daisy gulped and sat back up, but kept her distance, holding her hands up in surrender with a nervous grin. "A-Ah, that's okay, you can keep it." She said with a nervous chuckle. While Lilac held a fist over her mouth to hide her grin and shook with quiet laughter.
Mizuna hummed and lowered it, resting on her lap as she searched through a toolbox sitting next to her. "Daisy, we don't have time for your obsession," She set the blowtorch down next to her and grabbed another tool from the toolbox, and chucked it at Daisy. Who quickly sat up to catch it before it could hit her in the face, only to fumble with it before getting a good hold on it. "We're supposed to be working right now." She then stopped and turned her head enough to give Lilac a side glance. "Her especially." Lilac's grin was quickly wiped off her face and she looked away, letting out a cough and playing with a strand of her hair.
Daisy pouted and placed the tool down next to her. "Ah, come on Mizuna!" Daisy whined, her shoulders slumping while placing the tool on her lap. "It's about Anemone!"
Anemone? Lilac raised a brow at that and sat up, a bit of curiosity welling up inside her. Even Mizuna stopped searching through the toolbox and looked up, lowering her scarf a bit, which was about as far as her showing interest went. "What do you mean?" Lilac decided to ask for both of them.
Daisy's shoulders fell and she scoffed in disbelief. "The guy who showed up and Anemone!" Lilac went still at that, while Daisy didn't notice and looked back and forth between Lilac and Mizuna. "Weren't you two here when it happened?"
"I was out back resting in the barracks." Mizuna responded while staring at Lilac.
"I was stuck in storage." Lilac murmured, lifting her head and looking out to the courtyard. Searching among the people walking around. There was a flash of blue and red, her eyes immediately locked onto it and she saw him. His back was facing her as he was talking to the weapons trader, his body armor and rifle leaning against the large crate next to them. He took his backpack from the large man, giving him a nod and heading over to where Anemone was.
Lilac sucked in a sharp breath as an excited tremor traveled through her body. He's here!
"I-I got to go!" Lilac stuttered, quickly sitting up and startling Daisy who yelped and scooted away. Though Lilac had gotten up too fast and ended up tripping on her feet, stumbling off the side of the catwalk.
There was a loud clatter before an arm was wrapped around Lilac's waist and caught her before she could fall to the ground and eat dirt. Lilac stared down at the ground below with wide eyes before the arm holding her hauled her back up with ease. Raising her head and looking over her shoulder, she saw Mizuna looking down at her with furrowed brows.
"A-Ah, thanks Mizuna!" Lilac said quickly before wiggling herself out of the girl's grip. Landing on the floor with a grunt, Lilac picked herself up and ran around Mizuna and towards the ladder.
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As soon as her boots hit the ground Lilac broke out into a sprint and kicked up a bit of dirt, weaving around and in between a few people who were walking through. She bumped into a few, ignoring their grumblings as she continued forward. Her eyes immediately locked onto the man, who was busy talking with Anemone.
Getting closer, Lilac saw Anemone's eyes flicker towards her before they began widening a bit. Which the man took notice of as he also began to turn in her direction.
Lilac's boot dug into the ground when she got near him, slowing her down by a large amount and making her stumble before she collided into his side, her arms wrapping around his torso and pushing her face against the side of his chest. She heard the air get knocked out of him as he grunted and stumbled a bit, his backpack slipping out of his grip and falling onto the ground.
"You're here!" She exclaimed into his side with a wide smile, which muffled her voice, as she squeezed him a bit.
He managed to regain his footing with her help as she dug her feet deeper into the ground and stopped them in place, steadying them, his chest rising and falling quickly. "Holy hell, who… Lilac?" She heard him ask in confusion and bewilderment before she felt him stiffen in her hold.
His entire body was completely rigid before he slowly relaxed after a few seconds, his breathing evening out. She heard him let out a sigh, followed by a chuckle before she felt his hand slowly pat her on the back. "Ah... Hey kiddo." He said, his voice helping reinforce in her mind that he was actually here. Her worries from the past two days all being washed away as her shoulders relaxed and she eased against him. "Miss me?" He asked with a quiet tone.
"Mhm." She said, but her face was pressed right against his chest so it was all muffled, so she just nodded her head as best she could, holding on tight onto his jacket.
He sighed again, but she could tell he was smiling. "I, uh… missed you too kid." He mumbled. His right hand awkwardly patting her on the back again.
Lilac squeezed him a bit before letting him go, taking a few steps back from him and fiddling with her shirt, looking at him with a small smile. " I didn't think you'd make it." Lilac mumbled. She had been worried ever since he left her in that alley. But she couldn't help it, not with the few oddities she had noticed with him, and the lack of a good weapon.
There was a second of silence from him before he scoffed, rubbing his side with a wince and an eye roll before he turned his head to her. "And what is that supposed to mean? I told you'd see me, didn't I?" He grumbled, though she could see he was trying to hide a smile if his twitching lip was any indication.
Lilac smiled sheepishly and shrugged while glancing off to the side.
He practically deflated as he heaved out a heavy sigh, before rubbing his face with a groan. "Geez, what is this? First Anemone and now you? Is anyone else going to question my survivability?" He said aloud in an exasperated tone.
Lilac lifted her head and went to say something but stopped when she heard someone laughing and whipped her to her right to see Anemone openly laughing, a smile on her face. Which left Lilac finding herself bewildered to see her leader openly smiling, let alone laughing.
Sure the woman could smile, Lilac knew that. But it was always the small ones, the ones that could be missed. But Lilac had never, in her entire time at the camp, ever heard the woman laugh. There were even rumors that she didn't have the ability in her programming to do it. Looking at her now, Lilac also noticed just how… upbeat, the woman looked. The usual tired look in her eyes was mostly gone and replaced with a sublte look of contentment.
"Hmm. Perhaps it's a sign?" Anemone suggested with a grin, cocking her hip to the side.
He blew out a quick breath through his nose, planting his hands on his hips and staring right back at Anemone with an exasperated look. "Yeah, it's a sign that you two should have a little more faith in me." He retorted with another roll of his eyes and a smile. "I told her I'd be fine."
Lilac's mind was spinning as she openly looked back and forth between the two bantering androids. The fact that someone was talking with Anemone so informally was jarring for her. Then again, the only person she knew who was just about always informal with Anemone was Jackass. But she was mean and really scary, so she doesn't count.
That and Lilac didn't really know anything about Anemone. In fact, it seemed like nobody did. The woman practically kept herself closed off to everyone, or, sort of. As the leader of the camp, she did care deeply for everyone and she did everything to ensure they all lived another day to the best of her ability. But Anemone herself? She never really interacted with anyone, never letting the air of a commanding officer around her slip. So to see her acting differently and actually looking relaxed for once in her life? It was kind of freaking Lilac out. She turned her gaze back to the man who had to be responsible for this whole weird situation.
Who are you?
Anemone cleared her throat which brought Lilac's attention back to her. A hint of a smile still on Anemone's lips. "Lilac, you've already met him, but this is Sebastian." She gestured to the man. "He and I…" She pursed her lips as she waved her hand at him. "We're old friends. We fought alongside each other years ago."
"...Sebastian?" The name felt weird on her tongue as it left her mouth in a whisper, and she stared at him in confusion at his name. But isn't that a…
Sebastian snorted and straightened his jacket. "Was the pause really necessary?" He asked Anemone with a dry tone. He then looked at Lilac and smiled. "And yeah, that's my name... Sorry, I never introduced myself, kid. It's been a while since I have, so it sort of slipped my mind." He explained. "That and well, you never did ask for my name."
Lilac numbly nodded her head as her processor was working sluggishly from the overflow of befuddling information. "A-Ah, right." Lilac stuttered, before remembering about the manifest she needed to deliver. She looked down to make sure it was still there.
Coughing into her fist, she turned to the Anemone and unhooked it from her belt. Lilac took a step closer and held the tablet out to Anemone. "Another storage manifest for you ma'am." She said as Anemone took it from her. "Some of our patrols found some crates of equipment out in the flooded half of the city."
Anemone hummed and nodded as she read through it briefly before setting it down on the table behind her. "Thank you." She then turned to… Sebastian. "I'll get working on that requisition form for you of the items you need. In the meantime, you two can catch up." She said with a smile before turning away and heading over to the terminals in the back.
"So…" Lilac kicked the dirt as she turned to the man, who was busy wiping some dirt and grass off his sleeve. "Your name's… Sebastian?" She asked tentatively, the name still feeling weird to say, and wanting to make sure she had heard Anemone right.
Sebastian frowned a bit as he hummed and glanced to the side with a sigh. Pinching a part of his sleeve between finger and thumb, wiping at a stubborn patch of dirt on his sleeve before he smiled. "Hmm, yeah, that's my name." He said slowly with a shrug.
"Right..." Lilac mumbled as she did a quick reboot of her operating systems and everything else. Even her motor functions. And double checking her settings. When she was done doing all of that, she blinked when she saw him holding something out in front of her. Blinking her eyes again as they refocused, she saw it was her pistol, seemingly in the same condition as when she had given it to him.
He held his hand out a bit further with a weary smile. "I believe this belongs to you."
She gently took it from him, pointing it away as she began checking it. Releasing the mag and pulling back the slide. "And…" She looked up to see his mouth twisting in concentration while he dug his hand into his pant pockets before pulling out the two spare mags she had given him. And holding them out for her to grab. She holstered her pistol before grabbing them, not missing the fact they both didn't seem to be missing any ammo. He didn't use a single round… She stared at them with wide eyes and raised eyebrows before turning her gaze up to him.
His smile grew just a bit. "I also got some presents for you."
"Presents?" She gave him a bemused look as he bent down and picked his backpack off the ground and walked around her and to the table. She put away the mags and followed close behind him as placed his backpack down on the table, before she heard a zipper opening and closing before he turned towards her and held his arm out. Two pieces of paper pinched between his index finger and thumb.
Taking a step closer and squinting her eyes to take a better look at what he was holding before Lilac gasped quietly. "These are…" She trailed off as she reached up for them.
"Postcards." He smiled as she took them from him, taking extra care not to damage the paper as she held them close to her face. "I think you mentioned you collecting them or something when we first met?" He said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the table. "And I remembered seeing some a while back in some shop, so I went back and grabbed them for you. Thought you might like to have them."
Lilac stared at them, the words and images on them were faded, but she could easily make them out. And she knew that she didn't have any of Berlin or Paris. She pressed her lips together and held the postcards against her chest protectively, tilting her head down to try and hide the wide smile on her face. "Thank you." She whispered. A warm feeling spreading throughout her core.
She heard him chuckle. "You're welcome, Lilac."
Lilac took another look long at them before opening her thigh pack and carefully putting the postcards into it, sticking her tongue out in quiet concentration as she slowly placed them in, moving some of the gear inside it around so they wouldn't get damaged just as Anemone came walking back.
Anemone stopped next to Lilac as she finished putting away the postcards and looked at her. Only to pout when she saw Anemone holding out another tablet to her.
Anemone just rolled her eyes at her and held it out further. "I need this delivered to the quartermaster, it's a requisition form for items and supplies that Sebastian needs." Lilac quickly snatched it out of Anemone's hands and attached it to her belt, taking extra care with this one unlike the ones before it. Securing it, she turned her attention back to Anemone, who gave her an amused look and gestured to Sebastian. "I also want you to show Sebastian around the camp, and help familiarize him with the place. Understood?"
Lilac placed her arms at her side and stood at attention. If only to keep herself from bouncing in excitement, nodding her head with a wide smile. "Yes ma'am!"
Anemone smiled, which still felt weird to the girl, and nodded at her. "Thank you." She said to her before turning to Sebastian. "And make yourself at home in the camp Sebastian, you're more than welcome to." She brushed some hair away and gestured to the radio on the table next to her. "I'll also make sure my officers know about you. That way you won't have any trouble getting around the camp."
He grunted as he pushed himself off the table. "You don't have to roll out the red carpet for me Anemone," He looked at her and smiled. "But thank you." He turned around to grab his backpack before hesitating. "Hmm, here," He grabbed the strap and slid it over to Anemone. "You can have the rest of the parts."
Anemone blinked at him in shock and looked between the pack and him. "Are you sure, Sebastian?" She asked with uncertainty as she grabbed the bag hesitantly and lifted it up. "There's still a lot of parts in here."
Sebastian nodded his head with a smile. "I'm sure Anemone, your people look like they need it more than I do." He raised a finger. "Just uh, make sure I get the bag back, I kinda need that."
Anemone huffed in amusement before nodding. "Thank you. And you'll get it back." She waved over a resistance member who was going through some boxes behind her, before handing it off to the man.
Lilac turned her attention to Sebastian as he wiped his nose with his arm and walked over to her side, patting her on the shoulder. "Come on kid, let's get this show on the road." She rapidly nodded her head and spun on her heel and headed back to the storage area, with him following right behind her.
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Holy crap this chapter was a nightmare to write for some reason. I almost released this last sunday, but held off and kept working on it. And I'm glad I did because this turned out a lot better than all the other previous versions. I still think I could have done better with this chapter, but I wanted to get this out rather than get stuck constantly editing and rewriting it. So hopefully it was somewhat decent.
And as for Lilac's reaction to his name, I'm going with the idea that an android having a 'human name' would be considered odd. There's nothing saying they can't do it. But they might get some looks or be considered a bit too obsessed if they do. Though I'm only going with this because I don't know how android naming works and I don't know if Taro ever explained it. Because you've got Anemone and her squad who were named after flowers, then you have commander White, and uh… Jackass. So I'm just going with what might hopefully make the story a bit more interesting. But then there's Devola and Popola, so maybe the name wouldn't be a big deal, I don't know.
Also, when I said this might be a short chapter in the previous one, I was thinking somewhere between 2000 and 3000. But I guess I was kinda correct in this being short, since it's shorter than the last one.