[color=silver][center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/190713/7f7340615e11c92098353c41aa73586c.png [/img][/center]
[right][hr][color=white][b][b]Smith's Rest | Hangar[/b][/b][/color]
January 16th, 2677[hr][/right]

She had not yet gotten used to looking at Blur. It wasn’t the sight of the mech that unsettled her, nor the looming size—despite that it was, comparatively, among New Anchorage’s smaller models. It was the very act of looking. 

Being in the cockpit was a singular experience for Eli. It was unifying. Calming, yet, bittersweet. For a brief, precious time, it brought harmony to a dissonance within her that was harsh, and ever-present, and yet it was something she had only come to recognize since she’d become a pilot. It had simultaneously revealed and treated a crippling flaw in her psyche, and though she didn’t pretend to understand Polaris Shifts as the settlement’s doctors did, she knew herself well enough to see that she was beginning to lean on her synchronization like a crutch. 

That feeling of unity, that relief. It was the closest she’d ever come to feeling…real. 

Looking at Blur was like looking into a strange, arcane mirror. Was it showing her who she was, really, or what she wished to be? How long would it be until she lost sight of which side of that mirror she was on. Until she didn’t know whether she was the watcher, or the reflection?

Eli blinked. 

Why had she come here?

[color=lightsteelblue]"You [i]know[/i] I didn't mean to zap you-"[/color]

Right. Moore. 

Saying that she trusted him was a…generous stretch. He was a mess, with next to no experience—not that she was one to judge—and he was, more often than not, entirely incompetent both in and out of the cockpit. But he was also well-meaning, and genuine, and she had seen first-hand his potential as a pilot. 

And he was a fellow native. That was most important. He had a personal stake in the well-being of New Anchorage, and if she couldn’t yet trust him to do what was best for his home simply for the sake of it, she could trust him to care for sake of his daughter. 

He was meddling with one of the mechanics, a man she didn’t quite recognize, who didn’t seem to appreciate his ‘assistance.’ As she drew closer though, it sounded like they were amicable, perhaps even friends. That was good, she didn’t have to feel as embarrassed for him if the man already knew what to expect. 

[color=6ecff6]“Moore,”[/color] she said stiffly, nodding towards the hangar's thoroughfare. [color=6ecff6]“Can we have a word?”[/color][/color]