Ok yeah no, the smile was [i]definitely[/i] not the right face to show for this meeting. It's a fight just to keep her face from turning too sour. If the immediate flinch when "XNE-012" came up hadn't already sunk her on that front. She runs both hands down the length of her hair.

"I'm--"

[i]"--trying my hardest!" a near-hysterics Euna Kim, aged 14, half sobbed half screamed in a heap on the floor. 

Mr. Big Show loomed over her like a mountain next to a sapling. He might have been wearing a kindly smile on his face, she had no idea. From where she was sitting, his head might as well have been in the clouds. All she knew is that this was the worst martial arts lesson ever. She couldn't follow the rest of the class through a single kata, she'd just broken her training stick-bo-thingy, and now she was being asked to spar with the un-auged kids in the class and she had no idea from one second to the next whether she was going to kill them or not even be able to touch their uniforms. 

"Ms Kim," somehow it was worse that his voice wasn't as stern as usual, "If we're asking you for too much today then..."

"It's not too much!"

Euna jumped six feet into the air and landed on one leg. It buckled and dropped her down to one knee, but she forced herself up into a standing position despite how badly she was shaking. She wiped her eyes with a hand that seemed to weigh twenty pounds.

"I want to do this! I want to learn!"

***

Euna stared at the slice of cake with an expression that suggested she was trying to blow it up with the power of her mind. It had been fifteen minutes and she hadn't even reached for it, even though it was supposed to be her reward for finally clearing a full lap on the track without tripping over herself. Everyone told her they were so proud of her! But now it felt like she was being tested again. By cake. 

This sucked.

"Not hungry, Ms Kim?"

She nearly put her foot through the floor in surprise. She [b]did[/b] manage to smack herself in the face with her hand. She spun in her seat, shifting her murder glare to Commander Warren. 

"...Starving." she admitted. She wished her voice didn't sound so pouty.

"Then why won't you eat?"

"It's these stupid arms! I tried to pick up the fork and I almost punched the table across the room! These things are so... rrrgh! Can't we just switch back to the old ones? Just for a weekend! I don't care that they don't fit right, I just..."

"Ms Kim."

"Everyone's laughing at me right now! I can't even get dressed by myself anymore! And don't..."

"Ms Kim."

"Don't 'Ms Kim' me! Stop feeding me that stupid lie about 'getting used to them' anymore! It's been [b]months[/b] and I'm doing worse than ever! So just... just shut up, ok? Shut up! I quit!"

"Euna Kim!"

She flinched.

"It's a poor soldier who blames her tools, Euna. And you're not a poor soldier."

"...not a soldier at all." she groused. The Commander ignored her.

"I promised you that you could be the shining star of AEGIS. That you could stop all the Sabrems of the world. IF you were willing to put in more work than anybody had before. You told me that you'd work twice as hard as I asked for such a prize."

Euna stared at her lap in shame.

"We need this data, Ms Kim. Every second of it, so your next set of cybernetics can be the best the world's ever seen. But we can't make that happen if you quit. Now are you going to be a useless brat, or are you going to be a god damn hero and pick up that fork?"

She'd never been more careful or controlled in her entire life as she moved her right arm to the table. She was a surgeon, saving the most important patient in the entire universe's life. She took up her scalpel, so carefully and...

Sent crumbs and frilly frosted flowers splattering everywhere. The fork was a useless lump of metal in her clenched fist. Euna burned with shame, and cried like a child much younger than she was supposed to be.[/i]

***

"--not sure you understand what you're asking this girl to do." 

Errant will never know how much of her memories showed on her face while those schematics hung in the air in front of her. But as soon as they vanish, she's a picture of absolute calm. She has to be, or she'll be no help at all.

"But... I guess it's hard to be picky in an emergency. Let me see her, for now. I'll do as much as I can."