[hider=Another day][i]A second sun blazes in the sky. A shield breaks. A girl slumps to the ground-[/i]

Kaitlyn wakes with a start, hugging the shape against her.

[color=0072bc][i]Where… ?[/i][/color]

It takes her a moment, for the phantom sounds and images to fade, and for reality to reassert itself. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and a cold sweat wracked her body.

When will the nightmares end?

She sighs, shivering, and relaxes her hold on Hannie. Hopefully she hadn’t woken her up…

But Hannie is already awake. She startles at the sudden movement, wiggles a bit, and is still. She’s been [i]almost[/i] sleeping for… she looks over to the alarm clock… man. All of five hours. It’s probably going to go off soon.

[color=0072bc]”... Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake up,”[/color] Kaitlyn whispers, releasing Hannie from her hold as she sits up. She cups her face in her hand, looking positively miserable. Exhausted. [color=0072bc]”Did you sleep well?”[/color]

[color=89f5ff]”Mm-hmm,”[/color] Hannie says. Kaitlyn glances over at her, dubious. Something about how quickly she answered…

[color=0072bc]”Are you sure?”[/color] she wakes up a little more, the fog of sleep quickly evaporating. Idly, she checks her hair, tracing her fingers over the little accessory.

[color=89f5ff]”Mm-hmm,”[/color] Hannie says again, just the same. She looks Kaitlyn over. [color=89f5ff]”I don’t think you did,”[/color] she says, looking for her part fairly peppy.

Kaitlyn’s eyes unfocus, and she becomes just a little pale as… So many things run through her mind.

[color=0072bc]”... I had to say goodbye to my unit, yesterday,”[/color] she says, hollow. [color=0072bc]”They were the only family I had out here, so… far from home.”[/color] Her throat tightens, and she rubs at her eyes. It’s too early… late? It’s not the right time for this.

Blowing out air, she hops off the bed and glances at the clock- Just as it starts beeping.
Hannie jumps at it at the first tone, and silences it before the third. She settles back to where she’d been like nothing happened. [color=89f5ff]”Unit?”[/color] she says, contemplating the term. [color=89f5ff]”Um… you had another team?”[/color]

Kaitlyn smiles at this, circles around the bed, and ruffles her hair. Hannie is so cute when she’s curious, isn’t she? At least Kaity thinks so.

[color=0072bc]”Yes, Hannie. I operated under Corporal Castro. I’m a private, remember? I operate… operated… In a unit. Unfortunately, they were reassigned elsewhere, without me.”[/color] Come to think of it, she was never really made clear on the structure of Task Force Obsidian. She’s just kind of been following Alonso’s orders.

Hannie gives this an intellectual-sounding [color=89f5ff]”Oh,”[/color] and is just quiet for a second. She doesn’t really know who Kaitlyn’s talking about. She adds, [color=89f5ff]”Sorry,”[/color] also unhelpfully. Kaitlyn’s rubbing slows, and her smile turns just a little melancholy.

[color=0072bc]”It’s okay, Hannie. I still have you, and Nil, and the rest of the Task Force.”[/color] ‘the rest’ don’t really matter to her on a personal level, but she’s still determined to help them however she can. 

Speaking of helping…

[color=0072bc]”Now, let’s talk about [i]you,[/i]”[/color] she chirps, stepping away. She digs out a set of pistols and begins to rapidly disassemble them. Hannie sits up and tracks the movements of the pistol-pieces for a while, silent. Then…

[color=89f5ff]”I, um.”[/color] Pause. [color=89f5ff]”Didn’t ha… um… I mi-... I guess I had a unit?”[/color] she says. She taps the mattress beside her. [color=89f5ff]”I think I had a unit too.”[/color]

[color=0072bc]”Who were they?”[/color] she asks, gentle, unhurried. [color=0072bc]”Did you get along?”[/color] 

As soon as the pieces are laid on the table, she withdraws a cleaning kit from her belt and gets to work. It’s all routine, and she hardly has to think about what she’s doing, keeping an ear out for Hannie’s voice.

[color=89f5ff]”There were other Arms Masters, who, uh.”[/color] She pauses again, frowning up at the ceiling. [color=89f5ff]”I… had to be with… sometimes.”[/color] She trails the point off like she’s purposefully skipping over a lot, which tracks with what Kaitlyn has learned from her. She had to leave her mother, and she had to join the army. What has Hannie actually gotten to choose for herself?

[color=0072bc]”And you had to come here, too,”[/color] she surmises, quieting down. There’s a pause, and Kaitlyn’s rote motions slow. Hannie nods, her expression neutral, evidently not on quite the same thought-track. Kaitlyn glances over, thoughtful, then continues her cleaning with increased vigor. [color=0072bc]”Well, I’ve got an [i]option[/i] here for you, Hannie. You don’t have to accept it, and if you don’t, that’s perfectly fine. First I have to ask: do you enjoy using your NA? Like… Would you prefer to use another weapon if that wasn’t your first and last resort?”[/color]

[color=89f5ff]”Mmm… mm-mm. I don’t like her.”[/color]

Kaitlyn reassembles the pistols on the table about as quickly as she’d taken them apart, slapping on the final pieces and raising it up to display it to the little girl- safety on, of course. [i]Always[/i] keep the safety on outside of combat.

[color=0072bc]”This is a Glock Seventeen. Seventeen round clip, reliable, accurate.”[/color] She tests the latter, aiming down the sights. [color=0072bc][i]Mhm. That’ll work.[/i][/color] When she’s ready, she passes the weapon off to Hannie, who leans away from it, her eyes widening.

[color=89f5ff]”N- wait. Uh…”[/color] Hannie shakes her head and stammers for a moment. [color=89f5ff]”I- I shouldn’t have a gun. Either.”[/color] She shakes her head again, and Kaitlyn is quick to withdraw the weapon, looking guilty.

[color=0072bc]”I’m sorry, I… Didn’t know.”[/color] She frowns, looking down at the weapon. Sighing, she holsters it and the spare, then takes a moment to think, leaning with her back against the table.

[color=0072bc][i]So no guns… What else does that leave?[/i][/color]

[color=89f5ff]”I’m sorry. It’s just, um.”[/color] Hannie looks thoughtful, as if running over a list in her head. [color=89f5ff]”...I shouldn’t. I- I guess [/color][i][color=6ecff6]Kirvella[/color][/i][color=89f5ff]’s fine. That’s… [i]her[/i] name.”[/color] She pronounces it as if in someone else’s voice, a little deeper and seemingly in another accent.

Kaitlyn nods at this, slowly, contemplatively. 

[color=0072bc]”That’s okay… How about… A taser?”[/color] The thought was ludicrous. She felt insane for suggesting it, but it was [i]an[/i] option, and the Philippine police should have some. [color=0072bc]”It’s a non-lethal option, and it will still incapacitate any would-be aggressors long enough for you to disengage and hopefully find help.”[/color] Her voice becomes softer, then. As do her eyes. [color=0072bc]”You don’t have to kill if you don’t want to, Hannie.”[/color]

It looks as though something around the word “kill” physically struck Hannie. She flinches a bit and draws her legs up onto the bed. Kaitlyn immediately realizes her error and quickly adds [color=0072bc]”I’m sorry- It’s… It’s not actually you, is it? It’s… Kirvella?”[/color]

The thought kind of just constructed itself as she pieced together a panicked excuse for her blunder. Who even knew if her NA had that kind of power over her? But Kaitlyn couldn’t really see Hannie killing people as indiscriminately as the person she’d seen on the beach. It just didn’t fit what she knew of the girl, even if she [i]had[/i] to do it.

[color=0072bc]”It’s Kirvella. She… acts for you.”[/color] She watches Hannie, searching for confirmation and praying to God she’s right and she doesn’t just sound insane.

[i][color=6ecff6]Until you learn your own courage.[/color][/i] Hannie blinks. She hesitates, and nods. It doesn’t look like the made-up excuse Kaitlyn was working with, so much as a response to having been caught out.

Kaitlyn nods back. 

[color=0072bc]”We’ll find you a non-lethal weapon for self-defense before the next mission, and…”[/color] she thinks for a moment. Phones would be nice, but the enemy could trace radio signals pretty easily. There’s a reason you never see soldiers whipping out their Samsungs to call for backup. Radios, maybe? Short-range. [color=0072bc]”Radios. You’ll have one, I’ll have one, and you can call me if you need me for anything you can’t handle. How does that sound?”[/color]

[color=89f5ff]”I… almost forgot… we were gonna be fighting.”[/color] Hannie frowns, thinking the offers over. [color=89f5ff]”...okay. I hope a, uh, taser’s fine.”[/color]

Kaitlyn smiles, then steps towards her, kneeling so that they were roughly eye level. [color=0072bc]”It is. We’ll go grab those right now then-”[/color] her eyes dart towards the clock. [color=0072bc]”Then we’ll head towards the Auditorium, grab some breakfast, and we’ll be set.”[/color] She’d have liked for Hannie to carry a gun ‘just-in-case’, but that was pretty redundant when she had a Noble Arm. Guns were for people who didn’t have other options. Hannie nods and glances up to Kaitlyn’s hair ornament, looking for a moment like she’s thinking of something faraway, then nods again. She unfolds her legs, ready to get up.

And then they’re off to start another day…[/hider]