Human Edge

Felicity had spent the last hour and a half practicing to shoot down aerospace fighters. It was incredibly difficult with PPC fire. It was made worse by the fact she was simulating using her mech, which in actuality was now blackened and twisted bits back in the canyons. The string of events had been utter fluke, yes, but that didn't stop her being incredibly angry about it. Angry and upset. She also partly blamed Yuri, even if she knew that it hadn't been intentional. The rational part of her knew that nobody could set up such a crash, but the emotional part of her was in full control.

She swore loudly from inside the simulator as her mech was strafed once more by the enemy aerospace fighter while she failed yet again to land any hits. Outside the pod a towel and a bottle of water were waiting, but she'd practically forgotten about them. It was how she had chosen to start working through her feelings.

Bruun arrived in the simulator room, water and towel in hand, with just his piloting attire on. Well, his third-string piloting attire since some was in the wash and he had to have a clean change waiting on his bunk for after this. It was a day to stay ready at all times. But since his shooting throughout the morning had been consistently mediocre, getting any additional practice time would help.

Bruun stopped in the middle of the room, noticing one of the pods was occupied. He was about to carry on when his ears caught some kind of muffled noise from the simulator. Uncertain, he set down his things and walked toward it, worried that something might be malfunctioning and hurting the person inside. Last thing we need is old equipment getting someone hurt back at base, he thinks.

In the back of her mind Felicity was waiting for some klaxon to sound and she'd need to rush to the mechbay. Until then she was venting. Venting and swearing.

It was pretty loud.

The continued noise, unclear but loud enough to register outside the pod, was enough for Bruun.

"What the damn hell..." The scruffy man strides over and hits an emergency release for the pod door. As the full weight of Fee's tirade hits him, and some warm aur from the pod, he steps back in some confusion.

"Fe--Fee? Felicity! Are you alright?" he half-shouts to try to cut through the stream of rage.

"Joder, joder, joder! Me cago en todo lo que se menea! La madre que te parió!" The stream of loud swearing intensified as the hatch door lifted. Felicity immediately looked toward it as she continued swearing. "A tomar por culo!" She had just been lining up another shot when the simulation had ended due to the emergency release.

She shot Dorgan a filthy look. "Qué te den!" Tugging her helmet off she angrily unbuckled herself and stood up. "WHAT?" She calms down a bit as she realised the situation, her tone softening. "Yes. I'm fine. Eehm, sorry if I freaked you out. Just trying to hit a bloody aerofighter." She huffs to hide her embarrassment as she looked off to the side, her right hand running through her hair as she stood there in just her short shorts with a coolant vest over a tank top. "Bastardos are hard to hit." She mutters, reaching for the front of her coolant vest to undo it.

Felicity focused on that without glancing his way. "How's your lance?" It wasn't the best deflection from the original topic, but she wasn't that socially gifted to begin with and her mind was reeling. She was also glistening in sweat.

Bruun makes sure she has a path to step out. Yeah, I've tried the hiding out method. He doesn't say anything for a long time, until finally: "So when it happened to me, the first time, I didn't want to talk about it. I reckon you'd rather talk about anything else in the world right now?" He pretty well knows the answer, but he's not pushing her anywhere.

Felicity fretted for a moment before nodding slightly. "Yea... it's too... raw." The smallish woman huffed in annoyance, some of her anger returning in her expression. "I'd probably feel better if it was to another mech, crazy as that sounds, but... a fluke aero crash into my back? That's like being struck by lightning. I couldn't bloody do anything. Joder." She rubbed her arm. Then she glanced at it as she realised her skin had a wet sheen. "Eehm, I need to get my towel." She pointed past him to where it laid just past his feet. "Besides Bruun, if you know the answer to a question like that, you shouldn't ask it, si?"

She stepped his way to bend down and pick it up, along with her water bottle. "So, how is your lance?"

Bruun steps back when she points, conscious of crowding -- especially when he towers over her.

"Well, call it a superstition, but I reckon even when I'm pretty darn sure about something I better not tempt fate by assuming. People can surprise you..." Watching her bend down is very distracting, and Bruun seems to lose track of what he was talking about.

"Ahm, ah, Vanguard. Vanguard is good. My firefly took an engine hit and the others all got at least one kill each. Even New Kid. Chick. Not, picking on her for being a girl," he waves his hand awkwardly, trying to get words out better. "Kid in Falcon equals baby bird, or Chick, nickname."

Bruun stops, closes his eyes, and takes a drink of water. "Um," he starts to open his eyes, but seeing Felicity's pretty eyes derails his train of thought again. He turns away for a moment to take a deep breath.

"That's got to be an annoying superstition." Felicity opines bluntly after having a few sips of water. Her towel is dabbed against her face, neck and chest. She was thinking about a shower.

Felicity filled the silence as Bruun lost his train of thought. "I'm glad you and your lance are all okay. Urban combat can be rough. Hey, if you see Snorri be nice ok? Nicer than usual I mean. He's pretty... upset too."

Bruun looks offended. "When am I not nice to Snorri? He's..." Bruun thinks more about it.

"Ok, yeah, I'm probably too hard on Snorri. But I've lost mechs before. I get it. He gets an extra drink tonight," he says, that adjustment in the rules being very meaningful in Bruun's eyes.