Her fingers moved up and down intermittently, a soft hum sliding out from her lips as she read the options displayed on her HUD. Zooming in on any of the diagrams to ensure she got the right picture of everything, she committed them to memory as she continued.
The sun had risen an hour earlier, and its light now bathed her room. Small rectangular shapes lazily crisscrossed the sky high above, acting like welcomed distractions to her peripheral view. The options on her HUD suddenly minimized to the right corner of her view as a familiar icon buzzed on the opposite corner.
She smiled, knowing instantly who it was, and answered the call.
“Noakins!!” She was enthused as the line connected.
The voice on the other end greeted her with a soft chuckle and in an equally warm and enthusiastic manner.
“Anyanas!! How are you feeling? Better, I hope?”
“Mhmm, so much better, have nearly completed prelim rehab of muscles, well, just formalities now… body network has been confirmed to be working as before… things are moving fast, and I love it!”
“Great!! So you’ll be released on schedule?”
“Actually, no.” Anya paused, her tone turned to sadness momentarily, before she continued with an opposite tone, “I’ll be discharged tomorrow!” laughing out as she raised her arms high.
“Well, Let’s F’ing Go!!” Noa shouted out in delight on her end.
Anya laughed, nodding to herself, “Yep!!! Do you think it will be enough reason to get Bug Bunny out of her lair?”
Noa laughed at this: “Doubt it, probably she will make a holo appearance on our comm HUDs. She did send her love, though.”
Anya chuckled softly “Hmm, good enough, I guess, I’ll settle for that, and please tell her the same when you next talk to her.”
She caressed the soft metallic-like fabric draped across her lap.
“So, Noakins, I’ve been perusing the suit we got from the Anlidar gig.”
“Oh? You had it delivered? Hope you used a bot for the delivery.”
Anya chuckled. “Well, duh. I got knocked out from drugs, not a hit on the head.”
“Some would argue it’s the same thing, in a fashion.”
Anya wiggled her head left and right. “Ya, ya, whatever.”
Noa chuckled on her end. “So… what do you think? It’s dazz, right? I didn’t know they’d perfected that kind of tech for field use.”
“Ya! I know, right? And I love that there’s a sheer film in the hood so you can pull it over your face when the hood is up, serves two functions: makes you wholly covered, AND doesn’t block your sight!”
There was a pause in the line; Noa suddenly went silent.
“Noa? Still there?”
“Yep, yep! Still here! I can’t wait for you to use it in the field!”
“I have an issue, though; what happens to our harnesses and all the extra gear that aren’t covered by it? Do they just float? Wouldn’t it still give away our position to the naked eye?”
Noa chuckled knowingly. “Yep, I was thinking the same thing. The pouches on the arms and legs aren’t sizable enough to fit anything more than a mag or two and maybe a small dagger, but that’s it… there’re a few others that can fit my finger? I have no idea about those; nothing in the manual about that… Don’t get me started on where the pistol goes.”
“So you weren’t able to say, put your baton and fav knife in? And what happens to the pistol then?”
“The baton fits, just, the knife does too, but I can’t put in anything else in the embedded pouches if I do that, so, it’s, baton in one pocket, knife in another… honestly though, I prefer them to be on the belt or harness, easier reach, muscle memory, and all the other good stuff. As for the pistol, well, it goes into the holster, on my hip or thigh, depending… but.. yea…”
Noa laughed. “And there are no two ways about it. They really should have put the manual in with the menu options on it, like... Really?”
Anya nodded slowly as she listened, and her mind wandered.
“Ok, I hope they can fit at least two mags in each for my long gun; I think it would be amazing. Plus, I’m thinking I should invest more time into my melee gunplay training… you know… after what happened?”
This was the first time that she had ever mentioned it out loud. Noa’s tone changed, and a more soothing tone from her side slid through the communicator.
“No one would have anticipated that, Anya, it’s… not a question of your skill. I know for a fact you handle a pistol in melee situations way better than I do.”
“Well, that’s because you prefer the knife or the baton in those situations.”
“Yes, yes, well. You’re a killer shot, close or long-ranged. And you can program the suit for proximity warnings if I recall correctly.”
“Oh, really? I think I missed that option.”
“It’s a default setting, but I found out that you can customize the warning ranges; I left it as is…”
“But you like it up close anyway,” Anya interjected.
“Yes, yes, definitely. But you can enlarge the proximity warning to a point.”
“Oh, dazz! I’ll be sure to look for the option then… So.. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yes, yes!! Definitely! I’ll come by in the morning, then?”
“Oh no, no need, I wanted to see you at home, then we can get straight through to celebrating!”
“You wanna invite the new guy?’
“Oh, you mean… ‘Duke’?” Anya’s tone made it obvious she was trying not to laugh at the name.
“Yep! He’s pretty handy; his rigs helped, doesn’t say much on the job, but he talks too much post-gig… for now.”
Anya chuckled “Sure, I suppose I can meet him and see how he is in the real.”
“You got it, Anyanas! Any… special requests?”
“Hmm, none I can think of right now; I just can’t wait to get back into the thick of things. Been getting updates on what’s going on, things seem to be getting pretty heated now, are they?”
“Pretty much, that gig we did wiped out a whole slew of high ranking Hyenas…” Noa went silent again as her sentence trailed off.
“And? What happened?”
“Nothing I wanna share on comms. Will tell you more when we meet?”
Anya smiled to herself, nodding. “Your call, I can’t wait!!”
Noa chuckled. “Yes, yes! This feels like when I was sent to those weapon courses, Father signed me up for, remember?”
Anya mimicked a groan as she nodded. “Oh gosh, I was screaming at Father for putting you in a camp so far away from us for so long and mixing with the petons freely like that; I was horrified!”
“Right? But, your complaints got him to bring the best instructors to do training at home. And made him build that training course and range at home, too!”
Anya chuckled and nodded enthusiastically. “And thus, Anya the Deadshot was born!”
“You do know that only you use that name right?”
She giggled. “Yessss Noakins, don’t have to remind me…I am a Deadshot, though.”
Noa laughed in response, “Oh, yes, yes, you most definitely are!”
“Well, dazz then!”
“Yep! Looking forward to tomorrow, then, babe! And, if you need to, you know, talk about it, I’m always here for you.” Noa’s voice and tone seemed to lull Anya into a nice, warm place; one only shared between the two.
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Anya smiled knowingly and nodded to herself. “I know, Noakins, you’ve always been that rock for me since we were little, and I’m gonna bet that won’t change anytime soon. I will call on you if I need to talk about…” She paused and picked up her tone again.
“Later Noakins! Love you!”
“Love you!”
The line cut, leaving Anya alone as she looked out of her window, crossing her arms as her eyes followed the holographic billboards with their imaging sliding up and down along some of the skyscrapers in her view.
She got up and went to the window, her eyes studying the city's landscape. The Med Center was situated at the edge of the Quad City's commercial zone, which spared her the many commercial towers that populated the Central Commercial Zone, or CorpoLand, as the city's citizens called it.
This afforded her a view of the less developed districts across the wide canal separating the Commercial Zone from the rest of the city as she looked over the low buildings scattered in neat blocks. More haphazard streets thrusting in non-cardinal and cardinal directions in others.
Her eyes rested on the thick, higher-built residential towers or High-Density blocks, each with their own designated numbers on their sides, tens of floors worth each in size. Her nose wrinkled at the thought of living in such a densely built building, with amenities and living areas all mixed into one structure, separated only by floors.
Her mind suddenly remembered the smell of the factory building she had been brought into, and a shiver ran down her spine. Her teeth gritted as anger rose inside her, and her hands formed into fists while she fought the urge to break down into tears at what she had to go through.
She was more than glad that Noa had done what she did to the Hyenas in that building and more from that gig Noa had mentioned. Her mind wishing to do the same, or more, to more of those dirty lowbies that dared do that to her, touch her, made her have to experience the vile parts of Lowbie Town.
She steeled herself as she felt it rise within her, a soft, involuntary whine slipping from between her tightly pursed lips. Tears welled up inside her as her heart started to beat harder. Her mind fought back, and she started counting slowly as she took a deep breath and kept it inside. Her tear-filled eyes fluttered open as she slowly exhaled, then repeated the process, forcibly calming herself down.
Just then, her communicator lit up again; this time, the icon showed the coat of arms of her family, House Essedar, and she answered the call.
“Father? Why are you calling?” Her tone sounded curious and confused at the same time.
Richard chuckled over the line, “What? A father can’t call his flesh and blood?”
Anya chuckled softly as she shook her head. “Nooo, not that! I was just, you know, surprised. What’s up? Is there something you need?” Her mind raced; Father never called just because.
“I was wondering if you’re busy today. I wanted to talk to you about something that just came up. And no, I can’t do it over communicator.”
Anya’s brows frowned, ‘another one who can’t say stuff over comms; what the heck was going on?’
“Um… well, I’m quite full for today and tomorrow, maybe the day after? Have you spoken to Noa as well?”
There was a slight pause on the other end before Richard replied.
“OK, how about maybe four days from now? You should be free to see your father then, right? And no, I just wish to speak to you.”
Anya nodded to herself. “I will make sure to keep the day just for you then.”
“Brilliant! Mother will be thrilled you’re coming over.”
“Mhmm, and give Mother my love, please; I’ll see you then, Father.”
“Yes, Anastasiya, you take care now. I love you.”
“Love you too, Father! See you soon!”
The line went dead again, leaving Anya alone yet again.
“Hmm,” Anya’s curiosity was piqued. Something was up. Father never called for an impromptu meet-up and never asked to meet just her. It was always free rein, and there were very rarely any moments that Noa was not with her.
She yearned to return to her place; at least her guns were there. Going over them soothed her, soothed her mind. To her, the firearms that she owned were therapeutic, as she diligently went through them, cleaned them, disassembled them, and assembled them again and again. She had always teased Noa when it was suggested to her, but she was right; it can be therapeutic.
It allowed her to get into a flow where her mind was less cluttered, and the scent they left hanging in the air after firing was equally calming to her.
Speaking of scents… Her lips curled up into a mischievous smirk.
Her fingers moved, scrolling through her contact list on her HUD. Until she reached a name that made her smirk grow, selecting the icon as her communicator buzzed with the icon at the top left corner of her HUD.
—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anya sighed softly as she took a deep breath, inhaling the scent from the arm draped over her.
“You like that, don’t you?” a warm voice close to her ear broke her revelry, and her eyes blinked, forgetting that she wasn’t alone.
She chuckled in reply. “It's a nice scent, and I like nice things,” She replied matter of factly.
He pulled his arm away. “What if I did this?’ He chuckled teasingly as she turned her head over her shoulder.
She shrugged and slid off the bed, her eyes fixed on the view she had been looking at all morning.
“Then you won't get to hang with me longer.” She chuckled and winked back at him.
Eric slid off the bed and wrapped his arms around her, to which she responded with a squeak and pried his hands off of her before she turned, shaking her head.
“You kinda killed the mood.” She poked at his shoulder.
His arms rose to the side. “What?? How did I kill the mood??”
She shrugged. “You just did; I don’t write the rules.” She smiled at him slyly as she stepped around the bed and picked up her clothes.
“You should get dressed; even with my package, I don’t think the Med Center will take kindly to our… third-party therapy.”
He shrugged and followed suit before smiling. “Thanks for popping my med center cherry; I didn’t even know it was a thing.”
She frowned as she wiggled her hips, sliding on the baggy pants that were issued to clients of her package.
“It’s not a thing; I just made it up.”
He got close to her; his hands grasped her shoulders gently, and his face had a slight air of concern.
“Anya… are you okay?” He tilted his head, his eyes genuinely studying her.
She looked at him rather defensively. “Huh? What do you mean? Of course, I’m ok.”
Richard’s request to meet with only her for a ‘chat’ still bugged her ever since he had asked her for it.
Eric shrugged and sat down on the bed facing her, sliding on his shirt. “You just seem, you know, a bit out of it, well, more than usual. I’m just concerned, is all.” He looked at her, trying to subdue his emotions for her.
Anya slid on her top and sat beside him, patting his thigh and smiling.
“It’s just the meds, and I’ve been in here too long. I think it's nice and all.” She looked around; her single medical suite was as large as familial apartment units in some districts of the quad-city area.
He chuckled and shook his head. “It's NICE!? That’s all you have to say about it? I have employees who have to live in this space.” He paused and looked around. “Not even as fancy, too! You Essedar’s are too entitled.”
She punched his shoulder. “I’m not entitled! I’m just… an Essedar.” She smiled proudly and shrugged as she said that.
“Ow! Hey!” he retorted, rubbing his shoulder. “Damn, your punches are getting stronger”
She chuckled and shrugged again. “So ya, I’m fine, don’t worry about it.” She winked at him, rubbing the spot she had punched earlier.
His eyes squinted as he looked at her skeptically, then shrugged briefly. “Ok, just… I’m here if you need to get it off your shoulders.” He paused, his hands moving up to massage her shoulders.
“And they are nice shoulders, too.”
She smiled back, her mind reminding her that she couldn’t just share with anyone about family concerns; the world was not ready for an Essedar who second-guessed themselves.
She patted his cheek. “You’re sweet; I’ll remember that. And thank you for coming over.”
“Hey, I was in the neighborhood,” He responded enthusiastically and chuckled.
She chuckled and nodded slowly “Ahaaa, sure, Eric, how convenient.”
He chuckled. “Right? It's crazy how things work.”
She looked at him, her eyes moving up and down. This was always the case. He was a great partner in bed and nothing much else.
Her hands absentmindedly picked up his hand and sniffed at the back of it, ‘He does have such a nice scent, though,’ her mind piped in, which made her smile.
He smiled as he looked at her doing so. “Time for me to go?” he smiled, knowing Anya’s habits after months of seeing her on and off.
She smiled wider, winked at him after he said that, and nodded in reply. “Mhmm.” She turned to look outside. “Sun is setting, and you’ve been here for too long now.”
He feinted a grimaced face as he clutched his chest. “Ouch, that hurt more than usual.”
She giggled and slid back while getting up, his hand still in hers.
“Your acting is so bad. You should give it up already, or at least take classes for it?” she giggled as she headed to her room's door.
He slowly pulled his hand away and picked up his jacket before turning to her and giving her a tight hug.
“Just take care of yourself, and remember, I’m here if you need to talk to someone.”
Anya hugged him back, her eyes rolling at what he said. “I know, I know, don’t worry about it.”
She stepped back as he stepped toward the door, a line that outlined the rectangular shape of the door appearing as two small lights lit up above it.
“Cya Snappy.” he smiled and waved at her as he stepped back.
Anya blew a kiss at him and winked. “Take Care, Mister Man”
She had made up her mind. She was going to talk about this with Noa; her father must be up to something.
Noa’s communicator icon appeared on her HUD as she sat down in a chair by the window. It was raining again outside, and the thin streams of water that ran down the window broke the illumination from the city lights outside into wild shapes and designs.
Her fingers tapped on the window, sliding up and down the lines of rain as she recalled what Richard had told her. Then she recalled all the moments she and Noa had had together and nodded to herself, her finger tapping the air as she called Noa.
Noa answered within a few rings, ‘Hey, Anyanas? Everything ok?’ her voice warm, with a genuine concern.
“Hey, Noakins, yes. Just that... Father has been acting weird.”
“Weird? Like how? Is he deciding to get you a hover vehicle weird? Or more?”
Anya chuckled at this, the hover vehicle question yet again.
“Nooo…. I’m serious, Noa, really weird, not usual father kind of weird.”
“Oh? How so?”
Anya adjusted herself in her seat and took a deep breath.
“Lemme tell you what I spoke with him earlier.”