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Miorine looked through the limited viewscreen of the standard issue Demi Trainer she sat in. She gripped the two control sticks in front of her, sweat pooling at her palms. She kept tension on the levers her feet rested upon, probably using a bit too much force to keep the machine stopped in place. The three terminals blinked with details she could barely parse on her own. Just looking at one made her grip tighter.
“Alright,” Suletta said next to her, crouching the limited extra space in the cockpit, “You just need to switch the pressure from your left leg to your right while pushing both joysticks forward. Got it?” She said it in such a calm, guiding tone, warm and nonjudgemental. A tone of voice she hadn’t heard in a long time.
She took a deep breath in, and then out, then slowly followed the holder’s instructions. She relaxed her left leg, letting the brake push it up naturally, and, in sync, she pushed down her right onto the ignition, and pushed forward both arms, pushing past the friction and tension. With that, she saw as the video in front of her slowly bobbed upward, then back downward, paired with a subtle shake to the cockpit. Though, it was surprisingly dampened all things considered.
Suletta giggled, “See, you’re doing it!”
As the mobile suit made each small step, her grip on the joysticks tightened and tightened. She was doing well enough, but not stunningly, and she didn’t want to screw it up now, not in front of Suletta. Her feelings for her were a mess. Initially, she thought her positive feelings towards the woman were just due to her comparing Suletta to Guel, a far worse person to be engaged to. Though she expected, with time, those feelings would dull, replaced by resentment for this forced engagement.
But, for whatever reason, she just couldn’t hate the country bumpkin at her side. Whether it be the moments she had an innocent wonder in her eyes in seeing common things like goats or tomatoes, or in her determined glare piloting the Aerial against Guel, there was something about her that had lodged its way into Miorine’s mind and wouldn’t let go. Hell, now her dreams were full of her watching the red-haired girl piloting the machine, revealing her softly toned muscles to Miorine’s lowly vision…
As Miorine blushed at the memory, her sweaty hand slipped from the right joystick, leading it to snap back into place. The Mobile suit sharply turned in response, though as it was mid stride, it landed on the side of its foot. The cockpit rumbled and shook as Miorine clashed with the seatbelts she was locked within. As the machine hit the ground, she saw Suletta fly upward before landing on the back wall in a curl.
She laid, staring at the sky through the monitor, before putting her helmeted hand in her hands, yelling out her frustration. She just couldn’t get this whole piloting thing down, even though, for some reason, it was needed for her business focused program. Some sort of potential military service requirement that she would surely be bailed out of by her father, because that was the one part of her fate she could control. It all just made her so mad!
But then, suddenly, a cold chill went through her mind. Suletta wasn’t latched down. Miorine quickly undid her seatbelt, pushed herself up, and turned behind her.
“Suletta, are you alright?!” she yelled, looking to see her body laying on the back wall, hand rubbing the top of her own helmet.
“I-I’m alright, Miorine,” the girl giggled, “I’ve been shaken up worse back on Mercury.” She slowly stood up, got her balance, then started to lean on the seat, “Not bad for a fifth try. Now, I’ll get the suit back up, then we can try again, alright?”
Miorine blushed again, face growing into an indignant red. She had failed, five times over, she’d hurt Suletta, but she was still… like this! So happy, so casual! No one should be this bad at this, but here Miorine was, failing every time after barely walking a few steps. But Suletta refused to make her know it! It felt… so patronizing.
She quickly pressed the one button she knew, the one to open the hatch, before clumsily clambering out of the cockpit. She heard Suletta yelling her name behind her, but she refused to look back as she ran towards her room.
~-~
Miorine looked at her pathetic self, having just stripped off her piloting gear, left in a sloppy tank top and shorts, in her bathroom mirror. She hadn’t fixed her hair after leaving it in a helmet for hours, so it was greasy and stringy, flying all over the place. Her eyes were red, evidence of her recent sobbing fit marring her face.
She looked at her thin, stringy limbs. Her thin arms and delicate hands barely had the strength to push the machine forward. Her father never let her do anything that physical with her life, always sitting off to the sideline, watching meetings and trained to be a “feminine” CEO, whatever that meant.
But even still, she should have found a way around it. She had the resources to nearly escape this school, after all. She should have found a way to become properly self-sufficient. To really be her own person. But now, thanks to her father, she was going to fail this stupid quiz because she just wasn’t strong enough!
And then there was Suletta. As she slowly, marginally, calmed down, she realized she shouldn’t have blown up on her. She was stuck in this situation as much as Miorine was, she never chose to become the holder. Plus, she didn’t have to tutor Miorine either. She simply chose to be there, to be so calm and guiding with her. She was such a good person, and she didn’t deserve all that Miorine did to her.
Just as she thought this, she heard a knocking at her door, and muffled through it, “M-Miss Miorine? Are you alright?”
Miorine balled her fist, “Go away! We’re done for today. You should go… study or whatever!”
“B-but, our reservation still has a bit of time, w-we could-”
“It doesn’t matter. If I can’t manage it on try number five, there’s no hope for me today anyways.”
With that, Suletta went silent. Good, she could go back to her room and let Miorine wallow in her sorrow in peace. Miorine leaned over her sink and sighed. She really was a mess, she should-
“You know,” Suletta spoke, seemingly from lower down, “there’s a lot of stuff I’m bad at, too. It took me years to figure out how to make my handwriting look at all legible, and even still, it’s still shaky. I’m really lucky that everything is typed here, you know?”
Miorine took a second, “And?”
“Well, writing is way easier than piloting. I’m just lucky I had one of the best guides I’ve ever seen to teach me since I was a baby. What you’re doing took me months to learn, so doing it when you’re less impressionable is really impressive.”
Miorine chuckled, sitting on the floor, that actually cheered her up a bit, “Really?”
“Y-yeah! But even still, every time I failed, my mom instilled in me-“
“That one quote, ‘Move forward and gain whatever,’”
She could hear Suletta giggle through the door, “About that, yeah. Even when I failed, I learned more about my family, my mom, my entire world. So, I learned to value even the times I screwed up.”
Could Miorine really deny that? She had gotten a chance to learn more about Suletta. She learned about her warm voice, about her sheer knowledge of the basics of these machines, about how she could convey that to her.
All of that opened a little spot in Miorine’s heart. One that was filled by those warm words, that careful guidance. It was one that she now knew would destroy her if it was ever left unfilled. She knew she needed Suletta, in some way shape or form, and that she wouldn’t let go of her. She had gained Suletta in all of this, and to think she was about to throw it away.
She chuckled, “So what, now you’re going to drag me back out to the training grounds in the middle of the night just so I can learn what snacks you like?”
After a second, Suletta responded, “No, I-I think it would be nice if we just t-talked now…”
She could imagine the blush on the shy girl’s face. How cute.
“Alright, let me get myself cleaned up, then we can have dinner or something.”
She resolved to get clean quick, because she wanted this opportunity to last as long as possible. For she would grip onto her time with Suletta for as long as she possibly could.