2022-04-23: Late Night Tinkering
Cutscene: Late Night Tinkering
Cast: Anita Rosetta, Anita's Haro
Where: The Ra Mari
Date: 2022-04-23
Summary: To stave off her restlessness, Anita does some maintenance work late at night. Meanwhile, her Haro judges her poor sleeping habits.
It's late. By Earth time, it would be around midnight. That is to say, it's about time that everyone who isn't on required duty should be in bed right about now. And yet, those who find themselves passing by Anita's room on the Ra Mari that night hear the faint sounds of tinkering within, as Anita works through the night. Tonight, she is feeling restless. And when Anita is feeling restless, she tinkers - busying her mind and her hands with a mechanical task to stave off the thoughts that plague her.
She sits at her room's work table, and in front of her lies tonight's project - one of her prosthetic arms, long overdue for maintenance. In this case it's a combat model, splayed open with gutted parts scattered about it in an orderly mess as she digs into its inner workings. The built in weapons and tools have been disarmed and set aside until the time comes to reinstall them.
Her current left arm is in many ways its opposite. Where the arm in front of her is bulky and durable, reinforced with armor, weighed down with hidden weapons and tools and possessing only as much dexterity as is needed to pilot her Valkyrie, this one is light, almost skeletal - prioritizing precision and agility for intricate work.
As she works, she is watched. From her bed a little round robot, a deep sea green in color to match Anita's hair, stares at her judgingly. Eventually, it has had enough.
"Anita! Bed time! Bed time!" Anita's Haro chirps chidingly, rolling off the bed and into a bounce that carries it toward her, where it bops itself against the side of her left leg like a pet demanding attention. The impact sends it rolling back a short distance, just enough for it to stare up at her. That finally draws her attention away from her work. Anita shifts in her chair, rotating it away from the table to look down at her Haro as she lifts her goggles away from her eyes.
"Sorry, sorry. Just a bit more - I think I've narrowed down the cause of the responsiveness issue." Anita apologises, leaning down to give the Haro a pat. Its top panels briefly flap impatiently... but, eventually it deems this a satisfactory enough answer and rolls back to the foor of the bed. After a brief apologetic gesture, Anita turns back around to face tonight's project, lowering her goggles over her eyes once more and tapping a button on the side.
Lenses interface with cybernetic eyes, and the arm in front of her is outlined and highlighted, parts segmented off into what would be muscle groups in a human arm. Labels fill her vision, but there's only one in particular she's interested in. She lifts the left side of the arm up carefully, rotating it so she can get a better look at its insides. She frowns at what she sees.
"...Should've known. The nerve wire is getting frayed. I've got spares, but it's such a pain getting more of 'em." Anita mutters to herself, drumming the fingers of her right hand across the table's surface. A frown crosses her face as she stares at the arm a moment longer, considering its weight - the physical and the metaphorical.
...Even just several months ago, she wouldn't have even considered weaponising her prosthetics. Is she really cut out for all this...? She followed her friends to the Earth Sphere because she was lonely, and got involved with military work only because she was in a desperate need for a job after all her other options fell through. Sure, she likes helping people and there's no doubt she's done that several times over her enrollment in Londo Bell, but is this really the kind of work she should be doing just for a paycheck...? In a way, the arm in front of her is emblematic of the problem.
Her drifting thoughts start to draw too close to the source of her earlier restlessness, and upon realising this, she lets out a frustrated groan and leans back in her chair, scratching the back of her head impatiently as she does.
"Ah... whatever. It looks cool and that's the important thing here." She decides, firmly stuffing all of those rampant thoughts back into the 'Not Gonna Think About It' box for the time being. She redoubles her efforts, replacing the frayed wire and then one by one reinserting all of the freshly cleaned and ready parts back into the arm. And then, once she's done, she stands up triumphantly.
When swapping out her arms, Anita normally likes getting an extra helping hand - pun intended - with the work... but it's late and she doesn't want to wake anyone, so she'll just have to do it herself. With her right arm she reaches across to her shoulder. Disengaging the arm is by design a process that takes concerted effort, but after a moment the skeletal left arm is detached, where it is set aside on the table. With it clear, Anita picks up the bulkier combat arm and carefully eases it into the newly vacated cybernetic socket. The process is initiated, eliciting a faint hiss from Anita as connections are made and it integrates itself into her body. Even with how often she swaps them out it's never a particularly pleasant experience but it's at least a quick one. Once it's done she flexes her fingers experimentally, rolling her arm in the socket as she tests it out before going into a few quick exercises. The movement is weightier, but its perfect for what it's used for.
"Yeah... yeah, that's much better." Anita says with a satisfied nod to herself. Whatever else might have been bothering her, getting something accomplished is always a mood booster. With that, she plops back down into her chair. "Man, I'm kind of beat now. But I guess it is..."
She looks toward her clock. She squints.
"That late already?? I really should be getting to bed..." She says with a sigh. At this, her Haro pops up to attention.
"Finally! Finally!" It replies. Anita stands up, walking over to her Haro to lean down and pick it up, affixing it with a frown... before spinning it on the tip of her left index finger like a basketball, eventually letting it drop down into her palm where she grips it so that its face points at her.
"I know, I know... Thanks for looking out for me." Anita says with a sigh. With that, she places it atop its designated position on her bedside table. "Good night, Haro."
"Anita! Good night!" The Haro replies and, with one last flap of its panels, shuts its eyes and powers down into sleep mode for the night. After taking some time to ready herself for bed, Anita soon follows suit.