2023-01-07: T
Cutscene: 2023-01-07: T
Cast: Sayla Mass
Where: Junk Shop Aya, Tsutsujidai
Date: 7 January 0097
Summary: The odds of anyone finding it again were miserably. The odds of her finding it were exponentially so- but any probability higher than 0 has a chance of occurring.
Morale in a combat zone is a hard thing to manage at the best of times.
Morale in a combat zone from which there is no escape and many belligerents is far, far worse. The arcade was helping a bit, but it wasn't enough for everyone. It's folly to think one can stop the trauma forming, but making the day to day more livable was a worthwhile mission.
It was for that reason, she told herself, that Sayla Mass was going through some old boxes Orie said she dug out of an old box lot. So far she had not been hopeful.
0070's music in 0070s formats, maybe someone could get those working? A stack of copies of Do You Remember Love's ill-fated M-Color release… honestly she could certainly find a better minidisc copy *somewhere* here. And of course…
The magazines. So many magazines. From the Federation, from Zeon, from Side 6- propaganda, comics, current affairs and those tabloids for the mainstream psychopath. She's been sorting them- good for scrapbooking, good for reading, good for kindling…
MS Illustrated's 0080 Special 'Hotties of the One Year War' lands on the kindling pile, right on top of Space Young Weekly with a cover illustration of Magical Ensign Blaster Mari and Captain Zeon preparing to fight 'The White Devil'- completely embellished.
Sayla stretched, and sighed. She was doing work solely to keep herself busy now. She could trust Ramo and Namiko and the others with the day to day now. The Tsutsujidai Rescue Team had become a tight unit. The Ashford Academy Student Council operation had the hospital under control, and GGG had the rest. It was an uneasy calm, but it was a calm. BioNet and Britannia could ruin it any day, true, but until then Sayla was finding ways to keep herself sane. Keep herself from dwelling on how far away Leina is, how far away her life is.
She moved to pull out the next pile, and her hand touched something metallic- and she felt a flash, her hand jerking away, the assorted old entertainment scattering it on the floor. She could see it now.
A silver block of metal, shaped like the letter T. She wasn't sure what it was- but she could tell it was heavy with more than the weight of its materials. She reached out with her left hand and picked it up-
A flash of green. A cry out to help another. Acceptance of death. A memory of love.
A rainbow across space.
-the metallic block drops back into the box, and Sayla's body shivers, her face pale and beads of sweat on her forehead. She knew what it was now.
She even, for a moment, felt like she knew the weight of a soul.
She grabs several magazines, and wraps the metallic sample in them, before placing those in a bag. She grabs a post-it note, and quickly jots down a message, leaving before Orie Takarada can return.
'Sorry for the mess. Put it on my tab. -S'