trans_9 | Weaver [Open]

Entry tags:

Weaver [Open]

Who: Miku and Whomever
Where: The Sensoriums, inside her Brainplace
What: Miku thinks about frustrations and useless things.

It had taken her time, but Miku hadn't minded. She was lucky, she'd had lots of time lately to put towards her own silly pursuits, now that the worst things... the frightening things, had passed for the moment. She sat before a loom in the Sensoriums, the surrounding area made to look like her ever-growing mental protections. Archers dressed in Japanese armor marched back and forth along the walls of the pink-and-white Japanese castle.

The gates were wide open, though there didn't seem to be much inside the courtyard. From somewhere within the castle, overtaking any other sound that there should have been, there was a rhythmic noise. It creaked, clacked, and clinked over and over. Beneath that, and still just audible, Miku counted. "One, two, three, pull. One, two, three, push."

Inside the largest room, where a raised dais dominated the back wall, Miku sat at a loom, her clothing conspicuously Western. Her fingers flashed a shuttle back and forth between a netting of strings, her stockinged feet pressing down at heddles to move the threads up and down, occasionally moving a beam back and forth. The fabric, slowly forming before her, a brilliant shade of red.

Maybe, Miku reasoned as she carefully wove, she was frustrated. The end result of her work would not be real, she would have nothing but the experience with which to use later. But where would she find a loom in any post-industrial world? Miku pushed down a heddle, shot the shuttle back through, and sighed. And naturally, there would always be someone who would heckle her, but that was alright.

She was used to that.

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Kais was always surprised when he stepped into the Sensoriums. With so many people around, it was always something new. But what was surprising was that he didn't find this architecture as ugly as he usually found human work. In fact, it looked similar to primitive Tau works. His own armor was a reflection of that, a hybrid of what would be Chinese and Japanese influence.

Then the glowing light on his helmet turned to the loom. Now that was a primitive piece of work. Not even an electronic object in sight on it. ....inefficient. Lightly, his hooves rang out on the floor as he stepped forward, finding it hard to be silent in this type of environment.

Oh, right, it was polite to greet someone, even if his voice filtered out of his helmet. "Greetings."

Miku looked up, still mouthing her counts, Two, three, push... She bowed briefly, stilling her hands, "Hello."

It had taken many months, but at least she wasn't screaming at the sight of some of the less... human members. At least this one looked like a tiny Gundam. "Did you need the sensoriums? Are the others full? You may have mine, if you like."

"I don't need one but I'm grateful for your offer." Being polite was something subconsciously implanted in his brain. He wasn't at war with any of these alien races so there was no need to make them mad.

"I visited because I'm curious. I suspect if you didn't wish for visitors, you would have locked the doors so I visited."

Miku looked around, "I wasn't really expecting anyone, but I wasn't going to make anyone unwelcome, either." She turned her attention to the ~~creature~~ ~~Gundam~~ person and smiled, "I just wanted to practice weaving somewhere I was comfortable."

She pulled herself away from the loom and bowed again, this time much more formally, "My name is Hinasaki Miku, it's nice to meet you."

Oh, that was good. Bowing in greeting was part of Tau cultural ideals so he returned the gesture. "I am called Shas'la T'au Kais but you are free to call me Kais, Hinasaki Miku."

He turned back to the machine. "Weaving? What is that, exactly?"

"It's..." Miku tapped her lip. "It's a way to make cloth from thread and yarn. But this is even old fashioned where I am from, where we have machines do it."

She shrugged, "But, I like old-fashioned things, so I don't mind learning to use it at all."

"You like....old fashioned..." It's hard to contemplate for him. His society was mostly automated with low level AIs handling simple tasks. "Then...you enjoy starting fires with two sticks?"

Miku shook her head, "There's old-fashioned and rustic and that's definitely 'rustic'." She laughed a little at the thought of trying to start a fire.

She was fairly sure Steve could do it. He seemed to have that Americana can-do sense when... when he wasn't busy trying to not-mope around her, anyway.

"I...see." He sounds hesitant in reply, still not understanding. "And this castle is not rustic? What design is this supposed to resemble?"

"A Japanese castle. Well... it..." Miku paused, and shifted on her bare feet, embarrassed. "It's sort of... my... my mental defenses. My sensei taught me, and so, I've been working on it."

"But sometimes I need to see it from without and not within. So, yes, it is techincally rustic, but it doesn't actually exist so whether or not it is rustic or supremely old-fashioned is... is moot?" She smiled uncertainly at Kais.

"Am I..." Kais takes a step back, a little frightened. "...am I in your head? That should not be possible." Tau didn't wield that kind of power like humans did. The immediate fright pushed common sense out of his mind.

"No, no, no!" Miku held up her hands, defensively. "Not really! This is just what I think my mental protections look like. Though, Stacy-sama says the Sensoriums do root around in a person's head a little bit, to give a better sense of realism to the illusion you are most assuredly not in my head."

She hoped that had made sense.

Phew that was a relief. "I am glad. If I manifested such abilities, it would not be a good thing."

He had the system make a chair for him and he took a seat, containing his fright mentally.

"No? Why is that?" Miku returned to her loom, and settled herself back onto the wooden seat, figuring out where she'd left off in her work before starting again.

"I have had...voices in my head before." Ones that told him to kill all the time. "If I had powers of the mind, the being behind that voice would choose to manifest in my body, creating a terrifying creature."

"Oh. I see." Well, that was horrifying. Miku shifted on the wooden seat of the loom and kept working. "If you don't have them now, I don't think you should worry too much about manifesting them."

Now, if only she were so lucky.

"I've yet to go into battle so I can't say if they're still there or not." If him being a warrior wasn't obvious yet, it was now.

Well, he did look like a Gundam.

"That is a uncertain thing, isn't it?" She tilted her head at him, and studied him for a moment. The loom ceased. "Have you told others? Like the people in medical? Or the people who head the military groups?" Something told her that should've been the first thing, but then... she hadn't told people about herself very much, either.

He shook his head in reply. "No. They may treat me differently or specially if I were to say such a thing."

"But... wouldn't you be putting more people in danger, if the didn't know?" Miku continued studying Kais quietly, twisting around the butterfly charm on her necklace.

"I think, if you explained it clearly, they'd be able to work with you in case it something bad happens. Or at least, try to figure out a way to help you. We're all in this together, aren't we?"

"That would be better than being locked up." Selfishness, something that popped up because he hasn't been around an Ethereal for a long while.

"I would prefer to be free."

"I think you can be free, but still keep everyone safe, too." Miku shrugged. "If they can monitor your situation, they would be better suited to react to..."

She searched for the word, "Keep anything terrible from happening. They had to help... someone I know with that, once."

"I appreciate your concern but I have seen what happens to people like that."

He reaches up and pulls off his helmet so he can have a breath of fresh air, not recycled hair. The helmet goes between his knees and he looks down at it.

"Unsafe ideas and actions may spread so they are kept locked up for their own safety and they safety of others."

Where Miku went, Steve wasn't usually far behind. He always liked to see what she made the Sensoriums into, since it was usually something interesting from her home or life in Japan. It was always nice to visit her memory of her home, or any of the other neat places she conjured up.

This one... he was fairly sure wasn't a real place, if only because it was pink and white. He nodded to the guards as he headed inside, spotting Miku at last. She was working on a... loom. That's what it was. See, Miku? Steve isn't that out of touch.

"Hey, Miku," he said cheerfully, coming up behind her. "What are you making?"

"Cloth," Miku replied between counts muttered under her breath. "I have been reading about it for days now, so I thought I might actually try it." The fabric she was working on wasn't perfect, but at least it was holding together.

"People are always complaining about cloth, anyway, aren't they?"

"That's really cool," he murmured. He stood for a moment to watch her and the expert way she worked the loom. "I don't know how to do anything that fancy."

"We should get you a real one sometime. People are always griping about not having any real cloth."

Miku tilted her head back and looked at him, her hands and feet stilling, "But you could learn, too. How are things going with Kaylee-san, speaking of that?"

"Oh, they're fine," he said. "Still just teaching me what all the new, fancy tools and machine parts are... I'll be able to fix just about anything soon, though I've got a long way to go until I'm as good as she is."

"Will you make a new motorcycle?" Miku asked and tilted her head back down to start working again. "After you've learned everything?"

"That sounds like fun, yeah," he said. "It'd be cool if I could build it all from scratch... and sounds like a good project to keep me out of trouble too, honestly."

"That's what I'm here to help with: keeping you out of trouble." Miku smiled. Sometimes, he made it hard to be frustrated at things.

But just sometimes.

"When you complete it, we should go on a ride again."

Sometimes he made it a lot easier to be frustrated at things.

"We should," he agreed. "I can look at some books and try to get some ideas for new places to go... maybe somewhere in Japan next time. Would you like that?"

Miku was quite for a little while, maybe a little too long for comfort. The sounds the loom made nearly drowned her reply out, "I guess."

"Do you ever get tired of pretending here in the Sensoriums with me?"

Definitely too long for comfort. For a moment, Steve wondered if she'd even heard him. He considered repeating himself, but then she finally spoke, and then he was immediately wondering if he'd said something wrong.

"Um... no," he answered, after a moment of thought. "Why would I?"

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Weaver [Open]

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....He is so cute. I. What.

sob

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Sorry about the wait! ;;~!!

/pat

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