Extreme makeover [Open, bendytimed to... whenever makes sense]

[zouichi]

Somehow, he'd gotten himself into a bet. He didn't even really remember how it had happened or how they had gotten on the subject. But then suddenly the bet had been accepted and it was too late to back down, and now he was sitting at the very same Mess Hall table Sakura and the others had been sitting at the other day while they'd been discussing the source of the ship's mystery meat food supply.

To be fair to Sakura, he'd picked a shade of pink to match her own, natural hair color. But the results were... jarring. Also, hopefully no one would recognize either of them.

Comments

[moms_temperment]

Hana pouted slightly, looking offended on someone else's behalf. "My sister wears it and it looks good on her."

Then he smirked and poked Zouichi's nose. "But Jinx is just better looking anyway."

"Dude, it's hard to blend in when you're riding a talking motobike."

[zouichi]

"You have a sister?" Zouichi blinked. That was the first he'd ever heard. In any case, he swatted Hana's hand idly aside. "Hey, you'd be surprised. A lot of my world is made of jet-black metal. I blend in perfectly."

Not to mention that almost no one had a tan.

[moms_temperment]

Hana cocked an eyebrow and poked Zouichi’s forehead. Obviously, personal space was not a serious issue in his view.

“Yeh. I just told you. Well, two. But both of ‘em pull off pink pretty well. And a brother, but he pulls off the blue better.”

[zouichi]

Zouichi looked annoyed. "Will you quit that? I'm real, I assure you."

"You're four siblings? Why didn't you mention that before?" Actually, had he mentioned his own family before? "...There were twenty of us, counting both AIs and Synthetic Humans."

[moms_temperment]

He shrugged. "Why would I? S'not like they live with me. Besides, you made out you knew one of them anyway."

Hana gaped. "Twenty? Seriously? How come you can ask me why I never told you about three but you were hiding twenty?"

[zouichi]

"Well... there were twenty of us. But most likely, they're dead. There were only a few of us confirmed to be alive by the time I was brought here. But I've seen no evidence that they made it to the ship. Even without the Ohm around, it's... unlikely that anyone survived. I think it's probably safe to assume Fuyu and I are the only ones remaining."

[moms_temperment]

"Oh... Sorry." Hana shuffled awkwardly and scuffed his shoe against the floor, keeping his head down.

[zouichi]

Zouichi ruffled Hana's hair a little. "It was a necessary hazard in our line of work. No way to get around it."

And also something he'd accepted a long time ago. Still, some of them had been so young...

[moms_temperment]

Hana's mane seemed barely affected, in fact, it almost seemed a little neater... marginally.

"It's still sad."

[zouichi]

How did that even work.

Zouichi stopped mussing Hana's hair. "Yes. It is."

Super depressiiiiing

[moms_temperment]

"Well, erm... So..." He looked about, hoping for something that would switch the conversation. Spotting Zouichi's hair again, he spoke up. "Oh! How do you know Jinx?"

[zouichi]

Zouichi seemed more than grateful for the opportunity not to talk about his dead siblings. "Oh. Well, I wouldn't say I know her, exactly. It's more like I ran into her once in the City. I run into a lot of people patrolling the ship, actually... so I've at least seen or heard of most of the people here."

He paused, thinking back. "I think she was on a small inflatable pool on one of the roofs..."

[moms_temperment]

"That's cool. You're like everyone's friend." Hana smiled.

"Oh, man! That was the first time I met her too. How weird is that?"

[zouichi]

Zouichi smiled. "I wouldn't go that far. But I do try to meet people, just to make sure I know who's here and who's not. You know. Make sure no one gets lost." After all, they didn't want more people going missing on the ship, right?

"...It is kind of a coincidence. But then, I guess there aren't a lot of people hanging out on rooftops, either." He paused. "Wait a second. What were you doing on the roof?"

[moms_temperment]

"Well, I still think you're everyone's friend." He chuckled.

"I heard her radio so I climbed up the wall." He said, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

[zouichi]

Zouichi didn't think there was anything particularly strange about that. "Oh yeah? I was jumping from roof to roof at the time. You know. Exploring. I didn't know you were into climbing, though. Mountains, or just buildings?"

THEY WERE BOTH CLEARLY PERFECTLY NORMAL.

[moms_temperment]

"Both are pretty cool. Depends what's at the top really." He shrugged. "I can't jump from roof to roof, at least, not really quickly. Jinx can though."

[zouichi]

"I guess that makes sense... although personally, I think I'd enjoy mountains more. There's more of a view. Like those glacial cliffs at Pelau -- they were quite beautiful."

Of course, the cliffs hadn't been the only beautiful thing there.

[moms_temperment]

Hana looked expired. "Man, you've been everywhere. It's almost as depressing as it is cool."

[zouichi]

"Depressing? What's so depressing about it?" Not having been anywhere at all -- that would be depressing!

[moms_temperment]

"You've been everywhere and I've been... Nowhere." He kicked the ground angrily. "Coz I'm a nobody."

[zouichi]

"Wait, what? Back up a second. Who said that?"

If anything, Zouichi thought Hana had probably been more places than he had.

[moms_temperment]

"Erm... Me? I just said it. Weren't you listening?" He gave a Zouichi a look, wondering if they should get his ears checked.

[zouichi]

"Yeah, but usually people don't just say things like that out of nowhere. Did someone say that to you first? Or is it something that's been bothering you for a while?"

[moms_temperment]

Hana went quiet for awhile and busied himself by picking at a loose thread on his jeans.

Finally, he spoke up. "The second one, I guess."