A Front, Combined

[Dusk]

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“To be honest, these days I’m starting to feel like the helmet represents me more than my own face. ”

He coughed into his fist, slightly embarrassed by the hygiene remark.

"Of course, I do shower. Every day if I can help it. I may have been a Junker, but not all of them neglect hygiene. It's, uh, just a stereotype.”

Well, maybe not exactly “just a stereotype,” but... At very least not all Junkers were literal space bums. That much he could tell. As for forgetting about Sirius... He had no doubt about the safety of this place. At least in the short term. His anxiety, if you could call it that, was not due to the anticipation of an attack. He sighs before answering.

"That's not exactly what I meant... It's just... With everything that's going on right now, I have a feeling that every minute I'm not sleeping I should be spending taking care of our collective survival, you know?”

He shook his shoulders slightly, and his eyes showed slight fatigue. The weight of responsibility hung heavily over the young guy, causing him to experience much more stress than necessary.
But there was hardly anything unusual about this. At least now he didn't have to worry about his sister having nothing to eat.

Locksmith listened with a small smile about sushi while slowly eating and enjoying the taste, although his gaze wavered slightly at the mention of synthetic paste. He understood what Mieko was talking about, and yet it was difficult to wrap his head around the fact that not so long ago the limit of his dreams for others was only something barely acceptable. But he did not mention this past of his, because there was simply no point in causing despondency. And, of course, he had never had any hunting experience; however, this time he was no longer sure that it was something bad. It seemed quite risky to him, at least without special equipment. Still, he began to respect Struikas a little more for having this skill.

"I've heard about Gaia. Honestly, it sounded like complete madness. Using such weapons, they practically wage war against all people. Almost like, well... Infected.”

The pawns of nomads often seemed to Freud even more aggressive and dangerous than their masters. But he could understand why they were doing what they do, given the potential depth of the influence of nomads on human consciousness, while the behavior of the Gaians baffled Roland.

He wasn't sure that this could be attributed to human irrationality and emotions. However, sometimes he actually thought that he might have been better off without them.

"Sometimes feelings are more of a curse than a blessing."

It sounded more gloomy than Locksmith wanted. He smiled slightly, trying to smooth out the edges.

"I mean... I know that some of the things I did were necessary. I would make the same decisions again. And yet sometimes their consequences haunt me."

His adoptive parents, for example. He couldn't risk them coming for him and his sister. And the Hackers could very well force them.
So he did what he had to do.

But what was most interesting to hear about were the details about how Mieko’s body was constructed. Roland listened intently, his brow quirking slightly, betraying that he was impressed.

"And some of us have to craft armor to protect ourselves from all these things. And the armor doesn't look nearly as pretty."

He lets out a short laugh. Locksmith did not regret creating the armor — on the contrary, he considered it one of his best creations. But, looking at Mieko, he understood especially well that there was always something to strive for.

"And... hm?"

A slight surprise appeared on Roland's face - a light fighter of the Skeleton model, visible in the window, stopped right next to them.

One of the Atropus units.

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