(Collab between Idle, Kuro and Dot)

Someone’s voice was louder than hers, which would have caught Deli’s attention even if she hadn’t guessed this was who they were waiting for. She turned just in time to watch him enter the hangar and was already beaming brightly by the time he spotted her, several raging seconds into his diatribe.
 
She seemed utterly unfazed by his words – though she realized now she was hungry, and would do pretty much anything for a box of Thin Mints – instead stepping forward to meet him, one hand outstretched to grasp the entirety of his pointing fist. His hands, perhaps unsurprisingly, dwarfed hers in an instant, but Deli didn’t mind that much, either.
 
“Curmy, hi!” she said brightly. “I’m Deli. I blow things up.” She sent a sidelong glance back to Reece and winked conspiratorially. “But only outside. Because your friend is attached to his limbs.” She giggled at her own joke before her green eyes drifted to the drill bit balanced on the older man’s shoulder.
 
“[i]Guay[/i],” she said, eyes widening as she took in the giant piece of machinery just as she had the giant man before her. “[i]Qué es eso?[/i]? Er…Sorry, I mean, what’s that?” She inched forward until she was standing what was probably uncomfortably close to the excavator. 

Connor jumped from inside of the engine when he heard someone roaring at the top of their lungs. The sounds echoed off the metal walls of the pod and he crawled his way back out of small space to see what was going on. 

He rubbed his forearm across his forehead to mop up the small amount of sweat on his forehead. He peaked out from the open door of the cargo bay and grimaced when he saw the source of the commotion. It was the giant, bearded miner from the briefing and he looked like a pissed off grizzly bear at the moment.

He felt bad for the curly haired girl that currently had a blunt finger pointed at her. He wondered what her job was, her age didn’t really bother him considering he was probably around the same age as her. He knew not to underestimate someone because of their age. Still he certainly didn’t want to be in her place at the moment. In fact it sounded like Loretta’s engine was calling him back…

It was a flash of blue that drew Del’s attention aside at the last minute, subjecting the young demolitionist to one of her greatest weaknesses – distraction, in the form of meeting new people. This person in particular. Deli’s first love had, in no uncertain terms, been destroying everything in her sight. But she’d adopted a keen love for machinery and robotics in her early teen years, and those that were specialized to blow things up held a special place in her heart.
 
“Hi, I’m Deli,” she said again, almost vibrating now with excited energy. She was glad they’d woken her up, gladder still to get to work. She’d almost forgotten about being moved around, maybe to accommodate her iffy past. “Do you need help with the engine?”

“Uh,” Connor should have been faster to duck back inside of the pod. The clashing energies of the giant angry miner and the smaller cheerful woman, Deli, was a bit staggering. “I’m good.” He answered slowly, walking out completely onto the ramp since he’d been caught glancing down at his feet. His fault for picking the loudest color possible for his hair, even if he did love it, it did not help with stealth. “I’m Connor.” He introduced himself rubbing the back of his neck. He appreciated the offer to help with the pods, he was actually going to need it, but he didn’t know Deli’s credentials and at the moment he was feeling a bit territorial of what he considered to be his ‘babies’.

Owen Reece looked up as Bill stormed in, the filthy drill bit over his shoulder. He shook his head, the mining crew of the second shift had really gone to shit at the end, seeing only that their work was coming to an end and their rest was soon. Like a barn broke horse, he thought and made a note to keep that from happening in their watch. 

He raised his eyebrows at him when Deli spoke out and he waited to see how his old friend would react, “Ah, yeah...that’s our demo man...person. I’m still not quite assured I’ll end up with all my fingers intact but we’ll see.” 

Deli threw him another sheepish grin. “S’okay. I read somewhere you only really need...half of your fingers. Half, total. Five. Not half of all ten fingers, that would be weird.” She made a face then turned back their mechanic and waved. “Hi, Connor.”

Reece spotted Conner and looked a bit relieved, gesturing at him to join them. “Deli, you got someone your age to play with.” 

Connor wrinkled his nose a bit at the quip but jumped down off the ramp and onto the floor. “We should conspire against them in our blanket fort.” He mocked whispered to Deli. 

Deli blinked, first in suspicion, then in disbelief, before nodding, completely straight-faced. “Would that be before or after nap time?”

“After, you want to be all cranky and not thinking straight? We need to be well rested.” Connor shook his head as though he was exasperated. He was trying hard not to laugh but his lips wouldn’t stop twitching as he fought off a smile.

“Alright kids, juice boxes and cookies when our training simulation is over,” Reece drawled and turned to Bill. “Conner here is gonna run those mechanics ragged over the pods and he’ll make sure the mining equipment gets the same treatment. As soon as the maintenance crew assembles we’ll get them scrubbing.” 

He absently popped another toothpick in his mouth, the craving for a cigarette strong right now at his irritation with the previous shift. It was concerning how so many hand picked professionals got so sloppy. Reece rubbed his short beard thoughtfully, giving it a tug. He would look around his office, see if the last pilot captain had left any clues as to why such a thing would happen. 

He stepped over to the blue haired kid and muttered, “You been in your office yet?” 

Connor shifted just a little back when he felt his bubble of personal space was invaded too much. It wasn’t anything personal against Reece he was just anal about being too close to people he hardly knew. “Briefly. I read the last mechanic’s notes and did a little diagnostics for the pods then got straight to work because Loretta wasn’t working at all. Why?”

“Just wondering,” he replied after a moment of silence. He rolled the toothpick around in his mouth, his mind obviously turning over the matter. 

Connor shot him a confused look, not understanding why it mattered if he had been in his office already. “The previous guy left that a mess too.” His fingers twitched at the thought of the mess and pushed aside the urge to go back and clean everything up. This was a bit more important than a messy office. “Did you want me to go look for something specifically?”