Raisa felt like crap.

Honestly, frankly and all other adverbs that could apply, she really did feel like utter crap. Something about how she kept doing things made her feel somewhat depressed. The fact that she had been too shy to interact with the other pilots and the fact that she had not gotten around to doing anything close to being useful in the last hour aside from moving her stuff to her quarters and mooching off the mess hall staff made her somewhat uneasy. Was this whole exchange program going to work out well for her? While she didn't do much while in Iyuli, it was still somewhat calm. Uneasily putting on her Iyuli GEAR Pilot uniform and making sure all the correct equipment was fastened on; including an extra-GEAR communicator, tracker, emergency beacon, four 100 milliliter packets of water, a mean looking combat knife and her sidearm, she sighed with a slightly angered expression, though only at herself.

"Hopefully it's just the whole 'new deployment, new people, new place' thing that has me on the edge." The fox uttered to herself as she polished the front of the helmet with an included cloth, as was mandatory for Iyuli GEAR pilots. Making sure there was not a single scratch, smudge or other sort of blemish visible from at least five meters away was a duty for every single Iyuli GEAR pilot, as a way of building not only a proper appearance during parades or other celebrations but also for developing respect for oneself. In classic Iyuli ideals, showing a deep respect for oneself and those around you is much more important than any good deed you could hope to accomplish by yourself. This didn't stop Raisa from trying hard in things she did, quite the opposite actually, though it did make up a large part of her personality.

Finally, after making sure there was not a single mark on the helmet, she put on her gloves and set it under her arm as she headed to the briefing room to prepare for the exercise. She made sure to finish somewhat early in order to have time to get her bearings on the landcruiser in the case that she got lost, but she still arrived quite early, met by a hoofed woman who looked a good couple of years older than her. Then again, she was quite young for a GEAR pilot, at least in her native country, where most of her fellow pilots had been gentlemen in their thirties, not taking into account that she was a woman, a detail that required quite a good amount of convincing by her and even by her estranged father just to be allowed into training. 

That was all in the past now. All Raisa had to focus on was the present. Finishing her reflections, she sat up in her seat, took a deep breath, and gave the sides of her face a good snapping hit to 'wake her up', a small habit she had picked up long ago.

"Much better." She murmured to herself as she felt her usual cheerfulness and general excitement return to its normal course of flowing through her body, despite her serious expression. Allowing herself a fleeting grin, she patiently awaited the other fox on the team, the older red named Silverwind who was her CO, officer, whatever. She hadn't really checked yet. [i]I had been... busy. With important matters. Yes, that's it.[/i] She mentally excused herself as she excitedly awaited the briefing.

Amazingly, she had shifted emotions in about five minutes. Welcome to the normal life of Raisa Yurievna Biryukova.