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[indent][indent][indent][right][sub][code]Smith's Rest, New Anchorage[/code] | [code]Facility Exterior 🠒 Facility Entrance[/code][/sub][/right][hr]
[color=F7941D]“You say a lot for a suit.”[/color] Ryn commented, her hands still buried in the pockets of her coat. [color=F7941D]“Hope you're telling the truth.”[/color]

The comment was strong from the fire-haired fourteen-year-old, but it was a sentiment that many of the group of pilots likely shared. Commander Graham was struggling with being overly stern and welcoming, it was clearly a struggle for him to be the voice of New Anchorage no matter how much he tried. The young teenager obviously saw the cracks in his platitudes so anyone older and more perceptive would’ve seen it more easily. The red-haired couldn’t have known Graham’s dance between strict company man and voice of the people in Smith’s Rest was a way to gauge reactions, though. If there was anything the Midwestern pilot was bad at, reading people was on the top of the list.

She took a light breath as Graham ignored the retort, though her eyes caught that two other pilots were in hushed conversation. 

One particular person caught her eye in the crowd, as he had done earlier. For one reason or another she decided to push her shoulders forward into his body as she moved forward at a quickened pace in an attempt to catch the front of the line. There was a reason for it, but only two people in the crowd knew why. A few pilots shot a glance toward the scene, though they probably wrote it off as the case of an impatient child rather than intentional malice.

[i]How wrong they were.[/i]

Soon enough, Graham led them into the main facility, the large metal doors seeming like something of a fantasy for Ryn. She had spent so much time outside in the snow and mud, sleeping underneath her NC outside of various settlements in the northern wastes rather than any sort of hangar or facility. She had only been to a megacity twice in her life and both times had been so long ago she barely remembered it. The fourteen-year-old thought back, feeling as if four years ago felt like a decade. Her eyes looked around the corridors, curious yet annoyed. If she passed the physical and whatever else Graham wanted to administer, was this going to be her home for long? Could she finally find a feeling of family here? She mulled over the thought as she twiddled her thumbs in her pockets. 

The last time she had thought she had found a new family they had abandoned her as soon as it became inconvenient. This was just a job. She had to remind herself of that. Seeing old faces didn’t help ease her anxieties.

[color=556B2F]“The process going forward will not be like other jobs in the past for you.”[/color]

Ryn’s attention snapped forward, realizing she had trailed off for a moment. Graham was beginning another branch of dialogue, another time to remind the pilots that they hadn’t actually made it. That despite flying their mechs out to Alaska, with their own credits, there would be more to the process. Ryn had figured out that much. By this point in Black Barrow she had already signed on the proverbial bottom line. 

[color=F7941D]“Mm. Yeah?”[/color]

The commander continued his march. The tour as Alan had called it.

[color=556B2F]“First of all, I need for you to get the approval of my medical staff and pass a out-of-suit exam. I'm hiring you on not as pilots, but as independent contractors for a length of three-hundred days.”[/color]

[color=8D6A64]“And we will not be reimbursed for our credits should we not pass?”[/color] Asked one of the other female pilots. 

Ryn took a look at her. She was foreign. Thick accent. She wasn't smart or worldly enough to know what kind of accent. She had spoken before in a language she didn't know. As the reality hit her, Ryn looked back toward the man who had been conversing with the one she had pushed aside to get to the front of the line. He sounded off, too. How many foreigners had New Anchorage gotten interest from? How much credits did they waste just for this opportunity? 

Ryn looked back toward Graham as he spoke again. His comment was one that made Ryn wonder what would happen next.

[color=556B2F]“Unfortunately not. New Anchorage doesn't have that kind of income. I hope it'll inspire you to succeed.”[/color]


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