I live in the West District. There's a lot of residential zones that are used primarily by Vault Breakers and their families. My mom lived there with the Dirge family for a long time, but moved into my father's home when they got married. Right now, it's just her and I in that house.
To get to where I live, there's a short ride on the tram. It's a magnetic rail system elevated above the city that takes passengers from station to station.
Silva used an elevator to get me up to the tram while I'm still wheelchair bound. I'm not entirely used to being helped this much, but I'm really still in too much pain to walk.
Once we get on the tram, we find a comfortable place to stay for the ride. Most of the bench seating has an opening at the sides that we can get the chair to fit into. Since there's one other person on the tram before us, we find seats a bit away so as not to be a bother.
A woman with a very slender figure sits on a bench in the center of the tram. She's wearing a dark green tank top and desert camo cargo pants. It's coincidentally similar to my own outfit. I had a blank white t-shirt on, but the same pants. We both wear combat boots, too. She seems to have dozed off, hanging her head down but still comfortably leaning back in her seat. She has a vibrant green color in her hair. Like a bright lime. Must be a pain to maintain it. I'm sure the dye isn't cheap. The left side is buzzed down. The right is a little messy and had an undercut.
Best to not study her too much, though. Not trying to gawk at some random lady on the tram.
[Ymir] "You seem to be holding up great, Silva. How are you feeling after all that testing, though?"
[Silva] "Well I'm beyond exhausted. Getting you home is the last thing for me today. I'm going to head straight home and go to sleep."
[Ymir] "Isn't your mom home though? How are you gonna handle telling her about today? After all, you disappeared all day without a word."
[Silva] "You're right. I didn't think about it at all. But I'll be fine. She'll be mad, but not forever. Dad will talk her down when he comes home. Whenever that is."
[Ymir] "I wish you luck, Miss E-Ranker."
[Silva] "Ah, yes. Thank you Mr. C-Ranker."
We found ourselves saluting each other the same way. We put a flat hand up to our brow and make a stern face when speaking. That stern look breaks into a laughter.
[???] "You two aren't aware at all of how loud you laugh, are ya?"
I hear a voice from the other side of the tram. The green-haired woman is looking right at me, icy blue eyes piercing through me.
[Silva] "Oh, sorry! We didn't mean to wake you!"
Silva responds pretty quickly. I'm frozen by the stare.
Her eyes are wide open. Her irises are a vibrant violet color but the sclera is irritated and red.
[???] "I wasn't sleeping. Just waiting for my stop."
[Silva] "Oh, I see. Still, sorry for being a bother."
She lifts her arm and points a finger at me.
[???] "You. You're a C-Ranker? What corps?"
[Ymir] "Yeah, Runner corp. I just got evaluated today."
[???] "Don't fuck with me, you little shit!"
This woman now stands and takes a step in our direction.
[Ymir] "What? I'm sorry!"
[???] "Ain't a fuckin person in history who got thrown into that rank on their first day. Why the fuck would you say some dumb shit like that!?"
[Ymir] "Not a lie, miss! It's the truth!"
I throw my hands up like a surrender, but not very high. It hurts to lift them much so I just put my hands up by my cheeks in a panic.
[Silva] "Hey, back off!"
Silva shoots up from her seat and steps towards her.
[Ymir] "Whoa, hold up!"
[Silva] "No, Ymir. I have no idea who she thinks she is calling us liars and shouting at us like that. Totally out of nowhere! I don't want to put up with that!"
A cold stare shoots from Silva directly at the woman in the tram with us. Silva is like this sometimes. Usually very reserved and kind, but has a bit of a hot head when confronted by aggression.
[???] "Fuck off girl. If you really did testing, how did a skinny kid like you even make it to E? Shoulda been left at F."
[Silva] "I barely see an ounce of muscle on you, you fucking mannequin."
Silva isn't very eloquent in a fight. [You fucking mannequin] is my new favorite insult she's come up with, though.
The sound of gears whirring and shifting metal scraping begins. The woman puts her arm forward and shows us as it transforms. Half of the forearm splits. An unidentifiable set of machinery and solid black panels come out in a rush, unfolding and piecing together. It's a modular hand cannon. The size of the barrel looks like it could fire a shotgun slug. The process took roughly two seconds.
Now the barrel of a gun is pointed at Silva's head.
I can't stop my body from moving. I slip passed my cousin and stand in front of her.
The barrel is now only inches from my forehead.
I spread my arms and ignore the screaming pain of my ribs. I make sure that Silva stays behind me. This is my instinct at work.
[???] "You're quick. And with three broken ribs? Stim inside you hasn't quite patched you up yet."
[Ymir] "How do you know that?"
[???] "Augment in my eyes. Analysis toolkit. 'Mr. C-Ranker' doesn't know that?"
This whole time, everyone's bodies stay frozen still. I just talk frankly with this woman.
[Ymir] "Runner augments aren't things that civvies get to learn much about. I just enlisted today."
[???] "You really sticking with that bullshit story, then?"
[Ymir] "Yeah. Cuz I'm not lying."
She lowers the barrel of her gun. It dismantles, folds into a bunch of parts, and then goes back inside the compartment in her arm.
[???] "I'll believe it when I see it. And I bet I'm never seeing your ass again."
[Ymir] "Get ready to be disappointed."
She turns and walks away from me without a final response to my last taunt. She just goes over by the doors and waits there.
I can see the tram getting ready to pull into the station. It begins to slow in speed just a bit. That makes me lose my balance.
The pain is setting in now so I fail to hold my body in place. I fall forward, but I'm stopped.
Two arms wrap around me, one around my chest, one around my waist. Silva caught me.
[Ymir] "Ow! Thanks for that."
[Silva] "Let's get you back in your seat."
She helps me back to the chair and wheels me out of the little nook I was in.
The tram is just coming to a stop. Once the doors open, the lime-haired woman exits and hurriedly steps away to wherever she needed to go.
This is our stop too, so Silva and I leave the tram and take an elevator down to the ground level.
The station isn't super tall over in the West District so the other lady probably took the stairs to avoid us.
From here, Silva and I have about a fifteen minute walk to where I live.
[Ymir] "That lady was intense."
[Silva] "I'm worried about what's going to happen when you see her at HQ."
[Ymir] "Doubt she'll have the nerve to pull a gun on me there. Out of her arm."
[Silva] "Are you going to get stuff like that on your body?"
[Ymir] "I don't know. I haven't ever gotten to see what exactly Runner's have access to."
[Silva] "Don't lose yourself in it, okay? I want you to be more you than machine."
[Ymir] "I promise."
We talk casually while walking the rest of the way. Then we arrive.
My home is rather modest. Two stories. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms. Cheap, but comfy furnishings. My father bought it when he cleared his first Vault. The majority of homes in this neighborhood were built of a special concrete mix and rebar. The rebar frame is sturdy on its own, but the concrete had a substance engineered with Vault tech which would reduce the shock from seismic activity and made it almost entirely immune to erosion. My mom wanted it painted when she moved in since she thought the concrete color was ugly. Now it's a color like sand in the desert. I like it.
[Ymir] "You sure you don't want to stay over tonight? The guest room is still prepared from the last time you stayed over."
[Silva] "I don't want to get Auntie Del in trouble with my mom. I really should go home."
[Ymir] "Stay for dinner?"
[Silva] "I could eat."
Silva wheels me up to the door of my house.
I can't wait to give mom the news.