Irikumu Tsukisan

New Game

It was a calm day. The artificial winds outside the station were nice, but unknown to the young woman. Newly nineteen, her eyes were focused on the headset that kept haunting her daily work. She could almost hear her father's heavy footsteps pacing just outside her door. He was restless, as always. It's not that she didn't get it. In all her years, he was likely the only one she did understand. A gift from her mother, whom she was told had been just as socially awkward. She pushed the swept curve of her bangs behind her ear, tucking the light blue dyed streak behind it and into the nest of black. The headset was a symbol of everything that was childish about her. It was confusing however, because after a person becomes an adult you're supposed to put away such childish things. She was damn near there. That is what she gathered from the pacing that seemed farther away now, yet only in her mind. Then she was wondering why her mother pushed it on her.

She spun it as a way for Makenzie to drink in the courage needed to interact with people, but she never wanted that. The child of the ever famous Doyle. Even within her science lab, her very own safe space, she was refered to as a small piece of him. Reese Doyle. Quite a few people called her pieces, referring to a distant candy buried in the history of the human race. A muffled voice boomed behind the door, forcing her to flinch, but her eyes never fully wavered from the chrome of the headset. It wasn't as if she'd never played a game before, or even one like this. She was quite fond of them, the fear in her gut at this moment was her staring at the headset with the knowledge that her mother forbid her to play a game of a rating this high before. Her big eyes had tears clinging to the bottom of them, as her mind replayed the fight from earlier in her life.

A pilot. She wanted to join and pilot a Mech, just like her father did. He was worried, visibly, nearly forbidding her. The memory of her as a small child swirled, the disappointment splashed on her face. She wanted only to be a hero and to be accepted, just like him. Her inability to say the right thing to people even as a small child forced a burden on her that she understood quite well. She was alone, no other child really wanted to be with her, so she dove into books, then games, then advanced technology. Sure, it wasn't always horrible times. She had her mother, who taught her in her own lab, her father who loved her in his own way and a few of their colleagues. She was also allowed to move forward with simulations, at least feeling close to a pilot that way. By far her favorite person was a kind, stocky man with a big heart for the little girl. They were so close she called him Uncle Hark. He was also a busy man himself so the days where they had tea parties and he taught her lessons about frames were short and sweet. Loneliness, a constant companion forced her to do something her mother thought so unexpected.

Artificial Intelligence, books and data pads of information spread across the dinner table. She read as much as she could. They were not just machines, but born into this world a new sense of self could come into being as long as someone willed it. She was strong of will, and born herself a companion late in life. Her father would have rather she found a nice man and made a family, but the girl was too impatient for that and he was too traditional. She also knew she lacked the social skills to pull that off. It was a dream he had where she would find anything resembling a human connection. So she simply made one.

"Makenzie." The voice was shrill, pulling her out of the dream like state she was in. "Your father has finally moved away from the door." The cold voice was just stating a fact, but she offered the disembodied voice a soft smile. "Ah. A smile."

"Of course, Woodseth. How could I not? I'm in my room, with you and I have some time to myself. Work has been hectic lately. And then there is..."

"Your father." He answered her, the woman just simply nodded. "He will understand one day."

"Yeah... Mom says that too." She smiled brighter, standing up from her bed and walking to the headset. "Since we're done with work for a while, why don't you go have fun?"