🐺 ~PROJECT SAC-1~ ⚔️

Chapter 37 - Life's Full Of Surprises 🎁

(DAY 154 w/ THE BAD BATCH)

Never wanting to waste a moment in the day, Talla was an early riser. In between missions, 7 o'clock sharp was when she woke up no matter how late she stayed up the night before, UNLESS she'd gotten a little tipsy at 79's or had her period. With a slew of awful symptoms debilitating her, only then did she sleep in and let the day pass her by.

With Shaeeah running her ragged the day before, it was noon before Talla woke up today, and not naturally, no she definitely needed more sleep, but an insistent poking on her face prevented that. Face scrunching, her heavy eyelids slowly creaked opened.

A set of wide, bright pink eyes was the first thing Talla saw that morning. "Yay, you're awake!" The girl lying next to her cheered, and flipping over she used the tiny control panel to flick on the room lights.

Even facing away from the room Talla's tired eyes felt like they were looking into the blinding sun. She rolled face down and groaned into her pillow. 'How the kriff did she get in here?'

Shaeeah was not deterred, flopping back down next to Talla. "I've been trying to wake you up for like - well - FOREVER!"

Maybe Talla should've ferally hissed, made the girl think she was indeed an exotic, dangerous creature she should fear. In her groggy state Talla recalled her brainiac friend saying children tend to exaggerate, so she figured it wasn't FOREVER. Was strange though, the trouble Shaeeah apparently had because any little out of place noise could awaken someone as hearing sensitive as Talla. 'Dang, I must've been more exhausted than I thought.'

When Talla did not stir an inch at Shaeeah's declaration of impatience, the insistent poking resumed, this time on the back of her unruly head. "It's time to wake up, sleepyhead!" Shaeeah said with evident hilarity.

"Nooooooo..." Was Talla's muffled whine.

"C'mon, it's already lunchtime!"

'Well... dang. New record.' One she didn't wanna break in the first place. With great effort she pushed her sore upper body off the mattress-

- Only to blindly reach for the control panel, punch off the lights and flop back down. The bunk was more rock-like compared to her pillow-topped mattress but right now it felt like ✨heaven✨ and so did her fluffy pillow and blankets.

The little demon scrambled over her, and Talla grunted and spasmed when bony knees jabbed her back, the distinct sound of several bones popping not a very desirable wake-up alarm. Then two small hands grabbed her ankle and start heaving her towards the bunk ladder with strength she didn't know a child could possess. "C'mon!" Shaeeah pulled with all the strength probably granted by the laborious farm work. "C'mon!" AlarminglyTalla found herself slipping off the bed, pitifully grumbled 'No' over and over again, and held fast to the slippery sheets.

Apparently being a quick thinker, Shaeeah switched tactics.

The pause in yanking gave Talla the hope she'd given up, and she sank back into the mattress with a grateful sigh, only for the throw blanket she'd used as a barrier between her and sandpaper sheets to be given a full-fledged tug from the side. She easily slid and, "OOF!" Face planted onto the soft rug next to the bunks. It seemed she was not going to escape getting up for the day. Groaning dramatically, Talla heaved herself over, planted her elbows on the floor to raise herself up, and dazedly beheld grinning Shaeeah, who was way too cheerful in the morning.

Talla would swear on the graves of all the fallen soldiers in this galactic war that she was getting paid back for everything she put Crosshair through.

"Let's go!" Shaeeah grabbed Talla's arm and hauled her to her feet, dragging her out of the room before the woman had a chance to look in the mirror. "I got her up!" Shaeeah announced to the public, Talla rubbing a fist over her droopy eyelids, trying to wake them up but only smearing her wasted makeup efforts from the day before.