aya content, this is mostly wip
“Oh,” says Cyanopica, before her eyes trail down to… Tangent’s sleeves? No, not the sleeves, the blood on them-- “Oh no--”
The realization of exactly what the smell is hits Tangent right as Cyanopica turns and vomits for what must be the second time into the gutters. Disgusting. Tangent breathes shallow and slow, head tilting away so she doesn’t have to see the way each retch leaves Cyanopica’s body shuddering.
Eventually, the noises die down. “Sorry,” comes Cyanopica’s voice, completely miserable; when Tangent turns back to face her, she’s wiping her mouth with an oversized sleeve. “I… I’m not good with blood.”
Tangent pauses. “...Aren’t you training to become a doctor?”
“I mean, that’s what Engineer Nina wants.” Cyanopica slumps deeper into her coat, as if she could fold herself up in it and fully disappear. “I dunno, I tested into the science track back on the Helio, right? But they had enough people doing farming stuff, so I got shafted into medical, and….”
She shrugs. Despite herself Tangent is interested: “You didn’t get a choice?”
“Nah.” Cyanopica scuffs her toe in the dirt. “Like, you know, we weren’t sure what was gonna be on the other side of the wormhole, or if you guys were gonna, I dunno, try to cult-murder us or whatever, right? So we had mostly soldiers, and then everyone who wasn’t a soldier got pushed into basically whatever roles we needed to fill, and we had enough farmers already, so….”
Cult murder. Having seen the way these people treat Instance, Tangent can’t say she’s entirely opposed to the idea. Something about her reaction to that phrasing must be obvious, though, as Cyanopica somehow manages to fold herself up even smaller. “Sorry,” she says again. “I don’t think that anymore. And, um….”
A pause. Tangent refuses to make it easier for her; she waits, arms crossed, for Cyanopica to finish. “Sorry about how Engineer Nina acts. With the Chief Engineer, I mean.”
It takes more willpower than expected for Tangent to keep herself from reacting. “Like, earlier, with the whole….” Cyanopica waves her hand, nose scrunching up. “Saying that doctor stuff was the best thing she could do or whatever. It was dumb. Sorry.”
“...You aren’t the one who said it.”
Again, a shrug. “Yeah, but…. She’s not gonna apologize. So….”
Cyanopica’s still staring down at the dirt, at the scuff marks her shoes have left. There’s bags under her eyes and a little fleck of something Tangent doesn’t want to identify by the corner of her mouth. Her front is still splattered with blood.
