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Nono had looked up at the stars many times. It captivated her deeply, when she looked at them during the night. To look at them was itself something that tugged at her heart, and did feel nice. But it affected her in this strong way, that filled her heart with something. To just look wasn’t enough, was something that felt uncomfortably inadequate.
It’s hard to describe fully. I’m not a poetic type of person. But it makes me feel a deep yearning.
She felt awe and wonder, to such intensity that they filled her heart with yearning. She'd wished to go up there. She dreamed of being out there, flying up there. Like a space ship cruising through the heavens.
Or a shooting star.
She surely had to do that, somehow, if she did anything with her life at all.
I can't. Not yet.
Yes, she was stuck. It was frustrating, very frustrating. She'd been doing her best to rush forward, to push towards her dream, but her momentum had been reduced to pretty much nothing, to wadding through days at this bar job that she sucked at. She kept holding on, in the hope that she might one day realise her dream.
And I wish I could crack whatever god is making my life like this just like these stupid delicate plates. Or something they care about. This feels mean.
That wasn't happening, and said being was something that Nono was sure would get to laugh at her for a while longer. This all sucked, her life as it was and this stupid job.
It's necessary. It's my path to getting up there one day, my only hope.
That didn't make it less crappy. It just stopped it from making her give up, from beating her down or breaking her. She was definitely unhappy, if able to be stubborn about her course. She was more unhappy as she found her time doing her work interrupted by being her being hassled, outright harassed. This, one of these guys who came to the bar as a group grabbing her up like this with one of their mechs and messing around with her, was awful. It was enraging, scary.
Stupid jerks. To think I was happy to talk to them for a moment, about what it takes to be a space pilot, but all they did was knock my hopes down. Then it turned into this.
Her life just being grinding like this, dashing her moment of hope for a chance had felt bad enough, hurt her spirits. Having a moment of optimism turn into nothing had hurt.
And now Nono was wishing she could be left to do this job of hers horribly, maybe lose even more of her wage as she did so. That felt better than this. She yelled frantically, protested desperately, struggled energetically. It was useless. Those guys just mocked her and told her to stop bothering, as much as they cared at all about what she did. She was scared, humiliated and miserable. This might be the lowest point on her life and she really hoped it wouldn't get even worse.
Why are they doing this to me? Why is everything sucking so much for me? Why? Why this? Why?
Then, her luck changed miraculously. Then was when a star appeared. Okay, something somehow as amazing as the stars. She appeared. The girl with the Buster Machine, who she would soon know as Lal'C. And as her big sis, her hero.
Well, in that moment, it was just a really cool looking girl, who stood up from her drink and moved towards the guys messing with Nono. Her scarf fluttered as she did that. Well, Nono was far more occupied with her awful, awful situation, which she desperately hoped would be less awful fast, until Lal'C struck.
It would've been very hard to not notice her them. Nono isn’t... I'm not seen as being particularly smart, I know. But I'm not blind, or deaf or whatever you’d need to be to have not noticed what happened then.
The arms of a mech appeared from behind her, from her shadow, that somehow grew much larger just before those massive metal things somehow appeared from thin air, incredibly, and struck at those guys. In an instant, with a grand dramatic smash that trashed those scummy guys and went on to shatter the ceiling, like a divine hammer or some giant rock dropped on them, it was done.
Just a flash and I was saved. I didn't think something do big could do that. But I couldn't have imagined any of what she did then.
Lal'C had smacked them down so easily.
Wow. Oh, wow.
And so Nono was wondrously saved. Saved as swiftly and abruptly as a shooting star flies across the sky. And she fell to the ground with considerably less grace and grandeur than Lal'c. That seemed to be her lot, horribly. Being clumsy or graceless. It was embarrassing, most of the time. It hurt a bit this time. At least she was saved now.
Which mattered to me a lot more.
And maybe this was luck, Nono felt as she looked up from the ground at this mysterious cool girl, maybe it was a blessing.
She's amazing. Who is she? She looks dazzling, and cool.
Nono felt awe, like looking at the starry sky. That was what looking at this girl felt like. That girl was illuminated by the bright sky now shinning in from the ripped open ceiling. Her jacket billowed like a cape. Her snowy white hair had a shine like sunlit, well, snow. Her red eyes were like cool jewels. She was dashing.
That girl turned to leave. Then that girl looked at her. It was merely a sideward glance as she departed, in a cool and aloof way. Well, she was just walking away normally. The glance probably meant nothing to her. Yet, to Nono, this moment felt like she was struck by a bolt from the heaven.
Wow. She's amazing. Beautiful. Stunning. The most startling and awe inspiring thing I've ever seen.
Nono felt like this star of a person that she had been blessed to see soar by was the most stunning sight. One even adorned by roses in her eyes.
Really. She really did seem like that to me.
And she, Lal'C, a person as majestic as a star, had shone on Nono by saving her. It was a moment of wonder, of touching upon the fantastical.
"That's a Topless".
That was part of the talk from those guys, as they processed this thing in their own way. What mattered to Nono was to have a name for what that amazing girl, what her dashing and cool hero was.
That is what she is? That wondrous girl?
That girl was soon gone, and they were all left to try and return back to some normalcy in the aftermath, yet these feelings burning in Nono’s chest, in her head, weren't fading or cooling in the slightest. It was in a different way to the panic from before, but her heart was still beating fast. Yes, Nono found herself with a new resolve and a new confidence.
I want to be like her. I want to follow her. I need to. Definitely. Absolutely.
Nono now had a very particular star to chase, to reach for. She'd grasp it. Grasp her. Maybe literally, if this girl allowed Nono to. Regardless of the specifics about that, she had to follow her. She had to be like her, with her. Whatever she could manage by trying her best. She desperately hoped it would be to be a.... Topless? Odd name. But it was what the girl apparently was, and what Nono would try to be.
I feel that sort of yearning again, so deeply, and I know what I have to do. This calls to me. She does.
Yes, so she had to chase after Lal'C, go after her. She'd do that literally, right now, immediately. She could lose that other girl forever if she didn't act. Scary. But she could run well. Yes, this just required her to act fast and resolutely, in a way she’d done before. So Nono picked herself up, dusted herself off and ran.
Please don't be too far for me to find you, big sis.