tugg…tugg…fwmp…
"I thought there'd be more stuff but all we did was the bathroom, the bed and the kitchen...that is the kitchen right?"
Ikade spoke up, glancing to her right where Sienna was stocking what barely qualified for a kitchenette. It was cramped with no windows in sight—just the fissures in the ceiling letting in a thin wash of light, while the front door did the rest.
"Yeah, well…I mean. It should work, right? There's enough space to cook…right?"
Sienna finished by filling the small cabinet near the entrance with spices, then nudged it shut. Turning around, she faced the two-burner stove wedged beside the sink.
"But…it's an electric stove, though. I mean, we have one at home, but we don't use it at all."
"I do—you're just never around when I use it." Ikade muttered, then glanced around again. "Anyway…there's no window."
At her complaint, the two squeezed into the bedroom.
"The kiosk made this look way bigger, but it's really just a studio." Ikade said, reaching up. "I can almost touch the ceiling."
thmp!
Sienna bounced onto the bed, crouching just enough to bang her head against the ceiling before flopping onto her side the next second, staring at the softly colored walls and the midnight-bronze metal support beams above.
"It's not...that bad...we've had worse in Columbia." She forced out, rubbing the spot she hit. "At least that one had a bedroom."
"Ha-ha, very funny." Ikade rolled her eyes. "Did you forget I'm the one who forced you to buy an actual apartment? Mhm?"
"Cough."
Sienna snapped her fingers and a handful of miniature windows popped open, letting the noise from the deck spill in and swallow their voices.
With another snap, the wider main blast window lifted and sealed into place with a click, followed by three smaller ones locking in around it.
"Is that really all the 'windows'?"
Sienna lifted her wrist and flicked through her recent messages.
"Lemme see…mhmm…oh, there's one on the ceiling."
She climbed onto the bed, looked around for a second, then found two bright blue levers tucked near the top. With one quick pull down.
thmp.
The padding overhead dropped away and a rectangle of white light spilled in through the ceiling window, sharp like a blade.
The bedroom, so to speak, was cramped. A projector screen sat tucked in front of the bed on the far-end wall, with a few bits of decor plastered across the recessed parts of it.
After messing around a little more, they wandered to the bathroom.
Pretty normal, all things considered.
Sliding the door to the left, the john sat on the far left, the sink on the right, and the shower tucked behind both, pressed against the wall separating them from the outside.
"There's no water! We can't shower! What do we do?!" Ikade giggled, twisting the sink faucet, only for nothing to come out. "Welp… guess we'll just dehydrate."
Ikade then flicked a switch on the back wall beside the sink and the small extraction fan hummed to life. A second switch followed and the LED ring around the mirror lit up.
"Well, I guess we need to buy water too then."
Ping!
The two glanced at each other before pulling up their devices.
Tap tap...tap tap tap.
"Oh wow… time really flew by." Ikade squinted at the message. "Mhmm, ramps'll start lowering soon, so…'get in queue if you're planning to get off-board.'"
"Should we get in line? We'll be stuck here until they fix it, right?" She asked, sliding a small basket under the sink.
"We can push it until tomorrow." Sienna shrugged, flicking at the air and ordering water and fuel for the vehicle. "Besides, there's too many people and where would we even go? It goes on forever unless you actually know what's out there."
"C'mon, lets go to the cabin, we gotta fix it up."
In no time, they were already out of the quarters. Sienna pulled the gate shut, locked it, then closed the door behind them.
Hand in hand, they stepped down the staircase, then turned back and lifted it together, latching it into place and securing it so it would not fall.
A few short steps later, they reached the lift on the driver's side. Sienna pressed a button after a quick search and it whirred down, the sound of machinery filling their ears until it finally bottomed out.
With a nod, they stepped on and she pressed the button again.
The higher they rose, the darker the cabin became.
Dung.
Tap.
Ikade's phone light cut through the dim space and what greeted them was a cold room of metal.
They stepped off, moving around the table bolted slightly off-center from the lift and the stairs, looking around with quiet curiosity.
"Ohh~ A couch!"
Ikade veered toward the workstation, peeling off the plastic cover and dropping onto the red couch. To her right sat a row of lockers. An L-shaped desk hugged the wall to her left, with a sink tucked off to the side.
"It's literally a square room with a box in the corner." Sienna muttered before she glanced at Ikade. "Oh—and I didn't buy that couch, so."
After a bit of stumbling around in the dark, she found the switch. A soft click and warm light bloomed across the cabin, finally revealing the room in full.
"It's…not as bad as I thought it'd be."
"Brr…is there a heater at all? Like, in the bedroom? Anything?" Sienna paused and flicked her finger towards Ikade, a second later, the room began to lightly warm up.
"I'll take that as a no."
Ikade's ears twitched.
Not long after, the two settled onto the couch, chatting idly while Ikade searched for a pair of small heaters.
A couple taps later—after comparing prices and reading through descriptions, she found the ones she wanted and paid without any trouble. She passed the order over to Sienna, who punched in the address.
With that handled, they spent the next fifteen minutes doing absolutely nothing.
"There's not much stuff left so we can just bring them here and do the rest tomorrow."
Their bickering carried them out of the cabin and back toward the rear of the vehicle where the rest of their things waited. Time blurred again into a single mass, hauling whatever was left piece by piece, filling the empty cabin until it looked like newly moved in home.
"How the hell do you turn this on…? Of course there's no manual—ah. Never mind. Found it."
Already in the driver's seat, Sienna flipped through the thin owner's manual, kicking lightly at the footrest while the seat stayed suspended on its straps.
"What're you doin'?"
Ikade's breath tickled her ear. Sienna shook her head, mildly annoyed by the mischievous cat.
"I'm trying to find the start button."
A finger slid across her face and she followed where it pointed. Hesitantly, she reached out and grabbed hold of a metal mover, pulling it toward her until a cluster of buttons revealed itself behind it.
Sienna rubbed her nose and coughed a bit before holding down the button with a S on it.
WHRRR—CHUG—CHUG—VRRRM…
The engine roared to life and the straps suspending the driver seat began to vibrate lightly, the cabin beginning to be filled with a constant, heavy noise.
"I think we need earpro!"
ade nodded despite looking confused, her fluffy ears flattening as she cupped them before retreating toward the couch. Sienna, on the other hand, skimmed through the manual before setting it to high idle for a minute or two.
Looking up, she read over the information on the three monitors above, then returned to the manual and slowly got used to the rules.
Once she felt ready, she stood and looked past the windshield, making sure no one was in sight. Then she killed the high idle, her eyes flicking to the air pressure building across the brakes.
Each brake had its own gauge. One for each of the ten tires.
Sienna pressed the brake, tapped the D button a second later, and felt the vehicle jerk into gear. Letting off slowly, it lurched forward—then she hit the brake a little too hard.
These brakes are so sensitive.
Gently, she eased off again and maneuvered the vehicle back and forth, turning the wheel to get a feel for it. The whole thing lasted fifteen minutes.
After a while, she set the vehicle in park and shut it off, the engine no longer mumbling beneath them.
Sienna stood from the seat and stretched her arms before turning to climb the short flight of stairs.
Ikade, however, was still scrolling through her phone.
"We've spent enough time here, don't you think?"
"Mhmm? What'd you say?" Ikade lowered her phone and blinked up at her.
"Tch…c'mon. Let's go eat."
Sienna leaned in and grabbed her by the idle tail, yanking just enough to pull her up upright.
"Hey—don't grab my tail!"
Ikade stumbled backward, complaining the whole way.
A few blinks later, they were already riding the lift up, then slipping through the corridors together, ignoring the chatter and foot traffic around them.
And not long after that, they were home.
The two set their plates down on the small kitchen table in their dorm. The smell of food filled the room, the sizzle settling into the background while pans shifted and clinked. Outside, the scenery bled from a golden hue into a subtle pink.
clink-clink...
Food for the spirit.
Once everything was ready, they took their seats and said their blessings.
Bite by bite, the meal vanished into their stomachs. Their drinks washed it down, pulling a blanket of heaviness over them while the television played some random broadcast to fill the time.
Sienna sank into the couch again, stretching one leg out with a slipper hanging halfway off her foot. Ikade curled up beside her, her head resting on Sienna's lap, scrolling through her playlist with that same lazy focus she always had after eating.
At some point, Sienna snapped her fingers. Cups and plates lifted one by one, the sponge following along to perform its little act. Eventually, everything settled neatly into the rack to dry.
The broadcast changed twice, then again, its voices blending into a low hum before skipping forward into the darkening hours, the once-sunny movie fading into something gloomy and full of soft pattering sound.
Just like outside.
suu...suu...
Soft snoring.
A feline's tune weaving through the air and into her ears. A gentle breeze slipped in from outside, brushing her face with a quiet whistle, almost like its own song. One arm propped up her head while her hair danced with every small draft.
Her eyes reflected the many lights above, past the soft clouds, as numerous as her thoughts.
How long had she been there? No one but her knew.
Sienna lifted her other arm and turned her palm inward, watching the raindrops slide down her wrist and scatter off the small protrusions.
Again.
Once for every thought that crossed her mind.
"...can't...sleep?"
Ikade's voice came out half-muffled, still heavy with drowsiness.
step...
step.
She turned around and saw Ikade standing by the corner, a blanket around her body before nodding her head. Ikade shifted closer on the couch, wrapping herself tighter into the blanket until only her ears and the tip of her nose showed.
"It was supposed to be relaxing." She muttered at last. "Not…this."
Ikade hummed, rubbing her cheek into the blanket.
"Do you not like it? We're almost there, aren't we? The first stop was that small city, right?" She blinked slowly, then nudged her forehead into Sienna's side.
"We could try exploring outside with like a small group or something. Visit a few places here and there, eat their food and record the time…we're gonna be waiting a while anyway."
"Huh. You make it sound easy."
"It literally is easy." Ikade said, far too confidently for someone wrapped like a burrito. "We bring stuff, don't do anything dumb, and we return before it gets dark. Buumu. Adventure."
Her hands stayed raised in the air before yawning.
"Oh wow. Aren't you trying to sell this?" Sienna side-eyed her. "What's the catch?"
"Uhhh...nothing? We come back." She said. "We're not stranded out there. We literally have a giant metal box to run back to."
Just…two weeks." She held up two fingers, then immediately wiggled them like it was a magic spell. "Two weeks. We can make some fun memories and enjoy our time out there."
"I don't know about you but two months is a long time. I don't wanna sit in a metal box the whole time."
A cheeky glint flashed in her eyes before she raised her hands like claws.
"I might just starting biting into you, grr."
"Hheh, its not like we're gunna be dragged into a battle."
Sienna rolled her eyes at the feline before speaking up.
"Wow. Listen to you—such an expert. We'll see what this oh-so-glorious adventure of yours offers then."
A sparkle lit behind Ikade's eyes before she followed Sienna into the bedroom, bickering the whole way—proudly declaring that she had won over the King of Sárkano, Sienna.
A handful of minutes passed, and the two moved through their nightly routine on autopilot before finally climbing into bed.
Sienna spooned Ikade with a tired huff, the blanket swallowing them whole while her fingers lazily played with the feline's ears, then slower, deeper—until even that faded with the rest of the room.
In the darkness, one could hear the spooned woman purr herself to sleep.
The hours slipped by in silence, the vessel cradling them through the night like a rocker.
She slowly lifted her head out from under the blanket, blinking into the pale morning light with furrowed brows.
Without much thought, she reached for her loudly ringing bracelet, missed, and smacked her hand against the nightstand—which, luckily for her, seemed to quiet it mercifully.
Fuu...even the water got more expensive. Fuel too, but...at least we got them, right? Everything should be packed anyway.
Sienna climbed out of bed and folded her blanket before heading for the bathroom to take one last shower aboard the vessel, among other things. When she finished, she returned to the bedroom, where Ikade was already brushing out her hair.
They talked while they changed, packing a couple of bags with extra outfits and hygiene supplies. Nothing fancy—just making sure they had enough and that nothing in the dorm would spoil while they were gone.
Once everything was set, they locked up and headed out, following the corridors toward the nearest cafeteria.
Loudness.
More than that, it was bustling—voices stacked over voices, footsteps scraping past, trays clattering against one another, the air heavy with heat and the smell of food.
The two complained under their breath and joined the line anyway, inching forward with the crowd until they finally got their trays.
They filled their plates with whatever looked decent and whatever did not look like it would betray them halfway through chewing, then drifted toward an empty table someone had just wiped down.
Sitting, they ate without ceremony.
Once they were done, they left their trays behind for a worker to collect. Sienna pulled up her map, searching for an office while her bag weighed on her shoulders.
After punching in the address, the staircases and corridors around them seemed to shift frame by frame—tightening, widening, then swelling again. Before long, they found it.
A small office packed wall to wall with people.
"Ah…it's packed even today. On the second day, no less."
They grabbed a ticket, then took their seat, watching the numbers crawl forward.
「Ping! Number XXX.」
Eventually, they sat across from a worker behind glass, asking for a pass and got handed a stack of papers before Sienna leaned in to sign them.
Then.
She was already in the vehicle, tossing her bag to the side and pulling off her jacket.
"That took forever… I seriously thought there'd be less people."
Not hearing a response, she glanced over her left shoulder and spotted Ikade setting up the computer, her mouth slightly agape, earpro covering her ears. Two buds sat tucked into the fluffy ears atop her head.
With a shake of her head, Sienna held the start button down until the engine cranked to life, a whistle passing through the cabin.
WHRRR—CHUG—CHUG—VRRRM…
After putting it in high idle, Sienna got out of the seat and headed up the cabin stairs, stepping outside the vehicle and moving to the side storage compartment, pulling its handle downward.
The cover slid up. She scanned the maintenance tools, nodded once, and did one last walk around the truck,
making sure the lights worked right up until a worker appeared.
Thnk!
Sienna shut the door behind her and climbed back up the stairs, took a right, then headed down into the pit, taking a seat and clicking in her seatbelt. She grabbed her own earpro and set the headband in front of her tufts.
tap.
The engine's mumbling vanished instantly, and a smile popped onto her face.
Once the air pressure stabilized, she killed the high idle, kept one foot on the brake, and shifted it into gear, feeling the familiar jerk.
The heavy vehicle rolled forward when the guide in front of her signaled. She glanced at the side mirrors, watching them shift just enough to widen her field of view.
"Hhh! its too damn wide, I feel like I'm gunna hit something."
Sienna lifted her head and inched forward, slow and careful. A few turns later, she found herself queued behind a line of normal-sized vehicles, all packed to the brim with supplies.
While she waited, she reached for her bookbag and pulled out her camera.
After fumbling with it for a moment, she found a way to mount it to the ceiling. She switched it on and hit record.
A harsh white glare flooded her vision all at once.
For a second, she couldn't see anything but washed-out light and her own reflection in the glass. Then, bit by bit, the glare faded away.
A clean, stomach-twisting fall in elevation that made her heart tighten.
The ramp stretched down toward the ground below, held by thick cables that looked far too thin from the height. The metal groaned faintly under the weight of vehicles ahead.
Sienna's fingers curled tighter around the wheel, a shiver running down her back.