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The early evening has always been a peculiar time for Sierpinski. It's late enough that most shifts have finished, but it's still too early for the canteen to serve dinner. For Jäger, she's just clocked off her late afternoon shift and is stuck in an awkward limbo. She's on break, but a break just too short to be spent doing anything useful or at the very least fun.
Life on Leng has been increasingly hectic since Sierpinski’s glorious Commander fell ill. Never mind the wave of sick Replikas that soon followed their bedridden leader. Despite her more than positive reputation, renowned for her laid-back and outgoing personality, Jäger was no more immune to stress than any other Replika.
Typically, she'd blow off some steam at the shooting range. A trembling finger grazing the trigger of her beloved Einhorn, firing copper-jacketed lead symbolic of alleviating her worries. But life has been anything but typical as of late and Jäger hasn't had the time to pour her anxieties into paper targets. Instead, she has become reliant on an old traditional Gestalt stress reliever.
Smoking.
Technically, cigarettes and other tobacco-related products are considered contraband within the facility. A Gestalt's poorly hidden stash getting found and swiftly confiscated by the Controller units is but a common occurrence. However, Sierpinski has always followed a “rules for thee, not for me” principle. Replikas were greatly favoured over Gestalts.
Besides the Nation's clear bias, Jäger can’t help but think that the no-smoking rule is partly due to how fragile Gestalts are.
Their health deteriorates so quickly.
Their lungs are hard to replace.
They get addicted too fast.
Do you know how much productivity is lost when Gestalts take constant smoke breaks?
The Star unit ruminates as she makes her way across the north hallway of the seventh floor with long calculated strides. So lost in thought, she almost misses the Eule unit scampering past her. It takes a moment for her memory processor to kick in and recognise EULR-S2307.
“Evening, Juli.”
Jäger greets with a small wave as the data finally loads. She's aware that her iconic carbon fibre mask covers the lower half of her face and opts to smile with a crinkle of her eyes instead.
The Eule looks stressed and the Star’s presence only seems to fluster her more. She fiddles with the loose straps of her apron.
“J-Jäger! Good evening!”
She offers a swift half-bow to the taller woman before scurrying even faster down the hallway.
Jäger lets out a brief resounding chuckle as she moves forward and glides her hand across the door sensor. The familiar sound of hydraulic pressure valves hissing air fills her ears as the thick metal door opens with a startling clunk. Her optical lenses quickly adjust to the darkness outside, revealing a tall figure leaning back against the concrete balcony.
A white-armoured chest plate.
A grumpy expression.
Taller than a Star unit.
Eyes black-blue-red, identical to her own, staring straight back at her.
Jäger feels the oxidant in her synthetic veins burn with a twisted excitement as she recognises that scornful look.
“Storch Sieben.”
A low purr of amusement rumbles in her throat as her gaze focuses on the features of the other woman's face. More importantly, the lit cigarette hanging between her frowning lips.
“Looks like we had the same idea, hm?”
Jäger holds up her own box, giving it a shake for good measure.
“... Fuck's sake.”
Sieben all but groans in response to the intruding presence of her most insufferable subordinate.
“Have you seriously got nothing better to do? No other places to be?”
“Nope, I'm on break. You of all people should know that considering that you're the one picking all my shitty shifts.”
The Star unit steps closer, the sound of her hoof-like feet echoing around the massive hole boring into the depths of Leng. She clips her mask off just as she reaches the low concrete wall beside Sieben. Sliding the apparatus onto her tool belt, she pops open the cardboard lid of the little cigarette box with her newly vacant hand. Precariously, she slides a cigarette out between her fingers and transfers the filter end to her grin.
“Light me up, would you?”
Jäger motions to the cigarette balanced between her lips. Sieben grunts with a dramatic roll of her eyes, hands moving to the storage pouch of her toolbelt.
“I've just put my lighter away-”
“You don't need a lighter, moron.”
Jäger snickers as Sieben abruptly stops in her tracks and jerks her head to glare daggers at the other woman. However, before she can spit some verbal threat, firm hands grasp her broad shoulders and swivel her entire body face-to-face with the Star unit. Jäger leans up, stretching artificial muscles to their absolute limit in an effort to close the seven-inch gap between them.
“What are you-”
Sieben splutters, trying to throw her head back like a spooked horse. But Jäger’s hands move quicker and shift from her shoulders to her cheeks. She tugs Sieben's face down and closer, trapping the other woman mere centimetres away. Meanwhile, Jäger tilts her chin back and purses her lips to manoeuvre the very tip of her cigarette against Sieben's lit one.
The Star unit does not look away the entire time. She doesn’t even bother to check if her cigarette is igniting, too distracted by the feeling of her factory-produced heart thundering within its titanium cage. The sight of the bumbling bafflement within Sieben’s wide eyes only amplified the thrill of teasing her.
She drags the moment out for as long as possible, a good thirty seconds before she finally pulls away. She can barely contain the wicked grin tugging at her lips so she takes a long drag of her cigarette to hopefully hide it.
More machine than human, more human than machine. Replikas are a perfect yet terrifying blend of biology and technology, built to be a loyal flock serving the Nation with nothing but holy devotion. So surely, AEON never intended to allow Replikas to be able to experience such human pleasures as drugs. It must be some sort of bizarre biomechanical loophole within the manufacturing process.
Jäger feels the lulling but pleasurable buzz as nicotine enters her manufactured lungs and synthetic epinephrine is released into her wire-like veins. She holds her breath for a moment before releasing the smoke out the side of her mouth, gloomy wisps rising into the freezing night-time atmosphere of Leng.
“Thanks.”
Sieben responds by grumbling something under her breath, no doubt an insult, as she turns away from the Star. This puts some much-needed distance between the two, allowing the Storch to take some quick puffs of her own cigarette; No doubt in an attempt to hasten its smouldering demise.
Jäger does not speak another word. She lets the silence hang in the air so that her taller companion can feel the weight of their inappropriately intimate moment hanging over her. At least two minutes pass before Sieben can gather the courage to challenge her.
“... You’re a total pain in my ass.”
“Lucky me.”
A few more stiff seconds of silence as Sieben huffs a frustrated exhale out of her nose.
“You should at least return the favour.”
She turns to face Jäger, of her own volition this time.
“You're gonna have another one?”
The Star unit raises an eyebrow, surprised that Sieben wants to light a second cigarette. She'd assumed the Storch would flee the balcony as soon as the opportunity arose.
“No.”
Sieben spits before quickly grabbing Jäger's face with one of her strong hands, squeezing the sides of her jaw with a vice-like grip. The Star grinds her teeth in pain with a weak whine as her eyes meet the identical pair staring back at her. She can see deep into black-blue-red, watching how her power-fuelled ego flares in real-time.
Jäger can't help but wonder what her own eyes look like right now. She wonders if they look as wide and bewildered as Sieben's did just a few mere moments ago.
The Storch uses her free hand to remove the shrivelled cigarette from her own pursed lips. She swiftly moves it into Jäger's mouth, pushing the lit end into the rough centre of that sharp, witty tongue she knows all too well.
The Star unit makes an unusual sound from deep in her throat, unable to scream as her tongue is forced further and further into the back of her dry mouth. All those thousands of lab-grown taste buds being incinerated by tobacco embers sent frantic electrical pulses of pain throughout Jäger's entire head. Her hands jerked to Sieben's burnished collarbone but she made no effort to push her away.
She couldn't even be bothered to fight the equally hot sensation pooling deep within her metallic abdomen; the feeling of raw, burning desire. It's a desire so human, transcendent to her very being, that it should be entirely impossible for a Replika to experience. Indulging in a prohibited cigarette or two for a measly nicotine rush is nothing compared to the monumental sin of lust.
Jäger’s throaty whine transforms into a long, trembling moan as she gives in. It's a pathetic, mewling sound that is completely unbefitting of a Star unit.
This seemed to satisfy Sieben, or perhaps her cigarette had finally extinguished, as she removed it from Jäger's mouth and let it fall to the ground uselessly.
“Now we're even.”
Sieben smirks with a haughty puff of her chest, stepping back from the whimpering woman before her. She turns sharply on her heels and heads for the large, octagonal door leading back inside the facility. However, she stops for a second to tilt her head back and quip at her subordinate.
“I expect you to be on time for your night shift later, got it?”
Jäger watches the Storch unit return through the door, her heart still jackhammering at a million miles per hour. It takes her too long to finally tear her gaze off the door and down to the cigarette between her fingers.
She watches the embers flicker for a second before tossing it to the floor, spitting oxidant and stamping it out with an intoxicated smile on her face.
─────────
“You okay, Jäger?”
A large group of Starlings gathered together at one of the flimsy tables in the canteen. It is a daily occurrence within Sierpinski which hasn’t changed even with how out of routine life has become for them all. But, it's the Star unit sitting directly opposite Jäger that speaks up out of the series of simultaneous conversations.
“Hm…?”
Jäger looks up from the aluminium tray containing her dinner, a heaped array of various unappealing rations.
“You've been making an odd face this whole time. I can't remember the last time you were so quiet!”
Accidentally proving her point, Jäger swallowed the half-chewed food in her mouth with a grimace as it slid across her wounded tongue and down her throat. Now free to speak, she responds properly.
“...You wanna know the truth?”
Jäger leans over the table, a conspiratorial smirk growing on her face. The other Star’s eyes widened and she quickly nodded with enthusiasm. There’s silence as Jäger flickers her gaze from side to side as if she were making sure nobody was listening.
“I burnt my tongue trying to drink some of the Kolibri's crappy tea.”
