Some Thing Called Myself (Complete)

XX: something organized

Ch. 20: Something Organized

Before anything else, Mara went to her room to leave the briefcase and tell Kiki she would be gone on a mission. Half an hour later, standing in her squad's locker room, Mara pursed her lips to stop a grimace. The uniform she and her squad would have to wear in this mission was beyond old. She tried not to imagine how many people had sweated in them for the marks in its armpits to be this yellow.

She failed.

Mara shrugged and said, "We can always take a shower or three after the mission, right?"

Godo let out a small laugh, but Mirtes didn't seem very interested in her jokes. Tai came out of the small changing room in the corner, and Mirtes walked towards it, uniform in hand. On her way to the narrow door, she stopped at Mara's side and angled her face down.

"Mara?" Mirtes hid her eyes behind her bangs and whispered, "I really need you to be extra, extra careful in this mission. Can you do this for me?"

Bernardo's voice came muffled from the corridor. Mara sharpened her hearing. "...Refuse to accept this! We're talking about a mermaid, Dad. She's not ready to—"

"Oi, keep your voice down. And have a little trust in her, son. You know she needs to be present in your missions; the least you can do is make sure—"

"Earth to Mara," Mirtes said, way too loud.

"I...sorry." Mara narrowed her eyes and waited for her ears to stop ringing. "Sure, Mirtes. I will."

With a nod, Mirtes stepped around her and disappeared inside the changing room, dragging Mara's gaze with her. At her back, a shirtless Godo tried to fasten the many buckles in his pants. Outside the room, Bernardo still complained to his father. Inside it, Tai shoved their clothes into locker number one.

Tension had spread fast in the past minutes, eating away any conversation they could share. No wonder.

Mara glanced at the equipment the quartermaster had issued for this mission. She had seen better sets in the narrow drawer where her cousin kept her RPG miniature figures.

She sighed and took the pocket knife, two meters of tangled rope, metro tickets, and the first-aid kit. Mara peeked over her shoulder and copied the way Tai spread everything in the hooks and pockets of their uniform.

"We couldn't fight my own self-deprecation with this garbage."

"Mara is right; this is not very good," Godo said in a warm voice. Mirtes left the changing room, so Godo directed the question at her. "Why are we being sent to this one? I thought only seniors got sent to missions with mermaids."

"Hell if I know. Beh mentioned something about the other Sents going to similar missions, so I guess this is just one among many." Mirtes shook her head. "The fissuring put everyone on edge, I guess. Now Leadership wants us all to recover as many seeds as possible."

"So things are going well for us, huh?" Tai asked in an ironic voice. They slipped their vest on and zipped it up to their chin.

"That's right; they are." Bernardo entered the room; a thin chain escaped through his fingers, his face bitter. "We all know the risks involved," he said, looking at Mara, "but we might need to keep this going while Mimi and Solúcia find out what's wrong with our Kerana tree."

Mirtes sneered and forced a smile on her lips. "Which is something I can't do since I'm still being dragged into missions instead of being left alone in a lab."

"It's a pity this is a powerful seed, though," Godo said. He looked at Bernardo. "I really needed a small one to infuse more energy into my gauntlets, Beh. They just don't work anymore."