Maintenance with Roxie and Mia [Old Version]

“Hiii Junzie!”

The masked star ranger halted work to look over at Roxie. They took off their helmet to reveal...Oh. Oh! It was Mia, not Jun, as Roxie initially thought. Nevertheless, Roxie was happy to see a friend!

“Oh, Roxie. I wasn’t expecting you to be here…” the freckled girl spoke in her usual cautious tone. Her mood brightened up a little. “Hi!”

“Hi Mia, is Jun here?” Roxie searched around by cupping her hands around her eyes to form binoculars, as if Jun could be hiding in a room as small as this. Mia let out one soft chuckle. Exactly one syllable’s worth of a chuckle.

“Aren’t they supposed to be with you?”

This room, lined from wall to wall with glowing pipes, never ceased to amaze Roxie. Cyan goo illuminated the intricate tubing from the inside. Just what was that goo made of anyway? Maybe Mia knew of the tubes’ secrets. The dim glow of the generator room gave it a magical touch, perfect if it were to be a setting in The Adventures of the Great Roxaelia. Or just The Great Roxaelia? It was a working title. Either way, a forest filled with whatever this blue slime was would be really neat! Though maybe a forest was too cliche...Thankfully, Roxie remembered she was in the presence of her trusted second opinion!

“Is journeying through an enchanted forest too overdone?” Roxie nearly pressed her face against the pipe nearest to her. “Whatever this goo is would fit perfectly if I had Roxaelia travel through a forest, but I don’t want to retread beaten ground too much.”

“I think you could put a spin on it to keep it fresh. Knowing you, that won’t be a problem!” So it was cliche. Roxie appreciated Mia believing in her, but that didn’t get her any closer to figuring out the most fitting usage for the mysterious substance. “Were you looking for Jun for something…?” Mia repeated.

“Oh yeah! I just finished up my shift with--” The older ranger struggled to find a way to word the sentence without giving away her friend’s true pronouns. ”We just finished up our shift and I think Jun went to take a shower, but now I can’t find--!” Sheepishness overcame Roxie upon realizing she knew where Jun was the entire time. “I forgot!” She poked the side of her head comedically before leaning in Mia’s direction. “Anyway, what are you doing?”

“I was just sorting out a clump of magnets.” Mia sat by a vertical opening leading into one of the pipes. Roxie remembered her using some kind of stick to separate the slime from the black dots within it when she first entered the room. Those were the magnets that kept the ship running. With those, Roxie could at least strike off the fear of being stranded without power from her list of worries. She didn’t quite understand how they worked other than something about friction and magnetic properties. Something like that. Actually, now might have been a good time to ask Mia.

“Hey Mia, how does the generator work again?” She crouched down beside Mia to get a better look. 

“Oh! Um, you see these magnets?” Mia began. She brushed a bang from her face. “Since they attract each other, they push the slime along with it. Eventually, they get to the generator.” Roxie’s eyes followed to where Mia pointed. Behind them, the pipes converged into a complex-looking, boxy hunk of machinery. 

Applying what she studied of the human body, Roxie assumed a complicated structure like that could break down from even the tiniest of interferences. Fixing that thing looks like a steep challenge, not meant for the faint of heart. It looked so important, too. Roxie feared to think of what might happen if the generator broke down, but her curiosity compelled her to ask anyway.

“What mysteries must lurk in that intricate box? We don’t depend on it for our survival, do we?” It might have been a grandiose way of asking, but Roxie needed to confirm whether the ship’s power system was as 100% infallible as she had been told. She also didn’t want Mia to know how worried she was.

“Oh no, the only really important thing in there is the fan. When the magnets and goo--why don’t we have a technical name for this stuff? I feel like a baby for calling it goo and slime!”

Roxie giggled at Mia’s rant. She appreciated being able to see this side of her reserved friend. “May I suggest plasm?”

“Oh, that’s really great Roxie! You’re a lifesaver!” Mia’s entire face lit up, and not just from the goo. Roxie could pinch her rosy, freckled cheeks right this instant, but Mia was the type of person who valued personal space. She always found it endearing how Mia so openly looked up to her. This was nothing like the shy, closed off girl Roxie met a year ago. Wait, what were they talking about?

“So, anyway, when the magnets and plasm pass the fan, they spin it, creating the friction that powers the ship. All of it’s mechanical, so there’s no motors involved.” Mia continued sorting the magnets. “The most we have to worry about are these magnets getting clumped together and stopping the flow of the plasm, which is why I’m here now!” She smiled at Roxie.

“So you’re separating them? What if they were friends?” Roxie’s heart bled for the imaginary relationships of the magnets. “What of the bonds they forged together? You can’t just break that up! They’ll be shattered!”

“I’m afraid I must.” Mia calmly replied; her smile is thinly veiled. She continued separating the magnets heartlessly. “Their pining for one another drives the plasm along, much like the protagonists in a love story.”

Roxie giggled uncontrollably, not expecting that comparison. Mia joined in.

“I can’t believe you thought my nerdy joke was funny!” The freckled redhead told her between laughs.

“Of course! You forget that I’m a nerd too.” the curly, non-freckled redhead reminded her.

“You’re the cooler nerd!” Mia argued back. “Actually,” she laughed, “that’s why it was so hard for me to open up to you at first. I thought you were way out of my league.”

“Noooo! What made you think such a thing? I will personally banish the thought from your mind!” Roxie drew out an imaginary rapier, threatening to slice Mia’s self-deprecating thoughts in half.

“You were so friendly and made small talk so easily. It’s like you could talk about anything! And I can only talk about…books? Maybe some geology and physics? And it’s not really easy to find other people interested in that stuff. So I don’t really talk much! Since you seemed so confident and social, I…” Mia looked away bashfully. She then made eye contact with Roxie again. “I-I dunno, I just assumed that you were someone with cooler hobbies and wouldn’t be interested in what I had to say.”

“Ohhh, silly Wattson! I could listen to anyone talk about almost anything! Especially you. I could listen to your voice all day.”

“M-m-my-my voice??” Mia stammered, almost dropping her sorting stick into the pipe. She quickly retrieved it. “Oh, wouldn’t want that getting stuck. Then we’d have to empty out all the pipes and reset the magnets.” That would be tragic. Roxie remembered getting assigned help place tiny magnets into the plasm. It was a tedious, painstaking process, and though this was a much smaller ship than the one she originally worked on, she still didn’t look forward to it.

After averting the crisis, Mia picked up the subject again. “You like my voice…?” 

Roxie was genuinely shocked that Mia was genuinely shocked by this compliment. Mia had such a distinct voice, after all. “Yeah, it’s really soothing, like a caress to the ears. Has no one told you this before?”

“Roxie!” Mia chided. “You’re going to make me blush!”

“You already are.” Roxie held back a chuckle as Mia rushed to cover her face. “Aren’t you adorable!!”

“Aaaa, stop ittt!” the flustered ranger groaned, descending into laughter. Roxie continued laughing with her until they both settled down. “Thank you, Roxie.”

“You’re welcome! I’m actually surprised you thought I was confident.”

“You’re not?”

“I am more now since we know each other better, but to let you in on my dark secrets, the enigmas of my mind, sometimes I talk a lot because I’m nervous.” Roxie remembered spitballing different conversation topics at Mia just to see if any stuck. Time and again, each came to an abrupt end.

“Oh, were you nervous talking to me…?”

“Yep~!” Roxie nodded so hard, it sent her curly mass of hair flying forward. 

“I would’ve never guessed!” Mia scoffed, surprised. “M-me too, but I’m the complete opposite. I completely shut off when I’m nervous so, that must’ve been a nightmare for you. I’m so sorry about that!”

“Do not worry, my dear Wattson.” Roxie reassured her freckle-dusted friend, “We both navigated the waters of social awkwardness together and conquered them with the might of the fiercest sailors!” She made a triumphant fist. “Our friendship has thrived to spite it!”

“I’m glad it has.” Mia had a thoughtful tone. “I just-- Wow, I… I can’t believe I tried pushing you away.” She smiled. “I thought you were just trying to befriend me out of pity at first.”

A pang of guilt pierced through Roxie’s being. She thought back to when she saw Mia by herself at the moon base cafeteria. She did pity her.

“Even if you were,” She continued, not appearing to notice Roxie’s turmoil, “at least you didn’t try to use me as a pawn to see where the best restaurants were. I’ve…had some people like that, but you know how Lunaria is about people my size, heheh… I’m just glad no one accused me of stealing their air.”

“That’s awful!” The time is not for fancy wording. Roxie feels it’s best to be direct with her feelings at the moment. Of course resources like low oxygen levels and rations were a problem on Lunaria back when it first started out, but the moon colony developed far beyond those limitations. Its citizens didn’t act like it, though. Roxie heard horror stories of how the obsessive Lunaria’s health culture could get. Her heart went out to Mia. “You’re a person, not a vacuum!”

“Yeah! ...Yeah.”

“People like that are weeeird!” Roxie drew out the last word for emphasis.

“Have you ever had to deal with that kind of thing?” a concerned Mia inquired.

“Oh, I--” The older ranger knew what it felt like to be treated differently in subtle ways because of how she looked, among other things. However, she didn’t want to bog Mia down with the details. It was unpleasant for Roxie to think back to, anyway. She cleared her throat. “It’s nothing to worry about! Leave the past with the dust behind you, as I like to say…. I’ve only said that just now, but I think I’ll keep it for future reference!” she added on, trying to lighten the mood.

“I think I will, too.” Mia replied. “Sorry, I… shouldn’t have brought the mood down.”

“Do not you mind!” Roxie awkwardly extended a contraction. She lightly bopped Mia’s freckled nose on impulse, making the other girl laugh. “We can only go up from here.”

“I suppose.” The natural redhead brushed hair away from her face before returning back to her work.

Roxie watched as Mia went back to separating the magnets. Thinking back to their earlier conversation about the generator, Roxie wished she pursued a more mechanical or science-oriented field, like Mia did, instead of health. Technically, medical science was a science, but the other fields didn’t work with living things. As much as her studies interested her, they also scared her half to death. 

The Interstellar Forces was known for being the safest of the military branches, which gave her a sense of security in thinking that she wouldn’t have to deal with any emergencies. Now was different. She found herself in charge of six other lives without even the qualifications to be a nurse, and she didn’t feel as secure anymore. If she had chosen another path, would it have stressed her out less? Whatever the case, Roxie knew what she must do now: Find something else to think about!

“Hey Mia, do you---?” 

Roxie’s tap on the shoulder startled the other star ranger, making her drop the stick into the pipe.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry!” Roxie panickedly apologized.

“No worries, I got it!” Mia reassured. She stuck her gloved fingers in the pipe, feeling around for the stick. It sunk further and further into the horizontal piping below, and out of her grasp. “Okay, maybe I don’t got it... Oh nooo, we’re going to have to take this whole thing apart!” She hangs her head back in defeat. 

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” Determination powered the light bulb in Roxie’s head. “I’ve got an idea!” She took off and ran out of the generator room into the airlock, through the kitchen, down the hallway until finally she made it to her work station: the infirmary. Loading as many surgical tools as she could into her arms, she carefully but briskly made her way back to the generator room.

“Are you going to...perform an operation on this pipe?” asked Mia.

“That’s exactly what I’m going to do, and you’re going to help me!” Roxie proclaimed.

Mia gave Roxie a salute. “Ma’am, yes Ma’am!”

Roxie set down the supplies in a safe area nearby Mia. With a loud clasp of her hands, she turned her attention toward the other ranger. “Let’s get down to business!” Roxie sat down. “Hand me the forceps, please, Nurse Wattson.”

“F...Forceps? Um...” Mia sifted through the collection and pulled out what she thought were forceps.

“Those are needles.” Roxie corrected.

Mia pulled out another one.

“Those are retractors.” 

Mia pulled out yet another instrument.

“That’s a scalpel. Nurse Wattson, how on Earth did you make it through medical school?”

“I didn’t?”

“I know~” Roxie laughed, dropping character. “Forceps are the ones that look like tweezers--actually, the retractors might work better! Good thinking, Wattson!”

“Oh, thank you!” Mia replied with a hint of surprise. She rummaged around and pulled out a scissors-like instrument with clamps on the ends. “These?”

“Yes those.” Roxie gently lifted them from Mia’s hands. “Thank you, nurse.”

The medical student carefully inserted her instrument into the pipe, slowly closing it around the tip of the obstructing object. She slowly lifted it up, but it slipped out of the clamps. Roxie felt as if she would break into a cold sweat. The room was silent.

“Mia, are you breathing?”

“Barely.”

“Please refrain from holding your breath. I’d like for my nurse to be conscious throughout the process.”

“Yes, Dr. Allen.”

Roxie made a second attempt at retrieving the stick. It was more secure this time around, but the surrounding plasm made it slippery. Guiding the sorting stick gently, she shimmied it up the vertical tube. It slipped away again, but more progress was gained than lost. She clasped the stick again, a bit more careless this time, and quickly yanked it up, out, and away from the tube. Success.

“The extraction procedure is complete!” Roxie exclaimed.

Mia lightly clapped. “Nice work, Dr. Allen.” She had professional and detached before she broke character, adopting a warmer tone. “You really are a lifesaver, Roxie.”

“I couldn’t have done it without the support of my trusty nurse!” Roxie dropped the stick in Mia’s hand. “Here you go!””

“Thanks again! It was a pleasure to assist you.” Mia politely bowed in Roxie’s direction.

“Can you believe this was my first surgery?” Roxie’s smile dampened a little when she looked at the surgery utensils. “I probably shouldn’t have brought all of these out.” She chuckled. “Now I’m gonna have to sterilize them all.”

“Oh no! I think I should be able to separate this clump of magnets pretty quick. I can help you sterilize your medical stuff afterwards if you want!”

“Awwww, you’re such a sweetie-pie.” Pretending to be coy, Roxie hid her face.

“Not as much as you are.” Mia returned, confidently at first, but sounding a little shocked as the words left her mouth. She looked like she meant to say something else, but couldn’t figure out what to say. Eventually, she got distracted by the stick. It was covered in plasma. “I should probably wipe this off so I don’t drop it again.”

“Let’s go together!”

“That sounds wonderful...”

Roxie jauntily exited the generator room, with Mia walking behind her.