Cohost writing prompt: @Making-up-Mech-Pilots — Mech Pilot who is awfully nervous around their co-pilot today
"Hey Ginny. Gin. Virginia. Back in the ol' cockpit, eh? The helmet's nice. Suits you. Is it a new model?"
"Extra shockproof," she bites out, already strapped in, visor down and arms folded. Her new helmet is very shiny, and entirely devoid of the old one's stickers, scratches, and graffiti: just TONIC stencilled on the side to mark it as hers.
A terrible, pointed silence falls over the cockpit as you likewise strap in, take a deep breath, and nearly psych yourself up to—
"Preflight," Tonic says, and you flinch.
"Funny how they still call it preflight when these don't fly," you attempt, and she slowly swivels her head to point the blank, shiny new mirrored visor at you. Her old helmet's visor was just tinted. You could always see her eyes. "Initiating preflight," you concede, voice crackling over it.
You run through it: Core power. Gyros check. Joint brakes release. Dynamic stance initiate. Deck boots unlock. Deck boots release, and finally Tonic's voice takes on more of a serrated edge than just loaded accusation.
"Feet cam check."
"I said I was—"
"Feet cam check."
You toggle it up and tap the monitor: the wide-angle forward pelvic camera that looks at, and in front of, the mech's feet.
"Feet cam green."
The shiny mirror fucking visor is still pointed right at you. "Foot arc personnel clearance check," she says savagely.
"Look, I said I was sorry!"