Finally, yes.

You shake off the commander's brief dressing down and look around the area. The door the commander entered through closes behind her as she passes through it into what looks like a dimly-lit hallway. Speaking of behind, for as much as her attitude doesn't do much for you, you've got to admit, her body is something you wouldn't mind getting a good look at some time. Maybe the game has a character model viewer you can look into later. Hopefully one the characters won't know you looked at when you get back into the game. Hard to put something like that past the designers.

To your left where the platform interlocks with a permanent walkway is another door that opens in the middle with black and yellow stripes and the word 'Repair Crew Only' above it. Pretty self-explanatory, so you look to your right. A broad walkway leads from the platform to an elevator door. Since you doubt the commander wants you near her for the moment, you decide this is probably where you should go. As you move toward the lift, you wonder where it should take you. You don't know where anything in this place is or even what's here other than the hangar, dark hall and some idea of where the repair staff waits between jobs. Still, leaving the hangar seems like the progress-producing option, so you reach for the down button. Before you can press it, you hear a flat 'ding' and the doors open. You gulp, expecting Trinia to be on the other side. You're not entirely sure why this thought puts a butterfly in your stomach, but you can't deny that, uh, the LyfLyk can emulate the sensation of it very realistically.

You find yourself standing face-to-chest with a broadly-built man in a dark brown shirt and forest-green jacket. Strong-broad, not fat-broad. Very much the former, you note. Looking upward, you can see the olive-skinned face of a man who doesn't have time for things like shaving or combs but with an easy smile, a combination that makes you wonder how much time he spends high. Until you consider how angry such an impairment would make the commander.

"So, you're the new god, huh," he asks. You're pretty sure that's Richard Epcar doing his voice, but it's not really a carbon copy of Batou. Before you answer, he claps your back and you recognize his laugh from the comm. channel when you earned your place with the MLDF.

"...Trinia," you ask jokingly. Again, he laughs.

"Ha! Close, but not quite." He straightens his posture, giving him even more height over you. "I'm the guy from the other Frame you saw. Not the scary one or the sexy one. They call me Bern Frosillius and my partner, Thanatos." You tell him your name and he gives you a smile. "Well, welcome to the winning team, kid. And I caught the name of your big buddy, there. Every time Trinia comes within earshot of me, in fact. Little piece of advice, kid: If you're thinking of making a move on Trinia, don't. The two of you could end up married with kids, and she'd still love 'Lady Jehuty' more than all of you put together. Course, the nice thing about that is, at least you'd know she couldn't cheat on you. Not sexually, anyway." Bern looks up at the sound of a quiet 'ding', and so do you, noticing that the lights above the elevator are lighting in turn. "Speaking of, looks like you're about to meet her." You tense up and Bern laughs again, finally lifting his hand off your back and walking past you. He turns and heads toward the door the commander went into, turning to you just before reaching the automatic door sensors. "Oh, and don't let Wakazashi intimidate you."

"Bark is worse than her bite," you ask.

Bern shakes his head and chuckles. "Oh, no, she's got more than enough bite to back up the bark. She just doesn't like it when the recruits are scared of her." The door opens and he goes through it, remarking on his way "She thinks it reduces their performance. And you really don't want her thinkin' that about you."

The door closes moments before the elevator doors open. This is it, you think. You turn and find...a very average-looking guy in a gray jumpsuit. "'scuse me," he says politely but in a hurry. You turn to let him by and he power-walks toward the repair staff door. Ugh, another false start. Maybe the game wants you to just guess where Trinia is, or maybe there was some hint you didn't get yet. Either way, all you can do right now is guess. You get into the elevator and press...oh, you don't know...four. Future elevators are much smoother, no more of that rising stomach feeling of the lame-ass present. A direction you really hope the real world goes in.

You hear that ding again and the doors open to a less clean-looking hallway and to a young woman waiting for the elevator while anxiously eating a donut. A woman with strawberry-blonde hair (though slightly pink-leaning) down to just past her shoulders, thin-framed glasses in front of light grey, almost silver eyes, that sit on a youthfully-cute face. And a body that...you find yourself not wanting to be caught staring at. It's not easy, though. The woman looks 20 at the oldest, she's in great shape with fine legs, a nice curve to her hips and breasts that won't exactly cause her back problems, but are definitely there. Mid-sized b cups, you'd say. It's kind of amazing. Even this close, within arm's reach, it's nearly impossible to distinguish her from a real girl. She's startled to find someone in what she thought was an empty car but gets in and presses a button marked H. Neither of you say anything until the doors close a couple seconds later. Her head is pointing down a little and her breathing sounds a bit fast.

"Everything okay," you ask.

"y-yeah, just on my way to uh, meet someone." Suddenly, you feel those butterflies return. Maybe your experience with it was mostly from other places, but you know that voice. She dusts off her light blue skirt, making sure that doing so didn't push her white leggings down at all, then adjusts her glasses and brushes some crumbs off of her dusty-red vest. It's pretty clear to you that she wants to look her best for whoever she's talking about meeting. Though it looks like she skipped putting on any make-up, which is reasonable. Not only does she not need any to look good, she also just came from a battlefield.

"...new recruit?"

She gulps and you catch her nibbling her bottom lip. "mm-hm."

"Is it a guy," you ask, wanting to see who she's so eager to meet. Although considering she hasn't recognized your voice, you have a pretty good guess. "Another lady?"

"Both." That's kind of a surprise. "I'm...actually meeting one of them again after not seeing her for a long time." She takes a big bite of her donut. "Buht thuh ohzhur...(gulp) But the other one, I just met a few minutes ago. He seems...interesting." She mutters just barely audibly "i hope he's cute". Hopefully, you think, you didn't disappoint.

The light for the H floor comes on and the doors part, bringing you back to the hangar and at Jehuty's...points at the bottoms of its legs. Trinia looks up at it, awestruck as you both step out of the lift. She steps toward Jehuty like she thinks it'll find her unworthy at any second and still anxiously nibbling her donut. "it's been a long time, Lady Jehuty," she says reverently. "Sorry I tried to hurt you before. I just had to see you move again." Trinia runs her hand delicately over a small patch of metal where the paint has chipped off like a wound. "looks like they got you fixed up after Aumaan, huh? heh. too bad they didn't re-make your helmet and visor. you always looked so heroic with it." Come to think of it, this is the first time since starting the game that you've been outside of Jehuty's cockpit. The mech is even more colossal than it seemed in person, making its speed all the more impressive. The paint shines in the lights scattered around the hangar, the hull so sleek that the reflections are barely any less sharp than looking at the bulbs themselves. Looking further up, you see Jehuty's head and find that it has the more face-like look like from the end of the credits for 2nd Runner. So, Trinia prefers the classic Jehuty look. You find yourself liking this girl a little more. "i wonder if you even remember me..."

[You do not match anyone in my personnel files.]

Trinia recoils in shock from the small speaker in Jehuty's left...again, it's not a foot, exactly. So there's a way to talk with ADA outside the cockpit, huh? Could be useful to remember that. "Gah!" She slowly relaxes and looks at the cockpit. "You...must be ADA."

[Yes. I am the detached battle AI for Orbital Frame Jehuty, ADA. Although I do not recognize you, I do have some limited information on a doctor Louis Pherse, deceased. Do you know him?]

She smiles sadly. "...yeah. He's...he was my dad."

[Updating records for Pherse, Louis to include offspring Pherse, Trinia.] That's weird. ADA said she knew about being a game, but she didn't have records on Trinia? You file that concern away to ask about later.

"Thank you, ADA." She gives ADA a little time to add to its database, even though she knows it was done before the words were even formed from ADA's vocabulary cache. "So, what is Lady Jehuty's condition?"

[Superficial damage from an encounter with Raptors which took place before encountering the MSDF. Zero Shift is offline. Most sub-weapons are offline. Otherwise, all programs, hardware and the Vector Trap are functioning properly.]

"That's a relief," Trinia says, some concern visibly leaving her. "And...what about your current runner?" ADA begins by saying your name, followed by [hereafter called 'runner'.]

[Runner engaged a squadron of Raptors in flight over a city despite minimal combat experience. However, he was able to switch interface to verbal commands and could then operate Jehuty. All Raptors were wiped out. Damage to the city was within acceptable parameters. No casualties.]

"Huh. So the guy's got some moves. Good to know. What's your opinion of the runner? Like, as a person?"

[He seems capable in battle and...he is polite to me. I do not expect an above-average amount of difficulty in working with him.] Is it just you, or was that robot-speak for "I like him"? [Perhaps I am incorrect, but is it not considered rude to talk about someone as if they were in another room when they are not?]

"Huh?" You try not to snicker as ADA sets the big reveal into motion.

[The person behind you. Has he not told you who he is?]

Trina turns to look at you, cutely clueless what ADA is talking about. "I..." Then, it hits her. Soon after, her forehead hits her palm. "the voice..." She sighs in annoyance at herself, and at you, and looks back at you. "No, ADA, he didn't. Thank you for telling me. "

[You are welcome.]

She steps toward you, pouting but also blushing. "So, when were you going to tell me?"

"After you finished fawning over Jehuty, promise."

"hmm..."

"Would you rather I told you while you were examining it? Would you have even heard me say it?"

She's quiet for a beat, then smiles. Holy shit, she's cute when she does that. "Honestly? You could have spelled it out in fireworks and I wouldn't have noticed. So, I suppose I'll forgive you this time."

"Truly, your mercy is beyond the bounds." The joke doesn't flow right and she doesn't get it, but eh, you tried.

"Comes with being a mecha-medic," she says. "So, will I be the first one to welcome you to our lair?"

"No, Bern beat you to it. And the commander said...I wouldn't call it a welcome, but she talked to me in person first."

"I'm assuming she was less than happy with you. Sorry about that."

"It's alright, I chose to stay behind."

"yeah, to make sure me and my butt were okay." She clears her throat and tries to pretend she didn't sound so touched when she said that. "So! How about we find someplace to sit and I tell you all about us?"