Eggmanland - Target Practice

[mizuru007]

Click....click....click....

The sound of heels clicked down the long corridor, a distinct shuffling noise following each step. After every few clicks, the shuffling became louder...then back to clicks.

Cotton had been put in charge with buying more supplies for the medical ward in the Empire's base, since that was where she was stationed most of the time. However, no one had bothered to give her much of a budget before sending the little red panda on her way. So instead of having a bag or two, she was staggering along with multiple bags. Bags inside of bags, bags on TOP of bags, bags filled with bags to hold MORE bags....there were a lot of bags. Which, of course, brought about the constant stop-start walking from having to adjust all of her purchases.

While most would have been unhappy having to carry so much, Cotton was too occupied with the memories of her shopping trip. She'd definitely stocked up on band-aids (enough to fill a good three bags), even going to far as to get ones with little eggs on them for Eggman -- and Eggman ONLY, she sternly reminded herself. There were the standard creams and ointments, stitching needles, syringes, pills. There were ALSO herb seeds, a mortar and pestle, lavender oil, a six-pack of candles, as well as other slightly...unconventional products.

Buried in bags and thoughts, she wasn't paying any attention in the slightest to where she was going.

[Val]

Coming the other way was a lavender coyote in a dark green Eggman Empire uniform. He had his head down and was fiddling with a small gizmo with a screwdriver. He was so engrossed in taking this thing apart he hadn’t even noticed his chewing gum had lost all remnants of flavour so he certainly didn’t notice Cotton coming until they had already walked into each other.

As he fell backwards and hit the cold, hard ground, bags and bags flew all around him, echoing noise through the whole corridor. As he recovered from the fall and rubbed his back to ease the pain he wondered who in the world could carry so many bags at once without any help. He then looked up and saw an innocent red panda girl also sitting on the floor.

He hadn’t seen her before so who was she? He assumed she was one of the new members and in the spirit of amending his mistake of not looking where he was going, decided to help. “I-I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention. Lemme help you.” he had already began gathering up bags. He still had no idea how she’d be able to carry so many alone anyway.

[mizuru007]

It took about five seconds for Cotton to register what had happened. First was the noticing that her arms hurt a lot less suddenly. Then the feeling of the cold floor on her bottom. And then, finally, the faint purple figure in front of her. The longer she stared, the more she realized this figure was actually a person, but...it was someone she'd never seen before. And he was wearing the uniform!

Immediately, the young woman got on all fours and crawled over to the new person, ending up just inches away from his face. There weren't that many living beings here to begin with, but this new person was a GUY. She gave him a few tentative sniffs, then slowly held his face between her hands.

"You're...you're new! And alive! You're not a robo...who are you?" Cotton's large rose eyes blinked in curiosity.

[Val]

The lilac coyote just sat there, almost afraid to move as this strange girl prodded, sniffed and examined him curiously. “Um….h-hi…I’m..Milo…and no, I’m not a robot. I’m not a newbie either. I’ve been working here for seven months” He blushed as her hands gently held his head steady so she could stare at him. He was feeling more and more awkward by the second. Personal space was something this girl clearly didn’t prioritise above curiosity. He could feel her breath brush against his fur, he felt like she was about to do something horrible to him. He wanted to move the subject away from…himself.

“S-so who’re you? Are you one of the new recruits?” He realised as he tried to stand up he’d swallowed his gum in the fall. Darn it, he hated when that happened. “You wanna hand with those bags?”

[mizuru007]

"Cotton...med ward..."
It was muttered quietly, barely above a whisper. After a few more moments, Cotton tilted her head and sat back into a kneeling position. "Yep, you're definitely alive. Haven't seen you around...you probably haven't gotten hurt yet..."

Again engrossed in her thoughts, she slowly stood and began gathering her bags, completely neglecting to respond to Milo's inquiry. Maybe she HAD seen him before, but she forgot? Maybe he was LYING and he was trying to make himself seem her senior? Maaaaybe he was telling the truth and they really HADN'T met. Which was a shame, considering how it would be pretty important to meet as many organics as possible here in the EE...

[Val]

Huh…this girl was pretty peculiar. He guessed since she didn’t answer then she didn’t want any help…but she couldn’t carry all those bags by herself…Chaos knows how she carried them before. So he began picking them up anyway...Weird..There was a -lot- of bandaids here. He hadn’t seen many biological members here either but he never reacted like this…it wasn’t -that- rare, right?

“Um…..alright…Cotton?” Milo walked over and tapped the girl on the shoulder. "Wh-where are you headed?"

[mizuru007]

With a small "eep!" and a jump, her russet head turned to face Milo.

"I'm going to the med ward, of course. Where else would I use all of this stuff~?" Cotton giggled and smiled as if that was the most obvious thing in the world, then continued picking up her bags. It took her a while to notice Milo was also picking up her bags...in fact, the only reason she noticed was due to finally being able to see where she was going.

"Oh! Y-you don't have to do that! I'm sure you probably have important EMPIRE BUSINESS (Cotton made sure to change her voice to sound like an...adorable mockery of Eggman's booming voice) to take care of. But thank you so much for helping~"

[Val]

Milo was stunned for a second, admittedly it -was- obvious that medical stuff would go to the medi ward…but he hadn’t seen the stuff inside the bags apart from a lifetime supply of band aids.

His face twisted in confusion at her Eggman impression. It was…strange. Actually that word summed up this Cotton girl very well; strange…but enduring. She was kind of…cute.

Despite the little panda girls objections he continued to pick up the bags, “Nono, it’s ok. I don’t really have anywhere to g-go. So I’m totally free to help.”

[mizuru007]

Immediately, Cotton grinned and began to dance on the balls of her feet.
"Really?! Oh that's great~! Thank you so much~!!" Cotton ran to Milo, bags in hand, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. This guy was just being so nice! She was so used to being ignored by the bots around the Citadel, especially since she mostly only ever saw ANYONE (bots included) if they were injured.
Unless you counted Orbot. Cotton would forever hold a soft spot for the sarcastic bot she'd first met~

Turning on her heel, the girl faced back the way she was going, tail swishing behind her.
"This way~!" She began walking, hips and tail swaying.

[Val]

Milo froze…did….did she just…kiss him? This had never happened before…besides his mother, of course. His face felt hot as he blushed a deep red. This girl was just..too sweet. He began to wonder if she had some ulterior motive, or if she even was a recruit. He hadn’t seen some ID or any evidence she was with the Empire. Still she seemed innocent enough and besides, he was just lending a helping hand to someone who clearly needed it.

“S-So um…-are- you a new recruit? I mean…I’ve been here for months and never met you before.”

[mizuru007]

Cotton nodded, still walking.
"Yep, just joined a couple of days ago~ Still getting set up in the medical ward, actually. Funny how the medical ward...didn't actually have many medical supplies when I got there..."
Come to think of it, when Cotton had arrived to the "medical ward", there hadn't been any supplies in there at all. In fact, it wouldn't have seemed anything LIKE a ward without those stretchers and operating tables scattered around, covered in a thick layer of dust. Apparently, the bots didn't see a use for the room...considering they were robots. It had taken her a full day and night non-stop to get the place sterilized and decorated.
Ohhhhh the decorating.

After a few more minutes, they finally reached the ward. Above the door was a sign.

"MEDICAL WARD~! Come here to feel better!" The words were written in crayon and there were drawings of band-aids and smiley faces all over it.

[Val]

The coyote stared for a few seconds at the crayon sign. It looked like a child had done it. Cotton did this? He looked inside and saw the barren medical ward. This girl had nothing to work with, was she the only person working here? She seemed…inexperienced. Plus she had only been working here a few days. He had to respect how much she obviously cared and tried with all of this. She didn’t seem to care at all how bare everything was and how much work it was gonna take to set up a working ward and seeing such optimism kind of made him want to help her.

“Wow this place is really empty. Are you all alone here? I can…help you out around here if you need it y’know. I don’t have any other duties today and I do wanna help out the newbies. Setting up a medical ward is pretty important too.”

[mizuru007]

Cotton set the bags down on an empty counter and began unpacking her supplies. Despite the state of the ward, she was still quite pleased with the amount of space she'd been given. Waaaaay more than she'd had at that tiny clinic back home. Almost immediately, she started planting the herbs she would end up using; the sooner they got to growing the better!

"I'm the only one here that's alive and has any sort of medical experience, so I get to be the Empire doctor! Not that it's a big deal since I used to work in a clinic before anyway...~" Having finished her planting, Cotton took out two large glass tubes from another bag and began filling them with a blue liquid from yet another bag.
"I guess you can help, but I don't know ho-OH!" The panda rummaged around and brought out a new washcloth covered in butterflies and kittens. "Can you wipe down all of the counters? The sink is riiiiiiiiiiiight over there~" She pointed to a (somewhat dilapidated) sink over in the corner of the room.

[Val]

Milo cautiously took the washcloth and looked it over. Everything about this girl, her attitude, her way or speaking, of doing things, it all seemed so unorthodox for a member of the Empire. If she kept this up would she last here?…well in the meantime..as much of a pain washing down counters sounded, he’d made this bed and had to lie in it.

And this girl had worked in a clinic? So she must have experience but if so then why did she act like…this?

Milo walked over to the worn down sink and slowly turned the handle, afraid that if he did it would all just fall apart. The pipes groaned and rattled, clearly there hadn’t been any water pumped to this area in a long time. But after a few seconds water did begin to pour out…it had a brown tint to it though. Deciding to wait a little while for whatever this was to clear out, Milo thought about something to do or say. He hated silence and soon began to fidget again.

He reached into a pocket and took out a piece of blueberry flavoured gum and put it in his mouth before offering one to Cotton, “So don’t you feel…I dunno, like all this stuff’s been piled onto you? I mean you’re the only one here n’all. Getting all this stuff set up is a lot of work.”

[mizuru007]

There was a brief pause before the girl spoke. It was a lot of work, there was no doubt about that. She'd worked before, but she hadn't been alone. And contrary to the norm for her species, Cotton was a social creature. A *very* social creature. She thrived on interaction, and seemed to almost wilt (figuratively, of course) when without someone or someTHING to talk to for too long.

"Yeah...it'll be pretty rough at first. Especially since this ward isn't exactly near anyone." For a brief moment, Cotton's expression changed into something indistinguishable. But just as quickly, it was back to its normal cheerful demeanor. "But I'm sure I'll be able to do just fine~ Everything'll be okay, I'm sure of it!"

Gingerly, she took the piece of gum offered to her and popped it into her mouth without a second thought. Immediately, her eyes widened. "UWAAAAAAH~! This...this tastes like blueberries! I thought gum was only in mint!!"

[Val]

A light chuckle escaped Milo. She’d never had gum not flavoured mint before? This was such a strange concept to Milo, who had all kinds of gum. Maybe she was just really sheltered. “Heh, nope, there’s loads of flavours. Y-you like it?”

She either didn’t realise just how much work all this was going to take…or maybe she didn’t care. This was clearly her passion. And an honest motive like this was something he could easily sympathise with.

Ah, the water had cleared up. So Milo placed a bucket in the sink and filled it up before walking over to a table and began washing it.

“So..” Milo started, trying to think of a topic and realising he didn’t know anything about Cotton, “Tell me about yourself, Cotton…um…wh-why did you join the Empire?”

[mizuru007]

"This is the best thing ever."
What was going ON!? How could they make gum taste like BLUEBERRIES? Did they crush a billion berries and then put them on gum...? But then why wasn't it minty at all?! Well, however they made it, this was amazing.

Turning back to her own counter, she began taking out numerous shiny, sharp, and particularly stabby tools and rubbing them down with disinfectant wipes before placing them into the liquid-filled tubes, humming the entire time. Until, of course, Milo asked why she joined the Empire.

Cotton's head whipped around, followed by the rest of her, a twinkle in her eye. The panda seemed to cross the room in a single step, launching herself onto the table Milo had just cleaned and coming close to his face for the second time. "I joined the Empire because I always feel so bad for Eggy always being beaten up and it's not fair that he doesn't have anyone to cheer him up when he loses and that Sonic ALWAYS has people to cheer him up so I wanna be here for Eggy to give him band-aids and make him feel better because he's soooooo amazing~" The entire story came out in a single breath.

...well, that was funny, her gum was missing. ...how long did it take for gum to digest again...? After taking a much needed breath, she asked, "Why did you join~?"

[Dr. Mechano]

"Ow!" a voice could be heard from outside of the med ward, "Watch it, you! Take it easy, I can't walk too fast or-"

A mild thud was heard.

"Gyaaaarrrgh!"



The doors opened, and Eggman- clad in his purple pajamas, nightcap, and Eggman slippers- was led into the room by a lone Egg Pawn. He was hunched over, clutching his left leg in pain, grumbling in irritation.

"Urgh," Eggman mumbled, "I need... assistance."

This was far less fanfare than he usually introduced himself with, but it was clear the doctor wasn't in the shape for his usual over-the-top demeanor.

[mizuru007]

Squeak.
That was all that managed to escape from Cotton's lips. Only one man had that voice. That rumbly voice that managed to make her SOUL quiver. And here she was splayed out on a table. But there was no way... She slowly turned her head.

There he was. In all of his mustachioed splendor, her hero. Her idol.
Eggman.
She scrambled off of the table and gave a salute with one hand, attempting to straighten her clothes and hair with the other...aaand failing somewhat miserably.

"Dr. Eggman, sir! What can I do for you, si-" Her coral eyes trailed down to the leg Eggman was holding. Immediately, she turned her head to the side. "Milo, I need you to reach into that tube there and get me the scissors. Eggy, take a seat on the table if you can, please." Though she'd let the nickname slip, she wasn't in the mindset to mind it, let alone catch it.

"If you can tell me what happened, that would help."

[Dr. Mechano]

Eggman shooed away the Egg Pawn as he sat down on the medical table, grouchily answering the red panda's question, "Er... yes, now then..."

He cleared his throat loudly, beginning to recount the events of earlier that evening.

"I was preparing for a night of well-earned rest after a long day of plotting my brilliant schemes. All was going well; I had enjoyed my nightly snack- a sub sandwich, pepperoni pizza, slice of cheesecake, and a glass of diet soda..." he said as his features settled into an irritated scowl, "When suddenly I stubbed my toe on one of the golden statues in my room! The shock of my collision was such that I- despite my impeccable composure and poise- stumbled out of my room in pain and tumbled down the escalator..."

He winced in pain at just being reminded of the incident, "Hence the injured leg."

[Val]

Milo immediately jumped into a salute at the sight of his Emperor. He stood watching as the little panda girl’s demeanour completely change. Now she seemed in control, confident, knew exactly what to do.

It was so weird. She hadn’t shown any hint of this side of her before…but this did explain how she was able to get a job in a clinic and now here.

Milo was snapped out of his thoughts by Cotton giving him an order. Her voice was direct yet still gently like normal. He rushed over to a group of jars of different sizes and widths. He carefully reached into one, last thing he wanted was to cut himself, and pulled out a pair of scissors before walking back over to Cotton, the whole time holding the scissors at arms length and away from him.

“H-Here ya go, C-Cotton…” Oh no, his stutter had gotten worse since he was so nervous about making a fool of himself in front of Eggman.

[mizuru007]

Cotton kneeled before the doctor and slowly removed his slipper with one hand, his cartoonish visage peering back up at her. At the same time, the young woman took the offered scissors with her other hand and muttered a quiet "thanks" before cutting up the left leg of his silky satin pajama pants. With pants like these, there was no cushioning whatsoever for his fall. In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if it was...

Yep.
Right there, plain as day, was a giant bruise on the good doctor's leg. Nevermind the amount of swelling. Moooost likely a fracture. "Milo, dear, do me another favor. In one of those bags, you'll find two metal splints and a roll of gauze. Can you hand them to me?" While asking this favor, Cotton moved her observation down to Eggman's toe. Nothing serious, thankfully. Just an average stub.

[Val]

Milo nodded and walked back over to the supply bags and rummaged through them for the objects Cotton had asked for, he realised…he was becoming a nurse…Crap, this wasn’t what he signed up for.

Oh! Right, the splints. There, they were. He took them out and placed them aside and continued looking for the gauze. Was Eggman’s injury really so bad? It was only a little fall…then again, a man of his…generous proportions. Falling -would- hurt.

Well, he’d made a promise when he signed up to do anything he could to aid the good Doctor and if this was what he had to do, so be it.

Finally, there’s the gauze. He bundled the items in his arms and rushed back, pausing momentarily to stare at Cotton examining Eggman’s bare leg…rather undignified.

[Dr. Mechano]

Eggman grimaced at the sight of his swollen leg. He really had hurt himself pretty badly. As Eggman waited, he glanced at the two workers in the med ward, the thought suddenly dawning on him that he didn't actually know these people.

"So," the Doctor spoke up, making small talk to get his mind off of his leg, "I, uh... haven't seen you two around the base before, so I take it you're new recruits?"

[mizuru007]

Satisfied with her analysis, Cotton reached up to take the splints and gauze from Milo's arms, still making sure to thank him with a pat on the hand, then went back to staring at Eggman's leg. While carefully placing and tying the splint into place, she began to respond to the doctor's question. Unfortunately, she seemed to disregard the gauze she was currently holding between her teeth.

"B'and new, shir. 'as ashined to med 'ard du'y dis 'eek."
("Brand new, sir. Was assigned to med ward duty this week.")

[Val]

Milo was a little taken aback by Eggman’s enquiry. He didn’t really consider himself worth the Doctor’s time. Still, the fact that he was asking showed that he did care and wasn’t pure evil like the media would have people believe.

Still he was a little hurt that he’d been working for Eggman for over half a year and hadn’t been noticed. Of course, why would he? He’d mainly been doing minor jobs, but still…he -was- dedicated and to not be noticed at all by the person you’re so loyal to hurt somewhat.

“Um…actually s-sir, I’ve been w-working for the Empire for several m-months. I’m Milo and this is Cotton.”

Oh Chaos..what if he’d offended Eggman by correcting him like that? He began to panic and chew his gum furiously…wait, the gum! He took out a packet of different fruit flavoured gum, “W-would you care for some, sir?”

[Dr. Mechano]

Eggman stared for a moment, then shrugged, taking the packet of gum, "...Thank you."

It occurred to him that he hadn't done a very good job of keeping up with his minions. If Eggman could go as long as several months without ever noticing someone in his ranks, it posed a bit of a potential problem. He then noted to himself that he'd have to keep closer tabs on his employees; It would be good to become more familiar with those working for him.

His thoughts returned to his current situation. Eggman may have been a genius, but a medical doctor he wasn't. His area of expertise was machines, not the human body, after all. Ultimately, he wasn't sure how serious his injury was.

"Urgh, so..." he started to ask, "How bad does it look?"

[mizuru007]

Tie it through the loop, pull it, aaaand...done! Cotton leaned back and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, heaving a small sigh.
"Well, looks to me like a fracture, but nothing serious. Maybe a hairline...? Just stay off of your leg for six weeks. Ah, wait!" She stood and skipped over to her bags, then pulled out the new box of egg band-aids. Skipping back over, she kneeled and placed one of them onto the splint, then gave it a kiss.

"Feel better~~!"

[Dr. Mechano]

Six weeks? But he had so many schemes to plot, robots to build, and cities to conquer! What was he going to do with himself with six weeks off the battlefield?

"I suppose it can't be helped," Eggman sighed, "Thank you for your assistance."

"You!" Eggman shouted, pointing at Milo, "You've been here a while; Show Cotton to the Egg Blaster shooting range once her shift ends. All Empire personnel are potentially combatants after all, in the event of an invasion or attack, even if fighting isn't their specialization. We can't be under-prepared."

With his leg in the condition it was, it would be wise to ensure all of his minions were properly prepared for trouble, he reasoned.

Eggman smiled, silently appreciating the egg bandages' design, "That's your mission, so don't let me down! With that, I'm off! Mwa ha ha ha- haaaack! Cough! ...blech, nevermind."

He stumbled to his feet, and again leaned on te Egg Pawn, as he carefully made his way toward the room's exit.

[mizuru007]

S-shooter range...? Did he mean like...shooting with a gun? A gun that hurt people? The blood in Cotton's veins seemed to freeze as she shakily gave a final salute to Eggman's back. If there was anything she didn't like, it was hurting others. She was a DOCTOR; doctors didn't HURT people! They HELPED people!

Slowly, she cast a weary glance at Milo, her face absolutely pitiful. A whine rose in her throat, made more audible by the heavy silence that followed Eggman's departure. She didn't want to disobey Eggy, that would make him mad and get Milo in trouble. But she never wanted to hold something as destructive as a gun in her hands...

"S-shooting range, then....?" Cotton asked, voice trembling.