Ahh you know I love Symmarah but I'd never considered Sojourn/Mina! That could be some fun dialogue!!

3. cold hands in warm hands

8. squeezing hand for comfort and encouragement

----

It was late morning in Overwatch's cybernetic research lab.

"You know I'm extremely busy right?" Mina walked over with her multitool kit before pulling out her chair across from Sojourn and sitting down.

"I know you need to see human faces at least once a week," said Sojourn, leaning her chin in her other hand, her prosthetic arm extended on the table..

"Mm... seems excessive," Mina said crisply as she pulled several small pliers, and screwdrivers from the kit. Sojourn snorted.

"You could've shoved one of your labtechs with me," said Sojourn, smiling.

"And then you'd be back three days later saying they didn't do it right and we'd spend at least an hour doing calibrations."

"Is that so bad?" There was a warmth to Sojourn's voice, not a dismissal of Mina's time or effort, but a little quip of 'I like seeing you and I know you like seeing me, even if the only way to drag you away from your tinkering is more tinkering.'

Mina pressed her lips together before gingerly running her hands down the sides of Sojourn's forearm, pressing two asymmetrical catches, opening a panel in Sojourn's arm with a short hissing whirr and click. She huffed a little, "Well... I will say it's nice to work on something I know will work."

"Hitting a rough patch with the baby?"

"She's not a--"

"You're calling it a 'She' again."

Mina furrowed her brows. "To answer your question," she said a bit pointedly, as she worked, "I would say I'm still adjusting to the personnel shifts."

"Is this about the new security we gave you?"

"You mean the ex-con suspended agent who took one look at my monitor and said, quote 'What's with the matrix shit?'"

"Come on, he's not that bad--" Sojourn laughed a little.

"No... he's not.." Mina admitted, "I guess I'm just bitter that I feel like we're being put in the same basket.

"Mina, we've been over this--it's just a temporary assignment to keep Cole from sulking around the base and keep Reyes from sending him on any unsanctioned 'vacations,'" said Sojourn.

"And why is that my problem?!" said Mina, "If Jack actually put his foot down with Reyes and they didn't play this 'plausible deniability' tango, I'd be--" she caught herself and huffed, "When we ended the Omnic Crisis... I thought it was a new chance not just for me, but for AI. I thought everyone understood that we needed to know more about artificial intelligence if we were to prevent something like the Crisis from happening again!" she sighed, "But the further along I get in this project, the more I'm Doctor Frankenstein. Getting shoved to higher security labs. Everything classified. Everything quarantined. I... I keep getting this terrible feeling that once this project's finished she--I mean it's... going to be shoved somewhere where it can never see the light of day. But I can do good with this. I know I can do good with this!"

Sojourn glanced off. Her mouth opened for a few moments and she moved to say something comforting.

"I know..." Mina said with an eye roll, continuing to methodically work through the circuitry on Sojourn's arm, "With all the fear still going around about omnics..."

"Jack's just not sure saying that Overwatch is working on a top-secret hyper-intelligent experimental AI when the Crisis is still fresh in everyone's minds is the best PR move--especially with the Blackwatch mess with O'Deorain," Sojourn finished the thought, "If you want me to transfer Cassidy, though, I can take care of that--"

"No--" Mina tucked a stray bit of hair back, now soldering in the new artificial carpal tendons, "He's... actually helpful--I mean granted, not in any programming capacity but... the AI is remarkably receptive to him," she chuckled, "I guess she's excited to have someone to talk to other than me."

"There's that 'She' again," said Sojourn, listening to the quiet fizz of the soldering iron. With the nerve responses in her arm turned off for maintenance, she couldn't feel the heat of the solder, but to be honest, one of the reasons she came to Liao for adjustment on her prosthetics was the fact that, despite using engineering tools to maintain them, Liao always made Sojourn's prosthetics feel like her body, not just a piece of equipment that just happened to also function as an arm or a leg.

"She feels like a 'she,'" Liao smiled, now cleaning out any metal filaments that flecked the interior of the prosthetic during the maintenance, "Well with the proper security clearances, I could bring you by to meet her, sometime."

"I'd like that," said Sojourn, "Plus, then I can reassure Jack you're not working on any Ultra-killer-deathbo-GYAH!" Sojourn suddenly flinched hard, one eye squinting shut and the other watering in pain at a sensation that could only be described as '10,000 beestings on a funny bone that is somehow also a vibrating tuning fork.'

"...sorry, should have given you the heads up that I was re-attaching the nerves," said Liao, glancing up.

"And...I probably... shouldn't have said... the ultra-killer-deathbot... thing..." Sojourn winced out between gritted teeth.

"Oh I know you didn't mean it like you thought I was working on an ultra killer...anyway--I'm just saying stuff like that doesn't even phase me anymore," said Mina with a shrug, "But I appreciate the thought."

"Mm!" Sojourn's eye was still squinted shut in pain as she eked out a nod before clenching and unclenching her prosthetic hand with ease, "Works like new!" she squeaked out.

"The sting will fade, it always does, just give it a few seconds," Liao gently layered her hands around Sojourn's fist, the movement like a flower closing at night. "Breathe..."

Sojourn took a few steady breaths as she sank back in her seat a little, pushing the ringing memory of the pain from her mind.

"...I think I know the other reason you come to me," said Liao, lightly running her thumb over Sojourn's prosthetic knuckles, "If you went to the regular infirmary, all the recruits would find out you're a big baby."

"Oh that's just mean," said Sojourn.

"But I'm right," said Mina.

After hours ((유∀유|||))