The World In Blue

The sniper is sitting at the shaky table, his respirator dangling around his neck, shoveling tinned beans into his mouth so fast that one could think it was his first meal in days. Which, regarding the fact that Captain has sent him on one of his idiotic missions 3 days ago and he has just returned, may be true.

For Alexander Gromov, sitting across from Snippy, the beans do not hold the same appeal. He is well fed, because of Snippy putting a lot of effort into scavenging food for them, Engie realizes with a pang of guilt. Listlessly, he stirs the half- eaten contents with his spoon, letting his gaze wander.

Engie refrains from asking Snippy where his goggles are when he sees Seven hopping around in the background, Snippy´s goggles on, shouting "Look, I´m Snippeeh!".

Pilot, obviously irritated, flees the room quickly. It is definitely too much for his simple mind to see his beloved Captain wearing the "face" of his declared enemy.

Snippy proceeds to scratch the rest of his beans out of the can, seemingly unimpressed by the fact that Captain has stolen is eye protection.

"Without goggles, I won´t go out," the sniper shrugs. "No more lunatic missions until I get my gear back."

Engie could swear there is something similar to contentment in those blue eyes as the sniper finishes his beans and stands up, only to collapse on the worn sofa in the corner of the room and fall asleep immediately.

When the Captain finally leaves the base with long, energetic steps, still wearing Snippy´s goggles, Engie decides to leave the rest of his beans uneaten and dedicate the moment of peace to repairing some delicate electronic devices.

The familiar work makes him feel content and, with the regular breathing of the sleeping sniper in the background, the atmosphere is as close to peaceful as it can get in this post-apocalyptic world.

oOo

About 3 hours later, the engineer looks up in surprise when Seven appears in front of the battered table and puts Snippy´s goggles down with a soft thud.

„I don´t want to see the world with Snippy´s eyes anymore," Captain declares quietly.

Quietly? Engie is startled, because Seven´s exaggerated demeanor and enthusiasm are completely missing. Captain´s voice is unusually soft, the shoulders slumped. Is Seven... miserable?

Engie stares as Captain turns around and leaves the room soundlessly.

He wonders how wearing Snippy´s goggles for a few hours could upset Captain that much.

The engineer lifts the item from the table and turns it around in his gloved hands curiously.

This is ridiculous, he thinks, but he still puts down his own goggles to try on Snippy´s.

oOo

The effect is surprising.

The can of beans, half eaten in front of him, looks even less appealing than before with the blueish tinge.

As he looks over to the sleeping sniper, he notices that skin colors are turned into a sick gray.

Curious, Gromov gets up and navigates outside the base with insecure steps, still trying to adjust to the new kind of vision.

The goggles overemphasize the light tone of the bones lying around. Engie has never noticed how many skeletons are scattered around the base before.

It is a depressing realization.

Though the gray of the concrete is faded slightly through the goggles, it does not really add to a positive atmosphere, especially because the darker tones, like Captain´s coat or the brown of soil, are faded to a dull gray, very similar to the concrete.

When the engineer looks up to the sky, he has to admit that the blue adds an impressive quality to the dark clouds that obscure the view towards the sun constantly. They look even gloomier than before, but they have a dark beauty indeed. Engie doubts the sniper ever has time to look up when he chases or is chased through Seven´s insane missions.

The campfire outside their base is dying down, only a small flame trying to feed off the scrap they miraculously managed to light. But instead of a warm, orange glow, only faint, blue flickering meets Gromov´s eyes.

In this moment, Engie realizes it: Through the blue glass, the post-apocalyptic world, not friendly in the first place, looks even colder.

oOo

When Engie gets back to the base and puts the goggles down, he feels oddly relieved. He somehow understands Seven´s strange reaction now. He moves over to the couch without trying to be quiet, knowing Snippy is a heavy sleeper.

The sniper is shivering in his sleep. Engie puts the goggles next to Snippy´s head and fetches a blanket to cover him.

He wonders if Snippy has chosen the color of the goggles himself, and what that would say about his personality.

He wonders if Snippy would see the world in a more positive way without them.

At least, it is not called "feeling blue" for nothing.

A. N.: At a convention in berlin, Zaci and me both cosplayed Snippy. After walking around in full costume for a while, Zaci mentioned it is no wonder Snippy is always so depressive, when he sees the world in blue through his goggles the whole day. Those words refused to leave my mind, and so this story idea was born.

Thanks, Zaci :)

temarcia: I´m working on that Annet story, I promise.