#2. would any be interested in comms? I’m not sure if I’m confident enough to start selling my work yet

[ismellbitches]

🗣️THE GIRL !! THE LASS!! THE MAAM!! THE JAY FERIN !!

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Still a WIP, there’s a lot I still might change. If you’re interested, the context of this piece is just Jay spending some downtime with herself after a long day of working on the ship at Canella post ep 97-ish.

[leiainhoth]

Work summary: For so long, Din fought the reality of giving the child up, giving him to the jetii and moving on. He had prepared for it, packed a bag and left it all behind, so his son could have the life he deserved. All until he didn't have to. Or the one where Luke rescues Grogu on Tython, and Din rescues Luke in return.

Chapter summary: Luke and the Mandalorian land on Tatooine and begin making plans for the child's future.

... 

Luke struggled down the ramp of Slave I, his eyes fixed firmly on his feet as the achingly familiar heat of Tatooine enveloped him. Luke knew that Boba Fett was behind him, and Luke desperately hoped that Fett had forgotten the altercation at Jabba's palace all those years ago.

I mean, probably not, Luke thought with a sigh. He was tossed into a sarlacc pit and left for dead. I wouldn't forgive me either.

The Mandalorian descended the ramp, a half step behind. His son, Grogu, blubbered mindless nothings in the way children do. Din nodded and made affirming noises as the child spoke, and the child glowed golden in the force, pleased and relieved to be reunited with his father.

Luke wondered, and couldn't help wondering, whether the Mandalorian knew how much the child spoke. His sentences were simple, but the love was overwhelmingly sincere. The child thanked his father for rescuing him, saving him, and for packing those blue biscuits he loved. Luke smiled, happy to bask in the child's love.

"Thank you," the Mandalorian said to Boba Fett, standing firm and steady despite the heavy load on his back. Fett nodded in affirmation and let them be, boarding the ramp and closing the hatch.

Luke stood by the Mandalorian on the outskirts of Mos Pelgo as Slave I took off, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He was grateful that was over with; he was already mortified by his sudden injury from the troopers. He didn't need Boba Fett, of all people, knowing about it.

Kriff, he wished he had a comm. If he did, Leia and the others could be here in a matter of hours. Even if the Mandalorian's friend had a commlink (and in the more likely occasion that they didn't), he'd be here for some time. He sighed, already dreading it.

Luke looked down, suddenly feeling foolish wearing his flight suit and helmet in the arid landscape. He'd be boiling in no time. Then again, the Mandalorian was dressed in full armour, and he didn't look uncomfortable.

"So Mos Pelgo," Luke said, just for something to say. Mando was quiet; his words were well chosen but sparse just the same. Luke didn't feel… uncomfortable, not really, although he was stuck on Tatooine with a Mandalorian and no way out. His heart ached for Artoo, for his lost ship. It was a piece of junk, but they had survived a lot together. With any luck, he'd be able to repair it whenever they left Tatooine.

If they ever left.

The Mandalorian walked surely, and Luke had to make a funny half-step to catch up. The baby babbled on, snuggling close to his father. The similarities between Grogu and Master Yoda were uncanny; he had never seen another being like them. But the child was strong; despite his stature and age, Grogu was formidable in the force. And there was something about the Mandalorian too, something faint, a fledgling bond Luke struggled to quantify. So far as he knew, the Mandalorian was normal, not a force user or even force sensitive. But it didn't explain it; the child had formed a force bond with his father, somehow. The specifics were hazy, but it felt new and strong, reinforced through love and affection on both sides.

"I have a friend; he's the Marshal of Mos Pelgo," Mando said, slowing down and letting the child drop into a satchel resting at his hip. The child warbled happily, clutching his toy bantha close, and Luke shook his thoughts away. "I don't know if he has a comm, but he'll have lodgings and supplies."

"Uh, good. Thank you,"

Mando looked over at him and tilted his head as if asking an unspoken question. Luke flushed, feeling the Mandalorian's gaze even through his helmet. Had he done something wrong? Had Luke… offended him, somehow?

"I didn't know that there was anything here," Luke said, walking a half step behind, trying to keep out of the Mandalorian's line of sight. "Mos Pelgo's been abandoned for years; it's not even on the maps of Tatooine, last I checked."

The Mandalorian didn't respond, keeping his eye fixed on the tiny settlement as they walked. The outpost was sparse, with huts and houses, livestock and larger houses on the outskirts. Luke had never been out this far before, even as a young man growing up on the outskirts of Mos Eisley. His youth was spent driving decaying speeders with his friends, not exploring ghost towns in the middle of nowhere. Even if they were careful, the threat of being captured by the Sand People and rogues was real enough to keep them moving quickly.

"When I was younger," Luke began. "The pilots and bounty hunters used to tell stories of Mos Pelgo. They said it was cursed,"

Mando didn't respond and instead reached into his belt and retrieved a ration stick, splitting it in half and feeding half to the child, who took it happily. He paused and then offered the second half to Luke.

"Thanks," Luke said, taking it. He went to take a bite but hesitated. The Mandalorian was taller than he was, certainly broader; when was the last time he had eaten something?

There was nothing to it; he could wait— certainly, this Marshal would have food for them in town. Luke broke his piece in half and offered it back. Luke could tell that the Mandalorian was hesitating; other than Boba Fett, his companion was the only other Mandalorian he had met. Perhaps he had eaten while Luke was unconscious, but somehow he doubted it.

"I can't remove my helmet in front of others," The Mandalorian said, tilting his chin towards Luke. "It's part of my creed,"

"Oh, I didn't know that," Luke said, strangely abashed. "I'm sorry for insinuating—"

"You didn't know," the Mandalorian said curtly.

They walked in silence, and Luke felt extraordinarily exposed. Other than his lightsaber (which he had found near him when he came to in the hold of  Slave I),  he was wearing a very public declaration of his allegiances in a particularly unfortunate colour. Who was this Marshal? What had Luke got himself into?

He didn't know this Mandalorian; he didn't know his son. Leia was hounding him to be more mistrustful of strangers, but there was something about him that Luke couldn't shake. Grogu was strong, stronger perhaps than Luke himself had been when old Ben taught him all those years ago.

Luke nodded, just for something to do. The binary sun's heat after so long in hyperspace was shocking. He felt perspiration on his forehead and wiped it off with the back of his hand. It had been years since he had been on Tatooine, the day that he, Leia and Chewie had rescued Han from carbonite was the last time he had set foot on his home planet. It wasn't like he hadn't considered coming back; it was where his father was born, where Luke himself had spent his childhood years. There were ghosts here, and Luke couldn't bring himself to think of Owen and Beru, their hastily dug graves and abandoned farm. There was so much he hadn't known then, how foolish he had been to take off after a droid with nothing to defend himself!

Ben had saved the day, but his aunt and uncle had died anyway. Their deaths were on Luke's head, whether he acknowledged them or not.

Luke scarfed down his ration and took a shaky breath. There was no use in resurrecting old memories; what was done is done; even a Jedi couldn’t change the past.

The town grew ever closer, and the view of Mos Pelgo was bleak, smaller by Mos Eisley and Mos Espa. A singular street, by the looks of it; a small town with folks of all sorts sitting in the shade, moving throughout the market and the cantina.

Wait, Luke said, tilting up his visor for a closer look. No, it couldn't be!

"Are those Sand People?" Luke asked the Mandalorian, unable to believe his eyes. "In the town?"

"Lower your voice, jetii," the Mandalorian said under his breath, taking Luke's upper arm and guiding him through the street.

Citizens and Sand People alike had somehow settled together, speaking both Basic and the strange hawking grunts of the Sand People, gesticulating all the while. Luke didn't know where to look, the Sand People were everywhere, and Luke was all but defenceless. The Mandalorian had a child; how could he be so calm?

But the Sand People didn't seem to be interested in them. Speeders and bantha's hitched to posts dug into the sand waited along the road, and the citizens of Mos Pelgo went about their business almost as if Luke and his companions didn't exist.

"Mando!" a voice cried out. Luke turned his head, one hand on his lightsaber when a man exited the cantina. He was older, Luke supposed, with a flap of greying hair and a smile on his face. He held himself with a sort of confidence that Luke had long ago recognized in his sister, the air of a leader.

This must be the Marshal.

"It's good to be seeing you again," the Marshal said, shaking the Mandalorian's hand. The baby cooed, and Luke's eyes bulged as the Marshal reached a hand into the satchel and ran a hand over the child's ears. "Not many visitors to these parts," he said as if nothing was amiss. Luke himself had only known the child for less than a day, but this nearness frightened him. Luke's eyes still swam, buzzed from his head injury. If a fight was coming, he didn't know if he could defend all three of them.

"I'm looking for lodging," the Mandalorian said, "and a comm, if you have one. My ship has been destroyed."

"That's a real shame," the Marshal said, seemingly looking over at Luke for the first time. "The Crest was a real treasure."

There was a pause, and Mando stepped aside, leaving Luke alone.

"And who might you be?" the Marshal asked, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Luke. "You don't see too many rebellion pilots around here,"

Luke swallowed. "Just Luke."

"Well, just Luke," the Marshal said. "You and your Mando here are welcome to stay as long as you need. I'm sorry to admit that we have nothing in the way of a communication array, too far away from Mos Eisley, as we are. That being said, there are speeders and bantha's, and you can make use of the facilities over there. We have a caravan leaving in that direction in three days' time."

"Raiders?" the Mandalorian asked, and the Marshal nodded.

"And bandits. Been a real uptick in scavengers and bounty hunters in these parts since you left, Mando," the Marshal said, shifting his feet in the sand. "Now that we have a treaty with the Tuskens, one problem is solved, but another came along to replace it. We could use your help if you'd be obliged."

The Mandalorian nodded, and the pair walked into the cantina.

Luke followed at a distance, uneasy even with the Marshal's talk of a treaty. The Sand People were vicious and merciless; in his youth, Luke had almost been killed by them more than once. Their presence here made Luke distinctly uncomfortable, and he kept a hand on his sabre without truly thinking about it.

The cantina's air was cooler, and the conversations of patrons quieted immediately as the Mandalorian cleared the threshold. Luke straightened his back and walked in behind him, trying to remind himself that he had nothing to fear. If anything, more eyes were on the Mandalorian than him.

And he was a Jedi; he could handle it. Whatever was to come.

The company varied, the barkeep was a Weequay, by the looks of it, but most others were human. Or human-esque, anyway. There were both men and women, wearing the achingly familiar look of farmers and miners; with rough clothes and sun-worn faces. There were children also, some twenty in all.

"Rebel scum," a woman spit out from a table near him, her eyes narrowing with hatred.

"I'm just—"

"Leave him be, Agatha," the Marshal said, patting the woman on the back. She grumbled, sitting back down. "He's just a little lost, is all. We'll have them both sorted in no time,"

The woman scoffed, and Luke tried to hide how shaky he was, feeling exceedingly foolish in his flight suit and bright white helmet.

"Just here," the Marshal said, leading him and the Mandalorian to a table. His companion sat and pulled the child out of his satchel, letting the baby settle on his lap.

"A drink, I reckon," the Marshal continued, smiling at the bartender as they approached. "But none for Mando, thank you, Weequay,"

The barkeep nodded, leaving two glasses and a glass bottle of bright blue spotchka on the rickety table before leaving.

"Lodgings are easy," the Marshal said, pouring two healthy measures of spotchka and pushing a glass towards Luke. "I've an empty house, as a matter of fact. Just up the road. You'd be welcome to it,"

The Mandalorian nodded, and Luke fiddled with his glass, wishing he had something to offer, something kind to say. The day had been a mess, and Luke felt very much so on the back foot. This wasn't a world he was used to. Over the years, the name Skywalker and its associations with the rebellion and the Jedi order had followed him like a shadow, but here, he was an enemy.

He was decommissioned, of course. The war was over. But some still referred to him as a commander, those who had known his father and had comments to share about his service. But that was on the core worlds, on Chandrila and Coruscant and Naboo. Civilized places with ties to the New Republic. Tatooine was different; it was his home planet. He hailed from here; his grandmother, his aunt and uncle were buried here. There would always be something that brought him back, even if the memories had soured with time.

He may be a Jedi, a commander and squadron leader in the alliance, but he would always be that farm boy from nowhere on Tatooine, and a small part of him resented it.

And it couldn't be clearer to whom he belonged, from whom he drew his allegiance. The symbol of the rebellion was painted on his helmet, and the orange flight suit of the rebellion pilots was recognizable even in the middle of nowhere.

"What's the job?" Mando asked, letting the child hold his finger with his clawed hand, looking down with what Luke suspected to be affection as the child chewed on his glove.

"Not a job, a favour," the Marshal said. "You did this town a great service, killing the krayt dragon. We're thankful, grateful, is being more like it. Tensions have settled between the Tuskens and my people. We live in peace, and we want to keep it that way,"

The Mandalorian nodded, his face impassive and blank beneath his helmet.

"But we'd appreciate the help, just the same," the Marshal said. "Raiders have been stripping our equipment, threatening our citizens. It isn't a job, but a Mandalorian invites a certain amount of… well, let's just say they'll be sure to stay away with you close by. I'd welcome the help; one man can only do so much. You've left an impression,"

"And the child?"

"He'll be taken care of," the Marshal assured him. "We've a school; he'll be well looked after,"

There was a pause, and Luke jumped to fill it.

"I can… watch him," Luke said, turning to the Mandalorian. "Begin to assess him for lessons. If—if you're okay with that,"

The Mandalorian nodded and then looked down at the child in his lap. "Thank you,"

Luke smiled, taking a sip of his drink. Finally, he had done something right.

"There isn't much in the way of comfort in Mos Pelgo," the Marshal said, leaning back in his chair and settling his boots on the table. "But until the caravan leaves, you and your child'll be seen to. He and your… friend,"

"Luke," he said, not quite sure how to quantify their relationship either. He wasn't the child's teacher, not yet. He had only met the Mandalorian a few hours ago. They were nothing to one another but thrust together, nonetheless.

"Luke," the Marshal affirmed, nodding at him. Luke downed the rest of his drink in one, already uncomfortable with where this conversation was going. "We'll bring you to Mos Eisley when the caravan departs, I'd be happy to escort you, but Mando here can handle himself," the Marshal said, slapping a hand on his companion's shoulder.

The Mandalorian snorted, amused, somehow.

"But enough chatter," the Marshal continued, shooting his drink back as well before standing. "I'll show you to your quarters."

Continued 

[duhragonball]

Hellsing Liveblog Ch. 7-10

This is the “Dead Zone” arc, featuring Luke and Jan Valentine.

This arc is set around... uh, September 3rd-ish, I think.   By now, Hellsing has had time to investigate this recent uptick in vampire incidents, and she calls a meeting of the “Convention of Twelve” to discuss her findings.   This group represents the heads of various important agencies, political leaders, and noblemen, and the manga states that they “essentially” run the British Empire.    I’m not sure how to read that, exactly.  Kouta Hirano appears to be establishing one of two things:

1) Parliament Shmarliament, everything is really controlled by this secret group of oligarchs sitting at a table.

or

2) This is a collection of all the big wheels in British society, so they might as well be calling the shots even if they aren’t a true governing body. 

I’m not terribly concerned about which one it is, since we left real-world Great Britain behind a long time ago.    The Hellsing U.K. seems to put a lot more power in the monarchy, for example.    Also there’s friggin’ draulas runnin’ around everwhere. 

Anyway, Integra reveals that the vampires they’ve been killing lately all have microchips installed in their bodies.  She says the chips “define the vampire’s status, behavior, intent, and aggression.”   I don’t know if that means outright control or a more subtle manipulation.    It might exaplain why the couple in Chapter 3 weren’t exactly being subtle.

Moreover, these vampires haven’t been following the conventional rules laid down back in Chapter 1.   Vampire bites can turn a person into another vampire, but only if the victim is a virgin.   Otherwise, they turn into ghouls.   Destroying the head vampire will destroy all the ghouls he’s created.    But that hasn’t been happening.    The couple in Chapter 3 killed a lot of children, but they all became ghouls.   And in Badrick, Anderson killed the vampire, but the ghouls remained active long enough for Alucard and Seras to fight them.  

At least, that’s what Integra is saying.   We never actually saw any ghouls in Chapter 3, and Anderson killed the vampire in Badrick off-panel, so we don’t know the exact timing.    But I’ll take Integra’s word for it.   

Something that got lost along the way was the matter of what happens to Seras if someone managed to kill Alucard.   According to Chapter 1, she’d die immediately, but we never actually see that play out, and Seras is the only vampire created by another vampire in this story.   We never see ghouls die en masse, either, because there’s never a situation where their master dies first, and the ghouls we see from here on out are these rule-breaking microchippy kind anyway.    

Never mind that shit, here comes the Seras part.   Walter has replaced her bed with a coffin.    Apparently she had a bed in this dank-ass dungeon, and then one day Integra got a wild hair and decided “Oh, yeah, she should be sleeping in a vampire bed.”     She’s been a vampire for like two months now.    I feel bad for Walter, having to lug that big-ass bed down here, only to have to take the damn thing right back out.   He must have known it was going to end this way.   You’d think he would have said something before.  

Seras hates this idea, but Walter relays a second order, one from Alucard: Seras has to sleep in the coffin.   Well, that seems kind of redundant, but I guess Seras might have tried to sleep on the floor or something instead.    The main thing I find interesting about this is that Seras is mostly irritated by Integra ordering the coffin, but she takes it much more seriously when Alucard is mentioned.  

According to Walter, since Seras hasn’t drunk any blood, her powers will weaken... unless she sleeps in a coffin lined with soil from her birthplace.   So maybe it’s an either/or deal.   Integra was fine with Seras using a big girl bed because she assumed Seras would be drinking blood.  But without it, she has to use a coffin, or she’ll be no good to the team.   And after two months, it’s become clear that Seras has no intention of drinking blood, even bags of donated blood, like the one Alucard snacked on in Badrick.

Even Seras doesn’t know exactly why she won’t do it, which Alucard finds baffling.    If this was a dealbreaker for her, she should have just died as a human in Cheddar.  

But Al isn’t entirely unsympathetic either.    His words are harsh, but they’re the truth: Seras is a vampire now, and there’s no going back.  She keeps trying to resist this, but it’s already happened.   Denial will only make this more painful for her.   I think that’s part of the reason he offered his own blood to her in Badrick.   I mean, there weren’t a lot of other options, but from an ethical standpoint, drinking Alucard’s blood seems reasonable, since it won’t kill him.    The unspoken sentiment here is: Listen, I know this is difficult for you, and I’ll try to make this as easy as possible, but you need to do this and there’s no way around it.    But even that doesn’t seem to work, and Alucard’s in no particular hurry, so he’s willing to table the matter.   Which I suppose is how the coffin thing came about in the first place.

Walter also takes this moment to give the vampires their new guns.    Alucard wanted something special for the next time he tangles with Alexander Anderson.    Recall that Al already has a special cosmogun with an infinite supply of magic bullets, and he shot Anderson in the face and it didn’t stop him.    So Walter builds him “The Jackal”, which is basically the same as his first gun, only even bigger and with a black finish.   It also says “Jesus Christ is in Heaven Now”, which drives me nuts because I don’t know if that’s like a message to Anderson, or just some random thing.    Kouta Hirano puts these nonsense religious slogans all over Hellsing, and I’m pretty sure he’s just doing it for effect, and not particularly concerned over whether there’s any religious significance to the words.   

As for Seras, she gets a giant bazooka-looking think called the Harkonnen, named after a Dune character.   One of these days I want to sit down and read Dune.   I kind of feel guilty that I haven’t already, because then I could be writing this and get all excited for this moment.   “HOLY SHIT!! IS THAT MOTHERFUCKING DUNE REFERENCE?!”  Instead I’m like, ho-hum, yes it is.

Let’s move on.    This arc is about the Valentine Brothers, two vampires who take the fight to Hellsing instead.   They have a small army of ghouls, and their plan is to just drive up in a tour bus and storm the gate.   Ghouls are mindless, zombie-like monsters, but apparently they can work a gun well enough, and Hellsing never imagined an enemy would try such a thing.

As soon as Integra finds out about this, she tries to evacuate the Twelve, but their helicopter gets destroyed, cutting off any chance of escape.   Then Jan (pronounced “Yon” by the way), calls her on the comm system and threatens to kill them all.  

So Integra calls Walter, who already knows what’s happening.   Um, how?   I feel like the anime explained this better.   Maybe Jan’s profanity-laden threats were on a public-address system instead of just for the conference room.   But it sure looks like Walter’s just chilling out in a windowless, underground room.   But he already knows there’s no hope of reinforcements arriving to save them.   He proposes himself and Seras using the ventilation shafts to get to the coference room, where they can defend the twelve, while Alucard can go on the offensive.

Alucard is amused to hear that Walter is going back into action, and calls him “Angel of Death”.    We’ll come back to that.

So Walter’s pretty much on top of things here.    No one ever considered anything like this happening before.    Hellsing is supposed to be a secret organization, so a vampire shouldn’t know to come here in the first place.    Moreover, no one dreamed that a vampire would plan it out so well, using ghouls in a military fashion.     But he’s optimistic about their chances for survival, because...

Walter has super powers.    Specifically, he has these magic wires he can use to bind and slice up his enemies, and this makes short work of the Valentines’ ghouls.   He then repeats Jan’s taunts back at him.   Okay, so I guess Walter did hear Jan’s message from earlier. 

The problem I always had with this development was that it seemed awfully convenient for Walter to have super powers.    But then, it took me a while to catch on to Anderson having super powers, and he took a bullet to the face.    I think the conceit of the Hellsing world is that these “anti-freak” organizations have to have super-powered operatives, so they use secret techniques and alchemy or whatever to empower men like Walter and Anderson.   It’s really not that hard to swallow.

Except that the first vampire-hunter we meet in Hellsing is Alucard, who is himself a vampire. So it seemed like the whole point was that he was the best suited for the job because he had the raw power to do it.   Integra doesn’t seem to have any powers, and neither do any of the rank-and-file Hellsing operatives who get mowed down by the Valentines’ ghouls.   So it always confused me for Walter to just go “Wassup, I have powers too.”   But it only makes sense for Hellsing to have more than one card to play.    Clearly, Walter used to hunt vampires on  the regular before he retired to become a butler.

Between Walter’s wires and Seras’ giant gun, they manage to subdue Jan easily enough, but he reveals he has a partner, Luke, whose job is to tackle the second half of their mission: to destroy Alucard.   Let’s check in on him...

Yeah.    I was thinking about doing a blow-by-blow of this fight, but it’s kind of pointless.    Luke talks a big game, and seems confident that he’s on a higher level than the vampires Alucard has been fighting recently, and for a hot minute, even Alucard believes that he might be a worthy adversary, “above even a ‘Category A’ vampire,” so he releases his “control art restriction,” to “Level 1″.  

I guess I should back up and explain this.    Alucard, like all overpowered anime characters, can hold back his full power and reveal it in stages.   For some reason he has to announce that he’s doing this, like Windows 10 describing it’s own updating.   Presumably, there’s a Level 4 where he usually operates, and that was enough for him to fight Luke evenly.    But here, we see him jump all the way to Level 1, which allows him to turn into some shadowy form with lots of eyes and two dog heads.  

Also, centipedes.  The point is, this is all stuff Luke can’t do.   He’s more of a “super speed gun-shooting” kind of vampire, so he’s immediately outclassed.    Alucard’s dog form eats Luke and that’s the end of him.... OR IS IT? 

Meanwhile, Jan’s ghoul army is beaten, but he still has reinforcements in the form of all the Hellsing soldiers they killed earlier.   These men rise up as new ghouls and chase down Seras while Jan makes a break for the conference room where the Twelve are holed up.    Walter tries to catch Jan, but only manages to rip off one of his arms.   He makes it to the door, only to find...

Integra and the others all have guns, and they shoot him down.  

All Jan has left now is his second wave of ghouls, except Seras manages to overwhelm them.   At first, she was panicking, but then she freaks out and goes feral on them, to the point where Integra has to jump in and order her to stop.   When she does, she seems to have no idea what just happened.    This is mostly overshadowed by the sheer horror of Hellsing’s soldiers being reduced to the undead.  

All that’s left is Jan, who refuses to talk.    He has the same microchip implants as the previous vampires, and the people who sent him are monitoring him in real-time, which means they know he failed, and they can make him self-destruct before he can tell Hellsing anything.  As he dies, Jan flips them all off and gives them one word of information: “Millennium.”

After that, Integra tasks Walter with destroying the remaining Hellsing ghouls, until Sir Irons, one of the Twelve reminds Integra that this is the duty of a commander.   As Hellsing’s C.O., it’s her responsibility, so she agrees and starts shooting the ghouls in the head.   

Meanwhile, Jan’s mysterious overseers talk amongst themselves, and their leader calls for them to resume their “research”.   As devastating as this attack on Hellsing was, for Millennium, this was merely a test.   

[redrobinhoods]

Age of Heroes | Chapter 1, Together

AO3 Link | 2100 words (approx) | Prologue, Chapter 2

Chapter summary: Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka are approached by a familiar face with a request for vengeance.

“We’ll be fine as long as we stay together.” – Obi-Wan Kenobi

The clones moved through the fallen ranks of droids, occasionally stopping to blast or otherwise incapacitate still functioning droid units. In the midst of them stood two stationary clones, one adorned in blue, the other in gold. Despite the smoke in the air and the smell of burnt flesh and circuits it was as close to peace as the officers had had in weeks.

“Thanks for the assist, Rex. It’s always a pleasure to fight with the 501st.”

“The pleasure is ours, Cody. Whatever it takes.” The unspoken words hung in the air. Whatever it takes to win, to save clone lives, to protect the Republic. But those three couldn’t coexist. Sometimes they would be lucky, and their victories were won with minimal casualties. More often, duty and the Republic came first. The clones were disposable. If even the Jedi could be discarded for the Republic, the clones were just ornaments to be marveled at and thrown away when the novelty has worn off.

Cody nodded. “Whatever it takes.”

Nearby, three Jedi stood looking towards Yerbana City. Two human males dressed in robes, one in black and one in white, and one togruta female, also dressed in black, wearing a loose tunic over a bodysuit not unlike that of the clones.

“What do you think is next?” Ahsoka Tano looked away from the city to Anakin Skywalker.

“I don’t know, Snips.” Anakin turned from the city, back towards the battleground on the bridge. In the smoke he could just make out the shapes of two men standing side-by-side in the carnage. “The men need to rest. We never anticipated the Outer Rim Sieges would last this long.”

“It is a siege, Anakin.” Obi-Wan Kenobi turned to follow his former padawan’s gaze. “Though I wouldn’t pass up a drink at Dex’s Diner right now.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but neither would I.” Anakin scoffed. He bent over slightly to elbow Ahsoka’s arm. “Might even slip you something under the table.”

“Anakin-.” Obi-Wan was cut off by the beep from Anakin’s comm. Anakin answered with triumphant glee.

“Skywalker here. What is it, Admiral?”

“Sir, we’ve just received a transmission from,” the Admiral Yularen paused to find the right words, “a person of interest. You had best take this transmission here in person.”

“We’ll be there shortly, Admiral.” Anakin turned to Ahsoka as Obi-Wan walked away to hail a gunship. “Guess that drink will have to wait.”

“I’ll hold you to that, Master.”

Captain Rex watched the LAAT/i take off, its door sealing around three unmistakable beings.

“Don’t get comfy, Codes. I think we just got our next assignment.”

Cody turned to follow Rex’s gaze. “I think you may be right, old boy. I have a feeling we’re not going to see each other for a while.”

---

The three Jedi moved quickly from the hanger to the briefing room, the padawan trailing slightly behind the two knights to accommodate the clones and officers rushing around the Venator.

The briefing room doors hadn’t fully opened when Anakin spoke. “All right, Admiral. What’s so important you brought us all the way back here?”  

Yularen gestured to the holotable, where three Mandalorians were displayed, each in the distinct armor of Death Watch.

“You-.“ Ahsoka started, interrupted by Obi-Wan, who lay a hand on her shoulder.

“Lady Bo-Katan.” Obi-Wan stepped forward graciously. “To what do we owe this pleasure?”

“I have urgent information for you.” Bo-Katan removed her helmet and turned towards the Jedi. “The Nite Owls and I have located the renegade Sith Lord, Maul. If we move swiftly, I believe we can capture him.”

“How did you come by this information?” Obi-Wan’s calm voice betrayed none of his racing thoughts.

“We have been tracking Maul’s movement for several months. One of my people was able to obtain some transmission codes from the Pykes on Oba Diah, which helped us pinpoint some of his previous locations. And now, we know that Maul is on Mandalore in the city of Sundari.”

Anakin and Obi-Wan exchanged a look. Obi-Wan turned back first. “You’re certain of this?”

“He arrived two days ago.”

“So why not take him yourself?” Ahsoka cut in from behind her masters. “You know where he is.”

Bo-Katan’s scowl morphed into a look of shame. “I don’t have the numbers needed for a siege.” The Jedi generals had expected as such, and Obi-Wan gave a small nod for her to continue. “Without a complete lockdown of the city, Maul will escape again. That’s why I’m proposing a joint operation. If we are successful, you’ll have Maul and I’ll have Mandalore.”

Obi-Wan raised his hand to stroke his beard “If Republic forces aid you in your assault it will break treaties that are 100 years old. We will effectively be drawn into yet another war.”

Bo-Katan shrugged. “What’s one more?”

“Well,” Anakin cut in this time, “we’re not finished with our first one yet.”

“I will advise the Jedi Council of this development.” Obi-Wan took a step back from the hologram. “We need to be sure of our decision on this matter.”

“There’s no time!”  Bo-Katan slammed a fist down into the palm of her other hand. “Maul’s influence on Mandalore is destroying my people. He murdered my sister! I thought she meant something to you.”

“She did,” Obi-Wan’s expression fell for a moment before he regained his composure, “and still does. But I cannot allow my feelings to cloud my judgment. The Council will decide what our course of action will be. I will inform you of our decision in due time.”

“Maul will have escaped long before your council reaches a decision! Mandalore needs action, now!” The hologram faded and the room was left in silence.

“Master Kenobi, with all due respect, shouldn’t finding Maul be a priority right now?” Ahsoka stepped out of the shadows of the room to join her superior officers at the holotable. “We believe that there is a Sith Lord in the Senate. Wouldn’t Maul know who this Sith is and his goal? This is an opportunity that we can’t afford to miss.”

Obi-Wan sighed and smiled ruefully at Ahsoka. “I agree with you, Ahsoka. But this matter is clouded by the dark side of the force. We need to be certain that this invasion will be worth the risk. The Council must consider the matter before we take any action.”

“Of course, Master Kenobi.” Ahsoka sighed after the Jedi master left the room. She had no faith in the supposed wisdom of the Jedi Council. Not anymore.

Ahsoka was still unsure if rejoining the Order had been the right choice. Perhaps it had been one made out of fear, fear of the unknown world outside of the Order and the war. She would’ve lost everything. Not just her lightsaber and her rank, but her friends; Anakin, Obi-Wan, Rex, hell- the entire 501st. She would have never found the courage to look Rex in the eye and tell him that she was walking away. Not when she would see his face every day in the clones around the galaxy. Not after all they’d been through.

Anakin lay his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it softly. “I hope this isn’t about that drink.”

Ahsoka forced a small smile. “It’s not, Master. I’m just,” she stopped to find the right words, “concerned about the ability of the Council to make the right decision.”

“Obi-Wan will convince them.” He said it so confidently that Ahsoka believed him. He had never lied to her or hidden his thoughts. After her return to the Order, he had strived with her to find the peace that she needed to feel at home again. He had been the one to suggest her new robes. Still unconventional, some Jedi found black to be a troublesome color for a Jedi, but they reminded her of Anakin and the clones. The bodysuit had been specifically modified for her from one that the 501st had donated when the subject came up in their presence. Maybe the Council had betrayed her, but Anakin and the clones had always stood up for her. Even outside of the 501st. She had received apologies from Fox and Wolffe, though while she was sure that Wolffe’s was genuine, her own apology to him certainly was, she had a feeling that Rex had contributed to Fox’s. Or perhaps Cody, who was the man’s batchmate and the only clone officer in her immediate circle that had acted like nothing had changed between them. Maybe it hadn’t. He’d never hunted her down like the others. Though she had seen him try to deck Fox once at a military dinner after she had been restored as a padawan. That had also been the only time she’d seen Rex drink, and she wondered if the events were related.

“Of course, Master.” She followed Anakin and Admiral Yularen out of the briefing room and onto the bridge of the Venator. While the men discussed the battle and what lay in store for them, she walked over to the windows and watched the parade of gunships returning to the cruisers. One stream returning to her cruiser carrying the 501st, the other stream returning to the cruiser beside them carrying the 212th. She stayed at the window even after the lines of ships had ended, turning her gaze down to the planet below and letting her mind wander.

“How are you feeling, Commander?” Rex. She hadn’t noticed his arrival on the bridge, but she was certain he’d been there long enough to know what was being discussed. She could tell him that she was doing fine, even well, but he would’ve known that it was a lie. He’d told her once that the tips of her lekku twitched when she was lying. She didn’t believe him anymore. When she was younger, she’d try to hide her lekku when she was about to lie to him. She’d been awed at how Rex always seemed to know anyways, and a little ashamed when she realized why later. She’d move on from that now to believe that he just always knew. Maybe Jango Fett had been a mind-reader, more likely it was the Force. While the clones were not Force users, there had been many times where Ahsoka was sure that they were at least sensitive to it; knowing a brother had been hurt or died, beginning to execute orders before the command was given, the way Rex always knew when she was hurting.

“I feel uncertain, Rex. Why would Maul emerge from hiding now? And if the Jedi Council doesn’t approve an attack against him, what will he do? He must have a plan.”

Rex sighed. “I don’t have the answers, sir. But I believe that we will find out soon.”

“What do you mean?” Rex turned towards the back of the bridge and Ahsoka looked just in time to see the closed doors open to reveal a satisfied Obi-Wan.

“The attack on Mandalore has been approved.” Obi-Wan had just paused for a breath when a clone shot up from the command console.

“Sir! Grievous is attacking the capitol, he’s attacking Coruscant. General Shaak Ti is being dispatched to protect the Chancellor, but they need reinforcements!”

“How long until we can be there?” Anakin moved onto the command walkway to look down into the pits of the bridge.

“Within the hour, sir.” Another clone.

Anakin turned back to Obi-Wan. “You go to Mandalore, we’ll take care of Grievous. With any luck, this will all be over soon, and we can join you.”

Obi-Wan shook his head almost imperceptibly. “There’s no such thing as luck.”

“Good thing I taught Ahsoka better.” 

Obi-Wan smiled and turned to depart. 

“Obi-Wan.” Anakin called after him. Obi-Wan stopped and looked back. “May the Force be with you.”

“Goodbye, old friend. May the Force be with you.” And with that, Obi-Wan departed the bridge.

“Admiral Yularen, set a course for Coruscant. We leave as soon as Obi-Wan’s shuttle is clear.” Anakin walked to the end of the walkway to stand beside Ahsoka and Rex. All too soon, the stars outside the transparisteel began to blur as they entered hyperspace.

---

An hour later, two starfighters streaked over Coruscant. One yellow-grey, the other maroon-white. Only two, but two was enough. They dodged in and out of the debris, taking out a number of Buzz droids and Vulture droids, before coming to a stop in the hanger bay of the Invisible Hand.

In Coruscant’s atmosphere, gunships would bring the jetpack troopers of the 501st to the aid of citizens floundering in the aftermath of the attack and the weakened Coruscant Guard. Captain Rex would lead the effort to destroy all remaining droids as Commander Fox dealt with the civilian casualties.

Far away from Coruscant, a Venator pulled out of hyperspace over Mandalore. The hanger bay doors slide open, and gunships carrying the 212th Attack Battalion swarmed out of the ship towards the planet.

The end of the Clone Wars had begun.

[amphtaminedreams]

Filling the Met Shaped Hole (No, Not Like That): The Best Red Carpet Looks of Awards Season 2020

Hi to anyone reading,

I want to jump straight into things and ask a question. Which is the best Met Gala theme of the last 5 years and why is it Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination?

Seriously though, despite the fact that I’m not sure anything will top Heavenly Bodies with the preceding and succeeding Met Galas being relatively disappointing (the camp theme definitely could have been taken further and lets not even talk about the Comme Des Garcons disaster), I still get excited for the gala every year, staying up til whatever hour of the morning so I can see all the fashion live. Of course, it makes complete sense that this year’s event has been postponed until October given the circumstances but the chosen theme of Fashion and Duration had the potential to be quite interesting, so I hope we do eventually get to see it; whilst I don’t miss endlessly scrolling through photos of every white male celebrity wearing the exact same suit and tie to the point where fangirls claim Harry Styles to be a pioneer of breaking gender norms because he wore a pink top, I long for the days where we could all temporarily coexist in peace and harmony thanks to the internet’s collective dragging of the Kardashians for paying no attention to the theme whatsoever. We should’ve guessed life as we know it was about to be flipped on its head when they actually turned up in something interesting last year.

What I’m trying to say is that I would love nothing more than to jump back in time to when tomorrow morning’s top Google search would be best Met Gala looks, and not how many lives did Boris Johnson’s fuckery cost us today. So in honour of the lack of trivial content, I thought I’d fill the Met shaped hole in our lives (amongst many other unfilled holes; today the freezer door at work hit me on the ass whilst I was putting ice cubes out and I think for a split second I got all flushed) by putting together a collection of my personal favourite red carpet looks from this year’s awards season and their respective afterparties: the BAFTAs, Brits, Critic’s Choice Awards, Golden Globes, Oscars, SAG Awards, and the Grammys to finish with.

Enjoy!

British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award (yes, that’s the BAFTAs but I needed a longer title)

(L-R: Zoe Kravitz in Dior, Rooney Mara in Givenchy, and Scarlett Johansson in Versace)

I am a British fan of television and arts but I will gladly say it: of all the awards ceremonies, the BAFTAs is hardly the most exciting, and the red carpet even less so. As I said, lots of boring men in boring suits and middle aged women being dressed by stylists who seem to think we’re dead from the neck down by the time we hit 40 and dress us accordingly so. Any hint of a décolletage explicitly forbidden.

There were a few good looks, however. From left to right, above we have Zoe Kravitz in Dior, Rooney Mara in Givenchy and Scarlett Johansson in Versace, who looks so amazing I almost forget that 1). Versace is going down the drain and 2). Scarlett Johansson would stand in front of a forest and take the role of a tree if she could. Which, along with her whole defence of Woody Allen, is really shit-she’s genuinely great in Marriage Story and an otherwise talented actress. As for Zoe Kravitz, she is up there with Robert Pattison as one of my biggest crushes right now and looks amazing in literally everything she wears, and Rooney Mara is consistently low-key yet elegantly dressed. 

(L-R: Greta Gerwig in Gucci, Florence Pugh in Dries Van Noten, Renee Zellweger in Prada)

Renee Zellweger proved an exception to the rule when it came to women over the age of 40 generally having clueless stylists-her dress is beautiful, very reminiscent of the delicate, demure beauty of 50s icons such as Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn. Florence’s dress, I actually really loved. It didn’t seem to go down all too well with actual Florence Pugh fans but red and pink together is an elite combo; I’m still firmly on the “surprised that it works but I’m into it” train. I mainly included Greta’s dress for the green velvet, to be honest; it’s disappointingly low-key for Gucci but nice enough all the same.

(L-R: Andrew Scott in Paul Smith, Charlize Theron in Dior, Daisy Ridley in Oscar de la Renta, and Emilia Clarke in Schiaparelli)

I was particularly excited to see Emilia Clarke in Schiaparelli-yes, I adore her because she played Daenerys Targaryen and I was ride or die for that bitch but also whenever I see her interviewed she has the most exuberant energy and honestly I want to be best friends. It’s not the most interesting dress Schiaparelli has ever put out there, but I like the fact that she went for something unique all the same.

Forest green is a colour I find hard to resist which is why I included Andrew Scott’s otherwise kinda basic suit (points for it being velvet) and Daisy Ridley in Oscar de la Renta. As elegant as the dress is, I would love for her stylist to have really leaned into the forest nymph vibes I’m getting and do something a bit less uptight with the hair and makeup; like imagine loose curls with tiny braids and hair rings and a dark lip and a slight smoke around the eye and...yes, I have very specific visions, I know. As for Charlize Theron, her work with Dior is the only reason I care about the brand; there’s definitely a case to be made here for giving Maria Grazia the benefit of the doubt, assuming that she tries all the prototypes on women who look like Charlize and that that’s why she’s happy to send dresses that are otherwise relatively underwhelming down the runway. 

The Brit Awards

(L-R: Charli XCX in Fendi, Ellie Goulding in Koche, Hailee Steinfeld in Fendi, and Harry Styles in Gucci)

In my opinion a much better reflection of quintessential British style than the BAFTAs, I originally ruled out including any music award ceremony red carpets in this post until I saw Maya Jama and Charli XCX’s looks. Consider me pleasantly surprised by Hailee Steinfeld’s cobalt blue burnout dress, a classic incarnation of the regal bohemian aesthetic Fendi channelled in their 2019 haute couture show. Plus Charli’s emo take on Glinda the Good Witch is also Fendi, driving home for me just how much I love their collections. I don’t know if I’d be sure about Ellie Goulding’s dress on the rack but the simple styling makes it work and she looks gorgeous, and Harry Styles looks just as pretty in a Gucci look that is MADE for him.

(L-R: Adwoah Aboah in Vivienne Westwood, Celeste in Gucci on the far right! I’m not sure who the guy in the middle is, I’m sorry and if anybody knows drop me a message and I will correct this immediately!)

Unfortunately, Harry Styles and Celeste didn’t get to pose together because this is really a perfect his and hers Gucci look; I feel like seeing one outfit next to the other would really highlight the quirky elegance of each. That being said, it feels criminal to talk about elegance without including Adwoah Aboah in Vivienne Westwood in the sentence; the dress is obviously stunning quality on its own merit, but Adwoah is what elevates it from unremarkable to ethereal. Fuck the weird ass knight figure that’s currently on top of the Brit Award, this woman is the definition of statuesque! Put her on top of the trophy you cowards!

And just to get it out of the way, when it comes to the guy in the middle, to quote Keke Palmer:

Sorry to this man.

Honestly, I saved all the red carpet photos from a Nylon (I think it was Nylon?) article back when the awards aired and towards the end of the photos they stopped including names-this happened a few times when I was looking through red carpet galleries. I reverse image searched where I could but not every photo turned anything up. If anyone does know who this man is, message me so I can include his name. He looks sick, and as far as suits go, this one is built upon and accessorised enough that it’s actually a look rather than the same old variation of a suit we’ve seen a million times before that may as well be the straight man’s designated red carpet uniform. 

(L-R: Maya Jama, Neh Neh Cherry in Bottega Veneta, Laura Whitmore)

And now the woman that forced me to include the Brits red carpet in this post in the first place: Maya Jama. Don’t get me wrong, my mind isn’t blown by this dress on its own, I probably prefer Laura Whitmore’s (Jaded do a similar newspaper dress and I’ve resisted adding it to my basket for 6 months now, this is the ultimate test of whether or not I finally cave), but Maya looks fucking MAGNIFICENT. The fit, the gloves, the confidence with which she carries it, it’s all SO good. Considering the timing, this is basically her Princess Diana revenge dress levelled up, 2020′s Jessica Rabbit moment. 

(L-R: Maya Jama, Ellie Goulding, Kendall Jenner)

Obviously anything is gonna be a step down from the red carpet look but Maya’s Brits afterparty outfit was cute too, if a tad Pretty Little Thing. 

Don’t ask me what Kendall Jenner was doing at the Brits afterparty btw, because I have no idea. We live in a world where the Kardashian-Jenners just seem to occupy every public space possible and I’ve begrudgingly accepted it at this point. I don’t have the energy to question it-and it helps that green catsuit is actually Very Cool™. 

For the last of my favourite Brit Awards looks, we have a few more afterparty photos-from left to right we have Charli XCX again, Lizzo, and Anne Marie. It was Charli posting her dress on Instagram that sent me searching for afterparty looks in the first place; apparently wearing nothing but feathers and crystals is something that appeals to me, and the more I read that statement, the more it sounds spot-on. I’d categorise it as gothic glamour hoe, and slot it in with the rest of the night-out clothes in my wardrobe that I think I’ll finally have the balls to wear out of sheer desperation once this lockdown is over. The Blossom to Charli XCX’s Buttercup here, we’ve also got Anne Marie looking extra AF and I loveeeee it; it’s an ensemble somewhere between a high-end version of Alaska Thunderfuck’s candyfloss Sugar Ball dress from season 5 of Drag Race (Alaska DID deserve to win AS2 nation, rise up) and a low-key version of a Katy Perry California Dreams Tour costume. I don’t call it low-key as a drag, just a regretful admission of the fact that maybe wearing a cupcake bra which squirts whipped cream out of the boobs is a bit too much for most of us. 

Critic’s Choice Awards

(L-R: Alison Brie in Brandon Maxwell, Chloe Bridges in Azeeza, Cynthia Erivo in Fendi, Florence Pugh in Prada)

I was going to say the Critic’s Choice Awards is kind of America’s version of the BAFTAs but then I remembered that the BAFTAs is really the only big TV and film awards ceremony we have here in the UK and that it’s kind of sad that I have to compare our most high-profile red carpet of the year to L.A’s most low-key one. Getting Cynthia Erivo and Florence Pugh to infiltrate is the best we can do. 

THAT BEING SAID! 

They both look amazing. This is Florence’s best red carpet look of this year, imo (she the prettiest icicle I’ve ever seen), and Cynthia Erivo’s arm must ache from serving the entire awards season. And in Fendi! Taste!

Side note before we move onto the next set of looks: has anybody else watched Alison Brie in Mad Men and Community simultaneously and experienced the extreme cognitive dissonance that comes from watching her play a tragically nerdy (relatable tbh) 18 year old and an overly-sophisticated 30 something married to an ad man in the 60s at the same time? Weird, but anyway! The orange dress with the red lipstick is channelling Marina Diamandis’ Froot era style subtle sex appeal and is a timeless, playful combo. Put the hair up into a beehive and it’s Megan Draper on a date in Cabo-don’t know much about the place but I know the sea is aqua and the sun seekers are blindingly white and the cocktails are plentiful (and whatever colour you want them to be), and all that together is a juicy palette if we’re talking cinematography. The Mad Men directors are out there somewhere shaking their fists at the sky that they never got to consult me on that, I’m sure. 

(L-R: Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Dior, Saoirse Ronan in Erdem and Zendaya in Tom Ford)

Zendaya’s red carpet look was the stand out of the Critic’s Choice Awards for sure; the skirt I can do without but I hope that hot pink metal breastplate ends up on display somewhere because that is ART, and she is the perfect person to wear it. The Tiffany Pollard “she's so powerful” meme was made for this moment. 

Also, can we talk about Phoebe Waller-Bridge backing up my Dior 2019 Haute Couture wasn’t *that* bad hypothesis? Because unless I’m mistaken this is one of the dresses from that collection and it is quite beautiful. Yeah, black mesh isn’t going to start a revolution or anything but it’s so delicate looking it almost seems out of place on a red carpet-I don’t know if it’s the structure of the bodice or the tulle but I can totally see this in a gothic ballet, whether that’s sensible in theory or not. Probably not. But then again I did quit ballet when I was 10 after months of getting people to near poke me in the eye on the way out of class so it would look like I’d been crying and I didn’t have to go to my lessons after school. So what do I know? Fuck all, in case that wasn’t clear. I also feel a little vindicated by Saoirse wearing one of the Erdem dresses I loved from last year’s collection-if multi-award winning actress Saoirse Ronan’s probably ridiculously well-paid stylist liked it enough to pick it out for her then I guess I’m doing okay in terms of taste levels.

(L-R: Olivia Wilde in Valentino, Lucy Hale in Miu Miu, Mandy Moore in Elie Saab, and Margaret Qualley in Chanel)

The last few Critics Choice Awards looks I picked out above aren’t thrilling or anything but they’re cute enough to include-from left to right we have Olivia Wilde in Valentino, Lucy Hale in Miu Miu, Mandy Moore in Elie Saab and Margaret Qualley in Chanel. It’s kind of besides the point, but Margaret worked with Chanel throughout awards season and I just wanted to add my two cents in here and say that I think she’s the perfect person to collaborate with (also think Laura Harrier would be a good match, anyone agree?) and that in a similar vein, I urge Miu Miu, the creative directors of which I’m sure are eagerly awaiting the opinion of irrelevant Tumblr user amphtaminedreams, to work with Lucy Hale more often. I feel like if girl stopped starring in those shitty Blumhouse horrors and did something a bit more sophisticated she’d fit the brand right down to a T.

The Golden Globes

(L-R: Cynthia Erivo in Thom Browne, Dakota Fanning in Dior, Jane Levy in Steven Khalil, and Janina Gavankar in Georges Chakra)

Finally! I hear you cry! A more exciting red carpet! It’s not the Oscars, but celebrity stylists still pulled the big guns for this one, the Golden Globes probably being considered the second most prestigious American awards ceremony of the year. Plus Dakota Fanning was there! Big yay for me! She and Elle can practically do no wrong in my eyes and are probably the only 2 women that could take on Dakota Johnson and Jennifer Lawrence when it comes to established red carpet style. 

Cynthia Erivo did it again, of course, as slick, as dignified and as regal as she was at the Critic’s Choice. The woman really has got this power stance thing locked down; she always seems so cool and confident in everything she wears that the whole getting dressed up to go out out out (we call going to the club going “out out”, but I’d say a red carpet is a slightly bigger deal than my local club with the sticky floors hence the 3rd out) thing looks like second nature.

(L-R: Zoey Deutch in Fendi, Karamo Brown in Grayscale, Lucy Boynton in Louis Vuitton and Kat Graham in Georges Hobeika)

Lucy Boynton was another of my Golden Globes stand outs, and in general is someone who I really look forward to seeing at red carpet events. She (or her stylist, I don’t know how much of a role she plays!) always seems to commit fully to an outfit and sees it as part of a whole concept where the makeup, hair and accessories are equally as important and that is a girl after my own heart. 60s space age empress is the theme here and I’m all about it-well, either that or a feminine editorial take on the tinman from the Wizard of Oz but the former sounds a bit cooler and does way more justice to how good she looks so we’ll go with that. Quick shoutout to Kat Graham too because she looked absolutely radiant. 

(L-R: Shailene Woodley in Balmain, Winnie Harlow in Laquan Smith, and Zoe Kravitz in Saint Laurent)

The trio above I really couldn’t skim over, Winnie Harlow especially; my America’s Next Top Model grudges aside, she consistently turns it out at every event she’s invited to. She’s another woman that wears pieces with such confidence that they look like they were actually made on her body-even if the garment itself isn’t the most breathtaking in the room, she’s the one that draws my attention. Though she’s got these dainty, other-worldly qualities about her, what you’d expect to be a gentle presence is firm and commanding and whilst the sharp drama and glitz of the dress probably helps, that’s just the way Winnie Harlow is naturally, based on her other red carpet appearances. 

Zoe Kravitz is an interesting one because, on the one hand, her looking amazing with that bone structure (I would trade a vital organ to look like that any day) is a given, but it does also seem like she went out of her way to do something a bit different this past awards season. I have always loved her street style for its trademark edge and the androgynous, oversized silhouettes that she leans towards, and the overt femininity of her red carpet dresses is that grungy, skater girl aesthetic completely flipped on its head. It’s cute, and if anyone can pull a dress as kitschy as this off, it’s Zoe. She’s got that just rolled out of bed look we all dream of that screams “I’m over this shit” whereas the rest of us have to rely on dark circles to get the message across. It’s very weird to think that she and Shailene Woodley were in Divergent together, especially since Zoe in particular has changed so much since. 

My main note with Shailene was just that I got excited to see that Balmain dress off the runway-it was one of my favourites from the S/S 2020 collection (IIRC, mostly on the basis that I’m pretty sure it wan’t haute couture), and it looks good! Not wildly good because I’m not sure the fit of the dress is inherently all that flattering, but still good-she makes it work.

(L-R: Taylor Swift in Etro, Sofia Carson in Giambattista Valli and Scarlett Johansson in Vera Wang)

I know a lot of people online didn’t seem to like Taylor Swift’s dress, but she looks cute, imo. I will say that I’m surprised it’s Etro! At first glance I would’ve thought Carolina Herrera or Oscar de la Renta or something along those lines. And predictably, I think Sofia Carson looks flawless. If you’ve read any of my other posts you’re probably sick of hearing it but I really can’t resist anything that is this modern Disney princess, like powder pink layered tulle? Feathers? What did you expect me to say, ew? I think deep down my clothing preferences will always be that of a 9 year old girl and you know what, that’s okay. Sometimes. Well, when it comes to red carpets. That’s when you can kinda get away with it.

(L-R: Bell Powley in Miu Miu, Billy Porter in Alex Vinash, and Charlize Theron in Dior)

There’s a few things worth mentioning when it comes to the above outfits. Firstly, and most importantly, I need to proclaim my love for Billy Porter. No man is doing it like him, honestly. To compare Harry Styles in his pink suits is unfair. The drama and the beauty and the flair that Billy brings every awards ceremony is on another level and that’s all I have to say about that. If you disagree, I’m gonna need a bullet pointed essay-I am that firm in my opinion.

Second, Bell Powley in Miu Miu semi confirms the direction their PR team tend to head in when choosing women to work with. I might be totally alone here but I feel like she and Lucy Hale both have one of those porcelain doll faces which work really well with Miu Miu’s signature girlish silhouettes and overly-ornate details. 

And thirdly, just to restate my earlier point: someone give Charlize Theron a pat on the back for bringing some life to a Dior design. That is all.

(L-R: Jodie Comer in Mary Katrantzou, Joey King in Schiaparelli and Kaitlyn Dever in Valentino)

All the newcomers really turned it out too, which is a sentence I type through gritted teeth; to call Jodie Comer of My Mad Fat Diary origins a newcomer pains the former depressing 2013 black and white Tumblr user in me, though I suppose to the US audiences uncultured in the ways of British teenage angst Vilanelle is her breakthrough role. And how Vilanelle is this dress too!? It’s bold and it’s attention-grabbing and it’s fun and it is definitely very theatrical female fictional villain that you were inexplicably drawn to as a child before you realised why as an adult-”oh, it’s because she was hot”. 

Joey King in Iris van Herpen was a pleasant surprise too considering that when I first looked through the red carpet photos I only knew her as the girl who was in that shitty Netflix original-having watched her in The Act, I apologise for the dismissal! And I admire the sartorial choice! I adore Iris van Herpen designs but as a short girl, wearing one of her dresses to a red carpet event is a risky decision-I hate to admit it because casting a diverse range of people for shows is something I have come to expect of my favourite brands, but the appeal of a lot of IvH pieces comes from the movement of the garments on standard willowy runway models. Fortunately, the styling is really complementary here, and whilst it can’t be denied that the dress itself does swamp her a bit, I liked that she and her stylist stepped out of the box. 

Kaitlyn Dever’s red carpet look is obviously a lot more typical, but you can't go wrong with a Valentino dress, and this one in particular is so suited to the aura she gives off-it’s young and it’s fun and it’s fresh and the intricate floral print, otherwise muted if not for the spring influenced pops of pink and red, is timelessly pretty.

(L-R: Akwafina in Dior, Saoirse Ronan in Celine, Beanie Feldstein in Oscar de la Renta, and Renee Zellweger in Armani)

Lastly, there was Saoirse Ronan in Celine-one of my highlights of the night; she looked phenomenal, a glacial toned dream, and it was pretty different to what I generally expect to see her in. I might be way off base and in need of a bit of a review of her red carpet style, but I feel like she usually leans more towards pretty than edgy with regards to her styling at these kinds of events and a loose fitting, gun metal glittered slip dress is, imo, the perfect way to hit that previously uncharted midway point between the two.

(L-R: Kate Bosworth in Prabal Gurung, Kathryn Newton in Valentino and Sarah Hyland)

Now onto the afterparty looks, and I’m not gonna lie, they’re usually the highlight of the ceremonies for me; I feel like the initial ceremony is all about looking respectful and maintaining that whole dedicated actor image, whereas it seems the literal point of these showbiz parties is a competition to be the best dressed person in the room. Competition really makes people step their game up, and we always get to see more young talent whose style tends to be more current than that of the people we see on the red carpet. 

I’ve got to say, as annoying as I found her character in The Society, I have to overlook that gut instinct of irritation when I see Kathryn Newton and accept how stunning everything going on here is; honestly, she looks like an angel, and I feel like the team at Valentino must reeeeally like her to put her in that dress.

(L-R: Alexa Demie, Ashley Benson in Georges Hobeika, Maude Apatow and Barbie Ferreira)

Obviously I was super excited to see the Euphoria girls on the red carpet, especially Alexa Demie-she does 90s/early noughties inspired glamour better than anyone else on the young actor scene right now and her personal style and the sass she does so well as Maddy Perez shines through every time. Whilst Barbie Ferreira’s look is more casual and achievable for the rest of us in terms of wearability, it’s just as interesting a take on the same period; the delicate pink makeup, hair and jewellery with the 90s inspired slip dress in light teal is a red carpet take on soft grunge for the ages. As for Ashley Benson, she always looks gorgeous and that’s all I’m gonna say before I get emotional and start going into a rant about how her and Cara Delevigne’s relationship was one of the only good things about this shitshow of a year and how now that they’ve broken up the single flame of hope inside me has been extinguished and how their sex swing is gonna get so lonely with them caught in the middle of an ugly custody battle and-

You get the idea.

(L-R: Storm Reid, Sophia Bush in John Paul Ataker, and Sydney Sweeney)

(L-R: Billie Lourd, Paris Hilton, and Camila Morrone)

The Oscars

(L-R: Charlize Theron in Dior, Cynthia Erivo, and Florence Pugh in Louis Vuitton)

Ah, the Oscars. This is where the big money is really spent, and bad decisions are made-in fairness, this year’s winners were a lot more satisfying than usual and I think all of us felt that Parasite was a well-deserved win. I really thought it was gonna be Once Upon a Time in Hollywood just as a bit of a token gesture to Tarantino considering it’s his 9th film, though undoubtedly his worst of the ones I’ve seen, so I was relieved that this wasn’t the case. That being said, it still pains me to see the horror genre being ignored by the academy-in my mind, Florence is here for her performance in Midsommar just as much as Little Women. 

At the risk of getting repetitive, just assume my opinions on Charlize Theron in Dior here are the same again, that Cynthia Erivo is still bringing goddess energy (this is probably my favourite of her looks), and that against the opinion of the masses, Florence looks divine in this colour. I mean, when I say the masses I just mean the people I follow on Twitter, but still, I just wanted be an excuse to be dramatic so that I could insert a meme.

(L-R: Natalie Portman in Dior, Regina King in Versace, Scarlett Johansson in Oscar de la Renta, and Sandra Oh in Elie Saab)

Once again, Scarlett Johansson’s stylist is doing God’s work; this outfit is everythingggg-the Oscar de la Renta dress is probably my favourite thus far. Like we’re talking angel, but make it fitted and sexy, and I hope you read that in the Tyra Banks voice I intended because 2 memes in a row would rob me of any credibility I’m building as a fashion account and I’m not ready to trash that for bad memes just yet; give it a couple of mental breakdowns and I’ll be there. Natalie Portman’s look was a favourite of mine too, with the cape over the top adding a sophisticated touch to the celestial, slightly bohemian feel of the dress. I initially found the detail of the names embroidered into said cape to be quite moving-in a dream world, directing would be my career of choice and so I really admired the statement-but finding out that Portman herself is the only director hired by her own production company ruined that for me a little bit. Then again, multi-millionaire celebrities making performative gestures for good publicity and not doing all that much to make any real change? Colour me shocked.

(L-R: Beanie Feldstein in Miu Miu, Brie Larson in Celine and Billie Eilish in Chanel)

Now, of all the Miu Miu looks so far, I think Beanie Feldstein definitely got the best one. The intricacy of the embroidery, the silhouette, the old Hollywood stye curls-it’s all so graceful. I’d say this is probably her best look of awards season and she and her stylist did a really great job.

And as for Billie Eilish...Guys...do you think she might be wearing...Chanel...by any chance? I’m not sure.

Seriously though, as far as an oversized tweed suit with the brand’s logo emblazoned all over it goes, I like this look. The acid green roots and the jewellery are what make it for me, adding to the grunginess of the outfit which is interesting against Chanel’s prim and proper aesthetic of the last few years. I know she has good reason for the way she dresses, but I’ve never quite been able to appreciate it-this outfit proves to me that her style doesn't automatically equal ugly and occasionally, she can make it work.

(L-R: Leona Lewis, Colton Haynes, Dita von Teese)

Elton John’s Oscars afterparty being the less exciting of the two big ones in terms of fashion-the other being the Vanity Fair afterparty which I’ll cover in a moment-I thought I’d whizz through it (posturing aside though, I bet Sir Elton’s party was a lot more fun).

(L-R: Chiara Ferragni, Donatella Versace, Bella Thorne)

This is a big statement considering Alexa Demie attended, but I think Chiara’s outfit and overall styling might be my favourite of the partygoers; if they decided to do a live action Barbie film in 2020 minus the PG ratio-because lets be real, she’d be a noughties Paris Hilton type and get up to some SHENANIGANS-this is the look that would become iconic. 

(L-R: Ashley Greene in Off-White, Alexa Demie, Sydney Sweeney, Annalynne McCord)

It was a hard decision to make though: I’m just as into Sydney Sweeney’s interpretation of burlesque come 1950s red carpet Barbie, Ashley Greene’s surprisingly delicate Off-White number, and Alexa’s dress and (as always) impeccable styling. That being said, Chiara’s clearest contender here for the best dressed of the night is Annalynne McCord. I know I'm one to throw similes around but she looks like an ACTUAL Disney princess-the dress is magical and an absolutely flawless fit. She carries it with such grace. I'm truly in love.

(L-R: Tessa Thompson in Versace, Vanessa Hudgens in Vera Wang, SZA)

As for the Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty, there were SO many iconic moments this year. SZA was the definition of the fire emoji, Tessa Thompson’s throwback Versace was the mermaid’s take on BDSM fashion I never knew I need to see, and I’d die to turn up to my graduation ceremony (here’s hoping for a successful attempt at the old uni shebang this time, lol) looking as elegant and simultaneously extra as Vanessa Hudgens did in Vera Wang. I mean, this was before Vanessa went on her dumb Instagram live corona rant because she was upset she couldn’t go to Coachella and I still kinda lived for her, mostly because of moments like this. She’s always been the queen of channelling a more hedonistic, carefree era and this dress is the most refined example of that boho decadence yet. It sounds dramatic to say but the rich purple is such a bold choice considering it’s a a colour we rarely see on the red carpet but now I’ve seen eggplant coloured silk I need it, lol. 

(L-R: Suki Waterhouse in Fendi, Lili Reinhart in Marc Jacobs, Lucy Boynton and Margaret Qualley in Chanel)

Then there was Suki, Lilly, Lucy and Margaret as well who all went full angel mode in some of my favourite runway looks of last summer’s haute couture week; Suki’s Fendi dress and Lili’s Marc Jacobs number were highlights of both their shows and there’s something even more magical about them both when the uniformity of the runway is removed. I also would go on about how much I love Lucy Boynton’s style for the millionth time but I think you get my point.

(L-R: Nicole Richie, Cynthia Erivo, Hunter Schafer, Billie Porter)

The more I look at the photos I saved from the Vanity Fair “red” carpet, the more I come to the firm conclusion that these looks are my favourite as a collective. Along with the elegance and sex appeal of the outfits above, we’ve got all these looks too which are so VIBRANT and fun and experimental. Billie Porter is absolutely majestic and continues his reign as the king of in-your-face, theatrical red carpet style, and Hunter and Cynthia look so radiant. Whilst Nicole’s look isn’t as colourful, she still brought drama with the satin gloves and the smoke lined eyes, and she is definitely ready to step on someone’s neck here.

(L-R: Halima Aden, Ella Balinska in Schiaparelli, Emma Roberts, Ciara)

(L-R: Kiki Layne in Michael Kors, Kim Kardashian in Alexander McQueen, Kylie Jenner in Ralph and Russo, Lashana Lynch in Michael Kors)

(L-R: Rowan Blanchard in Iris van Herpen, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Stella Maxwell, and Sarah Paulson with Holland Taylor)

I’ve got to say, it’s really cool to see Rowan Blanchard in Iris van Herpen too; it’s interesting that as far as I know, she and Joey King were the only ones to wear her this awards season, both being up and coming actresses. It would be a good choice for the brand, probably best known for its futuristic, conceptual aesthetic, to also focus its PR efforts on the young potential inheriting that future. Orrrr it could just be that Rowan, Joey and I have the same (good, lol) taste-not gonna lie, from my experience of stalking her instagram Rowan Blanchard does make some unique fashion choices and her feed is full of bold outfit inspiration.

(L-R: Adriana Lima in Ralph and Russo, Alessandra Ambrosio in Armani, Billie Eilish in Gucci, and Donatella Versace in Versace)

Then there’s Billie Eilish, who is really on another level. This is her second custom made baggy suit of the night, this time Gucci. IMAGINE. Chanel and Gucci making custom pieces to suit your very specific style. Again, though, I really like this; whilst it’s very clearly a Billie outfit, it’s got a level of sophistication, cohesiveness and glamour to it that takes it to that I can admire. 

(L-R: Camila Mendes in Moschino, Barbara Palvin and Dylan Sprouse, and Chiara Ferragni)

Honestly, the Vanity Fair red carpet really belonged to young talent this year, and Camila Mendes in one of my favourite Moschino looks from the Picasso collection really seals it. She could’ve just gone for a basic pretty dress-this isn’t a natural choice-but she really does have the proud, regal look of a woman who knows some man is gonna paint her a portrait that will end up in a famous gallery one day. 

One last thing before I move on, though. How the fuck does Chiara Ferragni get everywhere?! And by that I don’t mean how does she get invited, I had the shock of finding out this woman I followed on Instagram because I liked her outfits and thought she was pretty is a hugely successful businesswoman in Italy long ago. Power to her. She’s a big deal! I get it! I just mean, physically HOW? How do you hit Elton John’s party AND the Vanity Fair party in one night and look this good? God really does have favourites, huh. Well, I guess in this hypothetical scenario where I believe in him anyway. 

The SAG Awards

(L-R: Dakota Fanning in Valentino, Kaitlyn Dever in Ralph Lauren, Scarlett Johansson in Armani, and Zoe Kravitz in Oscar de la Renta)

So, I kinda forgot the SAG awards existed and thought that my post was basically finished before I looked in my folder and saw the one dedicated to this ceremony. My initial reaction was like “oh, this is the shitty Oscars, right?” and I assumed the red carpet would be shit and that I could call it a night-it’s 3:30am, I wish I was calling it a night-but then I looked and saw that I had even more outfit photos saved in that folder than I did for my Oscar dedicated one. Because fuck, I want to to sleep, but the SAG awards had a surprisingly good turn out?! So maybe not as irrelevant a ceremony as I thought? Because Dakota Fanning turned up looking like some divine mythical being again, Scarlett Johansson pulled another incredible look out the bag, Zoe Kravitz was a modernised Audrey Hepburn, and Kaitlyn Dever read my comments about her dress being “timelessly pretty” and said “bitch, you really thought” before showing up looking hot as fuck. Truth be told, I think the SAG awards were first but in this universe where Kaitlyn Dever would pay any attention to my opinion of her outfit do we really care? 

(L-R: America Ferrera, Andrew Scott in Azzaro Couture, Camila Mendes in Ralph and Russo, Caleb McLaughlin )

(L-R: Lupita Nyongo in Louis Vuitton, Lily Allen, Nathalie Emmanuel in Miu Miu, Cynthia Erivo in Schiaparelli)

See, I was going to make a comment above how I took back what I said about Camila Mendes not just going for pretty dresses (which I guess I just did here instead-JUST TO BE CLEAR SHE STILL LOOKS STUNNING) and then I uploaded the next photo set and got distracted by 2 things:

1. How weird it is that British legend Lily Allen, who does not get NEAR enough credit for her smart her songs were might I add, is dating David Harbour AKA. Hopper off Stranger Things!?

2. How mad I still am about Game of Thrones and how dirty the writers did Nathalie Emmanuel (and Emilia Clarke and Lena Heady and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and basically everyone else on that show but that’s another story).

In this same universe where Kaitlyn Dever cares about my opinion can we make the issues I have in the last bullet point not exist? Please?

(L-R: Sophie Turner in Louis Vuitton, Renee Zellweger in Maison Margiela, Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Armani, and Renee Bargh)

(L-R: Gwendoline Christie in Rick Owens, Madeline Brewer in Monique Lhuillier, Kathryn Newton in Valentino, and Lili Reinhart in Miu Miu)

Finishing off the SAG looks, we’ve got the four above. 

Once again, Kathryn Newton was Valentino’s blushing crown jewell; Allie Pressman hate aside, she really is the perfect dressing up doll for the brand. Fresh faced and poised, she has all the elegance and gentle femininity necessary to make floating down the runway as Valentino models do look natural, and Lili Reinhart did an equally good job being a Miu Miu girl. She makes that idiosyncratic cutesy-ness work, all the frills and fragility of a china tea set look easy where I’d just look like I’d been consumed by a charity shop doily. Madeline Brewer did a good job too, helping a Monique Lhuillier design pop in a way that it doesn’t usually. When your hair is bright red and your dress cerulean blue, coral tinted lipstick is a *ahem* choice, buuut in this case it paid off because the result is a look which demanded my attention-ML dresses are reliably pretty, however, they tend to be predictable. Madeline and her styling did a good job subverting that formula. To end the section, though, I feel it’s only fair to save my fave woman til last-probably one of the few people in the world that isn’t a Rick Owens model that can pull off his designs. Ofc, I’m talking about the queen that is Gwendoline Christie. If we’re talking embodying brands, she did justice like nobody else could to the spectacle of Owens’ formidable, out-of-this-world aesthetic. This is her version of the princess moment, and when you’re as striking as she is, nothing less would do. 

At least my girl Brienne of Tarth is thriving<3

The Grammys

(L-R: Ariana Grande in Giambattista Valli, Cardi B in Mugler, and Pia Mia in Julien Macdonald)

TBH, like I said with the Brits, I never planned to do any music award ceremony red carpets, just because I feel like the fashion tends to be more geared towards a younger audience buuuut I’m kinda glad I changed because Ariana looks INCREDIBLE. MESMERISING. TRANSCENDENT. JFC. There’s a reason the photo of her on her Wiki page has been changed to one from this night and it’s because she looks absolutely exquisite, like some kind of moon goddess with an R&B touch which I suppose is kind of her brand? Sometimes I go kind of lukewarm on Giambattista Valli and forget how mystical but at the same time frothy and indulgent and all around luxurious the pieces can be. This is a cupcake of a dress and I want to eat it. Cardi B has become a bit of an unexpected fashion icon and Pia Mia looks as hot-party-girl as ever but I feel to put anyone next to Ariana in this dress seems harsh because she just completely stole the show and I don’t even know if she won any Grammys.

(L-R: Josephine Relli, Gwen Stefani, Jameela Jamil in Georges Chakra, and Chrissy Teigen in Yanina Couture)

Other than Ariana, I’m not gonna lie, there was nothing wildly exciting, BUT I did think there were some beautiful colours out on the runway-plus for all her occasionally bad takes I really like what Jameela Jamil stands for and her style has always been very quirky cool. The electric blue tiled effect with the black mesh underneath kinda reminds me of a peacock, and contrasts wonderfully with the carpet-it’s very reminiscent of her T4 days. She’s one of those people that seems to get aggression directed at her that’s completely disproportionate to whatever it is she’s supposed to have done; sometimes the way she goes about saying things is wrong but the intention behind what she’s saying is usually good. Then again, the internet still despises Chrissy Teigen (in a way that’s kind of excessive considering what we seem to collectively let some people get away with) for a dumb AirPods tweet and I’ve included her too. THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL STATEMENT, this time anyway. I just think she looks good!

If I’m going to get controversial about anything, it’ll be Gwen Stefani. She looks stunning, the dress is stunning, and the boots are stunning. The outfit is not my problem! My problem is how she seems not to have aged at all. This woman is 50 years old! That she drank the blood of her Harajuku girls is the only explanation here. Can you imagine if she tried to pull that shit today? She’d get rightly accused of being a culturally appropriating weeb in about 10 seconds flat and we’d have to pretend to stop liking Cool and Hollaback Girl. 

(L-R: Finneas O’Connell in Gucci, Lucky Daye, and Shaun Ross)

(L-R: Tess Holliday, Dua Lipa in Alexander Wang, Tyler the Creator, and Grace Elizabeth in Giuseppe di Morabito)

Back to what I’m supposed to be talking about in this blog post: the fashion. And here, most importantly, Tyler the Creator looking like a cast member of the Grand Budapest Hotel. IDK why. But I love this man.

(L-R: Lil Nas X in Versace, Lizzo in Versace, and Shawn Mendes in Louis Vuitton)

(L-R: Billie Porter, FKA Twigs in Ed Marler, and Swae Lee in Giuseppe Zanotti)

See in general, the men were a lot more interesting on the Grammys red carpet. With the exception of Twigs, Dua and obviously Ariana, the men’s outfits are a lot more memorable; Billie Porter became the most fashionable meme on the internet, for god’s sake. And even when their outfits weren’t extravagant, they were just more interesting, imo, which is a rare occurrence. I didn’t expect Finneas O’Connell to be the writing half of Billie Eilish (the other half being Billie herself) I cared about and yet, in that Gucci blazer, here we are. 

(L-R: Jessie J, Hailee Steinfeld, and Madison Beer)

(L-R: H.E.R, Usher, FKA Twigs, and Matt Shultz)

Of the afterparty looks, my favourites are what we can see of these more casual outfits-I love what F.K.A Twigs and H.E.R are wearing, the headscarf with the leatherjacket on top is in particular very throwback rockabilly, and I’m even into whatever it is Usher’s got on.

(L-R: Olivia O’Brien, Amine, and Alrissa)

(L-R: Salem Mitchell, Machine Gun Kelly, and Sydney Sweeney)

Now, how to round this all up!? How to relate the confusingly persistent but very welcome presence of Sydney Sweeney on, like, ALL these red carpets back to the MET!?

IDEK. It’s been a long year. 

The Met Gala has usually come and gone before we know it, but with everything going on, it’s been the longest January-May I think most of us have ever known. I keep going on about COVID-19 in all my posts now but I have almost forgotten how to write an intro and outro because the pandemic is pretty much consistently on the brain and unless I have something right in front of me to use as a distraction, my mind tends to wander off into a very anxious place. I think, like many others, I feel frustrated and disappointed and angry with the way the situation is being handled by the people who are supposed to protect their citizens, and by how much of a fight some are putting up against measures that are in place to try and save lives. The point of this ramble, I guess, is that whilst we should never forget what’s going on and do the best we can to help prevent the spread of the virus, it’s okay to still care about mundane shit. Was this post one big long distraction for me? Probably. But if there’s something harmless you can do to keep your anxiety at bay, don’t feel bad for doing it. Contrary to popular belief, you can care about more than one thing at once. You can be sad that something you were looking forward to has been cancelled whilst still being sad for the people who are suffering because they’ve lost love ones or who have been forced into precarious living conditions. If talking about clothes on the internet is going to help you get through this pandemic, power to you.

If anyone has read til the end, thank you! I hope you are well! As always, feel free to reply to the post or inbox me with your thoughts! It doesn’t even have to be related to this post. If you’re struggling with everything going on, feel free to reach out too. I spend too much time on the internet anyway, lol! My plans are to finish my fashion week reviews and then I have a Lana Del Rey albums inspired lookbook which I pinched off the stans on Twitter (who I will of course credit when I write it!). For the time being, look after yourselves!

Lauren x

[legitlaur]

Deception // Mysterio

Pairing: Quentin Beck/Mysterio x Reader

Word count: 1.7k

Warnings: none

Summary: You’re a SHIELD agent with a dark secret. Meeting Quentin helps you open up and realize you can trust some people

next part>>>>

______________________________

“I stabbed him in the back, the exact same way he did it to me.”

You weren’t supposed to be on a plane to Venice, you weren’t supposed to be on a mission. Fury knew that, but he called you anyway. You told him no, he didn’t care. He said it was time to get out of your apartment, time to come back to work. You told him it was too soon, he told you it had been long enough. Somehow that man got you on a plane to Venice, Italy of all places. He didn’t tell you anything about the mission, he just said he needed you.

 Upon your arrival, there was a man in a suit with a poster that read your name. Classic SHIELD. 

The man gave you a file in the car, it briefed you on the situation. Elementals, these creatures were going to destroy the world. Sounded like SHIELD kinda stuff. The file had two personal:

Quentin Beck. 

A warrior from Earth 616. 

Elementals destroyed Earth 616

Fury must be really desperate if he’s getting help from strangers on different Earths. Not to mention you, the least able of any SHIELD agent. Yet here you were, in a car on your way to some secret location for a mission in Europe. You weren’t surprised about this Quentin guy however, Earth's greatest defenders the Avengers were gone. No one, not even Fury knew what was going to happen. 

Peter Parker/Spider-man 

Superhuman strength, web fluid 

Avenger

You met Spider-man once before, he was wearing his mask. You didn’t even know his name until you saw the file. 

The car pulled up to the tunnels of Venice. You walked in, recognizing a few agents at the entrance. You got chills as you went further down the tunnel, there were computers, holograms, and people wearing mostly black everywhere. Everything reminded you of him.

“Agent y/l/n welcome back,” Hill called.

Welcoming you back to SHIELD or back to life? You smiled at her anyway.

Fury turned around. “It’s about time. I’ve been waiting to do introductions all night.”

“Sorry.” you picked up your pace and followed Fury through more tunnel. 

“y/l/n meet Peter Parker”

A teenage boy. A boy who has his whole life ahead of him, yet here he was with SHIELD. You promised yourself not to let him get too involved the way you did.

“Hi ma’am, I’m umm Peter Parker. I’m Spider-Man.” His voice became strained, “Please don’t tell anyone my identity. I need to keep it a secret, to keep everyone I love safe.

You laughed, he really needed help. “I live a life of lies, that won’t be an issue.”

“And this is Quentin Beck,” Fury gestured towards the man wearing an interesting suit. 

You shook his hand, “Ah, you’re the warrior from Earth 616. Not what I imagined.”

Quentin brow furrowed, “What did you imagine?”

You shrugged, “an alien.” someone who wouldn’t stand out perhaps.

Peter and Quentin looked at each other with suspicious eyes, then all eyes fell back to you. They began laughing, filling the tunnels with echoes of laughter.

After a few more introductions and briefings Fury was finally free. Being discrete you whispered in his ear, “Can we talk privately?”

He nodded, leading you to a dim room with a few pipes, you were alone. “I’m listening agent y/l/n.”

“Why’d you bring me here?”

“I don’t understand what your asking,” his head hovered over yours.

You stared into his eye, “I am on leave, you can’t just call me back in. If you really wanted me working I want to be behind a desk, doing paperwork, using a computer. I can’t go back into the field. I specifically left because I couldn’t handle the field. So why am I in the field?”

Fury leaned against the wall, “You are a field agent, nothing changes that. I needed someone who I trust, someone that can look out for Mr. Parker. Someone who can help us keep Mr. Beck on our side. You are that person y/l/n.” 

Your blood was boiling, “You know why I can’t be in the field. You know Fury. I’ve trusted you with a secret and you discarded it.” Throwing your hands in the air, your voice began to rise, “There are hundreds of other agents. Pick someone else, I need to go home.”

Fury took two steps, filling in the small gap between you. His face was so close to yours, you could feel his hot breath on your nose. “Agent y/l/n you will stay in Europe, on a field mission until I send you home. That is, an order.”

Your throat was dry, tears would be spilling any moment. You’d made a promise to yourself the first day of SHIELD training. Never let anyone see you cry. You weren’t going to break that promise now, “Don’t expect much from me. After this mission, I’m done. I quit.” Turning on your heels you left the room.

Once you got into the hallway you broke. Keeping a secret from everyone in your life is hard. There's no one to confide in. No one knows. No one will ever know.

“y/n?”

You looked up, hiding your face through y/c/h hair. It was Quentin Beck, the last person you needed to see you like this. Fury wanted him to see how amazing SHIELD was, you crying in a dark hallway wasn’t a good look. 

“y/n I think you need someone to talk to.” He called again.

You laughed, “That's the one thing I’m not allowed to do.”

You could see the sadness in his face, “Who’s not letting you talk? Are you in danger, I can help you,” his voice became strained, “Let me help you.”

You wanted to, you wanted to tell him everything about your past. It was eating you up, you couldn’t live with the secret anymore.

He moved closer, cautiously. You didn’t move. His surprisingly bulky arm guided you through the tunnel. You didn’t know where he was taking you, but you were grateful someone was taking you away from that place. He led you up to a set of stairs, across a bridge, then through a small street. He stopped at a bench. “You need to sit down y/n.” His voice sounded like he really cared. That wasn’t possible, no one cared. At least no one cared about you. 

You listened anyway, when you sat down you realized how tired your body really was. You could’ve fallen asleep sitting up, on an empty street corner in Venice. 

Quinten was kneeling on the ground in front of you. You kept your head down, making sure not to look at him. There was a silence that felt like forever. You didn’t know what to do, all you wanted to do was sleep, but you couldn’t sleep. Your mind kept you awake, so all you could do was cry. You couldn’t stop, every emotion you bottled up over the past year was finally set free.

“I can’t” is all you could manage.

His warm hands brushed your hair back, his index finger lifted your chin. You were staring into his deep blue eyes. He looked so clean, so perfect. You knew you looked like a wreck. This was so embarrassing.

“What can’t you do?” His gentle voice comforted you.

You continued looking at his eyes, that was the only way you were going to get through this, “I can’t keep living like this. With this secret.”

He moved from the ground, sitting next to you he wrapped you up in his arms, “You don’t have to. Tell me, I’m from another world, remember.”

He was right, you had to get this off your chest. If you told anyone Quentin Beck would be a good choice. A random one, but a good one.

“Before the blip, I was blipped by the way. I,” you weren’t sure how to start, “I was married. He was a SHIELD agent too, that’s how we met. We had no secrets, not even secrets about secret missions. Fury hated that we were together. We didn’t care, we were so in love.” Becks hand squeezed your arm, giving you the strength to continue, “Our families didn’t know we were married, we had to keep everyone in the dark.”

“So one day we were on a mission together, a SHIELD submarine had been hijacked. We were fighting these people, trying to get to the hostages. When we were surrounded, I knew we were going to die. I told him I loved him, then I saw him smile.” you turned to look at this stranger in the eyes again, “It wasn’t a good smile. He looked evil. I watched as he turned his gun on me. My husband shot me in the stomach. Then he, he said ‘Hail Hydra’.” 

Your tears were making it impossible to finish the story. You closed your eyes, took a deep breath then smiled, “I died that day. I tried to quit, but Fury said I could be comms until I was ready to be a field agent again. After he shot me. The rest of our team managed to get control of the sub. I limped my way around until I found the man I devoted my life to. Pulled a knife out and stabbed him in the back. Fury thinks I did it for SHIELD because he was a Hydra agent. That’s where he’s wrong. I stabbed him in the back, the exact same way he did it to me.” you were silent for a minute.

“I murdered my husband.” you finally said it out loud. 

Beck didn’t respond, he kept his arms around you. You weren’t sure if he was processing this as a good or bad thing.

“You lost trust in the world,” he mumbled.

“What?” 

“The man you loved most, you trusted him with your secrets, your hopes, dreams, your entire life. He was your world. When you lost trust in him, you lost trust in the whole world.” Quentin explained, “When my wife died, my whole world died. Like you said, I died that day.”

“I’m sorry about your wife.” you didn’t even realize he had been married.

His smile grew, “She died because of the Elementals. If I stop them on this Earth, I feel like I’ll be avenging her.”

You took his hand and squeezed him, “She’ll appreciate it.”

“Thanks and the world’s not all that bad. There’s a man out there for you y/n. Someone who won’t lie about everything.”

Leaning your head on his shoulder you nodded, “Perhaps.”

a/n: Thanks for reading. not sure if there will be a part 2

[rorykillmore]

and this fic is for @propheticnightwing ! who let me have free range of what i wanted to write for her. i had to think about it for awhile because we’ve had so many wonderful dynamics over the years, but... i think one of the most defining and special to us is sly and carmelita. so i wrote a christmas fic for them! i also decided to do something a little different and set it in the midst of sly 2 because i love that game and i feel like it’s a really interesting, relatively unexplored time in sly and carmelita’s relationship.

also weirdly, this is the one fic that i felt compelled to write in past tense instead of present tense? idk why, it just felt right

but anyway fate, thank you so much for another wonderful year of our friendship. i know that this one has been particularly rough for you for far too many reasons and while i wish and hope things get better, it always kind of awes me how even when you have so much going on you always manage to reach out to me and make me smile. i’m speaking 2019 into an existence as a year that will hold good things for you and also many more meaningful rps, fun hangouts, and rounds of Hollywood Talk for us!! thank you for being there for me all these years. i really mean that.

“Enjoying the ambiance? You know, there’s a great view of the northern lights that’s only about a ten minute climb from here.”

 “I’m afraid you’ll have to settle for a view from a prison cell.”

There was nothing like being up north for the holidays! Or something. Sly figured he probably should’ve been feeling festive - and granted, he was cautiously optimistic about the gang having plenty to celebrate just now, with the Contessa arrested and Neyla evaded - it was just.

It was a little bit challenging to get into the holiday spirit when he was freezing his tail off and trudging through what felt like several feet of snow. And he was the one member of the gang who actually had fur.

“How you holdin’ up there, Murray?” he asked on cue, watching from his vantage point atop the sheer ice-and-rock formation he was settled on as the hippo worked to haul the satellite equipment they needed onto the back of one of Jean Bison’s biplanes.

“Righteous,” huffed Murray over the comms. 

“Not too cold down there?”

“I’m heated by the fire of my unrelenting determination, Sly!”

Sly couldn’t help but chuckle. “That’s what I like to hear.”

Bentley’s voice crackled to life next over the line -- he was working from the van, so he’d lucked out this time around. One of the perks of being the team’s tech support, Sly supposed. “Just make sure no one gets the drop on him, Sly. Installing this equipment undetected is the very crux of this operation.” 

“I got it covered,” Sly assured him, adjusting the range on his Binocucom and scanning Murray’s surroundings just in case. Still nothing but empty, snowy wilderness. “You’re gonna let us know whether or not it actually works, right?”

“Affirmative. If everything goes according to plan, it should be fairly evident, fairly quickly. The next time Bison touches base with Arpeggio, I’ll be able to track their line of communication...”

“And we’ll be able to keep tabs on Arpeggio’s blimp,” Sly finished for him, unable to keep the eager edge out of his tone. “Nice.”

“And then maybe we can all go out for hot chocolate, or something,” Murray suggested. “I might have been exaggerating a little about the fires of determination part.”

Admittedly, it would have been a little more convenient for all of them if Jean Bison had chosen somewhere other than the rugged Canadian north for his base of operations, but maybe that would’ve defeated the whole point. It was fine, Sly assured himself. Everything had gone (almost shockingly) according to plan up until now. All they had to do was secure the rest of Bison’s Clockwerk parts, snag whichever ones Arpeggio had nestled away on his airship, and then the gang could finally take a well-earned vacation.

Just as he’d started to actually let himself feel relieved at the prospect, of course, something went wrong. Almost on schedule.

“Murray?” Sly murmured, suddenly snapping his attention and adjusting the Binocucom to hone in on the glimpse of movement he’d spotted in his peripheral vision. “Might wanna pick up the pace, pal. I don’t think you’re alone out here anymore.”

“What is it, some of Bison’s guards? I can probably take ‘em.”

“Nooot quite.”  Sly swallowed, taking in the (even from here) unmistakable features of the Interpol officer they all knew and loved.

Well. Former Interpol officer. And he guessed ‘loved’ might have been kind of debatable, depending on which member of the team you asked.

“Inspector Fox!” Bentley groaned, obviously having tapped into the Binocucom’s visual feed. “This is going to turn dire. Murray, how close are you to having all that stuff packed up?”

“Uhhhh....”  Obviously Murray was not quite as confident about facing off against Carmelita than he had been about taking on a half a dozen armed flashlight guards. “Gimme just -- another second --” 

Sly watched anxiously as he hauled the last piece of equipment on board and then scrambled for the pilot’s seat.  “She’s gonna hear the engine. I’m going in for a diversion.”

“Sly-- !” Bentley started to warn, but Sly was already on the move, making his way quickly down the rock wall with the help of his cane. He took the last few meters of his descent in a precarious leap, landing with a soft thump on the ground below and sinking a few feet further into the snow below him than he’d planned.

Predictably, the scuffle didn’t evade Carmelita’s attention. She rounded on him almost instantly, and Sly gave her what he hoped was a charming smile, trying to seem undaunted under the heat of her surprised, angry, (beautiful) amber eyes.

“Cooper!” she growled, her ears flattening.

“Inspector,” Sly greeted as pleasantly as he could, holding his hands up carefully in the air (although he wasn’t entirely convinced that would keep her from shooting him, at this point).  “Enjoying the ambiance? You know, there’s a great view of the northern lights that’s only about a ten minute climb from here.”

She leveled her shock pistol on him dangerously.  “I’m afraid you’ll have to settle for a view from a prison cell.”

“And here I was enjoying us actually being on the same side, for awhile.” Sly tried to figure out whether there was a subtle way to free his feet from the powdery snow they were now caked in. In all honestly, he hadn’t actually expected Carmelita to give up chasing him just because she was currently on the outs with the law -- her standards weren’t that flexible, even if Interpol’s apparently were. But it was as good a stalling tactic as any.

“You know as well as I do that bringing in you and your gang is the obvious way to clear my name.” She kept her gaze locked on him, and Sly didn’t dare move quite yet.

“Only because Neyla set us up,” he pointed out instead. Maybe it had been the wrong thing to say -- something flashed in Carmelita’s eyes that was a little less guarded, a little more raw. “Wouldn’t it be more satisfying if you got your job back because you exposed her? We could take her down together. -- You’d get the credit, obviously.”

As focused as he was on making sure Murray had time to get out of there, the offer was sincere. Still, he was a little surprised when she actually seemed to hesitate. “I don’t see what you or your gang stand to gain from having me reinstated.”

“Maybe nothing,” Sly admitted freely.  “But does it matter? You’re a good cop. We both know it. You didn’t deserve what happened to you, and Neyla doesn’t deserve to get away with it.”

He tried to radiate nothing but sincerity at her. He knew Bentley would gripe at him later - or pretend to - about how helping Carmelita time and time again only ensured that their jobs were that much more complicated, and their lives that much more dangerous. But in spite of it all -- Sly knew Bentley respected her too. And he knew he’d agree (begrudgingly) that clearing Carmelita’s name was the right thing to do.

So he watched her hopefully. Maybe he wasn’t imagine the way she wavered, or how her expression seemed to soften, if only a fraction.  For a second, Sly almost even thought she was going to lower the pistol.

But then her resolve turned to steel, and she was sizing him up again.

“If I want to clear my name, I have to prove I’m not willing to resort to the same tactics as she was. No matter what the cost.”  Carmelita took a slow step toward him.  “Working with a criminal just makes me look like a hypocrite.”

Sly wanted to say something else, even if the words hadn’t fully formed in his mind yet -- but then the unmistakable rumble of a plane engine broke the comparative silence of the wilderness around them. Murray had finally gotten the biplane up and running.

It startled Carmelita enough that she spun around, maybe having judged the noise to be closer than it was and deeming it a threat, and with a slight pang of remorse, Sly knew he had to take his chance.

He just hoped it wouldn’t make his earlier sentiments seem any less sincere.

Hauling himself up and out of the snow suddenly, he turned and made a run for it, making the snap decision that scaling the rock wall again was a more sure way to lose her than risking an open pursuit across the tundra. He’d made it up a few meters out of her reach by the time she’d turned and pinpointed exactly where he’d gone -- a moment he recognized for what it was when he heard a resounding, enraged, “Cooper!”

Now came the hard part. Sly sprung again, latching onto a higher crevice with his cane and using it to haul himself further up -- and that was when the first blast from the shock pistol collided with the wall, narrowly missing him.  Dodge and climb. He’d done it before. Was practically an expert at it, by now. The trick was to never stay in one place for more than a second -- so he sprung again, and then again, trying to make his ascent wildly unpredictable. Once or twice, the shock pistol blasts came so close that he felt the heat singe his fur -- but then he was up, all the way up, scrambling away from the cliff’s ledge.

He only risked pausing for a second to glance back at her. And he kind of wished he hadn’t -- the look on her face wasn’t as funny as it usually was whenever he managed to slip away from her. And even knowing that not all of her current anger and hurt was directed at him didn’t make Sly feel much better.

He slipped away before she got the chance to gauge what to do next.

“Everything okay, Murray?” Sly asked over the comms once he’d had a few heartbeats to compose himself.  

“Me and the supplies are airborne!” Murray affirmed immediately. “What about you? You get away from Inspector Fox okay?”

Sly hoped his slight pause wasn’t noticeable. “Five by five, pal. I’m headed back to the safehouse now.”

“That was pretty crazy, Sly.”

“Yeah, well.”

“Offering her Neyla was a smart move,” Bentley cut in reasonably, though Sly could tell from the slight edge to his voice that he was a little ruffled.  “Too bad she didn’t take you up on it.”

Sly contemplated staying silent -- but he knew if he let this weigh on him, it would probably sour things.  “I dunno, guys. I feel pretty bad for her. Her reputation’s in shambles all over some false charges, she narrowly avoided being brainwashed by a psychiatric maniac, she’s stranded out in the frigid middle of nowhere for the holidays -- and now every time we slip away from her just feels like another slap in the face.”

There was a moment of awkward silence on Bentley and Murray’s end.

“So... what are you suggesting, Sly? That you turn yourself in?” Bentley was clearly struggling not to sound dubious.

“No! Look, I know that’s not an option.” Even if he would’ve considered it under different circumstances - couldn’t hurt to turn himself in as long as he had a plan to break back out, right? - he knew the stakes were too high now to take a detour like that.  “I just... I dunno. I feel like we should do something nice for her.”

“‘Nice’?” Bentley still sounded doubtful.

“I think it’s a cool idea,” Murray put forward his vote of confidence. “I know Inspector Fox is, like... scary, and stuff, but I never wanted her to get hurt! But what can we do all the way out here?”

Sly didn’t answer right away.  In fact, it was a few moments before the answer came to him -- cheesy and, well, slightly crazy as it was.

“Can you guys do me a favor when you get back?” he asked suddenly.  “Just -- go into town and see what you can scrounge in the way of Christmas supplies, or anything like that. I’ll be back in a little while.”

“What are you planning, Sly?” Bentley asked slowly.

It would’ve taken too long to explain - and then convince them - so Sly only responded, “I won’t be long. Promise.”

But he changed his course as he spoke, wondering if he’d be able to gauge which direction Carmelita had gone in if he headed back to the cliff. Would she have tried to follow him, or given it up as a lost cause and gone back to... wherever she was staying?

He’d just have to hope it was the latter. He had some tracking to do.

It’d been a day and a half since Cooper had slipped away. Again. Not that she’d been counting. 

(She was trying to ignore the date in general, actually -- the inescapable fact that it was Christmas Eve was neither improving her mood or making her feel very festive.)

More often than not, Carmelita worked holidays anyway, if she was being honest with herself. It wasn’t like most criminals took the day off, and her family was far enough away to make visiting difficult unless she wanted to take a few days.

But there was something about this year that just felt sad.

Maybe it was the obvious fact that she’d lost her job, or had been framed by her partner for a conspiracy she’d had no part in. Or the reality that she’d missed her chance to catch the thief she’d practically spent her career hunting, yet again.

Hardest of all to admit was that it would have almost been nice to have his company, even if he technically would’ve been in her custody.

Scratch that. Hardest of all to admit was that she’d been tempted to take him up on his offer. That she was still sitting here, in the pitifully empty cabin she’d been stowing away in, questioning his sincerity.

Sincere or not, she knew she couldn’t have given him any other answer. Having her integrity damaged for her was bad enough, she couldn’t damage it herself. And yet.

Well, she was going in circles. Carmelita knew herself well enough to know that the only cure for that was finding some way to keep herself busy. So she rose to her feet, eyeing her coat and shock pistol where she’d hung them both by the door.

And then something thunked bluntly against one of the cabin windows. She tensed suddenly, her ears trained on the noise.

After another moment, it happened again, and this time she caught what had made the impact: snow.  Some idiot was throwing snowballs at her cabin! 

It was the stretch of long, bad days all stacked up rather than this one small thing, but Carmelita skipped the coat, snatched her shock pistol off the hook on the wall, and stormed out into the crisp winter evening.  “If this is one of you thugs’ idea of a joke --”

But it wasn’t Bison’s goons.

It was Cooper.

Tossing another snowball in one gloved hand, wearing a smirk so audacious that she had to stop and process his goddamn nerve.

“It’s Christmas Eve,” he said to break the silence.  “Couldn’t let you spend it alone.”

Maybe if she’d stopped to think for a few minutes - maybe - she might have found the whole thing odd. It was reckless, even for Sly, to seek her out and provoke her with no warning or apparent cause.

But Carmelita didn’t have a few minutes.

What she’d had was a very bad past couple of days.

And it seemed he wasn’t going to let her stand around and dwell on it. He threw the snowball - it missed by a foot or so, Carmelita couldn’t say whether he’d actually intended for it to hit or not - and then he was tearing off into the night.

She found her voice again. A snarl. “You picked the wrong night to piss me off, raccoon.”

And then she was on his tail.

He’d planned this. She was sure of that now, although to what end she had yet to find out. Probably he and his gang had needed her distracted for some job they were pulling off, and she’d been stupid enough to take the bait.

That much had been clear when he’d led her on a wild goose chase for almost forty five minutes, with no apparent escape route in mind.  It wasn’t Cooper’s M.O. He had all sorts of places to duck into and hide around here, she was sure, but instead he’d kept her running for the better part of an hour.

By the time she’d figured out what was up, she feared it was probably too late to stop whatever Bentley and Murray had no doubt been up to all this time. But she also had to admit to herself, however furiously, that she couldn’t do any deeper investigation into the matter in this weather without her coat, so she’d eventually stormed back to her cabin, angry enough to spit hellfire.

She’d conjured a number of scenarios in her head by the time she arrived. The gang had pulled off a train robbery. Or they’d tracked down Jean Bison and robbed him directly. Or they’d gone for one of the local sawmills, for whatever asinine reason -- supplies?

The one possibility she’d discounted as absolutely too ridiculous, too idiotic even for them, was that their target had been her. And yet she was practically at her cabin door when Murray came bursting out of it, with Bentley scrambling frantically in his wake.

“Get a move on, Murray, Sly said we had five minutes -- five minutes ago --”

They saw her in that exact moment, and froze at the same time she did.

“Sly,” Bentley spoke slowly, presumably into his communications earpiece.  “We’ve, uh. We’ve got a problem.”

Carmelita stopped him there, raising her pistol again. “Not another word.”

“But Inspector --”

“This is low, even for you morons. Hands where I can see them.”

Bentley and Murray exchanged a very awkward glance, and then slowly lifted their hands into the air.

“Hey, look, we can explain --”  Murray started, but Carmelita cut him off with a look.

“Step into the cabin. And then you’re going to give back whatever you possibly decided was valuable enough to be worth all this trouble before I put you in handcuffs.”

Neither of them moved for a moment. She took a step forward, eyes narrowed.  “Now.”

Very slowly, Bentley turned - and then Murray after them - and they filed rather miserably into the cabin. As they should, Carmelita thought bitterly. She braced herself to take in whatever ransacking of the place they’d done (really, it wasn’t like she was keeping valuables out here, what had even been the point) before she followed them inside.

-- Was it brighter in here than when she’d left, or were her eyes still adjusting?

It took a moment to process that the extra light was coming from the sprawling, decorated Christmas tree in the corner. And the icicle lights strewn haphazardly around the frames of the cabin’s two windows. 

Purely out of shock, Carmelita lowed her weapon a fraction as she took in the rest of the scene in front of her.

It wasn’t just the tree, or the lights -- a small pile of presents had been bundled at the trunk of the former. A (kind of ugly, hand-knit) stocking had been hung from the fireplace, and on the table was a large plate of --

-- Holiday cookies?

“They’re store-bought,” Murray commented a little sadly, noticing where her gaze had gone.  “We couldn’t get all the ingredients we needed to make ‘em from scratch. But they’re really good! -- Not that I, uh. Tried one already.”

“I knitted the stocking, though,” Bentley provided helpfully.

Carmelita wasn’t sure what to say. She took it all in wordlessly for another moment.  “You broke into my cabin.  To decorate it for Christmas.”  She wasn’t sure if that made them even more stupid than she’d originally thought or not.  “ -- Why?”

Murray and Bentley exchanged another look before Bentley tried fumbling out an answer. “Because... ah... because...”

“It was Sly’s idea!” Murray blurted. Bentley elbowed him sharply.

For all her training and experience, Carmelita forgot momentarily that she was meant to be keeping her eyes - and her weapon - on the criminals. Her arms suddenly felt heavy enough that she had to lower them to her sides. Sly? 

“What are you talking about?” she demanded, managing to sound more suspicious than confused.

Bentley seemed resigned to the explanation, at that point, so Murray continued, “We were supposed to be out of here before you showed up, but uh... I guess Sly couldn’t keep you fooled as long as he thought.”

“He usually can’t,” Bentley put in dryly.

“But he felt bad about the other day, and the whole thing with the Contessa, and he said he thought you deserve something nice for Christmas.  ...We all did, I guess.”

Carmelita felt her cheeks warm underneath her fur. For a moment, all she could do was stare at the pair of them, not quite fully processing the reality of the situation. She knew she hadn’t exactly made the Cooper gang’s lives easy, now or... ever  - not that they deserved to have it easy, when they were thieving criminals - and yet they had gone out of their way to do all of this for her.

Sly had done all of this for her.

She couldn’t understand it.

“Why?” she asked again, because it felt like the only thing she could say.

This time a new voice answered. “Didn’t I tell you once that being on opposite sides of the law didn’t make us enemies?”

She whirled around, and her first, exasperated thought was Why do people keep waltzing into my cabin like they own the place? But even that was banished quickly from her mind when she saw Sly standing in front of her, once again.

This time, Carmelita wasn’t quite sure how to feel.

“Sorry for giving you such a hard time earlier.” Sly scratched behind his neck awkwardly, evidently a little fidgety in the wake of her silence. “We needed a way to get you out of the cabin for awhile, and... provoking you seemed like the easiest plan, I guess?”

Carmelita swallowed. “I can see why Bentley usually does the planning.”

Behind her, Bentley snorted briefly, and Sly even managed half a sheepish looking grin. Carmelita paused another moment. “If you think this means I won’t chase you anymore --”

“Didn’t even cross my mind,” Sly assured her lightly.  “Our lives wouldn’t be nearly as exciting without you. Just -- you deserve the night off. It’s Christmas Eve. Maybe for a little while, things don’t have to be so terrible.”

The shock pistol was starting to feel heavy and awkward in Carmelita’s hand. She laid her ears back against her head and considered him for awhile, almost overwhelmed by the sincerity in his warm brown eyes. She wasn’t oblivious, of course. Sly had flirted with her before, but she’d always assumed that was just... Sly. And there’d been the kiss they shared back in Russia, but Carmelita had told herself that was a ruse to ensure that he and his friends escaped -- mostly so she didn’t think about it so much afterwards.

Considering the possibility that what Sly felt for her was more serious than that had always been too dangerous. And considering the possibility that she returned those feelings had always felt too stupid. But who did something like this for someone they only considered a friendly rival at best?

At length, Bentley cleared his throat awkwardly to break the silence, and Murray added uncertainly, “We, uh... should we leave?”

Carmelita glanced back at them. And then she shifted her gaze forward to meet Sly’s again, hesitating. She could see the same question in his eyes.

“Tomorrow,” she said finally, “We all go back to doing our jobs.” Gingerly, but gaining confidence with every passing second, she took a step towards Sly. Then another. He tensed just slightly, and she paused.  “...But tonight, I think we could all use a break. Why don’t you boys stay.  ...For a little while, anyway.”

Sly’s ears lifted, and a smile started to spread across his face. Carmelita found herself returning it. Briefly - carefully - she lifted one gloved hand and touched the side of his face.  “Thank you,” she added more quietly.

Her hand dropped, but Sly’s smile didn’t.

“In that case,” Murray started jovially. “Who wants cookies?”

“There’s uh -- also a few presents for you,” Bentley provided, still sounding slightly apprehensive. “One from each of us.”

Carmelita half-turned towards the tree, unable to keep from eyeing it almost dubiously.  “Should I be afraid?”

“Only a little,” Sly assured easily.  “And -- hey, if you wanna pretend to be distracted for a few more minutes, we can put up some finishing touches. Maybe, say, mistletoe... ?”

Murray sounded like he might have choked on his cookie, and Bentley rubbed the bridge of his nose under his glasses.  Carmelita, for her part, made a show of rolling her eyes, but she couldn’t quite keep the smile off her face.

“Don’t push your luck, ringtail.”

[broccolianddandelion]

Chapter 201: Notes and observations

I WOULD LOVE TO SEE KENDO AND YAOYOROZU GO HEAD-TO-HEAD IN AN INDIVIDUAL MATCH-UP. The advantage should go to Yaoyorozu, but Kendo has shown that she is also a quick thinker, and Yaoyorozu is weakened by the amount of time it takes for her to make things. The difference could only be seconds, but that it’s enough time for Kendou to get in a physical attack. It seems like these two could be great friends and supports for each other as they continue their education.

As Tokoyami says, Komori’s quirk is repulsively strong. If there’s one surprise takeaway from this match it is that Komori’s mushroom quirk is sick. The image of Hagakure covered with mushrooms is gross. It doesn’t seem like blocking Tokoyami’s windpipe with spores is her ultimate move, so what else can she do? Kuroiro is also looking pretty intense here. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for Aoyoma to consider changing his hero name to something a little more concise. Can you imagine trying to talk to "Can't Stop Twinkling" over comms in a time-sensitive situation? Compared to say, “Deku” — short and to the point.

It seems short-sighted that heroism is apparently limited to the kind of people who can walk around and physically fight villains. This arc is about teamwork, and this particular match drives that theme home. Should Yaoyorozu emphasize physical combat in her training when her talents would be better deployed as a kind of leader-general who creates support items as needed? We haven’t seen any heroes like that, but if heroes are going to start working in teams, it would make sense for people to specialize, rather than continue with the expectation that everyone has to be an all-rounder.  Even Midnight sees it. 

On the other hand, there is the counterargument that Kendo’s successful physical attack is the precise reason why students like Yaoyorozu should learn more hand-to-hand defense. Yaoyorozu was an ultimate team player, allowing herself to be captured while having confidence in her teammates. And it’s not like she didn’t go down fighting.

To be fair, the lack of non-combat heroes could be an artifact of the educational system. This arc is also about correcting the “illogical” element of the UA entrance exam, which was biased towards students with strong offensive quirks. In contrast, this training exercise seems like a great opportunity for students to get a feel for teamwork in the post-All Might era. For example, Tokoyami has not shown himself to be a great strategist in this arc. His thinking tends to be very linear and focused on one goal rather than seeing the bigger picture. This is a boy who does very well implementing plans.

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS. I see no reason why Tokoyami shouldn’t continue to play to his strengths in medium-range offense.  Still, Tokoyami can think on his feet. His capture of Kuroiro was nothing short of brilliant. I would never have guessed that a limitation of Kuroiro’s quirk is that he can squished into a ball as long as long as he’s couched in black. (Sidebar: Kuroiro’s crush on Komori is adorable. I like to see these kids acting like kids.)

It’s undeniable that Kendo’s best girl in this match, and she should take the win for what it is. She drags around two people and a fucking canon while tied up.

It’s interesting that we end the chapter with Kendo thinking that she didn’t deserve to win. I think it’s meant to drive home the point that despite her loss here, Yaoyorozu is …fill in the blank. Strong? Powerful? Strategic? Any of these are applicable. However, Kendo did deserve to win here (it’s interesting me to that although this is a teamwork arc, this match at least has been framed as Yaoyorozu vs. Kendo). Knocking out an opponent is a legitimate way to do things at UA. Kendo seems to think she and her team were more reactive than proactive, while Yaoyorozu had plans and backup plans. (Though one could argue the 1-A students were more reactive than the 1-B students, as the 1-B students had them often on the defensive.).

One thing that I thought was a little weird was that I was expecting some major something after Todoroki suggested that Yaoyorozo would be a threat to all four 1-B students at once.

I guess he meant that the support she could provide in her Lucky Bag would make her the most threatening member of the 1-A team.  Of course, Todoroki hadn’t seen I-B’s quirks at that point, and had no way of knowing how powerful their quirks are. (HOW did so few 1-B students advance in the Sports Festival?)

Speculation is rampant about the outcomes of the next three matches. This match proves that it is impossible to guess, because we don’t know enough about 1-B's quirks. There was no way of predicting that Tokoyami would be taken down by what is practically a biological weapon. From a storytelling standpoint, it makes sense that either Todoroki’s or Bakugou’s teams will have to lose for the stakes to be even by Midoriya’s match. This presents a conundrum, as both Todoroki and Bakugou could use a win at this point. Todoroki hasn’t had a challenging fight since Moonfish. We have yet to see Todoroki show off any flashy moves besides his Ice Wall; presumably he has something in the works for his fire side. And maybe I’ve read too much fanfiction, but Todoroki hasn’t exhibited the skills of a formidable combatant when he’s not blasting people with his quirk. In the Provisional License Exam, we can infer that he mostly relied on his quirk.

This is a weakness compared to students like Midoriya and Bakugou, who are both keen strategists and, as Deku vs. Kacchan 2 showed, absolutely stellar at combining their quirks with physical attacks.

If I had to make a prediction about whether Todoroki or Bakugou is likely to win his match, I would go with Bakugou. Bakugou was supposed to learn teamwork and empathy in his remedial training, and it would be anticlimactic for the outcome to be, “welp, guess he didn’t learn anything after all” the first time he is tested. We know he was able to cooperate with his classmates enough to play in the band for the Culture Festival. It’s time for him to be put in a combat situation.

I don’t think losing his match would be as hard on Todoroki as Bakugou, and not just because Bakugou hates to lose. Todoroki’s central conflict is with his father, and this training is low-stakes for his character development. He’s a competitive person and likes to win, but I’m not entirely sure he has a good handle on why winning is important to himself as an individual. He’s never expressed outright that he wants to be the number one hero; it has been implied that since he was groomed to beat All Might, he wants to be the top hero. We also know that Rei (and Midoriya) told him he can be a hero. But these are both externally derived motivations. I headcanon Todoroki as someone who has yet to make his own sense of what heroism means to him, and until he takes ownership over why he wants to be hero, he will continue to lack the fire (no pun intended) that drives Midoriya and Bakugou. His performance at the Provisional Licensing Exam was perfunctory at best until Yoarashi got him riled up. Something similar could happen in his match, UNLESS he gets inspired by the spirit of teamwork and goes all out for his friends.

[cyanisbirdmom666]

Dark Skies - Part 3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 4

Summary: Space seems fun at first, right? Well it is... until people on your spaceship start getting murdered by monsters.

Notes: Just another Among Us chapter.

Word Count: 2.2k

Trigger Warnings: none :)

“OK EVERYONE, are you guys ready?” Daisy asked as everyone sat down. The cafeteria tables were quite large, so the 12 of them all fit on one table. Rusty came out of the kitchen with all the seafood. Salmon chowder, baked cod, potato-brussel sprout hash, seared scallops, popcorn shrimp, hot crab dip, and an avocado and fennel salad. “I really hope you guys aren’t allergic to seafood.” he joked. They all laughed and dug in. The food was delicious.

After about 10 minutes of silent eating, Daisy stood up cleared her throat, “Ok guys, to start off I’m going to first ask for your ages. We all look pretty young, so no need to be embarrassed. I’ll start, and we’ll go clockwise from there. I’m 21 years old.”

“I’m 27.” said Rusty.

“I’m 25.” said Rosa.

“I’m 23.” said Violet.

“21.” said Azul.

“I’m 20.” said Sky.

“I’m 21.” said Chartreuse.

“31.” said Scarlet.

“I’m 24.” said Viridian.

“I am 21.” said Coal.

“I’m 25.” said Bronze.

“26.” said Ivory.

“Ok great! Let’s do an easy question first: why are you guys in space? I’m sure this will bring up some interesting stories... I’ll start, again. I like rocks. I’m a geologist and going to space to actually touch and handle space dust has always been a dream of mine, ever since I was a little girl that played with sand. That may sound weird to you guys, but, like, studying the moons, the dirt, and the lava in Polus was SUCH a wonderful experience!! 10 outta 10, I would definitely do this again. MiraSpace noticed my experience in the field, and offered me this trip. All I needed to do in return was conduct some research on the lava in Polus. I enjoyed every minute of it! Now Rusty, it’s your turn.

“MiraSpace needed a chef for this group. You only live once, so I took the opportunity to go to space. I don’t regret it. Space is pretty cool.”

Rosa stopped eating and cleared her throat, “Well, I’m an astronomer, so getting to study the stars and celestial objects up close was an opportunity I could not refuse. MiraSpace needed the research and I had already been working with MiraSpace for years, so I know I can trust this organization to send me into space. It’s been very pleasant so far.” Rosa finished talking and continued to eat.

“Well, I also had been working in MiraSpace before taking this trip. They wanted me to be the electrical and software engineer of the ship, and I of course accepted, even though the chances of this ship breaking down is really small.” Violet said, very confidently.

“I’ve never worked for MiraSpace, and the only thing I know about the organization was from what I heard on the news. Scandals, new programs they’re launching and stuff. BUT they did offer me a lot of bucks for researching weather in space, so I gave them a chance. So here I am, the ship’s space meteorologist.” Azul droned, obviously bored. He was staring at the ceiling.

“I’m a surgeon and MiraSpace contacted me, saying that they needed a medic for the ship. I at first declined, because I love Earth and flying gives me anxiety. Besides I didn’t really need the money, and space was never an interest of mine.They even offered to give me an assistant! BUT, then MiraSpace told me that if I was able to find an alien bird in Polus, I would be able to keep it. All I needed to do was get samples and data from Polus and be the ship’s doctor. I don’t know how MiraSpace found out I love birds, but they did and now they had me hooked. I accepted, so now I have two alien bird eggs on my helmet, and a bunch of data and research to sort out. I still don’t know who was assigned to be my assistant, or if I even have an assistant. But other than that it’s been pretty fun.”

Azul looked at Sky a bit confused, “Aren’t you a bit young to be a surgeon? You said you were 20? Aren’t surgeons like, really old? You’re not even at legal drinking age!” Sky shrugged, “I suppose I just skipped a few grades.” Azul gazed at Sky for another moment before returning to staring at the ceiling.

Chartreuse started, “MiraSpace wanted me to document everything we- well everything you guys do, and I accepted the position. The Skeld is my set and you guys are the actors. I’m just the movie director letting the drama unfold.”

Daisy giggled nervously, “But there is no drama here, silly! We all get along great!”

Chartreuse smirked, “There will be hon, there’s always will be drama wherever you go. I’m just patiently waiting. I know where to sniff out the dirt, darling.”

Daisy forced a smile, “You’re a funny one Chartreuse... but erm, I don’t really see your equipment? You’re not doing a very good job so far if you want to sniff out the dir-”

“Look up sugarcakes. I have cameras everywhere to record the latest news among the crewmates. And to make sure I’m documenting everything you’re doing of course. MiraSpace doesn’t want any funny business going on on their ships.” Chartreuse disclosed.

Everyone went from happy to very uncomfortable. They all (reluctantly) looked up and sure enough, there was a camera taped to the ceiling. How did it get there? They didn’t know, since Chartreuse was short. Coal immediately tensed thinking, is it possible that he put a camera in Electrical? Did he record the whole conversation??

“So Chartreuse, what are ya planning on doing with the footage eh? You wanna make a movie out of us or something? Or are you just going to turn in all the footage to MiraSpace?” Scarlet asked, a bit irritated. She did not want to be recorded.

“I have to give all the footage to MiraSpace but... MiraSpace didn’t stop me from bringing my own equipment so... perhaps I will make a movie out of this. It all depends on how good my footage is and how much footage MiraSpace takes. Enough about me though, we should probably keep playing our bonding game, yes?” Chartreuse said, still smirking.

Scarlet wanted to slap his stupid little smirk off his face, but she restrained herself. “I work in MiraSpace. I handle Comms. I will be spending most of my time in Comms. So, don’t bother me.” Or record me.

“I’m a psychologist and MiraSpace wanted me to study you guys’ behavior throughout the day.”

“Great! So not only are we starring actors in Chartreuse's space movie, but we’re also lab rats.” Scarlet said, exasperated.

“heh... I’m also supposed to study the crewmate’s health too... I guess Viridian and I are supposed to work together to monitor your overall health.” Sky mumbled timidly. She didn’t want to make Scarlet angrier, and she definitely didn’t want Scarlet to hate her.

“This must be a joke. MiraSpace NEVER told me any of this. They just said that the only thing I would be doing, was communicating back and forth with MiraSpace headquarters. They never said anything about being monitored.” Scarlet exclaimed.

Daisy laughed nervously, “How about we just continue the bonding? Coal I think you’re next?”

“MiraSpace wanted me to study plants in Polus.” Coal grumbled.

“Oh. Ok. Well, what about you, Bronze?”

“I’m just a physicist. MiraSpace hired me to study astrophysics and quantum mechanics out here.” Bronze sighed.

“I’m an aerospace and mechanical engineer. I’m supposed to work with Violet.” Ivory stated plainly.

Daisy nodded, “OK great! I guess we should stop the questions since everyone seems a bit tense... I have an idea! Why don’t we all group up and-”

“Why don’t we all just go to bed? It’s 11pm eastern time right now on Earth, and some of us seem a little cranky.” Ivory interrupted.

The crewmates looked back and forth between Daisy and Ivory until Sky blurted out, “Seems like a good idea, I’m pretty tired.” Sky stood up and started to walk to her room. The others nodded and muttered words in agreement. Only Chartreuse, Ivory, Rosa, Rusty, and Azul remained at the table.

“Aren’t you guys going to leave?” Ivory questioned. “Well I need to wash dishes and stuff...” Rusty muttered as he quickly grabbed a few plates and headed to the kitchen. Rosa looked around, “I was going to help him wash the dishes... there’s a lot and... and four hands are better than two!” Rosa hastily grabbed the remaining plates and rushed off towards the kitchen to help Rusty.

Ivory glared at Azul and Chartreuse, “And you two?”

“Oh nothing... he just happens to be taller than me and is helping me grab that camera.” Chartreuse said, pointing at the camera still taped to the ceiling, “I got some very good footage that I’d love to review. You can leave darling, nothing suspicious is going on here.”

There is definitely something suspicious about you two, Ivory thought as she headed towards the sleeping pods.

Azul Aegan

Now, why would I help this short little man retrieve his camera? Usually, I would walk away and let the person fend for themselves if they need help. But he’s different. This time it’s different. We both want something, and I know we can help each other get what we want. Hopefully Mr. Chartreuse is as smart as he seems. Just gotta wait for that annoying Ivory girl to walk away.

Once Ivory was away from sight, Chartreuse immediately asked, “What do you want?”

I should play dumb at first, just to see what I’m dealing with here, “What do you mean? I’m just being a nice guy by helping you with your equipment!” I said that in the fakest way possible. Whoopsies!

Chartreuse snickered, “Why would you be helping a guy like me? The guy who wants to sniff out you guys’ dirtiest little secrets? The guy who wants to record all the drama and your most private moments? Hmm?”

He knows. I sighed and said, “We both know that I want something, yes?”

He scoffed, “Yeah I can tell. But I’m afraid I can’t help ya with whatever you want. Or need. I work alone.”

“I think I can help you... create... drama.”

“Drama happens on its own darling. I don’t need help ‘creating’ drama. I’ve been doing this sort of thing for years hon.”

“Oh really? How come I’ve never seen a Chartreuse movie on the big screen, hmm? Please, don’t be so close-minded,” I demurred, “Think of it this way. I’ll be your starring actor. I mean honestly, if I- I mean we, don’t create drama, your movie is just going to be about a bunch of astronauts in colored suits doing space tasks!”

“Editing changes things.” Chartreuse said stubbornly.

“Your ‘movie’ will be more like a children’s film! But if you want that, that’s fine with me. I guess I’ll just go to bed instead.” I gave him the camera and started to walk away, a bit disappointed to be honest. I honestly thought he was smarter than this.

“Wait...” Chartreuse hesitated before saying, “What can you help me with.”

I turned around and sneered, “What are your thoughts on romance? I think that will definitely make your little project more interesting... I could even sprinkle in some extra drama for you...”

Chartreuse smiled, clearly on board with the start of my idea. Chartreuse leaned forward, “What sort of romance?”

Sky Aguamarina

Today was an eventful day. I was really enjoying the bonding until Chartreuse told us about his documenting plans. That sorta ruined the mood. But I do gotta say that Scarlet was overreacting a bit. I mean yeah, it’s weird to think that a camera will be following me on the way back home but it probably won’t even be that bad! I don’t think anyone has any big secrets that affect everyone on the ship, right? The only footage Chartreuse will get, is us just doing our tasks! Hmm... well since I got nothing else to do, I’m gonna write my opinions on everyone else in here.

Daisy Flaxer seems like a nice and fun person. I’m glad she’s in our group.

I feel like Viridian and I will get along really well! I can’t wait to work with him tomorrow.

Azul seems to only be here for money. No judgement, but I honestly don’t think he has any interest in space. Which is unfair to those who do want to go to space, but didn’t get to because of limited space. But hey, maybe this journey back home will interest him in space?

Scarlet Laulanga seems to be very moody. I’m kinda scared of her.

Ivory scares me. She’s very intimidating. But she seems cool. And really smart.

Coal scares me. He seems anti-social.

Bronze seems like a pleasant person to be around.

Rosa, Rusty, and Violet seem like really nice people. Rusty’s a really good cook.

Chartreuse was probably a snitch during his elementary school years.

I suppose I’ll add more once I get to know them better! I guess I should go to sleep now though. According to Scarlet, we’re supposed to get our tasks tomorrow (very exciting).

[roseymoseyberry]

Samsara (2/?)

ahhh, i’m so excited that so many folks are interested in this fic! I was going to hold back on this chapter a little longer but, eh. Consider it a friday the 13th surprise.

This fic can also be found on AO3 now, though I probably won’t post this chapter there for a little bit longer. Eventually both blog and ao3 will be updated at the same time though.

I hope you enjoy~

(also, a car is mentioned in here, and I imagine it’s something like this guy)

Title: Samsara

Series: RID15 and TFP (and some tidbits grabbed from Aligned wiki pages)

Ship(s): Wildbreak/Knockout, Breakdown/Knockout

Tags/warnings: Reincarnation AU, hurt/comfort, verbal/physical abuse (though the worst of the physical abuse is barely described or off screen), past character death, age difference (but still consenting adult alien robots), a lot of filling in worldbuilding gaps and making shit up, and a lot of Wildbreak being a sweet boy who just needs some love and affection.

Fic Summary:

From the day he was forged, Wildbreak had felt like there was something missing; some motivation or drive or desire that had been left behind in the Allspark.

Something he should know but didn’t.

|Chapter 1|Chapter 2|

Knockout didn’t make it easy. Wildbreak had thought him fast before, but now Knockout was a demon on the road, drifting around corners while his engine roared.

But if there was one thing Wildbreak was proud of, it was his own prowess on the road. The Stunticons didn’t demand rule over roads without reason.

It was neck to neck, with Wildbreak slipping past Knockout a few times with an eager rev, and he would swear he heard the other car laugh before gunning his engines and fighting his way back to the front. Knockout even began to play dirty, bumping into Wildbreak occasionally, but Wildbreak knew every dirty trick there was in a race. He might have been young, but driving with his team was never polite or by the rules.

Knockout wouldn’t shake Wildbreak. Not when his spark pulsed wildly like it was.

And by some stroke of luck, after the sun had set and the stars were out, Knockout transformed, vents wide open as heat billowed out, and said, “Alright, alright. I guess you deserve something for that performance.”

The first time that they talked, Knockout had insisted that Wildbreak tell him all about his life. When Wildbreak had tried to say that it wasn’t very interesting, that Knockout wouldn’t want to hear about all that, Knockout had laughed and said, “It won’t be that long a story anyway, so relax and fess up.”

So Wildbreak had told him about Dragstrip, and about the Stunticons, and the various jobs they had taken over the span of Wildbreak’s life that had led them to Earth. It had been awkward at first, because Knockout was an Autobot, so surely he was judging Wildbreak for the symbol on his chest and all the illegal things he had done.

But Knockout never looked especially shocked. He just nodded and urged Wildbreak on.

It wasn’t until the very end that Knockout asked, “So what’s the end plan for you? If this whole Stunticon business doesn’t pan out?”

Wildbreak blinked at him, confused, because he had never considered what he would do without the Stunticons. But Knockout insisted he needed to come up with a backup plan.

“Loyalty just ends with a knife in your back.”

Wildbreak’s spark had twisted unpleasantly at that, aching like an old wound he didn't remember receiving.

Wildbreak promised that he’d think about it but only, he shyly added, if Knockout promised they could meet again.

It was probably one of the bravest moves Wildbreak had ever made.

And Knockout had laughed and said he’d stick around the area for a while. He wouldn’t give an exact timeline, but that was enough for Wildbreak.

“What’re you looking so happy about?”

Wildbreak’s expression turned sheepish in the face of Dragstrip’s scrutiny.

“Just a good drive, I guess.” When Dragstrip didn’t appear satisfied with that answer, Wildbreak continued, “Got to race a guy.”

Dragstrip made a face. “Why would you race with a squishy?”

Wildbreak shrugged as he settled on the slab he usually recharged on.

“Gave me a run for my money,” Wildbreak said, aware that while it wasn’t a lie, it wasn’t the full truth either since he wasn’t correcting Dragstrip’s assumption. “So I dunno, it was fun.”

Dragstrip didn’t look convinced, but luckily it looked like he just couldn’t believe it would be fun to race with a squishy, not that he doubted the story.

“Whatever. And uh, did that help with your whole business?” Dragstrip asked, gesturing vaguely at Wildbreak, and it was clear he meant his spark.

Truthfully, Wildbreak’s spark felt more turbulent than it ever had before. But it was nice. It felt like victory.

“A little bit,” he admitted. “I think if I just keep driving sometimes it’ll straighten itself out, you know?”

“It better.”

The second time that they talked, it was a couple days later when finally Wildbreak could get away again. He made it to the same spot as before an hour before sunset and waited, anxious and worried that maybe Knockout wouldn’t show, that they would miss each other or that Knockout had simply decided he wasn’t actually interested.

But as the sun disappeared over the hill in the distance, Knockout’s engine gave away his arrival, and Wildbreak’s spark soared.

“Knockout! You showed up!”

With a transformation and a smirk, Knockout remarked, “I never miss an opportunity to be adored.”

Wildbreak’s optics went wide and heat spread up his neck and across his face, embarrassed and flustered. Knockout laughed, not cruelly but just amused, but it faltered a bit as his optics lingered on Wildbreak’s expression. And that look from before – almost like recognition and tainted by sorrow – took over, lingering this time as he ended his now forced chuckle with a cough. Knockout glanced away as he moved to flop down on the grass beside Wildbreak.

It was the first time Wildbreak had seen Knockout without total confidence and it nearly felt as if it had set his spark aflame with affection.

A wide grin split Wildbreak’s face despite his embarrassment, and he scratched at the back of his neck as he said, “Whatever brings you back works for me.”

Knockout snorted, teased him about being desperate.

But he didn’t seem to really mind.

And when Wildbreak asked him to talk about himself this time – “I don’t got much else to tell you about me anymore” – Knockout agreed.

Knockout told him that he had been a Decepticon up until the very last second when the chance presented itself and he jumped from the metaphorically sinking ship. He talked about how he had made his bed based on who the winning team would be, and maybe he had guessed that wrong, but the Autobots were a much more forgiving lot than Decepticons. The Autobots were usually open to picking up defectors—

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Wildbreak grumbled. “Backup plans and all that.”

“Just making sure to pass on my knowledge to the youth of today,” Knockout insisted with a sly look.

“It’s not like I was just forged yesterday.”

“Please. You’re so young that you’ve only ever known the Decepticons as synonymous with common criminals.”

“You’re not gonna start in on a ‘in my day’ lecture, are you?”

That brought Knockout up short, his frame going stock still before he sneered.

“I’m not old.”

Wildbreak couldn’t help giggling as he teased, “Aw gee, course you’re not. You only got what, a couple hundred years on me? Couple thousand?”

Knockout shoved him, but it was softer than what Wildbreak was used to, didn’t hurt in the least.

“Who told you you could talk back?” Knockout complained, and that did hurt. Wildbreak stiffened and looked down at his servos, twisting them together.

“Oh, uh, sorry.”

It was quiet for a moment before Knockout said, “What? Why are you apologizing?”

“For talking back?”

Wildbreak flinched when digits tucked under his chin, but Knockout was gentle as he turned Wildbreak’s helm back towards him.

Knockout stared at him sternly.

“You’re always allowed to talk back.”

Wildbreak’s optics grew wide as his processor reeled.

“B-but you said--”

“I was joking,” Knockout said, bending down when Wildbreak tried to look down, refusing to let him look away. “But obviously it was a joke in poor taste. You don’t normally get to talk back, do you?”

Concerned crimson optics seemed to take up all of Wildbreak’s attention as his tanks felt as if they were being crushed. His vocalizer failed him, so Wildbreak just shook his helm.

Knockout frowned.

“Not too late to jump ship.”

“They’re not that bad, though. I mean, they’re my team—”

“—And if Cons are anything like what they used to be, they’ll cut down a sweet thing like you without a second thought if it benefits them.”

Wildbreak felt sick because he wanted to defend the team, or at least Dragstrip, but he couldn’t. Not when he knew deep down it was possible. Not when he could still remember how it felt to be crushed by the gravity weapon that Dragstrip had demonstrated on him without any guilt. And not when his spark ached with phantom pain that Wildbreak couldn’t actually remember ever receiving.

And not when Knockout looked at him with old pain etched into the lines of his face.

“I’ll already told you I’d think about it,” Wildbreak finally managed, “and I am. Really.”

Knockout was quiet a moment longer before, with a sigh, he removed his servo and leaned back. “Fine. But this time you’re leaving with my comm link too in case you need it.”

Wildbreak nodded and, after a moment, flopped onto his back. The stars twinkled and Wildbreak wondered if Cybertron was out in that direction. A home that had never felt much like home, never felt welcoming, never felt quite right. It had been easy to just join a group that he thought wanted him and hope it would be better than the loneliness.

Oddly, Earth had felt familiar in ways that Cybertron didn’t.

And now, even with his tanks roiling, being here next to Knockout felt like home .

“So, uh. You think I’m sweet?”

Knockout’s ventilation came out choked before a soft smile curled his lips.

“I suppose I do,” Knockout admitted, leaning back on his palms and giving Wildbreak a sideways look. “Who knew I’d find pleasant company on this dirt ball?”

Wildbreak couldn’t help grinning at that. “What about your Autobot friends?”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, Bumblebee can be fine company. But he has some of the most obnoxious brats racing around and I think they’re rubbing off on him in the worst way. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, he lives in some human’s scrap yard!” Knockout sighed dramatically as he clucked his glossa disapprovingly. “I barely lasted a few hours there before I had to leave and immediately wash off.”

“Then why’re you here?” Wildbreak asked curiously.

Knockout hummed contemplatively as he tilted his helm back, gazing up at the stars, the moonlight reflecting off his perfect finish and highlighting the angles of his handsome face. It was easy to get lost in staring at Knockout. “Visiting an old friend,” Knockout said softly, the casualness of his tone belying the sad curl to his lips.

But it was there and gone as he turned his helm back to Wildbreak, adding, “And besides, while I can’t say I care for their company, humans are masters of crafting a gorgeous automobile. I mean look at me! You just can’t find alt-modes like this on Cybertron.”

Wildbreak sat up, grinning as he said, “Right? They look so pretty! I’ve thought about scanning something, but I don’t know what would look good on me, and nobody else on the team wanted a new scan, so it felt weird to ask, you know?”

Knockout’s optics flashed bright as a wide smirk split his face.

“Do you want to find one tonight?”

Wildbreak’s spark thundered eagerly in his chest.

“Uh, I mean, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh Wildbreak, darling,” Knockout purred as he swiftly and gracefully got to his pedes, “I can’t even begin to tell you how much I don’t mind at all. Now come on, up you get. We’ve got ourselves a trip into the city to make.”

Wildbreak stumbled a bit as he stood up, wide-opticked as he replied, “The city?”

“Of course. Ferrari is having a show there this week, so what better chance to slip in and find something that suits you,” Knockout insisted as he started walking towards the road.

“But how would we get in?”

“Come now. Don’t tell me you haven’t done a little breaking and entering before?” Knockout teased. That only had Wildbreak slack-jawed as he jogged to catch up.

“B-but you’re an Autobot! Aren’t you supposed to follow the rules?”

Knockout laughed as he finally hit asphalt and shifted into his alt-mode.

“Who said I was good at being an Autobot? Now hurry it up, we don’t have all night!”

Stunned, Wildbreak just nodded and transformed to follow Knockout. But after a few minutes of processing it all, Wildbreak felt excitement bubble up in his chassis. The sound clip of Knockout calling him darling played on repeat in the back of his processor.

“Hey, who’s Ferrari anyway?”

“I have so much to teach you, Wildbreak.”

Wildbreak couldn’t remember the last time he had had so much fun.

Breaking in had been shockingly easy, so much so that Wildbreak suspected it hadn’t been the first time that Knockout had trespassed into this particular building to check out cars. And they were in luck that the building had to have passageways large enough for cars to drive onto the main floor, so it wasn’t hard for them to get into the large room with ceilings high enough for them to stand.

And Knockout had been right. The cars were gorgeous.

They admired and discussed the cars, and now and again Knockout would pause, considering the car and then Wildbreak, before telling him to try scanning it. Some of them translated well to Wildbreak’s root mode, and some of them just left Knockout bent over snickering.

“Oh no, no no, absolutely not. Drop that scan immediately.”

Which meant that Wildbreak would pose and strut in the worst of the choices, enjoying the way that Knockout was torn between laughing and hissing over how awful they were.

Finally though, Knockout clapped his servos together and insisted, “There it is. I think we’ve found it. Go on, try it on!”

It was, in many ways, similar to Wildbreak’s cybertronian alt-mode. But it was sleeker, beautiful lines instead of aggressive angles. The little mirrors had to go, but otherwise it was gorgeous, and transforming into his root form showed that it translated well. Similar to what he had but nicer looking, both aesthetically and emotionally. It felt like a better fit.

“Almost,” Knockout said contemplatively as he circled him. Wildbreak squirmed a bit under the scrutiny. “Is the blue your natural paintjob?”

“Yeah, it is.”

“Then switch to that.”

With a flicker, Wildbreak’s plating dropped the white and red from the disguise to reveal his forged coloring with its dark blue and orange and grey.

Knockout grinned.

“Oh yes, that’s it.”

“You sure? I mean, it’s kinda dark, and the color combination is kinda weird--”

“I would never lie when it comes to looks,” Knockout interrupted as he stepped closer. Wildbreak nearly startled when Knockout’s servo grasped him by the wrist, optics trailing along the expanse of his arm. With unexpected fondness, Knockout said, “I always did love the contrast of blue and orange.”

Wildbreak’s face heated and his spark went wild.

And even Knockout seemed to react to his own admission, stiffening and dropping Wildbreak’s wrist as he stepped back.

“Well, anyway. Do you like it?”

Wildbreak looked down at his own frame again, twisting it this way and that to see as much as he could, before shrugging. “It looks good from what I can see. And if you think it looks good, I believe it.”

“You’re awfully trusting,” Knockout commented.

“I guess,” Wildbreak admitted, “but I mean, you’re easy to trust.”

Knockout blinked at him before throwing his helm back and laughing, managing between wheezes to ask if that was a joke because no one would ever say that about him.

But Wildbreak meant it.

From the very bottom of his spark, he meant it.

But Knockout still snickered as he ushered Wildbreak out of the building, insisting that they get a move on before anyone showed up.

The ride back was full of Knockout’s stories, since the moment he said that he had been Megatron’s medic at the end of the war – that he had been part of the team that battled Team Prime – Wildbreak was out of his processor with excitement.

Better yet, Knockout did impressions of the upper ranks.

They were hilarious when they were just spoken, but once the two of them had reached the fork in the road where Wildbreak was supposed to turn to go back to his team, Knockout was able to contort his face and frame too. Wildbreak was non-stop giggles when Knockout stomped around as Megatron, servos behind his back and constant sneer on his face as he waxed poetic about every little thing before howling in faux rage. And while every Decepticon from the war that Wildbreak had met had a Starscream impression, nothing could touch Knockout’s. He pranced and he preened as he waved his servos around, wiggling the tires on his back as if they were wings, and Wildbreak could feel optic cleanser welling up from how hard he laughed.

It nearly hid the fact that while there was no way that Wildbreak would have ever heard these stories before, most of them sounded oddly familiar.

“—So needless to say, my assistant and I didn’t pay Starscream a lick of attention and still went to the race--”

Other than the vehicons, Knockout’s assistant was the only figure in the stories who wasn’t named. Knockout didn’t do any impressions of him. Wildbreak would almost think Knockout thought as little about the mech as he did of the vehicons were it not for the fact that the assistant featured in nearly all his stories. A constant companion.

Wildbreak’s spark pulsed hard with every mention of him.

“Is he your friend you’re visiting?”

Knockout stopped suddenly, mouth still open as if he was ready for the next part of the story, but it didn’t come out.

Instead he asked, “What?”

“The assistant,” Wildbreak said, shifting his weight on his pedes. “Cause, I mean, it doesn’t sound like you were really friends with the rest of ‘em. But you mention him a lot.”

Knockout’s mouth closed and his expression softened from the amusement of before. Wildbreak already regretted the question, verbally stumbling over himself as he said, “I mean, you don’t gotta tell me, just forget I even asked.”

“No, it’s fine,” Knockout finally managed. His servos drifted down to his sides, lightly propped on his hips. The huff that was nearly a laugh was humorless. “I just thought I was more subtle than that. Guess not.” Another ventilation cycled through Knockout before he said, “You got it in one.”

Wildbreak’s spark raced.

“What’s his name?”

“Breakdown,” Knockout said as his lips curled into a soft, sad smile.

Wildbreak’s spark thundered.

Wildbreak swallowed as he fought to keep the pain from showing on his face. He had learned to be good at that over the years and hoped it would fool Knockout.

“Huh. Weird.”

“What’s weird about that?” Knockout asked, optics finding focus again on Wildbreak’s face.

“Nothin’,” Wildbreak replied, shifting his weight again. “Just got déjà vu or something. Maybe I met him before?”

Knockout’s smirk was joyless.

“Only place the two of you could have crossed paths was in the Allspark.”

Wildbreak’s spark thrashed.

“Oh. Well uh, then I guess it’s just ‘cause I have ‘break’ in my name then, or something,” Wildbreak reasoned, his optics now glued to the ground. “Sorry about your friend. Sounds like he was a great guy.”

“He was.”

REACH OUT. TOUCH HIM.

“You miss him?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

HOLD HIM. MISS HIM.

“He probably misses you too.”

The ground crunched under Knockout’s pede, one step towards Wildbreak before stopping. Wildbreak didn’t dare look up at Knockout, afraid he’d see right through him, would see the confusing turmoil between his spark’s demands and his processor’s bewilderment.

“A-anyway, I should probably get going before anyone notices I’m gone,” Wildbreak stammered as he took a step back. “But I really wanna see you again. I promise I won’t make it awkward again or anything.”

After a moment of silence, a genuinely amused ex-vent escaped Knockout and a short-wave message hit Wildbreak’s comm. It was a commlink.

“It takes more than a little bit of awkwardness to scare me off.”

When Wildbreak got to the old buildings his team called their base, he shifted back to his cybertronian form, already missing Knockout’s gift but knowing he couldn’t let the others see it. He’d have to save his earth form for the few occasions he was alone or with Knockout.

Then, as quietly as he could, Wildbreak snuck towards his usual slab and curled up with his back against the wall.

Recharge was slow to take him though because there was nothing that could quiet his processor or his spark.

Breakdown.

The name kept popping up in his processor again and again, sometimes an inquiry, sometimes a statement, but never anything that Wildbreak understood.

Wildbreak couldn’t figure out if Knockout was helping with the hole in his spark or making it that much worse.

But either way, Wildbreak knew he would see him again.

Wildbreak had to see Knockout again.

[eve-the-egg-lover]

Sith, Spies, and a Whole lot of Lies

Chapter 2

*Yay, chapter 2!! It’s shorter than the first, though I don’t know if this will be it’s normal length. Anyways, enjoy :) 

For the first few moments after their eyes met, neither Rya, nor Theron moved a muscle. They just stared, eyes locked, mouths open, frozen in time. That was until the Director reminded Theron of his still open comm channel.

“Theron Shan, what the hell was that!? I swear, if you just started a gang war I’ll…”

“Call you back.” Theron spoke, adding in a whisper, “Disconnect.”

With the director’s interruption, time seemed to flow once more, along with all the dangers that came along with it. Rya sprung to her feet, igniting her blood red lightsaber, and Theron whipped his blaster from its holster.

She looked the same as she had on Rishi. Long, golden blonde hair tied in a bun, pale skin flushed with just a bit of pink, ice blue eyes piercing as she refused to even blink. Stars, she was beautiful.

Sometimes, Theron had imagined them meeting again. Sure, lots of them involved a lightsaber at his throat, but the sudden heat from the blade made him realize how easily she could end his life right then and there. The question was, would she?

              Pulling her lightsaber had been purely instinctual. A foolish instinct here, but standing face to face with Theron made her do and say a lot of foolish things.

              “Theron.” She put sternly. “Put the blaster down.”

              “Not until you deactivate your fancy glow stick.” Theron responded, not wavering from his stance.

              Gritting her teeth, Rya let her grip relax, the blade deactivating with a hiss. Theron lowered his blaster, leaving them suddenly very alone. The air was still thick with tension and from her current position, Rya could escape through the alleyways… but Theron would most certainly give chase.

              “Rya…” Theron broke the awkward silence. “What in the nine Corellian hells are you doing here?!” His voice rose with every syllable until he was practically shouting.

              It was understandable. If she were to ever stumble upon Theron on Dromund Kaas… actually, she had no idea what she’d do. She at first suspect he was doing work for the SIS, just as he was probably suspecting she was doing work for the Empire. Which she was (not that telling him would help her case). Telling him “I can’t tell you” would pretty much tell him I’m doing work for the Empire, and lying she wanted to see him would… well, that was all she had. Unfortunately for her, there was no way she could make it convincing.

              “I…. uhhhh…. I was just site seeing.” She spluttered. Stupid.

              “Wow. For a crafty Sith Lord, you sure have a way with words.” Theron narrowed his gaze, shaking his head from side to side.

              Rya swallowed, racking her brain for something else she could say. Her previous elatedness at seeing Theron had all but disappeared, the understanding of how complicated she’d suddenly made the situation dawning on her.

              “You shouldn’t have followed me. I could have killed you.” Rya said suddenly.

              Theron’s caution turned to outright anger. “Following you? I was trying to help you! I’m assuming that weird man has something to do with why you’re here!”

              Rya sighed. So it had been just another bar patron. Gritting her teeth, she ran her fingers through her hair, the loose wisps that had escaped her bun ghosting over her hands. She’d just exposed herself to the last person she’d wanted to see on Coruscant, all because she’d been overly paranoid. “Great.”

              “What did you say?” Theron returned, his hand moving back towards his blaster’s holster.

              “You weren’t supposed to know I was here.” Rya answered. Not the best choice of words.

              “That doesn’t help your situation.” Theron grumbled, crossing his arms and glaring. Sighing, he put a gloved hand up to his forehead. “You know I’m going to have to turn you in right?”

              Rya paused. And he caught it. Just a flash in her eyes for the briefest instant.

              Fear.

              Theron had always found it strange. Rya, she’d never been like the other Sith. Even Lana, as strange as she was, had never been quick to admit when she was afraid, or when she was uncertain. Nor was she ever willing to show gentleness or kindness. A weakness for Sith he supposed. Rya on the other hand… well, maybe she didn’t walk into fights with her heart on her sleeve, but she most certainly was not afraid to show such “soft” emotion. There was a tenderness to her that whatever training Sith went through hadn’t seemed to have been able to beat out of her.

              Her voice was barely above a whisper when she spoke. “You must know what would happen to me should you do that.” She chuckled, her throat clenching a bit.  

              Theron swallowed. Unfortunately, he did know what they would do. Some flashy war trial where she’d be paraded around by the Senate, blamed for everything  she may or may not have had a hand in doing, before being executed. Malcom would probably have a hand in it, she was a war criminal after all. And then when that was all said and done, she’d either be locked in the deepest depths of Belsavis to rot or be executed.

              He could not deny what she had done. She’d killed so many from the Republic. She’d destroyed the War Trust, intentionally broken the Treaty of Coruscant, and reignited the war. Hundreds of thousands were dying because of her actions. Why was he even contemplating this?

              His mind wandered to Jyvora. He could still hardly believe the Jedi Code spouting girl was a former Sith Lord. Not to mention Rya’s sister. She’d committed atrocities in the name of the Sith and the Empire as well. The difference was, she defected. She gave secrets in exchange for a chance to start over as a Jedi in the Republic. Something told Theron Rya wouldn’t agree.  

              “You’re right. I do know what they’d do to you.” Theron admitted, shifting his weight to his left leg. “And you know why.”

              Rya looked to the ground this time. All early traces of her anger dissipated. “I know.” She laughed. “Guess the Coalition on Yavin IV or taking down Revan wouldn’t help my case.”

              Theron chuckled in response, but quickly stopped himself. Sighing, he ran a finger through his hair.

              “I can’t let you do that Theron.” Rya finally spoke, crossing her arms. The more they talked, the higher the chances she’d let her emotions win. She needed to leave now.  

              “And I can’t let you harm the Republic.” He responded, his eyes closed.

              “I’m not here to do that.” Rya attempted to assure in vain. She knew she could not hurt Theron to escape, yet her feet were glued to the floor.

              Theron chuckled. “Sure. Because you think I’m stupid enough to trust a Sith.”

              Rya furrowed her eyebrows. “You trusted Lana.”

              “Yeah, and look where that got me.” Theron grumbled.

              “You trusted me.” Rya pointed out. “You said on Rishi you knew I’d come and get you.”

              Theron grumbled something, placing his hands on his hips, his eyes seeming to take an awful lot of interest in a soaked flimsi on the ground.

The silence that passed between them gave Rya a chance to think. The logical, ultra-heightened part of her mind battled against the emotional torrent flooding her system. She hated the profound impact simply speaking to Theron was having on her. She was a kriffing Sith Lord, not some giggly actress from Vette’s holo-vids. Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. She clenched her fists at her sides. Passion only worked if it was short lived. What she felt for Theron on Rishi when he’d been captured had driven her to wipe the Revanites guarding the compound from the galaxy. Had given her an incentive to defeat Revan at all costs. That passion had fueled her, delivered her to victories doorstep. But passion fades with distance. So why did she still feel this way? It was taking all her self-restraint to deny she felt anything for Theron. Kriff, if he had been an Imperial it would have made everything so much simpler.    

“I’m not asking you to trust me Theron, I don’t expect you to. Just know, if you try and stop me the whole galaxy will suffer.” It was all she could do to keep her raging emotions in check. Playing at Theron’s feelings was manipulation, plain and simple, but it was all she had. Going any further, using what had happened between them was her last resort.

              Theron laughed. “You know, lying to me only makes this worse.”

              “I’m not lying Theron.”

              “Of course not, because Sith always tell the truth.” Theron had begun moving towards her, but she refused to back down.

              “Not every Sith is evil, Theron. Look at my sister. You trust Jyvora, she was Sith.” She pointed out as Theron glared.

              “Jyvora left the Sith because of their twisted ideals you still serve.”

              “How do you know I still serve the Empire?” she spat, suddenly realizing how close Theron had come.

              “Isn’t it obvious? Why else would you be here?”

              Even in the dark, Rya could feel the emotions rushing over Theron like a tidal wave. The one, dim light in the alleyway cast shadows over Theron’s face. Rya could see the hazel of Theron’s eyes, the outline of his broad shoulders, his soft brown hair, the feint shimmer of his implants. The only other time she’d seem him this clearly was on Rishi. Then he had been bruised and bloodied, vulnerable. He’d winced a little every time he moved, his pride and confidence damaged. But here… now… towering over her, there was no inkling of that man. The anger from their argument made his eyebrows furrow, his nose scrunch just a little at the top, his lips downturned into a grimace. Lips that hadn’t wanted to leave her own when she gave him what he’d never realized he’d wanted. They had been soft and gentle, even in their hasty eagerness. Lana and Jakkaro’s long prep time had given them a lengthy opportunity to  “get to know one another.” The memory of what Theron and she had done on Rishi caused her face to flush considerably, and she was suddenly grateful for the darkness of the alley.

              Theron hadn’t even realized he’d been walking towards Rya until he had to look down to meet her eyes. The dark hid her features, but Theron knew she still looked the same. Sharp cheekbones, an upturned nose, clear skin, and ice blue eyes, her features unchanged from any kind of dark side corruption. He’d learned of Sith who used Sith alchemy to keep their features eternally youthful, but he simply could not fathom Rya taking such drastic measures. And yet, he knew the skin beneath her clothing was scarred from years of combat. On Rishi, he hadn’t taken the time to study them all, but he remembered a few. The slashes on her arms and the bite marks on her back from a Nexu. The raised skin on the side of her abdomen from being impaled by a collapsing pipe when her former master tried to kill her. The four gashes on her back from a Teratanek she had fought on Korriban.

              He felt the blood pounding in his ears as he took his time studying what features his eyes could make out in the dark. The softness in her eyes and the slight flushing of her cheeks told Theron Rya was doing the same. It amused him he was not the only one so distracted.

              He hardly remembered Rya reaching up to press her lips softly against his. Or when he’d wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her a little so she didn’t have to stand on her tiptoes. He could feel her thin fingers running through his hair, her warm breath on his face when they momentarily broke apart to breathe. She tasted of alcohol, a burning, bitter taste of something so strong and intoxicating with just a hint of sweetness, so like her. Oh kriff, Theron what are you doing? He thought to himself as his lips left hers and began a trail down her jaw to her neck.                  

              “Theron…” Rya let out a breathy moan as Theron nipped at her neck, his arms pressing her to him. Her mind was racing, heat building in her core. Stars, she wanted him. But she also didn’t want to catch whatever strange disease was lurking in the stagnant pools of water. “Theron,” she said again, trying to get his attention. He pulled away, breathing heavily. She could feel his need pressed so close to him. “Theron, not here.”

              “My place.” Theron whispered huskily, leaning down to kiss her neck again, but letting his grip on her loosen.

              Rya couldn’t stop herself from thinking what a terrible, terrible idea this was. But the warmth of Theron’s hand when he took hers in his own quieted her mind. Right now, there was no Empire, no Sith, no spies, no war. It was just them.

[strainofthestress]

Fanfic: Someone to Share it With Ch.2

Eos, 1100

The barren desert of Eos stretched hugely in front of them. From their view on the plateau, Vetra and Ryder could see a vast expanse of rocks and sand to the south, large formations poking out of the flat ground like bones of a long lost creature. Hot air rose from the sands beneath their feet, laden with the oppressive smell of centuries of barren heat, the dust filling their lungs with every breath. Ryder alone had drank five gallons of water since touching down, and even still his mouth was always dry, the chalk in his throat catching his voice and aging him, sounds of decades given in minutes.

The edge of their chosen plateau brought a steep drop, the hundreds of feet below masked by the uniformity of the sand beneath, an illusion of safety, much like the rest of the planet. What had seemed simply an arid climate was a sand-blasted wasteland of radiation, wind storms, and seemingly everything a planet could do to break modern technology. Where settlers had once judged water potable and the empty desert a new home sat only the broken remains of hope. Vetra stepped to the edge, looking over to peer at the sand below.

“Fifty credits says we make it.”

Vetra turned around, the pathfinder sweating in his hard suit behind her. While his eyes were hard to make out behind the tinted mask, the false confidence of his voice and the hands on his sideways cocked hips was unmistakable.

“You’re gonna have to bet a lot more to convince me to go over that in that death trap with you.”

“Fine, one hundred credits.”

Vetra narrowed her eyes at Ryder, her visor sensing the motion and giving a more detailed read-out. She scanned his stats, wishing she had paid more attention in the multi-species anatomy orientation in the Milky Way before departing. Still, bluffing looked the same in every species.

“You know, Pathfinder, I can’t tell if I want to call you on your bluff or point out that we’re looking for Remnant installations, not dare-devil jumps.”

“Who says I’m bluffing?”

“Please. I’ve faked my way through plenty of situations in my time. The first rule of bluffing your way through something: you have to be at least somewhat able to deliver: If they call your bluff, you need to at least have some sort of way out. And the only way I see you getting out of this one is on a stretcher with a furious Lexi next to you.”

“God, that sounds horrifying.”

Vetra turned from the pathfinder, looking intently at the Nomad behind them. Specs on every aspect of the machine, from its drive train to its body material flashed in front of her, until eventually the one she needed appeared: “Max Fall: 300 d, Standard G”. A quick glance at the pathfinder found him distracted by the view beside them, his resolution for making the jump apparently not strong enough to keep his interest. Vetra walked to the gap, pointing her visor at the ground, a the upper left hand corner of her field of view setting it to marksman mode: “Range: 268 d”. A small smirk crawled over her face.

“You know what, fine, I’ll take your bet.”

Wes turned around, the stunned look visible even through the blue tinted helmet.

“What?”

The Turian swaggered towards him, her mandibles flaring as she smelled the blood.

“You heard me. I’ll take your bet. 100 Credits, if we survive that jump. But…” A single Turian finger went up “If you chicken out, you have to back me up in a deal of my choosing.”

Ryder’s eyes darted wildly as Vetra laughed internally, watching the pathfinder fidget. He walked with urgent speed, trying not to show how nervous he was, to the side of the cliff, before staring back at the Nomad, his omnitool coming up to show a few frantic calculations. Vetra could see his heart rate rise as he walked forwards, extending a hand which was quickly taken.

“Alright. Fine. Let’s do it.”

Vetra gestured to the waiting Nomad.

“Yes, let’s.”

Ryder walked to the doors of the vehicle with the same mix of fake calm and underlying terror, his hands doing a poor job of concealing their shaking as he secured the five point harness on the seat. Vetra climbed in after him, confidence oozing as she sat smugly in the passenger seat, her self-satisfied grin not leaving her face as she strapped herself in. She usually made it a habit not to let associates see her win or lose – If they never see both, they’ll never know when they’ve witnessed either. But she had the pathfinder cornered, a little bit of smugness seemed appropriate.

The electrical drive of the vehicle purred as they backed away from the cliff, the vehicle stopping as Vetra turned to see the pathfinder staring ahead with fixed eyes, his hands twitchy on the wheel. Without warning the vehicle lurched forwards, the engine screaming as the boost jets exploded behind them, the movement forcing Vetra into her chair as the Nomad flew off the plateau, the boost jets firing as soon as the wheels left the ground.

For an instant, Vetra could see as everything in the cabin experienced a brief moment of weightlessness, the straps from the pathfinder’s and her armor floating up around them, the familiar fall in her stomach as her body lost track of gravity. Then, the gut-dropping feeling of a fall returned as she watched the sky and surroundings flash past through the window, the ground rushing towards them with alarming speed. The boost jets engaged one last time, a mere 50 yards from the ground as her comms sounded over the racket of the rushing wind and the still running engine, the pathfinder yelling at the top of his voice:

“Oh Shi…”

 Tempest Med-bay, 1230

“And what was it again that convinced both of you that throwing the Nomad off the cliff was a good idea?”

Dr. T’Perro’s soft voice sounded smoothly through the medical bay, but not without the biting edge of a parent’s reprimand. Wes and Vetra were sitting facing each other, Ryder with a cast over his arm, Vetra a healing pad on her neck. Silence passed momentarily between the two as they looked at each-other, trying to figure out how to answer. Dr. T’Perro called again, incredulously.

“Well?”

Vetra tried first.

“We were on top of a plateau and saw something at the bottom… going off was just the most direct route.”

Dr. T’Perro’s laugh, though soft, did nothing to make the two feel any less like scolded children.

“Vetra, while I’m sure you’re not technically wrong, I have a suspicion that’s not quite the full story. Ryder, would you care to give it a try?”

The pathfinder fidgeted with his armor under suit for a pit, scraping dust out of one of the crevices, decidedly avoiding eye contact. When he finally did meet Dr. T’Perro’s gaze, the faux casualness in his voice was unmistakable for nerves.

“Well, doc, truth be told we were all getting a little bored and frustrated down there. Liam had wanted to stick around Site 1 and keep investigating there, so Vetra and I went off to the plateau and I bet her that we could make it. Pure and simple.”

“I didn’t ask what happened, Ryder. I want to know why.”

Set on his heels, Ryder’s eyes darted from side to side, occasionally making eye-contact with Vetra and cursing his poor ability to read Turian faces. Eventually, an answer came out, cautiously.

“I dunno doc, I just… I guess I wanted to have a little fun. I did stupid shit like this more often than I’d like to admit back in my Alliance days. I guess… I guess the stress of the past two days has just been a bit much, needed to relieve the pressure a bit, you know?”

Dr. T’Perro’s lips became a line as she nodded slowly, clearly considering Ryder’s answer. She walked between the two, looking between the datapad which had been in her hand and the wall terminal as she input medical data, her silence weighing heavily on the two figures behind her. The sound of the Tempest’s HVAC system filled the room before Dr. T’Perro turned around, setting the datapad on the bed and crossing her arms as she spoke.

“Be it no place of mine to tell you how to do your job, Pathfinder, it is my place to monitor the health of this crew, mentally and physically. And, whether you like it or not, you as the Pathfinder affect the welfare of this crew, and ultimately the initiative overall…”

“I know.”

The interruption from Ryder came suddenly, quietly. His voice, though not loud, commanded the room with the gravitas it held, the hours of solemn contemplation and personal reconciliation that had been told in the two words. Vetra’s mandibles twitched, Dr. T’Perro paused, levelling Ryder with scroupulous eyes. Ryder continued.

“I know that this is my responsibility. I know that I’m the pathfinder now, that I have to ‘lead the initiative’ and find a home for everybody. Trust me, Doc, I know what that means.”

Dr. T’Perro’s voice was steady, less aggressive, though no less firm. It demanded to be heard in a soft tone of the authority which can come only from wisdom and expertise,

“I’m sure you understand the responsibility, Ryder, but I’m not certain you understand the scope of it. The disillusionment which has spread, through the Nexus when the arks failed to arrive and through Hyperion when Habitat 7 was a bust, has left people desperate for a role model, a leader, an example. A pathfinder, no matter how new or unintended, is automatically that leader. Through not just your words, but your actions and reactions, you set the attitude and tone for this ship, if not the whole initiative. This doesn’t mean you have to be invincible, if anything a touch of fallibility would aide in empathetic emotional response useful to leaders. But it does mean you have to watch what you do – things like jumping off a cliff with the Nomad – carefully, and consider what they mean.”

The hum of the HVAC returned to the medical bay, filling the space, smothering any response which could come. Ryder was staring blankly into the distance through the deck plating, his eyes glossy and thoughtful, almost unblinking. Words sat on the edge of his tongue, protests of circumstance and excuses of situation, but they all fell mute when put against the importance his title gave his actions. Dr. T’Perro broke the silence with her data pad, the electronic chirps and whirrs grating against the mellow background as she input data into the incident report, stopping eventually to speak.

“Now, as far as I’m concerned you sustained your injury by falling at great height. Not wrong, and nobody needs to know anything else. I would encourage you, though, to consider what your actions say to those around you.”

Ryder and Vetra, sensing their clue to leave, stood up and walked towards the door.

“Oh, and Ryder?”

The pathfinder turned around to see a small smile on the Asari’s face.

“Please remember that ‘Max Drop’ refers to the vehicle’s structural integrity, not the damage caused when a human arm violently makes contact with a Turian’s neck?”

 Pathfinder’s Quarters, 2200

The coffee warmed Ryder’s mind as he poured over the data reports from the Remnant installations, the words scrolling past his eyes with seeming no exchange of information. His specialty was in reconnaissance and scouting, not data management, and certainly not in xenoengineering. The information in front of him might as well have been a foreign language, but with Tann asking for a report on his findings, he had convinced himself that reading up on Remnant Tech would be useful. That conversation with himself had happened 6 hours ago.

A small chime from the door drew his bleary eyes from the illuminated screen, the display turning off automatically as he pushed his chair back, swiveling and standing up in it, a drop of coffee falling unnoticed on his pants. Vetra stood at the door, her eyes scanning the room again, despite this being her second visit.

“Vetra, please, come in. What’s up?”

“Just wanted to level with you. Figure we survived the fall, and you didn’t chicken out.”

Ryder laughed, shaking his head as he gestured Vetra farther into the room, even her informal Turian upbringing telling her not to enter farther into a room without superior’s permission. His voice was laden with equal parts embarrassment, bemusement, and shame as he spoke conversationally to her, a slight undertone of disappointment sneaking in at the end.

“Please, don’t. You heard what Lexi said: I shouldn’t have even done it in the first place.”

Vetra shook her head, drawing her omnitool up and keying in a transfer of credits to Ryder, his omni lighting up shortly thereafter.

“Pathfinder, I was there, it doesn’t matter whether I saw it or not. Besides, a bet is a bet. I keep my word.”

Ryder laughed, picking his coffee up to his mouth to take a sip, setting the cup down gently on a spot on the table which was coffee stained enough, it was clear to anyone how much time Ryder spent reading reports on the couch.

“Fair enough. Fair enough. Just, please don’t tell the rest of the crew? I feel bad enough for having done it, period, not to mention if everybody heard about it.

“Don’t worry, pathfinder, they won’t hear it from me.”

“Good.”

The conversation died abruptly, neither party believing it to be over, but neither knowing where to go next. Eventually, Ryder broke the silence, his voice slightly unsure again, embarrassed about his own insecurities now instead of his own mistakes.

“I really should have thought like this sooner. What was I thinking, driving the Nomad off a cliff… Lexi is right, I do set the example. I just hope I can set the example the initiative needs.”

Vetra’s response was calm, assured, as if she spoke of things she already knew. Since discovering the possibility of a new outpost on Eos, she had seemed to be downright hopeful, a window of idealism peeking out past her characteristic utilitarian realism.

“You’ll be able to. Heroes always emerge, whether they’re born or made. And I figure, with the title pathfinder, and being the last one’s son? You’ve already got a head start on two.”

Ryder shrugged, worry passed off unconvincingly as casual devil-may-care.

“Thanks Vetra, we’ll see. Figure we’ll all making mistakes together. Only difference is, sometimes mine have bigger consequences.”

Vetra nodded, walking to the door before turning around and saying

“You know, Ryder, I was there for the cliff jump, and I’m pretty good at keeping my mouth shut. If you ever need to do something stupid again, just call me up. I’ll keep quiet.”

Ryder’s chuckle was the first of genuine humor Vetra had heard, and his face seem relaxed at the humorous offer. Vetra made her way through the door, but the two kept talking ntil she was half-way down the corridor, yelling across the open door.

“What happened to that laser focus?”

“It’s my job to get you everything you need, if that means time and means to do stupid shit, who am I to stop you.”

“That’s the most roundabout way to justify driving off a cliff I’ve heard, but I’ll take it. Have a good night, Vetra.”

“You too, Ryder. You know where to find me.”

[notadog]

@demisexualhale sorry you had a rough time today. have this au that i saw you talking about after i creeped on your blog. it’s... uh. probably not what anyone involved thought it would be. but i hope you like it? 

anyway. 

sterek. 2k. spy au. warnings: i know nothing about spies, secret criminal organizations, or technology in general. just roll with it.

“I’ll pay you twenty bucks to hum the Mission Impossible theme while I do this,” Stiles muttered, fishing an exacto knife out of his tool belt. He fit it under the very edge of the ID scanner and, with a flick of his wrist, popped it off like a dream.

“You could pay me twenty thousand and I still wouldn’t do it.”

“Spoilsport.” Gently pulling all the wires out into the open was the easy part; it was identifying the right one to snip that was going to be the tricky part. Would it kill all organized crime syndicates to stick to one universal standard?

“Try the yellow wire. Third from the left.”

“Try?” Stiles repeated under his breath. “We’ve been planning this job for weeks and you want me to go in with ‘try’?”

He could practically hear the eye roll on the other end of the earbud. “Cut the wire, agent.”

“Manners,” Stiles snarked, guiding the exacto to the wire in question. It slid through with a gentle snick and the red light on the ID reader went out.

“You’re welcome.”

Stiles gently fit the card reader back into the wall and got to work prying open the door. “I don’t recall saying thank you,” he grunted, heaving the heavy metal back inch by inch.

“I’m sure it was implied.”

“I might be inclined if you—” Another grunt as he wedged his shoulder in the space he’d made, trying to use it to get some leverage against the protesting metal. “—helped me with this door.” Not for the first time Stiles lamented the fact that he was chosen for the field, instead of the literal werewolf. Instead, he was embarrassing himself and his very human muscles while Derek got his nerd on from the comfort of the unmarked van parked a few streets away. Life just wasn’t fair.

Stiles gave one last shove, and the door gave way with an angry screech that he was pretty sure was audible in China.

“Derek?” he hissed.

“Hold on.” Polite as always, his partner.

Stiles waited, every muscle in his body coiled tight and ready to spring. Whether that meant to fight or flee was yet to be determined. At least three times he imagined some noise that would precede his discovery, but he forced down the instinct to panic with a violent mental shove. The government hadn’t spent billions of dollars in training his ass to trust his partner with his life for nothing.

After an excruciating eternity, Derek’s voice filtered in through the earpiece. “You’re clear. Not for lack of effort.”

Stiles couldn’t help grinning. “You say the sweetest things.” False confidence was easy again now that his heart wasn’t jammed halfway up his throat. He rummaged through his toolkit for one of his most versatile gadgets: a retractable rod made of a polymer material developed by Derek himself. It was three hundred times stronger than steel but lighter than any other material of its kind on (or off) the market. It was a beautiful piece of some of the most sophisticated technology to come out of R&D, and it gave Stiles a thrill of childish joy to jam it inelegantly between door and wall to keep his escape route free.

“Speaking of which…” Derek’s voice was that special brand of pained that signaled to Stiles that his trick had hit its mark. “Let’s try to keep to aliases while we’re on the comms, all right?”

Stiles winced. He had called out Derek’s real name in a moment of panic, hadn’t he? “It’s not my fault you rejected my code name suggestions.”

The sound quality was considerably different behind the door than in the hallway. Though he couldn’t see into the space, it swallowed up Stiles’ voice in a way that suggested space… a lot of it. Stiles fumbled for the flashlight at his belt and stepped cautiously inside.

“You’re not calling me Eagle Two.”

“Well I’m not giving you Eagle One, dude. I called dibs.” He clicked on the flashlight and did a slow sweep of the room. Well. Cavern was probably a better word for it. It was big enough to swallow the weak beam of his government-issued flashlight, leaving the ceiling and far walls shrouded in shadows. “Are you seeing this?”

Derek hummed, but gave no further comment.

“Gotta admire their style, though,” Stiles continued conversationally. The whole affair was an ode to vaulted ceilings broken up by stone columns and sloping walls covered in expensive-looking tile. Whoever built it certainly had a flair for the dramatic. To his left was a small bank monitors hooked up to a lowly humming box. Stiles made his way over to it. “I mean, you gotta respect the whole batcave vibe.”

Derek snorted. It was a shock, completely at odds with his usual implacable stiffness. In his entire time working with him, Stiles had never once seen the man so much as crack a smile. And here he was, almost laughing in Stiles’ ear. “It’s an evil lair, agent. Much more Luthor’s speed than Wayne’s.”

Stiles considered the space again. It did bear an uncomfortably close resemblance to Lex Luthor’s underground lair in Superman. Much more so than any adaptation of the Batcave. Point to Derek. “I didn’t know you were a fan of the classics.”

“I’m multifaceted.”  

How someone can sound so unbearably smug with only two words, Stiles would never know. “Nerd.”

“Center console. There should be a panel under the monitors.”Definitely smug.

Stiles fumbled around until he found a hidden switch. A previously unseen panel slid forward, revealing three USB slots. Stiles thumbed open the smallest pocket in his tool belt that housed the USB sticks Derek gave him specifically for this point in the job. Just to be sure, he asked, “This the one?”

“Mhm,” Derek confirmed. “You know which one’s first?”

Stiles rolled his eyes. Even if Derek hadn’t labeled them 1 and 2 in obnoxious silver sharpie, the four consecutive run-throughs Derek had forced him to listen to before letting him out of the van would have been enough to hammer the point home.

“Yes, dad,” he muttered, fishing out the first stick. “Just let me know when I need to switch them out.”

“You’ll know,” Derek replied cryptically, which didn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence, but Stiles would be damned if he admitted that out loud.

Stiles watched in interest as the script contained within the flash drive did its thing. It was another of Derek’s projects, something he’d been developing for months with the rest of his little nerd squad back at headquarters. Derek had explained a little of it back in the van. If pressed by a superior, Stiles could explain that the code was meant to create a channel between this server and one controlled by their agency, one that Derek’s team could use to read through and copy every file stored on this server. Anything else had gone over Stiles’ head.

Stiles’ skills were more hands-on and intuition based. Identifying suspicious characters? Convincing them to divulge all of their deepest secrets to him? Finding the fastest way out of any resulting shootouts or capture attempts? That was where he shined the brightest. Developing extremely complicated code to infiltrate evil corporations’ systems, do… stuff while inside them, then exit without a trace? That was Derek’s thing. Stiles was just the sneaky middleman needed to insert peg A into slot B.

The screens flickered constantly between different windows. Lines of code would appear and disappear again too fast for him to read, but based on Derek’s intermittent hums of approval in his ear, Stiles guessed they were doing their job. As the script worked, he kept an ear out for any sign of discovery.

They passed the time together in silence, both of them tense at the thought of the most important part of their mission falling through at the last second. It left Stiles alone with his senses, feeling wrong-footed for the first time since infiltrating the compound earlier in the evening. After a too-long stretch of time, activity on the screens slowed down, then stopped. All the screens were black except for one, which held a single line of green text and a blinking cursor. Stiles leaned forward to read it. When he did, he made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat.

Insert 2nd USB stick, agent. (It has the number 2 on it.)

“Told you you’ll know,” Derek’s voice was a gentle tease in his ear.

“You were so cryptic about it,” Stiles muttered, complying. “I thought it was gonna be something cool.”

“Computers are cool,” Derek replied, then lapsed back into silence.

The second stick took much less time than the first, or maybe it was just the end in sight that made it seem like it was going faster than it actually was. Whichever was true, it felt like no time until a single green line of text was displaying Installation Complete before all the screens went blank.

Derek’s voice was like silk. “Don’t forget to take the USBs with you.”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “Thanks,” he snarked, tucking the USBs back into their pocket and securing it. “What would I do without you?”

“You would be dead seven times over if it weren’t for me.” 

“Fair,” Stiles conceded. It was gratifying to return the door and find it hadn’t budged an inch since he’d left it. It was rare in Stiles’ line of work that the things he set down stuck around and waited patiently for him to collect them. Granted, at this point in his career most of the “things” Stiles set aside for later were informants and enemies of the government, so a little bit of disobedience was probably to be expected. But whatever. Details.

Easing the door closed was trickier than forcing it open, Stiles soon realized. Not only was he worried about loudly protesting metal, he wasn’t sure how he was going to stop the whole thing from slamming closed the second he pulled out Derek’s rod.

Heh.

As always, Derek chimed in with the solution at Stiles’ precise moment of need.

“Retract it gradually,” Derek commanded, and Stiles complied. “Good. Now fold your jacket in half and stick it in so it doesn’t slam… Good. Now just pull the jacket out.”

Under Derek’s direction, Stiles eased the nightmare door closed. The jacket muffled the metal-on-metal impact, and when he yanked it out, the door settled back into place with hardly a complaint. Stiles made a mental note to make the whole experience sound a lot cooler in his retelling the next day.

“You’re welcome,” Derek whispered in his ear, voice dripping with self-satisfaction.

“I don’t recall saying thank you,” Stiles replied as he popped the card reader out of the wall again, grinning at the echo of their conversation from earlier. There was a prolonged pause as he bit off a length of electrical tape and carefully brought the snipped ends of the yellow wire together.

“It was implied.”

“Whatever you say, big guy.”

Stiles secured both raw edges of the wire with the tape, then confirmed that the ID reader was once again operational. He carefully tucked the bundle of wires back into their space in the wall, then returned the box to its home for the last time, good as new.

“Ready to get me out of here?”

“Always,” was the curt reply, sounding almost fond to Stiles’ delusional ears. “You’re alone on your floor, but there are two guards stationed outside the elevators to the west, same as when you came in. Your best bet is to go south to avoid them, then take the service stair up to ground level.”

“Got it,” Stiles said, already moving towards his exit. “See you soon, dude.”

“You better.”

Stiles made good on his promise, and was rewarded with a nod of acknowledgement from Derek when he threw open the van door. It was the closest Stiles had ever come to getting an honest-to-god smile from the guy, and it made something warm and gentle unfurl in his chest.

He couldn’t stop grinning the entire drive back to headquarters.

[uy8hg]

Six Steps to Being a Hitman Part 1: First Impressions

I’m going to try my hand at a multi-chapter fic. Wish me luck! It’s a Hitman AU, because why not.

Read on AO3

Thanks to my beta @gavvyfreeisanerd

Gavin and Ryan are each accomplished Hitmen. After they meet at one party, they keep running into each other until their jobs force them to work together.

Word Count: 3432

“Michael, are we ready to go in, Michael?” Gavin asked, adjusting his jacket cuffs for the third time in the past five minutes. The crowd around the mansion was getting thicker, and if he waited any longer someone might spot him lingering across the street. The suit felt large on him, even though he knew it was tailored to perfection. He’d be changing soon anyway. Faintly, he could hear typing on the other end of the earpiece.

“Yeah, you’re good to go,” Michael confirmed. Gavin took a deep breath, gave his cuffs one more quick adjustment, and walked confidently toward the entrance. As he walked, he adjusted his posture so that he was standing as straight as possible. A tip Gavin had learned was that, if you walked like you owned the place, people would part for you. No one stopped him as he made his way to the bouncer, flashed an invitation, and continued into the party.

If the crowd outside was busy, then the inside was packed. Gavin moved to the side, or as to the side as he could get when there were people every few inches, and stood on his tip toes. He could just make out a table pushed up against the left wall, where the crowd was sparser. Snacks. Perfect. He could look busy while putting himself in a less populated place.

As he maneuvered his way through people who were important in some way or another that Gavin didn’t really care about, his earpiece crackled to life once more. “Hallway to your left. Bathrooms are clear. Staff are going in and out of the kitchen past that. They’re using the entrance by the stairs though, so you should have a good approach from the bathrooms.”

Gavin nodded, knowing Michael would be able to see him over the cameras. Out of habit, his eyes flicked up to one of the cameras. It was exactly where Michael had told him it would be. His friend had been watching the cameras for a week know, memorizing every detail about the mansion. Gavin had done his part, of course, researching the target, a movie producer who’d made a few too many bad business deals.

Speaking of . . .

“And him?” he asked under his breath. When the earpiece didn’t make any noise, Gavin wondered if he’d been loud enough for the microphone to catch. He was about to repeat the question when the familiar crackle sounded.

“By the refreshments, talking to some other people.” He heard Michael lean back and let out a sigh. “You’re clear if you want to start the plan, or you could wait. No one in the bathrooms still.”

Gavin had just reached the snack table, but he could see the doorway he’d need to go through. The path was mostly clear. It was pretty much a sign to get going.

He swiped a cookie from the nearest plate and shoved it in his mouth before starting toward the bathrooms. There was a wide arched doorway that he ducked through. On the other side a hallway stretched out to his right, completely empty. It was as if the arch of the doorway created an invisible wall that kept people out. Worked for him.

Directly in front of him were the two restrooms and a family stall. To his right, the hallway stretched on until it met with another hall. The wall was lined with portraits of more people Gavin didn’t care about, but as he meandered down the hall he studied the portraits to look busy. As he got closer to the intersection, he could just barely see the two doors on the opposite wall, one on either side of the intersection. From studying the floorplans and watching the security footage, they knew the kitchen was on the other side of those doors.

“Tell me when,” he whispered to Michael. The plan was pretty simple. The door to the right of the intersection was the ‘in’ door, where waiters would return to pick up more food. The door on the left was ‘out’. Once no one was coming in, Gavin would subdue and waiter going out and disguise himself.

He didn’t have to wait long before he heard Michael chime in, “Waiter leaving in 3, 2, 1.”

Gavin stepped into the intersection, his best look of confusion on his face, right as a waiter exited the door to his left. From the middle of the intersection, he could also clearly see the door to the storage room opposite the ‘out’ door, just like it should be. Time to start the act then.

“Excuse me,” he began, the waiter giving a mild look of surprise at someone in their hallway. “Someone dropped a glass. Is there a broom anywhere?”

The waiter blinked, processing his statement, before responding, “Yes, in the closet. I can-”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence. The moment he turned to move back toward the closet, Gavin wrapped an arm around his throat, grabbed the tray with the other, and subdued the man as he brought them to the floor. He left the tray as he quickly dragged the unconscious waiter into the supply closet, darting out again to grab it before closing himself in the dark room.

“How’d I do, boi?” Gavin asked cheerily, already starting to change clothes in the dark. He got a vague noise back, but it wasn’t shouting so he took that as a ‘good job’. He changed quickly before pulling a handkerchief out of his suit pocket to gag the man. Can’t have him telling anyone and blowing his cover.

Tray in hand, he waited behind the door. “Coast clear?”

“Wait . . . now.”

Gavin emerged from the closet, heading down the service hall and back into the thick of the party. He’d only been gone five minutes, ten at the max, but the party had gotten much busier, making it hard to get through with the tray. Most people seem to move out of his way though, when they noticed his uniform. Being a waiter was one of his favorite disguises. Everyone acknowledged you but never enough to pay attention to you. A rather good cover for a hitman.

“Target’s moved upstairs. Other ballroom. There’s plenty of places to set aside and poison his drink. Looks like things will go smoothly,” Michael commented. Gavin couldn’t help but frown. He wasn’t superstitious, but from experience things tended to go wrong soon after someone said they wouldn’t. Well, it was out there now, so he’d just have to deal if something came up.

He served his way over to the grand staircase, nodding at a waiter going down as he ascended. The other waiter didn’t seem to notice anything was off, nodding back casually. Even so, Gavin looked away quickly. His nose itched from the mustache Geoff had encouraged him to grow for the job, which only made the back of his neck itch where the rest of his hair had grown longer too. He couldn’t wait to be done with the job and able to clean up.

Gavin took a left at the top of the stairs, heading in the general direction of the smaller ballroom. He stepped down one of the hallways, knowing there were small meeting rooms he could step into to spike the drink. There shouldn’t be anyone in any of them, so he made his way to one at random. He was just turning the doorknob when Michael suddenly shouted in his ear, “No Gavin stop!”

 ~

For someone who had two careers that often involved him having to be around large groups of people, Ryan hated parties. He didn’t like having that many strangers that close together. It made it hard to escape or defend yourself. Crowds just complicated everything.

Even so, Ryan found himself at yet another party, making his way smoothly into the thick of it without even having to show his invitation. Being a model certainly did have its advantages. Granted, pairing it with being a hitman was an interesting choice, but it did give him access to many events also frequented by his targets. He just had to make sure there were no witnesses, or they would surely be able to ID him.

“Alright,” Jeremy chimed into his ear. “Only Smith is here right now, no sign of Johnson. Mingle around to establish that you’re here and I’ll let you know when it’s time to get killing.”

Ryan nodded, even though Jeremy probably wasn’t looking at the camera for his room. As was his habit, he meandered his way over to the snack table, saying polite ‘hello’s on the way. A few people stopped him to say a few words, and he responded as politely as possible. He just had to keep up that model image, not sure the world just how much he didn’t want to be there.

By the time he finally reached the food, Jeremy popped back in over his comms. “Johnson’s here. Proceed with the plan once you feel like you’ve socialized enough.”

“Right,” Ryan casually responded back. His eyes flashed to the staircase. Sure enough, he could see Johnson’s back making its way up the stairs. They’d guessed that the deal would happen as soon as they were both there, and it seemed like they were right. He said a few more ‘hello’s as he finished his drink, moving toward the staircase. He followed the other man up the stairs, trailing behind as the other man wandered into one of the smaller meeting rooms that were supposed to be off limits. Ryan hung around outside the room, close enough to the door to hear muted discussions inside but casual enough to look like he was just taking a moment away from the crowds.

“They’re talking,” Ryan quietly informed Jeremy, who didn’t get audio over the cameras. He heard his partner’s hums over the coms, barely picked up by the mic but he knew him well enough to recognize the sound.

“Smith’s sitting at the desk. Johnson standing across from him. Neither is armed. Seems peaceful.”

“Tell me when.”

“Ready . . . go.”

With a quick calming breath, he pulled himself to his full height and casually strolled into the room, closing the door securely behind him. The two men jumped at his intrusion, staring at the newcomer.

“Oi, this is a private matter,” Smith spoke up from the desk.

Ryan shot the two one of his model smiles. “Sorry for the intrusion. I got a bit lost and heard voices.”

“The party’s down the stairs,” Smith shot back. “Just follow the talking.”

“The louder talking,” Johnson cut in, not pleased. Ryan just needed them to let down their guard, and he could get this done with. It should work if he . . .

“Thank you,” he told them, with a little bow. The two eyed him as he stood back up, but out of the corner eye he could see them resume their conversation as he began to turn back to the door. Perfect.

“Do it, Ryan,” Jeremy encouraged in his ear. Oh, he was going to.

He spun back around, pulling the knife out of his breast pocket. The blade was small, but in his hands it would be deadly. Johnson hadn’t even realized Ryan hadn’t left when there was a new slash in the back of his throat. The man keeled over, falling to the wayside as Ryan turned his attention to Smith, who’d stood up abruptly.

“Who-” he sputtered out, pulling a gun out of his pocket and aiming at Ryan. Unfortunately for the other man, his hasty movements got him caught up on his chair. While he was struggling, Ryan circled the desk, giving the man a matching cut, in the front this time. The gun clattered to the desk.

“Jeez, man,” Jeremy commented as the second target fell to the floor. “Could you have made it any bloodier?”

Ryan looked down at the puddles of blood now staining the carpet, which probably looked worse over the cameras. “Probably. Should I try on the next job?”

“No, no, you should not. You’re a hitman, you’re not supposed to leave any trace.”

“You’re not fun.”

“I’m most of the reason you haven’t been caught yet. Somebody has to keep you in check.” Ryan bit his lip, knowing his partner was speaking the truth. He could get a little reckless sometimes, and Jeremy was pretty good at making sure he didn’t go on murder sprees. Well, at least he tried.

“Whatever,” he muttered, getting back to work. He hoisted up Smith’s body and ungracefully shoved it into a nearby closet. One man down, another to go. Or at least, two men down, one hidden, one to go.

He was just lifting up Johnson up, struggling only a little at the dead weight when the door suddenly opened, no warning from Jeremy at all.

Looking very confused in the doorway stood a simple waiter, with hair slightly long but slicked back, a moustache under a larger nose, and a tray held perfectly still in one hand.

“Uh,” the waiter stuttered, eyes wide and flickering between Ryan, the body, and the still open closet door. Oh, and the blood on the ground. This probably did not look very good.

Ryan narrowed his eyes, entering the mode Jeremy liked to call ‘Vagabond Mode’. It was like normal hitman Ryan, but far more intense and much quicker to anger. Voice low, he glared the poor man down and said, “Turn around, leave, and pretend you never saw anything.” He felt he didn’t need to add an ‘Or else’, given their current standings.

The waiter’s eyes jumped back to Ryan, still wide with terror. He swallowed hard, and spoke up in a painful southern accent. “The moment I turn my back, you’re going to shoot me with that gun.”

Ryan’s eyes widened fractionally, darting to the gun sitting on the desk where Smith had dropped it. He’d nearly forgotten it was there. How did this man-? And now that he thought about it, those words were too calculated, the shaking in his voice not nearly at the level he was used to hearing. Who was this waiter?

The waiter in question was still standing in the doorway, watching Ryan carefully with one arm raised in surrender. He had to do something about this man, his brain immediately flashing to doing exactly what he’d suggested and shooting him quickly. Unfortunately, the door was still open behind him, and he didn’t know if Smith’s gun was silenced.

As if he could read his mind, Jeremy spoke up for the first time since this whole fiasco started. “Don’t kill him Ryan. Someone will notice and you won’t have time to get out.”

Man he hated it when Jeremy was right.

“Then walk out backwards,” he told the waited coolly. The waiter looked more than happy to oblige, backing out and slowly moving his hand down to grab the doorknob. In one quick motion, he darted to the side and closed the door. He could hear faint, hasty steps as the waiter got as far away from him as possible. Good. Well, at least as good as it was going to get.

“You need to get out of there,” Jeremy told him sternly, snapping Ryan back to the present.

“Obviously,” he muttered, hastily shoving the body he was still holding into the closet and shutting the door harshly. “Thanks for the heads up, Lil’ J.”

“I literally did not see him until he was already opening the door. He wasn’t on any of the cameras,” Jeremy quickly defended. That was odd. Jeremy was great with the cameras, knowing how to get around any blind spots that the original owners may have had. If he didn’t see the waiter, something was fishy. That, combined with the way he’d reacted in the room, panicked and calm at the same time, able to see the gun on the desk and deduce what Ryan would do. It didn’t sit right with Ryan.

“Follow him. Watch what he does while I get out of here.”

He could hear Jeremy huff. “I need to watch you so you don’t get caught.”

“Caught?” Ryan asked, putting on the voice he used in interviews. “Why would I get caught? I haven’t done anything wrong.” As if to prove his point, he rubbed a lone spec of blood from his shoe on the carpet and adjusted his cuff, looking directly up at the camera. He knew Jeremy was watching, so he raised an eye brow up at him.

“Fine,” Jeremy gave in. “Just get out fast.”

“I was really thinking about stopping by the snack bar again,” he mused as he exited the room, shutting the door firmly behind him.

“Don’t you dare, Haywood.”

“You know I wouldn’t, Dooley.”

“Shut up and get going. I’ll track the waiter.”

“Consider me gone.”

 ~

“WHAT THE HELL, GAVIN? GIVE A MAN SOME WARNING NEXT TIME!”

“Sorry, Michael boi!” Gavin squawked as he hurried down another hall. How was he supposed to know that the one random room he chose was going to be the scene of another hit? On top of that, there was another hit! At the same party as his! What were the odds?

“Whatever,” Michael barked loudly, causing Gavin to flinch again. “Just get out of there.”

“What?” Gavin stopped in the middle of the hall. “I still have to kill the target!”

“You’re compromised. You need to get out of there.”

Gavin could feel his jaw clenching and unclenching. He didn’t like being on his boi’s bad side, which was hard most of the time, but he also didn’t like giving up on a job.

“Sorry, boi.”

“Gavin, don’t you dare.”

Giving a quick sweep to make sure the hall was empty, Gavin pulled out the poison pellet from his pocket and slipped it quickly into a drink on his tray. He could hear Michael sigh loudly and far too dramatically on the other side of the comms, but he didn’t protest.

“In and out,” he murmured, adjusting his posture and speed walking to the ballroom. The party was still in full swing, unaware of any of the murders that were happening in the mansion that night. Gavin weaved his way expertly through the crowd, approaching the head he knew belonged to the target. He eased up beside him and his partner, offering the tray in a way the placed the poison beverage directly in front of the soon-to-be-dead man. “Beverage?” he asked politely in his best American accent that he knew Michael hated.

The man took the drink with a smile, which caused Gavin to smile in return. His job done, he hurried out of the ballroom and made his way back to the storeroom. His hostage was awake, looking very startled and terrified of Gavin as he sat in the dark in his underwear. Gavin offered him a cheeky grin before closing the door, changing quickly back despite the squeaks from the other man. Once he was dressed again, he offered the poor waiter another wink before heading out, letting Michael guide him out of the mansion and off the premises to where he’d parked his bike.

“Mission complete!” he chirped happily as he put his helmet on.

“Shut up and get back here so I can hit you.”

“So mean, Michael boi!”

“Shut up.”

 ~

“Ryan.” Jeremy’s voice popped into his head just as he was stepping out a side door into the cool night air.

“What is it?” he asked quietly, eyeing a few partygoers nearby enjoying the night.

“He put something in a drink, gave it a man, and the man’s dead now.”

Ryan stopped in the middle of the path. Surely he’d heard incorrectly. “What?”

“He poisoned someone. He’s a hitman.”

Of course. Everything clicked into place. His reaction, how he avoided the cameras, everything. “Get as clear a photo of him as you can. Start searching. I want to know who he is.”

“You betcha.”

Ryan hurried down the path and off the premises, leaving the party far behind him. He’d had far too much interaction for one night, ready to leave everything behind. He didn’t like surprises, and that waiter had been one. No, not a waiter. Another hitman, at the same party as him. He wanted to believe it was coincidence, but what if it wasn’t? He’d have to keep an eye out, him and Jeremy both.

This world wasn’t big enough for two top hitmen.

[eienias20]

The JZAP RP

Unlike “Confidence is a State of Mind” and “Dates Don’t End In Tears” I couldn’t come up with a catchy title for this RP. Ah well! The JZAP comes from the names of the involved Crosses.

Jaynix, @omegalps Zack, @aeviann Aeviann and @kentucky-the-fried Pongo!

This Role Play was performed by the four of us over the course of ten different sessions.

1/27/17 – 1/29/17 – 1/31/17 – 2/04/17 – 2/06/17 – 2/07/17 – 2/08/17 – 2/09/17 – 2/13/17 – 2/14/17

Also unlike the other RP fics, this one isn’t in fic format. According to word this RP was 51 pages. 23,542 words. Yeah. We went at it. Limit breaks all over the place.

Anyway, here it is the JZAP RP in full for archive’s sake. Join Jaynix, Zack, Aeviann and Pongo as they get together for a day where nothing bad happens...

KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

"No, thank you! Hope it helped!"

Pongo waves his last customer goodbye, a large smile on his face. The sun is going down and the sky is painted a mixture of reds and pinks, with hardly any clouds in sight. There's something oddly peaceful about watching the sunset, Pongo notes as his gaze travels upwards, past the walls of the city he calls his home.

His hand drifts to the surface of the stand behind him, letting his fingers trace the wooden grooves. The Free Hug Stand sure had gotten popular over the last few weeks, despite it being a very recent addition to the city. A small breath escapes his lips, growing warm as he recalls how many people he had helped with this stand.

“Everyone is happier. This is how things should always be.”

Taking a deeper breath, Pongo turns back to his stand, grabbing his comm device off the tabletop and moving to switch his little paper sign to indicate that the stand had closed - however, he doesn't realize that he may have a few more customers in store for him.

 Eienias || Jaynix

This day found Jaynix strolling through NLA, smiling to herself. She felt good. Comfortable. She loved it when she felt like this. Looking to the sky at the sunset, she came to a brief stop and just kept looking.

"This planet..."

Smiling to herself she nodded before looking down at her comm device, she was bringing her friends together for a simple, casual day. They never had enough of these. Granted, Jaynix preferred a more hectic time over talking and being at peace but there was nothing wrong with a break now and then.

"Pfft. I'm starting to sound like Kruse..."

She found the messages she sent to Zack and Aeviann, receiving affirmations from both of them, get togethers were fun. Multiple people meant talking, talking meant noise. Noise meant...well...noise. Keeping the silence away. Shaking her head she put her comm device away and turned to see Zack approaching. Smirking, she waved at him.

"Hey Zack! Glad you could make it! How's your day been?"

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Zack had been submitting the last of his completed missions to the console when his comm device beeped. When the screen came up a text message from Jaynix opened up.

“She wants me to meet her for a surprise?”

He thought to himself as he read. He still had a dozen missions to complete, but in the short time he's known his fiery red-headed friend that when Jaynix wanted something to happen, it was going to happen. He sent a short confirmation and began following the GPS on his comm to where hers was located on the NLA map. Going down a road he caught sight of her and made his way over while stashing his comm. Jaynix waved along with her greeting and the tall Curator gave her a small wave in reply.

"Hey Jay. Been taking on the pile of missions that have been accumulating because of the latest pizza party, finished 20 already."

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix crossed her arms, shaking her head and feigning irritation.

"You been handling a slew of missions and you didn't invite me? I thought we were friends Zack! This is low."

She continued shaking her head at him, brows furrowed but her eyes were still playful. Breaking the facade she began to laugh before motioning for Zack to follow.

"Latest party eh? As far as I'm aware the party never ends. It's just one crazy long event. Regardless, we Interceptors sort of have a 'thing' of our own...somewhat.”

Another grin came to her face as they neared their destination, a wooden stand that read 'Free Hugs'. One BLADE manned the stand, a good friend.

"Hey! Pongo!"

She waited until his eyes found her.

"How's the free hugging been today?"

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Zack cursed himself mentally, thinking he'd screwed up again until he saw the look in her eyes. He relaxed, cocking an eyebrow when Jaynix laughed and followed her as they continued on.

"The average party lasts between 2-4 days. Usually there's a few days in between each, but there've been ones that have taken place within hours of each other."

While they talked on their way he was watching her out of the corner of his eye, trying to get an idea on what she invited him for from her body language. Nothing seemed different about her that he could gather visually so he focused on what was ahead.

They were heading to some kind of wooden stand, an odd sight in a city made almost entirely out of metal and concrete. He noticed the young man sitting behind it, then the 'Free Hugs' sign. He looked at Jaynix again, keeping the sudden discomfort he felt inside himself as she talked to the unknown individual. He hadn't told her that hugs made him feel very uncomfortable. Maybe she was punishing him for not taking her on those missions after all.

 KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

"AGH!"

Pongo jumps upon hearing Jaynix's voice, not recognizing it at first. But when he meets her gaze - past the usual flustered emotions, he's quite happy to see her.

"Oh, Jaynix! Hi! Long time no see! - well, actually, we saw each other not too long ago, but not a minute goes past where I wish to see you again - ah..."

He rubs the back of his neck, his cheeks flushing up slightly.

"S-Sorry..."

And then he notices the extremely tall dark-ginger-haired BLADE beside her.

“Oh gods. OH GODS. He's cute too, what the hell.”

And there go the cheeks, tomato red. He makes a small squeak as he tries to come up with the right words to say to this handsome stranger.

"....woooooo......."

“Fuck.”

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Pongo... an intriguing name Zack tried focusing on analyzing the man; he was wearing the standard purple Combat Vest most Interceptors wore, along with casual black jeans, not exactly proper field wear but then Jaynix once fought a Cinicula while in a bikini during a beach trip so he ignored it.

His black shaggy hair fell almost to his shoulders, but what Zack picked up on the most was his indigo glowing eyes. Odd, he couldn't think of any reason why somebody would have those kind of eyes installed on their mim. He assumed like the jeans it was for aesthetic purposes and locked eyes with Pongo. The other man's cheeks flared up immediately and further piquing Zack's interest, tilting his head to the side a bit.

"Your face has become inflamed. Is something wrong, do you require medical attention?"

 Aevi

"Yeah, no problem, just make sure to take a bit more care of your guests next time!"

With these words, Aevi waved a lazy goodbye to the woman standing in the door in front of one of the fancy houses of the residential district. Even though it was quite unusual for her to do that, she had ended up doing Mediator work on this sunny day.

It was strange to her not to go out in the field for once, but it wasn't all that bad. Except that this case had been rather annoying. The neighbours of the woman she just left had made a request for an argument to be solved by a BLADE. Apparently there had been a house party involving some Xenos and alcohol, and it seemed that the whole thing hadn't been thought through completely. Especially regarding that some of the Xenos had been Prone.

So to say, there had been a lot of trouble, a lot of late night disturbances in the form of drunk Xenos invading other backyards and in the end, angry neighbours she had to deal with. She shook her head in disbelief.

“Glad that’s over.”

While strolling along the sidewalk as suddenly her comm sounded. Reaching into her pocket and turning it on, she immediately saw the message from Jay, asking her if she got time to meet up with some friends. Aevi considered for a moment.

“More people...”

She weighed her options. She was not 100% eager to have more interactions with more new people, but on the other hand. She couldn't turn Jaynix down. So she typed up a quick reply that she would be there in a few minutes. Having arrived at the designated location she looked out for the familiar red hair in the middle of the crowd. She finally spotted it near some odd looking wooden construction and jogged over, calling out to her friend, noticing the other two people that seemingly belonged to her group.

"Hey Jay, what's up?"

Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix chuckled at Pongo's scatterbrained mess of words.

"Thank you Pongo, as always and it is great to see you!"

Upon witnessing Pongo and Zack's first attempt at...communication? She nearly face palmed. She should've expected it to go this way but she went for the more optimistic outlook.

"Pongo, this is my friend, Zack and Zack. This is Pongo. You two need to-"

Hearing a familiar voice call her name, Jaynix turned to see Aeviann, a smile forming on her face.

"You two, talk amongst yourselves, gimme a few."

With that, Jaynix skipped over to Aeviann.

"Oh not much, Aevi. Did my regular assortment of missions before deciding hey! It's a calm day so why not bring some friends together? Enjoy it as a bunch...I hope that wasn't a bad call for me to make. I'd hate to force anything on anyone."

She scratched the back of her head and chuckled before gesturing to the other two.

"If you're fine with it, they're right there. Nice guys. Nothin' to worry about."

 KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

"Z-Zack...short for Zachary?"

He asks, out of sheer politeness. Of course he wants to make a good first impression; added to his habit of calling people by their full name, the question comes naturally. But even shortened, it's an awesome name. Certainly better than his.

"And - well, yeah. Pongo is my name. Name is Pongo. With the Interceptor. Am an Interceptor."

He laughs nervously, realizing how repetitive he must be sounding. And then Jaynix walks off. Pongo almost doesn't notice her leave, and instead tries another attempt at a conversation.

"So ah, w-what division?...are you in?...did I say that I am a -"

And then he notices who Jaynix has run off to talk to. His jaw drops.

“Oh gods. OH GODS. Oh no. Ohhhhh no. Who is she? WHO IS SHE? WHY IS SHE SO PRETTY.”

"...."

He has gone so red that it's impossible to hide. His eyes are wide with a mixture of terror and utter astonishment at the sight of Jaynix's ombré-haired companion.

“NO NO NO NO NO NO”

His brain screams, but every other fiber of his being says yes. She's drop dead gorgeous. Hell.

"..............."

Okay he's gone. Lost in a sea of emotions. This is going downhill, very quickly.

 Aevi

She waved it off.

"Ah, it's fine. I had to deal with some rather annoying dispute between two neighbours over in the Residential District, so I believe seeing a familiar face might be just the thing for me now..."

As Jaynix pointed in the direction of the wooden stand -she could now see the sign reading 'free hugs'- she got a first glimpse at the two other people as she looked over the woman’s shoulder. Two men, apparently, one being rather tall with dark ginger hair, the other one with a mop of black hair on his head and of average height.

The black-haired guy seemed to have noticed her as well now and was looking over, and it was then that she noticed the colour of his face. It looked... unhealthy, to say the least. She looked back to Jaynix, her eyebrows raised.

"Uhm... Jay, is ....your friend there ok...?"

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Zack thought for a second

"I don't know, "AR-187 Zack" was the only designation on my Lifepod. The stasis gave me amnesia so I'm unable to recollect a longer name or anything else about my past. Division? I'm part of the Cur-"

He cut off as he noticed Pongo's attention had switched over to where Jaynix was. His face had gotten so red that Zack wondered if all the biocirculatory plasma had gone to his head. Turning to look he saw that another BLADE was approaching.

The green curly hair and golden eyes that looked more cat-like than human caught his attention immediately, then he noticed her... interesting choice of armor. It looked like she switched out the torso of a mechanical suit for Six Stars wear. While it gave her more mobility he couldn't see the tactical advantage in having her stomach and some of her chest exposed, an enemy wouldn't have to go through much to get to her vitals.

“She must be a highly effective combatant to leave those crucial weak points unprotected.”

He'd keep an eye on her to gauge her abilities, scanning her eyes for a brief second as she looked at Pongo.

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix breathed out a long and heavy sigh of relief upon hearing Aevi say that it was fine. A Small smile formed on her face as her eyes focused on the woman before her.

"I'm glad. I was honestly a little worried there..."

Listening to the rest of Aevi's day, Jaynix stretched a bit before smirking.

"Mediator work eh? Dealing with people and complaints can be rough. I mean...you know me. I spend almost all my time out there hittin' stuff. Wrecking shop and all that. I doubt I'd be the kind of person anyone would want to ask for help with Mediator work. Bad idea."

She couldn't help but laugh at the thought of trying to help squabbling neighbors, there was no way she could pull that off. Hearing Aevi's concern she turned to see Pongo. He was indeed in trouble. As always. Jaynix shook her head.

"Oh. Right. He gets like this when meeting new people...hm...maybe this whole get together was a bad idea. AH WELL! He's training in confidence so he should just consider this a rather intense third lesson."

Jaynix took one of Aevi's hands into her own, smiling.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to my good pals. Pongo and Zack."

Turning she walked over to the two men, waving at them with her free hand.

"Hey guys! Sorry about the quick aside, this is my lovely friend, Aeviann."

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Zack nodded to Aeviann, this time locking eyes with her. She held his gaze even though she had to bend her head back a ways to do so. He was impressed, most people would just look away.

"Hello. Pleased to meet you."

He kept his words short, though he really didn't know what else to say. Sometimes he hated that he couldn't be as good at social situations as Jaynix, whenever they were together she was the one who'd speak for the both of them, but he was on in his own on this one.

"Which division do you belong to?"

 KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

“SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT”

Oh great, now they're looking at each other. Pongo can't help but find himself getting lost within her golden irises, a certain edge presenting itself with her slit pupils. Gods, he could stare into her eyes all day...all year. As long as he lives. Which would be a while, if Mira didn't act up. Or maybe he will die right here, from all of the sheer beauty he's been presented with.

And her name... What a symphony to the ears. He whispers it, quietly and delicately, as he struggles to come up with some other response.

"Aeviann..."

“Alright, time to get a grip.”

Taking a shaky breath, he decides on exactly what he wants to say.

"...Iy-etra'mouai doegyth."

“THAT IS NOT ENGLISH THAT IS NOT ENGLISH”

After another nervous chuckle, he buries his head in his hands. Maybe then he could finally calm down.

 Aevi

She shook her head, amused. No... Jaynix as a Mediator... Those two words in the same sentence together didn't even work.

"Yeah, not exactly my favourite type of thing to do, but it seemed it had to be done. Would have liked it better to go out as well, though..."

She threw a wistful glance to the top of the 'bowl' that was NLA's border for a second before returning her gaze to Jaynix.

What did she just say about that guy? He was 'training in confidence'?? ...But before she could actually ask what the hell she meant by that, Jay grabbed her hand and led her over. Aevi could not help but flush the slightest bit at that gesture.

“Jay, c'mon, we're not a real couple...”

But she supposed with her that was ok, so she just followed. The tall man, whose name was Zack, apparently -why are there so many tall people?- was the first one to greet her, while Pongo continued being a mess. She tried to ignore him for the moment, however, planning on focusing on one after the other. Looking up to him she met his eyes, nodding at his words.

"Nice to meet you, too. And it seems we share a division. Not sure if I have seen ya around, though..."

She thought she heard her name whispered for a second then, which caused her to turn to Pongo... She really didn't know what to make of this... She was used to people staring at her, maybe even blushing when she looked at them, but this here was happening on an ENTIRE different level.

She tried to recall if she ever saw a person being such a mess, and failed. However as the poor guy opened his mouth, only a few random sounds came out, leaving her confused.

"Pongo... is it? Are you alright?"

She threw a look at Jaynix that said "help pls."

 OmegaLPS || Zack

"A fellow Curator, acceptable. I'm more efficient working alone so I don't belong to a team, which seems to be the most plausible reason as to why I haven't seen you before either."

His enhanced audio receptors picked up on someone mumbling in a language he couldn't understand and seeing Aevi look at Pongo he did as well. The smaller man was burying his face in his hands, looking like he was trying to collect himself. He was a real nervous wreck, although Zack couldn't pinpoint what was making him act like this and only made him wonder how he and Jaynix met.

"Jaynix does he need to be taken to the MMC? He's becoming erratic."

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix watched Aevi and Zack interact with a smile on her face. She figured this was going as well as it could possibly go. They'd get comfortable, share laughs...but then she noted Pongo as he continued being...Pongo.

Jaynix could only shake her head, she knew that he was trying his very best but this was Aevi and truth be told, when she and Aevi hung out or took on some missions together, she found herself looking at Aevi quite intently. So in that regard she couldn't hold this behavior against Pongo.

"Hey. Pongo. Deep breaths, okay?"

Giving him an encouraging smile, Jaynix looked back at Aevi.

"He's...well I'll be honest. He's a bit of a disaster around new people. He's working to get better at it though. If anything I believe talking with you and Zack and just...normal interactions will help him along. More often than not this is how it begins, especially if the people he's meeting are...well...attractive."

She gave Aevi a wide smile and a wink before looking over to Zack.

"Don't worry too much Zack. He's fully operational and AOK. Just a little...frazzled."

She then returned her gaze to Pongo.

"Feeling better yet? Deep breaths."

 KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

Pongo does his best to follow Jaynix's advice, feeling his chest rise and fall as he took deep breaths.

“Focus, focus, focus...”

And just like that, he finds himself calming down slightly, finally able to face the group with a stronger smile.

"Better...sort of. I mean, I think I feel better. Am I still red? Probably. That is not better, that is worse, actually. Oh gods if I am still blushing, I am really sorry, but you are all really good-looking and - HELL."

His head bows down in shame for a moment, his hair falling in front of his face.

"Sorry again. Like Jaynix said...I am really bad with people. Especially pretty people, like you - AGH, sorry..."

Another few deep breaths, and he's able to pick his head back up again. Sure, he's still red, but he does seem a bit more collected than before.

"Thanks...for not getting mad, I mean. I know I must be...hard to be around...when I am like this..."

With that, he starts to look a little downcast.

"Heh...I am such a mess, huh?..."

 Aevi

At first Aevi had thought that Pongo had just talked gibberish that first time he spoke up, but when she thought about it for a second time... It actually sounded like... a language, maybe? It had sounded rather complex; too complex to be simple stuttering, actually.

Her mind started working now. If he really did just talk in another language... then. Why? How? He was a normal human, right? Or... maybe not, you could never be sure, actually. It would not be the first person she had met that was no human and/or a mim, after all.

But then, wouldn't this language have been translated by the big magic translator that seemed to be Mira itself, like all the other ones? She could not figure it out, but she didn't want to be blunt and just ask him. She had to talk to Jay about that later…

Then the other matter... he seemed to be almost hyperventilating, just because he had looked at her. ...Which she disliked, she admitted to herself. Even after she listened to Jaynix explaining that he was like this almost around every person, she could not help but find it leaving her feeling uncomfortable.

Why couldn't he just talk to her on a normal level? She didn't let that show on the outside, however. She smiled at Jaynix in an amused way after her comment, then turned back to Pongo once more, smiling in a reassuring way.

"Hey, it's fine. In any regard..."

She offered her hand towards him.

"It's nice to meet you. Also just call me Aevi, please. Same goes for you."

She added, turning to Zack.

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Zack watched Jaynix and Aeviann interact, taking little note of his friend flirting with the other woman. He came to expect it whenever an attractive woman was within 1 square mile of her, although the way her pupils were dilating whenever she looked at Aeviann gave away she was feeling more than just sexual attraction. He'd have to keep an eye on her as well in case she started getting carried away and ended up in a bad situation. He listened as Pongo stumbled over his words, waiting patiently for him to finish. One thing he said though really confused Zack

"Odd... Jaynix and Aevi are physically attractive, yes, but people don't usually describe me as 'good-looking'."

When Aeviann asked her to use the shortened version of her name he looked to her and nodded an affirmative.

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix put a hand on Pongo's shoulder, reassuringly.

"Like Aevi said, it's fine, okay? Zack and Aevi are great, you'll be just fine, alright?"

She then looked from Pongo to Zack as the taller man spoke.

"Why thank you Zack. A little roughly delivered but I appreciate the sentiment. As for your appearance...well...I'll put it this way. I've yet to see Pongo interact with someone who he doesn't think is attractive or cute or pretty or beautiful. Honestly, the kid just likes people in general it seems. I think he's nicer and probably has a bigger heart than my brother and that's saying something."

Her eyes moved to Aevi.

"Before you know it he'll be talking to both of you with no...well, less issues. He's only the way he is around me cause we've known each other for a bit and even then..."

Jaynix then snapped her fingers.

"Actually. Despite Pongo's awkwardness, this stand right here is a testament to his kindness. A "Free Hug" stand. He sets it up for weary BLADEs or just people who are feeling down to come on by and get some hugs, comfort, human contact. I'm sure there have been times when we've all just needed someone around."

Jaynix usually bright eyes, dulled for a second as she looked to the floor, whispering.

"I know I have..."

Shaking her head, her bright smile returned and she looked back at the group.

"As awkward as he can be, he hugs strangers or even friends to help them along. I imagine you helped a lot of people today, right Pongo?"

 Aevi

Aevi couldn't help but smile at Jaynix behavior, her positive manner was rather... infectious. This woman sure was something. She did not fail to notice her small break in her expression, however. She turned to Pongo again.

"A free hug stand, huh? Well, that sure is something. But, you do work as a BLADE too, right? What's your opening times for this stand, then?"

Although she was still a little unnerved at Pongo's behavior earlier, she definitely was impressed that despite his struggle to keep his composure around people he literally confronted himself with them all the time in his business he had set up.

 KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

Jaynix's question is prompted first, so this is the one Pongo directs his attention to in the given moment. Her kind words bring a childish smile back to his face and he giggles to himself.

"I want to say I got around fifty more people today. It really had become popular, and it makes me really happy to see everyone benefiting from it!"

And next, Aeviann's question. He's been put in a much better state of mind, his blush almost completely faded away. His eyes are bright as he explains,

"Well, of course I still work with BLADE. On the days that work is slow, however - that is when I come here! So, ah, hours vary. A lot."

He runs the back of his neck, looking away for a brief moment - not that they could tell, of course.

"Plus, not only does this give me something to do, but it can be a huge self-esteem booster. Not that I have any self-esteem as it is, but you get my point, I hope. At least everyone gets something good out of it..."

His smile is gentle as he thinks of all the people he's helped with this stand. Sure, it may be unconventional, and compared to the modern city it sticks out like a sore thumb. But in a way, he's come to consider it his second home - well, maybe even his first home. He never visits his barracks much. Never needed to, since he doesn't sleep.

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Zack was impressed. He couldn't even touch other people without his entire body locking up, while Pongo, who'd been a stuttering mess a few minutes ago, had given that many people encouragement with just hugs. He still didn't understand how doing so helped, but he was intrigued nonetheless.

"This seems to be an efficient means of boosting morale, have you thought about setting up a chain of Free Hug stands? You could increase productivity by a significant margin and spread the workload over several volunteers to avoid over-extending yourself."

As he was speaking he realized something. Turning to Jaynix he asked

"Wait, Jay, you mentioned in your message that we were meeting up for something. Was our get-together just it or did you have additional plans?"

 Eienias || Jaynix

Crossing her arms, Jaynix smiled as Pongo reported on his hug giving progress for the day. She could only imagine how many people had their spirits lifted today. She then observed Pongo as he answered Aevi's question. Delivering it so clearly. No stumbling. No awkwardness. Just honesty with a little bit of Pongo's trademark self-deprecation.

She continued to wait and watch as Pongo looked between Aevi and Zack while the latter spoke. She couldn't help but chuckle upon hearing Zack's suggestion to franchise the Free Hug stand.

"Zack. You might be looking into this a little too deeply. Of course I can't speak for the rest of NLA but for the people who I do see drop by, it's pretty clear they enjoy the hugs. So I suppose that's enough."

Jaynix then noted Zack turning to her and asking about their meet up. She brought a hand to her chin, tilting her head she thought about what to say. Her eyes moved from Zack to Pongo to Aevi then back to the tall man. After a few more moments of thinking a smile came to her face.

"Well. I did have this all planned as just a friendly get together...but as I'm sure you all know...I'm not really one to take things easy. If none of you are opposed to it and if you've all got the time, we can head to Mission Control together and pick up a task. Who knows? If this all goes well and it turns out we can all work together, cover each other's weakness and enhance each other's strengths...then maybe the four of us could become a team and make these kinds of trips a regular thing."

The idea of having a team of sorts, close individuals was all too familiar to Jaynix. Thinking this over she started to wonder if she only wanted them together to act as stand ins for...her team. She shook her head, she knew that wasn't true. She didn't want to replace them, she wanted to find others to form bonds with, whatever those bonds may be.

"A team..." She looked over the other three BLADEs.

"If you're all down for it. We can give this a shot."

 KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

He's still lost in thought, thinking of all the people he'd helped during the day. Pongo forced himself to face reality again, just in time to hear Jaynix's question about taking on a mission together, like a team.

"Hmm? Oh! Yeah, I would be down for it...is it "up for it?" Or "down"? I always get confused."

He chuckles awkwardly.

"Human sayings are weird - I mean, ah, well, some are weird. The ones in Miran are - I MEAN AH, n-nothing!" Again, he lets out a very nervous chuckle.

“You idiot. If they knew...Mira would know how close they are to you...”

He sighs.

"Never mind that. Yes, I would be ready for anything!"

 Aevi

At Zack's remark she couldn't help but chuckle quietly to herself. It was obvious to her that he seemed to lack some kind of... something. It was clear he didn't mean it in an insulting way, given the way he sounded. ...Interesting.

But as he turned to Jaynix with his next question she nodded, as to show that she wanted to know the same thing. After listening to her explaining the plan, she thought for a second. She had spent all day in NLA and really didn't want to waste a good day like this just hanging around inside the city walls. So a nice mission in the evening to end the day was maybe just the thing.

Even though she was not sure about Pongo's company. It made her a little uneasy. With Zack she could deal perfectly fine, she assumed, but with that strange boy... She brushed that thought off her mind.

“He seems like a nice guy, give him a chance, would you?”

Then nodded her agreement as well, giving an irritated side glance to the black-haired BLADE as he seemed at a loss for words. Again.

"Actually Jay, that sounds like a plan! I'm up for it."

She paused for a second, then added playfully.

"I hope you have informed those two about our habits when fighting together?"

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Zack was relieved. Once they got in the field he could focus on work instead of attempting to socialize. Looking at each one of them he started calculating how effective they'd work in a team; He already knew Jaynix's skill set from the many missions they'd worked together, their styles working well in a tank-and-damage tandem.

Just from observing how she carried herself Zack could tell Aevi had plenty of experience to be reliable in rough situations. Pongo was another matter, from the small sample size he'd gotten of the boy's personality he didn't seem the soldier type, guessing he must have been a civilian or engineer that joined BLADE after landing on Mira.

Knowing how Jaynix liked to take the hardest missions available he had doubts that Pongo would be able to hold his own in combat, at least he was in a team that'd be able to support him.

Team. Odd. He was normally apprehensive about having to work on a team with more than two people, working alone he could push himself to the height of his efficiency without having to worry about other BLADEs getting in the way, but he felt none of that with them. Maybe this group was different. He'd have to see how they all worked together in the field, but Jay's comment about doing missions together like this had some appeal to it.

"'Habits?'"

Then he realized what she meant, casting a glance at Jaynix, not needing to speak to get his intent across.

“I hope this isn't going to be a distraction.”

He flicked his eyes to Pongo.

“I mean for him.”

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix could only shake her head as Pongo rattled off a seemingly random assortment of words in his desperate attempt to confirm that yes. The team thing sounded like a good idea and he was totally up for it. As well as down for it. He was for it regardless of the direction that it was.

Hearing Aevi's voice she looked over to the woman next to her and smiled.

"Oooh...Our habits? Heh. Which part? The part where we compete to see who can complement the other better?"

She then leaned towards Pongo, whispering but clearly loud enough for everyone else to hear.

"Those chains never end. She won't accept the fact that she's more attractive than me. She just won't."

Jaynix winked at Pongo before letting out a few lighthearted laughs.

"That aside, I'm sure that what Aevi was referring to was our...competitive natures. See, when we're out in the field on missions together...well...we're both very skilled with our weapons to say the least. Aevi with her trusty rifle and me with my battle worn blade. So we decided...or rather it just sort of happened but regardless of how it came about we now have an ongoing contest to see who can steal more kills from the other. It's pretty intense but honestly it's some of the most fun I have when I'm out there...though I always have to check in with Aevi for the running tally. She's got a much better grasp on it than I do."

Jaynix tapped the side of her head.

"I think I take a few too many hits to the ol' noggin'..."

Jaynix smiled at Aevi again before feeling eyes on her, turning to Zack she noted the look in his eyes. Moving her glance over to Pongo she could only chuckle. Part of her wanted to tell Zack that Pongo would be fine...but she'd rather not jinx anything, or make it worse for anyone.

"Either way, just judging off the fact that I've taken on missions with all of you before, putting it all together...I know we've got this. So!"

Bringing her arms up, Jaynix flexed.

"How about we all head over to Mission Control and find us a task worthy of our might!"

 KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

Pongo almost doesn't catch the side glance Aevi shoots his way, as he's too busy trying to recollect the disaster that is his emotional state. But when he catches it, something inside him clicks.

“She must think you are weird.”

He can't help but feel crestfallen at this, looking warily down at the floor beneath him.

“Huh. I have nice shoes.”

It's at time like these that he has to think, really think, about how he can make things right. Everyone has something to make them smile, and everyone has something to make them frown. He's starting to get the feeling that she doesn't enjoy his antics - of course not, he's a mess, so he can understand this. But with how terribly it's going, how can he possibly get that wonderful smile back onto her face?

He's known her for five minutes, he can't get a good read on her besides - ...Wait a minute. Pongo looks back up again, studying her figure.

“So...I delivered that Ovis plushy to you on Christmas. If we are going out on a mission, then maybe...yes, that could work!”

He tunes himself back into reality, keeping his little scheme to himself. Before he knows what's happening, Jaynix is whispering in his ear about their habits, and he tries to contain his internal screaming.

“OH GODS WHAT WILL I DO IF WE START FIGHTING THINGS, THAT WILL NOT WORK AT ALL OH GODS –“

And then. Then he hears it.

“Get a grip, you piece of shit.”

“Mira, what the hell?!”

“You heard me. It is obvious that you are absolutely worthless in every aspect so the least you could do is listen to me.”

He scowls to himself, a move that's apparent to those around him.

“Are you trying to help me?”

“Of course I am. I would rather you live through this shit than die because you turned into a fucking strawberry at the sight of a few sexy people. So please, for the love of fuck, get a grip.”

"Thanks for the advice,"

Pongo grits his teeth - and immediately finds himself realizing that he said that last part out loud. Rubbing the back of his neck, he only just hears the last part of Jaynix's question.

"A task?...Oh, a mission! Right, right, we should take a mission. To a place. That would help BLADE a lot, if we took a mission."

He straightens his spine and gives the group a bright smile.

"I would be willing to take anything! Be it gathering or bounty or social - well, maybe not social, I have a hard time with people, especially pretty people, like you - AGH. Well...you get my point, I hope......"

And with that we can safely say that he's dead. Again.

 Aevi

Aevi had to smile at Jaynix rather precise explanation of how basically all their fights went.

"Yupp, good times. And no worries, I got the count. I'm currently 5 ahead of ya with the score being 33 to 28."

She ended with a teasing smile before turning to Pongo, noticing that he was - again - behaving... strange. But still she decided against questioning him any further, she believed she wouldn't get any out of him anyways.

She wanted to ask Jaynix about this really badly, but had to keep it to herself. Maybe on their mission she would have time to talk to her in private for a bit... Which brought her back to the topic of the mission.

Shaking her head in mild amusement at Pongo's stuttering she declared to the whole, newly formed team.

"Well, if we don't want to stand here until night fall we should probably get going!"

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix notes Pongo's odd behavior, including the random words he seems to spout...but it didn't sound like those words were directed at any of them. As much as she knows that problems or issues no matter how minor should be dealt with immediately, Aevi also had a point. There was time for everything and right now the priority was finding a mission and doing some BLADE work, everyone was all set so there was nothing left to do but go.

"33 to 28 eh? I've got some work to do...alright then. Who's ready for a road trip?"

((time skip))

Sand stretched out as far as the eye could see, rocky mountains and cliffs along the horizon, a massive ancient ring and Indigens roaming about, as the hour grew later, the day found the team of four BLADEs in Jaynix's rover, shooting across the Oblivian wilds as hard rock tunes boomed from the rover's speakers, sending nearby Indigens scampering away in fright.

Aevi in the passenger seat had her comm device open showing the map of the area and Pongo and Zack were in the back doing a final weapons check.

Destination close by, Jaynix brought the rover to a halt and switched off her music.

"See? Aren't these trips more fun this way?"

Chuckling to herself she pulled out her own comm device.

"Alright team, mission summary one more time. Just to keep us on the same page. This is a Curator mission, we've got some rare and hopefully delicious foods to pick up out here for some peeps hoping to cook up some new and tasty grub for the whole of NLA. According to a prior team there was a stash of goods somewhere in this area but it was surrounded by some wild and rowdy Indigens. So our task? Find the stash, find the Indigens, blow them away and bring the edible goods back to NLA."

Exiting the Rover she looked over the rest of the team.

"We ready for this? Cause I know for sure that Mira ain't ready for us!”

 Aevi

Why was Aevi not surprised that Jaynix had picked this mission especially? ...Not that she minded. The sun on her skin was a nice feeling she would enjoy any given day, and in between giving her comm a check to see if they were still going the right way she took in the landscape rushing by.

Upon Jaynix stopping, Aevi chuckled at her statement, grabbing her weapons after putting her comm device away.

"Well, at least if you're traveling with a team. But to me, still nothing compares to flying."

She climbed out of the rover too, now, shouldering her rifle and keeping her javelin in hand, taking a look around to give the area a check.

"I'm ready as can be. The whole thing sounds easy enough, to be honest."

Then she turned to Zack and Pongo.

"Well, how about you guys though? Are you able to deal with the weather conditions? I know a lot of people can't stand this place, and I can't blame them, really."

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Zack scowled under his mask, turning down the input on his audio receptors to near silent.

“If a Vigent notices us and decides to chase, Jay isn't going to hear the end of it.”

He checked to make sure all systems were set on his Assault Rifle II, taking special note of the gauss rails that powered the Quick Cannon shot, his trump card if something was needed to be killed in an instant. His Sword II was all sharpened and ready for combat as well.

Once they'd stopped and Jaynix finally turned off her music he restored his hearing to its default setting,

"Some variety in music genre wouldn't hurt."

As Jaynix went over the mission details again he couldn't help but think why Jaynix chose a Curator mission, she always went right for the Interceptor and Harrier-oriented ones.

Then realizing the person in question and which division the other woman in the team belonged to he sighed to himself, she was really going for it this time. He just hoped it wouldn't blow up in her face.

"Primed and ready. I can handle most of Oblivia's weather and still operate effectively, although we should be careful about severe sandstorms; when Jay and I first met we had to fight a high-level Prone in one."

 KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

“Photon saber, check, both guns, check. Mental stability? Rain check.”

Pongo slides his photon saber into the loop on his belt, smiling softly. The saber has stuck with him through the good and the bad times, and nowadays it's been his go-to weapon in every battle.

Sure, the dual guns are awesome too, but when the going gets tough he can rely on the saber to get things done quickly. That would be important, especially if the team got into a hairy situation. No matter what, he tells himself, he has to protect them.

"The weather?"

He tilts his head at Jaynix when she asks Zack and him if they'll be okay.

"Ah, nothing to worry about on my end. See, since I - NEVERMIND. Just, I will be perfectly fine."

He turns to face the horizon, noting that the sun has gotten much lower in the sky. The night would bring a lower visibility, Pongo notes, but that won't stop these strong teammates of his from getting the job done. He smiles to himself.

"We should be going, then. Jaynix, would you like to lead the way?"

He asks politely, considering she has the mission details. Plus, he's no leader, he can't do jack with leading a team. At least, he doesn't think he can...

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix looked over to Zack, if he were just any random BLADE she'd go for "My Rover. My Tunes." as a response but she liked Zack, they were good buddies and more often than not when they went out on rides, it was always themed to her rowdy tunes.

"Tell you what Zack, you pick the tunes on the way back."

With a smile she turned her gaze up to the sky, not that it'd do much good. Weather in Oblivia...well, on Mira in general was pretty drastic in how it changed. As she narrowed her eyes, looking for any visible change, she heard Aevi ask the rest of the team how they'd fare.

Chuckling at Zack bringing up good ol' Dadaan. That was a trip for sure. She then hears Pongo speak to her.

"Me? Lead?"

She hadn't thought about the four of them really...needing a leader of any sort. It just hadn't occurred to her.

"I don't see why not. If you're all fine with it. When it comes to action and it will, just know I'll be open to suggestions. Can't just go rushing in all the...all the...time..."

“Did I really just say that? I'm a fucking hypocrite.”

Letting out a heavy sigh, she cleared her head. Smiling she pulled out her comm device, the coordinates the last team had filed were close by.

"Okay then. North of here, past that ridge we should see a cliff face, some Indigens dug out the side of a cliff so there is now an open cave there. We go in, smash and grab and we're golden."

Pulling out her Gatling gun, she gave the cylinder a test spin, the clicking sounds it made were such a joy to her ears. Looking to each member of the team, she gives them a confident nod and begins walking across the sandscape.

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Zack nodded to Jaynix.

"Yelv gave me some old tracks he found on a Reclaimer mission. 'Dubstep' I think he called it."

When Pongo suggested that Jaynix take the lead he nodded again in agreement. He didn't feel at all he was the type to lead himself, however he had full confidence in her ability to fill in that role. He raised an eyebrow a hair at her contradicting her entire style of combat but kept quiet about it. Taking the rifle off his back Zack switched the safety off, following after his friend

 KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

“Oh wow, she said yes to being the leader.”

Pongo smiles as she agrees - contradicting her entire battle style in the process - and takes the lead towards their intended targets.

Pongo follows, finding himself drifting towards the back of the group. Guarding the rear is as equally important as keeping watch in the front, and it's a part of Pongo's Interceptor instincts that keep him on his toes. He surveys the area with a cautious expression, not wanting to be attacked by anything hostile or to encounter a run in with a tyrant.

His luck is in the negative end of the spectrum when it comes to these scenarios, and while everything is going well so far, he doesn't want - ...oh, wait a second. Are those... ...YES! Pongo quickly stops himself, making sure the others don't notice him trailing off towards the small herd of Ovis in the distance. Now a few feet away from the closest one, he whispers.

"Heq'ria uri-sauvaeh!"

All of the Ovises turn to look up at him, and with a firm smile he heads back to the group, now leading a small line of Ovises behind him. Once he catches up, he calls to Aevi.

"A little birdie told me you like Ovises...well, who would not like Ovises? But I figured you would appreciate them."

 Aevi

While listening to Jaynix explaining the mission details one last time, she nodded everything off. It seemed simple enough. But how things mostly went, it could turn out badly if they were unfortunate... She actually had no fear of that happening, however, as she trusted in her skills.

She could handle 99% of all the Indigens perfectly on her own, and she also trusted Jaynix. About Zack and Pongo she didn't know as much, but since the red-haired man had mentioned he did missions mostly on his own, she believed him to be capable as well. She was not sure about the strange boy, however...

Her thoughts went somewhere along those lines as she silently followed the first two members of their group, until the voice of that said boy broke her from her train of thought. She turned around.

"Well, most people like them, but how do you know th..."

She blinked in confusion, her jaw dropping just slightly. She was not sure if that what she saw was real, if the sun of Oblivia finally had managed to damage her mechanical brain after the many times she had already been here... But no. She was definitely seeing a line of Ovises calmly trotting behind Pongo. Things just got stranger by the minute.

She stopped walking, letting him come closer with his newly-found flock now, watching him, not quite able to hide her amazement.

"Well, I've never seen any Ovis behave like this. How did you do that?"

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Hearing the sound of multiple footfalls coming up behind them Zack stopped, turned around abruptly and brought his rifle up at the source. Realizing the source was a small Ovis herd he lowered his weapon, not before spooking Pongo.

“That's odd, wild Indigens following him like a shepherd.”

Zack thought to himself.

“Then again humans haven't been here long enough for them to develop a fear of man. Must have something in his pocket they want, too.”

He heard the other man say something to Aevi about liking Ovises. An interesting method of starting a conversation, although he was the last person who should be talking on that subject. Zack waited to hear how Pongo would answer Aevi's question.

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix had a small smile on her face from hearing Zack say 'dubstep'. The ride back would be entertaining for sure. She gave one more look around the area as they walked, no hostile Indigens nearby so she continued her casual stroll towards their objective. Giving a small glance back at the rest of her team...was it right to call them that?

Well, given she's the leader, it wouldn't be a bad thing. What's a leader without a kickass team to back her up?

"Maybe we should come up for a name for this team.”

She thought out loud, thinking back to when she, Frye, Irina and Gwin went out on missions together. Granted the 4 Interceptors never came up with a name they all agreed on.

"Something cool..."

Her thoughts about that were scattered when she heard Pongo talking to Aevi, turning she was surprised to see a herd of Ovises were trotting in line behind Pongo. Eyes widening, the words tumbled out of her mouth.

"They're so cute. They're adorable!"

Wide smile on her face she just watched the Ovises. Given Pongo's kind nature, Jaynix found it easy to guess that maybe the Ovises picked up on it and just followed him...or maybe he had some food in his pocket or something. Regardless, she was entranced by the Indigens and also a little interested in Pongo's strategy, whispering.

"I'd love to know how to get them to follow me..."

 KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

Oh gods, they're all looking at Pongo now, maybe this was a bad idea. Now facing three pairs of really...really pretty eyes...

“GET A GRIP.”

He decides to respond one through the order which they asked, now turning to Aeviann.

"Oh, how I did this? See, first I have to - ah..."

Nope, can't tell them about the sentient planet that would be a terrible idea.

"...I...see, um...this happens with a lot of Indigens, really. I have no idea what draws them to me..."

A bought of nervous laughter escapes his lips, but he's comforted by the wet nose of an Ovis touching the tips of his fingers.

"Aww, hey there, that tickles!"

He giggles to himself, starting to forget that he had Jaynix to respond to.

"Need something?"

The Ovis in question makes a small noise similar to a sheep - though, Pongo wouldn't know what the hell a sheep was. And before he even realizes it, he's mumbling something to the Ovis.

"Kya-reqi?"

The Ovis sticks out its tongue. Pongo giggles again.

"Orti, j'liquoi."

And then he looks up at three very puzzled faces and grimaces, holding onto a very tense smile.

"...please tell me you did not hear that..."

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Zack had to do a double-take to make sure the woman who was currently fawning over the Ovis was actually Jaynix. Seeing his normally fiery and quick-tempered friend act like this was a little shocking to him.

It was less her reaction that surprised him, more it was the look in her eyes; this was the first time he'd seen her genuinely happy. Even when she was very excited about something or seeming to have a good time, there was always a look he saw that told him something was going on inside her.

A smile formed behind his mask as Jaynix watched the Ovis begging attention from Pongo, Zack couldn't help but feel good at seeing her so happy. His grin was replaced by confusion when he heard Pongo speaking the unknown language again and became even more confused when the Ovis seemed to respond.

"Second time I've heard you speak in that language."

He replied bluntly, then waited for someone else to question him on it.

 Aevi

Aevi watched in awe the way Pongo interacted with the animal. Sure, most Ovises were peaceful creatures and would never mind a little interaction with a human, but the way Pongo handled it was as if the two were actually understanding each other...

Her gaze wandered over to Jaynix as she spoke. Seeing her so happy lifted her spirits as well, but it made her wonder why it seemed that she didn't seem surprised by what was happening right now, unlike herself.

Then the sound of one of the animals made her turn back to them again. Apparently it had been the one that Pongo was currently interacting with. It looked like he was talking to it, even. But the second time she hears him more clearly, and there it was again.

Those weird sounds that sounded like a language...

Which Zack also confirmed a moment later. She gave the man a nod, as to show that she had the same thought, then straightened herself, giving Pongo a questioning look.

"Yeah, me too, actually. We all heard it now. That was definitely not English you were speaking."

It could have been another language from earth since she only knew English and had no idea how any of the earth-languages might sound, but if he was simply talking in another tongue he would not get so flustered about it all the time. She wanted to know now.

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix's eyes remained locked on the Indigens behind Pongo, a glowing smile on her face. She was all set to walk over to them, kneel down on the ground and begin petting and cooing them. Being around Ovises was just...

Her train of thought was again derailed upon hearing Pongo...speaking with the Ovis. At least that was the best way to describe it. She was curious about this because this would be the fourth time he's said something...that didn't sound right. Clearly they were words but they were...strange words. Jaynix wasn't sure if she should ask Pongo about it...actually, she probably should but maybe it'd be better to wait till they were in private or the mission was over.

But Pongo took a somewhat defensive stance, blatantly stating that he hoped they didn't hear anything and then Zack came right out and asked and finally Aevi showed some curiosity as well. Clearly there was no going back from this for Pongo.

Jaynix took a few steps forward, lining herself up with Aevi and Zack before crossing her arms. Thinking for a few moments.

"You know...the first time I ever heard you say something...well...weird, it was during the confidence training with Draco...what was it? Man...egg? All key are...do...a? I don't know...it was something like that. I've always wanted to ask what that meant, just never found the opportunity for it...I guess that opportunity is now...if you're fine with sharing it of course. I don't think any of us want to force the matter if you aren't comfortable."

 KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

".........."

Well, shit. He certainly screwed up big time. Pongo faces the two, quiet at first. The Ovis nudges his hand again, but he makes no move to acknowledge it, too focused on keeping his breathing regular. He can't panic, not now, not when he's come so far...

"...okay, okay."

Pongo says with a pained sigh, his brow furrowing as he comes up with a possible explanation for this. No, he really doesn't want to talk about Mira - but he might have to.

"...long story short…that is my native tongue. At least, I think it is. It has to be. I use it to communicate with Indigens - seems to work for all species on Mira. I never use it with humans, they never understand it. But sometimes, when I am really nervous..."

He turns to Jaynix, a soft smile on his lips that suggests he's going to regret his next few sentences.

"It slips out. Thus, why I said that during - ah, well, right before - things happened. And, you want to know what it means?..."

He bites his lip for a moment, stepping back.

"Um...well, I said, ah...I said 'go further down.'"

And now the secret's out. Pongo looks away as his face heats up. This time, it's because he's ashamed, embarrassed, ridiculing himself for being such a worthless idiot.

“Way to go, hot shot.”

 OmegaLPS || Zack

"'Native tongue.' So you're saying you're a Xenoform?"

Zack resisted the urge to put his forefinger, if the boy was dangerous he would've made his move when they weren't all focused on him. They should hear him out more before making any judgement calls. It certainly explained why his eyes were so strange, and why the Ovis were following him like a herd leader. That combined with the ashamed look Pongo had now helped his case of meaning no harm, but Zack kept himself ready just in case.

When Pongo translated what she said his confusion grew. She'd told him about what happened during the confidence training, but what- Oh.

 Aevi

Zack's comment put a small frown on her forehead. A Xenoform... in a mim, then, like Elma? Because aside from the strange eyes -and she herself didn't exactly have human eyes, either- and the other unusual things he did sometimes he did look like an ordinary human. But given this strange language, it could be a believable explanation... Only that he stated something that confused her.

"Waiiit wait wait. You believe it is your native tongue? How can you not be sure about such a thing?"

The next thing he said confused her even more, until she managed to puzzle things together after a few seconds. Jaynix had told her about something, and... was he talking about that? She raised an eyebrow, looking from Pongo to Jaynix and back to Pongo, giving the man a really suspicious look. That's something she surely had not expected of him.

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix remained silent as Pongo explained his...speech. She tilted her head upon hearing 'native tongue'. With Zack stating what was probably the go to conclusion. Sure Pongo was a bit weird but a Xenoform? That just didn't sound right...sure Elma was a Xenoform in a mim but...something was just nagging at Jaynix about this whole thing. Something she couldn't quite place.

Then Aevi added on her question. If it was Pongo's native tongue, how could he be unfamiliar with it?

"Hang on...my brother. Kruse. He suffered from some bizarre memory loss when he was awoken from his Lifepod. Maybe it's the same for Pongo. He has this knowledge and ability...but he just doesn't know how or why he has it."

Hypothesis out of the way, Jaynix returned to listening to Pongo as he explained what those words that he had said in his native tongue back then, meant. She expected a lot of things, she had a lot of theories especially in the last few moments but the answer...

"Go further down?"

Her eyes moved to her Raim's zipper then up just in time to catch Aevi giving her a look. Jaynix mouthed a silent 'oh' which was followed by what felt like a very long silence as Jaynix thought about what she should do with this information. To think that Pongo let that slip, well, it wasn't actually that hard to imagine given how flustered he was during that stage of the confidence training. Jaynix decided to handle this as she handled many things and cracked a smile.

"If we I were to go further at that point...well, let's just say I think that'd have to wait until after a second date Pongo...or maybe a few more."

She chuckled, before uncrossing her arms and giving a small glance to the Ovises that were still behind Pongo.

"That aside. You are capable of speaking to Mira's Indigens and you don't know how. I'm sure the how is important but until you figure that out I have to say, it is an amazing skill and could be quite handy."

She gave another look at Zack and Aevi before turning to the sandy plains around them, the hour growing later.

"I'm sure the four of us could go on and on about this for a long time but at the risk of coming off like a downer we do have a mission that needs doing. We can get into this back in NLA if you're fine with it, Pongo, maybe help you figure this all out but until then, duty calls."

 KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

Well, they took this better than he expected. Sure, they're still curious, but isn't it natural for humans to want to know the answers to their questions? For now, Pongo takes a deep breath, facing the curious trio and doing his best not to let Aevi's side glance get him down.

"I mean, I sort of have an idea - not really though, how could I? But I can say with confidence that I am not a Xenoform...not like how you would think, at least..."

How on Mira could he even begin to cover this up? If only he wasn't a blithering idiot, maybe then he would've been able to hide this. His chest starts to hurt - is he holding back tears? Or is it sweat from the heat? He can't tell. He really hopes it’s the latter.

Upon hearing Jaynix's request to get back into the field, he perks up. Yes, a conversation shift! Perfect for getting the attention off of him!

"Right, mission time. Very important mission, someone has to -"

Suddenly, without any warning, the Ovises make startled noises and run away in unison. Pongo turns to watch them run off, scowling to himself. What caused them to-?

...oh. OH. Oh no. Slowly, he turns back to face the team, his eyes wide. His fingers drift to the photon saber at his belt - he has a feeling he'll need it soon.

"Guys...tell me you felt that..."

No, of course they didn't feel the ground pulsate. Did they? Well, now they should know that Pongo senses something coming their way.

"...Something tells me...that our targets found us before we found them..."

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Zack still had several things he wanted to know but Jaynix was right, they could wait when they were back in NLA, they had to focus on the mission.

All of a sudden the Ovis bleated in alarm and stampeded away. His ears picked up on a faint rumbling sound coming from the other direction, which turned into a steady thunderous beat. Turning he saw them.

A large pack of Grexes were charging at them, kicking up dust clouds in their wake, now close enough to hear their snarling and howling.

"Incoming hostiles!"

He said, switching into full combat mode as he brought his rifle up, placing himself further ahead than the others. A miniature HUD came up inside his eye, identifying the profile of each individual indigen to get a headcount.

"Fourteen adult Grex, two in the front are the Alphas."

This wasn't good, the only terrain advantage they had was the wall of a shelf and the Grex would be on them before they could make it up. They'd have to rely purely on skill and experience here. Zack turned the safety off, waiting as the pack got closer.

 Eienias || Jaynix

Having called the team to direct their attention to the mission at hand, Jaynix pulled her comm device out to reacquaint herself with their destination, suddenly realizing how long this small aside really was. Even so, as long as the job was done it didn't matter how much time they took.

In the midst of her thoughts, Pongo called out that he felt something and Zack perked up as well. Jaynix's comm device flashed red, multiple dots appearing on the scanners and drawing close as the Ovises let out frightened bleats and took off.

It was in that moment, that Jaynix found her center. A devilish grin formed on her face. Putting her comm device away she listened to Zack call out the warning and number of approaching Grexes. Reaching behind her, she gripped her blade and pulled it out, the clean steel making an audible schwing as it left its sheathe.

Taking a deep breath she gave the blade a quick spin, her eyes burned brighter than ever as she gave Zack, Aevi and Pongo a determined look. Nodding at each of them before giving their surroundings a quick once over. Still grinning at the thought of the approaching enemies she turned to face the Grex horde.

"Aevi. Zack. With your range you can blast em, whittle em down and spread them apart. When they get close enough..."

Dropping into her battle stance, she set her sights on one of the Alphas.

"Pongo. You and I are going to carve them up. Killing time."

 Aevi

She looked to the ground, thinking. She tried to wrap her brain around what he had said, but wasn't entirely satisfied with what she came up. There were still so many things that needed to be explained.

“Not like how you think....what then!?”

The man was just becoming more and more of a mystery to her. It intrigued her, but it also made her uneasy. She wanted to know so badly, but had to admit that Jaynix was right. There were other, more pressing matters at hand, and she didn't want to come home way after midnight again. Happened to her way too often...

The sound of the Ovises suddenly stampeding away caused her to jerk her head up again and her eyes narrowed to slits as she watched them flee. That wasn't good...

She turned her head into the direction of where the Indigens apparently fled from, as she heard Zack shout out, just to look upon a large group of Grexes storming their way at an alarming speed.

"Wonderful..."

She murmured to herself with an annoyed undertone. She had hoped they could finish the mission without having to kill anything, but as it seemed that wasn't to be the case anymore. Where she stood her team was in her way, so she moved to the side, where she had a clear view on the new enemies. On the way, she passed Jaynix by.

Although she wasn't entirely happy with having to kill so many Indigens, the prospect of battle still thrilled her, that feeling only increased by the other woman's grin. She could not help but to let a wicked smile form on her lips, casually calling out to Jay as she took her position as well, grabbing for her rifle and switching the weapon's safety off.

"Jay. Remember? 33 to 28. It's your chance to catch up."

Then she readied her weapon, aiming towards the oncoming Grexes.

"...And gotcha, I'll be sure to give them a warm welcome."

She focused on the biggest Alpha. At the speed that they were going it was almost impossible to already kill one from here, given the distance as well, but Jaynix said to spread them apart, and that she could do. Calming her breath she looked through the sight of her rifle, following the animal's movements as it approached, and then pulled the trigger.

For a second the sound of her first shot drowned out the noise of the stampede, and it seemed as time went slower for a blink of an eye. Then suddenly one of the Grexes -not the Alpha, she had missed that one, dammit- let out a cry of pain as it suddenly staggered to its right side. She had hit one of its legs. At that speed it managed to keep up the direction in which it was going, but it was thrown off balance enough for it to hit its neighbour as it staggered, and a good part of the horde hissed in anger and surprise at the unexpected attack.

It now split up into smaller groups, but also increasing speed. A grim and determined look formed on Aevi's face.

"The arena is open."

 KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

As the Grexes approach the area, Pongo draws his photon saber. The blue-green light it emits is an all too familiar sight for him. He only thinks for a second about switching to his dual guns - maybe he should buff up the team now, to make sure they don't get hurt.

The thought is quick, gone in an instant, because the Grexes are now too close for him to be able to activate one.

"Alright, I will do my best!"

Pongo tells Jaynix as he adjusts his grip on his saber, facing the pack with as confident of a face as he can pull off - which looks quite awkward and painful. As one of the Grexes charges his way, he realizes that this is one of the Alphas that Zack had pointed out - its size and its position in the front of the pack makes this a certainty.

Biting his lip, he allows the Alpha to grow closer, closer... NOW. He does a 360, using the force of his movement to slash out at the Grex in three consecutive swings. The first, with the most momentum, hits the Grex square in the jaw, but the other two shots miss, as the beast stumbles back to regain its bearings.

Pongo smiles for a second before running up to it, saber prepared to strike again at its face. But the Grex's recovery is faster than he expects. It stands up, and as Pongo draws closer it moves to charge his way. He tells himself he has to dodge this, he has to fool it at the right time. So they both charge at each other, neither slowing down. He dives to his right - but his timing is quite off. The Grex catches his body on its snout and flings him to the left, and he yelps in surprise as he finds himself tumbling through the air.

“Not again...”

No, he can land, he has to land. If he doesn't, the Alpha will be on him in an instant - how will he protect his friends if he's DEAD? Pongo locates the ground as he spins through the air, and using the force of his body, he pushes himself upright, and his feet hit the ground for a somewhat solid landing. ...he did it. He landed after getting launched.

Now if only he had a better grip on his saber. Pongo realizes that his hands are empty as the Grex turns to face him, and he sees his saber across the landscape, too far away for him to reach. Gritting his teeth, he draws his dual guns, aiming at the Grex.

"Sorry!"

He apologizes without thinking as he shoots the Grex. One of his shots hits the Grex's left eye and the Alpha screams in pain, stumbling back. Pongo looks around, finding time to locate his teammates. He spots Aeviann first - does she need help? Probably not, but even so...he sprints towards her. At least it's the thought that counts.

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix nods to Aevi.

"33. 28. Got it. Let's change that!"

She keeps her eye on the horde of Grexes, recounting Zack's information. Fourteen in total, two were Alphas. Following Aevi's shot, Jaynix could see the horde splitting up as well as the two Alphas continuing their forward charge, now upon the team.

Just like Pongo at her side, she waits until the Alpha Grex is right on top of her. Growling, it's maw opens up and it attempts to gore her with its teeth, the beast catches nothing but air. Looking up to the sky in frustration.

Above, Jaynix's grin remains in place as she swings her blade, her body now covered in flames. Inhaling, she lets out a mighty war cry and shoots down at the Grex, her blade cutting a deep swathe through its face. Roaring in pain the Grex takes a few steps back, Jaynix roaring back at it and spinning around, her blade slicing through its forelegs.

Angered, the Grex spins around, its tail narrowly missing Jaynix who rolls under it before burying her blade in the Grex's underside. Frantically the beast tears itself away from Jaynix, who gets back up on her feet, still smiling. With a mighty roar the Alpha shoots itself at Jaynix, a blur across the sandy battlefield. Jumping at the creature, Jaynix spins her blade around and yells before burying it in the charging creature's head, through its brain. Carried by its momentum, the now dead Grex and Jaynix fall several feet away from the rest of the team.

Tearing her blade out, Jaynix gives it a quick flick and mutters.

"29."

Eyeing the rest of her team and the thirteen remaining Grexes, she goes to charge towards them only for two of the smaller Grexes to begin heading her way. Jaynix can't help but laugh in excitement and begins stalking towards the approaching Grexes.

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Zack selected his targets, going for the closest Grex to the Alphas, firing in short controlled bursts to preserve accuracy. His bullets tore through the eye of one, obliterating the knees of another. Both Indigens tumbled back into the pack causing some of their fellows to stumble.

Switching to semi-automatic he looked down the barrel of his rifle, aiming for one of the downed Grex, shooting it right where the Enemy Index specified where its heart was. It was then the pack was on them, Zack falling back to reload as Jaynix and Pongo engaged the Alphas.

He'd just finished loading the weapon when a Grex lunged at him. Falling on his back Zack used his legs and the creature's momentum to send it sailing over him. Pressing a button on the side of the weapon's stock he switched to a Quick Cannon round, the rails accelerating the projectile as the Grex wheeled around for another pass. He hopped back on his feet and spun to face it while aiming the gun with one hand. The booming sound of the shot was followed by the explosion of the Grex's stomach and its howls of pain.

Zack was about to find another target when he was drawn by snarling from behind; turning he saw that two of the Indigens had broken off from the main pack and had flanked the four BLADEs, charging at Pongo and Aevi who were focused on their own battle. If they tried to counter the new threat the Grex they were already fighting would be on their backs, and Zack's rifle was still cooling down from using Quick Cannon. He didn't need to think. Just react. He charged to intercept the Grex in the front, calculating its speed and his own and adjusted accordingly. Once he was close enough Zack put every ounce of power he had in his legs into a lunge as he lowered his shoulder.

The shoulder plate of his Quantlet connected, slamming the Grex into the shelf cliff with a thunderous crack. A sickening crunch filled the air as the creature's skull imploded from the impact, spraying purple brain matter over the now cracked rock face.

He didn't take the time to check if it was dead as he chased after the other one, diving to grab its tail.

“Got it.”

Digging his boots into the ground the large man began to slow then completely stopped the Grex in its stride, said indigen straining to keep on going after his teammates. He kept it in place, freeing a hand to draw his sword and cut its tail off. The now enraged beast turned its full attention to him, but before it could react he rolled underneath it, slicing the jugular as he went. With those two dealt with Zack moved to regroup with the team.

 Aevi

She used the last bit of time that was still left before the horde was on them to deal as much damage as she could. Figuring it would maybe help Jaynix and Pongo if the ones that were coming in later would not put up so much of a fight, she decided to aim for the rear of their attackers.

One of the Grexes already seemed to go slower, as it came in a few moments later than the rest of its brothers and sisters. Deciding on that as her next target, she fired another shot... and it hit, piercing the lungs of the beast. It fell to the ground, blood spraying as it was struggling to breathe, causing a horrible strenuous sound that she could hear even from that distance.

She flinched at that, knowing that she caused a lot of pain with this, but they needed to survive this fight, so she could not lament over the pain of a single Grex for too long. She decided it was as good as dead.

"34!"

Quickly turning her focus on the fight that had started to unravel before her, she noticed the Alpha that Pongo was engaged with, and how he was now running from it and towards her. Even after Pongo shot out its eye, the Grex recovered after a short time, shaking its head in anger, still slightly disorientated. Then it found Pongo again, roared, and charged for him.

As the man reached her she ushered him to her side, then grabbed for her Javelin, pulling the two ends apart so that the weapon was now ready for battle. The beast was quickly advancing, and she dropped into a battle stance, eyes focused on it. Her nerves were on edge, but she knew this would work.

As it was almost upon them, the second Alpha leaped forward, Aevi shoved Pongo aside, and everything happened in a mere moment. As the Grex jumped she suddenly ducked, and with an angry cry she jabbed her spear forward, cutting open the entire belly as the force of the beast's jump did the most of the work for her. Her vision was blurred by the ridiculous amount of blood that exploded out of the wound. The indigen landed dead behind her with a loud thud, dust whirling up. It took her a moment to wipe away the blood to see again, but when she did, she called out.

"35!"

But that was all she had time for, as she saw another Grex already charging at them, clearly more careful now that the other Alpha was killed, but still angry. Tightening the grip on her weapon, she engaged it head-on to get its full attention, slashing at it several times to provoke a counter-attack.

Her plan worked, as the Grex hissed in annoyance, slightly turning to the side and crouching down now, closely watching her. She had fought Grexes often enough to know what that meant; only the slightest twitch of its muscles indicated the attack, but Aevi knew what was coming.

Quick as a snake the beast's dangerous tail stabbed at her, and quick as a snake she dodged the attack, spinning as she jumped to the side and using the momentum of her movement to bring the cutting edge of her javelin down onto the tail, cutting half of it off. The Grex roared in anger, and she quickly moved back to Pongo's side, only now noticing how Zack had killed two more enemies who had apparently been planning on attacking them as well.

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix stood apart from the rest of the team, watching and waiting for the two Grexes who had her in their sights to make a move. As she expected, both of the Indigens launched themselves at her. In response, she jumped back and away from their claws.

One howled in anger while the other reared up and closed the distance, turning its body around and going for a savage tail strike. Smirking Jaynix swung her blade in a flash, the Indigen's tail flying off and landing elsewhere on the sand. Now howling in pain the Grex turned to her as the second one leapt over it.

Acting quickly, Jaynix stuck her blade into the sand and threw herself back and onto the ground. The Grex's claws were at either side of her head, while it turned its maw to her, opening it up to show her the rows of teeth.

Jaynix chuckled as an audible click was heard. She had pulled her Gatling gun around and the massive cylinder was pressed up against the Grex's belly.

"Get the fuck off me!"

Roaring to life, the Gatling gun fired holes into the Grex's underside, countless bullets ripping up and through its body, the Grex letting out many pained cries as it stumbled and fell aside, still twitching and trying to escape.

Standing, Jaynix waited as the other Grex who was missing its tail reared up. Clicking a button on her weapon she brought it up, the creature charging at her as she let loose a volley of missiles. Despite the explosions against its hide the beast charged through and rammed into her, throwing her back. Rolling to her feet she laughed. The beast charged at her again as she put all her weight into the Gatling gun and spun around, smashing the massive weapon against the Grex's jaw, breaking it and throwing it to the sand. Winding up her weapon again she obliterated the Indigen's skull.

Putting the gun away she retrieved her blade and walked over to the injured Grex. One stab to the head, ending it as well.

"That makes 31."

Hearing scattered gunfire and howls of pain she looked up to see the remaining five Grexes around the rest of her team. Giving her blade another quick flick she headed in their direction.

 KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

“Gotta protect her. Gotta protect her. Gotta…”

Pongo's thoughts are focused on Aevi, his guns in his hands as he sprints away from the alpha Grex he had shot. Maybe it isn't the best idea to run away - after all, wouldn't it give chase? That would endanger - oh gods, this is a bad plan, this is a very bad idea.

But he's too worried to turn back. It's the Interceptor within him that demands to keep those around him safe. Plus, his photon saber can be picked up along the way. He bends down quickly to retrieve his saber, holding it awkwardly in his hand alongside the gun, but thankfully he's still got speed on his side. As he approaches Aeviann he clumsily puts his guns on his back and adjusts to his melee weapon, watching as she - ...did she just shove him aside?

He stumbles out of her range as she finishes the alpha that had been following him, slicing it apart like it was cake. And the blood...he's not queasy, but it pains him to see so much of it. But did she have to shove him like that? A simple order would've worked, right?

In the heat of the moment, Pongo saves it for after the battle. Maybe she didn't mean to shove him as hard as she did, maybe it's a misunderstanding. Yeah, it's probably just that. Hopefully. He takes a step forward to join the team in finishing off the rest of the Grexes, pushing aside the feeling that he had been pretty much useless this entire battle.

As he goes to help, he sees something making its way towards them. Something massive. Thinking it's a Vigent of some sort, Pongo announces.

"Something is coming our way! Get ready!"

He smiles, wondering if this will be his chance to prove that he can be useful, he can protect them. But as the creature comes closer into view...

No. No, why this, why did it have to be this. Pongo's eyes widen and his jaw drops open, unable to stop his hands from shaking or his knees from wobbling.

“Oh my gods, oh my gods.”

The flashbacks start up, just like they always do. He can hear the screams, hear the acid gnaw away at the metal underneath his skin...why is it so vivid?! No, he's got to get a grip, he has to make sure the others don't end up the same way. But the screams...

Pongo doesn't tell himself to run, and yet he's sprinting in the opposite direction of the fight, the light from his saber dying out as he scrambles for a place to hide. He finds a large boulder next to a ridge, and falling to his knees, he curls up into a tight ball, letting his tears flow and covering his ears.

“Why will he not stop screaming?!...it hurts...”

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Zack made it over to Aevi and Pongo and took up one side as the last five Grexes surrounded them, sword up in a defensive stance. One of the Grexes was eyeing him particularly, pacing back and forth as it looked for an opening, keeping his eyes on it at all times. He waited for those bulging leg muscles to tense, signaling it was going in for a strike.

When it happened Zack brought his sword up to block the enormous jaws aiming to crush his skull. In a grapple lock his frame began to audibly whir as he fought with the creature's full strength. He relaxed a bit to bait it into creating an opening, and it worked; the Grex released his sword to go for a bite only for him to spin out of the way.

Taking two steps back he then leaped in the air while bringing his sword down in a wide downward swing, cleaving the head off the body. The body let out one final spasm before lying still.

There were still four more to deal with when he heard Pongo call out another hostile coming their way. He glanced over to where Pongo was looking and saw the hulking frame of an Ictus making its way to them. The scavenger must be looking for an easy meal Zack thought as brought his rifle up. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw Pongo freeze up, then suddenly take off to a nearby boulder.

“What the- where the hell's he going?”

 Aevi

Using the very small break Aevi took the chance and tried to wipe as much blood off her as she could, she certainly looked still rather messy. Quickly assessing the situation she counted four Grexes left, wrinkling her nose a little upon the sight of the beheaded Grex.

But until now it had worked out pretty well for their group and the ones that were still left seemed a little frightened, even. It was four on four now, after all. She held her javelin before her, as to defend herself should any of the beasts be so stupid and just jump right in for an attack.

As Pongo then announced another enemy, she allowed herself to take her eyes off the Grexes for a second to look at where the other two men were now looking. An Ictus. Great. She let out an annoyed sigh; didn't she just think that it went well for them? Two of the Grexes now also seemed to have noticed that something seemed to distract their prey, and turning, they let out an angry warning growl towards the incoming huge insect-like creature as they saw it as well.

As she readied her javelin, she saw that Pongo had out of nowhere turned on his heels and ran off.

“What the hell is wrong with that guy!!??”

Turning she wanted to call out to him, but before she could open her mouth one of the beasts that had kept its focus on them saw its chance and quickly leaped forward to attack her, roaring. Had she noticed her mistake of ignoring the enemy just a second too late she might have ended up with her head bitten off, but she managed to dodge early enough to avoid that fate.

However she was not quick enough to avoid the beast entirely. They collided, and one of its paws knocked her over, pinning her to the ground. This was BAD. She could not reach for her rifle, which was useless in combat as close as this anyway, and her javelin was too long to use now...

The only thing she could do was use her legs. And that she did, because she had to do SOMETHING, otherwise the Grex could just snap at her and kill her in an instant. Mustering up all her strength, she screamed and kicked the beast in its underbelly, but only managed to buy herself a few more seconds as the Grex roared in anger.

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix joined up with the rest of her team as another Grex fell, leaving only four of what was once a rather impressive horde. She could only smile at the thought of how drastically the flow of battle had changed in their favor, and how quickly. She prepared to shoot herself at the remaining Grexes when Pongo announced that something else was coming.

Jaynix looks over, past the rock face just as a large Indigen comes into view, a loud, audible hissing as it set its many eyes on the skirmish taking place. It was an Ictus and a very sizeable one at that.

"Well...seems we've attracted the attention of something worse. Zack! Scan this thing and check if it's in the Tyrant Registry, based off the size and the scars all over its shell I'm willing to bet it is. Pongo, Aevi-"

Her orders came to a sudden halt upon witnessing Pongo breaking away from the rest of the team, escaping from the battle. Jaynix watched the way he ran, panicked. Something wasn't right and it was something she could recognize.

Then she heard the Grexes mounting to attack them, possibly feeling a bit bolder with the appearance of the massive Ictus. Just then, one of the Grexes launched at Jaynix. Quickly avoiding the strike she prepared to call out for Aevi and Zack to back her up.

However, upon turning to find them she saw a Grex pounce on Aevi and the other two head for Zack. She watched Aevi grapple with the Grex, doing everything she could to get it off and away from her all the while the Ictus was drawing closer. Arming her Gatling gun, she fired into the ground, throwing up a dust cloud that the Grex harmlessly swatted at, roaring. Switching to her blade she dashed over to Aevi, roaring as she cut through the Grex, the beast turned to her just as she followed up with another strike, ripping through its face.

As it fell dead, Jaynix reached out to Aevi, helping her up.

"You okay there, beautiful?"

Jaynix smiled at her before turning back around to focus on the Ictus only to find that it had moved. Her eyes widened as she quickly tried to pinpoint where it went.

"Alright Aevi, grab your stuff, this guy is fast and definitely Tyrant-"

The Ictus landed right next to the pair, Jaynix gritting her teeth as she raised her blade. However, the Tyrant was much faster than she anticipated, its massive claw striking her, throwing her into Aevi and throwing the pair across the sandscape.

Rolling to her feet, Jaynix looked to Aevi but heard the rapid stomping of the Ictus, it'd be on them too soon, she had to cover her. Looking back in the direction of the giant beast she ran at it and jumped into the air. She swung her blade with all her might, the sharp edge struck the hard, battle scarred shell of the Ictus, digging in the slightest bit before bouncing back out. Jaynix's eyes widened, complete and utter shock filled her face as the creature wound up one of its massive pincers and struck her in the chest, the pincer carried Jaynix into the sand, pressing her into the ground below and pinning her in place.

She felt the force the Ictus put into the strike and the pressure of it pushing down on her caused pain to shoot throughout her entire body. Unable to find her words she could only scream as the Ictus let out a bloodcurdling screech.

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Zack nodded at Jaynix's order and activated his HUD again. Tying into the database he scanned the creature, a profile came up matching its description.

"Got it. Dionysis, the Bronze Hatchet, level 67 tyrant. I'll get its attention-"

He was bringing up his rifle when he saw the Grex pounce on Aevi, turning away from the approaching tyrant to help her only to be cut off by two of the Grex. The closer one snarled as it brought its head down to try and gore him. He met it with the butt of his rifle, knocking it off to the side and unloading the clip into its gut.

The second one knocked him down from behind and tried going for his neck to be kicked in the chin. Rolling forward Zack primed a grenade, firing it once he got back on his feet. The incendiary round exploded on the Grex's face, said creature screaming as its body was doused in flames.

Turning back to see how his teammates were doing, Zack froze, time slowing down. He saw Jaynix swing her sword, the blade barely getting through and the shocked look on her face. The giant insect brought its pincer up....

“No...”

...And stabbed her through the chest, pinning her into the ground. The horrible scream that came from her drowned out the cries of the burning Grex, shocking Zack into place.

His eyes widened as her hands curled and uncurled from the pain wracking her body. As he watched another feeling washed over him, one he tried the hardest to contain: rage.

“NO!!!!!”

Zack fought to keep in control, hands shaking in effort. Focusing, he channeled his emotion into action, slowing his breathing and activated Overdrive. A high-pitched whine filled the air as his core put all his systems on full throttle. He felt his muscles tense, his pulse speed up, all his senses fully aware. Unsheathing his sword he charged to them.

“NOT HER TOO!!!”

Zack swung his sword with all the power his enhanced strength gave him, the blade cutting through the pincer like a hot knife through butter. The insect screeched in pain and fury as the pincer split in half, striking at Zack with the other only for him to disappear.

Using his newfound speed he dodged its attacks, increasing the creature's frustration as it couldn't hit the fast little target. He swung sword again, shearing off the other pincer. Gripping the handle tight, made another slash at its thorax, the large wound he created spraying purple blood across the ground and causing the Ictus to screech even louder.

It had its full attention on killing him now. Zack led it away from the others to keep them out of harm's way, and once they were at a safe distance he rushed to meet Dionysis again.

 KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

"THERE'S TOO MANY OF THEM! WE'VE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE!"

"Come on! - Wait, where is -"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

How could a memory be so vivid? Pongo claws at his temples, his sobs growing louder and struggling to hold back his screams. Closing his eyes tightly, he wishes this to be a nightmare. Yes, he fell asleep on duty, he's just dreaming, none of this is real. He didn't humiliate himself. He's not humiliating himself.

Something pierced through his thoughts, something real. Pongo forces himself to look up as he identifies Jaynix's scream.

“She is in trouble. I need to go and –”

"AAAAAAAAAAA"

He grits his teeth, tears streaming down his cheeks like a waterfall. He has to help her, but what use would he be, if he couldn't save... No. Pongo can't think like this, not when his friends need him. This case is different; he knows these people, he knows them and loves them and he'll do anything to keep them safe. And yet he ran away, like a coward. No, he has to get back to them. He has to protect them.

With a shaky breath, Pongo stands himself up, turning to face the beast - and noticing what it was that had caused Jaynix to scream. The Ictus has her pinned to the ground, and from this angle he can't tell if she's still kicking. But it's enough for him to enter a state of being that he is rarely seen in. Rage.

Pongo draws his photon saber, his right eye twitching as he prepares to unleash his anger. How dare it attack Jaynix. How dare it attack his friends. His mechanical blood starts to boil, and as he glances down at his saber, the little screen on its hilt informs him that he has full tension. Perfect.

With the click of a button, Pongo activates Overdrive. The memories subside, replaced by anger and rage and guilt and every emotion under the sun. He feels his muscles release their tension, allowing for faster, stronger movement. His vision grows sharper as he locks onto the Ictus, his target. It won't expect him. It thinks it's fighting against three people, three easy targets. Oh boy, is it in for a surprise.

Pongo refuses to let it escape him. He's going to slaughter this son of a bitch, and he's going to do it before anyone gets hurt. He races forward, his feet flying on and off the ground as his speed increases. The Ictus looks up as it hears him approach - but it's too late to react.

Pongo pushes his body up from the ground and uses his momentum to propel himself into a whirling, 360 degree spin, his saber making several consecutive hits aimed at the Ictus's torso. He feels himself growing more powerful with every hit he lands, and the screeches from the Ictus as he lands each blow are oddly pleasing to the ear.

Pongo feels so good, so incredibly powerful, and he knows that if he keeps this up it'll be dead in no time. He'll kill it, he'll kill it and keep them safe. In an act of pure rage, he lets out a howl of defiance - which sounds animalistic, inhuman, certainly not a sound any human throat would be capable of. There is only one thought in his mind now, and it's the only one that matters. Kill it, before it kills them.

 Aevi

She felt pathetic. She had been less careful for one SECOND and now she had ended up beneath the foot of one measly Grex, and it truly seemed that death was almost upon her. The beast was hissing at her, already looking like it felt victorious; rows of sharp teeth snapped at her threateningly.

“Stop playing with me and do it already, dammit!!!”

But then suddenly the Grex moved really fast, and of course it had to push itself off of her body- She gasped as the force of the beast's leg pressed down on her chest as it jumped to the side, air being pressed out of her system.

She coughed, but just as she recovered to see why it had suddenly let go of her, it fell dead to the ground, and it's former space was replaced by Jaynix. A relieved smile showed on Aevi's face and she took the woman's hand to get up, breath still a little shaking from the pressure that had been exerted on her chest.

She quickly went to grab her javelin, but also decided to switch back to her rifle now. Maybe she could do some damage to the thing before...

"A little shaken up, but I can still wreck...shit..."

“Where the hell did the Ictus go???”

Still not able to go full 100% just now, Aevi could only watch as the insect landed next to them, and next thing she knew, she felt air pressed out of her for a SECOND time as she and Jaynix were thrown to the ground. She landed hard on the stony sand, but managed to roll off somewhat gracefully, stopping on her knees.

She looked up to see Jaynix already being at their enemy again, but very suddenly this took a turn she did not like at all...

Her eyes widened in horror at the horrible sight before her; the sound of Jay screaming mixed with the Ictus's horrible noise, a cacophony that pained her ears and yet almost made her scream as well. Almost.

She felt anger now deep inside her chest, a small, but powerful seething flame. With a deep growl she aimed her rifle at the new enemy.

"You motherfucker...!"

Overdrive. It activated almost by itself, and the flame inside her chest exploded as she felt new energy pulsing through her circuits. She saw that Zack was already at it, and all of a sudden- something she's not expected at all- Pongo was back as well...

But she wasn't sure if the man she saw right there was actually Pongo. The man who had just fled the fight a minute ago... He was now savagely attacking the Ictus, slashing at it with a force she had never imagined for him to be possible. Seeing her teammates fighting with such fury only managed to fuel her more as well.

Due to her increased speed it took her only the blink of an eye to aim, finding the perfect open window to shoot just as the beast turned to slash at Zack... and then she fired. 4 consecutive shots out of her rifle hit the Ictus' abdomen in a fiery explosion, obliterating almost all of it, since it was its weakest part. Then she knew she had to help the two boys out, and now ran to engage in the fight as well, burning rage showing in her eyes.

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix has been in this spot many times before. Mortal danger. She's actively been seeking out death for longer than she cares to admit. But it's always when it sneaks up on her that she finds herself desperately clinging to life.

The mission wasn't supposed to go this way but she's known from all the missions she's run here on Mira and back on Earth, that missions going sideways was always ALWAYS a regular thing.

She let out a pained gasp as the immense pressure placed on her body was released. Zack had cleaved off half the pincer that was pinning her in place. As the Tyrant turned to direct its rage at Zack, Jaynix gripped the remaining flesh and growled as she tore it out of her and threw it aside, her vision becoming blurry. She heard more shouts, roars and cries as well as screeches from the Tyrant, turning her head she took as good a look as she could. Pongo was back and savagely attacking the beast, Aevi soon joined the fray. All three of them clearly fueled by rage. It was almost an out of body experience, seeing these three acting not unlike she does when she has her episodes. At the very least they seemed to have more control in one way or another.

Feeling something terrible she rolled over and threw up on the sand, heaving gasps escaped her as she sat on her knees. Clenching her teeth she looked over to the battle still taking place. They could finish it, she knew they could and yet here she was, practically incapable of standing.

"Leader? I'm an embarrassment..."

She brought one hand to the grievous wound on her chest before looking over to see her discarded blade. After a few moments she reached over with her free hand and picked it up. She wasn't going to let that Tyrant get the best of her and get away with it. Even if she was at death's door, nothing could stop her from exacting her rage.

Narrowing her eyes she stood up, ignoring the burning pain in her body she began walking towards the battle. It didn't matter if the beast dropped dead before she reached the conflict, there was an undeniable itch she needed to scratch. Hissing she continued on her way, gripping her blade tighter.

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Zack saw Pongo running towards the Ictus, equally surprised and relieved that the boy had snapped out of whatever panic sent him to hide in the first place. Pongo's attack staggered Dionysis momentarily and he saw his chance, pressing a button on his sword he took a stance.

A spark of flame appeared at the hilt, then travelled down the length of the blade. Once it reached the tip he swung his sword in a wide slash. The spark turned into a fiery tornado that crashed into the Ictus, scorching its carapace and weakening its defenses.

Hissing in anger it swiped at him with a foreleg when its abdomen exploded from Aevi's sniper fire. It didn't stop the sharp appendage from slashing through Zack's Bodywear, creating a large wound in his side as biocirulatory fluid stained the white of his armor blue. He didn't feel the pain while in Overdrive but still was sent reeling from the attack. This only increased his rage.

Pongo attacked again and drew the creature's attention. Zack was going to go in again when he saw Jaynix, hand over the wound in her chest with her other hand carrying her sword. Zack's fury was replaced by overwhelming concern for his friend. He could see in her expression that she was hell bent on killing the Ictus or die trying, in her condition he knew the latter was much more likely to happen even with the tyrant as injured as it was.

He knew he should try to stop her, but at this point she wouldn't be able to listen to reason, and if he tried stopping her by force she may attack him. They would have to kill it before she got there.

"Aevi, Pongo! Time to finish this!"

 KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

Zack's voice, Aevi's voice, the screams of the Ictus. They muddle into one single noise in Pongo's mind, and yet he can hear them individually. Does he care? Does he listen? A part of him is ready to unleash everything he has onto this Ictus and yet...Jaynix needs help. She needs it now.

No. Killing the Ictus will help the most. Pongo grips his saber and decides to listen to Zack's order to finish it off, and with no hesitation or indication that he's going in, he sprints forward for another attack. This time, he slides underneath the beast, pushing his saber up and allowing it to cut the flesh underneath it. It doesn't do as much as he had hoped, only drawing a little blood that hits Pongo before he stands back up, on the other side.

Purple-black liquid trails down his chest, mixing with the dark purple of his vest and staining the white shirt underneath it. But he doesn't care. Pongo switches to his dual guns for a brief moment to grant himself critical power, something he knows he'll need in order to increase his damage output. This thing has greater defense than he thought, but it's no matter. Not like it'll be able to kill him, either.

"You honestly thought you could hurt them...and get away with it?"

He growls under his breath, straightening his spine to look the Ictus in the eyes.

"Well, you thought wrong."

For perhaps the briefest of moments, his eyes flash a pure white color, but it's so quick that it's lost in the moment. He presses forward, predicting that the Ictus will try to swing at him. When it does, he grins, and he uses the massive pincer to run up the tyrant's body and land on its head. It screeches in confusion, unable to hit him so high up, and with a dark grin, he swings his photon saber around.

"Good night, fucker."

He sticks the saber right in between its eyes, hardly flinching as blood spews from the wound like a geyser. The Ictus screams in pain, still fighting even though the thing is as good as dead by now. It won't last much longer, he knows, it just needs another push... Finally, Pongo addresses his remaining teammates with a loud snarl.

"COME ON THEN, FINISH IT!"

He keeps his position steady even when the creature thrashes around, trying to rid itself of the saber in its head. There's a fierce concentration in his gaze that has rarely been seen, and while Pongo's aware that he's not acting like himself, he doesn't care. It feels good, having this power, being able to save them. That's all that matters. It has to be all that matters.

 Aevi

While running she saw Zack getting hit, and cursing under her breath she was about to run to his aid, but then he shouted for them to finish their enemy off, and so she corrected her course again, now seeing Pongo doing some severe damage as well... How had he gotten up on top of the Ictus’ head so fast and managed to hold on? But if there was any time to think about this, it was not now... Increasing her pace on the last few meters she called back to the two other men.

"GOTCHA!"

She wasted no time joining in the action and with a loud growl she jumped, closing the last distance between her and the writhing beast. While still in the air she grabbed her rifle in a rather unconventional way, swinging it wide around her head. So fast that she was almost just a blur she used the momentum of her jump and the powerful swing of her quite heavy weapon to smash her rifle against the Ictus' legs, with a scream so loud it matched the screech of her enemy. All of the creature's right legs were obliterated by her purely brutal attack, and it fell to the side, its useless left legs twitching in panic.

Taking advantage of the short break she had managed to give them with this, she took a quick glance back to Jaynix... Of course she would try to keep on fighting. Clearly in the most horrible of pain she still hobbled towards them, she was close already- Under her breath Aevi muttered.

"No way... I'm sorry Jay, but I can't let this kill be added to your list this time."

She quickly turned her attention back to the fight, and now jumped onto the Ictus as well, reloading her rifle and pointing the weapon's barrel directly at the thing's head where Pongo had already caused a mortal wound. A serious expression on her face, but completely still, she pulled the trigger and with a deafening bang a huge hole was ripped into the Ictus' head. Even though it was practically dead, the beast was still twitching in its last moments.

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix stood a few feet away from the chaos as it came to a brutish end. Zack, Pongo and Aevi shot across the sandscape and together, with the increased power of Overdrive they brought an end to the Tyrant.

She watched the three of them for a few moments. Shame. Embarrassment. All sorts of negative feelings began to flood her mind.

“How could I let them all down like that? What kind of leader am I?”

She clenched her fists, looking at the sand below as a cool breeze came by, night would be setting in soon and yet right now her body felt hotter than ever. The rage she felt towards the now dead Indigen was still there. The desire to destroy something still burned and even if she desecrated the corpse...it wouldn't make her feel any better. Would it?

Then. The smallest, darkest thought seeped into Jaynix's mind. A thought so vile, Jaynix practically gasped in shock. She moved her eyes up to see the rest of her team. Something small in her mind was goading her...to attack Zack. To attack Aevi. To take out her frustrations and anger on them.

Why was she thinking this? It wasn't her. It couldn't be her. For all the hell that she's put herself through, all the torture and near death experiences, she's always done it to herself because she felt like a worthless human being. She'd never EVER take out her problems on anyone else, that wasn't fair to them. What were these thoughts? Whatever they were, they were not hers.

“I would never. Zack is one of my best friends and Aevi...”

She shook her head. Trying to figure out what was wrong with her. Why were these things presenting themselves to her? And above all...how could she deal with the rage that was struggling to explode out of her? In most situations she'd just go with it. Let loose. But she had a team with her. Friends. If they saw her at her worst...they'd never want to be around her again.

Jaynix brought her hands to her head, trying to get the thoughts out. Trying to reign in the fire. In the midst of her war with her own mind she heard it.

Footsteps.

Not from Zack, Pongo or Aevi. No...an Indigen. At that moment she realized there was one Grex left and everything clicked into place as the beast lunged at her from behind.

Letting loose a powerful and pain filled scream she swung about and struck the Grex with her bare fist, an intense blow that sent the Grex sprawling across the floor and reverberations up Jaynix's arm. Whatever pain that caused was lost as everything went red and the only thing Jaynix could see was the Grex lying on its back.

Yelling she gripped her sword tightly and launched into the air, landing on the Grex. Blinding fast she brought her blade up and slashed across the Indigen's exposed belly, forming a deep cut from which blood began to spew from. The Grex let out a loud pained howl, kicking its feet to get at Jaynix. Whether she felt any of it was unclear as she slashed the Grex again, eliciting another pained cry.

Clenching her teeth, Jaynix followed up with savage, brutal strike after savage, brutal strike. Her blade carving up the Grex's stomach and drawing out quieter and quieter roars of pain. Eventually the Grex could only let out a few whimpers before falling silent.

Even as its limbs fell still and its tail stopped thrashing, Jaynix continued to carve it up. Every so often, the slash of her blade was accompanied by an anguished cry. She could only think of what just happened. The battle, her injury. Everything. It all seemed like a colossal failure and all of it was her fault. She took on the mantle of leader. Her. What in the world was she trying to prove?

The slashes continued as memories of Earth came back to her. How could she fail so spectacularly after all the successes back on Earth in service to the Coalition? Where did she go wrong?

She then realized a stream of hot tears were now falling from her eyes, everything had gone blurry but she didn't care. She couldn't feel it. She only felt the desire to rip the body before her apart. Finally, she lost grip on her blade while swinging it back and it went sailing before sticking into the sand nearby.

Undeterred, Jaynix let out one last yell and plunged her arms into the Grex's corpse, pulling out some of its innards and throwing them across the sand. Staring at the gruesome mess before her she felt her accelerated heart rate begin to slow down. Color returned and she was finally aware of how tired and in pain she was.

Slowly and awkwardly, she stood and dismounted the corpse. Feet touching the sand she realized that Zack, Aevi and Pongo were still there. And no doubt the three of them witnessed one of her…episodes. Tears were still streaming down her face, she couldn’t look at them…explain any of this to them. Not when she was in this state. Without thinking she brought her arm up and brushed away the tears.

Examining her arms, she saw the deep, dark stains of the Grex’s blood all over them and now no doubt all over her face. She let out the lowest whisper.

“I’m a monster.”

She wasn’t sure how long she was staring at her hands before stealing a quick glance in the direction of the rest of her team. Hard as she tried, she couldn’t will herself to face them. She couldn’t even speak. What could she say? Was she even worth listening to in this state? She owed them for saving her life.

She shook her head, thinking back to that moment. She wanted to keep Aevi safe. Her teammate. So she threw herself at the Tyrant…of course it didn’t go well. No one would blame her…but she blamed herself. She wasn’t strong enough. Despite everything.

“I’m still broken…”

She didn’t even realize she said that aloud before turning her head ever so slightly towards the rest of her team.

“I’m sorry.”

With that, she looked away again. What else could she say? As hard as she tried, nothing came to mind. She just stood still and waited…for whatever was to come next.

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Zack continued to lay down fire into the Ictus as Aevi broadsided it with a rifle swing and knocked it over. He closed in as she blew its head to pieces, drawing his sword as he did; it was dying, but he to make sure it didn't attempt to take one of them with it.

First he separated its body from what was left its legs, then brought the blade around for a follow-up swing that sliced the head clean off. The tyrant stopped twitching, finally dead. Now that it was over he disengaged Overdrive, trying to not flinch from the searing pain from the wound in his side. A superficial injury since no vital systems had been compromised.

A painful scream brought Zack out of his self-diagnostic. Turning he saw a single Grex had been left and lunging for Jaynix. He made a move to go help her when she knocked the Grex back with a fist, the tall man stopping in surprise as his friend fell on the indigen with a berserk fury he'd never seen before, hacking off its limbs and tearing into its belly. There was no attempt at going for the vitals to kill it quickly, she was using it to vent all her anguish.

Something inside him ached as he looked at her expression, from the noises she was making, made worse by the fact that he didn't know what was causing her to act like this.

Then Zack realized why he was becoming so affected. He'd felt the urge to do just what Jaynix was doing now once before, but he'd contained it, kept his emotions from controlling him. Seeing Jaynix going through the same pain he had tore into him.

After tearing out one of the Grex's innards she finally stopped, staring at her blood-stained hands. Zack stood silently with Pongo and Aevi as she whispered to herself, calling herself a monster and broken. When she turned to them with tears streaming down her face and saying she was sorry, he knew what he had to do. Wordlessly he walked up to his friend and enveloped her in both arms, ignoring the shooting pain from the wound as he held her tight in a protective embrace.

"You're not a monster to me.”

He said, making his tone as soft as he could manage as his hand gently guided Jaynix's head to lay on his chest plate.

"And you don't have to apologize either, I'm just glad that you're still here with us. That's all that matters now."

 KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

Good, they killed it. Pongo uses his saber as balance as the Ictus crashes down, dead, onto the sandy floor. He jumps off of its head, feeling the Overdrive fade away. His strength drains out of him, the adrenaline evaporates like the sweat pouring from his forehead, but he's smiling.

“I did it! I faced my fear…”

Then she screams.

Now that he's not in Overdrive, Pongo can think like himself. He can observe Jaynix over a bloodied carcass and not think about taking it further. He stands there, eyes wide for a multitude of reasons.

“Jaynix...what have you done? What have I done?”

"I'm a monster."

Pongo takes one step forward.

“No. You are not.”

"I'm still broken."

Pongo kneels down next to her.

“Everything broken can be fixed.”

"I'm sorry."

Pongo stares at her, watches the tears flow down her cheeks, watches the fire fade from her eyes.

“Do not be sorry for anything.”

He knows he's crying. Of course he's crying. Pongo knows he did things wrong, he knows he shouldn't have run off when the Ictus came - if he had stayed, would she have been okay? Would any of this had happened if he had faced his fear head on?

"...No, Jaynix. You are not the one who needs to apologize."

His voice cracks.

"I ran off. I was scared. I left the three of you to fight that...the..."

He can't even bring himself to say "Ictus". How weak must that make him seem? Was his fight in vain? Is he still afraid of the Ictus?

...or is he afraid of losing them?

Zack. Aeviann. Jaynix.

Two names he didn't know until a short time before. One name he holds close to him.

...no. He holds them all close. Pongo knows that he's to blame here. Jaynix doesn't deserve this pain.

"None of this would have happened if I stayed to fight. But I was a coward. I AM. A coward. But you kept fighting even though you were hurt..."

He pulls a weak, but genuine smile.

"That has to count for something."

And just like that, he's hugging Jaynix, right alongside Zack. He hears him say words of his own to comfort her. Pongo buries his head in her shoulder, her hair catching in his face. It's soft...it's what he needs. It's what they both need.

But there is something else. A nagging sort of feeling, deep within him, that he knows will end in more pain. It's what had caused so much torment on their date, and with Draco.

...Pongo wants, very badly...

...to kiss her.

No. NO. Pongo doesn't understand. He can't feel this way, he CAN'T. Jaynix loves people. He loves people. This could never happen.

But would one kiss hurt?

Yes. It would.

...But there's a way. A way to please this urge and stop himself from going further. Pongo turns his head towards her in their embrace, and gently, he lets his lips glide over her cheek. Not a kiss. Not a kiss.

...it's a kiss. On the cheek. Would that still count? Shit. It would.

Pongo returns to bury himself in her shoulder. Maybe with enough nestling, his tears could be mistaken for sweat.

 Aevi

Still standing on top of what was left of the Ictus' body, Aevi flinched as Zack beheaded their enemy with one clean strike; it was not the most appealing sight, but she was glad that he had ended the pain. Now that the Ictus was finally dead the heat of battle wore off, and she no longer felt the desire to be in contact with the carcass. She let out a sigh, giving her rifle a quick look over to see if it had taken any damage after crashing it into the Ictus' legs.

However a sudden realization dawned on her.

“Wait, there were still Grexes left! Or was it only one? How many was it, actually? Shit... And Jay is still out there in the open, wounded. If one were to attack her now...”

But all the thinking proved to have been unnecessary, as her friend's scream brought her back. She spun her head around just in time to witness a Grex sent flying to the ground.

“What...”

Then she saw Jaynix. She had no weapon in her hands, it was just her bare fist that she was holding up. Did she... punch it? How did she even manage to do so with the dangerous wound she received?? But she did not stop there... Aevi's eyes widened in shock as Jaynix started to brutally slash at the beast, even after it had clearly died.

It was a gruesome sight, but the look in Aevi's eyes soon turned to distress as the woman started ripping out the Grexes entrails, yelling and crying. The sight made her feel dizzy. It was not so much the pure amount of gore she witnessed, she could handle things like that perfectly fine. It was more how Jaynix acted.

Even though the indigen was already dead and felt no pain, the way she savagely turned the beast into a misshapen corpse was horrible to watch. Aevi could handle the sight of gore, but she could not handle to witness an animal being tortured and mistreated like that, even if it had probably attacked Jaynix first...

It was clear that something was very wrong with her friend, but she didn't know what. She had seen her once out of control, but that had been in a fight against a chimera which had had the ability to control a person's actions, and this was clearly different. While watching the gruesome sight before her, she murmured to herself.

"Jay..."

Even though she had suddenly acted so violent, Aevi was sure there was a reason for her to do so, and hearing her friend call herself a monster pained her to no end... But she could not move yet, she still just stared at her with an open mouth, it was as if she was paralyzed... So many thoughts were racing in her head...

Silently she watched as first Zack, and then Pongo walked up to her, hugging her and comforting her...

No, she would stop uselessly standing here now like a gawking fool, Jaynix was her friend, and she very, very clearly needed help and comfort. And she, and Zack as well, needed to be taken to the MMC as soon as possible, but it was obvious that before that happened, Jaynix needed comfort, and so she decided to give her just that.

She walked up to her and then simply added her hug to the ones of her other two team members. Wrapping her arms around Jaynix from behind. For second she just stayed silent, but then she spoke up as well. Her voice was not loud, as her mouth was rather close to her ear, but she spoke clear and serious.

"Jay, you listen now. You saved my life like two minutes ago, what kind of monster would have done such an amazing thing? If it weren't for you, my big dumb artificial head would probably be giving some Grex a serious stomach ache right now. You are one of my best friends, and you are important to me, and Zack, and Pongo, Draco, Kruse...to so many other people. So would you stop talking that bullshit. You don't have to apologize for anything. If anything, I should apologize to you, I should have protected you, but it was my fault you got hit in the first place, I was so stupid and let that fucking Grex topple me."

She wrapped arms a little tighter around her friend, but then looked up after a few moments... seeing that Pongo was really having trouble to keep himself together, which she could definitely understand, she turned to Zack and whispered.

"Zack, we need to get her out of here, she needs to get to the MMC. Now."

 Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix was sure that no one would approach her. No one would want to talk to her. No one would ever want to be near her after witnessing what she just did. If she could, she'd get away from herself.

But instead, her team. Her friends. They all came over to her, one at a time.

Zack's hug was first. He was always so direct and curt in his speech but hearing him speak in such a soft tone and say the words she did not expect to hear from any of them, touched her far more than she was prepared for.

Her emotional state was shattered following her episode, she couldn't hold anything in even if she wanted to, the moment Zack touched her, made contact she felt her breath catch in her throat. Her eyes began to water. And as soon as he began speaking, the tears began falling.

Pongo was next and despite her cries, she listens to him. Her incredibly kind and close friend speaks and blames himself for running away, leaving the team to fend for themselves and Jaynix to get injured. He blames himself for giving into his fear. She knew all too well what that was like and wanted nothing more than to tell Pongo that she understood. Instead, seeing the tears fall from his eyes, caused her to cry harder.

Pongo isn't a coward any more than she is. They're just afraid. Everyone is afraid. And when faced with that which they fear most...it's too easy to give in. She wanted to console Pongo. Remind him that he came back and helped them win this fight. She wanted to stop him from crying...but she couldn’t find her words.

Pongo's kiss brought the smallest, faintest smile to her face. He was one of the few people most capable of making her smile...

Finally, Aevi joined them, embracing Jaynix from behind.

The normally fiery woman could only ask herself, what is it that she did to gain such stalwart and kind friends. Did she deserve people like them? Did she deserve family like Kruse or a guiding hand like Draco? No. She didn't. But here they were.

She knew there was truth in Aevi's words. She did her best to protect Aevi. To fight the battle that needed fighting. She wanted Aevi and Pongo to stop blaming themselves. To leave all the guilt and fault for this failure on her. But they were too good. Too close. She knew they'd never do that.

She knew Aevi was again in the right. As much as Jaynix hated visiting the MMC, she knew she had to, desperately. At the same time Jaynix wanted to remind them that the mission was still incomplete. She did not want to be the one responsible for the assignment not being completed. This was her team, they took it on, they had to finish it...but it was clear from their words and actions that their priority right now. Was her.

It took far more effort than she expected to finally open her mouth. Everything was sore. Heavy. But she managed to say the only words she knew she had to and that she desperately wanted to.

"Thank you."

 OmegaLPS || Zack

Zack felt Pongo and Aevi join him in embracing Jaynix and giving their own words of encouragement to her. He felt relieved now that he'd seen that his friend had people other than himself that cared for her like these two, she needed friends like them to support her when she was at her lowest. From what happened today he finally found out there was something that Jaynix was keeping from him that was eating at her, something he would have to ask her about at a later time. She was suffering, he had to know why. To find a way to help.

He saw Aevi look to Pongo, then to Jaynix and himself, flicking her eyes to Jaynix's wound and reminding him that she needed medical attention immediately.

Nodding an affirmative the large man gently brought Jaynix out from the middle of the group hug, the other two letting go of her as well. Carefully, he guided her back to the rover as Aevi and Pongo followed. He kept his arm across her back in case that she collapsed he could pick her up the rest of the way.

"Aevi you drive, I'll patch us up in the back."

The green-haired woman hopped in as they reached the rover and Pongo rode shotgun, watching with concern as Zack helped her into the back seat. Once he climbed in next to her, Aevi hit the accelerator and took off in the direction of Primordia.

Reaching under the seat he produced a field med kit. Opening it he found that there was only one med patch and one painkiller capsule left. Knowing Jaynix she must have relied more on her emergency supplies than going to the MMC and forgot to restock it. Damn.

Breaking the seal on the patch he unzipped her Raim to just below the wound and covered it, the medication numbing the affected area slightly as it stuck to her skin and stopped up the bleeding.

Next Zack took the capsule and brought it close to her mouth. Jaynix looked to where plasma was still seeping from his armor with concern, but before she could object he shook his head.

"No. My injuries don't come close to warranting the last of the medication. You're going to need this to keep yourself in stable condition until you can get proper treatment."

The look in his eyes kept her silent as she took the pill and popped it into her mouth. The drugs took effect quickly as Zack saw her body begin to relax. She must have been exhausted, shortly after taking the capsule she leaned against him, eyes growing heavy as he put a protective arm around her. Again he was thankful that she was still with them. He knew it'd take a lot more than being impaled by an Ictus to take out the Fiery Corporal, but he couldn't help his concern. The circumstances were too similar, too much like…

No. He couldn't think of that. Not now. Not when he had to be with Jaynix, Pongo, and Aevi. He had to be strong for their sake.

He owed her that much.

Zack looked down again at Jaynix, who was now fast asleep. He was very lucky to have found a friend like her, and he'd do everything in his power to keep her safe, resolving to do the same for Aevi and Pongo, his new friends. Whatever it may take.

 KentuckyTheFried || Pongo

It's not a long walk back to the rover, but it feels like hours. As Zack leads her out of the embrace, Pongo finds his little headrest leaving him, and with a sniffle, he stands up to let Zack take Jaynix to the rover. He follows quietly beside Aevi. There aren't many words he could say. He knows he shouldn't speak, not now. Sometimes, silence is a better comfort than noise.

Zack tells Aevi to drive as he takes Jaynix to the back. While a part of him wants to go with them, Pongo knows that there's not much he could do to treat her wounds. He's got band aids in his vest, but that's about it. So he quietly opens the passenger door and hops in as Aevi takes her seat in the driver's side. It's starting to get dark out - how long had they been here? He finally starts to feel the fatigue running through his systems...dang. He needs more coffee once they get back to the city.

Aevi starts up the engine and the rover roars to life. He looks around for the seatbelt on his side and buckles up - so he can be safe. Looking ahead, Pongo takes a deep breath, wondering what he could possibly do to lighten the situation. How can he fix this...well, he can't.

But he's gonna try.

He comes up with something nice to do. Zack and Jaynix could hear him from the back if he was loud enough. So, time to summon up the courage to do it. For their sake. He wouldn't mess this up again.

"....Ano kousaten de minna ga moshi sukippu wo shite...moshi ano machi no mannaka de te wo tsunaide sora wo miagetara...."

Oh gods, he's singing. His voice is soft at first, growing a bit louder as he gains a little more confidence in his abilities, and he allows himself the pleasure of falling in love with the song that never ceases to make him smile.

And the chorus...

"Ponpon dashite shimaeba ii no, zenzen shinai no tsumaranai desho, heddofon kakete rizumu ni nosete, wayway akete atashi no michi..."

A voice like silk, now loud and clear, accompanied with a smile and closed eyes. He's falling in love again, he can't help it, but judging from the silence...

...Pongo can't really tell. He just continues.

"Ponpon way way way, ponpon way pon way ponpon, way way ponponpon, way way pon way pon way way - ponpon way way way, ponpon way pon way ponpon, way way ponponpon, way way pon way pon way way..."

Is Aevi smiling? Pongo can't believe it, she's smiling. This is helping. He's doing something right for once. He's making up for his mistakes and it's working...

It feels good.

So for the rest of the drive back home, Pongo sings to his heart's content, knowing that music has a way of curing every problem - well, with hugs, of course.

But that's a given.

[eve-the-egg-lover]

Sith, Spies, and a Whole Lot of Lies

Chapter 2

*Yay, chapter 2!! It’s shorter than the first, though I don’t know if this will be it’s normal length. Anyways, enjoy :)

For the first few moments after their eyes met, neither Rya, nor Theron moved a muscle. They just stared, eyes locked, mouths open, frozen in time. That was until the Director reminded Theron of his still open comm channel.

“Theron Shan, what the hell was that!? I swear, if you just started a gang war I’ll…”

“Call you back.” Theron spoke, adding in a whisper, “Disconnect.”

With the director’s interruption, time seemed to flow once more, along with all the dangers that came along with it. Rya sprung to her feet, igniting her blood red lightsaber, and Theron whipped his blaster from its holster.

She looked the same as she had on Rishi. Long, golden blonde hair tied in a bun, pale skin flushed with just a bit of pink, ice blue eyes piercing as she refused to even blink. Stars, she was beautiful.

Sometimes, Theron had imagined them meeting again. Sure, lots of them involved a lightsaber at his throat, but the sudden heat from the blade made him realize how easily she could end his life right then and there. The question was, would she?

Pulling her lightsaber had been purely instinctual. A foolish instinct here, but standing face to face with Theron made her do and say a lot of foolish things.

“Theron.”She put sternly. “Put the blaster down.”

“Not until you deactivate your fancy glow stick.” Theron responded, not wavering from his stance.

Grittingher teeth, Rya let her grip relax, the blade deactivating with a hiss. Theron lowered his blaster, leaving them suddenly very alone. The air was still thick with tension and from her current position, Rya could escape through the alleyways…but Theron would most certainly give chase.

“Rya…”Theron broke the awkward silence. “What in the nine Corellian hells are you doing here?!” His voice rose with every syllable until he was practically shouting.

It was understandable. If she were to ever stumble upon Theron on Dromund Kaas…actually, she had no idea what she’d do. She at first suspect he was doing work for the SIS, just as he was probably suspecting she was doing work for the Empire. Which she was (not that telling him would help her case). Telling him “I can’t tell you” would pretty much tell him I’m doing work for the Empire, and lying she wanted to see him would… well, that was all she had. Unfortunately for her, there was no way she could make it convincing.

“I….uhhhh…. I was just site seeing.” She spluttered. Stupid.

“Wow. For a crafty Sith Lord, you sure have a way with words.” Theron narrowed his gaze, shaking his head from side to side.

Rya swallowed, racking her brain for something else she could say. Her previous elatedness at seeing Theron had all but disappeared, the understanding of how complicated she'd suddenly made the situation dawning on her.

“You shouldn't have followed me. I could have killed you.” Rya said suddenly.

Theron’s caution turned to outright anger. “Following you? I was trying to help you! I'm assuming that weird man has something to do with why you’re here!”

Rya sighed. So it had been just another bar patron. Gritting her teeth, she ran her fingers through her hair, the loose wisps that had escaped her bun ghosting over herhands. She’d just exposed herself to the last person she’d wanted to see on Coruscant, all because she’d been overly paranoid. “Great.”

“What did you say?” Theron returned, his hand moving back towards his blaster’sholster.

“You weren’t supposed to know I was here.” Rya answered. Not the best choice of words.

“That doesn’t help your situation.” Theron grumbled, crossing his arms and glaring. Sighing, he put a gloved hand up to his forehead. “You know I’m going to have to turn you in right?”

Rya paused. And he caught it. Just a flash in her eyes for the briefest instant.

Fear.

Theron had always found it strange. Rya, she’d never been like the other Sith. Even Lana, as strange as she was, had never been quick to admit when she was afraid,or when she was uncertain. Nor was she ever willing to show gentleness or kindness. A weakness for Sith he supposed. Rya on the other hand… well, maybe she didn’t walk into fights with her heart on her sleeve, but she most certainly was not afraid to show such “soft” emotion. There was a tenderness to her that whatever training Sith went through hadn’t seemed to have been able to beat out of her.

Her voice was barely above a whisper when she spoke. “You must know what would happen to me should you do that.” She chuckled, her throat clenching abit.

Theron swallowed. Unfortunately, he did know what they would do. Some flashy war trial where she’d be paraded around by the Senate, blamed for everything she may or may not have had a hand in doing,before being executed. Malcom would probably have a hand in it, she was a war criminal after all. And then when that was all said and done, she’d either be locked in the deepest depths of Belsavis to rot or be executed.

He couldnot deny what she had done. She’d killed so many from the Republic. She'd destroyed the War Trust, intentionally broken the Treaty of Coruscant, and reignited the war. Hundreds of thousands were dying because of her actions. Why was he even contemplating this?

His mind wandered to Jyvora. He could still hardly believe the Jedi Code spouting girl was a former Sith Lord. Not to mention Rya’s sister. She’d committed atrocities in the name of the Sith and the Empire as well. The difference was, she defected.She gave secrets in exchange for a chance to start over as a Jedi in the Republic. Something told Theron Rya wouldn’t agree.

“You’re right. I do know what they’d do to you.” Theron admitted, shifting his weight to his left leg. “And you know why.”

Rya looked to the ground this time. All early traces of her anger dissipated. “I know.” She laughed. “Guess the Coalition on Yavin IV or taking down Revan wouldn't help my case.”

Theron chuckled in response, but quickly stopped himself. Sighing, he ran a finger through his hair.

“I can’t let you do that Theron.” Rya finally spoke, crossing her arms. The more they talked, the higher the chances she’d let her emotions win. She needed to leave now.

“And I can’t let you harm the Republic.” He responded, his eyes closed.

“I’m not here to do that.” Rya attempted to assure in vain. She knew she could not hurt Theron to escape, yet her feet were glued to the floor.

Theron chuckled. “Sure. Because you think I’m stupid enough to trust a Sith.”

Rya furrowed her eyebrows. “You trusted Lana.”

“Yeah,and look where that got me.” Theron grumbled.

“You trusted me.” Rya pointed out. “You said on Rishi you knew I’d come and get you.”

Theron grumbled something, placing his hands on his hips, his eyes seeming to take an awful lot of interest in a soaked flimsi on the ground.

The silence that passed between them gave Rya a chance tothink. The logical, ultra-heightened part of her mind battled against the emotional torrent flooding her system. She hated the profound impact simply speaking to Theron was having on her. She was a kriffing Sith Lord, not some giggly actress from Vette’s holo-vids. Peaceis a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. She clenched her fists at her sides. Passion only worked if it was short lived. What she felt for Theron on Rishi when he’d been captured had driven her to wipe the Revanites guarding the compound from the galaxy. Had given her an incentive to defeat Revan at all costs. That passion had fueled her, delivered her to victories doorstep. But passion fades with distance. So why did she still feel this way? It was taking all her self-restraint to deny she felt anything for Theron. Kriff, if he had been an Imperial it would have made everything so much simpler.

“I’m not asking you to trust me Theron, I don't expect you to. Just know, if you try and stop me the whole galaxy will suffer.” It was all she could do to keep her raging emotions in check. Playing at Theron’s feelings was manipulation, plain and simple, but it was all she had. Going any further, using what had happened between them was her last resort.

Theron laughed. “You know, lying to me only makes this worse.”

“I’m not lying Theron.”

“Of course not, because Sith always tell the truth.” Theron had begun moving towards her, but she refused to back down.

“Not every Sith is evil, Theron. Look at my sister. You trust Jyvora, she was Sith.”She pointed out as Theron glared.

“Jyvora left the Sith because of their twisted ideals you still serve.”

“How do you know I still serve the Empire?” she spat, suddenly realizing how close Theron had come.

“Isn’t it obvious? Why else would you be here?”

Even in the dark, Rya could feel the emotions rushing over Theron like a tidal wave.The one, dim light in the alleyway cast shadows over Theron’s face. Rya could see the hazel of Theron’s eyes, the outline of his broad shoulders, his softbrown hair, the feint shimmer of his implants. The only other time she’d seen him this clearly was on Rishi. Then he had been bruised and bloodied,vulnerable. He’d winced a little every time he moved, his pride and confidence damaged. But here… now… towering over her, there was no inkling of that man.The anger from their argument made his eyebrows furrow, his nose scrunch just a little at the top, his lips downturned into a grimace. Lips that hadn’t wantedto leave her own when she gave him what he’d never realized he’d wanted. They had been soft and gentle, even in their hasty eagerness. Lana and Jakkaro’s long prep time had given them a lengthy opportunity to “get to know one another.” The memory of what Theron and she had done on Rishi caused her face to flush considerably, and she was suddenly grateful for the darkness of the alley.

Theron hadn’t even realized he’d been walking towards Rya until he had to look down to meet her eyes. The dark hid her features, but Theron knew she still looked the same. Sharp cheekbones, an upturned nose, clear skin, and ice blue eyes, her features unchanged from any kind of dark side corruption. He’d learned of Sith who used Sith alchemy to keep their features eternally youthful, but he simply could not fathom Rya taking such drastic measures. And yet, he knew the skin beneath her clothing was scarred from years of combat. On Rishi, he hadn't taken the time to study them all, but he remembered a few. The slashes on her arms and the bite marks on her back from a Nexu. The raised skin on the side ofher abdomen from being impaled by a collapsing pipe when her former master tried to kill her. The four gashes on her back from a Teratanek she had fought on Korriban.

He felt the blood pounding in his ears as he took his time studying what features his eyes could make out in the dark. The softness in her eyes and the slight flushing of her cheeks told Theron Rya was doing the same. It amused him he was not the only one so distracted.

He hardly remembered Rya reaching up to press her lips softly against his. Or when he'd wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her a little so she didn’t have to stand on her tiptoes. He could feel her thin fingers running through his hair, her warm breath on his face when they momentarily broke apart to breathe.She tasted of alcohol, a burning, bitter taste of something so strong and intoxicating with just a hint of sweetness, so like her. Oh kriff, Theron what are you doing? He thought to himself as his lips left hers and began a trail down her jaw to her neck.

“Theron…”Rya let out a breathy moan as Theron nipped at her neck, his arms pressing her to him. Her mind was racing, heat building in her core. Stars, she wanted him. But she also didn’t want to catch whatever strange disease was lurking in the stagnant pools of water. “Theron,” she said again, trying to get his attention.He pulled away, breathing heavily. She could feel his need pressed so close to him.“Theron, not here.”

“My place.” Theron whispered huskily, leaning down to kiss her neck again, but letting his grip on her loosen.

Rya couldn’t stop herself from thinking what a terrible, terrible idea this was. But the warmth of Theron’s hand when he took hers in his own quieted her mind. Right now, there was no Empire, no Sith, no spies, no war. It was just them.