#Rex loves the crazies and occasionally thinks about joining the madness

[archivewriter1ont]

Tales of the Bad Batch: Intervention

6. Intervention! Tech gets cranky, Echo needs clarification, and they all may be in danger, but the other Batchers know exactly what to do!

[stormhawksplanb]

Nova’s Relationship With other Squadrons and people: The rest of the Squads

The Rex Guardians- An old time Client of Nova’s. they only Commissioned her once or twice for art work of their squad, and a map. She has an honest opinion of thinking they’re way to posh, and her and stork enjoy mocking them when they aren’t looking. Stork more or less just giggling at her fake accents and goofy walks. Between her and Harrier, it’s a friendly game of endless teasing, and who’s the better human being. There’s an underline respect and it’s a way for her to get her witty on, and don’t you dare think stork isn’t present to help her. Or at least face palm when Harrier runs a full circle around Nova and she winds up insulting herself. Aerrow very quickly becomes the referee, but isn’t below sending a few opening statements towards their way to start a little squall between them. Harrier did however opened a Museum of some of the greatest artist of Atmos, and when Nova and stork caught wind of some of the darker artworks taking present, they snuck into a closed of exhibit to take a peak. Neither realizing it was the wrong room and was immediately caught after Harrier noticed they went M.I.A and heard them rambling over not having a torch to see. Nova came very close to tears when Harrier, literally, shined some light into the room and it was a full exhibit of her older artworks, mostly containing depictions of other squadrons since she was the only one to keep track of them all. Not many other artist had records of major battles and stories like she did, and it was a very important thing for her, and the sky knights and squadrons to remember just how important they were to Atmos.

The Absolute Zeros- Just keep Nova away from all Rambunctious and noisy people, because chances are she will be joining them and making it 1000X worse. Even though she tends to baby stork over him being cold, i.e she buys him a rather expensive heating jacket, she traveled country side, and it terrified the storm hawks as to how reckless, and wild she can prove to be. If she wasn’t by stork’s side she was off with the boys racing, or trying to best them. The issue being she wasn’t really besting them at anything, but she was doing things in such a different way to what they were use to it was like fanning a fire. Eventually she calmed down after the first day because it was more energy she could take. They actually had to tow her back on her skimmer because she was falling asleep by night fall. After that she had a 180 and could barely stay awake and the lesson taught itself. She decided to join stork on the condor for some much needed nap time. Atmos forbid they ever challenge her again though.

The Rebel Ducks- They automatically became family to her. Take how she feels about the storm hawks but triple it. She knows what it’s like to be kept from family and pretty much have her Terra scattered and hunted down, and they remind her so much of her family that she can’t ever speak to due to an oath for the Nova crystal’s safety. Also she loves cheese. It’s her top favorite food, and once she meets Dove and her father it’s game over. The storm hawks thought she was at an art fair but when she called them out to the Terra to bring her carving tools they all had a nice laugh when they came upon Dove’s father, Wren being carved out of cheese, they couldn’t help themselves. Nova had to shoo away Raddar and Junko several times from the delicious statue. and once night fell they devoured the artwork anyway for it was a little celebration of their freedom. Organized by Nova and Dove of coarse. Nova and Wren slightly weeped at their fond goodbyes.

The Red Eagles- Keep her away from them. For their safety and not hers. She has this exempted ability to sniff out liars and Carver is one of them. She had no clue he was a traitor but as soon as the name left Aerrow’s lips on a quick pick me up on Terra Atmosia, she went full. On. Protective. Mode. She expressed her distaste for him and when stork questioned her about ‘So you heard about him’ her response was ‘Cunning liars like to leave their presence in the wake of a pained tone of voice. Aerrow has already expressed that’. She knew they were almost godly to the Terra but she has had experience with those who are too high on their horse to be true, and never felt comfortable about it. She’s not really mad at the squad, just Carver. But even then she has an understanding of his desire to protect his Terra, even if what he was doing was wrong. She never bothered with him since he was imprisoned but, least they ever cross paths not a single storm hawk will get a say in before Nova makes her point. It mostly rubs her the wrong way because she sees the ‘easy way out’ of Joining the Cyclonians as cowardice, and selfish. It reminds her of her own Terra’s Original Sky knight, dusty, and his betrayal.

The Screaming Queens- Nova may have let it slip that they’re slightly over being tied with the storm hawks for favorite squadron. And she automatically darted off for signatures when she spotted them at one of the races. None of the other storm hawks minded the fact they’re her favorite squadron since Nova has practically adopted them all as family, and knows better than to harass her about those kind of things. Mostly because she can, and will win that argument simply for the fact she’s constantly smoothing over situations, and disrupting her personal life (or quality time with stork) to help them out. They’ve become her personal models for art because Nova draws them in such a strong, but respectful manner. they’re a bit shy to request anything art or craft related mostly because Nova will refuse payment, and it’s a token of her appreciation of them. Aerrow eventually convinced Nova to agree to at minimum half payments, or to at least bum rides from them when she decides to run off and disappear.

The third Degree Burners- Let the games begin. They automatically recognized Finn and at first Nova was in ‘Mom Mode’ and defended Finn… until she learned what he did during one of Saharr’s races. after that there wasn’t much interaction, other than the occasional banter and bragging. Nova felt quite intimidated by them. It took a while for her to be comfortable around them, and was fairly shocked they liked her art.

She only knows about them from Finn. She thinks they sound pretty cool- and it was a ‘I’m kind of proud this happened’ And made note to visit their Terra with their ‘leader’ one day. The more the merrier.

The Neck Deeps- No one told her not to go swimming with Bessy. Stork practically had a heart attack. She discovered Bessy’s weak spot for petting, much to Stork’s jealousy. Tritonn and his squad automatically took to her when they saw her. Called her a crazy lady, must be a siren. Once they dragged her out of the waters she got into a tattooing contest with one of the docks best, and won, so she’s pretty much bragging rights for them. The tattoo artist she beat is now pen pals with her.  She didn’t interact with the Neck deeps first time around, but her and stork did get notably… well drunk. And she surprised everyone with the amount of Liquor she can hold. Stork, by the way, is a silent, aloof drunk and will constantly stare at his hands for no reason. Nova is the emotional rowdy drunk, for all of 15 mins before passing out. She still hold the record for most drinks in an hour. Don’t remind either of them about the hangover the day after.

Vaposians- She became Finn’s personal artist, and it was purely because she started mocking Stork for his jester outfit he’s forced to wear when he’s around. Issue being she was given a very attractive silk gown and stork just kind of suffers more so. She does ‘borrow’ his hat. And Finn knows better than to try and over rule her. As for the citizens they hoard around her when not around Finn. She doesn’t like the attention and eventually sneaks aboard the condor with stork to do literally anything, but slave away for Finn.

The interceptors- Her and Starling get along quite well. Starling, almost like stork, anchors her energy down to at least stay in one spot. She’s accompanied Starling on a few missions when the others can’t or Aerrow doesn’t want to go in alone without the rest of the team. They usually talk about their lives before the war ended, and they have a lot in common. It’s a purely respect based relationship.

[drpepperwithcream]

Day 6: Basketball Kiss

Day 5 will come, I promise. Writer’s block is evil and I scratched my original idea. So here’s day 6. Basically, if Marlon was an option to hang out with in episode 2. @twdgrarepairsweek #twdgrarepairsweek

------- Marlontine -------

“Well, I’m headed to the gym, want to make sure no one will get in through there and I might shoot some hoops while I’m at it if you want to join me,” Marlon said as he headed off, Rosie following him.

Clementine watched as Marlon, Louis, and Violet head off to do their tasks. Her gaze landed on a certain blonde and it took a moment for her to gather her courage to follow him. Due to his head start, she lost him on her way to the gym. She had only been there a couple times to grab jump ropes and other things from the equipment storage. Clementine had never been there to just hang out. She followed the sound of a basketball bouncing and sure enough, she found the school’s gymnasium.

It was somewhat a mess. Ceiling beginning to collapse, wooden bleachers torn apart, one basketball hoop on the ground, some broken windows, and a hole in the wall that was covered by the boards torn from the bleachers that lead to the outside narrow alleyway between the gym and the school’s walls now covered in barbed wire. To think this place once housed physical education classes and assemblies. Even seeing a school after so long is a real whirlwind, she didn’t think she’d ever see one again.

SWISH!

Marlon grabbed the basketball again, bounced it a few times as he took a few steps away from the hoop before taking another shot. Clementine smiled as he made it.

He looked over at her as he grabbed the ball. “Hey.”

“Hey,” She said as he walked towards him.

“Here,” He bounce-passed the ball to her. “Have you ever played before?”

“No. My parents put me in soccer when I was little.”

“Did you like it?”

She smirked. “I hated it.”

That got a chuckle out of Marlon. “Try it,” His head jerked to the hoop.

Clementine bounced the ball a couple times, getting a feel for it as she approached the hoop. She aimed and took a shot. It hit the corner of the red rectangle and went straight into the basket.

“You’re a natural. Your parents should have signed you up for basketball instead of soccer.”

Clementine passed the ball back to him. “Did Ericson’s have a basketball team?”

“No, even if we did, I doubt any school would let their team play against our team of troubled youth,” Marlon took another shot, but missed, the ball bouncing back to him. “The gym was open for most of the day though. Louis and I, we sometimes would play together in here.”

Clementine was debating on what to say. “Sounds like you had fun.”

“It was, the coach was a complete asshole though,” Marlon thought. “How about a game of PIG?”

PIG?

“How do you play?”

He bounce-passed the ball to her. “We stand here and we take turns shooting. Every time we miss a shot, we get a letter. Whoever spells out PIG loses.”

“Sounds simple enough.”

“I’m also going to add each time we miss, we have to confess something.”

“Prepare to lose.”

“Big talk for someone so short. Take the shot.”

Clementine bounced the ball a couple times then shot. It bounced off the rim once, twice, then went in.

“Lucky shot,” Marlon grabbed the ball and traded places with Clem.

He took a shot, he made it. They traded places again. Clementine took a shot but it bounced off the rim and missed.

“That’s a letter,” Marlon reminded her. “So what will you be confessing tonight?”

Clementine thought for a moment. “I used to have a pet hamster before all this.”

“That so?”

“I used to feed him cookies, despite my parents telling me no.”

“Such a rebel. I’m shocked,” Marlon said sarcastically, Clem rolled her eyes.

Marlon took a shot, he made it. Clem took a shot, she made it. Marlon missed the next shot.

“Damn it.”

Clem smirked, waiting for him to confess something.

“Our coach was very strict, and he was especially strict with the equipment here. Even if someone dropped it accidentally, you were either sent to the office or forced to do push-ups. So I would sometimes steal from the equipment room when he wasn’t looking.”

“A troubled youth committing theft? Doesn't surprise me.”

“It pissed him off when he’d realize there were five bean bags missing. You have no idea. I swear he counts everything in that equipment room every night.”

“Did you get caught?”

“Nah, I never did. He liked using physical activity as punishments, probably would have made me do a thousand push-ups,” Marlon stepped to the side. “You’re up.”

Clementine aimed her shot, but just as she was about to shoot, Marlon made a buzzer sound that caused her to miss the shot.

“Looks like you missed, that’s another letter.” Marlon taunted, knowing full well what he did.

“That’s not fair! You cheated!” Clem exclaimed, grabbing the ball as it bounced back to her.

“And you still missed. Come on, you got to confess something.”

Clementine rolled her eyes then thought. “Promise not to laugh?”

“Depends. What are you confessing?”

“A few months after everything started, back when I was eight, my group and I ran into these people who owned a dairy farm.”

“Okay.”

“And they had a cow, and inside the cow’s barn was a salt lick and I thought it would taste like salt so I licked it.”

Marlon snickered. “How did it taste?”

“If you must know, it didn’t taste a thing like salt.”

He giggled a bit more. Clementine shoved the ball at him. He caught it abruptly and his stifles of laughter stopped. He traded spots with Clementine and bounced the ball a couple times.

Clem thought about pulling the same move he did, but should she cheat?

Well, Marlon did, so it’s only fair.

She made a buzzer noise as he took the shot, he missed too.

The ball bounced back to him and he looked at Clem who had a grin on her face.

“Touché, Clementine.”

“That’s an I, and you have to tell me something.”

Marlon took a moment to think. “I used to have a stuffed dog.”

“You had a stuffed animal?”

“Yeah, his name was Rex, and he was my best friend when I was little. I took him everywhere, even took one of the bowls from the cabinets back home and pretend to feed him.”

Clementine smirked. “That’s adorable.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

“I didn’t think of you as a stuffed animal guy, so where is Rex?”

“I forgot him at home when I got sent here. It’s fine, though, now I have an even better dog.”

Rosie lifted her head and panted.

Marlon gave the ball to Clem. She took a shot, the ball went in.

“Still tied,” She taunted.

“And it’s still going to be tied,” Marlon said to her. He took the shot, bounced on the rim once, twice, but bounced out.

Marlon groaned in annoyance.

“Still tied, huh?”

“The ball is kind of flat.”

“Sure it is. So I win?”

“This time, you win.”

Marlon walked over to where Rosie was and sat next to her. Clementine sat next to him, both of their backs leaning up against the wall. Marlon pulled out a tennis ball from his pocket and threw the ball. Rosie immediately chased after it.

“So what do you want to know?” He asked.

“You’re letting me ask?”

“Figured it’s only fair since you won.”

The dog came back, tennis ball in her mouth, she dropped it in Marlon’s lap. He scratched her head before throwing the ball again.

“How did you end up with Rosie?” Clem asked.

Marlon’s expression changed, it became sad. Clementine became concerned.

“The old ass-master got Rosie when she was a couple years old. He got her from the pound to scare us. I… I think she was abused in her old home and on top of it, ass-master would occasionally hit her snout and leave her outside in the fucking cold.”

Rosie came back over and rested her head on Marlon’s lap, right between him and Clem. Clem scratched Rosie’s head.

“One night, I couldn’t take it anymore, I let her inside and had her sleep with me. She was a cuddler. However, ass-master got mad and I got in trouble, but word spread that Rosie wasn’t a threat. Every time someone saw that fuck hurt her, he’d get something thrown at him. Food, rocks, anything. He then threatened us that he’d put Rosie down if we kept it up… I managed to get the gate open one night and I set Rosie free a week later.”

He rested a hand on Rosie’s soft fur.

“Then after about five days, all the adults hightailed it out of here. We had no idea why… It wasn’t until we saw one of those deadheads when we realized that the world changed. I was being cornered by a walker, twisted ankle, I thought I was going to die… but Rosie came out of nowhere and chomped its head off.”

Clem could see him smile.

“She saved my life and ever since then, she hasn’t left my side.”

Clementine smiled. “She really loves you, you know.”

“I love her, too.” He said. “I think she’s starting to warm up to you as well.”

She scratched the dog’s head.

Silence filled the air. Marlon offered Clementine the ball and she took it. Rosie immediately perked up. She threw the ball and the dog quickly scurried after it.

“It’s crazy,” Marlon spoke. “She could have left, she could have gone anywhere, but she stayed… Even after what ass-master did to her… I… And I just can’t stop thinking of you.”

Clementine didn’t know what to say.

“After finding out about what I’d done, and how we didn’t trust you, and knowing about the Delta and how they could take you or kill you…” Marlon swallowed. “Clementine, you could have left, you didn’t have to deal with all of this, risking your life for people you barely know. And when this is all over, you could still leave… but if you do, Ericson’s won’t be the same without you, and I don’t know how I would feel if you weren’t here anymore.”

Clementine thought about what he said. Those words made her heart flutter, but did she really like him? Are her feelings genuine? Are they just friends? She didn’t know, and what he said to her, were those his feelings for her? Does she feel the same way?

“Marlon, you saved AJ and I from that car crash, even with the walkers coming, you still did. And after being here, meeting everyone, getting to know them, getting to know you, I…” Were they friends? Were they more? She wanted to be. Clem placed a hand on his. “I think I like you.”

Marlon was silent for a second. “You like me?” He asked. “Fuck… I… You sure?” he was getting flustered, he had a smile on his face.

Clementine smiled. But should she take it slow? After losing so much, she’s so used to it. Should she say something? Or should she…

You know what? Fuck it. She didn’t want to regret not doing this.

She leaned in and kissed him and she felt him kiss back. Their hand hold becomes more firm. After a few seconds, they pulled apart and made eye contact. They full on blushed. Marlon huffed out a laugh as he tilted his head down for a moment before looking back up at her.

A small silence passed before he spoke. “So… is this the part where we kiss again?” He asked.

“It can be.”

They leaned in again, but they were interrupted by Rosie running over and licking Clementine’s face.

Clem was surprised at first but then giggled at the timing and how it tickled.

“Rosie!” Marlon called.

The dog stopped licking her and looked at him, tongue hanging out of her mouth.

Clementine wiped the slobber off her face and petted the dog.

“Clem? You out here?”

It was Ruby. It’s time for her shift.

“I have to go,” She said as they stood up. “Lookout duty.”

“You sure you can’t stay? Maybe for one quick game?”

“I don’t think I can blow off another shift.”

“Do you mind if I walk you out then?

Clementine smiled at that, then they proceeded to walk out of the gymnasium.

-------

Hope you all enjoyed, I tried to make it game like with the basketball stuff.

Bonus: After Marlon asks Clem if she’s sure about liking him, the four options are:  [Kiss him] Yes! I want to take it slow ... 

Each choice results in something different: [Kiss him] - Clem kisses him first Yes! - Marlon kisses her first. I want to take it slow - They take it slow ... - They both get flustered and both go for the second kiss that gets interrupted by Rosie