#spirius

[fredandrieu]

Roberto Renzi et Augusto Pedrazza

Akim n° 507

15 septembre 1980

[mementoasts]

they're selling photocards of spirius agents now 💀

[li-esonthefloor]

NO BUT REALLY where the fuck is julius. do you know how hard it is for me to whump ludger during the game's events and i'm stopped by the part where julius has every reason and motivation to be present and just ISN'T??? (even chronos chasing him for like four waymarker chapters and another exodus attack doesn't make sense for chronos) i know julius' character profile in the encyclopaedia implies he just couldn't bring himself to face ludger and answer but its just that the entire game is structured around not letting these two talk to each other or else the entire plot would fall apart and i just [bloody stick figure biting] how am i supposed to write ludger suffering without julius when it doesn't even make sense to me that julius would have zero contact with ludger.

*lies down* i love x2 very much but there's a reason why a grand total of none of my finished fic ideas happen during canon 😂

anyway maybe that jogs your memory of what you were thinking cheers

😂😂😂 ok i think i wondered about. maybe him doing some of his hiding in some fds on and off, for various purposes not necessarily limited to avoiding the cops (and his little brother) (should those be switched? 'his little brother (and the cops)'?). they could have had something useful for him in theory. idk how plausible that is since all the fd information should have gone straight through spirius, but also the man is very tech-savvy so who knows maybe he built a backdoor so he gets heads up when fds pop up or whatever that might not necessarily be canon speculation, it may be some kind of subplot in an au or something LOOOL i really dont remember....

[sepublic]

Also, the misconception of what came first, chicken or the egg-style, reminds me of Spirius-$, known as Cash for short. And how his whole deal is that he has a TERRIBLE Chicago accent he’ll lapse into, as part of his whole fantasy of being a Chicagoan Gangster... Except, people have it wrong; Cash doesn’t switch from his regular voice to his gangster voice. The gangster IS his original voice, and what they believe is ‘regular’ was Cash being forced to make himself sound more legible to everyone else. So when Cash is startled and yells out in his terrible attempt at a Chicago accent... That’s actually him defaulting to his real voice, which he’s done an admittedly decent job of suppressing.

Don’t ask Arakchos how any of this happened, she has no idea either.

[lastthroes]

that fraction of a moment a spy of spirius in disguise instantly informs bisley and vera that ludger is back into the prime dimension before they even put the five waymarkers together... yikes

[ofstarsandskies]

@mistralxsoul || For that planned starter ;U

Halfway through reading a partnership request, Ludger heard Vera's voice over the PA requesting a meeting for 'an urgent matter'. He told her she was free to come at her earliest convenience, which so happened to be less than ten minutes. Though when she entered, she had a taller gentleman with her he couldn't recognize.

"President Kresnik, this is Mr. Flynn Scifo. He and his unit will be acting as your personal security until further notice. Arrangements for pay and hours have already been made, so please only concern yourself with your safety."

Already...? Ludger swore they only talked about this a few days ago. And with her strict requirements, he thought it'd at least take a week to find someone who hit every point. But given Spirius' importance to Elympios, he can't blame her for wanting to rush this process along.

"I understand. Thank you for working well beyond expectations for the company, Vera." With a bow, Vera exits the office, leaving him and Flynn to speak in confidence.

"I apologize for the rushed arrangements. Vera and I discussed changing personnel, but I didn't realize she already contacted someone!" Though despite the awkward beginning, Ludger offers his hand in greeting. "But regardless, it's nice to meet you, Mr. Scifo. My private life isn't very exciting, so do rest assured I shouldn't be too much trouble."

With intros out of the way... he'll try to break the ice a bit, "If I may ask, what made you take this request? There's no wrong answers so please speak your mind."

[talesofourworlds]

@unborderedreflection liked for a Xillia anniversary starter!

She wasn't his Milla, but... she was still a Milla. No matter how odd it was to be around her, he had seen Jude spending time with her. Surely Ivar could do the same. It helped that she seemed to be on her own that day, as was he. With Spirius having no orders for him and no reason to go anywhere else, Ivar had chosen to linger around Marksburg for a time. Doing so seemed to have benefited him, as she was there too. Doing what? Well, Ivar didn't know. Maybe Marksburg being something of a middle ground between Rieze Maxia and Elympios made it appealing somehow?

Cautious, careful steps were taken closer to join the 'fractured' Milla. He didn't like thinking of her that way, he decided. Would she even want him around, though? Surely she had had her own Ivar back in her world before...

Don't think about it, he decided. When he got close enough to her, to see what she was doing, Ivar prepared himself. All he had to do was give her a chance.

"Lady Milla...?"

[hungrydolphin91]

[Insert some kind of Xillia 2 catchy tagline here about how my sister and I are playing this game]. I don't even remember what chapter we're on at this point, but we did all the fun Victor stuff

Victor only took as three tries: we got very close the first time, the second one doesn't count because he confused the whole party and we all murdered each other, but by the third we had grinded a little and bought some better weapons and armor

Since we had to rewatch the cutscenes she picked different dialogue choices just to see what changed, except for the one about Ludger's cooking vs. Victor's. Sis: "I won't concede, mine's still better."

Sorry I don't have much to report about the reactions, since my sister pretty much already knew what was about to happen. She wasn't thrilled about being Elle's father, but she did feel bad for Elle finding out her father was using her, and watching him get killed, too. It's a lot for a kid to go through 😭

There's a bonus scene with Jude helping Ludger make a new pot of soup after Elle spills the first, but he mostly just stands there. Me: "YOU SHOULD BE HELPING, NOT HURTING."

My sister slapped a pair of goofy glasses on Alvin right before his character chapter so we got to enjoy all the emotional close ups with his 😏 expression. I'm surprised Presa didn't return the ring just from that 😂

Leia: "Agria, watch over me." Me: "Agria is probably flipping you off from Hell."

Why is it that Alvin's chapters are much more interesting to me than the others. I mean I'm probably super biased cause I like him but still I like how they explore more of his struggles at improving himself and what could have been based on his past, compared to, I don't know, buying a bunny doll or reading Muzet's thoughts. Maybe I'm just an angst fan.

We started prime Milla's chapter in a new session, and the second the cutscene started my sister left to go get snacks. We have a fundamentally different way of playing these games 😅

Hilariously, the cutscene was halted so Ludger can make a dialogue choice, one of them being "Sounds like I missed something." 😂

I forgot this was a Milla chapter and not a Jude one, with the iconic gay bird spirit that's acting like a clingy ex 😂

While hunting elite monsters, Milla died right at the end of a battle and didn't get the exp, but characters who weren't in the party still did. Sis: "Alvin's probably waking up from a nap like 'Guess who just got stronger?'"

We made paid the bank 150,000 with Ludger's reward money, and all we got was kitty krisps and a skill for Alvin, who again, wasn't there. Cue both of us saying "Guess who just got stronger?" and laughing.

I forgot proceeding with the plot in Marksburg triggers a boss battle with Chronos. Oops, we weren't fully healed.

Julius shows up and defends Ludger, aww. Sis: "When do we tell him he's technically an uncle now?"

I couldn't remember how many times the Chronos fight looped but it wasn't too bad really, the game's going easy on you at this point since it's scripted.

Bisley shows up to interrupt the fight. Sis: "Who are you?" Me, with utter exasperation: "...Do you seriously not know who he is?" 😩 (She did, she just didn't know why he was helping)

My sister was a lot more worried about Julius taking Ludger's place to fight Chronos one on one over the appearance of Bisley or the disappearance of Elle. I can't blame her, Julius's love for his brother is so sweet and he's frankly more compelling than most of the other original characters

Elle runs away because she suddenly doesn't want to go to Canaan anymore (it IS pretty creepy I'll give her that), and the rest of the party is somehow fine with letting this child run around unsupervised except by Spirius agents?? Even my sister who hates Elle pointed out that Ludger is kinda her closest living relative in this dimension so he should probably not let her wander off??

The SECOND that cutscene ended, Nova called. "Ludger, I know you just fought the god of time, but he gave you money, didn't he? You can't pull a fast one over the bank!"

Next time is... whatever happens next. My memories are a little fuzzy but I think we're gonna do that stuff in Spirius's basement soon, and then... oof. Hoping for a bad end, ngl 😅

[Masterpost link here, eventually.]

[bravewolfvesperia]

Out of the blue, Yuri’s GHS would sound for an incoming message from a number he wouldn’t know. But the first of three messages made it incredibly obvious who sent them:

[18:56] Hi Yuri, it’s Ludger! Sorry if this spooks you–  I MIGHT have begged the Tech Department for the number linked to your account. |･ω･) But don’t worry, this is a one-time exception! [18:57] The reason I did this is PLEASE come to Film Noir ASAP! I’ll pay 10x whatever job you’re doing if I have to! It’s REALLY important!  [18:59] Hope to see you there! (ﾟ∀ﾟ人)

And thus, Ludger waited at the bar for however long it took Yuri to show up. Be it minutes or hours, he wasn’t moving until his drinking buddy showed himself. But when he did, opening the door to the bar would set off a confetti cannon aimed left enough of the door so it wouldn’t hit him, but the confetti would shower on top of him.  

“Yuri, I’m glad you’re here! Sit down– you’ll wanna be sitting for each phase of my surprise!” 

Though Ludger asks, he’s got Yuri by the arm and drags him to sit down at the nearest stool. When they both settled in, the tender poured them a glass of Drellin 47 Year Old Single Malt Whiskey, price range… out of most folks’ league. But that’s not all– Ludger’s reaching into his suit for a hand-sized black velvet box with white patches like a night sky.

Popping it open, there’s a pin– no several fine cut amethyst pins, trimmed with pure sterling silver, shaped into the Vesperia star. Many nights Ludger prayed his Ardent Vesperias and Brave Vesperia shared the same namesake… But if not, still looks neat dare he say so himself!

“I thought since your guild might become as powerful as Spirius one day, you guys ought to have a signifier to say, ‘Hey world, WE’RE Brave Vesperia!’. And since they’re pins, they won’t get in the way of your work– unless you prick your finger pinning it or something.” 

“Consider this whole thing my thank you for spending so much time with me as Ludger, not President Kresnik. I hope I’ll see you again soon without me having to strong arm you here!”

@ofstarsandskies

At first he was confused; then, he felt bad. Whether today or not, one day Ludger would probably pick up on his anxiety. Worse, he felt bad about feeling bad in a situation like this. He did his best, still being responsive and attentive, but he knew getting this out of the back of his mind would be next to impossible. One day he would have to tell Ludger, right? Well, either way, it was better it came from Yuri than Victor...

Tonight though...? He wasn't sure he could pull it off. Ludger was so happy right now. When Ludger handed him the pin, he knew he was supposed to be happy too, but it was a mix of that happiness of sorts and feeling sick. Actually, truly sick to his stomach. He'd always been good at acting casual and masking his emotions, and right now was no different... but he would have to say something soon. For Ludger's sake of course, but he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep it in.

After the very beginning, he wasn't even really sure he could say any of it was a lie. How it all started was deceptive and Yuri wasn't against it if his target was some nasty killer. He'd known and seen plenty of monstrous people with wealth and power. Those sorts of people, yeah, absolutely, he would do this to if he it needed to be done. The problem was that he'd never run into someone with wealth and power who wasn't like that. Whose circumstances were probably too complicated for Yuri to understand.

Not everything at this point had been deceptive, but did that matter if it was how it all started? At the end of the day it probably didn't even matter how Yuri felt about it though. It was Ludger who would probably feel betrayed and lied to. In part, this feeling was because things had gone okay. Because Ludger was someone he'd gotten along with. Because he did start to look at Ludger as just Ludger and not a CEO. At some point it had become real enough, and Yuri didn't know exactly when, but that had been the moment he'd failed this job.

Still, for now Yuri accepted the pin. If, later, Ludger couldn't forgive him, he could always just give it back. Maybe the CEO of Spirius with all his might and power would hate Brave Vesperia after this, even though Yuri was the only one involved. Maybe Yuri would have completely ruined their reputation instead. He never thought his guild would get as big as Spirius, nor did he ever intend for it to, but maybe Ludger hoped it would. Maybe he just hoped it would be that big because he was... friends with someone in that guild.

By now it could have been either the drinks or his conflicting emotions, but he could feel his heart starting to pound a bit. He wished he could redo this whole thing. Have been more true of a person to this man, and for this time to actually be more happy. Maybe it was a mistake like this that always had Flynn warning him about taking dangerous jobs like this. At least he hadn't gone through with it so that mistake wasn't made, but there was still the mistake and guilt of potentially hurting someone's feelings and destroying what could've been a real friendship.

He probably didn't deserve to appreciate the gesture, much less the pin... but if he could still fix this someday, it was worth accepting it. For now he gave what smile he could, in the hopes that one day he could be worth all this. That one day this would be more real. When he wasn't... holding back and giving half truths. The longer it went on the worse it would get, but... tonight, he couldn't he do it. He couldn't ruin the man's night or watch his face fall in disappointment.

The truth was, Yuri was scared - not for himself, but for how upset Ludger might be that this had all started because of that job.

"Ludger, I... um... thanks. I don't think someone like me is worth all that, but... I appreciate it. The pin, your thoughts... I hope I can live up to that one day."

Maybe he didn't deserve to be forgiven, but he couldn't help that he hoped he would be.

[i-was-bored-so-this-happened]

Second Star Chapter Fourteen: The Novice

Fandom: The Mandalorian Wordcount: 3.6k Warnings: Canon-typical violence, child endangerment

Okan and Peli return triumphant from their business and wait for the bounty hunters to come back. Toro Calican returns, but Mando is nowhere to be seen

Read on AO3 Previous Chapter | Next Chapter Writing Masterpost

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You did pretty good back there, Little Miss Unknown,” Peli bites into a sandit as she says it. The sugar sprinkled on the top of the bun is as coarse as the sand of the dunes and crunches with Peli’s consonants, “Does your family name not translate or do you not have one?” Signature Tatooine bluntness.

“I don’t have one.” Okan lies. She tears the sandit she’s holding in half and licks the sugar off before pushing it into the baby’s waiting hands. He plays with it more than eats it, ripping it to make fist-sized doughballs and rub odd lumps into the fabric of Okan’s cloak before deigning to put it in his mouth. She uses a corner of the cloak to wipe his mouth at any intervals he allows. Like any baby, he’s very much against being kept clean and tidy.

“Not unusual,” Peli shrugs and rests a comforting hand on Okan’s upper arm. Okan tenses at the contact and side steps. Peli doesn’t react, just goes on, “But hey, fresh, new, regular commission, I appreciate it. I can knock a couple hundred credits off your bill…grab some spotchka?”

“Are the breweries still putting that algae dust in it?”

“The spirius? Yeah, believe so. Even last drought couldn’t kill that stuff.”

“Then I guess we can have some spotchka.” Okan concedes, lifting her bun out of the child’s reach. Peli is taking them back along the path they’d taken to get to the starport, and while they walk the market goes from the day shift to the night as the suns start to show signs of vaguely considering setting. No one stays out long once it gets dark.  Hells, any solo movement in the cities past five was risky the last time Okan was on Tatooine. The stalls are changing hands between associates or being replaced by those belonging to fresh vendors. Stock is switched from dehydrated carbohydrates and quick-fix kits to gallons of treated water and piles of coloured powder under bell jars. The latter leaves Okan twitchy, whole hand flexing. 

Peli stops at several of the stalls. She seems to be one of those people that knows everyone, and knows how to talk strangers into being allies. 

“Guess y’all gotta eat, huh,” she says at one point, turning blush pink fruits over in her hands. Fresh produce can’t be sold during the day unless you’ve got a way of keeping it cold, “What’ve you got in that galley of yours?”

“Not much fresh,” Okan admits. She takes the fruit from Peli’s hand when it’s offered. It’s surprisingly soft, covered in fine hair like her arms. She almost has to restrain herself from leaving marks in its flesh where her nails sit. It is in fact not fully pink, but marbled orange and yellow to create the blush tone, “What is this?”

“A peach. That’s what they call the colour, too. It’s been a while since I’ve seen one, before the war we used to get ‘em from Naboo. You don’t gotta skin ‘em, either.” While Peli speaks, she hands over a fistful of credits, far more than she’d given for the orangey pulp the group had bought that morning. Gently, she takes the fruit from Okan’s hand and pushes it into the string bag she’s paid for. Tying the bag securely to her belt, she moves on.

Okan next drifts to a stop at a stall that holds ration packs. She doesn’t really need any of them, Mando’s got enough of the freeze-dried mid-rim stuff to last him another war, but this is Tatooine food. Their food can’t rely on rehydration so it’s thick and stodgy and makes the human eye sting without exception. Okan hasn’t known flavour like it since she left, despite her best experimental efforts. She’s willing to sacrifice the credits for a few packets of seasoning, some of vegetables, cans of lamta juice. Any simmering excitement bubbles away as they pass another stall surrounded by bloodshot eyes.

“Are they seriously selling spice at the night markets?” Peli coughs loudly to detract from the question. A pit droid whines nervously.

“Well. Well, yeah, yeah, they are,” Peli answers, “I dunno what the situation was like last time you were here but the Pykes are running the show now. They’re not particularly afraid, either.”

“What happens if one of their vendors gets caught?”

“They don’t. Or they don’t stay in custody very long,” Peli turns onto the path that will lead them back amidst the grid of hangars, “Hey, sunshine, the Empire couldn’t wrangle Tatooine even when they had the Hutts. Republic’s got no chance out here,” Okan’s brow furrows and she opens her mouth, but Peli’s elbow digs into her side, “I agree with you, but it’s not smart to say it,” finding her hangar, she inputs the code that will let her back in, “Now, who's hungry?” The baby squeaks like a womp rat’s nest in reply.

“He’s always hungry,” Okan translates, “I’m not sure he isn’t hollow,” she finds the lump of her homemade harness that covers one of the child’s feet and wiggles it to make him shriek with giggles. The door to the hangar slides open, and Peli holds an arm out to keep it from closing again so Okan can get through. The mechanic’s rattly old R5 droid is sitting on the other side of the door waiting for them. Okan can finally release the baby, lifting the helmet and untying the scarves. He totters off as soon as physically possible, trailing the pit droids. “If he gets hurt, Mando’ll make you scrap!” Okan calls out to them. The nervous one turtles.

“What’s his deal with droids, anyway?” Peli asks, having secured the hangar. Okan shrugs. She could speculate, but she doesn’t know for sure and it’s not her place. “Any idea when he’ll be back?”

“He tries to get back to us before dark,” Okan looks directly into the eyes of the suns, lifting a hand to measure the distance between them and the horizon, “But it depends how far into the Sea they had to go.”

***

“You don’t seem to be too worried about the mando.” Late into the next afternoon, Peli has found she makes more progress in her repairs without Okan’s help. Her droids have been playing crown-cards all day. They’d taken Okan’s lunch hour to teach her how to play. She wasn’t great, not brilliant with Basic numbers, and so she’s asked them to employ her dinnertime as well.

“I’m not,” Okan glances towards the ship, now dusted with sand. The hull door has sunk somewhat into the grit, and there are still globs of fuel dirtying the ground that the pit-droids have to chase the child away from, “I have insurance.” Finding herself within arm’s reach of a broom she advances towards the Razor Crest with the intent to clean, “He won’t leave this ship behind.” Mando won’t thank her for letting the hydraulics get gummed up with sand. Peli laughs, loud and just a little gravelly,

“He’s the sentimental type, huh?” she asks without a trace of seriousness, “The ship, not you and the kid?”

“Oh, we’re more trouble than we’re worth.” Okan finds herself in a familiar stance reminiscent of being at the farm. Of sweeping up sand and rust-coloured earth she’d tracked in. Cleaning up broken shards of glass and collecting the rocks that had broken the windows. More trouble than she’s worth indeed. 

“Forgive me if I find that hard to believe.” Peli chuckles to herself. She has good reason to laugh. Okan, though taller than the average human woman and visibly strong if one takes the time to look, doesn’t present as particularly threatening. And the baby is very clearly a baby who doesn’t even reach her knees and struggles to walk unaided for longer than fifteen minutes.

“I forgive you.” Okan tells the mechanic, with a neat little flourish of the broom. Seeing the child watching her she tosses the broom into the air, spins on the ball of her foot to encourage her cloak to kick out, and catches it again in her opposite hand while keeping it spinning. She continues her turn, repeating the toss. The third toss she throws higher, high enough to give her time to leap off the hull door and entirely flip herself over in the air. She completes the aerial, her arms held out in a horizontal line to complete the star shape her body makes, before landing with a thud and catching the broom again, instinctively bending her knees to absorb the impact of the landing.  The cloak snaps behind her with the quick movement, and she’s familiar enough with the move that it doesn’t trip her. That precious millisecond in the air of feeling weightless, the surety of knowing she can and will catch herself. Spontaneity. It’s wonderful. The child’s wet, gurgly laugh may well be the tinkling of a high bell, the suns spotlights.

“Y’all sure are interesting characters.” Peli gives her head a little shake, the cloud of curls following and giving off a spray of sand. The child, sitting by her foot, is showered in the stuff and seems to enjoy the sensation, squeezing his eyes shut to avoid getting the grains in them. 

A slow, deliberate clap brings their attention to the hangar doors. A humanoid figure has entered. Shorter than Okan, wrapped in leather. Peli shields her eyes to see better while Okan just squints, trying to figure out if anyone else is nearby.

“Impressive.”

“Toro?” Okan calls. It’s the young, inexperienced bounty hunter who had hired Mando. Strangely, he’s here with no bounty. And no Mando. Alone and nonchalant. 

“Okan! Peli,” he waves to them, striding confidently through the sand towards the ship, “And,” he tilts until he sees the child, and a smile splits his face, “The baby.”

“Toro?” Okan moves forward, confused. Warmth tingles in her fingers, as though she has slept on her hands and the weight has reduced them to nought but sensation “Where’s Mando?” Toro Calican hums questioningly, as though he hasn’t heard her. When Okan passes Peli she says her name, and the mechanic squats and lifts the child into her arms. A quiet click in the back of her throat prompts a pit-droid to roll towards her. R5 rattles nervously in his corner. “Where’s Mando?” Okan repeats, her voice low in pitch but still loud enough that she knows she was audible the first time. 

“Oh, I’m sure he’ll catch up eventually.” Toro and Okan are still moving, slowly closing in on one another. Okan steps towards Peli and the child, encouraging Toro to circle in the other direction, and she keeps her hands out and open. Her feet warm in the sand. All she has is the broom. His eyes hold ambition. Greed.

“What happened?”

“You didn’t tell me the truth. About who you are, none of you did.” Shit. Shit. Heat rushes to her fingers, fear penetrating deep into the bones. Mando’s gone. Not dead, he’ll catch up, suggests an injured state. Or a delay. Had Toro taken both speeders and abandoned him in the Sea? He’ll never make it out of there alone. Okan moves to bring her hands together as though to clap, but her gloves have hardly touched before Toro draws a blaster. He doesn’t even aim it at her. If it were to be fired it would hit Peli square in the chest.

“What do you want?” Okan puts distance between her hands again, recognising that any move towards aggression would get Peli killed and put the child at risk. “You have no reason to hurt us, and we’ve no reason to hurt you.”

“I thought your people valued honesty. Is lying to me not reason enough?”

“Since when did humans value honesty?” Peli asks, trying to inject some light-heartedness into the stand-off. 

“They don’t. But she,” he gestures at Okan with the blaster, “Isn’t human. She’s worth at least seven million credits if I get her to a Guild base, and the child? Who knows?” Toro strolls forward, comfortable in his position as the one who has taken hostages. He watches as Okan’s eyes take in a full rotation of the hangar, trying to think of something, anything, to do, “I think,” he’s within six feet of her now, “We’ll wait for the Mandalorian to come back. Complete the collection.” Arrogance, that’s what else sits on his face, and arrogance can disguise stupidity. Sometimes. Gods, she hopes so.

***

If Toro has deeper levels of stupidity, he hasn’t shown them yet. Thus far, he’s made annoyingly smart decisions. Peli’s wrists are bound in front of her so she still has some mobility and can be ordered about, while Okan’s hands are tight against her back and she can’t do shit with her gloves on. More than that, it’s getting dark outside. It’s getting cold. Okan’s no use in the cold, and Mando…Mando’s out in the Dune Sea. Dehydrated, hungry, tired, likely injured. She’s given him as much time to get back to them on his own as she dares, but if she manages to get rid of Toro she has no way of finding him. No idea where he had gone, and no idea if her old contacts in the Sea are still around. She needs to install a tracker on that man. If she can find him. If.

“What’s your name? Your real name?” Toro Calican is leaning against the ship, watching Okan while she processes. She stares back at him without a reply, “I know you speak Basic now, you can quit the stupid off-worlder thing. What are you, anyway?” He doesn’t know? He’s taken her hostage and he doesn’t know, “I mean, obviously I have some idea. I’ve heard the stories.”

“Oh, good, then you know all about the sky-dragons.” Okan rolls her eyes. 

“Don’t treat me like a child.”

“How old are you, exactly? Have you even seen your third decade?” Peli calls. Toro rounds on her with a protest at the ready, but she just laughs at him, “Y’ain’t gonna shoot me. You shoot us, you lose your bounty.” This isn’t her first rodeo. She jostles the child awkwardly to try and keep him calm.

“You think that’s all I care about? The money? I shot the last bounty. She’s dead. Because she’s small potatoes compared to these two.”

“Then what are we, topatos?” Okan asks. She waits until Toro turns to her to reprimand her before she powers forward and slams her forehead into his face. He reels backwards, then doubles over. He won’t shoot her, she’s sure of that. He’d shot the last bounty, yes, but only once he realised she wasn’t the most valuable piece on the board. He won’t shoot her. When he doubles over Okan introduces his jaw to her knee. The child is warbling but whether he’s scared, concerned or amused isn’t clear. Peli’s laughing and the sound of sliding sand tells Okan that the mechanic is running for the door. Peli is the bargaining chip and she’s running away with the boy’s prize. A pit droid is squealing and whirring, waving his gangly arms at Okan until she makes to follow the others but Toro…Toro has recovered enough. His hand catches the edge of Okan’s cloak and multi-coloured stars burst in her peripheral vision as the fabric snatches away any breaths she’d intended on taking. With her hands bound behind her back she can’t balance herself and seems destined to faceplant in the sand, but Toro’s up and winding the fabric of her cloak around his arm.

“Come back here or the spark dies!” his voice is young but with that youth comes strength, as though he’s slammed a brick wall down between Peli and the exit. She skids and for a moment seems to consider running anyway, which Okan can’t entirely blame her for.

“You won’t. You won’t get such high praise if you kill me.” Okan tells the boy. Blood oozes from his nose and between his lips, crystallised with sand. He must have bitten his tongue when she’d hit his jaw, his s sounds are a little thick. 

“I dunno. I hear they want you for parts. Doesn’t much matter if you’re cold,” Toro informs her. He shouts louder to address Peli again, who hasn’t quite turned around yet, “Give me the kid.” He repeats this even louder and blood sprays from his mouth. Had she broken some of his teeth? Peli turns. She comes back. She’s watching Okan, direct eye contact as though she’s trying to convey a message. Okan doesn’t get it. Toro releases Okan, takes the baby and pushes all three of them up onto the hull door of the Razor Crest.

Mando walks into the hangar hardly a minute later. Oh. That was what Peli was trying to tell her. Okan catches her relieved breath before it leaves her. He isn’t limping, there’s no blood trickling down into the sand. Those were the worst-case scenarios. The very worst was that he wouldn’t turn up at all but he had. 

“Took you long enough, Mando,” Toro calls. His letters are even less clear now, he’s making up for it by talking loudly, “Looks like I’m calling the shots now, partner. Drop your blaster and raise ‘em.” Once Mando complies, he gives Peli a set of binders, shoves her in Mando’s direction and presses his blaster into Okan’s side. Peli ambles towards Mando, taking her own sweet damn time. She has not enjoyed being ordered around by this spitfire of a wannabe bounty hunter and she’s going to make sure he knows about it. Okan stands remarkably uninjured, but remarkably still lest that condition change. “You’re a Guild traitor, Mando. And I’m willing to bet that these are the targets you helped escape. Fennec was right. Bringing you in won’t just make me a member of the Guild. It’ll make me legendary.”

“Telling us your plan isn’t the brightest idea, kid.” Mando says. Is he…stalling? Is he hoping to take most of the fire? What-

Brightest. Idea. Code. That’s code. Code he taught her months ago for events just such as these. Hostage situations, that is. If you ever, ever, hear me say something is a bright idea, it means I’m about to use a flash charge and you should cover your eyes. Okan had tossed about the idea of her carrying some flash charges and was quite quickly shot down, but maybe after today he’ll rethink. They haven’t been able to translate this into baby terms but with hope the loud noise will scare him into closing his eyes before the flash temporarily blinds him. Without further hesitation, Okan squeezes her eyes shut. The high sound of the flash charge going off, like a firework, spears through her ears. A secondary sound is that of blaster fire, at least until Okan elbows him hard enough to make him fall down. It’s all very confusing for several seconds until footsteps patter up the hull door and hands pat their way down Okan’s arms.

“It’s me, you maniac,” Peli swats at Okan’s shoulder when Okan tries to wriggle away thinking it’s Toro, “It’s me, you can open your eyes.” Okan does so while Peli scrambles around under her cloak to find the binders. Okan does her level best to keep her emotions tamped down lest Peli brush against any exposed skin. 

“Mando! The baby?” Okan calls, trying to stay still while Peli curses at the binders.

“Got him.” Mando calls back. 

“Got it!” Peli shouts triumphantly, ripping the binders off of Okan’s wrists and tossing them aside. The smoke from the flash charge has cleared by the time Peli and Okan have reached Mando. He stands over Toro’s dead body with the child in his arms.

***

They leave Tatooine as soon as they can. Okan will miss it, if she’s honest, but she had used her share of Toro’s money to buy more Tatooine rations so she can have the taste of the planet with her a little longer. She’ll mourn the loss of the warmth of course, it had given her a wonderful boost of energy, but she knows how to travel now. In silence, for once, in her chair in the cockpit. She’s done all her talking for today. Mando’s uninjured, he’s eaten, and every time he sticks the straw of a water bottle up his helmet he shakes the bottle at Okan first so she knows. Hey. It’s Tatooine. We’re lucky we got out with all of our limbs, Okan had said, Dehydration I can handle.

“Where are we going?” Okan asks as she shifts from one side of her chair to another. She can’t help asking.

“Don’t know. We might be in space a while,” the helmet tilts up and she’s learned that at that angle he can see her in the reflection on the window. She gives a little wave, “Get comfortable.”

“I think I can manage that.”

“Maybe sleep in your bed.” Mando suggests.

“Rather be around people,” Okan answers, tucking her knees up into her chest. She sits like that for several minutes with her eyes closed, just listening to the sounds of the ship. An image of Toro trying to say the word people splutters behind her eyelids. “I broke his face, didn’t I.”

“You really did,” Is he smiling? Is that what a smile sounds like? “Good work.” He adds. Okan smiles back.

[miaqc1]

Tales of Xillia 2 Leia Solo: Spirius Gatekeeper [No Items/Unknown/No Damage]

Horangi is at it again! Leia in Xilia 2, solo no damage.

[li-esonthefloor]

not to bring real world problems into my fiction but i wonder if elympios/trigleph in particular has a housing issue too

like. if ludger WANTED to move out and get his own apartment, once he finally got a job. Could he. physically, could he, while only working one normal civilian job

julius got their apartment as a teenager but he was a full fledged spirius agent already then :'D it's not a huge place but the complex seems nice and is at a good location. what does that say about ludger's hypothetical chances as a lil baby cook

[sepublic]

            Melissa Arakchos, science teacher at Arkley’s and head scientist of the Arkley Gang, is a Techna… But she doesn’t exactly fit within the Techna League, having that other aforementioned affiliation.

         Arakchos once worked with Salazar, and I haven’t fully figured out the details yet. But I do know that by the present-day, she has her own Techna body that incorporates her signature style of ‘Spirius tech’ that is also manifest in her eleven Spirius Drones. Maybe as a human scientist, Arakchos approached Salazar during the early days of the Techna League, negotiated a Techna body of her own that didn’t have any of Salazar’s control, and then went her own way.

         Maybe the Techna program had its origins in these two, initially just a foray into cybernetics; But while Salazar was inspired to impose an upgrade on everyone, Arakchos was content to leave it with herself and whoever asked, and likewise saw the Techna program as simply one of many projects. Not her life’s work or anything, and arguably more of a stepping stone and tool. Salazar became obsessed with being Techna and went down one path, and Arakchos the other.

        Regardless, these two have a past. They don’t regard the other very well, with Arakchos seeing Salazar as an overly-sentimental fool who’s wasting time and resources, while Salazar is frustrated at Arakchos for wasting her Techna body on completely unrelated pursuits, and actively harming people in her experiments.

        Arakchos unnerves Salazar, since she’s a Techna that isn’t under his control, and has a mind to rival his own; Though her ambitions are not as extreme, or at least are directed in a different place. While Salazar is at the top of his own organization, Arakchos is content to serve Arkley as part of his inner circle.

[lastthroes]

i wish victor in his dimension had had to deal properly with the aftermath of the mass murders. i don't mean the whole "hiding it was me all along", because we know spirius had an insane amount of power (including in the government) and that makes a great amount of sense: i mean about being unable to meet the expectations elympios has of him because he can't match up to bisley (past ceo, his father) nor to julius (famous crown agent, his brother), and always getting compared to them - dead people often get greatly idealized too

there's only a few npc mentioning elympions are not being very happy with the ceo that succeeded bisley for not being as ambitious. it might be that victor is also very secretive about his life - it doesn't seem like they even trace "that one agent who almost completed the trial" back to "the new ceo". they don't even seem to know he has a daughter or that he is a widower rather than single?

i also still find really odd no one you talk to mentions julius' death. hell knows what happened to rideaux too because he's not mentioned either, even when they were such popular agents they had fanclubs and all that. and i get you can't visit the spirius building because victor's cover would've been easily blown out, but eh

[ofstarsandskies]

@bravewolfvesperia from Dis Ask (cause hey cute Ludger & Yuri timez)

Call him crazy for analyzing a stranger he'd meet once every new nights or so, but something seemed off about Yuri today. He wasn't shy about drinking a bit harder than Julius would let Ludger do, though today... the glasses were piling up. Of course it wasn't his business to dictate how much someone's drinking, but it felt right to ask. Maybe he could help or at least be an extra ear to listen if it was due to a problem.

And seems he guessed right: Yuri got stuck with a job his heart wasn't into anymore. From his tone, he couldn't just back out of it either; their world had a million and one ways to force someone into a corner, so Ludger was sadly not surprised. Blaming himself for falling into a bad hole, however, Ludger'd have to correct!

"Hah, don't I know that feeling," He leaned back for a quick head count before continuing, "Don't take this as a knock against Spirius, but becoming an Agent despite my brother telling me not to? Worst mistake of my life. And now that mistake's my whole life."

His job as VP-turned-CEO, all because Bisley asked him to 'lead his people' while he finished Origin's Trial. And with him dying in Canaan, well... Ludger's definitely leading Bakur's people! Except now he's doing so with a blindfold on and zero experience leading a company on par with the Elympion government. Thank Origin Vera was still alive...

"Still... I know if I quit just after President Bakur's passing, I'd hurt a lot of people. So I'm giving it my best!... with lots of guidance from Bakur's old secretary--" ...Wasn't he supposed to be assuring Yuri? Yet here he was going off about his life. If Yuri tuned him out, no blames had.

"M-My point is I'm sure you can twist your bad job into a positive!" Though that's all nonsense for the morning; for now, Ludger'd wave over the tender and make an offer, "But in the meantime, if you want something strong to feel better tonight, let me buy this round. Don't worry about price-- just point and I'll pay."

[talesofourworlds]

Bad end starter for @mathcs

As if things weren't bad enough in the world, it had started to rain some time ago. The already gloomy appearance of Lake Epsilla just seemed amplified by the bad weather and the miasma permeating the air. How long had it been now since he'd learned Milla, Jude, and the others had died? Weeks? Months?

Does it even matter?

Jude had been working so hard to make spyrites work. Milla had given them extra time to make sure things would work out. Now both of them and their friends were gone, and Ivar was left to deal with the aftermath. All the same, he was no closer to trying to avenge any of them. He'd only really been surviving and doing what he could for people and animals he saw that were in trouble. Outside of that, the only things keeping him going were the desire to do something about the present state of things and the knowledge that Milla probably wouldn't have wanted him to wallow. Carrying on was hard, though. The task was harder still when the world seemed to be falling apart at every possible way. But he kept going. He had to. For Milla, Jude, and everyone else.

A low rumble of thunder brought Ivar out of his thoughts. Seemed like the storm was likely to get worse before it got better. A reflection of the world, perhaps? Or was that too poetic? Either way, he kept walking and eventually let his gaze drift down to the ground. The dirt seemed to have been disturbed as if someone had walked along the same path he was taking recently. His eyes grew wider.

Is someone else out here?

Anyone else might have stopped to think about it for a moment longer. If there was someone there, they could have been from Spirius or just someone that wouldn't be too happy to see him there. Ivar didn't care, though. Common sense was thrown to the side in favor of finding out who else would be daring enough to be in the gloom and rain. He ran forwrad.

As he rounded a bit large sort of outcropping of rocks, Ivar stopped dead in his tracks with his breath caught in his throat. This... wasn't possible. It shouldn't have been possible. But that hair... those clothes...

"N...no way."

"Jude?!"

Maybe the hair was slightly different, Ivar realized as he looked a bit closer. That also could have been the rain's doing. This had to be some sort of trick, though, right? Maybe... maybe he was a Jude from a fractured dimension like the other Milla, he tried to reason. Jude was supposed to be dead. All of his friends were, too. But there was no mistaking the way the other boy carried himself. Disbelief gave way to a moment of relief. If that really was Jude, then someone he knew was still alive.

He wouldn't be alone anymore.