Subject: Dawn tugged at the end of her long braid, blushing.
Author:
Posted on: 2015-08-04 16:35:00 UTC
She swung their linked hands back and forth. "Funnily enough," she said, "I agree with you this time. The best version I've had wasn't very sweet. Although," she added, letting go of her braid to poke a finger at him, "you just admitted that I go well with sugar...uh. Wait. That didn't sound remotely so cannibalistic in my head."
...her white t-shirt and staring at the water.
It wasn't that she'd never been on a beach before. Gallifrey had had them before the Time War; so did badfics. But she'd never been to one for leisure time in this regeneration, much less in her previous one, and she hadn't been much of one for beaches in her first regeneration.
Well, she decided, she was just going to have to operate off what she knew, and watch what the other agents did, and try to ignore that the last time she had swum for pleasure it had been Lan who pulled her in--
"...Naya?"
Yes, that was definitely Naya. The mental presence--what she had caught of it, anyway--was right. She must be in disguise.
Slowly, the Reader grinned. "Naya!" she called, and ran after the disguised quarian. "Naya, hold up a minute!"
...she couldn't quite contain her smile. "Hi. You, uh, you're...Time Lord today? Human? Something?"
Don't tell her she looks nice wet. Don't tell she looks nice wet...
"You, er, you look--you look nice," she added. "Whatever you are today. You--yeah. Er. That was Emiranlanoamar I heard just now, wasn't it?"
Her eyes had widened when Naya mentioned that her face was, well, her face, but now she blinked and tried to stop staring. "Well, er, I mean--No? Yes? Maybe? Rassilon's nonexistent beard." She grimaced and tore her eyes away, still blushing. "Just--just...er, looking. I haven't seen your face before, and--er--you're--I, I mean--"
"I--er--thank you." She smiled at Naya's feet, then realized that was ridiculous and looked up at her face. At her true face. "And...yes, you are. You--you're beautiful, Naya."
"So, did you come here alone? Where's Kozar?" asked Naya. "Is he stomping around this beach somewhere? 'Cause I have a really hard time imagining him relaxing. From the little I've seen of him, he's always this super-intense guy: sitting around on a beach doesn't jive with my image of him." Naya tossed her towel to the side, away from the water. "Well, gotta let this thing dry out. That's going to take a while, so..." She looked at the water. "Wanna take a dip? The water is good-- trust me on that."
Rina came sprinting up to the Guardsman and threw her arms around his waist. "Hi! I didn't expect to see you here!" She peeled her face away from the other Time Lord's chest to grin at Terabyte. "Hi, TB! Where's Naya?"
Rina took a step backwards, looking sheepish. "Good to see you too, Emiran, and no, I've not been working any harder than the Flowers make me--"
At TB's announcement, she whipped around to stare at him. "Say what?"
Rina kept glancing out at the water curiously. "So, Naya and the Reader," she murmured. "Never would've guessed..."
She shook her head and focused on the Guardsman. "So, you're out here too, huh? Enjoying the sun?"
She swallowed several times, trying to find the right words. "Are--are you okay? Are you sure you don't need to go back to Medical? I mean, if you're pulling... stuff--" She winced. "--out of your teeth, that seems pretty serious."
"Trust me, it'll take a lot more to finish me off than a boot in my teeth. Medical has a Medi Gun that can heal pretty much anything that isn't death-- and even then." He picked at his teeth some more. "Nah, the only fix for this is floss."
Rina shuddered. "Anyway, other than the teeth thing, how've you been? I've been doing alright, I guess." Surreptitiously, she tugged the sleeve of her swimsuit further down her arm.
"Same old, same old. Like me!" he said, smiling. "After I finish testing that solar power thing, I wouldn't mind sitting on the beach like that guy over there and just relaxing," he said, pointing at Gaspard with his laser screwdriver. "So, where's Zeb? I don't see him anywhere."
Rina turned and pointed up the beach, where a handsome young man was splashing in the waves. "That's him." She smiled. "It's nice to see him having fun."
Rina grabbed the Guardsman's hand and began pulling him across the beach. "Zeb! Zeb, c'mon! There's someone I want you to meet!"
...into the water. "I've never tried it in this regeneration, and I didn't do it much in my others. I think I can keep my head above water, maybe." She shrugged. "Staying close to the shore sounds like a good plan."
Rina waded out to meet Naya and the Reader; the water barely came up to her waist. She looked down and trailed her fingers through the water. "Hi, Reader. Naya. Emiran wants me to tell you to not get too far from shore."
"Tell him that he's a big worrywart and that I'm a grown lady. I'm fine." Naya emphasized the point by sculling around for a bit. "It's gonna take a lot more than a wave to pull me under. Besides, buddy system." Naya made her way to the Reader and wrapped a hand around the Time Lady's waist, pulling her close. "The Reader and I are buddies. She'll haul me out of the drink if anything goes wrong."
...stilled momentarily at the contact, and went somewhat pink in the face as she draped her own arm over Naya's shoulders. "That's right, I will. I can use my respiratory bypass if it comes down to it, though it probably won't. You can tell Emiranlanoamar she's in good hands." She went even pinker once her last sentence registered, and resolutely ignored it.
"I'll make sure to let him know." She shook her head. "Honestly, the water's barely shallow enough to wade in, I don't know what his problem is..." She pushed off and began swimming into deeper water. "I'll let you two get back to it, then!"
“Shakhar Shakhar Shakhar wake up there’s ice-cream,” Des said in his best small child voice. “Seriously, we’re in the beach (which I really hate but whatever), let’s go have fun! There’s time to doze off later on.”
For this once, he wasn’t wearing his coat; rather, he was wearing black boardshorts and a white tee-shirt showing four cellos on a staff. “Come on, Shakhar, let’s go get ice-cream!”
"H'lo," she said, smiling and reaching up to bat at his hand. "Ice cream, huh? This place really does have everything." Her smile became a grin. "Even you, apparently. Help me up?" She tangled their fingers together. "I'm tiiiired."
Des gently helped Dawn up. “I’m kinda excited, to be honest. Never had proper ice cream in ages. Wonder who’s running the parlour?” He smiled at her and pointed at the van. “Man, this sure brings back memories, it looks just the Gazlans back home.”
...her towel and shake it out. "It looks a tiny bit like the ones that always stopped outside my middle school, actually. Although...is that a clown in the window? We have clowns in the PPC?"
He offered her his hand. “Come, let us get delicious ice-cream. Tea-flavoured ice-cream!”
"Tea-flavored ice cream? You're obsessed. You're completely obsessed. Although actually," she added as they began to walk, "I have had green tea ice cream several times. It was delicious. So you may have a point."
“I was actually joking,” he said. “I might like tea but I’m not the Librarian. I was actually looking forward for a nice Solero for a change. Haven’t had one in forever and a day.”
"I have no clue what you're talking about, but that sounds awesome. Oh! Maybe they have those watermelon popsicle things! I loved those as a kid. I hope they've got them." She frowned suddenly. "Wait, what do you mean, you're not the Librarian? What's he got to do with tea-flavored ice cream?"
Des snorted. “He’s got this riddle he wastes way too much time on.” He chuckled. “He’s got nothing to do with ice-cream, tea-flavoured or otherwise, although green tea-flavoured ice-cream is a Thing, apparently.”
She grinned. "And it is a Thing. A delicious Thing. When it's done properly, anyway--the best version I've had was more of a sherbet. Sorbet. Whatever it is, I can never remember which one is the word I want..."
“I’d think that the proper way would be with no sugar. Like tea and unlike you — you’re the sweetest thing around.” He grinned widely.
She swung their linked hands back and forth. "Funnily enough," she said, "I agree with you this time. The best version I've had wasn't very sweet. Although," she added, letting go of her braid to poke a finger at him, "you just admitted that I go well with sugar...uh. Wait. That didn't sound remotely so cannibalistic in my head."
“Now ‘scuse me while I go fish my mind outta the gutter, love,” he said.
She thought for a minute, and then slowly went red again. "Well, alright, then," she said finally. "Better than cannibalism, at any rate."
“... Let’s find something else to talk about, shall we?” he asked. “This is getting awkward real fast.”
"Something else, something else...er. Tea? The queue? What we had for breakfast, assuming you actually had breakfast and I can remember when breakfast was? I don't know, I--I'm a little stuck on the sugar thing still." She smiled sheepishly.
Des chuckled. “It’s like when someone tells you to not thing about pink elephants. Hm, pink elephants…” He started to hum.
"You know a song about pink elephants? Really?"
He started singing under his breath: “Pilim vrudim, pilim vrudim betahaluka…”
Des shrugged. “Wonder what’s — wait, why aren’t we at the queue?” He blinked. “Looks like we might have wandered away, eheh.”
"I guess we have. It doesn't seem to have grown, though, so nothing's lost. To the queue?"
“Would milady do me the honour?” he asked, mock-seriously, and waved imperiously at the ice-cream van.
"But of course, milord," she said, and offered her arm. "If milord so pleases?"
“It’s this tropical fruit-flavoured ice cream they sell in various places in Israel,” Des was telling Dawn. “You can find it practically everywhere. As to the Librarian, well, he’s obsessed with a riddle of sorts. He also never ever ever eats ice cream.”
Dawn grimaced. "If it's what I'm thinking of, I...don't have a high opinion of it. But that's me. And what do you mean, he never eats ice cream? Really, never? No wonder he's so grouchy."
“I’ve never seen him eat any and he didn’t raid the fridge, either. But nevermind that, there is ice-cream to be had! Though, like everything, there’s a queue. Why does it have to involve queues.” He pointed at Harris and Sonia. “Oh well! More time to pay attention to the lovely Shakhar!”
"Queues it is," she said. "At least this one's short, huh? Oh, there should be a queue for badfics," she added, tangling and untangling their fingers as she spoke. "Not one where the badfics queue up to be missioned, but where agents have to queue up to be assigned a badfic. Wouldn't that be awesome?"
“While it might be fun, most badfic won’t be fixed, then.” Des smiled and ruffled Dawn’s hair with his free hand. “It would be awesome, no doubt, but we won’t be doing our jobs.”
She caught the hand that had ruffled her hair, and leaned in for a quick kiss before she continued talking. "That's not what I meant. It's that there would be so many of us that we'd outnumber the badfics. It'd be awesome. We'd be bored, maybe even get vacation time more often. You can't tell me that wouldn't be fun."
“Sou ka.” Des rubbed his chin with his free hand. “I hate dressing up. It’s, by rule, uncomfortable. ‘sides, I look silly in formal dress. I much prefer my coat.”
"It's a nice coat. But you always look nice."
“You too. You look wonderful. You make my heart race every time I see you.” He covered his mouth with a hand, then giggled. “Look at me, spewing clichés like a broken hose.”
"Want me to spout a couple, even things out?" she asked. "I'm sure I could think of some. You make me think in cliches sometimes."
Des chuckled. “By all means. My ego needs to get bigger. Wait, was that sarcastic or not? No? Yes? Ahh Shakhar help I confuse myself. Help help I’m being repressed.” He waved his free hand around.
Then he burst out laughing. He laughed and laughed and laughed until his sides hurt and tears were streaming from his eyes. “Oh, Shakhar, you’re simply wonderful.”
"Th-thanks," she said. "Glad I amuse you." She hesitated, then wiped away some of the tears of laughter. Her other arm stayed where it was.
Well, no, ‘blushed’ is an understatement. His face turned red and so did his ears. He stared at Dawn, his mouth slightly open.
She swallowed and stared back, her face going even redder.
He leaned in just this little bit, blushing even harder.
Trying to quash a small, nervous smile, she leaned in as well, slowly moving close enough that they were breathing the same air and their view of each others' eyes began to blur.
For a moment, anyway; he gave a barely-perceptible shrug and leaned further, planting his lips on Dawn’s.
...and then relaxed. She let her eyes close as the kiss continued, tentatively resting one hand lightly against the side of Des' neck.
… after what seemed like infinity to him, though it was but a short moment.
“Wow,” was all he managed afterwards.
"Yeah," she said quietly. "Wow."
He awkwardly ran it through Dawn’s hair. “That was wonderful,” he whispered.
"It was," she agreed. Her thumb brushed lightly against his skin. "We--we should do that more often, really."
“Oh, yes. Oh, most definitely yes,” he said. “That was awesome. Just like you are.”
"Shiny things, interesting stuff, books, Suvian artifacts. Tech has to go to my driver because, ehe, I can't touch it, but we take that too! Doesn't matter though, because I gotta make ice-cream sammiches!" The clown dropped down from the roof and there was the distinct sound of a pulley arrangement being prodded into life. A small hatch opened, its accompanying ping belying its provenance as a repurposed microwave door, and Wobbles hopped back into view, wielding the ice-cream sandwiches, both of which sported a flake sticking out of one side.
"Pay whatever you think it's worth!"
-Sand Theme from Heroes of Might and Magic III.
-Water Theme from Heroes of Might and Magic III.
-Sand Theme from Heroes of Might and Magic V.
-Cove Town Theme from Heroes of Might and Magic III: Horn of the Abyss (if anybody here plays HoMM III — you should check this mod out. It's really good.)
-Kingdom of Nords travel music from Mount and Blade.
It had taken Natasha an hour of digging through Headquarters, another half-hour of setup, and judicious application of Reinforcement magic, but she had finally done it. A rather battered-looking volleyball net had been erected on the beach, and now the tall woman was standing beside it, clad in a bikini and holding a volleyball.
"PPC Beach Volleyball tournament! Who wants to play?"
She was holding her umbrella in her teeth, her soaked clay tablet under one of her wings. She put the umbrella down behind the two agents, shook the water out of her fur like an animal, and sat down next to them, pouting.
"I thought you could use some shade," she said. "I'd dry myself off, but I'm not an outdoors person. I heard you mentioned something along the lines of magic, and I was interested, so here I am."
He was still wearing only his breeches, though they'd been cut off below the knee. "What is this? Some form of ritual?"
((The only games Chakkik has played are of the video variety. League of Legends, for instance.))
"Beach volleyball, kid. It's pretty simple. You've got two teams, and you hit the ball back and forth over the net. If it touches the ground on your side, the other team scores a point. First team to score at least twenty-one points with a two-point lead wins."
She tossed the ball lightly in the air with one hand. "Wanna give it a shot?"
((Eventually, Chakkik's mind develops to appreciate mammalian forms. His own, for instance. He later comes to accept it. This Chakkik is further along in the future.))
Chakkik blinked. "I do not understand what you mean by 'other kinds of advantages.' I suppose I should be grateful; I am not interested in females. And no, Stephanie does not shrink. She simply squeezes. Flexible bones."
"What I mean, Mr. Spock, is that if you want to show off for the other team, feel free. And that goes no matter which team you play for," she added. "Who knows, we might get some guys to join up."
"As for Stephanie... flexible bones? What is she, anyways, some kind of Phantasmal Species?"
((Mildly complicated puns are mildly complicated.))
"Yes. That would be what we in the business call a pune, or play on words.
"Monster Musume, huh? I've heard of it, but I don't really go for harem comedies. Good on them for hooking up. It's nice to see things work out for people.
"What about you, in terms of home continuum? I'm getting a bit of a Vulcan vibe, but you don't have the ears for it."
"This is not my true shape, though I have grown excessively comfortable with it. I am a duplicate of the Mantis Ant, the first boss. Also, what is a Vulcan? I am afraid that my interests are mostly within the fantasy genre."
"Okay, there's 'mostly focused on fantasy' and then there's 'never even heard of Star Trek.'" She shook her head. "Kids these days don't even know the classics. Well, I mean I mostly know because one of the agents who trained me was a huge Trekkie, but still." She sighed. "Secret of Mana... what kind of series is that?"
Rina raised her hand. "What about abilities we can't control? I've got better reflexes than a human, and I haven't figured out how to shut that down yet."
"You can do that?" Zeb asked, surprised.
"Well, apparently the Doctor could, so I don't see why not."
"Not everyone here is human, after all. Pretty much anything short of acid breath is good, as far as I'm concerned."
"Are there any other potential players in the immediate vicinity?" He held up a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. "Hmm... one would think that this search would be simple. This place is populated enough with agents..."
…walking over with a smile on her face. "Hey, Chak!" She lowered her voice. "Look, I know we started off on the wrong foot, but maybe we could make it up a little by some friendly competition? I'm gonna try to get used to…you know. No offense. Za'kiir doesn't know I'm here, so don't tell him, please?"
"Ah. Carlman. Such things are in the past."
((And that's five players...)
"Always good to get more people. Two on two isn't quite enough to make it really good, though."
She paused. "You're... Rina and Zeb, right? I'm Natasha. Nice to meet you."
Rina glanced around, her scowl changing to a grin when she spotted the two girls. "Hey, Zeb," she said, "I'm gonna go say hi to some people, alright?"
"Alright, I'll catch you later," he replied. "Might go see Tacitus in a few, I dunno."
Rina nodded, got up, and headed over to Ginger and Alloy. "Hey, guys, long time no see," she said, giving them a nervous smile.
Ginger grinned back. "Well, speak of the... well, the Sue you killed. Whatever -- do you know if there's anywhere to grab food around here?" She sidled towards Rina, grabbing at Alloy's book as she went by.
Alloy pulled it away from Ginger. "Get your own! Oh! Rina!" She hopped to her feet and waved. "It is good to see you again!"
Rina sat next to Alloy, smiling at her. "Sorry, Ginger, I've only been here a few minutes. I've got as much idea as you do. So." She stretched her legs out in front of her. "How've you guys been?"
Alloy attempted to dry her hair with a small towel, but only succeeded in tearing off a strip of paper. "Yes, 'ponies' would describe it quite well. Alternatively, 'OOC Discord, multiple Sues." She paused, trying to figure out how to explain the weirder parts of the mission. "One of which was a part-time number."
"And she took too much Bleeprin. Again."
Rina grimaced sympathetically. "You didn't OD on the Bleep, did you? Because my old partner did once and she was loopier than a bucket of eels in a ferris wheel. That was not fun in the slightest." She sighed. "Sorry you had to put up with that."
"The blak was the worst part."
Ginger added, flatly, "She freaked out."
Rina made a face. "If it makes you feel any better, at least it's not like the time my partner and I had to blow up an entire canon location and all the replacements in it." She grinned. "Admittedly, the KABOOM was pretty satisfying."
(Yes, all of my agents and other characters will be present! Including the secondary characters, too. I'll be setting up four different RP starters as soon as possible. Feel free to respond to any one of them!
As for who participates in which RP, well... You'll see when I get around to posting them. :D)
Stephanie approached the four people cheerfully, her "legs" coiling and uncoiling below her. "Hi, Cupid! Hi, Sarah! Ooh, who are you two?" Once she reached the group, Stephanie leaned down to give Backslash a better look. "You look adorable. You're like a blond Cupid!"
((So who's distracted by giant dangling breasts and how much are they distracted by it?))
"My eyes? I'm a kraken, I have cuttlefish eyes." Her attention returned to Backslash, and she seemed oblivious to his staring. "You are just too cute!"
With that, a large number of her limbs (including her arms) wrapped Backslash into a hug, pressing the Homs into her ample chest.
... and fearfully let go of Backslash. "Eep! I'm sorry! Scary lady!" Stephanie's eyes began to water, and she instinctively reached for a nearby source of comfort... which just so happened to be Cupid.
((Threats of violence scare the poor girl. If it's persistent, she starts crying.))
"I do like hugging people... but not scary people..." She started to tense up again, but Cupid's attention calmed her. "Mmm... that feels nice... not niiice nice, but..."
She started leaning more heavily on Cupid. "Sunlight... hugs... Cupid... mmm..."
Stephanie was clearly falling asleep.
"She's always like this, isn’t she?" He asked, at which Sarah merely shrugged.
"Do you want me to wake her up?" asked Backslash.
"I'd rather not, to be honest," said Whitney. "You’ve already made her uncomfortable once, albeit indirectly."
"Hey, Riaa! Long time no see!"
Valon looked in the direction she was. "Wait, aren't those the two..."
"... that I was with during the Rose cleanup, yes. Riaa's the one who taught me how to walk."
"Hello again, Kala," Riaa said cheerfully. She offered her hand to Valon. "So, this is your partner? Nice to meet you."
Lana nodded in greeting. "Hello."
"Hey, weren't you two with the wolf guy? Nice to met you properly! I'm Valon Vance." He gladly took Riaa's hand.
"Valon's not just my partner anymore, Riaa." Kala smiled at the drider and wrapped one arm around him. Valon started turning pink again.
"Narav? Well, he's my partner, yeah. He stayed home today, though. Something about tundra-adapted winter coats not mixing with the seashore," Lana explained.
Riaa smiled at Kala hugging Valon. "Oh? Congratulations, then."
"Yeah, good luck to you two. And, ah, a bit of advice," Lana said, leaning towards Valon and muttering very quickly into his ear before backing off. "Something to keep in mind, at least."
"Uh... yeah... I'll remember that."
Kala let go of Valon and scuttled back into the sunlight. "Regardless, neither of us can swim, and Valon can't stand direct sunlight. He's just hanging out in the shade, and I'm just sunbathing. It works." She stretched, and then lay down on a towel. "I like sunlight. So warm and comfy..."
"Mm, yeah. I can swim, but it's never very fun. And sunlight is very nice," Riaa said, setting down an oddly-shaped cushion and leaning against it with six of her eyes closed. The remaining two looked out on the ocean. "Huh, it's still weird to me how huge the ocean is. The sea and sky go on forever."
A tall, obviously Elven woman strode out of a portal. As is usual for most Elves, her face had high cheekbones, an aquiline nose, a pointed chin and thin eyebrows that seemed perfectly shaped for being raised. Unlike most other Elves, though, her sclerae were red, her irises were black and her skin was ash-grey, clearly marking her as a Dunmer. Surprisingly for a scion of a fantasy ‘verse, she wore a black longcoat that wouldn’t have stood out in the grimiest post-Cyberpunk continuum; her bare feet peeked from under its ankle-length hem.
Turning on the spot, she walked around, seemingly at random, until she stopped about a metre away from Stephanie and Chakkik. She took her coat off, gently spreading it on the sand and lying down on it. Underneath it she wore a bikini.
“You! Yes, you in the leather armour set! Can you please move aside? You are blocking the sun!”
Chakkik turned to the Elf. "... oh, another human." Chakkik's face was dripping with sweat. "What is this moisture on my hide? It does not matter. I have no need to relocate; I was standing here prior to your arrival, and I have no intention of joining in the frivolities near the water."
Stephanie looked curiously at the newcomer. "Ooh! Who are you? And where are you from? Elves don't have grey skin where I come from..."
...and got up. She walked to where Stephanie and Chakkik were standing.
“My name is Nilera. I am a Dunmer from Solstheim,” she told Stephanie before going stand right below Chakkik.
“At ATTENTION, SOLDIER!” she roared at him sharply.
Nilera opened her mouth to shout some more at Chakkik, but instead she positioned herself to catch him. “Get his clothes off him!” she told Stephanie.
She went back to her coat, picked it up and gave it a good shake. She returned to Chakkik and spread it beside him. Lying down on it, she looked at the disguised Mantis Ant. “What possessed you to go to a beach in full battle armour?” she asked in a snappish tone, after a while.
"I thought that dressing as normal would reinforce that I did not wish to join this... pointless venture. I am only here at all because my partner begged me to bring her, and I have no wish to leave her by herself. I prefer to keep Stephanie within my sight."
“Such loyalty is admirable,” she said, “but it was the height of idiocy. Surely you knew it was hot here?”
The Dunmer poked the sand with a finger. “Hm, reminds me of home,” she muttered. “This place is as hot as a volcanic island. The only people who wore armour in Raven Rock were the House Redoran guards, and I imagine they were cooking inside their bonemold suits.”
"I was unaware that humans do not tolerate extreme temperatures. I still do not know all of the biological limitations of this form. And no, before you ask. I will not revert to my natural shape. I have been disguised too long, too often. I can barely stand, let alone use my claws. I can no longer coordinate my body with my carapace."
((Would that last word be enough information to tell Nilera that Chakkik's true form is an insect?))
“Oh?” she said, surprised. “You are not a humanoid, then? Some sort of exo-skeletal creature?”
The Dunmer absentmindedly scratched circles in the sand with her finger. “What, exactly, might you be?”
And would a dagger in the back put you down, should the need arise? she added to herself.
"An earth-elemental creature from the World of Mana. The first 'boss' enemy of the second game, Secret of Mana. Nine feet of yellow carapace. I am often cited as one of the game's flaws; that I am too difficult to be the first major encounter in the game."
So I should bring my bow, then, Nilera mused.
“Now that you’re here, though…” she said aloud, “why not enjoy yourself? Off-time is so rare in the PPC.”
"Most of my spare time is spent either playing League of Legends or prying my partner's limbs off of me. If she looks like she is about to fall asleep, I recommend keeping a healthy distance."
He took notice of the volleyball net that Natasha set up. "What is that? Some sort of strange human ritual? I cannot say that it would surprise me."
The Dunmer shrugged.
“I would not know,” she said, playing with a lock of her relatively-short hair. “I never paid much attention to human rituals; I always had more soldiers to train, back at home, or other things to do over here.” She put her arms beneath neck and stared at the sky.
"Hello!" Zeb gave a little wave.
"...I'm sorry, have we met before?" Rina asked slowly. "Only, I don't recognize you."
Zeb grinned up at William. "I'm still a rookie, too! I've only been an agent for three months. You'll get the hang of things soon enough."
Rina, however, was scowling. "You're not the one who gave us Rose Potter, are you?"
"It's not being a rookie which annoys me," he whispered, slightly leaning towards Zeb, "It's the fact that VJ boasts about it so much."
Hearing the name of the infamous badfic, VJ went pale. Sure, she was known for having a high tolerance for pain - both physical and caused but badfics - but not in this case. Her expression immediately changed to serious.
"I wouldn't dare," she said. "Whoever did this to you, it was a sick joke... although, I did gave you your own story."
"She should get over it soon," Zeb reassured William. "Rina was a bit short with me when I first joined. Your partner should get over it soon."
((Hey, dude, it's considered Uncool to have your agents' actions directly affect other people's agents without their permission. I'm gonna just pretend that last line didn't happen, arright?))
"So, we just thought to drop by and say 'hi'," VJ smiled. She then sat with her legs crossed next to Rina.
"We are kinda... fans of your work, if you can say that." She tugged a strand of hair behind her ear.
"She's even more, since Zeb joined the team," said William, earning himself a bump to the shoulder.
Zeb sat bolt upright, eyes wide. "Fans? Of us?"
Rina snorted. "Oh, that's a good one. Pull the other one, will you?" She rolled her eyes.
VJ said, staring at Rina intensly. She tried her best to convince the fellow assassin that she was one of her idols. "You won't believe how many times I've read your mission reports... ALL OF THEM!"
"Tone it down, VJ," said William, scratching the back of his head. "I don't know why, but our resident Time Lady does not take this news well. Don't raise your glitter levels."
"Shut it, Magic Man."
"We go in, we do our job, and leave. And occasionally we massively screw things up." Rina turned away.
"Ah..." Zeb rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Sorry about that..."
Rina laughed. "Oh, man, that's a good one. You know she quit after about a year, right? Transferred to Bad Slash. She told me she was quite happy she moved when she did--didn't want to deal with the Rose crap that went down."
Zeb waved, then frowned at Rina. "That wasn't very nice."
"Don't care," she said curtly, drawing circles in the sand with her finger.
((Can you tell she's not exactly normal anymore? ^^;))
((It's getting worse~ And I assume, you want to keep her that way. Who knows, maybe Third Rina will be more friendly. If not, well... William has spells which, while cannot cure insanity completely, may be able to suppress bad memories. Just an option to remember, if something Bleeprin-ish would be needed to your plot.))
I've already got Plans lined up.
Though Zeb will be a welcome client, if he ever needs a potion or two ^^
Zeb, who tried and failed to skid to a stop, accidentally collided head-on with Gaspard.
"OhmygoodnessI'msosorryIwasn'ttryingtogosofastareyouokay?" Zeb said frantically, scrambling backwards and nosing at the unfortunate Spy.
Zeb shuffled his paws in the sand. "I was just coming over to say hello to Tacitus and I couldn't slow down in time. You're not hurt, are you?"
Tacitus jotted down a message for Zeb. "Ah, Zeb. If you came for information, I am on holiday right now. And don't worry about Sir over here. He's surprisingly resilient." The Zorua padded back to his dog dish and resumed lapping his cola.
Zeb nosed at Gaspard. "Please, say something. I'd hate to have to take you to Medical... ohhh, this is all my fault..."
...that, with a little bit of imagination, could've been interpreted as "I'm fine." Tacitus nudged Zeb and presented him with another note.
"See? Right as rain. Now, what do you want? I'm on vacation."
Zeb spared Gaspard another nervous glance before looking at the Zorua. "I wanted to say hello, you know, see how you were doing. I didn't mean to run into your friend. I'm awfully sorry about that."
"Mistakes happen. That one was not fatal. He'll live." He lifted his pen and looked pensively at a corner of the page before adding: "And Sir is not my friend. He is merely a benefactor. 'Friends' are not something that I have."
"But... I thought... aren't we friends?"
"I am the service provider. You are a client. Why do you care about me so much? Is this a ploy? What do you want?" Tacitus looked at Zeb and narrowed his eyes.
"Well..." Zeb sighed. "I mean, there aren't a whole lot of Pokémon agents here, you know? And you seem nice. I like talking to you." His ears perked up hopefully.
...almost as if he was laughing. Fumbling with the pen he held in his mouth, he scribbled: "Not a lot of Pokémon agents, no. And all of them hate me, too. Owen, Buck, Victoria, Maxwell... probably Gabrielle too, come to think about it. Human agents, too. I violate others' privacy and sell their secrets to the highest bidder, Zeb. I do this for a living, too. And you come here and tell me I'm 'nice'?" He laughed again and this time the pen fell out of his mouth. Tacitus looked at Zeb with mirth in his eyes. He shook his head, as if to say "You have no idea."
"But... I thought you just..." He shrugged, his tail swishing in the sand. "I never thought of you as a bad person..."
Zeb shook his head, his jaw setting. "She wouldn't. Never. Not in a million years. You're wrong!"
"And that is why it will hurt you so much."
"You're wrong. Maybe you don't have someone like her. But she's good, she's--" He swallowed ad shook his head again. "You're wrong," he repeated, with much more conviction.
It was an unpleasant smile-- all teeth and no warmth. "Of course I don't have anyone like her. I have no one. I've never had anyone. I don't even know my own mother."
Zeb gave Tacitus a long, sombre look. "You've got me."
Zeb looked from Gaspard to Tacitus, hurt. "But... it's not like that..." he protested.
"I'll... I'll just be going, then," he mumbled. He turned away and began trudging back toward the water.
"What do you want," he said dejectedly.
Aaron too had wandered away from the main area of the beach, though more out of a desire to explore than anything else. As he approach Gaspard's beach chair, the familiar Nuka-Cola bottle caught his eye. "You're not from the Fallout continuum, are you?" he asked hopefully.
...closing his book on his right index finger to mark his place. "Fallout? No, sir. I'm just a fan... and so is Tacitus here." He nodded towards the Zorua who was still greedily lapping up the soft drink. "Well, he's more a fan of the drink than the game, actually."
The spy looked at his cooler, then at the agent. He took his legs off his makeshift footrest. "Er, would you care for a bottle? I've got about a dozen, I don't mind sharing. Oh, and don't worry about the radiation: we managed to get our hands on a stock of pre-war cola. Aside from that one bottle of Quantum we have wrapped up in the lead blanket, they're all rad-free."
"Sure, if you don't mind," Aaron replied. "I don't exactly miss the food from back home, but I haven't had a Nuka-Cola in ages.
"My name's Aaron Hunter, by the way. DMS. How about you?"
"Sure, if you don't mind," Aaron replied. "I don't exactly miss the food from back home, but I haven't had a Nuka-Cola in ages.
"My name's Aaron Hunter, by the way. DMS. How about you?"
...and handed Aaron a bottle and a bottle opener. "Pleased to meet you, sir. I'm Gaspard De Grasse, Intelligence. That's Tacitus-- also DoI. He's, er, mute. Hence his little writing notebook he uses if he needs to 'talk'. So... um." The spy waved at the part of the beach mat sitting under the parasol's shade with his free hand. "Please, have a seat. I believe you mentioned that you're from the Falloutverse? Um, if you don't mind me asking... what was it like? Were you a Vault dweller or were you born topside?"
...though he passed on the opener, wrenching the top off himself. "Thanks." He took a quick swig and sat down. "Um, well, I'm just a semi-fic blip, so my backstory's kind of vague. Most of my memories are of the Capital Wasteland, but there are definitely some Vault dweller influences." He gestured briefly with his left hand, where his Pip-Boy was fastened. "I was a Brotherhood of Steel Initiate though, that much I'm certain of. Lyon's Pride," he added, with more than a little of his own pride creeping into his voice. "The rest of what I remember... not exactly beach conversation. What about you?"
"Born and raised in World One. Did nothing interesting until I arrived here. Now I grind out reports in a big room with hundreds of others exactly like me." Gaspard leaned back in his chair. "Your story sounds more interesting than mine, at any rate. You said you were part of Lyon's Pride?"