Subject: "A Mantis Ant."
Author:
Posted on: 2015-07-30 22:27:00 UTC
"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."
Valon blinked a few times. "Um... Kala? Darling? Care to explain why I'm in trunks, under a parasol, and on a pristine anime beach? The last thing I remember was you trying on..." He turned to his partner. "... that."
Kala grinned mischievously; she was wearing a plain red bikini top with a matching skirt. She pulled at the strings of her top. "Well, I figured these would distract you long enough for me to get us here."
Valon sighed. "Darlin', I can't swim, and the sun turns my skin into angry red pain after five seconds."
"I can't swim either, Valon. I'm fine staying right next to you." Kala scuttled into the shade of the parasol and gave Valon a hug; he started to turn pink at the sensation of her skin on his.
Next to the lapping waves on the beach, a trio of large beach umbrellas are planted firmly into the ground, angled together so as to provide a wide area of shade. Under the combined canopy, Maria lounged on a reclined beach chair, her tail moving sluggishly on the sand beside her. A radio is placed on top of a cooler beside her, playing a fast tuned beat at a low volume.
“I can’t believe we’ve never gone to a nice beach like this before.” She brushed some sand off of her stomach and her bat-themed bikini. “It’s relaxing, I guess.”
Mark gave a snort, sitting on the sand before the waves and reading a thick book. He wore only green swim trunks and his battered red scarf, leaving his scarred and maimed body visible. “I’m surprised you’d be relaxed at all with the sun so bright out. I made sure to pack the dustpan, in-case you die.”
“And I have plenty of blood for reviving you. Well, I guess everyone does, but it’d be pretty impolite to go around asking for some!” Cadmar grinned and laughed, letting her head flop down on the water where she was floating in a blue one-piece swimsuit.
“Gee, what thoughtful servants I have,” Maria muttered dryly.
Their conversation fell dead, and the tunes from the radio washed over them for a few minutes.
“… I don’t recognize anyone here,” Cadmar said, looking out across the beach and the people on it. “Are we on the wrong beach?”
“No, you’re just too much of a shut-in.” Maria looked down the beach, squinting her yellow eyes from the brightness. “I recognize some people. It’s what happens when you go out to social functions.”
...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--
The Guardsman looked down at his clothing. "What? It's not inappropriate or anything. Shorts, shirt, webbing, equipment-- what's wrong?" He idly twiddled with his laser screwdriver. "I have the right to do this, you know."
"I'll tell you what's wrong," replied Naya, fiddling with the RC's disguise generator. "You're working. On a beach. On your off time. That's what's wrong here."
"But we need to test the solar power umbilical power supply," said Terabyte, raising a finger. "A sunny beach would be the perfect place to fine-tune the system. Furthermore, you do know about my platform's recent battery problems..."
"Yes, fine, I get it," grumbled Naya. "I hope you two nerds have fun with your science experiments. Emiran, don't get sand everywhere or I will personally have you clean TB's micro-servos with a cotton swab."
The Guardsman fake saluted. "Whatever you say, ma'am. Say, what disguise did you pick this time?"
Naya shrugged. "Human. It's a pretty okay body, if a little unnerving. They have five fingers. Five! that's, like, two too many."
"Will you use your real face for this?" asked the Guardsman. "Come on. It's been a while since we're working together. Can I at least know what you look like beneath that visor?"
"Nope!" said Naya cheerfully as she applied the disguise to herself. A moment later, she was transformed into an Indian woman with wavy black hair. She wore a simple black one-piece bathing suit. The disguised quarian grabbed a beach towel from the RC table and said: "So, are we gonna go or what?"
"Let's go," said Terabyte and typed in a command on the console. A portal opened in the middle of the RC, leading to the beach. "Emiranlanoamar, I'll get the equipment ready on this end. Please take the solar panels and the wiring outside."
"Got it," said the Guardsman, grabbing a folded-up array of solar panels and moving through the portal. "I'll give you a shout when I'm ready."
Naya snorted and made a dash for the water. "Later, losers!" she yelled. As she ran across the beach, she looked up at the sun and felt the breeze across her skin. Ah, freedom. Thank goodness for disguise generators: apart from the clean room, they were the only way to escape her environmental suit. Up ahead, there was a blonde woman in a white t-shirt. Naya shifted her course slightly to avoid running into her and barrelled past the Reader. "'Scuse me, coming through!"
"...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!"
Naya tried to turn around mid-sprint to look at her interlocutor but only succeeded in tripping over her own legs. She fell flat on her face mere centimetres away from the water. Before she could even push herself up a wave crashed over her head, soaking her and her towel.
Further up the beach, by the portal, the Guardsman roared with laughter. "Boom, karma! That's what you get for calling us 'nerds'!"
"Agreed!" added Terabyte as it poked its head out of the portal. "And I resent being called a 'loser'!"
"Shaddap!" spluttered Naya from ground level. She got to her feet before a second wave came along and picked up her towel. "Bunch of stupid big... grmbl," she grumbled as she wrung out her towel. "Now who was it that was calling me...?" She locked eyes with the Reader. "Oh. Hey. Um... hi."
...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?"
Naya glared at her partner, who was busy deploying the solar panels and hooking up power cords to machinery inside his RC though the portal. "Look at him: he's shoved all of his tools in his webbing's pouches and is strutting around like some sort of self-important... bah." She waved a hand dismissively in his direction. "Don't wanna think about his stupidity. So, yeah. I'm a human this time." She pointed at her face and lowered her voice so that only the Reader could hear. "And this is actually my face. Er, as a human, that is."
Something clicked in Naya's brain. Pink cheeks, smiling, stares, some weird look in her eyes... "Uh, Reader?" she said. "Are you checking me out or something?"
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'm... what exactly? Very, very pretty?" she suggested, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "I know. I usually have that effect on people. Now, that being said..." Naya looked at the Reader. "You don't look too bad yourself. You're cute."
Further up the beach, Terabyte and the Guardsman paused to look at their partner. "Interesting. Naya's heart rate has elevated," said the geth, "but there are no hostiles in the area. What is the cause of the stress?"
The Guardsman looked from Naya to the Reader. "Hey Terabyte? Look at those two and take a wild guess."
"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."
"Kozar's sitting somewhere, I think," she said. "Probably with sand in his armor by now--he wouldn't take it off. He's probably hoping for an invasion of some sort. As for the water--" Her smile turned mischievous. "A dip sounds nice. Especially if the water is so good you want a second one." She glanced at the water, and then reached for the hem of her shirt, tugging it up and over her head, adding a slight shimmy to make the movement work. The shirt caught briefly on one arm, and then was removed, folded, and tossed aside, followed by her pants. Her shoes, of course, had been left in the RC; she knew that much about beaches, at least.
This, of course, left her in a purple two-piece swimsuit, which was very good for allowing her hair--in a ponytail instead of its usual bun--to brush against her skin whenever she moved or the wind caught it. It took several minutes before she stopped twitching.
"Well, then," she said, and tugged her hair over her shoulder. She smiled at Naya. "Shall we?"
"But, um... Not any further than a few metres from shore. I can't actually swim, see. A lifetime of living on a spaceship does that to people." Naya took a few steps towards the water and let the waves splash over her feet. "How about you? Can you swim?" she asked the Reader.
- - -
"Oh, lordy. She's wading in," said the Guardsman, squinting at his partner from his vantage point up the beach. "Terabyte, keep the portal generator on standby: I'll spot for you. I swear, if she drowns on my watch I'm going to get really upset."
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?"
...windmilling his arms as he tried to simultaneously regain his balance and not fall on his solar panel array. "Dives! How many times have I told you-- no flying tackleglomps! Come on! I was working here!" He sighed and patted her head. "But it's good to see you too. How have you been? You're not overexerting yourself, are you?"
Terabyte stuck its head through the portal. "Greetings, Agent Dives. Naya is currently enjoying the waves with the Reader," it said, pointing at the two agents in question. "Please do not disturb them. I am collecting data on a possible organic-organic romantic relationship. I plan to cross-reference my findings with my internal data banks later. This should prove to be fascinating."
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?"
"It received two major upgrades in its home continuum. One upgrade gave it true sentience and individuality, the other gave it the essence of life or something. TB wants to check the data it's recording from Naya and Reader over there against the impressions it got from the second upgrade."
"That is correct," added Terabyte, "but right now I am mostly worried that Naya will drown. She does not know how to swim-- I am counting on being quick enough to open a portal under Naya before she inhales too much water."
"Actually, I should go and try to convince Naya to move closer ashore," said the Guardsman, extricating himself from Rina's hug. "She'll probably yell after me but oh well. Might as well try."
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?"
"It sure beats having your jaw broken by your own foot which had been ripped off by a warrior!Sue. Good god, she was about this high," he raised a hand up to his midriff, "and was as strong as an industrial robot. I swear, one moment I'm trying to get a bead on her, the next minute I'm bleeding all over the place and I get a mouthful of DIA-issue steel toed boot."
"I believe that is called a 'wombo combo'," said Terabyte.
The Guardsman laughed. "You said it, partner. This guy was the real hero here: I'm down, Naya is getting shot up somewhere else, and then TB just casually walks forward, punches the Suvian, and knocks her out cold in one shot. Bam! Ptheh. Ew." The former soldier spat into his hand and held up a little white fragment to the light. "Oh, look at that. Part of my old jaw bone got stuck in my teeth. Remind me to floss tonight, there might be more."
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."
"I should talk to him: I haven't got much time face-to-face with him-- and he's your partner! I should fix that." He turned back to Rina. "D'you think he'd mind terribly if I went over there and introduced myself? I could also harangue Naya at the same time."
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!"
...under his breath as Rina towed him along. "You could've just pointed and we would've walked over there but no, it had to be hand-pulling. Of course."
"Sorry," she said, not sounding very apologetic.
Zeb noticed them and came bounding out of the waves to meet them. "Hey, Rina, what's up?" he asked, shaking his head to get the water out of his ears. "Who's your friend? Wait--" He sniffed curiously. "He smells like a Time Lord. Are you a Time Lord?"
"If we keep falling into HQ at this rate, half of the planet is going to be here before next the season is over! Anyways, I'm Emiranlanoamar. If you want to avoid pronouncing the vowel soup, just call me 'Guardsman' after my old rank. Maybe Rina talked about me-- she visited me a while back when being a Time Lady was new for her and all."
"Ooh, yeah, Rina's told me a lot about you!" he said, holding out a hand. "I'm her partner, Zeb. It's nice to meet you at last, Mister Guardsman." He grinned.
"Pleased to meet you, sir. Rina has also told me a lot about you too: you're one of those Pokey-men, right? Like an electric lion thing. A... Luxury? Laxray? Sorry, I'm rubbish at taxonomy. Mechanics are more my thing," he added sheepishly.
...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."
The disguised quarian was thigh-deep in water now. "Man, I wish I could swim. I would try to get lessons or something but apparently the HQ pool is and isn't a thing at the same time." After a little hesitation, she sat down in the water and shivered. "Brr! Oh, okay. Okay. Better. Ooh, this isn't so bad!" Naya let herself bob along with the waves, pushing off the bottom with her hands and legs whenever her head went underwater. "Yeah, I can see why humans love to swim. It feels like... Flying. Sort of." She looked at the Reader, about to ask her something about her life on Gallifrey, but stopped.
Goodness, the Reader looked really, really good with her hair tied up like that. Still starting at the Time Lady, Naya wondered how it would feel like to run her fingers in the Reader's hair.
Tentatively, the Reader slipped into the water. "Oh, it's nice. Warm." She pushed off, attempting to swim, and got a face full of water and her own hair for her trouble. She promptly stood up, spluttering and pulling her hair away.
"This," she said. "*This* is why I wear my hair up all the time. Now I know." She sighed, coughed, and finally just sank to her knees in the water, letting her hair float out behind her. "I don't know about flying, Naya--this feels more like a salty bathtub that's trying to drown me. Are you sure it's worth it?"
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!"
"She speaks the truth!" exclaimed the quarian, continuing to bob in the waves. "I am in shallow water. Emiran is making a fuss over absolutely nothing again."
Almost immediately as she said that, a wave crashed over Naya's head and dragged her underwater. Before the DIA officer could regain her footing, she was carried away from shore by a very strong current. Naya thrashed underwater, trying to kick and push her way to the surface but to no avail. It seemed like she wasn't moving at all-- the current was too strong.
The Reader stared after her, horrified. "*Naya*!"
The Time Lady dove after her, switching to the respiratory bypass after about two seconds. Unfortunately, between the current dragging Naya away and her swimming inexperience, she didn't get very far. She kept searching anyway, grimly.
Naya...
The same current grabbed her suddenly, pulling her under. She flailed, doing her best to remember not to breathe through her nose, and then she smashed into Naya, driving air out of both their lungs.
She watched Naya gasp reflexively, trying not to do the same, and tugged the disguised quarian as close as the water would allow. There had to be something she could do, some way to--
...the Guardsman swore explosively as Naya, then the Reader were pulled underwater. "Terabyte!" he yelled. "They've gone under! Portal, now!"
From inside the RC, the geth pointed its Omni-tool onto the console's keyboard and transferred some of its runtimes into the machine. It could work faster that way-- literally at the speed of thought. "I require a grid reference!"
The Guardsman ripped his laser screwdriver from his webbing and waved it at the water, searching for the two agents' bio-signals. "Come on, come on," he growled until the screwdriver biped happily. "I have it! Grab the data!" he said, pointing his tool at the portal to his RC.
In the span of a second, Terabyte had wirelessly downloaded the Guardsman's positional data, plotted a prediction for the current, and opened a portal to intercept Naya and the Reader. "Portal away!"
An upright portal opened facing up the beach, away from the ocean. A torrent of water thundered out of it, carrying with it the two women. As soon as they were through Terabyte cut the portal connection. Now, to check on the catch of the day," it said, running out of the RC and towards its partner and the Time Lady lying on the sand.
"Naya," she coughed, and rolled to her knees. "Naya?"
Please be alright, pleasepleasebealright, cone on, say something, breathe, blink, anything--
She leaned over the quarian, trying not to give in to the urge to just shake her until she moved on her own. "Come on, talk to me," she said hoarsely. "Naya?"
The Guardsman and TB slid next to the two women. Terabyte put a hand on the Reader's shoulders. "Ma'am, please let Emiranlanoamar take over. He is trained in first aid," said the geth agent.
Meanwhile, the Guardsman had rolled Naya into a recovery position. He scanned her with his laser screwdriver. "Well, she somehow managed to avoid inhaling water, so that's a good sign. I'm guessing that she's just out because of the sho-- arrgh!" He cried out in surprise when his partner sprung into his arms, enveloping him in a bear hug. "Naya-- Naya, it's okay, you're on dry land now, it's okay, you're crushing the air out of me, help..."
"Keelah," said Naya in a trembling voice. "Never again. Nope. I hate the beach."
...but now she stepped forward quickly to hover by Naya and the Guardsman. "Naya--Naya, you, you're alright now?" She reached out to place a trembling hand on the quarian's shoulder.
Both of them were covered in sand now, of course. Somehow, she couldn't bring herself to care--or to want to go back in the water to wash it off.
...enough to turn her head to look at the Reader.
"Yeah, 'm fine," she mumbled. "You... you went in for me. I saw you." She reached back and touched the Reader's hand. "Don't ever do that again. You could've drowned, you know."
...and wrapped her fingers around Naya's. "You can't expect me not to try to save you," she pointed out, as mildly as she could manage. "And anyway, I've got the respiratory bypass. I'm a bit harder to drown." She swallowed, clutching Naya's hand, and added, "Not to mention, I can regenerate. You can't. I'd rather change again than lose you." She stopped talking, looking down.
She should probably say something to Emiranlanoamar, something to draw the focus away from what she had just admitted--but she couldn't bring herself to. She couldn't lose Naya. She didn't think he wanted to lose her either, of course, but she wasn't prepared to cheapen that need, to make it seem less than it was. Not now. Not when she had nearly watched Naya drown mere minutes before.
She couldn't do that, so she stayed where she was and she held Naya's hand and tried not to pull her away from Emiranlanoamar so she could hug the quarian instead, because that would be rude and inconsiderate...but it was a close battle.
...Naya slowly let go of the Guardsman and stared at the Reader in shock. She then wordlessly leaned over and held the Reader tightly, resting her head on the Time Lady's shoulder.
"Reader..." she whispered. "Since when? I mean, we first saw each other when we were fixing your TARDIS and then a lot of times when Emi was giving you lessons. Since when did... did you think of me that way?"
The Guardsman and Terabyte watched the two in silence, not wanting to interfere.
Slowly, she shook her head. "Since--since somewhere along the way, I'm not entirely sure. I just--" She swallowed hard, and pressed her face against Naya's hair for several moments. "It's there, and I can't lose--" She shook her head again. "I understand if that's not... not something that you feel as well, but don't tell me not to try to save you. I'll always try."
"No, don't say that I don't feel that way," said Naya. "Reader... I like you. A lot. Hell, I think I might even love you. I don't know. I'm just..." She sighed. "Thanks. I'm glad you're watching my back."
"Phrasing, Naya," said Terabyte.
"Terabyte... no," said the Guardsman, scowling.
"Sorry."
This was the life: blue skies, hot sun, plenty of sand, and no Sue to chase through any of it. There was even water; she had gleefully splashed in up to her knees, and then splashed back out in favour of getting some sun. She had managed to unearth some sunscreen, though she hadn’t managed to apply it to some parts of her back, and she had found and donned a plain blue one-piece swimsuit that she suspected belonged to her sister.
Despite the sunscreen, the sun had been making her nervous that her fair skin would burn (not to mention that she had been getting too warm), so Dawn had flopped one of the damper parts of her towel over her legs and settled in for a nice relaxing doze.
That was not, of course, to say that she would resent any interruptions…
“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…”
Dawn shrugged. "I don't know that one. Might have to learn it for the next time a Suefic mentions something along the lines of 'don't think of pink elephants'...though mainly this is just reminding me of some song that has the line 'an elephant never forgets!' in it. And then there's one from The Jungle Book movie which I like but can't remember right now..."
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?"
“Milord?” He took Dawn’s hand and walked with her back to the queue. “Pf, me, a lord? Preposterous. My dad’s a humble high-tech worker and my mom’s a student. About as common an ancestry as there is. They’re not even rich.”
"My parents are a teacher-writer and a photographer. Doesn't mean I can't be a lady. Just the...recently ennobled sort, I suppose." She grinned. "I've even got the Emelan-style dresses to go with the station, though that's just for fun. And dress-up. But mostly fun."
A sound known across the multiverse. The sound of summer. The sound you spent all those long, sunny days waiting, begging to hear.
This sound.
The ice cream van powered onto the sand as if the driver was trying to roll the thing, which she probably was. The clown whose head was poking out through the sunroof waved a cheery hello to everyone on the beach.
"ICE CREAM!" Wobbles boomed. "GETCHER ICE CREAM! WE GOT EVERYTHING YOU COULD WANT AND MORE!"
"I hate you," grumbled the Notary from underneath her candy-striped uniform and cardboard server's hat as she gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles started to bleed, "but this is mostly because I currently hate everything, including ridiculous clowns that would otherwise be beneath my contempt."
“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.
...putting her arms around his neck. "Well, then. You make my heart skip a beat. I could get lost in your eyes--frequently do. In a room full of people, I only see you." She began grinning uncontrollably, but didn't stop. "Your laughter is the sweetest sound I've heard. When we kiss, I feel like I'm floating--flying--whatever it is. I get butterflies in my stomach when we touch--" She began to laugh, and had to choke out the next few words. "Sometimes I go weak in the knees instead. If we were letters of the alphabet, I'd put U and I together--hold on, that's pick-up lines." She paused for several seconds, laughing, and then came out with, "Say, do you play Quidditch? Because you look like a Keeper!"
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.”
...smiled back. "You're pretty good with the compliments. I think I'll keep you." She paused, and went completely red. "I mean--um--"
“That’s it, I’m taking you home with me,” he said with a chuckle. “You’re so lovely and cute and awesome I must have you.”
"Aw, shucks," she managed. "I'm not--you're--" She shook her head and leaned in to kiss him again, her movements careful and a little nervous. "That's cute," she said when her mouth was free again. "*You're* cute. I--I'm definitely keeping you."
“‘s weird, y’know,” he murmured after a while. “Nobody said anything.” He leaned in for another kiss.
...approached the ice cream van. The man was tall, blond, and dressed in black board shorts and flip-flops. A red towel was slung over his shoulder. The woman wore a long light blue sundress and sported round-rimmed sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat.
"Hello!" she said cheerily, waving at Wobbles. "Do you sell ice cream sandwiches here? If so, I'll take two: one for Harris and one for me."
"I insist on paying, Sonia," said Harris, fishing his wallet out of his pocket. "You've been really nice to me lately and I feel that I should repay the favour..."
Sonia smiled and brushed one of her pigtails out of her face. "Such a gentleman. Go on..."
Harris stepped up to the window and started counting his coins. "Righty-o, then. Er, how much will that be, ma'am?"
"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!"
Harris dumped the meager contents of his wallet into the palm of his hand and started sifting through assorted pieces of currency with a finger. "Two euro...seven Danish kroner... a pure silver bullet--you can smelt that if you want-- and a HQ Armoury voucher for a bladed weapon of your choice. I think that should be enough, yeah?" He handed the money to Wobbles and took the ice-cream sandwiches, handing one to Sonia. "Thank you!" he said as he and his companion departed.
"I'm not sure what brand of ice cream that she used, but this is definitely one of the better ones," said Harris between bites of his snack. "What d'you think, Sonia?"
The former badfic character nibbled on her sandwich. "I really like it! Well, that could be just me saying that because I've only had ice cream two times in my life but... I could eat this stuff for days!"
"Oh, right. You lived in the Fire Emblem 'verse-- right. No ice cream there. I can't believe I forgot that."
Sonia shrugged. "Eh, no big deal. Coming to the PPC was pretty much the best thing that ever happened to me. Lots of food, lots of friends..." She looked away for a second. "You..." she added quietly with a smile.
The blond man cocked his head to the side. "Me? What did I do?"
"Hm? Oh, nothing wrong," said Sonia, taking him by the arm. "Come on, let's go for a walk together. Maybe we might see some people we know."
"Oh, like De Grasse over there," said Harris, pointing at his colleague some ways away. "Looks like Tacitus is with him too. And over there..." Harris grimaced. "Looks like angel perv-boy and a giant squid woman. Uh... I think we should steer clear of that..."
"Agreed," said Sonia as she watched Stephanie press Backslash into her bosom. "Who else is there?"
"Well, there's the two famous agents over there," continued Harris, pointing at Rina and Zeb, "but I don't think they want to be disturbed."
"Let's just keep on walking, then," said Sonia. "Maybe we might bump into someone!"
So I was wondering what music would be fitting for this RP.
See, I only know three songs about beaches:
Pacific Coast Party (Smash Mouth)
When the Sun Goes Down (Kenny Chesney and Uncle Kracker)
Toes (Zac Brown Band)
Anyone have other songs that would work here?
-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?"
He hadn't exactly gotten a chance to play volleyball, but he knew he loved the beach, and no anime beach trip was complete without at least one game.
Chris, Ami, and Violet struggled to keep up behind him. "Slow down, will you? I can't run in these things!" Violet called. By "these things", of course, she meant her recently-acquired cheap white flip-flops. Instead of her tunic, she wore a form-fitting purple one-piece with holes cut out of the back for her wings.
"Well, why didn't you just wear your sandals?" Ami asked. Being a horse, she hadn't really seen the need to wear anything beach-related except sunglasses.
"They're too warm for the beach."
"Miguel!" called Chris, wearing gold swim trunks and his usual hat. "Wait for us!"
(Continued from these three posts.)
The vampire (who was carrying a black parasol and still giving the demon girl a rather cross look every once in a while) was relating a story to the rainbow-haired boy and the blue-haired girl about how he and his partner had tried to hijack the War Rig that the Furiosa replacement had been driving. They'd gotten to the point where they'd blown up the canyon when Lapis noticed the others for the first time.
"A fellow Pokemon trainer!" she cried, before rushing over to the group. "And an angel as well! Hey, hey!"
Rayner watched her go. "Nice to see she's making new friends," he said.
"I thought it was just the two of them," said E.V.L. "And her partners are busy elsewhere. But maybe that could change out here soon enough."
Meanwhile, Miguel had reached Suta by this point, who was still looming over the volleyball field. She looked down at the little human and asked, "Hey there! You playing as well?"
"I mean, yeah, my partners"--he indicated Chris, Ami, and Violet--"and I want to enter the tournament. I'm Miguel, by the way. The guy in the hat is Chris, the unicorn is Ami, and the angel is Violet. Who do I talk to to get us registered as a team?"
Meanwhile, Chris had no idea how to talk to the blue-haired girl. Did he ask about her prosthetic arm? What her partners had needed to blow up a canyon for?
"Hi, I'm Chris. Good to meet you. What's your team? I've got Meganium, a Mareep, and technically a Delibird. I hope I can catch a Gyarados or a Vulpix someday."
That would do, he supposed.
"You must be Cupid and Sarah's new partner," said Violet to the vaguely familiar girl. "I'm glad he's got someone else to keep him under control. Gods know he needs that. How long have you had blue hair?"
"What happened to your arm?" Ami asked, indicating the prosthetic with a hoof.
Chris gave her a warning look.
"What? I'm curious!"
"Yeah, but you don't just ask people why they have a prosthetic arm!" he replied. "That's seriously rude!"
...scattering more than a few bystanders as it erupted out of the waves. It looked like a two-headed sea monster at first, but on closer inspection, it was actually one creature riding on top of another one! Hanging six on the back of the Chinese dragon, the huge green T. rex opened its huge toothy maw and let out a thunderous roar that echoed across the coastline:
"SURF'S UP!!!"
The tidal wave rose up to eight feet high before hitting the shore. Rashida only had enough time to look up and cry, "Seriously?!" before she was drenched from head to tail.
Tianlong ended up belly-sliding onto the sand, dripping seawater from his mane, stopping so abruptly that Suta ended up cartwheeling over his head and onto the beach as well. Both of them sat up, looking at each other, and burst out into roaring laughter.
"Sorry about that," Suta said to the human she'd accidentally soaked. "But have you seen the waves out there? We couldn't help but give them a try!"
"Interesting prop setup you have there, madam," said Tianlong. "It looks as though you've set up a sporting competition of some kind. Volleyball, most likely. I will rather just observe your collective behavior, but I know a certain tyrannosaur who would be more than interested in cooperating."
"Assuming my little arms aren't a problem, that is!" Suta added, waving them and flashing a slightly mortified toothy smile.
In the middle distance, Rashida looked at the two of them and shook her head. It was going to take ages to dry out after this...
VJ declared to her partner, as she was pulling him towards the people who were gathering.
"Never thought of you playing volleybay," William said, slipping from the girl's grasp.
"Who said anything about playing?" VJ sat on the sand, near the players. "I wanna watch it from the ringside seats. Magic us some chairs and popcorn."
"No can do." William sat next to her partner. "Too much water nearby. No magic for a while."
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?"
"I am a fast learner." He cracked his knuckles a few times. "I assume that more participants are required, and I also assume that my partner would present an unfair advantage." He pointed out the kraken, who was currently giving a quartet of smaller agents quite the view. "The large one is my partner."
He then looked curiously at Natasha. "... you are female, are you not? In my experience, my human shape tends to draw stares from female mammals. Sometimes it seems to effect males as well."
((I guess I forgot to let you know: Chakkik's human disguise is Mr. Fanservice by design. I described him in the RP section with Des, but I'll go over it here: six-foot-four, very lean and powerful, blond hair, gold eyes, and fair skin.
Of course, it's entirely possible that Chakkik just isn't her type.))
"She looks pretty tough. As far as advantages go, I think being taller than the net might be a bit of a stretch. Does she have some kind of shrinker to let her get around HQ more easily? And yeah, we need more than two people to make it good."
At his second remark, she snorted. "Yes, I am in fact a woman. And you're not bad looking, but I've seen my share of pretty boys. I'm not going to drool like a fangirl, if that's what you mean. Now, if you're worried about other kinds of advantages..." She shrugged, purposefully showing off her rather undersized bikini. "That's all part of the fun."
((Chakkik's not exactly her type. Not unless he gets a trench coat, a gun, a somewhat lax moral code, and strong paternal instincts, anyways. Natasha has a very specific (arche)type, it just also happens to be a ridiculously common one.
And I know Chakkik doesn't go for women (or humans), but Natasha doesn't, so she's teasing him a bit.))
((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.))
"Her home continuum is Monster Musume. I do believe I know of another agent native to that continuum... and there she is, with her mate." This time, he pointed out Kala.
"Regardless, more players would be most welcome. I believe that you were making use of the word 'team' to reflect both the literal form and slang for sexual orientation?"
((By the way, the 211 team won't be joining. Kala's too short and can't jump, and Valon is almost completely nonathletic.))
"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?"
"It is similar in style to Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger. The game cartridge I called home was annihilated by an improperly performed glitch. I am the only survivor of that iteration of the World of Mana."
Chakkik sighed. "Alas, I do not believe this is the Fullmetal Alchemist continuum, and thus I am unable to access my magic. I can cast spells, but only in Square Enix-created universes. Elsewhere, I am limited to my acid breath."
He stared out across the water. "I do wonder what continuum we are currently in..."
((I never properly figured it out, eheheh. Generic Anime Beach and all.))
"Rough luck, there. At least you made it out okay. I'm from a badfic, personally. Fate/Zero, which I doubt is in your wheelhouse. Not even the group who recruited me knew anything about it.
"Acid breath? ...Okay, the other rule of beach volleyball is no special attacks. So no acid breath, Magecraft, secret ninja techniques, or dropping the moon on people."
((I couldn't find a way to work it into Natasha's backstory, but the reason the team who recruited her got the fic in the first place is that it featured Gilgamesh, and one of the agents had written slash based off the Epic of Gilgamesh.))
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...)
Rina approached, dragging a somewhat-reluctant Zeb behind her. "I used to be pretty good at that—at least, my first body was. Not sure about this one, but what better way to find out?"
"I've never played before," Zeb said sheepishly.
"Aw, don't worry, you'll be fine," Rina said, punching him lightly on the arm. "So, guys: playtime?"
((What do you mean I can't have my agents bouncing between RPs? :D ))
"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."
...was designed more for strutting around the beach than it was for swimming in. Not that Alloy had any particular desire to swim; Ginger had attempted to drag her into the water earlier, and Alloy was still cringing from the feeling of the wet paper sticking to her skull. Ginger had mostly ignored her after that -- the former Hermione replacement was checking her makeup in a tiny pocket mirror while she lay on a towel a few feet away.
The swimsuit in question was pink, with faux-lace hanging off of it. It was also about a size too small, but that was Ginger for you. Alloy herself was wearing the first thing she'd found -- a black one-piece swimsuit.
Ginger finally snapped the mirror closed. "Hey, 'Loy -- d'you have that book?"
Alloy clung to her copy of Men at Arms. "Yes, and I am reading it."
Ginger sighed and shook her head, sending carefully arranged hair flying back into disarray. "Look, it's cruel to lend me your books without letting me read the sequels!" She attempted to smooth her hair back down, only to find that the red curls would have none of it. "Ugh, whatever. I'd say that the Sue who gave me this hair needs to die, but she already did. Now tell me what happens with the gonne."
"Gonne?" Alloy asked. Her eyes widened. "Ginger! Spoilers! You have been reading my books while I was asleep, have you not?"
"Maybe," Ginger muttered. "Besides, I thought you were a fast reader."
"I am, when I have my glasses. You know, the ones you broke?"
"That was an accident! Just hold the book closer!"
"I am not nearsighted, you know! Just bad-sighted."
Ginger pushed herself upwards. "Yeah, fine, I know. I'm gonna go see if there's one of those dingy little snack shops around. You want anything?"
"No thank you, Ginger." Alloy flipped her book back open and squinted at the text.
((Yes, Ginger's swimsuit is a real swimsuit. It was just as appalling in person.))
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)
...when he felt something move underneath his trunks-clad rear. The rustling of the tree overhead gave him a moment's warning, and with reflexes worthy of his canon counterpart, he raised a hand to catch the coconut that had been destined for his head.
"Okay, who in their right mind would want to put me in Medical for head trauma on such a good day as this?" he asked crossly, looking up at the leaves of the tree. "Well, for most people, anyway..."
A moment later, he yelped and jumped to his feet. Something had poked right between his "lower cheeks", and it wasn't a crab.
He glared at the tree, preparing to lob the coconut at it. A moment later, a girl with leathery wings, a scaly pointed tail, and dark matter for hair seemed to rise from the shadow of the tree where he'd been sitting, trying to bite back a fit of laughter.
"E.V.L., what in Wayne's name?! Not. Cool," he spat, baring his fangs at her.
"Sorry," she replied, still giggling. "But you were feeling so relaxed. I just couldn't resist."
They'd just returned from a little, uh, private sojourn in a more isolated stretch of the coast. The two groups had only met just today, but the Homs and the angel had already become fast friends. The Super had suggested to bury the two of them in the sand, to which the fitness trainer had agreed, and it was safe to say that things had escalated from there.
Cupid was still doing a little jig upon the hot sand, his oversized bare feet feeling especially tender. Backslash had at least put his summer shoes on (his only other clothing being his swimsuit and scarf), but Sarah had temporarily confiscated the angel's sandals, and was now watching her poor hopping partner in amusement.
"Ooh, ow! Sarah, was burying me and Monado Boy here really necessary?!"
"Yes, it was. Really, with feet as cute as yours, how could I resist?"
"Yeah, well, can we not repeat that here? There are people in the area," Backslash chimed in.
"Yeah, I suppose our antics would probably be distracting for some," added Whitney, glancing at a bushy-haired young woman with a pink frilly swimsuit and her oddly papery partner lounging in the middle distance.
"Yeah, but still, nothing like a little fun in the sun every once in a while, right?" asked Cupid. "All that's needed now is a piña colada! Or the Greek equivalent, anyway."
They stopped under the shade of several palm trees, and the two assassins decided to rest under them.
"Suit yourself," said Backslash, before chuckling grimly. "The rest of us aren't alcoholic. I mean, I'd like to take a shot or two, but Whitney would probably put me in traction."
The fitness trainer laughed and patted his shoulder. "Why would I hurt my own student? I don't see a reason to do so... yet." She knocked twice on the palm tree as she said this.
Backslash gave his mentor a Not Amused look, while the two other teens erupted into laughter.
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?))
...while Cupid had his "drooling pervy idiot" face on. Sarah instantly realized what the two of them were staring at, and nudged her partner in the ribs.
"Cupid, her eyes are up there," she said, pointing at the kraken's face. Then she did a double take. "Her eyes are like WHAT?!"
The Homs agent continued staring at Steph's, uh, assets. "Uh... Thanks! Yeah, well... I'm Backslash, and this is my partner, Whitney! My mentor, actually. She's, uh... Why are you looking at me like that?"
Indeed, Whitney was trying to silently signal for him to back away, immediately. Not out of fear for his safety, but fear for everybody's dignity.
"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.
Sarah facepalmed, Cupid had a look of utmost betrayal on his face, and Whitney's expression looked a little TOO calm.
Backslash ended up getting a face full of marshmallow hell, his only response being "Mmph... Hhmmph! Mm gmmph." ("Uh... Thanks! I guess.") If she'd seen his face, Steph would've seen that even his ears were turning pink. As it was, his scarf seemed to stiffen by itself...
"You may let go of my partner now," Whitney said in a completely emotionless voice after a few moments, holding up a green soccer ball. The look on her face could only mean that she meant business.
"And I'd do that pretty quickly if I were you," added Sarah, carefully edging away.
(Yes, Whitney is rather... possessive of her student. Remember, her response to Not!Luigi beating the snot out of him on their first mission was to snap his neck. XD)
... 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.))
...who instantly dropped her Header, looking embarrassed and ashamed. "I'm so sorry," she said, raising her hands in a gesture of surrender. "I jumped to conclusions there. It won't happen again."
"And I’m sorry too," said Backslash. "She's horribly protective, just so you know. The replacement we were after on my first mission learned that the hard way."
"Remind me never to get on your bad side, Whitney," said Sarah.
"Whitney, that was uncalled for!" Cupid cried, stroking one of Stephanie's tentacles in a bid to console her. "She just likes to hug. Right, Steph?"
"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."
"I'm feeling great!" the blue-haired girl replied in excitement, before looking down at her sea-blue one-piece bathing suit. "This looks good on me, does it?"
"You're really cute in that," he replied, ruffling her hair. "Nice prosthetic, by the way."
"Thanks! A vampire gave it to me. Said it came from a Furiosa replacement, whoever that is."
"Ah, from Mad Max: Fury Road, huh? E.V.L., Salvo, and I all got to see that movie a while back, and it was really an emotional ride, literally! For what amounts to a two-hour car chase, that says something."
"I'd like to see it, but I'm still too young," she admitted, rubbing the back of her hair. "But I'll take your word for it for now!"
...baring a sharp-toothed grimace. But the subadult Deinonychus wasn't ferocious at all today. Actually, he was more afraid than anything.
Beyond the dune that Ripper was using as a hiding place, a white Sphinx was lounging under a large, hieroglyphics-patterned umbrella. She was using her front claws on a clay tablet as calligraphy practice, on the grounds that it would keep her calm.
And further still, a Skarmory was practically hovering over the ocean waves, using the wind blowing in from the sea to keep himself steady. Nothing like pretending to be a Wingull on a fine summer's day!
Falchion was having so much fun that he barely registered when Ripper called out to him. Or maybe that was just the crashing of the surf.
"Have you lost your instinct for self-defense, brother?! You are practically asking to be eaten out there!"
"Really?" Falchion cried back. "You honestly think that's the case? There's no Sharpedo or Gyarados out here! It's just an anime-style beach, that's all! And you're just afraid of the ocean, aren't you?"
"I-I'm not afraid of the sea, thank you! I fear the beasts that lurk within!"
"Please stop arguing, you two," Rashida growled, rubbing a sandy front paw against her forehead. "You're breaking my concentration!"
Riaa stretched out her arms as she and Lana walked down onto the sand. "Ahh, what a nice day," she said happily, adjusting the soft blue shirt that served as a sundress.
Lana smiled. "Glad you're enjoying yourself."
"So, why didn't Narav want to come? Not that I'm complaining about spending time with you, I mean."
Lana shrugged, replying "I think he just doesn't like the seaside. Makes sense, I expect sand's quite hard to get out of his fur."
"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."
Valon leaned back against the parasol pole. "I grew up surrounded by trees and mountains. I've never gotten used to a flat horizon."
Kala turned her head curiously toward her partner. "You know, you've never told me much about your past. You hiding something?"
"Nothing worth hiding. As much of a weirdo as I am, my life before the PPC was pretty boring and uneventful. There were good times, there were bad ones. That's all there is to it."
Kala shrugged and rested her head on her arms. "If you say so..."
((Considering how dark Kala's skin is, I'm not sure she'd need sunscreen. This, the obvious option of "rubbing lotion into back" really need not apply here.))
A tall, blond man stood a good thirty feet from the water, fully dressed in leather armor, a tunic and a heavy yellow cloak. The fact that he was shining with sweat didn't seem to bother him.
"Aw, come on, Chak, it's no fun to be at the beach if you're fully dressed!" His partner, an enormous woman with bubblegum-pink skin and ten tentacles instead of legs, slithered around him in a blue bikini top that was clearly straining under her massive chest. "Besides, you could get heatstroke!"
"I do not know what heatstroke is, Stephanie, and I do not particularly care."
((I apologize for the low quality and the in-person cameo of my shirt, but this is what Stephanie looks like. I don't have access to a scanner right now...))
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.
His expression was blank. "I am no soldier. You have no authority here... urgh, I feel weak... what is this?"
Stephanie's eyes widened. "Chakkik, that's heatstroke! You're wearing too much, you're overheating!"
"My pride... will not... allow... such frivolousness..."
Chakkik's eyelids fluttered; he was obviously about to faint.
((Yep, too proud to wear anything less than his normal gear.))
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.
Stephanie hurried to her partner as he fell toward Nirela. "Sorry, Chakkik, but I tried to warn you!" Ignoring her partner's feeble protests, she unfastened his cloak and simply broke the straps holding his armor in place.
She was about to remove his tunic as well, but Chakkik shook his head. "No... if I must suffer this indignity... best I do it myself." Chakkik shouldered free from Nilera, and pulled his yellow tunic over his head.
He was now clad only in boots and breeches. He was lean and muscular, and completely drenched in sweat.
"Now that what remnants of dignity I had left are completely spent," he said wearily, "I think I shall remain here to cool."
"I suppose my pride is a small price to pay for this comfort. This place is blessed by the Elemental Spirits."
He gestured airily at the scenery. "Sylphid provides this calming breeze, Gnome has given this sand a perfect consistency. Undine's beauty can be seen in the ocean, and Salamando's heat is dull and pleasant. Lumina's light shines from the sun, and Shade provides a comfortable retreat. Dryad grows the trees here, and I am certain that Luna would make the waves dance."
As he rambled, Stephanie wandered off, leaving him alone with the Dunmer.
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.
was a bony teenage girl with braided red hair, wearing a long-sleeved swimsuit and board shorts. Beside her was a lean, rather handsome young man with dark gray hair and yellow eyes, dressed in a pair of navy blue swim trunks.
"This is really nice," Zeb remarked, tilting his face back to catch the sun. "Reminds me a bit of Sandgem Town--my mother used to take me to the beach in the evenings when the humans weren't around, back when I was a cub."
"We never lived near a beach when I was growing up," Rina said, digging her toes into the sand. "So it was always a treat when we went on vacation. My dad taught me how to surf. I don't suppose you've ever done that before? It feels like you're flying across the water."
"No, sorry," Zeb said with a grin. "I'll have to try it sometime." He looked over his shoulder, noting the other agents with interest. Perhaps he'd have to say hello to Tacitus sometime. "I do have a question, though."
"Yeah?"
"The other females seem to be dressed in a lot less than yourself. Why is that?"
Rina paused for a moment, then eyeballed him. "Okay, seriously? It's a bit hard filling out a top when you've got no chest to speak of."
"Oh, okay. I was merely curious." Zeb lay back on the sand and stretched out, putting his arms behind his head. "I like this. It's peaceful."
William growled, trying to prevent her partner from laughing her ass off. He then noticed two people, sitting near the water.
"Hey, VJ," he said, nudging the girl with his foot, "are they..."
VJ stopped laughing, although she was still clutching her stomach, and looked towards where Bill was looking. Her eyes widen a little and she put her Fangirl Smile #4 on. "Oh yes, they are..." She quickly got up, sweeped some sand from her body and motioned William to follow her. They both walked up to the pair.
"Hey, 'scuse me, hi," she said, leaning towards them and waving her fingers. "Are you guys by any chance, agents Dives and Zeb?"
"Hello!" Zeb gave a little wave.
"...I'm sorry, have we met before?" Rina asked slowly. "Only, I don't recognize you."
VJ said, "Although I used to send you guys a bunch of missions. I'm VJ, former Spy from the DoI, currently a new transfer to the DMS."
Pointing her thumb at the man, she said, "And the lump of fun here is my partner, Bill. He's a rookie."
Hearing this, William rolled his eyes. "You really like pointing that out, don't you?"
VJ only grinned.
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..."
VJ tried to say something but she was stopped by William, who put his hand on her shoulder and just shook his head.
"Ms. Dives," he said, facing Rina, "this kid here was working her arse off in the DoI, went through massive amount of painful badifcs and the reports of sporking them were bringing her such joy..."
"Bill," VJ said, feeling her cheeks slightly burning.
"When she transferred to the DMS, she wouldn't shut up about you two. Believe me, I've tried everything, even the Silencing Charm. It was you. You and Ms. Randa, who inspired her to transfer from a desk job to action."
"Enough." VJ turned away. Her face was now more red than Rina's hair.
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."
Seeing this, his partner just sighed.
"I guess the hint was subtle enough." VJ slowly stood up, sweeping some sand from her legs. Her expression was now a mixture of sadness and humility "I'm sorry for causing you inconvenience. Please, enjoy the rest of your day."
William stood up soon after her. Walking away, he just turned his head to Rina's partner. "Pleasure meeting you, Mr. Zeb."
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 ^^
...near the tree line, a blue-rimmed portal opened and let through two people: a young man with a backpack and a Zorua. The former hauled a beach chair and a plastic cooler behind him while the Pokémon balanced a beach mat on its back and dragged a parasol in its teeth. In a few minutes' worth of set up, the portal was closed, the parasol was deployed, the beach mat unfurled, the beach chair pointed towards the ocean and sat on by one Gaspard De Grasse, and the cooler used as a footrest. Gaspard was pouring the contents of a bottle of Nuka-Cola into a dog bowl for his companion.
"Here you go, Tacitus," he said, placing the soft drink in front of the seated Pokémon. "One ice-cold Nuka-Cola, just as you like it. Thanks again for helping me secure that 24-hour leave."
Tacitus nodded curtly and immediately went to lapping his soft drink. The mute Zorua would've scribbled something along the lines of "thank you" in the writing booklet it used to communicate but nothing, nothing came in between him and his Nuka-Cola.
The human agent smiled slightly and went back to staring at the shimmering waters, sipping occasionally at the Nuka-Cola bottle in the chair's cup holder. As much as he wanted to swim, he was too comfortable to move. Opportunities like being able to sit still and relax somewhere nice were far and few between in the PPC-- might as well take advantage of them. Besides, under his hat, sunglasses, green t-shirt, and blue board shorts we was wearing enough sunscreen to block out gamma radiation; going for a swim would mean having to reapply all of that sunscreen again.
Gaspard pulled out a copy of Persepolis from his backpack and began to read. He was far enough from the others that he couldn't hear them. Tranquility at last.
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.
...too dazed to hear what Zeb had to say. Of course it had to happen. He brought it on himself with all of that meticulous planning and effort. Nothing escaped the Ironic Overpower-- especially not his little happy picnic.
Gaspard felt around his face with a hand. It stung. A lot. He wondered if the impact of the whatever-it-was re-broke his nose. Fantastic. He turned his head towards last known location of Tacitus. "Er, Tacitus? I think my nose might be broken again. Can you check?"
A moment later, a piece of paper poked his brow. He clumsily reached over and held the note in front of his face. "Not sure what I'm looking for. If you meant to make me check if your face was even more messed up than before, then I am pleased to report that I cannot see any difference. There is no blood, either."
"Thanks, Tacitus," mumbled Gaspard. "I think I'm just going to lie here for a bit and think about life."
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..."
He was barely able to hold the pen steady in his mouth now. He took a few moments to collect himself and then put pen to paper again. "You are so naive. Hilariously so. You never suspect that someone can be a bad person, can you? Here's the thing, Zeb: we've all got hidden sides. You, me..." The Zorua glanced at Gaspard. "Him. Especially him. And her, too." His gaze settled on Rina, in the distance. He looked back at the Luxray.
"I'm going to give you one piece of information for free. When I was young, I learnt that everyone is a bad person. They will do anything to cut their opposition's throat and survive. It helped me survive. You need to learn that too before someone hurts you."
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."
The Zorua padded around the beach mat, laughing hysterically. Occasionally, he would calm down and glance at Zeb before erupting in a fresh fit of laughter.
From his supine position in the sand, Gaspard said: "I have no idea what is going on because I only hear you, sir, but Tacitus isn't going to just accept that. You're the client, he is the information provider, and Madam is his employer. That's his little world right there, cut-and-dried. 'Friendship' isn't a word in his vocabulary. He thinks it's a fancy way of saying 'eventual betrayal of trust'."
Zeb looked from Gaspard to Tacitus, hurt. "But... it's not like that..." he protested.
"I wouldn't know either," mumbled Gaspard as he let his head flop back into the sand.
By then, Tacitus had recovered from his laughing fit and found his pen. "Go on," he wrote with a smirk. "Use the Power of Friendship to redeem me. Use your saccharine feel-good statements to make me want to be a better person and realize that the only thing missing from my life is love. I have money, I have power, and I have prestige. I am on top of the world. I don't need anything else."
"I'll... I'll just be going, then," he mumbled. He turned away and began trudging back toward the water.
...and watched Zeb walk away.
"Tacitus, what the hell did you say to him?" he asked. In response, the Zorua simply shrugged and pushed his notebook towards his colleague before returning to his Nuka-Cola in a bowl. Gaspard read the notes before closing the notebook with a slap. Tacitus' ears twitched at the noise.
"T'es un ostie de maudit de gros trou d'cul," he said in a level voice. "You go and apologize right now. That is an order."
Tacitus froze. He tilted his head as if weighing up the alternatives and then turned around, retrieved his notebook, and quietly padded after Zeb.
"What do you want," he said dejectedly.
"I am ordered to apologize to you for my words and actions. I would be lying if I said I didn't mean any of it, but I see greatness in you, Zeb. We need you to shrug off that naiveté and become strong. By exposing yourself to the harshness now, you can cope with the pain later."
Zeb shook his head. "Apologies don't count unless you mean it. You can't be forced to do something like that. It's gotta be sincere."
He wrote another note. "Fine. You got me. Words are cheap, you're right-- they build lies. What I meant to say is this: you are too trusting for your own good. People can and will walk all over you if they have something to gain. A little suspicion and paranoia never hurt anyone-- and you'd benefit greatly from relying less on your gut instinct in your day-to-day life. If you keep playing with your cards face-up, you're going to get played, Zeb."
"What was it Rina said? 'Better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all'? Something like that."
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?"
"I don't know much about World One, actually - my partner's a badfic recruit from some modern fantasy anime, so I can't exactly take her word for things."
"Yeah. Like I said, my backstory wasn't very fleshed out, but I've got the power armor to prove. Sentinel Lyons is... she's incredible." Aaron's cheeks reddened slightly. "I know she's not really fond of wastelanders, but she was always completely fair to me," he said eagerly. "She just has pretty high standards for us Initiates, that's all. And her Super Mutant kill count is top tier."
Aaron took another swig before changing the topic slightly. "Hey, you've played the game pretty thoroughly, right? You don't remember any NPCs named Mikasa or Armin, do you?"
...as they saw a large could of sand swirling close to them. When everything calmed down, Valon and Kala could hear two individuals arguing.
"Don't you dare hide under that hoodie all the time, old man," a cheerful female voice said. "It's time to catch some bronze for the ladies!"
"I agreed to teleport you to the beach," another voice, this time belonging to a man, replied, "I can patiently wait untill you're done playing and then we'll get back. Besides, this colour works too."
Two people have enter the beach: one was a young slender woman with shoulder-length black hair, and blue eyes hidden behind glasses, wearing a Hawaiian shirt over a black bikini. She was definitely the one having more fun. Following her was a taller man carrying a picnic basket ana a parasol. He, on the other hand, was fully clothed, with jeans, shoes and a grey hoodie over his head.
"Come on," the girl encouraged him, "do it. I dare you."
The man only dropped their equipment and sighed. "You won't stop, will you?"
After the girl shook her head, the man decided to finally remove his clothes, leaving only black swimming with a nautical star pattern. Now his messy, dark red hair, green eyes, and a small, pointy goatee could be seen. The biggest surprise was that his skin was pale. But not just simply pale. The man literally was paper-white. Even more, if that's possible. His companion covered his mouth, trying to contain laughter, before finally falling on the sand and rolling around, clutching her stomach.
"Hahaha! I-I can't..." she wheezed, trying to regain her breathing. It made the man fluster, which gave even more comical effect.
"It's not that bad," he said, but the girl had another opinion, still laughing loudly.
"It's so shiny! Hahaha!" She started punching the sand, spreading it a little around her. "The beacon of Minas Tirith! Hahahaha~! Gondor calls for aid!"
"I'll murder you, reanimate you, then murder again," the man grumbled, as he started setting up their place at the beach.
((I've decided to give a little description, since their profiles are still in the making.))