[PRP] Sunny Side Up (Byakko x Zeffer) [FIN]

[melona-pan]

x


Where: The original rebel brooding cavern
When: After rebel mini meta 2015, before Maneki's hatching

 

[kamileunaire]

Zeffer stepped carefully as he wandered around the vast cavern that now housed the rebel mother grub, eyes combing the area as he inspected it carefully. Only a couple weeks had passed since his promotional meeting with Akko, and already he was being recruited to do a few different jobs that didn't really fall into the realm of 'security'. He had gladly acquiesced, of course. Though he was especially talented at beating the s**t out of other trolls, his muscle was useful for more than just combat. Their headquarters needed to be rebuilt, and other features needed to be implemented. One of those things included a set of trials for rebel wrigglers to pass through once they were done pupating. Zeffer had agreed to accompany Byakko on a trip to the caverns to begin the process of planning, and as they trudged up through the slender passageways, the blueblood attempted to think back on his own experiences.

"How are we gonna get lusus for them all, anyway?" He asked after a while, tapping his boot against a stalagmite. It wouldn't be too difficult to incorporate a series of obstacles into the twisting caves, and for a moment, he wondered if Akko had ever considered going easy on them at all. As the cavern began to open up, the rhythmic sound of breathing could be heard up ahead, and Zeffer grinned. With any luck, Akko would let him take a quick peek at the wrigglers before they set about their task.  

[melona-pan]

Akko's face twisted in vague disgust at the mere mention of lusii, but she shrugged nonchalantly in response. "Won't be a problem," as they broke into the main cavern, she turned to point towards the dark maw of yet another series of tunnels on the opposing side of the cave. "I want to set the trials up that way. There's plenty of ways leading out of the mountain in that direction- they shouldn't have any difficulty sniffing out the newly hatched." It was almost laughable, how ironic the situation to her seemed; the mutantblood was plotting out trials and the surviving troll's way out of the mountains, when she herself had been stuck in limbo at the end of her own. "As far as I'm to understand, that much shouldn't be an issue." She had absolutely no intention of being even remotely near the caverns when the lusii wandered in, drawn by the scent of baby trolls. Byakko shivered with disgust. Reaching up to scratch at the tingling creeping up the nape of her neck, Akko's pace slowed as she paused to study the cavern. Eggs and discarded shells littered the floors, even this far away from the Mother Grub. Either the wrigglers hadn't noticed their entrance or were completely disinterested- they were occupied playing and fighting among themselves closer to their looming mother.

"There's a smaller cave on the other side where we stored some supplies. Want to see what we have to work with?" Byakko fully intended on making the trials as challenging as they could muster. She had little interest in forcing the trolls the Initiative's Mother Grub hatched into the rebellion; but she also had little investment in those troll's survival. And the ones who did stay, who were recruited back into their cause- they needed to be strong. Stronger than strong.

"This way. And leave the wrigglers be," Akko wasn't sure if it needed stating, but she barked back at Zeffer nonetheless as she herself veered around in a wide semicircle around the Mother Grub in the direction she had earlier gestured towards, carefully avoiding the fringes of her brood.  

[kamileunaire]

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Zeffer smirked at her expression change, and looked to where she was pointing. He understood her distaste toward lusii well enough, but hadn't asked to get a rise out of her (for once). Though the knowledge of how lusii found their chosen trolls was a simple and well-known fact, it seemed almost strange that there would be a second cave, now. He hoped the presence of the new lusii wouldn't attract too much attention; some of them could get pretty ******** huge, after all, and there were still military outposts in Chittentown and the desert. Would anyone notice if there was a sudden, large movement of the massive white creatures? Zeffer hoped not. As she went on about he plans, he nodded silently, more than willing to adhere to her wishes as far as the trials went, as they made their way across the main chamber.

"Aw, can't we take a little peek? I mean...to make sure everything's okay?" The grin on his face was wide as he failed to cut as wide a circle as Akko. He knew they had important work to do, but it didn't seem like a bad idea to check over the Mother Grub and her brood. After hesitating for a moment, he drifted closer toward the area, taking slow, careful steps. Even eggshells were gently toed aside, as he neared the spot the Mother Grub had claimed as her own. When the wrigglers and eggs came into view, he came to a slow stop, and hovered near a tall stalagmite, nibbling the inside of his lip. It certainly wouldn't do to disturb or anger her, so he held back, and looked behind to see where Akko was. <********, they're so cute." He snickered in a low voice as he watched the grubs scrabble about, rolling and mewling at one another. Once again, he was weirded out and endeared all at once - there was just something weird about seeing such young trolls, and just as before, the sight filled him with the urge to safeguard what they had worked toward.  

[melona-pan]

"Theyre fine." Akko heaved with irritation, whipping her neck around to glare at Zeffer in obvious disapproval as he braved closer towards the wrigglers. "Does it sound to you like anything's wrong?" Still, he continued to edge away from their path, discarding her warning. "Zeffer--" Her low hiss was lost against the constant mrowlings of the wrigglers. Byakko let out a frustrated groan, kneading hard at her brow with her thumb and forefingers. Gog damnit.

Sulking after him, Akko made a point to keep close on Zeff's heels lest he do something stupid and she needed to yank him away by the scruff and retreat. Eggshells split and cracked under her wooden sandals as she trudged through the discarded scraps, not half as gingerly as Zeffer himself moved. The rebel leader was far less enthralled by the young trolls than Zeff and much more interested in getting back on task, but causing a scene would likely disrupt the brood just as much as the blueblood's appearance. Thankfully, Zeff stopped to linger just before she felt the need to grab him. Drawing her arms up to her chest, Akko shifted her weight onto one leg and gazed over to the rainbow of squirming wrigglers contemplatively.

"Cute? I guess," the word wasn't really in her vocabulary. Tilting her head as she looked back to inspect Zeffer's enthusiasm, Akko granted him a few minutes of gawking before she moved to tug on the back of his coat.

"Come on, we've wasted enough time."  

[kamileunaire]

"You never know..." Akko's scolding went largely ignored as Zeffer took the opportunity to observe the hatchlings with a little grin on his face. Even his excuse for looking had been largely bogus (he was sure Akko would never interfere with them at that stage anyway), but he simply couldn't resist. In following with his excuse, his eyes roamed over the babies, before his gaze shifted further back, to the random collection of equally colorful eggs situated just beneath the Mother Grub. Just like Akko had claimed, everything seemed to be in order. The Mother Grub probably did a fine job protecting her young, but just as he was about to turn away, Zeffer saw something that made him squint.

"Wait up, Akko. Look at that one egg on the side there." He tried to point, and gained a few inches by climbing up onto the craggy base of the stalagmite. "Does it seem a bit bright to you??"

It would have been a prank in very bad taste, if it had been a prank at all. But Zeffer's tone was bereft of its usual mischief, replaced instead by genuine curiosity as he tried to get a better look. Before waiting for her to answer, he began to circle around the brood, trying to get a clearer view of the egg in question without getting too close.  

[melona-pan]

"Huh?" At first, Zeffer's words didn't quite click in her thinkpan. Squinting up at him skeptically, Akko replayed them in her head several times, blinking away the fog of confusion brought on by what she initially assumed to be miscommunication- but no, he was clearly just ******** around with her. A swing at her mutation? That was cheeky, even for him. Byakko's perma-scowl deepened further, firm lines creasing her face as she glared punitively up at Zeffer.

"That's not funny." Voice low with warning, Akko turned up her nose, bit on the insides of her cheeks and thew him the best cut eye she could muster. She was going to reach out and yank him off his perch to retreat, but before she could grab hold of his jacket Zeffer had slipped off; clearly intent on disregarding her previous warnings about staying clear of the Mother Grub. "Zeffer- hey, wait, wait- get back here!" Realizing her chiding had picked up in volume mid-sentence, Akko's stern warning dissolved into an icy hiss. A string of muttered curses erupted from her lips as she stormed after him, stomping through the discarded eggshells. If he was putting on some kind of show, he was awfully committed. Her scowl hadn't budged one bit.

Slapping at his shoulders as she closed the gap between them, Akko snatched the collar of Zeffer's jacket and jerked him towards the direction of the second set of tunnels. "What the ********> are you even doing?"  

[kamileunaire]

"I'm serious!" Zeffer huffed and sped up as he heard her giving chase behind him, stepping quickly past several more stalagmites and scuffing his boots on shells and sediment as he went. Rounding the area where the hatchlings were playing, he could almost see the Mother Grub in profile now, but his focus was, of course, on the egg he thought he'd seen. Behind him, Akko sounded like she was becoming plenty pissed. Of course she thought he was playing some sort of foolish joke (who wouldn't, really), but he was determined to avoid a beating long enough to verify the weird egg's color. He ducked behind another rock, this time at a better vantage point, and leaned as he tried to get a better look.

Unfortunately, he wouldn't have long. He hunched his shoulders as Akko slapped over, and as she grabbed the back of his collar he flailed for a moment, letting out a choked grunt and struggling awkwardly in response. Not wanting to disturb the Mother Grub, he grabbed Akko's wrist and gave it a hard tug, pulling her to his side and pointing toward the the newly-laid clutch.

"There. See that one?" Zeffer glanced down at her for a moment, before looking back. On the edge of the cluster lay an egg that, to him, was an orange far brighter than usual. Almost the same shade as their horns. Was he just imagining it? Was it bad lighting? He waited for Akko to confirm or deny, hoping for his own sake that he was onto something.  

[melona-pan]

"No, hey- <******** off-" The words between Akko's furious hisses were barely discernible. Attempting to break free of Zeffer's grip, she hunched over and twisted her arm away, giving it a good yank back in retaliation. "Let g-" Readied to berate him with several more punitive swats, Akko paused mid-sentence and looked over in the direction of Zeffer's avid pointing. Slowly tracing her vision over the cluster of eggs, she finally locked onto the one he was gesturing towards.

The skeptical look on her face slowly dissolved the longer she focused on the vibrant orange egg. The seconds ticked by, seeming to slow. Instead, in it's place was a gawking, horrified stare of pure disbelief.

"......" Akko fell quiet. Eerily quiet.

Silence was normal for her. Default. Surely Zeffer was used to her statue-like composure by now (even if he was good at breaking it), but the thick silence that settled over them this time was distinctly unique. Byakko's breathing slowed, then stopped altogether. It felt like her throat was swelling shut. Panicked cynicism took over. The edges of her vision surrounding the orange egg speckled and swirled as she strained her eyes harder on its colour, trying to spot some trick of the light, some sign of paint, any way to doubt what she was seeing.

Was this... was this a joke? There was no way Zeffer would go that far for a prank, right? He knew the line was drawn at Initiative matters. She forbade anyone from even interacting with the hatchlings. There was no way he'd tamper with the eggs, even if he had grown ballsy enough to take a swing at her mutation.

Her wrist had grown limp and clammy in his grasp. There was no movement from the mutantblood except the occasional blink and the increasing pace of her chest heaving with every tight inhale, once she remembered to draw breath again.

Akko didn't know what to say, to do. Her feet were firmly cemented to the ground, body impossibly heavy as the reality of the situation hit her. Eventually, she ripped her gaze away from the egg, and back up to Zeffer, wide eyed and pale.  

[kamileunaire]

Zeffer let her lash out, holding onto her patiently until she finally gave up and paid attention to what he was trying to point out. He still couldn't blame her really, since his constant ******** around was more than enough to turn him into the wriggler who cried howlbeast, once the serious s**t started to happen. Maybe the egg wasn't as bright as he thought it was, though. Akko would surely be pissed at him for wasting time, but as he glanced down at her, her reaction told him that he had found something incredibly special instead.

With a quiet exhale of relief, Zeffer released her wrist and reached up instead to pat her back, and squeeze her shoulder. His own heart had begun to race as well, but he knew it was probably nothing compared to how she felt. They had found another mutant. One that hopefully would not suffer the same fate most mutants usually did. Already his mind was spinning, and he wondered how Akko was going to handle it. Would she take the kid as her own, like Zhuque had done for her?

"So, it's brighter than usual, right? I'm not seeing things?" He flashed her a grin, trying to bring her back down with humor, and giving her another rough pat as she turned her surprised gaze up to his own  

[melona-pan]

The pounding of her heartbeat had risen to her throat, a tight compressed lump of uncertainty gathering and choking off what little air her uneven breaths granted. Akko's expression didn't flicker when Zeffer ran his hand across her back. No recoil, no growl, no display of disapproval- nothing. Her mind was blank. Empty.

"͗̈́̊̈́͑S̃͞oͪͣ̏͗,͑ ̴͛̋ͬ̔̀ͪ̆it̏̇ͦ̄̉́s͡ b̧ri̧ghter th̨an us͝u͠a͢l,̷̀͞ ri̸ͧͣg̐̌̐̀h̓̆́̎̒ͤ̂t̾̅͂?̡͐ͬ̓"

Only one part of Zeffer's comment reached her. "I... I think..." no, Byakko had known without a doubt the moment her eyes had landed on the vibrant orange egg. It was, with absolute certainty, another mutant. Or- it would be. Then why did she feel so empty? Their Mother Grub hadn't laid that many eggs yet, and even then, the first batch of hatched wrigglers were nowhere near ready for the trials. What were the odds? Astronomical, surely. A chill ran down her spine. It was undeniable what they were looking at, and yet, she still found herself stunned and completely unable to accept the glaring orange reality laying before her. It was all too surreal. Somewhere deep within the mutantblood, something stalled and refused.

Then, Byakko started to laugh.

At first, it was nothing more than a short, mirthless scoff, barely audible even to her own ears. But it continued to bubble involuntarily past her lips, crescendoing infectiously into a giddy chortle. The Mother Grub lulled her head over and huffed with annoyance, but Akko didn't seem to take heed. How was this happening? Was someone playing a cruel joke on both her and Zeffer? Whatever the reason, surely, this was too bizarre to be coincidence. This wasn't real. Even the foreign feeling of laughter- how ******** absurd it felt coming out of her own mouth- made her giggle harder. Tears welled in the corners of her eyes. Akko's shoulders shook, wheezing and gasping for breath in between her long winded, uncontrollable bouts. Her laughter, stained bittersweet, rung throughout the cavern; completely disregarding her earlier comment about keeping their volume down.

After a long, drawn out minute that nearly felt like eternity, her laughter died down and melted into echoes before the cavern settled into silence once again.

Turning away from Zeffer, Akko slipped out of his reach and towards the mutated shell, towards promise of another troll like her. One lurching step, then two. She stopped, as if catching herself from completely disobeying her own commands, solemn gaze still locked onto the egg, never once leaving it.

She turned back to face Zeffer, staggering as she spun around, head hanging low. All traces of her ephemeral outburst were gone. "I- I don't..." know what else to possibly say that her body language hadn't already conveyed. When Akko finally looked back up to meet his gaze, translucent pink tears streaked her cheeks, continuing to collect and brim on her eyelashes. "I..."  

[kamileunaire]

Zeffer nodded in unison as she gave shaky affirmation, his grin slowly gaining an anxious edge as she continued to gape at his discovery. "Good, thought it might be my eyes." He chuckled quietly, hand lingering on her shoulder after she failed to make her usual attempt at shrugging him off. As she continued to stare, the real gravity of the situation finally began to sink in, and he swallowed hard, trying to think of something to do, or say. His eyes darted from her and back to the egg, gazing across at it in thoughtful silence.

His attention was finally pulled from the egg as Akko piped up again, though it wasn't with words. Zeffer's eyebrows lifted as her muffled snickering bloomed into unhinged laughter, which began to echo within the cavern. It wasn't the type of laughter born out of happiness, either; he shifted uneasily as her voice ROSE, only looking away once as the Mother Grub moved. There was as much cynicism in her cackling as there was happiness, and he let her laugh herself out, throat tightening as he caught sight of the tears glistening in her eyes.

As Akko staggered away, Zeffer held himself back, and sucked in a quiet breath. The Mother Grub was obviously accustomed to Akko's presence, but that didn't make the situation any less nerve-wracking. Would she try to go to the egg? Remove it? He held his breath, hugging himself, until she stopped to face him again.

"It's okay, Akko." His voice was a soothing whisper, and he tried to relax himself, opening his arms slightly. He knew it really wasn't, but he would do everything in his power to support her. "I know." He looked across at her, eyes soft with symptahy as he tried to connect with her again, and bring her back down. She had been alone with her mutation all her life, and she was more than entitled to her reaction - but they still had a job to do, and the Mother Grub's potential protectiveness still served to make him uneasy.

"What should we do?"  

[melona-pan]

Byakko glanced down at Zeffer's open arms, his offer of comfort, and recoiled. It would only add to her confusion. Shuffling backwards a lone step, she shook her head.

"This should be a good thing, right? W-why am I..." Her voice hitched. There were a thousand swirling reasons in her mind why, each that chilled her to her very core. A tickle down her cheek clued Byakko in on her own unhinged tears; Akko hadn't realized until that point that she was crying. Reaching up to poke at her cheeks with trembling fingertips to confirm, her shoulders sagged, defeated by her own inability to process the wave of emotions crashing down upon her. She absently rubbed the pink tinted liquid between her fingers. All thoughts of working on the trials had been wiped from the forefront of her mind- all she could think about was the mutated egg behind her. Even as she stared glossily up at Zeffer, she wasn't really present. His attempts to soothe her weren't entirely lost to her, but they may as well have fallen to deaf ears. The turbulent tsunami of overwhelming disbelief and cynical joy had long since taken her.

Rubbing at her messy cheeks with the back of her hand, Byakko sniffed and wearily glanced in the direction of the exit. "W-we..." The rest of the words caught in her throat. There was no point in lingering in the cavern any longer; Akko was well aware and growing increasingly uncomfortable under the stern gaze of the Mother Grub after her outburst. The egg wasn't going anywhere.

She didn't have the strength to finish her thought aloud. Byakko simply took a few staggered steps before regaining her balance, and headed towards the darkened maw of the exit tunnel.  

[kamileunaire]

Zeffer's arms flopped back to his sides, and the uneasy grin on his face lingered as he swallowed the lump rising in his throat. It was painful to watch someone who acted as tough and stone-faced as Byakko go through such an emotional ordeal, especially when he knew there was almost nothing he could do to help her. He buried his hands into his jacket pockets and exhaled quietly, stepping over to hover nearby.

"I think it's a great thing, Akko. Except, who do you think'll take care of them when they hatch?"

His grin returned full force then, and he kicked aside a rock as he slunk after her. He was tempted to ask if they were going to give up on the trial section for the day, but judging by Akko's direction, the answer seemed obvious.  

[melona-pan]

There was no noise from Byakko except the soft padding of the worn soles of her geta on the stone floor. Beelining for the exit at an increasing pace, she made no motions to check if Zeffer had actually followed behind her. She needed fresh air. To clear her head, rethink things over- she needed to get out.

Akko twitched at his last few words, turning to give Zeffer a long, drawn out stare.

Although paled and dizzied-looking, the icy look she managed to cast in his direction was reminiscent of her usual composure. Zeffer voicing her fears out loud certainly wasn't helping wring out the tension-drenched atmosphere- why would he ask such a stupid ********> question in this exact moment? She swallowed hard, both knowing the reason and the answer, but unable to fully face that there was only one reasonable solution.

Without responding, Akko spun around and resumed her exit.

Only when they had made it several dozen paces down the tunnels leading back to the surface, did she finally break her meditative silence. She made no movements to turn around and face him.

"That's enough for tonight." Byakko sounded tired, faint even considering she was projecting her voice in the wrong direction. "You're dismissed."