|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 2:47 am
nio love Text to: Bertrand
From: EdithLighthouse portal, ASAP Bring supplies for a 2 day escort detail rejam Text to: Thompson
From: EdithLighthouse portal, ASAP Bring supplies for a 2 day escort detail The small, muscular leader waited for them with hands on hips and a displeased expression.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 3:41 am
If he'd been around to see it it might have put a tear of pride in Kostya's eye--or at least a blank expression of non-disapproval, which was about as much as one could hope for--to see how rapidly Taym readied a bag: runics, a few bottles of liquid meal replacement leftover from his first aborted attempt at escaping Sahara detail and a couple of granola bars (because "2 day escort detail" told him almost nothing, and he preferred to play it safe), and a handful of other necessities--enough to cover likely needs, scant enough to keep the bag light. He considered, as he loped down to the portal mere minutes after the summons, whether to text Edith asking if there were any special considerations for packing. He decided that if there had been, she'd have told him, and that possibly this was some attempt at feeling out his ineptitude--because of course it would be, said the lingering Caelius trauma. The whole thing, he thought grimly, was probably some sort of test, and there at the end of it she'd hand him back his carefully-filed paperwork with a big red X on it, and he'd have to go groveling back to Caelius. The trip down to the portal was sufficiently long to have him sick with anxiety by the time he got there, his hands in his pockets in case they decided, accordingly, to start shaking. The look on Edith's face only contributed to his general unease, his stomach in knots. Edith was untested waters. She probably wouldn't put a bullet in him, but she could easily do far, far worse: a single word of rejection, delivered in response to one of his inevitable ********, and the prospect of a bullet seemed positively benign in comparison. It was a hard thing with one's hands in one's pockets, but he attempted a jerk of his chin that was both confident and awake and appropriately subordinate. "Ma'am."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:02 pm
It had taken her a long time to figure out that she wasn't cut out to be in the Moon Division. An even longer time to pull herself out of the apathy that kept her from giving enough of a s**t to do anything about it. But it had taken one day to throw all of that not-so-hard work aside, abandoning her decision. She would stay in Moon, because she needed to. And that was that. Edith's text had come sooner than she'd been expecting. She packed a backpack with two changes of clothes, socks, and money. She wasn't as well prepared as Taym, and had no food to bring with her other than a box of pocky and a bottle of water. She knew she'd probably regret that, but there was no sense in worrying about it now. The trip to the portal felt strangely quiet. It was a heavy quiet, all thought provoking and s**t like that. She tried to move quicker, to get away from the thoughts that wallowed around in her brain. When she arrived, however, she immediately wished she'd taken her time. "Wow. Just. Wow." Because apparently, Deus had not learned their lesson concerning putting the two of them together, Taym was standing there at the portal with a similarly packed bag, waiting for - well, her, she supposed. Everyone said promotion missions were a pain. Now she knew why. rejam I am unnaturally excited about this
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 2:06 pm
"Thompson," Edith nodded in greeting. "You do well here, it'll be your promotion run." Seeing Maebe arrive, her expression grew stern, "Bertrand, this is your last chance." Without clarifying either statement, she led them through the portal and into terrible desert heat beating down on a parking lot. The area was empty except for what looked like a large family in the distance. Pausing, Edith began to brief the two. "Their usual bodyguards are on leave getting married, the fill-ins who usually handle this family aren't available right now. It happens, so I'm trusting your common sense and instincts to make up for lack of preparation." The lead eyed them over but didn't see anything to criticize at the moment. "You'll be escorting the Yin triplets to a special summer camp. We try to keep a good distance from most hunters' families unless there's an emergency, but their something of an exception. As you know, candidate potential puts out a big, dangerous signal once puberty hits, especially in groups. The triplets have had to have a hunter guard since they were 12. The family knows us as a government agency concerned with gifted individuals, and this isn't the first time we've taken an interest. Over the years, several candidates have been found along them and they're one of our most prolific bloodlines." Edith gave them a flat look, "So don't mess with our friendly relations or make us look incompetent." She gazed at Maebe in particular at that last. "You'll be driving them to the camp, a two day trip by car, with a stop at a designated hotel tonight. Directions are programmed into the car, but here's a map if anything goes wrong with that." She held out a folder (contents: maps, brief profiles on each triplet, a credit card, known attacks on the clients) with one hand and a set of car keys with the other. "Any questions before you meet the family?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 2:39 pm
Taym, catlike as always, was on top of the keys so fast that it ought to have been accompanied by a comical yoink sound. He was banking on all the looks from Edith to Maebe letting him get away with it. He then took the folder, and had the decency to open it and skim the contents in such a way that Maebe could look it over at the same time, if she wanted. He'd been curiously neutral at Maebe's approach, but the clench of his jaw, the tightening of one hand around the strap of his bag, had given his irritation away despite his attempts at maintaining professionalism. "I take it your number is our emergency contact if anything gets hairy?" He didn't want to ask it, because it implied that he expected things to get hairy, but it was Deus: it was a likely scenario. And then, he glanced at Maebe over the corner of the folder, clearly debating saying something else but not quite managing it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 5:04 pm
This is your last chance. Could she really blame Edith for being unimpressed with her current record? Absolutely not. Could she still be totally bratty about it? The long, over-exaggerated sigh and dragging of her feet was a resounding yes to that one. But now, she had reason to drag - the heat hit her, and she felt a sudden urge to fake illness and get a pass from the doctor. But this wasn't high school, and Edith kind of was the doctor in this case, so. She just listened, and perked immediately at the inclusion of a car drive in this scenario. Air conditioning. Plus, their job was to protect a pair of triplets on their way to camp. She wasn't an idiot - she understood that there was a very good reason why they needed protection, but this still sounded exceedingly better than walking out in the sand, dying of thirst. This was a road trip.Maebe reached for the keys, her fist closing in angry defeat when that b*****d reminded her that he was faster. He took the folders, too, but at least she could try to read them. Except that meant getting close to him, so she craned as much as possible. He was already the most difficult challenge of this trip.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 2:36 am
"Just dial zero," Edith confirmed as she led them toward the family, goodbyes now apparently done as three girls in their mid teens separated from the small mob. If the hunters paid much attention to faces, they'd notice several pairs of obvious twins in the group, both among the other children and adults. Another oddity would be that nearly everyone was a girl or women, with just a few men here and there. "Hey girls, you ready to go?" Edith asked as they got within speaking distance, and though they were over a decade younger, the three were only an inch or shorter than her. "This is Maebe and Taym, they'll be driving you down this time." Two opened their mouths in obvious mutiny (as the third checked her phone) when the leader cut them off, "Don't give me lip on this, it's just a car trip." "Now," she put her hand on one girl's impeccably dressed shoulder and began, "This is Grace." The girl rolled her eyes before looking the two body guards over with a sigh. She muttered something under her breath, the word cheap the only bit coming through. "And this his Hope," Edith continued, indicating the next girl. She had neon blue streaks faded into her bangs and an inquisitive expression as she gazed at the two of them and awkwardly waved a hand at them. "And last-" "Joy," the third stated flatly without looking up from her phone. In jeans and a band tee, she also had the shortest hair, but it was hard to call her tomboyish. Everything about her seemed incredibly neutral, right down to the disinterested tone of her voice. The Moon lead's smile grew wry as she finished the sentence, "The last is Joy, and I;m sure y'all will get very well acquainted once you're on the road." She gave a nearby blue minivan a pointed look and then returned her attention to the group, "Check in every three hours. Now funny business or I'll find out, we clear?" "Yes Edith." The girls intoned and then began hauling their bags into the back of the van and setting in. "I get front," Grace declared, was already settling into the passenger's seat as she made her claim. Joy tucked herself into the back corner, doing her best to ignore the fact that she'd have to share space with four other people. The headphones were out and obvious. Hope smiled cautiously at Maebe and Taym, "So which one of you is going to sit with me?" Quote: This road trip will involve (possibly) 16 hours of driving. Ten hours for the first day, 6 on the second day! You can break it up into hourly (or every other hourly ok) snippets if you'd like! Here are some prompts you can roll for the first day! Roll 1d10: 1: Bathroom break 2: Demand for a car game from Hope. 3: We're hungry! 4: Flat tire! There's only one spare, so if this is rolled twice ur sol 5: Something runs across the road and you hit it 6: Car sick! 7: Who farted? A courtroom drama. 8: Three small bladders and not a rest stop in sight. 9: Pull over it's the cops. 10: Get surrounded and blocked in by a motorcycle gang. YOU CAN ALSO JUST LIKE ~ QUOTE TO INTERACT WITH ANY OF THE GIRLS OK THEY HAVE A LOT TO SAY
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 3:01 am
For answer Taym grinned and jingled his-- his--keys and headed for the van after considering and deciding against shaking everyone's hands. None of them looked receptive to it except for Hope, who looked like she might instead cling desperately and get talkative, and in any case he suddenly sensed that he was going to benefit from having some thin veil of authority. He'd expected, somehow, that Edith would be putting on a subordinate facade, a secret service submissiveness given the cover story the family had gotten. He'd somehow envisioned a trio of children in sharply-pressed suits, and a lot of sober handshaking all around, and Edith, maybe, referring to them as though they were the presidents' daughters. What she did instead--the bossy griping, met with obedient "yes ma'am" delivered by rote--planted a sharp pain, physical and entire, and he found himself envying her, envying the girls' usual escorts, and desperately attempting to shoulder off the sudden thundercloud gathering in the back of his head, reminding himself that these girls were probably as close to his age as Tuesday's (but they reminded him so much, especially the ill-named Joy, of his sisters, too). When Hope went to clamber in next to Maebe, he held his fellow hunter back, and wordlessly, in a way that it might not be seen too readily by his passengers, he extended a hand. It was a mute plea for a truce. If you do well here, Edith had said, and he intended to. (How hard could it be, he thought, to drive a minivan across a desert?)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 1:44 pm
Somebody noticed the hand, and before either even had a chance to buckle up, Hope was asking, "Are you guys dating?" Eyes bright and eager, she looked more than curious. She looked like a shipper.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nio Love rolled 1 10-sided dice:
5
Total: 5 (1-10)
|
Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 1:54 pm
The moment the first of the triplets were introduced, the strangest thing happened. Maebe's expression, once just about as annoyed as Grace's, softened into something surprisingly gentle. She looked a little shell-shocked for the briefest second, and Taym's hand brought her back to reality - even though it had actually been meant to keep her from causing a shitstorm over her front seat being stolen. Little did he know, she hadn't even registered that fact yet. She was quiet, climbing into the seat beside Hope, and gave her a vague, distracted expression. "What? No. Look at me, sweetheart. Taym should be so lucky." One side of Maebe's lips lifted in a smug smile that did not reach her eyes. But then it sank in that she'd just been demoted to backseat, and her eyes glared hotly at the back of Grace's head - for all of three seconds. Just as quickly, it was gone. "You all have pretty names." Hippie names, if she was going to be honest. "Especially you, Grace. It's a good one."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 3:28 pm
Not at all deterred, Hope gave Maebe a starry-eyed look, and argued, "But those are the best romances! With the pretty lady and a guy who's all frowny and grrrrr!" Her impression would have been more accurate had Taym resembled Bigfoot.
Rolling her eyes, Grace glanced back, lips curled back in a small sneer, "Life's not a movie, god Hope, just drop it."Â She gave Maebe an insincere smile at the compliments and then whipped her attention straight to Taym, and asked with casual innocence, "So do you have a girlfriend?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 3:35 pm
Taken aback by Maebe's sudden need to indulge in polite, friendly small talk, Taym let her have it, choosing instead to focus on the road (and having tried not to grimace too hard at Hope's eager-eyed questions). Driving was intoxicatingly pleasant, redolent of old freedoms long since relinquished, and because Taym's life was a never-ending series of bitter disappointments and bad curveballs, all of the pleasure was drained out of the experience just as Grace asked him the question. Not because of the question itself--although god help him but that wide-eyed tone didn't fool him for a second and his irritation rose instantly--but because as he opened his mouth to deliver some snarky answer something brown and furry and moving with the unmistakably adorable bounding gait of a jackrabbit shot across the road and directly under the tires, jolting the minivan and snatching whatever he'd been about to say right out of his head. At least you don't have to answer her now, sir, said Fiona mildly. He shot back a comment about how naturally a dead deer would be blase about roadkill and got a laugh for his trouble. "Let's just not look in the rearview," he said briskly, silently willing Hope (who seemed the most likely) not to burst into tears at the fact that they'd just left a bloody streak across the pavement. Truth told he was having to do a bit of willing for his own sake. Twenty-five ******** years without hitting a single goddamned animal and now, now.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 3:53 pm
Horrified, Hope clambered over the back and squashed her face against the glass to get a better look before demanding, "We have to go back! We have to honor the entire body."
"This is exactly why you aren't allowed to watch Hannibal anymore." Another eyeroll from Grace and then, "So, like Mr. Taym, you didn't answer my que-"
"Oh, Mr Tayyyyym," Joy finally spoke up in shitty falsetto, batting her eyelashes, "I'm fresh out of boarding school and wearing my fancy pan-"
"SHUT UP JOY!"
"You just think he looks like 711 guy. But neither are gonna give you their taquito so just quit before it gets awkward."
"Taquitos just go straight to your butt anyway," Hope added soothingly and a silence among the girls followed this statement. Joy began to snicker and then Grace lunged back to attack her. As her sisters fought, Hope began to cry loudly with many accusations about internalized misogyny.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 4:49 pm
Abruptly, the car veered over to the shoulder, slammed into park with the ancestral fury of a thousand middle-aged men driven to the brink by youthful squabbling, or at least with the fury of a young man who'd spent too long chauffeuring his obnoxious teenage sisters to and fro.
He lifted his voice over the din in a state of righteous anger truly majestic to behold, or at least deadly serious, if not majestic.
"Why. The. ********," he bellowed, "are your seatbelts not buckled?"
The Daddening Begins.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 6:06 pm
To be fair, the taquitos joke was (unwittingly) a nice zinger. She only wished Hope had meant it the way it sounded, because her snicker echoed that of Joy's, until Grace lunged back to attack her sister. Maebe reached out to try and stop her, but as a true veteran of the severity of a catfight, knew better than to get her hair or eyes or hands too close. So instead, as Taym swerved hard and likely shuffled everyone with his driving, Maebe took this opportunity to advance her standings, and gave Hope a gentle but regretful pat on the head. Then she leapt forward into the front seat, and quickly buckled her seatbelt. (Because Dad!Taym was scary as s**t.) "Oops. You fight, you lose your seating priveleges. But if you're good girls and listen to gramps here, I'll tell you all about Taym's girlfriend."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
