Welcome to Gaia! ::

“Darling, relax.” Aandes waved off Rasali with a hand and crossed to his nutritionblock, opening up his thermal hull passively. “You wanna cream soda?” He asked. Aandes pulled two out of the spacious block.

Since the Spaceship crash, Aandes’ living situation had actually improved. Being a spokesperson for rebuilding the town was one thing – gaining clients another. More close to home, Koalapops’ crops had all but burned down, but fortunately the proximity of the hive to the water was enough to save both lusus and troll plenty of fire damage. Lusus now more aware and able to help, and Aandes having the beetles to fund repairs made expanding his hive a breeze. It retained its quaint feel, but didn’t suffer from feeling cramped. Overall, it was an improvement. Rasali’s situation, however, had only gone downhill. Hive gone, rebels now with a firm laser target on their backs. He had no choice but to make a tough decision – and that, of course, would be dropped on Rasali with the promise of a warm, soapy shower and some fresh non-swampy sandwiches and cake.

He settled at the table and ushered for her to sit, sliding her soda to the opposite end. “I’m honestly surprised you didn’t piece together the fact that you and I being seen together spells culling for the both of us. We have to break up – immediately. Publically.”

There was a click and a gasp of cold carbonated air as Aandes popped open his soda bottle with his snaggle tooth. “We’ll still be dating, of course.”

“Of course, of course. I don’t mean to be coy – though frankly procrastinating on slipping you my plans makes for the nice little treat of having you around.” Aandes smirked. He took another swig of his soda and twirled the bottle cap between his fingers. “I know how committed you are to the Initiative and that you won’t budge, but I can’t stand losing you to some stupid slip of façade around town. I just can’t. You’re not invincible.”

His smile dissolved as quickly as it had appeared into an irritated frown, and he grabbed the cap in his palm. Aandes leaned back and reassured himself with a nod. “We’re going to go undercover – you are, that is. You can’t show up around Four Fronds looking like Rasali Panaka, and I can’t be seen with you or I’m fried. Having one known, admitted rebel around my arm is one thing – I’m not… I don’t think I can…” Aandes huffed. He wouldn’t admit that he was out of his depth… But the situation was becoming taut for all parties. He was walking a tightrope with the rebels, but the reward could be everything he dreamed off. He quietly cleared the knot in his throat.

“It’s not smart to try and tie you both into the same story. So we need to make up a different one – and it doesn’t include Rasali Panaka. It includes the tragic breakup of a young mogul and his sporty childhood kismesis and the quick rebound of that mogul falling quickly for a mysterious and affluent socialite. That’s you. You’re my mystery girl. I’m feeling like we should switch up the quadrant, though, if you think you can fake it. Sounding clear to you so far?”

Aandes nodded and smiled. “Glad you’re in agreement. I think you’ll warm up to the idea. I’m rather excited.” His grin grew wider until he looked positively devious – genuinely giddy for Aandes. He put down his bottle and put his hands together, pressing his mouth to them before continuing on.

“Hearts if you’re up for it, diamonds being a far off second. I honestly don’t think the skeptics will buy either completely, but hearts is a tough sell so it’ll be more convincing. Plus, I’ve got my pitch ready for flushed all the way – listen to this.” Aandes cleared his throat and slid out of his seat, popping to a standing position. He still had a visible limp, but his energy was bolstered by his new vision.

“Young upstart gets swept off his feet by you, my mysterious quadrantkiller. Just having dumped my kismesis, I’m looking totally vulnerable and utterly pitiable. That’s when the known quadrant vulture, you, sweeps in and schmoozes into my life. You bring glamor and haute couture, never talk to the press, and are a bit of a bad girl, yes? There’s a dangerous spark to you to give an edge to your enigma. You interest me – romance, new adventures, breaking from old routines, et cetera, et cetera. Rasali was old hat and familiar – we quarreled like a two-headed hydra. She was just not lusciously hateable, had poor taste in alignment and a temper against the crown, et cetera, et cetera. Frankly there’s hundreds of reasons that I could hypothetically dump you. But I’m not. I’m dumping Rasali. Thank you.” Aandes took a bow and sat back down. “I’ll let you think of your name. Please don’t embarrass me on that front.”

“Perfect. I doubted you had other ideas,” Aandes purred. He emptied his soda and tossed it in the recycling. “Peikoe Dubrow? I actually like it. Sounds very much like the kind of troll who I’d rebound with who may or may not be out for my wealth and status.”

Aandes scooched in close to Rasali on his way back and gave her cheeks a squish. He leaned down, gave her a quick peck on the forehead and used the moment of affection to transition into holding her chin and tilting it this way and that. He was positively beaming. “Oh, this is going to be perfect! I just… Hang on.” Aandes popped up and took a step back.

“Now. With your curvy body type and large horns our work is cut out for us disguise-wise. Fortunately, I happen to have a great contact for false horns. I’m thinking symmetry – we don’t need to shave down your shapely horns at all, thank gog. Not to mention that can get rather spendy. My idea for your disguise is pretty simple. When your eyes fill in there’s really nothing we can do about that, unfortunately – contacts are much too hard to come by and very risky (not to mention I can see you losing one of them immediately). So listen to this… Actually, here’s a physical representation. I may have… Sketched something.”

Aandes held out a finger to tell Rasali to wait and limped off up the stairs. When he huffed back down, he slid a paper across the table. A fashion-esque silhouette with colored pencil markings in bright, luscious colors. “I’d love to be your designer. I mean, I’m going to be, and I hope this meshes with your style. Of course it will. Anyway!” He pointed to the sheet. “Why hide your blood color when we can flaunt it? Everyone knows your tea green blood color, and I don’t want to risk anyone finding out your real blood (what a cluster that would be), so I figure – hide in plain sight.”

He tapped the bright, non-mutant yellows and teals on the page. “We keep your olive as an accent color – your symbol remains green (we can change the symbol I have here, that’s up to you), but primarily we use lovely yellows, jungles and teals in your outfits and styling. Make-up goes way yellow and teal – basically, analogous to pull some of that color warmer or cooler. I’m also seeing hats, veils, fascinators – just pulling the attention away, dear. Does that make sense? I’m really loving this concept. What do you think?”

Aandes had ceased talking to Rasali and had begun talking to a client. As he ran on excitedly, his words clipped closer together and bounced around with huge enthusiasm. It was only until he gave Rasali full eye contact again that he blushed a hot mint and remembered his kismesis. “Questions? Et cetera?”

Aandes could have squealed. He captured something in his throat that was approximately such a sound and forced it back down with a cough. “Alright! Great!”

Clapping his hands together, Aandes took a deep breath and grinned at his kismesis. “You are! I’m going to make sure of it. I have standards, you know. Now, I’ll need your measurements. Unfortunately we won’t be able to use your rebel tailor associate – I have to dress you in well known designers to get you out there. The less ties to the Initiative you have, the better. Though actually, that would make some excellent tabloid garbage…”

At this point, Aandes was mumbling to himself as he retreated to fetch a measuring tape from his effects. He was no tailor, but constantly making sure he was well-measured was one of many peculiar quirks of Aandes LaMode. When he returned he was still on his tirade. “If I could plant some fake gossip, no one will take it seriously. Brilliant. Oh! Rasali.”

He held out her arm and traveled around her back to prop up the other. “Did I mention to you that I purchased the old hot springs?”

Aandes lowered his arms and slowly crossed them across his chest. He positioned himself carefully. A wrong move and his opponent might strike – his opponent being Rasali. She could be annoyingly unpredictable sometimes.

“I purchased the land that your hive used to stand on. I figured it would mean something to you, and I figured the Queen would probably turn it into some exclusive resort. Gog forbid – Four Fronds already has enough of those. I simply couldn’t stand to let a natural beauty be turned into tacky tourist trash.”

He sighed and turned away for a moment, rubbing the corners of his eyes. It was Rasali’s old home. It was that simple. He’d resent it if she was anything but grateful for his efforts, even though in his own bloodpusher he knew that the sentimentality of the place was just as rooted inside of him. Damnit.

Rasali was a fool. She was a damned fool for getting in Aandes’ way, for tangling up with him, and most of all she was a fool for joining the Phoenix Initiative. She charged ahead without thinking, leading others into the fray with her own bullish bravado, and she’d take him down with her. How detestable that she spin his defensive mechanisms into her own petty foolishness. Aandes pried open his tightly shut jaw and whirled upon his kismesis.

“Are you done? Without me you and your merry band of misfits would have been the star attraction of Alternia’s Greatest Executions, you thick t**t. You’ve entrusted your life on me? Ha! You’ve forced your petty idealism onto my sphere, and you know what the cost of your escapades are? Death. For both of us. And while you're off hidden in your little rebel coven, I'm out in the open for Regina to make an example of if even a breath of my affiliation with you reaches her fins. You think I’ve got you around my finger but you’re the one who I risk everything for. Imagining your death at the hands of her army was enough to make sure you won’t get off that easy this time. I’m not stopping unless you say to my face you’d rather wade through the mud alone for the rest of your sweeps.” And you wouldn’t do that. Aandes’ features twitched with rage, his eyes misty.