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 Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 7:07 pm
He had been irritable, snappy, more-so than usual and then the surprise had come--he had given everyone, every part his tortured family, the next two days off. All missions were off until then. 'A well deserved break', he had called it. Everyone who had been here for any length of time knew what it was, but no one questioned it. It was easy to see the results of this as so many that belonged to him danced and laughed on the ground below the great stone monolith that made up the outer shell of the watchpoint. Reyes watched them with interest from his vantage point, but only because it was enough to keep him from thinking about other things.
Screams.
They echoed in his ears, tormented, angry. Old memories, ones better left forgotten, came flooding back, but by instinct or by choice he ignored them to take an another drink from the half shell bowl that laid in front of him. The screaming stopped and turned to voices, the voices of 'Yes, sir's, the last words those souls would even speak to him.
He wanted to run, leave this life behind, but then who would watch Morrison's back? No, he had been given this position to be able to keep close to the once-blonde lion. Hah, what a joke. They were so different, a rift having formed between them so many years ago. No, he couldn't leave. This was his life. This is what he had been trained to do. To kill. To lead. To send his family to their death.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 8:34 pm
 Mikree let out a slow breath as he looked up at the night sky, the stars uncountable and bright. The last mission then had been on was a doozy, even Reyes had seemed worn out after returning. They had lost a few good agents but they had gone down fighting, a honorable and noteworthy way to go. It didn't mean the young lion felt any better about losing those he was starting to get to know, though, and when he had seen Reyes stalk off to climb the Watchtower, he knew it didn't sit well with his commander, either. Reyes had been up there for hours now. He had gone up when the sun was still setting, and now the air held a chill to it to indicate the warm ball in the sky hadn't been seen for quite some time. Mikree tossed look after look to the steps that led up to the top, but time and time again they didn't hold the dark male. With a sigh the tan lion rolled to his feet and shook out his mane before heading for the stairs leading up to the top. He knew it might be a death wish going up there, but he had to make sure Reyes was all right. He had known some of those agents for longer than Mikree had been alive, and if he felt this badly about losing them, he could only imagine what Reyes felt like. He reached the top of the stairs and peered into the darkness, spotting a lump not far away. It moved occasionally, the only indication that it was alive. "Still breathin', boss?" he asked as he moved to join Reyes, stopping a few paces away from him. Ever since the mission to the desert pride, ever since Reyes had saved him from sliding out of that tower, Mikree held a deep respect for the lion that led Blackwatch. He had to make a lot of tough calls, ones that he was sure ate him up every day, and he had to keep a stony face through it all. The fact that he had saved him when he didn't have to let Mikree know that he did care about his well-being, which was the first time anyone outside of his long-dead family had done so.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 8:45 pm
The voice, the question, the sound of it all dragged him back as the memories kicked and screamed to keep his attention. Mikree. Of course, it would be the damn kid that would come up here. At least it wasn't Morrison. Last thing he wanted was to see those damned blue eyes, too bright for their own good. He hadn't been the one to know their dreams, their aspirations, their families, their likes, dislike...to train them since they were just fresh out of basic. He knew them all better than they probably knew themselves.
"Hell doesn't want me yet."
Reyes didn't look back, didn't break his attention from his drink and the get-together that was still ongoing some twenty or thirty feet below him. They looked like specks, embers that could be snuffed out in an instant. These thoughts clung to his mind like a fog that just wouldn't lift. He should have spoken more, asked Mikree what the hell he was doing up here, told him to leave, something, anything.
Instead he drank more.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 8:50 pm
The reply made Mikree snort softly, a wry grin on his otherwise tired face. He remembered back when he had been 'recruited' that he could distinguish the Blackwatch members by the darkness under their eyes and the exhausted looks on their faces. He understood now that it wasn't a matter of getting enough sleep. It was a mental weariness that those in the business long enough learned to live with. He was still adjusting as he had just started going on missions frequently, but he was starting to learn just how hard it was.
He moved closer to the other lion once it became apparent he wasn't going to chase him off. Flopping down beside him, his tail flicked back and forth as he warred with himself internally. Reyes - and Morrison for that matter - always told him he talked too much. Now seemed like a good time to be quiet, but since when did Mikree ever listen to that little voice in his head?
"Got any for me?" he asked, nodding to the drink before the other lion.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 9:07 pm
Reyes had half a mind to tell Mikree to screw off, to get his own, to leave him alone and let him be with himself and his mind and the screams, but he didn't. Instead, he just grunted, pushing the crude bowl towards his prodigy with the outside of his foreleg, spilling some of its guts across the stone. The ants and flies would get to the sweet cocktail later once the sun rose and the chill left the air.
Less than a quarter of what had been in it remained.
Mikree talked too much, but tonight he wasn't so much so. It was...nice. Despite the fact that Reyes obviously wanted to be alone by how he scooted ever so slightly when the kid laid beside him. Crimson eyes, tired eyes, finally looked sideways to look at Mikree. There were no words spoken, but none really needed to be.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 9:38 pm
Mikree was surprised when Reyes shoved the little bowl towards him. The commander was in fine form tonight, it seemed - he hadn't been told to leave, to shut up, to stop talking. Instead he was getting some of the brew Reyes cooked up for himself and a select few that were in his good graces. Seemed Mikree fell under that title now.
For now, anyway.
He leaned in to sniff the bowl, giving a soft 'hoo-we!' as the pungent, sweet odor hit his nostrils. "Damn, Reyes, this stuff is strong." He gave a few experimental laps, finding the taste to be just as sweet as it smelled with a bit of a bite kicking him in his throat as it went down.
"You know...if this whole Blackwatch commander thing ends up not workin' out for you, you could always open a nice little shop somewhere. Sell this, make a livin' offa it," he said as he peered over at the dark lion, the only thing distinguishable in the dark being those red eyes. "'n I'm serious about that."
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 9:50 pm
A quizzical brow raised as he watched his prodigy's reaction to the homebrew. It was amusing, to say the least, to see Mikree's nostrils twitch and the skin on the bridge of his nose flex. Reyes grinned.
"S'not strong, you're just a lightweight." There was the first sign of a slurring voice.
The final statement that Mikree made was met with laughter. It was deep, dry, almost akin to how a fine spice smelled. His breath still smelled like the drink. "That s**t? Morrison and you would be my only customers. Wouldn't be much of a livin'. Besides," his voice dropped as his eyes broke away from Mikree's face. "If I had the qualifications to.." The silence that broke in his sentence was uncharacteristic of the commander, "..do anything else, I would, but my living is in blood. I couldn't trust any one of your brats to do my job an'way."
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 9:58 pm
The slurred words and laughter made Mikree raise a brow, although a grin was on his face as well. He'd never seen Reyes like this before. Never seen him act like...well. A normal lion. A drunk normal lion, sure, but a normal lion all the same. Normally it was as if he were made out of rock, cold and uncaring and dedicated to Blackwatch. But now....now he looked like he was made out flesh and blood and bone, like everyone else.
It was nice, Mikree thought to himself. Nice to know he was normal.
"Fair," the younger lion said as he leaned in to finish the drink, lapping it up until the makeshift bowl was dry. He licked his muzzle and nudged the hollowed gourd aside before looking up at the night sky again.
"Still fun to think about the 'what ifs' though," he said, glancing over at Reyes after a bit. "Gotta get our kicks somehow, right? What if lions could fly? That would be a pretty sight. Or what if we were off in one of those prides with the fancy ranks and stuff?"
He knew better than to say 'what if you and Morrison had switched titles'. After being here as long as he had, he knew there was a strange relationship between the two commanders. They had known each other for forever, it seemed, and although they were frequently at each others throats there was some sort of bond that kept them together.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 10:21 pm
"What if this, what if that, it's not worth it to think about things. They're distractions. Wishes. I've wished for a lot of things, Mikree, most of them stayed that way." Reyes' head raised heavenward, scarlet eyes blinking in the low light. There was a heavy sigh, one that could even be seen as a quickly dispersing puff of white that lingered around his mouth for only a moment. Blink and it was gone.
The amount of 'what ifs' that passed through his mind would take the rest of his life to get out into the world for someone to hear.
"What would you do?" Came the grim question. "If you had to choose who to send on a mission that you knew they wouldn't make it back from. How...do you make that kind of decision?" The proposed situation was one that had been very real the commander more times than he would have liked. Played death, sending all these young soldiers off to meet their maker before they had even known what love was.
Reyes' eyes were tired, drawn to the stars in the sky. They ached. Everything did. He muttered a curse under his breath, damning the drink for causing it. His wall, so carefully constructed, had crumbled just enough for Mikree to peak through and he hated it. That this damn kid would be the one to see him like this.
"Mikree." The name dropped softly from his mouth, a knot in his throat that he had to speak around.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 10:34 pm
The innocent question took a turn for the worse. Mikree swallowed thickly as Reyes went off on a far more serious question. He hadn't intended for things to turn sour, but what had he expected, really? Reyes drank to forget, to numb his problems. That much was clear to everyone in Blackwatch, even if Reyes tried to hide it. When he came up here it was always after a bad mission or after a series of unfortunate things. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together.
Mikree let out a slow breath, his paws playing idly with a few pebbles that were strewn about the top of the Watchpoint. Reyes was getting a little too deep for his comfort, but what was he supposed to do? Get up and walk away while he was being this open with him? Hell no.
"I think I'd keep in mind what you told me a long time ago, boss," he said honestly. "Everyone here knows we're in it 'til the end, whenever the end decides to show up. Can't be easy callin' the shots, decidin' who hasta face the possible end before someone else...but, you know what?"
He paused here and glanced at the dark lion, giving him a genuine smile. It wasn't as big as his usual cocky grin, but it was warmer than it as well. "We'd all stick our neck out and risk everythin' for you, Reyes. Wouldn't be here if that weren't the case. We believe in the work Overwatch 'n Blackwatch does, and if you tell us to go off and prepare to meet our maker, hell. We'll go off singin' and dancin'."
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 10:48 pm
There was something in the words that met his ears that make Reyes smile. It was genuine like he had done as a kid way back, before...all this ******** him up. It was a nice feeling, to be able to smile like that, to hear the loyalty he had earned from Mikree and the rest of them. They believed in him, regardless of what he said.
Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was just the physical and mental exhaustion that was setting in, maybe it was something entirely, but Reyes found himself moving to rest his head on the shoulder of his subordinate without really thinking about it. He took the time to breathe in, the smell, it smelled like the sun, grass, and a bit of dirt. If was...comforting, just as the scruffy feeling of the mane that brushed the top of his head was. The commander needed this, this rest, this respite from the thoughts, the memories, the flashes of the faces of those he had condemned. The tawny lion could offer him that.
Before Mikree could even really comment, Reyes spoke up, "Don't even think about telling anyone about this, isilima." His eyes were already closed, his breathing steady enough for the chill that still clung in the air.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 11:02 pm
If he hadn't been shocked by the smile on Reyes' face, Mikree definitely got his quota of 'is this really happening?' when the dark lion leaned against his shoulder. He'd never seen Reyes touch anyone before that didn't involve being smacked or scratched, so he counted himself lucky.
"Not a word, ubasi," the younger lion returned with a little snort. "As long as you don't decide to fall asleep on me. Then I can't promise what may or may not slip out." He was teasing, of course, as Mikree was wont to do. Hopefully his joke would be taken in stride rather than snorted or snarled at as was usually the case.
He was still for a bit, looking up at the stars again before hesitantly letting his head settle down on his paws, finally in a state of rest with Reyes using him for support.
"You're a good guy, Reyes," he said quietly after the silence had stretched between them for a while. "We all know it. Me 'specially. So don't ever think we dislike you or anythin' like that. We know you ride us day in and day out 'cause you care and you wanna see us comin' back from those missions."
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 11:32 pm
The silence, whatever little of it was possible to have when Mikree was around, was amazing. They had stopped, the voices, everything. It was peaceful for the first time in weeks and he had this...no, he couldn't really call him 'kid' anymore. He hadn't been a real kid in, geez, a year or more? Time was something that had always seemed to slip away from him.
And while came to him in spurts while they resting together, he also woke up, expecting his brace to be gone and his head to be on the ground, but every time Mikree was still there.
Reyes had just been coming out of one of these micro-sleeps when he heard that voice again. His eyes had just begun to crack open, the rhythm of his breathing changing from the deep, but quiet breaths his lungs had been used to. Where had been the last time someone had recognized him? Morrison constantly questioned his methods, ignored his concerns, it all was..strange. A comfortable strange, but still strange.
"Easy Mikree, your heart's showing again."
He shifted, bringing himself back onto his feet, failing to look at the bleeding heart of a soldier as he turned to leave. However he stopped just before reaching the stairway to make his descent and spoke without looking back. "You coming?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 11:36 pm
The tone of voice let Mikree know that the alcohol had worn off, which was fine by him. As much as seeing Reyes act like a normal lion was refreshing, he had been rather worried about his commander. He chuckled softly and shrugged the shoulder that Reyes wasn't leaning on.
"'s always showin', boss," he said as the dark lion stood. He left a cold space beside the tan lion where he once was, prompting Mikree to stand as well and give himself a shake. He turned to watch him go, grinning when he paused by the stairs.
"Yup," he said, trotting over to follow Reyes down. "Always one step behind you."
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