first sortie.

[unbr8kable]

[Six hours previous, everything had been so much simpler. The Eta cohort had made it to live combat training, out in one of the few areas the Tenno had claimed back from the invaders. Xia had been vibrating the whole day, grinning wide as she suited up in the boring steel training mech (hers would be blue, she decided, or maybe black, with bold red stripes on the limbs) and deployed to the field, not even cracking on Wimperson, the Support (not his real name, but it may as well have been).

The Heralds didn't come up on radar until they were practically on top of the trainees. Maybe if there'd been more lead time, it would've been less of a shitshow, but who the hell knows.

The grimy details aren't important, but they aren't great. Damage to all suits, with two damaged beyond repair; the Leader froze under pressure, the Shadow couldn't keep up with the speedy Heralds. Wimperson actually came through. Johnson the Medic went down right there, in front of them.

Xia and Jacob have only just gotten out of their debriefing, another unexpected first for the day.

She and Jacob did good, Xia knows. They kept their heads, were barely hurt, they moved together well. "You'll make a good team," Corporal Kuwahara tells them before turning towards the medical ward to check on Johnson's surgery. "Go get some rest."

But no, rest is pretty much the opposite of what they need right now, Xia thinks. She turns to Jacob, giving her best attempt at a normal expression.]

Wanna get out of here?

Comments

[unbr8kable]

[trotting in and beelining for the candy aisle]

Sure, sure. I wanna get--

[she breaks off, grabbing a box of those chalky candies that are the penance for getting a toy inside, blankly staring at the box. it's a Tenno figure; one (1) random Team Alpha model, collect 'em all!]

...Soon.

[crossmyheartandhope]

We're gonna have to eat those things till we're sick to try and get the whole team.

[Reaches around her to grab the Yan Yan.]

[unbr8kable]

What? I don't want them. I want me!

[she'll give him the box anyway, if he wants it then it should come along. hi-chew are further down the aisle, closer to puddings and baked goods, and--ooh, they should get chips!]

[crossmyheartandhope]

Not this team.

[Pokes her in the side and sticks the Alpha figure back on the shelf. ...he totally already has the Team Alpha set.]

Our team.

[unbr8kable]

[Gives a broad smile, not even flinching or batting at him like usual.]

Good.

They'll be million-sellers, guaranteed.

[crossmyheartandhope]

They better be. It's gonna be the best team, hands down.

[Grabbing those chocolate koalas, too. And this random candy he can't read the kanji on, mystery is always fun.]

[unbr8kable]

As if there were any doubt! After--everything, whatever, we've been awesome from day one, of course!

[something savory--something protein suddenly feels like an excellent, life-saving idea, and she grabs some sausage bread and the pizza chips with actual cheese on them, and ugh, she is running out of hands.]

Think this's enough for now?

[crossmyheartandhope]

They've got oden at the counter. Want some oden?

[So much for not being hungry. This should surprise absolutely no one, though. He is never not hungry.]

[unbr8kable]

Sure. Let's get...everything. All of the oden sounds really good.

[crossmyheartandhope]

[So he tells the counter guys he wants two of everything, and an extra egg, then spends a minute getting rung up and trying to figure out how he's going to carry all this candy and also oden, until he realizes he can stick the candy in the gin bag.]

[Which is a great idea.]

[Which he does.]

[unbr8kable]

[The counter guys give him an eye--refusing the bags they've readied is bad enough as it is, but a bag with what looks like (and actually is) booze in it? Kids today...damned shame. Xia glares daggers at the pair, just waiting for them to say a single word off script.]

[She'll also grab for the oden if it occurs to her to do anything but be an angry cat]

[crossmyheartandhope]

[It's like it never even occurred to him that they could go off script. He gives the counter guy a cheery grin and some money, then takes the oden and steps aside for Xia.]

[unbr8kable]

[Slams down some coins along with the bazillion starches and one CC Lemon she'd picked up with a "what're you looking at?" Just. Daring them to say something, she will jump over that counter right now and kick his dumb uniformed ass. (...She wonders if Jacob would back her up, or just eat all the oden. Maybe both?)]

[crossmyheartandhope]

[Probably try and talk her down so they can both get out of here and eat all of the oden without kicking the conbini guy's ass.]

[Good thing the counter guy's super-polite customer service training kicks in. Japan to the rescue! He's looking at nothing at all.]

[unbr8kable]

[Ugh she should kick his ass for ignoring her!!!

...But no, that oden needs to be consumed by someone, preferably her. Congrats on your extra hours of life, dudebro. Bags and receipt obtained, she stomps after Jacob, doing those guys a favor!11]

What jerks... Next time...pow, right in the kisser!

[crossmyheartandhope]

They gave us our stuff. That's the most important thing.

[Tucking the oden in the crook of his elbow so he can try and fish out the chocolate koala box. It is pretty graceless, tbh.]

[unbr8kable]

Teaching some rando what's what would be the most important thing. You're gonna drop it, by the way.

[crossmyheartandhope]

Drop what?

[When he turns to look back at her, he nearly does. The oden slips, and he makes a grab for it - curses, and catches it by the lip of the container, just barely.]

...maybe we should find somewhere to sit down and eat this stuff.

[unbr8kable]

Yipes, yeah, yeah. It's a waste if it ends up on the ground! We could head back to the park. Or to the train tracks. Or, I dunno. A roof.

[crossmyheartandhope]

How bout the monorail? It's like train station meets roof.

The best of both worlds.

[unbr8kable]

'Kay. Lead the way, then.

[crossmyheartandhope]

[Gives up on fishing out the chocolate pandas for now, in favor of actually getting somewhere. He skirts the edge of the park, takes a shortcut through the bottom floor of a department store, and brings them out by the stairs to the monorail station.]

[Then it's up the stairs to the station itself - and past it, to where the stairs branch off into a cement walkway that leads over the intersection. It's lined with fences to keep dumb kids from getting too close to the edge, so of course he slips out beyond the fence and gets too close to the edge. He shimmies along for about five feet where the gap between the fence itself and the 80-foot fall is dicey, and then slips into an indent that offers a little more wiggle room and sits down, feet dangling. Looks like the monorail tracks will run right below them, from here.]

You coming?

[unbr8kable]

You'll have to try harder if you're thinking you can scare me off.

[she retraces his route, slightly less gracefully and considerably less carefully, too impatient to care about things like slipping and breaking one's neck when there is all the oden to be eaten. And she does miss a step right at the end; for a long instant of vertigo, windmills her arm out over the edge--and then catches the fence, pulling herself back around to plop next to him in one smooth motion.]

...Hah! Hell of a view.

[crossmyheartandhope]

[He watches while she pinwheels, ready to grab her by the jacket if she needs it. But then she's there, in the alcove beside him, and he leans back against the fence, grin easy and open.]

Right?

[He sets the candy-and-gin bag on the other side of him, looping one handle to the fence itself so they don't end up losing anything to the fall. Plainly not his first rodeo - people down on that intersection have had chocolate koalas dropped on them before, that's for sure.]

[Then he sets the oden between them, half on her lap, half on his, and waggles a set of disposable chopsticks at her.]

[todorable]

[maybe they deserved those choco koalas, think about that. for now, Cia is thinking about chopsticks, nabbing the pair with a pleased noise and immediately snapping up a daikon and popping it into her mouth.]

...Oh yeah, that's the stuff. Good call, Blondie.