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

[crossmyheartandhope]

[He is having so many regrets right now. 90% of them involve not having a napkin to spit this out into and not having had the foresight to order a drink.]

[Eventually - reluctantly - he swallows.]

What kind of sadist invented this thing?

[unbr8kable]

Maybe it's just an acquired taste. Keep going to see if you acquire it!

[crossmyheartandhope]

Better idea.

[He nudges the "This is parfait?!?" back toward the back of the counter and drags his own parfait over between the two of them.]

No one has to acquire that taste, ever.

[unbr8kable]

Well... I guess. If you wanna give up.

[spoilers: she is happy to give up]

[crossmyheartandhope]

You gotta pick your battles, man. I am not fighting this one.

[He hands her over the other spoon and digs into the pudding, himself.]

[unbr8kable]

Okay, okay. I suppose I'll back you up on this one.

[and by now she's not even trying to sound like she's complaining, taking the spoon but letting him have at the pudding for now]

...Speaking of backup. You think they're gonna bump us up to official, now? We were pretty impressive, after all.

[well, she's always been the type to prod at bruises, though that's hardly the part of the day she's trying to avoid thinking about, at least]

[crossmyheartandhope]

[His mouth's full of pudding right now, but that's probably for the best. It gives him a minute to think before he answers.]

...yeah. We weren't bad, were we? Maybe they'll finally give us the green light.

[unbr8kable]

They better. We're here, aren't we? We kicked ass, didn't we? We'd be doing them a favor.

[crossmyheartandhope]

Well, whatever else happens, they're gonna have to get us better suits than those training ones before we start for real.

[Oh right. He was planning on putting those chocolate koalas on this thing. Fishing in the gin bag for the box of them.]

[unbr8kable]

[hopefully they are only a little squashed from action and gin]

Yeah, those things're trash. They should pay us for us to have to use 'em! ...What're you gonna put on your real one? Spikes?

[crossmyheartandhope]

Maybe black swords. Like on our coat of arms.

[The box has defintiely seen better days. It's mostly caved in. He pries it open anyway, though.]

How bout you?

[unbr8kable]

[nothing can halt this quest, not even potentially decapitated koala yummies, see it to its end]

Maybe some spikes. Or a cape. Fireworks, maybe? For the celebration, after.

[crossmyheartandhope]

[Reaches in and pulls out a handful of koala crumbles to sprinkle on top of the parfait.]

Yeah, but what kind of fireworks? Are you gonna have the ones that make pictures?

[unbr8kable]

Sure, why not? Like--the silhouettes of our suits. And those sparkly shimmery kind, 'cause I like those.

[crossmyheartandhope]

What happens if we win in the middle of the day, though?

[Totally munching on pudding covered in koala now.]

[unbr8kable]

Uhh... Isn't there generally lots of smoke and stuff? Maybe I could do a light show.

[crossmyheartandhope]

Ohhh, yeah. I bet you could project images on those weird clouds.

[unbr8kable]

Might be interesting, right? Wonder if those things like lasers.

[crossmyheartandhope]

There's one good way to find out.

[Nudges the parfait closer.]

You gonna eat, or not? The soft cream's melting.

[unbr8kable]

[shrugs, but takes a spoonful]

I like it melty. It's like cereal. Didn't wanna get in-between you and pudding, anyway.

[crossmyheartandhope]

But the pudding's the best part. You gotta have some.

[Pauses a beat, thinking something through.]

...and more importantly, what kind of weird cereal are you eating that's melty?

[unbr8kable]

Milk is melty. And you've got these crunchy bits in it. Like Cocoa Flakes or something.

[crossmyheartandhope]

Milk is only melty if you freeze the milk. And then it's mostly ice cream.

[Wagging the spoon at her.]

[unbr8kable]

[sticking out her tongue]

No way! Frozen milk is only ice milk, not ice cream, duh.

[crossmyheartandhope]

What if you froze cream and put that in your cereal?

What if you froze the cream with the cereal in it? You'd have like a cereal ice pop.