swordandshield | [ximilia] ic inbox

[Finn walks up to the box, squinting down into it thoughtfully. Apparently, gift giving was the custom around here. A human custom, as far as Finn could tell. The thought gives him a weird fluttering in his stomach as he focuses on one of the new people he's met -- human or not -- racking his brain for what they might want...]

There's this really cool guy who hangs around the training room sometimes. [Finn had tried to get his attention once or twice to no avail. Anyone who took their own skills that seriously was someone Finn wanted to get to know.] Can you send him something cool? Maybe like... a knife? That's also a gun? 'Cuz he likes those I think.

[Pleased at his ingenuity, Finn indulges in a little fistpump as he walks away from the request box.] Nailed it, Mertens.

Later...

[This month's supply drop has arrived and with it, a little something special for Felix. He'll see a box wrapped in emerald green paper, a metallic orange bow, and a small glittery gold tag with 'From Finn' printed on it. The wrapping job is too neat to be from Finn himself, clearly created by the ship's replicator based on his gift request.

Inside the box, he will find extremely cool switchblade, complete with inscription. Ladies choice, Felix!]

(( ooc: let's say this request comes through before our thread, just in case things go rough in there and Finn maybe wouldn't be putting Felix on his gift list LOL ))

Felix- thank you.

[It's been a long while since he's heard those words for something he did that wasn't just a deception.]

For what?

For helping with the evacuation.

[Or maybe not. His reply is very slightly delayed, almost not noticeable.]

Yeah, well, it turned out all right.

Thanks to you! And thank you for... before, as well.

[That one hits a little harder. What are emotions again? He doesn't remember what it's like not to be lying through his teeth about being helpful. Two years... two years was a long time to pretend to help when all he needed was everyone to kill themselves.]

I, uh... didn't really do that much. Just my usual. [a beat and then quickly before she can respond to that first part:] Not like I opened a bunch of portals to get things really rolling. How are you doing after that?

[He had no idea how that magic stuff worked, but it had to be exhausting, right?]

I'm tired. But... I've been in worse shape after some of the other missions.

Does that make this one easy by comparison?

[Said lightly, teasingly. But damn that made them sound worse, and watching a whole planet's worth of people die was pretty bad. Said the man who'd watched several in his lifetime... and then tried to do similar by his own means.

He doesn't think about that.]

Well, you should get your rest then. Isn't that right?

[Said in the full tone of 'isn't that what you told me?' when he had to recover.]

Felix.

Where are you at the moment?

（ ominous... ）

[Jesus fucking Christ this is both the most surprising and suspicious text he's received in...a while. Don't startle him like that!

Also, why the fuck would he tell YOU that!?]

Why?

[Thankfully, he has a little more sense than that to express as much. At the moment anyway. ~~Give it time.~~ Plus he's trying to stick to mission mode which..only marginally makes him better.]

I wish to have a discussion. Preferably in person.

[Well that's just... not... okay...]

Why.

Why might you suspect?

Well we're not exactly buddies, now are we?

Ergo...

I am not spelling that out for you.

Why can't we just have a discussion here on the network? It's already happening.

You were not the one spelling anything out.

（ hm. ）

It's understandable if you're afraid to meet me in person. However, what I wish to say is only worth doing so there.

[That...does not even make any sense, but whatever.

Why did you have to phrase it like that? Goddamnit. He's not afraid. He just doesn't feel like putting up with anyone's bullshit.]

I swear to God you'd give Wash a run for his money in the cryptic bullshit department.

Fine. I'm on Naephus. In some seedy ass bar in the Outer Edge. Because I'm a mercenary. And that's where all the mercenaries hang out in this system for some reason. Go figure.

Does this 'seedy ass bar' have a name?

[He'll text the name. And then he'll do one better by figuring out how to get the coordinates off his armor so that he can ping うちは through the network with them.]

（ the only thing felix receives in response is a single affirmative — and then radio silence.

he is, consequently, on naephus, and it is easy enough to wend his way through the city in the direction indicated. along the way, he steps into the occasional shop. steps out with different clothing, his hair done differently, both posture and attitude entirely changed. by the time he has reached the location, his identity as a mild-mannered tea vendor has been shorn away, replaced by a man that bears considerably more resemblance to the akatsuki terrorist.

— funny, how it is not so natural a fit as it once was.

when he sees felix, he makes a direct line towards him at his table, and sits opposite. rather than speak, he flags down the bartender to order another round of whatever it is felix has been indulging in, and a sweet, dark liquor he is familiar with from his time on nuhiri.

then: ）

Thank you for agreeing to meet with me.

（ it is said with pristine politeness. ）

[There was a wry sort of sound, suspiciously like a derisive snort but more throaty than nasally, at the greeting. There was no love lost between the individuals meeting here today and Felix was aware that despite the public space that did not guarantee that a fight wouldn't break out if provoked. It wouldn't stop him after all, and people in a place like this practically expected it anyway. It wouldn't garner any favors and that was about it.

Felix shifted so that his arm was hanging on the back of his seat in a comfortable looking approximation of leisure. His helmet kept his expression from view but it was neutral for the moment anyway. If the rest of his subtle body language gave away anything it was mild interest at the individual in front of him. He didn't know what to make of this encounter yet but surely it would be...something less than boring.

Maybe. This one did have a boring demeanor when not physically acting upon something. And sort of then, too, from what he'd seen so far (which was, admittedly, very little).]

Yeah. I'm sure it'll be a thrill.

What's up?

[Casual, relaxed, unconcerned; just talking to an old acquaintance in the middle of an Outer Edge bar. No big deal.]

（ the liquor arrives, and itachi takes his time in sampling that first savory sip. when he sets it down, it's soundless upon the heavily scarred tabletop. when he speaks again it is without preamble or pride. ）

I wished to apologize for my statements regarding Wei Wuxian. I was needlessly hostile. You have been an asset to our crew, and the censure was inappropriate of me.

[Felix was noticeably shocked by the unexpected topic. It was in the subtle movements of his posture, the shifting of his weight, the alignment of his helmet as he shifted his gaze slightly in interest. There was a certain amount of...pride, there really was no other word for it, in his demeanor that he didn't even know was there at the moment. Of course he was the type to eat up praise like a starving man at a banquet.

But he had not made it as far in his career as a mercenary on the less-than-lawful side of the scale as a trusting man either. No, he was rife with paranoia. It was in his best interest at survival to trust no one, and he made a point of it.

Especially after the betrayal of his partner.]

You came all this way...for an apology?

[The inflection in his tone was one of genuine disbelief rather than hostility or provocation. He had just enough sense of mind not to speak his original phrasing of that question: you couldn't have done that through the network? Somehow, he supposed the young man thought it held more weight to give it in person. Not that it seemed to matter since the kid's demeanor and inflection left everything to be desired. It was nearly impossible to tell what the guy was thinking.

And wouldn't it just be appropriate enough for this to be a goddamn test of his character rather than a real apology. Felix didn't trust apologies either for the same reason he didn't give them: they were bullshit. Simply a way to make the individual apologizing feel better as if doing 'the right thing' somehow relieved them of their faults. Felix didn't apologize because he didn't need to feel like he was 'doing the right thing'. He didn't give a damn about right or wrong.

Felix didn't let the question stand on its own for long, however. He didn't want it to give the wrong impression. After all, if this was a test, he would rather pass it. It was in his best interest, and despite whether he liked it or not, his best interests for survival were always what won out in the end.

Visibly, he relaxed and audibly he kept his tone to careful neutral inflections. Well, maybe a bit of pride seeped in again at the obvious moment.]

Well, yeah. I know how to operate a mission. [He paused to think and pulled his helmet off in a sign of camaraderie. And allow him to take a swig of his drink. He licked his lips.] I know that my behavior on the network wasn't...appropriate under the circumstances. But it's easy to rail on a guy when they're not in any actual danger. Especially when you don't like someone.

I don't have to like everyone to work with them. A team is still a team. The military taught me that. When we're on a mission, the mission takes priority. It's what we're all here for.

[Even if the team tended to like to go off mission a lot. As long as they still got the original job done, though, Felix found he didn't care about the rest of the details. Helping or hurting people, it didn't make a difference to him. Especially so long as there was action involved. That was were he shined the best in either case.]

（ he watches as the helmet unlatches, and is set aside. there is a faint sort of interest there — despite all his time spent aboard the ximilia, such technology is still unusual to behold. ）

Of course.

（ there is a moment where he lowers his gaze, focusing on the edge of his cup as he rubs his thumb against it with a low crystal hum. ）

Dogs in his world are demonic creatures. Many are known to breathe fire, or swallow people whole. His fear was not unfounded, but you could not have known that.

（ a tired, quiet sympathy filters through his tone the way ivy crawls through brick, and then he lifts one shoulder in half a shrug and takes another drink, long fingers elegantly braced against the condensation enshrouding the glass. ）

What happened with the two of you, if you don't mind my asking? He would not say.

[Felix honestly blinked in surprise at the information of Wei Wuxian's home world. It didn't garner any sympathy for the man--Felix had his own "demons" he fought against back in his galaxy so there was little to give for someone too afraid to fight--but it was unanticipated information nonetheless. Only the telling of the man's story of his helpless youth, of the age he had been when he was traumatized by them might have garnered the closest thing to sympathy the mercenary was capable of feeling. Felix didn't like thinking about his own life back at that ripe an age for similar reasons.

Although to be fair he had never had to fight off demonic dogs. And the Covenant forces did not enter his life until several years later, were still only vague shapes on a television screen whenever the galactic news played. He had other woes as an orphaned child back then.

At the question, Felix's gaze flicked away and his hand tapped restlessly upon the tabletop. He took another drink of the liquid infamous in this bar, buying him time as he wrestled with an answer.]

...it was stupid. [Honest truth. Didn't mean he wasn't still pissed about it. That it hadn't festered and grown into a larger ordeal than it had originally ever been in his twisted mind. For reasons Felix himself probably didn't entirely understand the full connotations of.] I was attacked. He took his time making jokes instead of helping. And when it was over, he was still making shitty-ass jokes about it. I still don't know what his problem was!

[Not that they didn't have a completely different problem between them now but that was another story entirely. Felix's fingers were back to tapping restlessly on the table. An anxious tick he didn't notice he was doing. It wasn't the retelling of the story with Wei Wuxian that made him feel this way--it was the tangential remembrance of betrayal from another time which did that.]

（ wryly: ）

That does sound like him. He isn't always the most empathetic person.

（ he cares for the man, of course, but no one is without flaw.

he sighs, and leans his elbow along the table idly, bent so that he can lean into his palm. his fingers curl into his dark hair. he looks tired, more than anything else in the low light.

the distant sound of billiard balls careening off one another gets a very faint flinch. ）

He did something similar to me in Giva — before your time, I believe — but it worked out in the end.

[Felix's eyes darted to the side and his brows knitted together briefly as he searched for information stored somewhere in his mind. His expression cleared and went in the opposite direction as he came up with it.]

Yeah, that was... several missions before I got here, in fact. [But he read the files because that was the smart thing to do. One of the few hang-overs from his spec op days that was actually good to keep. His jaw muscle twitched as he tried to figure out what to say to the rest.] Well I don't always have the patience to put up with bullshit.

[Talking had always been his biggest weakness. He never knew when to shut up as his partner constantly liked to remind him. Felix knew it was true. He knew it was a weakness of his. But it was one that he didn't curb as much as he might should. Because talking was his way of being him even when he was playing the long con.

He'd fucked that up already. No sense in wasting effort on pretending otherwise. Or to stop himself from talking bluntly. He did, however, huff out his remaining breath in annoyance and slump forward, hands wrapping around the bottle of his drink and pulling it closer without actually taking a drink this time. He looked at Itachi and asked somberly:]

What happened? Back on Giva and afterward. How did it all work out in the end?

（ there is a faint shiver of some old emotion. perhaps felix will recognize it as anger, the sort that burns low and hot and long the way a spark sets off a coal seam. it's there and gone, quickly subsumed by his customary stoicism as if a thing imagined.

at first, it seems as if he may refuse to answer by the set of his jaw and the way his gaze sharpens slightly. wei wuxian is, after all, a friend of his and he would sooner not malign him terribly now — much less to one who has no reason to like him. but then, with a tap of his fingers to the glass: ）

Taeum was... profligate in its vices. They had endless rooms, behind which anything one could desire might be found — and as it was this world's envisioning of the concept of 'heaven', they had excised all sin. Nothing was forbidden. People could enact horrors upon one another without censure from their peers — there were rooms in which they would partake of sexual acts others might find abhorrent were they not committed in the name of 'heaven'. Others, where people could engage in endless battle, for instance, or spend their days lost to drink or drug.

（ his fingers tighten about the glass, and his knuckles are briefly white before he continues: ）

I do not care to speak on specifics. But, for what he did I engineered his arrest. He saw it as a betrayal, and I saw it as justice. It took us many months to reconcile. He is worth knowing, if he cares for you. But I cannot deny he has a cruel streak.

[Hello. I just wanted to say that I tried to get back to this but realizing it's been, oh god, two and some odd months now I think it best to set it aside sob. But I really enjoyed this thread! It was an unexpected treat and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for it. If there's anything left you would like to handwave or discuss, lmk. And if there's ever anything else you'd like to do with these two I would adore it. Thank you!!!]

[ximilia] ic inbox

action (kinda);

audio; un: Sabriel.Abhorsen; A few days after mushroom mission wrapped up

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text ↪ un: うちは

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