❝ ── WASTELAND, BABY !

[vaermina]

ＫＡＩＲＯＳ 'ＫＡＩ' ＬＯＵＫＡＮＩＳxxx
I.xcis malex II.x23 years oldx III. an android deployment & utilization warrant 2 officer


indentan eerie silence had settled over the grounds of the loukanis estate.
indentit was broken only by the sound of tree branches rattling in the breeze and the tranquil stream of water that poured down the outstretched arm of a greek statue that stood on the estate's glossy fountain, nestled in the center of the circular driveway. cars drove past the home's iron gates recklessly, startling birds whom were perched lazily atop the fencing. mornington avenue is a relatively quiet street. it's located in the heart of the northwest district, built amongst a plethora of equally prestigious conclave estates and residencies. the loukanis' heritage shines through the large home's architecture. tall columns bordered the front of the house, rooted firmly in groundwork of smooth carrara marble. the building had been raised on high ground so that the elegance of its proportions and the effects of sunlight on its surface might be viewed from all angles. bronze acroteriums shaped in the likeliness of harpies glared down from the apexes of the roof. arched windows that overlook the pristine lawns of the estate were barred shut with red and gold drapes. greek statues could be found scattered throughout the manor's perimeter, glowering from podiums. the estate's groundskeeper had done an excellent job earlier that morning, trimming the sage-colored hedges that bordered the house and sweeping any dead leaves from disgracing the mural painted on the circular driveway.
indentperhaps the natural ambience of the estate's grounds would be undisturbed if it weren't for kai.
indentand as always, i'm the problem.
indenthow many times has he retreated to the safety of his convertible after a particularly unbearable argument with one of his parents? he couldn't lash out at his parents. no, of course not. his father would not hesitate to bury him six feet under should kai issue some sort of calculative retort his way. in fact, his father could simply find an issue with the expression on kai's face at any given time and it'd be over for him. and his mother? god, there is no word on this earth to describe how much he vehemently hated her. it was the type of rage you can feel inside of your chest, a nasty cauldron of brewing resentment and anger that's boiling and threatening to burst. it was ridiculous how something as a simple response towards his mother could suddenly spiral into an intense argument. oh, but nothing is even that simple with her. something as uncomplicated as her asking him about his position morphed into a bitter conflict within minutes. he knew how much his mother hated his position. her strong opposition against the utilization of androids has been a rather prominent stake in not only the loukanis household but congress for years. she couldn't stand the fact kai had chosen a career that genuinely interests him. doubled with the fact it's one that pursues the very thing she has always held such grief over as an originalist? she never hesitated to start arguments with him about it. it frustrated him because the one military career he held some sort of genuine curiosity in was instantly met with protest and hostility. as always, it's never about what he wants but what one of his parents want. in fact, he could get some sort of praise from his superiors in his field but it'd mean nothing to his mother simply because he did not follow her initial wishes in the first place by following her serpentine hide into politics. it's not even like she genuinely desired any of her children to pursue politics out of belief it'd provide them with an honest living. she just hated the fact that they could even consider going into the military after their father. it's always like that with her. scarlett loukanis never fails to make her children's lives and choices a direct competition between her and her husband. a competition that they'd both fail, in any regard. of course, he could always just go along with his mother's whims to please her but where would that land him? stuck in some sort of position he never wanted in the first place? still receiving the short end of the stick in some other form? still never being enough?
indentit only took a split second for kai to lash out. one moment he was sitting in the driver's seat, staring blankly ahead before he seethed. to somebody watching, it might appear like he was suffering from sort of debilitating seizure. unfortunately, his dashboard and radio took the worst of his rage. a flurry of ineligible curses escaped him as he grabbed a hold of his steering wheel, pulling this way and that with practically all of his willpower in an extemporaneous attempt to rip it from the steering column. his dramatic display was quick to earn him an aching limb when he accidentally kneed the covering underneath the glove department. "you stupid witch! screw you-!" he snarled to no one in particular. "i hate you, i hate you, i hate you, i hate you-!" he unintentionally honked the car horn when he slammed his hand in the middle of the steering wheel, punching all about his dashboard like a madman. honestly, these type of temper tantrums are not entirely uncommon for kai. they were borderline child-like. he'd swallow his emotions for the longest time, burying everything beneath a normally charismatic and well-disposed appearance before he found himself lashing out in uncontrollable rage. he's never learned to handle his emotions gracefully. and as always, the blinding fury was quick to dwindle into bitter consciousness and despondency. he leaned back in his seat, ignoring the stinging in his hands and knuckles. a shaky exhale escaped him before he rubbed his face with one of his hands. stop, stop, stop, stop- his throat had tightened during his temper tantrum, the type of tightness you feel in the back of your throat when you're on the verge of discountenance. kai rubbed his eyes in frustration when he felt tears begin to blur his vision. the fact he hasn't received any sort of promotion within the last year or so is, honestly, not surprising when one analyzes his behavior. he's a volatile person, unable to handle his emotions in the so-called healthy way he thought. he'd briefly lash out in anger before quickly becoming upset, all in a span of five minutes. god, i'm so dumb. how is that he was always wallowing in his own feelings while his brothers flourished? all of them, little mister perfects. xander living a life of luxury and fame in new hollywood, philip's position as deputy director granting him meetings with the president himself. mateo just being, well, mateo; a natural levelheaded disposition and generosity making him a well-sought after companion, even for those in higher tiers than he. kai is none of those things. sure, he often wore a front of sane placidity and imperturbable charisma but he's neither generous nor tranquil when he suddenly feels overwhelmed by his own emotions. he was inherently unstable, as much as he tried to hide it by appearing a bit more on the cocky and articulate side. one moment, he feels superior to everyone else and then the next, he thinks it'd be better for him to just disappear so he's not a burden. it was an exhausting emotional cycle that has only grown worse with time. and the further his siblings climb their respective hierarchies, the worse he feels about himself. you can never tell how kai is going to react because his emotions change in the blink of an eye.
indenthis parents never hesitate to express their displeasure at his current situation. there was always an argument brewing every other night in the living room. why can't you be more like your brothers? why have you not received any promotions? why can't you just shut up and do what you're told? when you enroll in the military, you're expected to shut your mouth and do what you're told. kai knew that. still, it frustrated him how he was expected to hold his tongue and treated less than subpar due to his ranking. you don't get an opinion unless you're some sort of war hero. he felt that he could be more than that, that his ideas could lead to something. surely, there's more to this life than just becoming another lone figure in the crowd? kai has always been something of an individualist, which is exactly why he has yet to progress through the middle tier. his assertion of doing things his way comes off as a rather defiant of orders in general, which never sits right with his supervisors and in turn, his parents. he was always engaging in some sort of argument with his mother. mateo always tells him to never entertain her drama, but it was difficult when she attacked every essence of his being for little to no reason at all. his father is a bit more on the brooding side, never entertaining arguments but that's only because he'd rather rip someone's head off than engage in verbal conflict. it's easier that way, he supposed. for the most part, kai always tried to avoid eugene loukanis. it's easier spending nights at the house of one of his friends' than have to endure whatever hell his father decided to inflict upon the household. friends coming over when he was younger? nope, he never allowed that. he was always afraid he would walk in with a few friends and they'd witness his father having some sort of episode. honestly, he had no idea if he was just afraid of the older man in general or afraid of him because he could easily see parts of himself in that hollow shell of a person. in many ways, he was ashamed of his parents, like they felt towards he. kai has always been relatively reserved with even the closest of his companions about his father's behavior behind closed doors, as well as his mother's penchant for drama. he didn't want people to feel sorry for him; he couldn't stand pity. he didn't want to be treated differently because his parents were rubbish guardians. like mateo says, there's no use trying to get people to love you when they have no love to give. yet if you can't get your own parents to love you, why would anyone else bother? there has to be something wrong with him. sure, he can be difficult sometimes and sure, he's not exactly the most obedient of children but they have always treated him this way. it doesn't make sense to kai. if you can't stand each other, why marry? why have children? why push your own grief and anger onto them? his parents pushed him to succeed but when he does, it goes ignored. if he doesn't do well by their standards, he was a mistake and a disgrace. honestly, he felt like the only times he and mateo do butt heads is over their parents. mateo has long since emotionally detached himself from them but then there was kai, clinging onto a small hope he could do something to earn their respect, as much as he resented them. maybe something could change, and they’d care for him the way he had loved them when he was a child.
indentdeep down, he knew that wasn’t going to happen.
indenthis phone buzzing from its haphazard position on the passenger seat drew his attention. he wiped his eyes again before he grabbed it, seeing a text from mateo.
indenthey, run down to the capitol without me. there's been some sort of incident over here, i don't know some base was apparently hit by rebels a few minutes ago everyone's freaking out. don't forget the file needs to go to general alarie, he should be in his office today. maybe you can get one of your friends to go with you. also remember to feed bastien before 2pm so he doesn't try and hunt the neighbor's outdoor cats again
indentkai couldn't help the snort that escaped him when his brother sent him an unironic eagle and cat emoji. well, that's just about as expected. he should have known it'd be him running mateo's errands without his brother at his side. as a brigadier general, he's a busy man. kai couldn't really relate to that. warrant officers tend to work a pretty dull nine to five schedule, with half working weekdays and other half the weekends. either way, kai knew he owed his brother a solid by delivering the file to general alarie's office down at capitol hill and it's not like he was going to linger around the estate after arguing with his mother. kai driving off to do whatever for several hours is fairly common for him; he preferred being out doing literally anything else than being around his parents. he put his phone down on the seat before he took another breath, making sure he looked semi-decent in the rearview mirror before he buckled his seatbelt. his car keys were always tucked conveniently in his pocket. luckily for him, there was nobody parked in front of him, ensuring a smooth getaway from the loukanis estate.
indentthe parekh family only lives a few blocks away from the loukanis manor. all the prestigious families live in the same district, anyway so it's not a puzzle trying to pinpoint where certain figures live. the weather was cool enough that he kept the hood of his convertible down, the breeze tousling his blonde hair. the wind stung his cheeks, still red and damp from his tears a few moments ago. the amount of times kai has driven peculiar to mina's house after enduring some sort of argument with his family is literally too much to count. he's not the type of person to use people as targets for his dirty laundry, no but it'd usually just consist of him pulling up Odd in a frenzied manner, trying to convince her to ditch her family for a few hours so they could go and do something. he and mina have known each other since childhood, their families both intertwined in the military and government. once, their parents had some sort of mutual respect for one another until mina's younger brother received a promotion that had briefly been considered for kai's own brother, mateo. stupid bastard. having grown up alongside mina, kai is no stranger to the proclaimed 'protégé' that so many make ishaan out to be. protégé of special town. it's not like mina's younger brother has ever done anything to personally wrong kai. in fact, one might even think of ishaan as humble but to kai, there's no such thing as genuine humility in the conclave. everyone does everything for a reason, for some sort of gain. it was hard for him to think that mina's brother could achieve the rank of major general at such a young age when it takes years to climb the hierarchy without some sort of darker influence involved. if anything, mateo rightfully deserves that position. he's worked hard to get to where he's at, all jealousy put aside. the fact he was nearly a decade older than ishaan, too and still ended up getting screwed over in that whole arrangement? it didn't make sense to kai, which is why he no longer felt bad for giving mina's brother the cold shoulder a majority of their youth. honestly, one of the reasons he and mina are so close is probably because they're both in the same trench when it comes to teetering on the edge of being blatantly shunned by their families. ishaan's rise to stardom reminded him almost all too well of his own brothers' paths to glory, which is probably why he had never exactly treated ishaan the best even when their families were on good terms. hell, kai was jealous of ishaan himself. he was resentful towards his family's success, his brothers' successes, ishaan's success... anyone who does even remotely better than he, his first instinct is to slit their throat. the fact he always leaned towards initiating violence on others whenever they do anything to slightly anger him is more or less concerning, but never something he really thought about. but jealousy is a green eyed monster, and it looks frightening on him. he should be happy for these people but instead, all he felt was resentment and rage. he was even jealous of mateo's success, and the man practically gave up his childhood to raise his younger brothers. he deserved a good career with a high ranking but does that make kai any less resentful? of course not.
indentwhen kai arrived at the parekh residence, he was careful to park his car on the corner of the street. with their families now at odds with one another, it wouldn't be smart for kai to show up unannounced to their home; not that him being menacing isn't some sort of new sight. he's dragged mina into plenty of trouble before. one of the most prominent memories he could recall is kai dragging mina into a disaster when they had attended a celebration with their families as teenagers at the home of a former vice president. he forgot the circumstances of why but he had been pestering mina over something trivial near the pool when his father snarled at him to stop acting a fool. it had startled him so badly he had jumped and lost his balance, accidentally sending both him and mina headfirst into the pool. honestly, that's probably one of the least worse scenarios they've been in. not even a year ago he had snuck onto the parekh grounds - a little bit hammered from drinking, admittedly - just to knock on her window at two in the morning because she hadn't answered his texts; turns out, he had been accidentally texting his brother philip. not only had he been forced to carefully maneuver himself away from the parekh residence before mina's parents caught him but he had received a thorough ass whooping when he got home for his reckless behavior. the next day, his father had forced him to return to the parekh estate to apologize to mina's parents so any hopes that he got away unscathed from surveillance footage had proven fruitless in the end.
indentafter rubbing his face again and taking a few breaths so it didn't totally look like he had been suffering from a mental breakdown, he grabbed his phone to text mina.
indenthey pretty lady
indenti need to stop by the capitol to drop something off in the congressional offices building for mateo do u wanna come with me
indentonly doing this because instead of feeling like a sore loser i wanna feel like a pompous douche for the few minutes we're in the capitol building lmao
indentand by do u wanna come with me i mean get out here rn before i get shot by the neighborhood watch for looking sus on the corner of your street

[vaell]

ＪＵＬＩＡＮ　ＭＯＲＥＮＯ.

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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxa wastelander / future rebel. | unaffiliated. | tagged: valentina.
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indentjulian groaned.
indentmorris, being the small creature he was, slipped back within he and valentina's house seamlessly through a newly exposed opening in the framework.
indenthis sand-cat peered up at him, tilting his head as if to inquire 'are you going to bother to fix this or am i going to have to keep running in and out of here to remind you that you live in a house constantly in need of repairs, basically crumbling all around you regardless of what you do - but oh, by the way, you're also lucky to have a roof above your head, let alone anything to protect you from the harsh environment of the waste - also, it's not gonna fix itself. and next time thank me!' or at least that's what he liked to guess morris was thinking. crouching down, julian shooed him away from the newly formed hole with the wave of his hand, eyeing it suspiciously. morris was a creature filled with curiosity, hence his constant inspection of their house. in truth, said curiosity was a bit of a life-saver sometimes. sure, julian or valentina would notice these sorts of openings with time as it didn't often take long for the holes to make themselves known, the weather alone enough to advance the decaying which could lead to a huge gap. so in a sense, whether he knew it or not, the little sand-cat was making himself quite useful. these sorts of things start small, as minor inconveniences, and then boom, you're stuck with a much more irritating problem later on. so it made sense to deal with this hole as soon as possible. when he lowered himself a bit more to peer through the hole, he was met with the sight of fallen trees just a few feet from their abode. he sighed, rising back up from his crouched position. it wasn't like they just had planks lying around ready for use at all times - but luckily, the deteriorating state of their house - seemingly amplified as of late - did mean they may have a spare left from the last repair, as they had anticipated more problems would be popping up if one had made itself known prior. it was not often one could say they were ready for some sort of problem that arises in their life, but at least they had gotten this prediction down pat. and no matter how difficult it proved to retain a positive mindset out in the waste, the comfort of not being fully exposed was one of the few things seemingly essential in keeping their sanity. so julian, with a determination to attempt to sustain their lives as somewhat normal, set off to the find the extra plank they hopefully had kept stored.
indenthis entire day thus far had been nothing short of peculiar, and it was more than just a hole in the wall. while valentina had departed this morning, out to track a doe, he had personally been fast asleep. this wouldn't be so strange if it weren't for the fact he told himself he was going to join in on her hunt today. obviously his cousin didn't hold his vow to much a high standard, either, for she was evidently gone. more irritating was the fact that morris had attempted to act as an alarm for julian. the creature had been making himself a pest, running about the place and eventually squeaking loud enough for him to wake up to the noise. that was the thing with his sand-cat, he was always vying for some sort of attention or wanting some acknowledgement or something - he still hadn't completely figured him out. regardless of how wretched his mattress was, by the way, he didn't really want to get up, but was ultimately forced to when he realized he had totally missed his cousins leave.
indentnow julian turned the corner into what may have once been an appealing living room in pre-war times. most recently, one of the window panes had been shattered, which did cause a significant blow in their amount of caps in order to try and repair. he almost wanted to just start boarding the windows up out of pure irritation but the lack of outside light would probably end up getting to him anyway. in fact, most places you turned around, you were sure to see some kind of adjustment to their house - most popularly, as what he was attending to, planks. it kinda felt like putting a small bandaid on some huge problem, though, if he had to admit. hell, the place was basically crumbling away bit by bit. what good were repairs - let alone the boards - but to last them temporary contentment? that's all that you could hope to come by in this life, he supposed. everything was temporary, so might as well take some sort of solace in it. besides, they say that ignorance is bliss. he turned his attention to the opposite side of the room, thankfully spotting the lone plank situated against the wall.
indent"yesssss!"
indentjulian made his way over and snatched the plank up, securing it between his arm and his side, then made his way over to a weathered metal container stored high up on a dusty shelf, the frame of which it sat on decaying. he reached up, grasping ahold of the sides and drawing it out. julian swivelled around and set it upon the counter behind him, yanking the stubborn lid open with a solid use of force, and proceeding to sift through its contents. all he really cared about inside the box was the horrendously rusted nails sitting within, the reddish-brown ferrous oxide enveloping the metal not even slightly a disconcerting sight to him. he stuffed the few he needed into the pocket of his jacket. you could think of this box as one of their few methods of concealing their items of value and ultimately of use. it wasn't a genius hiding spot, obviously, but it was tucked far back enough that if you weren't julian or valentina, you'd likely overlook it. it didn't matter that they had a home to reside in - life out in the waste regardless of where you live, be it laurel oaks or not, was one that demanded you to be cautious and alert at all times. and this was one of the many ways one must learn to adapt. hiding your belongings inside the supposed safety of your own house, because who the hell knows what could happen. he brushed aside the contents scattered on the top and brought his hand to the bottom of the metal box, fingers curling around the battered handle of a hammer. it was a tool that had seen multitudes of usage over who knows how long, but it did the just trick regardless. julian secured the top back onto the container after a few attempts of trying to get it to click properly, continuing to set it back upon the shelf of which it sat. snatching the hammer off of the counter, he made his way back to the hole that was awaiting him.
indentlowering himself before the gap once more, he measured the plank up to the hole, morris sneaking back on over to give him an approving squeak at the sight of the plank covering the hole. while the sand-cat observed, he fished for one of the nails in the inner pocket of his jacket to align it on one of the top corners of the small plank, simultaneously and haphazardly holding the plank against the wall with the length of his arm and the nail against the surface of the plank with that same hand. his mouth tightened into a line as he concentrated, using his free hand to raise the hammer at his side before the nail. he made a tapping motion several times in the air before actually executing the swing through, the hammer making contact with the nail once, twice, again and again before it had been securely wedged through the wood of the plank. satisfied, he moved on the next corner, repeating the process yet twice more until he was to hammer in the last nail. he glanced over to morris, sitting in contentment at his side, notably the most tame he had been the entire morning. the small creature flicked his ears back at him as if in approval of his work thus far. "alright, bud, one more, and we should be good to go," he twirled the final nail in his fingers. "at least val won't be able to say i didn't do anything today." raising it up to the only bare corner, he quickly brought the hammer up to the top of the nail, bringing it down with the type of strength you would exert over trying to get something done with as soon as possible.
indenthis grip on the nail faltered as he jumped at the sudden sound from outside their house.
indentholy. shi-
indentow. ow. ow. ow. ow.
indentthat was the only sound he could utter on replay for the next five minutes. julian had doubled back thanks to the sudden pain throbbing in his finger, clutching his hand tightly as if that would help anything. "ohmygoddddddddd- owwwwwwwwww-" he hissed through clenched teeth, still wincing so hard his eyes were closed shut. morris had long jumped and ran off at julian's sudden exclamations, so now he was alone with a sore finger and an unfinished plank. he opened his eyes and shook his hand as if that could relieve the pain. "dammit, val!" he yelled, half in irritation, the other half still in agony. he glared at the board across from where he lay on his back, letting out a sharp breath as he raised himself back up onto his elbows and to his feet. you know what, screw this. he would get back to it later. and that said a lot, considering he legitimately had not a single clue what his cousin had even called out to him as a result of his singular honing in on the pain. as a couple minutes passed of him just cradling his hand, the burning sensation lingered but he was otherwise notably better now some time had elapsed. julian rubbed his forehead, leaving the hammer out in the open where he had flung it to the side in his haste and completely abandoning that project for now. he would work on it later, you know, when he wasn't so bitter.
indenthe burst out their front door with morris now finding his way back to his heels, and was greeted with the sight of not only his cousin but mars saddled up with a doe set across his hindquarters, gideon's furry head popping out from a saddlebag, too. it didn't take him long to connect the dots of what val had said - no doubt she was going to be heading to the market to try and sell the damn creature. he shook his head, stepping out onto the porch to go ahead and retrieve both his shotgun and dagger from their broken patio. "i didn't think you'd be back already. you know, kinda caught me off-guard, but whatever, that's not relevant to what i'm saying. by the way, there's another hole in the wall. it's small, yeah, but i did manage to patch it up. mostly. anyway, thats not the point." he threw a glance back toward valentina, as if she was even listening to his strange mumbling of a rant, "forget the point. that doe better fetch us a good price!" he went on to tuck his dagger into his jacket, stowing it away in one of the inner pockets just as he had the nails earlier, and slung his shotgun across his shoulder. he also strapped his bandolier across his chest, well stocked in shotgun shells. being well armed out in the waste was more a necessity than a precaution.
indentas julian then headed over to approach mars, he grinned. "hey, boy! how's my favorite horse doing!?' he patted the side of the steed, whom let out a blow of air in response. morris slunk on over to the crowd, making sure to avoid the larger creature as best he could. julian eyed gideon, then looked down to his own sand-cat. "look, i know you don't make yourself too much of a trouble usually, buuuuuut..you're being a nuisance today, so this is deserved." he shot down to pick up his sand-cat before the mischievous morris could get away, and tucked him into one of mars' saddlebags, opposite to the one gideon was placed in. he adjusted the bag so that his own sand-cat was otherwise shielded aside from his head just as gideon was, then looked over to valentina. "after you. by the way, i may or may not have a story to tell you along the way. i wasn't planning on telling you, but honestly, i don't mind. it's kinda funny."

indentso thus the duo departed their settlement, trading the so-called charm of laurel oaks for their usual route to the market. the sun was beating down on them today, leaving a bead of sweat forming across julian's brow as he gazed out at the settlements they passed. the path from their house was a rough one, the roads uneven with potholes with no lack of cracks in the pavement, though luckily for them, they could veer mars to head about on the withering lawns as necessary. by the way, he had been talking val's ear off with his hammer incident that only occurred prior to meeting up with her. did he exaggerate how it all went down? absolutely. he liked to think that it made the story better. besides, humans like to choose the better story, not the lame one. it helps them cope. the two passed by the remainder of the residencies in laurel oaks, a long and painfully dismal trip from their house, though finally exiting from the wooden wall in which the community deemed a solid defence from both predators and menaces that may want to invade their peace. now they had transitioned on to the familiar, dusty road that was the best possible route they could take to get to the market. he wished he could say that they passed by much, but it was just flat expanse, devoid of life. occasionally could they spot a toppled, dead tree, or some rogue boulder, though. that, and along the way was a conclave base, located just a ways from the road. it stood formidable in the far distance, a sight that let on feelings of inconceivable disgust when looked upon. luckily for them the distance was far enough that stumbling upon a conclave goon wasn't a possibility too likely. he turned his gaze back up to the dreary sky, coming to a conclusion of his warped version of how the whole incident had transpired earlier.
indent"..and then- you wouldn't believe it." a laugh escaped him, finding humor in his own storytelling. "morris had the audacity to try and stop me from-"
indenthe diverted his gaze back from the sky, and unto their rugged path once more.
indentjust about at the moment he thought she may just turn around and tell him to the shut the hell up, he felt himself fall into a complete silence, words dying off on his tongue. if he could, he wish he could go back in time and tell himself not to wish for a more interesting sight to see along the way of their trip. he wanted that so deperately.
indent"..holy hell. val?.."
indenthe tugged the sleeve of his cousin. his eyes were transfixed several feet off of the road. bodies. red staining the fabric of their clothing, their faces toward the sky with a glass look in their eyes. it had been at least ten minutes from whatever altercation had went down, because the blood was beginning to dry in the hot sun. as paralyzed as julian was, mars continued on, in a slow, nonchalant manner as they approached the bloodshed alongside the road. he felt his heart drop, a feeling of nausea taking a grip of him. it was a complete massacre. he had to look away, putting a hand to his mouth as he felt himself try to keep calm. something about the scene was so gruesome that it was hard not to compare it to the way their very own parents died, in shame and in hysterics. this was not something you would normally run across on route to a damn market run. he could hardly decide what he needed to do, his whole being sent into a state of panic which began flooding his system. what he did know was that he had to force himself to look at those people again. and so he did. those who lay scattered among the side of the road were not donning any sort of gear denoting themselves as a conclave soldier. no power armor. no medallions, no symbols, none of that parading of rank nor any equipment which he usually associated with the terrors that plagued the wasteland.
indentthese people must have been innocent. he determined this all in a split-second. despite fear having formed a lodge in his throat, he forced words to come out to, calling for mars to come to a stop. to his surprise, the horse obeyed, not needing a pull of the reigns from valentina, who was the one guiding their mount. he drew his leg around to the side and hopped off of mars, instinctively swivelling his shotgun around into his hands. he lingered at the edge of the crumbling path. it felt like at any moment, he would be the next one on the ground, laying just as the rest of this lot did. nervously, he scanned the horizon. everything was piercingly silent, however, eerie and unsettling, as if the scene had just been cleared after having laid waste to so many people. and why, he had not a clue. would the same group who shot them - which he was now assuming was none other than the conclave, for it couldn't be just coincidence that this occurred not far from one of their bases - come back? and if so, how long would he and val have to clear the scene?
indentcautiously, he stepped forward and into the midst of the carnage. he continued forward with that same hesitance, eyeing those at his feet that he passed. none of them gave a single sign of life - nothing. not a word, not a flinch, or a groan of pain. he turned back to valentina. "..maybe we should check what they got on them. or else whatever they got's gonna go to waste." he glanced over his shoulder to the dead bodies. "it's not like they got looted, considering the fact this whole situation probably boils down to a case of trigger-happy conclave bastards. blah, blah, better than us. you know the drill. plus we both know they didn't want any crap these people may have had. but also we gotta get the hell outta here..i don't wanna be shot for just being here."
indentbehind him, a man plainly shot in his chest, who only lay a few feet from julian stirred upon the recent movement around him. he was bleeding out, but slowly. not all of his energy had been depleted of him. what he had left of it did he try to focus on the figure that stood before him. julian's outline was a blur, and his eyesight was no help as it became like a vignette closing in on itself, foreground and background beginning to blur into one. "t.." he attempted to speak, but it was harder to force the sentence to come out than he had anticipated. so instead, he wriggled uncomfortably, his hand slowly moving across his chest to reach the gunshot wound. he pressed whatever strength he could into this spot. "t-take..." he attempted to reiterate yet again, now beginning to reach for something within the folds of his jacket. still so quiet, julian would not have noticed if it weren't for the cough accompanying his attempt. blood spurt from the side of his mouth as another dry wheeze racked his chest, the red liquid bubbling at his lips.
indentjulian froze. he store at valentina, eyes widened as he attempted to check his peripheral. slowly, he let himself turn around. "oh my go-" he spun back around to face his cousin without hardly needing a glance of the newly awakened man. nope. they were not going to get themselves killed here by attempting to help some guy out, if thats what he wanted from them. "hell. no. forget it. we aren't getting caught up in any of this. lets just be on our way. that's a good idea, right?"
indentthe injured man, however, was not going to shy away as julian was attempting to - in fact, he was still chipping away at trying to give his last ounces of energy to forming some sort of proper sentences.

[vaermina]

ＲＯＬＡＮＤ ＹＡＮＥＺxxx
I.xcis malex II.x33 years oldx III. an inr tactical intelligence officer & sniper


indent"that thing is a beast, innit? i'd hate to be one of the bastards who were in its warpath before it finally got mowed down."
indentan unpleasant stench of blood and cadaverine hung in the air. a heaviness lay stark upon the wasteland, undisturbed by not even the wind. roland has come to the conclusion over the years that the further south you travel, the more unbearable the heat becomes. it doesn't matter that it's the beginning of january, a month once heralded for being the coldest of the year in the northern hemisphere. the earth still hasn't recovered from the devastating effects of the great war nearly three hundred years ago. the bombs not only catapulted mankind into near extinction through total nuclear annihilation but have altered the course of evolution forever. much like how humans have adapted to live in an atomic wasteland, mutated creatures of unimaginable strength and ferocity have done the same. unsurprisingly, predators of the waste can be just as dangerous - if not more so - than the self-proclaimed 'rebels' themselves. that much is obvious by the sheer amount of bullets it took to bring down the sharpclaw that attacked a helicopter outside the base a couple of days ago. the monster was sprawled in the center of the east courtyard, having been transported inside the base on the back of a truck after it was finally put down. a transport was supposed to be coming soon to collect its corpse and cart it to the nearest commonwealth science bay so it could be studied. it's not everyday scientists get their hands on a sharpclaw specimen. for the most part, the enigmatic creatures stick to themselves. they rarely seek human contact, so the fact one even went as far as to attack a helicopter as it was taking off from a landing pad outside of the fort's walls is more or less concerning. one of the pilots who survived the attack insisted that the beast came out of nowhere, rushing the aircraft in a matter of seconds. it had been dark outside, an hour or two before the sun was set to rise across the wasteland. the sharpclaw had grabbed a hold of the helicopter's landing skids with its extensive claws, its weight enough to cause the helicopter to instantly tip westward and destroy its rotor blades against the landing pad's hard surface. several soldiers had fallen out of the aircraft when it tipped and, unfortunately for them, right into the sharpclaw's warpath. most of them had been killed, save one or two who managed to crawl behind the helicopter during the carnage. the pilots had emerged unscathed from the conflict, as well, considering the predator hadn't thought to try and break the glass of the cockpit's windshield to drag them out onto the landing pad. fortunately, the butchery did not last for long. several of the mounted gun turrets on the base's outer walls had made quick work of the sharpclaw by piercing its hide with over three hundred bullets. it took a lot to take it down, but sharpclaws are known for their striking durability.
indent"mhm," roland's response to the soldier was curt. "i'm sure the survivors in the medical wing aren't exactly doing handstands right now." the sniper lowered himself next to the sharpclaw's head. a pool of blood had formed around the creature's cranium; its eyes stared blankly into the sky. it had to be over twenty feet long, covered head to toe in rough, scaly gray skin. its rippling musculature provided the beast with a bulky build, and combined with its bipedal mobility and towering height? roland would hate to confront a sharpclaw unprepared. its curled horns and dorsal spikes would render even the most efficient of melee strikes deficient. his eyes traveled down the length of its corpse. at the end of each paw protruded long, serrated claws that were easily a foot in length. there's a reason the species was granted the name it has; its claws are sharp enough to effortlessly bisect an unarmored human. roland grabbed a hold of one of its horns, turning its head slightly to look at its open maw. sharpclaws are not usually prone to human attacks unless provoked, so why did this one decide to target the helicopter? surely, the base would have had a problem with this sharpclaw before if it had made the surrounding area its designated territory? it didn't make much sense to roland. he knew that within recent years, conclave colonization and expansion across the country has disrupted a good part of the wasteland's ecosystem, throwing many of its creatures off balance. it was possible that said scenario could be applicable to this sharpclaw. it was alarming to think about, especially since unless you have some sort of explosive on you or rapid fire weapon like a machine gun, you're easy prey for a sharpclaw. they don't go down easily.
indent"the transport should be here by dusk, correct? buzzards will be drawn to this thing the further it stays out in the open." he told the soldier standing parallel to him. several of the men who were stationed here at fort sancus ii had shown an interest in sawing off some of the creature's teeth and claws to claim as keepsakes, but the sharpclaw couldn't be blighted. it had to remain in the same condition it perished in for whoever was going to be studying it. the soldier nodded. "yes, sir. we have received transmissions throughout the day relaying their coordinates to us so we have documentation of their latest whereabouts should something unexpected happen. i wouldn't be much surprised if there's another sharpclaw nearby, given the fact some of them travel in pairs."
indentfort sancus ii is a relatively quiet base. it's neither massive nor teeming, but its location is practical for the taskforce. he and jazmín had arrived the day prior in light of recent promotions to the covert operations taskforce. ever since the destruction at fort snow, multiple bureaus and branches have been in a chaotic disarray to utilize their resources in an attempt to strike back at the rebellion. fort snow's dismantling had come across as a shock to most. the self-proclaimed revolutionaries have never attempted something as grand scale and noxious before. prior to this, their attacks have been small, pernicious, discreet. what started off as mere ambushes and purloin has now spiraled to full-frontal assaults on military bases. fort snow was located on the edge of the notorious badlands, the northwestern region of the united states believed to be harboring the rebellion's headquarters. attempts to locate said headquarters have been fruitless, though. the conclave has lost thousands of men and even more technology and aircrafts in the badlands than any other region combined. nobody is quite sure why that is, too. rumors spread like wildfire throughout soldier platoons and squads that the rebellion is full of bedlams and warlocks, people who utilize abilities unimaginable to the realistic eye to aid them in their fight against the conclave. some say that the rebellion has found a way to employ wendigos as protectors of their headquarters, deploying them to deal with conclave patrols who may be wandering too close to their depot. it was all childish hearsay. sure, the thought of wendigos stalking amongst the trees of a dead forest waiting to snare their next victim is an interesting thought but anyone with a sensible brain knows that the rebellion is nothing less than a bunch of self-proclaimed martyrs. it was almost borderline comical, how a structured group can rise from the ashes proclaiming protest against the federal government as if they have a clue on how a reasonable body of government should act. the conclave is the only type of national government the wasteland has seen since the nukes dropped. nobody truly knows what pre-war society was like... no, not really. yet, they were supposed to listen to some underground organization who tries to preach ideals that they themselves have never experienced? as far as roland's knowledge goes, the nuclear holocaust was caused by the former united states government. why would they want that type of system again? granted, there's no international threat that could pave way for another nuclear war but it didn't exactly sound appealing to roland. honestly, though, it just goes to show how blatantly stark the lines between pure-bloods and tainted-bloods are. they're oblivious to what true leadership is supposed to look like. they readily despise anything of coherent structure or ordinance. it made no sense to him. ideally, they'd all like to live in pre-war harmony but it's become painstakingly clear to the conclave that wastelanders are pretty much against any sort of governmental body dictating their lives. that much is true, judging by the formation of the rebellion.
indentbeep! beep! beep!
indentthe blaring shriek coming from his holoprojector - clipped heedfully to his belt - pierced the air. several of the soldiers surrounding the sharpclaw looked to him curiously. roland was quick to get back on his feet, reaching down to his waist in order to unclip the clangorous device. he excused himself with a slight mumble before he shuffled away from the sharpclaw's corpse, migrating over to a set of stairs that led up to the wall's parapets. he held the holoprojector in the palm of his hand, listening inquisitively as it began to relay an audio transmission through its speakers.
indent"ATTENTION. THERE HAS BEEN A BREACH IN BASE: THEMUS. POTENTIAL OF STOLEN INFORMATION. CONTACTED PERSONS SHOULD DIRECT THEIR FOCUS ONTO THE INVESTIGATION EFFECTIVE NOW..."
indentthat was all roland needed to hear before he set off.
indentdeedee was hot on his heels as he left the courtyard. the door to the east wing slid open as soon as he neared, revealing a long corridor of gray walls, white tile and bright lighting. the sound of his footsteps echoed down the length of the hall, accompanied by the light clicks of deedee's nails against the floor. there was the occasional soldier who stood broodily on guard; sometimes, it'd be a gunner instead, yellow eyes unmoving as roland passed. judging by the relative boredom floating about the halls, it seemed that the news of the alleged breach has not yet reached general ears. that
s good. the taskforce would be employed to inspect the scene, he supposed, before anyone else is ordered to do so. it's their jobs, after all. he looked down at his holoprojector when a button flashed green, another transmission now coming through. it was from one of the taskforce overseers here at the base. "officer yáñez, please confirm you have received the conveyance regarding the rollout of the taskforce to fort themus. over."
indenthe pressed his thumb down on one of the holoprojector's many buttons. "confirmed. i'm currently on my way to the loading bay, coming from the east courtyard. over."
indent"copied. information regarding the breach will be relayed to you and your fellow officers the more we hear from colonel channing. channel 17-a's capacity has been limited for both yourself and officer seco."
indentthe mention of jazmín was enough to pique his interest. where is she at? he hasn't seen her since earlier this morning, after he left their quarters to investigate the sharpclaw lying dead in the east courtyard. knowing her, she was already well on her way to the loading bay. he clipped his holoprojector onto his belt before he rounded another corner. "channel 17-a." a beep was the only sound that responded to his command as his helmet's comlink registered his words. a few seconds passed before his entrance into the channel was confirmed by a robotic reply.
indenthe was greeted by silence. roland frowned. what the hell? knowing jazmín, she's usually on top of her game when it comes to things like this. he would have thought she'd join the channel before him. his concern was immediately resolved when he suddenly heard the sound of the woman's voice filter through the comlink, bouncing about the small chamber that made up his helmet. at first, she sounded solemn but it didn't last for long. in true jazmín fashion, she was quick to ditch the formalities and return to her usual scintillating nature. he couldn't help the snort that escaped him. "what do you mean loading bay? i'm already on my way to fort themus. you don't see me hauling ass in the distance?" while it is true that roland is not exactly the most puckish of characters, he did have a dry sense of jocular to him. he's long since adapted in responding to most of jazmín's playful banter with quick-witted remarks of his own. roland never quite sounds as jovial as perhaps one would like, but putting in that sort of work is near impossible for him. he rarely felt beneath the surface level. in many ways, it made him unmovable, always providing some sort of stability because you can count on him to never act out rashly on his emotions. "i'm coming from the east courtyard. i'm near the loading bay now."
indenther flirting elicited a quirked brow from roland. "two sleep systems? excellent. one for me and one for deedee." he teased her. he felt a small smile grow on his lips. he didn't mind the discussion about their private lives. usually, roland is never one for disclosure but considering they were the only two people on the channel, it's not like this banter was somehow harmful. their prominent reputations in the taskforce give them some leeway with it all but considering both he and jazmín are as hardworking as it is, it's better not to try and poke the bear. relationships amongst officers are common, but heavily scrutinized when it comes to determining if said officers will let their feelings cloud their responsibilities. he and jazmín aren't like that. they cared for one another, of course, but their obligations are just as important as their reverences. her words were enough to elicit a nod from him, even though she couldn't exactly see it. "mhm. i'll see you when i get there."
indentthe loading dock is the largest chamber to be found in the fort. it was a massive room, harboring a large but shallow pit. sitting quaintly in said pit is a plethora of armored cars, various models all covered in thick layers of steel to keep those inside safe from the dangers of the waste. there were other vehicles, too, like buggys and quad bikes. the loading bay provided direct access to the base's staging areas, storage rooms and freight elevators. the walls were lined with not only various power cell sockets but power armor stations, too, where soldiers could step out of their suits and tinker with said armor's plating through various mods and upgrades. even now, he could spot a few men and women who were perched intently at their stations, yielding tools and dipping their hands in experimentation as they tinkered with their models. scalding white lights shined upon the loading bay, shouldered next to massive industrial fans. deedee ran ahead of him as roland made his way down one of the entrance ramps, listening to the sound of drills grating through medal and engines roaring as soldiers climbed into other vehicles. the armored car he and jazmín were to be driving sat at the edge of the lot, headlights already facing the open door of the loading bay. the sniper motioned with his hand. "deedee, go." the simple command elicited a head swivel from the canine, eyes briefly landing on him before she bounded forward. there wasn't enough room for deedee in the car. besides, roland preferred her to not be locked inside of it. sure, the vehicle is protected from certain damage like gunfire but judging how quickly that helicopter went down to the grip of a sharpclaw, he didn't feel safe keeping deedee locked up in such a restricted space where she couldn't escape to defend herself. she'd easily fall victim to any sort of attacks if she was unable to efficiently move due to such cramped quarters. besides, he and jazmín didn't need to be hearing deedee panting in the back the entire time they're driving.
indentroland approached the armored car. he opened up the driver's door, greeted by the sight of jazmín sitting in the passenger seat. "hey," he greeted her coolly. the man grabbed a hold of the side of the door so he could step on the car's side bars and clamor inside. the armored car was built to only seat two people; the back had been modified into a makeshift vault of some sorts to hold military-grade supplies and weaponry. the windows and windshield were made with bulletproof glass, the inside padded for comfort. the keys had been set atop the middle console. a holoprojector had been built in the middle of the dashboard, as well, displaying a variety of buttons to aid them on their quest. roland grunted as he settled in his seat, reaching up to carefully pull off his helmet as it threatened to bang against the ceiling of the vehicle. "who drives these cars? the munchkins from wizard of oz?" he looked at jazmín. "oh, sorry, i didn't realize one of them were in here." he couldn't help the cackle that escaped him, already feeling himself tense up as if she were going to swat at him for the banter. roland always liked to poke fun at their height difference. he was nearly a foot taller than her. it didn't really matter much, considering she could still probably beat his ass if she wanted to. either way, it was certainly uncomfortable, having to adjust the seat so he was content. he closed the door after him, catching a view of a waiting deedee outside the loading bay.
indentas soon as he put the keys in the ignition, the holoprojector began to beep. the vehicle's dashboard started to glow and flicker in colors as the control panel began to display instrumentation and modulation for the car's operation. the speedometer, tachometer and odometer glowed bright turquoise, along with a variety of other measuring instruments. the blue hologram of a power armor helmet - the default hologram of any sort of conclave message - flickered from the holoprojector.
indent"ANALYZING IDENTITIES..." several clicks sounded from somewhere inside the car. "CONFIRMING... ACCESSING FILES... CONFIRMED. WELCOME, OFFICER YÁÑEZ AND OFFICER SECO. VEHICLE 303 HAS BEEN PRE-ROUTED BY AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL TO BASE: THEMUS CHECKPOINT. PLEASE DO NOT STRAY FROM THE DIRECTED GPS COURSINGS, OR IT MAY RESULT IN POSSIBLE TERMINATION FROM THIS MISSION BY AFFIRMED SUPERVISORS."
indent"yeah, yeah," he grumbled in response. "let's head out so we can make good time." he figured there was going to be a lot more monotone instruction where that came from the further they neared themus.
indentnavigating from the bowels of the loading bay proved to be an easy task. there was iron fencing surrounding the entrance area of the loading docks to keep undesirables from accessing it when the doors were slid open for vehicles to enter and depart. it was a towering fence, lined all around with barb wire. there was a makeshift office next to the main gates where security officers could sit and control who they decide to let in. when roland pulled up to the gate, it only took but a few seconds for an alarm to sound as the gate began to slowly roll open. the wasteland lay before them; miles upon miles of hard earth, dotted with only the occasional dead tree, patch of thorn bushes or toppled boulder. it'd be easy to get lost when there's no landmarks to depend upon in terms of navigation. luckily for them, they had a gps, which was already beginning to route itself on the small screen located in the middle of the dashboard, right above several air vents. deedee had already bolted forward, running a few feet before stopping to look back expectantly at the vehicle.
indentand with that, they set off.

[vaell]

ＭＩＮＡ ＰＡＲＥＫＨ.

xxxxxxxx─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxaviation warrant officer two. | conclave military. | tagged: kai.
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indentmina slunk through the spacious living room of her house, passing beneath an ornate crystal chandelier positioned in the middle of an arranged seating area, refined and tasteful as per conclave furniture trends. though the house was empty save for her, she looked a suspicious figure making her way across the room, as if she wasn't supposed to be lurking about the residence in the first place.
indentthe parekh estate was situated amongst the prestigious families of the conclave, only home to four residents. nestled in the northwest district, its grandeur was no less than the next house. the porte-cochère entrance of her home was preceded by neatly trimmed hedges forming a decorative rim around a small mass of water encircling a stone waterfall. clean water slowly spilled over the edges of the basin, hitting the water beneath it with a plop. dead-on in the middle of the rounded bowl was the carving of a griffin, its face protruding from the surface elegantly. it was as much a decorative choice as it was for her fathers strange amusement. the beasts are notorious for having no trouble in attacking conclave aerial ships - often reigning successful - so it made sense that adhar parekh, esteemed general in the majcom division, nonetheless commanding one of the conclave's very own airships, would want such a figure before his very own home. a carefully constructed path of stone enclosed both the hedges and the waterfall which led up to the doorway. at the entrance of the estate stood dramatic, solid oak cathedral doors, both proud and formidable. what set the residence apart from it's neighbours was the captivatingly minimalistic style that the architecture the building itself bore. it was constructed of sleek, dark panels, and sported a flat-roof to its top story, and its interior was nearly parallel to the outwardly simplistic, yet elegant, design.
indentmina approached the spiral staircase situated on the edge of their living room. the central column running through the steps reflecting the shiny surface of the steel it was made up of, and the treads, which she now began to tiptoe upon, were made up of an elegant glass design, dainty but still boasting a considerable space to keep your footing. the household being so silent, she felt as though she should not dare to break the silence in any way, and most of all preserve what she could of it. perhaps that was why she felt so instinctively to not make a single noise in her own house - or maybe it was just the fact she had been sneaking out far too often and now the cautious behavior had been instilled in her to uphold. either way, she ran her hand along the polished rail, slipping up and around the first swivel of the staircase and up into the next floor of her home. the uppermost floor was home to both her and her brothers respective quarters, and her parents' as well. she stepped onto the porcelain tiled flooring from the last tread, beginning to head across the space now with a bit less finesse. her house - the distinction was clear, not home - had always felt clinical, impersonal. from the choices of furnishing to the selection of the interior design, nothing about it could scream welcoming. beneath her feet the ceramic tile was bitingly cold to the touch, enough to at first elicit a small wince in regard to the stones uncomfortable bearing. it wasn't even practical to have such designed such a blight, she thought. why spend all of your day at work in an office, like how her mother did, or navigating your way through an architecturally uniform military base, just to come home to another work-like environment? it seemed like they wanted to endure hell for themselves so long as it were under their jurisdiction. coldness emanated from any given place within the estate. it was inescapable. she personally would have made things a tad more personal. hence why her separate living space was drastically different from behind its door. mina, however originally meaning to, did not yet dart straight to her room. she passed by ishaan's room, though she felt herself unable to move past his door completely. a strange inclination to pry into his life had taken ahold of her once again. it was so overwhelming that she hovered there, looking back over her shoulder and directly at the handle of his door.
indentimpulsively, mina backtracked, reaching for the handle and flinging it open with a greedy want. her eyes devoured the sight of the contents within, just like she did every time he was not home. was it becoming a bad habit, one that she would likely get found out for? oh, absolutely. but there was something about having power over his personal domain that made her feel like he wasn't all that above her. she shut the door soundly behind her, finding herself going through the same process of which she had the very time prior. first, she wasted no time in filtering through the drawers of his desk. she observed its contents, careful not to rummage through and leave something out of place. he had nothing unusual in there, just some writing utensils and a few photographs tucked away of what appeared to be him with his squadron. she slammed shut the drawer. it was what was on his desk that she wanted to see. papers were scattered about here and there in disarray, mostly sketched models of aircraft, dimensions and widths and precise lines. she sat down at his chair, finding herself running a finger along the curving line of a gunship design. she glanced up and out the small window he had before his desk, looking out into the streets below. some cars flitted by, though the neighborhood was generally undisturbed at this time of day. around the frame of this window, ishaan had long pinned many diagrams as well as any drafts of files he may be reviewing straight onto his wall. it was messy. she noticed that right away. if there was one thing about her little brother, it was that he was not meant to be in any sort of position of power. and why is this so, you ask? well, the proof was all right before her. thats all mina needed to rationalize his inadequacies. he barely hid documents that were sensitive and left everything strewn around. what she knew was that if she were him, she would take far greater precaution.
indentshe whipped out her phone from where it was tucked into the back pocket of her pants, fingers clamoring to open the device with her fingerprint and reach the camera application. in a frenzied manner, she begun taking photos of everything that she deemed to be new from her last excursion in his room. she felt a growing sense of paranoia trickling into her mind, but she looked past the feeling. she was alone. she stood up to take some clearer images, and when she was satisfied from moving in all sorts of angles to take the pictures from his desk and his walls, she then stood back with a smug half-smile replacing the concentrated line which had formed upon her mouth throughout the process. she clicked the button on the side of her phone, turning it off until unlocked again. she let out a shaky breath, one that she was not so sure she had been aware of having held in. mina tucked the device once more into her back pocket, then ran a hand through her ebony hair. while she knew everything was intact as it was before her intrusion, she still gave a quick once over to everything, and left his room without a trace. in a way it was her revenge against him for simply leading a better life than she. a small act of rebellion toward the person who had everything in his possession of what she wanted, whether he knew it or not. it was only but a glimpse into his professional life, that of a high ranking officer, but still. now she could peacefully head back to her room, just down the hall.
indentas she made her way down, she passed by several portraits hung elegantly across the otherwise boring walls. the first few were family photos, taken when she was probably around ten, the last two of her father and ishaan, separately. mina ran a finger along the rim surrounding her father's image, in which he stood before his airship - likely being his first day operating the crew within - exuding a proud demeanor despite his stoniness, clearly much more joyful than what he let on. she briefly eyed ishaan's photograph, only about a foot away from this one. this photo was a lot more recent, and taken in commemoration of his promotion. she couldn't repress a slight sigh. it was as though idols of her youth were surrounded all about her, tauntingly. mina could recall a time where she was sure she was going to one day command an airship. back then, she had been clouded by naivety and didn't know how brutal the conclave military rungs would truly turn out to be. as airborne military bases, there are about ten airships in existence; her fathers in particular dubbed as 'the ravager'. how suiting, for he was the bane of her existence. she idly rubbed her index finger with her thumb at the light amount of dust which had dispersed from her touch. she looked into the eyes of the man staring back at her, with a growingly disturbing intensity, much more than just observing the photo. no, she was looking closer than that. he was always like this, she noted. hardly smiling, like this wasn't some new experience for him. she felt her features contort into a scowl at the sight. why was everyone so damn ungrateful of what they had worked so hard to achieve? all it ever seemed anyone did was simply get to wherever they wanted to be in life - which she couldn't even manage to do, apparently - and then they were over it. like it didn't matter at all. unconsciously her hand had become a fist, and at that sudden, blinding moment, it took all her willpower not to ram her knuckles against the glass, over and over until it shattered and all that was left was the blood staining that wretched photo and the remains of the glass scattered amongst the floor. the action was so hard to resist that she had to forcefully draw herself away, twitching of sudden anger in a sort of unconstrained way. "you stupid son of a bit-" she growled lowly, words dripping with contempt. "i wish you would just die in some freak air accident already! you deserve it more than anyone i've ever known and god, do you freaking deserve to rot in the ground!" mina could not hold herself back, for now her hands were gripping the side of the portrait, leaving it hovering an inch from the wall. it took so much more willpower not to just topple the damn thing over and leave it discarded on the floor. it was better than breaking it. but no. she pushed it back in a final display of anger, leaving the frame hitting against the surface of the wall, eliciting a rather unceremonious noise as the frame clashed against the wall. the funny part was, mina would have said expressed the same anger upon either her mother or her brother. it didn't really matter the outlet she chose. she, with the notion her entire family had each wronged her at one point or another, caused her scorn not to discriminate.
indentshe retreated with a renewed eagerness back to the confines of her room, once there gripping the handle around her fingers and pushing the door in, then spinning around to shut it behind her. far different from the rest of the house, mina's room was filled with bright ornaments. her bedsheets were a muted cyan, her beside dresser adorned with a similarly toned lamp shade amongst her personal belongings which sat upon the top. she didn't want anything of it to look like what she constantly had to endure every day of her life, the same depressing gloom of which literally everything radiated. right now though, her teeming indignation seemed to better match the dismal furnishings of her home rather than her own expressive style. mina launched herself onto her bed with a grunt, staring up at the ceiling above her. this place was not just horrendous to live in, it was suffocating. like she could hardly breathe. she rolled her head back against her pillow, a hand rising up to rub the left portion of her face. she felt tears well in her eyes, stinging in their reminder of what a wreck she was. she did not sob, however. no heave wracked her chest. she was empty. the world had already deprived of her everything and what left did she have to give, let alone feel? a lone tear streamed down the side of cheek as she closed her eyes shut. "damn, i'm pathetic," she mumbled to herself, voice feeling much too loud, amplified in a room so quiet. "i have to condemn a still image of my father to feel good about myself. wow. life is great-" her words trailed off as she felt the buzz of a notification coming from her phone. she paused in her beginnings of what was going to be a very much so self-deprecating tangent, and snaked her arm behind her to pull it out of her back pocket. she wouldn't have been so eager if she knew that it wasn't kai. who the hell else would be texting her, anyway?
indentwith a glance at the screen, her very prediction was deemed correct, 4 notification banners indicating he had been the one reaching out to her. mina smiled inwardly at the very sight of his name, and pressed her finger to her phone to allow it to unlock, opening up their text messages.
indentshe desperately needed to get the hell out here now, and he could have not shown up at any better a time. well, sort of. she raised herself up onto her elbows and quickly shifted off her bed to make her way over to a small circular mirror perched on her desk. she met her own reflection, expecting no less than a disheveled, red-faced mina staring back at her - and she was fully right. dammit. she quickly latched back onto her phone, scanning his messages fervently.
indentgreat timing i think im about to lash out staying inside here for much longer
indentlike literally sign me tf up i wanna be acting like a pretentious ass mf rn
indentbut lowkey u might just get sniped cuz im gonna need a second
indent:elephant:
indentmina, in quick succession, dropped her phone to her desk, ran a finger under the waterline of her eyes to smear away any running mascara, combed her fingers through her hair and snatched up a black trench coat which had been sitting idly atop a drawer. everything which there forth transpired blended into a flurry of running about, her attempt to accelerate the process of not looking like she had just been despairing within the confines of her own house hopefully to prove fruitful. once she had collected herself enough to not look the part of a madman, she abandoned her room with haste, rushing down the hallway and straight ahead to the glass set of stairs. with no regard for the equilibrium of her environment and in a complete opposite manner than which she had ascended the spiral staircase, mina quickly stepped down to the landing, aiming straightaway for the neat shoe rack situated before the entrance. she slid on a pair of heeled boots and nearly launched herself out from her house like she were trapped in the maws of a beast. though he was nowhere in plain sight, all she had to do was make her way down her driveway. they had both grown accustomed to this new drill - as in, parking on the corner of each others streets - once it became abundantly clear their families each held the other in a growingly negative light. honestly, she may as well just join the loukanis household, for her irritation over the whole ordeal could outshine even their own. it was actually hard not to argue how much more mateo deserved the promotion than ishaan. but maybe thats because she has a compiled set of his flaws stowed away in her mind. who knows. what perhaps made even more frustrated as of late was that the whole thing directly impacted kai and mina. any time spent together in the public eye was a dangerous one - its not unknown how ruthless upper capital society can be when it comes to rumors and what not - thanks to the strange strife now between their two families. but honestly? it wasn't like tarnishing the family name was a new experience for her.
indentrounding down to the sidewalk, it wasn't hard for mina to spot his convertible, just parked at the edge of the street. god, it felt good to just see kai again. the downpour which was her self loathing seemed to be emphasized when it was only her alone with her thoughts in a very large house, though just the idea of spending time with him was enough to help dampen her bitter outlook on life as of late. now approaching the vehicle, she raised both her eyebrows. "well, if it isn't kai loukanis!" she exclaimed in a rather dramatic fashion, opening up the passenger side of the convertible to lower herself into the seat. "somehow still alive, and just as sexy as ever," mina leaned in across the middle console to brush her lips against his own in greeting, a brief encounter in which she drew back from with a sort of reluctance. the desire to taste him beyond a simple peck of a kiss was a tempting one, but to her better judgement, she opted to sink back into her seat. "i don't know how you do it. you know, evading neighbourhood watch and all that. must be pretty skilled." she teased. generally, mina really had no trouble making herself right at home. she strapped her seatbelt on and reached forward to turn the dials of the radio up a whole lot higher than what it had been set on prior to her arrival. "what's up with your brother, couldn't drop off his own crap?" she looked back over to kai. though her voice was greatly neutral, there was an undertone of something much more deep-rooted, that of her own experiences when it came to people handing off duties to her purely just because they could. while she knew mateo was no obnoxiously pretentious bastard, he didn't get an exception from the rule, even if he was what she regarded a humble guy - you know, if there really was such a thing in this world. unfortunately mina was the sort to dispel her frustrations onto generalized groups, not so much taking in the account of an individual. "too busy bossing some suckers around at work to tend to his own affairs? how typical. anyway, who cares. at least we get to have some fun while we're at it. you know, casually cause a scandal over the fact that - oh my god - a parekh and a loukanis were spotted together at the congressional offices building!" her hand went over her mouth in an exaggerated display of shock before she subsequently doubled over into a fit of laughter. the thing was, disagreements between prominent families had the nasty ability to fester into something worse no matter what the incident was. whether it be from the accumulated outside judgement of others or straight up criticism upon said families, being in that sort of a spotlight was not desirable. it often felt like most upper class citizens quite literally had nothing better to amuse themselves with than the trifles of others, even. and while mina was most definitely getting a kick out of it for the time being, the scrutiny they could face may just be even more so detrimental to the tense situation.
indenthaving gone from a fuming state to this, genuine laughter filling her chest, mina had not needed much to cast her woes aside for the time being. it was more the art of forceful distraction and the dealing with of emotions later in ones seclusion, if at all - neither of which could be deemed healthy. across from her, though, she wasn't so sure if kai himself had had the greatest day so far, either. they were both subject to the terrors that were their families, there was no doubt about that. to be honest, though, she had come to the conclusion that it was probably best not to bring up that topic all together. she didn't want to resurface what he may be dealing with, not unless he disclosed it to her. besides, they could both use a reprieve from what they dealt with on the daily.

[vaermina]

ＣＯＮＳＴＡＮＣＥ ＡＤＬＥＲxxx
I.xdemigirlx II.x29 years oldx III. a rebel-affiliated entertainer known as dahlia


indentwhere is danny appleton?
indentconstance constantly found themselves questioning the old man's whereabouts. is he laid up in some ditch, beaten half to death by conclave soldiers? is he drinking in some bar close by after sneaking off from the caravan? is he attempting to try and hack into a conclave-owned terminal, claiming his usual declarations of having a way with technology? they didn't know. it was always a gamble, letting danny run off on his own when they were doing a show at a fort. constance found their eyes wandering the crowd as they were led through the mess hall. it was teeming with soldiers and technicians alike; various members of military status sat crowded at tables or the bar as they watched the performance on stage. the stench that hung in the air was hard to describe. it was a mixture of sweat, iron, alcohol, oil and cologne all mixed in one nearly unbearable fume. most of the soldiers sitting at the tables haven't even bothered to step out of their power armor suits. the most they decided to do was take off their helmets so they could drink. power armor, created to be resistant and durable with just about anything. yeah, right. the blinding lights that hung from the ceiling had been dimmed to establish a soothing ambience. a dining hall is a dining hall, though, no matter how much you try and tinker with the lighting or create a poorly built stage out of rusty screws and old planks. you can't make a diamond out of coal. oddly enough, it's in character for the conclave to care so little about presentation concerning the art of entertainment. it's no secret that new hollywood has turned into a breeding ground of celebrities brutally stepping on one another, clawing at each other with nails and teeth in order to advance in the social hierachy. films aren't produced with passion anymore. they all serve the same propaganda narrative, no matter the genre. it was upsetting, to see how such a cerebal and brilliant study as film-making could be twisted and formed into what it is today. the conclave ruins everything they touch. there's a reason why even esteemed military officials are invited to premieres in new hollywood, a concept that would have surely been seen as absurd before the nukes dropped. the military has infested every and any sort of social boulevard that has emerged into post-war society. military personnel have far more power than celebrities and politicians due to how heavily militarism has expanded across the united states; a power that, unfortunately, inflicts suffering on the brittle of their society.
indent"as you can see, our fort prides itself on its prestigious patriotism to the president and the conclave. i had several artists from arcadia even come and paint us a new portrait of president morgan to hang in my office. sure, tainted-bloods aren't exactly the most intelligent of creatures but some have made themselves useful by learning a talent to profit upon for mon- or, well, caps, should i say."
indentthe ostentatious remarks of the base's commander, captain ridel, had her resisting the urge to roll her eyes. he was leading her through the mess hall, having offered her his arm as soon as she finished her performance on stage earlier. to be completely honest, constance couldn't even tell you what he has been droning on about the past twenty minutes. she always found herself in these situations every time they performed at a fort. some sort of high-ranking official would take her hand and lead her on some sort of tour or montage, preaching about their undying loyalty and commitments to their post and the government itself. granted, it gave her some leverage in possibly weeding out information that could help the rebellion but she was always careful to be nonchalant with her interest. if there's one thing these men and women value, it's their adherence to the government. a pretty face means nothing to them if it somehow collides with their fealty. to constance, it appeared like borderline brainwashing. conclave officials are so convinced that wastelanders are ignorant and uneducated but as far as constance is concerned, they're not the ones bound by invisible chains since birth.
indentdespite their annoyance by the captain's words, constance forced a smile that appeared delicate. "oh, of course, captain. i could tell as soon as i walked through those doors that you keep such a firm hand on this place. in fact, it's by far one of the best managed forts i've entered and i have been to a lot of different military bases. only someone respectable and virtuous could keep a military fort such as this one in line." they resisted the urge to cringe. god, i'm such a liar.
indentcaptain ridel grinned at their compliment. "you have a keen eye. yes, authorizing an iron fist over your subordinates is important in running a place like this. it keeps order and most importantly, chaos subdued. i- what is going on? private, what are you doing?"
indenta scuffle could be heard over the sound of music. an argument could be heard coming from a table surrounded by seething conclave soldiers. constance allowed her arm to slip from the captain's as he marched over to investigate, the entertainer trailing curiously. what felt like an almost child-like nosiness into seeing what sort of dog fight conclave soldiers have yet again gotten themselves in quickly transformed into alarm when she noticed danny appleton amongst them. no, not amongst them; he was standing on the table in a defensive stance. uh oh. captain ridel's bark was enough to briefly draw the attention of his men towards him. one of them, who had stood up bearing silver cuffs, motioned curtly towards danny. "he's a cheat, captain. he drew us into played a game of craps with rigged dice! he took all our caps before we finally realized the dice are manipulated." upon further inspection of the table, constance noticed that a makeshift layout had been draped across it, a fabric surface displaying various bets. she didn't even need to hear danny's side of the story. she knew the soldier was right.
indentstanding indignantly upon the table, danny appleton seethed. "insanity! absurd! preposterous! ludicrous accusations! the fact that you would even attempt to accuse me of such scandalous behavior is just... nonsensical! i am a man of the law. i am a man of the people. i am a man of america. you see, i heard the first rendition on the radio of the national anthem. even then, it left weight upon my eight year old se-"
indent"give me the dice." captain ridel interrupted coldly. he had not been moved by the beginning of danny's speech. he extended a gloved hand, a silent but baleful command.
indent"erm, you see, i got back pain and it makes me-"
indentwhatever sort of ridiculous excuse he was about to conjure was interrupted by constance, who threw herself at the captain tenaciously. "captain ridel, you must excuse him for his tasteless behavior. you see, he's not well. he's my uncle; my companions and i took him in after his wife died. he's never been the same after that, you see. always attempting to partake in questionable behavior, acting a cheat and a trickster. my company and i, we value conclave ideologies of honesty, law and order. we knew that we had to take him in and teach him how to be an ideal citizen who respects legislation and its jurors. we're even looking into trying to score him a job for the newspaper in arcadia, so he can spread the conclave's teachings in its true form to wastelanders. you know those liars down at the dixon chronicle? no? terrible people, that lot; always resisting authority. mr. appleton wants to change that. arcadia is such a big city, too. a lot of impressionable wastelanders, looking for some sort of saving grace in the form of structured government. i know you said earlier there's a lot of unrest in that city. mr. appleton could change that. he's a very convincing man." she found herself reaching up to innocently fix some of the captain's badges on his chest. sometimes, it was concerning how smoothly lies fell from constance's lips but you come to find that being a good liar is practically a much-needed qualification for this line of work. and in danny's case, saving him from execution via a firing squad.
indentcaptain ridel eyed her carefully. it was hard to decipher the emotions that could be lurking underneath his now placid expression. constance turned their attention back to danny, motioning with a jeweled hand at the soldiers. "it's all just a big misunderstanding. we can clear this up with not an ounce of blood shed; keep the lovely aura we have established so far in the mess hall. uncle, dear, can you please return these good soldiers' caps?"
indent"now, if i do that, how will they ever learn from their mistakes?"
indentconstance glared at him. one of the soldiers growled, slamming his pistol on the table. "screw that! give me my caps, or a bullet goes right between your eyes!"
indentdanny glared at him, pointing a finger in his direction. "you see this? the corruption in this country sickens me-"
indent"danny."
indent"fine!" he began to rummage through his pockets. constance turned their attention back to captain ridel, desperately trying to garner what the man could be feeling and if she'd be needing to write an eulogy for danny by sundown. she cleared her throat tentatively. "captain, i'm afraid we must be returning to our caravan so we can prepare to head out as soon as my colleagues finish their performances. i do hope my uncle has not disturbed the peace? if so, you must know he is deeply apologetic. we respect our soldiers. he will be punished severely for this, if you are concerned about that."
indentcaptain ridel looked at her again. he threw another glance at danny before he slowly nodded. "well... i suppose. i understand trauma makes people act... peculiar, and not how they so normally do. however, i do advise you to make sure he learns his lesson from this. most base commanders are not as understanding as i. his interest in turning arcadia's media coverage conclave positive is something i very much look forward to, as well. in fact, we need it. tensions have been high in that city for months."
indentconstance released the breath they had been holding in. once again, they have swindled danny appleton out of another potentially disastrous situation. they were pretty sure the only reason captain ridel agreed to let him off easy, too is constance's constant praising from earlier. a nod escaped the entertainer, perhaps a bit too briskly. "of course, captain. thank you. i appreciate the fact you have sympathy for our damaged elders; sympathy makes leaders powerful. he will do the conclave proud by spreading their teachings in arcadia soon, i can promise you that. you will not be disappointed."
indentand the next set of events? it took all of constance's willpower to not drag danny back to the caravan by one of his small ears.
indentthe old man's complaining was relentless as the two passed underneath the overhang that led from the administrative offices and into the main courtyard. "questionable behavior? damaged elders? you know, you are a very sad person, constance adler. don't you know your sixties is your prime? what is this, ageism? ageism, a term coined in nineteen sixty nine by robert neil to describe discrimination against seniors-"
indent"too bad there's no life insurance for seniors now like how it was back then because i'm this close to strangling you myself. what the hell do you think you were doing back there, using rigged dice against conclave soldiers? do you want to get your brains blown out? you know how trigger happy they are."
indentdanny scowled, crossing his arms as they walked. "please, you don't need to tell me that. they'd shoot themselves if they could; that's how bad they want to fire those weapons of there's. either way, i've done it before and nobody figured it out. feral ghouls are more intelligent than that lot. i just, erm, lucked out this time, i guess. anyway, i can always count on your looks and lies to get me out of trouble. i'm not saying that with judgment, either. a simple shimmy in your dress would have had that elephant of a captain balancing himself on a beach ball for a peanut."
indenthe wasn't wrong. constance knew that their looks help when it comes to persuasion, which is why they always dressed as immaculately as possible during their shows. right now, she was wearing a shimmery gold cami dress designed in a cowl neck fashion. the fabric glittered and gleamed like pure molten gold. its straps were thin, exposing a whole lot of shoulder, upper back and collarbone. wrapped around her throat was a gold choker composed of various sized moonstones, quartz and goshenites; it was matched by a set of gilded bracelets and rings. constance had finished it off with a pair of amber-colored high heels. her dress was designed to be flashy, showy, borderline gaudy. she was practically all legs... well, somewhat. her legs are prosthetics, but an imagery device stolen from a conclave science lab years ago by a group of rebels has given her the ability to project an illusion that makes it appear like her legs were, well, legs. it'd be difficult to perform if she had to hide her prosthetics all the time. she had lost her legs because of osteomyelitis, but it would raise far too many questions if she was not careful to hide her disparities. constance reached up to touch her hair, styled meticulously so it fell past her shoulders in a yellow wave.
indentthe two entertainers left the main courtyard. constance could feel the eyes of snipers along the parapets burn into the back of their skulls as they made their way along the road, parting through the gates of the fortress and coming up to their group's caravan. the caravan looked just about what you would expect; two covered wagons connected by a rusty horizontal pulley, hauled by four clydesdale horses. the wagons are not exactly in the best shape. they're worn down and old, the white coverings pulled across the wooden bows beginning to stain and tear. one of the wagons - the smallest one, pulled in the back - was used to store their props, instruments, costumes and whatnot. the largest wagon is where the group resides. due to the size of their quaint little company, it gets packed real quick, which is why planks had been installed on the sides of the cart for some of the younger, smaller members to perch upon when the convoy's in motion. they had two other horses, too, that were able to be ridden upon next to the wagons so it wasn't always so compacted inside. the wagon is too small to use as sleeping quarters, so at night when they're on the road they'd usually let the more vulnerable members sleep inside while the rest of them slept around in sleeping bags. the caravan was already teeming with activity, too. members of their company bustled about not only around it but inside. leaning against one of the wagon's wheels perched liz, a cigarette lodged between her teeth. she threw her hands in the air at the sight of danny and constance.
indent"well, thank god! i was wonderin' when we'd get this show on the road," she proclaimed. "fairfax already got the caps for the show, and everyone has been packin' up. the only ones missin' are edwin and karelsa. they're the closing act, those poetic two."
indentdanny sauntered to the front of the wagon. constance watched him slunk off before she looked at liz, giving the older woman a smile. "did you enjoy the show? i know you opted out of performing this time."
indent"the show was marvelous, as always," liz reassured them, opening up the makeshift door they had installed in the side of the wagon so constance could climb inside. "well, as marvelous as it can go in a conclave fort, anyhow. you know how sickening those soldiers can be. absolute feral animals, the lot of them. anyway, we needn't waste anymore time. once our esteemed musicians arrive, we need to head off as quickly as possible."
indentthe inside of the caravan was homely. at the front of the wagon sat the driver's seat, a worn chair that could hold one to two people at a time. it perched outside of the covering, giving whoever was driving a full glare of the sun. inside the wagon was a variety of mismatched chairs and boxes, storage for miscellaneous items. scattered upon the wagon bed is a variety of cushions and seating for people to sit upon. constance hadn't hesitated to hang up a variety of posters of old twentieth century movie stars and cultural icons. the entertainer affectionately greeted the few who were already inside before they carefully waded through the chaos of the wagon, going over to plop down on a pillow next to the plank boarded up behind the driver's seat. as soon as they sat, though, a familiar presence burst into the caravan. edwin and karelsa, the closing act, had been welcomed inside.
indent"oh, yes, we just came back from the nearest settlement. an absolutely lovely little shindig, truly. we thought about letting the two of you try and run after us to build some leg muscle but you're both too cute to end up as an appetizer for a pack of mongrels," she teased, reaching over to pinch edwin as he and karelsa took their seats in the caravan. edwin's comment about the national anthem was enough to elicit laughter from the group. it was practically ritual at this point, to perform the hymn at whatever base they find themselves in. the song has always struck constance as rather eerie, though. what was once a rather peaceable religious hymn had been morphed into an anthem for a dictatorship. it's different to perform it on stage and then see it played at a conclave fort in front of a hundred soldiers, all silent as they stood for attention in their infamous power armor. in many ways, it felt like once you enter a suit of power armor, you practically become a part of it yourself. no heart, no blood, no brain, no lungs; just an iron shell holding a firearm, ready to kill.
indentedwin's comment was enough to elicit a scowl from danny. the old man had climbed atop the driver's seat, grabbing a hold of the reins. some members of their group mounted their steeds, prepared to trot amicably beside the caravan while a few piled inside to take their seats. others sat on planks that protruded from the walls of the wagon to observe the wasteland as they traveled on by. danny had led them from the badlands in one piece. despite his odd nature, he seemed to possess a wide range of knowledge concerning the layout of the country and its five regions. constance heard fairfax sigh from his seat near the back of the wagon. "don't entertain h-"
indentdanny interrupted him. "you are a sad, sad man, edwin albrecht. you may have inherited the spirit of niccolò paganini but there ain't one drop of frank gehry in you. you'd be surprised the amount of beauty you'd find in this ugly wasteland. besides, if we did ruin into a cult-built monument, you'd best be prepared to get on your knees and do some revering because some of those cults out there won't hesitate to blow this caravan to the high heavens if we act too pompous for their tastes. some of them probably have access to stolen explosives, too, so i'll shut up before i jinx that. wait, did i ever tell you all the story of when i temporarily joined the cult of at-"
indent"drive, danny," constance interrupted him with a scolding. when she felt the wagon lurch and begin to move, she turned to look at edwin. some of those in the wagon began to talk quietly amongst themselves. "when you and karelsa were performing, i was talking with captain ridel, the base commander of the fort we were just at. of course, he's just like every other brainwashed, arrogant conclave douche to run those places but he was telling me earlier that they've been keeping a close eye on arcadia as of late due to recent unrest there between wastelanders and soldiers. i think he even mentioned they've been setting up tolls on the roads near the city to keep an extra eye on the locals. i think we might have to take even more caution with this by sending someone ahead of the caravan on horseback to see if there's any patrols along the roads that are searching convoys. it'll help us prepare, and take extra precautions in terms of trying to potentially avoid these said tolls, if we can. what do you think?" if they were going to do this, they were going to do it right. their goal here is to help smuggle the group of rebels who were breaking into fort themus out of the area by storing them away in the back of the caravan. the second wagon had a large compartment underneath it that was originally installed to hold a drum set, but a few quick tinkers has made it a quaint hiding spot for smugglers. it's not like the caravan hasn't been searched before by conclave officials, but she knew how dangerous the mission at fort themus was. apparently, they were going to try and obtain critical information that would deal the conclave a major blow in the side. and judging by the way they spoke of said information, the conclave would do anything in its power to get said information back, which meant the search dogs would be extra hungry today. they couldn't risk messing this up. constance is well aware of the fact that a simple mess up as a rebel means a mess up that's grand enough to cost you your life.

[vaermina]

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I.xcis femalex II.x26 years oldx III. a wastelander


indentthe sound of her cousin yelling did not faze her. valentina has grown familiar with his eccentric behavior; unfortunately for julian, that meant she was more or less unperturbed by his general mannerisms. swooping down to quickly grab a hold of one of mars' hanging saddle straps, she expertly stringed the belt through the ring of the girth strap. she proceeded to pull the strap upwards and loop it through the dee ring from the front down before repeating the process in a careful coil. with the strap now snug around the horse's girth, the saddle was situated evenly on the curve of his back. she ran her hand along the patchy blanket underneath the saddle before she noted julian's arrival. the woman turned to look at him, arms crossing over her chest. valentina's hands were calloused from years of hardwork and labor, her arms covered in scratches both old and new. "what-" his strange mumble of a rant was quickly interrupted by a boisterous greeting towards mars. she resisted the urge to swat at the back of julian's head. this type of behavior is nothing new from him. "julian, stop being weird." she told him, tone light rather than critical. "anyway, the doe was only a few miles away from the neighborhood. i thought i saw tracks near a pond that looked like they were made from some sort of bipedal creature, too, so i wasn't gonna waste my time gazing at the nearest tree for five hours when there could be a sharpclaw nearby. i mean, it's probably not a good idea to go out if there could be one nearby but i'm not really surprised that our options are limited down to either a, get mauled and sliced in half by a sharpclaw or b, suffer from hunger pains for the next few days." it was almost comical to see both gideon and morris restricted to the insides of a leather saddlebag. their little ragtag crew, restricted to just one mount. poor mars. they couldn't afford another horse, though and trying to find a trustworthy breeder can be difficult. sometimes, it's easy to spot physical mutations on an animal but some can suffer from health issues that you won't even know about until you buy the creature and see it for yourself. either way, mars suited them just fine for now.
indentvalentina has long since gotten used to julian's rambling, which is why she found it difficult to be perturbed by his story. the two cousins had departed from the piddling settlement of laurel oaks in their usual manner, passing by the other residencies in the complex as they did so. a sandy dirt road snaked from the entrance of the old neighborhood, slithering up the expanse of several gray hills and revealing an old highway that had been paved long ago. before the war, laurel oaks must have been apart of a quaint suburb that sat a mile or two off of a busy expressway. the name of the turnpike has long since faded with time, but judging by the amount of rusty vehicles that lie rotting in its lanes, it had been something of an everyday route for a lot of people. valentina was careful to keep a firm hand on mars' reins as they exited from the dusty pathway and onto the large highway. it was easier to travel along the strip whenever they head to arcadia's market. the city was only a few miles off from one of the exit ramps. admittedly, it was a bit eerie to always travel along this path. the amount of auto mobiles that lay in ruins wasn't even the worst part.
indentit's the skeletons.
indentit's impossible to count the amount of times she has seen human remains on this road. no, none of them were fresh corpses but instead bones and cartilage. skeletons propped up in driver's seats, others stretched across the backs. sand and other neutral soils have built up inside of these cars from storms, preserving said skeletons for hundreds of years. sometimes, you'd see a skull or two lying in the middle of the road but skeletons that had fallen outside of cars or belonged to those who perished on the street have long since turned to dust underneath the wasteland sun. these were people who had lived before the nukes dropped, people from the pre-war era. those who didn't die instantly had perished days or weeks after the world was destroyed from nuclear annihilation. people fell sick from radiation poisoning, others starved to death. those who survived the initial explosions killed each other for supplies, ransacked and destroyed entire cities just to survive. it's been almost three hundred years since the great war but its consequences can still be seen across the united states today. the aftermath of the war's carnage is a common sight for wastelanders. valentina has long since grown out of the night terrors she suffered from as a child when she was first exposed to the horror that is the wasteland. she knew that residents of the capital liked to paint a certain picture of those who live out in the waste but wastelanders are tough, resilient. 'pure-bloods' would never survive out here. you can't hold a silver spoon in your mouth and sleep on a torn mattress while feral ghouls and other creatures of the night howl outside your door.
indentto be completely honest, valentina was barely listening to julian's story. she kept her eyes focused on the road, careful to keep mars in a steady line while also avoiding pot holes and wandering too close to any vehicles. one hand gripped the reins, the other resting warily on the strap of her shotgun. an unearthly silence hung in the air, broken only by the tap of mars' hooves against pavement and julian's storytelling. valentina observed their surroundings, looking for any signs of fleeting shadows or quick movement. you're never alone out here. some sort of predator could be resting in the back of a tipped semi-truck, ghouls lying underneath the iron of a car. there's no such thing as relaxation when you're travelling. besides, one of them has to pay attention, and julian sure as hell isn't. she wasn't even sure what he was talking about. knowing him, he was telling one of his infamous tall tales. whatever. despite being a wisecrack, julian usually knew when to take things seriously. julian would never purposely put himself in a dangerous situation, no matter how inclined his desires for taking risks are. in a way, it makes the two of them similar. valentina has never been one for rules nor strict adherences, but her proclivity towards survival and finding a way to make end's meet results in a workaholic attitude, regardless of how much she jokes around. exploring the wasteland has never been something at the forefront of her mind, either but then again, valentina isn't sure of what she does want in this life. they live in a world where luxury is a thing in the past. sometimes, she felt like the rest of her life will consist of nothing but a constant routine of, well, this. struggling to make end's meet, struggling to survive. valentina felt like she had no true purpose in life.
indentshe felt mars suddenly tense underneath her. the stallion slowed his trot, a series of wary nickers sounding from him as his ears suddenly went backwards. valentina frowned, now gripping the reins with two hands to keep the increasingly nervous horse from bolting. "what's wrong, boy? come on-" she squeezed the horse's ribcage with her calves, urging him to keep moving. he was acting as if there were some sort of danger nearby, yet valentina caught no sight of anything lurking on the sides of the freeway. if there were ghouls or some sort of wild animals near, they would have already made themselves known.
indentjulian tugging her sleeve was all she needed to know to pinpoint the cause of mars' unease.
indenther eyes followed a trail of blood that pooled from the side of the road and cascaded into the brown grass.
indentseveral feet off the side of the road lay a group of bodies. dead. the scent of blood hung heavy in the air, powerful enough to render anyone paralyzed. it was hard to tell how many there were. five? six? all of them wore similar clothing, and all had suffered the same fate. they lay sprawled on their backs, frozen faces staring up at the sky. puddles of red surrounded them, like someone had grabbed a huge paint brush and smeared the grass crimson before tossing them on top. she heard the sound of soft buzzes as flies began to hover lazily above the group. it was nothing short of a massacre. valentina did not know how to act. she didn't know what she was feeling. it was almost like she felt nothing at all, nothing she hasn't felt before. the sight of dead bodies is nothing new for her, although no matter what the circumstances, it always brought about a feeling of dread. she felt like a pit had formed in the bowels of her stomach, festering with apprehension and unease. who were these people? travelers? merchants? farmers? they weren't conclave affiliated, that's for damn sure. in fact, she wouldn't be surprised if they had been killed by conclave soldiers. how many times has she and julian stumbled upon wastelanders murdered by soldiers?
indentmars had come to a stop at julian's orders. despite the wariness that has begun to creep up her spine, valentina followed her cousin's lead by quickly dismounting their horse. she was silent as she tied mars' reins to the guide rail that bordered the side of the road before she followed julian's tracks. the woman was quick to unshoulder her shotgun; she held in the action release button before quickly pumping the slide to load the chamber. as she approached the group, she lifted the stock of the gun to lightly touch the ridge below her cheekbone. judging by the silence that sat adjacent with the smell of blood, she and julian were the only other people here but there was no way in hell she was taking her chances. the threat of conclave involvement only heightened her paranoia.
indentvalentina followed after julian, her steps light and careful. she couldn't help but wince when she heard the squelch of her boots sink into the blood-soaked grass. she was quiet as she observed the massacre before them, shotgun still held high to her shoulder. the only bodies in sight were those who lay still in the grass. there was no sign of power armor anywhere, no sign of conclave involvement. who else would be responsible for this, though? bandits would never leave the bodies of their victims untouched; no, they usually scavenge whatever they could from corpses. these people had to have been running from somewhere. judging by the sight of distant red splotches that decorated vegetation, it looked like they must have been fleeing before they collapsed at the side of the road. had they been ambushed, injured somewhere else before finally succumbing to their wounds here? valentina's thoughts began to race as she cautiously waded through the carnage. so much death. she heard julian speak to her but no response followed suit. she was too busy staring at the massacre before them. they're all wearing similar outfits. they wore dark-colored vests and trousers, thick boots with grimy gloves covering their hands. they couldn't be merchants. if they were, there would have been some sort of wagon nearby. none of this was making sense to her. it's not uncommon for conclave soldiers to kill just to kill but something about this felt... different.
indentvalentina whirled around when she heard the sound of a cough.
indentone of the victims, who lay only a few feet from julian, had stirred at the sound of movement around him. much like his companions, he was surrounded in his own blood. but he was breathing. valentina lowered her gun as she approached, coming up behind julian. the man in the grass was struggling to breathe, much less form a coherent sentence. his chest was stained red and wet as he reached inside the folds of his jacket. he was attempting to speak, attempting to tell them something yet he appeared to not have the strength to do so. blood was frothing at his lips and dripping down his chin every time he attempted to do so.
indent"wait-" she grabbed a hold of julian's sleeve before he could bolt to their mount. it's the first time she's spoken since they stumbled upon the massacre. she watched the man struggle on the ground like a dying animal before she let go of her cousin's arm. she approached the man on the ground, her gun falling limp to her side. strands of hair briefly clouded her vision as a breeze picked up, stirring the scent of blood and dirt that hung vagrantly in the air. the man proceeded to struggle aimlessly; over what, she could not tell. slowly, the woman bent down to his level. she hesitated for a moment before she lowered her shotgun into the grass. carefully, she slipped her hand underneath the man's neck, slowly levitating his head so he could stop choking on his own blood. judging by the gunshot wound he bore, he was nothing short of a goner but that didn't mean they had to stand there and watch his suffering. his injuries did little to hamper his determination, too. she watched as he proceeded to shakily retrieve a file from the depths of his jacket. it was stained scarlet. his dirty face was covered in shadow from valentina's form as he continued his attempts to speak. "f-file... fre-e tr-trail... take... badlands..."
indentwithout warning, his grip loosened on the file. it fell to the ground. the mysterious man sputtered a few more times before he finally fell still, his head lolling to the side in valentina's grip. a thin trail of red liquid streamed from the corner of his lips, running down his cheek and dripping onto valentina's wrist. a strained look appeared on the woman's face. this man has been murdered. he and his companions had been attacked, left to die and rot under the wasteland sun. but why? why had they been shot? why were they all dressed similarly? what was the man trying to say? file? badlands? something about a free trail...? it didn't make much sense to valentina.
indentno sound was uttered from the wastelander as she slowly lowered the man's head onto the grass. carefully, she closed his eyelids so he was not stuck in an eternal stare. wiping her hand on her trousers, she grabbed both her shotgun and the file he had dropped before she rose to her feet. she didn't look at julian as she shouldered her shotgun once more, allowing the strap to rest across her chest before she eyed the file. as to be expected, it was stained and nearly borderline ruined from whatever hell the man and his companions had been through. the pit in her stomach only continued to grow, though, as she opened it. much to her surprise, there were no papers inside. no collection of compositions or reports... nothing you'd expect to find in a folder. instead, there was a small tape that had been carefully inserted into a slip in the middle of the folder. stamped on the folder's borders were bold, domineering warnings consisting of 'top secret' and 'classified personnel only'. cautiously, she fished the tape out of the folder, her blood-stained hands leaving smears and prints on the material. tossing the folder aside, she observed the tape. it was small, something you might easily lose if you're not mindful of its presence. she had no doubts in mind that this belonged to the conclave. who would have computers and terminals out here to render a tape? valentina flipped it over, her eyes widening every so slightly when she noticed some writing on the back of the tape.
indentAUTOPSY REPORT
indentI PERFORMED AN AUTOPSY ON THE BODY OF NO. 20334-39 GARCIA, MELANIE AT THE DEPARTMENT OF CORONER WASHINGTON D.C. ON DEC 27 0800 HOURS
indenteverything hit valentina at once.
indentmelanie garcia. she's heard that name before. it was a former director of the conclave. she wasn't sure of all the details, but she remembered hearing a town crier in arcadia speaking about it a month or so ago when they were at the market. the tragic passing of an esteemed conclave official... deemed to have died of natural causes. so why was her alleged coroner report stocked inside the jacket of this mysterious person? these people weren't of conclave affiliation, that's for damn sure. no, they must have stolen this tape. was that the cause of their injuries? did they steal this report from a conclave fort, end up in some sort of gunfight with a few soldiers? valentina couldn't think of any other reason to explain all of this. if that was the case, these people were rebels. only members of the rebellion would be bold enough - or perhaps foolish enough - to break into a conclave fort. but why steal the coroner report of a dead director? what is so important about this tape? what is so incriminating about it that these men and women risked their lives and died to obtain it? the free trail the man just spoke about... was he talking about the freedom trail, the elusive and complex path one must take in order to find the rebellion out in the badlands? had he been trying to tell them to take the report?
indent"... julian."
indentshe was silent for another minute or so.
indent"julian!"
indentwithout warning, she descended upon her cousin in a flurry of colors.
indent"julian! these people, they were rebels. this tape, this one right here? it's a coroner report. i don't know what's on it - we'd need a terminal to access it - but they stole this, julian! these rebels! they must have broken into that one conclave fort we always see in the distance while traveling to arcadia. do you know what this means? there's something on this tape, something that's so important to the rebellion these people willingly put themselves in harm's way to get it. that man, when he mentioned something about a free trail? he was talking about the freedom trail! you know, that thing everyone talks about that if you follow it, it'll lead you to the badlands where they're hiding at? there's someth-"
indentvalentina was everywhere at once. she couldn't get a hold of her thoughts right now. after connecting the dots, everything suddenly began to make sense to her about this massacre. whatever is on this tape is incriminating enough that these rebels died to retrieve it... in return, that meant the conclave would go to any lengths to get it back. they couldn't stay here. any second now, this place would be teeming with soldiers and investigators. they were probably hot on the rebels' trail right now. if valentina and julian were spotted here, they'd suffer the same fate as these rebels.
indentshe grabbed her cousin's wrist, now dragging him back to their mount, who was staring at them inquisitively alongside their sandcats. without thinking, she shoved the tape into one of the many pockets on her person. "come on, we'll discuss this on our way to arcadia. we can't stay here for much longer, or else we'll end up riddled with more gunshot wounds than these poor bastards. come on, we have to hurry and put as much distance between ourselves and this scene as possible."
indentthe coroner report, though? valentina wasn't leaving that behind. she wasn't sure what she was thinking right now or what she and julian are going to do but she wasn't going to just leave the tape here. she didn't know why she automatically felt obligated to hold onto it now. she just knew she couldn't leave it behind.

[vaell]

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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxinr tactical intel. officer / covert ops. taskforce. | conclave military. | tagged: roland.
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indentjazmín let out a huff of amusement at his teasing, a light smile touching her lips. upon his next words, though, she nodded. "see you." the loading bay was beginning to pick up some pace, now. soldiers clambered into other vehicles, while others attended to their power armor along the linings of the pit. the harsh, bright lights glaring down onto the bay cast a gleam upon the pristine surfaces of the vehicles stationed within. leaning back slightly, she let the back of her helmet make contact with the headrest of the seat. from within the enclosed space of her helmet, she could hear her breathing. it was shallow, though considerably magnified, as one would expect. she blinked, looking forward at the open door before the vehicle through her visor, the black tint swarming her eyesight and thus her surroundings. she blinked again. growing increasingly aware of her breath, too loud and too consuming, she felt herself heighten in a sense of claustrophobia. the inhale and exhale of her breathing grew more prevalent. no doubt her burst of epinephrine had not yet levelled out from that kick of adrenaline earlier. rapidly her eyes scanned the perimeter before her, though her hands did not make a move to take the suffocating helmet off, despite it all. she sat there, frozen by a sort of irregular panic induced state stemming from the stress. instinctively she looked in the direction of the entrance ramps, expecting - or hoping - to see roland emerge into the large expanse at any time now, likely with deedee at his heels. yet he had not just yet. slowly, a shaking hand slithered up to her breastplate, fingers curling around the edge of the frame. at first there was nothing urgent about it, her hand was simply stalled there - until, for a desperate second, she suddenly tried to claw her hand beneath. the need to soothe her nerves was beyond comprehension, still on edge despite her heart rate having levelled out earlier. so caught up in the moment, she only stopped to realize she didn't have cigarettes on her. how could she? if she recounted correctly, a pack was still tucked away into the drawers of her desk. and regardless, there was no way she could possibly get beneath her armor in this fashion. so her hand paused. a brief second passed before she made to remove her helmet, slowly inching her hand upward and away, toward the edge of her helmet. it didn't take long for a twinge of shame to hit her, perhaps at the pathetic attempt of it all. she slipped her helmet up and off from her head, setting it down into her lap, and finally let out a trembling breath.
indentsoraya, ever attentive, first spotted roland as he approached the vehicle, deedee bounding off ahead of him. the sand-cats large ears pricked as she eyed him then make to open up the driver's door. at the sight, jazmín stiffened, perhaps the opposite of how she expected herself to react; as if nearly caught committing some sort of crime. "well," she found the words to conjure up a greeting in response, luckily, "if it isn't the man of the hour." attentively her sand-cat watched him step up and in, perking up even more so at the sight of beau perched atop his shoulder. while sand-cats are traditionally known to be found in settlements out in the waste, capital society did not take long to refurbish the idea of a feline-like companion into their own. friendly creatures, sensitive to weather and thus utilized as precautionary agents against oncoming dangerous weathers - anything from acid rain to severe lightning storms - were majorly only had as accessories, as one would have a pre-war, non-mutated cat. their skillsets weren't so much needed within the commonwealth, either, due to the region being considerably more advanced in its infrastructure and breadth of readily available technologies to handle the calamitous weather. so thus, all you are left with is a minor pest in your life. though admittedly soraya did mind her own business most of the time, as jazmín did her own. it was probably why they meshed so well together, because they seemed to have a mutual agreement of staying out of the others way.
indentshe looked over to roland as he spoke, already eyeing him suspiciously as he began to set the stage for what seemed to be a joke as he settled into the drivers seat. good lord. when he turned to her, she was already raising her eyebrows expectantly, quite positive she could guess his next punchline if she had to, something about how she wa- and..bam, yep, there it was. despite the fact she knew she had it coming, her mouth still gaped. "oh, really?" jazmín scoffed, subsequently smacking the side of his arm with the back of her hand as he cackled. no doubt he had already been prepared for her swatting him; it was just the norm for the two. she rolled her eyes, though truthfully couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped from her lips even despite her quip. "jackass. at least i won't be the one getting a concussion from one small bump on the road." the two did have quite the height difference, nearly a foot apart. while often a topic for banter, it definitely made their hand-to-hand combat training interesting, too, for while roland had the advantage of being taller, she was nimble on her feet. and honestly? she didn't really mind the joke right about now. at least in his company, she was able to carry on from that peculiar episode of her diminishing adrenaline rush and the subsequently insatiable urge to relieve the stress. a baleful habit, she was rather aware. nonetheless, distractions no matter the form were to be openly accepted by her, even if she couldn't totally shake the desire from her mind.
indentas the vehicle came to a start with the insertion of the keys into the ignition, she watched a hologram appear from the holoprojector embedded within the dashboard. the standard visual of a power armor helmet flickered, indicating the technology was coming to life. a moment passed, and then a monotonic voice filtered through the device. she sighed, already acknowledging the fact that this was going to be one long ride having to listen to the dull droning being emitted from the holoprojector. several clicks from within the car and within seconds of the processing of their identities, both their information had been assessed and confirmed. as the warning wrapped itself up, and roland began to drive, she looked at him skeptically. "oh, great. maybe you shouldn't be driving. i don't know if i trust you not to get distracted and go off route somehow," she teased, glancing out from the passenger window at the towering iron fencing lining the entrance of the loading bay like tar. barbed wire snaked around the metal bars, the steel wiring and its sharp edges arranged at intervals along the strands, an effective deterrent should anyone or thing want to try and gain entry past the bases defences. next to the main gates was a makeshift office harboring security officers whom controlled the entering and exiting of vehicles. she redirected her gaze back toward roland once more, trying to stifle a laugh as though she had just come upon some comical realization. "oh my god, wait. imagine that. us getting hired and then fired the very next day. there's got to be some kind of record for that, right? 'cause we'd totally take the cake, then." as they pulled up to the main gates, an alarm blared almost instantaneously, indicating the opening of the barrier before them. soraya's ears flattened at the suddenness of the noise, attempting to muffle the piercing sound ringing out and echoing about the walls of the loading bay. the gate drew apart slowly and gave way to the sight of the wasteland, deedee eagerly darting out before them, only to pause and look back at the vehicle in wait. the sight of the canine alone elicited an inward smile from jazmín, who then peered further out into the distance of what was a very uniform landscape, a stark difference from the familiar metropolis that was the capital. granted, it hadn't been long since their new deployment, but it was easy to forget they were out in the dixon wasteland, especially when walls surrounded you for the most part of the day. no longer would she even have that pleasantry, though, for soon all around them would be the miserably insipid environment that was the wasteland.
indentwith the gates now behind them, having been stalled open for the passage of other soldiers, the waste stretched out before them in a vast expanse of nothingness, stagnant and without life. their path would likely be a rough one, too, the earth below them for now solid though likely to grow continuously uneven as they proceeded, certain patches likely worse than others. she rested her elbow upon the middle console, the back of her hand lightly hitting his shoulder in a playful manner. "well? this is going to be fun, no? we've got some impressive sights here-" she made to slightly lean to the right and against the side of the door in order to gain a better look out the bulletproof window. "like, ooh - a dead tree. i don't suppose we'll see one of those again for awhile now." she snorted, proceeding to sink back into her seat, the corners of her mouth slanted upward into a sort of smug smile for what she deemed was humorous slander of the wasteland and its inhabitants. the thing was, the difficulties one could expect to face out in the wasteland went beyond mutated creatures. it was the tainted bloods who caused just as much, if not more unrest than the actual threats to mankind. no shocker there, considering the alleged rebellion. as large and boundless as the wasteland is, it's no surprise the tainted bloods comprising the land have seemingly picked up the very same principles regarding a lack of unity parallel to what conditions they live in. still, it baffled her. why wouldn't anyone want to lead a better life, one where they could experience a sense of actual normality under a government regulated body as was with the conclave. instead, those occupying the wasteland opt not to readily accept directives, and instead put on small acts of what they call rebellion. what they don't realize is how easily their flames are extinguishable. the rebellion is based off lies, its entires foundations only made to appeal to the malnourished minds of the tainted bloods, who are likely grappling for any sense of importance in their world. no doubt most of them would listen to just about any nonsense which some random, mindless band of misfits would spew, coining themselves a rebellion. it only made sense. they lacked the better judgement, even the better understanding of the conclave's goals. in the end, jazmín always boiled it down to this: every pain in the ass the conclave needs to deal with stems ultimately from the tainted bloods themselves. they, being the only ones unable to fully accept and live within conclave law, hold no appreciation for what they are constantly being offered. and that was a better life; thats what it was.
indent"speaking of unexciting and the fact that we have no idea how long it's gonna take us to actually get to the damned checkpoint yet, the sound of a nap is already beginning to appeal to me. forget the rugged terrain. it's totally possible. trust me." she grinned over at him. "perks of making you drive, by the way. you're welcome. but first," she turned her attention toward the small screen preoccupying the middle of the dashboard, "let's try and avoid termination if possible." the gps, now active on the screen, had seemingly successfully processed and routed their navigation. if it weren't for this fine little navigation device, then she was more than positive they would have had absolutely no sense of direction let alone idea of where they were. the specific route they were embarking on was likely the most efficient in meeting their first designated stop as soon as possible. heading to the outpost rather than to the themus base saved them precious time, too, hence the reasoning behind this trip. on the screen, their position was that of a small turquoise arrow progressing along a blue line which traversed their path from start to end. the upper most corner of the screen displayed their expected arrival time in a small, glowing turquoise text. above the screen, now, the holoprojector abruptly emitted a beep, some form of instruction likely to succeed said noise.
.indent"......TIME ELAPSED: SEVEN MINUTES, FIVE SECONDS. APPROXIMATIONS CONCLUDE THE FIRST CHECKPOINT WILL BE REACHED IN NEARLY TWENTY THREE MINUTES IF SPEED IS MAINTAINED. DEBRIEFING WILL COMMENCE ONCE THE HOLOPROJECTOR IS ACCORDINGLY ADJUSTED TO RECEIVE TRANSMISSION FROM OUTPOST: THEMUS-1."
indent"i got it," she mumbled, reaching forward to press the rightmost button on the console, the one now ceasing to flicker. the hologram of the power armor helmet had blinked out within a mere second, only a brief moment passing before an entirely new image popped up from the device. a younger man, lower-ranking than they as judged by what badges he bore, appropriately saluted first and foremost. "afternoon, officer yáñez, officer seco. captain sutemell, operating from the themus-1 outpost." she gave a small nod of acknowledgement in regards to his brief rollout of introductory greetings. "i'll make this as quick as possible, spare us all a headache. as you would expect, the themus-1 detachment is located in a relatively remote location, positioned critically in order to guard against unauthorized intrusions and any obstruction of defences at themus. i advise that when you arrive, ensure to decelerate and pull over before the first gate's security posting. i will then forward to you what information has been transmitted to our base from themus regarding perhaps a more detailed scope of the situation than what even i could offer onto your holoprojector for further observation when it pleases you. just stats, though..a count of bodies, all of that. most importantly, however, i will be the one to establish specifications of the case at hand.."
indentas the man continued on, soraya hopped off from her shoulder and onto the middle console with little regard as to what was taking place before them. she looked up at beau expectantly. desiring to engage in some sort of play-fighting, she squeaked at the other sand-cat, as though to invite the other down from roland's shoulder, effectively chittering through the ongoing transmission. jazmín, though attentive to what the captain was saying, eyed the sand-cat in her peripheral vision, feeling a sudden pang of annoyance hit her at the mild interruption. "shhh! soraya!" she hissed beneath her breath, mostly in an attempt not to interrupt what he was going on about, subsequently wasting no time in snatching the critter up from where she had so deftly pounced to. as she was lifted, her paws desperately extended for the console in an attempt to signify she did not want to be taken away. instead of having a say over where she got to roam, though, soraya was instead subjected to being set down between her helmet and breastplate, even despite the sand-cat's low, irritated growl. the captain continued on as if he hadn't heard anything from their end - and rightfully so, as his place was in ranking to them far less able of an opinion to a minor interruption. "...and then you both can be on your way. keep in mind themus is about twenty minutes off from here, while the scene expecting you is around fifteen, so i'd reckon everything will be timely. in addition to themus itself, all bases in proximity are subject to whatever discretions the taskforce may feel necessary to employ at any given time, and as per usual, your orders supersede local law enforcement and thus assume overriding action."
indenther head tilted in amusement. "very thorough, captain. even a bit of review."
indenta chuckle - perhaps nervous - came from the man. "thank you, officer."
indent"mm. how about a general overview of the area? remind me, what do we have closest to the scene itself?"
indent"closest to the scene...ah, that would be arcadia. functions as an economic cesspool for the surrounding area. i'd say about ten minutes out, give or take. should you need to head over there, i'd keep in mind the city has been pretty high-strung with tension for, well, months. regardless, the citizens would no doubt be honored by your presences alone." that was a lie. if what he said was true, the people in arcadia would not be opening conclave soldiers with wide, open arms, ready to display to them their warmth and gratitude. no, no. a seemingly unruly lot, then, in which they would have to learn their places in time - and if not time, then force. either way the tainted bloods needed to learn to conform the conclave rule, or else they would be crushed beneath it.
indentat his words, however, the first thing she did was shoot a glance roland's way, in a just-our-luck sort of way. "lovely," she commented, sarcasm a biting undertone in her words. it was simply wonderful that they may just have to deal with the disgruntled inhabitants of that city. "if there's anything else?"
indent"that's all, officer. i look forward to receiving you both. it's a pleasure, despite the circumstances."
indent"nice speaking with you, captain."
indentand with that, the transmission ceased, the hologram vanishing once more to be replaced with the standard conclave display after a tap of button. she huffed. there were numerous pieces of information that they needed to now process, it was true. hence why she was now so quick to comment on the just-prior conversation. "eager fellow. earn some brownie points with the officers, ey?" she chuckled, a hand now idly stroking the back of one of soraya's upright triangular ears. "what do you say about the whole arcadia deal? sounds like an unreceptive lot, that is, to us. but honestly, what's new? just another city teeming of filth." once more she leaned against the frame of the door, looking back out into the wasteland, the side of her head leaning against the window. the sway of the vehicle over the rugged terrain lightly rocked her forehead pressed to the glass. "not to mention, local law enforcement is a joke." she muttered, watching the barren land as they passed through - and by the way, still not having spotted a second tree just yet. at this point, however, the outpost had become visible in the distance. it was like a blot sticking out in the otherwise unchanging environment. a welcome sight to see, above all, however.
indenther eyes shifted in roland's direction, the side of her face still resting against the glass of the window. she had, perhaps more than once, and now again, caught herself unable to help herself from eyeing his profile, the defined line of his jawbone or even the gentle curvature of his lips. it wasn't hard to imagine inhaling his familiar deep, rich scent, that aroma of spice, twinged with soft and sweet accents. admittedly a mission wasn't an ideal time to be thinking about running her hands through his hair, but then again, when was it ever? something was always happening, after all. lord, she needed to get some air and touch some of that dry, crumbling earth beneath them in order to come back to reality, because she was yearning far too much for his touch. slowly, she straightened up, perhaps finding herself growing too comfortable. "speaking of unrest, what about that sharpclaw business?" as she sank back against the seat, soraya hopped up from her lap during her moment of movement and sprung up onto her shoulder to sit atop a pauldron once more, seemingly itching to move about, though confined within the vehicles limits. "too bad i didn't get to check it out this morning, though i can't imagine it was a pleasant sight..so, then, tell me this, was it worth leaving so soon?" a grin spread across her face in a teasing manner. she was most definitely finding too much amusement in teasing roland today.
indentsomehow both untimely yet fortunately, a monotonic voice suddenly sounded through the holoprojector, marking the remainder of their twenty five minute trip as coming to a near end. "ALERT: CHECKPOINT IS APPROACHING. TAKE HEED TO RECOMMENDED PROTOCOL. REROUTING TO APPROX. FIFTEEN MINUTES FROM BASE: THEMUS WILL COMMENCE IMMEDIATELY THEREAFTER THE DESIGNATED STOP."
indentjazmín carried on despite this. "because if you prefer the company of oversized reptilians, deceased, at that, well then i must admit, you wound me, roland."
indentshe looked forward once more - and, just as they had been notified, the themus outpost no longer simply sat upon the horizon, a mere speck; now they were nearing close vicinity to the outpost. the fort's walls were mounted with gun turrets, less than which fort sancus ii boasted, but enough to supply for considerable defense. it was generally what one could expect from a base of a much lesser scale. while obviously workable, the circumstances weren't as favorable as being deployed in a major conclave fort. it was often that freshly recruited soldiers ended up here under the watch of their superior, a fresh taste of the wasteland and all it's glory. waiting for them outside the first gates, within a security posting - an extension of the base for receiving and clearing whom is permitted to enter - would be captain sutemell.

[vaell]

xxxＥＤＷＩＮ ＡＬＢＲＥＣＨＴ.

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xxxxxxxxxxxxentertainer / stage name 'floyd'. | the rebellion. aka 'vuledo'. | tagged: constance.
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indent"an appetizer for a pack of mongrels. why does that sound like a better alternative to what we might be getting ourselves into?" he snorted. there was risk involved with just about every aspect of any given scenario when it came to dealing with the conclave, even for he and constance, as proficient as they both were. hell, admittedly, both of them and their crew were more than capable of smuggling their rebel colleagues out of arcadia, as daunting as the task may be. they were no stranger to the art of smuggling, stowing others away in their caravan for longer than he could count; and sure, these were much less grander occasions, but still, the two of them were no strangers to the protocol of hiding people and getting away with it. they hadn't messed up yet - obviously, as they were still here, still alive. he didn't want to think of what would happen if they did get caught. when it comes to the conclave, you should never assume they'll take sensible action. you always have to assume the worst. so he supposed the absolute worst would be a trigger happy soldier on duty. the main concerns in his mind, however, were unaccounted for variables, minuscule details; any of which could throw off an entirely well planned scenario. that's why the probability of things going wrong tended to often be that of a nervous backdrop in edwin's mind. while he wouldn't presume the role of a pessimist, he was certainly realistic, and this was by far one of the most consequential missions they had embarked on for awhile now. smuggling the rebels out was perhaps the key in this entire operation succeeding, even. while securing the information itself was likely a difficult feat, he had no doubt about that, a lot was riding on their ability to actually get the hell out of arcadia. and now that they were dealt this card, exceedingly different their usual humdrum of performances, edwin naturally did feel a bit more apprehensive than usual.
indenthe slipped his violin case from his back and set it down on the wagon bed at his feet. it was more of a rugged case, not the sort of pristine thing you'd likely see in new hollywood. it's insides were not felted, the outside scuffed. all that mattered was that it fit his instrument and that he could easily sling it across his back, really. it was as small as possible for the sake of not cluttering up either the caravan or needing to haul around a huge ass case. even though the smallest of their wagons was used to store their props, instruments and all of the necessities for their performances, one instrument wasn't going to harm anything, he reasoned. besides, he honestly preferred being with the violin than separated, as ridiculous as that may sound. as fairfax started near the back of the wagon, quickly cut off by danny, edwin lightly chuckled. he knew the older man's tangent had been coming and yet he still humored danny anyway. to be honest, as peculiar as danny was sometimes, the stuff that came out of the guys mouth was beyond hilarious, even if he wasn't aware of it. he glanced over to the driver's seat, an eyebrow quirked at the older man's words. with danny, it was hard to even get a comment in sometimes, for he continued on and on if you got him started. edwin leaned back against the padded chair as he listened in amusement. fortunately for everyone, constance was quick to stop him from continuing the beginnings of his rambling. and surprisingly, the man actually did stop and went on to get going, as urged by them, those mounted on steeds following beside the caravan as it set off. "ey, danny, you better not forget to tell me the rest of that story later! i'm curious now!" he called out to the man, cackling as he turned to constance, their company now having dispersed into quiet conversation amongst themselves. he tilted his head in curiosity as constance then spoke. judging from what this captain ridel claimed, the city - and the roads, no less - would be teeming with conclave soldiers. his eyebrows furrowed."..tolls, huh? good to know. you know, it's funny, 'cause this captain ridel along with his other little friends like to act as if there isn't always unrest between their soldiers and wastelanders. but, y'know. they only do this sort of stuff with the tolls and whatnot if the tension really gets under their skin, inconveniences them somehow. otherwise they do love to turn a blind eye to the unrest of the majority of the population." it was hard not to critique just about anything the conclave did. while this especially caused a bit of a concern for them, it was honestly just hilarious how they sanctioned out rules so pointlessly. sure, they must think increased conclave presence will help subdue the conflict within arcadia, but how was that even possible? if anything, if they were to employ an overwhelming presence within the city, then that would probably bring on an even larger dispute. so if they were setting up all these sanctions..well, getting a little paranoid, were they, then? good. they should be.
indent"no, no, but in all seriousness, i totally agree with you. as much as a search wouldn't exactly harm us now, since we literally aren't smuggling any one or thing just yet, it could be a serious waste of our time..and then we might just mess up the timing of what's gonna go down in arcadia." he paused for a moment, pondering, then clambered past karelsa and isabella toward the front of the wagon where danny resided in the drivers seat, mumbling a few apologies as he stepped past. "liz!" he called out from behind the covering. she had taken up one of the two horses traversing beside their wagon. "might be some patrols along the roads doing some searches on convoys! you know the drill!"
indent"gotcha!" he heard the older woman call back.
indentmaking his way back to where he been seated prior, he then settled back down. by now the gates of the base they had just performed at slowly ebbed out of view. their journey to the city of arcadia, as long as they remained uninterrupted by any search patrols, would be a quick one. after all, they had performed at this last base due to its location in proximity to the city where they would meet their fellow rebels. the unfortunate part was how things were already seeming to not be on their side, with all the precautions the conclave were employing in regards to the city. or at least that's how he was starting to feel. he had to remind himself that with the second wagon and its large compartment initially intended for storing a drum set, now used as a spot to smuggle people, they were genuinely prepared for this. they knew what to do. "man, i'm curious as to what they got their hands on, aren't you?" he then looked to constance. "it ought to be worth all the fuss, especially if we've already came to the conclusion that the conclave's gonna panic when this information is gone."
indentfrom outside the covering of the caravan, he could hear liz calling out to them, just having returned from her trek not far of them. oh lord. he rose up, once more maneuvering over to where he could actually hear her properly. poor danny, the old fool was stuck in the middle of he and liz yelling back and forth.
indent"looks like we got some soldiers up ahead! considerin' the fact we're nearin' arcadia, it checks out!"
indentthough naturally one would feel a certain surge of panic at these words, he rather felt a growing sense of annoyance at the hinderance that the conclave were making themselves. sure, they had time to prepare themselves now, but since they were already so close to the city, there was no way they could get around a patrol of soldiers. he pinched the bridge of his nose. so close but so far. "right. thanks, liz!" he turned around to face those within the wagon, many of which who were previously conversing, now glancing over to him as he spoke. "hey folks. looks like we got company soon. now, if anyone is harboring some fugitive we don't know about, its about time to fess up!" he teased, just enough of a light-hearted crack amidst the tensity of their situation to elicit a small chuckle from those within. "guess i'd better break the news to you all now, then," at the back, karelsa laughed, hands up as if she were caught. edwin shook his head, the smile on his face tightening as he made his way back through the wagon. "well? guess that captain ridel was a reliable source. we'll be stopped any minute now," he muttered to constance. "real pain in the ass."
indentfrom outside the caravan, now, he could hear the distant shout of an unfamiliar voice, urging them to slow down as they approached. just as they had expected. this was one of those many times he was nervous should danny interact with the soldiers. the man wasn't an idiot, obviously, but he was quite outspoken. edwin sighed as he felt the caravan begin to slow down now, likely having approached the small party. "stop the caravan. we have orders to search any bodies of transportation seeking passage in or out of arcadia. why don't one of you come out here and state what business you got to head in here?" oh hell no. there was no way he was going to let danny handle this, let alone get a single word in with those officers. he jumped up, flashing a look to constance which they often shared when it came to danny, and squeezed past fairfax and karelsa to access the makeshift door of their wagon. he hopped out in a hurried fashion, then when seeing the sight of two soldiers in their power armor, he paused and put his hands out as though to placate them from getting on the defensive should they be surprised by his presence. "apologies. edwin albrecht. we're a travelling company of performers. in fact, we just wrapped up a wonderful little show at a smaller conclave base, just down the way. all we need is passage through arcadia. we got another show scheduled soon, and i doubt that they'd want to miss us." the two soldiers, each with an automatic rifle resting in their hands idly, observed him from beneath their helmets as he explained. for a second he didn't think that they would even believe him, despite the fact he was an impeccable on-the-spot liar. that, and he really hadn't lied for the most part. "..right. well, you've sure got the sizeable company. mind if we take a look inside?" as much as it was a question posed to him, one of the two soldiers had already headed to their furthermost wagon. "oh, no worries at all-" he attempted to catch up, following behind the armored man as he made to inspect the wagon. "here, allow me." edwin made to open the back of the wagon, exposing the insides fully to the conclave soldier. even from beneath the mans helmet, he could tell that he was scrutinizing their belongings. the inside of the wagon housed various costumes, lots of them with great flair, all feathers and sparkles, situated on a transportable rack. these pieces were situated beside an array of props and multiple sizes of casings holding instruments. edwin, standing there as the soldier took it upon himself to step up and in the space, felt unperturbed. they really weren't hiding anything. except for the fact that they did have other business in the city to attend to, but there was no evidence garnering them suspicion of that. the man poked around for a brief moment, then he stepped down from the wagon once satisfied. "wagon two cleared. check the other one," he called out to his fellow soldier as edwin made to close up the backside of the wagon.
indentthe other soldier, he could tell from the way he stepped a reasonable distance around them, had eyed the planks installed on the sides of the cart with what edwin could presume was a sort of distaste. he folded his hands neatly behind him as he observed the soldier go on to open up the confines of the first wagon, where most of their members resided. from where he stood, he could spot karelsa, half obscured by his vantage point as well. she looked the epitome of calm, though he knew she was writhing in discomfort on the inside. conclave soldiers were enough to make anyone nervous. who knew what they would do? they're unpredictable, vicious people protected by their technologically advanced set of armors. these soldiers in particular, edwin could note, were of low ranking, stationed out in the wasteland to do what none of the higher ranking officers wanted to do. he had seen multitudes of different designs when it came to power armors, and he could quite indeed confirm that these particular soldiers were not of any distinguished importance. it was honestly kind of funny how they were acting like they were truly significant figures within their military, all things considered. it was enough of a sight to put into perspective how easily anyone in that military could feel a power trip, really, as long as they got to be apart of the system. it was more disturbing than anything. "you are heading through arcadia for a show?" the soldier inquired to those within, meaning to test edwin's reliability, still peering into the wagon. fairfax was the one to pipe up. "yes, we are. just need passage through, is all." thank goodness he had heard edwin from inside there. although truthfully, his excuse had been a pretty default one, but still; they couldn't blow their cover in any way.
indentthe soldier still standing beside him at the furthermost wagon headed over to the other soldier, whom stepped away from the first wagon without bothering to shut the makeshift door. he watched them for a brief moment before heading over himself. "everything looking alright? are we granted permission to head over to the entrance of the city?" edwin asked, resting a hand on the door. it was nice to think that just maybe they might have a bit more leverage over the situation considering they were quite literally tasked with entertaining the conclaves soldiers. it took a moment for anyone to acknowledge him. one of the soldiers was speaking, the receiving end of what must be a comlink likely to be another conclave member apart of their operation to keep arcadia under tight scrutiny. he caught the words of 'confirmed' and 'caravan' and 'entry'. edwin curiously looked to the soldier who wasn't speaking. he noticed. "yes, yes. you're cleared. now move along already. can't you see we don't have all day here?" though his words were snappish, edwin only nodded. "thank you both for what you're doing out here in the wasteland. it's appreciated beyond words." while his true feelings were much more the opposite of what he had said, his very words repulsive to speak into existence, it didn't matter. they needed to kiss up to the bastards, make them feel good about themselves just so they could get along with their own day. when he was sure he was in the clear, he made to hop up into the wagon once more, lightly rapping on the side of the frame to give danny the green light that they were cleared through. behind him the hushed conversation between the two soldiers slowly faded as he shut the door.
indentedwin returned back to his seat with a grunt. "poor suckers really think they're working some esteemed job, meanwhile their superiors back at who-the-hell-knows-what-base are probably sitting around doing nothing." he couldn't help the laughter that escaped him. from the start he hadn't a doubt in his mind regarding their clearance, but still, it was nice to be past a conclave patrol. besides, the entire encounter with the soldiers hadn't taken too long, either, for edwin had attempted to keep things as quick and concise as possible to minimize what time they may lose. now that they had succeeded in being granted the ability to approach the city, all thats left was to manage in getting the hell out once their colleagues met up with them. as the caravan continued down the travel-worn path, now beginning to come up on the iron shack walls that made up the perimeter of the city, used as a barrier to protect against any bandit or creature attacks, edwin felt a bit more at ease. what would soon surround them was a bustling atmosphere. arcadia was a city built amongst the ruins of one of the conclaves first airships, dozens upon dozens of vendors, stalls and shops, and even clinics settled within the ship's many decks and bays. smaller ships scattered about the land were utilized as housing for the many wastelander civilians that called arcadia home, too. heading toward the opening, a decently sized gap between the walls hosting a controlled gate, edwin caught a glimpse from behind the driver seat of what awaited them. the entrance to the city was not understaffed today. he tried to make out those standing there, squinting to see whether or not they were dealing with straight-up conclave soldiers or the city's police force. upon catching sight of a badge plastered to one of their chests, he immediately recognized it as what must be arcadia's local law enforcement emblem, for it was unique to its city, like most small police forces out in the waste. of course they weren't alone, however. the conclave already had reinforcements at the toll as a measure meant to put more pressure onto those who pass in and out of the city. they sized up their load, and held out a hand to where danny would need to set some caps. "that's gonna be thirteen caps if you bunch want in." a brief pause, probably the soldiers checking out those riding alongside them. "and four extra for the two on steeds." edwin scowled. the toll price had been raised considerably, and whether it was because of the unrest within the city, or simply because it was just their luck having such a large mode of transportation, he had no idea. from beneath his seat he produced a small pouch, fairfax already having stashed away their caps from their latest performance, and stuck his hand up and over to danny in order for the older man to take and hand over to the soldiers the right amount for their passage in. luckily for them, they needn't squander any more time, for they were then ushered through the now-open gates with a wave of the hand as soon as the caps were set into their palms.
indentfeeling the caravan move forward once more, he sighed in relief. "great. and danny? please don't let someone try and talk you into buying something, i beg." he muttered, clambering back over to constance and tossing them the pouch of caps after having got it back from the older man. "a small price to pay for the greater good. seventeen caps, specifically. anyway, you think we've made good time? it's hard to tell. though considering the sun's still up, we know damn well we didn't miss 'em, that's for sure." the city was buzzing around them with people coming and going from the airship ruins, a hotspot even despite the conclave's attempt in keeping a tight seatbelt over the affairs of the land. from within the caravan, and because they weren't parading themselves as members of the conclave, thus garnering no negative attention, it was hard to make out the true extent of the unrest within the large city. if he had been able to look closer, he might have noticed the woes of the civilians living within arcadia. the way children would skirt around a corner at the sight of an armored individual, disappear behind aircraft ruins, or the way that wastelanders faces would twist into a glower of repulsion, a resonating look of spite should they see a conclave member. of course, they were also beyond terrified. their horror of the soldiers fuelled their hatred, resulting in shadowed looks of animosity behind the backs of soldiers as they pass by. perhaps some were even so bold as to not hide their enmity. however, his mind was more so narrowed in on the prospect of their next move: meeting their colleagues. "hey! danny! i meant it, no shopping. we can't head too far from the toll, man! for real, this is good. pull over, would ya?" he called out as they made their way down the street from the entrance of the city and its toll, beginning to wind in toward the airship. unfortunately for them, their meeting point with the other rebels had been a bit..well, vague? open to interpretation? it was mostly reasoned they wouldn't be able to pinpoint an exact location due to the crowded nature of the city, though they all had a general idea of the area in which they would meet, and that would need to be near the entrance of the city in order to facilitate a quick escape from arcadia. this essentially meant pulling over near the hull of the airship and thus out of the immediate view of conclave soldiers, minding their business away from the bustling pathways but not conspicuously lurking in some shadowed alleyway, either. somewhere optimal for new passengers needing to go unnoticed to join their caravan. he shifted his gaze towards constance. "here's to hoping the others make it here unscathed."

[vaermina]

ＫＡＩＲＯＳ 'ＫＡＩ' ＬＯＵＫＡＮＩＳxxx
I.xcis malex II.x23 years oldx III. an android deployment & utilization warrant 2 officer


indent:gorilla:
indentik u lying
indentnot me dead and for What
indenthe dropped his phone into one of the convertible's cup holders. kai couldn't help the sigh that escaped him as he leaned back in his seat. he reached up with clammy hands to gingerly rub his face, the feeling of cold metal from the rings on his digits strangely comforting against his cheeks. he was trying to erase any signs of distress from his features. kai wished he could grab some sort of figurative hammer and just pound his emotions back into the abyss from which they came. no matter how hard he tried to escape, he was always stuck in this cycle; swallowing his feelings, lashing out in uncontrollable rage, composing himself before doing it all over again. it was exhausting. he was exhausted. but what else is new? at this point, all he could do was cope. sure, he's not exactly coping right now in the healthiest of ways but it worked. however, something as simple as hanging out with one of the few people he loves has even somehow managed to become sordid. the bad blood that has formed between the loukanis and parekh names doesn't even entirely boil down to a simple sore loser, golden winner situation. in fact, the conflict between their families is one that is common in capital society. power means everything; your social credibility means everything. status, influence, fame, wealth; it all boils down to where you stand in the hierachy. families will turn on one another in the blink of an eye if it means furthering their importance. upper-class citizens want the attention, the authority, the supremacy of it all. the thought of harboring prestige is addictive. and in many ways, kai understood it. no, he craved it. he wanted to live that type of lifestyle. still, his yearning is not strong enough that he was going to cut out the few people in his life who meant something to him just to get a lick of power. and either way, it's not like their families suddenly becoming adversaries is anything other than a classic case of elitist envy and resentment. sure, kai thought that mateo is far more deserving of promotions than mina's brother but he'll get his praise in the end. he always does.
indentthe sound of mina's exclamation was enough to cause him to jolt in his seat. having been looking down at the floorboards of the car, the man hadn't even noticed her coming up along the sidewalk. he couldn't help but spew a few mental curses before he quickly composed himself. kai held up his hands in mock egotism. "please, no flash photography or autographs. it's not easy being one of the sexiest men in the capital but someone's gotta do it." he smiled at her as she slid into the passenger seat. "hey, baby." he felt his cheeks grow hot as she leaned over the middle console to plant a gentle kiss against his lips. it was difficult not to unclip his seatbelt and lunge at her for a kiss but he supposed this is not exactly the most appropriate of places to engage in such behavior. they'd probably end up in a thorny situation if her mother were to come home and witness kai shoving his tongue down her daughter's throat. he shrugged at her teasing. "somethin' like that. i mean, considering the neighborhood watch is probably just made up entirely of grandparents who volunteered out of boredom, it'd be more likely for me to get shot in the eye because they're all two optometrist appointments away from going blind. knowing my mother, she'd find a way to blame it on my career. 'you got shot because of all those damn androids-'" he was joking with her, although his mother attempting to blame any sort of inconvenience in kai's life on his career isn't exactly farfetched. he fell down the stairs? it's because he works with androids. got food poisoning? it's because he didn't follow in his mother's footsteps with politics. hell, she'd probably blame the great war on kai if she could.
indentkai took his hand off the steering wheel to reach over and gently part several strands of hair from her face. there was a pale sheen on her cheek that looked familiar, although the faint smears of mascara under her eyes told enough on its own. when you're suffering yourself, it's easy to detect affliction on others. it's never a pleasant feeling, knowing that mina was under some sort of affliction. in the grand scheme of things, the two of them endure very different experiences in their individual households but the foundation is still the same. and if he could, kai would gladly take the brunt of any pain she felt and bear it himself. he didn't want her to suffer - ever - and genuinely, he thought mina deserved better; whether that be with her career, how her family treats her, being involved with someone as emotionally precarious as he. god, he always hated when people openly repined and languised themselves but that's what made him so contradicting because he did the exact same thing himself. he was often tormented with an unclear and shifting self-image, one moment viewing himself in a borderline arrogant light and then the next becoming completely unassertive and diffident. sometimes, he'd hold someone like his eldest brother in an ideal light before suddenly finding himself wallowing in feelings of resentment and jealousy for no particular reason at all. feeling the random desire to suddenly hurt people before they could hypothetically hurt him first? the thought crossed his conscious every other day. growing up the way he did, he always felt like people were out to get him, and that he needed to do something to them first to somehow assert his gallantry. it was completely random, and made absolutely no sense at all, but during those few brief moments it just felt right. what are supposed to be mild negative reactions could easily turn extreme with him. sadness transforming into crippling grief, irritation into blistering rage, apprehensiveness into freezing anxiety. it's a cycle of emotions that never seems to end. his lame position in the military - combined with an increasingly unstable home life - has only heightened his sense of unease concerning his own identity. kai would be lying if he said it's not tempting to completely alter himself into what he felt like is an ideal persona, but perhaps it was deeper than that. sure, it was enticing to maybe dye his hair or change his style but sometimes, that just didn't feel like enough. it was hard to explain.
indenthe drew his hand back briefly to lick his thumb before he proceeded to lean across the middle console, gently wiping the small remnants of mascara from underneath mina's eyes. "you do realize mascara is supposed to go on your eyelashes, right?" he teased her, careful to not accidentally jab her in the eye before he finally leaned back in his seat. her thoughts right now very much reflected his own. he figured that if she had something to say, she'd say it. kai himself always grew irritated when people pried him about his feelings - no matter how good their intentions are - and he didn't want to pester mina if she's not feeling very communicative in the first place. given how long they've known each other, too, he was sure she already knew that he would always listen to her problems. that's a rare occurrence for kai, too. no matter what sort of charismatic façade he fronted, he lacked true empathy to be a humanitarian. his view on philanthropy is pretty twisted as it is. his idea of promoting welfare is spreading conclave ideologies no matter how harmful said ideologies are in practice because to him, it'll be worth it for future generations. wastelanders are afraid of what they cannot understand. he understood that. if you live in a lawless society, sudden control makes you antsy but it's needed. kai's understanding only went so far, though and he had no qualms with the concept of the conclave committing violence to get the end result they need. to him, the steps taken to achieve the end goal make it worth it in the end, no matter how much blood is on your hands. that's just how the world works. nobody gets along through reasoning and peace. somewhere along the line, someone is going to get crushed underneath the boot and that's just the way it is. his dog-eats-dog mindset is prevalent in everything he does, but he has a notable soft spot for the few people he genuinely cares about. with his emotions being as fickle as they are, he's a pretty sensitive person and it translates when it comes to his positive relationships. any sort of wrongdoing against the people he cares about felt painfully personal, which is probably the reason why was so hostile towards mina's younger brother despite the fact he has been nothing but pleasant to kai. mina could tell kai to shoot someone and honestly? he'd probably do it.
indentnow if there's one thing to note about getting in a car with kai, it's the uncertainty of arriving at your destination in one piece.
indentthere's a reason his brothers refused to drive with him. it's not like kai closed his eyes and slammed his foot on the gas pedal and hoped for the best; he just had a bad habit of, well, zoning out. his rather abrupt pull away from the curb once mina was situated was anything but gentle. his phone went flying out from the cup holder, tumbling onto the floorboard at mina's feet. "oh, crap. can you get that?" he asked her casually, oblivious to the fact that his phone had nearly become a weapon that could have knocked them both upside the head. with their neighborhood located in the heart of the northwest district, it would only take less than ten minutes or so to reach capitol hill, provided that traffic isn't a killer considering it's lunch time. with one hand on the steering wheel, he rested the elbow of his free arm on the car door, running a hand through his hair. he looked over at mina when she questioned him. he shrugged, expression having suddenly become increasingly difficult to read. "he said there was some sort of emergency at work, something about rebels and a base. i don't know, he wasn't really specific. you know, a type of code for shut-up-and-don't-ask-questions-coffee boy." when you're a warrant officer, it's easy to get lost in the crowd. you don't stand out unless your superiors happen to spot you in just the right moment to make you run an errand for them. kai has long since become accustomed to being left in the dark about the important things going on in the conclave.
indentof course, he always enjoyed spending time with mina but he was disappointed in not being able to see his brother today. he hasn't really seen him a lot the past few months ever since mateo and his wife, darlene, moved into their own place. having two young daughters, it was only reasonable for them to live on their own. the loukanis manor is large enough to host an entire clan of greeks, mind you but mateo needed to live his own life without feeling burdened by his family. granted, kai had struggled with the whole thing at first because it had been difficult for him to not feel like he was being abandoned. he knew that's not the case but his brain was determined to prove otherwise. his brothers philip and xander had not hesitated to move out as soon as they gathered enough funds to do so. who could blame them? nobody sane wants to stay in the loukanis household. he was pretty sure the only reason mateo lingered as long as he did is because he didn't want kai to be left in the belly of the beast, but there's only so much one can do about it. his brother deserved to have his own life without having to constantly worry about his siblings. he's probably done enough of that to last him a lifetime. still, being the last hatchling in the nest is anything but delightful."either way, i don't really care. i needed to get out of the house, anyway, before i ended up murdering our country's speaker of the house in a hit and run." he paused, glancing over at his girlfriend. he held up his free hand. "i'm kidding. i'm kidding! okay, maybe just a little tap with the bumper instead. you know, send a message." joking about blatantly murdering his parents is something that kai does a lot. most would just attribute it to dark humor but considering how volatile he felt towards his parents, there was something else there that most certainly did not feel right.
indentin the grand scheme of things, kai pretty much just locks himself in his room and prayed his parents going at each other's throats was enough to satisfy their violent appetites. with only three people in the house and two of said people preferring to be left alone by her nonsensical whims, though, his mother still liked to purposely push kai's buttons, as shown by her aggressive display earlier today. her inability to go a day without receiving some sort of attention due to her narcissism mixed with kai's general personality as well as gasoline and fire. she liked to criticize him over every single little thing he does. and being someone who handles criticism like it's a knife wound to the gut, it always caused him to lash out. it was legit insanity. and despite his reassurances that he was only joking, there was a small sliver of him that could not deny the fact he has thought about killing his parents before. they were fleeting thoughts, always coming and going at the darkest of times, but they were there and it was enough to make him feel ashamed because who thinks that? literally, who? admittedly, it would be too easy to just run his plasma sword through his mother's gut or maybe just slice her head off her shoulders with one swift motion. it's not like she could defend herself. his father, though? he didn't know. as much as he yearned to see the older man bleed, there would be no way in hell kai would ever attack him unless he knew that the general could not fight back. there's a certain sort of cowardliness involved to attack someone when you know they can't defend themselves but is kai a coward when it comes to bloodyface? yeah, but he's long since accepted that he was mouse when it came to his paternity issues.
indentthe dark thoughts that had suddenly intruded his mind out of seemingly nowhere caused him to shift uncomfortably in his seat. god, why couldn't he go for an hour without thinking of something horrific or nightmarish? luckily for him, mina's jokes were enough to pull his attention back towards her. he couldn't help the smile that grew on his lips at the sound of her laughter. if anything, her laugh is contagious. "oh, yeah? cause a scandal, huh? you know, afterwards we could drive over to rock creek park. over two thousand acres of forest, very quiet and peaceful off of the main paths. you already know the backseat is large enough for two people to lie down in. instead of cause a scandal, you can just rock my world. you're so good at doing that." he teased her, his words bordering on coquettish. he couldn't help himself. they were driving to capitol hill to deliver an important file to an esteemed general and here he was, joking about them slipping off afterwards to an urban park to act like a pair of unruly teenagers. it's no wonder kai is not taken seriously by his superiors even though, obviously, he didn't joke about this type of stuff around just anybody. he reached over the middle console with one of his hands to tickle mina. "or are you parekhs too good for us loukanis folk now? one of you suddenly get an extra jet thrown your way and now it's screw kai loukanis. don't make me beg, baby. i can't get on my knees and drive at the same time without granting us a one way ticket to see god." of course, he was just poking fun with her but the mention of kai somehow causing them to end up in a crash is not exactly farfetched considering he does everything but keep two hands on the steering wheel. teasing mina has completely erased the disturbing thoughts he had been thinking beforehand, too, which is just yet again a picture perfect example of how he functioned. it wasn't even that he had a short attention span, it was the fact he is capable of switching from one fleeting feeling to the next without even processing what the hell he had just been thinking about. is it bizarre? of course, but he never questions it. it's better if he doesn't.

[vaell]

ＪＵＬＩＡＮ　ＭＯＲＥＮＯ.

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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxa wastelander / future rebel. | unaffiliated. | tagged: valentina.
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indentjulian was perfectly content in not looking back at the man bleeding out just several feet behind him, though clearly his cousin had a different perspective on the matter. but he, already well decided on getting the hell out of here, made to start forward, though was abruptly stopped by her hand latching onto his sleeve, likely already having anticipated his desire to flee away from the scene on their horse. warily, he narrowed his eyes at valentina, now paused midway in his tracks. he could basically see that the gears were turning in her mind as he followed where her gaze was set, looking past him and down at the struggling man, a sight rather unceremonious as he, unlike his assumed colleagues, was still enduring obvious suffering. to be frank, he wasn't so sure how he felt about the idea of a dying man just now piquing his cousins interest. she had been silent for the entire ordeal up until this very moment, and he was kind of wishing it'd go back to being that way, because something about this entire situation screamed danger. it wasn't just the bodies laying about pools of their own blood, no, it was something more than that. he and valentina were both well acquainted with seeing multitudes of different horrors, and human corpses were no longer something that elicited a reaction of shock. he wasn't sure if they ever really did, anyway. disturbing was the sight of murdered wastelanders, yes, but not surprising. so perhaps the strangely eerie nature of it all was what made julian so apprehensive, how these people had been so quickly disposed of - seemingly just dealt with hardly that long ago, considering the man still clinging onto life - and left to rot in the scorching january sun under curious circumstances. or maybe it could just be more unnerving than usual because the conclave seemed to be written all over this massacre. no bandit would leave behind the goods that these bodies could potentially be storing in the pockets of their vests or trousers or even hidden away in their boots.
indentno, none of this was something they wanted to be involved with.
indent"val," he ground out, tone rather pressing. "we seriously should just get going-" his cousin, however, stepped past him, and so julian let his words die off in defeat. there was no use in trying to convince the rather determined valentina in stepping away from the situation at this point. he grumbled in annoyance, slowly turning on his heel to look upon the man once more, valentina now bent down to his level, her shotgun lowered into the grass dotted with drying blood. "oh, come on. we aren't doctors, this is insane," he complained, grip tightening on his own shotgun, slightly on edge given the circumstances. as she adjusted his head into a position where he would no longer be choking on his own blood, he looked off into the distance of the waste beyond them. in what could be deemed a paranoid manner, his eyes roved over their surroundings, raising a hand to block the rays of the sun from his direct vision. nothing had changed; the wasteland was still hauntingly bare, save for them and the half-dead man, if you only counted beings still alive. the buzzing of flies which had long began to pick up on the scent of death that hung heavily on the hair further emphasized their otherwise silent isolation. he tapped his foot against the hard earth impatiently.
indentalthough the injured man was now attempting to speak once more, julian's mind was more so occupied with the idea of them launching at full speed from this very location. in fact, that man could have said something of significant importance and he would not have have made out a single word other than his strained uttering of the badlands. at the sound of another pained cough, he glanced back over to where valentina was still hovering over the man's body. he could only watch in silence as the man sputtered a few more times before his head went slack, eyes likely turning to that same glassy look that the rest of this group bore. he couldn't really tell from where he stood, anyway, if the man had truly passed, his cousin mostly obscuring his view of his face, for julian had not moved an inch from where he stood yet. at this point he nervously threw a glance over his shoulder, back to where mars was tied to a guard rail at the side of the road. he probably would have attempted to circle back over to their horse by now had valentina not risen to inspect something she seemed to have plucked off the man after easing him into the clutches of death. he raised a brow inquisitively, just briefly forgoing his inclinations to run away from here enough to begin to slowly approach her from behind, though still with no lack of wariness in his steps. when he looked from over her shoulder, he caught sight of the wreckage she held which was a folder. well, if you could still call it that. it was stained and less than intact, something that had seen much better days. now with a bit more curiosity having been evoked within him, he found himself anticipating what may be tucked away inside, hidden by the damaged front of the folder. what if it held some papers depicting a super massive tool of destruction to be employed by the conclave!? or maybe it could just be something as trifling as some sort of military expenses report? either way, he was practically on the edge of his seat as his cousin's hand lifted to draw open the folder. he leaned forward on the toes of his boots in order to get an optimal view of the reveal of its contents.
indentas the cover fell away to reveal literally nothing but a small tape inserted within the middle of the folder, he felt his anticipation go out like a candle. he frowned. no papers, no strange conclave plans out in the open..it was all rather anticlimactic. julian shook his head, turning from valentina in his disappointment. though, really, in a way he felt that maybe it was better that nothing crazy important had been in the folder, right? what would they do - or what would these people have wanted, rather - with some tape that they couldn't even render out here in the waste? they didn't have access to the right sort of technology for that. no terminals, no computers. so obviously the tape belonged to the conclave, thus it wasn't hard to connect the dots that it was more than likely responsible for the cause of the death of these very people; which meant his vigilance in regards to their situation wasn't just him being overly suspicious. well, that was nice to know. except now that meant they really needed to get the hell out of here, knowing fully well the conclave was involved in whatever had transpired. still, it was peculiar that the conclave had not retrieved this item of interest from these people if it truly was stolen from their clutches and was of any sort of value. he supposed it was just another excuse to go on some killing spree, the tape likely holding some trivial matters within, like a base report.
indentwhile he had been trying to make what sense he could of the situation, it seemed valentina might have noticed something he had not. he glanced back over at her at the sound of his name, a little confused as to why she was still entertaining the tape. if it caused so much misery to these people, what good would it do them? for real, they just needed to leave it alone. he shouldered his shotgun, hoping she was going to finally agree that they needed to ditch this crime scene - and boy, would she agree, just not in the way he expected.
indenta brief moment passed before she once more broke the silence. "woah-" he started, though was quickly brought to nearly jumping as a result of her sudden exclamation, his eyes widening as she descended upon him. naturally, if something were enough to ruffle his cousin, it was more than enough to straight up frighten him, so he was already feeling progressively tense at her sudden reaction. valentina took no time in divulging what she had pieced together from this whole ordeal, leaving julian attempting to latch onto whatever key phrases he could as she dished out her understanding of the events. okay. okay. rebels..that word alone left an uneasy feeling making itself apparent in the form of a newly found lump in his throat. next, the coroner report - that's what the tape was -..well, apparently the tape wasn't so meaningless as he had suspected. stole..broken in..fort..arcadia..rebellion..the freedom trail, for crying out loud! julian's mind was racing in an attempt to keep up with her, and even she seemed to be overwhelmed by all of this new information, cutting herself off as though suddenly realizing something yet again. he covered his mouth with his hand, unable to hide how very stunned he felt at that very moment, for it was practically written all over his face. he diverted his eyes to the ground, at the bodies laying near their feet. these people were apart of the damn rebellion. he wasn't so sure whether that sparked joy or unease in him, for now they had taken upon themselves the possession of whatever these people had risked their lives for. oh, no. this was very very bad, to say the least. he and valentina, they weren't rebels, and they weren't trying to get themselves killed just like that! they had gone this far without being bulldozed by the conclave, and he was pretty sure he didn't want to go down that path just yet. he then ran both his hands against his face, grumbling as he tightly shut his eyes in something akin to frustration. what he wasn't surprised by, though, out of all of this, was the fact that valentina had managed to make sense of all this. he was of no help considering he didn't even bother to give the tape's contents a second thought, let alone further inspect it.
indentso, what could be concluded was that the conclave wanted this tape back, and badly. and so had the rebels. but that was a failed mission, and yet somehow it was not over. the file hadn't been retrieved from any of their dead bodies, likely because it was some shoot-now-ask-questions-later sort of thing, but either way, they were kinda stuck in a predicament. he personally wanted nothing to do with the tape or the rebellion or any of it, perhaps a bit selfishly. and rightfully so. he and his cousin both worked so hard every day just to survive in this world, and he didn't want their gruelling existences to come to the end at some soldiers hand, not after they came this damned far. he didn't even really know what to say to valentina, either. both at a loss for words and conflicted by what they needed to do, julian wasn't so sure he could even make a decision that wasn't rash right about now. taking the tape could mean a multitude of things, including their lives being in danger, while on the other hand, what other choice did they really have? oh, god. he was going to be sick-
indentbefore he knew it, he was being mindlessly ragged back to mars by his cousin, and without any complaints from him. he did notice that she had not disposed of the file, and immediately opened his mouth to object - and he would have, had she not gone on to raise a good point. they needed to get the hell out of here, tape or no tape, before they happened to get caught amidst the conclaves affairs. who the hell knew what kind of measures they were going to take in order to bring that file back to them. so, he nodded his head vigorously. "yeah, you're right, you're right," julian promptly made to untie mars' reins from the guide rail, hands fumbling to steadily release their horse. he really didn't know how he felt right about now, beside the fact the entirety of his self was urging him to move. so now this time, he had gladly made to mount mars first, because to say the least, he was more than eager to finally head out of here. so when valentina followed suit, he lightly pulled on the reins, catching mars' attention and then proceeding to squeeze his calves against the horses sides in order to urge him forward. perhaps aware of the urgency in julian's demeanor, or rather just being responsive in good timing, mars had quickly set off into a trot. and there they were, the five of them, fleeing a literal crime scene which they initially had no involvement in when they first headed in. heading out..well, he was pretty sure they were worse off than the dead rebels now. not to say that they would die..it's just that, well, if these people, who knew exactly what they were going into that base to retrieve and how to extract themselves out, didn't make it - how would they? the thought was more than a little disturbing, enough to keep him more alert than he even normally would be, which was already a prerequisite out in the wasteland.
indentas mars picked up pace, julian didn't allow himself to ease into the feeling of security. who cared if the whole ordeal was growing more and more distant behind them, they were holding onto something that meant more than their lives to the conclave. though he hadn't spoken since their departure, he was pretty sure valentina was trying to come to terms with what they had just came in possession of as well. hence why they had rode in a necessary sort of silence for awhile now, the only sound being mars' hooves making contact with the crumbling road beneath them. they needed that time to recuperate, think of what the hell they would do with what they now had their hands on. luckily, they were well on their way to arcadia, passing a familiar toppled boulder that served to indicate to them the nearby city would soon be approaching. they often travelled this pathway, one that was often devoid of conclave soldiers passing through, as it was a bit of a roundabout from what would be considered the main roads. precautionary measures, to say the least. and honestly, at this point he wasn't even so sure it was the best idea that they continue out their daily affairs, but what other choice did the have? if anything, not going to the market and changing up their schedule would not only make him feel like some major change had been imposed on their life - which, yes, there had been - but also likely double their chances of behaving suspiciously. and besides, they were still in the same situation as they had been this whole time. they needed those caps. the two of them were barely getting by lately, and with what funds they did have would need to be sufficient enough for their entry past the toll at the gates of the city.
indentso finally, he turned his head to the side, looking over his shoulder to try and break his silence concerning the matter and actually discuss things like she had mentioned they should. "okay," he drew out slowly, releasing a breath. "look, i'm gonna be straight up with you, val. this is insane. and to be honest, i wish you would just chuck that thing out of our sight, which would hopefully even destroy it in the process of doing so. but," julian paused, looking forward and on their path once more in order to avoid getting completely distracted. "i guess we've kind of already crossed the threshold of our lives being on the line..and i mean, now that we have the tape.." well, he wasn't so sure, even. he wanted to do right by these people who had risked their lives for a cause which detested the conclave, more than anything else. and a part of him even felt like this was the sort of thing they needed to do in order to finally put their foot down. but again, was it worth it, truly? he had no idea, and he had a feeling he wouldn't have an answer right away. all that he could really do now was try and continue to process all of this new information as best he could, which unfortunately for valentina, would be in the form of ramblings. "okay, can we just talk about the freedom trail? not gonna lie, i might've thought that was a myth. and this whole situation? it's just..weird. rebels trying to snatch up a coroner report? seriously? wait..actually yeah, i get it. now that's something worth stealing. not. what the hell could be so important about that? did you see some sort of identification attached to the tape or anything?" he paused, then an exaggerated gasp followed as a result of some realization which dawned upon him, "hold on. does this make us rebels? are we officially apart of the cause!? 'cause they don't even know we exist, and yet we got what they and the conclave want!"
indentjulian shook his head, laughing. "i don't even know if i could handle that sort of pressure. y'know, all that weight on our shoulders. it's a bit much, don't you think?" from their position on the decrepit pathway, he spotted the outer reinforcements of the large city lying in wait for them. visiting arcadia was always an interesting time, and that said a lot considering their most frequent journeys there to the market were to fetch some prices for what they hunted. you could really meet some bizarre people in arcadia, and some totally shady ones, too. but then again, where wasn't there those sorts of people? it's just that this city was brimming with life constantly, and it didn't help that there was a particular unrest between its residents and the conclave. which reminded him. "uh, val. you don't think they're suddenly gonna start searching people at the gates 'cause of whats been going on in arcadia lately, right?" he was joking. only partly. "the day we somehow got our hands on something incriminating being the day they start throwing around random safety protocols? yeah, no thanks." his voice held a timorous undertone, despite the playful nature of it all.
indentjulian then shot yet another glance over his shoulder to look to valentina. "but hey, you got the caps?" he gave a light tug to the reins, signalling for the horse to slow in pace as they began to come upon the length before the gates. though usually manned by one or two authorities, today the toll was coupled with a pair of conclave soldiers as well. he tensed at the sight. how was it possible that he already felt like some wanted criminal, and it hadn't even been an hour? he forced himself to try and stay composed. "looks like security's been ramped up a bit since the last time we were here," he muttered to his cousin. "yay. let's hope they aren't about to try and scam us, up the price a couple caps or whatever, probably try and blame it on the conclave," he grumbled, making sure to remain as indifferent as he could muster as they approached the toll.