((New year, trying to be less lazy.))
An climbed the precarious stepladder to hover above Wisdom's enormous fishtank, carefully prying open the top. One by one, she dropped wriggling minnows into the water; Wisdom's enormous coelacanth jaws yawned wide to accept each one in turn, the creature's bulbous, alien eyes staring up fixedly at An - or perhaps the food she held - through the rippling, circulated water of the tank. An liked to think the creature was warming to her, as much as a fish could, as feeding him was one of the chores she had adopted since settling into Master Gogonji's apartment.
Despite having been "betrothed" for well over a cycle now, and mated for even longer, An had never thought to ask to join him in his domicile, nor to invite him into hers. Of course, she was not about to give up her space in the Duskbreak, not least because it had been her home now for quite some time and she could guarantee its security, but she spent more than half of the week with Master Gogonji. The Duskbreak still held her most sensitive files, her tools and poisons, her outfits and disguises that didn't fit in with the "Cherry Blossom socialite" persona. After all, to a degree, it made sense that "Tmesis Oan" and his fiancee were moving in together so close to their nuptials; the gesture strengthened their cover, even as it strengthened their relationship. And of course, An hoped for the occasional moment with Chuta, though it had been some time since she had seen him, as well.
But she couldn't lie even to herself that moving into Master Gogonji's apartment had been a source of comfort and relief for her. They both were given to periods of intense focus on work, work that ran parallel but did not necessarily intersect. An's job was to present Master Gogonji with intelligence; his was to analyze it and do with it as he pleased, whether to sell, trade, hold onto, or order her to take action upon. But that didn't necessarily mean they collaborated much on their separate lanes. An had made the conscious choice to isolate much of the operational work - and therefore, the risks - onto herself. And that had translated into sometimes long weeks, even moons sometimes, without seeing Master Gogonji beyond the occasional Runestone, when their masks of "Oan" and "Annunu" were firmly on.
"What will it be like to be married, Wisdom?" she murmured, dropping in another minnow for the fish to devour. "Are you no longer lonely then?"
Her attention snapped back as one of her linkshells rang with a distinctive tapping pattern. The pattern alone identified both linkshell and sender; it was the red one she held alone for Agent R. The pattern was his sign of life signal, as well as indicating he was ready to report in. She carefully detached her other shells from the chain around her ear and tucked them away in a pack. "Report."
"Got the cache all marked out and ready for the op, princess."
"Thank you. When do you anticipate will be the most likely time for attempted acquisition?"
"Not sure, but I wouldn't leave eyes off."
"Thank you, R. I will take it from here."
"What?! Alone?!"
"You doubt my ability?"
"O-of course not..."
"I will be in touch. That is all." She tucked the linkpearl away, ignoring R's protests, and dropped in the last few minnows for Wisdom all at once. The Runestone this weekend would be a good time to showcase her success to Master Gogonji. Yes, that would please him. A smile curved her lips in anticipation as she turned away and slipped out of the apartment, locking up neatly behind her, stepping from one life into the next as Annunu faded once more into An.
* * *
"The witch says there's a large, relatively unguarded cache here."Â Garran tapped the map.
Ornh flicked his eyes up to Garran's stoic face, then back down. "Smells fishy. Unguarded crystals in this day and Age?"
"You think everything's a trap, Ornh. Moro and I have fetched dozens of these since you left."
"Well, now I'm back, and I don't like it."
Garran stifled a sigh. He'd handed back leadership of their little band to Ornh as per the witch's wishes - but he certainly wished Ornh weren't so argumentative about everything. When he was relaxed and happy, Ornh was as easy a person to get along with as anyone, but when he was tense about something, he had a habit of stubbornly digging in his heels just to show he could and picking the hell out of something like a vulture with a dead carcass.
"There's rumors of fighting at the Wall, Garran." Ornh balled up the map and tossed it aside, then seemed to think better of it and retrieved it, stuffing the crumpled thing into his pack. "And here we are doing endless fetch quests for a witch and her muscleman."
"There's rumors of a massacre at the Wall too," Garran pointed out wearily. "It's not so different from what happened in Ala Mhigo with the Embers. The Resistance grabbing at the Empire's throat - and having their hand slapped down." An explosion so brilliant it seemed to blind his eyes just to see. Bodies littering the ground for malms, blasted magitek armor, scattered weapons. He choked back a wave of nausea at the half-recalled memories. Almost six moons ago now, and yet still fresh in his mind. His hand groped for Ornh's before he could stop it, and Ornh shot him a startled look.
Garran cleared his throat roughly and dropped his hand. "We saw what happens when you go running into Ala Mhigan territory half-cocked and convinced Rhalgr will save your ass. This sort of thing - " He indicated the map. " - is much safer. It's a known quantity. It's fetching crystals from beastmen, for the Destroyer's sake, how hard can it be?"
Moro, leaning back against the rear table, smirked slowly, turning her delicate chin in and raising a gloved finger to stroke the ever-present magpie on her shoulder. Ornh's gaze, narrow and calculating, took in all three of them. "Alright," he allowed finally. "But let's see if our fourth wants to come, too."
Garran's mouth tightened at the thought, but he gave a taut nod. He supposed she'd have to get involved sooner or later.
An climbed the precarious stepladder to hover above Wisdom's enormous fishtank, carefully prying open the top. One by one, she dropped wriggling minnows into the water; Wisdom's enormous coelacanth jaws yawned wide to accept each one in turn, the creature's bulbous, alien eyes staring up fixedly at An - or perhaps the food she held - through the rippling, circulated water of the tank. An liked to think the creature was warming to her, as much as a fish could, as feeding him was one of the chores she had adopted since settling into Master Gogonji's apartment.
Despite having been "betrothed" for well over a cycle now, and mated for even longer, An had never thought to ask to join him in his domicile, nor to invite him into hers. Of course, she was not about to give up her space in the Duskbreak, not least because it had been her home now for quite some time and she could guarantee its security, but she spent more than half of the week with Master Gogonji. The Duskbreak still held her most sensitive files, her tools and poisons, her outfits and disguises that didn't fit in with the "Cherry Blossom socialite" persona. After all, to a degree, it made sense that "Tmesis Oan" and his fiancee were moving in together so close to their nuptials; the gesture strengthened their cover, even as it strengthened their relationship. And of course, An hoped for the occasional moment with Chuta, though it had been some time since she had seen him, as well.
But she couldn't lie even to herself that moving into Master Gogonji's apartment had been a source of comfort and relief for her. They both were given to periods of intense focus on work, work that ran parallel but did not necessarily intersect. An's job was to present Master Gogonji with intelligence; his was to analyze it and do with it as he pleased, whether to sell, trade, hold onto, or order her to take action upon. But that didn't necessarily mean they collaborated much on their separate lanes. An had made the conscious choice to isolate much of the operational work - and therefore, the risks - onto herself. And that had translated into sometimes long weeks, even moons sometimes, without seeing Master Gogonji beyond the occasional Runestone, when their masks of "Oan" and "Annunu" were firmly on.
"What will it be like to be married, Wisdom?" she murmured, dropping in another minnow for the fish to devour. "Are you no longer lonely then?"
Her attention snapped back as one of her linkshells rang with a distinctive tapping pattern. The pattern alone identified both linkshell and sender; it was the red one she held alone for Agent R. The pattern was his sign of life signal, as well as indicating he was ready to report in. She carefully detached her other shells from the chain around her ear and tucked them away in a pack. "Report."
"Got the cache all marked out and ready for the op, princess."
"Thank you. When do you anticipate will be the most likely time for attempted acquisition?"
"Not sure, but I wouldn't leave eyes off."
"Thank you, R. I will take it from here."
"What?! Alone?!"
"You doubt my ability?"
"O-of course not..."
"I will be in touch. That is all." She tucked the linkpearl away, ignoring R's protests, and dropped in the last few minnows for Wisdom all at once. The Runestone this weekend would be a good time to showcase her success to Master Gogonji. Yes, that would please him. A smile curved her lips in anticipation as she turned away and slipped out of the apartment, locking up neatly behind her, stepping from one life into the next as Annunu faded once more into An.
* * *
"The witch says there's a large, relatively unguarded cache here."Â Garran tapped the map.
Ornh flicked his eyes up to Garran's stoic face, then back down. "Smells fishy. Unguarded crystals in this day and Age?"
"You think everything's a trap, Ornh. Moro and I have fetched dozens of these since you left."
"Well, now I'm back, and I don't like it."
Garran stifled a sigh. He'd handed back leadership of their little band to Ornh as per the witch's wishes - but he certainly wished Ornh weren't so argumentative about everything. When he was relaxed and happy, Ornh was as easy a person to get along with as anyone, but when he was tense about something, he had a habit of stubbornly digging in his heels just to show he could and picking the hell out of something like a vulture with a dead carcass.
"There's rumors of fighting at the Wall, Garran." Ornh balled up the map and tossed it aside, then seemed to think better of it and retrieved it, stuffing the crumpled thing into his pack. "And here we are doing endless fetch quests for a witch and her muscleman."
"There's rumors of a massacre at the Wall too," Garran pointed out wearily. "It's not so different from what happened in Ala Mhigo with the Embers. The Resistance grabbing at the Empire's throat - and having their hand slapped down." An explosion so brilliant it seemed to blind his eyes just to see. Bodies littering the ground for malms, blasted magitek armor, scattered weapons. He choked back a wave of nausea at the half-recalled memories. Almost six moons ago now, and yet still fresh in his mind. His hand groped for Ornh's before he could stop it, and Ornh shot him a startled look.
Garran cleared his throat roughly and dropped his hand. "We saw what happens when you go running into Ala Mhigan territory half-cocked and convinced Rhalgr will save your ass. This sort of thing - " He indicated the map. " - is much safer. It's a known quantity. It's fetching crystals from beastmen, for the Destroyer's sake, how hard can it be?"
Moro, leaning back against the rear table, smirked slowly, turning her delicate chin in and raising a gloved finger to stroke the ever-present magpie on her shoulder. Ornh's gaze, narrow and calculating, took in all three of them. "Alright," he allowed finally. "But let's see if our fourth wants to come, too."
Garran's mouth tightened at the thought, but he gave a taut nod. He supposed she'd have to get involved sooner or later.
People have forgotten this truth. But you mustn't forget it. You become responsible forever for what you have tamed.
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