Bright Skies: Conversations They Didn’t Hear (Multi - Season Crossover/Power Rangers, T)
More ficlets from me today.
-Beats LiveJournal with a stick-
Author/: Tsukino Akume
Fandom/: Power Rangers S.P.D., involving multiple Rangers from each season
Characters/: B and C Squads
Pairings/: Sky/Jack, Z/Syd, Ecliptor/Heart
Rating/: K
Disclaimer/: I own my OCs. That’s about it.
Summary/: The conversation between the two Squads during lunch that Eric didn‘t pay attention to.
Warnings/: angst, male and female slash, children created by scientific means
Author's Notes/:This was originally part of the Lunch Prompt, but I decided Keri was taking up too much time with her rambling. So because phantom_blue and challon86 said they still wanted to read that part, I turned it into a side fic.
Keri looked at the rest of C Squad all and sighed, rolling her eyes before marching straight up to the table and stealing a handful of Jack's French fries. "You're supposed to eat your food, not sleep on it." she informed her brother. She paused to chew and made a face. "How can you each such bland food?"
Jack sat up sharply, looking at her and blinking slowly. "Oh. Hey, Keri." There was a long pause as his brow furrowed. "Either it's the spiciest I could find, or hit the wrong button again. I don't remember now."
She rolled her eyes, heading for the synthetron.
"You guys okay?" Marinda ventured tentatively. "You look exhausted."
"You look like death on toast," Sora put in bluntly.
Sky gave her a dirty look. "Thanks, Sora. Glad we can always count on you to spare our feelings."
She shrugged.
"Toast ... ?" Bridge murmured, stirring slightly.
Heart looked her older brother over worriedly. "Bridgey?" she asked softly, leaning in to reach for his forehead.
And just like that, Bridge's eyes snapped open. He jerked up in his seat, staring at his sister. He dodged her hand, shaking his head silently. Heart looked like she was going to cry for a moment, and Bridge gave her an apologetic look.
But he still didn't let her to touch him, Eric noted.
"Here." Keri set a new plate down in front of Jack. "Try this."
He eyed the new food uncertainly. "What is this?"
"It's from Gannos. Eat it."
Surprisingly, this made Jack shrug and sample the place without further complaint. He paused as the rest of his Squad stared at him in disbelief. "Hey! This is great!"
"Told you," Keri said smugly. She dodged when he tried to elbow her absently.
"You do know what that is, right?" Syd asked him, wrinkling her nose.
Jack shook his head, raising a hand. "No, and I don't wanna know. If you don't know what you're eating, you can't worry about it."
Sky looked at him warily. "You realize that you're not kissing me for the rest of the day."
Jack's head snapped back up, eyes wide. "Hey, what? When did we agree to this?!"
Eric's eyes flickered over to Bridge, who had suddenly gone back to looking at his plate during the exchange. Heart was looking at him like she wanted to cry again, which was never a good sign. From one empath to another, Heart was the only person he'd ever met who could consistently read what Bridge was feeling.
C Squad let out groans as the warning chime rang out over the comm system to tell them lunch was almost over. "It's not fair," Sora grumbled, scowling at Sky as none of B Squad had so much as twitched. "You guys don't have to bother with classes anymore, but *we* still do."
Sky eyed her over his cup. "Being Earth's first line of defense tends to take priority over class schedules," he reminded her pointedly. "Besides, it's not like we don't have other duties to take care of."
"But you don't have to suffer through Languages or Ranger History anymore."
Z gave her a look as Jack raised his head. "Excuse me?" she demanded. "Not all of B Squad got off Scott-free, you know."
"Scott-free is a strange way to put it," Bridge muttered, more to himself than anyone else. "Because free implies that we didn't have to do anything to achieve our freedom, which, since our free time is spent trying to stop Grumm, isn't really free. And what does Scott have to do with anything? We're not Scottish." He paused, borrow furrowing. "At least I'm not. I don't think anyone else is."
"Condensed Ranger History," Jack agreed, barely glancing at Bridge as he munched on his new food. He looked considerably more awake now than he'd been a moment ago, either from the food in general, or the amount of spices in what he was eating. He made a face at Sora. "Try cramming what you usually learn into an *week*. I still don't remember half of the Red Rules or whatever it was."
"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me," Sky remarked.
"Just because Jack and I know how to fight doesn't mean we haven't been getting classes on the side," Z affirmed, rolling her eyes at Sky and the affronted look Jack was giving him.
"Your day's still lighter than ours is," Sora grumbled. She glanced at Keri and shook her head. "And I *still* don't get why you come with us when you don't have to."
Keri shrugged. "What else am I going to do all day?"
"Check in with your team?" Ecliptor spoke up, sounding vaguely amused. "Make sure they don't need you to go back?"
She snorted. "If they can't last a month without me, they're not worth their morphers."
"That's harsh, Keri," Marinda protested. "A Ranger's strength is supposed to be their team."
"Exactly." Keri stole Jack's drink, taking a long sip. "If the team can't function without a single member, how can they function as individuals when they have to? If a team is strong separately, they're strongest when they come together."
Syd mumbled something inaudible.
"That's not what Sergeant Silverback said," Z translated, giving her girlfriend a fondly amused look.
"That jerk?" Keri snorted. "He used to work in Satra Galaxy S.P.D., until he took off to train cadets 'privately'." She sniffed. "He just hates that I earned a morpher when he always said I'd never make it. And he doesn't like the way I run my team."
"That sounds familiar," Jack muttered darkly.
"Silverback doesn't like anyone who doesn't do things his way," she told her brother, handing him back his cup. "He says he wants cadets to learn from his example and make it their own, but he's just an old stickler for the rules. I don't run my team like an army, and I don't expect them to treat me like their drill sergeant. We're Rangers; not officers."
Z frowned at her. "That's ... kinda weird, for an S.P.D. Ranger team. Isn't it?"
"Star Rangers aren't S.P.D." Syd yawned and stretched as she finally straightened up, blinking rapidly for a moment. "Gannos is an S.P.D. - allied planet, but their Rangers aren't part of the Collegiate. They teach them there, but because of their stations, they work for the planet, 'stead of S.P.D. They make up their own rules."
"The Gannos Star Rangers Teams are members of the royal families of each region," Keri explained, although she was looking more at Jack than Z. "We earn our morphers through S.P.D.'s training, but we inherit them because of who we are. The S.P.D. training is the reason I'm Silver Star Red instead of Gold Star Purple, like Mama was. I inherited a morpher because I'm Direl's princess, but I was given the morpher I *earned*, instead of the one I descended from." She twisted her right hand suddenly. There was a flicker of light, and a large gold circle appeared on the back, strapped to her hand with a thick gold band. In the center of the circle was a red star. She grinned suddenly as Jack leaned closer to examine the new object. "I'm the oddball of the teams, though. The Star Rangers have always been groups of twins, who use paired morphers. The older twin is Silver Star, the younger twin was Gold Star. Mama's strange because she's older, but she was Gold. I don't have a team, but I still managed to get a morpher."
"So who's got your other morpher then?" Z asked.
"Another S.P.D. cadet, Tal. He's Triforian, which makes things interesting sometimes." Keri shrugged again. "There's been a few jokes that he makes up for both of us lacking a twin, but I usually take care of those. He's pretty laid back, so I won't let anyone pick on him. Primary and Secondary bonds, and all that."
"So if you don't have a twin, who was supposed to get your Primary?" Marinda asked, looking curious.
A faint, somewhat bitter smile flickered across Keri's face. "No one really knows for sure. Some people say it would have been my older brother, since we share blood."
Jack dropped Keri's hand like he'd been burned.
She glanced at him. "I don't think so, though. Daddy always said that Jaz was happiest in Newtech, and that's where he really belonged."
"Why did your parents name your brother Jaz, anyway?" Z asked, blatantly ignoring the fact that Keri's brother was sitting across from her.
"Jackson Zhane, Jaz for short," Keri returned promptly. "Zhane after one of his best friends. That's why my full name is Karone Andros. The J-K and Z-A thing is a family tradition, and Daddy promised his next child after my brother would be Andros. Aunt Ashley wouldn't let him out of it when I turned out to be a girl. She said trying to name me Ashley instead of Andros was gender bias, and he caved." She tossed her head again, grinning impishly. "I'm more like Uncle Andros, anyway."
Marinda giggled.
"Because you're both Red?" Sky asked, raising his eyebrows. "I don't know what else you're thinking you have in common with him."
Keri's eyes darkened, and she turned to glare at him. "You - "
The end of lunch chime went off, and Rhythm practically leapt from his seat. "Time for class," he said quickly. "Let's head out, everyone. Keri, are you coming?"
-Beats LiveJournal with a stick-
Author/: Tsukino Akume
Fandom/: Power Rangers S.P.D., involving multiple Rangers from each season
Characters/: B and C Squads
Pairings/: Sky/Jack, Z/Syd, Ecliptor/Heart
Rating/: K
Disclaimer/: I own my OCs. That’s about it.
Summary/: The conversation between the two Squads during lunch that Eric didn‘t pay attention to.
Warnings/: angst, male and female slash, children created by scientific means
Author's Notes/:This was originally part of the Lunch Prompt, but I decided Keri was taking up too much time with her rambling. So because phantom_blue and challon86 said they still wanted to read that part, I turned it into a side fic.
Keri looked at the rest of C Squad all and sighed, rolling her eyes before marching straight up to the table and stealing a handful of Jack's French fries. "You're supposed to eat your food, not sleep on it." she informed her brother. She paused to chew and made a face. "How can you each such bland food?"
Jack sat up sharply, looking at her and blinking slowly. "Oh. Hey, Keri." There was a long pause as his brow furrowed. "Either it's the spiciest I could find, or hit the wrong button again. I don't remember now."
She rolled her eyes, heading for the synthetron.
"You guys okay?" Marinda ventured tentatively. "You look exhausted."
"You look like death on toast," Sora put in bluntly.
Sky gave her a dirty look. "Thanks, Sora. Glad we can always count on you to spare our feelings."
She shrugged.
"Toast ... ?" Bridge murmured, stirring slightly.
Heart looked her older brother over worriedly. "Bridgey?" she asked softly, leaning in to reach for his forehead.
And just like that, Bridge's eyes snapped open. He jerked up in his seat, staring at his sister. He dodged her hand, shaking his head silently. Heart looked like she was going to cry for a moment, and Bridge gave her an apologetic look.
But he still didn't let her to touch him, Eric noted.
"Here." Keri set a new plate down in front of Jack. "Try this."
He eyed the new food uncertainly. "What is this?"
"It's from Gannos. Eat it."
Surprisingly, this made Jack shrug and sample the place without further complaint. He paused as the rest of his Squad stared at him in disbelief. "Hey! This is great!"
"Told you," Keri said smugly. She dodged when he tried to elbow her absently.
"You do know what that is, right?" Syd asked him, wrinkling her nose.
Jack shook his head, raising a hand. "No, and I don't wanna know. If you don't know what you're eating, you can't worry about it."
Sky looked at him warily. "You realize that you're not kissing me for the rest of the day."
Jack's head snapped back up, eyes wide. "Hey, what? When did we agree to this?!"
Eric's eyes flickered over to Bridge, who had suddenly gone back to looking at his plate during the exchange. Heart was looking at him like she wanted to cry again, which was never a good sign. From one empath to another, Heart was the only person he'd ever met who could consistently read what Bridge was feeling.
C Squad let out groans as the warning chime rang out over the comm system to tell them lunch was almost over. "It's not fair," Sora grumbled, scowling at Sky as none of B Squad had so much as twitched. "You guys don't have to bother with classes anymore, but *we* still do."
Sky eyed her over his cup. "Being Earth's first line of defense tends to take priority over class schedules," he reminded her pointedly. "Besides, it's not like we don't have other duties to take care of."
"But you don't have to suffer through Languages or Ranger History anymore."
Z gave her a look as Jack raised his head. "Excuse me?" she demanded. "Not all of B Squad got off Scott-free, you know."
"Scott-free is a strange way to put it," Bridge muttered, more to himself than anyone else. "Because free implies that we didn't have to do anything to achieve our freedom, which, since our free time is spent trying to stop Grumm, isn't really free. And what does Scott have to do with anything? We're not Scottish." He paused, borrow furrowing. "At least I'm not. I don't think anyone else is."
"Condensed Ranger History," Jack agreed, barely glancing at Bridge as he munched on his new food. He looked considerably more awake now than he'd been a moment ago, either from the food in general, or the amount of spices in what he was eating. He made a face at Sora. "Try cramming what you usually learn into an *week*. I still don't remember half of the Red Rules or whatever it was."
"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me," Sky remarked.
"Just because Jack and I know how to fight doesn't mean we haven't been getting classes on the side," Z affirmed, rolling her eyes at Sky and the affronted look Jack was giving him.
"Your day's still lighter than ours is," Sora grumbled. She glanced at Keri and shook her head. "And I *still* don't get why you come with us when you don't have to."
Keri shrugged. "What else am I going to do all day?"
"Check in with your team?" Ecliptor spoke up, sounding vaguely amused. "Make sure they don't need you to go back?"
She snorted. "If they can't last a month without me, they're not worth their morphers."
"That's harsh, Keri," Marinda protested. "A Ranger's strength is supposed to be their team."
"Exactly." Keri stole Jack's drink, taking a long sip. "If the team can't function without a single member, how can they function as individuals when they have to? If a team is strong separately, they're strongest when they come together."
Syd mumbled something inaudible.
"That's not what Sergeant Silverback said," Z translated, giving her girlfriend a fondly amused look.
"That jerk?" Keri snorted. "He used to work in Satra Galaxy S.P.D., until he took off to train cadets 'privately'." She sniffed. "He just hates that I earned a morpher when he always said I'd never make it. And he doesn't like the way I run my team."
"That sounds familiar," Jack muttered darkly.
"Silverback doesn't like anyone who doesn't do things his way," she told her brother, handing him back his cup. "He says he wants cadets to learn from his example and make it their own, but he's just an old stickler for the rules. I don't run my team like an army, and I don't expect them to treat me like their drill sergeant. We're Rangers; not officers."
Z frowned at her. "That's ... kinda weird, for an S.P.D. Ranger team. Isn't it?"
"Star Rangers aren't S.P.D." Syd yawned and stretched as she finally straightened up, blinking rapidly for a moment. "Gannos is an S.P.D. - allied planet, but their Rangers aren't part of the Collegiate. They teach them there, but because of their stations, they work for the planet, 'stead of S.P.D. They make up their own rules."
"The Gannos Star Rangers Teams are members of the royal families of each region," Keri explained, although she was looking more at Jack than Z. "We earn our morphers through S.P.D.'s training, but we inherit them because of who we are. The S.P.D. training is the reason I'm Silver Star Red instead of Gold Star Purple, like Mama was. I inherited a morpher because I'm Direl's princess, but I was given the morpher I *earned*, instead of the one I descended from." She twisted her right hand suddenly. There was a flicker of light, and a large gold circle appeared on the back, strapped to her hand with a thick gold band. In the center of the circle was a red star. She grinned suddenly as Jack leaned closer to examine the new object. "I'm the oddball of the teams, though. The Star Rangers have always been groups of twins, who use paired morphers. The older twin is Silver Star, the younger twin was Gold Star. Mama's strange because she's older, but she was Gold. I don't have a team, but I still managed to get a morpher."
"So who's got your other morpher then?" Z asked.
"Another S.P.D. cadet, Tal. He's Triforian, which makes things interesting sometimes." Keri shrugged again. "There's been a few jokes that he makes up for both of us lacking a twin, but I usually take care of those. He's pretty laid back, so I won't let anyone pick on him. Primary and Secondary bonds, and all that."
"So if you don't have a twin, who was supposed to get your Primary?" Marinda asked, looking curious.
A faint, somewhat bitter smile flickered across Keri's face. "No one really knows for sure. Some people say it would have been my older brother, since we share blood."
Jack dropped Keri's hand like he'd been burned.
She glanced at him. "I don't think so, though. Daddy always said that Jaz was happiest in Newtech, and that's where he really belonged."
"Why did your parents name your brother Jaz, anyway?" Z asked, blatantly ignoring the fact that Keri's brother was sitting across from her.
"Jackson Zhane, Jaz for short," Keri returned promptly. "Zhane after one of his best friends. That's why my full name is Karone Andros. The J-K and Z-A thing is a family tradition, and Daddy promised his next child after my brother would be Andros. Aunt Ashley wouldn't let him out of it when I turned out to be a girl. She said trying to name me Ashley instead of Andros was gender bias, and he caved." She tossed her head again, grinning impishly. "I'm more like Uncle Andros, anyway."
Marinda giggled.
"Because you're both Red?" Sky asked, raising his eyebrows. "I don't know what else you're thinking you have in common with him."
Keri's eyes darkened, and she turned to glare at him. "You - "
The end of lunch chime went off, and Rhythm practically leapt from his seat. "Time for class," he said quickly. "Let's head out, everyone. Keri, are you coming?"