Meteora
Title: Window Shopping
Word Count: 308
"Look at all of these," Taesa said wistfully, running her fingers along the glass of the display case. "Gods, what I would give for, I don't know, ten times the credits I have."
"Try fifty," Sketch commented, twisting his head sideways to read the small pricetags dangling from the trigger guards of a pair of matte black handguns. "Or one hundred. Do you have any idea how many knives you could buy for the cost of just one of these?"
"Not really my style," she said, moving to a case of weapons more in her price range. "Hey, Mika," she called to the slender, bald woman polishing a rifle at the back workbench. "What are you the chances we can work something out?"
"I tell you once, I tell you one hundred times, little one," Mika hissed in her heavily accented English, her forked tongue flicking between her lips. "The day I drop prices until you can afford guns is day I go out of business." She held the rifle up to the light, examining the surface for scratches. "Look in discount rack, there are lovely tools there. Or use knives."
"See?" Sketch asked, and laughed when Taesa shot him a glare.
"But these..." Taesa leaned over and stared through the scratched glass. "These are so... ugly."
"They're guns, not tiaras," Sketch remarked, lifting a grenade launcher off its racking and hefting it in his hands. "Who cares what they look like?" He flinched when Mika hissed warningly at him, ridged hoods fluttering away from her face, and promptly returned the weapon to the wall.
"I do!" Taesa whined. "Nobody's going to take me seriously without good weapons!"
"Little one, you worry too much," Mika said, and pointed to the bright purple and pink striped t-shirt Taesa work. "Wearing shirt like this, nobody take you seriously already."
Title: One Step from Breaking Down
Prompt: Vanilla - 2. the sniffles
Word Count: 343
Rating: PG (one f-bomb)
Original / Fandom: Original (Meteora)
Summary: We can't be big bad mercenaries all the time.
It took a few violent shoves, but after a minute or so Azazel managed to push the downed Reaper out of the way, revealing the access shaft that Taesa had scrambled into. Leaning down, he waved the cloud of dust out of his eyes and clicked on his flashlight, and spotted her curled into a ball about seven feet into the metal shaft, her arms wrapped around her head.
"She's here," he called over his shoulder, and lay the light down so that he could wriggle into the narrow tunnel after her. "Hey, kid," he said, grabbing her wrist. "Time's short, we need to -" He blinked in surprise when she jerked away from him, pulling herself into an even tighter knot of lanky, dusty limbs. "Princess," he growled, "I'm really not in the mood to -"
"Go away," she whispered in a shuddering voice. "I'll come out, just... go away for now."
"This place is going to be crawling with mechs any second," he argued. "I can't really..." He trailed off as she sniffed loudly, and pulled himself closer to try and see her face. "Are you crying?" he asked, shocked.
"Az, please, just..." Her voice wavered dangerously, and she made a quiet noise somewhere between a repressed sob and a miserable whine. "Just leave me alone."
"What's the holdup?" Sketch called from out in the room.
"Brat's hooked on something," Azazel called back before Taesa could say anything. "Nothing serious, just give us a moment." It took some twisting, but eventually he managed to get onto his side and took her wrists in his hands, pulling her arms away from her face. She looked up at him curiously, her eyes wide, her face a mask of dust save where the tears had cut through. "Listen," he said in a bare whisper. "He is not going to leave without you, and the longer we stand here, the better chance we're going to have our fucking heads blown off. If you're going to break down, now is not the time to do it."
Title: The Maid
Prompt: Vanilla - 3. chores
Word Count: 299
Rating: PG
Original / Fandom: Original (Meteora)
Summary: Taesa might have a bit of a secret.
"So this is what you do when you're not pretending to be some hotshot merc?" Azazel asked, boosting himself up to sit on the counter and reaching over to tug on one of her silver ears. "You play shop wench for Kingsley?" Growling, Taesa swung the broom at him, hitting his shoulder.
"It gets me credits and a place to live," she snapped, glaring at him. "Unlike some people, I don't like living in that sewer."
"Because being some human's pet is so much better."
"Not that it's any of your business, but Kingsley is very good to me," she said, sticking her tongue out as she stooped to sweep the dirt into the dustpan, making sure to flick him with her tail in the process. "And I'm not a pet, I'm an employee."
"An employee that lives with him," Azazel pointed out, batting her tail away.
"He has a two bedroom apartment. We're roommates."
"That happen to sleep in the same bed." He jerked back when Taesa whirled on him, the dustpan clattering to the floor, but instead of the broom in the face he was expecting he found her staring in open-mouthed horror, her face turning crimson with embarrassment. "Wow," he commented as she spun away, mortified. "And I was just guessing."
"It's just been a few times," she defended, grabbing the dustpan off the floor and sweeping up the dirt she dropped, keeping her head down and avoiding his eyes.
"Does your birdbrain know?"
"No!" She said it with such shock and renewed horror he was certain she hadn't considered it before. Spinning, she clasped her hands beneath her chin, her eyes pleading. "Oh Gods, Az, you won't tell him, will you?"
"Depends. You planning on telling him yourself?"
"I..." She bit her lip. "Probably?"
Title: The Architect
Prompt: Vanilla - 4. i can't believe you know how to...
Word Count: 351
Rating: G
Original / Fandom: Original (Meteora)
Summary: He's not just a pretty face! XD
While the others stared at the lobby ceiling, listening to the groan of the building shifting and moving, Azazel slid his palmtop and a tight roll of cables from the pouch belted to the small of his back. Jumping onto the top of the security desk, he connected the small device to the dead guard's terminal and, after entering a few commands, brought up a three dimensional security map of the building. He studied it intently, reaching into the floating map to twist and zoom in on the different hallways, not noticing Sketch and Taesa turning to watch him.
"What are you doing?" Sketch asked. Azazel glanced up at him briefly, then focused on the map again.
"Richard Aegis commissioned these buildings to be office vaults," he said, and pointed to a hallway on the map that shimmered before it sealed off and rotated, warping and bending until it was perpendicular to its original location, connecting to the hallway behind it. The motion on the map was accompanied by the groaning of the building above them. Azazel glanced at the ceiling and, when there was no further movement, he entered a string commands on his palmtop. One by one, the hallways on the map turned green. "I'm overriding the system so we don't get stuck up there."
"You know how to do that?" Taesa asked, raising an eyebrow as she leaned in and poked at the map, causing it to flicker. Azazel smirked at her as he unplugged his palmtop and stowed it back in its pouch.
"I'd hope so," he told her. "I spent two years designing it." When they both stared at him, dumbstruck, he rolled his eyes and hopped off the desk. "I'm a nanotechnical architect," he told them, with a tone that suggested the information was of no consequence whatsoever. "Or was, I guess. It's why Chris asked me to come along." He looked around the vast lobby, smiling slightly. "This was my last job before the doc came knocking. I didn't even get to cash the paycheque." He shrugged, heading for the elevators. "Anyway. Shall we?"
Word Count: 308
"Look at all of these," Taesa said wistfully, running her fingers along the glass of the display case. "Gods, what I would give for, I don't know, ten times the credits I have."
"Try fifty," Sketch commented, twisting his head sideways to read the small pricetags dangling from the trigger guards of a pair of matte black handguns. "Or one hundred. Do you have any idea how many knives you could buy for the cost of just one of these?"
"Not really my style," she said, moving to a case of weapons more in her price range. "Hey, Mika," she called to the slender, bald woman polishing a rifle at the back workbench. "What are you the chances we can work something out?"
"I tell you once, I tell you one hundred times, little one," Mika hissed in her heavily accented English, her forked tongue flicking between her lips. "The day I drop prices until you can afford guns is day I go out of business." She held the rifle up to the light, examining the surface for scratches. "Look in discount rack, there are lovely tools there. Or use knives."
"See?" Sketch asked, and laughed when Taesa shot him a glare.
"But these..." Taesa leaned over and stared through the scratched glass. "These are so... ugly."
"They're guns, not tiaras," Sketch remarked, lifting a grenade launcher off its racking and hefting it in his hands. "Who cares what they look like?" He flinched when Mika hissed warningly at him, ridged hoods fluttering away from her face, and promptly returned the weapon to the wall.
"I do!" Taesa whined. "Nobody's going to take me seriously without good weapons!"
"Little one, you worry too much," Mika said, and pointed to the bright purple and pink striped t-shirt Taesa work. "Wearing shirt like this, nobody take you seriously already."
Title: One Step from Breaking Down
Prompt: Vanilla - 2. the sniffles
Word Count: 343
Rating: PG (one f-bomb)
Original / Fandom: Original (Meteora)
Summary: We can't be big bad mercenaries all the time.
It took a few violent shoves, but after a minute or so Azazel managed to push the downed Reaper out of the way, revealing the access shaft that Taesa had scrambled into. Leaning down, he waved the cloud of dust out of his eyes and clicked on his flashlight, and spotted her curled into a ball about seven feet into the metal shaft, her arms wrapped around her head.
"She's here," he called over his shoulder, and lay the light down so that he could wriggle into the narrow tunnel after her. "Hey, kid," he said, grabbing her wrist. "Time's short, we need to -" He blinked in surprise when she jerked away from him, pulling herself into an even tighter knot of lanky, dusty limbs. "Princess," he growled, "I'm really not in the mood to -"
"Go away," she whispered in a shuddering voice. "I'll come out, just... go away for now."
"This place is going to be crawling with mechs any second," he argued. "I can't really..." He trailed off as she sniffed loudly, and pulled himself closer to try and see her face. "Are you crying?" he asked, shocked.
"Az, please, just..." Her voice wavered dangerously, and she made a quiet noise somewhere between a repressed sob and a miserable whine. "Just leave me alone."
"What's the holdup?" Sketch called from out in the room.
"Brat's hooked on something," Azazel called back before Taesa could say anything. "Nothing serious, just give us a moment." It took some twisting, but eventually he managed to get onto his side and took her wrists in his hands, pulling her arms away from her face. She looked up at him curiously, her eyes wide, her face a mask of dust save where the tears had cut through. "Listen," he said in a bare whisper. "He is not going to leave without you, and the longer we stand here, the better chance we're going to have our fucking heads blown off. If you're going to break down, now is not the time to do it."
Title: The Maid
Prompt: Vanilla - 3. chores
Word Count: 299
Rating: PG
Original / Fandom: Original (Meteora)
Summary: Taesa might have a bit of a secret.
"So this is what you do when you're not pretending to be some hotshot merc?" Azazel asked, boosting himself up to sit on the counter and reaching over to tug on one of her silver ears. "You play shop wench for Kingsley?" Growling, Taesa swung the broom at him, hitting his shoulder.
"It gets me credits and a place to live," she snapped, glaring at him. "Unlike some people, I don't like living in that sewer."
"Because being some human's pet is so much better."
"Not that it's any of your business, but Kingsley is very good to me," she said, sticking her tongue out as she stooped to sweep the dirt into the dustpan, making sure to flick him with her tail in the process. "And I'm not a pet, I'm an employee."
"An employee that lives with him," Azazel pointed out, batting her tail away.
"He has a two bedroom apartment. We're roommates."
"That happen to sleep in the same bed." He jerked back when Taesa whirled on him, the dustpan clattering to the floor, but instead of the broom in the face he was expecting he found her staring in open-mouthed horror, her face turning crimson with embarrassment. "Wow," he commented as she spun away, mortified. "And I was just guessing."
"It's just been a few times," she defended, grabbing the dustpan off the floor and sweeping up the dirt she dropped, keeping her head down and avoiding his eyes.
"Does your birdbrain know?"
"No!" She said it with such shock and renewed horror he was certain she hadn't considered it before. Spinning, she clasped her hands beneath her chin, her eyes pleading. "Oh Gods, Az, you won't tell him, will you?"
"Depends. You planning on telling him yourself?"
"I..." She bit her lip. "Probably?"
Title: The Architect
Prompt: Vanilla - 4. i can't believe you know how to...
Word Count: 351
Rating: G
Original / Fandom: Original (Meteora)
Summary: He's not just a pretty face! XD
While the others stared at the lobby ceiling, listening to the groan of the building shifting and moving, Azazel slid his palmtop and a tight roll of cables from the pouch belted to the small of his back. Jumping onto the top of the security desk, he connected the small device to the dead guard's terminal and, after entering a few commands, brought up a three dimensional security map of the building. He studied it intently, reaching into the floating map to twist and zoom in on the different hallways, not noticing Sketch and Taesa turning to watch him.
"What are you doing?" Sketch asked. Azazel glanced up at him briefly, then focused on the map again.
"Richard Aegis commissioned these buildings to be office vaults," he said, and pointed to a hallway on the map that shimmered before it sealed off and rotated, warping and bending until it was perpendicular to its original location, connecting to the hallway behind it. The motion on the map was accompanied by the groaning of the building above them. Azazel glanced at the ceiling and, when there was no further movement, he entered a string commands on his palmtop. One by one, the hallways on the map turned green. "I'm overriding the system so we don't get stuck up there."
"You know how to do that?" Taesa asked, raising an eyebrow as she leaned in and poked at the map, causing it to flicker. Azazel smirked at her as he unplugged his palmtop and stowed it back in its pouch.
"I'd hope so," he told her. "I spent two years designing it." When they both stared at him, dumbstruck, he rolled his eyes and hopped off the desk. "I'm a nanotechnical architect," he told them, with a tone that suggested the information was of no consequence whatsoever. "Or was, I guess. It's why Chris asked me to come along." He looked around the vast lobby, smiling slightly. "This was my last job before the doc came knocking. I didn't even get to cash the paycheque." He shrugged, heading for the elevators. "Anyway. Shall we?"