This Never Happens To Me

Hey, I can say the same about the two of you. We’re all doing each other favors here, aren’t we?

Hah, no worries, I trust you. Wouldn’t be any fun if I didn’t give you shit about it, though.

#... so guess who forgot they weren't on their Church account #^^;

We sure are, and I'm definitely glad for it.

Well no, it wouldn't. But then that gives me an excuse to return the favour. Hope you realise that.

sensualandspicyhermit

…Yeah. I don’t know, man. Someone needs to help her and if anyone can do that it’s you—no one else knows her like you do. She doesn’t trust anyone like she trusts you. It’s just nonsense coming from anyone else, just another ploy to get her to back down and let Tex take over, but… she’ll know you’re really concerned for her. She has to.

I’ll take your word for it. But I want to hire someone to review it before you actually give it.

I sure hope she does. I don't want to see what could happen to her if this doesn't work out. I know I've got to try, at least. But thanks for the support, man. I don't know what I'd be like if you and Wash weren't around.

Aww come on, where's your faith? It's not going to be that bad.

Hey—we’ve got time. It doesn’t all have to happen at once, and it’s not like it’ll kill her to have something on her mind besides the leaderboard. Carolina doesn’t have the most clear head in the first place, to be entirely honest. Don’t you think she’s been acting a little selfishly lately? Maybe someone needs to help her realize that, too.

…Oh, yeah. I’m sure it’ll be fantastic.

You've got a point there. But the person to tell her that could end up having their head bitten off. I guess I can try and break it to her calmly or something, but at the same time... with all these AIs being made and more missions being given, I don't know how much time we'll have.

It will, man. It'll be the best speech ever. Of all time.

#//brotp 4 lyf

Hah, sounds like someone I know. These ladies really don’t know when to quit, do they? Carolina especially… she works herself way too hard, and it’s gonna take a miracle to bust her out of that mentality. But hey, if anyone can do it, I know you can.

Oh, absolutely. Who else would be the prime candidate for such a position?

#//north you've made a horrible mistake

Yeah, no pressure or anything. It's not like she's the leader of the squad and the person who needs a clear head at all times. I just hope I can manage it.

Awesome. Better start planning my speech then. You're going to love it.

freelancersouthd replied to your post: freelancersouthd replied to your post: South...

"He fucking snuck up on me when I was reading my zombie book! Karma is a fucking bitch!"

"Come on, South. He probably didn't mean to do it. It could've been an accident!"

Oh, come on. A guy like you? I’m surprised the ladies aren’t lining up for that chance already.

Well, I uh… I’m gonna ask Tex to marry me.

Well you know this kind of work. You don't get to meet many ladies. I know there's Carolina and all but... man, she's so busy lately. She's spending way too much time in the training room and I'm getting worried for her, but I don't know what I can do.

Seriously?! That's great! But I want dibs on being the Best Man, if that's okay.

freelancersouthd replied to your post: South rested her head on her hands sighing a little smirk on her lips. Which meant one thing. She's up to no good as usual. //Hello! X3//

"I slapped North with my book!" South exclaimed triumphantly now laughing. "His cheek is bright fucking red!!" //Thank you for the follow back!!//

"Jeez, South." York winced, shaking his head with a nervous smile. "You don't have to lash out at everyone, you know. What exactly did he do to deserve that?"

#//you're welcome!

Eh, it’s not all bad. There might be two of ‘em, but lucky for us they’re fairly well-behaved. It would be nice to have a day or two with Tex, though. I’ve… made a decision and I’m slowly beginning to work out how I’m going to execute it.

#//adds in horrible subtle York feels #//and also hugs you and sobs

Well behaved kids. I sure hope I'm that lucky if I ever get the chance. A decision? ... What kind of decision?

South rested her head on her hands sighing a little smirk on her lips. Which meant one thing. She's up to no good as usual. //Hello! X3//

York was heading down the corridor, aiming to go to the rec room for some down time after a brief training session with Carolina. He walked in and was met with South. More importantly, he was met with her smirk. Uh oh, this wasn't good. "Alright, who did you murder?" He asked jokingly. ((Yo!))

Understatement of the century. But hey, at least I’m not alone—having someone by your side always makes it easier, whether it’s the kid or the missions.

I appreciate it, York. Glad I can always count on you when I start slackin’ a little.

#I HAVE MISSED YOU SO MUCH #YOU HAVE NO IDEA

Don't mention it. It's what friends are for, right? I mean I know raising one kid would be kinda hard, and you've got twins there. You two probably deserve a holiday or something.

Terrors of the Night

((Please excuse me as I just write a really long story dream that you can't do shit about. :P)) It was so calm. So peaceful. He'd finally found her, finally brought her around to his side, gotten her to relax, to slow down... He'd finally won her heart. It was so peaceful - just the two of them, out in the middle of nowhere, no armor, the night air touching skin, the breeze filtering through clothing, the two of them laying side by side in the most perfect green grass, watching those impossibly bright stars, hearing the whispers of nature on the wind. There was no way this could be more perfect. There was no way they could possibly be more at peace, more together, than they were now. Why couldn't every night be like this? Why was it so hard to get her to relax? She was so perfect, her contour outlined against the night sky, her red hair making such the perfect contrast against the deep, perfectly green blades of grass, her lighter green eyes reflecting the stars. He was watching her more than he was the sky, watching her more than he was the apparent meteor shower above them, only knowledgeable of the meteors as they streaked across her eyes, only seeing them as reflections. She didn't seem to notice him watching her, though he knew she knew. He didn't know how he knew, but he knew. Despite that, he watched, forgetting where he was, why he was there, how he got there... She was all that mattered. The stars faded away as the ground seemed to dissolve, and they were floating, neither of them having shifted position, herself still seeming perfectly content to watch the stars that weren't there - but something was wrong. Something was undeniably wrong. He stopped watching her for a moment, to look around, to look for that danger, but there was nothing - blackness only. He still felt there was something wrong, though, and that fear wrapped around him. He started to panic, and when he looked back, there was nothing to look back to. She was gone. There was no way to tell where she'd gone too - there was nothing there. No sensation whatsoever, except blackness. No light, no sound, no feeling - nothing except for the fear that was winding its way into his heart, his mind, like a poison. What had happened? Where was he? Why had she disappeared? He'd finally gotten her, and something had taken her - he had to find her! But when he tried to move, it was like he wasn't moving. He couldn't see himself, he couldn't feel his body. He knew he was moving - wasn't he? - but he couldn't feel it, or see it. There was no way to do anything like this. The panic climbed, higher and higher. He couldn't feel himself, even as he tried to grasp his head to make sure he was still real, even as he tried to make sure that there was something there, something left. There had to be something left. Then he heard it. A scream. A terrible, piercing scream. That had to be her, didn't it? But why was she screaming? Why was she shouting? She was in pain - he could tell. But as he tried to get closer to her, he sifted through other scenes - completely irrational ones, that didn't make any sense. CT attacking North? Wash killing Wyoming? South shot and bleeding on the floor of the main room bridge, the Director sitting back and watching her bleed, Tex trying to help but unable to, trapped in her own torture. What was going on? Why was everybody so violent all of a sudden? What was happening? He didn't understand, but he still didn't know where she was. The scream was long gone, and these scenes were flashing past, and he had no way of stopping them. Then all of a sudden, everything was back. The field was back. The grass was back. The stars were back. She was back. But it wasn't right. Not after that. No, something was wrong... Then he saw it. She wasn't really there. She didn't see him. She didn't see the stars. She was stuck in her own world. Just when he thought he'd won her over... Just when he thought he'd won her, he lost her again. No, this wasn't right. And what about them back at the ship? The ship! He had to help them. And what was that scream? It was her - was it the real her, as opposed to this fake? Or was this the real her? He had to get back, to whatever that was, but how? He pushed away, tried to stand up, but the ground fell out from under him and he slipped into a different reality - away from the ship, from everything, and he was alone. Alone and... Being chased? But from what? He had to find her! She was hurt, hurting, and there was no way out, and - Suddenly he was back on the ship. In his room. Had he just... Woken up? He wasn't sure, but he was there, he had to find the scream, and everybody in the hallway seemed oblivious as he ran, ran, ran - but he didn't know where to. Where was Carolina? Where was she? He ran into her room - the door was open, it was never open - just in time to see her curled, in pain, on the floor. This had been happening far too often lately - they're hurting her, her AIs, and he couldn't do anything about it, and he wanted to help, and... And she was gone? What? Where... What was going on? Was he going crazy, too...?

#so like #wow #this hurts #D:#submission

AU: Hate to Say Goodbye (A Startling Surprise) OPEN

atramentia-deactivated20131108

Carolina was even more confused. Tex was apologizing? York was referencing the previous fight… Did it have something to do with…? Was he still worried? Did he think maybe it HAD happened again and that was why he was worried? And they were keeping something from her, and everything was still so distant, and there was some obscene part of her that wanted to start giggling, but she was angry and tired and confused and she had so much trouble focusing… Eye contact with Tex, skin to skin contact with York, the AI in her head were being secretive… What the hell was going on?

“This… Isn’t what we expected.” Well that didn’t help. They weren’t always the best at predictions; they were very much in-the-moment type AIs, and that kind of bugged her sometimes. Carolina would focus on York, though, as he had been the most recent to speak and she had an answer for him, and not a confusing jumble of emotions.

“It was.. mom’s name… Not to.. to be feared.” Her voice was slightly off, a bit slow, perhaps, as she said things she probably shouldn’t be saying but didn’t care enough to hide. Somebody deserved answers. Somehow. And she wasn’t about to get hers, she could tell, they were too apprehensive, and she felt like any second she could slip back to sleep.

She tried to sit up again, her eyes, fading in and out of focus, looking to Tex again. “What’s wrong?” She looked between the two of them, a slight shiver running through her body from the effort it took simply to sit up. She was about to go out again, but the two mental roommates kept her awake, and where slowly trying to drag her out of her medicated stupor enough to make sense of things herself. She didn’t know why they weren’t helping much aside from that - it would have been so much easier…

Tex glanced at York anxiously, instinctively reaching out when Carolina tried to sit up. She was by no right supposed to be moving right now, for fear that she’d possibly black out again. After realizing that her hand was still hovering in the air hesitantly, ready to catch Carolina if she fell, she retracted it quickly and looked away. At Carolina’s question, Tex’s eyes shifted back to the red head slowly, and she began to chew the inside of her cheek and shuffle around for a moment. Considering that York was—well, closer to Carolina ( obviously ), Tex would let him tell her.

After all, they wouldn’t really be here because of he and her, would they? Tex glowered a little before taking a step back and folding her arms across her chest, staring at York for a moment before jerking her head towards the teal Freelancer. She wouldn’t be the one to break the news to Carolina, because honestly, this wasn’t any of her business—well, it was, but she hadn’t been the exact cause for what had happened.

So she held her breath and hoped for the best. That was all she could really do.

"Go easy for a while, okay?" York muttered softly as Carolina shuffled a bit more. He didn't particularly want her to black out again, not after he'd spent a good while waiting for her to wake up after Tex had knocked her out. Sure, it had been for a good reason, but that didn't mean he had to like it. One look at the Freelancer in black, though, told him that she wouldn't be helping him explain what was happening. This was his own burden, even if it got him killed.

He took a deep breath, moving slightly on the edge of Carolina's bed, uncomfortably, with an edge of nervousness. Heaven forbid if the Director found out - they couldn't have children on the Mother of Invention, nevermind in a secret project that no one knew about.

But he had to tell her. He had to let her decide what she wanted to do with them. "Carolina... when the docs scanned your body... they found out about something else. They found out... that you're pregnant."

#agentsc #agenttexas

derpysith

RvB 10 Carolina: Front and center

AU: The Return

Carolina took her time climbing down - she may as well give them a few minutes to prepare. She couldn’t help but wonder if she would be received well. Unlikely - they pretty much hated her, and it’s not like she told them they were leaving.

Don’t say goodbye. If you don’t say goodbye you aren’t really gone.

She knew it. She had talked to Epsilon about it. There were a lot of things like that - impressions her mother had left on her life over time. She couldn’t help but feel a bit… Awkward, sometimes. About Epsilon’s residual feelings about her not-mother. About how everything seemed to loop back to Tex in one way or another.

But now wasn’t about that. She was going to visit her… Her family, of sorts. Her adopted family. Because she didn’t actually have any real family left. These guys were all she had. All she ever had. All she’d ever have again, as far as she knew, what with York dead, and her parents, and her sister… Even her AI were dead. Destroyed. Destroyed with a small part of her mind still attached.

With a small part that held everything that had, before the project, kept her together.

It was a wound still healing, but it was well on its way.

She was probably visible from blue base by this point, though - and would be there shortly, hopefully.

agent-connecticut

York had interrupted them before CT could respond to Wash about his news, so she had little time to respond to him. She blinked a few times and lowered her eyes back to her book. The glance from Wash was suggestive that he wanted this to be a surprise for York, which was definitely understandable. She’d leave that be for now and not say anything on the matter. The brunette supposed she ought to be thankful that Wash had thought to warn her at all, but she still didn’t know what to do with the information. They definitely weren’t on good terms the last time they had seen each other, but she still had to respect that Carolina hadn’t been the instigator in that moment; she had only responded. She ended up staring rather intently at the pages before her, eyes very slightly sliding in and out of focus.

“Hey York.” She made a small head movement in his direction as a secondary acknowledgment. Perhaps she ought to get out of here, avoid causing any problems for when Carolina got back. She didn’t know how similar her old leader was at the moment, to her old self, they had managed to avoid talking about that in her few days there. They had actually done very little talking at all, and it may have drawn out a little more tension.

She wasn’t getting any where with her book now that she had something else, more pressing, to think about, and ended up glancing up from the pages for her eyes to be caught by something blue, and slow moving. That was Carolina, in the distance, making her way into the canyon. She watched her for a small moment before moving her eyes back onto the boys. CT braced herself and pushed herself up onto her feet after slowly shutting the book, feeling slightly dwarfed with both of them standing over her while she sat hunched over text.

notcrazyokay-blog

He’d been awaiting CT’s reaction to the news, honestly rather curious to see how she’d take it. The last time she’d interacted with Carolina…well, things hadn’t exactly ended well. However, there was also no war anymore—not between them and any enemy, nor between one another. It turned out that CT had been right all along. That left potential for the interactions to…not actually be unpleasant, though there was still, of course, the obvious possibility that things might take a poor turn as well. He couldn’t judge it just yet, but he had no doubt in his mind that it would be a surprise to Carolina to see the other female freelancer alive, and…well, it was likely that it would be an awkward meeting for all of them.

Before he managed to catch sight of any reaction, however, there was a voice and the sound of footsteps approaching them, drawing Washington’s attention. Head turning, his gaze rested on York stepping over to join them. Pretty helpful timing, actually—he’d been planning to go after the other man next, to bring him back and keep him put until Carolina showed up. Which, really, would be any time now, so the fact that York was there now was much more helpful than Wash let on with the curt nod he offered in response.

“Hey,” he threw the greeting back after CT’s, and wondered for a brief moment how exactly to go about this. He wanted to keep them all out here—that would make the whole thing easier—but he wasn’t sure how to manage it, how to keep York from going back inside to rest without coming off as suspicious. …Luckily, he didn’t give himself away as easily as he used to. If he just kept up a conversation for a few minutes, they’d be good. “I was just about to come look for you. …What were you doing, anyway?” He asked, about half-curious as to where the guy had gone, given he was still better off to be resting, regardless of whether he was able to walk again or not. Quirking a brow, he gave York a look that couldn’t be seen behind his visor, though his eyes darted to the side as he noticed CT stand. So he’d missed any reaction, but…well, standing was her preparation, was it not? He doubted that she wanted to meet Carolina again after all this time while she was sitting on the hard ground with her nose in a book. With a quick sniff, blue-grey eyes found themselves on York yet again, and Wash nodded back toward the base. “I thought you were still inside. Resting. Like you should be.” Meanwhile he caught sight out of the corner of his eye of a pale blue figure climbing down the rocks and into the canyon. Any minute now indeed. …Okay, consider him a little excited to see the reactions of both York and Carolina, meeting each other after all this time. Not that he’d ever really let them know.

York slowed down in his approach until he came to an eventual stop next to his two comrades, glancing up briefly to see if any of the Blues were around. Nope, it looked like it was just the three of them for a while. Well, that was probably for the best. There was only so much patience that any of them had, and any more arguments would likely to cause one of them to snap. It wasn't likely to be him, obviously, but he always prepared for the worst.

His head moved back to look at Wash as the question came his way. He gave a light shrug and leaned against a nearby rock, completely oblivious to the approaching aqua armored figure behind him. Boy, would that be a surprise when the time came. "I went over to Red Base to make sure nobody was dead. They managed to destroy their Warthog, so I did what I could to try and fix it, but they wanted to rebuild some robot called Lopez. Dunno how far they've got with that, I left a few moments before they started. But hey, if we hear a loud explosion, we know what happened."

Not that he wanted it to kill them. Annoying as the Simulation Troopers could be sometimes, they were generally quite a funny bunch of people. There were worse men to meet, anyway.

The next question earned a laugh from York, and he shook his head, before tilting it slightly in a teasing manner. "Docs will let me out tomorrow." He repeated the line he'd given when he'd emerged from hospital a day early after the injury to his eye. He never liked resting for too long; there was always stuff he could be doing, after all.

atramentia-deactivated20131108

AU: Hate to Say Goodbye (A Startling Surprise)

She was so soar. Everywhere hurt, everything felt heavy and leaden, and anything outside of herself was so distant, so far away… She felt like she was in a long tunnel, where she knew there were others there - she could hear them - but she couldn’t do anything about it. She felt the odd temptation to hide, to let them go past, to make them leave her alone. Why couldn’t they be quiet? Was that so much to ask?

But there were a couple others. Closer, more friendly. They wanted her to come out. It was okay, they said. She’d be all right. She felt like a child, hiding behind their parent’s legs to avoid meeting the strangers. But they were friendly. They weren’t strangers. Were they? No, no they weren’t. They were friends. She knew them. She would see them soon. She’d be awake, she’d see them. They were friends.

Agents. That was right. She was Agent South Carolina - but everybody just called her Carolina. Nobody knew North Carolina, because North Carolina had died before training. North Carolina… Ashley…

Images of her younger sister flashed through her mind, the blond haired child having been a prominent part of Carolina’s past, but they were quickly suppressed. The AI in her head knew how painful that kind of memory could be. They knew how much it hurt to love a sister, a family member. They knew how much it hurt to dwell on happiness that was long past. So they blocked it, continuing to gently urge her awake.

There was something important she had to find out, they said. They couldn’t tell her, the doctor had to, they said. It would be better that way, they said.

It was quite the struggle, but after a while, Carolina’s groggy form shifted ever so slightly, her eyes opening to a swimming world of color, of confusion. What was going on…? Right. Texas. She had lost. To Texas. Yes, Texas was good. But she was only good because she was misremembered. She was idealized in memory and thus her incarnation, too, was idealized. How could she fight against the idealized subject of her father’s love? How could she fight against a woman that would steal her father’s mind?

She would never win. But Texas would never beat her. Her eyes opened wider, and a scowl formed on her face as memory returned, bit by bit. She was a very, very unhappy person, and usually didn’t wake up quietly. She started to sit up, though, and an intense wave of nausea and exhaustion swam through her - not entirely injury related.

“What’s going on?” She was seriously concerned. She had been sedated; that had to be. She could feel the pain, but it was separate from her, and she was so tired… Why had they…?

But they knew she was aggressive when they woke up… And they knew this before. This was the first time - she didn’t understand. she really didn’t. She looked to the present company for help in understanding, her eyes still a bit distant, but present enough that she was paying attention.

Tex had been standing in a far corner of the room, leaning against the wall with a leg cross over the other. Her fingers drummed along her armored biceps anxiously, ignoring the fact that York was pacing in a corner and a little upset at how things had turned out and that other people were in the room too. They were all concerned—had reason too.

I can’t did that. Tex seethes, fists curling. She was angry at herself for snapping at Carolina—ashamed of herself. But now all she could hope for was that the woman would wake up soon. Then, maybe, Tex could go forward, apologize, and… try to explain what was happening. When the doctors had told her what had happened, she’d nearly dropped in shock, had had to go out and breathe, think alone. But… this was inevitable, she supposed.

She was still furious at herself. But at least Carolina was alright, and so was—

Her eyes snapped to the right when she noticed movement in the bed, and Tex immediately pushed herself off the wall and gently nudged people to the side. Her helmet was still off, and green eyes met blue for a moment. Tex’s shoulders slumped. She was finally awake.

“Carolina—” She tried to start, moving forward a little. Now was not the time to get choked up. Now was not the time to show her vulnerable side to all the rest of the people in the room.

Her voice lowered, and the pre occupants in the room got the message to leave for a little while. “Look—I’m sorry. I carried you here as quickly as I could—and… you’re gonna be fine… but—there’s something else—I-” She was fumbling over her words, too nervous to try and get into this conversation. But—Tex could feel something stir in her chest again, and she looked towards Carolina’s belly for a moment, flooded with conflicted feelings. She was proud. She was happy. She was nervous as hell. She felt closer to being Allison than Texas, and she shook her head and looked away. “I’m just—I’m sorry. For everything.”