#dres drabbles

[ltdres-blog]

if you're still taking writing requests could you do some elena and mox??

( here you go, just a short piece. and I’m always taking writing requests, this is the first one. )

Reprieve

Pratal Mox's nose wrinkled at the scentof charred acrid flesh of overcooked Chryssalid roast, but didn'tdare deny the offered plate. He settled it on his lap, though made noswift movements to begin consuming the Reaper's delicacies.

“I haven't poisoned it.” thegift-bearer notes; amusement laced in her heavy voice. ElenaDragunova stepped over the overturned log they were using as a bench,crouching to sit beside the Skirmisher.

“Ah – I did not – I would notthink you had. I apologize if my hesitance implied foul play.” Heignores the way her lip quirks as she fights off a dogged grin at hisformality. All Skirmishers seemed to share the same, be it out ofgenuine politeness or loose grasp on social cues. A sort of potentmix of the two, really. “ – I am not particularly hungry.”

“Just leave it out, then. Someonewill collect it.” she shrugs nonchalantly. The Reapers, Mox finds,seemed to only have a personal claim on two things: their rifles andthe armour on their backs. Everything else was fair game. So hefollows suit, placing the plate of roasted alien meat out for anyoneto swipe.

“Not what you thought, is it?”

He appraises the bonfire roaring a fewmetres away from them, towards the sound of off-key, drunken singing.Broken English and Russian intersected to make a unique song. Itwas.. horrendous, but it was theirs. The stomps of their boots orslaps of metal made up the backing track of their victory anthem.Born in the shadows they may be, but celebration and morale was justas important to even the most stoic of agents.

“No.” he agrees after a moment ofpause. “If you asked me what I would think to being asked to dinewith the Reapers a few months ago, I would have taken it as threat.Now? I am proud to sit among you and extend my trust.”

She couldn't stop the smirk this timeand a husky chuckle rumbled in the pit of her throat. It was perhapsthe warmest sound that Mox had ever heard from the otherwiseoutwardly cold Reaper. She had been the biggest aversion to hisexpectations once they ceased attempting to kill each other longenough to actually learn about one another.

“Despite what Volk would have youbelieve, we don't eat ADVENT.” she informs. Not that she needed to– Mox never understood the concept of 'small talk', but it was niceto simply.. talk, to her. “ – Too human-like. Especiallyafter XCOM discovered how you are.. made – even the most irontolerance could not stomach that.”

It took the Skirmisher a moment to realize that when she spoke of ADVENT, she meant his hybrid species.Unfortunate, as that was how they would be remembered. As they wouldbe seen. Never anything that they owned themselves; a hybrid,nameless species – too muddied to be anything of it's own making.

Elena perceived his uneasiness quickly.

She was not one for soft words. Shegave a rough thump to his back, startling the Skirmisher out of histhoughts, gaze following after her as she rises from the log benchand encircles one of her arms with his, encouraging him to stand. Hehadn't a clue what was happening, but he remained receptive all thesame.

“We dance as well.” she tells, hergrin returning. “You are not an honorary Reaper yet until you'vefallen flat on your ass from dancing yourself to exhaustion at leastonce. Come.”

[commanderguixi]

It was one thing being able to get an inside look to the Darklance -- another entirely to actually dissect it. She expected the weapon to be scaled up to match the physical.. adjustments made to the Chosen but evidently what she’d seen in gritty, holographic photos were not indicative of the real thing.

“This is.. bigger than I expected.” Lily muttered under her breath. She paused and immediately shot the smirking Hunter a withering glare. “ -- I know what I said.”

He innocently raised his hands in a gesture of peace, though the sharp-toothed grin remained. “I didn’t say anything.” he intoned, returning to seemingly ignore his ‘guest’ as he fiddled with the Darkclaw’s targeting system, diagnostics laptop sat half open on his stomach.

Lily knew better than to think he wasn’t paying attention; the watchful gaze of the Chosen was unnerving, but the opportunity was too good to pass up. She smoothed a hand across the sleek, jet black surface, having yet to actually begin disassembly.

“You’re not getting any younger.”

“Shh.” Yes, she was aware she just shushed a Chosen. The Chosen Hunter, no less. Had he not been so amused.. well, she wouldn’t have made it one step.

Lily clambered up onto the workshop table, reaching up to one of the ceiling pulleys used to lift heavier material or suspend MEC units. It’d serve her purpose of propping the Darklance up. The one component she really was interested in -- the whole thing, really, but she didn’t know how much time he’d allow her -- was the infamous scope.

“This.. has got to be the smallest Elerium-based power cell I have ever seen. How do you even get cores that small without it providing insufficient power? This could -- this could very well power a MEC or SPARK respectively.” she mused, specialist goggles having enhanced magnifying lenses to see the tiny core. She poked at it with the tweezers, turning the cell over.

“That’s a trade secret.” She jumped in surprise as he now seemed directly behind her. Dhag-Mai set the diagnostics laptop on the bench, hooking it to the scope and allowing her a brief insight to the targeting sensors and calculations. It was worth it for the expression of awe dawning on her face alone.

“... There is about a hundred different questions I need to ask and only seventy of them relate to the Darklance.” she flatly said.

“I appreciate an inquisitive mind,” the Hunter smiled and she got a distinct impression of a Viper preparing to strike. She met his gaze evenly as he continued. “ -- However, I’m afraid you’ve used up your free time. The cost of knowledge isn’t going to be cheap, but you wouldn’t have accepted my initial offer if you didn’t know that, would you?”

She doesn’t answer.

“Mhm.” he purred. “That’s what I thought. So let’s cut a deal.”

scene excerpts 020

[commanderguixi]

‘ … Pert lips part in anticipation; racing excitement budding deep in her chest, threatening to consume her entirety once the muscle of the Viper’s – ’

“Doctor Lovett,” The form of address tore Dawn’s eyes away from her datapad, conspicuously switching away from the word editor application to instead some droll notes of her associate’s. She crossed one leg over her knee, turning her swivel chair slightly to the side to offer Richard Tygan a welcoming smile.

“Good evening, Doctor Tygan.” Her gaze flicked towards the mug of coffee – or at least, the ration equivalent which was some sort of volatile concoction that Volk likely brewed in his backyard. Dandelion, if her wrinkling nose had to guess. “Oh, that’s not a good sign. Shadow Chamber?”

Tygan blanched, though not of the scent of burnt dandelion weeds, but at her correct assessment. “ – Yes, Shen and I once again found ourselves at a dead end regarding the recent slew of alien decryption. I find my understanding of their data stores has quickly became narrow-minded.”

She offered a sympathetic smile as he glimpsed the report she was reading. Tygan exchanged his mug to his other hand so that he can adjust his glasses, a bit of interest colouring his otherwise stoic voice when he asked; “ – I see you’ve taken to read my current thesis of the Spectre. What do you think on my proposal?”

Nothing quite killed her mood to write pointless, smutty erotica like Tygan’s theories. As interesting as they genuinely were and how willingly she was to engage him on the subject – Dawn had her limits.

But she responded, nonetheless. “Elegantly written, it’s a shame that our limited exposure to the entity leaves us with more questions than we’ll ever get answers to. As your idea suggests of it being a sort of – distant cousin to the Codex, so to speak, it would mean that we have been examining the creature incorrectly.”

Dawn hummed. “But if it is a biomechanical as you suggest, have you tried running Shen’s Skulljack virus on it? I don’t believe it’s connected to the Network, but if it has some sort of AI, we can interface with it.”

Tygan’s gaze sharpens. “ – No. As much as I do not want our soldiers encountering more of these beings on the field, I cannot pass up this possible opportunity. I will inform them and Shen immediately.”

He gave her a respectful nod, which she returned, before pacing deeper into their lab and leaving her to her thoughts. She waited a full minute before opening up her chapter, reacquainted herself with the latest part, and begun to write.

‘ – strong, sturdy tail constricted just a bit tighter around her. Daringly, her fingers ghosted over the glossy black scales, feeling the muscle twitch and pull taut. The act seemed to spur the Viper on to – ’

Dawn’s heart leapt to the back of her throat once a hand roughly clasped onto her shoulder. Her natural response was to jerk upwards, which ended up having the top of her head butt into Klaus’ chin. He let out a spluttering curse as he ended up biting his tongue, stumbling back and away from her and nursing his poor jaw.

“Oh, goodness – Klaus, I’m so sorry, you startled me!” she babbled, setting her pad down to tend to him. He waved her off sheepishly, despite his pinched face with what looked like a decidedly broken nose. She stared at it.

“My fault for sneaking up on you.” He took notice of her gaze and rubbed at his cheek awkwardly. “ – Kelly’s work.”

“Did you mess with the cap?”

“ … Maybe.”

“Then you deserve it.” assessed the medic. Klaus let out a wheezing laugh, even as she shoved at his shoulder and directed him to one of the beds. “ – Let’s get you fixed up. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you enjoy coming here.”

He grinned. “I wish. The face of a pretty doctor unfortunately doesn’t make me anosmic to industrial bleach and burnt grass.”

“I’ll be sure to tell Doctor Tygan you think so of him.” That earned her a hearty laugh, and she smacked his arm amicably.  

By the time she had fixed Klaus’ broken nose and sent him on his way, she’d lost the muse to continue her little private story. Settling back at her desk, she was surprised to find some additional lines when she opened her datapad, given the prompt to save the document. She blinked, gazing down to read it.

‘I took the liberty of copying this undocumented file to the public database, CMT Lovett, as part of my.. let’s call it a .. social experiment to help me better understand human behaviour. I hope you don’t mind, this.. transformative work was quite, inspiring, to try new things. - Julian.’

The only sound that came from her was the one from her head hitting the desk.

[commanderguixi]

It is just stress relief, she thought the first time they'd taken their sparring to their quarters. You just feel close to him because he's a frequent partner. The same happened with Dharma.

Elena was failing to convince herself each time after. Her mind ran rampant with swears – it was not that long ago he was the enemy. However much animosity she had felt towards him had melted away once trust had bonded over the months of battle and guerilla warfare. What about Mox made this so different?

Trust, affection. Her thoughts provided. Her brows dip in annoyance, forcing herself to roll off from on top of him and into the crook of his arm. She felt the bed sink a little as Mox shifted to his side, his other arm curling around her and bringing her close to his chest. Lightly, she felt his face dip into the locks of her hair and a kiss plant at the crown.

Security was a feeling she wasn't used to. It was so warm and she desperately sought it out to cling to like a blanket. Her hand snaked up, tucking the back of it in his palm and entwined their fingers. She wondered what he felt when she did this. Did he too, feel safe when she wrapped him up in her embrace? Did his heart skitter when her lips descend to his?

Did he love her as she refused to admit that she did with him?

Elena paused. Love. A strange concept to Reapers and a greater one to her. His body certainly responded to her advances and he expressed his mutual wanting, but was that merely his instinct to mate no longer suppressed by the Network – or something greater? Did he and his kind separate the feeling of reliability, of overwhelming drive of affection and motivation that defied logic from the mammalian need to reproduce to survive?

That can't be true. Her mind's surprisingly lucid after the workout she had received. At this point, she would have been soundly asleep. All hybrids are cloned. There shouldn't be a desire to breed to survive. So this is more than just base instinct.

But he is human just as much as he is alien.

Maybe it was her. She expressed many things through sex and when it came to expressing her love, too, this was the only way she knew how to do so. She didn't blame Mox if he couldn't tell the difference; sensuality was lost on her.

So she let her mind wander. Think of all the things he did that might have otherwise been restricted under ADVENT control. He always checked on her. Always so concerned about her health and safety. If he thought her too cold, he offered his coat. His body heat, if they were alone. That smile he had that only seemed reserved for her and her alone.

Was that love?

The aliens always have such a greater understanding, at least that was what the Elders believe. Maybe Mox did know what love was and she was the clueless fool.

Elena scoffed under her breath, turned, and snuggled close. She’ll ask him a different day.