"What do you mean?"
"If your inconsiderate self wouldn't have been in my way so suddenly-..."
"You shot at me, right in my rear! Do you know what that means?"
"Let me guess: you could've been scrap metal by now?
"Exactly! Just thanks heaven that it was only a virtual fight!"
"I know, there's no need to remind me that all over again!"
"Well, next time be more careful where you're aiming!"
"Well, next time don't get in my way while I'm shooting!"
"You don't get in my way, baka!"
"I didn't even budge from my position. You just ran between me and the target!"
"Will they ever stop?" Drill Max asked with a resigned sigh. The Raker Brothers had been arguing like that since the duo had left the simulation room, where Blue Raker accidentally hit his younger brother Green Raker. The two mechas had begun to argue after that small accident, and at the moment neither of them seemed prone to let it go yet, inside that common room. The good thing was that they were the only inside there, except for a few others who were wise enough to keep their distance from the arguing mechas.
Their leader Exkaiser was on the edge of a headache for their loud bickering and, since the two seemed to not have heard his early call to order, he was about to snap harshly at them; he had just opened his mouth to speak again when he felt a gentle hand on his own shoulder plate.
"May I exchange a word with you, Exkaiser-senpai?"
The other mecha turned to the only one who used to call him 'Senpai' since he'd come back from Earth. Fighbird always showed a great respect for the older mecha, and when he'd learned on that distant planet what that term meant, he'd also begun to use it often whenever he wanted to refer to his older comrade. The other had been on Earth too, so he also knew what calling someone 'Senpai' meant, and he didn't really mind that; he'd just tried to tell Fighbird gently to stop calling him like that, because there was no need to, but the other couldn't help but keep on calling him 'Senpai', or 'Exkaiser-senpai'.
"Is it urgent? As you can see, I got a little problem here." Exkaiser answered with a tired look.
Fighbird just smiled friendly. "I can see that. This is why I wish to talk to you. It will take only a few minutes and no longer, and I think it might actually help you with the Raker Brothers." The other answered gently.
Exkaiser pondered the offer, eventually nodding his consent; the mecha asked Sky Max to keep an eye on the two brothers, so to be ready to intervene with his other teammates in case things might've gotten from bad to worse while he was temporarily away, then he moved to a quiet corner with the younger mecha.
The two confabed for a while. To an external viewer was hard to tell what the two were actually talking about; all what was evident was Exkaiser's a bit sceptical's expression, along with Fighbird's convinced one.
"Are you sure that it may work?" Exkaiser asked eventually.
"Trust me, Senpai." Fighbird answered with a nod. "If it worked with those two hotheads, it may work also for the Raker Brothers."
"Alright..." The older mecha answered, eventually convinced to give it a try; after all, at that point, what was left to lose?
After that short chat, Exkaiser came back to the still arguing brothers.
"Guys." He tried to recall their attention.
"Since when you have the aim of a drunk?!" Green Raker snapped.
"Guys..." The mecha tried again, feeling the little headache coming back, along with the early irritability.
"Are you still at it? Why don't you just admit that you are the only one to blame for this?" Blue Raker retorted.
"GUYS!" This time Exkaiser yelled.
"WHAT?!" The two brothers snapped at him, before realizing that they had just answered harshly to their superior. "S-Sorry." They stammered a moment later.
Exkaiser just waved his hand dismissively to let them know that it was no matter, then he spoke: "Blue Raker, Green Raker, please stop arguing." He began to say in a calm and firm tone.
"But, Exkaiser, he-.." Blue Raker tried to tell, before the other rose his own hand in a silent invite to be quiet.
"Yes, I heard what happened in that simulation room, and I think that also a good half of this headquarter might've heard it by now." The other mecha said. The two brothers stared at him for a while, before lowing their heads with an embarrassed and guilty expression. They were aware that they'd been arguing till that moment, they just didn't realize how loud they had been talking.
"Listen, I perfectly understand how you're feeling: if that'd been a real battle with real weapons, one of you would've been a goner by now. I know how fond of each other you two are, and I also understand your concern for what happened. But arguing about it won't bring any good. Green Raker got shot by accident during the training, but there is no way to go back in time and change it. Not even a pointless bickering can do that."
"Gomen..." The Raker Brothers murmured.
"I'm willing to accept your apologies if you'll promise me that it won't happen again." Exkaiser said, crossing his arms over the lion-shaped decoration on his chest.
"We promise." The two said.
"No, not like that..." The other shook his head.
"What do you mean?" Blue Raker asked, looking back at his superior with a puzzled look.
The other turned his head and met Fighbird's glance, who just made a very light nod with an encouraging smile, then he looked back at the two brothers. "I must be absolutely sure that the promise you're about to make will never be broken, ever."
"How?" Green Raker asked, now even more puzzled than his older brother.
Exkaiser approached the two then he gently took each brother's hand into his, leading them gently till crossing their pinkies.
"With all due respect to you and your rank... What the hell is this suppoed to be?" The younger of the Raker Brothers asked, now bewildered.
"It's called a 'pinky promise'." The other answered, then he chanted the words that Fighbird had taught him a moment before, during their short chat: "Pinky promise, if you lie a thousand punches and needles for you... It's a promise!"
The two brothers just stared at their commander as if he'd just fried a circuit or something, then they stared at each other with the same expression, too dumbfounded to speak.
"Oh, ouch! That sounds painful, guys." Drill Max commented amused.
"Yeah, you kids better not break this promise." Dash Max added with a light chuckle.
"Is it a joke?" Green Raker asked sceptically.
"You'd better not try your luck." Exkaiser answered merely with an enigmatic smile, before leaving the room to resume his own duties.
The two brothers were unsure whether take their leader seriously or not about that kind of promise he'd just made them keep, even because Exkaiser himself wasn't the violent kind -except with the now gone Geisters-.
But there was only one thing they were certain about: neither of them was really prone to find that out by themselves, and from that day on their occasional bickering had always been kept very, very quiet.
#project hail mary
#the amazing digital circus
#photography
#lana del rey
#heated rivalry
