It's not often I finish a piece of writing, and one day my ao3 account might a actually get something put in it. In the mean time have some self indulgent Raffy and Zarbon interaction from the Duel of Fates universe (constructed by @weasley-detectives et al), and inspired by DoF snippets written by @wyvernwithwings.
I Need a Namekian - a DoF Snippet
Reffinest paused in the doorway. She wasn't entirely sure why, as she'd never had a problem barging in on him while he was working for Frieza. But, she supposed, all that was different now. Frieza’s famed right-hand was now a traitor to the empire; the thorn that had been hidden in and at Frieza's side for years. The hidden rebellion leader.
Zarbon sat in the makeshift office he had commandeered out of one of the rooms on the Shining Star, fingers flying over the screen in front of him, sending and reading the huge amount of correspondence that he'd had to deal with since his revelation. All those years hiding under Frieza and working from the shadows. The universe was still reeling.
Reffinest shook herself as she gazed at his back. No need to dwell on that now. His rescue of her and Saku had not changed anything between them. Not even when he had shared a drink with her on the bridge a week earlier in memory of her fallen friend. She stepped into the room.
“I'm busy,” he barked gruffly without turning around.
“I can see that, but this is kind of pressing,” she replied softly.
He turned at her voice, a frown on his features. “I hardly-", he trailed off as he took in her face.
Gone was the customary smirk or glint in her eyes that she usually wore. No hint of mirth, her manner almost hesitant.
“What is wrong?”
She stepped further into the room. “Nothing is ‘wrong' per se. I need to ask you about one of your rebels.”
“Why?”
She glanced away. “We-"
“We?” he interrupted, his frown deepening.
“Yes, Saku, Kida and-"
“I don't have time for whatever scheme the three of you have cooked up now.” He turned back to his console.
“Is that what you think of us? Of me?” Anger flooding her she strode to his desk and pushed his chair around to face her. “We may just have found a way to end ALL of this. To WIN! But fine, you can continue to think that we'd waste time dreaming up scams; in this of all times!” She glared back at him as he glowered in his chair, the screen blinking madly beside him as more messages came in. “Fine!” She threw her hands up. “Jeice said you wouldn't believe me any-"
He scoffed. “Jeice was involved? That just proves-"
“Don't even start,” she shot back. Silence fell between them for a moment before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Look, I just needed to see if it were true that you once had a Namekian on your crew.”
“...”
“Like I said - didn't think you'd believe me.” Reffinest turned and headed for the door.
His hand closed gently around her upper arm before she was halfway there.
“Its name was Cordion.”
She turned and looked up at him. “Cordion?”
He nodded. “Led one of the outer rim squads, they were good at what they did.” A crease of concern crossed his features. “They have not made contact in a long while." He brought his eyes back to hers. “But why do you need a Namekian?”
She leant forward a hint of a smile pulling at her lips. “The map! Saku figured it out!”
Zarbon shook his head. “Frieza has the other part.”
Excitedly, she slapped him on the chest. “No! Not a part, a copy! The same copy that we have! All we need is a Namekian!”
“Who may or may not be dead,” he sighed. “I don’t understand why you’re so excited. Even if Saku is right-“
“It doesn’t actually need to be here.” She was grinning now, a little closer to what he usually expected from her.
He made to touch his temple but stopped. “I’m not following, you need a Namekian but you don’t need one here?”
“Well, that would be ideal, but since it seems it’s MIA, a picture would be fine.”
“What is a picture…” Zarbon sighed. “You? You’re going to pretend to be one?”
Reffinest was affronted. “Excuse me, what do you mean ‘pretend’? I don’t pretend.” The lie slipped out all too easily for her liking.
“You need to touch the thing in question to be it properly, I’ve read your files.”
“I have a file?!” She waved her hand. “Whatever, we have to try something. So, do you have a picture or not?”
He stepped away from her and back to the console. It was only then that she realised that he hadn’t let her arm go the entire time, and exactly how cool the room was now that he was no longer close to her. She followed him, tipping her hip against the side of his chair, hand leaning on the head rest.
Fingers flying across the keys once again, Zarbon quickly pulled up any information he had on his wayward rebel. The familiar green features appeared as a blurry CCTV still shot, while the Empire’s list of crimes scrolled underneath its name.
“Not exactly quality material.”
“Many of the rebellion’s files have not yet finished uploading to the ship’s systems. There are years’ worth, all heavily encrypted. Such work takes time.” He pulled up another program and she watched as his fine fingers navigated the intricate system and universal keyboard with ease.
“How did you do it?”
“The Empire used a three layered system, so we simply used five of different varieties-“
“No. How did you fool Frieza all of this time?” Had she not been practically against his side, she would have missed the slight flinch when she uttered his old master’s name. “The old lizard isn’t stupid, not like his fool of a father.”
“No, he is not.” Zarbon’s fingers had stilled. His lit profile blinked at the glowing screen twice, before he seemed to take a breath and return to his previously efficient manner.
“Sorry,” she muttered softly. “If you ever-“ but the words died on her tongue. Who was she kidding? She knew what Frieza’s court was like. He probably wouldn’t want to talk about it with anyone, let alone her.
“Will this do?”
Reffinest snapped out of her thoughts to see a high definition video playing, the sound muted. It appeared to be a recording of a group supplying aid to the population of a scorched city. Judging by the colour of the sky it was a distant rim planet. There in the background was a very tall, heavy-set Namekian.
“Wow. It’s-“
“Tall? Yes, Cordion was what the Namekian’s called ‘warrior-class’. Or at least, that was what he told his squad mates.”
“A real Namekian,” she breathed.
“I’ll send the footage to your ORG.” He pressed a few more keys before turning to her.
He was unprepared for the beaming smile that greeted him.
Nor for the slight roughness of her hand on his face, or the softness of her lips as she kissed his cheek.
“Thank you, thank you! This might just actually work!”
And then she was gone, dashing from the room to attempt the foolhardy plan.
It was only after she had gone that he realised his own hand was half raised and that he had intended to grip hers.
He glanced back at the open doorway before turning to his tasks once more; a smile hovering on his lips.
So, it has been a year since I picked up a pencil and actually sat down to finish a decent bit of art. I missed it so much!
The first piece is titled ‘Fight!’, and is a snippet of The Unlikely Trio and the Journey to the Center of Threa. Saku, Reffinest, and Meraxa will actually get an ending written to their story one day. I don’t know who they’re fighting but you know the others aren’t going to come out of it so well.
The poses are from the magnificent @katefoxart - I ain’t that good. (but they help me get better) XD
The other piece is a screenshot challenge redraw from @wyvernwithwings . The original is here. It’s set in @weasley-detectives Rumbuggery!-verse, hence the steampunk looking attire. Go read it, it’s great! (and bug her to write more!)
When the first one turns out brilliantly and the others can’t measure up. XD
The Pose and Palette Challenge. All poses come from @katie-fox on dA who is just brilliant and the palette is from @fallenzephyr. I didn’t use the palettes correctly, I just used them as an excuse not to have to think up a colour scheme.
Kida (by @imahungrynacho) in her assassins/magicy gear
Meraxa (by @wyvernwithwings) being chained up? I dunno, it was the only male pose I got when I took the screen shot
Reffinest (by yours truly) out for a night of theiving and swindling the good (HAH!) folks of the Rumbuggery! verse
Saku (by @weasley-detectives / @ask-saku) all dolled up and not looking too pleased about it.
