[closed] Hold these secrets inside my mind, like a deadly disease

[lotusmesenpai]

Who: Kanda, Lavi, Sion, & Ravus
Where: Kanda & Lavi's ship
When: Week 3, Day 3
Summary: Lavi and Kanda pick up a quick, easy warrant. Only with their luck, it's not so quick and even less easy - especially when faced with unexpected reunions.
Restrictions/Warnings: Language, as always, because Kanda.

Comments

Fantastic Four

[lotusmesenpai]

[A warrant to take a few Company drones - albeit ones with a bit of shine to brighten the uniform - back to Leith? Since that's where they prefer to be (pandemics have a hard time traveling out to the middle of nowhere, right)

Easy joy.

All they had to was refuel Noah at Intake and wait for their 'precious cargo' to arrive.

So here he is, waiting in the rec room, two firearms disassembled on the table before him. Because, for Kanda, the motions are sure, relaxing. Break a weapon down to the smallest pieces, clean each with focused care, and then reassemble with the same care.

But even that doesn't negate the impatience he feels, or hide the ghosts he can see flitting along the edges of his sight.

It'd be nice, if the bastards would just arrive already...]

[sunderings]

[ He would not, precisely, call it dawdling—rather, it is admiration for the Noah unmasked, a smile upon his lips as Sion leisurely ascends the boarding ramp to the main deck, golden eyes flashing and alight as he visually measures all that is within his sight: the curved shell of the craft, the quarters inside. For Sion, who has always been enamored with the freedom of both freefall and flight, being aboard a ship after months of being tethered to his station, to land and to gravity's pull, is nothing if not a treat. Every ship has a story, and it would be a lie to say that Sion were uninterested in the Reclamation Agents it belonged to.

When he had first heard his elder brother had issued a warrant to see to their safe transport to Leith, Sion had first thought the precautionary measure to be excessive, but in the here and now (where Sion precedes Ravus, though he is ever-aware that the arrangement is not to his brother's preference, for Ravus is a man who would have liked to scrutinize every aspect of the ship—craft and Killjoy alike—before boarding, were there only the time) such thoughts have all but gone from mind.

Ahead of him: a mission to see to on Leith (and a favor done, on behalf of an old friend), as well as--...

A carefree glance back, over his shoulder, his eyes falling first upon Ravus, whose expression hasn't changed once since their arrival at the docks: ]

You should not look so sullen when standing on such a fine vessel, Ravus.

[ ...then shifting seamlessly to their escort, the reclamation agent with hair the color of flame and a smile which flickered just as brightly. ]

Was there not meant to be an additional agent present today? [ —Sion's voice lilts with a light air of play, the very same he'd used to address Ravus. Most would deem such behavior ill-fitting for a Company man (and perhaps it is), but for Sion, it is as natural as breathing. ] Or should I offer my most sincere apologies that you will be the only man tasked to escort both my brother and I to Leith?

[ex_infantry157]

[ it was the least he could do, to secure he and sion safe passage to leith. the level two warrant he had placed was taken quickly, no doubt because of the simplicity of the mission, no offender to track to another moon, no hostage to exchange, just he and his brother ( he notices how sion looks at the ship with something akin to wonder, noah is an impressive. his own admiration only reveals itself in the way his eyes roam over the vessel, which could easily be misconstrued as looking for imperfections given how his expression does not change. how he does not look pleased in the slightest. ) which translates to easy joy.

he does not expect to be chided sion for looking sullen, for not exchanging pleasantries with the reclamation agent, though it does not show on his face except for a slight arch of one brow. ] I find no need to compliment every vessel I set foot on, to do so would strip the sentiment of meaning.

[ his gaze shifts to the agent then, waiting for the answer to his brother's question. if sion hadn’t leveled the question his way, then he would have done it himself. though, without the apology. ]

[inksplashes]

[ The arrangement is simple and well-practiced. Kanda signs off on the warrants and Lavi tends to the people involved, flashing smiles and jokes, herding them from one location to the next with as minimal contact with the senior agent as possible.

It's a set up which works to their individual strengths; Lavi with the silver tongue, Yu with the sharp blade to match it.

As such, he's also rather accustomed to explaining the other man's absence at these gatherings. Hands casually stowed inside the pockets of his jacket, the redhead beams pleasantly at the odd-couple siblings, light laughter on his lips. ]

Nah, not at all. Think of me like the welcomin' committee. Other guy is probably doing something really manly somewhere on the ship.

[ For their evident love of Noah, he pays the ship no mind--once seen, he seldom needs to inspect an object a second time in person, and for him, there's nothing impressive or particularly out of the ordinary about the vessel. It's "home" to him, and until he completes his current log as Lavi, it will remain as such.

After that point, it doesn't much matter. But still he hopes it might end up in the hands of someone like Sion (referred to in his head as Brother A). Someone who gives the old girl her due respect.

Following them into the cargo bay, he takes a brief pause to instruct the AI to close the ramp, fingers tapping idly on the screen with thoughtless repetition. They don't tend to do a lot of escort warrants where the escorted individual(s) are allowed free roam, but when they do, the customary tour is always next on the agenda.

Fingers locking behind his head, Lavi steps around them to take lead. ]

C'mon, I'll show you around.

[ First stop: the rec-room where, as predicted, Yu is cleaning his weapon, like the manliest man to ever man. ]

[lotusmesenpai]

[A low murmur of voices indicates the arrival (finally!) of their payroll special guests.

Easy joy.

He just has to keep telling himself that, right?

Still, he's glad Lavi's here to be the one having to deal with this latest round of Company leeches, even if it means retreating towards the paper-bombed office otherwise known as Noah's bridge.

Resigning himself to this fate as steps draw ever nearer, Lavi's offer of a tour the last warning he'd receive. Standing up, Kanda secures the battery pack to each of the hand guns, holds them up, one inverted, and uses the sights on each to pull the two against each other to activate the charge for them both as three sets of steps enter the rec-room.

There's a satisfying snick of metal sliding smoothly into place before he flicks the safety on and slides both firearms into into the holsters on his thighs, not bothering to look up to greet their guests.

Instead, he bends down, starts pulling cleaning supplies back into swift order, the long fall of his ponytail sliding over a shoulder.]

We're leaving in five, Lavi. Already have clearance to leave so soon as you finish the tour, we can clear the fuck out. I'm tired of waiting.

1/2

[sunderings]

Mm? [ —he hums (a soft, pleasant sound), mirroring his brother's expression (in part) with the loft of a slender, silvered brow. Here, where they are no longer beneath the Company's scrutiny, Sion is given to banter; to fulfilling the role all younger siblings share: seeing to it that their elder counterparts stayed on their toes. ]

But should sentiment not be expressed precisely in the instant when it takes a man by the heart? It is by far better, I think, to voice one's feelings in the present, to the people who matter now, instead of waiting to do so in the future, for...

[ Voice quieting, he is the first to step into the hold of the ship, finding himself taking silent inventory of crates and bulk cargo before he can stay the old habit, his eyes adjusting to the artificial light; his ears tuned to the hum of the vessel, the boarding ramp rising to close behind them.

And as their escort takes the lead, the man's arms lifted in an easy stretch, his hands coming together as a cradle for the back of his head, Sion is gently amused, perhaps relieved, to know that both he and his brother have both well and truly stepped into neutral territory. Though Reclamation Agents cannot be said to be friends of the Company, neither are they a directly opposing force—in this moment, Sion is able to relax (as much as he will ever be able to), following the steps of another. ]

...who knows, after all, what tomorrow has in store.

[ And what awaits them upon Leith, where reports of infection have escalated, leaving the other moons to look on in fear and awe, the Company deploying its officers for the sake of maintaining stability and order, while Sion...

(Sion, he means to pass a message to one, safeguard another, and to aid where he can.) ]

Though I would be grateful, if we've the good fortune of being received by an equally warm welcoming committee upon Leith. [ A thoughtful pause, a playful step, an inquisitive cant of head. ] But I wonder...

What might constitute as 'really manly'?

2/2

[sunderings]

[ Funny, that no sooner than the question falls from Sion's lips, it is answered with callous words and terse speech, a voice which gives the Director pause at we can clear the fuck out, and stalls his step with I'm tired of waiting, because--...

(The very last time he'd heard such a voice had been in the thick of a bloodied battle which would have no winners, only survivors, and the fleeting hope that the one at the center of it all might have the chance to live for something better.) ]

… Yu Kanda.

[ Ironic, that the one with the girly face so too boasts the sailor's mouth; the alacrity to clean and assemble a rifle in less than a minute's time. ]