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RP: ISC Phoenix [R&R] - The Preacher likes the Cold

Luca

The Ultimate Badass
🎖️ Game Master
Stopped in to a church, I passed along the way
Well, I got down on my knees and I pretend to pray
You know the preacher likes the cold
He knows I'm gonna stay
California dreaming on such a winter's day

The Beach Boys - California Dreamin'

//This takes place during Interlude 3//

START!

The Rigs, Alpha Platform, Medical Area
"...and that's why I fear one day you'll be able to blanket a planet with Aiesu ROM-structs." Luca concluded his rough and thoroughly misunderstood explanation of how ROM-constructs worked to Kaen, spilling more beans than a Nepleslian did on their morning toast. Luca wasn't particularly keen on all the corrections and clarifications Aiesu kept tossing up - they were an impediment to a good story and a very elaborate distraction to keep Aiesu out of the know regarding the VANDR.

"The complex is unusually busy today" the small l'manel frowned. Kaen stood aside Aiesu, pondering visibly the idea of a world filled with Aiesu. His expression shifted through the complete Lorath palette of expression: Mirth, exictement and then finally upon realization disgust as he frowned before trying to laugh it off.

"A world of you would end everything just to prove some stupid point, peep. Mr. Pal... Pavone, have you seen La'al anywhere? She's meant to be doing her job but lately she's been ashore. Every saturday, 9:15, she's on one of the transfer boats into the town. What is she even doing?"

Luca thought for a few moments, looking aside and trying to piece it together. He didn't see Lalah much aside from the occasional report which got delivered personally.

"What has me worried is her job is to manage our secondary sample. It goes missing every time she leaves."

This was news to Luca. "Second sample?" He asked, eyebrow raising at Kaen, then head looking over to Aiesu. "Wait, do you mean another Sourcian?"

"Notable Alien sample, un-recorded Due to the following... Then a big list of things. We call it NADSURF. Its about the size of a fist. Just the core. Dead, for eons. Its radically different from your friend." Kaen explained, but it wasn't setting Luca at any further ease. "Goblins studied it for years before finally releasing it back to the LSDF, deciding it wasn't anything interesting..."

"Do you think she's carrying it with her?" Luca asked. "Where is she - right now?"

"Ashore. Again." Kaen frowned. From the way things had passed, Kaen was surprisingly lenient with La'al. Why though? Luca really wasn't up for speculation with the discovery of a second maesus.

"I could go talk to her right now if you want." He chipped in, before leaning in to Kaen. "She seems to get all knobby kneed around me ... I think she has the hots for me, y'know?"

Kaen pulled his lips into that lopsided old smile that just knew things.

"Thems fighting words. Really though, could you find her? We really need to know what she's doing with her time and were she takes the NADSURF. Its dead so there's no real risk but she wont let it out of her sight." Luca nodded as he started considering the possible locations onshore, then gave Kaen a pat on the shoulder and begun moving...


Sargasso, Spaceport, Pan-CHOW
Elsewhere, Lalah sat at a large table, the silver metal case to her left in the tucked alcove. People walked by, the air hazy and thick with something as meals of strange alien origin to her sizzled and baked in the next room over. Slowly, she searched through her communicator - still getting used to the strange PSG-made interface. Shoulders slumped. Eyes tired, worn with ache and fatigue to the ones.

Slowly, she glanced over her shoulder - grimacing at the sight of some kind of monster, nailed to the wall. It was totally convincing - the blacks of her pupils narrowing visibly as bile built in her throat before the illusion faded and she realized its nature as decor. Stuffed. What she'd later learn was called an alligator had her on edge - her own long tail sweeping beneath the seat as she struggled to get comfortale: the girth of the scaled limb problematic in the booth-like seats.

Nepleslia was a strange flavor. It would be a while before she got used to it.

And then it came. The most perfect thing she had ever seen. Golden, rounded, browned. Perfectly proportioned, reaching up from its white ivory canvas like a tower of sheer love and warmth. It oozed similarly: dancing with glossy sappish amber - dripping and oozing like liquid crystal down into vast caverns in the immense mountainous stacks. The top, clouds touched from the sky, delicately dancing around its rim like the haze of crashing waves - a trophy crowned with strange pink tartish things - glossy and crimson with faint studded green and leaves - sweet precious treasures to mark how proud it was.

And its base kissed her table, met with a tower of some clear strong enamel removing beverage.

She sat in awe, admirng the thing through tired eyes. Horns accentuating the subtle shifts of her head as she went about memorizing the shape of this strange machinaism of love transmision.

The dragon, Luca saw now from a distance had met a new romance in her life. A truer more beautiful feeling than any adult could face and far more nuanced and delicate than any child could comprehend.

"Please enjoy your meal," the server said with a smile. Lalah could feel her tear-ducts welling up as she smiled.

Pancakes are love.

From the other side of the glass on the eatery in the busy Sargasso Spaceport, Luca could see the distinct horns of the lmanel he was looking for. She didn't seem to be doing anything untoward or dodgy, nor was she meeting anyone or waiting - but she did have a lovely looking stack of pancakes which provoked a twinge of envy in Luca.

He spoke into his right hand. "Kaen, I've found her," he said, "alone, I can't see the case from where I am."

On a long chain, the case was cuffed to Lalah's left arm - worn metal twinkling dully as she rose her cutlery. Luca noted this immediately, eyes narrowing as the chain dragged against the edge of the table with a clatter. There was hesitation: taking in the air of her stack and prize before her knife and fork met the thing. Her first portion though delicately held with slender fingers and touch was bliss - eyes half open, seemingly glowing within herself.

Her second was a shaky gouge, ripping into the thing: all semblence of manners and trained behavior vanishing. From time to time, L'manel had the habit of revealing their nature rather than playing kind and friendly. From what Luca could see as he passed through the doors, Lalah was out to kill those pancakes.

Cheeks full, she she set eyes on him as he approached. Fight or flight was visible: arms moving protectively to grasp the case. But she didn't stop eating the pancakes. Visibly he could see she wanted to move but instinct on some level refused to let her. Luca raised a hand for calm, seeing that the lmanel was in a ... more lizard-brained state than the usual professionalism she carried herself with. He pursed his lips, unsure of how she was going to react when he stood far enough from her that she had the clearance to run, but close enough to be visible in the busy diner.

He eyed the empty spot in the booth seating and pointed to it, silently asking if he could sit down. Luca had a gut feeling that the Lorath woman couldn't exactly use words properly, aside from the pleasant complications involved in having a mouth stuffed full of sweet and delicious pancakes.

"Mirshta Palvrone?" Lalah struggled with a full mouth, hands moving to cover herself before clearing her throat. She made a half-hearted salute. She was out of uniform. But still cuffed to the silver case.

Something about how she was trying to remain dignified in the face of being so improper in front of Luca was endearing enough for him to look aside and tell the Lmanel "at ease," before sitting down opposite her in the booth seating, eying the case her other hand was cuffed to. He sat down on the slightly sticky, worn out seating and waited for Lalah to finish her mouthful.

It took her a while before finally downing it - clearing her throat once more now up from deeper tones into something softer with a glass of water. Her lips tightened - eyes firm and forward. Now she knew she was in it. Knee high, probably.

Luca eyed the case first, deciding that there was no avoiding the elephant on the table, chained to Lalah's wrist. "So this is where you go on the weekends?" Luca opened up with, looking around the Pan-CHOW, taking a glance at the menus on the walls, full of deals for guilt-laden food and no questions asked.

"Definitely better than the one on the other side of town," he remembered that one - it was terrible. The pancakes tasted like sheets of lukewarm rubber. Seiren nearly set fire to the place in rage.

Lalah only nodded - fingers gingerly setting her cutlery down as she wiped her mouth. Her eyes every few moments went from him to the pancakes. Too embarrassed to speak, still. Reprimand, any moment surely.

Luca let what he was saying hang for a moment. He could see that she was still enjoying this. "Well, you're not in serious trouble, I don't mind people taking breaks from living on the Platforms so long as they notify people ..."

He then eyed the case. "What I am more concerned about though is you carrying what's in that box around."

"Kaen said it has to be with someone at all times. I don't have the keys to these cuffs."

"Or ... you could leave it back on the base with him." Luca pointed out. "He's someone at all times."

Figuring that he wasn't entirely across what the NADSURF was, or what it even looked like, he slowly begun to slide a hand across the table towards the case.

Lalah pulled on the chain, drawing the case nearer to herself. It was reflex, more than anything.

"It can't be left alone with the same person for too long. We have to take shifts."

"But why?" Luca asked, leaning forward now. "What's so interesting about it? Kaen said it was 'inert', dead." And if it had to change hands every so often, surely he could get a look too.

Hell, what if she's hogging it? Why all the fuss about a ... rock? Luca wondered. "Come on, you can show me what it is. It's not like it's going to run anywhere."

"The case is... Its a PSD scrambler. Nothing's happened yet but... I'd say we're sort of superstitious, really."

He was not up to scratch on his science acronyms. "What's PSD?" Luca asked.

"Um... Psionic Sequence Disruptor. We used it to measure neural activity"

Luca blinked and raised an eyebrow. "Wait, from a rock?" He knew the Lorath really liked rocks for some reason. He saw them dotted around the LSDF's workspace on The Rigs.

"At first we thought it was some kind of machine. We apply a current, it repeats patterns. Like a computer." Lalah explained. "Some of those patterns are on what's called the shumann resonance frequency. Any planet with a magnetosphere has one, you know, a north and a south pole?" Luca nodded and motioned for her to continue, following just.

"Well, I know its a known fact now but the shumann resonance of a planet affects those upon it. Like how when there's an aurora, you can yank the batteries in a radio and it keeps working, because the frequency of the disruption is the same as the radio needs to work? Shumann is the resonance of a world. Something like 7.6 hertz, electrically. Well, that's the same frequency used in neural interfacing gear because its the frequency that when it hits bone cascades with brainwaves - the surface electrical currents of the brain."

"I guess I do feel kinda different when I go from planet to planet, yeah." Luca said, barely keeping up with all of it and more focussed on how the atmosphere and people on a planet were different. "What of it?"

"You can feel it in your bones, right? That first time when someone goes into space and they're beyond its reach and they have that moment that's almost like an epiphany. A religious moment."

"You must mean nearly every day." Luca shrugged. The first time he'd went to space, it was a kick in the balls. The second time, it was a kick in the head. Third time was kicking and flailing, and every other time begun to become more benign and soon he was kicking right back. "It's been a very, very long time. But anyway - yeah, go on?"

"NAU vibrates on the same frequency, electrically..." she said, taking her knife and fork - eyes on her pancakes.

"If its around the same person for too long, the frequency shifts from its normal pattern. As a result, we kind of have to play 'hot potato' with it. We're worried our own brainwaves might kill whatever's left of it."

"Hang on, hang on, how long have you been holding onto the ball then?" He inquired, pointing a finger at the case, which he was still curious about its contents. "What happens if more than one person's walking around with it?"

"It contracts. Gets smaller. Like a clam I guess. We brought it, thinking maybe it was some sort of neural interface. That we could use it to communicate with Rebeka. The existing method isn't really working, is it?"

Luca held up a hand. "Don't remind me." He mumbled. "It's broken the team. The one person she liked the most won't even acknowledge she's gone." He was referring to the Phoenix's resident candyman. Luca slumped down onto the table, resting on his forearms. "The two were practically glued together at the hip, y'know?"

"I know. I've read the reports. Seen photos. Its like she wanted... Wants to be his mother, don't you think?"

Luca seemed satisfied that he'd got everything he wanted out of Lalah, and sighed, burying his nose in his forearms and grumbling in frustration. "All Aiesu thought Rebeka was good for was being a blunt object."

"...Constructs are blunt objects" Lalah frowned.

She sampled pancakes onto her fork, reaching out to offer the forkful to Luca, who looked up and rested his chin on his arms.

Lorath women were known for being particularly condescending to men at the dinner-table but her expression was still polite, warm, friendly.

"I didn't know you could get sugars this refined on Nepleslia." Lalah said.

The Captain sniffed the air just ahead of the pancakes. The strength of the maple syrup woke him up, snapping him out of the funk he'd nearly dug himself into. He bit down on the fork and dragged the pancake chunks off it.

Lalah slid the fork back, her expression melting into syrupy warmth - white lashes nearly falling shut along deep dark skin - teeth flashed cheekily. She was giddy, shuffling the away she sat and already preparing another fork.

"Its good, right? I don't think I've ever eaten anything so rich before. Waffles, pancakes, syrup. Are these your nanational dishes?"

Luca nodded knowingly. "You didn't know? Nepleslia loves its sugary food. Loves a good steak too. Eaten one of those yet?"

Lalah shook her head. "As much as I like it, I try to avoid meat..."

"You a vegetarian or something?" Luca inquired, a little confused given her aspectation.

"Nnnn. Nepleslian meat has a lot of steroids and hormones in it. Its hard enough to keep myself in check with my aspectation as is."

A silence sat between them for a moment.

"Lorath animals don't have the same hormones as Lorath people do.. On Nepleslia, they both smell the same." her voice shifted strangely. Her manner had changed entirely - firm and to the point. "I don't want to develop a taste for Nepleslian..."

It was hard to tell if she was being somber or if this was some sort of lost-in-translation flirting.

Luca knew only one other person who had a taste for Nepleslian, and plenty of people had a taste for Luca - one way or another. He looked aside with crossed arms, perturbed by the idea. "Uhm, erh..." he clicked his tongue, a bit lost for words, "riiight..."

END!
 
//This takes place between Interlude 3 and Mission 5//

START!

The Rigs, Alpha Platform, Luca's Quarters
Lalah rapped her knuckle on Luca's door.
"Mr. Pal... Pau...Luca?"

Did every Lorath have to mangle his name? With the name mangling, Luca only knew a handful of people capable of mispronouncing his name. Aiesu, Otto, the Lorath staff, and the dragon girl who stood out amongst them. The door slid open, and Luca was standing there in casual clothing. For a change, he was doing some private work, computer console alight with many documents and files open.

She stood in the doorway, unwilling to let herself in. Hat in hand, jacket on her shoulder. Still uniform, but her buttons loosened. She'd just gotten off duty from the looks of things.

"Um.. You've been really kind to me over the last few weeks. Could I discuss a private matter with you?"

Luca raised an eyebrow. The Lorath were already very private, and he still couldn't glean anything from Otto, the stone-faced bugger. "Sure, uh," he looked left and right to see that the coast was clear, as it'd seem suspicious that a nubile Lorath woman(?) was knocking on his door, "I'm all ears - what's the problem?"

Funny how he kept referring to other people's issues as problems, like some of them could be solved.

Lalah's eyes explored the room as she shut the door behind her - being particularly quiet. Like she was looking for something. The room itself was rather plain, for someone of his station. Bed, training weights

Luca's training told him fairly quickly she was looking for surveillance. For a doctor, this was a strange thing to do - being in the inner sanctum of the Phoenix and PSG, it was practically the most secure place of all. There were no obvious cameras or surveillance equipment present.

A couch was present, with room for three, or possibly two very large people, and Luca motioned for her to sit down while he walked towards his desk chair. In the middle of the room was a plain rug, and the only real luxuries present was the quality of the tools on his personal workbench, and some trophies from conquests past on the walls. All things that only had significance to Luca.

"So, give me the skinny of it," Luca said, crossing one of his legs as he swivelled.

Lalah sat upon his bed - eyes widening as she glanced down.

"...You sleep on the same beds we do" she mumbled, rubbing tired eyes before clearing her throat. Sleep had been few and far between. "Can you promise me that you won't be angry? I haven't stolen anything or hurt anyone, don't worry."

Luca didn't know what there was even to be angry about, and he'd gotten a lot of unpleasant surprises in the past. Though, some people who'd come to him with confessions were nothing to really be worried or ashamed of. "Tell me."

"I'm..." she rolled her shoulder, forcing a smile: "I'm not actually an LSDF doctor. I'm not even a qualified physician." Lalah explained nervously. "Not yet. But I can explain."

Well, that's not the worst I've heard in a while, Luca pondered, glad that she was doing something else, and had plenty of good medical personnel on hand - even Aiesu. "You're an intern, then? Go on," he said, nodding empathetically.

"Actually, I'm a stow-away..." her smile got a bit weaker. "One of the doctors took pity on me. I'm..." there was no fine way to put this: "...I'm being hunted."

Luca uncrossed his leg and planted it on the floor, leaning forward. "That's not an unusual story. A few soldiers here are running from something themselves, usually ex-criminals," he said, looking aside as he wondered why Lalah was sitting on his bed. "You don't strike me as a criminal though, so who are you running from?"

Debt collectors? Personal enemies? Luca knew the more orthodox Lorath liked to keep grudges - it came with the long life. He tapped his foot on the ground as he waited for an answer.

Her eyes lowered.

"SAINT."

Now she tells me. "Them?" Luca pursed his lips, breathing a little as he considered the ramifications. His relationship with SAINT, although distant given the Tamamo incident, was still relatively professional. However, not every SAINT was all that saintly, and perhaps with Tamamo it was the luck of the draw.

"Huh." He said, unable to piece more together until Lalah gave her more. "What'd you do, piss in their morning coffee?"

"Lazarus."

"Well, there's your problem," Luca pointed out, as his last transaction with Lazarus had merely tore him in half.

"I'm guilty by association. Marked because I know someone. I'm not a member... I was actually training to be a doctor. Aiesu was actually one of my professors, but she's not the one they're looking for. Well, weren't looking for."

He stood up, folding his arms as he walked towards the bed, then stopped in the middle of the room. "So you're telling me that association with Lazarus has you marked on SAINT's shitlist."

His first steps had her teeth grit, flinching in anticipation of something. Violence?

"I-I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and I spoke to the one person. Once. And that was enough!" she shouted.

Luca grabbed something from his pocket, some candy. He always had to have pocket candy. He tossed a lollipop over to Lalah, landing and rolling on the bed, while he had another for himself, "well, let me tell you what the wrong person in the wrong place can do. I was one of them, years ago."

Her small brown nose wrinkled up, unsure how to process this. Worried laughter.

The Captain looked behind himself, but it was a little too late to drag his desk chair over, so he remained standing, dropping his folded arms. "I got fucked royally by SAINT. Prior to the ISC Phoenix forming, I was in the Yamataian Star Army. Santo Hei, lowest of the low. I was assigned to the Odori-class cruiser by the name of the YSS Goban. That means, number five."

He held up five fingers, lips furrowing a little as he remembered some of the more unpleasant memories, held back by context needed. "It was intended to be a logistics vessel doing some pickups around Yamataian space. We had our CO, and our XO. Our CO turned out to be ex-SAINT, setting the XO and the rest of the crew - myself included, up for failure, every step of the way."

Luca took his lollipop out of his mouth, rolling it between his fingers. "Needless to say, our CO sent us on a goose chase by underequipping us and letting the Goban get stolen by a pair of Nekovalkyrja, NH-10. We took a replacement vessel and found the abandoned Goban in the South-East of the galaxy, and got ambushed by a pair of SMX cruisers, and taken prisoner."

He let her speak her piece, motioning to her to share her brush with the Intelligence Agency which knew that it knew nothing.

"...I've been meeting up with a friend I've known for years now. Nepleslian. She used a kind of fake body, like a doll to visit. She's a complete recluse and I'm really her only friend. Even before she got involved, we were friends, through the network," she tried to smile, weakly.

"I'd visit a random apartment on Lor. She'd pay for the train tickets. We'd have a few days together every month or so - just blowing off steam and talking. I mean, with what my mother does and what I'm expected to live up to..." she paused - a quiet stare at her reflection, then eyes down in disappointment.

"Family trouble too?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Honey," Luca leaned in, taking a step forward glance steely, "I got taken prisoner by the SMX, tortured, and I broke out and clawed my way back home ... until it turned out we'd already been rescued and put in a simulation but that's not relevant - point is," he had to spell this one out, "I'm difficult to fase."

"Well, you know how we grow at about half your speed?" Lalah pointed out as Luca nodded.

"I'm very thoroughly aspected... But I'm a minor. What by Nepleslian standards would culturally be considered about fourteen."

Luca decided to step back, grabbing his chair and dragging it to the middle of the room, and planting himself back down on it, now closer to Lalah. "Well look on the bright side, most kids only dream of being a dragon at your age."

"Its very dangerous." Lalah stammered, wringing her hands. "Have you ever heard of the Ioru Group?" Luca shook his head, making an 'nn nn' noise.

"Makes sense. Its like a Yamataian zaibatsu. All shell companies. The paperwork is stretched thin to conceal us, but we're considered the third wealthiest family in all of Lorath space. The second are conveniently missing and the first have been cryostasis - conveniently - for hundreds of years... "

It didn't take long for Luca to figure out why SAINT would want the balls of someone this high up on the Lorath chain, probably on the same level as the Regent he met a couple of years ago. He sucked on his lollipop like it was a cigarette, expecting smoke to come out as he sighed. "So you're a corporate daughter?"

"...A son, actually."

Now that was surprising. It was the only thing that'd caught Luca off guard so far about Lalah, suddenly meeting eyes with her? Him? Looked like a her. "Er-excuse me?"

"My mother's only been able to produce one successor so far. A daughter is desirable, but a son isn't unheard of. Men are considered too prone to flights of fancy. Too weak to make serious decisions. The fairer sex."

"...continuing," Luca said, trying not to dwell on this part of the topic for long.

"Have you heard the name 'Helen Klein'?"

"Helen who?"

"It took me months to find out her real name. If you ever hear from her, don't trust her. Don't even let her be in the same room as you, for any reason."

Luca shrugged. "I'm not exactly predisposed to let random SAINTs snoop around my house, not after last time." He looked over to one of the large rifles on the wall, the one which fired autocannon rounds, intended to shoot out Francian dinosaurs or mammoths.

"Neither was I. So they they found somewhere else to do it."

"Kidnapped. Well, if what you're saying about this mob thing-" he said, piecing together that it wasn't just a corporation Lalah was heir to, "-is true, then wouldn't you have your own ..."

She began unbuttoning her shirt, eyes down dutifully on her fingers as she went.

"Your own..." Luca trailed off. Wasn't this all a bit sudden? "What are you doing?" He asked, flatly and unmoved. He wasn't in the mood for a quickie, and thought that the foreplay so far was a bit ... intense.

She was soon pulling the gray fabric from her shoulders by the elbow, golden eyes as it snaked down along her body.

Bruises. Burns. Scars. Many quite intricate. The fact they refused to heal meant these were spots that had been returned to, again and again and again - each over pressure-points and nerves - and she'd been on the move long enough not to get them seen to: deliberately avoiding any kind of hospital or care. Luca whistled as the sheer array and thoroughness of it all. Some of it crudely spelled numerals, others words in Yamataian. It was better that Lalah probably couldn't read them.

"Three months," she said, clearing her throat - being rather terse.

"Daily?" Luca replied, similarly terse.

"A basic medical got your doctors asking why I had hypothermia on arrival. Meat-locker."

"Well," Luca said, now standing up in front of Lalah and placing a hand on her shoulder, feeling the muscle, "you've survived that so far, haven't you? You're still coherent, you've managed to come here seeking asylum." Beneath the bruises, cuts, burns and scars was muscle. "Are you aware of this?"

She nodded. Determination, but wry and tired. He lifted her arm up, looking at the musculature, and looking down at her abdomen, clinically. "You might have had time to look at yourself in the mirror and all you've spotted" he ran a finger over one of her scars, but she didn't wince, "was all this hurt, right?"

Her belly wasn't soft like a woman's but firm, marbled. The faint sweat from her exhaustion brought out the shape.

"Right."

"You aren't looking at everything beneath it. Your aspectation, some sort of Dragon - I think De'ala called it a Me'ruu," he mumbled as he placed his hands on her shoulders, looking down at her.

"You've heard of it?" she replied. She was regarding him similarly. There was a strange comradery to it, a mutual appreciation. It wasn't sexual.

"Yes. A motherfucking dragon. The first thing I learned after the Goban is that the Kikyo sector is full of violence. Every day, there's a fight going on somewhere. It's why I expect everyone on this platform - even the science, paperwork, and medical staff - to be able to kill someone. The paperwork of laws don't stop bullets or deter someone out to fuck up your day, so I say this!"

She blinked, letting him speak - listening very carefully - if a bit bewildered.

He shot his neck forward, eye to eye with Lalah, voice growling and intense. "Fuck SAINT right back, because they will keep chasing you and fucking you until you either die, they get bored of toying with you, and they certainly aren't going to be bored of you with how valuable you are. Understand?"

"Mm" she nodded, her grin wide - albeit fragile. That she'd dare to think this way wasn't a prospect as little as hours ago.

"You're part Me'ruu, well, De'ala and I went hunting for a wild one, and it damn near tore me in half. No offence meant but I got a taste for the damn thing. You're a lot stronger than you think you are. Have you seen a full grown you?"

"Once. I'm orthodox," she replied. "You don't take on an aspectation you've never met."

"And you met that dragon! And you aspected with it!"

"If you killed it, that was a child."

"I wish, best I could do was chase it off, about ... forty? Fifty feet long." It was a little difficult to keep the metrics in order when you were having the life squeezed out of you. "Bastard even ate me," which sounded like a bit of a stretch, but given his line of work, seemed fair enough, "but I got out and it ran away."

"Ah, a male then?" she tried not to laugh realizing the irony.

Unfortunately, it was lost in the moment Luca was having. "Point still stands. Now!" He shot back towards Lalah, into full intensity. "Let me see your war face!"

"Sir?"

"You got a war face?" Luca asked, pausing for a moment before screaming at her from the pit of his stomach, face completely taut, brows furrowed as his eyes were full of violence, almost as though he was going to rip Lalah in half down the middle. "That's a war face!"

"GAO~!" she shouted - eyes firm. Apparently Yamataian films about giant lizards terrorizing and protecting cities were popular on Lor.

Luca shook his head. "Bah, you didn't convince me!" He retorted, disappointed. "Let me see your REAL war face!"

Deep breath. Eyes shut. Take two.

"GYIAOU!" she exclaimed, ripping at her own vocal cords. Guttural. Deep. It didn't match her appearance at all, more in line with what she'd said earlier. That wasn't a sound people made.

Something was still missing, though the sound had made Luca's room rumble. "You don't scare me, put your back into it!"

Again. Louder. Though this time, something escaped her, a spray of something vodka-like, stinking of paint-thinner. The vapor made Luca's eyes sting, even his skin steamed as the acidic compound burnt him.

Immediately seeing this, worry returned to those golden soft eyes - reaching for her hankerchief to try and wipe it from him.

Luca stood there, bearing it all as his tender skin reddened. He took the offered hankerchief, shaking his head as he dabbed the corrosive away as his grimace of pain turning up to a grin. "I-I have no idea what you just did, but that's what I like to see."

"Itsnotsupposedtodothat..."

"It isn't?" Luca sniffed the cloth, then out of curiosity, produced a lighter, giving it a couple of clicks where the vapor was thickest on the hankerchief, holding it away from himself and Lalah. "This smells like pure ethanol, is it fla-"

WHOOSH!

The hankerchief went up in Luca's hand like flash paper.

He looked between himself and Lalah sheepishly as ashes fell to the ground. "Oops," he said. "Is... is it supposed to do that?"

"It.." she glanced aside. "It doesn't usually do that..."

Luca thought for a moment, then passed her the lighter, a naked flame dancing on the wick. He stood aside. "Do it again," he said.

It took quite a lot of manual work on her part, but a thin stream of white fluid passed through the flame harmlessly from beneath her tongue from an eyeball like gland - then as she bared her teeth, the stream became a thin spray. As it passed through the flame, the room was illuminated by twisting shapes of cool hot blue light, danced by red along its edges - like some kind of street performer. Wild and volatile.

Luca nodded approvingly. "This is just the beginning you know. No more running, you understand?" He sat down beside the lorath woman(?) and held a fist in her direction, waiting for a bump back in reply.

Stars. It took him a moment to realize he was on the floor. She was rubbing her knuckle.

Did she just throw a straight?

His chin said yes.So did his memory: It was on the list of things Aiesu told him never to do to Lorath - specifically the orthodox among them: and now he knew why. He also gave a thumbs up from his prone position, mumbling that she was fit to begin training further.

It took her a moment, but this one she returned with a slight smile.

Some things were just universal.

END!
 
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