Auxesia - Stories on the Eidolon Wraith

[A/)- The Inner Phalanx]

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Doubtful Leave

Foulke reclined in his cot, holding a small photo in his hand of his former Navy squadron members. He sighed deeply, turning his head for a moment to look at an unmarked, unopened bottle in his duffle bag. Raven makes her way to Foulke's quarters, knocking on the door.She awaits at the door, holding her hands, looking down, patiently waiting for Foulke to answer it. Miranda continues walking, soon getting near Foulkes quarters. She spots Raven, raising an eyebrow and continuing to walk forward casually, tapping her shoulder "Here to see him for something?" She asked. "Yes." Foulke staggers over to the door, the bottle in his hand, still unopened. He opens it up, and looks at her, still holding the photo. "Here to scold me for a joke?" He asked. "Nope, not really." Raven looks up at him. Miranda looks over at Foulke, sighing at the bottle in his hand, then back to Raven "Do I want to know? Because I kind of do." She said. "What you did was actually fine, it was just the possibility of him accidentally setting something alight from the shock." Said Raven plainly. "There's still a reason you came down here, though. What is it?" Foulke grunts, crashing into his bed. Miranda peeks over the taller Ravens shoulder, giving a scolding but also worried look toward Foulke."Well, just don't be a dick about peoples origins, I mean, you wouldn't like it if I, " Raven starts to talk in a terrible Texas cowboy accent, "Cally'ed yerr' a Libaturd' mistuh." - swinging her folded arm in a stereotypical manner. Returning to her normal accent, "Or mocked your accent." She finished. Miranda raises an eyebrow, putting a hand on Ravens shoulder, getting closer to her ear "Pardon my interruption of sorts, but the hell happened?" Asked Nagase. Incensed, Foulke switches to his native accent, looking at Raven dead in the eye. "This is my fackin' native accent, I just fackin' hide it becahze it's naht fackin' prahpuh t' fackin' talk like a fackin' fish fac'tree workah." Blurted out Foulke.

"He gave someone a scare who was smoking in the hangar-" Raven turns around to Foulke again, "Uh-huh. Well, do try your best to avoid conflict. I've only stood down for five minutes and something happened already." She said, crossing her arms. Miranda's eyes widen, her mouth forming an 'oh' look. She looks towards Foulke, her scolding look returning. "I was just making a goddamn joke. If you paid any attention, you'd know that's one of the only things keeping me sane," Foulke rants, pacing around and growing a bit frantic. "Right, sorry, but I heard it from the other side of the ship. Not to mention, cigarette. Safety hazard. He could have dropped it on a fuel tank or something. It's okay to make a joke, but - it looked like you two were about to break out to a fight." Said Raven. "Thank you. And no, the Order guy wouldn't ever goad me. It's not worth it to fight someone over that. I'd hope he was more mature." Responded Foulke. "He was probably having a moment to himself, hence the smoking and stargazing, being very uh - prone to reaction." Said Raven. "Like that matters.." Foulke scoffed, opening up the bottle and pondering it for a moment. Miranda steps back from the conversation, figuring it would be best for Raven to leave before she talked to Foulke. "What? Why wouldn't that matter? You wouldn't make a prank on someone who wasn't in a great mood. That could only aggravate them further." Said Raven. "He's an outsider who could be planning something, he's with the Order. I don't trust him for one minute." Replied Foulke, taking a swig from the bottle. Sighing, "Planning what? And I could have done the same with you, and anyone else, be constantly paranoid. Of course, I have to keep some level of guard but not let my paranoia get the best of me. That wouldn't make me any better than Golanski." Said Raven. "We're being watched by everyone, and that man still wears the goddamn all-seeing eye on his uniform. That's not paranoia, that's caution. He could be gathering Intel as we speak on our location, our specs, or crew, or whatever. Just like the LSF would." Foulke takes another swig.

"Too bad he can't get accurate data. Signal dampers, the guest level intentionally hinders scans. Besides, The Order has already been on the Eidolon before, I was captured once before after all." Retorted Raven."But now? That guy is probably trying to update information or something, with all this new crap about Initiative and Zeta Section. All this new garbage and..," he stammers, shaking his head. "And could be that now's the time to strike, since he probably heard the PA of you leaving." Said Foulke. "What." Raven laughs. "Ohhh Tanty wouldn't do that. Besides, he doesn't even know if he can't - you know - learn about it. Unless one of you twits had some loose pair of lips." Said Raven. "Tanty? That's what you call him, ah? What a goddamn piece of work. This whole operation, I..," he speaks before taking another swig. His New Bostonian accent surfaces a bit more as he drinks. Whatever is in the bottle must be strong. "He's here to investigate an infestee. Funnily enough, I saw an infested agent trying to sneak around earlier today." Said Raven in response. "Why can't we handle it, why does he need to be involved?" Asked Foulke. "Why can't we handle it? Well - gee - we lack intel and materials for specialized operations, and we're focusing on Ataraxia at the moment. The Order were formed to go against the Nomads, however hilarious that may be. Why stop him?" Said Raven. "Because they take a dump all over anything that they think might stand in their way, and mess up everything around them. Believe me." he says in a mixture of sorrow and anger, taking an especially large drink from the bottle. "Riii-iight. Well. I believe you. But should we really mark everyone as evil because of what clothing they wear?" Asked Raven. "You take things with a blank slate every time, and you'll find that someone will slip through the cracks. Profiling exists for a reason." Retorted Foulke.

"Mmm." Raven adjusted her stance slightly. "Don't mock me with those sounds.." Foulke muttered, drinking more. "What? I'm just affirming you." She sighed. "Foulke, drinking away your issues won't solve it..." she looks at him with concern, blinking. "No, but it keeps them at bay. Helps me cope because apparently no one will notice otherwise. Or understand," says Foulke, a tinge of guilt dripping from his voice. "Well, talking helps, I hear." Responded Raven. Miranda stands behind Raven, gulping heavily at Foulkes last statement. "Talking about what? More than a decade of nightmares and feeling like I'm always holding my dead friends in my arms while gunfire whizzes around me? Or that I'm back being bent over and punished as a child like I'm some kind of dog, and watching my twin get the same for looking like me? Or maybe when I'm getting mind-raped by a bunch of alien trying to kill me and my friends? Or maybe when the country I fought for for seven years decides I'm just a mind to probe for information. Hell, maybe I could talk about it with the LSF when they round up me and Cathy, just before they're about to shoot us in the head! Or screw it, having to shoot those kids back on Leeds a while back "for my country." Talking'll really goddamn help then, wouldn't it!? Especially since you're leaving and putting that one in charge, leaving me and Cathy alone to fend for ourselves, huh? Talking would really help, hm!?" Foulke rambles, gasping for air at the end. Raven stands there, blinking casually at him, keeping a neutral expression, "I never said you couldn't visit me." She replied. "You try talking about this stuff sober and not having a goddamn episode and feel like you're right back in those places." Foulke murmurs, taking a smaller swig. Miranda grits her teeth, still standing behind Raven, practically hiding behind the back of her at this point.

"You act like if you're the only one with issues. I've gone through my fair shares of the crapper myself, but, speaking how you feel, what you see, can help. Or maybe see things from a new light? Why did you choose to serve your house?" Asked Raven. "Because I believed in Liberty growing up. It was one of the only things I cared about. I saw my cousin Ryan actually going places in life with his Navy training and career, being a Commander and the like. And when I killed that other girl, I felt scared that something would happen. Instinct drove me to think it'd be best for me to follow in Ryan's footsteps like a good little boy. So no one would question any of what happened to Cheryl." Said Foulke. A long pause followed before Raven replied. "Do you regret it?" She asked. "I regret everything from the moment I didn't keep running away from home that rainy night. I could have had a better life, never knowing my aunt or anyone." Foulke said, visibly crying. Processing the scenario through her sociopathic mind, Raven tries to sympathize with him but fails. "Well, are you saying you don't wish to be here right now?" She steps back, looking towards Miranda, then back at him. "What would have made it better?" She asked. "Well maybe being able to end things properly. But I'm a coward. And I can't bear to leave others behind. Faces of the dead every time I close my eyes..." he says, drinking more. "I'm sorry, Cathy..." Muttered Foulke. Coming to an understanding, Raven recalls her time in the Core, realizing what he's trying to go through, "And was it in vain?" She asked. Miranda looks down, facing away from the situation. Tears visibly going down her face after all the years she's had this emotion pent up. She was only glad Raven was in front of her, shielding the conversation. "I don't know. Maybe I saved some lives. Took countless more. Maybe I'm messed up in the head or something. I'm good at the job. Wish I wasn't." Replied Foulke. "But the job happened for a reason, no?" Asked Raven. "Because of orders. And a good soldier follows orders." Foulke said, almost robotically.

"Yes, and even the orders have reasoning behind them. Sacrifices are sometimes made. People go down, it's... expected. Conflict is bloody, and - eh. I suppose I can sympathize with you on that regard, losing friends because of wars. Do you think you did the right thing? Following the orders?" Asked Raven. "I didn't think about whether it as the right thing or the wrong thing. I just did them because I felt I had no other choice." Replied Foulke. "Why did you feel such?" Raven curiously digs further into his past. "Because they whip you into an obedient dog. They say jump, and you are expected to leap. And I had no qualms doing what was necessary to accomplish my objectives. And I was already broken before. They found it easy to do it again." Responded Foulke. "Did you not want to serve your house? To be better than best?" Asked Raven. "I wanted to elevate myself from a Rogue enforcer who killed his aunt who used him for almost a decade for her own amusement. Maybe be a person, for once" said Foulke, wiping tears. "Do you feel like a person now?" Raven smiles warmly at him. "I don't know. I feel like I'm being betrayed again, even if it's not your fault. That's how messed up I am." Replied Foulke. "Well, want to talk about it?" Asked Raven. "What's there to talk about? I leave you end up having a goddamn baby with some asshole you met less than half a year ago, suddenly he's the big man, and now the only other person I really know on this ship besides Cathy decides to go on retreat in a palace on Honshu." Stated Foulke in a rather hostile tone. "Why do you feel like you're being betrayed?" she gives a dull long blink, "And hey, he's not an asshole, you know this. And no, I still yield the true title, he's only covering for me. I can't go out in meetings because of my condition." Replied Raven. She blinks, "I'm sure there's still remaining crew from the old 'Aux, but I have doubts you'd know them." She said. Miranda suddenly raises an eyebrow, stepping out from behind Raven looking between the two of them. Suddenly injecting herself out from her hiding spot "Pardon?" She asked. Foulke yelled incoherently, throwing the bottle at the wall after realizing Miranda was still there. He attempts to stand up, but staggers and falls. The liquid in the bottle appeared to have been a light green. Miranda looks to Foulke, worry in her eyes growing "What the hell was that last bit?" She asked. A strike of sorrow hits them when Raven analyzes his sentence of 'having a goddamn baby with some asshole you met less than half a year ago' - looking down briefly. Their inner consciousness fights again, the constructs returning to argue about logical decisions and being a mistake. She looks down to the floor, resuming the eternal arguments with their own consciousness.

Foulke pounds the floor repeatedly with his right hand. He cannot bring himself to move. He stops. "I'm a screw-up. I really am." He said, speaking to himself. Raven shakes her head. "You want to know the true definition of screw-up? I got my own child killed. You want to know what a screw-up is? Me. I've killed and destroyed families, villages, people - for one simple thing. To improve Humanity, to cleanse weakness - all out of lust or hatred. And well, apparently I've also made mistakes." She looks up from the floor, to glare at him "You're anything but a screw-up." Miranda gets down on the floor next to Foulke, crouching next to him, bewildered and confused and sad. "I just don't want him to fall Raven... I want him to put this stuff behind him... now he's... spouting things." Said Nagase. "Then stop looking at the past, look at the present, look towards the future. There's so many things you can do to help it. Help yourself, by helping others." Retorted Raven. Foulke seems to reach out at the photo from before. He drags it on the floor near him, and looks at it. "I'm just a goddamn Guardian. A foot soldier. I can't do much good anyways." Said Foulke. "Yes you can. Being small is actually the damn best thing. I sometimes wish I was in a minor position. Less power, people don't see you as some kind of golden figure, assassination is such a lower risk. You can make a change. Foulke, I believe in you. I /know/ you. Who cares what your rank is?" Said Raven. Miranda sits with Foulke, an arm over his back, her face near his "Listen to Raven about this Norman... please, for me, for everyone here, for yourself." Said Nagase. "Even that freak Four outranks me, and he couldn't even hold a goddamn conversation without looking like the BDM secret police. I'm obsolete." said Foulke, trying to push himself off the ground a little. She walks over in front of him, lending a hand out to him, offering to help him up, "So? You're not obsolete. Everyone is important, Foulke." Miranda continues to console him, looking him in the eye as he stares sullenly at the floor "Nobody obsolete... is worth holding onto for two and a half years so far, come on Foulke, I'm here for you, Raven is here for you. To help you..." Said Nagase in a calm tone. "Christ, how do you think I feel being unable to even sprint or climb? I feel so useless not being able to be out there on the No fighting. Seeing people need help." Said Raven. Foulke grabs the hand lightly, looking at Miranda. "Am I really worth holding on to? Even in this state." Asked Foulke. Miranda nods frantically "Yes, why am I here right now? In Auxesia? Because I wanted to follow you Norman. And even though it left me for a while... it never changed how much I wanted to find you, and stay with you." She smiled.

"Come on, remember how you got that Destroyer? Great stuff. Come on Foulke. You don't have to listen to dorks in Davara. But you can be better than best. "You've had a lot to drink, maybe you should get some rest?" Raven looks at her wrist device, noting the time. "It's also getting late." She said. "I don't have much else going on for me, do I?" Foulke murmurs, looking down for a moment. "Screw it. But I hope there's a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow, Raven." He crawls over to the bed, resting his head. "I need time alone..." Miranda sighs, putting the bag on her shoulder down on the floor, stepping out of the room and behind Raven again. "Being alone won't help in the end, trust me, I've tried." Said Raven. "But in any case... well... you're welcome to visit the safehouse on Honshu. " she turns around, walking out slowly. "Just take care, and remember, your friends are always here for you." She walks out of the room, going back to her quarters, falling asleep in her bed with Hunt, grasping him, hugging him intimately, though she fell asleep with her clothes on. Miranda sighs, feeling a temperature on her head, dragging herself back to her room. She changes and lies in bed, wondering just what she's been doing wrong, before fading off to sleep at the crack of dawn. Some people were sleeping in on the Eidolon today.

Within the earliest hours of the morning, Raven and Hunt awoke slowly and began their preparations to leave. They stripped down and bathed, got dressed and made breakfast in their quarters. Hunt had gone and woken Aria up, who - while the food was being prepared - bathed herself and changed into some casual clothing for the day. The three sat down and enjoyed same waffles, bacon and eggs, chatting amongst themselves about their impending departure. Finished with their meals, they cleaned up and collected anything they might've forgotten. As they approached the door, the two women tackled Hunt with another hug, as they've done many times before. They chuckled and left their quarters.They walked through the corridors, side by side, as Hunt and Raven had locked their arms with each other, slowly heading to the hangar. Their fighters were already loaded up with their bags, the drones, and the relay. As they walked, chuckling amongst themselves, a sense of sadness emitted ever so faintly between the two partners, knowing how difficult and lonely the distance will be, as they had become unaccustomed to being apart. They knew, however, that it was for the best. To protect that which they chose to create from the dangers they face on a daily basis. Arriving finally in the hangar, the two shared a kiss, and the three shared a hug, and headed to their respected spacecraft. They prepared to launch, locking their communications to a three-way channel between themselves to avoid any distractions. They had a long flight ahead of them.

Nearing the end of their journey, the trio passed through the Sigmas from Rheinland. Oddly, the trip felt longer than it was, as it was only just before noon. It felt as though they had been flying all day. They spoke to one another over the channel as they headed in to the Crow Nebula to deploy the relay. It detached from the hull of the aged Prosecutor and began to transmit, as the familiar sense of their connection strengthened in the region of space they would be occupying. They expressed their feelings through the connection, relishing in the warmth the presence of each others minds created. They arrived, and passed through the gate in to Honshu, and began the rapid lane transit to the planet. They entered the atmosphere per the regular docking procedure, and avoided the public landing zone. Instead, they headed Northwest, over the city and islands to the farthest point of the colonized world. As they approached, a single tower was visible on the horizon, sat at the precipice over the great blue expanse of an ocean that covered the planet's surface. A wall surrounded the base of the tower, as well as a private landing pad. An automated A.M.U 'Spider' Mech walked the courtyard, with armed guards in variations of the C-1 combat armor. Anti-Air towers dotted the corner of the wall, with laser trip-wires lining the top. Several vehicles - armored or otherwise - awaited in a parking spot near the front of the massive building. A guarded gate with a bio-metric scanner stood at the end of the road, blocking entry to any who would approach. Cameras and sensors lined the walls and exterior of the great tower. The three set down and exited their craft, stretching after being sat for so long. They collected their things and gathered together on the platform. Locking arms once more, the trio descended the stairs from the landing pad and entered the front of the tower to the lobby, which had in its self, several more armored guards.

The two women looked around cautiously and nervously, uncertain of their new home. The trio entered an elevator at the end of the lobby, and began the ascension to the top floor - the residential section of the Iwamoto Tower. The ride was several minutes long. As they reached the top, two more guards greeted them and waited on either side of a door, which its self was secured with a bio-metric scanner. Raven approached and pressed her hand to it. A small, affirming 'beep' was heard as the door lock mechanism deactivated. The three hurried in to the massive home, and descended from the balcony entrance. The newly renovated apartment had changed from the familiar crimson and red wall color to beige and charcoal, with tints of blue in other rooms. The Balcony was sealed with a folding canopy, and the kitchen was restocked for the duration of the next few months. The master bedroom was re-done, beyond the hidden workshop beneath the dragon emblem on the wall. A guest room further down the hall - being the next door over - had been redone with the custom crib created by Hunt and Glass. A child's room. Now connection to the master bedroom was an office, where a terminal awaited to be modified for connection to the uplink. The drones begun to examine and explore their new surroundings, establishing themselves in a recently built medical room - excluding one unit, which accompanied Raven to the new office. Raven begun to set up the terminal for work, and placed her diary down as she did. Aria, on the other hand, returned to the room she had stayed in before to unpack her equipment and clothing. She took off her jacket and decided to loiter on the balcony, staring out over the ocean. Hunt begun to unpack Raven's bag and place her clothing in the closet. He took her medicine bag and placed it by the dresser, unsure where Raven would prefer to keep it.

After establishing themselves, Hunt and Raven explored the three-story apartment together, talking about future plans and teasing each other as they often do. They seemed almost unwilling to want to part from each other's company, but knew that this was one of the few times they will see each other over the next year. Thus, they spent the day together, cuddling on the couch or elsewhere. At one point, the duo of Aria and Raven took up to torturing Hunt with games again, laughing at the results. As dinner was prepped and eaten, Aria returned to the living room to read her datapad, as Hunt and Raven retired to the master bedroom hand-in-hand, for a session of intimacy. They emerged over an hour later in bathrobes, happy and arms locked. The two went to the balcony, and spent the remainder of the evening watching the sunset, embraced in the warmth of each others company as they stared out at the vast expanse of the blue ocean of Honshu.

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