legionmissions | TO HAVE AND TO HOLD [modplot]

Who| Anyone who wants in
What| "To Have and to Hold" plot
Where| The planet Olum, Matihara Temple
When| Set vaguely the same time as "Gods Among Us" and "Other Mother"
Warnings/Notes| N/A

The planet Olum is a genuinely welcoming place. While the clothes they have to wear for the rituals are a bit...odd (provided they don't opt for coverups), they are comfortable, especially with such a balmy climate. Despite the Olumites allowing outsiders into their ceremonies, there's a distinct lack of tourist-ey elements; no gift shops, no merchants selling anything, just a spirit of genuine unity and celebration. The Olumite marriage guides seem to genuinely care about helping people with their relationships, and seem happy to share their cultural traditions with other species.

As far as missions go, it's definitely a nice vacation from the usual life or death struggles.

It means the Legionnaires have no distractions. They have to settle in and try to navigate this while faking sincerity as best as they can.

[ooc: All information about the setting can be found on the infopost.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

America's trying to lounge lazily. It would help if she had any experience at it. "The song stones might be something we can deal with, but I don't even come from a world remotely similar to yours. The question and answer game..." She trails off, frowning for a moment before forcing herself to relax. This is a quiet moment with lovers. Don't be tense. Relax.

She leans in and gently brushes her lips against Cortana's shoulder before resting her chin on it. She hadn't purposefully chosen a shade of blue that was close to Cortana's real coloration, it had just come about that way. "The big question is whether it will be possible for us to focus on less top secret and traumatic events or not." She pauses. "Would we even be able to process Cortana's memories?"

Edited 2017-04-29 23:14 (UTC)

Computer reaction time keeps America from getting an accidental shoulder to the face as Cortana catches and cuts off her startle reaction. It also makes her deliberations about how to respond to a loving gesture go by so quickly there's no obvious delay in Cortana raising her hand to cradle the back of America's head. Theta probably spots it, though.

"North and I could pass notes through Theta, but without a subvocal mic for you, you wouldn't be able to keep up." Cortana sighs and slouches a little. If they can't win the question game, they don't have a choice. "My memories won't be a problem. I'm faster and more efficient than you are, but my neural map is still based on a human brain."

"You could always debrief with Theta if anything confidential does come up. I'm sure he can put the brakes on me even if were about to blurt it out." He glances down at his omnicom, where the screen is glowing a low pink occasionally speckling with blue static. "Do you think you can do that for us, Theta?"

"Um-"

"It's okay. I'd want you to."

". . . okay. Yeah. I can do that."

"Thanks buddy." He lifts his eyebrows, looking at America seriously for a moment. "Are you all right sharing memories?"

Edited 2017-04-30 00:41 (UTC)

America closes her eyes and considers a moment, not realizing how close she came to losing her teeth to Cortana's shoulder. That would've put a damper on the romance. "I'm exposed to confidential information, but I doubt that would come up in a memory search. I'm willing to share my memories, but..." She shrugs halfway. "It depends on what comes up and how much control we have."

There's a pause and she snorts against Cortana's skin, laying back on the sand. "Given how you Freelancers go, maybe Cortana and I should be more worried about the kind of fond memories you come up with. 'Daddy'."

Seriously, America? Cortana's glad she doesn't have a gag reflex.

"You saw the LL, America, and I was on the Silent Horizon mission. Nothing either of you can come up with is going to rattle me." Cortana brushes her hair back impatiently, then looks up at North, trying to make her expression affectionate rather than businesslike. "Privacy violations aside, it's more a question of the risk to you once you go home. ONI plays for keeps, and I'm too young to be a widow."

He can take almost all of the endearments, but that one always sends him flushing brilliantly, something the hologram unfortunately auto-translates onto his new face. "I- uh. I'm already going back home with an illicit AI and questionably legal wetware." The grin that comes with that is genuine, because that's just the state of things, and a little extra knowledge that no one has a reason to suspect him of knowing is a drop in the ocean at that point. He leans just enough to put a hand on Cortana's knee, smile positively saccharine once he's had a second to recover himself. "I don't think either of you sweethearts need to worry about me."

"Blushing like that, you should probably kiss one of us." She intones lowly before going back to a chipper tone, placing her hand on North's. "Your ONI doesn't seem to have dimension travel tech, and we've got the resources to track such incursions back home." Sure, it's usually from Psi Division, but still. "So long as we're all agreed about the risks, it's better to suffer some embarrassment or learn something we shouldn't than it is to fail the mission."

Talk about skewed priorities. That they all share.

Cortana looks down at the pile of hands on her knee.

Oh, fine. She lays her own hand over America's. Look at how much they all love each other and certainly aren't an awkward mess with about five social skills to share among the lot of them.

"All right. So what do we do until then?" asks Cortana, sitting on a gorgeous tropical beach a two-minute walk from a spa.

"Hurry up and wait." It's a game he's sure they've all had to play at one point or another, and as usual the trick is not overthinking it. Which, granted, America is not exactly making easy with all of this talk about how they should be kissing for the sake of realism. "I'm guessing a romantic meal is out of the question?"

"Wish they'd let me bring a book," she grumbles. There were the omnicomms, but good luck tucking that away easily. "I suppose we can eat. How do cits usually handle these situations?" She pauses. "Cortana, darling, can you even eat in that?"

You'd think it would come up beforehand.

"Sure. I can even taste it." Her body falls short only in the combat department, since Cortana regards it as a very expensive toy. She goes into a fight digitally, like the UNSC and Dr. Halsey intended.

She doesn't see why North is getting off so easy on the PDA front, so without so much as warning Theta--where's the fun in that?--she leans in and kisses him...on the cheek, because she's not trying to make herself suffer, here.

North has the advantage, at least, of being able to tumble into a nervous laugh, rather than a start or freeze. There is the second to adjust, with Theta pinging respond respond reminders that he still associates so much with combat that he's fighting the itch at his trigger finger when he turns into the lean, bumping noses in a near-adoring nuzzle.

"Well aren't you just full of surprises," he croons, in what is definitely an entirely pleased and not at all vaguely needling way.

America pauses. That sure was a kiss North got there. Affection levels are now acceptable, and anyone watching surely thinks they're a loving triad. At least, she thinks so. She turns to Cortana, as if nothing had just happened there, because that's what girlfriends do, right? Anyhow. "What happens to the food after you eat it? Does it go into a storage tank? Or is it converted into fuel?"

...Possibly not the time.

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD [modplot]

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