legionmissions | TO HAVE AND TO HOLD [modplot]

Entry tags:

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

"You know .... I could do with a drink as well." It's not her usual coping habits, but these aren't exactly usual circumstances. She does take Junkrat's hand, letting him help her to stand since she's a little unsteady on her feet as well.

Once they're both on their feet, she's still for a moment before carefully threading her fingers with his. It's venturing out of her comfort zone, but it's also an admittance that the contact is something she could use - they could both use - right now. Having been so self reliant for so long, it's a huge step for her.

"Lead the way."

He's quite all right with the touch, a bit surprised that she'd be the one to initiate it but he rolls with it well enough, giving her a little squeeze. Junkrat starts off in a particular direction, taking a few steps before suddenly halting mid-step and changing directions.

Neither of them really need to be in the public eye right now. Instead, he'll lead her back to their room, where they can order in all the food and drinks they want within the relative security of a place designated as being exclusively theirs for the time being.

"Change of plans," is all he offers as explanation. Hopefully she catches on fast enough.

When they get back, he gets something that is basically this world's equivalent of a mango daiquiri and some kinda popcorn-like stuff. He assumes, perhaps errantly, that Fareeha is going to want to be alone, so he's quick to claim the pool for himself by stripping down to the buff - including both the ritual clothes and his holo-disguise - and sinking himself into hot, petal-littered water.

HIs elbows rest on the edge of the pool, back facing the center of it, as he nurses both the cold drink and his snack, occasionally holding the cold drink to his eyes and cheek. They're still sore from the crying.

It doesn't take her long to realize where he's taking them, and she's quite alright with it; neither of them are really fit for public viewing or the questions that might follow it, especially among those they know.

Once they're back, she orders herself a more substantial meal and a small bottle of spiced rum that she can nurse at for the rest of the stay. It might reinforce his ideas that she's looking for some space when she does't immediately join him, but once she's eaten and on her second rum and coke, she's heading to the pool herself.

She sees the pile of clothes and his bare shoulders and can infer the rest, and after a moment she sets down her drink and does the same; she'd learned early on in the military not to be shy about nakedness, and while there are some odd undertones with Junkrat that she's still trying to process, such inhibitions seem a little silly right now considering they were just in each other's heads.

"Feeling any better?" She settles herself down into the pool, leaning back against the edge.

He hears her come into the room unannounced, and he watches her come in with mild curiosity as his drink straw occupies his mouth.

Then she starts taking her clothes off.

Junkrat immediately turns away to face the direction he had been in earlier, immediately turning red--ugh, damn it, he just got the swelling down too--and shields his peripheral vision with his hand. He has absolutely no reservations about his own nudity, but someone else...

And now she's talking to him too. Should he turn around and make eye contact? What if her breasts are above the water? Can he trust himself to keep eye contact eye contact?

Oh, God.

She knows he's a virgin now too.

Better keep facing away.

"Not...really," he answers honestly. "Uh." He clears his throat. "How 'bout you?"

"I'm ... coping." Considering he was the first one to strip down ad hop in, she'd been under the impression nudity wasn't going to be an issue, but it's clear from his body language that somewhere along the line she got that entirely wrong. She's still and quiet for a moment, but she's not going to put him through this after everything they just experienced.

"I'll be right back." Her own cheeks are flushed with embarrassment for having put him in this predicament as she gets up and heads back to her luggage, digging around for the simple one-piece suit she'd brought along.

Edited 2017-05-10 08:06 (UTC)

To be fair: he thought he was going to be alone.

He finally whips around to look at her when he hears the water slosh, indicating to him that she's getting out.

"Wait!"

Don't look at the butt. Don't look at the butt. Okay, he looks a little bit, but at least he doesn't stare.

"Ya don't gotta get dressed," he offers. He's beet red, with a lopsided, awkward grin with his hands held up in a placating gesture. "Can't be the only one skinny dippin' in the waterin' hole. That's messed."

The truth is that he can't stand the thought of being the reason that she has to get out and get dressed in a bathing suit when he's still sitting here naked. Because he can't control himself. That's his responsibility, not hers.

"Just..."

He places a hand on his cheek and tilts his head to the side. He's on fire, and it's not just his hair.

"...only naked bodies I've seen are corpses, so..."

Not that this is news to her at this point. His shoulders pitch upwards in a shrug, and his brows steeple together in an apologetic smile. Don't look at the butt.

"You'll...forgive me if I screw up...yeah?"

She pauses and listens, considers for a moment. Then, she relents and settles back down in the tub. She really didn't want to add any reason for him to be upset, whether it's changing or not changing. In the end, she just wants to relax and maybe talk a little about what they'd seen.

"If you can forgive me as well. I saw a lot of naked bodies in the military; you learn then not to make it a big deal because there are other, greater things going on." Like, making sure they don't become naked corpses.

"You're sure you'll be alright? I don't mind changing."

There's a slow pause. He gets it, kind of, like--a medical doctor that's seen enough naked bodies to not think of them as anything other than the norm.

Which means... "Not sure what I'd be forgivin' ya for. Not staring?"

He crouches so that he can sink into the water as she gets back in, letting the water level come up to his chin.

"Reckon I'll get over it," he answers honestly. He's not exactly brimming with confidence, but he does mean to try his best.

In turn she's making sure she's submerged up to her shoulders - a small compromise.

"Apologizing for making things uncomfortable. I assumed it would be alright, and I should have asked." Maybe he's the one that needed space this time, like she had after dancing. "As you saw earlier, I'm ... not exactly the best with people."

She's spent more time pushing them out than letting them in; it stands to reason she'd mess something up in her endeavors to change her own routine.

Junkrat arches a brow at Fareeha. She is awfully prone to taking responsibility, huh?

"It's not yer fault that I'm not used ta ... this kinda thing."

She wouldn't know, even after being in his head. He never spent any time dwelling on it. There were always far more pressing concerns. He huffs a chortle out at her "best with people" line.

"And people ain't the best with me neither, so we're made fer each other."

He means it just as a joke, but...

"Speakin' of. I know the two of us get along like a house on fire, but I want to lay somethin' out. Full disclosure." He holds up his hands again, but only a few fingertips actually breach the surface of the water. "If ya tell anyone about the treasure, I will kill you."

It's not a threat. He's not even angry. The fact that he says it so casually makes it sound all the more committed.

"Nothin' personal, but I bet ya figured that out. Shiela with yer background, I'm sure ya know what ya saw, and why I can't let anyone know about it."

House on fire. She can't help but smile a little at that particular phrasing. He goes on, though, and starts talking about the treasure and her expression goes a little more somber. She's not upset, does't seem angry or scared at his proclamation. Still, she has to give it some thought. If they were back at home - if she were still running with Helix - she'd have carted his ass in long ago and she certainly wouldn't be keeping information like this to herself.

But the fact of the matter - one of the main reasons she was able to sit here with him, in a tub, naked, pretending to be an intimate couple - was that this expressly wasn't their world. The treasure, still in the ruins of the Australian Omnium, had little pull or interest here.

Eventually, she shrugs. "I don't think it much matters out here. Your secret is safe with me."

"Matters ta me."

He believes her. He...trusts her, hesitantly but truly.

"Only so many years can go by with it bein' the reason why half the world wants ta put me arse on the barbie and turn it in for cash." His serious tone eventually swaps back to something more amused. "Among other things, but I take full responsibility for those."

A long, lanky arm reaches across the tub to pick up his drink and take a mouthful of the half-melted icy concoction.

"But I don't know who among us is from our world, and I don't want them goin' back knowin' what's still in there, even if they're stupid enough ta try ta get at it."

Traps. The omnium is riddled with them, to the point that only he, and perhaps Roadhog, would know how to navigate it in one piece. Even if they brought in heavy machinery to uproot it by force, it would still end poorly.

"We go back with this knowledge, you do realize once I'm with Helix I will have to take you in." It's not a threat to reveal the treasure to her superiors, but it's not a promise not to, either. She wouldn't reveal it for money, or prestige, but if it meant saving people she wouldn't hesitate.

"However, I can guarantee that no one here will hear it from me."

"Hm."

Junkrat's mouth pulls downward, brows knitting upward and considering the sentiment with compromised approval. A grim reminder that if the context was different, she'd view him as nothing more than a standard criminal.

"Fair."

No one could say he didn't own up to it, at least, and he doesn't take it personally. Even if he got caught, it doesn't mean he'd stay put. He's escaped before, and he'd do it again. His mouth pulls comes back up in a genial smile.

"S'pose all I could hope for is that I've made enough of a good impression ta get a head start."

He's not asking for it. Just planting the idea in her head. That's all.

Edited 2017-05-11 19:27 (UTC)

She smiles back and picks up her drink. "Don't disappoint and make it easy on me."

And that's not to say he couldn't still change her mind. There's no specific time limit on how long they'll be here, and the potential remains for him to sway her fully one way or the other.

Currently she's trying to focus on the here and now; she'd deal with home when necessary. She takes a drink, then sets the glass down and slips further into the water so she can rest her head against the edge. They'd seen a lot today, and it's all still running through her head.

"You won't tell anyone about my mother, right?" In comparison, it seems like a trivial thing to ask, but since they're making requests she just wants to know it's something she won't have to answer about from the others.

Edited 2017-05-11 19:28 (UTC)

"Wouldn't dream of it, love." He gives her a lopsided smirk and a wink. He would especially make it hard on her, just to see her best. After all, a journey isn't about the destination - it's the adventure. He probably wouldn't even try to kill her, just to make the chase last.

"Nah," he answers, honestly and flatly, before taking a sip of his drink. "Not my place ta tell someone else's story. Fer what it's worth..."

He trails off, trying to remember his conversation with Widowmaker some time ago.

"Are ya sure Overwatch would've been best for ya?" He quickly holds up a hand defensively. "I'm not meanin' ta question yer judgment but from what I understand, anyone in Overwatch ended up with plenty of blood on their hands. Or, rather I should say, oil. And from what I saw, it looks like yer a bleedin' heart fer the damned things."

She wouldn't want to admit it but ... a chase like that could be pretty exhilarating. She focuses on her drink as he goes quiet, and then stills herself as he continues. She freezes, feeling a familiar burn of indignation and defensiveness. She's matured, however, and takes the time to turn and set her drink back down, and settle comfortably again before answering.

"I thought it would have been, but then again I never thought it could have suffered the death it did. Sometimes ... I do wonder if I could have made a difference. If I had been an agent, could I have seen it coming? Could I have caught the culprits and ensured its survival?" She shrugs. "There's not much sense in dwelling on those thoughts, though; what's done is done."

She falls thoughtfully quiet again as she muses over his last comment. She figured they were going to broach it eventually ... "I treat any Omnic like I treat any human; I have not found them to be any more or less righteous or sinister than we have the capacity to be. I understand your distrust, and I won't lecture you about accepting them. But ... what you saw ... it was hard for me to experience that; Okoro was no less reliable than any of my human compatriots. Anubis, however, I had no regrets bringing its destruction."

"Still carved yer own path," he says in agreement, backing up against his own side of the tub and pulling back his elbows to rest across the edge of it. Besides, the nature of the world, and the state of Omnic and human relations at the moment--is Overwatch what the world needs?

"Eh. I'm all right with this Okoro bloke," he says, waving a hand dismissively with an amused grin. "After all, I'm all fer a robot that includes the feature ta off himself."

It comes out like a joke because he means to be one--even with his hatred of omnics aside, he can't help but poke fun at death. But this was someone that Fareeha considers as (what Junkrat equates to) a friend. What if Roadhog died, and someone talked about him like that to Junkrat's face?

As soon as the realization dawns on him, he winces.

"--Chroist."

He hides his face in his free hand. He's not even going to try to backpedal and try to turn it into something that sounds better.

"I didn't mean it like that. I didn't--I'm sorry. That he knew how ta stop himself before he hurt ya. That's--I respect that."

Junkrat gives her a surprisingly anxious and timid look. He really, really doesn't mean to piss her off with his off-colour bedmanner, it's just how he deals with things in his own way.

"I kind of had to, no one really left me with any other options." When her mother started trying to discourage her from Overwatch, it wasn't with the suggestion of anything else; it was up to Fareeha to sink or swim on her own terms, and after everything she'd been brought up believing, sink wasn't an option.

She's a little surprised when he mentions being okay with Okoro, but then the next words out of his mouth catch her in a weird place. By now she's used to him just saying whatever comes to mind, and she knows it's not always going to be something pleasant, but this was getting a little too personal. She glances away and clenches her jaw as she lets the moment have some space, listening to Junkrat's apology and only half-hearing it. Having experienced that mission earlier in the magitech stone circle and then talking about it now is bringing it back to life, and it's not exactly old news. The attack on Anubis had been her most recent engagement with Helix before arriving here, so altogether it's only been a few months. Okoro, Khalil, everyone lost on that mission - they're still fresh wounds.

She looks over at Junkrat - hurt, disappointment, though no anger - and wonders for a moment if there's anything she can say to assure him she's alright, but she can't, because she isn't.

Okoro had been a friend, and he could have been family - but she hadn't learned that lesson in time.

"It's fine." She mutters, softly, throwing back the rest of her drink as an excuse to get out of the pool and pour herself another, affording herself a little time to breathe. "I'll be right back."

Junkrat is carefully studying her body language and expression. He's never been that great at reading people, but that doesn't mean he can't try to figure out just how badly he'd fucked up.

He's still not sure by the time she gets out of the water, still watching her carefully, and through all of his intensity he doesn't realize that he's ended up staring at her ass at some point. Huh. That regular exercise of hers really does make a differ--

Shit.

Suddenly the side of the room becomes the new most fascinating thing in line of sight. Yeah, hurt her feelings and then stare at her rear. He's on a roll so far and he doesn't want to be on it at all.

Fortunately for him, she doesn't notice this latest transgression as she's facing forward and focusing on pouring herself another rum and coke. Part of her wonders if she really should be having another one, but a greater part of her doesn't care and just wants to chase the hurt away.

Maybe it was too soon to talk about, not for him - but for her. She spends longer pouring her drink than what it should logically take; pouring the rum, taking a moment, pouring the coke, taking a moment, adding one, no, three ice cubes, standing and staring down at it while she thinks about those she lost. It's opened a new fissure of grief, and that's about the last thing she wants to deal with right now.

Not that she's ever really been good at dealing with grief.

She takes as long as she needs to bottle it back down, then picks up her drink and returns - a little more sober but still willing to stick it out with him.

Edited 2017-05-13 06:29 (UTC)

She's deliberately slow, and he can see the pain in her movements. He might be people-stupid, but he's not blind, even through his peripheral vision. His eyes fall as he lets out a soft, disappointed breath. His attention gets caught at the empty bowl that his pseudo-popcorn came in, and a half-baked idea hatches in his head.

He picks up the bowl and looks at it. It's glass, or something a lot like glass, carved with sharp edges into fine-detailed facets that catch light in interesting ways. After studying it for a few minutes, he turns it upside-down, and puts it on his head. Junkrat sinks into the water until the edge of the bowl is flush with it, making it look like the bowl was just floating on the surface.

In the dim light of the bathroom, the crystal facets of the bowl catch the bright firelight coming from the ends of his hair, scattering dancing warm lights against the water, the edge of the tub, and the rocks surrounding its perimeter.

Fareeha is learning one very important thing about Junkrat; he is the absolute embodiment of unknown. Just when she thinks she's got him figured out, he will say or do something to throw her for a loop.

This is probably the biggest loop she's gotten yet. She stops at the edge of the pool, and it takes her a moment to register just what's going on. It's really quite beautiful, the way the light from his hair is thrown about by the bowl, sparking and dancing against the surface of the pool and the surrounding tile, along the walls and against the gauzy curtain over the windows.

It's enough of an unexpected sight to completely interrupt her earlier thoughts, and there's the slightest relaxation in her face and shoulders. She steps carefully back into the pool, watching him with a quizzical expression as she resumes her seat. Is this an apology, or an attempt to cheer her up?

Either way, she decides it doesn't matter; it's enough to get her to smile again - tired, and it's slow to reach her eyes - but it's something.

Edited 2017-05-13 11:32 (UTC)

It's kinda both, even though he doesn't realize it. He just wants to see her smile again, and be a little silly to boot.

He can't see it like this, though. Her appearance is fragmented from his perspective, broken up by the facets of the glass, but he dares not peek out from under it until she's back in the water, waiting patiently--and holding his breath the entire time.

When she's back to her shoulders in the water, his hand comes up and tilts the edge of the bowl upward like a hat, and seeing her own smile brings one out in him too. Even though his mouth is under the water, it shines plenty through his eyes.

There's more to life than suffering.

Seeing him peek out at her while remaining partially submerged, and seeing the expression on his face (or at least what she can see of his face), helps to further pull her from her own head. Her smile grows, and she finally chuckles. It ends with a heavy sigh - something cathartic, like she's shedding something off instead of letting out a noise of exasperation.

"Alright, you win." Not that there's really any contest going on, but he did make her smile and right now, that counts for a lot. "Let's ... talk about something else."

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