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

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."

Junkrat immediately stands upright, sending the calm water into a chaotic slosh that ripples and tosses water over the sides of the pool. He's a bit taller than what the water level can manage to keep decent on its own.

"I won!" he declares, holding his arms up in victory, bowl canted to the side still on his head. It slips off and falls into the water with a kar-PLUNK but he's too busy holding up his arms in victory to bother saving it from its watery fate.

"Wait."

He brings his arms down so he can scratch at his temple curiously.

"...What did I win?"

Edited 2017-05-14 06:37 (UTC)

There's the barest flick of her eyes downward and when she realizes the water doesn't quite cover the essentials she darts them back upward for a hard focus on his face, her own cheeks flushing warmly. She's a soldier, and she's a professional, but it's been easy when they're standing on equal ground not to be distracted by other things.

Having it just about at eye level is something else entirely.

But, through it all, she's smiling easier and there's actual mirth in her voice.

"Bragging rights? Not everyone can turn an Amari around as quick."

Edited 2017-05-14 08:08 (UTC)

He catches the flicker of movement of her eyes. Oh...right. The whole naked thing.

Junkrat immediately drops himself back into the water, sending a second wave through the still-upset water, slightly flushed as well but looking no less dampened because of it.

"Didn't know there was a runnin' fer that, but I'll take it."

He runs his (full) foot against the floor of the pool and manages to get a grip on it with his toes on the rim and bring it back to the surface. Apparently his dexterity doesn't all lie in his fingers and hands, but they do reach out to take the bowl from himself, invert it to dump out the water that remains in it, then places it back on the rim of the pool.

"Said ya wanted ta talk about somethin' else - had somethin' in mind?"

A little chuckle at his antics, a little shift and hands up to keep the wave from splashing her in the face, but it's more for show than function.

"No, I hadn't really planned that far ahead." She shrugs, it was more an attempt to get away from the previous subject matter than a desire to chew over a specific topic. She thinks for a moment about the mission, the resort, what they'd seen already that didn't extend to the memory-sharing event.

"What do you think the testing grounds will be like?"

Ooh. Heist planning! His specialty.

"Well!"

With a gusto he settles back into the bench-like carving under the water, animating his explanation with wild, passionate gesticulation.

"They ain't real keen on providin' any kinda sneak-peeks or tours of the place, so I don't know what the layout of the place is specifically speakin'. So, I've been evesdroppin' on the locals and the other guests ta try ta get an idea of what we'd be up against in there, and it sounds like it's gonna be a pretty basic survival test. Between the two of us, we got this in the bag, so I'm actually not that worried, especially considerin' that I've been hearin' that it rarely takes more than three days, if ever. So more of a hike than a survival test, ta be honest.

"So the idea is that once we get through the entrance, we're on our own ta get the mountain in the distance. I'm sure y've noticed it in passin'? The artefacts we're supposed to find are somewhere between the entrance and the mountain, but I ain't heard anyone describe what they look like. Our phones're supposed'ta be able ta detect them, though, so we'll be all set fer that. All we're really here for is the artefacts, but if we choose to scale the mountain, there's apparently some unique plants up there that we gotta cover our bodies in ta complete the ritual, then head back to the entrance and that's it!"

After the nonstop verbal batter, his hands finally come to a stop and rest under the water. There's a deafening few seconds of silence as he stares at Fareeha with an intense, expectant look on his face, until...

"Ya need me ta repeat any of that?"

Fareeha isn't sure what kind of answer she was expecting, but this certainly wasn't it. Maybe something a little less fervent, or not quite so involved. It's another ~~not so subtle~~ reminder about who is is and what he's done, but once she gets over the initial shock at the barrage of information, she listens to his briefing just like she would a Helix operation.

Which means that, no, he doesn't need to repeat a thing.

"I think I've got it. Rehashing my survival training days in basic, easy. Scan for artifacts, quick jaunt up the mountain," Because if they're doing this they're certainly not half-assing it, "leisurely stroll back to the entrance. It'll be nice to get out into the wilds and rough it for a few days."

Now that's her idea of a vacation.

"That's what I'm sayin!" he exclaims, lighting up even more than he already was. "First big mission and we get ta show off our survivalist skills! It's absolutely rippah!"

A pause, and he deflates a little.

"Well, it's my first, anyway. I dunno what ya been up to."

...Weren't the just in each other's memories? DId he not remember or did it just not cover that? He hasn't the slightest idea, but they both seem equally likely.

"It'll be my second. I had to fight a dragon and an evil sorceress straight out of a fairy tale last time. I haven't gotten a chance to use my powers yet, though ... admittedly, sometimes I forget I have them."

She's at least practiced in the training room so she knows how they're triggered, but when she gets in the heat of the moment she reverted back to military training and tactics. "But I think you're right; between the two of us, we're heading into the easiest part of the mission."

She gives him a smug smile as she leans back against the edge and takes up her drink again. ~~Famous last words~~.

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