Expanding on this chapter was tricky. At first, I thought about expanding the runaround and chat between Nathan and Frank. But then realized this chapter held an opportunity I wouldn't have in a future chapter. One of them is a faint introduction to a future protagonist, and the other, expanding my OC female Engineer's personality.
Those men took him and the children to a sort of freighter, showed them below deck, and only allowed outside at certain hours. Nathan is not sure what time it happens; unfortunately, he has lost all kinds of sense of time. All he knows, they have sailed for quite some time and the hope to get away from his captors dims. There's no way he can flee in this situation, for even in a boat, he wouldn't fare well against the ocean. Watching the sea from the porthole window, not any sort of land in sight, and Nathan can't help but wonder: 'Where are we going? Are we even in American waters?' Questions he cannot answer on his own, and it's not like the crew are going to answer him.
"Alright kids, time to stretch your legs!" The man who's been tasked to keep an eye on them calls from the now open door. The children slowly get up, their legs are stiff from sitting for hours, and Nathan admits that he too is quite stiff, but mostly just plain bored. He turns away from the porthole window and joins the children leaving this depressive room. Passing their current prison guard— a red-haired man with a greyhound for a daemon, one who has been giving him weird vibes from how he is around the children. Nathan has to resist the urge to punch this guy in the face just to get some relief from the tension his body got built up.
They get up on deck, up to some nice sunny weather, which is a godsend after they have been stuck down in that damp and gloomy room from what felt like forever. Nathan watches the children wander aimlessly around the deck, out of fear keeping their distance from their kidnappers. Nathan does not blame them, several of these people are huge and at least two of them got some scary daemons. One of them is a mountain of a man, grey like one too, but that didn't remove the scare factor from his huge wolf daemon. Nathan and the children learned quickly that getting in that guy's path is a terrible idea. That mountain has no patience for any of them and has shoved a child harshly aside, making the kid scrape his knee over the deck-floor. Nathan had tried to protect the kid, but all that got him was a beating he can still feel. So yeah, bad idea to piss that guy off.
The other guy with a scary daemon is one Nathan doubts knows the word 'haircut' for that guy's hair is all over the face, only nose and those beady dead-dark eyes can be seen through that mane of hair. His daemon wasn't much better. No idea what the species is called, only that she is a big ass lizard— almost looking like a dragon if not for the lack of wings and fire breath. This mane-head guy didn't speak much, but when he did, he always did it to make a deadly point not to screw with him. Freaking scary and here Nathan thought some of Lokk's members were mental. Yeah, they got nothing compared to that guy.
Of course, there are others but none really stand out to Nathan, so he mostly ignores them. Instead, he focuses on putting this small plan he got into action. It is risky, but Nathan would rather put up some sort of resistance than just sit and let these people take him and the children to who knows where. He glances down to Nalini; she's busy chewing off a rope, one he's planning on using to this plan of his. Has been slow progress, Nathan knew he couldn't stand around too long at the time in the risk these people will notice his attempt.
"Got it." Nalini calls quietly, and he dares to steal a glance over to her. The rope is free from the mast and looks long enough for this plan of his. "Good, be sure to hide it." He whispers back. Nalini takes her terrier-mix form and carefully drags it over to a cluster of barrels, hiding it between them. With it set, Nathan leaves and walks over to the children clustered together. He notices one of the girls look ready to cry. "You all right?" He asks her.
The girl shakes her head and while hugging her kitten shaped daemon. "I miss my mom…" Nathan kneels down so he's at her level, she meets his with her teary-eyed brown eyes. "I wanna go home."
"Me too." He replies softly. Oh he would love to get back home, be with his family, even if half of them drives him insane. But he— and the kids know that's not going to happen anytime soon. Nathan has often dreamed about leaving Boston, see more of New France or the world. But not like this… he eyes the people who took them away from their loved ones. The man with the greyhound daemon is kneeling down before some other kids, but whatever he says makes the kids uncomfortable, and when he notices Nathan is staring. The guy replies with a smug smirk, as if thinking he can do whatever without fear of punishment.
It made his blood boil. Before Nathan knew, he has stormed over and punched the guy right in the face.
Took the asshole off guard but quick to retaliate. Nathan cries in pain from having his hand bend further than it normally should. "Think you can get away with this, you little shit?!" The man demands enraged, Nathan is not going to surrender that easily. Ignoring the pain, he kicks the man right in the stomach, hard enough for the man to let go and drop wheezing on the ground.
Seeing the man like this gives Nathan a nice shot of confidence, "Not much of a tough guy now!" he turns to leave but stops when the mane-man is looming right before him. His confidence plummets at the sight of this guy and before he can react. The man hits him over the leg, hard enough for Nathan to cry out in pain and drop to the ground, but fortunately, not enough to break bones.
The man steps onto his leg, hard enough for it to hurt. "Do that again and I will break every bone in your legs." The mane-man increases the force onto his leg and it takes every fiber in Nathan not to start crying out from the pain. "They only wanted you alive." With those words, the man steps away, pulls the one he punched up, and leaves with no further words. The redhead with the greyhound sends him a death-stare before he leaves too.
Nathan gets up in a sitting position, unsure if he can stand from how much his leg hurts. He did fairly easily brush the threat aside, although in the back of his mind, well aware that these people didn't do bluffing, mane-guy especially. Nalini steps up beside him "Was it worth it?" she asks deadpan, but not judging, all because; "Hell yeah." he replies his daemon. Not a sliver of regret from has picked that fight, the greyhound freak will now think twice before approaching the kids with him around.
Nalini smirks in return, does however fade as she turns her gaze to the big-ass lizard. "Too bad Mr hair-due has to ruin it." Nathan nods in agreement.
Some of the children walk over, the girl that felt terrible homesick takes a seat beside him. One of the girls that the greyhound guy freaked out tells him quitely. "You shouldn't have done it..."
"Hut I wanted." He retorts cheekily, and it did make some of the boys' smile. Eyeing each of the children, Nathan is reminded why he will put his reckless plan to action; because of them. "Don't worry, I got beating worse from my Ma than that guy." It's a lie, his mother has never hit them; she was way more creative with her punishments for such a thing. But it did the trick by calming the kids down that he's alright and not dealing with a very sore leg from the small beating he received.
They were hauled down in that dreary room again about an hour later, Nathan limped on the way, much to the guy he punched amusement. "That's what you get picking fights with the likes of us." Although Nathan wanted to throw a snarky remark back, he held his tongue. Afraid if he did, he accidentally revealed that he was faking his injury. It hurts sure, but not enough to cause a limp. Back inside the room, Nathan takes a seat on what he and the kids have used for beds, but Nathan wouldn't call them that. More a slap of sheets and flimsy mattresses that didn't help at all to soften the hard wooded floor.
The hours ahead are incredibly boring, and like most of the other kids, Nathan ends up falling asleep from sheer boredom. Like any other night, he wakes and would've lie there and think about home until the guard would bring them canned food. But not tonight. Nathan quietly gets up and heads over to the porthole window. Usually, it would only get opened if it gets too hot down here, but tonight, this window will play a more significant role. Nathan opens it and Nalini takes her hawk form, flies out from it and not long after, the rope appears from the porthole window. Nathan grabs it but waits for Nalini to signal him it is safe to climb. He gets it through the link they share, a sense that she got it tighten. Nathan puts the rope into his mouth since he's going to need both hands for this. Nathan climbs out from the window, it is bit of a struggle as he needed to jump to properly reach the porthole, and he has to be incredibly careful due to the fact that one misstep and he will fall into the ocean. Halfway out, Nathan turns so he sits inside the window opening. He grabs the rope but hesitates. He has never climbed up a rope before, and that realization hits him hard that very moment. Nathan glances down to the waters, the ocean is still, but that does not change the fact that he won't be able to swim back home. If he falls, he will be a goner. "You can do it." Nalini's voice from above, Nathan looks up to his cat-shaped daemon, looking down to him from the deck with those glowing eyes thanks to the moon's light. "It's just like climbing a tree."
Yeah, only that he got one branch to think about. Taking a deep breath, Nathan tightens his grip around the rope and begins to climb. When his feet leave the window and all his weight gets put onto his hands, Nathan realizes that this ISN'T like climbing a tree. "Shit shit shit…." He curses under his breath but still continues this agonizing climb, mostly because Nathan does not think he can get back inside.
The moment he gets hold on the railing, Nathan frantically pulls himself up and away from the edge, SO happy that's over. He drops to the floor, "That was… terrifying…!" he yell-whispers to his daemon, she gives him a look before turning her eyes to their right. "We can't stay here." She whispers back. Nathan gets up and follows Nalini, using her night-eyes to navigates the darkened deck and hopefully avoid whoever might be patrolling.
They head over to what Nathan presume is the navigation room, he crawls under the large windows and at the door, Nalini takes a mouse shape where she nudges herself under the door. "It's safe." He hears her call. Nathan grabs the lockpick he managed to make from a small piece of metal lying around on deck. Picking locks comes as second nature, a trick Peter taught him before he and Ian left home. Something Nathan has put to good use over the years, but this is by far the most nerve-racking lock picking moment of his life. Unlike school or using a backdoor to make a sneak attack on Lokk's members, this time around, Nathan knows that if he's caught. He might compromise the lives of the children— kids, he promised to keep safe.
'Click' Nathan freezes up, hesitates, but slowly reaches for the door-handle and… it opens. At first glance, Nathan can see this is where the ship itself will be controlled. There is a huge rotor in the middle of this room, surrounded by all kinds of what he presumes are computers for navigation.
"There's no-one inside." Nalini tells him. Nathan quickly steps inside and closes the door after himself; at least then he won't awaken too much suspicion.
Nalini takes a hawk shape and starts flying around the room, "Over here." she calls and lands near a table where something Nathan has seen his oldest brother, Leon, used back when he was living at home. It's a radio meant for communication. Nathan takes the papers lying around, noticing they all got numbers in the corner. Checking the radio, he can see a small number keyboard. "So, if I enter these numbers. I can call the people?" He asks his daemon.
She spreads out her wings with; "Probably, but I don't think you should call any of those." Agree with that, so Nathan, with no clear idea how that thing works, pushes several bottoms and then puts a random code. The small speakers start spewing static, he tries a new number and voices appear, but none he understands. So again, he does more random numbers and for a moment, mistakes this new humming for another sort of static.
That until: "This is team 23. Identify yourself." A male voice with a strange accent speaks. Nathan frantic tries to respond but apparently, he has to push some sort of button for his voice to be received. This person on the other end, did not seems to like the silent treatment. "Indentify yourself now." This male voice sounds tense, wary most likely.
Nathan pushes a button before what looks like a weird microphone. "Can you hear me now?" He asks, hoping this time it will work.
A moment of silence, "Identify yourself." the man repeats slowly.
"Um, you mean like a team?" Nathan asks and admits straight away, "I'm not part of the military, but I really could use some help."
"Yeah, I'd heard that before. Nice try boyo." The man responds, now sounding amused. "Better luck next time, Magisterium scum."
Nathan slams on the bottom, crying out. "No, no wait!" He can't let all of this trouble be for nothing, not when this might be possible help. "I'm not part of the Magisterium. Fifteen kids and I got taken from our families, and now they are sailing us to who knows where!"
Silence
"Please, I need help." Nathan begs. He can't save the kids on his own and who knows what will happen to them when they reach their destination. "I… I can't do this alone…" Which is hard to admit, Nathan has grown up thinking he needs to learn quickly or be left behind. But this is way bigger than learning how to get over a fence to escape some angry mutt.
"Alright, I believe you." The voice responds and so sincere that Nathan is close to cry from sheer relief that he got people to help him out instead of being left behind as feared. "You said you're on a ship? Can you see a map where you are?"
He turns around and scans the room for such a thing. Nathan spots one near a large compass at one of the tables. He pushes the button to this other person, "Yeah, besides a big-ass compass."
"Good, check it. It should give you an idea of where you are."
Nathan walks over and at first, confused at all the lines drawn onto this map, but slowly, he starts figuring out which of these lines belong to the ship he's on. When sure, he speaks to the man on the radio. "Uh okay, I'm not great at map reading, but it looks like the ship is approaching Europe— but I don't know where they will stop."
"Look at the compass." The man tells him. "Where does it point?"
"Keep the button down," He tells Nalini, she does, and Nathan checks the compass. "Uhh, it's between North and East." Nalini removes her paw from the button, allowing the man on the radio to speak.
"Closest to which?"
"East," He responds and asks, "does that help?"
"It will give us an idea." The man replies, and after a moment of silence "How likely is it you can keep communication?"
"Uh, not sure. I kinda pushed on random bottoms." Nathan admits and doubts he can remember the radio code for this person.
"Right, and I doubt the boss would appreciate I gave our signal code to strangers." Nathan is not sure, but a small chuckle left his lips at what sounded a bit like a sarcastic joke. em"It does make things harder." The man muses, and after a moment of silence "We will try and reach you—"
Right that moment, the door slams open and the mountain-man barges in. He got a murderous glare and a sneer equal to his daemon. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Nathan freezes up at the sudden interruption, allowing the man to conclude: "Trying to figure out where you're heading?! You will find out soon enough."
The wolf daemon lunges out after Nalini. She leaps off the table the last second, dodging the teeth of that beast and avoids her ferocity further by turning into a swallow and sticking to the ceiling. The mountain-man barges over to Nathan, but misses as Nathan does not have in mind to go quietly.
If he's going to get beaten to a pulp, then he's going out with a bang! "Catch me if you can rock-for-brains!" He calls and speeds out from the room.
"Get back here, you little freak!" The man shouts back, and seconds later, a loud siren starts blaring. Most likely going to wake the whole ship.
Nathan knows it's only a matter of time before they will catch him, but until then, he will make life hard for these thugs. He speeds down the deck and has to change direction when the guy he punched appears from the door the crew most likely were sleeping. This guy tries to grab him, but all he got is air as Nathan saw him a mile away. "Too slow! Try sneaking the next time— if you know what that means!" Nathan runs over to the large crates and quickly climbs onto them; several more of these people arrive, but other than trying to reach or curse at him. They don't do much else.
'Looks like they can't shoot at me.' Nathan observes, so it seems whoever wants him needs him alive. Well, in that case, "Are you even trying?!" He mocks these people and just to be a bit more annoying, he leaps down and dodges each of them, yes, even the mountain-man, who is slower than the rest. Nathan stops in the middle of the deck and runs on the spot, taunting them; "Come on guys! I'm not even winded!" the man with the giant lizard charges over to him, did look scary— for about three seconds. Then he just looked pathetic as that guy's daemon clearly isn't meant for fast sprints and forces her human to slow down. Nathan mocks him by leaning up against the mast, having a wide grin over his face. "Nice hustle chucklehead, you really know how to make someone feel nervous." And right before the man can reach him, Nathan runs off and speeds over to the other mast. He can climb up at that one and it will give him— a jolt of pain hits him and Nathan loses all control over his body, making him fall like a ragdoll into some nearby crates. They didn't break, only left him with a lot of nasty splinters and bruises. His whole body hurts, and from how his muscles cramps up, Nathan is reminded of the time when Dean dared him to grab an electric fence— except this is way more painful than a horse fence!
"Did you kill him?" The huge man asks, in such a manner that he hoped it would've been the case.
Nathan groans, wishing he could say out loud: 'sorry to disappoint' but it hurts too much for such cheek. "Still alive, pity." the mountain-man grumbles.
"I merely stunned him." Someone Nathan hasn't heard before speaks but the accent does sound awfully familiar. Brain still too fried from this stun to really focus though."Take him to the guest room."
"Are you fucking joking?" The large man asks, he does not sound at all happy about this. "He deserves a prisoner's treatment."
"I agree with Paul." Oh oh, it's the lizard man… "but…" a moment of silence. "The Magisterium could use someone like him. More so when he got in contact with the terrorists." Wait, was that man part of the same group Dell and that Kingdom of Auister guy? Nathan turns his head, it hurts like hell but does allow him to meet the eyes of those three. The mountain looks like he rather wants him dead, the one with the familiar accent is looking awfully passive, and the giant-lizard man. Well, it's hard to know what he's thinking, all Nathan knows that he does not like that look at all.
"Take him." The mane-hair man commands and reluctantly, the big guy picks him up and carries him away. Nathan is in too much pain to struggle against him. The man brings him back to a room. Much nicer than the one he's been trapped in, but also removed him from the children. The mountain-man throws him onto the bed, Nathan cries out from the pain, which the man ignores and leaves the room. Grumbling under his breath all the way.
Not long after, the passive acting man steps inside. He closes the door and still facing said door. "You really don't know when to quit, do you boy?"
Right there, Nathan realizes why the accent was so familiar. It's the same accent Dell has! This guy comes from Texan as well. Slowly sitting up, his body still aches from whatever this guy did to him. "Nope." He replies in the same deadpan way Naira does when Dell would get cheeky. The man, quite old by the looks of it and although he has strong arms like Dell, he's way rounder than the Texan Nathan is used to deal with. This old man raises a brow under that sun-hardhat of his, clearly not amused by this cheek. Nathan is about to fire more cheek but forgets about it when he notices that this guy's daemon is also a beaver. Not golden like Naira, though, this one is just plain brown and seems quite interested in the floor. "Huh, looks like a beaver is normal for Texan people." He remarks to himself and rolling his aching shoulders to relieve some of the pain.
"What in Sam hill were you thinking boy?" The man asks, Nathan freezes up from how similar the man said that sentence in the same way Dell would've when he got to work bruised from a fight. "Are you trying to get yourself—"
"Shut up!" Nathan snaps; he can't take that this guy sounds like Dell when trying to lecture him. What's up with this old geezer? Is he trying to get under his skin by sounding like one who has been a surrogate father figure for him? "Don't you lecture me like he does! You don't know me, I sure hell not planning getting all buddy-buddy with you pal!" Nalini turns into a cat and starts hissing at the calm sitting beaver. "So what about you take your Texan ass, roll up sideways and shoot yourself with that stun-gun of yours." And Nathan drops back onto the bed, it is soft and nice, which is a good change. "I ain't interested in talking with you."
The old man does not move from his spot. Just standing there as if he blew a fuse under that hardhat of his. Then, "I don't know what possessed him, but he sure didn't do a good job raising you."
Wait, did this guy think Dell… adopted him? Nalini snorts a short laugh, and he too grins at what this guy thought. "Ha! Yeah right—" then something hit him. "Wait," Nathan sits back up, surprised by what he realized. "you know Dell? What," He laughs, "you're his dad or something?"
The guy barely reacts other than his eyes narrow ever so slightly. "I am, name's Frank. But you can address me as Mr. Conagher." Nathan throws up his arms and drops back to the bed, clearly not the response the man wanted. "I see he didn't bother teaching you some manners."
"He's my boss, not my dad." Nathan retorts back, and if Dell's old man wanted to know. "He did teach me a few things. One of them; not take shit from anyone, less so my enemy."
"Who to say I am your enemy?" Mr. Conagher asks calmly.
"You shot me." Nathan responds, shooting him a quick glare, "and you took the other kids and me away from our families."
Mr. Conagher quietly grabs a chair and pulls it over to the bed, where he takes a seat. "I deeply apologies for the shot I had to take. You were endangering yourself with those antics." Nathan frowns, sure he knew he would've gotten hurt when caught, but did Dell's old man action save him from broken bones? Maybe… "And for why you were taken," Nathan notices Mr. Conagher is eyeing the growling Nalini. "I admit our ways might be considered harsh, but it's the only way. The children's parents have dangerous viewpoints, something that could cause a lot of trouble for our society in the future. That's why we have removed the children from their parents' toxic manipulation, so we can bring them to a safer and calmer environment, where we will educate them."
"Why not educate the parents?" Nalini asks and Nathan adds from the confusion he feels about what this old man had said. "Why take me? My family never cared much about the Church."
Mr. Conagher frowns down to his daemon. "Restrain yourself from letting your daemon do the talking. It's very disrespectful you see."
"Naira does it all the time." Nathan points out.
"An unfortunate side effect." Mr. Conagher muses to himself, he puts his hands onto his lap. Nathan wonders if this how a grandfather would look if talking to a misbehaving child. "For your question. We cannot educate the parents; their views are set as their daemon's shape."
"What's that suppose to mean?" He asks, confused about that statment.
But the old man ignores that question and continues; "that is why we had to step in now. Before the sin of the parents set. As for you," Mr. Conagher eyes him with his duller blue compared to Dell's eyes, they seem less alive compared to his boss. "We want to cure you."
"From what?"
"Whatever that's keeping your daemon from settling." Mr. Conagher replies simply. Nathan eyes his daemon and she returns the look with a nervous one. Mr. Conagher's daemon steps over to her and Nalini hisses at her before jumping up to him in her dog form. Nathan is not sure how to respond to this old man's words, honestly conflicted. On one hand, he likes Nalini to have many forms, but on the other… Nathan wants to be normal. He is sick and tired of been looked at as a freak-show.
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Getting water in this area is tricky to say the least. There is a small well not far from this abandoned mine but not knowing what lurks out there, could be walking into a trap for all she knows. Still go there she must and Chio is planning on surviving the trip, but she's not stupid. She brought her team's Heavy with her, with him as an extra pair of eyes and their daemon— both got a keen sense of smell, it will be hard for anything to get the jump on them. At the well, Chio hands her daemon the rope and Indodana pull the bucket up, allowing her to use both hands when pouring the underground water into the water sacks. While she does that, Heavy quietly scans the area, his wild boar sniffing the ground for possible dangers. With the three sacks full, "Let's go." she calls. Heavy looks at her, and they both head back. Making sure to walk on rocks as often as they can.
Back at their makeshift base, Chio passes the Nomad Sniper, currently napping with his rifle right beside him. His kestrel daemon is awake and on the lookout, 'He's been in this fight for a long time.' Chio observes. Only members that have been part of the resistance for over a year will get the habit of sleeping when they can and always have a weapon nearby. She and what remains of her team have the same habit, something that has kept them alive. But that sniper is clearly a veteran, for Chio hasn't met anyone whose daemon will be awake while one is sleeping. Sending Heavy off with a nod, Chio walks over to where the man Jack claimed to be a Conagher, a family even she knows about. That family not only invented Anbaricity— the main power source for the Church's buildings/vehicles but also built a lot of machines that have made life hard for people like them. Chio does not care much about the Conagher family. They simply did their job, though she could do without Frank Conagher ass-kissing over the radio. She presumes the one they got here is Frank's son— or at least someone closely related. He seemed nice enough, though it does need some getting used to that his daemon does not give a darn who she's talking to.
Putting two of the sacks for the other's use, Chio brings the third to where this man is resting. She pours some of the water onto a cloth and puts it on his forehead in an attempt to ease the fever the small operation caused.
The man opens his eyes and smiles weakly, before lifting his right hand, which now got that robot limp attached. Chio will whole heartily admit; "Your grandfather is a genius," gesturing at the robot hand. "Simple in design, yet works just as an ordinary hand— perhaps better." Attaching it was fairly easy, but she does understand why this man wanted someone around. One mistake and he could've bled out as she had to cut open his wounds so to attach the machine properly.
"Yeah, he was quite genius." The man replies quietly, almost somberly. Chio has a strong idea of why he said: "was" which means this grandfather is dead. "I long wanted to live up to his image. Inventing machines that will blow people away."
"Figuratively and literally." his daemon remarks with a devious grin.
Indodana gives the beaver an unsure stare, and Chio can't help but chuckle embarrassingly at what that daemon meant. "I say you succeed on both fronts." If believing Garry, then this guy not only invented the portable sentry gun, built his retractable bow, but also the very man that teamed up with her, another Engineer from Colorado, and together invented the crucial signal. One that has become part of each member's uniform. "I have met a lot of smart people in my lifetime," Chio admits and while carefully washing the skin around the robot hand. "but never one who can build a sentry that can pack itself up and be light enough for travel. Yet strong and deadly enough keeping the enemy from steamrolling a team of nine." Eyeing the man, and she points out with a smirk. "Not to mention you were a strong contender in creating the uniform signal."
Her Aardvark daemon gives the man's beaver a friendly nudge, the golden beaver smiles up to him, which Chio sees as a great plus that this man is not trying to use their weapons against them as Scout thinks. "So, I am glad you're on our side." Washing the cloth clean, "You would've been a spectacular enemy, just like your father." She eyes the man, both glad to have him as an ally, but can also see why her team leader is wary of him. "You hold a lot a power over us, and with your family so strong Church followers." She hints, and surely he must see why Scout is nervous around him.
"Yeah… I understand. For all you know, I could be a mole." The man sighs, and his beaver tells her hard. "We might not be angels, but our father's sin is not ours." The man nods slowly and turning his new metal hand. "I think that's what my grandfather wanted." Chio is not sure what he meant by that, and she does not think it's her place to ask such a question. Dropping the hand, the man turns those strong blue eyes to her. "But you shouldn't discredit yourself because of my accomplishments. You sure taught me a thing or two about radio signals." She blinks at those words, not sure what he meant. The man smiles, friendly and warm. "I know a lot about machines, but how to control them long distance, well it was more my old man's strength. If not for you, I wouldn't have known how to create the signal for the sentry."
Really? Chio wasn't aware that she had such a large part of the signal creation. Merely thought they needed her to build the prototype, but it seems they truly needed her expertise. That's is quite the boost of confidence. "And here I thought I was merely there for moral support." Chio smirks, and he chuckles in return.
"You're more than that."
It seems like it explains why she got the Second Mark so early in her career. "I did get a lot of help from the Engineer stationed in Colorado. He got quite the knack in minimizing the machine you'd sent me." The man's smile drops and hers does as well in a dreadful realization. "Oh… he's dead?"
The man nods slowly. "Yeah, he and his team… well according to Sniper; he and his team got turned into a bonfire." That's a horrible way to die, not only did the resistance lose a great mind, but a supportive team.
She has met the people from that team a few times, and she rarely left angry with the people making up the Colorado team. "Such a pity. I really liked that guy." He was such an enthusiast man, always ready to try to fiddle with whatever he was given. It was nothing but contagious.
"Yeah, me too. I never met him in person, but he sounded like a nice guy over the radio." He replies softly, and after a moment of silence, "Did you ever meet their spy?"
"I think so." Chio is honestly not sure if that woman was the team's Spy. "I mean, I met a Spy, but she spent an awful lot of time with a Nomad Engineer— but seriously, that woman seemed to flirt with everyone, even me!" And did that chick seriously has to try and flirt with the same gender? "She was weird alright, but at least more of a tease than being an asshole." Chio admits, so she guesses that Spy wasn't all bad.
The man laughs, Chio laughs softly too, but it's hard to find much humor in it, knowing they're all gone. "It's hard, losing people like that." More so when one of those she lost was blood-related… how is she supposed to face her family with this? Maybe she's lucky they held true to their words she wasn't part of it after she left to fight alongside her older brother.
The man nods slowly, then, right as Scout passes them, he speaks, "With how easy he recognized me, I am starting to worry if any team would accept me."
This breaks those gloomy thoughts, something Chio is happy about. She will grieve later and in more private settings. "I figure every new member is going to deal with suspicion from the others. but," she smiles at now quite fond memories from how she got accepted by this team. "If you work hard and only pick necessary fights, then you should integrate into the team soon enough."
"You sound quite experienced on that subject." The man remarks.
Oh he has no idea. Chio laughs, clearly, he's not so sheltered to not see the issue with her. "Of course, just look at me." Gesturing at herself, "I am a woman and black." Getting a job other than being a slave, either to the fields or inside someone's house, Chio wouldn't have any chance to earn legit money. "Freedom does not come easy for the likes of me, respect less so. Team Fortress Resistance does, fortunately, accept colored people, but I still got my share of grief when I came to this team."
"Sorry to hear that."
She brushes his sympathy away, his indifference about her skin color is much more warranted. "Don't worry, I fairly quickly earned respect from the team." Either by hard work or a punch to the face; worked their charm each of their way. "So if I can find a place at a team, then so can you."
He smiles at this, "I take your words for it." does drop slightly when he once again turns his gaze to where Scout is standing. "Any advice on how to get on your Scout's good side?"
Yeah, she got one. "He appreciates hard work, and honesty— which might have been what saved your pale butt." Eyeing the man's daemon, who returns it with a smirk. "But I suggest you keep the remarks on how to mangle his daemon on the backburner. It's a sore subject as you can imagine."
He laughs and his daemon replies with a carefree shrug, "If it keeps the fox from yapping at me, then I guess I can play nice." She can't help but giggle at that. It seems this guy got quite the sense of humor if his daemon's personality has any indication. Chio thinks she and this Engineer will get along quite nicely.
I failed that the last time, but I want Nathan to doubt himself and question why his daemon is not like any other. I want him to be tempted by the idea of becoming like anyone else. Being abnormal can really suck if one doesn't have people to appreciate who they are, and at the moment, Nathan will be surrounded by people who want him to be like them.