As usual, sleep did not come naturally to Ezra. The nightmares consumed him and threw him to and fro. To add into this horrifying mix, he saw vague faces and it terrified him. It was their fault. Shooting up from his bed, withholding a scream, he calmly got dressed in casual clothes, walked outside the compound because the outer security was completely abysmal, and once he was far enough away, he screamed.
This time, he remembered the nightmare. It was one of the worst days of his life. There was just so much carnage. Why they were after them, it just… doesn't-didn't- make sense and perhaps it never will. Ezra was actually thankful he didn't bring his switchblade with him, or else he might have done something he would regret. Taking a few deep breaths, and finally calming down. He trudged his way back to the compound. Sneaking back in was certainly easier than sneaking out. Why though was a conundrum. Once he made it back inside to the bland walls, he went and grabbed his showering materials and went to deal with his inner turmoil.
Upon entering the bathroom, he was thankful that no one else was there yet. Perfect. No one would be able to see his face, and if someone does enter, then he brought a balaclava. Once he finishes showering and freshening up, he was going to call Eliza to at least let his older sister know that he was indeed alive and has not done something stupid… yet.
Just to be safe, Ezra put on his face covering and left just as Elliott walked in, "Morning champ, how'd ya sleep?"
"Decent," Ezra lied smoothly. No one would know about the horrid nightmares of those metal freaks… Sighing softly before looking back, "Is there a plan for breakfast, or are we on our own?"
"Normally, we're on our own, but since you're here, everyone's going to put forth an extrava- extrav- effort to impress you. Kind of a tradition we started when Nat got here. Then again, I think that was because Rae fell for her." The mention of those two made his heart clench inwardly, but Ezra, true to his surname, kept himself solid.
"Was it that obvious for them?" Ezra asked, genuinely curious.
Elliott guffawed, "Oh yes it was. They were dancing around each other for months, and even during the Games too when they got put on the same squad. It was adorable as it was sickening."
Ezra did actually watch those earlier Games, and while the camera did not stick with the pair, he did seem to notice that those two were certainly more… distant to one another. Still, he could probably…. No. They are in a committed relationship and he shouldn't try to come between it. Purposely creating animosity between the Legends was certainly frowned upon but it also wasn't avoidable in some cases. Something would happen and then things around the compound and dropship would be tense for a few weeks, and then a Game or so later, everything would somewhat return to normal. "Seems they worked it out, right?"
"Yeah, they did, anyway head to the kitchen area. Again since you're new, someone is going to make you breakfast," Elliott said before shutting the shower curtain. Ezra left the area and retreated back to his room where he got dressed in a loose leather jacket, dark navy jeans, and comfortable boots.
The walk through the compound was simple enough, just following the signs that say 'Common Area' and 'Kitchen'. Considering how close they were together, it wasn't a surprise to see six of the Legends all crowded around the kitchen island. "So, did I just walk in on a cult meeting, or is anyone invited?"
The faces of Octavio, Ajay, Anita, Path, Renee, and Natalie all looked over to see him leaning against the corridor. Ajay was the first to speak, "Going fo the bika look?" Gesturing to his outfit.
Anita interjected, "Just ask Makoa, he's got a bike you could probably borrow."
Ezra shrugged, "This was what I wore all the time in the Core." Seeing how that statement could mean two different things, "Core planets," he clarified.
"Hey, Ezra, come over here and look at this," Octavio said, already hopped up on his adrenaline mix or what Ezra was thinking of calling it 'Jungle Juice'. Ezra pushed himself off the corridor to look to see an absolute mess of pancake batter, flour, and probably an egg.
With a glance at each Legend, the two that were covered in it were rightfully embarrassed. "Did you try to use a mixer on high with liquid dough?" he asked with a knowing tone.
"Oui," was the response that came from the younger of the two.
"Okay," Ezra said, shaking off the leather jacket and tossing it over a chair across the room. "Move over, I got this."
"This was supposed to be for you," Renee mumbled off to the side, attempting to brush the batter off herself. For once in a great while, the voices were silent in her head. She was going to make a big deal out of it, but she shrugged it off, along with the batter.
"You don't know how many times my sister has tried to make me something and have it literally blow up in her face," Ezra said reminiscing on those times. Speaking of, he still needed to call her. "Anyway, everyone clear away from the counter, I'm about to make you breakfast."
To do this, he pulled one of his adrenaline syringes out of his pocket, rolled up his left sleeve, and before he injected it, someone grabbed his wrist, "You aren't on drugs, oui?"
His eyes crinkled speaking softly, "No, this is my own adrenaline. This will help. Plus, if I did those types of drugs, I wouldn't be here. I do appreciate the concern, Natalie."
"D'accord," the defender said backing away next to her girlfriend.
With that out of the way, he injected the syringe into his system and began cooking. They watched as he perfectly poured the batter into the waffle maker, put three large pancakes on the griddles, flipped the eggs, and even grabbed the syrup and gave it Anita, she was the closest. "Well, are you all going to stand there, or are you going to set the table? There is no slacking here, now hop to it!"
Everyone seemed to snap out of their respective stupors and grabbed everything for the table. Ezra flipped the waffle maker, flipped the pancakes, eggs, and managed to rummage through the fridge and found bacon. This was a must. He carefully searched the cupboards and found another pan to put the bacon on. With that being done, he immediately did another three rotations of everything, making a mountain of food in what seemed like five minutes.
Soon enough it was all on the table and everyone was gaping at Ezra in surprise. He noticed their looks, "What? I know how to make a mean breakfast. See, there's chocolate chip pancakes, blueberry waffles, eggs both scrambled and over medium, cheese, and some ham for sandwiches that was in the fridge. Seriously, what do you guys eat in your spare time?" Mind you, he said this in a monotone voice, so no one expected it.
"Where did you learn to cook like a professional?" Anita asked.
Shrugging, "Grandparents ran a diner, I helped out when I was kid, really talented. Made it the most popular one in town." He then filled his plate and then as a departing word he said, "Tell me what you think of all this when you get a chance, and if you need more pancakes/waffles, there's more batter in the fridge, chocolate chips in the cupboard and blueberries in the fridge as well. See ya." He said grabbing his jacket and dashing to his room.
Octavio was the first one to break the silence, "Is it me or was that totally out of character for him?"
Five sounds of agreement came from the other five legends. As they started eating, Elliott, Loba, Makoa, Park, and Bloth all arrived. "Something smells good," he paused as he noticed all the food and a missing legend. "Where's our champ?"
Pathfinder answered, "He acquired some food, friend. Then, he left." The smile went to a sad face, making the MRVN look crestfallen.
"Then who made it? I thought you two were handling it," Loba mused, not having that snarky attitude that she usually does. It was obvious that her words were towards the Dark Sparks pair.
"He did. Surprisingly, he's an amazing one-man cook," Renee muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.
Makoa looked stunned, "Bruddas, you tellin' me he made all of this?" Everyone that was present before nodded. "How did he do it?"
"Adrenaline," Natalie said. "I thought he was about to shoot himself up with one of Octavio's syringes. Mon Dieu, I thought he was going to…" she trailed off, to which Renee wrapped an arm around the defender's waist. The blonde then leaned on the older woman's shoulder.
"Don't worry, I'd hurt him before he would do that to himself," Renee promised.
Natalie sighed, "Must you always resort to violence, chérie?"
The Skirmisher nodded without hesitation. While she may be the brooding emo goth girl, she does care about those close to her. Right now, she doesn't want to let the family she has to go down.
Elliott then sat down right next to Renee and began stuffing his face. Just to tease him, Renee said, "How do you know it's not poisoned?" That got him to stop for a moment, before shrugging and continued to eat.
Everyone shook their head at the trickster's nonchalance before grabbing portions for themselves. "Old man, you better not choke, because I will not be taking care of you."
Swallowing the bite he had in his mouth, Elliott pointed at Park, "Always knew you somewhat cared!"
"Baegchi," he muttered.
Minutes later, Alexander entered the room. Makoa shot him a glare but said nothing. The gentle giant was still upset that he was the mole during the artifact hunt. The mad scientist went over to the counter before halting right in front of the food. He pointed at it suspiciously, "Who made this?"
"Ezra," about seven of the Legends all chirped at once, almost like a choir. Natalie spoke up amongst the crowd, "Dr. Caustic. Grab some, it really is delicious."
The trapper's eyes softened just a smidge as he regarded the defender, "Very well, Ms. Paquette." The man grabbed a plate and filled it with two pancakes, a waffle, and a generous helping of eggs and bacon, and then he left.
"Mmmmh~" Loba moaned as she took bite after bite of the wonderful breakfast. "Who knew that our stone-cold marksman cooked so well? Reminds of the days before that demonio came into my life."
"Don't be speaking ill will of those who could easily end you, skinsuit," said demon arrived into the room with a dissatisfied look on his face. To be fair, he always had a dissatisfied look on his face.
"You know I'm right," Loba shot back, unfazed at his blatant threat.
Natalie felt small in his presence, and it was because of him that her friendship with Park was strained. While the animosity between the Legends existed naturally, it was only amplified during the artifact hunt. Seeing King's Canyon like that still brings shivers down her spine. Especially the time she ended up in the infirmary after dealing with the prowlers. The cold from that place felt suffocating like nothing else.
Renee took notice of the defender's mood and she kissed her temple, just to get her attention. "Babe, look at me," she whispered.
Natalie's baby blue eyes looked right into Renee's azure eyes like a mental conversation was happening and with a few looks and subtle facial movements, Natalie pecked Renee's lips. "Merci, Doudou."
With the Skrimisher's cheeks now flushed bright red, she muttered a 'you're welcome'. No one commented on it, but they all know that Natalie was the only one who could get Renee to blush like that. Despite the age gap between them, anyone with eyes could see how perfect they act. Not to dissuade, but they do have arguments, sometimes small, sometimes big, and those can lead to some mind-blowing makeup sex. They honestly don't want to be apart longer than necessary. The head honchos made it worse when they would separate the two. That made for a quality game though. When the two would fight, they would somehow flirt. Not verbally, but physically. A subtle touch here, a subtle punch aimed slightly lower. Not to mention the groping.
When breakfast ended ten minutes later. Pathfinder decided to do the dishes. Loba stuck around to entertain herself. Ajay and Anita both assisted the MRVN unit, just to make sure he doesn't electrocute himself. Octavio grabbed his syringe and began twirling it. The rest of the Legends present all scattered about to do their own thing in the last few days of the off-season. Now that the newest Legend has been picked, they needed to hype him up.
Seemingly in sync, the Dark Sparks pair said in unison, "Should we go check on Ezra?" Dead silence. Then, they burst out laughing, making Ajay and Anita roll their eyes. Mirage was about to make a comment, probably something stupid, but Makoa stopped him.
They wanted to make sure he was alright. Every Legend knew something else was up.
Once Ezra was seated back in his room, he opened his computer that the Games provided him. From pure muscle memory, he opened up the call function, to call his sister. She at the very least deserves to know what was going on with her baby brother. He took off his coverings to finally eat the breakfast he made. All of the ingredients reminded him of simpler times before everything literally came crashing down. He didn't know that they were still in existence at the time and well, became very wary of them.
Ezra began the call, and it rang. The reflection of the dark screen made him see the scars that littered his jawline, and his heterochromia eyes narrowed but shook off the thoughts. The call rang for at least thirty seconds before going to voice mail. "Hey, it's Eliza Steele and if you are calling about something that will waste my time, I will waste you. Now unless you are my baby brother, continue to pester this until I pick up. Otherwise, my declaration stands."
Scoffing, the familiar tone of the answering machine rang. That was when he started speaking. "Hey Ellie, it's your wonderful baby brother. So you know, are you ever going to change that voicemail? Seriously, you wonder if people think you're insane. However, I'm not calling to 'pester' you. I'm calling to give you an update. I made it to the Outlands. You always say that I wouldn't ever make it out there and make a name for myself. Well, you were right and wrong." He sat down at the desk chair and pulled out a pen and paper. Old fashioned, yes, but it allows him to focus on the topic at hand. "I do have an alias now, well, you've called me it for years, but I guess its finally sticking. You were wrong about one thing, I made it out here and I'm surviving. As usual. I want to visit you. I know we didn't leave on best of terms, well, they weren't horrible, but they were something to make note of. Whether or not you want to see me is one thing; actually making it out there is another. It took a solid month to just get that far out here. So unless you invented instant space travel, then… Sorry, off-topic."
There were a few seconds of dead silence while Ezra composed himself. He always liked to show his sister that he was strong, but she saw right through it. It was only the one time, but one was all it took. When they left him. The newly appointed Legend let his tumultuous thoughts run wild in his brain. He pushed all those to the side while he thought about the real reason he wanted to call her. Feeling suddenly tense, he reached under the desk and pulled the hammer back loud enough to have it caught on the message, "Three seconds before a bullet goes through the door."
There were sounds of footsteps running away. Ezra would have to apologize for that later, but he was in his room for privacy.
"Sorry about that, Ellie. Anyway, I was going to talk to you about the one thing I prided on hiding from you but you found out about anyway. My love life. I know most would be like, 'I don't wanna hear about this or that.'. You, however, showed interest in my happiness and you were there every step of the way. Then we distanced ourselves. That was my fault, I'll shoulder that. Back to my main point, I think I'm starting to fall for someone. Someones. I know it's been two-ish years since I've really felt this way. It's just… they are already in a relationship and I honestly don't know which way to go. I try to keep myself alone as I should be, but I just can't. I'll say this, they remind me of them but they aren't like them. One's really adorable with how passionate she gets about her projects. The other, while looks threatening, melts around her. They both are such opposites, but they seemed great for each other. I'm pretty sure neither of them is polyamorous." In a small voice, "I just want someone to love. Someone where I don't have to hide who I am, what I'm really like." He didn't realize it before they hit the desk… his tears. Ezra hasn't felt this small since… a long time ago. "Oh, would you look at that? I've let loose on my emotions. Last time you saw me like this was the day after. Still one of the worst days of my life, but nothing compares to-" A harsh knock on the door halted his sentence.
His voice hardened, "What?!"
"You're needed in the common room," Bloth's voice came from the outside.
"One minute," Ezra said sighing, "Sorry sis, needed elsewhere, talk soon, yeah?" Then Ezra ended the call. A total of four minutes and twenty-three seconds he spoke. Better than last time. The Legend stood from his chair, checked his face, wiped his tears, and covered his face. Who could possibly want to see him?
...
So, simple now, more complex later.
Till next time!
