Hourly Challenge: White

a/n: H.B. and Veena the OC continue to adventure around Mira. They don't plan to fight stuff, but it happens.

All the good things belong to Monolith Soft, and murra are weird flying ether sausages.

H.B. stepped out of his skell and was struck by a wave of surprisingly crisp and gentle air. The weather in Cauldros was typically nothing short of infernal. The area of the Phosphor Lake was even worse, polluted by a toxic purple mist that rose from surface of the simmering pools all the way to the high path where he had landed. But today the sky was a clear blue, dotted with a few high clouds. Check that; the clouds twinkled a tad too metallically, so clearly they were not clouds, but still too high up to be of any concern. He took the risk of inhaling deeply and was pleased not to find himself gagging.

Footsteps crunched behind him, but he didn't whirl around to take action. The sound was familiar, the light and careful movements of his current teammate. Veena stood at his side in a moment. He glanced down at her and was pleased to see her staring into the sky with much the same surprise he had felt earlier.

He'd taken to inviting the newly minted Pathfinder on simple missions every weekend. It was a bracing way to mark the end of a week. She'd gone along the first time with her normal shrug. "It cuts through the hangover," she'd said. But she'd agreed every Saturday morning after that, and now H.B. hoped that it had become something of a treat for her. It also gave him a chance to inquire about her newest adventures as Pathfinder. Even if she was no longer his official trainee, he still had a natural interest in her advancement. Besides, it was refreshing to hear her excitement about basic assignments that had become a tad stale for him. On their shared outings, he chose simple missions with marked scenic beauty. The Phosphor Lake was unique in Mira, but today's unexpected weather was outshining the scenery below.

"I've never seen it this beautiful," she said simply. "Sometimes I forget that Cauldros even has a sky." She glanced at him with her steady dark eyes. For once the small pucker of worry was missing from her brow. Then she looked back up into the heavens. The sunlight warmed her features. One might call her chin stubborn, possibly pugnacious, but her lips were another matter. H.B. found himself at a loss for the correct description.

H.B. decided to inspect the lake below them. He marched toward the cliff edge, intent on checking the anenome-like enemies below.

"Wait a second, H.B." Veena called sharply.

"I'll be back in a moment," H.B. reassured her. It was flattering how much she enjoyed his company in her own silent way.

"No, I mean-," she continued. The rest of her words were swallowed in the rush of beating wings.

A small flock of murra rose over the path's edge and squawked viciously down at H.B. The first small dart of ether caught him in the leg before he'd pulled his shield out, but he managed to block the remaining initial blasts. He cursed the disadvantage that even a slight injury gave him, but nonetheless he was able to pick off one of the attackers in the next second. He needed to excel in this battle. He was in a better position to fight than his companion. Veena's long sword delivered graceful and at times devastating attacks, but there wasn't much she could do at this range.

A splatter of blasts echoed behind him and another porcelain white enemy dropped into the canyon. Ah, yes, Veena also had her dual guns. Not as powerful as his assault rifle but valid in their own way.

The pair fought steadily, shouting the occasional encouragement or (in H.B.'s case) pointed suggestion. He worried when Veena chose to make herself more vulnerable to attacks at his prompting, but he comforted himself with the fact that his agility was protecting her by drawing the enemy's attention. In turn, he was grateful when she shared some of the energy that fueled overdrive, even though it hardly seemed necessary against such small indigen. Still, the flock was relentless, so perhaps they would need to resort to such measures.

He almost missed the final attack. He was so pleased with picking one of the most pesky attackers out of the sky that he hadn't noticed when the last flapping loaf hovered over his head and began to swell. He was only made aware of it by a yank on his shoulder, strong enough to make him tip backwards. He tumbled onto his back, slamming into Veena on his way down. They crashed together into the gravel as a tangled mess. She curled close to him and he had enough wit to swing his shield up so that it covered both of them, just in time to block the ether blast as the last murra self-destructed.

"They do that, you know, to protect their colony," she whispered into his ribs.

He wasn't in a hurry to move his shield. The explosion was still ringing in his ears. "Are you planning on transferring to Curators now?" he babbled, his eyes staring into the depths of sky, once again empty of threats.

"Maybe not, if you'd start listening to me." Veena rolled away from him. She sat up and dusted off her vest. "It's getting old, H.B."

He was feeling more collected. He stood up and pulled her to her feet. "Well, perhaps. Thank you for your assistance." He turned to examine the cliff. "It should be safe to approach now, at least."

"Hang on," she said, and this time she matched her words with a tight grab on his elbow. She ducked down, still clutching him, to gather a handful of gravel. When she tossed it towards the edge, a new wave of murra floated up to greet them, mercifully at enough distance to prevent an immediate engagement. She tugged him slightly away.

H.B. looked at his teammate, noting that the worry was back in her eyes. "Yes, noted. I'm beginning to find your awareness of indigen habits increasingly valuable."

"I think you meant to say 'thank you' again," she said with the shadow of a smile.

He kept his face utterly unconcerned, even going so far as to push his glasses up his splendid nose, but something like humor gleamed in his emerald eyes. "Perhaps that as well."

a/n: I'm kind of enjoying having H.B. and Veena interacting, if you haven't guessed. I may go back and rewrite part of Apriltober 2020 to drag H.B. into the whole Christophs-in-a-cave story. Bonus: I could launch Dr. Karen at H.B. and that would be delicious.