In The Night
Scooter stood and admired his own handy work, a hundred small machines made up a single one, all wrapped like armor onto the tall pillar like object that protruded from the center of sanctuary. All tiny screws and small soldered pieced of torn machinery leading up to a what could be easily mistaken for a mechanical throne. Beside him Angel smiled brightly before punching his shoulder and almost shouting.
" its too cool!"
He let off a short grunt and laughed awkwardly while she bolted around it to examine his hard work before she grabbed hold of one of the embedded ladders rungs and raced upward to seat herself in the zenith of whirring gears and circuits. As she settled down she felt the many small metal plates lodged into her head magnetize to the apparatus and slam her head against the back of the chair. As she settled in and became comfortable she grinned widely as her palms pressed flat against a surface smooth as glass, a small jolt of energy reached her fingertips. The grin grew wider as she gave a mental command to the throne- a hologram helmet flickered to life over her head.
Scooter panicked for a moment when her body went limp, a moment later her hands began to twitch. In an instant her face was taking up a spot in his field of vision like small tear in reality. Her face laughed and shouted
"IT WORKS!"
Halfway across a frozen tundra Mordecai pulled his red scarf up over his face to guard himself from the cold. He placed his cheek close to his rifle and peered through its scope. Instead of his target he finds Angels face grinning at him, he blinks slowly then whispers before she can speak.
"we talk at dinner mija, go play"
Her wide smile quickly flips into a deep scowl although she quickly blips out of his vision. It is followed by his soft sigh of
" disconnect, I will echo when I need you"
The sound of her agitated growl is followed a blip of static then silence. He can't help but smirk at the sound of her as he squeezes his trigger popping a bandits head. Off to the side another spins around and looks at his friends head spattered across the ground like wet confetti. He stands up straight and peeks around like a prairie dog for only a second before his own head pops like a water balloon.
Allfather shouts a series of cut off curses when Angel blips into his field of vision informs him of a small few things and blips off somewhere else. Her consciousness zips through the wall guarding Fyrestone lighting up every bad circuit that needs replacing and off again she pulls herself back away from individuals and listens for sounds of danger.
Familiar voices from echo to echo she tags location on the maps of mercs and watches them march forward. The whirring is familiar, makes so much of her feel unreal, that is until an accented voice breaks her trance.
" MIJA IF I HAVE TO GET YOU I-!"
Maya gives a long sigh as she watches Mordecai glares out the door, he prods a piece of meat with a large metal fork, it falls apart like wet paper under the slight pressure. Her blue lips curve slightly upward, she taps the side of the fork against the edge of the pot replacing it with a ladle and stirring the tender meat. She gives a slight huff as she bends to open the stove's belly and jab the fork into the side of potatoes that had been sitting on top of burning logs. The potatoes are piled onto a plate as she kicks the stove door shut and turns to set them down on the low table in front of the couch.
Maya grins widely when she turns and sees Mordecai moving out of the doorway to let in Kotyk. He waves his hands at her to shoo her away from the stove, he starts to pluck up small bowls from the bin beside the stove and serve the stew. Kotyk sets himself on the floor to the left of the couch and leans over to Maya who rolls steaming hot potatoes off the plate to sit beside each bowl.
" why is your husband so upset?"
Just as Maya opens her mouth to answer Mordecai bellows:
"TWO HOURS! TWO HOURS AND YOU-"
"sorrysorrysorrysorry"
Angel puts her hands up in surrender as she squeezes by Mordecai who glares at her from the door all the way to the table. She settles down cross legged on the floor across from Kotyk Who wears a face of dawning realization.
" I wasn't done with-"
Angel huffs at Mordecai
" oh what the hells it matter anyway she here and she fine isn't she!? Oh could you bring in some cold water ?"
Maya diverts her attention from her husband over to Angel who drops her potato and scrambles to her feet only to find herself looking up at Mordecais scowl.
" w-water?"
Her inquiry in answered only by a low growl that sits in his throat, he is strangely imposing with his arms folded over his chest and those sharp green eye glaring down his nose at her.
Kotyk snorted when Angel edged out to the side and scurried outside with a bucket although he was surprised when Mordecai walked out after her shutting the door behind him.
" oh wow he's really upset isn't he?"
Maya broke a piece of her potato off with her hands and dropped it into her bowl, jabbing it with her fingertip until it sat beneath the surface of the broth.
" it does seem that way doesn't it?"
"aside from all that have you had a chance to use the loom yet?"
She gives a bright smile to her brother as he begins poking apart his potato and dropping bits into the meat.
" yes I have and it works very well- I have just begun a blanket actually. I was-"
The door bursts open with Angel Angrily stomping in and shouting over whatever Mordecai had to say.
" I SAID I WAS SORRY!"
He marches in after her shutting the door lightly.
" well the hell use is that machine if doesn't even have a damn clock?!"
Angel sets the bucket down beside the dish bin plucking out cups and dunking them in the bucket before handing them up to Mordecai.
" it has a clock for every time zone on Pandora thank you very much!"
Mordecai sets the cups down on the table before sitting himself down beside Maya.
"well than why where you late huh?"
Angels lips press into thin flat line on her face under a narrow eyes glare. He waves his hand at her as if to dismiss whatever she might have planned to say.
" sit down already I ain't waiting another hour to eat."
She glares a her bowl for a bit before refusing to shut the hell up.
" I don't understand why you're so pissed off! I've never been late before and I said I won't be late again WHY ISNT THAT GOOD ENOUGH!?"
His returned glare almost averts hers, almost.
" don't you DARE talk to me like that."
His fist slams against the table rattling all their dishes, Angel flinches and looks down. She still feels the weight of his glare heavy on her shoulders.
" I don't give a crap about what's said. Cause everybody talks, plans to do things"
Angels finds her self peering out from under herself to look at him, his voice is so solid and heavy. He's so angry she can see the veins on his temples throbbing.
" always plan to hurry the hell out and get back. Well Roland never made it back and that's the part that matters isn't it?"
She jerks her head up and looks at him bewildered.
" who's Roland?"
Mordecai blinks at her in instant she catches the most horrible image of depression on his face. But for only just that instant.
" two hours late, you must not have been hungry, get your ass upstairs."
She doesn't argue this time, just leaves the table and hurries upstairs. The sound of her foot steps are complimented by the slamming of her door. Mordecai lets out a deep breathe and rubs small circles on is temples.
"are you alright?"
Maya's voice is soft and slight as she gently places her fingertips on his shoulders. He pinches the bridge of his nose as though he where trying to ward off a headache.
" I'm gonna go for a walk, don't wait up okay."
As he stands to leave the sensation of her touch is whisked away from him, so he grabs the barrel of the rifle he has leaning against the wall by the door as he leaves. Maya just gawkes at the door as it closes, she eventually turns to look at her brother who appears to be examining his fingernails. After a second he looks back at her curiously.
" I don't understand what happened. Who's Roland?"
Maya just raises her shoulders.
" no idea."
The dinner is short and quiet, Kotyk picks up the dishes poring two bowls back into the pot and clapping the lid down. He rinses the dishes off with a wet rag and places them back in the dish bin. As he stands in the doorway to leave the two gently press their foreheads together for a moment before he turns away and she shuts the door.
Upstairs in her room Angel fins herself staring upward at the Hyperion satellite, how odd she hadn't paid attention to it lately how long have those lights been on? She looks away annoyed, whatever doesn't matter its less than three percent power.
Elsewhere Mordecai finds himself sitting in his old place beside the animal preserve. There's a cot that's rotted away and begun to fall apart tipped onto its side. A few empty bottles and there off to the side still standing is a perch... with many scratch and claw marks adorning it. He laughs to himself as he remembers the first time he showed it to bloodwing. She was confused at first, but when he placed his hand on it she hopped on and began squawking at him for a while. He couldn't remember why it was so funny. But it was.
His map which had been drawn onto the wall of the cave is almost entirely blown away, he looks out toward to preserve. Its become overgrown and covered in pandoras version of plant life. He watches skags and stalkers prowl around before lunging at each other.
His gaze begins to shift upward to sanctuary still just hovering there, he remembers how it got there. Moredecai closes his eyes and wonders to himself why he came here. What was he trying to accomplish?
What the hell was the point in yelling at Angel like that? She was right- she'd never been late before. She always told them where she was, but this time she had been given a gift. She had liked it so much she lost track of time, it happens. To be fair prior to all this no one but Roland ever knew where the hell to find him-much less keep track of him.
This place is bad, he huffs and stand up deciding to go somewhere else. Somewhere with less memories, less to remind him.
All the while, Jack looks at his screen as his lens focuses on Angel whose arms are crossed over her face, her teeth clenched and her chest rapidly rising and falling. Her room is full of flowers and a long fish tank where something odd swims from one side to the other. He scans the area watching as guards shoot at bandits who get to close, they walk the perimeter of the wall, some sit in perches looking out over the landscape. His cameras roam various parts of pandora, Jack looks over his own surroundings small orbs of light hovering over his various repairs- hovering lamps he'd put together to save the satellites energy reserves. Just the damn lights on this heap take up near thirty percent power- so he decided to do without. He found himself almost surprised with his progress so far, he had repaired several terminals which produced his loaders at an admittedly slower speed that he was accustomed to but it all worked. The small orb lamps he made took less than a fraction of a single percent of the places energy...after he had better uses for the rest.
