I would like to inform the readers who have been complaining/pointing out to me a bit that my lack of information in the first chapter was intentional. I don't want to shove Decoy's entire life and living backstory to you from the get go, I want you to learn piece by piece as the story proceeds.
"Now, do you have any pains?" The Medic, who had happily introduced himself to the new female, smiled from across the table. They were eating...Well, what seemed to be Gruel...
Or, the food of war, so says the man trying to quote the Art of War.
"No."
"Good, any vision impai'ah'ments?"
"No."
"Good, any-"
"I am fine, doc'd'or.."
So maybe fine wasn't the best term for it all. A splitting head ache wasn't usually what she liked to have, but she knew it was the easiest way to shut the male up by simply telling him she was 'fine'.
"Ah, good." The Medic smiled, putting his fingertips together as he gave a pleasant look, and standing with a hum. He put his dishes in the kitchen and happily waved to the group as he left. "I bett'ah go now. Test to run, things to kill and revive. Auf Wiedersehe~"
The others gave their own goodbyes; Sniper and Spy quiet nods, Scout with a 'smell ya later' or something, Soldier with a salute, Heavy with a joyful laugh and a bidding of goodbye...Demo gave a drunken wave, waving the bottle in his hand after the doctor, the Engineer gave a polite and simple goodbye, then finally the Pyro gave an odd muffled noise from behind his mask.
"Paalam." (Goodbye) Decoy murmured, eating the last of her...Meal...With that she carefully stood up, dusting off the hem of her shirt and her pants, before going to the kitchen and disposing of her plate. She paused for a moment, staring at it...
Before sighing and carefully starting to wash her dish, along with the Medic's. Call it paranoia, but she didn't want her saliva being on this..Plus, she just didn't like seeing the dishes in the sink.
"Hey, thanks Doll!" Scout was heard wizzing by, dumping his dish into the pile also, and running off. "I owe ya one!"
...
She knew that he was never going to repay her for the deed.
With a grumble she began to wash Scout's di-
"KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK SOLDIER!"
Aaaand here comes Soldier's dish. Wonderful. Okay, she could handle this. She's dealt with many dishes before, and it wasn't that demanding of a task-
"Thank ya kindly Sheela~"
"Merci."
"D'ank you lee'd'le woman."
...
Decoy felt her eye twitch as she glared at the stack of dishes laid out before her, of slightly varied sizes with some still containing food. Honestly, did none of these people do their own work?
...
Oh wait, they kinda did...
With a huff she shook the thought out of her head and went to the dinning room, blinking at the empty chair with empty alcohol bottles surrounding it. Well, Demo had left it seemed.
Which left-
"Don't ya worry 'bout my dishes." Engineer hummed as he got up, picking up his own bowl and Demo's. "Ah'll handle mine 'n Demo's, ya seem ta have more than enough on yer hands already."
With a comforting smile from the man in the hard hat, he walked through the little doors that lead to the kitchen...And for a moment, Decoy just paused. A bit of the strain just came off her shoulders it felt like, and she gave a small smile beneath her bandanna.
That was nice, actually..
Engineer didn't seem so bad.
After she had gotten the dishes washed, dried, and put away, Decoy went over to a few sets of encased pay phones. They had a sort of room around them for privacy sake, that way they didn't have to worry about getting spied on.
Plus, it only made out-of-the-area calls, thankfully. Things like conversation with the BLU team was impossible, so that just left outside people and 'upper management'.
Great for Bank calls, Car repairs, Job Hiring...
Home calls..
The Filipino closed the door in one of the smaller phoning rooms, and put in the change, dialing the code and numbers..Before waiting...And waiting...And wai-
"Kumusta?" (Hello?)
She smiled when she heard a male's voice, running a few fingers through her hair. "Hello to you too, Ace."
There was a shake and a clatter on the other line, someone falling out of his chair most likely... "LIGAYA?.!"
"Sh!" She hissed out into the phone, giving a cautious glance at the door... "My name's Decoy, o'b'er here.. "
"Decoy?"
"Yes."
"Bakit?" (Why?)
"Long story."
"I ha'b'e long d'ime." The chair was picked up off the ground and reset, and Decoy sighed, running a hand through her hair...And recapping all that had happened to her. From going on the airplane, suffering the airplane food, landing in America, meeting the two women from before, knocking out, her job description...Everything.
After she finally told him the end of the odd dinner situation, and her cleaning up all the dishes, she felt exhausted.
"Ate.." (ah-teh, big sister) Ace started out after a moment, sighing. "Be more...How do you say..P'riendly?"
"D'ey're all murderers."
"And you aren'd?"
Touche.
"Look, j'oo'st...Spend time wit' d'em, learn a bit. You ne'b'er shoot gun, you must learn. Learn now, not la'd'er."
And yet again, the male was right...She didn't know why she even tried to talk her way out of things with him. "...P'ine.."
"Salamat po Ate~" (Thank you big sister)
"Mmhm...Go d'o work, Ace..I'll call tomorrow."
"Ah...Paalam~" (Goodbye)
"Goodnight." She gave a small smile, sighing as she hung up the phone...Before stretching, and departing the booth to go get ready for bed, already feeling sleep start to creep in.
Decoy rubbed her eyes a bit in annoyance, not one to miss the chance to get some sleep, especially in this line of work. Sleep came and went as it pleased sometimes..So she didn't want to miss any-
"MM-MMM!"
"GAH!" The Decoy jumped, falling backwards as she was in mid-yawn, eyes having closed and popping open to see Pyro. "Ah...H-Hello, Pyro.."
The male gave her a happy wave, before reaching down and tugging her back up. He gave her a good, reassuring pat on the shoulder...Well, she presumed it was a he, underneath there..If she thought too much about it, and questioned it, it would leave her with a terrible headache.
Yet the thought was interrupted as he dragged her down the hallway, past the doors of her other team mates. Each one burned or labeled with the class' symbol. Heavy, Medic, Soldier, Demo, Engineer, Scout..Sniper and Spy were near the corner that the hallway took, and past the corner was two final doors.
Her's, and Pyro's it seemed.
She blinked as she stood before her own doorway, hand on the doorknob..And glanced back at Pyro, who gave a little wave before entering his own room. From the portion of it that was shown in the hallway's light, it seemed to be a bit burnt up...And with a whole lot of candles.
..
She shrugged it off again, pushing the fact to the far corners of her mind as she entered her own room and locked the door behind her. It was almost suffocating how at ease she felt in the enclosed room, away from prying eyes.
The woman gave a sigh a relief, leaning against the door for a moment, listening to a clock somewhere down the hallway tick.
...
...
With a small smile she stood up and went to her unpacked bags, carefully putting her clothes in the dresser along with her sets of work attire. Shirts, bras, underwear, pants and skirts. All nice and neat, with socks in a little hamper to the side. Good luck trying to go and get yourselves lot now, you slippery bastards...
Atop the dresser laid out the usual things. Two extra bandannas, her lucky earrings, a ring with a ruby in it, make-up kit, her poisoning kit that she had hidden away in a looot of her clothes and perfume to get past customs...With all of the little corner set up, she felt a bit inclined to retire for the night. Yeah, some sleep would do her good.
She stuffed the packages of lollipops into her dresser with her shirts, and the journal with letters...She glanced around, trying to find a good space...Before inching the dresser forward a bit, and slipping it behind the piece of furniture in a hollow part, before returning it to it's place.
Quickly Decoy changed into a dark red t-shirt and some shorts. She crawled into bed and kicked off the covers, curling around a pillow, and drifted off into a null sleep.
The next morning was beautiful. The sun was rising, the nights chill was fading, the birds tweeting..
Decoy was at peace, laying in her bed, eyes half open as she watched the orange light trickle in through the window panes.
Though she was an avid fan of sleep, she couldn't help but wake up at sunrise.
To see such a sight, and let the feeling of peace envelop yo-
She gave a started yell when a loud blaring brass sound interrupted her peace and tranquility. The sound coming from right outside of her dang door..
With a grumble she got up, grabbing a flash bang from her vest as she quietly went over..Silently unlocking the door and-
"GOOOOD MORNING MAG-" Soldier got cut off by a startled punch to the face, having bent over a bit to get to Ligaya's height. He blinked, leaning back a bit...Before giving a booming laugh, and pulling Decoy out, patting her back harshly. "Now THAT'S a good greeting!"
The woman felt a bit unsettled by the laugh and smile, glancing back at her door. How long would it take for her to go back in, and lock the door..? Maybe even prop a chair against it?
She wasn't given any time to think though as Soldier hooked an arm beneath on of her's, and dragged her away from her safe haven. "Now, we have MUCH to learn today! We need to get you ready for WAR missy! And-"
"AY SOLDIER, SHUT UP!" Scout was heard from his room as they passed by, causing Soldier to huff and pause for a moment.
"SCOUT, GET OUT HERE AND JOIN US AND MAYBE YOU WILL LEARN THE TRUE MEANING OF PUTTING YOUR HEART INTO EACH AND EVERY BULLET THAT PLUMMETS THROUGH YOUR OPPONENT'S HEAD!"
Decoy took the opportunity to slip out of Soldier's grasp and run back to her room, locking the door, and waiting..
She wasn't going back out there for at least another hour.
~At Least One Hour Later~
...
The woman cautiously stepped towards the door of her room, having changed into her work clothes, and gripping the flash bangs for dear life. She gulped, tension rising as her heard beat against her rib cage, wanting free of the bony prison. Okay...It's nothing too bad, just the possibility of meeting some insane man outside yammering to the high heavens during an ungodly hour of the day.
No big deal.
Not like he'd be mad at you for ditching him or anything...
Eugh.
Steeling her nerves though she took a deep breath, and squared herself. As quietly as she could, she removed the chair from beneath the doorknob, and unlocked it...Okay..
Three.
Two.
One.
She flung the door open, finger resting on the Flash Bang's pin and-Oh, hello Pyro.
The male had just opened his own door it seemed across the hallway, and gave her a careful wave, before happily meandering down the hallway...What an odd, odd little-..Okay, they were the same height, so not so little..-man.
Decoy blinked once, then twice, before putting the weapon back on her vest, and following the pyromaniac after closing her door. It seemed a bit odd, in all honesty..To hear things so quiet, knowing that nine other people were also here..
Then again, chances were high that most of them were asleep. Yeah, those ones were the smart people.
"Mornin'." A voice from behind her reeled her in from her thoughts, and she turned to see Sniper behind her, coming out of his room with a coffee pot.
"..Morning." She murmured, glancing around a bit. Alright Decoy, you could do this. Be social! Just like Ace had told you. "Uhm...How are you?"
"Piss poor, that's how it is till I get my coffee."
"Oh.."
He paused by, still half-asleep it seemed as he rubbed the back of his neck, and left her in the hallway. She glanced around for a moment...Before carefully going back to the pay phones, wanting to make another call home...
Decoy sighed heavily as she finally walked into the dinning area, her stomach giving a hungry lurch as she sat down. Glancing around, she smiled...Soldier and Scout weren't here yet, it seems, and neither was Demo.
Good.
"Bonjour." Spy was the first one to greet her, glancing over a cup of coffee that he had in his hand. "Did you sleep well?"
"P'ine. Sala-...T'ank you."
He opened his mouth to say more it seemed, when Pyro came through the kitchen door, hopping from foot to foot as he did a little dance. In his hands he carried several plates of toast with melted butter, hard boiled eggs, and what looked like slightly burnt berries..
"Soldi'ah's been runnin' Scout outside since dawn." In came Demoman, chuckling under his breath as he walked through those doors, and plopped down in an open seat besides Decoy. "How ya holdin' up Lass?"
"Good." With that the man popped open another bottle of alcohol, and even offered it to Decoy with a slight smile. "I'm sorry, I don't drink."
"Not even a wee sip in case 'uh celebration?"
"No."
...Demoman shrugged, before drinking from the bottle. "Your choice lass, not mine. Yet ya don't know what y'er missin' out on."
Decoy nodded, thankful for no other pestering questions, and just enjoying her breakfast while she could..Until Soldier came in, blaring that god awful brass instrument again. The woman felt her head go blank as the helmet wearing male yelled gibberish after gibberish, marking along the room as Scout took a grateful seat at the table.
The thinner boy started to wolf down the charred food, gulping down several glasses of water as he did so.
"-AND YOU!" The Filipino jumped when the Soldier pointed at her, and quirked an eyebrow.
"Yes?"
"LEAVE YOUR FRILLS IN YOUR ROOM! TODAY, YOU TRAIN LIKE A MAN!"
..Oh the things she could say or do to this man right now. That fork in her hand beckoned for her to just jab it into the shouting male's jugular..Come on, you know you want it..
Yet she swallowed her own pride down and shakingly set down the utensil, wiping her mouth of the crumbs. "Alright, I'll go to my room d'en and put up my...'P'rills'."
She rolled her eyes, taking her dish to the kitchen before going back to her room with a grumble.
Pryo had been kind enough to knock on the door once it was time to go and train, and walked with her down the echoing hallways. Through his mask he tried to converse with her, using his hands to accent certain 'mm' 'hm' and other sounds.
She did feel a bit sorry that she couldn't understand a single word he was saying..He sounded so enthusiastic about..Something..
"Ah, Decoy, just the girl I wanted to see." Miss Pauling's voice came out from behind them, causing the two mercenaries to turn around and look at her. "Pyro, you mind giving us some time to talk in private?"
"Mm-hm!" The masked male gave a wave to his new friend before going off to the training area.
"So, how are things with the guys coming along?"
"Eh...T'ey are..Coming along...I suppose.."
"Well..Here, let me try and help you..What's the toughest thing about working with them?"
"Actually working wit' t'em."
"Ah.." The purple dressed woman nodded her head, understanding a bit. There had been nothing but fights and awkwardness when the nine men started out together. "Well..You have to protect them, and know how the opposing team is like, and how to distract them. Right?"
"Yes."
"Then why don't you spend some time and just...Well, watch the boys? Ya know, learn from observing."
Learning from observing?..Alright, yeah, she could do that.. "But..Why does it matt'ee'r that I obser'b'e t'em? Shouldn't I res'ee'rch t'e opposing team?"
"You'll find out later, trust me."
After receiving an encouraging pat on the back, Decoy made her way to the doors that lead to the training area.
Welp, here goes nothing..