Sorry about the late update. Surgery thing :/
Annyways, on to more chapter! Hopefully things are starting to get lighter now!
Enjoy~
~Angel and Hel~
Chapter Twenty Six: Strife Part III
-.-.-
You burn everything you touch, whether you intend to or not.
You can't control yourself.
You can't control anything.
And going with the flow just isn't going to cut it anymore.
-.-.-
Vivian felt cold. Her right arm, specifically, was bloody cold. Why she had a one-sleeved outfit was… honestly beyond her right now. She was still struggling to pull herself together.
The therapist had told her she needed to… to… anchor herself in the present. Or something. So she could objectively look over what happened.
Why was this place so cold?!
Why was she so - so stupidly dressed in the middle of an arctic mountain?! It snowed here nearly every day!
There. She had an anchor, right? Bad weather. Bloody atrocious weather.
She needed a cuppa tea.
She passed through the halls. People coming, going, waiting for a therapist to be free, just coming out of a session like her, TSO's everywhere - like really bloody everywhere -
"Excuse me, miss?"
Vivian gave a started yelp as a feminine voice brought her out of her thoughts. "Uhm, yes?"
"I think these are yours." The girl - woman? The TSO was female, at least. And blonde. She handed over a hastily pinned black dress and a small, hissing, red -
"Merlin!"
Merlin bobbed his head and hissed more, then proceeded to miss her arm and hurtle towards the floor until she grabbed him. He wriggled in her grasp before coiling up her arm.
At least she had one tricky little bugger back up her sleeve.
"Would you like the dress too?"
Vivian thought about it. It belonged to that doom-and-gloomy girl, Andrew something-or-other. "I'll… okay." She took the dress and thought about bundling it up into a ball for a moment, before instead wrapping it around her bare arm. It was much warmer than the cool air. "Thank you."
"You're quite welcome. Is there anything I can help with? You look a bit shaken."
"I'm okay. Don't know who's bloody dress this is, but… " Vivian shrugged.
"I thought it was Necro-cutie's." A familiar voice full of smirk interjected.
Vivian's eyes widened. "MAVERICK!" she yelled, throwing her arms out and catching her childhood friend - how had she not recognised him properly before? - in a hug. "I'm so sorry I completely forgot about -"
Maverick returned the hug with a laugh. "Hey, don't worry about it. We all had much bigger concerns than who was who."
"Too bloody right but -"
"No buts. We need coff-"
Vivian glared at him.
"Tea."
"Better."
-.-.-.-
So, as it turned out, there were some not-cold rooms in the mountain. Communal recreation rooms, break-rooms, whatever they were, Vivian was glad for them.
She sipped at the hot tea and sighed happily, sinking into the soft couch. "Muuuch better." she hummed. Red velvet. So sooooooft.
"I never did quite understand your family's intense love of tea." Maverick grinned lopsidedly as he sipped at his hot chocolate, sitting the armchair opposite.
"My family came from a dinky little island off the coast of Mistral. Made the best bloody tea in Remnant." Vivian reminded him. She forgot the name of it, but from what mum had told her, it was a rather peculiar place. "How have you been since we last caught up? Gosh it must've been… years now."
Maverick shrugged. "Eh, so-so. Managed to get into here, didn't I?"
"Well you certainly don't look as starved as that darling little angel Winter picked up." Vivian noted. "You've changed your style a ton, too."
"Gotta make do with what you've got."
"Have you been living on the streets again?"
Maverick strategically took a far too long sip of drink while Vivian gave him a steadily increasingly deadpan look.
"Mum did tell you there's always the spare room at our place if you need somewhere to stay."
"Yeah…" Maverick sighed. "I can't really look at any cop nowadays without being reminded of dad."
"Fuck's sake, Mav. We've been over this. Maybe these free therapists they've got can finally give you a hand."
Maverick's turn to glare. But not at her. Just… there. At the wall. The middle distance. The horizon. Whatever other poetic thing he wanted to call it while he went through his edgy routine.
"Maybe… I think I'm dealing pretty well." He put down the empty cup with a slight clink.
Vivian rolled her eyes. "Why do you drink hot chocolate, anyway? Tea's good. Or hell, even coffee."
Maverick gasped, almost offended. "It's chocolate. How can you not take chocolate every chance you get?"
"Pretty damn easily. Overly sweet bloody bullshit." She took another sip of her lovely bitter tea.
"Bah. You're just missing a sweet tooth."
"I do so have a sweet tooth!"
"Name the last thing you had that tasted sweet."
Vivian paused. "... uhhmm… hang on I've got this…"
"Was it that candy I left for your birthday?"
"... yes." Vivian sighed, defeated.
Maverick's head rocked sideways as a black gloved hand slapped him upside the head. "Nothing wrong with not liking sweet food, kid."
"Goddamnit, Slade." Maverick grumbled, chuckling. "Did I actually do something that time or has it just become a habit?"
"Muscle reflex. I hear you talking, I know it's dumb."
"Oh yeah? What about that trick with the Gauss pistol?" Maverick shot back with that shit-eating grin on his face.
Vivian found herself lost. Gauss pistol? Tricks? Probably things that'd happened in the - the Dream. She focused on her drink. Savour its flavour. The warmth. She still had Aphoth's dress wrapped around her arm.
She wasn't there. She was here with Maverick and Slade. Her foot drummed on the carpet.
"Probably would have thought of it myself, eventually." Slade replied, taking the second armchair for himself. Vivian gave him a once-over. He looked nice. Buff, manly… if she were into that thing she'd be purring all over him.
Eh, she was sure he'd make some gal happy one day.
"What, the part where you use my guns or the infinite ammo?" Mav wasn't malicious. He was just good-natured and poked fun at things. Humour. That'd been his coping method. Before...
She'd never really worked out an equivalent. Humour? Yeah, she could use that. Flirting? That too. But nothing concrete to deal with shit. Not like he had.
Then again, she hadn't had to deal with as much.
She sighed. Before his father - Mul - had been killed, Mav had been fun. Now it was like he was… a joke. Just one, endless, vicious joke. He'd lost his innocence. She could see it in his eyes if he ever stopped long enough to look at her.
"Both, maybe." Slade turned to her and grinned. "You're Vivian, right? Nice to meet you. Slade Coal."
Vivian put on one of her best smiles on reflex. "A pleasure, pretty boy," she winked. It lasted about half a moment before she faltered and looked away, dropping the smile. "I'm sorry. It's nice to meet you too, Slade," she said quietly, sipping at the last of her tea.
"It's fine. Good to be called pretty again actually. That hasn't happened since that one time I wore a tutu."
Vivian and Maverick both choked on their drinks. "What-" "TUTU?!"
Slade calmly sipped his glass of water. "It was a dare. Flynt has an odd sense of humour." He paused. "My brother. Flynt's my brother. Forgot that you didn't know that."
It took a while but she finally got her choked cough-laughter under control. "I'm sorry but the thought of you in a tutu is both deliciously appetizing and horrifyingly traumatic," Vivian stated matter-of-factly. She still couldn't quite believe a man like Slade would ever wear a tutu, all frilly and pink.
Exposing all his rippling, oiled muscles as he pirouetted across the stage, twirling around and giving the crowd and amazing view of his taut buttocks, and -
She licked her lips. She needed more tea. Yes. More tea.
"My god, Slade, the mental image of you in a tutu is going to be seared into my mind forever." Maverick couldn't stop laughing though. "And Viv, I thought you were -"
"Shut up and let me fantasize." Vivian held up a finger and cut him off right there not even looking at him. She must have had a spot of red on her cheeks.
"Like I said, a dare. And I'm touched." He took another sip of water.
Vivian grinned. "Not yet you're not~" she purred, envisioning a rather complicated stage-play involving a lot of scantily clad bodies. And oil. And possibly some erotic dancing.
"Slade, how do you keep doing this?" Maverick asked incredulously.
"Natural charisma, Maverick. Some people just have it. I'm one of them." He looked unbearably smug.
"Oh, no, love, you have the charisma of a wet towel." Vivian interjected. "That hot bod though, mm-mm-Mm~, rawr."
Slade made a noise that was somewhere between a fish out of water and a drowning puppy while Maverick cackled like a man possessed.
Vivian's cheeks flushed red. Oh god, she'd really said that, hadn't she? … totally worth it.
When the boys had finally gotten their breath back, Maverick stood up and stretched. "Oh that was good fun, but I should probably go check on some of the others," he said, trying to excuse himself.
"Oh no you don't," Vivian got to her feet and held out her arms, beckoning him. "C'mere," she said, pulling him into a warm embrace and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. Merlin poked out of her sleeve to boop Maverick with his snout before diving back in again. He laughed and returned the gesture, even waving as she did when she sat down again. Slade was gawking a bit, the muppet.
"Oh." Slade took another sip of his water.
"Oh what?" Vivian asked, smiling innocently - or not. She was too happy to care. "Do tell~" she purred.
"Nothing, nothing." He looked away, looking a bit tense as he crossed his legs.
Vivian grinned, getting to her feet slowly, biting her lip. Move like Merlin- okay, not like Merlin the spastic little muppet, but like a snake, slow, sensuous, and with all the curves and arches of her back - the effect was definitely ruined by the fact Aphoth's dress was still wrapped around her arm but she was pretty certain Slade hadn't taken his eyes off her.
She sauntered over, and practically draped herself over his lap, being sure to wriggle a bit to get comfortable. "It didn't look like nothing~" she whispered, dipping her head slightly, letting her ginger fringe get between their eyes as she bit her lip.
Putting a hand on his chest, she started tapping a beat with her finger. Tap tap tap tap. "So, big boy~ Gonna tell lil' ol' me what's on your mind?" she asked, keeping that low purr she'd perfected over years of trying to get a date.
"Uh, not much. Just, um." He looked skyward. "The weather. Just - wondering what the weather's like."
"Oh," Vivian put a little disappointed, but not entirely dejected, whine into the word. "Nothing else?" She traced her finger up his collar, over his neck, and finally off the tip of his chin. They were so close now, she could feel his breath mingling with hers.
"I was thinking how rear - how rare it used to be to get into situations like this." There was a panicked edge to his voice. Then, a sudden spark in his eye as he moved decisively - to his feet, depositing her on the sofa beside him. "Would you look at the time, I have to go too now. Therapy, haha, what fun that will be. Bye, nice to meet you."
It was finally Vivian's turn to cackle. She got up and held out her arms. "C'mere," she beckoned him, unable to stop laughing as she grabbed him into a hug before he could escape. Whispered right into his ear, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Slade~" She said his name in such a way she knew her voice would be stuck in his head for the next week.
And all he got was a quick peck on the cheek before she retreated to the sofa, teasing Merlin out from her sleeve and ignoring the world around her.
-.-.-
He had to go. He had to find a bathroom or a bunk or just somewhere else and - he needed to think of more maths problems. He risked a quick glance down and nope, it was still visible, why had he ever made his combat pants baggy. Maths problems. Quadratic equations. Engineering. Goddamn Dust matrices and not Vivian grinding against him or that TSO's breasts in his face -
Those were not maths problems.
Therapy. He should ask to be put in an appointment for Therapy. Did they help Hunters deal with distractions of the - the other kind? Was that even something that had happened to people in the Dream? Now that he was outside it he could see parts had operated on dream logic, so maybe -
He could but hope.
Along the corridors. Where was a TSO, where was a TSO -
He found one. He found that one.
She was leaning over the circular balustrade, at the perfect angle to show off everything. To him. The arch of her back, the swell of her chest, the gap between her thighs. And her ass. Firmly clad in the white and grey uniform, bouncing slightly as she hummed.
There had to be another TSO. There had to be one. Somewhere. He could - he could keep walking and find one.
He couldn't look away.
He was frozen on the spot.
She straightened up for a moment and stretched, crossing her arms up behind her head, stretching and arching and pushing her chest out and dear moon above he could have sworn she had to be doing this on purpose -
"Oh, hey, Slade~" she waved. Her visor was clear. She had the most alluring smile. The brightest eyes. Luscious lips -
"Book me into therapy, book me into therapy now, send the details to my scroll, bye." He hadn't ever run so fast in his life. He thought being surrounded by hot women was meant to be a good thing.
-.-.-
Five minutes after Slade had left, Maverick came back. "That was so cruel."
Vivian shrugged and smiled, guiding Merlin over and under and around her wrists. "You aren't the only one around here who likes messing with people, y'know."
"You know the guy's been teased like that at least - uhh… like five times since the Dream?"
The only response he got was more joyful cackling from Vivian.
"Right, right, you're having fun too." Maverick chuckled. "Seriously though, don't lead him too hard, alright? The guy's got Necro-cutie and Rockstar after his buff ass already."
"Oh, really." Vivian deadpanned at him. "I never would have guessed."
"Har har."
"He's hot!"
"And you're lesbian."
"Just because I don't bat for that team doesn't mean I can't ogle their wares." Vivian pouted. And accidentally dropped Merlin. Muppet. He hissed a little as she picked him back up, then wriggled in the way that she'd always interpreted as dancing.
"Vivian."
She sighed. "Okay, I'll dial it back. He seriously thought we were a thing!" And he fell down yet again.
Maverick snorted. "I'm sorry. But - no. We grew up together."
"And then you dropped off the radar for five bloody years!" she shot back, reaching down to pick up Merlin.
"I had to…" Maverick trailed off. "Had to… y'know. We've all got our own ways of coping." His face was downcast. Vivian felt… actual concern for him, now. He seemed to be doing relatively okay… after all, it'd been… what, six years now?
"How are you holding up?" she asked softly, ignoring Merlin for a moment. He licked her thumb before curling up into her sleeve again.
"Ehhh…" Maverick shrugged in that way that kept the shoulders up too long. An indicator of stress. "I was only gone three and a bit years. The fifth anniversary is coming up in a couple of months."
"Felt like longer."
"Felt like a fuckin' eternity." Maverick grumbled, leaning over the back of Slade's former armchair. "Last I checked, your hopes and dreams were in fashion. What happened?"
Vivian raised her eyes to the heavens as though they held the answer and sighed. "I don't know. Maybe Mul's death… someone's gotta protect the world. I'm capable. I've got the tools, the… the conviction, I want to make a difference. Even a small one."
"You don't sound too sure about that." Maverick noted, raising an eyebrow and sounding unconvinced.
"And you sound like the therapist. Go see one! They're... painful, but not too bad."
"Nahh, I'll wait until the lines aren't so long." Maverick stood up straight and stretched, letting out a small yawn. "Do you ever get claustrophobic down here? We're literally living under a mountain."
"There's good air conditioning. Now go book an appointment for tomorrow." Vivian raised her hand and tried to shoo him away. Instead she accidentally flung Merlin at him.
"Fi- WHAT THE HELL, VIV?!" Maverick recoiled and flailed as Merlin hissed and flailed, caught in his jacket.
"GODDAMNIT, MERLIN, YOU BLOODY MUPPET!"
-.-.-
You have power. More power than most, actually. Total telekinetic control over non-organic materials, right? You could annihilate so many Grimm. You could be an amazing Huntress. You could own the world.
You could even control your own little piece of it.
So why don't you?
There's nothing keeping you here. With us, with the sane.
You're so cruel. But you don't enjoy it.
You'll never be happy.
No matter how hard you try.
-.-.-
"I'm sorry." He whispered it into her back. "I shouldn't have shouted. And when I talked about Ozpin - you know I trust him. I just don't always think the path he chooses is the best one."
He could feel her hot breath in his arms wrapped around her, the end of her hair tickling his nose.
She shook her head lightly, more than likely quite aware of what she was doing. "Mmm…" she groaned, half way between purring like a cat and murmuring in discontent. "While the apology is nice, you lose points for timing."
She was smiling though. He felt that on his bare skin and it sent the best kind of chill running up his spine. He smiled too and pulled her tight against him. She slid into the curvature of the position easily, instinctively, as they both had the last Dust knows how many times.
"Hn, why do we do this, James?" she asked, rubbing her face against his arm. Most definitely like a cat. "Every year. We fight, we make up... and as soon as the induction ceremony is over I need to return to Beacon."
"Because I love you." The words fell easily from his mouth like they had a thousand times before, but they meant no less. "And the induction ceremony won't be for a few days yet."
"We have so little time together…"
"But every second is worth the world." He sighed, held her as close as he could. "I'll try and keep work to a minimum. But - well, you know how it is. The older years will be returning soon. And there are scouts and bullheads and nonsense." He paused, smiled. "We'd better make the most of what time we have, then."
"James! Oh~"
-.-.-
~R&R?~