Ancient History. Three J-bodies and an unnamed human, what could go wrong.
All the good things belong to Monolithsoft, except for 3 of the 4 characters.
"If you knew who I was on Earth..."
Diego had been expecting that line. The rookie had spent the morning sneering at their assignment, a collection of tasks normal for Reclaimers. He'd objected to wading into the mud to dig out fragments of a pilot's capsule. He'd shirked at dragging more twisted metal out of the ferns that thickly lined the lagoon. When they'd found the main body of the destroyed skell, crashed deep into a sandbar, he'd demanded they request support from a construction skell. Diego had laughed and handed him a shovel. The other man had tossed it back into Diego's chest.
"Look, babe, I don't know who you were, so drop it," Diego had smiled down at him. The rookie was a real disappointment, even if he was handsome in a sunburned way. Diego tossed the shovel again, careful to be gentle. He turned to his own section of sand and started digging. If Rookie Boy had a tantrum, Diego didn't need to provide an audience.
Of course Diego was listening; he just pretended not to. The rookie sputtered and stomped. There was the sound of one half-hearted bite into the sand, which gave Diego hope. Maybe Diego should whistle a little tune, show some approval. He had a pretty nice song he was planning to debut at the Repenta Diner next weekend.
The rookie's shovel hit the ground. "This is ridiculous. I didn't join BLADE to do this kind of work. I..."
Diego had finished his most recent scoop. It was time for a break. Every 15 minutes, like clockwork, Diego called a break for hydration and reassessing the situation and switching out the soldier on guard for one of the diggers. "Yelv, your turn to watch our backs."
Might as well shift him anyway. Yelv had been gawping at the rookie more than he had been moving sand. Yelv handed his shovel distractedly to their fourth teammate (a very cute girl with plenty of ammo). Yelv gathered his own weapons slowly, finally blurting, "You're Prince Victor, ain't ya?!"
"That was an early role. Ancient history," said the rookie with false modesty.
"I knew it. Aren't you dead?"
"That was a movie," the rookie said pointedly.
"Sure was. Real fun, lots of shooting. But they had the whole funeral thing for you. I watched that part too."
"I was acting," the rookie said with exasperation.
Diego shoved Yelv away, shooing him toward the perimeter. "Remember, Yelv: things in movies are there to look good but they aren't real."
"The funeral was dull, honestly," Yelv offered over his shoulder. "And the speech part, I nodded off during that."
"Well, don't nod off now. We need you to protect us." Diego gave him a parting nudge.
"Got it, pard!"
Diego turned to the rookie and started talking, fast, before the other man could resume whatever complaint he had now. "Babe, chico, lover boy, like you said, it was ancient history. Honestly, and I'm sorry to be the one to say it, anything from Earth is ancient history. I know you'd like to go back, but you can't. The three of us [Diego waved to encompass himself, Yelv, and the girl now digging pointedly], we don't know from Earth and we don't much care. You can miss it, but we gotta bring home this wreck today. Lives count on it. I could explain about incident reports and metal fatigue and maintenance updates, but you seem smart. So." Diego leaned down over the rookie. "Get your shovel. And. Dig."
Diego turned to his own spot, his own miserable pit of sand. He pretended not to hear the quick gulping sob from the rookie. Two more scoops, and the rookie's shovel joined the others. Diego started to hum the oldest, softest song he knew.
a/n: Diego is the recreated brother of Rosalee Lopez OC (Rosalee and Lucky). Yelv is the best side quest in XCX. The girl is probably Hannah Kim OC from Drunkard, Hobo, Liar. None of them are from Earth.
Next up: Road trip. Oh fun times!