A miserable tale spanning three worlds and counting: The Fox and the Hound (Lukas)

Aug 25, 2018
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#1
The feast was winding down now, as people with their bellies full and hunger sated were withdrawing to sleep the night away, or at least left to enjoy the rest of the night in private. Whether they had been able to leave their worries and fears outside the feast only they could tell. Laura for her part had thoroughly enjoyed her time. Free of any self inflicted burdens and worries and finally recovered from her ordeal with the Spirits, she had spent the feast much like how she had started it with the gloomy Lunarian: Going from one gaggle of people to the next, staying as long as she was entertained by or curious about the current group before moving on to the next.

Of course, she had been well aware of Liana's unsubtle staring, yet she had showed no inclination to go talk to her for as long as the feast was going. Laura had merely occasionally chuckled to herself about how silly Liana was being while very pointedly not looking at her direction at all.

Now that the party had significantly died out, Laura finally bothered to acknowledge Liana with something other than a distinct lack of acknowledgment. She did so by turning around to give a wink to Liana before sauntering out from the hall through the same door she had entered it from hours ago. And there she waited a short distance away.

"So what's so important that you did your best to burn my lovely dress with your stare alone despite not having the magic touch necessary to make that a reality, but not important enough to actually come talk to me like a normal person?" Laura said as soon as Liana approached her. "Really, you're lucky that nothing happened or I would've sued you for unlawful use of Evil Eye. Supposedly I'm supposed to be one of this land's future heroes here to deliver them from certain doom so I'm sure taking you to a kangaroo court would end badly for you."
 
Aug 4, 2018
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Somewhere in the UK
#2
Liana would follow with a shrug, making a point of closing the door once they were both alone. A smile crossed her face when Laura inevitably begun the sass. For all her issues with the fox.. she had missed that in a way. It was better when directed at others, but right now it was almost a novelty being mocked by her old friend.

"Honestly? I've been weighing up whether or not punching you in the face was worth it. Just giving it to you right in the middle of the banquet hall."

The wolf laughed bitterly, clenching one hand into a fist. She wanted to it - that much was clear. But there was more. Sadness. Confusion. Her emotions were mixed, difficult to read in a different way from how Liana normally concealed her emotions. Like she herself didn't know how she wanted to feel at their reunion. And for all she joked about harming Laura she'd brought no weapons to this occasion. Just a few bits of silverware apparently taken from the hall itself.

"Felt like the only fitting payback for my goodbye gift. Shame it'd make things awkward with everyone else."

Everything about her tone changed after the second joke, her ears straigtening up as Liana readjusted into that familiar monotone. She'd clearly needed to get that off her chest, if nothing else.

"Apart from that 'present' I've heard nothing from you - or about you. Have you been laying low, or did the adventures of the freeloading fox finally start causing less collateral damage?"
 
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Aug 25, 2018
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#3
Laura held the sigh that she so desperately wanted to do, as it would be a bit rude. The disappointed shake of the head on the other hand was totally fair game.

Clearly, nothing had changed for the girl in front of her. Oh there were changes, like doing a bad bargain bin copy of the way she herself acted. But they weren't changes in what actually mattered. The girl before her was still the same girl who kept clinging to a botched indoctrination and the impossible ideal that came with it that she had left a little over half a year ago. Clearly, she hadn't realized the pointed lesson in the drawing. "So why did you not do it? Think of what an amazing introduction it would be! And besides, by the end I'm pretty sure most people there would've agreed that whatever reason you had for it I probably deserved it." Laura laughed, not a single hint of her inner thoughts coming to the surface. But where Liana's laughter had been bitter hers was, like always, filled with honest amusement.

Her eyes wandered to the hand that had curled into a fist before returning to look into Liana's eyes. "But whatever you mean collateral damage? And freeloading? You know well enough that I stopped going after collateral damage years ago, and I was the only reason Deucalion Duet did anywhere near as well as it did. If anything you were the freeloader." Laura huffed in mock offense, before her face twisted into a different expression.

It was an expression of clear, incredulous confusion, like she couldn't believe what she had heard. "And my gift momentarily aside, why would you hear anything about me or from me? What reason would I have to contact you when I already told you that I had left the trading company alongside the farewell gift?"

Truth be told she had been recuperating for most of the time period but Liana did not need to know that, nor did it make her point any less valid.
 
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Aug 4, 2018
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Somewhere in the UK
#4
"From you? No. About you? Definitely. You're one of the least subtle people I've met."

Liana's ears twitched in irritation. Maybe trying to clear the air like this was a mistake. Having a conversation with Laura still felt like walking through a field of landmines. Any stray statement had a good chance of blowing up in her face. So the best approach to handling that was to... no.

She was overthinking this. Overthinking all of it. Better to just cut straight through to her point. ...Whatever her point was. That part had gotten a little lost int he past couple of hours of staring. There was an awkward little pause while Liana wracked her brain, but she didn't take long to reclaim her train of thought.

"You were there when Shadow-mirror collapsed. Being able to talk to you about it properly might have made my decision to leave easier. Or you'd have just pissed me off, it's about fifty-fifty."

Everything she was saying would probably just get her some witty rejoiner, but Liana was too frustrated to care. She took a second to roll her eyes before continuing, giving the Fox a second to cut in before continuing regardless.

"Even when you're right that attitude of yours makes me want to ignore what you say out of petty spite. But go ahead - mock me or criticise me or whatever it is you're going to do. Then once you're done."

"Tell me what made you leave then. What changed, Laura? What made you change your mind?"
 
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Aug 25, 2018
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#5
Laura chuckled softly, yet the still tail and ears betrayed the lack of any genuine amusement. She had been wrong, there was a small measure of growth there. Not enough, but Liana had just invited her to fix that, with the only set of tools she had ever received or been taught. "It is impressive to me how you can spend so many years working together with me, living in the same place as me and still fail to grasp even the basic things about me and who I am." She shook her head with closed eyes, showing her disappointment.

"Your misconception about my subtlety aside, despite rejecting everything about Maake you're still at your core the spoiled brat of a Gifted every single one of your ilk was. But as you want, I'll play along to your demands you have no right to demand. Just this once, to see if you'll ever be worth anything other than contempt and pity, despite all that you already owe me. A debt that you'll never repay, even without taking this kindness to account." And wouldn't Liana just hate this being called that. But it was the only way Laura knew how to try to help the wreck in front of her.

Her tail rose from its lax position to point at Liana while she stretched her arms. "How can you even be so blind as to miss even the basic facts about the organization you've been in for past half a decade, the group you renounced everything for after their botched indoctrination that left you with less personality than bioroids and drones - that's true by the way, I've honestly seen bioroids and drones with more personality than what you had when we met. Wanting to fuck your crush is not a personality. - Anyway, have you been so busy thinking with your lower half all this time that even the basic facts escape your lustful eyes: Just because the man you had a crush on is gone doesn't mean that the organization is dead and buried."

Laura's mocking laughter echoed in the hallway, her entire body shaking as she laughed. "There definitely are some growing pains, maybe even a power struggle, but the organization is not gone just because its head died. No, nothing really changed that day. It's still the same it was under your precious crush. A sham of an organization, its very goal that it strives for every single day an impossibility and a fool's dream."

For once, Laura's attention was wholly focused on Liana, her eyes boring into Liana's like they were willing every single word deep into Liana's core. Whether Liana attempted to interrupt or not, Laura had raised a hand to halt it, those eyes holding a promise in their depths that she would regret it if she tried that course of action. "I left, because I could not stomach being in that failed company any longer, and you had become... something resembling a person, if you squint. The only people still in Shadow Mirror are fools like you who genuinely believe in a dream that can never be, and people who know but just enjoy the carnage and chaos they get to cause while striving for it. The latter at least can be respected because they don't delude themselves unlike the former. But not to worry, I'll explain just why the dream and goal that you, the madman you adored and the organization you mistakenly believe to be shattered hold so dear to your hearts."

"It is truly a wonder that it even stayed a cohesive group when the proof of the failure of its existence and goal is so blatantly clear in our original home." Slowly, the muscles around Laura's lips twisted them into a grin eerily reminiscent to a shark smelling blood in the water.

"Ah, 'but if only the nations had gotten mass produced Bioroids to act as their armies it would surely have worked!'" She mimed with a frantic high pitched voice. "Wrong. Bioroids make absolutely no difference. Constant, worldwide warfare will chip away at any 'rules of engagements', not that those have ever held much value quickly. And even before those are gone, the warfare will at no point be restricted to just Bioroids smashing on Bioroids in mass produced suits because that's not how you win a war you idiot. They will strike at the infrastructure, the roads and the factories will be destroyed. The civilian population will be terrorized and become casualties with bombing runs and personnel in important positions of power that are holding the nation and military efforts together will be terminated because that is how you're going to win the war with much less cost than smashing action figures against one another!" The voice held a sharpness to it that demanded that the words be heard.

Laura rolled her eyes, and waved one of her hands dismissively. "And that all is before taking aliens into account. Advancing humanity sure sounds dandy and all until you realize that after years, decades or maybe even centuries of constant fighting there won't be any cooperation or trust against external threats. Or did you already forget just how stellar the cooperation and teamwork against the Crawling Dark was in our home?"

"If all that sounds perfectly fine and acceptable, or if you're in denial about the way things are, scurry back to them. If you left for such a halfhearted reason that you think that your crush dying meant the end of the group he formed over the years scurry back to them with the tail between your legs. The insane dystopian dream he held is still there, at least for as long as the lieutenants he placed in high positions are there. Or prove that caring for you wasn't a mistake and a waste of time and effort all this time, and leave them behind for good with genuine conviction."

Finally, Laura's features softened. The expression was horribly awkward, the facial muscles clearly unaccustomed to even attempt it, if they had ever before attempted it. But against all odds there was a ... kind expression on her face, even if it only barely was recognizable as such. and while some of the sharpness was still there in the voice, it had been softened with a similar kindness. Though deep inside she was still wary and ready to respond to any aggressive moves. "If you are ready to leave them behind why are you even here, fighting? You at least have a knowledge of peace, even if it was a false one, deep inside you. Fighting is not your only option, so why are you fighting? Find a reason for what you do, and stop looking to others for answers to everything like a lost duckling."
 
Aug 4, 2018
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Somewhere in the UK
#6
Liana went through a full spectrum of emotions as Laura talked down to her, expressing them more visibly than she would have in months past. Irriation. Confusion. Anger. But it didn't take long for even that to wash away, replaced with a blank stare. Her old default emotion, and still a face she made when she was thinking.

Calculating.

It took her a few attempts to properly respond, the wolf opening and closing her mouth before deciding what she was going to say was inadequate. No openings. But one thought kept interrupting what she hoped were logical answers, and it had to be gotten out of the way first.

"...he is not my crush!"

The thought was bizarre to her, even faintly disgusting. Prometheus was twice her age! Was. A pang of regret hit her at the reminder of his death, but it was somewhat overridden by the disturbing reminder of Laura's last gift to her. If she ever got back home she was going to burn it rather than just leave it in a box. Maybe mail the charred remains back to the fox.

...Needless distraction. She couldn't fixate on the mockery. Not when there was a hole she could poke of her own.

"I'm fighting here because we were abducted to stop the end of the world. Apparently. Afterwards..."

Perhaps it was a small thing, but a part of her took amusement in being able to do just that. Poke her right back. She still sounded amused as she continued, laying out a patently absurd situation to set the stage for her actual answer.

"We'll see. Maybe I'll just leave it all behind and become a baker. Or an Arms dealer. Find somewhere I can put my previous talents to use."

Which didn't come immediately. Just what was she going to do if she stopped fighting? Were there any parts of her skillset that didn't somehow lead back to warfare? Information gathering. Assassination. Some limited engineering, but not enough to survive off it without significant retraining. And if she simply tried to go off the grid after preparing for war...

Well, her old colleagues in the Shadow-Mirror would see it as beginning of the declaration she'd begun to make. Peace wasn't truly an option for her. Not until the fight was won.

"I've spent most of my life learning to kill things, and I'm skilled enough at it to make a living. If I leave them behind, I'm leaving a smoking ruin instead of a target on my back. But then what?"

The question wasn't aimed at Laura, but she still spoke it aloud. Her own opinion was interesting enough to matter in this regard.

Everything Laura had said was at least worthy of consideration - she'd put a lot of effort into tearing holes in Liana's own personal philosophy, and that had to be respected if nothing else. Her first instinct was to discard it, assume it was some trick and the holes simply had answers she hadn't contemplated. Talking with someone still fighting for the Shadow-Mirror was technically the right answer. Or at least the first answer that came to her supposedly damaged mind.

"Not going to make a decision immediately - You're trying to convince me to throw away three months of work and preparation. Leaving just because you told me to would prove nothing. To either of us."

One that was no longer an option. She'd have to find her own answers - owed it to herself to think this over properly. Simply tossing aside data she personally disagreed with was a fast trip to an early grave. Liana turned away from her old partner, tail curling up around her body. Not leavng yet, but clearly of the opinion this discussion was nearly over. Daring Laura to make her stay somehow?

"Ask me again when we're about to leave, and you'll have a proper answer."
 
Aug 25, 2018
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#7
Laura snorted. "You should know that they'll let you leave without issue as long as you won't go blabbing about their secrets and won't go after them, but I'm not going to ask anything again. Its your life, its your choices and mistakes to make. All I've done is give you a choice to make instead of you following your target of admiration and his troupe into a grave out of blind loyalty. Might be you end up doing that anyway, but at least it'll have been your mistake to make instead of something decided for you. Celebrate, for this is the end of my meddling for you."

Laura too turned away and began to leave, her piece said and done with, though unlike Liana's her tail was swaying slowly as she did so. Only to entirely pause midstride. Even the tail was frozen mid sway. There was one more thing that should be said tonight.

"Oh, one more thing." She started conversationally, one finger jumping upwards, her ears perking up at the same time. "Do get a proper reason for fighting. Nothing is more offensive than a clown who risks their life fighting for a reason as inane as because it's expected of them, because it's the 'right thing to do' or because its the only thing they know. Especially when the latter isn't even true in your case, you had a life before your short stint in Reflection. Either way, fighting 'to stop the end of the world, apparently' that isn't even here yet is only a good reason if you truly believe in that being the case."

With that she resumed her walk away once more. "People throw their lives away far too readily." She muttered to herself under her breath whilst rolling her eyes.
 
Aug 4, 2018
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Somewhere in the UK
#8
"Sometimes it is the right thing to do. Whatever happens down here I'm coming out of it with something I can use - all sitting by would do is waste my time and this war for no good reason. And if they're right about this world ending... we're standing on it. Right now."

Not all of Laura's comments had sunk in. Not yet. She wasn't going to open herself up to that until she'd had some time ot process, to understand her own thoughts and those of the fox. Was fighting here throwing away her life?

...Fighting in that ridiculous turtle might be.

"Shadow Mirror is a problem that needs to be solved. Fixing it, breaking it, whatever. Leaving it there when they're doing their best effort - according to you - to make the world a worse place is stupid if we're in a position to do something about it."

In some ways those words were aimed more at herself than Laura, but they needed to be said. She let the woman go without any further issues. At the very least this had been.. enlightening.