soul clef xi (closed)

[daggersedge]

who: agent south dakota, felix, and locus
what: putting weeks of recon into practice
when: mid-december
where: the deciduous forest outside the city
warnings: language, talk of violence


By all accounts, Freelancer Agent South Dakota is dead. Shot in the head by Caboose, of all people. Which, incidentally, had to have been a fluke. Caboose couldn't intentionally shoot someone if his life depended on it.

Whatever the case, she's dead. Has been for years. And yet, according to Locus' recon, she isn't. She's alive and well, waltzing around with no hole in her skull whatsoever. Well, unless the missing eye counts. Apparently, that's a new development.

It's been weeks since Locus spotted her. Weeks of waiting while his partner scoped out the situation. Felix's patience ran thin after a few days. If it'd been up to him, they would've killed her and been done with it. He's had enough Freelancers to last him a fucking lifetime. But apparently, that's not an option. Apparently, they need more information, first.

Locus and his fucking Freelancer obsession....

In the end, Felix convinced his partner that they weren't going to get any more information out of his sniper rifle — unless he wanted to see whether or not she could survive a(nother) headshot. So, after sending a message to the Guard requesting a little monster-hunting with the woman in purple armor, he's finally on his way to meet her face-to-face. Or ... whatever. As close as he gets, these days.

When he arrives (fully armed and armored, of course), Felix scans the area for any sign of purple armor or blonde hair. In the meantime, he checks the private comm link between himself and his partner by grumbling, "Just for the record, I still say this is fucking stupid."

Comments

[whosthemonsternow]

She keeps him more to her left, doesn't trust him on her blind side. She trusts the beasts out here more, right now. She knows their motives. This guy's from where she was killed, where she was hunted, where her life fell apart. He doesn't seem to know her or anything, a small plus, but she's still leery.

"How much training do you have?" She asks after a second, both because she needs to know if he's going to be a risk out here, and to get a better idea of him.

His armor is different, maybe he's an entirely different, distant branch of the UNSC that never had much to do with anything anywhere near here. Maybe she is still alright here. This is her second chance goddamn it, this guy isn't going to ruin that! Not that she's planning to do anything to him, or let anything happen to him. She hasn't lost anyone outside the walls yet, hasn't even let them get more than a little busted up, and those times only happened before she even got to them! She's keeping her eye on him, pistol drawn but to her side a bit, HUD's radar keeping track of their surroundings. Thank god for Cisco and his nerdy armor repairs, her HUD is decked out and she feels a little more at ease with the information flooding through her visor.

[daggersedge]

It's possible that Locus mentioned that incredibly fucking important fact during one of their many, many arguments over what to do about the Freelancer. Felix chooses to believe that it's brand new information.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me," he snaps, still speaking exclusively to his partner. And oh, how he'd like to go on. Berate Locus for not leading with that information. For not saying something earlier, preferably before he'd shown his back to the crazy bitch. To remind Locus that what he's doing takes finesse and all kinds of other shit. But South asks him a question, and all Felix has time to do is scoff before he switches his suit's speakers back on.

He didn't miss playing the mercenary with a heart of gold, but he knows he's damn good at it.

Felix slows down to allow the Freelancer to catch up so that they're walking side-by-side. She's keeping him on her left, he notes. Doesn't trust him to watch her blind side.

"Here? You're my training," he says, and his tone is friendly once again. "I'm a mercenary back home. This place doesn't have much demand for that, so I figured I'd check out the Guard after they offered me a position. Gotta make a living, right?"

It's not the whole truth, of course, but it's not a lie.

"What about you? You don't look like a rookie."

[whosthemonsternow]

"People do pay to go beyond the wall since not a lot of us guards will take trips for funsies." It's not mercenary work, but it does great for extra pay on the side. She's taken people out, depending on the pay she'd take them out different locations. Further away or more dangerous cost more, of course. But it was worth it, she saved a lot of asses already. And got to play with the crazy monsters roaming the wilds here.

She considers his question, she can answer it without giving too much, and it's the truth too.

"I was UNSC, served in ODST." Vague still, but it's a true and good answer. "And been here long enough to know my way around and what to expect."

She's still eyeing him, but she's trying to get out of that paranoid mindset. He's from home, but not her time, not her location, not Freelancer. He's not here to hunt her down and drag her back. She has no bounty on her head- she's already been killed at home. She's already dead. She shouldn't have anything to worry about, right?