#VERSE. ( pcuexpv2. )

[fidelityfcrged]

@aeternals / desi. semi plotted starter.

It had taken longer than she had wanted it to to get things set in motion to leave from Luna -- the culmination of timing could not have been worse if she'd tried to make it that way; between the massive influx of refugees arriving hourly on Luna and the increased security due to the looming fear of an attack on Luna itself? Everything was a logistical nightmare. She'd briefly considered asking the newly appointed ... returning... interim Secretary General for help in arranging transport to Tycho station, there were far more important things on Madame Avasarala's plate than a woman who might ... might, have seen someone she'd once known.

Hannah had managed to obtain a copy of the security footage in the port, a friend of a friend had managed that much, but something had corrupted the still frames. The name on the man's papers had been strange to her, his stance, his build, his features only reminiscent of her brother in the moment's glimpses she'd had of him. But that voice? It had stopped her cold in her tracks. By the time she'd found the willpower to move again, he and the man he'd been traveling with were already gone. She'd followed their path on the video footage, confirmed the ship that they had boarded and with no small amount of effort, determined that the Rocinante most often berthed at Tycho Station.

In reality she knew there was a slim chance that she'd find anything, but that didn't stop her from packing her bag, from booking passage.

It hadn't taken her long after departing into the station to find someone who could point her to where the Rocinante was docked - and a few more awkward questions and showing the display image of the man that had been with her ... with who she was looking for to eventually be directed to an apartment number where the tall, burly man was known to stay on station. She wasn't sure exactly what she would ask him, or what she would say, or how to even begin asking, but this Amos was the only potential lead she had.

Tired, hungry, with her travel pack digging into a shoulder, she doubted she'd make the best first impression but - it was what it was, and she didn't have the money to waste on finding room and board on station if the person she was looking for wasn't here. Or didn't exist. She swallowed that thought down, hesitating once, and again, before finally managing a tentative knock on the door of the suite. "Hello?" A hesitant call, a glance up to try and see if there was a camera or security suite. "Is anyone there? I'm -- I'm sorry to intrude, but I -- My name is Hannah, and I'm -- I'm looking for someone --"

[aeternals]

@factiousfcrged said, ❛ i’m not afraid of anything. not anymore. ❜

" wish i could say the same, " desiderius tilts his head to the side. the wine in his hand swirls against the edge of the glass in a mesmerizing funnel. when they bumped into each other the first time it was the face that attracted him. that strong jaw and that hard gaze. the more time they spent together the more desi found himself pleasantly surprised by not only how smart amos was but how much the other man got him to think about certain aspects of life long buried. " i was a prisoner once. definitely afraid of that happening again. " a smile accompanies the words but it's meant to hide that small rise of fear the thought brought along with it. " especially considering how i spend some of my free time. "

as soon as his service was over desi took his contacts to fred johnson. mainly because the other soldier had reached out. with his pretty face it was easy enough to get people to talk. those contacts built upon themselves until he'd become somewhat of a savant in things people were looking for. desi wanted out of the game. apparently, the game wasn't quite ready to let go.

on the bright side, it allowed him to help people to get on their feet. children, mostly. a lot of his extra funds were diverted to the education system on tycho.

" what about the other side of the spectrum, though? what makes you happy? what keeps you going? "

[factiousfcrged]

There's a bitter taste in his throat and a thrumming sound in his head that won't subside. He doesn't notice the wider than usual berth that people give him as he stalks his way back towards the apartment he shares with Desi. Part of him would be relieved, if he had. The other part of him was begging for someone to get in his way, to slow him down, or make a comment.

Most people had more survival instinct than he did, though, and it wasn't like his reputation wasn't fairly well known to the locals.

His palm and fingers ached, and he let himself relish in the feel of it. It was safer than letting his attention drift to the stiffness in his shoulders, and the howling in his chest.

He had a thought, that maybe he should stop by the clinic, get the pretty doctor lady to deal with it, before he went back to the apartment. But Desi was waiting. Desi needed an answer.

She was fine. Hannah was fine. Sleeping it off. Slept through it. No monsters under the bed. Just one at the door.

He knows his legs are moving. He knows his heart is beating. His lungs fill with air, and release it. He can feel the blood drip down his palm, trails of it down his fingers.

He makes a mental note to pick up a new hand terminal.

He feels like he's moving through the world in tunnel vision.

It takes longer than he wants for the door to chime in recognition and let him into the apartment.

"She's fine." He can't tell if the words come out flat or if they come out in a snarl.

@aeternals / desi gets a starter.

[fidelityfcrged]

Even expecting it, the rough spin elicited a shuddered gasp, hands flung out, one catching against the skittish holographic mirror display, the fingers of the other latching haphazardly onto the side of the sink. Hips drop at the pressure at the small of her back, the porcelain frigid against the bend of her hips and the front of her thighs slammed into it and she gasps with shock, and pleasure, and a little bit of pain, for good measure.

Her hand holds tighten, skittering for a better hold, her body bowing back as his fingers curl against her throat and she moans against the tightness of his hold, but not out of complaint. Lashes flutter closed, and she can hear the faint raspiness of her breath, can hear the taunt and satisfaction both, in his question and she can feel the color heat her cheeks with the same intensity that his touch ignited the rest of her body. "Yes-- " It's a gasp, a plea - a prayer.

Atta girl. He grins. If she's cut him up, he doesn't care. Barely feels the sting of pain; abuse litters his skin, and he's loved every single one no matter how he'd gotten it. Her claws? A needy kitten. Still, it draws a growl from him, and he's moving before she's done speaking. He spins her to face the sink, a palm on her lower back, flattened, urging her down. The other hooks into her panties, and he's almost tempted to tease her, make her beg, make her wait. She's lucky: he's already too hard now, and it takes half a practiced second to release his own pants.

Someone's knocking at the door. Cash tells them to fuck off in the same breath as he pushes in. A hiss sucked through his teeth. "God, you're so fuckin' wet." Fingers dig into her hip, wrap around her tender throat. His thumb shifts under her chin. He can feel the heartbeat pulsing, jumping as he moves again. "This what you want, Annie?"

[fidelityfcrged]

@aeternals / desi & @somebadguys / cash

It had only been a few days since her arrival on Tycho and so much of her world ... and everyone else's, to be fair ... was in upheaval to the point she wasn't sure which way was up or down anymore. Nathaniel -- Desi -- had arranged for a hotel room for her, though she still didn't know if she was staying, or going -- if Tycho would be safer than Luna, or vice versa. Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Tycho, and more had fallen under attack in the same twenty four hour period and there was still no one to blame, and no one to tell anyone else what to do about ... any of it.

It was too much, all at once, and so, she, like so many others, seemed just -- on a loop. Going about the day to day, the hour to hour, because what was the alternative? It was just too much.

Still, it seemed strange to be sitting at a bar, seltzer water and lime in hand, while music played, and people danced. She couldn't remember the last time she'd gone to a bar, to be honest. But it had seemed ... a neutral territory for Na-- Desi. There were still so many questions she wanted to ask him. So much she wanted to tell him. "Is ... Is Amos going to be joining us?" Two seltzer waters in, there was still a sense of awkwardness between them that she didn't know how to work past, and she found herself contemplating just how bad it would be, if she just let herself have a glass of wine. Two, max. She could handle just one.

[fidelityfcrged]

@somebadguys / cash gets a starter.

This was a mistake.

She hadn't known how to find him. Hadn't wanted to. It was easier that way. Better that way. But somehow, she'd found herself back at the bar that she and -- Desi had been to, asking the bartender -- Hale? Henry? If he could pass a message along to Cash ... if he saw him. If it wasn't too much trouble.

The noodle cafe was out of the way, but generally pretty well populated, from what she'd seen the few times she'd been there to eat during her stay on station, and it was close to her hotel which was -- just. Convenient. Easier for her to not get lost. It wasn't raucous, but it wasn't intimate either. It should be ... safe. Neutral territory.

She'd already been waiting almost a half hour past the time that she'd told Cash she'd be there, if he wanted to talk. Three shots of sake, or ... well, they called it sake, and half a bowl of noodles later, she was only more anxious than when she'd started. She half stood, ready to call it a night, to go back to her room, to just forget it. Forget everything. It was better that way.

"Cash." Had he always done that? Seemed to just spring up out of nowhere? Had she just been too glitzed out of her head to notice? A hint of color slid over her cheeks, and she sat back down in her chair, a stilted gesture to the chair across from her at the table. "I ... wasn't sure you'd come."

[factiousfcrged]

@aeternals / desi

Amos didn't bother extricating himself from the bed until the pacing started. The chime of Des' hand terminal wasn't unexpected, especially since it was technically work hours, but when the scowl formed and the typing became more vehement, he figured something was up. He just wasn't really prepared for what that was. "There a problem?" He had to wait for a pause in the profanity to interject, swinging himself out of bed in time to be met with a hand terminal thrust in his hands rather than a verbal explanation.

A faint frown, an irrirated chuff. "I don't care what he says, I didn't lay a finger on that fucker," Amos declared, after skimming the exchange thus far. Maybe that hadn't been the best adjective to use, he mused in hindsight. "If he went and picked a fight with somebody, it wasn't with me -- he tried real hard though." He offered the terminal back. "Figured it wouldn't make all that great of a second impression, her waking up to me putting my fist through his face and all."

[unityfcrged]

Truth be told, the profanities didn't even register on Chrisjen's radar. There was far too much of more importance weighing on her thoughts for her to even pretend to be bothered. Even still, she does take the time to shoot him an eye roll at the flirtations that follow. "If you think your goddamn charms are going to work on me in this moment, then you never know me at fucking all," she reminds him. Of course, there's a hint of a lie in those words, and they probably both know it. While she was relentless in the pursuit of whatever her goals were, at any given time, she had a weakness for charm, and humor, and for those that knew there was more to her than her fire.

The other sides of her emotions, and passions, that she so rarely had the chance to indulge in. And whether she wanted to admit it, she'd always had a weakness for romantics. Just ask her husband.

An eyebrow danced upwards at the use of quixotic. "Oh, you have no goddamned idea just how much. Would you like to take a guess as to why his ship is named Rocinante? I'll give you three chances - I bet you'll only need one."

Lips pressed thinner, prim, at the opinions that Arthur had to spout about Fred Johnson. Her own thoughts on the Earther turned OPA leader were well known to them both, and she had enough fights on her plate at the moment without picking one with him she wouldn't win. "That's a guard dog with a pretty fucking but pike to be jousting at whichever enemies Fred Johnson can convince Holden look like fucking windmills." Okay, maybe she couldn't just let it go.

"What sort of relations is this friend of yours having, and with whom? Do I want to know? Actually yes, I would very much like to know, the last thing I need is Holden adding any more hormones and love sick entanglements into this shit show. In fact, I want to know everything. Everything and anything about Holden, his crew. Who he's meeting, and why. Where they're going, what they're hunting down for Johnson, all of it. Everywhere that man goes there's trouble and I find it very difficult to believe that's a goddamn coincidence."

a string of welsh profanity joins the movement of catching the drive being tossed his way. he listens with a clenched jaw to the name that's been the bane of his existence since the canterbury. not like he didn't think holden was a bad guy ( no matter what desiderius thought on the matter ) but he was definitely in over his head. whatever they did on that land in montana made holden grow up in the land of romance and fairytales. the real world was probably kicking his idealistic ass right about now, if it hadn't started already.

" oh, love, " a smile dredges up from the depths of his annoyance. " if you think the ideas ever stopped then you never knew me very well. "

in all seriousness, the undersecretary had been damn lucky he was already on earth trying to deal with a few legal matters regarding his child. made his appearance in this elegant hotel room in a much more timely manner and only so he could talk about james holden.

arthur rubs his brow as the digital encryption starts to unravel before his very eyes. " i've only talked to him a few times. quixotic bastard. " not as much anymore, which was a different conversation entirely. " if you give me twenty four hours i can reach out to a contact on tycho who knows him much better. mainly due to, ah, relations with one of the crew members. "

he sets the terminal to the side and slides the data chip into a small pocket sewn into his own sleeve. " what i can tell you right now is the relationship probably isn't what you're worried it is. despite all the names slung johnson's way, the guy's just trying to fix something that can't ever be fixed. he's been using holden to keep peace in the belt. guard dog of sorts. price they're paying for sanctuary on tycho from what i understand. or, what the rumor is with some of the security guys. "

[factiousfcrged]

@somebadguys / cash gets a pre plotted ish starter.

This? This right here is why he was glad, most of the time, that he didn't have family. That he didn't have more than a handful of people, at the best of times, that he had to concern himself over, or trying to figure out where they were, what they were doing, who they were doing --

His head still throbbed, dully, from the excess alcohol the night before, and the conversation that had gone along with it, despite Hale's attempt at keeping him hydrated, and the meds he'd taken that morning. He did not want to be here right now, for a number of reasons, but here he was, nonetheless, a series of loud, intrusive pounds on the door of Cash's hole in the wall apartment waiting for the man to crawl his way out of bed to answer the damn door.

"Cash, I know you're in there." His words are loud enough to be heard, without quite reaching yelling decibels, and it was probably easy enough by the low rumble and irritation in them that he was not happy about the situation at hand. "Open the fucking door, Cash, before I bust it in."

[fidelityfcrged]

@aeternals / desi.

12:43 p.m. [MSG] D.M.: Are we still on for dinner tonight? 12:44 p.m. [MSG] D.M.: Also, is there a particular med clinic you could recommend on station?

[factiousfcrged]

@aeternals / desi gets a kinda plotted starter.

He looks like he doesn't belong there, with his faded and worn, and grease stained coveralls and his scarred, scabbed hands, but it's only a few of the non-employees of the gallery that give him a look that they know he doesn't fit into their world. But if he even notices, it's clear he doesn't give one ounce of fuck, strolling in and cutting a direct path to the back of the gallery where Desi's offices and the private viewing rooms are located. He offers a jerk of a chin to the woman manning the desk outside, rapping one knuckle against the door twice before stepping in to the office where Desi is working.

A hand lifts, a sealed privacy shielded envelope pulled out of the inside of his coveralls and shown before being handed over. "This came to the Roci for you, marked urgent - figured it probably was." His other hand settles a package of takeout with noodles and tea. "And I reckoned you worked through lunch, so."

[factiousfcrged]

There's a deep set frown, creases creeping into place between the mechanic's brows at the bartender's far more simplified and ... a little too accurate to be just a good guess, he figured, run down of the situation. This was why he usually didn't bother with duplicity. "Nah, like. She got there first, and you -- I -- didn't know anything about it, at the time. That was then, this is .. after. Now. Ish." He looked ... on the verge of being uncomfortable which was -- a relatively new look for him.

"Huh." That was a piece of info Amos hadn't had before, but, then, he and the other bartender were on more of a random nod in greeting kinda relationship than anything else. The frown deepened as Hale pondered, and shared his thoughts, something close to a scowl. It wasn't that he so much cared about anything he'd done with Cash. Wasn't anything wrong with any of it, and it wasn't like he'd even known anything about Hannah at the time, much less who she had or hadn't fucked.

"It just kinda seems like the sort've thing most people wouldn't want to know." But maybe that was just him. "Not that I give a fuck one way or the other, not like I banged his sister, but people -- people get weird when it comes to family, I guess." Fingers rubbed at the furrow between his brows, a heavy exhale escaping. "Fuck me," he grumbled.

as a general rule, unless he was spoken to hale didn't intrude on where anyone's mind went at the bar. some of his regulars were extremely chatty and he knew every detail of their lives. others, like amos, liked to sit and simmer in their own...wherever the fuck they went. he didn't mind either way and the entire point was to provide so the customer, which is what he did to the best of his ability. especially now that he was technically off the market.

after a quick message is sent in dante's direction, hale grabs the nearby bottle so he can hold it out and top off the mechanic's drink. top twisted back off, he was super ready to high tail it back to his terminal when the beginnings of a question is posed. his face feels like it goes through a whole symphony of emotion. there was confusion and there was sadness. then there was confusion again on the tail of utter panic. what made amos thing he was qualified to say anything on decisions made while fucking other people? that was probably the biggest hurdle in the stability of his relationship.

well, until he realized dante wasn't going anywhere. then hale stopped trying to push boundaries.

" uh... " amber eyes go wide. instinct has him glance around in the hopes it was one of those nights dante was sitting close by. " so desi has a sister and you both fucked cash. hopefully, not at the same time. " an eyebrow raises as his mind goes back to the fiercest he's ever seen the good art gallery director. standing there all heroic and hot.

" hypothetical, though. right. " lips press together. hale leans forward and rests his elbows on the table. " does interim mean you guys were broken up or.... " not that his situation was any of his business but, in hale's mind, people fucked during a breakup was definitely not something to get mad over. " so, if i put myself in this hypothetical with dante? he has a sister, too. i don't think he'd want to know but i also think it would be better coming from me than him finding out from some stranger, you know? if he finds out from someone else it feels like a lie. "

[fidelityfcrged]

@astrakofe gets a vaguely pre plotted starter.

She's lost track of how long she's been sitting there -- it doesn't really matter much, it isn't like she has anything to do, or anywhere she needs to be. Na-- Desi was dealing with something at the gallery, and Amos was ... she wasn't actually sure where, but she'd still not quite worked up the nerve to be anywhere without her brother to act as a sort of buffer between them. She was trying, she was, but he made her nervous.

So, after a quick breakfast, she'd refilled her thermos with tea from the hotel lobby -- their coffee had been too sickly for her to even brave, and wandered around the main sections of the station for a while. Eventually, she'd come to rest outside of the docking ring, finding herself drawn to the walkway that looked down over the ship that her brother and Amos had arrived on. She'd queued up one of the local's podcasts, about the adventures of the ship and crew, and even taking the stories with a grain of salt, she found they made her slightly nauseous at the thought of her brother being involved with any part of them, even if he had said he usually stayed on station.

Tucked into one of the railings with transparisteel glass between her and the bay below, she'd sipped her tea, and let her mind wander, a handful of sketches of gowns and suits that she wasn't really quite happy with, but were at least a start, sketched out onto her hand terminal's display. A whiff of something, caught her attention, a hand lifting to tug out one earbud as her gaze followed the scent, honing in on the cup held in the stranger's hand, her stomach rumbling hopefully silently at the scent. "Oh my god, is that real coffee?"

[aeternals]

@factiousfcrged gets an ish-plotted starter

another day, another tussle with james holden of the mighty rocinante. this one wasn't as rational as other times desi has raised his voice and, really, was only a heavy sigh. amos had been shot, someone else patched him back together, and desiderius was far too emotional to let the other man out of his sight. it was a dangerous game he was playing. the more time they spent together the deeper and deeper he'd found himself falling. tripping, really, into some emotional attachment with amos burton.

anything that could be diverted away from the gallery office and onto a video conference was moved. the data broker had cleared off the small table in the suite's kitchenette to serve as a new ' desk ' for the time being. realistically speaking, only about half of what he'd been working on was able to be moved in that way so he was in and out of the suite much more than he'd liked. gave him a great opportunity to re-evaluate where his head was, though.

on the way back from the gallery, desiderius picked up a bottle of whiskey, a bottle of wine, and food for them both. a place not too far from the gallery served amazing burritos, which were easy to carry along with everything else. it also allowed him to get another one for amos to eat while he was at the gallery the next day without having to worry about how much he was carrying.

" here, " he says with more exhaustion than he meant to. the bag of burritos and both bottles are set on one of the chairs in the room then slid over to the edge of the bed. " i brought food in case you're hungry. " auburn hair is brushed out of the way. another chair grabbed so that he can sit in it while sipping away at his wine. " how are you feeling?

[factiousfcrged]

@wolfisheart gets a starter.

He'd been nursing his beers, slower than usual, for the better part of a few hours now, trying to work things out in his head. The way things could go. The way things might go. The way things might go wrong. In the end, honestly, he'd just managed to give himself a headache. A glance down the bar, giving the room a general once over. It was a slow night, or at least, it was hitting the slow stride. He raised the half empty glass to Hale, indicating the need for another, downing the last in a gulp so he could swap out for the fresh one.

"Got a question for you." This wasn't exactly the kind of ... moral quandary he felt comfortable taking to Naomi, or Holden. It did seem like the kind of dilemma Hale might have run into, before, though. Or at least maybe have seen play out. "Hypothetical." That was a lie.

"Say that -- you were ... with somebody." A faint furrow. "With, with someone. You could still do who you wanted, though --" That seemed a relevant point. "But this somebody, say, had a sister. And the sister, she was with this guy, a while back and maybe, it turns out, the somebody you're with doesn't really like this guy. Thinks he's trouble, or something. If you and this .. guy, had -- you know. Fucked. In the interim. That something you think your somebody would wanna know about, or -- not so much?"

[aeternals]

@draconisa said, ❛ it’s the silence that scares me. ❜

" it scared me once, too, " desiderius did what he could to offer a gentle smile. he picks up the water bottle he'd tucked between his thigh and the edge of the seat, taking a sip while deciding on what else to say.

there were more and more new faces on tycho by the day. she'd slipped in unnoticed, daenerys targaryen. very interesting. but, also very dangerous. desi knew the face based on a number of tidbits that had come across his desk since he'd first gotten into the business. she reminded him of the stories that started being published about julie mao before she fell off the radar ( another name, why hadn't he thought of that? ).

powerful family. lots of money. one of the children finds purpose and starts really giving a crap about the plight of the belt. he'd seen the story before and most of them turned right back on their heel when something got a little uncomfortable. julie had been the first, honestly, that stuck it out.

" i grew up just outside of geneva, in port valais. beautiful blue sky, snow. saw the water first thing in the morning and every night before i went to bed. my father was a pastor so there were always people in and out of the house or greeting us on the street.... " no sense in talking about the subsequent military service or the imprisonment that made him want to seek sanctuary in space.

" my first week here i barely slept. all i could hear was the hum but that's all i could hear in my suite. no laughter. no people. just me in a ceramic closet. too quiet. " another sip of water used as a way to glance over at her facial expression. " what brings you to tycho? is there anything i can help you find? "