#*grits teeth* it's okay. you can't win 'em all.

[gachaparadise]

[titanicfreija]

On a Walk

"Any particular reason you wanted to come out this far?" Sunny asked her Guardian as they sparrowed along a ruined asphalt road, river on the left and forest on the right. 

"Honestly... No. Having a good time on the sparrow, figured Earth would be nice this time," Freija told her Ghost, mindfully sweeping into the water for a stretch to avoid debris.

"Okay. In that case, can you head back a little? We're getting close to a Dark Zone."

"Yup-yup."

Freija hit her destabilizers and let go of her accelerator for an about-face, then let go of destabilizers and hit the accelerator to zoom eastward. "Point me parallel? On the river?"

"Can we move further from the edge?" she asked. "If anything knocks us too far, you'll land out of my reach."

Once she satisfied Sunny, a small white triangle appeared at the top of Freija's visual. She lined her nose to it and accelerated. "Anything lurking? I think I feel you fucking with my radar, you do that when you're anxious."

~

Sunny didn't know how she could tell, but she didn't want to correct, because then Freija would know exactly what she was doing to the radar. "I'm most worried about Red Legion loyalists. They're the strongest hangers on of our enemies out here. The Eliksni will be scattered, I'm not sure what houses are out here anymore. This close to the EDZ, it's possible they'll attack or avoid intentionally, but you might even find a defector or new House that's violently against House Light."

"We're ages from the EDZ."

"Not if you're flying a ketch," Sunny replied. She wanted to say something else, but a signal from above and eastward- the direction they were going. "Speaking of, take cover. Ketch incoming."

"You think I can't handle 'em?" Freija asked with a pout.

"I think sometimes you get in over your head or overconfident and then you get into trouble, and we're a long way from backup," Sunny huffed from her Guardian's pocket. "Earth-to-Earth comm systems get weak out here, no warp jump points, it's just better to be careful."

Freija sighed and steered into the trees, impatiently hopping off to let Sunny demat it. "For fuck's sake." She picked up Sunshot and breathed deep, preparing to prepare for a fight. "So what kind of forces are we looking at? What kind of ketch?"

"Resource grab. Big one. Few littler ones, but we're looking at a small army."

Freija fixed her jaw and steadied her breath. "I've fought worse."

"Don't. Vandals win when you're the only target. You need Rise to face an army."

The Titan once again steadied her breath. "Fine." Silence fell between them, but something unspoken rang loud, and the Titan could taste it. Glancing at the top of her visual, she saw Sunny's indicator blinking. "What's wrong."

Sunny's speech indicator continued flashing, but she could only manage to turn the comms on and off, and not even in Morse Code.

"I'm about to get real angry, ain't I," Freija observed with a sigh, voice high with exasperation.

The poor Ghost could hardly whisper, "Yeah."

The Guardian nodded, pursing her lips and sucking her teeth. "Okay. It's not your fault. I'm not angry at you. We both decided the ship would be okay, so that's on us both. It's my fault we're out here."

"You're doing great," Sunny cheered at a whisper, already impressed with her composure.

"I'm okay, we're okay," she continued, but her body temperature spiked.

"It's about to get worse," Sunny said, bracing herself and Freija both.

"Okay," Freija breathed again, but she did, finally, stop walking. She knelt and put her head on her knee to count breaths.

"I'm so proud of you, you're doing great," Sunny said again.

"Shut up," replied Freija through gritted teeth. "I'm. I'm. We're okay," she repeated at a growl, and she stood up, spinning in place to whirl around. "What's the worse news?"

"I can take the ship with us--"

"That's not worse news."

"--but if they've taken parts, we're going to have a hell of a time replacing them, and all the good places to look are in the Dark Zone."

Contrary to Sunny's expectation, Freija didn't get angry and start screaming or throwing things. Instead, her eyes grew wide and her breath froze. Sunny matted close to Freija's chest and eased into her view, keeping low. "Hey. I know you're scared. But it's okay."

Freija nodded without a sound, moving her hand to Sunny's bubble where she held her up. "So. Tell me exactly what this means."

Sunny couldn't be prouder of her. "We're okay," she said first.

"I know, I said that, now what's going to happen when I go into the Darkness zone. I'll still have my Light, right?"

"You'll have your light. Your Sunspots will heal you, but I won't be able to. I won't be able to resurrect you, either. I'll be more fragile in general-- my shields will be weaker, and so will yours." She hesitated, then finally said, "Any damage you take between sunspots will stay. Dying to get a sunspot isn't going to help. So no charging in with a hammer. You'll have to get them through grenades or not at all."

Freija sucked a breath, then blew through pursed lips. "Yeah, okay. That's. Gonna be the hardest part," she grumbled, and she closed her hand, giving Sunny the cue to demat.

"So if I do die, what will happen to you?"

"As a direct result, nothing. Indirectly, I will need to escape your killer, then go get someone to help me retrieve your body to carry it back to the Light so I can resurrect you. Rise will probably help, but as a rule, Guardians who wandered into the Dark Zone and died aren't worth spending more Guardians to get."

Freija snickered and rose to her feet. "Bet you could get help from Caiatl."

Sunny paused for a few moments, then said, "Yeah, I probably could. Do you really want me to do that?"

"Oh, fuck, no," laughed Freija. "How embarrassing! Ketch incoming," she said, looking through the trees and failing to spot it, but hearing it soar overhead and beyond.

And stop.

Freija clutched Sunshot again. "We're not in the dark, yet," she reminded herself.

"Army! Alone!" Sunny reminded her sharply, yanking from the inside of her pocket. "No! You'll only bring more! They know no one is out here! Please!"

Freija looked over her shoulder, then growled and stormed eastward, back to her ship. "Lucky bastards."

~

On a Walk <-

First Step

Into the Dark

Detour

New Experience

Traveling

The Spaceport

Sneaking

Nobility

Rescue Operations

Caught

Gratitude

Pride