01-31-2018, 06:38 PM
Jacinda shifted on the couch, trying to adjust the pillows under her knees. It helped a bit. She was propped up at one end, tablet sitting idly on her legs, staring off into space.
Periodically, a bit of tapping pulled her gaze down to Tenzin, seated on the floor with her legs crossed, book folded on her lap, and a slight smile lifted one side of her mouth. The girl was tough. Like she grabbed onto something and just wouldn't let go. She remembered a pup holding on tightly to a chew toy in its teeth as she played with it, tried pull it away. Tenzin had a toy between her teeth and was not gonna let it go for nothing. She shook her head and her smile grew.
Here she was, barely speaking English-struggling to get thoughts out- and now she's trying to learn to decipher ancient Greek. Yup. Between her teeth. It was a pretty amazing story and Jacinda was hooked. She wanted to help. For Tenzin she'd do it regardless. But the mystery....yeah, she had to help. Somehow. Exactly, how, she didn't know. But a hidden cavern? Ancient creatures? Hidden artifacts? It'd be like Indiana Jones or something. "X Marks the spot"!
She'd been healing up pretty good. The cuts and slashes didn't bother her that much anymore cept for when she showered. Only one that gave any real twinge was the one on the shoulder. But it coulda been worse, so she powered through.
Worse part was apparently she'd broken a rib or two. Well, more like a fracture. It'd happened before. If it had been a bad sharp break, she wouldn't have been able to move. Hell, it probably woulda pierced a lung or something. Something with the ribs wasn't great, but if you were careful-like with your twisting and what-not, it was livable. Oh, and not to smack your arm or elbow into it. Good god, she had done that and could barely breathe for a full minute, the pain was so sharp.
Sucky part was that the fracture was at elbow level. Which made sense, of course, since it had been slamming into the wall with her elbow between it and her rib that had cracked it in the first place. She had all the fucking luck.
So here she is having to be careful- and since when did waking up mean that your lower back was so stiff that just sitting up took a moment because it hurt so much? Or putting on or lacing up your boots for that matter?
Oh well. The machine broke down. But she had a lot left in the tank still. A lot. It felt good to have hope.
More than that, though. She felt something she hadn't felt in....it was hard to place a time on it. However long, it was Peace. She felt peace. Content. Heh...and she was part of a team. Jacinda. Part of a real team.
That was the most interesting thing about this. It was still new and all, and they'd only been on a few small hunts- Tenzin wouldn't back down on that and Jacinda laughed- and then winced at the pain from laughing- and then let her have her way. If she wanted to play mother hen, that was fine. In truth, though, she kinda liked it. More than, really.
So anyway, the cool thing was even though this team was new and they were still feeling each other out and learning each other's strengths and weaknesses and stuff, there was already a sense of....respect. Willingness to listen. And to speak. Hell even to disagree. They weren't up to arguing yet- that would come. She expected, anyway. Not like you could have two people work together and not argue at some point. Tenzin struggled with her English, but Jacinda listened to her, tried to hear what she was trying to say, the meaning behind the short phrases. She got what she tried to say. And she'd never had problems expressing her opinion. Heh....nope.
And what she noticed was how different it was from her other teams. Course those weren't really real teams. The Archangel thing had been the most traditional. But even that was a lot of personalities and Barovsky mostly tried to steam-roll them. And Jacinda (yeah, admit it, girl, you know it's true) well she didn't really listen to others. She figured she knew what needed to be done and was gonna do it. Regus had called her on that. So, there was that. But she trusted herself.
Most of all, it was different from what she had with Regan. Course she had been young, true. But Regan never really had groomed her to be his equal. She could see that now. And it kinda pissed her off. It felt like he planned on always being in control.
So anyway (damnit! again) this was....different. Refreshing. And she kind of marveled at it, the newness of it. The respect. There was no dick measuring, no one-ups-man-ship, no dominating. Even when Tenzin had insisted their hunt be something small (a single dreyken) it was concern, not domination. And Jacinda could listen. Did listen. Idly, she wondered how far Tenzin would have pushed if Jacinda hadn't given in. Prolly would drop one of those 'don't be a moron' disappointed gazes and Jacinda would just have to laugh....and then the laugh would cause more pain and she'd have to admit she was right.
Fucking ribs. And back. And she was getting cabin fever being stuck in here. Tomorrow they'd have to go to the river or something. A market. She didn't know. Just get out. Something. And she knew Tenzin was getting tired of staying in one place too. Stuck in here helping her. She didn't feel guilty about that. Not really. Well ok, maybe a little. She'd have to make it up to her. She got the feeling gratitude or owing someone wasn't big with Tenzin- her culture or whatever. But Jacinda felt it all the same.
Jacinda watched her work for a little bit, scratch something in her notebook, stop and think, look at the skin. She smiled. It was relaxing.
Which she needed. It took her mind of what she had found. The smile twisted into a frown. What she had been avoiding.
The hidden dark web message boards were accessible if you knew where to go, what links to click. Simple, innocent things, challenges and responses, shit like that. She assumed it was secure. Then again, who knew anymore.
That wasn't what bothered her, though. At least one- and maybe more- safehouses going dark. And then strange things coming from the Vatican. Cryptic statements. In particular, some of the discussion seemed to revolve around the future of the Atharim (no surprise there, given that dickhead Brandon's classifying them as terrorists).
No, the thing that surprised her were the comments on coming to some sort of accommodation with the CCD, and Brandon in particular. The survival of the Atharim as a group. Questioning the need for the Archangels. Nothing specific. But the fact that some- even anonymously- were floating these ideas on the discussion boards hinted at compromise, said that it was being talked about by higher ups.
Regus should be rolling in his grave.
She was about to share this with Tenzin when she heard the door. And a voice came from the entrance. Her eyes locked with Tenzin- flashing her a tight smile and a nod. She knew she would have her back. Though in truth, they needed to actually come uo with some short hand signals, so they could work out who went where for situations like this-and she reached for her gun, not the stave. That would hurt, to use it.
She ignored the pain and swung her legs down, dropping her tablet to the floor, and stood. She was in a t-shirt and jeans and socks. She stood, stifling a wince and, gun held in two hands pointed down, headed for the entrance. The kill zone was called that for a reason. A funnel point.
Tenzin might think she was over-reacting. Probably did. But she hadn't read what Jacinda had. She'd explain later.
Because she didn't like this. Too suspicious. She was an Archangel. So...cleaning up lose ends? Tenzin just collateral damage? Pretty fast, if that was the case. But, if so, they were in for a surprise. She and Tenzin wouldn't be that easy to take out. As she moved, she spoke casually, to put whoever it was at ease. "Hello? Who are you?"
She peeked around the corner and saw the girl- jeez, she looked like a girl. All of 14 or something. Didn't mean anything, of course. Nope. She caught movement at the ceiling, increased the light level. Something swarmed up there. Bees? Flies? There was something odd in the way they moved. Her gun raised immediately, eye flicking between the ceiling and the girl. "What do you want?"
Edited by Jacinda, Feb 1 2018, 12:06 AM.
Periodically, a bit of tapping pulled her gaze down to Tenzin, seated on the floor with her legs crossed, book folded on her lap, and a slight smile lifted one side of her mouth. The girl was tough. Like she grabbed onto something and just wouldn't let go. She remembered a pup holding on tightly to a chew toy in its teeth as she played with it, tried pull it away. Tenzin had a toy between her teeth and was not gonna let it go for nothing. She shook her head and her smile grew.
Here she was, barely speaking English-struggling to get thoughts out- and now she's trying to learn to decipher ancient Greek. Yup. Between her teeth. It was a pretty amazing story and Jacinda was hooked. She wanted to help. For Tenzin she'd do it regardless. But the mystery....yeah, she had to help. Somehow. Exactly, how, she didn't know. But a hidden cavern? Ancient creatures? Hidden artifacts? It'd be like Indiana Jones or something. "X Marks the spot"!
She'd been healing up pretty good. The cuts and slashes didn't bother her that much anymore cept for when she showered. Only one that gave any real twinge was the one on the shoulder. But it coulda been worse, so she powered through.
Worse part was apparently she'd broken a rib or two. Well, more like a fracture. It'd happened before. If it had been a bad sharp break, she wouldn't have been able to move. Hell, it probably woulda pierced a lung or something. Something with the ribs wasn't great, but if you were careful-like with your twisting and what-not, it was livable. Oh, and not to smack your arm or elbow into it. Good god, she had done that and could barely breathe for a full minute, the pain was so sharp.
Sucky part was that the fracture was at elbow level. Which made sense, of course, since it had been slamming into the wall with her elbow between it and her rib that had cracked it in the first place. She had all the fucking luck.
So here she is having to be careful- and since when did waking up mean that your lower back was so stiff that just sitting up took a moment because it hurt so much? Or putting on or lacing up your boots for that matter?
Oh well. The machine broke down. But she had a lot left in the tank still. A lot. It felt good to have hope.
More than that, though. She felt something she hadn't felt in....it was hard to place a time on it. However long, it was Peace. She felt peace. Content. Heh...and she was part of a team. Jacinda. Part of a real team.
That was the most interesting thing about this. It was still new and all, and they'd only been on a few small hunts- Tenzin wouldn't back down on that and Jacinda laughed- and then winced at the pain from laughing- and then let her have her way. If she wanted to play mother hen, that was fine. In truth, though, she kinda liked it. More than, really.
So anyway, the cool thing was even though this team was new and they were still feeling each other out and learning each other's strengths and weaknesses and stuff, there was already a sense of....respect. Willingness to listen. And to speak. Hell even to disagree. They weren't up to arguing yet- that would come. She expected, anyway. Not like you could have two people work together and not argue at some point. Tenzin struggled with her English, but Jacinda listened to her, tried to hear what she was trying to say, the meaning behind the short phrases. She got what she tried to say. And she'd never had problems expressing her opinion. Heh....nope.
And what she noticed was how different it was from her other teams. Course those weren't really real teams. The Archangel thing had been the most traditional. But even that was a lot of personalities and Barovsky mostly tried to steam-roll them. And Jacinda (yeah, admit it, girl, you know it's true) well she didn't really listen to others. She figured she knew what needed to be done and was gonna do it. Regus had called her on that. So, there was that. But she trusted herself.
Most of all, it was different from what she had with Regan. Course she had been young, true. But Regan never really had groomed her to be his equal. She could see that now. And it kinda pissed her off. It felt like he planned on always being in control.
So anyway (damnit! again) this was....different. Refreshing. And she kind of marveled at it, the newness of it. The respect. There was no dick measuring, no one-ups-man-ship, no dominating. Even when Tenzin had insisted their hunt be something small (a single dreyken) it was concern, not domination. And Jacinda could listen. Did listen. Idly, she wondered how far Tenzin would have pushed if Jacinda hadn't given in. Prolly would drop one of those 'don't be a moron' disappointed gazes and Jacinda would just have to laugh....and then the laugh would cause more pain and she'd have to admit she was right.
Fucking ribs. And back. And she was getting cabin fever being stuck in here. Tomorrow they'd have to go to the river or something. A market. She didn't know. Just get out. Something. And she knew Tenzin was getting tired of staying in one place too. Stuck in here helping her. She didn't feel guilty about that. Not really. Well ok, maybe a little. She'd have to make it up to her. She got the feeling gratitude or owing someone wasn't big with Tenzin- her culture or whatever. But Jacinda felt it all the same.
Jacinda watched her work for a little bit, scratch something in her notebook, stop and think, look at the skin. She smiled. It was relaxing.
Which she needed. It took her mind of what she had found. The smile twisted into a frown. What she had been avoiding.
The hidden dark web message boards were accessible if you knew where to go, what links to click. Simple, innocent things, challenges and responses, shit like that. She assumed it was secure. Then again, who knew anymore.
That wasn't what bothered her, though. At least one- and maybe more- safehouses going dark. And then strange things coming from the Vatican. Cryptic statements. In particular, some of the discussion seemed to revolve around the future of the Atharim (no surprise there, given that dickhead Brandon's classifying them as terrorists).
No, the thing that surprised her were the comments on coming to some sort of accommodation with the CCD, and Brandon in particular. The survival of the Atharim as a group. Questioning the need for the Archangels. Nothing specific. But the fact that some- even anonymously- were floating these ideas on the discussion boards hinted at compromise, said that it was being talked about by higher ups.
Regus should be rolling in his grave.
She was about to share this with Tenzin when she heard the door. And a voice came from the entrance. Her eyes locked with Tenzin- flashing her a tight smile and a nod. She knew she would have her back. Though in truth, they needed to actually come uo with some short hand signals, so they could work out who went where for situations like this-and she reached for her gun, not the stave. That would hurt, to use it.
She ignored the pain and swung her legs down, dropping her tablet to the floor, and stood. She was in a t-shirt and jeans and socks. She stood, stifling a wince and, gun held in two hands pointed down, headed for the entrance. The kill zone was called that for a reason. A funnel point.
Tenzin might think she was over-reacting. Probably did. But she hadn't read what Jacinda had. She'd explain later.
Because she didn't like this. Too suspicious. She was an Archangel. So...cleaning up lose ends? Tenzin just collateral damage? Pretty fast, if that was the case. But, if so, they were in for a surprise. She and Tenzin wouldn't be that easy to take out. As she moved, she spoke casually, to put whoever it was at ease. "Hello? Who are you?"
She peeked around the corner and saw the girl- jeez, she looked like a girl. All of 14 or something. Didn't mean anything, of course. Nope. She caught movement at the ceiling, increased the light level. Something swarmed up there. Bees? Flies? There was something odd in the way they moved. Her gun raised immediately, eye flicking between the ceiling and the girl. "What do you want?"
Edited by Jacinda, Feb 1 2018, 12:06 AM.