Early mornings and ice cream

[Anonymous]

A Pilots work was never done it felt like. There seemed to never be enough Pilots to go around. And he was getting dragged out of his office and sent on yet another mission. It was starting to feel like he was getting sent off for every little thing.

This time it was suspected Gospel activity. Which could turn out very interestingly if it was. And as it was a straight forward mission, Bart was told to take Pilot Lockwood along with him. That should be interesting, Bart hadn't spend much time with him, but he was generally dumb, paranoid and good in a fight.

He sucked on his cigarette, hand resting against the butt of the gun strapped to his hip. He was already set to go, just waiting on Lockwood, though to be fair, the kid wasn't late yet. It wasn't even light yet, wasn't even close honestly. But the best bet was to hit them when they weren't expecting it. And what better time than 4am?

Swirling his coffee, Bart removed the cigarette from his mouth long enough to take a long drink of coffee. He really needed to get an espresso machine or something to make better coffee.

[Rhi-Rhi]

As it turned out, Shiloh was early.

He always tended to be early, at least by a couple minutes, because he was too paranoid of being late. So he woke up earlier than he had to, just to give himself some wiggle room, showered and downed a quick breakfast, and strapped on his firearm. For all of Shiloh's vices, he was nothing if not prompt and prepared.

It was hard waking up this early, but he had a large energy drink in hand and he'd already downed half the can, which got his brain functioning and his blood pumping. Noticing Bart waiting for him, he picked up his pace and jogged the rest of the way over, coming to a stop near him and snapping a neat salute.

"Sir!" he greeted, standing at attention. The man was a Royal, and he had no intention of treating him as anything short of that.

[Anonymous]

Bart waved a hand at the kid when he saluted, "Relax kid. Too early for all that." He hadn't worked with Lockwood before, but he had heard good things about him. Followed orders well, good in a fight. He gave the kid a slow grin, heading over to the garage, "Ya all set? Got yer gear? I assume ya got told what's goin' down, right?"

Bart gestured with his coffee mug to the drink in Shiloh's hand, "Wassat?" Bart was rather old fashioned and often out of touch with things. He knew what an energy drink was, though he didn't really recognize them on site. Even as a teenager, Bart had never managed to be on top of trends. They passed him right on by.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Slowly, Shiloh let himself relax and followed along after the other Pilot. He answered his questions with a nod. "Yessir. I'm all prepared."

Relaxed or not, he wasn't about to start addressing Hamilton all familiar-like unless he'd been told that was okay, and even then it was kind of uncomfortable, awkward. Chain-of-command had been hammered into his head and he'd latched onto it hard; it was hard to let it go, and he couldn't help feeling like there was a huge gulf between he and the higher ranked Pilots, much less a Royal. It was like the difference between the lower caste and the upper caste.

Seeing Bart gesture to his drink, Shiloh blinked and held up the can, turning it and moving his thumb so that the man could see the label. "Energy drink."

[Anonymous]

"Ya don't gotta be all formal." Bart had never much cared about rank and formality. Long as people still remembered who was in charge and all that, he didn't really care if there was sirin' involved, "I ain't gonna bite."

Reaching over, Bart clapped a hand on Shiloh's shoulder, "Relax kid. It ain't like this yer first mission or nothin'. Promise I wont get ya killed."

Bart headed over to the vehicle they were going to be taking on the mission, "Energy drink? Ain't that just like a super soda or somethin'? What's wrong with coffee?"

[Rhi-Rhi]

Shiloh stiffened a little when Bart pat him on the shoulder, more because it was unexpected than anything else, but he quickly regained his composure. Right. Talk normal. It was a little reassuring that this Pilot didn't talk all fancy, was making him feel more comfortable the more he heard him speak, but he couldn't shake the feeling that it was a trap. He'd been framed once, and he didn't want to slip up and fail some hidden test.

"Nossir. Ain't a soda, it's a...well, it's a energy drink." Shiloh glanced at the can, at the ingredients that were too long and complicated for him to read. But they looked impressive. "S'got like...same stuff's coffee, pretty much, jus' don' taste like--" He paused, eyes fixing on Bart's mug of coffee. He'd been about to say, 'just don't taste like ass' but promptly reconsidered.

"Jus' don' taste like coffee. Nothin' wrong with coffee, sir," he added, stepping around to the passenger side of the vehicle and sliding into the seat. "Jus' don' like th' taste."

[Anonymous]

Bart laughed, shaking his head, "Stop actin' like I'm gonna do somethin' to ya. Ya make me feel like some big ol' ogre or somethin'." He took another sip of his coffee, "And coffee taste like shit. No one drinks it for the taste. Don't count as coffee when people put all that foofy shit in it."

It was kinnda nice listen to Shiloh talk. Their accents weren't the same, but most of the other Pilots were either from the better educated castes or lost their accents in the program. So it was nice hearing that touch of home.

"Still sounds all sugary. But guess what works for ya works for ya." Bart dangled the keys, "Ya wanna drive? I can if ya don't like ta, but it can feel all badass rollin' up, ya know?" And maybe the kid would relax a little more.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Shiloh made a face. He couldn't imagine drinking, or eating, something that tasted awful just for the sake of doing it. What was the point of that? But he kept that to himself and busied himself with getting situated in his seat, sliding his can into a cup holder and fiddling with his seat belt. He was just about to strap himself in when the jingle of keys got his attention, and he looked up to see Bart dangling them in front of him.

For a second, he just stared wide-eyed at the shiny silver keys swaying temptingly before his nose. Was he...? No way...

Then Bart said the magic words and caution went flying out the window. It was too tasty a carrot for even Shiloh, in all his paranoid glory, to resist.

His face lit up with genuine excitement and, grinning, he grabbed the keys. "I'll drive!" he said, letting the seat belt snap back into place before he climbed over to the driver's side, adjusted the seat and mirrors, and strapped in. He didn't even wait for Bart to get in before he jammed the key in the ignition and fired that baby up just so he could hear her purr, though this was more of a roar. Oh gods. It was as good as sex. Maybe even better.

"Thanks, man!"

[Anonymous]

Bart hadn't expected the kid to get that happy, but he was glad that he did. Moving around to the passenger side, he slid in and buckled up, chuckling, "Well, don't go too crazy. No killin' people on the way or nothin'."

Adjusting the seat back so his long legs had room, Bart glanced over at Shiloh, "So, what ya know about our mission?"

[Rhi-Rhi]

Shiloh snapped Bart a casual salute, still totally focused on the vehicle. "Yessir." No killing. Right, he could manage that.

As soon as Bart was in and buckled up, Shiloh threw it into reverse, hit the gas, and squealed out of the parking space before shifting into drive and taking off out of the garage. Oh man, this thing handled curves so well and everything, Shiloh marveled as they went peeling around a corner. Hopefully Bart didn't regret his decision, because Shiloh was a speed demon without the benefit of being a good driver.

He tapped the horn, which blared nicely, for the other cars to get out of the way as he swerved out into traffic and nearly took the paint off the side of another vehicle.

"Some terrorist cell in th' middle level, one tha' took out tha' one building coupla weeks back," he said without looking over at Bart, cutting over into another lane without signaling so he could get around a slower car. "Our plant's got a tip tha' some'a their leaders're gonna be meetin' downtown. So we gotta go flush 'em out."

[Anonymous]

"Shit boy!" Bart laughed as Shiloh tore out of the garage, gripping the armrest on the door, "We ain't in that much of a hurry." He was just glad that it was still early, or late depending on how you looked at it, so there weren't as many people and cars out on the streets.

It was a rather life changing experience to drive with Shiloh. He didn't regret giving the kid the keys, he seemed to have finally relaxed a bit and looked like he was actually starting to enjoy himself, "Yup. There gonna be some heavy thugs around, possibly got a mirror with 'um as well."

Bart never called them reflectivists, they would always be mirrors to him.

Despite Shiloh's best attempts, they did manage to arrive at the destination unharmed. Sliding out of the car, Bart pulled his gun out, "Alright, follow muh lead, yeah. We'll clean up, then celebrate."

[Rhi-Rhi]

Hours later, after a mission that went smoothly with only a few hiccups, Shiloh found himself with Bart over at the local mall. He was a little sweaty from exertion, but otherwise unscathed. It had been a pretty routine mission, and between his powerful and distracting offense and Bart's sneaky stealthiness, they'd wiped the floor.

And then Shiloh had even gotten to drive the vehicle here, too.

All in all?

Today was really looking up.

"So, where we goin'?" Shiloh asked as he fell into stride with Bart, notably more relaxed, less withdrawn. A good fight always helped release a lot of that pent-up aggression, and no matter who you were paired with, it was always a bit of a bonding experience. You watch their back, they watch yours. It took trust. Even if you didn't like the person, you still experienced it together and came out changed in some way.

In this case, Bart no longer unnerved him so much. Although, having the man let him drive probably had more of an impact there than anything else.

[Anonymous]

"I like tha mall." Bart felt grungy and sweaty and had that strange adrenaline filled, utterly relaxed state he got after a fight. It was like after a good fuck, everything was on high alert, blood pumping, heart pounding, yet...peaceful.

"I wanna get somethin' ta eat. Reward fer a job well done. My treat. Ya got a preference?" He was glad Shiloh was relaxing, the kid wasn't bad when he wasn't acting so paranoid. He was kinnda fun actually, simple and easy to get along with, "Ya were good in there. 'M impressed. Ya know how ta handle yerself well."

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Nossir, ain't a picky eater," Shiloh said, looking off to the side to peek into the shops they passed before his attention was drawn to the ass of a miniskirt-clad woman in front of them. Short skirt, too. He thought he could see her panties. Unfortunately, she turned and went into a store, so Shiloh looked back at Bart.

"Iffit's good, I eat it." He gave a little shrug, aiming for nonchalance instead of excitement. Best let the Royal pick. Either way, it was still reward enough, getting treated to a meal. "Iunno. Kinda cravin' fries, maybe...somethin' salty."

The praise drew a grin out of him, but he quickly smoothed his expression back out and swallowed down the surge of pride. It kinda meant a lot, especially coming from a Royal, to know he'd done a good job--even if it was a pretty routine mission.

"Yeah, well, s'all tha' trainin'," he said, ducking his head. "I best be able t' handle m'self, huh?"

[Anonymous]

"Hey now. I've seen kids make it through that program that can barely tell which end of the gun ta hold. Ya got talent kid, when someone tells ya that, don't cha hesitate ta take it. Bein' humble wont get ya far."

As Bart talked, he glanced around the mall, trying to think of where to take Shiloh to eat. A scent drifted past, a teenager eating a pulled pork sandwich. It smelled amazing, "Now, stop callin' me sir. We ain't on the mission no more. Call me Bart. Now, how ya feel about some bar-b-que? There's a place in the mall, ain't bad."

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Yessir," Shiloh agreed, not about to disagree but still feeling horribly awkward. He wanted to believe Bart, but he hadn't learned anything that any other candidate hadn't, really. Nothing special. But for now, at least, he guessed it couldn't hurt to take praise he was being told to accept. "Thanks, si--uh, Bart."

He cleared his throat and shoved his hands into his pockets. He hadn't really hung out with a Royal before, not like this. Not outside of a mission or some other official business. Learning how to relax around one--and not just because he'd been told to relax--was taking some getting used to. "I like barbeque."

[Anonymous]

"Well, let's go then." Bart grinned and headed off toward the restaurant. He was aware of the kids nervousness and it would just take time for that to wear off. He remembered what it was like being around the big, bad Royals.

"So, yer friends with that Finaa girl? She seems like a good kid. Told Gabe where to shove it when he insulted you." That had been an amusing moment, watching Gabriel sputter and back track.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Falling into step beside Bart, Shiloh smiled at the mention of Finaa, even if that situation was still a little embarrassing.

"Yeah. She's m'best friend," he said, heading inside the barbeque place. "Ever since I was a candidate. She's real smart 'n' tough, real sweet and stuff. It'll be nice when she graduates. Uh, are we eatin' here or gettin' take-out?"

[Anonymous]

Bart nudged Shiloh in the ribs, grinning at him, "oooh, eh? Sounds like ya might have a bit of a crush." That was cute, seeing the bonds candidacy formed.

Looking around, Bart shrugged, "Well, I was thinkin' eat here if that's alright. 'Less ya got somewhere ya need ta be?"

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Wha?" Shiloh's eyes widened and a look of pure horror crossed his face, mouth dropping open as he stared at the other Pilot. "A crush? Fuck no, ya crazy? Uh, sorry, sir. I mean, no. No. Um, here's fine."

He cleared his throat and shoved his hands in his pockets and glanced around for a table. It was a seat yourself sorta place--said so on the sign up front--and he spotted a two person booth and headed toward it. Sliding into his seat, he paused a moment, then looked back up at Bart and decided to clarify.

"We did th' datin' thing as candidates. Drove each other fuckin' batshit, avoided each other fer mosta it. It was jus' weird."