Who wants some pie?! [calling all Pilots!]

[Rhi-Rhi]

Roman's expression made it all worth it and it even inspired Gabriel to get a little more into it, just to weird him out. He'd gained the upper hand, and he wasn't going to back down; this was a rare moment and he was going to take advantage, and the knowledge that he was winning was enough to make him bypass all his usual reservations. His eyes drifted shut in mock pleasure as he worked on Roman's fingers, and unfortunately for Gabriel he also forgot that they weren't the only two people in the room. To make matters even worse, he didn't see the snapshot coming.

But he certainly heard it.

Click! Gabriel's eyes snapped open and he looked around the room in confusion, unsure as to where the sound came from--until his eyes landed on Roman and the cell phone. It still took a few seconds for his mind to actually connect the dots and then react, but when it did his face flushed clear up to his ears. Oh no he didn't!

For a moment his voice seized in his throat before a strangled sound escaped him. "H-hey!" He yelped, a bit more high pitched than he'd intended, and made a grab for the phone too late. Roman had already moved it out of his reach, and Gabriel was left gaping up at him as he gave the picture an appraising look. Oh shit. If his head didn't feel like it had been dragged through the streets and run over by a few buses and sat on by a horde of dragons, he would have been on his feet and lunging for that phone in a heartbeat. Right then, reaching for the phone and making grabby hands expended enough energy. "Hey! Roman! You didn't really...did you? Wait, c'mon, lemme see it! Give it to me! Agh, wait, no, just don't send it to anyone! Roman, c'mooon!"

Into the pocket it went and Gabriel slumped in defeat, still very red with his shoulders hunched defensively. His face felt like it was about to burst into flames, and it didn't get any better when he caught first Seiteki's comment and then Fala's. Oh gods. That's right. Other people. In the room. Witnesses. As if the snapshot wasn't enough. After all, photos could always be doctored but witnesses were proof. Gabriel went stiff and shot a wide-eyed look their way. "YOU GUYS! Shut up!" he yelled, grabbing his pillow and chucking it at Fala's head since he couldn't come up with a good comeback.

He felt a little better after that (even if his ears were ringing from his own voice) so he promptly snatched the offered bowl out of Roman's hands so he could hide behind it. He felt like he could melt the ice cream from his body heat alone, even from that distance. "Gods, don't you think of anything else? Is nothing sacred? I get fed pie and suddenly it's porn? Ugh! Talk about weird fetishes," he mumbled.

At least there was some satisfaction in knowing he'd won something in getting Roman to admit defeat, so he and Roman were tied here. Alright. He could live with that. And as soon as he was better, he was getting that damned phone and erasing the evidence, whatever it took!

Well, maybe not whatever it took, but...y'know.

Feeling a little better with that half-baked plan in mind, Gabriel shot Roman's back a pouty look, mumbled "meanie" under his breath as he headed to the kitchen, and stabbed a large piece of apple and crust with his fork. He had just shoveled it into his mouth and begun to chew when Roman stopped by Fala...

And Gabriel doubled over into a violent coughing fit, nearly spilling his bowl.

"ROMAN!" Gabriel finally managed to gasp out between choking fits, pinching the bridge of his nose and wincing. Oh god, ice cream was gonna come out his nose, he just knew it. He managed to sit up, swaying a little and sniffing. Ow, ow, ow. Yup. Definitely ice cream. A few more coughs and he glared daggers at the man. "Keep your sick fantasies to yourself! No one wants to hear about what gets you off at ni--"

He cut off and looked toward Satori. Somewhere among all the yelling and head-hurting he'd caught her words, and it sobered him completely. His shoulders slumped, muscles relaxing, and he glanced down at his bowl. There went his appetite. "Yeah..." he murmured, poking at his pie with the fork. Temple. He looked up to see where Roman was. He needed to ask him about that, even if he'd been dreading the answer...but he could wait a little longer. Roman looked occupied, and he didn't wanna be the one to crash the party.

That and he was honestly scared of the answer.

[Anonymous]

Watching his friend get Gabriel all flustered made Marshal laugh softly. Gabriel certainly was good for a laugh, if not much else. Well, he was certainly good for something else when it came to Roman, but that was private. Actually, he was making it quite public at the moment.

A vivid image of Gabriel digging a deep hole sprung to mind.

“I’m not giving up this chair, someone will steal it, and it’s oh so much more comfortable than the floor.”

He grinned down at her, and then burst into laughter at her comment. He would too, knowing Gabriel. Roman had shared enough stories to know what the boy would do without prying eyes around. Whipping Fala’s pie away to avoid the pillow thrown at her, Marshal set both plates down on the coffee table. Gabriel had ice cream with his, hence the need for a bowl. He hadn’t seen the ice cream. Damn.

Another burst of laughter escaped him at Roman’s little retort, more so because of Gabriel’s fantastically embarrassed reaction. The kid looked like he was going to throw up. It was funny, he supposed, how he still thought of Gabriel as a kid. He’d seen him go through candidate training, seen him grow up under Roman’s tutelage, yet he couldn’t keep thinking of his as a scared little boy being raped by his mentor.

Fala, however, who was the same age, he viewed as an equal. She was twelve years younger than him, which really seemed like a lot now that he thought about it, yet wasn’t immature like Gabe. He smiled at her. Twelve years younger. Nice.

“You be sure to post that picture online, Roman!” he called after the departing pilot.

He cleared his throat to stop himself from chuckling, and looked back at Fala. Ah, she’d taken off her visor. She really should do that more often, she had pretty eyes. “You really should take that thing off more often,” he said, mirroring his earlier thought, “You have pretty eyes.”

“Now,” he declared to her, slapping both hands down on his lap, “If you want pie, you’ve got to come up and keep my lap warm.” He grinned, not showing any teeth, just a slightly suggestive curl of the lips. The painkillers were kicking in, and he felt quite alright really, just a dull pain in the back of his head.

[Anonymous]

Awkward was the only word she could even begin to imagine. Marshal was just a jackass, but luckily, everyone else was ignoring her. Except for little Pi. Her eyebrows rose high on her face and she let her lips be pulled into a smirk. "Exactly, human males can hold babies like seahorses!" Poor thing would hate her for not giving him the right information, but it would be funny for him to think of things like that. A quiet noise and Seiteki leaned back again and sat even more awkwardly because she couldn't lean forward anymore.

Even more awkward when Dyerlich came to talk to her. He'd know, she saw him before she hid again. Of course she though he'd die like the rest of them did, but apparently not so. Which was not good for her. Seiteki looked around for a moment, pretending not to notice Dyerlich but then he spoke and pretending would have just been rude. So Seiteki smiled at Dyerlich and made an attempt to move her wings, it failed and they managed to cramp themselves between the wall and the cupboard. Silently she glared at him but her voice came out even and normal. "Yes, younger persons game." Her hand smoothed over the top of Pi's shell thing and she looked at Dyerlich for a moment, "Yes, Pi 3.14" A solemn nod and she turned to watch the going ons of the millions of other people in the room.

Bright blue eyes rolled skyward and she shook her head slightly smiling when one of them, Seiteki was too brain dead to remember her name, came by and got a slice of pie. Roman came by, too.

Almost defensively, Seiteki spread the hand on Pi's back a little wider and leaned back a little. Roman was close enough that if she wanted him to land on his ass all she had to do was stick her leg out and push him in the chest with her foot. Not that she'd do that though, she didn't hate him. If it had been Marshal she would have kicked him in the face already. "Pi? His name is Pi," She started, " I found him outside the dome. He was making a little hole in it to steal supplies for his home, and Whiro got worried and made me look... And I kinda... Took him home!" Seiteki smiled and tapped her fingers against his... Lid?

"He's a... crab..." Seiteki looked at Pi, "Thing." Making a bit of a face she cramped her wings behind her tighter, they were uncomfortable... And very likely stuck which would make her look like a fool later. "You know, you really shouldn't tease Gabriel so much." She tilted her head to the side then leered towards the room full of people, giving all of them their own steady leer. "He only kind of asks for it anyway. Tease Valmont, or Marshal. They're more tight-assed than Gabby." Seiteki stuck her tongue out towards Roman before looked down at Pi. "And what are you doing on my lap, I need it to bend over these places aren't made for winged ladies."

It was then that she looked over and saw Gabriel poking at his pie. Frowning slightly, she moved to pick Pi up and hop off the counter... And got stuck. Swearing loudly she quickly sat back up and clutched at her shoulder. Wings weren't supposed to bend that way. "Ah... Yeah." A light blush was on her cheeks when she reached and ruffled Romans hair. "Gabriel looks sad. Go make sure you didn't hurt his feelings or anything, yeah?" A fake smile and Seiteki leered over at Dyerlich.

"...I got my wings stuck between the counter and the cupboard." Which would explain why they looked so funny bent the way they were.

[Anonymous]

Wulf so very happy at this point, with the biggest grin on his face. He looked so pleased, his arms about Satori and almost nuzzling her. At this point, the headache just seemed to be a million miles away. He didn't hurt as much either, and he was almost sure he could remove his sunglasses. Almost sure. He didn't want to risk that however because...it could bring back the hurty pain which he certainly didn't want. Of course, if Wulf really knew what was going on, he'd remember that he wasn't actually wearing sunglasses.

But this was Wulf.

Wulf gave a small geep sound as suddenly he started getting pulled along with her. He did NOT expect this to happen, but he grinned anyway. "To the kitchen! For the feast!" Wulf exclaimed, maybe a little louder than he should have, and even he winced from the pain. Alright, maybe not the best plan to start yelling. Ah well. Too late for him to take it back now. He headed with her to the kitchen. Ah! His Mentors were there. Roman AND Dyerlich. He just grinned goofily at everyone. Miss Seiteki was there too and...so was a...a...

Crab? Yes. That was a crab right there. Sitting on her lap. He just started blankly at it for a moment. Then it was explained. His name was Pie? No...3.14...that was Pi. Alright. His name was Pi. Why did they have a crab named Pi? That seemed a little weird. Kinda...maybe not. He was kinda cute though. Oh, he wanted some pie though now. He got himself a plate of chocolate like Satori, grinning at her. Though his face slightly fell at the mention of...not everyone was here.

"We'll get him back..." Wulf murmured quietly. They would, they had to right? He was one of them. Somehow.

"Why does he talk to you? Why won't he talk to me?" Pi enquired about Roman as he looked up to Seiteki. His eye seemed to rotate in the socket as it focused properly on her face. "Bionic Crab. Sorta. More like...Crab in a mechanicalized body." He gave a nod, which was...more like him sorta just rocking forward for a moment. "Oh...but your lap is warm and comfortable! I don't want to be on the floor. All these people look so much like um...you know...the people who ingest too much of that foul smelling beverage. They might step on me...and then I'll fire off my laser or snip them with a pincer and you'll feed me to a dragon! I don't wanna be fed to a dragon! So I stay on your lap!" He explained, his legs almost wrapping now around hers. He was frightened to say the least.

Dyerlich was mildly interested by the creature. It had...thoughts. Not so much human thoughts but it HAD actual thoughts. Even when it spoke, the pictures mostly corresponded. There was an odd fish or two shoved in there but...it was mostly correct. The creature was intelligent, sentient, it could speak, and it seemed capable.

The laser eye was an interesting touch, and the fact that it had the ability to hover. Someone wanted this crab to do something. He'd have to get Seiteki to probe it's mind and have an analyst look at the software, just in case it was sent as a weapon to kill them.

Even the cute things could be dangerous.

"I see that." He also saw that Pi was emitting a rather timid squeaking noise as it clung with its legs to her waist and had its pincers securely wrapped around her body, like they were arms and he were hugging her. Or clinging for dear life. Dyerlich reached over and tried to tug at the creature a few times, but it seemed very...VERY secured to her body. "Fine, I'll just...help Seiteki then." He didn't really have to lean around her or anything like that, he could just reach around her to where her wing was being caught and began to free her wing. It took a moment but he got it.

"All free now." Dyerlich told her cheekily, grinning under his cowl as he moved back a step from her. Didn't want to crowd her after all. He looked down to the crab who lightened up his grip on her, but was still practically hugging her stomach. It was like some sort of really intelligent pet almost. Though, calling it a pet to its face was probably wrong, as it probably didn't like to be called that.

[Anonymous]

There was something to be said about Roman- that man had finesse. Turning a loss into a victory with a single fluid motion and the click of a button, Roman had effectively turned Gabriel from a gloating victor to a sputtering, embarrassed mess. While she would have laughed hysterically any time else, the found herself delaying that as Roman walked by, whispering those horribly incriminating words to her.

To say Fala was laughing so hard she thought she'd die would be the biggest understatement of the century. A few peals of laughter- echoing Marshal's own- were only interrupted as one of the plushy pillows flew through the air, only to mash harmlessly against her face despite the arms she'd tried to raise to block herself from it.

"Better yet, Roman- frame that and put it in your office! Give us all copies, too, will ya?" Though the laughter didn't fade for a bit, she found that smile still staying around as she threw it back towards Gabriel- not realizing he'd sobered up quite a bit- and sat back, shooting him an offhanded comment before turning her attention away.

"Oh, it gets him off at night? How raunchy, Gabey! Never thought I'd hear that from you, Mr. Toe Socks!" With one last chortle of subdued laughter, her gaze turned to Marshal, her eyes moving from the chair he sat on to the floor that was beneath her. It didn't feel all that bad. Rather comfy, actually- she wasn't terribly picky.

But when he mentioned her eyes, she arched an eyebrow, wondering for a moment if she should slide the visor back on just to spite him. That was part of the reason she liked wearing them- along with being comfortable and protecting her temple ports- because the last thing she wanted someone to stare at was her eyes. It unnerved her a bit- she liked hiding her emotions behind that visor, where people couldn't see when she was rolling her eyes quite as well. She did that little too often, after all.

However, the older Pilot's blatant order to have her on his lap did surprise her a bit. Man, he was bold, to just expect her to jump to attention and hop on his lap! Well, at least he was feeling better. Her own painkillers had gone to work just before Roman had taken the snapshot, so at least she hadn't missed that.

...But if the pie really was good as Gabriel made it seem, maybe it was worth a single, potentially compromising situation. It wasn't as if no one knew, after all- anyone who was anyone that bothered reading their blog knew that she and Marshal had a potential fling going. Just the flavor of the week, perhaps? But she did have to admit, she'd never flirted so much with a man before.

She wanted the pie. That much was certain- her curiosity was getting the best of her, and the thought of Roman actually taking care in baking the clearly non-poisonous confection did get her wondering. That and Gabriel's moans. But she wasn't going to just do as Marshal said without some sort of comeuppance!

Now, how to surprise him? That was the question.

Grinning evilly as an idea came to mind, the green-haired pilot quickly changed expressions to appear positively seductive, meeting Marshal's eyes in hers. He was going to try to get her to do things? Two could play that game.

From sitting on the floor to straddling his lap in less than two seconds, Fala decided to play the moment for all it was worth and pressed their lips together for a few moments, plucking the plate from his hand as she did so. Pulling back, standing up, and sitting back on the floor with one fluid motion, Fala grinned at Marshal with enough mischievous glee to make the Cheshire Cat jealous.

"Thanks for the pie." Taking a bite of the positively divine apple pie (no WONDER why he'd moaned!), Fala savored the crunch and delicate sweetness of the fruit slices as she looked up at Marshal, almost as if forgetting something. Oh, she knew he wouldn't let her get away with just a tease.

"You want more of that? You need to come down here, or give me the chair, at least."

[Anonymous]

Satori let her eyes run over everyone. This was too fantastic. So much life even though they had just been through hell. It was nice to just spend time with everyone in a somewhat relaxed setting and just be them. If one thing was true of the Pilots most survived by their sarcastic as hell sense of humor.

She watched the pairs around the room, Gabey and Roman seemed to have something interesting going on. Though they always seemed to. Though her eyes were drawn quickly away to Fala and Marshal. Apparently the talk on the blog wasn't just...talk. Surprisingly so! It looked like Wulf and Satori weren't the only ones who found a nice way to pass the time. It was nice to see that the Pilots she knew had mostly remained intact after the Axis.

Her eyes drifted back to the kitchen and what was going on with Pi. Hehe, like seahorses, classic. Satori headed out of the kitchen and found what looked like a comfy piece of carpet. She sat down leaning her back up against the wall then smiling at Wulf and pattign the ground next to her motioning him to join her.

Her eyes looked around at everyone again, such a wide variety of people. Yet they were bound so close together. Loyalty. It felt good to have a group of people like this at your back. Satori felt warm and like her headache was slowly going away. It might have just been a wish though.

"Yeah we all need that pictures for our family letters so they can see what we really do here. Maybe even give it to the candidates."

[Anonymous]

Valmont finally felt coherancy returning to his mind. He observed the room, taking in the sights of the other pilots, and his few peers. They were having entirely too much fun, at least, for having taken a visit to Axis. How did the Soren and former Imperials take being summoned there so often? Hmph. It wasn't his concern. His concerns lay...

With the pie. He could sense it from the kitchen. And why bother standing up and walking into the kitchen? After all, it would be so simple to just grab it. Valmont felt a smile creep onto his face. He was hungry after all.

Reaching out with his mind, Valmont felt a random pie in the kitchen. Perhaps it was chocolate, or apple? Valmont sliced a thin piece for himself, in case Roman wasn't the best chef in the world. After all, he wasn't know for cooking, more like his...teaching methods. Nevertheless, he moved the slice upwards, whisking it towards him. Breaking a piece off, Valmont took in his handa placed it in his mouth, while the reminder of the pie circled his head.

Grudgingly, he had to admit that he had tasted worse. Roman wasn't terrible at this. As the treat circled him, the sides of the pie slowly crumbled with each rotation, and another bite flew towards him. The slice of pie orbited Valmont like a planet would the sun, and the pieces disappeared until there was nothing left. A sigh of contentment left his lips.

Now what though? He didn't feel like sticking around to watch Gabriel's cherry get popped or for Marshal to make more moves on Fala. Social gatherings just weren't Valmont's style, not this manner of them anyway. It was far more important that he continue his work, and he was still curious about Providence.

Shooting private thoughts, as it wouldn't be heard over the others, Valmont leaned outwards to Gabriel's mind. Tightly shut as always. <Your hospitality is appriciated. I will be departing now.> He didn't think of anything else to say to Gabriel.

He approached Roman next, a lighthearted tone. <So, cooking is one of your many talents, aside from your unique teaching style.> Valmont stood up, looking across the room to Roman. <I'll take my leave now though. I want to look into a few things regarding all of our...questionings> The word did not do the experience justice by any means.  <Anything you need before I depart, Roman?>. Valmont waited for Roman's reply before he left Gabriel's apartment, just in case.

[Anonymous]

The scent of pie lead Alaric to the kitchen. So many tasty flavors to choose from. Wonderful! He would kiss the Romanator if he didn't think it would get him punched, either by Gabby or Roman. Grabbing a plate and a slice of pie, he headed back into the other room.

His head still throbbed painfully and he was sure his third eye was going to explode at anytime, but the smell of pie was making him feel a bit better. And the pain pills he had taken earlier should be kicking in soon.

The tall, skinny pilot moved carefully though the crowd and slid down on the floor next to the Gabriel on the couch. He smiled over at his friend, "For shame Gabbykins. Flirting with another man in front of me."

He ate a forkful of pie and he forgot what else he had been going to say. It was so good. And still warm. He made a happy sound in the back of his throat, his tail flicking happily, "Though if the Romanator can make such good pie, maybe I should leave you for him."

[Tally]

From the living room behind Roman came voices, but all he caught was a few words, not enough to follow the conversation.  A quick check of the mental state of the place might have told him what was going on, but there wasn't a lot of psychic chatter in the room to begin with.  They all must have been doing as Roman was, keeping their minds close and not looking into anyone else's business.

"Sorry," he said to the crab.  Aw, now he felt kind of bad for ignoring the little thing.  "It's uh, a pleasure to meet you, Pi."  He had so many questions.  Who had made it?  What was its function?  It had to have been built towards a specific purpose.  Were there others?  It seemed able to form emotional attachments and that was remarkable.  His first thought was that this was some gadget Thanatos Inc. had lost.  It was just the kind of thing Noel would be absolutely enamored with.  "Well...don't get in the way, alright?  Try to stay out of trouble."

Seiteki seemed to have it maintained.  He met her tongue gesture with a quirked eyebrow and ducked his head away from her hand but still got the worst of the hair ruffling.  "Yeah yeah."  He stole a glance into the living room just the same.  Geez, now the kid was sulking.  He was so moody.  

"Kind of?  He starts it often as not.  Hasn't changed at all, I swear.  It was the same when he was a candidate.  Always had to push me."  Roman shook his head and took another drink of water, then moved aside so Dyerlich could get to her wings to help her.  He leaned against the door frame leading into the living room.  It was while he was watching them all and considering bothering Gabriel again that Valmont's voice sounded in his head.

He gave no physical indication that he'd heard.  The sorriest thing about this whole business was that it had him suspicious.  One thing he knew beyond any doubt: only a Pilot could have killed Providence.  It may not have been a Pilot who placed the device on the dragon, but it was most certainly a Pilot who had developed it.  No doubt they all had their theories.  Roman's theory—and the one he prayed was true—was that the Pilot who had killed Providence was the one who went down with him.  That would be the cleanest explanation.  Because otherwise...

Otherwise it was someone in the Citadel, and the goal was not just Providence but the assassination of the Pilot as well.  That left Roman suspecting people he'd rather not have to suspect.  Who could he trust here, beyond any barest doubt?  None of them, not one.  What a sad thought.

"Nothing at the moment, no," he pathed back to Valmont, still watching the others.  "But I'll say this.  I don't think the other shoe has dropped.  I want security to stay high, even after all the Pilots have made it through the Axis."  He couldn't explain it.  It was intuition maybe.  He didn't feel as though this was over, and they had grown far too complacent over the years, safe here in their fortress.

Roman grabbed a cheery yellow dish towel from the kitchen and returned to the living room.  He stopped at the head of the couch, tossing the towel onto the puddle of water which he probably was going to end up cleaning damnit.  "I can bake more than pie, you know," he said to Alaric, giving him a wink.  He leaned over Gabriel's head and smoothed blonde hair back from the kid's forehead.  "Hey.  What's wrong with you?  Don't pout."

[Rhi-Rhi]

"You better not put it online!" Gabriel shouted, and then amended, "Or in your office! It better not leave your phone!" Gah, this was gonna haunt him for the rest of his life, he just knew it. Or, given his luck, until he one-upped this incident with something even more embarassing. Seemed he had a talent for that, but everyone was totally missing the brilliant context, darnit!

Yep. When he felt alive again, he was so getting that phone. It was too dangerous in Roman's hands, especially when he caught Satori's little comment, which made his cheeks redden yet again. His ice cream had melted and become all soupy, mixing with the pie to make a sort of pie-soup, and he forked some of it into his mouth so he wouldn't be able to say anything else remotely incriminating--or anything that would encourage that line of action. The threat of that picture being distributed among the Pilots and candidates was bad enough, but to his folks?!

He'd die.

Fortunately, with Roman in the kitchen and him quietly focusing on eating his pie-soup as his mood continued to spiral down the drain though he was trying to hide it--not because of the teasing, he was used to that, but because of Temple--it meant everyone else could just look to Fala and Marshal for entertainment. Including himself. If it wouldn't have killed his head and he knew how to whistle he would have wolf-whistled, but instead he had to make do with watching, one eyebrow raised as he idly stirred the contents of his bowl.

"Whoa, whoa, just keep the clothes on, guys," Gabriel said, taking another bite of pie. When had that happened? He didn't remember them being all...pawing all over each other before, at least not the last time he'd seen them. Weird. Must be the season, spring right? That had to be it. He was on the verge of trying for a more witty comment since the last one failed epically and he knew it (couldn't help it, his mood had died) when a voice in his head made him jump and wince, his poor raped brain twinging in pain.

He recognized it as Valmont's. The guy liked to do that. Come to think of it, he didn't think he'd ever heard his real voice.

"Ow ow ow, jeez, could you talk like a normal person sometimes?" he asked, rubbing his temples and shooting the man a look, though since the message had only been sent to him it probably looked like he was just randomly talking to himself. Maybe not, they were all psychics here, they'd probably get it. "No prob, though that was quick. See ya around."

After that, he went back to his pie, finishing it up even though he didn't really feel hungry though it still tasted divine. It would have been even better if he wasn't so suddenly distracted, shooting looks at the kitchen here and there, debating with himself. He wanted to know but he didn't. He wanted to interrupt, but he didn't want to rain on the parade. His pie was gone but he pushed his fork around in the melted ice cream until Alaric came and sat down on the ground near him.

He shot a little grin down at his friend, then laughed at his comment and gave him a sly look. Of course he waited until Roman, who he'd seen approaching out of the corner of his eye, was right there within earshot. "You're too late, Ally. I've already got him telekinetically chained to my kitchen so he can be my personal chef," he said, watching amusedly as Roman tossed a towel onto the puddle. Hah, he knew he wouldn't be able to resist that long.

And now Roman was right there. He could bring it up. He could find out everything. But his natural inclination was just to keep on pretending everything was alright and fear of the answer kept him quiet--

At least until Roman smoothed back his hair and called him on it. Gabriel winced. Was he that transparent?

"I'm not pouting," Gabriel mumbled, looking away and shrugging uncomfortably because he was lying and Roman was freakishly good at reading him. "Nothing's wrong, just..." He was going to explode if he had to keep not knowing any longer. Heaving a sigh, he looked up at Roman uncertainly, still debating with himself in his head, but curiosity won over the dread and he squared his shoulders. "I just...aw, screw it." Rising to his feet (a bit shakily at that, his head swam with the sudden movement) and setting his bowl on the table, he grabbed a hold of Roman's wrist and tugged him along after him.

"I need to see you for a sec," he briefly explained as he lead him off through the living room, down a short hall, and into his room. He shut the door behind them and released Roman, then took a seat on the edge of his bed. That short, brisk walk had been taxing enough.

"Say a word about Spot and I hurt you," he muttered, nodding to the dalmation plushie perched at the head of his bed--which was nicely made. Thank goodness he'd decided to do that today, Roman'd probably have a cow. "So...um. Sorry about the impromptu getaway. I just don't wanna bring down the party, y'know? Anyway, ah...I'll just get straight to it." A deep breath and Gabriel looked up at Roman through his sunglasses, glad he was wearing them for a different reason now. It was easy to hide behind them.

He swallowed hard. "Temple...?"

[Anonymous]

For a moment it looked as if Fala would just give up on the pie altogether, which would ruin his not so intricate plan. The plan being to use pie as Fala bait.

She sighed, and then suddenly froze when she was on his lap. He hadn’t even seen her move. Before he could let out what would no doubt have been an incredibly witty remark a pair of soft lips collided with his own. Shock stopped him from kissing back before she’d pulled away again and stolen his pie. He hadn’t exactly made the transition from flirting to kissing as smoothly as she had.

She was gone again, back onto the floor, creating a strange pang of longing for the weight of another person on his legs. It was odd, how comforted he felt just by contact. Analysing it on a purely instinctual level he supposed that the reasons could be twofold. One, in a pack environment physical connection to a female meant protecting her from rival males, and two was likely the more obvious simulation of sex.

All were interesting points, but they didn’t overcome the fact that he was still sitting there like a stunned mullet, his dignity slowly disappearing under the crushing weight of Fala’s obvious dominance.

So if he went down onto the floor with her, he was like a puppy begging for table scraps. On the other hand if he didn’t he wouldn’t be getting any more kisses. Swallowing his pride marshal stood up, brushed himself off, and gave Gabriel a wink with his retort. “We’ll try Gabby, but no promises.”

Now, to regain a little pride. He walked behind Fala and sat himself down, one leg on either side of her, knees up. “Chair was uncomfortable anyway,” he mumbled, placing a hand on each of her knees. In a swift motion he ran his hands along the inside of her thighs, all the way to her crotch, where they slipped up to her middle. He pulled her into him, resting his chest on her back and wrapped his arms around. Planting his head on her shoulder he watched Gabriel drag Roman away and whispered to her, “Well, looks like someone is going to be losing their clothes after all.”

[Anonymous]

A bright smile was sent towards Roman. The guy was hardly as demonic as he played himself off to be, seemed more like an unloved kid who needed hugs to her.

Then again… Seiteki was weird herself, so she would very likely hug him. Even if he didn’t want her to. Ha.

Once the wings hand been freed, Seiteki muttered a quick thank you to Dyerlich and glared at Valmont being lazy. For crying out loud, he needed to learn how to do stuff like a normal person. Seiteki bet he’d float if he was lazy enough. “Hot damn you’re a lazy bastard, aren’t you Valmont?” She piped up after sliding off the counter, snapping her sore stretched wings closed. Ignoring the nasty pulse it sent through her head. Visibly wincing, she sauntered over towards Valmont and slyling stood in the door way, wings slightly open and an arm very obviously blocking his path. “You know, you should… Converse with people. With your voice.” Seiteki tilted her head and moved her hands to his chest to push him inside the apartment.

”We all know how powerful you are Valmont, but as lovely as your showing off is… “ She trailed off and gave him another quick shove, surprising strength behind it, perhaps a little something more as she pushed him. “ It isn’t polite to eat and run.” She nodded and watches and Gabriel stole Roman and they went to his room. Keen elf ears caught the word ‘spot’ from behind the door even through all the quiet chatter of the other pilots, but other than that nothing. Bright blue eyes focused on Valmont again. “You should speak.” She moved a hand and pointed to her mouth, “like this.”

Another bright smile and she patted him on the cheek, “Because you really do look like a lazy jack-off when you don’t,” she winked at him then quickly flounced around, with her speech finished, she didn’t care about him anymore and she went and stole the spot Gabriel vacated. The fact it was warm should have made her feel weird, but oddly enough she didn’t mind it at the moment. Kind of like a hug. Anyone could go for a hug after having their brain completely Dragon-Raped.

Seiteki looked over towards Alaric before adjusting her wings so they didn’t hit him, behind him yes, close enough to touch him? Yes. Hit him? No. “Good pie?”  Ah, the conversational skills of Seiteki Tora, Pilot Cardinal. None could compare.

[Anonymous]

Wulf would pretty much follow Satori anywhere she wanted to go. He was rather excited that everyone was there, conversing, talking, everyone was just having so much fun...at least, he hoped they were having fun. Fala and Marshal seemed to be having a lot of...fun. He took a seat beside Satori on the ground, all but putting an arm around her and leaning against her, his other hand holding onto pie. He just wanted to be right near Satori. She was warm, and she was also Satori, which was a double bonus.

He did blink as he watched Roman and Gabriel...and subsequently watched Roman get dragged off by Gabriel. Now, Wulf was pretty sure it wasn't what the whispers thought, because hey, he had tried to go with Gabriel, and he totally declined. If he had been in the man loving way, he would have at least told Wulf he wasn't his type. So it had to be something else!

He looked down at his pie for a moment and just set it beside him before snuggling back into Satori, kissing her chastely on the cheek and grinning.

"It's okay Mr. Roman, mainly people just think I'm a toy. It's also a good disguise!" He tried to nod again but it was just another rocking back and forth. Nodding didn't so much for these creatures. "I've been here for some time and I haven't gotten in the way yet, or else you'd have gotten a report about me!" Pi had been trying his best not to be discovered while Seiteki had been away. He wasn't going to get fed to any dragons, not him.

He just had to keep out of the way and not let anyone know he was about. Well. Now allll the pilots knew he was around but that was okay since Seiteki was there to protect him from all the evil things that might want to eat him or hurt him. Surprisingly he didn't think any of the Pilots would. Well. That mean one who called him a talking sex toy might. He wasn't even really sure what that had meant. He didn't look anything like something that humans had for reproductive purposes after all...

Humans were just so weird.

However, suddenly there was something bad happening. Seiteki was moving, and he was tossed from her lap with a squeak. She didn't even seem to notice him anymore! He landed on the floor with a dinging sound, sliding across it on his back and slamming into the counter. Dyerlich winced slightly as he watched the dazed crab on the floor. He could have sworn it was making little bird tweeting noises, like they did in old cartoons.

It could very well have been his imagination though.

Dyerlich set his pie down and knelt down to pick up the crab, whose only sign of life at this time was an errant twitch of a few of its legs. He picked the creature up carefully, standing up to look it in the face. "Owwie..." Dyerlich blinked a few times as he looked it straight in the eye. "You feel pain little guy?" He asked, the crab just sorta stared back at him. Though the legs moved. "Still have some pain receptors...fall jostled me a little. Strong shell though, much stronger than my other shell. Why did Miss Seiteki do that? Why did she forget about me?" Dyerlich could only help but chuckle as he shook his head.

"I don't think she forgot, she just er...is very passionate about somethings and had to go be opinionated." Then it did something that very much surprised Dyerlich. It sighed and all its little limbs drooped. It...It was sad. At least, a few of the images he caught seemed to be very melodramatic. Like him tossing himself into the sea.

"Oh quit that." Seiteki seemed to be finished with her speech so he headed into the living room with the crab. He manoeuvred around her wings and stood in front of her, plopping the crab on her lap once again. "Cheer your crab up, he feels abandoned after you practically threw him from your lap." He said to her before he decided it was best for him to just go back and stay in the kitchen. He couldn't cook all that well but...er...he had left his pie there. Yes. That was it.

"The ground really hurt Miss Seiteki." Pi whimpered as he walked across her lap, and she would notice he was limping too. He didn't open his pincers but he stretched them wide from side to side to fall into a hug against her, burying his face into her stomach basically. "Please remember now I'm on your lap. I think my leg is sprained now."

[Anonymous]

Aha. Like a puppet on a string, Marshal had taken her bait and had actually listened to her! Laughing a little on the inside, Fala made a mental note: if I ever want Marshal to do something, talk to the head downstairs to get the one upstairs to act.  Score for her, this time.

Fala 1, Marshal 0.

However, though she was surprised to see him stand up and move towards her, she wasn’t surprised to feel his body move behind her, sitting down with his legs around her body and ready to pull her close at any time. Figured the man couldn’t keep his little man under control long enough for him to sit next to her, like a proper gentleman.

Then again, if he hadn’t gone immediately for close contact, she did admit that she would have been genuinely disappointed with him. After all their lewd conversations and jokings, she really wasn’t surprised that the older man was indeed very tempted by the prospect of a younger woman.

”Chair was uncomfortable, anyways.”

When she heard his voice mumble that almost like a spoiled child into her ear, she couldn’t help but smile at his antics. Though she’d been about to give him a sarcastic comment on how a chair couldn’t compare to body heat, his hands quickly moving up her thighs made her jump, and she strongly considered slapping away his hands. The man had been shocked by a kiss, and now he was trying to potentially feel up her naughty bits? That was something seriously wrong with this man.

“Hey! Damn it, Marshal…!” Though his hands moved quickly up to her midsection, she at least had the decency to blush. Well, shit. She had to give him that- he had flustered her quite a bit with his sudden boldness and move forward. Score one for him.

Sighing contentedly as she felt Marshal’s chest against her back, she felt oddly comfortable with his head on her shoulder and his body pressed comfortably against hers. There was none of the lusty insistence that she was used to- just a more subtle way of getting close without the immediate ‘episodes’ that normally accompanied her close contact sessions with men. So it was something new for her- the prospect of just getting a full-body hug and cuddle, and not the frenzied tearing off of one’s clothes, as she’d gotten all too used to doing.

It unnerved her, how comfortable she felt.

And for the first time, she had to remind herself that Marshal was just another fling, and nothing more. The thought never crossed her mind, with the others.

However, after hearing Marshal’s amused whisper in her ear, she looked up just enough to see them leave, and patted him on the head, leaning back slightly against him.

“Ha. A shame we don’t get to see it, huh? Here’s to hoping that Roman takes a nice, steamy video of their first.”

She wondered absentmindedly if Vaughan would enjoy watching that with her, one day.

[Anonymous]

Satori grinned and blushed as he kissed her on the cheek. Her smiled stretched wider. The headache almost felt completely gone when she was next to him. 'Cept a little around the edges. She scooted closer to him and she felt it dissolve just a little more. She knew that she herself, and of course he had been quite sexually active but when they go around each other they just seemed like such junior high school lovers. It was nice actually.

"It's so good to see you again Wulf." She put her head on his shoulder and started to mess with pie absently.

She glanced over watching Gabey drag Roman off somewhere else. She knew something was up with Gabe and not what everyone in the room was referencing to. Her eyes narrowed behind her glasses. She hoped her would be alright. Poor Gabe. Hopefully the conversation would clear it up for him.

Fala and Marshal seemed to be getting on well however. She grinned wide again at the two of them. It would be nice to see Marshal get involved with someone who could really put him in his place once in awhile. Would probably be the only way it would really work out. She couldn't help but chuckle at them.

"You two! Oh my!" She stuck her tongue out at Fala and Marshal. "Looks like we might have someone to go on double dates with Wulf!" She smiled wider and got a little kick in the head for laughing a bit too much. That hurt.

Her eyes turned back to Valmont and Seiteki watching silently. How rude of him to try and run off so quickly, and to never actually speak to them.

"Yes you are trapped here with us Valmont!"

[Anonymous]

Valmont listened intently as Roman pathed his reply back to the lilac-haired pilot, mentally agreeing with everything Roman said to him. It didn't seem like any attack would just start and end with the death of Temple and Providence. Roman was one of the few pilots Valmont actually respected. He was a Royal, he maintained a calm and focused demeanor, and could bake a decent pie. His words echoed Valmont's own thoughts though. This couldn't be the end of anything yet. He couldn't think of any reason why someone would arbitrarily kill off Providence or Temple, and have nothing planned beyond that. Valmont wanted to leave, and pull as much data as he could on the matter. There was no time to waste on internal threats to the system.

As Valmont approched the door however, a new obsticle had appeared before him. The Ice Queen had made herself known to Valmont, and her quip about him being lazy would only be an opening salvo. Seiteki blocked the doorway to Valmont's escape, her form the only thing keeping from him leaving Gabriel's apartment. He listened to her words half-heartedly, not giving her much attention until he felt pressure on his chest.

He felt himself get pushed back into the apartment, steadying himself quickly as so not to fall. She'd pushed him! But now Seiteki had his attention. He said nothing in reply to the winged pilot though, not immediately anyways. Her words bounced around in his mind, a vacant look in his eyes as he mused. He felt her hand pat him once, and then she was gone with a wink. Hmmm. Could she really have a point?

He didn't know many of the pilots in Gabriel's apartment except by name and rank, nothing he'd call a social relationship with any of them. Why converse with people he didn't know? Bah, perhaps he did need to make more social appearances. It could be useful in the future.

He heard a yell with his name in it from someone in the room, recognizing the voice as Satori's. That tore it. He'd stick around a little longer. He pathed indiscriminately, <Fiiine.>, dragging the word out. He made his way to the kitchen, looking for the pie and a plate. It was easier when he just could grab it with his mind, but that would be "showing off". Hmph. Reaching for a knife, Valmont made a rough incision into a pie, cutting an uneven slice for himself. He frowned at the result. It wasn't as well as the piece he'd had earlier. Maybe he was using his mind for too many things lately.

Taking the piece of pie and placing it on his plate, Valmont looked around the room. Fala and Marshal, Satori and Wulf, he didn't want to interupt them. Roman and Gabriel had left, and Dyerrlich was in the kitchen alone. Valmont decided it would be easier to just talk to someone he'd already encountered though.

Moving towards Seiteki, he stood against the wall with his plate. <Hap-> he began, cutting himself off. He rolled his eyes, and cleared his throat. "Happy now? I'm conversing. With my voice." The words felt odd coming out of his throat, his voice a little rougher than the fluid tone he used when he pathed. He hadn't verbally talked in a while. "So, who's your unique friend?"

[Anonymous]

Alaric chose to avoid looking at where Marshal and Fala were feeling each other up in the room, he found it slightly awkward and he wasn't going to even try and hold a coversation with someone while their hands were goin' all touchy feely. Just wasn't going to happen. And watching Satori and Wulf together depressed him a little. They were just so cute.

He made a pouty face at Gabriel, "I do not see why we can't share him then. We shall just have to get married and keep Roman around for the food." He turned and then winked at Roman, "Then the Romanator can have two people to bake with."

He moved carefully out of the way as Gabriel suddenly sprung up and dragged Roman off into the other room. Gabriel must at least be feeling a bit better to be moving like that, and that made Alaric glad. He was a little sad that Gabriel had finished his pie, could have stolen that while his friend was talking. Ah well, so is life.

It was rather funny watching Seiteki lecture Valmont. The poor pilot looked slightly bemused, as if he wasn't really sure what was going on as the winged woman talked. It might be neat for him to stay, Alaric hadn't spent much time with him. When Seiteki sat behind him, Alaric tilted hid head back, smiling at her, "Hi."

Oh, no, bad plan. That made his poor head swim. Carefully straightening his head the pilot shifted his weight so he could turn his torso to face her, "The pie is perfectly tasty. Rom-a-licious outdid himself."

Was....that a robot crab of some kind? Alaric blinked down at it before reaching out with his left hand to poke it lightly on it's shell with one delicate claw, "Who are you?"

[Tally]

"Hey, where are you—"  Roman started to tell Gabriel to sit back down before he passed out, but then he found himself being pulled after him.  Affecting a long-suffering sigh he shot back at the others, "Kid just can't keep his hands off me," as Gabriel pulled him away and out of sight.  Through the hall and into Gabriel's bedroom they went.  The bed was made, with not too many wrinkles.  Very good.  Candidates were required, as a part of their daily responsibilities, to maintain their living spaces. That meant making the bed to perfection every morning, something Roman had to literally beat into Gabriel's head.  He distinctly remembered one instance in which his last lone thread of patience snapped and he dragged Gabriel's whole bed, frame and all, out into the hall and let the kid sleep on the floor for a month so he might better appreciate the luxury of having a mattress.

Good times.

"Spot?" Roman's mouth twitched.  "Still got that thing, huh?"  He leaned on the bed to reach over and retrieve the plushie, straightening again and looking into the dalmatian's beady black eyes.  "I recall being appalled at your lack of creativity with his name."  Roman looked up, past the dalmation in his hands and at Gabriel.

Temple, right.  Yes.  Time to be serious.  Last thing he wanted to hear was a lecture from Gabriel telling him how awful he was for not bemoaning Temple's fate or worrying himself sick over it.  And Roman was taking this seriously, but in the manner of someone who can't stop himself from prodding at a sore tooth, Roman tended to become more and more irreverent the more dire the situation grew.

Like that comment he'd made in the blog.  He hadn't thought anything of it but damned if the shit didn't hit the fan over that one.

"All right."  Roman tossed the plushie dog on Gabriel's lap, and began to pace about the room, a habit he'd developed from years of teaching.  Thus far, by the dragons' orders, he'd kept his findings to himself.  They didn't want the details getting out to any Pilot who hadn't been questioned yet.  But with Gabriel out of the Axis Point, Roman could finally talk to someone about this.  "You can ask Siren for all the visuals later.  Gods know we took enough data from that place.  But to answer your question...he wasn't there."  Roman glanced at Gabriel briefly then continued.  "Providence was there.  His body was burning.  Temple's headset and helmet were there and what they were doing off I've no idea.  But he was gone.  Now don't jump to the worst assumption.  There was no trace of his body, either, and they swept every inch of ground for miles.  If he was out there, they'd have found him."

He came to a halt by the door and leaned back against it, folding his arms across his chest.  "There was an old abandoned outpost nearby that looks like it sees some minimal activity, probably from wandering exiles who use it for shelter, but it was deserted when Scher and I arrived.  And that's it.  That's all I can tell you about him."  Roman spread his hands then let them drop.  "I think he's alive.  I really do."

No need to say why he thought that.  Gabriel didn't need to hear him call Temple a traitor just then.  Then again, Gabriel undoubtedly knew things about Temple that Roman didn't.  "So you two were friends, huh?  Just how well did you know him?"

[Rhi-Rhi]

It was only after Roman's comment that Gabriel realized just what their hasty getaway might look like--especially after the finger-sucking incident. Hoo boy. If Gabriel's head didn't hurt and he didn't feel so suddenly down he would have had it in him to be embarrassed, but right now he just didn't. Meh. Let 'em talk. Maybe he'd mess up his hair and Roman's and come out without a shirt on to give them something else to talk about. That'd be something amusing to get his mind off wherever this conversation was going to go.

Roman scooped up Spot, and Gabriel gave a crooked smile and a half-hearted chuckle that made his head throb unpleasantly. With a wince, he pushed his sunglasses further up on the bridge of his nose and rubbed at his left eyebrow. His headache had decided to migrate over there. "'Course I still got him! Do you honestly think I'd get rid of him?! He's been with me forever!" he exclaimed--quietly--before squaring his shoulders and huffing in mock indignation. "And I was like three when I got him. I think Spot's a good name. It's dignified. I could've named him Stripe but that woulda just been insulting."

Another lame final attempt at humor, at masking that he was seriously bothered. Roman seemed to get that it was time to stop beating around the bush, too, and Gabriel caught Spot as he was tossed over to him and hugged the plushie to his stomach. He wouldn't call the thing a security blanket or anything, but cuddling something always kinda made him feel a little better, whether it was a pillow or Spot or a blanket. Probably because having something pressed against his belly made him feel a little less nauseous and it didn't make him look like he was about to throw up. That, and it was the next best thing to an actual hug.

Gabriel watched Roman has he paced the room, mouth fixed in a grim line as he tried to prepare himself for the worst.

Then it came.

Temple wasn't there.

Gabriel swallowed hard but kept his expression mostly blank. Right. Don't jump to conclusions yet. Roman wasn't done. Yet even while he thought that his imagination began to wander as Roman spoke, imagining Providence's burning body, the remaining headset and helmet, and Temple...dragged off somewhere and eaten by monsters. They wouldn't eat the headset and hemlet, after all. Or maybe they'd both been knocked off when they'd crashed. And Temple would have been injured. And eaten.

Just when his imagination started getting really grisly and graphic, Roman got to the part about the outpost and that he believed Temple was still alive. Right. If he was dead, there'd be...blood...or bones...or...stuff. No trace of him, huh? Gabriel took a deep breath and let it out slowly, fingers squeezing the life out of Spot. An outpost that had seen activity. Exiles...

"That's it, huh...?" he said quietly when Roman was done, slouching forward over Spot. So Temple was just gone. Vanished. Poof. It wasn't as bad as the alternative, but this was almost worse in a way because it could mean anything. He could be alive, he could be dead.

They might never find him. They might never know. Gabriel closed his eyes, not sure what he felt. Just sorta numb right now, he guessed, looking back down at Spot.

And frustrated.

Gabriel snorted at Roman's question and, before he could help it, muttered, "Better than you." Alright, maybe he was still a little sore about that blog comment but he couldn't help it; none of that had been what he'd wanted to hear, though it was at least better than, "we found his half-eaten carcass and brought back what's left of it." He picked a loose ball of fuzz off Spot's head and flicked it onto the ground. "We aren't just friends; he's one of my best friends. You should know that. So yeah, I know him really well."

Heaving a sigh, he hugged Spot tighter to his stomach and looked up at Roman, frowning. "Present tense, by the way. He's still alive, remember? Stop talking about him in the past tense if you think he's still alive, will ya?"

There was a long pause as Gabriel chewed his lip thoughtfully, trying to think. It was still hard to do that right now since his mind felt all scrambled and tender and talking about this hadn't made his head feel any better. He felt worse now. It was stress no doubt, and that never helped a headache.

"Roman...you said there was an outpost that'd seen activity. What if...I mean, if he's still alive and not just dragged off by...by..." He cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. "Animals or something. What if someone found him? I mean, have they seriously looked everywhere? How fast did everyone get there after it happened? Did Providence crash? If he crashed, Temple woulda been hurt...right? Hurt people can't go far, and where would he go? What about footprints? Anything? People can't just disappear."

He slumped forward more and rested his chin on the top of Spot's head, looking away and off to the side. "They're not looking hard enough. They don't care about him. They're more interested in Providence. He's the important one."

[Anonymous]

If there was anything good about getting older, it was that your body seemed to finally gain control over itself. When you were a child, you couldn’t control your own bladder. When you were a teenager, your body thought it was meant to have sex with anything that moved. Supposedly when you were old, you suffered both problems. Marshal however was enjoying his maturity, enjoying it particularly now because he could happily notice what a nice butt Fala had, without announcing his approval by poking her in the back.

He was quite happy with himself, having gotten away with so much with barely a word of protest. Right now she was practically purring like a content kitten. It was funny to think that this was a woman he’d never been on any kind of date with, or even really flirted with face to face. Ah the joys of modern technology.

While he was more than happy to tease Gabriel about lusting after his friend, the image of them actually doing the things he said was outright disturbing. He nuzzled into her neck, burying his face in her bright hair and gave an evasive hum, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Gay sex. Ew.

Marshal didn’t like men as much as…well as much as Fala didn’t like women.

He glanced at Satori, then curled back into Fala and grunted, “Hmph. Not in a million years.” Double dates were for scared people and married couples. Now that he’d gotten over the initial shock of Fala kissing him, Marshal was more than comfortable. In all honesty he’d somewhat forgotten all the blog flirting in his post probing daze, which is why he’d acted like a stunned mullet before.

The shot he’d injected himself with to provide clarity of mind enough to perform Farica’s delicate mental corrections had some nasty side effects, like insomnia. It seemed that was finally wearing off however, as Marshal felt his eyelids growing heavy. Then again, the mix of alcohol and painkillers probably wasn’t helping either. A drug cocktail was sloshing around in his system, trying to drag him away from consciousness.

He squeezed Fala, feeling her lean, athletic body press against his thin, not at all athletic one. A simile to sum up the situation eluded him, mostly due to his inability to match Fala with any animal. Marshal was a stick insect. Aside form the obvious physical similarities; he tended to disguise himself, when it came to hunting his prey anyway. No animal behaved like Fala. She was….a tiger, an alpha female. Yet there she was, very submissively cuddling him. Marshal realised she wasn’t any animal, she was something non-living. Fala was a puzzle, and one he felt completely incapable of solving.