Knock Knock News Flash! (Nephero, Marak)

[Xcavius]

Xalk: SHE JUST BROKE DOWN MY-
-user Xalk has disconnected-

A quiet night on the outskirts of Adstreia had been ruined by the lust of a lovely woman. Lyra had just met Xalk not a day ago and had barged into his home with a peculiar intent. She had given him a stronger version of dandylion with a little persuasion beforehand. Due to his desperation he fell to her trap of lust and promise.

But she made one fatal mistake, in her hammered state she had told other pilots of what she had done on the online pilot blog. For the first time Xalk had some friends to be there for him when he needed it the most. Lyra had no intention of resisting or fighting other fellow pilots, thus she waited outside for their arrival.

[nephero]

This was not how Yavul had planned for his weekend in Adstreia to go.

The intent had been to go up, see the Hellions in full JJ's gear, have a good laugh, mudslide with Grisham (again), and relax for once. Get back to normal, all that good stuff. He hadn't exactly been expecting to look through the chat log while in line at Manolin's and see something to chill his damn blood. He didn't even realize that the poor girl at the register was trying to get his attention, and looking more flustered by the minute.

Where the hell was Inquiry? He'd already filed a report of incumbent improper conduct, but the more this Lyra girl talked, the more pissed off he became. Nothing of what was being said seemed to get through to her, and either she was willfully ignoring the problem or she genuinely didn't understand how fucked up it was to give a guy "dandylion" (when dandylion did not have the kind of effects they were observing) after battering his door in. And gods both only knew what else!

He barely knew this Xalk kid; they'd barely talked in the chat, and while he was... hm. Naive, was a good word, and made some pretty questionable decisions, it didn't mean Yavul was just going to sit on his hands and be all "oh well, not my problem!" when there was some very seriously dark implications going on.

Xalk was a Pilot, and even if he was from a different city and a different department, Yavul wasn't in the business of just leaving fellow Pilots behind.

He didn't even hear the barista trying to get his attention, simply dropped the bag with Grisham's "presents" and ran right out the door. As if on cue, his com chirped, signalling that Vaas had done as he'd said and sent him the coordinates. Good guy, very good guy, and Yavul was glad he was already close by in case something really did go wrong.

It didn't take him long to get to the building, or to barrel his way up to the second floor, coming up behind Vaas, sparks dancing along his false knuckles in anticipation. And, if he was perfectly honest? Really, really hoping he got the excuse to use it.

"Where is she?"

[Marakai2.0]

At first, the whole situation had been amusing...at least, after Vaas realized there wasn't a murder going on. Yavul had done his thing and contacted Inquisition, just as the Hellion had contemplated doing the same. At that point in time, Vaas had decided to simply settle in and watch the inevitable fireworks, had been practiced his smug face for the occasion.

But inquisition hasn't come yet, and the situation just seemed to devolve more and more into some kind of weird Vaas normally wouldn't smack with a monkey wrench. And so there he was, standing just outside the door in question, dressed in pajama pants and lighter in hand. God's all, he could have used a cigarette.

This woman, this 'Lyra,' supposed Pilot Noble, had said she'd wait for them outside. Vaas was a bit apprehensive about that situation - he was only an Echo, after all, and this was a bit higher up the ladder than the Sarbane man was - but he figured if Yavul was on his way there'd be no issue. And so, he waited, flipping his lighter open and closed as his steel gaze flickered between the door in question and the end of the hallway.

A moment later, he heard the sound of running footsteps coming behind him, and to face the newcomer. Again, Vaas was floored by just how much of a presence this guy had. He hadn't seemed as large at the Spider hunt, but he hasn't really had much of an opportunity to observe him at that FUBAR situation.

He observed the sparks dancing over Yavul's knuckles with a small smirk, gaze crawling over the marvel that was the man's robotic arm. He'd just love to tear into something like that.

"Come loaded fer bear, eh? Good on ya, bu' if'n she's comin' quiet like wha' she said, I'mma doubt it'll do ya any good. I'm guessin' I beat 'er 'ere, she's more'n likely still inside." Vaas jerked an arm up, thumb pointing towards the door behind him.

[Xcavius]

Xalk can I call you my cutie patootie?

sure, uuh, why did you break my door down? You scared the crap out of me!

I just wanted to be with you is all, now have some of my special brownies, it will make everything taste like magic! wink wink

wooooah this is weird... what was in that? It really faast.

Don't worry cutie patootie, you can lay on me just take a nice nap.

With the drug settling in his system his mind was in a trance-like state. He was seeing all kinds of images. Mostly stars though. Up until the point where he fell into his slumber, he was mentally reliving each moment, her beautiful hair, gorgeous body, and a smile that just screamed 'be mine forever'. Xalk had desperately become infatuated with this woman, but he didn't know what would happen to her whilst he was asleep.

Lyra exited the elevator and waited just outside the doorway as promised. She even sat on the ground to show that she meant no harm. A feeling of drowsiness came over her, she did her absolute best to stay awake, but it was difficult given she was still hammered.

[nephero]

"Yeah, well, you'd think a Noble would also act accordin'ly in her day-to-day, too," Yavul grumbled, brows furrowed tight over his eyes as he looked from Vaas to where the elevator doors were now opening.

Even being, well, who Yavul was, he could see why Xalk had gotten so entangled with this woman. She was pretty, very pretty, and for a kid who'd never been with anyone before, let alone someone of her caliber, well...

Yeah, Yavul could see how this got so out of hand so quickly. Which just pissed him off even more, because again, a Noble should have known better. Known better than to prey on younger Pilots like this, to kick down their door and engage in what Yavul could only imagine was coerced intoxication. Even if Yavul didn't "know" Xalk, he'd made it abundantly clear that he'd never touched so much as a drop of alcohol, let alone whatever psychadelics he'd been slipped.

Pretty as she might have been, Lyra was a goddamn predator, and Yavul had zero tolerance for her sort. And fuck almighty, it looked like she was shit-faced too. Really, amazingly professional all around. Yavul's jaw set, tight, and he felt his teeth grind hard before he thought to relax a bit.

The Valkyrie Commander stepped over to where Lyra was sitting on the ground, forced himself to pull back on the wattage and maybe not be a walking static shock for about two seconds.

"Name an' rank, soldier."

[Marakai2.0]

"Yeah, ain' tha' th' truth. 'Ell, th' way she be goin' makes me look good. An' tha's sayin' sommat." Vaas smirked, trying to put on an easy face so maybe Yavul would knock it down a notch or two. Vaas sort of understood, looking at Yavul just then, what people meant when they said the Hellion looked intimidating; he imagined the face the Valkyrie Commander wore was similar to that which Vaas had permanently etched on his own face.

And it was downright terrifying. Vaas was glad it wasn't him in the shit. If that gaze was meant for him, the pyro would want to melt into a puddle of cowardly ooze of some sort.

When he heard the ding of the elevator behind him, Vaas turned in that direction to watch an attractive woman step out, a brow raised. For his first lay, Xalk couldn't have chosen a better face, but it probably shouldn't have gone beyond that. She had a rocking body, too, but Vaas only smirked. A certain lady friend of his own still outclassed her, rank be damned.

When Yavul stepped toward the woman on the floor, Vaas was right on his heels, smirk still firmly in place as he stared down at her, gray eyes set in their usual hard stare. Vaas was more than ready to watch these sparks fly, happy to play back-up as necessary. But, by the look and sound of Hyakinthos, there, it wouldn't be needed.

[Xcavius]

Lyra stood up staying as steady as she could. Although she was clearly in the wrong for manipulating Xalk, she still maintained her composure enough to speak respectfully to a fellow Pilot. Especially one that outranked her.

"Lyra Akvaarian, Pilot Noble sir."

[nephero]

Yavul stared at Lyra dead in the eye, letting his pale gaze hold hers for an absolutely uncomfortable amount of time. She didn't look about to try anything, and maybe even figured out that she'd done wrong (finally). But Yavul trusted her sort about as far as he could lift Svanhvit-- and even with a robotic arm, that wasn't very far at all.

“Correction. Pilot Cardinal Lyra Akvaarian. Assumin’ a-course Inquiry don't have further words for a disgrace like you. An’ I bet they sure as hell will.”

He glanced to the side, to the elevator doors, his scowl deepening by the second. Xalk was still in there, sleeping from what Lyra said, but again there was that whole issue of trusting her word on… well. Anything.

Not very likely.

“Sit tight. Vaas’ll be lookin’ after your well-bein’, an’ I highly suggest you keep play-actin’ a statue.”

With a quick gesture to Vaas to keep an eye on Lyra, he instead took to the elevator, letting it carry him up to Xalk’s floor to make sure the kid was actually, factually breathing.

"Kid? You hear me?"

[Marakai2.0]

Oh. Fuck. Well, Vaas was suddenly not the lowest rank present at this little shit-show, as he observed Pilot Royal Hyakinthos busting the previous Pilot Noble down to Pilot Cardinal. He knew full well that that could be a fate almost worse than death; her Dragon was sure to be fucking furious with her. Vaas wouldn't have been surprised to learn if said Dragon was telepathically calling her every name in the book, or even making up some new words.

A Dragon's rank, after all, depended fully on their pilot's. If she wasn't reduced to a vegetable-mentality by end of the night, Vaas would be very surprised.

When Yavul passed the responsibility of watching the newly-busted Cardinal to him, Vaas gave a stiff nod in response. As the other departed toward the elevator, the Hellion took his place, standing easy with a hand on his hip, still flipping his lighter open and closed.

"Well, looks like ya done fucked up now, girly! Imma keep a real close eye on ya till an Inquisitor shows up. So, you just sit there till yer ass falls asleep, an' if'n ya try anythin' stupid, know yer gonna be a bit crispy 'round the edges 'fore I'm done witcha."

He flipped that lighter open one more time, sparking a flame and willing it to float away from its source. He flipped the lighter closed again, and suddenly the flame expanded to reach about the size of a softball before winking out of existence.

He peered down at her with a smirk. "No hard feelin's. Jus' so ya understand where I'm comin' from."

[Xcavius]

Lyra, even as hammered as she was, understood why everything was happening. Back down to a Cardinal. Great, he's probably gonna rip my arm off for this one. Lyra looked up with to Vaas and sighed.

"I get it, I just hope I can get a nap in soon."

Back upstairs in Xalk's home, Xalk had  begun to stir even before Yavul had arrived. With him finally opening his eye's right as he heard Yavul's voice. He sat up from the couch while grabbing his head. Ow, ow, ow, this really hurts. Wait... is that... Yavvy? Xalk looked around and saw Yavul standing in the doorway.

Whether it was the drugs Lyra had given him, or just the thought that someone actually cared for him, no one knew. But Xalk rushed over to Yavul and embraced him, burying his head into Yavul's stomach. Xalk's voice was soft and breaking easily.

"I-I'm sorry for being so n-naive. I'm just an i-idiot who doesn't know how to make any friends. I let her control me. I l-let you guys down. I'm sorry."

Xalk could only hope that Yavul couldn't feel his tears.