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Sol shining through the various skylights of the decaying building. She turned her head to the clock on the wall, 10:37 AM her violet eyes flicker as she feels her surroundings. The mall was buzzing as usual, Lettie up to her ears in civilians crying for aid, Amir trying to get much needed equipment up and running, Aoi in the garage getting the atomicycles up the to shape, Quincy prepping their gear for the next supply run, Arthur keeping track of threats and how best to navigate or deal with them and lastly there was her, to the eyes outside of the small band of mutated super soldiers.
It looks like all she does is lounge around until the time comes to do otherwise, she can hear all the comments about her, the curiosity, but that is what she does best, listening to the sounds around her, listening to the thoughts around her, listening to the sound around the Techrot infested city, the thoughts around the Techrot infested city, listening to the Techrot. She hated how it goads her, how it reasons with her, how it was part of her, how it comforts her and how she needs it to live on. The scream of a atomicycle draws closer and pulls her from her existential crisis, she remembers the seventh that was spat out the wall of Techrot a year and half ago, the one responsible for giving them a second chance, The Drifter.
He is interesting as any time travelling hero can be, stories about extinction level adversaries and how he overcame them, stories about different dimensions, realities and how pushed through those as well, but he never spoke about them with pride or valor, he just spoke as if they happened and at the end they stopped happening, as if what was happening to him was happening to everyone and anyone could be the one to do it in his place.
Eleanor never tries to listen to what her teammates are thinking on purpose but, most of the time they are just too loud, Lettie's stress, Arthur's brooding and Aoi quite literally singing in metal space to name a few, but the Drifter is oddly empty, quiet most of the time. Before the loop, when he first got here all his mind focused on was Albrecht Entrati and whatever the "Kalymos sequence" was nothing else. Arthur, being the leader, asked her if she could look into him literally and find out if he is a threat or a danger to them or the surviving citizens and she agreed with her brother. She could her whispers at the corners of his mind whenever he was idle and he'd silence them with action asking for the next mission, like the "Warframes" he possesses, emotions are present just not active, no motive other than "Kalymos Sequence", no hidden agenda, almost like there was nothing else there, a void.
At the beginning of the loop he remained the same, but his eyes glowed white and filled with sadness as he looked upon them, that was the first time she felt anything but determination or frustration from him.
He spoke more about whatever he was curious about, asking them questions and answering theirs as well. With time, from the outside he appeared fairly normal to the eyes of those around him with a pinch of awkwardness a time traveler from the far future would have learning about the modern world and tech in it.
She learned from Aoi that he adores the music from their time. She learned from Amir that he enjoys playing the games in the arcade and has grown fond of the air hockey table always eager to verse whoever stands at the other end, Lettie, started opening up her and told her he likes animals too and is currently Kalymos's designated guardian keeping her away from the rats. Quincy and the Drifter seemed to be "best bros" running missions and just being public enemy number one and two for Scaldra, lastly she learned from her brother that he will eat almost anything except the dreaded square spaghetti, he is a Sol awful cook, but he is a avid reader and is currently reading books on how to rank up his kitchen skills.
That leaves her, Eleanor Nightingale, what had she uncovered about the man from the future? The answer to that burning question was nothing, you'd think being a telepath would make it easy to hear a stray thought about something small, a interest, that she could have with him like rest of them do, she felt a little alienated by someone literally out of their time, they do speak and text, but its always about specific subjects, conversations that always conclude, never to be brought up again tomorrow.
That's when she started to tease him, it worked, making him a little flustered as she put on her "mysterious sexy infected telepath" act on. She did it! she had her own little thing with the Drifter just like everyone else...for all of two weeks, because as Lua would have it when Quincy Isaacs is your best friend you learn how to tease back quite quickly and quite viscously, she cringes at how red her face went he told her "of all the planets I’ve been to, none of the vistas could move me like you do." turns out, it does hit different when the one saying that is a space faring time traveler who has actually been to planets you've only dreamed of.
Eleanor was at a loss, she watches as he walks past to Arthur's security office carrying two rucksacks with his warframe in tow carrying two more. Eleanor overheard Arthur praise him for the supplies he brought back telling him to eat breakfast and take a break, Eleanor closed her eyes pretending to be deep in thought as he walks by to the food court, once his footsteps got far enough away she opens her eyes to see him sitting on one of the benches preparing his food, cutting his four slices of day old pizza into uniform squares eating the off cuts as he goes about it. Once he has eight small squares of pizza on his plate, Eleanor catches it again, his mind goes black, nothing, no thoughts about the pizza he is still chewing, no thought about the beeping and booping coming from Amir's arcade, no thoughts about the whirring of Domestik Drone passing by his feet. She hears the whispers again. Eleanor looks at the man's face as he swallows the last of his pizza offcuts and just stares at the eight squares, does he hear them? What are they? Eleanor looks closer; she can see his white eyes have become glassy, "void" energy pulsing in them. Eleanor wants to know. No, she needs to know. What if these moments were a danger to them?, a danger to him? How much weirder could it get given everything that has already happened?. Eleanor closes her eyes and focuses on the whispers emanating from the Drifter.
It was dark, cold too cold she felt the chill creep under her armoured body, tension in the air entering her lungs feels like she is drinking air rather than breathing it, the smell of wet iron is not lost to her as well, all she could hear was screaming she opened her eyes to find she isn't lying on her couch, she lying on cold metallic golden floor, she rises up to her feet scanning her new environment the room looks like nothing she had ever seen, alien architecture. She notices the cracked window showing her the never ending abyss outside, The Void, Tendrils of void energy white and foreboding jut out from the nothingness, smaller wisps seep through the cracks in the glass.
Eleanor is frozen is place as dread fills her body, she's seen something she shouldn't have something not possible in her time, she hears sniffling coming for the corner of the room, a child, she musters every ounce of courage she can to move, Eleanor feels the banging coming from the door behind her, she feels it reverberate through the floor and up her legs "Arath?" a sweet voice dripping with honey and warmth calls in from the door as the door is being bashed in.
Eleanor moves to the sniffling corner and finds a table flipped over, a blanket covering the top with a mattress supporting the makeshift structure, a child's fortress. Eleanors heart crumbles, her time as a war journalist showed her many tragic sights, but the idea that this was all this child could think of for safety in this harrowing place broke her, such an innocent act of survival. Peeling the blanket off she finds a trembling boy sitting with his knees to his chest clutching a book, tears streaming down his cheeks, his eyes wide reflecting the little globe light at his feet, she reaches out for the boy, but he doesn't react to her touch, "Arath? Sweetheart? please let mommy in...it's dangerous out here" Eleanor hears the sweet voice from the door again as the banging continues. She hears the boy's soft monotone voice "Mom...is...gone...go...away." A blood curdling shriek roars from behind the door as the banging increases intensity, the door will not hold.
Eleanor turns to face whatever will come through that door, she will protect this child. She only now realizes she has no weapons as the door crashes to the ground, Eleanor's ears ring and her gaze adjusts up to the creature as it bends to under the doorframe, she feels her heart thump in her throat, the metallic ribbons that made its body gleams in the darkness, crimson and viscera paint its pincer like appendages, as it looms closer it shrieks a shrill song, Eleanor backs into to corner trying to keep distance from this thing, it raises a claw above it's head ready to slash down at the woman and boy, She turn on her heels and throws her body to shield the boy.
Her arms grab the air, the boy is gone, her eyes catch...a book? Its pages flap until it reaches the cover and closes, "Tales of Duviri." Eleanor hears the siren song of the entity behind and its bladed arm begin to cut through the air and soon her. Eleanor closes her eyes.
This is what she gets for messing with the unknown, for being childish, for not just leaving things the way they are, this is the end of Eleanor Nightingale the "Macabre sexy mysterious telepath" of The Hex, rendered braindead by future Void bullshit, it's all so…frustrating.
A deep chuckle fills her head, great now the end is laughing at her for her foolishness. " ’Macabre sexy mysterious telepath.’ Is that how you really want to be remembered? " Drifter? She opens her eyes finding two arms reaching through the floor gripping her arms, before she can question the physics of all this they pull her through the golden floor, she phases through more confused than before to find the Drifter holding her arms as they float through the abyss, the little room she was just in drifts away. He flashes her a toothy grin " Don't you know? Curiosity killed the Kavat ." he laughs. Her mind is everywhere, what is happening? How is he here? What is here? What was all that? He gives her arms a squeeze bringing back into the moment " This is all just memories, lost to time Eleanor " he speaks from her head. She locks eyes with him, the void energy glimmering as he speaks. He smiles again, a genuine smile that hushes her mind letting her think clearly ,” It's time to wake up Eleanor, in our time. " Her violet eyes flicker as her eyelids grow heavy and eventually shut.
Her body feels heavy, like she weighs a ton her hands instinctively move to wipe the sleep from her eyes. Once her vision is restored she sits up, she's back in the mall, on her couch, in her mattress store, alone. It’s she looks around the mall, the glow of Sol casts a golden orange smoulder through the skylights. She looks at the clock, 6:05 PM, dinnertime? The commotion from the food court confirms that. She lifts her body still feeling like she is carrying a car on her back, she lumbers her way to the food court.
“Well if it isn’t sleeping beauty herself” Quincy laughs as she approaches the table lights up at her appearance. Arthur practically flies out of his seat, grabs her shoulders and launches a barrage of questions. “Are you okay?! What's wrong?! What happened?! How are you feeling?!” While he looks her over. “Yes, yes I’m fine Arthur!” she tries to swat him away, but he pulls her into his arms and squeezes, she feels relief wash over his mind and anxiety start to fade, Eleanor could feel his embrace, it makes sure she is still here, that she is alive and still with him, it reminds her that before the Techrot, before Entrati, before Hollvania she is still his one and only big sister. She returns his embrace. ”I’m okay Arthur, I’m okay.”
Arthur releases her and clears his throat trying to regain what little is left of his stoic composure, Lettie immediately takes his place and starts examining her, flashlight to the eyes, stethoscope to the lungs and heart, the works once Lettie is satisfied with the results she tells her to come by later for a full check up after supper, she receive another hug from Aoi as Lettie returns to the table. Quincy comes up and give her a gentle pat on the back.
“Was gunna send Marty to give you a kiss if you didn’t wake up today.” Quincy snickers as she swats his chest.
“Wait…Today? ” she questions she eyes the group
“Yeah you’ve been asleep for like four days.” Amir chimes in. “D told us that you were deep in psych-ops, he was checking on ya using his space transfer thing.” he continues.
Eleanor looks at the group, six of them are accounted for, but where is the seventh? Like the devil they spoke and he appeared stumbling down the stairs that lead to his backroom, he looked haggard, bags under his eyes, shoulders slumped down, feet dragging, a very different appearance from his usual confident swagger. He greets her with a weak smile welcoming her back to the physical plain. She greets back, nervous he might berate her for her misadventures in his head, but he doesn’t, he guides them back to the table while Arthur gets the food he had prepared.
The table is buzzing with conversation, mostly on Amir’s side jokes and stories alike are being shared, but Eleanor’s eyes are glued to her bowl of macaroni and cheese, internally waiting, dreading when the Drifter is going to confront her on what she was doing in his head and breaking the one rule she promised to keep to the whole group, she should’ve just asked him, instead of snooping around without permission, in fact she should’ve left it entirely she fights herself while poking her food with her fork.
“I’m not mad about or upset about any of those things Eleanor.” she pauses, her assault on the macaroni she looks up to see the Drifter eat take another bite, he has already abandoned the idea of squaring the food. She thinks these must be residual effects, she can still hear the drifter in head like the “memories”. She decides to ignore it and eat her food.
“Well, now I am mad that you’d ignore me so coldly” the Drifter’s voice echoes in her head full of feigned frustration. She looks back up at him this time she catches the cool gaze of his white eyes as he grins like a cheshire kavat. He turns his attention back to the bowl in front of him in order to keep this private mental chat between them from the rest of the group and she does the same.
“How are you doing that?! Can you hear everything I’m thinking?!” She urges him to answer
“I suppose I’m doing it in a similar way you are, but with transference instead of techrot and no but you have fretting over everything as soon as you saw me, it's quite loud, but i can’t blame you this is the first time another ‘living’ person has entered your head.” he laughs.
“Can you do this with the others?”
“No, only you, ever since I had to go looking for you in my head, it was hard you know? Looking for the ‘sexy mysterious telepath’ in memories I have long forgotten.” He teases and she wants to die. “So since you went in my head, I went into yours, made it easier to look for you rather than try to recall things I don’t remember.” he takes another bite of his food.
“Drifter, I’m…I’m sorry, it was wrong of me to intrude in you like that and for such pathetic reasons nonetheless, I understand if you don’t want to associate with me anymore.” she deflated as guilt started to drown her.
“Firstly, I accept your apology and I forgive you, secondly, I will associate with you, you are one of my dearest friends and I’ll have you know that I cherish every conversation we've ever had and I’ve never thought of them as fleeting, I’ve been alone for thousands of years and I’m not in the market of giving up on friends for innocent mistakes and lastly thank you.”
Just like he had ripped her from the memory he ripped her from sinking in her sea of guilt and self loathing, but thank you? Thank her for what? All she did was get herself put in a coma and keep him up for four days during his solo rescue mission.
He chuckles in her head. “Due to your adventure I learned something about myself, something I didn't think I needed, but I’ve always wanted....”
“Another drink, Drifter?” Arthur held a beer bottle out to him interrupting their mental conversation. “Whipping out the big guns I see.” he smiles at Arthur. “You ain’t seen the artillery yet?” Arthur jokes as he slams a bottle of scavenged whiskey on the table. “Since my sister has recovered, thought we’d have a little celebration for the occasion.” Arthur’s sly grin burning a hole in the side of the Drifter’s head, last time they drank together they were both incredibly hungover the following day and he has been hesitant of most alcohol since then especially the things Arthur presents him with. “Whaddaya say Drifter???”
“Arath…” Eleanor says to the table, his eyes lock with hers the Void shimmering as she speaks
All attention turns to her, before she can be questioned she smiles at him and speaks again.
“Arath… our dearest drifter's name is Arath.” There it goes, the one “thing” she had about him that no one else knew, but that meant nothing now, the way his face lit up when she said it, was better than keeping it to themselves and besides she knew it first. The rest of the Hex swarm him with questions about his name and why he didn’t tell them. She didn’t need to have “things” with him to be as close to him as the others did, but it was a bit sad.
“We have this thing together, Eleanor.” Arath snickers in her head, Eleanor sees him fend off attacks from Quincy because why didn’t he know first.
“I suppose we do…” She replies with an evil grin that plasters her face. “Arath…”
She watches his ears burn red as she coats his name in honey with the way she says it.