Mercenaries at the door

[mitochondriaaya]

Sometimes a man simply had to check in on his girls. They'd run a mission in Canada and the college was ENTIRELY on the way back after all...and the team wanted to see the girls too and...

...and Nevada couldn't really shake their last letter from his head. The girls were living with some unvetted young men and that could prove problematic. The helicopter set down in on the school pad (usually used for medivac units) and Nevada swung to the ground, waving off one of the school aides coming out to greet him,

He had an address. And a mission.

And after a quick run, well, a door to knock on. The pair of mercs that had followed him chuckled at the politeness but hey, it never hurt right?

Comments

[sliceitwithwind]

Braig nodded and stepped inside, holding the door for the older man, "Welcome to our home. The girls have the upstairs, so if you want to poke around up there you'll have to do it alone. We're pretty big on making sure that they have their own space."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Why?" he asked the same question of Braig as he had of Dilan as he stepped through the door. Slow scan of the living room? Check! "Adopting freshmen is not a standard here."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Sometimes Dilan gets notions." Braig said, gesturing towards the living room, "He's actually an excellent judge of character, he just can't explain why he feels like he does. He saw the girls, he liked them, we gave them a trial and it's working out. Last person he adopted was Pierce, and he's been living with us for three years now."

The living room was, well. The living room. Aside from the laser grids over the windows it was a perfectly normal looking living room.

"Ah, careful. Cat's in here somewhere...let me see about chasing her upstairs."

[mitochondriaaya]

Nevada crossed over to the couch and seated himself; amused. "Notions," he chuckled. Just...notions. "Does he have any history of obsession?" Just to be aware!

"And yes, the girls wrote about Cat. Would closing my eyes help?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Probably." Braig admitted, chasing the fluffy thing up the stairs before settling down, "He has obsessive-compulsive disorder, but has never developed an obsession with any person, and that includes me."

[mitochondriaaya]

Nevada closed his eyes until Braig settled down as well, the peeled them cautiously open. "you understand the need for the questions," he was sure the boy did. "This situation may be safe, but it is outside the various plans we all discussed with the girls."

[sliceitwithwind]

"I've been expecting them." Braig said simply, "So has Pierce. We've tried talking to Dilan about it, but really if it doesn't have to do with science or something immediate he tends to dismiss it."

[mitochondriaaya]

"What do you foresee with the girls living here, possibly long term?" Nevada asked easily.

[sliceitwithwind]

Braig shrugged, "Honestly? They're good roommates. Chances are that they'll help Dilan learn more about making friends and being a good one...they've been watching My Little Pony with him. I'll keep renting them the house after we finish our doctorates if they want it."

[mitochondriaaya]

"They are very dedicated young women and we will raze the campus if they are betrayed or killed." He said it simply, easily, like commenting on the weather. "That said...My Little Pony?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"That's fair." Braig said without so much as the flicker of an eyelash. "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. He takes notes on it. Dilan is...different. He's a genius, he really is, but he's also got a very...loose grasp on morality and social acceptability. It's an ongoing project."

[mitochondriaaya]

He thought about that for a moment then chuckled again, "Well, it will give them a chance to catch up on media they missed." Or something like that anyway. "How are they taking to the situation here?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"They seem fine with it?" Braig said, "I don't want to speak for them, however. We do tend to have dinner together when everyone is home. They have two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a mini-kitchen upstairs."

[mitochondriaaya]

"I'll be speaking with them as well but your feelings on the matter are important as well," especially if this went long term. "What do you do, Braig? Aside from pursuing an esoteric doctorate."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Mostly the doctorate." Braig said cheerfully, "I'm independently wealthy. So my time is spent between working on my doctorate and trying to help Dilan become somewhat integrated into society."

[mitochondriaaya]

"And what do you intend to do with your doctorate once you achieve it?" he asked, curious. "I'm not entirely sure what the applications of of what the girls have described to me would be." The non-military applications anyway!

[sliceitwithwind]

Braig shrugged, "Get another doctorate, probably. Oxford, maybe. Something more academic, less life-or-death."

[mitochondriaaya]

"A life of academia?" he asked, arching a brow. "Somehow I don't see Oxford sanctioning experiments that delve into other dimensions. Will you alter your work then?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"A life of helping keep Dilan and society from killing each other." Braig corrected steadily, "Everything else is secondary. He could go into medicine or military equally easily, my life's work is to make sure that whatever he does, doesn't explode in everyone's face."

[mitochondriaaya]

"That I can accept," he chuckled. "Where would you prefer Dilan went?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Honestly he's better suited towards military applications. His ideas on cute are...you've seen Alien Dogs of Hell? Yes. He designed the dog. I want to find a place with morality that I can handle that would use him for good."

[mitochondriaaya]

"No, I haven't," he admitted. "It may be in my queue." For when he took vacations. The girls insisted.

"Military outfits that would invest in the stranger sciences rarely adhere to the morality of the standard man. What woudl you be looking for?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Fair enough." Braig said with a wry smile, "People who are more interested in justice than in money."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Have you started researching military groups?" He asked simply. "If not the girls will be a good resource."

[sliceitwithwind]

"A little bit." Braig said, "I don't want to bother the girls until they've had a year here or so, even if it's something they know well they really don't need one more thing on top of, well. KAOS."