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]

"Sausage?" Dilan said hopefully. Not that he'd be stopped much if she didn't make it, he eats it raw when he's in a hurry.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Italian or maple?" Aya countered with a grin.

"And I'll get up and make biscuits and gravy too," Maya laughed. "I've been infected with responsible..."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Both." Dilan said, blinking, "Mostly Italian, though."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Will do!" Aya laughed and flipped Dilan a cheerful salute. "And then Braig gets to study."

"Ooo, and we have the phlebotomy practical tomorrow."

"That's easy," Aya snorted. "Poke people let them bleed."

[sliceitwithwind]

"If you want," Dilan offered, "I'll come volunteer. I have good veins."

[mitochondriaaya]

"But we like you Dilan!" Maya gasped. "If you volunteer then you get poked by everyone, not just us! And some of the people in our class are idiots!"

[sliceitwithwind]

Dilan smiled at them, "I know. Or you can practise on me tonight, if you'd like?"

[mitochondriaaya]

"We'll see after dinner? Homework tonight," Aya conceded.

"It'll be a sacrifice in a good cause," Marc assured with a chuckle."They have to pass you before they poke us!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"I don't mind." Dilan assured Marc, "I get hurt much worse than they can do with needles regularly. I work with things that have spines."

[mitochondriaaya]

"We mind you bleeding too much!" Aya assured.

"We should really look into spine removal as a hobby...' Maya admitted. "Those barbs can be annoying to handle yourself."

[sliceitwithwind]

"I'm used to it." Dilan said, "It's only when they're psychotropic that I have problems."

"This," Braig informed Nevada, "is why my life path is the way it is."

[mitochondriaaya]

"You may be used to it but the people who like you don't like seeing you cut up or injured." Aya pointed out.

Nevada turned to quirk an odd smile at the eldest boy, "I'm starting to understand why." Yes, Dilan was a rather special case and Braig was something of a reality leash on the boy. "It'll be an interesting life."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Oh." The look of bafflement was mostly people other than Braig and Pierce like me. Woah. than anything else.

Braig nodded and took one of Dilan's hands in his own, "Yup. I can't wait."

[mitochondriaaya]

Aya just shook her head softly, bemused at Dilan's response, and went back to leaning bonelessly on Perry who was still talking shop with Pierce. "You've got a good start on things," she admitted at last.

"Liftoff," Nevada noted for those who cared. "Shouldn't be a long flight."

"Which means no movie or snacks," Maya chuckled.

[sliceitwithwind]

"That's fine. We're going for dinner." Braig pointed out.

Dilan just watched. Hee! Flight!

[mitochondriaaya]

"It was a joke," Maya countered with a grin. "Bad one, sorry."

"And you'd make a crap flight attendant anyway," Aya chuckled. "Wake me up when we're there?" Naps were awesome.

[sliceitwithwind]

Dilan was lost in the wonder of flight, staring outside with an expression of glee.

Braig said, "Nap sounds good." and leaned against Dilan's shoulder.

"It's amazing...I bet I could code for wings in babies..."

"No, Dilan."

"But flight!"

[mitochondriaaya]

"No Dilan!" The girls and Pierce chimed in with the rest of the helicopter a heartbeat behind when it seemed an important thing to say.

"Just no," Aya sighed.

[sliceitwithwind]

"Oh. Okay." Dilan said, sighing a bit. He never got to do anything fun. Except this. This was fun.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Quality of life," Aya explained quietly. "And you don't touch young sentients, even prenatal ones. They are not open for adjustment." Because the idea made Aya ill to contemplate really. "Please."

"Relax," Maya suggested to her sister. "KAOS is different."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Oh. Right." Dilan nodded to Aya without moving his head away from the window. "No tweaking babies."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Thank you," Aya sighed, relaxing a little. "That makes me happy to hear."

Maya just stared at her sister for a moment, torn between respect for the statement and rolling her eyes.

[sliceitwithwind]

Dilan turned his face away from the window long enough to give Aya a brilliant smile, then looked back out. Sky. So awesome.

He was trying to figure out how to give Pierce wings.

[mitochondriaaya]

Pierce did not want wings. Just so Dilan knew.

Aya slid into an easy nap snuggled between her sister and one of her extended family members. Maya chatted with Marc quietly about things shed missed and...then they were there.

The restaurant didn't mind a helicopter in the parking lot...right?

[sliceitwithwind]

Dilan shook Braig awake gently, and smiled at Nevada, "Thank you, Mr. Nevada. That was very interesting."