"Can I help you?" Blue asks, suspicious. The guy hasn't done anything yet, but with his warm brown skin it's visible he's not from around here. He's wearing expensive clothes and shoes he's going to get stolen in a hour if he keeps hanging out around here. Hell, anywhere that isn't his hotel.
"Ah -- are you a policeman?"
"... Cop. Yeah." Definitely not from anywhere close to here. Not even the planet has accents like that.
"Oh, good."
He sees relief on the man's face, but it seems -- ah, that's the problem. No echo, none at all. He's locked up like a Family treasury. What the hell is he hiding? Blue doesn't like this at all; his hand lands on his weapon. The man blinks, looking vaguely surprised.
"I'm here for the climate conference," he says. "I got kind of lost."
"Just a bit," Blue replies dryly. A spy maybe? "Let me walk you to the station."
The man starts frowning a little. "You don't have to, just point me in the right direction."
"Let me walk you to the station," Blue repeats without giving an inch, and he tapes a step closer and looms. "I don't think you understand the danger you are in." He takes the excuse to catch the man's arm and tug him along and...
... Nothing. Still empty.
Blue has never met someone who could shield so well that even the shield disappeared. And even a null would resonate to the touch, even a tiny bit. He freezes for a second.
"... Hey, you can let go now."
Blue gets out his handcuffs.
(bit of background: what he doesn't know is that the local psychic nulls aren't truly nulls. Since they've been crossbreeding for so long, they're ranked closer to 0.5. Arun is 0.2 at the very most. (an actual 0 null would be dead.) Blue is somewhere around 4.3)
9. urban fantasy:
"I can't believe you stole a fucking mermaid."
Blue lights up a cigarette and gives the scaly creature in his bathroom a long, jesusfuckwhatthehell look.
His roommate rakes his hand through short red hair and snaps back, "I didn't know the University had mermaids!"
"Ahh, so if they had one, you had to have one as well."
"No, if they had one, it was fucking illegal. Illegal, and immoral, and she was stuck in a tiny pool--"
"Ah, yeah, our bathtub is so much better."
Arun glares at him, but he looks more tired and stressed out than angry. A bit desperate too. Scared.
"Give it back," Blue suggests, expressionless.
Predictably, Arun explodes.
Blue likes it when it happens. It's always interesting. He's not capable of such emotional violence. He's a pretty subdued guy. ... he's capable of physical violence, though, which Arun isn't. Seriously, the theft of the mermaid probably strained his goody-goody boy's brain, no matter how ethically justified it likely was. So car chases? punching people? So not for him.
Blue doesn't care about ethics. And it's been a while since he stole a car.
He doesn't owe jack shit to Arun, they just share the rent and they always try to be gone because they don't get along. But the pearly-scaled mermaid looks so tiny and confused, huddled at the bottom of their tub and chewing doubtfully on their bottle of shampoo.
"Be right back," he says laconically in the middle of Arun's tirade. If they're going on a road trip to the sea, he's gonna need to steal a truck with a good gas mileage, and that takes a little dedication to find.
He's not sure where they'll find a tub to put in the back, but he'll figure it out. So long as she doesn't decide to sing them to their deaths as a reward, he's ready to figure out a lot.
10. harem:
When Khiaw said "I don't want to make anyone jealous, so I'll have sex with all of you or none at all," it wasn't what Blue expected to happen. In fact he'd kind of assumed Khiaw had said it just for the reverse psychology effect, so they'd all go "nevermind" because there was no way Vartan and Lujayn would even consider it and Dhaval didn't even seem interested in sex.
From the faint, unsurprised smile on their Captain's face as a line formed outside of his bedroom, Blue had to revise his assessment of Khiaw's 'I'm always right' attitude. Seemed like it wasn't half as bluff as it seemed.
blue -- done!
"Can I help you?" Blue asks, suspicious. The guy hasn't done anything yet, but with his warm brown skin it's visible he's not from around here. He's wearing expensive clothes and shoes he's going to get stolen in a hour if he keeps hanging out around here. Hell, anywhere that isn't his hotel.
"Ah -- are you a policeman?"
"... Cop. Yeah." Definitely not from anywhere close to here. Not even the planet has accents like that.
"Oh, good."
He sees relief on the man's face, but it seems -- ah, that's the problem. No echo, none at all. He's locked up like a Family treasury. What the hell is he hiding? Blue doesn't like this at all; his hand lands on his weapon. The man blinks, looking vaguely surprised.
"I'm here for the climate conference," he says. "I got kind of lost."
"Just a bit," Blue replies dryly. A spy maybe? "Let me walk you to the station."
The man starts frowning a little. "You don't have to, just point me in the right direction."
"Let me walk you to the station," Blue repeats without giving an inch, and he tapes a step closer and looms. "I don't think you understand the danger you are in." He takes the excuse to catch the man's arm and tug him along and...
... Nothing. Still empty.
Blue has never met someone who could shield so well that even the shield disappeared. And even a null would resonate to the touch, even a tiny bit. He freezes for a second.
"... Hey, you can let go now."
Blue gets out his handcuffs.
(bit of background: what he doesn't know is that the local psychic nulls aren't truly nulls. Since they've been crossbreeding for so long, they're ranked closer to 0.5. Arun is 0.2 at the very most. (an actual 0 null would be dead.) Blue is somewhere around 4.3)
9. urban fantasy:
"I can't believe you stole a fucking mermaid."
Blue lights up a cigarette and gives the scaly creature in his bathroom a long, jesusfuckwhatthehell look.
His roommate rakes his hand through short red hair and snaps back, "I didn't know the University had mermaids!"
"Ahh, so if they had one, you had to have one as well."
"No, if they had one, it was fucking illegal. Illegal, and immoral, and she was stuck in a tiny pool--"
"Ah, yeah, our bathtub is so much better."
Arun glares at him, but he looks more tired and stressed out than angry. A bit desperate too. Scared.
"Give it back," Blue suggests, expressionless.
Predictably, Arun explodes.
Blue likes it when it happens. It's always interesting. He's not capable of such emotional violence. He's a pretty subdued guy. ... he's capable of physical violence, though, which Arun isn't. Seriously, the theft of the mermaid probably strained his goody-goody boy's brain, no matter how ethically justified it likely was. So car chases? punching people? So not for him.
Blue doesn't care about ethics. And it's been a while since he stole a car.
He doesn't owe jack shit to Arun, they just share the rent and they always try to be gone because they don't get along. But the pearly-scaled mermaid looks so tiny and confused, huddled at the bottom of their tub and chewing doubtfully on their bottle of shampoo.
"Be right back," he says laconically in the middle of Arun's tirade. If they're going on a road trip to the sea, he's gonna need to steal a truck with a good gas mileage, and that takes a little dedication to find.
He's not sure where they'll find a tub to put in the back, but he'll figure it out. So long as she doesn't decide to sing them to their deaths as a reward, he's ready to figure out a lot.
10. harem:
When Khiaw said "I don't want to make anyone jealous, so I'll have sex with all of you or none at all," it wasn't what Blue expected to happen. In fact he'd kind of assumed Khiaw had said it just for the reverse psychology effect, so they'd all go "nevermind" because there was no way Vartan and Lujayn would even consider it and Dhaval didn't even seem interested in sex.
From the faint, unsurprised smile on their Captain's face as a line formed outside of his bedroom, Blue had to revise his assessment of Khiaw's 'I'm always right' attitude. Seemed like it wasn't half as bluff as it seemed.