MHA #6, Monday Afternoon

[firstofitskind]

The island was being weird again. Because of course it was. Though at least this latest bout of weirdness seemed... relatively benign?

It hadn't actively interfered with any of Liam's usual morning routines, anyway. So that was good, he supposed. And now that it was a bit later in the day and he could be reasonably certain the person on the other end would actually be awake, he dialed a certain number on his Global. There were a couple of things he needed to take care of.

It rang once, twice, and then...

"Heyyyyyy, hot stuff!" the redhead on the other end chirped at him as the video feed connected.

"Street," Liam grinned. "It's been a while."

"Yeah, well," she shrugged. "Who's fault is that?" she asked pointedly. Because it was absolutely Liam's fault, yes.

"Point taken," Liam acknowledged. "Listen, I need-"

"A favor," Street chorused with him in unison. But she didn't look put out or anything, just amused. "You know, only giving me a ring when you need something is a guaranteed way to give a girl a complex. But what do you need?"

She listened attentively as Liam outlined just what it was he needed her to do, nodding occasionally.

"Shouldn't be too hard," Street said finally. "I'll let you know when everything's good to go. And- just 'cause this isn't your home anymore, doesn't mean there's not people who love you here, you know?" ... Though by 'people', she mostly meant 'her', since everyone else Liam cared about was either dead or off exploring space. "Maybe try calling more often?"

"Yeah," Liam said, smile turning soft around the edges. "I'll do that, Street. Thanks again."

With a wink and a little wave, Street shut off the connection on her end. Liam slid the Global closed and pocketed again. Now all he had to do was let Verity know things were in motion.

[ooc: mostly establishy, but also open.]

Comments

[arboreal_priestess]

"Just that I'm helping you feel comfortable in your true self," Verity said sweetly. "That your true self is a giant sassy brat is between you and your god."

[firstofitskind]

“Mmm,” Liam hummed. “You’ve been helping me deal with the after-effects of accidentally getting dosed with cuckoo blood too,” he pointed out.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Because unlike you, I'm not a sassy brat," Verity lied like a lying thing that could only lie. "I'm a helper."

[firstofitskind]

“You are literally one of the sassiest people I have ever met,” Liam countered.

[arboreal_priestess]

"You can't just win arguments by coming up with baseless accusations, you know," Verity sniffed.

That was her move.

[firstofitskind]

"You're right," Liam nodded. "That's so outlandish, I have no idea why anyone would think that would work."

[arboreal_priestess]

"It requires a deft touch and a great deal of skill to pull that off," Verity agreed. "Decades of experience, at least."

Braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.

[firstofitskind]

"Technically," Liam said primly, as he finished up making that cold brew. "I've got eons of experience."

It's just that it wasn't all his.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Then you'd think you'd be better at it," Verity said, grinning at him.

Look, that had been an amazing sass. She was proud.

Kissing his cheek in a promise to behave, but proud.

[firstofitskind]

"I'd be careful," Liam said warningly. "People who are mean to their boyfriends don't get to drink delicious cold brew coffee that said boyfriends put considerable time and effort into preparing, you know."

[arboreal_priestess]

"You make an excellent point," Verity said, reaching for a mug to pour all that deliciousness into. "For that reason alone, I have decided to be good."

That and she had a certain level of teasing that she'd give him at once and they were at that limit. But the cold brew was a good reason, too.

[firstofitskind]

"A wise decision," Liam said with a nod. "Especially since I've got something I wanted to talk to you about."

[arboreal_priestess]

Oh hey. There was that sinking sensation that Liam had felt earlier.

"Yeah?" she asked, taking a sip to cover up sudden nerves.

[firstofitskind]

"I finally got ahold of Street today," Liam began. He'd been trying for a while, but a combination of Fandom's special brand of weird and consistently getting her voicemail instead of a live response had made that difficult. And the things he'd needed to talk to her about hadn't been anything he'd felt comfortable leaving a message regarding.

[arboreal_priestess]

Oh thank goodness. This? This she could absolutely handle.

"Got ahold of her?" Verity asked. "Not just gave in and left a message for her to call you?"

[firstofitskind]

"Finally," Liam confirmed. Really, it was just as much, if not more, on him for not trying more often. But Fandom had its way of getting people caught up in whatever weird was going on and the player didn't have time to write this post out until now. "Gave her everything we know about William, so she can step up the alerts into a full-blown search. And..." he trailed off, expression suddenly uncertain.

[arboreal_priestess]

"If the next part of that sentence isn't 'contact us immediately is anything happens,' we're going to be in a fight," Verity said calmly, stirring her coffee.

[firstofitskind]

Technically, he'd been about to mention how he'd also asked her to prepare the nanobots they'd talked about a couple months ago. You know, before that whole... thing where he'd reacted kind of badly and bolted.

"Uh, of course she would," Liam assured her. So no need to fight!

[arboreal_priestess]

"...But that wasn't what you were about to say," Verity guessed, having known Liam for a little while by now.

[firstofitskind]

"No. But maybe it should've been," he acknowledged. "What I was going to say is she also got those nanobots we'd talked about, a couple months ago."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Oh!" Verity said. "Not that either of us are ever getting kidnapped ever again, but in the unlikely event it does happen." She nodded. "Which, by the way, would be your turn."

Silly Verity. You get kidnapped. Liam gets attacked by things and has to be quarantined.

[firstofitskind]

"I just want to be prepared," Liam said, reaching out to cup her cheek in one hand. "When we couldn't find you, that was- it was utterly terrifying. I don't want to go through that again if I can help it." He'd prefer she stick to their agreement and not get kidnapped again, though, really.

[arboreal_priestess]

"I wouldn't have agreed to it if I didn't think it was a good idea," Verity said quietly, her hand splayed over his.

Or if she'd thought it could be used against them, but the inclusion of Taelon tech pretty much negated that possibility.

"I don't ever want to lose you without a way of getting you back."

[firstofitskind]

"Okay," Liam said, letting out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "It's set, then. She'll need a bit of time to get everything ready, so I figure sometime next week?"

[arboreal_priestess]

"Sounds good," Verity said, reaching out to hold his hand. "It'll be a nice break from Dino Paradise, if nothing else."

The humidity was murder.