Futuristic Come on! Not agaain! -Sincerely, Adrian.

[chellemrys]

Cas had been half-dozing; it had been awhile since either Keve or Adrian were either awake, or in Keve's case, even in the room. He lifted his half shut lids, hoping maybe Adrian was a bit more sober after the long nap. Cas was nowhere near sober either, after the hours long session of drinking, but at least he understood the situation. His eyes slid to rest their gaze on the hand patting his cheek, and he sighed in frustration. No, of course Adrian was still drunk. He only relaxed, letting Adrian play with his hopper, knowing it was completely harmless now.


Cas silently vowed never to drink again. The agency was right- you never want to be drunk when you need to defend yourself. He shook his head at Adrian, "..No.. Wee caan't. We'a pree-soners right now. Don't yoou git dat?" He patted Adrian's head, eyes rolling back as he let himself slump against the other. "Don't you undeerstand what eez happeenin'?"

 

[Laine]

Ade yawned loudly, still fiddling with the hopper. “Prisoners? Naw. Not this again.” He pulled Cas’ hand towards his face and kissed it softly. “I know you didn’t really mean it. And I know who really wears the pants here.” He sniggered, looking up with warm, drunken eyes. “Don’t worry about it, Cassi-dee. I forgive you.”


Adrian went back to prodding the hopper, enjoying the fact that he was getting a chance to play with it for once. His face curved into a frown every time in beeped in protest. “I don’t understand what you were saying. But…Keve started shocking you, and you-“ he hiccupped loudly, “-you got mad at him and tried to shoot him. So he did it again. And then, umm…” He trailed off, seemingly losing interest in the sentence. He still had no idea of the gravity of the situation, and probably wouldn’t until he’d recovered from his drunken state – complete with a violent hangover and the realisation that he was once again trapped in the future.


When the screen on Cas’ hopper flashed red once again, Ade shook his arm hard, grumbling at it in frustration. He dropped it, disinterested, and shifted closer towards Cas’ body, accidentally jamming his injured hand between them in the process. He yelped, pulling it out and gasping in pain, his eyes watering. “Oh fuck. Oh fuck oh fuck. That hurt, Cassidy.” He moaned, holding his hand out and breathing deeply. The throbbing agony was numbed slightly by the alcohol, but Adrian had never been good with tolerating pain. He only took a moment to consider before asking, “Caas. Can – Can I have a voffy, please?”

 

[chellemrys]

Cas hated when Adrian brought up the prisoners remar, even though it was an apology this time. He was sick of hearing about that incident in general, and sat in silent misery as Adrian went on about it. Needing to be reminded about that at such a vital time made the situation a bit tougher.


He shrugged off the feeling, sighing, and trying to explain to Adrian the situation, "Adee- shut up. Pleease. You do naw undeerstand. That waz nawt a prank. He waz hurteen' mee. I zaid pree-zoners because he eez keepin' uz under lock n' key." The time agent held his breath, hoping that Ade finally got it. But instead, the Scot hurt his hand, and began childishly whining about it. He growled, smacking his forehead in frustration. "Neveermind, Adee."


He looked in surprise at Adrian, before digging for a voffy. It was the only one left, so he lit it and took a long drag, before handing it to Ade. "Mind eef we zhare? Laz' one, Ade."

 

[Laine]

Ade smirked, leaning over and pulling the thin metal tube from between his lover’s lips. He twirled it between his fingers, “Hygiene, Cassideh. I do not know where that mouth has been.” He joked. He stuck it in his mouth nevertheless, drawing on it deeply and sighing as the pain in his hand subsided. He had only tried it once before, when Cassidy was having his attack in the other room – sober, he was embarrassed that he’d buckled under the pressure and had to try to relieve himself with it. But drunk Ade was playing with the thing like it was his fancy new toy. He spent several minutes trying to blow rings with the vapour, wasting what little there was left, much to Cas’ annoyance.


When he finally handed it back, he settled back down beside the Lieutenant, careful to move his hand away before shuffling closer to him. He lazily wrapped an arm around the other, bringing his head to rest on his shoulder as a warm, relaxed smile crossed his face. He leaned slightly and kissed Cas’ cheek, before slowly closing his eyes. “Mmh. Wake me if any bloodthirsty aliens show up…” He murmured, before his breathing became low and heavy. Soon he was out for the count, sleeping so soundly that it was unlikely he would be woken by a small bomb, let alone his drunken, dejected lover beside him.


-------


It was many hours before Keve returned – possibly overnight, although living underground made it difficult to judge the time of day. The Time Agent was dressed in exactly the same clothes as he had been the day previous, although they appeared dirtier and more crumpled. His face was a picture of stress and anger as he came in, despite it being so rare for him to show emotion that strongly in his body language. He started by wrenching off the cap of a bottle and throwing it to the ground, and then taking a generous swig of the liquid inside. He then stalked over to the two on the couch, snapping his fingers impatiently.


“Get up, Petar.” He growled in a low voice. Cas at first made little attempt to follow his order, and as a result received a nasty wake-up shock through the cuff. The fact that Ade and Cas were touching at the time meant that the auburn-haired doctor got the shock as well, and Ade was violently shuddered into consciousness. He opened his eyes weakly, staring at Keve through blurred vision. Adrian could only groan in response to it, squinting his eyes at the combined pain of the hangover, his hand, and the shock.


Keve stared darkly at the two, holding up a few sheets paper that were decorated with illegible scrawls. “We need to start planning for the mission, Cassidy.”

 

[chellemrys]

Cas was irritated with Adrian, yes. He was beyond frustrated with the drunkenness. He thought Adrian was a complete idiot. But he could not stop himself from finding his behavior mildly endearing. He let a tiny grin grace his lips at the kiss, and slid closer to Adrian when he rested his head on his shoulder. The Lieutenant searched for his hand, gently caressing it in his own, as he also leaned against the other, deciding to simply enjoy the moments.


***********


Cassidy was out when Keve returned, and leapt into action upon being shocked. He yelped, doubling over and groaning loudly, "Oh- Oh, Hel- Helmi!" He croaked, barely able to keep from sliding out of Ade's arms, and onto the floor. The time agent's vision blackened, and he spent the next few minutes trying to pay attention.


With a deep groan of reluctance, Cas straightened up. "Y-You want... Plans, now." He blinked at the papers, before shifting away from Adrian with a grimace, "I can't believe you want me to help you, after all this." Crossing his arms, and legs, he glared at Keve, vowing to silently end his death would occur.

 

[Laine]

Keve couldn’t help but smirk at Cas’ reaction to the shock, his mouth creasing as he took another swig. “That face you're pulling – now that takes me back.” He watched the Time Agent straighten up and glare at him, and Keve sighed in disappointment that he was still being so resistant.


In truth, without Cassidy, his plan was tenuous and half-finished – he desperately needed a second opinion from someone who was experienced, and while neither of them were tacticians, Cassidy was definitely the more sensible out of the two. Keve didn’t just want his help, he needed it, to ensure the whole Vos operation was kept in motion. “C’mon, Petar. Don’t be so dramatic. Of course I want your help. Why would I bring you here if I didn’t?” He sifted through the papers in his hands, looking hopeless. Being out of action for so long had made him averse to planning, and the last month had accomplished very little in terms of a concrete idea.


He flicked his eyes back to Cas, who had his arms crossed in deep defiance. “You do realise there’s more than you and I at stake, right? This planet is full of people, Petar. I know I can be a bit trigger-happy at times, but I draw the line at genocide.” He explained. Trying to play the empathy card was a low strategy, but if he knew Cassidy’s inner sense of loyalty and justice, he knew that he’d at least be tempted to help. And if he resists still, we always have a potential hostage – lucky, really. His eyes shifted to Adrian, who was still groaning and barely conscious.


Ade put a hand to his head, desperate to relieve the stabbing headache. “Jesus Christ…” He grumbled, still not fully aware of the situation between the two time agents, or the whole planet. He could hear serious voices, but they came as an afterthought to his pain, as well as the confusion of what happened the night previous.

 

[chellemrys]

Cas ignored the innuendo, making whatever face or writhing into whatever position seemed to help him cope with the pain. After he regained his breath, he hissed, "You haven't thought this through yet?" He growled, squeezing his eyes shut as he brushed his arm and a tingle shot up its length. He felt a guilt rising in his chest, and he breathed deeply, trying to resist the urge to help out. But he knew he had to. "You're right, but I doubt that. You don't truly care, do you?" The way Keve was carrying out his plan suggested there was something more going on, and he definitely didn't want anyone else to know about it.


Cassidy noticed the shifted glance to Adrian, and he protectively slid closer, baring his teeth. He put a hand on Adrian's leg, leaning against his lover. "So tell me your plan so far. Do you have a map of their base? Information about their race? The machinery they are building?"

 

[Laine]

Through the blurred vision and nausea, Ade felt his love leaning into him, a hand gently resting on his knee. The sound of alien language filled the room again, and Adrian was beginning to get sick of it. He buried his head into Cas’ shoulder, groaning softly.


Keve leaned over at the breakfast bar, shifting off the bottles and voffy tubes and spreading the papers out thinly. He rubbed his chin guiltily as he looked at them, none of them containing even basic information – only ways to contact Vos weapons specialists and speculated co-ordinates for the Uniri HQ. The map of their ship was speculative, as well, being only a basic blueprint of a similar model that they had used. Dealing with Vos' own internal issues had meant that very little thought had gone into information-gathering. “Plan…plan. Well…” His voice weakened, and he took another swig. “Well…I know what a Uniri looks like. And I know they prefer hand-to-hand rather than weapons."


Keve continued, sniffing loudly as he searched his mind. "...I managed to find a ship to do some scouting. A neat little runner - mostly solar powered, but reliable. And...I know they're using a Yusson-type machine. To do the heavy pushing, I mean." He seemed to stop there, leaning onto the table with both of his arms, staring at the paper for anymore inspiration. None came.

 

[chellemrys]

Cas' hand went up to Ade's head, gently touching his hair as he discussed plans with Keve. He stroked the other's auburn mess of a head, continuing to talk in the strange language. He slid to the front of the couch, balancing Adrian with care as he did, and let Adrian slide backwards against the couch.


He crossed the room, striding over to examine the collected plans so-far. He narrowed his eyes in disgust, and then looked to Keve, "You have almost nothing to work with." Pinching the bridge of his nose, he shut his eyes to think. "You said.. Yusson machine. So, I'm assuming they have figured a way to amplify the power of that object shipping device, by a billion times, to move Vos towards the black hole?" Crossing his arms, Cas circled the table. He looked eccentric, like a madman, as he watched the papers on the table. His hair was up in pointy tufts, he was sweaty, disgusting, and face bruised and dirty.


The Lieutenant sniffed, stopping in his tracks, "Maybe... Maybe if we snuck in there, in a utility truck or whatnot, we could infiltrate deep into the base without being noticed. And then, once inside, we get in the internal air systems. We sneak through the vents, until we get to the main machine. Then all we would have to do, is destroy the machine. I'm sure that would blow the base to the sky. If we jam it right. We could set up one of those explosive devices, the tiny ones, and we could flambe the base!" He grinned, coming up with ways to achieve their goal. He frowned, however, and tapped his foot, "But how would we escape. I'm assuming this machine is being run from an orbiting space craft?"

 

[Laine]

Keve felt himself sigh a silent breath of relief as Cassidy started to work, seemingly unhindered by their rocky start. He smirked at the last remark, tilting his head back. “We could always have someone stay behind and take one for the team.” He eyed Cassidy, whom – possibly remembering the Iridium Indicident – did not see the funny side. Keve chuckled nervously, and scratched his forehead. “I was joking. There should be a-“


“-Caaas. Can I get a glass of water or something? I think I’m gonna-” Ade suddenly interrupted. A violent pang of nausea had hit the back of his throat, and within seconds he was loudly heaving over the side of the couch. Keve visibly tensed as he did so, the veins standing out on the side of his head as the auburn-haired civilian grunted and groaned. Ade’s eyes were tightly shut and squinted, and even the dimmest source of light seemed to drill into his forehead like a spear. Impatiently, Keve stormed over to a dispenser, jamming the buttons until a bottle of water fell out, and he tossed it in Ade’s vague direction. Desperate to get back to the plan that was finally materialising, he started shuffling the papers on the table, glaring at Cas for having such an obnoxious partner. “As I was saying, there should be a spa-“


Ade quickly interrupted, after taking a sip of water. “-Cassidy, I really think I need to eat something. I’ve thrown up three or four times in the last few hours and-“ he began. His eyes were still tightly closed, and the two’s hushed voices were so incomprehensible that he had no idea he was interrupting Keve of anything important.


“-Weell you shut te fuck up?!” Keve bellowed at him in poor English, spinning around and glaring at him on the couch. His dark eyes were narrowed as he in turn glared and hissed to Cas through gritted teeth, “We haven’t got time for this. If you can’t get your dog to stay quiet I will get rid of him.”

 

[chellemrys]

Between examining the maps, and listening to Keve, Cas was blabbering away with ideas. He directed a face of focused doom at Keve when he made a joke out of the Iridium incident, but simply disgustedly looked down, before continuing on.


Cas tensed when Adrian interrupted; his eyes flew towards Keve's irritated face, as Ade wretched onto the floor, filling the room with the sour scent of processed alcohol and vomit. The Lieutenant gently closed his eyes, lowering his head to hang limply when his lover interrupted Keve again. He began visibly trembling, afraid of what Keve might do to Adrian should he get angry enough.


The time agent took the warning as a chance to turn around, and stumble hurriedly almost into Adrian's lap. He leaned over him, whispering in a wavering voice: "This is an order; a very, very important order. Be quiet." With a fall of his eyebrows, and the flat line his lips turned into, he said everything he needed to say, without begging or taking up too much time. Either of which could irritate Keve. He begged with his eyes instead, opening his mouth only slightly, as if he would say something explanatory. His lips only quivered, and he hurried back to Keve with a new plan idea.


"We will need to distract them. Since we can't call the time agency, for some reason, we can't knock out their technology." As he sighed, he walked around in a tiny circle, brainstorming, "Well, we could pinpoint a utility truck and take out the drivers. Infiltrate the base as workers, and manage to get into the center of the device. Then- throw a quad core detonator into the damned thing!"


Cas paused, "...Or... Or we could reroute their system! They carry out their plan, and whoosh! Their entire space ship is propelled into the void between realms- in the black hole."

 

[Laine]

Adrian shakingly stared into Cas’ eyes, startled by the seriousness and fear in his tone of voice. For once he didn’t call his love out on ‘ordering’ him about – the shared facial expressions of the two Time Agents carried a threat that would be exercised upon if he started a ruckus. “Yeah. S-sorry, Cassidy.” He murmured softly, reaching over slowly to stroke the other’s arm. But before he could, Cas had turned, gotten up and hurried back over to Keve, and was muttering his latest ideas with his back turned. Dejected, Ade flopped backwards onto the couch, rubbing his temples and trying to piece together what was going on, while also battling with the most killer hangover he’d ever experienced.


As Cassidy returned, Keve cut him off, eyes narrowed. “No, you’re right. We can’t call the Time Agency.” He took it as a personal jab towards the fact that Keve was keeping it under wraps, and by the way he was sweating at the neck you could tell Keve did not appreciate it. As Cassidy continued, he occasionally looked over at Ade, glaring at him from afar.


He lit a voffy, containing any kind of excitement he had for the plans as he struggled to think. “Rerouting…might work. But we’d have to- we’d have to take out some of their power sources and amplifiers. Else the Yusson will still be working at full strength, and we might still get pulled in ourselves.” He mulled over the idea, drawing deep on his voff. “But aside from that, I like it. It’s simple, it’s cheap. And, of course, we give them a taste of their own medicine.”


He stared at the papers – now rendered useless by Cas’ superior plans – for a few moments, wondering if they’d missed anything. He started tapping on his hopper, just as Ade started groaning again, threatening to ruin his tattered couch with yet more alcohol vomit.

 

[chellemrys]

Cassidy nodded in agreement, running over the plans in their head. "Escape pods have always been useful, if you can get to one. And we will have to find coordinates of this station. Is it orbiting, or is it stationary?"


Cas watched Keve playing with his hopper; he lifted a brow as he watched. He didn't receive much of an answer, so he turned his attention over his shoulder to glance at Adrian, after a couple minutes of silence.


What he found, was a man clad in all black, sneaking across the room in silence, almost upon Adrian- arms out reached with a chemical soaked cloth in hand, heading towards Adrian. The black clad man and Cassidy both froze, making eye contact with one another, the kidnapper's eyes narrowing in satisfaction, Cassidy's widening in shock and fear.


"Hey!" The Lieutenant leapt to his feet, scrambling to draw his plasma gun. Instead, he found himself frantically patting and pulling at an empty holster. The Lieutenant dashed across the room, as the man lunged for Adrian, clamping the soaked cloth over his nose and mouth.

 

[Laine]

Ade raised his head as he heard his lover shout, in the complete opposite direction of the shadow approaching behind him. The assailant wrenched his head backwards and covered Ade’s face in the damp rag, inadvertently crushing his hand and causing him to let out a muffled cry. As he took a sharp breath in, Adrian could feel the strong, sweet, alcohol-like substance burn at his throat and nostrils. He fought back feebly, the muscles in his neck and back involuntarily relaxing as the chemical started to take effect, and his emerald eyes fluttered as they shut. The kidnapper tugged the limp body and started to drag him backwards off the couch and towards the door.


Keve rolled his eyes as he saw his comrade catch sight of the assailant, and as Cas dashed off, he put a hand to his hopper. He turned up the voltage, and delivered a violent shock to Cassidy just before he reached the two, so powerful that it knocked him off his feet. Helmi, I said ‘be subtle’. Bone-head. He grumbled to himself through gritted teeth, glaring at the kidnapper as the door slid open and Adrian was pulled out.


Slowly, still drawing on his voffy, Keve walked over to Cassidy, who hadn’t stopped shaking. He stood over Cas, "Well, that's unfortunate," he said, puffing vapour in the direction Ade had left. Keve crouched down, and growled darkly, “Still, I’m sure we’ll concentrate a lot better without that little distraction, don’t you think?”

 

[chellemrys]

Anahi :3

 

[chellemrys]

Anshik?

 

[chellemrys]

Cas' was knocked to the ground, and fell into a screaming heap, convulsing violently, the loud screams wavering and breaking as he shook. The Lieutenant tried to curl into a ball, to protect himself, but found he couldn't move at all. He laid on the cold floor, mouth slightly open, limbs sprawled in awkward and painful position. Cas laid there in silence, the smell of singed flesh wafted from his arm, around the band.


The time agent laid there for several minutes, breathing erratically and heavily. He was suffocating, having trouble recovering this time. But in the end, it simply took twice as long to recover. Movements small at first, he shifted his limbs languidly. With a weak growl, he spat at Keve in defiance. It fell short and landed next to Cas' face, smacking into the ground with a loud 'plop!'


Lieutenant Cassidy squirmed, groaning and trying to sit up, but instead he fell back again and smacked into the floor. "Where are you taking him? Why?" He growled, sounding furious.

 

[Laine]

Keve ignored the gob of spit supposedly aimed at him, and held out a hand to try and help the Lieutenant up. After a few seconds and another ball of spit, Keve changed tactic, circling behind him and sliding a hand under his neck and down his back, pushing the Lieutenant up and dragging him to sit against the couch. “Don’t worry about it, Petar.” He smirked, “I’ve just relieved you of your babysitting duties for a few days, that’s all. I’m sure you’re feeling quite liberated.”


The Lieutenant’s face did not look amused, and Keve patted Cassidy on the shoulder. “He’s safe, and he’ll stay that way providing you co-operate.” Keve stood, walking back over to the table and scrawling something down on the papers. “As soon as you…help me finish these plans, I’ll call my boys over and they’ll return him. But if you want to sit around and moan all day, then I’m afraid I can’t guarantee they won’t have some fun with him while they wait around. Your call, Lieutenant.”

 

[chellemrys]

The Lieutenant was enraged, shaking with anger as he growled. His voice wavered from the shock still, but his fury was clear, "I was helping you, and I don't appreciate being threatened..." With a forceful push, he cast Keve away, "If they so much as touch him, I will kill you. Tell your goons not to hurt him."


The dark haired agent hissed every word, and slowly eased his way to his feet as he spoke. He moved back to the table, barely able to focus on plans now, as worried ideas filled his head. He froze, and turned towards Keve in disgust, understanding one thing a little better. Keve has goons. For what? For...this? His gaze swept the room, and all the fancy machines. "So, what are the minions for?"


******


Anshik dragged Adrian into a dark room, in a run down apartment building, which had been abandoned during the Great Civil War on Vos, which had amounted to nothing great, except a radical gang-style government that ruled large areas of the planet. Anshik had brought Ade all the way across the city, far away from the time agent they were hiding him from. The man sat him on a cot, in the corner of the room, and sat back in a chair, playing with some cards with strange Vos text scrawled on them, organizing his new cards for gambling later.


He was not planning on paying much notice to his prisoner, his orders were just to watch him, and to keep him there. Nothing more.

 

[Laine]

Keve raised his eyebrows at the question, biting his lip.“Minions? They’re just friends, Petar. Believe or not I do a lot of work in this community.” He grabbed a piece of paper that had spilled Vaask on it, and crumpled it, throwing it to the floor. “Some guys around here just happen to owe me a favour, that’s all.” He chose to be deliberately evasive; the less Cassidy knew about the Vos operation, the better.


As he finished speaking, his hopper began to sound again, and Keve looked at it out of the corner of his eyes. “Enough questions. We don’t have time for this.” After he read it, he tapped the table impatiently, snapping at Cassidy, “We’ll talk after I get this mission outline sorted, capisce? Now, tell me what kind of machinery we would need to…”


******


Adrian’s consciousness took it’s time coming back to him, and more than an hour had passed since he had arrived in the dark room. He blinked through blurred vision at his kidnapper, the agonising headache from earlier still looming in his skull. He steadily tried to sit up straight without his captor noticing, and he froze as Anshik flicked his eyes casually over him, before returning to his cards. His heart was beginning to throb with anxiety and fear as he looked around to see no sign of Cassidy or Keve.


There were no windows, one door, and the cot and the chair furnishing the room, with only the kidnapper between him and freedom. Had a more trained individual been in his position, they would’ve surveyed the enemy to check for any kind of weapons, and then charged at him, making a break for freedom in less than a minute. But hallowed by a lack of experience and still hindered by his physical condition, all Ade could do was croak, “…Where…the fuck am I…?”

 

[chellemrys]

Cassidy stood at the other end of the table, eyes narrowed, now acting extremely cautious around the other. He muttered in response, shaking his head, "Fucking lying to me... Community work." He crossed his arms, leaning towards the diagrams and information laid over the table. He sighed, "We will need a Coordalock, you know? To hack in, and change the system permanently. It would take weeks to break that code, and by the time they do that- they've already entered the black hole. We could re-time the system, set the entire thing how we want it. We just have to get in... Then out."


*****


Anshik did not bother himself with the prisoner, until he began talking. At that, he straightened up, tearing his attention away from the cards, "I can't tell you that, silly." He grinned, shaking his head. Darn prisoners, always wanting to know where they are at. Like I could tell them that confidential information.





The alien creature rubbed the top of his scaled head. The creature was a dark green, scaled from head to toe. He had large, pure black, eyes, and a flat nose. He wore all black, normal, human clothes, and was the size of an average human also. He flicked his forked tongue out, the grin fading away as he returned his attention to the gambling cards.

 

[Laine]

In less than an hour, they had made a plan tight enough to consider executing. Keve’s precious papers were covered in their entirety with black ink, and he decided that they needed some kind of break. He started tapping on his hopper. When Keve flicked his eyes over to Cassidy, he saw that the Lieutenant was still sulking, eyeing him suspiciously from over the other side of the table. “…I’m just contacting a friend of mine who owes me a favour. Seeing if he can get us some of the stuff we need to locate the Uniri ship.” He murmured absentmindedly, a grin on his face as he scrolled through his messages. Nothing from Anshik. Guess the pasty giant isn’t causing any trouble yet, he thought to himself.


When he was done, he stretched out, grinning with relief that Cassidy was finally complying with his plans. Keve petted his stomach as it growled angrily, and he eyed the rows of exotic food machines, strolling over to one and typing out the name of an expensive delicacy native to the same planet Vaask came from. “Help yourself, Petar.” He ordered, moving back over to the breakfast bar and digging in hungrily, in between puffs of the voffy still lodged in his jaw.


As Keve was reading through the papers and eating, he slowly pulled out Cassidy’s plasma gun and slid it on the table across from him, never taking his eyes off the papers. “Here. You’ve earned it.” He swallowed thickly, beginning to write a checklist of moves to make next. “Remember what we said, though, hmm? No pointing that thing at me, unless you want my guys to send you a video of your red-haired sweetheart getting his limbs cut off.”


*********


Ade couldn’t help but recoil at Anshik’s reply; he spoke perfect English, and yet looked as different from a human as you could get. He shuddered violently at the sight of the forked tongue, remembering distinctly that he’d never really liked snakes. Adrian rubbed at his temples with his fingers, squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to focus. A loud gurgling noise came from his stomach, and he clamped his hand over his mouth, at first thinking he was going to be sick again. But eventually, the noise returned, and Ade grabbed his midsection, grunting uncomfortably in hunger.


The auburn-haired doctor searched his mind as to what could’ve led him to be there. All the messy events of the day previous had confused him beyond belief, the kidnapping, the time jump, the bar, the shooting, the argument, the kissing…he shook his head, clearing his throat as his stomach rumbled again. What was most clear to Ade was whom had caused all this, and he blinked at his assailant carefully, watching him delicately place the cards on his knees. “…Excuse me…Do you work for...Keefe, by any chance…?”

 

[chellemrys]

Cassidy did not make a move for the food, feeling disillusioned with it now that he suspected criminal activity was how Keve was awarded with his own, personal, all you can eat buffet. Keve was obviously contradictory, undoubtedly, too. He said he helped the community, which Ade would doubt if his life depended on it, but he had a personal buffet, as citizens starved on the streets.


He raised his brows in surprise when the gun was slid towards him, and he hastily snatched it up and holstered it. The Lieutenant leaned towards Keve, teeth bared like an animal, "Don't you dare threaten him. He is a civilian practically. You don't threaten civilians, you threaten the welfare of agents- remember, agent?"


**************


Anshik's eyes rose to focus on Adrian, as he tried to calm his stomach in embarrassment. As if embarrassment should be a priority right now. He laughed at that thought, shaking his head and returning to his cards, "Silly Earthing..." He murmured, cooing to himself as he discovered a new tricky combo, in his mind.


The reptilian man pretended to be confused at the question. "You, mean, like, that funny egg dish you Earthlings enjoy." He licked his lips, pretending not to recognize Keve's name. "That isn't quite the name, I think... Adrian." The creature got up, masking a grin of amusement by having his back turned.

 

[Laine]

Keve narrowed his eyes as he swallowed a large portion on his meal in one, bright green sauce sliding down his lip. He tapped the table impatiently, “I said eat, Petar. I’ll give you a shock if you don’t.” The threat was plain and clear; he wouldn’t tolerate the Lieutenant starving himself in the name of pride, or anything else for that matter. He stared darkly at Cassidy. “You haven’t had anything since you got here. You need your strength.”


Keve only cocked an eyebrow as the threat was made against him- the word agent spat in malice. “…Do you really think he’s the one?” Keve mused, noticing Cassidy’s hostility towards him as soon as his love with threatened. He also briefly remembered their discussion last night – talk of binding vows and intimacy. “I never thought I’d see you settling down, Petar. Especially with someone as stupid and ugly as him. And especially someone...who was supposed to be your prisoner.” He wiped his chin, scrunching his face up. “Right, agent?”


***************


Adrian glared at the creatures’ head, not knowing what to make of it. He knows my name…? He must know Keve, or Cassidy. Another old friend, perhaps…? The thought made Adrian grimace uncomfortably. He’d had quite enough of Cassidy’s old TA friends for one day. “…Is this another prank?” He murmured, cocking an eyebrow at the reptile.


Ade put his head in his hands, groaning softly. “Listen, I’d love to stay, but…I think Cassidy will worry about me if I’m gone too long.” He said with a guilty tone, remembering the incident in the bar. He stood slowly, pacing gently towards the door until he was half way across the room. He suddenly bolted around the reptilian man and lunged for the door handle, yelling loudly as he did so.

 

[chellemrys]

Cassidy always held pride high on his hierarchy of priorities. The time agent would go to extraordinary lengths to maintain that; he never wanted the enemy to look down on him, or view him as weak. But this was food, and he knew in this case it was useless to get his brain's fried. Besides, Adrian needed him still. He couldn't become a vegetable over Keve's torture happy attitude, and his pride over this silly little thing.


His stomach growled, which embarrassed Cas greatly, but he did head over to the breakfast bar- and he grabbed a couple muffins that were stuffed with strange alien fruits. He bit hastily into one, unable to help himself, and devoured the first one. The second, he was much slower about eating, to look controlled and like he did not need the food. However, it was true. He hadn't eaten since they had arrived, and he was starving.


He turned back around at the questions, and he smartly replied, "What, offended I find Adrian more attractive and funny than you, Keve? I sense a little jealousy in your tone."


******


Anshik ignored Adrian for the most part, giggling at the other as he mumbled about 'loving to stay', but needing to leave. He lifted his head when Adrian moved, a snake-like grin flickering onto his features, his forked tongue stuck out as a sign of amusement. He just watched the other, laughing quietly to himself. "Oh, really?" He hissed in a jovial tone.


When Adrian actually dashed around him, however, he cursed and leapt up, chasing Adrian to the door and clamping his arms around his waist. He wrestled him back towards the cot, lifting his feet off the ground and avoiding his flailing limps. He hushed him, hearing loud footsteps coming up the stairs from below. "Ssshit." He hissed, dropping Adrian on the cot, "Ssstop it, they will harm you. Jusst sstay put."


When the door flew open, Anshik was back in his chair, looking at his cards again. The man who had busted through the door looked around, confused, and put his hands on his hips- glaring angrily at the two. Anshik looked up, as if he was surprised to see the other. In the native tongue of Vos, they began conversing about Adrian. Anshik assured the alien man, who was completely jet black and had bright yellow eyes with slits, that everything was fine. Nothing had happened, according to the reptilian man, and everything was perfectly okay.


The man looked puzzled, and slid out, shutting the door quietly. Anshik looked back down at his cards, playing with them, "I had to convince him that you did not jusst try to esscape. If I told them you did that, you would have been beat probably."