Chapter 3: Archaic

[Chickenman 9]

Sena sat down, hands folded across her chest in a pout.

"How do I know the omlettes aren't poisoned?"

[Princess 35]

Nima gave Nat a disgusted look. "You really think after a few years in slavery that I really think that some Prince Charming is going to come and sweep me off my feet and rescue me? I don't believe in those fantasies. I don't watch those holos. I take care of myself."

[Pandora 77]

Deign shot his sister a look that said shut up. "Layla is cooking. And she'd never poison her daughter and neither would I. Besides," he said, glaring down at her, "you know I have more class than that. If I wanted to kill you'd I'd have Jaing do it for me, that's what the Payroll Department is for."

He turned away from Sena so that he could speak with Jaing and still keep a close eye on Layla in the kitchen. If she got to near the knife drawer it would be a hot day on Hoth before she ever saw Ayana again. "Certainly, Jaing. What's on your mind?"

[Drake 53]

Jaing spoke low so that the others wouldn't hear. "First of all, you should really think about looking into hover-support matresses like the rest of the galaxy." He held up the sharpened bed spring. "Your sister broke out of her room right before I got there and tried to scratch my armour paint job with this."

He handed the crude weapon over to Deign. "Also, I've received word that the Tyrena Central parking garage was infiltrated. Something tried to unsuccessfully slice into the doorway." He saw Deign's eyes widen slightly. "Looks like someone was trying to break in through your back door. I was about to go check it out."

Edited September 5, 2008 by Drake

[Pandora 77]

Deign took the spring from Jaing, examined it, then shot a ... disapproving... glare at his sister. "Duely noted, thank you. My apologies for my sister's rudeness." He spoke low as well. "And yes, please see to the break-in. If you find anyone that doesn't belong there, apprehend them and bring them back to base alive if possible, and without too much brain damage. I want to know who they are and what gave them the bright idea to attempt an infiltration in the first place. You have my permission to convey my... annoyance to the guilty party should you find them."

Jaing muttered an affirmative and let himself out.

Deign examined the spring in plain view of Sena. "Now what would mother think if she found out you were so rude to your host?" He shook his head. "Tsk tsk, Sena. We were raised better than that." He dropped the spring into the trash compactor as he rejoined Layla and Ayana in the kitchen, giving his daughter a little pinch on her sides. "How's it coming, ladies?"

[Drake 53]

Takeshi walked up to the sealed door without hesitation. The charred remains of the first spydroid lay in a small pile on the ground beneath the console. He ignored them, instead removing another detonator pack to place on the door. Tak was three steps away from the door when a noise from further down the garage gave him pause.

Three men were approaching at a rapid pace. They all wore the same clothes. Uniforms, Tak recognized, belonging to police from the PSS.

"Can I help you, officers?" he asked, not bothering to hide the blaster in one hand and the thermal detonator pack in the other.

Almost as one, the police raised their blasters. The foremost officer, who had the appearance of a Lieutenant, was the one to speak. "Put your weapons on the ground, step towards us, and lay face down with your hands where we can see them."

Tak held up his weapon and explosive, causing the PSS men to tighten their grips on their blasters. "What, these? It's not what you think, really. Well, it is...but the detonator has a deadman's switch. Shoot me and this building goes bye bye. BY MADINE'S BUSHY BEARD! Catch it!" The police were stunned when Tak threw the detonator pack directly at the officer on the right before jumping for cover behind the delivery truck.

The other two police dove away from the perceived blast radius. However, when no detonation came, they looked up. The officer who had caught the device stood in stunned and shocked silence, his hand quiverring slightly as it held the thermal explosive.

"Fooled ya," said Tak, his blaster lined up on the hood of the truck. He squeezed off a single shot, straight into the detonator pack. Before he had a chance to cry out, the de-atomizing blast consumed the PSS officer.

With barely a reaction, the Lieutenant flipped onto his back and, with his blaster switched to full-auto, began spraying fire beneath the delivery vehicle, aiming for Tak's feet. Predicting such a result, Tak was already off the ground and hopping up onto the roof of the truck where he would be afforded both a better angle to fire from and be fired at.

Edited September 8, 2008 by Drake

[Andy 60]

Aston watched the vidscreen with Arlan as the thermal detonator vapourised the PSS officer.

"We're not playing the 'subtle' card today, I see," he said dryly.

Edited September 8, 2008 by Andy

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

"Shopping," the Trianii half-growled in answer to Szen's question; although she had no bags with her, aside from the one that concealed her rifle. "I was getting sick of ration bars and thought I'd pick up something for dinner," she continued with a wink. "But then I remembered I'm not much of a cook."

[Ender 8]

The Skids

Jaim stepped off the turbolift and took a right down the narrow, dimly lit hallway. The flat complex looked like the kind of place where one might find a thriving community of spice dealers. Which, of course, it did.

Stepping around a few addicts sprawled on the floor, Jaim knocked on the door where his contact lived. A slide opened in the door, revealing bloodshot purple eyes.

"How did Palpatine get fleas?" the being asked.

"Because he didn't shower. Come on, Nery, you know it's me," Jaim replied.

"Never can be too careful." The door opened to reveal a ragged Bothan who looked as if he hadn't seen daylight in weeks. "Get inside, quickly."

Jaim took a look down the hall, then strode into Nery's flat. The Bothan quickly. closed the door behind him.

"Listen, my friend, I haven't got much time. My... package... is rather perishable. What have you got for me?"

Nery shifted his weight. He was obviously very uncomfortable. "I've known you for a long time, Jaim, I know you better than most people probably do... but trust me, you don't want to go through with this. These men... they're not like other crime gangs. They'll stop at nothing to achieve their goals."

"That much I figured. And you should know that I don't care. Do you know where Archaic hides out, or not?"

Nery squeaked. "Yes..."

At that moment Jaim heard the rumble of boots in the hallway, getting louder by the second.

"What in the Nine Hells is that?" Jaim said, pulling a blaster from his coat.

Nery started weeping. "I'm sorry, Jaim, they said they'd kill me if I told you!"

"Sithspit!" Jaim knocked the Bothan down and kicked over the table, using it as cover. He grabbed the squirming informant by his collar. "Where is the base, Nery! You have to tell me!"

"The nature reserve to the south! A holoprojector hiding the entrance to a hanger in the cliffside! That's all I know!"

At that moment Nery's door came tumbling down to reveal three men with T-21 blaster rifles, blazing fire into the flat. Jaim ducked just in time to avoid being hit. He grabbed his comlink.

"Jya! I've got the location, but I'm pinned down! I need backup, hurry!"

Edited September 9, 2008 by Drake

[Bad furday 57]

Jya swung her feet off the chair and was across the room in three strides. Jaim had just called, and needed backup. Fast.

"I'll be right there!" she replied into the comlink.

Grabbing her blaster, spare power packs, and making sure she was carrying explosives, Jya headed out the door. She had a

vague idea where Jaim was. He had been rather tight lipped about the who meeting, presumably as a security measure.

Bolting down the stairs, Jya paused only for a moment before finding and entering Jaim's speeder.

Driving a speeder very fast will attract less attention than me sprinting down the street carrying all this!

Jya started up the speeder and roared off, heading towards the skids.

* * *

The speeder slewed to a stop infront of a likely looking flat complex. Actually, the skids seemed to be teeming with similar looking

flats.

Now, how am I going to find-

Shouts and blasterfire rang through the air. Jya turned her head in the direction of the sound and grinned.

Jaim's audio calling card!

Jya took off in the direction of the sounds, heading towards the second flat complex. Entering it, she realized that the fighting

was at least a floor above her. Finding a turbolift, she pushed the button for the next floor up.

After a moment, the doors opened, revealing Jya standing with her blaster at the ready. The only one in the hallway at this level was the remains of

spice dealer, slumped on the floor. Obviously the recipient of a deal gone bad.

Jya pressed the button again and the lift rose to the next floor.

The door opened, revealing a scene of chaos.

Three burly men with T-12 blasters were in the doorway of a flat. They were laying down a heavy amount of fire at whomever was

inside. Jya reckoned it was Jaim.

Unclipping a detonator from her belt, Jya aimed her blaster at the gunman closest to her and shot him in the head. His blaster fell silent

as he dropped like a stone.

"Hey!!" His companions suddenly realised that Jya was standing in the doorway of the lift.

One advanced towards her, as the other made sure the occupants of the room were covered.

"Get down!" yelled Jya, for Jaim's benefit. She lobbed the detonator at the two men in the doorway.

Edited September 9, 2008 by Bad furday

[Drake 53]

Tak squeezed off a trio of shots before ducking back to avoid return fire. He was pinned down on the roof of the delivery truck, lying flat on his stomach to keep from getting into the line of fire of the two remaining PSS officers. He couldn't risk rolling off. Roll one way and he'd be shot before he hit the ground. Roll the other way and they'd shoot his feet out from under him. Stay up top and they'd get him down sooner or later. Tak had to find something that would...

There.

A series of pipes and cables running across the ceiling, passing almost directly over top of one of the officers. Tak fired a few shots down at them to keep them from getting too close then turned his attention to the pipes. Thanking the building contractors for their shotty work and hoping one of the pipes was a fuel line, he fired.

The first shot missed but the second shot struck home. One of the larger pipes cracked and burst. Unfortunately, it wasn't fuel. Fortunately, it was something that was almost as equally effective. Black sludge sprayed from the hole in the pipe and all over the PSS officer. The man fell back out of the raining liquid waste, falling on his knees and retching from the smell. The lieutenant also fell back, holding his arm across his nose and mouth.

Takeshi leaned out again and put three shots into the chest of the waste-covered man. He shifted his aim to fire at the last officer but he had come right up to the delivery speeder and too close for Tak to reach out. Instead, he rolled off the truck, landing in front of the officer. The Lieutenant swung his blaster up but Tak kicked it from his grip, choosing to go hand-to-hand. The other man wasn't unskilled in this department. Afterall, he was still Corellian. The officer tightened up his defenses and took up a brawler's fighting stance.

They circled one another. "You killed two of my men," the lieutenant said. "I'm going to enjoy beating the crap out of you."

"Nothing personal," Tak replied. "Actually it is. Once you side with the Empire, you deserve the long, cold sleep."

The lieutenant swung first, closing the gap between them in under a second. Tak blocked, sweeping the punch away before delivering a blow from the opposite side. The two opponents parted again and circled.

"I miss the CorSec guys. They knew how to fight."

The PSS officer suddenly froze, a look of confusion and pain crossing his face, then toppled forward. A single toxic dart protruded from the back of his left shoulder. Tak looked up. The doorway was now open and framed within was the armoured figure he had been anxiously waiting to meet again.

***

Jaing Skirata lowered his arm, the dart launcher on his gauntlet retracting back into its hidden compartment. He looked at the man before him, sizing up his abilities. He had been watching for a few minutes on the hidden security camera feed before deciding to bring the fight to an early close.

"Something tells me you weren't just doing me a favour," said the man.

"If he had killed you, you would be useless to me," Jaing replied. "He was useless to me to begin with."

The man smirked. "You mean I'd be useless to your Archaic bosses, right?"

Jaing didn't answer. He didn't much care. With his blaster set to stun, he raised it and fired.

The man was fast. He rolled out of the way of the stun bolt and over the dead policeman's body, snatching up his blaster in the process. Two shots rang out. Jaing moved but not fast enough. He took one hit to the breastplate and another to the shoulder before stepping up to the man and knocking the blaster from his hand.

That didn't seem to stop the man, however. He kept attacking. This time he was using his hands and feet, targetting the weak points in Jaing's suit. Jaing blocked much of the attacks and delivered several of his own. This man was good, he had to admit. He knew all of the soft spots between Jaing's armour plates and made every effort to try to injure him there. However, he lacked armour of his own and that was where Jaing would emerge the victor.

He swung a punch, enhanced by his suit's power servos. The attack ignored the man's defences and struck his stomach. The other man grunted, as air rushed from his lungs, and miraculously retained his ability to deliver a strong elbow into Jaing's helmet. Both combatants staggered back, momentarily disoriented.

This one seems strangely familiar, Jaing thought. Both his look and his fighting style were seemingly on the tip of the bounty hunter's mental tongue. Something caught his attention on the ceiling.

"I guess I know this is the right place, then," the man was saying. "Why else would Archaic send their Mandalorian if not to protect their backdoor? Literally and figuratively speaking, of course."

"You can't win," said Jaing. "You have no armour. You are not my match."

The man smiled and shrugged. "A warrior is more than his armour."

Just then Jaing figured it out. That was a Mandalorian saying. This man must have some knowledge of Mando phrases. He certainly knew his way around Jaing's armour enough to make it hurt and his fighting style was painfully familiar. That's it! The Mando from that Republic base! His mind was working overtime. Flashbacks to that fight then back further to Ithyari. That man was there too, with Layla Nasrin. The New Republic didn't hire a Mandalorian bounty hunter for protection. They hired a Mandalorian supercommando for their secret missions. Takeshi Beskar, according to his records. Beskar, of course! It was the Mando’a word for their nearly indestructible metal. How could he have missed that glaringly obvious clue?

"I know who you are and I know why you're here," Jaing said. "Just figured it out, actually. But I can't let you go unless I'm on the ground."

Takeshi took a defensive stance. He now had a dagger in each hand. "Like you said. I can't win. So let's make this look good."

The two closed quarters and fought hand-to-hand. Takeshi had fought well on Altagak just days before and he continued to impress the former clone ARC-trooper-turned-bounty hunter, despite lacking the metal skin that he wore. However, a final blow to the head took Takeshi out of the fight. His strength nearly drained, he hadn't been able to block the strike in time. He fell to the ground. He didn't groan or whimper or make any kind of noise that would express the pain he was no doubt in. Jaing respected that.

The bounty hunter leaned knelt down next to his fallen opponent. Takeshi was still conscious...barely. Thanks to his 360 degree heads-up display, Jaing noticed the two Archaic guards appear in the doorway. He leaned closer to Tak while disarming him of all concealed weapons. "Gar riduur oya'la," [Your mate lives,] he whispered. Takeshi nodded ever so slightly and a barely noticeable smile crossed his blood-smeared lips as the two guards approached and hauled him up.

"Take him to a holding cell," Jaing Skirata told them. "He is dangerous and resourceful. Only a sleeping mat and basic toilet. Nothing he could fashion into a weapon."

The guards nodded and dragged Takeshi through the doorway which closed behind them, leaving Jaing alone. He looked up to the spydroid clinging to the ceiling and gave it a quick wave before starting up the ramp to the surface level.

[Ender 8]

The Skids

Jaim felt a slight sensation of heat against his cheek as the detonator exploded, flinging shrapnel into the table. He held a split second, then looked over his cover to see the charred remains of his two assailants.

He stood up and holstered his blaster, sparing a glance for Nery. The informant was curled up into a ball, blubbering and squeaking. Sighing, Jaim walked out into the hallway, where Jya was standing, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Thanks again, Darth Destructo. Let's get out of here," Jaim said.

[Rogue 4]

"I never meant to imply that you don't take care of yourself." Riamor told Nima, opening the door for her so that they could meet with Brier and Kaden. "I know better than that."

***

Ayana frowned, rubbing her sides. He was a little rough.

"All done," Layla said, picking Ayana up protectively and carrying her over to the table where she set the food. If she could have she'd have poisoned Deign's food to protect the girls...but unfortunatly that wasn't an option right now.

[Pandora 77]

Deign took a handful of flatware to the table and gave Sena a wary glance. "Do I need to mash yours up and let you eat it with a spoon?" He sat between her and Ayana, Layla across from him, without handing Sena a fork. "Layla, I do have to admit, this smells much better than grilled cheese."

He hesitated before taking a bite, aware that the meal was cooked by a woman very angry at him. He was confident that there wasn't anything in the room she could have poisoned him with, though. In fact, he was rather surprised they'd found enough eggs and milk in his bachelor-pad refrigerator to make one small omlette for Ayana, much less four servings.

[Winters 0]

Cale knew what he had to do, and he hated it. He went to the Feu, the location that had more than just husbands cheating on their wives and prostitutes. He walked in and saw PSS officers everywhere, but he already knew who he wanted to talk to, and he was lucky that he was there in the first place. He walked around a bit in the lobby.

The lobby was large and beautiful, gold leaf and marble everywhere; dull colors were accentuated with the gold leaf and anything that was worth sitting in was in an earthy color. There were bodies everywhere, shots in the marble and gold leaf. Who did this? He asked himself. He looked around and started poking at the bodies, pulling out wallets, looking at who they were, Crimson Daggers all of them. Cale stood up to look around; he saw blaster bolts everywhere, several around where the bodies laid and where they once were standing, but most of them were focused in a line facing from a big room with double doors, where there were a lot of detectives in white jumpsuits, poking at bodies, taking holos, and looking for the clues he was looking, but he didn’t have the luxury of doing everything in the open and talking to others.

He noticed that he would look out of place, then walked toward one of them, and asked. “Um, excuse me, but may I ask what happened here?” Cale asked in a dumb manner, like he didn’t know what happened. “Was there a shooting.”

“No, there wasn’t, just a bad customer. I’m sorry sir, but we need you out of here, if you could, the front desk has been moved down the hall and to the left.” The white jump suited guy walked away with contempt. Cale moved away in the direction that the white jump suit guy, then turned into the closest linen closet. He saw the obvious linens, some assorted uniforms and cleaning supplies. He looked through the uniforms and saw one his size for an IT tech, allowing him to run around the building without being annoyed by random employees. He put the clothes on top of his own, put on the name tag attached, and put on a special pair of glasses. The glasses had a miniature holocamera that allowed him to take still holos and store it in the glasses. It also doubled as a disguise. Long ago in his theatre classes, he noticed that dorky glasses often changed a person and people tended to focus on the glasses.

He pulled out a small datapad with a card slit, pulled out a blank security card and started to fiddle with the datapad. Cale looked through a long list of security clearances that Archaic bought in the wholesale, and found one for the hotel. He swiped the card and had full access to the hotel. Cale looked around the closet pulled some blankets. Gotta look like I actually work here…

He walked out of the closet and started to walk toward the main desk. There, Cale saw a pretty blonde with a big smile sitting at a makeshift front desk with a portable terminal on the desk. He walked up to the blonde with a timid shuffle. “Um… yeah, what happened in the, in the front?” Cale asked.

“Oh, apparently there was a shooting yesterday involving some pirates or something, I don’t know, but it’s all a big mess now. I don’t know, I just came to work and the PSS was here.” She said perkily. “I haven’t seen you before, you must be new!”

“Um, yes, Jaye, this is my, my first day and I was told to take these sheets… um… somewhere…” The blonde motioned for the linens.

“I’ll take that,” She got up and took the linens from him. “Well, I’ll see you later.” She said with a smile.

“Yes, I guess I will.” Cale said with a fake smile and the girl smiled back. He took a lift to the main office level. Walked around a bit, seeing where everything is, accounting, the main offices, other lifts and stairs, and the most importantly, the security room. He slid his card and he was able to get in. The door opened and Cale saw a single man that was watching a wall of holovids. “Hello…” Cale said in his timid voice again.

“Hey, you must be the new techie, I thought you weren’t due for another day or two, meh, anyway, nothing much at the moment, I’m just watching the PSS clean up from yesterday.”

“What happened?” Cale asked.

“Oh, nothing, just pirates or smugglers or something; a deal gone bad, they shot each other up so we’re left do fix the mess.” I keep on watching the vid when I’m bored with people shuffling to get ice and such.”

“So, that’s what people do?”

“Ice is very important to people for some reason, for me, food is more important, and you need to get dressed or order in.” The man turned around and made his way toward the door. “Keep an eye on the screens, I’m going to get me some food.” The man left and Cale waited. One Courscant, Two Courscant, Three Courscant, Four Courscant, Five Courscant. He pulled out an empty datacard and copied the vid of the fight. At that moment, the man came through with a package of snack foods. “Hey, copying the vid? Smart idea. I was thinking of doing that, it gets boring here a lot.” Cale pulled out the datacard and put it in a breast pocket. “Don’t worry, it’ll be our secret.” The man said with a wink.

“Uh, yeah, thanks.” Cale quickly said. “Um, has anyone been down to the fighting area and checked the holocams and cables and such?”

“No, no one hasn’t, good idea, uh, what’s your name again?”

“Jaye.”

“Good idea Jaye.” Cale walked toward the door and heard as he left. “Get me some stuff from their table!”

Cale walked to the nearest lift and pulled out his datapad, inserting the datatcard containing the fight in it. His eyes got fuzzy. I need some sleep. He rubbed his eyes, trying to rub the fuzziness away.

When the lift reached the ground floor, Cale walked passed by the cute blonde who tried to wave him down and walked into the conference room, playing around with wires and such. He turned his glasses on, recording video instead of still holos. He walked around the room, looking at the bodies like any normal person would, having an odd fixation on them, until he heard a voice.

“Excuse me! You shouldn’t be here!” A man in white said.

“Sorry, but, um, but the hotel...” Cale “tried” to respond. Cale ran away and back to the linen closet he first started out with. He changed and walked to the front of the hotel. He pulled out his comlink, “Jokaan, can you come pick me up at…”

“I’m already there, just give me a second to actually get to the front.” The comlink said. A sleek speeder came around and stopped right in front of him. Cale got in and relaxed.

“Where do you need to go sir?” Jokaan said. Jokaan was a bright-eyed hopeful in the world of crime, hoping to be an administrator rather than a punk that had to break legs. Like most militaries and governments, even crime had to have an administrative side.

In the speeder was a terminal, which had access to everything I needed, with my identification of course. He slid in the copy of the holos he made and started to use random holocams located around the city. It was something he help make last year to find people if needed, input a holo and it’ll compare it to the video that is taken from holocams around the city. Archaic pays for it, but some use Archaic for protection, so it canceled out, saving people money and helping Archaic find people in the city that needed to be ruffed up, found, or silenced.

Cale ran the picture of the dark haired man, finding him with a tall, muscular man. Must be an actor or random kid, guess I should ignore him. He changed to the other man, the brown haired one.

He ran the picture, and saw some interesting stuff. He was with the same kid, but at a motel lobby with a dark haired woman and a furry non-human. Interesting, guess we have to go see who they are… He retrieved the motel information from the holonet; he pulled out his comlink and called for eight men to meet him at the motel in the city. “Let see who you really are captain…” He pulled up the information. “Jaggs Tyrell. Let’s go to the Azure Heights hotel. I’m going to take a nap, at least I can be a bit rested.”

Edited September 14, 2008 by Drake

[Rogue 4]

"Yeah well, I'm rarely home but my sparse culinary skills are better than yours will ever be." Layla slid Ayana's chair closer to her, the girl kneeling on it so she could reach and eat properly. The girl was wary, almost as wary as her mother. As much as she didn't fully understand her empathy, Deign Argos made her feel very uncomfortable. Probably because he made her mother feel uncomfortable, and because he was mean to Sena.

Layla drummed her slender fingers against the tabletop to the sad tune of the Imperial March...a death march in her opinion as she lazily pushed her eggs around, taking a bite every so often. Ayana grabbed a fork from the middle of the table and slid it to Sena with a smile so she could eat too. Afterall, she thought that the blond man was only teasing her.

The blond man...was he really her daddy? Mommy had said he had died in the war, and that's why it was important that she fight against the big bad Imperials. If he was her father, then her mother had lied to her. She couldn't remember her mother lying to her before. And he said mommy was mad at him for something he did. He must have done something really bad to get her angry.

This was all really confusing, and she really just wanted to go have fun. She turned to the bright pink face of her mother. "Mommy, can we go home today?"

[Chickenman 9]

"No." Sena muttered insolently. "Your dad is an insane divto who'd sooner kill us all than let any of us free. He's a conniving nerfherder and an evil, evil man, Ayana."

[Pandora 77]

Deign shot a furious glare at Sena. "Don't try to scare her, Sena, don't you dare!" His voice was a low growl. He leaned over towards his sister, trying to get away from Ayana's range of hearing. "If I wanted you dead, you would be. I've endured Dad's alcoholism and Mom's depression this long, I think I can manage until he finally drowns himself in his booze and Mom ends up in a padded cell."

He sat back up and dug his fork into the omlette. "You and I were raised in the same household, Sena. 'Family First,' do you remember that? You know, I'd really love to invite you to just lay it all out on the table and let Ayana decide for herself what she thinks of our past, but frankly, I don't even think you understand it. Now if you love your niece, you'll let her figure out what she thinks about her Father, or I'll be the only shred of family you will ever know again." He looked pointedly at Layla. "Same for you. Is that clear?" During the last of this, Deign was careful to keep his face merely stoic. He didn't want Ayana to think he was angry at her.

His expression softened immediately when he looked at his daughter. "Eat up, precious treasure, you don't want cold eggs, do you?"

[Chickenman 9]

"Careful Deign. You don't want your daughter to hear you making threats, do you Deign?" she asked, voice seeped with hatred, though she relented and ate another forkful of eggs.

[Ender 8]

Skylanes

"Let's swing by Brier's place and let them know what Nery told us. I'm not completely sure he's told the truth, knowing him," Jaim said.

Edited September 18, 2008 by Ender

[Rogue 4]

"I'm eating..." Ayana insisted, eating in her absent-minded, slow, childlike fashion. She was kicking her feet, and now that breakfast was on the table everything but the food interested her.

Layla meerly snorted in Deign's direction. "Why do we have to say a thing? Seems to me that you'll do fine getting her to hate you all by yourself, babe." She smirked, but it wasn't mirthful. "You excell at that."

[Pandora 77]

Deign swallowed the bite already in his mouth and gave Ayana an imploring look. "You don't hate me, sweetheart, do you?" His tone suggested he expected no less than a hesitant agreement, if not a full affirmation.

[Rogue 4]

"I dunno!" Ayana said defensively, fighting to pick up a piece of egg with her fork. "Grandma says it's not nice to hate people..."

[Chickenman 9]

"Trust me. It's justified for some people," Sena said, glaring at her brother.

[Vergere 1]

Brier smiled as she looked up at the opening door. "Hullo, you two."