Friday 1.8 - Aya's Departure

[bcmanx.livejournal.com]

 

Manx had led the way upstairs, quietly observing the banter in the kitchen before making herself known with a clearing of her throat. She looked between Ran and Aya and smiled softly.

 

"It's just about time."

 

She held out an arm, motioning for Aya to join her. She could clearly see the emotion welling up on Aya's face and her brave attempt to rein it in. Ran was simply a coiled ball of nerves - he looked ready to snap. He was never one to give his emotions the outlet they so desperately needed and Manx didn't expect that to change - even now.

 

Manx headed out onto the street, Aya's bag in her hand. Ran and Aya followed her a few moments later, Yohji and Ken tagging along after them. Manx stepped out to the curb as a non-descript black sedan rounded the corner, pulling up beside her. She leaned into the window to exchange pleasantries and a few hushed instructions in English. The driver exited the car to stand beside Manx.

 

She was a tall dark skinned woman, easily Yohji's height or a touch taller and built like a linebacker. Long blond micro dreadlocks swayed with her every movement while her piercingly ice blue eyes caught each of theirs with practiced casual assessment. It wasn't immediately clear but she sported a continuous pattern of fine tattoos along both of her bare arms which were only just visible against her dark skin.

 

Manx held her hand out to Aya.

 

"Aya, this is Thea. She is a very good friend. She will be accompanying you on your journey." Manx's eyes fell on Ran. "She holds my highest confidence. Aya couldn't be in better hands."

 

Thea stepped forward, catching Yohji's gaze, squaring her shoulders just a bit and offering the blond a quick little smirk as she looked between him and Ran. She offered Ran a small curt bow.

 

"She is your sister?" She offered the question in broken Japanese, the words difficult to understand through her thick Jamaican accent. Her eyes caught his, pausing a second as she was momentarily taken off guard by the color of his eyes. She barely glanced to Manx from the corner of her eyes, never truly making eye contact with the redhead. Manx chuckled softly to herself, seemingly unprovoked. "I will treat her as if she is my own blood."

 

Comments

[genuinelie.livejournal.com]

[...thought it was Manx's turn! I post...]
[and lol! Np, thanks! Haha. And ohnoes! Kenken :-( )

The mission was the best way for Ran to take his mind off his sister's absence, and the best way to remind him of whatever purpose he had left. Now was not the time to second guess thoroughly thought out decisions, especially ones that should have been made long before. His eyes flicked to Manx for a moment, wondering if really, he could force her to call Thea and bring back Aya-chan before she was gone for good.

He glanced back at Yohji without meaning to. His support had been necessary outside. He didn't want the blonde to think he hadn't been grateful, but he wasn't in a state of mind to be around anyone, especially someone he would prefer not to push away. Physical distance was better than saying something he would regret.

Ahead of them, he observed Omi, and finally felt a flicker of regret. He and his sister had been close, whatever he had felt toward his observations of their friendship, it would make it harder for his sister to lose not just him, but this group that had done its best to take care of her. It would be hard for Omi too, he supposed. But he could only be seeking out the solace of sharing the way he felt with the others when really, he was the only one who cared if his sister was gone.

But Omi is the one who says so often that they were all family.

Ken took a place on the wall, a place Ran himself usually picked to hang back from mission briefings he only peripherally cared about, and was surprised to see Ken glaring back at him. He took his own place on the wall, watching Ken back steadily, daring him to say whatever it was that was so obviously on his mind.

[aki-jade.livejournal.com]

Schuldig smirked as he plucked the information out of the Redhead's mind, when suddenly it was as if someone had slammed the book shut on his fingers, and the woman herded the Weiss inside.

He arched an eyebrow and smirked. Well... that was interesting.

Carefully he pressed against the shields of Manx's mind. Sturdy enough to avoid a casual sweep, but if he really wanted to he could bulldoze through them. Unfortunately, bulldozing might do something to arouse the suspicions of the others. He would just have to find a weakness and slip in.

Damn it. He'd almost gotten what he needed, too. He did find one interesting piece of information though. The dark skinned foreign woman. He thought she'd looked familiar, but now he had her name. Brad was going to shit a brick when he found out.

He could pursue the information, but for now, he decided it would be best to focus on the task at hand.

Carefully, he began slipping into the minds of the other men, looking for any information they might have concerning the disk, Sato, or this Johnson character.

[bcmanx.livejournal.com]

Manx watched them all file in, each quiet and dejected though she couldn't say it was all for the same reason. It was disquieting to see them all so serious yet again; Aya... Ran slipping so easily into the hollow detached mask he had always worn, Yohji looking so lost, Ken with his emotions so clearing playing across his face, his silent conversation with himself betrayed in so many small ways... and Omi, taking on the weight of his teammates emotions, already looking for the cure that would make everything alright. He was always the bright spark of hope no matter how dire the situation. She could only pray that this life she helped indoctrinate him into would never steal that particular trait from him.

She had a smile for him and a nod. "Yes, but a pot of tea would be wonderful."

The unspoken conversation in the room was deafening. Her eyes travelled to each of them. There was clearly something between Ran and Yohji. And Ken was clearly harboring something major against Ran. Why had this always been the hardest part of managing these four as a team? Just getting them to communicate the most basic of things to each other was worse than pulling teeth. And the result of so much silence was currently standing around the kitchen cross armed and uncomfortable and ready to implode.

"You all know that Aya was not the reason for my visit today. Not to make light of her departure but we do have a pressing concern in common. We need to discuss your handler..." Manx's voice trailed off with the thought. With a deep breath she turned her attention inward momentarily, searching her feelings and her thoughts for any sign of the feeling she experienced outside. Finding nothing, she tentatively let herself continue the conversation after a silent reprimand for her own amateur reaction. "... so, do you know why I haven't been able to reach him?"

[ginnyvos.livejournal.com]

Omi got up again and started the watercooker. He turned around and said "There! Just give it a few minutes to cook!", but his cheerfulness sounded forced. Maybe not to the casual observer, but to these people who had all known him for so long it must've been clear as day. Damn it.

Let's try again. "Do you have any preferences for tea? Since Aya-chan came we actually have more than just plain green tea!"

It took only a moment for the mistake to sink into his mind. Talking about Aya-chan was not a good thing... Could he do anything right today? At all?

He bustled along for a while, digging up clean cups and different blends of tea. He didn't know if he should tell Manx about Sato. He trusted the woman, that much he was sure of, but he had no idea with whom she worked with now, or what her function was at this moment in time...

Sato had said that he could really die if the wrong people found out about his survival and just one wrong word to the wrong person could quite probably set off just that. Who knew if Manx' associates were the 'wrong' type?

With a deel inward sigh, Omi made a mental note to have a good dig around in Kritikers databases later, sleep and secured databases be damned. He had noticed a worrying trent lately, in which more and more previously open databases had grown secure. Supposedly secure. He was pretty sure he could come in if he tried...

For now, trying to distract Manx and his teammembers alike was going to be his first priority.

(OOC: Schu, feel free to have read Omi's inter dialog)

[skyrat13.livejournal.com]

Halfway to the door Yohji paused as a wave of nausea hit him. He felt completely off, but couldn't think of any reason for it. He hadn't eaten recently. He hadn't done anything to warrant it. He glanced around to see if there was any external explanation for his sudden unease. Except for an almost tangible absence of Aya-chan, the street tableau was as unremarkable as ever. Weird.

Maybe it was the painkillers still in his system or something. He'd taken quite a lot of them in the past few days....

He shrugged his disquiet off and joined the others inside. He felt drastically better almost immediately. Must have been pollution or something, he decided.

Ran and Ken had stationed themselves rather menacingly against the wall. Omi was frenziedly trying to engage everyone in his typical way. Manx's normal expression had upgraded from 'serious' to 'extremely serious.'

The cheerfully strained offer for tea gave Yohji an uncomfortable flashback to Sato's first visit. He declined, and helped himself to a beer out of the fridge (appropriate time of day be damned,) before planting himself in a chair. He did his best not to let his gaze linger to long on either Ken or Aya, and regarded Manx expectantly.