puddingpunter

Exodus

Get in, eat, leave: that was the plan Ma'ai had in mind. Or, if he decided he was too tired by the time he walked into the kitchen then, he'd just take his food with him back to his tent. But his ideal mental scenario flew right out the window shortly after he completed step one. Ma'ai did a double-take when a certain face caught his attention and it took only a couple of seconds for him to figure out why.

Chrissa? Now he remembered. Ma'ai and Chrissa were never close friends but they were acquainted enough; he used to stop by her flower shop often whenever he was picking something for his mother or sisters. The angel wouldn't admit it but the joy he felt at seeing another friendly face of someone from before the Genesis evacuation... Simply put, he was very homesick and being alone for so long hadn't helped with that feeling. Ma'ai grinned widely to himself with unrestrained glee but refrained from accosting her just yet. She looked to be preoccupied with someone else although he didn't recognize who it was.

'Ƭɪʟʟ Ɗᴇᴀᴛʜ Ɗᴏ Us Ƥᴀʀᴛ

In their moments of silence as the two basked in nothing more than each others' warmth, Mishka's mind began to run amok with unanswered questions and accusations. He swallowed down the thick ball of fear bubbling in his throat and forced it all away; he didn't need to deal with that right now. Thankfully he managed to pulled himself together when he did, and Amber's soft touch helped ease away any last remnants of tension left in him. He still couldn't bring himself to let go though; not yet, he wanted to remain this way a little longer if Amber didn't give any signs of disagreeing with it.

"I don't doubt that." And it was the truth. Even at the peak of their mini-breakdown mere minutes ago, he never once doubted her love for him, nor his for her. It wasn't often Mishka ran into a real-life example of this but he knew it was possible for couples to separate even if they still loved each other. Sometimes things just simply didn't work out. Mishka sighed and slowly loosened his grip, sliding his fingertips down her arms and stopping just at the ends where he held her hands within his own. "Let's go to bed. I know you have a long day tomorrow." It seemed that since he'd come back from serving his last tour overseas that his wife was always busy. Not in a bad way, more like it seemed that she simply wanted to keep herself occupied. He had a suspicion she began doing that when he was in the army so she wasn't home alone all the time, but he never asked. Recently, Mishka had been picking up work where he could -he was currently being paid under the table as an extra helping hand for a construction site in downtown- so his schedules were unpredictable and scrambled. But thankfully this was only a temporary thing, since he had three interviews coming up within the next week so he was optimistic about that.

Mishka stood from the couch and held out a hand for Amber. "Come on" he encouraged. Sleep sounded really good right about now.

Exodus

@SashaWindrider
Thank you for the warm welcome! I believe I'm done with the CS for Ma'ai. Please let me know if there is anything I should change :)

Exodus

Ma'ai had no say in the matter, as his job here was done. So the angel merely listened in silence with an air of indifference while Azurael and T'vor discussed prospective courses of actions to take next. None of this was making any sense to his ears -perhaps the minimal hours of sleep was finally getting to him?- but he paid attention anyways to the exchange happening between his superiors. Hide? Run? Take on a more defensive position? Whatever ended up being the chosen plan in the end, he could only place his trust and hope that the outcome would be nothing short of satisfactory. Finally, he was being dismissed. Ma'ai once again bowed his head. "Thank you General." He'd just barely began turning to leave when Sephiroth stopped him. The angel resumed position in place to meet the Demon Prince face on. "Sir?" That's when Sephiroth expressed his thanks. Crescent's words left a warm feeling of pride bubbling within the angel and he realized too late that he was smirking, almost to a grin. Ma'ai ran a hand over his face as if to rub the grin off before clearing his throat. He lightly balled up both fits and folded both arms (one over his stomach and one behind his back), then leaned back slightly and bowed forward from the hip. "Thank you, My Lord. I was only doing my job but I am glad to have pleased you." Not entirely a true statement, since the underlying feeling of bias still lingered, but it was how Ma'ai would have reacted if Sasha had said those words to him. Ma'ai proceed to acknowledge Azurael's words as well and finally took his leave.

Finally.

Ma'ai was painfully aware that he still needed to speak with cartographers later, and then fill out the reports of his findings for T'vor. But right now Ma'ai just wanted a break. Sleep could wait a little longer; at the moment all he wished was to refresh and feed himself. Ma'ai took off towards the kitchen.

Exodus

Ma'ai had briefly acknowledged the others in the tent when he first stepped through the threshold. However, now he knew that that was the Demon Prince, a fresh wave of wariness coursed through his veins and the angel uncomfortably shuffled in place. A change in authority isn't exactly what one would call a surprise; with everything that was happening, it was actually something he was expecting. But for the new ruler of both kingdoms to be Prince Crescent? Claiming Ma'ai had been caught off guard would be the understatement of the century. He suddenly realized he was staring too hard at Sephiroth and politely averted his gaze before clearing his throat. Ma'ai nodded his thanks to Azurael and returned his attention to General Highwind.

"Of course Sir, I'll get straight to it." All the official details would come in later once he sent in the actual papers documenting his findings and such, as the protocol called for. "The humans are suspicious and have begun wandering closer to the grounds in the recent weeks. They initially dismissed the Exodus as an asteroid," Oh the panic it had caused... Some of the Earthlings believed it was the beginning of the end of the world while others shrugged it off as nothing but a meteor that would likely fly right by the planet. "But the lack of a crater in the ground did not go unnoticed. A small party of scientists decided to begin searching about twenty-five klicks Northeast of us but they're getting closer."

Exodus

Three months, a week, and four days later. Ma'ai was more than happy to be back among his kin, even though the price meant heavy demon presence everywhere. Finding the secluded rendezvous point was easy enough despite the efforts made to hide it (he was, after all, not human) and after being accosted by guards upon entry, was escorted to those he would be reporting to. The angel's reports were not severe enough to require immediate action but his news needed tending to nonetheless.

"Sir." Ma'ai bowed his head in respect to the demon introduced to him as General al'Talvor Highwind. He may still harbor instinctual abhorrence towards the demon race but Ma'ai wasn't stupid enough to allow any signs of his distress to display. "Ma'ai Thos Narkissos at your service." He raised his head. "May we speak in private?" In truth Ma'ai couldn't care less about who heard their conversation, but he asked anyways for the sake of formalities.

Exodus

✟ ｎａｍｅ： Ma'ai Thos _{(together they're pronounced mæ-ðō-z; variant take on the name Midas)} Lucius Narkissos
✟ ｎｉｃｋｎａｍｅｓ： Ma'ai or Luke
✟ ａｇｅ： 28
✟ ｇｅｎｄｅｒ： Male
✟ ｓｐｅｃｉｅｓ： Angel
✟ ｏｃｃｕｐａｔｉｏｎ： Military Scout & Tracker
✟ ｐｏｗｅｒｓ： Sleep Hypnosis & The Ability To See One's Greatest Desire

_{Source: link}

✟ ｐｅｒｓｏｎａｌｉｔｙ：

Have you ever tried to associate personalities with a color? Ma'ai would be a pastel shade, but not a particularly bland color; perhaps rose gold. He's pretty mellow albeit with a definite underlying layer of 'spice' which finally bubbles to the surface once he gets comfortable. Ma'ai tries his best to avoid standing out so he's a bit of a stickler for the rules and rarely does more than necessary, but the man will surely make it his business if he finds himself witnessing a situation that requires intervention. Aforementioned angel isn't lazy, per se, but he is a prime example of not-my-job-not-my-problem mentality. That being said it's almost ironic that his three most popular traits are punctuality, organization, and dependability.

✟ ｈｉｓｔｏｒｙ：

Ma'ai was born into a family with a long history of serving for the military. So naturally, it was expected that he followed the predestined role. The angel had no qualms about this and actually looked forward to the honor; he has been on active duty since he was 19.

✟ ａｐｐｅａｒａｎｃｅ：

5'11" tall, molten-gold eyes, grey-purple hair, pale skin, back tattoos. Wings are white and medium in size with plumage structure similar to parrots (a balanced combination of appearance and utility; smooth but rigid enough to be ideal for flight).

_{Source: link}

'Ƭɪʟʟ Ɗᴇᴀᴛʜ Ɗᴏ Us Ƥᴀʀᴛ

I will destroy everything the word "marriage" ever meant to these two.

'Ƭɪʟʟ Ɗᴇᴀᴛʜ Ɗᴏ Us Ƥᴀʀᴛ

His arms were wrapped protectively around her the second she finally reached out to him. It was the sign he needed. This didn't mean everything would be alright (he wasn't that naïve) but it meant that for now, they were okay. Only for now. "I'm sorry" Mishka choked out. He didn't mean it, hadn't intended to upset her. He just needed the reassurance that there was still that small spark of hope and possibility left remaining between them; asking it was the only way to know. Mishka pulled Amber closer until she was practically in his lap, then rested his face against the top of her head. A few minutes passed without either of them budging; the pair just remained sitting in silence, wrapped in each others' embraces. It was a sort of bittersweet scenario but Mishka wasn't going to complain. At the moment, he was just grateful that the conversation didn't further escalate. He didn't know what he'd do if she had said yes to his question. Mishka finally spoke up again but refused to let go, still holding her securely. "Okay, I won't. I'm so sorry my little kotik."

'Ƭɪʟʟ Ɗᴇᴀᴛʜ Ɗᴏ Us Ƥᴀʀᴛ

His finger twitched but only for a second; his instincts were telling him to stop, to fix this and comfort her. But he couldn't. Mishka could tell that Amber was crying, despite how she attempted (and failed) to hide it. The fact that she didn't want him to see her like that, however, just made him feel disgusted with himself. What hurt him even more was how she chose to avoid answering the question by tossing it right back at him. That only made him feel that much more worried, but he kept his opinion on that silenced. This argument didn't need anymore antagonizing. He responded, "No." Mishka didn't hesitate at all, didn't even have to stop to think it over. Because that was how he felt. How did the saying go? Bent, but not broken. To him that spoke to the heart in a way he couldn't really describe. A divorce would just end it all right there an then, permanently terminating any chance they had at all to fix this. He knew they were screwing themselves over but... He didn't want to end this. At least not yet.