Pun Intended
Ace Cadet & Nadia Fortune
Late Monday night aboard the AvengerWord Count: 5477 (+6)
@Yankee@LugubriousAfter learning that the crew of the Avenger was going to be doing the rounds and collecting Seekers from all over the world, the Ace Cadet had wanted to be there to greet them. He was grateful that Band and Red ended up in Edinburgh Magicapolis with him so that even the cold, clouds, and magic couldn’t make the experience miserable, but after two weeks apart - which honestly felt a whole lot longer - it was going to be great to reunite with the whole crew again. Especially a certain fighting feral.
However, the hunter had underestimated how tiring a process onboarding would be, particularly since it immediately followed the emotions of the night before. He’d arrived at the Avenger as a big jumble of satisfaction at their victory over L, anticipation at rejoining the bulk of the Seekers, as well as disappointment and stress that they’d had to leave Linkle behind. After being picked up by the shuttle, they’d directed the craft to swing by the Aether Resort for Linkle, Albedo, and Lucia, but instead found the area under lockdown with none of their allies in sight. It was definitely bittersweet parting with them without even a goodbye, but Mewtwo had stayed behind - hopefully it could locate them and fill them in on everything. And if it came down to it, now that the Cadet’s scoutbugs had the Skullgirl’s scent, he would be able to track her down again.
Which then came the next morning, which saw him packing an overwhelming amount of information into his head. He got a low down on the Seekers’ campaign and their own victories over two more Guardians, the status of their next move which would be in more detail tomorrow, and in turn filled in the relevant parties about what they’d learned in the Frozen Highlands. There was also the bad news, which included being informed of their missing members. Plus the whole Lost Numbers thing and the fact that everyone besides them was living in some kind of soul-loop, which was a mindfuck to say the least, but also put some of the things that Linkle had said into perspective.
And then there was the Avenger itself. A technological marvel that Ace hadn’t had the chance to properly appreciate when he’d first arrived, and one he’d have to acclimate to. Luckily he was pretty good at that, so after an intense and informational morning he’d spent a majority of the rest of the day scouring the entire ship. It was the definition of radalos, equipped with pretty much everything a team could need. He’d spent more time than strictly necessary in the cargo bay, the armory and the stockpile, but otherwise he went to and fro everywhere and tried to familiarize himself with where things were as much as possible. He stopped to talk to strangers too, of which almost everyone aboard was, getting a feel for the general atmosphere around the ship as well.
So it was that by the time night had rolled around and they still had yet to pick up the first contingent of wayward Seekers, the Ace Cadet was already beat. He figured he’d kill some time with a book in his new quarters (of which he’d been told would eventually be shared with another person, no issues there), and ended up… dozing off, snoring loudly.
The turbulence over Skyworld jostled him into waking. He sat up, blinked, and realized that with the hour being so late that he’d probably missed everyone. No doubt they’d be tired and eager to hit the hay after getting back.
Ah, dalamadamn it. Oh well, I guess it’ll make a nice morning surprise then, he thought, flopping back down with his hands linked behind his head.
Not everyone could wait that long, though. As Ace reposed in his bunk, his mind wandering far afield as he waited to nod off again, a muted murmur of voices filtered in from the hallway into his room. Minor ambient disturbances, such as the turbulence he experienced earlier, simply came with the territory of a confined living space, and though the hunter had yet to acclimate the sounds soon subsided. Only to return in force the next moment when a rapping of knuckles against his door, sharp and urgent, jolted him into wakefulness. Before he could get up and answer the door, however, his visitor tried the handle, leading both parties to discover that Ace, in his weariness, had not locked the door.
It got thrown open the next moment, slid sideways into its crevice until it came to a stop in its receptacle with a
whack loud enough that anyone in the neighboring rooms could definitely hear it. Having not spent a night here so far, Nadia didn’t expect it to do that, so the sudden noise made her jump in momentary panic just as her words were about to burst forth. “Bwah!?” All her dramatic preamble had been forgotten in an instant–evidently her drink in Stolen Moments hadn’t taken the edge off as much as she hoped. Still, such an overeager bumble was everything Ace needed to know exactly who he was looking at. Sure, she’d found a flashy new outfit (though she’d ditched her jacket in her own room on the way over) and filled out a bit more, with subtle differences in both her face and her voice, but despite the colorful calico highlights and LCD peepers, this hispanic catgirl was absolutely the same Ms Fortune he knew and loved. She looked around the darkened chamber. “Ace!?”
She found him just as she’d left him - a tanned man with a mop of fluffy scarlet hair, accented with a yellow tuft at the front, and warm eyes of gold and chocolate. He was stripped of his armor and rigging, instead sporting a pair of sweatpants and a
silly pullover. The moment she laid eyes on him, ugly sweater and all, her face lit up with joy, a wide smile plastered across it. Any planned attempts to seem mad at him evaporated along with her doubts and fears. While logically speaking she had no reason to doubt Band’s word, the two had been separated in an impossibly unpredictable and dangerous world, so Nadia couldn’t have been sure until right this moment. Now that she could see Ace alive and well, however, nothing could stop her smiling ear to ear. Without another word, the feral charged. Where she wrapped herself around Ace in a suffocating hug was for him to decide, if his reaction speed was up to snuff.
She caught him around the shoulders as he scrambled out of bed, the movement sliding her arms up to circle his neck while he returned the embrace just as tightly, his own arms enveloped around her back.
"Nadia!" She was impossible to mistake. Ace had been really looking forward to seeing her again, and now that he finally was, the reunion was hitting him a lot harder than he'd thought. It hadn't been
that long, but absence really did make the heart grow fonder, he guessed. He couldn't believe that just a few minutes ago he was ready to leave this for tomorrow morning.
Though reluctant to let go, the hunter did want to actually
see more of her than just the fluff of her hair and the cute curl of her tail. He gave her a squeeze and then released her, though his hands hovered nearby while he took in all the changes.
"It's kinda hitting me all at once how much I missed mew," he said, speaking his feelings aloud and completely unable to keep a smile off of his face even if he tried - which might have contributed to the slight tripping over his words.
"I'm so glad you're alright! I mean, are you alright? You look great."“Yeah, thanks!” She beamed at the compliment, her decision to fuse validated. “Check meowt!” Though Ace let her go rather quickly, it had taken a moment longer for the feral to exhume her face from the hunter’s chest, and even after Nadia pulled back a little, her hands did not stray far. Instead she grabbed his and pulled the both of them into an excited whirl, their arms outstretched toward one another so both could get a good look. It seemed like the catgirl was just as physical -and just as forward- as ever. “I’ve been fine! For the most part, anyway. I’ve been stuck in purr-gatory, y’see, just waitin’ to find out if I’d ever see you again! I was worried sick. But it looks like you’re still in one piece, eh?” Despite his misadventures, the man seemed fine. Her friend hadn’t changed since they campaigned in the Deep Blue Seaside together, and even then Ace’s only departure from his original self had been his fusion with Jamaica, which made him a touch smaller and prettier overall. The last time they’d really hung out was at Heaven’s Edge, and Nadia would be lying if she said those scenes hadn’t been replaying in her mind now and again. “Glad you haven’t fur-gotten me!”
He laughed. Man, the sound of her voice was so good right then.
"How could anyone pawsibly forget you?"After a few seconds the initial rush wore off, and Nadia calmed down enough to relinquish her hold on Ace. Her face was a little flushed–despite her general self-confidence, Nadia could never be sure if her advances were appropriate or not, and she didn’t want to risk scaring Ace away. That smile on his face, though, sure made her heart soar. Her tail continued to flick excitedly behind her as she crossed her arms beneath her chest. “So, you wound up in some ice-cold northern city, did you? Really puts the ‘brr’ in Edin-brr-uh, I guess. What the hell happened?”
Ace didn't even question how she knew that, figuring she must have run into Red or Band. It was probably how she'd found out he was back in the first place. He hardly wanted to talk about himself right now, he wanted to talk about her - what she'd been up to, how she'd been, and the like, but she had to be feeling the same way about him, or else she wouldn't have asked.
The Cadet took her hand again, guiding her closer and inviting her to sit on the bed while he stood and regaled her with what he'd been up to in the time they'd been apart, gesturing included. She allowed herself to be thusly guided, though she looked a little disappointed that Ace didn’t sit with her.
"Brr is right - the whole place was fur-eezing! So we're left out in the cold, pretty much stranded after we got chased out of the metro. Apparently this Consul guy, N, had run of the place so we couldn't have gone back even if we wanted to. And worse than the cold was, the entire city ran on magic of all things. So we had to conjure up some money, a place to stay, and as much information as possible, right? And at the same time we were wanted men not just in the metro, but in Edinburgh too! So we're scoping the place out, looking for leads, and we end up working at this animal show. Spheals - fuzzy little round things, snow cute. Wish you could've seen one... but there, we meet this girl named Frisk who introduces us to her friend and shows us where they're staying - which turns out to be this gargwawesome place that was like a little chunk out of my world. We're probably gonna have to go back to those frozen highlands eventually; you've gotta let me take you there."Would Nadia like the rustic feel of the place? Would she get a kick out of the felyne staff? Would she enjoy the food and the glimpse into his home world? Imagining just the two of them in Grammeowster's warm, cozy cantina sure was a nice thought. Realizing that he was getting a little off track, the hunter went on.
"So it turns out, Frisk and Albedo end up knowing Linkle. She was there in the city! But she was in a bad way. She was... I mean, you probably know, right?" Nadia had been the one to originally explain to him a little about what had happened to Linkle, so she must have had some inkling into what her curse was.
"But don't worry, she's okay.”Nadia breathed out. She’d heard as much from Band, hard as it was to believe. If Linkle was putting up a good fight against the Skull Heart, that was good to hear, but could she really hold out against a being of such terrifying corruptive power?
"We ended up meeting with her after we fought with N. While we were there, we heard about what happened to Alcamoth. The Consuls spun it like they were the heroes, there was a whole welcome back rally for them and everything. Left a real bad taste in my mouth, you know? It was around then that Mewtwo showed up out of nowhere. He was one of the survivors. So, after that..."His story gradually veered out of an upbeat retelling to a more subdued one as he went over the low points. As he went on, he keenly left out the part where he'd been a hair's breadth away from death at the hands of Consul N, and the beating he took versus the Darkbeast Paarl. It was nice to know that Nadia had worried over him, it showed that she cared about him, but at the same time he didn't actually want to cause her any worry. Thankfully, the story ended on somewhat of a high note, so he was back to eagerly telling Nadia everything in no time.
"Once the whole team was together, we cooked up a plan to force Consul L to tell us how to ice the Guardian in that area. I'm waiting at the top of his huge tower that's already on top of the biggest bumblepumpkin ever for half of our team to force L to retreat to our ambush point. And when she gets there, well - we won." He paused only to flash her his best heroic grin.
The news definitely impressed Nadia. “Wow, no kitten?”
"Mhm! She ends up telling us this plant called mistletoe is the only thing we need to beat the Guardian. And then suddenly this flying ship comes over with Wonder Red's commander in it. We get scooped up and now we're here! And the best part of the story is it ended with getting to see you again."Ace was practically breathless after fitting as much information into as short a speaking time as possible, and his face had grown pink after the cheesy line he threw in at the end. Still, he had one more thing to say at the moment. He sat down on the opposite bunk facing Nadia.
"Honestly, it feels like we got our Lunasstras kicked just as often as we did the kicking, but enough about all that! What happened with you? When we got here we got filled in on a lot of stuff, but no real details. You beat another Guardian underground, right?"The unexpected sappy ending to Ace’s tale made Nadia grin like a giddy schoolgirl.
What a total dipstick. Between cops, Consuls, and undead nightmares, it sounded like Ace had been through hell and back, and still he found it in himself to make jokes like that. The two of them really were birds of a feather. Now that he’d told his story, it was time to repay the favor, though she didn’t plan to go to such detail. Between her tiredness and her spaciness she’d zoned out a couple times during Ace’s tale -listening more to his delightful excitement than to every last word- so she’d need to get a move on before her story became a snorey.
“That’s right,” Nadia began. “The Underground was huge. We arrived in this quarry aboveground with a huge pit in it, and the meowment we went to ride the lift down, bam, a Consul showed up. F. He dropped our lift, and after falling for like, a minute straight, we plopped down in this magic flowerbed. Monsters came at us right away, and things only got crazier from there. There was this poop-filled dung-geon full of gross critters and weird upgrades. That ended with a fight on a river raft inside some giant monster’s bloody guts, against this giant fetus thing…talk about a womb with a view! We had to take it out, but it was super nasty, so it’s hard to feel sorry abort that.” She giggled evilly. Ace was glad she seemed not to have minded it enough to joke about it, because if anything the one upside of not ending up in the Under where he'd originally planned to go spared him from going through all
that.“Anyway, we wound up in a huge city of monster people called the Home of Tears, where it was always raining. I know rain sounds crazy underground, but I’m not deluge-ional! It was nice, except for the Consul ruling it: P, or as I liked to call him, P-brain. I say ‘liked’ because we washed that little bitch like dirty laundry. Even though he had freaky time powers. Sadly we couldn’t stick around and celebrate, ‘cause F invited himself over again and turned everyone in town against us. We escaped through this cavern full of cheese, and that basically began a big, multi-day trek through every kind of cave you can imagine. There was a pizza tower, an abandoned mall, a giant beehive, and this tomb where we got our souls stolen and had to dance to get ‘em back. And lemme tell ya, after a couple lessons from Primrose, those skeletons were dyin’ to see me on the dancefloor! Then…” She made a face as she remembered the creepy underground prison of dreams and nightmares. “We fought this freaky horse…we kicked his ass, but quittin’ just wasn’t in his neigh-ture, so we had to do it all over again in a dream. And I’m pretty sure we fought the Guardian in a dream the next morning, too. But the spirit Toni got was plenty real, so…mission accomplished!”
The feral shrugged. “We needed a break after all that, so we headed back to the train station and went for a ride ‘round the eastern coast. We ‘shore’ had a good time, too! First Gerudo Town, then Carnival Town. Good food, good games, and good company.” She scrunched up her face. “With one exception. We ran into my old rival Juri. She’s a total bitch, so steer clear. I’m over it now though, so don’t worry.” Nadia smiled at Ace. “Wish you’d been there. We did mountain climbing, taxi driving, hide and seek, exploring a haunted factory…I got partnered up with that Therion guy, and he’s a cool dude, but kind of a wet blanket. I like a guy with a sense of humor, so if you see any, lemme know.” She winked at Ace.
He grinned back at her.
"I might have one in mind."“Oh, and after the games we used our tokens on this machine that gave us a TON of spirits. That’s pretty much how I wound up like this.” Nadia performed a dashing pose, her hands on her hips with her head jauntily turned away. “The extras…well, they’re probably gone by now, but you should still check out the Spirit Chamber sometime. Gettin’ stronger and lookin’ good doin’ it is easier than ever!”
"Groovios. Purr-sonally I don't think you've ever had a hard time looking good, though," he casually flirted. Nadia replied with a double snap into double finger guns, smiling as if to say
aah, good one.
The Spirit Chamber... Ace had poked his head in, as he had every other non-restricted area on board, but found the vibe in there pretty weird. The room looked high-tech, but had a mystical feel to it as well that had prevented him from spending much time in there. Since his one and only fusion he hadn't really thought about doing it again - he was an equipment sort of guy, so the majority of the time he just squished spirits for items. Maybe in the future he'd give the chamber another look, if he came across anything interesting.
At the moment though, he was still more interested in the woman in front of him. He sat on the edge of the bunk with his hands on either side of him, leaned forward as if that would better help him absorb everything Nadia had said and would say. He'd probably ask her more details about some of the things he'd heard later; he could tell her energy was starting to flag. Her sudden appearance had repelled a lot of his own weariness from the day, but his had been more mentally exhausting than anything.
"Sounds fun - the end of it I mean. The rest of the story was Kut-kurazy," he chuckled. He definitely would have appreciated getting some time to just relax and goof around with everyone.
"So after all that you guys all split up again?"The catgirl nodded. “Uh-huh. Both teams faced off against two Consuls apiece, and it sounds like another one -Z- found and attacked the city team right after. So the guys in charge figured we’d poked the tiger a little too hard and better lay low for a while. Plus, the techies needed time to figure out some problem with the Dead Zone so we can go after the Guardian. I never, uh, really learned the details. Guess we’ll find out tomorrow.” At that moment, Nadia failed to suppress a huge yawn. “Uuuuuuuuaaaaaaaaah…ah, man. Guess the day’s cat-chin’ up to me. I did spend most of it diving.” She smiled at Ace as she stood. “I’ll tell ya about Mafia Town some other time. Maybe even take ya there, if we get the chance. After chillin’ in Edinburgh for half a month, I betcha could use another beach day or two.” Nadia lingered a moment within arm’s reach, as if she didn’t want to leave just yet–or she had something else she wanted to do before leaving, but couldn’t quite work up the nerve to do it herself.
"Or three or four," he agreed. Naturally her suggestion brought to mind the last day at the beach they'd spent together, which was a warm and welcome memory. A few more like that would be really nice.
When Nadia stood up, Ace did too, but since she lingered neither of them moved for a few moments. The Cadet felt a little guilty - he wanted to talk with her more, and honestly keep her to himself a little longer, but she was clearly bushed. He thought about asking her to stay over the night. The extra bunk in the room was unclaimed as of then, though most likely wouldn't be after tomorrow.
Would that be weird? She might get the wrong idea, he thought. The man wasn't exactly known for being eloquent, so he'd probably phrase the offer poorly. Despite how courageous and open Ms. Fortune could come off as, he knew she still played a few cards close to her chest, and he didn't want to accidentally upset her. He discarded the idea, and after realizing that the whole time he'd been thinking about it he'd been studying her face he blinked, letting out an awkward puff of a laugh.
Thankfully another plan to spend even a little more time with her came to mind. He reached out slightly, bumping his fingers against hers as an offering.
"Let me walk you to your room?"Her fingers snuck between his in an instant. Nadia did not seem to begrudge the extra moment or two of what she saw as admiration. “Don’t know what I’d do without you~”
When the two of them entered the hallway, it was silent. There wasn't a soul around besides the two of them, though that wasn't exactly surprising. Ace had no idea what the actual time was, but it was pretty late by now, he knew that much. Outside of the private quarters they found the corridor to be a little chillier, giving both of them the unneeded excuse to press close and brush their shoulders together as they walked while their hands stayed joined between them. Their pace was way slower than it ought to have been, but considering all of the Seekers' dorms were in the same general area it still wasn't a long trek.
Ace had intended to chat a little more, but given the quiet they'd stepped out into the pair ended up keeping quiet too - but it was a comfortable quiet, just enjoying each other's presence lest they break the atmosphere. At least, until, they came to Nadia's door.
Still reluctant to part, the Ace Cadet shifted where he stood. He glanced from the offending door that signaled the end of the night to the feral. He looked like he wanted to say something but didn't, and though he reached up with his free hand as if he were going to touch Nadia's face, he aborted and instead swapped to sheepishly rubbing the back of his own neck.
"Eheh..."When he looked at her he found the same old hesitation bubble up in him again. The track record of his love life was pretty bad, and so far he and Nadia had a good thing going. They worked well together, liked joking around together, and had an easy camaraderie built over only a few days that their separation hadn't put a damper on. Clearly neither of them minded some skinship, and the flirtatious air to their back and forth was fun. In the grand scheme of things they really hadn't known each other that long, and he didn't want to potentially wreck a still-budding friendship, let alone a relationship... but the simple fact of the matter was that he liked Nadia. A lot. And whatever it was they had couldn't be that fragile.
As he was sometimes wont to do, Ace pushed the smarter, more logical thoughts to the back of his head. He dropped his arm back down to his side, and with his other hand still in Nadia's he gave her a light squeeze.
"Thanks for coming to see me. You were a real sight for sore eyes," he said quietly, mindful not to disturb anyone already sleeping in the rooms nearby. He gave her a small grin, though his smile grew more tender as he held her gaze. Then he leaned in towards her a little closer, and spoke a little softer.
"Nadia... would you mind if I kissed you?"During the all-too-short stroll over here, Nadia’s heart kept fluttering, even though nothing had happened yet. But neither she nor Ace needed to say anything to know that something was there–they could feel it between them. And yet, for once in her life, the feral remained tongue-tied. Until the two of them paused at the threshold to Nadia’s room. She turned toward her companion, a helpless, weirdly bashful grin on her face. Despite her fatigue, her whole body seemed to tingle with nervous energy. As fond as she’d grown of the Cadet, and as much as it seemed like he liked her too, doubts left her paralyzed. Doubts about herself, and what was appropriate. Her heart kept pounding, and her tail kept flicking, until Ace offered a heart-stopping smile and a very important question.
WHAM!Barely had the words left the hunter’s mouth before Nadia pounced on him, pushing him against the corridor wall with her chest pressed against his. Her lips met his with surprising ferocity, and as the catgirl’s arms encircled Ace’s waist, eyes squeezed shut, her tail wound around his leg.
Nadia had always been forward with him, which was part of the reason he'd had the courage to ask in the first place. That outgoing nature was part of her charm. Still, he hadn't expected to find his back hitting the wall and her mouth on his quite so suddenly. Even if it took his brain a moment to catch up to the surprise, his body had no such issues. His hands came up to cup either side of Nadia's face, holding her close and steadying the both of them as he tilted his head slightly so that the pair better slot together.
If Ace thought that Nadia's mere appearance had re-energized him, then the kiss practically electrified him. One of his hands moved to curl around the back of Nadia's neck, the other slipping down over her shoulder and coming to rest above her hip. His hold was loose, partly because it felt like he was hyper aware of everywhere they touched anyway, but mostly so that Nadia could pull away any time she wanted to. With his strength he could easily have pushed away from the wall, reversed their positions, and kept her as long as he dared - but he was more than happy to let Nadia make that decision. If it was left up to him, he might let this go on forever.
When they did come up for air there was a dopey smile on Ace's face, the widest one he'd worn in a while. Naturally, he couldn't resist the chance for a dumb joke.
"So I guess you don't mind?"By the time Nadia leaned back, she was practically gasping for breath. Her heart pounded in her chest, propelled into overdrive by a cocktail of raw emotion, and her eyes were wide as if she'd just awoken from a trance. Evidently both her brain cells had been fried in the heat of the moment, and only just now the feral's higher faculties rebooting. She didn't know what primal instincts came over her, but honestly? She didn't regret it. Right now, she felt happy. Maybe happier than she'd ever been. For a precious moment, all her pains and fears had melted away. She'd forgotten the scars, the losses, the hunger, and the charades. In that sublime handful of seconds, there had been nothing in the world but the two of them.
If only it could last forever.
As she rebooted, becoming aware of what she'd done and the noise she made doing it, Nadia's cheeks flushed red. But just like Ace, she couldn't wipe the idiotic smile off her face if she tried. "Well, I'm purr-etty sure
I'm the one who kissed
you, but it could go either way, honestly." Her hands had yet to leave his solid oblique muscles and her tail remained coiled as she dared to think about another go despite the possible disturbance. Before she could make up her mind, however, the decision was made for her. With a sliding sound the door behind her came open, revealing a puzzled-looking Blazermate. Of course the medabot would still be up at this hour, and more than willing to cheekily poke her faceplate into someone else's affairs. Though some part of Nadia panicked, urging her to disentangle herself from Ace and pretend everything was normal, the cat burglar didn't budge. Right now she still felt the rush of victory, filling her with joy and pride. So what if Blazermate saw? Still, all good things had to come to an end. This was enough for now--more than she could have hoped for, in fact. Nadia raised her eyebrows at Blazermate as if to say
what of it?, then turned to wink at Ace before letting him go.
"See you 'round~"
"Yeah," he replied as she slipped away from his hands. He raised one of them in a little wave, and gave Blazermate an awkward sort of nod. He hoped they hadn't offended her or anything, but honestly it seemed like she had whatever the opposite of delicate sensibilities was.
"Good night."When the door to their room slide shut once more, leaving Ace alone in the hall, he just stood there for a few moments. He still felt kind of tingly all over, with a phantom touch left where Nadia's arms and tail had been wrapped around him. When he finally moved he turned and walked swiftly back the way he came, not really wanting to be spotted randomly standing alone in the hallway smiling like some kind of Kecha-wacko. His skin was still thrumming lightly even after he was back in his own room, and his mind flushed with elation... which actually presented a small problem.
How am I supposed to get back to sleep now?
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