Well. It seemed her concerns about being the most annoying person in their group had been unwarranted. Part of her was glad for that—being the most aggravating person in the group was a difficult thing!
During her childhood, there had been a few of them who were extremely… high maintenance, if in different ways: there had been her, ADHD hellion; Samina and her brother, hellions in a whole different way; Simeon, so sensitive that being his friend was often an act of working around his needs; and the Hyrat clones—the ones directly their age were triplets, and being around any Hyrat clone, let alone ones who had been together since the womb, was always an experience, one Emilia was often alone in thinking of as an enjoyable one.
Then, during the war, there had been her, Hetexia, and Helix in particular, causing mayhem wherever they went. Samina and her brother were calmer, falling into the focus that war demanded with the ease that nearly every black knot had, especially those trained since birth to lean into specific aspects of their genetic twists. The clones had been gone, usually, dealing with some security breach or anything, forcing answers about some incident out of people, tying up the memories of people who had learned something they shouldn’t have.
There had been Simeon, still so sensitive but learning every passing day how to manage himself better—not that any of them had ever set out specifically to aggravate him! The stress of the war had set everyone on edge, though, and some members of their unit—especially those who had no experience with people so easily overwhelmed by the world—had definitely become a source of near-constant exasperation for the ECC Dyad.
Still, there had been a handful of them constantly causing headaches for the rest of their unit. It had been a happy chaos, for the most part—at least, Emilia hoped it had been. War was too serious, and their antics had often brought a levity to the unit that had otherwise been missing. Some people had disliked it, she knew. When they threw parties, [FIND A NAME!] rocking out on stages they’d constructed from the scrap metal used to create the mechs that less skill-inclined soldiers wore, some members of their unit had scoffed and hated. When they had their silly baking competition, many of those same people had heckled them, refusing to accept that sometimes, even the best soldiers needed a break.
Ironically, that was the biggest reason most of those stick in the muds—mostly people who had been recruited to their unit by her ex—were dead: they’d refused to join their group for a little R&R. They’d remained at Alliance Ridge, intent to wait around and do nothing until they were summoned. How was waiting around, doing nothing but staring into space—she’d asked once, and most of them hadn’t even done anything relaxing in their Censors—better than purposeful relaxation? Emilia had no idea.
Some people, like Halen, had simply been workaholics. While he’d had other reasons for staying behind that day, he’d also just been working because he loved coding, then caught in the disaster when he refused to even try to flee. For all that his last moments had been heroic, his intentions for staying behind had been somewhere between
someone needs to keep working on the training system
and
these guys can’t be trusted to manage the place alone
and a knowledge that while many of
her friends
didn’t quite hate him, they didn’t really like him either. Halen would have been welcome with them, but certainly, his presence would have made things all the more awkward. He’d known, so he’d stayed, so he’d died.
Even in those last days, however, Halen hadn’t thought her the most annoying member of their unit—that had been Helix, to him. Emilia wondered what he would think now, knowing that the annoying boy, just a few years younger than themselves but leaking the energy of someone still in their twenties, had become one of the most popular raid designers, one of the people who knew his—their—system best.
Probably, he would still find the man annoying. Then again, maybe he would have found a way to work alongside Helix, learning to find joy in his pure enthusiasm and enjoyment of raid design and coding. Wouldn’t that have sucked for her and Halen’s relationship! As much as they’d never been more than reluctant allies who respected and trusted each other through their dislike of the other—although there had been a few times where some mutual attraction and Halen’s observations about her relationship with her ex had overtaken their dislike—when Helix had come into the unit…
Yeah, there had been something calmer in their relationship, after Helix had arrived. The fact that she had no longer been the most annoying person in Halen’s life—something she had often found great pleasure in being, purposefully aggravating him since he’d transferred to their school in their teens—had been one of the biggest factors in that. Where Halen had found her very existence aggravating for some thirty years, he had suddenly had a much more annoying Helix to consume his thoughts and ire.
So yeah, Emilia knew how much being the most annoying person could negatively affect relationships. She also knew how not being that person could completely change a well-established dynamic. As a reasonable person—sometimes—she had therefore worried about what would happen after spending a week locked in the same suite with people she liked!
Would they come out still being friends? Would they never want to see her again? Would she be left spending her vacation alone, simply because she couldn’t control her mouth and fidgeting and wandering thoughts!?
Well, as much as she’d been worried about those things, it didn’t seem like she was likely to find out what would have happened: she was no longer the most annoying person in their group. Not by a long shot.
In hindsight, holding that dubious position of power and aggravation likely would have been better; avoiding being killed by her friends would have been much more enjoyable than keeping them from killing Professor A’s ward.
Serena Armistead was a bubbly thing, with her long blond curls that bounced when she walked—Emilia assumed there was a skill at work there, but had no idea which it could be—and a perpetual smile that just seemed so… happy. The girl was happy All. The. Time. It was a lot, facing that sort of optimism, especially given the girl was extremely talkative, and friendly, and… and was she flirting with Conrad?
Emilia really couldn’t tell if what Serena was doing to the poor man—which essentially amounted to babbling in his general direction and attempting to hang off him while he attempted to get away without actually sparking off—was flirting. It may also have been torture. Then again, given the look on Conrad’s face, whether the younger girl meant it as torture or not, he was definitely taking it that way.
“Go. Away,” he hissed, ducking behind Hyr, who stared blandly down at the girl.
Serena pulled up short, tilting her entire body back to dramatically blink up at the northerner. “Whoa~ you’re tall,” she sighed. Apparently, she’d only had eyes for Conrad and hadn’t actually taken in the other unknown members of their group.
“Not where I am from,” Hyr replied, content to let the much older Free Colonier use them as a shield. “I do not believe Conrad is enjoying your attempts at conversation. Perhaps try again…” The syn trailed off, eyes losing focus, before adding, “When he is drunk.”
Serena seemed to consider this, nodding and humming before turning on her heel and bouncing over to Beth, who, at one point, had worked with her on a group project between their two classes. “Beth! Been a while!” she cheered, grabbing Beth’s hands and bouncing up and down.
It had been a few years since that project, but Emilia could still remember how much Beth had complained about it, although her complaints had only partially been about Serena. Most of those complaints, rather, had been aimed at the rest of the group. Serena might be a lot—Emilia rather thought that if younger versions of herself and Helix were combined, something like Professor A’s ward would pop into existence—but at least she had contributed to the project. That much couldn’t be said for the rest of the group. Rather, the men in the group had tried to dump most of the work on Serena, Beth and the other girl in the group.
In the end, Professor A had stepped in to advocate for their trio to have their project separated from their uncooperative classmates—this was the only reason anyone even knew the man was Serena’s guardian. As far as Emilia knew, aside from this moment right now, Professor A politely talking to someone that she thought was a recent grad down the dock, was the only other time she’d seen the pair interact.
“It has, Serena,” Beth replied, already looking overwhelmed with the girl’s energy. As much as Beth
could
be active and a bit chaotic, she was generally more subdued, and spending so much time with Serena…
Emilia cringed as they began to move further down the dock, looking for their check-in booth. She’d booked two suites, with five rooms each. At the time, she’d only known she would be dragging her classmates along with her, and hoping that Conrad and at least one of the northerners would show up. The Black Knot sending
someone
when she asked was a given, but she hadn’t known who. In short, she hadn’t really thought much about whom to put where, and now, listening to Beth’s voice quickly tighten as Serena prattled on about… what was she even talking about? Some random Censor game that involved maps and sparking?
It didn’t matter. What mattered, was they had two suites to fill, and Emilia had no idea how to do it. There was no way Conrad—who was now hanging off Hyr, continuing to use the northerner as a shield—would agree to share a suite with Serena, that much was clear. The guy would probably straight up leave if she dared suggest it. Something inside her also said Samina and Payton should be in different rooms—she had no idea why, but it seemed sensible to have one black knot in each suite—and as much as she missed Samina and wanted to spend time with her, it felt like they should be in different rooms as well. Sil and Conrad might have experience behind them as well, but Samina and her knew each other. If things went wrong, they could guess at the other’s move, and would trust the other to keep themself and the rest of their suite safe.
Same went for Sil and Conrad, she supposed… maybe. Not knowing how close they’d been during the war, when they’d both been part of the secretive military unit, Emilia had no idea how much they could anticipate the other’s moves.
Probably, she should ask before finalizing rooms?
In a completely different direction, Emilia figured she and Samina could tolerate Serena about the same, but there was no way she was letting her childhood friend and Conrad spend more time together than required. Had they just spent weeks together in Virtuosi Space? Yes, but she wasn’t willingly adding to that time by sticking them in a suite together.
That meant Serena, Professor A, Sil and Samina had to be in one room, herself, Conrad and Payton in the other.
So, what to do with the over three members of their group? How to split them up?
Still contemplating this, their group—minus the still chatting Professor A—stepped into the short line to check in, two agents working to check groups and the rare solo traveller in. Technically, they could change room configurations once they were on the ship, but the agent would want to know what their intentions were, for their emergency plans.
Serena continued babbling to Beth as they stood there, the rest of them awkwardly silent. Conrad appeared to be pouting, occasionally sticking his head out from behind Hyr to glare at the girl before vanishing back behind their larger body. Together, the pair of them were quite a sight, and practically everyone who passed them chanced glances or outright stared—it wasn’t often that northerners in particular were seen in Baalphoria. They visited—clearly, given Olivier saw various members of the Gru semi-regularly and Wyren was an avid raider—but as far as Emilia knew, none had actually immigrated to Baalphoria following the war.
If that alone wasn’t enough, both of the men were gorgeous, if in different ways. As much as Conrad had turned his body into a monstrosity inside the raid, his real body was petite and pretty, lending him an air of innocence that Emilia knew would shatter the moment he bared his teeth. It worked for him, though. Certainly, the vicious, if currently very bullied, kitten energy suited him.
Hyr, on the other hand, was more northern beauty than pretty. Even without the height, they would have attracted attention, with their extravagant braids and soft face. It didn’t help that they’d changed while getting their bag, their new outfit far more revealing than their previous long sweater dress and leggings. The colour was still the whites and blues of the Northern Tribes, but now their lean body was fully on display, their golden arms bare to the world while their tank top was a shimmering silver-blue, the neckline plunging further than she’d ever seen a northerner’s clothing dare reach—seriously! Even when they’d gone swimming during the war, most of the Gru had worn full coverage!
Whatever had kept the Gru covered, either it wasn’t a factor anymore, or Hyr—or the Bur as a whole—didn’t care. Hyr wasn’t afraid to show skin—not their arms, neck, chest, or the long, muscled legs that stretched out under the dark blue shorts they were wearing.
They also had no shoes, which Emilia found highly amusing, stepping closer to them and gently bumping their foot with her own. “Where’re your shoes?” she asked, hooking an arm through theirs—it didn’t work particularly well with their height difference, unfortunately.
Hyr didn’t answer, their expression darkening as they turned towards the group that had just entered the queue behind them. As they turned, tucking both her and Conrad behind them, a member of the other group laughed.
“Little silver slut got a thing for being fucked full of big lynie cock?”
Well. That was one way to start a vacation.
.
!
Arc 6 | Chapter 245: Vacation… Go! (Almost)
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